Games with Names - “TBT Finals” with Big Cat | 2014 Inaugural Championship: Team Barstool vs. ND Alumni

Episode Date: October 11, 2022

Today, on our quest to find the greatest game of all time, we turn not the NBA, NFL, or even the MLB, today we’re talking TBT. It’s the Inaugural TBT Championship game between Team Barstool and Notre Dame Alumni. With Big Cat in-studio, we reminisce on what was going down in July 2014. (8:52). We get into these teams and how these rosters were assembled (23:45). For the first time ever, Big Cat peels off the band-aid and talks about this “TBT Final.” We also hear from Notre Dame Alumni team member Torin Francis (37:56). We wrap up the game with Big Cat and give it a score (53:52).Support the show: http://www.gameswithnames.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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June 28th, 2014. Boston, Massachusetts. Case Gymnasium. With 500K on the line, a group of ex-college stars battle it out for a winner-take-all championship. Two slubs watch from the sideline as 20K slips away before their eyes. This is 2014's The Basketball Tournament Championship. Hello. Okay.

And welcome to Games with Names presented by WinBet. Barstool Sportsbook. Oh, sorry. Go ahead, you do that again. Presented by WinBet, of course, as you guys can tell. I'm Julian Edelman. I'm Sam Morrell. We're on the search to find the greatest games of all time. And yes, we're joined here today with the infamous Big Cat. What's up?

How you doing? I feel great. And today we're going to be talking about the infamous 2014 first annual the basketball tournament final. Yes. History. History. History.

Literally. This thing's literally been under wraps for years you haven't talked about this nope nope and this is team barstool versus the notre dame fighting alumni yes yes and it's uh it is history because the basketball tournament is something people watch now they watch it on regular espn it's become a big deal this was the first ever tournament the first ever championship we could have been in history as being the inaugural champions, and we didn't. Sometimes, you know, getting to the championship and losing is, it's like the worst thing you can ever have. Yes. You know, you wish almost you're losing like the divisional round or the championship to get to the championship.

So I can feel you. This is going gonna really open you up a little bit it's it's the pain of knowing you were right there we were half away and uh like i said it would have been history you know if this if the basketball tournament becomes something that lives on for 100 years they could always point back to us and be like that team won the first one ever instead we're just erased from history oh it's amazing how quickly i got into this too i was this is the first non you know professional sport thing we've done whoa whoa are you saying this wasn't a real no i'm saying wasn't a real i'm saying legally this is the first one we can use clips of on youtube that's what i'm saying there we go uh no but i got into this quickly the nostalgia the nba on nbc music you're using it takes me back that was my favorite time to watch basketball the whole thing and it was um

yeah i mean the the entire uh lead up to it the tournament was very very fun it's a lot of our fans old school barstool like this is what they look to when dave and i would go out and do stuff like this and uh it could have it could have been something we could have talked about forever in glowing terms now it's instead something we just never bring up we never ever bring it up never bring it up we never bring it up we just bury it away and pretend it never happened to get up and go after this loss right yeah and go yeah get up and go and just never talk about never talk about it we also got to give a shout out because this is a team hank podcast yes hank's in the building yeah how you feeling over there you're good he's gonna come up to the mic so hank is my memory hank if

every clip you see hank this is truly old school barstool where it was dave and i gaz and hank all traveling around they were videoing everything It was you know a four man operation I don't think there was anyone else So he's here as my memory As you know Jules Sometimes memory evades us So that's why he's here You need a Hank who walks around and tells you

Everything that happened in your life Yeah I know I was also very broke and I remember We were gonna go to the club Oh we'll get to that to the club and have a crazy night that I was looking forward to. There's a lot of side stories. Sad night. Can we start with how the team was assembled?

Yes. Yes. So Matt Walsh, who played at Florida, also played for the Heat. So he is a huge stoolie, longtime stoolie, friend of ours, and he approached us, and he was like, hey, there's this new tournament that they're trying to put on. And essentially there's a component to the tournament that's a fan vote. So if you get enough fan votes, you get the one seed. You get to if you get to the championship, you get to pick your location.

All these perks come with being the one seed. So he was like, hey, let's team up because he knows like Dave and I and Barstool has a big following. Matt said that he would take care of the players. All we got to do is take care of the fan vote, which we crushed so much that like there were all these ancillary prizes

that TBT was going to give away for anyone who had like, you know, if you get 10,000 people to vote for you who had like you know if you get 10,000 people to vote for you you get this if you get 20 we crush it so bad they just shut off all the prizes they're like you guys can't get anything else you tell me you got more votes than the best of the dmv yeah the best more votes the best of you and this is a brand new thing so no one knows what it is so it so matt puts together the team um his coach, Coach Ross Burns, who trains a bunch of NBA players. He's connected with a bunch of NBA players.

The rule was you can't have any active NBA players on the roster. But we got, if you look at all the rosters and all the teams, we had by far the best talent because we had Dante Jones, who won a ring with the Cavs two years later, played for Duke, played in the NBA. Josh Boone, who was... He was still an NBA-level talent. Yeah, no, he was an NBA-level talent. They were in college?

What? They were in college? No, no, all the guys were out of college, but... Not a pro yet. No, no, they were either overseas or washed-up college athletes. So if you look at all the rosters, right, I would say most of them were compiled of guys who played four years in college, maybe a year or two overseas at best,

and then of working, you know, doing regular life, right? But you guys had two championship guys on your team. We had pros that were still actively playing overseas, like Donnie McGrath, who played at Providence. He had a really good international career. Matt McGrath, who played at Providence, he had a really good international career. Matt Walsh, who played at Florida, had a really good international career. Our quote-unquote worst player,

who was actually the guy that got along with the most, Justin Burrell, he played for St. John's. He then played overseas in Japan. All these guys were very, very... Andre Barrett played at Seton Hall. They were all really, really good basketball players. So when you looked at our roster, we had, like, I think everyone on our roster

had been to at least bare minimum an NBA training camp. And every other roster didn't have anyone even close to them. This is ridiculous. They're pro players, though. So technically, you are... I'm a pro. No, you can't have pros on the team. No, I pro yeah this is like some daniel or two what is the kid who was like 15 years old daniel monte monte like yeah i don't understand how they could play if

they were as long as they didn't play in the nba oh it was nba only yeah so they all these guys had been in the nba or were like dante were active NBA players you couldn't you couldn't grab Kevin Durant correct you correct but you can nor would he do it because it's obviously the injury risk you never know in 100 years he could this is the tournament that's true this is what we're going on five years now that's true that'd be great if LeBron just dominated it in like you know 15 years and tried to pretend they were real rings uh which they would be real rings if I had won a ring whatever the the point of the tournament though was essentially they wanted to create uh a tournament every summer where they

know they can capture the guys like if if you talk to any international guy uh who plays overseas they play basically for nine months and they come back for the entire summer so they're trying to capture those guys and they're trying to capture and And guys like you. And guys like me. So we were very much the odd ducks in this whole thing. But we did provide like a pretty significant benefit to our team because we got the fan vote. So that's how it all started. You got the team the one seed. Yeah.

