The Bill Simmons Podcast - The Boston Massacre, Teen Culture Watch, and 'Succession' With JackO, Zoe Simmons, and Chris Ryan | The Bill Simmons Podcast (Ep. 397)

Episode Date: August 6, 2018

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by his old friend and rival Yankees fan JackO to discuss the Red Sox's sweep of the Yankees, A-Rod's relentless commentary, playoff implications, and more (3:38). Then Bill sits down with his daughter, Zoe, to discuss teen culture in the form of breakups, YouTube, and TV (39:30), before talking with Chris Ryan about the season finale of HBO's 'Succession' (1:04:05). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode of the Bill Simmons Podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network, brought to you as always by ZipRecruiter. ZipRecruiter's technology and tools make hiring more efficient and more effective. It's the smartest way to hire. ZipRecruiter's powerful technology scans thousands of resumes to find people with the right experience for your job. The tech does not stop there. It even learns what kind of candidates you like and invites more to apply. There's a big difference between working hard and working smart. ZipRecruiter allows you to balance both. 80% of employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate through the site in just one day. My listeners can try it for free. Go to

ziprecruiter.com slash BS. ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. Meanwhile, SeatGeek, the best app for buying and selling tickets to sporting events, concerts, ass kickings of the Yankees, and more. For $20 off your first SeatGeek purchase on any game or sporting event, whether it's college football, football, MLS, baseball, or ass kicking of the Yankees, you know what to do. Just use promo code BS. Download the SeatGeek app or go right to SeatGeek.com. We're also brought to you by TheRinger.com,

which just ran its very successful and controversial 100 best TV episodes of the 21st century. That was all last week. Juliet Lippman and I did a podcast on that on Friday. We forgot one crucial point that I was really upset about, and I just forgot to mention to her. The Shield left off the top 100. Outrageous.

I didn't like The Shield that much, but a lot of people I knew did, And I do think it was one of the first anti-hero shows and should have been represented in some way. Forgot to bring that up. And we forgot to get into it on the loss, the constant being the number one episode of all time, which was obviously just ridiculous and outrageous. But yeah, we forgot to do that. So at some point next time Juliet's on, we'll, I'll battle her about that stuff. Check out the ringer.com this week, NFL heating up and Kevin Clark,

Robert Mays are both on the ground going to different training camps and stuff. Clark wrote about the wildcat offense today, Miami, 10 years ago when they almost revolutionized football and did for about three weeks. And Mays wrote about the Raiders and John Gruden's QB camp with Derek Carr. And what the hell is going on with Derek? I'm just starting to get ready to talk about football. We have a football guest coming on for Wednesday's podcast that is a little surprising.

Not surprising, but it's just somebody that hasn't been on as we head toward 400 BS podcasts. I think this is, what is this one, Kyle? This would be 396, I believe. 396 or 397, somewhere in there. We're heading toward 400, something like that. Anyway, we have a couple of things planned for the 400th. Coming up, Jacko. I texted him yesterday and said, either way you're coming on. We'll talk to him. We're going to talk to Chris Ryan about succession and my daughter is going to give the teenage girl culture watch for August. But first, Pearl Jam. Jenny! Hi.

Hi there. How are you? How you doing, Jenny? I've been better. I have definitely been better. How was your weekend? Well, you know, aside from sports, it was nice. My daughter turned seven on Saturday.

Oh, congrats. Thank you. Lovely little family party. And we have a new dog we've had for about a month. He's keeping us busy. So sure. Everything was good. I've got my health as far as I'm aware.

So maybe not my mental health, but the rest of me is pretty good. So no complaints outside of sports. I have a lot of complaints. Would you name the dog? Finnegan. Finnegan. We call him Finn.

Yeah. I would have named it Aaron Boone because he's been a dog as a Yankees manager. Yeah, but I don't like Aaron Boone and I like my dog. So that's what people were like, you know, you should have named it Glaber, but I never want to raise my voice in anger at anything named Glaber. That was a month ago, but things have changed since then. But yeah, no, I'm happy I stayed away from any Yankee-centric names. Let's put it that way.

What was the worst part of the weekend for you? Well, I mean, it was all, I mean, the Yankees-wise, it was all bad. I didn't watch, I'll be honest, I didn't watch any of it because I was so disgusted. I've been so disgusted by their performance overall for about the past month. And I have been like a Cassandra on Twitter, screaming that this team was grossly overrated. The notion they were a World Series contender was ridiculous, and people would chime back at me and say,

oh, no, but they're 30 games over.500, and they have the second-best record in baseball, and the Red Sox are just on a hot streak. And this weekend, unfortunately, proved me startlingly accurate because the team is grossly overrated, and they were exposed. I mean, that team was exposed, and Aaron Boone was exposed this weekend. And it was disgraceful. It was depressing.

It was beyond words. I can't put together the words to say how bad this weekend was. You know, Boston Massacre, everybody's resurrected that. That doesn't even do it justice how much they were completely emasculated. I don't believe you that when you say you didn't watch anything. I just don't believe you. I've known you for too long. I followed it along on my phone.

No, you watched. You were watching last night. Just stop. Our 30-year anniversary is coming in four weeks. I followed it along on my phone. No, you watched. You were watching last night. Just stop. I did. Our 30 year anniversary. Our 30 year anniversary is coming in four weeks. Our 30th anniversary is friends. And when that day happens, you're going to come on the pod and we're going to tell the whole story of how we met.

Excellent. But over those 30 years, I've known when you're full of shit. And this is one of those times. There's no way you didn't watch that entire game last night. No, I did not. There's no way you weren't annoyed by it. I literally did not watch last night. Come on.

Did I tune into it briefly? I did tune into it briefly. Oh, my God. And then I had to hear, I turned on just in time to hear Jessica Mendoza say how the Yankees' bullpen was their strength, really going out on a limb with a hot sports take there, which turned out not to be the case, obviously, as Chapman blew it in the night.

I was one to nothing. I had a busy weekend with my daughter's birthday and family and everything else. I went to bed fairly early last night. I don't believe any of this. I did not see the implosion, mercifully. But I knew, like I tossed and turned last night, knowing that it

literally was to the point where it's causing me to lose sleep how angry and upset I was and the thing I did watch that sent me into a blue funk was Thursday night after they were completely eviscerated 15 to 7

I'm in the ease on my thesaurus before I used emasculated now I went with eviscerated I did tune in to Yes to watch Aaron Boone's ease on my thesaurus before I used emasculated. Now I went with eviscerated. So, um, uh, I did tune in to yes, to watch, uh, Aaron Boone's fucking press conference,

which was a fucking disgrace. And I literally was going to go and find a voodoo doctor to try and resurrect drunken Billy Martin, who would at least flip over some tables and get fucking blind drunk and probably fight some players and maybe give this team a fucking spine and some fire in their fucking belly. Cause they seem not to give a shit. Wow. So I've tried to take a Zen-like approach of like, well, he doesn't give a shit, so

why should I give a shit? You know, Cashman runs a fucking team out there that's allegedly a World Series contender and we have Shane Robinson and Luke fucking Voight playing first base, which would piss me off, except that Greg Bird is the worst fucking player I've ever seen in my life, who's been hyped for five fucking years. Jesus Christ. I gotta say...

I'm not gonna make any excuses about Judge not being there, although he is the best player on their team, so that's a big hole in their lineup, without question. But you cannot be a World Series contender and run Sonny fucking Gray out there every fucking five days. They just mercifully put him out to pasture in the bullpen, thankfully, 20 games too late. But then you start a season as a World Series contender and you have no starting pitching whatsoever. Severino is supposedly the second coming of Nolan Ryan.

He's been awful for a month. Awful. He was great for the first half of the season. So I don't know what happened to him Ryan, he's been awful for a month. Awful. He was great for the first half of the season. So I don't know what happened to him, but he's terrible. I'm 48 years old. I hopefully have another four plus decades of life left at some point in my four plus decades of life left. I would like the Yankees to back one Red Sox hitter off the plate. Can you back one guy off in my life? Is that too much to ask I'm not even going to go so far as to say to hit somebody

but could you make somebody moderately uncomfortable at the plate well they did hit Bogarts in the hand not hard enough before watching Boone's horrible press conference where he talked about everything is great everybody's wonderful everybody played great

he was hired to be the team's big brother. Give everybody a pat on the back and tell them they're awesome. And before that, they had David Cohen on. He's like, this team's losing 15-7. Nobody pitched inside at any point. Can you send a slight message to anybody? Just, I mean,

if you lose, I mean, look, the Red Sox are literally the reincarnation of the 27 Yankees. They can't lose. They get guys off the scrap heap like Steve Pierce. He turns into Babe fucking Ruth, which is inexplicable. And so the Red Sox are a great team. This is the best Red Sox team in the history of the Red Sox. They're phenomenal.

But the Yankees theoretically could be competitive with them. But then they play them, and they don't even pitch inside. They have no life. They have no fire. If you lose, you lose. But God, show some spirit for the love of God. I thought Thursday night they cut to Aaron Boone a couple of times in the dugout and

it was just full-fledged during the headlights. Full-fledged. Frozen face. I'm in over my head and it really gave me a lot of comfort and satisfaction and happiness, I got to say, I was like, Oh,

that guy's another dugout. Great. Jonathan Holder has been great for them all year. He's been, he's been phenomenal in that game. He did not have it. It was clear. He did not have it early on.

