The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - PTFO - Share & Rage & Tell with Mina Kimes and Dan Le Batard

Episode Date: November 22, 2024

LeBron is taking a break from social media. Should you? Are you ready to stop being performatively fascinating and get authentically dull? And is Bluesky the XFL of Twitter — or a refreshingly Musk-free community worth joining? Plus: "Re-Potting with Pablo," making lentil, fighting in Temecula, road rage, Mastodon, two ejaculating giraffes, a charging wildebeest and the actually hungry hippo (with suspenders and a pocket watch). Relevant reading: How Bluesky, Alternative to X and Facebook, Is Handling Explosive Growth (Mike Isaac) The Age of Social Media Is Ending (Ian Bogost) The Bluesky Bubble (Ian Bogost) "With so much hate and negativity in the world today..." (Rich Kleiman) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Pablo Torre Finds Out. I am Pablo Torre, and today we're going to find out what this sound is. Did we sound extra woke in whimpering about a need for community? This is not an echo chamber. Right after this ad. You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. Dan has stories of great road rage that he has felt himself personally that have maybe humiliated him in front of loved ones. Recently, my wife, and when I say recently, I'm going to say a year ago, my wife had to sort of hold or try to hold unsuccessfully me, my seatbelt, and my chest back because after shooting me a bird,

somebody also started talking to me, and this is not safe for me to do. It's not wise, it's not smart, but the last words I heard set me off, and the way rage works is you don't do smart things or do much thinking. And what'd you do? I leap from the car and scare my wife,

and it's dumb because people here are armed. You tried to get out of the, that was an actual. No, I did get out of the car and scare my wife. And it's dumb because people here are armed. You tried to get out of the, that was an actual. No, I did get out of the car. I did get out of the car. Damn, Jesus, man. No, I- Get out of the car. If you're out there,

if you're out there, this is how rage works. You have a video of this, send it in. Send it in to our show. We want the tape of this. That is actually, I'm so glad Valerie was there. Jesus, man. Well, it went okay. I'm so glad Valerie was there. Jesus, man. Well, it went okay.

I'm still here and I've learned my lesson and the person scampered off because I was enraged. And you were a charging wildebeest and you effectively intimidated them. That's right, that's what happened. Well, I was enraged. I was legitimately enraged. So my theory is it's one of the very few spaces right now in public life where

the customer doesn't have recourse. Where if you're mad, you can't log on and leave an angry review. You can't find someone's social media and spit vitriol at them. It's literally only IRL, right? There's so few places like this now in our lives where there's no way for someone to express their anger virtually. So if you're in a car and something happens and maybe a guy cuts you off

or somebody doesn't go at a green light, I suspect there's like increased anger because of the sense of impotence you feel relative to other situations. What Mina is saying, which is a through line I think that'll follow us through today's episode, is that she would like every driver in America to post their username on their window so she can get in their mentions and dunk on them. Personally. I don't have road rage. I'm trying to explain what I think is happening.

It's just a theory. I don't know. What do you think, Dan? I'm surprised that you guys are surprised though that I am capable of a rage that would not be able to be held back by my wife's delicate and model-esque hand. I'm surprised that you guys didn't think that. You guys thought I was just going to, like,

fake my anger that I wanted to be seen by my wife this way, and that she would be able to successfully hold me back with just her hand? My thing with you is that so much of our interactions on this show and yours are just us making fun of you. So the idea of there actually being a straw that breaks the hippos back, I'm like, what was it? And it turns out you don't even know.

You didn't even know. Well, is it hippo or is it wildebeest? Because what I'm about to do, if you were here, I'm feeling helpless because right now, I want to physically attack you. Hippos are like the most aggressive animals quietly amongst nobody talks about this because they're like, oh, hungry, hungry hippos. They're so cute. They're so fun.

They look so funny. Those, you do not want to encounter a wild hippo. They are hungry, hungry for blood. They will kill you. And I would, at this this point like to beat Pablo while swinging Mina by her ankles. Meeta, do you want to begin the actual show with the topic that you brought us that you wanted to share and tell about? Yeah.

