The Best One Yet - 🐐 “iMessi” — Apple’s Lasso Way. Allbirds’ weirdness rule. Accountants’ superhero moment.

Episode Date: July 18, 2023

The world’s greatest soccer player, Lionel Messi, just began his career in Miami — But the real winner is actually Apple, who’s master plan is to get America loving soccer. Allbirds’ latest shoe is the most sustainable ever (net zero carbon) — But does it violate Allbirds’ very own rule on weirdness? And we’ve got a shortage of Accountants in America that’s affecting Wall Street — If you know an Accountant, hug them. Then give them a raise. And send them this pod. $BIRD $AAPL $AAP Want merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.com Follow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypod And now watch us on Youtube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Tuesday, T-Boy Tuesday, July 18th. The today's pod is the best one yet. Episode 1001 right now. 1,000 and first episode, Jack, are we on the way to 2000, man? Here's to 10,000 episodes. We'll be 70 when that happens.

Boom, let's roll with it. First story. What do we got for the show, Jack? Leonel Messi plays his first major league soccer game in America this Friday night. But the real winner is Apple because Liena Mesh. is on Apple's roster. For our second story, Albert's latest product is called the Moonshot,

the first net zero carbon shoe. But we're wondering if Auburitz is violating their cardinal rule, and what is that, Jack? The rule of weirdness. Two strikes, and you're out. And our third and final story is, the latest shortage is of accountants, and it's affecting the stock market.

Accountants, they are the unsung heroes of business. Accountants are the Batman of the balance sheet. But yet is before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. That is a wild mix of stories for a T-Boy Tuesday, Jay. There is one movie we are dying to watch this Thursday night. And that one movie is actually two movies. It's two movies. It's Barbenheimer.

It's Barbie and it's Oppenheimer together. Yeti's on the same day. We get the two biggest movie premieres of the entire summer. Besties on the same day, we're getting the two most opposite movies of the entire summer. Oppenheimer, the biographical thriller of the creator of the Atomic Ball. Barbie, the story of a doll. Oppenheimer, one man's internal struggle with the fate of humanity in his hands. Barbie, Aroncom, about a couple dolls.

Oppenheimer, one scientist grasping physics in his two hands, but it's bigger than the whole world. Barbie, it's still about the dolls. But yet he's get this. AMC is selling double feature tickets so you can see both of those movies back to back with one ticket price. And get this, get this. Apparently AMC has already sold 40,000 of those combo tickets. So here's what Nick and I are thinking. It's rare that there's such a cultural moment,

shared by two things, so completely different from each other. Yeah, because for Barbie, you bring popcorn. For Oppenheimer, you bring a cigarette. For Barbie, you wear pink. For Oppenheimer, I don't think pink was invented yet. That was not a thing when Oppenheimer lived. The Yetis, are there other paradoxical pairings to rival the Barbie and Oppenheimer one? Jack and I are curious,

Are there other odd couple combos to rival the Barbie and Bobby O? Here's what I got, Nick. You ready? Not peanut butter and jelly. Have you tried peanut butter on a burger? I mean, Jack, you've had ice cream and sprinkles, but have you tried my ice cream and olive oil? Did you know, Nick, that watermelon and feta cheese goes well with basil?

Jack, when I was growing up, did I ever tell you my parents fetus M-Soda? You know about M-Sota? What's M-Sota? It's milk and soda. Apparently the two cancel out, and it's good for you? At least there's no Asper Tame. Yeties, Jack and I want to know what you? is your craziest combo of all?

What is your paradoxical parry? What goes together like lamb and tuna fish sandwich? Is there something that rivals the Barbieheimer in its oppositeness? For T-Boy Tuesday, hit us up at T-Boy Pod. Perhaps you prefer spaghetti and meatball? Let's hit our three stories. Fifteen years before this song,

two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but 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. For our first story, Leonel Messi, the world's greatest soccer player is officially an American soccer player right now. It says he plays for Inter-Miamy, but Leino-Messie really plays for Apple.

Coach Tim Cook would like to have a word. Yet he's Leinal-Messie. The biggest athlete in the planet, The most followers on Instagram, he won the World Cup last year. Keep going, Jack. I love what you're putting out. What else we got on this guy? He turned down $500 million from Saudi Arabia to play in the United States instead. Now, the last time Jack and I talked to you about Lino Messey, we talked about how Lino Messe took the most unconventional deal we'd ever seen.

