Stephen A Smith On Competing With Pat McAfee + Staying On Top At ESPN

What's up, boys? I hope you are having an incredible day. Just a reminder that we drop every Tuesday on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Play, and if you're an Amazon Prime member, you can listen to our podcast ad free on Amazon Music. Welcome to another episode of Busting with the Boys. I am your host, Willie C. To my left, Taylor awan the Boys. If you are here for the Steven A Interview, fast forward probably what an hour fifteen Mitch, the chapters

Obviously a lot of you people here for steven A.

Smith.

It's gonna be an amazing time and I hope you enjoy it. But what I hope you do is you don't jump up an hour and ten minutes. I hope you get to stick around and see what the boys do. And that's the chemistry, that's the vibe, that's all the good times we talk about. We have a little shout out in a free shout out, we have a pseudo tear talk from a fan question that came up while I talk about my experience with Machine Gun Kelly, who's brought back an complete genre of music in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Smith.

But we'll go ahead and read this this a little Chevy boy right here.

This episode is brought to you by the one, the only, the Chevy Silverado, the longtime partner of the show with commanding and unstoppable grit, legendary capability independability as well. We've all spent time seat time as they like to call it, behind the wheel of a Silverado. And we're not just truck guys. We're Chevy truck guys. You know about the ZR two family of trucks, lifted and ready for anything

If you or no magazine, get up or no get up, It don't matter who it is, f S one, Comcast, whatever you come for me I'm coming for you.

But we know who Number one in linear television.

Is stupid God and games lims level language not bad.

No, simple, it's.

I saw I saw a clip Rusty, just rusty.

I saw a clip on who's the guy that's always an American idol balld dude who has like he's germophobe, oh l Mandel. I saw the clip of Dana walking off the side.

You see that clip? You asked about it. No, I don't know.

I'm not I'm gonna stay out of why. I don't know because it seemed it seems so odd. I was like one of those say I help my boys, all right, and kind of just move on internally with my own head because you hope Dana.

I'm hoping Howie Mandel's all right.

I mean there's something must have happened before, like the show started something, because he goes.

Yeah, and that's why you have That's why it'd be you should help your boy and letting know because if you take it at face value, kind of a dick move by Dana. And just like I'm done with podcasts, like yeah, I'm under the I'm under the assumption that something had to have happened. But if you just take that at face value and I'll read into it at all, don't read into it all. And how he does the intro like because he you know, he hyped him up and everything else, and then Dana's just like I'm sick

That's crazy, right. Who is the guy sitting next to him to like this like redneck cat? Like he had like a ginger, big muscular dude ginger. He does like these TikTok dances where he's like torquing on gene shorts and his voice was kind of like mine. Like you look at him and you're like, oh, that's not going to come out of his mouth, and then all of a sudden like okay, all right, so they like but they did a great job pivoting.

I watched that.

But the reason why I brought it up was you putting on the headphones. Is who's that fighter well spoken cat white dude? Uh talked about him and John Jones both be on steroids back in the day.

Oh you know what I'm talking about talks a lot of shit. It's who talks like Michaelsbee, Michael Bisbee laws soon because we did we set out with Bisbee. I forget his name as well. Maybe we can look that episode on Jail Chail's sony Jail.

So I watched like a recap video of him essentially breaking down the whole thing, and he was talking about how shitty the studio is and he was basically going at Mendel pretty hard. And then but he brought up the fact like he's you put headphones on. He's like, why the fuck in this day and age would you put headphones on during a podcast.

Especially if you're in person.

Yeah, if you're in person, that's the only literally, the only reason. The first two minutes of this episode, I thought to myself, I should bring up that story because you were going to put those on.

And I was like, oh yo, uh, Chail, he's he's funny dude. I enjoy listening to him because he's a good ship talker, he's a good storyteller. He's a great troll, a great storyteller.

He does uh you know the sad the press conferences where you see like guys walk up in McGregor and they talked like, oh McGregor, the one of one, this, that and the other.

Like he had a guy that do that for.

Him and it was very much Rick Flair exciting WW style. That's the kind of ship that gets me fired up because.

He wanted j and I believe this is what he's talked about, like he's one he wanted to like bring that into like that style into the uf you see, like it doesn't happen, but yeah, like take inspiration probably from Michael Rick Flair and all these guys who work the mic and everything else.

Yeah, if you think about it, UFC is really just like a real WWE. Yeah, like it's legit fighting. But like the storylines is what we buy into. The poyer, the McGregor's. Now we're seeing Chandler and McGregor and all these different guys like finding they hate each other. They don't why hate each other. But then you look back behind the curtain and all of a sudden, like, oh, I can see why that dude hates him. Maybe I'm moving for this guy now. Yeah, it's a whole different game.

And speaking of the Rocks, have you been seeing his uh have you been seeing his mic work out there? He's been he's been killing he's back in the ww He's came back into the wwely coocked. From what my understanding is, he cocked the Cody Roads. I think it's Cody Roads, right. I saw the Rock coming in. He came in, he came in Roman reigns, there's a there's a big thing going on, and he's basically just jumped to the front of the line something about the Royal

There was a point in time where he was like, I don't I don't know longer to go by the Rock. I'm Dwayne Johnson. Now, wasn't there like a probably like the early tens is when he was kind of getting away from that and kind of steppingway from the WW, re redefining himself doing the tooth Fairy.

Right right where he wanted to kind of yeah.

A STARp and now he's a full circle getting it back.

Yeah, bro, And I'm pretty sure he's he's he's in the in WrestleMania like it's going down, and he's been in the ring. I feel like each week went down, I'm just talking shit in it. It just juices me up that he's back in the ring. Can guy find the time? I don't know, it's insane. I don't know. He might. He must have a lot of shit, Like you know, the Rock feels like a big brain thinker, Like the minute he came back into the WW. And by the way, we talk about the ratio world, the

Yes, dude, this this Cody guy. I don't want to put you on blast because I know you even followed it so much, but I see this guy like one of the good guys, one of the bad guys. He's obviously a fan favorite.

Yeah, I believe he's just like a big fan favorite, like from what again, like me just seeing it on the surface level and be like, oh shit, the rocks back saying you get like goosebumps and shit like oh damn. And then you see the wrestling rule actually hates it. But then it's also such a good thing because that's when you get to be a heel. That's when you get to be the villain and lean into it and

It is cool as you get older and you don't just like follow because a lot of us just follow the storyline of what we want to see, like we want to watch wd If you're a WDE fan, you're watching that storyline and you us, we've zoomed out kind of bump rub elbows with certain individuals that are of high power, that have a lot of money that kind of from a business standpoint, handle themselves. And for you to go and notice the Rock is now in there.

The superhero on Instagram.

Yeah, great guy, the mana is always super high. And now he gets to go in and truly play play a character, which.

Is what he grew up in that business doing. In the first his whole family was in the business, right yeah, Rocky my Villa, that was his dad, that was his old man.

You're getting to that generation, like you need to be ten years older right now, because I feel like you need to be the dude that like followed for a long time, Like these fucking these guys aren't as tough as they used to be. They're a bunch of pussies. And the rock comes back and like bring bring you back in the fold big time. I can see Bill getting a text from you being like, hey, the Rock's on Royal Robo right now. He's look like, I can't

Yeah, it's it's magical in his style too. He's got that I don't know what the hell it is, but he's got on the diamond necklace. He's like, it's just hell, yeah, the rock being the rock I know.

And he'll go back to my whow twelve am?

Workout? What are we doing?

I'm up before everybody. I've worked out twice before everybody.

Else has woke up. It's like, okay, dude, and all of a sudden, he's having a fucking day. He's got like thirty pancakes sitting.

Brother, there ain't no way you're eating all them damn pancakes, no way, and those cookies look fire every single time.

Yeah, there was one he had, dude.

It was like a sushi platter, and he showed that as one of his fucking days, and it looked I would have fucked up all that sushi. It was really like, it really looked like that.

He's got some French toast too. He calls it like the Rock toast. They're like this stick, dude, They're like this stick. I wonder you're trying to get for the carb king over here, Mitch.

Dude.

We literally go to breakfast at the Red Rock. I don't know, you guys have probably broke down a whole bunch of what happened in the last nine ten days or whatever. But breakfast, man, the first day you got there on Wednesday, my boy had waffles. It looked like he had pancakes as well. I know there was biscuits and gravy just hanging out by you. He's got a mouthful going.

Like he was trying to feed. He doesn't eat when he's at home. He's like he like skips eating. He gets too lazy to go to the pantry, go to the fridge, like man the grocery store like I do. He just doesn't. Yeah, he just doesn't eat. He eats what is it, rich crackers with peanut butter and jelly.

Yeah, there's been multiple occasions, probably at least once a week or once every other week.

I'll have for dinner.

It'll just be ritz crackers and I'll put little peanut butter, little jelly, make little peanut butter jey sand which is on him.

Hey, that is some like elementary school.

Both my parents are at workshit.

I actually learned it from my dad. I learned it from my dad and he's the one that that put me onto it. And it's very very good.

Shout out your dad, dude, Shout out Dan. Shout out Dan.

Didn't teach you how to look up questions? But do you cracker peanut butter and jellies?

Hey, you're the grocery shopping I texted Jack Solo and I said, I'm gonna I said, I'm not. I'm not gonna lie. I don't know what's real and what's a bit, because every time you post on it seem like it's truly something you sniped on the internet.

I know, hopefully this is a reference being thrown up on the YouTube if you're watched right now. Every time I post about going at the grocery store, which every time you've seen me post with the glay store all the times about the grocery store, like so three times in the last two and a half months or whatever years. Yeah, whatever, And uh every time I knew, literally, Jack, this this is my thought process walking and I was like, okay, pictures. He always gets me with the Google. This time I

It was just this is the first search.

