WEBVTT - Calling Balls and Strikes with Clay Travis 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:04.120 So my guest for this episode, Well, he's been successful 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:08.880 in every business and broadcast that he's taken on. He's 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:13.119 also been banned from appearing on CNN and ESPN. When 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:16.439 he was at Fox Sports Radio, he hosted the most 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:20.560 successful morning show there and now along with my buddy 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:23.439 Buck Sexton, he has been tasked with taking over for 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:28.240 the Great Rush Limbaugh. His name is Clade Travis. He 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:31.000 is the co host of the Clay Travis and Buck 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:33.800 Sexton Show. He also founded out Kick. He just sold 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:36.199 it to Fox for a lot of money. So you know, 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:38.960 he's doing pretty well in the financial department, I'll tell 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:41.479 you that much. But before he got into to all 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:44.720 the media stuff, he was an attorney. He's written best 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:47.240 selling books. I mean, the guy has just done so much. 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:50.800 But he's also hilarious. He's incredibly smart, and he's not 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:54.680 afraid to take a controversial opinion if that's what he believes. 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:57.600 So this is gonna be a really fun and interesting conversation. 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:00.200 We're gonna talk about a whole host of things for him, 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:03.720 his media career to the insanity of today's world. I'm 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:07.160 gonna ask him because he is also a filthy unvaccinated 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:09.880 person like myself. I'm gonna ask him is he lighting 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:12.280 up to get his monkey pocks shot soon? Because you 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:14.760 know that's the next big thing. We're also going to 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:18.760 talk about dudes pretending they're girls and playing in women's sports. 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:21.759 How does that change sports? We're gonna talk about all 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:25.440 this critical race theory and woke stuff in sports as well. Also, 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:28.840 Joe Biden get his take on the most disastrous administration 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:32.000 maybe in American history. He's a history buff, so we're 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:35.240 going to ask him about that again. Clay Travis the 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:38.280 co host of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:41.880 hugely successful, super interesting. This is going to be a 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:49.120 great conversation. Buckle up and I hope you enjoy the ride. 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:53.880 So play, I was looking for your bio. How many 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:56.240 jobs do you have right now? So I saw you 0:01:56.520 --> 0:01:59.360 co host the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, which 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:02.960 is massive, you know, nationally syndicated all across the country. 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:07.480 You founded out Kick, Fox, bet Live, Fox News. Am 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:11.400 I am I missing anything else? Um? I would probably 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:14.760 say the most difficult one is uh dad of three? Um, 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:18.480 so three relatively young kids, meaning that you know they're 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:21.760 not completely out in the world on their own. No, 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:23.960 I mean I think that's it. You know. I I've 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:26.440 run out kick, which is a website one of the 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:31.120 biggest uh you know, sports uh issue websites in the country. Uh. 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:33.680 Got the biggest radio show in the country, do a 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:36.920 lot of hits on Fox News. Fox bet Live is 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:41.080 in its fourth year. That's a sports gambling show. I 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:43.800 guess I could add, uh. You know, I do travel 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:46.800 for college football. I'm on the road for fourteen or 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:50.799 fifteen straight weeks for the Fox uh Sports Big Neon 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:55.079 Kickoff Show, which is on every Saturday morning, UM on 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:59.400 the main Fox network affiliate. Uh and uh yeah. So 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:01.960 so that there's a lot of different jobs out there. 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:05.480 I love them, but it means every day sometimes feels 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:07.919 like a whirlwind. And then, like I said, at least 0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:10.400 I've got a fourteen year old, I've got an eleven 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:13.440 year old, and I've got a seven year old. Uh. So, 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:16.840 for instance, during tomorrow's radio show, I was talking to 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:19.640 Buck off the air and I'm like, hey, my kids 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:22.440 had a half day. They finished school tomorrow, UM, and 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:24.200 I was like, I want to duck out for you know, 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:27.040 thirty minutes of the radio program to go be able 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:29.480 to pick him up at the end of their school year, 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:32.680 which is kind of a big deal. So so yeah, 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:36.120 balancing guys, I got a seven year old little league 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:40.440 championship game tonight. Um, so that's on the horizon tonight. 