"Bill Simmons"

2 Oct 2023 · 59 min

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Podcast Summary: SmartLess - Episode "Bill Simmons"

Podcast Title: SmartLess Hosts: Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett Guest: Bill Simmons (Podcaster, Sportswriter, Cultural Critic, Founder of The Ringer) Release Date: [Insert release date if available]

Episode Overview In this episode of "SmartLess," hosts Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett engage in a lively conversation with renowned sports pundit Bill Simmons. The dialogue touches on various topics, including sports, culture, personal anecdotes, and the evolution of podcasting. The format is characterized by humor and organic exchanges, typical of the SmartLess podcast style.

Key Themes and Discussions

  1. Personal Connections and Humor
  2. The hosts initiate the episode with light banter, humorously discussing their lives and personal habits, such as walking and eating.
  3. The comedic rapport between the hosts is evident, setting a lively tone for the conversation.
  1. Bill Simmons' Background
  2. Bill Simmons shares his journey from being a passionate Boston sports fan to becoming a notable figure in sports journalism.
  3. He reflects on his childhood, his deep-rooted love for sports, and how it shaped his career choices.
  1. Transition to Podcasting
  2. Simmons discusses the early days of podcasting, highlighting its potential that others might have overlooked.
  3. He shares anecdotes from his initial podcast experiences, including recording challenges and the learning curve involved.
  1. Sports Insights
  2. The conversation delves into Simmons' opinions on various sports, teams, and current happenings in the sports world.
  3. He discusses the emotional connection fans have with their teams, drawing parallels to his experiences with the Boston Celtics and Red Sox.
  1. Cultural Commentary
  2. Simmons provides insights on the intersection of sports and broader cultural issues, including the impact of gambling on sports viewership.
  3. He expresses concerns about the normalization of sports betting and its implications for younger audiences.
  1. Entertainment and Business
  2. The discussion expands into the business side of sports and entertainment, including the motivations of team owners and the changing landscape of sports media.
  3. Simmons reflects on his own journey through various media platforms, emphasizing the importance of adaptability in an evolving industry.
  1. Personal Life and Parenting
  2. Simmons shares aspects of his personal life, including his role as a father and how his children’s sports activities influence his life.
  3. He emphasizes the balance between professional success and maintaining personal connections and integrity.

Key Takeaways

  • The Evolution of Podcasting: Simmons was an early adopter of podcasting, leveraging its unique format to create engaging content that resonates with audiences.
  • Fan Connection: The emotional ties fans have to their teams are profound, often influencing their moods and social interactions.
  • Cultural Impact of Sports: The conversation touches on how sports reflect and influence societal trends and individual identities.
  • Entrepreneurial Spirit: Simmons’ journey illustrates the importance of taking risks and seizing opportunities in a competitive landscape.

Conclusion This episode of SmartLess not only showcases the engaging dynamic between the hosts and Bill Simmons but also offers insightful commentary on the realms of sports, media, and personal experiences. The blend of humor with thought-provoking dialogue exemplifies the podcast's commitment to connecting people through shared experiences and laughter.

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Transcript

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0:05Well, uh... Say five nice things about me. tall handsome tan good voice funny funny charming charming selfless what else that's it I think we went over five but we couldn't get to ten well no it felt like you were going to keep I feel like I cut you off I don't think I could possibly get to ten oh and an incredible boxer welcome to Spoilers smart light smart Smart. Less.

0:43Smart. Less. You know, the one thing I will miss about New York is the prepared meals at the grocery store. Because I just, just right before this, I just finished having sushi with, you know, the spicy tuna. Yeah, hamburger. But I always go there and I get like the spaghetti. Like, don't you guys love that? You know, we have those out here on the West Coast. Yeah, we do. No, but not to walk to. You know, you just walk in, you get like a spaghetti and meatballs, and you just walk back home. It depends on where your house is. Spaghetti and meatballs is not sushi. I mean, I'm going to check it out right now.

1:19Yeah, you check that out, Will, while I explain to Sean that if you live near a place that sells prepackaged food, you can walk to get it. Could you, Sean, you could walk to Larchmont if you wanted to. I'm not divulging your... It's kind of far. Kind of far. Well, I mean... For a guy who doesn't like walking up a flight of stairs, yes. Yes. No, that's not true. He does walk. I will say this about Sean. Oftentimes when I call him, he's walking. Yeah, I love to walk. He does. By the way, Amanda says she saw you and Alessandra knocking down the big hill over here the other day. That's so adorable.

1:51Yeah, Will likes a good walk. In the afternoon, I can just see you sort of pushing your laptop aside and saying, reach for the intercom there in the mansion. And you say, hon, what room are you in? are you up for a walk? And then you guys... You put your ankle weights on? You zip into your bag, right? Your sweat bag? I put my sweat bag on and I put my body weights on and I start climbing that hill. And you know what? The first time I really did that hill was with you, JB, during the pandemic. And, um... JK, JK. And, uh... I remember the first time we did it and I was like, oh my God. And you were like...

2:27You were so good. I was like, fuck, this is so hard. and now I've done it, you know, every time. I know, and well, you live on a hill. Yeah, I live on a hill. And so I do... You tried biking. I biked up that once. No, you did not. Yeah, that was a whole different thing. That was amazing. That is brutal. I've seen a couple guys do it and they're barely going forward as they go up. Yes, exactly. God bless the 10 speed. But I've seen JB, I've seen you over the years a few times on that hill and you usually give me like a scornful look or whatever, like it's sort of a shitty like, ugh. But Amanda...

2:57I just honk and swerve near you. Try to scare you. In the family, because Amanda yesterday, all of a sudden this Tesla comes in and is like, and they're swerving. I'm like, what the fuck? And then it's Amanda waving, you know, brightly. At least she's waving brightly. With the drake just pouring out her window. I just talked to her yesterday. Yeah. End of story? How are those three hours? Yeah. How's your ears? I love talking to Amanda. She said she's going to throw me a party when I come home. We're goddamn right we are. Can I go? I'm like, you assholes better throw me a party. Are you kidding?

3:30It's soon, isn't it? Isn't it like a week now? JB, you're looking real stripy today. Are you kidding? I'm back on the golf course today. You are? Yeah, I like the shirt, Jay. It's been a while. I got the shirt while I was visiting with Will out there east. Yeah. I'm going out there to one of Burbank's finest courses today. And I'm going to enjoy myself. What a life. What a life. I feel like I have something more to say, but maybe I'll think of it while we're talking to our really high-level guest here. Oh, nice. We bored this person. Huh? We bored this person now. Yeah, sorry. Sorry, guest. It was our day-to-day, our D2D.

