Do SOMETHING! Make Something of Yourself!

Greetings and welcome to Inside Baseball with Old Chestnut. I'm Liam Allen with my friend Morse Sachs. How you doing, MB? I'm doing great. It's great to see ya. Feels like it's been a while. It's been a month at least. Holy shit. What's going on? Uh nothing. Sell and may and go away. Isn't that the rule? That's the rule. Like nothing. Nothing's going on. Nothing. Yeah. Well, you're you're right, unfortunately or fortunately. I there was a podcast

Of course, memory is fades in these uh respects, but there was a podcast several weeks ago where there was an inflation print. And I think I said to you, We were gonna be going sideways for a while. Does that ring a bell with you? Absolutely, yeah. And uh Our good friend uh David Zervos had some uh attended some meetings with some Fed governors and apparently everyone's quite comfortable with the current state of affairs. So I would suspect uh

we're gonna be going sideways for for quite a while. Uh and you know, I I don't know that this necessarily makes a difference, but the uh election in November People say the the Fed tries not to be too active. Um You know, I I think we're in one of these uh situations where it's study she goes and you know, for me I'm just kind of piled in the front end trying to get some Real estate refinancing's done and wanna talk about that?

Oh, you can talk it. Not not much to talk about. I I you know, it's a a couple of small loans to start and th there's some interest in this spread is, you know, LIBOR. plus uh or sulfur whatever they call it now librar plus 215 basis points um To be honest with you, I I don't know historically How that is? kinda middle of the road. But you know, the the the tax breaks on these things are so onerous that uh

You know, uh almost any rate they give you, you you take it because you're you're taking cash out tax free. Yeah, yeah.

But uh you know, the uh a a lot of things you've been reading and have sent over to me lately. Have talked about uh people becoming quite concerned about the the budget deficit. you know, the amount of money we own foreigners, the amount the amount of money we owe ourselves. And I've, you know, traditionally been quick to dismiss that out of hand just because I've heard it for

Thirty something years and it's yet to be a problem. But uh you know, I think at this point, um I do think that some attention needs to be paid because

Through the the power of compound interest, which you know is something I've always tried to get on my side and recommended to anyone who listens that that's very powerful. We're on the the other side of And um I I still believe And I know I get a lot of pushback from people, but I still believe if there were a political will But you know, when you look at the the people running the country, um there's no political will other than they want to uh and this is obviously very

typical comment, but they want to get re-elected and they want to make themselves rich. What has surprised me is uh recently is uh being Jewish living on the East Coast, um the bulk of the people uh that I traffic with um And I did may or may not share this view, but they're huge anti-Trump people and they're starting to cave. Um I I wouldn't be surprised if it's a landslide and uh uh you know the Republican get a lot of control. Now I I'm not the political expert. Um

But I'm talking about hardcore, if they could push push a button and Trump would be dead, uh that their thumbs would be numb. Um So we'll we'll see. Uh We had uh we I'd say Cheryl had because I just turn up and eat and help wash the dishes, but uh we had another couple over for dinner two nights ago. And they're both uh a bit older uh than we are, let's say, late 60s. Both have uh very prestigious Legal backgrounds. And I would say their political leanings are much more.

Democrat than Republican. But again, I'm assuming just based on you know kind of offhand comments. But what they and Cheryl brought up, which I found Interesting is Apparently the situation, the uh I guess you could still call him President Trump, even though he's not currently president.

Apparently the people who uh understand the way the law works, they think this is a farce the trial that um to quote the man who was senior partner Big-time New York law firm said the the federal government doesn't bring these kind of cases because it's such a Vague, nebulous concept that basically his point was you could. arrest anybody under these terms. And everyone agreed uh at dinner that you The Democrats may get what they want or not to be seen, but um

The United States will be damaged by it. And it really speaks volumes to the fact of what the people in charge of the place are willing to do to get re-elected. Again, I I I think I made it clear in a previous episode. If not, I'll I'll restate. This is my opinion and does not reflect the opinions of the employees or management or ownership of Iblock, but sponsors, our sponsors. Don't forget the sponsors. Yeah, I've I've I got a little comment about them too for later. Um

But uh whoever I think's gonna be more pro-Israel is who I'm gonna vote for. It's just it's Trump. It's a layup for Trump. Um Yeah, Bill Ackman came out and endorsed him. So, you know, he's the leading voice of the of the Jewish populace. Okay. So in his own mind. Um, did you see there there was some news uh you sent me earlier, thank you.

Um f for those of you aren't on the platinum subscription, Liam quickly sent around a little story. Well, why don't you tell? About the hedge funds? Yeah. You tell it'cause I yeah you you got the headline. You do a better job. Okay. It's from a tw it's from a Twitter. Let me give it to Twitter guy because the guy sent it to me on Twitter and he said MB will love this. Okay. Um

Yeah, the headline the the headline is big investors demand hedge funds beat you know beat cash, whatever. Go ahead. Okay, so the long and the short of it is this article, I think it's a Bloomberg article, said big quote, big investors are demanding hedge funds beat the cash rate before they get their incentive payments. I I I mean, you know, hello once again, thought leaders in our space. I mean, why should you give somebody two and twenty?

