Almost Athletes with Dude Perfect - Dude Perfect: Bobby Witt Jr. Ranks The Toughest Pitchers In Major League Baseball

Episode Date: February 25, 2026

An absolutely packed episode featuring Kansas City Royals All Star Bobby Witt Jr., a Gen Z vs. Millennial slang showdown, and the Dude Perfect Interns facing off in TOE WRESTLING?!  The Dudes start by diving into Team USA's massive hockey gold medal win and debating Olympic overtime rules, followed by another edition of Gen Z vs. Millennial, where Intern Jackson quizzes Garrett and Sparky on the latest slang terms like “wigmaxxed” and “larp”. Plus, a random Almost Sport—toe wrestling—somehow gets both intern Jackson and Graham battling it out in a best-of-three showdown. Then Bobby Witt Jr. joins for two blind ranking games—first ranking the toughest pitchers he’s ever faced, including Shohei Ohtani, Tarik Skubal, and Gerrit Cole, and then ranking the best ballpark foods. The Twins also stop by to introduce Dude Perfect’s new book, Cory gives an update on his taste and smell recovery, and the episode wraps with wild voicemails, that lead to some surprising hot takes. If you’ve got a question, hot take, or your own Almost Athlete moment, head to AlmostAthletes.com or call [phone] to be featured on the show. Chapters:  00:00 Introduction  02:25 Olympic Recap  07:55 Gen Z vs Millennial Slang Game 30:10 Almost Sports: Toe Wrestling  32:50 Intern Jackson vs Intern Graham Toe Wrestle  35:15 Bobby Witt Jr. Introduction  43:05 World Baseball Classic  50:10 Bobby’s Favorite Stadium To Hit In  56:30 New Era Of Baseball  58:58 Bobby’s Squad Games Draft  01:00:45 Top 5 Toughest Pitchers Bobby Has Faced  01:05:55 Top 5 Stadium Food  01:12:45 Coby & Cory Cotton Introduction  01:14:50 Book Release Announcement  01:21:25 Cory’s Taste Bud Update  01:26:35 Voicemail #1: What Is The Worst Chore Around The House? 01:32:23 Voicemail #2: Hair Back Or Perfect Refs In Football?  01:37:25: Voicemail #3: Coby; What Did Zero Gravity Feel Like? What to do now: 1. Smash that LIKE button  2. Hit SUBSCRIBE so you never miss a DP podcast moment  3. Drop a comment with who YOU want to see on Almost Athletes next! Subscribe for more!    https://www.youtube.com/@almostathletes    • • • • Almost Athletes with Dude Perfect is (almost) a sports podcast. Tune in weekly to hear the dudes’ hottest sports takes, great debates, interviews with your favorite athletes and entertainers, and hilarious BTS from all things Dude Perfect.  New episodes drop every Wednesday.  Follow along on all platforms.   Listen to the pod on your morning commute or wherever it finds you: Apple: - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/almost-athletes-with-dude-perfect/id1834502483 Spotify: - https://open.spotify.com/show/55gaQm31JIbp6td7QtYsPU?si=6423db3118ac497f Follow Almost Athletes to keep up with the Dudes!: https://www.instagram.com/almostathletes https://www.tiktok.com/@almostathletes https://x.com/almostathletes_ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you guys ready? The toes are interwashed. Which way am I supposed to put your hands on? Wait, okay, which way are we supposed to go? You go that way, I go this way. Yeah, you go inward, I think. Ah, your ligaments may go on you. Dude, my feet are so sweaty right now.

All right, we're ready? Oh, my shit, the phone out on everything. Toe wrestling commences in three, two, one. Almost. Welcome to Almost Athletes with Dude Perfect, a wave original. For all the show on all social media at Almost Athletes, like and subscribe to us on YouTube. Speaking of that, uh,

Just hit 100,000 subs. Oh, I didn't know. I was wondering what the 100K balloons meant behind you. I should have known. Hey, shout out the people. Yeah. For making that possible. Thank you guys for believing in us and listening.

So yeah, like and subscribe and rate us five stars. We're your host. There's only two today. Garrett. And Spark. And then we brought our PA Jackson along. PA? Yeah.

I don't, you're not a host yet, but you're, you know, a PA. Personal assistant? Yeah. Okay. That's fair. Could be worse. Could be worse, man. What do we got coming up, Sparks? A loaded episode. Kansas City Royals superstar Bobby Witt Jr. stops by the set. Almost athletes, like you said, hit 100K. Shout out the people. We know the operation's not possible in here without the folks out there. Plus, Jackson's here to help with some Gen C slang. We're thrilled to announce the first book in our Dude Perfect series. The twins are going to talk about that later. But first, USA won gold in hockey.

USA. USA. Jackson, did you even know Olympics for? happening. Yeah, I did. Oh, you did? That's good. I mean, how can you not? It was just electric. Yeah, it was electric. Started with the women doing their thing. Two-one, overtime winner. What a game-winning goal that was. Better than Hughes's, honestly. Way better. Way better than... The back hand, leaving your feet. We'll get into the actual plays later. Did you, you guys woke up early?

Yeah. Early for what? The game. Oh, early. Yeah, you obviously didn't. You watched on Instagram. I watched some Instagram clips and I was hype for my voice. That's insane, man. That's sad. Yeah, I woke up. It was a 710. Puck drop.

Central, so 710 puck drop a.m. You know, I had the coffee brewing. The first 10 minutes of the game, it was like, dude, we were skating. Like, we're going to do this thing. And then they went on a 50-minute long power play, it felt like. I mean, dude, they were just. A lot of penalties in the game. Yeah, I mean.

you know, tight whistle for a gold medal match, but I was cool with it. 100% penalty kill by the United States, all tournament. That's the difference. That's the difference. And then Hellie was awesome in net, man. 41 saves. I had question marks regarding who was in the net for the Americans. Not anymore. I didn't have any questions afterwards. No. No. One big ones. Shout out to the, uh, for picking the right keeper. I obviously would have loved to see Otter get some minutes. Sure. Sure. Selfishly. Yeah. But, uh, hey, he's rested, come back for the Dow Star. So that's all that matters. Hopefully Miko is

going to be back sooner rather than later. I didn't see any Canadians saying this because I really don't know any Canadians personally, but they were online at least making the Sid the Kid excuse, which I get. Crosby's a great player, but that's hockey for you, man. Everybody's banged up come gold medal match, you know? That's hockey for you.

And then, can we just talk about it, dude? I don't like to, I've said some crazy things on this pod before and gotten absolutely roasted. And some maybe were fair. But Nathan McKinnon. You can't say that, dude. Kids going to want that one back. You can't say that.

I've seen Tyler Tony hit that in that. The people watching know who the better team were, I don't know, the team that won the game. How poetic to do it, though, 46 years to the day of the late classic gold medal. I mean, dude, sports can be that way where they just write the story for you. Sports will also rip your heart out. We've been there. But when it comes like this, 46 years to the day, script writers in their bag, special.

I will say this because I think this is what Nathan McKinnon was saying, which I firmly agree with. Overtime has got to be five on five. I prefer it. If overtime was five on five, we had no offense, pretty limited offense, all game on five on five. Now when you open up the floor a little bit, it's when, you know, U.S. can use their speed. But man, I kind of feel, I love the three-on-three overtime. Like it's fun for a regular season, but for a world, for a gold medal. Yeah.

It kind of feels like a World Cup coming down. having the Stanley Cup final going on to a three-on-three overtime. I don't love it. I would love to know if you're a hockey purist, like, did you like that? Like, if so, maybe that's... I'm not like a...

I don't play ice hockey and, like, I'm not, like, ingrained in that culture, but... Sure. I would love to know what a hockey purest thinks of it. Three-on-three for the casual fan, tons of open ice, great watch. But to your point, Gare, is it the best way to determine the gold medal winner?

Probably not in the same sense that PKs in the World Cup can be tough. As a fan, you enjoy. them when they go to the spot kicks, but at the same time, you're like, did we really get the true winner of this? I was actually thinking, how easy is it to be professional curler? Like, do they have a professional?

No, dude. Don't go down. Hey, you being a PA, I'm telling you right now. People will be coming for your throat. I'm telling you, I went in on the luge and I regret it. I regret going on in on the luge. I wouldn't do it unless you have the skin. That's a hell he has to luge on now.

Dude, the curler's going to come after you. The curling community is going to come after you. They're few in the curling community, but they're, They're passionate. Let me tell you. Yeah, I mean, is there like a league that you play in? Yes, of course. Like we're getting to a little Wednesday night.

Do you get out? See, this is what's wrong with the Gen Ziers. Is there a league? Yeah. You think these people just show up, never played curling before? Kind of. That's, do you got to get off your Pokemon geocaching or whatever you're doing. A little too much Pokemon go.

The DFW curling club. Exactly. Well, no, man. You just made fun of all, and now you're never going to get invited. Whatever you Gen Zers do, you got to get more out. there man you gotta get involved it's time to grow up well I I get it and and I think that maybe I don't understand your guys's side of things but I think it's time that you understand our side of things so I'm gonna try and get you what the how

you make fun of curling well not just that there's a few few other things okay teach you guys cool so there's some new words going around really yes yes I mean there's new words every single so Kai's not been at it dude he's your leader okay actually see hi Kye retired He's done streaming. So he's on our side now? He came over to us? You could say he's...

Wait, wait, he's done streaming? He hasn't streamed in four months since the... What does he do? The Mafiathon? Since Mafiathon. And now all he does is he's working on his clothing brand. And so... Dude, he really has grown up.

Oh, my. So is he... So what happened? What happened was he had this girl that he loved, right? And she broke up with him and went viral. And now he's like a very... performative male and he's there's a bunch of memes about him like sitting there just reading he'll do like youtube videos where he sits there and reads for 15 minutes and uh he'll go over his

15 minute mark and like he'll hold his phone out like this and like continue reading and people are like this is electric like i cannot believe he's bro i'm so proud of kai snatt right now he went to reading novels i wouldn't i guess that yeah when is that going to happen for you dude i'm looking forward to that day. I mean, this is what a girl does to him, man, so... Yeah, I haven't experienced that yet. Oh, yeah. You gotta get the girl first. Yeah, so I mean, I'm not in that arc yet.

One minute, you're at Mafiathon. You think of the hair? You think of the hair's holding you back? No, I think my hair's fun. I think it's the verbiage. I think it's the lingo. Yeah, let's get into it. Let's start off with a banger here. All right, flow state. Yeah, I'm familiar with flow state. Yeah, like,

flow states when you, you've established some rhythm. Like, if we're on set and I ripped intro in the first take, I'm stepping into my flow state. Were you in your flow state in the creator game? Yes, I entered. It wasn't long lived, but there was... You entered a part where you were... I would say your flow state was defined by what Quai Lennard did in that All-Star game.

Yes. That's a good example of a flow state, which is incredible. The guy can't play NBA regular season games, but goes all out for 31-1-thirty-1-Biscuit in the All-Star game. Shout-up, Kauai. Yeah, that's great. That's good. Cool.

Okay, so... My pipes have been on flow state. I would argue that flow state is not a Gen Z term. Yeah, I would... Yes, yes, I agree, but it's a term that's popular right now. Oh, it's been perfected by Gen Z. They're like, Gen Z's running out of creativity, so they're stealing yours. They're stealing from the older generations.

All right, what does LARP mean? You might have got me here, LARP. See, here's... I've heard you use this before, actually. Here's the bad part about the Gen Z slang is now I have to remove something from my brain to, you know, and now I'm like losing the boiling point of water. Oh, you're like an iPhone that's like at capacity. You've got to run out of data.

So I'm now going to have to forget what the boiling point of water is to remember what LARP is, you know, and that's just a horrible tradeoff. But with that being said, what is the boiling point of water? Exactly. I don't know anymore. I think it's like 400 and 400 degrees? 412? 212?