You gotta you gotta go deeper if you're gonna use this grocery up.

Don't do that, bro, Indeed, I get it.

You don't do that with your audience. A bunch of blue collar guys.

We are We are a bunch of blue collar guys, but a bunch of blue collar guys that do lucy. That's what we do because we fight. I listen, man, Oh yeah, I don't go to the grocery store a whole lot. But Taylor, ever since her grandmother passed away in October, every Sunday she does meatballs, pasta.

She makes me a nice little steak. Kid.

We have a good little time.

And last night we had a cruise over there.

The whole food.

Dude, I don't think that. Uh. I saw the what is it? What was it? Mozrella, parmesan in there and then some seasonings, some some of the plants make some Basil said the Tai Poly posted it. No, I was trying to make I was trying to make out what was in the video.

Yeah, I think it was just cheese.

And he tried getting you and he was kind of wrong. He just said, like the movie. He said that move you would have got a cart instead of a full size grocery cart, which that is not that's a little happen.

That's a little boy.

That's the I still want to push. I don't want to hold something in my hand the whole time.

That's exactly what that is.

Like we got some arugula, tomatoes and umarella.

A bunch of rich people. Ship. Really it's not kombucha.

That's so Maddy's a broker fu so like bottles of water. It's like, look at this rich people's the.

Thing, dude, the thing that the grocery store pisses me off. Is when you walk into the Whole Foods in that Green Hills is there's always so many bouquets of flowers. And I can't stand because every time I walk in there, my kids want some, Tailing wants some, and the I'm walking away with six six boqets of flowers. Such a waste of money, Such a waste of money. And I can't say no, yea.

But for the moment, for the smile, Fuck the smile.

I don't want that, dude, I don't want it.

One worthy.

No, No, they're not, dude. Hopefully I can get him to laugh once for five.

Should we you brought it up blue collar guys, Lucy? Should we talk about Lucy like we've hit a nice little, nice little partnership with Lucy. Yeah, I think it's big news. And shout out to you for your uh, your nicotine habit.

Yeah, shout out to addictions if.

You're a shout out to your nicotine addiction. Dude. Is landing as a partnership of loosey.

Yeah, And everybody knows what I used to used to put on my upper lip and I I truly loved that brand I was I was about I think the flavor was fantastic. I love the pouch everything like that, and so I do have to give it flowers. I'm not gonna say it's name because I'm being respectful to my new girl now. But it was a great relationship.

What are we doing here? What are we doing? Come on?

Get back to me? And with the with the Breakers, it's like being right there.

Maybe we should just.

Have one right now?

You want one? Brother?

Oh, he's on it. My dreams are fucking coming true.

Espresso, So no, I'm with you, like uh. I started doing it when we were on the road. It was always like, hey, travel, like if it was Thursdays in Chicago or whenever we do a fall tour, like throw the we won't say the names we want to the name no for a shout out, but get moving into h Lucy's. And then hearing about the Breakers, Like I thought the Breakers thing was like just like a hard candy or something like that. I didn't know it was

Feel and even numbers two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve, they all twelve. That's for the men.

That's the men. That's not the same.

Ye, the fours are a perfect number.

And you were getting you were getting me on him. And then that viral clip of Huberman was going around on the benefits of nicotine, and I basically do anything that Huberman says, like follow blindly. It's the only way to live. Yeah, yeah, Like, oh, who put you on that Huberman? Like, look, I grew up in the Huberman world, Like I will just listen to him whatever he says. I'm taking it as faceback. And it's great too.

When you're trying to get people information and they're like, would you get that, and you say Huberman, they just go okay, yeah, right, absolutely right, automatically agree with you. There's no argument to me.

Yeh. There is a culture with Huberman right now. Yeah, but I wrote down the benefits of nicotine coming from Huberman's mouth, that got me more and more. On top of this stuff neuroprotecting, suppress his appetite, don't need it, increase his metabolism. Let's go improve focus, attention, and mood. It relaxes your skeletal muscle, which, again, go listen to human Man. I won't go too much farther beyond that.

So is this the answer for depression? Not for us to say, probably not.

There there are studies of like an anti of using it as like an antidepressant. But yeah, listen to this podcast where we are brain dead people on this. Yeah we are not smart. Go listen to We're not Doctors. Yeah, go listen to the Hubreman podcast. But these are espresso ones. I shit, you not here it is. You can see the little breaker inside. You can zoom in on that minch our little breaker inside. And truly it is like putting it is like putting a latte in your mouth,

Yeah you're salivating.

Yeah, yeah, cheers.

So I'm gonna I'll bite down on this breaker so you can hear it. So you just use little things your teeth and.

And then it's just like a it's an orgasm in your mouth.

Think of a gusher, but with more juice.

And this espresso mixed with an ice latte.

See, I'm a tropical cat. Did I like my exs? Like my fruits and so?

Which I was into? You had me into the fruit loop taste of one again. Won't say any names. I love that one. But then right here, yeah, it is the baby. Literally.

When I was talking to whoever after we decided we're gonna go with Lucy, and Lucy came to us after and said, hey, it was a great choice. We'd love to sponsor you. They they said, hey, what kind of flavors do you want? I had them with They have apple berry or apple frost.

They got apple ice.

Would you just put it? Would you just put in?

Jack?

Oh, Lucy, Okay, let's see.

Then throw you off the phones.

Let me see the can Jack.

Who'll get you replaced?

What's these flavors?

Is the one that I have in by lip right now because I enjoyed, uh the citrus flavor of the other ones. But they breakers they coming on and they asked me, oh, what flavors do you want? I said, four milligrams, don't send us eight, don't send us ten. It's too much of their like, hey, they're coming, They're coming. I'm not safe feeling, at least for me, a lot of people saying hard yeah, like you love, yeah, you love, like talking to God.

Yeah. I want the Rower Coast like I want to feel. So I want to be shaking a little bit and be like, right, you say something to me, and I'm kind of like, I don't know what's going on.

Will Compton, although you've already heard, is a big caffeine guy, one cold brew coffee and pitts, shaky, jittery, and it's not like he learns his less than ever. He just keeps coming back from more and more. So we got the fourst We're big four guys. I'm a mango guy. I do love the espresso. I do love the espresso. Issue for me though, with the espresso is mentally I

That's my one little that's a real good you know I heard that just start fucking puky and ship. So yeah, might as well just go ahead and throw Do we have a Lucy ad read we don't have. That's fucking crazy. Go check out the boys, Lucy, Yeah, go check them out the online.

Everything's going online now, like you really can't find them in stores. I don't think I go to a gas station that All the other brands we won't talk about, but Lucy let him online, get him in bulk, fantastic dude, should we? Obviously, the football season's over and we had a great time. I know you guys talked about a little bit. Probably that's done. The good, the bad, the ugly, those fun segments will probably put those on the shelf

Yeah, you're you're right, we need it. It needs to officially have its moment back in our hearts. We just gave a really good shout out, no free shout out, even though we don't have an average Lucy. But yeah, I would love to bring the shoutout no free shoutout back Mitch, go ahead, go ahead, match takeing notes of what he's producing the fuck out of it.

But yeah, that's a good idea, all right.

Yeah, it's bag my shadow no forree shot out goes.

This week, I had one of my buddies from from home coming to town and like when you first see like one of your boys you haven't seen in a long time, and you just dap them up and you just give them a good, just a good old hug. That my shadow no for your shadow goes to giving your boys hugs. There's something about like, yeah, you can dap them up, you can just like little handshake whatever, but like when you when you lock it in for a hug and just like it's real quick, like rather

That's wholesome. Yeah, I saw something too, like I'm sure you get it as well. Like my algorithm has a lot of these you know, gooey stuff things now that pop up in front of my face. And one was about hugs, like big hug guy, Twelve hugs a day leads to growth. Eight hugs is what you need for maintenance. And if you have anything less, like you're deterring yourself from happiness. But twelve is the number. And also not only that, but your technique. You want to go left

It sounds like we're getting ourselves an anti depression protocol going on here with the lucy and the hugs. Yeah, can't wait to see what else happens on the show. Yeah, Jackie, what do you have baby?

I don't know if this is going to translate for you all, and I hope it does. But I was just in Tahoes past weekend up snowboarding.

We went there.

The weather is supposed to be completely clear all week, so that kind of like bums you out. When you go on a ski trip, You're like, you want to get like a good snow And then the day we get there, all of a sudden, we get a weather alert advisory and there's a winter storm that just out of nowhere popped up first day.

And so the first day we get there, we don't ski.

We get settled in, wake up the next morning and there was like fourteen inches of fresh snow on the top of the mountain. So my shadow goes to I guess Mother Nature and providing beautiful snow. But getting snow on that first day of ski trip is something special. It provides a little bit more of a cushion. You can kind of go a little bit harder out there.

Yeah, shout out mother nature.

You jump, Yeah, you go hard like that.

Yeah, we like to go hard, you know, Like I said, when when there's fresh no, you have a little bit more in your bag, You're like, you're a little bit less worried about breaking something or tearing something because you're just falling in powder. So yeah, we like to get out there, have a good time. You have a couple of beers and you're like, all right, I'm gonna I'll hit that trick then.

Now.

I had a buddy in high school. His name is Zach Barer. Shout out Zack Barer. Saw him this weekend in Arizona. He would always go to like Big Bear or Durango or Flagstaff and go skiing every winter, and every time he came back he would have a separated shoulder, broken wrist.

He literally guy had paper boats.

He's a surgeon now, but like all his injuries like got him into the idea of becoming a surgeon. When I saw you skiing, that's what I I was like, Oh, people go skiing, We're gonna get You're just paying me to get hurt, and I'm happy to see you back here on your two feet.

