Is LeBron James’ Polymarket ad the new version of cigarette commercials? + the Bill Belichick timeline at UNC is the darkest possible outcome

Testing, testing. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hi there. Is this Madeline? Yes. This is she. Um, I was hoping to talk to you about your car's extended warranty. Again, I don't own a vehicle. You know, I've never actually gotten one of them. Well, I've got another spam calls, but not that. And media. All right. Let's see how that sounded. Hi, Charlotte. Hello, Madeline. We're back with another episode of The Sports Gossip Show. Presented by us. Nice. That one kind of sounded like a little bit of whole music. Yeah. All are like you're being transferred to another department. And then it'll be disconnected. Right. To never hear from anyone else again. Also a little bit like a dryer when it's done. Yes. Is that what you're driving? Kind of. Yeah. We don't have one. Oh, that's okay. It's New York City, baby. New York City. It's a luxury. Washington fold. We may not have a living room, but we got a washer dry kid. You can make it in this style. We have a living room, but we don't know what you're trying. There's always a trade-off in New York City. New York City. It's unbiased street-easy. You're a street-easy. The street-easy should sponsor. That actually would be a good sponsor. Given the amount of time they would ice-pen just looking at it. I mean, that's how we found our apartment. It's pretty easy. Not a way to find ours, but that's not just looking at eight million dollar homes. Oh, man. Eight million dollar homes on street-easy. Anyways. How are you doing? You know I'm good, baby. I'm good. I'm thrilled to be here. Yes. Another show with you. Love it. How are you? I'm doing great. Awesome. Thank you. A little bit of housekeeping. This episode, we're recording on Tuesday and it's coming out on Thursday. Something massive happens between then and now because of our travel schedule, we have to do it now. And so you're getting what you're getting. But it's a good one. It's evergreen. It is evergreen. We like to think. I mean, it's tied to recent events. It's tied to recent events. We're talking about one of the main characters on the show, Bill Bell check in the mess that is the UNC football program and not a main character on this show. Paulie Market. Not sponsored. Super nice. Super nice. I don't think they're going to want to. Super nice monster. But LeBron James is a main character. That's true. He is on our show. He is a main character on our show. And he features heavily. Yeah. So I think it'll be a fun episode. Stick around. If we made it this far, be great if you'd keep listening. All right. Let's talk about Paulie Market first. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What are the odds we talk about Paulie Market first? Oh boy. Okay. So Paulie Market just released a new ad. And LeBron James, star for affiliate LVS 76ers is the face of the ad. But he's not the only person in this ad. And before we get into the specifics of the ad and our thoughts around it, what were your initial thoughts to LeBron James teasing that he was partnering with Paulie Market to begin with? Well, my initial thoughts were how is this legal? Because for those who don't know, Paulie Market is a cryptocurrency based prediction market, which offers a platform where individuals can place bets on future outcomes, including sports matches, economic indicators, weather patterns, award political and legislative outcomes, and military conflicts. So which is the bleakest possible timeline. But the sports part of this, it's like when Jan is partnered with Kalshi, which is another one of these betting markets. Yeah. It's like, I'm sorry. I just don't understand how if you can bet on how many minutes LeBron James can play, how LeBron James can be a partner with Paulie Market. Well, right. That's a really great question. I don't understand how that's possible. I don't get it. I mean, are we so aware as a society, are we so far gone? Yeah. That it's like basic things that seem like corruption. You're just told, like, no, it's not. And then you feel insane. Well, you're being gaslit. That's what's happening by a big prediction. I'm old enough to remember when, well, I was going to say when Pete Rose couldn't be in the hall of fame, but he's done some other bad stuff. So it's, you know, but you know, yes, you know, what? It's it's really hard to understand the the mental gymnastics that people are using to justify these athletes partnering with companies that are core part of their businesses betting on your that person's job. Let me ask you a question. That's, I mean, it's really kind of impressive. What gymnastics have you seen? Like, what excuses have you seen people making? To be honest, it doesn't, I haven't really seen any. And I think that's part of the problem. It's kind of just like, this is a great, I'm in business. This