Pablo Torre Finds Out - USMNT's Tim Weah on World Cup Dreams, the American Idea... and Wu-Tang

Episode Date: June 19, 2026

He is the realest member of Team USA — an activist athlete, from Brooklyn and the African diaspora, choosing to represent a divisive nation as it tries bringing the globe a little closer together. In a rare sit-down ahead of the U.S. men's national team match against Australia, Timothy Weah explains the pressure of this moment, the power of soccer over politics... and why the Knicks' good-luck charm might need to strike again.• Listen to The Athletic FC Podcast• Listen to Tifo Football Podcast• Subscribe to The Athletic Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Pablo Torre finds out. I am Pablo Torre, and today we're going to find out what this sound is. People think that, you know, you can't play for the country of your birth and still wave the flag of your, you know, other, you know, your parents' countries and in your background while doing so. I think that's completely wrong. Right after this ad. So it's a rare opportunity, Timway, to talk to a member of the U.S. men's national team during the World Cup. But thank you for joining us, man. Can you tell us for those who aren't watching, where are you right now? Where are we talking to you from?

I'm currently at home base in Laguna. We're at the team hotel. And we are in room 10. Can you explain what room is like these days? The vibes have been great, obviously, getting over that first game and getting over the nerves. And yeah, I mean, it's been amazing. I think everyone's on a high and we're just ready

we're preparing for Australia next so yeah So the game that we're talking about that happened is the game against Paraguay And can you take me inside I mean look you're a veteran at 26 But the World Cup is the World Cup And so what is the nerve situation like

Before a game like that? This World Cup was a bit different than the last Obviously in Qatar was my first So I mean just the nervousness was crazy when I was a kid living on my dreams I'm still living on my dreams to this day but I think we were I myself as an individual

was a little bit much more calmer this time around when I'm just super confident in this group so I mean the nerves were the nerves I was pretty chill honestly I was pretty chill the sensation for me as somebody who's I've covered a World Cup before

I'm sort of like a casual soccer fan but if I'm representative of Americans it's in the following way which is I turned on this game and just said to myself Holy shit. We got some dudes. I cannot believe with my eyes have just seen.

I actually had to check that this was a U.S. team I was watching. We said to Dream Big, and today was a dream star. It was a complete dominance. Take away the first two minutes, and it truly was all the United States. I do not think I had seen this good a performance from the U.S. men's national team at any level of the game. The first half could have been any better. I haven't seen a U.S. team play that well in a long time. I've watched the U.S. Stock for 40 years.

This was the best game they'd ever played at an international stage. One of the top three performances of a U.S. team that has 20, 25 years. The first half was as good as I've seen any national team play in any tournament, let alone the World Cup. What was it like to watch how that game unfolded in terms of your teammates, this team announcing itself to the world like that? Yeah, it was amazing. I knew we were going to do something special.

I fully believe in this group. I believe in our qualities. But that was buzzing. I mean, the support that we got from the fans was amazing. Like I said, when you want to start a World Cup strong, you want to start like that. You want to dominate. And I think we did exactly that. And we looked amazing while doing it.

I think in a lot of our past games, we struggled with being aggressive and adding that killer touch when we needed to. And I think, you know, we found it. I think that's what friends. these are four and now, like I said, it counts when you're in the World Cup. So it was wonderful seeing everything unfold. So this is where I need to say that when we first asked if Tim Wea could spend a little bit of time with us during the World Cup itself, it was before the U.S. B Paraguay, 4 to 1 in Los Angeles. And the biggest reason we had asked Tim for some time is because of a remarkable biographical detail about the 26-year-old.

year old forward. A detail without any real comparison in sports, to my knowledge, which is that Tim Wea was born here in New York City, but his father, in case you did not know this, is George Wea, who, until just two years ago, was the president of Liberia. The former star footballer, George Wea, has been named winner of Liberia's presidential election, easily beating his rival in the country's first democratic transfer of power in seven decades. According to the National Election Commission, with 98% of all votes counted, Weyer received more than 60%. In case you did not know, George Wea also happens to be one of the greatest professional soccer players of his generation.

This was back in the 90s, playing at Monaco and Paris And Germain and A.C. Milan and Chelsea. And so we will get to some of that story here. But the thing that changed, the thing that opened eyes all around the world, happened against Paraguay. When we all watched Tim Wea and his teammates do something very special on their home turf. In fact, Tim's friend and fellow forward, Flo Balligan, did something very special twice. What was your favorite of all the goals? I don't want to lead the jury.

