CBB With John Fanta, Steve Smith Sr Dominated The Weekend, Picking A New Pope, Who's Back Of The Week + Monday Reading

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What's going on with St. John's, Duke, SEC, just being a powerhouse.
Great time with John Fanta, and stick around for a bonus dunk at the end on his little mini hoop in his office. We're going to talk whatever happened this weekend, mostly Steve Smith.
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Okay, let's go.

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The crown is yours. Today is Monday, February 24th.
And just when you think we don't have any sports to talk about, Steve Smith fucks some guy's wife.

Yeah.

So viewer discretion advised.

Not just fucks.

He rearranges her IUD.

Yeah.

So viewer discretion advised if you're taking your kids to school right now.

The biggest story from the weekend was Steve.

They might be Steve Smith kids.

They might be Steve Smith kids.

The biggest story of the weekend was Steve Smith Sr., recurring guest, friend of the program. Would love to actually have him on to talk about it if he ever gets to a point where he can.
I'm guessing right now probably. Maybe having some harder conversations with family.
Might be a little bit busy right now. But, yeah, the weekend, just when you think, like, hey, there's not a lot going on.
You had great college basketball slate, a little hangover from the NHL All-Star game.

We have a guy who in his at was Lamboney, so Lambeau Field and Lamborghini, I think, decided to take to Twitter on Saturday morning and tagged AB, ESPN, TMZ,

the Panthers, Steve Smith, NFL, NFL Network, Ghost Golf Club, TaylorMade Golf, and Yeti Coolers, and said, my wife works for the Marching Ravens.

She met Steve Smith Sr. at work.

Steve Smith has been fucking my wife. I got rece i got a lot more homie wow now what was this guy's end game he i i went and i followed him right away i don't know if he's deleted if he's nuked his account since uh i think it was yeah he did so he did delete everything um I think he was just like, hey, I'm mad.

I'm going to get divorced.

I'm going to try to make this miserable for Steve Smith.

But, yeah, it was quite a decision to essentially wake up on a Saturday morning in February and be like, hey, world, I got cucked by Steve Smith.

Yeah.

Here's all the proof.

Attention, world, and also Yeti coolers. yeah so uh he did have a lot of proof i'm gonna read some of the proof uh it was quite something steve smith definitely gonna have to get a new cell phone number because he uh oh yeah this is this is facebook post it says hi i am nicole martinez uh though i won't be a martine a Martinez much longer so he's writing under his wife's uh Facebook yeah this is fire yeah yeah you see I've been cheating on my husband and I've been doing so with the very famous Steve Smith Sr.
Picks attached for reference I had him hidden under number three but that's been fixed my husband bought me a house He stood by my side after I had been arrested twice for domestic violence. And this is how I repay him and our son.
There's plenty of messages here. Steve crazy.
The kind of revealing messages a celebrity will send Baltimore Ravens. He tagged them.
Uh, I am also, or, or I am also a member of your team band. I believe I violated some fraternization rules by hooking up with Steve at the training facility and then tagged ESPN TMZ Carolina Panthers Antonio Brown.
Now, I do feel bad for the kid. This is sad in that respect.
But yeah, this guy decided to take it. So would you like to hear some of the texts that steve smith sent this i would very much like you're some the pictures are all time too yeah so steve said uh see now you're teasing me wow you look stunning about about to go to work i'm getting a little chuck and then autocorrected chunky uh and then he said take me deep down your throat like you kind of like you wanted to suck me off she said I did I would have gagged on it but I had to come home he wrote back you enjoy it you like to feel it she said I like feeling it deep in my wet pussy he replied me too her wet pussy does Steve Smith have a pussy he might have a little oldie situation going on front pouch uh letting you taste it though would be a turn on i would have shot my nut all inside your pussy this is so brutal she replied i love making you come i enjoy it more when you come inside me he replied noted bookmark noted that noted there is like hey honey can you can you make sure that you remember to like get this before you come home yeah take the trash out tonight not hey hey steve smith can you make sure that you come inside of me when you come noted noted Noted.
And then, let's see.

It keeps going on and all.

He said, it's 20 degrees.

He sent a selfie.

That's nice.

Turn you over and get deep inside of you.

She replied, you're so hot.

Deep is an understatement.

It felt like you were going to rearrange my IUD.

You were so deep, LOL.

That's a wild thing for somebody's wife to be posting to another guy. Yeah.
This whole thing is crazy. Oh, whoa.
This is one I hadn't seen yet. So she replied, the connection was something I couldn't just walk away from.
The passion is hard to forget. He said, I wasn't alone with it.
She said, no, I was right there with you you stadium full of people and i only saw you again he said you had me wanting to explode friday but holding you was uh quiet quiet all right with me she said that spark lit fireworks you were a gentleman and that was part of the reason i came back wanted to give you a proper goodbye. So she was part of the Ravens band, and people then found clips of Steve Smith directing the Ravens band.
Now, what instrument did she play? That's a huge question. It's a big question.
I would like to know the answer to it. It's got to be.
Really, flute is really the only thing. Flute would be solid.

Drum.

Maybe.

No, it can't be a tuba. Saxophone would be solid.

Saxophone is sexy.

Saxophone is sexy.

But yeah, if it's a tuba, if it's a drum, you got a problem.

You should beat the dick like a drum a chick.

Yeah, here's Steve Smith.

This is.

I mean, Steve Smith has to be like, fuck, this could have happened like

Masters weekend or. Yeah, this could have happened like Masters weekend or conference championships.
The husband understands the sports calendar when he releases. Yeah, he waited on this for the perfect timing.
Yeah, what does this tell us about Lamar Jackson as a leader? The fact that this type of fraternization is going on between the marching band and former athletes from the team. I like that that was his main point that he made at the end of the Facebook post.
Like, I'm pretty sure that my wife getting her IUD flipped inside out by Steve Smith is technically a violation of the band's fraternization policy. Yes.
You're going to want to look into this Ravens. Something you might want to be aware of, Baltimore.
It's also like the Ravens aren't— When you think of Steve Smith, no one's thinking Ravens thinking Ravens no you think Panthers first you do the little Ravens uh there also was a clip that the guy posted of him calling Steve Smith and being like hey you fucked my wife and Steve Smith just said I'm sorry and then stayed on on on the phone call for about a minute and a half. Staring up guy.
Not saying anything.

Yeah.

It was.

Facing the music.

So, yeah.

You want to play it?

Play it.

It's very crazy.

This is our Saturday.

I don't think we're going to get those hats, Big Cat.

No, we already got them.

Oh, we did?

Yeah.

We got them.

He sent it to us right after the Super Bowl.

Okay.

They're up in my office.

Okay, here's the call.

Yeah, you've been fucking my wife, bro. What you got to say for yourself? I'm sorry.
Good guy. That was pretty nice.
He doesn't run from it? I'm sorry. I said I was sorry.
What else do you want? I do think he should probably be more mad at his wife. I mean, he is very mad at his wife.
Yeah, I guess he is very mad at his wife. The posting on her Facebook account.
But yeah, what a story. Yeah, it's pretty wild.
It took me about, I'd say, 30 minutes to get fully caught up on this story when I woke up this morning. Going back, because I was trying to figure out why Yeti Coolers was trending.
Yeti Coolers, by the way, has been silent on the story. Speaks volumes.
I would really like, I think Shady Rays, our good friends at Shady Rays might have been tagged as well.

This is one of those situations where Yeti coolers, you got to act fast.

You got to stand up.

You got to release like an anti-cuck cooler.

Yeah.

Put it on sale.

It would go nuts online.

Yeah, no cheating allowed with this cooler.

Yeah.

Or yeah, this cooler is perfectly engineered to keep sperm at perfectly frozen levels. Now, TaylorMade Golf, that's one company that we could probably lean on a little bit.
Yeah. And Shady Race.
TaylorMade, to my knowledge, hasn't said anything. No.
We need some statements. Why was he doing that? I have no idea, but it is.
Maybe they sponsor some of his pods or something. I don't know.
Maybe. just like we know Steve Smith likes to golf well yeah when I saw Shady Rays I thought this might be a this might be pod related yeah but uh not a great weekend for for Steve Smith I would say what you got Hank what what do you know I'm trying to find a tailor-made connection what is what do we think he connection.
What do we think he's doing right now? Steve Smith? Yeah. Probably.
Well, I don't know what his family situation's like. I don't know.
Is he married? He is married. So he was probably.
A lot of kids. He probably got the call.
Not good. He probably got the call a couple days ago and then was just waiting.
Like, this is going to come out. And then he probably tried to take his wife on a vacation somewhere where they're off the grid.
I don't even know if he got the call. This guy felt like he went zero.
I think he might have found out late Friday night. He didn't have time.
He just went nuts. Because if you're Steve Smith and you get that call, you have to be like, honey, we're going to go to Alaska.
You've always wanted to go check out Denali National Park. Let's go hiking.
Let's do the whole thing. Honey, I was reading up about Aaron Rodgers staying in a gnome's closet in Oregon where they just sit in silence for three days.
I think we should really do that. Yeah.
Got us something special. Let's just get off the grid.
Let's go to South America for a while. Just hang out in the rainforest.
You don't need that phone. We're on our phones too much, I've realized, as a family.
Yeah. Too much screen time.
I can't get over the fact this guy just decided, hey, today's the day I'm just gonna let everyone know that I got cucked by Steve Smith. Again, I, like, he has every right to be upset.
Yes. Fucked up.
Just get divorced before you cheat, and especially with kids involved and all that stuff, but you don't have to also go online and let everyone know um and then i think he might have some regret because he did nuke his whole account was like whoops she probably should have done that i'm the world's most famous cuck yeah right now you know that's a title you never want to hold the the i will say though credit to him i mean releasing the text the texts were you You can't come back from the text. That might be worse than the Ray Allen tweet.
I think it's a little bit different because one was the tweet accidentally. But that was meant to be a text.
Yeah, the other was just two consenting adults firing at each other hot and heavy. Letting you taste it, though, would be a turn- turn on i would have shot my nut all inside your

pussy what what is he saying deep in your throat like you kind of like did he say letting you taste it yeah talking about his nut yeah and that's when she said i i i enjoy it more when you come inside me and he said noted i also think that's the one i'm going to take away from this whole thing steve smith's replying noted to a married woman be like i would like for you to come inside that would be good mount rushmore to save up for the summertime mount rushmore of professional athletes that you would not want to find out that your wife is cheating on you with see smith's up there he's definitely because he's a dog he's a dog like you see how he plays he gets inside the pads he plays through the whistle yes he's not going to take any he's not going to cut any corners no he he fucks through the t and nut he's gonna find the corners yeah he's gonna get inside the corners yeah targeting all the way inside them that's got to be penalty removing an iud with your dick that's also one of those problems that i'm just blessed to never have to worry about in my life yeah but it was it was what to to bust up an iud Yeah, to accidentally remove an iud with your penis that's that's one thing i will never be accused of not same zip code that thing yeah that's uh that's like you we we've never how like there's a certain level that we've been able to drill into the earth's core we're never going to be able to get to the middle of the Earth. Yeah.
You just can't. That's me and IUDs.
I'd have better luck catching a lantern fish with my dick than I would finding an IUD with it. If there's oil at the surface, I can find it.
Yeah. Anything deeper than that, nuh-uh.
Not for me. Who else would be on that Mount Rushmore? Athletes? Shaq, probably.
Shannon Sharp. Stefan Diggs.
Shannon Sharp after hearing him fuck. Yeah, richie incognito incognito probably yeah uh yeah there's we that that would be a good mount rush more mount rush more of guys you don't want to wake up one day and be a cuck to yeah foals oj simpson nick foals oj simpson yeah nick foals is a yeah that'srated one.
But, yeah, that was the biggest story of the weekend. Yeah.
Steve Smith dominated the weekend. And the woman also, obviously, her pictures were put out there, and there's a lot of people who are having a field day.
Yes. Making a lot of comparisons.
Someone might have said Steve Smith really cheated, like blew it all up for sex with Jeff Van Gundy. Someone might have said that.
That's a little unfair. The glasses.
I think it's more about the glasses. Yeah.
Because he's a bald man. That is a bald, bald man.
Oh, man. Yeah.
Steve Smith cheated on his wife for Jeff Van Gundy. Lock him up and throw away the key, bro.
I think just using Jeff Van Gundy's name in a post is a cheat code because whenever you see it written, you think about Mark Jackson saying it. Yeah.
Yeah. Jeff Van Gundy.
You say it in that word. Yeah.
Okay. So I had a few people tweeting being like,

you guys better address the Steve Smith thing.