is the future capitalism. Yeah. That's what it feels like. It feels like it's just like, well, I'm doing this because it's a smart investment. It's like, go get that bag. Right. And it's like, I'm building my brand. And it's like, well, you didn't have to build your brand on the backs of people betting on you winning or losing a game. And I still, again, to your point, don't quite understand how it's legal. And I don't understand how the NBA is cool with it. Well, all the leagues are fine with it. They're all getting in bed with these these companies. This is not, you know what I mean, it's not like this is the first one. I guess I mean only one athlete specific. Oh, yes, where it's like leagues are fine making money and sketchy stuff. But when athletes start making money and sketchy stuff, I feel like that's when they're like, oh, no, no, we're only allowed to do this. I guess if you think about it, athletes have kind of historically always made money on sketchy stuff. And so I mean, we'll get into our debate about Polymarket, but just as a thought starter. Yeah. How many times have you seen an athlete promote like a weird energy drink? Do you know what I mean? Which different situation that's not potentially ruining someone's life financially, who has gambling addiction, let's say, who's a fan of some player. Let's say, let's say, hypothetically. But, you know, it's like, it's not like we don't have a track record in the past of athletes, investing, you know, you've seen the commercials. I can't even think of them because the companies probably don't exist anymore when you're like, well, it's too famous. Why are they in this weird ad for like energy, z, six, four hundred soul that quick trip, right? You know, what's going on here? Do you don't quick trip down the gas station? No, maybe that's the southern thing. Wow. Well, anyways, well, to your point, NXT, NFS, what was the FDX? FDX. FDX. Great example. Great example. Great example. Tom Brady. And that was, and everybody that was crypto. Shack. Tom Brady. Someone else. So this is, this is what an NXT. Well, NFT, what is it? FDX there. Come to the exam. Make them free. Right. Never forget. Never forget. NFTs were the little doodads. You get by virtual little friends that for they would say, this is a thousand dollars. And you're like, I don't know why. What's going on there? Because I say it is. Well, that's another example. So I think my point is the same FDX 2.0. I, or is it not going to go but flames away? Don't think so from a business standpoint. I'm no accountant, but I don't think the business structure. Like, I think, what, I think PolymerGrid as a company, I think, is fine. Like, right. You know what I mean? I don't know. I'm not digging into their financial records, but I do think that they're fine. It's more the PR and optics for these athletes and celebrities backing these companies. So just feels like a bigger problem and a bigger version of a sketchy energy drink. Yes. Yes. Sorry. I didn't know. Can you, can you tell everybody who's in this app? Okay. Just to name a few that LeBron posted to hit this ad debuted on his ex account, I believe. Yes. On social media. Yeah. Okay. So, so to your point, who signed on for this? There's a lot of famous people in this app. Yeah. We've got former quarterback and I forgot that he does the manning cast on his PN Ely Manning. We've got former NFL player Richard Sherman, who is now on Amazon Prime. We've got Derek Cheater, who great baseball player who's now on Fox's coverage. A lot of media, a lot of athletes from media people. We've got Celtic Great Rage on Rondo. We've got Reggie Bush, former college football, and whatever else. Super great WMBA player, head of women, USA basketball, celebrities. We've got Alexandra Gidoreo from the White Lotus. We've got John Legosamo, who's been in a bunch of stuff most recently. The Odyssey. We've got Craig Robinson and Spike Lee. Yeah. So, and that's maybe that's not everybody. No. And it makes you feel a little bit crazy. I think seeing the ad. Yeah. Because I'm watching the ad and I'm like, okay, how many people, all of these celebrities teams approved them being in this commercial. A lot of negotiations, I'm sure, probably took a while. So, probably at least, I'm going to, let's say, each person has three people on their team, do a little math, probably at least 25 suits. At least, at least, let's, let's make them more like 50. We're a part of these celebrities doing these ad campaigns, who are very smart people who work for these celebrities. They still signed off on this. All these teams are like, this is a good idea to do, which makes you feel crazy. Yes. Because then you're like, okay, am I, am I just shouting into the void of being like something's fishy here? Why are, like, why are we endorsing people betting on military campaigns, wildfires? If you remember in California, I believe Polymerga people bet on