When the money's sitting in treasury bills. In let me read the first sentence. Institutional investors have grown tired of paying fees to hedge funds for what they see as skill less returns. And if you wanna see what is described as skill less returns, I recommend again the movie Dung Money. And uh Gabe Plotnin Plotkin, yeah, who I wonder how he's doing. Yeah. Um I'm sure Stevie Cohn's looking for inside information.'Cause he knows the worst thing that happens is he gets fined another

Five hundred million. No big deal. Well, in his mind I I made a billion. I got five hundred million. I got a lot of time for that. Yeah, absolutely.

I know a lot of people out there have been wondering about my uh money tied up in the side pocket. And I've had some news to share with everyone. Now uh just to to bring Some people lead to the party up to speed. When you give money to a hedge fund, and of course we recommend highly against. Um uh they reserve the right not to give you your money back in certain circumstances, mostly in circumstances where you want your money back, but that's a sign.

But there's this thing called the side pocket where they put investments that are quote illiquid. Um and uh as those investments mature. They pay out the the the money to the investors. I'm certain the whole time that money's sitting in the two and twenty category. Um, but um It's been a couple of years now, and I had requested a full redemption from my hedge fund. Once again, I won't mention the name, but

you know, best in class kind of thing. And um Right now in the side pocket, I have eight hundred and nine thousand dollars. I gotta note that um this month, June, they will be be making a distribution of one thousand one hundred and forty-five dollars. You know Come on. Part of me wants to write back, you know, stick it up your fucking. Yeah, cheat. Yeah. You need it more than me, too. Exactly.

Oh boy. You know what's it gonna take what's it gonna take to get the name of of of how long does it drag out before you get frustrated enough to name I can't I I you know I can't I can't do it. Much as I am happy to badmouth people on the gimbal's ride. Yeah. You know, although anyone any listener out there that wants to guess, inside baseball cast a Gmail. And if you get it right, I'll send you a hat, but you're gonna have to sign an NDA.

I'd probably give them a thousand bucks. There's no way they're getting this name. Okay. Um so uh

While we're on hedge fund, do you want to talk about Bill taking his public? You wanna take talk about Pershing Square going public? Or you wanna later no no we we do. Um let's get that because it's it's on the top of the list, but there's a another direction I'd like to go from You know... How do I put this without sounding just like a nut job? So you're supposed to buy an interest in Pershing Square hedge fund. Okay. Now, um, you're an average investor.

Thank you. Name three people who work at Pershing Square besides Bill Ackman. Zero. Got You don't have not one name. Not sure anyone of the that they had a friend you can call and say, Hey, can you pick me up at the train station? Zero. And I know a lot of people. Well, I know three Okay. Two of the three don't work there anymore, and the third is Bill Act.

Okay, so what I'll cut right to the chase. You buy your shares, and uh you're getting uh an investment in Bill Ackman because uh You know, you don't hear him touting all of the great people supporting him with his great spectacular ideas. I I think back when Uh I was involved. We were not in the press publicly, but I was pretty open about giving credit where credit was due. Maybe that's a human weakness of mine, showing appreciation, but you know, based on Bill's.

silence of the people who have aided him. Uh it must be just him. Uh unless He these people are so incredibly talented that he's afraid giving their names out publicly would risk being poached. Right. But a long-winded way to say, you know, somebody walks up Manhattan and Bill's a a a noticeable guy, right? One guy goes a la Akbar on Bill Ackman, and what what do you think your Pershing Square investment is worth? You're stuck with J C Penny. If you're lucky.

Like Taco Bell is something else. This is a big one. One of the things that when I worked at Greenwich, they really pushed on me was to hire other traders. And It I became aware through uh backdoor conversations that. The management didn't like the fact that the revenues were concentrated in such a small number of traders. And in a place like Greenwich, the assets are the money and the people. And the people walk in and out of that building every day. And somebody comes along and scoops them up.

your assets go away. So they wanted to diversify uh by having more traders. This is kind of the inverse of that, right? You you're putting all your money and one guy. I I I don't know. Uh it's curious to me uh why uh well actually it's not curious. I I mean it it just seems like He's decided. He's made a name and he wants to cash out. Bingo, dude. Time to cash the celebrity check, dude, because

Dude, he's Bill Wall, he's Bill Ackman. He's a he was a Wall Street guy. Like nobody nobody nobody paid attention to a Wall Street guy on social media or in political discourse or had made such a bold face name. You would get like, you know, the Whatever the page six David Solomon stuff or whatever the headline, whatever the name was, but it was never it was a niche thing. Dude, he has become

Name brand. Like you, he the his name brand, his brand name recognition. If he's got somebody in his ear that's like, look, dude, this is your peak celebrity. All right, if you want to get paid on it, do it now because it might be gone in two years, it might be gone in four years. You have this spotlight and if you want to cash it, take Pershing public, who cares? That's got that that has to be the logic behind it, right? You know.

why they're selling, you know, the there's the caveat emptor, and then to quote the bard, sell when you can, you're not for all markets. I don't yeah, it's a I'm a little bit lost on why somebody would buy these things. Um I haven't looked at stocks in a long time, but back again when we were at Greenwich Capital. We were bought and sold a few times and

We had brought up the idea of going public. And the guys who ran the firm made an excellent point because you could at that point you could see it. Trading firms In this case uh Solomon brothers uh would trade at a much lower PE than banks. Because trading revenue is highly volatile and bank revenue relatively is fee income. So they deserve a lower risk, higher PE. Now this takes it to 11.