We will.

In the back of my head, I was like, dude, it's leading the show.

There's nothing else going on.

Consider it addressed.

We could.

Noted.

Oh, should I?

Yeah, noted.

Should I lead the show with this story that is captivating

and just like I couldn't get enough of it?

Or should we maybe guess where Matt Stafford might get traded to? Giants, probably. Giants, sure.
I don't understand that, by the way. To segue, the Rams were – the Rams played the Eagles the best out of any team.
Yeah. In the playoffs.
Yeah. And I know Matthew Shaffer's old and they're in in a transition but I went away from the playoffs being like the Rams were right there if a couple things break differently they could have feasibly won the Super Bowl I think it's also like Matt Stafford not wanting to commit right after the season was over and be like I got to think it over so you know he's thinking about retiring so you might as well get something for him at the end of his career.
It also might be that the Rams are like, hey, we can get Sam Darnold younger, cheaper. A younger version of Matt Stafford.
Yeah. Matt Stafford is significantly better than Sam Darnold, but still, that would be, he stays in the Sean McVay coaching tree.
You could probably talk Sam Darnold into – he's a SoCal guy. You could talk Sam Darnold into taking maybe a little bit less because you're like, this is the situation where, hey, last year was pretty awesome.
You want to keep doing that? Or you want to go be the Titans starting quarterback and be back to square one in three years? I think that's the one because he's like a dog that's gone through like four or five different homes. Right.
And he wants a familiar place. He values going to a good coaching situation over anything else because he knows how bad it can be if it's not.
So, yeah, I think he probably would take a little bit less money to play for Los Angeles and another team if it came down to that. But, yeah, it also makes perfect sense for the Giants.
Yeah. Because right now it's like Dable has to win.
You got to win now. He has to win something.
And you might, yeah, and you knocked yourself out of a top three pick. What are they, three? They're three.
Right. So they might have knocked themselves.
I think they still will be able to get Cam Ward or Shador Sanders. I would go Cam Ward.
I would too. Big time.
I'm not a Shador Sanders believer. Love his dad.

But I'll just say it. I'm also not really

a Cam Ward guy either.

I like Cam Ward. Tyler Show.

I like Cam Ward, which is why I would be very happy

with the Giants getting Stafford, short-term

rental, maybe not getting Cam Ward.

Yeah. Matthew Stafford's still a very good

quarterback. It's just a question of how long

will he quarterback

for. We'll have to have Jerry O'Connor listen to his wife's

podcast and tell us what's going on

with that situation.

We are going to have Jerry O'Connell listen to his wife's podcast and tell us what's going on with that situation. So this is Combine Week, technically.
We're going to be down in Indy on Tuesday and Wednesday doing interviews. We will get Schefter on.
We'll get Rossini on. So Friday's show, we're going to get all the buzz from the Combine to get us all the information.
Another football-related topic. Hank, did you see your coach's girlfriend

and how she wears her coat?

Yeah, it's fashion.

Yeah, that's fashion?

That's what we're talking about?

I just was asking a question.

It's fashion for somebody in elementary school.

Who are you guys to say? I was just asking a question. Don't get defensive.
Bill Belichick was at the UNC game, and his girlfriend was wearing her jacket like she was 15. I thought it looked good.
I thought it was a good outfit. There we go.
Enough said. We don't have any.
Doesn't there be anything else? I just wanted to ask if you had seen it. Well, I mean, to her defense, basketball games, it's very tough to dress for a basketball game.
Yeah. Because it's always super hot when you're next to the court.
True. And it's kind of cold outside right now in Chapel Hill.
So, yeah, she's going half on, half off. It's kind of a utilitarian.
It's actually the same way that, I mean,

Bill Belichick is the king of inventing new ways to wear his jackets.

True.

Cutting the sleeves like two-thirds of the way off.

It was a funny visual.

You have to admit that.

It does look like that's his daughter.

It's a funny visual.

I thought it looked good.

I thought it was perfectly normal.

Okay.

By the way, PFT, Ovi, hat trick.

Huge.

Ovi's back. Anytime that there's like a short little break for some of these Russian players, they somehow come back playing really, really well afterwards.
So, yeah, I think this was supposed to be the game that he was going to break the record at. That was my initial prediction before he got the injury.
And now I think he's going to do it this year. I think he's going to do it against the Penguins at the end of the season i i would agree the pace that he's on is absolutely incredible it's so cool too to watch him after he scores a goal he skates right over to his son who's in the first row that's like pounds the glass for him yeah ov's really fucking good and the caps are the caps here there yes it is it is the caps here i'm all in on the cap there we go they're legitimately a good've got a bunch of great players.
They did it somehow. It felt like they were just going to re-engineer their whole roster to ensure that Ovi breaks the record, and that was going to be the reason to pay attention to the Caps for the next two seasons.
But somehow in that rebuild, they also were able to get good again. Caps here.
Yeah, I think it is the Caps here. I believe they have the best record in hockey.
Whoa. It's them or the Jets.
Whoa. But I think the Caps are number one.
I got them at, I think it was 20 to one or 25. I think it was 20 to one when I bet on them earlier this season.
Watch out. Watch out for the Caps.
Everyone's on notice. Yep.
Everyone's officially on notice. The league should be on notice.
They have 84 points. We have Shane, by the way.
Max is still on vacation. Yeah, they have the most points in the league.
I was thinking about, you tell me if this is a good idea or not, trying to time it to go to the game that Ovi breaks a record at. But I only get one game to do it.
You should. I only get one game to pick.
Why not? I think I can do it. Why not? So what, in the next 15 games, you think? I don't know if the next, I mean.
20? He's what, 13 away, you said? The pace that he's on has been incredible, so it could happen in the next 15 games. Yeah.
But I'd say more likely, I think it's the game against the Penguins towards the end of the regular season. Let me see when that is.
That's the one. I think if you're looking at league-wide narrative, having him break it right in Sidney Crosby's

face would be incredible.

April 17th.

What is...

Now, are they going to play him, though, when he's, like...

Yes.

But depending on playoffs, get him rest?

No, he's playing.

They're going to play him.

April 17th.

What day of the week is that?

You got to go.

That's the last game of the regular season?

In Pittsburgh?

Yeah.

That would be awesome.

It's a Thursday.

Shane's doing a great job, by the way. Yeah, you're crushing it.

You're crushing it.

Yeah, Max is out for another day.

He took his vacation a week after we took our vacation.

And, yes, we do miss Oldie.

I wish – I'm happy Shane's here. Oldie hung out for pretty much the whole day on friday just chilling in the office that man is incredible i miss him so much already he was texting me this weekend just texting me like it was just a picture of him here i'll show you it was just a picture of him uh on the ice uh taking a slap shot that was it like it was like an update.
No context. We're back, boys.
Just that. Just him on the ice.
That's good form. Bumping and grinding.
Bumping and grinding out there with the boys. Yeah, so Ovi.
Incredible day. Can we find out what day of the week it is, Shane? Thursday.
Thursday. Thursday, April 17th.
That might be a field trip. Get it done.
I might have to bring home the record.

Get it done.

But yeah, great weekend.

They scored eight against the Penguins on Saturday,

seven against the Oilers.

15 goals in like 24 hours, basically.

Hockey's back.

Hockey's so back.

Hockey's so back.

And I wish Max was back, too,

just because I wanted to talk to him about Embiid.

Yeah.

And what's going on with that.

Yeah.

That was the most depressing series of press conferences that I've heard in a long time when they're explaining, like, obviously he doesn't feel good. They got to just shut him down.
Yeah. Well, the Sixers are exploring options for the knee injury.
Okay. So here's a crazy stat about the Sixers.
NBA Twitter guy, good reporter Stefano tweeted this. The Bulls have held on to the 10 seed for every single day since January 1st.
They've gone 7-16 in that stretch. The Sixers have gone 7-18 during that same stretch and dropped from 11th to 12th.
The Bulls actively tried to get worse and they still can't get rid of the 10 seed because the Sixers are that bad. Another fun stat I saw over the weekend was the games with at least 20 points this year.
Paul George has 9. Peyton Pritchard has 17.
That is a fun stat.

Now, this is just hindsight, guys.

No one could have ever expected the Paul George to Philadelphia thing not working.

Well, the funniest part about that is that Paul George is now the one that's his little bro-ing Joel Embiid. And being like, when I was going through this, the multiple times I've gone through this, Joel,

I found that just playing makes me feel better.

Yeah.

Like that's the only way to get better is to just play your way through it.

And Joel Embiid is just like, no, man, I'm not going to do that.

I just don't feel like playing.

I'm not going to do that.

And then.

He should just get mono.

He has it basically.

Yeah.

Here, I'll call Max.

Let's just see if we can.

He's still on vacation, so he's probably at a john summit concert concert right now do you think he misses us no good because i oldie was although hank and i were laughing people being like uh-oh max hey hey statement on the sixers uh they stink joel and beach they, they should shut him down for this season. And they should tank for Cooper Flagg.
And what about, should they trade Joel Embiid? No. Okay.
We're on to next year. How do you feel about his contract? He's worthy of that contract for sure.
He's an MVP. He's one of the best players in the league when healthy.
Just got to get healthy. How is he worthy of the contract? How is he worthy of the contract? He didn't really play.
He hasn't played. He's going to play.
Hank, hit him with the stat. All right, I'm done with this.
No, no, listen to the stat. You need the stat.
I'm trying to have a nice steakhouse meal right now. Okay.
The last day of my fitness vacation. Okay, listen to the stat.
20-point games this season. Paul George has nine.
Peyton Pritchard has 17. Peyton Pritchard has 17 20 point games.
Paul George has nine. Oh, Paul George is horrendous.
Okay. So you admit that.
Max, your entire statement on the Sixers should have just been birds. Also that.
Okay. All right.
What about Yavu? I love Yabu. He's not going to come back.
But he's too good to tank. With a guy like Yabu, you're not going to get Cooper Flagg.
Are you feeling a little pressure from Oldie in his performance? What do you mean? I'm happy that he had a good performance. Good, but he – Good producer.
Good for the show. Good for the show.
Good for the company. Great.
Great. What do you think about Steve Smith, Max? What do you think about Steve Smith? Steve Smith's a dog.
Yeah, a dog. He started the program.
We led the show with it, with Steve Smith. Yeah, you have to.
Have to. All right, okay, enjoy the rest of your fitness vacation.
We'll see you tomorrow. Yep.
All right, bye. See you tomorrow.
Bye. Hank and I were laughing because people were like, uh-oh, Max is in trouble.
Oldie's sitting in the producer chair. Oldie does not, he doesn't own a computer.
So, like, being like, you guys found a Canadian who can also produce a podcast oh i was like i said the last thing i said to oldie i was like hey do you have a computer like if we ever want you to zoom in and and we'll oldie will we'll see him at some point in the future he's he we're working through it uh he's got a wife and kids back in canada but he was just like oh yeah my wife's got an apple i was just like I was just like, okay, no chance he knows how to work it or anything. No, I mean, say what you want about Max.
He is capable of pressing a button. Yeah.
Oldie, I don't think if we told him to press the button. I don't want him to, though.
What's a puck? Yeah, he's a beauty. But, yeah, Oldie's going to be part of something going forward, so we do miss him.
All right, other things I had written down for stories. i've got one we fought yeah you go okay uh the new york yankees oh yes how how the mighty have fallen the new york yankees are relaxing their grooming standards after all these years the yankees used to stand for something you know that you could set your watch to the new york yankees yep you weren't allowed to have sideburns they made johnny damon cut his hair and trim his beard and now this now the statement from haustine brenner on the alteration of yankees facial hair policy which is very funny that the new york yankees have a facial hair policy yes in recent weeks i've spoken to a large number of former and current yankees spanning several areas.
I got you. I got you.
To elicit their perspectives. Yeah.
Yeah, there we go. To elicit their perspectives on our longstanding facial hair and grooming policy.
And I appreciate that their current. You go ahead.
I can't read this. And appreciate their earnest and valid feedback.
These, can you make it a little bit bigger?

