The Josh Innes Show - Philly Fans Really Aren't That Bad

Episode Date: February 11, 2025

I was watching the highlights of the Eagles fans after they won the Super Bowl...it got me thinking...I could have, should have been the biggest media personality in the city. I know that's easy to say now. But, had I not imploded, I'd be a big deal there. Now, I did implode because of my imposter syndrome. There are plenty of shitty Philly fans and many of them do really dumb shit..but for the most party, they were all pretty awesome when I'd meet them in person. I reached out to 97.5 in Philly about doing some work for them... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So after the Super Bowl, we were watching the Philadelphia TV coverage of the celebrations in Philly. So we were watching 6 ABC, which is the number one broadcast in Philadelphia. Jim Gardner, who doesn't do it anymore. But, you know, actually, Jim Gardner, fun fact for those of you who don't know, Ron Burgundy was one of the well, Jim Gardner was one of the inspirations for Ron Burgundy. There you go. Jim Gardner with a beautiful mustache, like super fucking legend there. If you don't know, which many of you listening probably don't. But we were watching that coverage. And it's funny, the coverage they showed seemed pretty docile.

And I was like, oh, okay, seemingly Philadelphia just kind of, maybe they figured things out and they're not as zany as they used to be, right? Like there were a ton of people flooding the streets and there were people standing on like bus station, you know, like little covers, you know, like little areas where the bus station is protected from the elements or the bus stop is protected from elements. And some people were like lighting small fires and people were doing tush pushes. So it was like, okay, maybe they've kind of leveled out. Maybe McDougal and the boys have said, you know what? We're used to winning now,

so we don't have to be as wacky and zany. I really thought shit had leveled out, right? Well, then I saw the videos that Barstool was posting of shit that was going on in downtown Philly. And then I saw other YouTube videos of shit that was happening. I should say center city, Philadelphia, things that were happening in center city, Philadelphia, and things that were happening in other areas in the Philly region, in the Delaware Valley and different neighborhoods of Philadelphia. And look, I had kind of written you off. I thought McDougal had gone soft. I thought maybe McDougal had changed. I thought maybe, you know what, maybe the Eagles people have leveled out. Maybe they're going to be more like the docile Midwestern folks and have kind of bland, benign celebrations.

Thought maybe they'd be like Houston when we were in Houston and the Astros won the World Series in 2017. And like folks seem to be in bed by 10 o'clock ready to go to work the next day. I don't recall fires being set or gunshots or fireworks. and like folks seem to be in bed by 10 o'clock ready to go to work the next day. I don't recall fires being said or gunshots or fireworks. Like it was just kind of like, oh, cool. We won. Time to go Betty bikes.

I got to get up and do my run in the morning. Like that's kind of how Houston was. But that's not Philadelphia. Philadelphia is we're just going to fuck shit up to the wee hours of the morning, then still be drunk tomorrow and keep celebrating tomorrow and keep celebrating until the parade. I thought that. I thought that maybe McDougal had changed. And in a way, I was let down. Because when I tuned in, I was ready to see McDougal have a real special McDougal time. And then I was kind of let down. Like, I mean, you heard it on the pod. Like, yeah, there were people in the streets and they were doing some shit. But even on that pod on Sunday night, it was like, okay, well, that's not nearly as much fun.

I was expecting hijinks. But then when you look at the videos on YouTube, it totally changes your perspective on this. And you start to realize that McDougal hasn't changed McDougal is just fucking wilder than McDougal has arguably ever been some of the shit is loco so uh let's talk about that stuff first let's play a couple commercials here and then we will continue all right if you're ready to win some real cash during the basketball playoffs, you've got to check out Pick 6 from DraftKings. When it comes to basketball payouts, DraftKings Pick 6 posterizes the competition,

