The Bobby Bones Show - 25W: Why Bobby Loved Shane Gillis' ESPYs Monologue + Nick Saban's Next Coaching Spot with Stewart Mandel + Kickoff Kevin Admits He Was Wrong

Episode Date: July 17, 2025

After Shane Gillis got a lot of backlash for his opening monologue at the ESPYs on Wednesday night, Bobby said he loved it! He thinks people are being too sensitive, played some of his favorite jokes from the night, and even did a trial run of his own jokes for his Opry performance this weekend. Plus, Stewart Mandel from The Athletic joined Bobby to talk about Nick Saban's next coaching spot, expectations for Bill Belichick, and more! And Kickoff Kevin admits he was wrong about his Red Sox... now he asks the guys for permission to watch his favorite team again.    Follow the Show: @BobbyBonesSports   Follow the Crew: @MrBobbyBones @ProducerEddie @KickoffKevin @MikeDeestro @BrandonRayMusicSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. The 2026 NFL draft is here, and the NFL Daily podcast has it covered from all angles. Join me, Greg Rosenthal, and Jordan Rodriguez after night one on Thursday. Nick Shook joins me night two Friday and then Sunday to recap everything that went down over the three days in Pittsburgh. We'll tell you who won the draft and which players were my favorite picks.

Listen to NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal on the IHard. Art Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed. I will be his last target.

He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe, on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the show, Eddie Blow the Whistle. I want to start with Shane Gillis's S.V.'s monologue, which he was getting roasted pretty hard by, like, traditional media. It was awesome.

If you were a sports fan and you like comedy, it was awesome. Because people in the room weren't comfortable doesn't mean it wasn't hilarious. People in the room were not comfortable at first, because he went hard. It was a plus. It was so good. He also wasn't mean. He roasted, but he wasn't mean. He didn't punch down. He was perfect for it. And I was so irritated watching some of the reviews like, audience doesn't laugh during Shane Gillis's SB monologue. Because the audience was scared they were next. The audience was like, oh God, O'B doesn't come of me. It was perfect. He was the perfect guy to do it. I'm going to to play you some of the jokes. So why don't we go with the clip one. This is the Shohei. I don't want to run the joke, so go ahead and hit it, Mike.

Shohei Otani couldn't make it tonight. Man, I hope his interpreter didn't bet that he was going to be here. Shohei is a once-in-a-generation talent. No one's been able to do what he does at so many positions, pitcher, hitter, and bookie. A bookie is what Bill

Belichick reads to his girlfriend before bedtime. Sugar Ray Leonard's here. here, Elia. Sugar Ray, you're the man, but in 10 years, Jake Paul's going to try to knock you out. So take it easy. And this is near the end.

So the crowd's kind of gotten into it at this point, and I'm just kind of playing some in order of where I... So this one is the one that people were upset, some people were upset about. This is the Caitlin Clark joke, the Waffle House joke. It was super funny unless your little butt gets hurt at anything. Go ahead.

Caitlin Clark, she and I have a lot in common. were both whites from the Midwest who have nailed a bunch of threes. There you go. Lighten up a little. This is not serious. We'll see about this one. When Caitlin Clark retires from the WMBA,

she's going to work at a Waffle House so she can continue doing what she loves most. Fist fighting black women. Dang, dude. It went hard on that one. It went hard. funny. Okay.

The threes is awesome, dude. Nailing the threes. My favorite joke, and I'll go ahead and get to it now. Do number seven, this is my favorite joke of the entire night, and I think people were confused a little while it happened, which was part of the joke. Four-time WMBA All-Star, Britney Hicks is here. Give it up for Brittany, everybody.

I'm joking around. That's my friend's wife. I knew none of you knew WMBA players. That's crazy. You clap for that. That is so good. That's my favorite joke at night. The crowd's like, yep, yeah. Britney Hicks.

I mean, I was even clapping, dude. Britney Hicks. Four-time All-Star. It's an honor she's here. That is crazy. It's so funny. So let's do the clip four, Alien joke. Joe Rogan actually wanted me to be here to host this award show so that I could capture Adam Silver

because Joe thinks he's an alien. And Donald Trump wanted me to be here to capture Juan Soto for the same reason. Dang. He got booed on that one. He's going hard. I'm telling you, it was perfect. It was pissing off a little group. A little bit of the group was like, I don't know if I should laugh because the camera's on me.

And the other group is just like dying laughing. And that was shifting throughout the whole crowd. Go ahead hit the next one. Donald Trump wants to stage a UFC fight on the White House lawn The last time he staged a fight in D.C., Mike Pence almost died. The crowd down when they were like, ooh. That was a good one too. Excellent.

One more. Actually, there was supposed to be an Epstein joke here, but as it got deleted. Must have probably deleted itself, right? Probably never existed, actually. Let's move on. as a country and ignore that. They crushed.

If you get a minute, like 10, go watch the entire monologue on TikTok. And you've heard a lot of the jokes. It's great. Couldn't have done better because there were enough uncomfortable people. And when you have that style, you can't judge how good or bad it is

based on the reaction of the crowd. Because at the beginning of that, it was just, huh. And you're so right with cameras there. You don't want to react in certain ways. And there were celebrities that wouldn't laugh. or you would see them trying not to laugh because they knew the cameras were right on them

because what happens when you're at an award show you know where the cameras are because the cameraman has a camera on his shoulder and he gets right in freaking front of you. Yeah, they don't zoom there. No, yeah, it's not from like a corner. You know at any point they're probably going to show your face

because it's happened when I've been to these award shows if they're going to put me on or somebody next to me they'll put the camera right on the shoulder and be right and you're like, oh God, I don't know what to do they have my face. Oh, that joke? It's offensive, but it's really funny. What do I do?

Then you look like a bad guy. Yes. I think Lamar's head was down at one point and had the camera on him his head was down. On the Chedur. Yeah. He did a joke about Shudor Sanders. Did a whole thing where he was, first it was like, yeah, that's not... Nepotism?

Nepotism, because he went 13 and 12 and almost won the Alamo Bowl. That's why his jersey was retired. And Lamar's like, oh. Yeah, yeah. He's like, his jersey's retired. That's not nepotism. Come on, look at the step. He was 13 and 12 and almost on the Alamo Bowl.

Yeah, it was good. Oh, I do want to play the clip of Shaq threatening RG3. Oh, that was intense. He takes the sunglasses off too. He does, man. It looks on the camera. Yeah, Shaq was on a podcast recently and threatened to beat up RG3 because RG3 keeps coming at Angel Reese, but mostly it was about that retweet of the graphic that somebody did and really, really,

really, really poor taste of Angel Reese. And RG3 didn't have to retweet that and make the comment. He really didn't. Yeah. And so Shaq says this on at Gillian Bow on Twitter's page. Here you go. Oh, speaking of man, RG3, tweet another monkey post about my girl, I'm punching your face.

