The Bill Simmons Podcast - The Surging Red Sox and Floundering Mets, the Rise of Esports, and Loving 'Succession' With Mike Francesa and Joe House | The Bill Simmons Podcast (Ep. 394)

Episode Date: July 30, 2018

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by New York radio legend Mike Francesa to discuss the Yankees and Red Sox before the upcoming four-game series, They discuss the disappointing Mets, modernizing baseball, the fall of the traditional newspaper, and the rise of esports (2:13), before Bill talks to his buddy Joe House about their new favorite show, 'Succession' (50:00). 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 our friend, ZipRecruiter. When it comes to hiring, you don't need a high hiring IQ. You do when you're casting HBO Succession, which we love, which we're going to talk to Joe House much later in this podcast about. Most people, they need ZipRecruiter because ZipRecruiter gives them the high hiring IQ. They're powerful technology scans thousands of resumes to find people with the right experience for your job.

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So that's it. Check out, subscribe to The Dave Chang Show. We're also brought to you by theringer.com. If you go there right now, Kevin O'Connor has an NBA piece about the dark horses to win the MVP. There's NFL pieces from Danny Kelly, Kevin Clark. There's a really good piece by Lindsay Zolad

about watching Taxi Driver 42 years later in the current world that we live in, which I highly recommend. Coming tomorrow on TheRinger.com, our big TV blowout, 100 best episodes of the 21st century. It's happening. A lot of fights caused by this one. There's going to be a lot of Ringer content. Check out the Recapables feed as well, because we are

recapping a couple of iconic episodes from that. We posted on the Recapables, actually. We did a succession recap of the penultimate episode, which you can get right now on the recapables. So check all that out. Check out theringer.com. Coming up, we're going to talk to Mike Francesa and then Joe House talking about succession and a couple other things. But first, our friends from Pearl Jam. All right, Monday morning, Pacific time, noon Eastern time. Mike Francesa on the line.

The Yankees are reeling. The Red Sox look like the 27 Yankees. What's going on? How's my front-running fool there doing, okay? I mean, you've got to be all smiles this morning. Life's good right now. But baseball seasons have a harsh way of returning to reality, don't they? This is the best you have on a Monday morning to dump water on me

is baseball has a harsh reality and it comes back? It does. It does. Can you just feel it coming? I mean, you're riding so high. You guys, your feet haven't touched. At Cape Cod, they don't even touch the ground on the way to the water anymore. Everyone just like just floats in the ocean breeze waiting for the Red Sox to win another

game. Every day, another game. And all we say back here is, oh, did the Red Sox ever lose? I mean, do they ever lose? That's all you hear now. That's the Yankee lament. Did the Red Sox ever lose? And the answer is right now, no. They never lose.

So now the Yanks have to go up there and teach them a cold, harsh reality. Have you ever seen a team that has the top three MVP candidates before? Because it really feels really special to witness this. Very rare. Very rare to see guys play

that well. I mean, it's almost, you know, man on man is circa 1961 if I want to get sacrilegious for a second. I mean, the way they're going, you know. They are really doing an incredible job. First of all, I happen to be a big bets guy. I always have been. I think he's an unbelievable player.

Really a terrific player. One of my favorites, as a matter of fact. I love watching him play. And, hey, you guys can't do anything wrong right now. Absolutely nothing. But I would say this to you. The Yankees have some issues. You know, no judge.

Sanchez has been an issue all year. Him being out of the lineup is not as much of a hit as it normally would be because he's had such an atrocious season. Judge is a big hit. No question about it. Very big hit. There's only three indispensable everyday Yankees. Judge, Didi, and Torres. That's the only ones that are indispensable.

And Judge is the biggest of all of them. Torres is coming quickly, though, and is their toughest out in the big spot, as you'll find out. But the Yankees helped themselves immeasurably last week. They got a very good reliever, and they have the best bullpen by a mile in baseball. And they got a guy that I wanted to get the whole time in half. I never thought they were going to get a Bumgarner or

the Grom. I knew they weren't getting the Grom. I know, but I knew that. I didn't think they'd get anybody like that. Half will help them. They'll be efficient. They'll be stable like he was yesterday. And right now, six innings is golden because their pen is just otherworldly. It could be that

once Britain settles in, that pen will be otherworldly. And that's what you have to dream about if you're a Yankee fan, is that your pen is anything but otherworldly, and everyone has to find out what your pen is really about. I think that's what's been crazy about the Red Sox season. They're

74-33. I do not trust a single setup guy they have with the possible exception of Matt Barnes, who's statistically been lights out. I still want to see him in September and October. That's probably the eighth inning guy, which worries me.

And they still have a trade to make. Your pen's not that good, but your team has been so good. It doesn't matter. It doesn't even matter. And let's not that good, but your team has been so good that it doesn't even matter. And let's be honest, the Yankees have been mediocre for a month. And if you go back, they really, since that first hot streak after the first 12 games or so, they took off mid-April to late April, and then through June 1st, they were killers.

I mean, they beat everybody. They were great in the clutch. And since then, they have been an atrocious team at the bottom of the league in hitting with runners in scoring position. They've been a terrible clutch team. And frankly, for the last month, they've been a very, very ordinary team. I think they're about to hit a good cycle. You wish Judge was playing. He's not.

No excuses. I think the Yankees are ready for the series, and I think the one thing that you have to worry about from the Yankees standpoint right now is Severino has really hit a rough patch. They need him to be good. His last four starts, he has gotten

hit and hit hard. I came on your show, I think, three weeks ago, before whenever the last time the Yankees and Red Sox played, and we were talking about the vaunted Yankees offense actually hadn't really gotten going yet for what it was. No. They hadn't had that three-week crazy hot streak. They keep getting injuries.

It seemed like Judge broke his wrist a couple days ago, so they probably dodged a bullet with that that it wasn't as bad. But the Severino thing has been the big thing that's jumped out to me in July is he was the only lights-out starter you had. And the kids stopped pitching well. The kids they brought up early on, Armand, a couple of the others, pitched well the first couple of times around

and then either got hurt or didn't pitch well. They to go get a half that really gave them stability he will give them stability pitches well against you guys uh i think he will do a good job and their pen if you look at it from green written for robinson and is the swing guy but tansyman, that can be a nasty boys. That can be an all-time. That could be a 96 Yankee pen. That can be an all-time pen. But the Yanks need to get their lineup going again. Torres was out of the lineup.

They don't hit when he's not playing. They don't win when he's not playing. They need him to get going. DeeDee's got it back going after a long slump. Sanchez, as we've said, has been a nightmare all season in every way. He hasn't hustled. He's hitting 180. I mean, he's hitting a hard 180. He's still got a bunch of homers and off-yards, but he's hitting lousy.

He's a great hitter who's had a terrible year. The other night, as you know, before they put him back on the DL, he didn't hustle twice. He didn't hustle after a pass full. He got crossed up by Severino. Didn't run down the baseline to end the game. I mean, so it was a nightmare. They really need to go up there and play well.

Let's be honest. Yankees have, they have to go up there on an edge and realize that the Red Sox can push them off the cliff this coming weekend. Unless the Red Sox go belly up against the Phillies, they are going to be in a position to really take the Yankees apart. They could basically push the Yankees over the cliff. Yankees have to play like that and have to go up there and win three out of four

against the Red Sox. Well, what's crazy is you're still 30 games over 500 despite all the stuff you mentioned. You didn't even mention how CeCe is starting to teeter. I don't know if it's over for CeCe, but he's teetering. He's hot and cold. I never trust him, to be honest with you. I'm amazed what he's given

the Yankees the last couple of years. Wins after losses, pitching in big games. I never, I'll tell you honestly, I never expect CeCe to pitch well, and he pitches well a lot more than I expect. I never expect anything from him. The guy I expect something from is in a big spot. I expect Tanaka to pitch a big game,

and they have to get Severino going. I like Tanaka in the big game, pitched brilliantly in the playoffs last year. He's not great day in, day out, but he rises to the occasion. And, you know, in New York, we like guys who rise to the occasion, and he rises to the occasion.

