Testing, testing, testing, testing, one, two, three, four, five, four, five, six. Okay, see how that's sounding. Hi, Charlotte. Good day, Madeline. We're back with another episode of the Sports Gossip Show, presented by eBay Live. That's a really good way to live. We haven't had that one yet. Hire me, eBay. Well, I guess they sort of, they kind of did, yeah, proxy employee, yeah. We, it's wild, but we have not had a show since the next one. I almost said the World Cup, the World Series of basketball. This June, the next one, the World Cup. I mean, in some ways, they kind of did. They brought together people from all different backgrounds, different countries, who all happened to live in New York, so you could argue that the next did win the World Cup. You could argue that winning a championship in New York City, one of the most diverse cities in the world, less we not forget. Yes. The melting pot of America, it really is like a nice little soup, simmering with different cultures, just a little stew. I love us too. You do. I do. Charlotte knows this. I, I mean, give me, give me a liquid meal. Just give me, give me all my vegetables and protein in one bowl. Put them all together. Just give me a slap bowl. We made a really good, off, off golemago, I can never say how it, but it's a Greek lemon chicken soup. So good. I was telling you about it. The meat hook, which is our favorite butcher shop in New York City, has the best chicken stock and it really just ups the level of any, I'm going to have to get their chicken stock. They have an incredible chili, but I have not had the chicken stock. The chicken stock. The chicken stock. The chicken stock. I really, once you have it, like I didn't know it could be like that. Would you say? Yeah, I did, and my mom and my grandmother always made like the best chicken stock, but to buy something that could, wow, would you argue or would you say or gander that it's the Jalen Bronson of chicken stock. You know, Madeline, I like he brought that right back to what we were, where we were going, you know, yeah, it's a 45 point in the final game of the finals chicken stock. I mean, okay, we, we have to at least for one minute talk about game five. Please. They were down. What was it? Fifteen at a point. Sure. It was at least, I think it was about 15 something like that, you know, energetically. It was more than five. It was more than less than 30. Yeah. Good. It was. And then they just found a way, they just find a way every time. I mean, it was pretty, they were on Jimmy Fallon last night celebrating in Jalen Bronson and Kat and coach Mike Brown, they were all sitting there and Kat was joking that he would be like every time for every game coach would say like, okay, let's start this quarter better, the first quarter, better than the last first quarter. And Kat said, we were all like, no, we're not going to do that now. It's just so funny. And like they've been joking about Josh Hart's Miss Leia. Yeah. And it's so fun to hear a team laugh about the things that could have been so painful if it hadn't gone their way. I know. Well, I like it because it's a little bit un-serious, which I think is what makes them such an incredible basketball team. And as we've said, it's the power of friendship, power of male friendship. The power of male friendship. They're, you sent a link of non-sanctioned, Nick's, what is it? It's some, some person compiled all of the best, non-sanctioned, Nick's championship or just general Nick's merch. And I've purchased two t-shirts, one of them being one that does say the power of friendship with like Grim Reaper, the tip in from OG. I don't really know what's going on with it. That's the one. That's the one that I was like, this is, you know, a Grim Reaper on a t-shirt for no reason. There's something pretty metal about that. There really is. Something else a little bit metal related to merch, though, that I've been thinking about. Yes. And I may call up my mother-in-law, Sherry, who's an incredible DIYer to help me with, is I really want one of those absurd rhinestone shirts that sold out in one second from the NBA area, like a MSG stores, you can't buy them. You can buy the one without the rhinestones on it. These are the final, the shirts they put on right after they won. Sort of looks like a chrome heart shirt. I'm like, to Timothy Shalamy design the Shavee. Maybe. We don't know. He could have. Anyways, so I think I may need to just buy, unless someone has the plug, NBA, if you're listening for the rhinestone one, to make my own rhinestone shirt with my own rhinestones. Yes. My mother-in-law, Sherry, she's a great DIYer, so I may need her assistance. Listen, when they came on the court with those rhinestones, it was kind of shocking. I know. Because one was the last time you saw a rhinestone, like, never. On a championship shirt, there was something like, it blew my- I think that almost was the most shocking thing. Yes. Other than, like, more than the comeback. Well, because usually the shirts are just kind of generic NBA champion, insert team here, sure. That one that literally is textured, it's a, you could, it's like one of those books that you can feel the textures. Yeah, the fuzzy. The fuzzy. It's like fuzzy. So grab it. Yeah. But leathery feel. But it's on a shirt that these professional basketball players are wearing. I loved it. I think Jan Brunson popped up first on TV with it. Yeah. And it's like, whoa. Yeah. Because then you're like, that can't be bedazzled. And it's bedazzled. And it's just, I don't, yeah, there's so many questions about like, how did we get there? Yeah. And I'm into it, you know, because I think it was almost more shocking than the fact that the, the rhinestones were there was that kind of into it. Oh, I, oh, I won't want it. You know, no, no, that's what I'm saying. I won't want it. And I can't get one. But it confuses you. Because you're like, what? I know. And then, oh, okay. I know. But it was a really incredible thing to watch the city just totally explode. Explode. We went down to Smith