Transcript of Jessica Smetana Helps Zaslow Make a Decision | Hour 3

You are listening to the Dan Levatar Show in partnership with the DraftKings Sports App, now live in all 50 states.

We're rolling now.

What is that?

It's something I came up with.

All right.

Oh, if it shows up in the wrestling, that means they listen to me and they—

You didn't throw a huh at the end though.

See, that's the difference.

That's a move.

A little bit. Thanks. Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese. Pickles, onions. Now their buns have sesame seeds.

We don't do sesame seeds at McDonald's.

Our buns have no seeds.

That's the difference.

They have the golden arches.

We have the golden arcs.

The golden arcs.

I love that movie.

What?

Jessica's here? I'm here.

Wow, I didn't know you were here. Hey, Jessica. Jessica Matana, everybody.

Jessica, have you seen this video that went viral yesterday? It's all over the place with the— it's at a local news station, and you have the anchor, the reporter, whoever, whatever her role is. And why, why you laugh like that?

Whatever her role is.

Well, she's a reporter or an anchor, I'm sorry. And she freaks out at an off-camera producer. Have you seen this yet, Jess?

I have not seen that.

Oh, excellent. All right, so this is footage, this is video that was definitely not supposed to be seen by people like us. Someone decided to leak it. Here it is.

I'm going to have to do that again. What's up, Trace?

Hi, everyone.

I think you're in a script.

I am. I'm in Amy's script, the Amy's Angels one. There was— the second thing didn't make sense, so I was just trying to fix that part.

And it's not even marked off. Like, we haven't—

we're still working. I know, but I didn't have time because we have to do this, so I was still reading it. See, I mean, I can't wait for you to go through them all and then I go through them because then I'm already getting ready by then. But this time we had to do the PSA. Okay, so finish what I was trying to say. Okay, because Sean just came in here and said something about marking off. Go ahead, I don't think you are. You're walking out really angry. Jeez, oh Pete, can I please finish what I'm gonna say?

What the fuck?

Grow up. I'm so done with her antics, telling on me every 5 seconds.

I'm done.

Now, have you ever heard someone say, geez, oh Pete, but also, what the fuck?

Bitch.

It sounded like she said bitch right before.

Oh, she did. I have an update to this. So I've been watching this story all over. So TMZ posted this video first, which I was like, that's TMZ. Yeah, weird, right? And so what it turns out is that, um, this is a former Fox News— or Fox 2 Detroit evening anchor. Her name is Taryn Asher, and she actually was fired in November and was suing Fox 2 saying that, that they were discriminating on the basis of her gender. They countersued and said that she had unprofessional behavior, including the use of profanity and outbursts in the newsroom. And so I guess as a part of that countersuit, they just subtly released this through TMZ, watching it then go viral. Yeah, because that wasn't mentioned anywhere near this TMZ thing. There was no story attached, there was nothing. They just said, oh, look at this anchor going crazy. Yeah, and it, it's wild to me, but also not even close to the worst behavior I've seen from an anchor in a newsroom talking to producers. This isn't really losing it.

Yeah, I mean, we're going live. Like, she's obviously good, you know, I'm sure she looks bad and is getting hammered over this, but, you know, in all seriousness, alright, she's annoyed with this person, who hasn't been annoyed with people they've worked with?

Well, we don't know the full story, but we do know that this is a great example of what some people call Midwestern nice. When you're really mad and you use profanity, but you also use folksy expressions like geez-o-pete's, and I can relate to that part of it at least.

Have you ever used geez-o-pete's in a sentence?

Do it—

does it seem like I've used geez-o-pete's in a sentence?

Yes.

I mean, you're telling us about, you know, what is it, Southern Midwest, whatever that is. Yeah.

Yeah.

Well said. Yeah. Southern Midwest. Yeah, that's what— that's two different places.

He's from Pittsburgh, so— and has a drawl.

I felt kind of bad when I I first saw this video, it's like, I mean, this woman doesn't want this being released. That's not very fair that her being— I've been angry at coworkers, all right? I wouldn't want, you know, that footage released. But yeah, I felt kind of bad for her.

What does you being angry at coworkers sound like?

I mean, we've worked with some stupid idiots back at 790 Ticket before.

Let me do this again. Mike, what does Zazz angry at a coworker sound like?

Should I do it?

Do whatever you want, man.

Frito. This is Frito.

Okay.

Asshole.