I don't know if they still do the fan vote thing. They might have stopped after we kind of like broke it but the the first initial tournament was set up where it was a big benefit if you could get a bunch of people to vote for your team and we were able to do that like we got we got uh i think we got three different jerseys everyone else got one like all these perks you had alternate jerseys yeah we had alternate jerseys because we had so many fan you had laden knights jerseys if this was the wmba you might get suspended for what oh they can't have like private planes like if it's an unfair advantage yeah we did have an unfair advantage you know that's that's kind of ridiculous well let's get back into june 28th 2014 we'll get back into the game we like to go over pop history big cat things that were going on

what we were doing dicking around having fun during the times of these games and when they were played and on this day in america transformer age of extinction was the best movie in the box office honestly which number one was this what number was this number two three was this a walbert one walbert this is walbert i liked it it was good can you guys pull up videos while we're doing this show right now yeah you pull up videos right here no yes yeah just give me a no what video uh uh big cat uh nick fancy fancy that's the number one hit right now that's the number one Big Cat, Nick, Fancy. Fancy. That's the number one hit right now?

That's the number one song. Was it this moment? Iggy Azalea, yes. Yeah, play that. In and out. So, yeah, this is where you're taking us back to... This is when you're in it. 2014 where I'm doing a terrible lip dub of the number one song in the country. Look at me, I kind of look ripped.

You look strong. I was saying that in 2014 2014 i was watching these videos i don't understand how dave has gotten skinnier i know and you've kind of we we like he's got big bodies you big boned it a little more yeah i mean blog life took a lot out of me i was when i when i entered blog life i was still doing crossfit and uh yeah it all fell apart and then you had kids. Kids. Like one back injury, still haven't recovered from.

I've recovered from the back injury. I just haven't gotten back in the gym. But you're still playing Hurd. That was like eight, nine years ago. You still play Hurd. Yeah. Always. Always got to play Hurd.

That's a great guy. Yeah. But yeah, this was early Barstool. I mean, there's been a lot of iterations. You could say early Barstool was when dave was doing it solo but this was old school barstool that a lot of people appreciated because it was truly like seven or eight of us total wow yeah ground floor now that one of the biggest companies in sports i mean huge the other thing i see is ice bucket challenge do you know that me and feidelberg started that i saw saw Feidelberg at the game in a suit at the championship. He looked like a degenerate gambler.

We did one. Yeah. I don't remember. I think there's been people who got mad when I say this out loud, but Pete Fradies, who was a friend of Barstool, we went to his fundraiser. It's from North Shore, right? Yeah, and he challenged me and Feidelberg as the first challenge.

That was for a great cause yeah so that he was we were the first person to do like to accept the challenge and then who'd you challenge i can't even remember i'm sure hank can find it i probably challenged dave and like kevin and you know the rest of the barstool guys we i think we were the first athlete to do it i don't think so so. I think I just said that I was the first person to do it. You're the first podcaster. I'm an athlete shown by being in this game. Julian, we're doing, he's played in sports. I mean, come on. We're doing one of his games.

I forgot. You know, I've been hit a few times. Like Big Cat says, memory's not good. Sam, where the fuck, where are you? Where's my memory? It was in college.'m i'm this is fun though you guys are this is a great like way you're doing this because now i'm going down memory lane remember the spurs heat that was the lebron cramp game where the spurs turned off the ac oh yeah because

competitive advantage yeah and he was like dying on the sideline how come we don't ever hear anything about the spurs doing stuff like that? If we, God forbid, as Patriots were to do anything like that, there'd be a gate at the end of it. That's actually a fair point. I did say that Spurs are the NBA Patriots, so I have said that. Gracie Tracy. Gracie Tracy?

That's so great. Because that was right when we did fights and I did the, um, the weight loss challenge and she was part of that video. That's very funny. She's part of history. Um, you're right.

Was that the only person I challenged? That's funny. Um, yeah, no, you're right though. That would be AC gate, AC gate.

Yeah. Shout out to Gracie Tracy. Engage now. To who? Mojo.Gate. Yeah. Shout out to Gracie Tracy. Engage now. To who? Mojo. Mojo. Yeah, Gracie's old school. She's part of Barstool history.

She was always the best. I mean, she would always be down for any video. She was part of the first rundown, I think, too. The first rundown. I didn't realize Gracie Tracy was a... Yeah. Yeah. Huge. Wow. didn't think we'd be going down this path but here we are here we are andrew wiggins first pick in the calves draft traded for

kevin love kevin love yep worthwhile trade in retrospect obviously i mean they won a ring yeah yeah although you could argue could they have won multiple although i i love kevin love so i'm gonna to back him. He's my guy. And also Wiggins, he's figured out this year, but it took him a while. Yeah. Well, he is now getting the benefit of being around Steph Curry. Yeah.

And Draymond. Sometimes you see players and you have to ask yourself, are they truly great or are they just playing with someone else great that's feeding them the ball? Hmm. What are you trying to say? I are they truly great or are they just playing with someone else great that's like feeding them the ball hmm what are you trying to say i didn't i'm talking about basketball oh i'm talking about you're talking about you know being around great players that feed you the ball right is that a shot no no no is that a shot no that's not that's just what i think of andrew wiggins on the warriors now okay right so So you have to separate, is he truly great or is he just around greatness? It's hard to figure out. It is.

I guess it is. We're all just trying to figure it out. We're all just trying to figure it out. Sam's like, what the hell is going on between these two right now? It's like a sexual tension here. I want you guys to kiss. Julian, what were you doing in 2014? 2014, at this time, I think I just signed a contract to go back to the Patriots.

And we were in, I believe, training camp or OTAs preparing for a deep run into the playoffs that soon turned into a Super Bowl victory against Seattle Seahawks. Was that your first big contract? Like the big, big one? That was my first big. It wasn't a big contract. But what was it?

I think it was like four years, 19 million. I mean, that's still. 19.5. But that had to have been the first time where you were like, I'm good now. Like not good forever, but like I've made enough money now where I can be comfortable. I was celebrating i mean i never thought i would get a contract like that but you know coming especially coming off of league minimum the year before signed a one-year deal got hurt and bet on yourself got a bet on yourself and uh you know it was crazy it was like pulling teeth to negotiate

with the fucking patriots it's the absolute fucking worst i literally had to set up a visit to get like two million more to go to the niners my hometown team and as soon as i got there they found out i got there and they fucking hit me up and they go oh well this is the deal and i'll go well i'm gonna take this i'm gonna take this interview he goes now that you know we're gonna pull this and if you if you do or if you don't if you don't take it by the end of the day i'm like what the fuck these guys are but i ended up signed yeah they knew what they were doing what did you buy what was the big purchase i didn't buy shit really really nothing i bought like a laptop that's that's such a boring big

contract purchase. It actually, you know what? I'm actually going to back you up though because like obviously there's been, you know, through the course of Barstool like where we're at now, I've had moments where it's like, oh, this is pretty nice. Like I have money now and I never did buy anything big. It was more like I can just pop on Amazon and like buy like seven $100 for no like not even blank you know

