The Bill Simmons Podcast - Houston Relief, Red Sox Signs, and New Chargers Kicker Younghoe Koo (Ep. 256)

Episode Date: September 6, 2017

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by staff writer Shea Serrano, a Houston resident, to discuss the Hurricane Harvey relief efforts and his grassroots social media campaign to raise funds (7:00). Then, JackO joins to give his thoughts on the Boston Red Sox stealing signs from the Yankees (23:30) and Trump's latest tirade (46:00). Finally, rookie Los Angeles Chargers kicker Younghoe Koo comes on to discuss his journey from South Korea to the NFL (54:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Coming up, we're going to talk to Shea Serrano in Houston. We're going to talk to my buddy Jacko about this Red Sox scandal. And we're going to talk to the new Chargers kicker, Young-Wei Koo. Coming up first, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Pearl Jam. All right, before we get to everybody, I wanted to talk about last night's fantasy draft. You heard Sal and I talk about it yesterday on the BS Podcast. Every year the champ gets to vote somebody out.

Only four people in the draft had not been voted out yet. I was one of the four people, and I thought my time might be coming. Our friends Tall John and Jamie were the champs. Jamie is somebody that I've known for 20 years, going back to my Digital City Boston days. I had an NFL picks pool in 1997 on my Digital City Boston sports guy site. And he was one of the 10 people in the pool. He was 16 years old. He was funny. He became one of my first mailbag people. When I went to ESPN.com, eventually I hired him as an intern. Eventually helped him get a job at Jimmy Kimmel Show.

So of course, they decided it was going to be either me or their friend Kyle that they're going to vote out because it was the funniest move. I actually approved it. It was the funniest move to vote me out. You felt it. I felt like you felt it before. I did.

I felt it all week. I could tell from the lack of emails. So they couldn't decide which one's funnier and they had me and kyle play connect four they brought out this connect four game uh the red chips had my face on it the blue chips had kyle's face and the rule was they were gonna we're gonna play two games that connect four and if we tied both games then it would go to the envelopes and they'd each pick somebody to get voted out. The stretch with that was if it went to the envelopes they both wrote Damoshek's name in there

and Damoshek would have been voted out again. So we played Connect Four. I tried to pretend I didn't know how to play Connect Four meanwhile I've played it a bunch of times and played with my son and obviously I've studied the Rondo tapes extensively. So we go, I start building up the middle, um, about 20 pieces in, I have three in a row going diagonal and Kyle's about, Kyle's putting in and he's going back and forth and

he has a partner named Tony who wasn't allowed to speak and Tony's going, and Kyle's just going back and forth and he just misses my three diagonals and puts it somewhere else. And I win. And I get to stay in the league. Connect four. Now, have I learned how to play under pressure from the great Tom Brady? I don't know. I don't know if that was part of it.

I tried to calm myself down like Brady does and just concentrate on the game and take it one chip at a time did you have a concussion no i think i almost got concussed when i celebrated uh so anyway uh there is video coming i think sal is videotaping it but one of the most dramatic connect four games ever played so there you go and uh and i picked a relatively crappy team i didn't do a lot of homework because i thought i was gonna get voted out you get breeze and willie sneed that's good i got that yeah i got the hookup rookie running backs i moved the rookies i took cook i took mccaffrey

i went big on jordan howard because i like him and then uh brandon cooks and then i was overpaid for brandon cooks but i didn't care because i really wanted brandon cooks then took a bunch of flyers on a whole bunch of... Burkhead still in the draft. Burkhead, $1. But I put it on Instagram. I just rolled the dice with a bunch of Jarvis Landry, Kevin White, all those kind of guys

hoping to get lucky with two. But anyway, I survived yet another year. We were saying the last person not to get voted out is that's like a particular great honor right well you become jeff probes of the league yeah you always survive yeah i should just keep going from that point on so the most shocking thing from the draft was david johnson went for 71 and levion bell went for 69 we've never had running back prices like that and crazy brad

who threatened your life a couple weeks ago on this podcast, he spent all of his money on Odo Beckham, Julio Jones, and one other $50 receiver and had $11 left about 40 minutes into it, put on his headphones and watched Jaws on his iPad as the draft went on. And then it would come around and he would throw out $1 guys. I feel like Brad visualizes himself as the Shark and Jaws. I wouldn't be surprised. We're going to call Shea Serrano right now.

He's in Houston. And he's going to give us an update on everything going on with Hurricane there. All right, on the line, the ringer, Shea Serrano. He is in Houston. He lives in Houston. He evacuated Houston last week and came back on Friday. He was supposed to come on the pod Friday, but he didn't get back in time, and we wanted to have him on and find out what's going on there.

He also did a lot of good work. All righty to raise some money for everybody there. Shea, how are you? Buffalo Bill, what up, sir? Let me know what it's like there. Right now it's fine. I mean, it's as fine as it can be, considering we just had one of the worst floods in American history. But the general mood, I would say, is sort of upticking now.

Everybody's starting to feel a little bit better, getting our legs underneath us. There's a lot of construction going on. You can see people rebuilding, which it's a sucky process, but also an invigorating one when you watch it happen. Yeah. So you're watching it. You went to San Antonio? That's correct.

That's where my family lives. So I was in L.A. when all of this stuff started happening. My wife started texting me, telling me there's a big storm coming, this and that. So I just had them, you know, send me to San Antonio rather than Houston.

And then she met me at the airport with the boys. So we had been, our area has flooded the last three years in a row right around this same time, right around Mario Day. So I was, you know, I don't want to play that game again. We got flooded in last year. We got flooded in the year before that. So we had a little advance warning this time.

That's why we left. I don't want to do that again. So you're watching from San Antonio, and you have no idea what's going on in your neighborhood. Right. There ended up being a couple of people who stayed, a bunch of our neighbors, but specifically the woman across from us

and then two doors down from us. They were both there. So every once in a while, they would send us pictures showing, you know, here's where the water is. This is what it's looking like here. But by Saturday night is when it really was hitting hard, and you start seeing a bunch of pictures from everybody else of houses just underwater. You could just search.

I live in an area called Meyerland. You could straight up just search Meyerland on Twitter or Facebook or whatever, and it was just pictures and pictures of people heartbroken with their houses three, four, five feet underwater. It was insane. And you were really active on social media trying to help people, which, you know, listen, there's nothing really good about this story, obviously, but the one kind of inspiring thing was watching people on social media

just quickly helping as many people as they possibly could. You were one of those people. How much did you sleep those three days? Not a great deal, especially Saturday night was a tough one because that's when you were watching it go up. And we were getting our messages, and it was like, okay, the water is at the curb. The next one, the water is up to the tree in our front yard. The next one is at the front door,'re saying holy shit yeah this is real um and

then just combined with all the other pictures we were we were seeing pop on the on the internet my wife is mostly on facebook i'm mostly on twitter and we're just showing them back and forth and like you're very anxious that time because when water gets in your house like you're done there's nothing yeah there's nothing we can do until we get back we're 200 miles away and it's just yeah it wasn't a whole bunch of sleeping so i guess that's a way to burn off that energy i was trying to do as much as i could through twitter which isn't a great deal but it was something and it seemed like for i mean there were a couple there was a couple misinformation with Twitter, but for the most part, it seemed like all that stuff was, was working, right? Yeah, it did this time. That's what I was the most surprised about it. Maybe because it's been in our lives long enough now, seven, eight, nine years, it's just more intuitive. People sort of understand the best way to use it. So after people got their feet under them, yeah, it felt like, okay, these are the people who are signal boosting.

There are people coming in behind them who are setting up Google Docs and spreadsheets and interactive maps showing what's flooded, what's not, who needs rescue. It was very cool to watch happen over those two or three days. Were you surprised that you had neighbors that stayed i was yes because again we we flood all the time so i was surprised that they stayed but i was also not that surprised because even in san antonio knowing what's going on here i i felt like i need to be back home. I wanted to be there. And it wasn't until the boats came through the neighborhood and started just scooping everybody up that we're saying, okay, I'm all the way glad that we left now because everybody is gone. But yeah,

it's a tricky situation to be in. What was it like coming back to the city and seeing parts of it that you're just so used to seeing, you know, look like the city that you're in every day, and all of a sudden it's a river. That was a really weird moment. Now, we stayed in San Antonio for eight days. We got there on Thursday. We didn't leave until the following Friday. And we were expecting for all of the water to be drained already when we got back.