Okay? That's enough. Like, I don't usually do stuff like this, but just stop it, bro. You got your job. You got your podcast. Leave my angelary's long. I'm the one calling her and telling her not to respond. Stop it.

That's the last time. Yeah, I wouldn't want Shaq coming after me. No, I'm scared. He wouldn't catch me. if I'm RG3 but if he does if he does that's trouble

we had the all-star game a couple nights ago and I fell asleep and stopped watching after like the first inning and we came in and I had seen that they did the swing off at the end

I loved it awesome I didn't watch it live I would never watch anything that late live on a weeknight because unless it's Arkansas playing because I gotta go to bed

but that was really cool I wish they would do that in major league games instead of extra endings oh that would be amazing that would be fun What was bizarre to me, and again, I missed it live, so I'm not going to act like I was so diehard and I was up watching having these thoughts. I watched it all in clips. The next day, I'm like,

oh, this is super cool. It's basically home run derby at the end of the game. And what a fun way, because I said to Eddie, it was like penalty kicks in soccer, which I think is the best part of a soccer match. Penalty kicks, because they don't score any goals. We at least get some goals scored. And I thought that was super cool. And that would be super cool if they implemented that in like the first half of the regular season. Because they're going to be like, well, we can't do this in meaningful games. Right. Fine.

That makes sense. They do take the runner off second base in the playoffs for extra innings. And people were way against that in extra endings at first. But if you just play

extra innings with nobody on, this stupid games go 17, 18, 19 innings something. It's crazy. I had to do something. And baseball's already slow and thought of it was boring. So I love

for the first half of the year if they would do that swing off. It was so cool. Yeah. Secondly, and now I think everybody knows, but people were going, where's Otani, where's Judge?

Why aren't they the ones hitting the balls? Yeah, because they go to the managers, right? Like, all right, American League. Here's your manager, Boone. Like, who are you going to have hitting? And he's like, name three people like, who? Right. Like, wait, you have Aaron Judge, like, who? They're not there.

They're not there. They went home. I never knew they went home in the middle of the game. That's wild. This is how I found out that the players leave in the middle of the game. Unless you may be the MVP, then you stay. but other than you just go home some dudes like when the locker room

changed their clothes and they were like in regular street clothes came out and watched the game I get it but if you have nothing to do how fun would it have been to see them in street clothes bomb and ball that's awesome! Yeah like they call them from the bleachers yeah that would have been sick I propose because again

baseball is not a sport that makes big changes or any change quick but they are a sport now that starts to see young people don't care as much as they used to and you're also seeing the Savannah banana sell out like crazy impossible to get tickets. So what are we going to do to grow baseball? Because we are seeing that baseball can be grown if done right.

And I think one of the really cool things to do would be to make this, I'm not going to save the whole season, not going to say the playoffs. Traditionalists will have a freaking fit. The first half of the season leading up to the All-Star game, any game going into extra innings, you do the freaking swing off. Yeah, that would be fun. It'd be awesome. And then even as a fan, you're like, because if it goes to extras, you're like, I'm out of

I'm not going to stick around. Who knows how long this is going to last. And how they did it too with like, you get three swings is awesome. So cool. What was also cool, too, is the... Did you watch it live? I did. Well, I had money on it.

Oh, you bet it? I had money on the American League. So when they came back, I'm like, I'm staying up to watch this thing. What was really cool, though, were the pitch reviews. So I was going to bring that up next. So they did it before the season started. So in spring training. And so the A.B.

system. Yeah, whatever that system. The ABS challenge system. I would love for that to be a permanent part of the game, but not with no-ump. Because that just looks weird. If there's just a catcher and a batter... Somebody has to get hit by the ball back there. Eventually, whatever, robot hump,

I think being able to challenge is great, especially with money now being bet. And I'm not the first person to say, now that money's being bet on games, you need to get it right. When you can legally allow betting, you need to make sure the call is right. And that's what happened.

Yeah, it was so smooth. Bottom of the first inning, I actually saw it being used because it was like the first ending of the game. Pretty cool. Yeah. There was even a challenge on a call. There was one where it was just a sliver of a hit of a strike. I mean, dude, it barely touched it by like, that's legit.

It's real. You can't argue it. I think umpires are needed. I like humans. I'm pro-human, by the way. I want everybody to know, you can't be any more pro-human than me. But I do think balls and strikes. for sure needs to be able to be reviewed.

Because everything else can be reviewed. And if we want to do it the first half of the year, great. Because we've done it in the spring training. We do it in the All-Star game. Let's just see how it goes for the first half of the year. Actually, make it in some games that matter. Yeah. I feel like the umps, you know.

I'm not speaking for every empire out there, but I feel like they like to be right. You know, they got a little bit of power. It's embarrassing. It's hurt their pride a little bit. Some have big egos. It's ridiculous. I think it's embarrassing.

Even ego aside, I think it kind of sucks if you're wrong. anyway. Even if you're not a big ego person, like your job is to get it right. Let's say, let's take balls and strikes out of it. Let's say a tag at second. Out. All right. We want to review. And you go and review, you're just praying. Oh my God. I hope I'm right. And you were so animated too when you were like, out of there. And then they come back and they're like overturn the call. You know that's, even if your ego is not big, even if you're not the guy that is loud and large, you're like, oh, now I have to go admit in front of everybody that I was wrong at my job. And they get graded after every game.

Yeah. Like the MLB grades them and sees who does the best, who's most accurate. So that would suck. That would suck a little bit, yeah. I'm all, I want to say it again. I'm pro-human. You can't be any more pro-human than me. Thank goodness, dude.

Yes, I'm glad you are. So, but I think the umpires serve a purpose behind home plate just not to have full authority of balls and strikes. They can call balls and strikes, but I think you should be able to challenge. Yeah, and we've got to have coaches be tossed still. That's fun. That's great. Of course. My favorite are the clips when the coach is like, just throw me out.

Yeah. I'm going to kick some dirt. John, just kick me out of here. I really need to do a scene here. Tell Sally, I say hi, right? I'll see you for dinner later on, right? I'll see in Cleveland. They'll walk out in their mouths covered at first a little bit so no one can read their lips.

So John Boy, can't read their lips or anybody else. All right, you're going to just get me out of here, man. You mother, put me. Out of here. So I did think the game was fun because they got to wear their old uniforms. Their normal uniforms. Yeah, yeah. They haven't done that in like six or seven years.

So it hasn't, but when we were kids, that's all they did. It wore the original uniforms. And it was so cool to see your guys on your team make the All-Star team. Yeah. So the All-Star game was great. Like, baseball's doing a pretty good job at trying to snell-like move forward a bit instead of just staying the same, which was making them fall back. Pitch clock great. I like.

Eliminate the shift. They did. They did eliminate the shift. Although, you know what? The shift is kind of a strategic move. Yeah, man. Of all the, I'm pro-human. I'd like to say, I'm pro-human.