I trust him. I don't trust any other starter against Severino and Tanaka. But I do trust Happ now. And that gives you three. And that's enough to get by. But the Yankees are going to have to start hitting in the clutch. They're going to have to start playing really well again. And they have been a mediocre team now for a month.

Would you trade Sanchez? I wouldn't right now because basically you're trading 50 cents on the dollar, but if he was great again and had another killer year, this is a guy, remember, in his first 600 at-bats hit 53 home runs as a catcher.

This is insane stuff, what we saw from him. 20 homers and 200 at-bats. Last year, 33 homers and 480 at-bats. I mean, this guy was going to be prodigious. He has been a nightmare, and he hasn't hustled. He's lazy to begin with. He hasn't connected this season.

And a lot of people have a million rumors. You know, he didn't like how the stars came in. I don't buy that. I just think he's a peculiar kid who's hard to get in touch with. And while Judge does everything right, everything, every day in every way, from the media to handling teammates to handling the clubhouse to playing, to playing defense, to running the bases, Judge does everything right. This year, Sanchez has done everything wrong. Absolutely everything.

Torres has been great. I'll tell you this. Torres is going to be a star. He's going to be better than Cano. And right now, that's the guy you don't want up with the game on the line because I'm telling you, he will beat you. We had a piece on The Ringer last week about

whether the Astros should trade for Bryce Harper or not. I still feel like the Astros, even as loaded as they are and as much talent they have, I'm not 100% afraid of their lineup. And they're missing that one extra guy this year that's like, uh-oh, that guy's coming up. And I do wonder, could that be a Bryce Harper spot? I don't like it. I'll tell you right now, I don, could that be a Bryce Harper spot? I don't like it.

I'll tell you right now, I don't like bringing Harper to a good team. I don't trust them. The reason why Washington has been an embarrassment, why they have underachieved more than any team in the last decade, can't win a big game, can't win a playoff game,

that team being as far out of it as they are this year is a disgrace. And you know what? Harper's a guy who wins home run derbies. He's got to show me that he can win a playoff series. I don't trust him. I think he could ruin a team. You think he's the Blake Griffin of the MLB? I think

he absolutely could be. I don't trust him. I wouldn't want him anywhere near a winning team. I wouldn't want him anywhere near it. You had your dramatic return to the fan. And now there's baseball season. Pretty lively from a New York standpoint because the Yankees, you know, they have the stars. They've been good.

They're on pace to win 100 games. They have the blood feud with the Red Sox. The Mets are a train wreck. Listen, the Mets could ruin a one-car funeral. I mean, that's basically it. They could screw up a one-car funeral. They are the most – well, the Yankees do everything right. Here's a perfect example. Boone has got to go after Sanchez after the other night. What do they do? They put him on the DL, say he was hurt,

get him to come out the next day and say he's hurt. And what do they do? They take what would have been a five-day story and turn it into nothing. The Mets turn nothing into 10-day stories. The Yankees turn 10-day stories into nothing. That's the difference. The Yankees do everything right. The Mets do every possible thing wrong. They have handled from cesspitous to the manager, to the manager being off one hand not knowing what the other is doing,

to the manager lying to the media. I mean, it has been an absolute train wreck of the highest proportion. You can't be more messed up than the Mets. So have you felt like in 2018 on your show, people are still as passionate about baseball in the New York area as they were 20 years ago? Yes. I think they absolutely can't wait for this race. Now, I'll tell you what I got last week that really surprised me. The Yankee fans were really bailing on this race.

They've been dejected by how good the Red Sox are, and they've been upset that the Yankees... People are complaining. You would think the Yankees were 500 if you listen to the talk, rather than looking at their record. The Yankee record is great. As you know, they're behind a juggernaut. They're behind a runaway freight train. But you don't get that right now. The Yankee fan is actually almost resigned.

I got on them last week because I said, you guys are resigned to the wild card. And they always give you the, well, I don't think the wild card should be one game. I said, nonsense. I think it should be one game. I think you're lucky you have that game. Any way you get in, if you don't win your division, you're lucky you're playing. I like the way it is now,

because what I hate, Bill, is this. Two teams, both going to the playoffs, not caring about playing each other in September. I want those games to be blood-fused if they can be, if the race is close enough. I want the Yankees and Red Sox to be killing each other because neither one wants any part of the wild-card game. And you shouldn't want any part of the wild-card game because Seattle or Oakland could beat you one game. They can beat anybody one game.

They're good enough to beat anybody one game. And you know what? The Yankees and Red Sox are really good teams. The Astros are really good teams. The Indians are a good team. This is going to be a great postseason. And you know what? You can't whine if you don't win your division.

Win your division. And I don't think this race is over, but I'll tell you this. This is an enormous series. And Boone and the Yankees win with their eyes open. And they haven't. They've rested their players too much. They haven't acted like they needed games enough. And I think that's bothered New York. This

week, admit it. You're walking into a series you have to win if you want this to be a pennant race. And the other thing with the Wild Card game, the Red Sox and Yankees had the same problem. You don't want to waste Sale or Severino in that game. Bingo! If you do, now you're playing a tough team and you don't have him ready

until game three. So you're already in big trouble and it's hard to win that series against a team like Cleveland, Houston, or Boston. So the bottom line is it's going to be very hard to get to a World Series and I've heard a little bit of fallback from the Yankee fans. Well, we didn't have to go to World Series

this year. Nonsense. This team after last year, the way last year was built to go to the World Series. I didn't like the Stanton pickup. I thought it unbalanced the team. I like balanced teams. The Yankees are too top-heavy slugging-wise, and they're too top-heavy right-handed.

I don't like Yankee teams that are built that way, so I'm not in love with the offense. I never have been. I'll tell you this, though. Their bullpen is lighted out, and I want to see if this team has what it takes to go up there and do what great Yankee teams do. And that is go up to Boston in August

and September and stare down the Red Sox. And that's what Yankee teams that are great do. They go up there and make the Red Sox melt in August and September. Let's see if this Yankee team can do that. Well, you'd also have to play Houston if you win the wild card game, it looks like. Unless Cleveland

makes the most dramatic run ever. You never know. Cleveland's 10 games behind Houston, so. Or 7 in the last call. The bottom line is, any one of them are going to be good, though. Any one of the teams are going to be good teams. And they're all good teams. Cleveland's a quality team, and they fixed up their bullpen. If they get Miller back,

they could be very good. Houston's a legitimate team. You guys are a legit, obviously legitimate team. There's four really good teams. And you know what? Seattle and Elkland aren't bad teams. But the Yankees have to play

with some urgency this week. That's what I want to see. Don't act like, oh, well, it's not that important. Nonsense. It's August. You're behind a juggernaut.

Somebody's got to knock them off the rails. And it's got to be now. And the Yankees are the ones that have to go there this week and do it. I don't mind Seattle. I think Seattle could be a little frisky in a one-gamer. It's not a bad team. No question.

When the Red Sox played them, I was scared of, like, four of their guys. Hey, they've got a good team, and if you go up against a guy like Paxton in a big game, you don't want to get beat. Yeah, I don't want that to happen. Let's take a quick break. Hey, the Starbucks Double Shot starts with bold Starbucks coffee and is blended with milk for a smooth, creamy, delicious flavor.

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I wanted to be on my game. Starbucks double shot, perfect. I wish it had been in my fridge. I could have just gone home. It's energy to do the things you actually do. Find it in your local convenience store. All right, coming back. I asked you about the baseball 2018, the attendance

is down. We talked about this a little when you were on a while ago and just this whole mindset of this 162 game season. It's super fun when your team is good. What's it like for a Mets fan to live through this and then also to be worried that they're about to trade DeGrom for yet another rebuilding project when it seems like it's a good idea to rebuild around somebody who's one of the best young pitchers in baseball. Where do you see the Mets fan base right now mentally? The way it always is, what have you done for me lately? Never expecting anything good.