4:05And, you know, it is not the first time he's been exposed to our pain. He's been here before, and I don't want to spoil anything. But it was during a time very, very early on. We didn't really know what we were doing. Things were very, very topical in our interviews, so it didn't age well. And there's a few-week delay before we put these on. and COVID was... So we ended up not even airing the episode, but he's back. Oh, no. We've got a jack of all trades and a master of all. Huh? Right. His books have been New York Times bestsellers. His columns and newspapers and websites are instant must-reads.

4:39His television appearances are appointment TV and his overall opinions on all things culture, whether it be entertainment, politics, sports, are unapologetically honest and singular. He has a degree in political science and a master's in print journalism. We three dummies admire him for his already massive success in something we're just trying to figure out, but we love him for his profound work on The Jimmy Kimmel Show. Please welcome Boston's own William John Simmons III. Bill? Oh, we can't out of town. Please. Bill Simmons. Wait a minute, what? Sean still doesn't know who I am. No, I love Bill Simmons.

5:14Wait, what happened to the show? We never aired it because what we talked about was like what was happening that week. Oh, really? Yeah, it was just, it didn't. Yeah, I did one of the first test shows. Yeah. It wasn't a test, but it was, you were one of our big shots right up front there, along with Dax Shepard. Wow. Oh, so you just squashed it. Oh, I should feel much worse about this. No. It's not even aired. Because it was too, Jason's right, it was too topical. It was too, like, exactly. It was like, what was going on? It was like May 2020. You're not alone. There were, I think Tapper, same thing happened with Jake Tapper, right?

5:45Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I just thought you guys didn't like me, and then, like, maybe I said something about Ozark back in 2020. Yeah, we tried to edit it and make it entertaining. We just couldn't make it work. We love you and revere you in spite of your allegiance to certain teams. Put it that way. Certain teams. Like, you mean every Boston team? No, not every Boston team. Where's your beef? What don't you like about your allegiance? I'm not going to – I don't want to get into a back and forth of Bill Simmons. He'll crush me. Are you kidding? Well, he doesn't like the Bruins. I don't have the firepower.

6:14I do like the Bruins. The only team you have a passion for are the Maple Leafs. Well, you didn't for a while, right? Well, I was mad. We had a cheap owner, and he cost us a Stanley Cup, and I was in my 20s and spiteful, and I got mad. Right. But now you're back. Now I'm in a better spot. You're back with the Bears? The Bears. The Bruins. Yeah, they do have the Bears. I thought you meant the Hershey Bears. I thought you meant he became a Hershey Bears fan of the AHL. We're taping this right now, and Mookie Betts is going back to Fenway Park, which was the most traumatic Red Sox thing that's happened in the last 30 years.

6:47Yeah, he was our best guy. You guys are both huge baseball fans. Yeah. And did you guys, when Mookie Betts came to the Dodgers, did you guys fire some texts back and forth? No, I told them. I told all my Dodger fans. I was like, you guys won the lottery. This guy's amazing. This is the biggest mistake the Red Sox have made in my lifetime. I couldn't get too mad because we won four World Series, and I had said before we won the first World Series that I would probably sell my soul to win one World Series. So we won four. Wait, wait, wait. I thought it was only two. When was there four? So you did sell your soul.

7:18I just want to confirm. No, we went for it. Yeah, I do think I might be going to hell. I think I might have said that drunkenly one night that I would sell my soul. So it's hard to complain too much, but, you know, we had this awesome guy who was great in the community, and, you know, he's so much fun to watch, and they just trade him. How far were the Red Sox from making that deal? Did they have an opportunity to match what the Dodgers offered them? They got super smart and analytical about baseball players as they hit their 30s, how their production declines, and you're basically paying for past performance, which is true with, like, the Sluggers.

7:53But, like, the Sean Hayes kind of wiry athletic types age pretty nicely into their 30s. Wiry, yeah. I know Sean is still playing squash and doing whatever he's doing. I got my things on. He's got his compression wrap on his elbow. It's not a good look. Hammering the piano every night. Bill, I wanted to ask you, I mean, you are sort of a jack-of-all-trades, as Jason said, and you opine on lots of different things, but sports is sort of the lead. That was sort of the cutting edge that got you into this world. What was it about you, like, as a kid, were you like, this is going to be my milieu? Like, I'm just a sports guy.

8:31I love sports so much, and it's got to be my life. What was sort of the genesis of, you know, you as the ultimate sports guy? Well, it also might have been not having a life. You know, I was an only child, and I absolutely love sports. I was all into it. And all the Boston teams, my dad had Celtics season tickets, just kind of threw myself into it. And at some point in college, I had a column in college that really from the first week I was in college and I was like, I wonder if I can get paid for this. So it was one of those. I just love sports. I remember everything. I have opinions. I have a sense of humor.

9:09Can this be something? But it still took me the entire 90s to get there. But you early on decided that you were going to make your journalism come from the perspective of the fan as opposed to sort of trying to stay neutral and just kind of report the facts. Was that shaped by your experience as a Boston fan in that the Celtics were just killing it there in the, what was it? The 80s. The late 70s, early 80s, right? We had a nice run. Right. And then the socks were giving you a lot of pain. So did that kind of shape? Well, that's more of like I'm a very passionate fan by virtue of the local teams.

9:50And so let's do that angle. It was two things. The first one was that the way people wrote about sports back then was very, you know, reporter-y. Dry. Like non-fan stuff, right? And it just wasn't the way my friends and I talked. Right. So I never really liked reading that coverage that much because I was like, do these people even like sports? They just seem like angry old white guys. So it was that. And then the other thing was because I couldn't get in the clubhouses, I was writing like a sports column on the internet. I couldn't get press passes for anything. So I really tripled down on, all right, I'm going to write from the fan's perspective.

10:29A couple of the writers that I really liked had done that. Like there was this book the screenwriter William Goldman had written called Wait Till Next Year, where he wrote all of his parts were about New York sports from a fan's perspective. There's Roger Angel and The New Yorker was another one. So I was like, I feel like that's a better lane for this. So I kind of just threw myself into that, and it kind of worked. What was your first sort of moment where you got not validated but got entree, like where somebody said, okay, you can come in, you can get into the locker room, you can get into the press box, You can't have access.

11:06What was that moment? Yeah, how do you get into the locker room? Yeah, that was so ESPN got my calm in 2001. And I had a little more juice at that point to go to stuff. But at that point, I was like, you know what? Like having some distance from this and writing from the fan side is actually better for me because I was weaving pop culture and all my stuff. And I was like, I actually think like this is a better lane. So for really all the 2000s, I tried to stay away from being kind of too embedded with athletes and getting in there and just kind of being detached. And then in the 2010s, I realized, because I had so much, I don't know, such a high profile at that point, I could talk to just about whoever I wanted.