My topic is the rise of Blue Sky. There's an article in the New York Times about it. There's been articles all over the place about this app, Blue Sky, which was created, I think, a few years ago, right, as an alternative to Twitter around the time that Elon Musk took over, but didn't really catch fire until this past week around the election. I mean, the daily activity was very low, way behind Thres, which is the other, the meta-owned alternative, and it has actually spiked Threads, which is the other, the meta-owned alternative. And it has actually spiked and exceeded it, which is incredible given how far ahead Threads was in terms of the daily users.

It's up to 20 million users, over 20 million now. So exponential growth for an app that is currently run by like 20 people, for those who aren't on it and who are on Twitter, it is basically the same in terms of the interface. It looks the same. It feels the same. The biggest difference really is the way it actually allows you to moderate content. It provides much more aggressive blocking features, provides tools you can use to just not see certain corners of the internet. It allows the reports of harassment actually work on Blue Sky. And that seems to be a big part of the appeal.

I know it's been part of the appeal for me personally, especially over the last week, I think, as the harassment and aspect on Twitter has been escalating for a while now, but last week did feel like a turning point. So there's that. There's also a lot of skepticism. Nobody wants to be on a zillion apps. Everybody's on Twitter, so people don't actually want to leave.

People in media might not want to leave for career reasons. I'm curious about all of your guys' thoughts about this and just about kind of whether or not you even, I know Dan and Pablo have different feelings about this, whether you even feel like you want a place to engage and post and do all these things. So Dan, for me, I tend to just see what Mina's doing and I'm like, I guess it's time to join Blue Sky. When she joined, I was like, I guess the person who thinks most rigorously about social media has done this, I should probably just follow her.

And so I did. And it is hard to shake the feeling that you're now watching a spring football league. You know, it's like, I guess I'm on the XFL of Twitter now. I'm on there and I've been also curious, like, what am I on? And so just a couple of the background facts here, cause I don't know if you know this. I didn't know this until I started Googling this.

Mina referred to this sort of like odd ownership group. Blue Sky originally was started by Jack Dorsey, who was the guy behind Twitter at first, he wanted to be decentralized. And then, of course, he is no longer part of this team. He left in May, 2024. And now it is a U.S. public benefit corporation. And it's the thing that like Patagonia is and Allbirds and Warby Parker, these corporations that apparently have some sort of legal protection under the guise of,

I guess it's now colloquially known as conscious capitalism. They have protection from being sued or I guess held to account by their own shareholders for not maximizing shareholder value? Yeah, which is really interesting, right? Because as we look at this platform and ask, what is the potential? If I'm joining, will it change? Is it worth investing my time? The corporate structure, which Papa you explained perfectly there, gives you a roadmap, which is to say,

it makes it so that this company, this app, this social media platform is far less likely to go down a road where they're making profit-driven decisions at the expense of usability. But one thing that caught my eye, unlike every other social media platform right now, they have already come out and said, "'We will not allow our data, anything you post here,

"'to be used for generative AI.'" That's very unique and unusual and would not be happening, I believe, without the corporate mandate that you just described. There are a couple of things here that I wanted to discuss with you guys, because in the reading material that I was doing I did get on at your behest. I have not used it very much

But it looks and feels very similar to Twitter. You seemed very excited that I got on there. You're on AOL I don't ever know what you may or may not ever try when it comes to new internet technology You guys are using old information on me. I now have MetalArk Media email address, but that's okay. You've properly shamed me. I'm no longer an AOL person, but thanks for bringing it up yet again. You are in our hearts forever, an AOL. Yes, thank you. I appreciate it.

The hippo and the wildebeest appreciates all the kind words that he's gotten so far as you continue to enrage him. One of the things that I read that I don't know if it's true or not is the headline, The Age of Social Media is Ending, which I wanted to explore with you because I have seen the fleeing from Twitter. It is a thing that is actually happening now

and the entirety of my life. I've been pretty used to public criticism going back to a day when people had to put a stamp on and write a letter to a newspaper and go through a great deal of effort to insult you and be bothered by your opinion. But this is being viewed as a place where you are safe as a liberal to be free from poisonous acidic hostile bullying criticism. And that is viewed as a weakness to seek community

that is a little bit kinder. Because I do believe in the social media age, one of the things that's been lost is just community. Just in general, people are on their devices so much that I think, I don't think I have this true for all of America, but in the bigger cities it does seem like there are fewer kids playing with other kids in the street.

