Bussin' With The Boys - Big Cat On The "Beef" Between Chicago And New York + The Start Of Pardon My Take

Episode Date: February 12, 2024

Recorded: February 5th 2024 | In this week's episode we sit down with the one and only Dan "Big Cat" Katz. The boys are out in Vegas for the Big Game and decide to chop it up with Big Cat for an episode. The guys start off the show talking about the Big Game and who they are rooting for. Big Cat gets into how there is one NFL that just somehow owns him and ruins his bets whenever he bets against this guy. Then Will turns into Billy Basketball as he has become a fan of Nebraska Basketball even though he has no idea how the basketball landscape works. Will and Taylor then turn the focus to more of the nitty gritty about the inner workings of Barstool. Big Cat tells the story of how he started at Barstool and how he originally found Barstool Sports in the first place. The guys then get into how Pardon My Take started and how it was actually terrible when it first started. It is interesting to hear how a top 3 sports podcast in the world has gone through so many different types of growing pains. The guys finish up by talking about the move to Chicago and the rivalry that is going on between them and New York. Big Cat talks about how he doesn't necessarily like the stigma of their being a rivalry because he doesn't see it that way. The difference is in the type of content that is being put out by both offices. This episode is a great look behind the curtains of Big Cat as a person and his rise to stardom in the Barstool Sports/Sports Media world. Enjoy Fellas. (Also we understand the audio quality isn't up to par, we are working behind the scenes to make sure this doesn't continue in our other Vegas interviews) TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 2:25 Big Cat Is Owned By This NFL Player 4:12 Introducing, Billy Basketball 8:35 Taylor’s WILD Fan Take 17:55 Why Big Cat Loves Podcasting 21:01 Big Cats Start With Barstool And The Growth 33:05 The Start of Pardon My Take 43:49 Barstool’s Worst Hire 45:13 The “Barstool Difference” 46:06 Big Cat Got Mad At The Boys 51:11 “Gambling Is Impossible” 57:36 Barstool Chicago (vs. Barstool New York) 1:07:45 Chicken Or Orangutan?For more, visit barstool.link/bussinwtbSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Bro. There you go. There it is. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to episode 262 of Bustle with the Boys. Before we do anything, do us a favor right now. Subscribe, rate five stars, and hit a comment if you're watching on any of the video platforms. Be a friend, tell a friend, text a guy.

Our guest today is Dan Big Cat Dude, one of the guys who's been a part of Barstow since it seems like the inception. Talk about his gambling habits. We talk about NFL, part of my take, the inception of doubt, the whole process of how it is to go about and making a podcast the way they have, since they've really been owning the top number one charts for the last five or six years or however long they've been doing it, since obviously New Heights has definitely taken over with Taylor Swift. But we have a great show for you today.

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Episode what, 262? Episode 262. It is Monday, Super Bowl week. We are with Big Cat and Big Cat. Let's go around a box. Well, the only time, the Big Cat's been on is when it's just been with me. Now it's the, now we got on the road.

I came on the bus in Tennessee when you guys tried to smoke me out. Who was I with? You're with Brandon. That's right. That's right. That was a smart move. That was like a Guantanamo move.

You guys were like, an interview and make it 110 degrees. Oh, what was it outside? We had the bus and we didn't like have all the VC rolling. We had it like turned off. So we're like sweating throughout the entire podcast. Jim, you tell them to shut the fuck up upstairs. Respect.

Respect. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Respect the boys. You got to respect the boys. We were talking before the show about Super Bowl. Yes. And how you're in a bit of a dilemma right now. Yes.

You want to talk a student dilemma a little bit? Yeah, we can talk through it a little bit. I, so Patrick Holmes owns me. Patchwell Holmes is my daddy. I'm not, it's crazy because I don't, I don't root for an AFC team, but somehow I've ended up just getting owned by this guy. He's so fucking good. I've had four futures in the last 13 months, all great value that all have lost the Patrick Mahomes. Bengals, Eagles in 2022, Ravensville's Bills in 2023.

So I never am betting directly against Patrick Mahomes. I'm just putting in these bets in like August and then they end up Patrick Mahomes kills. So after the game, I was like, Patcher Mahomes no matter what, like game to year, Patrick Mahomes. I'm just starting to think and it's like, the iron's pretty good. I don't know. So falling back in the trap. Are you right now currently, are you leaning?

Currently, I'm leaning Niners. Currently I'm leaning Niners, but I think I need to just suck it up and be like, fuck it, I'm taking patch of my homes. Because at the end of the day, and you guys, you know, I know Will gamble throughout his entire career, you didn't.

At the end of the day, there's something with gambling where you have to make a decision. There's a win and a loss, but there's an extra element to it sometimes when it's like a patch of home, Tom Brady, and Nick Saving, a Bill Belichick,

some of these guys, right? Where it's not just win and loss. It's win and loss, and if you lose going against them, you feel like the biggest idiot of all time. And everyone says, how did you better get the back from home? And that's way worse.

I love seeing how your brain breaks up. That's way worse. It feels so much worse. When someone can just tweet you and be like, dude, you win against Nick Saven? You're like,

fuck. Yeah, I did. I'm an idiot. Thank you for Michigan dismantling. Yeah. Yes. Thank you. Truly, it has ruined the entire SEC.

Yeah. They're in champos. They're in shambles. By the way, shout out Billy basketball over here. I don't know if you know. He's a hoop-ed-ed-now. Are you? What happened?

Can I say that in our conversation? Yeah, absolutely. Because it was very funny. So Big Cat, Nebraska, just beat Wisconsin. No, no. Nebraska beat Wisconsin. That's what we're about. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Nebraska beat Wisconsin. I didn't even know that that game was taking place. And somebody in my mentor was like, hey, I think I think I think I think I tweeted something so much like hey Nebraska Wisconsin and O T and anytime it's like Nebraska Wisconsin we just think of each other yeah yeah I'm thinking of a Big Cat so I turn it on and just catch the overtime portion of the game and I don't watch any college

basketball we were watching it last night and it was the third game I've ever watched Nebraska where they almost beat O&O and O. And Nebraska pulls it off in O.T Wisconsin was up apparently 19 is 17 or 17 or 19 so I just text Big Cat I'm like hey I'm sorry about Wisconsin and I last because I know like he's like you know I hear a lot. I had actually previously, I think like maybe a few days before, like with all my teams, I'm pretty, I'm pretty like, as crazy as I can get, I'm pretty unbiased in the fact that, like, I know the limitations of my team.

Like, I know I'm not supposed to have happiness. But there are certain teams that they reach a point where I'm like, all right, I'm ready to get like emotioning hurt. Like, I think they're good. I'm going to get hurt. That's okay. So I reached that point with Wisconsin. I was like, I think they're really good.

I'm ready to get emotionally hurt. So he starts texting me like, huh, good game, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, this fucking guy, there's no way he watches any of these games. So, and then after that, he talks shit. Then he texts me, he goes, how do you get into the tournament?

He asked me. He asked me. Like, it's like you gotta wait for like a wedding invite. He said, how do you get into the tournament? I said, help me. You want to know his nonsense? I don't know either. Well, I said, help me out here.

This is like a bid, right? You have to win a certain amount of. games and say, okay, you're in the game. But that question, yeah, he asked me that question. After talking shit about his team beating my team, I was like, I wanted to punch a wall. I was so mad. I said, help me understand how you get in the tour. Did that?

Does Nebraska have a shot here in the shit since they've upset a couple of top 10 help me understand how to get into the tournament? They win that one game. You're like, oh, they're going to make it? Yeah, because I saw. And you were asking, like, is it like the Pope when they do the smoke stats? Like, is that how you get in the tournament? Like, do you just, do you stumble upon an invite on the ground?

Is it like Willie Wonka? Do you find the golden ticket? How do you get in the tournament? Well, I'm wondering last night. What's that question? When they're playing Illinois last night and they're unranked, I'm thinking, why can't they be ranked if they're taking Illinois in O-T, they're ranked 14th? They beat Purdue, who's number two.

They beat Wisconsin, who's still number six. Well, no, we do the rankings on Monday. So we were six this last week. We won't be six today. Someone probably has rankings right now. It's the same as football. How you like, if you. Well, football's one game.

