OpTic Podcast - Behind The Scenes of our 72 hours in Italy | OpTic Podcast Ep. 170

Episode Date: April 18, 2024

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to episode 170 of the Optic podcast live in Italy. From Italia, bonjourno. Bonjourno, motherfoguos. The most legendary, I mean, Series A. From series A, series A, series A. He said that, series A. Series A. Series A. The city is A.

If you say series A, is that like, round of honor? Theory A. Here ya. No S. Siria. It's like from the A, from the first division. A. Yeah, because there's like a B league and a C league. This was the A league. Beta N.

18. Anyway, we're here in their headquarters, beautiful facility. I mean, I guess we can start at the beginning of our arrival and then go there. Wait, can we start at the beginning, like how this happened? Yes. We don't know how this happened. You probably know. Yeah, so in August of 2023, Juventus as a team was coming to the United

States, Castro was having conversations with, Castro obviously being a massive soccer dude. Yeah. He was having conversations with them. And when they came out to Dallas, we, to do the exhibition at the Rose Bowl, they brought me a Juventus jersey with my name on it, number nine. And I was like, I was like, for me, Yuve has been obviously a name that you hear in Mexico all the time.

Juventus. So when you find a, when you notice a brand like that, right, that, that transcends like their own borders and becomes a global brand. It's something to be not only admired, but it was, yeah, anyways, legendary brand. So that's how it happened. I mean, the opportunity itself, it was just. And there's been talks since then. Yeah, it's been talks since then.

Like they have a massive, obviously massive. And I mean, like they have like 20 million followers on Instagram. 60. 60. I'm sorry, 20 on Twitter. And we, you know, obviously in football, they are an institution that has been around forever. It was founded in. 1897. 1897. We did the, we did the museum. Jordan was playing. We did the museum tour. Yeah, we did. So that's, that's how this, this collaboration ended up happening.

Obviously, legendary brand like this, the opportunity presented itself and we jumped at the, at the chance of collaborating with them on an apparel drop. Yeah, that's how it happened. So you guys heard that apparel drop. Oh, you better. Come in soon. I've seen the mockups and they look amazing Yeah well the thing is is like we Our jersey program in e-sports I'll pat myself on the back

because I usually do But like it was it was well thought out From the beginning right And it was it came out of the necessity Of trying to make enough to You know pay for the house It paid for the bills Obviously back then nobody got paid anything

Right not no players no They just kept all 100% of their winnings The optic jerseys like the yearly Yeah the yearly jerseys like and I don't know how it became a thing, but it was a simple thing like, all right, so if somebody already has this jersey, they're not going to buy the next one. So I said, well, let's do a different one this year. And even back then, we had the pro shirt was the first, what they would wear on Fridays, which is like a $20, $25 shirt that had all the sponsors that the player, that will make the players

wear on Friday, the Chalax Day. They would wear the shirts. It used to be relaxed. Yeah, the relaxing day Friday. Now it was losers. Now it's losers you're going on. Now it's losers round one off. Yeah. So that's, you know, I was doing soccer jerseys. I was doing basketball jerseys.

I was doing football jerseys, hockey jerseys. Like, we have a really good jersey program in my opinion because, you know, because we tried, right? We tried to give everybody something else to rock something that. So the soccer jersey thing and obviously you playing soccer, me playing soccer, not at your level or hastros level, but you know, it's a bit of thing. Yeah, it's, it's, I've wanted to watch a European game forever. And I remember the year, I was actually talking with Mixwell, the year,

when Messi was, was talking about going to PSG, and then he did, if he hadn't had gone to PSG that year, I would have gone to the classical. Because it would have been the last year that Ronaldo and Messi would have played each other in the in the classical but then he left and went to PSG Rinaldo went to yeah he went here so I never got to

I never really got a chance to I didn't know what club I don't like love any clubs but like I'm not going to go to a Chelsea game just because it's a Chelsea game now we do but now you know with this opportunity just walking around we saw the museum

yesterday and how the insane history of Italian clubs and then just imagine like that what we saw today in in just for this club in Italy that exists in all the you know the english clubs that exist in all the german clubs that exist in the spanish clubs like that much history that's why soccer is so i love it so much it's just because all the i don't i don't know enough about it but the just how the rich history and how passionate people are about their clubs i can love it

well the passion it's like we'll see it tomorrow i think you see like at like i like i like an NBA game or football game, usually fans will, like, crowd like the exit or the entrance because they're expecting them here to like the entrance to their entire compound. There are people out there like 12 hours a day. All day. Like just waiting, whether they're at practice or they're not, they're just hoping to get a glimpse or one of the players comes out. Like it's crazy. They're ready. And one player was out there earlier. So that was cool because a lot of people going nuts. Yeah. That was crazy. Yeah, this would be my first ever soccer match. Football match.

Sorry. This would be my first ever football match. That's wild to me because we live in Fresco. The Hacksforders was right across the tree from FC Dallas. So the fact that you, and we've gone a bunch. I've gone to like six. I'm hoping what this does for me is that it ignites, you know, something in me to want to watch and follow soccer because it's just another sport

to be able to watch and consume and enjoy. So I'm hoping that going to the actual live game and hearing the crowd and seeing the passion and really just experiencing the fan base and the culture, I'm hoping it ignites something in me to start watching soccer. I hope so. I feel like Call of Duty has like a big soccer culture because like the UK, all like the UK cod guys are always tweeting. Oh yeah. Marky B and all of them, they're all tweeting about whenever Spanish guys too. Yeah, whenever Man City or Liverpool, whoever's playing. Like they're always tweeting about it. This is going to be my second European soccer match that I was going to see. What's when did you go to Mexico versus?

