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Now, folks, I don't want to alarm
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you, but scientists say 40% of America's pictures are hanging crooked.
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No, it's true. And I hear you asking, well, who's
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gonna straighten out all these artistic abominations? Your friends?
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A neighbor? Those fat cats in Washington?
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Good luck. Hey, you know, maybe no one will notice.
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Maybe the problem will just fix itself. Now you're the one who's being naive. Okay, fair enough.
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But you sound like you're ready to become your own boss in the exciting world of frame nudging. Yes. For a minimal franchise fee, you'll receive a pair of straightening gloves, a canister
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of wall lubricant, and a booklet of
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the most commonly asked questions you will hear, including, who are you? And what are you doing here?
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Tbtl. I am gonna be telling the stories on our behalf, and you better believe I'm gonna be doing it with a little bit of joy, a little bit
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of enthusiasm, a little bit of energy,
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and a little bit of sick it to em.
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Well, let's hope it doesn't come to that. I was shaking. My tongue was shaking. My head was shaking. My arms were shaking. And my legs. My feet, too.
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Is there, and I'm just guessing here, some kind of medication that you maybe need a lot of and have taken none of or maybe too much of today?
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Hey, what do you say we both be independent together, huh? I don't even know what that means.
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No one knows what it means, but it's provocative.
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Well, all right. Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Tuesday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live.
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Oh la la.
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My name's Luke Burbank. I'm your host. Yeah, everyone's got a podcast coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio.
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Come back, baby.
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Perched high above the mighty Columbia, where it is just an absolutely spectacular July 21st.
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Oh, ma pa.
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It's just beautiful. Except for the fact that it's going to be in the 90s of degrees today here in Southern Washington. It's going to be very hot, going
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to be very uncomfortable for everybody.
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Good news, though. We have everything is mowed down. The pool filter. And by pool, I mean the livestock tank that I bought at Tractor Supply appears to be working. And I will be, I'm sure, fully submerged in it by the end of the day, trying to survive the heat. As we've arrived, folks, at episode 4775 in a collector series, Let the fun begin. A lot of people trying to beat the heat by going indoors, watching movies Maybe watching the Odyssey, somehow heartbreak feels
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good in a place like this.
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But there is a movie trailer that is playing before the Odyssey that is absolutely terrifying.
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I am petrified.
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Petrified.
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With this story.
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People are wondering if it's okay to play the trailer for Other Mommy before the Odyssey, when people didn't sign up to go to a horror film. We'll talk about that and we'll say hello to this guy. Longest running cobra of the show, maybe best known. Well, let me just let the tape do the talking. He may be best known for his depictions of the tall ships, capturing their grace and power. He's Andrew Walsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning and welcome. Welcome back, my friend.
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Good morning, Luke. Welcome back. Right back at you. Right back at ya. Pretty good. I don't know if you saw me disappear from your screen for a second. I stayed up late last night hooking all the equipment back up in my studio. Except there was one piece of equipment that I thought, well, I can do without it today. And I can. It's just the headphone amp. But I figured during your intro, maybe I could plug in the headphone amp and just get the final piece in place so that we're all back. So that you could.
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Full capacity.
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Exactly. I don't need it for this show. When I'm doing this show with you, I can just plug my headphones directly into my audio board. That's all I need. I need to hear you. I need to hear me. I need to hear the wonderful audio drops that we provide to the listeners. I was gonna say free of charge. But you know what? Today would be a weird day to claim that. But by the way, thank you.
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Cost of charge.
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Thank you to everybody who donated during this year's tbtl. A thon. Including, as I learned recently, my parents, who are now official donors of TBTL. All we had to do was do the TBTLathon in their backyard and let them feed us pizza.
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All we had to do was eat some of their free pizza and salad.
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Exactly. I even tried to pick up the tab. They took me to lunch yesterday, a big, big lunch. And they refused to let me pay. And now that I know that they're donors, I feel even worse about that.
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Where did they take you? Out there in, what is it? Lakewood?
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Yes. No. Well, no. Well, they're in Westlake and I think the place is in Westlake as well. I'm going to type this in. I believe it's called Thai Spice. It's an Italian place,
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Bob. Really going in for the sort of South Asian food and that's how that'd be India. But the like, you know, he recommended a Cambodian slash Vietnamese place for the week.
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Yeah, he loves the weekend as do
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I get a Thai spice.
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Yeah. And it was kind of a, it was a bit of a warm day yesterday too. And we were, they had the idea of going to like kind of a Mediterranean place that I like a lot. But there was something a little starchy about the Mediterranean fare that for some reason to me a good. A bowl of chilled vermicelli noodles with some mint sounded like it was right up my alley. And so we went to a place called Thai Spice, which was really good. But like we got, we got soups, we shared spring rolls. It was a feast I had not eaten in a long time. And so it was a real feast. And then I was like, you know what though? I'm going to secretly not like make a big deal of it, but I thought I could pick up the tab because they had done so much for us this past week during the thon, hosting us again hosting a pizza party at their place for you, me and John and everything. And my dad refused. And there's always that moment where you're like, listen, I am sincere about this. I'm not just like pretend like slowly saying, slowly reaching for it and quietly saying, let me get it. Hoping that somebody will be like, no, no, no, don't worry about it. Like I legitimately wanted to do it. But also you can see how it can become stressful if you push too hard and the person does not want to accept that. And so I said, okay.
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And there's a father son dynamic.
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Exactly. Yeah. And so I think we, I think we did it right.
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The irony is that I don't think my parents have ever picked up a check in my presence.
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Oh, I find that hard to believe.
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Well, first of all, they don't eat out ever.
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Yeah, that's true.
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Taking them.
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That is true. And I will say that dining out is a big part of, of my parents culture, especially now that they're retired. And as a kid, as kids we were very lucky to experience that as well. But now that they're retired, I think they, you know, that's, that's what they love to do. Go out and try some of their favorite places, whatnot.
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Now my parents did pick up the check when I was a kid when we would go to Burger Master with the entertainment book. They did get the check. So it's not true that they've never picked Up a check. But in my adulthood, let's say north of 25 in my life, they have never, ever at a restaurant picked up a check. I'm sure that they've probably been to like 10 restaurants in, like, since I turned 25, my parents have probably been to 10 restaurants, and it's been with me all 10 times. So I was like, hey, we should go. Let's get some pizza or something. And then of course, because, you know, I want to have everything the way I want to have it. I want to have soda. I want the things I want.
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Yeah. My dad would not pay for my soda. That was the one thing that I had to pay for.
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It was byodc. When I went to their lovely home, I did bring my own Diet Coke.
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I know say that if they're listening to this, because my dad was texting me the night before and he wanted to know what kind of sodas we wanted and he wanted to know special orders for the pizza. And I didn't want to put them out. And I said, don't worry about the soda. We'll drink whatever is in the fridge. So if they hear that you brought your own Diet Coke because they were not prepared, it'll break their damn hearts.
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Well, no, the way that went down. And by the way, right now I'm narrow casting to Bob and Joyce.
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You also have my dad's number. You could just text him this if you wanted.
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Yeah, that's right. I need to catch up with him. It's been over 12 hours since we texted. I remember when we were. Maybe we were stopping at our favorite marathon gas station that morning.
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Oh, yeah.
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Or maybe we were just heading into the. To the Liverpool Township Community Center. But at some point you mentioned just casually were like, oh, they asked if we wanted anything to drink and I said, water is fine. That's my memory of it.
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Oh, so I did tell you that. Yeah. Because they always have sparkling water and various kinds of diet soda. But my dad is a Pepsi house, and I figured you are not a Pepsi person.
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That's where you're wrong, my friend. I am very. I'm quite flexible on the Coke v Pepsi situation, which is kind of rare. Most people are pretty hardcore one way or the other. But when you said that, then I was like, oh, and I had these two Diet Cokes that I had bought at the gas station. I thought, well, I'll just bring these along. There's something I like about the effervescence of. And I. And yes, soda water, bubble water does also have effervescence So I don't know why this is important to me, but I like a cola, a diet cola with my soda or. Sorry, with my pizza. For some reason, the thing I was going to say about the. The getting the check thing, if you ever are just deeply committed to the project, what I do. And I just did this when we were in Calistoga, California. I've been calling it Sonoma, just kind of colloquially, but it was actually Calistoga. We went out and got dinner one of the nights and I wanted to make sure that I paid for it because everybody was being so generous hosting us and all that. I get up to go to the restroom before the meal is over and I slip the waiter my card and I say, this is for our table. Please do not let anyone else there pay. That's the way you do it.
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Do you know, I did that one time and it got me kind of in trouble. I tried that with Genevieve's dad one time in Fremont, and this is why, like it. I think that. And he did. And he, like, somehow they hadn't quite run the card yet. And he caught me and it was like, again, that's.
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Actually he filed a restraining order against the restaurant.
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Yeah, they have closed down. They're under a different ownership now.
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Enjoined them from processing your card.
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But it really. That was the first time where it really was uncomfortable for me. And then that's when I learned, you know what, make the offer, be sincere. But if it starts to get weird, don't play any funny games. And now you were with a bunch of friends and stuff, which is a very different dynamic.