I didn't really hate the shift. I didn't either. Just be a better hitter. And I don't understand, like, everyone's moved to the right. You're a wide open on the left. Can't you just like, come on? Just hit the ball that way a little bit. That's what I'm saying.

Like, learn to hit opposite field. You're a pro. You know, you're one of the greatest hitters in America, or you wouldn't be in the major leagues. Maybe learn how to hit opposite field. It's wide open over there, man. Swing a fraction of a second late. That's all you got to do. Maybe it's harder than we think, but I don't know.

Probably, Eddie. British Open, you're keeping up with it? When we do the show, I don't keep up with it at all. I guess you do. It's on and we got a break. I look over. I'm talking about the morning show this morning. It started this morning.

Yeah. I mean, by the time, like, we're rolling in the show, I think the first group's already done. I don't know how early it is over there, but it's crazy that half of the tournament or the day round is pretty much done. when America's starting to roll out a bit. Yeah, it's like football. I know. But for a, I guess, I mean, but. Time zones, you know, ma'am?

I've heard of them. Yeah. But Sundays is a little different, right? They do roll it out a little later. But it's probably on Sunday, the final round, it'll probably start at 9 a.m. for most of us. There's also a cut. Yeah.

Unless players. So you don't have to cram everybody on as early. But I'm not, I haven't watched any of it, but I hear that, like, the weather is really bad. Awesome. That's how I want that. I want that to be so difficult. I want it to be, like the U.S. Open, where the rough is like 10 feet tall.

I want it to be corn stalks. And then I want this, the weather to be so bad. It's like when you're playing Tiger Woods and you're having to adjust the arrow because it's seven miles an hour. I want them adjusting their arrows live. I want it to be raining. I want the weather to just kick them right in the balls. Roy's first two T-shots shanked them. He was plus 750.

He was a favorite to win it. Where is he now? I'm not sure. And again, when you hear this, the day one, maybe even day two will be over. But did you bet? I didn't know. Do you bet pre-round ever, like for these majors? Almost never.

That's the best odds, man. I know it's like just a throw a darting the like. Oh yeah, best odds because there are so many. There's two under right now. Who's leading as of right now? Oh, good luck. Okay. Good luck. And H.T. Lee.

And Fitzpatrick. Can't win it on day one. Can lose it on day one though. Yep. So I actually bet it on Saturday. Do you kind of look at who's leading on Saturday and then? Yes, and I never bet the person leading, because usually the odds aren't good, but I'll bet somebody like fifth or sixth, seventh, or a known name at like 11th or 12th.

That's it. Because I can get pretty good odds, and they have consistently played well the last weekend or they wouldn't be famous and successful. So that's usually what I look at. Yeah, same. Like I'll wake up on Sunday, Sunday mornings before the last round starts, and I'll look at the leaderboard, and if like Sheffler's up by like 10, not touching it. You know, like, that's over.

but if you know like he said Borgen-Shornton is leading first It's a little racist toward the Muppet Shep Right there The Swedish chef oars and Morses And there's another guy named

Smith you know Second I'm going with a big name At like third or fourth Always Let's take a break We'll come back in just a little bit And talk with Stuart Mandel

Who is the editor-in-chief of the athletic We're going to talk college football In IL and we'll get into the weeds with that Give us a second We'll come back here The 2026 NFL draft is here, and the NFL Daily podcast has it covered from all angles. Join me, Greg Rosenthal, and Jordan Roderig after night one on Thursday. Nick Shook joins me night two Friday and then Sunday to recap everything that went down over the three days in Pittsburgh.

We'll tell you who won the draft and which players were my favorite picks. Listen to NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever. you get your podcast. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard,

but celebrated. One week I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations,

stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes,

Follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. In 2023, former Bachelor star Clayton Eckerd found himself at the center of a paternity scandal. The family court hearings that followed revealed glaring inconsistencies in her story. This began a years-long court battle to prove the truth. You doctored this particular test twice in so-ins, correct? I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to crack the case. I wanted people to be able to see what their test.

tax dollars were being used for. Sunlight's the greatest disinfected. They would uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Gregalespian and Michael Marantini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trap.

Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Ladies and gentlemen, breaking news at Maricopa County as Laura Owens has been indicted on fraud charges. This isn't a until justice is served in Arizona.

Listen to Love Trapped Podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Supposedly drinking Korean pear juice before drinking alcohol results in a 20% improvement in hangover symptoms. I don't drink, so I've never had the history of trying to find the hangover cure. What do you find to be the best for a hangover, Eddie? So if you want to be proactive, this is what I've learned through all my ears. of drinking. Have one drink of alcohol, one drink of water. One drink of alcohol,

one drink of water, and you will get rid of that hangover. He won't even have the hangover. However, if you don't do that, which I get, party situations, you're not thinking of getting water. The next day, throbbing, headaches, it's hurting. You feel like death in your bed. Menudo, man.

Go to a Mexican restaurant on Sundays and ask for menudo. If a random white person walks in that's never been in the Mexican restaurant by themselves looking a little torn and tattered. Will they know why they're asking from Enno? Of course. They won't even ask like what you want. I know what you came before. Long night. Kevin, you're from a different part of the world? Yes, I am. Because I feel like these are all... Where are you from, dude? California.

These are all based on like the culture you grew up in. Yeah, that's fair. I mean, nobody in Iowa's going to find some Enuto. Well, they should. Only if you're in like South Texas, Arizona, Mexico. Yeah. I used to get my buddy a bunch of crap, Eddie, for drinking a water in between every single drink. How was that week? Kind of upset to hear you say that, but I think you're just getting older. And I'll be there in a little bit. Older, smarter.

I know, it is. I agree, it is smarter for sure, but we never learn, do we? I use Alka-Seltzer. I think Alka-Seltzer is the best. Like, when it comes to hangovers, number one is sleep. If you can get sleep, that's the number one thing. And then you wake up, Alka-Seltzer, which they actually have hangover pills now. I haven't even tried it yet because they caught on.

I think everybody likes it. And it does a trick. so good the tablets you drop them in the water no we've heard of it okay just wait let me get you're both looking at me like because i've never heard of alka seltzer as a hangover cure because i'm from a different part of the world dude that's what we do it when you say when you say like sleep though like do you mean like if you drink all night friday saturday's done like you're just in bed all day no like say you go to sleep at midnight like if you can sleep till seven or eight money a m yeah like you didn't get seven or eight hours of sleep

But if I'm running on like four hours of sleep, it's going to be a rough one. Why do you think, and I had to look it up because I don't know. I've never looked at the science because I've never needed the science. Why do you think people get hangovers? Dehydration. Okay, both of you guys went with that hard. Absolutely, because alcohol just sucks all that water out of you. Like, dries you up.