that. Yes. Regimes, regimes. And also sports. No, I don't. It's like what you said something that you compared this to. And I'd like you to share. Well, what you thought about it. This feels to me like the 2026 equivalent of when all these celebrities and athletes and everything and everybody was doing ads for cigarettes. And everyone was just cool with it. And I think that there's something, you know, cigarettes can kill you, betting addictions can also kill you because you can ruin your life and your family's life and people do desperate things when they're in very desperate situations. And I think that the thing about gambling and look, this is someone I took money from DraftKings two years ago. I have said this before in our show, I feel very bad about it. I also understand being in a position where you don't have a job and you need to make money and the only offer you have is from a gambling company. So part of me is like, are any of these celebrities actually more strapped for cash than we think? And this is what they're doing. I'm not saying that excuses it and I'm not saying that excuses what I did in taking money from them. I think where we are right now is a society. It's very difficult to find any money that doesn't feel gross to take, but we also have to make money. So this is not like a holier than now. No. We've never been there. On this show, we're not going to take gambling money. Right. And it's not something I do anymore. But I think that there's something where we also crossed over from sports betting to these prediction markets, large part because these prediction markets are also trying to get women to bet. Yes. The sports gambling stuff was much heavier on getting men, so they were like, well, we got all the men on the sports. Let's go get some women on the Oscars or whatever, which is also just a sexist way of thinking about things. But I think that when you see all of these people in 2026, which I think a lot of us have gotten to a point where there's enough information out there about how gambling can ruin your life. Also like the house always wins. I'm sorry. Yeah. Well, I'm also like, if part of your business models, you always have to do a disclaimer about the, you know, they always give like a hotline for like a, or a hotline you can call about gambling addiction. Yeah. I don't think that's great. It's like how on cigarette boxes, they have like the huge orange in this general warning. That's basically what they're doing. I'm like, I don't know if it's great that your entire product also comes with a warning label. Like a box of cigarette. No. It's really bad. Yeah. It is really bad. It is really bad. And I, and I think that there's this feeling of like, we feel crazy seeing this many people sign up. Also, I'm sorry. These are all huge celebrities. Yeah. These people command a large price tag, Eli Manning and LeBron James alone in the same commercial, let alone all of the other people who are in it. Right. And it's like, I'm sorry. If a company has that much money to pay that many people, that much money for this ad, maybe there's a little bit something sketchy going on about how they're getting it, which is, which is that every day Americans are paying money into this company to bet on things they have no control over and then largely losing money. Even though now, one in five Americans, there was a study that I saw came out yesterday. So Monday, believe that sports betting, or betting in general, is a good investment strategy. Right. So that's what I want to talk about. Because I think I'm curious what our shareholders think. I was saying to Charlotte, I wonder if you and I and other people are living in a bubble that we think this is bad, but to your point, that study that one in five people think gambling is an investment, that we are in a small minority, perhaps. I don't know. That we're in a small minority and that the general population doesn't feel the same way we do about these ads, because I was saying to you, I'm like, okay, these leaks are getting in bed with these gambling prediction markets. These athletes and celebrities, athletes and celebrities, these are not sea-less people who are strapped for cash people. Right. These are the most famous people in their industries, for the most part. They are not strapped for cash, they are doing these ads. So clearly, their teams are fine with it. The leagues are fine with it. It's like how much money was spent probably on hiring consultants by these leagues at least to be like, is this a good look for us to do? Well, our fans may add, if we partner with these places, they clearly were like, well, the pros outweigh the cons, and I'm just assuming that's the case. I mean, I would love to think that we are in the majority of people who feel this way about us, but I don't know if that's true, because the ad came out. I saw, of course, a lot of people in sports media, Twitter, talking about it, which