And it was like, Boone forgot. He could bring in another pitcher that he could take him out. Yeah. I mean, he just sat there. And then I, you know,

on Friday night, I think that when they faced Porcello and they got one freaking hit and did nothing, and Cora, I believe that's the game where Cora got thrown out of the game for arguing balls and strikes. And after the game, Boone says, I really sympathize with Cora because the ump was horrible.

Well, what are you doing there? You're not just a spectator. You're not in the ESPN booth anymore. You can go out and yell at the ump, maybe show a little fire, get yourself thrown out of the game. Now, I don't know if that does anything,

but you know, maybe the team's like, Hey, at least skippers got our back there. Boy, our big brother, Aaron was upset. Maybe we should like wake up.

It's interesting. They could have, they could have in one of those games, just started the relievers and then the Tampa Bay strategy. And I would have been more frightened. They should. I mean, you know, they traded, who I guess has decent numbers against the Red Sox. The Mookie Betts 13-pitch grand slam notwithstanding. But other than that, he's had a pretty good, decent numbers against the Sox. And he gets head, foot, and mouth disease.

So now we've become the Mets where we're getting these diseases that nobody over the age of five ever gets as they've gotten before. And then now we've got J-Haps. Okay, so that hurts. But Cashman, in the meantime, has gotten rid of Adam Warren, who was a long guy and a spot starter for the precious international signing money so they can go sign some 14-year-old Venezuelan who's going to be good in 15 years. Of course, he's really probably 35, but they claim he's 14. So that's the problem. We're hoarding international signing bonus money, and then they don't have a starter. How you can be a team knocking on the door of a $200 million

payroll, and you don't have a starter? You don't have a starter because you traded for Sonny Gray, and he's horrific. And they had to move him to the bullpen. And they went out and got Lance Lynn, but because Sonny Gray was so bad in his other start, they had to bring in Lance Lynn. And then when Sabathia, who's 150, can't go more than three innings,

and they had to burn Luis Cesar, who was supposed to be the starter. You left out Domingo German. Who else did you—who was that guy with the—Louis Siga? Luizaga. Luizaga? He was in there for a cup of coffee. Oh, yeah. And he had flashes.

Both these guys had flashes, but then the league catches up to them and realizes they're not anything special and they're too young. They were protecting Chance Adams, and we couldn't possibly ever use him, and they bring him up, and he was okay, I guess. He only lost that game 4-1, so that was probably the best game they had all weekend, I guess.

That was my favorite Robin Williams movie, Chance Adams. Domingo was on my AL keeper team, and he would strike out like 10 guys in five innings, but also give up eight runs. So it was really the game of emotions with Domingo. And the problem is, you know, when you have Sabathia, who, you know, God love him. I like CeCe, but, and he had, you know,

he fooled everybody last year. And last year he was great. They brought him back on cheap money for one more year. But he's got nothing left. He's just got nothing. He's out there trying to do it with smoke and mirrors. And, you know, God love him. He's got miles and miles and miles on that arm. So he only goes three innings.

Then that's a disaster for the bullpen, obviously. You have Tanaka, who's the most frustrating pitcher in baseball. He throws 97 pitches in four innings last night or whatever he went. You can't have starting pitchers go three or four innings. And they went out and got Zach Britton. They made their one strength stronger. And having a good bullpen. He's amazing.

The bullpen has imploded on them. Yeah, but Zach Britton might be your best reliever right now. Well, but Tancis is probably, arguably, he's turned things around and he's been great. I mean, I know Chapman has problems against the Red Sox, and as my legendary Mariano Rivera rant about the Red Sox, this is now two phenomenal closers in a row that have problems closing out your biggest rival. One of the problems is they probably see each other too much. Chapman has been super shaky when he doesn't get regular work

and he can't find the strike zone for some reason. But that was Aaron Boone's fault, though. He didn't pitch for five days. Anyone who follows Chapman knows that when he hasn't pitched in a while and he gets all sweaty in the mound. I mean, he looked like a cocaine addict last night in the mound. Did you see him sweating? Sweat was pouring. It was literally pouring off him. I thought, he looked like a cocaine addict last night in the mound. Did you see him sweating? It was literally pouring off

him. I thought it was raining for a second, and then it cut back, and it was just sunny outside. He does sweat a lot. He's got the Patrick Ewing sweating thing going on. I will tell you this. I was the most afraid of Britton. I watched this whole series. I thought the Red Sox had no chance against Britton.

He was so filthy. He was throwing like 96 that sinker outside corner every time and I just felt like the Red Sox had a better chance against Chapman they've had rallies against him before they've been able to get guys on base well Chapman almost blew a game

against the Mets they had to take him out and Jason Shreve who's no longer with us came in and shut the door but I was Chapman almost blew a game against the Mets. They had to take him out, and Jason Shreve, who's no longer with us, came in and shut the door. My wife and I went to the Foo Fighters concert at Fenway on July 21st. We got up to Fenway. It was in the shadow of the Green Monster. I was in a bar on Lansdowne Street watching the Yankees-Mets game on,

and Chapman came in, and he couldn't have been farther away from the plate. He was horrible, horrible. And they were playing the Mets. Thank God. And they had the seven, two lead. They ended up winning seven to six, but he was brutal because he hadn't had enough work. Now I remembered that came, that was only two weeks ago. Well, 16 days ago. And somehow Aaron Boone, who's only the fucking manager of the team was unaware of that. Like maybe we should get Chapman regular work,

even if it's not in a safe situation well at least Chapman's a good guy um he last night was a really fascinating baseball game for a variety of reasons I watched the entire game except for when Succession was on and then I put it on my iPad and watched

and had it going without sound as I watched Succession which I know you're not watching, but I really want you to catch up on so season two we can be ready to run. I really feel like it would be in your short pantheon of shows. It brings everything to the table that you like in a television show. All right. Yeah, just plow

through it. I know you're busy. I know you got new dog and your anger for the Yanks. You've got things going on, but maybe power through succession. I will. You use a little extra me time for succession. Sure. So a few things interesting about yesterday.

One, it felt like a playoff game. At some point, it became one of those like five-hour marathon, you lose the will to live type of games. Right. That Cora made his first really big mistake in a while where he left David Price in a little bit too long. Brought in Heath Hembree, who just had deer in the headlights. Your third baseman had deer in the headlights the whole game and then finally made the big

killer play. Greg Bird, pretty much any first baseman scoops that for the winning throw. Any competent first baseman, he blows it. Well, at least he can't hit, too, so that helps better. That's good. He makes up for it by not hitting. I have him in fantasy. He's one of those guys who'll have two homers

and some 15-to-1 beating of the Royals. But then anytime you need to count on him, he's 0-for-4. There were guys on both sides. Heath Embry was another one. I don't know how many Red Sox relievers I trust at this point. It's basically just Barnes and Kimbrell, and everybody else is kind of you're on pins and needles. You have three relievers, I would say,

that at least you know you can trust in a playoff game. I would still put Chapman in there even if he didn't win last night. But your starters, Tanaka is the starter I'm most afraid of. I don't know how you feel about that, but I watched all your starters. I know. I knew Tanaka. He's the one that pitched the best.

Francesa tweeted this before the Sunday game. He's like, I trust Tanaka. I know Tanaka's the number one guy I'd want in this game. And I kind of felt that way on the other side. And I think when you're in a wildcard game, which you're going to be in a wildcard game in about eight weeks. Maybe. A-Rod tried to have this conversation in the booth,

but it was almost a little too intelligent for everybody there. I think you have to start Tanaka in the wildcard game. He's at all the starters you have. You can't start Severino in that game. A month ago, I was like, well, they're going to blow Severino in the wildcard game. He's at all the starters you have. You can't start Severino in that game. I went a month ago, I was like, well, they're going to blow Severino in the wildcard game, and that'll hurt them for the first round. I actually think they have to start Tanaka in the wildcard game now, unless

something dramatically flips over the next eight weeks. What do you think? And last year, he was great in the playoffs, so when the bright lights are on, he seems to turn it up a notch. To mingle cliches. But, yeah, he's probably the guy I would, I guess I would trust the most. And that, that speaks volumes because he loves nothing more than giving up as many home runs as he can. So in some ways I feel for

Cashman because Cashman is like a guy that's got a billion dollars, but nobody will sell him anything. So the Yankees have all these have all these assets and all these prospects and everything else, but one, people are hoarding starting pitching, and the team that makes the most sense to deal with is the Mets, who are awful, and their only strength is starting pitching. So in a world where the Mets were smart, which is another universe far, far away, they would trade Syndergaard to the Yankees and rebuild with prospects. Wouldn't you want DeGrom?

