The Bill Bert Podcast - The Bill Bert Podcast | Episode 23 w. Dave Portnoy

Episode Date: July 22, 2020

Bill and Bert prattle with Dave Portnoy (Barstool Sports, Rodger Goodell's nightmares) about outlasting cancel culture and woke signalers, the early days of Barstool, and the future of Jai Alai.

Hey, you're not looking. Hey, what's up, everybody? It's time for another wonderful episode of The Bill. Bert. Todd. Passed. I'm drinking again, Bill. It never goes back to you.

I'm drinking again, Bill. I'm drinking. This is a bad time to meet Dave Portnoy, the man who speaks the most reckless ever that I've ever seen, which I love about you, Dave. But this is, when I drink around guys like you I get in trouble right now I like that's one thing I gotta say just starting off it is refreshing to see a company that when all of these people that are just I don't know whatever

the hell they're doing they just see people having a good time I guess and then they come in and they with all of their their own agenda and if you don't drop to your knee like I just see people having a good time i guess and then they come in and they with all of their their own agenda and if you don't drop to your knee like i just see everybody just caves and apologizes we're gonna try to do better and you guys always just like no this is what we're doing we're not doing anything wrong and it just goes away my favorite one bird i don't know if you know this one this this kid was just trying to like somehow have dave removed which i don't know if you know this one this this kid was just trying to like somehow have dave removed which i don't know i don't know why that happens a lot so they wanted him removed and and one of their ceos or something is a woman and he was saying oh she's only there in name only and she went back i'm only here in name only this company's grown by, you know, 200% since I've been there. And it really, it actually

exposed the other guy for actually his own sexist views. And then he totally went Claude Lemieux. He just turtled up, disappeared, fucking disappeared. Cause that's what I was waiting for. I was sitting there going, all right, how's this kid going to talk his way out of that? He just folded up his tent and left. And then what killed me was all those woke signalers didn't go after him for looking at a woman in that power position and making the assumption that she was only there in name only. Oh, did I enjoy that. My favorite Erica Nardini story.

And I mean, obviously, times are, I've been doing Barstool 15 years, 17 years. Times are as crazy as they've ever been right now with what we're doing. But Erica wore a feminist sweatshirt. It's just a feminist on it. And somebody who hated us and hated her tweeted about it. And they're like, look at this fake feminist wearing a feminist sweatshirt. She just tweeted back at the girl. It's cashmere, bitch.

That's my favorite thing she's ever done. You know, I got to be honest with you. I feel that so much more of the majority is cool with other people doing their thing. And that just seems to be like this lunatic sort of fringe on both sides. Like I was joking with a buddy of mine saying both political parties needed to drop 30 pounds of crazy

and then go into November. And it's, I don't know, I just wish more corporations would look at your business model when there's just this lunacy coming out and just be like, no, that's ridiculous. And just realize that there's no bite coming back after that. And if you just, if you support the artist, the creative person, or the person that they're coming after, that it just kind of all goes away.

And just watching people, I don't know, the amount of people I've seen apologize who've done nothing. Yeah, and I mean, you're obviously, both of you guys, we fashion ourselves as comedians. So, you know, we got in hot water, I got in hot water, I'm always getting in hot water. But more recently, I don't know what the shit all over my hand is. More recently, you guys create hot water.

That fucking Jeremy Renick thing, just you guys being around, like I said, man, people show up to your compound and get reckless. It's part of your fucking brand. I do it, and that fucking Jeremy definitely does it. Yeah, well, I always look at it in a weird way. I've heard people compare it to like old Stern, you know, because you know,

when you're sitting down on with them that they're pretty, you know, they're on the edge and you want to fit in and you want to be funny. And, and when you do that in that environment, you can say things you want to ordinarily say where I always say, we kind of get in trouble or treated what I would say say, I don't know, unfairly is the word. Like if Bill or you go to a comedy show, you know you're in a comedy club.

People bought the tickets. A lot of times the things we say, I feel like they're things people aren't giving the background that we're trying to entertain and be funny. And we're making fun of everybody. It's like somebody who goes into you know a comedy club who didn't buy a ticket walks out you'll be like you never believe what this guy said but you don't give the background that it was in a comedy club and you didn't buy a ticket so yeah uh yeah and it's interesting times now and like to what bill is saying social media just makes it the fucking worst because you know a few people or a big group that you can amplify your

voice you know directly at companies and it's a shit show out there it's a shit show and it's every day somebody else is getting canceled they're trying to be canceled do you find yourself do you find yourself dave i know this is going to sound like a weird question but do you find yourself getting behind anyone who's about to get canceled, be it Deshaun Jackson or Nick Cannon. Like when you watch them bend at the knee, you're like, God damn it, man. I thought Nick was going to pull this one off. I literally thought. I mean, I'm Jewish, so I didn't read too much into Deshaun Watson.

I'm Deshaun Jackson. I didn't love him quoting Hitler. Like I'm not a big Hitler guy, so. I'm going to be like having his back, you know, the H man's pretty tough, but you know, we we've been doing it for 20 years in kind of where I, I got in hot water. I'm so used to people coming after me that when you dig through what I've been saying for fucking 20 years,

and I got in a huge amount of trouble recently for a couple things as someone I know who fucking hates me I don't know who it is but they've been trying to cancel me forever they went back they dug through everything we said and like five years ago we had a Super Bowl party and we had Ja Rule and Ashanti like that's who we booked as the talent because we couldn't do yeah we couldn't do like Bieber or Taylor Swift. We had to do something a little different. So we went old school. And to announce it, I did a big emergency press conference and all this shit. And I sang Jarul's top five songs, like 30 seconds of each.

One of them has the N-word in it, and I sang it. Not many people said anything back in the day. This became a huge fucking issue for me now and they're like apologize for apologize and whether it's the way i said it i'm like listen i'm not gonna apologize for it because you're gonna go back and try to find everything that i'm trying to say like it i didn't mean it to be offensive i'll only apologize for things that i mean with hate i didn't really i'm singing a lyric. I didn't realize it. Some of my old employees got very upset.

African-Americans are like, well, you put us out on an island. And I did apologize for that. I'm like, I never mean to do that. I never want them to feel like I don't have their back. And I never mean to truly offend enough people. You can't sing along to a song at this point. Actually, you can. Hold on.

I did an interview with Trinidad James, whose one of his most famous songs is All Gold Everything, and the N-word sang maybe 70 times in it. Like, not even joking, it's part of the chorus. It's just that word repeated over and over again, like someone's got to stutter. And I said to him, I said, how do you feel? Because my daughters have a problem when I sing,

when I'm in that car listening to that song and singing along. And he goes, hey, man, I'm paraphrasing. He's allowed to take back whatever he said to me. But he said, hey, man, I put that art out, and I hope you enjoy it. And if you enjoy it responsibly and you're not, like, obviously being reckless with it and being an asshole, but he goes, then enjoy it. That's my art.

And bro, cancel culture is going way too far when white guys can't listen to hip hop. You just lost all the cancel guys when you said bro. Because then that's going to be, look at these three bros talking about blah, blah, blah. That's what I thought originally. But I'll never do it again. There was enough outrage. There's enough people but I'll never do it again. There was enough outrage.

There's enough people. I'll never fucking do it. And the only take I take on, listen, I'm not a black guy, so I'm not going to tell them how they should feel. But my impression, if you ask ten black people, five will say, can't sing it, can't do it. Five will say, good. And I'm like, oh, listen, I don't want to.

That's like heat. I always look at it as it's intent Are you trying to make people feel better? Exactly. That's what I can't stand is when you tell them what your intent is now, obviously you could lie But like when you're like, no, that's not how I meant the joke. That's how you took it I have to apologize for how you took it or they want you to You know, I also love to like it's it's like that happened five years ago the people bitch and I want to be

like how old were you you like 25 when I did this it took you to you a 30 to figure out that this bothered you I hear you I hear I want to start it I don't want to start it all back up again so whatever I'm just saying same page, but then I'm running this whole story. I don't want to start it all back up again, so whatever. I'm just saying it's nice to see somebody, a company, not like just like – it's how we end up going too far to the left or too far to the right. They both suck. You just keep backing up, backing up, backing up, backing up, backing up. It just becomes like this crazy thing.

