The Dumb Zone FREE - The Dumb Zone 3-18-24

Episode Date: March 18, 2024

Dive into the latest episode of The Dumb Zone, where the unexpected becomes the norm. Our hosts, Dan and Jake, along with special guest Ben Baby, take a wild ride through the world of sports, pop culture, and the bizarre corners of internet fame.From Boeing's whistleblower woes to the mysterious intricacies of VPNs in the face of adult content bans, no topic is off-limits. We explore the strange case of Hulk Hogan's multi-million dollar lawsuit victory and chuckle at the oddball antics of historical figures like Johnny Appleseed and Chuck Berry.But it's not all laughs and head-scratching moments. We tackle the serious subject of bullying and parental intervention, pondering the lengths one Texas mother went to protect her son. Plus, we celebrate the anniversaries of influential events and the birthdays of legends, both living and passed.Join us as we navigate the unpredictable waters of The Dumb Zone, where even the most mundane news becomes a springboard for absurdity and insight. It's a journey you won't want to miss, so buckle up for an episode that's as informative as it is entertaining. (00:00) - Open (28:10) - Sarah Hepola (01:07:10) - Cowboys free agency (01:20:40) - Ben Baby (01:55:10) - News (02:11:25) - Today in History ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Hello, I'm Dan McDowell, longtime professional broadcaster. Why subscribe to our Patreon podcast? Well, perhaps you support our struggle to get out from under the oppressive thumb of the man. Or, objectively, if you sign up at patreon.com slash the dumb zone, you'll get the two episodes per week that are available on all podcast platforms, like this one, plus an additional two episodes each week that are exclusive to Patreon. So subscribing on Patreon gets you four episodes per week.

Oh my, what a bargain. Now, on to today's program. Some people in the Crichton area of Mobile say a leprechaun is taking up residence in their neighborhood. A leprechaun. NBC15's Brian Johnson has more. Curiosity leads to large crowds in Mobile's Crichton community. Many of you bring binoculars, can quarters, even camera phones to take pictures.

To me, it look like a leprechaun to me. I got to do a little bit of treat. Who else in the leprechaun say yeah? Yeah! All right, all right, all right, all right, all right. I got to do a little bit of treat. Who else in the level car say yeah? Yeah! Say yeah indeed. Today's Monday, March 18th. Hello. I am at Dan McDowell's house, but Dan McDowell is not here.

My name is Jake Kemp. I am here with my friends Kip, Bodhi, no idea who's watching them, and Blake, who is currently working on the levels. I try to ensure that we have a semi-presentable podcast today. It's a little different playing the audio and monitoring the audio. I understand. And I wish that I were more involved. And I understand that I'm not.

You're good. You're the talent. But yeah, the boys were happy to see us I think. In fact, I think it's Which one's the licker? Bodhi? Typically, yeah.

In fact, Kip was excited to see me, which is new. You know what they did? They also did a very smart thing, which I did myself, because we've been off for nine days now. They got their house cleaned while they were gone.

Return to the clean house? Gotta love it. Yeah, that's a pro move. I don't know about you, but I don't like being over here when Dan's not here. I mean, it's very weird, but I wasn't going to have you to my house. Too much going on? No, I just don't want you there.

Why? I've been there. I offered to bring the equipment over. We could just do the show at your house so you wouldn't have to drive. But I guess I didn't think about it. You kind of like leaving. I do like leaving. I do like leaving.

So what did you do while we were gone? You watched mid-tier college basketball? Sir, the Big 12 is the best conference going in college basketball right now. You know, it is kind of funny. If you look at the actual standings, you're like, oh, football. I forgot. Basketball. Like football did their whole thing and didn't really think about, like,

what if we create just an absolute master house of a basketball division. It's stupid. I really, really wish that they would follow the high school model. Two divisions? Well, and that's even, you're trying to diminish the product. Just have divisions for football and have divisions for other sports. Yeah. Because it's ridiculous that USC soccer has got to go play in Columbus on a Tuesday or Friday whenever soccer

plays that just seems bad yeah we talked about this when it was Chip Kelly right that broke down the whole thing but I just more mean like the talent like the absolute powerhouse level like half the teams in the Big 12 are going to be in the tournament, right? Yeah, and as they should.

I mean, they got 14 teams, and I think nine made it. Jesus Pete. And OU did not make the tournament, and they declined their NIT invite and they were flirting being a top 10 team earlier in the year. It was insane the amount of talent in the Big 12. But yeah, I was in Kansas City for that. I think we should say that

no Dan for Monday or Tuesday. We will observe Business Wednesday and then we'll be Full Strength Thursday. I think that's the plan. Plenty of tales to tell from Paris for Dan who We'll observe business Wednesday and then we'll be full strength Thursday. Yeah. I think that's the plan. Yeah. And plenty of tales to tell from Paris for Dan, who I know you didn't accept this invite, but I have been checking his location from time to time just to see what he's up to. And that's been pretty fun.

Saw he was in Amsterdam the other day. So yeah, excited to hear about that. But yeah, before I went to Kansas City, I did want to update you on our Friday show, which was in the coolest bachelor pad I've ever been in at Brent Crable's. That was my five-year wedding anniversary. Okay. So the wife and I had plans that night. Okay. And I don't know about you, but I don't, the anniversary to me, I don't know if we've celebrated one yet. I think we did our one year, but then two, three and four, which is like, yeah, it's cool. Happy anniversary. But

that's about it. And we're not the biggest celebrators anyway like we didn't go out for valentine's day and i i don't know i'm probably not as romantic as she would like but it is what it is but i decided that we did need to celebrate our five year which uh apparently the gift for five year is wood. Okay. And not in that sense. So yeah, I got her a gift surrounded or just based on wood, which was pretty tough.

And then... Can I just say, like, who came up with that? But there's one for every year. Yeah, of course there is. But that feels like even worse than the card industry. You don't have to do that.

No, just the themed gift? Yeah. Yeah. Just get them something that they would like. You didn't. You got a gift, as you said, centered around wood. Well, I was limited. But I also kind of liked being limited because even if the gift sucked,

it's like, well, it's wood. It's what you wanted. It's what they wanted. Okay. I opted for, because you have to go to dinner, but I opted for the couples massage before dinner. Hmm.

And I love it. I'm not a big like being touched person, but the massage, that's a, it's like a late in life discovery for me. Isn't that one of the few massages that you've ever had? I've only

had three. Okay. Two of them have been couples massages. One was on the honeymoon, and it was a part of the hotel package or whatever. But I don't know. I'm a fan now and I want to go to Gary. Got to go to Gary. Gary seems like a legend. I haven't been.

It seems weird to me to go to dinner afterward. Yeah, but I was all like loosed up and feeling good and. Loosened. Loosened. Someone has to fill in for Dan. yeah but I was all like loosed up and feeling good and loosened loosened someone has to fill in for Dan yeah uh I typically will go if I'm going to do it at all I'll go with the gummy but I was given a THC drink okay I think I might have been given the same thing you were. And I drank it before the massage. The whole thing?

And that was awesome. Yeah. So I was feeling pretty good through the massage. The individual who gave that to us was pretty clear, not the whole thing. Oh. Yeah, I drank the whole thing. Yeah. And then went to dinner. Oh. Yeah, I drank the whole thing. Yeah. No.

And then went to dinner. Okay. Which was great. And then for those of you that are not married, just fell asleep watching Friends. Okay. She only got one wood gift that night. Okay.

I like it. It's a good joke and a good weekend. Thank you. No you no but the best part waking up the next day to uh no kids oh yeah can't beat that had the curtains drawn i think we woke up at like 9 30 to a dark hotel room it's cold and no kid waiting on you or screaming or anything it was it was nice that might have been the best part. There's no might of about it. That was the best part. So we had this little trip planned

to Red River. No Carter. Red River? Yeah. Oh, that's what it's called? Where'd you go? I went skiing. Yeah, I thought you it's called? Where'd you go? I went skiing. Yeah, I thought you went to New Mexico or something. Is it in New Mexico?

Yeah. Are you saying the same thing? Okay. Red River is a ski mountain in New Mexico. Got it. There were a ton of families there, but we all had our own place. However, here's what I'm prepared to tell you. I'm done skiing.

You've had back-to-back bad skiing experiences? I'm done. Why? Just done. Just don't want to do it anymore. Do you fall a lot? No. In fact, I went for a few hours the first day.

I snowboard. And I was out there for a few hours, and I got done, and it was roughly lunchtime. And I was like, I hate this. Aw. Just putting the board on and getting down. Like, it seems like more trouble now. You know, it's like snowboarding relative to ski. Well, no, because I think the first year that I went,

I just ignored the fact that you have to walk a mile in just snow boots and you've got to fetch your skis and get all your gear ready. It wasn't really that. We had a pretty convenient situation. I just decided I actually hate this. Oh. oh yeah but you had enjoyed it at one time for 20 years yeah i'm still the whole time i'm i'm like uh you know am i gonna fall yeah i'm gonna hurt myself well am i gonna have to go to the doctor am Am I going to have to pay a copay? And I just, I, the whole time I'm going down, I'm like, am I going to die? Am I going to hurt myself? But you're pretty good on

it. I'm not as good as I used to be, but I'm, I'm still fine. I'm still pretty fine. Yeah. I'm fine. I'm still pretty fine. Yeah. And I think like I was able to do like, you know, five or six mid blue runs and no problem. But the whole time I'm writing, I'm like, this could go bad. Yeah. You've lost that desire to like haul ass and completely damn. Damn. Completely. And then at some point you ask yourself, you're like, well, how much more stuff do I have to do that I don't like doing? It got you into a whole self-evaluation. Yeah, because most of my day-to-day now is just like, what if I did the least amount of stuff that I don't want to do, man? It's supposed to be like relaxing. Yeah. I mean, going down a mountain, being up there and my wife loves it. Like she's really, really good. And I think she finds it relaxing, but, uh, like being up there is fun. Being in the mountains is cool. It was actually my daughter

nailed it because she went to ski school for one day. So that was like eight 30 to maybe 1145. And then 1230 to three 30. And when we picked her up, I was like, well, I'll tell you another story about that in a second. But, uh, I was like, did you like it? And she goes, I love skiing, but I hate skiing. She has so many of these like one liners that are just nailing human life. It's insane. That's how I feel. Yeah.

Yeah. No, the other story I was going to tell you was I was in there with a buddy of mine. Buddy of mine. I can't do that today. Picking up his kids as well. And the lady was coming over to us. You have to like wait inside and get like a little post-game press conference. I thought it was just going to be like

they put them outside you grab them you go yeah they have to like come over and tell you oh how they did yeah okay and in her case it was like uh had some trouble uh following the rules i was like yeah no shit yeah uh but when the lady was coming up and nora was like looking around kind of confused, I was like, hey, sweetheart. But like the lady turned to me at the exact same time and I turned to my buddy and I go, that was for her. Yeah. And he was like, yeah, I think everyone knew that. Yeah, you're safe.

Your daughter there. Does your wife ski or snowboard? Ski. Yeah. See, the first couple years that we went, we went in a big group, which is the only reason why I did it. I had never skied until I was 28, and I did not have a good time the first time I went. You seem like you'd be a natural. You got a big, solid base.

That's the problem, though, is I can pick up some speed. Too much speed. Got a low center of gravity. Can't really stop. And I'm not really good. Like, one side of, like, I'm way better on my right side. So, like, you know, as you're going down the mountain, you just go, you know, right, left, right to slow down. I mean, I can slow down going one way,

but then I just pick up more speed going back the other way. And it's just, I'm not good, really not good. But I got to the point where I could kind of hold my own on the greens and blues. Um, and when we started going, when it was just me and my wife, I love that way more. Cause I could just tell her, Hey, meet you at the bottom. See you in 10 minutes. And you could just go. But with a big group, you're trying to pick up these checkpoints like, hey, is everyone still here? There's eight of us.

All right, next point. And you're kind of chopping it up like that. But I've enjoyed going recently. We're going next month. And we're going to take Brooks and see how that goes. Now, are you aware that that will probably not be a place in Texas?

Yeah. I can't drive an hour and a half north. No, I'm just saying, where are you going? Colorado. Her family has a timeshare. When I said Red River and you were confused as to what state that was in.

Yeah, I thought there was one Red River. Well, there's one river. But we call that one the Red River. Yeah, and it's the same river. So they didn't get dibs on Red River. It actually just runs up through. Okay, it keeps going. Yeah, it keeps going all the way up there.

Okay. The kid thing was uh was was interesting but how many people went um it was a lot dude it was it might have been like i said it might have been 40 or 50 people but we were never like all together. You know, it was a loose web of friendships. How many people did you stay with? Just us. Oh, okay. That helps. Yeah.

Get a little bit of separation. That was fine. Yeah, I didn't. When you were telling us about it the week before we left, I did not envy you. It just seemed like a lot to juggle with different people and different kids. New Year's Eve was a lot worse. Okay, good. A lot worse.

I thought the rental situation was going to be terrible. It's not. I mean, basically, they have it down to a T now. I have my own boots. That helps. That's right. But now you're done. I think I'm done. I really do think i'm done dude i just i just didn't have a good time i didn't even go the second day like and the second day like i

did email and i read and i sat outside and had a cup of coffee. And I don't even drink coffee. I was just like, this is better. I went up and met them for lunch. I just don't like doing it anymore. I don't like the feeling that I might get hurt and I have to pay all this money to be at risk. Well, yeah. I mean, certainly if you're not enjoying it. I don't think anyone's enjoying it.

I think 95% of people are like, this is just something that I was told I have to do. I think over a certain age, you're probably right. But there are definitely 22-year-olds that are just hauling ass that love it because they're still teed up. And they don't care

if they get hurt. Maybe. But yeah. It was spring break. Over, yeah, around our age and up, it's probably, yeah, I'd like to do this every once in a while and I'll have fun for a couple hours. But yeah, you're right. I don't like the walk from the car to the lift. I freaking hate falling down and losing my ski.