Street. We attempted to go live. We kept the live up. It's only a minute. And I believe 37 seconds. It was about 15 minutes. I don't know what happened. But you can go check it out. I guess, I guess we couldn't rely on the power of 5G, the way the Nixie can rely on the power of friendship. Oh, yeah. That's true. Because why? But why wouldn't we be able to? Yeah. I don't know. Maybe because there were thousands of people in the street also using their cell phones. It was really unbelievable. It was amazing. I came out of writing about sports retirement, apparently, which I didn't even, I guess she did know. I got that email notification from Wilder Things Sub-Sack and I said, she's cooking. She has cooked. She has cooked. She has cooked fully. And it was time to consume it. And it felt really good to just write about the scenes and how moving it was. So not to plug my own newsletter, but you can go read it if you want. What's the URL? Oh, thank you. The Wilder Things.sub-sack.com. Diding. Also, you know what I thought was really incredible. What? Jose Alvarado right after they won the championship the day a day later. He went to the Puerto Rican Day Parade in Bushwick with the mayor of New York, Zoran Mamdani. Yes. And, you know, it was really nice because I feel like these days, the most political stuff you get is, like, grimy and it's all of these athletes sort of cozying up to Trump. But this was just, like, a joyous parade where Jose Alvarado was there with this, like, socially democratic mayor. It was, it was. No, and there was no problem. Nobody said anything messed up. It was just great. And he was sure he comes into the parade and then takes off a shirt before he gets on the float, which I love. I want to know, how are they awake? Because I don't think they have slept in since they won. Not a wink. No. And at what point does adrenaline stop? Yeah. And, and wait. One of the next teammates went to the parade with him. Who was it? Oh, really? With Alvarado? Was it, um, what's it saying? Oh, I didn't see that. This isn't. Yeah. I think. Yeah. Let me just confirm. Yes. Oh, my God. Mixed teammate Jordan Clarkson joined him at the parade. Oh, isn't that fabulous? Yes. How are we all for having a friendship? And they were. And then, and then we saw they had the starting five, the Josh Hart, O'Jane and O'B. Jalen Brunson, Carl Anthony Towns and, um, what did I say? Jalen Brunson? What did I just say? Josh Hart. Carl Anthony Towns. Wait. Jalen Brunson. Um, on Good Morning, America, they did the live television rounds and it's some of the funniest television, they're, they're all drunk still or about to be drunk or sleep deprived or all the above. You got to watch it if you haven't. It's really good. Um, what was the question that George, what is the same stuff in Opelus asked them about Mike Brown? They're like, you know, what is it like having Mike Brown as a coach? And then it's just silent for like 15 seconds, which on live television is a long time for no one to speak and they were all just sort of smile like they'll like Mike Brown. Yeah. They just, it was like, you can take this one. And finally, Jalen Brunson's like, okay, I'll talk. Yeah. And it's just, they're, they're, they're behaving like it feels like, uh, sixth graders when you're graduating fifth or sixth graders, when you're graduating from middle school. I mean, from elementary school to go to middle school. I can't explain why that. Energy. It's not high school. It's, it's graduating from elementary school to middle school. And it's, it's like flag day. It's, it's like silly energy. Yeah. It's like everyone's getting their little ice cream in the paper cup with the little, um, hoodie. A hoodie cup. What? That's what you call them. It was the brand. Yeah. Oh, we just called them like the ice cream in the cup with the wooden spoon. Yeah. Yeah. That was just like a, it looks like a pop. It was just part of a popsicle stick, essentially. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that is.
What what it is. Did you see McCalbridge's life? I think I said this to you Also another thing highly recommend checking out McCalbridge's wet live Didn't say anything really crazy, but just is having a good old time and definitely a little tipsy He's singing to his dog. He's showing off jerseys of teammates like he'd be doing like a tour of a Massuing it's his apartment. Yeah, I think so which appears to be in the city I'm always just fascinated by where I mean because we live in New York It's like well, where do they live live? Yeah, not to go. No, no, no, actually don't do that Just to like look up the real estate. Yeah, what we were talking about athlete homes McCalbridge just did say something interesting, which was so there's this whole thing about how James stolen owner The Knicks told the Knicks not to have sex for 10 weeks while they were playing. Yeah, which is like, you know I think I don't know I the whole thing is so bizarre to me Jam Brunson and Josh Hart's Podcast the roommates show put out video of the whole speech that don't engage they got an exclusive Which I guess is maybe to try to be like look it wasn't as weird as everyone's saying it Well, they cut out well there's an edit in the in the clip that they think is maybe when he did mention the thing about the sex Because I don't think that's in the top this full speech So who knows if it actually happened, but if it did there is a point if you watch it that they clearly cut something out what it is We don't know so so that's it there and then the kill release the tape release the tape Josh and Jalen McCale bridges in one of his lives he said no sex for 10 days is savage And then he said you know it would be even more savage Joe's if he built a practice facility in New York City and I was like Cuz our practice facilities in Westchester. Yeah, yeah, and I was like What is happening and then I think Jalen tweeted something like someone take McCale's phone. Yes, yes And and maybe they did because I don't think he's gone live in God life sense I don't think any of