exactly or or take your friends out to dinner yeah not have to like cut up the check yeah buy some shoes and not feel bad about it did you go did you do a big dinner the the night of yeah i had a barbecue with my family and friends oh that's cheap you know very cheap but um you know then it like like big cat said it was like all right now i can go buy i can spend a thousand dollars on shoes right it's it's it is a weird feeling yeah you don't you don't like say like oh i'm gonna go buy some big thing it's more like i'm gonna buy all the things that i looked at and was like i shouldn't yeah exactly i have a friend who it's like i have a friend who can't he struggles to make rent but he has like four rolexes and it's shit like that

i'm like yeah well you gotta you gotta get he's like well i can sell these at any point i'm like but you won't you like having the rolexes yeah but he can't i like that i like the thought process of like i could sell these i could yeah i there used to be back in the day when it was like you know whatever if you have a bad weekend gambling it's like well i do have an xbox i could sell at any moment you know xboxes they go up in value every year that's how they the original xbox you've been gambling that that long huh my whole life i remember the you remember the red ring of death oh my god i hated that you gotta get it refurbished right well you had to get refurbished or you had to do the towel, like the 24 hour dryer and the towel. And then you just break it more.

And then it just ruins the warranty. The worst. Yeah. Sam, what were you up to? I just done. I think it was just doing my first ever late night set. I'm like, I still live like it's the 1980s. You're a comedian.

I'm a comic. Yeah. So tell us a joke. Oh, I'll tell you. I did. I remember my first joke on Conan. It did not get what I wanted. And then you have to fake smile for the next four minutes.

Because you don't get that first laugh and you're like, fucking kill me. Yeah. But yeah, the crowd wasn't hot. Sometimes you get a not hot. It's 5 p.m. in Burbank. Sometimes you get a not hot crowd. It's a set you run into the ground. And I remember I didn't,

I was miserable for a year until I got to go back on and the next one was killer. Really? Yeah, but I was like, oh, how much, I still stand by the jokes, but it was a tough crowd.

Damn. Yeah. That's, and to know, they do tape those before you, you weren't like, hey, can we cut that? Can we do that again? I didn't know you could.

Can everyone laugh? I didn't know, I didn't know you could like fl didn't know i didn't know you could like flub a joke and keep i thought it was like i gotta just nail this i thought it was like ice skating or something right but uh no but i flubbed the joke this year on on cordon and i was like i'm gonna do it again they're like of course i was like i didn't know you could do that oh so you oh that's awesome yeah you actually did do, yeah. I didn't know you could do that for like eight years. Wait, so could you?

Okay, so and then did people laugh more? Yeah, they actually laughed harder. You think that it's going to go worse, but the second time, I'm like, that's hilarious. He's telling the same joke. Yeah, he just changed a couple words. What an idiot. That's great. I did it every time. Yeah, yeah.

You were up to this game. Yeah, we were blogging. Mentally? it was mentally good place i think two and hanks here he can back it up like 2014 i think we were right in that zone of um things started to feel like they were all like getting bigger for barstool you know what i mean like things started to slowly feel like hey we've got um you know the rundown that's doing well we've got the blog set up i think we actually around this time we went hank dave and i went and it would i wish we had like filmed the whole thing we went and took a bunch of meetings

in hollywood just try to get the rundown on tv and we went to every meeting and we walked out and we're like we fucking crushed that like comedy central wants us and they want us bad like not we would walk out being like should we do like every night should we do like four nights a week with comedy central like what do you think we didn't get a single call back not a single comedy central wishes they called you back now but it was the funniest like we we were so imagine the most uh like gullible like green dudes in hollywood like first time sitting down with these big meetings because you know dave obviously he is a genius businessman so everyone sees that now but this is a time when this is our first step out of our bubble and we thought every single meeting we're like, oh my, like HBO?

Yeah, we should, should we do HBO? Should we do Comedy Central? There's pros and cons to both and not a single follow up. So I remember we do those pitch meetings all the time early in the career. We were going around doing the, for our documentary. And same thing, but I hadn't't i rolled up to a pitch meeting like we had a time we needed to get into this place and i had my daughter i ended up bringing like my eight month daughter into this pitch meeting to pitch netflix over a fucking something and we thought like yeah

they like the kid yeah it's gonna go didn't get the call back either. The one great story, and you'll like this, Jules, we went into, I want to say it was IHF. Is that a station? No. Fuck. I know you're talking about the IFC. IFC, IFC. There it is.

IFC, we sit down, and we're going through the meeting, and they said, and one of the executives said something like, yeah, we're trying not to do sophomoric stuff. We got pitched some stupid thing from the Gronks. And Dave stopped the meeting. He was like, I love the Gronks. The Gronks are our guys. And it was like the most awkward thing ever.

Behind closed. He just was like, don't say that about the Gronks. And that was it. Wow. That's like all of it. Fucking. We invited Hank into a couple of meetings. meetings he was wearing shorts he felt so awkward it was awesome well they were like i was just like going to sit like i wasn't going in the meetings and i was waiting in the waiting room like oh come in and i was like in fucking gym shorts it's like oh my god

that's the brand though the whole thing was just the brand it's just such a like it's a very funny time and place for Barstool in general just because of where we were and, like, trying to build something. And we thought we had arrived, but we hadn't arrived yet. But we had that, like. It was coming soon, though. Yeah. Well, you're feeling the fans and stuff.

So they don't know. It takes them always a little longer to find out. But those pitch meetings are brutal. I mean, I remember doing them. You walk in, they're like, well, first off, we're huge fans. And you're like, well, you own a network, and this is my fourth time here. Right. So you're not huge fans.

You're not that big of fans. Yeah, that was the same thing. We just thought, because we were crushing it on our level, like in terms of blogs, like recognition, all these things. We were doing very well on our level. But we thought, like recognition, all these things, we were doing very well on our level. But we thought like everyone knew us. And then we got out there and like no one knew who the fuck we were. It just takes them longer.

They're always like two years behind. Yeah. They are always a few years behind. Let's get into these damn teams now. Let's get to the meat of this whole thing. Team Barstool won their first four games of the tournament, averaged a margin victory of 10.5 points, double-digit victories. Yeah, I think there was actually three pretty much blowouts,

and then we had a very close game against Princeton because they ran that stupid backdoor offense. Were you guys hot at the three? Because I heard a take that these games go out to blowouts because either a team's hot on three or not. Were you guys hot? Yeah three? Because I heard a take that these games go out to blowouts because either a team's hot on three or not. Were you guys hot? Yeah, I did hear that take. It's a make-or-miss league.