It just makes me look like an idiot. And I fall a lot. Really? Yeah. I can't tell you that I have much experience in falling and losing a ski. It's not good. Or a snowboard.

Especially if the ski is uphill. Then you got to do this walk where you got one ski on and you got one boot on and you're kind of walking at an angle trying to get uphill. Dude dude the funny thing too is like uh you can see something like a couple lifts over and it's like a collection of people yeah and you're like what is that like somebody got hurt yeah luckily i don't want that yeah no you're right yeah luckily i haven't been injured

too bad yet but i think my mom tore her like acl mcl meniscus skiing gosh dang yeah it wrecked her and i probably should have learned it never started i have a buddy who uh i think i told you this uh last time i went pretty shoulder. Yeah. I'm just like, dude, fuck this. Like, I'm not doing this anymore. I'm not. I don't have fun doing this. All I want to do is win flag football championships. That's what I was going to say.

You have a chance of getting hurt out there somewhat. Very little. But you're willing to put it on the line for that. Of course. Banners. So we'll have Sarah Heppel on in about 10 minutes, but I did want to at least tell you a little bit about Kansas city. Uh,

because I don't remember the last time you traveled with a team, but it's just a completely different experience than flying commercial. I've only done it twice. So it's been a while. Oh yeah. Long while. So those of you that haven't, it's insane. So you park, we flew out of Alliance.

So no trouble parking, you walk up, you get quote unquote screened because if you're, I don't know the percentage, but I think half of the people get to just walk straight on the plane. There's like a random screening process where you hand them your ID. Okay, you're on the list. On the way out, I did not get screened.

So they said, okay, you can walk straight to the plane. And I have all my equipment with me, all the radio equipment. And I got to just take all these cases on and just throw them on the overhead bin. I walked in with way too much equipment, but no one said anything to me. Put it above, put my backpack down. No one tells me to, hey, please put that under the chair in front of you.

Hey, please put your phone on airplane mode. There's a bag of food waiting on you when you get there. You have the most leg space you've ever had. Chick-fil-A? Yeah, it's easy. It's always Chick-fil-A. It's too easy. On the way out, it was some sort of Kansas City barbecue,

which the people that plan these things, I think, do that. They want to get a little bit of a local flavor. Local flavor. Yeah. Like, I think when we played Marshall back in my North Texas days, I think we got Bojangles on the way out. Okay. Just because.

And then it's just a super easy flight. I feel like flying with a team, you get there faster, and I don't know why. I don't know if they're in the left lane in the air or not. It's just great. And then you fly,

you get off on the tarmac, there's no pulling to a gate, your rental car is on the tarmac, ready to go. It's just an awesome experience. And so I've, I've kind of hinted at, I think my days at TC were numbered. Like I think the amount of work that we're having to do for this podcast dwarfs what we were doing in a previous life. So I think I'm gonna have to cut ties. And so I, going into this trip, I thought, you know, I'm I'm gonna I need to enjoy this and every year um all of the big 12 broadcasters get together for dinner which is

really cool for me because just getting to see like Craig and there's Craig way where there's Toby Rowland from Oklahoma you know all these guys that are really really good at their craft and I just get to be around them. It was really cool. And then just, I mean, the tournament's fun. Like you kind of mocked, you mock it. The Big 12 is awesome. Like I went to go watch games just because. Yeah.

And the media pass gets you in, it gets you free food and free drinks, not alcoholic, but it's just, and the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City is a really, really cool arena to watch basketball. TCU won the first game, so we were there for three days. And on the flight out, I was re-reminded that sports teams will fly through a storm. There's no, hey, we're going to divert a little east and make a trip over here then uh you know we'll get into the gate a little you know maybe 30 minutes late take off a little late yeah there was you know we lost uh our 12 30 game okay wheels up at 6 30 and my wife has texted me that

they're bad storms headed this way are you all gonna fly like uh i don't know we'll see and then from the plane i mean i can see i've got videos on my phone just like watching the lightning from the plane which is scary and then just you just fly through it and you're kind of coming out of your seat a little bit and you're wondering is this it and then you get under the clouds and everything's fine but i was reminded of the stars trip we went on where i was certain that we were not going to make it. Yeah. That was the, the trip that you're speaking of. That was, that's the most scared I've ever been on an airplane ever. Same. I mean, things were like popping from your hands to the, to the ceiling. Yes. Like if you were holding something,

it would just fly up to the ceiling. Every single thing that, you know, flight attendants or whoever were trying to hold on to, they couldn't. And that was, yeah, that is an interesting, it's an interesting dynamic because you realize that most of the reservation that you have when it comes to flights commercially is just liability it's just airlines being like well i mean probably it's fine yeah but we can't do it right we can't do it because we can't have all these people die like whereas sports teams are like we'll just do it. Well, and there's probably almost always going to be fine. Well, there's a convenience factor, too. And I think people are dumb, myself included, where let's just say you fly Delta and they fly through a storm and you're there on time. But you're going to say, man, I'm never going to fly Delta again.

That plane. Yeah, there's like a branding or marketing. Yeah. Was it bumpy? Yeah. You want it to be convenient in some way. The other thing, too, is, again, liability-wise, like, they just don't care if everybody on board has a bad time.

No. And the people, I mean, the athletes, they fly all the time. They don't care. On the Stars trip, they were still playing cards with no shirts on, like walking around the plane. They had been through this a number of times. And that kind of gave me a little solace looking up and seeing Cody Eakin like not caring at all.

Cody Eakin. It is a funny thing that I don't know if a lot of people know this or not, but whenever we would take the Stars flight, there would be like the front section of the plane that was probably 30% to 40% of the plane. Then there would be a curtain, and then there would be this section behind that. And the section behind that was primarily just the players. And the players had to wear suits onto the plane. But whenever they would cross the curtain, they would just take their suits off yeah so like if you ever looked behind the curtain you

would just see like a bunch of dudes in like tank tops and gym shorts yeah you're like well why did you have to do this yeah i thought that was super weird because i think on the on the plane ride out we were in the front players in the back but the plane ride out, we were in the front, players in the back. But on the way back, the players were in the front. Yeah. And we were in the back. So that's why we could kind of see up top. And then, yeah, I think there was one guy just nothing but boxer briefs walking around.

Yeah, like literal underwear. So I did think, yeah, that is pretty weird. But it was fun. Like all the coaching staff was watching film. Players were playing cards. Not all. Well, yeah. And then I think Dan and I were watching South Park.

But let's see here. Well, that's cool, though. I think it's really cool that you get to do that every year. Yeah, and I – I miss tournaments, man. I just miss, like, the feel of – like, that was the thing that I loved the most about 7-on-7 or basketball or even early years like hockey. We're all here.

We play when we're told we play. Yeah. It's cool. And I think we've mentioned it before. You feel like you're a part of the team. Yeah. And I know – they don't know who I am, and that's fine, but just being a part of the team, being on the plane and the bus

and seeing the guys up close and what they're like off the court, I don't know, it just makes you feel a part of something. And as we age, that becomes less and less. So I've certainly enjoyed that part of my life, and I'll miss a lot of parts of it. But, yeah, it was a fun trip to Kansas City. Sorry for ruining your life. You're not. I mean you move on to bigger and better things, right?

Including us who is moving on to Sarah Heppler. Hi Sarah. Hi. I'm going to play you an applause as soon as I can find it. How's that? It's beautiful. i think that was perfectly timed i don't think it was but thank you for joining us how's the world without dan it's weird it's weird being up here without him we're currently broadcasting inside of his house as he's in paris it's like a single white

female thing where you've taken over his home, but he's gone now. I'm curious as to why that had to be a white thing. Why did it have to be a single thing or a female thing? Oh, you doubled me up. I'm mad at you because you were trash-talking cats on Twitter today. because you were trash-talking cats on Twitter today. It's not trash-talking cats. It's that my dog never had a problem pooping.

The cat can't poop? I had a problem this time. You're having to fetch it out like Bobby Brown? Thank you, Sarah. What if your cat has an opiate problem? Have you thought about that? Yeah. I have. That's where your stash went.

Yeah, it ate all my pills. Oh, my God. We did have to hold it, him, good friend of mine, under the bathtub faucet spout i've had to do this before it's a nightmare and i just kept rubbing and rubbing and rubbing and there was just more poop and more poop and more poop and more poop and i just couldn't i don't know i've just i've never seen something like that with a with a dog before. Is that in the manual anywhere? Yeah, not the one provided to me.

What if this wasn't against Kat? What if this was just a celebration of dogs? The framing is great. Thank you. The marketing is great. I appreciate it yeah so uh i don't know when you're uh when your next slash first piece for dmn is uh coming out but we wanted to have you on to talk about this news regarding dac prescott because we've been off for about a week and in the intervening week he's been sued.

He is the subject of a criminal investigation. Yeah, he preemptively sued. Okay, well walk us through it. Well, it's so confusing. Can I do like the slightly, like it's a little bit annoying but it'll just get everybody on the same page? Yes. Thank you. slightly like it's a little bit annoying but it'll just get everybody on the same page yes thank you so all of this dates back to an incident on february 2nd 2017 and this is after his rookie season in the nfl and it's an incident that takes place in the parking lot of an xtc club

i know that you guys don't know what xt is, but that's a strip club in Dallas. Okay, so I will give you a quick 20. Probably the third or fourth incident in the last 10 years that have taken place regarding a cowboy at XTC. Oh, I think I remember one. One, it's almost certainly on the list. Did Terrence Williams race someone barefoot? Yes. Terrence Williams, a former Cowboys wide receiver, decided to foot race someone outside of the club,

which was on video. But this is not like an unknown place for the Cowboy fan. This is where they go. That's really interesting. Yeah. I did not know that. XTC is also the place where the stripper went viral after falling off the pole all the way down.

Do you remember that? Jake definitely does. I'm wondering if you can remember the name. I don't remember the name, but I do remember that specific incident, yes. It was wild. I tried to track her down for a story but she was not talking um okay what was her name i know i follow her on

instagram and i can't even remember will you look that up like oh sure so um like a lot of time passes j Jenea Skye. That's right. Anyway. She went into spa work. She's doing a lot of like healing. Okay. So you're saying you don't stay in the stripper game if you don't have to?

Funny that. Funny that. A lot of time passes because that's 2017 and a demand letter is sent on january 2024 uh dac gets a letter from his attorneys by two lawyers they're named bethel and yoel zahai now i don't know if they're sister brother cousins but husband and wife i don't know if they're sister, brother, cousins, husband and wife. I don't know. But they do have the same unusual last names, a high. And for some strange reason, this is also sent to the University of Mississippi. Is that where he went? Mississippi State.

Mississippi State. They ask for damages in the value of the sum of a hundred million dollars which in the the suit it has then a dot and two more zeros like there's no sense added to that which is i think i thought i also noticed that it's so weird it's like what if they had just been like just to troll them been like and 15 cents and then every headline writer had to write 100 million and 15 cents um and he had until february 16th 2024 and so that comes in january and as i think we all remember uh dac becomes a father in between these two time posts um dac's attorney levi mccathern who's the cowboys guy he's the guy that you've seen at

like the do you know him jake i guess i don't is he he's the guy from the michael irvin loss press conference oh okay you heard michael irvin press conference where they showed that footage from the hotel yeah at the super bowl yeah okay so that's yeah he's that guy okay he files a lawsuit for extortion and i believe that's for like a million dollars although a different place at 100 million i have no idea it's so hard to track these things. But he says that if they win this, he's donating it to charity. But so, like, that's the big story on March 12th. Yoel Zahai appears on the fan a competing

radio show. And They don't compete with us. That's a really good point. They're competing We don't compete with radio. Against themselves. Right.

That is a good note. He was on the flagship okay and says they're gonna announce a file complaint a file a civil complaint and maybe a criminal and you know he says some wild things on that on that show um which maybe I'll pause here because I've brought us up to basically the speed where I heard about this and texted Jake and Dan and was like, I want to talk about this because I had a lot of thoughts and concerns

and feelings and questions because there's something very strange and off about all of this, but we can get into it. And I think people had gone through his post history. I think he's a big Facebook guy and he's just all over these Dallas Cowboys fan pages just ripping on Dak. This seems very personal. I sent this information.

You know, one of the strange things is if you look this guy up on LinkedIn, he was licensed to be a lawyer in 2022. And he went to TSU. Is that Texas State University? What's wrong with that? But yeah. What is it? Texas State, yes. That is where I went.

It might be Tarleton State. Yeah, that's the only other thing I could think of. But I don't know if they have law. I don't know. Well, anyway, it says he went to TSU, and I sent this to a lawyer contact. Lawyer contact. It is a lawyer. Very good lawyer.

And he said TSU is not one of the top law schools, to say the least. Oh, okay. I mean, if we're talking like an actual law school, then it wasn't either one of those. It might have been, what would you say, Blake? I don't know. I'm blanking on what TSU could be. But that checks out. So I just want to say this lawyer friend of mine really did not mince words about this.