Ideally. Well, of course I would want DeGrom, but I'm not going to ask for the moon here. But even in a sane world, they'd say, well, we'll give you Syndergaard. And Syndergaard, even with injuries and open mouth disease or whatever the hell he and Jay have, are a huge upgrade over anybody on the Yankees. Well, if you'd gotten... Because if the Mets were smart, which they're not, what they would do anybody on the Yankees. If the Mets were smart, which they're not, what they would do is what the Yankees did a couple of years ago when the Yankees had, the only thing they had was a good bullpen with Chapman and Andrew Miller, and they traded both of them for what ended up being Glaber

and Justice Sheffield and Clint Frazier, and rebuild their farm system with assets. If you had gotten Syndergaard, you could have had him and Jay Hab live in one of those bubbles that people put in their houses when they have termites. They just could have lived in a protected area. They could have roomed together on the road. They could have given each other

head, mouth, foot disease. You don't think any part... I feel like Aaron Judge swings one of those games. I think he would, too. I think you would. You win last night. You win six, it's six to one in the ninth inning and we don't come back. Because Judge, that was a classic Judge to run homer game.

The Yankees have been snakebitten in terms of injuries a little bit because Clint Frazier cannot get past post-concussion syndrome. And I'm not blaming that on Clint Frazier. I mean, legitimately, he ran into a wall, he's got a concussion, and that has lingering effects, as we know from the NFL and sports in general. It's caused him a lot of problems, and he certainly would have been a much better outfielder to have in there than Shane Robinson, who I don't even know what he's doing there.

They had Tyler Austin, who is probably a better, certainly a better first baseman if you're going to sit Bird, to put him in instead of Luke Voigt, but they traded him for Lance Lynn, I believe. Yes, they did. You know why they traded him? Because Joe Kelly took his dignity. That's why.

He had to go to another team. That's the one silver lining for me when your father has had a couple of anti-Joe Kelly tweets. I'm glad to see the mayor of Boston, Joe Kelly, his local folk hero, has lost some of his luster. He's lost his ability to make batter swing and miss, unfortunately. That's been a problem. Remember when he dropped a puck in the Bruins playoff series?

That was great. I think he's tipping pitches. I'm in the Joe Kelly's tipping pitches camp. Or it could just be that he stinks. Hold on. Let's take a quick break. Let's talk about SimpliSafe home security. Before you start giving me crap saying that I only like SimpliSafe

because they're from Boston, home of the team that just swept the Yankees. That's not true. I like SimpliSafe because it's a great security system, awesome protection, very easy to use, and because they are from Boston. SimpliSafe got started when her Harvard engineer's friend got burglarized. They went to get a security system. It was a huge hassle, too complicated, too expensive, terrible contract. So we built something better.

SimpliSafe, a comprehensive, easy to use protection with no contracts and fair prices. It keeps your family and home safe 24 seven, even during power outages, when your wifi is down or if a burglar smashes your keyboard. Thoughtfully designed, never in your way. You probably won't even notice it. You can set it up in minutes. Literally anyone can use it. That's right. No contracts, 24-7 monitoring for only $14.99 a

month. Order a SimpliSafe security system today. SimpliSafe will also donate one to a family in need, but you have to go to simplisafe.com slash BS. That is SimpliSafe with two I's. SimpliSafe.com slash BS. Last night was my first game really watching a Sunday night baseball game from start to finish intently. Yeah. It was a lot of A-Rod. Is it?

Yeah. It was a lot. Yeah. I don't know if the producers were like, we need more A-Rod. Is it? Yeah. It was a lot. Yeah. I don't know if the producers were like, we need more A-Rod. That's what's selling this show. Or if he just sort of has a type A personality and he's taken over or what.

But yeah, other games I've watched, it is a lot of A-Rod. He's the star of the show. First two innings, you're like, wow, A-Rod's really good at this. And then by the fourth inning, it's like, all right. I think I'm pretty good with A-Rod at this point. I'm okay.

And then by the sixth inning, it's like, hey, can anyone else chime in here? Anybody? Can we go to Buster only? And by the eighth inning, you're just, you're like the old movie airplane. You're just pouring the gasoline on yourself. A-Rod's like, I remember when I was, there's John Henry. I met John Henry in 2000.

Everything is about what happened to A-Rod. And it's like, can we talk about the game? It's like, hey, there's John Henry. So here's a five-minute story about when I went to visit John Henry and his wife, and his wife's great. And it was just, and poor Mendoza who I have no idea if she's a good announcer or not. I just know that she's not good on these games. She might be good, but she has been cast as kind of this third party in the booth. Like this, it's all A-od. And then Mendoza chimes in sometimes. It's like being at somebody's dinner table

when one person's talking the whole time and then their wife feels like they have to chime in and they just kind of chime in for a second. So they're doing her a complete disservice. If she's good, they're not setting her up, selling her, making her like an equal because she doesn't feel like an equal in the booth. I actually felt genuinely bad for her.

It's like, wow, there's no way you can succeed with the current arrangement. I'm not one of these people that reflexively hates her. I actually think I like her. She seems smart. She seems like a nice personality. She seems fun. Very knowledgeable about baseball. I just don't know if that's the best vehicle for her.

And really, the best partners for A-Rod we've learned in the postseason are either Big Papi or Pete Rose. If ESPN wants to make that show workable, you get Pete Rose there, but that's basically holding a stick of dynamite that's lit. You just don't know when it's going to go. And Big Papi, they would probably venture far afield, you know, really game, you know, play by play, I would say. I would say it would be fun. I would say the best partner for A-Rod is a deaf mute who just sits there and talks the whole time.

I really felt bad for Mendoza. Because I heard her like, I watched. That's cute. That was funny. I actually watched, I actually, I actually watched, uh, I liked the college softball world series. Yeah. I thought she was great on that. That like, I was like, wow, this, she's really good.

And then you, you throw her with A-Rod and she's just, I just felt bad for her. Fast Kershion's pretty good. I actually think he's one of the better baseball play by play guys to have. Although maybe part of his job Should be to tell A-Rod to shut the fuck up For five minutes Hey, he just saw a change-up I remember in 2007

I got thrown a great change-up And here's the three-minute story about it My God And then He's talking about the history of Fenway And how much he loves coming here. Don't lie to us, A-Rod. You hated Fenway.

Every time you came to Fenway, you were treated like public enemy number one. There's no way he enjoyed that. None. And then they showed the Veritech play. He's like, oh, I remember this. Oh, yeah. It's like, yeah, Veritech kicked your ass.

You're not remembering that fondly. Well, the part of the game that I tuned in, he was also saying something about how Jason Veritech kicked your ass there's that you're not remembering that fondly well the part of the show the game that I tuned in he was also saying something about how Jason Veritech made every Red Sox pitcher a better pitcher

yeah and I was like my god A-Rod it's bad enough the Red Sox are killing us but come on let's not bow down

to Jason Veritech A-Rod can we leave with at least a shred of our dignity like just an ounce of it for the love of God it was amazing I couldn't God. It was amazing.

I couldn't take that. It was just a complete, I mean, my God, it's bad enough we're retreating here. Do we have to burn our flags on the way out? Come on, A-Rod. There's some good stuff within his analysis, but you get overpowered by all the other stuff. He was doing a good job.

I watched an earlier Sunday Night Baseball Yankees Red Sox game. I forget what exactly it was, a month ago or whenever. And Aaron Hicks hit a liner up the middle or hit a home run. And A-Rod's like, Aaron Hicks, who's a scratch golfer, hits one right down the fairway. I'm like, it's a little overprepared, A-Rod. Take it easy. A-Rod's like, I got to work in this scratch golfer tip I've got. Yeah. Aaron'm like, it's a little overprepared, A-Rod. Take it easy. A-Rod's like, I gotta work in this

scratch golfer tip I've got. Yeah. Aaron Hicks, you know. I think he works better on a studio show. Yeah.

You know, like on Nesson this weekend, they had Remy and Eckersley together. Oh, yeah. It was honestly just fantastic because

they have such good chemistry. They played together. It was like just two old guys who used to be plays, play baseball, kind of selling each other and really informative. I think Remy's been really hit or miss depending on if he's by himself, not good. But when he's with Eckersley,

all of a sudden it's really good. So I was also coming off that. And I think for the most part, uh, baseball, the baseball booths are pretty bad. And especially like the radio, the radio is like a whole other level. I texted you the other day cause I heard John Sterling and Susan Waldman.

It was the only choice for when I was driving to have the Red Sox Yankee game. And I was like, is this your actual radio team? And you were like, sadly, yes. Well, the famous, I mean, the game I remember is last year I was at work and I was listening to the game on the radio in my office and they were at Wrigley Field and at Wrigley Field, they couldn't close the window in the booth or maybe Wrigley does not have windows that close in the press box. So the windows were open and these two, I swear to God, went on for six innings about how cold they were. And Sterling's like, they got new monitors.

I can't see the right field line. I can't see left field line. I can't see the scoreboard. It was like listening to like your grandparents like talk about their trip to Myrtle Beach. It wasn't like it. It probably wasn't. It probably was listening to your grandparents. If our grandparents were still alive.

It's cold at Wrigley. I can't see this. I can't see that. I'm like, God almighty, can we just get the score? Like, what's the situation? Can we account anything? It's just terrible. A-Rod's like, I remember I played in Wrigley once.