No, European. Oh, my first one was West Ham United. Oh, you saw you went? Yes, it was right next to the Copper Box. I didn't hear you say European. Yeah, yeah. It was right next to the Copper Box Arena, which is where we played Call of Duty every single time we went. And my man, Bazinga from obviously the world famous, sideman has, he's also a fan of West Ham, and he has season tickets.

So when I went there, I was doing the eavesdrop. I started doing the eavesdrop, so I did one with Big Star and one with Bazinga, and he said, let's go to a game. And I said, thank you. And we went. It was sick. Oh, my God. It's the best, best event, best sporting event I've ever been to.

Really? Yeah. That's why I'm so excited for tomorrow. Dude, passion, like, we can, America has the ability to put bodies in seat. Like, we're really good at them. All the stadiums, especially the college football games, Penn State, like Michigan. College football gets crazy. Like the Packers, the Cowboys.

Alabama. I mean, we can put, even the NHL teams, like, we can put bodies and seats. But the way they do it here is on. It's like a lifestyle. Yeah, no. It's their life. It's crazy because, like, we, like me, I'm so ignorant to just football and the clubs and everything in general about the sport.

I've never watched it. So to hear that, you know, Huvente is here. Yeah. Third and Series A right now, right? Series A, sorry. Third and Series A And then there's a team Literally in Torino

Yeah But the fan bases are so staggered That's like Torino's only fans Or people that live in this city There's a club 10 minutes away Yeah same division I want to see that game Could you imagine if the

If the Cowboys played The Texans But they both lived in the same city Both in the same city That would be the That's actually crazy Like equivalent Yeah

Yeah it's nuts It's so crazy And then there's probably I bet you there's a division there might be a like a division two or division three like a B or C team in Torino as well

I almost guarantee it because there's so many clubs they're everywhere and they all have their own supporters it's sick so sick and the relegation system I mean it's definitely interesting because what bottom three go down

top three go up and you got to earn your way back up so it's bottom three down top three up so the bottom three play I don't want to mess this stuff Get top three in Series B. There's a... Oh, you're saying blow to your idea.

Yeah, you get relegated and then get promoted. So there's, I think... I could be wrong about this, but I think the bottom three teams in the top division and the top three teams in the lower division play each other in playoff. And whoever wins that goes up. See, that's hype.

It's something like that. I know I'm botching. That's a great system. That's what it is. It's some sort of playoff system. That's so hype. Yeah, so... It's like a mini play in tournament.

Right. Yeah, yeah. For anything. entire season that really does a lot for the whole entire business yeah the whole city like yeah i mean you have to did you have you ever heard the story about the the premier team that just it was like a premier team that came from the bop like they just started a team and then over a course of like i don't know 20 30 years they started getting a little bit better in their the lowest division possible like these are like literally like accountants playing with accountants and over the course of the

year of the last like a couple decades they have now made it to the premier league and their their facility is like in a neighborhood like it's like it's like you have to walk through a neighborhood to get to their stadium yeah and they made it to the premier league and so they had to upgrade their facility to even be able to post to stay in yeah because like now you have Manchester city who plays in like a massive arena and they're walking to a neighborhood to play Like that's the cool part about Relocation and promotion You would have to go through a neighborhood

Back alley up like some Back like fire escape stairs Into the stadium through buildings where people sleep Yeah Homes That's so sick So ultimately I'm now a Huvente supporter

And I'm hoping That you know tomorrow Ignites that passion of me Because I know a lot of even my viewers Watch soccer and it's another way to relate with the viewers There's a lot of UK viewers that we have even American viewers that love soccer. So if I could get into the sport,

it's just hard to watch for us because the time zone. It's very hard to watch. But I think it would be cool. I know I'm going to get sucked in. When I told my dad, my dad was like, what? I couldn't believe it.

I couldn't believe it. My other brother-in-law, he's like, that's crazy. It's just a lot. Let me see. It's Luton Town. That's, Luton Town.

Yeah. And look, it's literally building. It's a house, house, house, house stadium. Yeah. Yeah, that's insane. It literally looks like the houses are built into the stadium. Yeah. No, it's insane.

You like walk through someone's backyard. Do you get season tickets if it, I mean, yeah. If you live there, I feel like you can literally watch the game from your back window. Yeah, gorgeous. But that means their price of real estate skyrocketing. Yeah, 100%. I mean, it does everything. Making it to the Premier League or making it to the first division is not only good for the players.

It's good for the club. It's good for the economy of the city. It's literally, a lot of these places are like built around football. Well, that's the reason why so many municipalities pay so much to e-sports. programs to go host there because it elevates like Taylor Swift right when when Optic shows up to a certain city we we elevate the the economy like Taylor Swift I mean you're just totally totally joking about the Taylor Swift but that is a thing like we get subsidies from cities to say here's X amount of hundreds of thousands of

dollars for you to host it here because the amount of money that the green wall brings to the areas in hotel and food and beverages you know you got the whole front road just fucking drinking half of the liquor in in that particular city. But yeah, like Juventus obviously being, being as, as, as, as a, as a, I mean, what's it? We won't say the, the, I am the other team because we don't, we don't fuck with them like that, right?