11:48And I was like, you know what, now that I'm hitting my 40s, there's stuff to learn from some of these guys, from some of these coaches. And I really kind of threw myself into just kind of learning more from people who played and coached yeah there was that that big transition you talk about you becoming a high profile so listener for those of you that aren't you know sports junkies like me and and sean hayes um uh you know bill uh exploded onto espn um he started a podcast uh dynasty um with with grantland and then the ringer um and yeah my podcast was oh seven sean it's amazing about that it was like me and mark maron and like two other dudes yeah yeah i know i know i know who you are i know you've been around i know what you do so what so tell us about that that transition was not gradual it was it was it was pretty not overnight i don't know i don't mean to diminish it or belittle it at all i don't mean that at all it was very deserved what happened maybe it was just overdue um but were you were you comfortable in that transition not only what it did for you publicly and being sort of famous and recognizable yeah that kind of maturing from ESP from ESPN to the next chapter is that what you mean well being being on air like all of a sudden you were I remember seeing you on uh on the finals on tv and I was like I was like who is this guy and I was like oh Bill oh that's what Bill Simmons looks like and and listening to you talk and like it was just this great new personality I remember how disappointed you were and how handsome he was yeah Jesus he's handsome too but there really was definitely like an unapologetic sorry to use a word again um you didn't really make much of an effort to be some like zippy on-air personality like you were just like i'm just a guy and i got an opinion and it's backed with knowledge and facts and uh and here we go it was yeah you were fine with just being a plain regular guy which we really admire yeah we're just small yeah it was it was actually fun to do those shows because i would just kind of call it like it is yeah and And I think people were surprised initially because it was very like.

13:52Now, Barkley's doing a good job. Those studio shows were very. Yeah, Barkley could do it because he was a Hall of Famer. But, like, when the media guys usually came on, they were way more careful. I went going backwards, like, probably 06, I made a decision, like, every single year I want to try to add something and take a swing at something. I don't want to be in the same spot at the end of the next year that I'm in right now. So what can that be? So, like, in 07, that was when I started 30 for 30. I sent the memo. We created it. Me and Connor Shell. That was when I started writing my basketball book, and that was when I started doing my podcast.

14:27And then the next year after that, it was like, all right, how can I keep going? How can I keep going? And that led to Grandland in 2011 and then just TV in 2012. And it was just each year, what can I do? I don't want to be in the same spot. Well, what I love about it, sorry, and correct me if I'm wrong, Bill, is that you say you do all these things and you're like, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this. And it feels like you're at ESPN, then you're at HBO, I think, for a minute. And it's almost like those places just couldn't contain you. Like you ended up, you're like, well, fuck it. I don't need them.

14:59I don't need them. I'll just create my own network. I'll create my own vessel because then I don't have to answer to all that. Is that kind of how it went? Yeah, I realized I got suspended in 2014. from ESPN. That was for dealing all that heroin, right? Yeah. It turned out the H was just not... They were cool with it. Wait, what did you get suspended for? I said some stuff about the NFL commissioner who was their biggest partner and they got upset. And when I got suspended, something weird happened. All these people reached out like, hey, when you branch off, I'd love to invest or I'd love to...

15:38And I was like, wait, what's going on? and that really made me start thinking about it pretty seriously like okay if i left could i create something i had some people at grantland that i really liked working with and just over the course of 2015 was like all right what if we could we recreate grantland as our own thing that we own we don't have to answer to anybody could we really triple down on podcasts because we were convinced you know espin didn't care about podcasts at all and we were convinced like we can probably pay for everything through the podcast revenue and i never ended up taking uh money from investors because i kind of felt like we could pay for everything through my podcast and which is what happened that's and that's a risky proposition a little bit nerve i mean not nerve-wracking but it's it's a leap right yeah i remember explaining it to my wife and she's like i trust you but i could see like this glimmer in her eye like should i go on raya now or like wait for six months raya well before you you give us all a layman's uh lesson on on podcasting and and and where it's kind of going and and all that yeah talk a little bit about where this moxie came from to sort of double down triple down on yourself and and and to be uh really proactive in an entrepreneurial way because you know dudes that are super big sports fans that like write about it and stuff aren't aren't famous for being, uh, business Titans, uh, to, to put it kindly.

17:07So where does all that come from? I mean, you, you're, you're very well educated. Um, you, you come from, I think your dad was a teacher and your mom was a superintendent. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, you're, you're raised by adults and, and you are one. So is that, is that simply it or do you just have an innate business, um, acumen? You guys are probably going to like this answer. I, the more, the more I got embedded at ESPN, you start looking around and you're like, wait, I can do this. That guy's kind of terrible. This guy's terrible. How did this guy get this job where he decides stuff? This lady's awful.

17:45And you just start going, wait a second. I feel like I'm smarter than a lot of these people. Yeah, yeah. It turns out nobody knows what they're doing. But even if it's not that, usually I find if you just get in the door in any sort of industry, sort of the mystery of it that you build up in your mind just kind of melts away. And that's half the battle. Yeah, you think everybody is awesome and all-knowing and they're just not. They're not. Or that they've got this well of secret knowledge that you'll never have access to. You know what I mean? Yeah. And most of the people just got, yeah, they got promoted a couple times and they kind of can't believe they got to where they got.

18:19Like when we did 30 for 30 and people loved it, the first volume. Is that like 80 for Brady? No. It's, well, they were. It's a sports documentary series. So we created it and we finished it. And the person who was in charge of ESPN Films, it changed hands a couple times. And by the time we finished 30 for 30, people loved it. And they were like, all right, so 30 for 30 is done. We're going to call documentaries now ESPN Films and do it that way. And they didn't want to do a second volume. And we were like, we just created a brand. That's like the hardest thing you could possibly do. So they released like four more documentaries, not called 30 for 30.

18:57They're called ESPN Films Presents. And everybody was like, did you see the new 30 for 30? Right. And we're just sending emails to people. And we're like, we did it. Like, we did the impossible. We created a brand. Just let's do another volume of 30 for 30. We had to convince them for like nine months. And now the thing's still on 14 years later. That's amazing. That's so cool. It was so stupid. I can't tell. I would go. I don't get as mad as I did back in the day. But like in the late, I would just lose my mind. I would send these 2 ,000-word emails. And I thought it was normal because I worked for Kimmel for 18 months.

19:32And you guys know Kimmel. Kimmel's a lunatic. Yeah, Kimmel is like he will whip off a 700-word email in three seconds as he's playing a video game and doing nine other things. So I thought, well, Jimmy's like that too. That's normal. And then you realize like, oh, Jimmy's also a lunatic. So we're both lunatics. Yeah, I'm very similar. Yeah, you guys have – Sean is, by the way. Sean will answer an email before the person has hit send. Right. He's telepathically answering it. And I, right, Sean, a couple times I've been like, hey, I'm really sorry. Like we're on some sort of like email chain or business thing.