Yeah, I was going to say, That second goal for him was. Because not only just the finish, I think the buildup, you know, he showed his strength. He showed that, you know, the action never dies. A lot of strikers, you know, when they get hit in the back and the box, they could have fell over and he chose to stay up and go all the way. And then the placement of the finish was just world-class. So, you know, I know what, flows my boy.

I know he can deliver. And he showed us. He showed on the big stage. I'm super proud of him. And then, in the closing minutes, for good measure, the United States began to string together pass after pass, after pass, after pass. This truly musical sequence of 26 passes in all from left to right, culminating in Tim Wea and Alex Freeman and Gio Raina. And then, you know, I just remember receiving the ball from Freeman and having enough space to drive. And then out of my career field, I was in the play.

pocket, so I was blocking the pass to Gio. And when I gave back to Freeman, I heard Gio screamed for the ball behind me, so I moved out of the pocket and Gio was right there. The U.S. men's national team, of course, has never won the World Cup before. But that win over Paraguay wound up being the most watched telecast in the history of the team, averaging 18 million viewers. And so, with the United States, playing again today against Australia. I wanted to try and understand this moment through the eyes of a player

who did not have to represent the United States, but chose to. The announcement to the whole country was like, this is a TV show you're going to want to watch. And how much pride is there in just that communication? Because there's a lot going on right now that you guys are competing with in terms of the attention span of Americans.

You know, when you're playing in a competition like this, whether it's on home soul or not, you want to have your people behind you. And that was our plea from the start was just bringing everyone together, no matter your religion, no matter your race. Just bringing everyone together in love and support for their country. And we got their attention now. So it's a beautiful thing to see. You know, when you have a big sporting moment like this,

it's important to make sure that you perform at a certain level to where you can attract the eyes and the crowd and the support. And I think everyone's on notice now. It's a beautiful thing. So I think the support throughout the rest of the tournament, the other games are going to be unbelievable. So I'm super excited. And I'm just happy to be a part of this group and to be represented in my country.

It's a blessing. The recurring sort of conversation among a lot of Americans is this sort of thought experiment. What if America's best athletes played soccer? And you're familiar with this, obviously, this sort of like debate, talking point. And at this point, I'm wondering what you think. When you hear that line of argument given obviously what that match was like, but given also what the evolution of this team has been, how do you explain that to people?

I mean, you don't really explain it to people. You just let people say what they want. I think that we were all destined to do something in this life, whether that's play basketball, whether that's play soccer, whether that's play football. So, of course, I think that in a sense, if you know football was a bit more accessible and in the states you would definitely have different amount of talent come out and it would be crazy but at the end of the day we're young

in the sport in that sense compared to all the other countries and we're still growing and you know I'm just happy to be at the forefront of that now and the future is bright I think you know depending on what we can do as a group in this tournament and how we can you know grow the sport in America, it's going to be something that's beautiful for this sport. So I don't really get into the debate of one of our best athletes play the sport. I think, you know, the current athletes that we have are great in their space and what they do. And, you know, we're just working hard to be great in our space too. So hopefully, hopefully we can do the job. And yeah. I mean, look, that's a very humble and diplomatic answer. But my reaction watching you guys in that match against

Paraguay was like, yeah, we got the athletes. They're here. You can stop wondering what? it looks like. We have the talent and when you think about it, like I always say, you know, when I was growing up, soccer wasn't the biggest sport in the States. It was always basketball, American football, baseball, hockey. And, you know, soccer was just our niche. Soccer was just our home. We had the love for the game. But I think the current team that we have now has a whole bunch of quality and we're growing. A lot of the guys are playing overseas. We have MLS guys who are doing amazing at their clubs and, you know, that just meshes well together. And I think what we needed was time to show the world that, you know, we're capable of competing with the best.

