The Press Box - Report from the Sugar Bowl Press Box, Rece Davis, the Campaign Is Here, and a New Segment Coming to the Show!

Episode Date: January 2, 2024

Happy New Year! Bryan and David start the show by recapping Bryan’s experience in the press box at the Sugar Bowl to see his beloved Texas Longhorns. (00:47) Then in weekend audio, they discuss Rece Davis and Pat McAfee creating the funniest TV moment (23:41). Later, they discuss Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen’s New Year’s Eve drinkathon (39:50). Plus, the Overworked Twitter Joke of the Week, David Shoemaker Guesses the Strained-Pun Headline, and the introduction of a new segment comes to ‘Press Box!’ Hosts: Bryan Curtis and David Shoemaker Producer: Brian H. Waters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey there, Humanoids. This is David Chewaker here with a very exciting announcement. Your favorite wrestling podcast feed, The Ring or Wrestling show, is now going daily. And you can hang out with me and Kaz on Mondays and Thursdays for the Masked Man Show. And you can join me, Peter Rosenberg, alongside Stack Guy Greg and Dip every Tuesday with cheap heat. And on Fridays, I'll welcome a friend or special guest from the world of wrestling. Now, on Wednesdays, we have a very special new show called Wednesday Worldwide that you're going to want to check out. Paperview reaction, one-of-a-kind interviews, fantasy booking, talking about bagels. That's what we do here on the Ring of Wrestling show.

Follow the show now on Spotify. And do us a favor. Give us five stars. And do us another favor and stay major. David, I am coming to you from New Orleans. Where I watched a very exciting and very excruciating sugar bowl between Washington and Texas. that Texas lost at the buzzer. And I'd like to start by giving you a few observations

from a college football press box. Oh, this is nice. Okay, give them to me. So this was the year that most of the college football ball games became memes. Yeah. The highlight was not a great play on the field, but a Pop-Tart mascot lowering itself

into a giant toaster. yeah yes was there also a game i don't know maybe didn't really see any highlights from it i think everybody opted out but it was nice here in new orleans to have some old-fashioned bowl game atmosphere you had fans of the two schools wandering around the french quarter for three days wearing their gear oh yeah like i am here and i am a texas fan i've been a part of fans selling the french quarter and pro wrestling gear, but that's not football fandom. But I was wondering about that. Like if you and I had become, let's say,

accountants, lawyers, would we be having our fun by going to a football game and instead of maintaining that valued journalistic neutrality, just wandering around for days in our team gear, kind of giving the stink eye

to the fans of the other team? I thought you're going to ask if we were accountants, if we'd be going on vacation and like pro accounting outfits. but no, you mean... Sure, that too. Just like, just giant like foam pocket protectors

for everyone to see. No, I don't know. I don't know. I'm not a big, I'm not a big like merch person in general. You really... So I'm not sure that would be us, but maybe, maybe. Yeah, it's a whole different timeline. It's just kind of hard to,

hard to predict how that would have gone there is uh at the hotel across the street for me here is where the texas players are staying so there's a giant inflatable bevo the longhorn mascot just affixed to the side of the hotel like king how big are we talking here like that like that like that big multiple stories i think a story high still pretty big and they had the press conference a couple days ago with the two coaches in the game and they you know gave their opening spiel there and answer some questions. And then at the end, they were asked if they could take a picture shaking hands,

which is a real 1930s kind of sports photograph. The combatants exhibit sportsmanship before the big pigskin tilt. Love it. Was the giant inflatable be able in the background of this photo? It was not alas, but that would have really added just something extra. I've never been to the Superdome

So I was very happy to discover that the press box in there is open air We have a problem with sports press boxes now where they are glassed in So it feels like you were hearing the crowd and for college football the bands with noise cancelling headphones on Oh yeah, very familiar with that, yeah That is a bad way to watch any sporting events. I was very happy there. It felt almost like at the Superdome that you were, amongst the people that were banging on seats and clapping,

that you were actually in the stands. I love that. I love that press boxes still have an old-fashioned commitment to paper. I found my seat in the auxiliary booth there, and there was a printed roster at my seat and a thick program of the kind you and I would ask our dads to buy us when we went to sporting events when we were like eight. Yeah, you always wanted the program.

And then you would never open the program ever again when you got home, just sit somewhere for years and years. Sometimes I'd find, like stapled the tickets. You got it. I don't know if I ever got one. You didn't prevail on dad to buy you that thing? No. And I can sympathize now.

Now one of my kids asking me for something like that, I don't, it's not even about the memory. You just think that I'm going to have to carry that. Yeah, exactly. I'm going to be the one that gets in trouble if that doesn't end up back in the car. And when that's a mess at home, I'm going to have to find a place for that, bookshelf or something. They used to have it, I mean, it was not that long ago, and they probably still do it somewhere where at the end of every quarter, they would run off the statistics in a copy machine and bring it to every writer.

Like, here are the updated stats. So the whole press box felt like a FedEx office, just full of paper that is. not happening anymore, thank God, but it was until fairly recently. I also looked down from my perch, David, and the University of Washington's student newspaper reporters were sitting right under me.