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Voidware prohibited. One per new customer. Bonus award. It is non-withdrawable pick six credits that expire in 14 days. Limited time offer. See terms at pick6.draftkings.com slash promos. Ol' McDougal stole a horse. E-I-E-I-O. That's one of the great ones. Have you seen these videos? I saw some videos of dudes on horses. I i'm like where the fuck did these horses come from where did these dudes just happen to find horses turns out if the story i read is accurate these dudes stole police horses and

rode them around like it's got to be weird to be a cop in this setting because you know that you're letting people celebrate and some of it's not worth fighting like you know there's going to be damage done like these dudes somehow broke into a a truck that had like sheets and pillows and shit and started setting it on fire which to me i don't understand how that's what comes to your mind to celebrate like there's a part of me that's like how do we allow this how like how is this the case how are we in a world where we're like you know what let's just let people set shit on fire and do damage to property and break into a truck and light I don't know how many dollars worth the

sheets and pillows and shit on fire this someone's getting fucked over that someone's losing money over that so like why do we just allow this? Like, how is this an acceptable thing? But it is what it is. There are certain things that we don't understand, but we just accept what they are and we go with it and we say, okay, I guess that's what we have to deal with. Now that's the world we're in. And what we have to deal with in the world we're in is that when Philadelphia wins or loses a particular big sporting event, shit's going to be sets on fire and the videos

on youtube if you just search philly fans super bowl that's when shit really gets good and you really get to see like the low level like real degenerate people and the thing is and this is where my opinion has kind of changed of mcdougall a little bit like and i know i kind of had this epiphany when we were talking on sunday that I'm more like these people than I thought like yes I think I'm slightly more level-headed and like not a full-on meathead like many of those people are but when I watch them and I see their overzealous celebrations and I see their bipolar fits of rage but on the opposite end of it the opposite extreme like the greatest shit they've ever seen. Like the Billy Joel song, I go to extremes, right? You know, like that's how I am too. Like in one moment I'm angry and throwing shit in the next. I think my team's the greatest ever.

One minute I say we're dead. The game is over. And the next I say we're the greatest ever. That's a strong McDougal trait. Everybody wants someone fired. Look at the Sirianni. They all wanted Sirianni fired four months ago. Now Sirianni is going to have a statue. They are irrationally bipolar, crazy people. And you know what? At least from a sports perspective. And you know what? So am I, when I see the way those people were out celebrating being drunk buffoons, I'm a lot more like that than the people that are like super docile. So when I watch this celebration and I see the people being interviewed and they all sound like meatheads they're all saying dumb shit like that like uh the chicks are fucking lunatics they all love to do like the jerk off motion and

then throw the jizz at you like it's a crazy group of people and the more I watch it the more I think I should have could have would have been the biggest star there. And I truly believe that. Like, anybody I've talked to would tell you the same thing. Like, first of all, I was a big deal for the short time I was there. At least that was a big story, right? And you go back to setting, you're talking about people setting on fire. And I saw videos of people setting shit on fire and dudes jumping into fires.

Like, people are fucking nuts. But I would have been the king of those people like jilly's watching this and she goes you know what if you wouldn't have fucked shit up you would literally be the king of these people you would be their ringleader because there's no one on on the radio that would actually party with these people but you would like you'd go down to these crummy ass bars and just party with these people you wouldn't be some guy up in an ivory tower that takes his publicity shot in a suit and you know sits behind the glass and just looks at people from afar your ass would be down there in the heart of it all and i'm like you know what you're right so when i was drunk on sunday i told you that i have a friend

that is in programming for 97.5 The Fanatic. It's a person I've known for a long time. It's a person that has always been a fan of mine. So I'm like, you know what? My goal and my ambition in life is not to go back to Philadelphia, but I am sitting here a week away from my last severance check coming from St. Louis. And I'm like, you know, I do need a job. So I was just drunk enough to go, you know what? I'm going to send an email to this gentleman and I'm just going to tell him like flat out, I can help your station. You know, I can help your station. Right? So I sent him an email. I'm like, listen, man, I'm saying this. I am one of these people. I can help you. I know the ratings aren't where they need to be. I mean, these guys are getting just slaughtered.