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Father in law, like you say, father,
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son, father in law. Ish. Yeah. So. And that's. And so I'm not telling you that what you did was wrong. That's very sweet. I agree with you. Like that. But again, that moment, it was kind of tense because I think that maybe there was some sort of, I don't know, maybe there's some power dynamics there or something that I was certainly not trying to tread on. But it definitely made him very uncomfortable and he refused it and it kind of became a little bit. I felt very uncomfortable around the server during the moment when it was revealed that I was trying to do that. And so that's when I was kind of like, you know what my new thing is? I will be upfront about it, but if somebody is so insistent that it sort of seems. Seems like it's really important to them, and it's almost like worse for them if I try to pay than just try to accept it graciously. And you know me, Luke. I'm somebody who's known for accepting things graciously.
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You and Genevieve are actually very gracious about getting the tab on things. And I've always appreciated that about you, about the fact that you guys are. I feel like you don't splurge on yourselves a lot, but you are very generous with other people, which I think is the kindest way you can be in the world. And you're right. You know, parent stuff. In law stuff, there may be, you know, particularly with, I guess, men, you know, there can be a dynamic of like, oh, I couldn't let you get it. What I would like to know is where do I find those parents? They got zero problem with me paying.
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It's sweet, though, you know that. I know that on the occasions that you're taking your parents out, I'm sure you enjoy that. And, you know, and. And you're forming very nice. I'm just saying that because I know that you're teasing and it is funny, but I also know that. That deep down, you don't actually harbor that at all. You know what I mean? Like, you're gonna.
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I don't harbor that, but it is. It is the case that I do come from people where the parent child relationship is in certain ways inverted.
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Sure. Yeah.
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And that is.
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They come to do laundry at your house.
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They show up unannounced on a Saturday
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night and get concerned when other people. My house and think that you actually,
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My friends are burglaring. Burglarizing the place. Only because they were there watching the fireworks and my parents were not supposed to necessarily be there. You know, what my parents did do, and it was very, very sweet. If I'm giving them a hard time here in absentia. And I pray to God nobody tell my parents about this episode. I pray it's in abstentia. When I got married for the first time, they paid for the rehearsal dinner at Cafe Lago. And it was, you know, not a huge affair, but I'm gonna say there had to be 25 people or something. And I think that bill was into the thousands of dollars. A thousand dollars. And they paid for that. And that was extremely generous. And at the time, they were still racing. Like, they still had, like, five kids under their roof or something. So they are good for it when called upon, certainly.
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Oh, absolutely. And Cafe Lago. Cafe Lago is a very nice place. Like, it's not like. Yeah. I don't know how to describe It. But it's not like the type of place that. What's the really fancy place?
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Like, your parents would take you.
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Yeah, exactly. It's not a Thai spice.
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That sounds so good to me right now.
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For whatever reason have I already told the story of the tab at the bar we were at? I've told so many people this, I can't remember if I told it on the show or not, but the tab that I picked up, I don't think
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it came up in the ride to or from the Frog Tab.
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Yeah. Let's talk about this for a second. And this was astounding to me. So we had some time to kill. I was just gonna say the Cafe Lago is a very nice restaurant. It's not like that tier of dining that is like that place on Aurora that I'm blanking on, which is the most famous restaurant. The most famous restaurant in Seattle can list like the epitome of fine dining. Fine dining. But I'm just saying, 20 people at a nice Italian restaurant on a celebratory occasion where people are pouring wine and what have you, like, that's a very, very generous thing. I just wanted to give them absolutely another nod for that. But so we had this. We had a really great. Again, I don't think we talked about it on the show yet, but we went to see that Guardians game, which was supposed to be a 4pm game in Cleveland, but it got pushed back because of varying factors regarding the weather. And so it ended up starting at like 8:30 or something. So we had a lot of time to kill. This is you, me, John Sklaroff, who the listeners might know as TBTL employee numero uno, and my friend Jessica Pinter. And we're all just hanging out, having a good time, right? Like kind of walking by. I showed you my old house where I used to live. Lake Erie. Screwed the like. And then we had some time to kill.
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That was such a fun Saturday.
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It really was a fun Saturday. And then we had time to kill before taking the train, by the way, taking the rapid transit into Cleveland to see the game. And so we went to this little. I would call it a dive bar. I think people overuse that. It wasn't, you know, Kelly's. Yeah, it was called Kelly's. And it's like on the near west side of Cleveland. It's right on the edge of Lakewood, although I don't think it's technically Lakewood. And so it's not an area. Lakewood has a lot of bars, but this is there's nothing at all trendy about this bar. It's not even an area with like a lot of walking traffic where it is. It's just a bar, right? With probably a lot of regulars. It's a place that has keno and pull tabs and darts and I think there was a pool table back there. Just that kind of vibe. Irish bar, obviously. And I picked up a couple of rounds and I did well. And I did well on pull tabs too, and sure did.
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As you had declared Ohio pull tabs
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a scam, I really, I thought that
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you pulled a hell of a tab.
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There just are no winners in Ohio. I mean pull tabs. So I bought and decided to itemize this. I don't know if this is tedious, but I remember I got the first round. I think like Pinter and John both got draft beers, right? But they were those really tall draft beers, you know, like whatever. I don't know. They are 20 something ounces. So two tall draft beers, just like Miller Lite or something. I know that I drank three bottles of beer. It was.
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I had a Jameson Labatte Bleu.
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You had. I hope it's okay to say this, but it's important to the players. Point of the story. You had three Jameson's. But I will also say they were.
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That explains a lot of the rest of the evening.
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Yes, you had three. Now they were realized. It was three. I will say this, that checks out. But they were like bar pours as opposed to like eagle pours or something. In other words, they were fine. They were shots. But they weren't like the kind of like brimming shots that need surface tension to keep it all in, you know, those. Those types of places. But they were, you know, just respectful. But I would just say straight shots. But also, just so the listeners know, this wasn't in like 15 minutes. We were there for probably two hours. Certainly at least.
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We were watching the World Cup.
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We were watching the World Cup. You guys were playing keno. It was just a fun afternoon, but. So that's everything that I picked up like five beers, including two very tall drafts and a few shots of whiskey. Right. And I went to pay the. This is kind of key too. I'm not saying this to pat myself on the back, but when I went to collect my winnings from the pull tabs, I tipped about 20 bucks. Okay, that was about 10% or something like that. And the bartenders seemed to appreciate that. That. And so when she gave me the bill for all those drinks, I Just itemized and I looked at it. My first thought was, was she happy with the tip? And she just like cut this bill into thirds or something. The total. Did I tell you what the total was? Do you know what it was for those?
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My memory is that it was $24,
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it was $22, it was 2190 something. I could not believe that you could drink that much. And so all of this is to say, and I'm sorry if this is tedious, but I'm moving to Ohio and I'm living at Kelly's. I'm going to live above the bar at Kelly's.
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What happened was. And which is weird because it's a one story building.
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That is a true story.
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There's nothing. You will be living on the roof. Have you heard of huddled next to the H Vac thing? You came back to the table. And I think I was also sort of in. You know, I was enjoying myself. And John and Jessica had gotten very locked in on the game of Keno like we were. It was kind of a team event. And again, I was feeling good. I might have hit a number or two. And you said, did you get part. Because I think I had gotten a subsequent round while you had gone on a little errand. So you came back and you're like, did you get some of that round or something? And I got to be honest with you, I really wanted to claim credit for it because you just seem so kind of like pleased and confused and like, why was my tab not what it was? And I really wanted to. I wanted to get an attaboy from you for paying for your round, but I didn't. This is actually.
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I kind of. I totally forgot about that aspect of it, Luke. And this ties back into what we were just talking about. I thought you did something like you were just talking about doing in not Sonoma. You know what I mean? I thought that you had like to go in.
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I calistogaed you.
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Don't you ever correct me. I thought that you had done you or somebody had gone and paid this. And again, I'm not trying to. I'm not trying to demean this bar or these prices like, but. But everything was much more affordable there. And also, I will say this, and you know that I love Seattle and I love my Seattle Mariners when I'm not cursing them out. And I love the experience at T Mobile Park. To say that things are cheaper at Progressive Field in Cleveland is maybe obvious. It is a lot cheaper there. But also. Can I say this better? Sausage was so much better there than it is in Seattle. I had. Did you know about my secret sausage? Did I admit that to you?
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You did.
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I admitted that to some people. I came back, I told you guys I was going on a mission to get one of these sausages. I had seen.
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May I set it up for the listeners, in how I experienced this event. And then later on the news of what had happened, you were like, you and I went down. Actually, I was going to get a hot dog. I was going to lapse on my vegetarianism, which ultimately I didn't do, but I wanted to get a hot dog and you were looking for a sausage. And I somehow got it in my mind, maybe because of the three Jamesons, that somehow we were not going to be able to find what we needed at the same place, which is kind of silly because probably the place that had sausage would have hot dogs. But you went off to get your sausage. I went off to get my hot dogs, which ended up turning into nachos. Later, we were sitting down.