So that is a part of it, but not the biggest part. My mom always said potassium. Now, I'm not the expert. literally looked this up. So I'm not going, I can't believe you guys don't know. I didn't know. Like seriously, my mom would be like, here, Michael, here, here banana, you need potassium because you have a hangover. So here is the answer from chat GPT. People get hangovers because alcohol messes with your body and brain in a bunch of ways at once. Here's a breakdown of why you feel so awful. Sleep disruption. Even if you pass out, alcohol messes up your sleep quality.

You skip R.m. sleep. And that leads to brain fog, fatigue, and moodiness. So that's part of it. And what you're going to see is it's a collection of things. It's a big stew. Okay. I'm a noodle. No, well, yes. You use a stew to fight a stew, I guess. Ricky Martin.

Next up, toxic byproducts. As your liver breaks on alcohol, it produces a chemical called, um, ACE-Taldehyde, which is even more toxic than the alcohol itself. Your body eventually clears it, but not before it makes you nauseous, sweat, and feel very bad. Next, dehydration. Alcohol is a diuretic, which means,

it makes you pee more. You lose fluids and electrolytes, which leads to symptoms like dry mouth, headache, and dizziness. Your blood sugar drops. Alcohol messes with your glucose levels. The crash and blood sugar can make you weak, shaky, and hangary. Two more. Stomachian. Alcohol increases stomach acid and irritates the lining of your stomach, which adds to nausea, vomiting. Oof. Stomach pain. That's where the vomiting comes in. And finally, just general inflammation. Alcohol triggers, an immune response that can make you feel achy, unfocused, and just generally sick. A hangover is your body's way of saying, you poison me a little bit, and now you're going to pay. But it's because of a whole lot of different things happening in your body, not one single factor.

So no potassium level, like mom said? I'm sure not having the appropriate amount of potassium isn't able to fight the toxic byproducts. But it's not in your list over there. I didn't make the list, not my list. But yes. So there's a little education. Dude, what's crazy, when you were reading that list, what stood out was the, like, the time, the multiple times that you go pee. Like, it's crazy how as soon as you start drinking, you got to pee.

Like, there's, like you break that seal, right? Like, you have 20 gallons of water in you. If you know you're going to be in a crowd or somewhere tough to get out to go to the bathroom, you don't pound beers. And if you're not drinking and you have to pee, you can hold it. Not a big deal. When you're drinking and you have to pee, you cannot hold it. Sometimes you just go. Well, they do say, again, that Korean paradigms.

juice before drinking alcohol. And if you're the guy, it's like, pull over and you get some Korean pear juice before we go, we get to the party. You're probably going to get made fun of. I'm going to put that out there. Where do you get a Korean pear juice? Korea, obviously. Okay.

I've mentioned this a couple times in different places, but we've been watching a show called The Kingdom. Anybody who watches it on Netflix? It is a South Korean zombie show. It's good. It starts off a little slow. but we put English subtitles and we make them speak English.

But what's crazy is they actually speak with really thick Korean accents. Oh, really? So they're speaking English, but they're... I would do an impression, but I don't want to get... I don't even feel like that's racist because I'm just literally doing an oppression. It's not risky. It's not risky. And I'm pro-human.

I'm pro-Korean. Yeah. South anyway. Yeah. And so, but they do Korean accents. And I thought to myself, well, that's weird. They're doing really sad. And then I thought to myself, well, I've heard some guy with a southern accent overdubbing a Korean.

Yeah, Marge, watch out for that zombie. I might think that would be weird. It's good. Episode one's a little slow. But by the time, it's only six episodes for two seasons. By the time you get like three in, it's awesome. Really? If you like zombie shows, I think you'll really like it.

If you're into like swords and stuff. Yeah. What was the Tom Cruise movie he did, Mike, where he was like a sword fight? Last samurai? If you like that kind of fighting and stuff, you'll like it. Was that a good movie? Last Samurai? I don't know. I don't watch it. Pretty good movie.

It was? Yeah. Yeah. No, I don't know. Okay. But it's good. The 26 NFL draft is here and the NFL Daily podcast has it covered from all angles. Join me, Greg Rosenthal, and Jordan Roderig after night one on Thursday.

Nick Shook joins me night two Friday and then Sunday to recap everything that went down over the three days in Pittsburgh. We'll tell you who won the draft and which players were my favorite picks. Listen to NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that

not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told,

and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. In 2023, former bachelor star Clayton Eckerd found himself at the center of a paternity scandal. The family court hearings that followed revealed glaring inconsistencies in her story. This began a years-long court battle to prove the truth. You doctored this particular test twice in so-ins, correct?

I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to crack the case. I wanted people to be able to see what their tax dollars were being used for. Sunlight's the greatest disinfected. They would uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg Alesspian and Michael Marantini. My mind was blown.

I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trap. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Ladies and gentlemen, breaking news at Americopa County as Laura Owens has been indicted on fraud charges. This isn't over until justice is served in Arizona. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Kevin wants to admit he was wrong about the Red Sox.

Love it. I do. It's taking me while to get you. I still have not watched one single game since they traded Devers. You're not, though, no games. I have not watched one. But nor will you. You said no games for you. So I was wrong.

I was obviously wrong. They've won 10 in a row going into the All-Star break. And ever since Trump was there, they haven't lost. I know. The Boston Trump socks. Exactly. Exactly. And I've had the biggest fomo, like, watching little highlights, walk off home runs,

team going crazy. Everyone having fun. The crowd's into it. My brother's texting me. I'm like, leave me alone. and I have to say I think I was wrong that they made the right move

trading endeavors obviously the clubhouse and the entire locker room is a better place players are playing better the team's playing better and all of a sudden now they're in the playoffs

if it started today that's freaking awesome so if I admit I'm wrong can I go back to watch you? You can do it anyway it's your life yeah thanks guys you don't know us anything

man it's your morals I know I'm just sitting there you know I'm like dang I want you to do it I'm pro human I want you to do you are you are first Perfect. Thanks, guys.

Isn't that amazing, though, that like a team, they know what's right for them instead of the fans that don't know anything about what's going on inside? Says a Cowboys. Says a Cowboys fan. Yeah, he complains about everything. I don't complain, man. Yeah, you do it like, and you know what they should do. You know how they should do it. Why didn't they do this?

Have you seen Dak? He looks ripped and ready to go, dude. He should be. He looks good. Healthy? Healthy. He says he's ready to go, and I don't know if he's just working out. He looks good.

I don't know how he can throw the ball. but he looks good. Are you watching him to throw the ball? No. No, there's just a picture he posted. I was like, dang, dude. Dude's been hitting the gym. What do you mean you don't know how he can throw the ball?

No, I don't know how he's throwing the ball. Oh, okay, okay. Because I'm not seeing those clips. I thought you said, like, physically, you don't know how he can throw a ball. With all those muscles. Is he that, Jack? No, no, no, no. You know who else looked good working out was Ben Simmons.

