Transcript of Roger Clemens, Open Championship Preview With Shane Bacon, Spain To The WC Final, MLB All Star Week + Mt Rushmore Of Stores/Restaurants You Could Live In New

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Explore the latest golf apparel and footwear from Adidas at adidas.com/4playpod. On today's part of my take presented by DraftKings, we've got Roger Clemens, the Rocket. Awesome interview with the Rocket. He came and introduced himself as the Rocket to everyone in the room. He's got that aura. Awesome time talking baseball with him. We also have our good friend Shane Bacon on to preview the fourth and final major of the golf season, the Open Championship. We're going to talk World Cup. We're going to talk All-Star Week. We're going to do the Mount Rushmore of restaurants or stores that you could live in for the rest of your life. We have guys on chicks. It's a packed show, and it's all brought to you by our friends at Chevy. Summer's here in full swing. That means no schedules, no plans, just more of the good stuff. Chevy Silverado makes that possible. There's a reason Chevy's called the heartbeat of America. And the Silverado keeps that heartbeat strong. These trucks work so, uh, hard so you can chill harder, whether that's getting out of town, heading to the lake, or just not turning around when you probably should. It's got the capability, the space, and the muscle— everything you need for a proper summer.

Coolers, gear, and whatever your version of chill looks like. Because at the end of the day, Silverado helps you tackle more of what you love. And let's be honest, you've earned this summer Now it's time to go get it. So roll the windows down, turn the music up, and just listen. That's the heartbeat of America. That's today's Chevrolet. Head over to chevy.com to learn more. Chevy.com. Okay, let's go. Welcome to Part of My Take, presented by DraftKings. The crown is yours. Today is Wednesday, July 15th, and we had the All-Star Game. PFT, the Home Run Derby has been saved. That was a plus. The All-Star Game feels like it took 10 million hours, uh, to get through. Even though it wasn't. But yeah, the All-Star, the Home Run Derby was saved. It was awesome.

Yeah, the Home Run Derby was cool. And the game right now, it's the 9th inning and there's 2 outs, but we don't know how much longer it's going to go. There might be another song. I'm thinking Major League Baseball said, we know how to connect with the youth. We're going to have Boyz II Men. We're going to have 3 different musical breaks. We're probably going to get like Will Ferrell as Hawk singing This Land Is Your Land. After the 9th inning's over. But yeah, this game was pretty boring. I gotta be honest. The All-Star Game was kind of boring. Kind of ironic that the American League wins in a year where it feels like the American League is just, you know, they've been getting their ass kicked by the National League. And then if you look at the star power on each team, it feels like the National League should win this pretty easily. But it's the All-Star Game and nobody really cares. So anything can happen.

Can I say something without triggering a certain member of the show? Do you think I can?

Oh no, definitely. I'm actually going to get mad.

Okay. All right.

You know what?

I'll start positive. I thought so. The Home Run Derby was awesome.

And in big part, I want you to start negative.

No, I'm going to start positive. The Home Run Derby was awesome in large part because Philly fans showed out booing. Like as Jordan Walker took pitches, it was awesome. There was just like, you could just feel the energy in the building. I think the rule change, back to being able to watch the home runs, made it very cool. Jordan Walker's comeback was, was like, I, I wasn't rooting for him. I was rooting for Schwarber. I bet on Schwarber. I don't like the Cardinals, all these things. But it's still, you have to tip your cap and be like, he just, he, he, he put his balls on the table at the end of the Home Run Derby and won that Home Run Derby in a hostile environment. That, that's positive, right? Right, right, Max. That's positive.

I'm ready. I'm ready for your follow-up.

Okay.

You agree, PFT, the Home Run Derby was awesome.

It's better. It's much better than it was. I think it can still be a little bit better. I don't like the swings. Give us outs. I don't like the whole swings thing. Yeah, it should be outs or nothing. I do like that for the most part you get to see the ball after it's hit. You get to watch it land for the most part. There were a lot of times when they didn't have like, they'd show the ball in the air and then they go back and like show the face of the pitcher sometimes. I didn't really understand that.

That.

I don't know if you guys watched American Gladiators when you were kids, did you?

Yeah, of course.

Like the OG American Gladiators.

I want to get a tennis ball gun in our office.

Yeah, that was awesome. What was that?

The gauntlet?

The gauntlet was incredible. But when they brought back American Gladiators and they tried to revamp it, like, what, 7, 8 years ago, they kind of fucked it up in the same way that they fucked up the Home Run Derby. And by that, I mean that the Home Run Derby and American Gladiators are both objectively ridiculous things to watch. They're awesome, but they're kind of ridiculous things to watch. But the reason why I loved the Home Run Derby when I was growing up, and the reason why I love Gladiators, is because they had like still camera shots and they treated it like it was a real sport, like stationary cameras, all this shit. You didn't need to have the cameras moving around or anything like that. And then when they brought it back and just how they've kind of tried to innovate the Home Run Derby, you've got like ultra tight zooms, you've got dynamic camera angles and Steadicams that are like, You know, it's disorienting. I think they think that you need to spice it up since it's not an actual event. But that's what I love about the Home Run Derby. Treat it like it's an actual sport.

Give me just the stationary cameras. Let me watch the ball land in the outfield. Take our time between swings. And I don't know, I also— I got a bad vibe from Buster Olney's tweet that he had today. He said over the last 5 years, the Home Run Derby average with the clock was 275 homers. Last night, over about the same amount of time, 131 homers. So it's like Buster's like, he, it seems like he's trying to like poo-poo the new format, but it feel like we got to watch, I feel like more home runs than we did in the old format when we didn't get to see the ball ever land.

I, I like, I'm not gonna complain about the Home Run Derby because I enjoyed it. And also I have other complaints later. I, I thought it was awesome.. And I thought the way the format's set up where Jordan Walker had one out left and he's like, he has to hit all these, every single one of these has to go out. It made for a thrilling, fun experience. And you know, I just, I liked it. I, I thought it was good. I was again rooting for Schwarber. It didn't work out, but I, I like the Home Run Derby. I'm not gonna complain. I feel like the everything went forward and it was a progress. Nothing is perfect in life. And I, I enjoyed the event. I enjoyed how it was set up, so I'm not going to complain on that.

We can do a little bit better. That's all I'm saying. I liked watching it, but we— come on, we can do better. We can make it perfect. The Home Run Derby should be perfect.

Uh, people complain about anything, so that, that's definitely not true. It will definitely never be perfect, and you know that. Like, that, that just won't happen.

There's just no way. My idea of perfect is what I'm, what I'm getting at, and we're so close to it. And it was, it was good. I'm not complaining. It can be a little bit better.

Max, uh, how would you rate how the Phillies performed this weekend? Because That would be the negative. I'm not trying to trigger you. Again, I was rooting for Schwarber, but that's that. He lost the Home Derby. Christopher Sanchez was the losing pitcher in the All-Star Game. He gave up 3 runs in the first inning. Bryce Harper came up, which I loved the mic'd up when he was just like, that was crazy when he struck out. How would you rate that? Because it felt like there was a big moment. How would you rate that in the league?

There were 2 hits.

I know, I'm just— we have Pete Crow-Armstrong had a hit. Uh, I'm just saying like there was big— it felt like big moment after big moment for, for Phillies and it just didn't happen. Like Schwarber has his phone out ready for Bryce Harper, just nothing happens.

The team had 2 hits.

Okay. Right.

Um, Christopher Sanchez could have pitched better. I agree. He's been in a little bit of a funk recently, but if you're going to blame the Phillies, The team had— I apologize, the team had 3 hits in 9 innings. So nobody had a multi-hit game. Nobody had an extra base hit. There were 3 singles by the NL. So what? Yes, the NL as a whole could have played better. CJ Abrams, 0 for 2, 2 strikeouts.

Why'd you bring that up?

Why did he bring up the Phillies?

I don't know, we're talking about it because the game's being played in Philadelphia. I was just talking ball. I mean, I didn't bring up the Phillies just for fun. It was, it was because the game's in Philadelphia. Like, next year, God, hopefully we have a baseball season and the, and, and the, uh, All-Star Game is going to be at Wrigley. If PCA loses the, the, uh, Home Run Derby and Justin Steele pitches the, the first inning, gives up 3 runs, you don't think you'd say something? Lose the home run?

Like everyone, there's 5 people that lost the Home Run Derby. Kyle Schwarber didn't.

Correct.

He had 11 home runs in 15.

I feel like we were just edged. We were edged for a big Philly moment. It never happened.

I was at least expecting Mike Trout to go yard because this was kind of his World Series.

No one looked at Kyle Schwarber's performance in the Home Run Derby and been like, oh my God, what a choke job from Jordan, from Kyle Schwarber. I agree. You're the only one.

We didn't say— I didn't say that. I was waiting for a— there was— there was— okay, let me phrase it differently. I don't want— I want this to be a fight. There felt like there were multiple moments in the last 2 days that were like perfect for the, the Philly crowd in Philadelphia to explode, and we never got it.

Yeah, I mean, Jordan Walker went absolutely insane at the end of his round, like We said it, tip your cap to Jordan Walker. Some guys, like Schwarber had a great performance in the Home Run Derby. Jordan Walker was just better.

Yeah.

It wasn't, it wasn't. Yeah.

I got a question. PFT commenter from Barstool Sports Department Take Podcast. Max, there was some talk about maybe the scorekeeping not being above board in the Home Run Derby. Do you have a comment about that, about the magenta ball?

The magenta ball.

Oh, well, I was ready to go for a comment on that, but Kyle Schwarber also hit white baseballs at the end of his round as well. So I had to put my sword down, but I was ready to go.

Earlier this morning, you were talking about the magenta balls.

Well, then I still had it.

I actually, right now, I had my sword in my hand and I was waiting for Max to get mad about the scorekeeping. Knowing that Kyle Schwarber also hit white baseballs at the end. So now I have to lay my sword down too, Max.

So you were ready?

You were ready to fight me on— Yeah, that's credit to me. That's credit to me for doing a little bit of research before going into a fight.

Max, I apologize. I didn't— I did not mean to attack you. I literally was just saying it felt like there was a big moment. No, there was a— it was— I mean, who cares overall? At the end of the day, it doesn't fucking care. Well, I mean, you did tweet like, I want this more than I want anything in the world, I think, during the Schwarber Home Run Derby, which—

well, I did want— yeah, I did want Schwarber to win. And I actually, I thought more about that and I think I still stand by it.

Yeah.

Because it felt like there was that big moment that didn't happen.

I wanted— but I— Kyle Schwarber, I'm not disappointed in Kyle Schwarber's performance in the Home Run Derby. I was disappointed that Jordan Walker went absolutely nuclear. To end his round. But like, it wasn't like, it wasn't like Kyle Schwarber was up with a chance to win the Home Run Derby and he just, and he just absolutely baked a bunt and had like 3 homers in 15 swings. He had 11 homers in 15 swings.

Like, no, he was awesome.

He did a good job. Jordan Walker just did better. Like, Kyle Schwarber didn't embarrass him.

What? Shout out Jordan Walker. He makes like $800,000 a year. He won $1 million for winning the Home Run Derby. That's got to be awesome. That's, that's a pretty cool moment.

And his parents were in the crowd. His parents, parents were electric. They said that there was a bunch of Philly fans around them that were just booing them and they, and they were like, this is awesome. It feels good to be like, yeah, Philly fans were MVPs.

Yeah.

They made it. You think Ken Griffey Jr. could go out there and still hit like 30 home runs in a season? Because whenever I see him, I'm like, the kid's still got it.

I think that I don't think that he looks, you know what I'm saying?

Obviously he can't. Yeah, he's 30. Like we say, Barry Sanders can come back. I don't know. I still feel like that swing's there.

I feel that way about Barry Bonds.

Yeah.

Barry Bonds talks. He talks like he's still the best ever.

And it was cool to see Barry Bonds again. We never see Barry Bonds. So it was cool to see him. Yeah, I don't, I don't know if I think that about Ken Griffey because he just, he looks like he enjoys his life in a different way now.

He's got like a little bit of a round face thing going on. But you guys know what I'm saying? With Ken Griffey Jr., he's like, he's one of those athletes that you see him and you always think like, yeah, the kid, that swing's still there.

Yeah, I think of that with Barry Bonds for sure. Barry Bonds, I like, he could just, he, he could show up and just be awesome and take like a million walks because people would fear him. All right, Mike, one complaint. I, I get it. I get what they were doing with the Sandlot thing. I thought it was like weird how long, and it was also just, it felt the whole point of the Sandlot is you play fireworks under the, uh, because there's no lights. They had lights.

Yeah, and it was the Fourth of July.

Yeah, right.

This is, I thought that thing was cool.

That's like, that's a pretty, it's a pretty, pretty important part of the storyline of the Sandlot is They, they are puking on themselves at the Tilt-A-Whirl. It's the Fourth of July. Yeah, I, I'll take whatever excuse to listen to that version, that song by Ray Charles.

Yes, I'm not gonna be sure about that.

It's an amazing song. It did feel like we overdid it a little bit with the songs tonight.

Hand up, hand up. My first reaction when they started coming out, um, because I was like, why, you know, there's Sandlot because they're coming out on bikes. And I just thought like some of the— when they zoomed in on a couple of like Like, Mizorowski, I think, was trying to show, like, a 12-year-old how to throw 105 miles an hour. It's like, there's no way this is a real conversation that's happening right now. That one kid almost hit Trout in the belly. For a brief second, I was like, oh, fuck, Ray Charles is still alive. And then I'm like, you're a moron. This is an old video. Tank, you did the same thing.

I didn't realize until the end. I was like, is this a filter? And I was like, oh, yeah, no, he's dead. He's so dead.

So stupid because I love Ray Charles. I was like, goddamn, was that dumb of me to think that Ray Charles was in the building tonight being like, he's just belting it out at however old he would've been. So yeah, really stupid. Overall good night though. Good, good 2 days. Good job Philly. And then, and the signing of the, the signing of the lineup card was kind of cool. I thought that was like, it's a little cheesy, but I thought that was kind of cool. It was something different.

I also liked the hats. I thought the hats were pretty good too.

Yeah. And going classic uniforms. Remember, remember we had that stretch where we like had like different uniforms that fucking sucked. This is what the All-Star Game should be. You should wear your uniform gray and white.

I'm looking at some videos of Ken Griffey Jr. from last night. He does not look fat.

I mean, he's fatter than what he looked in the—

obviously put on a little bit of weight. But for you to be like, oh, Ken Griffey Jr. looks That's absurd to say that Ken Griffey, he looks good.

I, he, there are certain athletes that I absolutely am like, yeah, they could still play. Ken Griffey Jr. being 56 years old, I do not think he could hit 30 home runs. He's not in that list of me, for me personally. Obviously he's not going to hit 30 home runs, but that was what you said. So that's why I, yeah, I just never, like, there are certain guys though that I look at, I'm like, yeah, that guy could still do everything. I've never thought about that with Ken Griffey Jr. personally.

Maybe it's just that I want to watch him swing. How about that? I enjoy watching him swing and I would love to see him try.

Definitely. Absolutely. That's 100% correct. And he's, I mean, yeah, he's got the sweetest swing ever. But yeah, Barry, I think it's because Barry Bonds also weirdly got smaller than he was at the end. So I'm like, oh yeah, Barry Bonds. And I think we just never see Barry Bonds. So I'm like, oh yeah, he could probably do it because we never see him and I just assume he could still do it.

You know what? I think that might be a new white whale for part of my take.

Barry Bonds.

I would love to have Barry Bonds on the podcast. He's done, he so rarely does any sort of media. Everyone's already got their mind made up about the guy. I would love to get Barry Bonds in a room, sit down for like an hour.

I'd agree. That would be, I would go 2 hours. How much would he talk about everything is the question.

See, I don't know. I, to be honest with you, I don't know what Barry Bonds, what his personality is right now.

Yeah.

I know he hates the media at times, but I feel like we need to have the Barry Bonds, like the definitive, here's my story from Barry Bonds.

Also the Barry Bonds, the reason why I say that about Barry Bonds, remember there was that story was, how many years ago was he the hitting coach for the Marlins and they would do like home run derbies, he would beat everyone. And it was just like, oh yeah, of course he did. He's just still kicking the shit out of everyone even though he's been out of the league for a long time. He's that type of dude.

All right.

Do you want to talk some World Cup?

Let's talk some footy.

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The unbeatable team has been beaten. Spain absolutely throttled France and now feels like it's their tournament to win. What do you think?

Yeah, I mean, France, it turns out they didn't play anybody until they played Spain. So they had Iraq, Senegal. I think they played Norway's backups in the group stage. They played Sweden. They played the biggest bus in the world in Paraguay. And Morocco was— they probably also played probably the Titans, the Raiders, the Jets twice, the Dolphins twice. It was, it was a ridiculous schedule that, that France had and they were beating the fuck out of bad teams. But then they ran into a real team today and yeah, Spain's attack just— they were too fast up front for them. Yeah.

Yeah.

And it was, I think Jamal—

No, no respect for Cape Verde. I got it.

That's—

you putting slander on Cape Verde?

Spain. Oh, I thought you were saying— I think you said Spain.

Did I?

I thought I said— because France had an easy schedule.

I think he said France.

Yeah, the, uh, I think France played against Gerrit Stidham.

Yeah, and his tail. Jamal, uh, by the way, I think, I think I saw the stat, he's played Mbappé, uh, 13 times, which obviously it's a team sport, but he's won 11 out of 13. So he's, he's the Mbappé stopper. There's nothing you can do about it. Yeah, that's what Spain just does. They fuck France up.

Spain looked faster up front. Mbappé is really fucking good though. He's, he's He's legit. I hope that we get two more World Cups out of him. I feel like Messi has kind of ruined that for everybody now where now we have to almost expect these guys play until they're 40 because Messi's a freak and he's still at the peak of his powers. I got one thing to complain about with these games.

Okay.

Why are we playing them at 2 p.m. on a weekday?

I actually like it. But are you saying because— Yeah, I mean, I think it's for the rest of the world, for, you know, the countries that actually care about soccer. They want to watch it at a regular time.

So I would assume that's why we're trying to get the European audience for sure. But it's our World Cup. We're hosting it. We should be playing this. Kickoff should be at 6 p.m. at the earliest.

Yeah, I think they're just doing it for the— I again, I think it's probably for the rest of the world. I have no problem with it just because we don't have a real job. So it's like free, free sports. I see what you're saying. It is a little weird that it's like the biggest game is being played at 2 o'clock our time. But yeah, it was— I think they're just trying to, you know, get everyone in Europe to be pumped about it because they do care about soccer more than us.

They do. That's a fact. I mean, but what's the point of hosting the World Cup if you have to be on the rest of the world's time? It was just weird when I saw it. It was like 2 PM. All right, we can make that work for sure. But there's a lot of people that couldn't watch the game.

I did it. I just looked it up. It is 7 7 o'clock in London, 8 o'clock in Paris. So they're just getting the prime time.

They're getting that.

That sucks that we're just giving them prime time.

Yeah, no, it's our World Cup, right?

Like, they're— when they host the World Cup, they can, they can kick off at whatever time they want.

Yeah, they probably—

in Spain, no, like midnight.

Yeah, no, they would— yeah, they'd probably do the— we'd probably just get it at 2 o'clock, just like we're getting it right now.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So we're— that's the trade-off. But yeah, I know it is a weird time. It's weird.

It just—

it doesn't have the same juice as a nighttime game. I would agree with you on that one where it's like you just— 2:00 in the afternoon is like, all right, I guess we're just playing the game now.

Yeah. So for rooting for matchups, Spain looks awesome. They look really, really good today. I feel like Argentina, Spain, that's what If FIFA is drawing this up in the lab, it's got to be Argentina. Messi, one last ride, right?

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And Zach is in hell. He's, he's, he doesn't want this to happen. He's going to be rooting so hard against Messi today as you're listening to this. He's, he just wants, he wants Messi out of this tournament so, so badly.

I've got nothing but respect for Messi. I just think that Messi just gets a lot of favor sometimes. That's all I have. I respect Messi as a player.

He's unreal.

But I don't know if Argentina could be another example, one of those teams kind of like France who really didn't have to play too many— I mean, what was it, uh, Cape Verde and Egypt were two of the three games. They might be in a situation too where just like they didn't really play, yeah, that level of difficulty, and then they could run into a team like Spain or Harry Kane in England and just get maybe worked.

Yeah, I mean, even when they played some of those lesser teams, they didn't look great against them either. Like, Cape Verde could have very easily taken that to PKs.

Like, I think bailouts are kind of a part of the Argentina story this World Cup. Respectfully.

Yeah. Or something like $6 trillion.

Yeah. Yeah. Did you see our friend Taylor Twelman tweeted out that speaking of like cupcakes, Spain has played, I think, 6 out of 7 of their games indoors. And that's been a, you know, we've had Argentina's coming off a game playing in Kansas City. England's coming off an extra time game in Miami. Something to think about. Are they getting a little bit of a favorable draw by just playing in air conditioning the whole time? Because I would imagine air conditioning for Europeans hits like crack, like the best crack of all. Hunter Biden crack.

Yeah, that's like when we go over to Spain and we see a nude beach. Like, that feeling that we get over there is their feeling when they're walking into one of our buildings over here.

Yeah.

Yeah, there's just like going, holy fuck, this is incredible.

Yeah.

Yeah. A Spanish dude walking into 7-Eleven has to be life-changing in the middle of the summer. It's got to be. It's got to be like they saw God for the first time.

They probably look at the Big Gulp and they're like, oh my God, this is so big. And then their friend comes up and they're like, dude, that's the small.

Yeah.

And then they just melt down and it's just, yeah, it's got to be incredible.

Yeah.

Yeah. Just think about, like, yeah, I'm just thinking now, like, an English guy walking into one of our supermarkets and they probably just go to, they just directly go to their knees and start weeping and be like, I didn't know that we could live like this. I didn't know that I could walk. I didn't know I could get the shivers when I walk down the frozen food aisle in the middle of July.