But that's not an outburst. Like, I wouldn't be embarrassed at that right there getting out. That could have— by the way, like, who you doing there? That's me.

I was nervous to do that.

If that was me.

I like Frito.

You asked off camera, like, should I do it?

Likes assholes.

Jeez, oh Pete's.

Geez.

Oh, Pete. Wow. You did it.

We're going to start using that. I'm going to start using—

I like it.

Should have went with Castleberry.

Jessica, have you heard Pat McAfee's album?

I have not. But Katie Nolan read some of the lyrics from it on her podcast this week. So I have, like, I feel like I've heard it secondhand.

I heard there's some good messages there in the lyrics.

Who told you that?

I just— I've heard people say that. People.

People.

Seriously.

People on television have said that.

Kirk Herbstreit.

I heard it was good.

Good.

Darin Orlovsky.

It was good good.

Have you listened to it, Amin?

I listened to 30 seconds of one song and it sounded unprofessionally mixed and mastered is what I would say.

This is the kind of thing where like I am trying to avoid it so much that I don't even know what genre it sounds like. I've heard it's somewhat country, but I just don't— I just don't want to know.

The one I heard, he was trying to rap.

Yeah, I would have thought it'd be rap. That would have been my guess. It's—

excuse me?

It's country trap.

Jeremy, you've heard it. I think you're the only person in this room that heard it.

I've heard, I've heard enough of it.

Really? Cody?

You?

Yeah, I listened to like the first 30 seconds of the first song and I kind of got it. It's very Jelly Roll vibes.

And then what happened? You didn't want to keep listening?

Jelly Roll's another artist that I couldn't tell you. I just don't, I don't know what a Jelly Roll is and I'm happy and I don't want to know.

A lot of tattoos on that Jelly Roll.

Jelly Roll was supposed to do some World Cup song, wasn't he, Mike?

He did.

And then people were like, we don't want it. Don't do it.

He still did it, which is—

Oh, you did it?

Yeah.

Which is kind of like a running theme here. No one asked for this, but here's my—

Have I heard the Jelly Roll song? Like, is it a song I would know?

Have you seen Jelly Roll's setlist from his concerts?

Of course not.

Well, no, no, no. Well, 'cause it's on the internet.

No, I haven't.

I'm just kidding.

I'm not, I wouldn't give a fuck.

60% just covers and vibes.

Oh really?

Is that right?

Yeah.

I do like covers though.

Well, he just, he ascended to such stardom so quickly that he didn't really have a catalog. He had radio hits and his— he's just vibes. Like his show. I've seen Jelly Roll in concert once before.

Really?

Yeah. I didn't pay to see him. He was a part of a festival, but I saw him.

Okay.

And yeah, he's a fun guy. Did you know he went to jail?

That's why I assume we got most of the tattoos.

His story is one of triumph.

One of one.

Jeez.

Oh, Pete.

Kind of like Pat McAfee.

All that adversity.

Yeah, but the adversity is his mouth. Well, from what I could tell from the album cover and what he tried to tell us about it. I haven't listened and I'm not going to.

Why does he stand up?

I did hear Dookie, which is why I chose to not listen to the album. There's a song named Dookie that was like the lead single from a couple of months ago. I thought it was a rib. And then he announced an entire album.

Hmm.

Just speaking of COVID cover songs, should I go this weekend to—

there's a Pearl Jam /Foo Fighters cover band concert.

Not the same band, it's two different bands.

Two different bands that are both—

when you say it like that, it sounds like they're a dual—

that's how you've originally presented it.

No, it's not.

Yes, it is. So anyway, so yeah, it's, it's playing locally for Zazz. The tickets are what, $25?

I, I think Jeremy said—

that was— yeah, that was the split difference, $23 and $27. I don't know what $27 gets you as compared to $23, but both are general admission, maybe backstage. Oh, To get to meet the band, maybe? Oh man, to meet Foo Fighters.

Now Jessica, I asked Zazz, who would you take? He said, probably my wife. I said, does your wife like Pearl Jam? And he's like, she's been with me to concerts. So it sounds like she likes you. She doesn't necessarily like the music. Jessica, how would you feel being taken to not the band, but a tribute band covering the band of Lehman's favorite artist that you may not appreciate?

But I wouldn't be tricking her, Jess. It's not like I'm saying, hey, let's go to Pearl Jam and then, like, it's not a trick.