But, yeah, Inter Milan is obviously like one of the other ones. But it's Juventus all day. I think top three is Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus, yeah. Yeah, Inters, yeah. Yeah, Inters having a crazy year. They've only lost one game. Yeah, they're ever, one match. But we're only here to talk about the best team in Italy,

Huventos. Of course. offense to anybody who you know what offense offense offense be offended uh you know what set said is like about him supporting this team like i have been on that mentality for since i moved to texas because you know i would never ever ever wear a a team hat that didn't that i didn't support like i like you would never see me rocking a yankee's hat uh you would never see me rocking i mean you name it right like i it's just not my thing right like i i don't own a single maybe one bulls at but I just don't like me and the bulls have not gone along since uh the last dance came out

and I saw how they treated you know the dynasty team and how they treated Jordan specifically um and in my own weird fantasy fantasizing about what Jordan should do you know he just sold majority of the of the of the hornets right by the bulls and by the bulls yeah but yeah that would be oh man I would you but but because of the way that that franchise treated Jordan like I have not fuck with And then when we did the collaboration with the Mabs, I mean, Jude was already, Jude is far and above a better sports fan than I am, right? Like she's, she's locked. She's like last night.

Last night she stayed up to watch Caitlin Clark and the girls. Yeah, like it was 5.30 in the morning. I hadn't gotten any sleep and I'm finally sleeping 5.30. She thinks she's not making any notice. And she's like, but I heard it like, ah, my God. And her and Liv are just sitting there watching the girls, the woman's finals. Final four men's is tonight Yeah, yeah, yeah

That was either like 3 a.m here or something It starts at 5.0.9 Eastern, I think. I will not be watching, but I will be hoping. Which is, Eastern is six hours behind us right now, I think. So it would be 11 p.m. tonight, which honestly, that's not that bad. That's not that bad. That's not that bad. That's not bad. We might be able to.

No, 11 p.m. is great. Yeah, 11 p.m. 11 p.m. is great. We can go to speak easy. If state's playing first, we, we're not. We can watch state. If they're playing up. I think it's Duke State first. I don't think Duke's.

Or no, no. Yeah, it's Duke NC State, isn't it? What? I'm pretty sure. Let's see.

Or it's, it's Purdue versus someone and then Duke NC State, I think. I don't know who Purdue's playing. Yeah. Another cool thing is like, obviously like the, you know,

Juventus is, uh, Juventus is sponsored by Adidas or Adidas. And on the way, like even before we were told like the, like what we can and cannot wear. Like I had already packed like, all my Adidas.

Alabama, Yukon, NC State, Purdue. NC State Purdue, Alabama, Yuk. Oh, Duke lost. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Anyway, so super excited about it. You know, to go back to what, to finish my thought around the,

the supporting of teams, like, you know, White Sox is always with my team. Not the Cubs, the White Sox. Really? I don't think I knew that. Yeah, everybody knows that. Do you guys know why? Is Jordan played for the White Sox?

Ah. Jude and Liv, Jude and Liv are a Cubs fan. Betray yourself. The Cubby's. Yeah, they're cubbies. You're the only White Sox fan I've ever met. I used to be a White Sox fan because of my brother.

Really? Yep. Maglio or Donias? Oh, weo. Maglio. Who do you like now? You remember that shit? Yeah.

Did I just take you back? No. Who do you like now? I don't have a favorite baseball team. Like you don't have one like Phillies? The Rangers. Oh, yeah. Well, it is now the Rangers, but I don't want to get called a bandwagon.

But if I were to work for someone, it probably be the way. It's like I didn't have a team coming into Texas. Now we've done. We've done Rangers night twice. We've done Mavs night. You pitched and they won the World Series. Yeah, it's like, I don't care. Call me a bandwagon.

Call me what the fuck you want. Until we do Cowboys night. I'm Rangers. Mavs. No. See, that's the issue though. I'm a Yankee fan, but I'll rock the Rangers. Colleges and.

Cowboys not because complexity is no longer with the Cowboys. Oh, really? Cowboys night would be crazy. Not even because just obviously I'm an Eagles fan, but just the scope, the Cowboys. Would you? No, but you'd have to wear the Cowboys. merch and they're playing the Eagles. Make it till you make it man. I'll throw on a Cowboys jersey

for a night. I don't think we can. I don't think we can. I don't think because the their ownership group, you know, Red Jerry Jones and the golfs and all them are now the own phase now. So I think it's, I don't know how that worked. I don't know. Either way, go bears. Hey Jerry, if you're watching this. Hey, Mr. Jones, if you're watching this. Yeah, I really, I really just the amount of collabs that we've been doing with different sports teams and clubs. I mean, it's been so cool. Oh, this one's incredible. Again, yeah. I mean, this one's my favorite. Well, I mean, the hospitality they've shown us since we've been here. I mean, it's just been an amazing experience. So I'm just really hoping, you know, tomorrow again, I know I'm going to be

blown away. I mean, it's going to be so sick. After just seeing the stadium, it's a 41,000 person seating. It's really intimate. Like, what's crazy. You can smell the grass from where we were, like up in the stands. You can smell the grass. You can smell the stadium. You can smell the grass like stories up it's like it's nuts now what was crazy is like the player benches being a part of the stands so like if you buy a seat technically you can look to your left and see like your favorite player directly next to you the only thing separating you is that like the see-through glass like that is crazy my man west mckinney maybe my my boy fabio Fabio who beat Seth in the one of you no he didn't right oh no no no no it was a gun game we both we both we want neither one of us really lost

You were awful. Okay. You guys made me play FIFA. Oh, you don't know how to pass the ball. I don't know. I couldn't have been playing FIFA. He played Weston in FIFA.

