The Josh Innes Show - More On Dino Costa

Episode Date: February 4, 2026

This is a continuation of the last episode. I know this whole thing was supposed to be about the NBA ASG. But, now I'm down the Dino Costa wormhole. Apparently, there is a documentary about this dude. What's crazy is this dude got a job that I turned down. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won! Feel the fun!

The meeting will begin when passenger Fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Concerned by your gambling or that if someone close, you call 18665-3-3-1-2-60 or visit comex-entario.ca. The scorebed app here with trusted stats and real-time sports news. Yeah, hey, who should I take in the Boston game? Well, statistically speaking. Nah, no more statistically speaking. I want hot takes.

I want knee-jerk reactions. That's not really what I do. Is that because you don't have any knees? Or... The score bet. Trusted sports content, seamless sports betting. Download today. 19 plus, Ontario only.

If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please go to conicsontario.ca. Investing is all about the future. So what do you think is going to happen? Bitcoin is sort of inevitable at this point. I think it would come down to precious metals. I hope we don't go cashless. I would say land is a safe investment.

Technology companies. Solar energy. Robotic pollinators might be a thing. A wrestler to face a robot, that will have to happen. So whatever you think is going to happen in the future, you can invest in it at Wealth Simple. Start now at Wealth Simple. dot com. Adobe Acrobat Studio, your new foundation. Use PDF spaces to generate a presentation.

Grab your docs, your permits, your moves. AI levels of your pitch gets it in a groove. Choose a template with your timeless cool. Have designed, deliver, make it sing. AI builds the deck so you can build that thing. Do that, do that, do that with Acrobat. Learn more at Adobe.com slash do that with Acrobat. So like this guy was fucking nuts, right?

Like that was his whole schick. He was nuts. He was always fighting with Mad Dog Russo when he was on X-Im. It was all this shit. Why do I bring this guy up? It relates to the NBA All-Star game thing. So at one point, he was on the, I'm listening one night. This is when I was in Houston the first time.

And I'm listening, and his suggestion to make the All-Star game more interesting was to have it Blacks versus whites. So black people. versus white people, black players versus white players. And I'm like, well, that's fucking absurd. Like, what are we doing? And people are calling and people are fighting over it. It was actually like, as far as the kind of weird

arguments you could make, like, I would hear this guy make some arguments that were just fucked up. Like, as I told you, like, you'd tune in and he'd be talking about how, talking about AIDS and gays and all this shit. But then I kind of listened to it, and I'm like, It won't take long to tell you neutrals ingredients. Vodka, soda, Natural flavors.

So, what should we talk about? No sugar added? Neutral. Refreshingly simple. A tins donut and coffee is the original collab. And now any classic donut is a dollar when you buy any size original or dark roast coffee. Get a deal on the iconic duo with a Tins dollar donut. Plus tax at participating restaurants for limited time.

Terms apply. See app for details. It's time for Tims. You know, like it's at least a talking point. Because now you look at the way the world is everybody segregates everything. Every single news story that you see today is segregated. There aren't enough black coaches here. This white guy got this. Everything is determined by race now.

Every story, every job, everything is a racial thing. We all know this. We see it every day. So now I think back to that 10 years ago or there's even longer ago than that, I guess, because it was when I was first in Houston. So at least 2013. And he got whacked there in 2013, so that would make sense. I'm listening to that at the time thinking that's outlandish.

But now I sit back and I go, it's actually kind of a compelling discussion because in a way, it's not quite what we're doing with the USA versus the world and the All-Star game. But it's kind of. I mean, it's kind of the same basic thing, right? Because nine out of ten guys that are going to be playing on one side of the ball are going to be black dudes, right? I mean, how many white dudes are playing on either one of these teams that are the American team? James. One. The correct answer is Chet Holmgren. Scotty Barnes, Devin Booker, Kate Cunningham, Jalen Duren, Anthony Edwards, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Johnson, Tyrese Maxey.

One of those dudes is white. Jalen Brown, Jalen, Jalen, Brunson, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, LeBron, LeBron James, Kauai Leonard, Donovan Mitchell, Norman Powell, zero white dudes. Right? Then you look over at the world. Janus, black dude. I mean, but he's Greek, but he's black dude. Evitaja, white, donkich, white, yokic, white. Three dudes, white dudes. So it's, again, this is essentially as close as you're ever going to get to that wacky idea that this guy had that I was listening to 15 years ago or whatever it was, that the way to make the All-Star game interesting

would have a black team versus a white team. And in a way, especially in basketball, which is the most, like, it's a very racially divided, racially driven thing. It's a very black sport. And anytime there's a white guy who's good at it, that person becomes controversial. Why is that person controversial?

