Will Cain Country - Why Cancel Culture Is Killing Free Speech in Music (ft. Five For Fighting AKA John Ondrasik)

Episode Date: January 6, 2026

Story 1: Should artists keep politics out of music, or is music inherently political? John Ondrasik AKA ‘Five For Fighting,’ joins Will to discuss whether music should stay apolitical or if politics are unavoidable. He shares his firsthand experience being censored for his views, weighs in on artists rejecting their own hits, and explains how streaming has reshaped the industry.Story 2: Will and The Crew discuss where political expression in music crosses from meaningful to cringe. Will also reacts to viewer comments about his hair (and a Woody-from-Toy Story comparison) before laying out why removing Nicolás Maduro serves America First interests.Story 3: Has NIL and the transfer portal helped or hurt college football? Will and The Crew break down the latest controversy involving Texas WR Parker Livingstone and preview the games that matter most as the NFL playoffs heat up. Subscribe to ‘Will Cain Country’ on YouTube here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Watch Will Cain Country!⁠⁠⁠Follow ‘Will Cain Country’ on X (⁠⁠⁠@willcainshow⁠⁠⁠), Instagram (⁠⁠⁠@willcainshow⁠⁠⁠), TikTok (⁠⁠⁠@willcainshow⁠⁠⁠), and Facebook (⁠⁠⁠@willcainnews⁠⁠⁠)Follow Will on X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@WillCain⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One, the devil went down to Georgia. Lukenbach, Texas. 100 years. What's your relationship as an artist with your biggest hit? A conversation with five for five. John Androsi. Two, the rarest resource in Venezuela around Venezuela. The rarest resource in this story is not gold, is not oil.

The rarest resource is honesty coming out of Venezuela. Three, you, the Wallitia, on helmet hair, and more. It is Will Cain Country streaming live at the Willcane Country YouTube channel, the Willcane Facebook page, always available by following us on Apple or on Spotify. Jump into the comments section and you can be a member of the Willisha, as is Chris D.V., who told me just yesterday, Will, I love your show, but your hair looks like a plastic helmet today. Well, thank you for that, Chris.

You weren't the only person to comment on my hair yesterday. day and the willish has a lot of things to say about i guess what is a grown-out version a little bit longer my boy said a little bit of lettuce in the back um but i do not as i have been accused of having dyed chinese black hair on a middle-aged white man a little bit more of that coming up later here on the will cane country show but also revisiting venezuela a lot of talk about America First initiatives, including taking the world's biggest oil supply, running Venezuela, digging the record amounts of gold out of the ground in Venezuela, pushing out Chinese influence. But the rarest of outcomes and the rarest of resources seems to be right now the explanation from

President Donald Trump. He's not wrapping up anything about what we're doing in Venezuela in the Hallmark greeting card sales package of exporting democracy. He's telling the truth about conquest. He's telling the truth about interest. He's telling the truth about why this is America First and how it serves Americans. And that honesty might just be the rarest of resources. That's all coming up here today on Wilcane Country. But we have a treat to begin because we have a platinum.

selling artist. Today we're going to be hanging out with five for fighting. Story number one. John Androsic is five for fighting. He's a platinum selling artist multiple times over. Grammy nominated. You know him from at the very least Superman and 100 years. And he joins us now on Wilkie Country. What's up, John? Will, great to be with you. Big fan. Before we start, let me express my sincere condolences on your Cowboys. You know, I actually attended the Cowboys Chargers game, which was quite enjoyable. So, but all said, happy New Year, my friend. Thank you.

What a, what an insincere, wonderful way to start our relationship, John. I got a text yesterday from an executive at Fox who was saying, thank you for a Christmas gift, and he ended his text with Go Pat's. And I said, well, I'm really happy for you because I have no sports left, not Longhorns, not Cowboys, Not Mavericks to distract me from fraud or murder trials like Brian Koeberger or Venezuela. So I'm all in public. Don't worry. I won't be distracted by any bread and circus.

I won't be distracted by the Dallas Cowboys. Hey, John, I'd love to start with a question that I've asked a couple of artists because I'm just kind of fascinated by this concept. Okay? And it started with, I was at a concert in L.A. when I was a younger man at Pepperdine, still trying to live vicariously through my home state of Texas. And I went to Waylon Jennings at the House of Blues. And the crowd, John was yelling for, chanting for him to sing Luke in Boc, Texas. And Whelan took a step back from the microphone and went over to his barstool where he had not yet given up drinking and grabbed his glass of bourbon, took a sip, and walked back up to the microphone and said, I'm going to tell y'all's secret.

I hate that effing song. And ever since then, I've been fascinated by this idea of an artist's relationship to his hit. And I once had the opportunity to sit down with Charlie Daniels before he passed, the great Charlie Daniels. And I asked him, how did he feel about Devil went down to Georgia? And he was much more appreciative of his hit, you know, and in fact described it as mailbox money. You know, he said, I love that song every time I go to the mailbox. So I'm just, whether or not it's 100 years, which is an anthem for many. people, song that makes people cry or Superman. I'm just kind of curious how you feel about

those biggest hits. And I should say that I've already read you have described Superman as your firstborn. So I can anticipate your answer is going to be a lot to do with how I feel about my firstborn son. Well, again, I think I agree with Charlie. You know, I think any aspiring songwriter, their dream is to have songs that people sing back to them. And to have a couple that have become kind of part of the American songbook. I'm just incredibly grateful. But I'm also equally pleased that I still enjoy singing the songs, you know, whether it's the 10,000th time or not. There are other songs in my catalog. If I never sang again, I'd be perfectly fine. But certainly Superman having so many different contexts, of course, 9-11, the song for the heroes of

9-11, every time I go somewhere, there's a story. and it's inspiring to me. The song was a gift, Will. I wrote it in 45 minutes. You know, it kind of came, you know, from a higher power. 100 years also, because I'm always in there somewhere. You know, when I wrote the song, I was in the first half of the second verse, 33 family on my mind.