Instead of $500 million, Saudi dollars, Lino took equity over cash. He took upside for this Argentine. Here's what happened. Messy is getting paid by Inter-Miamy soccer club to play soccer for Miami. But he's also going to get paid by Apple and he's going to get paid by Adidas. Not too shabby. And on Sunday, Messi arrived in Miami, held up a pink number 10 jersey and officially became America's biggest soccer player. By the way, for a pink podcast, we should point this out.

This team in Miami is the only men's professional team in the United States to have pink as one of their colors. Yeah, they're slamming salmon from foot to head. head. And the first match for Inter-Miammyi with Leonel Messi, tickets are going as high as $110,000. $10,000. Jack, we even seen that kind of money for a ticket since actually Taylor Swift last weekend. Since like tomorrow. It's actually cheap. But yet here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. The real story isn't actually Leonel Messi. The real story is actually Apple. You don't think of Apple as a streamer or as a sports company for that matter. Not really. Not really, Jack. When we look at revenues, it's not, that's not the focus for the company. But Apple has the exclusive streaming rights

to the number one sport in the world in the number one biggest TV market in the world. Because yeties, let's sprinkle on some context here. This is year one of Apple's 10-year deal to stream every single major league soccer game. If you want to watch Leo Messi on Friday night, you can pay $110,000 to watch them in person in the stadium. Oh, must be nice. Or you can pay like 30 bucks to watch them on the Apple TV app. Yeah. We'll take the ladder. Now, this is key yetis. Leonel Messi doesn't just boost the prospects for this club, Inter Miami. He also boosts the prospects for the entire Major League soccer.

And that is why Apple sweetened this here deal to bring Messi to America to play soccer. Apple wants MLS to blow up. So Apple is giving a cut of each new subscriber to Apple's MLS pass to Leonel Messi. Apple just bent the financials like Beckham. Probably like a dollar of every subscriber goes to Messi, not just to Apple. So the way Jack and I see it, as much as Messi is playing for the team in Miami, he's also playing for the team in Cooper Tino known as Apple. I think Messi's on the Apple org chart. Like, seriously.

They've got engineers and then they've got a roster that includes Messi. He's vice president of a goal scoring. If you need help with your iPad, you can see Messi at an Apple store. Oh, and Yeti's sports are becoming the centerpiece of every streaming business strategy. We've noticed that in the streaming wars, the battlefield is really the playing field. Amazon has Thursday night football now. Apple has the other football now. Yeah, that's why they went after Messi.

So, Jack, what's the takeaway for everyone in the streaming wars? The Lasso Way. Apple's master plan to make Americans love soccer. Ladies, Jack and I are feeling like we're experiencing a master plan, a master plan that is playing out to perfection. Three years ago, Apple debuted Ted Lasso season one on streaming on Apple TV Plus. A classic tale of an American with a mustache who knew nothing about soccer, or about coaching soccer. Well, two years ago, Apple bought the streaming rights to America's

soccer league for $2.5 billion. Just as Ted Lassau was winning American hearts and winning Apple Emmys. And today, MLS has the number one athlete in the world, and you can only watch it on Apple TV. That's why we're calling it the Lassow Way. Apple's master plan to make America love soccer. And then make a heck of a profit doing it. For our second story, Allbirds just unveiled a revolution. new shoe. But here's our question. Does it violate the weirdness rule? Customers will accept one element of weirdness, but not two. Yeah. Two strikes and you're weird. That is the Allbirds sneaker, the Silicon Valley uniform. If you're wearing a Patagonia fleece, you better be pairing this thing with some shoes below from Allbirds. If you're wearing Allbirds,

it screams, I can code, but I compost too. You cannot raise VC money unless you got six pairs of the Heather Gray. Allbirds, the nine-year-old company. We've been tracking it for a while, and this is their most extreme product yet. It's called the moonshot. The shoe is literally a moonshot. Allbirds calls it the first ever net zero carbon shoe. Because most shoes are made out of rubber and foam and plastic, the kind of stuff that's basically eating away at the planet. Those are petroleum-based materials, so the average pair of sneakers has a 30-pound carbon footprint, according to Albirds. On the other hand, these new Allbird shoes sound like they were whipped up in Mother Nature's pantry. These new Albirds moonshot sneakers use wool, sugarcane-based foam, and plastic derived from methane gas.