that's its own bubble. So maybe are we naive to assume that everyone else feels the way that we do? I think that's, I don't know, that's a great point, because when we were talking about this before we started filming, which we probably shouldn't have, and just had that hold debate on, but I think we sort of worked some stuff out, which is I said, I was like, how do I understand that people take money from bad companies, yeah? But aside from the moral part of it, how do these celebrities think it's a good look? How do these celebrities, I feel like, because I feel like public sentiment. It's shifting towards these things. Maybe it's because I feel like there are more and more people talking about the overall corruption in our government. Maybe it's because we see these progressive candidates on the left actually making gains, especially before the midterms. It feels like there's almost like a bit of a collective, like, hey, are we all being scammed all the time? But then when you said that, I'm like, maybe that is my bubble. Maybe that is my, I mean, I guess the one thing that feels maybe outside my bubble is this idea that we are seeing some progress politically on the left in terms of taking on, like, not taking pack money. Right. That feels energetically similar. But I have now, but I have no idea. I know. And now, and I would love, I really would love to know who in our audience, like, please comment on this, what are your feelings about these companies or what do you see in your communities about the reaction to these companies and ads like this? Because it feels almost so blatant that it's like, do you all think we're stupid? Right. Right. And if you look, I just pulled up the post for this campaign that LeBron accepted the collab post on Derek Cheater and Eli Manning, where the only other celebrities to accept the collab post don't know if that was intentional, or that was just who agreed to the collab with Polymarket for this ad. And one of the top comments is Polymarket really assembled the Avengers for this one. Oh boy. So I said that. Just some, like not a check, no, not a blue check. Well, day trading. Maybe that's a company. I don't know. I'm just looking through and I'm looking at the, the comments Legote. I mean, that's from Polymarket's Moritz, but like it, I, I'm scrolling back and I don't see any really negative unless they're deleting the comments. But again, this is of course just one Instagram post for this ad campaign. Obviously, like I would say, I'm curious if like a social listening agency, which are companies that comb social media for trends around sentiment, I used to do this for my job. What the sentiment is, I would still think the sentiment's probably overwhelmingly positive, which is maybe we're wrong. But I mean, that's just at least from my own experience doing this, like looking at these comments. I mean, there are a couple booze, but it's like a lot of the goat. I wonder, so yeah, I don't know. I think I would like to think that we're the majority, but I just don't know if that's the case. No, I think you're right. And I don't think in any way that is this going to taint LeBron's legacy or any of these other very famous athletes who are in this. I don't think anyone's going to be like, remember, I mean, maybe they will. I don't know, in 10, 15 years, we were talking about this, like, is this going to be treated the same way that cigarettes were treated to be like, oh my God, remember when all these athletes were doing these, right? Calci and Polymarket ads, I don't know if people are going to think that. I wonder if it's a kind of thing where like, I think when enough people were dying of lung cancer, they were like, huh, right, seems to be a correlation. This feels awful. Yeah. I wonder if more and more people, like, I wonder if Polymarket and Calci and all these betting apps, I wonder if there's like a runway that they know they have. And they're like, in, I mean, first of all, if you get people addicted, like, it doesn't matter if they know it's bad for them, they keep doing it. Yeah. Right. So that's the sinister truth behind this whole industry. But I do wonder if they're like, okay, we have to your point 10 years before enough people's lives are ruined that it starts to be a bad look for celebrities to do this. I'm serious. I'm sure they have done some kind of calculation where, I mean, the stories already out there about, about, you know, women who found out that their husbands had gambled away their whole life savings on, I mean, so many outlets have done stories on gambling, I just start to think like, at some point, the consequences become so immediate to individuals that it's hard to ignore. Right. At the same time, I feel like everybody started smoking again because like the world's a whole scape, so it's like might as well have a, might as well have a cigarette after dinner. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Still, it's like that will kill you. Yeah. Like, you know, I just, it's, it's, I mean, ensure there's some people who are like, I smoked a pack a day every day for my life and I'm a hundred. Right. That's not, that's the outlier. Right. Sorry. That's the outlier. Right. So I don't know. I don't know if there's a runway. I don't know if it catches up with them. I'm, I'm fascinated by what the current sentiment is. Yeah. It's interesting because I do think gambling's been around. It's not like gambling is a sports betting. It's not a new thing. Sports betting has always existed. And I wonder if that's also given these companies some runway because it's not an new concept, whereas if you compare it to AI and you compare it to the, like, the sentiment around AI, AI generated content, I do think generally speaking has been kind of negative. Yes. I could say, with the data centers, the data centers, but also, like, literally AI generated content and people being, you see brands now hiring illustrators and real, like artists who make stuff with their hands instead of using AI and using that as a point of pride and marketing. Yep. We were not integrating AI. Well, of course, a bunch of companies are still integrating AI, and especially to creative works and studios are partnering with AI company, like, that's still happening. I do think generally the sentiment is a lot more negative because I feel like it was new and people were immediately skeptical and rejecting it, whereas gambling has been around. And so I do think that that has maybe helped these companies. They're basically like, oh, this is just a new way to gamble. Well, it's legal now. It's legal. And it's, it's just on your phone. It's not in Vegas. And you can pretend it's like a game on your phone. Exactly. But it's attached to your bank account. Exactly. Where is AI? It's like a more sinister. AI, it's like people are like, what is this? This is taking over the world. This is a crisis for humanity. Right. This is going to get rid of my job. I think people see these prediction markets as maybe this is a way I can make money because AI is getting rid of my job. Right. Right. No, I think that's a really good point. I think to, it's this idea of just to, like, it's been marketed so brilliantly by these sports betting companies as a way to quote, enhance your game experience where it's like put $5 and see if Bobby Portis hits a three. Right. Right. It's like, oh, that's fun. $5. And I also think that there are a lot of people in sports media who've done a lot to push these betting companies. And the betting segments, and now there are all these betting segments on major networks. And it has become very normalized. And, you know, I would have to do "Draft King's Adreats" when I worked in metal art. Right. Hey, did it. Right. I had to do them. Yeah. And so it became an escapeable in sports in a way that made it okay. Yeah. I think that that is paved the way to be able to bet on whether there is a climate crisis or not. Like, it feels so dystopian that you start to feel like you are the crazy one for having the audacity to have any standards. Yes. Right. Well, clearly, these leagues, these networks have enough data points to point to the fact that more people don't care about the optics than do. Yeah. Or else they wouldn't have segments on their shows and wouldn't have partnerships with these companies. If they were just going and bought, they just wouldn't. Right. That's not how companies work better. We're billions of dollars. Right. That's just not what happens at companies. So it does. Yeah. It does make you feel a little crazy because you're like, this feels really bad. And it feels like it's getting worse. And it's only matter of time until someone like screams at LeBron James during, I'm it's probably already happened during a basketball game or whatever about like you lost this game. You lost me a thousand dollars or something like that. And it's already happening. People are, players are already talking about the fact that they get people mad at them on social media and in real life about them losing and then that causing that person to lose a bet. Yeah. You're getting death threats because you didn't hit that field goal that would have made that guy a $15,000. Right. But I do think it says a lot about, I don't know, just thinking about the bubbles we all live in and are we living in a bubble that's smaller than we think? I don't know. We might be or not. Maybe that maybe there is data points at that point to the fact that more of the population doesn't like these companies, but it doesn't feel that way. Yeah. I mean, we just did a quick look for any such as I think that this is all so new to that we don't have the data on it. Exactly. And so maybe, maybe part of what's happening is these companies are able to say, nobody hates it. You should partner with us because it hasn't happened like LeBron