And in my own group of people here, our family, our bubble. This is not, not, not an echo chamber. Our safe little bubble here, these guys have told me that their kids don't play in the streets and they don't know their neighbors so is there anything wrong with seeking community that has a little bit less of faceless acidic insult in it because you just want to be around not necessarily a group of like-minded

people but just a group of people that aren't perpetually looking for the way to make jokes at your expense. And I say this as someone who just started doing this show being called a hippo and a wildebeest by people that I care about in my community. A lot of the critique of the Exodus has been, this is Libs going to seek a safe space. And none other than noted reasonable man, Dean Phillips,

if you may recall from his attempt to be president, And none other than noted, noted, uh, reasonable man, Dean Phillips, who you may recall from his attempt to be president, um, was saying like, we need to have conversations with the other side. The entire lesson of the election was we don't talk to each other enough. And this is the embodiment of the problem. And meanwhile, my number one takeaway from blue sky is it is so refreshing to not have your algorithm dictated by Elon Musk. Like it just, if nothing else, I just want to lead with that.

Like it's just free from his personal thumb on the scale. Before we get into the political nature of it, that is just so glaring as well. I think that actually what you're describing is why the echo chamber critique rings false to me. So the reason why for me personally, I still use Twitter to post my content and try to direct people, frankly, it doesn't do a very good job of that anymore. And this is another thing that the new platform seems to be doing well is actually encouraging

people to click on stuff. But anyways, for the most part, I don't read the things people say to me on there because if I did, it's just, you know, I have recognized that being called DEI 30 times a day is not great for my mental health. Call me weak, I soft, I don't care. So the reason Pablo too that that happens is not even looking in my mentions. If you open up something you have posted on X, the replies that are prioritized and elevated are either bots, s*** engagement farmers, or in many cases the most foul comments possible because that is what the website now prioritizes. You can pay for the opportunity to be the worst person in the world and rock up to somebody

with a giant megaphone. So I bring that up because what I am, and I think a lot of people don't like, is not a difference of ideas. It is someone literally saying toxic, foul things to me. And I think, Dan, what sometimes bothers me when we have these conversations about, you know, about safe spaces and can both sides talk and whatnot is we are conflating like egregious racism and misogyny with diversity of thought, right?

Or with like reasonable opinions or disagreement. with diversity of thought, right? Or with like reasonable opinions or disagreement. I will tell you as a long time newspaper columnist a long time ago, and maybe people won't believe this, I not only don't mind criticism, I find criticism useful. I have found that a community of people who like what you do,

or the original form of Reddit for our show, made our show better because the criticism was constructive and not something to get defensive about. But we are conflating criticism and the kind of insult that makes me jump out of a car because no, you're not allowed to talk to me like that because that's not in any way helpful, it's not useful, and I believe, I don't think this can be disputed,

the acid is so poisonous that I can't even help but notice as a 55-year-old that I believe is more accustomed to criticism or public criticism than the average person. I'm like, no, that's bothering me. Like that's affecting the way that I feel that whether this is a real person or not or a bot, there's something there that's trying to bother me. Why would I choose to be around that?

Why would I choose to spend time with something that seems to be designed to get into something, into a soft space of mine that has over the years gotten pretty strong at handling whatever this is? You know, I do wanna also just add onto that by saying, part of what I use Twitter for is to get news, right? And so I was following and still continue to follow a lot of conservatives because I'm actually curious what they have to say.

Genuinely, just like I am curious from a from an earnest like, okay, what is the other side on some things I feel strongly about saying? Also, like, what's the conversation over there? It's the same reason I have group chats with my friends from high school where it's like, hey, these are how Republicans feel right now. I am actually going to click on that content. What I am most objecting to though, is I think the structural incentive system that Twitter has become because now it is content farming. Like it's beyond the ideology is just impossible to disentangle your experience as a user trying to read things

that are meant as just actual thoughts from the things that are meant to trigger. Yeah. It's just really hard to think that I am getting a thought as opposed to someone's attempt to get money. I'm so glad you bring that up because so much of the discussion about these two platforms and the Exodus and what people are looking forward, Echo Chambers is about politics. You were just doing the Trump dance, by the way, while you did that. The way that you were doing that, you were doing the Trump dance. I'm sorry to interrupt you. I feel like people are calling everything the Trump dance right now. There's only one. The one that's ejaculating two giraffes is the only Trump dance that there is.