Yadis, what we're saying is that part of these shoes is derived from sheep burps and sheep farts. Right. The methane that comes out of the sheep becomes your shoes. That's how they made a met zero carbon. Now, these shoes are a huge accomplishment. This is a powerful new creation, but there is one problem. with the shoe and what is that jack if you look at the shoe you don't want to look at the shoe anymore no the shoe kind of looks like a sock that ate a boot yeah if you're watching on youtube or spotify

we have it up on the screen right now the shoe looks like it was designed for the moon like it's impressively a shoe that saves planet earth but you'd only wear the shoe on another planet and this is adding insult to injury because the stock is down 95% from its 2021 IPO it's just a dollar and 30 cents a share and that's not even the worst part financially for Allbirds, is it, Jack? Revenues aren't slowing at Allbirds. They're shrinking for two straight quarters. Allbirds is becoming smallbirds. So, Jack and I are staring at this freaky shoe, and it has one more thing that has a scratching our heads. The preference totem pole. The preference totem pole. It turns out sustainability is at the bottom of the preference totem pole for footwear.

Okay, besties will explain. Customers can buy shoes for many reasons. There are a lot of value propositions for shoes. Like there's price, there's style, there's comfort, there's sustainability. And of those four reasons to buy a pair of shoes, sustainability is the least important of them all, according to WebBowish security. And yet, Albert's keeps marketing focused on sustainability, even though the data shows that sustainability is not that marketable. According to the Wall Street Journal, Albreeds knows that shoe buyers don't prioritize sustainability for their purchasing decisions. And yet, even though sustainability is at the bottom of that totem pole, it's at the top of the marketing for this brand new shoe. Like we said, it has a scratch in our heads. Jack, I'm wearing

in Allbirds right now. It's a great podcasting shoe, but I'm still confused. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Albert? Customers will accept one element of weirdness, but not two. One element of weirdness, but not two. Yeties, that is the weirdness rule. And Jack and I didn't make the weirdness rule up. Here's the funny thing. The Albert's co-founders made it up. Albert says that a product should have one weird thing about it, because that one weird thing makes it exciting, makes a product intriguing. However, a product won't work if two things are weird. Two strikes and you're weird. But if you look at the latest Allbird shoe, the Moonshot, it definitely violates that design rule. Jack, I'm looking at the shoe right now. It looks like a sock. It's shaped

like a space boot. And its laces, laces kind of just look like weird old laces. This new Albert shoe has three degrees of weirdness and it can only have maximum one. Which means all birds is violating the very rule it made up. The weirdness rule of design. Two strikes and you're weird. For our third and final story, if you know an accountant, give them a hug. Because America's economy is running out of accountants and we're seeing the consequences. Yeties, the story of the great accountant shortage begins at advance auto parts. Advanced auto parts just pulled a move we haven't seen since middle school.

Yeah, advanced auto parts just asked for an extension on their term paper. on their term paper. And Jack, what is the term paper in this little analogy? It's their quarterly earnings report. And Jack, who is the teacher in this analogy? It's the SEC, America's stock market regulator. And Jack, what is the lame excuse in this analogy? Advanced Auto Parts asked for an extension from the SEC

because they didn't have enough accountants to tally up their numbers. Apparently, advanced auto parks has enough carburetors, but not enough calculators. Plenty of Sparkplugs. not enough staples. There's enough chassis, not enough checking accounts. And that leads to this. One reason that advanced auto parts stock is down right now, investors aren't confident that the numbers that are being reported are correct

because of the shortage of accountants. They don't have enough accountants so people don't trust their numbers. That did all their accounting. And it's not just advanced auto parts yet, he's. No, it is not what's going on, Jack. Our overall economy is short on accountants. Jack, can we whip out the hoarder's almanac over there? We've got a midweek submission.

Yeah, week 171, we're running out of accountants. Yet he's Jack and I jumped in T-boy style. We think accountants are the quiet corporate heroes of capitalism. They're the Batman of the balance sheet. They're the Wonder Woman of the write-offs. Accountants make sure that the money coming in and out of the company is accounted for. Without accountants, it's chaos. Jack, they're the Superman of the S-Corp.