Ah, it's tough. Do you have other things to do? Like, that's kind of where—

wide open.

You don't have anything better to do and it's $25? Like, I guess, like, that's what I'm saying. It's not like it's a, it's a money commitment. It is a time commitment though.

I don't know what I'm doing.

It's a tough— do you have any friends to bring instead of—

do I have any friends is what I've just been asking.

Just kids.

Pearl Jam?

Not Frito, tell you that much.

Mike, what are you doing Saturday night?

I got a thing. I do love watching tribute bands though.

You know what, I don't hate it.

You know, have you seen— Mike, did you see Song Sung Blue, the, the movie?

Yes, I really enjoyed it, especially that one scene that came out of nowhere.

Okay, so that was one of the best movies I saw last year because I thought it was like, okay, this is a fun movie, and then all of a sudden like, oh my God, And I was shocked it was not nominated for a bunch of stuff, particularly the performance by, uh, my old girl. She was nominated.

Okay, she was like a dark horse, but I think Jessie Buckley kind of hammed it, which I did not like.

Song Sung Blue, I thought, was much boring.

Thank you, Amin. It was very heavy. I cried. But I really like Song Sung Blue, and I felt like it got— people kind of made fun of it a little bit. Because it was like, oh, it's a story about a— well, so was the Neil Diamond cover band movie, um, which is more my kind of story about loss, I think. I mean, she, she lost something very important to her.

Neil Diamond, you thought that that was more of a story about loss than Hamnet?

I mean, it's— they're— it's different, but I think both movies are about handling grief and sort of like this, the sadness of the things that life can bring you. And I, I just enjoyed the Neil Diamond movie more, and I thought it was going to be really stupid because it was about Neil Diamond.

Is this a Saving Silverman sequel?

100%. But it's based on a documentary, um, that actually— this— the filmmaker went to Notre Dame. I met him when I was a student. He came and spoke to one of my film classes. So I— that was like, okay, well, maybe I'll give it a shot. And then it ended up being really good. Long story short, I like cover bands, and I enjoy— I used to go see an '80s cover band in New York City like every Saturday night and it was so much fun. But every Saturday, I mean, pretty much it was '80s night at LPR. If you know, you know.

And I would— I think I've gone to that.

You probably have.

I think I've gone to that.

It's a real thing when you're in your early 20s.

She's a great singer, whatever the lady's name was.

It's a, it's a, it's a whole band.

Yeah.

There's the, there is a woman who was like the front lady, but there's also a guy who was one of the front men and it was awesome. And they did a lot of like David Bowie and I, it was, uh, what's his face? I can't think of his name. Freddie Mercury. Goddamn it.

But just the difference is you were going to, first of all, it was just a bar you went and the COVID band was there playing. Number one. Number two, they were playing songs that you actually like as opposed to songs that Lehman likes. And you're kind of like, well, I'm, I'm here, which is the situation that White Tamara would find herself in.

Down Levitar.

I don't think I ever got that many roses in my whole life.

Jessica is Madonna.

Certainly not from your Holy grandfather God, may his soul rest in peace.

This is the Dan Levatar Show.

I can't believe Zazz hasn't seen Song Somewhere Blue.

I don't care about that. Neil Diamond, whatever.

Yeah, you know that they're—

I don't even like Neil Diamond.

Like, that Pearl Jam guy, it's a huge part of— Pearl Jam's a huge part of the story.

He's not a real one.

That's because Pearl Jam in real life gave an opportunity to this Neil Diamond tribute band Yes. In the film, there is an actor who is portraying Eddie Vedder. Eddie Vedder has a role in this film.

He's a big part. He's a big part of the story.

Yeah.

Are you guys messing with me?

No, it's basically like required watching.

How am I supposed to have known this? Because you're a real Pearl Jam fan.

You're a real Pearl Jam fan. You would know every little mention of them anywhere.

I would know that Song Sung Blue somehow is related to Pearl Jam.

Yeah, because you're in a million Pearl Jam Facebook groups.

There you go.

And I feel like, hey, here's one.

I'm not sure what goes on over there, but I imagine that's something that someone chucks in a Facebook group. Hey, there's a movie where somebody's playing Eddie.

What? What?

Yeah, the bed man.

What NBA?

Nobody calls him that.

What NBA player lists Pearl Jam as his favorite band?

Uh, was Pearl Jam his favorite band? Dennis Rodman.

