The Press Box - This Week in Ringer Sports (Dec. 4-8, 2017) (Ep. 395)

Episode Date: December 9, 2017

'This Week in Ringer Sports’ features ‘One Shining Podcast with Titus and Tate’ on the postgame tensions between Xavier and the University of Cincinnati (00:30), ‘GM Street’ on which NFL coaches might get fired (08:00), ‘Against All Odds With Cousin Sal’ on a fun fake gambling prop (12:45), ‘Sources Say’ with LaVar Ball on his family’s pursuits in acting (19:30), and ‘Ringer University’ on the College Football Playoff (23:45). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome to this week in Ringer Sports. I'm Liz Kelly bringing you the highlights from the Ringer Podcast Network. Some stuff you can check out on the site this week. Danny Hyfitz gave out regular season fantasy football superlatives, and the staff wrote a few different articles breaking down that Steph Curry injury. What it means for him, the Warriors, and for your Christmas plan. So you can check that all out on the ringer.com. Okay, for the first clip of the week, we are starting with the cross-town shootout between Xavier and University of Cincinnati,

which resulted in a decisive win by Xavier, but attention-filled post-es. game handshake. On One Shining podcast, Tate Fraser and Mark Titus break down the mix-up and post-game comments. Apparently, J.P. sleeves, formerly J.P. No-Sleeves now, tells Mick Cronin and I don't want to do this. Apologize, Mom.

I'm trying to get this swearing out of me. This is me quoting. He says, fuck off to Mick Cronin three or four times. So because of that, when the handshake line comes, Mick Cronin snubs McRae He just doesn't shake his hand.

My guess is he makes it obvious. He's shaking everyone else's hand. He gets to Macura, skips him, doesn't shake his hand. So Macura tells Cronin, and I quote, suck my dick. For the kids, SMD. SMD. Cronin comes back.

Cronin hears this, turns around, comes back, and tries to, and that's when he has to be, he does a hold me back thing. That's the video that got leaked. It was basically Mick Cronin. This is once he's already gotten through the line. He is running back to the line with the, with the classic, hold me back. And what I saw, he was saying,

do you want a piece of me, motherfucker? Yes. So, again, I'm sorry for the foul language. I try not to swear, I'm not quite on Tate's level, but I'm trying not to use language like that in a potty mouth. But that's what happened. And so that leads to... Allegedly.

That leads to these brilliant comments from Mick Cronin and Chris Mack in the post-game press conference. Yeah, I've never had a kid telling me to F off three times. before. During the game and after the game. You know who it was. Same guy at all is every game. Did you guys? 15 years I've been a head coach. Okay. Five years with hugs, two with Coach Petino. I've never seen anything like it. Will you guys talk afterwards or talk again? There's nothing to talk about. Where I come from, there's nothing to talk about. And if he was playing for me, he wouldn't play.

He wouldn't play for me. Mick Cronin, there's nothing to talk about. Where I come from, there's nothing to talk about. And we should say, Titus, he comes from Cincinnati. So if anyone will understand where he comes from, it would be all those reporters in the room who most likely live in Cincinnati. I'm glad you caught that,

because this was my favorite part of the comments was that he's explaining to a room of Cincinnati people after just playing a Cincinnati team as of the coach of Cincinnati, where I come from, this is how we think. That was cool. This was in character for Mick Cronin. Yes.

And he got to the podium first. So he goes from, I'm running back to yell at J.P. McCuror, you want a piece of me, to straight to the media room, to this moment. And he's ready to go. And he's like, you know who it is. So it's implicit that we all know it's McCuror. He's already had problems with him before. He wants this moment to be the case.

Because, let's be honest, he just got blown out in this big rivalry game. The best way to spin this thing is they have a classless player on their team. And we're Cincinnati, and I would never put up with such an act. But here's the thing. As it turns out, according to Chris Mack, Mick Cronin would put up with such a thing. Let's take a listen. I know one thing.