He didn't know anything about this. I just sent him the information, you know, like the most basic information. And he said, this person is a baby lawyer. Lawyers that fresh simply don't know what they're doing. They can't. Law school doesn't teach you how to actually be a lawyer. And, you know, he and this other person, Bethel Zahai, they have, according to the emails, you know, it says ZahaiLaw.com. But if you go to ZahaiLaw.com, it says temporarily busy or something,

come back later. And then her lawsuit, her firm's website, I guess she used to have one, has a coming soon notice. So it's, this is all just very, very sketchy. And then my lawyer friend goes on to say it's astounding and concerning that he's sending off demands for $100 million. It also strongly suggests that the client couldn't get anyone better. Young lawyers without mentorship or training are just lost puppies. This makes me very sad um he goes on to point out that after reading the portions of the demand letter that were published in usa today and daily mail and all sorts of other places my lawyer points out that your friend

points out that you can't under tex disciplinary rules, threaten criminal prosecution for civil gain. It's a violation of ethics. So, you know, my friend, by the end of reading this, went from wondering if this was a good lawyer to worried that this lawyer was going to lose his career and be disbarred. I don't know how hyperbolic that is. career and be disbarred. I don't know how hyperbolic that is. But I will say I saw similar concerns in a story that si.com had had picked up. I'm now after spending time with this, I'm now baffled at who this person is. Blake, you said people went through his Facebook posts. Yeah, he was just kind of

populating on, I mean, these throwaway accounts like Dallas Cowboys fan page where people can comment and he's just going at Dak. So it just, it seemed like a very personal thing, you know, where lawyers try to not make things personal. What's so strange about him too is that when he's on the fan and whenever he's talking to journalists he freely uses his client's name first and last name and it's a long-standing um you say my client yeah and and it's you know it's funny because he'll be on the fan saying her full name and then when the the Dallas Morning News or someone else reports on that appearance, they'll say it's our standard not to use names. So it's utterly bizarre to see a lawyer using a client's name with impunity in public forums when the press is not i can't make sense of it i looked up the

name that he gives it goes to a linkedin page with no face or anything it's a cosmetologist in irving uh nice that tracks um but it could also be a not real name i mean that's certainly people have used jane doe before the name he uses could be not real i i don't know does it sound like a stripper name yes okay could be an alias yeah so the thing that I think is interesting about this is, and I've actually not noticed much traction behind this from a, you know, publicly, are we getting really upset about this? Do we have to go after Dak? And I don't think it's because he's Dak is turning in a weird way towards maybe we need to ask more questions whenever men are accused of things. And I kind of hate that because I've told you this before, Sarah. Like I instinctively feel like I – it's so lame to say believe all women. like I it's so lame to say believe all women but I do have like this instinct instinctive thing of like all right well we'll start there and then we'll work back from that yeah um but a lot of times when you start there it's already done yeah yeah that's well said and so now like it's it's

weird to watch the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys find himself in a situation like that. And maybe it's just that it's so non-credible that we're not even really talking about it like a real case. But, you know, I mean, the quarterback of the Cowboys just got accused of rape. So it's weird to watch how this story plays out. I believe you that it didn't make that much of a ripple. I will say it made enough of a ripple that it crossed my world, and I'm not a sports person necessarily. Also, I don't think it's done, by the way.

Yeah, it's not done. But I was eating at a restaurant the other day. They always have the TVs on. And I can't remember if it was SportsCenter, ESPN. You know, I don't know the difference between these things. They had a you know, and it just said, you know, it's just the chyron. You can't even hear what is being said on the TV. And it says Dak Press got accused of rape. That's all you see. And that kind of reporting ruins lives and ruins careers. And it is irresponsible. And, you know, especially when we live in a world where that kind of thing on Twitter can get you, you know, can derail your life. What happens when it's on, you know, can can derail your life what happens when it's on you know national television and so i you know i don't know i don't know what's going on here the whole thing is so fishy maybe like you say you know the reason it's not getting traction is it's so apparently, you know, doesn't make sense. I mean, it's very confusing, too, by the way.

I mean, he preemptively countersues, then she sues a civil suit. But by the way, Frisco opened a criminal investigation into him. She filed some criminal complaint with the police because Frisco police is now looking into both that allegation of sexual assault and an accusation of extortion. So it's wild. And I noticed that this is something that really bothers me about the media. And, you know I the the kind of like tragic machinations of football stars and women are a story for another time as far as I'm concerned this is I mean that is deep and and deserves scrutiny but what what I see is how the media plays this, and it concerns me deeply. I mean, even when SI.com, which actually did a really interesting story about this,

the first line of the headline is, Dakcott is quote garbage question mark okay this is all a post that's going to be about how this lawyer that Blake's been talking about has been wilding out on Facebook but the headline is Dak Prescott is garbage and then you know there's something that goes on and clarifies this. I've been guilty of this in the past. I mean, it's just like the race for eyeballs. It's just like where, you know, and, and Jake, your point about believe all women. I mean, I was teasing you the other night. Cause you know, Jake sounded a little bit like i finally made it to the right side of history and they're pulling me back um but uh the thing is is that the the whole last me too hits you know arguably let's say 2017 of this. And there have been cases that were horrific and shocking. And there have been cases that were baseless. There have been all sorts of cases

because that's what cases look like in the in the court system yeah and i think i think like the the thing i'm trying to say is just that sometimes as male it's hard to talk about it because uh you don't know which or which you don't know the details you don't know what's going on and you would hate for one of the ones that seems like the latter of what you were just discussing actually ends up being the former i know of what you were just discussing so i know i think especially as like sports morons over here we're like okay well i don't really know how to talk about this because maybe it's absolutely nothing like the punter. I know our friend Ethan Strauss wrote about the punt god, if you will.

He wasn't even there. But there's also other times where somebody assaulted 50 people. It's so fascinating to me as an observer of these last 10 years or so that sports personalities who had been sort of acclimated to a world where they would talk about how space was gay this is just an example just a random just one sure. For instance, they would, because of Me Too and its overlap with sports stars, be the primary people in some ways talking about Me Too cases. I mean, that is wild. You guys were thrust into and had to take a hard pivot the way that you talked about women,

which was not specifically a sports radio problem, but it was amplified in a sports radio environment, is my guess. Right. We're mirroring the general male culture. And amplifying it. And amplifying it, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. culture and amplifying it and amplifying it for sure yeah yeah and you have to take a like dog leg like hard dog leg whatever that is um into talking about some of the most explosive

sensitive cases i i have never talked with any of you guys in depth about that and have always wanted to i've tried to get the guys at the other non-competing station, the ticket to talk about it and, and they don't want to. And I get it that nobody it's what is there to gain from having that conversation? I get it. Well,

I mean, and I get that. I mean, for me, I think it's probably somewhat different. Not that I'm like in any way better at talking about these things than some of my former colleagues, but I definitely was prepared to. Like I always wanted, I didn't really want to work in sports radio. You know, like I wanted to work in sports radio. What did you want to do?

I wanted to work in politics. Oh, my God. You definitely chose the better lane. Yeah. So for me, it wasn't necessarily difficult to pivot that way. What was more difficult about it was how is this going to be received? How is the audience going to take these like changes that we make in the way that like we no longer are going to do the bit of uh the muzzle which was uh

it was just a bit where you would just put a muzzle on a woman you actually paused there was it the was it the Wuzzle? Oh, I don't know if I know what you're talking about. Oh, it was an old, it was an old ticket bit, but I mean, it was also hilarious.

So, well, and the other thing, Sarah is like sports radio is really, um, just kind of a respite for all that. You know, a lot of people just want to escape the everyday to where like,

okay, let's listen to another Dallas Cowboys segment because I just don't want to face the real world right now. So you have these people. Or not even just let's listen to another Dallas Cowboys segment. Let's listen to a vein of comedy that I can't do at home. Sure. But yeah, all of that is an escape. So yeah, when this real world infiltrates it, then now these people that have been trained in this comedy and this kind of respite now have to deal with the real world. It was a weird mix. range for me and and i just feel like i was much closer to the middle on both of those extremes like the working in kind of blue comedy and also having to talk publicly about it because being live on air or even on a podcast is so much different than having a story that you work on over months and get to choose your your wording so carefully and it it vetted so much. I mean, I just, I, yeah, it's a really fascinating, like, chapter in the story of the last few years is how this played out on sports

radio. And I think most people in my world, which is, you know, I come from, like, kind of traditional lefty journalist spaces. I was running a feminist blog for many years you know like we don't have any overlap whatsoever with sports radio i mean we don't even know that it exists and it's like it's like you guys in a you know like taylor swift fan convention which i went to last weekend by the way and it was fantastic. Where was it? It was at Hilton Lincoln Center, which is near the Galleria. And it was at this thing called All Con, which is like a big fan convention. And there was a Taylor Swift fan convention.

And it was like the most fun. Like I had the best time. I went in there being like, what is this going to be like? And I left with like six friendship bracelets from my of my new friends of course you and Travis Kelsey so this is definitely Jerry's kid right yes we're not still

talking about Dak are we are we talking about the Taylor Swift convention I just I'm just gonna whenever you ask me at any time if it's Jerry's kid I'm just gonna whenever you ask me at any time if it's Jerry's kid I'm just gonna say yes because I feel like chances are

yeah go ahead Blake I was just gonna close the door I've not really read much about this DAC stuff so what do we know that's concrete is there steam behind this with a bad lawyer or is this completely fabricated?

What do you think is at the heart of this? My lawyer friend seemed to think this was the case of an inexperienced lawyer who got over their skis with a case that he interpreted to be, know accurate and true but they're just overplaying their hand i mean you know there's i don't know so this is not baseless there is something here yeah and um si.com uh the story that i read also says that like you know sources say that like like daca said they had sex he said intercourse in the document okay that's what i call it too i know i know that's why i wanted to defer to your preferred yeah no that's why i'm always like time for some because the reports were saying outside of xtc so i didn't know if there was like an event that happened in the parking lot. Go ahead. Okay, so he says that they had intercourse.

And according to SI.com, sources at the Cowboys say the relationship continued. What the lawsuit says is like, it's really strange that for seven years we've never heard anything about this. Yeah, the timing's a little weird with this extension. Yeah, help me understand that part. He's about to get paid a lot more money, but for me that feels a little bit weird because he already makes an ungodly amount of money, which he deserves and has earned.

But it would seem weird to me to be like, hey, I'm going to sue you if you make $58 million a year, not if you make $48 million a year. That doesn't – Totally. From a rational actor perspective, that doesn't track to me. From a rational actor perspective, that doesn't track to me. You know, it's... The timing that upset me so much was that it had come right after he became a father. That one makes a lot more sense. And I have studied enough of these Me Too cases to know that a lot of these cases get filed when the alleged assailant is in a very high profile situation.

For instance, James Franco at the Oscars wearing a Time's Up pin. profile situation. For instance, James Franco at the Oscars wearing a Time's Up pin. That, which Time's Up was the hashtag for like, we've chased sexual assault out of the kingdom of Hollywood. And he was on the stage and he got slapped with a bunch of complaints. I can't remember if they were actually criminal or civil um i can't tell you the number of times i've heard stories or read stories where the person will say i saw this person and they seemed so happy they won an award uh they got married they something and it triggers the person with the either real or perceived slight or trauma or however you want to describe it to then take action that they had been mulling for a while so if i were to write the story of

this which is only a theory it would be that that well no it couldn't be oh because it goes back in january and the kid comes in february but she was pregnant yeah i mean it's in the same yeah yeah yeah so so that would be my guess but it's just a guess i mean the demand letter says um you know uh let's see if i can find this had to live with this pain and trauma for seven years. It affected her relationship with her fiance and her everyday existence so much that she had to attend therapy and counseling

and will require future therapy and counseling. She suffered mental anguish that's unimaginable, dealing with the trauma of being a sexual assault of victim. That's what it says. It says she's willing to forego pursuing criminal charges along with disclosing this information to the public in exchange for compensating her for the mental anguish she suffered the damages are valued at the sum of a hundred million dollars um that is a letter that doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in the lawyer at the least?

I would agree. I would agree. And I also think that there is a case where sometimes the ask of the sum, like it decreases public confidence in the motive behind your inquiry i know like a hundred million dollars like that's like it is yeah it's wild so so actually the the fan um the whoever the host was i'm sorry i don't know the name, they asked the lawyer, you know, how'd you get to that number? And he says, rape is on the level of wrongful death. What price can you put on a person's life? What price can you put on rape? There's not a price tag you can put on that. Now, maybe, maybe not. But one of the interesting stories of the last 10 years has been, well, actually 20 years, has been the expanding definition of rape.

You know, from something that required force and violence to something that was sort of more framed around consent and wanted and unwanted depending on the state that you live in um so it went from a very specific thing to a very broad thing depending on how you um conceptualize it conceptualize it and it's conceptualized differently in different states in different courts in the human imagination it's very hard to talk about but like racism or one of these other words it means something very specific and very bad it's a bomb that you can drop even though it could mean anything from zero to 10. So he's assuming that this is 10 in his demand letter. But what we know about this is that it took place at XTC and he was a football star.

And there is no like hospital visit. Like we don't have anything that goes along with the claim of that degree of severity. Yeah, no, it's a it's super, super thorny. I don't you know, to me, to be honest with you, like I'm kind of surprised that like not every single person who is a high-profile quarterback or even just like athlete doesn't just get hit with stuff like this all the time, especially because a lot of times they do it. So like publicly we're already like, you know fit to be like well yeah

because all of you guys are doing this can i say that like that is another thing that is super uncomfortable about scrutinizing this particular case especially with regard to the cowboys because if if i if before this case you had asked me like about the Cowboys in their history here they have a history of NDAs and payouts that's what I've earned and they are they do not have like a believe all women you know background going on here. Like they, they have a very shady background and there's a couple cases in particular that I will continue to look into as long as I breathe on this planet. No, I, I just, I do have, uh, like there's a couple of cases that have

gotten, have, they haunt me. They haunt me because I think they were mishandled badly in the 90s. And they've, it is, when you go back, knowing what we know now, seven years into, or 10 or whatever, into this Me Too era, when you go back to the 90s and you look at the stories that were being written about some of the allegations back then

with the cowboys, you'll see stories where the first sentence is like, this woman is a stripper and her husband says she's a bitch. And you're like, what now? Like, this is like, you see what the entire kind of like feminist project

of changing the way we talk about rape, like what that was about, because you see what women were up against. And, you know, when I go back and look at these cases, I see very, it gives me the chills. So I, you know, I feel like I just kind of like subtweeted one or two, really one particular like nineties cowboys. But like what I mean to say there, like that was a crazy time. Like if you study drinking, if you study, you know, sexual mores, if you study men and women, like all of it, You study men and women, like all of it. It was there is there is it's not surprising that by the 21st century, this is all coming to this kind of, quote unquote, reckoning, because a lot of what was going on in culture at the time was just really wild. And, you know, a lot of these.