After the game. Yeah. And then I played with Fabio on Kod. I lost big time. Big, big, big time. It was like, we hung out with them for like maybe tops, maybe like 30 minutes each.

Yeah, 30 minutes. Just as they were like leaving practice, they like, they were, some free time. Weston is from from Little Elm. Texas.

Yeah. He's crazy. He's a Fortnite guy. And I was like, I mean, we're not really Fortnite. Yeah, either way, like again, tomorrow you're going to see like a fan.

And I will say though that soccer at least in the United States, like they're, what do you call their fan clubs? Like the loud area? Hooligans. No. You know how,

you know what I'm talking about? I knew stuff was going to say that. Yeah. Huh? The Green Street Hooligans Shirelobush. No, it's not Shiala Buh. I know, it's Frodo.

It's Frodo, which is... Elijah Wood. Yeah, Elijah Wood. No, I'm excited. But as I was saying, in the United States soccer, in the fandom and soccer, are starting to, like, learn...

Oh, dude. L.A.F.C. L.F.C. goes crazy. Atlanta, F.C. goes fucking super nice. Atlanta, L.A., and then Austin. Will they ever be respected in the... The sidekicks? Will they ever be respected in the champions of? league the NA teams ever?

No, no. Never. They'll never be allowed. Never say never because you just told a story about how this team from a local neighborhood just climbed into the right. You're proven you wrong. They could just see a. They could just keep Americans out if they wanted. Well, so there's the only way that we could possibly ever even play. And by we, he means Americans. American. American. American.

There's a, there's another tournament. This weekend I've been just telling them these guys about different tournaments. There's a tournament called Club. World Cup, which is every club. So the Champions League is only the European team. And then they have that. The club World Cup is all the clubs. It's all the clubs throughout the world and the top club on all the different

leagues. They all play each other in the tournament. And number one gets an auto invite? And that would be the only way that we would ever even play one of these games. So the only way that Inter Milan or FC Dallas or the sidekicks would play. they would play like a team like this I mean it would just be a beating though right like it's 100 to 0 yeah 100 to 0 no way 100 to 0

maybe not 100 so you're saying the highest the highest level played fcd out what if it wouldn't be like how competitive is the best i'll put it to you like this there isn't a single american professional soccer player that would not that would decline an invite to these leagues they just don't play at this level. But is the number one NAA teams literally that much worse

and like these level really? The MLS is that different? That's crazy. First of all, I'm not talking shit about the MLS because I think the MLS is improving. Absolutely. In my lifetime, the MLS went from playing on baseball fields

to now having stadium. So like, yes, it's progressing. And I think soccer in America is progressing. But I think there's a cap on it as long as soccer is. is continuing to be called soccer called soccer being paid to play because like you have to

these guys have you put your eight year old in a uventus camp and then they pick the best eight year olds and then they start training them from then on from then on yeah and it's free and everyone can do it and you can play and there's there's pickup games everywhere but kind of like how it is in basketball or football like american football in the states but soccer is so expensive I asked my mom recently, I was like, how much was it for me to play? And she was like, oh, easily like 10,000 a year. And I was like, what? And my parents didn't have that kind of money.

But like to, she was like between the jerseys and the signups and the tournaments, you have to pay to play in the tournaments and the gas and the traveling like everything. 10,000? You have to pay for everything to play in the States. What level were you playing at? Were you like travel? Yeah. So like you were like, okay.

So you were, I was like, yeah. Like there's the teams that are like are being recruited by, they're like the high school kids that are being recruited by pro teams or colleges. I was like right on it.

Okay. So yeah. So like you were playing at a high level. I was good enough to play at a high level but not good enough to go. That's where I was playing. But even then like there's, probably the level that I tapped out at

is so common here. Yeah. Like it's, it's just regular. I mean, the guy, Fabio, Fabio is 20 years old. Dude, I saw how young he was and I was like, dude. Who, Fabio? Yeah.

Yeah. Just, he's young. Brush. I mean, but that's NBA, NFL. There's 20-year-olds. Yeah. There's a dude. Do you see that LeBron was playing this guy that was younger than Bronny?

Makes sure. Yeah. In the NBA. He was being guarded by a guy that was younger than Bronny. I don't know. That doesn't surprise me. I don't watch basketball much. No.

I mean, wasn't there like a 19-year-old? What do you think about Bronny? declaring for the NBA. I think it's a great move. You know, whether he has the chops or not that his dad has, why wouldn't you chase that dream and have a chance to play with your father, one, get an easy, I mean, him declaring for the draft, like nobody, no offense, right?

I don't really watch him or know how good he is, but I know he's good. He's like an elite level, but is he NBA material? Like, yet to be found, you know, yet to be found out. But, you know, LeBron is LeBron, and he commands the NBA right now. And if he tells his club, if he tells the Lakers, pick him up so that I can play with him, they're going to do that.