Yes, I'm getting fucked over here. These most recent conversations are an extension of ongoing internal dialogue that dates back.
Stop, stop messing with it. That dates back several years.
Ultimately, the final decision rests with me and other great, and after great consideration, we will be amending our expectations to allow our players and uniform personnel to have well-groomed beards moving forward. It is the appropriate time to move beyond the familiar comfort of our former policy.
Wow. We used to be a country.
Wow. A proper country.
And then this. And Don Mattingly and his sideburns, it'll be a tale lost to the ages.
Kids won't understand that anymore. Goose Gossage.
Yeah. Punch in air.
So why now? Good question. Who are they specifically going after? Do you think maybe Juan Soto was like, I really wanted to grow a this might this might have been part of juan soto's contract what's the free agent class coming up maybe there's something there yeah that's what i'm thinking there's got to be an angle can we look that up 20 20 25 um or somebody that that might be key in the tread trade deadline this year yeah because it does it does feel weird that it just happened now Yeah.
You have to think Derek Jeter signed off on this, right? Yeah. Have to.
Vladdy Jr. He's got a beard, right? These are...
No. Schwarber? Schwarber would hit so many bombs to that short portion.
He would. He would love it.
Yeah. Yeah, I think the Yankees have just lost their luster.
Listen. Bo Bichette, he's got some flow to him.
I know that it's like half joking, but the Yankees, they're douchebags, and they need to stay that way. Yes, I agree.
This is what makes the sports. I think it's the old George Steinbrenner.
They're not the Yankees anymore. Yeah, the old George Steinbrenner quote, like there are MLB players and there are Yankees.
You want the Yankees to have that type of arrogance compared to everyone else, and part of it is these antiquated, you can't have a mustache that goes beyond your lip. I i i hate this you think if they won the world series they wouldn't have done this i don't know but i hate this i hate this the yankees should stay the yankees like that's a whole evil empire thing that's the whole point it's so funny that they they just re-signed aaron boone right yeah yeah and then well then...
Well deserved. Congratulations to Aaron Boone.

So people were mad at them at that, and they're like,

don't worry about it. We're going to make up

for it next week with a big announcement.

You can have a mustache now. Yeah.

This is stupid.

I don't like this. I hope that

the Yankees, as a team,

and a clubhouse, silently

protest by not having

long beards. What if they all grew beards instead? That would suck.
That instead that would suck that would suck when it would be stupid the thing would look stupid george seinbrenner's spinning in his grave they're trying to like have a good moment of pr after what the uh what were those brothers out in right field last year oh yeah that was a flash in the pan uh capo negro we forgot yeah the capo negro brothers, they're like, we got to do something that will make people happy with us. Okay.
You're allowed to have a goatee now. Yeah.
By the way, speaking of the Caponegros, my other thing that I had was that we might get a new pope. Yeah.
So I did a little research on some names. What, Hank? That's just a wild transition.
I was thinking of an Italian name. How about this? I literally looked up the potential popes, and I just based it on names.
Alabama beat the shit out of Kentucky this weekend in college basketball, and in other news of popes taking and beating. There we go.
You like that, Hank? The pope's on his deathbed. He stopped listening.
We're going to talk some college basketball with Johnny Fanta, by the way. So anyway, the Pope Francis, he is on his deathbed.
Yeah. Kidney failure.
Yeah, kidney failure doesn't sound good. Hopefully he's okay.
I'm going to guess he's probably not going to be because he's pretty old. But anyway, hopefully he's not in pain.
Our colleague, KFC, actually is like a uh he's a he's like a number one pope rider he loves the pope talk so he actually broke down in a great blog about who could be the next pope based on actual intel like stats yeah and like what what they do normally by the way i watched the conclave uh Good movie. Weird ending, but good movie.

So the Pope talk is hot right now because that's actually a movie that's going to be up for an Oscar.

Yeah, he broke it down, and he was like, he had actual stats.

Like the majority of Popes don't get chosen from here and there and whatever.

I just looked up names, so I wanted to throw out some names for you.

I'm going off straight names, vibes,

popable guys in my opinion

and they probably have no chance

but I wanted to throw some names. You guys ready?

Yeah. Okay.
We do have one

guy from the U.S. that has a chance.

He's from Wisconsin. I think he's the

Cardinal in St. Louis.
His name's

Ray Burke. He's a St.
Louis Cardinal?

No, he's from Wisconsin.

I guess technically he would be. I don't know where he is right now, actually.
But yeah, alright, so here we go. This is my 1-1 pick.
Cardinal Pierre Batista Pizzabala. Okay.
What do you think about that? Yeah, I like it. The pizza pope? Is he a big boy? Is he a big boy? I don't know.
Can we get some eyes on pizza bala? Because here's what I think the Vatican desperately needs. We need a fat pope.
Yeah. A fat pope would absolutely rock, wouldn't it? Pierre Batista.
I want that little cap that they wear on their head to be so tiny. Yeah.
Pizza bala. What a name.
Then I also have Cardinal Mateo Maria Zupi. We have a Zuppi here.
Thought that would be good. Matthew Liberatore.
Gordon Gracheffo. These are all names that I think could make big-time popes.
Lorenzo Baldessari. That's pretty good.
Yeah, I like a Lorenzo. They don't keep their name, do they? No, they have to change it, but I'm just going off of just vibes, just off name vibes.
This Baldessaro guy. Yeah, they all become like John or Francis or something.
This Lorenzo, he looks like a pope, doesn't he? He's got a little Dick Cheney vibe to him, but he looks like a pope from Central Caster. Yeah.
Victor DiMuchegi.

That would be a good pope.

And then here's the last two I got for you.

Are you looking these up?

What?

What are you laughing at, Shane?

Memes wanted me to Google fattest pope in the world.

Yeah.

No, we need a fat pope.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We do need a fat pope.

All right.

Here's a couple of heavy hitters for you. Ready? If we get a Pope that's above 350 pounds, I will become a Catholic.
Hey, it would be awesome. Yeah.
If we just had a fucking hoss of a Pope. Yeah.
It's the fattest. I'm sure there's been a Pope that was so fat.
Mm-hmm. Look at that guy.
See, wouldn't that be awesome if that was a Pope? Okay, here's the last two that i got for you guys you ready for this uh francesco coco palmero okay pretty good yeah and then another one so i i have the the two the two that i'm leaning towards are uh pierre batista pizza bala and then fabio baggio fabio bag, yes. So it's Pope talk.
I like that. If you had a fat Pope, you could have a mass mass.
Yeah. That'd be pretty good.
I need a fat Pope. That's my analysis.
Fabio Baggio. How do they elect him? They get together in a room? I know you saw the movie.
I saw the movie, so I'm actually kind of an expert on this. They get all the Cardinals under 80 in a room together they shut everything down basically they can't talk to the outside world and uh they all vote until they can get i think it's i think it's two-thirds majority and then that person's the new pope so they sequester them they can't like a jury they can't talk to anybody and it could take weeks okay and then do a vote.
Then they like to smoke. And when the gray smoke comes out, a new pope has been elected.
No, white smoke. White smoke.
Okay. Gray smoke is when they haven't.
So yeah, that's them sitting there. They should do a different color besides gray and white.
Those are too similar. Yeah, that is a little similar.
But yeah, so they sit there. Again, I'm an expert because I saw one movie about it on a plane um they sit there and they politic and the first time they vote there will be i don't know 20 guys getting receiving votes and then they'll slowly get it down to a couple people and they'll go against each other uh and then we'll get a new pope do you think that'd be a good job to be pope probably not i don't think i don't think be any fun.
I feel like you get blamed for a lot of shit. You get blamed for a lot of stuff.
You do get to meet Jim Harbaugh once a year. Yep.
So that's cool. And God, I would assume.
You get to meet God eventually. Yeah, but the Harbaugh's, they always bring you a set of cleats, like here's some Mayor Jordan cleats.
Yeah. Yeah, you probably do get some cool trinkets.
Yeah. But you never get to fuck.
Yeah. But I'm guessing most of these guys probably do the celibacy thing yeah yeah i think the cardinals all have to yeah wasn't the last pope the one that was like tongue kissing kids it's dalai lama my bad but there have been other issues the vatican's never done anything like that no yeah uh so yeah that's my that's my breakdown i'll send you all the names memes You can put them on a graphic for best names I think would make new pope.

Yeah, fantasy celibacy boys.

But Kevin does actually have, like he was breaking it down like it was a futures market.

And I read the whole blog.

It was great.

So can you actually bet on who the next pope's going to be?

I would like to, if you can.

Yeah.

They should make commercials.

They should do like attack ads on each other.

Yeah, he was saying there's one guy who everyone thought was going to be the last pope, and he lost. And it's like, he's just always a bridesmaid.
He can't win the big one. Yeah.
It's fucking awesome. That's so funny to me.
There's some cardinals sitting out there, and you go and do mass, and then you talk to him after. He's like, yeah, you think you're he'll be able to beat Mahomes this year? Probably not.

Probably not.

All right, so what is it?

Pietro Perlin is four-to-one odds favorite.

Okay.

I want the pizza guy.

Yeah, I want Fabio Baggio or Pizzabella.

Also, having an American pope would be awesome.

Yeah, it would.

That'd be great. That'd be sick.

We'd get to flex.

We need a little swag after we lost the All-Star game.

