The Best One Yet - 🏃 “Boot The Swoosh” — On steals Nike’s guy. NYT’s original AI sin. Tall Burger phenomenon. +Coders Smoking Camels

Episode Date: September 21, 2026

On Running ended Kylian Mbappe’s endorsement deal with Nike… but the stock fell.OpenAI emails show their “Original AI Sin”... But they might get win anyway, because China.Burgers are getting taller and smaller at the same time… and the trend explains this economy.Silicon Valley 20-somethings are smoking cigarettes? $ON $NKE $NYTGrab your Tickets to the IPO Tour: Our In-Person OfferingSan Francisco 9/23: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1C0064AFB5F688BDBoston 10/14: https://tickets.citywinery.com/event/tboy-the-ipo-tour-in-person-offering-8cdhupSeattle 11/4 (21+): https://www.axs.com/events/1446394/the-best-one-yet-ticketsNEWSLETTER:https://tboypod.com/newsletter OUR 2ND SHOW:Want more business storytelling from us? Check our weekly deepdive show, The Best Idea Yet: The untold origin story of the products you're obsessed with. Listen for free to The Best Idea Yet: https://wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/NEW LISTENERSFill out our 2 minute survey: https://qualtricsxm88y5r986q.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dp1FDYiJgt6lHy6GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Linkedin (Nick): https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/Linkedin (Jack): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ About Us: The daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. Formerly known as Robinhood Snacks, The Best One Yet is hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, September 21st. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Do you remember the 21st night of September? I remember the 23rd night of September, which is the night of our live show in San Francisco. Two days from now, the San Francisco T-boy live show at the epic palace of fine arts downtown.

Nick, rumors are trending online that I offered everyone unlimited hugs. That's not what I said. I said one hug per fan, no longer than six seconds, a boundary's been crossed after six seconds. It's a sellout move. In the meantime, yetis, there's still a few tickets available. Grab them at the link in our episode's description. It's your last chance or go to t-boypot.com. One hug per customer, says it in the fine print.

But in the meantime, Jack, we got three fantastic stories for the funnest place in finance. What do we got in today's T-Boy? For our first story, on running, the Swiss sneaker brand just stole Nike's top footballer, Killian Mbapay. But signing a star is also. a sign of a fading star. For our second story, The New York Times sued Open AI

almost three years ago, but we just got smoking gun evidence. Of the largest theft of labor and human history, it's AI's original sin. And our third and final story is the American hamburger. It's getting taller

and smaller at the same time. True story, the six inch tall hamburger, it is a lesson in how to not make customers angry. But besties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What a mix of stories. Love the mix on today's TV,

We're in San Francisco all week. I'm really excited for the live show. Grab your tickets now. We may have mentioned it once or twice. But one strange thing you wouldn't have expected in San Francisco. What is it, Jack? The smell of smoke. Not wildfire smoke.

Uh-uh. A different smoke. Because besties, the hot new trend in tech land is... Cigarettes. Get this. According to Business Insider, 20-something tech workers are bonding over cigarette breaks. We're saying they're chain smoking while they're vibe-coding.

Young tech workers are finding that cigarettes are an antidote to both burnout and loneliness. loneliness. Now, Jack, to sprinkle on some context, this is fascinating, is it not, my friend? It's surprising because San Francisco is one of the healthiest cities in America. I mean, every day, I go for a 5 a.m. run in San Francisco, and every day, I run it's like a dozen other runners throughout the Marine and Pack Heights. Organic this, farm grown that, life hacking everywhere. In San Francisco, you don't give an engagement ring, you give her an aura ring. And yet smoking has become the new macha. And besties, it's all related to loneliness. Engineers are using smoke breaks to bond.

breaks to take a break and get away from the computer screen. Because they're spending all day in front of the screen, so they're looking for any excuse to take a 10-minute break and need a new body. Now, we don't smoke. We don't endorse smoking either. But it's a wild phenomenon to see and smell. They say social media is the new smoking, right? But for the people developing social media, smoking is still smoking.

Smoking is still smoking. Silicon Valley smokers, I did not see it come. No one did. But now we can smell it coming, Jack. Oh, yeah, we can smell it. I think this explains Gen Z's fragrance maxing. Yeah, it's to offset the smoke. One sec, Jack, Zucks asking for another mall, bro.