Yeah, that we were talking about yesterday. Coming back. We're just like, no injuries.

That's just the biggest win you can because when I'm twenty nine, it's like if you separate your shoulder or like hurt your knee, it's like at what costs, like just to like you know, impress one of your friends on like a ski slope and no one ever.

Saw black diamonds, Yeah exactly.

But it's always fun.

And with those flag staff places, they don't typically get like a lot of snow, so it's usually like groomers, which means just like really packed down hard snow, so it's a lot easier to get hurt.

So when you do get.

Those like twelve to fifteen inches of fresh snow, it really prevents any kind of like heard sustaining injury. Like you can still get hurt obviously anytime, but it definitely helps out the cause of feeling a little bit more confident out there.

So definitely shot up mother nature.

I didn't even know you could get twelve to fifteen inches anywhere.

Thirty three inches in one night in uh, Colorado.

You never got just twelve inches when you're in Michigan. I don't think so.

I think the only place I ever think that would happen is Buffalo, New York because every year, in like December, the bills have like a hell of a deal going on. But I literally I think myself, like a whole foot of snow foot plus sounds horrible to me, it's awesome. Yeah, you know me and snow brother, Yeah, get along. Vans do not do well in snow. I'll tell you that what you got will for your shout.

Every Imause I forgot mine.

Okay, I'll go.

I had one over the weekend. I was like, I need to write this down, and you to write this down. That's always the thing, Like this one's so solid that I will not forget here. I am later. That's ill try. I try to think. That's tough.

You need to be prepared for the show that we have every week. But I'll go and this I've said this one before, but I happened to meet this weekend, and uh, I just want to bring it back up again.

So this weekend I had to go to Arizona.

One of my buddies, his father passed away very suddenly.

We had to go to a funeral. It was very it was weird. It was a weird weekend.

It was tough, but pausive on the way. Let's talk about positives here. We're keeping the vibes high. Taylan puts on a song for me that immediately hits the cerebellum and I go, oh, fuck, yes, I'm going to run this song into the dirt and I'm gonna know every single lyric in a week's time. Not a week yet, but we know about half of them now. That song is by Benson Boone and the end of the song is called Beautiful Things.

Have you heard it? Yeah? Please stay dude.

That shit came on and I'm thinking in my head because we were actually had this conversation when we were doing a drop off right before Super Bowl about like, when you listen to a song, you listen to beats, a beat or a lyric first, and I'm always listening to.

The lyrics first.

The guy talking about how his life was tough, then his life is good, and now all he's worried about is when the good things are going to end. You can feel the anxiety in the song as it leads to this beautiful like scream not screaming, but like a yelling, singing type of like passion that gets you.

To go, I got goosebumpster.

Now let me roll through the windows down and get these goosebumps off my body like that type of feeling. Yeah, So my shout out, no free shout is gonna go to uh finding a new song. And I've done it. That's probably the third time I've done that in the show, but it was.

We've been We've been around for some for some time. I'm gonna repeat. I'm pretty sure bro bro Huggs has been in there.

Like also never gets old.

It doesn't get old. Yeah that's true. Yeah, just like your shopping carttrol. It literally never gets old.

To me.

I laugh every time I honestly tweet it to get that. Now that's the only response I ever want.

I remembered. Let's go. I remembered, and people, those of you that.

Think about, oh, Will's got cts a big dumb idiot boom, perfect example right now.

You fucking face boys. Shit, it's the Lucy's Yeah, the memory. So my shoutout, no free shoutout goes to the air tag. I've started to use them, and I needed it over the weekend, I couldn't find my keys. I didn't realize where I placed them, and I threw up to find my app and have the keys, and then it plays a little sound for you to find it and shout out the air tag because we need it. We need it. I'm pretty sure it's like this is like a universal

Reminder I don't know. Here's the device it helps you remember.

Yeah. Like the plate. Here's a plate. Yeah.

Yeah, Like if you just if you just got them again.

Yeah, if you just walk in the house and put your money, clip, your keys and everything in this plate in the mudroom right when you walk in, you'll know it's there every time. Yeah. Fortunately, your boy's been very solid at doing that. For whatever reason, I had misplaced my keys, didn't where they didn't know where they were, and I thought to myself, I'm so fired up that I have an air tag on this thing now because

Luckily, my significant other loses her phone fifteen times a day, to the point where I'm the one going, honey, come on, like, you've got to be better. You've got to figure it out.

They see it as a badge of honor losing their phone, like, oh, I'm not on my phone at home.

Yeah, I've been on it for so long. I guess I just missed on the Uh that's what.

That's a big one.

I was up and down the damn stairs yesterday trying to find my phone. I went upstairs upstairs, we have like a little attic playroom set up with like a little jungle gym. We have like a rock climbing thing for the kid. They love it, dude, a big swinging there and they're ripping and I get in. There's this big love sack.

You've been in there. Lay down. I'm on my phone.

I'm surfing the bird and I go downstairs. I have for grass there. I think it's a water. I go downstairs, come back up, can't find my phone, Like, did I bring it downstairs with me? I hunt for fifteen to twenty minutes, probably ten, but you get what I'm saying.

Finally I go upstairs on my hey win.

You you grab my phone, and this shitting grin covers her face. Now it's like, where is it?

Dude? Where is it?

I had to fight her. I had to fight my daughter.

You hit her?

No I didn't.

I pushed her heart.

Okay, yeah, yes, but anyway, she end up giving up the phone. Dude, I thought to myself in that ten minute span of trying to find my phone, like, I should just put those damn air tags that are literally sitting in the man.

Cave right now. I know exactly where they are. I know exactly where they are. The garment. Now the garment hooks you up. Well, I'll lose my you know, I'll misplaced my phone every now and then, I think, hang on, dude, no, no, it does. I just I think I turned my bluetooth off for a minute. Yeah, yeah, you were getting some weird jingles in there. You had a weird vibrate on your phone. Yeah you can. We'll come back to it. I just gotta I gotta hit the reconnect. Yeah.

And also Garment is not a sponsor at the show, so yeah, no shout out, noe, shout out to the Garment. I do love it, well, we will and I we work at the same gym, and literally I'll peek over at the boy. Make sure you stand on top of the stuff, you know, kind of bill buddy ship, and I'll look over. He'll just be popping some buttons looking and.

Go do his thing.

Immediately gets inble the set does hit it again.

Like, no, you're not even doing anything. You gotta hit the sets over, hit the stop reading now and my rest is count You're not doing all the rest anything, don't He's probably off right now. We sit there and talk and the minute you walk away, I look up. Fuck, I've been wrestling.

Because I haven't seen you in a while, so I want to talk. But at the same time, it's like I got to get and get out.

Yeah, get it and get off, get out. Yeah that whole thing.

One thing you can get in and get on and get off of is any time you're watching a sporting event, Dune. Anytime you watch a sporting event and you think, how do I make this a little bit more fun.

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Hashtag DK partner hashtag DK partner. Also, did you guys see the bet I put in this week UFC against Volkanovski. People were saying, specifically, JP, I saw him say fade. He's a big dumb idiot because I made myself one thousand and fifty dollars.

Oo oo beat Vulcan. I forget his name, Tulupu tu.

Lupiya iliad Tuporia. I probably should know that.

What uh what made? What made you pay him? Over? Vulk? Over? The American made.

Vult Oh, he's not an American man, he's everything's American.

If I'm rocking with it, you want to know the truth, you want to make something up well from your guy, Vinnie. Yeah, yeah, Because I saw that. I saw that bet, I'm just thinking that's crazy.

Just Vulk like that, I know, and I literally he like said, hey, put this bet in. It's a big bet. And so I literally went to my Draftking Sports app, I started DK partner and I put that thing in there. Money line, the whole thing, a thousand bucks on it right there?

Did you watch? I fell asleep. We'll get the wake up.

Woke up with the President. It's tough man being out in the East coast of the UFC. It's not done to like eleven o'clock.

The West coast is nice, nice that thing like seven it is.

The best, man, it is the best.

Speaking of West Coast, speaking of Vegas, I know you guys have talked about it, but when you guys left, your boy had another opportunity.

Of the m GK.

And it went very well.

Really, it went very well.

Yeah, talk about that because you had mentioned it kind of right, right, right.

So the the first night was at Power Stop, which, by the way, Jack, I know we've been in every single power slop. How epic was this last power stop at Durango.

It felt different, felt different, a lot of big people there.

It was fun, it was a cool Yeah.

Yeah.

You know how Jack talk though, it's like that is enthusiasm for him. So yeah, we go to that and then obviously this guy named Steve and I believe his name is he's mgk's manager. Also he's partners with Rob Muchie for those of you who are wondering in the same agency. He's like, I AMGK is gonna be hearing a little bit. I was like, hey, man, I love MGK, I love his music. I think he brought back a whole entire genre. Blah blah blah. Give my little elevator

Talking about Gamba and he's like, I got this thousand, Hey, we're doing it. We're doing it. Meeting.

But I met MGK and I met people call Himkelse. I'll call him Kelse for right now. He like threw his shoulder. He dapped me up and like threw his shoulder into me. And then when we were talking, he's kind of looking me up and down. I don't know if you noticed that. He was kind of like looking at me, sizing me up a little bit. I'm thinking, come on then, like we don't want to do this or was trying to be boys right now. And it

Like that experience. It wasn't a great experience for me very much. Your yeah, Yah, it was kind of like one of those guys.

It also to me was like great in us in one way because tormented artist, that's what he comes off to be, and to see him like that, I was like, good, Like his art is going to be so beautiful this next album. Obviously, I hope he gets help, help, he figures it all out. So the next day I'm at UFC after a Saturday with Jelly, and it was great because it was like, not a whole lot of people there is at the Apex. It was just me and Jelly just catching.

