The Daily Show: Ears Edition - TDS Time Machine | Football Season

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

Strap on your CTE and punch a tailgater, football's back! Get into the game with The Daily Show's gridiron coverage. Trevor Noah and Roy Wood Jr. wade into the CTE debate, despite Roy's love of the game. Ronny Chieng tries to explain American football to the rest of the world. Michael Kosta and Roy Wood Jr. apologize for talking while you're talking. Former NFL star Michael Strahan joins Trevor to talk about what he misses from the game. Jon Stewart checks out the various controversies nagging the league. Trevor Noah tackles the hypocrisy of the anthem kneeling scandal. Jon covers the announcement of the Houston Texans expansion (the show's been on a long time, ok?). And Trevor sits down with journalist Mark Leibovich to talk about how weird billionaire team owners are. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Comedy Central. American football season is just around the corner. And once again, it's coinciding with some disturbing news. There is startling new research out tonight about football and head trauma, the largest study of its kind. The American Medical Association studied the brains of 202 deceased football players from all levels who had shown signs of CTE

when they were alive. 87% had the disease. And among former NFL players, all but one had the disease. All but one. For more analysis, we turn to our senior sports analyst. Roy Wood Jr., everybody. Roy...

I'm flabbergasted, how should football fans react to this new study they should ignore it the study was inconclusive it's no need to get all bothered about it but Roy but Roy all but one of the NFL brains in the study had CTE exactly one of the brains didn't have it there's no consensus I mean Trevor what what information do we really have on concussions what we got science and some movie where Will Smith tries to sound African. Teddy truth.

Teddy truth. You can't believe everything you see Will Smith do on TV. What? So now you also think you can hop in a taxi and go from West Philly to Bel Air? No. You can't do it. Ain't no way a black guy getting a cab across the country. I can't get a cab to Brooklyn.

Life isn't a Will Smith movie, Trevor. Roy, it sounds like you just don't want to admit that football is dangerous. Look, bro, I'm just telling you the facts, all right? I'm a neutral observer. I don't even really be watching football for real. Oh, really? Then, uh, what was this? Celebrity Fantasy Football Marathon.

Roy Wood Jr. is here, ladies and gentlemen, the actor-comedian. Roy, who are you taking? I know y'all think I'm going to take this pick solely because of this jacket that I'm wearing, but it's not. I have statistics to back up this selection. Running back, J-O-Jy, Matt Ryan, Mark Cooper. The third most famous Cooper behind Anderson and Bradley. So you just, you can, you're gonna pull the tapes out on the brother. Okay, you don't play tapes on me.

Yeah, I mean, when you're saying you didn't like football and I have the footage of you doing a celebrity fantasy draft. Okay, all right, fine. Look, you got me talking about some football, but I didn't enjoy it. Oh, really? Oh, then what was this? We have a gift for Roy. Oh, dear.

We do. No, no, no. We want to take care of our people. We know that you're a big Rice Krispy guy. Oh, man. Do you have any regrets about having participated in this thing? No, no, this is fine, man. I'm at the daily show all the time.

This is a release. I get to come here, kick it, relax, and eat all this ESPN cafeteria food. A release? You need a release from working here? Oh, I'm sorry, Roy. Is working here not fun for you? This right now,

I was pretty tense. Dude, you threw us under the bus. You make it sound like we're not even feeding you. Not rice, crispy treats, but okay, I admit it. I love football, Trevor, and I know it's dangerous, but I just don't want to accept the truth. Football is part of life for a lot of kids, man. Football is a ticket out of the hood.

What are these kids supposed to play now? I don't know. Like, why not basketball? Basketball is fine, but not if you husky. What the husky do is going to do? How many basketball players you've seen out there built like a bag of potatoes? Okay, okay, fine. It's not realistic to just get rid of American football, but the NFL should at least take

better care of its players. Like, NFL players only get health insurance for five years after their career ends. Why can't the league guarantee its players' lifetime health care? Trevor, look, man, where is the NFL supposed to get that kind of money? They only made $14 billion last year. We've got to think of real. holistic solutions, like fixing the helmets. Oh, you mean like make the helmets stronger?

