March 20, 2025 • 55 mins
March Madness is officially underway! To celebrate, Action Network hosts Chad Millman and Simon Hunter welcome on a pioneering member of the sports gambling media universe. "Stanford Steve" Coughlin was a longtime guest on Behind The Bets, Chad's original ESPN podcast. Today he's the producer of SportsCenter with SVP, on top of being the voice of gambling reason on ESPN's College GameDay. He joins the podcast to talk life at ESPN, his start in betting, and the wild changes in his career.
And if you want to see all of us INCLUDING Jim Root at our live show, RSVP now to join us for our free Chicago live event, Elite 8 Saturday March 29th at the beloved venue Joe's On Weed.
Looking to make more money from your sports betting? Sign up now for EdgeBoost, the financial platform that pays you back for all your betting transactions! Just visit EdgeBoost.com/bet and use promo code FAVORITES to receive a $25 deposit match and Tier 2 status for faster bank deposits and more cash back. #Volume #herd
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to The Favorites, the podcast presented by BET three
sixty five. We are part of the Volume Podcast Network.
I am Chad Melman of the Action Network. I'm live
from my Tommy John home studio. I'm joined as always
by my co host, my companion, my Campadre might be
a FAFT professional better Simon Hunter. Hello, Simon, Chad.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
How are we doing? Brother?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Listen dude, I'm in the middle of an epic, epic
travel streak. I've been gone for three to four days
of every week and just about every weekend since the
Super Bowl. Got home late last night after visiting Penn
(00:53):
State University over the weekend with my son. We're narrowing
down the college choices. We're getting down to the end.
I am going to ask my guests, because he's intimately
familiar with all of the places that my son has left.
I'm going to want to get his opinion on it.
But the NCAA tournament is underway. You and I have
a very special guest. He's honestly, he's an inspiration to
(01:17):
a lot of the people on our production staff, some
of whom he's actually worked with very closely, including myself.
He's always been an incredible producer, one of the legendary
ESPN producers. He became a beloved media personality, not television,
(01:38):
not audio, all around media personality. Always been a passionate gambler.
I've known the guy for fifteen years, going back to
my ESPN days. You've seen him on Sports Center with
SVP College Game Day. Our OG listeners are going to
know him very well from not just the Behind the
Bets podcast from my ESPN days, he also co hosted
(02:02):
the spinoff podcast with Chris Filica, Behind the Bets the
College Years. A gambling content pioneer. It's Stanford, Steve Stanford,
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Brother, Hello fellas pleasure, Welcome U. Chad's been too long.
I was so pumped to see at the super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Nice.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
It's it's the best part, you know.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I think everybody that has to deal with the Super
Bowl finds their pockets and everybody has gotten to the
point where you know you it's like, you know, Kyle
Brant did the best thing about seeing people at the
super Bowl.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
I thought it was tremendous. Just the three questions that
are asked.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
But people know what to expect when you've done so
many of them, and you know, I'm not the concert
going guy. I'm not gonna you know, I just have
zero interest. And the best times I've had are you know,
a little small private party or just telling guys, hey,
I'm at this hotel bar, let's let's meet there. And
(03:02):
those are the best times because you go to these shows,
you can't hear a word anyone's saying, uh, and you
want to talk to people because you haven't seen him
in social media is a great connection, but you're not
getting what you can get and then you see things
on social media that people are posting and you're like, eh,
I'd love to ask about that, and that's the time
to do it.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
So it was great to catch up with you. And
it's been too long.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
I you know, people talk about you know, it's it's
it's always like, how.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Did you go from producer to TV?
Speaker 3 (03:33):
And your name is the first one that comes up
because you gave you gave the bear and I a
little on ramp to the highway that I didn't know
what was podcasts and you did and your vision has
always been just incredible to me. Uh, going back when
you used to come in in studio every week with ESPN,
(03:54):
the magazine with Scott and Ryan us developer friendship there
and I mean you literally had us on and like yeah, Harry,
go go do your own and not knowing what the
platform was, and then to hear people react and then
Baron and I get to get to interact with the
people we did and and and get get people to listen.
(04:15):
It was I'll never forget it.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
It was.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
I can't believe it's been fifteen years.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
I wasn't even expecting that.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
No, man, I try and say out of sight, out
of mind, It's not true. People always remember certain things.
Maybe certain people remember want to remember certain things. But no, man,
I'll never forget the opportunity you gave us, and it's
turned into an unbelievable run. This past year at college
(04:44):
football was most fun I've ever had, with the playoff
and traveling, going to Bloomington for the first time among
the top things. So it's a pleasure to meet you guys,
appreciate you, what you guys do, what you've built. It's
really really in credible in this, you know, podcasting and gambling.
It feels like it's ever going to end, and there's
(05:06):
got to be a roof at some point. But how
early you started at Chad is still something I'm amazed by.
And the belief that you had in yourself and establishing
a crew is really really cool to see because we've
seen plenty go by the wayside.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
And here we are.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Dude. I got a feeling. Matt Mitchell and Gifford, who
used to work with you at ESPN, Yeah, they're probably
going to cut all that out.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
But had any purposes. I get it.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Listen the behind the bets the college years. That was
the most natural evolution, Simon. You would not know this
because you did not care about me before you DM
me on Twitter. But the podcast that how old is
Simon Simon Simon's thirty.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Five thirty five? Yeah, Chad, Chad knows the deal.
Speaker 5 (05:51):
I lived the life there for I was living in Vegas,
degener gambler, so Risilla NSVP did make my cut though,
So I didn't listen to gambling stuffcause I don't want
to my head. Yeah, you know, I'm gonna know it all, asshole,
especially back in those days. But yeah, when I was
a runner, living in my car, running from across Vegas,
long days, lots of SVP and Marcille and they're random
(06:13):
gems of Stanford Steve just humble in for one or
two seconds.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
You know that is Stanford Steve. I'm sure you've heard this.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
Everyone's favorite character on any show is the guy that
talks for maybe one or two minutes. Right, So I
hit the point of like I liked SVP, I liked Forcillo,
but anytime I got to hear at Stanford Steve's story,
especially your glory days of college, I'm just like, fuck,
this guy is the man. So yeah, obviously seeing what
you were started out as where you're at now, man,
it's it's pretty epic how you've taken that little niche
and made it to a huge, huge career.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Man, you're the man.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Yeah, Chad, Chad created that niche. So again, thank you.
I'm serious. I'm telling you because it.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Was, man, because I mean, I would, I would even
I would still get shipped from from Radio PRIs. You're like,
what are you doing, Like I'm going to tape of podcast.
They're like what, like you're talking, I'm like yeah, and
it it it turned into what it did.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
But yeah, behind the bets, man, holy Cayle, that was long.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
We were doing that show from across the studio. With
SVP and Rosillo and even Feli could crush that. You
used to come on Behind the Bets and we would
do an episode a segment on Behind the Bets just
about college football, and at some point, like you guys
just didn't need me doing it. You could go for
(07:30):
so long. It was also just the most classic natural
off ramp transition because of Saved by the Bell, the
college years for the old heads. Yea, the perfect name.
Carry on, gentlemen, and it was fucking great.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
I mean, you're you hated college football and you will
just wanted to talk NFL and it couldn't have worked
out better because I could care less about the NFL
and I love college football.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
So that was that. Would you nail it out of
the park.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
That's called complimentary football, right there, Stanford, That's what that is.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Are we going to talk about or are we going
to talk about? Which is? What is the right side
at all? Remember those arguments?
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Well, the right side is the winning side. That's that's
the bottom line. Let me do a little business right here.
As a reminder, the Favorites podcast is presented by BET
three sixty five and it is now live in my
home state of Illinois Baby New Bet three six five customers,
including those in Illinois, get one hundred and fifty dollars
in bonus bets. When you bet five dollars, sign up
(08:31):
using promo code Favorites, deposit ten dollars. Place at bet
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At Bet three sixty five, especially in Illinois. Must be
twenty one or older in present in Arizona, Colorader, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Louisiana,
(08:51):
North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, or eighteen and
older in Kentucky. Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler
or one hundred bets off in Iowa terms. Conditioned restrictions apply.
Speaking of Illinois before we dive in. Another reminder officially
RASVP for our free Favorites live show in Chicago. This
(09:13):
is a big event Elite eight March Madness Games on Saturday,
March twenty ninth. That Joe's on Weed, It's on Weed Street,
Folks free event, free Ranks Free live show with college
basketball betting experts Stucky in three man weave overall Good times. RSVP.
To reserve your spot, click the link in this episode's
(09:34):
description or just Google Favorites Live event Chicago, be sure
to rsv P. All right, Stanford, we know you're a
Duke guy, not a Duke grad, but a Duke fan. Like,
there's a long list of teams in the past you
(09:55):
could see winning the tournament, and right now, like Florida
came on strong. Yeah, obviously, Auburn struggled at the end
of the season. Duke has basically three guys who will
be first round picks. How many teams do you think
can realistically win it all? Right now?
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Ooh, glad you asked. I got my list right here.
Duke's region, the East, actually has the most. I make
a list every Valentine's Day of teams that I can
think can win the national title.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Then it changes when the.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Bracket comes out because I get it, and you guys
know the deal with gambling people, and like all they
want is picks.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
They want picks, they want picks, and it's.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Really really hard because I still think the bracket dictates
how I feel and until I see it and see
the matchups and all that, I don't really have a
great feel. But that gives you more clarity because you
start to see pass.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
And things like that.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
So I have five teams in Duke's bracket that I
believe can win the national title, and one is hanging
on by a whisper. But I can't give up on
them because again, the hardest thing we do in this
world we do. We do things as far as you know,
picks and all that is forgetting what a team looked
like the last time we saw them, and it's it's
(11:11):
the hardest. I think it's the hardest thing with NBA
betting when you start getting the series. I think it's
the hardest thing with college football after a team plays
a big game, say on the road, because if you
if you focus in on how bad a team look
and they played bad, you're just setting yourself up. And
it's it's really hard to do. You gotta you gotta
clear the table and assess things and the basis of
(11:32):
here and and with the tournament. In that bracket, I
have Duke Arizona BYU Wisconsin is the team that's hanging
on by a thread in Alabama. Wisconsin was a team
I really like getting better all year, and then you
go to the Big Ten title game, they play their
worst game of the year and lose. And now you
look at their draw. Now they got to go to Denver.
They played Sunday afternoon. The teams that have played in
(11:53):
Big Ten title games don't have a great history.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
And then say a tournament and so you go to Denver.
All right, you got to play the Montana team, who's
not bad at all. Watch them through the season. I
actually think they could do pretty well and cover that number.
But Wisconsin's that team. And then BYU and Alabama are
the two teams I'm so bummed they're in the same bracket,
just like Florida and Saint John's. I'm sure we'll get
(12:18):
to But BYU and Alabama were two teams I thought
all year they got to get out of the conference
and get to tournament play because of what they bring
in the table as far as matchups, size, length, style
of play, all that. I love what BYU and Alabama
bringing the table, and that one was tough. I keep
going back and forth of who's going to the final
four out of that and I honestly think Arizona beats
(12:41):
Duke because when you look at what Arizona brings to
the table, they're better and better. They're getting. You know,
the acron pick is getting more popular and more popular,
but it seems like the line keeps going up, which
I don't like at all. I think it's up to
thirteen wherever you're getting numbers from. But Arizona played Duke
already this year. They lost into usan low scoring game.
(13:01):
It was after Duke got beat by Kentucky. I think
Duke really really needed it and Tommy Lloyd was still
figuring out their lineup. And now you look at what
Arizona did in the Big twelve tournament, which is super
impressive to me. I love the way their guards play,
and you have the ultimate Kale Love factor.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Yeah, if he's bad, they're not gonna win.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
But if he's good, kids brought a team in the
National Championship three years ago, So I look at Arizona.
It's super dangerous in that bracket, being really really tough.
Everybody's just saying Duke's got a path because you know,
they get Mississippi State and the winner Misssippi State and Baylor.