I mean, for people who don't know your background where you came from, there's a lot to your story, but I think you self-identify almost first and foremost as a New Yorker, right? 100%. Yeah, definitely. So I grew up born and raised in Manhattan, lived here my entire life 40 years. Can you explain to me what it was like to be a young Tim Wea growing up? I think in Brooklyn and then in Queens. What's that scene like? Yeah, growing up, I mean, so born in Brooklyn, we moved to Florida for a little bit

and then moved back to Queens when I was a younger kid. Growing up in New York was just as a kid, it was fun. A melting pot of different cultures, different religions. You learn to love everybody. You learn to share place with everybody. I think that's the most beautiful thing about New York. Football was always around every single day, every single day. every weekend. We would go to my uncle's team in Rosa and we'd kick ball. We'd train. We'd have fun.

I think New York gained me such a wonderful childhood. And still to the day, when I go back home, I still have the same friends, the same community, and I see the same people. So it's definitely wonderful. And being a kid and having that experience is definitely something special. So yeah, I hope New York very close to my heart. I mean, being a Knicks fan, there are a lot of guys, it seems, on this team, on the U.S. Men's National team. Oh, no. There's some questionable fans. I don't know. I've never heard a lot of

the guys who talk about the Knicks now talk about the Knicks before, so I don't know. Okay, so hold on, because the scene that went viral, I want to replay this video that you posted. This is from after game four, which I consider as good a game as there will ever be in the history of sports.

Repeat. Oh, Gordon. Oh! Oh, please. We were in the players lounge, so we have this nice setup like we had in Qatar, where it's just like a whole bunch of seats and then a huge screen that you could just go in there, watch shows, watch the games, watch the World Cup games, sports in general. So that's where we're like, that's where we hang out most of the time.

The person who looked very sad that you were sort of like, you're doing like a spikely dolly shot on him, like zooming way in. Oh, that was Hajie. That was Hajie. He had his braids out. That was Hajie. Hadji, right. So why, why were you? choosing to torture him? So, Haji is a Lakers fan, and for some reason he was hate watching the Knicks throughout the whole playoff.

So I was like, okay, all right, but it's us against you. So it was funny in that moment. He was just, he was just sick. So it was fun. How much did you let yourself be what all New Yorkers can be when they are feeling themselves, which is truly obnoxious? How much did you let that version of New York come? out in that room. And over this past week with the Knicks, when not even just in that room,

like the whole week, I was on Haji the whole week. I was like, Knicks that, Knicks that. It was Nix that. It was Nix everything that week. He was hate watching. So it was a lot of going back and forth from me and him. But, you know, we ended up on top. So definitely he's super happy about that. What was it like to watch your hometown, New York City, have the celebration of all time while you're, of course, on a different mission? It was amazing. It was amazing. I mean, you know, my lifetime being a part of something so historic that is the next winning, it's just a morale boost. It's something that dreams are made of. It's something that makes you want a dream to win something.

So I think, you know, experiencing that and the joy that, you know, they gave us, that's kind of the same feeling that we can give to people who support us and our supporters who are watching us. So I think, you know, they kind of just pumped us up for what's to come. So I'm super, I'm super proud of them. And I'm happy that we all got that experience as a team. Have you already made a call to Wu-Tang Clan that if things get a little hairy, that you'll get Method Man to perform at halftime? Mix and five, what y'all talking about? Let's go, Nick, let's go, Nix.

He outside. Funny enough, I was at, I think it was either Game 3 versus Cleveland and Method Man had a performance. He performed that night. Oh, you were there? Yeah, I was at the Garden when he performed. But I was up in the boxes. We couldn't get floor seats because everything was so sold out. But it was amazing.

Hold on. This is the inflection point you find yourself at, which is you're not yet floor seat guy. There should be a moment in Tim Way's trajectory when it should not be a question that the U.S. men's national team gets on the floor of a Knicks playoff game. That feels like... No, man, I'm just one of those guys who... I'll sit anywhere. I'll sit in the nose, please, man.

Once I'm supporting the Knicks, once I'm there in that energy, I'm cool. I had a blast. I had a blast watching them. It's always an amazing experience of being at the garden. Yeah. I mean, look, the story that you have on the back of your trading card, it's been hard for me to not mention your dad up until this point, because that's the obvious thing, is that you are the son of George Wea,

who is a historical figure. He is the only African still today to win the Balland-Dor. in 95, played for PSG, played for AC Milan, 18 years as a pro. He became the president of Liberia from 2018 to 2024. But for you, everything I've learned about you from afar when it comes to the origin story of you in soccer is that, yes, your dad is a formative figure, but also you make a point to mention your mom.