Student newspaper there is called the Daily. And they were notable because they were all wearing suits Oh, nice. To the game. Now, pro-tip kids looking to hit in the business. As soon as you graduate

and enter the field of sports writing, provided the field of sports writing still exists in one to four years, you can dress like shit. Some new balance sneakers, maybe a ferrety button down, you're just going to look like the rest of the sports riders. Absolutely no problem. But I appreciate the effort. But I think the problem in college is you always have to dress them up

because otherwise they're probably just wearing University of Texas gear, right? And that's all they have. So, you know, you can't have the bias. I could also see a journalism advisor intervening, don't you think? You guys need to look professional. Oh, of course. You're covering a game. This is a big time.

We all went on like club trips, choir, choir performances, whatever when we were that. You did? Some of us. Is it like the football coach? This is a business trip. Everybody has to wear a suit and tie on the plane. Exactly. Yeah.

Yeah. David Stern is running the, uh, the, the, the, the, the, the, UTJ school, apparently. it was a little bit of a challenge for me in the press box last night because I am a University of Texas alum as listeners of this podcast know and I was not going to be rooting for the longhorns in the press box at least out loud in fact I was only sitting in the press box because some of my University of Texas pals didn't answer the bell in getting to New Orleans and getting tickets. So here I was. I want the longhorns to win. But the rules of the press box,

and I've actually seen this in print this season, say no cheering. Now, I would have loved to have seen a camera on me like they have on Kevin Harlan when he's calling a game. And, you know, my sort of movements and my breathing when certain plays happened as I reacted without actually verbalizing anything.

I remember when I got married, I was watching a Texas, Texas A&M game back when they used to play. My wife was like, I heard you in the other room and I thought you were having a coronary event just because of the way you were breathing. And I said, no, no, no, that comes later in marriage, actually. Give me 10 years and then we could deal with that. There was one moment, second quarter, Texas looked like they were just going to get run out of the building at various times yesterday. And they punted. And Washington muffed the punts. Yep.

And for a moment I lost control, my hands went straight up like I was doing a jumping jack. Yeah. And just cheering for, you know, a good game. Cheering for an exciting play. That's the way I played it off. I was in the back row, so I don't think anybody noticed. And the guy sitting next to me worked for college football Reddit, so I'm not sure he was going to be enforcing the Columbia J-school's rules of press box behavior.

But I just sort of did it. Oh, there was a startling point. play in front of me, not something that greatly benefits the University of Texas. And I played it off. I was fascinated by the halftime ritual, aka the run for the hot dog line. They set up a little dinner before that, but then in halftime there were hot dogs. In fact, chilly dogs as if we were trying to be sports writer, cartoon sports writer of the 30s, taking pictures of the coaches, shaking hands. And you could really look at the line and tell who the old pros were because they were at the

front of this 25, 30 person line. They had clearly known, I got to get up when this gun sounds and be right here so I can get the chili dog and the snickerdoodles. Uh-huh. Also at the front of the line, people who did not appear to be writing or podcasting or doing much of anything at the Sugar Bowl, which I suppose includes myself. or a lot of writers and podcasters, but sure. Indeed.

Enjoyed seeing these celebrities on the sidelines. Matthew McConaughey was, of course, there for the University of Texas as he so often is. Vince Young, and maybe you can weigh in on this, being a comic book guy, was wearing a hat that had young Groot on it. And then also on the side of the baseball cap was Vince Young's name? Wait, it had Young Groot on the front and just Vince Young on the side. Yeah, maybe V Young. I couldn't quite get a great look at it. No idea. I'm not sure where that was on the levels of sports hats.

Also, Senator Ted Cruz showed up at the game. I saw people tweeting that Ted Cruz has a perfect record of screwing over the team who he is there to support. He was wearing his burn orange. He is apparently never won a game for the team he is attending on behalf of. Ted Cruz also graduate of Princeton and Harvard, not the University of Texas, so we may need to enforce some college football rules of fandom. This is my big one for state schools. If you academically qualified for the state school, but you went elsewhere because the state school wasn't good enough for you.

This is the oldest, Brian Curtis rule. This is the oldest, right? But you don't get to retroactively enjoy it, right? us dumbasses who went to the state school. We get to enjoy it. That you. A couple final ones here for you. The end of the game was incredibly excited

because Texas looked like absolute roadkill. They were down nine points with less than two minutes left. And then Washington decided to be really dumb. Texas gets a field goal. Washington has to punt. There's an injury. Listen to read about college football to get all the details here. But so the press box at this point is basically,

basically vacated because people need to get downstairs to either get on the field or go to those press conferences. So now, David, I've got the whole thing to myself and I'm on the back row and I am just standing for the entire final 10 to 15 minutes of the game. It's like me and the guy from the Tacoma News Tribune are holding down the forward. He is not standing by the way. He is being very, very professional. I am sitting there standing and I am so excited. I'm not reaching for the ceiling. I'm not emoting.

