WWDTM: Carissa Moore, Bob Costas, and Jim Rice

Hey, it's Peter Segal. We are almost at the end of 2025, and if I may, I will speak for everybody at NPR, and at your local stations, and in public media, and say, "Good riddance." But despite the loss of federal funding for public media, despite attacks on the free press, we are still here for you, and we will be next year. With your support, NPR will keep reporting the news, and here at Wait, Wait, We will try to, you know, lighten the load at the end of the week with some jokes about the news and some fun conversations with interesting people, and yes, the occasional fart joke. If you are already an NPR plus supporter, thank you so much. We see you, and we are so grateful for you. If not, please join the community of public radio supporters right now. Before the end of the year, at plus.npr.org, signing up, unlocks a bunch of perks like bonus episodes, and more from across NPR's podcasts, plus you get to feel good about supporting public media. Wow, you'll listen. Visit plus.npr.org today. And thanks. From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm the gift you get for the person who has everything. How's those slate? And here's your host at the Student Baker Theater in the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Illinois. Peter, say go. Thank you, Alzo, and thank you, everybody. Thank you so much for being with us. Well, everybody, we made it. We made it through 2025 a year that began with terrible apprehension about the future and has ended the exact same way. My motto is, instead of worrying about what's about to happen, enjoy some things that already did. So this hour, we're going to relish the great things we got to do in 2025, such as talking to the legendary sportscaster, Bob Costas, which we did in September, along with guest scorekeeper, Che, Ryan Fest Smith. Now, I asked Bob if, as perfectly Shay, he had started talking about sports because he couldn't play them. You know, I wouldn't say that I failed. I wasn't that bad by school yard standards, I couldn't make my high school baseball a basketball team. And the baseball coach, who was also a math teacher, that's the way it works in high school, he actually said to me, something to the effect of, you're not bad with the glove and you can run a little bit, but I don't think you can hit your weight and I don't think you weigh 130 for what I was 16 years old. And then he actually said, you know, you're always talking about baseball and you know more about baseball than any of my players. Have you ever thought about broadcasting? And I said, pretty much all I think about. And he actually said, as if it was a movie, good, try that. Wow. That's awesome. And have you ever gone and like found any of the guys who didn't make the team and say, how long did your career in sports last year? One of them actually pitched in the major leagues for two years. He did make it to big leagues. The rest of them have scattered to the four wins and I'm sure they're aware of me and I'm not quite aware of where they are and I don't care. And you went off to Syracuse University, right? The new house. To learn your trade, this is of course, if you don't know, it is the Harvard of broadcasting schools. But I'm curious is like, how do you learn to do sports broadcasting? Like, what are the skills you have to study? You know, you cannot learn it in a classroom. You want to get as good and as well-rounded in education as you possibly can and to be a reader because it improves your appreciation of language and terms of phrase and the broader your frame of references, the more you can bring to bear where appropriate in a sports broadcast or any kind of broadcast. But the only way you actually learn to be a broadcaster is by doing it. You can't sit there in a classroom and learn it. You just have to find out if you have a knack and then you work on that knack as you move along. So okay, you're a Hall of Fame broadcaster and absolute legend in the industry. Nobody's perfect all the time. Can you remember a time when like, you just blew it on live TV? Oh, my, yes. Now I realize it's NPR. Yes. Do you want the unedited version of this? Yeah, give us the MTV version. I mean, go ahead, Bob. What are they going to do? Defund us. There you go. If everybody clapping could give $5,000, that would be really wonderful. Go ahead. Go ahead. All right. So here's the deal. My first job out of Syracuse. I did minor league hockey. My first senior year at Syracuse, 30 bucks a game. But I was lucky enough right after that at age 22 to go to St. Louis, big station, CamoX, 50,000 watt station to broadcast the games for the spirits of St. Louis in the old ABA. The first night they play on a Friday night. They have a big lead with about two minutes to go and the game slips away. They're up by seven and somehow the game slips away. Two nights later, they're playing at home again, and they're ahead by five with like a minute to go. And I turned toward the analyst who was a wonderful gentleman named Bill Wilkerson, and I said the following. Bill, it appears as if the spirits have this game well in hand, but coach Bob McKinnon taking a time out here wanting to take no chances because the last thing he wants to see is a repeat of Friday nights blow. I actually said that. They blew the game. And you know, you just got kind of mangled, right? Well, I mean, if you think about it, I mean, it is job. And if he blew the game, it just sort of comes naturally to that phrase, doesn't