Now I'm in the bridge. And again, I think so many people kind of find themselves in that song somewhere. So I'm always living that song. And certainly I'm a different person now than I was then. So I love singing both those songs. And frankly, I have. a little kind of scorn for artists who are blessed to have a hit. And some of them won't even play it in their shows, which I think is so offensive. But I'm just incredibly grateful to still

be doing this and to have those two songs that matter to folks. What do you think motivates that artist that doesn't want to play the hit? Is it just selfishness? I'm tired of that song. I've played it too many times as opposed to how you feel. And by the way, John, I can appreciate and understand at a much lower level. Don't think I'm trying to put myself on the same position of you. But whenever I'm out and somebody approaches me, sometimes my friends will go, does that ever get old? I'm like, never. It never gets old. And it's not about my ego. It's not like, ooh, I got a little boost of what it feels like to feel famous. No, it's, it's, I'm not doing this thing to sound away. It's genuinely how I feel, I feel so appreciative when people come up to me. It's like,

wow, you give me time out of your day. That's really, really gracious. And I'm, I'm appreciative. So I wonder sort of the mindset of the artist that goes, I'm not playing that song. Well, I think part of it is, you know, artists like to believe they, and they have more than their hit. You know, there's 13 songs on an album, you know, folks watching, if you don't know what a record is, ask your grandparents. But again, I think, you know, we like to think there's more to us than our hits, right? So I think a lot of artists, you know, will come out and people will start screaming from the first. moment of 100 years Superman, you know, and you're like, I have other songs. But the reason people can hear those other songs are because of your hit, you know. So again, again, I think

it's, and also I was fortunate that, you know, I had success very late in life relatively for musicians. You know, I was in my late 20s, early 30s when I had hits. You know, when you're 18 and you're, you know, you're the top of the world, you know, it's like the eldest thing, right? your maturity stops when you have a hit. So I have a deep gratitude just for the fact that I have this career. So again, and I think most people love playing their hits. I know Charlie loved playing his hit.

You know, I actually was at a few shows with him. And I was jumping up and down just like everybody else. And that energy fills you up. And part of a job as a professional. I mean, and you know this too. You got to do two shows every day. You've got to find a reason to be excited about what you're doing. You look out in the audience and you see somebody singing the song.

Maybe they're crying. Maybe they're like standing up. So you take energy from the crowd as well. Man, I think something you said there is so key. And I don't want to do an audience for a small number of people here, but I think everybody is fascinated by sort of the way celebrities handle fame. And something you said is so key that you had your first hit, what you described is later in life.

But for both of us, it still sounds early now in retrospect, you know, 2830. But you had received a level of maturity and I think, therefore, the ability to handle and put into perspective what was changing your life where, well, not it's an athlete or somebody that shoots out of the gates, famous. I'm not absolving them of their behavior the way they view the world, but you can understand how they lose all perspective when you get famous so young. Yeah, you know, Landon Donovan actually said something to me that really stuck with me. You know, he said, we were talking about this exact thing.

because, you know, every time we do a show, we may not be at our top, you know, our top best. You know, we may be tired, we may be sick, we may have problems at home. And he said to me, you know, I've been playing a soccer game every day, you know, every week since I was five years old. And there's many days I don't want to go out and do this. And he said, but, you know, at every game, there's one person in that crowd, at least, who came to see me, and it's the only time they'll see me in their lifetime. and I owe it to them to do my best, to give my best. And I feel that same way as an artist.

You know, every show I do, there's one person there. It'll be the only time they ever see me. And if I'm blessed to have this life, the least I can do is give them my best. Is it perfect all the time? No, are there issues sometimes? But I think, and again, struggling, you know, I'm a 15-year overnight success, buddy. You know, so, you know, struggling for, you know, for those many years also gives you certain humility and gratitude.

Yes. Let's go back to Superman. You said you wrote it in 45 minutes. You did describe it as sort of divine intervention. How does it normally go? What went differently with Superman? Well, you know, songs can take days, months, years. You know, 100 years took, you know, three months to write once I had the basic concept.

It's very rare that you get a song that complete that quickly. Of course, it sounds like, it sounds very cool, but, you know, talk about the thousands of songs you wrote before that, right? You know, most of them terrible. They're kind of the path to that 45 minutes. I wrote a song called The Riddle that was a very popular song. It took almost a year. So most of songwriting is drudgery, misery, failure, going back to the drawing board. But when you have the work ethic, and a lot of it's worth epic, you know, I'm not Elton John.

I can't come down and have a lyric on my song. piano and write Rocket Man every day. You know, you know, some people are just prodigies. For most of us, like anything, it's work ethic, it's dedication, it's failure, it's coming back, it's getting up, and, you know, writing thousands of songs. And if you're blessed, you know, you get a couple that people know. So again, but yes, and when I first wrote Superman, I didn't think it was for me. I'm like, oh, yeah, it's nice. I'm a rocker. I listen to Zeppelin, the Who. But my producer kept saying, man, you got to cut that little song. And I'm like, I'll give it to James Taylor or something, and he said, cut that little, we called it a little

song. And when it first came out, nobody wanted to play it. It was the 90s, you know, 2000s, Lilifair, boy bands, grunge music. It wasn't the 70s. And it was just one of those fluky things that kind of caught on. And because it was different, really became an iconic song. You said, I'm a rocker, and I did read this, John. So the original career, which by the way, did include a band named John Scott was sort of in that in that mold it was as I think you've described as a bit Bon Jovi and I and I think you described that the problem with that band what blew it up was almost overnight it was Nirvana well it was hilarious I was just out of college and I met Rudy Sarzo who was a bass player from white snake and Ozzie and quiet

riot and his buddy was John was Scott Sheets who was Pat Benatar's former guitar player So we formed this band. I was 22. They were all in their 40s. And it was all Pat Benatar's ex-players. And we were having some success. We were writing some songs. And as you said, then one day this little band called Nirvana came out. And that whole hair band era was over literally in hours. And for me, again, I was fortunate. I went back to the piano. I started writing my Elton Billy songs. And that's really kind of where my, I think, skill set and heart is. But it was a lot of fun. Those guys are still my. buddies. It's fun to kind of rock out. They had great stories. I was like the almost famous kid. They would take me to big rock shows and said, oh, right, you can go in that room, but don't go in that room. So it was a great experience. I learned a lot, and they're great mentors. Rudy today is still a great mentor for me. So, you know, when you talk about something changing overnight and Nirvana arriving on the scene, I think what you're alluding to, or what we should fill in the blanks there,

is all of a sudden the business changes and the appetite for sales and not just sales, because that's downstream, the appetite for producing, for buying something that's not grunge goes away. So that kind of leads me to my curiosity on this. So, you know, you've gravitated over time, but I don't want to rob you of the message of the entirety of your career because I don't think you are not doing soulless music. Your music has a message, but over time your message has evolved to be more embraced or more overt. I don't necessarily want to say political. but you have become more open as well about, you know, what you have to say. I'm just curious about back to the business side of that, how that works.

Like, is that something that the recording industry? And of course, they're not as important as they used to be. But is that something the recording industry says, no interest in message music, John? Well, you know, I think throughout my career, you can kind of see my worldview. I've never been, at least to the last few years, kind of quite as out with some of my messages. but that was circumstances, you know, kind of determined that. But, of course, I wrote a lot about freedom. I wrote about our troops, which has kind of been the passion for my life.

I wrote about America. And I think people were fine with that because, you know, it was, I think, songs that most folks get around, and I don't think it was really directed at anybody, but kind of a love for our troops in America. But then in the last few years, as you know, I've written some songs that have a little more direct messages. To me, they're not political songs, they're moral songs, but of course, in this day and age, everything's political. And yes, if I had a record company like I did Columbia Records 15, 20 years ago, there would have been big problems with some of the things I've been writing. But again, I think the songwriter's role is to express themselves. Not everybody's going to agree, and I don't expect them to. But we've seen that in musical history for the last, you know, 70, 80 years. you listen to the music of the 60s, you get a sense of the times. And I'm doing nothing different than the folks did back then.