I know. But if a team loses, then they're like number one, you're like, how are they still number one at the end of the game? Well, they've got to get the way. If the one team gets upset on Tuesday and they're still playing Friday as a number one team, it's kind of like, why they still write number one? And how do you get into the tournament? Like, after that loss and I said I was emotionally going to get hurt. And I even knew we were, like, I said this is how sick it is. In the morning of the game, I was like, the brass is a really tough place to play.

I kind of expect the badgers to lose. And then they went up 17. I was like, oh, we're not going to lose. That's how you do a great job with your insurance policies, though. Because I had solid. But I knew. I was being unbiased. Because you guys are like 14 and 1 at home or something.

You would have a solid ball club. You would have that. Boys, we're up this episode to bring you a sponsor, and that is Twisted Tea. Twisted Tea is a refreshing hard ice tea made with a real brood tea, a 5% alcohol full of flavor, and very refreshing. Twisted tea goes down smooth. There is no carbonation, which makes it. easy to drink all day long. Twisted tea fuels fun and celebrates extreme fandom on game day,

especially during the playoffs and this week, the big game. Twissot T is a perfect alcohol beverage for game day where they're tailgating in a parking lot, watching at a bar, watching at a friend's house. Twisted T is there to turn up your game day. Grab a refreshing Twisted T today. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. Make sure you rate five stars and tell your friends. Let's get back to this episode. No, nothing about it. But you brought up a good point about being like having reasonable for your team. JP and I got an argument on the bus. Because you sound crazy.

Dog, no. Because listen, it's different. It's fucking different. I'm not trying to. You know what I've been through. No. You don't know hard. You don't know hard.

Yes, I do. Making it to the college football playoff is hard? Yes. You don't know what it's like being 0 and 12. I know it's like being 2 and 13 or 2 and 15. I know it's like being 3 and 13.

With you. with the Tennessee Titans. We're not talking about the Titans. Okay, I know what it's like to be 09 to 13 with Michigan and suck. And all the old players come back and be like, you guys fucking suck. About this is my first year like being a fan of sports. Right.

I can't see how he does this. And so my thought is, is knowing the expectation of Michigan this year. Yeah. It's truly national championship robust. So the stress level is much higher. Correct. Than if you're able to look at what's,

we'll just use Wisconsin. Yeah. We know Wisconsin didn't have the talent level. Right. win a national championship. So the losses don't hurt as much as opposed to when Michigan goes and plays the Penn State, the Ohio, State of Alabama's. Yes. Simply put, Taylor said it was harder to be a fan of Michigan than it was to be of our teams. It's harder to be a fan. And I strongly disagree. It's harder to be a fan. This year? Hold on. Let me,

it's harder to be a fan of a team that you can look at and say this team can and should win the national championship as opposed to a team where you're hoping to have a winning record. Now, more context. Taylor's first. being a true fan saying something like that. You're just thinking, what are you talking about? So I think... But I think me being a first year being a fan, well, I guess there's a little bit of argument there.

I think this year specifically that argument is fair because of what happened with Michigan. You knew Jim Harrow was going to leave. You knew all the, like, all the cheating allegations, all this stuff. So I think just in this year, but if you ask, like, what's it easier? Like, is it harder to be an Alabama fan

or, like, Wisconsin Nebraska fan? Like, I would take being an Alabama fan. Alabama fan all day. They win titles. Right, but knowing that this specific year I'll give you. Yes. But if you have a team and you're like, okay, we could probably win the Big Ten championship this year. Week two, you play a non-conference game that's hard and you lose that game. You think, okay, like now I can now take these next two weeks or playing some slubs, some bowling greens and temper my expectations knowing it might not be the year I expect you. So you get to kind of do a roller coaster as opposed to a big tick tick.

I don't totally disagree because it is like in sports, it's about windows. Like if you have a window and you squander that window, it's the most devastating. But if you're such a fan of your squad, there's a, there's that reasonable expectation that is like Michigan and the national title, which is like, you know, Nebraska getting bowl eligible. Or are you having your own expectation of Wisconsin? Like, we shouldn't be losing these games. Right. It's still very.

No, they still hurt. But there is like the window argument. Like, I know like Hank used to make this argument and I thought it was kind of bullshit. But I sort of understand it. It applies to the chiefs now. We're like, if you have the guy, you only have a certain amount of years to have that guy. Like the bills right now. That's just Josh Allen has been playing great football for his career.

And he's, and they haven't been to a Super Bowl. Like that's way worse than kind of being in that lower pack where you're like, we're trying to figure it out. We don't have fully open. Or like a Bengals fan. Like Bengals fan, you go to the Super Bowl. The next year you lose in the AFC championship, the next year Joe Burrough gets hurt. And you're like, wait, that was. years of our window that just went like that, that hurts. That stinks.

As opposed to looking at your team and being like, okay, we got to rebuild for a year or two. And then once we rebuild for a year two, now we can look forward towards the window. So now those losses are more body shots than the chaos. For example, we'd be like the 2016 Cubs were in the World Series. Like they won the World Series. That was the greatest thing ever. Everyone was like just win one. But that team was so young and that nucleus was so good that they then not like going back to a World Series definitely hurt.

Where it was just like, how did this? And then like four years later, it was all blown up, you know? You're like, what the fuck just happened? I know it's crazy because like one is enough. But when you do have like what you think is a really good team in a stretch of a five-year, like span, and you only go to one World Series and you're like, what just happened? I thought it was going to be every year. I love that it went my way.

Just for this year, though. Yeah. Just this year. Because if we look at Michigan now, they lost her head strength coach which who is like the goat obviously the goat strength coach is the dude Kirby Scott

whatever his name is he's he's the fucking best he literally won every he was Alabama strength coach left Alabama and then one back to back with Georgia you talk about it is it Conkron Scott Cochran he might be the best coach I actually have the theory

that he is the actual goat because you guys can tell me if I'm way wrong I think there's no more important coach in all of college football and the strength and conditioning coach because they get their hands on the players all year long. No, it's a very fair. And that guy goes, he literally won in Alabama and then he's like, I'm going to Georgia, we went to him. But by that

logic, you would say that the head coach is the least important coach. No, I think the head coach sets the tone, so I think there's definitely like the culture. But the guys, but if you're talking about hands on, hands on. Strain coach is and that would be your position coach. Then it would be your coordinator. Maybe most underrated coach. That should probably be a better thing. Because it is like people don't see it. People don't know the strength of the conditioning coach, but that strength and condition coach, like, especially

in college football, you get dudes that show up and they're like 200 pounds. You've got to be 50 by the time to leave. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And now I do need to, I do need to get some words in before we get away from that. I know. I'm excited to stay in it because I do want to. Yeah. Talk about your. I get, I understand all of those points. I think they are very fair. I feel like the hardest when Will says he understands points, a lot of times, don't. Okay. You got to relax. Relax right now. I'm just going to say that right now. I'll get into the analytics. Time out, time out. So I feel like what's the most painful thing about Taylor's saying that

is knowing that he didn't necessarily mess with Michigan a whole lot until this. I'll give him even last year too, but Michigan's went to the playoff two years in a row. And now they have the star-studded like this is the year. And then they go out throughout the entire year. They prove a lot of people wrong. They do their thing. They win the national title. And he has the audacity afterwards to look at guys who experienced loss and just hands.

when their teams can't pull it out and just say, I think it's harder to be a Michigan fan than the other fan. But I don't begrudge. But I don't begrudge them for just coming in because if you're, if you're playing, you're probably not, it's like, I don't really listen to a bunch of podcasts. Like, I know how the sausage is made. Are you saying, you're a porn star.

You loving sex every day? Probably not. I'm saying, I love your takes. I love the best of you. This way, this is why you get here early. I'm like you guys, I've been here at 8 o'clock ready to get. There's an accident. There was an accident on the highway.

Hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on. We didn't check. I got to go back to that. I've been a, I've always pulled for Nebraska hard even when I was from. Now, but hold on, the reason, but you know the context of which, why I kind of dipped on Michigan and then slowly but surely came back. I was going to say something mean that I could not say. Go ahead, say it. Taylor was playing.