But I think it's more tricky than that. Those teams
are gonna be afraid they're gonna get everybody's best shot.
(13:40):
You don't know what Cooper is going to look like.
And I just I feel like it's a it's a
tougher then draw, and then you factor in another thing
that I always look at.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
And when we.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Got off the air last night at two am, nine
million and over nine million brackets submitted at ESPN dot
com Duke winning that.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
I want part of that. You got a zero.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
I sometimes I feel Simon, tell me if you feel
the same way. I mean that you're a professional better,
But obviously college basketball wasn't where you make your money.
I've always felt like the BRAC, the people creating the seedings,
the selection committee, either they have an ear for what
(14:26):
gamblers don't want to see or they are so unself
aware they fuck every team that gamblers really want to
believe in. And I feel like I saw it all
over the brackets this year, even with Auburn, Like Auburn
is the number one overall seed, they got to go
to Kentucky and then they potentially have to play Louisville,
(14:50):
which is essentially a home game in Lexington for Louisville
in the second round if Louisville wins its opening round
game against Creighton, Like, what the fuck is up with
the selection? When you look at this Stanford, do you
feel like they have an ear for what gamblers are thinking?
Or do you think they're just bad at this?
Speaker 4 (15:08):
I think they're bad, I really do. You look at
some of the spreads.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
I mean, like I said, I love BYU and that
VCU game is brutal because VC is a great defensive team.
Now VC has only played two tournament teams and you
know they got to go to Denver, as I pointed
out after playing Sunday Afternoon too, which you know likes BYU.
But then the lines in the twos, I think, and
(15:35):
then you just look at twelve five Colorado State's favored
over Michigan, now, like it's brutal the way they do it,
And you know, I always held back that it was
done the right way, but this year, I just I
can't with the North Carolina thing, Like you know, bracket
what's the site, bracket matrix, one hundred and eleven brackets
all you know, bracketologist computers, the whole thing, one hundred
(15:57):
and eleven out of one hundred and eleven had West
Virginia and Carolina out, and you know, and then you
see the selection show with the vice chair now because
Bubbo's lady of Carolina, like Baba.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Who got seventy thousand dollars bonus because Carolina.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
I couldn't.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
I can't get there now. And I think it's a
shame because this being the brand. And you know in
Indiana factors into it too, because immediately I saw Carolina
and I'm like, well, Boise States out uh and they're
just gonna go with the names. And then you see
Texas and it's like whoa. So it's it's brutal because
(16:35):
I always want the little guys to go. And I
get the SEC is the best conference ever with fourteen teams,
and I watch it as much as anybody, but like
you're just you know, I still you know, you look
at teams like Drake, if they didn't win their conference tournament,
I thought they deserved to me in they're like thirty
and four. You know, at some point I want teams
that are capable. And it's only gonna get worse. Hurt
(16:57):
people talking like the out of conference games that all right,
they want to.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Get Quad one wins.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
You know, all the shoe companies do the preseason scheduling,
like out of conference preseason, that's all done with shoecomp.
MAUI has a Nike school under Armoured. Indeed, it's like
they control all that, so the little guys can't even
get in on that. And then like I look at
everybody's picking high Point right because they're playing Purdue. It's
pretty basic why everyone's picking high Point. They see a
(17:24):
good record, they see perdue forget that they went to
the national title game last year, and just think about
year's previous re Painter has failed, who I think is
still an excellent coach. High Point hasn't played a Quad
one game in two years. How do you equate? How
do you equate that? Like it's just you know, going
off on a woman. I'm sure they'll win and people
will be happy and say I told you so, But
(17:45):
I can't. I can't get there doing that when I
look at what I watch and you know, I mean
it's the ultimate dice dice, ultimate dice roll this tournament,
and you know, coaches are judged on what they do
in this thing.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
And I think it's tough.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
You go to a guy like Rick Barnes, you know,
I think the world of them, the way he's recruited,
the different schools that he's won at, and he's got
one Final Four, But if you look close, there's plenty
of Sweet sixteen and Elite eights in there.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Like I think the world.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
I wanted Houston and Tennessee to go to the Final Four,
and now they're in the same bracket. So it's always
handcuffs when it comes to the committee. But yeah, I
think they could be better.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Simon, you get all this second hand intel from all
the people you know that are professional betters, does it
ever make you want to go all in on college basketball,
like for an extra two months, just extend your season?
Do you see opportunities there? We've never actually talked about.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
This, No, but I guess it's because it doesn't line
up well with football, where like, my hardest months really
are that December, January, February stretch, and then when I'm
done with that, I'm so it's like, fuck, am I
really about to learn a thousand college kids' names.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Are probably all gonna be gone within the next year
or two.
Speaker 5 (19:06):
It's just a lot to take on, but college is
a thing where you can someone like me that's further
away from it.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I feel like I do make more money than the.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
Guys who are locked in on it, and they are
so into it where I can pick their picks and
I don't overthink it. Like me and you joked about
it last year, we said it Yukon felt like free money,
and we bet that heavy and we wrote it all
the way to the finals. And sometimes it really is
that simple right there, that those unique years of great coaching,
great team, great team chemistry, don't overthink it where this
(19:37):
year I feel like starver Seve's talking about a little
bit where they're it's open. Like every team that is
the best, there's a weakness to it. There is a
reason you can talk yourself into them failing. So these
are my favorite type years were last year, me and
you had fun because we made a ton of money
bet in Yukon. I want the madness, like that's what
we're here for. We're here for the madness. And last year,
not that it wasn't a great tournament, we just didn't
(19:58):
have the madness like we wanted. So this year I'm
I'm really looking forward to it. I feel like we're
gonna have a really crazy open field. I don't know
if Stanford Steve has the same view totally.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Like I said, I have plenty of teams that I mean,
each region has at least three teams I believe that
can win a national title. Now I'm more optimistic for
certain teams and don't look at the path, but I
just think about what I watch when I see that team.
You know, everyone talks about, you know, the Saint John's
Florida bracket, right, I mean, Florida could not be more
impressive and how good the SEC was. They won every
(20:30):
game in the tournament by double digit points. And they
played let's see, I'm trying to think of it. They
played a ten seed in Arkansas or no, that was Auburn.
I forgot who they played. Oh, they beat Missouri, they're
a six seed. Then they beat Alabama's a two seed,
and they beat Tennessee, who's a two seed, all by
double digits.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Like I get it.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
I kind of want them to lose, so the odds
would the odds would help, but you that's what you
get here.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
And are you guys.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Familiar with the with the Calcuttas and all that what
are the auction for the team?
Speaker 4 (21:01):
I can't wait.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
I think Yukon went for close to forty K and
ours last year and it was warranted, like we were
in on for a while and I'm just like, man,
this is because you have to win the tournament. There
Where I like this year more where I could pick
some teams off at a cheaper price. That can Hey,
all I need is them to get to sweet sixteen.
(21:22):
And we made money on this team. So that's why
we have ours in a couple of days. I can't wait.
But it's more open, there's more options, and we've done
an unbelievable job of avoiding the monster upsets. A couple
of years ago, Illinois was the most expensive team. They
lost in the second round of Loyola like that that
hurts man. Auburn was red hot, won the SEC Tournament
(21:46):
last year, big highest priced four seed by far Lucia
on the first round.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
We've done a good job of that avoiding that.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
So that's another factor in the whole gambling thing that
if you know you know it, you're fascinated by it.
It's super fun when it goes well. But uh yeah,
we've done a good job of avoiding the catastrophe.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
You when you do your Calcuttas. And I'll explain it
sort of as generally as I can so people understand.
It's basically your buying teams that you think are going
to win the entire tournament, and you're basically going all
in on those teams. But you can invest in sort
of three four different teams depending on the number of
(22:27):
people in the Calcutta and the size of the pool
that you want it to be, et cetera, et cetera.
When you are playing in a Calcutta, do you go
in with a couple of people that you're pooling your money?
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Yeah, okay, yeah O.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Our biggest thing is we basically have the percentages, but
we don't know the big We don't know the total
number yet because you don't know what you spend until
you know. So it's you know, that year with Illinois,
we got out on Illinois. They were and they ended
up going for high twenties, I would say, and I
think we got I think we were in at like
(23:01):
nineteen and they were like the first one seat because
you do it backwards, like you get the eleven and
fourteen seed in a region. I think you get twelve
and fifteen how we do it? But then once you
get to you know, the top four seeds, it's every
team's its own. So you know, a couple of years ago,
(23:22):
who do we have Oral Roberts when they made the
run like we I think we spend twenty five hundred
and they got to the Elite eight like we were.
In the way they do it is you don't know
the payouts for each round because you don't know how
much money is in the pop. But once you know that,
you know a first round win and second round win
are are one percent of the pot, and then it
(23:42):
doubles and it keeps doubling, and it's you know, you
you those sweets. To get to the sweet sixteen is enormous.
To get to the Laite A is even bigger, and
obviously the final four and title gamer are monstrous. But
it's it's a super super fun and we got you know,
we've been together five years I think now since I
(24:03):
moved here, So it's super super fun. If you if
you get a chance and and and you want to
take a different way of looking at the tournament, it's
totally different because it also gives you betting chances, you know,
if if you you know, it's sort of a you
know the opposite of a happiness hedge, where you know
you could do that. So and then if you don't
(24:24):
get the team that you really wanted, uh, you can
go bet them, you know, if you want it. Uh,
if you if you're really that confident and there's discrepancies
on your team or something like that. So it it
creates a whole nother viewpoint of the tournament, which I
find super super cool.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
You know what, I don't know that I've ever asked
you this, or if I did, I can't remember the answer.
You're from Connecticut, Like, how did you get into betting?
Speaker 4 (24:50):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Being around people that we're doing it and weren't supposed to, Uh,
you know a lot of relatives and Chad. It's funny
I get asked. You know, you guys get all questions,
all that you always betting, every gonna stop the advertising,
the whole thing. I just think people are so much
more better off now because you know, I seen and
(25:15):
heard horror stories of you know, local bookies, right, and
you see these people and they're just betting on credit.
So yeah, they're gonna run if they're not. You know,
the rule number one is you can't bet money you
don't have. That's that, that's rule number one in gaming.
You you're only asking for trouble if you do that.
And with the apps, now your money's are like it's
(25:36):
already there, you know, Yeah, I want you want a
hundred bucks on a game, they're taking it right then,
and then you get it.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
You get it.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
On the other end, it's just like going to a
book in a sports book at any of the places,
and there's no more betting with credit. So I think
the way yeah, if you if you have direct access
to the account where that app is set up, you
could run into some issues, but it's fun. Is just
just wheeling and trying to play catch up. It's kind
(26:04):
of it's kind of not you're not able to do
it on these apps because the money's up front. So
seeing that and and everybody be infatuated with the parlays,
now I get it. It's way healthier than the stuff
that I grew up around, where it was going against
rule number one, and it was people betting money that
they didn't have and being allowed to because they were
(26:25):
betting on credit with the guy.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Was that just like family friends, family buddies in the neighborhood.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
Yeah, yeah, the old slips.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Back in the day, you remember the slips, Yeah for sure.
You know, those slips were going around high school like hotcakes. Man,
you get your hand on a slip and somebody's booking
it and then somebody hits one and they don't have them.
Like it's it all started then, Man.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Who listen back in the day, this is semi before
Simon's time, maybe not, but parlay cards were the big thing,
and parlay cards would just fly through the high schools, yep.
And that's how it got a lot of people into bedding.
Like Simon, you live sort of on the cusp of
all this because you know, Stanford and I are a
little bit older than you.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
A little bit.
Speaker 5 (27:10):
But like Delaware, my old my memories of Delaware is
going to a pizzeria and filling out a parlay card
at the pizzeria while waiting to get my slice. And
it's like, you know that was at seventeen eighteen, Like
we drive down from Jersey to Delaware, they'll get a
slice and make a bet.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
And yeah, the thing Steve's talking about like cracks him up.