Sorry, buddy, can't help you out. Jack, let us enjoy it. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea that caused a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is a norm. Jack Nick, that's it. I don't even think they need to practice.

50%, that's a fat tip. Tea Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, because we're ready to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show. Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, on running, just signed Killian Mbapé to wear their first cleat, but then their stock fell. Because going Hollywood can actually be a bad thing.

Awkward. Messy? Nessi. Rinaldo. Rinald who, Jack? Have you seen how handsome, Killing Mbapapes smile is? Yeah, he was the top goal score in 2022. Oh, and the 26 World Cups.

I was talking about his looks, not his on the pitch skills, actually. Fair point. He's only 27, but he's already got the most goals in World Cup history, Jack. I think he's got at least two to three more World Cups in his tank. He's going to set an outrageous most goal scored record for the World Cup. But Jack, who recognized this Frenchman's talent first? It wasn't the Michelin Guide. It was Nike. Yeah, the swoosh.

They signed this rising soccer star back at the tender young age of nine. We repeat, Nike signed Killian Mbapé when he was nine years old. I'm shocked there's no, like, child endorsement law to prevent such a thing. They paid him in what? Cardins of chocolate milk jack? No, they actually paid him in cheddar bunnies, Nick. Either way, he wasn't even potty trained back then. I'm pretty shocked. But despite 18 years, a full two-thirds of his life, being in the Nike family, Killian and Bappe, is leaving for On. He's moving on. He is, literally. Yeah, the Swiss brand, they announced on Friday a Michael Jordan-esque signing. We call it Michael Jordan-esque, because On doesn't even sell

soccer cleats. No, they don't. They're going to make their first cleats just for Killian and debut them next year on the pitch, he's their first get. So we gotta ask, why on earth would Killian Mbapai, the best soccer player in the world, join ON, a company that doesn't even do soccer? The answer is a 3D printed light spray shoe. Yes, the Real Madrid striker could lose a step in his late 20s. He doesn't want to slow down and become Roy Kent on the pitch, does he? No, he doesn't. So he's gonna get a custom cleat, sprayed onto his foot like a 3D printer.

We're talking about light spray, the wild technology of ON, that results in a lighter and more sustainable sneaker than any other. Yeah, we actually covered it back in 2024. This running shoe is going to debut on the soccer pitch in 2027. On describes it as like a second set of skin because it's almost like you spray aerosol onto your foot. That's your shoe. Like if Banksy was making sneakers these days using graffiti,

yeah, he'd probably use this technology. It's so thin you can barely see it, which means it's so light you run like Jordan. Jack's describing like cheese whiz for shoes. I wouldn't call it cheese whiz. Cheese Whiz is a little too dense and heavy. It's a lot lighter. Maybe like Coolwood.

I think you may be eating some spoiled cheese with Jack. But the real reason Mbapé is going from Nike to On, what is it, Jack? I had two other Frenchmen in this story. Not possible. You see, Awn's director of football is the legendary Tieri Henri. The soccer player recruited the young Mbap. But Roger Federer is also a part of this story. The French-speaking Swiss dude is an investor in On.

And like Vetterer, Mbapes reportedly taking equity in On instead of cash for this 10-year endorsement deal. So just like when Nike's... signed Michael Jordan. On is signing Killian by offering him upside in the form of equity. Okay, but Jack, I don't have a whistle, but I blow the whistle. Soccer is a competitive sport, my friend. In the last World Cup, Nike and Adidas had about 40% of the cleats on the pitch. Puma had 10% and New Balance, Mizuno and Skechers. They fought for the rest of the crumbs. On running, they're just learning the beautiful game right now like Ted Lassow. And Killing

Mbap is their Jamie Tart. Nice reference to it, because I know you have not watched Ted Lassow. And now I know you don't actually cheese with Jack. So, yet, these, how did Wall Street react to this huge news? The On is entering the world's biggest sport by signing the world's biggest star in that sport. They dropped the stock. We repeat, on running shares fell 5% last week like they rolled an ankle. And On is actually down 43% since June. Yellow card. Red card.

Credit card, apparently. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at On Running? Beware of the pivot from hustle to Hollywood. Yet, he's funny thing, Jack and I, oh, we've seen this before. Remember when Steph Curry signed with Under Armour for basketball? That marked Under Armour's Hollywood moment. But it also was an early sign that Under Armour was running out of growth.

