November 4, 2025 • 6 mins
‘The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show’ Co-Host Clay Travis tells us about his new book “Balls: How Trump, Young Men, and Sports Saved America.” He explains how Lia Thomas was, in a way, the inspiration for the book and touches on the Bud Light controversy as well.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's go to the hotline and bring in a special guest.
This morning, we have co host to the Clay Travis
and Buck Sexton Show. He's founder of al Kick and
author of the new book Balls, How Trump, Young Men
and Sports Saved America. Clay Travis is with us. Clay,
thanks so much for taking a few minutes to come
on the show this morning. Congratulations on the book, which
(00:20):
is again out today. And you know, in the aftermath
of every election, we always have different hot takes and
lessons learned, but I thought this angle was particularly interesting.
How did you put these three things together, Trump, young Men,
and Sports to kind of give us a census to
what happened in the twenty twenty four presidential election.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, I couldn't Thanks for having me on and I
appreciate you guys carrying the show. I couldn't stop thinking
when I saw Leah Thomas win, which is what it
opens within the book. In the spring of twenty twenty two,
Leah Thomas, a man who had swim on the University
of Pennsylvania men's swimming team, decided to identify as a
(01:06):
woman and won an NCAA championship swimming in Atlanta, Georgia.
Soon thereafter, ESPN on their broadcast did a acknowledgment of
Leah Thomas as a hero of women's athletics, and you know,
this dude is wearing a women's swimsuit. He's a giant
(01:27):
compared to all the other women, and everyone was just
expected to take this as the natural outgrowth of the
trans community's acceptance. This guy started referring to himself as
the Jackie Robinson of women's athletics, and I think many
(01:48):
people out there, myself included, started to say no. And
sports is an important cultural connector because the best man
or the best woman wins, not the best man pretending
to be a woman. And so from that moment, I
think a lot of people who maybe were just casual
(02:08):
fans started to sports fans started to look around young
men in particular and say this is broken. We have
to fix this with sanity has left the building. And
I think that was a building block on restoring sanity
in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
You know, it's interesting that's an issue that I think
even went beyond men, because it was one where I
think there were a lot of parents who maybe they
didn't have that situation going on with their child and
their community. But there's a reason it became like an
eighty twenty issue the Democrats were losing on. It was
(02:47):
just not something that the majority, the large majority of
the country were going to get behind. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Look and people say, okay, well, why does this matter.
I think the culture They understood that if they could
take over sports and get people to start saying, well,
women who identify as men are are men, and men
who identify as women are women, that that would in
some way lead to a massive cultural change in America.
(03:20):
And they tried to bring identity politics to sports, and
sports fans stood up and said no. And one of
the arguments in the book, and I think it's frankly true,
is the last objective reality in America that everybody trusts
is the scoreboard. And that's because the scoreboard, everybody's treated
(03:40):
the exact same. You don't get to start with more
points or less points based on what your family's wealth
or lack of wealth is, based on your gender, based
on your sexual orientation. Everybody's equal in the world of sports.
It doesn't mean that everybody's talent is equal.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Yeah. I was going to say, if you're at you
might feel like you're starting from behind at the start
of the game. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Look, I'm a Titans fan, so but I also say,
you know in that, I mean, look, Dolphins fans have
been trying to find a replacement for Dan Marino since
the nineties. Right, Dolphins fans would be happy if a
transgender midget was a great quarterback. They would they would
sign up for that in a heartbeat if he could
(04:26):
win the AFC East or she could win the AFC
East for them. And I think that's what's great about
sports is ultimately all that matters is your performance. And
you know that reality is actually one that is incredibly
important because what it reflects is the meritocracy, and sports
(04:46):
are the ultimate meritocracy. And I think we should try
to endeavor to make America look more like sports as
opposed to sports look more like America. And that's a
huge part of the argument in the book.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
We're joined by Clay Travis, now, author of the new
book Balls, How Trump Young Men in Sports Safety America
Real Quick. You also get into bud light a little bit,
and I just I wanted to bring that up because
I was at party on Saturday and it was with
family Trump supporters and they were serving bud Light. And Yeah,
the first thing I said, I'm like, hey, what's going
(05:23):
on here, guys, sir? Are you going woke? I mean,
they still have that stigma attached to them.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, one hundred percent. And they still have that stigma because,
unfortunately for bud Light, they went supremely woke. And there
isn't an audience out there of trans people who like
beer that otherwise were not drinking bud Light. And it
was maybe the worst marketing decision of all time. Yeah,
(05:50):
and I think they're still reaping the consequences. Cracker Barrel,
look at what happened with them. I think these are
signs that the culture is shifting around US.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Co host of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show,
founder of out Kick, and author of the new book,
which you could pick up today. You can get it
on Amazon and wherever you get books. Author of Balls,
How Trump Young Men in Sports Saved America Clay Travis
with us. Clay really appreciate the time. Best of luck
with the book. Thank you so much. I hope people
enjoy it. I think they will.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
It's a Ryan Gorman Show five to nine every weekday
morning on news radio two ufla
Let's go to the hotline and bring in a special guest.
