So... Alright - Be The Change You Want To See

Episode Date: August 6, 2024

Geoff forgoes an engaging discussion about hot dogs, to focus on the Olympics he spent so much time telling everyone to focus on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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So today I was all set to sit down and talk to you guys about hot dogs. I went to coffee shop yesterday and I did a bunch of hot dog research. Found out a bunch of fascinating things about hot dogs. And then I sat down to record it this morning and thought, you know what? That can wait. Hot dogs can wait. I can't believe I'm saying that to myself. And I probably won't hear myself say it again anytime soon.

But hot dogs can wait. I'm going to be the change I probably won't hear myself say it again anytime soon. But hot dogs can wait. I'm going to be the change I want to see in the world. I spent a whole episode last week talking about getting excited about the Olympics. I have spent the weekend trying to get into and watching the Olympics. I'm recording this on Tuesday morning and. I should probably talk about my experience watching the Olympics, right? Like that was the whole point of this is to get into the Olympics and try to drum up some excitement for everybody about the Olympics.

Last week, I talked a little bit about the storylines that I was looking forward to the Simone Biles storyline. I love that these people lives are storylines. That's so weird. But you know, the the narratives that are going to be the most interesting to watch men's basketball for me, women's basketball, obviously. I forgot to mention Noah Lyles, but he is in the process of kind of taking the mantle from Usain Bolt, I think. And then also Sha'Carri Richardson from Dallas, who I'm very excited to watch. Well, so far, Simone Biles has been amazing.

I don't know if you watched her performance thus far. She performed over the weekend, but it was really impressive, especially considering she hurt her calf muscle, I believe. Yeah, she got a calf injury in the preliminary round So in the preliminary she did a flawless balance beam routine which scored 14.733 The highest on the apparatus and then she landed awkwardly on her floor routine and Warming up for a floor routine and ended up having to leave

Come back with her leg heavily taped walking very awkwardly on it did not seem to slow her down at all Even though she was clearly in pain She fucking killed it on everything that she did ended up with an all-around score 59.566 which is the highest total so far I believe and it's significantly ahead of any of her teammates So even though she's a little sore She she doesn't seem to be affecting her performance. Reporters asked if she was OK. And she just said, I'm as good as I can be. Yep. Which is cool.

And I think she is set to perform. Is the artistic gymnastics team final, I believe. There's the women's gymnastics all around final, the vault final, the uneven bars final, balance beam final. There's a lot going on floor exercise final. So there's gonna be a lot to watch there still. To my knowledge, Noah Lyles, who I forgot to mention, I think when I was listening out,

people almost excited to watch, I don't think he's performed yet. I think his races are going to be Thursday or Friday later in the week. So by the time the next episode of So Alright comes out, he will have already probably won a bunch of fingers crossed gold medals. Who else did we talk about? Well, we talked about Shacarie Richardson. She's also not run yet. We're still early in the Olympics. So a lot of the a lot of the people I'm excited to see haven't happened yet. I'll tell you who I did see that was fucking awesome though is the US men's gymnastics team

I don't know if you saw any of their performances They they competed last night in the finals in men's gymnastics and they ended up winning the first men's team medal in I think 16 years They got a bronze medal. It was fucking awesome to watch. I don't remember the guy's name, but they brought a dude in who is like

a pommel horse specialist. It's all he does. He looked like kind of like Clark Cantler, or like almost like, you know, he almost looked like Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man when he has the glasses on. Just a very, very sweet looking unassuming dude and then he fucking demolished, everybody demolished it.

It was awesome to watch everybody in the men's Olympic team. They were really impressive and it was so fucking cool to watch their joy and their comradery. And that might be the best part about the Olympics to me is watching Olympians root on other Olympians and see the absolute joy on their faces when their teammates succeed and do well

and nail it or a routine and kill it because they better than anybody else on earth know the amount of work and effort that goes into that moment. And so it's just kind of like, God, it's just kind of heartwarming to see them all so happy for each other and themselves for that matter. And so the men's gymnastics, US men's gymnastics

won a bronze medal first time in 16 years. It was very cool to see. Another really interesting one I saw, have you heard of chlorine daddy? There's this young man named David Popovici. He is from Romania and he just won the gold medal in, what was it? He just won the gold medal

in men's 200 meter freestyle swimming. And that was wild to watch and a lot of fun by the way. This guy, he's from Bucharest. I think he's from Bucharest. I know he lives in Bucharest, Romania and that's where he trains and they do one of the fun things when you watch the Olympics I've been watching man that's another thing it's like how do you watch it right I got really excited because Peacock has tons of coverage they're showing everything and they have this