Okay, he knows a little bit. He knows a little bit.

Mookie Blaylock.

He got your ass.

I was, I was in Remember, I used to go to Riverfront a lot, okay? And—

I thought it was Riverwalk. Yeah, Riverwalk.

What?

Las Olas.

No, it's Riverfront.

Yeah, it was Riverfront.

Riverwalk's in San Antonio. Riverfront, like I was saying—

You mean like I'm an idiot? Everyone goes to Las Olas anyways.

You're the idiot for calling it Riverfront.

Nobody goes to Broward Riverways.

That's more our— There's a reason why it died and I'm glad it's dead.

This is like 20 years ago, my wife and I, I think we were married at this point, so it was a little less than 20 years. My wife and I, we were at one of those bars.

Off the hook.

In Riverfront. I don't remember the name, not important.

Automatic Slims.

We were meeting a friend of mine there to hang out, and my friend was bringing his friend, and my friend's friend was Dennis Rodman. And so it was 4 of us, we're just hanging out at this, at this bar. It was fun. And there's a lot— there's live music playing, and the live band, they decide to go in and play a little bit of Pearl Jam. And they start playing Pearl Jam Alive, and Rodman jumps on stage and sings the whole song with them.

So if it weren't for that, loves Pearl Jam, you would not have known.

No, I sure would have known. I've been to Pearl Jam shows where Rodman is watching on the stage.

Okay.

Yeah.

Jessica, what's this about celebrities being scammed by people pretending to be famous?

Oh, this is such a good scam. I mean, I read this in The Hollywood Reporter this morning. So there's some very elaborate and sophisticated scam right now going on in Hollywood where people are pretending to be podcast producers because we know some of the most famous and popular podcasts right now are the celebrity-hosted Amy Poehler shows and The Smart List and all of that. They're pretending to be celebrities' producers or like production companies and then finding the emails of other celebrities and being like, hey, I'm the producer for this podcast. We want you to come on the show. And there have been a few celebrities who have been scammed out of money.

I've seen these stories.

How?

And so there was one guy who was pretending to be from NPR, the like the NPR Daily Interview Show. And so he emailed a celebrity whose name I can't remember. And one of the things he said was like, we just got our funding cut by Trump. 'Can you send us some money?' And the guy sent him like a couple grand. And he's like, it sounded really believable, and they had all this factual information about me and my life and like the work that I've done. So it seems like—

celebrity—

I know. And then there was another guy who the, um, scammers were talking to him about his social media accounts and needing access to his social media accounts. So they hacked into his Facebook, and he's not even really sure what they got out of it. Probably looking for it to see if there's like a credit card number saved or something like that. I'm not really sure, but it's very very elaborate. And it's fooled a bunch of celebrities who think like, oh, Amy Poehler wants to interview me. Okay. And then they're going along with all these emails. Well, meanwhile, the person emailing them is just like some random guy trying to get some money.

Jemele Hill actually said that this happened to her. She tweeted it last night. She said, this literally happened to me. Somebody lied and said they were doing the booking for a new Facebook show hosted by Rob Dyrdek of Ridiculousness. I gave them my Facebook credentials and it took me weeks to get my page back. It's a very sophisticated operation. And since then, I've approached— been approached by fake bookers claiming they're booking shows for Katie Couric and Cedric the Entertainer.

Jeez, oh Pete.

Boomer City.

It's crazy the way this is happening though. I get how it could happen.

So this— now I did not know this was happening, but I thought this happened to me a few months ago because—

really?

Yeah, because Timothy Simons and Matt Walsh, the guys from Veep—

yes, I love that—

they have a podcast and they were like, yo, can you come on our podcast? Cuz we have— we talk about movies where presidents are there and we know about cinephobe, whatever. And I was like, get the fuck out of here. Like, there's no chance that these people know I'm—

But it was real?

It was real. I did it. Yeah. I was like, oh my— like, it wasn't until—

Did you, did you, did you— were you nervous until you signed on?

Literally when they came on the screen, the first thing I said, like, thank God this is real.

This is why AJ Burnett hasn't responded to me.

This actually happened to me too. Jason Bateman texted me and was like, we really want you on our show. And I was like, you know what? It's not a good time. But thank you, I really appreciate it.

Then he was like, what's your bank PIN number?

Yeah, that was my favorite one. It's like, hi, this is Beyoncé.

Need money?

Need money?