James hasn't done enough ads with Paulie market to know how over time the reaction is going to be exactly. Exactly. And it was enough money for everybody that they're like, okay, I still, we'll talk about Bell Check. I still have a very hard time understanding how LeBron James, who as someone you can bet on, can do this. I just, and I know that it's like the corruption from the Trump family and the Paulie market stuff and the Kalshi and Don Jr.'s involvement in these prediction markets, like it's all coming from the top. From our government, which is just in bed with these things, which is disgusting. So like sports maybe is the least of our problems when it comes to it, right? But we got it, like gambling was legalized. It hasn't been good for anybody except the gambling companies. Maybe there's something to be said for some amount of regulation and then probes into corruption. Right. Me thinks, dear to dream, dear to dream. It feels insane to think about a world where there are any guardrails anymore. No, I know. I know, which is why this just feels like, like, am I crazy for thinking this? I don't know. Well, anyways, shareholder. Sound off in the comments with your thoughts because I'm just curious how people feel about it. Same. We'll love a little data point. A couple data points. I would love to know. Our comments section can be that study. Yeah. Please. Yeah. Please. And tell us about people who don't agree with you. Let us know. Yeah. All right. Well, and other things would make you feel crazy. Much of the University of North Carolina's football program, highest played paid employee in the state of North Carolina. And we've talked a lot about these about this program about Bill Belichick. We famously talked to his girlfriend, Jordan Hudson. Last year for a long time, she almost came on the show. She didn't. We're still the only media people she's talked to. And she is for once not at the center of this. No, she's been pretty quiet. Haven't seen much from her. And after we talk about this, let's let's wonder if that's intentional. Interesting. Yes. So, W-R-A-L reported on an ongoing investigation. Michael Embardi, who is a GM of the program, was under investigation. By HR, there was a complaint allegedly filed by a former front office employee. He has since stepped down. He's resigned. Michael Embardi. And he was the highest paid GM in college football, I believe he made 1.5 million a year. Great. Yes. And W-R-A-L also reported on the fact that Steve Bellichick, who is Bill Bellichick's son, and he is the offensive coordinator for the team. He has been on medical leave since early August. And they reported that he apparently had been questioned by lawyers for drug-related issues and involvement with players. And they were trying to determine whether Steve used drugs at university facilities and whether he gave at least one player drugs. These are among many other things going on with this program. Those are the highlights. They're also looking into whether a member of the UNC Recruiting Staff had a sexual relationship with the player. So the whole program is kind of a mess and a disaster. Really hit the trifecta there. Yeah. Drug sex, rock and prod, roll, baby. Drug sex and a defensive line. Yeah. It's not great. So this is, first of all, not surprising because at the end of last season, W-R-A-L, which is a local station around Chapel Hill, they've done an amazing job looking into the Bellichick era. A lot of parents talked about the toxic environment there, talked about Steve having some issues in terms of communication with players, talked about Bill not being available. And Bill held a press conference where he said nothing about this. He said, I mean, he basically, when he was on the Patriots, he didn't want to talk about something. He famously said, I mean, when he was coaching the Patriots, he famously said, we're on just Cincinnati. Yeah. He's got a new version of that. My focus is on getting the team ready to play ETSU. I'm not involved in any other part of the process. My job is to get the team ready to play this weekend, and that's what we're going to do. This act of Bill Bellichick, this like, I'm just here for football, doesn't work anymore. It doesn't work. It hasn't worked for a long time, and it certainly doesn't work when the man that you brought in and paid a bunch of money is under investigation for doing really sketchy stuff as the GM of the program. And your son, who is the defensive coordinator, who arguably wouldn't have that job unless he were your son allegedly fight with me, I don't care, is under investigation for giving players drugs potentially. And then you're recruiting staff, the people whose job it is to get players to come play for you, may or may not have had sexual relationships with the players who may or may not come play for you, right? Right. Right. We're on to ETSU. Are you kidding me, Bill? Like the audacity, this whole