Oh. He'd always posted videos. In the lab. Yep. What do you mean? I'd be like, this is the year for Ben Simmons. All the other years, let's forget about them. Why are you comparing those two?

Just that the internet would lead us to believe, based on the images that we saw, that Ben Simmons was really going to turn it around this year. Got it. Didn't quite happen. Got it. Yeah, that's it. We'll come back and talk to Stuart Mandel.

We'll talk college football coming up next. All right, now we're going to go over and talk with Stuart Mandel, who is the editor-in-chief for The Athletic. Go to The Athletic.com to read his articles. Also does a podcast called The Audible. I really enjoy his writing, and we're going to talk about NIL. All the stuff that you may think is boring. We're probably going to talk about here because I do not find it boring at all.

And I'm a massive college football fan. So here he is. Follow him on Twitter at S.L. Mandel. Here he is, Stuart Mandel. Hey, Stuart, big fan of your work. Really appreciate the time. Thanks for having me. I do want to start with this because I saw you post the article just this morning.

And it was basically about collectives and how NIL now is going to be coming through the school except it's not really NIL. What's happening right now because I almost can't keep up with it? It's very hard to keep up with, but the house settlement got approved last month. And so that allowed the colleges to go through with this plan they had twofold. They can now share revenue directly up to $20.5 million the schools can share with their athletes. But also, they've set up this clearinghouse, NIL Go, that has to approve these outside deals. And collectives have obviously dominated the NIL space for the last few years.

That's where athletes get most, if not all of their NIL income. And the commission came out with a statement saying, collectives don't serve a valid business purpose. Their deals are not going to get approved. They were already prepared. The collectives were already prepared to have their deals more closely scrutinized for fair market value. But this was kind of a step or two beyond that.

They're saying it doesn't matter what the compensation is or even if it's for, you know, valid activities, autographs sign. They pay the athletes to do autograph signings or go appear at a golf tournament or whatnot. They don't care. They think collectives are just a front for pay for play and they're not going to approve the deals.

But aren't they? And I say that as someone who was a part of one. And so I've been involved as someone who donated and worked with a collective. And now I do NIL money and deals with athletes to actually do things because I know the new rules up to like 600 bucks, et cetera. It has to be reported.

ported up to 600 bucks. But really, weren't collectives exactly what you're saying they are? Yeah, I think that's one of those things where it's not even a secret at this point, right? Everybody knows that's the intention. And that's why this commission is coming down and saying these are not valid business.

Basically, they're saying it's not a valid business attempt. If you're paying an athlete to promote your product so that the collective can make money to then give to the next wave of athletes, right? They don't think that's legitimately for for goods and services for a poor profit company.

But that doesn't mean it's going to fly. The lawyers for the plaintiffs in the House settlement, as soon as that memo went out, wrote back and said, this is not part of the settlement. You don't get to decide who is or isn't a valid business. And if you don't retract that, we're going to take it back to the judge. So we're waiting to see if anything comes of that.

I guess my final question on this, and I am very interested in it, is that don't you think eventually this just ends with this collective bargaining agreement with the players and the GMs and the athletic directors, almost like we see in pro sports, but not quite. Yeah, I mean, I think that's what you hear a lot in regards to this salary cap, right? Like in the athletic directors and commissioners' eyes, this is a pro sports model now where there's a hard cap and you can't go beyond it. But the people on the other side, that would say the differences in the NBA and the NFL, they collectively bargained that

cap. The athletes agreed to that cap. This was negotiated through a lawsuit settlement that I'm guessing most of the athletes that weren't even aware of, right? So I do think some form of collective bargaining is coming at some point, whether that comes through the courts, Congress, whatever that may be. But right now we're kind of in that limbo state, I think, where they're trying to kind of get away with both. There's a salary cap, but there's no union. There's no collective bargaining. So let's just pivot over to college football specifically. Where does that you? Nick Saban coach now? I mean, obviously that was the big hot story this week at SEC Media Days.

I wouldn't necessarily assume that that's going to be the case. I mean, he's going to be 74 by the time this next coaching carousel comes up. And, you know, he's not a fan of NIL and a transfer portal and whatnot. So does he really want to get back in and deal with that? But certainly, if he decides he is, and look, his guy, Bill Belichick, who's basically doing the same move right now, anybody with a coaching opening would be would obviously want him. And so when you look at the schools that might have a coaching opening this coming year,

the one that really stands out to me is Oklahoma if Brent Venables doesn't have a big year, because that kind of meets all the Nick Saban checklist. It's a powerhouse program that you can win national championships at, it's a huge rabid fan base, and you're in a state where you're really the only recruiting power, right? Oklahoma State sometimes gets recruits they want, but not very often. The rumor was for a while that Nick Saban was going to run, whatever body was over the NIL or the portal. He was going to be like the King Dingley of College Football.

Has that kind of passed by now? You know, it's interesting. That was never possible, obviously, in the traditional model. But they've set up now they actually have this thing called the College Sports Commission, which would seem to be, you know, right for a commissioner. But right now they hired an executive from Major League Baseball to oversee that. And look, Nick Savan's got a pretty cushy gig now, right? You're on game day.

You get to still be part of college football, travel to games without the headaches. of having to deal with the actual issues in college sports. If we talk about the college football playoffs, and we look at last year, Boise State gets a buy. And based on the system, that's exactly how it should have been. Did you like how it was, or are you for a, we're going to rank them as they are and let them fall in as they are? Yeah, I mean, I think that's where we're headed. I think that that's already been changed. The whole thing about the CFP is that it was devised before the Pact 12 fell apart.

So the idea that the four highest ranked conference champs would get the buys, you figured those are going to be pretty highly ranked teams because you'd be doing the four out of the five power conferences. But now that's no longer the case. And so last year, it just so happened that Boise ended up finishing ahead of, you know, the ACC champ Clemson, which kind of got in at the last second. So they've already changed that. This year will be the top four seeds regardless of conference.

And I think you can assume those will probably be. teams from the Big Ten and SEC. You think the PAC 12 will ever be a thing again? They are adding new teams. We saw Texas State just went in, but do you think that'll be a, well, we go back to Power 5? That'd be nice, but, you know, if you look at the lineup they have coming forward, right?

You have Oregon State and Washington State, and then you have a bunch of Mountain West schools. And so they're probably closer to the AAC. In fact, they are closer to the AAC than the Power conferences. My hope is that one day, sainter heads will prevail. Even if it's not in football, right? Football doesn't involve that much travel.