20:04And I'll be like, I'm sorry that I'm not answering yet, but I need a minute to think about it. Yeah. Sean's already answered. But, you know, it's funny you say that. It makes sense that, and I know you and Kimball are friends. I know you worked with him for a little bit. It does totally make sense that you guys both have this kind of, you're very confident. and you're both opinionated, but confident in your opinion and confident about being right. And generally, I bet you're both right most of the time. They don't pop off on shit they're wrong about. No, no. Wait, hold on. Let's be clear. Kimmel is way worse than I am.

20:37He's not confident. He is super stubborn. Yes. And will just fight to the death until he just breaks you down and you admit he's right, even though you don't think he's right. But he's smart enough not to dig in on things that he's not smart about. he'll just back off and it'll be like it never happened yeah he's like one of the most frustrating people to argue with it could be like we could argue with Celtics he's like no Larry Bird only won two MVPs and I'm like do I have to get like the basketball encyclopedia no it was two and then it was like no here it is it's three he's like I told you it was three and we will be right back and now back to the show so how did podcasting hit your radar earlier than anybody else um not just listeners but podcast creators and and what what was it who whispered in your ear and you got ahead of it and and carved away and made it possible for you know idiots like us and yeah dax and um i think that i made it possible for your podcast to succeed well it became a medium you know it wasn't a medium before you and mark merritt jason our lawyers just emailed me and said take that back cut that out later no when when i started it it was just because i saw there was this interview link on espn.com with the interview with the celtics gm and i clicked on and it was like podcast it's interview with danny age i'm like what the hell is this so i emailed them and i'm like can i have one of these and they were like okay and they mailed me this equipment so i did my first one with an NBA writer named Mark Stein.

22:18And the second one was with Corolla and Corolla came over because I only had one Jack in the phone. So he came over and we realized we couldn't do it in the same room. And he was wandering on my driveway on the phone doing the podcast with me. So it was like the early days were like crazy Rocky. And I was like, these are really fun. I used to have my friends on and my whole goal was like to emulate Mike and the Mad Dog. Cause I love Mike and the Mad Dog in New York. And it was like these guys, I love Mike and the Mad Dog when they would be talking about like the Oscars, not like the Rangers. It'd be like, all right, who do you have for best acted dog?

22:51And they would like be going, I'd be like, this is amazing. What is this? So I would have my friends on and just like people that I thought I would have good chemistry with. And then around 09, I'd had it for about two years. And I remember Seth Meyers text, he emailed me about it. And he was like, yeah, jacko was my buddy jacko was like yeah jacko was feeling it today like it was i was so funny and i'm like you listened like i had no idea people were listening because they didn't tell me the numbers and i was like you want to come on so in 09 i started just having these celebrities on and i i was like the first podcast for i would say like 50 celebrities and all of them thought it was amazing it was like a first date with somebody we're like that was amazing and now it's like all these every celebrity has been on what 50 podcasts there's nothing special about anymore but it was really fun to grab people so by like 2009 2010 people were mentioning it to me on the street they weren't mentioning they were mentioning my column but then some people were like hey man love the podcast i was like oh and it just felt like it was building it's also a great way for celebrities to be um to have a an extended conversation with a with an interviewer or journalist or whatever and and not run the risk of of having uh you know a a headline you know cherry picked out of there for some sort of sensational abuse you know like yeah it's all verbatim and well i remember talking to you about it jason because you were like we were talking about how frustrating the the talk show circuit is yeah especially when you come out and you do like well kimmel's but you do like you're on a talk show for 10 minutes right and you do the pre-interview and you come out and you hit your three things and you have a little back and forth and I think for the celebrities, the podcast was just such a more fun format because it was like, this is who I really am.

24:42You're hanging out. For sure. So that was a big win for everybody. Bill, tell me, sorry, just to go back again. So your parents were teachers. What did they think, what did you say to them when you graduated college? You're like, all right, I'm just going to go into this sports thing. Were they like great? Were they expecting you to become a teacher? Did they want you to become a lawyer? No, I think they, it was like 50-50 for them, I was going to be able to have a steady job. I don't think. Really? But you just got a master's degree in print journalism. Well, that was the thing. I got a master's.

25:12My senior year, my dad was like, hey, what are you going to do next year? I was like, I don't know. And he's like, you should maybe keep going on the sports run there. You're right. And I just like, at the last minute, applied to three journalism schools and got into a couple. So he encouraged you? Yeah. It was more like, what are you doing next year? And just kind of staring vacantly back with no answer. But then I went to journalism school and, you know, it wasn't, it didn't work out right away. Like I worked at the Boston Herald for three years and did grunt work and Chinese food orders and covered high school sports.

25:47And by 96, I was out. I was bartending. So did you play sports as a kid? And then did you not want to go into professional sports, like playing them? I was like high school level best. Yeah. And what sport? What was your sport? Basketball was my favorite. Yeah. I still played tennis. I had to retire from basketball 10 years ago because we're all old people. Did you roll an ankle too many times? Yeah. I remember speaking to an orthopedic surgeon once in New York and she was just basically like, yeah, like nine out of 10 injuries of dudes over 30 are from basketball. Yeah. And now it's like pickleball in basketball.

26:23Yeah, pickleball. Yeah, I played basketball when I was a kid and I was like, you know, we'd run down to one end of the court and I'd be like, and then they'd get the ball, the rebound. And I'm like, wait, we got to go all the way back? We just got to go all the way back to the other side. I don't understand. And why do I, can't we just play half the court? I didn't understand it. That was too much for me. So basketball was your main sport. You played baseball too, I imagine, a little bit when you were a kid? I played everything until high school. I just played basketball. I loved basketball the most, though, because we had the season tickets.

26:58We were like front and center for the whole Larry Bird era. So I just understood it the most. Did you grow up in Boston, Boston, or did you grow up? Yeah, I grew up in Brookline. Oh, you did? Okay. And then my parents got divorced, which is why I have a sense of humor. Right. Exactly. My mom moved to Connecticut, and eventually I moved to live with my mom for high school. Okay. And they got divorced, like, at a tough time for you, too. 13, I think it was? No, I was nine. Oh, Wikipedia. God damn Wikipedia. The Red Sox. Yeah, don't read Wikipedia. The Red Sox lost to the Yankees in the 1978 playoff game, which was the most traumatic sports loss ever.

27:33Bruins lost to the Canadians, and my parents got separated all in the span of six months. And I had glasses. Wow. It was tough. Wait, was that 78? Did you say 78? 78 in early 79, yeah. Yeah, because the Leafs lost. They were swept by the Canadians before that. The Canadians, yeah. So you were both on the edge of a few buildings that year, huh? It was tough. Well, he's had a way. I mean, the Leafs thing is... It's so tough. ...one of the most traumatic professional sports relationships that anyone has. Oh, I... Nothing good happens with the Leafs. But Brendan Shanahan's going to bring it all back, right, Willie?