I mean, think about the amount of crowd that you're going to get to do. The card, there's a basketball card with both Bronny and Bronze signature on it. That's like $3 million. Three million? I think so. Anybody who's familiar with the hobby, please do correct me down below because I'm only partially exposed to it. there's a a a PSA 10

T2P signed card that's go over 10 grand right now yeah really 10 grand 10 K yeah no one's buying that I told you don't know that I told Matt about it and he was like what no one's fine can I also

random can I borrow you and Seth for like 30 minutes next week? Sign sign this well you you like layer it so we don't catch on it's like every time we come in you sign three things It's like, we never know. We would never think it was weird. I think your, your, there's a card that like sample cards are like three color cards, right?

There is like a C-N blue and then a pink one or something else that they use as the base for all of them. Like one of yours or your collection is going for 15 grand. Which is this is what I what I did. Yeah, what I didn't like about the partnership between Activision and an upper deck was the fact that they made as many pick any player in the league that's no longer in the league and you they made the same amount of cards you signed the same well no you didn't i made sure that you didn't sign as many cards as they did um but just the fact that they all printed like they they have a weird way of doing things and i don't think i don't think that upper deck themselves knew so knew this league so intimately that they would

have known who you are who uh formal uh is et cetera et cetera to make those decisions the right way but yeah I went through a wave a couple months ago where I was like I didn't know they graded I didn't know PSA would grade the upper deck cards so I bought a bunch of them I bought like I have a Bance I have a Bantz signed card really on my bedside table

I'm just waiting to get graded I got a I got a few of them I got the entire league I got the entire league cards all the cards from every single player yeah that's dope somebody was selling a lot on on it wasn't eBay anyway long story short I bought them just you know for for that but I still

also have the original I think it was line man from the some the graphics guy they used to make them like I still have all of the original cards before upper deck ones I have all of yours all of Formals and Carmas and Crimson

I have all the dynasty all autographed that's dope yeah that is dope yeah so So back to Yuva, we also went to their museum, right? So, it was, we just got back from it. It was, it was inspirational to say the least, just like walking through it and, you know, seeing all the old player jerseys and like all of that stuff. And, you know, it's, you know, Jude did, Jude, her, Judith, my wife did a really good job of like,

keeping as much of the original house of 60-50 intact in a story. room where we have like all of that so one day hopefully and i'll i'll die trying uh our our museum is also going to have like some pretty sick gems from the original streaming room where we were all in yeah that would be that'd be sick i think the the coolest part was the trophy room the way that the way that you they displays their trophies insane it's all it's all behind uh one-way glass and then there's a projection going on. And every time, you know, say they, in 1936, they won the Italian Cup, it would pop up on the screen. It would be highlights of the tournament.

And then it would be backlit inside of the trophy case. And you wouldn't be able to see any of the other trophies except that one. And they did that for all the different, you know, Italian Cups and the UEFA Cups and I think a Champions League as well. Yeah, they did. And then at the end, there was an e-sports, the FC 23. The FIFA? Yeah. The FIFA guys, they raised in the very top right.

There's a FIFA trophy in the same trophy case as the UEFA Cup. Yes. An e-sports trophy in the UAFA. So sick. It is sick. That is sick. But yeah, I mean, it was an entire room, like from Florida ceiling, almost a 360 of all the different. I literally, look, Seth and I have.

had the discussion like, yo, those are my jerseys. I'm like, yes, they're our jerseys, but they're more of the Greenwald's jerseys. And yes, they're yours, but they have to live somewhere. Yeah. And I think in the public's eye is good. I mean, luckily we have replicas. Or not replicas, but, you know, you played more than one.

The pink ones, those are the ones that, like, still have, like, now they have oxidized areas. They're like, they turn brown from the sweat of the, or like, Natechot has, like, crazy splint. What is nasty ass? I don't have any oxidized shit on mine, do I? A little bit. Yeah.

Sure there's stuff. Well, it's your jersey. It's your jersey is not your pants. The amount of kids I've seen here. The amount of kids I've seen here and like the full Juventus kit. Oh yeah. They're everywhere. Like full, do the amount of kids.

Full Juventus kit. Backpack. Yeah. Shoes, socks. It's like, I've never seen that. Well, they have a Juventus hotel right next to the J Hotel. The J Hotel. And in it, there was this kid had to have been like maybe eight or nine years old.

Walk around that said Juventus Academy, Moscow. Part of the interruption, and I know that it's a different setting than the Optic podcast setting, but please let me tell you about Fandul. Optic and Fandul are teaming up to offer almost everyone a free 2024 Opti Gaming jersey. All you got to do is sign up for Fandual at Fandual.com forward slash optic jersey and make a sportsbook wager of at least $20 within the first 30 days of the signup to be eligible to receive a free, clean version of a brand new 2024 jersey along with $150

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This issue as non-a-nauticine-Risciproved by option-cruiting Coulterian-R-A-R-A-G-R-A-M-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-E-N-R-A-R-E This podcast is also brought to you by Veryheal. If you've been feeling a little achy and tense from your recent rank grind or your recent workouts, veryheel.com is committed to helping you access the medical cannabis you need with ease. Very Hill platform is super simple to use. Just sign up, talk to your doctor, get approved, and that's pretty much it. Before you queue into your next match, the MMM-J card will be on its way, unlock an exclusive