I don't even want to go into all the different vectors that could have been affecting that moment. My point is, this team has a troubled history and has had many troubled players. That might be why they're football players. And this does not appear to be one of those times, which makes it confusing to talk about. Because to talk about it, especially so decisively, makes it feel like a blanket thrown over the back of history, which I would hope your listeners would know, in my case, it is not. No, that's super well said. It's like, I mean, everything else is here, so why don't we just throw this on the pile?

You already know all this other stuff occurred. But no, I think that's extremely perceptive, and I just don't know how there's so much shit in his butthole. Like, I... Ha! Like, I'm... He doesn't even eat that much. I mean, he really doesn't, you know? And I'm spraying it, and I'm rubbing it, and I'm drying it.

I got a blow dryer, a fucking blow dryer. And I'm like, all right, let's. See, this is that comedic vein you were talking about earlier. This is what we like to hide behind so we don't have to talk about stuff like this. Can I hide with you by telling you a story about my first cat? There's just so much poop in his butt, Sarah. No, no, no, no, no. I've got one more story about the cat.

My first cat and his poop, okay? I've got it. Okay. Here it is. Okay. My cat was meowing like crazy one day and rubbing, and I called my vet, and my vet friend was like, I think his bowel is obstructed. You need to go to the vet.

The vet was like, you need to give the cat an enema. Have you ever tried to give a cat an enema? I mean, panic pause, everything around my face. Okay, later that day, there was a thunderstorm. And when you look up cats, cats apparently meow like crazy when a thunderstorm is coming. I gave my cat an unnecessary enema. Oh, no. I don't even know what that means, but it sounds terrible.

Well, that's kind of good for you, right? Not a lot came out. Normally, you don't have to pull it out like Jake. Normally, they're pretty like a self-cleaning oven. That's one of the great things about cats. I'm just going to stick with my dog that poops outside. Fair enough. All right, Sarah, we'll talk soon.

Bye, guys. See you. Bye, Sarah. Bye, Sarah. Our good friend Sarah Happerwell is now of the Dallas Morning News. and Sarah Hepler who is now of the Dallas Morning News.

So, we have a little bit of time here if you wanted to do Mavs or a little Cowboys Free Agency and keep the theme.

We can do whichever one you would like. I guess I'm not supposed to let you be in charge since Dan's not here. I did write a, I don't know

if it's published yet or not, but I did write a D Magazine article. Okay, let's do that. From the wonderful world of sports, Radio Sports, scoreboard. And we can go back to sports later with Mavs, but yeah, it was a weird four or five days, right? They kind of did nothing.

They got Eric Kendricks, Mike Zimmer, eight-year vet in Minnesota. But can we start with day one where everyone seems to be signing free agents and the Cowboys signed their long snapper? I would say the long snapper element of it is hilarious, but also I think it was day three before they actually signed another team's free agent, and they were the last one. For the first 48 to 72 hours, it was like, there are two teams who have not signed another team's free agent, and they were the last one.

Which is very fitting for the cowboys it never seems like the cowboys are uh like out in front of these moves they always seem to take their time and very deliberate in their thinking however i do feel like they miss out on a lot of pieces by doing that now there was probably no one out there that they were really in hopes of getting based on what we hear that that they were willing to pay for some of these spots but it's still disappointing as a fan of the team that you feel like is so close maybe you are that one or two players away and you just let these guys go because you're just not at the table so the hardest thing for me as cowboy fan and I suppose fake analyst is one reason

that they're in this situation is because they draft really good high end talent so CeeDee Lamb is going to need a huge contract, Michael Parsons is going to need a huge contract, Trayvon Diggs already got a pretty decent contract Tyler Smith is going to need probably a

top of the market contract at some point you have a franchise quarterback. That's premier positions up and down the roster that you've identified and either have to pay or overpay. And you've also hit on a couple non-ones where you're having to pay Trayvon and CD, who are in the same draft. You're going to have to pay Daron Bland. CD who are in the same draft you're gonna have to

play Duran yeah and I mean Duran Bland's a great one yeah and I mean Dak even to an extent applies to that yeah where you're hitting on multiple guys in draft now yeah because typically you know all those ones you mentioned you can kind of space out cap wise right but it's hard to do yeah usually only have one yeah but the so like on on one side of the ledger it's they've been pretty good at identifying uh talent top end talent and that's where their money goes on the other end it's like yeah but they're also not supplying any depth for their roster at all and i don't sometimes i don't know where to fall on that. I know where Steven falls because I listened to an interview with him

the other day where he was somehow introducing Kid Rock. That was disappointing. Whatever that was. That was very disappointing because that was in the early moments of free agency where you were hoping they were on the phone, but yeah, he's doing some stupid Yellowstone event or something. Yeah, Yellowstone or PBR or something where he mentioned again, you know, we won 12 games. Yeah.

So that's three seasons in a row where every year he's just, hey, I mean, I don't know what you want us to do. We won 12 games. That's a lot of games. And he's not wrong about that. They're pretty good. It's just that when they get to this portion of the year in building their roster,

there's just a part of it that they they've swung and missed on. And it would be way easier to be critical if they won five games. But they're like the weirdest thing ever where they just are good and not good enough. And I don't really know how to analyze that. I don't know how you can be critical of that. And

I feel like that's the same thing they're running into. How do they analyze it? Well, my, my take on that is, and it's so funny because they run the same playbook every offseason where now they're telling you, you know, a couple years ago it was, hey, we lost out on Randy Gregory, but wouldn't you rather have three good players instead of one? And they're saying the same thing again this year. And that's why I think they're good but not good enough is because, yeah, you may be able to sign these starter, non-starters for the same price, but I think the stars win you playoff games.

Maybe you do need that one guy. I would tend to agree. And you're losing out on that guy by not showing up ready in free agency. Now, I don't think it's Derrick Henry that's going to fix everything, but if you had plans of letting Tyron go, which I want to get into here in a sec, then maybe you do extend for that tackle that you need to replace him with, or just get that top-end guy where all of a sudden you are winning your 12 games, but then you're winning playoff games because

you have that top-end talent. And you're right, I feel like the Green Bay game did sort of come down to depth because they didn't have a linebacker after Leighton. Yeah, and I mean, Eric Kendricks, to me, is like just a replacement for Leighton Van Der Esch. I mean, he's fine. Yeah, I think he's fine. He's probably good.

Yeah. But how much better than LVE? You're leveraged highly on DeMarvian Overshown right now. Yeah, who is not a big linebacker at Texas either. No. Coming off of an ACL. So, yeah, I mean, they're betting on a lot of things to go right for them right now.

Yeah, they're betting on hitting in the draft. Sometimes they do, but right now that last year's draft is... It's tough. And that's what worries me, because to me, it seems like there are ebbs and flows with a lot in this game, but drafting could be one of them, where the Cowboys

have been really good for the past five or ten years in the draft. If they hit a dry spell, that could be troubling. And last year could have been the first domino to fall now they're also going to tell you that hey we're you know mozzie got a year under his belt he's going to be coming in you know you could you could almost look at that as an addition to the defensive line or overshown who was hurt last year and could play this year you know they're gonna

they're going to say these things however they're just putting a lot of their chips on the draft and after after coming coming back after a bad draft i don't know this this offseason has not gotten off to the to the best start in my opinion yeah it's just that uh they're not gonna make jerry prove that he's that woman's dad. And it all, yeah, it begins and ends with that, doesn't it? Where there are just so many stupid distractions around this team. But I wanted to talk Tyron because that, I'm really torn on that. Because he was, what, an all-pro? At an all-pro level last year?

Pretty close. Let's see. I'll check the distinction. He certainly graded that way. Oh, yeah. And coming off of his healthiest year, I don't know. Second-team All-Pro last year.

I hated hearing that he was going somewhere else. But it's also strange because... But it's the same thing as I was just saying before. I want to get mad at them for some of these things that are so nonsensical, but in a vacuum you're like, all right, this guy's played, let's see, what is it? He's played like 30 games in four seasons.

Yeah. And 13 of them were last year. He hasn't played under Mike McCarthy at all. He doesn't practice, which is fine. Do what you got to do. But at some point, you're like, dude, do we, I mean, what do we do? What were the terms of the deal? Base of 6.5 and incentives and playing time

can put it up to 20 million. Which is pretty rich. But I thought that was a good contract for the Jets. I guess my thing is there's no... I guess if you want to go back to a couple years ago,

Tyler Smith was the post-Tyron Smith plan. But since Tyler Smith has been so good at guard and be oddish out the door and no real prominent backups, what's your plan? You let a guy out. Now who are you bringing in? Yeah, they don't have much of a plan. They've got a couple of guys they drafted last year.

Asim Williams, right? Was one of them? I haven't heard much about him. I know they like TJ Bass and Steven. I like when he can't pronounce Wozniak. Aseem Richard. Valesko.

Yeah, whatever. And we find out he didn't even know Tyler Biotis' last name. I'm pretty sure Vusko's gone. Well, I mean, that was another... He's not gone, that he's buried. Yeah, that's another guy that they were high on. However, like, okay, but you've been on the brink, right?

12 wins in every season in the last three years. Like, you're on the cusp. By making a move like that. You're not getting better. Like that's maybe makes financial sense. But if you're quote unquote all in, that's not an all in move to let someone go. Yeah. And that was,

that was sort of the thing that I like everybody else. Cause it's just chum in the water wrote about was the all in thing. He definitely wishes he never said that. I think if you're asked about it, you're like, we just try to build our team the best we can every year. Because when you're asked about it and then you say, we're all in.

Now everybody looks at every move you make and they're like, long snapper? All in? All in. Yeah, but you're right. I mean, Jerry feels like he's up against it. 100%. And that definitely decides some of his moves and his approach.

Yeah, well, I actually wish that if he were more – I wish he were more up against it. I wish they would throw caution to the wind. I wish they would throw caution to the wind. I wish they would keep Tony Pollard. I don't care. Their quarterback is 30 and not getting better.

To me, they have about three or four years to win a title. And after that, they're going to have to re-rack in a significant fashion. New coach, new coordinators, probably new scouts, definitely new quarterback. They got about three or four years. He ain't playing to some sort of like Tom Brady mid-40s prime.

No. It's just not going to happen. They got a couple years. It's just not going to happen. They got a couple years. And so what I wish they would do is get way more aggressive. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, they seem to be playing both sides of the coin where they're... But here's the... You've landed on the thing that matters. Doing it that way keeps you good so that you're always close. Yeah. You're probably never going to be bad. Right. But you'll always be like a 27 rating on Sunday Night Football in late December or in early January

because you're not going to be like a six win team. Yeah. And there's value in that. I mean, financially for the owner, literal value. Yes. Yes. But yeah, if you're always picking 15 to 24, you're never fully rebuilding. All right. Well, in a minute, we're going to talk football with Ben baby. Actually, I don't know what we're going to talk football with Ben Baby actually I don't know what we're going to talk to Ben Baby about I just really like the guy and his name's Ben Baby

so yeah the dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum he would put me on drive-thru every night why do people insist on yelling at the drive-thru you know it's modern technology. I'd be there with my little headset.

Hi, welcome to Burger King. May I take your order? Whopper! Sir, whopper no onion! Latch me! Excuse me, Chewbacca? I'm bleeding from the ears here, Pacino. Let's calm down. All right, we're dealing with food, not missiles here, Governor.

Now drive around! You're listening to The Dumb Zone. The Dumb Zone. The Dumb Zone. The Dumb Zone. You're listening to The Puppet. There it is, folks. I had to. There it is it is folks even with Dan out today of course Blake has to play

the No Puppet drop a second time a second time and joining us now a man who I believe only other person I know who's undefeated in boxing

as like actually charted by the U.S. Boxing Association. Rest in peace to the venue that formerly known as Rockin' Rodeo in Denton where I did win my first and only fight. I don't think that's there, neither is the ponchos that was next to that. So I'm no longer raising the flag there, no longer there. But yes, I believe we're both undefeated.

So we're in good company with each other here. That's right. Right now, 2-0, me combined with the great Ben Baby. Hello, Ben. It's so good seeing you all. Also, did I hear Rob Coffey? Is that his voice during the intro? Is that the North Texas PA announcer? Got some hear Rob Coffey? Is that his voice during the intro? Is that the North Texas PA announcer?

Got some big Rob Coffey vibes. I enjoy it. That's definitely Rob. Yeah. Yes. Needed some voice work done, so I went to the vest. You know that. There you go.

So it was actually funny. I was covering the Bengals game. So this was what would have been 2022. The night before, I was in Vegas covering Canelo Triple G3 at T-Mobile. I get on a flight, I go straight to AT&T and I'm just not on zero sleep. I get in the press box and immediately I hear this voice booming over the PA at AT&T Stadium. And I'm like, that's Rob.

And I looked down the press box and sure enough, Rob is there. Rob and I, we go way back. We used to cover the Denton Ryan baseball field has like this little shed that they stick, the score operator, the PA announcer. And then if there's a writer covering it. So three people in the size of like, maybe like five yards. So Rob and I were in there. We spent a lot of quality time together.

Watch a lot of Ryan baseball over the years. Yeah, that's how my friendship with Ben started. You were covering Argyle Eagles football for a long time and was my go-to interview. And yeah, it's cool seeing, you know, Ben covers the NFL now and now I do a podcast. So one of us is successful. It's good to see. I think everybody's doing well here. So I am, I'm really happy. It's really great seeing y'all. I was thinking about this before I came on.

I think I've both, I've known both of y'all for so long now uh jake i think i met you through like kt way back in the day when he was still at the ticket and then blake yeah i've known you since we've been doing argos stuff back in the day i think it's the 10-year anniversary also of that ridiculous argos line a basketball game oh yeah yeah so it's crazy time the time has flown but y'all are doing incredibly well i'm so happy to be on with you guys i. So it's crazy. Time is, time is flowing, but y'all are doing incredibly well. So happy to be on with you guys. I just think it's a, I think it's really cool to see like just the professional progression. So, um, you know, I sort of just wanted to hear how you got to where you are. I mean, you, you all, all the time you hear about like coaches,

like, Oh, they were a junior high coach, they were a high school coach, they were a college coach. I just think it's interesting to see you're not that much younger than I am, and you've made your way into an NFL reporter. Yeah, I mean, I don't really know how much people actually want to hear, so I'll give the very short version of this.