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Jesus was there.
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We should mention there was two sets of footprints in the nacho cheese. And then you. I remember you saying later, I'm so full from that sausage. I'm incredibly full. And then I thought, well, that could definitely be the result of having a sausage. And then later in the night, you clarified something, which was I had.
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When I went to go get the sausages, they were wrapped up in the tin foil. And I love that. You know, I actually. Have I ever told you that I did do that at home sometimes. It's been a while. But sometimes when I'm really craving, like a ballpark experience, there's something that happens to the bun or when you wrap it up in tin foil with the.
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I should do that with my little veggie dog thing.
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I actually don't like toasted buns very much because I don't like that crackling feeling. I like the opposite. I like my. I like my breads to be, like, very, very soft. I like to gum them. And so I picked up one of these sausages that was wrapped tightly in the tin foil. Those under, like, the heat lamp or whatever. And it's pretty late in the game, right? And I grabbed one and it. And I was so hungry, and it seemed kind of. It seemed kind of small in my hand, in my. In my giant hand. I was kind of it and considering it, and I was considering the sausage. And I thought, you know what? I can eat two of these. And so I just buy two, and then I open up the first one to put some of that really good Cleveland ballpark mustard on it.
B
And I realize I ate directly out of the package. You did phenomenal.
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And then chased with yellow mustard, which you claimed was.
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Which was not phenomenal. I was trying to do a little Pepsi Challenge. And that Cleveland mustard was as advertised.
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It's really good. I saw some in the. In bottles at the airport on the way home, and I almost grabbed one, but I was already too loaded down with stuff. So anyway, I opened up the tin foil to put the mustard on the first one. I was like, oh, this is a hearty beast. This is a real beast. Now I have two of these. And so I was like, well, that's okay. I'm really hungry. And so the ballpark there. I had not been to this ballpark since it was called Jacob's field back in 1995. And I hated sports actively because I was so cool. I hate that about myself. And anyway, but the place where I got this hot dog or these sausages, I had to. They were kind of running out because it was late in the game. So I was actually right behind home plate. And there's a place where you can stand. There's only, like, one section that is right behind home plate, and then you can stand behind that, which means you're pretty close to the action. Like, really close to the action. And there was. I wasn't standing in anybody's way. There were no signs saying, don't stand here, cheapskate, or whatever. So I just stood there and I ate the first sausage. And I watched, I think, maybe one half of an inning there. And I really, really enjoyed it. And then I'm like, and now, like a proper gentleman, I can return to my seat holding one sausage. And I will eat it there. And everybody will think, well, look at this, look at this proper little man. He just eats one sausage at a ball game like God intended. And so then I ate the second one there. But I'll tell you what, by the time I sat down, I was already like, I don't miss the sausage. I don't need the second sausage. But what was I going to do with it? Take it home. What did you say? Didn't you tell a server to wrap up your leftovers in a tinfoil swan? That's a go to for me. What was I going to do? Wrap this up in a foil swan and take it home from the ball game? So I ate it. And then I did say several times, like, you guys, I'm so full. And I guess in the Back of my mind, I was realizing you guys are probably like, you had one sausage. What are you talking about? It's because they didn't know that was then you second sausage. I couldn't not cop to it.
B
I really like the sight lines of. I'm going to call it Jacob's Field because I don't know what the real name is.
A
Yeah, the Jake.
B
Like, I want. You know, when I went on my little mission, I went by the Jim Tomey statue.
A
Oh, okay. You went the other way.
B
Like dead center, I think, maybe, or kind of the opposite of where you were.
A
Yeah.
B
And what I really like. I mean, there's so many things I like about that field, but one is when you're at T Mobile where the Mariners play, I feel like when you are on the concourse, you can't see anything happening with the field. Like it's. It feels like the ceilings are low. Feels like you are very cut off from the action and you're very far
A
away is one thing that I sort of notice. I don't know about the ceilings. Doesn't bother my line of sight.
B
Well, they can't hold us. Establish that.
A
How do I. But anyway. No, I'm sorry to interrupt you. Ceilings.
B
Keep going.
A
Ceilings.
B
Cleveland songs.
A
Oh, okay. Anyway, but I do feel like the seating here in Seattle is. There's so much more at the lower level that if you're standing behind all the seating, like several. Several sections back, you're just really far away from the field. That's why I was kind of trying to describe behind home plate. There's only one section in Cleveland, and so you're so close if you stand behind the people who are sitting.
B
Yeah, I really liked the layout of the field, and it made me wish that that T Mobile had a different layout because I just feel like when I get to the game, particularly if I'm running a little bit late, I'm like, I'm so anxious in the concourse of T Mobile because it's like I might as well be in another state or something. I mean, I'm so disconnected from the on the field action that it kind of creates an adjutant for me that I did not feel as I was sort of just roaming the Jake. I felt like I could just look over and see the game at any time. I thought that was kind of a cool feature. Now, onto Cleveland music. One thing, and this is my only criticism of the Cleave, or specifically of the Guardians games, is they were playing at various points, including coming out of the Take Me out to the Ball game thing. They were playing music, and at certain times, hip hop. And at no time were they playing Bone Thugs in Harmony.
A
You and I arrived at this. Cleveland artists, you and I both arrived at this at the same exact moment. Did you notice this? Like, I didn't know that you were talking about this, and I was talking about this at the same time up in that beer garden area right as the game was starting, because they were playing that.
B
I was too busy yelling, I wish. I wish Mitch McConnell were alive to
A
see this during the national anthem.
B
That was my contribution to that area. I do think. I think I said this on the show yesterday. I do think Jessica's friends were like, all right, we could. We can lose the guy in the ball cap. That. That being me. But no, I wasn't talking about it. I was talking about it later. But you and I were happening upon the same observation, I swear.
A
Because I thought you also. I think you also mentioned up there because they had three. James, here's the reason why. Here's the reason it stood out to me is because they started playing Coolio, like, right at the very beginning of the game when they were running or they're playing, and it was gangster paradox paradise, right? And for a split second, I was like, oh, hell yeah, Cleveland. Bone Thugs in Harmony. And then I was like, wait a second. This is. This is Coolio. This is not Bone Thugs. And I was just saying, why isn't this bone thugs? And as I was saying it, somebody was reacting to you saying, I think the same exact thing.
B
I think. I think you're absolutely right. I think that I did comment on it at that moment time when we were up in the. Standing in a puddle of water for some reason, because it had rained torrentially. But, yeah, it's like there are lots of great songs about Cleveland. I mean, there's Cleveland Rocks.
A
They did play that at the very end.
B
They played it at the end.
A
Right.
B
Maybe they want to keep their powder dry on that. But, like, I just thought Cleveland is not lacking for. I mean, you know, I'm no fan of this. Of the ceiling not holding us or whatever they're playing now after the, you know, during the seventh inning stretch at Mariners games. But at least Macklemore is from Seattle. At least there's that to me, playing. Playing a song that's kind of over hypey and hyphy after the Take Me out to the Ball game that's not even from your town. I don't get it.
A
Yeah, you're reminding me of something. The Mariners, after a win, used to play a Jimi Hendrix song. And I haven't heard that in a long time. I think they may have stopped that tradition.
B
I don't usually stay till the end of the game.
A
Yeah, that's right. You hate traffic.
B
I'm unfamiliar yet. Who's on your Mount Rushmore of me not staying, do you.
A
Do you remember what I'm talking about? And by the way, I'm not. And I'm not trying to offend anybody with this. Like, I'm not a huge Jimi Hendrix fan. And I don't associate you. Yeah, I'm not a huge guitar. Like. Well, I don't like, I'm not a huge, like, kind of guitar. Especially that kind of like, era of like heavily, like blues influenced, like guitar rock.
B
So I was playing the guitar behind my head, though.
A
Okay. Okay. And you are white in this case, and you are at a dive bar called Kelly's. Right. Okay.
B
This is playing Jimothy Hendrix.
A
Okay. This is my blues music. It is now.
B
These are hot blues.
A
These are hot blues. As long as you're middle aged. Anyway, so what I was gonna say is I. So anyway, no offense, Jimi Hendrix or Jimi Hendrix fans, I know that, that, that is beloved music for a reason. It's just not in my particular wheelhouse. But. So it's not miss it necessarily. But I felt like after a Mariners win, in the same way they played Cleveland Rocks after a Cleveland win. I thought a Mariners win, they used to go, oh, well, God. The song that they would play is right on the tip of my brain. But if I try to sing it, it will unravel immediately. Just like the guitar part. But do you remember that? Does that go back or is that just when they did a few.
B
I don't remember that being like a Kingdome tradition. I think it's got to be more of a T Mobile thing or a Safeco thing. And just because, you know, I haven't been to nearly as many games, you always say, like, I don't really know a lot about baseball or, you know, so much more about the now traditions of that field with the Mariners, you've been to like, so many more games than I have. So I don't know that. Yeah, I don't know that. That tradition, but it would make perfect sense. Obviously. Jimi Hendricks, a Seattle guy, a big, you know, a legend in the area and also a noted baseball fan.