That'd be like the U.S. winning the World Cup in soccer, is if we got the Pope.
We probably would end up winning the World Cup after that. Okay, that was all I had.
Let's do who's back. Who's back of the week, then we'll talk some college basketball with Johnny Fanta.
Who's back of the week is brought to you by our friends. Truly, truly unruly is the first high ABV hard seltzer that actually tastes good.
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Oldie was drinking them. That was the first time Oldie had tried it.
He, great ad. He was ready to go after that.
It's going to, the weather's getting a little warmer. Golf is coming back.
Hank's wearing shorts today. That's my who's back.
Shoot. Damn.
Well, truly. So it's going to be truly unruly summer.
It's going to truly seasoned so go right now first high abv hard seltzer that actually tastes good eight percent high uh abv it hits hard but still tastes amazing and it's the official hard seltzer pardon my take all right hank um who's back the week is celtics boston celtics national sports podcast uh there were some talking heads in the national media this week, this past week, saying that the Knicks were actually going to be, you know, a good test for the Celtics. They might be coming for the title.
They played on Sunday, and the Celtics waxed them. Wait, talking heads.
Who are the talking heads? You were the talking head that was saying there's something wrong with the Celtics. No, they got off to a rocky 2025, but they've since course corrected easily.
Okay. They're 5-0, their last five.
They've won each by minimum 13. So back on.
A couple 20 pieces. It's back on.
All the way back on. So who are you calling out? Say it with your chest.
PFT commenter. Oh.
I'm a talking head? That's what right now my head is talking your head is talking yeah well i i put a bet in on the knicks last week oh to win the championship and then i told hank about it and we had a little uh a little off air part of my take embrace debate and i want to say for the record i was wrong i'll admit it after after like four, might as well light that on fire. So the future had four days.
It was the shortest future of all time. Yeah.
Russell Wilson wants to raise that future. It was bad.
It was a bad bet. That's brutal.
The Celtics are much better than the Knicks. Although, come playoff time, yeah, I'm going to be teaming up with Jerry.
We're going to be bing-bonging you. We're going to be bing-bonging you.
You don't have to play the Celtics. Yeah, so part of the bet, in theory, was that the Magic might have to play against the Celtics.
I think the Magic could beat the Celtics. Oh.
Okay. Sure.
Anything could happen. And then you might ask why then wouldn't you just bet on the Magic to beat the Celtics? And to that I said, that's a great point.
I don't really have an answer to that. Good point.
Yeah. So you're back.
Celtics are back. Okay.
PFT. My who's back of the week is J.J.
Watt. J.J.
Watt is back. He is probably going to come out of retirement to play for the Bengals.
Yeah. Because he owns one of those English football teams, Burnley, right? Yep.
And their goalkeeper hit him up, slid into the DMs,

and was like, hey, JJ, any chance that you could come back

to play for the Cincinnati Bengals?

Because their goalie is apparently a Bengals fan.

And then JJ said, if you don't let in a goal for the rest of the season,

then yes, I will do that.

I think, has it been seven games?

Yeah.

Clean sheets.

Clean sheets for seven games.

And JJ's now looking at Zillow. He's cruising Zow in Cincinnati This is awesome It might actually happen I think there's probably too many games left For the rest of the season When is it in? April? Yeah I don't know what league they're in But I mean they are in the championship league're...
Okay, so how many games they got left? They have... Shane, use your words when you're doing a podcast.
They've got a lot of games left. That's 13.
Okay, thank you. Shane was just going over it with a mouse.
Yeah. You got this, Shane.
You got this. That would be an incredible story if JJ actually came back.
He has to. He has to.
He has to if they do it. So I'm rooting for that to happen.
I don't know. He would probably get cut, what, first week of training camp, you think? No.
You don't think so? You think JJ could still play right now? Yes. He looks light.
He looks skinny. I think he has to take it seriously.
And, yeah, he'd have to make a comeback.

I think he would be able to do it.

Yeah, it would rock.

I hope that it does happen.

Yeah, and this is big for Burnley because they will be, if he stays this hot, they'd be promoted into the EPL.

They're in the league below.

And they've been on a tear.

Man, what a story.

That is an awesome story. Yeah, I hope this guy keeps it up because I rock.
Yeah, clean sheets. Okay, my who's back is Jed Hoyer, who is the Cubs president of baseball ops.
Mixed bag for the free agency, but we just found out. So Pete Crow Armstrong, Cubs center fielder, really fast guy, changed his number from he was originally or he had been 52, and he changed his number to number four.
And the story goes, it happened like a week ago or so. Pete Crow Armstrong was shooting hoops with Dansby Swanson and Nicky Lopez when Jed Hoyer stopped by, and Hoyer had seen enough of P.
Crow Armstrong's number 52, a lineman's number, he said. It was time for the center fielder to have a fast guy digit on his jersey.
He said, if he makes a shot, I've got to change it. I was like, that's fun.
Why not? Let's do it. So Jed Hoyer took a shot from about 12 feet away, drained it, and now Pete Crow Armstrong's number four.
I love that. That's a good GMing because we've talked about this before.
There are such things as slow guy numbers and fast guy numbers. Yes, especially in football.
I don't really think about in baseball that much, but maybe that's the new money ball. Yeah.
It's just make your guys change their numbers. I mean, it matters.
He will be significantly faster. He's already very fast, but he'll be significantly faster in number four.
Well, the uniform's going to weigh less. Yeah.
Because it doesn't have that extra digit on there. That's true.
That's also true. Yeah.
If you were to say winners and losers in baseball this weekend, winner, the Cubs, for having a GM that knows what he's doing, loser, the Yankees, for turning their back on tradition. That's facts.
For spitting in the face of honor. That's facts.
Also, sticking in baseball, I believe that I saw Trevorvor bauer released a video uh that was says

why i chose the czech republic uh to continue my baseball career so if you want to watch that video they have baseball there apparently why i chose baseball in the czech republic i wonder why they probably have a very liberal policy when it comes to uh filming youtube videos the season. Yeah, that's exactly what it is.

Drones.

Yeah, drones.

Okay, let's get to our interview

with J.J. Watt.

What J.J. Watt?

He's the picture right in front of us.

Our interview with John Fanta.

What are you boys doing in the studio right now?

They're getting ready for...

Pug's about to nail this number.

We got a Monday reading.

Shane told us to come in here. It's on him.
Oh, no. Oh, no.
All I said was Big Cat was doing his who's back. We got a Monday reading.
I miss Max. Max would have never made that mistake.
I miss Oldie. Oldie would have taken a piss and thought we were going to leave.
You guys can stay for the Monday reading. If it's cool, I'll stay.
As well as Jack.

Pug.

I like that.

You are Jack's boss.

Pug is a weapon on the roulette table.

We should have known that, right?

Of course.

With the lotto ball.

Pug is a walking lucky machine.

Pug is a dynamo when it comes to roulette.

Look at him.

He's the cutest guy we got and good things happen to him.

You need a guy like that around.

Or it's like something just crazy happens. Like, oh, Pug did it again.
He just was Pug. Thanks, guys.
Okay. Let's get to our interview with Johnny Fanta talking college ball.
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evolution to being better the job is never done so we love these shoes they're suit they're very very comfortable are you wearing them right now pft i was wearing them all weekend i'm not wearing them right now but yeah they're great i was wearing them all day friday all day saturday super super comfortable exclusively part of my take listeners no bull is offering 30 off your order. Visit www.nobullproject.com slash PMT for 30% off your entire order.
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For those watching on the YouTube, these are the the shoes and they are awesome shoes like i said super lightweight super comfortable no bull go get them right now use that backslash slash pmt for 30 off your order okay here he is johnny fanta okay we now welcome on a very special guest he is the the face of college basketball. It is John Fanta.
Johnny, great to see you. Great to feel March creeping up here.

did you actually see that you were the face of college basketball did you see that tweet go viral I don't know if you saw it but someone from the stands I don't know if you saw it BFD

someone from the stands caught John Fanta mid-full-fisted popcorn in his mouth and was

like, this is the face of college basketball, whether you like it or not.

And I was like, that's my fucking guy.

He is.

That was a health, that was, you know what, and I'm saying this as someone who does the

same thing, because my wife always gets mad at me, when I take a handful of popcorn, you can feel that I'm taking a handful of popcorn. Absolutely.
There's an aura about a box or a bag of popcorn. And the fact of the matter is this.
Popcorn, and I'm serious about this, is my absolute favorite snack. I can't live without it.
I have to have – like if I'm at home chilling and watching the game, forget the chips, forget the pretzels, forget the veggies and dip, go straight for the Orville Redenbachers and don't look back. Okay, hold on.
Very important question because I find myself as a popcorn connoisseur as well. Do you always go microwave or do you get fancy with it? I have the air, it's not air fryer, but the air blower thing.
And I also sometimes do it on the pan to give it a little extra taste. Do you do that? Yes, I've got a couple.
I've got the O-pop pop, which you can get on Amazon or any site. I highly recommend.
We could put the kernels in. It's like a yellow.
It looks like a silicone bowl, but it's, I promise you, it's totally safe. You can pop.
I have that as well. Popcorn.
And then all you have to do is take the top off. Yep.
And it doubles down as the bowl. Yep.
So it saves you the glass. It saves you having to pull out the plastic bowl.
No, if it went home, it's homemade. I have the old school Orville Redenbacher, the electric spinner that goes around, and then you take it and you flip it upside down, and then that becomes the bowl, or you can put it in a bowl.
But we've got a couple of homemade makers, and I've got the whirly pop, too. On a summer night, on a PFT, when I'm it got the bonfire going in a movie or something.
It's downtime. You know you could throw something in the dishes and say, I can wait until Sunday morning.
I've had a couple pops. I'll go with that too.
Popcorn to me, if you're home, if you're not on the road, what are you doing? Make it homemade. Make it the right way, the way it was meant to be made.
And you get the added bonus of your entire house smelling like popcorn, which is better than any candle out there. And I like to mix it up, too, with the different seasonings.
I like to go not strictly butter all the time, but I'm a big fan of the white cheddar cheese. I like that taste.
I like to put a little lemon pepper on there, too. Lemon pepper seasoning on the popcorn is a nice treat.
I got the machine that melts my butter on top. So you put the butter on top and then it melts it for you.
And then you put it on. Look, here's the tweet of Johnny Fanta in action.
Yeah, but I'm seeing all those kernels going into the mouth. Yeah, no, it's clean.
He's just going like that. Super hot fuel.
that's a man's handful no no dainty shit it's an efficient shovel of popcorn you're not you're you know it's it's a dunk you should be making all those listen that was a situation where i had uh my wife and i are very excited we're expecting we're thrilled we're looking forward thank you thank you uh baby boy doing may we had'clock appointment, right, on Friday. I had a game on Saturday that I was calling, and it was in Philadelphia.
It was at Drexel, Charleston and Drexel, a little mid-major game. I'll do any game in the country.
Every college basketball game is beautiful to me. Yep.
And hop in the car rental, zip down to downtown Philly. Well, as you guys know, it was congestion on a Friday evening.
Get in the hotel room, take a quick shower, zip over to Wells Fargo, sat down. I'm not a big like, let me sit down in the building and go get dinner.
Like, that's not who I am. I'm like, but I got to have something.
And so I went up and got a big box of corn and sat down and enjoyed some Friday night hoops. I love it.
Had a blast doing it. I love it.
You have to. You got to do it.
All right. Well, thanks for joining us, John.
That's all we had. It was just popcorn talk.
What are your thoughts on Smartphone? Talk to you in three weeks for Selection Sunday. Thanks.
All right. So I got my bone to pick with you.
You ready for it? It's not really, one, but you know I love college hoops. I watch way too much college hoops.
I bet on every game. I needed a little more sense of urgency from you when Xavier was blowing the cover today against Seton Hall.
I needed a little bit more. They were up like 20 with five minutes left.
That's going around right now. My Badgers, an all-time bad loss on Saturday.
But Xavier cutting the lead, and it was like one of those situations that Seton Hall was never going to win the game, but they went from no chance of covering to covering. I needed a little more urgency from you to let us know that this was threat level midnight, and if you had'd watch the whole game like I had to to watch save your cover and then just be like what the fuck just happened uh I needed something there your dedication level to watching that that game was stuck in neutral for a good yeah 45 minutes that just shows why you're you're different you're a different breed to be able to to go all the way through thanks for joining us what What was the spread? It was nine and a half.
And I was like, this is, I had it as like, oh man, this is easy. They were up 10, they were up 15, they were up 20.
It was so easy. And then it was just like, no, let's, let's fuck around and let Seton Hall cut it to five with 40 seconds left.
So to me, this embodies college basketball. Sorry that I didn't have more urgency there on the spread.
I appreciate that. That really that that's an apology there.
And you can you can pick that bone anytime because I don't want to see you get your money taken from you. What I will say is this.
This is why I tell people on the on the tournament. What people say when when the non when the non casual better like the guy who literally puts down two or three or four things in the entire year, Super Bowl, March Madness, and maybe they do something during the NBA Finals or World Series or whatever.
I tell them, just play any 13, any 14, any 15, and go ahead, dump $50, $30, whatever, on any 16. You're going you're gonna come out okay yeah because this is the sport like yes college football has insanity there's no question about it it it has some absolutely bonkers results but college basketball from that perspective guys is just at times i don't i mean for lack of a better term disgusting, disgusting with the endings of games and you know, where is it? Whereas you might need to go 90 yards for a touchdown.
If it's a bucket, if the difference is literally a basket, somebody could heave the ball 50 feet and it could go into the, it could go into the basket and it could produce a total turn of events in Vegas. So that's why I say, you know, if there's nothing, we call it Mark Madness.
Nobody ever rolls their eyes when you say it. People say it's the best.
It's the best. I live for it.
I can't wait. The only part I hate about it is that it only lasts three weeks.
And it really lasts two weeks because then you got the final four. It's a matter of three games.
That's Seton Hall was down by 21. They trailed by double digits the majority of the game.
They were within three with a minute to go. Yeah, it embodies this sport.
Expect the unexpected. And if you want to have fun in a sport, go ahead and have fun in college basketball and take the home dogs and let it fly.
Yeah, it is. It's crazy.
I mean, the Oregon Wisconsin game, which was which I should be more mature to not let it ruin my Saturday, but it 100% ruined my Saturday. They were up 16 with six minutes left.
Or Arizona-BYU late night last night. Got a prediction for you.
You got phantom calls. Yeah, go, go.
Best thing that ever happened to Wisconsin was that long. I agree.
Thank you. Best thing that ever happened.
They're going to go back in the lab. Greg Gard is going to rip his team apart over the next couple of days.
I think Gard, I understand Wisconsin fans have been frustrated at times because they've been looking for his teams to turn a corner offensively. This is his best offensive team.
The ball pops. John Tonje's a beast.
Blackwell, fantastic player. Max Klezman, a matchup problem.
Wisconsin can still be trusted. Don't let one unravel job at home, Big Cat.
Tell you, and I tell you're not one of those guys, but you know there's Badger fans out there who are like, same old, same old. I'm here to tell you right now, it's not the same old Wisconsin, and I believe in this team.
I believe in this team as much as any of the top teams in teams in the big 10. Yeah, no, I agree.
I listened, Kirk Penny has done a great job, you know, making that a modern offense. And, uh, it was just a bad, it was just one of those games that like, you just, it just ruins your mood, but I agree.
You need, you need, it's hard to win in conference. Oregon's a good team.
They're a tournament team. Yeah.
Hopefully they can galvanize around it. Yeah, that's what you hope for.
By the way, Oregon just gave you all a lesson now because if Dana Altman makes a sweet 16, everybody's like, how did that just happen? What just happened? They're talented. You can't, I would urge, if you're just joining college basketball because you were involved with football, which a lot of fans are, don't watch a team play once and say, now that's what I think of them.
Because if you do that, you're doomed for failure when the madness comes. Oregon won the players era back in November.
The joke was they played for money and they played totally better than they've played the rest of the year, even though the guys are still getting paid pretty good money. And Phil Knight's got deep pockets out there but they're a dangerous team they the organ ducks uh with jackson shellstad and nate biddle who's a seven footer who's a matchup problem don't sleep on the ducks big time don't sleep on the dougs i do i do make that mistake every year i i really start paying attention to college basketball right like the day after the super bowl that's when i like go binge all in on it and so I get a couple of games under my belt but it just confuses me because I make my snap judgments and then I find out that I'm totally wrong about my snap judgments then I go into the tournament just having no idea what to do would you say because I actually thought the same thing that you just said about Wisconsin and the loss they had to Oregon I kind of felt the same way about Kentucky Kentucky, getting their ass kicked a little bit.
I mean, it was a different game, obviously, Wisconsin in overtime, but Kentucky getting handled by Alabama, I thought that Pope is going to do a good job in turning his guys around and having them ready to play in the tournament. Is that crazy for me to think that? It's not crazy, provided that Lamont Butler and Jackson Robinson are healthy for Kentucky.