No. I mean, like, why are they giving players these helmets at all? Trevor, you got, you give somebody a helmet. Their immediate response is always going to be, hell yeah, no, I can smash my head into something. Helmets promote reckless behavior. You put a piece of plastic on your head, you think you're a tank. If NFL players are going to wear something on their head,

it should be a reminder not to do the, stuff that's why I made this new helmet I got this brand new helmet for these players you know it says it's fragile right there like like like like like like like when you get a delivery of you know humble figurines but why are you getting deliveries of Hummel figurines they're collectibles Trevor and if this helmet doesn't work I got another helmet idea this is the one right here well see you don't cover up the brain you put it on the outside player's going to be running down the field with the helmet.

I'm like, oh, don't touch my brain. Whoa. Oh, get off me. My brain's out here. That's my brain out there. You know, Roy, I can't decide if that's the most brilliant idea or the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Oh, it's brilliant, man.

You want a rice crispy? Get the hell out of here. Roy Wood Jr., everyone. We'll be right back. Let me get on my show. If you spent your whole life in America, you might not know what other countries think about this great country. Well, luckily, Ronnie Chang is happy to tell you in his new segment,

America, WCF. As someone who's lived all over the world, it's my responsibility to let Americans know that rest of us think a lot of what you guys do is super weird. For example, American football, which you guys think of as the most normal thing ever. But let me assure you, everything about it is crazy. Before the game even starts, everyone has to stand up and sing the national anthem together. Nobody else on the planet does that. We just assume everyone knows what country they're in before the game starts.

And then there's a game itself. First of all, the teams all have like 300 people. That's not a sport. That's an army. There's so many people that everyone has their own special little job to do. Like one guy throws the ball, one guy kicks the ball, one guy throws the ball to the guy who throws the ball. And speaking of the ball, this isn't normal either, okay? Balls are supposed to be round.

That's the main thing that makes it a ball. But in this insane sport, even the ball looks like it has brain damage. And what's with the scoring? Six points for a touchdown, one point for the kick after you make it, but if you make the same kick before you scored, it would have been three points and you can also score a touchdown again after the touchdown but this time it's only worth two points who came out with this shit if you ask me a touchdown should be worth 100 points the player deserves it he basically dodged the mugging with a slippery

almond in his head and 100 points would be way easy to keep up with and all these other numbers how do you people get drunk at these games and still follow along without a spreadsheet and speaking of drinking, you guys realize how weird tailgating is, right? Like I don't care how you want to brand it. Getting drunk in a parking lot isn't a family activity. It's a sign to get your life together. I feel like the whole thing started because a bunch of pickup trucks broke down in a stadium parking lot and they just tried to play it off like, oh no, no, no, we meant to park here for five hours before the game. But if you're tailgating at the game, better not be too young because don't forget about America's super weird drinking age. You got to be 21 to

drink in this country? That doesn't make sense. Okay, I guess you're trying to keep college kids from becoming alcoholics or something, but I'm pretty sure that experiment has failed. College dorms are so soaked in booze that if you lit a match, the whole building would explode. So maybe you're not going to a game.

Maybe you're watching at home instead. In which case, you'll probably see about 50 TV ads for prescription drugs, which I know you think is normal, but trust me, you're the only ones. There's a reason this doesn't happen in other countries. Most of the people watching TV aren't doctors, so there's no reason to market to them directly, especially the way they do it.

They always ask you questions like, hey, are you drowsy or sad or achy or farting? Yes, I'm all those things right now because I'm a fucking person. If someone needs a drug, the doctor will prescribe it. You shouldn't have to ask them if it's right for you. This doesn't happen in any of our part of medical care. Okay, there's no TV ads asking you to ask your doctor

whether they should cup your balls and make you cough. The pervert doctor will do that on their own. Look, do your thing, America, okay? Just know that whenever you're ready, you're more than welcome to join the rest of the world and start following soccer, a sport where the ball is round, the scoring is simple, and the only thing fans are doing in the parking lot

is fighting each other to the death, like God intended. The NFL playoff started over the weekend, and here to break. down some of the major stories are Roy Wood Jr. and Michael Costa in our recurring sports segments. I apologize for talking while you were talking. Oh, thanks, Trevor. I have Michael Costa. Well, yeah. You know, let's start with the most exciting part of NFL football. Cocaine. Why is cocaine your answer for everything? Anyway, this year, the NFL is taking concussions

a lot more seriously. Exactly. If a player shows signs. of hair trauma, they are 100% getting pulled from the game. Well, unless it's the playoffs. Which case, get back in there with your broken brain ass. The NFL is looking into whether the Carolina Panthers followed concussion protocol after an injury to quarterback Cam Newton. Newton took a hit to his head when he was sacked in yesterday's wild card playoff loss to the New Orleans Saints.