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28:05Shanny is their man. He's the best. He's the best, dude. I actually just played golf with Shanny and Mike from Mike and the Mad Dog a couple weeks ago. Yeah. Will, did you ever get tempted by the Kings just, like, doing a full hockey divorce and just second wife with the Kings? I couldn't. I mean, I go to Kings games when I'm here, and I'll, you know, sometimes with the kids and stuff just for fun, and I'm just such a huge hockey fan. But the Leafs are just my team. They're just it for me, and they always have been. Isn't that hilarious that people will divorce human beings but not their teams?

28:37Like if Will was like, I'm now a Kings fan, he'd be like, that's horrible. You broke up with the Maple Leafs? That's the worst thing I've ever heard. If it's a relationship, it's fine. You know what's funny? So when I was with Shani a couple weeks ago, he goes, he's like, I think he heard on the podcast or somewhere, he goes, so I heard you say, because I've become like in the last 10, 12 years, is like a massive soccer fan and I'm a big Liverpool supporter through my friend and I just... Bill loves Tottenham. Get him. Are you a Tottenham fan? It lasted three years until my kids started playing sports every Saturday.

29:11Right, so it's tough. It's tough. Yeah, it was too hard. But it's... Yeah, so I'm up at 4.30 in the morning watching games and stuff and I'll watch everything. I'll watch Bundesliga, I'll watch La Liga, I'll watch anything, Champions League, forget it. You're getting me so hot. So I start watching it. It's so erotic. 4.30, huh? I guess I had sort of said offhand that watching Liverpool and watching soccer has become almost, has almost taken over hockey. And he looked at me with such disappointment. He's like, is that true? Is that true that you love? And I go, first of all, relax. Yeah. Settle down.

29:43Settle down. But I do, it has helped to kind of mitigate my frustration or disappointment by watching that because I'm so invested in the Leafs. I live and die by, you know, So I've gotten into, and football has been a really great, soccer has become a really great sort of antidote to that. And so I can have some, I can have some highs. Better attention span sport too. It's two hours. There's a half time. It's perfect. It just flies through and you're done. It's perfect. And once I got into it and understanding who the people were and what the stories were behind it, it's super interesting. And Champions League is interesting.

30:19And I'll watch virtually any sport, which makes me, like I ended up watching, you know, the Ashes, the cricket. I'll watch 2020 cricket, T20. Like, I'll watch. Cornhole? Is there anything? I won't watch that. It's not a sport. Will you watch? Is there any sport you won't watch? Cornhole's not a sport? No. Okay, it's a game. It's not. It's a game. But is there any? So is golf a sport then? Game. Game. Baseball's a game, not a sport. Yeah, I guess golf's a game. But the top guys are athletes. True. Have you seen the bodies on the Red Sox? No, no, no, no. I'm saying golf. I'm saying golf. Is there a sport you won't watch?

30:57Sorry, that was my big long lead. Is there a sport I won't watch? Yeah, that you don't enjoy watching. I don't get auto racing and, like, there's this F1 resurgence and I gave it a kick drive. I don't get driving around in a circle. It's just cars just going in laps. I don't either. Well, the road courses I get, but circles, no. Bill, come to Formula One with me. You'll get it. Come with me to Formula One. Listen, you're the 100th person. It's like, no, no, you'll get it. Jason got me into it It's starting to feel like Scientology a little bit You don't understand You've got to meet Miscavige You'll get it when you meet him Just have brunch with him It's like I don't know It doesn't take I don't know if I love F1s That's hysterical So wait So this is a perfect opportunity And this is going to be a long question Just hang in there Because I was like Should I ask it Should I not ask it I'm going to ask it Guys I'm going to go make a sandwich I'm going to pee I've heard your long question Sean I'm excited They're not Okay so it's to the three of you you guys.

31:53Uh-oh. So, and this is a perfect opportunity to ask this. And I wasn't going to ask him, but here we go. It's already too long. No, no, hang on. All the qualifiers. No, so I... He's a big qualifier guy with his questions. So what is the psychology behind loving sports so much? Okay, so wait. So like, you know, in movies, theater, TV, whatever it is, you're watching a story, you're emotionally invested, you're watching the beginning, middle, and end of something. In sports, I get it. There is a beginning and end because who's going to win and then they win okay sure but what is the psychology about loving it so like what are you rooting for other than a team that you don't have any personal connection to yeah i'll go first yeah for for for me it's just simply and and it's and it's heightened by the olympics because it's it's it's only every four years it's the televised live moment of somebody putting everything they've got on the line and it's a binary result of success or failure and I get to see this person reach for excellence and let's see what the best they can do is going to yield yeah and that's a really exciting thing to me and it's not and it's unwritten yeah uh I get that I I would say for me it's it's not dissimilar um and I as I explained my sort of my appreciation of soccer was came from understanding the stories and the people behind it yeah you told me that will so once I can get into like this guy came over here and for For me, it's not necessarily binary because there is victory sometimes in people in failure when they don't actually get it, but they try really hard.

33:30I like that part of it. Yeah, but the stories, like you told me that a long time ago. You're like, Sean, just try to watch the stories of the people. So I'm watching. I'm like, well, this is a Dateline episode. Like I could just watch, you know, I could learn about these people without watching them kick a ball around for two hours. Sure. You know what I'm saying? But then there is a moment. there is an actual venue for them to go and try to do that. You see the story behind it. So, like, for instance, if you watch, like, one of these great soccer documentaries, and you see the importance of the team to the town and to the fans.

34:02And then you see these players and these guys and their town and what it means, and then the players who come in and they're trying to do it, and they're trying to do it not just to win, but they understand the cultural impact that they have. They feel it. They know it. And watching them go through that is super compelling to me. Yeah, I get it. But on the other side, I went to a daughter's game with Jason a couple years ago. And we're sitting there. And I was like, I kind of get it. I get like the atmosphere. It's like watching this old house on a Sunday. You're like, oh, this is very relaxing.

34:30This has gone so well. You know what I mean? I get it. You're almost there. You know what I mean? Bill, get him back on track. But Sean, in the same way that like, for me, I can't go, I can't get into musicals. Right. Because it's why people are singing. And I'm like, what? But if you learned about them, if you kind of understood kind of what goes into it all, then you perhaps. Well, I do in the sense that it is sort of adjacent to what I do as a profession. And yet I still can't. It's just not for me. It doesn't speak to me. And for whatever reason, sports does in that way. And Bill, you probably have a much more concise answer.