It's a make-or-miss league. It's a make-or-miss league. Is this a make-or-miss league? This was a make-or-miss league, and we had some, like, Donnie McGrath and Matt Walsh were both exceptional three-point shooters in their college career, in their international career. So, yeah, we were very hot. You also had Andre Barrett went to seaton hall josh boone uconn dan katz wisconsin grad yep justin burrell a lot of good players out of wisconsin yeah remember orlando tucker yeah he's

actually dead to the program now though is. Is he? Yeah. What happened? He tried to. So last year or two years ago, he taped Greg guard having a players only meeting with the coach. And he basically tried to frame Greg guard and be like to the A.D. Like, I should take over. He's lost the team. Damn.

And they found out that he was the one who leaked the tape. And so, yeah. Damn. But yeah, no, I love. What a snake. Went to school the same time I was there. the team damn and they found out that he was the one who leaked the tape and so yeah damn but yeah no i loved a lot what a snake went to school the same time i was there so um devin harris alondo tucker oh yeah john lure frank the tank went frank frank sam decker yeah when you guys do season two i'll come and talk about the 2015 wisconsin duke final and that would be the most watched episode by far they will because people just a

lot like they just it's a big school and they shot back to school there yeah back to school bonnie danger yes classic yes at wisconsin yes have you ever been to madison have never been to madison it's a great place i've heard where they got like the little don't they do like a they jump in the water for something or no that's uh ohio state oh yeah. Madison's a great city. Way off on that one. Comedy on state. Maybe the best comedy club in the country. Madison, Wisconsin. Yeah.

Phenomenal. Yeah. I want to just point out something real quick. This is kind of like a foreshadowing. If you scroll up again. So if you notice. So Justin Burrell also was on the team. But if you notice, we have six guys and and then dave and myself right five guys play in

a basketball game depth might have been a concern later on in the game later on in the tournament nba team's usually at least an eight-man rotation yeah we had one guy off the bench so uh yeah you guys didn't see a lot of minutes we saw some we went i was in the barstool philly game let's see yeah my stats are right there three points one for five three rebounds two assists i mean i'm getting dirty i'm getting that was philly yeah what is that if i played what's the per of that like if i played let's say i played 35 minutes seven wait six times someone do some maths for me what would i have the box score has it at a four. What do you mean?

It says PER four. Four? Yeah. I don't know what PER means. But Dave's is negative two. Dave's is negative two? I always trust PER. I think it's the smartest stat out there.

I love PER. How is Dave? Because I see a lot of clips, and he's got the most unorthodox form I've ever seen, but they're going in. Yes. Yeah, he does have an unorthodox form. All right, I'm looking right now. If I played 36 minutes, I'd have 18 points, 18 rebounds, and 12 assists. How about that? Yeah.

That's a triple-double. Last I checked. If my grandma had balls, she'd be my grandpa. Let's get over to these Notre Dame Fighting Irish alumni squad. Who do we have over there, Sam? We got Chris Thomas, Russell Carter, Tyrone Nash, Rob Kurz, Ryan Ayers, and Torin Francis, who will be joining us. We're getting one from the squad, the winning team.

Chris Thomas, by the way, I remember him. That's the thing. This team is players that played at Notre Dame that are obviously good basketball players, but they didn't play. They have chemistry. They all played under the same coach of Mike Bray, but they didn't play at that next level.

They didn't play significant careers overseas in the NBA. So you're thinking you can take him? You know, they didn't play significant careers overseas and in the NBA. So what are you thinking? You can take them going in. You feel confident. We're going to crash. We're going to smash. You serious? We're smash them.

Things we remember. You guys had cool jerseys. Very cool. They look good. It looked like space jams out there a little bit. Yeah. The purple starfish it was um we and we had alternates and i think i still have one of my jerseys which is like rare for me to hold on to something after i sell everything every few months for my pile but yeah

those were very very cool jerseys i think we had our own custom uh what do we have sandals and stuff and like all these slides that was part of the fan vote perk we were we were living large see this is like a this is like this is basically like going to a bowl game yes yes exactly and we got all the we went to all the bowl games at once like if we went to all the bowl games and collected all the prizes what was the best thing you guys got out of that whole thing i mean the jerseys were sick the slides were sick um i think we had better hotels i think like there was even that level we were staying like the four seasons and stuff four seasons yeah that's that's a pricey hotel yeah but i think we got like the best accommodations as well right right over there on common yeah and what we were the first first four games were in phil. Yeah, and the first four games were in Philadelphia.

So we went. The championship you guys picked in Boston. Yeah, so that was the biggest perk, was if you get the number one seat in the fan vote, you get to pick where the championship is taking place. Where was the game at? It was the BU gym. BU gym. And the big thing was, because of our popularity at the time,

we knew that we could actually have a true home environment and fill the place with our fans, which we did. So that was like a huge ace in our sleeve. Or was it ace up your sleeve? Whereas like, hey, we're going to go play this championship game there throughout this entire tournament. There's basically been no fans, but then we're going to show up to be you and it's going to be all fans. Were they shocked? Notre Dame when they see this it was pretty loud and it was like we pass out shirts and we had everyone chanting so it was a true home uh like a home game for us yeah that it kind of it reminds me of like i don't know why i just popped in my head this

this whole thing reminds me of like you guys had great team unity you guys had great uniforms it reminds me of like when houston came to our house in the divisional round and they all had like letterman jackets you know that that's kind of the vibes i got from this whole thing yeah i wouldn't say we were the tightest team um they kind of the rest of the team was kind of like why why are these guys here? Yeah. Because they were tired. Yeah. Well, and Matt Walsh was like, no, they're cool. It's okay.

They're cool. We won't win. 500K on the line, but they're cool. I ended up becoming good friends with Donnie McGrath and Justin Burrell, but Josh Boone, Dante Jones. I remember actually vividly before the final game, we were at a Starbucks, and I was, like, going to pick up a coffee, and Dante Jones was there. And a girl came up and asked for my picture.

And then Dante Jones was like, oh, okay, so you guys actually do have fans. And it was like, yeah, we're not, like, complete shitheads. So the coach hated me. Yeah, good question, Hank. So I didn't get a lot of playing time it's because the coach didn't like you well clearly what i was gonna say was it's a chicken or egg because i didn't get a lot of playing time so i i always went really hard in warm-ups and he he got very mad at me he was like you're gonna injure someone because i was like

boxing out because like dude i want to get a sweat in got it i want to feel like i participated here you want cardio so warm-ups i was like setting picks throw like boxing people out like blocking trying to block shots taking charges all that stuff and he got very upset did you guys line up and do the weave and shit we did yeah we did all that stuff that's the last thing yeah they were there he was he hated me though i was i was definitely the um the problem child on the team was there a point where you thought you'd get in in that final game i told him i was like i got some minutes if you need me like i'll get in there and i can at least give us a break and just start hacking people but um i think it was pretty clear we weren't going to get in anything for the team yeah anything for the team yeah and it was pretty clear we weren't going to get in. Anything for the team. Yeah. Anything for the team. Yeah. And it was, there were definitely moments, we could talk about after the game, but like

before the game, during the tournament where, you know, there's a feeling, Jules, this never happened to you because you played. But like when you're in the locker room after and everyone's played and you haven't, it hurts a little. 2011, Super Bowl. I didn't play that much you didn't no i was on kickoff and that was a tough l right lost it yeah then we lose that game so like and then you come in after and everyone's like tired spent i literally saw matt light in the shower

and i was like you all right buddy because he played a rough one he just looked at me and said i just retired buddy oh. Oh, geez. And so, like, I didn't play. I barely worked up a sweat. See your comrades out there. It's a tough feeling to be around everyone else when you didn't contribute enough to the team. It's like when you get hurt and you're in the locker room and guys just come in from, like, a 100-degree day.