He tried to walk off the field, but then he had to take a knee. Newton was evaluated in a medical tent and set out one play before returning. the team said he got poked in the eye. Come on. Costa, poked in the eye. That's the best you can come up with. Nobody ever got poked in the eye so hard that the legs stopped working. I don't know. Maybe Cam got hit in the head so hard that he heard the national anthem and he was kneeling in protest.

You know what I think? I think he was down there looking for his medulla oblongata. You know, those online medical classes are really paying off. I'm proud of you, Roy. Four more hours I can do vasectomies. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Look, maybe Cam does have an eye injury, but he didn't get it yesterday. Have you seen how this guy dresses?

He's had a vision problem his whole career. Look at that hat. Now, as much as it sucked for Cam Newton had to go back in the game after taking a hit like that, had to suck even more for the Panthers' backup quarterback who only went in for one play. One play.

One play. He threw one pass, and immediately, they was like, all right, where's a dude with one eye and a headache? Get him back in there. You know who else has great self-esteem? Who? The Cleveland Brown fans.

And they threw themselves a parade this weekend, even though they lost every game of the season. Who does that? Finally, the Cleveland Browns aren't in the playoffs, but thousands of fans showed up to celebrate a perfect season, a perfectly winless season. The event was part parade, part protest, but full of Cleveland crazies. Horrible, horrible season, but honestly, everyone came out, had a blast.

I got to say, Roy, I think the Browns have tapped into something here. If you're ever down in the dumps, don't run away from the pain. Exactly, slowly walk towards it, holding a sign. Parades are like the prozac of walking. They make everything a little less sad. I'll be throwing a parade this weekend, herpes parade in my apartment. Roy, you never responded via Evite. Yeah, I don't have email.

You don't have email? Nah, man, you're on the Internet? Dude, that's how the government gets all your secrets. I tell all my secrets to Alexa. Oh, okay. Moving on, for the first time in nearly 20 years, the Buffalo Bills made the playoffs, which means their fans were out in the parking lot before a Sunday's game,

drunkenly body slamming their mom's folding tables. Apparently, you don't have to play football to get brain damage. No, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, no, those guys. have eye injuries. Now, the Bill's Mafia, professional drunks. They've been doing the table stuff for years. They know what they're doing, but what happened on Sunday, an amateur Jaguars fan

tried it for himself. Things got a little heated. And one Jackuars fan tried to one up the Bill's Mafia. He jumped on a burning table, but then it catches on fire. This is a horrible idea, folks. Is he trying to run away

from being on fire? The fire's on you, man. It's coming with you. You can run from a lot of things. You can run from the cops and child support. Can't run from your past, though. Past is a scab that never goes away and you can pick at it all you want. You know what? That has been.

I apologize for talking while you were talking. Back to you, Trevor. Hey, look, I'll come to your herpes parade if you let me practice vasectomies on you. Yeah, deal. Yeah, no, no, no, no, yeah. Excitement with BetMGM Casino, now introducing our hottest exclusive, Friends, the One with Multi-Drop. Your favorite television show is being reimagined into your favorite casino game featuring iconic images from the show.

Spin our new exclusive because we're not on a break. Play Friends, the One with Multidrop exclusively at BetMGM Casino. Want even more options? Pull up a seat and check out a wide variety of table games from Blackjack to poker. Or head over to the arcade for nostalgic casino thrills. Download the BetMGM Ontario app today. You don't want to miss out. 19 plus to wager, Ontario only.

Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact ConX Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. My first guest tonight is Pro Football Hall of Famer who hosts Good Morning America and Fox NFL Sunday. He's here to talk about a new podcast he's produced called American Football, How the Gridiron Was Forged,

which is now streaming on Audible and wherever you get your podcast. Please welcome Michael Strayhan. Hey, what's up, everybody? Hey, before you ask me one thing. Before I ask me, I'm going to say, you're brilliant. All right, thank you. You're brilliant. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. And, you know, you're going to be, if you ever get, like, tired of not doing this, my living room's always open. Come over. Anytime. That would be so much fun. Just the daily show for one person.

You're not paying me? I'm not paying me. I think that would be fun. I would do that. It's like a daily show for one person at their house. I'm actually, that's actually an idea that I'll just do that. Individual shows with people.