Yeah, I I'm sure that there's a lot of logical reasons, uh, all of which escape me at the moment. But um yeah, I you know, I I I I wish him I wish him well. I it just the whole thing seems to me to be a little bit of a a farce. Uh you're not alone. You're not alone. The the the crickets have already voiced Your your sentiments. Well similar sentiments. It took a while, but you'll notice uh DJ Saw is no longer in the public eye.

Um As our marketing team said a long time ago, over a long enough time horizon, Ibwak is always right. No, I think David Solomon, even though he gets to keep the money, I do think he goes away in utter humiliation. I don't know. I don't know about that. I think he's ridden out the storm. Stocks at an all time high. Stocks at an all time high. Absolutely. Okay. But He had to go and give up his passion.

And so now he's a whore. He listened to us, dude. He did the dude we we buried we buried him. Okay. Of course. But he took the money. He took the money. If he was a true believer If he was a true believer, it would have been, hey. Here's the story. I'm the guy. We're doing the gigs. I'm running the firm. You know what? Talk to me in a year. And if it's not going so well, I'll give it up. But no, he just fucking caved like the wet paper bag. So

Off to off to never never land. No, I think I I believe in second chances and I think that he is reformed. No, no, no. Second chances that is That is the story for men who lose. Okay. You walked right into that one. Yeah, yeah. So

Um due to events beyond our control, we didn't have a podcast last weekend, which um was too bad. Uh I had a theme and I want to come back to it now if I can because it it delves a bit into my past, which uh, you know, the one of the m more important parts of this podcast. I mean, job one is getting to spend an unfettered hour with you. Um, but it's a chance for me to pass a bit of in not only my past, but Cheryl's past with our kids or maybe hopefully one day grandkids.

But back in uh when I was in college and graduate school. My parents had belonged to a local golf club. And so, you know, my brother, my sister and I, we spent a lot of time in the summers area. You know, it was safe and we could walk there and, you know, white prep. But a number of the the guys, the men were traders at the Chicago Board of Trade. And um my cousin Henry was a municipal bond broker dealer on LaSalle. He's the one that kind of got me interested in the stock of the

I was gonna say that's the origin. And that is that your Muni is that why you're partial to the Munis too? You always have a soft appointment? That's why I'm partial to the munis and it's why I am unpartial to stocks. Cause when I came into the business They were just finishing an early Extraordinarily destructive bear market. So the Dow is at eight uh seven hundred and sixty when I came into the business. Seven sixty. Where is it now? Ten thousand. And it's at forty. Okay, so yeah, so...

This is a serious financial podcast we're hosting. You ask me if the DAOs it tends that I don't That's a beautiful thing, exactly. Because it doesn't m it's that's awesome. Yeah. We don't talk about we've never talked about the DAO here. Go ahead. But the point being As I'm growing up, there's a massive recession. Stocks suck. All the research I'm doing. I put that sheet up on the website. You know, you get like Ps of six stuff. And so I to me.

Seeing these municipal bonds at tax free fourteen percent. You know, why would you do anything else? Right. And, you know, there's that saying, give me a child till he's five and they're mine forever. I mean, that was my first experience with it. But

Getting back uh to the Chicago Board of Trade. The the Chicago Board of Trade is 141 uh West Jackson Boulevard, I believe. And my cousin Henry's office was at 135 South LaSalle Street. So you could throw a baseball from his office to the Board of Trade. And I had a um a friend from summer camp who had a job as a runner at the Board of Trade. And I went over on a lunchtime

Watched the visitors' gallery, and then he met me in the lobby and he got me on the floor. And we we walked around. I'm like, I am never leaving this. This is just the coolest fucking I mean, you know you're I maybe I was 17 at the time and guys are yelling and screaming and everyone's young and and a lot of pretty girls and tell guys telling jokes. Uh so anyway I I decided I wanted to get a summer job at the Board of Trade and so I hit up a few of the

And one man who was nice enough to give me a job, a summer job, his name is Sandy Bank. And um his brother Nikki, I believe, ran the EF Hut. Operation. uh at the board. And so um, you know, for summers. and uh vacations and stuff, I would go to work at the Board of Trade. Uh I I bring up his name is'cause he he he passed away a couple weeks ago. And uh Uh not terribly old, but he was one of the old time

Chicago Board of Trade guys. So, you know, wrote hard and put up wet. But um it reminded me of all of the things that I saw and I learned.