it? My thought is I looked at Wilkerson, and he looked at me and his eyes got as wide as saucers. And the engineer just made that circular thing with the index finger like keep on going, keep on going. We can't have all this dead air. And I was 100% certain that the next morning I'd be on a flight back to Syracuse, but the station manager took pity on me and said, don't ever let this happen again. We're trying not to. A lot of people called in and they were like, can we get more of that Bob Kastis guy? I'm a baseball fan and not on your level, but I've been watching a lot of you over the decades, broadcast baseball. And I remember vividly your reaction the first year they had the wild card in the playoffs in baseball. So you're against that. You're also against the designated hitter. Now there are six wild card teams every year, and everybody has a designated hitter. What is it like to be that influential? Yeah, you know, it's just another small indication of the general decline of Western civilization. Let me ask you this, you've you've over the years, obviously not just baseball NFL games, NBA games, horse races, and the Olympics, of course, for many, many years in NBC. So out of all those things, can you tell me like what the weirdest or most unusual sport is you've ever had to broadcast and comment on? Well, I didn't do play by play as the host of the Olympics, but you're commenting on and showing highlights of almost everything. Curling in the Winter Olympics, you know, think about getting a gold medal, an Olympic gold medal for an activity in which you can drink beer while doing it. Yes, but even more so in the Summer Olympics, race walking is a staple. Now there may be, I don't know, 200 racewalkers in the United States, but in parts of Eastern Europe, like in Romania or something, you know, racewalkers are like Michael Jordan, apparently. So 1992 in Barcelona, I'm hosting the Olympics and there's a package of highlights and it ends with a bunch of racewalkers. And you know what it looks like, right? Yeah, it looks like it looks like got to go, got to go, got to go right now, but it looks like 15, 15 minutes short, so really need to use the rest of my understanding. Right, exactly, but so I come off that I think it's completely harmless and the people on the set laugh, I said, isn't a competition to see who can walk the fastest? A little bit like a contest to see who can whisper the loudest. Eventually, don't you just like cross over and start running? Now you would think that was completely harmless, but the very small racewalking community wanted my head on a plate. And that's why you can never go back to Romania. That's correct. Well, Bob Costes, it is such a pleasure to talk to you and we have asked you here today to play a game we're calling. And the Emmy goes to? We are right now in the eye of the Emmy storm, the creative arts Emmys were last weekend, the primetime Emmys are this weekend, so no one is talking about anything, but the Emmy awards. Oh, we're going to ask you three questions about these JV Oscars, answer two correctly and win our prize, one of our listeners. Ryan Fest, who is Bob Costes playing for? Bob is playing for Matt Johnson of Houston, Texas. Ready to play? Here is your first question. Where does the name Emmy for the award come from? Is it A? It's the initials ME for Mami Eisenhower, who presided at the first awards. Is it B? Strangely, it is named after our own panelist, Emmy Flotten. Or C, it was named for the Image Orthogon Tube, an important bit of early TV technology. I'm going with C. You're going to go with C and you are right. The Image Orthogon Tube. There's only any huge events, TV technology. So much so that Emmy was named for it. Here's your next question. The whole point of the Emmys, of course, as you know, is to promote TV. But at the 2015 Emmys, Andy Sandberg went above and beyond to encourage people to watch the HBO show Game of Thrones. How did you do it? A, by wearing a handmade 15-foot-long dragon costume on stage, B, by giving out to the live international audience his actual HBO log-in and password, or C, by playing a video in which his head was CGIed onto every character in every sex scene from that season. [LAUGHTER] You know, I should know this. But somehow I miss that particular telecast. I'm just going to guess B. You're going to guess B. He gave out his HBO log-in and password to the universe. He did. Yes. And people report everybody first immediately ran over to their televisions or whatever. And it worked for a few days. All right. Very good, Bob. Here is-- Two for two. Two for two, right. As someone in your profession might say-- Yes. You're bad in the sales. Yes, he's bad in the sales. Let's see what he does with this pitch. In Dame Helen Mirren's acceptance speech after winning an Emmy for her performance as Queen Elizabeth I, she said that her greatest triumph was what? Was it A, making her Queen Elizabeth the first recognizably different from her Queen Elizabeth the second, B, the voiceover work that she had done for the film "Legends of the Guardians, the Owls of Gablul," for which she was unfairly snubbed. Or C, she said, her greatest triumph was, quote, "not falling ass of a tit as she climbed the stairs to the podium." It is without question, C. You're right. [APPLAUSE] You called your shop, as you might say. And allegedly, the sensors were manning that bleep button were so charmed by her British accent that the remark made it to air, and now, again, to us. Ryan Fest, how