I like that. Just be addressing it to you. Perfect. But first, Michael, let's kick things off with the story. You can even ask questions. Welcome to the show. Thank you, man. I feel like you make that offer to me,

but you wouldn't have the time for me to come to your house and do that because there are a few people I know who have more jobs than you do. You retired from football. Yeah. To do everything else. To not. To do.

I retired to get more jobs. That's essentially what you did, right? So you're working in television, and it's all types of television. You got like morning television. You've got sports television. You've got a clothing line. You know, you've got a skincare line now. You've got a podcast.

So let's start with the podcast, because that's one of the newest aspects of what you're doing. Talk me through the history of the NFL because, no, so many sports are popular. Yeah. But football has a special place in America. What do you think it is about football that makes it what it is in American history? It's violent. Wow. I'm joking, man.

It's controlled aggression. I call it controlled aggression. But I think we love football so much because, you know, it's American, again, American football is the podcast. And it goes back to the origin of the game. And football was a white collar sport back in the day. Yeah, I was shocked to find that out. But they wouldn't let the blue collar guys play so they create their own lead to compete. And now it's kind of turned into it's blue collar guys playing, getting paid white collar salaries.

You know, it's kind of, if you think about, the game has changed. But we dove back into things that I know about the game of football. I just kind of assumed I'm a player. I love the game. But when you go back and look at the origin, how it was founded, and the way that they had to go and get around the system to create some of these teams and to have Kate Mara come in and narrate it, who was a part of two football dynasties, the Giants and the Steelers through her family.

It was like a dream project for me because without the NFL, I wouldn't be sitting here with you. It gave me a completely different life than I ever expected. But to dive back into the history of the game and understand how far it's come, but where it began and it's totally different than what I expected, I hope people will tune in so that they can learn a little bit more

about what we love so much, which is American football. But what I love about the podcast is that it's not just about the sport. So if you don't like the sport, the podcast is still amazing because it delves into history, it delves into classism, it delves into these battles between who has and who doesn't and who shouldn't be. It's a fascinating story.

And as you talk about the progression of football, it made me wonder, you're one of the few people who's had the span of career that you had in football playing for, what, 15 years? 15 years. That's insane.

Yeah, tell me about it. I know. It's crazy. So, I would love to know, as somebody who witnessed the game up close for 15 years, would you change anything about football now, or if you could,

if you could wave a magic wand and change three things about football tomorrow, what would they be? I would wave a magic wand and make it so that I could play for a lot longer. So you're going back. Yeah, I want to go back with body, man. You know what you miss. You know what you miss.

You miss physically dominating another man. Okay. Okay. Someone's going to click that sentence and take it out of context. I mean, you enjoy it. I love it. Because Mike was like, I miss hugging another man so hard. You know, just loving him.

as hard as I could. But I do miss that. I miss the competitiveness of it. I missed the physicality. I would probably wave my magic wand. And, you know, I like what they're doing, though. When it comes to, like, injuries in the brain and all these different things,

I like what they're doing there. There's not much, I don't know how much you can change the game because I almost feel like in some aspect you change it so much, it takes away from what it was. Okay, what would you change in and around the game? So, for instance, one of the things that always threw me, and I might be wrong with this. Yeah, you tell me,

What throws you about? I was always thrown by this is the fact that like if you got injured playing football, it was just over for you and then you don't get the money that was promised to you, but you got injured playing the sports.

You don't get guaranteed contracts unless certain guys now are getting them. Okay, so that's changing. Or you get as much money as you can up front of your signing bonus so they can't release you so early because they're going to get some money out of you about making you play.

And that was the one thing. Yeah, I would probably change the guarantees and contracts. Basketball has them. Yes. Baseball has them. But the problem with football that they see is that if,

If you guarantee the money, there are 60-something guys on a team. So if you have that many guys on the Inter-Reserve, how can you economically afford to have that many guys? I know. That's their argument. I didn't say they were right. Okay, okay, okay. Trust me, I would have loved guaranteed money.

I would say anyone who has billions going like, I don't know what I'm going from. You have billions. The National Football League used to have a good name. Let me say this. A less forgiving audience would have left by now. The NFL, of course, currently going through a bit of an image problem. The NFL, we can't trust these institutions.