Up, hanging out for a couple hours.

And I let him know the same story. I just told you guys like listen like Jelly and Kell start like boys. And so he's like telling me he was probably just wearing something. I know the Sean Strickland video came out about Sean Strickland calling him a freak and and and all that.

I'm pretty sure that hat on the bird app on the bird app.

I'm pretty sure that happened after It's not a big deal. But I told him. I was like, yeah, man, it was kind of a disappointing first impression. It just seemed like the dude was wearing a whole lot and it was. It was just a tough come by. And so that night I'm at Red Rocks. Data hits me up and he's like, hey, what are.

You doing, blah blah blah. I was like, oh, I'm here. He goes come to Caesar's.

I believe it is. Come to Caesars, to this place called Pinky Ring. Your knight's gonna change. I'm thinking sick because we know Caesar is what he he bets there seventy five thousand dollars a hen.

I'm thinking away game. The new stresses are there. I'm in the car. I'm driving over. I'm very nervous.

I get a text from this lady named Evelyn, who is going to bring me into the Pinky Ring. Turns out Pinky Ring is this very that's right in the middle of the casino of Caesar's or Blaggio. They both look very similar. It's like this little arena type of looking thing, but it's just like a bar, like a speakeasy kind of bar. And I walk in there and I see you hear this fucking golden voice. It's like like literally piercing my ears. And I'm like, oh, my god,

He was out the dance. My god with Bruno maar moving those hips like crazy.

So we sit there, we're hanging out, and he's like, I know he got somebody in the in the audience tonight. I think it was a baby something, baby face or baby something.

I don't know.

I don't know he I mean, that's.

Bb King, you're thinking of bb King.

But yeah, he's like, I got somebody in the audience, blah blah blah. And and then Hunter and Dane are getting hyped up.

I don't know who this guy is.

He starts singing, hen's the mic to buddy, and the buddy starts going fucking off, and I'm like, oh my, And you guys know I'm a big concert guy, but for me, I'm like enjoying the fuck out at this moment. And uh, he's saying, some leady comes up. She starts ripping there like he turns, he says, he turns the place to a ship club. All of a sudden, he's playing crazy music and he's like.

Doing his thing.

It was an unbelievable experience. I say that all just a flex on how cool.

My night was. I was ready for MG to he's He's coming later, I.

Promise, but I just wanted to pick here in my face and fucking hey, yeah, my life's awesome. Also, Danny gets on the phone while we're there and he's like, okay, cool, and he the phone he goes, hey, uh, jay Z and Beyonce are gonna come. They're gonna sitt our table with us. I was like, oh for real. He's like yeah, so you know, He's like, we'll be here in about five minutes. They didn't come. But I wanted to tell you guys that because I wanted you to feel the

We get in with Dana.

Dana ends up playing bing bang boom, three hands, three dubs, two hundred thousand dollars for him. Did you I did not enter the seventy five. They asked if the guy, his boy Nick was like, are you playing? And Dana, like a father, goes, He's not gonna play here.

He's good. Right now, I'm like, thank you because I was.

I would have, but I was. That's terrifying, right, Like, the implications are so much more so. Then Jelly's coming, So we wait for an hour or so. Jelly ends up coming.

He's playing.

Then Jude's like, Kelse is gonna come. So now I'm thinking redemption. Go in the bathroom, take a piss or waiting for like thirty forty minutes. Now he comes. He's gambling with everybody. Now we have a big crowd, about fifteen.

PEOPLEGK Kelse's MGK, so Bunny his Jolly Roll's wife, she's over there.

With a group of girls and I go over, Hey, guys.

Nice to meet you. Taylor Taylor, Taylor Taylor, and.

I see Bunny give her a big hug, and then I cruised back over the table. Well, one girl looked very familiar, looked unique and beautiful, and it was Making Fox his wife. Obviously that was there too, but I couldn't recognize her at all because it's like I think of making Fox, I'm thinking Transformers right next to it. Yeah, yeah, the whole thing, the hood up. Yeah, but you know

He's like, hey, do good to see you again.

DAPs me up like we've been boys for a minute. He starts talking to me. He's like blah blah blah, and I give him the whole Hey man takes to my downfall, best album in the last twenty years since blakelin A two's self titled album, and we start talking about Blake online a two and he's loving it. But he so, I'm ninety five percent sure. Jelly Roll hit kel Us up and was like my boy Taylor. The first impression wasn't great. Just know he's gonna be there tonight.

It was.

It was a killer time. We're leaving and we're still talking about music. He's like, hey, if you got any uh, like advice or you want to go over songs or something like that, like let me know what I'm thinking. I bro, I'm not I'm not creative enough to do that.

Like I appreciate you.

That's what it really hit me, Like, okay, yeah, yeah, jelly definitely said something, but I was like, I appreciate it, but you know, your boy's never written a song in this life.

And he's like, oh, it's all good. You know, maybe we can we can get something going. You know, you could have said like, but you know you ever want to throw some on my way and you want you want my feedback, let me have your number. Yeah, give it to me right now, right in there with some digits. Yeah.

So anyway, that was a very cool experience. Next day headed home exhausted, tired boy. Yeah yeah, but overall an incredible trip, so much fun.

Yeah that we the boys did very well with the super Bowl week. It was. It was everything we'd hoped it would be, maybe more. Yeah, it was awesome. A movie.

Some would say, I hate that you said that, but it's true. It's so true, and big cat I was whispering them after we all gambled together. For those who haven't seen the Tunnel of Chaos flog.

By the way, go take the Tunnel of Chaos blog.

We were sitting there after I go, it's a movie. He goes, it's kind of a movie. I was like, I fucking told you, dude, of a movie.

A movie?

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Have you guys watched its oldest time?

The way he was all he was taking off on a scramble and got lit the fuck up and literally just laid there, bro And they talk about how he was Ultimately he could have died had he just laid there for an extended period of time, but like lacerated some artery, like a lot of different shit. Yeah, yeah, but he's thinking like he's the golden boy of New England, like everybody's at the one hundred million dollars, like he's good in the community, He's all the things you want

Oh, I love that?

Yeah, not not almost, not like fifty seven sixty minutes. We're talking a good digestible, like you're in it a good forty minutes, and how they basically bring back and build this dynasty. But it gets into like the nitty gritty.

God damn that fire that fires me up.

And just how competitive Tom was. It's cool, bro, it's really cool. Similarly to the Last Dances.

Yeah, I love that.

Yeah, I think it'll be better than sitting there. I think it'll be Brady talking about it. Yeah, I love that. Fires coaches this down. You get to see an old cameo of Rabes where he's like, shut the fuck up, spikes the ball because McGinnis like they talked about how it was like their team. It wasn't Tom's, it wasn't Bill's, it wasn't Bill Belichick's team, Like it felt like a collective. We need to do the right things, run the football,

There's got especially when you know somebody that's in it, right, do you feel that?

Yeah? See being a young thundercat.

Tom Brady was at a power slab on Friday, Yeah, at the at the super Bowl week, and he just had a glow about him. Now he was over there sitting with Day and he was kind of up and at him immediately. So Pat went and sat down after that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Pat saw Pat and the whole crew. That's right. Yeah, yeah, as you're as you were walking out or walking in.

But yeah, that's cool. I gotta check that out, dude, I really want to, because that's everything you just said. The way you just painted it for me fires me up.

Yeah. It's one of those things like you pour into being a fan of that moment in time and like

I love your passion behind it. I'm gonna put that on tonight and if I don't, I'm a bad person. I need to go watch that showed up y.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you do. You have to watch it so that way. I think every week we have to watch it, so that way we have something to talk about, because we will talk about the show. Everybody saying spoilers everything else. Listen, this is the dynasty. You can go back. If you're a Patriots fan, you already knew this year. Yeah, but he's cool man. Yeah.

Did you guys have been a fan since like, you know, Brady's first year of the Patriots and well being a fan.

That decade before, like and you just hadn't you know their second playoff game ever, I don't think they ever hosted a playoff game, and so they won the division the very last game in the in the stadium before Gillette uh was hosting a playoff game, so like bringing that to the city. Robert Kraft was a longtime Patriot fan. They go through him buying that. It's really cool.

Damn will you say, Jack, Well, I got a fan question.

It was good.

Since off season, you know, things are getting a little slower.

But as of today Monday, there's one hundred and ninety nine days until football starts again. We have a fan question from under or Idaho Underscore Rambler top three Sunday activities between now and kickoff? So for this offseason, what's your top three Sunday activities.

Between now and kickoff?

Yeah?

Well, during the off season, doesn't be like as players, just like as fans. Like when there's nothing to do on Sundays anymore, when you just watching football for.

Eight hours a day, could be a tear talk. Yeah, that that's where the Okay, take some time to do that and think about it. You can.

I like this one off the cuff. Who just want to you want to create one together? You want to create one by ourselves?

Well, I think we just talk about them out loud, will kind of come up with our lists, all right.

First one that comes to my head as a nice barbecue with the boys, like when the summer, when the summertime hits, summertime hit tank tops, on. Somebody's out there growing somebody. You know, Hey, well, you gotta have will Compton's ribs. You gotta have this guy so and so. Oh this dude the mac and cheese he makes Unreally, you kind of create like a pot luck bean thing. Simple to the point. Sun's out Sunday afternoon. Pool's right there,

Tier one to me. Yeah, Barber five, Tier one, Ultimate Tier one, Barbecue Tier one.

Another one that popped into my head. And I don't know if it's a Sunday, but it is an activity that happens mostly in the in the off season, only in the off season, and that is it's specific to you and me, and it's risk and having a late night that bleeds into Sunday, having a risk night.