And according to the Wall Street Journal, the number of publicly traded companies that are short on accountants right now is up 40% since 2019. And why is that, Jack? Because post-pandemic America is an accounting nightmare. I mean, yet, since the pandemic, tax filings for companies and individuals have gotten way more complex. First, you had the CARES Act that was dishing out PPP loans. That was a huge accounting complexity that accountants had to deal with.

And then people started working remotely, which brings a whole bunch of other tax accounting questions into the equation. And remember the first year of COVID? Every tax deadline got extended. That was helpful. And then extended again. Okay, that was helpful kind of accept... And then extended again and again and again. That's why your accountant literally hasn't slept in 46 days.

Post-pandemic America is a corporate accountant's nightmare. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddy, Carol, in accounting? If you know an accountant, give them a hug and then give them a raise. That is, just like teachers and healthcare workers, accountants have been overworked since COVID. And that's resulted in a shortage of all three of those professions. Well, funny thing, accountants know better than most. that our economy is about market forces.

If there aren't enough of something in our economy, the market can correct that problem. And Jack, how does the market correct a shortage of any one particular profession? By paying that profession more money. Yeah, because if salaries for accountants rise, then that will attract more people to become accountants. Only then will students studying finance switch from like the investment banking track to the accounting track, which we need.

Only then will Kim Kardashian forget this whole lawyer dream and just become an accountant like, We all know she should. In the meantime, if you know an accountant, give them a hug because they need it. And then give them a raise. And then send them this story. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday? Leonel Messi's MLS debut is on Friday night on Apple TV.

Called Glassow Way, Apple's master plan to make America love soccer. And then Apple get profits. For our second story, Albert's latest product is called the Moonshot. The first net zero carbon, shoot. But do they break the weirdness rule of design? Customers will accept one element of weirdness, but not to. And our third and final story. Our economy is suffering from a shortage of accountants.

So if you know an accountant, give them a hug. And then give them a raise. And then send them this episode. And then ask them if they have capacity for another client because we could use that government. Here's two other stories we didn't put in the pod, but we think you need to know today. First, China just released its GDP numbers. Their economy grew just 0.8% from last quarter.

The world's second largest economy has seriously lost its growth mojo. And finally, the Powerball lottery just hit a $900 million jackpot. It's third biggest prize ever. But you're still more likely to get bitten by a shark that got struck by a lightning bolt than win the lottery. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Savannah Westwood from Lovely. Orlando, Florida. In L.A., you need a car. In Los Angeles, you need a car. It's just the way the world works, right? Well, 90% of the population in Los Angeles does have a car. On the other hand and on the

other coast, New York City has the opposite situation. New York is the lowest car ownership city across the whole U.S. New York City is the only major city where a majority of the people don't have a car. In Manhattan, the place where like subways connect you everywhere, only 22% of residents have cars. Only one out of five Manhattanites has a chassis. Nick, back when we were living in Manhattan together, I took a trip to Maine once to get there, I took a city bike, the subway, the Long Island Railroad,

the air train, an airplane, a bus, and then a taxi, and then a ferry. And 14 days later, Jack was in Maine. Jack, when I was growing up, only half of my friends even had driver's licenses. And the ones that did weren't very good of driving. Yeties, you look fantastic for T-Boy Tuesday. And remember, if you've got some crazy combo or a paradoxical pairing, we want to hear it at T-BoyPod.

Listen to Mozart and mowing the lawn. They go great together. That's that weird enough. That sounds very pleasant, actually, Jack. All right, Yetis, you got something better. Send us something better. Hit us up at T-Boy pot. Peanut butter and orange juice.

Yeah, Jack and I will see tomorrow. We've got to work on this. Jack, you got to get we're weirder, man. And before we go, happy birthday to Yeti, Sally Thomas and Jennifer Floyd, two sisters,

different ages, same birthday. And happy birthday to Jared Brown in Miami, Florida. And Lisa Bossie, over in Potomac, Maryland, happy birthday.

Happy birthday to May Lee Ball. Up in Vancouver, Canada. And Vera Grasio, enjoy that birthday over in Avora, Portugal. Happy birthday to Kathy Lee, in Silver Spring,

Maryland. Kathy actually got one year younger this year, Jack. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon and Nick and I both own stock of Apple.