Always expecting the other shoe to drop. Always the way it is, expecting them to screw it up, and knowing now that basically they have to wait for them to find a general manager who can rebuild this, and hopefully they give him the ability to do that. The manager has been a disaster. He's been an utter

disaster. First of all, he's been in over his head. Secondly, the staff he put together was ridiculous. They didn't know anything about the National League. The guy has been a terrible manager. Maybe he a good pitching coach but he was he's been a terrible manager and he's handled the media badly he's handled everything badly he's managed games badly but it's not his fault if you were miller huggins if you had connie mack you weren't going to win with this team they've had too many injuries they don't win when cesspitus doesn't play and he hasn't played all year, and everything surrounding his injuries was an absolute

farce, and everything's been wrong. They brought Bruce back here, 36 homers last year, he hasn't done a thing this year. Frazier hasn't done a thing this year. Conforto until the last week, two weeks, has had a terrible year. So every one of their guys except Cabrera, who's now on the Phillies, you know, has had

nightmarish seasons. DeGrom has pitched so well that he's almost resigned now. I think he almost expects to go to the mound and lose and expects to lose, pitch seven good innings and lose. I mean, it's been that terrible.

But you make a good point, and here's the point, and you always like such big picture things, and you're right. You hit on something that's really true about baseball, twofold.

One, are we in a world now that doesn't want elongated regular seasons wants passionate post-seasons and longer dramatic post-seasons like you have now in other sports where the post-season becomes such an incredible part of everything you do and everything is geared up for that drama over a couple of months. Is that the way the model should be now rather than maybe get some drama in September or lose September to the NFL and then hope for the great October? So I think that's it. The other part, Bill, is this,

and this is something baseball's got to come to grips with. It has become a strikeout, home run game. There's no action. You don't see a double up the gap. You don't see a triple. You don't see a hit and run. You don't think about somebody's great outfield arm. You talked the other day about how good Bradley was and great Red Sox centerfielders.

There isn't enough talk about that stuff anymore. It's always now strikeout, home run, strikeout, home run. Look at how many games don't have a lot of hits in them anymore. It's always now strikeout, home run, strikeout, home run. Look at how many games don't have a lot of hits in them anymore. You don't have any action in baseball and the strikeout and the idea of exit velocity and everybody trying to lift the ball and either hitting a home run, walking, or striking out, that's all they care about. It's a power game and a power swing game and there's no nuance or art to the game anymore and there's not enough action in the games anymore and I think that's something baseball has to be very

scared of. Yeah, what was the thing Tom Verducci, he said there was like action every three and a half minutes, something's actually happening in baseball this year? He did some study for it. It's crazy how many games have you gone to and nothing happens and you see a solo

home run and you see a million strikeouts. You don't see a lot of action. You don't see a lot of hits. Maybe they have to go to an illegal defense and make it where you can only keep four guys. Oh, like they get rid of the shift. I would get rid of the shift tomorrow. I hate the shift.

Well, that's it. I think they should go to an illegal defense. When the ball is pitched, you have to have four guys, not counting the pitcher and catcher, you can't have more than four guys on one side of second base. That's the rule. That's all.

Make it the rule. Now, when I met with the commissioner and he did my show, he said, I think our hitters will take care of this naturally. They haven't. They haven't because they're getting paid to hit home runs

and they're getting paid to walk and hit home runs. All they care about is OPS, so they care about how many times they get the first base. It doesn't matter how you get there, so batting averages are way down. And, you know, there's not enough debates like you brought up the other night, and that is about who's the greatest center fielder defensively. And you know what? That's the kind of debate you want to have in baseball.

You want to talk about, hey, I saw Jimmy Pearsall, and I actually, listen to this. Jimmy Pearsall, we all know, was a great defensive center fielder. I actually, in 1963, the Yankees were playing the Washington Senators in a game in September. Mickey Mantle was batting leadoff because he was trying to chase Pete Runnels for the batting title. And he didn't have enough at bat, so he batted leadoff. The Yankees had already clinched the pennant, and my mom got tickets, and Jimmy Pearsall let me try on his glove before the game. I was in the stands. I was hanging over trying to get a ball, and Jimmy Pearsall came over and let me try on his big outfielder's glove when he was playing for the Senators, and he was a good

outfielder. People take him, Jim Landis, as a Red Sox. Come on, he played five games, folks, for the Red Sox. I mean, but he was a very good defensive center fielder. So was Freddie Lynn, but Bradley is a brilliant defensive center fielder. Absolutely. I don't know that he's better than Freddie Lynn, but he sure is a heck of a center fielder. He really is.

Yeah, I mean, Freddie Lynn was my first center fielder I ever watched day in, day out, so I'm fond of him. He was great. Mike Cameron we had for, I forget, a year or two. He was amazing. Mike Cameron was a very good center fielder, Mike Cameron. He was an underrated, very underrated center fielder. My thing about center fielders is

I like them to play shallow, take away hits, and be able to go back and get the ball a la Paul Blair. Paul Blair was the first guy in the 70s. Played right behind second base until nothing went over his head. Absolutely nothing went over his head. I love him in center field. I had Chuck Close run my podcast a couple weeks ago, and we were talking about baseball arguments and how, you know, I think this, I'm pro statistics, pro advanced metrics, all that stuff.

But I do think it's hurt baseball in the sense that every argument can be solved. Whereas when you see the NBA, you and I can argue about Russell Westbrook for a month, whether you can win a title with Russell Westbrook. There's no way to solve that. So we can argue about that. But in baseball, there's probably some metric that will prove that Jackie Bradley is the best defensive center fielder the Red Sox have had in the last 40 years, and we don't even have to argue it. And I do wonder if that's hurt baseball a little bit.

I really do think it's hurt just a little. I think what else is hurt is exactly what you saw the way Manfred handled the Trout thing. Blaming Trout for the sport not being able to promote its greatest player. Blaming Trout for it. Where the Angels came out and and how good the NBA has become at promoting its stars. The NBA is the model now at promoting its stars. It does a better job of promoting its stars than any other league. And the other leagues are jealous of it. Look at that. For Manfred to come out and actually knock Trout because he doesn't want to be part of the machine. I mean, just shows you how screwed up baseball is right now

and how much they're hurting and not connecting. And I can tell you, I have an 11-year-old and I have a 13-year-old, okay? And one loves Trout. I've taken him to the game. I got him Trout. This is an enormous factor. I can tell you with my own kids, they're up on every sneaker that any one of these guys has.

That's a big entry. Big entry for these kids. Well, and then social media is the third component. What's funny is No question. You look at somebody like Kawhi Leonard, who is basically a corpse. We know nothing about him. He doesn't speak. Even he's a brand. He doesn't say anything.

He doesn't tweet. He doesn't do Instagram videos. He does nothing. He's the Greta Garbo. He's the Greta Garbo. And he's a brand. He doesn't say anything. He doesn't tweet. He doesn't do Instagram videos. He does nothing. He's the Greta Garbo. He's the Greta Garbo. And he's a brand. But you have like, when you look at people in the NBA who aren't even like the top 15 guys,

and those guys are still brands. Like the NBA last week, CJ McCollum and Kevin Durant do a podcast and people get two days of content out of it. That just couldn't happen with baseball. There's no scenario. How many people in LA days of content out of it. That just couldn't happen with baseball. There's no scenario. How many people in LA could pick bets out of a lineup? Oh, that's interesting.

Like if he walked into a restaurant? Nobody. Nobody would know him. Well, that was the bet. That was the big thing with Ortiz and Manny is they were actually recognizable personalities that kind of transcended baseball. Baseball's missing that. And that's the thing they had.

They had it in the era with Big Papi. They had transcendent stars. For all the stuff that made them bang their head against the wall with A-Rod, A-Rod was a transcendent star for them. Everybody in America knew A-Rod. Bonds. Every gossip column cared about A-Rod, and they don't have those guys right now.

Jeter, Bonds. I mean, Judge, I think, is about everything you'd want from central casting for your hero of the Yankees. But still a guy who's really low-key. Yeah. And Trout, for all his magic.

Yes. But Jeter had a you know what happened he won a lot early and it got him into everybody's living room and into everybody's prime time he became a standard of excellence and that became his image

and that's the distance and you know Peyton Manning brings that and Tom Brady brings that and the quarterback of the big teams is always going to bring that. But baseball's hurting because people don't see Trout. They hear about his exploits. They don't see him. They don't watch him.