service called a gold zone which is kind of modeled after the NFL red zone if you're not familiar with that, it's a service you pay for. I have it on Hulu. I don't wanna say it's like 10 bucks a month or something, but you can tune in on Sundays as soon as football starts and they only show you Red Zone plays across the NFL. So anytime a team is about to score

or is threatening to score or there's a major moment of action in a game, they'll cut to it and they'll monitor all of the games at once. And then they'll so you're always seeing you see basically you see every important moment in a football game. It's just like watching highlights, but you're watching them live as they happen. Very excited that they're doing a gold zone with the same team for this for this Olympics. Been trying to watch it. And I don't know, man. for this for this Olympics. Been trying to watch it and I don't know, man, something about it, it just isn't sitting with me.

I've actually had the best success watching the the prime time recaps that I want to say in BC or who I watch on whoever the fuck is doing it. Yeah, it's got to be in BC, right? Because it's Peacock. Anyway, Mike Turrico is doing the like prime time recaps and then they're kind of showing them as they're as if they were live and that's been a Lot of fun. I've actually enjoyed that the most so if you're looking for a way to consume The the Olympics and you're finding the peacock coverage to be a little overwhelming

The prime time coverage with Mike Draco has been pretty great. Anyway, they did a little vignette on chlorine daddy Which is what he calls himself. Dude is a I'm gonna say he's like 20 years old, probably 19, 20 years old. Kid is a superstar in Romania. Clearly a superstar everywhere. He just won a gold medal. But the little vignette was so cool because they show like how he grew up and they get like a little human interest story on him,

which endears him to you. And then you find yourself rooting for him, which I did. But he spent his whole life growing up in in Bucharest and he trains for the Olympics in the same pool. He learned how to swim in at four years old. And it's just like a I don't want to say a neighborhood pool, but it's just like a it's a nice pool. But there's this giant, like brutalist clock at one end of it that's broken,

that's been there for, you know, probably 50 years. And it looks very brutalist in nature, the whole swimming area. And it's because he's so popular, throngs of swimmers have come to. And so it's surrounded by little kids that want to grow up to be like him, which is the fucking greatest thing in the world, right? It's like all the kids that jumped in the water because they saw Michael Phelps or all the kids that wanted to run fast because they saw Carl Lewis when I was a kid, right? So that's fucking awesome. That's how you breed new generations of Olympic talent.

But it's also, they're also showing him just like having to train by dodging little kids, learning how to swim in his own pool. And I'm sure they played that up a little bit for the, you know, the human interest angle of the story. But he was like, yeah, I just prefer to be here. It's loud, it's crowded. I'm surrounded by people all day long,

but it's where I learned how to swim and I like it. And the kid just has the swagger. I mean, to call yourself chlorine daddy at like 19 years old is pretty fantastic. And so if you didn't get a chance to see the chlorine daddy, David Popovich, go check it out. He's interesting, he's fun. He's what, 19 year old dude,

he's what makes the Olympics cool. I know he's not American, but it's OK to root for other countries, especially when they're just interesting, wonderful people. Right. Wherever you're going, you better believe American Express will be right there with you. Heading for adventure will help you breeze through security. Meeting friends a world away. You can use your travel credit.

Squeezing every drop out of the last day? How about a 4pm late checkout? Just need a nice place to settle in? Enjoy your room upgrade. Wherever you go, we'll go together. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash ymx. Benefits vary by card. Terms apply. I saw an absolutely heartbreaking moment on I guess Sunday. I watched it just just just goes to show the the the highs and the lows of the Olympics. Right. I watched so there's this woman Lily King 27 year old American one US swimmer. This is her last Olympics and I watched her actually it was wasn't something that was Monday night in

her signature event the hundred meter breaststroke She missed the podium. She got fourth place. She missed it by one 100th of a second it was such a close race that she was one of five Swimmers who finished within a third of a second of each other I think one to five and can you imagine missing a bronze medal or any medal for that matter by one, one hundredth of a second? I don't know how. I wonder what that does to a person

to know that you were essentially there. I mean, you're talking fractions of fractions of seconds. I wonder if that's like, I wonder if there's any solace in that, if that makes it even more heartbreaking. I really don't know. I can't imagine, I just, I can't imagine being that, like there. I'm not gonna say that close, like you're there.

It's like, it's such an infinitesimal amount, but it's not a medal, right? It was fourth place and that sucks. And I can't, yeah. I hope she's doing okay. I really do. And she's won before, right? She's won two gold medals before. I think she's won a couple of silvers and a bronze too.