Speaker 5 (27:30):
I'll think about like my bookie, especially when I was young,
is not only the credit thing, but like having to
meet up with that bookie to give cash too and
having that conversation and being like I'm one hundred short
and give me that look of like it's no problem,
like he knows he's got you down the road anyway.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
You got my number exactly.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
And the other thing too, Chad, is people don't get
like like from twelve to one on an NFL Sunday,
like everybody knew where the guy was and you had
to call and that's when like, you know, there they
didn't usually have what do we call it total phone
where you could you know, call waiting. It was just
like I'm trying to call it. It's busy, it's busy.
(28:09):
It's busy.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
He's got the phone off the hook.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
And so like you had to make the call and
and and to your points, like you had to go
meet up and like was there going to be a
conversation or you know, like it's just and you know,
everybody had their weeks, right all right, we close. You know,
the NFL was always do you give Monday night as
the as the end of the week, and and you know,
Uncle's another words. I live by Monday night football. If
(28:35):
this game was at Sunday at one o'clock, would you
be betting? And it's like probably not because but everybody's
down and they're trying to chase let's throw it down
and lose it.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Is it's not on Sunday at one o'clock. It's on Monday. Yeah,
I think I might.
Speaker 4 (28:52):
Yep exactly, So oh god.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Yeah, well you mine. A buddy of mine just wrote.
His name is Alan Lobe and he has been on
the show before. He's a very successful screenwriter. He wrote
the movie twenty one, he wrote the movie Wall Street two.
He's written ten twelve movies that a lot of folks
have seen. Has continued to produce a lot. He just
(29:15):
wrote a story about his gambling addictions and actually was
really thoughtful about why he believes legalized sports betting is
better even though there are constant commercials now and this
has been a crazy week about sweep steak. So what
about the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission and whether or
(29:37):
not they're going to continue to allow the prediction markets
like robin Hood and Kelshi to allow full basically buying
and selling of teams in March madness that it's still
better because of what you just pointed out Stanford, which
is you're not betting on credit, right, you're not. If
(29:58):
you're digging yourself into a whole, it's a different conversation
than when you're digging yourself into a whole.
Speaker 5 (30:03):
Long Now, young kids don't know I know guys who,
especially my Runner days, Chad, Like between twenty ten and
twenty twelve, I can tell you a handful of guys
that owed money, they became priest, or joined the military,
or just you know, completely disappear and move to Argentina.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
You don't hear those stories as much as you did.
Speaker 5 (30:23):
Back then because guys would get up to twenty k
thirty k debt and they don't have a dollar to
their name. So, like Steve's talking about, I'm getting all
these funny memories thinking back to these crazy characters I knew.
It's like, yeah, I haven't seen Jimmy in a couple
of weeks. Oh that dude's a fucking priest.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Now, dude, he's gone. It's like, what, Yeah, he's a
priest now.
Speaker 5 (30:41):
It's like, those are the things I think back to
of those days of credit man, guys were just on
the run.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Oh fellas, before we witness any legendary buzzer beaters, Cinderella
stories or diaper dandy. Is this NCAA tournament at all
starts with all of us staying cool, calm and collected
this march, And the best way to do that staying
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(31:09):
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(31:32):
be wearing Tommy John in twenty twenty five?
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Because comfort is King Chad.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Right now, you can shop Tommy John dot com slash
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Save twenty five percent at Tommy John dot com slash favorites.
That's Tommy John dot com slash favorites. Stanford. For those
who might not know your full backstory, your nickname is
Stanford because you played football at Stanford. I don't think
(31:58):
people realize how big of a recruit you were. Remind me, like,
where were you ranked when you were coming out of
high school? Because I also believe you had an offer
to Notre Dame. I think you and I talked about
this once. But give me sort of the context for
your football all star hood and where else you could
(32:21):
have gone.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
Uh. I'm trying to remember the name of the magazine,
but this was pre internet nine athlon.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Was it athlon? No?
Speaker 3 (32:31):
It wasn't athlon. It was like a blue chip illustrator
or one of.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
The parade No.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
I didn't make the parade team though, Oh gosh, what
was the name of it. Anyway, I'm on my visit
to Stanford and uh, Mosorysen was the guy who recruited
me and comes running out of his office like he
knew that I was there. I was there with my
(32:57):
brother on my visit and he's like, look, look, look, look,
and I'm like what He's like, they ranked you number one.
I'm like what And it was like number one player
in the country. I'm like, what the hell is this.
I'm like, okay, so I to make it quick, like
I could have went anywhere, you know, whatever people throw around,
(33:19):
five star. The whole thing like went on these visits,
went to camp at Notre Dame. Holtz was still there,
but that staff was in flux, a lot of miscommunication.
Mac Brown's at North Carolina. You know, Nebraska was really good.
Tom Osborne was there. Best guy in our league the
year before went to Nebraska, Tony Ortiz So there was
(33:41):
that connection. Spurrier came to the high school Heisman thing,
which was a Tristate area team that I made through MSG.
That was something I'll never forget. Eddie George won it
that year and then they selected fifteen guys in the
area and Spurrier saw my highlight film was like hey,
He's like, you want to We're playing national championship, you
want to come. I'm like, what, like literally the Monday
(34:04):
morning after my visit to Stanford and I'm like I'm
like driving home and I'm like looking at flights to
Arizona and like just had lunch with Tiger Woods at Stanford.
Like it was a complete, complete shit show. And to
be seventeen years old in that time, you know, you start,
you know, coaches could call once a week and you're
(34:24):
talking to all these coaches and you're building relationships, Hey,
how are you?
Speaker 4 (34:28):
You know, how'd you play last week? How school going like?
Speaker 3 (34:31):
And you start building relationships and then you got to
tell these guys no, And as a seventeen year old kid, like,
it was super super scary, and I remember just wanting
to get the list down because I wanted to be
done and decided before Christmas. And it was super frantic
scary and you know, not knowing like you know, we
see kids getting nil deals now and I just think
(34:53):
about like nil. I couldn't handle that, Like I couldn't
even figure out where I wanted to.
Speaker 4 (34:56):
Go to school.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
So yeah, it was best of the best treatre royalties
on visits and ultimately decided to go to Stanford because
my birthday is January first. Grew up watching the Rose
Ball on my birthday my whole life, and there was
always a dream to play on my birthday and to
go to a school like CEE Stanford, like I still
(35:19):
put it up against any campus in the world and
to be able to get that education because I really,
you know, my dad passed.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
Away when I was going to my junior year of
high school.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
Wanted to go out and prove myself, like I got
some growing up to do hair and was able to
do that and ended up playing in the Rose Bawl
against Ron Day in Wisconsin on my twenty third birthday,
which was my final game, and then took an Interjet
internet startup job that summer in August and was broken
(35:48):
out of a job by Thanksgiving. So that was that
was a that was a treat and a lesson to
learn really quickly. And I mean I I all the
time now with kids in college, Like you got to
have a plan.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
Man.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
It's not the cool thing to do when you're in college,
but shit, like when people are are done helping you
pick classes and all that, like it's just you and
your whatever support system you got, and if you don't
have it or have a plan, that's the roughest transition
I think in a lifetime, because you're getting handed things.
I mean, as a as a scholarship football player, you're
(36:25):
getting handed things that you're so taken for granted and
then to be punched in the face.
Speaker 4 (36:31):
You know. Living in Powell Out, we're a Menlo Park,
no check.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
And I was never a guy that was like, yeah,
you know, speaking of betting with credit, Yeah, I got,
I got month, I got rent next month like I got.
I was like, I'll never forget, like Monday took the
job in like labor day August twenty twenty. No, I
mean August two thousand and Monday before Thanksgiving, like call
my mom and like I'm out of a joht, Like
we got bought out and like it was done. Like
(36:58):
you never heard those stories of the internet. So like
I had guys that got in like late nineties, got
in with Google.
Speaker 4 (37:04):
Uh who Yahoo? Like whoever?
Speaker 3 (37:07):
Like off and running like set in five years after
being graduated, and I'm broke without a job. Uh, not
even four months out of college. So uh it was
pretty eye opening. But I wouldn't trade it in.
Speaker 4 (37:20):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
People ask me all the time, would you rather gone?
I could have went to any SEC school. Uh, but
the friends and things I was able to do at Stafford,
I'll never trade in for anything.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Do you remember the name of the company?
Speaker 4 (37:34):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
What were you? What were you doing?
Speaker 4 (37:38):
Uh? It was some like internet sale.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
I have no idea, just I didn't even know what
I was doing. It was just you know, a couple
of guys and who were like, hey, let's do this.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
So yeah, I know that era. It's interesting you say that.
You know, we were talking before I came on about
colleges and like, I'm just going through this whole process
with my kid right now. Who's narrowing it down? It's
coming down to Maryland, Penn State, and Indiana was sort
(38:09):
of the third tier. And wherever we've gone, he's met
with the people who run the programs that he's interested in,
and every time we're done, he's like, he loves the
school he just met with. Yeah, just at Penn State.
But I think part of it is he feels badly
saying no to people who have been so nice to him,
(38:29):
about saying, hey, come here and this is what we
can do, and not like he's being recruited like an athlete.
It's a completely different thing. But when you're seventeen years old,
I can see it. I can see how hard it
is if someone is being kind to you to say
no to them. It's brutal.
Speaker 4 (38:44):
Yeah, and I've it's tough.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
I mean, I got three little girls and I'm looking
at kids. You know, I go to high school games
all the time, and in this area it's loaded. I
mean I watched the tournament and notice how many kids
are from the DMV.
Speaker 4 (39:00):
Way, went and had lunch.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
With a kid two weeks ago who's in college, journalism, communications,
the whole thing, and we're talking and I'm just you know,
the idea of how to get on air obviously comes up,
and like when I'm taught, when he asked me a question,
He's looking at me in the eye and I'm looking
at him asking him, like he's not even making eye
(39:22):
content him, Like.
Speaker 4 (39:22):
Dude, you got it.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
This has got to change, Like put the phone down,
and like there's there's nothing more important still in my
like than face to face conversations, like even if it
is on a zoom, like we're looking at each o.
You know, you know, expressions, the whole thing. Uh So,
it's it's it's really really hard. I think it's a
(39:44):
lot because I hate to say it, but I go
back to COVID with kids now, like you don't know
what they were going through.
Speaker 4 (39:51):
I mean nobody was.
Speaker 3 (39:51):
I mean, you know, somebody posted the other day, you know,
five years ago today we were told to stand six
feet apart, a kind of which those times came back
for a couple.
Speaker 4 (39:59):
Of minutes a day, you know.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
So it's it's there's it's it's been such a whirlwind
and everybody was a different age just five years ago
and then to come out of it, it is pretty
fascinating to see how people have adapted and changed. And
I just I'm constantly you know with my kids, like
when you're talking to me, look me in the eye.
And I feel like the phones and social media and
(40:22):
people just swiping left and right and scrolling up and down,
it's all we do where it takes away from face
to face conversations and we need more of that. And
to get to your point about the seventeen year olds
making the college decisions, it's big boys stuff. Man, you
got it you and there's there's no no other way.
Speaker 4 (40:37):
Than than looking in the eye. Uh.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
And I still say brushing your teeth every day in
the morning, like, look at yourself in the mirror. You're
happy with what you got because that's the that's how
you start your day. And yeah, it's a lot, but
as long as you take them on uh face first,
I say all the time, you're gonna be better off
because it's one giant step you don't realize you're taking,
but it's only to help you as you know, we
(41:01):
get older and you got to make more decisions. You
learn a lot about yourself in those times, and it's
part of growing up.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
I so it's it's so funny because, uh, you say,
it's a big boy decision. I'm driving home with him
yesterday from State College and I so want to I
said to him, I'm not going to say anything. This
has to be your decision. I would love to be
(41:30):
making the decision for him right now. I would love
to tell him exactly what to do and exactly why
he should do it, and exactly one of the most
important reasons to do exactly what I think he should do.
I can't say a fucking word, and it's fucking driving
me nuts, because simon, you know, I want to tell
people what to do.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Huh Yeah.