Institution that's got all sorts of problems. This horrible, horrible institution. You will never find the more wretched hive of scum and villainy. Not sure that last part was about the NFL, but still. Now, we've all seen the tape of risable ravens running back, Ray Rice, and witnessed the league's reaction. The league, of course, dished out swift,

Old Testament-style justice in the form of a two-game ban, which, due to enormous outrage and another even more explicit tape became a lifetime suspension, as well as pernicious Panthers pro bowl player. Accepted and noted. Greg Hardy's conviction on domestic violence charges

resulting in no suspension and then a one-game benching with an option to watch, followed by the Panthers announcement today that he is done until he appeals his misdemeanor conviction for domestic violence. It's the kind of firm decision-making

we've come to expect from people who don't know what the fuck they're doing. But don't worry. The NFL has finally figured out a solution to their problems. The League, appointing four women, including a vice president of social responsibility, to oversee its domestic violence efforts, and three senior advisors, won a former head of Manhattan's sex crimes unit. So we're done here.

You know your business model is in rough shape. when you need to appoint your own in-house special victims unit. Although I'm sure season two promises big surprises. But listen, that's great. That's great. Now we got it all taken care of, and we can go back guilt-free to spending the Lord's Day watching football, this real-time experiment, in bumper brains. Star running back, Adrian Peterson, now apologizing. after he was charged with child abuse.

Not former league MPP Adrian Peterson, for whom I may have given up a load to draft in my fantasy league. God! Well, I guess the NFL's going to have to form a panel of children now. I don't... What do you do? The warrant has been issued for Peterson's arrest.

The charges stem from Peterson physically disciplining his son with a tree branch. Peterson released a statement saying, I am not a perfect parent, but I am without a doubt, not a child abuser. You beat a four-year-old with a tree branch. Here's a tip. For any pro football players out there, curious as to whether or not they may be child abusers. You can't do something to a four-year-old that you're not allowed to do to a 300-pound lung. 300-pound linemen in a helmet and pads.

So, I assume that would be a penalty. Now, once again, the NFL, bastion of personal responsibility, that it is, responded the right way. Peterson will not be playing a Sunday's game against the Patriots. Oh. Actually, usually, when I say things in that sort of arched,

tone, it means that the opposite is about to, huh, oh, good for you, NFL. The Vikings have reinstated, Peterson, after benching him yesterday. I knew it. Are you kidding me? Actual Vikings don't treat their children like that. Now, this wouldn't have anything to do with the metaphorical 30 to 7 beating that the Vikings suffered at the hands of the Patriots, who, I would point out, won the game without the services of their allegedly

double murdering tight end to Aaron Hernandez. But fine, another typical slimy NFL move, sweeping this under. Overnight, the Minnesota Vikings reversed their decision from Monday reinstating Adrian Peterson and are now banning the football star from all team activities. And adding, we want to be sure we get this right. You want, what?

You need time to make sure you get this right? A 220-pound running back left railroad tracks on a four-year-old's leg. This ain't Fermat's last theorem, which, if I may say is a notoriously difficult numerological proof concerning integer theory, I'll just give myself a wedgy. Daddy's home. All right. So what?

Really, I just reenacted my seventh grade year. That was weird. And oddly cathartic. So what overnight information changed your mind this time? The league's biggest partner, Anheuser-Busch, a strong message saying we are not yet satisfied with the league's handling of behaviors that so clearly go against our own company, culture, and moral code. Wow.

So the NFL succumbed to beer pressure. A company that... Oh, I knew that was funny. Thank you. That's for you. That's a Cboa. How crazy is this? A company that sells alcohol is the moral touchstone of the NFL.

Alcohol. Maybe one of the only substances that is proven scientifically to increase the likelihood of domestic abuse. That company is saying to the NFL, you guys got a real problem here. It's like Captain Morgan showing up at a frat party going, Ah, maties, please, I'm trying to sleep. Keep it down, for the morning brings me and I'll examine art history. Ars. Ar.

Ar. Ah. Ah. Ah. Ah. But the question pops up in my head when I hear all these running around in the NFL changing the position and redoing it and then coming back and not knowing what they're doing, it, it really makes me wonder what does this stupid person make of all this i do believe adrian peterson went

too far i'll say it again but my problem here is do parents have the right to instill their values in their children you guys want to tell parents what they can and cannot do for example is it going to become illegal if a parent teaches uh the politically correct view that being gay is not normal Oh, Shawnee. Don't, don't worry, Shawnee. Seriously, your special brand of spiteful ignorance will always be legal. And profitable, so...