So, I mean, I don't know. I think at this point when you can politicize a virus, I think- Seriously. Yeah, we're in trouble right now. This is not a good look for the world. We're showing that we're divided and we're weak. So- Yeah, I've always said that. We should be in unison that we fucking don't like corona. Like that should be something we can all agree on. Hey, I have a question. You guys, you guys met

through a video Bill shot 10 years ago. Is that how you guys like kind of hooked up for the first time? It was. Andrew was saying,

you got to read these guys Barstool Sports. They're hilarious. And he started sending me their articles. And I think, I don't know if you were just in Boston

at the time or whatever. It was a long time ago and like I had just started out on my podcast so he's like you got he goes on and Andrew called he goes I'm telling these guys they're gonna fucking blow up there's an overlap and fan base blah blah blah so we ended up I ended up I was in Boston at the time and I have my little handheld shit I still have that stuff to be honest with you. And I think you were moving or something. It was like a weird fucking episode like Bill Burr in my kitchen. We just sat in my fucking kitchen

for like two hours. No one's ever done that. And he said, the reason why I liked him was because when he was going to do an interview and he knew that people were just going to try to take him down, he would wear a disrespectful shirt. If he dressed up, it meant I respect you as a reporter and he would try to look sharp. try to take him down, he would wear a disrespectful shirt. He wouldn't, if he dressed up, it meant, I respect you as a reporter,

and he would try to look sharp. But if he didn't, he'd wear some ridiculous Hawaiian shirt or whatever, and he tells me that. And while I'm interviewing him, he kinda had a ridiculous shirt on. So I'm thinking like, is he wearing this shirt because he's moving? Because I got him in the middle of a move?

Or does he think that I'm gonna fuck with him? So I was a little uncomfortable in the beginning, and then we just sort of smoothed it out. I'm like, all right, this guy's just a, you know, he's a Boston guy fan of the team. So believe it or not, that was like 10 years ago. I didn't go back and look at the video because of what you said at the beginning of this, Bert was saying like, Jesus Christ, Bill, you look like a little boy, which is funny because I was 42. I'm now 52. And it's just like, I don't need to know that I make a 42-year-old look old at this point. I feel like that's really, and I was kind of new

to what you were doing. I mean, I knew you were, but obviously I know you a lot better. I don't know. I feel like that's when you started exploding. Like we were talking before the show, you know, I was watching the King of Staten Island, your main character. I mean, you're exploding. Like, we were talking before the show, you know, I was watching the King of Staten Island, your main character. I mean, you're everywhere. Like, I turn on the little guy, Baby Yoda, you're in there. I mean, you're fucking everywhere. Well, it's a balance. You got to be out there, but if you're everywhere,

and then all of a sudden, like, I'm a big Affleck fan, and the tipping point when he was dating J-Lo and they were going to Red Sox games. And all of a sudden you start to like not being able to get away from somebody. I kind of learned watching that because I saw it like sort of public perception turn on that guy. I'm like, wait, this guy makes fucking great movies. He's an even better director. What is the problem? And I kind of learned through that.

And then I watched like guys like Chris Rock and Beastie Boys were really good at like when they had something to promote, they were out there. And then when it was over, they just pulled back. So, I mean, it's kind of hard to do when I do a video podcast every week. Yeah, you're out there. Three of them. But Dave, here's a question I want to ask both you guys. That video is about LeBron's decision. And one of the most fascinating things that I feel like I pulled away,

and I watched that documentary on the decision. I don't know if you saw it, but it's athletes creating their own narrative. Like being the dictator of their own narrative. And after watching the last dance, you go, oh, that's our future. There possibly could be no other narrative other than the ones the athletes allow.

And what's crazy is without even – I watched, Dave, I watched a video you had about your high school baseball career. And I was like – I came away and I was like, Dave Portnoy is a fucking legend, bro. He's one of the best baseball players no one ever – and then I realized, oh, Dave fucking Portnoy directed that. Of course he is a fucking legend, bro. He's one of the best baseball players no one ever – and then I realized, oh, Dave fucking Portnoy directed that. Of course he's a fucking legend. Right, right, right.

What do you guys think about – My dad's name is Walter Payton. Your dad goes, I walked away from that field, and they said that's the best athlete I've ever seen play the ball. But what do you think about athletes in the future after The Last Dance? Their narrative is the one you're going to hear. But what do you think about athletes in the future after the last dance? Just their narrative is the one you're going to hear. Yeah, and I think it's even before that, to be honest.

Again, not to – it's social media. Like once the athletes are able to kind of cut out, you have guys doing, you know, their own press releases, their own announcements, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. But you can cut through. You can speak directly. So that's been a change that's been happening. I mean, obviously LeBron with ESPN and all that takes it to like the next level. But if you want to speak directly to, you know, the consumer, you can do it. And it's all social media. Yeah, we've been doing it with podcasting.

When you talk, Bill, about not overexposing yourself it's like you you only show the parts of yourself that we decide to show on this show it's such a weird way do you think that's good it's it's been overall it's been i think it's been a good thing for athletes too because you know with that jordan documentary where they were sitting like you know there was like some people in the press that got a little pissy about it that it was like he had final cut and all that and I was like great because you guys have been telling his story for almost 40 years I want to hear what is he what is his version right like what does he think that that that he is and um I don't know there was a lot of stuff about Jordan I never I never understood why people had a problem with the hall of fame speech

it's just like what you're you're upset that that was the mentality you had to have so you could have you could watch the greatest basketball player that ever I I never understood why um I don't know the press and people just get like so pissy about that it's just like let the guy you know if that's how he is that's how he is, that's how he is. He's not hurting anybody. He's fucking playing a game. I love how he greenlit that documentary, like the day that LeBron won the championship with the Cavs. That's like my favorite part of that. No, I have to be honest.

Like, you know, how the NBA, I feel like they've sold their soul to the super team, where they kind of, it's like every year there seems to be an all-star team, either both the west or one in the east one in the west ideally and then in the final so then it's sort of a foregone conclusion that these two teams are going to make it to the finals and um i just liked how you know i mean if they if they did it the same way they do it now back then that all that shit with Jordan lifting the weights trying to get past the Pistons and now those great battles that those two incredible teams had he just

would he would have just jumped on the the Pistons after maybe the second year he just would have jumped on them and then he you know then the Pistons win like five in a row or something. And I'm not a fan. I always equate it to like when you were a little kid and you chose up teams outside at recess. Even in the third grade, if it got too lopsided, even in third grade, you were like, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. You sort of like, where would the satisfaction be

if all the athletes beat up the mathletes? And I just feel like that's gone in the NBA right now. True hatred. Like, because everyone's, like, friends and all the other – I feel like there's not the true hatred. Like, you watch the Jordan, like – I laughed every time Jordan during that. He just – I fucking hate Isaiah.

Like, no matter – well, you gave him an inch. He's like, I fucking hate Isaiah Thomas. I still fucking hate him. No one can convince me that guy's not an asshole was my favorite quote. What about Bill Lambert? Bill Lambert had the greatest quote ever. Because what's his face? Isaiah was sort of, you know, trying to dance his way out of that walking off the court.

And they said to Bill Lambert, they go, do you regret doing that? He goes, no, fuck those guys. Because when we won it, they said we're not real champions. And I'm like, ah, they still hate each other. I love that. I love it.

And that, that's gone now in the NBA. And it was the Celtics hating the Pistons. My favorite rant. I love like the Johnny most when he's grabbing the whole microphone.

He's like, the dirty way they do things here. Jake O'Donnell. Yeah. Oh yeah. You know what's funny? Out here in LA, one of my favorite sportscaster to watch is the one

that has Michael Cooper on it and whenever they show a Celtic highlight or the Lakers play the Celtics the level of hatred that that man still has for the Celtics it's weird as a sports fan it warms my heart I'm like this guy he beat like they you know the 80s they got the best of us and he's still you would think that we won five and they won three in the 80s the way he he's like I think he's mad that they that they lost it still in 84 all of that all of it it's not just that like I love to watch one of my favorite documentaries the 30s and 30s of the old Miami Hurricanes where they just used to like dance. And like, I don't like sports.

I don't think you don't need, I'm very anti sportsmanship in sports. Like I like hatred. I like celebrating. I like running it in. It's entertainment. That's what I like. Everyone, everyone now shake hands, kissy kissy.

Can't celebrate, can't do this. I hate that. I hate it. I like it to a point. I don't like the sportsmanship where if you make a good play, I got to watch you do a 20-minute dance. But then if you fuck up and get burned, you get to pretend grab your hamstring and run to the fucking locker room.

You know, I mean. You're talking about our guy though now, Bill, because that's Cam Newton 101. Let's just listen to the deal. I don't know anything about this guy, but like quoting all those animals and all of that shit. I mean, this guy's definitely out there.

And I feel like, you know, with a guy like that, when you, when you leave Carol, a big red flag to me is who needs fucking Cam Newton more than the Carolina Panthers. And they let the guy go for nothing.