I got a 2-1 slider. Took it opposite field from a guy by the name just 7 minutes story A-Rod just tone it down just bring it bring it back a notch that's the thing

like they I watched the Ted Williams documentary from oh yeah theater or whatever it was yeah which was really really

really good and you know they said Ted Williams he'd come back and he could tell you you know he would get mad at Bobby Dore or Johnny Pesky when they came back.

And he's like, what's he throwing? They're like, I don't know. And Ted Williams could tell you about, like, you know, a game in May from 1939, what the guy was throwing and where the guy threw him. It's just an amazing memory for, like, little nuances of the game. You think Ted Williams would have been good? He probably would have been very abrasive in the booth. Yeah, well, I don't think he would have been good, and they would have had to bleep every other word, I think.

And he wasn't a very good manager because, like they said in the documentary, all he cared about was hitting. Yeah. And it was like a dispute between coaches about how to do a rundown play, and he was like, ah, let's just hit. That's all he cared about was hitting. Everything else was like, ah, whatever. So that's all he would have talked about, you know?

I remember when the Ted Williams autobiography came out, and you and I were so excited because there was a whole section about how well-hung Ted Williams was. I think that's when we decided that all autobiographies have to have a section about how huge somebody's cock was. The Robin Williams one was the latest example. Oh, really? Yeah, the documentary about Robin

Williams. There's a whole section about his hog. I think that's just what happens when you die. People just tell stories about your hog, whether they're true or false. The Ted Williams thing was amazing to me, though, because this guy was sitting on this final game footage for

like 60 years and was the biggest idiot on the earth. He like gave No, he, he, he like gave it, or he pitched it to one producer like 20 years ago. And, and the person idiotically was like, no, that doesn't sound that interesting. And then he just kind of gave up. How did, how did this exist for all these years? He went to different parts of the Fenway and shot the whole game from different seats. I was just stupefied by that story.

Yeah, it was really well done. It was only like an hour long and you could have a multi-day series about Ted Williams. They really got a lot in in an hour. I was really impressed by it. Who would you rather hear stories about from somebody who knows all the intimate details of all the stuff that was going on with them? Joe DiMaggio or Ted Williams?

I'm still in the Joe D camp. You are really not. I was going to say Ted Williams because I don't know that Joe D was all that interesting because I think he was kind of, you know, he kept to himself. He was like sort of standoffish. I think Joe. was a little bit of a prick, and I say that as a diehard Yankees fan. I mean, I read books and stories about him, and he was one of these guys where if you slighted him, he'd just cut you off forever. And he was hard to get to know. Mantle never liked him because Mantle was always intimidated by him.

The guys that were friends with him on the Yankees, there weren't very many. Phil Rizzuto was friendly with him, and I read a book about Billy Martin. And ironically, he kind of liked Billy Martin. It was almost like an ethnic thing where he liked the Italian guys. Yeah, that's how I am.

And he kind of kept with himself. And he really was like not warm and fuzzy and kind of always protected his image. I mean, they had the thing there about how he demanded all his life to be announced as the greatest living baseball player. Like,

they showed him and Williams standing there. You know, it's debatable. He was a better all-around player than Williams, but I don't know that

he was a better hitter than Williams. So to be like, I just couldn't imagine being like, I'd like to be announced as the greatest podcast guest ever.

Greatest living podcast guest. I'm happy to do that if you want, if it's something that's important to you, I just can't imagine like being that like Teddy really, you know, and he had, you know, he grew up with a chip on the shoulder and had a little bit of an inferiority complex and he always, I think overcompensated for that. So I would, I've read books about him, but I don't think anybody ever really got to know him, you know, like he married Marilyn Monroe and all he he ever wanted, he just wanted to stay at home.

Yeah. And, like, watch TV. I don't blame him. That sounds great. Well, yeah. And Marilyn Monroe was like, let's go out to, you know, 21 Club or whatever. Let's, whatever was the toast of New York at the time. And he's, like, sitting home in his t-shirt, like, get me another meatball or whatever, you know? But that's why I'd want to hear the Joe D stories because he tried to turn Marilyn Monroe into a stay-at-home wife.

And meanwhile, she's ripping through the Kennedy family. And he's just going nuts. I think that happened after they separated. And he always did blame the Kennedys for her death. I think he was there. I think he was in Dallas. On Mickey Mantle Day or whatever when Bobby Kennedy,

I think it was Mickey Mantle Day at Yankee Stadium and Bobby Kennedy was the senator from New York and Jody very famously wouldn't shake his hand as he was announced

on the field. Yeah. See, this is why the assassination files haven't come out yet because I think Jody was there.

I think it was Jody, LBJ and the head of the mafia who had better Italian connections than Jody. I would believe anything. I think it was Joe D, LBJ, and the head of the mafia. Who had better Italian connections than Joe D? I would believe anything. I can't believe the assassin.

I mean, Trump, who's just a lunatic, who's just an absolute crazy person who loves nothing more than just twisting it to the American people and dividing us and doing everything he can to make us crazy. How is he not the one who has released the assassination files yet? This is the ultimate Trump thing.

Right. Well, you know, during the primaries, he claimed that, you know, one of the things was that Ted Cruz's father was involved. Right. Because Ted Cruz was from Cuba and he sort of tangentially knew Lee Harvey Oswald or something. And, you know, crossing paths at some Cuban protest or something. And he's like, you know, Ted Cruz's father was involved in killing JFK.

So if there really, well, if there was a conspiracy that's government-wide, they probably wouldn't tell Trump just for that fear that he would accidentally tweet it out. But he can get the files, though. And then it could tie into his whole thing about how, you know, the media is evil and the politics are, it ties into all this stuff. It really has the chance to be the only redeeming thing about his presidency is getting The media is evil and the politics are... It ties into all this stuff. It really has the chance to be the only redeeming thing about his presidency, is getting the assassination files released.

He'll mistakenly release info about UFOs, the truth about UFOs or about presidential assassinations or something. Johnny, before we go, I just want to tell you, this is one of my three favorite Red Sox seasons ever. How could it not be? Of course. The Mookie Betts, Julio Daniel Martinez combo has really brought a lot of joy to my life

this year. I could see why it would. I love Andrew Benintende. Why wouldn't you? I did not stop watching yesterday, even though it was four to one and they were trying to score three runs against the best bullpen. And the game was also taking a laborious amount of time to be played. And A-Rod was on his fifth hour of just telling stories about himself.

I kept watching because this Red Sox team has some fight. I really like Alex Cora. I'm enjoying the season. And that's all I have to say, Johnny. I wish I could say I was happy for you, but I'm not. And what I hope this leads to is a crushing heartbreak in the postseason. Okay. Every Red Sox fan already has the duck boat route planned and they're,

they're oiling up the duck boats. And I just hope that there's a crushing, you know, Jose Altuve bottom of the ninth home run or, or if my, if my efforts to resurrect the zombie Billy Martin come back, and it's like 1978 all over again, where the Yanks come from nowhere and steal the division, and Aaron fucking Boone or Greg fucking Bird, I mean, Greg fucking Bird becomes the Bucky fucking Dent. That's all I can hope for at this point,

is some miraculous thing from the clouds. I'm not hopeful. They changed the rules, so we might play in the playoffs. I know. Well, yeah, that'll be great. We can be eviscerated once again in the playoffs, so it'll be good. Boy, sad. Eviscerated, emasculated, emaciated.

Tough summer. Tough summer for Jacko. Yeah. Yankees, politics. I'm just going to be walking my dog. Politics. I'm just going to be out walking my dog. Yeah. Johnny, say hi to everyone in the Connecticut area. We'll talk to you soon.

I will. All right. Bye-bye. All right. We're going to bring my daughter in to give her latest teen culture update for August in a segment we like to call Four Realzies. But first, you've heard us talk about other fantasy sites in the past. We finally got around to trying FanDuel and we're shocked at how different it is.

FanDuel means it. When they say they have more ways to win, if you're not a fantasy expert, FanDuel, the best place to play. They have all kinds of contests just for casual fans, like beat the score contests, which are great because they pay out everyone who hits a certain score. All you have to do is finish in the money to split an equal share of the cash. FanDuel also has new options for playing with your friends because the only thing better than winning cash is winning your friend's cash. I totally backed that up, by the way. Best of all, FanDuel doing their part to make the preseason

bearable with preseason fantasy contests. Wow, I didn't even know this was a thing. Running up to week one of the NFL right now. Get a $10 bonus when you make your first deposit on FanDuel. $10 bonus. Sign up at fanduel.com slash BS. Age and state restrictions apply. Once again, fanduel.com slash BS, preseason fantasy football.

That could be dangerous for me. All right, my daughter is here, Zoe Simmons. It's time for another edition of Teen Culture Watch. What are we calling it? For realsies. Yeah. For realsies. That's what we'd name this segment.

You've been on a couple of times. Last time you were on with the director of Eighth Grade, Bo Burnham, your favorite movie of the year. Yeah. We have to catch up on a couple of big things that have happened in teen culture. Yeah. There's been some breakups. Yeah.

One that you were really hoping for. And then another one I think you were hoping for just because you think you might have a chance down the road. No, that's not true. Okay. Let's go through the breakups. Millie Bobby Brown. Okay. So their breakup apparently was mutual between the road. No, that's not true. Okay. Let's go through the breakups. Millie Bobby Brown. Okay.