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:43.080 But see, that's awesome that you do that, because you know, 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:46.360 my dad was always successful. It worked really hard, but 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:48.800 family was always first. And he's never missed anything that 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:52.160 was important. Like I played sports scoring up he you know, 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:55.360 and I did travel league for field hockey and you know, 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:57.440 lacrosse and all that stuff, and he always he was 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:00.960 my coach for basketball, and he never is a single game. 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:03.640 And I think that's something that probably stands out to 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:06.360 me with him as my dad than anything else. Have 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:08.760 just always being present. So I think that's really cool 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:10.800 that you make time despite the fact that you know 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:13.920 you've got all these huge jobs in front of you. Yeah. 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:16.120 I mean, I think the question is it's great to 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:20.880 have success in your career. Um, But ultimately, if your 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:23.240 kids don't think you're doing a good job as a 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:26.479 dad or a mom, I would find it really hard 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:29.000 to be that pleased with any kind of success you 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:32.440 might have in your professional endeavors. So UM. I also 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:34.960 just think it kind of puts everything into perspective. I mean, 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:38.720 every day I give my opinion on a huge variety 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:41.920 of subjects. UM. People can agree or disagree with it. 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:45.400 But I've talked with my wife, was one of the 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:48.800 first people to diagnose this, like, I've fortunately never been 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:51.640 to therapy, and she said, the reason why you don't 0:04:51.640 --> 0:04:53.680 need therapy is because you get to say exactly what 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:56.480 you think for three hours every day and then at 0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:57.839 the end of the day like you have no weight 0:04:57.880 --> 0:05:00.599 on your shoulders. And it's why I do think I 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:03.520 have kind of the best job in America because I 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:05.960 feel like there is such and I know you know 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.880 this to Lisa, a huge percentage of people out there 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:12.160 that have jobs where they don't feel like they can 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:15.080 say what they really think. And that's why the number 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:16.960 one thing that I hear from people when they come 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:19.240 up to me what I'm out about, is thank you 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.320 for saying what you say. I agree with a lot 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:24.800 of what you say, but I don't feel like I 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.960 can be public in the same way that you are, UM. 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:30.080 And that's why I feel like we have such a 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:33.680 privilege to be able every single day to share our 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:36.880 our opinions on a wide variety of topics that are 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:40.200 of most significance in the world. Well, very blessed and 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.760 and and especially increasingly in today's society. As you mentioned, 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:46.360 I mean, people legitimately could be fired from their jobs 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:49.880 if if they talk about their actual opinions, especially if 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:52.880 they're conservatives. So how do you you know your dad? 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:58.920 How do you explain today's society to your kids? Yeah, 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:01.359 I mean it's a it's a serious Uh, it's a 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:05.479 serious question. Um. And so so first of all, I 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:07.560 say to my kids, and I think this is a 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:11.479 good advice anyway, I mean, judge dad as they get older, 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:14.480 based entirely on how I do as a dad, because 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:17.560 I have kind of a non traditional job and as 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:20.080 you get older, people are going to say positive or 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:23.640 negative things about me. But that doesn't really should never 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:26.440 impact what you think of me, because my job with 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:29.200 you is to be a dad and my profession doesn't matter. 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:33.919 But what I tell my kids is, uh, I want 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:37.360 you to Uh. There's there's a great piece of advice 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:39.400 that that I picked up on and it sounds simple, 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:41.320 but when I was a kid, one of my idols 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:44.440 it was Davy Crockett because I'm a big history buff 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:47.279 and Davy Crocketts from Tennessee, and I live in Tennessee 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:51.000 and obviously grew up here, And Davy Crockett's life motto 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:55.279 was be sure you're right and then go ahead. Um. 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:59.560 And by the time I share any opinion publicly, I 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:01.599 have worked through and I think it helps to have 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:06.280 a legal background. All of the different angles of an argument. 