them need to go live at this point. They're sleep deprived. Well, what have you a lot of what do you always say don't go live right? It's I mean, maybe besides McCale. Yeah, that he's the only I think he is the only live that's ever worked I agree, but then you look at Jalen Brown who let us not forget was Going on live saying a lot of stuff your boss and Celtic maybe not for long Well, I think that if he gets traded it's because he went live. Sorry. Just to talk to you see there was Talks of him maybe going to spurs. What? Yeah, I saw a tweet Can't verify it. I saw a tweet about it. Really nothing's had no nothing official just like that one of the teams potentially I feel like what they Okay, real quick. What feel like what is probably gonna happen. I think I saw our buddy Zach Lowe talk about this Yeah, maybe I didn't maybe We're gonna attribute it to Zach, but but it was that no, no, no, you know who was was Tom Ziller of Good morning like basketball, which is an unbelievable newsletter. You should all subscribe to he was saying what will probably happen is Milwaukee will trade Yannis who's their superstar to the Celtics. So then it'll be Yannis and Jason Tatum on the Celtics. They'll trade Jalen Brown to Milwaukee and then Milwaukee will trade Jalen Brown somewhere else To get a bunch of younger players. So maybe that's how he could end up on this verse. I could see that I also think wow not to talk about Jalen Brown for a second, but I do think he'd be a good pairing with Wembie Chandleach of experience a little bit older look at you sports with Madeline sports with Madeline No, it's you though, you know, I think energetically it actually could be a good fit. They're also playing it now. They're both Like spiritually on the same plane. Yes. Yes Can't explain it. Yeah, and maybe Wembie will like pat him on the show saying maybe you don't need to go live big don't go live And yeah, and Wembie's gonna start going live. Yeah, and then inhale to it, but it's only sci-fi booklobs. Oh That would be fine. Like he start I would love Wembie to have a book club and he teams up with Dua Lipa's book club I actually think they'd have good discussions. I do too. She picks and she's British. So he wouldn't be like you stupid American. Yes Perfect. There is it That's something I saw Jason conception. It's an great podcast great basketball Mind he was like I always feel like when Wembie's talking He's looking at Americans as if we're just like the dumbest possible People Probably, but then I go sir you're playing in our league. There's an element of that and you're like yeah, you know The I guess my I guess my feelings about Wembie shifted a little bit during this. Yeah playoffs where it's like There there was an element of it where the spurs never really said like even in his final press conference Wembie was like We were we dominated in most of the games and that's like when Kenny Atkinson with the calves after the nicks We're beating them three zero said well analytically. Yeah, we've won a lot of the game You know to say it's like you can't make excuses. You just gotta just own it just own it and not because it's like you know Some basketball code. It's just like better PR. Yeah, it's better PR just own it. You guys couldn't finish the job Sorry, and that's okay. You're young. You're young. You got to take you got to take a couple Wembie will win a championship. I'm sure very soon. Yes, he'll be fine. He's gonna be all right. He'll be all right This would be this will fuel him. Yeah, and in the meantime the nicks got to do it also something very cute was Carl Anthony towns talking about his fiance Jordan woods and giving her her bag Which is her own line woods by Jordan credit in both the post game pressure and on Jimmy Fallon He also said something so sweet about how his mom he felt like She was there through Jordan. I know. It was just really I'm really happy for them. I also saw I didn't realize this that Carly Anthony towns and Jordan woods were friends before they were Taylor I think you mentioned said that in the press conference. I think it was that saying I didn't know that either It's just and she was a lot. She was a last person he talked to before you went to see his mom in the hospital for the last time And that's a great relationship. Yeah, you build it on a friend. I'm happy for them Jordan listen when you guys get married if you want to come on talk about your wedding talk about the flowers open invitation. Where do you think it's gonna be? Oh, I think somewhere in New York. I kind of do too. Yeah, even though she's I think she's from LA because that's how she obviously knows Kylie Jenner But I kind of feel like New York. I think you're right. I'm building a New York wedding. I could see like chip rianny Yes, yes, but make it but make it chic. Yes, I think they'll do a good job. I could see that Well, there's an endless amount of things we could talk about with the nicks because the city is just still totally obsessed And there's a parade on Thursday Yes, which we will be at in some form We're gonna shine. We'll be there. We think we're going we think Um, but we also have to talk about the Stanley Cup. Yes Because we've got a lot of messages from hockey fans being like look, I know you're all in on the nicks and You know, that was just a very cool thing that we got to cover and be at yeah, so Apologies if it was to NBA heavy for anybody, but not really it was unbelievable It was really cool. That was a historic moment in sports whether you're a fan of basketball or not. Yeah, yeah, yeah Um, yes, the Caroline Hurricanes won the they sure did um, they beat the Vegas Carolina hurricane. Yeah, I was like, did you say sweet care Hurricanes I wonder if they do that they probably do someone well someone will tell us wow, okay. Yes, the Carolina Hurricanes I was like You're like As I said and I go, I don't think that was right. Well, I think I'm switched up a lot of it. But if you say Caroline Hurricanes Well, I like the Caroline Hurricanes sounds enough. They're probably some