If those two guys are healthy, PFT, then you're going to be talking about a situation where Kentucky's offense is as dynamic as many of the top offenses in the country.

Because they've got flamethrowers.

Kobe Brea is a stud.

He's one of the best pure shooters in the sport.

I'm picking between a team that's just defensively stout or a team that can get buckets quickly, I'm taking the latter in today's day and age. Tennessee's been better the last two years, but that held them back.
Texas A&M, I don't trust them. I don't trust them in the tournament because at times they get stuck in the mud.
Being physical is great until every ref in America calls a foul two minutes into the game because they say in March Madness, the officials are getting evaluated for the next rounds. Just like the teams are trying to move on, the officials get told whether or not they're moving on to the next round.
So when there's a bunch of calls in a game, it's because they're trying to follow the rules so that they can advance and make more money. The fact is, Kentucky, I like Kentucky's upside still.
I am not out on Kentucky. I don't think anybody should be.
But we know this. When this team shows up for their first round game, there's going to be the narratives, the spotlight now on Mark Pope.
Can he be different than Cal? Can he spin a different song? And if they make the Sweet 16, people didn't know what to expect from Pope in year one. They haven't done that since 2019.
I still like their upside, but they've got to get healthy. If they're not fully healthy, they're a team that maybe they win a first-round game.
I don't trust them enough to make the Sweet 16. They need Robinson.
They need Butler. But they've got dudes, man.
That team put together some terrific early season results, and they're very difficult to defend. Yeah, they can light it up.
Your Big East has, let's just be honest, John, down year. Some of the teams have been down.
You know, UConn has been, I would say, Danny Hurley would say it, has been a disappointment overall. But St.
John's has been the bright light. In St.
John's, we had Coach Pitino in here last week. They look for real, and I think they might be more towards the Texas A&M than a Kentucky where they do struggle shooting the ball at times, but their defense is ferocious, and I trust Rick Pitino in a tournament setting.
What do you think the ceiling is for St. John's and maybe like the Big East overall?

Do you think there's maybe a chance that some of these Big East teams and Marquette could surprise teams, even though the conference as a whole is a little down compared to last year? So first and foremost, St. John's can make the final four.
And the statistical data backs it up. Just this past week, this was on social.
Since 2011, there have only been two teams that have shot less than 32.5% from three and have made the Final Four. They were Rick Pitino's Louisville teams, one of which won a national championship.
No NCAA. You can't take away a banner and a trophy from Russ Smith and Peyton Siva.
That's not – I don't know where you two stand. No, I agree.
Yeah. He's got a tattoo.
He had to get the tattoo removed. He's got a tattoo.
Yeah. Yeah.
Forget it. Yeah.
Come on now. This St.
John's team plays a lot like those Louisville teams. They are relentless.
So here's what they've got going for them. Multiple explosive guards who make plays for their teammates.
R.J. Lewis, he could be Big East Player of the Year.
That kid never stops. He has fully understood what Rick Pitino's about.
Kadari Richmond, Brooklyn boy, putting on for his city, living for the big spotlight, and delivering in that spotlight. So those two, they get everything started for this team in a lot of ways.
When you can dump it into Zuby Ejiofor, and he's playing at the level that he's playing at, Davon Smith brings the fire. Smith and Richmond are like fire and ice.
Smith with his pace. Richmond kind of this back to the basket, Uncle Drew, I'm going to put you to sleep but then make you pay type game.
St. John's is a New York team that has a New Yorker who's out to write his last chapters his way, to go out his way.
What Patino is doing, as you guys felt in your studio, you felt what I'm feeling covering Patino. This is a guy who's been through everything in his career and now is a really refreshing personality in college basketball because he doesn't give a damn and he's out to do one thing.
Win, win, win, win. And he's got Mike Rapoli backing him with money.
He's got Madison Square Garden on fire again, feeling like Nick playoff games for a Big East contest against the likes of Creighton or Xavier, or over the weekend now, Connecticut. And they are a real threat to make it to San Antonio this April.
And oh, what a scene that would be if Rick Pitino is down there at the Final Four. That would be wild.
In terms of the rest of the Big East, I'm with you. Marquette has definitely struggled as of late.
Cam Jones is still a stud. Connecticut has to have a – they're just not what they've been the last two years.
The question now is can they win two tournament games and be one in the Sweet 16? For them, I think they're a victim of their success in terms of the narrative. You know, Dan Hurley, we know what he said, and that he certainly made headlines with all of that.
I think they've had trouble accepting the fact that they're not a national title contender. Right.
And so as a result, things have sort of spun off. Like, it's not good, but because they're just an okay team, a solid team, now people are going crazy.
Some people are like, well, they stink now. Well, compared to last year, you weren't going to duplicate that, guys.
There's a reason why John Wooden's the only guy who's done that. Yeah.
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And I actually, I enjoyed hearing his honesty over the weekend, that clip where he was like, you know, we lost our swagger in Maui and I can't coach them the same way. And I can't, I can't be as tough on them.
That probably hurts some of those guys, but you never know. I mean, that's why the tournament is a tournament.
You get hot at the right time. They still have guys that have been there.
100%. You still have people who understand what it takes to perform on that stage.
And in the NCAA tournament, that's very helpful because I can't tell you how many teams, and UConn won't be one of these teams, they play in an NCAA tournament first or second round game, and you watching them, you don't recognize them. Like, you genuinely do not understand what you're watching.
You're like, this is not the team that I watch throughout the season. So you're exactly right, Big Cat.
This is a Connecticut team that I still think, with Liam McNeely, solo ball, and if Hassan Diar can stay healthy. The problem is you went from Adama Sunogo, Donovan Klingon, to Donovan Klingon, Samson Johnson.
Samson Johnson and Terrace Reed, neither one of them is a one on an elite team. And that's where things have gone wrong.
Watch out for Creighton still. Ryan Kalkbrenner is an absolute beast.
Steven Ashworth is a terrific point guard. And you just know the Big East tournament could throw a curveball or two.
But St. John's hasn't won it since 2000.
And I can't help but think that Lou Karnaseka is smiling down on this team and providing some magic. Fun, you know, just a touching note, but an interesting note.
When John Thompson passed away in 2020, Georgetown proceeded to win the Big East Tournament. And Patrick Ewing told me, John Thompson was here with us.
He made this happen. You know, Rick is an unbelievable coach.
But if St. John's were to win this and they haven't done in a quarter century it is patino but the year that louis passed uh that that i wouldn't bet against the red storm because not only are they really good guys but there's something magical with this team yeah yeah i mean i'm hoping they get to san antonio too that'd be so much fun if they were in the final four yeah and rico bosco would look like the dumbest person alive yeah that's true so uh back to Dan Hurley again real quick.
Do you think that if you were to give him truth serum and hook him up to a lie detector and ask him, do you regret not taking the Lakers job this offseason? What do you think he'd say? I don't think that he would regret know. I don't think he lives with regret that he didn't take that job.

I don't.

Because I think that Dan.

Is so happy with his wife and his situation of being the king.