The narrative is not going to be J.P. McCura and Mick Cronin. It's not going to be the narrative. Because there are two sides to the story. There are two sides to the story. There was a reason that their coach was issued a technical in the game. There's a reason for that. I know that reason because the official told me, what happened. So I'm not going to have the narrative be anything other than us playing better

than Cincinnati and beating Cincinnati today. Beating. As far as he would never play on my team, I'm going to go back to 2009 and 2010 when I was the head coach and Lance Stevenson in front of me, right in front of me, called me the N-word three times and said, F you. After the game, guess what I did. I shook his hand. I shook his hand. That's it. There is no narrative. There is no narrative. We won. There is no narrative, Mark Titus. I became a huge Chris Mack fan after this. He handled this absolutely perfectly. Just like any Skip Proster disciple would. Love Chris Mack. So Chris Mack, he defends his guy. He doesn't necessarily call out Cronin. I didn't think he was like very confrontational towards Cronin necessarily. It was more of just a defense of...

He went high. Cronin went for a low blow, basically being like, this kid is a bad kid, and he's a bad egg, and he's representing your program. And Chris Mack was like, I'm bigger than this. But he didn't go too high. That's the other move. A lot of coaches would have just said, I don't want to be involved in this. All I know is our kids played hard tonight, and we got the win,

and they would just leave it at that. So he still defends his guy. And I know Cincinnati fans probably thought Chris Mack's down, his comments were uncalled forward to. I like the second beat. You know, like he takes a second, it was like, and beat Cincinnati Day, and he goes, beat. Yeah. Just like the second to make sure that you know.

But this was, it was in character for both coaches. I don't think I have a problem with Cronin saying what he did. I think this is very much in character for him. Nothing he said was particularly bad because I think the way you look at what happened and your first gut reaction is Cronin is an adult and J.P. sleeves is a kid. And it's not right for an adult to y'all a kid. And there's probably a little truth of that. But he's not a kid.

J.P. Sleeves, he's pulling his asshole out of bars. Like, this kid knows what he's doing. He knows what he's saying. Tell people to S is D. I mean, this isn't, I don't know. It's not like, you don't, this isn't an eighth-grade basketball game. So I don't really have a problem with Cronin. Ideally, he would have handled it better, but he didn't. And I don't think he really needs to apologize, because that's who he is. And that's why Cincinnati fans probably love him. That's why we love this rivalry is because these coaches are the way they are. And you know Chris Max can to defend his guy. You know Mick Cronom. is going to be doing Mick Cronin things and getting red in the face and being really mad that he's 5-5. And they fit the personalities of the school so well because, I mean, there's like a more well-reserved Xavier vibe to it than at Cincinnati. Like, I'm in your face abrasive. You know, that's just kind of how they're. That's who they are. That's the name of the rivalry. Xavier fans feel like that.

That's kind of the way every public versus private school, like the private schools were the classy people. You thought, especially it was bad when Huggins was getting like Juko guys at Cincinnati. and you have the Bob Thuggins thing going of UC and, you know, so I don't know. But this is, I love this. Obviously, we love this. This is UC Xavier and I never wanted to change. And I know that Xavier fans and Cincinnati fans

are going to be bitching at about like who started this, who was right. But at the end of the day, both fan bases know that they love that this happens. So I told you guys last week I would be back today with hopefully better sports news. And while I can't say I entirely delivered on all fronts. Justice has been served and we bring you great news from the New York Giants. Benching Eli Manning backfired resulting in another loss so the Giants cleaned house by firing GM Jerry Reese and head coach Ben McAdoo. But that may not be the only head coach shown the door. In this clip from GM Street, Tate Frazier and Mike Lombardi talk about coaches who may also be

on the way out. Our favorite segment, one of our favorite segments, producer Jim is laughing at that because I go everything the favorite segment. But we have, if we're all thinking like no one is thinking, and first up, we have the Giants are thinking of hiring a GM, and they think that will solve the team issues. Well, I think, you know, look, the Giants, as I talked about on the side, after the games on Sunday, the Giants have this model that's been really successful for them, and it's worked. And I think their model's going to have to tweak a little bit here now, because to get a great coach, to get, like, if you really want Josh McDaniels to be your head coach, you're going

to have to hire somebody that he wants to be the general manager. Is he the top guy? I don't know what I don't mean to know what, but is he the top game that you think? I would think when you go through all these jobs, I mean, look, he turned down. The job Kyle Shanahan has was Josh McDaniel's job last year. There's no disputing that. He turned it down. He didn't feel it was the right fit for him.