And then driving in, there's a freeway that connects to Houston called I-10. We're on I-10, and we get to Katy, which is a suburb of Houston. And they've still got exits closed, and there's two or three feet of water just right there where there should not be. And it was really like, oh, oh my god this is a very serious thing it's it's always hard to tell how serious things are when you're just looking at pictures even if you see a picture of the freeway underwater it's still just a picture of the freeway underwater when you see it in real life it's it's it's uh breathtaking almost like you don't know how to comprehend it right you don't know what to do or

what to say. You're just saying, God damn. How is Houston different? You wrote about this on Friday for The Ringer and now we're taping this on Wednesday, late morning, West Coast time. How much has changed in Houston just in the last five days with how everything looks, other than the rebuilding stuff? It looks way better. Mostly all of the water is gone now. There are certain pockets where people have still not gotten to get back in their homes. Yeah.

But just driving around the city, the only thing that's truly different is they have a bunch of roads that are closed off, So there's traffic, more traffic than usual, or there's traffic where there otherwise wouldn't be. But if you just got dropped into Houston today and made a lap around a city, you wouldn't be able to tell until you got off the freeways and drove into the neighborhood and saw all of the wreckage. So you have some rabid fans that you call the F-O-H and, and you rallied them pretty quickly when all this was going on. How much money have you raised so far?

We did a thing for, for just a few hours. We did it over the course of maybe like 10 hours and we got about $134,000. Wow. Which is, yeah, I was not expecting that. So what, what's the plan now with people donating? What, what do we know where this money should go? Yeah. So what I did was I didn't have any idea at the time what I was going to do. I was expecting we were going to get 25, maybe 30,000 bucks, which is about the most that we've ever gotten whenever I've done one of these sorts of drives. And I just posted my Venmo and PayPal address on Twitter and said, okay, we're going to call this the fuck hurricane Harvey fund or

whatever. And if you want to be in on it, go for it. I got 200 bucks. Let's go. And then boom. Yeah. You know, 10 hours later, whatever, 15 hours later, we had $134,000. So what I did is I just spent the next few days looking through Houston charities and seeing who were the people who were really like in the mud, who were on the boats, who were out here really trying to help everybody. And I just grabbed seven of those charities and we broke the money up between those ones. And fortunately, while all this stuff was happening, because that's an intimidating amount of money, I've never had that much money in a PayPal or Venmo account before.

But PayPal noticed, Venmo noticed what was going on. I guess they've got a lurch or something. And then they reached out, and I was able to just be like, okay, here's what I want to do. Can you help me do it? And they sort of handled all the back end of it. All I have to do is pass along the names and how much money we want to send them and they get the money where it's going can you remember the seven charities off the top of your head uh yeah we're doing there's one called baker ripley which is a they've been in houston over 100 years and they were instrumental in the

servicing during the flood and also now after. So we've got Baker Ripley. We've got Support the Girls, which they give bras and, like, feminine hygiene products to Houston, and they have got a bunch of outlying cities as well. There was the Houston Immigration Legal Collaboration Services, which that was a group who was really helping the undocumented immigrant population in Houston because if you're an undocumented immigrant

and you get struck by this sort of disaster, you don't get FEMA relief, you don't have insurance. So it was those guys. We did Angels by Nature, which is a prophet of this rapper named Trey the Truth, who he's been doing service in Houston forever, and he was on a whole bunch of news stations. He's still out right now, but they do Houston, Port Arthur, Beaumont.

The Golden Triangle is what they call it, Corpus. So we have those guys. We have Houston Pet Set. They handle all the pet stuff. And Port Light, which they serve the disabled community during the hurricane stuff. I think that's all seven of them. I maybe missed one. So here's what we're going to do.

On my Facebook, you're going to send me the seven charities. And we're going to put them with the donation links for each one for Ringer readers and for listeners of this podcast. The Ringer is going to donate $2,500 to each of those seven charities. We'll do the links, and we'll try to get some more money going. That way we'll run a post on the Ringer for it too. But if you love the podcast, we definitely do not ask for much from this podcast, from the listeners. I think it's been free the entire time.

But this would be a good time to raise some money, help out Schaefer at an awesome cost. Tell us how this next six months plays out in Houston. The next six months, we're going to be recovering for a good long time. I mean, we're talking about years, it seems like. So mostly you'll just have these crews around fixing up everything, rebuilding everything. And that's really all it is. It's like we just have to rebuild. There's nothing else you can do.

You can either fix it or complain about it. And, you know, everybody in Houston has decided, well, let's just go ahead and fix this shit. So here we are. And fortunately for me and my where we live, we ended up not getting flooded. There's like a strip of houses that are just a little bit higher than everybody else, maybe four or five houses on the block. And all of the houses surrounding houses around us got hit crazy hard. And then us, we did,

the water got up to the door and then it stopped. So I don't want to make it seem like I was super hit by this as well because I wasn't, it's just the people around us. So those are who we're trying to help. I have, I have one sports question for you. All right.

And I don't, I'm not making light of anything that happened with this hurricane, obviously, but we've seen so many times when something happens to a city, something that's bad, sports has a way of intervening and lifting the spirits up of the people in the city and stuff like that. Can you feel that happening with the Texans? Because J.J. Watt got the most involved of just about anybody. I think he's raised over $20 million. How can the Texans kind of

ease the pain here over these next five, six months? For that, I don't think they need to win all of their games, or this needs to be some story that ends with them in the Super Bowl. All that needs to happen here is we just need to see their

faces. The thing with J.J. was great, because it wasn't like, oh, here we go, we're going to go undefeated this season. It was just more like we know that our guy sees what's happening and he wants to help and here's how he's going to try to help. And that's really all you need. You saw the same thing when Katrina hit with the Saints because they didn't do anything great that season. They had the first game back and it was this really emotional thing.

Yeah. But for the rest of the time, it was just like they're in the community and everybody is sort of rallying around them. That's all we need from these guys. And it seems so far that's what we've seen from them, from the Rockets, from the Dash. I mean, everybody is out here just – everybody is helping and it's really cool to watch.

Well, and you have the Astros that are going to be in the playoffs too. The Rockets are going to be a top-four team. Like this is – you have these high-profile teams with high-profile stars in this situation that really have a chance to do some good. And it seemed, you know, J.J. Watt has stepped up the most, but I think a bunch of – it sounds like a bunch of people on all the different teams have really stepped up. And I think the

New Orleans Katrina model is a great model. The Saints went into the city that year and they tried to make a difference and it feels like that could happen here too, right? Yeah, it exactly feels like that. Alright, so we're going to put the links to the seven charities

on the Facebook and maybe we'll do a little ringer post on it too. So if you guys out there want to help out, um, and raise a little more money for everything that's going on. I mean, Lord knows how much money this is going to take to, uh, rebuild and fix a lot of the stuff that happened, but every little bit helps. Um, thanks for doing the legwork on all those charities too, because I know that, um, I know that especially the first couple days everybody feels kind of burned by how certain stuff has gone with charities

and not knowing where the money goes and stuff like that and I know that you put in a ton of time trying to figure out alright these 5, 6, 7 I want to find the most that makes sense so we appreciate that you did that too hang in there. I will see you next month.

We have another, our first Rewatchables podcast that we did was one of the great hours of podcast history. We broke down Point Break. My favorite part was when I asked who everybody would be in the bank robbery crew, and you said your wife would be the one that jumps on the counter and tells everybody to get down. It was just

magic, the whole thing. So we've got to figure out another good action movie for that. But tell the fam to stay safe. Say hi to everybody in Houston for us. Thanks for coming on. Alright, thanks, man. Thanks to Shay. Quick break to talk about Peloton. Want the convenience of joining a group cycling class whenever you want, only right

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Performance tracking metrics, real-time leaderboard. That stuff keeps you motivated. You can ride live with the entire Peloton community that's spread across the entire country. Right in your living room, or in my case, my office. Right now, Peloton. Go to pelotoncycle.com. Enter the code BILLSIMMONS at checkout and get 20% off accessories with your Peloton bike purchase. You can even listen to this podcast while working your butt off accessories with your Peloton bike purchase.