women named Caroline who are fans of the hurricane So I'm just that was so technically they are the Caroline's Hurricanes. Yeah, they beat the Vegas Golden Knights. They did Um, and this was something that our dear friend DJ Bean when he came on the show to talk about The Stanley Cup playoffs Told us a lot about and it's pretty fascinating um, the the GM of the Hurricanes Eric Tolsky He's a redhead uh, he works suit. Yeah exactly go redheads. He walks around the tailgates before every game Yeah, and DJ actually sent me a picture he succeeded in his dream which was having He and a bunch of other people dressed up in suits and redheaded wigs and found Eric Tolsky and took a picture with him and that's unbelievable We'll we'll put the picture. I have it. We'll insert it here on YouTube if you're watching if you're not Go check out YouTube and subscribe blah blah blah um, but I didn't realize in 2006, Madeline Eric Tolsky was working for a nanotech company in Washington state Analyzing the synthesis of cadmium-free nanocrystals for clinical applications And I think he helped invent the things that glow in LED lights. What? Yeah I don't even know what that pipeline is to then Working for the Hurricanes and winning the Stanley Cup, but I like that pipeline. You want me to tell you? It's really full of LED lights He started analyzing NHL results using like stats and math and all this stuff and posting on broad street hockey Which was a the the Philadelphia Flyers blog and just sort of climbed through the ranks of commenters Ended up as the GM and it's there's this great article um by my friend Greg Wiesinski cover talk you for ESPN About how it's the jock and the nerd because Eric Tolsky's the nerd the jock is their coach a guy named Rod Brindamore who they call rod the bod Who 20 years ago in 2006 was the first Hurricanes player to ever touch the Stanley Cup when they won the first Stanley Cup with them Yeah, wow 20 years later. He coached the team that won it for a second 20 years to the to the year. Yeah Talk about destiny destiny wow um and he I love that he's like he works out all the time It's just like this sort of you know, so so maybe It it goes to show on some level like both the Hurricanes and the Knicks had GMs
in or presidents or whatever the title actually is in Eric Tolsky and Leon Rose who put together a really great team and they had the coach who could get the most out of them. Yes and I think they clearly had the right blend of personalities who could boost morale even if they were down or whatever the case may be that work to be able to get them to finish the job. Yeah. Which is a special special skill I will say to be able to kind of read people's personalities and be like oh this group of guys is going to work well together. Totally. And the coach is going to vibe with the players. Also important. Also important. You could have the best players in the world. But if you don't vibe with the coach and the coach doesn't vibe with you. Tough. Not going to work as it goes all the way to the top. Followed the money. Do you know what I said? Oh my god. Do you know what I saw? What? Not to go back to the next but really quick. What? Someone there was a tweet where someone said that there was a report that because James Dolan was so distracted by building the sphere. Did you see that? I didn't see that. He didn't meddle with the team as much. Which hey, he was booked and busy maybe. So I think Nick's fans got to send a thank you note to the sphere. I think that the Nick should do one-year anniversary celebration or when they raise the banner is not usually the first home opener. That they do a party at the sphere. A watch party. You just live for the left coast Nick's fans, you know, that early ballet. Honestly, that would be very silly if they didn't. They should. And you could have you could drop confetti because I have all those things at the sphere that do. Have you been to the sphere? No, it's really weird. Have you? It's yes. I went and saw the the Darren Aronoski like oh god. It's like the light. It's like a what's this the Netflix planet Earth? It's like planet Earth. What's the green saver edition? If you tripped one inch, you would just fall over. Like it's so steep really. Yes, it's kind of freaky. Did you feel sick? I didn't feel sick, no, but I could imagine how people would feel sick. It's sort of like I max times a thousand with the screen. And there's like wind. Oh, and then I feel like our chair. It was like a 40 movie, you know. I feel like I might have said this on the pop before the only 40 experience I've ever had. What? The NFL experience and time square they had. Wait, I think that this I think you talked about this on the show like forever ago. Really? Yes. This is taking me back. I feel like a long, long time ago. Oh my god. Yeah. It was so messed up because they would play highlights. And every time there was a massive hit, your chair would shake. And I was like, I don't know. I think it's gone now. Yeah. Well, maybe because there were too many it pain injuries. People were like, am I back hurts? I was like, what are we doing? So, so wait. It's only matter of time until the NFL does like an NFL experience at the sphere, isn't it? Probably. I mean, I have seen, you know what is cool that there's like that sports bar where you can watch the game. And it's on this giant screen. It looks like you're on the field. What? Have you seen that? No. It's like yours. I'll show to you after. I don't know where it is. Couldn't tell you. Well, it feels energetically like it's a buffalo wild wings, but it's not. It feels like it is though. Is it just maybe it's in Vegas actually? It might be Vegas. Is it a big wall? It's a big wall and the screen. It's like you're seated in the seats. And then you can see the field. Oh, wow. I've just keep seeing it on Twitter and then I never click on it. I go, oh, wow. There's that thing again. One of those things. One of those things could be AI. I don't think it is. Don't think it is. Oh, anything could be really. We're not. We're not. We're here. We're remarkably human. We're real. For better for worse. All right. Okay. So, so I'm sure that there's a lot more about the Stanley Cup, but congrats to the Hurricanes. We got to talk about another cup. The World Cup. Which one? The World Cup. When all the teams fit in one cup and everyone travels around North America and plays a little footy, you know, they should do for a promo. What? They should put the captain of every team in one of those T cup rides. I get Disneyland. Yeah. It's the World Cup. That honestly would be amazing. They're like, whichever one doesn't get sick wins a sponsorship with Disney. Yeah. Are you get out of the first round? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You get three points each and have like one for God or two or whatever it is. All right. Where do we want to start? Well, we could start. Let's do a run later. Yes. Let's start with Kate. Kate Verde. Oh my God. Kate Verde. They showed up and showed out and they defended so defensively. They really. Again, Spain. Spain didn't score goal. The game ended in a draw. Spain. Mind you. One of the favorites for this World Cup to win it all to win it all and they got the same amount of points. It was zero zero. They each get the same amount of points. They're basically both in the same position essentially in their group, which is unbelievable. There. I don't know if you saw their goalie. Oh, that was a beep. I have a speaking of back brawl. I have a heating pad on. So I got to turn it back on. Well, Kate Verde is a small, small island nation of approximately 530,000 people, which is not many people at all. They were not supposed to do very well. This was their first World Cup. And yeah, and they have this goalkeeper, Vozina. Yeah. That's his nickname. It means granny in Portuguese and Kate Verde and Creole because he was raised by his grandparents. And that's of the kids who are older than him used to call him. And he's 40 years old. He's 40. And he won the game for one the match. Before the World Cup, I saw an interview. He had I think about 40 or 45,000 followers on Instagram. And after they drew against Spain, he now has 8.2 million followers. Wait, wait, wait, what would you 8.2 million? And would you like to know how many followers Wembeh has? Yes. 6.2 million, just to put it into perspective. I hope this man gets every sponsorship deal for the rest of his life. Isn't that great? That has to be someone from Instagram to himself. I mean, it has to be like the highest growth in the shortest amount of time on Instagram. To go from 45,000 followers to 8 million, my 8.2 million. My mind is blown. Isn't that crazy? 8.1 million? Yes. I would imagine that every person who lives in Cape Verde follows him on Instagram at that point. Obviously. Well, yeah, because that's 7.5 million more people than live in Cape Verde. I know. I know. Which is wild. So that was crazy. Oh my god. It also just shows like what a stage the World Cup is. Yes. How massive of a deal. And it's just it is fun to already be getting sucked into it. I know. I don't know if you saw this, but they're starting center back. Roberto Lopez, did you see this? No. He was recruited to the team via a message on LinkedIn. What? First, he got one message ignored it was like, this is spam on LinkedIn. And then got another message. And he said he was asked about it. And he said, quote, it was a weird angle to come at via LinkedIn. It was explained to me afterwards that they had difficulty contacting my club. But when I saw the opportunity was there in front of me, I was 100% behind it from minute one. And we got working on getting all the necessary documentation across. So could you imagine getting recruited to play on the national team to then go play in the World Cup on LinkedIn? No. I want to see the messages. They're like, hey, so we heard you play soccer. And you have a connection to our country. Why don't you come play for us? Please. That's what it said. Yeah, that's exactly what it said. I, I guess, I mean, if you think about it, though, it is a job. Yes. So why wouldn't you get where they take fair in like a fair day football federation is the ultimate company? Yeah, they said, well, we have job openings. So of course, we're going to contact you and LinkedIn. Can you send the dress? Yeah. And you got to fill it out and you got to read auto. We need your films. Fill in everything. Answer every question. Yeah. Your dress. Yeah. Which I just love. I thought that was amazing. That's really great. And you know what? It goes to show that you should check your messages on obscure sites you never use. You never know. Because you never know. Maybe someone's asking you to play in the World Cup. No, it's true. You never know. Some other highlights so far, the Ivory Coast beat Ecuador 1 0. That was, I would say it wasn't I would say not an upset but like a medium. It was interesting. If it's not an upset. Well, it's an agitation. Well, no, but I mean, like if something if an upset. Yeah, yeah. That may be like an in between. Yeah. Yeah. Like it's not as extreme as as like emotionally. If it's an upset, then it's like right. Yeah. And we got to talk the the United States debut. Oh, my God. That feels like a thousand years ago. I know. But it wasn't. It was Friday, right? Yes. That was on Friday. USAB Paraguay 4-1 stellar debut. Really about his men's national team. I mean, truly, I think people were surprised. Yeah. I was. Yeah. I was. We are episode four, Thursday is going to be a deep dive into the US men's national team. There is a lot of gossip, a lot of drama. Yeah. Going up. What's going on here? And we'll get into it. So that's why we're not doing that in detail right now. But we've got all the all the dirt coming. There's a lot happening there. Yeah. Family drama. NEPO babies. Coaching changes. Go just taking interviews. Star players. Yeah. And more. Yes. But that was that was wild. And who knows? Maybe the US team will go further than people think. The US men's national team, which has been bad for a long time. Yeah. I think a stat that illustrates this is that winning 4-1, that margin of victory, equaled the largest in the program's history, which last came in 1930. Okay. The last time on the United States.