It's like, what the fuck is with that? How did it go that sour? Now, it could have been the ownership. So I don't know. But I know when a guy like that comes into a place that's used to winning, they sort of have to be on good behavior. And it takes about a season and a half before you figure out if the person

bought in or they're actually a good dude and the ownership sucked, which is what I'm hoping is going to happen. So I think we're going to have a good season with the guy, but I think we find out who was right. Carolina ownership. The Patriots have a long history. I mean, Randy Moss,

Corey Dillon, they've taken guys who have been, you know, superstars, outcasts. I'm excited. We'll see. But he,

I mean, he does this thing. He does the Superman. I mean, they can be down 40 and he gets the first down and he's, he's pointing, he's celebrating, he does this thing. He does the Superman. I mean, they can be down 40, and he gets the first down, and he's pointing, he's celebrating, he's getting football. That's what I love because he tweeted. He goes, I'm sick of being humble.

It's like every time you score, you rip open your shirt like you're Superman. But I'm thinking maybe I'm just being an old man. Maybe compared to what other guys are doing, that's humble. He's not, but I'm all in on it now. He's our guy, so, fuck, I'll start doing it. I'll write a blog and fucking rip my shirt open. I'm all in on it now. He's our guy.

You got to embrace it. Good competitiveness is appreciated on both sides. When we were in – I went to Florida State, and we played Miami, and I remember Warren Sapp led a fucking group of just fucking massive dudes out to the center where they had the fucking Indians head right at the Seminole, and they grabbed patches of dirt and walked away. And, like, that was before the fucking game.

And me and my boyfriend, each other, going, this is going to be a good fucking game. Yeah, that's what I love. I love the – I remember I'm a Michigan guy. A couple years ago, Devin Bush, before the game, went into the end zone where the Spartan was and tried to remove it with his cleat. Like that,

that's the shit that I fucking love. You know one of my favorite ones? Yeah, when Reefwood is married, man, they fucking piss and moan. What the fuck? One of my favorite ones was when Jim Harbaugh was coaching at Stanford and he, Pete Carroll was still with USC and they were beating the shit out of him. They scored another touchdown. Stanford did

at the end of the game. He went for two points like fucking Woody Hayes, right? And in the end, Pete Carroll was just like, he's like, hey, bro, what's your problem? Whatever. And he was basic. I forget if he said it right then or if he said it the other game. He's like, what are you talking? You've been doing that forever in this division. When he had all of those guys, he was running up the score, trying to get up the rankings. And he did it to Stanford. And I love that Jim Harbaugh took that personally. Some shit happened.

Harbaugh is Stanford. Yeah, Stanford did the USC. Was Woody Hayes the guy? I think it was Michigan. I think that's right. He went for two in a blowout. I think that's right. He went for two in a blowout. They're like, why'd you go for two? He's like, because you can't go for three. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Woody Hayes was, there's never going to be another. Did you ever see that

Burt when towards the end of his career, I think they were playing Clemson. Some team had orange in their uniform and the kid on the other team intercepted the ball and got pushed out of bounds near him. And he was so mad. He grabbed him slash sort of punched him in the face. And he was like almost 70. They don't make them like that anymore. Well, you're not allowed to, you'd be like thrown in prison. Yeah. I know. Well, let me like, then here's a question I have, cause I'm reading this Ben sort of slowly getting through this book called the

code in hockey. I thought you were going to say I'm reading this, been sort of slowly getting through this book called The Code in Hockey. I thought you were going to say, I'm reading this Ben Roethlisberg autobiography. Haven't got to that summertime read yet. I just like, I never questioned fighting in hockey. I just thought it was cool as shit and I loved it, but I could never quite explain it. I always knew the players were talking about, well, if it doesn't happen, the game's going to get out of control. And I now sort of understand

it reading the book, like that these guys come out on the ice and sometimes an enforcer doesn't even need to fight. This is like the manliest shit ever. Sometimes the big guy gets out there and right before a face-off, he just goes, hey guys, we need to settle this down. You know, somebody might get hurt. And everybody's just like,, shit, he's getting mad. And it brings it back down again. And they're saying if they don't have those guys out there, which I think the Bruins saw last year in the finals when we didn't have anybody to make people accountable for their actions, that it is going to get out of control. I just wonder why the league can't somehow just through fines and throwing people out of the league, they just can't get out of the game if they actually

wanted to. Does that make sense? Yeah, I think it's probably one of those fine lines. It's, you know, again, it's not to sound like soccer, people talk about concussions and all that. But, you know, I think it's it's not to sound like soft but every people talk about concussions and all that but i you know i think it's a push-pull they probably don't want it totally out of the game it is part of the game but you're trying to market stuff and everything pisses everybody off so uh i think it's a big thing you know the concussion thing is why to me that they want to get rid of it yeah well yeah and that and then also i think they've always been envious of the other three sports, where, you know, they're all the way back where baseball was America's pastime, and in their lifetime of being a sports league, they saw the NFL run down,

the MLB, they saw the NBA become number one, they saw everybody sort of been number one and held the belt and they never have. And then to see the UFC come out of nowhere and pass all of them and go global and get to a level where they're almost fucking with international soccer.

I just think that they try to make the, they've never sort of been comfortable with being the rogue. Like you're that rogue sport where you just have this hardcore following. So they're always constantly changing the game to sort of try to appease non-hockey fans. Yeah. Like, you know, those assholes every four years who watch like Olympic hockey

and they're like, if this is how the NHL was, I would watch it. No, you're still going to watch NBA. You're too invested in it. You've been watching it for like 25 years. So I don't know. Have you been checking out any of that NHL? I think it just started back up again. Were they going to do like a round robin or something like that?

No, I mean, I'll watch that. But it's, I mean, that's more like, like whoever wins that, are you going to be like their Stanley Cup champs? I mean, not really, right? Right. So it's kind of, I'll watch it because I'm desperate for sports and I'm desperate for things to watch, but I won't put any credence. I mean, I don't know.

All of it, the bubble – I mean, nothing's real. I will say I think it's funny, right? Not funny, but all the NFL players are complaining right now, you know, like there's no COVID safety. Like Roger goodell gives a fuck about their safety no shit he doesn't care like he's like he doesn't care about nothing but they'll be on the field one way or the other the nfl is happening that's a guarantee what about what about what about like uh because i know i know you're a betting guy and like and bill and

i have a bet that he actually. He actually wins, though. Although those guys. That ain't true. No? No. You do better than most, though. Every time I turn you on, you're killing it. Yeah, maybe.

But then I probably bet more. Like, I have horses going right now. I don't even probably get my ass whipped right now. Do you bet on yourself? On your skills? What skills do I have? Skills would be the company. I bet on my company. I made a lot i have a skill skills would be the company i bet on my company i made a lot of money on myself with barstool but like i don't have any i can't be

like hey i'm gonna go beat carl lewis in a race no let me ask i have a bet bill and i have a bet that i can't hit uh what is it a 35 year yard field goal how many how many kicks do you get one kick one no chance. You get 40. Hold on. Stop, stop, stop. You're writing that off way too quick as a betting man. You have one kick? One kick.

No chance. Come on. Can I get action on this? No chance. Let's get action on it. We're going to bankroll it, dude. We're going to get you some tight football pants. And what are the odds here?

Pat McAfee watched me kick and says, I think you got a shot. No, I mean, Pat McAfee is one of the worst gamblers I've ever met. He had it. Pat McAfee hadn't placed a bet

until two years ago in his life. I had to teach him what a fucking spread is. So I'm not betting the house on Pat McAfee. Acknowledge it. He's also like one of the nicer humans there is. So I don't see Pat McAfee even when he's also one of the nicer humans there is.

So I don't see Pat McAfee even when he's like, this guy has no chance to be like, no. He thought it was a make-a-wish segment. Yeah. That wasn't the way to get me like, oh, Pat McAfee said he would do it. Bro. Bro. Dude, Dave, you have no idea the amount of bets.

Because this is the way my brain works. I only bet on myself. I always bet on myself. I was like, all right, what can I challenge Dave to? Like, you got a beautiful swing. He's like a white Wesley Snipes. Yeah. You got a beautiful left-handed swing.

I'm not challenging you to a home run derby. I think you might got me on that. I definitely can beat you pitching. And, like, I'm going through all the list of things, and then I just go back and I go, fucking field goal. Next rough and rowdy. In the middle of things, and then I just go back and I go, fucking field goal. Next rough and rowdy. In the middle of it, you throw up a fucking goal post. I come out.

Everyone puts their money in right then. I've never tried to kick. I have no idea how it would be. I wouldn't think I'd be a great kicker. I'm just thinking somebody who's not a kicker, one kick, 35 yards, no chance. Very easy. Well, it's definitely not very easy. Like, NFL guys miss 35-yard field.