at the Board of Trade. And, you know, a lot of them I've only come to understand years later when I look back and think about things. You know, the um uh the ability of young people to learn quickly new skills. Is is amazing. You know, you see all those hand signals and stuff like that. Imagine walking in, you know, having some college classes, and in two weeks.

you know, placing orders for hundreds of thousands of contracts just based on what some guy 50 feet from you flashed with his hands. It was an incredibly empowering experience. Back when uh people used to use a lot of resting orders, they get called in, filled out on a Not eight by ten, but you know. Three and a half by six and whatever.

piece of paper and you would fold them and you kept them in a certain order. You would it was called your deck. And so there would be the ARB clerk who would be the guy looking at the phones with the guys with the hand signal. And then there would be the the um the the deck holder. Yeah. Yeah. So the art clerk was doing everything that was at the moment.

And the guy holding the deck, it's his job was to follow where the market was. Because as the market went up, you're shifting the orders sells and buy stops. And when the market would go down, it would be buys and sells. Um stop is a order that if you hit becomes executed at the next best possible price. And you you saw this interaction all day between the brokers.

and they locals or the individual traders. And it was um I don't know if the word symbiotic is right, but it was a relationship where they relied on each other because The broker needed to fill the order quickly, and the local wanted to get as good a price as possible. But it had to be a two-way street because if the locals always gave the broker shitty prices, the brokers wouldn't trade with them. And if the brokers gave the locals too good a price, the

Upstairs broker will be going, Why am I getting all these shitty prices? So you you learn this give and take of Yeah, there's times you throw a guy a bone, and there's times when you get stuck on something, you go to somebody and uh you ask for help, which, you know, I I don't see that really existing.

Any anymore. I I think the point and click, I think it's taken a lot of the uh the elegance or the romance out of the trading. You know, I I find and I know um I think uh Kevin gets a kick out of it when I'll put a bid or an offer in and something that's illiquid and there'll be immediately

a tenth of a cent offer ahead of mine or above me and and it drives me fucking crazy because I can't trade at that price. Yet you've got the citadels of the world and you know, every you know, Russian trading organization, front running people, which, you know People did it. They didn't do it a lot. It was generally a covert op those people didn't tend to to last.

Because guys would kind of shy away from that stuff. Um very much you had to go along to get along. Uh unfortunately, um there was some legitimate uh fraud was definitely breaking the law.

People back then, and I talked about this on the podcast. Now I've not seen any of this firsthand. I want to make that clear. It's just I heard discussion of it. Sure. Just for all those wondering about my involvement. But people would trade quite often on The open and the close, and they would be market orders. So you would submit an order to buy 500 on the close or sell 500.

And so for me, you collect all these orders in the deck. And then what Typically would happen, and again, this is not me, but what a random clerk would be, he would net them. Yeah, we've got five hundred buys, I got three hundred sells. Yep. He would lean over and say to his broker, We gotta we gotta buy two hundred of the clothes, which he would do. And then

Uh again, folklore would have it. There would be a feeding frenzy at two minutes after the after the bell, where the locals would come over and help. fill the orders. So the the cells would get filled near the bottom of the closing range and the buys would get filled near the high end of the this is back when we had I don't even know if that closing range And and then the best part was there was a firm, I forget the name, I think it was Shatkin, I wanna say.

They were like the Fed from 201 to 220. Because if you were out. Okay, you could go over there, they could trade the cash mark. So if you needed to buy or sell contracts, they would give you A price. That was a phrase called trading on the curb, which you know, again, you know. It's gone. You're saying I'm sure it doesn't exist. Uh but um yeah, so you you learn about the the Greece and the financial markets, you know, there was a gal.

And I I remember her name, I won't say it, but very uh very attractive young woman. And uh all she did all day was sit where When I left, she used to sit where they started trading the uh bond options, but it was kind of the old soybean oil area. She's sit there waiting to hear her name called, the phone call,'cause you know, you had like house phones and stuff. And um She had a lumber permit, which allowed her on the floor. Lumber not a highly

Active contract. So I, you know, maybe it cost her 500 bucks a month to get on the floor. But she was the cocaine dealer. And so you would hear her name all day long. And um that's why I remember it and I will tell you offline. Inside baseball cast for all the other guys that know the name. Don't send it from your work email, okay? I know those C Bot guys are out there. You know there was uh prostitution on the floor. No, no.

To market, of course. I can't imagine what else that you didn't know about. Because you were squeaky clean. The fact that you were even aware of these things is amazing. I can't I can't imagine what the the subter the subterranean levels were like. Well these rooms are caverns. Okay. And what's mind numbing is when I worked there, okay, they had already cut the ceiling in half. and made the up f uh the floor above the Chicago Board options.

Wow, yeah. So they probably lost thirty feet in this room I'm saying must have been even at this point 40 feet ceilings, right? So these are cavernous, you have booths all over the place. And so yeah, there would there would be some Yeah. And in fact, in fact. Memory served. A friend of ours, uh, they met at the board on the options exchange and their daughter, Nora, was conceived on the floor, or the floor, but In the trading room at the Chicago Board Option.