That's right. Certainly there is a political element to this, but Pablo, you're speaking to the other thing that has made that app fairly and significantly less user friendly and unpleasant. And I think it's not political at all, which is the engagement farming, which is that people are now using it to make money in the lowest ways, right? It is all either rage bait, engagement bait, misinformation. It's the lowest common denominator. And one thing that has been nice is when I opened the algorithm on

Blue Sky, the viral posts have just been funny. It's been like good jokes. It reminds me of Twitter back in the old days. Why we fell in love with this terrible addictive platform that we all hated initially back in the old days. Why we fell in love with this terrible, addictive platform that we all hated, initially also, in the first place. And not, it's not, they're not political jokes. They're just like weird, goofy observations, mundane things. They're cleverly written, and that's what I want out of social media. I just want to be entertained.

I also, I will say this though, I have really, and I hope it lasts, and I hope that the moderation tools keep working, I have really missed hearing from people who actually watch and listen and read what we do because I have not been able to do that now for the last three years or whatever ever since Elon Musk took over, little bit before that to be honest.

And it really has been quite gratifying. And again, maybe I'm a loser for wanting to hear from folks and wanting to talk back to them and it's not, but I missed it. I missed that part of social media and it is fun, however short-lived it'll be. I had a thing happen to me in New York that sort of illustrates some of what it is that you're talking about because I'm walking through the streets of New York and I meet somebody who is clearly a fan of what we do and he filed what were his complaints with the present evolution of our show to me, three or four of them, and a warm feeling came over me as I'm digesting

what is criticism because I'm in front of a real human being who cares about what we do and I'm like, let me hear what you got. I'm actually interested in your opinion because I think that your care is authentic. You're not trying to manipulate a situation with an agenda where I have to question where you're either real or not.

Like I don't know whether you're a bot or not. And so I, in front of a person who was being critical, was like, yes, this is what it feels like to be a part of a community. And then the next step on that is the reminder that I only actually care about opinions and criticisms that are given to me by people whose opinion I respect. I have to respect your opinion,

and in order to respect your opinion, I have to know that you actually authentically care about what it is I'm doing and saying, not that you're somebody who is just living in order to see if they can trigger me. A real human who speaks to me like a human being who has objections to my thoughts or wants something different out of my show,

I will absolutely hear out. The problem is on the other app, it's people being paid to inflame, paying to pick fights who are just, you know, it's, they're not there for anything being done in good faith. And the people who are, their voices are being ground out. Yeah, all of it just to say that becomes the blue sky. I give about two months, two months and then roll back.

Did we sound extra woke in whimpering about a need for community? This is not an echo change. An echo change. An echo change. An echo change. Peloton has what you need to keep you on track to your goals no matter what season of life you're in. Friends, we're all different. We have different schedules, we have different needs.

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Oh, I can't believe we just blew that game. How am I gonna sleep? Boom! Peloton has classes for sleeping. Just put it on and fall asleep. Find your push. Find your power with Peloton at OnePeloton.com Dan, what you got? Hold on a second here buddy. Oh glasses, glasses, glasses on. When he puts his glasses on you know it's going to be a serious story. I hate that I have to still put my glasses on for things. He's riffling through papers. Well, you know what? Okay, I'm not going to be put my glasses on for things. He's rippling through papers.

Well, you know what? Okay, I'm not going to be made fun of about this anymore. This is the LeBron James leaving social media, and he was leaving social media essentially because this is Kevin Durant's agent. It confuses me why some of the national sports media still think that the best way to cover sports is through negative takes. We can all acknowledge that sports is the last part of society that universally brings people together. So why can't the coverage be the same?