This morning, we have co host to the Clay Travis
and Buck Sexton Show. He's founder of al Kick and
author of the new book Balls, How Trump, Young Men
and Sports Saved America. Clay Travis is with us. Clay,
thanks so much for taking a few minutes to come
on the show this morning. Congratulations on the book, which
(00:20):
is again out today. And you know, in the aftermath
of every election, we always have different hot takes and
lessons learned, but I thought this angle was particularly interesting.
How did you put these three things together, Trump, young Men,
and Sports to kind of give us a census to
what happened in the twenty twenty four presidential election.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, I couldn't Thanks for having me on and I
appreciate you guys carrying the show. I couldn't stop thinking
when I saw Leah Thomas win, which is what it
opens within the book. In the spring of twenty twenty two,
Leah Thomas, a man who had swim on the University
of Pennsylvania men's swimming team, decided to identify as a
(01:06):
woman and won an NCAA championship swimming in Atlanta, Georgia.
Soon thereafter, ESPN on their broadcast did a acknowledgment of
Leah Thomas as a hero of women's athletics, and you know,
this dude is wearing a women's swimsuit. He's a giant
(01:27):
compared to all the other women, and everyone was just
expected to take this as the natural outgrowth of the
trans community's acceptance. This guy started referring to himself as
the Jackie Robinson of women's athletics, and I think many
(01:48):
people out there, myself included, started to say no. And
sports is an important cultural connector because the best man
or the best woman wins, not the best man pretending
to be a woman. And so from that moment, I
think a lot of people who maybe were just casual
(02:08):
fans started to sports fans started to look around young
men in particular and say this is broken. We have
to fix this with sanity has left the building. And
I think that was a building block on restoring sanity
in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
You know, it's interesting that's an issue that I think
even went beyond men, because it was one where I
think there were a lot of parents who maybe they
didn't have that situation going on with their child and
their community. But there's a reason it became like an
eighty twenty issue the Democrats were losing on. It was
(02:47):
just not something that the majority, the large majority of
the country were going to get behind. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Look and people say, okay, well, why does this matter.
I think the culture They understood that if they could
take over sports and get people to start saying, well,
women who identify as men are are men, and men
who identify as women are women, that that would in
some way lead to a massive cultural change in America.
(03:20):
And they tried to bring identity politics to sports, and
sports fans stood up and said no. And one of
the arguments in the book, and I think it's frankly true,
is the last objective reality in America that everybody trusts
is the scoreboard. And that's because the scoreboard, everybody's treated
(03:40):
the exact same. You don't get to start with more
points or less points based on what your family's wealth
or lack of wealth is, based on your gender, based
on your sexual orientation. Everybody's equal in the world of sports.
It doesn't mean that everybody's talent is equal.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Yeah. I was going to say, if you're at you
might feel like you're starting from behind at the start
of the game. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Look, I'm a Titans fan, so but I also say,
you know in that, I mean, look, Dolphins fans have
been trying to find a replacement for Dan Marino since
the nineties. Right, Dolphins fans would be happy if a
transgender midget was a great quarterback. They would they would
sign up for that in a heartbeat if he could
(04:26):
win the AFC East or she could win the AFC
East for them. And I think that's what's great about
sports is ultimately all that matters is your performance. And
you know that reality is actually one that is incredibly
important because what it reflects is the meritocracy, and sports
(04:46):
are the ultimate meritocracy. And I think we should try
to endeavor to make America look more like sports as
opposed to sports look more like America. And that's a
huge part of the argument in the book.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
We're joined by Clay Travis, now, author of the new
book Balls, How Trump Young Men in Sports Safety America
Real Quick. You also get into bud light a little bit,
and I just I wanted to bring that up because
I was at party on Saturday and it was with
family Trump supporters and they were serving bud Light. And Yeah,
the first thing I said, I'm like, hey, what's going
(05:23):
on here, guys, sir? Are you going woke? I mean,
they still have that stigma attached to them.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, one hundred percent. And they still have that stigma because,
unfortunately for bud Light, they went supremely woke. And there
isn't an audience out there of trans people who like
beer that otherwise were not drinking bud Light. And it
was maybe the worst marketing decision of all time. Yeah,
(05:50):
and I think they're still reaping the consequences. Cracker Barrel,
look at what happened with them. I think these are
signs that the culture is shifting around US.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Co host of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show,
founder of out Kick, and author of the new book,
which you could pick up today. You can get it
on Amazon and wherever you get books. Author of Balls,
How Trump Young Men in Sports Saved America Clay Travis
with us. Clay really appreciate the time. Best of luck
with the book. Thank you so much. I hope people
enjoy it. I think they will.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
It's a Ryan Gorman Show five to nine every weekday
morning on news radio two ufla
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