Transcript of Live From New York, It's Nick Wright | Hour 1 New

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Greg, today is a big day. We are going to reveal 2 more catchphrases, correct?

Yeah, we're in the top 10 now. We're revealing 10. And 9.

All right, rolling now, huh?

We are rolling now.

Any world where this is going to become, uh, 20 and 19?

No, not as of now.

Final answer? Oh, as of now?

Yeah. All right, it's temporarily the final answer.

All right, there you go.

Probably temporarily the final answer.

All right, so that's coming up. We'll have 2 more, 2 more reveals here for Greg Cody's top 75—

70.

Top 70 catchphrases. Unbelievable. It started at 50 and then he added, uh, what are we talking here, 20% more?

Yeah, it went to 60 and then 70.

Let's bring aboard Nick Wright, host of FS1's First Things First and What's Right with Nick Wright podcast. Nick, are you aware that in now less than an hour from now, 10:33 Eastern Time, Lord's time zone, where you are that would be 7:33, uh, are you aware of this supposed, uh, gravity loss that people are talking about. Do you have any idea what I'm referencing right now?

Let's first start with where do you think I'm at?

I think he's in New York.

Oh, you're not in LA?

Yeah.

No.

Oh, my boss.

No, no, I moved. It was a recent change. August of 2017. Been in New York since then. Show used to—

Hold on a second. I'm not done. Hold on a second. You're telling me your show is not in LA?

No, I mean, no, again, but again, that changed when the show started September 4th, 2017.

So recently, used—

yeah, 9 years ago, just, just under 9 years ago. The show used to be on at 6:30 AM Eastern. Those shows are tough to do from the West Coast. And so, no, I mean, we, we start literally every show with Kevin Wilde saying live from New York.

Yep.

But this is now data point number 4 or 5 that while the show is growing, it is yet to capture the sought-after Jonathan Zaslow demographic.

You know, Mike Ryan, you're a real dick, Mike Ryan, because you're saying that—

Can I give you a face?

You're saying that as— when Nick Wright says at the start of every show, Kevin Wild says, "Live from New York City," and you jump right in, right, with a "yup," as if you're locked in at the start of every one of Nick's shows.

No, but here's the thing. Here is the thing, Zazz, if we're again gonna go down this road, you, you don't have to be locked in at the start of every show, right? As long as you have watched more than one show and you hear someone start a show like a certain way, you're like, oh, that's how they start their show.

I'll do you one fact. Yeah, I'll do you one better. If you just merely pay attention to some of the interviews that Nick has done. There have been plenty of context clues to suggest where he openly says that he's living in New York.

Greg, do you—

Or, or my interview with you guys last week when I discussed getting season tickets to see LeBron play for the Sixers because for the first time in my life he's playing for a team that I could go to the games. Where did he just leave? So the Lakers, would it make a lot of sense for me to have been like, well, we're in LA, Bron's been here the whole time, but now I'm thinking about getting Sixers tickets.

Great. So which is worse, me not knowing that Nick's show is not in LA, or Nick referencing what he just said last week having no idea I wasn't even in studio last week?

Hmm, it's—

I just assume, but yeah, but you're on the show.

Yeah, you're on the show, dude.

You're not there. Yeah, yeah, I mean, you're pretty obvious staying abreast Yeah, of what's going on. But listen, it's neither here nor there. You were asking me about gravity.

Yeah, so gravity at 7:30 your time, you're going to start floating in the air. 7:33 Pacific, to be exact. You're going to start floating in the air for 7 seconds. Now you may think— you should be happy that you're joining us because you may think that you're actually ascending into heaven. What's really going to happen is you're just going to fall back down after 7 seconds. That's why Tony's not here. I made all the preparations.

Well, you know, I was going to ask I was— I'm bummed Tony's not here because I was going to compliment him because that feat of strength yesterday, unbelievable, was legitimately impressive. Like stunningly legitimately impressive. I'm not up to date on this gravity thing. I do think that 7 seconds of no gravity would be— I would imagine would kind of end— it would be a mass extinction event. So I'm hoping you guys are wrong about that. A lot of people are gonna die. A lot of people, a lot of animals are gonna die.