That's what I was going to say. It's like back then they called it protest music, which that meant largely it had one point of view, whether or it was political or a message. It had one sort of overriding point of view, which was anti-establishment, anti-authoritarian, to some extent at the time, anti-government. So do you feel like the message to you, again, if it was Columbia, because you're not, you know, you've written a song about the withdrawal from Afghanistan. You've done stuff about Ukraine. You've done stuff about Israel. Do you feel like the response, and we're projecting a little bit, but you've been in the business for a long time.

Is it, hey, John, we don't think that will find commercial success or, hey, John, we're not on board with your message? Mostly the latter. I have to, you know, to be honest with you, I think. It's funny how you talked about the songs being protest songs to the man back in the day. Now, unfortunately, the media in the industry is the man. If you are writing songs that don't go with their worldview, you become an outcast. You become a pariah. As you said, in the last few years, I've written songs about kind of world issues.

And there's many different kinds of censorship. You know, when I wrote blood on my hands about the American withdrawal, everybody said, you cannot put that out. You cannot, it will end your career. And my thought was, well, our Afghan veterans need a voice. They're gutted by the fact that we abandon their allies. And I thought to myself, you know, if John McCain could stay in a Vietnam prison for a few days and let the guy before him come out, I can release a stupid song. And that song came out and became a voice for our veterans. Now, to be honest with you, would have I done that 30 years ago?

I don't know. I would hope I would. But certainly there's passive censorship. There's direct censorship. We can talk much more about that. But, you know, YouTube ended up taking down the song because it was critical of the administration. So I think I've lived this kind of passive and proactive. When we send it out to music publicists and periodicals, you know, usually we get a lot of press.

We sent the song to 400 music press artists. outlets. How many do you think covered it? I'm assuming zero. One. The Voice of America. So again, that's what you have to deal with. And again, to me, it's if a Republican president had abandoned our allies in Afghanistan, plunged that country into the dark ages, the song would remain the same. Only the names would have changed.

But, of course, in this day and age, everything's political. Everybody has an agenda. Is that what you just described for me, is that passive censorship? You said we could talk more about this. Is that your experience with passive censorship? What about what you said, direct censorship? Well, I think direct censorship is doing what YouTube did. People saw that the song was damaging the Biden administration.

It was becoming very popular. The video was becoming, you know, viral. press was picking up on it, conservative press, so YouTube took it down. And of course, when I asked why, they said, well, there's graphic images. And of course, within an hour, I put up 15 more videos that had more graphic images. And to be honest with you, without some of our friends, you know, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, folks, you know, kind of that share a worldview, I would have been crushed like every other conservative story. But because we had, you know, basically proof what they were doing, it became an international story. And as my old buddy Andrew

Breitbart liked to do, you know, that's how you actually get traction. And all of a sudden it's being covered from around the world, not because of the song, but because YouTube took it down. So that's that's proactive censorship. The media, the music media not covering its proactive censorship. Of course, if there was a Republican president and I wrote that song, I probably would have got a Grammy or a nomination. More passive censorship, I would have to say is the song I wrote for Israel. I wrote a song called Okay, We're Not Okay, basically supporting Israel, calling out the atrocities of Hamas. Now that, you know, that song became a voice for the Jewish people. But frankly, in the music industry, I've never seen a greater disgrace in my life.

There's silence after October 7th. It's been disgusting. It's been shameful. There's a lot of reasons for it. But the passive kind of censorship is people are afraid to write a song in support of Israel. People are afraid to say I support Israel. Many Jewish artists are quiet after October 7th, which again shows how broken this industry is. And so the

passive, and I get so many calls and comments from people in the industry say, oh, thank you for writing that. Thank you. I can't promote it because I might lose my job, but thank you for writing that. So that's more of a passive censorship where people are just afraid to say what they believe

because they are in fear of their livelihoods. don't go anywhere. I want to continue this conversation with Five for Fighting, John Androsic on Will Kane Country. This is Ainsley Earhart. Thank you for joining me for the 52 episode podcast series, The Life of Jesus. A listening experience that will provide hope, comfort, and understanding of the greatest story ever told. Listen and follow now at Fox News Podcasts.com, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Welcome back to Will Kane Country. We're still hanging out with Five for Fighting, John Androsic. wait let's explore that just a bit more because look this is interesting on on two levels it's not just a jewish artist it's jewish record label executives i would assume that you know there's a

there's a segment in in how about this there's a segment of people out there quite honest to say jews run everything including the record industry right yeah um there's a segment of people that would believe that the record industry is overwhelmingly liberal because of course it is and therefore or they're aligning with, I guess, left-wing causes, which somehow, some way, is the right-wing Palestinians. But I don't, so what's, what is the reason that you would have such, as you described, it's silence then, with all that in the background inside the recording industry? Well, here's a very cynical answer.

And I asked, I asked a very prominent music reporter that, that exact question. I said, Jewish executives are running these companies, and they're silent, and there's no consequences for artists basically coming out saying kill the Jews. I go, how can that be? And she said, well, there's 15 million Jews and a billion Muslims that consume records. And that just made me sick. And I talked to artists. Look, I was honored to play the concert for New York. Hold on, John.

That was the answer from a music. reporter? Yes, who talks to these people every day. Now, what's you a little cynical? Maybe, but look, I think there is that calculator. They don't want to offend their artists, you know, who are many of them have swallowed the woke, you know, oppressor virus. But it's disgusting. And I'll have to say, you know, I talked to certain artists, what I was going to say about the concert for New York is all those artists that came on that stage, all those icons, they're of our generation, right? They have not been indoctrinated by the woke virus. They have not been, kind of crushed by this kind of media barrage to our kids.

They know better, but they are silent after October 7th. Bono said a couple words, but that was it. And so, you know, to me, I think a lot of this is moral cowardice. And I asked them, why can't you say anything? Why can't you just say Hamas is bad? How can, you know, and they said, well, you know, I'm afraid for, you know, my family. I get it. I get death threats. I have to have extra security. They say, well, I don't want my concerts protested. I go, I get it. And I said, you know what else? That's exactly what people said in 1938. That's exactly what artists did in 1938. And look where that led. So again, Will, I have no good answer for you for this. I think it's it's the woke mind virus. It's moral cowardice. It's group think. And it's a shame because the music, the arts are what are. supposed to give light to human rights issues. We are live aid. We are Sun City. We are the

concert for New York. And now we're the party, the concert, the industry of Hamas, Venezuela, the Taliban, it's gross. You mentioned in the course of those answers to me, you described, you used a royal plural. You said we, you know, I think you're referencing that you and I probably share a lot of the same worldview. You talked about our friends, Sean Hannity and Mark Levin. So you're describing yourself in some ways, at least, I'm so hesitant, John, to use these types of brands and labels and words, but to some extent, conservative. And I'm just curious in that industry, then therefore, how, why, always in your life? Like, what is this, how is this the development of your life?