They don't know much about him. And that's really hurting baseball. So baseball's clearly getting hurt, and this is a perfect week, Bill, where this should be baseball at its best. Yankees, Red Sox, August, pennant race, Fenway Park. It doesn't get any better than this. It does not get any better than this. And baseball has trouble selling it right now.

How about ESPN? People have talked over and over again about what went wrong, what should they have done differently. To me, the baseball deal is the root of any problem. There's two things, actually. The baseball deal, all these baseball hours they're paying for, when people really just want to watch their own team and there's not that interest anymore.

They don't even have baseball tonight every night. It's just on Sunday nights. There's not that night-to-night interest anymore with baseball, is one problem. And then the other problem they did, the football deal where they didn't get any playoff games, you could argue, I don't know how many billion dollars they're spending for those two things, but they're not really getting any bang for their buck. And we're moving toward this world where people care about the British Open for four days, the World Cup for two weeks, the baseball playoffs for four weeks. And if you're not in that mix, the day Cup for two weeks, the baseball playoffs for four weeks.

And if you're not in that mix, the day-to-day, the grind, the hours just doesn't seem to matter as much. No question. Absolutely. And what sold baseball was the day-to-day of picking up in box score and reading about it in your newspaper. And baseball doesn't want to go the way of the newspaper. And that is exactly what's happening to them it's a different era it's a different feel and that is what i

talked about with the idea of accentuating a postseason rather than a regular season but the other problem is just think about just think about the nfl and how much it is a national brand and how much each game is a national game and an important game. And baseball is a local sport. It is a regional sport. It's a local sport. It's a local sport except for a couple of weeks a year when everything happens in October, but it's a local sport. That's all it is. And I think basketball is a national sport too. Basketball is a national sport. Now, listen, you. And I think basketball is a national sport too. Basketball is a national sport. Now listen, you're going to maybe

promote basketball more than someone else will. I still love basketball though. But listen, basketball's made great strides. They've done a great job. You have to be fair to them. They've done a brilliant job at changing the way people think about their athletes. They've done a brilliant job

in that regard. And it has become more of a national game. And they own those nights in the spring. And baseball's losing their nights in October and their regular season is very limited and local. Listen, in New York, the Yankees are huge. No question. In Boston and up in New England, the Red Sox are huge.

But you know what? If you go down south, they're waiting for college football. You go down south, they don't give a darn about the Yankees or the Red Sox or the Astros or what's going on in Cleveland or Mike Trout. They care about Alabama. Yeah, I mean, the Dodgers acquired Manny Machado two weeks ago. And even 10 years ago, when they got Manny Ramirez, I was living here. That was all anyone talked about for a week and a half. Here it's like

oh we got Machado. It's just not the same. And I was going back I was talking to somebody who worked for me who's a young person in their 20s. I was telling them about the 1981 strike when baseball just went away. Remember that? What was it?

For 50 days? Do you remember how terrible that was? It was, I just remember I was like 11 or 12 and I just remember like, this is the worst thing that's ever happened to me. I have no baseball to watch. There's no box scores. There's nothing to do. What the hell is going on?

Now, if that happened, we'd be fine. And our kids, your 11 and 13 year old, my 10 year old, they'd be fine. They would just play video games. They would go on the internet. They'd go on YouTube. They'd do a hundred million things. It's completely different. And their focus, as you know, is so onto the games on the internet and everything that's going on on social media. It's a whole different world now. And you have to be part of that world. Listen, you've done a better job from a media standpoint of mining that than probably anybody, so we know that. And you were in front of that wave, and it's been very good for you, no question.

And everyone's had to jump into that wave because that's the way the world went. You have to go where the world goes, and that's where the world went. And baseball has got to do a better job. They have to examine their game on the field they have to examine their playoff structure and they have to examine modernizing their sport in terms of schedule if they don't they will wish they did in five or ten years what about what you grew up with where it was just one team from each league won the pennant and then they played the World Series. There was no even playoffs. Like you'd have a team up 20 games in August and that was it. Every other team was out of it.

They had no chance. Everybody was cool with that. Because you know what? They didn't have the competition they have now. The sports didn't overlap and there wasn't 9,000 things to do that you had then. You had, it was baseball season. And then. You had, it was baseball season. And then when baseball ended, it was football season. And then if you were lucky enough, you know, which we usually weren't in New York, to have a good basketball team, which you always had in Boston.

You were able to have that season, especially in the spring and winter. So, you know, and then obviously where hockey is important when it, when it turns around, but Hey, baseball had such a commanding position, but you look, look at, look at the way, go back and look, trace it from, from the last century and see what sports have waned from popularity from where horse racing was at one point, or where boxing was at one point, where baseball was, where college football was, how low the NFL was, the ascendancy in the 60s and 70s of the NFL to a position of dominance, and what's gone on since. And you see that it changes, and it always changes.

And as a sport, you have to move with it because it will change. And I think baseball's feeling some of that right now. But this is when baseball puts its best foot forward because what they will sell in Boston for four days is pure magic. If you are involved in it, it's pure magic. So the Overwatch finals, the esports, was at Barclays this weekend.

They sold out 20K a night. Did your kids want to go to this with you? Did they mention it to you? You know what? They did mention it. Here's the thing. I told someone this. I'd say this. If I was 15 to 20 years younger,

I would buy an eSports franchise. I'd sell everything to buy one because they will be worth so much money. The future of that, where you can have the world involved to the level of 40 and 50 million people with no expense is mind boggling. It is a license to print money. I would, and that's why you see smart guys in sports buying into those. Go look and see who owns these e-sports franchises. Yeah. You know what? They know it's the future.

It is a license to print money. If I was 40 years old, I would hock my house to buy an esports franchise. You know, they showed it on ESPN this weekend and the ratings were absolutely atrocious. It got killed. Doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because they still have the Twitch

and the video, but I don't know how it translates to conventional sports. Like the, what we're used to where, Oh, the MLB rights. So for this NFL sells for this matter, might not matter.

When you have a final of that competition and 50 million people line up to see what happens. Yeah. You can't match that. You can't match it. There's nothing that will match it. And the stadiums, they don't cost anything. They're stadiums that you created out of nothing.

They're stadiums created out of social metrics where basically they're free. So the expense is so low and the viewership is so high. And when the prize money reaches it, it's going to be bigger than anybody ever had an idea for. And the money will be incalculable how much money that will be made in this. I wish you had gone. Cause I would have loved your report from Barclays. I would love to.

You gotta go. They gotta invite you to the next one. This is a Renaissance for you. You went on Desus and Mero. That was great. Yes, I did. Yeah, I did.

I had a good time. That was fun. You were there did. Yeah, I did. I had a good time. That was fun. You were their farewell show. Yeah, that was a good one. That's it. And the app comes out August 24th. We'll be ready to launch. Oh, the Francesa app.

Yeah, Mike's on. We'll launch August 24th. Excellent. Hold on. We're going to take a quick break. Hey, every BS Podcast fan knows that I love FrameBridge. They make it super easy and affordable to custom frame your favorite things from art prints and posters to the photos on your phone. If you go to FrameBridge.com, upload your photo from your computer or directly from your Instagram feed for them to print, they can do it.