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close to $300,000 in Call of Duty Endowment donations. You guys, the Green Wall and us came together to do some good. Well, they're back. And right now, we, along with Call of Duty Endowment, will be given away tickets to see the reigning champions in Arlington play live May 15th. With this ticket, you'll get to pick up the sick Adoles Garcia, this Bambi bubblehead, at the venue. Entering is easy. If you fill out the Google form in our Wallace Warrior Discord channels for your chance to win,

join us at the game to support our veterans who have probably served our country. As always, thank you for your service. If you haven't heard already, Optic and USAA have teamed together to create a new program within the Optic Nation called the Wallace Warriors, exclusive to the U.S. military members and veterans. The Wallace Warriors program gives you a free Optic Nation gold membership, along with the opportunity to receive free Founders coin. Super cool, by the way.

We took a lot of time, you know, putting that together. Entry in two online college tournaments hosted by Optic Gaming with a $5,000 price pool exclusive benefits and live events just for Wallace Warriors and an exclusive Discord channel within the Optic Discord. Visit our website. to sign up at optic.link forward slash www.

Verify your government ID status with ID me and wait for a confirmation email with your free Optic Nation gold membership. Link will be in the description down below to make it super easy for you. Right. So they're like a literal global brand which has like academy teams in... The club that I played for in Raleigh

when I was playing for them, which has since gone away. But the... So it's classic as what I played, but there's academy level. Those are the ones that are recruited. And they had a partnership with Chelsea. So on in the main, on the main field in our facility, there's giant Chelsea logos.

And the academy team had full Chelsea kit. Damn. And, you know, that partnership died because, you know, nobody went to Chelsea. I think Zuma was on one of those academy teams. They didn't get anyone. They didn't bomb anybody. They found no one. I forget the team, but Zuma was on an academy team before he got hurt when he was

like young. Yeah. I think he was on a Chelsea team. Chelsea Academy team. It might have been, I think it was a Chelsea Academy team. That's fucking dope. Yeah, he played a man. Nine years old, full Chelsea kit.

All right. Like the man. What's your Italian experience been like? Here? I mean, no, in London. Oh. Yeah, where's the microwave?

Well, the, where's the microwave? The, uh, well, that was bad. Seth, for context one month ago, walks into the office. We're not talking about me. He's been going to the office for two years. We're not talking about me. Let's talk about you just now saying where. First off, first off, the culture.

It's like the casual espresso's like, let's go for a coffee. You get a one dollar. A one euro espresso and they give you the sparkling water to clean your palate beforehand. And then you just have. We were confused about that. Well, we were confused whether you go before or after. But also just the walking culture, the architecture, like it just, I think foreign countries have us. America does some things well,

but like the actual architecture and the way the cities look and the layout is beautiful. The freshness of the food. Dude, everyone here. I will give a shout. Last night when we were looking down that street, it did remind me a lot of the layout of like Boston

because it was like parked, trees down the center. The architecture was older. Boston's one of our oldest cities, right? Well, Boston's one of the best like architecture wise in the U.S. Yeah, so like looking down that street last night, obviously there was still like some of the, like, is it Catholic? Catholic nods, like angels and like that kind of like...

Huge building. Yeah, with like angels at the top. Or just like which Boston didn't have. I like the laid back notion that is in the air every single day where you know, you'll have a bustling fruit market and like artisan market. And it's what but as soon as three o'clock hits, it's breakdown time. It's time to go chill and relax. They're very slow. It's like a very slow, at least this city.

It's like I woke up. I'm super jet lag by the way. I'm exhausted. I was up at 6 a.m. and I didn't go back to bed. I went for a walk. And like 7 a.m. usually in the U.S.

If you're out at 7 a.m., it's pretty populated. Here was a ghost town until like 8 a.m. People started coming out and getting their espresso. And what's also surprising is like a breakfast for us is like eggs, bacon, you know, some toast sausage. There's just like a croissant. like a chocolate croissant and they're all thin they're all so thin they're walking everywhere i'm just like everyone here looks like they're coming from the gym yeah it it has me motivated to go back i'll say it now publicly i'm thinking to doing like a like a public fitness challenge where i give

away like a pc whoever wins or something that way holds me accountable and like yeah now i get you everybody else accountable i think that'd be fun nick and i almost started an app because i want to get back like god we didn't because then i'd be fat with an app oh like a first i'll like a Fitness app? That's also a very over saturated app space. Fitness apps? Oh my God. Nick and I are going to be called FAP. There's what's going to be called FAP. Yeah, there's like fitness nutrition.

The FAP app. The FAP app. There's so many fitness apps. You're not allowed to FAP until you fit. I mean, that's that goes without saying. I'd make sure I was fit. It's like, I wouldn't make sure. I'd be I'm pretty good. I don't know where I saw that, but somebody is somebody's like, is like, the reason that you don't have a girlfriend's because your muscles

aren't big enough yet. Oh yeah. What was? I posted that. You said that? Yeah, I posted. Oh, you posted it, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Because I made fun of James for it. Our producer James. Yeah, because he's always talking about getting a girl.

And I'm like, and he works out all the time. And I was like, the only reason you don't have a girlfriend is because your muscles aren't big enough. And James is a big guy. He's a big guy. Like 6-4. Yes. I don't know if it's 6-4. He was like, it's not your personality.