You can even listen to this podcast while working your butt off on a cutting edge indoor bike. Go to pelotoncycle.com, P-E-L-O-T-O-N, cycle.com. Use the code Bill Simmons. Get started right now. Coming up, Jacko. All right, on the line, my buddy Jacko. He's been coming on this podcast for 10 years. We have a few rules.

One of them is that if one of our teams gets caught in a giant cheating scandal, the other guy gets to come on and gloat. Or if it was Jacko, he'd have to call in and I'd get to gloat. But this is my team. There's an Apple Watch scandal. People are most shocked that anyone was still using an Apple Watch, but, Jacko, I know it's been a rough year for you with Trump and Aaron Judge's sad career collapse,

but this had to bring some joy to your life finally, right? Absolutely, absolutely. This is the highlight of the second half for me so far. I was so excited yesterday when I was busy at work and then somebody tweeted it at me, this New York Times story. And I was as gleeful as the time that the New York Times also broke the big poppy cheating story. So it's really good work by the New York Times. Twice every 10 years, they really do something for me. So this was a big one. I was very happy and excited to see it. And it was, of course, par for the course.

I can't say I was shocked by this behavior, but I mean, this is what happens in Boston. This is what, you know, obviously Belichick has taught them well. And, you know, that's what wins championships, I guess. Just win, baby, by any means necessary. Your words hurt. Yeah. You mentioned the Big Papi thing. I mean, I feel like he's been partially exonerated for that.

Nobody knows what substance it was. It could have been like Tylenol. Who knows? Right. I've never gotten a satisfactory explanation. And I'll be honest, I don't have a satisfactory explanation this time around either. I don't know what happened. Maybe they just have Apple Watches. Who knows?

Well, I mean, the thing is, like one of these unwritten rules of baseball, obviously, is that, well, it's not even a rule of baseball, but everybody tries to steal signs. Yes. Like, you know, there's old legendary coaches. Don Zimmer was kept around forever because he was supposedly like the best guy ever at stealing signs. And he knew all of them. And, you know, he could whisper in Torrey's ear during the Yankees' ear. So I'm not going to get on my high horse and be outraged about stealing signs because it's a baseball tradition. But one of the unwritten rules of baseball,

or perhaps even a written rule of baseball, is that when you start using electronic devices, it's a whole different animal. You know, the great Bobby Thompson off Ralph Branca, the shot heard around the world, that whole comeback from the Giants in 51, one of the legendary moments in baseball, is to me somewhat tainted in recent years when a book or a magazine article, some story came out. I think it was a book, and I actually think I read the book.

I'm getting old. I don't remember things. But the guy wrote a book, and the Giants talked about how they were stealing signs. They had a guy in center field with a telescope, and they used some sort of an electronic buzzer, which they would buzz on the bench. And it was like one for a fastball and two for a curve. And then somebody on the bench would throw a towel in the air if it was going to be a curve. So it's not that they were just stealing signs.

They were using some buzzer system and a telescope, and it sort of taints things. Like, if it's one thing if you're on the bench and you're trying to look at the guy's fingers, you're trying to sneak a peek at the plate. But when you start using electronic devices, it really taints things, and you're getting kind of far afield from the old good-timey sign stealing, you know. And the Red Sox apparently had some Apple Watch thing

where the trainer wore an Apple Watch. I don't know how it really was. I don't quite understand. I read the story, but I read it quickly. Somebody would see what the sign was, and they would somehow relay it to his Apple Watch, and then, you know, they'd give it to Pedroia, who would yell out, fastball or curveball or whatever. Is that the deal?

It's that so stupid. I love those lines. No wonder they got caught. This is if that's how they did it. It's like a Rube Goldberg thing. Isn't that the deal? It seems there would be simpler ways of doing it. I don't

quite get it, but they use electronic device. They're dirty cheaters. The Yankees probably should ask for a player compensation, maybe like Chris Sale, but they might want somebody good. So I'm not sure if he would do the trick. Plus, they own Chris Sale,

so we'd rather bat against him, I think, than really get him on our team. You don't want any starting pitchers on the Red Sox against them, because all of them have failed against the Yankees. But as happy as I was, I was so happy yesterday when this broke, and of course I got a lot of Twitter tweets about it

to throw some shade and talk some smack. So I did enjoy that repartee with the Red Sox followers, the fans that follow me. But then last night was just like Black Tuesday. I mean, the Yankees had a 6-2 lead when I went to bed. The Red Sox were losing 2-0 and had like three hits against the Blue Jays. I'm like, my God, we could close it to a game and a half. And then I wake up and see that the Red Sox won and the Yankees lost.

It was just horrible. Horrible karma. I think the most horrible part of that story is you went to bed at like 9 o'clock. How old are you? Are you like 68? What happened? It was about 9 o'clock. The Yankees game was delayed. It didn't start until 9.15. So I went to bed at like 9 o'clock. How old are you? Were you like 68? What happened? It was that 9 o'clock. The Yankees game was delayed.

It didn't start until 9.15. So I went to bed. It was probably like 11 o'clock and they were winning. It was 6 to 2. Can I make my defenses now? Of course. I live in America

where you're innocent until proven guilty. True. It's one of the things I love about this country. Now, granted, the country is being ripped to shreds. One, I'm not sure we still have that anymore in this country. I'm not sure Trump might have tweeted out something about that. Secondly, that is the standard of proof in a court of law, but in the court of public opinion, there is no such standard of proof.

I'm willing to accept it already. Once I heard Dustin Pedroia was involved, I knew there was guilt. That's all I needed. If the roles were reversed and this was like the year 2000 and the Yankees were involved and Paul O'Neill was the one shouting the signals, I would just assume it was true. I just would have believed it. Of course. I wouldn't want to hear any counter evidence.

I would argue another thing in the Red Sox case is that if you've watched some of the guys in the team hit, there's no way possible they were stealing signs. As I tweeted yesterday, Xander Bogarts has left over 3,500 guys on base since the All-Star break. Right. I know for a fact he wasn't stealing signs. And then my third defense would be, how do we know the Yankees don't do this? What about the Yes cameras? What about that whole thing?

The Red Sox feel like the Yankees do it with the Yes cameras. I love that. That was like after my wife and I catch one of our daughters bullying the other one, and then the other one says, well, she did it to me first. That was exactly what the Red Sox did. Anybody with more than one kid has seen this before. Like, when you get caught with your hand in a cookie jar, you try to throw some blame on the other kid.

So the Red Sox made some allegation about the Yankees and the Yes Network or whatever. I mean, every team, every game is on TV. Every team has access to cameras in the clubhouse. And listen until the Yankees were relaying it through text messages or some electronic signals.

Again, they're completely innocent. That was such a tit-for-tat. It was ridiculous. One of the silver linings is the season was falling apart, and this appeared to have galvanized the team. They won 18 innings last night. Right. Maybe it needed an us-against-the-world, spy-gate-type cheating scandal to really bring this team together.

It also distracted everyone from the fact that the season was falling apart. Now we get to talk about this and then here comes the Patriots. But, you know, I was thinking about, I think it was 1981 when the Celtics won the NBA title and beat the Rockets in the finals. That year, CBS was using, they had the cameras in the huddle when the guys were like, all right, here's what we're going to do, blah, blah, blah. And Bill Fitch somehow realized it at some point either in the Eastern Finals or in the finals.

And during the last four minutes of the game when it would come out of timeout and everybody's in the huddle, he would actually send a player in the locker room to run back like they had to go to the bathroom and they would watch it on tv and find out what was happening the guy would run back and be like oh they're gonna go to moses malone on the left block so that had to be red arbeck's idea though no i mean wasn't he i mean people forget but red arbeck was bill felichick before there was oh my god yeah he used to shut up the AC. In terms of gamesmanship and jacking up the heat, turning off the hot water in the showers, and the whole nine yards, right?