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:10.160 I could flip and argue the opposite side as good 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:13.120 or better than almost anybody who is going to attack 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:16.360 me for my opinions. Um. And that's because I've thought 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:20.640 through everything, and I just want my kids to be 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:24.040 confident enough. And I'll give you a little analogy. Um. 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:26.480 Last year, I guess it was maybe two years ago, 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:29.480 my youngest kid, who was in kindergarten at the time, 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:33.160 was playing baseball for the first time, and they were 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:36.200 teaching them the basis, and you know, here's first base, 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:39.360 second base, third base, home plate pictures now like all 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:43.720 the different positions on the field, and the question was 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:49.280 where is uh where is the pictures mound? And all 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:52.760 the kids happened to run to home plate, like every 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:55.920 single kid went to home plate except my son who 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:59.680 was five and went to the pictures now, uh, And 0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:02.680 I loved that, and I hope it's a metaphor for 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:06.640 his life as he becomes older. He was confident enough 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:09.360 that he knew what the pictures mound was, that he 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:13.600 didn't follow everybody rushing to home plate. And I feel 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:16.880 like a lot of our culture, Lisa, is people who 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:20.360 aren't confident enough in their own opinions that they just 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:24.360 follow wherever the herd goes. And so I'm trying to 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:26.800 teach my boys what I think is one of the 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:30.440 most important lessons in all of life, which is think 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:34.000 for yourself and don't spend a lot of time looking 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:37.520 over your shoulder to see whether or not people are 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:42.360 following you. Just make the right decision. And you know 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:45.240 that that little metaphor of learning the positions on the 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:49.360 baseball field and being willing to go where everybody else 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:53.160 was not. You know this, Lisa, A lot of people 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:56.360 would rather be wrong and be covered by the masses 0:08:56.880 --> 0:09:00.319 than be wrong and be standing out by them selves, 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:03.360 where you become a target. And I think you have 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:07.240 to be comfortable with people calling you out. And certainly 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:09.880 in my industry, I was like the only person in 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:12.880 the world of sports who was saying, hey, we can 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:15.960 play COVID safely. Kids are not gonna die if they 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:18.680 get to play Little League baseball. Um. It was a 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:21.000 lot uh safer to be a part of the herd 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:23.520 who was saying, oh my god, we've got to cancel everything. 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:26.679 But those people were wrong, um. And I would have 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:29.320 owned it if my opinion had been wrong. And it 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:32.520 was a significant thing to argue that, hey, kids need 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:34.559 to be in school, and kids don't need to be 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:36.600 wearing masks, and we need to be able to play 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:40.840 every sport. Um. But I think being confident in my 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:44.240 own opinion and analyzing all the data and everything else 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:49.079 was what made me comfortable to stand outside of the herd. Uh, 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:51.360 like my kid did when he was in you know, 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:54.719 kindergarten learning all the different positions on the field. No, 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:56.400 you must have been a proud dad with that. And 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:58.360 I was very lucky because both my parents taught me 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:01.000 to be independently minded. My I was an attorney as well, 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:02.800 so I don't know if it's sort of that similar 0:10:02.880 --> 0:10:04.840 mindset that he taught me to sort of game through 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:08.040 everything and to think for myself and to speak freely. 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:09.880 So it's very fortunate to have been raised by them, 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.120 as as your parents seemed to be fortunate to have 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:14.480 been raised by you and teaching them this thinking. But 0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:16.400 you know to your point, Yeah, during COVID, I mean 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:19.360 we saw such group think. And you know, I kind 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:21.360 of stuck my neck out there with the vaccines as well, 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:23.200 because just like you, I was looking through the data. 