So their breakup apparently was mutual between the two. Jacob Pistorius, who you did not like. Did you say Pistorius? What's his name? Satorius. Satorius? I don't know his name. He's a YouTube star.

That's not true. He's a Musical.ly star. What is he? Musical.ly star. Is that better or worse? It's worse. So he cheats on her. Is that better or worse? It's worse. So he cheats on her, but they get back together and everybody's upset. Yeah.

Everyone was really upset about that. He cheated on her, which I can't. I mean, it was cheating, but it's like teen cheating. What's teen cheating? What's the difference? I don't know. It's like he was hanging out with somebody else. Yeah.

Or he was like texting someone else, I guess. But. So everybody was upset at him. Yeah. And everybody loves Millie Byrne. But everyone didn't like him even like a lot of people didn't like him before he cheated on her. Like they still didn't like him because he's like a musically star who.

Yeah. Does all the. It's just weird. Get him out of here. I know. So she's single now. Millie Byrne. People are excited about this? Yes, because it's probably not going to happen, but she and her co-star Finn Wolfhard, everyone wants them to get together, which probably won't

happen, but that's like the hope. That's the hope? Yeah. Isn't he older though? You told me he was older. No, he's like 15 or 16. I thought she was like older. No, he's like 15 or 16. I thought she was like 13. No, she's like 14 or 15. I think he's two years older than her. That's who you told me. He's 15. He's 15.

How old is she, Kyle? She is 14. You're older. That's not bad. That's not bad. You're not allowed to date anyone who's more than a year older than her. Yeah, down the road. I know. When I allow you to date, who's more than a year older than her I know Yeah down the road I know When I allow you to date

Which will be when you're about 20 20 So Millie Bobby Brown In a better place She had all the people coming after Yeah Well she was getting a lot of hate Even like from her own people

Like the Millie fandom Even though She didn't do anything weird Like she didn't get skinnier Cut her hair Do anything drastic right though she didn't do anything weird like she didn't get skinny or cut her hair or do anything drastic she didn't do anything but yeah like my friend immediately texted me that they had broken up like

10,000 texts and then they both posted on their story like this breakup is mutual we both respect each other and are still friends so it was like everyone was so happy in there I've literally seen like a million Instagram clips of um like edits of them breaking up and it's really funny what what made you happier them breaking up or when nephew Kyle's finally single again couldn't go a pod without it nephew Kyle who was the other

celebrity breakup the two stars from the kissing booth so they were in the movie and then fell in love in real life yeah which upset you and Liz Kelly because you're both in love with the kissing booth guy he's like 6'4

6'5 right yeah and she's like 5'2". Yeah, from a height standpoint, it just didn't seem like it was going to work. So what happened with them? How did they announce that one? I just saw an Instagram clip when I was rolling through my feed

and it was this picture of them and then like the broken edit thing. Oh, the tear in the middle? Yeah, the tear in the middle. That's how I found out. And then I looked it up and apparently like the broken edit thing oh the the tear in the middle yeah the tear in the middle that's how i found out and then i looked it up and apparently they had broken up and they're still friends like they're still posting things on the internet together and like these videos talking about the kissing booth together but i can tell like since this is a successful movie and that they're going to continue talking about it and bringing it up this year and they're going to

have to be together i can't tell how awkward that will be or what their relationship is like now. Is there going to be a kissing booth too, you think? I mean, I really want there to be, but I don't want it to ruin the first one. Well, that's what usually happens with sequels. I don't know. I don't know if they'll do it.

We'll see. When Nephew Kyle breaks up, should we do the picture of them on July 4th with the tear in the middle? I get that ready i'll get somebody to photoshop that let's get the video department so what so what's the what's the strongest and most controversial teen related relationship right now now that those two are out the window i mean it's really difficult because those two were huge yeah those. Those were the OGs. I wouldn't say that Millie and Jacob, they were like one of the relationships that people enjoyed.

It was almost one of the relationships that people were really hoping for to end. So that's why it was so popular, especially because she's really popular. Can we talk about your favorite YouTube? Yeah. So these are your top four YouTube shows of the summer?

No, YouTube people. YouTube people of the summer. Okay. I have five. You have five. Alright. Go from five to one. Let's build up suspense. Okay. So my fifth one would be Brent Rivera. What does he do? He makes little skits that are related to that are related to,

that are related to like teen life situations. Okay. He makes videos that talk about like, I just watched a video of his where he'll do skits with his sister and his best friend. And they're like, it will be like his best friend is playing the role of her sister's boyfriend. Yeah. And then he's trying to split them up.

And like, it's just, it's, they're really funny little skit videos that he makes and they're super creative. Okay. So there'll be some skit videos and then he'll make videos that are like the top five things that you shouldn't do on summer vacation or the top five things to do when you're bored on spring break. And they're like kind of factual videos, but they're so fun to watch. And he's like really entertaining. So that's number five. Who's number four? Brent Rivera, number five.

Number four for me would be Collins Key. What is that one? He does extreme challenge videos with his friends and his brother, mostly his brother. And they'll do challenge videos that are kind of crazy. Like he'll make a video. I just recently watched a video of his where it was like eat it or wear it. And they would show the food and he would say if he'd rather eat it or wear it. And obviously the person who wears the most food loses. So his videos are really interesting to me what's his name he's really funny kolinsky kolinsky okay he's he's four who's three so i kind of like had a tie here yeah because i couldn't i couldn't choose so second place is a tie yes okay

second place is a tie so my two second place would be james charles what does he Second place is a tie. So my two second place would be James Charles. What does he do? He is a makeup MUA who he's- I don't know what that means. He's a makeup artist. Okay. And he does really interesting colorful looks that reflect on- He uses all different types of color

and he kind of like tries to reflect on the season to make his looks really cool. And he's just different from every other makeup artist out there where he makes tutorials on like how to make your face look like the solar system. And then like all these different, really cool things. And I think he's awesome.

And he's like bringing out a lot of boys who want to be doing makeup who didn't think that they would be able to or that society wouldn't accept them. He's making an acceptance and like almost normal for men to be wearing makeup, which I think is really cool. And he's awesome to watch. And then the Dolan twins are my other one that are a tie with dolan twins james charles okay what do they do they are like another challenge video extremist people they're just really fun to watch like they did a video where they had this globe and they've never been away from each other for more than a week and they both threw pins at the globe blindfolded and they had to go to that place where

their pins landed and they weren't allowed to talk to each other for an entire week and it was like an extreme video but it was really fun to watch they're super entertaining Dolan is I think of Dolan he's the owner of the Knicks who's like the worst owner in the NBA so when you said the Dolan twins for my mind went to two of the terrible Nick owners. All right. Who's number one? Number one would have to be Laura DIY, my favorite YouTuber for now five years. L-A-U-R DIY. Okay.

And she's like my absolute favorite YouTuber. She is a DIY artist who takes like these really expensive high end projects or things that you can buy in a store and takes affordable materials and teaches you how to make it with affordable materials. So it's informative stuff. Yeah. It's that stuff where people yelling at a fake accent, pouring paint on each other.

Yeah. She does stuff like that. And she's my favorite YouTuber. She makes, um, she does collab videos where she'll stuff like that and she's my favorite youtuber she makes um she does collab videos where she'll do like diy challenge and you get these materials and you have to make this in a certain amount of time and in the comments people like vote who they think won the challenge and she does it with like other youtubers who are very successful like she's done it with um well before logan paul what happened to him she did it with logan like she's done it with um well before logan paul

what happened to him she did it with logan paul she did it with um a bunch of these different really successful youtubers and that's like it's so fun to watch so logan paul and jake paul who were all the rage a year ago what's where they stand now with the kids? I feel like last year, they were the types of people who you would always be talking about. Yeah. Like, no matter what situation it was, you would always be talking about Logan Paul or Jake Paul or their new video or merch or whatever. And now it's kind of like they're losing all of their power fans and like everyone talking about them. So their videos are kind of becoming more extreme and dumber. I just watched a video last night preparing for this and it was Jake Paul's video.

And he was like, he made this fake video of himself like going to jail. Like he basically had his friends call him in for trespassing at their house. Yeah. He basically had his friends call him in for trespassing at their house so he could go to jail and break this girl out of jail who he thought was wrongly put in jail because she didn't do what she was sentenced that she did. That sounds terrible. I know. And it was fake. He wrote in this description that they were like professionals and that this was all fake but he was like he's basically so desperate for these views that i feel like he isn't getting as much as he was before everything happened that like

he's making crazy videos like this which i think is silly like honestly it's silly what should we do with ben's logan paul backpack should he just give it to charity? Burn it. Should he burn it in the backyard? Maybe that could be your first YouTube video. The funny thing is he hasn't talked about Logan Paul until long. Fortnite basically took over Logan Paul and Jake Paul. Now, yeah.

That used to be Logan Paul and Jake Paul all everyone talked about. Now it's Fortnite. It's Fortnite, Fortnite, Fortnite all summer. Yeah, which I don't know if it's better. Well, it's certainly not better's fortnight fortnight fortnight all summer yeah which i don't know if it's better well certainly not better for ben not better for ben just him getting the final three and then screaming and throwing stuff he smashed the remote yesterday two days ago he smashed the tv remote the samsung thing broke in like 15 pieces. Maybe not good. What's Ben's favorite YouTube, YouTuber, YouTube channel now? Does he have one?