Again, I've never been someone who stands on my soapbox and lectures people. I find that kind of annoying from celebrities. But no, I, you know, I was raised by a middle class family. We had a family business. I still work at our family business. I've worked with my whole career. We manufacture shopping carts. We actually just opened a facility in Dallas near you.

So I've lived in the world where you have to make a payroll where people work hard. where I see the American dream every day, I was a huge fan of Reagan. He sat behind me at a King's game once. So I think my whole philosophy is kind of Reagan-oriented, but I would certainly look at myself as a moderate. You know, I was kind of socially liberal and financially conservative, like so many folks are and were.

And I think the left has just gone so far, you know, wacko that I may seem a little more right-wing than I am. Look, I wrote a song called Can One Man Save the World about Ukraine? Basically, you know, talking about the heroism of Zelensky and Putin. And I've gotten a lot of heat from the right for that. You know, so, you know, some people love this song. Then they hate that song. Then they love that song.

You know, Good Morning America debuted Can One Man Save the World, right? The media embraced that song, but to me there's moral messages. I bet they did. Yeah, they did. That song was embraced by Good Morning America. Did they play your song? Did they play OK about Israel? Of course not.

But you know what? Fox News embraced Kim Woman and Save the World. They played the whole thing. I was on Fox and Friends. I was sitting there and, you know, Brian Kilmead was crying. You know, it's like these heroic Ukrainians fighting the behemoth that is Putin. So to me, you know, does that mean that we're doing everything right in Ukraine, that we should write a black and check? I was there.

I was there with a Republican congressman. I went there. I saw empty, you know, thousands of empty trucks. What are in those trucks? Does that mean we have to write a blank check to Ukraine? Of course not. But Putin's the bad guy. Putin's the bad guy.

The Hamas is the bad guy. The Taliban's the bad guy. Maduro's a bad guy. And to me, it's nothing more than that. And I'll write songs about bad guys and some people will love them. Some people won't. But this is called America. And that's what makes us great.

It's good. Can I assume there's a song coming out? about Venezuela? I don't want to write that song. I think it's going to be called Marco Rubio's 17th job, you know. While we're on the subject of bio, it's not just your world in your politics that might set you apart from the music industry. Also, your college major and your degree have to set you apart from the music industry.

I just saw this. UCLA, it is applied something. science and mathematics. Well, I'm talking to a Pepperdine lawyer here. So look, my dad was an astrophysicist. You know, my dad was an astrophysicist. Worked at JPL. I had an amazing upbringing kind of, you know, watching, you know, from our couch,

the American kind of space race and always been kind of had the aptitude for it. And to be honest with you, I was, you know, pursuing music at a very young age. And I needed a fallback, you know, and I was good at math. well, if I can get a math degree and this whole thing blows up, I can get a job. And it was kind of that was my mindset. I was writing songs in my dorm every day. And most of those brain cells are long gone. But yeah, my mom's the musician.

She was a piano player, USC grad, and my dad was the engineer. So I think I got both genes. Do you think those brain cells are long gone? Because I've always heard that music is mathematical, that there's a lot of overlap between math and music. Of course. You look back in history, you know, Galileo, Einstein, all, you know, musicians. And certainly there is, certainly, particularly in, you know, the classical music. You know, I had a choice in my early 20s. I, you know, most singers, rock singers train operatically. Many people don't know that. But I was, you know, training with one of the leading, you know, voice teachers in L.A. and you would see Axel Rose come through. You would see Jack White. You would see Don Dock and all these guys. So I was singing opera. I had a chance to do that, but, you know, for me, I was a rock and roller at heart. But certainly there's a connection to music and especially high-level math, high-level, because it's all creative, right?

It's all creativity. It's all thinking beyond the box. So, yeah, no, you're exactly right. And I think that part of the brain certainly is important in my music as well. Let's talk for a minute, John, just following my own curiosity about the business. Yeah. Because we talked a lot about record companies and the influence they can have on what is released. But that's obviously changed over time because you can go direct to the consumer.

You can put out your own music. You can stream directly. But I never fully understood the mathematics anymore. Like, what is the mathematics of being a successful? And when I say successful, we'll put this in financial terms. Success in life is not defined by financial terms. But you'd like to be able to make a living at what you do. And if you're into music, streaming.

live, you've licensed a ton of your music to television, I think 350 music and movies and series. So, like, what's the pie chart look like now in music? It's certainly different. When I first, you know, I kind of caught the last wave of the music business. You know, when Superman came out, 2001, it was the record industry sold their most records. Of course, here comes Napster, and the whole thing literally collapsed in a year. So back then, certainly, Record sales were part of that, publishing was a huge part of that, licensing was a huge part of that radio play, but of course most of that has disappeared.

Certainly, you know, you could take a zero off the licenses now because there's so many people that are competing for those slots. Record sales, of course, have dwindled to virtually nothing because people buy singles. You know, a record would sell, you know, the record company would make $5 on a record sale. For a single, they'd make 30 cents. So that just explains the collapse of the industry. But as you said, these days, I think it's never been easier to be heard. Back in the day, if you didn't have a label, nobody would hear you. But a lot of these artists basically start on YouTube.

They can make a living on YouTube. They don't need a label. But to answer your question, a lot of income now is touring, particularly if you do not write your own songs. If you do not write your own songs, it's touring. other branding. That's where you make your money. But it's come back. You know, certainly the streaming has caught up a little bit. You know, if you have billions of billions of streams, you'll make some money. But yeah, the days of tour support, you know, record company is giving you three records to have a hit like Springsteen. Those are long over. But also, I think,

you know, you can make a record on your laptop for, you know, two grand that used to cost you $200,000. You can make a video, you know, for a thousand bucks. It's better than, you know, than any video MTV showed, you know, for the first 20 years. So I think there's, like anything, with technology and culture, there's positives and negatives. And my daughter's an aspiring songwriter, and I'm watching her go through it. But at the end of the day, it's still about a good song. And AI has still not written a great song that I've heard. And AI is never going to sell out Madison Square Garden.

No, I can't see AI selling out Madison Square Garden. I do wonder if AI is going to be able to write a song. And we could get into a philosophical discussion about the spark of creativity and what is humanity. One more question on the business, because, look, John, one of my favorite artists of all time is George Strait. He always has been. I love George Strait. But George Strait also notoriously does not write his own songs. He buys songs.