I can talk about my mom all day. I think my mom is the backbone of our family. She pushes me to be the best that I can be. My father set the bar super high, and he's always supporting me. But, you know, it's my mom who's always behind me and telling me to do this, do that. She was my first coach.

So having both parents present in my life and so supportive, and they're actually here right now, and they come into every game. So, you know, just having that is an amazing feeling to have two wonderful parents who support who they can thin. What was your mom like as a coach? How would you describe her coaching style?

She was the coach when I was young. So my mom was just like, and go to go, go, go to go, go to go. Nowadays it's more like constructive criticism, obviously, because I'm older. And I can't handle it. If I have a bad game, she'll get on me. But, you know, for the most part, she's just mom. So it's wonderful having someone who can, you know, be real with you, but also, you know, give so much love.

and empathy towards you in moments that you need it the most. It sounds like when there is something that she thinks that Tim needs to fix or that Tim messed up on, she is not shy about telling you that. She's definitely not shy. I have an old-school Caribbean mama,

so, you know, she's going to tell you what's on her mind. And, you know, it's amazing having someone that could be so real with you. And as an athlete, as a professional, you want that. Because then that just translate to how you interact with your coaches and everyone else. And then obviously just growing up in my household, it was all about respect and hard work.

So having a mother like that is amazing. Your dad in 2024, politically, he does something that's pretty astounding to read about again from afar, which is that he does something that had not been done because Liberia, there were eight coups that unfolded in the previous eight years. presidents have extended term limits, elections have been in question. And your dad, this historical footballer turned president,

he concedes defeat on state radio amid this really contested election. Before the official result is declared. A few moments ago, I spoke with President-elect Joseph Nima Bwaka to congratulate him on his victory. Tonight, as we acknowledge the result, Let us also recognize that the true winners of these elections are the people of Liberia, through your peaceful and orderly exercise of your constitutional right to vote. You are once again demonstrated your commitment to the democratic principles that ban us together as a nation.

And we are living at this time right now when that is not what people expect leaders anywhere to do. And yet he went out. of his way to do that. But when that was happening, what did that feel like to you as the son of George Wea? Being there throughout my dad's election time and the election period, when the elections were going on, it was inspirational. Because I think it's one thing to be an inspiration as an athlete or as a, you know,

a popular figure, but to go back in Asia country that needed the love, that needed the support was amazing. And, you know, I grew up in a very Pan-Africanist household. My uncle was a part of the NAACP. So, I mean, just going back to like the Marcus Garvey's of the world, the Patrice Limonbe was to, you know, the Thomas Ankara. When you think about African greatness, having a father that embodies that was amazing and it's inspiring and it's wonderful.

I think, you know, he took Liberia at a time of need. And it was so important to be present in that moment because, you know, a lot of us, you know, you're part of the diaspora and you're not physically born in the country, you can get a bit disconnected to your roots in your country. And I think, you know, having that experience just made me, you know, love it even more. I'm Liberian to the core. I'm Jamaican to the core. So, you know, being there for my people and helping the country in itself just elevate is always a goal of mine and flying and flying like high. A lot of what I love about sports is that you end up learning about things that you didn't ask to learn about what sports presents in front of you and you have a

choice. Do I learn more about what the Pan-African diaspora is like? Do I want to know more about Liberia? And this is a whole textbook. It's a whole course. But like for people who don't know about Liberia, how do you explain what it is to someone who's not super well read about it? I always tell people, even though Liberia had a history of, you know, civil war, it's a peaceful country, a wonderful country to visit. For me, when I go back, it's like a comeback down to earth moment. You know, when you're in Europe, you have this lifestyle of, you know, you're seeing all these fancy cars, you're seeing all these clothing stores, you're seeing all these things. But, you know, real luxury is when you get to come home and connect with the people that love you the most,

connect with your blood. And I think, you know, Liberia always gives me that. And that goes for the whole of Africa. Whenever I'm in Ghana, whenever I'm in Liberia, whatever, you know, 2010 I went to South Africa and getting to see all the memorials and learning more about apartheid and connect with that was amazing. And I think as a young black man, that's what you need. You need to know where you come from. You need to know the history of your people and you need to reconnect with the motherland. And I think just going back each year is always an amazing experience. So I would definitely recommend it to anyone for sure. Yeah. I mean, you you're talking about the first African Republic

to get its independence. It's Africa's oldest continuously independent country. It's founded by free people of color from the United States. I mean, this is... It's a place that, of course, as you're putting it, is leaving a mark, even if you weren't the son,

one of the presidents of the country. But it sort of like sets up this question for me, which is when you leave the United States at age 14 and you go to France and you play at PSGs Academy, there is this question, of what is the life that you are dreaming of? What was that adjustment like? It was really easy for me, honestly.