Didn't like that one as much. That's okay, no, no, no, I like it. I just feel like there's a lot of options.

I know I was just but I'm brainstorm or brainstorming right now. I think you sit there and it's two thirty in the morning, and you're still contempting the boys. Do we play one more? That's a moment at a time.

Well, so we can change it. Let's switch it up to weekend activities. Thanks. Iwa Iowa Rambler. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, I would like to throw in farmers Market. I do like that going to the local farmers market with the fam and morning on a Saturday. Maybe it's a Sunday, but the farmers Market advise when the sun is at its highest, it's tough to beat.

I know, even the complaints it's hot out here today.

Yeah, get them a water. Yeah, the line might be tough.

Yeah, get him an asa E bowl. Hello, head over to California. Get the breakfast burritos nor tortilla. Throw that thing in a bowl for me to make them two put them on there. My god, you're living the dream.

I do like the video game or video game session with the boys. Yeah, what else you guys got? What's going through your As said, this.

Is probably a very niche one and it's not for everybody. But now now the football is ever, Nascar is back, and there's just something about on a Sunday throwing on the cup race. You're gonna take a nap during it. You're gonna wake up with fifty laps left and that's all you need to that's all you need to watch. You watched last fifty eight, last fifty laps, You've seen

Oh yeah, all right, okay, dude, I'm with that. Yeah, that was very it is.

Some guys are fired fired up about that man.

One, by the way, naps nap, incredible activity, that mid day nap between the hours of one and three on the love sack. So I'm going upstairs. You're gonna take a nap.

You already know you already know one that a lot of people will be like, yes, I will say no to this, but I'll say it as a vessel golfing with the boys, I'm sure Sunday activity in the springtime when the weather's finally broke. Oh yeah, golf got for a lot of people.

Very nice.

Bike rides too. I like I like to hop on the old cycler.

Just get out there, just take it all in, some deep breathing, Okay, to be ground yourself out in them hof going.

Yeah fires now sitting now by a fire with the boys lying some stogies, the Crackle the Stars. Yeah.

Also coming up soon, the March Madness. We're nearing it.

I know we're not the biggest basketball pod, but I do think we dive into some brackets this year.

Get a little competition going.

I'm down with that.

And when there's no football, you turn to the next best thing, and for me, that's basketball, and March Madness is one of the greatest times ever in sports.

So I'm excited for that here in the next month.

I want I want to chase that because everybody talks about jumping on old DraftKings and just immersing yourself in the in the sports part. Yeah, hashtag DK partner immersing yourself in the March Madness because they say that it's like the best betting time of the year. I do want to get involved with that. And Mark Titus shout out the Mark Titus Show. He said he did a podcast to catch everybody up. If you're somebody who hasn't been in and you want to kind of dip your

So you have to send me a link for that, because I don't know a whole lot. I know that Michigan's bad, Nebraska's got a shot.

I know that nebrasketball.

Dude, you need to win it all.

Once you get into the dance, you never know anybody's game. You getting into the tournament. It's anybody anybody's game. Anybody's fun that I need to hear from you.

Just now.

We might have to hit I know a bunch of people with Barstool do it, but might have to do a live stream on the first round of sixty four.

I think there's talks of the boys going up, yeah, going out, Yeah, going out to getting in the mix, the mix. They might have something as well at Barstool Nashville at the bar.

Oh, that's one of the best gambling days of the whole year.

Yeah. Might have to just get a vibe going partner.

I got another one, I got I got one, I got one. Binge watching a show something you've put off in the football season and you're like, I gotta everybody's talking about everybody's talking about it, like I gotta make sure to watch that once a season ends, and once the season ends, it is like on the top of your list, like putting in. Hey, it's three seasons already, You're just not being put on for whatever reason. You watch literally twelve hours.

Yeah, I think I'll be dipping my tone of that with the show Rome I saw. Yeah, yeah, I don't know what happened. I started thinking about the Roman Empire again, and I was like, I wonder if there are any other shows out there, because I want some more Game of Thrones, Last Kingdom and back.

Of my seeing them Last Kingdom, Yeah, sorry, yeah, yeah, Last Kingdom was fire so good.

I want to get into Vikings. I've heard that's a really good one. But when I searched the web out there, I saw that there was a show called Rome from two thousand and five to two thousand and seven, two seasons, ten episodes in each season, and it's rated very well on IMDb. I'm I'm a thorough Yeah, I am a big believer in IMDb. If a TV show is eight point seven, Especially back in the mid two thousands and then, people were responding to that saying like, Oh, I'm so

You need to wash on fourage.

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I need?

Yeah, you needed Apple TV and you're rid of cable like that stuff is. That's for the birds is my first year doing it.

I was just looking for my phone. Hey, that scared the ship out of me.

Long that was it was a fire.

There was a child missing three blocks away. That was crazy.

We're just.

You think Garment's gonna come on?

Oh, I have no clue. You need to be sick chasing a few of them.

We were talking about you diving into shows and how it's special when you do. Anytime you dive into a new show, especially for anybody, but Entourage, you need to get on that.

I know everybody. Everybody says that.

Yeah, and you've you've drawn a line in the sand with Rome.

I get it.

You need to watch that first.

I hope you enjoy it. I help you up a good time.

But the next one, let me bookmark that for you. Authourage will be your next show.

All right. I just, dude, I just I love like war type, no questions, no question, A couple more. I think on that politics behind the scenes that bring it all together. I love it, the strategy behind it all. Just yeah, all the politic and that happens the storylines. Oh yeah, dude, No, I saw that one. Then I who I want to put on. Their Banded Brothers is one of the top shows of all time.

You haven't seen band of Brothers?

No, And then there's another one called like, uh that band of Brothers. The creator of that one is doing one that's out on Apple Plus now Masters of the Air. Yea, yeah, that's another one I want to check out.

I don't know about that one. I need to watch that one.

That one's that one's new on Apple Plus. Movie Napoleon. Have you seen it? I haven't. I haven't. It's like what two and a half hours, two and a half, three hours something like that.

I had it on for about thirty minutes. I ended up going to bed because I was like, I was too tired. But it was really jump around me, like he gets married, boom, he's getting cheated on, and you're like, whoa, there's no development of the marriage for me to see how much that's gonna affect him. So there was a lot of jump around stuff for me that I was like, I don't know, I don't know how this is going to turn out, but I need to give it a

With your shows. That one's rated in the sixes on IMDb? Is it? Yeah?

You know Walking Phoenix?

Is that?

Why?

No? Walking Phoenix is Yeah. I know.

He's the guy I'm just to see because he's such a good actor.

So I would have thought that'd be like something in the eights, maybe seven to nine. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. I don't know. They're ratings like you do, but you are about I'm usually like, okay, I'll watch that.

What rattles me is how much you think about the Roman Empire. I can't I get it.

It's beautiful. How often do you think about it?

I mean five times a year?

How often do you think about it? Jack?

This is a this is a whole trend that went on a few months. I know, I know, but yeah, I mean a few months ago.

It was August.

We're in talk about rods, literal roads, all like, it's it's the Roman Empire.

I don't want to bore everybody. I don't want to bore everybody. I went to Rome last year. It really immersed myself in the culture, so I think about it quite a bit. GPT is great for all that history. Ship dude.

Yeah, I utilized chet gupt all the time, and it's mostly for my kids when going to bed, like, hey, you can ask the robot one question, and it's always how long do foxes live? How long do bears live?

How long?

You know, it's always like, how long do these animals live? I love that I learn a few things, which is good. Should we do our hypothetical question that usually is presented by twisted tea, Yeah, let's do one.

Yeah, all right?

Would you rather go to jail for one year?

Straight? Shout out Twitter for this one? Yeah, I need to. Actually, it needs to be five years or six at least to equate to the amount of time in that one year. I saw that one.

Yeah, so do you know what?

We'll do that for the for a year every day or prison for the next three years, but only on weekends. But if you just do the next three years, there's fifty two weekends in the year.

That's one hundred and fifty.

Days, right, So you need to do like four or five years. Yeah, and you have to go on the weekends, like there's no any weekend plan anywhere. I probably just do the year. I think so too. Yeah.

Immerse yourself in the culture. See what crew you're gonna end up rolling with Yeah, become boys.

Try not to get stabbed.

Figure out the total pull of you know, who's in charge, who's not. Do you want to overthrow? Do you not want to overthrow them?

Yeah? Have that talk. If I go every.

Weekend, they're gonna get jealous, Like it's Sunday. Oh you know Taylor's leaving eventually going to come back one Friday, and they're like, you're not leaving anymore. They're gonna stab my ass.

Or I think you like you have to do for say, yeah, three years, like and you have to stay dis one today, Like it's just gonna sell all your weekends are in prison. Yeah you could, Yeah, it would be that.

This is JP brought up this point, like you could be that dude that comes on the weekends, like just bring some stuff for the boys, like you just kind of you're like the plug for.

Yeah, that's a fun idea. When it starts, Hey, I brought some one crustables for the boys, pack of Marble cigarettes. Everyone's having a good time. Now all of a sudden, you're a meal shoving Heroin up your ass, trying to get to the boys, and you're in a whole lot more trouble. No, now it's no longer weekends or Hey.

Did you take their care of that guy? I told you to take care of it. Right.

If you don't do this, you're you're out of the brotherhood.

Yeah, I got thirty pairs of eyes on your family right now.

Right, What are you gonna do if I'm just in prison for a year? Hey, what'd you do?

Murder?

Double homicide?

Oh?

Really, don't fuck with that guy.

Yeah. Now I'm not getting out, Yeah, but I'm getting out any year. Yeah a lawyer, he's really You don't say that. You just kind of let it ride. Yeah, but I want I want that to know. Is some bargaining power for whatever cruise trying to rate me? Like, hey, what do you need me to do?