Speaker 5 (41:52):
You gotta let him make his own path, though, and
you know, make the right and wrong decisions. And like
you just said, whenever school he chooses, you know the deal, Chett,
he might hit you up in a year. And like,
I fucking hate this place. I want to come home.
I want to come back to a different school. And
that's just the way it is with college. And you know,
I know plenty of people that you know, I had
a weird run where like people I knew were graduating,
(42:13):
we went through that major recession eight and nine, and
you know, talking to those people that basically went through
the shit, they're way off better now than people that
graduated in twenty twelve, twenty thirteen that never experienced that low,
that survival. You know, I do think it's weird to
even talk about, but I do think a big part
of life is failing. Like how you deal with failure
(42:33):
really is all it is. Like I know plenty of
guys who failed kind of well was me, and gave
up in life and they kind of tried to wall
the rest of your life. I know other guys who
failed and have gone on to do incredible things because
they pushed through adversity.
Speaker 2 (42:45):
So I'm with you, Chad.
Speaker 5 (42:47):
It's it's a tough decision when he's making right now,
but it's like one of a thousand tough decisions he's
about to make going forward. And that's the craziest part.
Once you got out of high school, it's like you're
done with the kid bullshit.
Speaker 4 (42:58):
Man.
Speaker 5 (42:58):
Every decision you make is and made decision on your
life going forward, So that that's tough.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
Look, Stanford went from playing in the Rose Bowl to
being out of work within a year and now he's
on college game day, right, Like that is a freaking journey, Stanford.
When you're on game day, everyone seems to just stop
(43:23):
when Nick Saban is talking. Like I thought he was
a revelation on game day and the McAfee Sabin interplay
is amazing. But what is it like with Saban on
set in production meetings? Like what do you glean when
you're listening to him talk, because he's he captures something
(43:46):
that is really sort of profound. Whenever he's talking about
college football.
Speaker 4 (43:51):
Well, there's a lot of pieces.
Speaker 3 (43:54):
First thing is experienced, like he's experienced so much and failing.
He talks about his failures all the time and how
he responded to him in his support system. But he's
just so smart man god like because he's you know,
whether it's whether it's recruiting the best players in the
country or being in the biggest situations of a national
(44:14):
championship game. Uh, and the way he goes about things
like everything's just thought out and and he doesn't he
doesn't jump the gun on anything.
Speaker 4 (44:25):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (44:26):
He always has something in his pocket to give you.
And you know this year, like first time I think
we're together was was Ireland, and you know he's you know,
milling around and he's doing his thing and you know
he's got the computer going and you know he's got
the glasses and you know it's like, hey, you know, coach,
(44:46):
I'm you know whatever, and I'm here whatever you need.
And you know, it's it's a process of you know,
it's fucking Nick Saban man. Like he's got an army
of ways he does things, and you know he's got
a he's got a circle that's pretty pretty strong, and
not anybody who's just jumping in that circle.
Speaker 4 (45:08):
So there's a sense of trust.
Speaker 3 (45:10):
Uh, there's calls that you're on as far as the
show where hey, I'm bringing this to the table.
Speaker 4 (45:15):
But the one thing.
Speaker 3 (45:16):
That was just eye open and I found myself like
anytime he talks, it's just it's silent, whether we're in
the conference room, whether we're on a zoom, and I'm
just constantly just taking notes, uh, writing everything down because again,
it's so thought out, it's so smart, and it's super
interesting and his stories are.
Speaker 4 (45:37):
Just out of this world.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
He had us to his house when we went to
game day in Tuscaloosa. We just sat around dinner table
and he just told story like it was amazing, from
his his rise and coaching to try and recruit players
to losing players best players he lost, like just incredible.
And then for him to come on the air and
and and we had plenty of back and forth where
we really had fun.
Speaker 4 (46:00):
And and then I was like, you know, you.
Speaker 3 (46:03):
Talk to an older person, You're like, are they really
listening to me? And then you know, we had the
exchange at Cow where I was talking about I dated
a girl from cal and that literally was from a
five minute conversation in the middle of the Cow hotel
the night before when he was like, you ever come
over here and hang out when you're at Stanford. I
was like, yeah, my girlfriend actually here. I was here
a lot. And from that he took it the next
(46:24):
morning when I took my shot at the Cow fans
and we have great relationship. We sat next so like
that playoff thing was nuts, Like we didn't notre name
Friday night, and we were at Columbus the next morning
for game day.
Speaker 4 (46:39):
Then we did Orange Bowl.
Speaker 3 (46:40):
They flew us to the Cotton Bowl and I'm on
a private jet sitting next to the next sabe and
watching the end of the Orange Bowl and I'm like,
somebody please take a picture of this, and like having
coffee with the next morning, getting ready for the Combosh.
Speaker 4 (46:56):
I'm like, dude, we'll never forget that night at for
as long as we live.
Speaker 3 (47:00):
Watching like Nixon losing his mind on quarterback play, like
the game's getting tight, throwing the ball away, you're hold
on the ball too long, Like him being a fan
watching the game's just a real person on the there too,
which you never saw, you know, at the press conferences,
and him going off on his players and the tangents
on link Kiffen when he was assistant coach, like it's
(47:20):
been really really cool, and he's just an unbelievable, unbelievable person.
Speaker 1 (47:26):
People watching game day, people watching Sports Center with you
and Scott. Those will never be the things. The on
air things are never the things that you're going to
remember from any of your highlights. It's always going to
be the shit that happens behind the scenes out of
(47:47):
all of it, is going to be private jet watching
the end of an Orange Bowl.
Speaker 4 (47:50):
That was like the extreme yep.
Speaker 1 (47:53):
That's also what makes this business so much fun is
like these moments that you capture that are completely off camera.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (48:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (48:02):
And and going back to that point Chad about like
being part of the process and Simon talking about these
decisions and how they get bigger and bigger, Like, you know,
I don't have a job, and I'm trying to get
like figured out I had a communications degree. Hey, let's
try and pursue this. And like two weeks in to
get a part time job as a production assistant at
(48:22):
ESPN Radio. I'm like, all right, well, I'm not gonna
make a lot of money, but you know what, when
I hear you know, get get a Friday night or
Saturday night, we're out with the guys and the boys
and we're b yessing and there bitching about having to
you know, go back to cutting lawns and everything. Like
I was super fired up to go to work every
single day, Like I'm watching games and cutting highlights and
you know, trying to get put on one of the
(48:45):
regular shows, uh, to bring content to that. Like I
could care less about what I was making, but I
was fired up to go to work every single day.
And that's another choice you make, Like you want to
be happy, and you know there's different you know, money's
not everything all the time. But like I said, looking
in that mayor brush your teeth every morning. If you're
(49:06):
happy with that person, go for it. And if you're not,
you got to do something about it. But that's things
and decisions you got to make.
Speaker 1 (49:13):
How do you manage now, Simon and I did with
this all the time sports betting content from the time
you and I started doing it, you know, two thousand
and eleven twelve thirteen, when we were doing the shows together.
I was coming on with you and Scott and Ryan too.
Now has evolved so aggressively that your front and center
(49:37):
with so much of it, and some of the highest
profile shows on television forget about just sports television, but
like Game Day and Sports Center with SVP, like those
are massive shows. Right. How do you now manage people
coming after you for sports betting when you're wrong? How
(50:00):
has that changed? How has the conversation changed as all
of this has evolved?
Speaker 4 (50:07):
Huh? Well, no one, no one.
Speaker 3 (50:11):
No one says thank you when you win or congrats
like no, like no, it's silence. It's silence. And it
actually helped me last year. I think I was under
like eight or ten under five hundred last year on
game day. And it took me like two weeks where
I was like, Uh, this social media thing, you can
have it, Like I'm and my rule number one is
(50:33):
like now we're gonna be in March madness. Like the
last thing I'm doing while these games are going on
is going on social media. Like I cannot, like just
to grown in negativity a tweet that somebody sends that
they're never ever gonna say to your face in person. Never,
They'll never, they'll never do it, but they'll hide behind
their screen name and write whatever.
Speaker 4 (50:55):
They want to you. So that actually helped.
Speaker 3 (50:58):
Me because I was I mean, I talked to plenty
of people and they live by it like they do it.
I mean I'm on uh set with other Sports Center
shows and and like we go to break at boom,
they're checking their phone to see what people are saying
about what they just said about their team or their
player or their coach whatever. Like I don't, I don't
need that because guys do it when they wake up
in the morning and they check and you're on TV.
(51:19):
No one's saying no, no one's saying anything good.
Speaker 4 (51:21):
They're not.
Speaker 3 (51:22):
They're just they're picking apart what you're saying. And I
think that totally messages with people's heads because they read
it and and they act like that those aren't the
only people watching the show, you know what I mean,
Like we're you know TV. There's still plenty of people
that are watching the TV and aren't on social media.
So having a bad year picking games actually was the
(51:43):
best thing because it made me not go on it, Like,
it made me focus more on watching tape and watching
games and reading, which I think is still a huge part.
I'm still a guy that prints out NCAA tournament capsules
on every team, reads those and goes through with a highlighter.
Like That's what I'm doing my time. I'm not going
on and seeing what somebody's saying or listening to this breakdown.
(52:06):
Like I got my own way of going about things.
It's been super successful and I'm gonna stick to it.
But this day and age, it's really really hard for
people to put their phones down.
Speaker 4 (52:15):
Man.
Speaker 3 (52:16):
And like I said, the gambling, Twitter, gambling, social media,
there's never congratulations on there, So don't don't do it
because you think you're gonna get that. It's just like
starting the biggest sports media when you think you're gonna
make money, because you're not gonna You're.
Speaker 4 (52:30):
Not gonna do that.
Speaker 3 (52:32):
So like again, it's been a blessing in disguise. But
the social media thing, I mean, you guys deal with
it constantly. It's it's just thankfleul ultimate thankless job because
you know we'll get in March madness and it's like,
all right, I picked the upset and it's like, okay,
as soon as I picked the upset, the team that
I'm picking again Steph fan base thinks their team sucks
(52:54):
and like a lot of times I'll have had that team,
like the last three games, it's like, where were you
last three games when we just hit we just hit
three in a row on your team. I just don't
like the matchup. I'm sorry, I don't. I don't hate
your team. And then to go to all these colleges
with game day and get the interactions with people is
just hilarious because then it's like, oh, you know, really
(53:16):
enjoy your work this and it's like, oh, you know,
face to face conversations are are pretty real and there
is something so it's it's it's a different world that
like as you said, Chad than when we started, and
I just say be careful like it not not don't
don't go, Scott says all the time. Twitter is not
(53:36):
the place to go for positive feedback. It's pretty simple
and you know, use it, use it as you do,
and use it to your advantage because there are some
really good things on there and connected with people they
haven't seen a while or are checking out or reading
an article.
Speaker 4 (53:51):
There's plenty of good stuff.
Speaker 1 (53:53):
You can come here for positive feedback, Stanford Simon and
I will always give it to you. Thanks for coming
on the show. Brother. As a reminder, the Favorites podcast
is presented by Bet three six five and is now
live at my home state of Illinois. New Bet three
six five customers, including those in Illinois, get one hundred
and fifty dollars in bonus bets when you bet five dollars,
(54:15):
sign up using promo code Favorites, deposit ten dollars, place
a bet for five dollars to get one hundred and
fifty dollars in bonus bets. Those bonus bets can be
used on spreads, totals, player props, futures, and more whatever
the moment, it's an ever ordinary at bet three six five,
especially in Illinois. Must be twenty one or older and
present in Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Louisiana, North Carolina,
(54:36):
New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, or eighteen or older in Kentucky.
Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler or one eight
hundred bets off in Iowa terms conditions restrictions apply. Thank
you very much to Stanford Steve for coming on the show.
He is a total pro and a good friend. Simon
and I will return with our next episode of the Favorites.
