The Best One Yet - 🍫 “Regina George’d” — David calorie controversy. AI’s Brain Fry. Dick’s Sporting madness. +St. Paddy’s Stock Luck

Episode Date: March 17, 2026

Does David Protein have 2x the calories & 6x the fat?... We jumped into this nutritional class Action lawsuit.How many AI agents can you use?... The limit does exist, and so does AI Brain Fry. The Little League Industrial Complex has Dick’s stock at record highs… because it makes bold bets.Plus, do stocks get lucky on St. Patrick’s Day?... We jumped into the numbers, leprechaun-style.$DKS $SPY $LUCKBuy tickets to The IPO Tour (our In-Person Offering) TODAYNew York, NY (4/8): https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0000637AE43ED0C2Los Angeles, CA (6/3): SOLD OUTGet your TBOY Yeti Doll gift here: https://tboypod.com/shop/product/economic-support-yeti-doll NEWSLETTER: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. It's Tuesday, T-Boy, Tuesday, March 17th. And T-Dney's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-Boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Yetty, stocks jumped 1% yesterday because oil prices didn't. With the war on around, investors are basically looking at the gas station and seeing what the price is,

and then either buying or selling stocks as a result. Invest is two guys who worked on Wall Street, we can tell you. Investing is actually pretty simple. Is oil up? Who's oil down? That buy or sell, honey, we're making money. Jack, three fantastic stories for today's pod. What do we got on this profit puppy?

For our first story, David Barr is accused of having two times more calories and six times more fat than it shows on the label. David. So Jack and I jumped in T-boy style to the rules of nutrition labels, and you are going to be shocked by the details. For our second story, it's AI BrainFry. When using AI at work, flips from helping to hurting. Turns out there's an exact number of AI tools you should use. Use one too many, and you might get dumber. And our third and final story,

Major League Baseball changed one rule about cleats seven years ago, and the result? Little League costs 1100 bucks to play now. And that has tripled one specific stock, and that stock is Dick's sporting goods. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories, Yeties! It smells and tastes like St. Patrick's Day out there.

Frank from Finance is definitely calling in sick today. K.R. from accounting, turns out her last name is O'Henigan. Which means she's probably out O'Hanagan's right now. Yeah, with her buddy Timmy Besties, it is a T-Boy tradition that we track your portfolio every St. Patty's Day. Because St. Patrick's Day isn't just for the luck of the Irish. It's for the luck of all investors. In fact, March 17th is actually one of the top performing days on the Wall Street calendar.

Statistically speaking, St. Patty's Day has a golden day in the stock market rainbow. Get this, St. Patrick's Day is actually the eighth best performing day of the year for the S&P 500. Out of 252 trading days of the year, St. Patrick's Day is number eight. And over the last 20 years, stocks have risen over 80% of the time for St. Patrick. And eight of the last nine days, including just last year. Hey, Liam Mason, can you add that to your particular set of skills? This St. Patrick's Day stock record, it's got to be in the Guinness Booker World Records thing.

Which was also invented over in Ireland. Do you remember what Jim Kramer told us when we interviewed him about the luck of the leprecha? Oh yeah, Lucky the Lepercom. What was that he told us about Lucky? He bought Costco stock because of the gold bars. Classic lucky little African-Besties, this is not financial advice. We just heard Bono say it once. Bono is a Yeti.

Jack, it's his choice. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is an 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. Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, David Barr is being sued for what we're calling Regina George Gate, having twice the number of calories as advertised on the label. We'll explain the issue with David Barr's nutrition label and why David has come out swinging. Oh, yeah, it is Michael Angelo's most famous artwork. It took nearly 500 years to go viral, Jack.

In the form of a protein bar. Yeah, David Barr. you eat this protein and you get perfect abs like a tastefully nude Renaissance sculpture. This gold packaged protein bar is growing extremely fast, like faster than any protein bar has before. A borderline steroid level. We're talking 100 million bucks in revenue, 725 million dollar valuation all in less than a year. Because Pilates' Mamas and Cryptobros alike are protein maxing and willing to spend four bucks per bar, which is like five times more than if you buy in bulk from Costco, Nick. So naturally, Jack and I interviewed the founder Peter Rahal earlier this year.

He even sent us a top secret prototype David Barr. And Nick, that prototype bar didn't have a label. I know. Now we know why. Because of the news. A new class action lawsuit that David Barr actually has twice as many calories and six times as much fat. This class action lawsuit alleges that the David Bar doesn't have 150 calories per bar. It has 270 calories.