thing has been about the audacity in the hubris, Bill Bellichick, to not be able to retire to be such a coaching sicko that he can't let go, that he goes in ruins of program. And now you still think you can say we're on to ETSU, like, get a grip. So there's no way this man is making it through the rest of his contract. There's no way. Do you think he's going to get fired? I, if he were anyone but Bill Bellichick, he would not have a job right now. No. I think the thing that is again, that makes me feel crazy, is that there, does he have the, you know, board of trustees in such a chokehold because he won a couple super bowls? Right. They're like, well, we're in too deep, they got distracted because Bill Bellichick brought his super bowl rings to a board meeting or something and they were like, oh my god, to take a photo with the super bowl ring or something like that, probably, probably because you're like, how else could this man still have his job given this investigation? And I feel like this is only the tip of the iceberg and probably more reporting is going to come. out that's going to damage his reputation even further. Yeah. Like I don't think if they're, if this is what we know right now, you think that's the end of the investigation? No. Come on. And look, sure. They won their first game in Ireland in week zero against TCU. That was a look at the Irish. What happened in week one? Did you and C, you and C? I think they had a buy week. Yeah. So they played one game. I think they played one game. Yeah. And it was 15 to 10. So not the most resounding win. No. They did win after being horrific last year. I think what is wild about this is it's exactly, it's the worst case scenario and kind of what we thought was going to happen when we started talking about Bill Bellachek at USC. It started being funny because Jordan was running his Instagram. Then it got a little weird when they were seemingly making decisions and then together and then she was on the field. Yeah. And then Bill was making all these weird decisions. And then there was this stuff that came out about his toxic environment and the people he had brought in, which now clearly was worse than we even knew. Yeah. And now it's like, well, this is the darkest possible timeline. Yeah. Yeah. It is. No, it is. It's not fun. It's not funny. There's nothing. There's nothing. It just feels like everything we thought was going to happen is what's happening. It's just kind of like, well, we told you so. I'm not on the board of trustees, but I could have told you something like this probably would have happened. Maybe not these exact specifics, but something along these lines probably would have happened with the people that Bill Bellachek was bringing into this program. When Bill Bellachek should have literally just retired, gone to Nantucket, had a couple cocktails on the porch with his girlfriend Jordan Hudson for the rest of his career and the rest of his life and had a dandelion time. And instead, he's ruining a bunch of people's lives by running this program into the ground. What are we doing? He's ruining the lives of people who come play for him who got caught up in any of this garbage. He is ruining the lives of the staff who don't have to deal with it. Also, the board of trustees, we've said this before, like all the people at UNC who brought Bill in, who have not hired him yet, they're so much responsibility. 100%. 100%. They bear so much responsibility. It's the hubris of Bill Bellachek, yes, but someone had to give him that money. Right. It's the hubris of the people to give him that money. Also, it's fascinating because UNC is an old, stayed, very traditional kind of old money town in a way where this doesn't fly and yet it's flying. Right. It's still flying. The plane is fine. The plane is flying. We haven't seen any accountability from anyone. Look, the investigation is still ongoing. Even having to ask these questions, yes, to me seems damning. Well, it's like Bill Bellachek is holding onto a thread on a piece of rope. I'll be dangled over the side of a building and it's like, I'm still going to survive this. It's like, sir, just let go. Let go and let go. I'm like, just, I mean, really, I think the best move for him would be to step down. Yeah, because it's not going to get quieter. It's not going to get quieter. He could make some statement that says, I take full accountability for my program, even though I was not aware. If it's true, let's just say in a world, he's not aware that these things were going on. Let's just say hypothetically, he had no idea. Doesn't really matter. Optics wise, you did know what was going on. So you should make a statement saying, I take full accountability for the actions of the people that I employ. It's my responsibility. I run this program. I think it is in the best interests of the program. I am a distraction. I am going to step down. Sorry for all the distractions. I