Sleep well, friend. But you know what? Hannity's arbitrarily connected homophobia does remind me of something. The Rams had to know that. drafting Michael Sam would create a distraction. Well, there's no question this, it's a distraction. Some of Michael Sam's potential teammates

calling the whole thing a distraction. Remember those days? How scared the NFL was back then that a gay man would ruin their league. Oh. Oh, what the NFL wouldn't do right now for that kind of distraction. My guess is right.

now at the NFL's office, they are working night and day, day and night on a league-wide blow-a-teamate promotion, just to change the conversation. Wendy's most important deal of the day has a fresh lineup. Pick any two breakfast items for $4. New four-piece French toast sticks, bacon or sausage wrap, biscuit or English muffin sandwiches, small hot coffee, and more. in a time only at participating Wendy's Taxes Extra. On Friday night, President Trump went to Alabama to campaign for a Republican Senate candidate.

Although I don't remember the candidate's name or anything about him, because instead, Trump decided to attack the NFL. Today, if you hit too hard, right? They hit too hard. 15 yards throw him out of the game. They had that last week. I watched for a couple of minutes,

and two guys just really beautiful. beautiful tackle. Boom, 15 yards. The referee gets on television, his wife is sitting at home. She's so proud of him. They're ruining the game. Forget being president. What kind of a human being wants more brain damage?

Like, how can one person be on the wrong side of everything in history? I'm just waiting. I, like... I'm just waiting for Trump to be like, what's with all these seatbelts, folks? I remember a time when people weren't afraid to go through the windshield, head first.

Head first, dust yourself off, shake hands, and do it again. What are you talking about? And also, and also, who is Donald Trump to say that football is too soft? Really? You play golf. A sport where the biggest danger is when you aren't even playing. That? That? But Trump's comments on tackling, they barely registered in the news

because all of Trump's speeches are basically like gas station bathrooms, right? You can only really complain about one thing at a time, you know? It's like, yeah, I know the sink's broken, but I'm more concerned about the dead body in the stall next to mine. That's my issue. And for most people, the most outrageous thing was what the president said next. You see those people taking the knee

when they're playing our great national anthem. Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say, get that son of a bitch off the field right now out? He's fired. He's fired! I like how he remembered it was. catchphrase only after he'd said it he's fired oh wait he's fired so all right so just so

we're on the same page when Nazis were protesting in Charlottesville Trump said some of these were very fine people very fine people and aren't we all Nazis really aren't we all huh in some way huh but then when black football players protest peacefully by taking a knee during the anthem, he calls them sons of bitches who should be fired? Now, look, I don't know if Trump is racist, but I do know he definitely prefers white people to black people.

I can say that with confidence. With confidence. And also, and also, if Donald Trump's greatest concern is the disrespecting of the American flag, you know what should really piss him off? The Confederate flag. That's what she piss him off, because that's basically waving a picture of your ex around.

That's what that is. That flag is disrespect. It's like waving a picture of your ex, and your girlfriend's like, hey, hey, that's really disrespectful to me. And you're like, oh, no, this has nothing to do with you. I'm just honoring my heritage. And also, I'm building a monument of Susan on the front lawn.

So, on the one hand, you have sons of bitches. On the other hand, you have the president of the United States saying a private citizen should be fired for expressing an opinion that the president doesn't like, which sounds very dictatory to me, all right? Because when Trump tells the NFL owners, you should fire these players.

If they don't fire the players, they're basically going against the president, all right? And if the players take a knee, now they're going against the president. But you realize until this weekend, the knee had nothing to do with the president, nothing at all to do with Trump at all. Colin Kaepernick started kneeling back when Obama was in office.

This had nothing to do with Donald Trump. And luckily, to the NFL's credit, they stood up to the bully in chief. The president versus the players. Hundreds of athletes sending a message to President Trump. From coast to coast, even in London, players sending that message to the president from the football field, linking arms like Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, hundreds kneeling, some raising fists. The majority of Steelers players choosing to stay in the locker room until after the... anthem was over. Some singers even showing their solidarity taking a knee along

with players. Many owners taking the field throwing their support behind their teams. Owners from eight teams during the anthem side by side with their players. Okay wait wait hold up. Who the hell is that with the mustache? I don't know you could make enough money in vaudeville to buy a football team. That's a lot of money. But it was important. It was important that the weekend's protests included not just the NFL players, but the owners too.