Oh. I was, I think that's going to be a shot towards me. There's a lot of, I'm smiling right now, but it's that, it's that, it's that meme, I don't believe that. Will Compton, three interceptions, go looking up. Thank you. Fucking 10 years in the pros. I had a couple of years. I was a nice little run.

That was a crazy. You laid it up for me. I don't mean it, but I had to say it because it came in my head. Did you mean it a little bit? No, I did not mean it at all. If I went through your head, there's some truth.

I did not mean it at all. I did not mean it all. I did not mean it all. Walkroom guy. Number one locker room guy. Number one locker room guy. I mean, he does that for us when he comes every, you know, week during the football season at Chicago HQ.

He's a locker room. He's a lot of pumped when he comes in. If you look at... That's a fact. I'm just envisioning the call. How are we gonna move on? I'm just saying that. I'm just saying they're smiling,

just staring at him. It's just zooming in on my face. Yeah. Listen, that was a mean thing to say, but I preface it, I'm saying. Yeah.

How do you make it your emotion? When you look at fandom, though, like you've done a good job of being a fan of the Bears. Like getting obviously going to the local show. Being Will Compton and his undying loyalty to Nebraska. Is that something you respect or the thing you do. I respect the hell out of it because it's like,

it's the, it's the, what's the, what's the saying, like the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. Right. Yeah, right. Like, I respect Will's, will rides and dies with them.

Yeah. And, like, there's something about when Will gets talking about Nebraska, like, he does kind of sway me, where he's like, yeah, if you just turn off, like, interceptions and injuries, like, this team is good. And I'm like, you know what? You're right. If you do do that. And chew him on the band.

He does. He will, I mean, Will's a master motivated. Like, he does a great job. I appreciate you for trying to lift me back up. I said it was mean. It was mean. Yeah. Should we pivot to a part of my take?

What do you want to talk about? You guys have had me? I am quitting soon. I am quitting. But just like when you go through a breakup, you're going to call her a couple of times. So right now I'm like trying out room today. Okay. Tomong and Lucy and after that on.

Okay. How do you keep the same loving enthusiasm? Hey, we're with that. Hold on. I was trying to hide that the whole time. He's calling me out big time. No, no, no, still keep it. Still keep it.

I was just saying, how do you keep the same level of enthusiasm for your podcast that's been number one for, I don't know how many years running? Let's say, last three, right? I mean, Travis Kelsey. But that's an a, that's an asterisk. That's an asterisk. But in the real. He turned off interceptions. That's a total asterisk.

In the world. You know, we only do one episode a week and they're like, Taylor Swift. I want to tune in for Taylor Swift. It's bullshit. And, but the real podcasters of the world. Yeah, in the mud. In the month. Yeah, yeah.

being on top for as long as you guys have, how do you keep that same level of enthusiasm throughout the entire year? Like, you guys drop three pods a week. Even when Taylor and I flirt with the idea of two, we quickly remember just the monotony of doing two and be like, bro, think of how much we have to just come back in and try to come up with just more bullshit.

And then you guys, by the way. That's smart of you guys, by the way. That's smart of you guys, because we had to say, like, when we started part of my tape, we were like five days a week, five days a week, and we flirted with, like, a Saturday episode, I'm like, wait, hold on. Like, you've got to know your own limits, like, is it going to be diminishing returns?

So you guys are smart for that. I would say, I mean, number one is, like, it's just fun to talk about sports. Like, and we've always from the beginning been, like, sports supposed to be fun. We're supposed to entertain people, make people laugh, talk about sports. Like, don't get too serious. Never think that you're bigger than, like, I'm pretty honest with who I am. Like, I'm not a very smart guy. I think I can be somewhat entertaining on the mic.

But, like, at the end of the day, like, I don't think I have some special skill that has people being like, oh, I got to listen to him. It's just the consistency. And more than anything, it's the changing sports calendar. That's the big thing. Like, when we get to the end of football season, I'm ready for football season to deal. You know what I mean? And then I love college basketball and I love talking about NBA, like that stuff. So that's really kind of, like, what drives it all.

It's like loving all sports. But you got to be all. Like, I think you do have a skill because you still. have to be on, like you have to be in it. Like, there are no, you can't just be lazy one week. Like, you guys will go and record after Sunday night football, like, you know, at midnight. Yeah. And you've got to be, like, on your shit because people smoke out, like, if you're just bullshit. And it's with a family as well. Yeah. That's with all the streaming and everything. And you walk into the building, every single guy where maybe not everybody else in the building is having the same amount of workload

as you, but you're complaining more and all that. And you have to sit through the bullshit. Now you're a boss here too. So it becomes, you have a lot on your plate. Yeah, it is a lot of plate. But I think it actually, like, it's a little thing. It happens actually every Sunday, which I don't know when this will switch when my kids get a little older and they're like, wait, your job is like really dumb. But when I leave to go to watch football, they're like, all right, I'm like, I'm going to work. Like, you know, when you get a hundred kids like, you're going to watch TV. I'm like, yep, that's work. So it's like having that mindset of like, yeah, there's long nights, but fuck, it's the best job in the world. Like, you can't, I couldn't dream of a better job. You know what I mean? Like, I get to

watch sports for a living, talk about sports. It's a joke. And you talked about, like, you see it the best job in the world, but when you got to Barstool, like, did you see it turning into what it is now? No. Obviously not. No. What was, like, there was a little bit of origin.

Yeah, yeah, there was definitely some time. So, like, when we first started, it was just a blog. And there was, there was definitely moments. And how many guys, how many guys are doing the blog where it's just a blog? It's like seven or eight of us. So it was like Dave, Gaz, Hank, Lewis, and Boston, Kevin and Camarco, New York.

Philly was Moe and Smitty, me, Nate and D.C., Trent, and Iowa. So yeah, it was like, whatever, that's like 10. And it was so fun, but there was also a moment where I think Kevin had the same feeling, and that's why he started podcasting, genius by him,

of like, there has to be more, we have to evolve, because, like, I can't be four years old. I'm not four yet. to try to look at when I'm 40. You can't be 40 years old sitting in your underwear, like, blogging everything. You know what I mean? Like, you have to find more.

So the good thing that happened with Barstall is, like, every time it felt like I was not looking for something else, but, like, feeling like that itch of, like, what's more? It kind of happened naturally. Like, right when Chernin bought us in 2015, 2016, was right when I was, like, getting to the point where I was like, what's the next thing? What are we going to do next?

And then it, you know, move to New York and all that stuff. We blew it up. So it's like, it's been good that every time I felt that itch, there's been an answer in turn. You know, and even like the Chicago office now, like, that has been, like, I could have, P. F&D and I could have stayed in New York and just kept on doing part of my team every day or every two days for the rest of time and probably made a really big living. But it's like, I want to do, I want something different. You know what I mean? Like, I want space.

I want to be able to. try new things. So, like, always trying to, like, think of what's next and, like, evolving and not being happy with, like, what you're doing right now. How'd you come across Barstool? Like, where you just... It was on, there's a website called covers.com that used to have message boards for all of, like, the sports, and it was just gamblers.

And so, like, I've been gambling my whole life. And I used to, like, the dumb gambler brain thing is, like, you go, there's a game tonight. I want to bet be over. Let me go on cover. and I'll just pretty much find someone who's like, oh, I like me over and here's why. It's like, oh, see, I knew I was going to be able. Yeah.

And Dave had, and Dave wrote, like, articles on their, like, guest articles being, like, more of locks and stuff. And I was like, well, he's saying more a lot. Like, it has to be. It has to be more a lot. It turns out it wasn't. Yeah. But, like, and then finding that and just being like, this is pretty cool.

And, like, it's just, yeah, like, the gambling piece, people complain about, and I understand and it. People don't want to hear about our bets. I get it. But like, at its core, Marcel has always been like gambling. You know what I mean? And Dave, like, if I had to steal me and Dave's relationship down to like what's like, what's the foundation of our relationship, it's like gambling and watching like Danny Boy Canber. That's it. Like obviously our relationship is more than that. But like if say everything fell apart, like I would still text Dave being like, you got any action tonight? Like, you betting anything tonight? Do you see Danny Boy came here at press conference?

about like a three-star recruit they got like that would still be there you know what you know no are you just like did you just like reach out saying like hey i'd love to yeah blog with you guys yeah just like right and cover this stuff back in the day was just a blog so i was just like hey like you know here's a sample and like i i was working in real estate um i hit that like quarter life crisis where like everyone you guys obviously didn't have us because you were playing professional football it actually might be similar to what happens to guys when they retire where they're like what's what's the rest of my life? So I was working in real estate.