Because you'll hear news stories and people with their talking points and their big op-ed pieces about how this guy's only getting attention because he's white. Is Yokch is really that good? or is he just getting all the MVP's because he's white? Is he really better than Joelle Embed or is it just because he's white? Like those things happen. And this is about as close as you're going to get to that.

So I look back on this Dino Costa who was a fucking nutcase. And I have no idea what this guy's even up to now. But in a way, he's kind of gotten what he was looking for. And I hope the world team kicks the shit out of the American team just because it would be funny. Let me see if, let me see if Dino has any audio on YouTube. Look him up, Dino, D-I-N-O, Costa, right? This guy said some shit. And I think at one time he had his own, like, YouTube channel or YouTube show.

There was a documentary about him. Hell, the documentary is actually on YouTube. Hold on, let me see here. I think the full documentary, Dino Costa, truth unscripted. Let me see here. Is there like a trailer for it? Hold on, let's see here. Let me turn this up.

Oops. I don't know why I'm intrigued by this. This came out three years ago. I need to hear a trailer for this. Dino Costa. Oh, look. He's got a Dino Costa audition tape, which features him on Fox News and other stuff.

Dino Costa trailer. Let's see if there's a documentary trailer. Dino Costa trailer. Here we go. Let's listen to this. This guy's like in Wyoming at the time. Until 11 o'clock on the East Coast, 8 o'clock on the West Coast, Triple 8, Maddoch 6, 880623 and 3646.

And as far as Major League Baseball, it's been an interesting first two weeks of the season. Like, the thing is, the guy was good. Like, there was a good quality about him. Like, he had a presence. Like, I can see why he was on XM. But the guy. I like fucking went off the reservation. Now I want to watch this documentary.

And I'll tell you this, that if I had grown up out here, my life definitely, and I can say this without any reservation, that my life would have been completely different. A documentary by Joel Franco. Be where you want to be. That's who he is. That's who he is. But I know where a lot of that's coming from. Sometimes it's just coming from frustration. Yeah.

You know, and not being heard and not being understood. Yeah, no, Dad, they just want to ask you a few questions. But I can't answer for you. I mean, you have to answer for yourself. I come back here and... Can you handle the truth? The graphic says. Primary feelings I have are of regret and lost opportunity.

Tell other people that you mean, hey, my son's on the radio? You know? Then they're going to tell me why do you get suspended and this and that? No. Like, this is like a dark documentary. Like, apparently this dude, like, his... dad was abusive and shit. Like, like this is like a Josh Dennis documentary watch club, I guess here, but I've

never watched this. And up until I just started thinking about that one night that I was listening to the radio hearing Dino talk about how the All-Star game should be white dudes versus black dudes. It didn't even, it didn't register with me. I didn't even think about this. But then you see USA versus World and the World teams got like three white dudes on it who are megastars.

and like it's all like everything's about race in the NBA. I totally forgot about Dino. What's with Michael Ryan? If there was anything good that I did, it was all embodied in him. And he used to tell me things about what he wanted to do when he got older. And at one time during this conversation, he said, Daddy, what do you want to be when you grow up?

And I knew that it was either at that point, either I was going to pursue this lifelong passion that I'd have, but never had an opportunity to really approach before, or it was going to be time to give it up forever. Dino Costa, truth unscripted. I don't know that any human watch this. I mean, just to let you know, the trailer for this, which dropped seven years ago, had 430 views. So take from that what you will. The documentary itself, full movie, 1,700 views in three years.

So I don't know that any human watch this. Like, if you ever get to the point that you're talking, like if you ever have a chance to talk with Meltzer about this, it was truly captivating. And I, and I, this is an odd take. But like, if Dino would have not lost his mind. Because like, there are certain things you cannot do and cannot be in 2016, at that point in 2013, 2014, and certainly not in 2026.

like there are certain rules that you just have to follow societal rules as it relates to your opinions on shit that you just have to adhere to like you have to do i i remember i was in philly and got in trouble because at one point i said that it was it was the day that mohammed ali died and we were talking about ali and i said that a lot of these guys and the current athletes are trying desperately to be ali and that they want to put themselves in the middle of racial strife that they don't really know anything about because ali dealt with some real shit. And a lot of this is manufactured shit in this era because it's a trendy thing to do. And I'm like, but Muhammad Ali dealt with real shit. I remember Spike got super pissed about that and called me out on that. And I'm like, look, if I can't say that, like some of the shit, you should go down a YouTube wormhole because there are videos of Dino and I don't have, you know, like I'm not going to go through all of these. But there are videos. They're all 11, 12 years old. just videos of Dino Costa, the Dino

