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Welcome back All the Smoke. Indianapolis All Star twenty twenty four Jack.
It has been a solid day. We gotta, we gotta. This is a.
I would say, a trendsetter episode. Yeah, what else can me say about it?
I mean he's controlling the game right, kicking the door open for us, you know what I'm saying in the snake skin when it was.
Locked, he kicked that motherfucker over.
Definitely in snake skins. I don't think about all that stuff, but yeah, definitely. And these snakes died peacefully in their sleep. Yeah, you go, just so they weren't harm They were not harmed.
We love to hear that. Man. Welcome to the show. Pat McAfee. Yeah, excited about this man. It's our guy, Man, it's our guy. Will tell us how you and Pat initially met.
So me and Pat initially met when I played it the Pacers, And the first time we met was that I don't know. It was a holiday party and men Jammin was coming because Peyton invited us. As soon as I walked in, he sent you to come greet us and bring us to the back.
Soon as I got there, I'm like, hold up. Me and this guy, we just hit it off. Next thing, you know, you know, we was having drinks.
We had a good time and ever since then, you know, we had the mutual respect for each other and uh, this has been a good relationship since.
Stack, watching you through the years, learning about you.
Yeah, you're a legend, dude. And you see where I started.
Yeah, hey, hey, listen, and you've seen where I started. So I mean here in Indianapolis those first couple of years I got I don't want to say baptized, but like I got introduced to the city by the coolest people on earth, you know, like Stack, Peyton, Joseph and Died, Clint Sessions. Then you go back to like Paul George was in the Roy Hibbert was in that, like there was Indianapolis was a great time, a great place, and uh, I was lucky to be here and you were are
always kind of me, which is awesome. I appreciate.
Good dude, Good dude. First of all, before we get out, I mean, we want to just congratulate you. I think your your evolution in the path you've taken, and I think, like Jack said, the doors you've kicked down and really kind of just unapologetically you. You are arguably, if not be, one of the biggest voices in sports media and it's almost this new sports media from a standpoint of a former.
Player doing it. It's a real new wave.
But first of all, congratulations on that, But talk to us about that journey, because I'm sure it wasn't as easy as people think.
You know.
Now we're seeing you on TV in your tank tops on ESPN and you get to cuss and you get.
To do other shit. I'm like, yo, bros, really doing it his way.
I have to negotiate all that in there. So there's actually there was in negotiation the words that I'd be allowed to say on ESPN. Oh really yeah, so there was, like in the contract. So I negotiate myself. So I'm my own agent too, So like I'm a hard person to represent, is what I've learned through the agent trial and the air game. So I just decided I wanted to start representing myself like five six years ago, and I want to be in the rooms. You know, I
want to hear what's being said. I want to know why things are being said, and I want to know why things have been the way they are seemingly, you know, as a fan of sport, as a fan of sports media. So like going in there now and within the last year versus like five years ago, vastly different points of leverage, I would say, And to be honest, I appreciate you guys saying that because I've been watching you guys. I
mean just historic. I mean, Matt, I know it probably gets brought up every single day, but like in the Gift is one of the greatest of all time, you and Kobe, that moment is like one of the most legendary moments in the history of sport. And then to watch you and Kobe talk about it on this podcast, that's like something you can't get anywhere else. So like,
I'm inspired by you guys. I'm inspired by all athletes that kind of choose to tell their own story and eliminate the middleman who has always been able to pick and choose which stories matter, which stories don't matter, which voices matter, which voices don't matter. Like I'm a punter, bro okay, So like you don't have to know football that well to know that my position ain't worth a fuck.
Like if we are, you know, like if we're down, if we're down twenty eight points in the second half, I'm closer to front row than a motherfucking and crowd, but we have the same exact impact on the game, you know, So like I understand that I've always been very self aware about that, but like me having the opportunity to talk to people that actually know the answers and play and oh the I have so much admiration
for everybody that's doing their own things. So like, I didn't know that we're going to be able to do this. And the group of dudes I have around me are dogs. They all dogs. We all have the same mindset. We have great work ethics, you know. I think that's something like professional athletes, and my guys aren't professional athletes, but it's something that we take for granted, especially whenever you kind of mingle into the rest of the world world like,
work ethic is something that not everybody has. I am very lucky that my entire team dogs. All of them work their asses off. So we've all had the same mission, we've all had the same mindset, we've all had the same goals, and we just try to get on microphones and make people's lives a little bit better, happier and do some sports talk. And yeah, it's the dumbest shit of all time that now We're on ESPN, We're also on YouTube. We got fans in like New Zealand every
single day that watch our shit. Like it's just very very lucky, very very dumb, And to say it was planned would be a lie. Like and we had no idea that this was going to happen.
I mean, your rise to the top, I mean, I'm sure you And we talked to Dan LeBatard about this about athletes kind of coming into space and not necessarily cutting the line.
But he's talks some shit on me, has he? Yeah?
Oh get him. That's our guy. But we love to get Yeah.
When I saw you signed with him, I was certainly asking some questions. This guy over here, I think and Ryan is his name is?
Ryan? Yeah?
Yeah, I thought you guys could have made it the loan like I thought you guys ourselves.
We partner with them to build out the fast Channel.
Love it.
Yeah, so that's the idea.
And I like Dan. I got respect for Dan. I watched the deal that him and Skipper did with DraftKings and that greatly affected my deal with Fanduels. So I got a lot of respect. But a lot of these older sports media folks aren't the biggest fan of me. Uh and they've certainly made that known.
Yeah, and we've had some we've had you know why, right, because a lot of them wanted to do what you're doing now on ESPN.
Yeah, they weren't allowed to, is what it wasn't allowed to. You think I was allowed to though, Like, that's the whole part of it.
You had the you had I'm gonna say, bolls, you have the confidence in yourself to be able to get it done without worry about what other people gonna say. I think it didn't happen for them because they came in more like, well, I want to do this. You you said, I'm doing this, insaid I want to do this. That's that's a big difference.
Hey, I'm a fucking asshole of those suits too, Like they do not like me, But you got to be It is because when I retired, I had, like I mean, stack, you knew this because you knew I existed that not a lot of people outside of Indiana did. When I retired, I had like like seven hundred and fifty thousand followers.
I had done like twenty seven stand up comedy shows and theaters with like six thousand seats and I going on like a tour, had a podcast, had a merch store, had a chance to do Bob and Tom, which is here in Indianapolis. So like I got a chance to kind of understand the broadcasting waves. ESPN said we got nothing for you Fox, and we got nothing for you. CBS and we got nothing for you. We don't want to hear a punter who's been arrested that swears who's
an Internet guy? That on our kind of guy. That's what these suits, though, did not say that right, So like had to go through the barstool route. But we kept our own company in Indiana. Learned a lot about the Internet through them. That was like a university of how digital works. So then as we as I kind of realized in our boys, we kind of realized, like
we can do this ourselves. We don't need them. And then now we're coming back to the point where I'm negotiating with like Amazon, I'm negotiating with NBC, I'm negotiating with Apple, I'm negotiating with ESPN. It's like all those same middle management people five years ago, six years ago saying we got nothing for you, and it's like I remember that, like you know, and I'm never gonna forget that. Yeah. So it's it's I have the I think I have
the right level of pettiness. Uh, there's some unintelligent ship I've said people that I shouldn't in these negotiations. But I also got the crew around me where I'm like, I have a safety none, like if a deal falls through, Like people are thinking we're gonna get kicked off ESPN this year already, Like people are already assuming that it's not gonna work, it's not gonna last, because you know, Aaron
started a war with Jimmy Kimmel on our show, Jimmy Kimmel. Obviously, ABC let on the COVID stuff calling out Fauci on our show. Like there was a lot, It got real the block up, real hot for about three weeks.