He was Belichick before Belichick. Yeah. I love them both. I don't know what to tell you. All your teams cheat, basically. So basically, every one of your teams cheat. What do the Bruins do? What do the Bruins do?

Melt the ice in their own end or something? What goes on there? The Bruins just cheat their do the Bruins do? Like melt the ice in their own end or something? Like what goes on there? The Bruins just cheat their fans by not spending enough money. I thought you were going to throw the Celtics at me. They tried to trade Isaiah Thomas, and it turned out his hip was. But it really does seem like they claimed that they told the Cavs everything, and the Cavs knew that. But even that one could be spun against them.

Yeah, I mean, that one's on the Cavs, though, because you have to know, like, if you're trading for damaged goods, you know, like, you get to do a physical on the guy. So if they still go through with it, you know, that's on them. You can't trade for a guy and, like, you know, then he's got one hip. That's on you. It seems like there's no going back now with Boston sports fans.

We're just going to be cheaters. And maybe we just have to own it like the North Korean dictator owns the bad haircut that really pushes his villainy over the top. Maybe this is just our bad haircut. We just got to own that. That stuff happens with Boston teams. Everything balances out.

So you've had an unparalleled run of success over the course of the past, what, 15 years? We sure have. With, you know, five Super Bowls, three World Series, a Stanley Cup or two, what did you win, two Stanley Cups, one, and a couple, how many of the Celtics won, two?

No, one Stanley Cup, one NBA title, five Super Bowls and three World Series. That adds up to 10. Yeah. Yeah. So, oh, I just dropped my phone. So you've got ten rings, ten championships, ten parades.

Ten titles. You couldn't hold the phone. You dropped it. God, I'm going to bed at 9 o'clock. I can't hold my phone. My God. Time for my kids to execute that living will. So maybe you've got all these championships,

but to balance that out, you are tainted with being perceived by the rest of the country as cheaters now you'll take that trade-off any day of the week obviously but yeah you know this is the cross you have to bear you get your 10 parades and your 10 rings but everybody hates you and thinks you're cheaters i want to be clear that's the way it goes i want to be clear with you. The cross we have to bear is Curt Schilling. All of this other stuff are minor crosses. Curt Schilling is the giant, huge, wooden cross outside the Boston Sports Cathedral that is cracked and falling over.

That's the best part. That's the only redeeming thing for 2004 for me is that he's the face of that with his bloody sock. And now what he's become, where he's like Trump but worse. That's fantastic that the fan base has to live with that anchor around them. That's good. That makes me happy. We were redoing my son's room because my son goes in phases,

and he had this huge hockey phase when we did his room, so he had some hockey posters in there. And now he's just completely a 1 million percent in on baseball. And I actually think this is going to stick, but he wanted to put, he wanted to replace the hockey posters with the baseball posters. And as you know, I've had what, 30 plus years of posters at this point, going back to college, framed all this stuff. And a lot of them were in our garage. So we went out and grabbed some and uh and he was like he was like hey here's carlton fist homer and i just had all these things that

we just don't have room for in the house because you realize as you get older you don't have room for all this stuff and one of the things was this painting i had bought of the 2004 red sox celebrating and he was just so enamored with it he's looking looking at it and he's like, who's each guy? Cause we had watched some of the games and he knows some of the guys in that team now. And I'm like, and that's Curt Schilling. And he's like, Curt Schilling, the bloody Sox guy. And I'm like, yeah, the bloody Sox guy. Yeah. That's who Curt Schilling is. He's the bloody Sox guy. Yeah, let's keep that narrative going.

But yeah, it's just, it's a tough one to look at. Man, he was prominently involved in that 04. God, yeah. Right. Absolutely. He was the guy. Yeah, so anyway, my son was very upset yesterday. That was one outcome from this that I did not expect.

I came back from my fantasy football draft. He was still up. And he's like, I don't like the Red Sox anymore. And I'm like, what? And he's like, they cheated. They used an Apple Watch. They cheated. And I'm like, well.

And so I went through the whole thing of, you know, you got to let's wait to see how it plays out. And he was just really upset about it. Doesn't like cheating. You're raising him the right way with morals. That's good. That's good. I'm really not because we played Monopoly and he cheated like two days ago. My son's like the biggest cheater there is.

I would have thought he would have respected the Empire. He's holding them to a higher standard. He's in a tough spot there, too, because he's 3,000 miles away from the cone of protection in Boston where everybody would circle the wagons and say, they're just against us and all that. He's out in L.A. That's how it started. He's out in L.A. That's already started.

Presumably a Dodger country or Angel country, and there's nobody to circle the wagons with him. Let me tell you something. Angel country is about a three-mile radius in Orange County. You could pass through it at 60 miles an hour for about a minute. You left out, John, you left out one thing that I think is a key element of this.

Our team, our baseball team, now under attack, owns the Boston Globe. We're good. That's right. Wait until the counter stories. We got this. Absolutely. There's no question. There's no question.

I tweeted out yesterday the equivalent of Deflategate. They called the trainer the spy guy because he loves James Bond. We're only a couple days away from that whole story. I also think, you know, don't be so funny. We never did hear whatever became of like Jablonski and McNally or whatever the two guys were that were involved with Deflategate. Is one of them now the trainer for the Red Sox? Oh, come on, Johnny.

Is he the guy? That would be fantastic, wouldn't it? If he was the Apple Watch guy and the deflator, that would be fantastic. A couple of my Red Sox fan friends have been making the jokes that Henry is John Henry, the Red Sox owner, who also kind of owns the Boston Globe, that he's fervently, he has the reporters on the case to try to dig up either more Spygate or more deflategate stuff or like Jablonski. No, just to find some sort of Patriot story to deflect the Red Sox story. Cause what do they care about the Patriots?

They could dig up some new stuff and then that would take the, or maybe dig up some Isaiah Thomas trade stuff or just anything that's not about the Red Sox. That's what happens when your baseball team owns the local paper. Not great. Remember the Terry Francona piece? Yeah, they got to get Bob Holder on the case, digging up some dirt, like going through somebody's garbage, looking for prescriptions or something.

Yeah, by the time they were done with Terry Francona, he was like Bryan Cranston in season five of Breaking Bad. Exactly. He was a criminal who had to be put away. Meanwhile, he's this great manager who's going to beat them in the playoffs again. I know. Meanwhile, the Indians have won 40 games in a row or something. Johnny, let's not let the rumors of it, let's call it the rumors,

because we don't really know what's going on yet about this cheating scandal, the possibility of a cheating scandal. Let's not let this overshadow the collapse of Aaron Judge's career. It's been a rough second half. I wish I could spin it,

but it's been a rough second half. I just want to read you his second half stats. I don't know if you're aware of them. Believe me, I'm all too aware. He's hitting 183 on base at 350. That's solid. Slugging 355.

Yeah. He has struck out. God, it doesn't even fit into the column. 73 times already. He's got 182 strikeouts. Potentially, if his batting average can go down a little bit more, he could be the first guy to hit for half of what he hit in the first half, I think, in the history of the major leagues.

It's got to be sad for you. I mean, you bought all the jerseys and all hail, all rise. What was it, all rise? What do you say now? All rise, yeah. What do you say now in the J.J. Betts? Well, we still say all rise, but we don't say it as often. You mutter it under your breath?

Pretty much, yes. I mean, yeah, he's had a terrible second half. They claim he has some mysterious shoulder ailment, so I don't know if the shoulder is limiting him. I don't know if the league caught up to him. I don't know if he's tired because he's played more games than he has before um i don't know if the all-star game in the home run derby finished him off but there's no question i mean he's been awful he's taking some terrible swings he's starting to like he's starting to press you

can see it at the plate when he when he has an overgo and he's really he swings at hideous pitches that he was laying off in the first half because I think he's pressing a little bit. So, you know, he wasn't great last year when they brought him up in a brief snippet, and then he worked really hard in the offseason, and he was great. So, you know, if the league has caught up to him, he's got to catch back up and, you know, work hard and come back next year. Hopefully he'll be on the rebound. If he's got some shoulder thing, I kind of go with the Mike and the Mad Dog thing.