He watches, his favorite people right now are to watch How to Play Fortnite and How to Win. Yeah. So as he's playing, he watches and plays exactly like what the video is showing him to do. Yeah. And he also watches this account that I actually really like called Be Amazed.

And it's like, it shows you like the top 20 places that you should never swim in. And it's like the top 20 places on the world that haven't been discovered yet. And it's like kind of informal, cool videos that he likes those. And he also likes this guy, Charlie Navalua, who I watched for a little bit, but it's basically this guy screaming at the camera. Sounds great. And throwing things at the camera, throwing spoons at the camera and breaking glass plates.

What was the one, what was really sounds? Ben's living at home until he's 40. That's going to be Ben's, that's going to be Ben's future. Just rage YouTube videos? Well, yeah, he does watch those videos when people rage at Fortnite. Yeah. What was the one you told me about the, the, the people that who pretend, who pay the actors, the social experiment people?

Oh, social, social experiment. Yeah. What's that one? That actually sounded interesting. I really like these videos. So it's basically when they have a situation where they'll take two professional actors and they'll tell them what they're supposed to be doing.

So for example, like there was this mom once and her daughter and the mom was supposed to be fat shaming her daughter in public. And basically it's a test of what strangers would do seeing something happening with discrimination and how they would intervene or how they would react to it. And it's really interesting because you'll see some people actually step up and help that person who's being discriminated against. Yeah. And then you'll watch other people just sitting around watching it and taking their...

I saw a video where someone was taking their phone out when that was happening and like recording it. Yeah. And probably like going to put it on YouTube or something. So it's like a cool way to see how people would react strangers would react to these like situations we should film those with ben as strangers react to him being a lunatic can you describe to the listeners what ben smelled like when we picked him up from camp after two weeks so ben got in the car and it smelled like egg salad that had been left out for three weeks and pooped on by our dog, Jesse. Yeah.

And then microwaved again, mushed up and put into a cake. That's what he smelled like. He took a bath and the bath turned purple. He took a Febreze thing and Febrezed himself. He said, I didn't shower this week, but I Febrezed myself. It's like, what is that supposed to do? It's like a wild animal. He would be one of the people that could live out in the jungle.

Speaking of TV episodes, we did the 100 best TV episodes of the 21st century on The Ringer. Yeah. The OC pilot was number nine. I made you watch the first seven episodes of The OC. I gladly watched. You didn't make me watch. Well, I pushed you to watch it because it's an old show.

You don't trust anything that's not within the last 10 years. But you love the OC. Yeah. You were all in. Yeah. You're going to keep watching it. Yeah. Although I'm disappointed because you said the first seven are the only.

Yeah, it peaks with the first seven. It's still good the rest of the first season. All right. What was your favorite thing about the OC and why do you think they're not making shows like this for people like you now? My favorite part of the OC was probably like the almost quote unquote

forbidden relationship between You love forbidden relationships Yeah I loved that forbidden relationship between the two characters the main character You love forbidden relationships. Yeah, I loved that forbidden relationship between the two characters, the main character, and I can't remember. Ryan and Marissa.

Yeah, Ryan and Marissa. And I really enjoyed that relationship just because you can almost see how badly they wanted to be together, but they couldn't be together because she was having all these issues all these issues with her dad and her family and the divorce and um her boyfriend who cheated on her yeah like her boy her really shady boyfriend who didn't like and it was just like there were so many things that they couldn't be

together so many reasons why but there was like that was even more of a reason why they should be together. So I really enjoyed that relationship. And I really enjoyed Summer's attitude. Yeah. I just like Summer. I think she's super funny. Summer is my favorite character as well. Yeah. She's so stereotypical.

It's hilarious to watch. So if Fox was coming out with a show called forbidden relationship you were just being blind i totally love that there's a movie coming out next month which is like on netflix which i'm going to be obsessed with what's that one um it's about like this girl who writes a love letter to her crushes and then puts it in a box above her bed and somehow the love letters get out oh no yeah i'm so excited i'm so excited it's it looks so good and like one of the guys walks up to her and he's like i'm very flattered that you think my eyes are pretty but we can't be together you just can't do that she's like like, what? And he's like, I have your letter. And then she goes home and all the letters are gone.

There is a movie in the, I don't think I've showed you this movie. It's a little dated, but it was in the eighties called Secret Admirer. And it was basically this guy was obsessed with the best looking girl in high school. And he had his friend who happens to be a super cute female who somehow he doesn't realize is cute until halfway through the movie. She helps him write Secret Admirer letters to this girl who falls in love with him. And they

start dating. But meanwhile, his friend had written all the letters. And then the letters kind of get out. So I think it's a little bit of a rip off on that. But that's one you would really like. Yeah. Maybe this week you watch Secret of Meyer. Yeah. Some of the old 80s movies you've liked a little bit.

Yeah. What's been your favorite one? Ferris Bueller? Oh, I love Ferris Bueller, but that's like a movie that's not really dated. Yeah, that's not dated. I mean. You like Breakfast Club. Oh, I love Breakfast Club.

But some of them you didn't like. Like you didn't like St. Elmo's Fire. I don't remember that one. Yeah, because you didn't like. Like you didn't like St. Elmo's Fire. I don't remember that one. Yeah, because you didn't like it. Yeah. The 80s had some good plots. All the stuff you're watching now is very- When did Grease come out?

Grease was 70s. Oh. Well, that's one of the older movies that I really love. But everyone loves that movie. It's like- Yeah, everyone loves Grease. Yeah. So eighth grade's coming up.

Yeah. What are you excited about? Leaving my school. Well, you've been there for nine years. I love my school so much, but I'm kind of getting like, I just need new people, I guess. New people in your life. Yeah. Some new people to new experiences.

Yeah, but my school is amazing and all the teachers are amazing. And I wish they made a high school. Just if more new people came, it'd be a lot more fun. And you're not playing flag football QB. Stop. I'm just asking you. You're not doing it? I don't know.

I thought you were going to play volleyball now. Kyle, don't give me that face. We could sell this movie to Netflix. That's like already a movie. The girl plays flag football QB, but falls for the receiver. And then they break up before the big game because some letters got out. The other receivers aren't getting passes now. The other receivers aren't getting.

That's not a Netflix movie. We can make that in five minutes. Oh my gosh. Yeah, we actually could, but that's not going to happen. Soccer starts this week. Yeah. Soccer starts this week. How would you rate me as a soccer dad in 2018?

I haven't seen you as a soccer dad in 2018. How was I in 2017? Actually, I have seen you in 2018. You're a good soccer dad. Thanks. He doesn't... He used to talk a lot. In the games or after?

Remember you used to talk a lot like four years ago. I used to yell for you. He used to yell a lot and it made me so angry. And then. We made you play better. Yeah, but now he's a very good soccer dad. Now I just sit there supportively or stand there supportively. No, you like, you have some good moments where you're like, go Z.

Like those, I appreciate. Yeah. You're a good soccer dad. Thanks. You've evolved after like nine years of my life playing soccer. This is like your ninth year of soccer.

I know. I was worried that you were going to lose interest this year, but I think you have the eye of the tiger back. Yeah. Well, I'm on a run with great sports teams,

so hopefully your soccer team will ride it. Oh, we didn't talk about horror movies before we go. Oh, yeah, horror movies. You saw The Descent on Netflix. Is that supposed to be one of the scariest movies? It's in the top 20. It came out like 13 years ago. It freaked all of us out.

I don't... It was a scary movie, but it wasn't my type of scary movie so there's a type of scary movie that i like absolutely love like i just watched oh i just watched the boy yeah that one scared me up until the part where like he comes out and he's actually a person yeah like ghosts scare me anything that's possessing a doll or has ghosts involved, like I like those movies because it scares me so badly. Are you going to be scared when Kyle's girlfriend puts a curse

on our whole family? So curse me first, guys. It'd be called the red lipstick. That'd be the movie. On fire, you guys. Kyle's thinking of beating. Alright, that's it for realsies. That'd be the movie. On fire, you guys. Kyle's thinking of beating. All right. That's it for realsies.

Yeah. Oh, we should mention you launched an Instagram. Oh, yeah. Guys. You haven't started doing it yet. I haven't started it yet. But I do have an Instagram that I'd really appreciate if you followed because I'd be doing updates on. We're going to make this public, not private.

Team Pop Culture, it already is public and the account is four, like the actual four, real, and then S-E-E-Z. So number four. Number four, then real, and then S-E-E-Z. Because we couldn't get the real four reals

so we had to do that. But if you go follow, there'll be like updates on teen pop culture. Yeah. And really like fun videos and stuff like that to watch. So yeah. This was our compromise because you wanted to have a YouTube channel. I wouldn't let you because I don't want you on YouTube. Yeah.