Yeah.

The sides. Oh my God. When they walk to like the deli and they see the pre-made sides that you can just walk home with. Oh, that's got to freak them out.

What about movie theater? Holy fuck. They might never leave a movie theater if we have— we might have like just a bunch of English dudes. We're just peeling them off the movie theater ground in like late August when it's like, hey dude, it's time to go home. You've been here too long.

Yeah. Yeah. So I was in— I was in Providence last night and I was walking through the downtown area and they had still the giant like FIFA fan zone set up. And it was all for the Portuguese fans. So it was like specifically geared towards Portugal because that's where I guess their team was based out of. And there was nobody there. It was a ghost town. It was the saddest thing I've ever seen. Like all the rides and all the different like inflatable stuff was still very much set up. It said like, welcome Portugal to Rhode Island. And there was nobody there because they all went home. Hmm.

Zach, did you get anything for Zach?

No, because they didn't have— there was nobody manning them because it was basically shut down.

Yeah, it was just like crushing for country.

Yeah, just— it's brutal, Zach. He's been— Ronaldo's been gone for so long. I don't even remember him in the World Cup. I think we all can agree, not very memorable, the entire performance.

Oh, I'll remember the most about Ronaldo in this World Cup is, uh, is the German guy that came over here and has avatar as Cristiano Ronaldo and then blocked me on Twitter. He's back.

He's back. Freddie's back. He came, he came, he blocked me. He did? Were you saying mean things to him?

I—

it might have been the Project Paperclip reference that I made. I don't know. It was probably just all the shit that we talked about Ronaldo.

No, I'm not blocked. I've been pro Freddie from the beginning. No, no, he popped back up. He said that everyone was being very negative towards him, which, like, come on, man. That's the internet. You can't tweet it. You can't say anything on the internet without half the people being like, you're the worst person ever. Hope you get hit by a bus. That's just how it works.

I mean, just objectively speaking, he had the best vacation of all time. Yeah, you can't draw this like beyond his wildest dreams. He got to live like a movie star for, for 3 weeks besides his favorite player getting embarrassed and sent home. But like, besides that, he had the best vacation any of us could ever hope for.

I would I was thinking about that. Is this the, is this the, like, if we did Mount Rushmore, we should do this Mount Rushmore Sunday Scaries. The Europeans who have been here, like, like if you're, you were a Norwegian guy who came for like a month and a half and then you have to go back home after a month and a half of just partying and enjoying the US and, and having our air conditioning. How brutal is that? We're like, fuck, this is real life again.

I think at some point, especially the Scandinavian countries, you've got to tap out from the sun though.

Yeah.

Your body's like, I need to be indoors. Get me to a fjord.

Yeah. But I just was thinking about that. Like these, these, some of these guys have to have been here for like weeks and weeks and weeks. And I know that in Europe they just don't work in the summer. That's why Hank loves it over there so much. But it's, it's, it's like got to be the scariest hours ever to be on your flight back home after not being home for like 6 weeks and be like, oh fuck, I gotta work again. I just thought I was— my life was eating barbecue and watching, uh, soccer in like the South of America. So, uh, I had one last thing for you guys. Um, do you guys think about what your legacy is going to be 100 years from now?

Not because I'm gonna be dead.

That was weird. So yeah, people missed it. There was a— there's reporter at the Open who was just asking everyone this. They asked Rory and Scottie, like, what is you— what do you think about your legacy in 100 years? It's actually a trap question because if you say that you care, you're the biggest egomaniac ever. Like, we're all gonna die. Scottie answered it correctly. He's like, no offense, man, but I'll be dead and that it doesn't matter after that. And that's a fact.

I like that.

I guess, like, no offense, but I'm going to be dead. Yeah, that's actually the perfect answer to the question.

Yeah, he let him down nicely. He was like, hey, just so you know, I want you to start mourning now, but me, Scottie Scheffler, I will one day die. So just let's get that out there. Let's just, let's just set the table.

It's crazy.

Yeah, I mean, especially to ask like a golfer that, because it's such a, such a mental sport. They, they spend zero time thinking about like during a tournament week week. They're thinking about the, the layout of the course. They're thinking about what the weather is going to be like. At no point this week is Scotty Scheffler like, I wonder what they're going to say 100 years about me. You know, like 100 years, 100 years ago, who's the most famous person? Who, who has the, the strongest legacy from, uh, 1926?

Babe Ruth.

You think he's number one?

I feel pretty confident in Babe Ruth.

All right, well, what is his legacy?

He ate hot dogs, he drank whiskey, and he fucked, and he might be Dominican, and he might be Dominican, and people are still hiding that.

And that's the best you can hope for, that memory, that, that eulogy that we just gave Babe Ruth. That's the best that you can hope for.

It was a beautiful eulogy. Yeah, yeah, uh, candy bar, good candy bar. That's really what you actually— that's how you answer it. You say Hopefully in 100 years there's a candy bar named after me. That'd be sick.

Yeah. You'd much rather would have a candy bar named after you than an airport.

Yes. Yes.

What, Max?

Would you like to know the most notable athletes in 1926?

I just looked it up.

Okay.

Yeah. It's, I'm gonna guess it's, it's like boxer, boxer, Babe Ruth. Boxer is one of them. Yep.

Lou Gehrig. There's one other name that's, that's notable. Babe Ruth, Bobby Jones. Okay, those are the two names that I've heard of.

Okay, who are the other names?

Jean Tunney, boxing. Gertrude Ederle, swimming. Mule Suttles, baseball. Suzanne Lenglen, tennis. And Patty Driscoll.

Mule Suttles.

I got to learn more about this Mule Suttles guy.

Gertrude's a hot name. Is Gertrude a chick?

Gertrude Ederle. Yep, swimmer.

Yeah, probably tight bod. Mule Suttles.

Mule, Mule Suttles.

Oh yeah, Mule Suttles rocks. Okay, uh, Mule Suttles. George Mule Suttles.

It was, uh, it was a dominant force in the Negro League and hit an estimated .425 with 21 triples.

For the same year, 425 is pretty damn— oh shit, he was 5'11", weighed £195, used a 50-ounce bat. Beast.

That's awesome, dude.

What are guys using today? Like, like what, max 37?

Yeah, 37 is heavy.

Yeah, like 36, 34, 50-ounce bat. That's a fucking tree trunk. He was swinging a tree trunk. He— all right, this is about Mule Settles.

He hit—

he, uh, he saw, uh, what is it? All right, so he flew over a 60-foot high center field fence and landed in the ocean. He had one in Tropicana Park in Tampa. He hit this damn ball so far, it looked like we were playing in a lot. It didn't look like no ballpark. It was because of subtle strength that he got his nickname. And late in games when a big hit was needed, his teammates would encourage him with cries of, kick, mule, kick. That's awesome.

The heaviest bat used in the MLB today is Bryce Harper at 35 ounces.

Oh shit. I was off by a couple.

Damn.

15 more ounces. Oh my God. That's incredible. Kick, Mule, kick! Everyone just screaming that.

They actually asked Mule about his legacy before he died.

And what'd he say?

To go full circle, he said, I don't know, don't think about me too much, maybe just have a nice thought about me.

All right, well, hey, so there you go. Yeah, Mule should have just been like, hey, someday I hope there's this thing called podcasts and these fucking idiots happen to just stumble upon my name and I get one last kick, Mule kick.

Yeah. His direct quote about his legacy is, when I die, have a little thought for my memory, but don't mourn me too much. You got it, Mule.

I love it. I did it. We did it. Check. Thought done. But I actually, you don't have it, Mule. I'm going to be thinking about Mule Settles tonight when I go to bed. I'm going to read some more about Mule Settle. So he's, he unfortunately is now, he's getting more than a thought for me. I'm just going to be honest.

Kick mule.

Kick mule.

He was a coal miner in Louisiana.

Dude, these guys were just, think about these guys back in the day. I know we're going long. We got to kick it back to ourselves for our great interviews in Mount Rushmore. These guys were like, what, 50 times, 100 times more men than us. Yeah, like, it's, it's not even to say we're not even the same species. They were so much more manly that they would just be a coal miner for the winter, and then they'd pick up a 50-ounce bat, and everyone would yell, kick, Mule, kick! And they would be playing like the third game in, in a day. He'd be playing his 27th inning, and then he hit a ball so far that it scraped the moon.

Mm-hmm. And what do we do? Well, we, we have to work with Mincy, so true. Let's not act like walking the park.

Oh my God, what a legend. I need to learn more about Mule Suttles. Okay, um, thank you, Max. Good call there. Good producing, good showmanship to add that in. Uh, all right, let's kick it to ourselves. We got Hot Seat, Cool Throne. We've got Mount Rushmore, and then we got both our interviews and guys on chicks. Okay, Hot Seat, Cool Throne, back in studio, brought to you by TickPick, the good guys at ticketing. TickPick is the no-nonsense ticket app that always has been and always will be fan first. Let's talk about ticket fees for a second. Every other ticket site charges them— service fees, processing fees, whatever the label, it's fees everywhere. It's an extra $20, $30 a ticket. TickPick doesn't do that. TickPick has never charged fans a service fee, not when they started in 2011, not now, not ever. And no fees means simple math: the exact same seat costs less on TickPick. Same section, same row, smaller price. And every order is backed by their buyer trust guarantee. 100% authentic tickets delivered on time. Don't take my word for it, fans. Really trust TickPick. Check the reviews yourself. That is the TickPick guarantee.

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Henry, my hot seat are people who hate on athletes partying after, after they lose.

I can get with this.

Okay. Erling Haaland obviously was like, you know, one of the top stories of the World Cup. I feel like everyone that has social media was just getting fed Haaland, Haaland, Haaland stuff. And he was like pretty universally loved. I became a huge fan. Like, I'm definitely one of those people.

And look at you letting soccer sink its teeth in.

I'm, I'm into it. Like, I'm into it.

I like the stars. He likes the party.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But then he, him and his teammates went to Live. I guess it came out like, oh, here's Erling Haaland walked into Live after Norway lost. And there was people being like, oh, Oh, he doesn't even care. The fans care more than the players. What is he supposed to do? I mean, he, he, they lost. I think they were going back probably the next day.

Yeah.

They had just made the World Cup for their country for the first time in like 30 years. It was a big accomplishment. It's the last time you're gonna be with this group anyway for like probably, you know, you're, everyone's going back to their separate teams or separate ways. Like, yeah. Why would you not go out in Miami?

I maybe I haven't seen the same reaction that you have, but I feel like Norway's still very, very happy with Holland.

Norway is, but I think it was more people being like, oh, this is, this is what's wrong with players today. Like, they don't care. I care more than the players. Look at this.

Well, maybe back in the guys who were complaining today, they didn't get invited to like a semi-nude nightclub after they lost the World Cup. But I guarantee you they would take that opportunity.

It's fully nude.

Eleven. Yeah, I've never been to Eleven.

This all falls apart when you see the parade that they threw for the players in Norway. Right. Which is I see it as loser energy just because it's like you're basically saying this is the best it will ever get. But that's fine. It might be the best that Norway will ever get. But yeah, they did a parade. They did a whole rowing parade where everyone was out and celebrating. That's fine. Celebrate it. But you can't then say, oh, he's not allowed to party.

Is the row celebration the best thing to come out of this World Cup? I love watching it. Did you see they bang that drum and then everybody's at it all at once? I did see an MLS team trying to like copy it.

Oh, you can't do that.

Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't be that guy. That tries to— you saw a cool celebration. That doesn't mean that the Columbus Crew or whatever should adopt the Norway row because the Norway row, when they have the entire— like when they took over Times Square.

Yeah.

And you had like 100,000 Norwegians rowing in unison. That was fucking cool.

The—

did you see the one Norwegian fan that refused to row? I love that guy.

He's like, I don't know.

No, he said it was historically inaccurate.

Oh, well, yeah.

He said they wrote— they wrote in the fjords. But if they were traveling across the Atlantic, which Norway did to go to play in the World Cup in America, they would have sailed. Yep. And he had— and it was funny, he did like an interview, super serious, and he had two oars behind him.

Yeah.

And he's like, I just refuse to do it. Like that guy, he's like, it's not what our history is. We were— we sailed.

Between that and ignoring the new Christopher Nolan movie, that guy has had a hell of a week.

Yeah.

And I loved— I love the Viking row. I want to see more of it. I'm not upset at Holland. He was the best player on his team by far. Like, they wouldn't have gotten that far without him. And if you have any doubts as to how cool of a guy Holland is, he just went back to Norway with like 3 different taxidermied animals that are drinking beer. That was his— that was his big purchase that he made in the United States. Some people go to like Saks Fifth Avenue. Some people go pick up some nice bags. No, Erling Haaland got like 3 raccoons stuffed and then they're holding these liquor bottles so they look like they're getting hammered. And that's his prized possession. That's his— his one memory that he's going to keep from this World Cup.

Yeah.

Is those animals that will live on his shelf until he gets married. I'm sure his wife would be like, you have to do something about these stupid fucking—

put them in the garage.

They're not funny.

Early people don't love England, but them having Oasis is tough to beat. Like them just being able to sing Oasis.

Yeah.

Like those videos are probably one of my favorite parts.

I was— we had a hypothetical on Wake Up Barstool today because T-Bob was like, we can't let England win the World Cup in America on the 250th anniversary.

I don't care.

That doesn't bother me.

I would prefer not to be England.

Yeah. USA, dude.

Yeah.

I just—

I'm not—

I'm not—

I don't get them.

We suck at soccer. I don't care.

No, that's just— the World Cup's bigger than sports.

Listen, I got— I got two teams that I root for on the 250th anniversary of America. It's the US and whoever's playing England.

Okay, but hold on. I agree with you. I'd prefer if you said, who would you like to win? It would not be England.

England.

They would be the 4th team. But will it, will it like ruin your Sunday?

Uh, no, probably not.

Yeah, that's where they are.

If they're being honest, it's probably not going to ruin my Sunday. And it's because they've got the stink of being a loser for so long. Like, if they were a dominant team, if it was like a team that had actually won World Cups recently, right, then I'd be like, no, not, not under two, uh, what do you call it, sesquicentennial, semi— I don't know, whatever. 250.

Also, they were cowards. They didn't play us in the World Cup.

Yeah, they ducked us because they knew we'd tie the fuck out of them just like we did in Qatar.

Facts.

And then my cool throne is— I also had just technology and Mount Rushmore, but I'm assuming we'll get to that before the Mount Rushmore. My cool throne is the guy from the Bison video. Yeah, we weren't sure when we recorded. Like, I had seen some things saying like he's in serious critical condition. Just a couple broken bones. Said he was joking with the, uh, the, like, the photographer that took the video, like, as he's waiting for the ambulance. Old guy, absolutely needs to get a surgery, but like, he's good.

Absolute stud.

That's great.

I was—

I like— as funny— because I didn't want to say how funny the video was.

I felt bad because it was like, he's in serious conditions.

Like, all right, if this guy dies, like, I don't want to be joking. It's the funniest video I've seen in a long time. Like, he he was a cartoon character.

Yeah, it's, it's so funny. He, he went so high in the air. I was afraid when we showed the video that he might die. Yeah, that's right.

I was like, I brought it up because it was like, it was a great video, but I was like, I don't want to say how funny I thought it was because I didn't know if he was like dead.

Titus pointed out he, he did the Ridiculousness, uh, logo. Yeah, like upside down in the air.

Yeah, I'm trying to think of what NFL players when they get hit flail like that, like who have the most cartoonishly hilarious violent hits when they take a hit? Because for me, there's one guy, RG3. When he got hit, he got hit. Yeah, it was like the— maybe you could say maybe Jaden when he was at LSU, the Looney Tunes cartoon. Yeah, Looney Tunes one, but not anymore.

Yeah.

All right.

Good, good.

Hot seat.

Cool throne, Hank.

Thanks.

Good job, Hank.

Bison guy, we can laugh. He laughed.

Mm-hmm.

What a stud. He's got a story forever. Like, it's awesome. He's just like, hey, check this out. I got fucking— I'm the guy who got—

and he was, he was there. He was— he took his grandson there, like his little, little grandson. So it's like his grandson will now probably like get to have that picture framed in his house being like, yeah, it's my grandpa.

His grandson has got to kill a bison. He's got it for the family. He's got it.

We've had a feud against the bison going back.

He's got to go to South Dakota State.

Yeah.

Yep.

Okay.

My hot seat is the Philadelphia 76ers.

Oh, no.

Yeah.

Oh, Hank, have you read the report?

I have. So I know. I know what's going on here.

I know Hank is not going to like this because I know that you're a fan of Jaylen Brown no matter what. I am. You're sad to see him go.

You love him.

Apparently he hasn't spoken with Joel Embiid since he got traded to the Sixers.

Oh, boy.

Who's this report from?

Wait, wait. Hang on, Max. I'm just wondering, like, are they okay? Joel Embiid and Jaylen Brown, are they on good terms? Because it feels like there's something weird there.

Can I ask a follow-up question? Has Joel Embiid—

Jaylen Brown probably hasn't shouted at anyone.

Yeah, but has—

oh, oh, yeah. Well, Tracy McGrady said that specifically Embiid and Jaylen Brown haven't talked.

Has Joel Embiid watched any of Jaylen Brown's Twitches, though? Because that's kind of like talking.

Is he— yeah. Is he a lurker? I don't know if he was a commenter.

That would be talking.

When— because then Jaylen's like, hey, chat.

Yeah, right.

Under the chat umbrella, he's talking to Joel Embiid is included in that.

So I saw him talk about how he's excited to play with Maxie and he's talked to those guys. Yeah. Like when he did his stream, he shouted, shouted those guys out, like made it a point.

And he didn't say Embiid's name.

He did not.

Max got to get him in the room. I mean, the season doesn't start for months. Yeah, well, I'm not worried about whether they've talked in July.

Well, but like, I mean, I feel like you'd like them to talk.

Joel Embiid's a pretty active guy on social media. Like he talks anymore.

Let me ask, let me ask a question.

He hasn't tweeted like about like soccer.

PFT, he's not the same guy.

He's not the same guy.

Like hung out together or anything, right, as a team?

What was crazy was the entire Washington Wizards set courtside for AJ Dibance's—

yeah, let's make sure that we get our Wizards talk in today.

Hey, um, Max, Big Cat asked me a question.

I know, I know, I'm just saying to both of you, let's make sure we get our Wizards talk.

Okay, good, that's good producing on your part.

But yeah, check it off the list.

Because Big Cat already asked me before you said that.

Yes, we're already done with it.

Yeah, no, I'm just letting everyone know I'm happy that we're getting our Wizards talk.

Okay.

And you're— no, you're— you're not worried at all about the fact that Jaylen Brown not only has not talked to Joel Embiid but has also not shouted him out?

I'm really upset about the not shouting.

Shout out takes no effort.

Yeah, shout out Joel.

Yeah, shout out Joel Embiid.

Let's let him get on the court.

Shout out Tyrese Maxey. Hank, you want to do your big shout out?

You know, big man, no dog, should have hooped. I— Osama would have been—

they're free.

He would have been a force in that Sixers front court.

Shoutouts are free. Hank has proven that.

What do you call it when you run two bigs at the same time? No, we don't. Okay, we won't do that.

I mean, they're right, they were rivals for a lot— for years, so I'm sure it's going to be a little bit of an adjustment period for them to You know, be buddy-buddy.

So is Tyrese Maxey.

No, no.

Years, multiple years.

Not nearly as long as Embiid and Jaylen Brown have been.

When you said years, when you put an S on years, how many years?

All right.

I got the all right, dude. The all right, dude means we're out.

Max, it's got to concern you a little bit.

Let them play together. Like, it makes sense of someone, of like two guys that have hated each other for a very long time. Like they're going to have to grow into a relationship for them to like— it makes sense. It makes sense to me.

OK, like what if you got traded to the Kelsey podcast and I mean, you went out of your way to— you mean my only shout out Travis?

That's just— that's—

that's fucked up.

Yeah. You would like— you would like the new addition to say something, right? I don't know. I guess I'm just more into—

yeah, in a perfect— in a perfect world, I wish that they were all kumbaya from the start. I get why maybe it wouldn't be from day one and that that relationship will grow together.

Okay. Okay. Your cool throne.

I'm glad we got to the bottom of that. My cool throne is going to the bathroom with the boys. Oh, hitting, hitting the head, hitting the loo with the boys is back. It's also on the cool throne because I don't know if you guys saw this, but every year in Australia in rugby league, they do the State of Origin series.. It's like the biggest series back and forth between the two biggest provinces in Australia. And at the game on, on, I think it was last Wednesday night, there were two players from a local Australian rules football team that went to the game, like superstar players named Jamara Oogley-Hagan and Mack Andrew. So they go to the game together to support the squad and somebody films them walking out of the individual family bathroom together.

Okay.

And they walked out, looked like they were having a good time.

Okay.

And so that, that clip made the rounds. And so everyone's wondering like, hey, are they going to be disciplined for using the bathroom together? What could they have been doing playing swords in that bathroom together? The beauty is we don't know what went on behind the scenes, but I actually love what they're doing because the team, their team—

the bathroom was disabled.

It was disabled.

The bathroom is— can't walk.

Oh, I thought, I thought I was reading it saying like the bathrooms weren't even working.

Oh, no, the bathroom was. The bathroom was able-bodied, but the, the idea for the bathroom is it should be for handicapped people.

Got it.

That need different accommodations.

Got it.

I don't know if having an addiction to nose beers follows under that accommodation.

This is sexist.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Women go to the bathroom all the time together.

I agree.

Good point, Hank.

So the Gold Coast Suns, they're the team. They said Yeah, you know what? Boys will be boys. We're not looking into it. We talked to them. We've accepted their explanation. So we're going to move on.

I love that.

So I love that. I love it too.

You know, they're stars.

They don't want to get bothered. They go in together, kind of have some strength. And it's the same as when women do it.

Exactly.

It's also—

it's also like I said, you play swords with your boys. Yeah.