I never use injuries as an excuse. If you're playing, you're playing. So I'm not going to, you know, the YES Network will talk about his shoulder. He's got ice on his shoulder after all the games and whatever. And I understand that. They're in the propaganda business. But if he's playing, he's well enough to play.

So, yeah, it's not been great. No lie, not been great. When you say the league has caught up to him, do you mean the people in the league who test for performing enhancing drugs? Or are you saying, like, the pitchers? I just wanted some clarification. What the league is catching up to him, what does that mean? How's Hall of Famer Xander Bogart doing these days?

Are we still enshrining him in Cooperstown as an active player, or what's up with that? He, I think he has a broken wrist. Hench and I, my buddy Hench, we, we, he, Sander Bogarts has this thing on his wrist that he hurt. It's this like splint. And all he does is have these terrible swings and he can't make contact and just looks like a guy who's been injured for two months.

And then maybe that's just his Apple Watch. No. Occasionally they're like, oh, there's that splint on Bogart's wrist. Maybe that's the Apple Watch 4, I think. That's what he's got going on there. That's the newest technology? Yeah, pretty much. The pigeon is coming.

Can you compare and contrast Aaron Judge and Kevin Moss for me? Oh, come on. Do you want to do that in the next podcast? Everybody and their brother was tweeting that at me in the first half, that he was Kevin Moss part two. He's not Kevin Moss part two. Kevin Moss had a good month. Aaron Judge had a good half. And he's still doing fine.

He had some signs of life recently. He had a big home run the other day. He had a home run actually Sunday night against the Red Sox. So he's back. We're working on it. Getting back in the swing. Is it going to hurt your feelings when Benintendi wins the Rookie of the Year? No, that's bullshit.

He's not going to win that. You're sure? The judge took a woman to the U.S. Open the other day. It was all the talk of the tablet. So he's back. He's got a woman. He's got a swing back. It's all good. Big thanks for the last month all the talk of the tablet. So he's back. He's got a woman. He's got a swing back. It's all good.

Big thanks for the last month of the season for Aaron Judge. We will rise again. They were saying he was going to be the next Derek Jeter. I don't remember Derek Jeter having a swoon like this. I've got to be honest. I feel like I was alive and cognizant of Jeter's entire career. I don't remember this. Well, he's a slugger, though, Aaron Judge,

and they're going to go through periods where they're going to look lost at the plate. That happens. Jeter wasn't a slugger. He was an all-around hitter. Let's take it easy. How is he doing? You worry about Mookie Betts hitting.259

or whatever he said. Oh, it's way worse than that because he's hitting like.215 since the All-Star break, and it's like a two-month slump. What's your DH doing? He's hitting about a 240? And Ram? Hanley, either he'll have a home every three games

and then he strikes out and hits in a double place. That's kind of what his MO is. My team's not very good. I can see why they had to resort to cheating. My team's not very good. I was see why they had a resorted cheating. My team's not very good. I was actually upset that they didn't get Verlander or were not even in on the Verlander thing at all because they were basically saying in the playoffs

that they were good with Sale, then Porcello, and then Pomerantz. Well, Price is like... Price is a question mark, yeah. Should I be concerned that Doug Pfister is the best pitcher on my team right now? Yeah, that's not great. Not a good sign. When you have the funeral for Aaron Judge's MVP slash Cy Young season,

I mean, rookie of the year season, MVP rookie of the year, is the services for Chapman's career, does that happen the same day or the next day? No, I think they deserve separate ceremonies. I think we'll do two separate ones. I don't want to get short shrift. Yeah, it's been a problem, but it's a miracle the Yankees are still in it, given that Judge fell apart.

Castro's been out, was out forever. Holiday was out forever. And Chapman stinks. I mean, you know, they've had to completely shake up their bullpen, and Chapman's been awful. And so, yeah, the fact that they're only, what, three and a half out now, and they

lead the wild card is a testament to how everybody else has done. I like CeCe, really. Yeah, CeCe whining about people bunting was pretty sad. It was great. We're bringing back the rivalry. That was fantastic. Real bad blood now.

I like that. The rivalry's back now that there's Apple Watches and cheating accusations. It's back. Yelling about bunting and yelling about Apple Watches. It's like the 70s all over again. You can blame me for Chapman's collapse because my fantasy team is down. You've got him on your team. We traded for Roberto Osuna. for Chapman's collapse because my fantasy team is gone. You got him on your team. Yeah, but it's him.

Like, we traded for Roberto Osuna. We completely ruined his career. We traded Byron Buxton. He immediately became the best player in baseball. Like, anything good or bad that's happening can somehow be traced to this random collection of fantasy guys out. But, yeah, we ruined Chapman's career. Did your team name the Kiss of Death?

No, it should be called The Ring. We're like that movie, The Ring. Hold on, Jacko. We've got to talk about DirecTV quickly. For over 20 years, DirecTV has been the exclusive home for NFL Sunday Ticket. The only way to get every live game every Sunday. And guess what? Lots of NFL games coming on Sunday. Lots of them.

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Once again, that's NFLSundayTicket.tv, promo code Bill Simmons. All right, Jacko, let's talk about Trump. Any thoughts on Donald Trump's last six weeks? It's a whirlwind, I'll tell you. I love his thing on this. He's so great. Last night, political Twitter was all aflame because he has this thing about DACA, the delayed action for child something. But basically, if people came to this country illegally and they brought kids with them, and then a kid has grown up here in America, Obama did this executive order to delay their being deported to a country that they essentially have never,

certainly didn't grow up in. So Trump's, you know, followers and supporters are dying for him to end this to show that he's tough on immigration. And he's reticent to do so because, you know, you're taking some kid that maybe been here for 10 years, grown up in America, and you're sending him back to some country that he's never grown up in. So there's some political ramifications of that, which Trump is nervous about. So he has Jeff Sessions come of that, which Trump is nervous about. So he has Jeff Sessions come out yesterday and say, you know, we're going to end DACA in six months. And Congress has to act like if they want to enact it into law, they've got to enact it into law. He's going to be the tough negotiator. And then he sends out a

tweet last night and he's like, Congress must act. If they don't, I'll revisit it. Like, boy, what a negotiator. Like, you put a gun to my head, and then you're like, it's not loaded. You come out with a tweet and be like, it's not loaded. Like, thanks. Great. Art of the deal. Good job.

Good job, super negotiator. Don't fucking do it. You know, like, why is Congress going to act in six months? Bonehead's going to do something else with it. So it's like, why are we under pressure to do anything? It feels like every week we get by where nothing major happens is a victory at this point.

It really is. I mean, you know, it's just so weird to see him go to hurricane zones and he's got his USA hat on there with like 45 on the side in case we didn't know who he was or that he was the president. I guess that's some sort of a scam that he's he's selling them on his re-election website

for 40 bucks a clip or something so he's trying to promote the hat but it's just so ridiculous like you're the president and then his wife god bless her she's wearing the hat that says like flotus but it always makes me nervous like in local politics or when somebody has to wear like a sash that says mayor or whatever he's got to wear the hat it says like usa it's like we know who you are you don't need to like wear a hat or like a sash give me a break i wonder how the other countries perceive him because like you think about how we think about the uh the korean guy and he's just like this crazy dude with a haircut who's just blowing off bombs left and right and he he's just a lunatic. And we don't know much past that.

We're just like, oh, that guy's the lunatic with the crazy haircut. Like, I really, I wonder if that's what the other countries now think of our president. Like, he's the lunatic with the crazy haircut. Probably. Well, that's the really scary thing is like, you know, this whole North Korea thing. You know, that guy's a complete lunatic over there. And he's a lunatic that has nuclear weapons. Yeah.

And now they have like launch capabilities to at least like launch them as far as Japan. And, or, you know, threaten Guam. So it's like, you would hope that we had some like leadership that you would, could go to bed at night and be like, well, you know, at least Reagan's got his hand on the button or whatever, or his advisors. Like you feel good about it. But like, we're led by the guy that was the fucking host of The Apprentice. Yeah.

I mean, he's got people around him like, you know, Mattis and Kelly and whatever. So hopefully, like, you know, they're running the show. But it's like, God almighty, this makes you nervous because you got, you know, if Kim Jong-un sent a tweet at Trump and been like, your hair looks awful, you know, Trump could escalate things into a third world war. Yeah, we're like, what, eight and a half months in?