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I wanted to ask you about the New York Daily News. How big of a story was that in New York City? Just a little background from my end. Parents divorced, moved to Connecticut in 1982 to go to school in eighth grade. Daily News, New York Post every day. It is the ultimate, I guess it's a three newspaper city. I don't know. The times is kind of in its own stratosphere. And then over the course of the

last 20 plus years, people started worrying about both of those papers. The guy, the rich guy who sold the daily news for a dollar a couple of years ago. That was probably a bad sign. But now we're looking at an era where the Daily News might not even exist. How big of a deal is this in New York City right now? Not as big as you think for this reason. It's been coming. It's already happened. This is like the last wave. We had had waves of other guys leave before. They got rid of a lot of their high price guysriced guys before. So this has been happening, and Bill, what's happened is that everybody has gotten their news in a different way. The newspapers, as you know it, don't exist anymore. The ones that are successful exist online more than they exist anywhere else. The ones who have made the transformation to online

are the ones that know what they're doing. It's a different world. It's, you know, they surveyed the kids in college and asked them where they get their news from, and less than 1% got it from newspapers. That was five years ago. That was a death knell then. You should have seen it then coming. The world has moved away from the expense, the unions, the expense, everything that's gone,

that happened. It's a different day, a different world. And other sports and other parts of our business have to watch that because that is a foretelling of things that will go the way of the dinosaur if you won't watch it. And if you don't modernize, if you don't modernize and move along, uh, then you will, you will be gone. You will cease to exist. And that will be true in other things, too. Who knows? Maybe radio one day goes that same way, the way we know it, as far as how we know it. There will always be the spoken word, and people will listen to it. But now, you know, apps and podcasts are starting to become the norm, as well as radio stations

and everything else that's going on, and dot-coms and all this stuff. So it's a completely different world, and the expense of running a paper, and the way advertising has moved, and where it has moved to, just changed the world. And I think everyone knew it was happening, and I think the more dramatic time for newspapers was long ago. I don't think any newspaper now going down, there's still a sadness to it for a lot of people who grew up with it, but it hasn't been the same for a while now.

Yeah, I was telling somebody about in 1977 when Dick Young basically got Tom Seaver traded because they had this feud and newspapers had so much power that they could literally affect the destiny of a player on a team. And now, 40 years later, nobody has that power. Well, look at now.

When we started, look at the position sports talk show hosts held in a certain town, and look what they hold now, 30 years later from when I started. You know, you weren't a big player in the town when you first broke in 30 years ago. That's all changed now. It's changed in every town in this country. A lot of towns now, the trendsetter is the guy who has the big sports talk show. That's how different it's changed. The columnist that you do in each city, those guys are a thing of the past. I mean, that has all changed now. I mean, so, and most of the guys who were in, you know, who are still writing are writing somewhere on, you know, on the internet now.

I mean, so they, because that's where the money was. They went where the money was. And that's what always everybody will do in the business. They'll go where the money is. I feel like you and Dog were the first people who flipped that. Because for years and years, it was always the most powerful columnist in New York. And then all of a sudden,

you guys became the most powerful people in New York. I agree with that. And I think that was the start of it and I think that's one of the legacies that we have. That's one of the things that we changed and that's something that I am proud of is that we did change that and people now

go to school to do the job that we did and it wasn't always that way. They used to think of guys who were sports talk guys as guys who had a bell and a whistle and came on at 6 o'clock at night with a kazoo and rang a bell well those days changed i mean those days changed dramatically and it has changed and just the way the world goes and you follow the money it's the way it always is i mean look at what you've done with social media and the things you've been able to do it has just changed it just continues to change and you have to go with it

and in your lifetime you'll be doing this have to go with it. And in your lifetime, you'll be doing this for still a lot of years. And in your lifetime, it will change again for you before it's over. Yeah. It does feel like from a radio standpoint, I do wonder radio stations are still doing really well. It's not like the ratings have gone down significantly. It's not like the advertising money. But you. But they're not doing as well as they did because the advertisers are confused. And radio has had a hard time marrying itself to digital

and to understand what part of digital they should be part of and how much of their content should they give away to digital. And that's where they have had a big problem. And it's a fight I've had with them for many years. And I think they've fought a losing battle in that regard. And I think it's hurt them. And that's where they have had a big problem, and it's a fight I've had with them for many years, and I think they've fought a losing battle in that regard, and I think it's hurt them, and that's where they have

to declare themselves, because the content is king, and how you now deliver content, that's what we do, that's what you do, that's what I do, we deliver content, how we deliver it, and the mediums we use to deliver it are the important parts. The content's got to be there,

good content will always be valuable. And fortunately, that's what guys like us do. Yeah. Now that the digital stuff's getting into cars and you're able to load up any podcast by touching a touchscreen and two buttons and I think eventually there's going to be a world where if I live in Houston, there's going to be some digital service in my car and I go and all of a sudden I'm listening to you live on your radio station. I think, I think it's better for radio than it was with newspapers. I've told this story before, but when I had my old little website in Boston, the day that Pedro got traded to the Red Sox, which was in, uh,

I guess it was the end of 97 or 98. I can't remember. It was 20 years ago. That happened in the late morning and I wrote a column about it and it went up. And the Globe didn't react for another like 18 hours because the newspaper didn't come out until the next day and they weren't online. And that's when I was like, wow, I'm in the right spot. Digital is going to win.

My column's already up. I'm getting emails about it. And I have an 18 hourhour head start on the newspaper. I think radio has got to figure out. This podcast, just in general, has become such a big business. And it's so easy. And it's radio on demand. Radio has to figure out how to be.

Conventional radio has to figure out how to become conventional radio on demand a little easier. They've made headway, but not as good. Content, good content, and immediate content is the key. And that's what my plan is. Immediate content is the key. So we'll talk more about that. But I think that's the key. Immediate content and immediate content.

The immediacy you can bring is the important part. That's really the unique part is the immediacy you can bring is the important part. That's really the unique part is the immediacy you can bring because a lot of the outlets can't bring immediacy that you can bring if you do it right. Yeah. We found like the Kawhi trade happened. I want to get a podcast up as fast as I can. That's a huge trade. It happened overnight. Let's go. Let's do it. Hey, are you going to congratulate me on my LeBron to the Lakers? I tried to tell you for a year and went on your show. We talked about it over and over again. I deserve a congratulations. You do deserve a congratulations.

Congratulations. Are you surprised that he went to the Lakers with nobody else? No, no. I didn't think there was anywhere else for him to go, to be honest with you. I think if he had had an avenue that made sense, there really didn't seem to be anywhere else to go. I couldn't find anywhere else that made sense. The only one that made sense. And I think he's going to have to sit this year out

in terms of real terms, but that won't be the worst thing in the world either. It seems like their plan is to kind of wait and see. Get it going. There's going to be an incredible amount of excitement. The home crowds are going to be awesome. He's got a bunch of young guys. It's a different type of team than he's played with before. He'll be energized by the celebrities. He'll be energized by just the Lakers being relevant again. And that'll carry them for about three months. And then you get to mid-January and

you can decide, all right, do we want to make a run for it this year or are we just too far away from Golden State? So I actually like how they kept their flexibility. I didn't love some of the guys they signed, to say the least. Neither did I, but I think they were all disposable, which is part of the deal. Before I leave and I got to run, one thing. Yeah. How many games did the Red Sox win this weekend?

Is it a four-gamer or a three-gamer? Four-gamer. Oh, I think we go three and one-one. Three-in-one? Yeah. Yeah. Alright, I'll take three-in-one the other way. Alright, lunch? Yes, absolutely. Alright, Mike Francesco,

you have the week off, right? I'll see you soon. Thank you, Bill. Alright. I'm on vacation. I'll talk to you soon. Alright, take care. Alright, we're going to talk to Joe House in one second. First, let's talk about Belvedere. Produced in one of the world's longest running distilleries, Belvedere Vodka is the world's finest all natural vodka crafted by a collective of master distillers.

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Nephew Kyle won't, he won't spring for the Belvedere. No, not yet. It's too great and too pricey. Not yet. Someday, Nephew Kyle, someday. Belvedere, check it out. All right, let's talk to us. All right, Joe House is on the line.

We're going to talk about our favorite show, Succession. Yeah. So I love Billions. I don't feel like I'm cheating on Billions or our friend Brian Koppelman, any of this stuff. It is a little on the Billions corner. So I feel like 3% guilty that I like Succession as much as I do.

What's interesting is the first three episodes, it was almost the entire time, do I bail? What's going on? I don't like any of these people. Why is the guy who plays Kendall, why isn't he like a more famous,

better actor where does this go why do we have a show where I don't really like any character what's happening here and then episode 4 it just took off and it's been a glorious run I love this show

I watch each show twice I can't tell you how much I enjoyed The Bachelor Party. It was old school for you and me because we usually try to save it for the pod. I called you after The Bachelor Party episode, the day after, and we just did a, we did a unposted pod about it.