And just when you said that, it got me thinking, like, I wonder if the economics has collapsed for George Strait because of that. Now he streams a ton of music, I'm sure. And I don't know how much that's going to him versus the songwriter and how that's, split up, but he is back on the road a little bit. And he's rich beyond all, I'm sure, unless he's spent like a drunken sailor. I don't think he has to worry. But I wonder an artist like George Strait if that forces them back on the road in the modern economics. It totally does. It totally does. As, you know, and the vast majority of my earnings in my career have been publishing relating because I own the copyrights for my songs. Elvis never wrote

a song. You know, it's like song, you know, song, now there are some artists, and I find a disgusting that will only cut years. So by the way, on that, John, does that mean in your mind that the Elvis estate is probably bringing in a lot less than it was in the previous 30 years because he didn't write those songs? He doesn't own the rights to those songs. And it required, you know, album sales when he was alive touring. And none of those exist. And none of those exists. anymore, so the Elvis estate is probably bringing in a lot less than it did because of streaming? Well, the Elvis estate is unique because the brand of Elvis, I know this because we were creating a TV show around the Memphis Mafia. The brand of Elvis is more alive than ever.

So there's so many other income streams. But for typical artists, yes, like Destiny's Child, boy bands, they don't write their own songs typically. So their only income is record sales, which is very rare because you rarely recoup. I just, recouped 20 years later, my record company debt. So that usually never happens. So basically, your only income is touring. And so yes, I have many rock star friends, you know, who've played arenas their whole lives,

who are playing, you know, the club around the corner because they don't own the copyrights. And again, so, you know, it's just the reality, it's always the writer, right? Write your own content, whether it's, you know, a scriptwriter, a song, writer. And so again, to me, and I think, you know, I think that's the way it should be. The songs are what last a million, you know, years, hopefully, and thousands of artists can

sing your songs. But fortunately for me, I wrote my own songs and still do that, and they do pay the bills. One last question, John, to bring this full circle, talking about the message and all of that. You know, the audience has probably heard me bring this up more than once. There's this famous commencement address by the author David Foster Wallace that I like a lot and I've made my sons listen to it

and he talks about the concept of worship and he's like you know basically he makes the argument that worship his attention and it's what you place at the top of your totem pole when it comes to priorities and so if you worship money you know you'll never have enough

if you worship your intellect you'll find yourself in every room feeling like a fraud if you worship your looks you'll die a thousand deaths because you get old. And on and on, he said, and for my money, you know, like among the things out there to worship, God is one of the best. But when he talks about this, it really you think about what the word worship means. And it does have a lot to do with attention.

And I think about that when it comes to music. I think about it myself because, look, I don't always listen to. In fact, I very rarely listen to music with an uplifting positive message. I'm a huge country music fan, and let's be real about the message in country music. It's a lot of whiskey, it's a lot of depression, you know, and I think about kids listening to hip hop. And I'm not trying to be the old man, but the message inside of it is pretty degenerate. And you think about the effect of the devoted attention and therefore the worship to that message. And it makes you a little worried about what, like with anything else, are you eating junk food, are you watching junk food, are you listening to junk food?

And I wonder what you think about sort of popular culture and its message. Well, it's not just music. I think it's all kind of art or influence. You know, if you look on TikTok, you know, one reason we have this terrible problem with the youth, you know, you look at the polls. More people, more younger people support Hamas and Israel is because of the influence and the music that people are hearing. That's all they know. That's all they hear. These artists are radical anti-Semites, and it affects the culture.

And to be honest with you, I think our side has never understood the power of the culture, the power of the arts over the culture. In my mind, one song is worth a thousand speeches. I've lived it. I've seen it. And if we ignore that, we're going to lose. And we are losing in many respects. So I agree with you.

At the same time, I listen to those songs, too. and the songs are escapes, and maybe it's a way for us to kind of deal with our challenges, and that's what music is. I don't think music necessarily has to be uplifting and happy. I think it has to be authentic, and people can find what they need. The nice thing about a song,

I remember when Superman came out, I'd get a lot of letters from our troops overseas, and they would talk about how the song mattered to them, but it was so many different ways. Well, I use it to escape. I use it to focus. I used it to prepare for the mission. I use it to wind down.

The great thing about music that is unique, we take the song and apply it to our lives in a way that matters to us. Music is the only thing that does that. And you may listen to a sad song and have a memory that goes along with it and maybe it cheers you up, maybe it makes you. That's the great thing about music.

So I think as long as it authentic is important. But of course, as a father, I realize that. I'm not a big Taylor Swift fan of her music. I'm a huge Taylor Swift fan of the human. human being. Because, you know, tens of millions of little girls grew up with her. And you know what? She was a pretty good role model. And there's not a lot of great role model. So I like to celebrate the ones that are kind of understanding that they have an obligation to our kids. Many of them don't. All right, before we go, John, I don't know if it's true, but this is what my producers

tell me, that you're willing and interested in playing a little bit of something for us, 30 seconds of something that you've either worked on or you've got here. And if you are, man, you're we'd love it well thank you will and as i as i leave you i got to say thank you again was a big fan of yours at yespn and love what you're doing over there um let me back up here awesome thank you actually uh i wrote this song with luka he came over the other day um he loves l a come on yeah yeah yeah he came over and um and we were talking i told him i was coming on your show and um so we wrote this little song together for you Yeah, so.

I can't stand to fly. I'm not that naive. I'm just out to find the better part of me. I'm more than a bird, more than a plane, more than some pretty face the side of train. It's not easy. to be the Dallas Cowboys. Well, I'm glad that Luca is living his life in L.A. and happy with you. That's the biggest lie I've told today. I'm not happy. I'm very disappointed about everything,

including the Dallas Cowboys. But I'm not disappointed this interview. This has been awesome. Thank you for sending us so much time with this, John. I've loved it. I loved every minute of it. Thank you, man. well thank you for fighting the good fight every day buddy happy new year all right happy new year to you john androsick five for fighting check him out of course you already have but make sure you uh keep those streams going but also go see him live in concert he's written his stuff so he's good to go as well in fact i got a lot of comments here um that have come in and i want to go through them uh here's a little taste that Dan, that Dan has already sent in two days from Florida Petty Gals says, please tell me Will Kane is going to do the Seal Challenge this year. I'm so ready for

shirtless Will so he better knock off the holiday food. Oh, there's been a big setback on the Wilcane New Year, New Me, 2026. In fact, I'm going to fill you in on that setback when we come back on Wilcane Country. One thing I love, no matter how this turns out, no matter what happens, no matter whether or not we get the gold, whether or not we get the oil, when not we kick out China. One thing we've already got is honesty when it comes to Venezuela. It is Wilcane Country streaming live with the Wilcane Country YouTube channel and the Wilcane Facebook page.