did Bob Costa's doing her quiz? Bob got three for three. He got him all right. Congratulations. [APPLAUSE] It's the trifecta. It's the hat trick. It is. It's the triple crown. What's-- that's a good thing. Part of your job is coming up with catchphrases and names. What should we call it when someone goes three for three on this game? Bacosti. There you go, Steve. Bob Costa's is a Hall of Fame broadcaster, and not coincidentally, the winner of 28 Emmy awards himself, Bob Costa's. Thank you so much for joining us, and wait, wait, don't tell me. Thank you, Peter. Thank you, everybody. Take care, Bob. Bye-bye. Go on. [MUSIC PLAYING] When we come back, we warm up the winter with a return to Hawaii and a talk with one of the greatest surfers of all time. That's when we return with more. And wait, wait, don't tell me? From NPR. [MUSIC PLAYING] From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is, wait, wait, don't tell me. The NPR news quiz. I'm Alzo Slade, filling in for Bill Curtis. And here's your host at the Student Baker Theater, in the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Illinois. Peter Segold. Thank you, Alzo. Thanks, everybody. Thank you so much. So it is late December in Chicago, and the days are short, and the winds are cold, so we are all getting nostalgic. For the trip, we took to Honolulu, Hawaii in October. We had such an amazing time. It's hard to choose a favorite moment. Not for me. The best thing I saw in Hawaii was me standing there in Hawaii. That's right. Alzo and I were there. We did two shows in the Aloha State. And now we are going to hear part of that never before broadcast. Second show. We saved it for a moment when we needed it most, like now. First, a bluff-to-listener game with panelists Shane O'Neal, Dulce Sloan, and Helen Hong. And then a visit with one of the greatest surfers ever. Honolulu, native, and Olympic champion, Carissa Mord. It is now time to play. The, wait, wait, don't tell me bluff-to-listener game. Call one, AAA, wait, wait, to play our game on the air. Hi, you are on. Wait, wait, don't tell me. Aloha. Aloha. Aloha, yes. My name is Rich. Hello, Rich, where are you calling from? I'm calling from Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii. [APPLAUSE] Can't beat it. You can't beat it. What do you do there? I'm recently retired, and I'm very active in rotary. And I volunteer as a mediator at the Mediation Center of the Pacific. Really? Really? I'm sorry. I mean, I know I'm a visitor to these lovely islands, but I can't imagine anybody ever has a problem they need to mediate. It just, it's all seems like a happy place. Well, Rich, great to have you with us. You're going to play our game in which you have to tell truth from fiction. Also, what is Rich's topic? Carpe Diem. Sometimes you have to seize the day. Climb that mountain. Tell her you're in love with her. Move to Europe forever, because things got really awkward after you told her you're in love with her. This week, we heard about somebody really going for it. Pick the one who's telling the truth, and you'll win the weight weight of your choice, and your voicemail are you ready to play? Yes. Yes. I'm sorry. Did somebody in the room with you have to tell you to say yes? No, no, that didn't happen. That didn't happen. OK, never-- no, I didn't happen. Didn't happen. Standing there on your own, your own talents, brains, brought to this, no help at all, let's first hear from Shane O'Neal. Kristen Elliott of Maple Bluff, Wisconsin, is a busy woman. A resident of UW Hospital, she puts in 24-hour shifts in their emergency room. She goes to Pilates classes three times a week and volunteers at the soup kitchen at her local church. But when an invitation came for an ex-boyfriend's wedding, she knew she needed to squeeze in one more thing into her busy schedule, finding a date. So last Saturday, she set up 18 hours worth of mini dates. That's 180 dates in one day. She kept track of the marathon day with a spreadsheet, adding numerical ratings in columns for physical attributes, red flags, hygiene, and whether they showed up in a fleece quarter zip. Sadly, none of these dates seem suitable. So she plans to schedule a second day of seven minute long second dates. Unfortunately, with the extra two minutes, I can only book 73 dates in a day. She said, sadly, before strapping on a helmet, climbing onto her scooter, and rolling off to a sipping paint party, where she plans to finish half a bottle of wine and no fewer than three paintings and two ceramics pieces. A woman ceases the day by scheduling 18 hours of speed dates during the next story of someone capturing the moment comes from Dulce Sloan. Rusty Albert, son of Cleveland, Georgia, retired from being a middle school geography teacher for 47 years. His wife, Jeannie, also retired from nursing and now they finally have the time and money to travel. Growing up in Cleveland, Georgia, Rusty was always fascinated that the names of cities can repeat in other states or even countries. So Rusty wondered if there were any other Cleveland's. Much to his excitement, there are seven other Cleveland's in the United States for a total of eight Cleveland's. As a fan of the rap group, Bone Thugs at Harmony, he always wanted to visit Cleveland, Ohio. But now there are six other Cleveland's for Rusty's Cleveland tour. Jeannie, on the other hand, was less enthusiastic. She said, well, I thought he meant traveling to somewhere fun, like all the cities named Paris, or Miami, to which Rusty supplied