I forgot the right Yeah yeah, yeah, that's a smart thing.

Yeah. What do you want me to do whenever I get out of here? Like, I get it, I get it, I get to leave. It's bullshit. I I think so too. But what I can do for you on the outside, I'll make sure to get done.

That's a slippery slope.

Slippery slope.

Yeah, you gotta do one bad thing when you get out. You guys, get one.

That's it.

Yeah, and you're probably a couple of others never never fulfill it.

You know how it works. Who who's sending that question? A little shout out? Come on, Mitch, you just gonna ask a question, but not give them take all the credit. How much he.

Wanted to.

We would have never heard about that. You literally the what hour the one year?

You knew the question immediately?

Yeah, the way I saw it was on Instagram is from Jacob Lawrence.

Jacob Lawrence, I appreciate you, man.

Is there anything else we're missing? Boys, anything else we need?

Here's a good question last week that we were passing around the shop, Jack, but this would be good because you want a part of it. What are you most afraid to pass down to your children? Mh well, I have to go. You gotta take a minute. What was your mine was? It was like, yeah, it's like being afraid to pass down the expectation that they have to like earn my love, like earn my me, being proud of them because there's a lot of times going up. And I know my old man, he wants he watches

We shared that same childhood of being like the sports with the thing like make or break the week, make or break the month.

Yeah for the dinner table. Yeah, yeah, my dad. My dad loved me a lot.

I gotta think about that. That's a good that's a good one. I don't I don't have that fear having two girls. If I have a boy, I could see that fear coming. But with my girls, like when played soccer and I was like kind of just wanted her to try. All I cared about was like, hey, listen, I don't care if you're good. I just want you to try hard. That's all that matters to me.

And she wasn't very good.

No disrespect when as you're when you get older and you look at the archives. Maybe that's gone.

Now yeah, or maybe she's great. Maybe she's great now. I don't know.

Yeah, But to me, I wasn't like disappointed.

I don't.

I don't think they'll ever feel that, which is which is nice genetically.

I just say, like my horniness. That's what I was telling the boys. You are horny, but it's good to be that horny, I think, Yeah, I mean motivate. Yeah, the motivator.

Being horny is like as primitive as it can possibly be. Like you just a hunter gatherer, Like if I get this mammoth, I'm gonna get laid.

Yeah, you know, because Minch had one too. He's like it was a hypothetical. In one side of it was like you get you get a stiffy every time you see an attractive woman, or yeah, or you every hor of everything insane. And I was like, bro, I mean, how many boners do we get a day? Like it is like scientific that we get like double digit boners throughout the course of twenty four hours. Yeah, so it's like that already happens. I don't I don't know if that's true.

You should look at your tea then.

You probably check out your testosterone.

No, I'm saying obviously, obviously you wake up with morning wood. Yes, but when else are you getting hard at work?

I am right now?

Wait, this bottles right here in from my pants.

The average man. There we go, Thank you Jack. The average man has eleven erections a day, as well as many more when they are asleep. On average, a healthy man has three to five erections during a full night's sleep. Six. I like, I don't know, I don't Am I wrong?

Am I by myself on this one?

Yeah? Yeah you are?

I mean, do you look into your team?

No?

See, I think the horniness. You don't want the horniness?

Yeah? What's a gene? What's a gene you would hate to pass down to your daughters? Ah?

I don't know the gene because like, is the want for your father's approval a gene thing?

No? No, they're they're I'm saying. I basically just changed it to like for me, I.

Feel bad for my kids that they had, like how flat my feet are?

Yeah, like hereditary or I'm diabetic.

I would hate if my kids.

That's that's a good one. It's a low hanging fruit good one.

But you know, statistically, if I have four kids.

One of them is probably gonna have it, which will suck, But that is that's what I thought of immediately.

I would say, it's so hard because there's like one in my head that I'm like trying to piece together. But it's like, if if I say it incorrectly, it will come off like too deep, and that's not necessarily my I'll say, it's like, uh, the I would I would not want for my kids to have a constant like earning to feel fulfillment through like success, like having success in certain areas. Like I'd want them to be

Like not allowing the external world to dictate how they're down.

Yeah, that that would probably be mine because I did. That happens a lot with me, not as much as you used to, but still happens quite frequently, but especially with football. It was always like, if I'm not the absolute best, I'm a complete failure. I could be second best, and I'd be like I'm the.

Worst in the fear of like projecting that down like yeah times yea, to me, to me, for my kids.

It's all about just like if you're gonna do something, do it the best, like to the best you do as hard as you can, like the best you possibly can outcome is not what you what you care about.

Success is the journey, not the destination. That's right. Should we talk about Steven A this podcast.

It and there's things in this podcast that Steve and A started talking about that he knows that other people didn't know. But that's how he got into the world of Like he talks about being a beat writer and getting into it Alan Iverson and how like he he dodged him for like three days because of whatever thing. He ends up showing up to a club and just

How does that make you feel? From like a teammates standpoint and then also.

A competitive standpoint, he gets into all that gets into how you know where he came from, how he came from it, his process, his drive for success, his new podcast that he has truly a great a great interview.

Yeah, you can tell he's very calculated. Like he talks about lunin to trying to always be ten steps ahead. I feel like there's something to that where he has his own platform with the Steven A Show. I mean he's obviously on TV. He's been on TV every day for how long did he say? Twenty thirty years?

Two years?

Yeah, something like that, which is insane. He knows his workload is nuts. But you can tell he's a very ambitious individual and there's like a lot of good stuff that you'll be able to listen to and like take from and sacrifice. He kind of puts into it all in thinking ahead of like you know, in my opinion, it's like he did now with his new show and doing all the things outside of ESPN. He wants to be able to establish like a ESPN Like I want you, but I don't need.

You, right, I mean he knew exactly to the day, how many how long until its contracts up, which is.

Pretty fantastic. Yeah, it was great.

I hope you guys enjoy it literally these last three episodes since Ed mccaffree, we obviously dropped the ball with Big Cat, and we'll get another shot at that hopefully.

God that suck.

I know that audio pissed me off. It's just so brutal, dude, it really is. But the last few we love how well received it's been. We love how you guys always give comments, suggestions everything. Here's a suggestion for you, dude. I know football season's over and you think dark, Am I still gonna have my favorite most delicious drink on the weekend's answers?

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Tell you want to kick it off.

Yeah, ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to another episode of Busting with the Boys. Very special guest today the legend. If you've bit Heurren on ESPN every probably in your entire life, you've seen this man sitting in front of you giving takes, going at people, having absolute receipts for everything.

Mister stephen A.

Smith, what's going on, fellas?

Hi?

Y'all to going? How y'all doing? Man?

Good to be here, Yeah, living to dream and we're happy you came on. We actually just saw you an hour ago doing a little hit on ESPN. I will tell you this, it is a very unique thing doing real TV because it's so fast paced.

It is it is.

It's fast paced and in our case is live. So you mess up, you mess up, you know what I mean? And ain't like somebody's gonna say we don't even have to say a seven second delay, so you know, an any kind of hiccup that takes place, you could say the wrong word, the wrong thing or whatever. You can gind yourself in trouble. So that's the pressure that comes along with doing live television. But I like it, so it is what it is.

How do you manage to keep your level of enthusiasm work ethic with everything you're doing. You're also now in the podcast space, which is a massive one, by the way, and shout out, shout out your boy Bailey's here. I've followed him a while. I know he kind of does a lot of your stuff, but he does. How do you manage all of that stuff?

Well, you gotta do what you love. That's number one. I don't have a job. I have a career.

I've often said when I.

Give speeches and lectures, I say a job is doing what you have to do to sustain elevation quality of life. A career is doing what you want to do, and it just so happens to do those things. But I also think the pressure of covering sports contributes to that kind of mentality. You know, you guys played in the NFL. You've got guys I'm covering to play in the NBA, Major League Baseball, professional boxes, UFC, fighters, et cetera, et cetera.

That level, but it was because you couldn't.

Yet you get to sit in judgment of how they performed, how receptive folks should be to how they perform, how receptive people should be to your commentary about it, Then you owe it to everybody to make sure that you put forth a full fledged effort with passion and enthusiasm to let everybody know not only are you not playing around, but you care that much. And so that's the very least that you can do. And that's what I try to bring to the table.

When you're fighting through that process of knowing that these guys are playing at the highest level, doing their thing at the highest level, and you are saying there in judgment, how was the process for you as far as I feeling comfortable with putting out of judgment knowing you essentially haven't done what they did.

You know, it was easy for me in this regard. I remember when I started out in the business and I had a clerical position at the Winston Salem Journal newspaper in Winstersalem, North Carolina, because I went to Winston Salem State University, which is a historically black college and university. And I went there and the sports editor of my first week on a job sent me to wake Forest University right down the road. Wake Forest was the number

Deceased, God rest his soul.

His name was Walke Chisowich, and I walked up to him and I say, I know absolutely no thing about soccer.

I've never covered it on anything, sir, But the boss.

Sent me over here to do a feature on you guys, and I don't know what I'm doing, but I really want to be a sports writer.

Could you help me?

And he summoned the entire team over and he said, for the next three days, because my piece was doing a week. He said, for the next three days, you guys are to give complete unadulterated access to Stephen. To Stephen, any question he asked you answer and he said you Steven. Meanwhile, every single practice of every day this week, you will be standing right next to me. And he taught me

Away for soccer.

When I went to the coach after that and let him know, he said to me, what do you think you've learned? What do you think you should have learned? I said, listen and learn. He said, you didn't play soccer, but you learn from those who do. And as long as you do that, then you're in a position to critique any of us because the knowledge that you're getting is not of your own. It's one that was provided to you. And as long as you make sure.