35:07I just think it's almost like a DNA thing. It's got to hit you before like age six. Yeah. And I see it with a couple of my friend's kids. I had, like, my friend Nathan's kid just, like, I could tell when he was six. I was like, oh, he's going to be one of those guys. He's going to be really into it. And now he is. He's, like, 14, and he's one of those guys. Yeah, like, I was, obviously, I'm from Chicago when the Cubs won, finally, what, four, five, six years ago. I don't remember when that was. Yeah. I was crying because I was like, oh, my God. They haven't won in, like, 200 years. I'm from Chicago.

35:36Like, that was incredible. Sean, that's it. But, and I'm a huge football fan. I just need a reason to watch. Like, I need a bet or something. When I was growing up in Boston in the 70s, but the cold weather cities, you know, it's pretty miserable for like four or five months. And Canada has this too. I know Will knows. But, you know, the sports teams take this outsized importance of just like the kind of however the teams are doing kind of sets the mood of the city. Yeah. And, you know, when Bird showed up for the Celtics in 1979 and we realized like pretty quickly, like this is one of the most special athletes in any sport and we get to go on this ride with him for the next 10, 12 years.

36:19That's when it goes to a whole other level. Like Cleveland had that with LeBron and the Lakers said that with Kobe. And, you know, you just kind of hit the lottery when it happens. And that's going to make everyone care more. Bill, you know, I remember distinctly thinking this at the time. And, Sean, again, this kind of goes to the way it makes you feel. I remember when Tiger starting in sort of 99 through 2008 really up to the 2008 US Open in that time he did something that was so spectacular and I remember thinking there were people who didn't like him I remember thinking we have I hope we all appreciate how incredible it is what this guy is doing it was so that we're alive during it and we get to watch it in real time that is cool I thought that way about Jason with Ozark it was the same thing thank you for bringing the background I can't believe I'm a member of this species.

37:08I know we get to it with the slow blink. Take your time, Bill. With the slow blink that McConaughey pointed out. Do you know how McConaughey pointed out that Jason's got the best slow blink of all? He's a slow blink hall of favor? To be honest, I'm not sure what that compliment was, but I took it. I loved it. Dude, I have thought about it every moment since I said that. I looked at myself in the mirror yesterday, and I was like, I tried to do a slow blink, and I realized, wait, I can't see what I'm doing. So I'm not sure what he's talking about. That was good. Hey, Bill, I don't mean to back you into anything controversial, so feel free to pull the ripcord if it is.

37:42But online sports betting that is now sort of really all over the place on television and online and whatnot, how do you feel about – are you worried about your average sports viewer, especially because, like, when you start talking about the six-year-old, you know, like pretty soon he's going to have a phone and he's going to have like a, you know, an allowance every week. And he's going to be able to make little bets prompted by the on-air announcers saying, hey, listen, if you're thinking this might be a field goal versus a touchdown, you can bet right now. Like people are going to get hurt.

38:19And I'm wondering how you feel about that being in the space right now. Well, the way the apps are set up, it's impossible for any non-adult to just start a gambling account. Like my son is a sophomore in high school. He can't like gamble because he's not allowed. So they have a lot of checks and balances with that. I just think this is where it's been going really for the last 20 years. Like I remember when I, my first couple of years at ESPN.com, gambling was like a big part of the way my friends and I talked about sports and they wouldn't even let me write a gambling column the first year in 2001 with the spreads.

38:56But the on-air announcer is sort of encouraging that. Do you feel like that's on the same side of the line or not? I don't know if they're encouraging it as much as it's part of the dialogue of sports now. Well, but they're promoting it, and I think the network is a participant in that action. I could be wrong with that. Well, ESPN just did a deal, ESPN Bet, they're calling it. I mean, I think they all kind of see where it's going. Are they doing that with Penn? Yeah, they... But, Bill, again, correct me if I'm wrong. You know, the NFL has all sports, but certainly the NFL always posted the odds in the newspaper for as long as it was always about that.

39:39Right. Always. From day one. It's just more overt than it used to be. I mean, like teams will get fined if they didn't report injuries. Why are they getting fined? Because it affected the spreads. Then how does it, can you reconcile it with the position that baseball took against Pete Rose gambling on baseball? and now they're actually a partner of gambling with baseball? No, but you can't because the Pete Rose thing, he was betting on his own team. Right. And he was managing that team. So he could affect the outcome. Yeah, and they've been cracking down on, they don't want the players to gamble on anything, right?

40:14And there's been, especially in football, there's been a few guys that got nailed. But if you go back to the history of the sports, like there's been gambling scandals in every era. But there was a ref in basketball that just did it, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. But college basketball in the 50s, there was that huge scandal, right, of point shaving way back when. Yeah, and it almost killed college basketball. What's weird is there's so much attention on it now, it would be really hard to fix anything. Anytime something's out of whack, all the casinos, everybody kind of knows, so they get caught immediately.

40:47Yeah, it's part of the dialogue. I just think it's a generational thing. I think for our kids' generation, they're just more used to hearing the announcers talk about it in the dialogue of these guys were favored by nine. Al Michaels used to be on Sunday Night NBC. The great Al Michaels. And he would always be discreetly kind of mentioning the line without mentioning it. Yeah, yeah. Especially that was a big field goal for some people out there. Yeah, exactly. Someone missed an extra point inside the last two minutes. So now it's just kind of out in the open. Yeah. Yeah, so I'm good with it. We'll be right back.

41:26and back to the show. How are you as a sports gambler? Do you do it? Oh, my God. Are you any? You must be good. I go up and down. I know you're trying to jinx me right now, but, yeah, we, I have a long history. I started gambling in 1990 because the Patriots went 1-15, and there were only two games on, and we were in college, and, you know, the Patriots were terrible, and it was like, this is the worst football season I've ever had. And you've made a million betting against them. Yeah, a buddy on my house was like, I have a book here. We're like, what? And we start betting on football, and all of a sudden I had all these favorite teams.

42:06It wasn't just the Patriots. Yeah. So, yeah, it's been a long journey. I've written about it a lot, and I've had a lot of fun with it. But now there's so much analytics and analysis that go with it. Like Sal and I, Jimmy's cousin Sal, we do a Sunday night podcast on my pod, and we did this over-under with win totals. last year and we did great like i went like on the win totals whether a team was going to go over or under i went 24 7 and 1 it was the best i've ever done and i was more excited about that than anything over or under a certain number of wins for the year yeah so they'll say like the the giants are seven and a half you know like you're thinking to go over under and we just like and we were like so proud of ourselves that we did well but there's been other years where we're like oh my god we're getting annihilated does god hate us does that translate to fantasy sports prowess?

42:53Are you really good at that? I was wanting to ask you if you're into fantasy sports. Oh, I was like, I was in the first wave. I was in basketball leagues in the 80s, baseball leagues in 1982, football since 1990. What's the name of the, wasn't there a baseball group early on in ESPN? Yeah, I wasn't in that, but yeah, it started in the early 80s. There's a bunch of people that have tried to claim they started the first fantasy league and it's... No, but this was These guys are like the best, supposedly. I forget what it was called. Well, I'm in the Kimmel League where we vote everybody out, and Sal has the hammer this year, and I think he's going to vote me out for comedy's sake.