They're gonna be part of the world where, all right, I'm back on the ground, that's, that's cool, I made it. And then like a walrus falls out of the sky on cars.

Cars will be floating.

Oh, because the world—

because everything, everything loses gravity. Everything, yeah, everything loses gravity.

Oh, we're in trouble. Well, I, I haven't—

yeah, so you believe it?

Well, you're— I assume you're just not going to bring me false information. I'd never heard of it until right now, Zazz.

You—

this is— I, I, I, I It had not hit my radar. I had other things, but now I'm at least moderately concerned about it, that's for sure. Can I ask Greg Cody a question?

Sure, anything, Nick.

Because I do apologize, I have missed some of the previous 60 catchphrases. I'm not going to ask you to go through all 60.

I will later today.

Me, can you just give me a couple of your favorites that didn't make the top 10?

Um, who made it to salad? Very good.

What was the first one?

Second, I think.

I'm confused.

Who made it a salad? I'm not for sale. Trailers for sale or rent.

That.

Room salad, 50 cents.

Yeah, but I absconded with it. I made it mine.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, and the key is—

Is never a doubt gonna make it?

That's not one of mine. Oh. No.

Oh, they're only yours?

Yeah.

It's only your catchphrases?

Right, that's right.

It's very self-involved, Nick.

Yeah, there's patents pending on all of them.

Oh, okay, you have 70 of them?

Yeah, and every week he rehashes, he counts backwards from 70 to the 2 that he's revealing.

Oh man, I feel like Nick wants to hear them.

Yeah, I mean, why don't we do that?

Are we wasting your time if you hear like the entire Greg Koenig set?

Yeah, I mean, Nick, do you want to hear them?

Yeah, because we got sports, uh, like I can ask you about JJ McCarthy, no doubt, but you, you're the one that asked.

I feel like it's better content to hear the catchphrases that I've missed.

All right, let's do it, Greg.

It just takes about 20 minutes.

No, it doesn't.

It's good. I don't have 20 minutes for it. Just go quick.

All right, here we go.

All right, yeah, let's do it.

Yeah, okay. Number 70: I'm fuller than Vern Fuller. 69: Where's my click click? 68: Hey, Butterfinger. 67: Punt. 66: Scranton. 65: I'm busier than a one-armed paper hanger. 64: Georgia. Georgia, 63. I'm the kind of guy that— 62. Ball on the Jacks, 61. Hey hey, we're the Monkees, baby, 60. Thank you.

Pause. Yes, I'm going to pause after 10.

Sure.

I'm busier than a one-armed paper hanger you created. Yeah, that's amazing.

Thank you.

That's— I like that a lot. I've heard it before, but I assumed it was Shakespeare or something.

That's great. That was Greg Cody.

Shakespeare stole it from Greg.

They were— they went to college together.

They were roommates.

That's right. He was a good guy, Bill. All right. Number 60. Thank you, Billy. 59. I love him like a pet. 58. Who made it a salad? 57. We're rolling now, huh? 56. Your brain beating me. 55. Let's go States. 54. Driver comfort is paramount. 53. Dummy up. Say bop. 52. Catch as catch can. 51. Doesn't make it right. 50. So on and so forth. 49.

Very good.

48, the Little League Theory. 47, nice hat, asshole. 46, the others, they all learned from me. 45, don't go showering to try to please me. 44, look at that jerk. 43, it's like a packing house in here. There should be hams hanging from hooks. 42, what'd you learn? 41, hee haw, 3, ba-dum!

Time!

What's the Little League Theory?

Oh, you'll love this.

I'm so glad you asked.

Yeah, you'll love this.

It's the most maligned of all the catchphrases, but a personal favorite of mine. When I was 9 or 10 years old playing in Little League in a baggy uniform for Adler's Drugs, red and white colors, there would be a situation where I didn't feel like playing that day, and I was begging my mom and dad not to take me to that game. I didn't want to play. That's the game I had 3 hits, made a great play in the field. If I really was amped for the game and wanted to play, 3 strikeouts and an error. It just seemed to be the Little League Theory. Sometimes in life, if you want stuff so much that you're so excited about it, you're let down. And the opposite is true. If you dread it, if you don't want to do it, you excel.