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:25.160 A lot of it didn't make sense what we're hearing 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:26.880 on you know TV. What we were reading did not 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:29.680 make sense throughout the entirety of COVID. But uh, you 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:31.640 know even more so with the vaccines, and I saw 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:34.960 that you are also a filthy unvaccinated person. Are you 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:37.160 lining up to get Are you lining up to get 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:41.679 your monkey pocks shot? Anytime soon? I? Um, you know 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:44.880 this is uh. I I just am so fired up 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:48.319 about the idea that we've ever required anybody to get 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:51.360 these COVID shots and cost people their jobs. Um No, 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:54.040 I never got I Look, I got COVID in November 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:57.720 of twenty the first time, the alpha version, and then 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:01.360 I got the remix ohm crow On version in uh 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:05.080 in January of this year. And um so when I 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:08.760 got the when I got knew that I had natural immunity. 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:11.760 I knew that all the data reflected uh, prior to 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:14.800 delta and omicron and everything else, that there was no 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:17.600 basis to require me to get the COVID shot, that 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:21.120 it was worthless. Um. And so not only have I 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:23.800 made that decision for myself, but I'm not going to 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:26.960 get my kids the COVID shot right, Um, you know, 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:29.360 if they become college age or have to do it 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:33.760 for school related reasons when they're uh you know, getting older. Maybe, 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:36.520 but my seven year old and my eleven year old, Um, 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:39.320 I think that's crazy. Uh. And so yeah, I was 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:43.080 comfortable uh standing out against that. I felt like I 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:45.160 needed to speak out for a lot of people who 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:48.559 didn't have that option necessarily because I was fortunate. I've 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:50.720 got a home studio, I've got the ability to do 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:53.000 things out of my house. Um. You know, if I 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:54.880 was a teacher and I needed to make a mortgage 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:56.800 payment or I needed to take care of my kids 0:11:57.440 --> 0:12:00.200 or a police officer or something like that, I think 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:02.319 I would have had to do it right. Because most 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:05.400 people aren't independently wealthy enough, which is why when did 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:09.679 Joe Biden's in the world say, Hey, this mandatory vaccination work. Yeah, 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:12.480 of course you know. And also by the way, holding 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:14.800 a gun at someone and demanding their cash out of 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:18.080 their wallet it works. That doesn't make it right, um. 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:22.040 And so so that that was another example I thought 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:25.560 of making a decision that was right for me personally uh, 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:28.960 based on my own health parameters, but also was a 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:32.440 lot different for a lot of people didn't have that option, 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:34.600 and I felt like being one of the people who 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:37.320 was willing to stand up for them was important. Quick 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:40.080 commercial break more with Clay Travis on the other side. 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:47.920 Do we engage in groups think as a society more 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:51.480 today or was it just more pronounced during COVID because 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:54.040 of the fears. I think we do it more now, um. 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:55.959 And I think the reason why we do it more 0:12:56.000 --> 0:13:03.000 now is social media UH based siically demands a consensus opinion, 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:06.760 because if you don't have a consensus opinion, then the 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:09.120 people who are a part of the consensus opinion will 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:12.280 come after you and try to tear you apart. And 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:15.680 I think that has led more people to be afraid. 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:17.800 And it can be people who are in public figure 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:22.280 positions like us, or people on Facebook or Instagram or 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:25.920 Twitter or wherever it is. UM. I think there is 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:29.960 a rush to consensus, and I think that was epitomized 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:33.120 by COVID, where I think we rushed to the worst 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:37.480 possible consensus opinion rather than actually look at the data 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:42.640 and allow that to to lead us, because I think COVID, 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:44.280 beyond the shadow of a doubt, the way that we 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:47.520 responded in the country is our biggest public policy failure 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:50.160 since Vietnam. And what they both have in common is 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:53.640 all of the experts told us we had to do Vietnam, 0:13:53.840 --> 0:13:57.280 go to war, or else communism would continue to spread 0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:00.120 and go everywhere, and we were told we have to 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:03.640 lock down or else COVID's going to overwhelm us and 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:07.400 overall the hospitals. And I think both of those