Has this been better, worse, or exactly what you expected so far? I would say it's probably exactly what I expected. I hoped for better. Like, I hoped that he would just be a figurehead and the brains would run things. But he's been as hands-on as I feared he would be. And like, you know, too far too active and just making a mess of things and showing how ill suited he is for the job. So it's not, I can't say it's surprising because I said it for a year during the election, you know, I actually think it's, it's been worse in my opinion. Really?

Maybe I, maybe I was naively optimistic. Yeah, maybe. I wasn't prepared for the week-to-week just being terrified. Yeah, like turnovers in the White House and everything. You don't know what he's capable of any day of the week. It's really something. The only comparable experience I've ever had is having a crazy sports owner owning one of your teams, right? And that's just sports. Who cares? Right. But the repercussions are far less dangerous.

Yeah. It's like, Oh, whatever. My team sucks. But it's that, that feeling of helplessness when your team's being poorly run and now it feels like the whole country is like that. No, it's the country. Well, the good news is that Aaron Judge's career is going to be over soon. Johnny, Johnny, will you still rooting for him in Columbus? Sure. Scranton. They don't play in Columbus anymore.

Oh, they're in Scranton? Is that closer to you? Well, if he goes down to AA, I can watch him play here in Hartford against the Hartford Yardgoats. Oh, that would be good. You get a picture. They hit a AA. Maybe I'll get a picture with him.

That would be good. You tell your kids, like, one day Aaron Judge had 30 homers in the first half of the season and won the home run derby, and then everything turned. Wow. Johnny, as this Apple Watch scandal keeps going, I promise to have you on again, and you can have your cake and eat it on the BS podcast. A pleasure as always. Sounds good.

See you, buddy. All the best. Bye. All right, we're going to talk See you, buddy. All the best. Bye. All right, we're going to talk to the new rookie sensation, Chargers kicker in one second. But first, from a gambling standpoint, we're going to remember the 2010s as the decade when live betting took off. And where you're betting is just as important as who you're betting on. Here's an idea.

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You play. You win. You get paid. mybookie.ag. All right alright in studio Youngway Ku did I say it right? yes sir you did

I know the American spelling screws up Youngway I don't know if you realize how excited people are about this whole thing that's going on you must be sensing some of it right? yeah I mean that for sure

I just made my twitter less than a year ago and it's blowing up thing that's going on you must be sensing some of it right yeah i mean that for sure um um i just made my twitter less than a year ago and it's blowing up and uh my my parents my dad's in korea and he's he's getting the attention so it's been it's been crazy your dad's still in korea yeah he lives there so is he gonna be able to see the games yeah um he comes here uh in the summer and winter for about a month and a half two months every year so so you moved there sixth grade right how much english could you speak when you moved there zero zero and you richmond new jersey which is coincidentally where my dad is from really so i've spent many weekend in ridgewood just a random all-american city suburbs trees the whole thing okay and then you

go to the South for college. So do you consider yourself a Northerner or a Southerner? I don't know. I've been used to change now. I've been picking up things along the way, especially South Georgia. I picked up yes ma'am, no ma'am, all kinds of different stuff. You must have obviously been a good athlete when you were a kid yeah i grew up playing there's no way you were playing football yeah i mean i grew up playing

sports in korea when i was there um basketball soccer baseball you name it i was playing but football was not one of them because it wasn't popular there yeah so it was first time i actually got to know football or saw an actual football was here in new jersey so when did you decide hey it'd be fun if i kick this thing and got in a team it was uh during a lunch break and kids were playing two-hand touch football and uh you know they said uh you know punt it because they knew i soccer, to kick it off. And they saw me punt the ball, and they were like, oh, man. Look at this kid. He should come out and play football with us. And that's how I got into sign-up for football.

So what grade are you in at this point? That was seventh grade. Seventh grade? Yeah. So how much English could you speak at that point? Nothing. Sports really got me out there. Without sports, I wouldn't be who I am, where I am in terms of football or life.

So sports really got me out there to meet new friends and learn a new culture. Looking back at it, language was the easier part. Culture was the harder part. I was in ESL for the first two years. And then my friends, when I would say something wrong they would you know pronounce it wrong they would sit me down and they would tell me like you know this is how you say it and stuff like that so it was so were you on the team in like ninth grade tenth grade when did you make varsity ninth grade um I actually started with the freshman team because I grew up playing um you know I played

offense defense in middle school. So we were just playing all kinds of positions. And then freshman year, I had a decision to make because coach wanted me to compete for the starting kicking spot. Yeah. For the varsity team. But I wanted to play different positions with my friends. Right. So I think about three games in, I got moved up to varsity my freshman year.

And so what was the first time you made a 50-yarder? Were you in high school or was that after? In middle school, there were no field goals. It was just kickoffs. And then I actually kicked the field goal freshman year. I guess freshman year, that's when I was kicking 50-something, stuff like that. So you were already in ninth grade, you were kicking 50? I don't think I really knew the concept there, but yeah.

I mean, we were kicking off the blocks freshman year. We didn't kick off the ground then. Right. But, yeah. What about just kicking off and then going to chase down people, getting hit, trying to get tackles, all that stuff? I think all that stuff came from me transitioning from playing with my friends, different positions,

and then now just kicking off at a varsity level, but I still wanted to play different positions. So you got to take it out. The only chance I got to really run around was on kickoff. So I think that's just carried over until now. So you're trying to get the coach to do a trick play um give me a trick play throw me a lateral i uh i tried uh in college for sure but uh we never did anything like that but now you know coach stewart who tells me on kickoff you

see a hole open up you go fill it so that's what i've been doing so as you're going through this with the football team in high school and the culture of football and just seeing how guys interact in the locker room and all the toughness, and there's a slight military aspect to football, follow the instructions. Like what are your observations as you're just kind of learning this whole new thing? I'm kind of used to it now. I learned it. I got used to that environment, I high school in high school um what was

the biggest thing you were surprised about as you were kind of learning what works and doesn't work um well back then locker room was the least my worries you know yeah um back then it was like what am i doing after school but i didn't know how to go about it i didn't know how to ask people you know like what do you do after school yeah because I didn't know how to say it physically I didn't know how to speak that language so I was just you know trying to you know say what do you do you know what do you guys do at your free time because I'm just going home after after school and I didn't know what people did after school or anything like that yeah so that's what I was focused on. But when I got used to that outside of football

and that locker room transition was easier for me. Were there other Korean kids in the high school that you were able to hang out with? Yeah, I actually had a Korean friend first couple months that, you know, assists me through classes, to actually put me in classes with him so that he can translate things. So it was interesting. And how often were you going back? Or were you just in America the whole time?

I haven't been back since I came here. Really? Yeah. Not once? No. And how many times has your dad been here? Twice a year. Yeah?

Yeah. What made you move here? My mom's a nurse, and I think that she just uh saw an opportunity and then uh they my parents decided that um it might be you know it's a good opportunity for us so my mom moved here when i was in fourth grade yeah by herself actually and then i joined her in sixth grade are you an only child yeah i'm an only child oh me too so when so high school like around 11 12th grade your english is good at that point uh or was it by freshman year freshman year okay in

high school yeah i was fine um it took me about that's amazing two and a half i can barely speak english and it's my only language i can barely get the words out sometimes yeah i mean my whole mentality was i guess just adapt and improvise yeah so i guess i've been doing that until now that's why i have a little bit of southern accent and my friends tell me uh we're just picking things up along the way um when did you start to realize you could play in college um getting scouted what was going on that's actually a city coming out of middle school in new jersey both uh football and soccer were in fall sports going in high school yeah so me and my parents had to make a decision coming out of middle school like which one are we going to go with

but so you knew you were that good at that point um no because um i had to make a decision which sport do i want to play and my middle school coach was my teammate's dad, came to my house and actually told my dad, he has a future in this. Because my dad actually looked at it as, you're just kicking a football, what do you mean? But my middle school coach actually explained to my dad, you can get a scholarship and you can have a future in this.

