Episode 278 gets recorded with a playoff game going on about 500 feet away. The Braves and Phillies are playing the NL Wild Card at Truist Park, so B-Dawg spends the first part of the show downstairs dealing with the chaos before he finally makes it in. It's been a day, and you can see it on his face.
NBA media days gave us plenty to work with. JJ Redick had the line of the week about the Lakers' starting five, something very strange is happening behind Austin Reaves during his scrum, and Big Shot Bob explains why he never once did a radio station drop. Walker Kessler reportedly pushed his way out of Utah, Kawhi shut down questions before anybody could ask them, and Tyrese Haliburton and Kyrie Irving both say they're fully cleared. Kyrie is coming up on 600 days since his last game, and Robert wants to see him move before he makes any promises.
LeBron says the Sixers have to get comfortable being uncomfortable, which gets us to the real question: who takes a back seat in Philly? Jenners is worried about VJ Edgecombe. Robert says it's Tyrese Maxey and compares it to what happened to Darius Garland in Cleveland. Then he explains why "who's the alpha" doesn't mean much on a team that wins, using the Shaq and Kobe Lakers as proof. (He did not say he was better than Kobe. Jenners tried.)
Also this week, Jalen Duren's contract standoff and the weight clauses in Detroit's offer, which sends Robert into a story about Pat Riley's body fat tests in Miami and why he was happy to be in San Antonio. Giannis meets his first Florida iguanas. And Steph Curry says he played through blurry vision during the Warriors run. Robert isn't buying it, because teams check everything "from the rooter to the tooter." That's your episode title.
On the football side, Michael Penix drops a live "pause" in his postgame, and Iowa's student radio crew barely survives their call of the win over Michigan in the Big House. Then it's college football picks. Jenners is 3-12 on the season, so he's going full George Costanza and picking the opposite of every instinct he has, including against his own Hurricanes at Clemson. Dan Lanning, Lincoln Riley and the big buyout club all come up along the way.
Big Shot of the Week goes to Erin Howell. An 81-year-old man delivering lost airline luggage in Dallas-Fort Worth brought bags to her house, she helped him carry them in, and then she started a GoFundMe that raised $700,000 so he could stop working and pay for his wife's cancer treatment. That turns into a conversation about the healthcare system, and Robert breaks into an ad read for SureCo out of nowhere. Five and a half years into this show, that's how we found out he's the company's chief impact officer.
We wrap with Preseason Prediction Fails, looking back at how far off Vegas and the NBA GMs were last year on the Spurs, Pistons, Pacers, Knicks, Mavs, Lakers and Thunder, along with this season's numbers.
00:00 Intro: Recording During a Braves Playoff Game
01:05 Anniversaries, Gifts & Grandkids
05:04 JJ Redick's Starting Lineup Comment
07:08 Media Day Photo Shoots & Radio Drops
11:20 Walker Kessler's Exit From Utah
13:45 B-Dawg Arrives & Braves vs. Phillies
16:35 LeBron's Sixers: Who Takes a Back Seat?
24:07 Who's the Alpha? Horry on Shaq & Kobe
25:45 Jalen Duren's Contract & Weight Clauses
28:29 Giannis Meets the Miami Iguanas
30:19 Kawhi Shuts Down Questions at Media Day
33:03 Haliburton & Kyrie Are Back
36:06 Steph's Blurry Vision: The Rooter to the Tooter
39:25 Football Audio: Penix's "Pause" & Iowa's Call
41:43 College Football Picks: The Costanza Method
45:25 USC, Oregon & the Big Buyout Club
51:28 Miami at Clemson Pick
54:37 Big Shot of the Week
56:16 Healthcare & Robert's Surprise SureCo Plug
59:27 Game: Preseason Prediction Fails