Trying to sucker us in is what's happening here. He's talking a little bit of shit here. I get it. You're selling the fight, Bert. No. Hey, so you've had a lot of really great ideas. Like, Saturdays are for the boys, one of my favorite things ever. My daughters have those shirts.

My daughters have those shirts. Fucking rough and rowdy. You have so many brilliant ideas. I want to know the ones that didn't pan out that you were like hold on guys fucking yeah so we did a concert tour the closest we've ever been to being out of business so back in like 2009 or 10 we we hired a local musician his name was sam adams and we went to like six different schools in new england um and went really well. Like we were supposed to do frat basements. We ended up doing like the Mullen Center at UMass and URI. And I thought to myself,

we paid 20 grand for six shows. It was like, huh, if we're selling 3000 tickets for these, and I go hire some real talent or bigger name talent at the time for all these venues, we can make a fucking ton of money. So I had this guy, Mike Posner. The song was like cooler than me at the time. I had Mac Miller. I paid 500 bucks for Mac Miller. That's how early he was.

Like that's how much his cost was. Wally and a bunch of, but, and then I bought the venue. So I was, I was spending close to 300 grand a show when it was all done. And we didn't sell any fucking tickets. I mean, I thought we were going out of business. If I couldn't get out of the venues,

like we were four wall in the venues, renting them. If I couldn't get out with a cancellation fee, that would have been the end of Barstool. That was a total disaster. You know what? A promoter in Boston told me that's how the sullivan family lost the uh patriots it's because they didn't realize how big michael

jackson's stage was going to be because he was competing with prince and they thought he was going to have like the standard size like the rolling stones that somebody used and he came out with this giant thing ate up all of these seats, specifically down low too. And then the Foxborough one got canceled. And that was like 83 or something. It took until about 1990 where they just finally lost the team. Yeah, I've heard similar versions of that. Yeah, that's a tough, tough business.

What the hell was I just going to ask you in the middle of the talk? Super tough business because it's like the one you get in talent, the promoter angle, which is what we were, especially Live Nation drives up the prices, but it's like they basically the promoter takes all the risk and you're capped at how much you can make.

So it's a brutal business. We don't do that anymore. You don't have to tell this to the guy starting a drive-in movie theater tour. It's a fucking, it's an upside down business where you've got to sell out everything. This podcast is brought to you by Policy Genius. Shopping for life insurance can raise a lot of questions. How much coverage you need, which insurance company is best for you, how much should it even cost,

and at a time when it's more important than ever to save money or have life insurance, the pandemic is making it a little more complicated to shop for it. That's where Policy Genius can help. As a life insurance marketplace backed by a team of experts, Policy Genius is keeping track of all the changes in the marketplace so you don't have to. They will find the right amount of coverage for the best possible price without a headache. Policy Genius compares the quotes from the top life insurance companies in one place. It takes just a few minutes to compare quotes from the top insurers to find you your best price. This doesn't just save a lot of legwork, it also saves money. It can save you up to $1,500 or more a year by using PolicyGenius to compare life insurance policies. Once you apply, PolicyGenius team will handle all the paperwork and red tape for free.

So if you hit any speed pumps during the actual application process, you can tell that I'm drunk, right? They'll be there to take care of everything. So if you need life insurance, but if you're unsure where to start, head to policygenius.com. Policy Genius will find you the best rate and handle the process completely. They'll get you and your family protected and hopefully give you one less thing to worry about. Try it today at policygenius.com. All right. It's Helix, everybody. Helix, are you not able to sleep today because of today's politics? You love life.

Any other drama you talk about? Helix Sleep makes personalized mattresses made right here in America and shipped straight to your door with free no-contact delivery, free returns, and 100-night sleep trial. To choose a mattress, Helix made a quiz that just takes two minutes to complete, matches your body type and sleep preferences to the perfect mattress for you. If you like the mattress, if you like a mattress that's really soft or firm, if you sleep on your side or your back or your stomach, if you sleep really hot, with Helix, there's a specific mattress for each and everybody's unique taste.

I love Helix, evidently, but you don't need to take my word for it. Helix was awarded. You know what it is? I haven't bought a new mattress in a while, so I've got to use these guys. Helix or Helix was awarded the number one best overall mattress picks. Let me do that again. I don't want to fuck with these guys. I love Helix or Helix was awarded the number one best overall mattress picks. Let me do that again. I don't want to fuck with these guys. I love Helix or Helix. I love Helix. Let me do this again. I love Helix, but you don't need to take my word for it. Helix was awarded the number one best overall mattress picks of 2020 by GQ, Wired Magazine, and Apartment Therapy. GQ, Wired Magazine, and Apartment Therapy. Just go to helixsleep.com slash Bill Burtt,

take their two-minute quiz, and they'll match you to a customized mattress that will give you the best sleep of your life. They have a 10-year warranty, and you get to try it out for 100 nights risk-free. They'll even pick it up and give you a full refund if you don't love it. Gross, but you will. Right now, Helix is offering up to $200 off a mattress for our listeners. Get up to $200 off at helixsleep.com slash billburke. This podcast is brought to you by SimpliSafe. Here's the thing about home security companies. Most trap you with high prices, tricky contracts, and lousy customer service support. So while there are a lot of options out there,

there's only one no-brainer. SimpliSafe has everything you need to protect your home with none of the drawbacks of traditional home security. It's got an arsenal of sensors and cameras to blanket every room, window, and door tailored specifically for your home. Professional monitors keep watch day and night, ready to send to police, fire, or medical professionals if there's an emergency.

You can set it up yourself in just under an hour. Just peel and stick the sensors exactly where you need them. No technicians required. And there's no contract, no pushy sales guy, no hidden fees, no fine print. And you can catch your kids sneaking out the window to take out the family car. And I got two teenagers. This is what I love. And what I love more than anything, this all starts at just $15 a month. I'm not the only one who thinks SimpliSafe is great. U.S. News and World Report named it the best overall home security in 2020.

Try SimpliSafe today at simplpliSafe.com slash Bill Burt. You get free shipping and a 60-day risk-free trial. There is nothing to lose. That is SimpliSafe.com slash Bill Burt. Bill, what were you going to ask him? I have a million questions for Dave. I was going to, Alvin, I wanted to talk rough and rowdy because I got to hang on a couple of those.

Yes, rough and rowdy fucking rocks talk rough and rowdy cause I got to hang on a couple of nights. Rowdy fucking rocks. Rowdy. Fuck bill. I noticed the milk man was my introduced me to it. And I was, and it's really when I started discovering you guys and going like, fuck Saturday.

I've been saying that dudes have been coming up to me at shows with cameras. What a Saturday Saturdays are the boys. I always say it. I didn't even know what the fuck it was. But Riff did Rough and Rowdy and I am fucking addicted. No, and that first venue that we did,

was that in Charlotte? The house that Rick and Claire... No, I did one in Ohio. I only did two. I did one in Ohio and then we did one down in Charlotte. It was an old wrestling arena and i've been dying to go back there to do a show i was because it was like i just the way they packed them in it was like an old school venue so there wasn't any luxury boxes and nothing it's one of my favorite venues i've ever been in you could feel the history that just

as a comedian rick flair is one of the funniest people that's ever existed and his monologues whatever you call it like him doing the promos is better than most of the shit i've ever written total in my whole career just i i'd be like doing like a venue like carlin or prior did so i've been wanting to go back there and um is there as far as like a uh that event is there a way because the crowd is just so much part of that event is there, as far as like that event, is there a way, because the crowd is just so much part of that event, is there a way during this fucking COVID shit where we keep going back and forth about slowing it down and it comes back, is there a way that you guys are thinking of trying to do one of those?

We'd stopped. I mean, we're bad at shit like that. The amount of work and effort that probably has to go into getting it approved. Like even Dana White, I mean, he had the thing set up. It got shut down like two or three times before he was able to do it. I guess it's state to state. We're also, a part of us was like the way people come at us, we'll do it, and then people blame COVID on us.

You said Dana White shut it down? No, no. I'm saying Dana. He did Fight Island. And he had a couple events that were shut down before he was able to get it off. So it just seems like too much of a fucking headache right now with everything going on with COVID. Well, I have a good theme if you want the next one. Because you always have like the towns versus towns.

Yeah, yeah. Well, considering everything's been politicized, why don't you politicize rough and rowdy and you have like the snowflakes versus the trumpsters or something like mask wearers versus non-mask wearers covid or some shit i don't know do it like right before the election i know antifa versus proud boy would be a big fucking get on youtube views antifa versus proud boy oh yeah yeah big time big time dave i'm gonna ask you a question i'm sure you had to answer a million times but i'm dying to know and i've and i've watched a lot of of content on you if you can give me almost like a hop skip year by year of the progression of how you started your business, I'd be fascinated.