So we're going to start out with you can update on Instagram. Yeah. So go on YouTube. Yeah. So we're going to start out with, you can update on Instagram. Yeah. So go follow that, please. All right. Thanks, C. Thank you. All right. We're going to talk to Chris Ryan about Succession,

which just wrapped up a spectacular first season. But first, let's talk more about fantasy football. This NFL season, be your GM, be a winning GM. Turn this season into a fistful of epic wins by joining a Yahoo Fantasy Football League. Yahoo has spent the off season making serious upgrades to enhance your experience. Upgrades like easier scoring, new trophies,

a buttery smooth app experience. When you come to play fantasy football on Yahoo, the wins are as epic as the season is long. To get in on the wins, you have to get in on the season start a league with your squad or one of the many public leagues just don't miss your chance to play on the best fantasy football platform on the planet my thing is i like doing both i like having the weekly fantasy i like doing the daily fantasy on sundays I like the whole thing. And then I like hating myself because I'm bad at fantasy and I always end up losing in the end.

So it's the gamut of emotions for me. Yahoo though, they figured it out. Join a league right now at yahoo.com slash Simmons Fantasy Football. Once again, yahoo.com slash Simmons Fantasy Football. All right. Another positive of the Trump presidency. It brought us succession on HBO.

Crucially written before I think Trump took office. I'm pretty sure. Well, if we're looking for wins and losses, it's the only one we can really give him. I have a question to start us off. Am I your number one boy? You're my number one boy. Kyle, you're my number one nephew.

We're going to talk just the tail end of the podcast, and we're going to talk Succession. So if you have not seen the final episode yet, feel free to come back. Our feelings won't be hurt. Come back after you hear it. Succession is wrapped. Season one, a show that memorably and almost without precedent got better every episode.

Oh, yeah. I don't know what, like if it was a picture, the stats, if you look at the game log, the game log would just become increasingly good until you got to the final two. We're not used to shows warming up like this. I don't think we're used to a show using a season as, Hey, I'm going to figure out the game in the first couple of episodes and everybody's going to kind of be figuring out their character. Now that's probably a fallacy that they don't know the character going into the writing and

Jesse Armstrong, the guy who's created it is very good at dispelling people of fallacies about writing, but you can tell there's this collision of like, it's going to be a soap, soap opera meets Veep meets, you know, like, like a, like a law procedural every week or something. And then they're working their way through it.

But you can tell, I think the, the place to look to see it turn over is when Roman like becomes a little, he's at 102 instead of 114. Yeah. And then all of a sudden, everything starts flowing. I've always had this theory with shows. I think I've talked about it before.

And I think I've even talked to people who do TV shows about this before on this podcast. But I just can't remember them at the tip of my tongue. I think it takes about four to five episodes for the actors to totally understand what character they're playing.

Because think about it. They... I mean, I assume this one, they just shot the pilot and then it either gets picked Typically with HBO shows, that's what happens. Yeah. So they read a script. They try to figure out what the character is. They do the pilot. The show gets picked up.

And now they're in the grind of they got to do all these things. And I do think it takes a few episodes. Like Jeremy Strong is somebody that I didn't like the first couple episodes by the last five. I thought he was lights out. I actually think that might've been his, his performance in the last episode might've been the single best performance of,

of anyone on the show. I thought that was like an Emmy performance by him. Oh, absolutely. And I love the idea that, you know, he didn't hang out with anybody in the cast. He was super method.

Yeah. He didn't rehearse any of the stuff in the last two episodes. So he would just walk in and do it. And he said that the tears, I don't think the tear is in the script or something about that. No, he said that he got all emotional

and he started crying at the end with the dad. Yeah. You talked to the showrunner, Jesse Armstrong. Did he realize the show was kind of taken off a little bit? I think he got this sense that it had become something people were talking about a lot. He was actually a little bit more defensive about the first few episodes. I think he was like, that wasn't like a tryout. We were laying the groundwork for what came later. Yeah. I think if you go back to those first few episodes,

a lot of the themes and a lot of, of the character beats are there. Yeah. Tom and Greg dynamic is there at the softball game. Kendall being Icarus and going up and falling again and again and again is right there. So it's, it's,

it's pretty interesting the way in which he probably views the show versus the way the audience does. I don't, there's very few shows that make cocaine seem like something that would actually be fun to do. I think that we could revise that opinion maybe after the finale. I was like, Hey,

you know, cocaine, you need a little bump. And then all of a sudden he's in a river pulling a Chappaquiddick, which they're in the car with the, with the caterer guy. Yeah. Who's zonked out.

And they're driving and he has no one to drive a clutch. And I'm like, car accident. Did not see the chat. Then all of a sudden they're going toward the river. I'm like, oh, the Chappaquiddick. Yeah. It was great. You haven't really seen the Chappaquiddick move with a TV show.

I think this is the first time. But I thought that it was interesting how they pulled that off because the entire addiction narrative with Kendall is that there basically aren't any consequences for someone that rich. Yeah. And they push it to essentially manslaughter. There aren't any consequences. Yeah. And that moment when Logan is like, this is either the rest of your life or a detail everybody forgets about a wedding. And, you know, it's door number one, door number two, and then to wield that kind of power. And even the way he's talking, like, these are good people. Our people know these people.

We can work something out. I was like, oh man, fucking power, man. Brian Cox did a nice job. Start of the last episode, he's really blindsided by Kendall coming in and we're doing a bear hug on you. And you could kind of see the look on his face. And it's the only time there's like weakness. Yeah. And then he gets stronger as that scene goes along.. And it's the only time there's like weakness. Yeah.

And then he gets stronger as that scene goes along. And then he's finally, so what are you going to do? So what's your plan? What are you going to do? And he's like, I'm going to do a good job. Yeah. Good job running company. And then he just gets his mojo back.

And then by that last scene, it was just brilliant. Crucial difference between the show and say like an Aaron Sorkin show is that Kendall never has an answer. Kendall never has like a good speech. A witty speech to come back. He's never like, because the house always wins. It's like he is like, you're a fucking beast is the most he can muster about his life is to just call his father a beast. Brian Cox did a great job at eviscerating all the people in his life too in various points of this season one where like even yesterday

what does he say to Kira Culkin? You'd be working at a fucking McDonald's or whatever he says and you, you're nothing and he just goes around the room and just crushes everybody but he's kind of right none of those people would be doing anything his sort of

among many other complexes, is complex about the fact that he at least tells himself that he had to work for everything he got and his kids didn't have to work for anything and that they would use that against him, that they would essentially decide that they weren't patient or that they didn't want to play the game the way he laid out the rules because to him, everything is a game.

Infuriates him. Yeah. How would you compare this family to the Buss family? I mean, there's some parallels, right? Genie and Shiv are a little bit similar. Shiv's going to end up with this family. Same for Genie. If Succession was just an anthology series,

they could do the Lakers next season. That would be pretty amazing. Oh, that would be cool. Yeah. Just every year, it's a different family. It's a big, rich family, yeah. I thought it was going to be on the Billions corner,

and it's really not. I feel like they're two separate shows. I think they can live in two separate universes. I didn't like that Eric Bogosian crossed over. Yeah, that was a tough moment

for the Billions shared universe. The Billions succession shared universe. Just shouldn't have done that. There's some crucial differences. I don't think... I'm sure that there's some crucial differences i don't think i'm sure that there's there's an argument to be made but i think that the the creators of succession are fully aware that these are actually bad people yes and i think that billions treats its character like

characters like they're somewhat bad but they're pretty cool. And there's a big difference. You know what I mean? Something else big happened last night. Joe House and I nominated Shiv to the Adulterers Club with her speech about, I'm not sure I could have, let's talk about numbers. Yeah. And I'm not sure I can have a monogamous marriage. Yeah, what is love?

It's just this thing that we put like all these other things underneath of, yeah. I think Shiv was my favorite character on the show. And another person who really developed over the course of the season. He really layered. I believed her the most. I think she's the only one who really has a chance to be successful and kind of carry the family next generation. The way she manipulated everybody was really interesting, I thought. And is the only one that really seems to have her shit together?

I have no... Where does she fall on the age... On the ages with everybody? I imagine that Shiv was 34, 35. Who was the youngest, do you think? Roman. Roman was youngest. I thought Roman was the youngest.

Kendall was oldest. Yeah. Shiv is middle and Connor's oldest, but from another marriage, I think. He's half. Yeah. He's going and Connor's oldest, but from another marriage, I think. He's half. Yeah. He's going to be the next president. The good seed, man. He's like, I want to run for president. They're like, wait a second, what?

I don't know where this show goes, but let's talk about it for two minutes. I assume the dad is going to regain his luster in season two, Logan. Yeah. The big question, there's two questions I have. Obviously, the threads that they didn't tie up are Greg still has the damning evidence about this company. Some Machiavellian shit. Although in 2016 or 2018, I'm trying to imagine if that would actually sink a company at this point.