May have been breathing rather raggedly, but I am sitting there being like, oh my God, am I about to watch one of the craziest college football endings of all time? Texas, for the uninitiated, had the ball at the 12 or 13-yard line of Washington with 15 seconds left down six

and four shots at the end zone after making a series of an improbable place to get down there. Alas, they did not win the game. So there was, again, there's no self-definestration with me toppling out of the Superdome press box. I then, you know, folded up my laptop, went down to watch the sad Texas press coverage, which itself, by the way, was the thing. Sadness made it a thing or explain? College-age players looking absolutely crushed. Oh, yeah.

Especially Quinn Ewers. And it's one of those things where I absolutely believe in, hey, post-game, this is big. big boy sports, big boy, big kid football. Let's do it, right? Let's ask the tough questions. You look at those players as players faces. Tough to ask a tough question. Yeah. It's not exactly like talking to Matt Stafford or Dak Prescott up there. These guys look so young. Final note for you, the PA guy at the Superdome said we have a special offer for everybody. here today. You are going to get a sugar-free Dr. Pepper

on your way out of the stadium. You've paid hundreds of dollars to these tickets. Least we could do is give you a sugar-free Dr. Pepper. The reporter sitting next to me noted this is the sugar bowl and our giveaway is a soft drink that

conspicuously does not include sugar. That's funny. So is this the low-key version of the pop-trikes? that lowered itself into the toaster and then got eaten. Was sugar as both a product and a concept self-defenestrating here? We may need some more answers. All right, enough of this burnt orange oninism.

Let's get back to the media oninism. Because coming up on today's show, we have Weekend Audio featuring an NFL beatwriter quizzing Jets coach Robert Sala, the unflappable Reese Davis-looking, very flapped. Plus, why does Anderson Cooper drinking make for good TV? A campaign update 13 days before Iowa, the horrors of print newspapers.

And we introduce a new press box feature for 2024 that you media consumers get to vote on. All that and much more on the press box. A part of the ringer podcast network. Happy New Year media consumers, Brian Curtis David Shoemaker, and producer Brian Waters here. Let's do some weekend audio, David.

And let us handle this first clip very, very carefully. There was a big story, if you need some background before the Alabama, Michigan college football playoff. That was the other playoff in the Rose Bowl. Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milrow had been told by his former offensive coordinator. That is Bill O'Brien, and we all know from the NFL, that maybe he should try another position. kind of statement that revives all those awful stereotypes

about black quarterbacks that black quarterbacks have been dealing with for decades. Now, David Milrow lately has been seen wearing a t-shirt that said L-A-N-K and Reese Davis with his pocket square perfectly in place, his intro written just so as Reese Davisy as he could possibly be was going to explain to viewers what L-A-N-K stands for.

I want you to listen while Pat McAfee comes off the top rope right here. J-Wan Milro often wears his own branded apparel reading Lank across the front. It's an acronym that stands for let a naysayer know. Being told by his former offensive coordinator, Bill O'Brien. That is not what I thought. Is that know what you thought? Boy, let a naysay or no. Let a naysay or no.

The professionals right in the middle of his lead. That's all right. I just keep going. Let him say or not. Right up here as you were. That's what we all thought it was going down. Oh, silence. Let him they say it now.

Let him say or no. That's what we thought the whole time. That's what we all thought. That is so classic. Yeah. Really incredible. Don't you love it when there's genuine uncontrolled laughter on television? Yeah, real honest to God.

I mean, I'm like holding it in right now. Real honest to God. Laughter. Also, McAfee, I mean, listen, there's a million reasons why Pat McAfee is as successful as he is, but goes to him for calling it out in real time for making that moment, right? I mean, by and acknowledging, I mean, having the, got to do it being a relative newcomer, right, to everything, to the Reese Davis world.

It's, but also he didn't, it wasn't like a prepared statement at all. There was no gimmickery involved in that, right? He was just like absolutely flabbergasted and didn't even deliver it, just kind of yelled out, you know, and like, he had no choice but to say that. It was, it was, it was incredible. And also just it's the laughter and a million people have talked about this. So this isn't novel, but it's the sort of just exhale of laughter.

Like when something terrible happens, we're all about to happen and we're all bearing witness to it. And then, you know, the terrible thing gets diverted or whatever. I mean, everybody was just sitting up there in real time saying, Oh, God, Reese is getting fired today.

You think of McAfee's not there that they just roll into that pre-recorded Jalen Milrow feature story? It is hard to say. It's really hard to say. It's entirely possible. I love so much of the Reese Davis body language because Reese Davis' superpower is that he is unflappable. There is nothing that is going to happen. on game day, no matter what sign is behind him, no matter how crazy the crowd is,

that is going to get Reese Davis off his game. He is like a quarterback, fourth quarter on the road, crowds going wild, and I'm all good, right? You're never going to mess with me. He would sooner come out with crazy hair than to mess up a line.

And he goes in that clip from really tight smile when Pat McAfee starts talking to at the end, after everybody's laugh, frozen smile. Yeah. Just slightly different in tight smile.

God, unbelievable. Do you think, I mean, I don't, you've, you've interviewed Reese Davis a number of times,

right? I mean, regardless, do you think as a man of his stature from the, as a sort of person we all see on TV every week? There's got to be,

I mean, it is boring. into you to be like just mad that a thing got out of control, right? That not only that that moment happened, but that like that script happened, you know, that that anything got you to that point. But he must be able to appreciate the moment that was created by that, right? Do you think, do you think that that's, that he got there in real life in real time? I don't pretend to know him super well.