They work their fucking ass off. They're sweating.'re sweating guys are like cramped up on ivs you just did an hour of fucking pool work and guys are looking at you like are you really hurt right right and they're looking at us like why are you taking up roster spots we could use a little depth here did either you or dave look at each other like maybe one of us should get replaced with like an ex-NBA player? Well, we actually had a couple. Shavlick Randolph, who I think you guys might remember that name. He played at Duke. And then Quincy Acey, who played at...

Played for the Knicks? Played for the Knicks. Played at Baylor, I want to say. And that's a glue guy. You could have used a tough guy like that. They were originally on the roster and they weren't able to make it because their international teams went deep into the playoffs. So, yeah, there were some times where it was like, hey,

it would have been nice if we had a couple more guys. But, yeah, I wish I could have helped. I wish I could have helped more. But I did. Remember what I say, 18 and 12? That's pretty good. It was pretty decent let's get to the gaming corner presented by win bet which brings us to the betting corner let's get to the gaming corner presented by win bet relevant betting lines we can't explain that don't really know i think there

might have been a line on this was there a line a line? Maybe. What bookies were taking this? I don't know. But I would imagine... Gambling wasn't legal yet. Yeah, I would imagine we were favorites. We were definitely favorites. If you had asked for a line, if it was being played today, I would have said they probably would have made us

like five-point favorites, four-and-a-half-point favorites, something like that. Something over a possession. Because we had the name recognition we had the home court so i would say it would be around there portnoy's prediction was 77 40 barstool yep uh big cat you said if you were a gambling man you would put 25k on barstool so yeah i i am a gambling man and i i kind of did because i needed this money for past gambling. So I already had a bet on this game because I really needed this money.

So how much did you put down on this game? Nothing, but everything. If you get my drift, I needed the $25K to pay for the $25K that I already lost on other things. What game? Sports game? Every game. Name a game. I mean, this is what?

This is right after March Madness, NBA playoffs. This is the worst time. June is the worst time of the year because it's September all the way through June. Yeah. This is where I needed the reset button, and this was my reset button. This was going to be my hit the reset button.

I'm good. What were you going to say, Hank? And they lost yep yep we were out in la for that chicago yeah yep that sucked so they won that though didn't they no they lost that year 2014 they lost 2015 they won 15 which brings us to the point all our listeners you guys always bet responsibly. Don't use this. Don't be caught in a game where it's $25,000 if you win, nothing if you lose, and you already owe $25,000. Yeah.

See, I always hear real rich men say, you can't be out-leveraged. You can't be out-leveraged. Yeah. Right. Responsibly. Responsibly. Be responsible. So the opposite opposite of what i did correct

all right i'm not a role model now we have this prop bet thing where when we do interviews we come up with some kind of stupid funny thing kind of like super troopers the meow thing how many times can we get it off we put an over under or how many times we get a uh interviewee to say something one of our guests what What should we come up with? For Torin. Torin. What should we throw in? I mean, I hate this guy.

I don't even know him. I just hate him. I don't know why you guys did this. I think something negative would be good. I think how many times Big Cat can say, I hate you. Yeah. Okay, that's fine. I'm just going to unload the thunder.

Yeah. I'll just say, hate him, hate Notre Dame. Yeah. Okay, that's fine. I'm just going to unload the writer. Yeah. I'll just say hate him. Hate Notre Dame. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Can we hit that? Yeah.

I'm saying four and a half. We can hit. You think you hit five on that? Yeah. Easy. All right. Easy.

All right. We're going to hear from old Torin. But before then, let's take a quick break. And we're joined here by our guest, Torin. But before then, let's take a quick break. And we're joined here by our guest, Torin Francis,

a Boston guy, played Notre Dame, South Bend from 2002 to 2006, so Big Cat's probably not going to be happy with him, not just because of this loss, because he also hates Notre Dame. Former McDonald's All-American.

He had turned pro when he turned 17 years old. What a stud. Currently playing in Argentina. Do they pronounce the L's different? I heard it's Caille, not Caille. Yeah, Caille. That's the genre. That's the type

of Spanish it is. That's the dialect. That's the dialect. I got an Argentinian friend. Julian, you left out a big one he's the winner of the first ever the basketball tournament the first can't leave that out very first first off what the fuck are you doing playing in this game why not why not that's a competitor huh i mean no notre dame my brothers came together to win it, and we got it done. Yeah, I mean, you got it. All right.

So, I mean, I hate you, obviously, and I hate Notre Dame. Just get that out of the way. I really hate you guys. You guys should have lost that game. Like, you're not – we were better than you. No, better on paper, but that doesn't mean you were a better team. Better on paper. That's a respect.

Let me ask you this. What was your second half game plan? Because it clearly changed, and we just missed shots. Like, you guys didn't even win. We just missed shots. Hey, that's the defense. You know, you didn't miss shots. We made you guys miss shots from the defense we were playing.

So that was our game plan second half, just turn up the defense. And we weren't going to have a problem offensively. And so we got it done. Like, you go into this game, and you guys definitely probably had a scouting department, you know, being the champions of this thing with the resources that you guys probably had. With the scouting tape, you saw that there were six viable, really good guys. And you saw these two other guys that were like player coach or whatever they want to call you.

They're themselves. Hey, Bill Russell was a player coach. Bill Russell was a player coach, but like, did, did you guys know in the, like in your heart at the beginning of the game,

you guys want to blow these fools out or it was going to be a close game. What was going on? Listen, every time, every step, every time we step on the court, we're going to win. It doesn't matter who the other team had. You know, we were in the same position as they were in the finals with them. So, you know, for us, it was an even playing field. And I just think that we have actually played together. You know, obviously it had been at different times throughout our careers,

but we had played together. We were familiar with each other, so I think we actually had the advantage. How about a seven-game series? Who takes this? Oh, easily us. Easily. No, that's the thing is you guys got lucky for one game, and tip your hat to you for that.

Like I said, I hate you guys, but I'll tip my hat. You got lucky for one game. I don't think if you play seven-game series, I think real talent wins out. Let me ask you this. Did you see my stat line from the game against Philly? Were you like, this guy might get in and he might have some minutes in him? Because I had – we did the math. If I played 36 minutes in that game I would have 18 18 and 12.

So how many minutes did you play and what'd you have? I played three minutes I had three three and two um but it just I mean you got you had to see us and be like who knows ultimate wild card everyone else knows everyone else here who are these two guys at the end of the bench? Yeah, but sometimes you have to remember it's only one basketball. So, yeah, you can look at Donnie McGrath, Josh Boone, Donce Jones, you know, you had all the names, but there's still only one basketball. We see it even today everywhere. You know, look at the Lakers, look at the Nets.