I care. Yeah, I'd like to hear. I appreciate that. And just so we. Yeah, I'd like to hear. I appreciate that. And just so we're clear, I want listeners to know that Blake and Jake are also selling themselves very short here because of what they've accomplished over the years in a tough media market as well. I am fully aware of everything that's gone on, even though I've been in Cincinnati since 2019 with y'all. Couldn't be happier for y'all that things have worked out so far so well. You know, I think for me, you know, just like I said, I'll be really quick because we can get into more interesting stuff. But, you know, I started out covering, you know, Denton Ryan sports or just Denton high

school sports back in the day when I was at, you know, at North Texas, started out with the Denton Record Chronicle. I tell, you know, I initially started out, I was like, Hey, can I just work the phones? Like I never, my guy, Brett Vito, I saw him at a track meet or like at a track practice when he was, uh, he was there for the Record Chronicle. And I was there my first semester, I think at the North Texas Daily. And I was like, Hey, if there's ever anything I can do, let me know. And he's like, yeah, sure. You know, we might have a guy leave. So we might need someone to work the phone and take volleyball calls on Tuesday nights. And so sure enough, they did need somebody. So like I started out on Tuesdays that fall, like ponder would be playing like SNS consolidated. I'd be hearing some Van Alstyne, how volleyball scores. And so that's

very communities I've not thought about in a very long time. But that's how it started out. And then I kind of lied my way into saying that I had covered high school football before, because when I was 16 and a senior at Collierville Heritage, I tried to go string for the Star Telegram. And so we went out to like a scrimmage, a preseason scrimmage at like Burleson. They had canceled it. So we got we drove all the way out there with the sports editor at the time or the high school's director who coordinated all the coverage for the star telegram only to find out they had canceled the scrimmage and then when we got back you know so

he was like oh we'll bring you back for another scrimmage uh then he quickly found out i wasn't 18 yet so he couldn't hire me so that didn't so he's like sorry man it's just not gonna work uh but so i that didn't need to be fully disclosed to the record chronicle you know i've got some experience covering high school football they're like great we'll throw you out i think it's like we got saint joe denton calvary six-man ball like go out and have let's see how you do there so uh i did that for uh part-time went full-time in 2011 when my junior year uh covered high schools there until, did high schools again at the San Antonio Express News. I thought that was going to be the biggest job I ever had. So I was really

pumped about that. And then I got the chance to interview at the Morning News, which I thought that was going to be the biggest thing. I didn't think they were actually going to hire me. So I think I actually went through that whole process as a number two candidate. So I just kind of stumbled into that role to cover colleges for them. And then ESPN reached out and like, Hey, would you be interested? And I'm like, sure. I had no idea where Cincinnati was like my wife and I tell people all the time, we could not have put Cincinnati on a map physically, all the money in the world.

I had no idea. And, and so it's worked out. I just wrapped up my fifth season and it's just, it's surreal that it's, it's flown by this quickly. And did you draw A&M? Was that your college? Yes, that is correct. Yeah. So we had at the time, uh, the late Chuck Carlton, uh, he was covering Texas and then I covered A&M and I took over for Kate

Haropolis who, uh, transitioned, uh, elsewhere. So that was a, that was kind of where I had, I had three seasons, uh, some trial by fire with the good old ags. So I think if you could survive covering A&M, you can do just about anything. I think that builds enough thick skin to last somebody a lifetime. So from ponder volleyball to Joe Burrow, quite a rise. But the thing is, I tell people all the time, I literally just said this like an hour ago. Sheldon Rankins just had his introductory press conference here in Cincinnati.

And so it just came up randomly. We're talking about media beefs over time between players and coaches and whatnot. And so I said, you know, when I first started out, you know, covering high schools, I told the first thing I tell any coach, whether it be like Zach Taylor, the Bengals head coach, Kevin Sumlin, or, you know, Joey Florence, I'm like, hey, if you've got a problem, here's my number, just call me and let's hash it out. And you know, one thing I was very lucky to cover flow as my first head coach, because he took me, he showed me what it's like to have that kind of relationship where, you know, you can be mad at your, the reporter who covers you, but then y'all

can get over it and move on. Like, I remember I covered a game Friday night, turned in the story for the paper. I get a call at six 3030 in the morning on Saturday and it's Florence not happy with something that we ran and he let me know about it. But then like Monday came and I was in his office and it was all fine. And I was just telling, I was talking about this to other people. I think that's kind of lost these days is that a lot of times people just let things, interactions just fester and they don't let you know when they're unhappy with something. And then it ends up blowing out of proportion or ends up becoming an unnecessary ordeal when you could have just been nipped in the bud really quickly. That's actually something that I was going to ask you about. Just like you're, you're,

even over the last five years, like how you've seen it evolve from, from coach to coach, from player to player, it feels like it's way different than the stories that we heard about whenever we were in our teen years of like, oh, this is what Tim Kalashaw and Randy Galloway. It just feels like it's way different now. Yeah, I think that it's like a, it's a very old school thing to have that kind of relationship. And a lot of the older coaches, I think they understand that sometimes the younger coaches aren't always they don't they don't really understand that dynamic all that well and so it is unique you don't see it as much anymore sometimes people still will reach out when they have an issue but other times I've just had coaches just you know

like you know Kevin someone and I notoriously did not get along while we were all he covered well he was at A&M. What happened there? I mean, it's just, I think he just, I mean, granted, I will say this. I think I was way too young to be covering A&M for the morning news. That was a really good job. I was 24, had no idea kind of what I was getting myself into. I just knew that Aggies are, and I grew up an A&M fan, by the way, before I went to North Texas.

I don't know how that, my aunt went there. She was the only person in my family to go to like an actual school with a good football program. So she was a valedictorian at Trinity, I think, back in the day. And so she ended up going there. And so I so I grew up an A&M fan. I understand Aggies very well. And, you know, it's a it's a unique dynamic. And I just came in and said, hey, this is what it is like.

This team really isn't that good. You know, the program itself is not as good as Aggies what it is. Like, this team really isn't that good. You know, the program itself is not as good as Aggies think it is. That did not go over very well. Kevin, you know, and I had some back and forths over the years. But, you know, I think that when he ended up resigning or when he got fired, I gave him the fair shake on the way out the door and said, you know, yeah, he didn't measure up to kind of what A&M wanted him to be. But he was the best coach they've had since World War II.

That is an undeniable fact. And Kevin and I actually got along pretty well after he was fired, which I think said a lot that you can go at it from time to time. But I think if there's a healthy respect between you and the people you cover, I think you're able to kind of smooth over some of these differences. So you got to A&M a little bit after Johnny, is that right? That's correct. Yeah. So I was just, so I got there in 2016. Johnny's last season was in 2013. Okay. So you didn't see the same A&M that was there under Johnny. Then when you get to Cincinnati, it's a completely different atmosphere than it is now.

Just walk us through just how it's been, you know, with the draft of Joe Burrow and then Jamar Chase. I mean, Cincinnati has become a dominant AFC team kind of under your tenure up there. Yeah, you know, you have a lot to do with it, obviously, but just I don't know. Yeah, just how it's changed since you got in there, I guess. Yeah, no, I listen as much as people wanted to give me credit when they were when uh, when they turned it around, I said, I want to set the record straight here. When I got here, they quickly became the worst team in the NFL. Uh, and so, and I had to hear about it because fans got annoyed at me my first two years, because they're like, you're always dogging on the team. Like you're not, you're not kind of, you know, hyping up the team, being

positive. And there were people I've listened, there are people inside that building who have said plenty of things. Like I remember I got into it one year in 2020 on Zoom, like with Josh Bynes, the linebacker, like it was on Zoom and he was like unhappy with some of the questions after a loss or something. And then I tried to see him team up with a softball like two weeks later, he got angry at that too. And I'm like, Josh, I don't know what to tell you. And so, you know, and then a couple of weeks after that, you know, we're still in zoom and I was like, you had a, you had a good game. You had a ton of tackles and he was like, oh, why thank you. And I'm like, yeah, man, I'm not just sitting here dogging people for no reason. But they, you know, the Bengals, they had what six wins my first two years combined.

And that's even including Burrow's rookie year. And then like you said, 21, they draft Jamar Chase, Burrow gets healthy off that ACL. And it really, it's transformed. I wouldn't even say just like the franchise, like the entire city. I think that's a thing I didn't really understand and comprehend because, you know, growing up in DFW, you know, you have the Cowboys, you have all these other teams. And, you know, one team isn't going to really make or break

the identity of an entire region whereas here you definitely felt things shift when the Bengals started to get good you could feel that all around town like anywhere you went like you'd see people on the on the road like people would see you'd see Bengals fans and you know they'll randomly like give you like who days and I'm like thanks I appreciate it I'm not a fan but I like you know thank you like I hell I went back home I you know I speak at Highland park every year. They do something for their kids. And I also ran the, uh, the Fort Worth, the cow town half marathon, and we're getting ready to register or getting ready for that race Sunday morning. And some dude like sticks his head out of the car

and goes who day. And I'm like, thanks, man. I appreciate you. Uh, but you didn't really see a whole lot of that, uh, before. So I think you've definitely seen that uptick with burrow and with chase and how good they've been is that a is that an afc thing because i feel like you know buffalo's fan base is rampant as well as the chiefs and maybe it's just those towns that have really nothing else yeah i mean maybe so i don't want to speak on the other towns i haven't been in also i don't want to incur the wrath of bill's mafia no sorry back in orchchard Park. I'm walking through a tailgate. Someone's flying off a bus to put me through a table.

But no, Bill's Mafia is great. I don't know what the dynamic is, but I definitely will say it is unique. And the Bengals hadn't been good. When they went to the playoffs, they hadn't won a playoff game in more than three decades. Now the Cowboys are now in that mix of not having been to a championship game in their conference in a long time with the bangles have them beat that shows you the lions have them beat so now there's a lot of just bad stats piling up uh against the

cowboys there so i think i told uh newie scruggs when we chatted ahead of the superbowl i said i got the last cowboy superbowl on vhs at the house somewhere so if i need it let me know so important to note there that he does not want to pick on the bills mafia, but has no problem lobbying. I think I actually brought that up as well in my ESPN interview. They started asking me a bunch of like, they just took me on the, they screen test you when they caught, when you do the interview process. So they just like NFL live and stop taping.

And so like during the car wash, I was like, Hey, why don't you go out there and here's some questions. And so we talked about the Cowboys. I think they assumed I knew a ton about the Cowboys, but I tried to tell people when you cover college football or high school football in the state of Texas, you, it's so time consuming because you go from Friday to Saturday and then you have Sundays. And you know, by the time, you know, if you cover colleges, you're also keeping track of what's going on Friday nights as well with, you know, recruits or in your signing class. So by the time Sunday hits, I'm exhausted. I'm like, let me just kind of hang out, take it easy. I'm not really trying to watch the NFL on Sunday. So I hadn't really watched a ton

of NFL to be honest with you before I got this job. So I was having to play a whole lot of catch up once I, once I got hired. Okay. Well, uh, you just sent us on a, a nice sideways. What about a screen test and carwash? How does that all work? Oh, it was actually similar to like when I got hired at the morning news. I mean, they, they bring you in and you go in and you talk to a ton of people or the morning news. I did not get screen tested, but I would hope not. No, they didn't, they did not stick me on Kalasha's around the horn set at the old building, which was also a lot of fun because you would just sit there in the cubicles,

and I was one of the only sports writers dumb enough to go in all the time. No other sports writer ever touched their desk, and I was in there a couple times a week. And Kalasha would, in the new building, it was just set up in the middle of the sports department. So you'd just be sitting there doing something, and then all of a sudden Kalasha would be yelling into the camera and I'm like, what is going on? So, uh, but yeah, ESPN, very similar. You go in, you go to Bristol.

Uh, I remember I didn't have any resumes printed out. So I had to go to like the Kinkos in the morning of and go get a bunch of resumes printed out in case I needed them. And then, you know, they, they put me on TV to see if I could handle that. And, uh, you know, it went, I think it went well. So it's been, I've been, it's been awesome to kind of be here for the last five years and, and, you know, be the six year coming up. So yeah, that's what the car wash is like. It's a long detail process. Basically you're just going in and talking about, uh, why you might or might not be a good fit. And I, I like to joke with people. I actually thought I was interviewing for the bill's job. So like, I'm like halfway through the day, I'm halfway going through the car wash. And then the middle of the day, uh, one of the,

my boss now she goes, so what can you tell me about the Bengals? And I said, the Bengals said, I thought this was for the Buffalo game. They're like, no, no, no, no, no. We've got that hired. And I was like, well, I'm pretty sure Marvin Lewis just got fired. Still there. Aside from that, I don't really have much else. Like kind of looking at your phone. I'm just like, yeah, you know, like going on pro football reference. So how common is like what happened with Jake Trotter? Like the we're going to move guy to player type thing. I mean, I suppose a different version of that would be like Brian Windhorst and LeBron. Much smaller.

But like I don't know like how common it is if they take you from like a conference or a region and they're like, okay, you go cover this. Is that just super abnormal? Yeah, and I don't really – it's funny. Jake and I are really close. We all got hired around the same time. Huge fan. I want to be clear about that. I'll be sure to put that in the group text as soon as I get off the phone.

I love Jake. He's really good. He's done a really good job covering the Browns the last few years. And honestly, there are many reasons why I came over, but like you, I admire Jake's work. And I was like, well, if it's good enough for Jake to go to Ohio to go cover the NFL, it's good enough for me. So who am I to say no when Jake Trotter's got it like that? So yeah, it didn't obviously work out like you said. He covered Baker Mayfield when he was in college at Oklahoma as one of our college reporters, then transitioned to the NFL side when Baker was the number one overall pick.