all the Miami's, hmm. I don't mind going to Indiana or Missouri, but I'll be damned if I ever go to Texas. (audience laughs) A man sets off in his dream to visit all the towns in the country named Cleveland. (audience applauds) Your last DM, Carpeid, comes from Helen Hall. It's not easy getting a Guinness world record. You might have to hold your breath for 20 minutes or eat 80 hot dogs in one sitting, or you could create your own original world record and make it uniquely painful. That's what Gabriel walled it when she chose to set the first ever record for the fastest 100 meter sprint barefoot on Lego bricks. (audience laughs) I know. Her training included jumping up and down in a kitty pool filled with Legos. (audience laughs) Wall also went barefoot for months, and when she explained that she was training to sprint over Legos, people inevitably asked, why would you do that? (audience laughs) Why? Naysayers notwithstanding wall completed the spiky sprint in 24.75 seconds. Her husband immediately presented her with fluffy pink slippers that she'll probably never take off again. All right. Hear them, Rich. Are three stories of someone seizing the moment? Is it from Shane O'Neill someone to trying to maximize their chances, having speed dates for 18 hours all fit into one day? From Dolce Sloan, a man determined to live out his dream of visiting every Cleveland in the country beside his own Cleveland, or from a Helen Hong, a woman who fulfilled a lifelong dream by setting a world record, in this case, the land speed record for running on Legos. Which of these? Which of these was the real story we found in the week's news? I gotta go with number three, the Lego lady. I'll tell you, she, she meets them all. She does. And you figure that out all by yourself. - Oh, bye. - Oh, bye. - All right. You're gonna choose. You're gonna choose Helen's story about the Lego run. Well, we spoke to someone who actually had the inside dope on this particular story. She won it to set a world record, so she decided that she would run over Lego bricks. That was Kyle Melnik, is a reporter for The Washington Post talking about the record breaking Lego run. Congratulations, Richie, got it right. Yeah, Helen is telling the truth. She's gonna want to play. You're gonna win. You're gonna win our prize, the voicemail of anyone you choose. Thank you so much for calling. Thank you. You can share it with your backup. Yeah. And now the game where we ask people who are really, really good at one thing about another thing, we call it not my job. So not far from us right now in Honolulu, there is a hundred foot high mural on the side of a building with two people painted on it. You've seen it. One of the two figures is Duke Kahana Moku, the legendary father of surfing. He introduced the sport around the world in the 1930s, and the other is Carissa Moore, the first ever female Olympic gold medalist in shortboard surfing, and generally acclaimed as the greatest woman ever to ride waves. And one of those two icons joins us now, Carissa Moore. Welcome to Weight Weight, don't tell me. I'm so happy to have you. Since I brought up the mural, I gotta ask, could you live in Honolulu still? What is it like to drive around and see your own sort of visage, painted next to one of the great national heroes and you're in front of him? I mean, I definitely have to pinch myself. It's super surreal. I can't believe they still have it up. Really? Yeah. Somebody painted a hundred foot high painting. They don't just wait a couple days and paint over it. You're not like a racet. Well, I hope it stays up for a little while longer. I want to show my daughter one day and be like, that's mom. Yeah. Definitely take a lot of selfies. You know it'd be great. I don't know if this is true, but if there were a liquor store across the street and you went in and they asked you for ID and you just pointed it. It's a dream. It's really good. You grew up here in Honolulu. You grew up surfing at Waikiki, which was basically the birthplace of surfing. There's the statue of Duke right there. And you got famous pretty early, right? I saw an interview of you, an interview with you that was done when you were seven years old surfing at Waikiki. And you said to the interviewer, you liked surfing because, and I will quote you, "I like it because it's different each day and it's not always the same." So I asked you now, "Do you still stand by that?" Yeah, I thought it was pretty good. Yeah, it was pretty good. You looked pretty good. What they said, you know, it's interesting, you were seven. And they were already in the local news and people were saying, "This is going to be a professional surfers someday." And so that was something that you knew was perhaps on your path early on? I don't know if I knew, but my dad knew, and he's here tonight. Is it really? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know where he is. He's somewhere. He's somewhere. Because he was an athlete himself, a great swimmer here. And he's in that report, by the way, paddling out with you. So I got to see him. I know about stage moms, right, the classic. Are there surfer dads? It's like you're going to catch one more wave. Getting back out to the break. Maybe. Maybe. No, but he is the best. He still paddles out with me. He does. Wow, do you? Yeah. Really, at your level of achievement, your world championship status, you have to paddle yourself out. Nobody paddles you out. Nobody falls on tears. No, we do surf together all the time still. And I feel really lucky that we get to continue to share this journey together. Right. Do you ever just for fun literally surf circles around him? Just there's this nice dance that we both tap out there, for sure. You see, I don't know a lot of surfers. But I had always thought of surfers as being very outgoing, very confident. Because it's a dangerous and difficult thing that you do pretty much for fun. But you see, you don't seem that way. You seem kind of like not particularly egotistical. And you're the best in the world. That seems weird to me. I struggle with confidence. And I always think everything all the time. You remember when I said the best in the world thing, just a moment ago. Like, championships, world championships, Olympic gold medal. Yeah, you could keep telling me that. But somehow I don't believe it still. I think you should wear the medal every day. Like wear the medal on the daily. Just wear it around everywhere. Yeah, well that's interesting. Because surfing is not easy to begin with. And in the level you competed at, all around the world against the very, very best surfers in the world. Where you get one chance to do it or wipe out. Did you like psych yourself up? How did you get yourself out of this lack of confidence of what you mentioned and get yourself into the right headspace? I like to have random dance parties before I go out surfing. So actually right before I paddled out for the Olympic final in Tokyo in 2021. Yeah. I faced time to my husband and we did a dance to Ed Sheeran. You did a dance to Ed Sheeran with your husband over first time. Yeah. It just helps me get out of my head a little bit. Right. And is it true that you were rather pregnant during your last competition? I was pregnant. Yes, I was 10 weeks. So she was really tiny. Because we saw a video of you when you were much more pregnant. And it's like, how did you get on the board to paddle out? It is a wonder of the world. It really is. Watching me do that. Yeah. Because I didn't see it. But I imagine you're very pregnant and your life is down on the board and your hands can't reach the water. My butt is really high up in the air and I kind of look like an inch worm and I can't lift my head. It's really quite a sight. And your daughter, yes, is how old? Seven months. Seven months. Yeah. Congratulations. You're a new mom. Is there a surfboard equivalent to a jogging stroller? Can you like strap her in and go out and surf into her? Well, I'm like the human strap. Right. It's a lot of just going straight and just making sure that she's safe. Yes. And she's not upset. Yes. And she's enjoying it. Does she enjoy surfing? Yeah, I think she does. I mean, there's no crying. Yeah, that's important. Is her first word going to be "narly"? I hope it's mom. Oh, that would be bad. But then "narly"? Well, charisma is such a pleasure to talk to you. We have asked you here to play a game that this time we're calling. Shortboard meet really bored. So you're one of the greatest shortboard surfers ever. But what do you know about being bored? We're going to ask you three questions about boredom. Answer two out of three correctly. And to win our prize, one of our listeners. Alzo, who is charisma more playing for? A Lisa plant of Tom Water Washington. Here's your first question. Buzzfeed once published among there are many lists. A guide to things you can do if you're bored, including which of these activities. A, making adorable little dolls out of your cat's hair. B, opening four browser windows and watching Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV, and HBO Max at the same time. Or C, seeing how much soap you can put in your pasta sauce before you can taste it. I think I'm going to go with A. You are right. You're right. Yes. Buzzfeed suggests buying a book called "Crafting with Cat Hair." All right, that's good. You got one right. Beloved children's TV host, Mr. Rogers. Fred Rogers would often get restless and bored in the company of adults. His widow says that when a grown-up gathering a party of some kind got dull, Rogers would liven things up by doing what? A, bring out a puppet he always carried with him. This one called "Prince Eric the Drunk." B, change into his leather cardigan. Or C, start farting. I kind of think it's A, but I like the way you said leather cardigan. I might have to go with B. You like A, which is the puppet. You've a Prince Eric of the Drunk who didn't normally appear in the Kingdom of Make Believe. But you like the way I said leather cardigan. Yes. Are both of those wrong? Are both the are both wrong. Is it B? It is. Okay, cool. Let's go see it. You're right. Yes. Fred is farting. Hey, what? That's what he would do. His widow, Gene, says, "He would just raise one cheek and he would look at me and smile." This makes me love him even more. Even more. How could you, and you thought it wasn't possible? It won't be here. One more question, Chris. Here we go. Just this year, a man in Illinois admitted to a police officer that he did something on purpose because he was bored. What was it that he did? Was it A? He crashed his car into the back of the policeman's car. B, he went outside in February and intentionally stuck his tongue to a frozen flagpole. Or C. And he had a Cubs uniform printed up with his name in the back and managed to spend two innings in the dugout before somebody caught him. I think it's A. You think it's A? It was A. It was A. He crashed his car. He was in the back of the leasing scarf. He was like, "What the hell