You articulate that, you will be respected because.

They know the lens that you're looking through is not that of your own, it's of ours. And I carry that with me for the rest of my career.

How was it when you started to get those close personal relationships with athletes, like you're obviously covering and now you are. Yeah, I mean you're obviously superstarting out and everybody knows you. But as you're growing and then getting those closer relationships with guys and then having to go on TV and talk about, you know, stuff that as an athlete, you know is like personal to you. How did you start to balance that as your part.

The parts about your performance never phazed me, because you perform in a public platform. So the games that themselves speak for themselves. You shoot two for twenty, that's on you. You throw three interceptions, that's on you. You fumbled three times or whatever. You get burned and you a cornerback and somebody catches to over two hundred yards on you. Okay, that's on you. I mean, there's nothing I can do

It's the behind the scene.

Stuff subject to interpretation and perspective, or the personal stuff that I'm very very guarded about because what happens is is that if I have a relationship with you, the assumption is that there's a trust.

How do you become friends with people?

You do?

You become friends with people you have no trust for, you don't believe in at all. You think every word out of their mouth is a damn line. No, that's not what you do. Usually, you cultivate these relationships and there's there's an affinity for one another and a level

A close relationship with.

Look, I've got an obligation to be fair, even if I know or I believe you and I think they may not be telling the truth. They're saying this for the record, now off the record. I ain't gonna do that to you. But if they say to you on the record, you know what, he ain't shit, he's a liar. This is what he did, and blah blah blah. It's not like I can make up a quote.

I gotta quote him.

That's what he said.

I gotta give it to them, okay, and give you an opportunity to respond. So it can get challenging in that regard, but that really calls for you to remind somebody of your professionalism, your ethics, the responsibility that comes along with the job title that you have. And it also serves as a reminder to that person that trusts you, why did you trust me?

To begin with, because I exercise those same.

Principles and cultivating the relationship I did with you, I can't go against it just because you're a man.

I can't do that.

Had those situations of my career before, confronted by those kind of things, whether it be Alan Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille or Neil Michael Jordan himself.

The list goes on and on.

You certainly have had those things where people have given their different perspectives aside that would be different from something that they said to me or whatever.

And that's the challenge that you have to deal with.

But when you're known as being straight up and up and up, what you learn to find from professional athletes that they appreciate most.

Is not being blindsided.

They see you coming, you know, they ain't open the paper or turn on the TV the next day and utterly shocked by what you're doing. And I think the greatest example of that was Isaiah Thomas when he was

To be fired.

Oh damn, because it was that bad.

It was that bad, and I knew that he had a lot going on on a personal level. His mom was dying, and you know, he wasn't all there with the New York Knicks at that particular, so much stuff that was going on in his personal life that he had to deal with that it really didn't give the ideal example of what he was capable of doing as a coach. But the situation had regressed to such a point nobody worth their salt could support him staying on board.

And I had to call him to let him know, this is what I'm doing tomorrow. And he said to me, do what you gotta do. Bro, I understand.

And is that a common thing for you when do you have a relationship with somebody and that it goes downhill in a certain way where you give them a call and you let them know this is how I'm about to go about business.

I'm the kind of person even if I don't have a relationship with you. If I know you and I know I can get in touch. If I know you well enough that I can get in touch with you and I have something say about you, I'm gonna call you. I'm that guy. I'm not that guy that's on TV. But never lie when you don't see me in the locker room and stuff anymore. Blame ESPN. You got me doing every damn show, so you know what I'm saying. I'm on the AFI hours. You know I gotta travel

In those in those like uh, in those situations like when you're closer guys have there has there been a relationship of years that has been burned because of uh.

Alan Iverson or not didn't talked for eight months. And this is when I was the beat writer. Like for those that don't understand, when you're the beat writer, wherever the team goes, you go every single day, every single practice. You got to cover the team. I was covering the Philadelphia seventy six ers and Alan Iverson and I went

I did you know? Because That's how I felt at the time, because I felt he was wrong, you know.

But ultimately a friend of his that ultimately was killed the years later, believe it or not, literally got us together. And how do we get together? He had me meet him at the club at two o'clock in the morning. And I met him at the nightclub, and Alon I was looking at me like I was crazy because I showed up by myself. I said, I'm here. I said, I'm here by myself. I said, because I can be. But more importantly, I'm right. I did not do anything wrong.

Bulls claiming that you did wrong.

Well, he was writing some articles, some article that I had written. He felt that I should not have written it because I didn't have all the facts. That I didn't get his side, and I was like, you mean after trying to reach you for three days? You mean after trying to talk to you, You mean coming to Fridays, coming to the club, you know, hollering at your friends and all that.

I'm like, you knew I was looking for you.

I said, your inaccessibility doesn't get to determine my productivity. I'm going to do my job. I reached out, I tried to find you. You weren't available. If you were available, I would have told you everything. You would have given me your perspective, and it might have altered my content. You weren't available, and you thought being inaccessible was going to prevent me from doing my job.

Well it did it. Lesson learned.

Make sure when I'm trying to reach you, I reach you because I'm not.

How can I put this.

Fellas?

I mean, I got a good life. Now.

You know, you make a little paper and you know life is cool. You know it's a.

Right, you know.

But I was never one of those nerdives dudes that needed my career to have a life. I always had a life, excuse my language. I always have shit to do, okay for my own individual pleasures, okay. And I got better things to do with my time to chase your ass around for a story. So if I'm looking for you, and I'm looking for you, and I'm looking for you at some point in time, you better hope I'll find you.

Network, the worldwide leader.

We're number one every day and so I don't have to worry about people watching us now. And then, on top of it all, in the digital stratosphere, me myself and I by myself generate over two billion views annually. You're going to see me, You're going to hear me. Do you want to have some influence over what I say or not? If you talk to me, I have no problem. I have an obligation ethically to listen to what you have to see and to make sure, even if I disagree with you, that the context that you

Nothing.

All I have to say is whatever I want to say. I tried to reach it for comment, he was unavailable.

Simple we interrupt this episode to bring you zip Recruiter. Our friends at zip recruiter conducted a recent survey that found that the top hiring challenge employers that the top hiring challenge employers face for twenty twenty four is a lack of qualified candidates. And right now you can try it for free at ZipRecruiter dot com slash bustin. If you're an employer and need to hire, here's the good news. Zip recruiter has smart tools and features that help you

When you're establishing yourself doing all this, how how did you establish relationships with these athletes and also stay as unbiased as possible and become.

A straight shooter.

When did you start to realize, Okay, I'm finally getting the reputation of who I actually am, and I feel I can be more free to be myself.

Well from day one, I always let them know, don't look for any pity from me when it comes to your game, because everyone's watching. If I'm sitting in I'm talking to y'all right now, and we're having a private conversation that's between us, and I can interpret it and I can we can discuss it, and I can shut up about it, go on my merry way, and it's between us. But with these cameras rolling with the world,

I was surrounded by drugs all my life. I was surrounded by violence all my life.

I was surrounded by folks party and all my life all of this other stuff. So all of the things, devices, the temptations and everything like that. I'm a street wise brother. I kind of know. So if you show up to a game, I don't need a test to know if you hide. I'm looking right at you. I know if you hide, I know if you drunk. And then when you dig the way that I dig, Because remember I'm a beat right at the time, you get to know everybody. And this is what people don't realize about people that

You tried to come on to his wife and his wife was interested.

Do you think that I don't know that you really really can't stand this dude, because guess what, you wouldn't trade with this team because that former executive used to screw around with your wife and you didn't want anybody to know.

That's why when.

You remember, if you recall when we were doing the whole Boston Celtics thing where email you Doka got pushed out because of a consensual relationship with somebody, you saw me going ballistic because I was like, oh, that's the first time that happened. I've been in this business for thirty years. Ain't a year that went by that I don't know about people screwing around in the office. It's always happening, like always, But this guy is the one

I get it.

But what really ticked me off as well as that.

There's certain codes like if you without getting into details because I don't want to get sued.

You kind of.

Know that the person that he was with had connections to somebody else within organization? Can I say that? So I'm going like this now is that not the epitome of weakness. As men, your woman, there is nothing around with somebody allegedly right and you victimized in him, Well he want in a relationship with you? She was, but he victimized. But but you're still probably with that person. Really now, I'm saying that as men, we would call a dude out for that. We'd be like, yo, b

It to you.

You understand saying she did. But they called him out.

And I didn't want to go nuclear at that moment and say that, but that's what I was thinking, like, you know, you got to be pretty damn weak to be instigating this kind of shrapnel against that guy because you didn't handle your business.

You know, I'm not fault.

I'm not saying she wasn't wrong and he wasn't wrong or whatever.

But there was another element to it that came.

With it that you saw there was a level of victim of vindictimness and hostility aimed solely at him.

Who was not married.

And he wasn't involved with you, so why is he the one suffering more than anybody else? That's where I was coming from, And those kind of perspectives you get from seeing a lot and being around a lot and covering and seeing a whole bunch of things that go on. That was the stuff that that noise away at me because I look for consistency. I want fairness. It doesn't

When you talk about you, you brought the code it.

Obviously it's easy sitting as Steven A Smith right now to go. But when you're a beat writer just trying to scratch and claw for that interview and you know things are going on and you could it'd be very easy for you to get way more clicks or way more whatever by saying, Hey, so and so is cheating with so and so or whatever philandering is going on in this facility. How did you figure out the code? Like, how quickly do you learn that this code exists?

Well, for me, it's it's a personal decision. My personal morals and ethics are different than other people. Fellas, there's certain lines I'm just not crossing. I don't know y'all from a canapigin. I'm just meet y'all, happy to get to know y'allther show all the time, watch a couple of times.