I think. Well, Fahrenheit or Celsius. See, I knew this 30 minutes ago. It's 101. It's not 101. I know 32's freezing. It can't be 201, Jackson. You get a hot tub that's 101, bro. Really good, Graham. That's true. Bro, do you use your, see, this is where I'm just like, just a little common sense, dude.

Just a little common sense. You know what? And I'm going to, I'm going to do this. I shouldn't do this because this is publicly shaming. Ooh. But I got to because I feel like the Gen Z generation is making everyone lose our minds. Okay, just like you said, you forgot the boiling point of water. That's a 412 instead of 212. Yeah. That's not me, man. Okay. Last week at our office, I will go, I won't even say their name.

I won't even disclose if it's a guy or a girl. But we're just losing our minds when it comes to just like, you can't throw a medicine ball at a piece of sheet rock. Yeah, I'm so glad that wasn't me, but I saw the hole in the wall. Yeah. Is that what the holes from? We're just losing. We're losing, we're slowly losing our mind here because of what, exactly what you said. We're trying to learn what people are calling us a LARP.

on the side of the road. Let's just learn common sense and don't throw a 12-pound med ball into the wall. If an object's heavy, let's not throw it against something that's easily breakable. So let me just get this straight. Anyways, ran's over. Because someone threw a medicine ball at the wall, I'm getting blamed for that. Yeah, because you came up with LARP, dude, and that's on you. I'm not even going to begin to act like I know what LARP is. So you're going to have to describe this one to me.

I couldn't be more out of the note. I would love to hear at least an attempt. I thought LARP. You're so, like, you just got LARPed on. Ooh, that sounds kind of sounds hideous. She sounds hideous. Can I have it in a... I thought LARPing was like the imaginary

fighting. Like Dungeons and Dragons and they meet up in a field and you... Oh, quidditch. No. Live action roleplay? Like LARP? Yes, live action roleplay

or like the Civil War. He knows maybe too much in the LARF world. Is that not what it is though? Is that live action roleplay? No, no, no, no. What is it? So it's basically someone that's a poser or like you're being overly performative.

Right? So like what do you say like dude, you're a larp? So like someone that would pretend to, you know, pretend that they're want to go to, say I get drafted into World War III, right? They would never do. America would never do that, don't you worry? Because I have no clue how to hold my own in World War III.

So therefore I'm a larp. I'm a poser. I'm not real. You're phony. You're a, okay. Yeah, yeah. So you're a fake. Rocky, Rocket League.

You're a lot. Yes. Okay. No, I'm great at Rocket League. You're a fake, though, dude. No, you're a large. Easy. So you're just borrowing a millennial term, live action role play, and then inserting it to

describe somebody who's playing a role. Right, but it's funnier when we use it. I think I deserve partial credit. It took a lot of heart for me to go live action role play. Thank you for the assist, Graham. No problem. Sure, dude. I'll give it to you, man.

If that would make you feel. Yeah, give that one to Sparky. Because he's not giving this next one. So what would you say here sitting on this podcast? I'm not a LARP. I feel like I belong. You do. LARP tendencies.

Okay. There's LARP tendencies. This next one, which is high cortisol. Yeah, high cortisol is high stress. You need to talk to your doctor. High stress, high cortisol. You're stressed out. Yes.

So. That's not a Gen Z term. That's like an actual medical term. Yes, but cortisol has become a new trend to talk about because people will be like, oh, you've got high cortisol, but then you go back to a photo like a year ago, and you've got low cortisol, so you're like mocking. How can you tell if you have high cortisol through a photo? I mean, that, you know what I mean?

That's not cortisol. Is it not? I couldn't tell you where we are right now. I've lost my brain cells. Okay, okay, okay, okay. All right, we'll go next one. You're nuts, dude. What was the answer?

What does cortisol mean? Just type it in for Jack. They go with Jackson, Gen Z, here. Cortisol. Sounds like either a clean- food. It's like a lot of fat, right? No. It's the stress hormone. No, dude. Oh. Okay. Well, I'm learning something. So whoever is a, it's not Kye anymore because he retired and he's now a

poet. But whoever is your... I didn't think he was going to take the Shakespeare out, but whoever is your new leader of the Gen Z, at least like, see, this is where it's confusing. It's like the Gen Zers, you're learning what high cortisol is. That's, it's not even real. It's like, let's learn the actual definition of what high cortisol is. You know what I mean? Because then there's going to come a time in your life when you're 41 and your doctor looks

at you and you're like, hey, dude, you've got some high cortisol. And you're like, I'm fat in my face. Okay, okay, okay, okay. If I were to be like, yo, don't touch my Cinco. Like, don't touch the Cinco. Touch my Cinco? Is that Spanish for sync? Sounds.

You know, just put an O on it to make it. Okay, okay, okay. In my history, a lot of times they just put her. no on it. Yeah. I'll say it like this. If someone's robbing your house, yeah. Okay? They can take anything. But your Cinco. But the Cinco. Yeah. You can't. What is the Cinco? Your freedom. So is the Cinco like your most prized possession? It's like William Wallace, dude. It's like, was it Tim McGrath made a song about this. Don't take the girl. Can you imagine if if he, if William Wallace was on the Braveheart scene and he was like, but they can never take

our Cinco. Yeah, that's what I was saying. Don't take the girl by Tim McGraw. What if he's like, Don't take the Cinco. Doesn't flood as well. You know? Oh, baby. Girl? So, no. Freedom.

No. Bedding. It's the kitchen knives. Forks. It's your most valuable possession. It's the PS5. That's your Cinco? No, that is the Cinco.

Just the PS5? It's the Cinco. Oh, is that slang for Cinco meaning five in Spanish? Yes. It's the Cinco. See, I was thinking at S-I-N-K-O, not. Okay. It's a Cinco.

you can't touch the Cinco Woon Cinco Thank you for that Cinco See that's what we should be doing Is learning Spanish Would be a lot more

Yeah can we have a Just Can you just come on the pod And just teach for 30 minutes Just Espanio Instead of teaching us This I got

Cinco Cinco That was passionate Cinco Okay you boys are going to need To know this next one I don't know if I will You're going to need to know it

I am so excited for Bobby went to walk through this door at any moment. All right, frame-mogged. You got frame-mogged? It's like you got postered. You got... It's like a picture that... You got...

You got tore up in the comments. So you guys know what mugged means from last time. I really don't. I forgot, dude. I kind of forgot what a mob man. I go through these and I'm like, I don't need to remember any of that. Heavily outclass.

Okay, yeah. Does anyone have any answers? I have a guess. Yeah. I feel like frame-mogged would be like a picture. that caught you at a bad angle or like a really bad picture and you got caught in the frame or something like that? I like that. I don't know. Sounds bullish to me to call somebody to get frame-mogged, but it's fine. It's not bullying. It's more of a canon event. Do you know what a

canon event is? A canon event where they release new cameras? No, a canon event is something that happens in every one of our lives. Like it's a canon event. It's like, you know that scene from Interstellar where he's like, no, don't go. He's like, you know what I mean? That's a canon event, right? Give me an example of a canon event. Like the Berlin Wall coming down? That's a historical event.

Getting heartbroken. Yeah, getting heartbroken. I don't know, like, I don't know, maybe suffering a loss. Yeah. Well, no, that's not everyone really goes through that. Well, most of it. Yeah, most, I think, I think it's like... Is it just like a fancy word for deja vu?

Kind of? Is it, I don't know. It's in the same family tree as deja vu. You all just like look through a history book and be like, I just want to rename this because I don't want to, I don't want to live through that again. We're going to rename what this is. Yeah, you've made a mockery of Battle

of Midway. By calling it Battle of Mid? Y'all say that all the time. That's a mockery. Battle of Midd? That was a pivotal battle. A pivotal often painful experience that shapes an individual's career, identity or life path. I mean, I guess

that's the Google AI version. A Canon event is just called Life's struggles. Yeah, I mean, It's like, you get heartbroken for the first time. You get fired from a job. It happens, you. It's not, like, going to define you. Whenever you're driving to school, your mom's already so mad,

and then you realize you forgot your backpack. Canada event. And you got to tell your mom, mom, I never forgot my backpack. See, he didn't. He wasn't once who suffered from canon events. I did. Okay, how about this? It's 10 p.m. at night.

Yeah. You have a project due in the morning that you haven't started, and you need a poster board, crayons, markers, scotch tape. I've never in my life ever. You have to understand. We are far removed from crayons and group projects at this point in the game, brother. All right, next word. Thank you.

That's the craziest thing. Let's run two more here. Actually, I got some good ones. Oh, I can't choose. All right, lo-kinnually. Say that again? Low-kinnually. Locunin-li?

What do you? No-quinunely. say? Low canuently. Oh, low canynually. Oh, low canynually. Yeah. This has something to do with like maybe like Barbie kin.

Like you're just like, dude, you got low genuinely lead. I'm thinking it's a playoff low key, keeping it kind of discreet, kind of keeping it under the radar. So it's like, Jackson, why don't you come over tonight, but we're keeping it loquenely. Ooh, I like that. Because we don't want other people to know that you're coming over. That's smart. That's good, actually. Is that proper usage?

Low-Kinually is low-key and genuinely put together, right? Oh, I thought it was Luke and Keeckley getting put together, one of the better linebackers of my generation. No, low-key and genuinely.

So I could be, it's to set something up. All I know was I just tied the game with a half-point there. I don't know if I want to win this, care. I don't, I don't want to win it. Low-kinnually.

Lo-kenuantly. I don't want to win this. Okay. Joke of a... If I, if I'm saying like I'm overly going, what does that mean? you're overly going, I'm 100% in, I'll be there.

If I'm overly going, I'm going to show. If I'm breathing, I'm showing. That's like I'm not backing. I'm committed. Like, I'm 100% there. Again, like, I just makes no sense. You say you're committed and maybe make your word mean something. To be fair to you though, Jackson, my friend group did create a couple things,

Cheeto being one of them. I like Cheeto. Cheeto was a person of authority or like a coach walks in and you might have been goofing around in the locker room. Or if like, Cheetos, Cheetos, you should be coming up. Oh. See, that's what we should be coming up. up with not like just changing. That can be productive. That can be you, you know, there's a cop

that's, uh, radar and it's like Cheeto, Cheeto to the car behind you. You know, you call you to tell all your boys, hey, Cheeto on Interstate 75. The one above, the first one was great, but overly going, I think that's one of your worst ones. Okay. My friend group also, close day. That's great. My friend group also had cross friendship, which if you said cross friendship, that means you were 1,000% telling the truth. Oh, really? Yeah. That's, oh, that's just me and my boys. You're putting it on your boys. It's like, it's like, Sparky's life, I'm telling the truth. Kind of, yeah, cross-friendship.

Okay. It's like, my boys hit me with a cross-frenship. I know they're telling me, they're shooting me straight. They put it on their mama. Mm-hmm, exactly. If they put it on their mama. So I can't hate on you too much because there's, I have facets of Gen Z in me. That's all.

Just very, like a 5%. Okay. Wig maxed. Wig maxed. Wig maxed. Wing-maxed is like your hair is insane. Like, you got to dial it back. Like wig maxed, dude.

Like you wig-maxed it out. Like, let's not go crazy anymore. Yeah, I'm going to go with Garrett on that. This feels personal. Go ahead, though. It's not about hair. It's not about hair. Okay, I'm comfortable.

It is about hair. It is about hair. All right. Dude, Jackson, your new haircut is wig-maxed. It's not an adjective? No, no, no. It's... I can't stand there.

Is Graham wig-maxing with his new haircut? No. No, I mean, we can... Yeah. No, he's not. So wig-maxing is actually... an event that happened here as a recent. Whoa.

