Major League Bazball: The Cricket-Baseball Crossover Special

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0:30at Whole Foods Market. How did a boycott Jimmy become a billionaire from posting videos? On Good Bad Billionaire, we're going to find out how the world's most popular YouTuber, Mr Beast, made his fortune. He's buried himself in a coffin for days. Counted to 100 ,000 on camera. And even recreated Squid Games, all in an attempt to go viral on the internet. But it all started when he gave a homeless man$10 ,000. So is he a philanthropist reshaping capitalism? Or is he just the king of the attention economy? Find out on Good Bad Billionaire. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:08Hello and welcome to Tailenders. Hello and thank you for having us on Tailenders. You're very welcome for having us on Tailenders. Tailenders, you'll recognise that the person that normally says that is normally me, Felix White. Sometimes it's Jimmy Anderson. And normally the voice you first hear is Greg James, but neither of them are with us this week. Greg can't be with us and he's got stuff on. Jimmy's on holiday. He was probably listening to Greg's trying to dial him from holiday last week and decided that seems quite stressful, even though Greg did literally mic drop it. Greg's too busy. Sharky, as we all know, has chosen the cricket season to go on holiday for like a month.

1:46So he's not even with us. We are in uncharted territory. This is - We are in uncharted territory. This will never happen. And for the benefit of the listeners, this will never happen again because Sharky… Well, let's see it. Sharky basically talented Sharky's baby. And he was very, very nervous about leaving the baby with us over his holiday. We said, don't worry about it. Don't worry. Don't throw the baby out of the bathwater. Don't worry, Sharky. We've got this covered. Sharky, you will know, for the last 10 years, would very rarely let an episode go ahead without Jimmy. but we'd never ever let an episode go ahead without Greg and this this would never happen and he doesn't know this is happening and he'll only know when he listens in now so I just got I got visions of Sharky now spitting out his blue margarita on the beach yeah but matching you've got the wrong attitude here because this is this is a moment for you this is a protect you are you're the cricket expert on this show and there has been substantial cricket we've had the The 100 is about to start.

2:49We've had a great one day series. We've had the Vitality Blast. And because I'm hosting it, you are the person I'm going to be thrown to with cricket questions. I'm ready. I do feel, whether it's just us two, it feels a bit like, you know, when E17 toured without Brian Harvey and Tony Mortimer and it was just the two backing dancers? Don't say it like that. Don't say it like that. It was just Terry and John. But do listen in. We got lots. Well, thank you for your extremely unconfident intro. I've got a quiz. Great. Okay, let's get to that. People may or may not know that I also do a baseball coverage on Sundays called Bases Covered Live and that's on BBC.

3:28Normally I go to America with my American co-hosts to do that. But Mel Newman and Xavier Scruggs are in England and I'm showing them the things I love this week. So we've been to Lourdes to see the cricket. We've gone to Craven Cottage. They're coming to see the Maccabees. And on Sundays when we started Bases Covered Live. So they're going to come on and we're going to talk some similarities, differences, cricket and baseball. And you've got, what have you got? A baseball throw to the quiz and try and tease it a little bit with a bit more energy than what you've just done about the whole show.

3:57I've got a classic Tellenders quiz, which I've rejigged for the baseball era. I'll be judged if it's classic or not. The listeners will. Well, I'm going to tease it. So do listen in. Okay. It's going to be, it's a Tellenders favorite, but I've reimagined it for the baseball audience. Okay. Fantastic. Very much looking forward to that. Felix. Yeah, go on. Oh, I was going to say, let's get into some cricket. You've been watching it. No, I do want to get into cricket. But before we do that, I just want to check in and see how you are matching. Because we've got a bit of time. Thanks, mate. Yeah, I'm all right.

4:29But yeah, it's been a good summer so far. Jesse's just about to finish school. Mini matching. I've got mini matching. So we're going to probably spend some time with 100. Oh. Should we start with 100? Because I want to get, actually, we're going to talk lots of cricket. But let's quickly get that out of the way because I went past the oval yesterday. I texted you a photo of it. The sunrises are outside. And this tells you where we've got to with 100. What is it? The fourth year? The fifth year? It might be the fifth year. The BBC Sport page are running a quiz on the front of their page. And the whole topic of the quiz is, can you name the teams in the 100?