Here with Jay-Z.

It's like, yeah, it's the same deal.

What's your social?

This is Jay-Z.

And what street did you grow up on?

This happened to me one time with a famous comedian where I was trying to book them for my radio show. And because I used to do a lot of the booking back, even, you know, I'm the host.

And was it Cosby?

And it was not Bill Cosby. Good guess. And so I'm—

that could take us anywhere.

He's about to fight another coworker. I'll tell you that right now.

I mean, so I get in touch with this comedian. I'm having a correspondence. Like, I found their info, found it like on Instagram or something. You know, sometimes there's business inquiries, email, what have you. And I'm having a whole back and forth here. I couldn't believe it. Like, wow, this is great. Set it up and everything, day, time, the whole deal. And when the time came around for them to come on the show, just nowhere to be found. Just totally ghosted me. And even afterward, I tried to like get back in touch and what happened, this, that. And I'm still wondering, like, what— like, was it— was it catfish? You know, was I being scammed?

So Chris D'Elia never hit you back?

It's embarrassing.

I think catfishing has gotten really even easier now because, A, it's It's so easy to look up people's information on the internet and find stuff that you think only, only my close friends know this, but it's like, actually, you've said this on a podcast before, everyone knows this. But also the, like, voice things that AI can do now. Apparently they can, like, use your family members' voices to, like, sound like them, and they can do all this stuff. My, my grandma's gonna be mad that I told this, tell the story, but she got scammed a few months ago. This is not a, not a celebrity scam in story, but someone was trying to get her, like, bank account information, and they were preying on her. And shame on these people that prey on the elderly, because there is a special place in hell for them. But she ended up not— thank God she realized it before it got too far, and they didn't get any of her information. But they, they knew all this stuff about her. They were like, yep, we, we know what your deal is with your— what kind of computer you have, you know, we know all this stuff, like, we're trying to help you out.

And it's very sad But I guess if I were a celebrity, my guard would probably be up if someone was like, hey, send me $2,000, I'm NPR.

Jess, if you found $60 on the sidewalk in your neighborhood, would you inquire at the nearest house that is this money yours? Or would you just pocket it and walk away?

No, no, you can't do that in New York City. No.

What if, what if you lived in a neighborhood like not—

well, if it's where you grew up, like in suburbia.

Yeah.

Um, I'm still a no.

Probably not. I don't know. I mean, in New York City, I might honestly immediately run it under hot water with soap first. It might be a trap.

It was apparently— it was cursed. Tony found it.

Oh, it was not cursed.

It was cursed.

I ended up being a little cursed.

Where did you find it?

On, on my neighborhood street, a couple streets down. I was going out for a walk one day yesterday, and, uh, underneath some shade.

No, no, don't do the story again.

No, I'm just telling Jess.

I want to hear the details.

I'm walking by, I see $60, $320s rolled up on the floor. Don't even break stride, I go down, boom, pick it up, put in my pocket, keep going.

This guy's just— wow, man.

Oh, what a scam that guy is, man.

There's someone holding up a sign outside the Elsers saying they lost $60, $320 bills, please return ASAP. Tony, come on, man.

That's a scam if I've ever seen one.

Let me get that. Actually, the neighborhood where I grew up, a lot of people are out walking around and stuff.

Jess, nobody was walking around. Every— it was— I was the only person. I didn't see a dog.

No, that's what I mean.

It's gonna bike—

nothing.

I also like— there was one time I found a lost dog in my neighborhood, and I went to the closest door and rang the doorbell, and I was like, is this your dog? And they were like, nope. And I was like, okay. And I went to the next door, and they were like, nope. And I was like, okay. And this dog had wandered quite far. And I feel like in the case of the found money You might just ring on the doorbell and it's not their money and they're just like, sure, thanks.

Oh, 100%. That's what I would do. Hey, somebody knocked on my door. Hey, did you drop this $60? Yeah, yeah.

Pocket sucker.

What a scam. People just giving away money. Yeah, of course I'm going to take it.

Chat, let's find the dog's owners.

I'd walk right by the dog.

Jess, do you know who Brock Rechsteiner is?

No.

Brock Rechsteiner is a rookie for the New Orleans Saints trying to make the New Orleans Saints. Was he drafted?

Undrafted.