Even though they were willing to turn over all the authority to him, he just felt like there was enough in that front office that wasn't really right for him. With the York family and... Well, Prague, the assistant guy, was he going to be involved? How much analytics were going to be? I just don't think it was right for him. And obviously it's right for Kyle and it'll turn out. Now that they have Jimmy G., it might turn out really well.

But I think the Giants are going to have to change and shift. They bring Ernie of course, and their former general manager to help with the search, which is going to lead them down a road to fire, to hire this stereotypical general manager who then is going to hire their coach. This model doesn't work in the NFL. It really doesn't. I mean, the model that works is Pete Carroll gets the job. He interviews candidates.

They puts John Schneider in the job, and they have a happy marriage. This other way, it can work for a year or two, but it's never going to work for the long term. And it's not just the Giants that have an opening there for a head. coach. We're going to look across the league and you look at the Colts. Pagano will probably be out. That'll be a job that will open up. The Bears, John Fox, will most likely be out. That job will open up. There's so many openings in the NFL. I mean, on average, I believe we said there was seven, usually seven openings, but there aren't usually seven suitable coaches to go in and take these jobs. Right. I mean, you got to think Cleveland's going to open up too. I mean, I know Hugh

Hugh Jackson, of course. Loved by the Haslam family, of course. Love by the Hasam family, which they haven't quoted as saying, can Hugh run my next PR campaign? I mean, Hughes's really remarkable at it. I think the genius of Hugh Jackson is that if you speak for other people, then it becomes quotables that people believe, but it's not actually them saying it. Did you see what he did this week, which was brilliant? He started talking, like, you should really teach a class. We should get Jackson or somebody here over at USC. Yeah, teach a class on how to really get ahead of everything. He started talking about the future of Kaiser So-So and how he was going to be the quarterback next year and how much improvement he's going to make from

year one to year two. It was so obvious what he was doing. He's just trying to make it out like, you know. That he's grooming this quarterback. It's all for next year. It's for the future. And it takes everybody's eyes off the fact that he's now past John McKay as the leader of the team with the most losses in the worst time period of anybody over an expansion team. And he had an expansion team.

So look, I think that Cleveland job, Tampa Bay is going to open up. I don't think there's any. Somebody's going to have to get that one. And then I think there's wild cards. I think Denver's going to have to open up. I really do. I don't see how Denver's going to stay the same. I think that won and done, like I said earlier, if you lost, you can't make good time.

So Denver's going to make that decision. I think Cincinnati, I think Marvin Lewis, whether that's run its course, I don't know. Last night was a really bad loss for them because it looked like that was the kind of game where the Bengals get a big win over the Steelers and everyone. And they're back on. Yeah, they're back on track. And all they had to do is close it down. They beat themselves.

Pittsburgh didn't win that game. Cincinnati beat themselves. It was 17 to zero, right? It was 17. They gave up the cheap three points at the end of the half, which is uncalled for, right? And they lose by three. And they lose by three. That was going to be, that was going to be, you know.

And that's what what situational football matters. Like the last four minutes of every half really determines the outcome of the game. Obviously in the fourth quarter, it clearly does. But in the first half, it really does. And when you had the ball last, they score the touchdown, and then they give up those three points, horrible. And then you've got, is Dallas going to open up? Is the Clapper going to keep it or not? or is Arizona going to retire?

I mean, there's... What about Detroit? I mean, what about Caldwell? He just signed an extension. Oh, he did. That's not going to happen. So, you know, Detroit's not... Gras to Jim Caldwell.

I was pretty good. No, I mean, Detroit, look, they just gave Matthew Stafford a big contract, gave Jim Caldwell an extension. I mean, everybody in the media wanted Jim Caldwell to get extended at the beginning of the year, you know, but they don't want to wait. They go ahead and do it.

So, you know, look, there's some things to like about Jim Caldwell. And based on this marketplace, you got to wonder, like, who's going to fill these jobs, right? Yes. Where is these jobs going to go? So McDaniels obviously is the number one candidate. I think that everybody feels like, and I think he'll look to him first.

We have more Giants-related discussions in our next clip where Cousin-Salle and the degenerate trifecta talk about a Manning-focused gambling prop since he's back as a starter. And this clip from Against All Odds. So the prop this week is number of Eli Manning jerseys this Sunday at MetLife Stadium versus career passing yards for Jimmy Garabob. aka Tate the Snake Frazier. I'm putting this one at even. I'm not even making a spread on either side. Which number is going to be bigger, Parley, kid? Number of Manning jerseys or Jimmy Garoppolo passing yards career.