Because I know it started off as a legit magazine or like a legit newspaper. And it was all about getting money from gambling sites to pay for the newspaper. But now I've been to your offices. I've literally pilfered your merch store for my daughters. They're obsessed. Dude, I wore a zillion beers today grilling. And so I want to know, like, this may be too much for this podcast,

but, like, how you started your business and how you look at your business on making money because so many dudes want to be you. Right. Well, that's a big statement. You know. Bill and I would love to have a barstool sports. What you do is fucking impressive, brother.

Yeah, you know, a lot of it is I don't have, like, a business degree, and it's all been wildly organic. There is no – in fact, a lot of people ask me, like, what do you think – whenever anybody asks me, like, from a business perspective or whatever, like, what do you think is going asks me like from a business perspective or whatever like what do you think's gonna happen in like two years it's like the way the world moves the way you know there's movements the way technology moves i don't know what the fuck's gonna happen in the next month like i didn't know tiktok was gonna be around and fucking two months ago so anybody who's like i know what the future is gonna bring is. We just react really quickly and we pivot to what we think

people want. We're not stuck to anything. If it sucks, move away. If it's good, move towards it. I mean, Saturday for the boys, that wasn't planned out. That was super organic. It just caught fire. And then we put the weight behind it. Rough and Rowdy was organic. Like I never thought we'd own it or buy it. I saw it 10 years ago. I'm like, this is fucking amazing. So it's like just, I guess, trusting our gut and moving along with it. You know, like as crazy as it sounds. So we started a newspaper. And the only reason we went online or got a website is a guy.

So I used to wake up and hand the newspaper out outside subway stations in Boston. A guy who I had been giving it to moved to New York. He's like, hey, I love reading reading this I'm moving to New York if I build you a website will you put the newspaper on the website so I'm like yeah fucking knock yourself out dude but it's so it's just been you know always authentic always trying to stay real the like what we're doing was just make people laugh and moving quickly and who knows everything moves so fucking quick. You know, sports gambling being legalized, that was huge for us.

Like, we sold the company for fucking $450 million. I think that was going to happen. If they didn't legalize sports gambling, no chance. So it's just being, my dad used to say, like, oars in the water. Just make sure you're fucking swimming and you're there and when something's ready to hit take advantage of it all right bill my dad bill his dad said oars in the water my dad said eat shit cash checks what did your dad say what did my dad say uh i don't want to hear it shut the fuck up christ i tired. Get these goddamn kids away from me. My dad was just,

hey, Christ, you know, you get yourself a cheeseburger, you know, you're going to be fine. My dad's a major cheerleader. Christ, Bill, you're out there, you're telling jokes, you're making people laugh. There's really no, it's just, my dad was either super angry or super positive but i after a while i just was like this is just how he blows off steam i fucking love my dad my dad is the best but you know when he was younger it was just like and i didn't understand people i didn't understand the frustrations of a man with you know all those kids um hey i want to ask you this because uh i probably don't want to know the answer, but how do you go about handicapping a horse?

I mean, I love horse racing. Like, I've been a horse racing guy my whole life. My dad used to bring me when I was a kid. As far as who's done better, I own some horses now. I love it. You either have the daily racing form. If you don't know what it is like how how fast they've how it's basically you know if you're looking at an athlete you just look at their past history and it's like all right it's good it's bad um but it's great i mean it's an interesting industry there's nothing you want to do a comedy show just set up a microphone and go

to like uh suffolk downs and just watch the fucking people there. It's a different world of people, and I love it. I've grown up on it. I mean, I usually spend August in Saratoga up in New York. You can't have fans this year, so that sucks. But, yeah, I fucking love it. Yeah, I went to the Kentucky Derby one time, and I was supposed to go again this year,

but that got blown out of the water. But I think you guys retweeted a video. Bert, you got to see this thing where it was like, you know, people like, you know, you're watching a baseball. You're watching a fight. You're acting out fighting. This guy was betting on a horse. He was acting out the guy riding the horse. Yeah, he was with himself.

Dude, he was literally, he was going like this. He was whacking his own ass with the fucking, what do you call it? The program. The program. He was whacking his own ass with the fucking, what do you call it? The program. The program. He had the program. Dude, and he was in rhythm with it, and he was whacking it, every other one, and then when he came down the stretch, he was hitting his ass on every one. Fucking hilarious. It's like, I got to admit, though, if that was ever one of my kids and somebody sent me that video, like that's what I created, I would definitely die a little inside. There's nothing like degenerates.

Nothing like a degenerate. And this is what they lost out on the fringe gambling. Like growing up in Florida, our two things were Greyhounds and Highline. And like, listen, you want to talk about ideas I have, they're bringing back fucking Highline. I want to talk about ideas I have. They're bringing back fucking highlight. I want to buy a highlight league.

I think we could make highlight. There's nothing like highlight. Dave, I'm in on this 100%. By the way, I have an amazing highlight throw from baseball. Like, I literally said to myself, I will be amazing at highlight. I had a TV show on Travel Channel, and we were in Miami doing an episode, and I go, yo, get me into a highlight. I gotta try highlight. That's where it's amazing.

Dave, that's our bet. I've never seen this side of you. I didn't realize this, how many shit talk you have with sports ability. And I'm gonna be honest, throwing a highlight ball has absolutely nothing to do with throwing a baseball, so I don't

see that comparison at all. By the way, hold on. Have you ever thrown a highlight ball has absolutely nothing to do with throwing a baseball, so I don't see that comparison at all. By the way, hold on. Have you ever thrown a highlight ball? No. But you hold it like a thing. No, no, no. It's like you've thrown it like it's like a lacrosse stick. No, first of all, it's attached to your arm.

It's attached to your arm. And the motion is that of an outfielder, just whoom. And I'm telling you, it is exhilarating. It is awesome. And if you start a highlight league, Dave, I will invest in my own team and my own league. I will – that is something I can put money behind. Start a fucking highlight team.

Start gambling on it, and I am in on that shit. The best part about betting on highlight is they just cheat right in your face. So it's like, it's like, they'll make the most remarkable catches like Willie Mays basket. And then they'll just drop like a routine fly ball. You're like,

well, that guy just fucking cheated, but you know, it's going in. So it's just part of the deal. I feel like I'm on like a regular guy, shark tank right now. I'm in, I'm buying.

I'll invest in that. Okay, okay, next pitch, next pitch. I want to do a Barstool Sports first beer affirmation. So it's an app where when you have your first beer of the day, it's me giving you a one-minute affirmation about what a badass you are. So as you drink that beer, you go, this is going to be the best fucking night of my life. I'm going to grab another beer real quick. Oh, God.

His underwear, was that like a bit? Was that a bit what just happened in the underwear? He gets up in the underwear. I don't know. He's in the Valley. He's had a couple of beers. Please tell me that leather couch in the Valley didn't come with your house. god knows who got

fucked on that thing burt no i bought it i bought it hey so uh what else do we got here man as far as like boston sports things anything else coming up there's a big trade with uh buffalo was supposed to be happening number one line center i don't know they wanted two number ones you big hockey guy or no no hockey's my distant four. I'm the biggest Pink Hat fan. Like, I actually rile up Bruins fans because I don't watch any regular season. And then I go, I go all in in the playoffs. I act like I'm fucking, you know, the most diehard guy. I chirp people who haven't seen us.

Like, I haven't missed a second of playoff hockey. I was at game seven. I got the bandwagon. But regular season, I can't watch it's like I haven't missed a second of playoff hockey I was at game seven I got the bandwagon but regular season I can't watch it on TV I just cannot watch hockey on TV I think it's just one of those things if you grew up it's like working on cars playing growing up and I and I used to watch it like all right so I watched like Ricky Middleton like Dave I watched all those teams I loved it but as I got older, oh, Pete Peters. I used to meet Pete Peters, Reg Lemelin.

Like I was a Bruins fan growing up. I just lost it. Some of my favorite. Rick Middleton was my favorite. Yeah, he was the best. Hey, do you think there's a world ever where you sit down and break bread with Roger Goodell? down and break bread with Roger Goodell. And he ever just sits there and says, you know, I kind of forgot that I was making 30, 40 million a year. And I allowed, you know, some huge NFL fans that actually helped my business for whatever fucking control freak reason to get under my skin

to the point. He had the chance. I mean, did you hear this latest episode I had with him? So the NFL draft, they put up, and in the middle of it, he's like, we have an auction for COVID for first responders. You can watch Monday Night Football with me in my man cave. So I heard that. I'm like, wait, what?