That is legitimately profound.

Thank you.

Great advice.

Thank you very much.

This has been spe— all right, I can't imagine—

I—

the fact that there are 44 better than the Little League Theory is stunning. Let's keep rolling.

Okay, uh, where'd we leave off? Hee Haw, Dreamy, Badayap. Okay, 40, I'm not gonna take a quiz. 39, sassafras. 38, would we break a window? 37, hello. 36, who won? 35, trailers for sale or rent. 34, you gotta eat a peck of dirt before you die. 33, 3 words, we are the Lobos. 32, You're gonna go to Buffalo with Bernie Parmley. 31, Rappycack. 30, another crisis solved. 29, nice chatting with you. 28, he ain't heavy, he's my blank.

Hey.

27, hey, that's what I'm talking about. Yeah, that's Zaslo's favorite. 26, who let a pet. 25, good on ya. 24, dancing swords. 23, QK, quick crap. 22, Bey. 21, blanking it. 20. That's a fact. Yeah.

Is dancing swords a little double entendre sexual thing? No.

Common misnomer.

Yeah, it is.

What is it?

It's diarrhea.

Dancing swords is when you have the gurgling deep in your intestinal area and you know that you got to run fast but carefully to the bathroom. Those are dancing swords. Okay.

I mean, you do paint quite the picture.

Thank you.

You are a wordsmith. All right, now we get to the top 20, but not the top 10. So excited.

Yeah. 21, we're blanking it. 20, that's a fact, Jack. 19, gotta wanna learn, gotta wanna earn. 18, put a Lobos mint under your pillow and dream. 17, quite a bit. 16, take the rest of the day off. 15, do what now? 14, right on. 13, who shot John? 12, if I had a hammer. Number 11, rap, rap, rap, they call him the rapper. Now, that's after, there was a song of that title, but in my case, it was born on Christmas Day. When anyone begins to unwrap a gift, I sing that song. And now we're—

No, no, now we're, hold on. Like we did that for Nick so Nick can hear what's already been revealed.

Right.

But, but the new reveal, the next two, that, that's gonna—

yeah, that's not this hour, that's later.

No, that has to be— no, you gotta, you gotta build the anticipation.

Yeah. Okay.

Um, I do have a question though, since you did the wrapping thing.

Yeah.

Uh, at the Kody household for Christmas, yeah, is it a free-for-all or is it one person does a present, they get to like examine the present, maybe put it on or, you know, whatever, and then to draw it out, and then the next person goes, next person goes? Because this is I feel like families that do it one way can't fathom families that do it another way. I'm very curious what it was in the Cody household.

Very astute, uh, question by you. We go from youngest to oldest, so my granddaughter is the first one to open a gift. I am— my brother, who's older than me, my brother is the last to open a gift, and we all go in sequence. But that rule Early in the morning, it's a law that everyone follows, and then little by little, it becomes a free-for-all. Like an hour into gift-giving and wrapping, it's like, "Whose turn is it?

What?

Eh?" And then you got 3 people going together and it's like a cluster, you know?

Got it.

Yeah, my family was a big one at a time. You couldn't really have a defined order because there would always be someone would have more presents, less presents, more expensive, you know? Yeah, you kind of just eyeballed who should go next. But I remember going to my play cousin's house one year. They did all their presents Christmas Eve, and I— it was— the whole thing was over in 3 minutes. Yeah, I couldn't believe it.

It was—

it was— my mind was blown. It also felt to me like a bit of a bummer, like you wait all this time for Christmas and so you want to draw it out. Yes, as long— like a tantric Christmas is what I would compare it to. That you want to draw it out as long as possible.

Yeah, well, our Christmas unwrapping probably Probably takes at least an hour, maybe more.

That's great, the minimum.

Can you put it on the poll, Juju? Do you like a tantric Christmas?

Down, Levitar!

Can't trade Marino!

Nice hat!

Nice hat, Zed!

It's what he's most known for! It's like, I'm holding on to it!

Greg Cody!

Nice hat!