Costa show, I had forgotten all about this. I didn't remember any of it. None of it really registered until I just started thinking about this topic of conversation about the USA versus the world players in the All-Star game. And real talk,

that was essentially what Dino was pimping back then. And that's what made it so wild to me because I was telling you that I had a chance to work in Portland. Like they were going to hire me. When I got fired in Philly, I had probably four legitimately viable job offers. I believe one of them was in Memphis. One of them was in Portland.

Houston was the one we were going to go to the whole time. And I think there may have been one more. But like these were legit, viable job possibilities for me. And at the time Memphis was in play because the station in Memphis is now owned by Odyssey, which is who fired me technically at WIP, but we were CBS at the time. And I want to say that station was owned by Intercom in Memphis, so they could have hired me because I was wondering how they would have tried to hire me if I'd gotten fired from their company. Why would they fire me in Philly but then hire me in Memphis?

But that wasn't the case because they were owned by a different company. But Memphis and Houston and Portland were like the three biggest ones that I had offers for when I got whack. And I knew that I was kind of controversial. And again, that was right in the middle of like the real boom. Like, Capernick was a huge story. Like when we got back to Houston, me and Jim and Jilly, like my intention wasn't to go in and do like political sports talk radio guy. Like that wasn't my plan, right?

Like I didn't roll in and be like, hey, watch this. It just happened that way because that's the direction the news cycle was going. That's where the stories were going. The stories were becoming more about taking needs. during the National Anthem and kids doing it at their games. So I just went in that direction because that's what all the stories were. You have to talk about what the stories are. I got to fish where the fish are, right?

So that's the direction I went. And that wasn't what I wanted to do. But it just took me that way. And then I became kind of this right wing figure when I was in Houston the second time. Whereas the first time, that was, you know, T-Boe and all that other shit. And I was the left-wing guy that people thought was too left-wing. So whatever. But all that said, it blew my mind

whenever I heard that this guy, Dino Costa, went to Portland. When I heard that this guy went to Portland, I was flabbergasted by that, because I'm like, if I'm not going to make it there, I just remember saying that, this guy has no chance. If I'm not going to make it there, and I thought I was too right-wing wacko-ish or whatever for that, imagine a universe where this guy who's saying that the All-Star game

should be black versus one. is going to make it. And sure enough, he lasted two months. And I think the guy that hired him there was the same guy that wanted to hire me in Portland because I had talked to him on the phone. When I was out of a job the last time around, there was a job opening in Dallas at WBAP, a talk station in Dallas. And it wasn't even a real opening. They just filled it with syndicated programming. But I reached out because I knew the guy. I'm like, hey, it's me. Your buddy Josh, you've tried to hire me a couple times. Hey, you got anything? and they didn't.

But I remember, I'm like, are you the guy that hired this dude? Like, how did, what was going through your fucking mind when you decided to do that? Fun fact, I almost had a job in Portland a third time. So during the Rona, I didn't have a job. This is like right,

actually it was right before the Rona happened. So I was out of a job and I was no longer getting severance, I don't think. This was in early 2020. So my severance was up and everything. And I got a call from Portland. again. And they're like, do you want to do afternoons in Portland? Because we're carrying the syndicated show on CBS Sports Radio. It airs in the afternoon. No one's listening. Would you want to do it? And I thought they wanted me to move to Portland. They're like, well, no, you can just do it from

Houston. I'm like, well, that seems odd. I'm not really interested. If I'm going to go, I'm going to go somewhere. And then they're like, well, we'll talk about it. We'll see what we can do. And then like the next week, the Rona happened. And I never heard from those people again. And they didn't have any money. And who knows what they did after that. But anyhow, look that dude up. Look up Dino Costa. And I might watch this documentary. It's like this dude's a weirdo but like it's fascinating. Anyway, more to come.

Olivia loves a challenge. It's why she lifts heavy weights and likes complicated recipes. But for booking her trip to Paris, Olivia chose the easy way with Expedia. She bundled her flight with a hotel to save more. Of course, she still

climbed all 674 steps to the top of the Eiffel Tower. You were made to take the easy route. We were made to easily package your trip. Expedia, made to travel.