Well, so everybody here that I know in New York that roots for the Giants that has tickets, they've all given them away. Really? I think, yeah, everybody I know is the Cowboy fans are gobbling these tickets up. The Giants fans as of a couple weeks ago were getting rid of their tickets. Okay?

Garapolo, boy, Brian and I was so impressed with him last week watching that game. He can really make all the throws. By the way, Harry, what does MetLife hold? What is that stadium hold? It's the worst new stadium in football. 80, 80.

Yeah, I think it's 82. 80,000? Tate's is 82. All right. Yeah. Hey, they've been averaging 77,000 this year. Right. Let's break that down.

Eli jerseys are going to be out in... Yeah. You know, Eli jerseys are going to be out in abundance this weekend. I think any self-respecting giant fan will probably wear one to show support for Eli. There's going to be a lot of them. Garapolo, for as good as he looked, let's face it. That heat at the throw for a lot of yards, even though we like this kid, a lot. Where as high on them

as maybe Simmons is, and I think Shanahan is going to be a great coach for him. What a great trade team's going to regret not giving up maybe a first for this kid. Well, San Fran got him for a second. So I'm going to say, let's go with, there's still going to be more giant manning jerseys

in that stadium this week than Garapolo yard. So take the fans. All right. All right. Brother Bride, do you agree with your brother Darren in the Parley Kid? I disagree with you. them because as he was saying at the beginning, like most giant fans, I think, sold their tickets a week ago, but when they benched Manning for Gino.

So I think, yeah, I mean, how many Giant fans wear many Jerseyers this week, like 10,000? I mean, you might see just as many Romo jerseys in there. I do think half of this team is going to be Cowboy fans at least. I was just going to say you. I mean, obviously it's big for the Giants, but I think, like you were just talking about earlier, I think the Redskins games is going to be the real, the Swan Song for Eli. I could see a lot of jerseys, but 10,000 passing yards for Grapple is going to be easy from the past.

I know it's one game so far, but I could easily see this guy throwing for 30 to 35,000 career yards. I mean, there's guys on that list like Ryan Fitzpatrick who's thrown for like 27 or 28,000 yards. So I think this is – All right. Damn, can I change my thing? Good points, Brian. No, you can't change. Harry, what are you saying?

I know. It's too late. I deserve it. Harry, what do you think? Overall, I think this is a game, Eli, and the team should be focused on winning, and I think guys want to do it for the fans of New York, and I think the team will support them, and the team and Eli, and there'll be plenty of jerseys.

But career passing yards, look, I'm going to give this bet also to Garoppolo. Mind you, out of Eastern Illinois. Did you hear that, Darren? Oh, really? That's quarterback to ever come out of East. Eastern Illinois, meaning he's better than Tony Romo. Right. I just want to make that, I just want to make that stats since Gropolo's senior year at Eastern Illinois,

at Easton, 53 touchdown. While taking the dog to the vet, I looked this up today, I was curious. Gropolo, 53 touchdowns, nine picks in his senior year of 5,000 yards. The best season, Romo ever had at Eastern Illinois was 34 and 16. How did he have 16 picks at Eastern Illinois? How do you make the pros? But anyway, I'm going to go with Garapolo because, yeah, he's got a bright future, and he looks good, even though a lot of fans will support Eli.

I just wanted to throw that out there about the eastern Illinois. Harry, did you run that gem by your dog as you were taking him to the vet for the grooming? Or you just let it fly just now? Comets very interested during the Giants games, very interested. All right. Harry, do you weigh in there at the vet? Yeah, did you weigh in today? You know what, this was a different vet, this was a different vet, so I didn't want to.

Actually, I didn't want to get on that scale because, My dog usually weighs 76 pounds. This time he weighed 84, so I was definitely not getting on that scale. What the hell is going on? Are you feeding him the KFC? You weigh your dog in a road cart. Different vet. Oh, but the vet essentially gained eight pounds in a week?

I don't know. That's why I didn't want to get on that scale. All right. All right. That is very confusing. Tate, what do you say about it? I know, let's go. Garopolo, as the resident Jimmy Garoppolo of the show, are you saying career passing yards or Eli Manning jerseys? Yeah, I think it's Jimmy G. But I don't want to say him, so I'm going to say fans. Why not?