She's been to two previous Olympics. So it's not like this was her one shot at an Olympic medal and she lost it. She's had, she has a cabinet full of Olympic medals and probably medals throughout her life. But to come one one hundredth of a second from meddling in an Olympics and missing it. I can't. I hope she's got a good therapist. I really do. U.S. Olympic basketball has been interesting.

I don't know. I've been watching men and women. Obviously women are both both teams are dominating, but the women are a I think clear favorites And I don't know that there's anybody who's going to give them even an ounce of difficulty Asia Wilson Brianna Stewart have been phenomenal. It's been so much fun to watch They absolutely demolished Japan in their opening US men also they demolish Serbia by 26 points thought it would have been a little closer Serbia is a good team the difference here is

US women are far ahead of the rest of the world in basketball However in in men's basketball the rest of the world has absolutely caught up to the US We're gonna win the gold medal this year problem. I think so. I mean we've won it the last four I believe but It's not it's not the runaway and that it was and it probably never will be again. I mean, if you think about it, who are the best NBA players in the world right now? Number one's probably it's got to be Joker, probably right.

Yeah, Nikola Djokic. So he's from Serbia. He's not American. Luka Doncic, Luka Doncic, number two, Nikola Djokic. So he's from Serbia, he's not American. Luka Doncic, Luka Doncic number two, he's from Slovenia. The third best basketball player in the world, Janas. He's Greek, the fourth SGA, Sheik Yildiz Alexander. He is Canadian. Fifth is considered probably to be somewhere

between Tatum or Embiid typically. Tatum's, Tatum's's a raw fucking deal right now. But that just goes to show. And that you can hotly contest four through whatever, four and five if you wanna do a top five. But I don't think anybody is going to argue one, two, and three being Joker, Luca, and Giannis. Maybe you could argue the order a little bit,

but I don't think so. I think that's a pretty set. My point being the best basketball players in the world are not coming from America. In the numbers that they did previously, some of the best talent in the world is from the world, right. And so it's not a given that the US basketball team is going to run through this thing. They had a lot of trouble in the friendlies. However, they fucking they came

together and played like it mattered when it mattered in They had a lot of trouble in the friendlies. However, they fucking, they came together and played like it mattered when it mattered in game one against Joker. That being said, there's a little bit of controversy going on right now. That controversy is that Jason Tatum did not start in the first game of the Olympics. and then not only did he not start He did not come off the bench. There were two players that did not play in that game Tyrese Halliburton and Jason Tatum. I

Like Tyrese Halliburton a lot I got nothing against him. I think he's a great player. I think that he got a raw deal He had a terrible injury I think that he got a raw deal. He had a terrible injury last season that really derailed what was shaping up to be an all NBA season. I think he has since recovered. He never looked the same even after he came back, but I think he's probably fully healthy now. I don't want to get into this whole like I don't want to be a Bill Simmons. Homer type guy here. But come on that dude just won the fucking

NBA championship. He's been to the finals two of the last three years and has won a fucking championship. He's the best player in the Boston Celtics. He didn't get MVP that has nothing to do with that's fine. It doesn't change the fact that he is easily the best player. And according to most NBA rankings list, he is in the fifth or sixth or seventh best player in the NBA, definitely better than Booker. Oh my God. This whole idea that Devin Booker and Tatum are on the same level or even

similar fucking kills me, dude. It fucking kills me. I get it. Tatum didn't have a postseason that blew anybody out of the water with his offensive firepower. He didn't have a 50 point game or a 60 point game. What he did do, however, is play team basketball, winning team basketball. We could say that, yeah, Tat play team basketball, winning team

basketball, we could say that, yeah, Tatum shooting numbers are down, he's in a slump, whatever you want to call it, what I would call it is an entire team collapsing on Jason Tatum, every time he got the ball in the playoffs in the finals. And what he did is instead of forcing up or chucking up a bad turnaround jump shot or a highly contested three or a desperation drive to the lane only to get blocked. What he did do is he made the smart play and he made the smart play every fucking time.

He passed out, he set up plays, he drew double teams to open up other players to provide spacing and he played all NBA level defense. The entirety of the playoffs. What he did was he modified his game so that they could be a winning basketball team in the way that they needed at the time that they needed. I will fucking die on this hill. Jason Tatum changed the way he played basketball this postseason to make sure that team won. We have had 50 and 60 point Jason Tatum games in the past.