A
Well, that's kind of the thing too. They played a little bit of Nirvana during the Cleveland game. And I noted to somebody who's Sitting next to me, I'm like, yeah, the only thing that Kurt Cobain loved more than Seattle baseball was Cleveland baseball. And again, I love baseball and I love Nirvana. But like that, that always strikes me as odd. According to AI Overview here, the post victory song played after this is saying every Seattle Mariners game is fire. Well, it's just scanning the Internet, it looks like they're linking back to an ESPN article. But this is from 2012. That's why you can't trust AI. AI is telling me in the present tense that every. It's played after every Seattle Mariners win, but it's linking to an article from 2012. It's not realizing that it's probably giving me past information. But the song is fire and I
B
believe it's like let me stand next to your fire.
A
Yes, that's what they used to a weird.
B
From a messaging standpoint, this one, I
A
can't play too much.
B
This song involves like baby come up, let and let Jimothy come over. It's a very sexual, weird song for like my baseball team. One I could think of like four Jimi Hendrix songs that would make more sense. That song he wrote called the Mariners just won.
A
But don't you think that would be a little bit kind of hard to decipher? Like it's a little bit left of
B
center, kind of a little vague. Yeah, you gotta kind of tee it up for people.
A
What about the boys in blue? Pulled one out. Wait, hold on.
B
Can I. Oh, that's the.
A
Wait, can I get a mulligan?
B
You're thinking of Temple of the Dog.
A
I'm thinking I'm gonna blee.
B
Yeah, that's a weird. Let me stand next to your fire is a. Well, I mean, what's the most. I would have thought Purple Haze. Maybe that's too husky coated.
A
Oh, interesting. But do you think that would be. Well, that is that I. Is Purple Haze a reference to marijuana smoke?
B
Probably. But also I know that the Huskies at times, I think maybe in the 80s, we had a really good defense and they called it Purple Haze because of, you know, Jimi Hendrix.
A
I love that.
B
That's a strange. Still playing Let me stand next to your fire, or Fire, as it's called, is a weird celebration song for them. Get Greg Greene on the line.
A
Somebody get me Greg Greene. And I wonder what they're playing now. I don't know what.
B
Let's see from. They've already burned a Macklemore song for the seventh inning stretch. So let's say he's off the table. Let's Say that Pearl Jam music is mostly about biting the recessed lady's breast. Not. Also not celebratory. You know what? They should play some Presidents of the United States of America. That's upbeat.
A
Oh, yeah, it's celebratory.
B
And they're from Seattle.
A
Hey, we didn't talk about the little Hang On Sloopy Ohio dance that everybody was doing. So people who are not familiar with Guardians baseball, which was me four days ago, they play, I think, is this the seventh inning stretch or was it actually later than that? They play the song Hang On Sloopy. I'm looking it up here. It's by a band called the McCoys. I would not have, you know, I've inter.
B
I've recently interviewed, I believe, a member of the McCoys.
A
Really? Was it about their work on in the band or was it unrelated? Are they like in the Mustard Museum now?
B
Now, hold on. This is why I was double checking this. Maybe it wasn't. Let's see here. I'm double checking and I'm learning that I think I was wrong. Hang On Sloopy by the McCoys, which was originally My Girl Sloopy, 1964 song written by Wesley Ferrell and Burt Russell. Rhythm and blues vocal group the Vibrations were the first to record it in 1964. For some reason, I was thinking, and somebody will look this up and. Oh, you know why? Because it was inspired by a person named Dorothy Sloop who was from Steubenville, Ohio. Okay.
A
I was one. That's why I was trying to figure out the connection. We don't know if the McCoys are from there or whatever, but. Okay, so there is a Cleveland slash, Ohio connection. And during the song, at a certain point, and I can't even really mimic the audio of it now, the crowd just started all doing O. They spelled out O, H, I, O. And then they did kind of a YMCA style letter thing with their hands. And we didn't know what was going on. So Pinter showed us. Didn't Pinter get up and kind of like show us what was going on? And then I think the rest of you followed suit. I think I was a little shy and weighed down by multiple sausage sandwiches.
B
I thought that was very a fun part of the night. The reason that I thought I interviewed One of the McCoys is because I interviewed one of the Strangeloves. And the Strange Loves are actually the band that wrote Hang On Sloopy. It was popularized by the McCoys. And one member of the Strange Loves or Strange Loves is a guy named Jerry Goldstein. And later On Jerry Goldstein would go on to be the manager, slash a member of the band War.
A
Oh, War. Yeah. Okay, sure.
B
And what I learned about War. Cause I did a TV story about them was they would record these like 20 minute jams and then Jerry Goldstein would go in and cut them down to like radio friendly three minute songs. And I mean, he also played an instrument somewhere in the background of these things and helped, I guess, sort of write the songs inasmuch as he was like, you know, riffing with them. But later it was the subject of much legal wrangling as to who owned the music, the publishing rights, the name War. It was a big fight with Jerry Goldstein and members of War, but that's why I was thinking. But he was in the original band that actually wrote Hang On Sloopy.
A
I'm looking at the Strangeloves Wikipedia page right now. They were a band that was actually created by a producer, like kind of a production team and songwriting team. Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein and Richard.
B
Yeah, Jerry Goldstein's the guy I interviewed.
A
Okay, interesting. And so they were like the production writer.
B
They talked in a Australian accent back
A
then or during your interview?
B
Yeah, thankfully back then. I don't know how it would have gotten through. I think their bit. I think their deal was they pretended to be from Australia and they would like. They. This is weirdly, it's. It's both racist and inaccurate and also kind of mystifying. If you look at the press photo from the Strange Loves Wikipedia page, one of the guys is holding a spear and the other two guys are playing on like, what would be sort of traditional African drums. Oh, I didn't notice the spear Strange Loves. But I. If I remember right, their bit was they pretended to be Australian. I don't think very much of the imagery in this photo is related to how we think of Australia or even the aboriginal people of Australia. So they were sort of all over the map on the weird racism.
A
Now, the reason I was going into this was. And I'm clearly wrong, so I'm clicking on the link, but I for a moment thought Bob Feldman, no joke, might
B
be the guy was Marty Feldman.
A
No. Who brought the rock and roll edge to the Eagles. And why can I never keep that guy's name in my head?
B
That guy was the man who brought the rock and roll edge to the.
A
I keep putting you on the spot about this, and last time you had it. And I. But it's not.
B
Is it Bob? I want to. It's not Bob Feller. The problem is I have Rockin Robert Feller on the brain. Noted. Do we say the Bob Feller was a Cleveland baseball player before their name was the Guardians? Do we say the original name?
A
Oh, I know I don't. I just avoid it. Although I understand when you're referring to the old team, you're being accurate.
B
Bob Feller played for Cleveland back in the day. And that's a. Don Felder.
A
Don Felder brought the rock and roll edge to the.
B
To the Eagles.
A
Yeah. Sorry to put you on the spot there, but I saw Bob Feldman and I got really excited for a second.
B
Did you know about the. No, you didn't, because you already said you were. Part of your personality as a young person in Cleveland was actively not liking sports. So you were not a Rocket Robert Felder guy. Bob Felder.
A
It's Felder and not Feller.
B
It's Feller.
A
See, I know the name.
B
That's how you're. That.
A
See, well, Justin, when you're there, I wasn't a baseball guy, but Bob Feller. And also, I feel like there was some sort of old classic, old timey radio bit about Bob Feller that was. Maybe it was incorporated in the who's on first bit, or it was a similar to the who's on first bit that I believe involved Feller or something. So like, you know, stuff like that just sort of seeps into the water supply. As Fran Leibowitz might say, something has seeped.
B
This is an inside joke that got into the water supply of. Only my brain. Andrew. I've been always calling him the Rocket Robert Feller or the Bob the Rocket Feller. That wasn't even his nickname. He was called Rapid Robert.
A
Oh, oh, Rapid. Like the Rapid Robert Rabid Robert, also
B
known as the Heater from Van Meter.
A
Oh, I've heard that before. That is awesome.
B
Those are great nicknames. You know, my mom used to listen to. My mom used to listen to a Philadelphia radio DJ in the 60s. It's so funny getting her and my Uncle Chuck going on, like, Philly radio from the day. But there was a guy named Jerry Blavitt who was known as the Gita with the Heater. The Gita with the Heater. Jerry Blavitt was in Philadelphia. He was sort of there. Who was the. Who was the. God, we're just all over the place. Who was the guy who sort of got credited with inventing rock and roll? Another Ohio guy, Cleveland.
A
Oh, oh, the dj.
B
The dj. The Moondogg. What was his name? Jack something.
A
Yes, I'm looking it up. We're gonna get there. Alan Freed.
B
Alan Freed.
A
Alan Jack Freed. No, it's Albert. James Allen Freed. It's Alan Freed. Yeah.
B
And he sort of credited with inventing the term rock and roll, right? Wasn't he the guy that said that or something?
A
That's. I think so. He was an American disc jockey and promoter and everything. I think he also. Isn't that the thing? Like he was both a disc jockey and a promoter? Like this. Didn't this get into some like, kind of Paoli kind of stuff at some point? Or am I slandering a legend?