I had a nice job. I had the worst real estate career of all time. I got into real estate in 2007, like six months in, the market completely crashed. They fired everyone in the company pretty much, except me because I was making $30,000 a year. And they're like, well, he's making nothing. And we'll just make him do everything. So, and then I got out in 2012, when the market came back. So I literally was the worst, the worst person.

the world in terms of gross thing. But yeah, like, you get to that itch. I think most guys have this where they get to, like, late 20s and they're like, what's next? What's going to be the rest of my life? Right. So it's like just trying to find that. And I'm lucky.

I mean, I hate when people talk about their success story and don't mention the fact that, like, luck has a lot to do with everything. Like, luck has everything to do with, you know what I mean? Like, you guys obviously have been skills to be in the league, but, like, there had to have been moments that luck came into play. If I didn't get this lucky bounce, it would have gone totally different. And like, I just hate, like, some of like the, you know,

Instagram influencers or TikTok influencers, like, all you got to do is this, this, this, this, and this. You get a bell here. It's like, you need it. It's a fucking lot. Right, right, right, right. We need a lot of love. We interrupt this episode to bring you shipped.

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So it wasn't, you know, I expected who I saw. But he is who he is. But at that point, it was just blocks. Yeah. He was doing some video, too. Yeah, he was doing some video, too. So, but like, he, Dave has always been the fairest, like, boss in the entire world. Like, I, Dave really does believe in, like, if you work hard and you get results, like,

I will pay you what you deserve. And, like, back in the day, we were getting paid, like, I was the first getting paid through PayPal. And then it was, like, checks that he would just mail us. And I just remember, like, even the first time, like, we got to, like, December. And it was like, I kind of want to. to raise, like he called me up before I called him and was like, hey, I'm going to pump you to this. Like, it was bigger than I thought.

So it's like he always is fair with that. Like, I don't think, I don't think I've ever even been close to creation. Like, every time I sign a deal, we do it for like two years and then we rip it up and because he's just like, you need to get paid more. Like, this is not fair. So it's like, he's the fairest there ever is. Yeah. It's great.

When you're going from real estate to blogging, like, at what moment were you seeing, like, oh, the barso thing could be like a future. your piece just outside of writing and having fun all the time like we can really yeah yeah i feel like hmm it was it was a slow grind it was a slow grind but it was like it was piece by piece where it's like you hit a blog that hit um like the black hawks winning the standing cup was very big just because like those guys were so nice to me and like Patrick sharp who's a good friend like let me literally hang out with him after like and that was huge going around with the black hawks like with the stand-and-cup in the city was crazy.

And so those, like, little pieces just keep piling up. And it's like, oh, we're, like, you think it's like a rocket ship because in the short term, like, parcel's been, you know, especially since 2016, it feels like it's been, like, overnight. But it was just like a little slow piece by piece being consistently there for people. And, like, every day people go into work, don't like their job, go on the blog, read some funny stuff. We used to do a deal where every 35 minutes we had to have a new blog up.

So it was like 12 blogs a day. Like literally just I would wake up, I take Stella for a walk, and I'd sit in my computer, and I wouldn't get it off. I wouldn't get out of my chair until like four o'clock. It would just be every, you know, just being on the internet. And I think that consistency that Dave, like, instilled in all of us is a huge part of it where people expected to see barstool every single 35 minutes at the new blog.

And like, that's, you know, that goes with podcasting. now and like people set their watch to it where it's like I want to see this and you're there for them and that's that's that's huge that's that's the advice I give to everyone who ever reaches out being like oh I want to get into this I'm like you it's easy to write a blog or do a podcast for a month it's it's month two three four five six like are you still doing it or you still have the same vigor for it because a lot of people can can do something for a month and be like oh this is awesome where's my brain it's like no no it comes away later when you're consistently doing it for a long time.

When Churning came in, is that like a moment where somebody's wanted to come in and invest where you're like, it was everything. This is the next piece. Dave, Kevin and I were definitely, it was actually, it was like me and Kevin kind of versed Dave at that point where it was like getting, the tension was really high because what happened was Dave Barstool started making money in that 2013, 14, 15 range. So Dave, like, started making money because it was his baby. He had been doing it for 15 years.

He bought a house. He started taking vacations. And Kevin and I were sitting there like, well, we're still making whatever we're making. So it wasn't ever like a boiling point, but it was definitely like there's the seeds of resentment were kind of getting sowed. And it's, Dave has said this before. I think it's a good analogy. It's like a band.

You know what I mean? Like every band, there's one lead singer. And, you know, at some point, the drummer and the bassist are like, well, fuck, I want a little more. Yeah, we're going on a little doors. Yeah, so churning. Yeah. Because it was finally like this idea, like we had equity in the company, but what does that mean? You know what I mean?

Equity means nothing if no one buys it. So when he bought it, it was like, oh, fuck. Like, that was the first time we got a little bit of money in our pocket. Like, this is awesome. We're all going to move to New York. We're all going to try this thing. So he came along in a perfect time. Couldn't have been better.

When the tension was there, like how did you, how did that go down like you and Kevin just kind of approaching Dave about a conversation? Did you guys have conversations yourself? Yeah, Kevin. I would have conversations to ourselves. I think it was also just, you could see it sometimes, like, on the rundown it would come through. Like, that's a big thing. Like, if there's, the audience is not stupid. They know if, like, you're not getting along.

You know what I mean? They know if there's tension in the room. So I think that we definitely suffer with the rundown, that little stretch and just trying to figure everything out. Like, the New York, the first year in New York was fucking insane because it was just throwing, like, 50 people. in a small cramped office and just seeing what worked. And everyone was trying to make it. Everyone was trying to figure out their lane. And it was like, you want to be a good teammate and be supporting everyone.

But at the end of the day, it is a business where everyone wants to succeed themselves. So like that tension, you know what I mean, is always there. I would imagine it's kind of like playing on a NFL roster. It's like, yeah, you want to win. But there's guys who are like, hey, I want to get my catches. I want to get my time. You know what I mean? receivers are different.

Yeah, right. Like, yeah, in the position I was in, it's not like, you don't want guys to get hurt, but I just, like, you understand that. Right. You kind of need somebody to go down if you're going to get some opportunity. It's a shitty thing to think, but it's also human nature. Right.

And you can't, you can't deny it. You can't be like, that's not the truth. Like, I want, I want my thing to work. And then part of my take was, like, the part of my take starting and how quickly it got huge was, like, insane. Like, we think about it back, we got very lucky at the right time.

PFT like I wanted PFT to come to barstool for like two years before Churton bought us. But when Churton bought us, we finally had the cash to like woo someone like that. And then part of my take starts. And I don't know if I think it's the luck thing where we hit a certain time with podcasting where podcasting started, but it wasn't huge. So there wasn't a million podcasts. And we were the first podcast that it felt like I might someone will probably correct me and be like you're an idiot, uh, that did all.

sports and did it the way we did it, like having fun with it, not seeing ourselves too serious. Like the common man type stuff. Right. Like, I'm a sports fan. I'm not, I don't fucking know, you know, the ins and outs of every sport I cover. I watch the game, roof of my teams, and that's what I'm going to tell you. And I see the funny parts. Yeah.

And what, uh, so when part of my take comes and you get PFT over, is that basically how part of my take starts is with you in PFT? Yeah. Or like you and others doing part of my take? Or are you on rundown? Like, what shows are you doing? Well, I was doing rundown and KFC Radio. So for what I think it was like two years was me, Kevin, and Kevin started KVC Radio himself.