So I got to thank him for explaining that to my dad so we chose the football route and then it worked out and you ended up at georgia southern but you almost what was the other school you almost james madison um james madison i had an offer from there and then uh i went to college camps and stuff like that going into my senior year in high school um that's when i got some you know letters and stuff like that but only offers i had was james madison and georgia southern came in the picture late yeah but um head coach uh jeff munkin at the time came to my high school to tell me that he's offering a full scholarship and i've never seen a head coach at a kickers high school to offer you know right scholarship so i was like okay i took a visit down there with my parents,

me and my dad, and my mom. My dad was there at the time, and I fell in love with it. Were you getting written about at this point? Like, were you, not a sensation, obviously, but obviously this kid who comes from Korea in the sixth grade, and he's kicking, he's getting college scholarships.

Like, that's a good story for the local newspaper. So people must've been writing about you, right? Yeah. Locally for sure. Um, I think, uh,

were you like a celebrity in high school? Um, a little bit. No, not like that. I mean, we're a huge, uh,

lacrosse school. Yeah. So we, we were, you know, producing 10 plus, uh, D one lacrosse kids every year.

So, but, but um football wise i think i'm one of the few that got a full scholarship to d1 but um nothing like this you know what's the biggest kick you made in college what's the highest pressure kick you made um it was, uh, I'll say Georgia, my junior year, we went to overtime, but, uh, it was in the fourth quarter. Um, I had to put us up by three and then the Georgia kicker made a field goal as well. So we went to overtime. So, but that atmosphere was, was something different. Like what?

You got like 70, 80,000 people there? I think it was around 90,000. Wow. And then we went to overtime as well. And a bunch of Georgia Southern students are from Atlanta area. Yeah. So it was a great atmosphere. So how many times have you played in a stadium of more than like 30,000 people?

Like less than 10? Yeah, probably. So when you were playing in these nfl preseason games list what where were your two road games because the la stadium one was uh the costume yeah that was a big one yeah and the other one wasn't filled was uh 49ers yeah yeah so what do you just your processes just go out do the same thing i did every time, don't see everything around me? Right. Pre-game, I just go out there and I look around before the game.

I look around and just soak it in there because it's a big stadium and all. But I've been at places like that in college as well. So I just look around before pre-game, and then when the game time comes, I just block everything out and just focus on the field. So the nerves are not going to be a problem. No, I mean, you have to embrace it. As a kicker, pressure is definitely there, no matter what position. Pressure is definitely there, but you have to learn to embrace it,

not to run away from it. Why do you think, so that follows up to my next question, why do you think some kickers that follows up to my next question why do you think some kickers just lose it in like a year like we've seen nfl kickers they'll be awesome then they'll go on a bad stretch then they'll come back like what is it about that position why are there so many swings um i don't i'm not sure but i mean i think it's, kicking is really all mental, I think. Because a lot of people can kick a football. Yeah.

Six yards, seven yards, there are a lot of people with strong legs out there. But when it comes down to kicking, good kickers and, you know, decent kickers, I think what separates them is the mental toughness. You know, like Justin Tucker, you know, one of the best out there right now, think so he's gotta be the one to point to right justin tucker yeah i mean i don't know what he does i mean everyone's different obviously how to how to deal with pressure and stuff like that but um it's just like golf you know i don't know if you play golf but yeah you do a little thing wrong then you start like getting in your head you're like what am, what am I doing wrong? It's like, okay, let me do this, do that. I throw my clubs.

Right. Yeah. I don't handle pressure very well. It's exactly like that. So golf and kicking basically goes hand in hand in terms of techniques or mental-wise. That's the best comparison I can make. Was it weird? They obviously had a kicker.

They had Lambeau already, and you're competing for his job, but you guys are hanging out all the time. Was that your first experience with that? In terms of competing? Yeah, you're competing, but also, like, if you win, this guy all of a sudden doesn't have a job, and you're interacting with him. That must have been a little strange. I mean, no.

I competed in college all throughout my college career. Right, but those guys stay in college. Right, right. You know what I mean? But it was me starting and him sitting on the bench. So in a sense, it was kind of the same idea. When did you think you had a chance? I never, throughout OTAs, preseason, during camp,

I didn't think about, you know, oh, I think I got this or not. I didn't, you know, if I had a bad practice or a good practice, I didn't think, you know, oh, I think I got this or not. I didn't, you know, if I had a bad practice or a good practice, I didn't think, you know, in the past or the future. I just thought about what I had to do that day. And I think at the end of the day, all those days stacked up. You realize you hit the lottery being in LA, right? I think I can't, I can't. Are you aware of the Koreatown food scene? No, I haven't been able to explore too much yet. So I have some, I mean, we talked about this before we started taping the pod,

but, you know, the Asian sports fan community, this is one of the most exciting things that's happened this decade for them. We had Donnie Kwok, who is Korean-American, who works for our site, who's one of our key people. He wrote a piece yesterday about you saying, if people had known you made the team three weeks ago when everyone's doing the fantasy drafts, it would have been like a bidding war if there were multiple Koreans in the draft.

People are just fired up. And you must be able to feel that now with your Twitter feed and all that stuff. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think I'm one of the few Korean-born NFL players. You're the fourth, I think, right? Something like that, yeah, I've heard. It's awesome. I mean, that's where I'm from.

Just looking back, you know, where I came from and all that stuff, I love it, you know, just representing where I'm from and just having the support from Korea and all those people. It's a great feeling. David Chang, who's one of the most famous chefs here, who has been on this podcast a bunch of times in our food podcast. He's adopting you. He's opening a restaurant in L.A., but he's saying, tell that dude, I'm taking him out and feeding him and we're doing it out. He wants to take you.

Koreatown is like the best food scene in America right now. Yeah. Yeah. It's like this, I don't know how many blocks, but it's like, it's, it's like legendary.

I asked some questions. Some of my friends ask some questions. Okay. Um, who, who were your athletic idols growing up in South Korea and then here um South Korea when I was there we were uh in the world cup I think we went to the semifinals or something like that and I grew up you know playing soccer and I watched soccer um wasn't

too big into baseball. So I remember just watching soccer players. Then I forgot what his name was. Park, he was with Manchester United. Yeah, yeah, I remember him. Yeah, so I watched him growing up in Korea. What about when you came here? When I came here. Because you're wearing a Yankee hat right now,

which it hurt my feeling. I'm a Red Sox fan. It hurt my feelings a little bit but i'm over it um here i don't know um i don't really have like a big sports idol it's hard to have like a field goal kicker idol right um you know although justin tucker would be the best one to have because i like how he i like his bravado with playing that position. Like we ran a piece about him last month. Like he really wants to hit a 70-yarder. It's like his dream in life.

He's planned it out. He knows he can do it. I like the way he carries himself. Yeah, his confidence level is awesome right now, and he's playing great. I mean, that's what you need as a kicker. I'm a Patriots fan, and we had terrible kickers my entire life. And then we got Adam Vinatieri, who's one of the great clutch kickers ever. And then he left for the Colts.

They replaced him with Gostkowski, who's also – I've had like 20 years of good kickers, but a lot of football fans cannot say the same when, you know, you can have some frustrating moments um here's another one you're only a rookie it already seems like korean americans are gravitating toward him since there's so few korean americans in pro sports do you already feel like a role model um no definitely not um well it's happening i hate to break it right um i mean for me i have to focus on what i gotta do on the field because in reality i i haven't done anything yet you know i haven't

played a real game yet yeah so for me to say i feel like a role i haven't i haven't done anything so um you know i've i gotta focus on what i have to do on the field so I can, you know, do this for a long time, hopefully. Kickers notoriously scapegoated on social media. Do you worry about social media being a kicker? You're talking about the video? Well, that was great for you. The video was like the, I mean, I got that sent 20 times to me. It seemed like that went all over the place.