It's only clickbait when you say it, when the platform is so big, you can make the change and allow us all an escape from real life negativity. I for one find it all a waste of breath. The Olympics and JJ and Braun show was the future of what this can and should all be. LeBron then agrees with it and says he's taking a break

from social media. Your thoughts here, Mina. I don't think sports media is more negative than it was five, 10, 15 years ago. I just think that per our earlier discussion, the people who run social media accounts for sports media understand that putting out the most divisive, controversial, whatever things that are said,

there is more likely to engagement. And I think athletes, agents, which climate, are more likely to see those things. So I think there is, if there's any, if there's a veracity to sort of what they're both claiming, and again, this little bit muddled here, it's centered in the fact that social media is amplifying negativity as opposed to the underlying commentary being different from what it was in the past. I think that LeBron is thinking that media is Skip Bayless. That media is someone who has chased him for 20 years

to remind him that his excellence isn't what his excellence actually is, which is to compare him to Michael Jordan and have him fail in that comparison. I don't know that LeBron is doing the beat reporters who he interacts with, none of whom are going to be especially mean to him. The grand majority of media that interacts with LeBron James does the positive thing, but then I would disagree with Mina on, I believe this

has all gotten coarser. I believe sports radio began this before social media and the need for everyone to compete in a space where they are getting the attention for what their opinion is I do believe makes it so that a lot of coverage and you tell me where it is you think I'm wrong here I do believe a lot of coverage is about blame instead of celebration of excellence because it's a lot easier for us to make content out of blame than it is out of celebration. You don't think 15 years ago, I have seen some really toxic segments really, I mean the discourse around LeBron James in

particular around, what was the, going back to the decision, like, I don't think it was gentler or more celebratory back then, personally. I would also note with LeBron, I don't think this is get bailus, just get bailus, Dan. It bothers him that everyone thinks he lies, right? That's an internet meme. Everybody, you know, the internet call me a liar all the time. So what am I now? What's an internet meme? They're about, you know, the internet call me a liar all the time and shit that lot, but I don't give a shit. So, what am I now?

That is people roasting him online. That to me suggests like LeBron isn't just turning on the TV, although Skip's not on TV anymore, and saying, wow, they're being mean to me. I really believe the way he is being discussed on the internet is a big part of what's affecting him here. But I think this entire attempt to sort of isolate the variable is why this is an eternal unending argument, because Michael Jordan, by the way, pre-Internet, right?

So it's sort of like, OK, are we disentangling the Internet from what it is to be in the media, which is really impossible to do at this point? And so I do want to focus in on something that Rich said at the end, which is that JJ Reddick, of course, now LeBron's coach, my guy, JJ Reddick and LeBron's show, how this was a way forward. And if the argument is simply we have oversaturated media, television and internet with controversy and that sort of more salacious debate stuff and there's room for great things that are underappreciated like the appreciation of

basketball as a skill as as sort of a nerd an art that nerds can appreciate and dissect then absolutely like yeah that is one way forward the thing about the power that he is giving though, to the media as a concept, is also funny, not just because of the internet and the way that, of course, that has made all of this sort of, this giant blob, it's because sports itself, if you talk to fans, is full of naturally occurring criticism.

And most people forever will always be saying, that guy sucks, that guy is good, and we're not gonna be able to move the needle on them. So just speaking not only from personal experience, but like today, Thursday, I started the morning, I start my Thursday mornings doing first take, and then at the end I do NFL Live. On NFL Live, we do breakdowns, we discuss trends,

we get deep into matchups, we do X's and O's stuff, and people seem to really like it. It does well, some of the clips do well, whatnot. However, if you walk into the average sports bar in America, two guys, they're going to be arguing about whether Jalen Hurts or Matt Stafford is more likely to joke, you know, and Sunday Night Football. I personally don't think those sorts of debates, which do reflect what Pablo is talking about, are inherently toxic. I think there's a vast spectrum here with regards to like the kind of things that are

being discussed. There are things that are toxic and absurd and sort of connects back to our discussion at the top. I just think like we were painting with too broad a brush sometimes when we talk about sports media as a whole, as a Goliath. We are, but I would say if we're going to speak in these generalities, I have generally found

taking the entire spectrum of human beings into account that athletes are generally better at criticism than other human beings, at least in part because they're going over film room in their jobs where they're making a million different mistakes and the coaches are constantly criticizing them and they're getting that criticism from people whose criticism they respect as informed as expertise and

as greater than the people who are on television or the people like even us. I think they're objecting to how ill informed it is when all you can do, all the information you got is, ah, you're a choker. And I understand how all of us, if we walked out into a community full of people outside of whatever show we did, and they arrived with lazy criticisms, we'd object to that more than we would to good criticism. What you're saying is a fair point, right?