And he gets, I mean, David said this too. Like the fact that like we didn't do podcasts until Kevin pushed us to do podcasts. It's so huge for the company that like he changed the company by being like, let's start doing podcasts. So I did KFC radio with Kevin in fights. And then I did the rundown and then I blogged all the time. And it was like KFC Radio wasn't really a sports. show we talked about sports, but it wasn't like fully sports. So once PFT came on, it's like, I have this idea, let's do this show and let's see how it goes. And like I said, it was the fact

that it hit as quickly as it did, like I don't know what would have happened if it didn't. You know what I mean? When you say it hit quickly, like how quickly was it like, oh, we have traction, we can get the guests we want. When did you think to yourself, we call this person, they'll come on the show? So that was probably about four or five months. The first moment that it really hit was, We did an interview with Kyle Wilcher who played at Kentucky in Gonzaga, a very good basketball player. He came on before the tournament and he told us a story about Adam Morrison having an apocalypse bunker and everyone. That's awesome.

Everyone, yeah, every news story, every news site picked it up. They're like, Adam Morrison at Apocalypse bunker? That's fucking crazy. And that was the first time we're like, oh, fuck. Like people are listening. And then what was huge was Adam Morrison being a really fucking cool guy and agreeing to come on and be like, I don't actually have an apoceros bunker. I just have some guns.

Like, it's not that big. He's a base mate with a couple of guns. Yeah, he lives in like, he lives in like Washington and like in the woods. Like, not in the woods, but like he lives in a state where it's like, yeah, people own guns. So him coming on and being cool about it, then propelled it where it was like the idea that we're not trying to burn people. We're trying to have fun with this. And then we had Joe Buck and Scott Van Pelt were the other two big ones that summer.

where it was like, fuck, this is awesome. It's got to be something. And that was the first time where, like, I think we can get, like, most guests. Because you see so many, like, people that start podcasts. And I'm sure your DMs are flooded with, hey, I started this podcast. Could I come on? But then you go, I'll go, like, people will DM me and like, can you go on my show? And I'll go look at their YouTube.

They'll be like, they'll put a podcast out every three weeks, every month. Right. Like, were you guys consistently at three immediately? Yeah, we're three immediately. Yeah, we have to do right away. So the first episode of part of my take was a disaster. Like, total disaster. because we, and this goes back to like the evolving thing, quickly pivoting off of things that don't work.

We started the show and our idea was to tape it in the mornings. So like Monday morning at like 9 a.m. We tape it. Hank would edit it. It'd be out at like new. We also were trying to do like a very, like we don't want to be a long podcast. We want to be something that people can just listen to like on their lunch break. So we had the idea of doing interviews instead of five good minutes that PTI does.

We're going to do four good minutes. That was the dumbest idea ever. I think we had Chris Long on it. And we like, we started playing the play-it-off music, like the Oscar music. Like, you know, three and a half minutes in, we hadn't even asked him a question. So we, I mean, we had like regatone, like sound effects and shit. It was weird. But we quickly were like, this doesn't work.

Like, we got to do night. We got to do longer. We can't, like, be cutting off guests. So, like, that, yeah, the first, like, week. I remember people were like, this show sucks. And then, but we pivoted very quickly. And we're like, yeah, three times a week. Yeah, people did want us to do five times a week, which would have killed us.

And we did like a Saturday show a couple times. But that one was, that was another one where it's like, wait, why are we doing? Like, three's good. You know what I mean? Like three shows a week is good. You don't need to push it to a point where we're burning ourselves out and burning the listener out. Because you guys know it. Like, when you start a podcast and you start something that people are drawn to,

it's very important to make it accessible that people can listen and feel like you're on the inside of the show. So if you flood them with five, six episodes a week, now they're like, wait, I missed an episode. What are they talking about? Because it's like, you guys do the same thing where there's a storyline that goes throughout the whole show. And it's very important that the listeners feel like

they're in on the combo and you're not missing stuff. So being like, oh, yeah, here's 15 hours a week that you've got to listen to. That's the top. Yeah. Yeah. Turns to do a job for the kids. Right, right.

And then they miss one and they're like, wait, what's that inside joke I miss? Then they feel like this behind and slowly. Yeah. Yeah. And then they slowly just get out of it. Yeah, once you have them miss one, like, it's easier to miss the second one. When, at what point does Eric come into the equation?

She was hired with the churning guys. Or Dave hired her after churning came in. So it was funny. We had, I actually don't know if I've told this story. So we interviewed a bunch of people. The whole move to New York was like, we're going to beef it up. We're going to hire the right staff. We're going to hire like an all business Pete.

loud Sean who's no longer with us but he's not dead um he's no longer at bars school i realized as i said that it's like that sounds like he's dead uh we interviewed like probably like 30 different CEOs where dave would interview him in person and then he passed him off to me kevin and k marko we talked to him on the phone and he met erika hit it off right away i actually talked to erika on the phone and i like think that i might like i remember that the churning guys got mad at me because I like I scared her a little bit about the job because I was my thing was Dave is gonna Dave can sell to anybody so Dave sits in a room with you you're gonna be like yes I'm I remember I was taking the approach of when I talked to these potential CEOs being like

this is the best job here are the like issues with what we have right now like we're disorganized we're we're kind of like all he shows throats all the time and I sent all this stuff and then I remember I got a call from, I think, Kern's after you. Like, what the fuck did you say to me? Oh, she called them? Yeah. Because what was Erica saying like, hey, I don't know if this is. Yeah, maybe she had like cold feet for a second. She ended up being fine.

I was like, I just was literally saying like, this is not the easiest job in the world. I was trying to be honest. Like, hey, do you have any clue what you're getting? Yeah, like, I wanted whoever took the job to not be blindsided and be like, wait, these guys are fucking idiots because we work. So I want to be like, listen, like, we don't know what we're doing like at all. and so we need like a lot of help. And she was incredible.

I mean, she changed my life. I mean, like, it's sad that she's leaving Barstool, but she, her, like the entrance of Erica to be that like yin-yngyang of Dave was great. Because Dave, the other part about Dave, which he's very honest about it, he doesn't want to hear people complain. Like he doesn't, if you go into Dave's office,

you're like, oh, I don't, I'm not getting enough shot. I'm not good. Like, shut the fuck up. Like, go to work. Right. But there is a human nature of working for a company where people complain. And Erica was really good at being able to, like,

internalize those, like, people go to Erica, talk to her. And she'd be like, all right, we'll figure it out. That type of stuff. You feel like they're being heard. Right, right. Like, that's a big part of it. And, like, Dave is very honest that he doesn't care about you being heard. So it's like, you know what to expect.

People will still be stunned when they'll, like, Dave, like, why did you do this decision? Like, why do you do this? Or why is he listening to this? Like, dude, no norms are Dave for a long time. You can't figure it out with you. Yeah. Use what Dave.

is to your benefit. He is fair. He's not going to watch everything. If you do a good job, he will reward you and know that any complaint that you send to him he's just not going to hear it. Not a words of affirmation guy though. He's never going to say a good job there's a clip of you saying like he

texted you one time and said good boy. Yeah, I think I got one, it was an email. He was like good video that you did. Oh yeah, it was a good blog and then there was one other time when it was video like there's been two times in my career where Dave's been like slap me on the ass. Yeah. Like you guys probably head coaches like that, who cares?

Like, once you realize it, it's like, okay, I know what to deal with. I know that, like, I'm not going to seek his approval because it's never going to happen that way. So just figure it out and do it the right way. How quickly do you see, like, turnover in Barstool throughout the years based on people coming from like a Fox or an ESPN or these more mainstream than walking into this thinking like they have to be buttoned up. We're doing a show like organized.

Yeah. Like, hey, we're really just like today. We just sat here. Right. We're in a conversation that we just press record. Right. Yeah, I think there's been some misses and hires. But I mean, everyone we hired, we did it with good intentions of, like, trying to grow the brand.

But there are people on the outside of Barstool, like in the ESPN Fox world, I think there's this idea that they're like, if I could swear, if I could do like you guys, I would crush it. And then they get there and they're like, well, this is a lot different. Like a lot of the shit we do is like spur of the moment live off the top of your head. And that is a skill that you have to like get over time. So yeah, that, it definitely had some failures with some of the hires. But it is you got to take shots. You guys are a success story. Like, that was, I mean, when we look at like the best hires, like, you guys are up there.