And this goes back to why I feel he didn't take it. If you go to the NBA, you become secondary, if not tertiary, if not whatever the next wheel is, fourth, fifth, sixth wheel.
You could get in the headlines, but not for the right reasons. Think about the best NBA coaches.
Like, okay, Joe Mazzula goes crazy on an official. And so, yes, that makes headlines.
But like, are we talking daily about how great Joe Mazzula is? No, we're talking,'re talking i mean for better for the right or wrong reason we're talking about jason tatum and we're talking about brown and we're talking about their core of players white and company who make them a championship team the coach's story gets told by the local press and people covering it and you guys will bring it up if they win another championship. But we're not breaking down NBA head coaches during this time of year.
Hurley's in the headlines every day. And don't tell me.
He loves it, and that's a good thing. We need more of that energy in college basketball.
My reason for it is there are some people out there who despise him. There are some people out there who love him.
You two do a show that's the premise in a good way. We want to be talking about it.
During conference championship week of the NFL, they got done breaking down Mahomes and Allen and what would happen in the NFC and if the commanders could pull it off and what the Eagles would be doing.

They got done with the segment on debate shows.

And the B-block was Hurley saying he's the best coach in the sport.

And what do we make of this?

Or that he went off on another official

or that he went crazy here.

He is who he is unapologetically,

but you're not getting,

if he's doing that in the NBA, guys,

the NBA people are looking at it as

this isn't going to last.

It's not going to last.

He would have had to change everything about his act,

I feel, to be in the NBA, where coaches to me are not the priority. The NBA is the furthest thing from a coach's league.
If you even so much as make one mistake, you could be eaten up and thrown out immediately. He is best in college.
I don't think he regrets it. I agree.
I like him in college as well. I want to go down to the ACC real quick because you just had a take that you think that Maryland is a dark horse to reach the Final Four.
How much did that pain you to say that, John Fanta? Because we all know that you hate Maryland, and you've hated them, and now all of a sudden out of nowhere you're giving credit to the Terps. They're good.
Well, I love that you went down to the ACC to talk Maryland because Maryland deserves to be in the ACC. Correct.
They're an ACC team and they always will be. Correct.
That was so well done by you. By the way, that tournament should be in Greensboro every year, for the record.
100 million percent. The ACC tournament should never be anywhere but Greensboro.
Keep your conference tournament in the same location every year. Why? Familiarity is good.
As for Maryland, they are dangerous. Kevin Willard has done a terrific job with this team.
Why? Derek Queen, throwback player. He's got this Moses Malone style to his game, as style as that could get in 2025.
When he's got the ball, the game slows down, but you're forced to play it that way. Julian Reese, tough.
I mean, this guy plays with muscle. He's on the attack.
He's a good defender. He understands the assignments.
And then last year you talked about Maryland's front court. But last year they didn't have enough guard play.
And they certainly didn't have enough shot making. So I think much like Greg Gard and his staff, Kevin Willard and his staff went to the lab and they said, look, we want to play hard.
We want to be gritty. That's all nice and whatnot.
Toughness is awesome. But at the end of the day, we don't even have a Jack Golke on our team.
Right. We need to find shot making.
Jacoby Gillespie's been that. Selvin Miguel's been that.
Rodney Rice is that as well. The Crab 5 is outstanding.
By the way, whoever came up with Crab 5 to describe the Maryland starting 5, that is an elite job right there. You've got Scott Van Pelt courtside cheering you on.
He's so into it, and I love it about him. And Maryland basketball, when they're cooking, they're one of the brands that's fun in the sport.
That fan base is electric. They're going to be all over us talking about them right here, right now.
I think they're dangerous. You know why? They're not over-reliant on any one or two pieces to win.
They've got a nice complementary balance to their group in terms of they don't say, we got to get post-scoring. No, they use the drives to kick and hit threes.
And because they're hitting threes, Maryland can go deep. Yeah.
No, I agree. Maryland like the one thing you could say about Maryland is they they have maybe a thin bench I always will take a great starting five over like like I I never understood when T when people are like oh you know we go 11 deep we go you know 10 deep listen when it gets crunch time you got to have your best five guys and Maryland has incredible five guys.
It's a load of crap when people are like, yeah, I go, I've got nine or ten deep. Okay, do you put nine people on the floor at the end of the game in the Sweet 16? No.
Give me your best five. They're 18 to 22-year-old kids.
I also laugh when people are like, yeah, they're getting tired. This guy's wearing down.
Yeah. These kids come back to campus in July.

It's too long.

In college basketball, like they get three weeks off

and they have to come back and start working out.

That's the problem with the calendar.

The kids want to play in the games.

The games are the fun of this sport, not the transfer portal chaos.

You need five or six guys.

You need a six-man and maybe a body, a post body at seven or eight. Jay Wright won a national championship with six players.
Yeah, it's the old Pat Riley where it was like play six, trust five. Yeah, you know what it is when you say, oh, I can go eight or nine deep? Yeah, that's my life during Brown's training camp this upcoming summer.
We feel that we've got two or three really strong options, potentially a quarterback, and I'm going to be staring at a rookie, another backup who should be at Walmart, and a veteran pickup, probably Kirk Cousins. That's probably what I'm going to be staring at.
Yeah, you probably will. And you know what happens when they say to you, we've got two options here? It means you don't have one.
That's facts. That's facts.
Actually talking about the ACC, this is my strategy. Tell me if it is a sound strategy or really stupid.
I have just ignored Duke. I am going to ignore Duke, and I'm going to say the ACC is so bad that Duke is completely inflated and once they get into the tournament I'm not going to have to worry about them.
I mean the ACC might have three teams in the tournament. SMU might be their fourth but Clemson, Louisville are good.
Duke obviously is great. But am I making a mistake by just completely ignoring Duke and being like look they played nobody.
That whole conference sucks. As soon as they step up into the tournament, they're going to get a rude awakening.
I'm not going to have to worry about them. No, it's not the right strategy.
God damn it. I know it's not, but it's the only way I can deal with it.
Do you think a buddy texted me on Saturday night and they said, you know, and I couldn't help but chuckle in a good way. I mean, I know you have your own, so I'll bring it up on this show.
But they said Coach K cuts down the nets this April. Shire takes down his piece and hands Mike the scissors.
Man, that would kill me. I mean, I know they're killing teams, but the ACC sucks, John.
It sucks. Well, is Illinois, Illinois, are they in the ACC now? Illinois is very injured.
You know that. They had the flu.
Their season has completely gone sideways. Duke is damn good.
They are a spectacular team. They're a wagon.
Defensively, I just think the amount that their length does to alter. You can't run your game plan, plan A or B, against what they're going to do because they're going to come out.
Sion James said, I'm going to get on Kaspera, Shaka Chonis, who's a top five pick in the draft, and he said, I'm going to limit him. And even if he makes some shots, I'm still going to do what I can to shut him down as much as possible.
But then it goes beyond that. To me, the fact that they were dominating to the level that they dominated in that first half against Illinois held them to 0 for 16 from 3.
I had Illinois fans being like, it's not them holding us. We can't make a shot.
Get out of here. You couldn't make it because of how they defended you.
Oh, number two, Cooper Flagg only had one field goal make in the first half. This is because of Cooper flag.
Like he, he has a lot to do with it. And I think Cooper is a,

is a fantastic player and we'll be the number one pick in this draft full stop. It's over.

If on draft day, you wake up and the batting lines are getting shaken up by insiders and stuff

enough. It ain't happening.
He's going number one. There's no reason why anybody should pick anybody else there or take that risk on.
You got to pick him first, but it goes beyond him. This team, Isaiah Evans has turned into a different player now.
Con Knipple, he plays the game a little crazy intensity wise in a good way. He's got Cam Spencer like genes.
Remember Spencer for you last year? A littleipple's always going. Crazy, yeah.
Fama Malawaj, really strong. They didn't even have Malik Brown.
But if they're making any perimeter shots, any, it's over. They are not going to lose.
Now, your hope, Big Cat, is that they show up to the Alamo Dome. If they do, let's say they make the Final Four.
I'm sorry. It is a football stadium.
There is a unique shooting background. And sometimes teams that are kind of iffy from a shooting perspective can shoot miserably.
And then the game looks a whole lot different. The game always looks better when the shots are going in.
But right now, if you force me to take Duke slash Auburn or the field,

today I would take Duke slash Auburn.

Listen, Florida's good.

Houston's good.

The entire SEC is really good.

It's awesome.

If you were to say, do you think that the winner of the SEC tournament

is also going to play in the championship game or not?

What would you say to that? No, I'd say no. Because I think Auburn could get taken out of that earlier than expected.
Yeah. Because I think there's going to be some teams that may be a little more desperate.
Desperate, yeah. And I also don't trust conference tournament champions.
Just by virtue of it takes a lot for you to do that, to win it, and then you've got to go right back to the road and play in the NCAA tournament, and you just play until Saturday or Sunday. I always look, bracket help here, at Thursday or Friday at the latest losers in their conference tournament if they're a steady NCAA tournament team, because I like the fact they can go back, they're pissed off they didn't win their conference tournament, they got a couple extra days to rest.
They went back. They saw their girlfriends on campus.
Get a nice free weekend with your honey. And then you say, here's how I go dancing.
NC State last year, though. That was desperate.
They needed it. NC State last year was...
They kept it going. One of the wildest Cinderella's we've ever seen, and that's inexplic's inexplicable, but that's why we watch.
Yeah. You know, I was thinking about that.
Like even here's the best part about March Madness by the championship game. Even somebody who I love the sport, I'm like bummed out that it's over and it's one game.
So let's just say it's Duke and Auburn. It's a dream matchup for the sport.
What the best part is Duke's in one region. Auburn's in another region.
That means there's two. Like, let's just say.
And by the way, I would say if you made me bet, I'd say, OK, I'm going to be wrong on one of them. And one of them bows out earlier than expected.
But I'm saying I'm getting one of them to win it all. There's still two other regions that Duke and Auburn have no control over that the chaos is going to happen that's why the madness is the best it's non-stop you looking going from true tv to tnt to tbs to cbs and say what the hell is going on right now in my life it really is and then you get your jack gold keys involved you get your magical moments like that it really is the best event of that you wake up a day you wake up on a sports day, and it's a glorious day.
But by the end of the day, you are saying someone's name that you didn't know existed at the beginning of the day. Yeah.
Don't sleep on Florida, John. Love them.
Florida's good, and they're getting guys back, and it's like their size is a problem. They have three losses on the season.
I know that two of them were away. They've only lost once at home.
They're a good team. Really good.
They're very good. And Walter Clayton and Elijah Martin are studs at Walter Clayton is an all American when Elijah Martin's on, he's one too.
And Chinielu had a very good performance this past weekend. They're big.
Alex Condon's taking that next step. They just got hand-logged him back.
They are tough, man. Like, that team is very, very good.
They are an offensive juggernaut. They can come at you in waves.
I agree with PFT. Texas Tech, tough.
Grant McCaslin's done a great job. JT Toppin, absolute stud.
They've got depth. Elijah Hawkins is a really good distributor of the basketball.
In terms of other teams, like teams that are not at the top of the country, but I still like a lot. Not the very top of the country anyways.
Don't let a Michigan loss to Michigan State get you out on Michigan. Oh, I think Michigan's overrated.
Although I love Danny Wolf. I think Michigan's overrated.
I think Michigan State is the team. Well, Tom Izzo, he's got a group that – how magical would it be if Izzo in year 30 made the Final Four? Yeah.
But wait, go on Michigan, though, because my problem with Michigan is they're sloppy with the ball, and I think that just kills you in the tournament. Yeah, it can be.
But sometimes when you play together that long, your numbers don't tell the full story when you get on the big stage. And that's kind of where my argument is.
At some point, Amari Burnett, Trey Donaldson, Roddy Gale and company are just, I'm betting on them. I'm betting on Dusty May, who's made a Final Four run.
And I'm betting on veteran players. they might they might be turnover prone but i just know that i've got vlad golden and danny wolf and in the ncaa tournament you my opponent have likely never seen any combination like that because of the uniqueness of it yeah so i think they pose matchup problems to what they to what they can do but there's a number of these types of teams that could be really interesting in the tournament.
I mean, you can go right down the line. Like Mississippi State, down there in Starkville, Chris Jantz has a really intriguing team.
St. Mary's is tough again, and they're going to win the WCC.
How about Randy Bennett and the job that he does year in and year out, having them as good as they are? And there are Cinderella teams. There are a couple of teams wearing the slipper again.
Drake can wear that slipper. Yale is back and loaded and don't sleep on the Akron zips out of the mid-American.
Okay. Yeah.
What about, what about Houston? I keep waiting for Houston for it to finally be their year. And last year it did feel like it could have been different until the unfortunate injury.