But how do you navigate Obviously Aaron is a good friend of yours, and but ESPN is you know who you're working with now, So how do you navigate that? What's that conversation like between you and Aaron?
So so ESPN is licensing my show, so it's still like yeah, so like I talked to Shannon Sharp about this radio row because club Shayshay with Kat obviously fifty eight and a half million viewers, and there's a lot of shit set on there about a lot of people, And I thought, maybe I don't get a much bigger scale than us obviously with the Aaron stuffy and there we're on Good Morning America, the Today Show and all
that type of stuff. I said, do you ever cause, like, I don't the stuff Aaron's talking about he's very passionate about, Like Aaron firmly believes that, and there's a lot of people in the world that believe that, whether people hate that or not, that is a fact of life. So like I don't know that world though, Like I'm not
educated in that world. And there was a lot of times where I'm like, do I deserve to have this platform if I don't know everything about everything so that this shit can't happen, you know, and people don't end up hating us. So I asked Shannon about that. I'm like, Shannon, do you feel like whenever something's being said that you don't know if it's right or not? Like how much
blame are you put on this? Because there was nights I couldn't sleep, Like I'm like, maybe I am fucking this up completely and then I got back to it. It's like we're having conversations with people, like you can disagree with them completely, but at least you learn and know where Aaron's at, Like this is a Mount Rushmore quarterback in the history of the NFL. In real time, you're learning about him completely. I feel like that's a form of journalism as well, even though people won't really
talk about it. Whenever there's documentaries made about Aaron Rodgers later in life, which will happen, they're gonna use so much of our show. Is that not journalism. So it's like, although there are wars that we get into and Aaron will defend himself, he's a friend of ours. Aaron does his thing, there's I mean, I'm vaccinated, And in the middle of the I was getting swore at in like thirty different languages because Aaron was saying he wasn't vaccinated
and I was the worst human on earth. And it's like, I think we're just a different style of programming, Like we're a conversationalist. We have no idea where we're headed. We don't have scheduled questions. I don't prep anybody when they're coming on. I don't have a list of questions. I'm just having a conversation with people, and boy, it has certainly got us into some ship, but it has also got us some magic, you know that, not a lot of other pet So it's a weird dynamic.
How do you balance I mean, obviously it's athletes. We have to have tough skin growing up, coming in. But now we're in this new generation where everyone has a voice, whether it deserve or not. Be a social media how do you balance the negativity? Because although we can say hey, it doesn't affect us, we hear all of it, all of it.
So how do you how do you balance that?
And like you said, you've had sleepless nights, how do you flush that shit and able to still focus?
Honestly, this show is called All the Smoke?
Yeah, do you have a crack a course course like Blue Golden Colorado?
I mean, but I smoke a lot of weed me too. Yeah.
That that's why I say pumped from every time Weed is saying on All the Smoke, we.
Need to clap. Okay, make that a thing. Weed is brought out wen clap.
A celebratory But no, like I do, like I think that's a massive piece of it for me. Like when I was a junior in college, shouts the course shots. Of course, Hey, let's get the boys another course deal. By the way, let's let's get the next one a big yeah.
When the model on the under can turns blue, that's where you know it's cold and it's time.
To unwind.
And maybe smoke some weed.
And smoke some weed.
Now I was a junior in college. I missed two kicks in the first quarter of a game. We end up losing that game by four points. It could have sent you to the national championship. So I got twenty seven death threats. Those are old school death threats too. That was before social media.
But what are chippers? Did you miss chippers?
Oh yeah, buddy, oh yeah. Should have went in first quarter, their first quarter, which never gets talked about, had to lead a halftime, never gets talked about. Certainly, my fault at the end of certainly, Certainly my friend, certainly shit that could have happened. Certainly, But I mean I should have made those kicks, and it would have been a different life for all of us. But like I got
like twenty seven old school death threats. Like people writing letters, putting them in a bottle, throwing them at my house in the middle of the night in Morgantown, West Virginia. So like, I went through something where I really wondered if like I should be around anyway likede disappearing. Yeah, I don't know if I would ever like disappear. Yeah, Like I hopped in my jeep and I just like I'm fucking gone. I'm literally out of here. I'm not
going back to school, like I'm done with this. And it's like my teammates obviously rallied around me, my friends rallied around me. They brought me back. But I think like that calloused me a little bit that moment, because whenever you like think about like life, after thinking about disappearing, like it's a whole new mindset. And then w I get arrested my second year here in Indianapolis. Coms have their story for why I got arrested. I have mine.
I was walking home. They said I swam in a canal.
Nonetheless, it happened potato a couple of.
Yeah, yeah, maybe some weed, next thing, next thing, you know, you allegedly, so.
Then you know, when I get arrested, I get killed again. So it's like, I feel like I'm pretty calloused. Like I do feel like I'm calloused. But man, when you get a lot of people telling you that you're the worst person on earth and you're ruining things, it's hard. It's hard not to and uh yeah, so the mute buttons real, I'll mute anybody. I will block some motherfuckers too, like I am not.
You talk to them first, or just block them off the.
Rip if you was like they're really like got some real ill intent, you know, like, hey, what you just said there was it bothered me. You were trying to really you were trying to kill me. I'm blocking them. If it's like a good ship talk, I will and then I'll see you later. But it is crazy having to hear all this. I couldn't even imagine how teenagers are now different. I don't have a daughter and like, thinking of her nine months.
Oh baby girl, Okay, congratulations.
Wife, you're kicking a lot of ass right now. Didn't think I was ever going to have a kid. I was all good, she would be a great mom. So it made it happen, and boy, I love it. But I couldn't even imagine hearing all the terrible things, Like if I was a teenager, I wouldn't have been mentally tough enough for you.
So it's like it's a crazy time. Even as an adult. Stuff bothers today, people say stuff. You know what I'm saying.
I remember we asked Kobe that, you know, like what hurts you the most? You know, when you heard people talk bad about you? Said all of it?
Like I heard all of it, you know what I mean.
And people think because we're at pro athletes.
That we're superhuman. We don't feel hit ship, we don't hear ship. We're just supposed to play. And it's it's we're human at the end.
Of the day.
Yeah, we have eyes, ears, hearts, all.
That ship emotions. Yeah, imagine that pride, empathy, humility, But everybody wants talk about ego. That's what they think. A lot more people have a lot of humility than people could ever imagine. And sometimes you know, some of the ship talkers on the internet are good, Oh yeah, some of them are really good.
Oh read it.
I'm like, damn, that was pretty well put together.
Put together?
See how you would say that I was thinking the same thing.
It's been sometimes just my replies just a good one. That was a good one. That was one cheers.
You should think about changing your name from Boner Garage to like your actual name. You might have some talent.
About doing that.
That's a good time. That's a wild place, man.
It's a nice room, by the way, isn't it.
I like what you guys are doing. Yeah, yeah, I like what you guys. I've never been here.
Yeah, me neither. It's beautiful. Thank you. Shout out Foxhole Fox.
What are you guys doing. You're doing a bunch of stuff.
I assume just this.
And then we got a couple of shows tomorrow and we're done. We got to be there tonight for DraftKings up tomorrow. It's small here too. Yeah tomorrow. About the DraftKings deal, yeah, okay, exciting. I think it's good for you as a multi year deal, and what it allowed us to do was obviously create content with amazing people
under our team. You know, you talked to Rachel earlier, to Marcus Cousins, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo it t Isaiah Thomas, talking to a few other people, and then crossing it over trying to get some people in the women's space.