They were 9-2! But it's Marino! Nice hat! And then the next time we saw Marino after Greg Cody traded him, he threw for 5 touchdowns!

Nice hat!

And he was Man the Man on the COVID of Sports Illustrated!

You can't trade Marino!

Nice hat, asshole!

This is the Dan Levatar Show.

Nick, Kyler Murray QB1, JJ McCarthy forced to be a backup. Is Adam Schefter going to be okay? Are the Vikings going to be okay?

Alright, so a few things here. Of all the things that if we're going to poke at how Schefter phrases news and tweets, it's always interesting to me the ones that get seized on. Like, was he doing a solid for his Michigan guy? Sure. Do I find, you know, did— do I find that nearly as egregious as, you know, my— again, I don't want to get yelled at, is a mean here, I don't want to get yelled at, I'm just guessing, I'll be clear, I'm just guessing on this, but my strong inclination that he knew the head coach of the 49ers was in a car accident weeks before he deigned to reveal to America that it had happened, um, I thought that was maybe a bigger deal. Uh, I, I think that, but with all that said, and I didn't like the re— sorry, I'm gonna give a long answer here, Mike. I, I didn't like the J.J. McCarthy draft pick, and my— and I'm not a college football expert, Mike. The reason I didn't like the J.J. McCarthy draft pick was every— the people that were the biggest fans of his, when they would come on the show or any show and talk about J.J. McCarthy, all of the compliments were about firm handshake, looking you in the eye.

You never heard like, man throws a great ball. It was a lot of you'd love him to date your daughter. And I'm like, I don't know, man. Top 10 pick. It seems like, seems like we're on shaky ground here. So I didn't love the pick to begin with. With that said, the process of We have Kirk Cousins, we think he has a ceiling, so we're gonna draft a quarterback. Then that quarterback gets hurt, Darnold goes out and wins 14 games, ah, we think he has a ceiling, we want to go with the young guy. Giving that guy 10 starts and then being like, screw it, Kyler Murray, who everyone knows exactly who Kyler is, where he is in the quarterback hierarchy, The process there is just so bad. And so while I'm not a believer in J.J. McCarthy, if I were the Pittsburgh Steelers with Rodgers in his, you know, mid-40s, hell, the Tampa Bay Bucs with a potential contract issue coming, pardon me, down the road with Baker, or maybe even the Houston Texans with real questions about CJ's long-term viability and not a real contract, in place, I would certainly call Minnesota and see if I can take a flyer on him for a 6th round pick.

He's younger than Ty Simpson. He's 3 years younger than Tyler Shuck. Like, the age thing does matter to me. I just never really saw it as a prospect. But I just, I don't, I didn't get what Minnesota did throughout this whole thing.

He's the host of FS1's First Things First, What's Right with Nick Wright, the podcast as well. Real quick, Nick, I don't want to be rude, so before we let you go here, how are you adjusting to the move to New York City?

It's only been 9 years. Everything new.

You know, it's—

it's—

that's very nice of you. You know, I like it. Mike, you know, Mike, shortly after I moved to New York, I think Mike and his lovely wife stayed with me for a weekend because they were going to a music festival. I've lived in— I live in a different house now than the one Mike was at, but Mike's been to this one too, I think. When he was in New York, I think we watched football together here. I could be wrong.

Oh, you got a big bet.

Nice.

You cashed a big bet.

Oh yeah, that's right. That is right.

I might come back in Arizona.

That's right. It was that time. I forget. It was a lot.

It was a lot of money.

When you have so many winners, Mike, they do run together a bit.

No, this is like a huge comeback.

Yeah, it was one of the biggest ones ever. And then, and then it almost got blown, right? Because the Broncos almost also blew a lead and then came back. Then almost, if I remember correctly, doesn't matter. I love New York. So yeah, I enjoy it here. Where do you live, Zazz?

Cooper City, Florida.

What's Cooper City?

It's a, it's a suburb near Fort Lauderdale.

Yeah, he could have just said Miami.

Yeah, I could have said a different county.

Yeah. I mean, nobody knows Cooper City. People in Davie don't know Cooper City.

Come on.

Good roast, Greg. Greg, you live in Boca, I assume?