Yeah. That's incredible. Yeah. It's just another day. Lovely story. That's a nice yeah, yeah. Well it was it was a uh What year uh how old is she how old is the kid now? The kid's twenty the kid's thirty? At least as a Oh wow, okay. Yeah. So go back into this the late nineties. I can't imagine what it was like in the late ninety ninety ninety ninety-nine. Good lord. So you know, I'm making a hundred bucks a week, Cap.

And uh, you know, after the close you go down to sign of the trader. The brokers are buying everybody drink. That's where the big local Tom Baldwin, uh, who is a a name you may have come across, um, he complained because the deposit slips at the LaSalle National Bank only had You could only put up$99,000 on a on a deposit on one slip. Now this is back in the late 70s, so you can imagine the cash these guys were taken out.

quite quite uh quite spectacular. Um Anyway, I I just I wanted to kind of think about Sandy's memory and uh how much between him and uh my cousin Henry, I I really learned from the business. And, you know, uh I'd mentioned to you uh and the viewers that I've been spending less time staring at the computer and looking at the markets in general. I I think uh our friend uh Anthony Peters who turned seventy Soon. So a big happy birthday to Anthony. Yeah.

has suggested there's nothing interesting in the market, which is why I'm spending less time. And I I think there's some validity to that. But um one of the positive byproducts is I've been reading uh just an enormous amount which is new for me and um primarily generals biographies of generals in World War Two. So Patton, Eisenhower, Montgomery. Omar Bradley. And that you know that like the Board of Trade that had its own approach to things which I find uh Terribly instructive.

Because of the time we're in right now. So um I or we were discussing the college campus situation a couple weeks ago. And I had made the comment that I wasn't gonna ever hire anybody from Colombia. I I I got a lovely note from a a listener who, you know, it's the sort of the American story, you know, worked hard.

took out loans, got a degree from Columbia, listens to us regularly, and now he gets blackballed because of stuff that is going on in his alma mater. And I I and you know when I got that note it You know, I I hate to say it, but you know, I I I got a soft spot for certain kinds of things and and this kind of hit me and I and I I kind of said, you know, I I guess I'm sorry about that and and uh And I you know we're nice. But I I you know I I felt unfulfilled with that.

Because not long after that, I'm reading, which uh not a paid subscriber, but I looked up the Times of Israel. And there's pictures of these kids that were shot dead at that dance uh party. And you know It's a little it was a little odd for me to be apologizing to the university of uh Columbia University for I don't say allowing, but having these these

Children dancing around celebrating the murder of Jews. And so I guess what I kind of came down to was, you know, for the people who go to Colombia. What are you doing? Are you just watching it and shaking your head and saying it's terrible and it's someone else's problem and going and moving on? Or are you are you

taking some form of action. I I don't happen to know specifically what action I would suggest, but you know, it's like the friend of mine that anytime you talk about Donald Trump or global warming, he foams at the mouth, yet he won't cut back on eating cheeseburgers.

You know, it's like I don't Yep. Walk to walk. Um what I have seen from reading uh these stories about the generals and their their well-known generals. And I'm gonna continue because this is a whole world that I didn't understand at all what the amount of power that a legitimate high-ranking general in the army has. And so, you know, if you look at Any of these battles, let's say you talk about the the one everyone likes to romanticize, probably rightfully so, the Normandy invasion.

So basically, Chief of Staff Marshall says to Eisenhower, I'm Go over there, you know, do what you gotta do and call me when you're done. And so he just gives him the latitude to go and kill hundreds of thousands of people. Of what happened, right? Uh so now you have this problem in Israel, and Israel declares war on Hamas. Now, if this were the US. What happens? They send, you know. Shock awe. Shock and aw. Yeah, and and there wouldn't be

Gaza. There wouldn't be Rafah. It would be a parking lot. And you know, uh clearly uh we don't advocate that. Um that would be legitimate genocide, not the nonsense that people spiel about what's going on in Gaza. If so Consistent with Arab talents, it's the only genocide where the population is going up. Um

Which tells you what an incompetent race those people are. Uh but um yeah, I I think uh they've done an admirable job trying to keep the shit together with without a lot of great work of the US, I mean you you you note that that$350 million cement um doc here the pier yeah i know you got your you got your girlfriend nikki haley over there writing finish em on missiles shooting missiles over okay i don't think

Okay, Nikki, stay at home. South Carolina has problems. I don't need you writing graffiti on missiles. Okay. That doesn't not that's not not helping. It's not helpful, okay? I thought that was quite fun. Well you you okay, well we we share a different perspective, okay? Like to me that's not helping solve the problem, okay? Fuck you on the missiles, finish them, okay? Like is it that's gonna that'll do it. Um So you want to talk about e-bikes?

Dude, I'm I'm ready. Yes, absolutely. Are you d uh have you have you changed your your your or your tune on the e bikes? I'm I'm I'm trying. I'm trying. So possible not to. I got a hundred emails from people that were like, What is wrong with him? What is wrong? I I'm a proud guy. Yeah. That's what it distills down to. Okay, thank you. So um we get beat can we get past that, please? So there's a Swiss phrase. Um I believe, let me think if I remember it. It's when Zinik Dord Ankoman.