I don't pretend to be inside his head. But I think you, I think you nailed it exactly. It's right on the line of this is a TV moment. This is a moment that everybody, Bomani Jones called it the funniest moment in the history of sports television that did not involve Charles Barclay. Yeah.

That I am part of this moment, but also it was a moment that I didn't control. Yeah. It was a moment when the literal script got away from me. And I just bet. if we could parachute into Reese Davis's mind, you'd see those two forces at war there. It's a bowl game right there.

No audio on this one, but I don't know if you saw this last night. ESPN was doing one of those scenery shots on Bourbon Street for the Sugar Bowl. It's kind of a Martin Scorsese shot where we're walking down with the camera and look at the people on the balconies up there.

Look at everyone. I did not see this, but go ahead. And there was some, nudity that slipped into the shot. This is bourbon street. There was a bourbon street style. Better put that way. This is almost certainly pre-recorded.

I cannot imagine ESPN doing a shot like that live. That's the kind of thing you do a couple of nights before the game, maybe the night before the game and put that in the can and make sure somebody looks at that. before it gets on the air somebody didn't look close enough that was also Reese Davis's job surprisingly I don't know all right number three

the team America cannot stop talking about David the New York Jets they lost to the Browns on Thursday night football God I love the Jets didn't you end the Jets didn't you end the Jets for the purposes of media or at least this podcast at some point not letting you go

and here I am again doing another jet segment. But the press room in Cleveland was really interesting. ESPN reporter Rich Samini had a question for Jets coach Robert Sala after yet another loss. You don't seem, maybe you're not conveying what you really feel inside that you don't seem like particularly like angry or upset about it. I'm wondering if you can just share like what's really turning inside of you know. Um, Rich, I'm, uh,

Do you want me to throw the podium on the floor? So that was the walk-off question to about a six-minute press conference that featured a lot of Robert Sala being like, it's on me, we need to look inward. Taking responsibility, but not exactly being interesting or quotable when he was taking responsibility. What do you make of that question? What is going in sun inside your head, Mr. Football Coach? I mean, it does seem like a question that's sort of born out of

that's born out of frustration right? You're not telling his answers. Can you give us a real one for a change? Journalistic frustration. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I mean, I know that's also the sort, I mean, the subject of the question,

but it seems to be also the source of the question. You know, kind of it's not that much different than, I mean, the answer was actually appropriate. I mean, through the podium. I mean, it's sort of like,

can you walk up as a reporter and just be like, here's a watermelon and here's a hammer. Now, what if this watermelon was your defensive line? What would you do to it right now?

You know, like it's like a bad psychology stunt or something, you know, like it, I don't know. I mean, I don't fault the question

because if you feel like you're not getting anything and you're kind of owed something, not owed something, I mean, some sort of, you know, derogatory way, but you know,

like you need to get material, you know, But it's a kind of interesting tactic, I guess, because it's hard to imagine that the guy has given you nothing so far is going to open up because you say, why don't you open up? I think I would have liked the question a little bit better without the prelude, whether at the whole you don't look particularly unhappy. Because then it feels like you're almost putting him on the defensive a little bit.

Yeah. Why aren't you raging like Bobby Nuss? night here. It was funny because when I was at the Texas press conference last night, Andrea Adelson, really great reporter over at ESPN, she was asking the same thing to Quinn who just looked shell-shock. And the way she phrased it was, I wouldn't dream of trying to get inside your head. Yeah. So can you tell me, can you describe to me what's going on inside your head after a loss like that? Yeah. Which I thought was like a really close. clever way to do it.

Because instead of saying, hey, you don't look terribly upset, you're saying, look, I, you know, a mere reporter wouldn't dream of trying to ascribe thoughts to you. Almost paying them a compliment, right? And then, so you tell me what's going on. But also isn't the, I mean, isn't the take? Isn't the lead when you're writing about solid? Just saying that he would just seem totally detached at this point, right? that after a fruit that just a turbulent, disappointing season,

he just at this point is totally detached. And by prying further, it's like you almost mess that up. You know, it's like, I mean, it seems like that's, sure, your job as a reporter is to get material from, you know, from the subject. That's also to write the truth as you're seeing it, you know, and I think there's more power in the statement of what you observe than in trying to get another fake answer out of this guy. I agree.

think when you're in the losing coach zone, the problem is he's not winning games. Not what he's saying behind the podium. So we sports writers go into this checklist. The first thing we demand is that you take responsibility. You don't blame the players. And in this case, okay, we got that. He was taking responsibility. And then we're like, okay, now what do we want? Do we want schematic change like they were demanding of Brandon Staley? Yeah. Do you, going to change coordinators here you're going to give us some kind of you know give us a body from your coaching staff and say okay this is it i'm making changes i hear you maybe that's another thing we have to check off i hear the complaints i hear the criticism and then the third thing i think we want is

you have to be sufficiently upset in our eyes about what's happening and what's funny is if you watch the video he's you know saying that obviously reasonably and sarcastically, a reasonable answer to a reasonable question. But I think then that becomes sound bite, right? When we do throw a chair? Yeah. Think of how that plays in the New York tabloids.