On the Action Network YouTube page to discuss MLB Opening
(54:59):
Day Tuesday, one thirty pm Eastern. Download of Spotify Apple
Pods wherever you get your pods, rate reviews, subscribe, levis
five stars, say whatever you want. Feedback is a gift.
Until next time.
Speaker 4 (55:08):
I Love you.
Speaker 1 (55:17):
Action Network reminds you please gamble responsibly. If you or
someone you care about has a gambling problem, help is
available twenty four to seven at one eight hundred gambler
Welcome to The Favorites, the podcast presented by BET three
sixty five. We are part of the Volume Podcast Network.
I am Chad Melman of the Action Network. I'm live
from my Tommy John home studio. I'm joined as always
by my co host, my companion, my Campadre might be
a FAFT professional better Simon Hunter. Hello, Simon, Chad.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
How are we doing? Brother?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Listen dude, I'm in the middle of an epic, epic
travel streak. I've been gone for three to four days
of every week and just about every weekend since the
Super Bowl. Got home late last night after visiting Penn
(00:53):
State University over the weekend with my son. We're narrowing
down the college choices. We're getting down to the end.
I am going to ask my guests, because he's intimately
familiar with all of the places that my son has left.
I'm going to want to get his opinion on it.
But the NCAA tournament is underway. You and I have
a very special guest. He's honestly, he's an inspiration to
(01:17):
a lot of the people on our production staff, some
of whom he's actually worked with very closely, including myself.
He's always been an incredible producer, one of the legendary
ESPN producers. He became a beloved media personality, not television,
(01:38):
not audio, all around media personality. Always been a passionate gambler.
I've known the guy for fifteen years, going back to
my ESPN days. You've seen him on Sports Center with
SVP College Game Day. Our OG listeners are going to
know him very well from not just the Behind the
Bets podcast from my ESPN days, he also co hosted
(02:02):
the spinoff podcast with Chris Filica, Behind the Bets the
College Years. A gambling content pioneer. It's Stanford, Steve Stanford,
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Brother, Hello fellas pleasure, Welcome U. Chad's been too long.
I was so pumped to see at the super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Nice.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
It's it's the best part, you know.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I think everybody that has to deal with the Super
Bowl finds their pockets and everybody has gotten to the
point where you know you it's like, you know, Kyle
Brant did the best thing about seeing people at the
super Bowl.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
I thought it was tremendous. Just the three questions that
are asked.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
But people know what to expect when you've done so
many of them, and you know, I'm not the concert
going guy. I'm not gonna you know, I just have
zero interest. And the best times I've had are you know,
a little small private party or just telling guys, hey,
I'm at this hotel bar, let's let's meet there. And
(03:02):
those are the best times because you go to these shows,
you can't hear a word anyone's saying, uh, and you
want to talk to people because you haven't seen him
in social media is a great connection, but you're not
getting what you can get and then you see things
on social media that people are posting and you're like, eh,
I'd love to ask about that, and that's the time
to do it.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
So it was great to catch up with you. And
it's been too long.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
I you know, people talk about you know, it's it's
it's always like, how.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Did you go from producer to TV?
Speaker 3 (03:33):
And your name is the first one that comes up
because you gave you gave the bear and I a
little on ramp to the highway that I didn't know
what was podcasts and you did and your vision has
always been just incredible to me. Uh, going back when
you used to come in in studio every week with ESPN,
(03:54):
the magazine with Scott and Ryan us developer friendship there
and I mean you literally had us on and like yeah, Harry,
go go do your own and not knowing what the
platform was, and then to hear people react and then
Baron and I get to get to interact with the
people we did and and and get get people to listen.
(04:15):
It was I'll never forget it.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
It was.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
I can't believe it's been fifteen years.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
I wasn't even expecting that.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
No, man, I try and say out of sight, out
of mind, It's not true. People always remember certain things.
Maybe certain people remember want to remember certain things. But no, man,
I'll never forget the opportunity you gave us, and it's
turned into an unbelievable run. This past year at college
(04:44):
football was most fun I've ever had, with the playoff
and traveling, going to Bloomington for the first time among
the top things. So it's a pleasure to meet you guys,
appreciate you, what you guys do, what you've built. It's
really really in credible in this, you know, podcasting and gambling.
It feels like it's ever going to end, and there's
(05:06):
got to be a roof at some point. But how
early you started at Chad is still something I'm amazed by.
And the belief that you had in yourself and establishing
a crew is really really cool to see because we've
seen plenty go by the wayside.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
And here we are.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Dude. I got a feeling. Matt Mitchell and Gifford, who
used to work with you at ESPN, Yeah, they're probably
going to cut all that out.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
But had any purposes. I get it.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Listen the behind the bets the college years. That was
the most natural evolution, Simon. You would not know this
because you did not care about me before you DM
me on Twitter. But the podcast that how old is
Simon Simon Simon's thirty.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Five thirty five? Yeah, Chad, Chad knows the deal.
Speaker 5 (05:51):
I lived the life there for I was living in Vegas,
degener gambler, so Risilla NSVP did make my cut though,
So I didn't listen to gambling stuffcause I don't want
to my head. Yeah, you know, I'm gonna know it all, asshole,
especially back in those days. But yeah, when I was
a runner, living in my car, running from across Vegas,
long days, lots of SVP and Marcille and they're random
(06:13):
gems of Stanford Steve just humble in for one or
two seconds.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
You know that is Stanford Steve. I'm sure you've heard this.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
Everyone's favorite character on any show is the guy that
talks for maybe one or two minutes. Right, So I
hit the point of like I liked SVP, I liked Forcillo,
but anytime I got to hear at Stanford Steve's story,
especially your glory days of college, I'm just like, fuck,
this guy is the man. So yeah, obviously seeing what
you were started out as where you're at now, man,
it's it's pretty epic how you've taken that little niche
and made it to a huge, huge career.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Man, you're the man.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Yeah, Chad, Chad created that niche. So again, thank you.
I'm serious. I'm telling you because it.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Was, man, because I mean, I would, I would even
I would still get shipped from from Radio PRIs. You're like,
what are you doing, Like I'm going to tape of podcast.
They're like what, like you're talking, I'm like yeah, and
it it it turned into what it did.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
But yeah, behind the bets, man, holy Cayle, that was long.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
We were doing that show from across the studio. With
SVP and Rosillo and even Feli could crush that. You
used to come on Behind the Bets and we would
do an episode a segment on Behind the Bets just
about college football, and at some point, like you guys
just didn't need me doing it. You could go for
(07:30):
so long. It was also just the most classic natural
off ramp transition because of Saved by the Bell, the
college years for the old heads. Yea, the perfect name.
Carry on, gentlemen, and it was fucking great.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
I mean, you're you hated college football and you will
just wanted to talk NFL and it couldn't have worked
out better because I could care less about the NFL
and I love college football.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
So that was that. Would you nail it out of
the park.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
That's called complimentary football, right there, Stanford, That's what that is.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Are we going to talk about or are we going
to talk about? Which is? What is the right side
at all? Remember those arguments?
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Well, the right side is the winning side. That's that's
the bottom line. Let me do a little business right here.
As a reminder, the Favorites podcast is presented by BET
three sixty five and it is now live in my
home state of Illinois Baby New Bet three six five customers,
including those in Illinois, get one hundred and fifty dollars
in bonus bets. When you bet five dollars, sign up
(08:31):
using promo code Favorites, deposit ten dollars. Place at bet
for five dollars, get one hundred and fifty dollars in
bonus bets. Those bonus bets can be used on spreads, totals,
player props, features, and more. Whatever the moment, It's never ordinary.
At Bet three sixty five, especially in Illinois. Must be
twenty one or older in present in Arizona, Colorader, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Louisiana,
(08:51):
North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, or eighteen and
older in Kentucky. Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler
or one hundred bets off in Iowa terms. Conditioned restrictions apply.
Speaking of Illinois before we dive in. Another reminder officially
RASVP for our free Favorites live show in Chicago. This
(09:13):
is a big event Elite eight March Madness Games on Saturday,
March twenty ninth. That Joe's on Weed, It's on Weed Street,
Folks free event, free Ranks Free live show with college
basketball betting experts Stucky in three man weave overall Good times. RSVP.
To reserve your spot, click the link in this episode's
(09:34):
description or just Google Favorites Live event Chicago, be sure
to rsv P. All right, Stanford, we know you're a
Duke guy, not a Duke grad, but a Duke fan. Like,
there's a long list of teams in the past you
(09:55):
could see winning the tournament, and right now, like Florida
came on strong. Yeah, obviously, Auburn struggled at the end
of the season. Duke has basically three guys who will
be first round picks. How many teams do you think
can realistically win it all? Right now?
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Ooh, glad you asked. I got my list right here.
Duke's region, the East, actually has the most. I make
a list every Valentine's Day of teams that I can
think can win the national title.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Then it changes when the.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Bracket comes out because I get it, and you guys
know the deal with gambling people, and like all they
want is picks.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
They want picks, they want picks, and it's.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Really really hard because I still think the bracket dictates
how I feel and until I see it and see
the matchups and all that, I don't really have a
great feel. But that gives you more clarity because you
start to see pass.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
And things like that.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
So I have five teams in Duke's bracket that I
believe can win the national title, and one is hanging
on by a whisper. But I can't give up on
them because again, the hardest thing we do in this
world we do. We do things as far as you know,
picks and all that is forgetting what a team looked
like the last time we saw them, and it's it's
(11:11):
the hardest. I think it's the hardest thing with NBA
betting when you start getting the series. I think it's
the hardest thing with college football after a team plays
a big game, say on the road, because if you
if you focus in on how bad a team look
and they played bad, you're just setting yourself up. And
it's it's really hard to do. You gotta you gotta
clear the table and assess things and the basis of
(11:32):
here and and with the tournament. In that bracket, I
have Duke Arizona BYU Wisconsin is the team that's hanging
on by a thread in Alabama. Wisconsin was a team
I really like getting better all year, and then you
go to the Big Ten title game, they play their
worst game of the year and lose. And now you
look at their draw. Now they got to go to Denver.
They played Sunday afternoon. The teams that have played in
(11:53):
Big Ten title games don't have a great history.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
And then say a tournament and so you go to Denver.
All right, you got to play the Montana team, who's
not bad at all. Watch them through the season. I
actually think they could do pretty well and cover that number.
But Wisconsin's that team. And then BYU and Alabama are
the two teams I'm so bummed they're in the same bracket,
just like Florida and Saint John's. I'm sure we'll get
(12:18):
to But BYU and Alabama were two teams I thought
all year they got to get out of the conference
and get to tournament play because of what they bring
in the table as far as matchups, size, length, style
of play, all that. I love what BYU and Alabama
bringing the table, and that one was tough. I keep
going back and forth of who's going to the final
four out of that and I honestly think Arizona beats
(12:41):
Duke because when you look at what Arizona brings to
the table, they're better and better. They're getting. You know,
the acron pick is getting more popular and more popular,
but it seems like the line keeps going up, which
I don't like at all. I think it's up to
thirteen wherever you're getting numbers from. But Arizona played Duke
already this year. They lost into usan low scoring game.
(13:01):
It was after Duke got beat by Kentucky. I think
Duke really really needed it and Tommy Lloyd was still
figuring out their lineup. And now you look at what
Arizona did in the Big twelve tournament, which is super
impressive to me. I love the way their guards play,
and you have the ultimate Kale Love factor.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Yeah, if he's bad, they're not gonna win.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
But if he's good, kids brought a team in the
National Championship three years ago, So I look at Arizona.
It's super dangerous in that bracket, being really really tough.
Everybody's just saying Duke's got a path because you know,
they get Mississippi State and the winner Misssippi State and Baylor.
But I think it's more tricky than that. Those teams
are gonna be afraid they're gonna get everybody's best shot.
(13:40):
You don't know what Cooper is going to look like.
And I just I feel like it's a it's a
tougher then draw, and then you factor in another thing
that I always look at.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
And when we.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Got off the air last night at two am, nine
million and over nine million brackets submitted at ESPN dot
com Duke winning that.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
I want part of that. You got a zero.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
I sometimes I feel Simon, tell me if you feel
the same way. I mean that you're a professional better,
But obviously college basketball wasn't where you make your money.