may have cost. That's what he should do, but he's not going to know. He's going to ride it out. Maybe he sure is. He is only going to get work. He said buckle up. Well, because we're on to ETS. Yeah. No, truly. Well, here's what I'll say, though, is the only way that this goes away for him as we've set on the show is if they have an amazing season. If they win bunch of games, people probably won't care as much. If they're in the college football playoffs, people aren't going to care, which it's not going to happen, but that's the only world that's the only world that I think this goes away from from PR from a PR standpoint. It's also so interesting because he falls back once again on saying he legally can't say anything because it's an investigation. There is a legal way that you can say something, but also his whole career has been about being defiant. Yeah. And he is not a, as we've said before, he's not a spring chicken, and he's not a young dog who's interested in learning any new tricks. No. Conflating a couple animal, animal metaphors there, but we'll take it. You know, and I do think that the Jordan Hudson of it all. Yeah. Yeah. She's been very quiet. I think we've gotten almost no content from her all summer. Part of it is, I think she knows this isn't cute anymore. Yeah. Not that it ever was, but, you know, there was a sort of fun element to tracking her. Yeah. I wonder if she knew about this stuff going on before other people did. And was like, I'm going to perhaps sit this one out. Let me think this one out. Yeah, because she wasn't spotted at that home opener in Ireland. We'll see if she's at UNC's first home game. I think maybe they're playing at home this weekend. I don't know. But yeah, I'm curious what her presence will be throughout the season because I think she's going to be very invisible. This is my guess. Yeah, which is probably smart for her to do that. Well, it would be one of the first good PR decisions she's made in a while. I also, we know that as of July 4th, they were still together because a friend of mine saw them out to dinner on in Tucket. Right. I don't see them breaking up. No, no, no, no, no. I don't think so either. But it is, it is astonishing. I mean, it's not, and yet that he, that Bill Bell check is still the head coach of UNC. I know it feels almost as if UNC is in way too deep at this point. And they don't want to admit that they messed up by hiring him and paying him so much money. And so they're like, well, we're just going to ride the sound and make up any. And maybe, well, yeah, you know what maybe I'll say is that maybe in their mind, they're thinking we are going to ride this out so that at the end of the season, they can fire him with cause. Perhaps. And so I'm no lawyer, but I'm guessing that that means they wouldn't have to pay out his contract. Yeah, maybe they're waiting for the investigation. Oh, smart. That's my guess. I don't know. I'm no lawyer. Look at you business, Madeline, this, this hill. No, I mean, it's, yeah, it's wild. I remember when he was just a coach of the Patriots. And like that was bad enough. You know what? But they had a good run. Exactly. He could have gone out on top. And yeah, here we are. Do you think I feel like when I think about Bill now, and I'm a Patriots fan, I don't know if other Patriots fans feel this way. Maybe I'm just into deep with this particular story. I think of him more as a failed you and see coach than a successful NFL coach because of how dominant this new cycle has been. Yes. Yes. Yes. I think that's fair. I would agree with you. And I'm not a Patriots fan, but I would agree. And these people care so much about their legacies. I know. You're like, what are you, I get that you still want into coach, but I don't know, man, I, it, ah, what are we doing? What are we doing? Yeah. Well, I feel like this is only the beginning. Yeah. Yeah. But we hadn't, we hadn't done a little bill update in a minute. And it felt like maybe the right time felt necessary. You know, so that's, I guess that's a really uplifting show. Sorry to be Debbie Downer today. But curious when everyone's thoughts are on both of these stories. Me too. Sound off in the comments. Also, we're trying something a little different this week. Yes. Maybe tomorrow we haven't decided when we're going to put that up today tomorrow. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. At some point there might be we're going to do a little fun extra thing about a reality television show. Yes. But as a sport connection. And if you don't see it, it means we decided not to. But I think we're going to do. Yeah. Because it has sports connections. Yes, it does. Well, as always, please rate review, like, subscribe. It makes a huge, huge difference. And you can follow us on Instagram at SportsGossip and TikTok at SportsGossipShow. And you can subscribe to our subsec at sportsgossipshow.com. Thank you so much. Okay. Bye.