B
Well, you know what's funny is like, you know, this guy that we play all the time on our show, they
A
suddenly realized I was talking to them
B
was exactly in that category. That's Pat o' Day from Seattle. There was an era in like. Yeah, the late 50s and 60s where if you were like the local DJ of your town, you were also probably the main concert promoter.
A
Uh huh. Uh huh. But then you kind of led to some laws, because I am seeing here not to again, focus on this aspect of it, but just to make sure I wasn't totally making up. He did get in trouble for some sort of payola stuff because, yeah, he's promoting it and he's a dj and it does make sense that that's how it would start.
B
Jerry Blavitt, also known as the Gator with the heater and the Big boss with the hot sauce.
A
Now is Gary.
B
Can we get better nicknames on this show, please?
A
On this show. What about just in baseball in general? Like, I don't want to put you on the spot. We should probably just get Sklaroff back on the show. But are there good nicknames in baseball right now?
B
I think we're lacking in good. I think we're in a. We're in an unfortunate era of. No, no Rapid. No, nobody. No Rapid. Robert Fellers. No, no Geaters with the heaters. Who. Let's see. Mariners. Let's just go through the Mariners.
A
I mean, this is gonna. I'm putting my. I. I brought this up and I regret it already. Well, your brain is.
B
I guess. Julio's called J Rod. The J Rod squad.
A
Yeah.
B
I mean, Big Dumper is good. Big Dump.
A
Oh, yeah, of course. Big Dumper. Yeah. People are probably thinking, Andrew, like, that was something that caught the. How is it that last year.
B
How does Josh Naylor not have.
A
Oh, he does nails, but it's not that great. It's N, A, Y, Z. Right. Or na. It's okay. But you know, it's not the Heater from Van Neder or it's not the.
B
It's not the gear with the heater.
A
Yeah, but what was the. What was Feller's one? The. The meter from Van Heater.
B
The meter. The. Let's see here. Hold on, I'm going back. Please, please hold. The heater from Van Meter.
A
The heater from Van Meter.
B
It was from Van Meter, Iowa.
A
That is so. And the fact that it's Iowa, like it's just so perfect.
B
I'm trying to think of yours. The gritty from Valley City.
A
I must dress as gritty. That's the only caveat there.
B
The super hip from Liverpool Township.
A
Wow. Oh wait. The never cool from Liverpool. That's a little.
B
No, don't. Come on. I'm gassing you up.
A
It doesn't even. Yeah, it also. Just as I slump my way towards the plate, dragging the bat behind me.
B
What would your walk up music be? This.
A
Yeah, they call it my walk away music as I slowly back away from the plate.
B
Do you think. I think I already know what your answer to this will be. I don't know if it's the real answer or the accurate answer, but I think I know what your answer would be. Which is. Do you think if you got 100 swings in a major league baseball game and were not hit by the ball, just like you got to stand up there, a hundred swings, do you think you would make contact with one pitch? I'm not talking about a home run. I'm talking about contact. I think you would.
A
And they're really pitching though.
B
Yes. 100 real pitches.
A
And it's a pitcher with like. It's a pitcher with like, like several pitches. Right. They're not all forcing fastballs. There's like various okay, change up possible ethos. Love the way I ask all these questions. And I don't think there's an EFIs though. It's not, it's not like a position player pitching. I. I love the fact that I ask all these questions just to say no. Like what was I. What I trying to clarify. But I was trying to give it a real thoughtful answer. Now I think the answer is no.
B
For most people in the 80s. I think most people, once they had seen their 80th pitch, I think they would be able to at least make the most grazing of contact.
A
You think so? But I'm also getting tired at this point.
B
I'm also the person who thinks they would be the only survivor of a plane crash. I have an extremely inaccurate it. I think the doctors have called it Delusions of grandeur. Like, I don't think I would get a base hit. I don't think I would hit it in play. But I think if you gave me a hundred pitches, I would foul one of them off.
A
I mean, it also depends on, like, if you're. If you're asking me right now that somebody, let's just say somebody dressed up like as an umpire because like a kind of a big guy dresses umpire grabs me by the scruff of my neck right now.
B
Their smoothie order be. That's where I thought you were going.
A
I was trying to think of like just kind of a big gruff guy grabs me by the scruff of my neck right now, like by my collar, right. And just says, you're cousins.
B
We're going MLB umpire.
A
We're going to the ballpark right now. And you're going to do this. Is that the scenario? Or have you given me a month? And I know I'm making this very unfun, but, like, if you give me a month and I'm like, oh, God, I'm going to take this seriously, and then I spend, let's say, I don't know, few days a week at batting cages where I'm turning up the heat on myself a little bit. I might. I might make contact with one ball out of a hundred once I'm facing the live pitching. But like, right now, I mean, Luke, the last time I swung a bat was probably with you. And do you have any memory of us swinging bats together?
B
I have a photo of that.
A
Was that a family fun center or whatever?
B
I have a photo of it. I believe I had a little kind of golf pencil in my ear because for some, maybe because we had been mini golfing also.
A
Maybe.
B
I love that. That was family fun center, I think, down in south center probably 15 years ago or something.
A
So I haven't even picked up a batting cage.
B
I love a batting cage.
A
Yeah. I mean, that is something that now that you could talk me into.
B
What did John say they called it in the part of New York he was from? Track and bat?
A
I think so because we were passing the place. I went sometimes with my friends to drive go karts or whatever. When we were in, like high school, that place was called Swings and things. Swings because they had batting cages and other things. And then. Yeah, his was track and bat because the go kart track. Is that what it was?
B
I think so. Track and bat.
A
Track and bat swings. It's got a rhyme.
B
Hey, did you have an easy flight home? How did everything go Getting back, yeah,
A
it was relatively easy. My flight was delayed a little bit.
B
I was worried about that. I was actually going to text you, but I thought, I don't know what he'll do with his information. All of the flights out of Hopkins, particularly on Alaska, were jacked up on Monday. My flight, remember, was supposed to be at 7am I woke up like a good boy at probably like 5am the alarm went off, got up, took a shower and then looked at my phone to realize the flight was delayed until 9am I could have stayed in bed much longer.
A
And then
B
there was just like a rippling effect. I don't know if it was. I don't think it was ever airline. I think it was maybe specifically Alaska, but my flight from Seattle was a little delayed, the whole thing. So I was worried that you were gonna have problems.
A
You know, you left your nice pen behind.
B
Oh, yeah. Did you grab that?
A
I did. I gave it to my dad.
B
Fair. You know what?
A
I didn't know what to do with it. And I was like, I never. It's not like you and I see each other all that often.
B
Consider that, Bob, if you're still listening and if you're not really, we're only 48 minutes into this. You couldn't.
A
You're a stoner now. You have to listen.
B
I think. Yeah. That is a pen that I stole from a nice hotel.
A
It looked like it, but it was a nice pen. It felt good in the hand. It was a ballpoint pen and I don't really write with ballpoint pens, so I didn't really want it. But it was too nice of a pen just to leave in the Airbnb. So I grabbed it and I put it in my bag, by the way. So I spent the day. First of all, I didn't know there was an early morning direct flight from Cleveland to Seattle and vice versa. I thought there was only one a day each way, direct flights from the two cities or between the two cities. And I thought that they were later in the day. So I was booked on the one that was supposed to take off at 5:30 in the early evening. And that was going to be perfect for me because I figured we'd get out of the Airbnb and then I wanted to spend some more time with my family because I knew that we
B
weren't going to scam them for a free meal.
A
Exactly. I'm like. I just kept on saying Thai Spice, like under my breath until they took me there. They wanted to take me somewhere else. I threw an absolute Fit. And then they said, you're not going to Kumon anyway. So my original plan when we booked these tickets a long time ago was like, you know what I'll spend. I wasn't even sure if I'd get any quality time with my family. So I flew in a day early and figured I'd fly out that evening and at least I could bookend the trip with a little bit of QT with the fam. I woke up and by the way, another shout out to Bob Walsh for taking me to the UPS store, his preferred UPS store. We had a box that said FedEx on it, and I was worried that UPS wouldn't ship a box that said FedEx on on it, but he said they would, and we took it. And we.
B
The man knows how to pack.
A
He demand knows how to pack. In fact, he packed everything up a little bit early and had it all sealed up. And I had one last device that I needed to put in the box that I wanted shipped instead of carrying it on the airplane. And then I showed up and I texted my dad and I said, hey, hope you didn't seal up those boxes yet. I have one more device I need to put in it. And he didn't respond. That is not. Not the usual move. And I was like, those boxes are already sealed up. My dad loves packing things. So I show up and there the boxes are in the garage. One's going to John Sklaroff's house, one's going to my house. And they are all packed up and sealed up with tape and everything. And dad said, come on, that little thing, you can't just take that on the plane. I said, yes, I can. I will take it on the plane. Like the idea.
B
What was the little thing, if I might ask?