Ben sie nikt alleen dort ankommen, soul ständen sie. Nick Dordzian. Oh yeah, yeah. You're you're familiar with that, right? Yeah, we. I know my my um Accent's a little rusty. In English, that means if you didn't get there on your own, you don't belong there. Okay. Okay. Now I think I predicted. And unfortunately I know I predicted, I don't know if I did it on the show, but unfortunately it it came to fruition. Two people have now died.

out west with the electric mountain bikes. Oh yeah. Because they go out Shits and giggles. Battery dies. Now you got a fifty pound anchor. And by the way, you've been in backcountry. If you don't know what you're doing, you're dead anyway. And that's what happened. Search and rescue found not one but two different instances where they found the people and they died. Yep. Yep.

Um so as we talk about the e-bikes. I'm trying to find a logical way for me to use them that I feel good about riding them. No. There's no logic in it. Okay. You're when you apply logic to riding the bike, you're you're complicated. You the goal of the ride is to go leave the house and go up into the peaceful Tree lined hills of Greenwich. and for ninety minutes not have to think about anything except for the wind in your hair

And inside baseball, you shouldn't be gasping and suffering. Like I look to your ride. You go up these awful hills. I'm like, there's gotta be a flat loop by you somewhere. Who the fuck are you? What happened to Liam? There is no there is no joy in Mudville. We are not doing this is this is about pain and suffering and humiliation.

That's I had a I somebody said something this week about oh so and so's ride. I was like, Yeah, none of those people enjoy riding their bike. So and so did a huge ride. Oh, did you see uh Did you see so and so? I said, Yeah, that person's partially autistic, okay. Number one. Okay. And they don't enjoy riding their bike. Like that's their their life is driven by I need to go see how far. Those people are running away from something. They're seeking an escape on the bike.

From the reality of their lives, okay. We we you and I now we've reached the pinnacle of podcast success. There's not achieve we've done dude we've done Leadville. Okay, there's nothing left. I do I do I do have uh the next goal. Are you ready? Are you sitting down?

You know where I was last night? You're never gonna guess. You are never gonna fucking guess. I can't even no. Where give me a hint, okay? New Jersey. Cross the bridge. Um what could you have gone to New Jersey for? Medieval times? I'm dying to go there, by the way. The Mall of America, the indoor ski slope. I can't imagine. What? Well, what are you doing in Jersey? Monster Jam. No Fuck you, bro. You didn't tell me? You were Did you go to Newark?

Yeah, went went to uh the uh Met Light Central Center? Gravedigger. Oh way. When did you went last night? Last night, yeah. Wait, excuse me, you said giant stadium? Yeah. You went to Met you went MetLife St you did the outdoor monster. It was a taste of America, man. Who did you go with? We went with uh Jen and Tom and uh Yeah. It's I've never I've never been more insulted. Oh.

I thought about you the whole time. Thanks a lot. Well, I I was gonna take pictures and send them to you. Oh, I would have lost my mind. I wanted to save it for the podcast. Oh you're killing me. I've never seen so much fried food in my life. And for those of you who are envious of my experience. I've been to two now within the last year.

And I'm good. Okay. I got it. I'm an outdoor one. But how much how wasn't the outdoor one awesome compared to indoors? It was way better. It was way yes. It was it was way better. But you know they I I don't even know what to say. It's just It's a slice of Americana that, you know, it's like going to the county fair, getting the fried Oreo, seeing the, you know, the prized cow. Joe for it in a Mercedes.

Yeah, yeah. Actually, yeah, we we got dropped off. I think it was it was a Cadillac SUV. Okay, yeah, yeah. But you know, I got Awesome. Awesome. You you you walk in. You walk out, it's pleasant, people are there with their families. You go to a football game, a baseball, a concert, people are shoving around, people are moving down, you got but I don't think Were you with me? I think it was Travis. We went and saw fish. Somewhere outside of Philly.

Thugs just shove themselves in the role. And you know they're waiting, just waiting for you to say something so they can pick a fight, right? None of that.

Uh anyway, I uh the electric bike Nate came in and and changed the tires from tubes to tubulas, um they didn't quite hold all it wasn't a perfect seal. So this morning I topped up the sealant and um now my um Uh garage looks like there was a bukkake party. Hopefully you put too much in and over inflated the tire and when you go out you get a flat. I told it's just incredible. I see the spooch spinning all over the place.