But I think the shame of this, what happened is these West Coast schools are sending their basketball teams, their volleyball teams, they're, you name it, teams, all the way across the country to play matches, and those aren't the things that are making the money. I'm hoping sainer heads will prevail at some point, and you can separate West Coast football from West Coast to all the other sports and get Stanford and Cal and USC and UCF.

and the Arizona schools and the Oregon watching playing each other again like they should. Well, it's not unprecedented to have a school play football without a conference like in Notre Dame and then play basketball in a conference. I mean, eventually, probably just logistically, that would be where it falls. Are they doing anything to actually make that happen yet or are we just talking about it? It's not anything imminent because these TV contracts that the conferences have are all in place for many years at this point. I mean, including the ACC's goes well into the 2030s. So it seems like the lineups you have now will be the lineups for the next at least five to six years. But I think there'll be another big shake-up.

The Big Ten contract comes up, I think, in five years around that time. A couple of the others do as well. So if you're looking at a next big change to the structure of conferences, you would look to that. You think Notre Dame joins a conference in football at all? They really have no reason to. The system is set up well for them. Now, we'll see what happens with this expanded playoff that they're already talking about. If the Big Ten has their way, most of those births would become automatic births for the conferences.

And then if you're Notre Dame, you have to look hard at that. But as long as you have the current system where there's a lot of that large births, and now, by the way, they can host, I mean, sorry, they can get a buy, right? They couldn't get it before when those were conference champs. there's really nothing they would gain necessarily from joining a conference. If you were able to make rules regarding the transfer portal, what rules would you implement? I actually think the NCAA had a really good rule as of a few years ago, which is everybody gets one exception or they can transfer and play right away. If you want to transfer again after that, you have to sit out of year.

Problem is, and this is the case right with a lot of NCAA rules now, somebody sued in a court struck it down. Now we've unlimited transfers, which I don't think are good for anybody. I don't fault a player for wanting to start over at a new opportunity. That's their decision. That's their life. But the idea that every player in the country is a free agent, every single season, and there's nothing really to discourage them from doing so is bad for the schools. It's bad, I think, for the athletes who it's really hard to develop in your career.

if you're playing for a new coach in a new system every single year. You mentioned Brent Vennerables at Oklahoma. You didn't say the words hot seat, but they're looking for them to succeed. I have family. They're massive Oklahoma fans, so I'm close to that situation a bit. Who else are these high-profile coaches that need to win now? You know, I think there's several in the SEC. Start with Hugh Freeze.

Auburn fans are notoriously not patient. And he's had a rough couple years. And some people think they'll be a lot better this year. Some people see it and go, you know, the quarterback they got, is he really that much better than the guy they had before? So him, you know, Billy Napier won some people back at the end of last year at Florida, but if they were to start out bad again this year, like they did last year, I think you would start to hear that again.

And then you've got coaches who theoretically would be on the hot seat, except they have these enormous buyouts, Brian Kelly, Lincoln Riley in particular, coaches that if they don't perform this well, perform well this year, the fans aren't going to want them back, but is the school willing to pay 50, 60, even 70-something million dollars to buy them out? That's something a collective could do, right? Just buy out coaches? Use the money on them instead, right?

Yeah, that's what I would say. Like, if you're so passionate about, just buy all the coaches. A&M set the precedent, right? Price oil was great at the time. They were able to pay $75 million to buy out Jimbo Fisher. I mean, the crazy thing is that they agreed to these contracts in the first place. When USC hired Lincoln Riley, they gave him a no. a 10-year contract, and it's never been fully made public.

It's a private school, but believed to be $11 million a year, fully guaranteed. There was absolutely no way to get out of this if he didn't do well. I think they just assumed he would because he'd done so well at Oklahoma. Now they might be stuck with him. Do you think a bit, because we saw this with Deshaun Watson and Cleveland where they gave him all that money, guaranteed money, and that really changed. Where owners now are going, we're not doing that because we just saw one really bad example of it, because he gets hurt. He has all the trouble.

Like he seems like a bad dude. So they're not doing that at all. And now there's a drama like were they conspiring behind the scenes to not give anybody guaranteed contracts. Do you feel like these college coaches, what's happened to Texas A&M, what's happening now at USC where they really can't get out of it, do you think these situations not being positive will affect future contracts with coaches? Well, on the one hand, you know, all of these schools are facing a challenge.

There's an extra $20.5 million budget item now to pay the players. You got to cut back somewhere. So it would make sense, okay, we're going to stop throwing money at these coaches. And yet, as soon as a school has a coach they really want to get, they do it anyway. I mean, Red Venables is a good example. They gave him a big extension after his second season when he really hadn't done much yet. And so he went and had a bad third season. I still think if it came to it, they would cut him loose this year.

But these schools that give, it's one thing if you're trying to steal a coach away from another school and you have to make it worth his while. But what we see time and again is schools just going ahead and giving him a big race. Mike Norvell, after that great season two years ago, Florida State got a new contract, $10 million a year. They go out and they go two in ten last year. They regret that big contract now. So to your question, I mean, we'll see.

We've yet to see that trend change yet. Maybe it does now because of the new variable with the revenue sharing. What do you think the expectation is for Bill Belichick? Yeah, that's a great question. Is the expectation different now than it was when he was hired? Because when he was hired, certainly a lot of proponents of the hire think, hey, he's going to come in, he's going to flash his Super Bowl rings. recruits are going to come running, they'll be very good. The way the offseason is gone, the Jordan Hudson storyline,

a lot of people now are thinking, hmm, was this really a good idea? I think if they just go to a bowl game the first year, and people realize it takes a little time to turn around a program. So the first year, you kind of get some, you get a free pass, unless you go three and nine. And then everybody's going to say what a disaster this is. You feel a little bit, though, like people will have less patience

because you can turn a program around so fast because you can't actually just write checks? Well, I think, you know, when I started covering the sport, it was you need four years to turn it around. Then it became three and then it became two. I don't think we're seeing the pressure yet to do it. I mean, Dionne Sanders is a great example, right? First year was not great. People are saying, you know, this is a disaster.

Then they had a really good season last year. But I do think that's the limit. Nobody wants two bad seasons in a row now because of exactly what you said. You can turn over your whole roster now. through the portal. And so you don't need three or four high school classes to come in. You can turn it around really quickly. First years are tough for many reasons.

You get a late start on recruiting. And it's just, you know, you're completely changing the culture. Are the players going to buy in? So, you know, I think people still are at least reasonable enough to realize it's going to take more than one year, but not more than two years. Final question for you. I was looking through the quarterbacks and Drew Allen, Penn State. or Nuss Meyer or DJ Lagway or Kate Klubnick,

who looked really good against Texas until they ended up losing that game. Like he went down to Austin and played really well. Is an Austin kid too. Like there are a lot of really good quarterbacks. Who in your mind is your favorite for the Heisman way too early? Obviously everybody's going to say Arch Manning. The problem for Arch Manning is the expectations are so high that I feel like if he just has a good season but not an amazing season,

people might turn on him. I do like Kate Clubness chances, and here's why. I mean, first of all, he's really good. I think it snuck up on people last year toward the end of the season, how much better he got. Clemson is, to me, the class of the ACC. Maybe Miami's close, probably not. If they can beat LSU in that first game, he kind of vaulted to the front of the list, and then I think stays there, or at least stays in the mix most of the season.