Just talking about it for 15 minutes. Oh, she put the load back in my mouth. It was hot. It was just, it was just incredible television. On a scale of one to 10, how delighted are you by the show? It's a full 12 for me. And I think you mentioned it a couple of times in the run-up to this. A big part of why I love it so much is because I simultaneously love and hate every one of the characters. They all have, you know, things that make them completely irredeemable, and yet they all have attributes that I'm like, hey, that makes sense to me.

I get that. The only one I have a hard time with really is poor Tom. I feel like Tom is just a bit, he's one step too far towards parity. But I loved, I liked the idea of trying to think about it in terms of billions. They occupy entirely different corners for me. I feel like Succession is slightly more self-aware and has just a tinge more camp to it. You know what I mean? There is a self-awareness. You see a

glint in the eye of Shiv especially, I think. In some of her, those conversations she had in the most recent episode. Are we allowed to do spoilers? Yeah, we're doing it. People can stop listening right now if they're not caught up or come back when they're caught up. Yeah.

When she's laying out her, the backstabbing plan and, you know, is the Miss Missy on top. I both enjoyed it and thought this is, you know, it's just a smidge too far, but I loved it. So, Billions is pretty easy to explain. You have Paul Giamatti versus Damian Lewis. You have Axe versus Chuck. And that's it. Every single piece of that show

comes from that rivalry and those two people and, and how they interact and the little competition, the gamesmanship. This one, it's basically like the dad might be dying. He might be going crazy. Everybody's trying to take over. I want, my question is, I wonder how long they can sustain that. I wonder if that's more than two seasons. How does a show evolve into a six-season show?

I don't really see a path. It almost seems like it's a two seasons and out. I'm right there with you. I'm in 100% lockstep. I found myself having this experience last night, realizing that last night's show was the penultimate episode of this season. Yeah.

It feels like we're going to get, you know, the answer to the king of the throne. And I still, I mean, I love that there are odds up on this. I don't know if they're serious odds or not. Yeah. But I saw that the book had posted some odds. I mean, my money is on Logan until the series is over but they could kill his ass too my money is on the daughter

yeah I don't know why but I just I feel like she wins in the end because this is such a male dominated show but all the men are so deeply flawed that it's the woman who pulls it out in the end yeah well she has she's not exactly clean hands her own self no that it's the woman who pulls it out in the end.

She's not exactly clean hands her own self. No. I mean, literally unclean hands, if you think about the car scene. True. I'm super attached to the characters, though. When it seemed like she might have an out with Tom last night, when he confronted her about the affair that she's having.

And, and then she was like, no, no, it's fine. Both my wife and I were like, Oh, why not just tell him the truth?

Like it was like, she was one of our friends and I don't know why, because there's not really anything redeemable about her, but I found myself attached, which is the way I feel about everybody on this show. There's nothing redeemable about any of these people, and I'm yet attached to all of them. I don't know how they did it. It's been brilliant.

It really set the stage with those first three episodes. They took such a chance by laying out most of the unlikable attributes and traits of the entire cast, but all of those traits that they put on the platter for us have come in very handy as the season has evolved. I'm now at the point where I need to go back and re-watch the first three episodes. I'm with you where I'm re-watching. I've seen every episode four, five, six, seven, and then last night all the way through twice.

But I haven't done that with one, two, and three. I want to go back. I feel like it'll be rich. It'll be very fun to rewatch one, two, and three now. Yeah, Greenwald and Chris Ryan talked about this on The Watch last week. Chris Ryan's out of his mind with this show. I've never seen him really more excited about anything ever, except for maybe the Eagles winning the Super Bowl.

And he was comparing how they set up episodes four and on to how LeBron sees the chessboard on the court. Oh my. Yeah, he needed a big helping of settle down juice. But it is really interesting, specifically how they set up Kendall. And those first three episodes where it's like, what is going, what is this character?

Why am I rooting for this guy? How is this the hero of the show? This is idiotic. And then it all made sense. The episode four, which is when the show took off, when he's trying to do the boardroom coup d'etat and he can't pull it off and it gets stuck in traffic.

And I thought that 20, 25 minutes stretch was really great. I was really into it. Breathtaking. Yeah. And I was like, wow, I was like,

Oh, the show's paying off. I'm in. And, uh, and then for him to, they got, they have the retreat.

He stops at the bar, gets the sparkling water they give him shit for it all of a sudden he's having a double vodka and three scenes later he's doing crystal meth I'm like yes I'm in he's on the meth couch and now he's like this coke dude

he's like wearing fancy sneakers and listening to rap and he's like super aggro and it all makes sense. They set it up in those first three. Not a lot of shows. And still maybe a hero. Still maybe a hero.

Who knows? Chris and Andy made this point that in the era of we don't know if we're getting more than one year with a show, they kind of stack the show with their best stuff. And this show did not do that.

And it makes you think, man, I wish more shows played it this way where there was actually a long game and a real payoff. You know, I think Game of Thrones, Game of Thrones is a good example. The Wire is a good example.

I'm not comparing succession to those two from like a quality standpoint, but Game of Thrones and The Wire put in time before stuff started happening. We began this discussion by observing that neither one of us can really figure out where it would go beyond season two. Right. But obviously they must have a plan. And yet I don't see, I don't see how this is more than 20 episodes. Like they still have some cards to play,

right? We, we still have heading into the season finale, whatever's going to happen with Kendall's coup d'etat. Yeah. You know, the wedding, something horrible is going to happen at the wedding.

And I don't know what, I just know that I am watching the East coast version of it. So I can enjoy the spoilers after the fact on Twitter and stuff. And then ultimately the long game of the dad's going to die at some point. Well, that's a great one. This is my question to you. Maybe we can get betting odds on this. Who do you think will be first to die on this show?

Because I don't think it'll be the dad. Oh, interesting. Who do you think then? Tom? Cousin Greg? Nephew Greg? Poor Cousin Greg. Is it Cousin Greg or Nephew Greg? A couple people mentioned the Nephew Kyle. They mentioned

the Nephew Kyle Cousin Greg comparison. I really resent that. Nephew Kyle is so much more competent than Greg. This is bullshit, Ringer staff. He seems like he has a sweet life, though. Doesn't he? No. He's a moron.

You're not a moron. I appreciate that. You're a successful podcast producer. Don't do four lines. Or at least don't do it and tell anybody about it. Yeah, so the... Oh, that's interesting. So you don't think the dad's the first one to die?

No, he's too important. Too much stuff. And he's effing killing it. Every scene that he's in is so enjoyable. I loved how the last night's episode was basically like the 2000 and not even 2018, like the 2020 version of Downton Abbey. You know what I mean? It was beautiful. It was physically beautiful. The way it was shot, it was very artistic. And these human beings are all walking around with giant knives, sticking them in the sides and everything. And the dad's takedown of Britain as a capital-sucking leech on capitalism.

I just thought it was effing brilliant. I mean, he needs to live at least through most of next season, I hope, I pray. It almost seems like he's a lock to win Best Supporting Actor for the Emmy whenever he's eligible for that. Oh, let's gamble on that. He's so good in the show and he's one of those guys he he was a that guy

for a while and then he became Brian Cox and he's been around for a long time and he's always been good but this feels like you know

the the speech that he gave I forget what episode that was it was either I guess it was the end of episode three that was

I thought actually it was probably when the show started taking off, when he insisted on giving the speech at the charity dinner. And he kind of saw Kendall's coup d'etat coming, even if it was a more good natured coup d'etat at that point. And he gave the speech and he could barely stand up. I just thought he was great in that. He's been great the whole season, but that was a really great actor moment. And it's a great in that. He's been great the whole season, but that was a really great actor moment, and it's a great actor

role, and it's probably the only role on this show that if they had the wrong actor, the show falls apart. Right? I couldn't agree more. And that's part of the charm of everybody else also. I can't imagine anybody else

playing the characters inhabiting... Roman is unbelievable. Mr. Culkin. Yeah. A plus, plus, plus job by you. What were the odds after Home Alone 1 that Kieran, is it Kieran or Rory? Rory Culkin? I think it's Kieran.