No, I think I think I did a good job. Only'cause I've done it before and made every mistake. Like you loosen the valve. Without taking the pressure out and then the valve just shoots away. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. But no, you're never gonna be able to Square this circle, okay? Which is the line that the guy used on the on the on the Dell earnings.

report on the earnings call. He asked the CIO how he's going to square a circle and the stock went down 10% afterwards. Yeah, it was a good story. I'll send you the article, but he said that on the call and the guy didn't have an answer about square in the circle. It just got crushed after the call. But dude

Why don't you like I I've been talking to my other buddy and you and I are like we're bike riders, like we'll go out and ride mountain bikes for fun. We'll be like, Oh, I love that trail, let's go ride mountains. And I was like, you know what, dude? I'm like, why am I not riding an e-bike? I can go and do way more, way easier. So so here's the long and the short of it. Okay. You're right. And I will tell you why I'm right. When I went to ride yesterday

the tire pressure didn't feel firm enough on the e-bike and I didn't wanna get stuck. So I took my regular bike, which by the way is illegal in terms of weight. No you you well you we you don't need that anymore. We're gonna get rid of that bike. So I I go for a ride and you know my my um fitness is is uh pinned at zero, which is fine because I haven't been writing. But riding up those hills, even what are gentle swell.

By the end of an hour, you're just I was just fucking ghast. And what I've come to decide with the e-bike since it's pedal assists. you it it will let you I think it will let you gain fitness quicker because you're not Like forcing things, you're not standing up in the seat to get out over the hill and dude. Did you ever do bass miles? Like remember guys used to ride bass miles and the the the traditional way to get fit was

In the end of January, February, you start going out and going l long slow distance. LSD, where you did a conversation ride, and it took you six hours to get the time and the leg. Now you can do funny e-bike in like three. Yeah, well that's uh that's what I'm gonna try and do and see. Um the the weird thing with the reading of the book.

is that, you know, so I was out riding on the regular bike, thinking how, you know, weekly I was doing a five hour ride and then a three hour ride and and thinking Why would I ever do a three hour ride again? And I'm like, because you know I don't like riding a bike. And in fact, I'm at the point now where like if I spend three hours on a bike, now not a mountain bike out west, which is an adventure. Yeah. I'm like riding around here for three hours, I'd be like,

What are you doing with your life? Right? But you know you can't yeah, an hour ninety minutes isn't enough. It's so it it's like That's all you have is a riding on a bike. Do something with your. Make something of yourself. And and that's what I like about the reading. It's been it's been very stimulative. And um

So that's that's the new me. You know, I'd be forty pounds heavier, uh, but I'll still have my dash dashing good looks and smile and a head full of hair, right? Which irritates people to no end. Um me especially too drives me insane. You get bad haircut after bad haircut and a week later everything comes back and you it's just beautiful. You know, if I had Your wit and charm. I wouldn't r need rely on something as basic as Hair. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dude, can we talk about Everest? Can we talk about the the scenes from Everest?'Cause as you know As you know, this is the week to summit Everest. You gotta do it the last week of May. Um the weather window is open. Dude, the images that I saw where there is a a line like the Hillary stuff. Dude! I d haven't I've I can't look at it. Is it is there another line up there? It's bumper to bumper. It looks like a thousand people in line waiting to go step by step by step by step, dude.

It is n it's not mountaineering it's not mountaineering anymore. It's dangerous and it's just they talked about how it's uh whatever, I forget what they call it, what it like finance tourism or whatever it is, but it's It was just boggling to see that. And I'm so glad that you were so far ahead of that and that you'll that will never appeal to you, you know, because it's become so trendy and like

Well like ten years ago, okay, a couple of people cared about Everest, but now it's if you haven't done Everest, you know. Well How good a risk manager would I be if I put myself in a situation where it's some heinous number. I it could be like ten percent. Talty percent of the people die. Yeah. Like I I don't like those odds. I don't know. That's why I don't understand you with rock climbing. That's why I don't un how do you jive

I will explain the rock climbing thing, and you may you may or may not buy into it, but I will explain it to you. Okay. With any of these things, Starting out with I told ya I grew up at a country club. So it was golf and tap. My father never learned to ride a bike. I've never pushed a lawnmower. Okay. So you're talking about.

you know trying to make chicken salad out of chicken shit right And so over some summer trips, we took the kids out to Lost Creek Ranch, which was owned by one of my partners from the airport. And you've you saw the Tetons, and I'm like, you know, I've always had a hankering to learn how to climb. So for my fortieth birthday,

Cheryl arranged the trip for me and a bunch of my friends, Uncle Mark, even uh life coach Leslie Harris got the nod, um and uh couple other people. And First of all, I like pushing myself, I think there's something to be said for finding your limits. I I I really I really like that. And in is an example, I've said this about many people I know in trading. Like

I have such admiration for people, even if they fail when they go out on their own, right? Going back to the Board of Trade, every one of those locals. In every one of those brokers, it was their money. They had unlimited liability. And you know, brokers, if you fucked up an order. you owned it. You it wasn't like put it in the error account. So my whole thing from the age of seventeen is, you know, you got

your capital it's you. It you own it, right? And and somehow as I got older and started working for firms, you know, I It was different, it wasn't my money. I I could lose a whole year's worth of comp, but I wasn't Um but it kind of morphed into some of these other more challenging things. So imagine uh very few people who listen will get this, but you will solidly imagine at the age of 40.