consensus 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:11.080 opinions are the most disastrous of the last you know, 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:13.840 seventy years of American life. Well, I mean it definitely 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:19.040 tested society, tested people, tested her institutions, tested if we're 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:22.680 even a constitutional republic. And also just seeing where you know, 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:24.880 some leaders in the country want to take us, take 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:27.240 us more to tyranny, but you know a lot of 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:29.280 people are afraid to speak out because they were worried 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:31.880 about getting trouble was getting in trouble. As you pointed out, 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:34.800 I mean you've spoken out in support of ESPN broadcaster 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:38.040 Stage Steel. She's following a lawsuit against the network because 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:41.280 she was sidelined because she made comments against her her 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:44.640 company's vaccine policy, just making a different point of view 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:47.640 than some people on the network we're espousing, and it 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:50.000 landed her into a lot of trouble. Talk a little 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:52.280 bit about that case she's suing. What do you think 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:55.080 will happen and what are the ramifications of it? What 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:58.160 do you think it could lead to? Well, big picture 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:02.680 to me, what it references is I came out of sports, right, 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:05.440 So I was just your average guy who's a big 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:11.400 sports fan, um. And increasingly sports collided with politics, um 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:14.880 and so you had to have an opinion on Colin Kaepernick, 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:19.080 and certainly COVID really took that to an entirely different level. 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:23.120 What I saw happening in sports that was scary to 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:27.200 me was ESPN in particular, which is the big dog 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:32.160 in sports opinion, was allowing far left wing political opinions 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:37.320 and encouraging and enabling and rewarding people who embraced far 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:42.440 left wing opinions, while oftentimes firing people for quote unquote 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:46.720 conservative opinions. And my big thing is I'm a First 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:49.680 Amendment absolutist. You may have seen my clips several years 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:52.600 ago where I went on CNN and said the only 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:55.200 two things I believed in I've been saying that on 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:58.240 the radio for a long time was the First Amendment, 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:03.640 and Booze and CNN lost their mind when I said, yeah. 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:05.720 But i mean, look, the reality is, when you say 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:08.560 you're a First Amendment absolutist, it kind of just gets 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:12.280 lost in the cliche. And so I thought that was 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:16.640 such a you know, a fun and absurdly uh perfect 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:19.320 way to epitomize that. And by the way, the funny 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:21.680 thing about CNN getting so triggered by me saying that 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:26.640 was Hugh Hefner died shortly thereafter, and they lionized him 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:29.080 as a hero. And I'm not sure there's ever been 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:32.880 anybody that supported the First Amendment boogs more than Playboy 0:16:32.920 --> 0:16:36.000 founders U Heffner, So that dichotomy there was really kind 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:39.520 of fascinating. But I'm in addition to being a First 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:44.320 Amendment absolutist, I also believe in the importance of content 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:49.400 neutral rules, right um, and being applying those rules consistently. 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:52.000 That's why I'm kind of excited if Elon must ends 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:55.440 up taking control of Twitter, he's going to do what 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:58.840 I've been arguing should be happening at places like ESPN, 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:03.400 which is put your policy in place, but don't punish 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:09.000 someone for not having left wing opinions while promoting people 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:12.880 for having left wing opinions. If your policy is no 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:16.199 one can ever talk about politics at all, all we 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:18.360 want you to have an opinion on in your public 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:23.160 life is sports. If you're being paid millions of dollars 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:25.840 and you want to take that deal, you can take 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:30.280 that deal. But don't fire Kurt Schilling because he questions 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:36.640 a transgender bathroom bill while simultaneously promoting people who falsely 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:40.000 alleged that don't say gay bill in Florida, which is 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:43.520 really the parental rights bill, is saying something that it isn't, 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:46.720 and you're allowing a moment of silence on your broadcast 0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:50.160 network for it. So really, all I want, you're right, 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:53.200 you're you're you should have a right too far left 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:55.920 wing opinions, and people should have a