Undrafted free agent trying to make the New Orleans Saints. He has actually already been suspended for the first 8 games of the regular season. He got popped, he got popped for PEDs, but of course, you know that you're still allowed to do training camp and preseason, alright, even though you've been suspended. But furthermore, Brock Rechsteiner is the son of WWE Hall of Famer Big Papa Pump Scott Steiner, very famously of the Hall of Famer, Hall of Fame Steiner Brothers.

The big bad booty daddy.

Excuse me?

That's in the club.

Big Papa Pump Scott Steiner is a very, very famous wrestler. Matter of fact, really?

Yeah.

Big booty. Shout out to all my freaks out there.

No, he wouldn't. You guys are, you guys are running out of them.

If you hear me, Big Papa Pump is your hookup. Holla if you hear me.

You know, Scott Steiner from Michigan. I wonder if he says geez-o Pete's.

Maybe. What— so what did the son do?

So, and by the way, Scott Steiner, his nephew right now is Bron Breakker, who is a big star in WWE. So the Steiners are a very famous wrestling family. Brock Wreck Steiner is Big Poppa Pump Scott Steiner's son. He is trying to make the New Orleans Saints, and he's already been suspended, as I said. Well, you could see here, Jess, and everyone else watching on video, Number 88 there is Brock Rechsteiner, right smack in the middle of a brawl that took place yesterday. 89, excuse me. A brawl that took place yesterday between the Saints and Cowboys joint practice. And Brock Rechsteiner here, German suplex on the Cowboy who lost his helmet there. And we have chaos at the joint practice.

Do you think that was real? Now I'm, now I'm questioning this training camp fight there.

There is a school of thought that this dude understands that pro football is not really in his cards and he's just using training camp to get over.

Paul Heyman was sidelined.

Yeah, too hot for the NFL. Already serving a PED suspension that he won't actually dress for. Now German suplexing dudes at camp. This dude needs to be in the Elimination Chamber ASAP.

You know what, guys, I'm— any, any videos or photos I see coming out of camp, I'm not gonna lie to you, and, and like that, whoever filmed that had a perfect angle on that move, like you said, Zazz. I'm a little skeptical now because the The story came out that all of the photos of the NFL, uh, quarterback wags that have been going viral from training camp have been like planted by a PR company. And I don't like being that cynical person because when this whole Taylor Swift thing started, a lot of people were like, this is fake. And the whole time I was like, no, I think they actually are kind of dating. But now the NFL has seen the rise in popularity of a lot of NFL social accounts because of their proximity to Taylor Swift, and they're like, what if we do that now with Madison Beer, who Justin Herbert's fiancée, who is famous, but I'm not sure for what. And so they're having all these like fake— oh, okay, thank you. I mean, they're having all these like cute moments caught on camera that seem organic get published and like put out on the internet.

So I guess more women will watch the NFL, question mark. And I don't like that. I don't like it one bit.

Down, levitar!

I mean, Trotten Madonna out there. I don't know what the hell she was doing. And then what's this boy band KPS, KBS, what's their name? I have no idea who that is.

There's BTS.

Jonathan Sasslow, isn't this the big—

this is the biggest band in the world.

That's right. Get out of here. I think Pearl Jam.

This is the Dan Levatar Show.

I thought that this was a psyop, and then it was explained to me, no. It's a strategy. So they just met. Yeah, it's an op. It's just an operation. It's not a psyop. Stop reading the internet, internet brain. It's just an op. Yeah. They told Front Office Sports, no, we mean to do this.

Really? Yes.

They're, they're, they're doing this because of what Jess said. The Taylor Swift factor was indeed real. It was quantifiable. It helped with the ratings. It helped generate new fans. And this is a bold new strategy. To help make some of their NFL players stars and identify with some of their famous starlets. Like, oh, I know this person now. It's huge. Yeah, it's an— it's an op-op.

So rather than— women, in order—

women love wives, women love girlies. We gotta do the things that the ladies like. We can't do the things that might— the women might be like, you know what, uh, probably would be a good idea if you, you know, had some— a bit of a spine when it came to some of the players that might not be up to good things off the field. Instead, just feed us these videos of quarterbacks being— whispering sweet nothings into their fiancées' ears and pretend that it's real. Like, there's probably better ways they could be doing this. Feels like blatant, kind of obvious pandering. And I don't know if I like that.

Well, are they doing this on Hard Knocks? Like, have they made a thing out of some of the WAGs for these games?

I have not watched this season of Hard Knocks. Have you guys watched it?