The stock of Under Armour today is down 68% since signing Steph Curry in 2013. And Jack, we saw this with Lulu Lemon. They bought Mirror, the home workout system, partnered with Peloton instructors, and then signed Lewis Hamilton the F1 star. Lula Lemon stock is down 70. since the first of those three Hollywood moves were announced. Besties, both Under Armour and Lulu stock, began to fall a year or two after their big name signing moments.

Maybe because the company's strategy pivoted from hustling for growth to coasting on big Hollywood names. Or Jack, as one investment bank and analyst that Jeffries framed the deal, this is evidence that Onn must now spend money just to sustain growth. The glory days for On Under Armour and Lulu Lemon, it's when they didn't need to pay celebrities to convince consumers to buy their stuff. The coolness, it just took care of itself back then. While coolness for a brand is derived from hustle. And when that expires, brands feel the temptation to sign big Hollywood names. So beware besties of the pivot from hustle to Hollywood. For our second story, Open AI committed, quote,

the largest theft of labor in human history. According to new emails just revealed in a court case. We call it the original sin of AI, but it may be absolved by the new what about excuse. But besties, remember earlier this year? We did that whole story about Anthropic, you know, casually destroying millions of physical books. It was early in the AI era. And first Open AI, but eventually Anthropic, they trained their models on books.

Like real books. Like Dr. Frankenstein teaching his monster Open AI read the whole internet to chat GPT. But they wanted their AI to be book smart. Like Agatha Christie book smart, Nick. Yeah, like, did you finish Anna Karina smart? Not just internet smart. Yeah, no offense, Wikipedia. Sorry, no offense.

And it culminated in Project Panama. Anthropic bought millions of used books, sliced off the spines of those books with a saw, scanned the stacks of pages into digitizing scanning machines, and then force-fed all those pages to their large language models. Like, they bought crime and punishment, and then they did some crime and punishment to it. It sounds like a crime against humanity.

Opening I did the same thing, but they did it with pirated, already digitized e-books. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we should have said earmuffs to all the librarians out there. But Jack and I call this AI's original sin, and why do we call it that, Jack? The fact that AI used maybe trillions of books, articles, movies, podcasts, and other copyrighted material without their owner's consent and without compensating them to train the model. And now those AI models are cutting out those same content creators in most cases without compensating them. But the New York Times thought it was an actual. crime. So in December 2023, they sued open AI and the case is still ongoing. In some cases,

publishers are being compensated by the AI companies, including the New York Times. They have a deal with Amazon. They get paid $20 million a year to train Amazon's AI. But for those getting crawled by AI without permission, the Times is now carrying the entire publishing world on its back with what could be a landmark case. It's the $30 trillion AI industry versus a newspaper. Action check, it's the $30 trillion dollar AI industry and the U.S. government versus the New York Times newspaper. We'll explain that in our takeaway. But on Thursday, the court unsealed documents that show emails from OpenAI and its partner Microsoft, which are pretty damaged. You see, OpenAI didn't buy and scan old newspapers as part of this original sin. The New York Times archive is already digitized. But OpenAI did, according to the

emails, bypassed the Times' paywall to consume all of its journalism without the Times consent. Opening Eyes, head of ChatGPT wrote in an email that publishers, like the Times, faced an existential threat. Direct quote, because AI reads their content and then regurgitates it to their customers. Jack, how about Microsoft's Director of Applied Science? What did he say that they were doing that, like, looks awkward now? He said that training AI on publishers' content without their permission could be perceived as, and I quote, an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions.

Now, naturally, besties, Microsoft disavows what their guys said, because that sounds pretty controversial. But what he said is that this could be described as the largest theft of labor in human history. And in the court of public opinion, this is AI smoking gun. Open AI bypassed New York Times paywall to read their entire archive to chat GPT to train the model. Seems like a slam-dunk case for New York Times to win. But it's not because of our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies looking at the original sin of AI? It's a powerful new what-aboutism that's overruling a rule of law.