And Jack, not two grams of fat, 12 grams of fat. Is the blueberry pie flavored David Bar you would have? I tried, actually just a blueberry pie. One second, Jackie, hear that? It's people crying at the Equinox locker room right now. No, there is a Seinfeld episode about this. The zero-fat frozen yogurt that Jerry and Elena are really into? Yeah, it's really high in sugar, so they gain a bunch of weight.

It's also a core plot of the movie Mean Girls. Is it not, Jack? Katie gives the alpha plastic Regina Jorz a calteen bar. Yeah, some European protein bar with a nutrition label written in Swedish. She's duping them to add that. the pounds. First you blowed Jack, then you lose like 10 pounds. Which begs the question, have we all been Regina-Georged over here? We know what you're wondering, Yetis. Is it 150 calories in a bar or 270 calories in the bar? And will Nick and Jack jump in T-boy style for us, please?

Well, we did. And the answer is both. It depends what method you use. Follow us in this one. It's fascinating. You see, David Barr explains in a public response to the lawsuit why there is some confusion here. David says that the lawsuit used the bomb calorimeter method, which measures the total heat released from food to get to the calories. Jack, I was a history major, but can you please whip up the chemistry class takeaway for us over here? One calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius.

So if you use the bomb calorimeter method, yes, you do get 270 calories in a David protein bar. But here's the kicker. The FDA actually allows six different ways to measure the number of calories. And this is where David Barr's secret unpronounceable ingredient, EPG, would come into the formula. I'm going to take a shot of pronouncing EPG. Give it a shot. As terrified, propyloxylated glycerol. Sounds like a chemistry econ major over there, Jack. Double major. You see, it's called EPG. It's a proprietary new fat substitute that's actually in the David bars.

And David Barr liked this new ingredient so much. They acquired the company that makes it. That's right. We covered the story last year. The CEO Peter actually said, we're taking all the supply of the EPG. And now we understand why. Because like fiber, your body doesn't absorb most of what's in EPG. That's why David Barr wanted a monopoly on EPG. So besties, when David Barr test calories by a method appropriate for EPG that's approved by the FDA, they get the number 150 calories. Nick, it's kind of like the breathalyzer test versus the blood test to measure the alcohol

on the body. I see where you're going with this, Jack. They both try to get to the same result. But if you just used mouthwash, then the breast lather test isn't accurate. And that's kind of like what David's arguing here. But Jack and I noticed from our research that this drama also reveals how food regulations are not as black and white as you thought. Did you know the FDA has a acceptable margin of error that's surprisingly big?

Can you tell us about the margin of error, Jack? 20%. Yeah. You can have 20% more or less calories or fat or whatever it is you're measuring, and that's okay. So that black and white nutrition label on the back of all our foods is actually a little bit more colorful than you realize. Possibly a little bit more caloric. So Jack, what's the...

You're looking great over there, by the, Jack. What's the takeaway for our buddies over at David Barr? This lawsuit is actually an advertisement. Yeties, we talked about the four A's of crisis management before. You acknowledge, apologize, act, and then overact. But David has done the opposite. They didn't go on the defense in response to this lawsuit. They went on the offense.

Yeah, instead of apologizing, David said they're innocent. The lawsuit is misleading us by using a wrong calculation method. And within 24 hours, they whipped up a commercial, mocking all of the rumors about David Barr that are clearly not true. The strategy here, they're trying to reposition the lawsuit as a rumor and undermine the plaintiff's credibility. Now, whether David is found guilty or not in court, to consumers, perception is often reality. So this could be bad. But, Jack, if what David says is true, and even if not totally what they say is true, this is still a net positive for them, we think. This could be a

David Barr boost. It could be fantastic marketing, as people read about this story. And the public gets educated about this miracle ingredient, EPG, that's only a good. available in the David Barr. It's basically an EPG ad. You know what? We've seen something similar before with Tesla. The lawsuits about their self-driving issues, they marketed Tesla's self-driving technology. So yet is if what David said about this lawsuit is true, and even if it's not totally true, we actually think it's an advertisement. It's not a lawsuit, it's an ad. But let us know what you think in the comments. For our second story, AI is a powerful tool. But using too much AI, that'll actually hurt your productivity. Introducing AI brain for. Introducing AI brain,