A
It was the. It's very small. It's the field recorder that I took out to the Valley City frog jump with you guys. I don't really need that. I brought two field recorders because of the way everything worked out. And so I use a different one as a backup recorder during the regular TBTL recordings like today. And so that one I won't need again until we go out in the field again until the next frog jump, I guess. And so anyway, I was like, in there.
B
Have you seen the T shirt?
A
We can't make the T shirts anymore. What was the fight? You were covering this CVS runner up.
B
Is everybody okay with runner up on the T shirt?
A
Hopper up. What was the. So our frog jumped 4ft and 3 inches. And what did you say? The winner was 14ft or something like that.
B
It was. It was over. I think it was either 13 or 14ft. And it was, it was interesting because, you know, each round it was called a flight. So we were in Flight 17 and we were nowhere near the longest jump of Flight 17. But had we been, our reward would have been we had to stick around until like 6:30 at night to be in the final round, which was all there was, 37 rounds. So the top finisher from each of the 37 rounds, then all those people collected up and there was this jump, maybe the third jump of that final round, where this pretty large guy was being pretty scary to the frog. And that thing really jumped and it jumped out of the ring and everyone was like, well, that, that will never be topped. That's the jump of the day. And then I don't know, five people later, this other kind of younger guy, I say younger, he was probably in his late 20s. And these two adorable young girls got down there and that frog jumped. It did get screamed at by the little girls. I hope that the frogs were less scared by little girls screaming at them than by big burly men slapping the ground. I don't know if it made any difference, but I told myself that one was slightly less terrifying than the other other.
A
Did you watch any of the video of us? I gotta say, I'm kind of proud. I've seen a video from two different angles of you, me and John all on our hands and knees. We are being so gentle to the frog. I'm serious. You just see us because people are going out there and like slamming hands down on each side of the frog and you know, I got big mitts, right? And so like. And so I could, I could do that if I wanted to, but that's just not our vibe. And I see these videos and all four of us are getting our faces as close to the frog frog as possible. Is this how I remembered it? But I wasn't sure exactly. The whole thing went by so quickly and I was so filled with adrenaline and shame and whatever and. Or not shame, but just embarrassment. And sausage. I also had a secret sausage at the frog jump that I had to leave the listener because I didn't want to bring. I was nearing the end of the day. I had not eaten at all all day. And it's like 4:30 and I'm hanging out in the pavilion with a bunch of listeners and I'm like. And everybody's very kind, but because sausage is such a thing on the show with me, If I go and I bring back a sausage, everybody's gonna be like, look, Andrew, he's eating sausage in a kind, funny, referential way. Not reverential, but a referential way. And I get that. But I also don't want everybody being like, look, the sausage eating guy is eating a sausage in front of listeners. You know what I mean? I just didn't want that, so I had to go sneak a sausage.
B
Yeah, you were not trying to be Sabu the elephant boy.
A
I don't know what that. Is that a, that a thing?
B
Well, it's a John Prine song, but it's also a reference to somebody who I think was maybe an actor in the 30s who was kind of like, I think he may have been sort of coded as South Asian and he would ride on the elephant. Point being, you didn't want to be like a.
A
You didn't want to be like, look,
B
he's like, get a load of this guy.
A
You know, I don't even like it. Back in the day when I worked at an office, if I was just eating a, you know, baloney sandwich at the, in the lunchroom, people coming over and talking about what you're eating or whatever, I just don't like. I have some hang ups around that stuff. So anyway, I did have a secret sausage after the frog jump and all that is to say I saw two different videos now. One shot by my childhood friend Tim Cassida, and another one, I believe, shot by Audrey and Ryan. Maybe Teal House on the Hill, folks. And, and in both of them we're being like, we're. I just, I really like, like, we're, we're interested. We're not, not like too cool for school. We're encouraging the frog, but we're just like tapping so gently. And at one point, I don't know which one of us, it was just kind of like pets the frog down the spine of its back really briefly and you know, the frog only jumped four feet. But you know what? I would not have it any other way.
B
And I learned because you and John went and got some food and you were hanging out with the listeners. I was kind of on TV mode, so I was watching a lot of the performance of the frog jump. Four, three was actually not terrible. It wasn't going to win, but it was less embarrassing if folks listen to yesterday's show and they maybe heard me yelling it was rigged or, you know, basically we just need election security around these frog jumps. That was because I thought 4 foot 3 was like deeply embarrassing. That Was actually like. That was sort of in the average range 10ft would have been. You won your flight. One foot would have been a thing that happened actually kind of a lot. In fact, the young woman who won for shortest dream jump, believe her name was A.J.
A
she.
B
Her frog jumped six inches.
A
Oh, really?
B
Yeah.
A
That is short. That is like you can. That is a trophy you get. Nobody heard what I thought was a pretty good joke at the end. I didn't plan on saying this, but at the very end, I wish Mitch
B
McConnell were allowed to see this frog jump.
A
As soon as our frog jumped. And what I thought was a pretty embarrassing. I didn't hear you. You. You and I were both in our own heads. And of course you were doing stuff for C. But I stood up and just yelled, where do we get our trophy? Which I thought was, like, kind of funny, but it did not show up. Didn't show up on the tape at all, by the way. But thanks to the folks at CBS for sending us that. They had you mic'd up really well. You must have been wearing a lav, huh?
B
Yes. Shout out to our guy, Steve of Shotgun Sound, who is currently, right now, I believe, maybe even as we speak at the vmac. He's the sound. He's one of the sound guys for Hard Knock Seahawks.
A
Oh, wow.
B
I was so. When he told me that, I was so starstruck. We were eating at Gandalf's on Friday night. Me and the crew also shout out to my buddy Young, who sent us that audio as well. It was a co production of Steve and Young. So thank you for that. Not to be confused with Steve Young, longtime San Francisco 49ers quarterback and great grandchild, I believe, of Brigham Young, one of the founders of Mormonism. No, this was a guy named Steve and my other friend named Young, who I work with.
A
And also, we never talked about this in person, but you said one of the members of the CBS crew worked on a documentary about Coach Chico. Coach Chuck Kyle, I think his name is. I don't know why his nickname was Chico. Maybe it's a combination of those two names. But he was an English teacher of mine. But he was a very famous coach also at the high school.
B
I went to St. Ignatius.
A
St. Ignatius. And I did not know this. First of all, they made. Did you say it was an Amazon prime or a Netflix documentary or something about. About Coach Chico?
B
That's what Steve the sound guy told me. Check this out too. And this is kind of Steve's story, so I hope I'm. I Mean, I'm sure he'd be fine talking about it, but this was kind of crazy. You know how there's that scene always in Hard Knocks because you've watched some amount of Hard Knocks.
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I watched the Miami season. I watched some of the other.
B
So you're familiar with the tropes and the kind of. There's. There's that point where there's the person that we're kind of rooting for to, like, make the team.
A
Yeah, yeah.
B
And then they get the call, the bubble case. That's like a coach wants to see you and bring your. Bring your notebook, bring your binder, you know what I mean? Bring your playbook. I should say. It's just kind of a. It's a bummer scene. It happens all the time. So Steve, our sound guy, one of his kids, is an incredible college football player. He played D2 college football in Pennsylvania and was so good at quarterback that he got. He just had a tryout with the Toronto Argonauts. In fact, the Cleveland Browns at one point, point wanted to see if they could convert him to being kind of like a. Like, who's the other Kent State guy? Julian Edelman. They wanted to kind of make him a Julian Edelman guy. Like a converted quarterback who's so athletic that they turn you into it. Like, not a tight end, but like a slot back, kind of a Danny Woodhead or who am I? Who's the most famous one? Maybe it was Edelman from the. From the Patriots. I'm forgetting who's the.
A
Edelman was a tight end. Right. Or I'm out of my league.
B
Edelman was kind of a slot. He was kind of a slot guy, kind of out of the backfield. Bill Belichick had a real way with kind of shorter dudes who were not big enough to be a tight end, but maybe not quite fast enough for wide receiver duties, but they'd kind of play this little slot back sort of deal. Anyway, so my new buddy Steve, the sound guy, his son is trying out for the Toronto Argonauts and he makes it all the way to the last game of the preseason, I think, or whatever. And he and his wife are up there in, I guess, Toronto hanging out with their son after the game, and the coaches have not called. And then all of a sudden, now this is a guy who has miked up innumerable number of people who he doesn't know who are getting the call. Coach wants to see you. Bring your playbook. Now he's sitting in a room with his son, and his son gets the call.
A
Yeah, Coach wants to see you.
B
Bring your playbook.
A
Playbook.
B
Like there can there. I don't think there's been another person who has both worked on the production of those shows and been the parent in one of those moments. Right. Isn't that crazy?
A
It is. Did he mic his son up? He.
B
He boomed it.
A
He got to. You gotta boom it.