was that?" I was like, "I don't know. I was bored." And then he wasn't bored anymore. Also, how did Curissa Moore do in our quiz? She was gnarly. Three out of three. Curissa Moore is the first ever winner of the Olympic gold medal in women's shortboard surfing a world champion and a living treasure here in our hometown of Honolulu. Curissa Moore, thank you so much for joining us. Curissa Moore. When we come back, baseball hall of famer, Jim Rice explains his complex approach to becoming one of the greatest hitters ever and pay attention because it happens pretty quick. That's when we come back with more "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" from NPR. From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," the NPR news quiz. I'm Alzo Slade and here's your host at the Student Baker Theater and the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Peter Sego. Thank you, Alzo. Thanks, everybody. So, we've been having a lot of fun this week. Because this week, we decided to focus on the past and completely stop thinking about tomorrow. Go to hell, Fleetwood Mac. So, here's some more remarkably fun moments we have with our panelists this year. Alonzo, according to a frightening new study, more than a quarter of 18 to 35 year olds who drink beer do what? Wash down their weed, I don't know. Let's see. Can you give me a hint? That's perfect. If you love your beer, cold and watery. Oh, they put ice in there. They put ice in their beer, according. Ooh. Wow. Well, the entire city is Chicago. We can do it. We can do it. We can do it. We can do it. Depredations, crimes of all kinds, autocrats, planning to live forever. Eight percent of young adults put ice in their beer, completely spitting in the face of decades of put the glass in the freezer technology. The problem here is, of course, that your ice cubes will melt kids and it will water down the beer, which you really want to do, is decant your bud light and drink it at room temperature so it really opens up. Did they actually do these things just to annoy previous generations? Probably. Like what do we hear? Hey, grandpa. Watch this. Plink, plink. Seems like there's an obvious solution here to the problem of warm beer, if you feel that's a problem. Step one, Google does beer freeze. Step two, make beer ice cubes. Step three, forget about the beer ice cubes that you made. Step four, be like, why are these ice cubes so disgusting? Shane, according to Realtors, before deciding to buy a house more and more people are asking to do what? Oh, just use the restroom. Oh, more than that. Oh, spend a night with the Realtor in the master bedroom, the main bedroom. I'm going to give it to you, although the Realtor is not necessarily invited. People want to have sex in the house? He just went there. You went there. You went there, you went right there. No, people want to spend the night in the house. Okay, yeah. Some of us sleep at night, Shane. More and more home buyers are asking to spend the night in the house before they fully commit to buying it. It makes sense. You're spending your life savings, right? You should get the chance to make sure everything works, see what it's like at night, change the locks, and then sell all the current owner's possessions. What is the rationale? Just to see if it's all right? Well, sort of. I mean, they want to see what it's like, some people say, well, I want to see what it feels like to be there alone. I want to see if there's noises at night. And some of the Realtors are like, well, that's okay. Some of them are like, no, because of liability. I mean, what if something goes wrong? And if something really goes wrong, bang, now they have to sell a house that's haunted. Yeah. My childhood home was for sale. And I went to look at it. And the Realtor did not know that I had grown up in this house. And it had been on the market for a really long time. And she said, you know, I wonder if something bad happened in this house. I was like, I could tell you. Sister, I got storied. Lots of bad things happened in this house. Emmy, after an airplane passenger posted photos of the snack or seatmate brought on the flight, people are arguing over whether it is okay to eat what on a plane? Wheatkins? [LAUGHTER] Wheatkins and-- It's not a problem. I'm holding. Are we things problematic in your view? What are wheatkins? [LAUGHTER] How much time do we have? Is that like a communion waitress? Well, I think-- If Trisket hadn't less hair. Oh. [LAUGHTER] Oh, boy. Rebisco, have I got the slogan for you? Bald Trisket's-- Bald Trisket's-- No, I will-- I will bald Trisket's-- That's good. Thanks. No, I will give you a hint, Emmy. What was amazing was she had all these, but she didn't even bring dye to make Easter eggs or anything. Oh. Were they a soft boiled-- hard boiled eggs. Hard boiled eggs. I'm going to go hard boiled eggs. Yes, she had seven hard boiled eggs, and I also would have accepted-- That's a no. Uh, corn in the cob, and an entire whole boiled potato, because those were the side dishes. So she only know how to boil things? Like, what is she? A pilgrim? A seating man. [LAUGHTER] We got to get this lady an oven. Who brings this kind of food on a plane? And paleo-brows are like lady too far. Oh, so-- It sounds like a meal my dog wants to be left alone with stuff. I know. That sounds like witchcraft. Did she-- were they pre-peeled? Because if you have to sit there-- No, this is the thing. All the stuff. The point of the person who posted the picture, she said four of them