So a big responsibility but dope.
And then also at the same time, you know, creating, having content, cross pollinating shows and then building out a studio on alban So it's.
You should guys make really good ship.
Thank you. It's our team, man, thank you, our team right there, our team. Yeah, and any and any advice a game you can give was you know, we always.
Man, I only know works for me, Like this is the thing, like a million dollars worth of games and how I mean, what an absolute stallion, you know, And I watch their stuff. I get inspired by them as well. I mean some of the clips that just come to my mind from their show or just will live on for eternity. And it's like I very much appreciate how kind people are to me and my guys, and they're like, hey,
what did you do? How'd you do it? It's like we fucked up so much, Like we made so many mistakes business critical airs, decisions, content airs, and like what works for us isn't necessarily going to work for other people, you know what I mean, like everybody. And I think this is like marketing agency speak. I think it started happening a few years ago where they're like this client was wondering if you could make three viral videos for them.
It's like, we don't fucking know, no, no, nobody knows, like nobody has a clue what's going to be good. So it's like I appreciate whenever people are like, what do you think, and it's like I don't have the answers like you guys clearly do, though, Like look at
this setup. I was honored and pumped to get the ass to come onto this show, you know, like I am a big fan, so I can't wait to see what you guys do and keep going and shout out to meadow Lark for seeing what everybody else is seeing and giving you guys some real like a safety net to go get it.
It's awesome.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you deserve it. You guys deserve it. All. With that being said, I think you were tank tops. I think you start, you know, coming over.
I said he had his drug dealer outfit on with some snake skins.
Just yeah, I mean, Stag looks hilarious. I mean, you're looking phenomenal right now, and this is great. You said it's Nike.
Nike. Nobody can't believe that.
So I've been very lucky to go to a lot of events where you know NBA folks are and if you are just a basic as human, you need to find something that has got two to three inches on the hill. Yeah, you know, because the small one on TV NBA guy is six ' five. Yeah, so yeah, I need to add a little hype. Yeah there's who's that tall? Who's uh yeah, Jesus Christ walked in here, seven foot seven footer, eight footer going to the bathroom, three foot dumps and you guys, this place is awesome.
Y inser? Inser? What does that mean to you? Pittsburgh?
Okay, So a yinser is like a white trash person from Pittsburgh.
Yinser.
Okay, Like that's what the in is because you know in the South they say y'all, y'all yeah, and I think like eastern Pennsylvania and over there they say you ins Pittsburgh, it says yeens. So it's like high End's doing is like Pittsburgh talk don instead of down. So it's like a yinser accent. But basically it means is like white trash from Pittsburgh. So like I happened to be one of the most uh in my I got two guys that one grew up on my street. One
once to my same high school. I've been friends with them since then. We we are the most insurer fucked, you know. So we we take a lot of pride in representing that city. And uh, A lot of people get out of Pittsburgh and they change the way they speak because the Insier accent is so ridiculous you could barely make out most of the words. We still like, one of our shows is called hammer Don because that is Pittsburgh the inser for down. So we take a
lot of pride in that. But yeah, like, uh, that's basically what it means, just like a super Pittsburgh fuck, which is what he is, which we're lucky to be. Yeah, stupid city.
You didn't really consider yourself a football player? Why would you say that at one point?
I mean, compare the people that didn't play in the NFL. Okay, like I would beat their asset everything football. Okay, I could probably throw football better than them. I can tackle better than them, I can catch better than them, I can kick better than them. I can probably read a defense better than them. But when you talk about like NFL guys or like high college football, guys like what they have to do in the game versus what I
have to do. Oh my god, the day to day my life is so much better than their, you know, like the film study, the soreness, the banging the client like, and then I'm literally getting better at corn hole, you know, while they are the way.
I got good? Are you? I I'm playing probably a couple times a year, but I love it.
But you got to think, like these guys, just you hear the legendary stories are of the NFL sky watch more filmmainbody else. This guy's fucking in the meeting room, you know, watching film while they were doing that, I was in the locker room throwing corn hole. So like all these legendary tales, this guy watched five hours of film a day in between practice and workouts. Those five hours I was throwing the bags. So I'm a fucking grinder and everything. Yeah, it did not help. My profession
did not help the team do not do anything. But it's hard for me to really, you know, like say that we were anywhere near what every other position is very much understand. I think every specialist understands it. But it was my way of making a lot of money in America. Like I had a very strong leg. I was a good soccer player. I had ten x the amount of scholarship for soccer than I did for football.
I played overseas whenever I was a teenager, Like there had to be a real conversation between my dad and I. Like to be rich at the time, and that's all I wanted to be was rich. Which is why I wanted to be a professional wrestler. Because I turned on TV on Monday. Those motherfuckers rich. Yep, exactly, professional sports, those motherfuckers look rich. Comedians those motherfuckers look rich. Show hosts, those motherfuckers look rich. So like everything I'm doing right
now is only because I wanted to be rich. So like, what do you want to be when you grow up? I was asked rich? And all these teachers hated it. They hated it. Kid next to me, I want to be a teacher. He's a hero, right to this teacher. This kid over here wants to be a firefighter like noble. I appreciate that. Pat, What do you want to be rich?
That is all?
That is, asshole, that is literally, Bengo, I'm the worst kid of all time. That is you know, so like, that's kind of how this is all kind of worked out. Yeah, that is that is my entire life?
Is it an urban legend about you want some money and took yourself to a kicking contest and kind of was able to establish us.
So I graduate high school two thousand and five. I don't know what year you both damn look at your skin, look at mine.
You know what they say that we don't count. Bro, he don't count. Though, he don't count, he don't account.
I'm not saying it, but there's something about you guys aging a lot better than me. So two thousand and five, in that time, World Series of Poker was huge. It was on ESPN. We all watched it. There was a dude named Chris Moneymaker who was just this basic ass white who I think like blue collar from Middle America where he became a millionaire overnight. So pretty much every
community that was like mine. From what I've learned from growing up, we all started playing poker because we thought that was gonna be a way for us to make money and get rich. I became a good poker player. I'd be playing in my friend's houses. Obviously, It's like twenty five fifty cent blinds, very small and he's and everything like that. We all thought we were going to be the next World Series of Poker Champions. But it was a good way for us to make money to
spend for lunch extras things like that. I got a call like a month before signing day that there was a kicking camp happening down in Miami, Florida by a guy named Mike McCabe, one on one kicking. I was in physics class when the call happened. The guy's number I still remember to this day because I was so pumped to receive the call. He called me and basically said he's putting on a kicking contest in Florida for
all guys that got scholarships. At that point, I was offered a scholarship to Kent State to be a field goal kicker because he wanted guys to come compete against his guys that he coached out in Florida. It was gonna be a college showcase. It was happening like the next weekend or something like that. I was pumped to get invited. I felt like it was a big deal. He sends over the information it was gonna end up
costing like fifteen hundred bucks. My dad, truck driver went into working in a warehouse mom secretary, Like, fifteen hundred bucks in like a four day period is not just like a feasible thing. Dad, I think told me to actually go fuck myself, Like, okay, already have a scholarship to Kent State at the time too. So it's like, so let me get this straight. I need to come up with fifteen hundred bucks for you to go to Miami to kick to potentially get a scholarship when you
already have a fucking scholarship to Kent State. That's not gonna happen. So I am somebody I think would prove to be the case throughout the rest of my life. Like, let me see if I can make this happen or not. There is a big game happening that I heard about from one of my friend's dads in the basement of an Italian restaurant that in a town that we grew up in was happening on like a Thursday night or something like that, and had bigger blinds, bigger annies, bigger pots.