Like, would you ever expect somebody who was doing PhD level work to hear the criticism of somebody who can barely understand it on an elementary level and not feel justified resentment. And I think this is where the unfortunate reminder, the unfortunate caveat to all of this must be made, which is that this is the consequence of the biggest tent in America. Like the whole point is that you actually want people

with elementary level understandings of the sport that you have mastered to care and presume that they can do it because that is actually the business you have chosen. It is not the business of media, it is the business of the spectacle. And Mina, that's just part of it. And I just don't think we can ever solve that frustration.

It's actually part of why you get paid so much money. Yeah, I agree with that. And I would also say, I don't think Rich Kleiman is arguing in favor of more educated criticism than, like, I know that Rich and LeBron are two different, I don't want to... But when he's talking about the JJ Redd Rich and LeBron are two different, I don't wanna, you know. Well, but when he's talking about the JJ Reddick and LeBron podcast, what he is clamoring for, there is an expertise of an elevated level

when talking about sports. Sure, but also saying, you know, why can't it be more like the Olympics? The Olympics is human interest stories, people who work for athletes, by the way, you know, especially now that they control a lot of the media around them, particularly have replaced a lot of the actual journalism being done with their own self-produced documentary shows, whatnot. They want public relations, which is

fine. You know, like there is obviously space for things that are made by people about themselves, which is what corporations really is. I don't think that critique is coming from a place of wanting like from a value perspective so much as it is from a business perspective. If that makes sense. The irony of Kevin Durant's agent being like, we need to be less online. It's like, dude, just call him up.

Just call Kevin yourself. He's just laughing, Pablo. He just finds it funny. He's not actually mad about anything he reads. The Emirates NBA Cup is here, and you can win big getting in on the action at DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. Will the Lakers repeat, for instance? We're going to find out, and there's going to be all the dunks, all the no-look passes that bring crowds to their feet, so get behind your favorite players and the prop bets you

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The last topic today is a response I think in some big picture way to the first two topics because there is a community online and this is a thriving community I didn't know about until I read this story. It is a group on Facebook that has over a million members and there is another group, an offshoot of that group that is over a million members. I want to get the name exactly right because it is worth enshrining in this way. It is the Dull Men's Club on Facebook. And so this is a bunch of people who have been, I think, chewed up and spit out, it felt like, on social media because there is a competitive arena where everybody's trying to be interesting. Everybody's trying to post as the article posits,

the same photograph from Greece of the octopus dangling in the air, and you're all trying to be performatively fascinating. And the Dull Men's Club is like, hey, here's some photos of the lentils that I was making. Here is my most boring hobby. Here is the lawn I mowed. And so I bring this to you guys because I think I am about to join the Dull Men's Club. I think I have qualifications.

I'm curious what the dullest shit that you guys do might be. Dan, do you wanna start? Yeah, I will start, but I wanna ask you guys a couple of questions here before we start. Do you guys fancy yourselves interesting? Like, are we self-aware? Are we, and our people in general, self-aware

about whether they're dull or interesting? Or do most people think they're kind of dull? Or do most people think they're kind of interesting? I'm not sure what is dull anymore to people. And a lot of this is because of the internet, frankly, because similarly to this Dull Men's Club, you can find a community of people is because of the internet, frankly, because similarly to this Dell Men's Club, you can find a community of people who think anything is fascinating.

Like for example, my probably most prevalent hobby is playing word games and crosswords. And I'll talk about it that much. But if I do ever post like a crossword score, I think that would seem to be dull, but because there's an audience for everything these days, it's not dull to everyone, I have found, when I talk about such things.

So I think I have actually lost sense of what qualifies as interesting. That is a very political answer. The real answer that all of us have to give if we're being injected with truth serum is that we all think we're interesting. That's why we ask you to watch this we're doing right now. Like, let's be honest, like if we're boring,

you're not watching that unless you're into performative boringness. And the thing about this men's, this dull men's club is that it seems to be, and this is a word that was missing from the article, but seems to be, I think a real key aspect to this is that it's authentically dull. And Mina actually articulated it before in a, I think, a real key aspect to this is that it's authentically dull. And Mina actually articulated it before in, I think, a specific way

where she's not constantly posting about the things she does. I know every day, multiple times a day to the point where I'm on a group chat with her and I'm like not engaging with her, like screenshots of like there was a point where Wirtle was a thing and she was like on just like the ninth version of I'm just like, I don a point where Wordle was a thing and she was like on just like the ninth version of I'm just like, I don't care about any of this. It's actually dull to me. It's me and Mike Shore and Alan.