5:09Welcome to Can You Name The Teams In The 100? So that leads me to ask you about it. Can you name the teams in the 100 without looking at the script, but I know he's been sent to you. No, I know the London Spirit. I know the Manchester Originals have changed names now. Yes, I believe they are now called the Manchester Super Giants. I don't know. I'm just waiting for the West Country team, basically. Yes. We're waiting for a big investor to come along and I'm going to lead that. We also know that you don't care about the 100 because you went to. I, this is, you can't beat me with that stick. I don't, I care.

5:47I don't mind going to the games. I do like going to the games. Yeah. I just don't care about, I couldn't tell you who's won the last four years. I don't think anyone could. Well, Overlinvincibles have won it. Well, under me and Greg's reign, they did. But just quickly on that, we are no longer called the Overlinvincibles. And they're now called, they're called My London, but it's spelled M-I London. So they've decided that it's going to be, you have to refer to it as my london but it's spelled mi london why is it is that a what does the mi stand for because the owners i'm on my onions or something it's got to be called mi as well and then they decided in a boardroom meeting like you let's make everyone pronounce me my my yeah heather knight is working for london spirit so that's good yeah is he one is playing for southern brave okay she's playing for southern brave so we're supporting izzy and heather and what a sell that is england won the free match one day series versus india recently it was a absolute classic even if i do say so myself to set the first two games were tense old school one day internationals and then the third one i was at with mel and x was a high run scoring just like smash fest but like not one of those where you feel like oh it's just it's it's unevenly match it was really exciting England scored the highest record ever score at Lord to the one day international believe it or not yeah Ben Duckett got his best ever crazy run score didn't he I think the highest ever he scored 141 from 135 balls which is the highest one day score at Lord's England scored 387 Jacob Bethel I know if Greg was here Greg would say but a couple of on drives that Jacob Bethel hit early on in that game I mean to use a phrase I said about Shubham Gill's cover drive last week.

7:38If I had a wife and kids, I would leave them for that shot. Talk me through also Jacob Bethel's left-arm spin. Yeah. And he bowled really well, tied them down towards the end. And actually that was game changing because it looked at one point matching that they were going to chase that. Rohit Sharma scored a hundred and what some people are assuming might be his last game on the international. He hasn't said that for a fact yet coley got runs even even didn't look really in touch but he got runs and you're right jacob becker with left arm spin lovely loopy stuff sort of won the game back for england yeah yeah and we were we were sat among the indian fans and it was jim when we went on uh to the west indies and we when west indies beat england it was all that celebration yeah it was that sort of vibe that five yeah yeah just liberation just really good times yeah but But I mean, the England team, isn't it weird how like you look at that one day team and you're looking like Root, Brook, Bethel, Archer.

8:36And you're like, well-balanced team. It can't be beaten. Setting up for the next World Cup. But then you look at those same players, you list in the test team, Root, Brook, Bethel. You're like, I'm a load of s***. Yeah, it's so true. Why is that? It's so true. But I don't think it's those players that are the problem at test level. I think you just identified the keys players in both formats there. Well, I think there was a sense of liberation there between all of them because there was just less focus on it, less talk. So we're just playing cricket. And I think philosophically, those characters match with Brendan McCollum in a shorter form format because they're not going to get lambasted.

9:17You know what I mean? They're not going to get podcasts saying it's untenable every time they play too aggressive cricket. yeah but it was sort of Baz Ball-y wasn't it it was a bit it was kind of I don't want to keep using that term but it was kind of controlled Baz Ball exactly it was it was choosing better moments it was rotating the strike a bit more intelligently it was kind of like it was yeah yeah but you can get away with it in short form cricket because that's that's the name of the game isn't it matching do you would you make Brook test captain now no okay I just think he's doing great on the one day stuff.