Follow us on Spotify or on Apple. Jumping in the comments section. Poll question up, two days Dan put it up. It is, do you want? politics out of music? Do you want a message inside your music? And this is some of what you had to say out there. Shoshana McClew says on YouTube, we need truth, experience, and emotions in our music. We love stories. How can politics be avoided? Boundaries are essential. Timothy Henry says, why can't people have common sense and stop be offended by everything? But now, Freedom,

Q9L, says, I don't want to hear their politics coming from. from a rant. I don't care about politically motivated good songs. I think that's interesting to it is. I think that's interesting tinfoil. You know, I'm going to give you an example. I always have liked Green Day, um, the music. Now, Green Day, the rant, I don't love. I don't want to hear their opinion in a magazine article, quite honestly. And I'm sorry to rob them of that, but I'm uninterested. But like, you know what I like? I like American Idiot. It's a good song, you know, and it's basically calling me an American idiot, you know, but I'm not offended when I listen to it. And so that music can, it's true, like I don't care about the politics

inside the music. It's more the expert, you know, at the podium that I find. Like Taylor Swift on Trump. Yeah, and I'm wondering if I feel the same way about. video content because I think I hold it against a series or a movie more when it's baked into the content. Isn't that interesting? You do. I think that I forgive the music. I forgive the music and I hold it against the television or movie. Well, that's because like CCR, for example, they have a fortunate son and it's almost become like this, I mean, it is a protest song, but people don't look at it like a protest song anymore. They look at it differently because like when you're watching a TV show, you can see, see what's more egregious. Whereas like music, you just kind of like embrace it and take it in. It's like kind of like washes over you. It's like what John said about you can make a song whatever you want it to be for yourself. So you could use it to motivate you or make you sad, you know, so it can change that way.

Well, I think there's a, there's also an overtness that is key. So I've started re-watching Game of Thrones with my sons. And, you know, Game of Thrones is a political show. I don't know that it has that much to say about modern politics, but it is a political show. And it is really well done, you know, whereas some of these, and not to just go ahead, but like these George Clooney, who I think is a great actor, but sometimes when he does the political-based movies, it's just so on the nose, you know, that you're like, I don't need. two hours of this message coming from that.

It's like the music like the new Leo movie. Like you said people said it was woke but I didn't see that. I could see why they said that but it because you thought. Tammy Nichols 8935 says on

YouTube I think there's nothing wrong with political music. It's freedom of speech. Look at Toby Keith just like Lee Greenwood. And that's something you all have to be, we all have to be honest about, right? I like the ones I like. I don't like the ones I don't like. So it's not really whether or not there's politics in the music. We're passing judgment on what the politics are in, in the music. Because everybody, I mean, we'll put a boot in your ass. It's the American way. Come on. I love that from Toby Key. Yeah. You know, I've listened to

a lot of punk though. And like, punk is like, it's changed. Yeah. Punk is, it's, it's, it's, it's, It's two on the nose, whereas, like, before it was a little, it was a little better the way they, like, brought it in. Like, English punk, like, against, against the monarchy, you know? Sure. It's just like, it just feels like, I don't know, I'm just a little tired of, like, the orange man, I don't know, just the common Democrat talking points, whereas before it was a little more creative to me. I don't know. What is punk? Is that sex pistols?

Is that Ramon? Yep What is punk Is that Those are tight Yeah Butthole surfers Yeah

What is Bad brains Yeah Then you have skate punk Which is You know Then you have pop punk That came along

Which is way different Yeah That's political That like Green Day Started off as punk And then they became pop punk Blink 182 Pop Punk

Right It's different You know It's not as Right I like that stuff Yeah I like Pop punk

Yeah I call it skate punk Because like Pop Punk is also consider what like newfound glory a little bit sure little emo so that's not i don't like that as much i'm way way outside in my comfort comfortable zone right now talking about punk samantha garcia on facebook says honestly i really appreciate conversations like this because free speech and different opinions actually matter a lot and it's not to see people discussing it openly with

respect it makes you think about how important it is to listen to each other instead of canceling every time we disagree i totally agree samantha um meanwhile I don't really understand what's going on here, but original names 9571 says, I'm nominating Will to play Woody in the inevitable live-action adaptation of Toy Story. So why am I all of a sudden being cast in Toy Story? Well, so there's been talk online that they're doing a live-action Toy Story movie. So they're saying who would play Buzz Lightyear and Woody, you know, the old characters. So we put together a little graphic what it would look like.

I think you'd pull it off pretty well there. You know, I think there's Woody. I'm too old for Wood. There's Will Kane and the hat. I think you could pull it off. I see it the hair, the face shape. It works out. Woody's really old.

He's from like the 50s. Yeah. Woody's old. Yeah. I think it would be great. You got the accent already, the outfit probably. I'm just going to sit here for a while and marinate in that I have the same face shape as well like you said that like that was such a side swipe that i couldn't move on from i'm

like how do i have woodie's face yeah bone bone structure the ratio of width look at the ratio of width to height of his head and that's what i've got going on he's got cheek bones he's three times as long as he is wide is that what my face and head look like yeah i'll take that back you're right Maybe lately, maybe lately, because this is what I've got going on with the hair. I told you earlier that Chris D.V. says I look like I'm wearing a plastic helmet. And then this happened. The guy, luckily I took a screenshot because this guy's deleted it. I did show this on the Will Cain Show, but his name is John La La La. And he CCs all the Ruthless podcast on this as well. So it makes me wonder what's up here.

This is the post. And I think I have it here. if you want to zoom in, Dan, for anybody watching on YouTube or Facebook. Will Kane, your hair dye job is capital, hands down, the worst on Fox. You've surpassed Lucas Tomlinson for the worst dye job. L.O.L. He's not done. He's still going. L.O.L. Chinese black hair does not look good on a middle-aged white guy. You're culturally appropriating, too? That's what, yeah, that's right.

like I go into the hair dye place and they go what would you like I go make me look Chinese like like I want 20 year old Chinese that's what I'd like you know no gray pure jet black can you do it for me and they're like we got it we got we got the bottle here it's called shoe polish yeah I um what what this guy was super aggressive until I posted this and shared it on television and then he deleted it which I John la la la I mean like what's up like don't run from what you have to say did did you get some some pushback. Let me start with this. Lucas, I'm sorry for the strays. I don't know why you're catching strays, Lucas Tomlinson. I don't know if Lucas dyes his hair. In fact, Lucas and I, I would describe this as at least friendly, if not friends, like we message each other, we text. I've never met Lucas in person. I don't think I've ever met Lucas in person. I don't know if he's 5-5 or 6-5. Here we go again. We'll obsess the time. I don't know. So I don't, by the way, my sons also say this, just like you guys in the audience. My son say I'm obsessed with height, but actually I never thought that I was.

I don't know if Lucas dyes his hair. No idea. But I do know this, and I'm sorry, I might sound offensive here. You know, and it's like a fart. The smeller's the feller. I, this may make me look guilty. I don't dye my hair, which, for the record, John, makes your comment get in my head more. Like, how does my hair look like this if I'm not dying?

How do I naturally look like I have a bad dye job? Like, what is going on there? And the weird thing is, I'm getting grayer. I think I got grayer over the Christmas break. I think I lived an unhealthy lifestyle over the Christmas break. And I think it made me grayer. So I don't know why you're saying, I think I know the answer. I think it's lighting.