Yeah. Wait, you came up with this word. No, I wish I did. I would totally take credit for that if I did. Wigmaxing happened at the office? No,

but if it did, that would be electric. So what happened is, so there is this streamer that was streaming, right? At the office? No,

unfortunately not. He was out in public. Oh, okay. Talking to his friends, whatever, doing his R.R. streaming. Had his cap on, right? His hair coming out of his

cab. I mean, it looks great. Someone comes up behind them, rips the cap off. The hair on the hat goes with it, and he's like, bald. He's a chopped hair line. So it's me. I'm wig maxed. No, you're not wig maxing, though. But if we put the little

golf visor on with the fake hair coming out, that's wig maxing. Yeah. So, can we play this clip? Yep. Yeah, I want them to... Yeah, he got wig maxed. Ooh, in public. A public wig max is 12. Not the guy I would go after, to be honest. Yeah.

Dude looks ripped. Oh yeah, look at him. He's not having it either. Is that not brutal, though? Yeah, you don't want to get wig maxed in public. I will say this to all the guys going through it. I started losing my hair early 20s. It's not fun, but at the end of the day, dude, like, don't be with a girl that only cares about your hair because that's shallow anyway.

That feels, yeah, that doesn't feel healthy, if that's the only reason she's into you. easiest thing ever, dude. I can shower like on a whim. Yeah. How long does it take you to do that, that, that flowy flowing thing you got going? How long are you looking? Three minutes, four minutes. Times 365 days a year, times

70 plus years. It's a lot of time. Yeah, it is. Think about that? No, not really. Yeah. All those high dollar shampoos unnecessary. Is it? Just saying. Oh, well, that's, that's the soap comment, dude. I don't know about that. Yeah, true. I think Ty's wrong on the book, so. I feel like my...

So, Jackson, would you claim Sparky in your clan of Jen Ziers? Actually, yeah. I mean, yeah, dude, he's... You can come hang at the crib anytime you want. Come hang at the crib and flow-stated up. Jackson, always a pleasure to have you. Thanks, ma'am.

Before we let you go, though, let's move into some almost sports. What I just did, felt almost, almost sporty. But we're going to go into some toe wrestling today. Have you ever heard of it? What? Yeah, watch this clip, boys. Got a guy laying just sitting down.

And basically, you just put the feet together and this is, this is Chuck Bessing. Sit on the ground, lock their big toes and align their feet flat against each other, best of three rounds. The goal is to force the opponent's foot down on the side, a toe down. Penn must be held for three seconds. So it's kind of like arm wrestling, but with your toes, dude, the locking of the big toes is brutal.

So a couple things before I have a question for you. Is this the most disgusting sport there is? Yes, I was about to say as an anti-feet guy, this is brutal. To go out in public and actively toe wrestle, another grown man means you're at a low point in your life. Dude, think about it. Remember Jonesy had a,

had a nasty little like Athletes foot thing from a from the tour. No, it was like skin that was like eaten up as He had like a flesh eating bacteria. Yeah, if you had if you had a toe wrestle that guy I mean, I don't know if bacteria translates like that. That's a heavyweight matchup, a flesh eating bacteria

Jones versus a bunion-infused tie. That's a heavyweight matchup. Heavy weight. But that I wouldn't watch. Not a feet guy. I'm going to be honest with you. In fact, like feet on a bed might be like my biggest. Are you serious? But to bring it to another point, If, like, I'm a nine and a half, 10 kind of guy, am I in a weight class?

Yeah, you're in a weight. I don't need to be a size 14s. You got to be a size class. Oh, a full inspection of feet for hygiene, warts, and infections is mandatory. Do you grow your t-nails out just to inflict some scratches? Well, they would probably cut them before. Well, Jackson, how's your feet today? I actually got this question asked earlier.

My feet are chopped. I ain't a lie. The feeder trout? That's not what I asked. They're clean, though? They're fine, yeah. Yeah, they're, okay. I thought it'd be kind of a little good matchup of the Gen Zers to the little feet wrestle

live on set. Let's do it, bro. I don't know. Actually, you can check if I have a bunioning or not because I actually don't know. You would know if you had a bunnies. Graham, you're looking at me. I want you and Jackson to toe wrestle. Y'all get like so mad at Jackson for all these words and now you want to see us like

lock feet in the middle of the studio. That's insane. Yeah, that's got me hypocritical. I'll call me hypocritical because I am. We should do. It's going to do it. If they're willing, by all means. Are you guys ready?

The toes are underwage. Wait, which way are we supposed to go? Wait, okay, which way are we supposed to go? You go that way, I go this way. Yeah, you go inward, I think. Ah, your ligaments may go on you. Dude, my feet are so sweaty right now. All right, we're ready?

Oh my shit's the phone out on everything. You're ready. Toe wrestling commences in three, two, one. Oh, dude. Oh, that was the quickest pin I've ever seen. I got scared. I got scared. That was automatic.

I got scared. Can we run it back? Yeah. All right, best two out of three. Graham took game one. Is it a clean sweep? I think so. We're gonna find out in three, two, one.

Quick, you may have found your calling, Graham. Why are your toes so like masculine and weird? Do you have a secret bunion? I've been working them out. I don't know if there's any other time to welcome in Bobby Witt, Whit, but I think we go right to the Bobby Witt interview, because this has gotten just... Pound it. Noggin. He's just going to walk in. You don't have to... Almost. We love DoorDash on this show. We talk about it all the time. And we use it all the time.

Maybe too much, but is there such thing as too much DoorDash? Never. Although my wife does want me to cut back on the late-night cookie orders. She wants me to go vegetables instead. Yeah, that's not going to happen. Definitely not. But you know what I really love about DoorDash, Sparky? That you can order from almost every local restaurant and every other local business. That's great and all. But what I really love about DoorDash is like when life happens, DoorDash is always there for me. I know what you mean, G, but I bet it's twice as helpful as a parent. Sure is. Instead of dragging the kids to the store because they need batteries for a toy or a snack we just ran out of, I can doordash it. It gives me more time to spend with my kids and more time for myself.

It's so true. When it's cold out and I need a blanket for my PlayStation to keep her warm, DoorDash is there for me. Or when my travel fan, Wendy needs a little oil to keep her humming, DoorDash all the way. Our lives are very different. Speaking of DoorDash, I think it's time to order some cookies. I was thinking the exact same thing. Guess that's one thing we have in common. When life gets crazy, DoorDash helps bring a little order to it.

Our guest is one of the most complete players in all of baseball. He was the number two pick in the 2019 MLB draft. He's a two-time All-MLB first team, two-time Gold Glove Award winner and platinum, two-time Silver Slugger Award winner in the 2024 MLB batting champion. Give it up for Bobby Witt, Jr. I'm exhausted, man. Dude. I was like I just ran a marathon.

The resume is loaded. The accolades are strong. I'm a two-sentence guy. They're like, his nickname's Sparky. Here he is, Sparky. Wow, brother. Thank you for joining us. Yeah, thank you.

DFW, man. Dallas kid. When it's a Dallas boy, we're more partial. There's no doubt about it. Oh, we raise the best athletes. Yeah, 100%. And, you know, let's just get right into it. I think we have the best barbecue.

Yeah, that's... Oh, we're going on a hard hitter right off the bat. He's just, he's from Dallas. He plays in Kansas City. I don't know, man, you tell us. Yeah, that's a question I always try to get away from. Sure. All right as fast as possible.

Dude, that almost athletes, we like to, we like to just go right in. But yeah, I'm always, I'm always in between. Like, honestly, like, if I had a, I would say my opinion, but I really think there's just different things from each barbecue place that. Let's go through them. Yeah, so like, brisket. Oh, I was going to go like Kansas City burnt ends or better. And then like the ribs, some places that I like in Texas are better.

And then just some of the sauces, there's differences in it. So I can't really, you know, put one or a deal. All I heard is he likes Dallas better, man. You guys interpret it. They're both really good. He's like, dude, I'm not going to make these people mad. Yeah, one thing that's hard to be, I got to throw on the bus a little bit, but my wife doesn't really like barbecue. So we don't.

So then it's always just me getting it and eating a lot of it. And so, yeah. So I just had to throw that out there. Yeah. What do y'all eat at home? She cooks. She's great cook. And so, yeah, she's been doing a lot more cooking around the house, eating clean. And so she's been, she's been great with that. If she wasn't in the room with us, would you still claim she's a good cook? Okay. Just making sure. No doubt. No doubt. Who wasn't that we worked with it through their wife under the bus cooking? Steph, it's really well done by him. He's like, yeah, Eisha doesn't really cook as well as you think. I just remember that for some reason. Solid, solid cook.

come from baseball royalty obviously your dad pitched in the bigs for what 16 years yeah two stints with our texas rangers did you um learn anything growing up inside of a clubhouse that kind of thing how much did you get from your dad so when he retired it was in 2001 and i was won and that was his last year was with the diamond backs they won a world series but i always call him my cheat sheet growing up he's still in baseball he's a baseball agent um my agent and so he's still around the game and so growing up we're always going to see his guys see players so just watching the game with him i've learned so much but also just like i call him after every game we go over situations yeah that's cool it's not more so like the physical errors it's more of like the mental errors or just

talking about the game of baseball like because i feel like that's kind of getting we're steering away from it a little bit not like because when he played after the game guys would be in the clubhouse be around like let's go over what happened and then so what now we move on and so we're getting back to that and so which is which is great but just being able to kind of learn from your mistakes, move on, and then what can you do better, which is, I think, a huge thing in baseball. And so that's what he's helped me with, just being able to kind of grow as a baseball player on and off the field. That's really cool.

That's pretty unique. My dad would lay into me sometimes after a bad out of your song. Do you still get that as the critique? He shoots you straight. Yeah, oh, yeah, 100%. Even my mom, too, growing up. Oh, wow. What are you doing swinging that pitch?

I'm like, oh, now I'm getting from both of these. You got count leverage two o'clock in chasing? Yeah. That's a good mother right there. Yeah, she's great. Both of them always pushed me hard. And I had three older sisters, too, and then same way. And so, but yeah, it's been fun. You the youngest? Yeah, youngest of four.

Wow, I'm the youngest. Yeah, you're also the youngest. Do you the favorite as well? My favorite son. I was the favorite son for sure. Good answer. Mark. Yeah. Smart, well, this is crazy to think that I actually knew your dad before you knew your own dad. Yeah.

Rewinded it. April 6, 1996, one of my first ever Ranger games. A 4-2 win. Your dad started. Gave me one of my first dub. we have that call later on tonight's home thank you yeah 100% yeah with the dreaded Yankees that's awesome oh baby let's talk pets

no kids in the life yet but you do have a dog yes Barry Barry Barry the Bernie Barry the Bernie doodle yeah he's like we come up with Barry it was just kind of something that I don't know just rhymed and Barry I always kind of call people Barry Larry like what's up Gary

like just that I don't know what it is and so it just came to me like oh whenever we have a dog we're gonna have Barry I wanted Gronk or Tom and didn't have that. Pat fan. Yeah, kind of, yeah.

Yeah, growing up, I'll just tell the story. Growing up, Patriots fan. Dad's from Massachusetts, diehard to all Boston teams, and then 2019 rolls around. I get drafted by the Kansas City Royals and Kansas City Chiefs football team, and so they were starting, Patriots were kind of going on their decline,

and chiefs were going on their incline. It's like, maybe it's just me. I don't know what it is. Like the football team just kind of thrives when I'm rooting for them. But yeah, and then now it's kind of going, not the chiefs are going to be who they are until as long as they got Pat behind there. And so, but yeah, the Patriots now doing what they're doing. Yeah, it's fun.

Well, as soon as you're ready to hop back on the Cowboys, we certainly could use you. I've never, never been on that train. Have not, yeah. So other sports teams in Texas, but yeah. Yeah, it's never too late. Yeah, you mentioned other sports teams, the Dallas Stars. You recently were ice level, got miced up for that, even did. some manicuring of the ice?

How did that all come about? How fun was that? Yeah, it was awesome. Stars won, I think, they played the Boston Bruin, so I took my dad. So it's kind of funny. Yeah, they won six to two or something.

But yeah, it helped with the ice. I don't know if it's saying that I did anything to get those goals going. But, yeah. Dude, I, you know, are you the missing piece to the Dallas Cowboys? Wow. My wife roots for him.