I've always felt like the BRAC, the people creating the seedings,
the selection committee, either they have an ear for what
(14:26):
gamblers don't want to see or they are so unself
aware they fuck every team that gamblers really want to
believe in. And I feel like I saw it all
over the brackets this year, even with Auburn, Like Auburn
is the number one overall seed, they got to go
to Kentucky and then they potentially have to play Louisville,
(14:50):
which is essentially a home game in Lexington for Louisville
in the second round if Louisville wins its opening round
game against Creighton, Like, what the fuck is up with
the selection? When you look at this Stanford, do you
feel like they have an ear for what gamblers are thinking?
Or do you think they're just bad at this?
Speaker 4 (15:08):
I think they're bad, I really do. You look at
some of the spreads.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
I mean, like I said, I love BYU and that
VCU game is brutal because VC is a great defensive team.
Now VC has only played two tournament teams and you
know they got to go to Denver, as I pointed
out after playing Sunday Afternoon too, which you know likes BYU.
But then the lines in the twos, I think, and
(15:35):
then you just look at twelve five Colorado State's favored
over Michigan, now, like it's brutal the way they do it,
And you know, I always held back that it was
done the right way, but this year, I just I
can't with the North Carolina thing, Like you know, bracket
what's the site, bracket matrix, one hundred and eleven brackets
all you know, bracketologist computers, the whole thing, one hundred
(15:57):
and eleven out of one hundred and eleven had West
Virginia and Carolina out, and you know, and then you
see the selection show with the vice chair now because
Bubbo's lady of Carolina, like Baba.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Who got seventy thousand dollars bonus because Carolina.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
I couldn't.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
I can't get there now. And I think it's a
shame because this being the brand. And you know in
Indiana factors into it too, because immediately I saw Carolina
and I'm like, well, Boise States out uh and they're
just gonna go with the names. And then you see
Texas and it's like whoa. So it's it's brutal because
(16:35):
I always want the little guys to go. And I
get the SEC is the best conference ever with fourteen teams,
and I watch it as much as anybody, but like
you're just you know, I still you know, you look
at teams like Drake, if they didn't win their conference tournament,
I thought they deserved to me in they're like thirty
and four. You know, at some point I want teams
that are capable. And it's only gonna get worse. Hurt
(16:57):
people talking like the out of conference games that all right,
they want to.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Get Quad one wins.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
You know, all the shoe companies do the preseason scheduling,
like out of conference preseason, that's all done with shoecomp.
MAUI has a Nike school under Armoured. Indeed, it's like
they control all that, so the little guys can't even
get in on that. And then like I look at
everybody's picking high Point right because they're playing Purdue. It's
pretty basic why everyone's picking high Point. They see a
(17:24):
good record, they see perdue forget that they went to
the national title game last year, and just think about
year's previous re Painter has failed, who I think is
still an excellent coach. High Point hasn't played a Quad
one game in two years. How do you equate? How
do you equate that? Like it's just you know, going
off on a woman. I'm sure they'll win and people
will be happy and say I told you so, But
(17:45):
I can't. I can't get there doing that when I
look at what I watch and you know, I mean
it's the ultimate dice dice, ultimate dice roll this tournament,
and you know, coaches are judged on what they do
in this thing.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
And I think it's tough.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
You go to a guy like Rick Barnes, you know,
I think the world of them, the way he's recruited,
the different schools that he's won at, and he's got
one Final Four, But if you look close, there's plenty
of Sweet sixteen and Elite eights in there.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Like I think the world.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
I wanted Houston and Tennessee to go to the Final Four,
and now they're in the same bracket. So it's always
handcuffs when it comes to the committee. But yeah, I
think they could be better.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Simon, you get all this second hand intel from all
the people you know that are professional betters, does it
ever make you want to go all in on college basketball,
like for an extra two months, just extend your season?
Do you see opportunities there? We've never actually talked about.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
This, No, but I guess it's because it doesn't line
up well with football, where like, my hardest months really
are that December, January, February stretch, and then when I'm
done with that, I'm so it's like, fuck, am I
really about to learn a thousand college kids' names.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Are probably all gonna be gone within the next year
or two.
Speaker 5 (19:06):
It's just a lot to take on, but college is
a thing where you can someone like me that's further
away from it.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I feel like I do make more money than the.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
Guys who are locked in on it, and they are
so into it where I can pick their picks and
I don't overthink it. Like me and you joked about
it last year, we said it Yukon felt like free money,
and we bet that heavy and we wrote it all
the way to the finals. And sometimes it really is
that simple right there, that those unique years of great coaching,
great team, great team chemistry, don't overthink it where this
(19:37):
year I feel like starver Seve's talking about a little
bit where they're it's open. Like every team that is
the best, there's a weakness to it. There is a
reason you can talk yourself into them failing. So these
are my favorite type years were last year, me and
you had fun because we made a ton of money
bet in Yukon. I want the madness, like that's what
we're here for. We're here for the madness. And last year,
not that it wasn't a great tournament, we just didn't
(19:58):
have the madness like we wanted. So this year I'm
I'm really looking forward to it. I feel like we're
gonna have a really crazy open field. I don't know
if Stanford Steve has the same view totally.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Like I said, I have plenty of teams that I mean,
each region has at least three teams I believe that
can win a national title. Now I'm more optimistic for
certain teams and don't look at the path, but I
just think about what I watch when I see that team.
You know, everyone talks about, you know, the Saint John's
Florida bracket, right, I mean, Florida could not be more
impressive and how good the SEC was. They won every
(20:30):
game in the tournament by double digit points. And they
played let's see, I'm trying to think of it. They
played a ten seed in Arkansas or no, that was Auburn.
I forgot who they played. Oh, they beat Missouri, they're
a six seed. Then they beat Alabama's a two seed,
and they beat Tennessee, who's a two seed, all by
double digits.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Like I get it.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
I kind of want them to lose, so the odds
would the odds would help, but you that's what you
get here.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
And are you guys.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Familiar with the with the Calcuttas and all that what
are the auction for the team?
Speaker 4 (21:01):
I can't wait.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
I think Yukon went for close to forty K and
ours last year and it was warranted, like we were
in on for a while and I'm just like, man,
this is because you have to win the tournament. There
Where I like this year more where I could pick
some teams off at a cheaper price. That can Hey,
all I need is them to get to sweet sixteen.
(21:22):
And we made money on this team. So that's why
we have ours in a couple of days. I can't wait.
But it's more open, there's more options, and we've done
an unbelievable job of avoiding the monster upsets. A couple
of years ago, Illinois was the most expensive team. They
lost in the second round of Loyola like that that
hurts man. Auburn was red hot, won the SEC Tournament
(21:46):
last year, big highest priced four seed by far Lucia
on the first round.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
We've done a good job of that avoiding that.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
So that's another factor in the whole gambling thing that
if you know you know it, you're fascinated by it.
It's super fun when it goes well. But uh yeah,
we've done a good job of avoiding the catastrophe.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
You when you do your Calcuttas. And I'll explain it
sort of as generally as I can so people understand.
It's basically your buying teams that you think are going
to win the entire tournament, and you're basically going all
in on those teams. But you can invest in sort
of three four different teams depending on the number of
(22:27):
people in the Calcutta and the size of the pool
that you want it to be, et cetera, et cetera.
When you are playing in a Calcutta, do you go
in with a couple of people that you're pooling your money?
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Yeah, okay, yeah O.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Our biggest thing is we basically have the percentages, but
we don't know the big We don't know the total
number yet because you don't know what you spend until
you know. So it's you know, that year with Illinois,
we got out on Illinois. They were and they ended
up going for high twenties, I would say, and I
think we got I think we were in at like
(23:01):
nineteen and they were like the first one seat because
you do it backwards, like you get the eleven and
fourteen seed in a region. I think you get twelve
and fifteen how we do it? But then once you
get to you know, the top four seeds, it's every
team's its own. So you know, a couple of years ago,
(23:22):
who do we have Oral Roberts when they made the
run like we I think we spend twenty five hundred
and they got to the Elite eight like we were.
In the way they do it is you don't know
the payouts for each round because you don't know how
much money is in the pop. But once you know that,
you know a first round win and second round win
are are one percent of the pot, and then it
(23:42):
doubles and it keeps doubling, and it's you know, you
you those sweets. To get to the sweet sixteen is enormous.
To get to the Laite A is even bigger, and
obviously the final four and title gamer are monstrous. But
it's it's a super super fun and we got you know,
we've been together five years I think now since I
(24:03):
moved here, So it's super super fun. If you if
you get a chance and and and you want to
take a different way of looking at the tournament, it's
totally different because it also gives you betting chances, you know,
if if you you know, it's sort of a you
know the opposite of a happiness hedge, where you know
you could do that. So and then if you don't
(24:24):
get the team that you really wanted, uh, you can
go bet them, you know, if you want it. Uh,
if you if you're really that confident and there's discrepancies
on your team or something like that. So it it
creates a whole nother viewpoint of the tournament, which I
find super super cool.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
You know what, I don't know that I've ever asked
you this, or if I did, I can't remember the answer.
You're from Connecticut, Like, how did you get into betting?
Speaker 4 (24:50):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Being around people that we're doing it and weren't supposed to, Uh,
you know a lot of relatives and Chad. It's funny
I get asked. You know, you guys get all questions,
all that you always betting, every gonna stop the advertising,
the whole thing. I just think people are so much
more better off now because you know, I seen and
(25:15):
heard horror stories of you know, local bookies, right, and
you see these people and they're just betting on credit.
So yeah, they're gonna run if they're not. You know,
the rule number one is you can't bet money you
don't have. That's that, that's rule number one in gaming.
You you're only asking for trouble if you do that.
And with the apps, now your money's are like it's
(25:36):
already there, you know, Yeah, I want you want a
hundred bucks on a game, they're taking it right then,
and then you get it.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
You get it.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
On the other end, it's just like going to a
book in a sports book at any of the places,
and there's no more betting with credit. So I think
the way yeah, if you if you have direct access
to the account where that app is set up, you
could run into some issues, but it's fun. Is just
just wheeling and trying to play catch up. It's kind
(26:04):
of it's kind of not you're not able to do
it on these apps because the money's up front. So
seeing that and and everybody be infatuated with the parlays,
now I get it. It's way healthier than the stuff
that I grew up around, where it was going against
rule number one, and it was people betting money that
they didn't have and being allowed to because they were
(26:25):
betting on credit with the guy.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Was that just like family friends, family buddies in the neighborhood.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
Yeah, yeah, the old slips.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Back in the day, you remember the slips, Yeah for sure.
You know, those slips were going around high school like hotcakes. Man,
you get your hand on a slip and somebody's booking
it and then somebody hits one and they don't have them.
Like it's it all started then, Man.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Who listen back in the day, this is semi before
Simon's time, maybe not, but parlay cards were the big thing,
and parlay cards would just fly through the high schools, yep.
And that's how it got a lot of people into bedding.
Like Simon, you live sort of on the cusp of
all this because you know, Stanford and I are a
little bit older than you.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
A little bit.
Speaker 5 (27:10):
But like Delaware, my old my memories of Delaware is
going to a pizzeria and filling out a parlay card
at the pizzeria while waiting to get my slice. And
it's like, you know that was at seventeen eighteen, Like
we drive down from Jersey to Delaware, they'll get a
slice and make a bet.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
And yeah, the thing Steve's talking about like cracks him up.
Speaker 5 (27:30):
I'll think about like my bookie, especially when I was young,
is not only the credit thing, but like having to
meet up with that bookie to give cash too and
having that conversation and being like I'm one hundred short
and give me that look of like it's no problem,
like he knows he's got you down the road anyway.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
You got my number exactly.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
And the other thing too, Chad, is people don't get
like like from twelve to one on an NFL Sunday,
like everybody knew where the guy was and you had
to call and that's when like, you know, there they
didn't usually have what do we call it total phone
where you could you know, call waiting. It was just
like I'm trying to call it. It's busy, it's busy.