right to far 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:59.440 right wing opinions, but the policy should be content neutral, 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:02.000 and what's age steal is pointing out with her lawsuit, 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:05.399 is that isn't the case, And I believe that's a 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:09.199 significant battle that needs to be fought in sports media, 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:13.800 which has been overtaken by this tiny minority of super 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:17.880 woke journalists who do not reflect the overall vast majority 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:20.920 of fan opinion. Well, I think she's super brave. I'm 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:23.040 a fan of hers. Is it so your band from 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:26.880 both CNN and ESPN? Is that right? That's correct. I'm 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:30.679 the only person in America, UH, that is not allowed 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:35.800 to appear on either CNN or ESPN. That's hilarious. See 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:38.360 you talk about this sort of like distortion that's happened 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:41.520 in sports news. Is that why you started out Kicked 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:45.840 back in two eleven? No, not, Actually, it's what OutKick 0:18:45.880 --> 0:18:48.920 has become. But in two thousand eleven, I started out 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:53.120 Kick because I was I was a huge sports fan. 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:58.320 I had worked at at CBS Sports dot Com, I 0:18:58.359 --> 0:19:02.040 had worked at dead Spin but where Deadspen went crazy, uh, 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:05.560 and I had worked at fan House. So I've worked 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:09.159 at three different big sports media companies. I felt like 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:12.600 I knew what people wanted to read and that that 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:17.399 wasn't being covered by the average Uh. The average sports 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:20.760 site out there. Uh So, I I was comfortable taking 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:24.560 a risk starting a business. Um and initially, you know, 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:27.800 sports had not gone crazy in two thousand eleven when 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:30.760 I started out kick. Uh So, most of your big 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:34.840 sports debates were about realignment, about you know, what the 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:37.879 college football playoff might look like in the years ahead. 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:41.400 Uh There were a lot of sports related sports debates, 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:46.720 but we hadn't turned into this uberwoke, super political universe 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:51.480 that has just been tracked by OutKick, And increasingly what 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:55.240 I saw was without OutKick, there was nobody making the 0:19:55.320 --> 0:19:59.679 arguments that I was making. And so our influence is 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:04.360 huge because you know, we cover sports for the seventy 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:07.600 five or eighty percent or more of sports fans who, 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:12.240 for instance, don't believe that a biological man who decides 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:15.480 to identify as a woman should be able to compete 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:18.960 and win women's athletic events. Like the idea that out 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:22.400 Kick is almost the only sports outlet that is covering 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:24.600 this and saying, hey, you know what, men should compete 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:27.040 against men and women should compete against women is to 0:20:27.080 --> 0:20:30.560 be a testament of how broken the overall sports media 0:20:30.640 --> 0:20:34.040 ecosystem is. But that's where we've been led by the 0:20:34.160 --> 0:20:37.120 direction of sports media, which I think has been very 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:40.440 influenced by social media. But when I started in two 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:43.840 thousand eleven, I never I never would have thought, Hey, 0:20:43.880 --> 0:20:45.960 the greatest women swimmer of all time is going to 0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:48.280 be a dude. I just I mean, that was so 0:20:48.320 --> 0:20:52.320 far outside the bounds of of any kind of legitimacy 0:20:52.320 --> 0:20:54.840 that I never would have seen us getting here. Also, 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:56.840 it's cool because well, you sold it the Fox, so 0:20:57.000 --> 0:20:59.400 congrats on being rich. But what's neat about is I 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:01.840 I saw I saw what you wrote about the sale, 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:04.520 and you talked about kind of coming from humble beginnings 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:06.119 and that you know, there's a son of two parents 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:09.520 who never made in a year only in America. Indeed 0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:12.240 you wrote, so, I mean, that's got to be pretty big. 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:15.639 I'm sure your parents are proud to you know, proud 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:19.159 of you. Yeah. Look, I mean, it's it's great to 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:23.080 be in a position where if I didn't ever want 0:21:23.119 --> 0:21:25.600 to have to work again, I don't ever have to 0:21:25.640 --> 0:21:31.960 work again. Um. That gives you some degree of personal freedom. 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:36.399 But the reality is every single day I jump out 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:39.520 of bed excited to get to do what I do. UM, 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:43.200 And you know, there's always that discussion, Hey, what would 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:45.520 you do if you want a lottery? I think a 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:49.120 lot of people have that discussion in their lives. You know, Um, 0:21:49.160 --> 0:21:52.720 what would you do the next day? Uh? I basically 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:55.280 have right. I think I've won the lottery in life 0:21:55.359 --> 0:21:58.720