No, I live in—

Now Greg's gonna tell you he lives in Plantation.

Which is not a word I'm real proud of, but I do live there.

Yeah, well, you know, you didn't name the town. Yeah, exactly. It's not your fault.

I have been meaning to start a petition to change the name of that town.

No, that's been going around. Nick, thank you for joining us. I guess we'll catch you at the Patriot Games?

The Patriot Games?

Yeah, I'll see you guys.

See you, Nick. There you go. But speaking of the Patriot Games, I got a lot to say. Okay, so what, like, what is going on with—

what, by the way, you mean what is going on?

By the way, Juju, put it on the poll. Does Nick live in Los Angeles or New York City? Uh, what is— so this is a real thing?

Yeah, it's a thing that your taxpaying dollars went to. It's run by the same crooks that did the, uh, the State Fair Freedom 250. Yeah, that's like everything is just a grift. And if this were happening in North Korea, Russia, or Cuba, we'd be like, you know, that tracks. You know, for a lot of projecting about communist dictators from the right, they sure love acting like them. It's supposed to be— what it was positioned as was, we're going to take two of the best athletes from every state and we're going to have athletic competitions, and these are going to be the Patriot Games honoring 250 years of this amazing country. You tune in and it's—

what channel is this on?

It would stream it on ESPN. Oh yeah, streaming on ESPN. In fact, Pat McAfee welcomed the president to town, okay, um, to an audience that is almost entirely white. And this whole thing is a huge propaganda thing. They're trading MAGA hats. In fact, like, kids that are from Massachusetts or representing Massachusetts don't live in Massachusetts. There's a Puerto Rican that's from Texas. And the games are terrible. And the athleticism— like, these aren't high school athletes.

The games are terrible because they're stupid games?

No, no, no.

Well, they play kickball, but the athletes aren't what was sold to us. We were sold like the best athletes from each state being represented, and it's a bunch of homeschooled kids, and it's just using sport literally as propaganda with the Supreme Leader watching from the stands, a vision of what America should look like, and it's hugely embarrassing. And straight up, if it were happening in another country—

And we're paying for this, you said?

Yes, taxpayer dollars are going to this. If it were happening in another country, you'd say, "Ah, that's so on the nose for Putin." creating this whole thing just to, to justify and normalize his entire administration. And Pat McAfee is right there beside him, uh, being a pawn, willing or unwilling. I think we're at the point where we need to stop underselling whether or not he's willing. Seems pretty damn willing and smart, and I'm sure he's going to be super defensive about it later today on his show.

It definitely doesn't remind me of The Hunger Games at all.

So This seems to be pretty significant breaking news we have here, Greg. I'll read this tweet from Ramona Shelburne. Alright, the Los Angeles Lakers are being sold to American businessmen Josh Kushner and Bob Iger for a record-breaking price of over $12 billion. Kushner and Iger were involved in the expansion process in Vegas, but a stunning turn, they pivoted to make an aggressive offer to buy the Lakers from Mark Walter, who had purchased a controlling interest in the team from the Buss family last year. So this guy owned the team for a year and now I guess was just received an offer he can't refuse.

Yeah, big. So Josh Kushner is a part owner of the Miami Heat, correct?

Yeah. Jared's, uh, yeah, yeah.

And tried to— he was spearheading the, uh, the private equity, uh, attempt to, uh, yeah, buy the world.

All right, so he's obviously not gonna— he's, you know, sell his minority stake in the Heat, but wow, that's a really big deal.

Yeah.

And also Bob Iger, um, Liberal.

Yeah.

So yeah, that's, that's, that's a huge deal. And that's the Bus family cashing in on one of the great bets in sports history, one of the great investments.

Well, when you say the Bus family cashing in, that's because they still had a minority interest.

Yeah.

Huh.

Well, and that's after yesterday, the parent company of the Yankees, Yankee Global Enterprises, announced a $2.6 billion financing agreement with Apollo Sports Capital. So more private equity going into sports as well.

That does seem like the move if you're Kushner and Bob Iger here. Would you rather have an expansion team or the Lakers? I'd rather have the Lakers.