Yeties, the Department of Justice looked at this legal battle between the Times and Open AI and is siding with Open AI. Earlier this month, the Department of Justice said it was of profound national interests that the judge find that OpenEI did not violate copyright law. And Jack, why did the Justice Department say that? Because foreign adversaries are not so encumbered. All right, we need a translation on that legalese there, Jack. The Department of Justice is telling the judge to ignore our U.S. copyright law

Because China doesn't have copyright law. They have to worry about. Basically, we're in an arms race with China on AI, and we don't want to have to follow the rules that China doesn't have to follow. The result? We're being forced as Americans to weigh values quarter our democracy with national security interests. And we see this now as the answer to the big questions on AI. Like, should we regulate AI? What about China, Nick? Okay, what about enforcing the law? What about China?

Okay, let's hold open AI responsible for the largest theft of labor in human history. The Department of Justice says no, because What about China? Bestie's the key new phrase to justify anything AI. It's, but what about China? Now, a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, there is a wild new phenomenon spreading across the country,

super tall hamburgers. It's the rise of the tall burger, and it explains our whole economy right now. Oh, yeah, it is. We gotta whip this up. Jack, grab the whiteboard. What is our Mount Rushmore of Burgers? Who got on this, Jack?

I'll do two, you do two. For me, number one is Corner Bistro. Nick, they cook those on a conveyor belt. And it's cash only, FYI. Prices used to be really affordable back then. You're right, cash only. Okay, okay. San Francisco is going to go and Spruce Burger because it induces labor.

We had a baby after I ate that burger. My second one is, honestly, I know you're a shareholder. Shake Jack. It's a very solid, reliable spot. It's a good date burger. Oh, and then I'm going to go with J.G. Mellon, neighborhood favorite, just growing up all the time. The fries.

It's the fries. Not to be confused with G. Wentworth. But full disclosure, yet is, we are Team Juicy Burger, not Team Smash Burger. Yeah, we want to almost choke on that thing. But the new trend in burger eating is something no one saw coming. Tall burgers. Tall burgers. Measured from bottom bun to top bun, hamburgers are actually getting taller.

Yeah, we call it the Jacob All-Lordie Burger because toppings are hating all-time highs. Double thick layers of pickles. Fat cherry tomatoes inside there. And French fries under the bun. They put him in the burger. Add it all. up, literally. And according to Bloomberg, the average American burger has gotten actually taller. Your mouth span can't handle the height of this burger. You need to eat it with a fork and knife.

You need a steak knife for this thing, Jack. You're going to sprain your jaw. But fascinating detail here, yeties. Burgers are getting taller and smaller at the same time. Doesn't make sense, but it's true. We call it the Ham Paradox. And to learn more, we checked out Copper Club in Chicago. It's the perfect case study. It's a good restaurant. They got a new bird. that has fried onion strings, shredded lettuce, and bacon onion jam on top of the burger under the bun. It's the tallest burger they've ever built. But before you bite in, you might ask yourself, where's the beef? Because get this, Copper Club trimmed the burger patty from 8 ounces to 7.25 ounces.

That's 10% less beef. Why? Well, ground beef prices have doubled in the past 10 years. Chefs are using less ground beef when they can. Okay, but here's the key. They're also now compensating with more layers. We're talking onion, potato, tomato, more lettuce on that thing. It smells kind of like swapflation.

They're replacing the expensive ground beef with lower-priced vegetables. But, Jack, you are getting more food overall, and the price of the burger is not changing. Copper Club made another strategic menu move to this burger. Or manipulation, you could say, but we'll explain more in the takeaway. The changes with the cheese, because cheese prices are actually down from last year. So they switched out from a one ounce of processed cheese to three-quarter ounces of aged cheddar cheese. So what this new burger lacks? and beef, it makes up for it with crunchy iceberg lettuce and real melted cabbage cheese.

Yeah, it's less cheese, but it's a more flavorful cheese. Gettys, the Warn-Aron's oil price impact is now messing with dinner menus because trucks transport all the ingredients. And America's record low cattle supply is now ironically creating taller burgers. Taller burgers, but also smaller burgers that don't make people angry because of our takeaway. And that's the takeaway. What's the takeaway for all our buddies? They're these really tall shack burgers.

The most delicious term in our economy right now is PVP. PVP. PVP. Price value perception. That is, does the visual appeal convince you it's worth the cost? Or the way I'm liking to say this, can you compensate for ingredients skimping by giving more of something else so the customer is still happy? Exactly. Besties, that's what makes this tall burger phenomenon so wild.