Like it's not even close. And look, they're probably never going to beat WIP. They're never going to get in a situation where it's that kind of close battle again, but they can certainly make a dent, but they have all these shitty shows on that no one listens to or nobody cares about. So I'm like, you know what? Why the fuck not? I'm going to send an email. So, Hey, blah, blah, blah. It was a short and sweet one. Cause I know him well enough where I don't have to do a formal like, hello friend. It's just an email, bam, rip it, rock, you know, just send it. And I'm like, Oh yeah, this'll get something. Well, here we are two days later. I haven't even got a response. So that's kind of the life at this point for me, but I know I could, I know I could go

there right now. Just hiring me would make an impact. Just the interest in it alone. The fact that it would be a story everywhere. And of course I know what the headlines would be. So that's a negative thing that I don't feel like rehashing, but it would be, you know, guy who said house Negro on the radio has now been, you know, brought back to Philadelphia and every headline I'll go noted racist or piece of shit or whatever. Of course, that's the kind of shit that I'd have to deal with. And you'd have to be willing to accept that that something you said as a joke 10 years ago continues to follow you or something that you did that was in no way racist will be called racist. That's the part you have to deal with because people are lazy, particularly

Philly people who are clickbait. And that's one of the biggest cities for podcasts and blogs. So of course, every story would start with racist former WIP host back in Philadelphia after 10 years. And because that would get the clicks. That's how people would react to it. That would be the big deal. That would be the story. That would be the thing that gets people clicking. It would probably make the 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock news. And that's what the story would be. It wouldn't be, you know, and look, I get how the world works, but it wouldn't be guy who raised 35 grand for Dallas Women's Center in a weekend is back. That's not what it's going to be. Not, you know, guy who for a year came from nowhere, dude from Baton Rouge, Louisiana,

comes to Philadelphia, takes a radio station that was in sixth or seventh place in afternoon drive and was number one overall for a year is back. That's not the story. The story is going to be guy who was racist, which nothing I did was racist, by the way. Not one thing I did was actually racist. All depending on your definition of racism. Even if the greatest stretch that you tried to put together of if you wanted to stretch and bend yourself into 13 knots and tell yourself this is racist, nothing I did was actually racist.

A picture of Al Jolson is not racist, particularly when you did it a year and a half before that, no one cared. But you did it this time and the blogs decided it was racist and it was like ha you're done so like whatever all that to tell you this when I watch these videos and I see these fucking maniacs and I see the parties they're having and I see the fact they love to just be out and be drunk and partying I would no doubt be able to bond with these people and no doubt be their hero. The problem is, and you know this about me, is I am a self-sabotager. I was actually having a drunken DM conversation with a dude in radio that's a pretty big radio star. I was going back and forth.

And I go, you know what? I think I have imposter syndrome. And the imposter syndrome I have is like there's part of me, just it's enough of a part of me that it impacts me. But I believe that like I'm not deserving of success. So I sabotage it so I can't fail, right? Like it's easy to not fail if you shoot yourself right you don't let somebody else shoot

you you don't run the risk of fail you cannot actually fail if you purposely fail that's like words that i live by that's like my creed that is my code if you fail on purpose if you sabotage yourself you cannot actually fail and that's kind of what happened in Philadelphia although I had another job lined up like I was called about another job when I was still employed working for Andy so there's no way I was going to leave Andy to come back to Houston but once I got fired in Philadelphia they were like well let's speed this shit up and get you to Houston but and I think some of it's subconscious the subconscious is you find yourself in a position where if you fail seemingly on purpose or do it to yourself, you can always tell yourself that you didn't really fail. Even though anytime you're fired somewhere, it's a failure to some degree.

If you can look back and go, yeah, well, but I also was horrible behind the scenes and it's like subconsciously I wanted to do it so I didn't really fail. That's kind of how I operate. I don't like that that's the way I operate. but I don't think that's the way I am anymore I've kind of fixed that to an extent like I did well in Nashville and I shouldn't have been fired here but like I think the self-sabotage part of it I have leveled a bit but in that, the imposter syndrome, which I shouldn't possess, but I do, I did to a degree. I think that killed me there because, and I also believe that if the teams were better when I was there, we talked about that. If the teams were winning more there, I think people would like me more because there had been more to be positive about. But on the other hand, them sucking opened the door for me to do a bunch of random shit that kind of appealed another group of people to me.