Yeah, sure.

Right.

I mean, you're buying such a brand. Is that a record amount for any franchise?

Oh, you mean in any sport?

What are the Commanders go for?

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, it's obviously record-breaking price in the NBA, but does record-breaking price mean all of North American sports? I don't know.

Isn't Jeff Bezos buying Liverpool?

Uh, he's rumored to be involved in, uh, in a group. He would have a stake in it.

Yeah, buying a current team is so much— is so much better because then whoever gets the expansion Vegas or Seattle team, you then get a major part of that, you know, that entry fee. Like, you'd much rather buy a current team, especially when that current team is the Lakers.

Dan Levitar.

Jessica thinks you're pathetic.

I saw the look on her face. It can never be the lane to victory, Matt.

No, I think Jeremy's pathetic.

Jeremy just— You should hear him back here.

He's so sad.

Delivered the most absurd theater kid basketball analysis line that I've ever heard from him.

Jeremy, touché.

My dad was talking about the adjustments that Spo made and criticizing him last night.

And Jeremy just back here, his adjustments were spectacular.

It's just like they lost. They're down 0-2.

This is the Dan Levitar Show.

The previous largest sale of a professional sports franchise in the world—

world—

was for $10 billion. It was the Lakers last year.

Wow.

So this really is a record-breaking price in sports, not just North American sports or in the NBA.

Something's going right for the Kushners.

That's good, right? They needed a win.

Yeah, they needed a big dub. Yeah, a little egg on their face last week.

Well, and in the Patriots games, you know, if they're not around for that, they missed Pat McAfee's backward hat that reminded me so much of Zazzle.

I know, he's stealing your lane there.

Yeah, another plain-ass shirt from you. You're going with the Sergeant Slaughter.

But see, like that—

no, but see, like, that's a good color.

Yeah, that's a normal color to win in this color.

So that's what— I didn't know that you served. Thank you for your service. But Yeah, at least it's a more reasonable plain shirt. The plain red was wild.

Well, and, and I, I kind of look a little bit like McAfee here where he's got the— he's got a solid shirt also and the backwards hat. Me and McAfee, we have similar looks.

Look at all those world-class athletes.

Saw a bunch of people really confused why he didn't turn around the cap for the president, which like, what do I care with this guy? But like, would you turn around your cap for anybody?

Like if I was gonna meet someone?

Yeah, if you were gonna meet— yeah, someone that mattered.

Yeah, like the Queen of England.

Like what I, what I Would I turn around the hat or take off the hat? Would I turn it around or take it off? Because backwards hats, as Colin Coward of course told us, is like not a good look. It's very unprofessional, even though I'm on TV every day.

All right, like last 3 presidents, Trump, Biden, and Obama, would you turn around the hat if you were meeting them?

I know that I'm going to meet them. See, I wouldn't turn— I think my look is my— you know what, I think the only president I would turn it around for is Pat Riley.

I think that's fair. It's the one you respect the most, admire.

I am what I am, you know? And if I was going to meet a sitting president or one of the previous two like that you mentioned right there, you know, this is me, take it or leave it. But if I'm going to see Pat Riley, that's a different story. So I wouldn't turn around the hat for Pat Riley, I would dress for the occasion.

So if Rutherford B. Hayes was still with us, you wouldn't turn around that hat?

Rutherford B. Hayes?

Big president or not a big president?

Yeah, I'm going not a big president.

James K. Polk?

If I gotta say his name so that I could try and, you know, remember who he is, that's not a big president.

John Quincy Adams.

That's a big president.

Not many Rutherfords anymore, huh? Taft.

He's not even the first John Adams.

Taft, famously big president.

Yeah, Bill Taft.

Ulysses S. Grant.

£380.

Oh yes, yes, that's a big president, Ulysses.

Grover Cleveland.

Grover Cleveland. Not making any Grovers anymore.

How about ol' Woody Wilson?

Woody— Woodrow Wilson? See, I know his full name, that means big president.

Not a fan.

No, no.

Okay.

Interesting. Is there something I should be aware of there that I'm not?

It's a whole, you know, Black thing.

A lot of initials.

Seems like something I should be aware of.