They got us very, very, very close, but they didn't get us over the finish line. What did get us over the finish line is unselfish team basketball. And that's who Jason Tatum is. And the idea that you would start other people over him, fine, you want to start Kevin Durant who Jason Tatum is and the idea that you would start Other people over him fine. You want to start Kevin Durant over Jason Tatum coming off an injury? I get it. Kevin Durant is the greatest Olympian in US basketball history

hands down most points in Olympic history Definitely rise to the occasion came in with seven for seven in the first half, hit five fucking threes. I'm not going to make the case that Tatum should have started over Kevin Durant, especially considering this is clearly Kevin Durant's last Olympics, right? But to not put Tatum in off the bench even,

and then for Kerr to just end up at press conference, go, I think I must be crazy. I couldn't believe I did it. Like, you fucking asshole, and I like you, Steve Kerr. I respect you. I hate I must be crazy. I couldn't believe I did it. Like, you fucking asshole. And I like you, Steve Kerr. I respect you. I hate your Golden State Warriors. I hate what you've done to my team

and to other teams that I've liked, but I respect you because you're a fucking brilliant dude. I don't get this. And do I think that Kerr and those guys, that the whole NBA is colluding to try to draw a wedge between Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown? I didn't. I didn't. I didn't think that this was all

mind games. I didn't think that these things were happening. But what am I supposed to do think now? I'll be honest, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to think now because the slight is bizarre. You know, I get it Tatum wasn't exactly lights out during the friendlies. But cut the dude some slack. He played 20 fucking games more than just about anybody else did in the playoffs He went deeper than anybody else on that team but

Before I get angry, I'm not gonna get angry. I'm starting I'm starting to get impassioned We'll see what happens in game two. I do think it was a bullshit move. I think it was weird clearly we won I can't argue the the outcome of the game I can't argue the success of Kevin Durant, but the idea that there wasn't room to put Jason Tatum in in meaningful minutes Or that Devin Booker was somehow a better fit than Jason Tatum Fuck you Seriously, I don't get that at all Fuck it. I am a Tatum fan. I am a Homer. I am a Celtics fan.

I'm also a basketball fan and it doesn't make sense. It just doesn't make sense. That's all. That being said, LeBron James has been tremendous. It has been so much fun to watch LeBron James step out onto the court and just it's like he made the decision. step out onto the court and just, it's like he made the decision, fuck it, I'm gonna be the best player on the court, not for three or four minute stretches when it matters in the fourth quarter

or when we're stopping a run that they're going on in the third. I'm gonna be the best player on the court for the entirety of the game, every game. It is like somebody hit LeBron James with a youth serum. Like I know he, the dude's already got one hooked up to his veins, clearly. But it's like they gave him an extra an extra couple of squeezes. You know, he is so fucking good and looks so ageless right now.

It's awesome. Awesome to watch. And if you are not a basketball fan, if you are not an Olympic fan, but you wanna watch something truly special, turn it on the next time the US men's basketball team is playing, we're in the group phase right now. I think they play three games in the group phase. Turn it on and just watch five minutes when that man is on the court

and think about the fact that he is 39 years old and that he has been playing in the NBA for fully 21 years. His career in the NBA can drink. That's fucking nuts. To make it to 39 in the NBA is a tremendous accomplishment. To be able to maintain the discipline and the health and the focus and the drive and the determination to wanna do it year in, year out,

over and over and over again is so rare. And then to be blessed with the health to be able to have that kind of longevity, not to have a Larry Bird style injury in the height of your abilities and your career that cuts you short, not to even have a normal career where the body just starts to break down

by the time you're 35 or 36, but to be in the NBA at 39. How many 39 year olds are, oldest players in the NBA, oldest active NBA players. I can probably do it off my head, but I wanna make sure I get it right. Active NBA players.

Okay, PJ Tucker is 39. Great example, I like PJ Tucker. Great shoe collection, watch him play. PJ Tucker, he hasn't played meaningful minutes on a good team in a while. He is in every way an NBA journeyman. He comes in to provide a little bit of defensive intensity and a very occasional three pointer, but he is definitely not the player

he was three years ago, let alone 20. Al Horford is 38 years old. He is another one. It is unbelievable. Just won his first NBA championship. Deserved it more than anybody else on the team. And I mean that Al Horford is just one of the best dudes and has led an exemplary NBA career. Truly wonderful guy. Who else do we have? Mike Conley is 36. I like Mike Conley. He's been

cooked for a couple years. Uncle Jeff, Jeff Green 37 years 36. I like Mike Conley. He's been cooked for a couple of years. Uncle Jeff, Jeff Green, 37 years old I think he is still I think he's playing for Houston off the bench Kyle Lowry, I guess how old is Kyle? He's 30 38 maybe 37 38 definitely on the way out. There's a the point is there's a handful of people Chris Paul Kyle Lowry Al Horford LeBron James Chris Paul, Kyle Lowry, Al Horford, LeBron James, not many of them are starting, if any of them are starting. Pat Bev, I think he just went overseas,

he's not even in the NBA anymore. Chris Paul may start for San Antonio. Al Horford is, I'd say starts, Al Horford starts when Chris Stapps Borzingis is injured, and that's a lot, but up until this last year, Horford was a starter. He's taking a bench roll now, but fucking finally at 38 years old.