All right, coming up in 30 seconds, David, a campaign update Anderson Cooper's taking shots and introducing a new press box feature. But first let us do the overworked Twitter joke of the week where we celebrate a gag that was so obvious that all of media Twitter made it at exactly the same time. Send your nominees in the new year to at the press box pod where they in 2024 will once again be gratefully received.

We had a crazy Cowboys Lions game on ESPN Saturday night, a little bit of a controversial ending. If you count a play that was stopped by a timeout, Lions coach Dan Campbell went for a go-ahead two-point conversion four different times at the end of the game and did not get it. It was an overworked Twitter joke to cite Kevin Costner at the end of the movie

Ten Cub. Thanks to Stephen Roderick for that one. Washington quarterback Michael Pennix last night was absolutely amazing. Carving up the Texas secondary. It was an overwork Twitter joke to say

Pennix mightier penix mightier. Penix mightier. Wow. Thanks to Kyle Madsen for that one. From the Rose Bowl earlier on Monday, Michigan stopped Bama on the final play of the game in overtime. There's an overwork Twitter joke to write,

wow, it seemed like Michigan knew what play was coming there. That will never get old. Thanks to Chris Aho and a very special award for all the jokes about Reese Davis. If you nominated something, I will not read on the air. Congrats. You made the overwork Twitter joke of the week. All right. In the notebook dump, David, let's do a little bit of a campaign update.

Somehow it is only 13 days till the GOP caucus is in Iowa. Oh, my God. The Trump restoration comes earlier every year. Nikki Haley has emerged as something of the default, not Trump Republican candidate. Yeah. She's done well in some recent New Hampshire polls. She's been really good in the debates. But as Dave Weigel has written, part of a lot of,

her strategy is to have no press gaggles. Oh, yeah. So she doesn't get odd or probing questions from reporters. She much prefers to go on Fox News when they have like crisis at the border. And she can speak on something she knows going to win her points with the interviewer and with the audience. Well, then she gave an answer on the trail the other day about the causes of the civil war. and her answer did not mention slavery as one of the causes. So this was an interesting moment because now Chris Christie pounces on Nikki Haley.

He's been paying a lot more attention to her. The other candidates who would love to be the not Trump number two Republican alternative have pounced on her. And also the media. has kind of pounced on her. And it's interesting because on the one hand, the answer is terrible. This is the person who removed the Confederate flag

from the South Carolina State House when she was governor. But don't you also feel the media doing this thing where you consider not only whether the answers the candidates are giving a right or wrong are reasonable or unreasonable, but where, whether the candidates are sort of passing the test of campaigning.

What's the sort of backhanded compliment reporters like to give candidates? They're very disciplined on the trail, meaning they just say the same things over and over and don't make any news. They avoid our questions rather than tangling with us and getting into an uncertain situation. Yeah, and it almost feels like the criticism, or at least part of the criticism, there's plenty of criticism about what she actually said deservedly. so. But part of the criticism is that for the first time in the campaign, Nikki Haley was not disciplined, quote, unquote. Sure. But when your discipline, when the central tenet of your discipline is avoid, avoid, avoid,

even answering the question in the first place might have been the problem. Because certainly she was avoiding for a reason, maybe a bigger reason or a more obvious reason than people assumed if this is the sort of stuff that comes out of her mouth when she's, you know, not over-prepared for a conversation. And who knows? I don't know why you would, you know, open yourself up to this at this point. I mean, she's running about a successful campaign as politicians can possibly run from where she started.

Right? I mean, this is a very successful primary campaign that just happens to have the cloud of Donald Trump looming over the whole thing. So yeah, I mean, you're right. It was a ridiculous and deeply offensive answer. But yeah, a lot of the responses is about, is the question of discipline, is the question of campaign, you know, of how ready she is, I guess.

And I think there's deeper sort of meta questions you can get into too, such as as the person who did take down the confederate statute. Like, was there any, thought in any of it. Like what is it, what is the distance between that and this other than

you think you're giving the right answer at the right time to score as many points as possible? Another interesting media story from the campaign is Joe Biden the New Hampshire primary. It's reading a story in Politico by Elena Schneider and Holly Otterbine about this. So Joe Biden didn't want New Hampshire

and Iowa to be the Democratic gatekeepers this here. he wanted South Carolina to be the Democratic gatekeeper partly to reward South Carolina because that made him the nominee and then made him president partly because his listeners of this podcast

know there was an absolute catastrophe during the Democratic Iowa caucuses in 2020 and fond memories of sitting in another hotel room in Miami the day after the Super Bowl while you and I waited and said, is it okay to record now? Even though we don't have a winner? So New Hampshire

having what they call an unsanction primary on January 23rd. It sounds a lot more dangerous than it probably is. Unsanctioned. There'll be steel chairs, there's chains. There's no rules in this match. Is unsanctioned one of the few unwords

that has not been claimed by a television show or podcast? We have undisputed. We have unbothered. Do we have an unsanctioned? No. Maybe we should just take that. All right. for our next podcast, Brian and David, unsanctioned.