Yes.

All right. Just throw Franklin Black thing on me. Feel like I should be aware of that.

What was—

more time. Can you repeat that?

Franklin Pierce. What did he do?

I don't know, man.

He had long hair. I'm clicking on the Wikipedia.

What's— what is going on? What is the latest with this Infantino? All right. Gianni Infantino is catching it from, you know, all angles now. Is this going to lead to him like stepping down as FIFA president.

Democrat who believed the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to national unity. All right, we don't like Franklin Pierce. The whole black thing.

Yeah, Frank Pierce. Um, we— I, I think world— I think global soccer hopes Infantino steps down or is voted out in March, and he could be. It, it just takes a simple majority to vote him out. And, and with, with the European Federation alone against you, you have a head start on getting—

you do. It's big, but you're definitely going to need to have more allies. Um, Africa has a lot of power here, and, uh, right now CONCACAF jointly put out a statement falling in line with that of UEFA, but there was one wayward country that did not align itself, that beat CONCACAF to the punch and put out a message of support, and that was Mexico. Also Argentina also supported Infantino, shock of all shocks. Um, but, uh, yeah, Mexico supported Infantino, which is curious because that is not in line with CONCACAF. And then there came reports that Infantino was working a backroom deal with Mexico to get them out of CONCACAF and into CONMEBOL, the South American qualifying region.

Imagine that. Back channels.

A North American team, Mexico, famously in North America. They wanted to put them in the South American qualifying region.

Well, why would Mexico want to be in South America?

More money. More money.

Well, they're not South America.

Yes, but all of this means more money. But there, I mean, there are some examples of qualifying regions acquiescing and making exceptions, especially when you get into geopolitical conflicts. Like, for example, or even not. Sometimes you outgrow your qualifying region. Like, Australia used to be in Oceania, but they were always winning, so they moved them to Asia to make it more of a challenge. So there are some examples of that, but this was going to be utterly ridiculous, and I don't expect Infantino to step down or step aside. I imagine he's going to fight this to the bitter end. The only way that he steps down is if it's made abundantly clear that he is not— that it would be an embarrassing election result. And he seems to have a lot of support from a lot of countries that kinda dug his idea to get $40 million and also really enjoyed getting World Cup tickets and being able to flip them, even though that's totally against the rules.

But I haven't done the math. If you have the ma— the vast majority of Europe and South America and CONCACAF against you. Don't you have enough votes?

No, there's a whole big beautiful world out there.

I know, but those are— Europe is by far the biggest federation, right? Mm-hmm. In terms of number of countries?

Um, up there.

I gotta do the math. Africa—

I was reading an article that suggests Africa, in terms of swing votes, holds most of the cards here.

Mm.

Yeah, and look, this is— this is the beauty of FIFA and corruption. Famously, they have used World Cup hosting responsibilities as a bribe to keep people in power. But Gibraltar's vote matters just as much as Spain's, right? Yeah. So, yeah, all right, Spain, you want to show me a message? All right, cool, I'll head over to UAE.

And that's exactly why FIFA is ripe for bribery and scandal, which they've had ever since Sepp Blatter and continue to have. You know, they need fresh air. I mean, it's ridiculous what's going on.

UEFA, it says on Wikipedia, and I can go deeper on this, as of being founded in 1954, it now has 55 members.

Yeah.

But it says for the Confederation of African Football, it's 54 plus 2. I have no idea what that means.

Like, could mean a new, newer country.

Hmm.

I'll dive deeper on this, but it's either Europe or Africa. And I'm not quite sure. Also, what about everyone's favorite Quaker, Herbie Hoover?

Ooh, Herbie.

Let's put that on the poll. Is that everyone's favorite Quaker? Is Herbert— Herbie Hoover?

No, William Penn.

Is Herbie Hoover everyone's favorite Quaker?

I don't know. William Penn is top of the heap.

You think so?

I think it's the Quaker Oats guy.

Yeah, I think it's Buddy on the Quaker Oats.

Oh yeah, it's gotta be that guy. Yes.

Yeah, that guy.

That dude knows what he's doing.

Yeah, he does.

That dude can quake.