Now I've got to look it up. What were the odds that he might have the better career than Macaulay Culkin in like 93? Zero. No odds. Couldn't get on. Off the boards. Off the board in Vegas. That was when Macaulay Culkin had so much power.

His siblings just got to be on whatever project he was doing, which led to his sister being in The Good Son, who's the worst actress of all time, other than maybe Sofia Coppola. Hold on, I'm looking this up. I think it's Rory. No, I don't know. Nephew Kyle, look this up. Which Culkin is in succession? Probably not a bad

sign for him that we can't remember which one is. I think it's Rory, though. He's been great. I think it's Kieran. Is it Kieran? Nephew, Cousin Greg's looking it up. Kieran, it's Kieran. It's Kieran. Boom.

So he's been great. He, in the Bachelor Party episode, was a tour de force. Listen, we're doing a thing on The Ringer this week, the greatest TV episodes of all time, which is guaranteed to enrage both of us. I tried to stay out of it. Oh, yeah. There's going to be.

Part of it is it's only one episode per show, which I think we should have made a, I think there should have been like seven or eight shows that we're allowed to have two. But I remember like the watershed all time, me calling you immediately after an episode of a show. I think there were two examples that I can remember. One is when Adebisi raped the guy who he knocked out in Oz and he put his headphones on. That was the most unbelievable two minutes I've ever seen on television to that point.

It was like, what just happened? And then Crazy Eyes Killer and Curb Your Enthusiasm. I'm glad you mentioned Curb. Is Curb included in this treatment this week? It is, but the only one episode when arguably you could put six in there, which is a problem. But Crazy Eyes Killer, I think we talked for like an hour and 10 minutes after that episode, something like that. It really has become part of our, uh, you know, our, our, our friendship,

20, 15 years of crazy eyes killer. We've had to enjoy it together. And then, uh, Funkhouser's sister was the other one. I named a fantasy team after her. You did. Maybe I shouldn't say that out loud. Oh, but the bachelor party episode was on that. I mean, we can't forget Gil Bang, the house that cum built. Oh, Gil Bang, that was another one.

That was like an hour long conversation. Welcome to the house that cum built. So he put a little Tabasco on there. But the bachelor party episode, just otherworldly. I don't know how many times I'm going to end up watching it, but it will be a lot. I ate my unload. Yeah, it was pretty hot.

And then a little bit later, they're waiting for the car. Heard you ate your unload. I just, I couldn't handle it. It was so good. The whole episode was so good. I'm still processing calamari cock ring. I still, that has so many uses. It's so rich.

It's so great. I just, everybody in my life is getting that text at least once this week. What was the other one? I'm in a sword fight with a dildo made out of American cheese. Yeah. Yeah. The first five minutes of the show. Yeah.

I, I'm mad at Eric Bogosian for being in billions, but then also being in succession. It feels like bad form. Nah, that's bad. Pick a show. Different walks of life.

Pick a team. You get to be on two teams. Succession is like the, the, the most, it's a postmodern Dallas. You know what I most, it's a post-modern Dallas. You know what I mean? Post-modern Dallas? It's a little bit of intrigue. It's drama.

It's a little bit campy. So what are your predictions for episode 10? The season finale. I don't, I mean, I think we're going to see our first death. That's my biggest prediction. First death? I think we're going to see our first death. That's my biggest prediction. First death? I think we're going to see a death at the wedding. Are we sure Tom's not gay?

Of course not. No, we're not sure of anything. Okay. I don't want Tom to die, even though I feel like he's the most one-note character. They try to give him a little bit of depth with this whole revelation and this scene,

but he needs to live if Greg lives. If Greg is alive, then Tom needs to be alive because Tom and Greg is my favorite relationship on the show. Yeah, it almost

could be spun off. They won't, but it could be spun off into its own half-hour Veep-type HBO show. It's an incredible dumb and dumber. We should also mention,

we haven't mentioned yet somehow, Alan Ruck, who plays Connie, who's with the hooker, who's not a hooker, but he's so fucked up in so many different ways, and all of it paid off with the family therapy, that whole thing, when the dad just started going off on everyone

and they're all talking and somebody's like, well, you get a hooker, and then turns to Alan Ruck's girlfriend, he's like, no offense, that killed me. But Alan Ruck, who's been around for a long time, a couple Alan Ruck facts, because for years and years, he was Ferris Bueller's buddy Cameron. That's how we know him.

Right, I know, I know. In the Red Wings jersey. That's what makes him brilliant in this role. In the Red Wings jersey. He was 30 years old when he did Ferris Bueller. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Is that true?

Yeah, he's in his 60s now. No way. Yeah, he's had his 60s now. No way! Yeah. He's had all these incarnations. He was in Spin City. He was in Speed. He was one of those guys. For a while, I was like, oh, it's Cameron from Ferris Bueller.

And then somehow along the line became Alan Ruck. And he's really good in this too. Well, how do we figure out how to look that good in our 60s like you know we're at the stage of life where we're closer to 60 than we are to 35 you marry a hooker i want to look that good you marry a hooker that's what happened over like 52 or 53 yeah what a run by him it's it's such a weird cast so kendall the guy who plays him j Jeremy Strong, is like a theater actor. And there was this article that our beloved, The Ringer's beloved Katie Bakes put in our TV Slack, an interview with him where he just seems very intense. And one of the things he had was Brian Cox doesn't really like him that much because he won't rehearse. He likes the intensity of going mano a mano right away.

And Brian Cox, like old Brian Cox, like, who the fuck is this guy? Why won't he rehearse? So he sounds like a prize. But he's been really good in this show. That makes a lot of sense in terms of the dynamic between them. Yeah. And yet I believe that they love each other. I believe that they're father and son.

How would you compare the family in succession to Dick House and the three House brothers? And how could both of your other brothers be nephew Greg in this scenario? Everybody, all of us are nephew Greg. We're three bumbling, stumbling, you know, looking for our mark. The House Brothers, that's what makes us lovable. This is why, you know, Dick House rules with a very soft glove.

It's a velvet glove. It's a velvet touch. He's patting on the head. So one episode left. Is this an A plus for you, an A plus plus, or an A plus plus plus? It's only an A plus plus for you, an A-plus-plus, or an A-plus-plus-plus? It's only an A-plus-plus, and then next week I just have to see what we're capable of. I mean, they've set the bar so high.

Two straight weeks. Calamari cock ring and a, what was it, closed system sequence, whatever it was? Calamari cock ring. Is that cheating? Is that your fantasy team this year, Calamari Cockrig? That's one of them for sure. And the other one is whatever you just described, the Tom Com Soup. Hey, one thing before you go, just because this happened recently

and I've been pissy about it on Twitter. Atlanta trades Dennis Schroeder to OKC and in return gets Carmelo's contract back and a lottery protected pick in 2022 from OKC. Uh-huh. Then today they paid off Carmelo

to buy him out for $25.5 million. Yeah. So they did all this because Trey Young needs Yeah So They did all this Because Trey Young Needs His own team

And not have Schroeder there And It's my favorite thing It's It's my favorite thing One of the most incompetent stretches Luka Doncic is gonna be so good Yeah

Luka Doncic is gonna win Rookie of the Year And The problem is You can't really pick on any Atlanta fans because they all know. They've already lived through it. It's not fun to pick on Atlanta fans.

We're going to call up Rembert and give him a hard time. What's crazy is people like Kinky has almost ruined all basketball kind of gut check, like just this is stupid because you give it, well, you know, they're creating cap space and building assets

and this is what Hinckley did. This is just stupid. It's just flat out like one of the dumbest summers I've ever seen a team have. They tanked for the whole year to be able to get a potential franchise player in the draft and then the franchise player fell to them at number three and they traded him. Look, that's the starting point in the draft. And then the franchise player fell to them at number three and they traded

him. I look, that's the starting point to the year. Atlanta Hawks, the 2018, 19 Atlanta Hawks. Yeah. And I saw something.

Yeah. And we got to get rid of Schroeder because that'll allow us to have an even worse pick next year so we can get a top three pick again and fuck it up. Well, I don't denigrate the idea of getting rid of Schroeder and really by any means necessary. It's incredible that he and Dwight Howard played on the same basketball team.