So I fucking bid on it, and I won. I paid $250,000 for this. So I fucking won it, and everyone's like, what's Goodell going to do? What's Goodell going to do? He fucking canceled it. They said they ran the report on me and all this stuff, and I was like a risk. So that was his chance to have me sit down. If I showed up and he's like, played a good sport, it would have been done.

If he didn't do it, I won fair and square, quote a million dollars. Wouldn't do it. Wouldn't do it. That money was going to go towards what? COVID, like first responders and shit. Wow. Wow. So if he wasn't going to do it then.

I'm so busy just picturing you two guys sitting there. I'm sorry. It's the second time I haven't gotten the information when you were talking. What an idiot. He could have. It's the second time I haven't gotten the information when you were talking. What an idiot. He could have just squashed the fucking thing. 100%. As a fan, I'm kind of happy that he didn't because you going limp when they pulled you out of the Super Bowls was one of the funniest fucking things I've seen. If they come over, I'm telling you right now, he goes, I'm going limp.

I'm going limp. These guys and a grown man just went like like this i dead fished him that will be all my mount rushmore moments the fact they had their chance to take me out when i didn't see him coming and then they gave me like two minutes to think about it and i said to my camera guy i just get ready i'm going dead i'm going limp here And my feet just drag along the steps with Maroon 5 playing in the background. Oh, name the things you want brought up at your funeral that you did right in your life. I mean, that's one. That's the fucking perfect one.

Going limp was definitely one. Getting arrested at NFL headquarters was definitely a big one. You know, there's been a bunch of different, but a lot of them now are NFL. I don't know. We've been doing it for so long. Bill, do you want to? They don't seem to have, like, out of all of them,

they don't have, like, a sense of humor. I remember a long time ago, we were trying to, me and a buddy of mine were trying to do something for the NFL, and every time it was just, it was so rigid that your area of creating was from here to here. Like, I remember I went to a sports bar and there was this Ravens fan there. What was that time we played him in the playoffs

and the first play they handed off to their running back? Ray Rice. Yeah, yeah, Ray Rice, right up there to their running back. Ray Rice. Yeah, Ray Rice. Dude, this guy, this sports fan, I can't even tell you how annoying this guy was. As he started running down

the field, he just starts going, this guy just starts going, as loud as you possibly could. And then just starts walking around the whole bar yelling Super Bowl. Dude, it was the first round of the playoffs. And I wanted to beat the fuck. I couldn't.

He was bigger than me. But the whole game was doing it. I had such a miserable experience beyond the fact that my team lost, that this fucking asshole was acting like this, and nobody at the establishment was doing anything. And I got home. I was so pissed. I was like, I got to get something positive out of this.

And I wrote this ad for DirecTV for the NFL package. Yeah. And it started off with this guy in the bar dealing with this fucking asshole. And it ends with him watching it at home with his own beer, having a great time. And as he was in the background, it said, Direct TV NFL package. And as he was sitting there, that guy drove by outside in his car, like down the street. And it said it pays for itself just to get away from that guy. And if I remember correctly, Direct TV loved it and blah, blah, blah, blah.

But then when we went to the NFL, they got all protective about like, we don't want to make fun of our fans. Our fans are blah, blah, blah, blah. But then when we went to the NFL, they got all protective about like, we don't want to make fun of our fans. Our fans are blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's just like, dude, nobody, no NFL fan thinks they're that fan. And if they do, they enjoy being that guy. Like you, like people weren't going to watch less of it. And we did another one. Everything they do is off. Even like Dan Veldruff, it's such good. Like when they, he thinks like intentionally having people boo him,

like works. He's like, see, I can make fun of myself because I'm telling them to boo me. It's just everything he does is just off, off. Yeah. We did another one. We, I figured we'd going to do something about NFL tailgates. And we went to the Raider ones where everyone was all dressed up and shit.

I'd ask them a bunch of positive Raider things. And then gradually I would switch the conversation to talking about global warming and shit like that. And people would be sitting there like all their makeup. I think it's a federal issue. Is it holding the thing? And they didn't like that because it was making fun of their fans. So I think that that's why I've kind of been fascinated

watching that whole soap opera with the two of you just in this weird way, enjoying you fucking with them, but also as a football fan and a fan in the NFL just hoping at some point, it's like, guys, can you have a fucking sense of humor about yourself? This guy is an NFL fan. This guy helps promote your fucking league. Yeah, that was a chance. The charity was the chance.

He had the excuse, but if he wasn't going to do it then, he's never going to do it. When does this whole new venture into the sports gambling, your whole app, which is going to destroy every other app, when is that whole thing going to – It's supposed to be probably like September, October, third quarter, they tell me of this you know, this year. Who knows what COVID does to it.

But soon, once sports are going, we should have it ready. It's being built right now. I want to talk about your podcast, Dave, because that's how I kind of met Barstool was through KFC Radio. Yeah. And you guys have – like your podcast, one of the most gangster moves I know I'm going to get shit for what I'm about to say was that the two chick podcast

call her daddy the fact that you just got on that RSS feed and talked directly to those this is really inside baseball but that is a direct lesson when I saw that that's a direct lesson in every person out there that wants to start content,

you get your own RSS feed, you do your own fucking thing, you build it by yourself. You want to jump onto barstools, coattails, but remember it's barstools. Give the listeners the back story. What was the whole soap opera with that thing? You had two people that came on your network. They blew up. We started a podcast called call her daddy it was two girls two attractive girls that and they they did maybe like one or two demo episodes of it and i knew one of the girls alex

um and we saw it and we reached out like hey this is interesting unique would you guys ever think about like signing contracts with us, bringing it over? Like, yeah, we worked out a deal, signed them each to three-year contracts. So they're full-time employees of ours. Call Her Daddy became one of our podcasts. We own the IP.

And it was a negotiation. But, you know, what kind of what Bert's saying, like when you join Barstool, we put gasoline behind your podcast. We're putting, you know, millions of dollars in marketing behind it. And we try to blow the thing up, and it blew up. It became bigger than I imagined, what they imagined. And about a year into it, they wanted to basically leave.

They're like, we're not getting paid enough. And there's two sides to everything. But, yeah, if they were independent and they owned Call Her Daddy at the size it became, they would have been making more money. Flip side is, if they didn't join us, there's a chance nobody would have known what the fuck it was. So it's almost, I always use it like a baseball contract. If you're a fucking baseball player and you sign a three-year deal with the Red Sox and you have a great first half of the season, you can't just be like, I'm going to the Yankees now because they're going to pay me more.

It's like, well, you signed a three-year deal with the Red Sox. Wait for it to go. And then you can go to the Yankees if you want. And we had a big back and forth. At one point during this dispute, the two girls sort of turned on each other because they had leverage in the sense, if they just quit, we would have sued them, but then we would have lost all the revenue. It was COVID. We're trying to keep the thing going. They stopped doing the podcast, and I just jumped on their RSS feed at one point. Their audience had no fucking clue who I was. Brand new Call Her Daddy.

Brand new Call Her Daddy. Who is it? It's Dave. Listen, I'm not mocking these girls. I'm just letting you know, and Bill, you know this. Andrew, you know this. Andrew, you know this. Dave, you know this. If you want to start a podcast, sign up with Barstool,

but realize that all that shit you're getting up front, they gave you. You've got a bunch of things. So I'm sorry, Dave. Keep going. You jumped on the RSS feed. Yeah, so I jumped on the RSS feed and basically explained the situation. I'm like, there are three or cons. And they were hinting at the time, like, we're trying to do do shit to them. Like we won't let them talk. We won't do

this. It's like, listen, people can say whatever they want about me. I let anybody say whatever the fuck they want. You can sling it. I never tell anybody. If you don't like me, say it. If you think you're being treated unfairly, say it, but don't be like my hands are tied. I can't talk. And I gave the whole scenario. I'm like, we signed them for three year deals. They're making 70 grand each, which is a pretty good starting salary when you have no audience. By the end of year one, they're each making half a million each because it had grown. And we were willing to work with them. But they had this guy from HBO Sports who was like the boyfriend. It was a fucking whole thing. This guy, Superman, who was trying to negotiate them leaving and essentially be their manager. So I just went on the podcast.

Oh, God. And I let it rip. He fucked the whole thing up. He did. He did. And I just let it rip. And all the Caller Daddy fans became like Dave Portnoy fans. It has increased my sex game like you wouldn't fucking believe. Portnoy fans. It has increased my sex game like you wouldn't fucking believe. Can you talk about

the spitting chiclets shit that went down Friday? I don't know what went down. Oh, with Roenick? Oh, yeah. Bill, do you know about this? No. I got a newborn, dude. I don't know what the hell's going on. So, Dave, if you can just catch him up to speed.