And I thought to myself, maybe I'll be able to go in there and really do this dumb thought, blindly optimistic, pretty narcissistic as well, now that I think about it. But I got a one hundred bucks from one of my friends that has money. I went in there and I turned it into fourteen hundred bucks. I left at like three point thirty four am, and I met my dad when he was getting up, like he was waking up, and he was like, where the fuck have you been?
And I was like, gave him the money, told him I kneed one hundred bucks, went down to the camp, ended up winning the camp, got a scholarship to West Virginia the next morning in school.
Wow.
Yeah, so then I end up going to West Virginia. Yeah, stupid, dumbest life of all time. It was Jack's Full of Nines was the full house that I won the pot on, and I actually had to hold on to my money for the night. I was up to like eighteen hundred, but I was by far the youngest person there, and I didn't want to just get up and bail because that's not etiquette or smart, you know, in that particular thing. So I just kind of held on, ended up with
fourteen hundred, and the rest is kind of history. But like You're talking about one of the dumbest situations of all time. And if that doesn't happen, do I go to West Virginia, Do I end up in the NFL? Probably not? Probably not, which means I'm the luckiest fuck of all time?
Right, I mean yeah, I'm about to say I mean you say dumb, I say dope. I mean fact that you know that story, in the fact, you win it, you get a scholarship the next day, you end up, you know, going to West Virginia.
Pat White teams right, Oh yeah, he was a monster monster.
Cool dude too.
Yeah.
Cool Major Harris was before me. Major Harris, great dude, always around, good times. Major Harris is good times. If you're in a room with Major Harris, you're gonna be having a good time. And that's that's the vibes that our West Virginia team had, though, like Pat, Pat White, Steve Slayton, then Noel Devine came later. We had a really tight group, like and Pat White was like the perfect leader.
Penny Pitchers, Penny Pitchers of beer.
Come on, man, back in the day, do you know you know chasers, you know, Chasers and Dreams. That was the name of the bar club Z is another place I used to frequent. There was a place called Lazy Lizard. I got out loans when I was in college. I was on full scholarship, which is absurd to kick a football the So my parents we've talked about this. Not a lot of money and there's no nil back in the day, not that I would have got in it anyways, but like there was nothing. So you get that per
diem or whatever. It was like eight hundred bucks for the month.
But made you feel good though he was supposed to stretch it out, but that shit was going on like three or four.
Days, and rent is happening. What are we even doing? So I got out these loans at like twenty two percent interesting forty thousand dollars and loans just to have a good time, and I just to have a good time. And I did and I did, and I should have focused more on kicking balls in Morgantown. But boy, I had life blast there.
I think college. I mean Jack didn't get a chance to go to college. I felt like college. I had a blast in the NBA, but college was a fucking blast, great time. Loved it so much, fun, loved it. Passing out drunk in Westwood and going getting free drinks at bars and just having the run of the little college.
It was dope.
I didn't know you were living like that.
It went hard, smoking.
Weed, passing out, having pulled Jirwan out of gutters, and we play Syracuse the number one team in the country on ABC the next morning.
Like unbelievable.
Tell you he said, hell, yeah, that was the old days.
Yeah, right before cameras, Like, no, you know, it was just if you're there, you saw it.
It's not It's an urban legend.
Everything else is. Remember, I've heard a lot of stories about me, and I'm like, I don't know if that's how that went, but if that's how you remember it, sweet, probably that is. But that was I just thought to myself, if I don't make it to the NFL, I'll be in debt like all these other motherfuckers in college. And if I do make to the NFL, hopefully I'll be able to pay this off. And uh, yeah, it was money well spent. I think money.
Well when did when did the NFL be you know, really start thinking like I can I can do this for a living.
First time I kicked the football, I kicked sixty five year field goal.
Oh ship, Yeah, really kicked what.
I've had a cannon? This thing actual that leg? Yeah, because I didn't play. I think a big part of a lot of things, like the reason why I'm friends with Stack and the reason why I know a lot of people is because I was so fucking horrendous at video games. So like, I'm a terrible video game player. My brother got all the talent, like I am so bad. So I would go out, like, hey, do you want to go do this? Yeah, like where other guys might stay home and play video games. Hey, you want to go to Sunset?
Uh?
Yeah, I do want to go to Sunset. Do you want to go to Cloud nine?
Yes?
I do want to go to Cloud nine? Yeah? Like do you want to go to all these places? Yes? Because I didn't play video games. So when I was growing up, I didn't play video games. I have add So I literally would either be out and about with everybody else or I would just kick a soccer ball against the side of my house for like hours and hours and hours. And I was infatuating with having the strongest leg. So when I was a kid, I actually kicked a soccer ball broke a goalie's fucking arm, and
I thought that was the coolest thing of all time. Like, I thought that was really cool. And then I saw David Beckham in the World Cup. I think he kicked the ball like ninety some miles an hour. They talked about and I was like, that's sweet. Like I want to be able to kick the ball as hard as I can, So I literally just would kick the ball against the side of my house hours hours, hours, thump thump, thump, thumph, break a fucking window. Tim McAfee's pissed, Sally mcfee's man,
let's fix the window. Let's kick the ball again, you know, like that is that is literally what I did. But like soccer was supposed to be the thing. Soccer was supposed to be a thing. So then whenever I like I won the punt passing kick, Yeah, and I murdered this ball. I just murdered it. So then I went to a football field. We had soccer practice and there
was a kicking camp happening. And I grew up in an NFL town in Pittsburgh, and anybody that's fan of football and those kickers are nerds, you know, So like at that time, I go give me one of those balls, Nerd, like actually send it to the kickers that they were there, and I just my swing was just a natural swing for it, and I kicked like sixty yarder. I think the first time I kicked the ball, and it was at that moment everybody was like there might be some
business in this one here, and that really changed everything. So, like I literally the first time I kicked the ball was when I was like, hey, we could probably make a little money off. This had to get real lucky.
Yeah, a lot of luck goes into it. Everything, a lot of luck goes into it.
Right, seventh round draft pick, but you go to an amazing Colts team, Peyton Manning, Reggy, Wayne Joseph Died, Dwight Freemy. What are your what's your first NFL memory?
So I know I did have a punt when I got drafted to punt.
You got that's right, Yeah, So I got.
Drafted to punt. In college. We did this like Azsie punt where you would run. I would run to the right and then I would like just hit it and then it would roll on the ground. So it was like cheating pretty much. You know, they wouldn't be able to return it, you just kind of stole it. NFL punting is you have to like punt it ship in the air, right, So I think the first memory I had was I had to learn how to punt, right. I just got drafted in the NFL to do this.
I got to learn that. And then as soon as I got in the locker room, I just like how cool everybody was, Like you listed off all those dudes right there, legends, those are all absolute legends. And literally from day one, all those people were cool with me and nice to me. And I'm a punter and I was not good like and they saw me in like training camp, in a rookie camp. I was not good
at punting balls. And Hunter Smith was the punter here and he was here for like eleven years, be loved by the city, be loved by the locker room, and they cut him for me, so and I didn't know how to punt. He's super religious, he's in a like a Christian music band, like sounds like Jack exactly exactly like him. We're talking polar opposite human of me pretty much.
And everybody was cool. So I just think my first memory was walking in the locker room thinking I was going to be scared to death and everybody being cool. I think that's probably it.
Peyton Manning off the field obviously kind of.
Yeah, Jack was telling me stories back in the day about paying I was like, Peyton Manning.
He's like, you ever go to.
Ten roof with him? You ever been in ten roof with him?
No?
Not ten roof? What's this place done?
Here?