43:34Why, because the trash talk's not good enough? Well, we show up, and there's 11 owners, and only 10 stay. And at the beginning of the draft, the guy who won the draft the year before votes out one of the 10, one of the other 10. And you just have to get up and get the F out. We had, John Hamm was in it and he showed up late because he was filming Mad Men. And we waited, waited, waited. He showed up like a half hour late. Comes in, sorry guys, sorry. Gets a beer, sits down. And then he got voted out. And he just like drank the beer. That's it. Oh my God. I'm the commissioner of my baseball league.

44:09It's the worst league in the world because I don't think, there's not one trash talk at all through the entire season. Yeah. The 90s were so much more fun. Yeah. The 90s people get mad. the draft was like really vicious and everybody's nicer. I have a question about this stuff. So what about... You want to focus on the fantasy part of it? Go ahead. Yeah, exactly. No. Why? And I think Jason will, I think I may have asked this on another episode of our podcast, so we can cut it if so. But if all this... On Smartless? Available wherever you get podcasts? Yes, on Smartless. But you can get it early on Wondry without asking.

44:47Didn't realize that. I read about all of these crazy, unbelievably massive amounts of money thrown around all these players for all these teams, right? Yeah. These contracts that these guys are doing. So if these teams and owners and all these people have literally billions of dollars, it seems like, why wouldn't they just go buy every single top player and create and have that one team if they have all this money? Bill, you'll be more concise. No, I mean, but there's an actual. The Dodgers kind of tried that. It's working. Well, because there are rules. There are rules as to how much you can actually spend in most sports.

45:25Well, there's rules. Over a certain number, you'd have to start paying a punitive tax on that. But how would you explain what's going on with the Yankees and the Red Sox this year with all their payroll? Aren't they the last two in the American League East? The Yankees thing is great. Aren't the Red Sox cozied up next to them in the standings? The Yankees aren't winning the title, but what's happened to the Yankees is kind of like my World Series this year. Their fans are so upset. They have George Steinbrenner's loser, Son Howell, runs the team. And it's like the classic, like the son who had the only reason he is in charge of anything is just because he was related to his dad, which is always the best and funniest scenario in sports.

46:06By the way, it's the funniest thing in any arena. It's so good. I love the idea. It's like Giuliani's son running his defense. But, like, think if Hollywood ran this where, like, Bob Iger's retiring. His son is now the president of Disney. Like, it would never happen. But in sports, they just hand the teams off. I love kids who are born on third and score on a wild pitch. I love that storyline. It's so great. Like, they just have zero talent, and yet they're just because their dad had a ton of dough. Yeah. Right. Bill, you know, when we were talking about sports, I want to get back to Sean's question, Bill, and hear what you think about this, about why can't the owners just go?

46:42We were talking about the Red Sox and Yankees, and they do try to do that, and you're jumping with glee at how much the Yankees have spent and to no success. Really what's happening, again, I don't want to bring everything back to soccer, but if you look what's happened in the last year in soccer, the Saudis, in fact, the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund, which took control of the top four or five clubs, has now provided enough funds for them to go and poach from all the major European leagues all these top stars and pay them these salaries, Sean? Neymar just signed a$300 million deal for two years.

47:16I know, I read about all of that. Plus they paid a release clause of 80 million euros to PSG. They apparently offered Mbappe 750 million euros to play for one year. Ronaldo's getting 400 a year. I mean, they're doing that exact thing that you're talking about. And Bill, what do you think that something like that does to the balance of world sport? well soccer it's just basically a free market and they're all maniacs i think the nba had a little bit of this issue where they had they had this luxury tax and it was punitive but then you had a team like the warriors that were saying well screw it you know we're we're in san francisco we make a shitload of money we want to win the title every year and they had like a three with the tax they paid like 350 million for last year's team so in the new collective bargaining agreement they changed it so that all right if you go over this number not only is there attacks but now you're going to have your issues with your draft picks issues with how you fill out your roster you're not going to be able to do trades as easily oh really and they really made it harder and now but what's funny is there's always some new owner it's always a rich guy they come in like obviously a rich guy they own the team but like some newer wave rich guy so the guy about phoenix this guy matt ishby who i actually kind of like he's a fun character yeah i kind of like him too but he came in and he's just like they all want to zag right they're like everybody's going this way i'm gonna zag and he's like we don't care about draft picks we're gonna pay for kevin durant we they traded for bradley bill we're gonna have this crazy payroll and like everybody else is afraid of the luxury tax i'm not afraid and those are always my favorite owners Like Brooklyn got bought by this Russian guy, Prokhorov, in the early 2010s.

49:05And he's like, I'm going to spend and just made all these crazy moves. And then two years later, he's like, eh, I don't want to do this anymore. And then just stopped spending money. And the Celtics had all their draft picks. So the whims of these guys that they, you know, they see these teams as like these toys and these things to play with. But meanwhile, all these, you know, hundreds of thousands of fans are attached to the team. And these guys can just run roughshod, which is what's happened with the Yankees now. It's owned by the dead owner's son, and he just won't fire anybody, and they're in chaos.

49:37Well, it occurs to me that you can almost draw a parallel between that and maybe any business, but certainly our business, that you have these big sort of rich guys who are either rich themselves or control these big corporations. They're driven by, you know, whatever, stock price, et cetera. and there's no actual reverence for the thing itself, right? So culturally, they don't really care about what impacts. So they come and they go, I'm going to buy this team. Well, hey, look, it's really bad for basketball or it's really bad for soccer. And they're like, I don't give a shit. I'm going to be dead in 15 years.

50:09I just want to win a couple of championships. I don't give a shit. And that's happening in entertainment. These guys came in, these people came in, they run it and they're like potentially destroying it. And they're like, I don't give a shit. I just want to strip it down and sell the pieces off and I don't give a fuck if it, you know, fucks culturally with this thing. Is this why Dr. Pimple Popper is on the lead cover of Max right now instead of Succession or Curb Enthusiasm? That's exactly why. Hey, Bill, do you think that the fan base, to your point about how all these hundreds of thousands of people are associated and attached to each team in the fan base, does the fan base really have any leverage?

50:45Like if an owner is just in a tailspin, can they strike effectively and say, We just saw it with the Washington football fans. They had this owner who was Daniel Snyder, who was like the worst owner. He was like the championship belt holder every year. And he sucked the life out of the franchise and the city to the point that, you know, they would have a home game and they'd have more fans of the other team. And everybody was like, I'm out until this guy's gone. And it really had no impact on him. It's the TV rights that really have the leverage. And financially, they still sold for how many billion?