(28:09):
It's busy.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
He's got the phone off the hook.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
And so like you had to make the call and
and and to your points, like you had to go
meet up and like was there going to be a
conversation or you know, like it's just and you know,
everybody had their weeks, right all right, we close. You know,
the NFL was always do you give Monday night as
the as the end of the week, and and you know,
Uncle's another words. I live by Monday night football. If
(28:35):
this game was at Sunday at one o'clock, would you
be betting? And it's like probably not because but everybody's
down and they're trying to chase let's throw it down
and lose it.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Is it's not on Sunday at one o'clock. It's on Monday. Yeah,
I think I might.
Speaker 4 (28:52):
Yep exactly, So oh god.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Yeah, well you mine. A buddy of mine just wrote.
His name is Alan Lobe and he has been on
the show before. He's a very successful screenwriter. He wrote
the movie twenty one, he wrote the movie Wall Street two.
He's written ten twelve movies that a lot of folks
have seen. Has continued to produce a lot. He just
(29:15):
wrote a story about his gambling addictions and actually was
really thoughtful about why he believes legalized sports betting is
better even though there are constant commercials now and this
has been a crazy week about sweep steak. So what
about the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission and whether or
(29:37):
not they're going to continue to allow the prediction markets
like robin Hood and Kelshi to allow full basically buying
and selling of teams in March madness that it's still
better because of what you just pointed out Stanford, which
is you're not betting on credit, right, you're not. If
(29:58):
you're digging yourself into a whole, it's a different conversation
than when you're digging yourself into a whole.
Speaker 5 (30:03):
Long Now, young kids don't know I know guys who,
especially my Runner days, Chad, Like between twenty ten and
twenty twelve, I can tell you a handful of guys
that owed money, they became priest, or joined the military,
or just you know, completely disappear and move to Argentina.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
You don't hear those stories as much as you did.
Speaker 5 (30:23):
Back then because guys would get up to twenty k
thirty k debt and they don't have a dollar to
their name. So, like Steve's talking about, I'm getting all
these funny memories thinking back to these crazy characters I knew.
It's like, yeah, I haven't seen Jimmy in a couple
of weeks. Oh that dude's a fucking priest.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Now, dude, he's gone. It's like, what, Yeah, he's a
priest now.
Speaker 5 (30:41):
It's like, those are the things I think back to
of those days of credit man, guys were just on
the run.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Oh fellas, before we witness any legendary buzzer beaters, Cinderella
stories or diaper dandy. Is this NCAA tournament at all
starts with all of us staying cool, calm and collected
this march, And the best way to do that staying
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(31:09):
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(31:32):
be wearing Tommy John in twenty twenty five?
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Because comfort is King Chad.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Right now, you can shop Tommy John dot com slash
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Save twenty five percent at Tommy John dot com slash favorites.
That's Tommy John dot com slash favorites. Stanford. For those
who might not know your full backstory, your nickname is
Stanford because you played football at Stanford. I don't think
(31:58):
people realize how big of a recruit you were. Remind me, like,
where were you ranked when you were coming out of
high school? Because I also believe you had an offer
to Notre Dame. I think you and I talked about
this once. But give me sort of the context for
your football all star hood and where else you could
(32:21):
have gone.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
Uh. I'm trying to remember the name of the magazine,
but this was pre internet nine athlon.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Was it athlon? No?
Speaker 3 (32:31):
It wasn't athlon. It was like a blue chip illustrator
or one of.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
The parade No.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
I didn't make the parade team though, Oh gosh, what
was the name of it. Anyway, I'm on my visit
to Stanford and uh, Mosorysen was the guy who recruited
me and comes running out of his office like he
knew that I was there. I was there with my
(32:57):
brother on my visit and he's like, look, look, look, look,
and I'm like what He's like, they ranked you number one.
I'm like what And it was like number one player
in the country. I'm like, what the hell is this.
I'm like, okay, so I to make it quick, like
I could have went anywhere, you know, whatever people throw around,
(33:19):
five star. The whole thing like went on these visits,
went to camp at Notre Dame. Holtz was still there,
but that staff was in flux, a lot of miscommunication.
Mac Brown's at North Carolina. You know, Nebraska was really good.
Tom Osborne was there. Best guy in our league the
year before went to Nebraska, Tony Ortiz So there was
(33:41):
that connection. Spurrier came to the high school Heisman thing,
which was a Tristate area team that I made through MSG.
That was something I'll never forget. Eddie George won it
that year and then they selected fifteen guys in the
area and Spurrier saw my highlight film was like hey,
He's like, you want to We're playing national championship, you
want to come. I'm like, what, like literally the Monday
(34:04):
morning after my visit to Stanford and I'm like I'm
like driving home and I'm like looking at flights to
Arizona and like just had lunch with Tiger Woods at Stanford.
Like it was a complete, complete shit show. And to
be seventeen years old in that time, you know, you start,
you know, coaches could call once a week and you're
(34:24):
talking to all these coaches and you're building relationships, Hey,
how are you?
Speaker 4 (34:28):
You know, how'd you play last week? How school going like?
Speaker 3 (34:31):
And you start building relationships and then you got to
tell these guys no, And as a seventeen year old kid, like,
it was super super scary, and I remember just wanting
to get the list down because I wanted to be
done and decided before Christmas. And it was super frantic
scary and you know, not knowing like you know, we
see kids getting nil deals now and I just think
(34:53):
about like nil. I couldn't handle that, Like I couldn't
even figure out where I wanted to.
Speaker 4 (34:56):
Go to school.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
So yeah, it was best of the best treatre royalties
on visits and ultimately decided to go to Stanford because
my birthday is January first. Grew up watching the Rose
Ball on my birthday my whole life, and there was
always a dream to play on my birthday and to
go to a school like CEE Stanford, like I still
(35:19):
put it up against any campus in the world and
to be able to get that education because I really,
you know, my dad passed.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
Away when I was going to my junior year of
high school.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
Wanted to go out and prove myself, like I got
some growing up to do hair and was able to
do that and ended up playing in the Rose Bawl
against Ron Day in Wisconsin on my twenty third birthday,
which was my final game, and then took an Interjet
internet startup job that summer in August and was broken
(35:48):
out of a job by Thanksgiving. So that was that
was a that was a treat and a lesson to
learn really quickly. And I mean I I all the
time now with kids in college, Like you got to
have a plan.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
Man.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
It's not the cool thing to do when you're in college,
but shit, like when people are are done helping you
pick classes and all that, like it's just you and
your whatever support system you got, and if you don't
have it or have a plan, that's the roughest transition
I think in a lifetime, because you're getting handed things.
I mean, as a as a scholarship football player, you're
(36:25):
getting handed things that you're so taken for granted and
then to be punched in the face.
Speaker 4 (36:31):
You know. Living in Powell Out, we're a Menlo Park,
no check.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
And I was never a guy that was like, yeah,
you know, speaking of betting with credit, Yeah, I got,
I got month, I got rent next month like I got.
I was like, I'll never forget, like Monday took the
job in like labor day August twenty twenty. No, I
mean August two thousand and Monday before Thanksgiving, like call
my mom and like I'm out of a joht, Like
we got bought out and like it was done. Like
(36:58):
you never heard those stories of the internet. So like
I had guys that got in like late nineties, got
in with Google.
Speaker 4 (37:04):
Uh who Yahoo? Like whoever?
Speaker 3 (37:07):
Like off and running like set in five years after
being graduated, and I'm broke without a job. Uh, not
even four months out of college. So uh it was
pretty eye opening. But I wouldn't trade it in.
Speaker 4 (37:20):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
People ask me all the time, would you rather gone?
I could have went to any SEC school. Uh, but
the friends and things I was able to do at Stafford,
I'll never trade in for anything.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Do you remember the name of the company?
Speaker 4 (37:34):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
What were you? What were you doing?
Speaker 4 (37:38):
Uh? It was some like internet sale.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
I have no idea, just I didn't even know what
I was doing. It was just you know, a couple
of guys and who were like, hey, let's do this.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
So yeah, I know that era. It's interesting you say that.
You know, we were talking before I came on about
colleges and like, I'm just going through this whole process
with my kid right now. Who's narrowing it down? It's
coming down to Maryland, Penn State, and Indiana was sort
(38:09):
of the third tier. And wherever we've gone, he's met
with the people who run the programs that he's interested in,
and every time we're done, he's like, he loves the
school he just met with. Yeah, just at Penn State.
But I think part of it is he feels badly
saying no to people who have been so nice to him,
(38:29):
about saying, hey, come here and this is what we
can do, and not like he's being recruited like an athlete.
It's a completely different thing. But when you're seventeen years old,
I can see it. I can see how hard it
is if someone is being kind to you to say
no to them. It's brutal.
Speaker 4 (38:44):
Yeah, and I've it's tough.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
I mean, I got three little girls and I'm looking
at kids. You know, I go to high school games
all the time, and in this area it's loaded. I
mean I watched the tournament and notice how many kids
are from the DMV.
Speaker 4 (39:00):
Way, went and had lunch.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
With a kid two weeks ago who's in college, journalism, communications,
the whole thing, and we're talking and I'm just you know,
the idea of how to get on air obviously comes up,
and like when I'm taught, when he asked me a question,
He's looking at me in the eye and I'm looking
at him asking him, like he's not even making eye
(39:22):
content him, Like.
Speaker 4 (39:22):
Dude, you got it.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
This has got to change, Like put the phone down,
and like there's there's nothing more important still in my
like than face to face conversations, like even if it
is on a zoom, like we're looking at each o.
You know, you know, expressions, the whole thing. Uh So,
it's it's it's really really hard. I think it's a
(39:44):
lot because I hate to say it, but I go
back to COVID with kids now, like you don't know
what they were going through.
Speaker 4 (39:51):
I mean nobody was.
Speaker 3 (39:51):
I mean, you know, somebody posted the other day, you know,
five years ago today we were told to stand six
feet apart, a kind of which those times came back
for a couple.
Speaker 4 (39:59):
Of minutes a day, you know.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
So it's it's there's it's it's been such a whirlwind
and everybody was a different age just five years ago
and then to come out of it, it is pretty
fascinating to see how people have adapted and changed. And
I just I'm constantly you know with my kids, like
when you're talking to me, look me in the eye.
And I feel like the phones and social media and
(40:22):
people just swiping left and right and scrolling up and down,
it's all we do where it takes away from face
to face conversations and we need more of that. And
to get to your point about the seventeen year olds
making the college decisions, it's big boys stuff. Man, you
got it you and there's there's no no other way.
Speaker 4 (40:37):
Than than looking in the eye. Uh.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
And I still say brushing your teeth every day in
the morning, like, look at yourself in the mirror. You're
happy with what you got because that's the that's how
you start your day. And yeah, it's a lot, but
as long as you take them on uh face first,
I say all the time, you're gonna be better off
because it's one giant step you don't realize you're taking,
but it's only to help you as you know, we
(41:01):
get older and you got to make more decisions. You
learn a lot about yourself in those times, and it's
part of growing up.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
I so it's it's so funny because, uh, you say,
it's a big boy decision. I'm driving home with him
yesterday from State College and I so want to I
said to him, I'm not going to say anything. This
has to be your decision. I would love to be
(41:30):
making the decision for him right now. I would love
to tell him exactly what to do and exactly why
he should do it, and exactly one of the most
important reasons to do exactly what I think he should do.
I can't say a fucking word, and it's fucking driving
me nuts, because simon, you know, I want to tell
people what to do.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Huh Yeah.
Speaker 5 (41:52):
You gotta let him make his own path, though, and
you know, make the right and wrong decisions. And like
you just said, whenever school he chooses, you know the deal, Chett,
he might hit you up in a year. And like,
I fucking hate this place. I want to come home.