Not a lot of dudes on this list is my point. And to be the best player on the court the entire time you're on the court at 39 years old is, I don't know that we'll see that old is I don't know that we'll see that again I don't know that I'll see that again in my lifetime. Maybe you younger. So I'll write listeners will but man It's a it's a thing of beauty and rarity. I'll tell you that Whoo. All right. Well, I guess that's a bit of an Olympics update that went a little longer than I thought it would but I guess I had more more to discuss than I thought I did

Anyway, if you haven't checked out the Olympics yet and you're looking to get into it It went a little longer than I thought it would, but I guess I had more to discuss than I thought I did. Anyway, if you haven't checked out the Olympics yet and you're looking to get into it, Peacock has a ton of coverage of it. I find it to be a little overwhelming. It's also annoying that, and this is just the way it works, but because it's all over in France,

most Olympics start at like two in the morning, one, two, three in the morning. And so when you wake up, you're catching the tail end of it. So it's, I find it really helpful to just watch those, those prime time recaps with Mike Tirico on NBC. So I recommend that it's been a lot of fun. Root for your country, watch some human interest stories, learn some interesting things

about the truly remarkable athletes that are out there that have overcome all kinds of adversity in their lives and are putting their skills and abilities on display for the entire world to enjoy and to appreciate. So I hope we all do. Oh God, you know what? We need a song for this episode.

Holy shit. I didn't even think about that. I got so caught up talking about the Olympics. It didn't even cross my mind. Oh, I wish I had like an Olympic song ready for you guys, but I definitely don't. Instead. Instead, I'm going to go with a song by the one and only. Well, it's actually not by him.

I'm going to go with a song sung by the one and only swamp dog. You've probably heard me talk about him on previous episodes. I've definitely talked about him in regulation. It's a musician that my friends, Batdog and Antonio and I absolutely love. Almost got to see him play a couple months ago, but it fell through. This older gentleman plays like kind of blues

and just awesome. I don't wanna spoil it. Look up Swamp Dogg and listen to, he's got a ton of great music, but I'm gonna recommend a cover. I'm gonna recommend his version of the John Prine song, Sam Stone. It is not his song, obviously, Prime was a prime song, but I.

I know I know my my father in law will disagree with me, but I think he I think he killed it. I think he I think he took ownership of the song. I think he made it his own and I think his version is the best. And I'm sorry to all of the men who are a generation older than me in my life, who vehemently disagree with that. My father, if he was still alive, would as well. I'm sure John Prine has endeared himself to a generation of men in a way that few can,

I think. But I'm not that generation. So I prefer Swamp Dogg singing Sam Stone. It is a song about a man who comes home from being overseas in war, either Vietnam or Korea, I can't remember. And he gets addicted to drugs and just about how PTSD and the horrors of surviving war just destroy his life

and his family's life. And some of it is sung from the perspective of one of his children. And it's just to hear the way he sings it and to hear the emotion and to understand the feeling and the thought and just the heartbreak behind the line. There's a line in the song where it goes, there's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes.

Jesus Christ died for nothing, I suppose. And you realize it's being sung by a small child and that is that shot. When you put yourself in that moment and that child's world and you see the world through what they're seeing and their perspective, it's just to have that level of that that level of disillusionment and pain and understanding at that age.

Oh, it gets me gives me goosebumps when I listen to it. Anyway, it's a great song, beautiful song, Swamp Dogs, Sam Stone. I'll be back next week. We'll be talking about hot dogs. I also want to somebody sent me some questions via the email address. If you don't know, the email address to this podcast is eric at jeffsboss.com.

And somebody sent me a couple of questions, a really good guy named Patrick that I meant to answer in this episode, but we ended up running long, so I'll try to get to it next week. Although next week is about hot dogs and it's already recorded, so. Well, I'll just try to figure it out.

If you have any questions, maybe I'll just do a Q&A episode. Send send any questions you have about soul ride or about I don't care regulation. Basketball, rooster teeth and whatever. So any questions you got about whatever you can send them my way. Eric and just boss.com. I'll do a I'll do a Q&A episode here pretty soon. Or maybe two. And see how many questions we get.

Anyway, I'll be back next week with Hot Dog Talk. Love you guys. We'll see you then. Alright. This is the end of the show. What?