9:55Let him get used to that. Let him grow into that. And don't add the pressure. It's like being in an office job and you've given another responsibility in the office. He's doing well. He's bringing results in his department. Don't give him added responsibility. I think he looks a good captain, you know, on a pitch. I think he reads the game of cricket well. Yeah. I don't know what other options there are. The problem is there's no... No other options. Other obvious choice. Not so much. Apart from, would they get back to Root? I don't know. Yeah. All right, watch this space. We'll ask Jimmy Anderson next week when he's back.

10:32Or we can even... Should we ring him? You could text him now. Do you want to text him and just ask him? While Matching's doing that, the Vitality Blast finals day was this weekend as well. I spent most of the day at home watching that. It was really good fun. Northampton Steelbacks beat Hampshire by 14 runs and won it. Hampshire were bowled out for 155, chasing a target of 170, which actually looked on when Sonny Baker earlier got a FIFA, which recalled, I don't know if people remember it, but Mark Wood's like rapid spell a few years ago in the finals day. And it's just exciting to see a young cricket, a break through a team like that with Sonny Baker.

11:08But Northampton's won it. Do you watch it at home? I followed it, yeah. I was more excited about David Willey. Hang on, please do elaborate. well i like a sort of not a redemption arc but a hero yeah why did he get he got dropped a few years ago from england which he really he missed out when we fast tracked archer through for the 2019 world cup and we had to get rid of someone yeah which must have been devastating yeah because he was doing really well wasn't he yeah he was i don't know he just had a great day i thought it It was like semifinal, first ball, bang, wicket. Final, first ball, bang, wicket.

11:46What were you worried about? And then I think he got a catch right at the end to win it for him. And like Northamshire, they haven't got a lot of money. Right. They're not big spenders. I think they've got like, not to rub it in your face, but I think they've got like one-tenth of the turnover of Surrey. Right. So like they're punching way above their weight, even like in the conversation. so to even be there and compete in this incredible so no you're right you've actually raised a good point there because i always do feel with the blast like it's such a good day and sometimes you think oh if we'd put funneled more infrastructure into this this could be a huge competition but you do have sort of county cricketers having a real day out yeah and their fans you know i mean and that's kind of that's kind of the beauty of it as well to a packed house yeah also even though obviously i'm a i'm a glosser fan and like i've got commercially supported through my modeling career through Costa but also though I'm a Lanx fan because you know my affiliation through Jimmy but also I have got an affinity with Northamptonshire because they are the mecca of the UK footwear manufacturing industry okay then if you know that and they're the Northamptons fans are called the shoe army right and obviously I've got a footwear company so you've got in affinity with anyone that you can financially receive subs or I just love the fans call themselves the shoe army and they go, shoe army, shoe army.

13:11Yeah. And I make shoes. You do. I'm a cobbler. Actually, we got, we're going to get Mel on X on very soon, but I'm very excited by this. Yes. So you can have a baseball quiz, but before we do that, a couple of weeks ago, we asked you to send in your suggestions for the cast of Ben Stokes, the musical. I actually wasn't on that episode, but I enjoyed that very much. And look, we've had amazing feedback, which we're going to get to, but we've had some very key feedback because the man himself, Ben Stokes, has responded on Instagram. He doesn't use Instagram that much. So this was actually massive.

13:51He didn't even really use Instagram when he was talking about his test career. Anyway, he's taken to it to say the person that should play him in Ben Stokes' music should be matching? Brad Pitt. Brad Pitt. Okay. and look it's big but i think i actually i can see it yeah i can see it uh yeah sort of rugged yeah i'm thinking like brad pitt in fight club era you know we often talk about ben stokes being box office gets used all the time film star when the camera goes close to his face that tension him reading the room so brad pitt does it does scan well i've got to say if he said it himself also i do think ben stokes could have like a career you know like vinnie jones traversed his career and moved into ben stokes a lot better than yeah ben stokes he's got that sort of brooding he could have like a cameo in lock stock a guy richie film listeners have been getting in touch though thank you so much sam sam's come from through like a whole cast matching do you want to read out sam's suggestions yes sam he says ben stokes tom hardy great one rob key woody harrelson um I can't see that.