6-4 or 6-4-1-2. 6-4 is very generous. It's 6-3 or 6-4. At least so he claims. Pam 6-4 to put it in perspective. James claims 6-3. three or six four he's six four he's six foot oh right just falling asleep behind the camera rog's falling asleep behind his i don't blame but regardless the most important part is that james is

single and can't find love i think that's the most important thing to hark on really but italy no game no verbals yeah i'm gonna have to talk to my man fortunately italy has been unbelievable um the one thing that actually kind of surprises me as well about just the area that we're in we're in turn is that it's not a touristy city at all so i can't imagine what like so Milan is the closest like big city that that some of the staff from Juventus keep telling us about ventus. Juventus? I think all three I should say it every different.

Juventus? I say Juventus. Juventus. I mean you say however the American was you say UV. Juventus. All right. Whatever. Whatever.

But I can't imagine like so we're planning on going to Milan tomorrow because we basically have the whole day before the game. The game is the only thing we have to do tomorrow. 845 game to crazy start time. So we're going to go to Milan. I can't wait. They said to go to the Duomo, which is probably insane. Before we left, I told you, I'm like, I want to see either a Pablo Piccoso in person or a Leo da Vinci in person.

The duomo alone is going to fucking be. It's going to be like a different world. I got to get a pair of shoes. It looks like the Lord of the Rings, like castles, bro. Like it is. And I think it was you and Rajman when we're walking. I'm like, I can't believe that. we foregoed

beautiful architecture and attention to detail when building you know call it any any any sort of building for cold surfaces and sharp lines

and call it modernism which fine sure it's got its place but I'm curious if that's just like so America has like ripped the soul out of architecture but I wonder if someone who's grew up in Italy

would come to New York City or like Dallas and be like odd at the moment. modern look of it. They would look at the scale of it. Holy shit, that building is huge. Yeah. I think I meant just like dated.

Like I saw a video a couple of months ago about like what's happened to McDonald's in America. Now it used to be this like fun place. Playgrounds. There was playgrounds. They're huge arches. Golden like the Ronald McDonald's and now they all look like corporate buildings. And ever since I watched that video like that's the case with Taco Bells.

There's a case with like a lot of like fun. things that America used to have. And now it just seems like, but that being said, obviously, turkey cheeses are gone for Wii works. If you go to, yes,

exactly. If you go to Boston or if you go to New York or if you go to, you know, downtown L.A. Chicago. Chicago's a great architecture. Chicago, like,

obviously there's beautiful architecture in the States. Well, the U.S. has like, you can find beautiful architecture in the U.S. It's everywhere here. It's like, dude, there's not like, I get away from it.

I don't have as bad a culture shock. hear as I did in Paris though. I think it's because everybody here is so nice. Yeah, everyone here is way nicer and they speak much more English. Here it's like much more more understandable English. Like in France like Paris specifically there's like I mean you'll just talk at someone and they'll look at you like

you're fucking. They just hate you immediately. Yeah. Like they will not invite you like at least here they're they'll like try. Yeah, we ran into a group of guys last night when we were going out. And he saw my, uh, he vences gear and he was like, full Italian sentence came out, like cheering on Juventus. And I was like, and he goes, oh, where?

Where from? And then I said, Texas. And then they all turned. Like Texas. And it was just like Texas. Well, also, again, I feel like that's because we're in such a non-turacy city. For sure. They probably don't see Americans.

Oh, dude. As often as we think they do. Yeah. I haven't heard like any Americans since we've been here. No, I heard one, I heard one dude speaking English at the training facility. but he was from London. Did you hear that guy?

The photographer, London. No, no, no. South Africa. He was from like, it was like a tourist guy looking for a Juventus player and he was like from England or something. But yeah,

it's been, I mean, it's been wonderful. I love the coffee culture. I love those. I haven't had a cigarette yet, but I love the cigarette culture. Yo, me too.

I'll tell you what, yes, listen. I don't know. I think it's cool. I've never, I've never had a cigarette in my life, right? like I've tried them but not like the first time I tried a cigarette was I was like four or five years old

180 in that sentence I've never had one in my life I've tried a few yeah I've never had a full cigarette what I mean it's like I've never had a full cigarette in my life whoa this is insane have you have you ever had a full joint by yourself in one sitting yes many times okay good for you then anyway but long story short I could not they roll their listen they roll their where we're going is that they roll their own uh cigarettes here yeah they do because it's It doesn't have the package, not good. It's a package bads that, you know, what we said, commercialized tobacco has.

Same with the food. That's what we were saying. Every time we ate somewhere here, even if we ate a lot, which you felt light. It doesn't feel like you want to crawl into a ball. Like if you eat like fast food or something from the U.S., you're slumped.

Oh my God, we were passing five guys the other day on our way to, the day before we came here. And Is was like, I've never had that. I was like, you, it's so good, but it only if you want to sleep. Yeah. Like you will, it doesn't matter what time of day. It is a food night quill.

Did you imagine if they built a five guys here? Well, they don't have, so they would be out the door. Me and him were talking about this. Open up a franchise here. I think America's food is not nearly as healthy, but I just know that Europeans go, I mean, there's like a literal YouTube channel of people from England trying like American fast food chains and they are. Like what fuck?

That is so good. Bro, you should watch the Aussie family that tried barbecue for the first time. They wanted to cry. Like the entire from from mom and dad to like eight. Give them Hutchins. I was going to say, give somebody here Hutchins. No.