So I don't know. I'm next to her whenever there's she's rooting for him. So I don't know. Was the contract up with the Roy? That's wild. I think he signed a pretty big one. Hey, football is my second sport, so, but no, yeah. Speaking of other sports, did you play a lot of other sports growing up,

or you just kind of specialized in baseball? Football was, like, kind of growing up, like, in middle school, even just playing seven-on-seven football, I was always almost not kind of close to being better at football than baseball. Really? So that was, like, my ultimate goal was going to Oklahoma to play football and baseball. Like, that's the dream. And, like, Kyler Murray was doing that around that time.

That's when Baker was there. And then so one of my brother-in-law's played football there too at Oklahoma. Two of my sisters cheered there, so that was always my dream. My dream, parents went there. And so I was like the dream was football, baseball, Oklahoma, receiver, short stop, let's do it. And so but then after my freshman year of playing football in Texas, Texas high school football is a big deal. And so just kind of like it's a year-round sports. And I'm like, I got this opportunities in baseball with USA stuff.

And then after going into my freshman year of high school, that's when I could. committed to the University of Oklahoma just for baseball. And so at that point, it's like, all right, now what's the next step? It's they get drafted. And so, like, I might have to push those football dreams to the side. But, yeah, that was something. I love playing football. I played a little bit of basketball and middle school wasn't very good and ran track.

So, but yeah. So we got a common bond, man. We don't like the Texas Longhorns. Fair. 100%. Also have a common bond that I committed to Oklahoma as a freshman. They didn't know it, though. I just verbally committed myself.

Yeah, mine is verbally committed to. Yeah. You mentioned USA in there. World Baseball Classic. Upcoming. You got a little cup of tea there in 23, ready to run it back in 26. I'm, I'm personally a baseball nerd.

Love the incorporation of the WBC back in 06. I'm a huge fan. How cool is it to represent your country? Yeah, it was unbelievable back when we did it a couple years ago and just being a part of that team. I didn't really, I played a little bit, but just that those guys like King Griffey Jr. are hitting coach and just the team we had.

And I was on second when Trey Turner, hit that grand slam and the building was shaking. It was, it was unbelievable, just being around Mooki and those guys. But now, like, really, now it's like, all right, got second place. Now we're going to win this thing. Like, this is team USA base. We got to go out there and win it. And so that's the ultimate goal is just bringing back gold.

And so, yeah, I'm really, really looking forward to it. And the team that's been kind of built is unbelievable. So it's going to be a lot of fun, just being around those guys and then going out there and competing. Really cool. The grind of 162, man. It's a long season just watching. I probably watch 150 Ranger games.

You add the WBC to that. How do you stay just locked and loaded the full year, keeping your body healthy? Is that a struggle? Yeah, it's a grind. It's hard to stay healthy in the podcast room. Yeah. He's already told us the secret sauce, dude.

Wife's cooking. Yeah, oh yeah. That's helped too. Just like we're talking about just eating clean, eating the right things, eating the good stuff just to make sure your body's right, sleep. and all the recovery stuff, red light therapy, all that goes into play.

But it also just starts like right kind of when the season ends and like, what are you going to do next? What are you going to do for your body? And it's during the off season where you're putting your body through things that are harder during the season so you can go for 160 plus games because we don't want to just play 162 games. We want to play on end of October and to the end of October. And so that's the ultimate goal.

So it's goal. So the offseason is huge. just this off-season training. I had a good place here in Texas, and so which really kind of, we push each other in there. Got a couple bunch of big league guys in there, and so it's fun, but we get after it, and that's kind of like the building part.

It's almost like, you know, when you build a skyscraper, you build down first, and that's like what we're doing. We're building the foundation right there, and then from there you just go up and you just hopefully slowly get better and better each and every day and just learn from it, and then go from there. Upward trajectory reminds me of KC last year, 82 and 80.

five games out of the playoff spot. I'm sure you would put all the personal accolades to the side for the Royals to get across that check mark and win come November. How awesome would it be to bring Kansas City in the World Series? Yeah, it's just you see it what they do with the Chiefs and just what they've done the past however many years it's been, them doing it and just the Sea of Red whenever they'd have the parade

and just bringing championships back to Kansas City because they, World Series, in 14 to 15, And then we go back to the playoffs in 2014 and you're playing that home playoff game and you're like, wow, this place is crazy. It's rocking. And it's like we want to keep doing that, keep motivation. And so last year, it was like if the years were flipped, it would be everyone would be like fired up. But now we get to the playoffs and then the next year we don't get to the playoffs.

And it's like, you don't really go back too much into the drawing board. But you're like, all right, we need to get back to that trajectory going up and keep getting better each and every day, each and every year, going in the offseason, getting better, whatever it is. And so, but I love the team that we have, and I believe in all those guys in there. We're all going to pull on the same rope and come together, and it's going to be a lot of fun. Well said. Salvi Perez, man, one of my favorite big leaguers. That guy hacks at the first pitch so much, too. He's somehow, like, going backwards in age.

Like, he's like aging like one. It's like you see him. He's just running around like a little kid out there and enjoying it, smile on his face. And he's the same guy every day no matter what. Like you can't tell after a game if he's O for 4 with four strikeouts or he's hitting three homers, whatever it is. he's always going to be smiling. And that's what's so great for all the young guys coming up just to be around him.

And, yeah, it's special. Who's your favorite shortstop to ever play the game? Growing up was probably Jeter. It was hard because being like a Red Sox fan, but that was my guy. And so, but Jeter and then Dustin Mirdreve, played second. But he was also, like, those two guys

were the guys I really enjoyed watching just because of how they played both on and off the field. And that's why I wore 17 in high school because Bidroyo wore 15, Bidroy War 15, Jeter wore 2. and then 15 plus two. It's crazy how we get to our numbers sometimes. I justify 14.

I'm like, well, I grew up on 14 rolling road. Yeah, he's crazy. It's wild. This actually shocked me, man. All those great short stops in the game, you're the first with multiple 30-30 seasons. What feels better, though, stealing a bag off a big league catcher,

which I've done off Jonah Heim at Ranger sprinting training. Barely, but you did. Barely, but I was safe. You got it. Bang, bang play. Or hitting the bomb. Which one feels better? I got to say,

I don't know, they're both pretty good. Just getting in the scoring position for guys like Salvy, Vinny. It's always great, but then just hitting the Homer, it's just running around the bases, getting in the dugout, celebrating with the guys. That's, there's no better feeling, especially in like late in the game or go ahead Homer or walk off Homer. Those are the best.

So I think I have more stolen base than Homer, so it's more fun, I think, to hit Homer. As do I. I have more bags than homers. I never knew what it felt like to hit one over the wall. Always have. Maybe one day, but probably not. Kaufman moved in the dimensions 10 feet. You already hit pretty darn well at Kaufman.

Now you're scooting it in 10 feet? I mean, what kind of damage you're going to put up? Maybe 400? Yeah, it's really like an over-under at this point. I mean, does he go over? Well, traditionally one of the tougher hitting parks and that shortens up a little bit. I like this move.

I like this move. I want to see the ball flying. As a Ranger fan, it's been tough to go from the ballpark in Arlington where that was a jet stream to right. Now the ballpark holds just about every fly ball. So I'm sure you're a fan. You talk to the starting staff. They're probably not as thrilled about the wall move in.

Yeah, I was fired up because I kind of heard, oh, there may be a chance that we were doing this. I'm like, okay, we'll see when it actually happens. But then it happened. I'm like, oh, my gosh. And then we got to text, hey, we got a call going on. And I kind of texted something like, hey, I'm pretty sure not 100%. But this call we're going to have is about moving fences in.

And then the pitchers were just like, oh, and all the hayers. Yeah, and I bet the pitchers weren't happy. Yeah. And Salvi, we got on Zoom, and Salvi was just like, man, why don't we do this way earlier in my career? So he was laughing, but yeah, it was, we're, I think we're excited, everyone's excited for it because how good our pitching staff is, for one,

our bullpen's great, unbelievable too, and then two, it's just, our hitters, it just gives you a little confidence. Not that it's going to make you, like, change anything in your swing, but at time, like Kaufman, like you said, has been a defensive ballpark. It's really been actually a hitter's ballpark

just because of how big the outfit's been. But it's never really been a good, home run ballpark. And so I feel like sometimes you're at home. Guys are like, all right, our stadium's bigger, the wind's bowling in. I got to swing harder in reality that may be messing with you mentally, but you don't really have to do that. So like when you go on the road, it's like, oh, now I got to hit my homers on the road, but really you don't need to. So it's like a bunch. It's a little bit of a mind game, but now it's just for me, I'd never really thought of it like that, but you just go out there

and play and we'll see how that I've seen stuff on, oh, you could have this many more homers of this, but that's still got to do it. Yeah. Yeah, right. What's your favorite stadium to hit at? I would say Finway, just growing up. Is it just a nostalgia there? Yeah, I think just growing up a Boston fan and then just knowing all the history there. And like, same thing with like Riggly.

Or even Yankee Stadium just because the fans are always on here. Philly too, they're always yelling at you. An authentic baseball experience. They're just, yeah, it's just a great time in all good, good hitters ballparks. And so, yeah, and then San Diego's nice just because you know the weather you're going to get. Sure. The fans are going to be in there,

packed in there, and then just enjoy it. But Kaufman, too, is awesome. I have a problem with the batters eye at Fenway on MLB the show. I don't have a hard time picking it up, but, yeah. Yeah, this kid, this kid rips the show.

I was telling him, his teammate Kolek gave me about six innings last night. He was a quality start, six innings, a one-run ball, ended up getting the dub. That sounds like, I don't know. If you learned anything from what he said about, like, recovering, and I don't think video game was part of his recovery. Yeah.

Got to really maybe give that up. Fair. Sleep more. Fair. Got married last December. Congratulations. Thank you. At your wedding, you had a unique feature.

You had a pop-up replica of a Waterberger restaurant catering it. How did this come about? And what is that go-to-water burger order? Yeah, so it kind of came about just with, we've always, like, growing up, always would go to Waterberg. Like, that was our spot after games, just late night. Whatever it was, like, we're going to Waterburger. And then people would kind of mention the name Whittaburger.

Oh, this is Whittaburger. Just like throwing it out there and then have a deal with Waterburger. and like between them wedding planner everyone who was just kind of like all right we're gonna but we really didn't have any idea we just knew we were gonna have we wanted water burger at our wedding like from the get go like that's not one of the first things i asked my now wife like when we get married we got out of water burger but that was kind of like this she knew but then and then next thing you know we're like all right we're getting shown oh you guys have a water burger in your wedding venue and it's called wood a what and we show up and it's like a legit there's water

Burger workers in there. All the signs are wood of the bags say Wooderberger like the little tents. It was yeah it was like one of the highlights of yeah it was really it was really cool. Everyone loved it. Have a honey butter chicken biscuit for dessert. Is that a nice? Do we have kind of the full gauntlet or is like just a burger? Yeah I think they had like a regular cheese. They had the number seven. Okay. I think that's the junior water burger which is kind of like really cool. And they were doing that in like Kansas City water burgers a couple other water burgers. They would have like the Wooderberg would the number seven because the junior burger. But yeah, but yeah, they would have, I think they had like four or five things on the menu and then

yeah. And so, yeah, it was really cool. Everyone was just crushing Waterburger. Inspired. I think we should have a replic store in the office. In the office every day. Number seven. Yeah.

The Whit Jr. That'd be incredible. I love how it's like a play on numbers, a play on the name to the Junior Burger. It worked out. I love that. So you're Waterburger over in and out. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, 100%.

That's good. I mean, we at least agree on. We at least agree on that. I mean, the barbecue, I still think. DFW is better, but it's okay. We understand why you have to answer the way. Yeah, we get it. I get that.