It's the number of projects you can have AI do before AI starts to make you dumber. It's going to fry that cerebellum. Yeah, it's AI, you know, think of it like your digital intern, but potentially smarter than you. Not cooler, just smarter. As long as AI doesn't actually take your job, having AI at work sounds pretty awesome. It'll do your boring work you don't want to do. But Jack, what happens when you got two AIs working for you at the same time? That's the question that Boston Consulting Group tried to answer with a new study,

published last week in Harvard Business Review. That's right, they interviewed 1,488 full-timers at American companies. Here was their key finding. They found the break-even number of AI assistants that a human worker can oversee before having all those assistants starts to backfire. All right, let's start from the beginning. BCG found that using one AI assistant makes you more productive at work.

But yet, if you're like me, you may shuffle between Gemini that's built into your browser and Anthropic, which is right over there, ready to work too. Well, BCG found that having two AI agents like we do, it makes you even more productive, right, Jack? Although the returns diminished with the addition of the second agent compared to the first. But here's where things get interesting. Adding a third AI agent, like two clouds plus a Gemini, makes you even more productive. I mean, three agents, Jack, you're like a maestro at work overseeing the New York Philharmonic whipping up symphonies there.

It is pure AI harmony. Except the orchestra members are all AI agents. just doing so much work for you while you maestro is the only human. Your numbers are up, your vibes are higher, and Carol from accounting is calling you in for that promotion, maybe. But pause the pod. Oh, boy. Because according to this study, adding a fourth AI to your workforce,

it's going to backfire. According to this survey, it will actually reduce your productivity, adding that fourth AI assistant. And Basties, if you've ever managed human beings, you know exactly what we're talking about, getting stretched too thin. Think about it. If your day is 100% assigning and reviewing the work done by your Derek reports,

you don't have any time to think as a manager. And that's basically what BCG says happens when you hit four AI assistants working for you. Exactly. Basically, the mental effort of babysitting the AI, fact-checking, tweaking the prompts, jumping between windows, it actually makes you less productive. You're better off having three AIs working for you than four. Otherwise, you're not an AI manager anymore.

You're an AI nanny with your hands full. And Claude is crying for your attention, So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies curious about brain fry? We each must find our own AI ratio. If not, you'll get AI brain fry. Now, as we know most of you work at a computer, and that means there is an expectation you will be using AI. And as you progress through using your first AI,

maybe your second at the same time, or several AI agents all working for you, you need to be mindful that there is this limit. There is a tipping point. It's shocking, but more AI can become counterproductive. And given that AI is already kind of soul-sucking, we'll be a shame if you use too much of it. And BCG calls the feeling that you'll get AI brain fry.

Yeah, any symptoms we should disclose there, Jack? Yeah, mental fog, headaches, worst decision-making, just a feeling of overwhelming anxiety, too. So the magic number, it's actually different for each person. It depends on how you use AI and for what products you're actually using it for. Across these 1,400 workers, it happened to be going from 3 to 4, but it might be a different situation for you. But as my therapist said, and I've shared with Jack,

if you can name it, you can tame it. And this is called AI BrainFry. Because overseeing too many software agents means you'll lose the connection to your actual work, which will make your work worse, not better. Besties, we each must find our own AI ratio. And if not, you're going to get a bad case of AI brain fry. Now a quick word from our sponsor.

For our third and final story, parents are sports on a thousand bucks a season on their kids baseball, this Yetis. This is this is the little, League industrial complex. Dix loves it, but it all traces back to one rule change made by Major League Baseball seven years ago. Yeah, it is. You may not know this, but before Jack was a second string backup, high school quarterback varsity for the second string quarterback. He also happened to play baseball. So what did you treat yourself to this spring, Jack? Well,

Wilder, he turns five next month. Sounds like a long story, Jack. What do you treat yourself to? I'm going to be his tee ball coach, dude. So I had to get a baseball glove because I can't find my old one. And statistically speaking, Eddie's, if you bought a baseball glove as well, you bought it at Dix. Because get this, among the big publicly traded sporting goods companies, Dix now has 68% market share. Sit down, stand up, and step up to the plate again. Two out of three Mitz Pucks or Cups in America is sold at Dix's sporting goods. That's why Dix has so much cash in their bullpen. They do.