Go ahead, tinfoil. I defended you on this already on the internet, but I've seen you in person. It is not died. There is gray there. There's gray flex when you see. you, you have gray. It's there. Right in here.

This is Lucas. Right in here. I don't think, this doesn't look to die job. Well, it's a night. Lucas is also, is Lucas 40 yet? I don't know how it Lucas is. Let's see some more Lucas pictures. Let's keep the investigation going into Lucas.

Okay. Because you know what they say. So that's night. It's coming. Get yourself off the hot seat is to, deflect. So let's focus on Lucas. Are you sure that wasn't Lucas' burner? I mean, it's very dark hair.

Yeah, I think it's natural. Oh, I wonder. Look, that one right there. That's daylight. It's very dark. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. But I'm not, I can't. Maybe it's overhead TV lighting, which darkens your

hair. All right, Lucas, if this gets back to you, you're under investigation. That's the best way to get me off, out from underneath the police light. Really quickly, I did also want to touch on Venezuela, and I basically shared with you my opinion that I do believe that what we're watching happen in Venezuela is America First. There's been some others who've given some good arguments.

Glenn Beck had an very interesting monologue yesterday about how this checks the boxes of America First, and what the effects are ultimately on China, if they're deprived of what is really only 4% of their imports right now. Venezuela in oil, but Iran is teetering as we speak. Now, Iran is teetered on several occasions, but Iran, Russia, and Venezuela make up almost the entirety of Chinese oil. And if China doesn't have access to oil, they don't have access to invading Taiwan. They don't have access to turning the lights on in Beijing. They don't have access to the control of their population. Now, we're not trying to back China into a corner like we did Japan in World War II to where we oil

embargoed Japanese or didn't allow oil to be imported into Japan, and that backed them into a corner of attacking Pearl Harbor. Not only that's the goal, but controlling, certainly the Western Hemisphere and controlling Chinese expansion, is certainly in the American interest. And I think Donald Trump is being incredibly honest. And I will tell you, I don't think the entire sales pitch on this thing from start was completely honest. I always was skeptical about the narco-trafficking targets, you know, because while, yes, Venezuela is responsible for some drug trafficking, and yes, all of that's true, I don't think that means it's the primary motivation for action from the United States. If that were the primary motivation, I think we'd be looking

at other countries, and maybe we will, like Mexico and Colombia. But I think there were other primary motivations, one of which I just explained. The other is giving the United States control over the world's largest depository of not just oil and gas, but critical minerals, gold, all kinds of things that exist in Venezuela. And Trump is saying it. He's just saying it. He's just not wrapping it up and, you know, yes, we're pointing out that it was a fake election in Venezuela, but he's not wrapping up and we're going to, you know, have Venezuelans like Iraqis dipping their thumbs into blue paint and voting. You know, about democracy.

He's telling the truth bluntly about motivations that are America first. And say what you will if you agree or disagree or this or that with whatever we've done or you're concerned about the long-term effects, all of which are legitimate. There's something to be said about the complete honesty now with which this is being explained to the American people and how it serves Americans. Let's take one more quick break, be back. And let's talk about college football, playoff, and NFL playoff on Wilcane Country. We just want you in.

Just join the Willisht of the community. Subscribe on YouTube. Follow on Facebook, Will Kane, on both. And follow us on Spotify and Apple. Just what we do. community tinful pat two a days dan here today uh as well by the we were talking about with john androsic five for fighting being appreciative of the audience uh suzanne neko says uh on youtube i would approach will if i saw him if words come out of my mouth that's another

story i'm not intimidating suzanne i promise much to my chagrin i wish i was more intimidating as my son say which had more aura Christine C9 L4O I sure would talk to Will Big fan of Will in your podcast and the Will Cain show Thank you so much Christine And Sarah Jordan says I would definitely say hi to Will If I saw him out and about

Well you definitely should if you see me out and about Say hi Gotta stare him down though I'm not going to be able to They control people Assert dominance I don't know how much I'm going to I don't know how much I'm going to be able to watch

because I am going hunting again this weekend. I'm going duck hunting, super excited about that. So I won't be able to tune in for every playoff game. Well, let's talk about what we've got coming up. We've got both college football and NFL playoff games. College football, we're down to the last four. Let's just talk about that for a minute. Ole Miss, Oregon, Indiana.

Hold on. Why is it? My brain flushed. Indiana, Miami. Boom. It's on my desk. It's right there. I got the helmets.

Nailed it. Miami on my desk. Doesn't it strike you in Tenfo? You're the next biggest college football fan after me on this show. All this NIL, all this transfer portal, all this, man, it's parity. It's wide open. It's never been more wide. open. And let me just tell you something. As a fan of a quote-unquote blue-blood legacy program,

earned or unearned, whatever you want to do with that. But without doubt, one of the biggest budgets, the transfer portals opened, and I'm waiting for Texas to get, the truth is, here's a little micro story for anybody that's a fan of the University of Texas, but also, Archmanning's roommate's a guy named Parker Livingstone. Parker Livingstone's like a good old boy from Texas, where's a cowboy hat, plays wide receiver. Just a couple days ago, he always wanted to be a longhorn his whole life. He hit the transfer portal. And everybody's like, what? Why? And he's suggesting he got pushed out, basically. He's suggesting, and he's pretty good. He's not a bust. Now, he hasn't been like, I mean, he starts. Or if he doesn't start a game, he's, he's always in a game. And he's getting

half the snaps, I would say, at wide receiver. And you're like, why? Why would that guy hit the portal? And they're suggesting, the suggestions are, because they told him, look, we're recruiting over you in the portal. We're going for bigger dogs. And the gym in everybody's eyes, is Cam Coleman from the University of Auburn. Everybody wants him, or Auburn University. Everybody wants Cam Coleman. And so my thoughts are, well, okay, money whip him, Texas. You know, he wants two million, two and a half million, get him. You've already made your bed. You let Parker Livingstone go. And it's looking like he may go to Oklahoma, so that's the ultimate sin. But I'm not sure Texas is going to get Coleman. Because in part, another helmet on my desk, Texas Tech, is in the

running. And Texas Tech is paying big money, big money. And my point is, and by the way, Texas is in for a running back from Arizona State, Relique Brown. Texas was trying to get Louisville's running back, but he decided to stay at Louisville because they paid him. And this guy from Arizona State, guess where he's thinking about besides Texas? Indiana. So my point is, all of this, has it made college football better if we describe better as more people actually have? have an opportunity to compete for the national championship? Because that seems to be true. Whether you like it or not, yeah.

It's been a long time for Miami. So if you look at it and you go, well, Miami, you know, and maybe Miami's on the same, they have a bigger history than Oregon. But Oregon's sort of been an almost their school for a bit. But Indiana has never been there. You know, Ole Miss never been there. So I don't know if we can go so far as to call it Paris. but much more, much more wide open.