Slipper noodle? No? I mean he just like, I don't think he knows he's Peyton man That was the.
Problem the story I told him. That's why. Yeah, he does not walk around like he's Payton.
In And since he's like six or seven years old, they've been telling him he's gonna be an NFL guy. You know. They have like a rebook commercial from when him and Eli were kids basically say like these are the next guys. Somehow he's just remained a human. I don't know how he's remained a human. Now in the building, he's quarterback, GM owner, coach if he wants to be, and there will be times where he will exercise his right to do all of those things if he thinks
it's in the best interest of the team. But like off the field, as a teammate. He took a lot of pride in being a human, you know, like he invited me to a lot of things. When we're talking about like drinking beers with the boys, like he was about that, like and it was. He took care of me. He helped me out a lot business wise. He's helped
me out a lot. He's given me a lot of opportunities too, So like I am forever and then yeah, shut up, massive fucking head though, like that, you know what I mean?
Five huge g Oh my goodness.
He has no idea who he is. That is the that's cool though, Yeah great. I went on a golfing trip with him like two years and I like to think that I run my own business. And obviously he has like ten businesses. You know, he's got some whiskey, he's got omaha, he's coaching his kids games, he's doing all these things. We went on a golf trip and
he invited me on, which is really cool. And you weren't allowed to use your phone at this particular place where you're golfing at Okay, So as soon as we got to like the afterwards, when you have your phone, he had like sixty emails or whatever. And for me, I had like probably foty emails as well for business stuff, and I scrolled through him, I'm like, God, they really want something that will email me again, you know, like I'm just gonna mark these as red. I'm out of here.
He responded to every fucking email. You're talking about being diligent in every company that he has. We're talking hands on, thinking about everything, like he is just a robot. He's an alien. He might not be from here, and very very lucky that.
I got to be honest. Yeah, absolutely, how did wrestling come about?
It's awesome, isn't it. Oh man, there's a bunch of marks over here. I think I saw brought a couple uh wrestling marks. I'm wrestling mark. Yeah. I hate those people because they play on like our fans too, you know, yeah, because I don't like to charge my fans for anything. Like I try to make sure my show. My show is free. Like we haven't even sold tickets since COVID for people, because we don't want people to feel obligated
to spend money. I don't promote our merch store ever, because I don't want people to feel obligated to spend money like just their time and their uh like thought that they'll support us by watching is enough for me. So like these autograph hounds, like because I don't sign a lot of stuff, like they'll charge the shit out of my fans. My fans are buying, I'm thinking that it's good. Like so I feel bad, I feel torn, like I appreciate these people, but also like they're working
in this whole thing. The wrestling world has the most amount of of like hustlers, I'll say around it. Yeah, I'm a wrestling Mark grew up as a wrestling fan. We talked about Monday Night Ros, the Monday Night Wars like it was everything that I liked. I liked talking shit, I liked I liked athleticism, I liked the drama. I liked the comedy. I also grew up in the Attitude era with Stone Cold and The Rock. The Rock being back right now is awesome, absolutely awesome. I drank beers
with Stone Cold last year in Dallas. Shout out to Texas, like I had a I've been living a dream. But it literally just all comes from me watching as a kid, being a diehard fan and continue to watch for my whole life. So anytime I get to do anything with him, I'm pumped my move. I punt, I punp people. I punt people, pump the soul out of it. I punt the soul out.
Any chance we'll see you in WrestleMania in Philly. I don't know, dude.
So I got a lot of science pumping through me right now. You know, when you retire, I said, hey, I want that rich guy stuff. You know, what are these rich guys taking that I see on Instagram? That are all? You know? Don't get fat? Like, I don't know how it works because with my particular build, if I eat pizza four times, fat ass gay fat ass in the football season is long and every year I've
gained like fifty to sixty pounds since retiring. So this year I'm like, I'm gonna get on the rich guy stuff that cheats and keeps me thin, not as full as the Ozempic move. But I'm not against it.
I will.
I will head to that route in a couple of years if I If so, I'm on a bunch of stuff.
Is it long term? Anything? Long term? Do you understand? Like the outcome of that.
Not a clue?
You know?
Like, am I gonna die.
Who knows?
Probably, they say everybody is. But is this one gonna take years off my life? Maybe? But what's that gonna happen anyways? We don't know. You know, I've always said two if I have something that's going to kill me, that we might be able to have a cure for someday. I would like to be frozen until we find the cure. Bring my ass back twenty one, twenty twenty years in there. Think about me getting dropped in that society. I'll be
fucking pumped up about it. Well, that being said, I don't think I could pass any drum tests for a WrestleMania Yeah, because of drum test people. So that's real good. Oh yeah yeah, And I'm on everything I think they're testing for.
They tested about it, everything but the right shit. Yeah? Oh man?
Uh ultimate goal in this media space, I mean you pretty much have it, you know, doing what you want to do, and you brought your people along, which we always love and respect.
But what's your ultimate goal in the space? You don't know yet. Enjoin it as it goes, I'll enjoin it.
Yeah, I don't know. I have no idea. Like every step that we've hit is cool, you know, like the next step is cool, Like I mean I negotiated a one hundred and some million dollar contracts, right, that was cool? That was really cool. Yeah, we get to clap, but that was like a cool moment that I could have never fathomed in my entire life. And then you talk about the boys like I gave them backpacks with like two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a me like that's
a that's cool. That's a cool thing that I could have never Yeah, and we're running like a fifteen thank you, thank you, we we we we we wait. But like I don't know, man, I have no idea, because who knows what the media space looks like a year from now? Who knows what our show looks like a year from now.
Everybody talks about being a chess player, chess player, chess player, Like I'm checkers, man, I'm just trying to get over you get to the next one and then king me bitch right at the end, and I'm coming back.
But but but perhaps to you, you are helping dictate what is going to be in the future. You're a big part of what is going to be, so you help you helping dictate what this space is going to be.
You think you ever realized that in the moment, You know, we don't, you know, you guys don't realize it. We don't realize it that we're shaping what's next. Yes, you are, you too, I should not be, but you are.
But you are, and and all bullshit aside. He just said you and you know you are. You shanning out the biggest faces in this right now. So you need to accept that, bro, because your hard work puts you and so and we when we giving your props because we in the space too, but we've seen what you've done and what you're doing.
Of course, I really really genuinely appreciate that. Now. Granted, do you just put like, I don't know what, a lot of pressure.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can have it. You can handle it, you can handle it.
No, I appreciate that, and I do think every decision that I make, and I'm not saying I'm making decisions for anybody else, I am making decisions for our company to continue to survive and hopefully other companies that are like ours in the future to be able to do it. You know, That's what the decisions are happening. But I also think like there's a lot of things that if anybody else was in my spot, they would be doing
the exact same thing. Like there's a lot of common sense shit that just doesn't make any sense that is happening in the sports meeking bullshit.
Common sense. That's my way. They know, that's my word. I'm first team all common sense. The world has lost that, but go ahead, Well, not just.
The world, people that are in positions of power in a lot of businesses, more specifically for this particular conversation, the sports media world, there's a lot of idiots that are making a lot of decisions. And those idiots made a lot of money for a long time doing something in one particular fashion, so they're going to hang.
On to that for as long as they possibly can.
And there is other stuff happening very quickly, and tomorrow is meeting today at a rate that I think we all are expecting. But I think there's a relationship between what used to be in the future that can still coexist. And I think from my standpoint, I have tried to extend an olive branch to the olds, you know, to say like, hey, this is what we've seen to be success, but what they have done in return is like not
the case. So whenever we do break through on something, I do take a lot of pride in the fact that, like, Okay, somebody else is probably going to be able to say that this is how it should be because now there's a precedent. But I'm not saying I'm the only one that's done this. Like obviously, like Joe Rogan's deal with Spotify huge, like that was fantastic. You know, even like Mike Florio with Pro Football Talk, he sold his company like two different times, both the ESPN and then the NBC.