But I still think from what I've seen from Houston,

they're a very tough team.

They're a team that you don't want to play against.

That's kind of the style they always play.

Do you think that they would have a chance?

Do you know what the difference is, PFT,

that makes me say they have a chance?

They're shot-making.

Houston's always been held back by having multiple guys who can

dial it up from downtown. So they've had Marcus Sasser.
They've had Jamal Shett. They've had some

talented individuals. This feels like a perimeter that really can share the sugar and make threes

and waves. LJ Cryer had 28 points in the win over the weekend over Iowa State.
Cryer had a couple step backs that were flat out ridiculous. Emmanuel Sharp is steady.
He's tough. If you're going to go to Houston, you have to be tough.
You know, it's like going to, you know, like if you're not going to play hard for Calvin Sampson to be tough,

you're going to go get sent to weenie hut juniors.

Like,

it's just how it is.

It's a non-negotiable.

Like he,

he has someone stand there at the,

at the front of the club.

And if you don't bring that,

you're done.

And I don't care if it's practice.

I don't care if it's summertime.

I don't care if it's a team bonding trip to a lake.

You have to be tough. Yeah.
And they have, but the guy that's opened things up for them is Milo shoes. And Milo shoes.
And is a clutch shot maker, big time shot maker. And they Juwan Roberts is a guy who's embraced his role.
This is Kelvin's best offensive team. I'm never worried about whether they can get stops or not, but in the past, you guys know this, Houston, Tennessee.
A&M's good, but when your goal is to get teams stuck in the mud, in a game of shot making where the opponent has those types of players, at some point you can't get them into the mud. Houston can win a game out of the mud this year.
Yeah, I agree with that. All right, a couple last questions.
Who's going to be the Indiana next coach for Indiana if I had to make a prediction right now I would say T.J. Otzelberger I think he makes a lot of sense yeah very good he's done a phenomenal job at Iowa State and I think he's been outstanding at Iowa State but I think that this guy is one of the the best coaches in the sport who can take on the Indiana fan base and will be strong.
So if I were to – it should be the guy that Indiana pursues the most. And I'm just thinking if I'm Scott Dolson who's running this search, you've got to bow down to whoever you're hiring and say, like, look, we need you.
Everyone's like, oh, it's Indiana, the aura. Come on, man.
Kids don't know about that. They don't.
Like, they see the candy cane pants, but the days of Coach Knight, I mean, you know, God bless him and may he rest in peace. But, like, the fact is that was a long time ago.
You got to get a guy who coaches with toughness,

who gets his teams to play endlessly hard,

and a guy who can educate the kids on what it means to play in Indiana.

I think Gotzelberger is one of the best three coaches in the sport.

The building job he's done at Iowa State, think about this.

Iowa State hasn't made a Final Four since 1944.

He could lead them to only their second Final Four ever this year.

Yeah, he's been awesome, and they're a good team. They've been a little banged up, but they're a very good team.
All right. How – I enjoy so much the John Fanta X lives.
Can I give one up before – I'm sorry to cut you off. My favorite ending would be Indiana, who just beat Purdue, makes the NCAA tournament.
They're on the bubble. They win a game or two and Mike Woodson sits down and says after the game, you know what, I actually have had second thoughts, I'll be back next year.
They are a bubble team, I mean this was a big win for them today and they've had flashes where they've looked really good, even the first time they played Purdue, they played their balls off, they lost at Mackey, but Woodson can do that though. Yeah, no, he's still the coach it's absolutely true so um all right so I love the the the Twitter lives and Twitter spaces you do uh when you fly off the handle of people what what's a like because I feel like it's it's almost like a you got a Francesa thing going where it's like hey if you if you come at me incorrect you're gonna get shown the door pretty quickly what What's a big no-no when someone comes at John Fanta in your spaces? Well, when a caller says, excuse me, I'm talking, or John, this is where you're wrong, or no, John, you're not listening to me, and it's like I just got done listening to you for two and a half, three minutes.
Look, I love the fans. Love it.
Just like you guys do, too. And we bring them into different stuff and engagement.
But there's a, hey, like, it's somebody came on like two weeks ago and was like, here's where you're wrong on Providence. Here's where you're wrong.
And all these things. And, like, it's talking down to me.
Come on. It's your space.
I'm not putting up with that. There's a line to cross there.
And it's like when I was growing up and my dad said, these are the things that you have to do on Saturday. These are your chores.
And if you started to speak up and say why one of the chores was a bunch of bullshit, you got caught. That was the end of it.
Yeah. You got hung up on it.
It's a non-negotiable. You were sent out to the yard and you were picking the weeds in the mulch.
And maybe that night you got to sit out on the patio and have a diet coke. But the fact is, like, that's not, you don't come into the space and start trying to run it then we have because it's spaces

it's not radio so like i like well if people come on and you guys know this like they start telling me everything they know about the game but like we're talking x's and o's in the weeds deep and they get and it's like four and a half five minutes and i've said before to the people sir

do you have a wife

laughter

laughter five minutes and i've said before to the people did does this sir do you have a wife and the guy will say back to me like yes i do i go well one does she ever get a word in edgewise like does she ever listen to yourself you know we've all been in the cocktail party or the or the wedding or the the thing where we love we love somebody we love our parents' friend or the friend of a friend. But you know when you're having a beer or a wine, you've got to budget out about 10 to 13 minutes to get their latest thoughts on whatever's happening in the sports world.
Yeah. So what fan base is it that gives you the most grief? Oh, boy.
I mean, the fan bases that cause the most chaos up in the Northeast, look, the UConn fans are relentless in their pursuit. Providence fans can be absolutely unhinged, out of control.
You don't know where things are going to go. And it's just how they are.
That's Friartown. It's what they do.
They can't forget about Ed Cooley. And so every space has at least one caller who just turns it up, up on the intensity meter, and they get started.
Who else has come at me? I mean, Big Blue Nation and I are very close. We're in a good place.
I get the ACC fans who are mad at me sometimes when I'm like, look, like, I'm sorry, but North Carolina, they're not a tournament team. And if they didn't have the North Carolina name, we wouldn't even be talking about them.
Like, that's just a fact. You know who got on me this year a lot? Purdue fans.
Oh. For not having them in the top 10 during times when people thought it.

One week I ranked them like 21st.

Now with the way they're playing recently, they just lost Indiana.

They're back to the 20s this week.

It's not just on the edge.

They're not a top 10 team.

They're not a top 12 team.

They're just not.

No, they don't defend well.

They miss Edie so much.

They should have just kept him forever.

Should have been like, hey, sue the NCAA for a lifetime deal with Edie.

Thank you. well.
They miss Edie so much. They should have just kept him forever.
Should have been like, hey, sue the NCAA for a lifetime deal with Edie. Whoever makes the Edie statue should, one, demand triple the money because it's a 7'4 statue and, two, you have to get that right.
Sports subculture thought here. What's going on with statue makers lately? I know.
It's been bad. Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, like wired tired.
Yeah. We're statue makers tired.
Who's somebody? Whoever the statue maker is out there, this is your chance to step up. Yeah.
I don't agree. I'm not teaching statue making anymore.
What's that? We're not teaching it. The kids don't learn how to make a statue in school anymore.
No. I mean, come on.
Wake up. And whoever's tasked with that, get it right.
Yes. I agree.
I mean, the Washington Commanders, the one good thing that they ever did with Dan Snyder was the Sean Taylor statue because it didn't have a statue to it. So you couldn't screw it up.
It was just an empty suit. It was perfect.
Yeah. Yeah.
All right, John, I got one last question for you. Rowback question.
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This has been awesome. Getting everyone pumped for March Madness.
Catching you up on college basketball. My last question is could you throw down a dunk for us? Absolutely.
Why not? Okay. For people who are listening, John's got his mini hoop behind him.
So there's one dilemma with this, okay? So this is a new office set up, and my wife set up the hoop, and she did tell me when she set it up on the wall, don't dunk on it because the hoop is literally wrenched to the wall. Oh.
But because you two asked, I'll try it anyway. Wow.
What if John Phantom brought down the whole house? Tear that shit down, John. It's a load-bearing hoop.
Alright, he's going up. Oh! Oh, man! What a slam! What a slam.
Oh, another one. Is he going to do a triple slam? Oh, off the backboard.
Wow. Hey.
There we go. That's some lateral quickness for you guys.
Let's dance. Here comes the madness.
Let's dance. Let's do it, John.
You're the best. We'll definitely have you back on when we get to Conference Championship Week and the tournament.

Love talking to you, and you are the face of college basketball.

Thank you, guys.

That's very, very humbling.

I appreciate that.

And if you're a fan out there, as we're talking, and when this goes live,

you are inside three weeks away from the best postseason tournament in American sports. Facts.
It's going to be great. Facts.
All right. Thank you, John.
Thank you, guys. John Fanta was brought to you by Kevin's Natural Foods.
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Fanta was also brought to you by TGL.

This is TGL presented by SoFi. It's golf's newest league, an all-new indoor arena-style golf where high-tech meets higher stakes meets primetime ESPN, and the next match of the season is teeing off Monday, February 24th.
That's tonight. We got L.A.
versus New York, and we got Boston versus Atlanta. And then on Tuesday, we got the Bay against Jupiter.
Homa. Yeah, the whole planet has a team.
That's crazy. Hell yes.
Which team is Homa on? Jupiter. Then I'm a Jupiter fan.
Yep. Big Jupiter guy.
We ride with Jupiter. We do.
Biggest planet. It's three versus three match play.
Yeah. Oh, shit.
Oh, easily. And I think Jupiter's got rings, right? But not all, like, in our solar system.
Well, yeah, that's the only one that matters. Yeah, I agree.
Yeah. I just didn't know if it was, like, bigger than all the planets.
I think it might be the biggest planet in the universe. Okay.
Yeah. And they won in Max Homa.
It's three versus three match play. It's team golf, takes the competition of pro golf, and places it inside an arena sports atmosphere.
You got those six teams. You have

24 of the PGA Tours best

pitted against each other each week.

Mic'd up players, shot clocks, refs,

never before seen holes,

a moving green, playoff, lights, camera,

action. It all goes down in a

first of its kind arena in Florida.

Hank, I know you've been watching PGA.

I like that they talk some crap to each other.

It's good. It's good for golf.
LA sits right now in second place. It's fantastic.
It's fantastic. I like that they talk some crap to each other.
Yeah. It's good.

It's good for golf.

LA sits right now in second place.

It's a tight race up top.

New York is building on its momentum from their first win.

Boston is below the playoff line,

while Atlanta looks to build from their impressive win last week.

And on Tuesday, the Bay goes into their match against Jupiter undefeated,

while Jupiter looks to move up in the SoFi Cup standings. It does look like the best time ever.
I would like to go to one at some point. Tune in tonight and tomorrow only on ESPN2 and ESPN Plus.
Search and download the TGL app. Keep up with all the matches through Matchup Live.
Real-time stats, live interviews, highlights, and more. This is TGL presented by SoFi.
Keep up. It's golf.
All right, let's wrap up.