That's a big cat. No, it's true, though, because you guys got it right away. I mean, some may say you got it because you just read the PMT Playbook, but a lot of people say that. A lot of people say that. It's good that I love you guys so much because sometimes you like, dude, they're ripping you off. I don't care. I fucking love those guys. If I didn't like you guys, I would be mad.

Has there ever been an employee? Obviously, I'm not here anymore that you just fucking hate it. Hmm. Or worse hired. Worst higher. I mean, that would probably be the Michael Rapporte was probably the worst hire. Which is crazy because there is. That was such a public breakup. I don't really know the storyline of that.

So he got hired. Like, the craziest part about the Michael Rappport thing is I actually don't regret the hire. Dave and I went out to L.A. met with him. And he's like, he was a totally normal guy. He came on PMT, I don't know, three, four times over the course of the year. And I will stand on it that those interviews were funny. Like, he was funny. He was good on the mic. But something changed in his brain. And he also was one of those guys that like culturally didn't fully fit where he'd come to the office and he would maybe say hello to like me and Kevin and Dave, but not everyone else. And like,

that rubs people the wrong way. But yeah, he, that was a public breakup. It's not know well. But again, I don't regret it because you've got to do those. You got to take both shots, you know? Right. Like leaning into, leaning into that stuff, which is very uncomfortable for a lot of people. But then you kind of look at the history of Barstool and a lot of those public moments, it ends up coming back around. It's, it's the best thing that we do is that we're very honest with our fans. And like, when we make mistakes, they're public mistakes. And people love that. Because it's showing all of our flaws. Yeah, people love to see the negative over the positive. Right. And they just love to be like, oh, you guys fucked up. You're

idiots like there was there's a thing that we used to say the bar still difference which is not as funny anymore because there's like a lot of jobs at stake and a lot of money at stake but the bar still difference was always like if we put out a video that we worked really hard on and the sound just didn't work or you know like the camera was all shaky or like if you like bar still difference like we did the rundown once where we just take the entire rundown with no sound and then we had to redo it and it's like impossible to redo that's the worst feeling in the world we're like trying to tell the jokes again and we just like, this is fucking right. And then I think the second one we taped, we just said, we started it, we gave it a shot.

And then 10 minutes in were like this fucking stupid. Like we already taped this. And then people enjoy that part where they're like, oh, they're being honest. Like they can't do it again. Yeah, trying to relive a moment is one of the harder things to do. Right. Yeah, like if we try to do something like, hey, I'm going to say this again. Right.

Yeah. Well, we had that, uh, the S&P where we had to go reshoot the whole A block that was. I was mad about Stu Flyer. Yeah. Oh, yeah. We know. We know. What was the deal?

I'm not mad at you guys because you guys are opportunists and, you know, take advantage of a small little Jewish man from Long Island when you say, hey, here's a camera. He's like, I'm in. Yeah. That probably a little. He's like, Stu, what are you doing, dude? He won't, he was a show. It's a great show.

Him giving the backstory on that show and how Dave used to watch him as a kid and bringing it back was an awesome story. He just watched the clips all the time. He saved his life. Can you tell you that part? He, he, he, I mean, coming his mouth. He didn't say that. He didn't say that.

He said that we saved his life. He said he'd come back a whole bunch of next to him too for something like that. So what's funny about that is knowing he was going to come on the bus because I listened to him on, obviously following you guys with sports advisors and everything else,

but I listen to him talk on spin chiggles. He's like, oh, I mean, he's got a nice little story. And so he was planning on coming on and just worked out to where the S&P was active was also happening. And we're very aware of how our show comes off, very advisors like.

And so no thing. No thing. That's what we're talking about. I do need to say that too. Although that like imitation, what's the quote about invitation of flattery? Flattering, yeah. Like we'll have conversations with bars on the higher ups and people will be like, hey, you should lean into doing this or you should do that. Or we're like, hey, we want to do a gambling show.

And they sent in a team to build out what it could look like. It's not like we just, it's not like we just knew that it was going to be the same exact set. Okay. But knowing that Stu was coming in. I was like, we need to really lean into being the whole knockout because everybody, we see everybody. Yeah. Oh, you guys are just taking this around the hell and everything.

And since we know we're changing some things for the gambling show going in the next year, it's like it would be really funny to really lean into. No. Stu coming in. I'll kick him off Arsenal sports. Perfect. We'll take it. It was our best show.

He won't do it. He won't. He says he told us in the seat. He gets. He gets. He said he did the deal with the eight. No, no, no. I'll go.

Go ahead. I know, I'll go. I'll go. He said he did the deal with him. Dave and Dave's like, hey, what do you want to get paid? He's like, I just want to run a commercial during the show. Great. That's what he does.

That's what he does. And then he's like, you don't pay me anything. He's like, Stu, you get a fucking deal. You made the deal. And you get, like, a huge audience every single week for your, for your tout service. I love, I can't stay mad at Stu. I tried. Like, he called me.

He's like, he called me, man. I was like, I'm fucking furious. And then he like, I'm so sorry. I was done for you. I'm going to do. I don't know. I know he didn't get the best birthday. shout out, which I needed for him.

Yeah. And I was like, you know, I knew it was a one-off and I knew like all this stuff going into it. And he was like, hey, he did. He did. But he, but before the show, he didn't necessarily, he didn't say that. He would never give picks. You got to go, like, we did a whole show last

year. We didn't give a single pick. Like, he actually got mad. I like, I like, I was like, I don't know, like Bengals, Bengals Bills. And he'd like, no pick. goes to fire.com, like, but if you're, like, if you're, yeah, but like, if I had your whole, all four your kids hostage, I was like, you got to give me a pill.

And like, I guess that we'd be a pill. So then we did the whole graphic of all those means. Yeah. And he went like, oh and seven and he got so mad. You're embarrassing me. Because Jack put up the photo of us doing the show and he was like, hang texted him and just being like disappointed. And he goes to another thing, too.

He's like, I don't really do my playoff face. I was like, oh, you don't do you play? He's like, no, never. Yeah. I was like, oh. Yeah. just isn't the show and yells about stupiner.com. Yeah.

Regular season he'll give picks, but yeah, he'll just yell about stupiner. That's it. Ladies gentlemen, we remember this episode to bring you a sponsor. That sponsor, I'm not going to tell you it is at first. I'm going to tell you when I walk into my house and I want to sit in comfort, there's one specific furniture spot I go to and that is Ashley Furnisher, dude. I got a great big couch that sits in my living room when it's been a long day doing pods, ripping around, grab it up, pump, ripping around with kids.

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use our code barstool to save online at ashley.com. Back to the episode. Yeah, the gambling space is, you haven't seen the percentages? Of what? My ear. Oh, what did you do? I think in the playoffs, I'm 68% right now.

Oh. Yeah, overall on the season, I'm like 51.3 or something like that's losing money. But that is. Yeah. That's, the year, it was way harder than I expected because I was talking coffee to our June. You were caught. You were talking coffee.

I was like, I was like, I was like, I was losing money. I was more doing that for us to maybe build something. But, 68%. Yeah, no, that's huge. I mean, it's, gambling is impossible. Stu looked me in the eyes and he goes, you'll never have another year like this again. Yeah, probably.

This will be your best year ever, so enjoy it right now. Probably true. It's like, oh, fuck. Gambling is impossible. Like, you, people will come at us and be like, oh, you're, you know, getting people to gamble. It's like, I am the most honest person when it comes to gambling. On the internet.

Like, I'm a loser. I lose, but I love doing it. I love gambling. So like don't, don't follow me. Know that, like, I'm a loser. Know that you shouldn't gamble more than what you have. Like, I, yes, I gamble more money than I did 10 years ago, but I have more money. Like, it's gone up to a point where it's like, it's all relative.