You know, it doesn't matter who you have on the roster necessarily. It's all about who comes to play at that particular moment, you know. And so I would have to disagree with you. I know we'll still win in the seven-game series. Nah. Nah. Do you think that we suffered from no bench depth? I think so.

You guys were tired. Tired. I was not tired by the end of the game. I just want to say that. I still had some legs in me. But, yeah, I mean, having six guys, it hurt. It hurt us at the end when we couldn't – felt like the jump shots weren't getting made.

It's a make or miss league. And that's all part of the game. You have to take all that into account. How meaningful was this win for you? It was great. It was great, you know, partly because a lot of the other guys, they're actually, I work out with them during the summer, you know, and so those are guys I see on a daily basis, so that was good there.

And then, you know, just to come together with my brothers, win the very first then, you know, just to come together with my brothers, when the very first championship, you know, so we go down in history as a, as a, as a first winners. And it was just a great time for us to get together and catch up. Torn.

It's 40, 35 team bar stool at half. Who are the raw, raw guys in the locker room room what were you guys saying i know you guys weren't down a lot but you know you guys clearly made some halftime adjustments that team barstool did not do to come out on top at the end what what sparked that yeah well you know we all we all came together in the locker room we all came together you know chris thomas was obviously running the point um you know so i remember he basically gave us that presence in the locker room saying we just

have to go out and do it you know and so that's what we did we all came together we were all we were all vocal so we all had a equal part in getting it done i hate you that That's all I got to say. Don't hate. Don't hate. Yeah, I mean, you guys, whatever. Listen, I don't want to point fingers because I'm a good teammate, but if Matt Walsh just hit, like, one more three, we would have been fine. But he just decided to go as cold as cold could be. He and Donnie, like, just missed everything. I mean, you know, I think any loser can say that If we would have done this we would have won

You know and so that's That hurt That hurt what he just said But he's right He's completely right Now for you Big We've all done it Now Big Cat when did you guys start to panic

I think it was So it was like with about five minutes left, it was back and forth, and there was, it was like basically a one-possession game, and then it became a two-possession game. I think it might have been like an Andre Barrett turnover or something. I remember, the two things I remember from the end of the game was Matt Walsh and Donnie McGrath sucked

and couldn't hit anything, not to point fingers. And then you guys had really good pressure on Andre Barrett coming up the court and were able to force a couple turnovers because he had to basically do it all in terms of dribbling the ball and being the point guard for the entire

game. And I remember that happening and being like, uh-oh, we might be in trouble here. And that's what I said. It came down to the defense second half. I think that happening and being like, oh, we might be in trouble here. And that's what I said. It came down to the defense second half. I think that's really what separated us and obviously gave us that boost that we needed to get the win. Torrin, like after you guys win this, I mean, this is the first of the annual tournament. Like, what'd you guys do to celebrate with all that money? We went out.

I'm from Boston, so we already had the table set up at the club, win or lose. So obviously it was much better that we won. So we went out, celebrated, and just hung out. Now, I've played in Super Bowls where you lose and you still have a post party. Did you guys have a post? We did go out where you lose and you still have like a post party. Like, did you guys clearly did you guys have a we did go out? We did go out. We got how was it fucked up? We didn't go to the club.

Dave had a whole setup. He Dave was actually he was ready to spend every single dollar that we want, like twenty five thousand dollars on just that night. He was like, I'm going to I'm going to see if I can spend all the money on just tonight. So then when we lost, we canceled all that and just went out regularly. And it sucked. Did you hit like an old-timey pub or something? This is like pub energy. Hank was, I think, me and Feidelberg and Matt Walsh went out.

And, yeah, it sucked, though, because Dave really was like before the game, he was like, I don't want to walk away with a dollar after this. Like I want $25,000 to spend it all on tonight. Now, you guys didn't spend all your money that night. What did you do? You buy a loved one a little something or you buy a little devil's lettuce and grandpa's old cough medicine? What did you do?

Yeah, I mean, we didn't spend that night i told you we already had i think we went to venue actually we had a table over there and um as far as my winnings i i think i i just wanted i just went into investments i believe from what i remember boring that was just boring this is what i'm, that's what I'm saying. That's why I hate you guys, because you guys didn't, you weren't going to do anything fun with it. I was going to do something fun with it. Yeah, that's not what you want to hear from winning a championship mutual fund.

Yeah, I was financially responsible with my winnings. Cool story, dude. I have four kids. You have kids. I'm a father of two. I'm a father of one. Yeah. You know, we got the kid game here.

Yeah, we play kid game all day. I hate you. Now, did we miss anything? Is there anything that you remember in this game? Any, like, elbows or any faces from, you know, guys that were sitting on the bench from the other team or any ant from guys that were sitting on the bench from the other team or any antics? No, so I just remember that it got loud.

I'm from Boston, so I had a ton of people there. And then I think Notre Dame, we just had a ton of fans there in general. So it got loud, and the fans were actually jumping up and down, and the floor was shaking. I don't know if you remember that. You were on was shaking. I don't know if you remember that. You were on the bench. I don't know if you remember that. That did not happen.

You did not have that many fans there. That's just a lie. The floor was literally shaking. What percentage would you say was there for Barstool and who was Notre Dame people in there, Torrin? I would probably say it was 50-50. Oh, my God. I mean, Hank is shaking his head, too.

That's a complete lie. I do remember there was a pocket of Notre Dame fans, so I'll give you that. Like, I would say there was probably maybe 20% Notre Dame fans. We appreciate the truth, though, because, you know, people over in this area that were sitting were saying that it was like 100% one. I mean, it might have, it was closer to 100% than 50-50,

and you know that. Oh, no, I mean, I would say, I don't remember exactly, but I just remember our fans, maybe that's why, because they were showing us love. Obviously, your fans, you guys were losing,

so they were quiet, so there wasn't really a fan presence there, so I'm just going from what I remember. It was also bullshit that you brought Mike Bray there because I'm convinced he went in the locker room at halftime and coached you guys. I know that happened. I saw him.

He was wearing his stupid mock turtleneck, and I was like, this guy, they're cheating. They're using a coach. It's bullshit. I got a question. What do you think would have happened if Dave or Big Cat got into the game? Some fresh legs out there, fourth quarter. Maybe they bring some energy.

What do you think? Would the outcome have been different? I think we would have won by more, actually. Just because. You would have gotten. I would have fouled out, and I would have made sure that you had to be on the free throw line. What are you percentage-wise, free throw shooter? I'm around 70%.

That's terrible. Yeah, it actually is. It actually is. There we go. Now I feel like I'm back. I found something. I would have hacked you, and then you would have made roughly 70% of your free throws. Yeah. No, I'm something. I would have hacked you, and then you would have made roughly 70% of your free throws.

Yeah. Nah, I'm good. So I'm actually not playing anymore. So I stopped playing. I stopped playing for about a year now. Oh, that's funny because I still am playing. Looks like my career lasted longer than yours. But it's like riding a bike.