So we're in this group chat where the three of us love word games and puzzles and Pablo does not. And during the height of the pandemic, we were all doing like 20 puzzles a day. We were doing, Octortle was a big one. There was one above Octortle. We were playing this game where you guess a country purely based on its shape and sharing our results with each other all day long.

And Pablo apparently was bored out of his mind by our dullness. It's horrible. That's not dull, that's dorky. I don't, that's a different classification. Disagree, it was both. I think it's's dorky. That's a different classification. Disagree, it was both. I think it's not an either or, this is a yes and,

it was both. Well, but I don't know how to answer this question because I don't think of puzzles as necessarily dull. Making lentil, yeah, making lentil soup, I don't find particularly interesting. I solicited my wife's help on this because I don't believe my governor is good because the nature of speaking for three and a half hours a day, you must find yourself

fascinating. You must find yourself really interesting if you think that people should listen to your opinion for three and a half hours a day. And so she said that me watching the CBS Sunday morning is dull and I yelled at her because it is not dull. It's one of the great programs in American television. That's so AOL of you. That's the most AOL news program that exists. It's a great show, though. I'm not gonna... It is good. It is good. It's just the oldest show that's ever been shown.

Agreed. I'm not disagreeing with that. I happen to like the tranquil sounds for 90 seconds of a creak, and I'm not going to argue with you about it. You can have your own opinions about it. And I was thinking to myself, well, riding my bike and stuff, and I was gonna nominate that, but I stopped doing it when I ran into the street,

a car door opened, and I hit it, and I fouled up my body in all sorts of ways, but that's not dull. And then I started a bunch of stretching and stuff that I have to do that I talk about too much to get my body real all sorts of ways, but that's not dull. And then I started a bunch of stretching and stuff that I have to do that I talk about too much to get my body realigned on that. We hear people talk about stretching. We have. My husband's always talking about stretching.

It's so boring to me. Also dull, yes, thank you. All of the things nominated by my wife as well. But I settled in on Beyond Royal Crush, which you guys have made fun of me. The mindless exercise of Royal Crush. Wait, are you still playing royal crush and how far have you advanced? Occasionally I am, I'm about at 8,000.

He's not a player, he just crushes royally. That's right, that's right. In another way I crush royally, I'm gonna, you talk about old here. Yeah. Miss Pac-Man. I've got a machine and I love playing Miss Pac-Man and I'm not going to apologize for it. You have a Miss Pac-Man machine in your house? machine and I love playing Miss Pac-Man

and I'm not going to apologize for it. You have a Miss Pac-Man machine in your house? He has an arcade, he has a tabletop arcade Miss Pac-Man machine. That's kind of cool that you have arcade in your house. Even your doll story like buried in interesting and like cool facts. That's still pretty interesting.

I submit that my thing that I do all the time, every day that I pretty much never post about, but sometimes occasionally will allude to, is take care of my plants. Oh God, nobody wants to hear about your- No, yes they do. No one wants to hear about this. Yeah, look at this.

This is the show that I host privately. It's called Repotting with Pablo, debuted during the pandemic, although I owned many plants before the pandemic, just for the record here. I have over 35 plants I counted this morning. These are all today, the various kinds. Look, I can raise a fiddle leaf fig, you know? I can absolutely make sure a pothos can stretch its vines

over all sorts of, uh, shelves in my apartment. Um, I can go on and on about this stuff. And asparagus fern. This looks like something I'd see on my CBS Sunday morning show. This looks like something that I would devour on Sunday mornings.

A snake plant. Um, that's a money tree over there. Um, that's sort of like craning its neck towards the sunlight. Um, it's the best. I've got so many money trees in my house. It's the best. I need, okay.