So unsanctioned means there's going to be no delegates rewarded. And Biden is not on the ballot in New Hampshire. But Dean Phillips, this guy we know because he is challenging Biden, is on the ballot in New Hampshire. So then the question becomes, on January 23rd, what if Dean Phillips does really well versus right in Biden? And then secondarily, how well does Phillips have to do or how poorly does write in Biden have to do to create this perception, this media perception, allow journalists to write the story that there's a groundswell in the Democratic Party for not Biden? Wait, is there anyone else on the ballot?

That's a good question. Because I think the real metric would be how well does he perform against just, you know, local kook X or whatever who manages to get on the ballot. Right? Because if he can only do marginally better

than somebody who does not have a quote unquote national campaign, I think that's just as qualifying. I don't think that the answer, to answer your question, I don't think there's any result that will get him any sort of measured attention.

Measurable attention, sorry. This is Biden or this is Dean Phillips? Dean Phillips. Yeah. I mean, you don't think so that was, there's some hilarious numbers here. Like if Dean Phillips gets 40% of the vote, doesn't matter. Politico says the Phillips campaign has set 42% as a barometer for success,

which is a very, very specific number. Mm-hmm. Almost like they know something. I'm looking at the sample New Hampshire ballot, by the way. Marianne Williamson is on this ballot. Vermin Supreme, who you might remember from previous New Hampshire campaigns is on this ballot.

Big Verminhead, yeah. And then there are lots of other people who put it that way on this ballot. Yeah, do we think he's, is he pulling way ahead of Williamson? Biden, right in Biden? No, no, Dean. Dean Phillips?

Yeah. I haven't seen, I haven't seen a fresh poll on that one. I don't know. If he can just destroy Vermin Supreme, then, you know, I guess that there's some, there's some conversation to be had there. What does Vermin Supreme's measure of success?

3.2% is that where he needs to create? Yeah, I just don't see it. Good night for Vermin Supreme. A couple of quick ones here for you. New Year's Eve on CNN has become its own kind of event. Oh, sure. Why does Anderson Cooper drinking with Andy Cohen make for good television?

Or does it, perhaps? I mean, I think we're grading a little bit on a curve. But, you know, I mean, obviously they're both successful, likable personalities doing what they do. But, you know, controversial take. I think, you know, drinking would probably make most things better. But you just don't want to get fired, right? You know, the potential for catastrophe just goes up so much.

David is by drinking a Miller light as he makes this point for those listening on podcasts. It's happened before, not now. I think that the most things would probably get more exciting, you know, especially year and, you know, New Year's Eve shows, party atmosphere shows. Who's against this? You know, I think it's totally fine. Imagine if they're drinking on college game day, how much better that amazing segment good at that. Well, is this the Reese Davis principle here that the unflappable Anderson Cooper?

Yeah. is wincing and taking shots and we're so used to him being so together that we're seeing him lose control a little bit. Sure. It's funny that this still,

and I don't know if this is just Twitter. Twitter now, by the way, if you just do anything funny on television or just kind of like trying to be funny, it just gets aggregated. I cannot tell you how many sportscasters attempt a joke during a game and it's like, so-and-so made a funny.

Whoa, look at that wild scamp. putting some humorers like, but what if the joke wasn't great? Do we have to aggregate that too? This feels a little bit like, hey, so-and-so made a gambling reference during a football game.

He had a drink on television. It seems more scandalous several years ago, perhaps, than it does now, but okay. Speaking of faux scandalous, got a news item here

that NBC is sending Snoop Dog to cover the Summer Olympics in Paris. I can give you a little bit of the press release here. Throughout the game, Snoop will speak with NBC Olympic host Mike to Rico, okay, and provide the large primetime U.S. audience with his unique take on what's happening in Paris. Kind of sounds like a press release. There has to be, I know that this is the Snoop Dogg's one of one. I have nothing negative to say

about the dog father, but there's got to be somebody in the NBC sports newsroom. who is no longer going to cover the Olympics because Snoop Dog got his seat on the plane. Oh, they're going to, oh, I thought you were going to say walk out over like a moral, a moral stand, but they just, they're out because there's a headcount.

And even if it's not a headcount thing, there's somebody who was, whoever was the last, you know, the last person on the list, if the first person on the list not to go is definitely thinks that Snoop Dog got their seat on the plane, right? There's some statistician who's not going. Please let us know. We'll put you on the press box during the Olympics.

You'll have a platform. That's really funny. I get two notes about your favorite subject, David, print newspapers. Yeah. I was flying from L.A. to New Orleans on Saturday, and I'm at the airport. And I was like, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to read a print newspaper on this airport. So I bought two of them.

I bought the L.A. Times first, my hometown newspaper, and in speaking of very specific prices or specific numbers, the LA Times cost me on Saturday $3.66. That is the actual price. We didn't go to $3.75 and just make it a nice round number. We went $3.66. It's like price transparency or something? I am not sure on that.