I want to come back to a different school. And
that's just the way it is with college. And you know,
I know plenty of people that you know, I had
a weird run where like people I knew were graduating,
(42:13):
we went through that major recession eight and nine, and
you know, talking to those people that basically went through
the shit, they're way off better now than people that
graduated in twenty twelve, twenty thirteen that never experienced that low,
that survival. You know, I do think it's weird to
even talk about, but I do think a big part
of life is failing. Like how you deal with failure
(42:33):
really is all it is. Like I know plenty of
guys who failed kind of well was me, and gave
up in life and they kind of tried to wall
the rest of your life. I know other guys who
failed and have gone on to do incredible things because
they pushed through adversity.
Speaker 2 (42:45):
So I'm with you, Chad.
Speaker 5 (42:47):
It's it's a tough decision when he's making right now,
but it's like one of a thousand tough decisions he's
about to make going forward. And that's the craziest part.
Once you got out of high school, it's like you're
done with the kid bullshit.
Speaker 4 (42:58):
Man.
Speaker 5 (42:58):
Every decision you make is and made decision on your
life going forward, So that that's tough.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
Look, Stanford went from playing in the Rose Bowl to
being out of work within a year and now he's
on college game day, right, Like that is a freaking journey, Stanford.
When you're on game day, everyone seems to just stop
(43:23):
when Nick Saban is talking. Like I thought he was
a revelation on game day and the McAfee Sabin interplay
is amazing. But what is it like with Saban on
set in production meetings? Like what do you glean when
you're listening to him talk, because he's he captures something
(43:46):
that is really sort of profound. Whenever he's talking about
college football.
Speaker 4 (43:51):
Well, there's a lot of pieces.
Speaker 3 (43:54):
First thing is experienced, like he's experienced so much and failing.
He talks about his failures all the time and how
he responded to him in his support system. But he's
just so smart man god like because he's you know,
whether it's whether it's recruiting the best players in the
country or being in the biggest situations of a national
(44:14):
championship game. Uh, and the way he goes about things
like everything's just thought out and and he doesn't he
doesn't jump the gun on anything.
Speaker 4 (44:25):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (44:26):
He always has something in his pocket to give you.
And you know this year, like first time I think
we're together was was Ireland, and you know he's you know,
milling around and he's doing his thing and you know
he's got the computer going and you know he's got
the glasses and you know it's like, hey, you know, coach,
(44:46):
I'm you know whatever, and I'm here whatever you need.
And you know, it's it's a process of you know,
it's fucking Nick Saban man. Like he's got an army
of ways he does things, and you know he's got
a he's got a circle that's pretty pretty strong, and
not anybody who's just jumping in that circle.
Speaker 4 (45:08):
So there's a sense of trust.
Speaker 3 (45:10):
Uh, there's calls that you're on as far as the
show where hey, I'm bringing this to the table.
Speaker 4 (45:15):
But the one thing.
Speaker 3 (45:16):
That was just eye open and I found myself like
anytime he talks, it's just it's silent, whether we're in
the conference room, whether we're on a zoom, and I'm
just constantly just taking notes, uh, writing everything down because again,
it's so thought out, it's so smart, and it's super
interesting and his stories are.
Speaker 4 (45:37):
Just out of this world.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
He had us to his house when we went to
game day in Tuscaloosa. We just sat around dinner table
and he just told story like it was amazing, from
his his rise and coaching to try and recruit players
to losing players best players he lost, like just incredible.
And then for him to come on the air and
and and we had plenty of back and forth where
we really had fun.
Speaker 4 (46:00):
And and then I was like, you know, you.
Speaker 3 (46:03):
Talk to an older person, You're like, are they really
listening to me? And then you know, we had the
exchange at Cow where I was talking about I dated
a girl from cal and that literally was from a
five minute conversation in the middle of the Cow hotel
the night before when he was like, you ever come
over here and hang out when you're at Stanford. I
was like, yeah, my girlfriend actually here. I was here
a lot. And from that he took it the next
(46:24):
morning when I took my shot at the Cow fans
and we have great relationship. We sat next so like
that playoff thing was nuts, Like we didn't notre name
Friday night, and we were at Columbus the next morning
for game day.
Speaker 4 (46:39):
Then we did Orange Bowl.
Speaker 3 (46:40):
They flew us to the Cotton Bowl and I'm on
a private jet sitting next to the next sabe and
watching the end of the Orange Bowl and I'm like,
somebody please take a picture of this, and like having
coffee with the next morning, getting ready for the Combosh.
Speaker 4 (46:56):
I'm like, dude, we'll never forget that night at for
as long as we live.
Speaker 3 (47:00):
Watching like Nixon losing his mind on quarterback play, like
the game's getting tight, throwing the ball away, you're hold
on the ball too long, Like him being a fan
watching the game's just a real person on the there too,
which you never saw, you know, at the press conferences,
and him going off on his players and the tangents
on link Kiffen when he was assistant coach, like it's
(47:20):
been really really cool, and he's just an unbelievable, unbelievable person.
Speaker 1 (47:26):
People watching game day, people watching Sports Center with you
and Scott. Those will never be the things. The on
air things are never the things that you're going to
remember from any of your highlights. It's always going to
be the shit that happens behind the scenes out of
(47:47):
all of it, is going to be private jet watching
the end of an Orange Bowl.
Speaker 4 (47:50):
That was like the extreme yep.
Speaker 1 (47:53):
That's also what makes this business so much fun is
like these moments that you capture that are completely off camera.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (48:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (48:02):
And and going back to that point Chad about like
being part of the process and Simon talking about these
decisions and how they get bigger and bigger, Like, you know,
I don't have a job, and I'm trying to get
like figured out I had a communications degree. Hey, let's
try and pursue this. And like two weeks in to
get a part time job as a production assistant at
(48:22):
ESPN Radio. I'm like, all right, well, I'm not gonna
make a lot of money, but you know what, when
I hear you know, get get a Friday night or
Saturday night, we're out with the guys and the boys
and we're b yessing and there bitching about having to
you know, go back to cutting lawns and everything. Like
I was super fired up to go to work every
single day, Like I'm watching games and cutting highlights and
you know, trying to get put on one of the
(48:45):
regular shows, uh, to bring content to that. Like I
could care less about what I was making, but I
was fired up to go to work every single day.
And that's another choice you make, Like you want to
be happy, and you know there's different you know, money's
not everything all the time. But like I said, looking
in that mayor brush your teeth every morning. If you're
(49:06):
happy with that person, go for it. And if you're not,
you got to do something about it. But that's things
and decisions you got to make.
Speaker 1 (49:13):
How do you manage now, Simon and I did with
this all the time sports betting content from the time
you and I started doing it, you know, two thousand
and eleven twelve thirteen, when we were doing the shows together.
I was coming on with you and Scott and Ryan too.
Now has evolved so aggressively that your front and center
(49:37):
with so much of it, and some of the highest
profile shows on television forget about just sports television, but
like Game Day and Sports Center with SVP, like those
are massive shows. Right. How do you now manage people
coming after you for sports betting when you're wrong? How
(50:00):
has that changed? How has the conversation changed as all
of this has evolved?
Speaker 4 (50:07):
Huh? Well, no one, no one.
Speaker 3 (50:11):
No one says thank you when you win or congrats
like no, like no, it's silence. It's silence. And it
actually helped me last year. I think I was under
like eight or ten under five hundred last year on
game day. And it took me like two weeks where
I was like, Uh, this social media thing, you can
have it, Like I'm and my rule number one is
(50:33):
like now we're gonna be in March madness. Like the
last thing I'm doing while these games are going on
is going on social media. Like I cannot, like just
to grown in negativity a tweet that somebody sends that
they're never ever gonna say to your face in person. Never,
They'll never, they'll never do it, but they'll hide behind
their screen name and write whatever.
Speaker 4 (50:55):
They want to you. So that actually helped.
Speaker 3 (50:58):
Me because I was I mean, I talked to plenty
of people and they live by it like they do it.
I mean I'm on uh set with other Sports Center
shows and and like we go to break at boom,
they're checking their phone to see what people are saying
about what they just said about their team or their
player or their coach whatever. Like I don't, I don't
need that because guys do it when they wake up
in the morning and they check and you're on TV.
(51:19):
No one's saying no, no one's saying anything good.
Speaker 4 (51:21):
They're not.
Speaker 3 (51:22):
They're just they're picking apart what you're saying. And I
think that totally messages with people's heads because they read
it and and they act like that those aren't the
only people watching the show, you know what I mean,
Like we're you know TV. There's still plenty of people
that are watching the TV and aren't on social media.
So having a bad year picking games actually was the
(51:43):
best thing because it made me not go on it, Like,
it made me focus more on watching tape and watching
games and reading, which I think is still a huge part.
I'm still a guy that prints out NCAA tournament capsules
on every team, reads those and goes through with a highlighter.
Like That's what I'm doing my time. I'm not going
on and seeing what somebody's saying or listening to this breakdown.
(52:06):
Like I got my own way of going about things.
It's been super successful and I'm gonna stick to it.
But this day and age, it's really really hard for
people to put their phones down.
Speaker 4 (52:15):
Man.
Speaker 3 (52:16):
And like I said, the gambling, Twitter, gambling, social media,
there's never congratulations on there, So don't don't do it
because you think you're gonna get that. It's just like
starting the biggest sports media when you think you're gonna
make money, because you're not gonna You're.
Speaker 4 (52:30):
Not gonna do that.
Speaker 3 (52:32):
So like again, it's been a blessing in disguise. But
the social media thing, I mean, you guys deal with
it constantly. It's it's just thankfleul ultimate thankless job because
you know we'll get in March madness and it's like,
all right, I picked the upset and it's like, okay,
as soon as I picked the upset, the team that
I'm picking again Steph fan base thinks their team sucks
(52:54):
and like a lot of times I'll have had that team,
like the last three games, it's like, where were you
last three games when we just hit we just hit
three in a row on your team. I just don't
like the matchup. I'm sorry, I don't. I don't hate
your team. And then to go to all these colleges
with game day and get the interactions with people is
just hilarious because then it's like, oh, you know, really
(53:16):
enjoy your work this and it's like, oh, you know,
face to face conversations are are pretty real and there
is something so it's it's it's a different world that
like as you said, Chad than when we started, and
I just say be careful like it not not don't
don't go, Scott says all the time. Twitter is not
(53:36):
the place to go for positive feedback. It's pretty simple
and you know, use it, use it as you do,
and use it to your advantage because there are some
really good things on there and connected with people they
haven't seen a while or are checking out or reading
an article.
Speaker 4 (53:51):
There's plenty of good stuff.
Speaker 1 (53:53):
You can come here for positive feedback, Stanford Simon and
I will always give it to you. Thanks for coming
on the show. Brother. As a reminder, the Favorites podcast
is presented by Bet three six five and is now
live at my home state of Illinois. New Bet three
six five customers, including those in Illinois, get one hundred
and fifty dollars in bonus bets when you bet five dollars,
(54:15):
sign up using promo code Favorites, deposit ten dollars, place
a bet for five dollars to get one hundred and
fifty dollars in bonus bets. Those bonus bets can be
used on spreads, totals, player props, futures, and more whatever
the moment, it's an ever ordinary at bet three six five,
especially in Illinois. Must be twenty one or older and
present in Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Louisiana, North Carolina,
(54:36):
New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, or eighteen or older in Kentucky.
Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler or one eight
hundred bets off in Iowa terms conditions restrictions apply. Thank
you very much to Stanford Steve for coming on the show.
He is a total pro and a good friend. Simon
and I will return with our next episode of the Favorites.
On the Action Network YouTube page to discuss MLB Opening
(54:59):
Day Tuesday, one thirty pm Eastern. Download of Spotify Apple
Pods wherever you get your pods, rate reviews, subscribe, levis
five stars, say whatever you want. Feedback is a gift.
Until next time.
Speaker 4 (55:08):
I Love you.
Speaker 1 (55:17):
Action Network reminds you please gamble responsibly. If you or
someone you care about has a gambling problem, help is
available twenty four to seven at one eight hundred gambler
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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