Like there's a lot Barstool Sports. What they've been able to do in the business that they've been able to run. It's like there's a lot of people before me. So whenever people are like, hey, you're doing this, you're doing that, it's like I appreciate that, and I do feel like I've made some gains in some places that needed it, But like it's inevitable. It is inevitable, and we're lucky to be here at the time that it is.
Us through the journey quickly, you know, Barstool Fan duel and then eventually to where you're at with ESPN now because like I said, you went places but were able to keep it yours and we're able to get up and move and.
Get other deals in the process. But talk to us about the journey of those three companies.
So whenever I was playing, I followed along with barstool because I was a fan of Big Cat obviously followed Caleb and Dave and Hank, and I don't think PFT had joined there yet, but I had known a PFT and his big brain. And you know, if you're an internet like I had a merch store or podcast, I was doing that. I was a digital company. So I was watching what they were doing. And whenever I retired or was going to retire, none of those networks wanted me.
So like Dave was the first one to really reach out and be like, hey, we just got an investment from the Churning Group.
We have some money.
When you retire, we'd love to talk, and we kind of chit chatted. I didn't want to move to New York. I wanted to stay in Indianapolis because I thought I had a good connection here or good network here. I loved living here. I don't like I don't want to live in a big city, Like I really wanted to stay here. So we had like a satellite company almost, and I got to learn and watch while still running our own thing. And then whenever we broke off, it
was like all right, here we go. And I'd been running my own company and my own show, and Fandor just became our exclusive sports book. So they didn't own my company, they didn't own the show. They were just our sports book. Just like if COR's Laute was our beer, they would be our exclusive beer. Fanda was our exclusive
sports book. But with that relationship, because of the people we knew over there, we're able to create promos and do things and kind of learn about that world and learn about marketing and and I just got to the point where I wanted my life to be easier. Like we're booking, we're selling the ads, we're creating. If we want to do a live show like this, we would have to be the ones that would book the local
camera people, the local hands to build it. Like I just kind of got it to a point where I was I think we all were sick of doing all of the bullshit. They wanted a little bit of help, so decided I'm going to take the show to a network and ended up getting a deal done with Jimmy Pataro and Bob Iger and uh, you know, licensees show to them, and they've helped out immensely. I mean the access in the production, Like we were alive in ten
different college towns. That would have cost me, I don't know, maybe forty hours of fucking work, but ESPN just kind of took care of it. It's like they've made my life easier. They've made our access a lot easier. And yeah, I still retain one hundred percent rights and creative freedom and ownership on my show, but like they're an incredible partner and I'm lucky to be there. There's a lot of middle management there though that well, I mean, I mean not love us.
We don't have to even speak names.
But you spoke a name and called out someone a suit that you felt like was kind of yeah for real we yeah, I mean the courage to do that, and you got a lot of you already had respect, but even more respect for doing that. Has there been any backlash, any conversation, like, because like you said, there is a give and take, and it's given and a tug between what people hung their hats on for years and made a lot of money, and what is coming and what it's going to be.
I don't know.
I don't know if there was any conversations that happened behind uh obviously, So you know, like I thought that was a warning shot to that guy. You know, I didn't even think that was yeah, because I'm the I'm the executive producer of my show. I report directly to Jimmy and Bob, So I'm not really viewing anybody as I I say everybody, like pat calls out his boss, I don't got a motherfucking boss. What do we know?
Like what do we Jim Pear, we talk to Jimmy Patarro or Bob Iger, Like, is that who we're talking about? Because those are people that could technically be described as my boss, and like Burke Magnus as well, and have
a great relationship with him. I think even Burke would say like, yeah, like we have a good relate, like we are talking like this as opposed to like this, And so that was just a warning shot to I thought a person that was you know at the same which is hilarious because he's the former president of the place I guess a lot of people were had a lot of fear of them. I did not, like, I do not have I that guy. That guy left me
sitting in his office for forty five minutes. No showed me when I was supposed to have a meeting with him, right when five years ago, six years ago whatever show, No showed Yeah, wow, yeah, so you remember that, what's that? And you remember that it's things a fucking elephant Brandy? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
I got everybody's yeah. He also he also banned all my friends from coming on my show, so there was, uh, there was a ban of ESPN talent on my show on YouTube that came directly from him, which so much show that I started a hashtag ESPN stinks. The day that everybody got banned from show, you know, only trended for like eight nine hours or something like that. And then that's the next day is when I met Jimmy Patarro. Jimmy Patarro called me and said like, hey, how do
we you know, what's the deal? And I told him about you guys are banning my friends from coming on my show. Matt Hasselback, who worked at ESPN, Jeff Pass and worked at the ESPN. Dan Orlovski worked at ESPN. All these people that I've known since before they got into ESPN, Like they're not even allowed to come on my podcast or whatever or my YouTube show. You guys banned it. So like that guy was not a fan
of me or our operation for a long time. So then whenever ESPN signs us and he runs sports Center and our show is now in place of sports Center at noon. I'm a fan of sports Center. We all watched Sports Center I grew up on. But there became like a war almost from behind scenes from like sports Center people and like people that have been in ESPN a long time against us coming in and take in their jobs and all this other shit. And I didn't
see it like that. We were like pumped that we made it to the big leagues, Like hey, I'm pumped, We're on the Worldwide Leap, Like that's how I viewed it. And this is what I'm talking about, playing a checkers player, like get the ESPN deal done. I'm like, this is awesome, Like we joined the ESPN team, so lucky to be here. We get access, and then immediately it's like this guy sucks. This guy's ruining ESPN and it's not coming from people outside of ESPN. It was coming from people within ESPN,
and I did not expect that at all. So I immediately like, okay, I'm in war, Like that's what if that's what we're doing. We're in war. And then once you start learning about how shit's going behind scenes, things that are being said to people, things that are being leaked, the timing in which they're being leaked, it's like, oh, they're trying to kill me, Like they're trying to They're trying to make our show impossible to advertise with, They're
trying to make sure people don't watch our show. So like, as I started learning that, I'm like, all right, well that's not gonna I don't know how this has gone in the past with other people, but yeah, this particular white trash kid from Pittsburgh, like, hey, suits, this ain't
this is not how this is going to go. So that was just a warning shot I did that wasn't even like supposed to be U And then obviously it goes big and I heard from this is no lie, no less than like forty people that have worked at ESPN or used to work at ESPN, and they were like, thank you for saying what you said, and I was like, well, if I really crafted a statement about that, I mean,
I could have said something much better. But I also did not appreciate the thing I didn't think about once again, Checkers player. I did not expect the backlash afterwards. Like Burke Magnus just became the president of Content at ESPN. I think he has a great vision for what the future of sports media should look like. He was a big part of us joining ESPN. People were attacking Burke because it made him look sloppy because it's inside the building.
People are attacking Jimmy because it looked sloppy. And that was something that I did not think about. I was very apologetic about, like I didn't mean to take down my allies or make allies look bad in the whole thing. But I, Jenny only did not expect it to get as big as it did, because I didn't think I said anything that was like that crazy or like I'm a pretty good talker, you know, I'm a pretty good
promo cutter. Like if I really wanted to sew motherfucker down like I thought, I could have done it in a much bigger way. And I did not. So I was actually pretty proud of myself. I was like, look at me, I'm an adult. And then it got loud. I'm an ad I'm an adult. It got real loud, got real loud. But yeah, that'll be me forever, and it'll be a gift in a curse.