We have to ask the LAT PR about that one. So the big story on the front page was about the storms that are hitting L.A. about those big waves we're seeing, story of major local interest. This is the Saturday morning paper here, and I want you to listen to this, Philip K. Dick time slip in the way this story is written.

Saturday morning, I am reading the following sentence. The next storm system is expected to arrive first in San Luis Obispo County by Friday afternoon, and we'll make its way south along the coast, cooling temperatures by two to three degrees, dot, dot, dot, but in Los Angeles in Ventura counties, residents can expect an offshore flow from the east that brings a few degrees of warming temperatures on Friday. Now, I'm reading this on Saturday morning, this print newspaper that is referring to future events happening on Friday.

I know that no one listening to this podcast probably reads a print newspaper except by accident. Yes. I know the people at the L.A. Times who are doing a valiant job trying to save that paper. know that the print product is not what's going to carry the LA Times into the 21st century. No, probably not. But if we are putting this out, don't we need to edit the stories? I know the deadlines are terrible. I know this whole thing with the printing plants and they have to close the paper early,

but I cannot be looking at my phone being like, what day is today? What tense is this story written in when I'm reading a story like this? Oh my God. I saw someone on Twitter the other day on the first. So yesterday complaining they went to pick up the, I think the Washington Post and got it home and started reading it only to realize they had the previous day's paper on the newsstand. Yes.

Which is, you know, frustrating. I think this was Ben Babi, the Bengals reporter, if I'm not mistaken. Okay. But what you were talking about is something that's even crazier. I mean, there's just what, you're right. Dickian is the right word. It's, it's, you're, you're expecting, you have today's paper. You have the correct paper.

You're just reading post-dated material. God. And I was the guy until a couple of months ago was subscribing to print newspaper seven days a week. It was like me. It's like, hey, I want to go see a movie in a theater. This feels, this feels fun and old-fashioned. And I like the fact that I am directed these stories I might not read. And then I was like, you know, I'm just going to take it on the weekend.

Now, maybe if they still had your subscription money, they could afford to print the right date in the paper. To copy edit the story. Second observation about print newspapers, I bought the New York Times, and I flipped to the sports section. Wait, what? Yes, the New York Times still has a sports section in print.

Still says sports. Despite what you might have heard, it is just populated by athletic articles now. And the craziest thing, David, that was the night of the game between the Cowboys and the Lions. that I mentioned. Mm-hmm.

And the New York Times Sports Section has an article from a Dallas reporter on the Cowboys. And it has a second article by a Detroit reporter about the Lions to get you set up for the big Saturday night ESPN game. Mm-hmm. So this is really interesting, right? I mean, I just feel looking back a little bit at the coverage of the New York Times Sports section, there was a very specific bad thing that happened, which is a lot of New York Times sports reporters lost their jobs as sports writers. Or were forced to go to other sections of the paper to do the sports writing work that they wanted to do.

That was absolutely a bad thing that I genuinely feel bad for those people for. But it weirdly turned into this thing that the New York Times was abandoning sports. It literally hasn't in the sense that it has a sports section filled. with sports articles. The articles are now far more timely than the New York Times' latter day sports section. Almost like a sports page, yeah. It is almost like a sports page.

Yeah, well, thanks for fact-checking, our own coverage on that. Oh, I was on this, I think I was on this corner, right? I mean, it's just one of those funny things because it's like everybody wrote the stories, they cited Red Smith, they cited Bob Lipsite, and then they just stop. reading it or weren't reading it to begin with. And it's like, oh, well, there's all these athletic sports

writers writing articles in the New York Times. Again, I feel genuinely bad for the people who were kicked out of that section because they deserve better than that. I'm also looking at this like, this is full of sports stories. Very, very weird. All right, new feature here at the press box, David. For 2024, you and I periodically are going to revisit a media controversy or screw up

just a weird moment from the past. Like the recent past, the far flung past? How big is this? Yeah, let's see where we go. Let's see where listeners take us because they're going to get to vote on the controversy or screw up or weird moment

that we revisit. Oh, I love this. All right, so I'm going to give you some choices. First of all, we need a name for this feature. If anybody has them, please send it to us at the Pressbox pod. If you are, if your entry is selected, I will send you something I bought at Alex Trebex's state sale.

Never been able to offload this stuff, by the way. So congratulations on that. But here are your choices for the first strange moment in media that David and I will be revisiting. Choice number one, David, the 15th anniversary of the balloon boy hoax. Oh my God, yes. This is when cable news was breathlessly covering a runaway helium-filled balloon that was said contain a six-year-old boy named Falcon.

Not making any of that up. That is choice number one. Choice number two, Brian Williams. I believe this is the eighth anniversary of Brian Williams embroidering stories that he actually covered, especially as he told and retold them on late-night talk shows, and then was off. the NBC evening news.

That is choice number two. Choice number three, and speaking of news anchors, David, the 38th anniversary. Do you see how I'm getting time pegs for all these

anniversary pegs? Yeah, I was going to ask. So if it doesn't get picked for this week, then it's done, pending the next anniversary or the next hook, right?