Okay, my number one athletic ability was to play C-level squash. Okay. And I decided I wanted to do the Wednesday night. Talk about right going from throw to eleven or whatever. Yeah. And then after that, Leadville. And by the way, we did the triple bypass, you know, a month before Leadville. And and so to achieve all of that, um It I I just like that. And the thing about the rock climbing is

When done right. And I have a climbing partner, Marty Malatoras, Alpine Endeavors, the official guide service of inside baseball with all chestnuts. It's very, very safe. It's it's safer than going for a bike ride. I believe it. Yeah. Yeah. And but when you're there on the rope.

looking down two hundred feet, it's a fucking gut check. And, you know, I make fun of my friend Travis, who I suck into this thing. We're in red rocks, you know, we're on this thousand foot wall. And It was relatively easy technically. But just the exposure to, you know, the where you were made it much harder. And and he was we were tied into an anchor resting between segments and I'm looking around like this is fuck

This is just fucking cool. And I look at Travis and I what do you think? He goes, Oh yeah. And he was just fucking laser focused on that. Like he did not want. And that's what I'm talking about. That's that That's that thing, you know, or you get out there and and the best part is when you experience it with somebody. So you and I spent no time on that legal ride together.

Zero, right? But it's a shared experience and that's a bond that will never be broken. I had that bond with Marty. You know, Cheryl and her friends wanted to go to Alaska and see bears. I'm like You're gonna y you could get eaten. I don't care, I'm going. Okay. Well the only way you're going is if Marty's going with ya.'Cause I know if Marty's there, right, nothing bad's gonna happen. So, you know, I I just found these things interesting and and um I just read a book.

Um god, I forget the guys um Russ Clun. He wrote his biography and he's a kind of a Maybe my age. But he was up there dirt bagging it, you know, mixed shower, the whole thing. But You know, w when I read the biography, which was i it's a nice bio.

But if you don't have any contact with the gunks or climbing, it won't really resonate. But for me, it resonated and it made me feel really part of something that was a cultural But the climbing has stuck around in my mind and in my life because it's a benevolent Teamwork thing. They've taken the Gimbal's ride and turned it into Death Race 2000, which I think is really

Yeah, I agree. Yep. Yep. Mostly'cause I can't keep up. If I could keep up, it would be business as usual. But no, it was it's like all things. There was there was a gentlemanly aura to it, there was a camaraderie and competitiveness, and now it's just turned Yeah. Well such as life. Welcome to the

Yeah, exactly. One book I read uh again, uh I don't know that I recommend it. It's called The Hour Between Dog and Wolf. Okay. And why Uh it resonated with me was the night I went over to Sandy Banks' house. He lived about two blocks. To ask him for real, could I have a job? And we sat for I don't know, half an hour on his stoop, him trying to talk me out of doing He goes, you don't understand.

I said, yeah, you can make a lot of money, but it's gonna be brutal on your relationships. The stress is insane. He said he had chronic diarrhea from all the yada yada yada. And, you know, the most likely thing is you'll end up with a drug problem or divorce. And and and that's what happened to a lot of these guys. So I'm reading this book. the hour between dog and wolf and it talks about the effect of trading.

on your body and how it stimulates all this testosterone and steroids and endorphins and the part I I liked and and it's it's exactly If you want to read it, read it. But if you sat down and thought about it for ten minutes, you you'd you'd figure it out. But what I liked about it was he talked about the effect of I think it was steroids on your body, how it can increase or decrease the amount of fluid in your colon.

Which either is either results in diarrhea or constipation, which is why collase is the official stool softener of inside baseball with all chestnuts. I'm sorry. I just couldn't let a week go without getting that in. Coleys and Pershing Square. Okay. Perfect together. Our partners. I thought uh you were gonna ask if I went to sell any t shirts at the Monster Dram. No. No.

How about this for something? They should give haircuts at that thing. Cause you got all those little kids and the the drivers all have these Mohawks. Yeah. Right? You can get these little kids walking around with uh

You know the the crew cut bald head enough stuff. I w they're selling enough stuff to the kids, but um dude I'm so I'm so upset that you went to Met Life Monster Jam. I didn't get a heads up, I don't get a picture, I get Sunday morning, oh I went to the monster truck show, it was great. about like crushing a little boy's like so come I'm gonna go tell my I'm gonna go tell Fiona my daughter's gonna cry. I'm gonna say Morris went to the monster truck.

You know, if I wasn't due to go on the next time Haley Comment shows, I'd say let's all go, but two within a year Well it's not Casablanca. You don't need to watch it multiple times. At least you did it right. At least you went to the indoor one and you got it and you got a taste and then you went to the outdoor one, which is like The outdoor, yes. Pro tip, go outdoor, right? Okay. How we do.

All right. Thank you, my friend. Uh inside baseball cast at Gmail, if anyone wants to talk to us. I still the owe I owe the Senator from Colorado a response, Senator Brofie. I'll I'll get back to you. We talked about the e-bikes today just for you. Okay. So everyone have a nice weekend. Stay calm, urge caution and all that stuff. We'll see you guys. Goodbye.