51:15Right. Well, what happened was the sponsors started fleeing and it became, and then he had a couple other things. But that's because of his behavior personally as opposed to team performance. But that's the thing. These guys, like the Phoenix Suns owner, had this whole toxic environment and they made him sell. And then he sells and he sells for like a record price, you know. Or Sterling made a bunch of money at the Clippers, right? Right. Sterling's the worst guy probably who's ever owned a team. And, you know, he cashed out and made more money than anybody ever made. By the way, my feeling on that, I've thought about it since that sale and everything that went down.

51:51And then his family was trying to block him from selling it to Steve Ballmer back in the day, blah, blah, blah. And then they were claiming that he was sort of unfit to make the deal, Sterling himself and all this stuff. And I think it was all by design to drive the price up. Now, I'm a cynic, but I do think that that was all by design because the more that the family was fighting and they were saying the price just kept going up just to grab it. Oh, no question. I've had Clippers season tickets for 20 years because I got them to go see the other teams. but I got to know a lot of the people in my section and Sterling would show up and he'd be dressed in all black and he'd sit courtside and he was like the fucking Grim Reaper and he would go and this team had such a malaise and then you have the Lakers on the other side that are like one of the jewels of the league and it was like a fascinating sociology experiment to watch this fan base basically their hope was either he's going to sell or they're going to stumble into some draft pick that will get them LeBron.

52:49But if neither of those things happen, I'm here to see the other teams. And that was kind of the vibe. So, Bill, not to embarrass you, but you've done very, very well financially with all of your efforts. Well, not like you. Junior, junior. And we're trying. But you're crushing it. My question is, because you mentioned courtside seats. Yeah. What's the thing that you could never afford that once you started really doing well you treated yourself to. It doesn't have to be sports-based. I can guess one thing because you're living in Wayne Manor, it looks like. Yeah, it looks like a high way. But because you seem like you've really kept very close contact with your sort of simpler self, and I don't mean that as a pejorative, but you're a very normal guy, which is great.

53:40Oh, thanks, Jason. So is it, how are you, is it comfortable? Well, you know, you're not, You're a mogul, but you don't seem like one. You're wearing a T-shirt, and you're just talking with us idiots. And so how are you able to match all of your dreams? Yeah, all your dreams with trying to stay grounded. I've never, well, just on the courtside seats thing. Yeah. They're actually like, it's like a pretty bad seat. Have you ever? But they're expensive. Like, if you're at a basketball game, I'm always, like, amazed people spend that amount of money. I think it's really just to be kind of seen on the court.

54:20Right. But you're too close. Like, the seats I have for the Clipper games were, like, four or five rows up. Same for my dad's Celtic tickets that he's had for, like, 52 years. And there's perspective, and you can actually watch it. The courtside thing... Like, sit in front row in a movie theater. I always say that about hockey games. People are like, I'm going to write that on the glass. I'm like, great, you got the worst seats in the house. You can't see shit. You want to be... hockey, you want to be 10, 15 rows up. See the space. Right. Between the red lines. Or right behind the goalie is cool because we had those king seats for a couple years.

54:50Oh, that's cool too. That's where you're like, how is every goalie not just completely traumatized and in a mental hospital? When you see what happens to them, their whole lives, it's just like they're getting things fired at them. There's all this commotion in front of them. They're falling. They're jumping up. They're falling. And you're like, how is any of these guys? They are. Healthy. That in a straitjacket. Bill, what do you do when you're not watching sports? What's your thing? This is sort of a Jason Bateman question. What's the thing? What's your guilty pleasure that you watch or you do or you read or something that's outside of the realm of what you do professionally?

55:26Well, oh, outside? Because it's a lot of sports movies and TV. And I host this Rewatchables podcast where we do a podcast about a movie every week that people really like. And it's fun to try to figure out, is that rewatchables worthy or not? And then if it is, I'll watch it twice. But is there something else that you do that's outside of that or no? You mean just like my personal stuff? Yeah, your personal stuff. Yeah, I have two kids. A lot of kids sports. Both of my kids are athletes. What do they play? My son is football and lacrosse. My daughter is playing soccer actually in college right now.

55:59Wow. So I had a lot of, there's a lot of sports parent stuff that kind of took over. And then, you know, still playing tennis and still a lot of like stuff. with the friends. You know, you find your little friend group as you get older and you do the dinners and then somebody gets mad at somebody and you talk about it the next day. It's great. Yeah. Well, we can't believe we had you longer than an hour. We could talk to you forever. It's ridiculous. You're the man. Yeah, you really are. Thank you for doing this again. Thanks, guys. I can't wait for you guys not to run this. Yeah, we promise to air this one.

56:30Promise. And go Sox until the World Series and then we'll let the Dodgers go by. Go Sox. We won't be in the World Series, don't we? I'll give you the Red Sox. Celtics you can have. Yeah. And by the way, guys, it was cool to be on the test show and then watch how the podcast blossomed. I remember telling Bateman, I was like, do you guys want to do this at Spotify? I was like, no, I think we're going to hold on to this. We kind of like just kind of being in control of it. And it turned out to be very smart. Well, we'll see. But we're certainly having a lot of fun. We're in the bet on ourselves club.

57:07I know, it's true. Thank you for making the bed that we're enjoying resting in. Yeah. Good to see everybody. Thank you. You too, pal. Thanks, Bill. See you, man. Bye, buddy. Well, that's a good man for coming back. Yeah. It was so long ago, I didn't remember anything we talked about, so I'm glad. It was well over three years ago that we first had him on. It was one of our first shows, and we asked him about the podcast business because we now, if you can imagine Dax was the first though right? Yes Dax was the first episode Dax was the first but and then we got very topical at the time and so yeah it just didn't work and Jason's kudos to you for bringing him back because he's such an infinitely interesting guy I could talk to him forever about everything I really admire that he's been able to just crush it in multiple areas and stay so grounded a topic up and he fucking knows about it it's crazy yeah you don't want to get into an argument with him he'll kill you with facts How's the bi work coming, Sean?

58:11Yeah, Sean, how is the bi work coming? Well, I can't really do it because I've been working on it for probably 40 minutes. Oh, you're not wearing your regular glasses. You're wearing your... Bi-focals. Bi-focals. With the assist from our net. Bye. Enjoy your day. Smart. Blast.

58:33Smart. Blast. Smartless is 100 % organic and artisanally handcrafted by Rob Armjarf, Bennett Barbaco, and Michael Grantary.

58:52Smartless.

From the publisher

We go head-to-head with the wise and opinionated Bill Simmons (podcaster, sportswriter, cultural critic, founder of The RInger). And yes, we go deep: Jason gets to talk baseball, Will gets to talk soccer, and Sean dives into the psychology of sport. With a guest like this, we’re willing to pay a luxury tax for this week’s game.

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