Because when you think about how powerful this is, a lot of these owners supported Donald Trump. Yeah, so you know it hurts his hawkrucks to see them taking the player's side in the standoff. You know it got to him. It also makes, for the world's easiest, where's Waldo, right? Just try and figure out who pays the other people to play?

Who do you think? Who do you think is not playing? Who's paying? So after America's most popular sport turned on the commander-in-chief, he did what any insane person would do in this situation. He doubled down.

When you get on your knee and you don't respect the American flag or the anthem, that's not being treated with respect. This has nothing to do with race. I've never said anything about race. This has nothing to do with race or anything else. This has to do with respect for our country

and respect for our flag. I think it's very disrespectful to our country. Oh, first of all, nicely played. Nicely played. But let's work through what President Trump just said. These players aren't trying to disrespect the country. Let's start with that. They're trying to peacefully protest police treatment of black people in America, right?

If they wanted to disrespect the country, they wouldn't kneel silently. They would do crazy things like insult Gold Star families. or make fun of POWs like John McCain, or say that America is morally equivalent to Putin's Russia. That's the kind of shit they would do if they were trying to disrespect the country. Like, did you know that Colin Kaepernick

used to sit on the bench during the anthem? That's what he used to. You sit on the bench during the anthem until a former NFL player, who is also a veteran, Nate Boyer, told Kappanick, look, man, there's a better way to do this. We sort of came to a middle ground where he would take a knee

alongside his teammates, soldiers take a knee in front of a fallen brother's grave, you know, to show respect. To be said, I think that would be, I think that would be really powerful. Yeah. So you see that Kaepernick changed his protest to take a knee because clearly he does respect the troops. And still, President Trump called him out in a way that he never did to the Nazis in Charlottesville. So in my opinion, this has everything to do with race.

And if you say it doesn't, I just think it's very difficult. disrespectful to the country. We'll be right back. $700 million buys NFL franchise for Houston. New team expected to suck. NFL team owners approved Houston businessman Bob McNair's $1 billion bid to own the league's 32nd franchise yesterday, just three years after that city lost the Oilers to Tennessee. The franchise was approved by a vote of 29 to zero, which coincidentally, 50s.

figures to be the team's average margin of defeat during its first three seasons. The city plans to build a $310 million $70,000 seat stadium with 110 luxury suites that promise such comfort you won't even know you're at a live sporting event. Billionaire businessman Bob McNair likes his new toy. Texas is a great area for football.

We're just delighted that we're able to bring the NFL back to Houston. back to Houston. Also delighted by the billion-dollar project were the state's 29% of children living below the poverty line who adore football, even more than food and shoes.

Houston won out in its bid for a franchise over several major markets including Los Angeles, Portland, and Charlotte, who upset NFL brass by insisting on naming its team the Charlotte Brontes. Get to Toronto's main venues like Budweiser State.

and the new Roger Stadium with Go Transit. Thanks to Go Transit's special online e-ticket fairs, a $10 one-day weekend pass offers unlimited travel on any weekend day or holiday anywhere along the Go Network. And the weekday group passes offer the same weekday travel flexibility across the network, starting at $30 for two people and up to $60 for a group of five. Buy your online go pass ahead of the show at go-transit.com slash tickets.

My guest tonight is the chief national correspondent for the New York Times magazine and best-selling author of The New Book, Big Game, the NFL in Dangerous Times. Please welcome Mark Lieberich. Welcome back to the show. Great to be back. So great to have you back after such a long time. The last time you were here, it was when Hillary Clinton had just won the nomination. It was the night.

that she, yeah, we were in Philadelphia, and I think we were like, I think we probably said she was going to win, right? Right, everyone was like she's going to be president of the United States. Brilliant political commentary. That's why I turned to football. It is quite a departure for you.

Your work is synonymous with covering Washington. You are known to be deep in the swamp and reporting on what's happening. In many ways, the NFL is a swamp of its own. In many ways it is. And I actually wanted to take this on because I needed a break from politics because, you know, football affords you such a great and easy break from politics, right?

I mean, that was sort of the dirty little secret here. I mean, it's all a swamp. But, you know, the NFL has gone from being one of the most unifying institutions in this country to probably the most divisive sports brand we have. One of the reasons is politics. In the book, what I really enjoyed is you delve into subjects and people that we don't necessarily always engage with in a way that we're not used to. You speak to the owners.