Oh, no. I'm like those movie Twitter accounts that just say this is the 43rd anniversary of Goodfellas and you just change a number every year. That's what I'm just going to change the number next week. It is the 38th anniversary, David, of the time news anchor Dan Rather was attacked on the streets of New York by men asking Kenneth, what is the frequency?

Later, of course, becomes a famous song. All right. So we're going to put the poll on TwitterX at the press box pod. Do you want balloon boy hoax? Do you want Brian Williams's embroidery class? Or do you want Kenneth, what is the frequency? If you know about these, pick your favorite. if you don't know about any of these

and one sounds intriguing, David and I will explain it. Do you have a preference here? Balloon Boy. Balloon Boy feels like weirdly the right place to start. But. But. Dude, I would love to talk about the Rather thing. I haven't gone down that rabbit hole for a decade.

It's going to be so much fun. We're not like the Bartholmey brother is supposedly involved in that? but that was true Don and Rick Barthomey I feel like we're like I don't know I don't know I'm going to have to do some reading

David and I will be learning history along with you these these huge moments in media history all right at the press box pod please vote you've got David's guidance there but do whatever you like our friend Nickfield David says that the old guy still got it

emergency committee has to meet for Joe Flacco leading the Cleveland Browns into the playoffs Yeah, I mean, it's true. He's 38. He's 38. I was having this conversation with my dad who was visiting over the holiday, trying to figure out how old is old,

how old is appreciably old for an NFL quarterback at this point. Yeah, 38, I guess. I think that crosses the line. Am there right? because there was that whole thing of like 37 is the new 30 but then all the quarterbacks kind of fell off a cliff at 40. Yeah. So 38 is still old.

Or at least like the golden years. You know, those people we see in commercials are trying to sell medications to. Is it just that Terry Bradshaw looked like he was 50 when he was playing for the Steelers? Is that why I feel like it, that there's been, you know, the quarterbacks can go a little longer?

Yeah. Those old football cards and the guy looked like really, really old and then turned out to be 32. Yeah. Yes, but absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, and Bill talked about it on his pod just today or yesterday whenever it went up, but Joe Flacco was was already into mumified and entombed for all intents and purposes several years ago and then has made the comeback. So yes, this old guy not only still has it, but has it in a way that he hasn't had it in seven years or something. I consume Baltimore Ravens history as like Mallory, Rubin, our pal appearing on Bill's podcast.

And I was like, I have this vague memory of either Mallory celebrating Joe Flacco winning the Super Bowl or Mallory saying goodbye to Joe Flacco when he left the Ravens. And they both seen him possibly long ago. Yeah. I can't even remember. Listener Phil Wolfe says, The LA Times has two articles today with Boone in the headline. Oh.

Only in journalism. Boone. I think you and I learn what Boone meant when we were doing our SAT study course at old Pascal High. But I do remember my first job at the New Republic and seeing a sentence that was like something, something is a boon to the Democratic Party or is a boon to Al Gore's campaign and being like, oh, now as a professional journalist, I should use Boon. Yeah. Yeah. It's one thing to be taught how to use it in a sentence, but to see it out there in the wild,

that's really how you learn these words. That's how you do. It's a little peer pressure. Thank you, Phil. We'll add that to the Only in Journalism Hall of Fame. And here's a feature that is a boon to listeners from coast to coast. In fact, around the world, it's David Shoemaker guesses the strain pun headline.

Yeah. Last Monday's headliner, whenever we last recorded a podcast, was about a beaver problem in upstate New York. The headline was damned if they do and damned if they don't. Today's headline, David, comes to us from Alex. It's from the Portland Main Press Herald. It's a holiday story.

Actually, a little bit of a holiday crossover event. Bagels are the new Christmas time tradition, the press Herald reports. Oh, really? We had bagels on Christmas? That's weird. We did too. Actually, on Christmas Eve. Local bakeries say demand for the once quintessential Jewish bread spikes during holidays, including Christian ones. So bagels for Christmas, I'd like you to think about

a famous Christmas song while you ponder. What was the Portland Press Herald strained pun deadline? There's too many good Christmas songs. Something with dough. Bagel. Do do do do do do.

Do you hear? Okay. Do you hear what I hear? Yeah. What do you put on a bagel maybe? Locks, cream cheese. More generally speaking, we call that a smear.

Do you smear what I smear? Do you smear what I smear? Really, really good. And not just punny, but it works, right? Because I'm smearing and you're smearing and now we have a trend story. Is that really a new trend? I'm so perplexed by this.

David, this is a newspaper. come on this is journalism it's a trend it happened i was i was raising a very a christian house in the south we had bagels all the time growing up i mean they were in the from the freezer and they paled in comparison to the ones made with that new york water but so it doesn't seem that strange he is david shrewmaker i'm brian for production magic i'm leaving that there by brian waters uh coming up thursday on the press box pod we have a new thing for 2024 no more interviews david no we're not doing that anymore out with the interviews in with a guest host just doing the press box.

And this week's guest host is Slate's Joel Anderson. Yeah. Who knows a thing or two about college football? And then Shoemaker and I return Monday with more lukewarm takes about the media. See you then, David. See you later, bro.