When I step on the court, you know, it's nothing lost. I'm just not playing. I'm just not, I'm just not playing. Why do you stop playing? Why? Just because I played 15 years and with the pandemic and everything, you know, all the money was down. So I said, now, now's probably a good time to transition into life after basketball. I got a question. So you played overseas. Is it true that all the guys who play overseas never pay taxes?

No, that's not true. So when you, when you're, when you're actually paying taxes, so when you play overseas, you have to pay taxes in the country you're playing in. And so you don't have to pay taxes twice, you know, from, from playing a one in one country to paying here, the federal taxes, plus you have a tax exemption when you're working abroad, you know? And so most of the time the federal taxes were exempt. It was just primarily state taxes that you have

to pay for, you know, whatever property or whatever you own. Yeah, I heard those guys never paid taxes, so I'm just putting it out there. Anyone from the IRS is listening. He's going long game victory. If he can get just one of you in jail. Make sure he paid taxes and the whole team Notre Dame gets audited for 2014. I'd appreciate that. Taxes on my money.

I want to tour. And did we miss anything? No, no. I mean, it was, you know, it was a great,

it was especially for the first, the first year. It was amazing. It was a great experience. You know, me, Donnie's actually one of my best friends so we still talk about that to this day but it was it was a great time

unfortunately we couldn't win the next year but uh it was still it was still a great time tauren just remember no one remembers second. You will always be remembered for being the first tournament winner of this immaculate tournament that is continuing five consecutive, six consecutive years now. A hundred years down the road, we could be talking about this, being the first one. We thank you for coming on and joining us. And it was great to hear the perspective from the winning squad.

We sat here for a good 35-40 minutes and talked with team Barstool and they gave us their perspective it's always good to hear a winning perspective coming from a winning environment in Boston that I know you're from so thank you again for joining

us. Thank you for having me let me know if you guys want a picture of me holding that big check i'll happily say you didn't pay taxes on i'll happily send it over for you definitely we'll have to get that and uh we're gonna send you an insane gift basket that um i heard that team barstool had some you know they had a lot of resources and probably a lot of advantages. So we're going to try to take care of you on that

and appreciate you coming on, Bubz. Thanks for having me. Thanks, man. Still hate you and Notre Dame. I don't hate you. Thanks, Torin. Wow. You can still feel the heat between the two competitors.

I mean, what a champion he was. Just a true gentleman. I mean, he was great. Not a starter. He came off the bench just like me. The only difference is he actually played, I didn't, whatever. I mean, six-man-of-the-year award. He's a huge part of the team.

We'll always remember the Jamal Crawford of the tournament here. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, he said everything that i already know deep down like when it came to that game it was a bunch of guys who were really talented versus a bunch of guys who played in the exact same system in college and knew you know how to run the same offense how to play team defense that's what killed us chemistry over talent yep it's like true it's like when the team usa teams come together and they go against like spain or something yeah no it's tough it's tough to build chemistry actually the way we really should think about is we went to the finals and we were leading at halftime we built chemistry dave and i built chemistry on

that team in like a matter of two weeks so that's really how you should look at it. So then technically the next time you guys play, you guys should be able to take it. Easy. So is it going to happen? Are you going to get a team together? No, we've... You retired? We've banned ourselves from TBT.

But the prize has gone up. I think we do one last ride. No, no, no, no, no. They refused to let me sing the national anthem at the championship game so they're dead to us that's true have you done any national anthems i i've done many national anthems where uh rough and rowdy windy city thunderbolts in chicago um what else did i know cubs jack so jack's trying to we actually got a little bit of breaking news on the subject. From the head of the TBT, John Mugar?

Mugar. Mugar, okay. In an email to Games With Names, he said, that game was also notable because it initiated a now eight-year ban on TBT by Barstool. Portnoy asked to sing the national anthem before the game and was denied, so they never entered a team again. When TBT has come up over the years on their podcasts, both Big Cat and Portnoy have said things like, the national anthem before the game and was denied so they never entered a team again when tbt has come up over the years on their podcasts both big cat and portnoy have said things like quote they're

dead to us and quote we don't talk about tbt so it's good to hear big cats willing to talk about it in quote see well this is the first step to maybe you guys going back revisiting yeah well no that's a no because i'm actually looking it up right now um let's see from 2015 he wrote me this is i think the last time i talked to he said dave calling me a cocksucker on the rundown really sucks i didn't want you to sing the anthem because i wanted i wanted to set a different tone for the championship game it's that simple i appreciated your involvement still do and i know it led to a great atmosphere for the final um I still don't agree with his like they basically we packed the house we got a bunch

of people tuned in all we wanted to do was the anthem and they wouldn't let us do it but you didn't play any points they could or they you didn't play any minutes so you could at least got the anthem in right and from our perspective it's like you're going to use this in sizzle reels we helped you Like, you're starting out and everything. Let us sing the anthem. So, yeah, I think the band is still there. Who's saying the anthem? Some no name someone.

I don't know. Probably sucked. I think I might have knelt. I might have been kneeling for the anthem because of that. Imagine if we went back and I was the first one to kneel, but it was completely selfish reasons. Then it was like, I'm just kneeling because I'm a big man child. Who's mad he can't sing the anthem?

Jack, did we settle that prop bet? Oh, he crushed it. Oh, we crushed it. Yeah. Seven hates. Yeah. Wow. Hate, hate, hate, Seven hates He hate me

I don't even hate that guy, to be honest He seemed like a good guy Yeah, he seemed like a good guy And he's friends with Donnie That's the thing is, at the end of the day, we lost the game But I made lifelong friends In Donnie McGrath, Matt Walsh Justin Burrell

I think that's about it I wouldn't What? Maul? Yeah, from Rory and about it What? Maul? Yeah from Rory and Maul You know Maul? What was it from the Joe Budden podcast He got kicked off? He was part of the Joe Budden podcast

He's now a very famous podcaster With Rory he was on the sideline with us He was on the bench with us Because he's good friends with Andre Barrett So lifelong friends I don't know if Danteones would ever pick up my call if i if i track down his number i don't think he'd recognize me either yeah one with the calves couldn't couldn't lift you guys up i know i know that's kind but you know what at the end of the day like when he wins the the

nba title in 2016 it felt like all of us won one. Sure. You shared a court with him. Right. Do you think he would have traded that one and have won with you guys? Probably. If you ask him for real, yeah, probably at that time. Because he wasn't in the NBA.

He needed the money. So there it is. And I defended him. I was the enforcer on the team. I defended him earlier in the tournament with a brouhaha. So what are you going to do? I always have his back.

But if he goes out and wins this maybe he doesn't get that maybe he doesn't have the fire in his belly maybe lebron never wins a title in cleveland yeah so if so i basically screwed myself you screwed yourself butterfly effect damn that's brutal this game directly affected cleveland's first and only championship yes that's crazy yes that's how important cleveland should thank you cleveland's first and only championship yes that's crazy yes that's how important cleveland should thank you cleveland should thank me absolutely wow that's you learn something new every day yeah who's the real winner of this um tbt clearly because tbt you sold out an arena for them yep tbt they use it for the scissor reel. They're still winning. We're still talking about them. Yeah.