B
He boomed it. I actually, I'll tell you what. That's. This is so in the. In the. The deepest of the audio weeds. But one of the many things I loved about working with this sound guys was he was cool with booming things. A lot of sound guys, sound people, I guess you could say on these TV shoots, they always want to put a lav on somebody. Let's just say someone's walking past, and I want to ask them one question. A lot of sound people, maybe because they're nervous, they don't trust their boom skills. They want. They got to get a lav on. So this what could have been an impromptu moment of me just kind of chatting with someone. So a boom mic for people that don't know. It's like the microphone that's on a long pole. You've all seen it in the production of a film or TV show show, and it's totally sufficient. If you're pointing it right at the person, you're out of the shot. But a lot of sound people want to, like, stop, and they're like, put a mic on the person, which they have to drop the mic cable down their shirt. Sometimes it's a woman. It's like, you want to talk about vibe killer.
A
Yes, exactly. Just like, you had something on your mind, and now you have to think about all these things.
B
Steve was a boom guy, so, you know, I appreciate that about him.
A
Can we listen? So the name of the documentary is the Object of the game Docu series on St. Ignatius coach Chuck Kyle coming to Prime Video. And this was written in January, so my guess is it's already on prime Video. But there's a. It looks like a little trailer here, and I'm hoping it's got good sound. This is. Okay. The gridiron is. Is the ultimate.
B
There's no whining in football.
A
Football comes to wine country. I thought you just scrambled my brain for a second. I was just like, oh, my God, they're using our tape. They're using our tape from Hard Knocks. Sorry. Just as the object of the game. Okay, so there's knock. I was hoping there was going to be like, and you played for this? No, no, I didn't know. No, I played.
B
Oh, you were at Walsh.
A
I quote unquote played. I was like on the squad at Walsh. You played.
B
You had to do the practice.
A
I did the practice. I. In the theme, I never wear the uniform. I consider that I never had my own shirt. They just gave me a different shirt every day. I've told people for years I played
B
for the Sonics based on less.
A
Here I go once again with the email. Every week I hope that it's from a female. Oh man. It's not from a female.
B
We didn't get to talk about that trailer for the Other Mommy. But Andrew, I'm just telling you. Yeah, it's like you mentioned the other day, maybe again last week. Blurs together. Like what was the conversations we were having in the rental car versus on the radio. But you were talking about like sort of scary movies sometimes being too scary for you. Yeah, and I generally think of myself as not being too scared by scary movies, but just being sort of generally disinterested. But I went and I watched this trailer for the Other Mommy because we were going to talk about this today or whatever and boy, it really got me.
A
The trailer itself scared you?
B
The trailer really got me. So maybe, maybe we can talk about that tomorrow. I also think we should talk about the Odyssey. Although we haven't seen it yet.
A
I gotta see that.
B
I'm definitely planning on seeing it.
A
Yeah, who is it? Listener Aiden we were talking to at the Frog Jump.
B
Saw it once.
A
Yeah.
B
Is about to see it again in imax.
A
And he said, I only. He said something like, you know, I have a short attention span. So these types of like super long movies, like three hour long movies aren't usually for me. But he said he enjoyed it and then he said, yeah, I'm going with some buddies to see it again. I'm like, man, if you're somebody who kind of knows that you get like fidgety during a, a regular movie, but you're going back to watch a three hour movie a second time. Like, can you think of a better testament to the, to the film? So anyway, I'm excited about.
B
I'm about to bring a stadium pal for it.
A
Yeah, I know we do. They still have that website. You remember this, right? There was a website that would tell you the best time to. If you're going to see a movie in the theater, it would like kind of tell you, hey, around the this minute mark, this scene happens. That's probably the best time to Go pee.
B
I was just thinking of bringing a catheter essentially.
A
Yeah, the non stadium catheter. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So you did play the voicemail sound or. So I'm going to play a voicemail for you. This came in last week. Now, we had open phones because we're doing live streamed episodes last week or taking phone calls. And one of the themes one day was because we were surrounded by so many Daves, both amphibian and human, last week that we just decided to ask people to call in with their stories of people named Dave in their lives. And I'm pretty sure we have not played this one yet. This was actually on the voicemail line. And I'll let the listeners.
B
We heard about a Dave who was so pompous.
A
Yeah. That daving became.
B
They would call it daving when you were just being pompous or bragging on yourself.
A
You're talking about like how in England they call the boot or something like that. I don't know. Think I'm conflating stories well here, this list. I don't think this listener left their name. Hey, Luke and Andrew, so nice to reach out to you. I hope the thon is going well. I have a day story. I was in the Oregon Marching Band back in the day. Go Ducks. And I was a squad leader for the trombone section. And I was in a squad where everybody except for me was named Dave. So for the talent show at the end of the year, we did a little band called Shyra and the Days. And it was pretty fun. It was pretty hard when we were in line to make it like a straighter line because Dave would move back and it would be the wrong days or Dave would move forward and it would be the wrong Dave. But we had a really good time that year and it was great. And one parting thought. I think the use of pshaw in the wordle yesterday was a nod to the reboot of Little House on the Prairie on Netflix because PA used to say that a lot. Pshaw. Power out.
B
That must have been in the PA Must have said it a lot in the books because I watched, I've seen, I think, every episode of Little House. And I tell you, Michael Land was not saying pshaw that I remember now. Someone's going to find a clip and correct me. But that is not something that I associate with the Michael Landon depiction of Pa Ingalls. But I bet you anything in the real books, I bet you that PA says that a lot.
A
You know, one of the TV writers that I follow and I Get their names wrong and confused. Would it be Alan Seppinwall? Is that a name? I've heard that.
B
I thought, yes, I've heard that name. I couldn't tell you what they've written.
A
You dropped a TV writer's name the other day, too. And it could have been him. I follow a couple of these guys, these kind of longtime TV writers who I like, but one of them was writing in his substack about the Little House on the Prairie reboot. And I really wish I didn't read the substack. I think it's paywalled. But the tweet was really interesting and basically said, like, the reboot is good, but it's fine. But it's really hard to do a reboot of a show that was made in the 70s based on books that were written in the 50s about a family that lived in the 1800s. Or. No, no. When did it take place?
B
I'm gonna say, like, late 1800s.
A
Late to 1800s. So, like, that is an interesting observation. Right. In 2026. Cause you' nostalgia play there. Anyway, I think. And so in 2026, you're making a reboot of a 1970s show based on a 19, I want to say, 50s book about, you know, the turn of the century or whatever. Like, that is a lot of layers of history.
B
I feel like I almost owe it to myself and my childhood to actually read the books, because I haven't read the books. I think my parents might have read some of them aloud to my sister. So maybe I've overheard some of the books. But, like.
A
Like,
B
Michael Landon, I believe, was, you know, like, maybe. I don't know if he was the executive producer of Little House, but he had a very, very strong hand in it. And Pa was always the hero. Pa was so morally upright. He always did. He always stood up for justice. He was like. He was unselfish. He was everything that you could possibly be. And I always wondered, is that how Pa is in the book, or is that how Michael Landon wanted to be portrayed as the character? Not that Pa would have been a bad guy in the books, but, like, was he as heroic in the books as Michael Landon was in the TV show? And I don't know the answer to that.
A
Yeah. Because I always think, I assume that the books are more about. More about Laura, Although the TV show is very much about Laura. Right. But at the end of the night, oh, half pint, you're making me want to rewatch it.
B
The intro to that show. Or I should say, really. Actually. Actually, so the. The ending credits, if I have this right, aren't the ending credits there? The three girls are, like, running down a grassy hill and fall. Falling.
A
I was thinking that was the beginning, but maybe I'm wrong about that.
B
Maybe that's the beginning. What I. What I seem to remember is that, like, the beginning of the show is this very kind of grand. Da, da da da da da da da da da.
A
Yeah.
B
And then the. The. The end credits are like a kind of a bluegrass. Down, down, down.
A
And so it was a little bit goofier. And that's when you see the frolicking.
B
Yeah, like, they kind of like they blue grass it up while the kids are tumbling down the grassy hill.
A
That would make sense. I would. I would definitely trust your memory of this more than mine, especially after that performance that you just gave. And I am calling this up right here if this is the ending. Oh, yeah, you're right. This is the end. It looks like it's just Laura with a dog kind of walking down a hill.
B
Oh, doesn't. I think her little sister comes running down later and falls.
A
Everything you said rings a bell to me also. It could be that they recut this. Now she's sort of hopping. She's sort of hopping. Is she gonna fall? She gonna fall? Quick. Put on Kelshi. Put on Kelshi. She's getting close.
B
Banned in Washington state, by the way,
A
at the very end. Oh, really? Really? Just. That just happened.
B
A judge, a Washington state judge enjoined Kalshee. We were going to talk about this today if we got through the other stories, but then you read in the Seattle Times article, they said it's unclear if Kalshee will actually recognize the ruling of the judge. So, I mean, that's one of those things. Obviously. This whole trip, I kept jumping on Kalshee and throwing little bets down on baseball games and the like. It is entertaining to me. I also will totally not care if they, like, if they shut it down. I'll be like, that's probably better for
A
the world, you know? Yeah, I. I mean, I'm not trying to be a hater on your thing or be judged. I'm not defending it as a. Scott, it's bad. Well, is it?
B
Let me. Okay. Is it, though? And I'm not being defensive. Here's what I mean. If you are somebody who wanted to put down a bet on if Maduro would be deposed in the next 24 hours. Hours. And you don't, like, work for the State Department, and this is a real question, do you not sort of deserve what you get.