They'd freak the fuck out. But they'd feel it. No. They'd be like, their bodies would shut down. They'd be like, they'd just go to bed. No, Australians, Australians are not only resilient people, but they also barbecue, right? Oh, we were talking about Italian.

Oh, yo, Zinn. Bro, the Australian Wagyu? Oh, bro. Will you come, bro? The Wagyu, the steaks. Oh, we do. We do lamb chops. Bro, the lamb's in.

The lamb is crazy. I think the first time I heard you do that, I didn't know Pred that well. Guys. Now knowing him, you fucking did it's pretty damn good. You guys have to try Goldies when we get back. Goldies barbecue is the best barbecue better than Hutchins. Well, here, what I noticed,

we were talking about this. Here they have like the major. like the Burger Kings and McDonald's, you don't have like the level below, the sweet greens, the snappy salads, the like, there's no auxiliary fast food chain. It's only like the hot.

No, here. It's only like the top of the top. It's only like the major, like McDonald's Burger Kings. They don't have like that subsidiary of fast food that we do. We have like fast food and we have more fast food. And then we have casual fast food.

That's so true. And it's like, then there's Chick-fil-A. Chip-fil-A-level stuff. Then you have your late night, like Jack in the box. Like your late night. Right now, you know what would fucking bang here? Popeyes.

Popeyes would murder here because they've never had. Popeyes murders everywhere. So, yeah, it would murder here as well. Because they don't have it here at all. They don't have Popeyes here. Popeyes here would make people go feral. Bro, the Cajun-D mashed potatoes. I'm telling you.

The Cajun mashed potatoes are going to be like. The food here is amazing. But like American fast food, they're something in it. We talk about how amazing the food is, but it's amazing because of how it makes you food. No, no, no. It's the flavor profiles.

Yeah, yeah. I'm just saying if you're comparing it to how amazing American food is. American food, just the pure taste of it is fucking edible. Well, here. It makes you feel like shit. Yeah, but here you also taste. Like going down here. And here you taste like the natural flavor.

It's like even in their ketchup. Like you taste. Yeah. Like tomato. Whereas in America, there's so much sugar added. Here it's like everything tastes so authentic. Like the pasta sauce last night. It wasn't like all this intricate pasta sauce.

It was just so fresh. was like light. It was just so... Chemicals. I love it. I really love it. I do love it. I do love this place.

Well, we'll end it on, I guess, I'll end it. My last thing that I will say is that when Zinny, Roger and I were walking down, I said, I would love to live in a place like this, but I, you know, not this far away from, like, I'd go to like a town in Mexico that has like the same sort of architecture and the same feel. Just so that I could be... I can't wait to see Milan. I can't wait to see Maugh.

I'm excited. And even Turin, like, I'm sure there's places in Turin. We just haven't really ventured because we've been doing stuff with Thuentes and, you know, doing our thing. But, like, I'm excited to see, like, a major city, like a tourist attraction. I can't wait for the game. That's like, and the game. I didn't, I'm not going to lie. I'm usually, like, pretty, this is the first game I've been super excited about in a long time.

Because I feel like games for us are so accessible. Like, I'm five seconds from the Mavericks. And we can go to a Cowboys game or a day. Dallas Stars game. This like just the scale of it and like just seeing like the city revolve around soccer, it's, I can't, I actually can't wait just to see like two rival Italian teams play, the chance. Like you made a good point. We fill the seats. We don't, a lot of sports, at least not majority of times, bring that like energy. Cowboys fans are kind of not. Yeah, but they're not like that. No, listen, when you, I'll say one more thing and I apologize, but when you walk in,

after the national anthem when you walk into a Cowboys game at AT&T Stadium you feel a fan base it is the most loud place I've ever been to walking through the ring is like it's like deafening yeah it's insane at the north and south

like the end zones it's like holy shit it's 100,000 people yeah this is 41,000 but it's gonna feel very intimate like it feels like you're so close and accessible it's like it doesn't feel like that at an 18. No, no, wait, real quick.

Just, it's a 41,000 seat stadium. And we saw the, the, the fields from so many different angles. But each angle, no matter where you are, it's like the perfect view. There's no bad. There's no bad seat in the house. I was, I was so surprised by that. And I think a lot of European clubs, they're, yeah, they're like 25 to 50,000 seats. But they, with their fan base, they could fill.

They could fill an 80,000. They could fill 100,000. Yeah, 100%. It's just, yeah, yeah. They just don't have an opportunity. I can't wait, man. It's because it's a lot easier for teams here to travel with their teams. On like...

Take a train. Yeah, you can take a train. One, we don't have any trains in the United States, you know. Got our Amtrak. No, we do. No, not bullet trains. Like right now, they're now starting to build the two-hour train ride from Dallas to Houston. But that's it.

Like, we don't have any bullet trains like that. Yeah, yeah. Or not as many as they have here is what I'm saying. So anyway, that's going to do it for this episode of the podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you guys enjoyed it. It's Roger's fault. Yeah, yeah.

Sorry. They do set you up. Me and you. Me and you. The bully. You can cut it, Roger. You can cut it, Roger. Anyway, if you guys have any questions about Italy, we'll gladly answer them on the next podcast.

We'll see you guys. I'll be more with the next one. Good.