the United States men's national team, one by three goals was in 1930, and that was the first world cup, which I don't even think counts. That's so far, that's way too long ago. That's 90, four, 94 years ago. That was a long time ago. No, that's crazy. Which is crazy. That's a really crazy stat. But, you know, never too late to start playing soccer well. No, so who knows? Maybe, again, maybe they'll make it further than people think they will. Only time will tell. Maybe they already have. In some ways. Oh. I was like, wait, are you playing right now? No, no, I just played right now. Just mean by winning by that much. It was very exciting. It was really cool. Yeah. A lot of celebrities there. There were on Nutella Joy, Tom Cruise. I believe it was there, David Beckham. Katy Perry, Justin Trudeau. Katy Perry did the national anthem, I think, before the game. Did she? I think she. Well, that would explain it, because I think it was pretty. I was pretty suspicious that Justin Trudeau, former prime minister of Canada, wasn't it Canada's home opener? But he. In Canada, but he was at the US one with Katy Perry. So, you know, we've seen a lot of instances recently of people, of significant others who care about a team kind of hopping on the bandwagon or joining them there. Yes. And I just think it's great to support your loved one, but you can't forget where you came from. Can't forget your own teams. Justin Trudeau, I'm sorry, he should have been at the Canada one. That's crazy, Tom. Well, maybe he will be at another candidate. Not to be at the first one, and to go to the US one with Katy Perry? Yeah. Well, Katy Perry, so it wasn't performing the national anthem, and she was performing Wonder one of her songs. Oh, God. So, and she's wearing a sequin. Yeah. So. Well, I guess she's a supportive partner. And it was at SoFi. Big stadium. Big stadium. In infrastructure. One of the bigger ones. Okay. We got to talk about this. Fox Sports commentator, Alexey Lawas, I don't know if anyone saw this, and we may need a bleep here. But he called James Corden, James Corden has a show that's like the after hours Fox soccer show on at midnight, again, not sponsored, but they keep promoting it. Yeah. So it's at midnight, Eastern, I think, and called him a way on television, which is a kid-friendly phrase, I would say. No. And not a live television-friendly phrase, either. I mean, it's also. first of all, why, like, Alexey Lawas is known to say really dumb things on live TV. Yeah. But, you know, he even went, you know, he had some things where he criticized players for protesting. He's talked about how the problems for the men's national team had to do with diversity. Like he said, really, really dumb stuff. But you'd think that a company man, like Alexey Lawas, who's been with Fox Sports, commentating for a long time, would know that the cardinal sin, morals be damned, the cardinal sin is coming after someone on your own network. Yeah. Does he not know that James Corden was doing that? He definitely did. They have been promoting that show every four seconds on the broadcast. So it's like, it's a real slip-up by such a company man. Well, because they're talking about the context of that he's doing the show. And that's when he said that, yes, I don't remember exactly the phrase, but yes, it was, so you could go watch the clip because the other commentators are like, I would love to have heard the phone calls. Oh my God. Then ensued after that. Did you imagine? Did you imagine? CEO Fox Sports, Eric Shanks, just getting on the phone and saying, but you know, there's some people where the more you say don't do something, the more defined they get, that feels like what Alexey Lawas is. Yeah. I think that's right. Was the other thing you put in here about Patrick Mahomes and Fox? Oh, it's just so, it's just so interesting to meet Patrick Mahomes did a promo before the US men's national game, national team game on Friday. And then Rob Gronkowski and James Winston, two football players. They're hosting a show on 2B, which is a Fox property called the other football. And Fox Sports, I worked there. They are, they get, they're very into their own talent. Like if you're in the Fox Sports family or you're someone that they deem like, yeah, we're going to, they just like trot you out, like Rob Lowe does all those game shows for Fox. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's constantly at every Fox event. Yeah. And it's just so funny to me knowing that scene, just like, they're just like rolling them all out. You're like, well, there they all are. Well, they're finding, they're finding anyway to get them in there. They really, even if it doesn't, you know, quite work, they're like, put them out there. Yeah. Like the whole concept of the football of the soccer show that Gronk and James Winston are doing is that they don't understand soccer. And it's like, well, that's just that's, you know, so listen, get that back, get that back, get that back. Get that back. Okay. Another quick thing. Yeah. Before we get into history lesson with Charlotte. It won't, I won't make it too long. Oh, no, I'm excited for it. Um, I don't know if you saw this, but Tunisia fired their manager, Sabri Lemouchi, after they lost to sweet and five one. So I saw that. Can you explain to me like, what? They lost five, one, and they were like, we're done. That's it. But he had, um, they had lost previously, I believe, like he hadn't been doing a great job before, but he had only been hired. I think five months ago, that's like short job. I mean, how are you going to spin that on your resume? So do you think that's, do you think that starts to become management's fault? You know, I think so. You know, I think so because it's like, I'm also like, why fire in the middle of what you're already in it. It's like the players already know him, however, I will say they made a good hiring. What they do at least based on what they do. Do you recall in the 2022 World Cup, Saudi Arabia's manager, Airway Renard, this French man? Oh, let me show you what he looks like. You just see it. I'm sorry. Just this is the most attractive. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Yes. That's ever existed. Wait. Did they hire key and let me just confirm. I think it was, he was a Saudi Arabian. Let me just confirm when they had the comeback. Yeah. The manager of Saudi Arabia. And he was also the manager of France's women's team in 2020, anyways, whatever. He is apparently getting hired according to ESPN by Tunisia to be their coach. Oh, my God. So he has been hired and he says that Renard is going to arrive in Mexico where the Tunisian team is based for the tournament on Tuesday afternoon and is going to take charge of his first training session on Tuesday evening. So right when we're recording, he is going to be, which is great. I hope Tunisia makes it all the way down because looking at that man, he is, I mean, truly, I'm not trying to objectivize a person, but like, that is the most attractive, at least soccer coach I've ever seen in my life, maybe coach, maybe coach in general. Because coaches generally aren't, there are some good looking coaches, but also I'm okay objectifying a man in soccer because, I mean, he knows he's attractive. Do you know what I mean? His whole thing is that he's attractive. Yes. You know, there's pretty privilege. And then there's this guy where I have a couple questions. Please. Why didn't he have a job before, like, why was he available for Tunisia to hire him if he's so pretty? Well, you know, that's a good question. You know, someone that good looking, you think would just always have a job. That's true. The last thing is right. I'm not saying the world should work like this, but just his coaching history. So he coached, he was the Morocco coach in the 2018 World Cup. And then yes, he left and went and coached Saudi Arabia. And then it, I don't know if you remember this, but he led the Saudi Arabian team to beat Argentina and Messi in the first group game in that World Cup. I don't know if you remember that. They ended up then losing the next two and then didn't qualify for the knockout round. But so that was like his kind of claim to fame. And then yeah, then he went on to manage the French women's national team at the last women's World Cup in 2023. So he's been a free agent, but I feel like he's just in the South of France wearing his white button downs button to like just one button. He's so just just tanning and drinking spritzes. And then they call them up. They're like, you want to just come coach a World Cup for us and he was like, yeah, he's like, okay, why not? I mean, it's like, why not? This man, I need to know everything possible. Oh, this man. I love this man. I've been talking about him for years. Wow. But I saw his name. I was like, no way. And then I just checked and they officially hired him as of a couple hours ago. Wow. So we'll see how exciting stuff he does. Exciting stuff for looks, Maxine. Looks, Maxine. Cup, Maxine. Yeah. He's out here. He's out here bone smashing in the South of France. Anyways. And he gave a rosé bottle to his jeek to get him really chiseled, chiseled. Wow. Okay. Well, anyways, the World Cup is just a, it's just endlessly entertaining. The gift that keeps on giving. I want to talk about Iran for a second. Iran played New Zealand last night on Monday. They drew to two. A lot of draws. A lot of draws. And that whole, that whole group, it's all, I think that's all one point. I think everyone, and that one group, I think everybody's just tied each other. Oh, that's wild. Which is exciting. Yeah. And some bad, some bad soccer, I've heard analysts say, but what are you going to do about it? What was fascinating to me is when you watch this game, it was in LA, there's a huge Iranian population in LA, because after the Iranian or Islamic Revolution in 1979, a lot of people left and moved to LA because it had, it reminded them of Iran sort of the desert. There's a lot of car culture. Yes. And so there were so many fans who showed up to support the Iranian national team. Let us remind you, Iran and the US have been at war allegedly. There is maybe a peace agreement as of this recording. Yes, except Trump has not disclosed the parameters or anything about it to come.
Congress or the Senate. So everyone's like, even the Republicans have started to be like, what? - What's happening here? - What are we doing here? - Yeah. - But it's sort of a wild thing for a country that is at war with the US to be playing in the US. The US started it before it's worth it. This was, but they have been cheered on so much by their fans and there were sort of different reactions from what I was reading. There's some great stuff in the athletic about this where some Iranians who were there or Iranian-Americans brought in the flag that was used for Iran before the revolution, which resulted in the current regime that has been violating human rights. Really bad stuff for since '79, but it was the lion and sun flag. And FIFA banned people from bringing that in 'cause I said it was too political, which is also kind of a wild thing in a freedom of speech way. It's like you should be able to bring in whatever you want. And some fans were stopped if they were wearing the shirts. Some were told they had to turn them inside out. And then they could go in, but then you can also just like take them off and flip them around again. And some Iranian-American fans were saying, you know, we support the team no matter what. Some people were there protesting it 'cause they were protesting the regime. Just kind of a wild moment, geo politically. But what was interesting to me is that their best player, Iran's best player, Sardar Asmoun, was not there because he was kicked off of the national team and left off the World Cup roster in May because Iranian authorities viewed him as having displayed an active