Almost athlete podcast, we ask everyone, did you have an almost athlete moment growing up? Like, where you're just like, obviously not in baseball or football, but another sport where you're like, man, maybe that's not my, maybe that's not my sport. I got to say it was middle school basketball,

seventh grade year we were playing, and I actually got, like, I had rolled my ankle, and the dude, I got crossed over. You got crossed over? And I fell. Yeah. But like, I was like, and at the time, I was like, no, I just rolled my ankle.

But then I look back. I'm like, that's like getting caught. Yeah. And I fell. And so at that point it's just like. Just a sprint? Like no break. No, it wasn't even a sprained.

I was just like, I got. I broke my ankle. I was like, no, I fell. I tripped. And like that's. And then looking back like that's the. That was like when you're like, I'm going to stick the track. Yeah.

And baseball and football. Yeah. Okay. I didn't play my eighth grade year of basketball. Probably because of that moment. Did you know like growing up. up like, I mean, every, you sports in Texas are kind of mind-boggling crazy. Like, was it your dad?

Like, were people all around you like, dude, you're going to, you have it? Or was it, you know, your dad keeping you humble throughout the whole thing. Like, hey, you got to work hard for this. You're not there yet. Yeah, he was always pushing me hard. And it was like, he didn't like push me where it's like, all right, get in the car, we're doing this. It was like, I wanted to do that.

Yeah. But also. You let you, like, have fun with it. Yeah. But also it was like, all right, you got to know there's a guy. there's a kid in California, there's a kid in Florida, there's a kid in Atlanta, they're all working hard, they're all doing something to get to that next level. And so what are you going to do kind of about it type thing? It was always something that he kind of instilled in me. It's like, all right, there's someone else working hard or what am I going to do?

That's just going to get me a little bit better, that 1% better, whatever it was. And so that was something that he kind of instilled in me in a young age and just always work hard, stay humble, and then be myself. And just know that the game of baseball or whatever I'm doing isn't just going to pause for me just because I'm playing it. It's going to move on. So what can I do to kind of leave my mark or whatever it is and just make sure. And I also enjoy it while you're doing it because he played 16 years in the big leagues. And he's like, man, I wish I could go back there like now. But you can't.

It just goes on. And so it's like now it's crazy to look back. I've been in the big leagues for four years. This is my fifth year. And it's like I remember yesterday getting the call like I'm or calling my parents said I'm going to make my debut or whatever it is. That's a good word, man. Fun phone call to make. Yeah.

I say I make the same one again. it's the show. It's like, Mom, I got drafted my Red Sox in the second. All those videos are cool, though, like all the minor leagues, like having the skipper, somebody like, like, call the guy in, been like, hey, dude, you made it. Those are, those are fun videos. A very cool, like, baseball exclusive thing, given the fact the minor league systems, you know, built up completely different. Or even talking to Kershaw, how he was like, my favorite memories were in the minors when I, you know, he was like, with all the guys, like, sleeping in the, you know, five guys

per room, just like. Long road trips on the, like the college experience. you know, you obviously kind of missed out on the college experience, but kind of had your own. With the love of the game at that point, you know, you're probably not making a ton of money, busing long hours. I'm a baseball nerd, as I said, but one of the cooler aspects of baseball is I feel like we're entering the cool era, the swag era. You've got the chains, you've got the bat flips, which I'm a huge pro of, all these different things. You cool with all that stuff? As a new era player, you're fine with all that? Yeah, I got some like old school kind of instilled with me, like just saying just with my dad being my cheat sheet and everything.

But yeah, it's kind of just part of the game. But just if you can just respect the game and not do it while you're looking at the pitcher, whatever it is, I'm going to have no problem with it. But once you start doing it towards our dugout our team, then it might be a little bit of an issue. And so like it, so it's just part of having fun in the game. And the game's, I think, growing. It's getting bigger and bigger each and every year just from, I think it's the kids,

more kids are playing, more high school people are playing. And then so it's just like the game's always growing. If that's what it's going to take, then that's what it's going to take. But also it's just like, all right, play the game the right way, enjoy it, have fun. But then just don't take it. Don't cross that line. But you still believe in 96 and in a little bit, you know, to get messages across. It's there.

It's there. Good. Okay. Glad to hear that. So, yeah. But on the swag front, too, players weekend, man. You had a sick piece of lumber. Took a Pablo Sanchez bat up to the dish.

Tell me about that. Yeah, it was really cool. They were like, hey, you want to kind of just kind of fell in my hands. It was almost like, hey, you should use this bat. type thing and I'm like, all right, I'll use it. First side of that I used it. I hit it out to center and just, I hit it. I was like, dang, I felt good. And the next step bat hit hit Homer. I'm like, this is sweet. And then hit it with the Pablo Sanchez bat. And then, yeah, it was really cool. And it went kind of viral. And so it was really awesome.

A little extra power from the Pablo. Yeah, I had to. Yeah, I had to. Just a couple line shots of an exit Velo over 100. And you're like, yeah, that thing's mine. And I was like, man, do I keep using? I don't want to break it. Like, I don't know what to do after. The only thing cooler would be to be featured in backyard baseball. Yeah, that would be sick. Yeah. Keep your chin. up man maybe one day one day yeah did you ever grow up like playing any backyard baseball i mean when i was a kid it was it was the game yeah like i spent countless hours on that video i grew up a lot yeah on that field i matured you know yeah i'd grind on in the computer and then it was the one with

the one big poppy was on yeah i don't know what year that was but yeah it was yeah um surely you have a connection to like well i got that bat so that's got to be some way Yeah, well, let me know if you have a way in to, I could, you know, we were in the PGA game before and I was like, but being in backyard baseball would be the, uh, that's top of the mountain. That's pinnacle, dude. Yeah. That's like you peaked. You can't get any better.

Mm-hmm. All right. One last question before we do, uh, blind rankings. We do this thing called squad games, you know, we are almost athletes. No, we're not your level athlete. Uh, but if you had to pick four teammates or just, you know, other, they don't have to be on the Royals. just your friends to go up against the five of us and a sports competition who we choosing ooh i'll go teammates let's go five guys yeah you're one of them four four more yeah i would say

jack caglio okay do the specimen he is he is um yeah put him out there for sure i got to go viny pasquitino for the vibes for sure um in case it's some type of throwing or whatever it is, you know, Cole Reagan's lefty from the... No, Raygo. You know, Reagan's. How many is that? So you got one left. Did I say Salby?

No. I got to go Salvy just for, you know, just to really like, we're going to have a good team camaraderie. Yeah, I think that's a good team. So I just want to throw this out there, you know, next, let's just say next December because, you know, let's just say you're all going to win the World Series all the way through the first week of November, you're playing ball. I think we get those

We get those five together And we have We're only gonna know I mean look You guys might on paper Be the favorites But you never know in a game Yeah

You don't play squad games on paper Yeah We play squad games And uh It's a fun time And we just played The Savannah bananas Solid athletes by the way

I did not expect that Yeah That's what I think Baseball players Like athletes Like they can They can throw football They can hit a golf ball

They can shoot a basketball And hey You see some videos I think we do this I think we do the squad game thing, man. So you got a year to prepare. Perfect. Just saying, we also need a year to prepare.

Yeah, perfect. It's good. It works out. Mark it, down. Put it down. I love it. All right. Blind rankings?

Let's do it, baby. We're going to do a blind ranking top five. We want to know your toughest pitchers that you've faced. I'm going to name a pitcher and you have to rank them somewhere between one through five. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you don't know who I'm going to name next. Yeah, yeah, got it. First name.

Shane. Shane Bieber. Shane Bieber. My debut. First pitcher I faced in the big leagues right there. Yeah, I think I swung on a curveball that hit probably that front of the carpet. Dang. That's tough.

Hit a homer off him this past year. Division guys. Now he's with the Blue Jays. It's just, man, he's tough. I got to go three. Okay. Putting him at three. Next name.

Got to see you through there. Max. Mad Max Scherzer. How many times you face Scherzer? Faced him a couple times this year. Does the eyes bring off? I got a hit. I got one hit off him. We actually hit him pretty good. It was something. I don't know what the stat is, but we put up some crazy number.

He didn't make it to the first inning against us. It was the first time ever in his career. I don't know what it was. It was the same. We faced Bieber and Scher back to back this year. Wow. Pretty crazy at there. Memory on this man. But, yeah, and man, that's tough. He's a stud.

I wish I would have faced him like when he was. Prime Prime. Yeah, him. But he's still, like, knowing that he's doing what he's doing at the eight, Like, oh, man, let's go four. Okay. Sorry, Max. Don't get mad at me.

Yeah, it's tough because it'd be like, are these prime? Yeah. You know, like, we didn't. I'm just going off of when I faced. Yeah, that's a good. We saw him dog out some innings in the World Series run. Oh, yeah. 23.

Garrett Cole. Oh, Garrett Cole. Man, we got some good at bats against them. I might got a head off him one time here and there. Got some good barrels just right at someone. And they got a probably couple of strikesouts. Yeah, that heater plays. Yeah.

Cool. He's just like, one of those, he's like the guy, it's like, all right, it's Garrett Cole. Like, you got to get locked in. I'm going to put him at two. Okay. I don't know, yeah. Two spot.

Shohei Otani. Showhay. That's so tough. I got my first hit off him this year, too. Oh, boy. I think I was going into this year, O-for-7 with seven strikeouts, and I got a hit off him. Brut little, threw me, I think, a sweeper off the end of the bat, base hit.

And he was like, I was running down back. He was running off the line after the third down. He goes, man, nice thing. I was like, man, I was the first. time I touched one against him. So he can speak English. Yeah, he's got some English in there. I was going to ask you that after this whole thing. Yeah. Somebody just said, you know, biggest hot take is, I think O-Tonnie uses the interpreter to get out of, to get out of post-game interviews. That's genius. He's awesome. He's been here for eight years. Well, I think Manny Ramirez was

like in year 15 and he was still using interpreter. I'm going to start using the interpreter. Yeah, dude's like, sorry, man. Yeah, but yeah, it was cool. It was like, yeah, nice swing. I'm like, thanks. It was the first time I touched the ball against you. I think we faced him a couple years ago and he struck out 12 and hit like three homers or something that's insane quickly before we move on do you just marvel at that guy even as a professional baseball player

yourself you ever sit back and just say wow this guy is simply amazing it's special to see like what he's doing at the plate and then you're like man he's a pitcher too and he's like really good pitcher and so yeah in the ALCS when he with that that epic game yeah the NL championship season oh NL

yeah where he hit I forget the dodge. Yeah. Three homies. Yeah. Punched out 10 over like seven scoreless. Video game numbers, I'd know. Where are you putting them?

Shohei, one or the five spot? I want to put him at one, but also, like, I don't know who's going to be the next one. I feel bad because, like, you could put him as a hitter. Or, yeah, and say it's, like, not really a pitcher. You know this next one's going to be Kershaw. Yeah, probably is. I never faced him, so I don't know. I'll put Otani at five.

Wow, okay. Just because you know he's good. You don't need to give him anymore. This is going to be brutal when they pop up Cody Jones here. It's the last name and you've got to put him in the one spot. Scooby Snacks. I face him enough. He can be one.

Yeah, that is. Yeah. Terex, scubal. That's probably out of all those, I faced him the most. Yeah, it's a division mate. Yeah, face him a lot. But somehow, like, we do well against him. I don't know.

Like his career wins and losses. I think he has more losses than wins against that. Like, we get him good. Sometimes. Sometimes he gets us good, too. He's a stud, man. He is a stud, and he's just like, he gets on the mound. And so I get to be teammates with them, Team USA.

So it's going to be fun. Is he the, who are the pitchers on Team USA? Him, Skeens. Oh, yes. That's nice. Who are the other? Logan Webb, Matthew Boyd. It's a lineup, dude.

Oh, yeah. It's a lineup. Yeah, the pitching staff is loaded. Yeah. Let's do one more blind ranking before calling it today. Joe Ryan. Clay Holmes, McLean, Curshaw. Yeah, Clayton.