Like, I'm never gambling money that would hurt my family. You know what I mean? Does your wife never tell you to slow down? Is she like, hey, you're kind of getting a little out of control with these nuclear. No. There's a lot of, the smart thing that I've done is like there's, I don't have any access to any of my money. So like if my wife got hit by a bus tomorrow, like I would I don't have I don't have a debit card. I don't have like any right you just have your account. I'm not even know I don't even know how to get into my account. Yeah. I don't know what my account like I don't know what my account. That was me eight months ago. So but that's, but I do that because she can see everything I gamble and it's like she she she will tell me if it's like, hey, this is getting a lot of hand. But also she gets the freedom of like I've never asked like I got fucking. couches that God knows what they cost

in my house. I don't fucking know. So it's like, she can, she manages the money. It's like, we're good. I'll gamble. I'm good. We'll just keep it like that. So you don't look at like, you're, you get to April. You're looking at the taxes and you see all the losses. And you don't say,

I'm going to take X amount of dollars per year and then that's what I'm going to gamble with. You just hit them. No. It's usually just whatever I run out. I'm like, hey, ran out again. A little bit back up. Taylor between the legs just kind of walking over. It's basically my gambling career is basically how, like,

can I last, like, more than, like, three or four months with having to load back up? That's a successful. That is? Yeah. Like, the start of the football season was bad. I think I, like, did a big deposit in August, and then I had to re-up in, like, October.

But then I made it from, like, October to, like, mid-January. It was, like, that was good. I don't know how, I'm going to crush that. I don't know how public you are with what you bet on nuclear missile whale plays and all that. to get into it but when did when were you like man i can really start doing putting bets in that make me sweat my yeah yeah that was probably the last like two years or so maybe three years where i've been like okay like this is fun every now and then nuclear missile whale plays are

usually between 30 and 40 000 um and then and then that's that makes me sweat came in the years or like 50 but i lost a couple of those and that doesn't you don't get those back yeah don't Get those. No, no, no, no, no. But yeah, when I say that, that's usually one of them. So when Michigan, Alabama goes down, and you and I were texting about who you're rooting for and all that, and you were very much like, I just want Michigan to win strictly for Dave. Yeah.

Which hurt a little bit because we're friends. Yeah, we are. But understanding, like, Dave, like that amount of money, like that, it's a once in a lifetime bet. Yeah, you've been a million dollars on the game. And like I said, Dave and I've been gambling for a very long time where I've seen his units go up and my units go up at the same time, where it's like. when he says I'm betting a million dollars,

like there's a gambling brotherhood behind it where it's like, I don't, like, unless he's going and gets my team, like, I'm rooting for. I want him to win because that's a bet of a lifetime. Say he was rooting really hard for me to win that Eagles future last year. It's like, bed of a lifetime. That hurt. It hurt.

It hurt a lot. Passing Hose keeps kicking my teeth. What do you think happens today? How do you think Dave handles it if Michigan lose out of Alabama? He would have been very down for a very long time. Yeah, that would be bad. He's, when he wins,

he's the best of your business. Like, he, I'm kind of similar where it's like, if I'm hot, like everyone's getting money. Everyone's getting, yeah,

we saw him for a football football show. Yeah, it's a, that's a problem. That's why I don't have my bank account. Because if I have money in my pocket, I'm just going to hand it out to me like a fucking idiot. Like I do that all the time where I'm like,

what do I just do? So, but it's, I don't know, it's, that's the fun part of gambling. if I'm hot, I want everyone else to be hot. Like, I want us to gamble together.

I want us to win together. That's the fun. There's like a small, like, maybe selfish side of you that's like, I want everyone else to be excited about this too. Yeah. So you're kind of like, hey, take this. Hey, how great was this? You're rude for this. Yeah, yeah.

So, yeah. I mean, and I know that that's a stupid way, like, pro gamblers, like, you're the dumbest person in the world. I understand that because, like, money management and all that stuff. But again, I, if I don't gamble over my means, like, I'm going to do it my way. I want everyone to feel that moment together. That's why we're, I was telling Willey, you got to come too, like for March Madness. That's the best. When we just sit in that cave for four days and just gamble on every game,

he's in the church. And you just fight it wars with your boys. You're just fucking, like, everyone get on one bed. Like, let's fucking go. There's nothing. There's no better feeling. Those Thursday night streams are fun. Yeah.

Everybody, like, we hit the parlay together. We're checking our phones over and over again. What's that fucking guy's name, Reggie Gillum? The tied in? I tried to get everyone on a bill's. I thought that was the big. This Bill's white guy, I think, right? Yeah.

We never saw a line. Go a line. Go a line. Never saw one. They're an 11 personnel in the war yard line. Was never on the field. Why do I trust? They mentioned Gillow.

When you distribute the wealth like that, when you're really giving it to other people, and Jerry pulls a move like your Raven's future. Yeah. I heard a lot. In the Bill's future. Bill's future. Like, where you guys relationship to say that now? We're okay now.

he Jerry sometimes forgets that like even though I have money losing money still hurts a lot like that's just a fact no one wants to lose

so he was playing with fire there I've forgiven him he was upset it was the day before Steelers bills I think we all bet Ryan Shakir to score a touchdown and he scored a touchdown

and we all like went crazy and he just walked out the stream because it was like it was the Steelers going down 14. Yeah. So like that was his, that was the villain origin story from.

That was the arc. That's where he became like the Joker. With the, with Barcelage Q in Chicago, how excited were you, how excited were you in the moment we're starting to come into fruition that there was going to be a Barcel in Chicago?

It was, the big move was going to take place. Yeah, it was awesome. And then looking at the spaces, like Hank and I went out, it was probably about 16 months ago to look at all these spaces and like just seeing the spaces

for the first time was like, this is really going to be everything. like we wanted. And it's just, I think I've set up a spot where people just genuinely want to go to work every day. Because I don't want to get into the whole not working on Fridays, New York office, I know they went through it. Barstool works at its best when people show up. And like every day, you're in the mix, you're in the grind. That's where the, like, beauty comes from. That's where the content comes from. So building a spot like that where people,

want to come every day and incentivizes them to come every day is everything I wanted because then you get the buzz, you get the people around, you get the ideas flowing. That's it. That's the juice. Like that's what the first, when we first moved to New York, we're all stuck in this little office together. Some people would probably say that's probably their favorite era of bar stool because it was every day, everyone just sitting on top of each other, like at each other's throats. Everybody's storyline. Right. Right. Exactly. And then you see it all and it's a reality show. And I know that there's a little bit, like, the Chicago office may be a little bit different that, like, I've never been, I embrace the barstool drama, but I'm never out to try to, like, create the barstool drama. If it happens, it's awesome. So there might be a little bit of a different vibe in Chicago where it's like, we're pulling for each other a little bit. And that's more just how I've always operated. And it's also, like, I've told everyone, I've told me, I give pretty much everyone a speech who was coming to Chicago. It's like, look, I have. let's say five to seven more years of me like working at this pace,

I want to get to a point in five to seven years where like everyone who's come with me has elevated to a point where I don't have to work that hard and everyone's like kind of a star on their own. So like that's the end goal and that's how I kind of try to lead. What does your workload look like after those five to seven years? I think it would be doing PMT, but maybe I don't know. Yeah, it's a hard thing I wrestle with because like I love my job so much. that like I say I want to step back but do I? I don't know.

You see something going on? You're kind of like. That's the itch that you, if you don't have that itch, then you, like, that's what, like, I know Dave watches us in Chicago when we're doing like streams and stuff, like the Jerry stream, with all. I know Dave deep down wants to be in. Like, I know he's, he's, like, enjoying his life, but I know deep down he wants to be there

because he and I are wired the same where it's like, if there's action we want in. And like having that feeling is what, issue, like, I want to be part of this. I want to do this. Yeah. How do you find the fulfillment though when you do this other step away? I'm being like, okay, I'm finally going to, we had this organization of Montana. We're kind of in, we're in Bozeman, like, how do people just, being the life we're in right now? Right. Thinking about going to live in like a Bozeman, Montana, acres, out of a city, out of like the hustle and bustle. Like, where do you find that area to be like,

okay, I'm calm and I'm present? Right. I don't know. I don't know the answer to it. I, partly I kind of hope that, and it will suck if this happens, but I'm realistic, about like the game retiring you kind of thing where it's like there'll be a point with you like you're 50 years old but I don't care what you say yeah um hopefully I have you're 50 years old shooting yourself yeah yeah hopefully I have the self awareness to realize that before it happens and then I can be like all right I'm not you'd that be a tough like couple of years where everyone kind of sees you know yeah yeah he's losing he's losing it's lost a step yeah it's not sharp yeah yeah that is one of the more impressive thing

about band is your ability for recall and staying like remembering things like like when we were on the Giac last time I was in Chicago and then magician is there's like you're a good liar I don't know and you're like well tell him at the time you did have a video of you I'm thinking my only thought was like how does he fucking just have that right there in the back of his palm and you know what I'm not you know what I'm the got that was fun I talked to the camera you guys had a field day with that oh yeah you loved oh yeah Yeah, but yeah, it's... Such a trying time in my life.