I think at a young age, I knew what I wanted to do, and I knew I had family behind me that supported me fully. I think getting over the hump of learning the language and making new friends was really the only thing. And I was determined enough to learn the language in six months and connect with people. I'm a people's person. So I love connecting and learning new traditions

and also sharing mine. I think, you know, being that I moved to France, I didn't feel like I was out of my comfort zone because, you know, I saw kids that looked exactly like me. I saw kids of the diaspora, whether they were from Côte djivouis or they were from Ghana or they were from Algeria or Morocco. I had my African brothers with me as well as learning a new tradition that was French. So I had the French guys who can teach me new things, teach me about their

culture as well, which was wonderful. That's what you want. You want to learn about new cultures. You want to bring people together. You want to spread love and joy. And, you know, having that made it super easy to connect with everyone and kind of make that transition. And like I said, coming from New York, I'm used to connecting with the diaspora.

I'm used to connecting with my Italian friends. One of my best friends is half Japanese, half Italian. So I'm just so used to connecting with different cultures. And then obviously, when I learn the language. I got my passport is home. Yeah, I mean, look, you're articulating this pride in the diaspora in this larger sort of history, and you see how people are exported all around the world and how they are moved, sometimes against their will all around the world, sometimes via immigration, all around the world.

You're describing a certain kinship that you are feeling with people who look like you, who do not have the same passport, perhaps, but have been, of course, exported all around this world and now this sport. And for people who are watching at home, of course, you're identifying everybody via what country they're playing for. But you're suggesting that there is something deeper that you're also taking pride in when the World Cup comes around, which is seeing all of the Pan-African demographic sort of change the face of sports in all of these countries.

Now the United States, obviously, really included in that. You know, not to be too deep, but I think when you look at slavery, Slavery was such a hurtful thing to happen to a group of people. And I think as a young African man living in present day, I think now it's our job to reconnect, obviously, with our roots, but to reconnect with each other and change the way we're viewed in sports. I think now representation is the most important thing. And if I can represent my people, represent, my ancestors,

and still do great stuff and inspiring the next generation. I think it's amazing. I think now when you look at all these different teams, like myself, I'm of librarian Jamaican descent. You have Follarin Balogun, who is Nigerian. You have Serge, who has a background, a Caribbean background as well. Surinam, yeah. When you look at that, it's a beautiful thing, knowing that, you know,

we can wave the flag of our countries and still represent the U.S. in such an important manner. I think that's the most beautiful thing with the U.S. as well, as we all come from different places, different culture, different religions, but we're all fighting for one common goal. The end of June and July can be a really rough period for sports fans, with football still a few months away and basketball and hockey ended. But this year, we're pretty lucky because not only is there a World Cup, there is a World Cup in our backyard.

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fool around on their daily live streams in the afternoon. All shows are free to watch or listen on your favorite podcast platform. The thing that I've been reflecting on a lot lately about the United States, my family from the Philippines, I'm a first-generation American. What is it about America that sports can sort of cause us to reflect on?

And I will get deep here for a second. So thank you for breaking the seal on the think piece here. But it is that America is an idea. America as a country is not blood and soil. It is ideas. And the foremost idea that I grew up with in the city is that a multicultural America is a stronger and better America, that we are all going to benefit from,

that melting pot. And it is something that I grew up with to the point where it became a cliche. But recently, I've been realizing that's something that we really need to say to ourselves. I 100% agree. And that's, I think that's the beauty of having the World Cup here. It's about the football, obviously, but it's not only about the football. It's about bringing joy to different groups of people, us coming together as one. But I think that's what the world needs more of. And I think that's what we've been missing a lot of. Well, the impact that you can make as an American, as a member of the U.S. men's national team, when you look back at this decision and you've been asked about it over and over and over again,

as you were alluding to, right? You could play for Liberia. You could play for France. You could play for Jamaica, where your mom's from. But you choose to play for the United States, and you've always said that this was not a hard decision. And the conversation we just had sort of, to me, explains why it would be so enticing. There is this potential that is special and is unlike the other opportunities available to you. And I wonder if that also factored into how you calculated your decision.