I did see Curshaw was going to, that's cool. You know, kind of post-retirement. Just to pick his brain in it. Oh, yeah, it's going to be great. Is that just as important when you're around those guys? Yeah, I feel like you're talking about it earlier. Have that glue guy, you know? Just be in there and just the vibes guy, whatever it is,

and just really gets everyone together as one. Got to have those guys. You got to. Let's do another blind ranking. Top five favorite stadium foods. I'm going to name a food, and you have to rank. them somewhere between one and five, but you don't know what's coming next. You ready? We're ready. Let's do it. Starting with peanuts.

Mm. Good protein source. Yeah. Fair? Let's go number three, though. Three. Yeah. Pins right in the middle. Messy, like. Yeah, the shells. Yeah. You a seed guy in the all field? Yeah. Or a gum guy? Our seed guy, gum, chenook seeds, uh, my go-to. Okay. But then also gum, like, when I play, it's like two pieces. through three innings and then I throw it out three more, two more pieces, three innings sewed out and then that's kind of how I...

What kind of gum? Just the double bubble. Sugar-free. Do we have a gum sponsor? No, no, that'd be really cool. I do. I do a lot of gum. Work on that.

But yeah, seeds do, but no gum. I love how superstitious. But sugar-free gum because like... Sugar-free gum? I used to not, I'd be all about the sugar gum, but I couldn't get... The sugar-free lasts a little bit longer. Could get through three inings with the sugar-free.

That's good to tell the kit. Man, I feel like Double Bubble always goes out pretty quickly. Yeah, but it establishes a good jaw line, double bubble, because you start chewing there late and it gets tough, man. Then stick to your teeth, too, that's sugar-free one. Okay, I'll have to give it a go. So peanuts in the three-hole, what's next?

Dog. That's so tough. Dog, I put down a dozen in a nine-in-game. Yep. You have to go. Dollar Hot Dog Night is like, it's... Yeah, Wednesday Home Games, that get me out to Arlington pretty quickly on Dollar Dog Night. I remember a dozen down.

I put a dozen down. We'll get them ordered from, like, when we play in Chicago. get the Chicago dogs. They'll bring them down to us. Yeah, they're good. How hand-delivered Chicago dogs? They just get mad if you put ketchup on it, I think. Okay.

Dogs in the one spot, lead off. That's a good lead-off hitter. It is. It does a little bit of everything. Five-to-o players, the dog. Nacho. Oh, nachos. It's just,

Nacho-man. I like nachos a lot. Yeah, they're good. Two. You are. It is tough because like, nach-o hot-dos are created equal. Fair.

Fair. But, man, if you get a good nacho, dude, a nacho and a hot dog, it's unbeatable. I just like that the OG, just the cheese from the whatever with a couple jalapenos on it. Sure. You get them at the Stars games. Yeah, the little bag of cheese.

I need a lake Ontario worth of cheese, though. I'm a big cheese guy. More cheese than chip. But nachos, I've seen nachos spark a sixth inning rally by myself. I've gone to a nacho standing got the Rangers back in the ballgame, so that's good. That's good. Next food item? I'm not kidding.

You're laughing. I'm not. Popcorn. Popcorn. Also, a pet dependent here. I don't want to get to your list. Yeah, I've got to go, I'm going to go five at popcorn just because it's like, I crush it sometimes at the game, just got to be the right time.

You know, it's like so salty. Like, you got to make sure you have to drink with it, whatever it is. And then I drink, I think I eat more popcorn at home, like for the movies, you know. I think of popcorn as like a movie food. Same. Yeah. I agree with that. And last but not least, it's going to go in the four hole, whatever it is.

The cleanup hit her ice cream. Yeah. Yeah. That's perfect. Isn't it crazy, though? the ice cream in the little helmet hits harder. Yeah.

It's incredible how that works. You know, it's not just a store bot. It's in that little batting helmet. Or the, the big, we call them Big Cahoonas back in there, but just the cookie-scent ice cream sandwich.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, dude, I used to, I mean, lemon chill too. I was about saying, where's the lemon chill come into play? You know,

they, that is coming back. No, they're coming back. Then they brought the watermelon flavor in for a little bit, and I was like, I know the guy that just bought them to bring them back.

That's good. Insider, insider, the lemon chill back in 26. Have you ever gone to a game and had all five of them? Because it's pretty much my lineup every time I go to a game. In that order, generally. Pretty much, dude. I gained 10. That's why I can't go to a lot of baseball games, man.

I gain like 10 pounds every time I go. It's easy. Well, dude, we appreciate you being here. That was super fun. Again, let me know if back your baseball gives you a call. I will, for sure. Y'all will be the first to know. Same to y'all if you all got some connection.

Yeah. I don't know, dude. I don't know if they're calling the almost athletes. Maybe, maybe they will. Yeah, maybe. If they do, I'll make sure you'll read. Yeah. Yeah, maybe they will.

Appreciate the time, brother. When in Rome, I just happened to... This was just sitting here, actually, believe it or not. That's incredible. You know, just ripping that. That would be pretty cool for the personal collection. Appreciate that. That's going to go in front of Gunner Henderson's, by the way.

Do you guys work on signatures? Because I feel like every baseball player has an, like, really nice pinmanship. I don't know. I was just, we had to sign a lot of things. like I used to have like a longer signature when I was like 14 15 and then we did this team USA thing we had to sign like 200 little stickers shortened it up and then from there I'm in high school like all my papers just autograph autograph my teachers would get mad I'm like I don't know it's just fun I still

find it funny the twins signed their full name it's just like incursive Kobe cotton not efficient yeah it's got a B guys not efficient the way you're doing it yeah I couldn't have mine look like my dad's too because we have the same name but I don't have I don't put the junior in my autograph. Well, good luck this year, dude. I hope y'all crush it. Go win the World Series. Thank you. Yeah, let's do it again next year, fresh off of AL Pennant and a World Series. Sweet. We'll come to the parade. Everybody inviting myself on. Bobby Witt, Jr., everybody. Give it up for them.

February is almost over, G. March is on its way, and you know what that means. March Madness, baby. That's right, but March is also the month where everyone's New Year's resolutions either didn't happen or it's time for them to turn into results. Pretty sure I forgot about my New Year's resolution right around January 7th. My resolution was to hit more game-winning shots and I already hit a huge one in the Creator Cup. You're never going to stop bringing that up, are you? Never. But if your resolution was starting your own online store, it's a lot easier than hitting a clutch three-pointer. I see where you're getting at Spark. You're talking about Shopify. We know firsthand that starting your own online store has never been easier, thanks to Shopify.

That's right, Gary, Shopify is the place to go. If you want to grow or start your own business, it has everything you need in one place. And you only have one login that connects to everything you need to run your business. Not to mention thousands of design. templates and formats to make it look great. That's right. In fact, our very own dudeperfect. Store was built with Shopify. So if you visited DudePerfect.com store to buy some of our great merch, you know how user-friendly it is for both sellers and customers. And to make it even easier to use, Shopify has an AI assistant to help you with everything

from coming up with ideas to executing them. Go to dudeperfect. Store to see for yourself. You can even get some merch and some ideas for your own store. And then do what we did to build our store. Use Shopify. What are you waiting for? It's time to build your brand.

Head to Shopify.com slash almost to see how easy it is to start your business today. Excited to be joined by Kobe and Corey Cotton. But before we chat with the twins, I got a special announcement, boys, tour. Continuing to work on what is our most ambitious and exciting tour yet. As you've probably heard, squad games themed, we're about to announce guests soon. Get your tickets at dudeperfect.com slash tour because tickets are selling fast. It is going to be so fun. It's going to be so fun.

Cannot wait for the summer. summer's right around the corner. We actually get 85, the high of 85 today here in Texas. Yeah, in late February, concerning. Farmer's Almanac calling for a brutal summer. Don't worry about summer when summer gets here. They called for a brutal winter and they were wrong. They did call for some precept too and we did. And that's why we're leaving town for tour. That's why I trust the farmer's alman. We'll be in other cities and states. But the tour is not the only special announcement today. Twins, you're here because I hear rumors of a dude perfect book.

Yeah. Tell me more. I want to know. I'm itching to know more. announce this. I'm going to let Corey kick it off. We are definitely pumped about this here, DP. It's a long time in the making. Guys, this is a huge deal. All right, let me tell you a little bit about the book history of DP, okay? A long time ago, probably like 11, 12 years ago, I wrote a book about

the story of Dude Perfect. And that was cool, realistically, it was a little early. Very much too early. It was a little early. We got excited. It's cool, it's cool, it's cool. Okay. Fast forward to a couple years ago, maybe five years ago. We did 101 tips and tricks. Cool stuff about Dude Perfect. Like a coffee table book,

really amazing, really fun, got the whole team involved, an incredible gift for kids, right? Then, fast forward another year to... I will say, because I think it's worth mentioning. New York Times bestseller. It was, it was, if you're into that sort of thing. Well, I just, I thought it was really encouraging. Like, our fans and, you know, families loved it.

It was awesome. People still, every time they come to a meeting green, people are holding the book. Third one, written not by anyone on this couch, but by someone married to someone on this couch. That's right. Kristen Hilbert, Garrett's wife, incredible, good night, dude, perfect. Really fun kids book.

One of my little kids' favorite books. It's a go-to at bedtime in our house. I agree. It's amazing. And drum roll, because the book we have been most excited about, the concept that the people want when you're talking about Dude Perfect books is, of course, an actual fiction series. Ladies and gentlemen, we have been cooking on this four years. Dude Perfect would like to announce the Dude Perfect and Panda series coming soon.

And by soon, I mean, as of right now, officially available for pre-order books coming for sale in May. The Dude Purminton Panda series, the first book in the series is Operation Trickshot. We got really excited about the idea of writing a fiction series where the dudes are in middle school. We're already making YouTube videos kind of on the up. And our mascot panda, unbeknownst to us, is a secret agent. Coming around behind us, mopping up our messes. He's a secret agent. We don't know.

There's tension back and forth about it. This book is so fun. It's the start of a huge series where we wanted parents to be able to have something like we did when we were kids. Hardy boys. Nancy Drew. What else did you guys? Box car children. Take the cow dog.

A little bit of mystery, a little bit of adventure, a lot of sports. We wanted something where parents could 100% trust it and kids would 100% love it. I could not be more proud of our team. I think we nailed it. This is the first of many to come. but we love you guys here at Almost Athletes. We know that y'all are deep, and I think y'all are the perfect audience for this.

Are you trying to say, Corey? Oh, sorry, Gary, I was just saying, Corey, you trying to say this is going to compete with Harry Potter? That would be sick. I think that would be awesome. Dude, a collab between, you know, the Operation Trick Shot and Harry Potter crew. Not bad, I would get on board.

You can pre-order right now. Right now. It's live. I think you can get pre-order on Amazon. Where else can you pre-order this? Just Amazon? Wherever books are sold, Gary, you know the line.

Wherever books are sold, you can pre-order. I didn't know that. I just say it's like on as seen on TV hey wherever books are sold tell me the name of a place and I'll tell you if they sell the book I only really know Barnes and Noble in Amazon yes yes Sparky name a place Target yes Kobe Walmart yes the list goes on book releases May 12th a day before one of the most important days of the year Kristen's husband's birthday that's right that's right May 12th my sister's birthday come on fire fireworks of athletes were born around the May. Fun fact about Gary doesn't care at all about Valentine's Day, but his own birthday.

Oh yeah, it's a big deal. Top day. Top two holiday. I got a couple follow-up questions, Corr, is one who's curious of the book series. One, you said there's many that are going to follow. How many books are we expecting in the series? Do we know that's a good question? I don't know that we've landed on a specific number. I know we have a theme for the second one now. We do. And it's a little

soccer theme. Yeah, baby. Action in London. Fun. That's thinking ahead. That's World Cup related guy. That one's going to be launched this fall. Okay. The second book will be launched this fall. I can tell you this part. the current game plan is to release two to three a year. Oh, wow. That's what makes it fun.