I'm happy that we were able to make it worse for you. Yeah, the answer, I don't know. Hopefully it will click. Hopefully that moment will happen when I'm just like, all right, like it's good. Because, I mean, I think it kind of happened for Dave. I mean, he's still, Dave is the model where it's like he doesn't work the same hours he used to work, but he does the things he wants to do and is in the mix or the March Madness for the Super Bowl for that time. And then everything he does do has like a more of a bump now because Dave's,

Part of what's your day is a part of every time he's on any show But the fact that it's less like less um less supply of yeah yeah yeah becomes a more elevated he's like oil yeah I don't know I know we only have a couple minutes left we uh we do the yeah talking analytics some analytics some man analytics we can talk about we I feel like we'll be able to be able to that okay okay okay okay okay I mean analytic kind of burn you know the lions not really yeah I wouldn't have yeah I don't I don't I think the lines fucked that up. They should have absolutely just kicked it. We'll save it. We'll save it.

I have some stats for you. You can show it. Yeah. And now the down 14 got to go for two. I think that's Hang on out what I wanted to get for the last genius. No. Okay. I think you I don't think you go for it. I, again I'm gonna, we're gonna sit down and we'll get a piece of paper. I still don't think.

If we're gonna wait on I under. Hold on. When you say that, I don't believe you. I understand. Because that's what he'll go I still don't, you know, think that you understand. The rivalry between Chicago and New York. Yes. As the leader of Barstall, Chicago, why are you guys better?

It's been such one of those classes and the horrible conversations that both sides try to lean into. It sucks. Lean to, but also not lean to it. I don't like leaning into it because it sucks because I, and people, where do me say this and they're like, oh, you're like, you're saying this because you guys are on top right now, whatever. We still do work for the same company. Like if New York failed, it would be very bad for me. You know what I mean? So it's like, and I'm trying to figure out, like,

fights was in Chicago for a few days last week. It's awesome. Like, trying to get it so that people feel like they're, you know, feel comfortable coming to our office for a couple days and, like, mixing it up. Yeah, I mean, that's why we have the best fans in the world because they care so much. And so they, if they see something like a rivalry, they're like, we're going to hammer it.

Like, I've likened it. Like, I liken it to a million times. Like, if you're a fan of a team, if you say your coach sucks or your quarterback sucks, it doesn't mean you don't like your team. You're just complaining about what's going on with the team right now. So it's like not, I never see like the fans saying like, oh, New York sucks really being like, these guys aren't fans. They're just passionate fans that care a lot and their bests a lot.

I hope it works out. I hope they've had a little bit of a rocky couple months, but they'll find it. I mean, you just keep grinding. Some of those skits are elite. What? Oh, that's the thing. It's like, that's, I think it's too is, I think the difference that people are going to have to realize is like we in Chicago are going to probably put out more day-to-day, like, every day,

here's content, here's live streams. Whereas New York, it might be more tape stuff that is still really good, but it just doesn't have the volume. So it's not like, like New York's still doing great stuff. It just maybe isn't the same volume in Chicago. but we're more of like live going live all the time. The numbers are going to be skewed. Right.

Because you have something every single day. Correct. Right. Like last week we did like handball one day. Berman came in. We did a stream with him. Like all these things. The Jerry after dark street.

We're doing it. That was one of the dumbest ideas. How long did that take? Six hours. It was bad. You had to be an hour too. Like, god damn. Dude, we didn't find the first needle in the first 30 minutes.

I was like, what the fuck are we doing? It's my birthday. Giant ass hay bales. Yeah. It was my birthday. It was a good birthday. I'd tell PFT every birthday and go home. Yeah.

Give the kiss. You go home. How do you, how many guys have you kissed? A lot. Because there was a whole. Yeah. But you'd rather.

A cat-al-al-werey. Yeah, I mean, kiss a bunch. Yeah. Yeah. You don't kiss your bros? I mean, I have. What? Come on.

Come on. Come on, real. You'd kiss. Who does that try that in a small. Oh. Oh. We've been bringing back the word gay a lot. That's a great word.

It's a great word. It's a great really. It's coming back. You saw the Dan Arlotsky your playing? Yeah. I like it because every time I see you do it, I'm like, well, you can't go to ESPN now. It's great. You're putting yourself in handcuffs.

I see, I see, I see Dan, and I'm just thinking like, bro, you know what's thinking that you're better than, or you're claiming to be better than everybody else. Like, embrace your moment. Like, you have a good little moment. Yeah, you did have a good moment. Like, ride it a little bit. Raise yourself. Right.

Yeah, Roloski was number one. And he's just like, man, I don't have an ounce of talent that everybody else in the list of. I'm just like, it's like, it's cool. Yeah, we're with a humility. Like, run that a little bit. Yeah, we all know you're a great guy. Yeah. Thanks for coming on though, bro.

I love you guys. I know we got to get to the, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we can. Do you have one? Yeah, thanks. Oh. So Mitch, I don't know if you follow.

Mitch has had a really hard time with this twisted questions. They've been awful. Like one of them was. Yeah. Would you rather stop cursing or give up ice cream? Yeah. Yeah, we were getting the heat. I don't know if we were recording then.

Oh, I got you. This twisted question is brought to you by Twisted Tea, the smoothest hard iced tea out there, kicking off the New Year's race championship season, the big game this weekend. Keep it twisted with Twisted Tea. Kick off your 2024 with a twisted tea today. Good luck to Mitch Carsley on the twisted question.

Would you rather fight a chicken every time you get into your meal? or fight all the orangutan once a year. One of y'all repeated. Would you rather fight a chicken every time you get into a vehicle or fight an orangutan once a year? Probably the orangutan. You would get fucking destroyed the question.

The orangutan would literally rip you apart. No, dude. I fucking break. No shots. I love that confidence. Well, the problem with some of these hypotheticals is like if you give me any hypothetical like, oh, would you rather like

fight a shark or a bear? I can just say, like, I would kick the shit out of the bear. You guys, how can you prove that I couldn't? I don't know, like, never going to see a best. All the videos. I just walk the bear up. But you realize, like, I can just say what up. Chickens, you can literally just grab by the neck real quick and just do that.

Yeah, but what if you, like, forget your keys? Oh, so you forget something in your house. Yeah, you're like, oh, fuck, I forgot my kid's lunch. Like, I just have fought off a chicken. I got fired up another chicken. That sucks. That gets tedious, dude. But chickens aren't roosters.

Roosters have talents. Chickens don't have a lot going on for them. I just grab a snack and just smash it. You would just look like you just grab it. That's what I do. Yeah, 12. What's that? Yeah, 12.

I feel like that's every, every basic bitch who goes to Nashville goes out. I don't know if they're nasty like that. Free eggs. Put the hat on. Put some hat on. Overalls, walk out. Get gone.

I have a whole outfit I get into every single day. I know how I'll tell everybody. I'll just got some chickens. What's that? You know, I just got some chickens. the free range age. What's the movie with Dave Franco? And he's like the tech genius

and he's dating the girl and the dad comes in. Why him? Why him? There's a scene of him like feeding the chickens and he has like a guy that fights him once a day

like randomly that he has to learn because he doesn't have security and he takes a chicken and he throws it at the guy and is one of the funniest scenes but since you haven't seen it. Oh, all right.

Well, thank you boys. Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it. All right guys. Love coming on. Hey guys. It's us. The Jonas Brothers.

I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it.

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Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. on Humor Me with Robert Smygel and Friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes.

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I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headlines. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlic on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 in the TikTok podcast. network on TikTok.