I need to ask my husband to come up with something for me, because all of the dull interests you guys have brought up are things that my husband talks about that I find extraordinarily dull. Stretching, plants, watches. I'm not trying to roast him, but when he and like when I watch Watches I don't know if that fits into this category because no, but you know it's dull to me The thing about watches is that I don't I've never worn a watch But I will find myself because I am a man like watching watch content

Yeah, and contemplate do I should I have a watch? So now I look at a watch a video. he's watching where people are talking about watches, and it honestly is the most boring content I can imagine that exists. I cannot fathom it. I told everybody here the other day, this is gonna shock you all, that when I came out of college,

I look forward to the look on your face when I say this, that out of college, my original attire, two sporting events early in my reporting career, suspenders and a pocket watch. With the chain going from my belt loop to my pocket. Given to me by my grandfather, so be careful how much you make fun of that.

But I figured you guys would enjoy that. We're gonna have to search for photographic evidence of this. Why? Let me text some people here and see. Why did you want this to be your aesthetic? I actually, at the time, this will be funny to all of you, said to myself, you know what? I'm going to be your aesthetic. I actually, at the time, this will be funny to all of you, said to myself, you know what?

I'm going to dress a little better than sports writers are reputed to dress. Oh, this is classic. Better in my mind. He looks like a union-busting oil tycoon. He looks like the Penguin from Batman. Like, what is this? Pablo and I have left out the most actual boring shit,

which is just talking about anything related to our children. Well, this is what I was actually gonna ask you guys. The dullest thing I do right now is apply to kindergarten. You guys want all the takes that I've never aired, what I got, call me up sometime. I have so many opinions. I was in New York,

what was it, like a month ago or something, Pablo? And we got together, Yumi and Katie Nolan and shocker, Katie was late. And as Pablo and I were sitting in the bar, Dan, we like speed ran kid's sh** for like 15 minutes because we knew Katie and we didn't want to bore her with it. Like I know all about Pablo applying to kindergarten. I know the kindergarten you applied to. I know your thought process.

I know about even pop dance looks boring right now. I know it's so boring. Nobody wants to hear this if you don't have kids. No, it's great. It's great self-awareness for you guys to have to get the parenting stuff out in the beginning. Single sex education, all girls kindergarten have thoughts about it.

Me and Valerie went out to dinner with a couple who had kids and had to strategize beforehand how to not open that portal conversationally. And we strategized and failed and then our... It's not on you. No, no, no, it's not on you. It is on the people of kids. Nobody wants to hear about your kids.

But I was just gonna ask you guys this when we started this conversation, because I was going to say that some people might think that motherhood is boring, but I do not happen to think that motherhood is dull, but if you sat with me and started telling me for many years, if you spent a lot of time telling me about your kids, I could see how others would find that boring.

Would you like to hear about Nino's transition from two naps to one and how it's potentially affecting his sleep schedule at night and how perhaps we need to stretch his wake window a little bit longer because he's been waking up before a.m. And then we don't want him to, we're not trying to avoid co-sleeping at all costs, so we're not going upstairs.

I never co-sleep. We are letting him cry. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. At the end of every show, Mina, we say what we found out about on a show that is about finding stuff out Dan is left which is understandable because we've been talking about parenting for

Yeah longer than I ever ever intend to on a show that wants viewers So what did you what did you what did you find out about today? um, I found out that Dan apparently dressed it dressed like Hogg as a young reporter. I'd like to see photos of this. Ironic for somebody who is all about player empowerment that he dressed like someone who wanted to break up the players union. I'd like to dig more into that.

How about you? What did you learn? No, I found out that everything that Dan is now is the product of a hard pendulum swing directly away from what he initially tried to be. And also that that guy who Dan intimidated on the road that Valerie saved him from going to jail over is somebody I'd like to talk to so, you know You know reach me. Yeah, I have a feeling that you may have been in the right just just a hunch Just a hunch This has been Pablo Torre Finds Out, a Metal Arch Media production. We are produced by Walter Averoma, Ryan Cortez, Sam Daywig, Juan Galindo, Patrick Kim, Nealey

Lohman, Rob McCray, Rachel Miller Howard, Ethan Schreier, Carl Scott, Matt Sullivan, Chris Tuminello, and Juliet Warren. Our Studio Engineering by RG Systems, our Sound Design by NGW Post, our theme song, as always, by John Bravo, and we will talk to you next time. Thanks for watching.