And isn't that better, Pat? I don't like it. I mean, like, I don't, I like the way college football was, but I definitely do agree that there's more parity. And the reason there's more parity isn't just because the NIL and the portal, which is a big part of it, but it's one of the things that no one thinks about, and that's the fact that we have the running clock.

And the running clock rule that was just, changed in the last few years, it creates fewer opportunities for, and during the game for offenses, and that allows for these teams, because the parity is spread out on talent, it allows for those smaller talented teams, lesser talented teams, to essentially knock off the bigger dogs, the guys who have more depth. So something to think about. Well, hold on. It hasn't done anything for the likes. So you're talking about increasing higher variability for ups. because over a longer arc, the better talent wins. That's why the NBA is less unpredictable,

because 82 games, same with baseball, you're going to get the averages play out. So you're saying fewer series in a game because of the clock means that the better team with the better talent over a longer period of time has a higher probability of winning. You shorten it, you get higher variability. But I would say, Pat, you know, that means we would also see more James Madison winning

in the first round of the playoff or Tulane. winning the, and we're not seeing that yet. What we're seeing is other power four conference teams, right, like Indiana, leap up into the ability to smoke Alabama. You know, JMU is still not there talent-wise. The gap's still too big, but like, you know, as far as like Indiana's, the talent isn't that much different. And like most teams across college football all have, you know, guys at different positions.

the problem is depth. And so teams like Texas and Alabama, the reason they were able to win more is because they had more depth. So like as you get progress into the season, you're able to plug those holes in where other teams aren't able to, you know, like their star running back goes out.

So, you know, that's kind of where we're at. Well, I mean, I'm a traditionalist too. So you're just, you're just, reflexively liking the way things were also you know certainly my program was a beneficiary of that yours to some extent was florida state now we live in a world where you know indiana and old miss are beating georgia and alabama and i've been waiting for you to want to do the segment on

the cc's overrated because i think isn't the cc's record in the ball games three and nine which yeah yeah texas is one of the three Texas, that Texas Michigan game was awesome, by the way. But, yeah, SEC has not had a good run of it in bowl games. Meanwhile, over in the NFL, Dan, run through them real quickly for me, the games. Here's what we've got, first round of the NFL playoffs. So you got, you know what, I'm going to do these in order of interest, totally subjective, okay? Least interesting game, Rams, Panthers.

just because I expect the Rams to run over the Panthers at 8, 9. So not that interested in that game. Second least interesting game to me, San Francisco, Philadelphia. Not because that won't be a good game and those are good teams, but fatigue for me. There's a balance between do you want somebody new? Do you want the same programs? Those two programs have been in there for a while, so a little bit of fatigue. So lack of curiosity there.

And I'd say third, Green Bay, Chicago, because it's going to be the third time we've seen this game this year, right? So the whole NFC slate are the least interesting games to me. I will be interested to see if Chicago, you know, if they lose to Green Bay, it's going to be one of those stories of like, oh, man, you know, you dominate the regular season and not cut out for the playoffs. But the most interesting games for me on the other side, it is the AFC. Put that back up again, two a days. It is, let's do this in order. I would say in order of interest for me, it's going to go number three, Houston, Pittsburgh. And the intrigue there is Aaron Rogers and Houston, because Houston's actually hot and good right now.

And then second most interesting game to me will be Chargers Patriots. A little bit like the Chicago story, is New England ready to be a playoff team? Is Drake May ready to be a playoff quarterback? back. And I have a soft spot, and I can't explain why, but I just have a soft spot for the Chargers a little bit. Even though, did you guys see that time? This made me so mad at the Chargers. Did you all see the story where when they played the Cowboys, the Chargers social media posted a story that made it look like Cowboys Center Cooper Beebe used the N-word or used a racial slur? Did y'all not see this? No. Oh. So a defensive tackle for the Chargers is jawing with the Cowboys Center.

and it's beeped out, you don't, like, it's a bad word. And the Chargers player's like, did you hear what he said? Did you hear what he said? And you could never full, and then Beebe says something. I said, da, da, and he's like, you said what? You know, but every time Bibi says what he said, they beep it out. So you don't know what he said, right? And Chargers media posted it, social media, and implied that he was using a racial slur against the Chargers player.

He was making a line call. He was made he never used He not only never used the N-word That's pretty messed up He doesn't appear that he was even talking trash To the charge player He was making line calls If you're using that kind of language

On your line calls Yeah those are outdated line calls Man Can't really say that these days 1930s line calls But it was dirty trick from the Chargers But I still have a little bit of a soft spot for the Chargers I love

That's like a team from Marty Schottenheimer and Philip Rivers, to even Drew Brees. They were always like a good team that could never get past the Patriots and the Colts at that time. And then it feels like the same with Herbert. Like they're good, but what do we all think? They're going to lose in the first or second round of the playoffs, right? So I would love to see the Chargers and Herbert get over that. So the most interesting game is yours, tinfoil.

I'll give it to you. Most interesting game, Jaguars, Bills. 13 and 4 Jags, 12 and 5 Bills. Because honestly, I don't know what's going to happen in that game. The Jags seem to be legitimately pretty good. By the bills. No. No. Far from it. The bills do not match up in this game.

This is going to be a very uninteresting game. They're pretty dangerous, man. You think it's going to be a blowout. The Jags favored by three, is that what it is, or three and a half? No, we're the underdog. We're the dog. We're a point and a half. dog at home yeah you're not worried about Josh Allen being Superman well I've had him

with my fantasy team this year and no I'm not concerned to be honest he got married and he just kind of dropped off a cliff wow not the same guy okay I'm okay with it so he's happy now that he just yeah listen you in order to be good at something you have to have a little unhappiness in you and like he's like best music comes from unhappy people exactly Like, whenever you're, an artist is like in a good, solid relationship, they never make a good song. Taylor Swift. And then they break up with a person. Yeah.

And then they, oh, hits. Hits. Hits galore. That's how it has to be. And then, like, the same with a quarterback. When did Tom Brady win that Super Bowl? Really? What? You think it's the same with athletes?

We should go back. Oh, yeah. We should go back and look at the breakups and marriages of certain athletes. What about TV hosts? Do TV hosts need to be a little unhappy? Will's been happy for a long time You're a little too happy right now Things are toasting a little too well

I am a little too happy Yeah, it's to break it down a little bit You gotta be miserable like me And you just got to be naturally Are you guys, before we go More excited about the NFL playoffs Or the semifinals of the college football Playoff? Which one?

NFL My team's selling it Hands down Oh, with no team in either I can tell you I'm much more excited, interested in college football playoff. I would rather watch Indiana, Miami than all of those NFL games. And I would rather watch Ole Miss Oregon than all of those NFL games. Count me in on that.

When I'm not shooting Mallards, that's going to do it for us today. Same time, same place. See you again next time. Listen to ad free with a Fox News Podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcast. And Amazon Prime members, you can listen to this show ad-free on the Amazon music app.