It's fun. Like you get into a series. You want more to readers, right. You want to continue to dive in. Another question. I'm sure this is, you know, catered to the eight to 12 year old group. Is it fun for adults to listen to life as well?

100%. I've thoroughly enjoyed it. Granted, I'm in the book, so it's not completely fair. But I have thoroughly enjoyed it. And also, if you're younger than 8 to 12, but a good reader, you're also invited. And also, we're doing an audio book.

I was going to ask. I was going to ask that, because that's important to the people nowadays. Well, I'm going to be honest. I do a lot more audio booking than I do reading, and I do highly recommend you guys read, you know, because that's just a good life skill. But if you're more of an audiobooker, that's fine. Kobe, quick question for the fans.

Are we making the fans listen to a random person read our book? Absolutely not. No, we're not. When Kobe's talking in the book, what does he sound like? He sounds like me. Wow. That's what he's going to sound like. AI's crazy these days.

I was about to ask. AI? Just kidding. I mean, you know, I'm open to it. But no, we are doing it. It's going to be fun. I've always wanted to be like the voice of a of a character, you know? Yeah, sure.

What's the overarching goal of our book coming out? My personal goal, and this may be a little sappy, so moms lean in kids, you can close your ears for a second. We love families here at Dude Pervin. We internally say Dude Perven is for the fam is what we talk about. And so we work really hard for our videos to be completely trusted by anyone. We want them to be genuinely fun for all the kids watching, but we also want the parents to enjoy them and to feel safe that their kids or family is watching this because what you consume does mean a lot to you and it does kind of shape who you are.

And so we felt like we had an opportunity to serve families by creating a book series that is completely trusted but also legitimately fun. And we know that it's important. I'm in the same situation with my kids right now. I got twin seven-year-olds, a six-year-old and a one-year-old. And my six- and seven-year-olds are just now getting deep into reading. And they will love the series because they love reading good books. And you don't want to feel like as a parent you have to pre-read the entire book and make sure it's safe and make sure the attitudes aren't bad and your kids aren't going to come out super sarcastic and like all this kind of stuff.

You're like, wait, where did you learn that? We're not doing that. We're going to in the same way that we vet all of our own videos as if our own kids are watching them because they do. We're treating the books the same way. So we just wanted to create an entire like universe of this, the Duke Perved and Panda series that's super fun and also super trusted. So we honestly, like I said, incredibly proud of how it turned out. I'm kind of gushing about it because I think we nailed it. So I'm really pumped about it.

Obviously, we'll see what people think when it comes out. But as of now, it's officially available for pre-order. Well, it's a good time to tell Sparky to Corey. I'm proud of you, dude. I'm proud of all the work you put in because he has both the twins, have put in a lot of work on this and people in-house too. So to see it actually with the cover around it, really cool. What a cool experience.

And as a guy who admittedly kind of struggles to read a little bit. sure with the attention deficit disorder and stuff, I feel like I as a kid would have thoroughly enjoyed having these available, especially if they qualified for AR points. I don't even know if that's a thing anymore, but you had to get so many points. If that was a point getter, I'd be reading the whole series.

Of course, that's the play, right? It's like it'll be part of Scholastic and all the book fairs and kids. This is how I felt, right? I remember reading a Michael Jordan book. I'm going, well, I got to read a book. Might as well do something fun. So that's the play for sure. Yeah, book fair, man.

The word book fair reminds us. That's a top 10 days. It is a top 10 days. James as a kid. Yeah, I'm pumped. I got a long trip maybe to Budapest, too, on end of May. Wow. Yeah, hopefully going to the Champions League final again.

Congrats. But I'll need a book. I'll need a book to read. So, well, dude, almost athlete podcast. Sure. We could have used that on our Disney World Record. I know that's true. Some of those hideous flights we took.

Hey, Kobe, pass that over. Thank you. You're going to love this part. Give that a spark. You can start on that tonight. I'll take this one home with me. Speaking of travel, though, you've been doing some traveling. I have about some taste buds.

How are we doing? Up talking about the old nose. Guys, I had a good first meeting. I'm actually flying back tomorrow, which will be yesterday when you all are watching this video for my next meeting. But yes, I went to a famous doctor in San Diego

to try and help me with my smell and taste situation. Operation Taste is what we can start calling it here. We've got some preliminarily good news. They think that I'm absolutely capable of taste because I've told them my weird situation is that over the last six years, I've slowly, like, basically lost. my ability to smell and taste. But every once in a while, I'll be on vacation, I'll jump in the

ocean, and I'll pop out, and for the next two or three hours, healed. Perfectly restored for two or three hours. So my body's capable of it. Something's just blocking it. I have a question for you, and this is just putting you on the spot. You just answer honestly. I'm excited for that. You could go anywhere. I'm just curious. If we can't taste. Okay. Why do we... Drink milkshakes? Drink milkshakes and eat queso and do the things that are bad for you. Feels like a good time to dive in on the broccoli and Brussels sprouts. Yeah, it feels like a good time to just go all in on meatloaf and things that aren't good. Is meatloaf healthy?

No, I have no idea. But, you know, I'm trying to throw you a bone here. I'm just curious. I see you sometimes with a chocolate shake. No, more than sometimes. Is it what is it? So this is a very fair question, and you're not the first person to ask you that. I am chasing a feeling or a memory.

That is the honest. answer. I get it. That's why I play golf. When you have a milkshake. Yeah. Amen. Tastes good and it makes you physically feel good. Sugar is just the thing, right? That's just like, it's literally become, you associate that with a good time. Milkshake, good time. It is crazy. I'm going on five, six years now and you still chase that the high of a milkshake. Like, that's just the honest answer

is you still think you're going to have it. And weirdly, every once in a while I still can taste a little bit. And so you think today's the day. dude. I got to order this milkshake because I bet I can taste that Nutella chocolate pretzel. It's similar to golf, dude. It's like, today's the day. I'm going to flush that ball. I shoot even, even par. And then you catch a little width. And then you'll get eight holes in and you're like, dude, I'm shooting even par. And then the ninth comes. And it's just like, no, that was a false narrative. Today, at least you're lucky because I can smell and taste the intern's feet

from when they took their socks and shoes off. So consider yourself lucky. Yeah, I can. But I'm cheering for you. Let's dive in the voice smells, man. I kind of made me want to puke in it. Well, one more thing on the announcement. announcement front. We have a fun video coming out, main channel-wise, where the girls got involved. I wasn't on set for that one. So go ahead and speak what the video is and we should see it coming out. I think they're going to start asking for agents. Our wives were requested heavily to come back on. Your wife's going to get paid? Really? Oh, mine definitely does. She's got a fee. Y'all need to do. Y'all need it. Yeah, she's an author.

Yeah, I've been, I've been reading, Amy. I call up Amy. Hey, Amy. Our accountant's name is Amy. Wow. And I'll just be like, hey, I got, you know, $2,000 reimbursement, a little day fee. Your money laundering through Kristen. That's crazy, dude. It's crazy. Or no money laundering. There was a big demand for the wives to come back.

It was. We decided why not include them in an airsoft battle. Which I still thinks crazy. Y'all convince them to say yes. A dudes and wives airsoft battle. And I'll tell you right now, my wife is 24 weeks pregnant. And she said, I'll be there. That was crazy.

So there's a funny story. There's a funny story there. I don't know if you can zoom in here. I don't know of you You see It's hard to see But there's a little bit of a dot there It's you know

It's been about five days now Aubrey lit him And uh Abrey decided to just you know Hey look Your balloon's not popping It's just bouncing around off the balloon So we're just gonna hit you in the jugular

And then I'm gonna come over and just you know Shoot them up close and it worked Maybe she heard about Kristen's day rate Dude it was she wouldn't get in to partake Was this every man and wife for themselves? It was like a team Yeah We want to tell you guys too much

It was not a break on too much, but it was like it was couples. You're on a team, but you're playing individually. I got you. What a fun video premise. It was fun and it was aggressive. We'll give you guys a full download when it releases. 100% with the winners here in studio. When does that video come out?

Well, a couple of things. If you're in the Dallas area, which isn't everyone, but if you're in that Dallas area, you can watch that video on March 20th at a family night we're doing at the Omni. At the Omni, PGA, yeah. You can go to our website, find more about that. that's a sneak peek. So I think the video launches a little bit after that, maybe around mid-April. Well, a lot going on in the Dude Perfect world. I tell you what, books and videos and twins, hopefully some taste and smell very soon. But boys, we really brought you here for the voicemails.

It's my favorite segment. It's everybody's favorite segment. And this segment is brought to you by DoorDash. When Life Gets Crazy, DoorDash helps bring a little order to it. Send us voicemails with your questions, hot takes, family arguments you want us to settle or anything else at 972-805-866. You can also find that number at almostathletes.com. Let's check a few of them out. Jared, play them voicemails. What up, dudes? My name is Brandon.

This is my question to you. I want to know, in your opinion, what is the worst chore to do around the house? In my opinion, is the dishes. I can't stand them. I just, I have, like, when I come home and there's dishes, I'm pissed. I just want to know what is the worst chore to do at the house. Okay, okay. All right.

I'm going to go there. That guy does not like dishes. Jared, thank you, man. I appreciate the honesty. It's sometimes hard to be honest about something like that. But these are chores. These aren't like cleaning your house type stuff. Yeah.

Well, that could be considered a chore. I was thinking like hauling hay is out of the equation. But if that wasn't sure, that is the anybody who grew up on some land and had to haul some hay. That will build some character. I'll tell you what. I was just going to address, Jared. I can't completely agree with you. To me, the dishwasher is very satisfying.

I don't like... You have to load the dishwasher, though. Sure. sure I'm sorry you were saying it's it's annoying well he said unload oh he said all he said was doing the dishes so you're one that finds peace with dishes well here's what I'm trying to say right right now I'm starting to question whether I heard you right Jared to me specifically unloading the dishwasher is very satisfying like they're already clean you just go put them where they go that thing's empty now it's ready to be loaded I enjoy that the part

that you would prefer to unload than load absolutely if you need to load it that means there's a huge mess in the kitchen and you get to To clean it in the... No, I don't want to be scraping. I don't want to be scraping crusting marinera sauce off the bottom of the pot. Dude, you got to do enough to where they come out clean from the dishwasher.

Hey, did you already get your fancy TV? Do we need to get him a better dishwasher? Yeah, maybe. Almost athletes? Yeah, isn't that time? Hey, if you sell a good dishwasher, I guess Kobe doesn't have one. So hook a brother up.

You're saying y'all never prep the dishes at all before you put in in. Not to the point where it makes me not like doing it. Unloading the dishwasher is lame sauce. No, it's way better. Loading it is. I'm with you on this. I'd rather have the clean. So here's the deal. If you have a lot of dishes, that means you're doing it the American way and that's eating at home and, you know, getting a healthy meal, which is going to cause a lot of dishes. Now, there are certain things

that I don't like to wash, which are things that cannot go into the dishwasher, which some things are just not dishwasher safe. Like a child. You know, speaking of, by the way, I heard you can wash hats in the dishwasher. It is a hack. That is a life hack. I put my hats, especially to watch. That's brilliant. Yes. I was about to start it. I haven't done it.

People told me, dude, just wash your hat in the dishwasher. That's a real thing. I'm trying that tonight. Now, if I was to open the door of the dishwasher and there's just a thing of hats in there, sure, I'm thrilled. That's best case scenario. You know, but dude, there's nothing worse when you have a huge pile of dishes in your sink and you open your dishwasher and it's clean dishes.

You have to then put up to then wash. Nothing worse. I 1,000% agree with this. So in the same vein, do you all dislike like unloading the dryer and hanging clothes? No, I see. When it comes to vacuuming, clothes drying,

clothes drying, I don't actually dry clothes to hang dry. I know. I vacuum my house every single day. That's your decompress. I go home and dance to music. You just start vacuuming. Oh, I listen to music when I'm vacuum.

Sure. But how long is your vacuuming cycle? Like your session. It goes like 20 minutes. Oh, I feel like you can go two hours on a good day. Like before you. It just depends. Like, you don't even say how to your kids yet?