I'll tell you what. I think there's going to be, I think if there's 20,000 jerseys, that's a lot. Yeah. I think that's a lot of jerseys, and I think they will hit that. It's all going to be fans, like Harry, if he were there, all fans who were calling for Eli's head at some point. during the last two years. But they have to wear the jersey anyway. They're outraged about this coach and everything else. But, okay, a lot of hypocrites. I say about 20,000 hypocrites at MetLife Stadium. And that's not going to be enough.

I think Garoppolo, like Brother Bryce said, I think he falls in that 30,000 range. And you have the Alex Smiths, you have the Steve McNair's, you have Phil Sims right in there, you know, 33, 34,000. Even Tony Romo, the great Tony Romo, 34,000 passing yards. I like passing yards for the great Jimmy Garoppolo

over Eli Manning jerseys. Next up, Juliet Lippman and director of the Go-90 show the fifth quarter, Michael Ratner, interviewed maybe the most polarizing man in pro sports that has never actually played, Levar Ball. In this clip from sources say,

they talk about the Ball family's Hollywood pursuits. Was acting always in the mix for you in Lonzo? Well, not really in the mix. It's just what we do. We can act all day. How do you decide what projects are right for you then? Any project is right for us.

Really? The floodgates are going to open after this. Anything we decide to do when we feel like doing it and we got time for it, man, we're good at it. Is there anything you would say no to at this point? I'll say no to a lot of things. If I don't have time or if I don't feel like it, then I'll say no. What's the most recent offer, like a professional offer that you've rejected? I usually go ahead and do them.

I haven't said no to anything. Is acting something you're? guys like doing together? More fun, but it's just acting. It's just entertainment. Okay. Yeah, the two of them together also, like I directed LeVar and Kevin Hart, and I was just amazed because LeVar went toe to toe to him with him right off the bat. And obviously, that's what Kevin does every single day.

And they just had an amazing chemistry. And then I think it was only like two weeks later, right? LeVar, when we did the fifth quarter stuff with Lonzo. And, again, the scene back and forth and whatnot, LeVar really could turn it on. And he could take direction really well, too. Yeah. Between your other two sons, who is the better actor? Between my other two sons, I think they're all actors.

You just got to get them in the right moment. Okay. So there's no opportunity that we could really rule out for them or for you right now. No. Okay. Can we talk about the Lakers for a couple minutes? We sure. We can talk to anything you want to talk about.

We're on the phone. Let's go. Amazing. How do you guys feel about Coosmania that's taken over in L.A.? Cusmania? Yeah, the Kyle Coosma fans. Oh, I think that's a good thing. anybody that's on the Lakers and it got some fans behind them, I'm good.

I like that. All right. I like Kyle Huzma, too. I'm glad we're on the same page. Have you heard from the president in the last couple of weeks since you were last on CNN? I haven't heard. He hasn't called me on my phone. If he did, would you pick up?

If he called on my home phone, I would pick up. I'll call anytime. I'll pick up when y'all call. That's right. That's true. Whoever calls my home, I'm picking up. Taking calls from anyone. How did you first find out that he tweeted about you and was,

talking about you? I first found out he tweeted about me when I was on the way to one of my son's games. And then some reporter called me and asked me, and he said, did you respond on what Trump said? And I said, I don't know what he said. And then he read it to me. Were you offended? Offended for what? No, I'm not offended. It's got to be a pretty shocking phone call when you pick up and they say, hey, did you know the president of the United States just tweeted about you? Yeah. No, it's not a shocking phone call. Like I said, when you, when you had a certain level, anybody called you shouldn't be amazed at nothing. That's fair. I figure his entertainment, he's probably an entertainer too.

You thought he wanted some big baller brand stuff. He wanted the ZO2s. I mean, you can't play with the guy. That's what I'm talking about. I know he wanted them ZO2, but he tried to want to come like he wanted something else. If he invited you to the White House, would you go? If he invited me to the White House and if he had some Roscoe's chicken and waffles, I might come. But if he's doing the cooking, I ain't coming.