A
What do you mean? What do you get? You mean if. You mean, in other words, if you didn't, you're. Because somebody did that. But they were cheating. They had inside information, but you're taking out the insider information.
B
What I'm saying is if you are another person who doesn't have insider information and you're betting on things like will Maduro be deposed or will, will Donald Trump use these certain words? Like, to me it's like the knock on it is that it's a big scam where people can be cheating it, which I totally recognize. What they can't cheat is the Home Run Derby, which I was betting on on Monday night. So it's like if the knock on Kalshee and you know, again, I'm not, I really am not trying to defend it and if it goes away, I won't be sad at all. But if the knock on it is that is, it is a predatory place where people with insider information can predate. Is that a verb? Predate?
A
I think so, yeah.
B
Basically, if it's like people that have inside information about what the US Military is going to do or what Donald Trump is going to say, or even what our friend Chris Hayes is going to say. Cause remember he was on Colbert and there was a prediction market about what he was gonna say on Colbert, except he had already taped it.
A
Yeah, well, there was another one involving him. I didn't know about that one, but there was one where he interviewed. I don't think it was Mamdani, but it was somebody, some high profile person who was running for office recently on his show on All In.
B
Maybe Platner or something.
A
Yeah, I think it was. I don't think so, but anyway, because I saw Chris actually kind of post this on Blue Sky. He posted an image of the betting market on whether or not somebody would address something in Chris Hayes's interview with him. And Chris posted this and says it's already taken, like it's already taped. But this is a live betting situation. That's another reason why it feels off to me. But also what I especially don't like about it is, listen, states, I'm a huge states rights guy. I don't know if you know this.
B
Well known. I've been well known since the longtime states rights guy has logged on.
A
But you know, if a state says, listen, the electorate has voted us into office, we're making laws and we've made a law that says we don't want online gambling in our state. State. And then Kelshi comes along and says we're not online gambling when they clearly are. Yeah, I'm against that. It seems like bullshit to me.
B
I agree with you that it is very much online gambling and it is farcical that they would say it's not. So on that level, I'm totally fine with the state of Washington banning it and the sort of the ban working. I guess it's just one of these things where when I first mentioned it on the show a while ago, they were like, people were kind of coming for me pretty hard. It wasn't a, you don't know, words situation, but it was just short of that. It was like people were being pretty stern with me about it. Like I was, you know, promoting like a Trump coin or something, a dogecoin. And my thought on it was, I mean, yeah, it's, it's stupid and it's run by probably a bunch of kind of tech bros who are probably pretty amoral. But I also would never, personally, I would never bet on something like, is Maduro going to be deposed? Because, like, I don't have any intel on that. So to me, it's kind of like, it seems like it's sort of a, like if you're a. If you're a person, you know, as it says in the Good Book, a fool. Is this actually in the Bible or is it just like a proverb that's like out in the culture?
A
I didn't know what the.
B
I think it was. It was Laura Ingalls Wilder who once wrote, yes, when they were living in Mankato. You know, a fool and his money are easily parted. Right. Like, to me, it's like it's a stupid, dumb thing that nobody should do except I've been doing it. But if you want to go on there and try to bet what Chris Hayes is going to say in an interview, like, caveat emptor, like, that's on you. Like, you're just being dumb in that case, to me.
A
But don't you. And this is a true question, but don't you. Haven't you said things before that you do sort of feel like, well, we do need some sort of regulations around this stuff because gambling is an addiction. And so just to say, hey, people who lose money at dumb gambling things, that's up to you. Like, we all know that that is a problem, but that's why we have laws in place, because people can lose their minds and their livelihoods and their lives and their families.
B
I think that the things that need to be more heavily regulated probably are like DraftKings and those sites, because those are the one that are super insidious. Those are the ones that have the, you know, men of age 20 to 35 of America in large numbers, like, throwing their futures down the drain. Kalshi is, again, if we want to get into the nitty gritty on it, Kalshi is less fun than those ones because you can't do. Like, for instance, there's not a market on Kalshee tonight for if Cal Raleigh is going to hit a home run. There's a market for. Are the Mariners going to win? There are not a lot of exotic prop bets on Kalshee because of how it's set up. Whereas if you go on DraftKings or one of those other ones, there's a billion ways for you to lose your money on just weird Mariners things. And so listen, the essential point, you're totally right. I think these gambling on your phone in your pocket is bad for people, particularly bad for young men. So if they got rid of all of it tomorrow, I would totally not be sad about that. In fact, I think it'd be better for America. America. I do think that, like, the sports betting apps are especially bad because they're just. They've just got a little bit more frictionless design than Kalshi does. But that's not to say Kalshee is okay. I'm just saying I think DraftKings is worse. It's like of these two bad things, one of them, in my opinion, is slightly worse.
A
But. But you also say that in. And also in Kelshi, in an idealized situation where you don't have the. The teleprompter operator using inside information to make bets.
B
Yes.
A
Right.
B
For people that don't know somebody got. They say there's somebody who made a bunch of money on predicting what Trump was gonna say in speeches on Kalshi and he turned out to be a teleprompter operator. I believe in the White House.
A
Yes. Which is absurd. Yeah.
B
Again, I just. To me, the thing with Kalshi is I feel like it's a gross stew. It's a gross stew of lousy behavior that takes down. And you're right. I think DraftKings is predate a word. I think DraftKings predates on people somehow. I feel like Kalshee, it's somehow in my mind, and I'm not saying that this is rational or defensible, but in my mind, it's like the sports betting apps, I think are really victimizing people and really ruining lives. And to me it's like, if you want to bet on a poly market, you dumb. And by the way, I count myself at the front of that line.
A
For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I was so close to finding Alan Sepinwall's quote about Little House on the Prairie. I got really distracted there. I failed. I failed you. I failed the listeners.
B
If I can say one thing. Shout out Alan Sepenwal, TV critic and author. I would gently suggest updating the graphics on the, the website.
A
Oh, I wasn't on the. I was looking at a. I was looking at Belewski. What's, what's going on on the website there?
B
It's, it's, you know, it's, it's very serviceable. It's got Alan's books, which look great. He obviously wrote a book about Rod Serling. He's written, I think maybe two books about. Or one book about Mad Men, another book about the Sopranos, and a great writer, A great writer. I do. I would like Alan, from me to you, let's update the what's Alan watching?
A
Graphic. Yeah, the graphic design is my passion on that one, most certainly. Yeah.
B
But everything else on the website, it looks quite informative. And that's an. Even if you slightly botched it or whatever. That's an interesting quote. The idea of trying to reboot a show from the 70s or from the 80s about a family living in the 1800s based on a book from the 1950s or whatever. Yeah, it's a lot of hoops to jump through.
A
Are you tempted at all to watch the new one?
B
You know, they wanted me to do a story about it, but I had a scheduling conflict with live art. They wanted me to go up to the set, actually. And when they asked me to do it, I'll be honest with you, my first thought was that sounds really boring. But as often happens, then I read a write up in the New York Times about it and first I was like, well, dang, I wish I would have done it because the New York Times did a piece about it and because the New York Times reporters are very talented, it made it sound interesting. You know, it's been updated. It's got more sort of representation in it than the original TV show did, as far as, you know, non white people and other things like that. So, you know, and it's, it's a very, you know, those books are, I would imagine even to this day, those books are really, really popular with young people.
A
And so there's more action, right? It's like the Fast and the Prairiest or whatever. Like there's.
B
Is that what they're saying?
A
A lot more race cars. No. I don't know. I'm just joking. I was trying to think how I would, how I would up how I would update it.
B
Vin Diesel is in it 2 Life to Prairie.
A
I. I don't know.
B
I'm flying half pint go get married. That's my Vin Diesel as paw impression.
A
That's pretty good.
B
People wondered where are we going to get that today as we're just coming back from the road. Yes, we are.
A
This is my imitation of us wrapping up the showed.
B
All right, everybody, thanks for listening. That is mercifully going to do it for today's episode of tbtl. But we will be right back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio for all of you. So please do join us for that. In the meantime, have a great Tuesday. Take care of your yourselves and please remember, no mountain too tall and good luck to all.
A
Power out.
Date: July 21, 2026
Hosts: Luke Burbank & Andrew Walsh
In this fun and rambling episode, Luke and Andrew reunite after a TBTL tour and fundraising drive, settling in for a classic conversation that jumps from family meals and bar tabs to Cleveland baseball games, sausage secrets, frog-jumping contests, and the cultural legacy of TV themes and local sports music. This episode is classic TBTL: full of inside jokes, affectionate teasing, and deep-dives into nostalgia, local color, and current obsessions (including prediction markets, ballpark sausages, and the quirks of family dynamics).
Full of affectionate ribbing, gently nerdy digressions, and warmth, this episode perfectly captures what TBTL does best: finding humor and insight in everyday oddities and shared cultural touchpoints. Luke and Andrew’s rapport brings even the smallest stories to life, making the mundane delightful and the nostalgic deeply specific yet universal.
Power Out.