Nice hat too.

I'm trying to wrap my head around the Lakers sale, which just happened a few minutes— it's just the statement was just put out a few minutes ago that Mark Walter, after buying the Lakers last year for— what did we say— was $10 billion, which was a then record price. Now in just a year, flipped it for a record $12 billion. So just a year later, he makes $2 billion. Which sounds amazing. That's an incredible investment. Just a year later, you flip it, something for a $2 billion profit. But it reminds me, like, I don't understand what was the point in buying the Lakers? Because it reminds me, uh, I was, you know, watching Winning Time on Showtime— not on Showtime, it was on HBO— but it's about the Showtime Lakers where Dr. Jerry Buss, played by John C. Reilly there, says how You know, they're talking about how, you know, if you sell the team, you could make a lot of money. It's like, okay, but if I made all that money, what do I want to do with it? I would want to buy the Lakers. You know, so I don't understand. How do you buy the Lakers and even though you make $2 billion a year later, what was the point in buying the Lakers in the first— like, don't you want to own the Lakers?

Yes.

I think making $2 billion.

Probably it. Probably the making $2 billion.

You gotta be one of the first people ever to poo-poo $2 billion.

Okay, but there's a rush there because if you waited 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, The Lakers weren't going to be worth it.

I could probably make $2 billion right now and then I can buy another team later. But if I can make $2 billion right now, I'm probably going to take the $2 billion.

Okay, but do it. Every owner in the NBA can say exactly what you just said. Why aren't they all doing that? They can all— a lot of them seem to be like Mickey Arison right now can sell the Heat and make a lot more than $2 billion profit compared to what he bought them.

Family business.

What about that?

It's a family business. Like, the Lakers are no longer that. Once they sold, this was someone who clearly was in it to make money and then got offered $2 billion for a year of work. You take the $2 billion and you run. And then if you want to reinvest in sports later on, you can do that in another way. Yeah, but this clearly isn't someone who was like that invested in the Lakers brand and the Laker name. That was the Buss family. And once that ended, This is going to be a money-making venture, period. The Yankees— the Steinbrenner family is still in control of the Yankees, but the Yankees ownership group just sold to private capital for $2.6 billion.

So that's not what sports are now, man. It's not what sports is anymore.

It's not—

hey, I'm now— like, this makes me, uh, this is how you— this used to be how you crown, uh, someone who's wealthy in this country. You own own a professional sports team. That used to be the crown. That meant you were a big-time player. You own a professional sports team. And now it's just about, hey, it's, it's an investment, right?

It's an— not only is it an investment, it's one guaranteed to escalate in value. There's very little more than sports franchises that are guaranteed to be worth more in 2 years than they were.

Yeah, proof, proof positive. They, they just broke through their own Highmark, right? Uh, in, in just a year it gained $2 billion, right? And you're buying the brand, and they've reached prices now where you won't see the Steve Ballmers, the standalone owner that owns, you know, 100% of the team.

Well, it doesn't sound like a good thing.

No, no, no, it's not.

It's real bad. Like, for fans, that does not sound like a good thing.

No.

Confirmation.

So I figured out that the associate members that I was looking at, they're ones that actually aren't affiliated with FIFA. They just participate in tournaments. So, UEFA, number 1. Africa, number 2.

Were you able to tell that one of the examples that I was trying to cite was how Israel's not grouped with all the countries that hate them?

Careful.

Just careful around this one.

That's one of the examples.

Yeah, good one.

The geopolitical ones.

Yeah.

Although, you know, there are a couple of matchups there. Oh, 14 minutes.

Prepare yourself.

Mike is strapped down to his seat. He is.

And the seat is strapped down too. And I don't want to— that would have been really foolish if I were strapped down to the seat, but then the seat starts floating.

Yeah.

14 minutes away from—

I thought this thing out. Not as well as Tony has, but I thought this one out.

From losing all of the ground. It'd be great if we can get Tony to send in a picture right now of him, you know, strapped in. I don't know.

I think certain people in the audience are going to react well to me throwing the distraction from the whole Israel thing. About as well as you guys did?

I think we'll find out.

That is legitimately profound.