Obviously, Texas is preseason number one, but again, because expectations for Arch Manning are so much higher than the African-K club. Nick. I mean, let's say they lose to Ohio State the first week. And everybody can say, oh, he's overrated. It was just his last name. You know, I think that's what he's, that's the biggest hurdle for him in terms of Heisman contention. Stuart is the editor-in-chief for the athletic and also check his podcast out with Bruce Feldman called The Audible, wherever you get your podcasts. A big fan of your work was reading your article this morning. Thank you. Thank you for taking some time and talking with us. Really, I hope you have a great day.

Thanks, Stuart. Thanks for having me. The 2026 NFL Draft is here. And the NFL Daily podcast, as it covered from all angles. Join me, Greg Rosenthal, and Jordan Roderig after night one on Thursday. Nick Shook joins me night two Friday and then Sunday to recap everything that went down over the three days in Pittsburgh.

We'll tell you who won the draft and which players were my favorite picks. Listen to NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying.

Yep. That's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

In 2023, former bachelor star Clayton Eckerd found himself at the center of a paternity scandal. The family court hearings that followed revealed glaring inconsistencies in her story. This began a years-long court battle to prove the truth. You doctored this particular test twice in so much. I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to crack the case. I wanted people to be able to see what their tax dollars were being used for. Sunlight's the greatest disinfected.

They would uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg Alespian and Michael Marantini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trap. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues,

Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Ladies and gentlemen, breaking news at Americopa County as Laura Owens has been indicted on fraud charges. This isn't over until justice is served in Arizona. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, that's going to wrap it up for us today. Thank you guys for being here.

I will say that I went and I got my tooth fixed and then I was flossing and it broke off again. Oh, my goodness. Do you get your money back for that? No, I'll just get another tooth put on. How hard do you floss? That's what my wife said. She's like, what are you doing? Are you going at it in there or what?

Do you use floss or do you use the picks? Both. And I floss probably like five times a day. so because I do that, I think I've probably worn my teeth down. Not only that, when I first started making any sort of money where I could save, I bought teeth. That was my first thing where I was like a hobby? What do you mean? What do you mean?

Like numberbillion? Hey, what do you mean? No, like I, what's weird is when you get teeth, they shave all your other teeth down. Whoa. Like that's how veneers work. They shave all your real teeth down. And my teeth were messed up. And they shave them down.

And then they put the veneers over the top of them. And so, but I did that, and I remember, this is like 10 years ago. The dentist was like, hey, in like 10 years, you're going to have to get these replaced. Like, these are not forever. They're worth about 10 years. And they said to people to get a boob job. Like, these aren't forever. Like, you have to get them fixed.

And I remember thinking, well, 10 years will never come. Who cares about 10 years? I just neglected to do it. And so I think part of it is my nonstop flossing. And part of it is the teeth are getting a little older. And some of them have had replaced because I've cracked them. but like this is uh as you can see it's gone but it's really affected my thuthas in my so all day long

I've like struggled because you make sounds and everybody knows this but you don't think about it until it's actually affecting you where your tongue hits the top of your mouth and your teeth but my sounded great today there were times where I was just like I could feel it and I probably feel it a little more it's like when you have like a little cut in your mouth or something it's that fucking fucking fucking fucka that

who are the who the team baseball team in Chicago Chicago Cubs No, no, the other one, the other one. The Chicago White Thuck? So, my dentist went on vacation, though. Oh, no. I know. I texted him, he's awesome, and I was like, hey, I'm a tooth.

Sorry about that. I probably floss a little too early. I think he actually said, don't do it for a day or so. You know me, I'm just letting it rip. So I texted, and I was like, hey, it doesn't hurt. But I do toss a little funny. And so we'll get a fix next week. But so if I've sounded a little weird or,

a little thie-y. By the way, I said Thucker and Thucketash. Not a bad word. No. There are people that will highlight sounds. The single sounds from me doing years and years of shows and podcasts. And they'll take it and be like, you said the F word here. You said you don't cuss.

First of all, I don't have a problem with cursing. So even if I did, I'm okay with it. But I didn't because I don't. You really don't. I don't even in the privacy of our own homes. Like Eddie and I are doing it. I don't even in the privacy of our own homes. We're in a room together, a dark room.

A closet together. I don't not curse for you. I'm not cursed for me. So if I do decide to curse, who cares? I'm only not doing it for me. I think cursing's hilarious. If you used the right way, I just had to stop cursing

seven years or so ago because I didn't want to write cursing. I wanted to write cursive, but not cursing. That's a big difference. So speaking of writing, I wrote a bunch of jokes. I'm doing the opery tomorrow night.

It's just risky to go and do a bunch of jokes when you've never done them before, all at once, and with a crowd that isn't there to see you. Because when people go to the Opry, they go to the operate to see whomever shows up. It's not that they're there to see somebody else specifically. Some of them are. Some of them aren't.

Some are just there to see the brand. And so I walk out on stage and I'm, you know, I have all these new jokes. Oh, no. Are you taking some Gillis's jokes? What if I just go up and do all of his act? The whole skit. Yeah. So I have all these jokes.

Like, I wrote a whole part of a set on being lactose and tolerant. Okay. As relatable. Yeah. Let me read you a couple of these things. I don't care. I'm not touring, so I don't care if I even run a joke. But one of the jokes is if I say it exactly as it's not going to play.

So I talk about like being allergic to dairy and being from the South is like being a cowboy. Wait, hold on that. I talk about I'm allergic to dairy. And then I say, I need like my notes because I haven't even practiced these and I'm going to go up there and do it tomorrow. How I'm lactose and tolerant. And being allergic to cheese and being from the South is like being a cowboy allergic to his horse. Like, yeah, it's that kind of vibe. Okay.

And it was like, I used to take great pride and not being allergic to anything. Now I eat a slice of pizza, my body shuts down like it's filing for bankruptcy. So I wrote all these jokes, right? I used to say no allergies like it was a personality trait. Now I'm the one asking if there's hidden gs. Like it's a lactose ghost haunting my enchiladas.

I like it. So it's a lot of that type stuff, but I never, I just can't do a bunch of it. I can only like pick one. My best hope and then pray it works. Because if it does it, I got to pivot out of all of it.

because I don't feel as confident in the rest of them and I can't go, you can't miss two or three in a row. Do you go in with a backup plan? Like if you have to pivot, or you like, I have more jokes, my backup plan is to go to jokes, I know work. Okay.

And so if it doesn't work, because inevitably when you do new jokes, some of them don't, some of them won't work, but it's not because the jokes are bad always. Sometimes it is, mostly it's because you didn't, like, pause the right time. There's some wordplay. Maybe you stumbled or the crowd.