So I'm glad. I'm glad that common sense has prevailed. And in Australia, they still know how business is done.

I like that a lot. Yeah.

OK, bathroom with my best cunt.

My, my hot seat is MLB reporter, Chicago reporter Bruce Levine, because, oh boy, we haven't had one of these in a long time. If you missed it, Bruce covers the White Sox and the Cubs. He does radio hits on 670 The Score here in Chicago. And last night he tweeted out a tweet that I believe was meant to be a DM or a text. And what he said was, you and the other coaches have been the stars of the team being 12 games over .500. Let's hope Twinkle D and Twinkle Dumb don't sell you guys out like the 2025. Enjoy the family time, pal. Whoops.

Uh, Twinkle D and Twinkle Dumb— is he talking about Tweedledee and Tweedledum?

He is, and he's specifically talking about Jed Hoyer and Carter Hawkins, our GM. So, uh, he— now people thought initially it was maybe to Craig Council. I actually don't think it was Craig Council. I think it was probably to one of the other coaches on staff. Uh, and yeah, this— we haven't had one of these in a long-ass time. This is like— remember when tweet to text was a thing and people would do this? You know, I'm getting there, all that stuff. Uh, it's just good to be like a little throwback here. And he, he left it up for like 20 minutes and then deleted it. But yeah, he's talking— it's, it's the double whammy of he's talking shit about Jed Hoyer and Carter Hawkins and also kind of trying to suck up. And it's the lamest like suck up ever. And it's so funny that he tweeted it.

It is very funny. Has he apologized?

I have not seen it. We invited him on Wake Up Barstool this morning. He did not reply. OK, I was shocked to find out that he, he did not. No, looks like his last tweet is still the Home Run Derby winner receives $1 million. Yeah, I love this. It's just, it's just real old school shit. And now he has to go sit in like the Cubs press conferences.

I—

and knowing Jed Hoyer and Carter Hawkins, I think they'll lean into it. They might dress up like them.

They should do the propeller hats.

Yeah, they might dress up like them and be like, Bruce, what's your first question? Propeller hats would be Twinkle Dee and Twinkle Dum.

Would look great. Also, I'm more concerned the fact that he thinks the names are Twinkle Dee and Twinkle Dum.

Yeah.

Yeah. Isn't it Tweedledee?

Tweedledee, Tweedledum. Yeah.

Twinkle Dee and Twinkle Dum.

What are the— that might also be an autocorrect. He might have gotten double whammied on it.

What are Twitter.

Twitter.

Tweedledee and Tweedledum from—

they're like the— aren't they twins?

Humpty Dumpty, like Snow White or something. Yeah, they're little fat twins.

Yeah.

Look at those guys.

What are they from? That's really— that might be the oldest thing you could do is Lewis Carroll.

So is Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass.

So he hit the— he hit the cycle for old shit.

Yeah.

Accidentally tweeting something while also referencing something from like 1,000 years old and misspelling it probably due to autocorrect that he didn't check. I just— oh, he— I really wish I had a live cam on him because again, he's a longtime reporter and he now has to go face these guys knowing that like he's the type of guy who will just talk shit behind your back and be a total suck-up to the coaches. The coach is also a little bit like, what is that coach been saying to be in a conversation that it's okay to say that?

It sounds pretty familiar. They sound like, uh, this is something that You don't just throw that out there to a coach. It's going to be awkward about their boss without knowing that it's going to be received in a certain way.

Right, right. So, yeah, that was a fun one from Bruce, from good old Bruce. All right. My cool throne is— the first is we have new Stella Blue coffee in 4-packs, 4 cans. So you can buy it at StellaBlueCoffee.com. Saving dogs, we're trying to save 1,000 dogs this year. If we used to sell them in 12s, we still sell them in 12. But if you're just trying to to, you know, want to try it out, buy the 4-pack. It's great there. And then my other cool throne is, uh, QB lists, because we have our first top 10 QB list of the year.

Uh, second, Pete.

Second, that's right.

Frisco.

Yeah, so ESPN, uh, released a QB list with their rankings from coaches, execs, and I believe players. And, uh, PFT and Max, you guys are no longer on the top 10.

That's fine. Did not expect it this year.

So when I spent—

I spent all last offseason policing, watching like a hawk. I'm glad that my watch is in temporarily.

Yeah. So when Josh Allen won, Mahomes 2— oh no, that's not it. Uh, wait. Uh, Josh Allen 1, Mahomes 2, Stafford 3, Joe Burrow 4, Lamar Jackson 5, Dak Prescott 6—

what?

Justin Herbert 7, Drake May 8, Jared Goff 9, Caleb Williams 10. Hank, we're on the top 10.

They must have seen that picture of Dak Prescott.

Yeah, I like being 10. 10's a nice spot because it's just like, hey, there's still a lot of work to be done.

10's a good spot. Uh, I— that's too high.

That's too—

I'm just gonna say Dak's way too high.

Herbert's too high. I mean, Herbert, it is pretty crazy because her— he still hasn't won anything.

I want to know what he was last year. Was he even lower than 7? Did he improve?

I'm, I'm using this as motivation because the way I look at this QB list, if you pull it back up, the, the, the guys on the left side, the top 5 guys, those are guys that are like, that's MVP or Super Bowl guys, right? So that's, that's where it's like, this is the meat of it. 6 through, it should just be 6 through 15 because it feels like those can be interchangeable, like Jalen Hurts and Jayden Daniels being in it last year, then being out of it this year. That's, so you got to get yourself to the left-hand column. So I'm using it as motivation.

You get to the left-hand column and then it's hard to get knocked out of the left, correct?

Yeah, yeah. The 6 through 10 is like, that's a fluid situation.

Jared Goff should be higher too.

He had a good year.

Disrespectful to Jared.

Jared should be where Dak is. Yeah, Jared should be 6.

Yeah, Jared Goff, if you look at his stats since he's joined the Lions outside that very first year, but his recent stats, he's been one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. You can't really make an argument otherwise.

But we will do our QB list in the next couple of weeks. Official QB list. Are you, Max, BFT, you, you are, were you guys surprised? Were you like, fuck it? Work to be done.

Now, Jalen Hurts is the most disrespected player in the NFL, and he plays at his best when he's like this.

Oh, so you're happy?

Yeah, yeah, 100%. Jalen Hurts is going to have an MVP year this year. MVP? 100%.

100%.

He's going to win MVP or MVP year?

He'll be in the conversation.

Well, we're having it right now, correct? So he's in it. So check. He doesn't have to play this year.

He'll be in the— in the conversation at the end of the year.

Oh. Okay.

I'm not upset that Jayden's not— he should be on it after last year. Like, I'd be delusional to say that he had a top 10 year where I would expect to see him on this list. His rookie year. Yeah, I was looking at the top 10s, making sure that that JD5 was up there. But no, I'd have to be— I'd have to get my head examined if I was like standing on a table being like, Jayden Daniels should be a top 10 quarterback going into this year.

Zach, are you upset Baker Mayfield's not on there? I guess I could ask the same for you. Who means Geno? Is it Geno?

It is Geno.

He had a bad year last year. He's got to prove everybody wrong.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Figures.

Pushing through a lot of injury last year.

Now he's all healthy.

Should be good.

Okay.

I saw an interesting stat, Big Cat.

Yeah.

Our good friend. Now, Zach, this isn't— it's not so much about you. It's mostly about our friend Stephen Che that likes to tell us how the Tampa Bay Bucs have been the best team in the 2000s.

2020s.

Sorry. Okay. So since 2010.

No, he's not doing 2020.

I know. But since 2010, the Cleveland Browns have the most 4th place division finishes with 10. In 2nd place is the Jets with 8. In 3rd place with 7, it's me, it's you, the Cardinals, and the Bucs. Pretty crazy. Yeah, I did not. I hadn't.

I guess there's some lean years in there.

How bad they were. The Dirk Koetter years or whatever.

Yeah.

Yeah, they had some— they had some tough seasons in Tampa Bay in the 2010s.

Yeah, but they're, they're one of the best franchises in the last 6 years.

Yeah, that's pre-COVID, you know, that's ancient history.

Right, right. But you did win a COVID Super Bowl, if we're being fair.

Uh, the disease was out there.

Yeah, yeah, it was out there.

It's always— I mean, it's amongst us now. You never know.

Yeah, it's true. It's still a great win.

What a win.

Long COVID.

Every Super Bowl all here, here forward is a COVID super bowl.

Yep. That's what scientists are saying.

Mm-hmm. All right, your hot seat, cool throne, Zach.

My hot seat this week is gonna be toilets. Did you guys see we have a parasitic intestinal disease sweeping the nation?

Yeah, and it started in Michigan.

I think it did start in Michigan. They have like 8,000 confirmed cases right now.

Yeah.

It's just diarrhea, but it's, it's long.

It's a long diarrhea.

What does that mean?

You have it for a long time.

It's like hospitalization diarrhea.

It's a term I just made up. It's, it's It's—

yeah, do I have it? We might have on day 2 right now.

Gestation period, couple days to a couple weeks.

Okay, I've had a bad, bad day today. But I don't know if that's just food related.

What worries me is that there's diarrhea. It's got to be really bad if this, this many people are going to the ER for diarrhea.

But what doesn't worry me—

no one has—

no one gets diarrhea. I was like, oh, this might be a problem.

It must be insane amounts of diarrhea. What doesn't bother me is that if you had to say there's one thing this entire room is well-versed in, it'd be diarrhea. Like, we're hardened soldiers.

That's a good point.

You know what I mean?

Like, I need to see— I need to see the clientele that's going into the ER because Michigan feels like diarrhea state.

Okay, give me your top 4 diarrhea states.

It's all around Wisconsin, Michigan.

Oh no, it's got too much cheese.

What about Mississippi? Arkansas.

Arkansas. Arkansas.

Yeah, big time diarrhea.

Yeah, but like Midwest, Midwest feels like they should know how to handle their, their Rhea.

Oklahoma's sneaky diarrhea state.

South Carolina is a diarrhea state.

Yeah, Louisiana has to be one.

Oh, Louisiana is maybe the number one diarrhea state.

Like gumbo?

Yeah, it's—

yeah, Louisiana.

Yeah, yeah. And it's always—

let's put that on a graphic. Top diarrhea states. You think Ohio?

Ohio's diarrhea? Yeah, well, Ohio Ohio, they were one of— it was Michigan and Ohio.

Yeah, yeah, are you kidding me? Yeah, it just runs right through you, it looks the same.

But what I'm saying is, it's Ohio especially, you think that the people of Ohio know how to handle a little bit of diarrhea, right? If they're going— if they're going to the ER for diarrhea, it must be serious.

If it was like— if it was like, oh, we have reports of like some Californians going to the ER for diarrhea, it's like, tough luck.

Nothing. Nothing.

What are you It's like, yeah, it was a little— you had a floater.

Michigan, Ohio are football states.

Those are football states and diarrhea states are synonymous.

Yes.

Big Ten country.

Yeah.

Oh, Missouri is a diarrhea.

Oh, yeah.

Big time.

Yeah. St. Louis, diarrhea.

So maybe that might be number one diarrhea city. We should break it down by city to Baltimore. Might be a diarrhea city.

Oh, yeah.

The crabs, right?

Yeah. Right on the bay.

Old Bay.

Yeah, right there. Right in the harbor. Yeah, that just smells like the smell in the air.

Philly smell in the—

oh yeah, Philly's diarrhea.

Pittsburgh.

Actually, Pennsylvania is big-time diarrhea state.

I'm kind of thinking Pennsylvania might be top 5, Max.

Yeah, yeah, we know, we know how to handle the Rhea for sure.

We need a map. We need Max's map on states that can handle diarrhea.

I am worried about this explosive diarrhea stuff because it sounds like it's sending some, some hardened buttholes to the E.R.

I'm not. Sounds like a free diet.

I like that angle where it's like you could lose a quick 5, right? But if it's like shitting to near death, how long can you be on the throne?

Oh, we could do the podcast.

I can play euchre and cribbage on my phone forever.

If this podcast got it and we just had to do Zoom episodes from, from the shitter, it would work. It would work.

We've made people—

people would tune in. People would definitely tune in for those episodes.

Yeah.

Do you play against somebody when you play euchre or cribbage? It's just computer.

It's just computer.

Computer.

I just signed up on Chess.com. Nice. And I've been, I've been on a real chess kick for the last 24 hours. Yeah, it's a problem.

I'm a big card game guy. Just fun, just pass the time. I do, I play, I play euchre during the day, I play cribbage at night right before I go to bed. Kind of just exhaust all the mental energy right before I go to bed.

You guys are playing Rummy? Gin Rummy?

Yeah.

Great game.

Great game. Great game. All right, your cool throne?

Uh, my cool throne this week is gonna be, uh, Adrian Broner, uh, former 4-time, uh, belt, uh, boxing belt fighter, world belt contender. Adrian Broner, he's 36 now. He's gonna— he says he's got one more shot. I know this didn't go well the other day with Conor at 38. Adrian Broner's 36. He's gonna lock himself into a warehouse 45 days straight on live and just get, get back right and try to see if he can win another title fight.

I'm gonna say nope.

I, I will— that's a good guess, but I will say it's impressive the muscle memory these guys have because he's on like day 7, but looks like he's lost £55.

Like, fighters have to fight, and their prime is their prime, and then you like walk away, it's over. Especially if you have money. It's the whole like, you can't, you can't do roadwork in silk pajamas. You can mark right where Conor McGregor's career took a nosedive is when he made $100 million fighting Floyd Mayweather.

I think Broner might be back hungry because I don't know if he has the most money anymore.

Got it. Okay, so then yeah, so that could make the hunger.

Yeah, just seemed pretty impressive.

I don't know.

He's just doing a livestream.

He's doing 45 days straight.

So this is just— boxing is now just MrBeast?

Kind of, sort of, but not to the same scale.

Like, it's—

I would assume MrBeast in the boxing ring would be like in a big bubble. This is a warehouse.

Just 2 days of quitting alcohol. This is why I kind of wish I drank more so I could just quit it and lose weight. I seriously think about that.

I doubt that that's all this guy did, though.

Yeah, but if that's 2, 3 days, it looks like you dropped £40.

Yeah, I'm so jealous of people like, oh yeah, I went sober for a month, I dropped £30. I don't have that.

I'd have that in my bag.

I'd have to— I'd have to quit ice cream, and I'm not gonna do that. Right, that's the problem.

Yeah. Okay, I've done that for like the last 6 days, and I've just been waking up pissed off.

Ice cream?

Yeah.

Why'd you quit ice cream?

I gotta lock in for at least 90 days.

Oh, it had nothing to do with the fact the ice cream machine that I bought was down for 2 weeks.

We're all the way back up, though. I got your ice cream.

You just hope I never mentioned it.

That's not what it was. It was— we're back up. Okay, we got you dialed. 2 flavors.

Oh, also, today, Wednesday, I'm the guest host for the Geo Sports Game.

Oh, nice.

Go play it online. I wrote all the questions today. So if you know anything about me, you'll probably be able to get some of them right.

I love that. That's sick. Okay, let's do our Mount Rushmore. Then we have Roger Clemens. Great interview with Roger Clemens and Shane Bacon, our good friend Shane Bacon, to talk about the Open that's starting this weekend. Listen, we're— I keep thinking of like, oh, we're in the dead time, but we're getting World Cup Final in the Open. Yeah, it's a good week.

You know, this is one of the good summers. Yeah, there are some bad summers where you really have to try to care about the WNBA. Yeah, this is not one of those years.

Yeah. Okay, so today's Mount Rushmore is brought to you by Kraken, the official crypto exchange of the FIFA World Cup 2026, the official crypto trading platform of Barstool Sports, Kraken is giving away up to one full Bitcoin, which unless you've somehow been living under a rock for the last decade is a pretty good prize. Here's the play: download the Kraken app, opt in to the Here We Go sweepstakes. It takes about 30 seconds, and every $1 you trade gets you another entry. It's honestly one of those situations where if you're already trading, you'd be kind of crazy not to opt in. You're already doing the thing. You might as well have a chance to win a Bitcoin while you're doing it. Uh, somebody's gonna win. It could be you. It could also be the guy who replies first to every tweet. Don't let him win. The sweepstakes runs through July 20th, so you've got a little time, but don't overthink it. Download the Kraken app, enroll in the Here We Go sweepstakes, and start stacking entries. Disclaimer: terms apply. No purchase necessary to enroll. Crypto trading involves risk and is offered to U.S. customers excluding New York and Maine.

Through PayWord Interactive Inc. See the official rules in the Kraken app. Okay, Mount Rushmore time. Mount Rushmore of stores/restaurants that we could live the rest of our life in. So the, the prompt here is basically you get 4 places, you just— and you have to live it. You, you can't, you can't, you can't leave. And these are the 4 stores. Uh, the updated standings, uh, we— Max Memes and I won 2%.

No, 0.2%.

0.2%.

But the, but the, but the poll says we had 40%.

Yeah, but the desktop is always what we go off because it actually gives you decimals.

Yeah, we know.

Gives you the full.

We know that, Hank. You know that.

Yeah, that was, you know, I could tell that you didn't even mean that protest.

Yeah, you knew that. Yeah, you knew that when you said it.

You followed the protest because you kind of had to, but you had, you threw a red flag that was out of frustration.

Yeah, I just saw 40% and you guys had 39%. And it didn't make sense to me.

We won the— by 0.2%. Very tight one. And now we're going to do Mount Rushmore of stores/restaurants you could live the rest of your life in. Hank and Zach are up first, then PFT, then Max, Memes, and I.

This is either going to go really bad or okay. I'm probably bad because when this is— when I don't know between the two, it's not the best one. We're going to go with Costco.

That's a great pick. Great fucking one.

Thank God. All right. That makes me feel better.

It has everything.

It has everything.

If you're living in there for the rest of your life, they have activities. They got trampolines, they got a lazy river, grill stuff. They got lazy river.

1-1.

We had it as our 1-1.

Yeah.

Feel good about it.

I, I, I wasn't—

I don't know why you weren't. That was the obvious one.

I know, but I never know. I— Zach, Max, when you lose as much as we do, you can't—

food galore.

They're seeing space. You guys are seeing ghosts.

Clothes.

Yes.

Every supplement.

We're winning polls and still losing.

Like, how—

like, you know, what are we— what are you supposed to do?

Yeah. Okay.

Good pick. They have really good alcohol there too.

Yeah.

Shout out Costco brand alcohol.

Hop on a bike, just ride around Costco, get your exercise.

They got exercise equipment too. So it's me.

Yeah.

All right. I'm going to go with Magic City. Oh, okay. Strip club with great food.

Okay. Okay.

Be pretty good. Pretty good place to—

Yeah, no, I don't hate that.

Wind down the old lifespan.

I don't hate it.

Yeah, it's a good pick. What do we do here, boys?

Two?

2 and the one we talked about.

Yep.

Okay, so we, we liked— we were gonna go Costco, so good pick, Hank. We'll go with similar, uh, Walmart has everything. Everything.

It has food, it has TVs, it has the games, it has watch games, it has video games, it has everything. Yeah, it's in this—

it's all our hot dogs.

Uh, they do have— they do, yeah, it comes with Subway. Yeah. I talked to—

yeah, yeah, we got it all.

Should have a butthole doctor if there's a subway in there.

Yeah.

You want to fish?

Yeah.

Want to pitch a tent?

It's in there.

And then our second pick was— we, we were very excited about this because we thought of it late. Dave Buster's will be our second.

Okay, good.

Because you could just stay in there forever.

You got an arcade, you got food, you got booze, a restaurant.

Yep.

Yeah, it's a restaurant and arcade. And booze and a bar. Yeah, it's exactly what— it's exactly what you want if you're staying in a place forever.

All right. I got my, my number 2 overall still on the board. Dick's Sporting Goods or Sporting Goods.

That's where we were going before we thought of—

yeah, Dave Buster's.

It would rock. You could do any activity you wanted in there.

Probably.

Yeah.

We never run out of stuff to do.

We had Dick's on our list and we thought of Dave Buster's like, shit, Dave Buster's would be like if you were stuck in a Dave Buster's, that be a lot of fun.

Yep.

But Dick's is a great pick.

The smell too.

Hey, just if you got new sneakers, run around.

I feel like the smell is going to be a big part of, of where you'd want to spend the rest of your life, and that's a great smell. Zach, you got the ball, Zach.

Who would like to take the win?

Oh, the casino.

I don't think that counts. Is a store restaurant—

you can take You can take it. Yeah.

No, you can take it.

I'm okay with it because you can take— lose all your money.

Yeah.

What?

You can take the casino.

You can take it.

Your one first pick was a strip club.

Yeah. I didn't know.

I'm saying if you're saying we would lose all our money, you also would lose all your money.

I know, but it's an investment, Hank. You'd actually be getting something for—

we could actually win.

You could also.

But that's just a hotel. You have to— you have to pick a specific spot.

Thoughts on the Wynn pool bar?

You got— you got the win.

Excellent.

You got the win.

You guys take a sap out of it.

The win looks terrible.

Okay, all right, the pool bar then. All right. No, no, no, you got the win.

I was just trying to follow the rules, you know.

You get the win.

Uh, further back, some memes. They keep saying you got it, you got it. I was gonna fight it, but yeah, all right, they got it.

It's fine.

And then this is— yeah, I don't know. I'm, I'm thinking because I'm thinking we have the different places you— like, we already have Costco, we already have everything in a Costco, we got gambling. I'm going to take Carbone Miami. Oh, good restaurant, good scenery, lots of beautiful women in there. Like, it'd be a good place to, you know, eat dinner every night for the rest of your life.

Okay, a lot of great-looking women with all their clothes on there. Yeah, good pick.

But like an actual, actual menu, it's not just wings.

Yeah, I mean, Magic City's They got a menu.

Do they?

Yeah.

I think I said it's a good pick.

Thank you.

It's a really good pick. Is it my turn?

Yeah.

All right. I'm going to go Sam's Club.