Yeah, 100%. I mean, when it comes on to my decision, I was with the U.S. Federation since I was 15. They believed in me from a young age. And, you know, this is where I grew up. These are my brothers. Some of the guys that are on the team now, I've been playing with them since I was 10, 9 years old. So, you know, it always felt like the right decision for me, and I'll never regret the decision. People think that, you know, you can't play for the country of your birth and still wave the flag of your, you know, other, you know, your parents' countries and in your background while doing so.

I think that's completely wrong. I think, you know, I have even bigger platform now to bring awareness and to bring love and to bring joy to Jamaica. and Liberia. And I carry that flag and that pride of being from both those places. And like I said, the U.S. was always an easy choice to play for. And, you know, I'm just making sure that my other country's librarian in Jamaica don't get lost while I'm waving the U.S. flag. You know, I wave all three flags with pride and joy. So, yeah.

And that's being a New Yorker, by the way. That's what that means. It's like the number of parades that happen in the city. They happen because everybody wants to acknowledge that you can be a New Yorker and an American and also exactly the representative that the place your parents came from was hoping you would be. And then, by the way, I didn't even talk about Flo Balligan's, his whole origin story, which is as crazy as anybody's. How is it that that guy wound up your teammate?

I mean, do you know the story well enough to just tell people how what happened? I never really asked him about it, but I'm sure his mom was pregnant at the time. And I think she was maybe too close to, you know, giving birth that she couldn't be on a flight. Yes. He ended up grabbing him in New York. Right. I mean, the idea that, again, Flo has this choice. I can do England.

I can do Nigeria. I can do the U.S. in terms of who I represent. He obviously chooses the U.S. And it's because when it was time for his mom to visit New York on vacation, she was already very pregnant. Yeah. When she was flying home to London, the airline, would not let her bored because she was so pregnant.

And all I want to find out, this is a show called Pablatori finds out, in which I ask questions out of my curiosity. I want to know which airline was it and which flight attendant was it so we can thank them. Because she ends up being forced to stay, and Flo is born in Brooklyn. He becomes a New Yorker just like us. And eventually the family months later goes back to London and he grows up there. But this is a country of immigrants in which the people who wind up inside of our borders,

we welcome them. And sometimes they make us better. They make us, by the way, as that second goal indicated, they make us a lot f***in better. And that's the glory of what sports can teach us about what it means to be open to the world. Totally agree. So the one thing that your dad wasn't able to do, as many soccer fans know, is play in a World Cup, which is kind of wild. You've now played in two. Have you told your dad what it's like?

Has he been curious what it's been like to actually compete in this thing? What have you said to him? I think he just lives it through me. I think it was his dream and I think, you know, senior kid get to live that dream is always a wonderful thing. I think that's the beauty of having kids and the lineage. I think he's having the best time of his life here. He's in all the games. He went to the Iran-N-New Zealand game yesterday.

So he's all over the place. he enjoys when it's tournament time. So I'm happy that he gets to be that kid again and enjoy the beautiful game. And how much do you guys get to watch the other games that are going on? Are you constantly doing that? Are you catching Spain, Cape Verde?

Rotary, Cucurea back. Zina State and home, and he's going to pay the price. No! It comes up! Are you seeing what's happening all across the field? I think that's the key to being a great professional is being able to watch the game and analyze it. And also just be a kid again.

I mean, when I was a kid watching the World Cup games, I still get that feeling when I'm watching, you know, all the other teams play. As sports fans, we spend a lot of time obsessing over stats and finances. We break down PER, expected goals, usage rates, contracts, salary cap usage, and on and on. We can spot an overpay from a mile away in sports. But somehow, a lot of us are completely blind when it comes to our wireless bill every single month. And once I started looking at it in that way, I realized the whole phone industry

kind of operates like a team handing out giant contracts based on reputation instead of production. Some phone plans have a truly horrific efficiency rating, like we're talking 2016 Nix levels of overpayment bad. But the 2026 Nix, however, pretty good. Pretty, pretty good. And so most of us just need a phone that works the way you actually use it in your day-to-day life.

streaming videos, texting, getting directions, listening to podcasts, all the other normal stuff we do every day. And so today, we are channeling our inner Billy Bean and playing moneyball in the wireless industry to find the smartest stat line in the game. And spoiler alert, it is not the team with the biggest marketing budget. The wireless industry actually works a lot like free agency. The big guys keep convincing everybody that if you're not getting a brand new phone every single year, somehow you are falling behind. And the next thing you know, you're locked into this massive long-term contract paying way more than you planned. But honestly, a lot of that is just selling status. Luckily, for all of us, Boost Mobile is here with a solution.