They gave you access that many people don't have access to you. I mean, you got drunk with one of the owners of the team on a bus, and like, he just told you things, which is great. He did. I mean, I was in no condition to hear them, but my tape recorder was working really, really good. Any fans of the Dallas Cowboys here, you should... Yeah, it was Jerry Jones, you know, the Dallas Cowboys.

It was not one of my finest moments, but it actually makes for a pretty good chapter. What would you say is the most surprising thing that you learned from the NFL owners? Just how inept they are. I mean, I mean that in the most respectful... But, I mean, these are billionaires, almost every single one of them. A lot of them just sort of lucked into their team, inherited the team, just sort of wound up with football teams. These are people who own probably the most, some of the most, like, powerful entertainment companies in their various markets.

And I just found them to be kind of a motley crew with a few exceptions. It's interesting that you say that because, you know, you see the NFL as this giant organization that is worth billions and billions of dollars. All of the owners are billionaires. Right. Right. You have this club that in the book, I think one of the owners likened to a, he said it was like a high school frat. What did he say it was? Steve Tisch, the co-owner of the New York Giants, called the Junior High School for billionaires. Right.

Which I think is probably a little bit unfair to junior high school students. But, yeah, no, I mean, it is, really, these are smaller than life characters, and yet they have outsized. I mean that in a very respectful way. Yet they have outsized influence on how we spend our Sundays and how we spend our taxis. tax dollars, and so forth. I didn't know some of the numbers that you talk about in this book. Is the NFL as predominantly white in its viewership as you say it is? It is by reader surveys and by viewer surveys.

Yes, absolutely. And every single owner is white except for one. It's like 80% viewership. It's pretty high. I think it varies between, you know, between 65 and maybe 80, depending on what survey you look at. But about maybe 75% of the players, the workforce, is African American. Much of the fan base is predominantly Republican. It's traditionally been the most conservative sport.

And it does create a dynamic of great imbalance, one between the owners who own it, the players who play it, and who are damaging themselves, you know, all likelihood in the long term, and not having guaranteed contracts and the viewership that is predominantly conservative. When you look at the players who are, as you say, damaging themselves, there's been so many conflicting messages around this. You know, the NFL on one hand is saying,

doing our best to make the sport as safe as possible. Other NFL owners, and you have some of this in the book, I won't give it all away, but they talk about how, hey, this is part and parcel. This is what the sports is about. People are going to get hurt. Where do you think they stand, and do you think that the NFL will survive what people now see the sport as? I'm not one of these doomsayers that thinks that football is going to die, like, in 20 years,

because the planet's going to end anyway. Right, right, right, it'll be gone by then. But no, but, I mean, there is, look, football, I mean, Donald Trump, before he even started going after Colin Kaepernick and going after the protests, was talking about football as sort of a template for why America has gone soft. He said football has gone soft and America has gone soft. And this was during his campaign.

It was at a rally, I think, in Nevada. Oh, and he was saying, you can't tackle anymore. And he was saying, like, you can't tackle anymore. And he was like, everything is a penalty. It's a penalty. It was political correctness had overtaken football. Penalty flags are like, you know, the PC police and support. So in some ways, I think a lot of the same tensions

that have existed in football for many, years, have been, you know, mimicked in many ways by Donald Trump. And in a sense, it's inevitable that these reality shows would collide. Let me ask you this question before you leave. Judging from Donald Trump's history with the NFL and looking at how he was so desperate to be an owner of a team and how he fights with them now, do you think Donald Trump would be president of the United States if they had allowed him into the owner's club? Well, he could be owning the Buffalo Bills right now.

So if he would have to trade, he would have to, I guess, be the owner of the Buffalo Bills. And the owner of the Buffalo Bills, Terry Pagula, would have to be president. into the United States if you wanted an even up trade. But, hey, it could be like one of these great thought exercises where in 2014 we could say, you know, look, Buffalo Bills or White House, you've got to choose. I think I know what he's going with. I don't know what he'd do.

I mean, he's wanted into this club for many, many decades. It's an exciting book, man. Fascinating story. Thank you so much for being on the show. Thanks for having me, Trevor. Really great. Big game is available now. If you love football, you want to read this.

Mark Leibovich, everybody. explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by searching The Daily Show wherever you get your podcasts watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11 10 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus this has been a comedy central podcast