Yeah, so Jeremy Roenick, obviously a huge hockey guy, NBC Sports, went on Spitting Chicklets, I don't know, a year ago or something. I don't know the exact time frame. But he told a story about wanting to basically have a threesome with Catherine Tappan when they were on, like, a trip, Catherine Tappan, NHL Network, when they were traveling together. He got major –

Look at Bill already. Already. Now, listen, I'm going to – What happens when you go into Barstool? You know you don't tell that story over the air. Listen, when they offer you fucking beer, you don't take it, you fucking stay. Listen, I knew that was a bad story immediately. I'm like, I wish he didn't say that.

But he was trying to fit in. And from what I've gathered, Roenick and Catherine Tappan are like pretty good friends. So it was like joking. But, you know. Not as good of friends as Jeremy wanted, but they're pretty good friends. But in this era that we're in like you know katherine dappen had to condemn what he said you can't be a female journalist be like yeah i'm fine with some dude joking about that so he got fired from nbc and he said this on the spitting chick

lich which is an unbelievable podcast best hockey podcast by a mile but then recently ronick now is suing nbc because he's saying he's gotten treated unfairly basically like from the way i read it like tara lapinski and uh the other figure skater johnny weir johnny weir yeah johnny weir and tara lapinski together that they would make sexual comments while announcing figure skating that they didn't get reprimanded for and he did so he apparently went to NBC and he said what about Johnny Weir he had made comments about the I think about one of a movie a cast of young kids in a movie and been talked very sexual and he's like what about Johnny Weir and apparently and allegedly the head of NBC said he's gay. You can say whatever he wants to say. You're straight. You can't.

So now he is suing NBC for straight, straight, straight bias, straight bias. Wow. You know why? It's crazy. This world's so fucked up.

Like he could win that. By the way, by the way, Johnny weird does. I part of part of a comedic can i just say something real quick yeah please as a man when you get in trouble okay you don't bring up some other fucking dude who has nothing to do with this shit that is that is immediate loss of your. You can allude to shit. Well, you know what?

There's been scenarios with blah, blah. Why are you putting that guy on the fucking bird? He didn't fire you. Yeah. Johnny Weir didn't do shit. Now that's a soccer mom move. I don't know. It's like I don't think Johnny Weir cares.

I mean, he's like flamboyantly gay talking about, I guess, guys figure skating or whatever. I don't think he cares, but if you're trying to show there's a double standard, which I don't fucking know. I mean, there probably is. There definitely is. Yes. But whether that's wrong or not, I mean, I mean, what he said is that you can tell

a straight white guy, we are not hiring you because you're a straight white guy. You can't do that to other groups. However, you know, there's a lot of fringe benefits to being the straight white guy. So I, you know, back in the day, you know, there was a certain comedy club where this guy would just be like, I already have enough white guys, but love, I'll tell you, but I knew what he meant. It's like, I just don't want yet another white guy in a sweater saying, what's the deal with fucking pencil sharpeners? Yeah, I've said that to our own employees. Like when we, and I had to say this recently, there was a guy who worked for us, a black guy.

I hope because I was catching so much fire. I'm like, the only reason he works here is because he's black. I didn't mean that disrespectfully, but we have a million more white resumes of guys who look like me, have the same sensibilities as me. We have a bigger pool of applicants and we want to reach different crowds. So if somebody, I may not initially be like, oh, he's funny or whatnot. I'm trying to reach new crowds. So that's just the truth. Well, I mean, you're running a business. So it's just like, if that is what you're trying to do, I mean, I do that on my podcast as far as like or like if i do like a stand-up special i almost i tried to get on one of those uh all women talk shows to promote my my my latest special and uh one of the chicks just weirded us out i was just

like this ain't gonna be it was like somebody called up and said, Hey, did you see your special? And the person was just like, I saw it. And that was it. Didn't say good or bad. We were just like, and I was like, you know, things are going really good for me. I don't, I don't, I don't know. That could have been great. It could have been bad, but like, I don't want to make a, I don't want to move up in this game by having arguments like that.

Bill, that's a really great point because for a while I realized when I first started kind of popping or whatever, I wanted to hit all the shit I liked. Sometimes the shit I liked wasn't in my lane. And I realized, oh, maybe, I remember telling Andrew Schultz this I was like I think my new motive is just stay in my lane like this

find the people that like me and and grab them as we go but like like I think all of us would love to have a very diverse crowd but sometimes when you reach out to a diverse crowd they actually hate you yeah trans people may not like my stand-up right and that's that's very true i mean we're a business so it you know we got advertising bigger and there are headaches involved with that but i used to say when we looked at ourselves like are we happy with being seinfeld for lack of better words like you know we're good at what we know and how we grew up and our sensibilities but when you're a bit like if you're a comedian you're selling tickets you're doing that fine like we're trying to get advertising

and people just look and they'll make assumptions like they're not diverse so they must be racist it's like well i'm a white middle class class dude who grew up the only people applied for jobs when i started were people who read me who were similar to me and that's our talent pool as you get bigger you try to do it but like you said sometimes as we've gotten bigger and tried to be more diverse it's like what are these guys doing they don't know what they're talking about so it's it's a tough balancing act it really is as far as like staying in your lane though there's a there's a there's a balancing act of staying in your lane but continuing to evolve. Because if you don't,

then it just becomes more of the same. But I've seen more of the same work for some people. Like this is what I do. People know that I do this. I'm just going to keep fucking doing it. I don't give a shit if the critics keep saying I keep doing the same thing. This is the people want like fucking ACDC my favorite goddamn band ever for 40 years I always joked they wrote songs about uh women the devil and their balls

and they like three chords or something and it just oh Malcolm just had a way of just fucking always coming up with like a new riff that I enjoyed. And yeah, it is, it is, I don't know. I think I definitely avoided stepping in some major shit. Because as much as by trying to do like, I don't know. It's sort of a disease, That thing, the disease of more. Like, okay, my last special did this. I need to do this.

So I need to cast the net even wider. And I do think that eventually you kind of, you probably end up getting away from, like, I don't think there's anything worse

than alienating the people that first got into you. 100%. Yes. That's the worst. Then you're just like, oh, no. Now I'm not tethered

to where I was from. And now I'm just, just, no. Now I'm not tethered to where I was from. And now I'm just sort of now I'm floating. And I'm just reaching for anything. And at that point, you end up being like a contestant on a game show. Yeah. And then that's your career. It's something we deal with all the time. What's – I can't imagine that you ever saw –

have you been to the New York offices of Barstool, Bill? Yeah. Fucking really impressive. impressive i mean legit impressive i went to the first one and then this i believe was the first one and then the second one i forgot what the first one was but then the second one was i want to say yeah the first one was like you were walking into dave portnoy's zipper you were like literally like oh that's a cock holy shit shit. Yeah, yeah. And I mean, that, that office was about, there was a bigger difference between the first office

and the second office than there was the second and the third. I mean, the first office, that, that was like an old doctor's office where we were all just mushed together,

like no air conditioning, 150 degrees. It was, so, we, our offices have been something. Yeah, I don't think i was in that so

i was probably the second and the third one yeah the first one was in milton in massachusetts oh no no no i'm at new york hey what is uh 10 years from now where's barstool gonna be it's a great question yeah i already said i don't know i mean hopefully in 10 years i'm fucking very rich and done with it and on a beach in Barcelona. That's not you. Bullshit. That's not you.

That's the biggest lie going. People always try to say that's not me, that is me. Like I could happily fucking sit by the horses, golf, and sit by the pool. I could. People say no. Yes, I could. By the way, I could too. So I don't know why people like never believe that.

How much money do you think you need to have? Well, they'll let you do that. So I could do it now. So I could do it now. Like my net worth is like $100 million right now from doing this thing. But I signed a five-year contract. So I got to work my ass off in five years and hopefully I'm worth a lot more but that's plenty. I have more money. I just casually say it. I was like, I got to fuck you money. I mean, I do. So I don't, I have plenty of money. I just got

to work still because that was the deal. To get the money, I'm like, I'll work my dick off in the next five years. Let me ask you this. How old are you going to be in five years? 48. Still in his 40s, Bert. Unbelievable. So you'll be 48 fucking years old.

You know, you got fuck you money, so you're going to be eating great. So you're going to live to at least 80. You got, you got, you got. To win. Although you start hanging out with those guys in the track, I might take five years off. You got 30, at least 32 more years.