It really is that. but I did one where I was talking about fantasy football is why I bring this up because my wife will have her friends over and they will plan a night where they talk with intention like a purpose like they just are going to connect like she'll have a friend come over and they'll sit in the living here for like two hours

and talk about how you're really doing but if we do that that's weird and so we have ways to do it and I've talked about this on the show like I can't call up Eddie and be like hey man Thursday 7 p.m. want to come over and feel some stuff and then good that's a good one

that's a key for it okay good thanks and I'm like so instead we have to like sneak in emotions like through a side door and we'll be like talking about fantasy football I'll be like hey man I'll trade you Travis Kelsey for Sequin

Barclay and also my dad never told me he was proud of me so I mean it's kind of true but it's so yes right it's so true and like I've talked about that for a long time and even in that way but I've never written a joke about it

but what's tricky about that is, and I would love to try it at the opera because I'm not touring, but if they don't laugh at that, I think it's just because it's not a fantasy football group. Because that's a sports thing. If I'm like, I'll trade you, Travis, Kelsey, and Saquan Barkley,

also, do your dad ever hug you? You know, I think if they don't get the Kelsey and Saquan of it, they're not going to even appreciate the joke. And not even that it's the greatest joke ever written. And the reason I'm talking about this is the Shane Gillis stuff. That's like super inspiring to see them go up and people be mad at them and keep going. But also I'm playing the opery this week.

And so, yeah, I wrote any, I can't do a whole new set up there because I won't. Because I'll go up and it'll just be a nightmare. I'll be forgetting stuff. I'll be joking will miss. But I'm probably going to throw in a couple new ones like that. You think I should do the fantasy football one or they won't get it? I like the fantasy football one. Yeah.

I think there'll be plenty of guys in there that'll understand that. Yeah. I have a joke that I probably won't do because I don't think it would be received well. Or I talk about how lactose intolerance. Like I deserve a handicapped sticker. Oh, dude, I love that. And then I go, you know what? Because I talk about it being covered by the ADA,

but even that I think that's too inside. That's the America's with Disability Act. I said, okay, but if I don't get a handicap sticker, maybe I should just get preferred parking at pizza places. There you go. You see what I'm saying? And you know the crowd there. But all of that, all of this stuff,

because I have, these are all the jokes I've written, right? Oh, wow. All of that. All of that. I would have to go out for, like, three months and do all them 17 times in order to feel what is exactly right. Yeah. What's your time slot? Like, do they tell you? Everybody has 12 minutes. Oh. Like, everybody has 12 minutes. It's a long time. But I do have my guitar as well. And what I've done in

the past is I just take it up there. And I've played the opera before and never even played it. Like I walked up with it. That's awesome. And I just, and my, everything was working. So right. And I never went to the guitar because the joke was just crushing. That's legit. And I think people are like, why did you have his guitar on? He never went to it. sang a song. You should like strum act all you're going to play and then go right back to it. The problem is I'm trying to remember jokes, man. Like I'm doing all that.

I did it at the very end be like, oh yeah, I had this car, I guess I never played. I go, da, do it to ding, and then walk, good night, everybody. But that wasn't a joke. I had the guitar in case. You should do that with the other instrument. Just like, just walk out with a tuba. I like it. I'm just holding a trombone the whole time and I never even get to it.

That's pretty funny. Pretty good. I wanted, I'll wrap on this, but I wanted to do this segment. I say wanted. I never actually tried to do it because of the dedication it would take. And I think I mentioned it in a couple of interviews with artists, where I wanted to go up and be a part of the band and not have my instrument plugged in. But like, let's say they gave me a tromb.

Like, I went up with a trombone and I got in Zach Brown's band. I never said I was in it. Heck, I can wear a mustache, whatever. And we just recorded from the crowd, me just faking the trombone like crazy. Not so much as stealing the show. not so much, but just being in the band faking it and like feeling it, right?

Just feeling it. Even for a song. Like, I think that would be so funny. You got to find the right artist to let you do that. I have a few friends that would let me do it. Oh, yeah. But I don't want to pay the money to go. I'm going to be honest with you. I don't want to pay the money to fly.

And that three-minute bit's going to cost like $800 to do. That's funny though, man. So there was another, oh, now I'm just doing this. There was another bit to our, I told Daddy. I said, hey, what we should do? We should go and open for an artist and not say it's us, not with guitars. And, like, sing, archipella. Nobody knows it's us.

We try so hard to sing the biggest song. Like, we go when we try Adele songs, we're trying as hard as we can. Never am. And, like, we are literally trying. Like trying our best. Yes. But it'll never be good. And it's all Whitney Houston, Adele.

Even with a backing track. We can play a karaoke track. And we only have, like, 12 minutes. But we go out and just try as hard as we can. We don't shy away from it. We attack it. And then we're like, thank you. And just see what, we have cameras on the crowd the whole time.

See, this is where your obsession with making people uncomfortable, seeing how long it can last. As a comedian comes in. I didn't put that together, but yes. But that's a perfect. But that's a great way because nobody has ever, well, I'm not nobody has ever done that. But something like that. I would be great. Yes.

And we're not. And I say again, we're not trying to be bad. We're actually trying as good as we can, but we're also really trying. Because you can hide from it. Shal la la, la. And you can be like, oh, that's a C plus. But if we're like, shala la la. Yeah.

Dude. We've got to do that, dude. It would be so fun. I just don't want to pay $800. To get it out to some city to do it. A 12-minute bit. It'd be hilarious. I found a tuba on Facebook marketplace.

I'll go get it. Tomorrow. All right. Thank you guys. Now we can hit the music again. We will see you guys Monday. Monday special guest You want to tell him?

Heisman hopeful? Oh, that's good. You slowed out on Heism. That's good. You can say who it is. Diego Pavia. The Vanderbilt quarterback. He will be in Monday.

We just finished the interview. They brought me a helmet. Yeah, a real helmet. And he signed it. Yeah. Yeah, it was awesome. So that'll be Monday coming up. You guys have a great weekend.

We'll see you guys. Bye everybody. Boy, Daddy. Theme song written by Bobby Bones. That's me. and performed by Brandon Ray. Follow Brandon on social at Brandon Ray Music. You can follow the show on Instagram at Bobby Bone Sports.

Thanks to our crew. Co-host at Producer-Ready. Segment producer at Kickoff Kevin. And executive producer at Mike DeStro. But most importantly, thank you for listening. Bobby Bones. We'll talk to you next time here on 25 whistles. The 26 NFL Draft is here.

And the NFL Daily podcast has it covered from all angles. Greg Rosenthal and Jordan Roderig after night one on Thursday. Nick Shook joins me night two Friday and then Sunday to recap everything that went down over the three days in Pittsburgh. We'll tell you who won the draft and which players were my favorite picks. Listen to NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it.

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