We got Monday reading.

PFT, I sent it to you if you want to do the Monday reading

because I also wanted to say this is a shorter Monday reading

before we do the longer one.

I saw it a couple weeks ago, and because we've been traveling

and everything, this was just the tweet of the guy who said,

the world needs to see this.

Met this guy at the bar on Saturday. Ball knowers find ball knowers telepathically an hour later we exchanged numbers now we've been tossing names back and forth all week and saying where they went i know you're here somewhere brother and it was just a dude who met a random dude at the bar and they just they linked up and that's've been doing.
Where'd this guy go to school? Yeah, he just sent Jamal Charles. Texas.
Texas, and then Dexter McCluster. Back to him.
I love it. South Carolina.
I didn't know that one. Jason Witten.
Blaine Gabbert. Back and forth.
This is how dudes meet each other. Yeah.
This is male friendship. People were hating on him.
There should be Tinder. It should be a Tinder app for guys that just want to say dudes' names to other dudes.
Also, just going to throw this out there. Steve Smith, if you had found someone like this, maybe you wouldn't be rearranging the IUDs.
Be productive. Sometimes you just need someone, you know, when you're thinking, hey, I want to uh noted i would like to come in some some guy's wife instead just text your buddy and just be like i don't know bo wallace where'd he go to school yeah it's honestly a very productive thing i think that dudes should do this just have a way to link up with other guys online just to say names okay um also kyle hamilton put out a thought-provoking question last week on x the everything app oh in a royal rumble format between every president that's ever lived who wins lincoln you think lincoln as a wrestler taft probably has him by about i don't know 100 pounds pounds.
Because he has the stamina. Teddy Roosevelt got shot and gave the rest of his speech.
No other president's done that, Hank. Per Hank.
Clinton's got them silent killers. Yeah.
Just choke you out with his dick. I was under Hamilton.
Oh, I was saying actual people that will kill you. Oh, yeah.
Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, if Obama was allowed to use his drones.
Yeah. Wait, you think Hamilton? He's got bodies.
What? No, didn't he get shot? I thought he killed the guy in a duel. Aaron Burr.
Never saw the Hamilton musical. Me neither.
I think Ben Franklin. Ben Franklin would be a good one.
He'd be a really good president. Schwarzenegger.
Yeah. How do we not pick him first He would 100% be it Alright so Monday reading This is from Reddit Am I the asshole for pretending to think Beans and chili are woke To prank my cousin Who is obsessed with being anti-woke And who loves chili My cousin is known for making chili And he's good at it he makes his own chili flakes from his secret combination of various dried chilies it has a very nice kick it's like the perfect amount of spice it's hot but not too hot he also always adds kidney beans not canned beans either that's a process if you're cooking your own beans yeah committed to it i like beans and chili i'll think it might be woke.
Okay. Anyways, for the past two or three years, my cousin has become obsessed with all this bullshit about what is or isn't woke and how woke things are the end of the world.
He's always been a good dude, so I don't know what his bag is, but he's completely obsessed. It's annoying.
So the other weekend I was at his place and he was making his famous chili. So I got the idea for a little prank.
I was'm surprised you still put beans in your chili he was like what why i was like beans and chili are so woke everyone's saying so he was like what do you mean and he was genuinely concerned as if this was something serious i said something like yeah beans and chili are woke the original conservative texans who made chili only use meat and chili san francisco libs started as adding beans to chili in the 60s because so many hippies were vegetarian now all the woke scientists are saying beans are a better protein source than meat he didn't say anything to that i imagine he just stewed on it yeah after that yeah literally i kind of just assumed he'd know i was fucking with him and get the joke We've always fucked around with each other and jokes about and all, but he was quiet all dinner.

Just yesterday, I was back again at his place and he was making his chili again.

There were no beans.

It was a totally different chili.

This guy's been making his chili with beans for 15 years.

I was like, what's up?

Where's the beans?

He's like, I don't fuck with that woke shit.

I was like, what? He was like, beans and chili are woke. Even you know that.
Everyone else was like, what? Because what? I was like, dude, I was just fucking with you. He got really angry.
He dumped his chili in the sink and told everyone to go home. I thought he was pranking me back or something, but he was serious.
This dude totally lost it. He texted me later and said this exact thing.
I researched this online and it turns out you really were lying to me. Beans are not woke.
How could you do this? We went back and forth for a bit. His position is even though we have historically pranked each other, I went too far that I betrayed him that I made him question his chili.
I tried to ask him if this at all made him think he cared too much about woke. Like what beans and chili was woke so what he ignored that and demanded i apologize did i take this too far oh man no not far enough all right you did take it too far in the fact that if he makes really good chili you might have just lost your chili guy you lost your chili guy uh i'll say he had very good reasoning for why beans and chili might be woke yeah it sounded real and in texas a lot of chili is made with no beans that that part is true but the san francisco hippie libs adding the beans yes as protein that this is a very well constructed prank i i i love this story just because it's it's just perfect for where we're at overall did you guys, by the way, Ballsack Sports had a very real tweet this weekend about Elon.
Did they go woke? They broke character. It was so funny.
Just talking about Elon being a bad guy and misinformation and stuff. Listen, everyone's going to have their opinion, but it was just very funny that it came from Ballsack Sports Yeah.
Ball sack. Sometimes you need to use your platform.
You have to. You must use your platform.
But Elon, also another rearranging IUD guy. Yeah.
But probably through like Starlink. Yeah.
But not even doing it in the fun way. Yeah.
I feel like he uses his satellites to disable women's birth control. Yeah.
Is he fucking? I don't think so. Or is he like mailing his sperm mailing his sperm i think he's just yeah he's just repopulating the earth what a weirdo anyway this guy might have lost his chili supply yeah that's not worth it if that's if your cousin made that good a chili it's a hilarious joke but you got to figure out a way to get this back yeah i mean it's great that it was a perfect prank because this guy took his chili so seriously.
Right. That he then questioned his entire life.
I just love the idea. He probably thought he might be gay.
Yeah. Like, I've been enjoying it all out.
I've been enjoying beans in my chili this whole time. What's wrong with me? No, we're not doing this shit anymore.
Yeah. I don't make it.
He's trying to find the ball sack sports, but he all he could find was i'm letting my one nut hang post cancer i'm tired of elon oh okay that was a precursor all right so he ball sack sports well that's a that's ironic that he had nut cancer is that real ball sack sports yeah oh i didn didn't realize. Congratulations to ball sack sports for beating cancer.
He has multitudes. Yeah.
Wow. Big weekend.
Listen, the internet picked up where sports left off this weekend. His name is ball sack, not balls sack sports.
Yeah, that makes sense. So you have to change the handle.
Yeah. Yeah, there was also the guy.

Did you see the guy playing Russian roulette?

I lost.

Yeah.

That was bad.

I don't know why that got my algorithm.

Yeah.

Oh, why are you looking at me like that, Mr. Goon?

Sounds awful.

Stuff videos, they're back on X.

I also found out that it was the guy who did the 360 puke.

Yeah, it was.

So that's sad because that 360 puke rocked.

The guy was angry about meme coins. Yeah uh don't do that yeah stick to just making jokes about steve smith that's a cleaner way to do it and and jokes about beans and chili you guys like beans and chili i do yeah yeah i don't mind them but it is like texas chili is just meat it's basically just meat.
It kind of is correct. There is some truth to it.
Yeah. No, I know this guy did as a joke, but I think I agree with him that beans and chili are woke.
I just would never. If I had like an insane chili plug, I would do everything in my life to keep that relationship alive.
Also is maybe beans,

no beans in chili might be woke now that I think about it because chili dudes

eat chili.

Then they sit around farting for the next day.

True.

This is like nerfing chili.

Yeah.

It's not letting dudes fart.

Dudes can't even fart anymore because we're taking the beans out of chili.

Yeah.

Good chili gets you all hot and bothered.

Yeah.

There's nothing less woke than dudes sitting in a room with each other,

farting on each other.

Yeah.

After enjoying a nice pot of chili.

All right. out of chili.
Yeah, good chili gets you all hot and bothered. Yeah.
There's nothing less woke than dudes sitting in a room with each other, farting on each other

after enjoying a nice pot of chili.

All you're going to get out of a beanless chili is

a queef, maybe. Yeah.

That's extremely woke.

Okay. Pug, got anything

on the chili?

Chili is delicious. With or without

beans. Bothers your tummy, though.

Nah, chili's okay.

You can't put sour cream or cheese in it.

You're dairy bad.

You have a sensitive tummy.

Lactose intolerant.

Yeah, which we've done this before.

That's fake.

It's real.

It's fake.

It hurts.

No, it's fake.

Everyone's lactose intolerant.

If I eat too much ice cream, my tummy hurts. Am I lactose intolerant? A little bit, probably.
So everyone is. Yeah, there's levels.
So no one is. There's levels to it.
No one is. How long have you been lactose intolerant? Found out like two years ago.
Yeah, see, this is not true. So you were eating ice cream, drinking milk all your life, and then all of a sudden someone told you you're lactose intolerant? Yeah.
Yeah, being lactose intolerant is woke. That's bullshit.
Oh, we didn't even talk about the fact that Hooters is bankrupt. It's true, yeah.
Guys don't even like boobs anymore. I was thinking about it because it's the old meme.
They feed us poison and they take away the cure.

They take away breasts.

Yeah.

Special shout out to Devin Booker.

I feel bad for him.

I don't know if you guys saw, but he has been a Hooters fan for his whole life.

Has John Gruden commented on this yet?

He's got to be beside himself.

Beside himself.

John Gruden might buy Hooters.

Yeah.

Devin Booker had his tweets from 2012.

So what was he? How old was he?

How old is Devin Booker?

That was when he was in college.

No. Maybe high school?

2015,

I want to say he was in college.

How old is Devin Booker? You could just Google

that. You don't have to follow...

Shane's

all over the map. He's 28 years old.
So how old would he be in 2012? Someone do some math. 1996.
He's 28. So it'd be 15.
16. Yeah.
15-16. He said, I'm thinking Hooters tonight with the fellas.
At Hooters chilling. Headed to Hooters.
And then yesterday he said, please don't go Hooters. Yeah, it's tough break.
I love that. He's committed to it.
Tough break for him. Tough break for Gruden.
Tough break for John Daly. Yeah.
Brutal. Tough break for guys taking away tits.
Restaurants. It's bullshit.
Yeah. If Twin Anchors goes, there goes the whole shit.
Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks.
Twin Anchors has great ribs in Chicago. Tilted kilt.
All the breast restaurants. Tilted kilt.
Twin Anchors is. Shout out Twin Anchors.
Awesome. Was in the Dark Knight Rises.
Fun fact. Fun fact that no one cares about.
I feel like this Hooters thing might be. Because if you work in marketing at Hooters, you know that putting out a release, being like, yeah, we're probably going to have to close everything up.
People are going to be like, no, please don't go Hooters. Well, that's what happened with Red Lobster, right? Yeah, until Blake Griffin saved them.
Have you seen his commercials? Yeah, they're great. We should pool our money together and buy Hooters and Big Dog shirts i like that and then just retire yeah that would be that that's it right there you know yeah kevin love posted a picture of him when he was like 10 years old at hooters love it yeah see hooters there's memories at hooters yeah is that a real picture of of booker and durant uh no at hooters Hooters? No, I don't think so.

I don't think so.

Okay.

Numbers.

Four.

Combine week.

We'll have some good interviews coming this week.

Five.

99, Pug.

I'll go four for Oldie.

Oh, you went four?

65.

61.

I'll go back-to-back 61.

Twenty-one.

Thirty-one.

You're broken.