Okay. Similar to Costco. Similar to Walmart.

Yep.

Yeah.

It's the brother of Costco.

Yep.

Yeah. Okay. You guys, you guys feel good about those last two?

I like 13 and the one that you said.

Okay.

All right.

Which one you want to go first?

13. All right. Can't believe Hank let it slip.

You say it.

PJ Superstore.

Oh yeah.

Would be very fun to have forever. To live in it.

If you got all— if you got all these things right now, we got grocery store, bar, restaurant, video games, golf.

I'll say it. If I was stuck inside for the rest of my life, like, I don't know, golfing on a simulator would not—

I don't know how much—

how much—

it would just be choice of golfing on a simulator or not golfing.

But like, no, no, Costco has clubs, they got nets. Like, you could, you could, you could do this.

You could hit—

I would see you try to do that in a net over and over. You'd have fun with that.

That's what a simulator is, essentially.

Okay. Nice part about Dick's Sporting Goods is they have golf simulators.

A lot of them.

We should get rid of the simulator in our office and just make it a net.

Simulator is better, but it's, it's, it's, it's good for when you can't golf. But in this scenario, you can't golf.

So like, all right, what's our last pick? What are we thinking? Talk it out.

I like, I like the one that you texted.

I think that it's up to 8, 12. And 18 would be my picks. Memes, help us out.

12. 12 is good.

12.

12 is really good.

12 is good. 12 is fun.

I think it's 12.

12 is fun.

12 is fun.

All right, we'll do Bass Pro Shop. Okay. Yeah, you got everything in there.

Good pick.

There's some water, you could swim with the fishes. Yeah, you just go fishing.

I love our list. You get naked. I love our list.

Go fish.

Remember that naked guy in the Bass Pro Shop?

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

Yeah, guy was hung.

Tiniest dick. Yeah.

Uh, my last pick, I'm going Mattress Firm.

Yep, that's what we were—

nice place to fall asleep there. You got your pick of the most luxurious mattress, and none of these other places have a real solid place to fall asleep. So I feel like Mattress Firm, get the pillow top going. You can even spice things up, like mix up your mattresses week to week. Yep, Mattress confirm.

Yep.

Hank, Zach, uh, we would like to take AMC Theaters.

Oh, that's a good pick.

That's a good pick.

That was a good pick.

Yeah, yeah, that's a good pick. That's good.

I'm okay.

I'm, I'm—

that's great value. That's a good pick. Yeah, I didn't think of it.

I didn't think about that, but that's a very good pick.

Yeah. Uh, similar to that, Shane, maybe the worst answer ever.

What do you say?

Shane just threw it out there. We didn't ask for his help. He just threw it. He said Blockbuster.

Oh, God.

I actually don't know how—

how— one, right?

Not only that, but even if you did like the peak blockbuster, they didn't have like TVs that you could just sit there and watch movies. They didn't have like furniture that you could sit on.

You could just get Best Buy.

Yeah, Best Buy.

Tiny TV that was in the upper right-hand corner that didn't have a good picture. There was something wrong with it.

Just a terrible, terrible pick. We should have—

you could look at a lot of discs.

I'm—

because we're not from Shane's region, as we learned with the tuna, I'm sure his Blockbuster had a bunch of DVDs. Had every video game. All right. So let's do honorable mentions.

Target was also kind of the people are going to be pissed at Target wasn't picked. Everyone had their—

yeah, we all had our big— we all had our superstore, Sam's Club, Costco and Walmart.

I had Cabela's on the list just because of the firearm situation there.

Yeah.

And then Spencer's Gifts. Oh, because they probably, probably got some stuff you could fuck.

Yeah.

We were going back and forth between Bass Pro Shops and Bed Bath and Beyond, which is similar to your Mattress Factory.

Yeah, that's a good smelling store. Um, are those—

are those closed down though?

No, I think there's Bed Bath and Beyond.

I think, uh, I think a lot of them may have closed down.

Uh, yeah, Cheesecake Factory would have been the restaurant just because the menu is so, so, so big. Chili's— we, Max and I both said Chili's right away, which—

yeah, it's been out of business for 3 years.

Oh wow.

RIP.

Wait, so the website—

oh, it's still on.

Oh, maybe it's only online now.

Yeah.

So yeah, good thing we didn't pick it.

Uh, what'd you guys think about IKEA?

No, fuck that. You'd have to assemble all the stuff.

Well, some of it's assembled.

A lot of it's already assembled.

Yeah, but those are all the showrooms.

But you also— but you also get the food court.

Yeah, you get the meatballs.

Yeah, but if you have to go to the bathroom, you have to go back through the whole maze.

True.

Yeah, good point.

Good point. Um, Just a regular diner would be cool.

Diner would be good.

Yeah.

Be a regular there. Yeah.

Wawa.

Well, we had Bucky's, Wawa, Puffle Wild Wings would be awesome.

Mm-hmm. Puffle Wild Wings games circa 2007 with the trivia. Yeah, that would rock.

Yeah. What this is— this is going to age us, PFT, but I threw this one out there. I got no response, but Sharper Image would be be kind of cool.

They got cool shit there.

Yeah.

Sit in a massage chair and just play with gadgets all day.

Like Brookstone.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You could spend a lot of time in Sharper Image and not get bored.

I feel like we should have taken Topgolf.

Topgolf would have been a good pick.

Yeah.

But then you do get the outside golf.

Yeah.

And you at least get some air.

Yeah.

Topgolf would have been good.

Yeah.

Okay. Good Mount Rushmore. We feel good about it.

Yeah, I love Zach. Zach pulled AMC at the end. That was a huge—

AMC was a great pull.

AMC was great.

Made up for the win.

Yeah.

What's wrong with the win in Las Vegas? Like, it's a great, great place.

It might be the most niche place that you could possibly pick.

A casino?

The— you said the win.

The win casino?

No, you said the—

you said the win.

What's in the lobby of the win?

The pick is the win.

Okay.

Oh, gotcha. I mean, they do have— they've got very comfortable rooms.

I just don't think it's— I just don't think very many people have been to the Wynn casinos.

They got restaurants, they got a pool, they got—

it's not a bad pick.

Yeah.

No, I think in terms of logic, it is a very good pick. I don't know how it's going to play, but I guess that's why we do the poll.

Would, uh, would Amazon Warehouse have played? Hmm. Or is it like—

is that no bathrooms though?

But can the public go into—

like, can the public just go into it?

You just be in the way the whole time? Like, just be dudes driving past with forklifts? Yeah, yeah, they do. You would have everything that you need there.

Did you guys ever see— did you guys ever see that movie with Channing Tatum that, that did this? He escaped from jail and then he went to and lived in a Toys R Us for like 4 months.

That's pretty sick.

That's an elite movie. You guys should watch it if you haven't. It's a good movie.

So good.

Yeah. Yeah, I was trying to think, like, there's not much. I guess you could do like a— you could do Planet Fitness, just get jacked. Yeah, that would actually— if you have Planet Fitness with a basketball court, that's a miss.

Dick's Sporting Goods, you could— but Dick's Sporting Goods, you could do that. They got weights.

Yeah, yeah.

What about like, uh, SoFi food court? Would you have been able to get the field? Like, we take the—

you're just taking a stadium?

Like, if you take the food court at SoFi, you get the field too.

No, I think if you take the food court, you probably just get the food.

You just get the food court.

Yeah.

If you say I'm taking the SoFi food court, I think you could take like— I think you could have taken a stadium.

You could have said the SoFi Stadium.

SoFi Stadium. But I think you get everything if you get— yeah, I don't know why you would. You would buy that.

Yeah, you'd— the move would be to take a baseball because you get more entertainment.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, 81 games.

Yeah.

I mean, Yeah, but that would be a good—

that would have been a good—

yeah, honestly, Wrigley.

Yeah, you can.

Yeah, but I'm just saying, like, you— it's still operating normally. You only get whatever, 9 Sundays.

Part of me thought these places were empty. That's on me. I thought we were going in like we're the only one in there.

Yeah, I guess that is true. We are the only— that's how I was operating too. I don't know why I changed it there.

Magic City probably wouldn't be the best place if no one else—

good point.

Yeah, fair point.

Good point.

I'm gonna need— I'm gonna need those titties.

Yeah.

Okay, let's get to our interview. We got Roger Clemens and then Shane Bacon talking about the Open Championship.

Before we get to the Rocket, he's brought to you by our great friends over at Twisted Tea. It's a great summer with Twisted Tea. Get involved. Twisted Tea, they got the party packs with the Twisted Lemonade, which are absolutely delicious. I took a 12-pack of the Twisted Teas out onto the course with me the other week. Really great drinking outside drinks. Twisted Tea, no carbonation, you can drink a lot of them, they don't fill you up. It's a refreshing hard iced tea made with real brewed tea, 5% alcohol. So check out the Summer Party Pack with brand new Twisted Lemonade. It's a real refreshing hard lemonade made with real lemons. It's only available in the new Party Pack, so grab it while you can. Whether you're hanging out at the bar, hitting the lake, hitting the beach, if you're day drinking with friends, Twisted Tea is there to turn your day up a notch. And make a good time a great time. Keep the good times going all day long and all summer long. Grab a refreshing Twisted Tea today. And Roger Clemens is also brought to you by our great friends over at Morgan Morgan.

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Okay, we now welcome on a very, very special guest. It is 7-time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens, the Rocket, here American Century Championship, uh, ready for the golf tournament. Is it— does it ever get old having someone say 7-time Cy Young winner?

Because not at all.

Just pretty insane.

Yeah, I keep saying it's awesome. Yeah, I tell people anybody can win one, right?

Right.

Yeah, I could win one, sure.

Was there a moment—

was there a moment?

Yeah, was there a moment when you were on that answer, when you're on like 4 or 5, you're like, that's probably it for me?

Well, I— with the 4 boys, a little pressure now because the first one went to Kobe, my oldest, and then I won the next one, it went to Corey. And then I said, you know, I can't stop here because the next thing you know I got two other young ones. And the youngest one, as you guys may or may not know, is with the Minnesota Twins. Yep. So I'm going to make you guys push super hard. We had a guy get injured and he's kind of being talked like to go to Philadelphia. So I know you guys all started— I know you guys know all the GMs. We don't make a— yeah, make some phone calls.

Yeah, I'll do my best on that one. And I— one thing I think Big Cat left out, maybe you important accolade. You had the longest twilight of any career.

Thank you so much. You guys aren't messing around today. This is going to be a good one. We're going to let it fly on this one. So yeah, Dukett wanted his own team and everybody's like, oh, you left Boston, what'd you— I said, guys, I didn't leave Boston, I was ready to go. And I, I think I had my second 20-strikeout game, was my second to last start with the Red Sox. So I was really washed up. I've only punched out 20 guys. I guess I was supposed to punch out 27.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then in the cat says, good luck in the twilight of your career. And it was a friggin long twilight.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You're one of those guys.

Darkened circle. Just like. Yeah.

Yeah.

You could convince me like tomorrow if I saw a press release being like Roger Clemens is going to come back again, I'd be like, he probably can. Do you— what could you throw right now?

Well, they're only going 4 innings.

Yeah, I know. That's right. I want to talk about that.

But what could you—

No, I need ice. If I would do the worst mistake I made in the last 3 years, believe it or not, boys, I'm going to be 60 60 friggin' 4 this year. But worst mistake I made was pitching for the Savannah Bananas. Oh no, my whole body hurt, man. I was just supposed to throw out the first pitch, and I told Jesse, yeah, give me an old man's wig and a rocker and I'll go out there and rip it off. Fans will go crazy. I'll throw you one in there about 80. And he goes, that would be awesome, but I'd really like for you to pitch. And I go, are you, you know what, crazy? And so I did it, got through it, but I had to sit in an ice tank for 3 days. My whole body hurt.

How many innings did No, I went 1. 1. So Max went— yeah, 2.

Yeah, against the Bananas.

Tell me how bad your elbow hurt.

I could catch for him.

Tell me how bad that elbow hurt.

Oh yeah, he—

I was pitching like a position player at the end of the game where I was just—

you were doing that, you were throwing the air cutter.

Oh yeah, I like it.

That gets people out.

I didn't— I got a lot of— well, my defense wasn't the best. It was a lot of the guys here, but I got a lot of—

I love it.

Would have been outs, a lot of errors.

But no, it was good that you went out there. That's showing me something right there.

Oh yeah. What's— all right, so what's, what's a cockier move, being a pitcher named The Rocket or naming all your sons with the first letter K?

Well, it's got to be with The Rocket because the boys give me grief. They say, Dad, you named us all with the letter K, we're all hitters.

Yeah, that's true. You kind of screwed them.

What are you gonna do?

Did you think about naming any of them with a backwards K? Would that even be allowed?

That, you know, that would have been sick. I think my next grandkid, backwards K. I might have to tell my son who just had, uh, one of my, uh, Clyde.

Wait, so are they, are they sticking with this Clyde with the C?

Oh no, I know, I know. Okay, because he might be a hitter, who knows. Yeah, but you know, we— that, that, I'm— that's a great backwards.

I mean, you can do anything with names these days.

Anything. Yeah, and put a jaw. Yeah, in it.

Right.

Yeah, backwards K. Exactly.

Did you ever walk around like calling yourself the Rocket in third person?

I— when Bruce Hurst gave me my nickname in '86 when I struck out 20 for the first time, and another one that anybody can do once, right?

Yep. Yeah, one time.

You did it twice.

Yeah, one time is pretty easy.

Yeah.

And MLB The Show.

Yeah, no problem.

They said I'm— I don't know about that, but they say I'm pretty nasty on there.

Yeah, that's a fact.

Mr. Splitty still make an appearance?

It is a little bit. Yeah.

So I mean, so you tell the story, he gave you a nickname and then—

Yeah. So yeah, my, my bad jumping around. So Hurst is— so I punch out 20. Hurst gives me— Bruce Hurst, left-handed pitcher on our staff, gives me the nickname The Rocket. And he looked at me, he goes, I don't think you understand, your life just changed tonight. And ours did too. He said, you know, in Boston here, pitching was kind of a second-class citizen till you came along. So, but yeah, I got— I answer to the, the kids now. They yell it out here. If they yell my name, I hardly turn around, but they yell Rocket, I turn around.

You, you introduce yourself as Rocket.

Yeah.

Which is awesome.

Yeah.

That's what I'm saying. Well, you guys know. Yeah, you're the one to the choir here.

But would you, would you ever be on?

Oh, yeah. Share. Yeah. You know, come on. Yeah.

Elvis.

Yeah.

Would you ever be on the mound being like, all right, Rocket, let's go. Come on. Like, like, dig deep here, Rocket.

I don't know if I've ever really got, you know, I locked in on myself out there mentally. Mentally, I was like, I might have said, you know, you suck a few times to myself, but I don't think ever. Come on, Rocket.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, if you say you sucked yourself, that's rotten.

Roger.

Yeah, but if it's Rocket, like, come on.

Yeah, I would never say that then.

Yeah.

You also hit a home run in, in the majors. What was that like?

Uh, I'm not sure where you went on the internet, but I get ridiculed for never hitting a home run.

You never hit a home run? I, I read that. I read you had one home run.

Wait a minute, wait a minute. So I got to tell you the close ones at least. At Shea Stadium, right center field, hit it good. I got it lower fence, almost missed first base because I was eyeballing it, had to hustle back to first. So I got a long single. And then Colorado, of course, yeah, you know, they got the wall that goes up high. If I'd hit it freaking 1 foot to the left, I'd have had one. But I got a double out of that one. And of course, all the guys are cheering me up because here I am like 44 years old and I made contact. And so they're cheering me up and I'm giving it back to them. And then all of a sudden I realized it's got— I can't breathe, man. I'm trying to— I'm bent over, I'm saying, please, I know the camera's on me and I can't freaking breathe. But, uh, there's some good stats, hitting stats out there though. There, there really are. I mean, I, I got the highest batting— I mean, Ted Williams at Fenway Park. I got the highest batting average anyway, not Ted. I'm 1 for 1.

I'm batting 1,000.

Yeah, there you go.

Our DH ran his head into the Green Monster and had to come out of the game, so the pitcher had to hit. So that was me. And then another good trivia my buddy brought up was— I gotta, I gotta bang my chest a little bit, boys, because I got my— the boys are going to be— well, all my boys are going to be watching this. And any time I talk to my boys about hitting, they look at me and go, hey, pops, stay in your lane. The only thing you know about hitting, you're a good bunter.

That counts for something.

Yeah.

Hey, part of the game. Small ball.

I love this.

Yeah.

I'm going to stay here long, you guys. I might have to make a comeback here.

I got— I got a stat for you since we're going to— we're going to do some good stats. Did you know that in the 2005 season, I think that was your last Cy Young year, right?

Pretty close.

Yeah.

2005 season, you never finished a game with an ERA higher than 1.89. Man, that's pretty insane.

Okay. Do you want to be my agent?

So tell me about that.

When we come back, I want you to listen. You're going in the room.

Yeah, I'll get the binder ready. Fuck Scott Boris. We got this for you.

So.

Right.

But in that season, are you like, did you just feel it all season? We were like, I'm in the zone and I just know it was it partially They had just seen the game for so long, you knew what to do.

No, I was with the Astros, National League.

Yeah.

So I don't want to jam on my teammates, but pretty much if I gave up one, I'm getting a no decision.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We had some, we had some, we had some good hitters, and I tease them, we had some guys that were allergic to leather too. They had a hard time catching the ball.

That's true. That helps ERA.

Yeah, that's true.

You, uh, you played on some amazing teams too, some of the best teams. Is there one that that you still think back like, that was probably the best team that I've ever seen?

Well, the political answer would be, when they asked me about teams I played on, I'd tell them Longhorns, Texas. You know, playing at Texas was awesome. I kind of, you know, you learned how to win there. We didn't rebuild, we reloaded at Texas, kind of like what the Dodgers are doing.

Was Augie Garrido, was he the coach?

He coached my sons. He's the winningest coach. I played for the winningest coach, Cliff Gustafson, at that time.

All right.

Lost to Miami, and when I was a sophomore, came back my junior year, I beat Alabama. Alabama, then I get drafted by Boston. Um, uh, probably one of the better teams— I'm trying to think, um, it comes up a lot with my boys. They said probably the best game that I've ever pitched was, uh, and I think Bob Costas was calling it because when I did some work last week for NBC Sunday Night Baseball, Costas brought it up. The game I pitched in Seattle against a Mariners team, I think won 114 games, something like that, crazy. So they were pretty solid and they were rolling pretty good. So So, uh, I pitched one of my best playoff games ever against those cats. And, uh, but yeah, I mean, it was— I mean, there's, you know, I, I, I feel real blessed and fortunate, man. So I, I played 24 years, so I faced guys like— I mean, I hope you guys remember some of them— Don Baylor, Kingman, Luzinski, Fisk, George Brett, Cal Ripken. I mean, I faced Ripken so many times, he's got 8 different batting stands And I— there's nothing I can throw a one-out man on third, and I'm trying to get him to punch out or hit a ground ball.

Next thing you know, he spreads out. And so you're paying attention to detail. And my catchers, same thing I ask them to do, pay attention to detail when guys make a little adjustment. And then go all the way through to guys like Poole Holst and, you know, all these other dudes I end up facing at the tail end of my career. So it was pretty cool to face them. My favorite to face— I wanted to make it to the big leagues, face Reggie Jackson. Jackson.

Yeah, yeah.

And, uh, you know, Reggie was my guy, and I, I got to face him. I didn't even want to make eye contact with him when he came to play. Half-shell helmet and glassy, had a handkerchief in his back pocket. And I'm telling you, I was sitting at about like 90— my arm was a little underwater, sitting about 93, 94. Reggie steps in, now batting number 44, Reggie. And 98, 98, punch out 98. And at one point Reggie pulled out his handkerchief. I threw my— threw that crap by Rips his glasses off and he starts cleaning. I said, hey, he can't see. He can't see. And so I tell the story, Reggie knows the story, how fond I am of him and great player. And of course my guys on the mound was— I watched Nolan Ryan being from Houston. I still, we still live 5, 6 miles from my high school. So watching Nolan, you know, I snuck in the dome to watch him. No, you know, he's throwing 95, but in the Astrodome it sounds like 105. And then of course first, uh, I got the privilege to play with Tom Seaver. We traded for Tom Terrific, who I think is the ultimate power pitcher.

I'm a power pitcher, I don't throw, uh, and Seaver was the best at that.

I like that you don't throw.

I don't throw, I pitch.

How fast do you think the, the new radar guns would have you at? Because they've changed. Yeah, it's juiced.

Yeah, back, back when I was getting it, I threw over 100 a bunch of time, but I never pitched that speed because you make mistakes. And for the most part, guys guys, my youngest one, he loves that gas. And, and most, most, for the most part, the big league guys can, when I say, put wood on a bullet. I mean, they're that good. Pitching's like buying property or house. Location, location, location. You got to locate, then you want your movement. Velocity is great, it's last. And these guys throw 100. I mean, that Mizz kid in Milwaukee, good Lord. Yeah, I mean, it's ridiculous. And, uh, you just hope some of their body can, you know, sustain that, right?

Well, we're kind of losing the, the prototype that, that you were, the Haas. The guy who's like, he's a big guy, he's an intimidating guy, goes up on the mound, he throws 8 innings, he's just going to shove. It feels like, yeah, like Schubel's still that guy, but there's not a lot. Is there a certain guy that you love watching pitch now?

Scherzer was that guy.

Yeah.

No, like big time.

Verlander.

The pitching coach came out to the mound in the 7th to get you. You got the ball tucked under your arm. So, you know, what the hell are you doing out here? Get back in the dugout. But yeah, complete games. I think— I don't know if there's going to be a 300-game winner. You know, a lot of that holds true. I mean, but there, you know, there's some bulldogs out there still that are trying to finish. But your mechanics are so important. You know, if you're a reliever, you can come out of the bullpen for 12, 15 pitches. And I tease them, some of our relievers, they're coming at you with elbows and knees and short— they look like a blender with the lid off of it coming, you know. I mean, they can, you know, sidearm here and there and do whatever they want. But they only have to do a short period of time. If I tried that, I would be on my way to see Doc Andrews to fix my elbow.