Now, like when the first time you mess up a kick or something, like, are you going to read your replies? I mean, no. I would say don't read your replies during the season. That would be my advice. So for me, mentally, whether I miss a kick or make a kick, I try to have, I guess, limited emotions, I guess I should say. Because I don't want to get too hyped about a good moment

when there will be a bad moment, so I don't go on this roller coaster ride. So mentally, I just try to stay level-headed. That's the golfer mentality. That's Jordan's speech. Right. Same thing. That's why, I don't know if you watch tennis,

but Federer almost lost to this American in the first round, Tiafoe. And the guy, he's a 19-year-old American. The crowd was going nuts, but he broke Federer in the fifth set. And instead of being like, he was fist pumping and running. And I was like, oh, no, he's too excited. Because in tennis, you really have to kind of manage it. And I would say golf's like that, and kicking's got to be like that too.

Someone started a fake Instagram account using your name. Are you going to try to monitor? You need somebody to monitor this stuff. My friend sent me a couple screenshots. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would monitor all these fake accounts. You never know with all this stuff um have you encountered racism on the football field in high school or college um i don't i mean i don't i try not not to pay attention to it all i try to pay attention to was

just a brotherhood that i had with my teammates and you know just have fun out there um because it's not really about only game day but what built that friendship um relationships were off the field you know off the field stuff working out together whatever that may be so you know i just tried to focus on the positives and just have fun as much as i can were you aware of lynn sanity in 2012 and if so are you ready for a coup sanity that's probably well i was in new jersey when all that uh happened i remember i remember seeing shirts everywhere lynn sanity and all this stuff so it was that was amazing but uh you know he hit he earned that you know he hit a couple game-winning shots. He was awesome for like three weeks.

He kind of was stealing the team for Carmelo. I think Carmelo was like, we got to get this guy out of here. Yeah, so, I mean, he earned that. And like I said before, I haven't, you know, done much yet. Well, if you do something, I think good stuff is going to happen. So, have you, like, found a place in L.A.? Are you going through that whole thing now? I'm doing that right now. I actually haven't's going to happen. So have you found a place in L.A.? Are you going through that whole thing now? I'm doing that right now.

I actually haven't found a place yet. So it's been kind of crazy. And a strange season for the Chargers in general because they moved two hours. Everybody's trying to probably find a place or decide whether they're living in San Diego or moving here and all that stuff, right? Yeah.

I mean, it was exciting, though. I was there in San Diego for the OTAs, so I got used to that area, but we knew that we were moving to L.A. for good. I'm telling you, you hit the jackpot. The weather's beautiful. Right. There's a bunch of great places to eat. Like, hey, you're just, this is a good place. Yeah.

I mean, I'm excited to find out. I have to ask you one thing about, one political thing. Like, the stuff that's going on in Korea. Your dad, you said your dad's still in South Korea. Are you still monitoring that? Are you worried about that? What's your take on that? I mean, I don't know.

I mean, it's been going on for a long time now. Yeah. I mean, I talked't know. I mean, it's been going on for a long time now. Yeah. I mean, I talked to my dad about it, and my parents kind of informed me on what's going on as well. You know, I think, like my dad said, it's been going on for so long that people are kind of used to it over there, not as of a big deal as it's over here. Yeah.

But you never know you know so i mean i don't know i don't know i don't know what's gonna happen or anything but hopefully hopefully it'll be a settle soon when is he coming here to see you play uh when we make the playoffs because he'll be here in january i have good news for you you're i actually picked you guys to make the playoffs. I think the Chargers are going to be good this year. Yeah. They really do. I thought last year they just had an incredible amount of bad luck, injuries,

bad luck in close games. The team might be moving, might not be moving, and it's just like it was one of those year-from-hell seasons. Yeah. And this year will be better. Have you met all of Phil Rivers' kids yet kids yet no he's got like 15 kids i've never changed he seriously has like how many kids does he have he's got eight kids you should maybe you could babysit on tuesdays did phil rivers move here what did he do is he in san diego has too many kids. He can't find a house for

all those kids in L.A. What teammate have you bonded with the most? The rookie class really because we were there for an extra three weeks during the OTAs after the vets have gone home and stuff. We were there working out together.

We were all in the same shoes. We didn't know what was going to happen. We were just putting everything we we could out there so i bonded with a bunch of rookies definitely who's your holder um uh drew drew kaiser no do we like him yeah i love him mike snapper uh nice guy does he give you shit when you mess up uh no i mean structured i'm always the holder kicker relationship always always is fascinating to me. You have to trust him, and it's an accountability thing with the three. The operation, the snapper and the holder, I can't control that. Who's the snapper?

Mike Wendt. It's his eighth year coming up, I think, and just to have the knowledge then and just be able to follow him. Take those guys out for meals. Those guys, you need those guys. Those are your two guys definitely plus you guys are going to score points this year i think the chargers i think you're gonna get some chances oh yeah i was surprised i had my fantasy draft last night we have 10 teams and i was surprised you didn't get picked because i thought the chargers were gonna have a top 10 offense maybe rookie kicker bias in our

fantasy league but uh but i i do think they're going to score some points. Yeah. I mean, we have great players. Isn't it weird that you're playing in a soccer field? You kind of merge both worlds. Yeah, it is. You're playing in a soccer stadium. It's like, how many seats is it going to be?

27,000. 27,000. That's just like. It's like 40,000 less than I think any other stadium. Yeah. It's just like Georgia Southern. That's good like... It's like 40,000 less than I think any other stadium. Yeah. It's just like Georgia Southern. That's good for you. Georgia Southern held 27.

It's just like, feels just like home. So your first game is in Denver. Mm-hmm. Monday night, altitude. Mm-hmm.

Have you kicked an altitude like that before? But I've heard the ball flies a little farther. It's like five extra yards. Yeah. I went to, just randomly,

I went to a Broncos-Patriots game in the late 90s, and Jason Elam kicked a 63-yarder at the game, and we were midfield watching it, and it seemed like he kicked it 270 yards. It was insane to watch, but it definitely carries. I think you're going to enjoy it. National TV, people are going to be talking about you. What celebrity do you want to meet?

Are you single? No, I have a girlfriend. You have a girlfriend? Yeah. From college? High school. High school? Yeah.

How many years? About eight and a half. Eight and a half years? What does she think of all this? I try to fill her in so she can feel the experience as well. She came out here for a preseason game as well. We're just excited for this opportunity. Tate, we finally found somebody who's dating somebody longer than you.

Congratulations. Tate's got a high school girlfriend? College. Tate's got high school girlfriend? College. Tate's like five plus years in. Eight and a half years. Yeah, I mean, she's been supporting me for a long time. Oh, her head's got to be spinning.

Just wait till Monday night if you make a big kick or something. Well, we're all rooting for you. You have, David Chang is taking you out for a meal, so we got to put that on the calendar. I know that's happening. I'm excited.

I think this is, I can't believe you made the team. I read the story and I was like, ah, Lambeau was pretty good, but it just seemed like you took it. I forgot to ask you about the coach. What's he like? Coach Stewart, the special teams coach?

No, the head coach. The head coach? Yeah. He's awesome. His presence, I mean, you just feel it. Because he's a new coach. Yeah. Has he yelled at you yet? No.

No. No, not yet. Not once? No. Not a kickoff out of bounds or anything? No, Coach Stewart actually handled all that stuff for us. So he's yelled at you? Yeah, maybe a couple times.

But it's good, though. He is great for me for a mental side of things. He's been coaching for a long time, 30-plus years, I believe, just to have that knowledge around me and just to uh you know coach me and not just the kicking side but just how to deal with stuff and how to be a professional and all this is huge for me you don't play the patriots this year right i don't think you do uh we do you do what what week is that? After Denver. All right.

I'm not going to root against... I'm going to root against you during the Patriots game. But all the other games, I'm going to be rooting for you. I forgot you were playing... That's not here, though. That's in New England. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I don't wish you luck for week eight,

but that's the way I wish you luck thank you for coming on congratulations on everything this is an amazing story thank you for having me that's it for the BS pod this week we have another one coming on Friday don't forget about SeatGeek $20 off if it's your first time

purchasing NFL tickets on SeatGeek use promo code BSNFL. And again, check out my Facebook page or maybe the Ringer's Facebook page. We're going to put up the seven charities that Shea Serrano mentioned earlier in the podcast that we're donating to. And we would love if you guys could help out, too, if you haven't already. That's it. We'll be back on Friday.