15:00I'm just trying so hard to picture that. Brendan McCullum, Hugh Jackman, definitely. Richard Gold, Steve Carell. I can see that. Yeah, in a nice way. Supporting characters, Australia, Ricky Ponton, Tom Cruise. That's a reach. Steve Smith, Miles Labashain, Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller. Yeah. David Warner is William Dafoe. and Pat Cummins as Jake Gyllenhaal. Okay. Yeah, it's expensive cast. Yeah. I don't know if... I don't know if these people have got the budget to make that. Yeah, yeah. We're talking the realms of fantasy here. Thank you very much, Freddie. Probably not that one who's got in touch and said that Ellen DeGeneres could play Joe Root.

15:45Right. For Johnny Bairstow, Ricky Gervais as David Brent as Johnny Bairstow. That's highly conceptual. again not so sure but i'm sean bean is brendan mccullum i can definitely see miles jumpers rob rob key i can definitely see that charles dance charles dance as ben stokes i don't know if i know charles dance is do you know charles dance is i don't know oh wow charles of course i know who charles dances yeah okay great shout it's ben i can see that i can see that as an older ben stokes the final thing before we get to mel and x is i'm surprised to bring it up the vitality blast did you see Charles Dagnall running a mascot race and falling over?

16:24I did see him fall over. Yeah. Bless him. Which is begging the question now for me, are we going to get to a point where cricket personalities realise that they are going to become viral and legends if they fall over on finals day? Do you know what I mean? Because I'm starting to feel like it's going to start to get semi-intentional for falling over on finals day. Or what, you think he's deliberately fallen over to go viral? No, I don't think he has. But I think as he falls over and as he, if those don't see it, he's trying to race a mascot. He's commentating at the same time. He falls over something and then he sort of recovers himself and keeps on commentating, lying down.

17:04And I think it makes, he's extremely lovable anyway, but it makes him more lovable. And then they clip that up with Freddie Flintoff falling backwards as Elvis, et cetera. And I just feel like there's going to be a few next year, but I feel like, oh, if I do something a little bit silly, you'll you'll go viral do you know what i mean yeah that'll be me don't worry about that so that's my cricket suggestion uh no that's my cricket prediction for next year people people trying to go viral exactly in a in a lovable way in a kind of klutzy clumsy oh god i've fallen off my chair exactly what am i like okay matching this time for your baseball quiz can you please open the loosely cricket based door and let our guests in

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18:27He's buried himself in a coffin for days. Counted to 100 ,000 on camera. And even recreated Squid Games, all in an attempt to go viral on the internet. But it all started when he gave a homeless man$10 ,000. So is he a philanthropist reshaping capitalism? Or is he just the king of the attention economy? Find out on Good Bad Billionaire. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

18:52Okay, it gives me great pleasure matching to welcome to Tailenders, another part of my life. People very close to me, just the other side of the pond. Melanie Newman, one of the only female play-by-play broadcasters in MLB, a total legend. And Xavier Scruggs, a legend of a game in more than one way. guys welcome to tail enders this is so exciting we're finally in your world like actually in your bubble doesn't feel real at all thank you for having us man this is awesome you know everyone don't you because matt you've done stuff with matching a few years ago at london series he showed off the swing at trafalgar square that was uh impressive man i felt like i had to put on a show after him and how strong i was hired for one day only as a baseball influencer um haven't been asked back but you know we live no he hasn't been asked back that's such a good point is that good felix we heard it was your choice so you couldn't afford me no it's like glastonbury you can only headline it once very excited to have you guys on he's so when i told guys when i told matching you're coming on he was like a very excited puppy like his eyes went big he was like can i see them and he's gonna see you in bristol on first day for the mackabee show so we're looking forward to that I can't wait.

20:11It's quite strange because like over the last couple of years, you've really turned Felix's head with the baseball. And I feel like it feels like cricket was sort of his childhood sweetheart. You know, they've been together 30 years. They have a long, long relationship. You know, maybe the intimacy has died out a little bit. But that's to be expected over a long period. but then along comes this american broad baseball and you've completely turned his head and now all he's going on about is bloody stolen bases and strike zones and stuff so we feel we've lost we've lost felix oh a little bit yeah a little bit do you know it was so interesting for michael's matching didn't know anything about cricket when he started tail enders guys more than 10 years ago and so i felt when i came to join you guys i felt oh i'm being matching i'm learning about baseball in the same way that you guys did well um i've mentioned it before but you came to how was that on sunday the home of cricket i mean it was so it couldn't it be more perfect to have you guys at the third one day at england india at lord sold out mel quickly firstly for you just give us a broad impression of how it felt being there.