It's not shrinkflation. You're actually getting more overall food. And it's not really swapping. I'd happily trade out three-quarter ounces of burger meat for more cheese and more veggies. What it is is a re-engineering of our most commonly beloved comfort food. The Copper Club is adjusting to the economic reality, but doing so without hurting the perceived value or raising the price. So, Basties, what is your PVP? What ingredient can you add to give more for less?

Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? On running stock fell 5% last week, despite announcing their Killian Mbapé deal. It could mark a transition for on from hustle to Hollywood. For our second story, OpenAI and Microsoft emails suggest they bypass the New York Times paywall to steal their journalism. But the big question, to justify anything in AI these days, but what about China? And our third and final story. Burgers are getting taller. There's more stuff in there, but they're also getting smaller with less beef.

The result? It's neutral in the PVP, the price to value perception. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Waymo has a new feature you should know about. Uh, it snitches. A Waymo self-driving car noticed earlier this month that two teenagers were in the back, and they had a gun back there. So Waymo, the Robotaxi, contacted the police,

and the two guys, they were arrested for having a gun in the back seat. Waymo's technology sensed that that thing back there is a gun. It was actually a very dangerous gun. So you could call it snitching or you could call it protecting. In this case, I'm kind of glad this happened. And second, a happy second retirement to Warren Buffett. He stepped down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, last year. Now he's stepping down as chairman. Because Warren Buffett is 96 years old. As he said in his

announcement, Father Time Always wins. Okay, but he also has a new replacement, his son Howie Buffett, who is 71 years old, actually. So the boss of the boss at Berkshire Hathaway is the son of the old boss. And finally, Merriam Webster is adding 1,400 new words to the dictionary. The new words include shapeware, superfood, glow up, and meme coin. Okay, but with 14, new words, I think Jack and I have a new word for what's happening to all these words. Word maxing. Definition of word baxing? Yeah, yeah, Jack.

What the Miriam Webster Dictionary just did by adding 1400 words. Hey, Miriam Webster. Add that to the dictionary. Now, time for the best fact yet, which, because this Monday means T-Boy trivia. This sent in by Bill Cohn down in Maryland. August typically is the month with the most number of births in America, partially because it has 31 days. Okay, but September includes. nine of the 10 most common individual birth dates of the year.

Keep in track here. August has the most overall births, but nine of the top 10 days are in September. Okay, so statistically speaking, which day in September actually has the most birthdays? That's the T-boy trivia question. You've got 30 guesses, Nick. Yeah, okay, okay. And the answer is we'll let you drop it in the comments.

September 9th. It's the 9th? Yeah, the 9th is the single most common birthday in the U.S., followed by the 1st of September, then the 15th, then today, the 21st, the 23rd, and then the 25th. Subtract nine months? Yep. Yeah.

New Year. That's your other fun fact. And a happy 40th birthday to Bill Cohn, who's sending the trivia for today's insider trivia. Translation, New Year, 1986, was a hell of a night. Yiddies, you're glowing over there, Jack. It's almost time for hair and makeup, my friend. I know.

I'm so excited for this live show. Yeties, we hope to see you there Wednesday night. We can't wait to see there. Grab the tickets left at T-boypod.com or click the link in the episode description. Bring your buddies. Bring your whole work group. It's a great date night event. It's a date night.

It is a day-night event. Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait. And before we go, happy birthday to legendary Eddie Marty, living it up on the Lower East Side. Happy birthday to Aaron Tucker, the toughest CPA in all of Texas.

And Cadence Richardson, we see your birthday down in Georgia. Happy birthday to Dan Larson over in Utah. And Edith Garcia, happy 33rd birthday over in San Diego. Happy 33rd to Chris Gimler, our average age in Palm Beach. And Tracy Emery is doing logistics

just outside Chicago for the birthday. And happy birthday. birthday to Antonio and Diego Ramos in Colorado, two twins turn in 10. And baby Jack Webster, happy fourth birthday over in Boston, just inside Boston. And happy birthday to Patricia Kaye, living in the Soma District. She's coming to her live show, bringing a couple buddies. And Alisa and Jackson Hufford, happy three-year wedding anniversary. And to anyone else, celebrating something today, make it a T-boy.

Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway. Nick on stock of Nike and Lou Lemon. We both on stock of Pelton.