Well, how, because that's my fantasy. I just want to do it. Like do this shit till I'm 70. And then just fucking, hopefully I have enough and the dollar hasn't collapsed and everything I've worked for is still there. And then just, I just picture myself sitting out on a back my back porch not doing

anything yeah i could like my finances could change because not all liquid like when we got bought by a company penn national when when they bought us half our deal was like stock half was cash so the stock was at 26 when they bought us people loved it went to 39 and then covid hit it went from 39 to 3.75 so my net worth was fucking way worse and it's come all the way back but nothing's for granted now i mean i always say if like you were in a coma and an alien came down you saw people wearing masks everywhere you'd be like what the fuck so who knows i mean five years is a long time from now well anyway let's say it all works out what are you gonna do for 32 years if you just bet on horses and lay by the pool where where where so my places i'd like i have a place in nantucket

that's where i am it's my favorite place in the world i fucking love it uh boston i'd still i there's nothing like boston in the fall so i'd like to live there in the fall maybe spring and then probably like west coast like santa monica maybe in the winter is your is your is your nantucket place the place where you did the watermelon thing? Yeah, yeah. Bro, big pool respect. That is a beautiful pool. It's old school. It's classic.

Nice coping. Followed by grass. Big pool respect. Give me some advice on a house with a pool. Give me something. You don't have to. Obviously, you're probably not going to be able to do this, only because it's super vulnerable.

Give me some new fame shit you did when you first got money. Like old school new fame is like look at a girl in a magazine. This is like from the 80s. You go, who is that? I'd like to meet her when you first got famous. Like what's something you did where you're like, yo, I'm getting a box at a fucking sports – like what's some new fame? Yeah, I mean, I've sold the company twice i sold

50 the first time i'm like i'm gonna get myself a nice watch i don't wear fucking watches but i went through the whole fucking thing with like rolexes and i'm getting ready to buy it and i'm like i don't fucking wear watches so why am i buying a rolex and i bought like a 1970 bronco like an old bronco truck from my nantucket house this recent time i bought my parents a uh like a nice place that overlooks boston so that was how old are your parents my parents are like 70s nice nice yeah but i don't care yeah other than that it's i mean i fly private that's like my biggest perk that's the one thing i think the biggest thing that money can do is i'll fly private as much as i can and that's something once you fly private it's fucking tough to go

back to the normal airport no you can't do it i've only done it a couple of times um and that next flight that that's the biggest that's the only like i'm not i have money now but i'm not always started barstool i'm not really a money guy i don't really give a fuck but i miss flying private that's like i prefer a commercial airliner and the size of it to because the reality is unless you can afford which i can't to to uh fly a jet where you can actually stand up in it yeah we can't i'm in a little car okay so once once you just get the whole hey i didn't have to go through security that was fucking awesome and i got my turkey sandwich and my fucking potato chips when you just sit in the back of this thing there's a little shower curtain and you can see

the fucking pilot's shoulders and i remember i had to take a piss and the guy had to get out the co-pilot lift up the snack tray and under the snack tray was the toilet right i'm standing there i'm i had a fucking piss like this like trying to hover over it you know and at first when you're taking the piss it's fine because it's coming out strong but when it starts to fucking dribble off, you've got to make like a porn star move so you don't piss down the side of your leg. And I'm like, this is private flight. I'd rather be in the – the only thing that sucks about commercial aviation is security. Is everything.

Going through security and all of that shit. Yeah, once you get on it. Yeah, but still letting you next to a little fucking crying baby. Listen, I don't want to say this because the way life works, this will be like my epitaph. Like, oh, Dave said he'd rather crash in a private plane than fucking fly commercial. But I think I'd rather crash in a private plane than ever fly commercial. Now, I don't want that to happen. And knowing how life works, like, oh, they'll pull this quote, and that'll be like the way I go.

But I really don't like flying commercial. BertBertBert.com. BertBertBert.com. I'm just making sure if you do crass in a private plane that my website got out there. All right, good. Because they're using that clip. Hey, why haven't you bought a minor league team? I don't have – I mean, well, I'm not liquid, but there's got to be more money than that.

And I don't want a minor league team. I don't want to go mean, well, I'm not liquid, but there could be more money than that. And I don't want a minor league team. I don't want to go to minor league fucking teams. Dude, you're in the area where all the minor league teams live. Yeah, but I don't want to go. I don't like it. All right, Dave, I got a good question for you. If Burt had your money, how fast would he be broke? I don't know enough about him.

High lie team, buy a minor league team. I mean, minor league team is a ridiculous thing to fucking buy. No, it's not. I want to go to a Red Sox game. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I can't believe you said this. I want to go to the main Red Claw Celtics game.

You just said, am I going to go to a minor league team? I'm sorry. Am I going to start as the pitcher on my minor league team? It's fucking Brewster's Million, brother. I am going to be playing in every fucking inning. Even that? I don't want to play in a fucking minor league game. Man.

You wouldn't last. Bullfucking. You're going to do the dog days of summer in your mid-40s? Are you kidding me? Playing with dirty baseballs? Bro. Yeah. I am telling you right now.

You give me Dave's money dave switch flip-flop with me you can live in a house with two fucking teenage girls and a fucking 50 year old wife i am buying a minor league team i am starting pitching and i'm batting for it all right i mean i'm gonna keep my life i'm not gonna make that trade but i i don't want that team i got a big, uh, the wife, the kids and all that. That sounded like a great trade, but I'm good. Are you done? You're not having kids?

Well, I mean, never say never, but I'm not like dying to have kids this moment. Yeah. Is, uh, how hard is is this is a weird question but you're the single dude you ever are you single you got a chick

single is it hard this is not about Barstool anymore we're just enamored with your personal life yeah how much is that lamp worth Dave is it hard to get pussy in COVID

no I mean I mean it isn't we're out here social distancing, and you're just fucking raw dogging it. It's not hard. Call her daddy. You're the fucking best, man.

Let me tell you. I'll tell you right now, man. I've lived a blessed life, a really blessed life. Like, you don't know who I am, but trust me when I say they don't get luckier. Oh, he's at least four IPAs in. Go ahead. They don't get luckier. It's like campfire chat at this point.

Man, you are fucking – God gave you a kiss on the forehead before he sent you down. It's been a wild ride for sure for me for the last fucking couple decades. Yeah, no complaints right now would you trade it all for one thing and what's the one thing uh like what would you trade it all for like go like i'll be a fucking doctor in india raising uh that's an idiotic thing i mean the thing yeah i would trade it but everything I trade it for would be like better than what I got like if you told me I could be like fucking you know a star if I could be a star baseball player an athlete yeah that's more fun and you make more money and it's like yes but

outside of being giving like a talent like to throw a baseball 99 miles per hour or be able to run a full 140 to have like a normal white dude skill set which is basically nothing I've done pretty well with it yes you have dude you're crushing it man I'm loving everything that you're doing uh I can't wait for this this gambling app to come out I'm fascinated with like horse gambling now, which is probably a, uh, yeah, yeah. I probably lost all my money, but whatever. Well, listen, man,

I, I couldn't be more happy for you guys. Enjoy Nantucket. I hope your neighbor has finished building whatever the fuck. The locals are very mad at me about that. They're in an uproar. Why? I mean,

the guy's parking heavy machinery in front of your fucking house. Yeah. My neighbor, by the way, i tried to buy the fucking house and somebody whoever sold it did they they said best and final offer my real estate agent i'm like how much should i bid he's like just do the offering no one else is too expensive so i did the offering i didn't get it a guy who lived five houses down from me got the house bid more i called them and he's doing it as a rental house. He's not going to live there. He's going to rent it out to vacation people. I called them. I'm like, how much more money? I'll give you whatever you want on top of the purchase price. I just don't want people building. He's like, no, we're not going to do that. The second I showed up, fucking construction. Nantucket,

two months a year, the population is 100x of what it usually is. Do construction the other 10 months. They charge 10x what it is anyways. So I got pissed. But the locals are like, what? Local people can't earn a living? Yeah, they can earn a living. You charge me 10x in the off season. So that's that story. You got me going there. Well, I get you going about some neighbors that I've had, but I don't need that same fucking headache. All right, that's it, man. Thank you so much for coming on.

And I hope sports comes back soon for all of us, but especially because of the entertainment value that you guys bring. You guys, you're the best in the business. And I hope to run into you at a Kentucky Derby when we're not wearing masks and all that shit somewhere down the road. That's it, everybody. Thank you. Great.

Brilliant. Dave Portnoy, everybody. Thank you, Dave. It was a pleasure. All right, thanks, guys. Talk to you later. Okay, we'll see you. Bye. Thank you.