What would you say if we're— so let's roleplay. We're your managers and you're in the height of your career and we say, hey, listen, Rocket, we're going to try this new thing. We're going to have an opener for you.

Yeah, I said unless he's opening a pop can for me, that's all he's open.

Okay.

All right. I figured that.

Yeah.

No, no.

But hey, wait, wait. As co-manager, let me just step in and explain it to you. The analytics say that if he throws for one inning, it's going to be better. We're going to— they're going to score less runs against us over the course of 100 games that we might go out there for the course of the summer. And we appreciate everything you've done for the team, but you're more of a 2nd through 7th inning guy for us.

You want me to respond?

Yeah.

And I'd say, listen, Mr. Propeller Head in front of your computer.

Yeah.

When's the last time you had to punch out, you know, Reggie Jackson or Mike Trout or Pujols?

Yeah.

So, yeah, I mean, I get it. I still think, you know, I'm not— and again, it doesn't have to do with money, but I'll say it. I got a guy out there, I'm paying, I'm paying $22 million, and in the 6th inning I'm trying to get him through the lineup the 3rd time. Yeah, I'm going out to have an eye and a heart test. I'm going to come out and see you. Now, if you tell me, I say, you got these next 2 dudes? And if you tell me, I think so, you're out. I'm going to the pen, right? I don't want to hear, I think so. But if you're looking at me, I'm looking, I know your heart, and I'm looking at you in the eye and say, I got it, Skip. Yeah, so let's go.

But come look at the spreadsheet.

Yeah, are you, are you smarter than a computer? Is that what you're saying?

100%.

What's, what's, uh, in terms of today's game, is there something that if you could fix or like how it goes, maybe it's the opener, maybe it's the fact that like you said, there's guys that are getting pulled in the fourth.

I love the changes. Uh, I was pitchcom before pitchcom. I called about 90, 95% of my, um, uh, pitches from the mound with my looks. So that's why I tell you too, I had some very— I had some great catchers. I love my catchers over the 24 years I played because they had to pay attention to detail. You fouled a ball off, you're fixing your batting gloves, getting the sign from third base coach. I'm putting my next pitch into play. And here we go instead of pressing, you know, a button or here, you know, and I, and I, I warned not only the AAA guys going to the big leagues, but some of the big leagues pitchers who when they adopted PitchCom, you know, you, you get on the mound, you hear fastball away and all you do is grab it and heave it. You're not, you're not, you don't have a purpose. You understand what I'm saying?

Mm-hmm.

I, I, I know how, I know what I'm going to throw you your first two pitches. And by what you do or how you react, I know how I'm going to try and get you out if I need a punch out, ground ball, whatever I might need. So, uh, there's a, you know, there's a lot going on there with— and you're going with what stuff that you have. I mean, if my split's nasty, I might throw you— you know, I remember throwing George Brett in a big game, 1-0, man on third, one out, and I threw him 7 straight splits, I think, to get him out. And they were all cussing me from the dugout. That was back in the day when they challenged somebody. Yeah, I don't need to challenge You're getting—

Don't just jump.

Yeah, you're getting Mr. Nasty.

Yeah, that's, that's an awesome story. So you're, when you would, when you call your own pitches, what, how many different signals would you have to go like rotate through over the course?

So since I'm probably not— and I don't know, am I coming back? I mean, you guys are making me feel good about—

well, yeah.

Oh yeah, I had an idea.

You are paid what you get paid for 4 innings, but I'm going to give you my pitches. So I haven't done this in a while, but sometimes I catch the ball back and when I kind of just hitch my pants like I'm trying to hitch my pants up. Up, that was split. Nobody knew it. Nobody knew it.

But that's crazy.

No one ever figured it out. So I did. Now, we had a guy— I study pitchers a lot, and I still do it with the guys now. They'll send me stuff, uh, their video of their bullpens, and I'll tell them about their shoulder tilt and a few things that are hot. It's not— it's too complex. Some guys get too complex. But we had a guy that I got that when he threw his changeup, he would show his teeth to his catcher. We got him. And you don't tell him until— unless a guy gets traded and you go over there and say, hey man.

Yeah.

And let you know we had your pitches. And like, Jesus, why don't you tell me? He goes, well, you're— I'm going to be facing you.

Yeah, right.

Other guys— that's why I tell the young kids, or college, or minor league guys when I talk to them, when you throw your bullpen, practice perfect. Because when you get where the lights are the brightest and a little more pressure— no different, you guys preparing for what you guys do, you're very good at what you do— the guy, this guy was going fastball, easy for him to get right at his those. But to get his hook, it took him a little longer, and he came up and covered his logo. We got you. It makes, it makes a, a .250 hitter a .350 hitter in our game.

Yeah.

And you just, just, it's your habits. That's why you see guys get flimsy gloves. They fan because to go get their split or their changeup, that your hand goes into more. So we're watching you and we're paying it, we're paying attention to what you're doing. I had to start wearing, uh, short sleeves even when it was cold because I was throwing some nasty splitters early in my career to this team. I told the pitching coach, I said, man, keep it on me, see if I'm tipping, if I'm fanning my glove or whatever. And he goes, no, they couldn't figure it out. So I started watching my film, and on fastball, I was here, I was here, I had the, the long sleeve or whatever. Fastball was here, and my split, I had to get it like this. So you're seeing 2 more inches of skin.

Yeah.

And guys were spitting on, like, I was throwing nasty splitters, bottom zone where you'd be hacking like crazy, and they were spitting on them.

Yeah. So, so this, this, that was, that was that.

My lips That was curveball.

I missed. That's her.

That's all it is, kissing.

Yeah.

And I threw in a 120-pitch game, I might throw 8 hooks because my slider— I had a tight slider and what they call a sweeper. Now it's not a sweeper, it's just a slurve. It's a little bit tighter slider.

Yeah.

And then my, my 2 fastballs. But basically when I would get on the mound with nobody on or whatever, and I'm looking straight down Broadway, if I look straight down Broadway, you know it's curve or split because that's what I'm aiming in middle. So if he goes split— I mean, if he goes, you know, for a split and he knows I don't come, then he knows it's hook. So he'll just do this. What also that helps doing is if you got— you're in the stretch and you do that, you got a guy on second and, and the hitter calls timeout, it's because my catcher did this. He didn't give a sign. So now we knew that something was going on. They were trying to relay signs. So that's how somebody— that's how somebody gets hurt.

That's— I love it.

Real easy.

That's crazy. I had no idea about that.

Yeah, there's all kinds stuff going while you're having your popcorn and peanuts and talking trash.

Yeah, we're getting that.

That's the game.

Yeah, you're working hard. Yeah. Um, one of the, one of the best things I think you ever did was, uh, that episode of The Simpsons. Loved Homer at the Bat. Did you know that?

That was, you know, I signed— when I do little signings, I sign more Simpson lithos than I do of my bubblegum cards.

Really?

Yeah, when they turn me into the chicken. Yeah, yeah, that was fun. Well, I wanted to go out to LA to do that in the studio, and I didn't realize that Bart was a female, her voice.

Yeah, yeah.

And so I got to meet her. That was cool. And then, yeah, they put me in a booth and I had to do about 8 variations of Bart.

Did you know when you were recording that it was going to be something you'd be asked about?

No, no.

35 years?

No, it was good. It still wasn't as bad as the Farrelly Brothers. You know, I was supposed to be in Dumb and Dumber. And the team wouldn't let me go. I couldn't get away to go do it. It was only going to film a day, like in Reno or wherever they were filming, whatever. And my name in that was pretty cool. It was Seabass.

Yeah, that's—

yeah. And so I couldn't do it. So I got Cam Neely. Cam jumped in and he became Seabass. But the only problem was the lines were written for a Texas twang. I'm going to kill him some, bitch. You know, stuff like that.

Yeah.

But so he had to do it. And so it was funny seeing a Canadian, you know, who's the dead man hit me with the salt shaker?

So.

So the brothers, Peter and Bobby, they're like, wait, we're going to get you. We want you in one of our movies. You're gonna— because you're good, you're going to do this. I go, all right, man. So off-season, November, they said, all right, we're doing this, the other one, and you're gonna— we're gonna fly you into Reno. It's going to take a couple hours, but we're going to film from midnight to 2 in the morning. You and Woody Harrelson, blah, blah, blah. We're going to do all this. I go, I ain't going anywhere, boys, until you tell me what my nickname or whatever it is. What's my name in the movie? They go, well, Rock, if we tell you, well, you ain't gonna I go, is it that bad? And they go, what is it? They go, you're Skidmark. So I was Skidmark in the movie Kingpin. If you watch Kingpin, yeah, it's great. I'm the shit-kicking truck driver that comes into the bar and Randy Quaid's dancing with my girl. I got tattoos and earrings and yeah, so that was, that was, you know, that, that's— I couldn't, you— I couldn't use that name as one of my aliases.

Yeah, you know, I could use Sea Bass. I was that. I was Wyatt Earp for a couple years. Nobody could figure that out. Like Mr. Herb walking through the lobby. Hey, Mr. Herb. And then, uh, me and another teammate, the best one I had, it worked for about 4 years before anybody picked up on it. I was Justin Time and he was Justin Case. So we rode— there we go, we rode with that for a few years.

Yeah, I love that.

Yeah.

Do you, uh, do you have any good George Steinbrenner stories? The boss? Like, we've lost those type of figures kind of in sports.

You know, I was lucky I had him when he wasn't, you know, as grittier.

You're firing people every day.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got him. It wasn't the '75s, you know. Yeah, but he did. He came to Houston twice to get me, and the second time he came and said, listen, I've been trying to get you for 3 years. You want to be a damn Yankee or don't you? So, but the funny story was, you know, he's in his turtleneck, white turtleneck and blue blazer, and we're on the second level of my house, and I've got a little bitty weight room off this. Got some leg equipment, a ham— we want them hamstring machines machines, and it's got a couple machine, uh, exercise machines you can get on. And out of nowhere, he sees my— he looks over and he sees my, my machine, and he goes, Rocket, I'm just going to tell you, at my age, I still work out. He starts taking his jacket off. I'm looking at my agents, I'm like, what's going on? And he takes his jacket, lays it off, and goes over. And it's, you know, it's the, it's the hamstring where you got to lay down.

Yeah, yeah.

And, and I know there's 7 or 8 plates on there from the morning workout that we did. There's no way. He's gonna tear his hamstrings off the bone if he tries this. I don't know what his age was. And so we're looking, he goes, yeah, I still work out. And he lays down and he grabbed those things. Now the rest of the family and friends, they know he's in— he's at the house. So I've got a pretty good 13, 14 people down in the kitchen area right below where he's getting ready to lift these weights. And he gets that thing up and it's heavy, so he can't get it but 4 or 5 inches up. And he lets it go and it hits, bam! And he goes over there, bam! And then third one after third one hit, I got the wife and everybody else at the door in the game room upstairs. They think somebody fell down and had a heart attack. And they said one of the light fixtures had popped out of the— and he got up like nothing. He goes, yeah, I still love to work out. I'm like, this guy, he ain't Is that when you signed?

Were you like, I gotta complete the 80?

I signed right then. Right then. Right then.

Did you go back and forth over adding— was it, you added $22 extra to it?

Yeah, I think somebody put that in there.

I don't know.

At the end?

Yeah, for— it was good luck, man. It worked out.

It did end up working out. I think I read somewhere, were you a rice bucket guy?

Improving your— Yeah, I started, I was digging at rice for my ligaments in my elbow. It's a good little drill. You know, it's, that's a good little drill. There's some other ones for the guys I show 'em to, you know, hopefully— I was lucky again for my elbow, 24 years. I was lucky, man. These guys, some of these guys put some torque on their ball.

Yeah, I was going to say, like, was it, was it that type of workout or what? Was it just luck? What do you think the reason was?

That was one of my warmups. I got another one that I do, a Super 7 drill with a bat, or I got this hammerhead that I do. I still do them now. So at my age, I can still throw a pretty good BP to the boys or guys. Guys come over to the house in January to throw or hit.

That was going to be my suggestion. It's like we could make a call to a GM, Big Cat or I could, or you could say like, I'll throw myself. Son home run derby balls if you let him in the derby?

Well, I think my number 3 son Casey and Coach Cody with the Minnesota Twins, they're big fans. They said, because when I told them I was coming to see you guys, they're like, Dad, they're awesome, do it. I go, I'm locked in, man, I'm gonna do the best I can. But, uh, you know, Casey would be the one that, uh, uh, he's trying to get me to do a fun little thing. And if it is, I'm gonna get you guys in on it because I'm gonna have a celebrity stand in But his deal is, you know, he, uh, DeChambeau did that deal with the president breaking 50. Yeah, we're gonna do one if a 64-year-old can break 90. So I'm gonna start training. I think I can hit 80 right now. I don't know if I can get to 90 and not ruin my show.

You're coming back. This is all just you coming back. Oh yeah, I'm gonna do this new series.

We're gonna have— I got a couple guys that are, uh, I got a movie star friend that you guys will see and and they're going to stand in while I'm trying to do this. You get Kevin Millard in there, and if it gets away from a little bit, we got ice, because I'm—

I was going to say, I don't— I'm— I do not want to do that. I don't want to stand in for you throwing as hard as you can.

I'd like to opt out as well.

I'll, I'll watch.

I've seen—

everybody's leaving me.

I've seen you pitch inside enough to know that I, I do not want that smoke. I will tell you that.

Yeah, it only stings for a minute.

What, uh, so, so when you came back with the Yankees and you did the whole, uh, you know, Roger, he's in George's box. Well, how did that come together? I mean, it's all time Susan Waltman.

I see Susan a lot.

Crying.

And she's—

Yeah. So, so, yeah. So, 45 years old. This is 2007. I'm in my garage messing around. I watched the Yankees. I think they just got swept in Cleveland or something. And Deb comes out in the garage and says, Joe Torre and Cashman are on the phone, want to talk to you. And I was like, what? She goes, that's them. I know. I, you know, I just got done visiting with them. So I get on there and Skip's, you know, Joe's the best. He's like, Rocket, how you doing? We're chatting it up, chatting it up, chatting it up. And about 30 seconds in, Cash, dry as ever, goes, how long will it take you to get ready? And I go, what? He goes, I need you in my 4th or 5th hole, but I need you in the locker room to get everybody on the same page. I go, Cash, I'm 45 now. I run, I walk, jog 3 times a week at Memorial Park. That's parked by the house at home in Houston. And I said, man, you know, I'm not going to go out there and embarrass myself, Cash. He goes, we're going to send a plane for you, go to Tampa.

I said, you're not doing anything. Give me 2 weeks and I'll get after it hard for 2 weeks and I'll let you know. So I got after it, got my legs, my legs felt pretty good, my arm was feeling good, split was starting to work. I was throwing some pins behind the scenes, nobody knowing. And I called Cash, he goes, all right, we're sending a plane for you, you got to go to Tampa for another 2 weeks. He goes, but we're going to send you to the stadium first as a surprise because nobody knows this. This. And even my closest friends on the team, I go, no, I'm not doing a dog and pony show. I'm— you sent— we're going straight to Tampa, and you guys want me to work with a couple pitchers there. I'll tell them, put the headset on, we'll start getting 3 miles in in that heat around the Tampa football stadium. We'll get after it. And he goes, nope, you got to come to— you got to come to Yankee Stadium first. I was like, good Lord. I had no idea what I was going to say. But yeah, they marched me out in George's box, and I'm like, okay, they can— when I got marched out out Susan and I.

I didn't see it till later. Susan went, oh my God, of all the theatrics, Roger's back! Yeah, I said, guys, hey, they came and got me out of Texas, and, uh, I'll be talking to y'all soon, or something. I said something like that. It was awesome.

Yeah.

And then the car was still running in the players parking lot. Got in the car, plane. I was in Tampa working out later that day. And, uh, we got to the playoffs. It was good. Yeah, it was a good deal.

Yeah.

Said something really interesting there, which— and it's something I'd never thought about, uh, given your career, that they needed meet you in the locker— in the clubhouse to straighten everything out. I can see that just by talking to you. Like, you are— you would probably be a great teammate to have that would also kind of like demand accountability out of everybody. Um, what was it about— like, how would you go into a situation like that? And if things looked like they were a little too lax or in disarray, like, how would you be the force that would turn that around?

Yeah, well, we policed each other really well, and, you know, and guys took it— they didn't take it personal. But, you know, when I, when I got to the Yankees, they found out real quick DJ and I, who I was battling against all the time. Derek, uh, you know, you're cut from the same cloth, as they say. You know, you want to, you want to win. I mean, coming out of, coming out of Texas and then getting to the World Series, you know, losing against the Mets. You're talking about an emotional World Series in '86. We're down to one strike against California Angels going home, hit a couple big homers. Next thing you know, we're in the World Series, and we're one strike away from winning the World Series there. So super emotional. But I always said, you know, uh, you know, where I came from, my background— you got to know the guy's background. I was telling some guys out here, my pops passed away when I was 9, and so I was raised by my mother, my grandmother, two strong-willed ladies. My mom worked 3 jobs in Houston so I could have a badass pair of cleats and a glove.

So when I hear people say, oh, you million dollars, are you silver spooned athletes? I said, hold up a damn minute. Pisses me off because my mom sat in high school people with their hands in her head with our electricity getting turned off 3 times. So I mean, it gets real, you know what I'm saying? So when I took advantage of my first 2 years of pro ball, I wanted to make some money because I wanted to buy, you know, pay her townhome off and get her a new car. And then after that, it was back to winning championships again, and that's all you focus on. And, uh, but I was lucky. Again, my career that I had was wonderful. Being in the locker room with the Yankees— I played with 2 of the most historic teams stadiums and, and ballparks. I mean, Fenway Park and old Yankee Stadium. Old Yankee Stadium, we had ghosts running around that place, man. The comeback wins we had. New Yankee Stadium's cool. It's like going to a mall and there's a freaking baseball field there, but it's not—

it's not a way to sell it.

Yeah, it ain't old Yankee Stadium.

Yeah, no, that, that is true. Um, what happened with the Piazza, uh, bat? Did you just black out?

No, if you watch the replay, I had impeccable fielding form, man. The bat broke. I mean, what's the, what's It was the luck of the bat taking two bounces and it came perfectly in my lap, right to you. You're talking about PFP. I mean, it was like fielding practice. And then I took— I had no idea I was running. The guy's like, oh, you threw it. I go, guys, he was 15 feet. If I wanted to hit him, I'd thrown it through him. And I said, I just winged that crap on the on-deck circle and he was jogging. He said he didn't— broke the bat in four pieces. And the reason I said it was the ball, because immediately I thought it was a line drive at me. That's why it broke down. But it was the head. The bat broke in 4 pieces, shattered that crap in 4 pieces. But, uh, Mike was like the same thing as Reggie. I mean, I think I was sitting at about 94 and he got in the box and I was whistling 98 on his thumbs. And that's what we had to do. This is like when they asked me in spring training, I was down for the Yankees, how I'd pitch Judge.

And I said, are you kidding me? I said, uh, I was in the movie Ty Cobb, got to play Chrissy Mattson, and one of the famous, uh, lines in there with, uh Tommy Lee Jones played Ty Cobb. He said at one point, he said, my sister Florence could hit the ball to right field in Yankee Stadium. And so why would you pitch Judge over there or Piazza away? And we had that almost to get fined. But he said, we're going to pitch him in and we're going to pitch him further in and we're going to pitch him in. I said, well, I got no problem with that. Yeah, because that's— I, I— he's hit every— I think he hit every breaking ball that I threw to him. That's how good hitter he was. Yeah, I like that.

In and in.

They're like, oh, you threw— I said it was good TV. That's why I went to the umpire, say, hey, give me another damn ball so we can get this at-bat that everybody wants to see over with. Yeah, because it was getting bigger than the World Series itself.

Yeah, you, you said, I thought it was the ball. Yeah. And I think deep down, tell me if I'm way off, you were a little bit upset that he had the audacity to break his bat and almost hit you with his bat, and you had to send it back to him.

Yeah, no, no, I just, I fielded it perfectly and whistled it on the on-deck circle. I didn't want that crap out there, But, uh, uh, yeah, no, it was— when I, when I first— like I tell people, they don't understand— when, when I let go of the ball, I'm 53 feet away from the hitter. And when that bat shattered, at first I, I thought I was getting a line drive. Of course, once the bat hit the ground, bounced, I knew it was the bat and I chunked it. But they're like, oh, he just thought it was a ball.

No.

Yeah.

And what about that game, the, uh, the legendary game against the Red Sox? Uh, just everyone— you— I, I know that you threw inside. Was it— who was it against? Was that against, um, um, that might have been against Millar, right? Threw him a little—

you're talking about the Pedro game? Yeah, no, that was, uh, that was Manny, and it was not inside at all. It was actually— if you look at the replay, it's a strike in the game today. You'd be doing this. Yeah, you would be my catcher. You'd be challenging that for me.

But you went high and tight against Millar a couple times though, gave him some chin music.

Yeah, I may have. I, I don't— I pitched 25, like I said. Who knows? There were games that you had to clean up. That's the ugly part of it, and I hated doing own it because sometimes it fell to the pitcher that was pitching before me and they didn't clean it up. But I know that that's my, that's half my family in there in respect. I mean, when I get a guy that comes sit next to me on the bench, which they really don't do when I'm pitching, and finally I know he's sitting there for a reason and wants to say something, I said, "What's up? You got a problem with this guy?" And he goes, "Yeah, I got a problem with this guy. He's got me 3 times." I said, "Well, I'll handle it. You're going to get, you got the magic bullet," which in that game I did. And yes, Manny was going to eat one. One, you know. But, and that's why he— and he, I'm pretty sure he knew he was going to eat one. That's why he went out, you know, going crazy through it, like a 95-mile-an-hour fastball just up high, right?