I've watched the first 2 episodes. I missed last night. I'm going to watch it tonight and have a report for you guys. Early tomorrow morning.

Beautiful.

No, we'll get back to you, Zazz.

Beautiful. Uh, Jess, TV show stars, movie stars whose character you hated them so much, even if you saw them in real life, you would feel that way.

Oh, that's a great— can I— give me a minute to think. Give me an example.

So, well, example that we came up with was Joffrey from Game of Thrones.

Okay, I was about to say that.

So he's the ultimate—

when he was at the peak of his Game of Thrones fame, apparently people were coming up to him on the street and being like, "Fuck you, Joffrey, we hate you." And it was like really, he didn't like, like it was bad. He felt really bad about it. But my sister saw him on the sidewalk in Ireland 'cause she was there for like some archaeology thing and was like, she knew the actual actor's name and went up to him and was like, "I really love your work, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." And he was like, "Thank you." And they took a selfie together and she like felt really bad 'cause she was thinking about how many people come up to him and are just like, Go fuck yourself, Joffrey. So I don't know, hopefully he enjoyed that moment.

I'm sorry, your sister was in Ireland for some archaeology thing? What does your sister do?

She was on a dig. She's like—

Indiana Jones?

Yes, basically.

What's she digging for?

Wait, your sister's an archaeologist?

Bones? She actually has her master's in like archaeology or something.

How have I never heard this story? I heard about the Twine cousin a million times.

Oh, she just got married. Guess how many times— I mean, I was thinking of you the whole weekend. Guess how many times the Twine tour came up? In the speeches.

Oh no. Every speech.

Every speech, including the vows. I'm pretty sure it came up. It was like the twine tour was the star of the wedding. It was amazing. I was— I was at my cousin's wedding just thinking about a meme the whole time.

Oh my God. You know what? That's why—

No.

Jessica's—

You don't want to know about that one.

Well, we listened to the cat story.

Yeah, I'd like the details of that more than the end of the cat story.

Yeah. Tell us more about your witch cat, Tony. And I like cats.

The cat story was fine. It was a $60 story that made no sense.

What do you mean it made no sense? Dichotomy of man.

What does that have to do with dichotomy of man?

Dichotomy of man. So Jessica's cousin—

dichotomy of man.

Jessica's cousin, under her own volition, just out of interest, went on a tour of the Midwest looking for the biggest ball of twine.

I don't even know what twine is.

It's like string.

Twine, like yarn.

Why can't you just say yarn then?

Because it's twine. I think yarn— yarn is a different—

no one knows what twine is specific.

I don't know what the difference is.

You're the first person ever asked, what's twine?

All right, yeah, that's true. I am with Amin on this one. But there's different balls of twine there, and this, this is all over like Iowa and Wisconsin. Yeah, there's some twine. Um, there's like the heaviest ball of twine, there's like the longest twine that's rolled up in a ball.

Um, this is what your sister was digging for.

This is her cousin. Pay attention.

I'm trying.

Um, she went on a tour to see all the different balls of twine.

All right.

And so I was so fascinated by this that when her cousin came, we went out to dinner. I went to dinner with her and just asked questions about twine the whole time.

That's a funny bit from you.

Jess, what, uh, what is going on here with the Big 12 that you're all fired up about? We are a week and a half away from college football getting going, but what's going on here?

Uh, Mike and I were talking a few weeks back about the Big 12 Monster Energy deal, and I guess the, the Big 12 presented by Monster Energy, or the Monster Energy Big 12 Conference. I forget what it's right where your mark is getting dragged for this. Yeah, and how it was like a $20 million deal, but all the schools are wearing a Big 12 monster patch. Well, I've seen pictures of the alleged monster Big 12 patch, and it's about as bad as you could imagine.

Really?

It's—

I, I think we might have a picture to put on screen. Yeah, this is the— can't apparently— I don't know, is this real? Can someone please verify this for me? Like, this looks so bad. It does feel like AI. I mean, thank you. But there was also a picture of West Virginia players that had a similar looking one, so I'm not sure. I have not I, I don't know, but it looks terrible. And apparently this is what the new update to the story is, so put that aside for a second.

Okay.