So I don't know if it's that common. And to be honest, I haven't really talked to him about all of the dynamics that went into that move. But, yeah, you know, you do see that from time to time. It does help to have that institutional knowledge with somebody. They yeah, you know, you do see that from time to time. It does help to have that institutional knowledge with somebody. They just know you for a long time. Like, for example, I saw Mario Edwards last season.

I can't remember what team he's on. Like after some game, I was like, yeah, man, I covered you when you were at Ryan, you know, and at Florida State. And I'm sure he actually forgot about this, but when he was at Florida State, he came back, played Oklahoma State in a showcase or like a game at AT&T Stadium.

And he did a news availability. And then afterwards, I said, hey, you know, you got a few more minutes. And the SID was trying to cut me off. And Mario was like, no, no, no. I know him. Like he covered me in high school. And so I got a few extra minutes. Then I proceeded to ask Mario about why he put on so much weight and how that had been

an issue for him. And I think he immediately regretted okaying the extra few minutes, but he was, he was great when I saw him, you know, the other day, you know, we reminisced about, you know, that time together, going back to when he was in high school. So I think having that relationship and knowing that you've covered guys for a while, I think that is important. And it helps kind of build a rapport that you need when you're around him on a

daily basis. Tell me what's happening with FC Cincinnati. Oh, where do we start? I just, I mean, so I have all of the info. I have a good amount of information that's not public because Laurel Fahler, who's right. Who's the reporter who's been suspended. She is sits right next to me who she freelances for the Dayton daily news as well. And so she sits literally right next to me inside the

Bengals press room. So we are fully abreast of the whole situation. Long story short, they did not like essentially some of her reporting. And so they decided to suspend her for two weeks. I think they didn't expect her to go public and basically tell her readers who subscribed to her on Patreon, like, hey, if you don't see me at games or see updates from games, here's why. And so she was being transparent in that way. And now it's blown up to something I have never seen the team put out a statement. There's been a reporting that gone around it where they just take things ridiculously out of context. Like I have not seen this much blowback before over something like this. And I've also never seen to her credit. the fans, I think, take the journalist side. Because, listen, I have been in plenty of rows with teams that I cover, many of which have not become public, because I've just wanted it not to be an issue and I've wanted it to move on. But had I been suspended in season, I think that would probably change the dynamic because you have to give an account for why you're not somewhere. Fans, if you get suspended during other portions of the year, then no one you know no one's going to really know so it's not like you're missing a game so it is a little bit different and fans normally don't take the side of the

report i think teams just bank on fans aren't going to really care and in this situation they absolutely do care and it's been it's been good honestly to see that and laurel's the last person who's going to upset somebody so for all of this to be occurring it is just ridiculous for me to wrap my mind around so i think i i just want to say i think uh the the last vestige of fandom that you should not f with is soccer fans that's especially like american soccer fans who don't really have like a ton of content coming their way like They don't have a ton of access. I feel like if a team decides that they want to take an action towards them, that's not going to go well. Yeah, but it's common.

Like you said, this is going back to something we talked about earlier. This is common. I think that there was an interesting story, I believe it was in the Washington Post, about WNBA. There were some problems with media access and that came out. You know, I've heard of, you know, covering boxing, you know, not to get into too many details, but I've heard of reporters being banned over the dumbest things, which is silly, especially from prestige outlets, something that, you know, I just, you know, and sometimes, so it's not uncommon. I mean, I will, I think the statute of limitations has passed a little bit to where I can kind of halfway reveal a story, but you know,

I was once banned while I covered A&M. I'm pretty sure A&M put the call in to get me banned off a national show. And so like these things happen because I got a call from the producer. I had done this show before plenty of times, all of a sudden, one day I get a call and they're like, Hey, yeah, we can't have you on anymore. I was like, excuse me. Like, all right. So that's, you know, fine by me. So, you know, this isn't uncommon, unfortunately. I think you're seeing more and more teams and leagues and even, you know,

in, in professional leagues, you know, I think like the wizards band a guy like a, like a random blogger over something like something on a billboard. And then he had to apologize for it like i just we're getting it we're very much turning back into what it is like in college sports where if you're not for us you're against us and we see that a lot of media coverage outside of sports as well and so yeah it is it is definitely a problem but i mean there's nothing you can do about it either you do the job the way it's supposed to be done or you don't do it at all so jerry jones uh is having to fight a sexual assault case he might have to uh take a

paternity test i was curious what the bingles owner is going through right now uh mike brown is doing none of that as far as i'm concerned they it's funny jerry talks ever after every game i have not mike brown talks once a year at like a fake we do they call it mock turtle soup so they give us fake like turtle soup and that's their media luncheon and then we'll all go and hear mike brown talk for 15 minutes and then we don't hear from him again until the next mock turtle soup so for there to be jerry talking about uh like like going and covering a team in that way and it's very interesting because the Cowboys and the Bengals are very much family-run businesses in terms of, you know,

you've got the whole Jones family inside the Cowboys C-suite and the Bengals front office similarly is entirely like Mike Brown's family. Like they all run it like the executive vice president is his daughter. The grandchildren are very involved in things. You know, Katie Blackburn, Mike Brown's daughter, her husband also was involved in a lot of key things. Katie's also the cap manager as well. So it is interesting to see how public one family is, how public one family isn't, and how they operate. So yeah, we do not have those storylines here. Now we have

others from time to time. Don't get me wrong. Speaking of Rose, Joe Mixon and I did not get along last season after we reported on his gun case that ended up getting dismissed or in court. But so there are other storylines from time to time, but not with the owners. So you were the one that got him traded out of Cincinnati. I don't think it was me personally. So yeah, no, I also empathize with Laurel because we had like an awful announcing thing that said that we were part of like this like enclave of reporters who Mixon wasn't going to talk to, which made for a very interesting 2023. It's always very funny to me, too, like just following along on social media, like when somebody will say something to you, that's something along the lines of lines of like oh why are you just caping for the team why are you just you know why are you just pulling for the team and i'm like ben and that's it and the funniest thing is is like if people had like half of if they knew half of what's happened over the years like that would be the last thing like yeah betting odds i would be the last one you'd be putting money on for that.

It's like every SID and AD and whoever in the lower 40 is like, get this guy out of here. Yeah, no, it's funny. Yeah, no, that's very true. But I think it's for better or for worse. It's just kind of always kind of I've done the job. And it's funny. I almost feel a little McMahon-esque in that same mcmahon also will just go in and give it to people all the time uh and so i always admire the way he does it like he does it like whether you're

gonna like it or not like i thoroughly enjoyed uh the back and forth with him and luca you know and the thing that people don't understand too is that mcmahon has built oh he has so much respect not only from people in the business, but I think from when, you know, I did one Mavs road trip when I was at the Morning News filling in after we had let go, I believe, of SEFCO. So we're kind of trying to figure out

what we want to do moving forward. So I was kind of helping out when, you know, giving Brad Townsend a spell. And so I went on one road trip and I got to see that kind of firsthand, you know, the amount of respect that they had for Tim was huge. And I think that speaks volumes giving that you see publicly like some of these interactions and press conferences with coaches and players but they don't understand what also you know Tim

does to gain the respect of the people he's covering like I remember Carlisle and I got into it like one night like so again granted I was just there as like a spot reporter filling in and this was Dirk's last time in Utah. It was his last, like towards the end of his last season. And Dirk was not going to play. It wasn't even Dirk. Maybe like Maxie or somebody down the roster was not going to play. And so he was a question during shoot around if he was going to play.

He ended up not playing. And so I ended up asking Rick after the game. I was like, oh, when did you know that so-and-so wasn't going to play. And he was like, well, why does it matter? And I immediately just shot back and I was like, it matters because I asked the question. And so he calls me into the middle of the floor at Staples center. And I'm like, Oh God, what's going to happen now?

Like I just got here. Like, you know, I'm not going to be here very long. And Rick and I were like, appreciated the question to a degree. And, you know, and I think we, we hashed it. I basically told Rick in a, in software language, like I didn't really say it explicitly, but I was like appreciated the question to a degree. And, you know, and I think we, we hashed it. I basically told Rick in a, in software language, like I didn't really say it explicitly, but I was like, I covered the sec for a living. Like I know I deal with head coaches. I operate like this, like no, no harm, no foul. I get where you're coming from or whatever. And I could say,

I could sense it like coaches want to test you too, to kind of see how far they can push you. I think that's a big thing. Well, and, but the funny thing is, knowing the Rondo exchange that McMahon had with Carlisle several years ago, I didn't really know what that full extent of that dynamic was like, but I was like, yeah, I heard McMahon's in town, and Rick's eyes lit up. He's like, oh, Tim's here? He was thrilled.

And so they didn't always get along, but I think that they always had that mutual respect, which goes back to what we talked about at the beginning. For sure. I have one legit football question for you, if I may. Of course. One of the Bengals' rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, have done a lot

this offseason. I feel like he's got a bit coming. No, I'm serious. I kind of do want to talk to... It's just interesting that they pick up Russell Wilson, trade for Justin Fields. What's your take on that situation? Yeah, it's a good question.

I know that our brick prior does a really good job covering the Steelers, said that Russ is going to be the starter, Justin Fields will be the backup. It's a low-risk situation for everybody involved except for maybe Mike Tomlin. So you've got Russ basically, Seattle's still paying that whole contract, so you've got a cheap one-year deal if you're Pittsburgh. then you went and traded, you know, for Justin Fields. You can see what's there. You can have them work with the offense and kind of see where things are at. But, you know, I'm very curious to see what happens with Pittsburgh overall. I mean, I can't remember the last time they won a playoff game, but it's been a few years. You know, they've got a little

bit of a drop for a franchise with that kind of history. That's not to be expected. And it's interesting when you compare them in Cincinnati, because a lot of people talk about Mike Tomlin's streak of not having a losing season in so many years, right? And so last year, the Bengals were out of playoff contention going into week 18, but there was a chance they could finish with a 500 record. And so, you know, after the game, we asked Zach Taylor and was like, hey, what do you make of, you know, this, you know, not finishing under 500? And he goes, well, it's better than the alternative, I guess,

but ultimately, you know, it is what it is. And I was like, oh, it's interesting. You know, and then, you know, Jake Browning, the Bengals quarterback who subbed in for Burrow while he was injured, said, oh, you know, I saw that Mike hadn't had all these losing seasons and I want to create that streak for Zach because Cause I think it's now three in a row, but the thing that people like, and I think this goes back to like all the conversations and why I have a lot of respect for Cowboys fans, uh, in how to, how they view the team is that even

though the team isn't successful to the levels that you want them to be, that, that, that baseline doesn't change. Like the expectation in Dallas, even though they've been very mediocre at best for the last 30 something years, is that you are to compete for championships. And that is the standard that has been set. And I think that, you know, I have a lot of respect that the fact that you're going in and, you know, to Zach's credit said,

you know, we're a team that we almost won the Super Bowl. We went to the AFC championship game last year. Like a winning record isn't really going to cut AFC Championship game last year. A winning record isn't really going to cut it for us at this point. We've gotten so close. This is where we need to be. And in Pittsburgh, you do see someone looking at the interactions. You do see some unread. The fans are starting to get a little restless. And I think that should Pittsburgh not do well this year, we'll see what happens with them. I think you'll start to see that frustration maybe grow among that fan base. But definitely when you look at the AFC North and how competitive it is,

you look at what Baltimore's doing, you look at Cincinnati, if they're able to keep Burrow healthy for this upcoming season, we'll see what Cleveland's going to be like. This is a competitive division. And even the Bengals, to put it in perspective, the Bengals had a winning record and finished last in the AFC North. So just winning isn't going to cut it if you really want to compete and be considered you know a top to your team all right last thing for me um who you got Tyson or Jake Paul no I I gotta take Jake Paul here like I I do not think what yeah no Tyson's like 60 he's 60 dude have you seen him that those are training videos oh jake oh jake you're gonna love this so uh because you're a

man of the internet so you will appreciate this so i remember uh so a couple years ago i wrote a story for espn that basically explained why jake paul was the closest thing or the paul brothers were basically the closest descendants of Floyd Mayweather in boxing. Because now get this, because like over the years and I said, I love seeing your eyes wide open. So I can explain this properly. Because over the years, a lot of people have tried to emulate the Floyd model of like, I'm just going to go out like Adrian Broner tried to do this. Right. It's like, you're going to hate me or love me, but I'm just not going to knock you out.

Yeah. I'm going to buy. Well, I'm going to'm gonna buy like people are gonna buy pay-per-views like i remember i you know if okay so you mean from like a marketing standpoint not like actually yeah correct not an actual athletic standpoint no no no but in terms of being able because ultimately that's what prize fighting is about you want to go out you want to make money and floyd understood that if i can create a visceral reaction in you to me, whether it's love or hate, but if it's strong enough, you're still going to buy the pay-per-view. And I think the Paul brothers have done a really good job of that over time. And I actually interviewed Evan Breen, one of my favorite Viners, because we followed each other. If you remember him from the Vine days, I interviewed him and we talked about that for a little bit. I tried to interview Cody Coe because he was actually in a

big beef with the Paul brothers and Cody, I think like laughs and his people were like, we're not doing that. Thank you though. But it's funny. Mayweather's people actually agreed to a degree. They're like, yeah, I think the Paul brothers do have that element to them that Floyd had. So I give Jake a lot of credit for, cause he's, I think the interesting thing with him is that the boxing, the aura around him and whether he can be good or not is quickly subsiding.