We appreciate and respect it. Right here, quick hitters, finishing up the show. First thing to come to mind. Top five special team players in NFL history.
Top five.
Okay, so I got to have my guy on here.
We got Adam Vinitari on there. Okay, we'll have Justin Tucker on there, Brandon Slater on there from the Patriots, Devin Hester.
Chicago, be on there.
Who's yours? Who's your guy?
Let you go. I'm gonna let you go. Five Dante Hall, Bill Bates.
Okay, yeah, Bill Bates talking. But I will put Bill I do not, but he's on my list.
He was the animal specialist, the cowboy.
Yeah, I agreed. Bill Bates. Was that dog putting Bill Bates at five? Yeah, Bill Bates. Now he's a monster. Bill Bates is a monster. That guy when he was on the field, man, he was the guy. But then like Shane Leckler's in there as well because he was so good. Mike Ciphers, Yeah, there's a bunch. There's a bunch of men. Hell yeah, congrats of the Hall of Fame.
Yeah, Julius Peppers made as well.
Yes, Freenie made it all. Reggie needs make it next year. Yeah, Vinnie's up next year. First time.
Yes, agreed, dream interview our guest on your show that you would like to have.
M So Roger Goodell is scared to come on the show, Okay, but yeah he has never said he's scared. But that's just my whole angle. Hopefully I'll be able to bait him into coming on the show.
You know.
I had to start openly calling him out saying he was scared because he was doing a lot of interviews. He's going on a lot of shows. We put a request in like every week for the last like five years to have him on the show. And Brian McCarthy, I think, is the nfl PR guy. He knows of us, you know. So Roger Goodell coming on the show would be good. But that's going to be in person, you know,
because you know, we have some questions. But Roger Goodell is like the greatest speaker of all time, which is always my thing to him, like, hey, don't be scared, rog don't be scared. You're a guy that can dance. But I have great admiration for the work that he's done as a businessman for the NFL and what he's been able to guide the NFL through. So I think the conversation with Roger Gadell would be dope and elon musk. Yeah, I mean that would be because I think he's an
actual alien. That's a whole other conversation, definitely is that motherfucker's not from here. He even builds his own rocket ships to go to space. He's doing it right in front of us, our face. He's doing it right in front of our face.
Yeah.
I was wondering if we could do that, guad and plug a chip in your fucking brain.
No, no, you can't.
And he's like, well, I got these rocket ships to go to space. It's like okay. And then he's digging tunnels better than anybody in history, right, better than anybody in his making.
The Mexican drug cartels look like child's play.
Hey, what's his face getting out of that jail hopping on a motors? They said, he hopped on a motorcycle with lighting down the entire tunnel.
As they passed the light, they bust them so nobody couldn't follow them. Somebody could follow, You're right.
I mean there's some great tunnel builders out there, Childhood Crush, you know, Kelly Kapowski. They probably saved by the door. I think I watched saved by the bell's see. I think that's yeah.
I think that would probably be Tiffany Everythis that's her name, right, see, you know, yeah, yeah, she say by the back and then she went to Beverly Hills nine or two.
And no, see, I didn't make the transition.
I'm not ashamed. It wanted to be one. I didn't. He tried out for you know what.
Screech made transition into slinging dick that rest in peace to the screechsts, very dead, very dead dick resting piece he did though, That was his thing.
Great transition, not like Drake, but a different, you know, different level. She scores like, dude, oh goodness, what's your guilty pleasure?
Pat watching people slang dick? Yeah?
That was that Drake thing was messed up, wasn't it.
I didn't see it I'm yes, you did.
It was in everybody's algorithm like that.
By the time I saw it was blurred out, So I'm glad I missed the beginning to well.
It was a massive blur, is what we're That's what we're talking about, Dick, that your algorithm is taking care of you, because I want to let you know. I woke up to take my morning ship, just basic morning ship. That's all I'm doing. It's going on the internet, you know, open it up. Well, I guess I don't think he did well after watching a video. I mean he probably did.
I mean that was that's just to strategic.
Anyways, the internet's wild right now, guilty pleasure. I don't honestly, I I uh, I work. I don't know that kind of it's kind of bumming me out now now I'm thinking about my hobbies and ship. I don't really have any I should pick them up. I don't know.
Just work, man, what's the grind? What's your work week? Like, what's a what's an average Monday through Friday? How many hours you putting in a week?
I don't know. And calling it work as a joke too, by the way, but you get it, like showing up and trying to profit off of stuff. The I'll wake up. You know, got a baby, so wake up when she's up like six thirty ish, see baby for forty five minutes or so, hang out, let her know I exist, then head into Thunderdome, get a workout in. Then I probably have like three zoom calls in the morning, depending upon future ad deals, maybe scheming with companies that were
already with and everything like that. Then we're planning show, and the show plan is just like group text pretty much. We don't have a bloc, B block, C block. It's a three hour promo. We're just three hours of shit talking and anything that shows up in our group text could come up on the show. So like the boys just kind of have to know like to be on our show, and it's why I'm so thankful for our guys.
Like anything that shows up in the group text, which is active all day all night, like could come up like if I just in my head, oh wait, didn't I see something, and then boom, We're right into a conversation about it. So that's like probably the last two hours before we go live at noon noon to three, three thirty four. We got the show, probably a couple of meetings afterwards, and I'm out of there like six,
six thirty seven. Then the game days on Saturday during the football season, and then Monday Night raw Is on Monday nights. After the show, I'll fly to wherever Monday Night raw Is, fly back to Indie for show Tuesday morning, and then kind of put that on repeat.
You know, his home here is homew Yeah, okay, everything's based out here. I love it.
Yeah, I don't you know. I drove down here. We're supposed to take twenty seven minutes. It took like an hour because the snowstorm.
Change a little bit. Yeah, we appreciate you making time.
No, but like this is when this happens, you think to yourself, why do I live in Indianapolis?
Uh?
Lake Lake, Lake Lake Lake, Like easy, by Jesus, want my fucking address?
Stack in the city is huge.
Yeah, I'm not in Carnmeble. A lot of suits at Carmel definitely one offense, beautiful place.
One thing you wish you were better at.
M as crazy as it sounds like communication, So like I mighta show him good business, good you know, but I think my wife would tell me that I could be better.
I think, like I tell the same thing about I get paid to talk all day, and I need to learn how to communicate better with her.
It's funny you said that.
Yeah, it's like her and like, you know, like there's so many different chapters and eras of my life. It's like if I see people from my past, it'll be like we never missed a day. But like I'm not good at like keeping up with people, you know, like I get so wrapped up in work, in what I'm doing. I'm not good at like keeping in touch with people that I genuinely care about, you know, like people that I don't really see often and aren't in my sphere on a regular basis. Like I'm not good at sending
like hey, what's up? You know, like I like posts on the internet, and like in my eyes, i'll like be like see like I'm paying I want them to know, like I still appreciate them. But I think I could be a much better, like personal communicator in my life. And I think enjoying life a little bit more, Like I enjoy my work, but like I'm always on my phone when I'm home, Like I try my best to be present, like I do but like all that shit, like being a human a little bit better.
I think I would like to get dot on our hands wheels and get going.
It's crazy, isn't it.
Yeah? Yeah, yeah, we're talking about any counseling. It's a session right here. But for real, it's funny saying.
Okay, so you go to counseling. I'm scared to go because it's all working for me. I don't want to change.
I don't think it's about what's not working. It's just working and finding the tools to be able to make what you're looking for work.