were peeled, three of them were not yet wet. Witchcraft. That's witchcraft. Man, that's wicking stuff. Yeah, that just made all our astrological science change. Yeah, yeah. So clearly, our theory is this woman bought too many eggs about a week ago, and now she's going to go out of town on a long trip. She didn't want to waste them. Or she's a mongoose. [LAUGHTER] Alex, this week, we learned about a new technology that promises to improve your life by monitoring your health and your wellness, all by placing a tiny camera in your what. [LAUGHTER] Paranem? I don't know. [LAUGHTER] Naturally, that you're not far off. Why? From that? No. Come on, man. Yeah, no. That's part of the view. It's like you take the lens cap off and you put the toilet in your carlet. Not toilet. Yes, in your carlet. Dang it. The legendary bathroom fixture company, Kohler, introduced the decoda. That is a $600 camera that you clamp to your toilet seat. You point it down, and it analyzes your waste to give you valuable health data. Visually? Did you really? Point it up, and your dreams will be haunted forever. [LAUGHTER] Oh, well. Oh, well. Wait, what can it tell? It can analyze your gut health and hydration levels, and also whether or not you've had beats. [LAUGHTER] Now, I'm unclear, I'm unclear in how you actually get to see the photos. I hope it's not that you walk out of the bathroom, and there's like a big screen with them all on it, like after a roller coaster ride. No, actually, of course, this will not be a surprise. You have to subscribe to their service. You pay them $7 a month, and you get to see the photos and your health data. No. I would pay not to see the photos. If you don't pay them, everybody else sees them. I just feel like there's always, like, data leaks and, like, no fun in town. I don't want this to come back to bite me in the butt. Yeah, well, I'll show up. Oh, yeah. But there's no way of talking about this without eventually arriving there, yeah. I would buy this if it let you know when you set a personal best. [LAUGHTER] [MUSIC PLAYING] Finally, in May, I got the thrill of a lifetime. We visited Boston, where I spent much of my childhood, and we got to talk to one of my childhood heroes. All of famer Jim Rice of the Boston Red Sox. As soon as Peter stopped giggling like a ten-year-old boy, he asked Jim, "What is like to walk the streets of Boston like a God among men?" Do you-- do you-- I'm assuming you get-- well, of course, you're also on TV, bro, helping to broadcast Red Sox. And so I'm assuming you get-- you get recognized a lot. Yes, this is a very sports-minded city, regards you playing baseball football, but they know who you are. We hear about Boston-- I am one. A Boston Red Sox fan. So we can be a little abrasive. Does anybody ever give you grief or anything, or are you way beyond that? No. When I first got here being from the South, I was brought up that you speak to everyone as you walking down the streets and things like that. And someone stopped me and said, "We don't do that here." [LAUGHTER] So for me, I can make that adjustment being a something guy and, you know, being hospitable thing, actually. We don't speak. You came up here, and you had manners, and they're like, "That's not what we do in Boston." That was you. So Jim, you played in front of the green monster at Fenway for people who don't know, that's This is very high, close to the ground. in wall that makes left field and family particularly hard to play. Did you just like enjoy yourself and opposing teams would go out there and watch them screw it up? But as a player, this is like your house, which we knew that time we hit the ball, we knew we had a chance to get a double. Now in opposing teams, they didn't have any idea how good I was, they would get a single. So this would happen, right? I mean, it happens sometimes to this day that an opposing player will hit the ball high off the wall. That's a hard hit ball. They're like, I'm taking two, easy. And the next thing you know, you've got it in to second base before they're even rounding the ball. Well, we had a team here another day. I guess they called themselves the Mets, I believe. I've heard of them. And that was a guy. Soto, making all this dough, and he hit one out, he stood there, he tried to style a little bit. Yeah, he was admiring his very style. Thank you. It didn't work out pretty good. No. It's a really high wall. Yeah. It is. It is. You are in the baseball hall of fame, a rare and extraordinary achievement. You were elected in your last year of eligibility, 15th year. I got in my last year. Yeah. And what were you doing when you got the call? Well, I have to say it. I believe you do leave. OK. My mom and I, she was a general hospital, and I was a general hospital, young and arrested. And so, now I'm serious, and so, my whole career, I watched young and arrested. So, when I got the call, I was watching young and arrested. And I was asked, well, you just made it to the hall of fame, I said, look, I'm looking at the young and arrested. Call me back late. I swear to God. For you. For you. Oh. And they call you this, I'm Mr. Rice. I'm calling from Cooperstown, and you're like, wait a minute, just turned out that's not Denise. It's Denise's evil twin. I'll call you back. Well, I knew that because they said, if you get in the hall of fame, you'll call you at a certain time. Right. Don't bother me at 12.30. 