So here's the Boost Mobile Moneyball move. Keep the phone you already love and bring it over with their BYO setup. No unnecessary upgrade cycle. No giant monthly bill pretending to be luxury. Just a simple plan that makes sense. And the number that really jumps out is the $25. month forever plan. Unlimited data, talk, and text with no contracts, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. That's it. A very clean stat sheet. No weird escalators later. No performance bonuses you need to worry

about hitting or avoiding. Just 25 bucks a month for unlimited data, talk, and text. That is the kind of roster building move that smart franchises make. They find value when everyone else is overspending. So unlock savings with Boost Mobile. Better quality, better price, no compromise. Because in sports, being the smartest person in the room means seeing the value everyone else is overlooking. You don't need the $100 a month max contract phone plan to get all-star performance.

Boost Mobile is the ultimate efficiency play. It is simple, dependable, and at $25 bucks a month for unlimited wireless, it is the smartest stat line you can put on your personal balance sheet. Go to Boost Mobile today, unlock your phone, and after 30 gigabytes, customers may experience lower speeds. Customers will pay $25 per month as long as they remain active on the Boost Unlimited Plan. And thanks to Boost Mobile for sponsoring this segment.

There is one more dream that I want to talk about with you because I've been imagining what's it sound like inside of your head. And it brings me to the realization that you really do have a musicality, not just to your game, but also to your side-pillar. projects. Yeah, so it's more like alternative R&B. I think as I've grown, as a writer, and just as a musician in itself and as a creator, I think music has been a part of my life. I think coming from Liberia and Jamaica, as as a people, that's what we thrive on, is great energy, good vibes and great music. So, you know, it's always been a part of my life.

And then, you know, in 2015, when I moved to France, had the opportunity and meeting my best friend, was a singer-songwriter producer, and we connected off of music immediately. I think eventually we'll see where that goes, but yeah. I love it. I think it was pretty much every one of your former Juventus teammates voted you, the team's best singer last year. Was that a close contest?

Definitely not. That's not. That's not not. But starting, I mean, it was it, Violin, was that the first instrument? I played violin in middle school. I was in band, so I had the opportunity to try that. Obviously, violin, if you're not keeping up with it, if you're not playing it, you lose it a bit.

But still stayed connected with music. And so I should say that one of the friends of the show, one of our friends we were proud to say is Method Man. Shotgun, yeah. And so I was going to say, as a musicality question, which member of Wu-Tang? clan do you most identify with? I would say Method Man, and then maybe Old Dirty Baster, excuse my, French. As a young kid growing up in New York City,

you know, you want to just, you want to be like Method Man, you want to be like the reasons of the world, you want to be like all these artists that we looked up to. So definitely Method. Old D. Bacher, you know, he has that edge to him. I think being different is super important. You want something that makes you special. I think that's what ODB had.

And I mean, his rhymes were, where some of the coldest, so yeah. I love that what I'm finding out here today is that Wu-Tang Clan, if all goes as everyone is praying for, may be a pretty instrumental force in not just the Nix championship run, but what the U.S. men's national team is setting out to do.

That is what I'm hearing from Tim Wea. Thanks. I really appreciate you taking the time. It's really refreshing to talk to somebody who's really engaged with the world around them, and so thank you for taking the time, and I appreciate it. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure. I'm super excited to be here. Thank you for the combo. And hopefully we can meet in person soon, sure.

Yeah, man. We'll tank forever. Pablo Torre finds out is produced by Walter Averoma, Maxwell Carney, Ryan Cortez, Juan Galindo, Patrick Kim, Neely Lohman, Rob McRae, Matt Sullivan, Claire Taylor, and Chris Tuminello. Studio engineering by RG Systems, sound design by Andrew Bersick, Digital Strategy by Bailey Carlin and Andrew Northern, Theme song, as always, by John Bravo. We'll talk to you next time.