It wasn't near him, and he went ballistic.

Yeah.

And then we saw, then we saw, you know, Zim.

Yeah.

You know, he's a baseball lifer. That's my guy. I mean, I had Zim in Boston and with the Yankees. I love him. Miss him. He— I think he— I don't think he— he's another guy didn't cash a check outside the game of baseball.

Yeah.

And, but he got pissed off and ran out there and Pedro gave him the ole. And I'm like, what is going on?

What's going on with that? That's what I loved about those games though, is because I could sense that and every fan could sense like you guys didn't like each other. And that's what we like about—

well, both teams are competitive. You got to understand, when I was with the, with the Red Sox in the mid-'80s, late '80s, the Yankees really weren't a rival for us. They, they kind of— I mean, that Donnie Ball game and they, they weren't— they were— the team was the Blue Jays. Late '80s. Of course they won World Series in '90s. And then, um, when I went to New York, when I got traded to New York and Red Sox changed ownership, it got competitive again. You know, it was great because you're playing for one trophy then, you know what I'm saying? Money's— doesn't even matter. You're playing for the trophy. Now, it wasn't as crazy as the '70s, '75, guys sliding into second trying to blow your knee out, or who was it, Nettles or somebody fistling into third, or Hobson. And he pops up and it's a hockey match. But I laugh at that too, you know. You watch the sports highlights and it's hockey time and they're showing 3 fights, just good, just beating the crap out of body. And then they go to one of us and we have a little push, half brawl, and it's like, oh yeah, the whole bullpen comes out just to kind of check out.

What's your number? I, I don't have your cell number. And meanwhile, 30 seconds earlier, they're showing hockey and guys just wearing each other.

Yeah. Um, all right, where are we at with Hall of Fame?

Old news. Yeah, I mean, yeah, after year one we quit paying attention because you have no control over it. Yeah, so, you know, that's been the, uh, you know, the most of it. Like I said, I didn't play to make the Hall of Fame. I played to change the dynamics of my family's life and win championships. I think it's a selfish thing anyway because most of my teammates that made me who I am and, and all these awards I won, they'll never have the opportunity to get in there. So but yeah, it's—

do you think, though, it's a little like it's— we're now gotten to a point and there's obviously, you know, the late '90s, early 2000s baseball, you know, things happen and it's like we got to a point though where we've just kind of erased some of the most historic guys from the game when it comes to the Hall of Fame and you and Barry Bonds and like some of these guys, like, how are we telling this the history of baseball?

So their deals totally— their deals Those are totally separate. They haven't erased me from anything. I mean, they still have some of my stuff in Cooperstown. When somebody like my late, great Toby Keith, you know, goes up there with his band, he always gets my stuff and he goes, "Rocky, you know this stuff's here." And that stuff's on loan as far as I'm concerned, 'cause I want my boys to have it one day. And it's on loan for the fans to go see. But again, the Hall is not gonna change me one way or the other.

Yeah.

As a person, as a player, how I went about my work. And bottom line is I proved my case, not once but twice. We beat their ass. And we finally got in a setting where only facts matter. So I can't worry about what writers like you or don't like you or, you know, being a beauty contest or something like that. So I had some, some guy didn't vote for Derek Jeter.

I know.

It's crazy.

I know it is. It is crazy.

Some of the writers.

So either, and I don't think you have to wait 10 years. I think you're either, you're either a Hall of Famer or you're not.

It should be peers. It should be guys in the Hall of Fame voting for more guys in the Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame because they know what it takes to be a Hall of Famer, not the writers. That's really what it should be.

Yeah.

All that said, I'll say it's bullshit. Yeah, it is bullshit that you're not in it.

Yeah, I appreciate it. But like I said, it's, you know, I got a lot of people to thank, you know, which I do all the time when I— whether I do it through my foundation or I do it when I speak, I'm going to do like, you know, I was fortunate to win a Thurman Munson Award and a couple of other really cool awards. I'm going to go out and give that out. I'm going to do something else. I think it's really cool. I hold dear to my heart. You guys are going to see it this summer. It's going to happen in a couple of months, what I'm going to do. So I have to— you guys have to pay attention to that. It's going to be really cool.

That was a cliffhanger. Yeah, I love that.

Yeah, it's going to be really cool. Yeah. What I'm going to do. So I've been wanting to do it for a long time. I'm actually doing an appearance in the Northeast where this is going to take place.

Okay. All right. Well, we got one last question. Zach, come on up here. This has been awesome. Thank you so much, Rocket. You're always welcome on.

Appreciate it.

We'll have you on back to talk some more ball.

The funniest part of Rocket coming into this room, Zach was standing standing kind of in front of him, and Roger went up to Zach to shake his hand, stuck his hand out, and Zach was so nervous that he was in the way. He turned around and ran away from Roger.

Zach, I thought I was in the way. He was trying to get around the corner.

I'll say, Zach, Roger Clemens walking in saying, hey, I'm Rocket, it's an intimidating thing. It feels like he's throwing, you know, 99 at your head.

I can agree.

Yeah, you're backing off the plate a little. All right, so the Rohback question, roback.com, promo code 20% off your first purchase. Q-Zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts. rowback.com, promo code TATE. Go, sir.

Let's go. What are we doing today, sir?

I do have a quick question for you. 24 years in the MLB, quite the career, a lot of accolades, a lot of contribution to the game. I was curious if there was like, outside of like the World Series and the awards, is there like a, is there a small moment that may have left a big impact on you as a player through your career?

Yeah, great question. I mean, You know, it has to do with my mom and my grandmother and my family, you know, and then having my 4 boys and showing them the best way. I love it that my boys all, you know, all played professionally, but the younger 2 graduated from McCombs Business School. My mom was a stickler on education too. And so I think getting drafted, you know, realizing you're going to get drafted. In high school, and I tell the kids, it's a story, but it was me. So that's when I see these young kids out here, I was one of them. Them. And, you know, I was the third best pitcher on my high school team. I threw strikes. I had a little Bugs Bunny curve and threw about 85 miles an hour. But the two 19-year-old veterans threw hard. And we get in the playoffs, they wet the bed. And Coach would bring me in at those strikes. And I was probably a better first baseman, first baseman than I was pitcher, and better defensive end.

And—

but then all of a sudden— and I knew the only way I was going to further my education go to a major school like the University of Texas was by scholarship. And so because we, you know, we didn't— my mother, you know, she wanted me to keep going, but we didn't have the money. So all of a sudden, I go to San Jacinto, and there, there was a football lifting program, and they didn't have a baseball program to do that. I matured, my body grew, I graduated. I took classes, graduated early at 17. So when I went to the JUCO, did really well there, and then I ended up at Texas. We lifted with the football players there too. I got strong. Fastball started jumping. And all then these guys, I'm like, "Wow, I got a chance to get drafted." So it was pretty cool going to Ole Miss. So that's kind of how everything set itself up for my path to continue forward. Now, I had bumps along the way. I mean, there was times where I didn't think I was going to, you know, make it through, you know, Major League Baseball a few times too.

But, you know, just to persevere. And like I said, I go through 3— when I talk to the guys, I go through 3 phases. 3 long answer here. I go 3, uh, progressions. Physically, you're in charge of how you feel in your body and the core work. I mean, in between starts, I'm doing close to 600 ab work just because that's where I get that in long toss. That's where you continue to be able to have your fastball. Uh, the second part, the mental part of the game, like, the guys know mentally I'm gonna freaking crush you. I'm locked in. I'm trying to, you know, I've got my blinders on. I mean, I'm so detailed, I got the guy that mows the grass that our our groundskeeper, mounds about 17 inches wide, he mows the grass right down Broadway, his last strip. So I got— it's like being in a bowling alley. So now I got my gears and I can, you know, I know where I'm going if I'm missing. So there's all kinds of detailed stuff going on. I could be here another hour with you guys telling you some of the crazy stuff.

Last, our emotions. I think about my mother being sick. She passed away in '05 at the World Series. I had to pitch that night, one of the hardest games I had to pitch. They wanted to send an airplane. My mom was in Austin. I was in Houston. They wanted to send an airplane for me. I said, no, I need 2 hours to drive to clear my mind if I'm going to pitch, and my mom would want me to pitch. And so my sisters were there when she took her last breath. So I think about things like that when I'm lethargic on the mound. I'll think about my grandmother passing, or being— I'll try and just pull stuff in her, or I'll try and punch a guy out early in the game and get the crowd into it, and then that elevates my game a little bit. So there's nothing worse than going out, like, you know, with the Red Sox, driving in from my house in Framingham, seeing all the different license plates from the different, uh, states coming to watch you pitch, because they counted every fifth day. And then I go out there and lay an egg, get knocked out of the game in the third inning or something.

It's— there's not a— there's not a worse feeling, I'm just telling you. But so those, those are the— when you ask me that question, a lot of emotions come, you know, pass through my mind, that the reason why I'm here able to talk to you guys on your show.

Yeah. All right.

Sounded like in high school you had an opener. Uh, the way you described it, you're like, the guy would come in and I would come in.

Yeah, yeah. So if, if they looked a little nervous, I, I never really got nervous. You had an opener, but I didn't, you know, I had—

yeah, nerds win again. Yeah.

I mean, have you ever thought about how great your career would have been? You would have been the best setup man of all time.

Yeah, yeah, maybe. I mean, I, I played with, I played with one that was pretty good. Hey, if I had Mariano Rivera in my career, I'd have 500, 400 wins.

Yeah, sure. No, we're busting balls. Uh, you I think maybe, maybe one of the best pitchers, maybe the best power pitcher of all time. Yeah, is that fair to say?

I appreciate it.

Would you consider yourself to be the best?

Uh, I let other people do that talking, you know. I think when you guys see me like behind the scenes, like now, I mean, you see me on the mound behind the glove, that's one thing. But another thing I do is, you guys do it, I'm going to actually be singing over here tonight. Yeah. And I'll be kicking it off with, uh, like I said, one of my friends. He stayed with me while he was battling that damn C word, Toby Keith. And, uh, I miss him. Yesterday was Toby's birthday, so I'll kick it off with a Toby song. And, uh, but I DJ at night too. I do some DJing stuff.

I love that.

So I have to get you guys in the music room. Yeah, got 1,600 songs, and it's better than karaoke. It's a program where I can faintly put, uh, Bono or Madonna, you know, whoever it is, uh, Adele. Once the— and once the girls see that, they're scared to come to the mic. Like, once they realize I can pull your voice— the, the voice out and put her in the background, you sing over top of her. Yep, it's game on. Yeah, there you go, it's game on.

Yeah.

Well, Rocket, thank you so much, man. I really appreciate it.

Yeah, I appreciate you guys having me. Thanks.

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Okay, we now welcome on a very, very special guest. It is our good friend Shane Bacon. We're talking the Open Championship Championship. You can see Shane, uh, updates all week, uh, in the CBS studio. He also has some interviews coming out with Wyndham Clark and Charles Barkley, two recurring guests to this show. Shane, it is time for the fourth major, uh, not as a, you know, like, hey, it's the fourth major, but it actually is the fourth major in the calendar year. So tell us everything. I, I honestly, this is one, the, this is my least favorite major just because of the time zones, but the Open Championship, Royal Birkdale What, what the hell's going on with Royal Berkdale? Give us the whole course, you know, download.

Big Cat, this could be your quickest flip ever. It's going to go from your least favorite major to your favorite major because of one thing and one thing only. I follow you on all your social accounts as, you know, friends do. I'm assuming all your other friends do it as well. I know you're a big donut guy with the kiddos.

Yeah.

Uh, Berkdale, the host this week has a donut bunker on the 7th hole. That's what they call it. There's a bunker. I think I sent it to Max., that he can show you as well at some point. But there is in fact a bunker they call the donut bunker. It's got like a little grass central area, like the donut hole.

Yeah.

So I'm again, now you're an open guy. Now you're a Birkdale guy.

I would try to hit it there and I would miss, but that would probably mean I made a good shot because I'd missed the bunker. But okay. So I'm a Birkdale guy. How, what is the, this course in terms of links golf? Is it, you know, towards a more difficult— wait, like, what, what is this course layout going to be like?

Yeah, so 11th time, Berkdale's hosting the Open for the 11th time. It's kind of got like hitters only that have won here. A guy named Peter Thompson who won 5 Opens, won his first and his last at Berkdale. Arnold Palmer, ever heard of him? He won here. Uh, Trevino won. Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, um, Ian Baker Finch, who I know you guys have heard on the broadcast for a long time, um, he won Mark O'Meara in '98 won here when he was like palling up with Tiger and then got good. Won 2 majors that year. Padraig Harrington and Jordan Spieth. So that's the list of winners here. A lot of big names. Obviously, it's an interesting links golf course. Like there's, there's not as much wind factor. There's not as much undulation in the fairways. It's a pretty flat golf course, all things considered, for a links-style golf course right now. Extremely dry in the area. Expected to be the case all week. Very firm, uh, but they've got these massive dunes. You know, you remember Jordan Spieth back in 2017 when he hit it like literally 100 yards? Yes, right on the 13th hole.

Yes.

And he had to get the drop by the driving range trucks and all that stuff. He hit it on one of those dunes. These dunes are huge, and if you hit it out of play or out of position, you could find yourself in a really sketchy position. But if you find the fairways, uh, this is a little bit more accuracy and hit it straight than it is overpower the golf course. And the greens in terms of a links golf course are about the flattest you will ever see in terms of a major championship. It's like you get on these greens, you feel like you could make kind of any putt of any distance.

So it's scoring. We're going to score this weekend.

Yeah, not, not a lot of wind in the forecast. Golf course, the balls are going to run forever. Like, I think you're going to see some pretty low scoring.

Okay. So in looking at this course, it's got the donut bunker. I see that.

That.

What all— is there like one particular hole that this is— it's got like a burn or like the lead? What's the history behind this course that we should, we should know?

Yeah, I mean, one of the kind of the really cool things about this golf course, I guess, if you're watching, is the par 5s come late. Uh, you don't get a par 5 till the 14th, and then you get 14 and 17. So, you know, you think about going out and playing golf and you're, you know, us three are collectively 5 or 6 over through a couple holes holes, you're kind of looking on the scorecard for a par 5. Yeah, not the case at Birkdale. It is like your favorite player's favorite links course. I mean, guys have talked so much about this. Rory called it one of the best ever. Um, the players this week, you'll hear glowingly talk about it, like high reviews on the golf course, because again, it's penal. It's got a boatload of bunkers. I think there's 108 bunkers on the golf course. None are deep of the greens. They're all kind of in that front portion surrounding like the entryways, if you will, to the greens. Not a lot over these greens, but if you place the ball in the right spot, you can get around this place. So again, you know, you think back to 2017, Brendan Grace shoots 62 there.

I believe that was the first 62 we ever seen in a major championship. It is a place where you can rip it up if you hit, let's say, 11, 12 fairways over the course of a day. And the winds are expected to stay like the forecast says, like 10, 11, 12 miles per hour the first 3 rounds.

So I want to get in some names that you think have a chance this weekend, but before we do that, there's one name that will not have a chance this weekend. I can't believe we missed this story. Maybe you can tell us more about what happened. Uh, Sergio, Sergio Garcia will not be playing in the Open Championship. He missed qualifying, and he missed because he ate lasagna. Is that what happened?

Yeah, you had a, had a mid-round lasagna. Yeah. I mean, if we were gonna do Mount Rushmore of foods not to eat in the middle of a 36-hole day. Yeah. In the middle of a summer.

Ooh.

I feel like lasagna's high. Max is picking that second or third, you know?

That's a good Mount Rushmore.

We might have to do that.

We might have to do that. But yeah, that's, that's terrible decision-making on Sergio's part. Like a full plate of lasagna after the first 18 holes before the, the second 18 holes. And he just, did he have to poop or what? He just got sick.

Yeah. Just, just, just, just didn't sit well. Didn't play well. Hey, like, Like, let me ask you guys a question because you guys talk a lot about food. Um, I'll start with Big Cat here. In terms of eating, when it's really hot, is there food off the table for you? Like, is there something— if it's 105, you're in Phoenix in the middle of the summer— that you're like, I don't really feel like I'm gonna eat that? Or you kind of game for all foods, all temps?

No, I mean, that, that would be a question for like a European who doesn't have air conditioning, because I'll eat any food. Like, you, you give me a chicken pot pie in the middle of July, pie, guess what? I'm eating it because in my house it's 62 degrees. So I'm eating the chicken pot pie.

We do—

yeah, I mean, a chicken pot pie with, with a hoodie on. Uh, no, but I do—

I—

there are definitely some comfort foods. Like, I, I'm a big believer— I love chili. Love, love, love chili. I'm a big believer that I don't do chili in the middle of the summer. I— there's like a specific time where chili season begins, and I try to respect that. So yeah, I, I think there's definitely some summer foods that you wouldn't touch. Lasagna is on of the list.

I think lasagna would be up there. Now, on the other side, if it's wintertime, I actually enjoy like a nice iced coffee in the wintertime. I like lean into the season. I don't need to get hot. Interesting. In the summer, I'll try to steer away from— if it's like, you know, hot coffee, hot chocolate, or most soups, you can go with a gazpacho served chilled if you want. But yeah, soup overall, it, you know, it wanes a little bit in the summertime.

I, I do think— hey, by the way, Max, what did we have, uh, at our wedding? What was our food? Can— is Max there?

Can you talk about Uh, we did buffet style.

What were we serving?

We did buffet style. There was a couple salads, and then we got to the meats. There was mahi-mahi, chicken and ribs, flank steak. Uh, it was a good spread. Hank can attest.

Great mahi.

Did you eat any of the salad, Max?

Uh, I did a tomato mozzarella salad.

Oh, nice.

Okay, so no.

Yeah, that's not—

that's cheese and tomato.

Wait, wait, wait, so wait, back up.

Deconstructed pizza.

You guys are trash. I gotta— I gotta I'm gonna quit. Wait, so Sergio, like, he's not still sick, he just didn't qualify? Is that what happened? Right, right. Okay, correct. I thought maybe he was like, he's good, the lasagna was so bad, I'm not playing in 6 days.

No, it's, it's not, not like COVID lasagna. Like, he's— we are, we are past it. Yeah, we have passed that.

So he just had a bad round and just blamed the food.

Bad, bad preparation.

I, I believe it, and I'd have to double-check on this. I believe he played well in the morning.

Yeah.

And then had lasagna. So it was actually like like, you know, you went out there and kind of did your job in the morning and then leaned into the lasagna, right? Um, for your, for your, for your lunchtime, which is, again, it's so weird. These golfers, I feel like, are obsessed with, with eating these days in terms of like clean eating. And you get, you know, we, I cover the Korn Ferry Tour, like all those KFT guys are obsessed with their diet. And the fact that a guy that's been out on tour for what, 25 years, 30 years, is just pounding a lasagna mid-round Yeah, yeah, almost self-sabotage.

Like, when I first saw it, I was like, oh, well, there's Sergio making more excuses. But then I read more about what the excuse was. I was like, okay, that actually sounds valid. Like, there's no chance that you can put together a good round after a full, full lunch of lasagna.

I got a question for you, Shane. Stupid question, but I've never played over in Europe. I've never played links golf. What makes it more difficult? What makes it— what is it like a defining quality? Are you hitting different shots? Are shots going different distances? Like, give me the, uh, Lynx Golf 101.

Yeah, well, one thing a lot of people don't tell you about is at the turn they force lasagna down your throat. So it's like, you know, they don't do that in America, but then, you know, in Europe they're really heavy on that. I mean, it's like, it's a lot of unpredictable golf. I mean, it is, you know, like I was thinking about major championships and, you know, I was thinking about the 4 majors in men's golf and like what they are, right? The Masters— and not to bring up Max again, but the Masters is kind of the wedding if you're an adult, right? It's beautiful, it's planned out, um, everybody looks pretty. I'm sure Max looks hot. I'm sure Hank could attest, looked great at his wedding. US Open is kind of like, like childbirth, right? I mean, you have your first kid, there's a lot of stress, it can be taxing, exhausting— not necessarily for us, um, but you're kind of happy it's over. You just kind of want to get through and there are times where you do it once, you go, I don't necessarily want to do it again. I think the, the PGA is, is like that fifth wedding in a busy wedding season where you don't necessarily want to go, but when you go, you might have fun.

You might have a lot of fun. Maybe you meet somebody, uh, you stay an extra day. Like, it can be fun. I just don't think you're necessarily that excited. The Open's like the anniversary honeymoon of all this stuff. Like, you're going to an exotic land, you're playing a different style of golf. You've got to hit different style shots, keep it on the ground. You know, Todd Hamilton famously won an Open Championship and was hitting his hybrid as like the bump and run club, you know, the entire week. I mean, beat Ernie Els in a playoff doing it. You can hit different shots, but I think the idea of throwing out your quote unquote stock number is a big thing that the modern pro battles with because when they play American-style golf, your wedge goes 151, right? Or 146. And when you get to Scotland, yeah, it might fly a certain number, but it might bound forward 30 feet. You know, the wind might be howling. You know, drives might go 430 yards if it's as firm as it's expected to be this week. There's just a lot of unpredictability. And then with the pot bunkers and the bunkering at these golf courses, the more the ball rolls, the more opportunity there is for it to go into a bunker.

And the difference in American golf and links-style golf is bunkers are true penalties. The sand's a little thicker, harder to spin out of. And also you get lips where you have to hit it backwards. Like Johnson Wagner, who we do the CBS show, was talking about playing at Muirfield in the Open one time, having to hit putter out of a bunker twice. Like he had it once and it went a little far. He had hit it again and then he could hit a wedge out. So just some of that stuff. Like, I think it's just more unpredictable. Guys are kind of kept on their toes a little bit more.

That's fun. I like it. Yeah, it does seem— it's always fun to watch because it looks looks noticeably different from any style of golf that we have in America. And I was looking at the Scottish Open, I watched some of that this weekend, and I think we've asked you this before— is there a curse? You don't want to win the Scottish Open because then you don't win the Open Championship the next week?