Y'all do a great job.

Man, I could see you doing something that I might deem to be unethical as it pertains to your personal relationship with somebody. Man, it ain't none of my damn business. I might not like it, I might hold it in, but I'm not diming you out.

I'm just not doing it. It's none of my business. Now you're on a football field, you play like garbage. That's different.

You know what I'm saying.

I'm gonna say that you unders and by the way and by the way, and by the way and by the way if you do that, because we've seen people. I've seen people show up the games and you look sluggish. The audience didn't know you was screwing somebody two hours ago, but I did because I knew her.

See what I'm saying.

So I'm not gonna tell on you, but I'm gonna go like this. I don't know what was wrong with them. He seemed a bit slow, you know, legs seem to be there, you know, way of letting him know, Man, I know what you did.

It's the matter with you.

You couldn't wait till after the game.

You know.

That's how I've done or a guy that you know what, you're on a source a little bit. You're drinking a little bit too much alcohol. You know, he's supposed to be doing that. You're supposed to do that the night before, not an hour, but not the hour before the game, you know, And I'm like, I'm looking at you like you know, you didn't seem like yourself.

You seemed a little bit off kilter.

And you know they raised the eyebrow because they know what I'm alluding to the audience. Doesn't you see what I'm saying. But I'll do stuff that's to let him know. Yeah I could, but I'm not. But don't think I don't know. Come on, man, do your.

Job, do your job, and then afterward live your life.

And so you know I've been doing stuff like that, you know throughout my career. The difference between me now and then you got some of these athletes can't stand my ass, hate my ass, whatever case may, because they see me on TV. They don't have a relationship with me. For the reason why is because I'm stuck in studio and I can't get to the games the way that I used to as many gigs. I used to go to like two hundred, like one hundred and one hundred and twenty five games a year. Now I have to

You seem like you got a problem. What's up?

You can't possibly have a problem, How could you possibly have a problem?

You know, what the hell you did?

You know?

And I would roll up on them like that.

I remember years ago, mad love and respect for John Wall, but John Wall I was doing first take. John Wall walked up and he was like, you know, I just wish Cassa, you know, Stephen Ay, you know, you know, say something on TV, be man enough to you know, come to the locker room knowing good and damn well.

I couldn't get to Washington that day.

Man brother said that stuff. Man, I took off my microphone a good commercial break.

I flew to DC.

I was in front of his locker that night, Like what like, I'm scared to do my job. It's not not talking about no fighting or anything like you're acting like I'm scared to do my job.

This is my job.

I am not scared to do my job ever. Ever, this is my job. Personal stuff is beyond the scope of the job. That's off, that's wrong. You know, somebody disrespecting your family member, your girls are no. No, you want you want to bust the ass. Can't have that because you violating codes. But me just doing my job.

If you can't play, you can't play. You play like garbage. You play like garbage. You messing up. You're messing up me scared to do that.

Anybody that implies that they're gonna see me in front of that locker room, They're gonna see me in front of that I'd walk in the middle of the Dallas cowboyd locker room after a game if they said something like that about me, you got to be crazy, because that's the job. And I'm never gonna be scared to do my job.

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I think when people would say when it was CNNSI, which was a big deal because I was on the NBA show on Sunday mornings. But I would say the real big break was when I went to Fox Sports Television because it was before the formation of the best damn Sports show period and I on their National Sports They had their National Sports Desk. Kevin Frazier, who's now at Entertainment Tonight, was one of the hosts, along with various others. He's a dear friend of mine, and I

How do you get to that conclusion with best day of sports show period, where they're offering you a job, they're offering you probably more money than you've been making before, and to have the wherewithal to sit there and be like, tactically, strategically in this video game of life I'm playing, this is not the move to make, all though it's better right now than it is.

Same thing you're doing now. You're playing a long game, you know, clicks would be nice. Views per episode would be nice. A subscriber base that builds is something that you want. We all know what the business entails. But if you want to do something and just be a one off, that's entirely different than building a career that's sustainable. And for me, I always played the long game. I still do. I think ahead.

You know.

Somebody asked me the other day, they say, yo, man, what did you do when you got your contract in twenty eighteen?

I said, I went home.

I was a little sad for a little while because I had lost my mom a year earlier. God rest her soul after long battle with cancer. And I said, so I licked my wounds there because I was sad because I knew the kind of money that I was earning, what I was going to be able to do for her if she had been alive, and I had never had a chance to do that, you know, for what I would have been able to do for half.

I signed that contract.

But then ultimately I spent some time with my sisters and you know, and my family, my daughters and everything like that for the weekend.

That Monday morning, I woke up.

And they said, what were you thinking about I said my next contract, and I wasn't playing. I knew that I had five and a half years to go, and I was thinking about five and a half years down the road. What am I going to do and where am I going to be in five and a half years. And that is my mentality always to try to maintain three, five, ten steps ahead, to see the forest from the trees, to anticipate the kind of things that are going to happen.

What is your vision? What are your vision for yourself down the road? Like you know, obviously you signed the massive deal with ESPN, You're Steven A. Smith, You've come out with the podcast. Everybody knows this media landscape on the leveraging and building your own platform. Okay, I'm on this massive network. You might think you're building me up, Let me go show you how I can do it on my own as well. What is the north star look like for you five ten years done there?

Well, the north star for me is to have that level of independence, to establish it in such a way where I'm there because I want to be there, not because I need to be there. I love working for Disney and ESPN. I love being associated with the world of sports. I think that's one of the five pillars in this nation that you want to attach yourself to if you can pull it off. And I'm certainly not

I can tell you that right now on this on YouTube, when we post this black and white music behind it self titles the whole thing that is going to go. I want to see a breakfast episode to bring you Ashley dude it. Ashley has great quality stuff on trend, comfortable and affordable, perfect seating to watch the game or gaming with your friends. Our episode today is with us Steven A.

Smith.

You see those coashy seats, You see what we're sitting in. That is Ashley. We were spending I don't know what fifteen hour days up and around pods after pods after pods. That are pods trying to give you people what you love most, which is interviews with amazing guests and Ashley furniture made our toushes feel like it was in a safe safe hands. Dude, he was a favorite. Used code

Nuts. I know you, I know you gotta leave.

But obviously the competitive drive the why ever you have literally everything, and in sports, when you're on a team, your goal is to win the.

Super Bowl or the NBA Championship, all these different things.

You're competing against other teams, but also internally in the on the team you're at, you're competing with the guys around you.

And so ESPN comes in.

You talked about two billion views, you talked about being the man number one for twelve years, and you see ESPN making a pivot to McAfee, obviously great for the network. How do you, in your mindset view a guy like McAfee, who is extremely good at his job in a lot of ways, is changing the course of mainstream media and all those things from a competitive standpoint.

Also as a partner, I am an aberration in this regard. I love Pat McAfee, love the death, love the death. I love his swag. I love the fact that he's an honest brother. He don't give a shit. Lets you know exactly where he's staying. That's my kind of dude. That works for me now as he as polished politically as me. Nope, because he has no desire to be number one and number two.

If we're being honest. He's white and I'm black. He didn't have to be.

I had to be.

So I get all of that, and I'm not knocking him for it. I get it. Pat McAfee is a sensational talent, and it would be stupid for me not to root for him because he's one of the pioneers in this business, just like Bill Simmons is just like Joe Rogan is in others what they have done for themselves in the digital stratospy, it speaks for itself.

I'm new to this baby I got.

I'm approaching five hundred and fifty thousand subscribers in ten ten and a half months. People see me, Oh my god, you're averaging over two thousand subscribers a day.

And look at the views forever. So it's just climbing and climbing.

And look at the consistency to growth, especially by God Bailey, the social media gurule. I mean these strategies. He's painting this beautiful picture every day. I'm looking at the fact that my numbers pale in comparison to those folks who have been there and have like a four or five, seven eight year head start on me. Why because I'm looking at who's number one?

And why? Okay?

But in the same breath, don't get it twisted. I love Pat pet knows that I'm rooting for him. I help him anyway. I can't help him. But we know who number one in linear television is.

You know, way.

Backseat, You've been number one for twelve years.

People come, people go, people come, people stay.

But there's a top perch.

Now you could take it away knock on wood.

It could be next year, be next week, it could be two years, five years from now, whatever. But since twenty twelve, it's been me with Skip Payler's, with Adam, with Max Kellerman, with Adam, with a potpourrie of contributes.

It don't matter.

I come to win, and when it comes to linear television, that's exactly what the fuck I have done. And so my attitude is, as long as I'm doing it, I'm gonna continue to win. McAfee or no McAfee, get up or no get up, It don't matter who it is, FS One, Comcast, whatever you come for me, I'm coming for you. I'm here to win. Digital is different because I'm a baby, I'm crawling. I'm an infant. You understand I'm saying I ain't even learn how to walk yet.

I've done it in linear television.

I'm going to continue to do it in linear television at least as long as I have a contract to do so, and hopefully I'll be able to do it in the digital stratospy as well, and then after that.

It's kind of production we're doing around here that we're trying to throw in this talking about being the one Steve A.

This has been an honor man, Thank you so much.

I wish we had a longer time. I don't know if you saw on the internet all black verus all White.

Team, Okay, I did not see.

You didn't see that.

I did not see.

Have been something you be covering, you know that one.

And if you look at the old White team except for that backing on defense, not.

A bad squad.

I'll check it out. I'll check it out.

I think I think the Buns squads minus twenty four and a half when we go well over it. But it'll be all right, okay, hey.

We'll get your many much all im siate y'all man, all the best of both of y'all man, keep doing the great job been doing.

We'll be seeing you soon, all right, Yes, sir, take ca