You know, how do you balance that? How do you communicate that? How do you how are you present in the moment?
Because I'm good, like at work right now, very like I'm great, I'm having.
The best We literally just had this in our counseling.
Like I get paid a lot of money to talk to the world, but have issues talking to the people I love the most.
Yeah, and like I always feel like I'm gonna interrupt them, like I don't want to, you know, like that whole thing. So okay, So I should think about maybe talking to somebody. How about this ayahuasca?
Like that I talk to somebody's who they talking to with day problems. That's why somebody with problems.
And are they taking? Hey are they taking? And my problems really just lay away with that person. They're taking it to somebody else and then they're bringing it back about over raty. But I in Waska, I'm scared to death.
I want to try that.
Yeah, but like reset your brain. I'm like, I'm in a good spot. Like my brain, I don't need to reset stack. You do not look cool. You look cool.
You look I'm gonna get your paragator booths.
I need to get your number after this, padle me get Jackson case cases.
Oh yeah, oh yeah yeah Texas right out of here.
I got that out of the.
What's that place to go?
Down there?
And the boot barn?
Come on, man, pull it, pull it put.
Stockyards stock Okay, you is the spot though, I'm telling you.
I was a couple of barns down there. I don't know which one was the boot. There's a lot of barn there's a lot of barns down there. I got a cowboy hat, I got a belt buckle, I got these fucking boots. I mean I was yeah, I was really in there.
I was really in there one guess you would like to see on All the Smoke, but you have to help us get your answer on the show.
Oh so booking for you guys just one time basically, I mean, it's not like it's not like you're it's not it's not like.
You're busy booking your own ship. But yeah, one time for us. Hey, not a bad, Hey, not a bad, A bad little quick hitter. Hey, who you're booking on our show?
I think Aaron would love your show. Has he been on from North cal He hasn't yet. I think you Yeah, I will drop the work right. I think Peyton would be.
Good on this be the one because I definitely want to talk to about the I.
Was, Hey, he's got the answer.
He's in there and they got that, they got told, they got some. I want to try the.
Back of the toad.
Have you talked to Mike Tyson?
Never?
Yeah, he's I think you guys would vibe Okay. I don't want to shoot on myself, so yeah, I don't want to do that. I don't want to get high and shipp on myself.
You're talking about the told told, I heard it's coming basement and ada know, I'm cool I'm cool.
I just put it. I think you and Mike you're trying to hit this.
I think the I don't know which dimension you're trying to get to. But boy, I heard once you bust through four, you know, because we're in the third one, right, Yeah, once you bust through four. From what I've been told, you're really living up there. From what I've been told, seventhethh dimension.
Yeah, I don't want to go that high.
I know.
No, Yeah, you're fucking yeah Cloud ten. They said, maybe you mentioned ten. You're up there Mike Tyson though, Yeah, so obviously you know Mike Tyson's fucking Mike Tyson. So like, I know who Mike Tyson is, and I think everything that he has done to kind of like bounce I don't say bounce back, but like, yeah, is so fantastic inspiring Austin. Like when he starts talking, I love listening because I think what a lot of people forget is like there's not a lot of Mike Tyson's in like Kobe's.
There's only a few ones that have ever existed, you know, you talk about like MJ. Kobe, those people. Mike Tyson's up in there, Serena Williams is up in like up in those levels. So when that person speaking, I am going to be listening, like that is Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, like those fuckers that are up there. Like so Mike in the way he's been so transparent and authentic and everything he's done. Obviously I have become a massive fan of his. So when I do the SPI's. That happened
like two days beforehand. It was decided that I was going to do the SP's because they didn't have a host because there was a writer's strike going on everything like that. So Jimmy Pittar and I were talking and it came up and he basically said, like I forget how it came up, but it was announced moments before. I talked to Jimmy Pataro that there was gonna be no host for the SP's like literally moments before. So I brought it up and he was like, yeah, we don't,
And I said that'd be easy work. I said to Jimmy, that'd be easy work. You know, it's like stand up for ten minutes in the SP's Like that's easy. It's like two days from now though, he said, like it's like in two days or whatever. I'm like, easy work, no problem at all. I was like, if you guys want me to do it, I would love to do it. I'd be honored to do it. And Jimmy goes, okay, let's do it. I was like deal. So they tell the person running the SPI's his name's Connorshell. Used to
work at ESPN. Connorshell now he left ESPN and he has a production company that does the SP's and NFL honors. He was not necessarily as pumped that I was going to. Okah, he was not necessarily as pumped as I was to get to do the opportunity. So they wanted me to send over what my open was going to be, you know, so they could punch it up, put some jokes in and everything like make it better. So no fucking chance am I sending over what I'm actually going to say
to these people. So I type up a big fake speech. I type up a fake speech. Took me seventy five minutes to type up this fake speech. But in the fake speech had all the beats because I knew, like camera people would want to know potentially who we could shoot. So like tomar obviously I'm gonna talk about tomorrow. I want to talk about these people. So I make fake speech but put the people that wouldn't even be like. I felt very proud of what I did. I was like,
it's good. I'm I'm doing it. Boys. You know, the boys were helping me.
You know.
It was it was a pretty cool thing. So that whole story behind the scenes of the sb's is a that is awesome. That is awesome. It involves me saying I don't care what you say, Like I'm gonna go out there and do my thing and you're either gonna hate it or love it. But there's nothing new or I could do at this point, you know, because Jimmy told him.
It's above me.
Yeah, and it's above you too. So everybody so like, this is how it's gonna go. So there was a little tension. I think Connor, good guy by the way, got a chance to chat with him before, during, and after, great relationship. I think he would say the same. But as I walk on the stage, Mike Tyson's front fucking row, like right here, and it was at that moment I'm like, yeah, I'm at the SV like Mike Tyson is right here. Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelsey were right here. I think Jamal
was over here. I think there was like all the big names. Lindsay Vaughan I think was sitting right here, and I was like, damn. Like Mike Tyson though. As I turned the corner, He's the first person I see, and I'm like, fuck, I'm at the SP's so I start talking nothing. I see Mike's space. This fucker is not budgeting, and I'm like, Okay, Mike's not about my bullshit.
You know, Mike does not know I exist. About four minutes in, I got Mike to pop and I saw him laugh and I was like, so, Paul, I was like, I got, I got Mike Tyson And in the middle of it, I almost stopped and was like, Mike exactly. I was so pumped a by it. So I love Mike. So if you guys are booking Mike Tyson on.
My show, well we'll do across.
See what we can do.
Who do you want you want? All right, I'll send a text.
I got no power over this motherfucker, and we have no power of Mike, but we have his old person needs to run the show that works for us, So we're good.
He's micro dosing and ship out of mushrooms.
Right, And I heard see was eating the Ears Ears.
Yeah yeah, hey Mike, I'm a supporter, but.
Yeah I saw that in his pocket. Yes, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
They're pretty good too. They're strong. Yeah, they're fantastic.
One. I was just out of Vegas playing thirteen the Issues. I put in my back pocket and I run hot. So we got two to three sticking together, right now.
Come come in your way, coming hot, come in your way.
Absolutely, we're just in Vegas for cheers. Yeah, here's I'll take the one and a half.
Just give me the one. Cheers.
Hey, cheers you CB the only, yeah, CB, the only, obviously the only.
Oh those are those are warmed. I was butt all over that.
You guys. You guys got a little ass Ears.
Hey. We want to thank you man again. Uh thank you.
You know the trail you've blazed being able to do it your way on the biggest scale.
We admired that.
We respected Ears and keep doing your thing, man, Thanks for your time giving up.
Pat mcabee, look you brother, appreciate you guys.
Love it