No. Well, the schedule's changed over time, like it's not always back to back, like it hasn't always historically been like the exact tournament right after it. But no, I don't think guys, um, like the par 3 contest, I don't think there's a big fear of I don't want to play well here. I mean, got her up last year, win the Scottish Open, yeah, and nearly won the Open Championship the next week. So I mean, again, I think in the modern game you're just trying to take home any trophy you can, and the fact that the Scottish is elevated I think helps that.

So can we look at what happened this week, uh, at the— it's the Genesis Scottish Open. So Tom Kim won, right? And then, uh, Min Woo Lee came second, Robert McIntyre, Bobby Mack came in third. Can we look at the results for that, and did we learn anything thing about what might happen this upcoming week?

Yeah, I mean, I've kind of got my, my 5 storylines for the week if you want me to hit you with those. And I, um, and with those, I think there's some of that in here. Um, so it's been a bit of a strange men's major year is my first thing, and the question is, will that continue? You know, you think about Rory winning at Augusta, I think the story, you know, a little bit more muted after obviously what happened last year. He didn't play excellent golf that week as well, obviously, here in Rye. A bit out of nowhere wins at Aronimic and kind of runs away with it late. Wyndham Clark, much of the same at the US Open. I just feel like the winners have been a bit random, and also it hasn't been necessarily the most exciting golf at the end on a Sunday, you know, when most people are tuned in. I was going through the 2000s major championship seasons thinking about what was the weakest because we've been on this incredible run as of late. '03 wasn't great, uh, Weir, Furyk, Sean McIlroy, Ben Curtis. '09 was Anel Cabrera, Glover, Wei Yang, Stewart Sink.

And then you had 2016 was Willett, Dustin Johnson, Jimmy Walker, and Henrik Stenson. I mean, there have been season— there are going to be major seasons that are not the most exciting. That can obviously change if you get some Scottie-Bryson-John Rahm duel this week at the Open Championship. But the question is, will that be just 4 random strange events, or will we have something that makes a little bit more sense? And kind of keeps the tradition going at Berkdale with, with the awesomeness of their, uh, past champions. Also, something that I didn't realize is, um, and this is my next thing, can the run of first-time Open winners continue? We're on a run of 12 straight winners that have won the Open their first time and, and only time to this point, um, going back to Phil in 2013. So you think about like a Tommy Fleetwood, a Jon Rahm, a Matt Fitzpatrick, all those guys kind of fit that mold in terms of somebody that haven't won an Open but could continue the run that we've been on where the Open winner has not won an Open before. Did you guys know that Bryson is on the Miss Cut Slam?

Did you guys, did you guys, are you guys aware of this?

He stinks at golf.

Mm-hmm. Oh, did you see that putt he hit the other day?

Oh, on LIV?

Yeah.

No, no, it was YouTube.

Yeah.

No, I think it was LIV.

It might've been LIV. The, the, the camera setup was identical.

It was maybe co— was it co-sanctioned? I heard you guys talking about that.

Yeah. We got, it was an interesting I think we all were.

I don't think anybody knows the truth.

He was excited. Yeah, he seemed to be having a fun time out there.

But what's up with him? Like, what, what's going on? Is he just— is he, is he just cooked? Is he a YouTube golfer now?

I don't think he's cooked. I just don't think he's playing like the high level of golf that we saw a couple years ago in the majors. I mean, the iron play continues, Big Cat, to be an issue for this guy, and yet he won't make any change. I I mean, I've talked a lot about this this year. He uses these single length irons. You guys know that, right? They're all the same length. And when pro golfers try out stuff and it works, people follow and do the same thing. I mean, if you're using a putter that works, people are going to go pick up that putter. Like Wyndham Clark right now is using that PING putter, right? That apparently the tour truck got flooded by guys coming in asking for a level, a model of that to go try out. Out. If there's a 7-wood or a 9-wood, something like that, that works, pros use it. Nobody's using single-length irons except Bryson. He's been doing it for, I don't know, 15 years. I just think he's got to get away from that and at least try something different with the irons, because the iron play, to your point, Big Cat, is just not good enough right now to win major championships.

And I mean, now he's not winning them. He's not even making it to Saturday.

Yeah.

How many, how many strokes would Marty Fish have to give Bryson right now?

Man, I mean, that sounds like you just created his next YouTube video. I mean, I would say it, it's— I'd say I'd still like Bryce in there, but Marty can play.

Marty can play.

Yeah, Marty win.

Yeah, he won. I think it's by like 8, 8 points.

I think we're close to a dynasty here. That's 3 in 6 years.

Yeah, I'm telling you, these guys with the hip, the, the— all the athletes with the quick hips, it's like kickers, quarterbacks, tennis players, uh, hockey. These guys are all such freaking good golfers. It's so annoying.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, okay, uh, are we at 4?

Uh, I think so. Yeah, does that sound right?

Yeah, yeah, Bryce is going in for the slam for missed cuts, for the missed cut, for the missed cut slam, which we will—

if he misses the cut, if he misses the cut at the Open, he has— he's missed all 4 this year.

And I want Bryson to know this right now because I know he listens to every episode. If that does in fact happen, we will create a banner for him and raise it in our office.

We'll have a parade, Bryson.

Yeah, we will.

Is he— has he been on the podcast?

No, no, no, no. I would—

would he— would he be on—

would he be on this window? I think the window when he had still had a PR person, um, he could have maybe done it. Now that he no longer has a PR person and went back to being just so hateable, uh, I think he'd struggle on the podcast.

Yeah, he was— when his window was 2 and a half years ago. Yeah, exactly, exactly. It's like a perfect window. Yeah, yeah, it was like right after he won at Pinehurst. Yep. This is— now I'll say this— the year of the comeback, 2026. This is the year of the comeback in professional golf. Anthony Kim, Gary Woodland, even in terms of golf, like Wyndham Clark, Hovland, Tom Kim, Morikawa to start the year. I think Justin Rose would fit that mold well this week at this Open Championship. You go back to the first Open he played in 1998, he was an amateur, holdout on the last, had this great finish. Everybody was excited about Justin Rose. He's been close obviously at the Masters the last couple years. Didn't play great at Birkdale in 2017, but has played well at the Open, looking for his first Open Championship. I think he kind of fits the, the year of the comeback storyline, if you will, in professional golf. And my last one, since I think this is 5, maybe 6, who knows, I can't count, is which guy saves his season. There are a lot of dudes this year that we talk about in golf a lot that haven't even won.

Won.

I mean, you think about Xander, you think about Ludwig Fleetwood, Justin Thomas. I mean, there are so many big names that haven't won a single event this season. And I feel like the FedEx Cup playoffs obviously offer players an opportunity to have something good happen at the end of the year, but this is your last, you know, real crack at like a monumental victory. And so it'll be interesting to see if one of those guys that haven't won anything finally get a win this year.

Can we throw Scottie in there? Because I know he's won this year, but like it does feel like a lost year in Scottie's, you know, this would be his prime right now. And if he goes over in the majors and over in kind of like some of these big events, like it would be, it would feel like it was a disappointing year. Again, this is all context because he, there's probably what, 130 guys that would trade years for with what Scottie's done this year.

I think a big week, you know, for Scottie and Jon Rahm. I mean, I think about two dudes that I'm really paying attention to this week at Birkdale Scottie, to your point, Big Cat, I mean, you know, he runs through the majors last year, wins 2, he hadn't won before. Everybody's looking at Shinnecock this year, going to complete the career Grand Slam. It just— the floor has lowered for Scottie. His floor was so high for so long that even when he played mediocre golf, he'd hang around. I mean, I think about the PGA Championship last year. Even on Sunday, he played pretty poor on that front 9, makes the turn and just goes absolutely you know, fire emoji on everybody and takes home that thing even over Jon Rahm. This year the floor has been lower. The iron play at times departs. The driver hasn't been as good this year. The putting— he missed a couple of really shorties at the Scottish Open on the way to that miscut. I just feel like, to your point, that the Scottie thing is important because if he doesn't win this, you have that full year of nothing really going, and you might be able to save it with I don't know, a FedExCup title or something like that, but it's not gonna do much for the fans of, of Scottie Scheffler after this year.

And then for Jon Rahm, if he doesn't win this Open Championship, it is 14 majors since his last win. I think to me, this is the biggest week for Jon Rahm over everybody else.

Mm-hmm.

Okay. That actually, you saying Jon Rahm made me think about a possibility that could happen on Sunday. I believe Sunday is the World Cup final. It could be theoretically Spain against England.

Spain versus And pretty good.

And you could have Jon Rahm maybe dueling it out with Tommy Fleetwood. That would be something.

Justin Rose.

Mm-hmm.

And that, that, that, I don't think an Englishman has won the Open since '92. So I mean, you, you talk about like a lot of history there as well, which is, which is an interesting little nugget, you know, in terms of one of these guys finally trying to get over that hump.

Yeah. That, that would line up to be like potentially the most heartbreaking day in English history. Victory all around.

They can't win the World Cup, can they, PFT?

No, no, they can't.

I mean, I think they're going to lose to Argentina in the Falkland Island Bowl. But I— if they do, if they do win, then I'm just saying that Sunday with the Open Championship happening at the same time, that would just— that would be a crazy day in British sports. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, a lot of one-seeds in the Final Four. Big Cat, do you have a rooting interest in the, in the Final Four? Do you have a— did you put a bet on anybody yet?

Just Messi.

Messi.

I'm a Messi guy. I don't even care if, like, if you just put Messi on any of the other teams, I root for that team. It's actually kind of nice to have to pick a sport where you can almost be like a LeBron sexual, where it's like, I don't care where he goes, I'm just gonna root for that guy. Like, no allegiance. Yeah, it's like a fun experience. Yeah, you just like, like, Argentina loses, I'm gonna be like, fuck those bums, they let down my guy. Like, you can't, you know what I mean? And if they win, it's like, yeah, he carried these, these losers, these plumbers to the World Cup title.

What, what if, what if Messi went to the Four Aces, Big Cat? Are you gonna be a, are you gonna be a Four Aces guy?

Yes, honestly, he could go anywhere.

Okay.

Yeah, he, I was just rooting for him. Maybe not the Packers, like, I would be maybe too far, but like, I would still be like, damn, he really is good. Yeah, I'd be like, I respect Messi's, you know, game over the middle.

I want him to start ring chasing. I want Messi to like, if, if Argentina loses, be like like, Messi, come to us, we'll treat you right. We'll get you a passport.

Yeah.

Just become— you live here anyway, Messi.

Do you guys battle with this? You guys are like a year younger than me. Do you guys battle with this whole, like, the legacy sports fan stuff? I feel like I'm in the, like, at this point in my life, I just want to see guys or girls add to their legacy. I feel like I care way less about the young players getting their first ring, and I just want to see, like, Steph, or even, I mean, even Djokovic. I found myself at Wimbledon kind of rooting for him to, to get it done? Like, do you guys battle that at all?

I, I like asking the question of what it means for people's legacy. I think it's a fun question to, to ask repeatedly. But no, I, I think there is something to that because I just— and I think it's us not wanting to admit that we're old.

Yeah, no, it's the age thing.

Yeah, if Djokovic is out there still winning, then we can be like, you know, we're not that far out of our primes either. We can probably still get out there and almost the same age as me.

Yeah, yeah. I think when you get to a point in age where you start seeing guys come and go to, uh, you know what I mean? Like, I remember when he was drafted and now he's retiring. Oh, fuck. And like, oh, I remember his— now his son— we had Larry Fitzgerald on Friday and like his son's playing for Notre Dame. It's like, what? How's that make sense?

That's why I never wanted Tom Brady to retire. It's because like LeBron is the one.

Yeah, we've seen all— LeBron is the same. He's one month older than me in PFT. Yeah, like once he retires, I think it might— we might have to— we might retire, shut down the idea that we could ever be in the pros.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's it. I know, I know. Like, our— it's, it's really our window that's closing, if you think about it. It's not their window that's closing, it's more our window that's closing. And like, Big Cat, my son asked me the other day— I think Djokovic was on, and my son who's 7 asked me, is— am I older than him? And I was like, I was like, well, yeah, like, like everybody on TV now. Yeah, it's like, it's— you don't really even have to ask that anymore.

No, it's not even like the coaches.

I'm—

we're older than all the coaches now too.

When LeBron's son got drafted, That's— for me, I was kind of like, okay, time to hang it up. That one's— that one's tough. But yeah, Big Cat's right. The second LeBron retires, it's like, that means that me and Big Cat are officially old.

Officially old.

Yeah, we have to retire.

I guess we still have Ronaldo. He's going to play in every single World Cup.

That's right.

Yeah.

All right, so who can win this tournament? Who do we— and by the way, I don't know if you know this, Shane, but the US Open, you were so, so close to never coming back on this show because Kawhi Leonard— Kawhi Leonard— when we asked who could not win this tournament, you're like like Colin Morikawa cannot win this tournament. And he was like— there was that stretch where he was like 4th or 5th on Saturday.

He was looking real good. This shit didn't, didn't win though. Did he win? No, he didn't win.

You're right, but you were close. Didn't win.

No, didn't win. We don't talk about third quarters, baby. We talk about all 4 days.

That's true.

Just like we do everywhere else.

Right again.

I got, I got some, I got some names for you. Um, you know, kind of— I'll start outsider into more of like the favorite names Andrew Putnam is a name I like a little bit, maybe like a top 10, top 20 bet. Drives it really straight. I'm gonna say this a lot, you hit fairways at Birkdale, I'm gonna like your chances. So Putnam has played really solid golf this year and looks like he's playing more comfortable golf in the bigger events, which has been nice. Seen some good finishes from him, like in signature events, things like that. Russell Henley, also a name I like, leads the PGA Tour in driving accuracy, and I think that's gonna be big. Big. Matt Kuchar, if you remember back in 2017, was battling with Jordan Spieth. Kuchar, not the longest guy in the world and never has been, but as a guy that can find a lot of fairways. You think about Marco Mira back in '98, um, you know, he was kind of quote-unquote past his prime but just hit it in the fairway, got it around. Uh, Tommy Fleetwood's going to be an extremely popular name you're going to hear a lot this week.

Uh, grew up in the area. He's had 5 straight top 14 finishes coming into this Open Championship. Championship. Talking about lost years, feels like it's been a bit of a lost year for Tommy Fleetwood after that win at the end of the season. This could change a lot of that. Bobby Mack, another name, another guy I like, just like the golf course fit for him, played well at the Scottish, 3 top 10s in his 6 starts at the Open. So he's a name. And I also like Tyrrell Hatton. I mentioned the English, Englishman drought at the Open Championship. He has played really, really good as of late. Got to win it on LIV a month ago. Played well at the US Open, played well at the Scottish, uh, T11, T20, T16 in 3 of his last 4 Open starts. Uh, but my pick is going to be Viktor Hovland. Uh, I just think, uh, Vic has found something with the driver. He was actually— PFT, he was trying to gain distance off the tee and he somehow lost distance off the tee. That's like, you know, you're like, I'm gonna go to the gym and get stronger, and then you get more out of shape, which is not— hopefully not the goal.

But did he— did he get more accurate?

No, no, no, no.

Yeah, bad.

He's probably fired his trainer.

Well, well, here's the good news. He's gotten better. This was like an apartment he lived in when he was playing great golf, like, like strokes gained off the tee, things like that. He was down in like the high 80s, low 90s before the last couple of weeks. And he has been great with the driver. He was top 10 in the department in the Scottish Open. I just like the way Victor's played. Got the win over Scottie Scheffler. That's got to help the confidence. Up there in Connecticut. And he's played well at the Open Championship, had a chance in 2022, played alongside Rory at St. Andrews, played well in 2023, 3 top 15s and 5 career starts at the Open Championship. I think Viktor Hovland has found something. He's the guy that rides the confidence wave as well.

All right. You kind of glossed over something here, which should have been your number 1 story because listen, I'm, I don't know golf very well. I'm, I'm looking for storylines. Tommy Fleetwood used to sneak on Royal Birkdale and practice with his dad when he was growing up. Yeah, you have to bet him. Yeah, I didn't realize he grew up that close.

Shane, this is a, uh, close your eyes and imagine the telecast when he's walking down 18. Oh yes, and it's different. It's the same fair where he and his papa—

it actually might be, it might be, it might be too easy. It might be too low-hanging fruit.

But what, how do you play?

But we're not thinking, it's like, how dumb dumb are we gonna feel if we don't bet on him and that happens? Yeah, we'll be like, we could have pictured that, we saw that coming.

It's a perfect story.

Yeah, I, I think the only counter to that is the fact that he doesn't really win that much in golf. I think that's the only counter I put out there.

That's a fair one. But, but so how, how many times has he played the place that he literally practiced on as a kid? Did he play in the 2017 Open Championship?

I would, I I would venture to say he did not. Let me check real quick.

So this could be the first time he's playing in a big-time event this close to his— the crowd is gonna love him.

You could just see it.

It's like, feel the dreams. His dad, like, you know, like, maybe actually after a round.

Yeah.

How'd he play?

He did play in 2017. T— uh, T27.

Okay, that was probably good for him back then. He was probably— he was probably happy to be T27.

Yeah, yeah, I don't think Tommy's gonna win this Open Championship. I, I think if I've learned anything about Tommy Fleetwood, it's the higher I get on him, the more I, the more I love him. But I mean, you know, I said Collin Morikawa wasn't going to win the US Open and he nearly did it.

So his family lived like on the course?

No, so I just looked it up. He lived 3 miles away, he lived around the corner, he grew up around the corner, and his dad, uh, and he used to sneak on in twilight hours and play, practice some holes.

I'm just sneaking me hardest.

Seriously, we have to—

I'm sorry. I mean, I'm going to bet you're the expert here, but I have to bet on Tommy Fleetwood.

I do. This is the most— oh, it's poetic. It's perfect.

I will say this. I'll say this about Tommy Fleetwood. 10 straight majors without a top 10. After the great run he was in at the majors, really 2022 through '24, when it felt like he was really starting to buck, hasn't had that level of consistency in the major championships since then. But I'm never gonna, I'm never pushing you guys away from making a bet you want to make, you know?

I mean, you want to, it's such a beautiful story.

It is a beautiful story. So I, I will take some of your advice here. So you got, you got Andrew Putnam, you got Russell Henley, Matt Kuchar, Tommy Fleetwood as a maybe, but it sounds like no Tommy Fleetwood, not Matt, not Matt Kuchar.

Matt Kuchar was 2017. Um, we had, what'd we have? We had Putnam, Fleetwood, Robert McIntyre.

Player.

Okay.

And maybe Hovland.

I love Hovland. Okay. I think Hovland's the Open champion.

What about our guys? Brooks, Max, Wyndham now is kind of an honorary our guy recently.

So what—

how are they gonna play?

Is he like a— he is like a Bruce, Bruce of the Year.

We're figuring it out. He's never gonna be a Blake, but we're figuring it out.

Yeah.

So he would be Wyndham of the Year. He's He's a wine drinker. You don't, Blakes don't drink wine.

It's a good point. They, they, they avoid the grape. I, I would say I, I don't love Brooks right now. Just really inconsistent. There are moments Koepka looks great. He shot 66 out of the gate at the Scottish Open and then the next day he shoots 4 over, misses the cut. He just really since that WD in Canada with the whole hand thing, he hasn't really played the level of golf you gotta be able to play to contend. He has one top 10 this season. Season, and that was at the Cognizant Classic at the Palm Beaches, which is a lot of words to say about a golf tournament. I'm a little bit higher on Homa. Just been kind of looking at the way he's played as of late. Didn't play awesome at the, the, like the other PGA Tour event this past weekend alongside the Scottish, but he's been trending in the right direction. Two top 22 finishes before that second place finish at the Deere, plus the Open is his favorite major and he continues to say hey, he likes playing this, this tournament and this style of golf more than anything else. So I kind of like Max a little bit.

Okay, and then Wyndham?

I mean, like, Wyndham is a— Wyndham is a top 10 bet right now. Okay, Wyndham is a top 10 bet everywhere. Yeah, like everywhere he plays, top 10. Very confident. Um, I, I'm kind of, kind of kicked myself for not bringing him up at Shinnecock just for the way he was playing. But I mean, he played well at the Scottish, like he's playing well everywhere right now. I just think if you're, um, looking at numbers, looking at Wyndham Clark and you see a decent number on a top 10, top 20 bet, I think it's kind of free money right now with Wyndham Clark.

Okay. Okay.

Um, all right, Hank, do you have a question? And can I ask a question to you, Hank, first? Sure. Am I allowed to say what I witnessed today? Sure. Shane Bacon, have you ever witnessed this? I watched Hank play, played 9 holes with Hank today. He is now hitting driver righty, everything else lefty, putting righty. He's doing a righty Oreo on the golf course.

So wait, driver's righty? Yes. 3-wood's lefty?

Yep.

It's crazy.

All right. All right, Hank, hold on one second.

All right.

I got some questions for Hank.

Okay. Let me put—

I'll put Roback on and just do the Roback question here. All right. You, so wait, talk me, just talk me through the process. Like just talk me through how we got here.

I'm trying to just take the best of both where like driving righty was never a problem. I can just step up and hit drives relatively in the same dispersion zone, but I've been playing all year lefty, so irons and wedges, it's like I'm more comfortable with that. I'm just going with what's the most comfortable and, and maybe I'm, I'm completely mentally screwed. But I'm not, I'm not thinking about that.

You were thinking of his dispersion zones.

You are thinking, you are thinking about it. Yeah, you are thinking about it.

When we played today, I, I joined him on the back nine, and the first hole on the back nine was a par 3, so I didn't think it. And then I, I was kind of distracted on the, on 11, and then at 12 I was like, what are you doing right now, Hank? Because he stepped up in the box with, with a righty driver. I was like, what are you doing? He's like, yeah, I'm driving righty, everything else lefty, putting right.