Notre Dame. Yeah. Basketball in general. Basketball in general. You got two championships out of this game. Ball is life. Yeah. I'd say those are the real winners.

Big Cats bookie? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Big winner. Huge winner. He probably was watching the game and had a a little leprechaun on his shirt and was singing like cheer cheer to old motor day the whole time who's the loser of this game um i guess i would be a loser yeah a pretty big loser in this game dave um the locker room after when we

were trying to make jokes when everyone was really down that that was that was a big loser move by us um you were trying to lift spirits yeah it just wasn't the time but uh you can't be that guy no we were that guy do you remember those can't be that guy you make it i don't remember exactly the jokes i was i think i said something like we'll get them next time or something like that um but knowing that you you guys were not ever gonna to come back never coming back because of the national anthem I actually think TBT

is kind of a loser because if they had let me sing the national anthem we probably still would have a relationship with them and we still would be you'd have a team in there you guys would be like the Eddie DeBartolo of TBT just paying guys left and right get unfair advantages yes no salary cap would be incredible is there a chance of you ever going back no absolutely not actually the next year my team

the team that we had came back in a little bit of a different version where they had different guys and they played their first round game in Chicago, and we went out. I went out with them because Lifelong Brothers, you know, when you share a locker room with someone. Go to battle, you share, you know. We went out. We got really fucked up on that Friday night.

We went out way too hard, and then they got just absolutely smoked in the first round. So they were one and done the next year. One and done. Yeah. Yeah. Jack, did we forget done the next year. One and done. Yeah. Yeah. Jack, did we forget anything? No, we were pretty good.

We hit our prop bet. TBT is actually going into its ninth year. On Age of Extinction, that was Wahlberg's first of the franchise. Fourth. Fourth. His first, but the fourth Transformer. Torin didn't turn pro at 17.

He had a 17-year pro career. That was on me for writing that one wrong. We talked a lot about Donnie McGrath, not to be confused with Danny McGrath, which is Steve Buscemi's character in Billy Madison. On the fan vote, they're no longer allowing the fan vote as it existed in 2014.

Instead, they allow their most loyal fans to select the 64th team so huh sounds like some electoral college kind of shit yeah we broke the system sounds like it we did you trumped it yeah we did what so then what do we name this game is it the barstool bungle the notre dame nightmare the notre Notre Damn nightmare damn you Mike Bray or something else I think it's just fuck TBT straight up the fuck TBT game

championship game I think we gotta go with fuck TBT let's score it the stakes of this game championship in the TB tournament TBT tournament first ever but, TBT tournament. First ever. First ever, but fuck TBT tournament, so the stakes aren't that high.

No, I think it's a 10 out of 10. It's the first ever. You heard Torin. He said it over and over. We won the first ever. I think we got to go at least a seven. All right, I don't like how this is going in my favor. Okay.

Star power. 10. Dave Portnoy, ever heard of him and big cat big cat this is a different type of star power yeah we've done all pro we've done all pro things what are you thinking julian 10 i'm thinking this is gonna be mean just whatever you're about to say know that it's gonna hurt my feelings i have i have the right to the artistic integrity of this fucking podcast yeah that's fine six wow wow six and that's higher than i'll remember that's higher than some of we've had i remember that you remember that no i'll remember that no you won't because i will hire them ricky williams rushing record game really

you're getting some we you know you've seen how you score stuff. Okay. Gameplay. I mean, it was. It was a solid game. Solid game. Came down to last minute. Yeah. I mean.

Had lead changes. One team leading in the first half loses the game. We'll give that an eight. We'll give you an eight on that. The game play was an eight. The name, fuck TBT. It's got a good ring to it. Yeah. It's got a good ring. it It's got a good ring It's not 18-1

It's not the 28-3 game But it's got something It's not the fake tuck game Or the fake spike game I give it a What do you think? 7? We'll give it a 7

What's the highest score so far? This is higher than a lot of This is doing pretty well Good You're not the worst And just bump the star power up to 8 What's the highest score so far? This is higher than a lot of... This is doing pretty well. Good. You're not the worst. And just bump the star power up to eight and just see what it looks like. I'm not getting...

Just see what it looks like. If you see what it looks like on the total. It's 7.5. Let's see what it looks like on the total. Just put eight in there. Just let me see. Let me just... Okay, that looks...

Yeah, that looks good. I like that. We'll give you your eight. We'll give him an eight. It's a 7. Let me just... Okay, that looks... Yeah, that looks good. I like that. We'll give you your eight. We'll give him an eight. It's a 7.5, right? Okay. Okay. That's pretty good.

That's actually... What's our... No, that's perfect. It's perfect. Kyler, I will say, is a hater, but this is one time he might be correct. No. This is too high a score.

It's not way too high. The Boise State Tostitos Fiesta Bowl was an 8-1. There you go. Just as memorable. How many basketball games can you remember that Dave Portnoy's been involved in? Just one. There it is. Or Big Cat. Or Big Cat.

There are two names. Those are huge names and they're not... And Torin. And Torin. Who could forget Torin? 17-year pro. When pro, it's could forget Torin? 17-year pro. 17-year pro. Went pro at 17, and he's a 17-year pro. 17-year pro. Well, that's all for this episode of Games with Names,

presented by Winbet. Thank you so much for listening. Thanks to our sponsors. Make sure to follow us at Games with Names. Write a review. I'm Sam Morrell. I'm Julian Edelman, and thank you, Big Cat, for joining us. This was a special treat.

I know it's very hard as a competitor to go over championship losses. I mean, we had Brewski come in and talk about 18-1. We had Adrian Peterson. Adrian Peterson come in and talk about a horrific loss against Boise State. Now we can add to that board. Big Cat losing the TBT final in the first annual TBT championship. Man in the arena. I think we need a documentary over this.

Man in the arena. Come criticize me. Get in that arena. Sit on that bench for 40 minutes and don't get in the game. Then talk to me. How were the benches? They were actually fine. They were nice.

Because we had so much, because we had such a lack of depth. So I had like three seats to me. How were the benches? They were actually fine. They were nice. Because we had so much, because we had such a lack of depth. So I had like three seats to myself. And that's the words. We'll see you later, folks. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradenti. And I'm Jermaine Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career. That's where we come in.

Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do. Like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Keri Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making

of a rivalry, Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry, Caitlin Clark versus Angel Reese, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. History is filled with unexpected stories, and I'd like to tell you about them. I'm Aaron Manke, and for the past six years, I've been sharing history's most curious tales on my podcast, Cabinet of Curiosities, such as the surprising country that invented the croissant

and the wrestling champ who won the White House. And now these amazing stories and many more have been compiled into my new book. Curious to know more? Pre-order Cabinet of Curiosities, available November 12th, wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Learn more over at GrimAndMild.com slash curiosities.