Um, I verified this part. There is an open job on the Big 12 Conference website for a director of partnerships. So I don't know, it could be a coincidence, but this deal seems like it was undervalued because a few weeks after it was announced—

oh my God—

Ohio State announced a deal for their jersey patch and just for Ohio State, theirs was like $17 million for the year. However many, I don't know the terms of it, but it was much more than the, the 1 point whatever that like each Big 12 school's getting. But anyways, I thought that was pretty funny.

So Jess, do you think I should go this weekend?

Oh, I, well, why didn't you say, oh my God?

Because I'm looking at the pictures of the patches.

It's all, is it real? Can you tell me if it's real?

I've reached out to my uniforms.

You're a Big 12.

Yeah.

I've reached out to my uniform sources and hopefully in the next 3 minutes and 48 seconds, they get back to me.

Jessica, as you know, I'm a big believer in the big institutions of journalism like Yahoo Sports.

Yeah.

So I'm looking at Yahoo Sports and it's exactly what it looks like. It's the 12 and then the Monster Energy.

So you think it's real?

According to Yahoo Sports, this is Big 12 Monster Energy announced jersey patch field logo deal. That's the name of the story I'm looking at.

All right then.

And it's got a picture of it. Yeah.

Since we have 2 minutes left, did you see that Becky Hammond got ejected last in the second quarter?

Yeah, she—

I think she was mad about a missed call on the other end of the court on A'ja Wilson that the replay was kind of like, I don't know if that was that bad. I mean, maybe. But then on the other end of the court when the Dream were on the Aces' side of the court on offense, she was like still going after the ref. So she got teed up and then she kept going after the ref, so she got a second technical and the Aces lost.

So this is my fascination with Becky Hammond, relies upon one thing. Becky Hammond, I don't know if you've ever seen her coach the Aces, she wears—

Yes!

Like a suit jacket and a hoodie underneath.

A blazer!

It's a blazer with a hoodie underneath, but I realized upon further inspection that it's actually sewn in to the—

Yes, yes.

And she wears this every game. And so I said, you know what, that's her thing. You know, Bob Knight had the weird sweater vest and all that, like It happens, right? Coaches have the thing. The only difference is Becky Hammond makes all of her assistants dress like her, but not in the same color scheme. So if she's wearing red, they're wearing black. She's like, like a black—

they all the hoodies too.

They all have the hoodies.

They were all wearing, yeah, red hoodies and black blazers last night. There's like, there's a few WNBA coaches like Cheryl Reeve also has her own thing. Like she, she always wears a blazer with like a graphic tee underneath.

Cool.

And She rocks it. But yeah, the hoodie, because it's literally just like the zipper part of the hood and then the hood and then the blazer over.

And honestly, like, it's one garment.

Yeah, it's one. Yeah, she— I think Becky kind of rocks it like she owns it. No one else is trying it. No one else is doing that.

It's not about—

she's got a thing.

It's not about should you or should you not wear that. Oh, absolutely. Like, you're right. She rocks it. The part that I'm tripping out about is like, you sons of bitches, you bastards better fall in line. You got to wear the same shit. But not the same color because I don't want anyone to get confused who's the head honcho here.

Well, do you think that she provides this to the assistants?

I hope so. How are you gonna go shopping for that? I'm saying you can't go to Macy's and be like, you have a hoodie sewn into it.

I mean, the first— that there are— I've seen them at the store and I'm like, this— she must just go. Yes, like, she must— there must be like one or two designers every year that release one of these items and she buys all of them. Um, I didn't really notice the assistant part until last night. There, yeah, there she is.

I like her look. I think it's good.

It's a good look for her.

I'm just saying it works.

It's casual.

Like, she's trying to say, like, I could take this blazer off and I'm in a hoodie and I could go, you know, I could go to the free throw line and get some buckets. I'm the coach, so I'm putting the blazer on. Yes, that is 100%. Like, that— she's buying that whole rack. Um, I didn't notice the assistant thing until last night though, because her assistants had to coach the rest of the game and the— yeah, it didn't end well.

That would be like if every one of us here today was dressed exactly like Zazz.

Oh, come on. I mean, it's a very handsome show then.

I assume half of you are. Cody, what are you wearing? I can't see you.

He's got pants.

A good looking show.

He's got a regular hat, not a flex fit hat.

That would be like if Jeremy came in every day dressed like Dan.

Well, Dan comes in every day just like me.

Check out the weekly Notre Dame podcast, The Echoes, with Jessica Smittana and Mike Golic Jr. Jess, excellent job.

Bye-bye.

The big bad booty daddy.