12.30 to 1.30? No. It couldn't wait for Bolden Beautiful. Believe it or not, young and arrested are much better than Bolden Beautiful. Oh, I don't think so. You go from a young and arrested to the Bolden Beautiful, a vice versa. And so, if you watched, the guy named is Victor, and I have it on my phone. Oh, he's very famous actor who did this role for me. I have it on my phone, and he called me and said, Jim, I know you watched the young and arrested, congratulations you in the hall of fame. So, you got to call him Victor? I have it on my phone. That's a new phrase. That's a new phrase. That's a new phrase. You said that you watched your whole career. Yeah. So, what did you do during like day games? It's like, Jim, you're up. You're like, no, my stories are wrong. No, no. You could have a tape, but a good friend of mine bought my gunry, which was behind call for this. You play golf a lot. And he asked me one day. He said, why do we always have to play golf and be back at 12.30? Really? Yeah. I didn't smoke. And I didn't really have lunch because I was very nervous. I was so antsy about the game, so I didn't really -- and so that was my downtime to watch young and arrested. Have you ever thought of doing a walk on? I thought about that, but I'm too -- like, yeah, my hands are sweaty now by being up here. I can play in front of a crowd, but this here is terrified. Really? Yeah. Honestly, yeah. I'm sweaty. Oh. Because I'm not accustomed to this. You're not accustomed to sitting in. I got a quick question to -- I never had a chance to talk to Hall of Fame hitter. You guys -- it's about what? Less than a second to decide to hit the ball. So what -- like, what -- can you talk us through the mechanics of when you decide to swing and don't? Like, how does that work? Seaball, hitbow. Seaball, hitbow. [ Laughter ] Seaball, hitbow. [ Laughter ] And that ladies and gentlemen is what we called analytics back in the day. [ Laughter ] Well, Jim Rice, it is an absolute thrill for me personally to talk to you. And we have invited you here to play a game that this time we're calling -- watch out for these green monsters. So as we said, you're one of three Hall of Famers so far to play in front of the green monster in Fenway Park. So we're going to ask you about actual monsters that are green. Answer two to three correctly. You'll win a prize for one of our listeners, Bill, who is the legendary Jim Rice playing for. Colton Johnson of Boston, Massachusetts. [ Cheers and applause ] You got this. Here's the first question. The very green, incredible Hall has been smashing things since his appearance in the comics in 1962. But one of his most exciting adventures happened in the 1990s, which saw the incredible Hulk taking on what enemy? A, 100 baby ducks, B, the boy band, new kids on the block, or C, Marvel's quarterly financial report and future projected earnings. See question, answer question. Exactly. Number three. Number three. You're right. This is the Marvel annual report, which was printed that year as a comic book in which the Hulk discussed publishing revenues with stockholders. That's very good. In Dr. Sus' book, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the Grinch is shown in black and white. And the Grinch only became green for the animated TV version. How did animator Chuck Jones decide the Grinch should be that shade of green? A, it happens to be the exact same shade as stomach bile. B, it was the same color as the really ugly rental car he took to meet Dr. Sus or see his ink supplier was having a sale on that shade the week they went into production. I'll go with C. You're going to go with C, his ink supplier was having a make-em-green, it's cheated. No, it was actually the color of the rental car. Nonetheless, I mean, you're used to this, you get a couple of chances to get a hit. Okay. Here's your last question. Sesame Street's Green Monster Oscar the Grouch has been living for decades in a trash can that never gets emptied, which is a good thing, because which of these, according to Sesame Street lore, is in that trash can. A, three tons of Big Bird guano. B, 17 elephants, a bowling alley, a skating rink, and an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Or C, 36 human bones. B, B, and ladies and gentlemen, he hits it out of the park. Yeah. It is B. Oscar's trash can, canonically, is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Bill, how did Jim Rice do in our little game? Two out of three. Hall of Famer, that's a win. Jim Rice is a baseball Hall of Famer. He spent his whole career playing for the Boston Red Sox, and will never pay for his own soda in Boston. Jim Rice, thank you so much for joining us. You're welcome. What an absolute honor to be here. Thank you so much for being here. Jim Rice, ladies and gentlemen, that's it for facing the future while looking backwards at the end of the season. Public adress announcement is Paul Friedman. Our tour manager is Shayna Donald, a program produced by Jennifer Mills, Miles Dernboss, and Lilian King. Special thanks to Monica Hickey, Peter Gwynn is the chains we forged in life. Our visuals host is Emma Choi, technical director from Lorna White. Our CFO is Colin Miller, our production manager is Robert Newhouse, our senior producers Ian Chilock, and the executive producer of Whitway Don't Tell Me is Mike Danforth. Thanks to everybody you heard this week, that would be our panelists, our guests, Bill Curtis, of course, as well as his Able backups, Alzo Slade and Chey Rhyme Fest Smith, and thanks to all of you for listening. I'm Peter Sagan, we'll be back with you next week. This is NPR.