Like he's at the more losses he takes, the more he doesn't really look all that impressive in the ring. You have to wonder how long he can continue these like gimmicky fights, these exhibition fights to a degree. And for Jake now, every move that he's ever made has been about business, right? He wants to, as much as he says he wants to go out and win the championship, whatever. He's never going to, that's not going to happen. But he is going to do good business and he's only wants to, as much as he says he wants to go out and win the championship, whatever, he's never going to, that's not going to happen, but he is going to do good business. And he's only going to fight Mike Tyson. If it's a going to be good business now, and B if it's going to help him help him with business moving forward. Like if he goes out and gets embarrassed by six-year-old Mike Tyson, who's going to sit here and watch a Jake Paul

fight and how there may not be a whole, like, so this is actually a pretty high leverage fight for him. Like if he looks poorly, I don't know where that business model proceeds for him moving forward. So I think there's a reason him and his team decided they wanted to go do this. Uh, you know, it's obviously going to sell. Like we had it on like PTIs rundown, like had a bunch of friends text me if I'm coming back in, like there are a lot of real legitimate champions who are good. Nobody talks about any of them. Like they talk about Jake Paul. So I give them a lot of real legitimate champions who are good. Nobody talks about any of them. Like they talk about Jake Paul. So I give them a ton of credit.

So all that being said, give me Jake. It's a 30 year old against a 60 year old. Why would you think the 60 year old can win? Because he's Mike effing Tyson, but he's growing now and he's worked out for a year. And now he's not, he's not the 30 year,

25 year old Mike Tyson. He's going to roll. I a year. No, he's not the 30-year-old, 25-year-old Mike Tyson. He's going to roll. All right, Ben. Well, it's been an honor, and we'll talk very soon. Yeah, thank you all for having me. This was fun. I think one of the hardest things for me, being away from Texas for so long, is you get so detached from your Texas roots.

So when you all had me on, I was like, it's great. It keeps me somewhat tethered to DFW because as much as we love being in Cincinnati, but always Texas is home. So, again, congrats to y'all on what y'all are doing. It's been awesome to kind of see your personal and combined success. I just can't wait to see what y'all keep doing. Congrats to you too, man. I'm a huge, huge fan of yours. Always have been.

Thank you, guys. Appreciate it. Thank you for having me on. See you, Ben. You ready for some news? Sure. Here's Jay with the Dumb Zone News.

What's going on with Boeing, Blake? Boeing? Blake? Boeing? What? I feel like this is the sort of thing that I was, like, saving just to have whenever you were here. What do we got? Well, Boeing has had some major problems over the last couple of years, including the last couple months. And then a guy who was a whistleblower

suicided himself last Sunday. Oh, no. How do you not know about this? I guess I don't know. I don't know what you're saying. What's going on? Boeing makes planes. Yes.

They make jets. So they're in hot water? They're primarily used by commercial airliners. Sure. Yeah, I'm aware of that. So they've had some problems over the last handful of months. Like their planes crashing and stuff? Violations.

Oh, okay. You haven't seen the video of like, oh, this thing is falling off. Yeah, I guess I just haven't tied it to Boeing. Well, it's been all the Boeing 737 Max and 787 Dreamliner. And it's been a problem. Okay. And they had a guy who was an engineer. Are you paying attention at all to me?

Yes. I got a lot going on over here. Should I start over? No. What'd the engineer do? Went to trial. Oh. Deposition.

Whistleblower. Okay. And then decided last Sunday morning, maybe I shouldn't be alive anymore. Or did somebody kill him? Very perceptive of you. Because obviously that's what everyone is saying.

Was he saying like they're doing it on purpose or no i think he was saying that they were cutting financial corners when it comes to um regulations and you know taking care of this and that yeah it would money. And he found himself unalived outside of a hotel a day before he was supposed to continue testifying. That's where the

22-year-old me wants to perk his head up and say, you should probably look into that. Well, I was hoping that you would right now. No. You were barely paying attention. No, no, no. I had to hit the thing and then check. Honestly, I was

just really thrown off that you didn't lead the news with the hub. Do any of them work? I think the hub is the only one that doesn't. I think that one controls a bunch of them. Oh, really? I think so. All the other hubs?

Yeah. You know, here's what I feel great about right now. Mm-hmm. I have yet to be horny enough for this to affect me. Okay. Doesn't sound like you can say the same. No, I think I can just confirm that other sites are working.

No, I... Okay, you gave your little brief reason of why you're happy. Here's why I'm happy. I mean, I'm not happy. I'm just telling you gave your little brief reason of why you're happy. Here's why I'm happy. I mean, I'm not happy. I'm just telling you. A little proud. Yeah.

I'm a little proud because I was just able to just go to a different website and not really care. I didn't have a login or, I don't know, a certain reason why I had to go to that specific one. But apparently people are up in arms and there are a lot of people looking up how to install vpns to try to get to this website so i was actually uh searches for vpns uh in texas actually up about 1700 percent yeah again i feel like there are just other sites, but I don't know. Sounds like you do. Is it because you have a login?

What are you saying? Are you saying like, why is it down? Why would you feel the need to install a VPN just to get to that one specific site? Why would you feel the need to install a VPN just to get to that one specific site? I mean, you know, we know people, friends of ours, who use a VPN completely. For everything. Yeah.

Into perpetuity, yeah. But the person that has no idea what a VPN does or how it operates, like that kind of person is now investigating it to try to get to the hub, and I don't get it. Why not just move away? Go to a different one. What is it about the hub that is so much better than the rest?

Well, I mean, first of all, like I said, I don't think it's just the hub. I think it's the hub network. The hub work. But I mean, a lot of people just don't know, like, hey, this is what I do. This is what I got to do. Like, I don't know another option. Now, however, running counter to that would be, okay, but now you've got to download this thing.

Yeah, right. So that doesn't make any sense either. Yeah, I guess I just don't know the draw of why does it have to be that one site. Unless you had paid for it, I guess. If you've got a video you like, dude. That video is on other sites. You sure? Yes.

I didn't know that. No, I... Everyone has a little bit of porn detective in them okay yeah porn detective is a is a phrase i can get on board with but i don't know i mean i don't i don't think the 1700,700% increase, whatever, that's one of those Super Bowl hooker numbers, right? Or economic impact. Who has any idea?

It doesn't matter. I kind of want to say I'm sort of on board with it because I think you've talked about this a little bit in how damaging pornography can be to a young boy and probably most men in some capacity and so i know it's kind of the age verification i don't know i i don't i guess i don't hate the reasoning well the thing is it's just like if you go to a booze website it's just like put your address in and click here yeah you're like okay it's all easy to get i don't know that it's really like preventing anybody from doing anything that they shouldn't be doing i 100 agree that they're in an ideal world that i would create it would be

much much more difficult for children to access adult content. Much, much more difficult, but I don't know how you do that. No. I don't either. Dude, I read something this weekend that was so effed up about, like, some Discord server where there's, like, a pedophile group that convinces people to cut themselves oh my gosh yeah it was in the washington post and in vice and like discord is just like non-traceable yeah i'm just like oh yeah i actually got like 70 through the article and was like actually hate having children yeah and then i just closed it yeah yep i just actually hate having kids that's kind of the eye-opening thing of i think

we have this natural thing in us to where you kind of minimize things that happen to you because you think you can handle it 100 where i think you Where I think, you know, at certain times like I can watch porn, it doesn't affect me. Now as an adult, I kind of see past that and understand the ramifications of it. This is damaging. However, it does really, really scare me knowing that my kid is going to find it one day.

Of course. And he may or may not be able to handle it. Of course. Or the way that it'll change his imagination or the way he, I don't imagination or the way he i don't know that that part does scare me which is probably why i've become a p about this age verification thing of pornhub yeah i just uh i don't know that the age verification is something i'm against it's more just like how does it actually work yeah but if this is the first step and now there's a legit way i mean i've seen where there could be things to where it's not a.com.

You change it to a.xxx or something. And those sites... That's hot. Yeah. Anyway. Texas mother arrested after allegedly mixing drink that sent son's classmate to hospital. This is a bullying incident. Okay. So her a bullying incident. Okay.

So her son got bullied. And rather than film him and put it online, she tried to get revenge? Yeah. This comes to us from Bayer County, so that's down there in San Antonio. Age of the kids? Bayer County, so that's down near San Antonio. Age

of the kids? I only have the age of the adult, which is 45. And this is the point where if you were sitting over there you would look up... Her name. Yeah. Yeah.

I would think I'd like to know the scenario, how it played out. Okay, actually Yeah. Yeah. I would think I'd like to know the scenario, how it played out. Okay, actually, it does say here, 10-year-old son. That's still an age where kids are kids. She mixed lemon, salt, and vinegar into a sports drink bottle to allegedly, quote, prevent her son's drink from being stolen at school by other students. Her 10-year-old son handed the bottle to another boy during P.E. class who experienced nausea and a headache shortly after drinking the mixed concoction. Okay, this is different.

So she was kind of setting a trap for the kid? Yeah. The kids who were stealing her kid's thing. Oh, okay. And so she was like was like well what if i make it disgusting oh okay but they're yeah there were no drugs or anything in there yeah but he also like handed it to them right that's different they didn't steal it right boy what a web we have here. Also. Kind of hot? I was not going to comment on that. You lean forward. I'm sorry. Lemon, salt, vinegar, enough to...

Right. Give a kid nausea? He's 10. He shouldn't be on the team. Yeah, I... I think I was okay with the trap until the kid gave it to the bully. Really, the only reason I wanted to do this story was to discuss the idea of how to handle other kids interacting with your kid. I feel like half of one of my group chats

is just this. Not like me with them, but like them just recounting stories to me of like, I think until a certain age, it's how the other kids' parents respond. Right? Because if, like in my case, I'll just speak from my experience.

Like, Brooks is two. And so he's had, like, a classmate of his bite him. Which I don't have too big of an issue with. Because, like I said earlier, kids are just being kids. There's this whole... I told you about my thing, right? Remind me. I thought I did.

I went and picked Nora up like a week and a half ago and got handed a piece of paper that said, incident report. Oh, yeah, because Carter... Bitter. Oh. No. Am I misremembering?

Somebody, uh... bit her. Oh. No. Am I misremembering? Somebody got into her backpack and she bit him. Oh. Yeah. And they handed me a piece of paper that said, like, either incident or accident report. I mean, was there a conversation had? Like, I think that's where it starts with, I don't know. I mean, I think so, but

the piece of paper said we discuss that we don't bite friends. Yeah, I'm saying, did the conversation happen with you and her? Yeah, but I mean, I mean, yeah, but she goes well he got into my shit

yeah I see your point she was like I mean he was messing with my bag yeah I get it well what do we do then and she's like bite him yeah I'm like no that's the part where we're

yes that's where you come in that's the one part where we need a little bit of a diversion. Well, I think I've taken the stance that it's... So your kid got bit. Yeah, he got bit. He's more of a victim. Sure. But, I mean, if it's a one-off, I'm trying to tell myself that happens.

one-off, I'm trying to tell myself that happens. But if it's a habitual thing, then that's the problem. Yeah. And that's where I think it's a parent's thing, where there is no conversation being had of, hey, this is not how you handle conflict. Parent to other parent or parent to teacher?

I think it's a parent. Well, no, I don't want anything to do with the other parents. But I think your school did the right thing of alerting you to what happened and then that's where it's in your control. So if the school is doing the right thing and alerting the biters parents that

this is the behavior that your kid is showing and then there's nothing done that's where the issue is the one thing about it that was a little bit uh difficult was i had been hearing about this particular child for a few weeks there were multiple times where i was told X is really giving me a hard time today. I'm really not looking forward to this. When the incident slash accident report was issued, I didn't have to scan too far for the name. Yeah.

I was pretty sure I knew who was involved in this. And a part of you was like, well... You know what? Actually, I was just apoplectic about it. But when I took it home to my wife, she was like, fuck him. Not quite like that, but, you know, anyways. Kid probably deserved it. Not quite like that, but, you know, anyways.

Kid probably deserved it. Poisoning your kid's bullier seems a little bit much to me, though. Yeah. Anyways, there's your news. The Dumb Zone News. Way faster than that. Like and subscribe. Damn. The Dumb Zone presents

I was ready. I hope you have this ready. Today in history. I mean, it's ready. If it's good, I don't really know. I got birthdays. Okay. I mean, like,

listener birthdays. Well, today is March 18th. Look at you. He's all grown up. In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt stood up. Stood out of his chair. And signed an executive order authorizing the War Relocation Authority, which was put in charge of interning Japanese Americans.

Relo. Dude, that's a crazy story. That's an absolutely crazy story. And I know that I've actually listened to you. Not that this has anything to do with America, but I'm actually watching Shogun. I like it. It's pretty good. I think you're ahead of me now.

I'm three in It's pretty good. I think you're ahead of me now. I'm three in. Yeah. Yeah. But going in, everyone had talked about the similarities with Game of Thrones and the fight for a throne kind of element to it. Yeah, after the second episode when the white man tells him, hey, white man's coming for you. That's when I was bought in.

You know, it's a weird, I don't know anything about this historically. I really, really don't. There are certain pockets of history that I have some knowledge on. This is not one of them, but the craziest, craziest element is them being like, Hey, um, we actually think somebody else owns this whole continent. We sold it. There's a contract. And they're like, what do you mean? And they're like, don't even know that the rest of the world exists

because they haven't traveled there yet. And that's not that long ago. So anyways, shout out to FDR. Yeah, that reminds me of just how we used to just fight over faith. And that's like how... I would say that's what most

fighting has been over. Yeah, and yeah, how much of our history is just based on that and just how it's, how removed we are from that. It's most of the fighting I did

during like high school. I'm not going to go to church. In 1995, superstar Michael Jordan announced he was returning to professional basketball in the Chicago Bulls after a 17-month break during which he had tried a baseball career. You know, one thing about that that I think is a little bit funny.