disloyalty, which is that he plays for a team in the United Arab Emirates and he posted a picture with the UAE's Prime Minister. Iran enemies of the UAE who are allied with the US and Israel and so they kicked him out the team. But it's also not the first time that the, I mean, and he's like the best player. He's been in the best player for 10 years and he's taken political stance before when Masha Amini, who's a Kurdish Iranian woman, who's arrested in 2022 for not wearing the hijab to government standards. She, the state claims that she died of a heart attack onlookers who are in prison with her witnesses said she was beaten by the police. It launched this whole protest in Iran and Asmoun posted about it on his Instagram story at the time and said, you know, if I get kicked off the team, so be it, it's not worth harming the hair on in Iranian woman's head, like really forceful support. So it'll be interesting to see what happens here without their best player for what the regime sees as disloyalty. Yeah, this entire situation is just terrible. And I also saw so after their draw against New Zealand, they had to get on a bus bound for the airport just two hours after the match concluded. And just to know, it's not uncommon for teams to, you know, travel back to base camp right after the night of a match, but apparently, according to report, our Iranian players and coaches were specifically, they specifically said they wanted to stay in L.A. and do a recovery session on Tuesday and were told that they couldn't US Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said, quote, the Iranian national football team agreed to these terms. Ooh, to go back to Mexico where their base camp is. Yeah, they were supposed to be training in Arizona. And then Meditage, who's the president of Iran's football federation, who reportedly served as an intelligence commander with the Iranian Republic guard court. He was denied a US visa reportedly. Uh-huh. And then the guy who's the president of the Iranian Olympic Committee was a former body guard to Iran's supreme leader who was killed on the first day of the war. Wow. I mean, it's, it's, you can't really, you can't talk about the World Cup without talking about geopolitical. Like, it's all connected. Yeah, it's all connected and it affects the players and it affects the play directly. Yeah, um, I was going to give a history lesson about the Iranian revolution, but we will save that. We'll say we'll do that another time. Ooh, a little tease in the biz. Well, because look, they're going to keep playing. Yeah, I, yeah. I mean, listen, they drew, they, they, they could hold their own more than people think. Yes, yeah. Who knows? But it is worth noting that it's, it's a very brave thing to take a stand publicly in Iran because, uh, Habib Kabiri, who is the captain of Iran's national team in the 80s, was executed and tortured and executed in 1984 because he belonged to a distant group. And then there have just been several athletes who have been executed for what the regime believes is just oil tables. So that's really putting it all out there on the line to say what's right, um, although the posting a picture with the prime minister is less of, I don't know. It's just a wild situation. It's a very wild situation and we will get into it further. Yes. future episodes. Um, but if you do want more world cup coverage from the athletic, not to tutor on horn, but the athletics podcast network has some great podcasts that are digging into all angles of the world cup, totally football show. They're getting into biggest talking points of the day, which we love, um, with the athletic FC podcast. Um, you can also check out the TFO podcast, wherever you get your podcasts for daily live streams in the afternoons. They're all free, free to watch, free to listen to. Just plug, plug on our own podcast network. I love it. You got to, there's some amazing reporting coming out of the athletic, uh, that we will be relying on. Yes. We talk about the world cup exactly. How do you feel? I feel like when the next one, the championship on Saturday, I was like, oh, man, no, it got to just like dive right into the world cup. But it's actually, I'm, I'm having a good time. Unfortunately, I've dived headfirst in the world cup. I have watched almost every single match. Yeah, we've just had it on. I did not watch the Iran New Zealand match. But otherwise, I've almost watched every single match. It's like I, it was like in my brain, it was like someone was grabbing my hand and pressing their remote and was like, put on a game, put on a game, put on it. What's addictive? It's a day. And it's kind of meditative watching soccer, no ads in the, well, between the, except for the hydration breaks, but it is nice to have something to come down from because I think there weren't, I mean, obviously, look, WNBA is going. I think that the finals, the stakes of the finals being so high, just like, jacked up and then to have something where they're also really high stakes in a short period of time. Yes. And then you can go back to like, it's a good palette cleanser in some ways. Yeah. Yeah. It's nice. All right. Well, we will be back on Thursday. Charlottesau were doing a deep dive into the US men's national team and all of the lore there. So be sure to like, subscribe, rate, review, all of the things. It really makes a huge, huge difference for us. And you can follow us on Instagram @sportsgossip and TikTok @sportsgossipshow. We will also be doing our very fun ebay live fashion segment. So if you have any questions for us, you can DM them to us. That's probably the easiest place on Instagram @sportsgossip any fashion sports related questions that you would like us to answer. We will answer them for you. We would love some World Cup fashion questions. Yeah. Oh, yes. Yes, yes, yes. Can't even think of there's so many things. I have questions I could think of. Okay. But I want to hear from our shareholders. All right. So. And you can subscribe to our
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