They were able to acquire their biggest competitor last year, Foot Locker. They did. Foot Locker. They now make Dix 50% bigger revenue-wise, but, We should point out, they actually make Dix smaller profit-wise. So this year Dix is cleaning up all the Footlacker locations, try to make them as profitable as the Dix locations are. Yeah, expect to see some 50% off Air Jordan sales coming pretty soon. But we should point out, Dix actually faces a bigger demographic problem, don't they, Jack?

There's not enough kids. Yeah. And that's a problem for Dix. The whole millennial baby delay, it's messing with Dick's bottom line. Get this. The number of American kids under 18 is down from 10 years ago. And you're not buying shin guards when you go to work. It's kids who buy sports equipment.

So how has Dix doubled their revenue in the last 10 years, despite Amazon and there being fewer kids to buy sporting goods? I mean, Jack, it's not inventory management. It's got to be something more exciting than that. Here it is, Yeti's. According to new data from the Aspen Institute, there's a Little League industrial complex that Dix is benefiting from. That's right.

Get this. Back in 2019, the average parent dropped 600. $160 on their kid to play baseball each season. But today, the price is up to $1,100 to put your kid through baseball. That's nearly twice the cost in just seven years. People are tapping into their 401k to pay for T-ball. That doesn't even include the custom stringing for the lacrosse sticks you're doing on the side jack.

Well, we're only talking about baseball. I thought lacrosse is way more expensive than that. No, no, you start with baseball and then you switch over and start playing lacrosse. I think that's how it works. But yet, where's this huge price hike from baseball coming from? This is crazy. Well, it all started with a rule-church. passed by Major League Baseball in 2019. You see, seven years ago, pro baseball loosened the rules

on cleats that players could wear. They let them add colors. The Major League Baseball Players Association wanted their players to be able to express themselves through their footwear choices, just like basketball players do. And guess what? That rule change that pros trickled down to the youths. Today, pee-wee baseball players look like they're on a catwalk at Paris Fashion Weekday. Yeah, totally. And we were kidding. kids, Jack, you want to sprinkle on some context as a former retired baseball player? I had two pieces of baseball equipment. Black cleats and a glove.

And the glove could only be black or ground. And Nick, I borrowed a bat. Not every player needs to have their own bat. Jack's like, we used to cut down the trees and make the bat add to wood there we cut down. But today, I went to Dix last week. Nick, the cleats on the wall looked like a pack of skittles had spilled everywhere. There's an ice cream baseball glove. Most of the glove looks like the cone.

and then there's like pink ice cream dripping down the glove. And each of these pieces of equipment is actually a fashion accessory that the kids are flexing their personality with. For those now watching on YouTube, Jack's using air quotes, so Jack wants to take away for our baseball buddies over at Dix. Just like Kevin Costner's classic flick,

if you build it, they will come. Or they will spend. You see, Eddies, Dix is actually one of our favorite companies because they're in the business of big, bold bets. We love that. It's easy to be a hater in the corporate, boardroom and not believe that a big investment will pay off in big profits down the road. But for Dix, this started in the 1940s when the OG Dick convinced local businesses to sponsor

Little League teams. The OG Dick believed that that would boost participation in baseball and boost sales for the company. And they did. It did. And then in 2016, Dix got tacky. They bought an app for live streaming local sports and keeping stats and scores of players. They believe players and families would shop at Dixmore. And they did. Then in 2018, after the Parkland shooting in Florida, Dick stopped selling firearms. It was a brave move. They believed leadership in guns would boost the Dick's brand, and it did. Then in 2021, Dix opened its first House of Sport, a huge sports complex store,

350,000 square feet, three times larger than a regular big box store. Rock climbing walls, driving ranges, batting cages. Because Dix believed becoming a true sports destination would boost sales. And the extra investment paid for itself in less than two years in more sales at those huge locations. Oh, sorry, besties. You want more receipts? Want more proof it all worked? Well, Dick's stock is up 300% in the last five years, which is three times better than the SB 500. Dix is in the business of big, bold bets. To quote Kevin Costner,

if you build it, they will come. Jack, and you'll whip up the takeaways for us for Teaboy Tuesday. David Barr allegedly has twice the calories and six times the fat as on the label, but it might just be a measuring mix-up. Yeah, even though the entire steam room at my equinox is still crying, Jack, we think that this lawsuit could just end up being an ad. For our, Our second story, it's AI Brainfry. Having three AIs makes you feel like a maestro. Having four makes you feel like a nanny. But the break-even ratio is different for every person,

so you need to find it to avoid AI brain fry. And our third and final story, American spending on youth baseball has nearly doubled in seven years, and Dix is loving it. Dick's biggest strength, making big smart bets and believing they'll pay off. If you build it, they won't spend. But besties, this pod's not over yet.