Everyone always says like why are you hating on MJ when it comes to his baseball stats it's like oh he just went and did he played high school baseball so you're saying he should have been good? well no but like whenever people are like oh look he sucked they're like oh he never even

played baseball and now you're just gonna like it's like yeah no he did yeah and he's also like one of the most coordinated people who's ever existed so like i don't know. So, okay, 1995. How old were you? I mean, this was in your prime, right? Oh, yeah, 10. Yeah, this was a little early for me, so I don't remember the big deal of him going to play baseball, coming back in the 4'5". That had to just dominate your world for a little bit for a lot of bit i mean it was

the best athlete of all time was just going to go play a different sport yeah like imagine if right now patrick beholmes joined the nba right he'd be like well yeah he's playing with the legends yeah yeah exactly that that's even better comparison for it no i had no i had no concept of what was happening my dad 100 said it was because of gambling and was convinced of it all of his friends they would all tell me they're like well mj's just he's too down on gambling so i'm like must be must be losing money before the internet and then also you have to remember this that like within a few years before that magic johnson got aids yeah so like all of the news was being communicated to me through the NBA. It was like,

Oh, this guy has AIDS from having sex with women. This guy has a gambling debts from gambling too much. And now he owes all this money. So basically like everything was occurring to me. Like they might as well have had fucking David Robinson come in there and talk to me about like Israel. You know what I mean? have had fucking David Robinson come in there and talk to me about Israel.

You know what I mean? Every single news thing was being conveyed to me via the NBA for about a three year period. Maybe Sarah was right. The 90s were a wild time. They were a wild time. Sorry. What I was going to say is, before the internet, I mean, was conspiracy theorists just like the suburban dad?

Like when you said Chappie was just so quick to say gambling. Like I feel like that's a lot of, just a lot of the dads just have, just sitting in their arm, or their lazy boy. Yeah, I mean. Random things. I'm sure like just the break room. Yeah. The bar. The water cooler talk.

Yeah. I'm sure a lot of that was where it festered. In 2006, the Cowboys agreed to terms on a three-year contract with wide receiver Terrell Owens. Now that was a crazy time. I remember that really well, and I was stoked. Yeah, that's right in your era. He was great. He was great.

And then the hard knocks. Sometimes I look at these numbers and I'm like, I can't even believe it. Let's see. I think he might have had like 20 touchdowns one year. 13. How old was he? Early 30s?

Or mid 30s? Yeah, I mean, not young. He was great. Do you remember the... I mean, the thing I still remember from him is the... Suicide Pack? No. Byron Nelson?

The Packers game. Where he's crying. Oh, in the postgame? That's my quarterback? No. Dude, he had a... If you've never seen this, you've got to see it. He goes over the middle.

I'm pretty sure it's Steve Young. Oh, in his 49er days. Yeah. Okay. At the end of the career of Steve Young. Yeah. I don't know. Yes.

There's a moment where, yeah. No, no, no. Yeah, I've seen that, whatever they call it, where, man, I'm going to sound dumb. Was Jerry Rice on the team? Yes. Where Steve Young was like, I have the greatest receiver of all time over here, but if I need a guy to go up in traffic and get it, it's Terrell. Yeah.

And, yeah, they showed the play. Yeah, that was really cool. It was just great for a guy to see someone else crying. I'm like, oh. Even when you were young, it let you know that it was okay to cry. Yeah, even then. And then I feel like this note was put in for you. In 2016, a jury in St. Petersburg, Florida,

sided with ex-pro wrestler Hulk Hogan, awarding him $115 million in damages for his sex tape lawsuit against Gawker Media. That's a settlement, brother. $115 million. I mean, I'm sure he saw very little to any of that. But that was a pretty landmark situation, dude. I mean, I don't know if you remember, but like Deadspin, there was a time where Deadspin was like a thing. It was really cool.

What do you mean by a thing? Like it was going at people? Yeah, and it was just something you would talk about every day. Oh. And now I don't even know what it is. I haven't looked at it in several years, but then they published Hulk kogan's there i mean they didn't but their parent company did i know this is kind of a tangent but ever since you mentioned it i now notice

how barstool will make fake accounts just to share copyright video yeah twitter yeah like anything they shared you know always says like from whoever at the bottom and it's just a no-name account yeah they've gotten very good at it i don't know uh i don't really care i guess that's because that's not like my game you know they're not taking any food off my table but But the funniest thing about the Peter Thiel, did you even say that Peter Thiel was involved? No. Peter Thiel is the founder of PayPal with Elon Musk. And he funded the case against Gawker and Deadspin. Okay.

He paid for Hulk Hogan's legal team. The funniest thing by far, and it's really the only thing that I remember from this story because the rest of it is just like, eh, whatever, is that Hulk Hogan has like a court bandana. Jeez. Do you know what I mean? Yeah.

do you know what i mean yeah like yeah like he's got a black suit normal but then he has like a hulk hogan skull cap which is just so funny to me the guys that like yeah that are really married to that bit. I don't think you can only be kind of. That's a really good point. There's one on my wife's side of the family. And even... Oh, I thought you were pulling one off. No, no. Oh, no, no, no.

You don't want to see a picture of him. I mean, even at his daughter's wedding. Got to. Walks her down the aisle with a bandana on. I just think you have to. I don't think you can be 5% committed to the skullcap. I respect, I guess. You have birthdays?

Yeah, I'll do a couple. Let's see here. Dan Jake, today is my 37th birthday. I'm a day one DF. The coveted number 69. Whoa! He exists. I have no heroes because no man should idolize another man, but all three of you guys were on my dumb podcast,

and Blake generated the most listens, so he comes close to a hero. This is from Brad Calhoun. How about that? There's no way more people listen to your episode than mine. That was pretty controversial. I think I really just capitalized on the timing of it dear French expat uncle

hotmail greetings from New York Tuesday March 19th is my birthday we're just going to do this today anyways it is my Sandy Koufax birthday or my Magic Johnson birthday without the Walker Texas Ranger news I'm sending this email to you Johnson birthday without the Walker, Texas Ranger news.

I'm sending this email to you a week early because I'm not confident in my lowly Gmail abilities to deliver this on time. My heroes are Blake's French nanny, Jake's hating on post-game prayer circles, Dan's divorce daydreams,

and fading Chappie's pics until I make a million bucks. Your dad had a rough year. Didn't have a prayer circle yesterday, but it was a tough game. Flag? Yeah. Y'all have tough games?

We're already into a new season, aren't we? No rest. That's amazing. So we're 1-0 new season, aren't we? No rest. That's amazing. So we're 1-0? Yeah. Good. Two.

I was gone last week. That's right. This is from Dumb F. Justin. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say the full word. Yeah, some people have a problem with it. Mr. Dan, Day 8 DF, Liz Griffin's post-it notes are my leaders. Love it. Today is my Daryl Moose Johnson birthday.

Like, 40... 4. 8. Actually, it's not, but my birthday fell on Business Wednesday. Actually, it was on Wednesday, March 13th, whenever you were in France. A lot of info. Just think, if things had gone slightly different in human history,

you would not have had to mess with this Duolingo to order your croissants. Instead, you would have had ordered strudel in your native tongue. Hope you have a good trip and we're able to sneak away from the family for a quick Amsterdam special. That is from Eric. And that's it. Other birthdays today. Travis

Frederick is 33. Guillaume Bourret. Like he should still be playing. Oh, 100%. That was a crazy story, man. Absolutely crazy.

It was amazing he came back and played. For what? Like a few games? I thought he had that one year. Did he come back, a few games? I thought he had that one year. Did he come back for a whole year? Yeah, off the top of my head, I thought so. Okay.

Yeah, I mean, without that, I mean, he's still playing. I mean, for another few years, at least. Yeah, and the crazy thing about that was... I bet that a significant number of people actually have a disease like that. And they just don't know because they don't go to a trainer, you know, 20 times a year. Yeah, they just think their T is low. Yeah. Maybe I have Guillain-Barre. Sorry, Blake.

Guy Carboneau is 64bray. Sorry, Blake. Guy Carboneau is 64. Andre Rison, 57. Brian Greasy, 49. Andre Rison got all of his shoes burned by, I'm going to say, Lisa Left Eye Lopez. Because something happened? Obviously. No, they were just having a good time yeah this is she burned his house down oh my gosh

see i can't continue with the segment right down the kimp spin would you think i would just make that up? No, I'm just... I don't know. I'm amazed. Brian Greasy, 49. I don't know why, but I just picture him being at that comedian night for a former athlete. Very, very similar. Like, in the same milieu, for sure. Yeah. He seems like a Steve

Berline. I think he's basically waiting for Berline to retire so that he can slide into that spot. But you know what's weird about that? 49 sounds super old, but I 100% remember him when he was in college. Where at? Michigan. Okay. I think I remember him Where at? Michigan. Okay.

I think I remember him as a Bronco. Yeah. But anyway. Primarily as a Bronco, but I think he might have been on the Charles Woodson teams. Oh, really? I think so. In that era.

Queen Latifah is 54 wow U-N-I-T-Y James McMurtry 62 Gordon Vanessa Williams 61

Adam Levine 45 I think he was sexiest man alive at one point yeah he had a weird situation where

he made everybody horny at the Super Bowl. Oh, yeah. Remember? Because he had his shirt off and tattoos and stuff. And people were like, I'm too horny for me. But, you know, TC and I actually played a game. It was probably the year that they were at the Super Bowl called Maroon 5

or No where I learned that I don't know any of their songs. Like you could play almost any generic pop song for me and I'm like probably Maroon 5. Yeah that's a really good point. And then you can play some that aren't and I'm like probably Maroon 5. Yeah, that's a really good point. And then you can play some that aren't.

And I'm like, probably Maroon 5. I have absolutely no basis. And they have like 30 hits. Yeah. But I'll hear other songs and people are like, no, that's Fallout Boy. That's a really good point. Oh my god, dang it. You have like one band per genre

where if you just don't i don't per decade yeah yeah yeah or half decade anyways i don't know is this cold play i guess cold play on several of them several of the songs i'm like gotta be cold Coldplay. And Dane Cook, 52. Oh, wow. The brick makes sense now. Man. He had a run. I mean, it's not going to look good for me in my attempt to be stand-up guy now. But there was a time where I thought Dane Cook was the funniest person who ever lived. I did, too. Now, I blame it on being 16.

I mean, I wasn't that much older than you. I was like 21. Why did he fall? Was it joke stealing or something? There were joke stealing accusations. I mean, I don't think part of the reason that he got canceled is because he was dating somebody

30 years younger than him. I think just like was an add-on and then he played an actor in a film where he nails a bunch of women that lead to their wedding day you know what's really weird about it and uh i somewhat worry about this with shane to an extent you won't have to worry about it since you won't watch a single stand-up that we make you watch. I have enjoyed everything that y'all have played from Shane. But I think it's almost really hard to be like super, super huge millionaire comedian. I think you just like at some point start to lose your fastball. Yeah, that's a good point. Like there have been, like Jerry Seinfeld, obviously.

Yeah. But Jerry Seinfeld had a show. He's not that biting. Yeah, right. When it comes to his comedy, Chris Rock maybe, you know, Eddie Murphy. But these are people that a lot of times people are like, oh, they fell off. Very few people have stayed like... Yeah.

Yeah, it's hard to do. Throwing fastballs at the very, very top. But man, I had Dane Cook's vicious circle on my iPod video. Oh my God. And I would just... I would listen to it all the time. It was like the sort of thing that I would play for people and watch

them while they watched it. Oh my gosh. Yeah, that was big in that era. You like that? Yeah. Remember that I told you this. Yeah. Watch him talk about a B&E. Watch this. A B&E? Died on this day. 1845 Johnny Appleseed.

Gotta be honest with you. Don't know what he did. Don't know anything. Heard his name a lot. Yeah. Not a clue. Nope. Not a clue.

I know that there were times where I would wear like a kitchen pot upside down on my head. Sure. Significance of that, not sure. I think he was here. Could have been somewhere else. I don't know. I don't know a thing about him. Who can say?

Johnny Appleseed. Chuck Berry died on this day in 2017. Oh, man. That's a tough one. He would... He would what? Do you not know? No. Musician?

Chuck Berry? I would assume. Died at 90? Yeah, probably so. Does he have a kimp spin? Well, of sorts. He would... take a...

we would call it a glass coffee table, Blake. And he would poop on it. What? Why? With a woman underneath it. Oh, here we are. Yeah. You appear to have found the source material.

What? Why? There is a popular fart drop that you've heard many, many times without knowing that it was related to Chuck Berry. Go ahead and tell the people what you found there. Chuck Berry paid girls to poop on a glass table while he watched from underneath and played with his ding-a-ling. Okay, so I had offense and defense switched. Okay, so I had offensive defense switched. Golly, when people get that famous, their kinks are just out of control.

That's what I was telling you. Golly, that's great. You just watch from underneath. Okay, born on this Day and Not Alive Yeah Grover Cleveland 22nd and 24th US President Trump

About to knock that out Charlie Pride Born on this Day and Not Alive Eh, not a fan And finally, let's see if you can guess what this man invented. Rudolph Diesel. He just named it after himself?

Inventor of the diesel engine. Hmm. And I'm kind of upset because I don't have a last name to where I could just name something after me. I know. Like, if... What would it even be? Like, Jones is...

You're done. Yeah. Kemp is not great either. But if they were just like... Oh, I have to put my Kemp belt on. Right. I just don't think I... Yeah.

We both have pretty my name definitely used to have like an F at the end of it yours has probably always been the same yeah I think I remember you saying that

well I mean I'm just guessing right but yeah I was just more Nazi-ish that's true good job you know everybody wants to see the backup That's true. Good job. That was Today in History.

Everybody wants to see the backup quarterback until they actually have to see the backup quarterback. I think we did well today. No, I'm happy with the show for sure. Okay. Anything else? The dogs have settled down. Where's the other one?

Oh, right there. Yeah, he's always in this spot. That bed's gone. Oh, because all the stuff's gone Yeah It's a bigger den up in here Dan's traveling back tomorrow Can't wait I can't either

Alright, we'll talk to you then Adios, mofo You see me in a bed and I'm fighting for honey All right, we'll talk to you then. Adios, mofo. I'm out. We'll see you next time. Here we go.