I mean, the putting's not that weird. Like, I mean, like, Notah Begay used a double-sided putter. My dad for a while took one of my lefty putters out and would putt lefty and hit everything righty. But the driver's the one— I mean, that is just— now, now, Hank, listen, first of all, I mean, you are thinking about it because you just said it on the couch. Are you nervous about like what people are gonna say?

No, no, the questions you're gonna get? I've been used to that. I mean, I play with people where I've had to explain like I'm playing lefty now, and then I go out and play worse, and they're just so confused. So that part I've gotten over that. Like, people— I've been, I've been used to the people just being like, what the fuck is wrong with this kid?

It is one of the most interesting stories because I've played without Hank and Pete, like, played with people, and they've been like, so what is Hank doing? Like, they'll bring it up to me. He is— he's the talk of the town, and we're in a pretty big town.

It's like, it's like a terminal illness. Like, nobody wants to bring it up to him, but they'll bring it up to his friends. Like, is he, is he doing okay? Is Hank okay?

The crazy thing is, I thought that Hank left-handed as a driver is pretty good. I, I thought you were hitting the ball pretty straight. The dispersion zone was good. The distance was good. What, did you just have one bad day driving lefty and you're like, I'm just trying it out?

I'm trying to—

I'm trying to have a bad day.

Um, yeah, I'm just trying to figure out out the, the recipe to go as low as possible without accepting that it might just all be right.

Yeah, it might be the, the handicap you had, right?

It's like I'm looking all around the world for my, for, for my partner and it was the girl I was— went to prom with the whole time. Like, this is what I was born with and the way I go.

It's a fascinating story because golf is the hardest game in the world and people will go at lengths to try to figure it out out. And Hank was like, you know what, I'm gonna make it even harder. I'm gonna switch, and now I'm gonna switch back.

Yeah, just—

I'm not switching back.

So, so then temporarily—

yeah.

So Hank, I have, I have another follow-up question for you. So in terms of wearing a glove, what are you doing glove-wise? Are you going no glove?

No glove on the drives.

Okay, okay.

And then your lefty glove, or your right-handed glove for your irons?

Yeah.

And then no glove putting?

Yeah, I think there probably was a couple times where I just wasn't thinking about it and put my glove on and still hit the drive. But when I'm thinking about it, it's no glove.

Why not double glove? Why not Aaron Rye?

I don't, I don't like that. Would be weird.

So was that actually an advantage for him at the, uh, at the Open? Like if you, if you got shitty weather, he's the only guy that's got two gloves.

Oh, he's the only one used to it. I think it's a great call, PFT. I mean, the fact that those guys pull out the weather glove if it's gonna rain, uh, forecast doesn't look very wet this week, but I think in theory in the future ones, like St. Andrews next year, if it rains, maybe give— we'll give a little nod to Aaron Rodgers.

And the iron covers too, keep them nice and clean. Just something to think about.

Great point. You're all over right now. You know what, you're a year ahead right now.

Yeah, I might be. Uh, yeah, Hank, you just— what, what, what happens around the green now? Like, are you chipping righty? Are you hitting bunker shots always lefty? Yeah, yeah, you never even thought about going back.

Why are you so confused, dude?

So it's putting, yeah, driving, driving, driving, yeah.

And 14 clubs in your bag.

Yep.

What if you had driver off the deck?

Okay, I would— I mean, I have a righty driver, so yeah, so you gotta go right.

Yeah.

Okay, he's got it. All right, what was your question to Shane Hank? Sorry, I, I— it was— it is fascinating. It's one of the most fascinating stories in golf right now.

I'm pissed off that he just said that two gloves would be weird.

You are doing the weirdest thing ever.

He did give me a little—

he gave me a little knowing how weird that was or how funny that was. Okay, go ahead, Hank.

It's a great point. You talk, you talk about storylines. One, one guy that I want to bet on, but I'm worried about, speaking of irons or his, or his clubs is Justin Rose. Cause I feel like that would be a fun story, but, but I feel like he has, he switched to the Maserati irons or whatever and then has not been playing well.

Yeah. I mean, I honestly think we're, we're past it to, to, to be fair. I think he's shown enough with the new irons. The McLaren irons or whatever they are. Sorry. To where I'm not, I'm not, by the way, the Mazda irons would be good. Like that made me think about a Mazda Miata iron. I, but no, I think we're past it. I think he's, I think he looks at these things as opportunity. And I think he's one of those guys that I think has an opportunity to win this Open Championship. You know, it's weird. In 2017, we got to Birkdale and it was this wide open in terms of who you like to win that Open as maybe ever. Jordan Spieth was second favorite. He went on to win. But I think about right now, like, Scottie's not playing great. Rory, a little all over the map. He's kind of got this problem where one round a week he plays poorly in. Even did it when he won the Masters. He shot that 73, I think, on Saturday. He can't avoid the one kind of not great round. I go down the world ranking list and there's not a lot of names I'm overly scared of.

And I think about the way Justin Rose seems to show up at the majors. I, I think if you're, if you're kind of itching to bet them, I, I like the bet just because I think Justin Rose at least has the potential to put together 4 good rounds.

Love it.

All right.

And then, and Gotta Up, Gotta Up's my other, my other horse, kind of our guy too. I mean, I like Gotta Up a lot. I feel like, I feel like he monster, he played, doesn't have to worry about the, the winning the Scottish Open again curse, still played well. Why not him?

Yeah, I think he's, I, I think he's like if you were going to ask me what, what are my, like my odd board, he'd probably be atop it. I mean, just in terms of the way he's playing golf right now and the confidence level and obviously getting a crack at Links Golf last year and showing off his skillset. I think Gauderup is up there. I think Cameron Young is still up there as well, even though he hadn't played as good as of late. Rose, Victor, those guys are all near, in my opinion, near like a Scottie number. I don't, I don't, I don't love Cam Smith. He bucked at the PGA and then that quickly went away.

Yeah. Did you see that the, uh, the Open Championship put out a statement kind of warning fans like, hey, don't— we're not gonna do any of that American shit over here.

I mean, yeah, like they have to warn them to do that, but that's just not really in their DNA. Like they want to go out and be in the sun and put on way more sunscreen than we've ever worn in our lives. And they just want to watch good golf, man. Like, yeah, that's what this is about. Out. This is a great golf area where Berkdale is. Like, this is an area that, you know, gets this major championship once every 10 years. They get fired up for it, and they believe that their golf course is as good as any on the road. I think the players back that up as well. Um, so yeah, they're not going to come out. I mean, these guys, they're not coming out and being Long Island fans. They're just going to come out and, and, you know, and eat their ice cream when it's 92, you know.

Yeah, I thought there was one line in there that was like, we just sell celebrate— we only will celebrate great play in a fair and sporting manner, which seemed to be them being like, hey, you're not going to do the Yankee stuff here. We're not going to boo guys that might be in the lead on Sunday.

I mean, do you want booing in golf, PFT?

Do you want— do you want— like, do you want this?

Like, you want it to be intense?

I think I do. I, I think I do. But, but that said, I don't— I don't want it in certain circumstances. I don't want it at Augusta.

Augusta.

Okay, Augusta, every— that's like we go back in time, we mind our manners, uh, everyone acts like they're over at their grandparents' house. That's what, that's what Augusta is, that's what it's for. I do like the, uh, the, the Ryder Cup mentality. I like when we're booing people, when there's heroes, when there's villains. I think it just, it sounds way, way worse than it actually is because we're just not used to it in golf sometimes.

And, and I think like when we figure out LIV and the PGA Tour and everybody's like playing in the same arena again and the LIV thing kind of, uh, slowly dissipates and disappears, um, I, I do think, you know, the idea of a villain helps the game. And I think having the villain in this on the same stage as the hero, if you will, and I mean, I think having those types of names around makes golf more interesting. The problem obviously with LIV is a lot of those guys that are quote-unquote villains went away while the PGA Tour guys guys were just out there playing and we kind of lost a little bit of that rooting for and also rooting against thing that, you know, is, is obviously available in every other sport, just doesn't feel that available in golf.

Yeah. Um, okay, Shane, last question. Always great having you on. Uh, we actually did— I think you, I think you came on for every major, so now it's the, the Shane—

it's the reverse of the Bryson slam.

Yeah. And again, watch post-round on CBS Sports. Uh, Roback question, rhoback.com, promo code Take, 20% off your first purchase. Q-Zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts. rowback.com, promo code Take. I'm wearing it right now.

Zach, what's going on, Shane? How are we doing today?

Turn it up.

Oh man, this didn't— didn't think I was— I barely heard you, which is okay, but, uh, barely hearing you is better than not hearing you at all, Zach.

No worries, I got more volume coming through for you right now. There we go.

I was curious, uh, way better.

There's a trend here recently, Shane, with guys getting into golf who maybe don't have the fastest clubhead speed so they're jumping straight to the flex shafts. Is that a viable option? And if so, like, what are your thoughts on that? There's a, there's a wave of that going around online. I just want to know from a guy who does play good golf if that's something beginner golfers should get into.

So the question is, should beginning golfers look at a shaft or an equipment change to help them out in terms of hitting it longer? Yeah, should they jump straight ahead to like the more forgiving flex shafts if they don't have the clubhead I, I think first and foremost to beginning golfers, try to figure out like the fundamentals of the golf swing, whether it's just hitting it solid, getting into the air, avoiding dribbling it, whatever you're doing wrong. I would work on the fundamental stuff before I start worried about how far I'm hitting. I mean, obviously hitting it far is more fun, but I would probably focus a little bit more on like weight shifting and solid contact and things like that. That before I started to venture into the shaft world. But I've had some friends, Zach, that hit it pretty short that have gotten into that world and have picked up mega distance with it. There's also, um, like the stack system is something you can use, um, that you can swing like in your apartment as well. It's just basically a weighted club and you can swing it to, to work on that.

It's like kind of like a little golf workout.

Okay, Zach, good, good question. You got a follow-up? Because Zach actually knows a lot about shafts.

I think it's an important part of the game.

What's up with that?

Yeah, what is up with that?

What's up with that? Are you like Googling them or what?

Yeah, I'm watching videos on them. Yeah, YouTube videos though.

Because you don't even have a set of clubs.

Yeah, but you got to know what you're getting into with the equipment, you know?

He's asking me about my shafts and I don't even have the answers. Why are you asking me about this?

Hank might go Ventus Overkill on some of his clubs. Kind of crazy.

Look at him, look at him spitting it out. Oh wait, so Zach, let me ask you a question. Still no clubs? Clubs. You work for a company that I believe has a deal with an OEM that probably could provide you a full set of clubs. What are you doing? Just send an email, my man.

I'm just making sure I come with the right information. You know, you always want to be educated on what you're trying to get into.

He's shopping around right now. He doesn't know if he wants to make a commitment.

Shane, you know, when you were a kid, you probably are like me. You had the Eastbay catalog that came every single month, and you'd go through it, and you just— of course, you'd imagine getting the different sports equipment. And then when you finally got it, it's exactly what you wanted, exactly what you studied over for like the last 3 months and you've had time to daydream about it, think about what those shafts are going to be like in your hands. I'm sure Zach just wants to get into that like almost fantasy mindset where he's thinking about these shafts and then when the perfect shaft comes, it's just as he imagined.

He's dating right now. Geez.

Yeah, I, I do feel like— let me say this, Zach, before the fundamental talk I said earlier, I think one of the first things you got to do is get a set clubs. Like, I think that's almost like step one. Yeah, for a golfer, is that how— own a set of clubs.

That's super fair. Yeah, I did have a quick follow-up since we are talking equipment. Uh, you did speak a little bit earlier about Bryson struggling with his iron play. Do you think it's the 3D-printed irons? And if so, is he in too deep? Can he just— he just has to stick with them?

I, I think he tinkers a lot. I honestly think it's the one-link thing to me. I mean, I just— I don't love the one-link irons. He hits so many short irons. You think about how far he hits I mean, one of the longest in professional golf. And the fact that his lob wedge and sand wedge and pitching wedge and all this stuff are the same length, you know, he's always struggled with this kind of concoction he has in his bag of getting the ball close after a perfect drive. And I just feel like it's deteriorated over time and it's just gotten to a point where now he's not taking advantage of booming it off the tee. I just feel like honestly, he could go one length through with like 7-iron for me and I'd be fine.

Fine.

But I think about the scoring clubs for Bryson. And again, nobody else on tour's doing this. They're not doing it for a reason. I think if you're Bryson, just try it, man. You know, like, what are you gonna hurt? You just missed 3 cuts in a row at majors and look like you're headed for 4 in a row, you know, unless he gets the, the standing ovation he got in that YouTube video. So I just feel like he's gonna, he needs to maybe just try one thing different.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

All right. Well, Shane, thank you as always. You're the best. We appreciate it. Everyone go check out Shane on CBS Sports. Um, and like I said, he's got some big interviews coming up, and, uh, we gotta— we gotta figure out a time to get you to Chicago. We gotta play around, it'll be fun, we'll do a video.

Gotta do it before it gets cold. Did Zach get a new apartment, by the way? I owe him a picture. Did he get something?

Uh, I did get the keys yesterday.

Oh yeah, we're all moving him. We're all gonna move him for a video because he has the amount of stuff he owns. We figured out we can all just pick it up and just go.

Well, he just doesn't own golf clubs. He probably doesn't own a bed.

No.

Um, I will— I, I have a friend working on a picture for you, but now I think he's making it for everybody at the pod. Love that. So I'll send them, but if, but obviously the, just Zach, I just want you to know you're the reason for this. It's not, Big Cat's not the reason. You're the reason. You're the guy.

Love that. You're too kind, Shane. I do appreciate it so much, man. It was great. It was great talking gear with you today.

I really enjoyed that.

Yeah.

Anytime.

By the way, love, love chatting with you boys.

All right. Thanks, Shane.

Thanks, Shane.

Appreciate it.

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Okay, let's wrap up. We got Guys on Chicks.

Henry, sup ladies?

Hey PMT boys, what's up?

What's up? So how you doing?

I have a golf question. Oh yeah, what do you guys even talk about for 4+ hours when you're all together? For example, whenever my husband gets home from golfing and I ask how his friends are, he says they are good. His friend and wife just bought a house and I asked him, is he excited and when are they moving in? He said, uh, I think he's excited, not sure when they're moving in, next month maybe. What do you guys talk about?

Um, just fun stuff.

I think it depends.

Nothing— we try to not talk about anything related to real life whatsoever. It just— you're bullshitting for 4 hours.

Yeah, it depends too. If it's people you know, it's like like just whatever, you know what I mean? Could just not talk to— if it's people you've never golfed with, then you'll do like the general, you know, background, all that stuff. I mean, I'm trying to think of my last— what do we talk about on Wednesday?

The weekend.

Yeah. And what do we talk about? Well, Monday we talked about how much we missed Hank.

Mm-hmm.

Where's Hank? Was, was most of the conversation.

Yeah.

No, it's very generic.

I don't even think it's also like, I think girls think about it because they're like, oh, when I go to dinner with my friends, like we're at a dinner table and we're together for 4 hours. Golf is like a lot of sep, you know, you're together but separate but together. Like there's not really time to have longer than like a 10-minute conversation.

Just quick things like in the tee box and you got to go find your ball in the woods, then you got to hit out of the woods.

Yeah. And you might be like teamed up with one of your friends. So that person is your actual friend for that afternoon and then you're playing against your other 2 friends. So you're just going to make fun of your other 2 friends as much as you can and just kind of shit and fuck around for 4 hours and you get in, you're like gambling.

Yeah.

Like 2v2 gambling. So you're talking about that, like who's up, who's down, all that stuff. And also talk about a lot of other times you've played golf. Yeah.

And just other rounds you've played recently.

Sick courses.

Yeah.

Last time I played this hole, this is what I did.

Yeah.

Remember that?

Yeah.

I think the, I think the cart girl likes me. A lot of that.

Yeah.

It's basically nothing. Hello. I'm planning on getting married in January 2027. My fiancé Tony is your guys' biggest fan. He listens to episodes daily while working and yaps about your podcast at home. I kid you not, he gets excited when certain sporting events take place or certain plays happen simply because it'll make a great episode for him to listen to. When I saw this on Instagram, I got super excited. Any words of wisdom for him?

I love that.

Tony seems like a great guy. I love when people say that type of thing, like that actually makes me feel really, really good.

Well, it also makes—

I'm happy that Tony is able to like— he sees something like, probably, let's be honest, probably terrible.

Tony's a sicko in purple.

He's a sicko.

Yeah.

And he's like, I can't wait to how Hank reacts to the halftime show of the Super Bowl when he was getting his ass kicked.

Yeah, Jalen Brown got traded. Oh, you got to tune in, right? I like Tony a lot. Uh, words of advice for Tony: he's getting married. You listen, Tony, I'm gonna say this once. You just let us know and we'll call this whole thing off, okay? We'll get the fuck out of here. You never have to talk to any of these people again. Just hit the road, open road, you and the PMT guys. Gone. Just dust in the wind. So just let us know.

We're in.

Yeah, I would say more than anything, just it's a true partnership.

Communication.

Communication.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Communication is key. Also, if you have any hobbies that you think you're going to want to pick up at any point for the rest of your life, start doing it now.

Now.

Right now. It's hard to add.

Yeah. You never used to play poker.

Yeah.

Real hard to add.

You just actually do all the hobbies right now. Then you can— when you cut them out, you're a hero.

I love you so much that I gave up quilting, babe.

Oh shit, I'm not LARPing anymore. That's because I want to spend time with you.

The LARPing actually sounds pretty fun.

Hey guys, my boyfriend has been preoccupied by the World Cup the last few weeks, but ever since USA was knocked out, he keeps saying how many Sundays there are till football starts.

Yep. For some context, there's 9.

We live in California and most of his friends live in Chicago. Every Sunday at 10 AM, since he can't hang out with them to watch together. He and his friends FaceTime for the start of the games. He continues to FaceTime until the last game ends around 8:30, uh, PT. Basically 10 hours straight. He's done this every Sunday for the past 5 years, won't do anything else besides FaceTime and watch football with his friends on Sundays.

Love that.

My question is, what am I supposed to do during this time, and is this healthy for him to do? They also do this every Monday and Thursday night game. That's only a few hours. Am I insane thinking that this is insane? It drives me nuts that he doesn't want to do anything else house. Curious your thoughts. Thanks. Football? No, that's a lot of FaceTime.

Yeah, loves his boys. Actually, you should not complain because it sounds like he doesn't watch college football, so count your lucky stars.

That is true.

We could add Saturday. You want to add Saturday?

Tuesday?

Tuesday? Wednesday?

Friday?

You don't want that.

Brazil?

You're one of the lucky ones.

Sun Belt?

Yeah, but just let it— listen, this is, this is what the majority of us— this is our hobby. And also shout out all the guys out there that are going to be going through it next week. The guys that maybe spent like the entire last month and a half treating the World Cup as their full-time job. I do feel for them because there are those guys out there.

Well, listen, we all go through things that we have to fill the gap that football leaves when there's no football on.

This just got me excited for football. I just started thinking about it.

I'm excited. There's too much time in between.

No, but I like the anticipation, like the, the, the getting excited for it's like almost the best part.

I love football.

It's so good.

It's the best thing.

That's why it's like I can't get that upset about like if England wins the soccer match.

I land on my honeymoon the Friday, the Friday before.

Are you still doing this whole wedding thing?

Yeah.

You got another wedding?

No.

Renewing your vows?

I'm going to—

I can't.

I'm just not going to talk to you. It's going to be the only time.

Oh, buddy.

Oh, buddy.

That's not true.

Yeah, I know.

If there's something happening, we're gonna be calling you for emergency podcast.

Oh yeah, I'm bringing the mic.

Wait, you land the Friday before Labor Day?

I land in Chicago the Friday of Labor Day weekend. So that Saturday—

that's convenient. So you land right— you're taking 2 weeks and then landing right before another 3 days.

3 days doesn't mean nothing to us.

Fucking with you.

That's a good— that's a great timing by you.

I'm so excited.

Although we do podcasts on Sunday night, so it's actually 2 days, correct? Labor Day. Yeah, yeah, we do. Wait, yeah, because college football. Although Wisconsin's playing Notre Dame.

No, I think we'd normally do— oh wait, yeah, wait, no, we do Monday, Tuesday.

No, we do Tuesday, Wednesday. Yeah, I'm an idiot. Okay, good show, boys.

Great show.

Oh, by the way, Bruce Levine did apologize to Jed and Carter Hawkins privately. All right, privately. So that's of closing that chapter. I wish you'd done it.

Yeah, twinkle dee, twinkle dum.

Shane, I'm— I just realized the mistake I've made, uh, in this show because I made fun of Shane's— I made fun of Shane's Blockbuster pick. Yeah, on a day that I got a haircut. Cut and a beard trim, so my face is looking extra fat. I'm expecting a tough thumbnail for me today. Real tough.

You look so happy.

It's, it's, it's gonna be a tough— I listen, I don't— it is what it is. I posted like it when you're— I posted the one that was just so egregious. It was like, you've done some bad ones.

It looks like somebody put like a bicycle, but I post things.

But I'm— I just realized I've set myself up for a bad one today. The Brady Kid duck, uh, duck graphic.

Did you guys see that?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was awesome.

It was awesome. With thumbnails like that, Shane, you should work for The Onion. Oh, he's mad.

It's when you're most emotive faces of the episode.

Okay, um, numbers.

78.

I'm gonna do 0.

I'm gonna do 7.

I'm gonna go—

we'll go 20.

9.

23.

86.

What'd you say, Hank?

79.

Memes took zero, huh?

Riding the hot hand.

Oh, oh, 51! Anyone, anyone, anyone?

51, 51, one more.

54, 51, 50, 76.

Sixers, one more.

Happy birthday Tobias Harris. Oh, happy birthday to Dame Lillard. Happy birthday, Barry Sanders. Happy birthday, Aaron Glenn memes. Happy birthday. Happy birthday, Will Ferrell. Love you guys.