So who knows? But I should have been like new Angelo there. I should have been the dude, but part of me, then there's another big issue I possess, which is I do not allow myself to just become engulfed in whatever's happening there. Like I can't just fully jump in and be like, Hey, I'm McDougal. Let's go. The only time I've ever done something somewhat similar to that is I guess in Houston with the Astros, I really kind of jumped in that and it worked. I mean, people loved me in that second run more than they did the first run when I was at six 10. So like it works, but I think part of me feels like a fraud doing that. And I know that people will think I'm a fraud

doing that, you know? So, but all that said, when I watch these people setting shit on fire, stealing police horses the way they react to shit they're jerking off motions the fucking dudes drinking beers out of fucking shoes like all this weird shit i was watching in these celebrations i'm like i don't know if this is something to be proud of or not but i'm like i would be like the dude for those people because unlike anybody that's actually on the radio in Philadelphia, one thing you can't dismiss about me is I am a man of the people. I get around people. I drink beers with people. I buy them beers. They buy me beers. One of the drunkest times I've ever had

was I went to a wrestling match. It was a house show in Philadelphia. We went to see a house show at the arena at Wells Fargo Center. I walk into the arena with Jilly. I can't go 10 feet without somebody buying me a shot and taking a picture to the point that we didn't get to the seats until well into the show. And remember, I had nothing to drink before I got there. By the time I got in and got to my seats, I was almost blackout wasted because everyone wanted to buy a shot and everyone wanted you to fucking drink with them. And that's the thing, man. Philly gets a bad rap and some of it's deserved. Some of the, you know, cause they do some fucked up shit and you'll see the videos of them like stealing the fucking, just being obnoxious. Like a lot of it isn't like, oh, you're afraid that they're violent people. I mean, yes, they'll do dumb shit, but no

different than any other place you've ever seen. Like they'll fight with people. There'll be parking lot fights. There'll be fights in the stands and you'll just steal the guy's hat and just be obnoxious. They're obnoxious assholes and they're proud of it to a degree. Like you get that, but a lot of the shit they do, you'll see in other places, right? It's nothing unique. But one thing that stands out about them over virtually every other place is they're actually like really good folks as it relates to like wanting to hang with you and like buy you again i got more beers from people there more shots from people there like they are actually decent people they just don't show it very often because they're also fucking lunatics like but they're people that like are just on the two

spectrums on one hand extremely kind on the other spectrums. On one hand, extremely kind. On the other hand, fucking maniacal, crazy people. But I do look back on that, especially when I watch those celebrations, and I'm like, I could no doubt be successful there. I'm never going to get the shot there. I don't know that I want to because, again, as I mentioned earlier, I don't know that I want to have to deal with the whole rehash, you know, Josh is a racist piece of shit which i'm not like yes i'm the racist piece of shit that during the game is texting tank one of my buddies who again oh he's got a black friend but one of my

best buddies tank and we're texting about how i can't wait to see him when he comes to town and everything like that like in my opinion i don't even want to get into this dumb shit but like that's the story that would be the story the story would be racist piece of shit is back in philadelphia and it would be it would get a bad start from that but it would also get people interested and people would tune in to see what it would sound like so but that's obviously never going to happen because mike missanelli and his pod and is there would never let that happen anyway i saw a highlight of their show that someone sent me the other day where they're doing some weird rap about Nick Sirianni. It was totally unfunny and terrible, but hey, congrats.

Mike Missanelli's helping you climb from 20th to 19th or whatever it is, so you guys are killing it, but no need to respond to me. You got a guy who had success there, and it's like, hey, what do you want me to do? And you don't even respond, so whatever. It's your funeral. All right, more to come.