I have no idea what a scandal is anymore in the Trump world yeah probably not but greg still has this evidence and we still don't really know who marsha is and marsha seems to have maybe a long game in this whole thing that being said i think that one of the things that was really interesting about this show is that they every episode jesse armstrong talked about this he called it he pitched it as every episode is a very special episode it It's Thanksgiving. It's a family retreat. It's a wedding. Everything brings the entire cast together and then they play off each other in these settings. Do you keep going with that structure or do you pair people off and have them off? Yeah. I heard you talk about this on the watch. I don't, I don't think that's

a sustainable structure. Right. Unless you're just going to do two seasons, maybe. I think you could pair it. Like what happened with The Sopranos where, oh, the Pine Barrens episode is the best case there and the worst case there is, hey, it's the Furio episode. Yeah. He's like, oh, Furio's getting his own episode? Or the Italian parade and shit like that. So if they want to keep it going seven seasons, my guess is the way this show moved and the way it was structured,

he's probably thinking it's 30 episodes. I imagine, I think it could be a really, I mean, because I think that basically you can't go back to the, Kendall's trying to take over again and again and again. I think they could have a lot of fun with the presidential election if they were going to do something with an election. And I think they could have a lot of fun with the presidential election if they were going to do something with an election.

And I think they could do some really interesting stuff with what happens to Kendall. But I have a hard time imagining him being this prince who was promised who comes back to take over the company again. I was thinking how weddings are always settings for great TV shows and movies. Amazing. They're amazing.

And the fact that they stretched it out over two days, which is crucial because so much happens at the rehearsal dinner and then the day of and the party. That is a huge amount of socializing over the course of 48 hours when you think about it. Not enough shows take advantage of that. Yeah. Connie is like, what's his girlfriend in the picture?

I'm going to punch Tom in the face and shit in the floor. Yeah. How much do you, how, how often are you going to use, um, Roman, uh,

Roman looking at the rocket exploding in the bathtub as a, as a gift reaction to when Tatum regresses this season? Oh, what the hell? I'm so satisfied with Jason Tatum's summer. Succession really could be a Celtics show. That's true, yeah. The next 30 years of titles.

I really resented that. I'm sorry. You're not coming from a position of strength this summer when you, Wilson Chandler was the big sign. It's Monday morning and I'm short timing it this week. So I get one gig in before I go on vacation. So who is your MVP? I thought it was Kendall. It was Jeremy Strong. Like I think that that, that's one of the better performances I've seen on TV in a really long time.

One of the things that initially hurt this show and then really ended up helping it was that I didn't have a backstory personally with knowledge of any of the actors other than Culkin. Yeah. And, and Ferris Bueller's buddy. Sean and I were talking about this. Fennessey and I were talking about what would have happened if a movie star played Kendall. It wouldn't have worked. I went from thinking the biggest mistake the show made was not having a real star play Kendall

to thinking that was actually the best part of the show is that I had no background. And that's the cool thing about TV used to do that all the time. TV used to be like, who's this guy? This guy's incredible. And then, you know, maybe 10 years later, he'd wind up being something, or maybe he'd be Corbin Bernson and just kind of like spend

most of his life on TV, and that's it. I did that. Every person who was on ER was somebody that was not famous at that point. And you go through the list, and you even see it with a show, you go to sports and you see a show like Get Up, which, and we're familiar with all three of those people. There's nothing new about that show.

There's no discovery in it. And I think that's one of the things that hurts it. And I think with TV shows, Billions was able to pull this off even though we had a back history with both of the lead characters. Part of it was like, that was the sell of the show. It was like two people I already had a history with. But then the other people on the show were all people we discovered. Like

somebody like Maggie Siff, unless you watched, what was she on Sons of Anarchy? Yeah. And she was on Mad Men. Yeah. And Mad Men like for six episodes, but I didn't really have a history with her. Yeah. The, the supporting cast in, in succession is worth noting too, because it's rare that a show goes 10 deep like this where even the people who are just coming on to do two or three lines an episode are that good. So Jerry and Stewie and you know

the deep deep roster of people is just really incredible. So you're really invigorated by this show. Yeah you know I mean I think. Favorite first seasons? Where does it rank? Pretty high up there and definitely pretty high up there in recent history. You know, I love, there's been a lot of really good TV

over the last two years. I think what I really, really loved about Succession was the almost nostalgic feeling it created for when TV used to just come on on Sunday nights and then everybody would lose it, you know? And, you know, you just start talking about that episode for the rest of the week and then another episode would come on. That was kind of what we were trying to like call

back to with the, with the episode ranking. And it just has that, that glue. It's a connective tissue in your life. If you have a really great show that you and a lot of your friends and people on your timeline are into, it can be this really fascinating, uh, thread throughout your week. Yeah. Can own kind of eight to 10 weeks of your summer. I mean, I just wish more shows were like that. I think that it's a shame. Netflix makes a lot of good stuff. But if Mindhunter and Stranger Things were on once a week,

I think that you'd spend two, three months talking about it. Julie and I talked about this a little on Friday. It's an interesting conundrum for Netflix because I think it's a huge reason why their business model worked. But I also think it's really hurt them a couple of times just from owning the narrative. And I think Stranger Things season two

is the best example of that because if they just strung that out, even if they had released two episodes a week for five weeks, we would have gotten five weeks of content out of that. I look today, we had, what do we have? Four succession pieces and two podcasts? Plus, you're coming on mine.

All because it built to this final episode. Yeah, and also, that doesn't even represent the amount of time people spend popping into each other's offices and making, well, I guess, inappropriate jokes from the Prague episode. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

Really good. I think we're back I think TV's kind of back this has been a good TV season TV is pretty good yeah we went from the best TV shows this year are really good

Succession Atlanta I thought Billions had its best season Killing Eve yeah Atlanta had a really good one there's one other we're leaving out oh Dave Fair's been pretty good too

I mean on a B plus level. Yeah, I mean, the list is pretty good. Howard's End was great. Glow was great. I mean, there was a lot of really good shows this year. People like Glow, but that was another one that got dumped. I mean, not dumped.

It got released by the same Netflix system. But it just got 10 episodes and everyone's going to watch those on their own time and you can't really... Glow's something I wish had been on cable. I think it would have probably hit a little bigger. I have no idea who's watching and how many people. You know what's fascinating?

So BoJack is going to be on... On Comedy Central. And it's in syndication. I wonder if they'll start trying to do that for shows a little earlier in their runs like that. If Glow was on MTV, I wonder if it would be a bigger deal. I know that people,

not a lot of people are watching MTV, but that's like a show that if it was just on FX or MTV or some of some channel and people watch it once a week, I wonder what would happen with that. That's a good model, I think, for Netflix is to dump a first season of a show on a network and see if it can gain a little alternative audience. But then you have somebody like Nephew Kyle over here

who's just going to watch it on Netflix. Yeah, wait it out. And he's not going to see cable, so maybe that's a strategy to get older people. Chris Ryan, NBA's dead. Nothing's going on. I know. This is fine.

Yeah, you got the Red Sox, you're good. Yeah, we'll be all right. NBA comes back. When are we going to start carrying again? Late August? Mid-September. Early September. Early September? Yeah.

Have you switched mentally to NFL yet? Well, it's weird now. This is my honeymoon season. So I definitely don't have the anxiety. It's really strange. It's pretty nice.

It's pretty nice. The first Thursday night game is great when they raise the banner. It's way more fun than you think it's going to be. Yeah, I don't think I realized how much anxiety and sadness I had tied up in that team over the course of my entire life

that this really has lifted a lot of... Because you go into a football season, you don't know this, but you go into a football season... I used to. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. The Giants are pretty good this year.

You know what I mean? Or whatever. Yeah, you neg it. I don't know. I don't know. The Giants are pretty good this year. You know what I mean? Or whatever. Yeah, you neg it. I don't give a shit. Yeah. Yeah. Let Eli have a victory lap. I don't care.

Wow. No, I'm just kidding. I want to destroy the Giants. The Sixers, Sixers though, a lot of anxiety about that. I'll be okay. It's all Markel.

Embiid got bit by a cub on Twitter this weekend. Yeah. Lion cub. Yeah. It's a good bit. Chris Ryan, thank you. Later, Bill.

All right. Thanks so much to Jacko, my daughter, and Chris Ryan. Thanks to SimpliSafe, a comprehensive, easy-to-use protection with no contracts and a fair price, only $14.99 a month. It keeps your family and home safe 24-7, even during power outages. When your Wi-Fi is down, if a burger smashes your keypad, and it's really thoughtfully designed. So it's never in your way.

You probably won't even notice it. Order a SimpliSafe security system today. SimpliSafe will also donate one to a family in need. You have to go to simplisafe.com slash BS. That is SimpliSafe with two I's. Simplisafe.com slash BS. Thanks to FanDuel. This NFL season, FanDuel has more ways to win

than ever before, like the free weekly pick-em contest or FanDuel's free NFL Survivor League. Pick one team every week of the season for a chance at the $250,000 prize. FanDuel even has a new tool called Guru, which helps you pick your lineup so you can feel more confident going into game day. New players, try FanDuel today. Get a $20 bonus when you make your first deposit. Just sign up. Use promo code BS.

And thanks to ZipRecruiter. Don't forget to go to ZipRecruiter.com slash BS. We're back with two more podcasts this week. Stay tuned. Don't forget to check out the Ringer Podcast Network. We have another Rewatchables coming. We have a whole bunch of pop culture. Dave Chang, JJ Redick, Larry Wilmore, you name it, we have it.

Talk to you later in the week. I feel it's working On the wayside I'm a person never lost And I don't have to be