Here's what else you need to know today. And the Oscar goes to Warner Bros. Bad at making profitable movies, but great at making unprofitable films, Jack. Warner Brothers, the lame duck movie studio, just had its best Academy Awards ever taken home 11 golden statues. And second, Nvidia just held this huge annual computer chip event. Basically, it's the Coachella for chips. And the CEO, Jensen Wong, said what you'd expect yesterday at their big annual gala of a conference.

These numbers are just huge. InVVVVDiv is expecting $1 trillion in sales of their first. flagship Blackwell chip and its successor, the Rubin chip. Because their chips aren't just powering AI, they're also powering video games, self-driving cars, probably your laundry machine. And finally, Britta, the pioneer of kitchen water filters, just invested in a bathroom water filter. Shows with built-in filters. Not so that you can drink the water that's coming down out of the shower head, although everyone does that, right? Yeah, it's to soften the water that hits your skin, which apparently plays a role in eczema and psoriasis. Investors love the filter business,

because refills are required forever. Subscripturation. If you know, you know. Now time for the best fact yet, which, because it's T-Boy Tuesday, means an answer to yesterday's trivia question. Yesterday, we asked you where the name Brent came from, as in Brent Crude,

the international benchmark for oil. So where does the term Brent Crude come from? Is it a person, a place, a bird, or a food? That's what we asked you. Here's the answer. Brent is named for an oil field in the ocean, off the coast of England. So kind of a place.

But back in the 1970s, the custom was to name oil fields in alphabetical order after waterbirds. So the first oil field was called the ock, which is a type of bird. The second oil field found was called the Brent, which is a type of goose. And the third oil field found was called a cormorant, also a water-bound bird. So Brent Oil is named after a water bird. Yeties, you're looking fantastic over there. Jack, you're looking pretty good over there. Are you talking about my old-fashioned baseball skills? You know, in my day, we didn't wash her face. Face washed us, Jack.

Yettys, if you haven't yet, tap to follow us so you get this pod every single day. Plus, following us, subscribing, it helps us grow in the rankings. And Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow for the best one yet. Getting losers, we're going shopping. Before we go, a happy ninth birthday to legendary Yeti, Kyle Lee, down in Paso, Robles, California. She listens on the way to school with her dad, Corey. And together, they're running the coolest winery south of San Francisco. the Dresser Winery.

And happy birthday to Docsacchowski in Poon, India. And Taylor Searcy in Windsor, Ontario is dominating the renewable energy industry. Happy 11th birthday to Unhud Singh in Suwannee, Georgia, who just asked his dad for an iPhone so he can listen to T-Boy. And Angel Gonzalez is in Travelers, Ress South Carolina. He and Kendra, we're just in our live show in Austin. Guys, you look fantastic. Happy birthday. And happy 11th birthday to Unhud Singh in Suwani, Georgia.

Dad, if you're listening, get this kid an iPhone so we can listen to T-boy. Daniel Gonzalez and Travis Rest South Carolina has got the best birthday yet. He and Kendra, we're just at our live show in Austin, and guys, you were looking fantastic. Happy birthday to Peter Yasula in Brooklyn, who's also opening two new restaurants in that borough this year. Peter, we can't wait to check him out. And Ted Bell is skiing from Switzerland to Italy for his birthday. Enjoy Ted, and don't forget the passport. Happy birthday to Jennifer Yee, who's got a new job and taking a road trip to celebrate.

Down the PCH, sorry, up from L.A. to S.F. And Karin Soyan in, and Palo Alto, California's got the best. birthday yet. Happy birthday to Amanda Webb in Raleigh, North Carolina. And Tommy Monsal, we see that first birthday. Enjoy the celebration with the parents in St. Louis. Happy birthday to Super Macaroni, the Golden Retriever turning four in San Diego. And Jack, shout out to Hunter, legendary Yetty, ran into him at the farmer's market. He's got his family visiting from Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and Austin, having the best weekend yet. This is Jack, I on stock of Netflix, and I both on ETFs of the S&P 500.