Like, oh, yeah, if it's bad, I don't even say how to do it. Are you anti-Robot VAC? I am. I am, anti. Those things listen to you, man. I don't like that. Until the robot can do better than you, you're fine. No, it just depends.

Sometimes it's after the meal, which is like just under the table, but then under the table kind of leaks out to the kitchen, then after the kitchen leaks out to the living room. And then it's like, why just back in the hall? I brought this up last week, but the chore that was like the most, like you better be there, be square, and show up and do your job, was when mom came home with groceries. That was like, you press pause on the video games.

Yes. Because if mom has to bring in eight bags on the first load and you're not going out there to help, you're getting a talking to you. Here's the deal that needs to happen, and I want to change this for America, because I've talked to Ty about this. I think I've talked to you about this.

I think the younger generation, like, you know, under 10, they have a problem with peeing on the toilet seat. We talked about that last week. about it. Bathroom's getting blown up and a large and I think just the chore

that needs to happen now is like you got to clean the, you got to clean your own toilet like every week you're gonna get in there

with soap lysol and you're gonna be the one that wipes it all up and I bet you money your aim gets better oh yeah all of a sudden

that seat starts getting lifted a little more yeah you know and I think that should be the chore that should be the worst because no one

wants to do that no and I would pick unloading and loading dishes all day yeah before I

do that. You're taking it back to the basics. We need some toilet scrubbing from the kids. Yeah, dude. Build something. It's a good point. We have a little entitled with our chores. It's a good point, dude.

That's good. Could you consider putting lights on and off the Christmas tree a chore? Because that can be a tangling mess. Well, now they make the trees that just have them pre-lit. No, but we grew up, we grew up as a real tree family. Well, that's on you then, dude. I have since changed. Okay.

Sorry. I am now. Fake tree. We are, yeah. We are, yeah, fake tree pre-lit. But I'm telling you, man, those lights on and off of that tree. Oh, it's brutal. It's brutal.

It's tough, dude. It's almost like you just want to throw the whole tree away with ornaments, lights, and everything. It's just buying it next year. I've never got to do that. And goodbye. You know you're living well if you can just take a whole Christmas tree decorated. An iPad every year just to pull the plastic off. That was a crazy line out of you.

That's the richest thing you've ever heard of yourself. That's a great question. There's a lot of bad chores, but got to do them. I think toilets are worst. Toilis, by far the worst. Hey guys, this is Tyler from Michigan. I have a question for mainly Garrett, but also Sparky. Would you rather have your hair back?

Is it easy answer? Or have refs in all levels of football make perfect calls. I would sacrifice an arm for the refs to make perfect holes. I thought you're going to say for your hair back. No, no. I would sacrifice another body part for just a ref perfectly called game. It'd be unbelievable. I'm not going to lie.

I've been waiting on Tyler's turkey text. I've just been hinging on it. I'm hoping he invites me later on this year. I love a world where I'd have hair back, but as a man of the people, I'd be willing to forego my hair for the betterment. To bless the rest of society, yeah. Yep.

It's kind. You guys would have been proud of me. I mean, I didn't say anything. Kept my mouth shut. But the seven-year-old girl basketball game that I just witnessed with the rest, despicable, man. Are you kind of curious? You're like, how'd you end up out there?

Like, if you're not going to do it well, why do it at all? And then this girl on the other team dribbled like legit, dribbled out of bounds like a solid five seconds. Mm-hmm. And they're just play on. And then our coach was like, she's dribbling out of bounds. They're like, man. At what age do you feel like that should have started to be called dribbling out of bounds?

When you are born into this world. Because there's rules of a game that need to just be enforced. Yeah, but if it's three-year-olds. I never said three. This is seven-year-old. You actually said it for. Sorry, you're right. Between born and.

Born. I don't do. You want to play basketball? Play by the rules. This isn't a whatever. That's fair. As a former PUE official, though, you don't get paid by the whistle.

So I get it. Do you let a double dribble go by every once in a while? Sure. I don't mind the double dribble because they're learning how to dribble. That one, as long as you continue to put the ball back and don't run the length of the court. Sure. Sure.

You're trying to dribble. But we should understand the premise about a bow. That's coloring inside the lines. Yeah, it's like, what are we doing here? Like, I understand leniency, but like this is getting ridiculous. And you guys would have been proud. I wanted to say something, but I was like, you know what? I'm a new me, new gear.

Dude, it takes a full minute for them to get from kid out of bounds to you're now out of bounds. You're standing there. It does. And waste a lot of the game. So I think the thought process is, well, number one PTSD from the previous game where they reft and they maybe tried it that way and they realized that like they lost that part of their life. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you got to let the main thing be the main thing sometimes.

And when you're six, people want to see them throw the ball towards the goal every once in a while. Can I ask a question that I don't remember being decided on this podcast before or announced? How many things have you reffed, Gary? And would you be open to an on-camera reffing in the future? Oh, I'd be open to an on-camera roughing, especially if you put me through a school to go do it. I've always said I might be one of the best riffs to ever play the game. It's kind of like the...

What is the one thing we tried, though? It's hilarious. I just did that. I just did that. To be funny. It was funny. At the end of the day, like, when you're calling things, when you're calling things on the TV before the ref even sees it,

you're just good at your job. Or you have really good cameras and they're just standing on the field. Yeah, maybe. But get better camera. I mean, do they make meta glasses that should have just everything now? That's good point. I do want to see how you'd react to Timmy's mom, Rose, questioning your strike zone, though, in the first inning.

Oh, I feel like my worst one would be baseball. Really? Yeah, it's so, I mean, you're really, you're really, baseball one is ball strikes. Dude, can we do that? We got to send Gary behind the play to a little league baseball game. Well, we should just pick the main sports and send him and get him graded as a ref across the different sports. When I get, when I have to leave you guys for to become the head NFL chief. That'd be sick, dude.

Really quick climbing. Romo and Nance are bringing you in. It's like the guy who goes through like his minor leagues and like no time. it's like this guy's in the NFL, like he's running the league in five years. It's unheard of, would you be the type of ref that adds a little flare to your call or you are completely by the book,

Judge Black and Light, and I don't, and I will tee you up so fast if you get in my face. If I ever reffed a little me back in the day, you'd throw them out so fast, I would throw myself out of those games so quick, dude. I'm talking like, I'd been ejected from 48 games.

You're the rep. You're the rest. So funny. It's going to make it about you. That's, I don't love that. I don't love that. We had a guy in high school,

We called him Disco Inferno because he called strikes like that. Oh, I hate that. Didn't the coach just throw one of their own players out of the game? It's incredible if he did. Oh yeah, Mick Cronin, UCLA. I didn't actually agree with it. He threw his own player out? Bro, he's a objected his own kid.

He was a favorite one and it was kind of a play. And he said, get out of here. Oh, yeah, and he came back to the bench and he was like, go to the locker room. I don't mind that? See, I didn't like it because he kind of threw his own boy under the bus, his own player, but that was the game where Mick Cronnan after the game was like, are you raising your voice at me? No, I remember that.

He had a breakdown. And don't we all? We all have breakdowns, dude. I had my... You never know what people are going through. Yeah, you never know. I've had plenty on this podcast, so... It's all right.

Hello, this is Jacob from Clarksville, Tennessee. Okay. And I have something on my mind. This is specifically towards the astronaut in the group. You know who you are. Astro. If you're listening. So, as far back as I remember,

I have always wanted to go to space. If Kobe is there and he is listening, I would want to know what it was like to feel, that zero gravity, because that's the part I want to experience. So if he's there, please have him respond. Well, guys, sorry, dude. We're out of time today. For the other three of us, we've heard so many space stories.

But go ahead, Kobe. Go ahead and rub it in our face. Jacob, thank you very much for what I thought was an insightful, very wise question that multitudes of people out there are interested in themselves. I would say that going to space changes you. Truly, it was an amazing experience. I'm very grateful for it. I've shared about that in a number of different areas, and I know these guys have to listen to it a lot, but it was obviously a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I give my wife the credit for letting me do it.

People have asked, like, was it scary? To me, honestly, I did not think it was scary. To me, the scary part was deciding to do it in the first place. I bailed. We had a one-year-old at the time. You got to sign everything away. Like, it was daunting on that side. Like, is this a wise idea?

Like, am I just doing this to make a YouTube video? Is that a good enough reason? You know, I always say there's not a lot of gray area in space travel. Either goes really great or not. And so that was, I found that the heaviest part of the whole process was the decision up front. the actual 12 minutes, because that's what it was on a Blue Origin flight, 12 minutes from like take off to landing was truly unbelievable. It would be like if y'all laid down on this table right here,

and you went up and back down, that was how smooth it would feel. I mean, it was unbelievably, like, calm. No turbulence up there. No turbulence. Very smooth. You'll notice on the video when I'm coming back down through the atmosphere for like one second, your face. kind of peels back, but I mean, it's over

quick. And you mentioned the floating, by far the best part. You're right to want that. It was pretty great. That's all the time we got today, man. So thank you, Jacob. Why don't you catch me on my, you know, personal Instagram. I'm happy to give you some more information. I think you're about to launch a podcast.

Space podcast. Yeah. Yep, it's called still talking about it. It's called Space to Talk. Still talking Astro. Your poor brother just wants to smell again. Well, everybody walks up to court on the street and asks him how space. What? I always look at it.

This is close. It's got to be tough, dude. Oh, I've definitely been asked like, hey, how was Kobe's travel space? I was, like, I don't know. Ask him. I didn't go. Hey. Oh, thank you for the voicemails.

That's our two-minute warning. Boys, y'all have anything? I have a little song today. I do. I don't have anything. I've already said my piece. I do. I do have something.

Wow, you came prepared. Proud of you. I don't know how hard to go on this, but I think the worst TV show ever made in the history of the world is the masked singer. Oh. And I do not understand. I thought you were going to survive. are on season a million of this show. I have put myself through watching enough episodes

to where now I can confidently say I don't understand. I do not get the appeal of watching this television show. I feel like when the moment finally happens and they take the mask off, it's always underwhelming. And I feel like it is physically impossible to guess the random person that is inside that mask. And look, I get it. There's a lot of stuff that maybe is even worse than this on TV.

And so maybe that's why it wins. Kobe is the big network TV watcher in this group. So maybe I should ask you, maybe you're addicted to this show. But do any of you all think that this show deserves to be as popular as it is? I've actually never watched the full episode. Never watch it? Don't know anybody who has watched it. It sounds like somebody in your household is obviously watching.

I dare you to watch an entire episode of this show. This is my quick take. Again, somebody hit us with a voicemail or leave your answer in the comments on what we're missing here. understanding of the reason people watch is because they give you breadcrumbs. It's kind of like our mystery detective battle. It's they give clues throughout so the people out there that like playing that type of mystery game are trying to think about it from that perspective. Otherwise, I cannot understand it.

Yeah, I didn't know that for you were going with your rant, but, uh, I kind of like it. I don't get it. You like the show or the rant? Well, neither. No, I like the rant. I like the rant. I have a quick one, Spark. Sure.

This is more of a hot take. I'm curious y'all's perspective. to me, we're entering into the month of March here shortly. Yes. The best two days, in my personal opinion, of sports, back-to-back days of any sports are the first two days of March Madness. I have stood on this for a long, long time, and I've taken some heat for it, but I'm curious y'all's opinion.

I think NFL is the best product. I think the best two back-to-back days of sports are the full slate of March Madness. It is from morning till night, Cinderella, of stories. I just love it. Two really good rants by two really good individuals. Thank you, Corey. Thank you, Kobe, for your time. Looks like our time's up today. We'll be back next Wednesday with an all new

ep, follow the show on all socials, at Almost Athletes, like and subscribe on YouTube, or listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Rate us five stars. Share with a friend. Almost Athletes with Dude Perfect is a Wave original. Thanks for tuning in, and thanks for 100K. Pound it. Noggin. See ya!