21:29I mean, we joked about it earlier, but to watch them break a scoring record, to watch them after they forced the decider to win the decider, I said, I guess at this point we just have to be back because they need us at this point where the good luck charm for England. But I just thought it was so wonderful because you look at this stadium from the pitch and it looks very simple and not in a negative way at all, but you think you get the gist of it. And then you actually walk the grounds and you see the other gardens and parks, the food offerings, of course, the most historic piece where the clubhouse is.

22:07And that's where it really starts to get those complex layers. And I don't know, it just, it sinks into your bones a little bit more. I don't think the appreciation is lost on us to experience something new, but not to see it as just a face. I don't know how you could see it at face value when you really feel the context of it. Depth. Yeah. X, same for you. Hey, I got the chills. You already know walking into that stadium and feeling like, you know, this is, I got to throw everything outside of my head, what I know about sport, because cricket is different. It's a different beast. And I think that's what I appreciated most is it's unlike almost every other sport that I've ever been to.

22:51And, you know, I'm thinking about baseball with a bat and a ball, but these guys out here are, you know, coming at bowling completely different balls bouncing different ways. And then I think I was telling Mel this too, just the aestheticness of the defense without a glove, like homeboys out there catching the ball with no problem and they're not wearing a glove that those things where I almost make the comparisons are just almost unreal because it's a different level of the athleticism that I enjoyed watching alongside of you know everything else that came around it. Matching we got in there early so we were early enough to see the teams enter and I was trying to explain to them like when we watch India walk in here like you are watching majesty we're gonna see like we saw Virat, Rahit Sharma, Rahul, all of them, boom, rah, like walk in front of us to go inside the pavilion.

23:42But I felt with Mel and X, like they were trying, they were trying to get excited, but then they were like, Oh, these are just some guys in blue tracks. To be fair. And they were like, is he a good one? Is he a good one? I was like, yeah, he's like the most famous, that's like the most famous person in the world. We knew they weren't just Joe Schmo for the record. We could pick up on the reverence, but yeah, we had, we didn't know one from the other. I mean, we're there to learn from you. and X picked up perfectly because Felix would go, this is so-and-so. And he'd go, oh, okay, that guy. Good luck today.

24:13And he gave me a nod. Well, that was the thing is they knew Felix. So I was trying to tell him, I'm with Felix. Let them know. I'm with Felix. I'm rooting for you. And I was talking to both teams, but it didn't matter. I was rooting for all of them. It didn't matter. It was so, so great. And like a few hours into it, we were obviously doing a thing that I've done with you so many times at cricket where you sit there and you're trying to, like everything that happened you're trying to explain every single tiny thing question question question question but a couple of hours in you know a beautiful thing that happens at cricket when you've done all of that but then you just sat there and then you just start asking each other like how you been how's life what's going on and Mel said so beautifully it becomes which is exactly how I remember feeling about it years ago it becomes like you're looking out at the ocean yes and you end up like sharing this experience where the game of course is so important but it's exactly the same as baseball where you get this little collection a couple of hours in where you get everyone's lives like collaborating together and baseball and cricket would probably be only two sports that allow you to do that because the amount of time involved in it yeah it was very very very special how did you find the ex as a as an ex-player could you appreciate all the yeah kind of that athleticism on display were you looking at thinking how could you analyze it from a different perspective as a former player?

25:35I was. I think that was the thing is, you know, once I got to soak it in, I started thinking about it as if I was broadcasting it, breaking it down, right? And thinking about how I would react in the moment during the time in which we see a ball in play. You know, and I was asking Felix a lot about the alignment of the defense or the players that are behind the bowler because I thought it was interesting how they would shift in certain ways or some would back up at a certain time. So I was trying to figure out what type of hitter it was or batter it was depending upon how the defense was playing.