Two guys that combined played hard for less than 10 games in an entire basketball team. He's 24 years old. I'm not sure we're going to see again. He's 24 years old. He averaged almost 20 a game last year. He's played in a bunch of playoff games. He can create his own shot. He's not Luau Dang. Itaged almost 20 a game last year. He's played in a bunch of playoff games.

He can create his own shot. He's not Luau Dang. It's not Luau Dang. No. I honestly, you know what I think he needs? He needs a haircut. If he shaves his head, I think, you know, and changes his name. He went from Dennis to Denny.

Yeah. I think there's a redemption story there. Rusillo and I talked about Westbrook playing off the ball this year a little bit more. And then we both laughed. Me too. I was about to bust out laughing. And there it was. Well, I wonder if there's a world

where they spend the entire training camp teaching him how to like set a pick and run off a screen. Russell Westbrook? It might be too late. What is he, 28? 27 or 28, right? Yeah.

I don't know what to tell you, Hawks fans. I will say this though. If the ultimate plan is a sneaky kind of move to move Atlanta to Seattle, to basically just completely murder professional basketball in Atlanta and then just kind of skip out of town and go to the $2 billion Seattle market.

Well done, because you're on your way. You've definitely laid some groundwork. You've antagonized most of the fans you have. And now you've put all the pressure on Trey Young, who if he's not good right away and if he doesn't show enough signs right away and Doncic is really good in Dallas, which he's going to be, this is now a catastrophe.

I don't mind anything that you just said, by the way. Atlanta is proven. It's a great football city. It's a great, it's a fine baseball city. They moved the stadium out to where they think they can get fans to show up. It's been a good MLS city. And the soccer team is unbelievable.

It's incredible. That's enough. Those are three sports that people in Atlanta love. People in Atlanta did not love hockey, and it left. And it doesn't seem like, notwithstanding the great tradition of Neek, which is now 35 years ago, 30 years ago, if the Hawks left, really, who's crying? Who in Atlanta is crying in tears?

Remember crying if the Hawks leave? I feel like he's already resigned to them being dead. They're just kind of a basketball corpse. Even when the Hawks, when it was going really well for them, they still didn't 100% totally love that team. They were winning. They loved the 60-win team when Korver went off. Do you think they loved it, though?

And they're never going to forgive Della Vadova for busting Korver's leg. They loved the 88 team. I love that 87-88, that Hawk stretch with Neek and all those dudes. I love those teams. Yeah, sure, sure. They love that 60-win team. That was a great, great run. One season.

You went to an MLS game. I did. The DC United? Yes, that's who they are. Yeah. Wayne Rooney? That Wayne Rooney. We have all the fat superstars here.

Wait till you see Alex Ovechkin this season you think him and John Wall are getting pork buns at Momofuku DC or no? it's a fat off yeah they're getting the pork buns they're asking chef for an extra pork belly slice inside did we have an answer for what happened to John Wall?

every one of those pictures was terrible if you go look some people have graciously been putting up just to take the spotlight off of poor John Wall. Yeah. There's four or five guys. Blake Griffin looked horrendous. I can't remember.

There was a bunch of guys that did. I love it. DeMar DeRozan looked like he also had been awake for a week. The way you're defending this, Wizards, everybody, Fat John Wall, Crazy Dwight Howard. This is such a, the way you're defending this wizards, everybody, fat John Wall, crazy Dwight Howard. This is great. This is going to be, this is going to be a very fun thing. Who do you have for PGA tournament for us in two weeks?

Still looking at Tommy Fleetwood. Here's one interesting thing. I'm going to share it right here on the BS podcast. I haven't broken this to Shaq yet. We've had this really interesting phenomena with the major winners thus far this season. They're all guys that wear Nike. They're all guys that don't wear the funky Nike, though. Only Brooks Koepka wears the form-fitting Henley kind of stuff.

Patrick Reed and Frankie Molinari both wear Nike with collars. The other thing that's interesting about these three guys that won, they're kind of mixed bag, mixed ball guys. They're not 100% – they don't have 100% allegiance to any one manufacturer. So I'm trying to find a guy that fits that profile. I haven't come up with them yet. There are a few candidates that are still – that are Nike guys. They wear Nike clothes.

And then they might play the driver of one manufacturer and the irons of another manufacturer and the ball of another manufacturer. That's something. I just don't know how or why those are the traits, but that's the guy I'm looking for. And it might be Tommy Fleetwood. Tommy hurt my feelings at the British Open.

He was right there. And even though half of me, the half Italian side of me was excited that the Italian won, the other half was really hurt by Tommy Fleetwood. The Italian was just banging out pars. Drive down the fairway, second shot in the green, two putt, next hole. Boom, boom, boom, boom, next hole. He played 37 consecutive holes without a bogey at the Open Championship at Carnasty.

It was some high, high-level dad golf, and it worked. That's right. You're right. That's what wins. There was like a half hour there where it seemed like Tiger was going to win the British Open, and it was the most exciting thing that happened all year, basically. And then all of a sudden... I mean, it was a great... On July the 23rd, 2018,

there was a tiger. The tiger meteor was back, and all eyes were on. For a Sunday afternoon in the middle of July, all eyes were on the television. The ratings went through the roof. My phone was going crazy, and I was breathless

until he hit the ball, the tee ball on 12 and that was it Tommy Fleetwood 25-1 our dude John Rahm 25-1 it's going to happen for him at some point it'll happen for him

at some point absolutely he's not a Nike guy I'm telling you I'm looking for a Nike guy. All right. Check out the Shaq House podcast presented by Callaway. When's the next one?

I think we have one coming up this week to preview the WGC Bridgestone. Tiger's team ended up again at Firestone. This will be the last time at Firestone.

So that would make for a nice story for Tiger W and propel us into the PGA, which we're two weeks away from. Why haven't you invited me on House of Carbs? We did the blowout NBA City rankings that really

engendered a ton of commentary and input from folks, and I figured we needed an equally special occasion to have you back on. I want to talk about Korean barbecue. I went to a place with Chang on Saturday night. I have a lot of Korean barbecue thoughts

and I also have a lot of thoughts on off the menu because I went off the menu and here's looking at you in Koreatown on Friday night. The double cheeseburger I posted on my Instagram. It was a cheeseburger not made out of real beef but beef brisket. It was a cheeseburger not made out of real beef, but beef brisket.

Yeah, sure. It was a beef brisket cheeseburger with white American cheese and a Thousand Island-y type of dressing, but then the bun clung to the burger in a really, really

dramatic, special, heartwarming way. And you would have loved it. We'll have to talk about it yeah what do I have to do to get an invite to this place

come to come to Los Angeles you're coming cause we're gonna play the Riviera with Peter Benedict oh that'll be a great time I love PB

yeah he's he's gonna he's gonna bring us to Riviera and I'm gonna shoot a 108 it's gonna be great that's great

I'll be right in front of you my Callaway clubs my rogue driver I'm gonna be I'm going to shoot a 108. It's going to be great. I'm going to be right in front of you. My Callaway clubs, my rogue driver. I'm going to be, I'm going to be killing people who are walking around the sides on the left and right. House, always a pleasure. Talk to you soon. Good times. Thanks so much to ZipRecruiter. Don't forget to check them out at ziprecruiter.com slash BS.

Thanks to Joe House. Thanks to the Pope, Mike Francesa. Thanks to Starbucks. Starbucks Double Shot starts with bold Starbucks coffee blended with milk for a smooth, creamy, delicious flavor. It's enhanced with ginseng, guarana, B vitamins. Starbucks Double Shot. Look, man, you never

know when you're going to need a little pick-me-up. Put it in your fridge. It's energy to do the things you actually do. Find it in your fridge. It's energy to do the things you actually do. Find it in your local convenience store. We're back Wednesday. We're back Friday. We're heading toward the 400th episode.

We got a little treat for you on that one. 400 BS podcasts. I don't know how many I did at ESPN. Got to be near like a thousand total. Who knows? I'm going to do the math, figure that out. Anyway, Wednesday, Friday, more coming. Check out theringer.com.

See you then. I don't have a few years with him on the wayside I'm a person never I don't have a few years