I need somebody that knows how to cook there if he's going to invite me to the Whitehound. So it's only if it's good food. Yeah, I want some good food. I'm not coming there to do no talking. I come to eat. dinner first and then talk. Is there any truth to his claims that he helped get your son back to the U.S.? There's no.

Okay. That's what he made the big deal about. Right. What did Leangelo think about all the attention? Leangelo, he don't think nothing about this stuff. I mean, he's just going along with his life now. The situation that happened, he made a bad decision. Now, that's over what we do now.

Do you have any sense of when he'll be playing again? When he'll be playing again for, we're talking about for, as far as just playing, plan, plan? He's going to play tomorrow. Oh, okay. Great. But it ain't going to be for the school and nothing like that, but he ain't going to stop working on his game. Yeah.

Do you know when he'll be back with UCLA? Do I know when he'll be back to UCLA? Yeah, playing for the team. Yeah. I do know. Are you allowed to say? Am I allowed to say? Yeah.

Sure, I'll say. You asking me? Never. Okay. How's that? Okay. That is emphatic. Exactly.

In our last clip of the week, we are pivoting to college football. So the college football playoff was met with disapproval with the University of Alabama claiming the final spot. over Ohio State. On Ringer University, Ben Glickman and Roger Sherman discuss if the committee got it right. So Roger, I guess I just got to start with the big question. Did the committee get it right? Was Alabama over Ohio State the correct call? Yes, that was yes, yes.

You know why? It's very easy. Tell me why. There are a lot of buzzwords we could use. We could say stuff like strength of schedule. We could say stuff like, you know, we couldn't talk about their word. resume could be used. To me, there's only one important thing.

Ohio State lost by 31 goddamn points to Iowa. And that's it. So you're all the way four, you think the committee got it right, you're good with the top four teams, you're good with Alabama in Spine. 31 goddamn points to Iowa.

And so, I mean, you know, both teams had one understandable loss to another team that was in the top 10. And additionally, Ohio State, got the crap kicked out of it by Kirk Farrants and the Iowa Hawkeyes.

They gave up 55 points. And so it was a pretty simple. It's pretty simple. The funny thing is no one seems to be arguing, oh, I think Ohio State is the better team than Alabama. A lot of people said, it looks to me like Ohio State has the better resume. They have more quality wins. they scheduled strongly by adding Oklahoma to their schedule. But I feel Alabama is probably the better team.

They didn't lose by 31 to anyone, especially not Iowa. And it wasn't as complicated as it seemed. That's actually what the committee said, and that actually is a really good segue to what I want to get into. Because I don't think the committee got it wrong, but I think I disagree on what the committee's charges. every time I look at sort of who should be in the field, my brain naturally thinks it should be the four most deserving teams, not necessarily the four best teams. And I think Ohio State was more deserving than Alabama was.

So ultimately, if I was picking the field, if I was a one-man unilateral selection committee, I would have had Clemson, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Ohio State as my fourth team. And, yeah, the sticking point is the best versus the most deserving argument, because I think, Ohio State had better wins. Wisconsin finished number six in the college football playoffs selection committee poll. Penn State was number nine. Michigan was number 16. All three of those are better than Alabama's best win. It had a conference championship, which Bama did not. Its first loss came to Oklahoma, which was the highest ranked team of any of the teams that either Ohio State or Alabama lost to. But that said, it's sort of coming back to what you're saying. If Alabama and Ohio State played on a neutral field,

who do I think would win? Probably Alabama. So if you're going just based on looking straight on paper, who is the best team, is hard for me to find fault with what the committee ultimately decided on. I think, and this is maybe my most crumudgeonly take here, I would go based on resume and who I think deserves it more, and that's why I would be in Ohio State. I just don't think anyone who loses by 31 to Iowa deserves it, man. That is the worst loss any team in the history of the playoff that's even been considered has suffered. There were so many things about Ohio State that were worse than any other team that's made the playoffs. They had two losses.

No, no team had had two losses before. Both of their losses were larger than the largest loss by any team in the first three years of the field. For me personally, I didn't like the idea of them being in the field with Oklahoma if they'd already lost Oklahoma. But that's my own personal take. No one else is talking about that. I think if you lose once to a team, you don't get the chance to meet them again later in the year. Okay, that is the roundup for this week. You can find the full-length versions of all of these podcasts and subscribe at the ringer.com slash podcasts.