26:13So I started thinking about it almost as if I was playing the game in the moment and how I would react in each different position too. He also had a little jealousy. We have to bring this up that the bowlers who then play the outskirts are getting to chat strategy with their coach and take a water because he never got to do that defensively. Oh, right. The bowl is on the boundary, yeah. But he was also jealous of the fact, obviously, baseball, you can't hit 360. So when we saw Johnny Root, Joss Butler. You could have had so many runs. I think Ben Duckett did it. Get in front of someone bowling 90 miles an hour and scoop the ball back over their head.

26:50You loved the sweep. The scooping and sweeping, guys, is something that I appreciate because like in baseball, just one way, like a short contact explode through the base. These guys doing, scooping it backwards, knowing where the ball's going to come, moving their body associated to it. That's what I thought the athleticism was really showing off. And then just sweeping something off to the side, knowing it's going to the fence or going all the way to the boundary. That's four. That's four. Real quick. So good. So good. And we were amongst, guys, we were amongst the India fans. so you wouldn't have had that experience if you weren't somewhere else where you got you really felt that passion didn't you it was a beautiful when all the families sat around us yeah and they they didn't care i think that it's funny because if you go to a lot of american sports not always but there's a lot if you sit in the right section they're not going to accept that you're new or you're neutral or you're for the other team and you know not that we fully pick sides i was still rooting for england but x maybe to get food out of them who knows he's like a gull but uh he was He made so many friends.

27:55He had everybody considering that they were going to invite him to family dinner after because they wanted to share their passion for Team India. And I thought it was lovely that we could just blend in and it didn't matter who they were fans for that. It was just like one big happy. Like, that's the best. That's why we love sports. That's the best of it right there is because we're all there to enjoy the same thing. Yes. Honestly, when I introduced you guys to Agus, that's wonderful. Talk us through that. But honestly, I thought there was like a shift in the matrix. I was like, how am I even going to facilitate a conversation between you two?

28:29It had a really lovely... What happened? Angus walked, because we did a bit in the broadcast booths. I took him into the country. Oh, man. That was special too, because you could see the game from a different perspective, right? I think that's what we got to experience, something that most people wouldn't experience. That's when I felt out of my depth. I went, oh, they know all about it. And I thought I knew enough. Right. I know nothing. Nothing. And I think that's even the fans behind us when we had come back to our seats after being up in the broadcast. They're like, hey, now it's our time to go up because we got that experience of going all over the stadium.

29:04Yeah. And seeing it from so many different perspectives. That's something I'll never forget. I'm trying to find all the questions that you guys asked me. So I was writing them down because some of it was absolutely insane. I felt like you took your kids to a game. And at one point I thought, we're just peppering dad. god bless him he's like anything anything else yeah oh oh this is great because these are so matching okay so x at one point asked me in the middle of the overs when they go and have a chat what if the batters don't like each other what do they talk about again dad okay another one moving on mel suggested when i told her about the ashes and then a couple of hours later i told her about sandpaper gates mel suggested and i can't believe no one said this before why england don't burn sandpaper and then fill the ashes with that to get them back with the ashes.

29:53That was an interesting idea. Give me on the phone. About nine or 10 overs in, X was already reading the game so specifically, but when, I can't remember who it was at mid on, someone stopped the ball at mid on that looked like it was going for four, just stopped it. And X goes, that's the difference between one and four. You were on it. And Mattson, he didn't blink. I mean, he locked in. And Felix even said something to him and X didn't hear it because he's just in. Yeah, even if he was calling it good base running all the time too. Mel said it was like being at the beach. But my favorite thing is when Ben Duckett scooped the ball, X just turned to me and said, that was nasty.

30:35It was. It was. Because he got his body in front of what I'm thinking is the plate, but it's the wickets, right? And he got his body in front of it and then went, he like sacrificed his chest and was like, what? And so I'm just thinking that these guys are doing some things body movement wise is out of control. One thing that I liked that you explained to us was we were noticing that they were keeping the ball off the ground after they made a play. They throw it around. They wouldn't bounce off the ground. And you explained to us because the ball, it would get certain scuffs and then it would move.