Takes

This Dungeons and Dragons episode is the best one the show has ever done

It is Dungeons and Dragons Day, the best one we've ever done... I honestly think it's the best one we've ever done.

Al Michaels' broadcasting mood is determined by the length of his flight to the stadium

My theory too on Al is that it just depends on how long of a flight he had to take. So when he's like at a Charger's vi the Charger's playing the Vikings, which was a blowout, he was pretty happy tonight... If he has to call next week Jets, patriots, we're gonna get a surly surly al Michaels 'cause he is gotta go cross country. He's gonna be pissed off.

TV networks should force in-house umpires to wear full gear during broadcasts

I have a dumb sports rule for you guys... our friends of Fox were going to the in-house umpire Mark Carlson. He was wearing a suit and tie. I think the in-house umpire should have to wear a full chest protector and mask because baseball's the one sport where managers wear full uniforms. Why aren't we doing that?

Hank is the 'glue guy' of the show and it would fall apart without him

Hank's the glue guy of this show. So I always has been. It means you're the glue. If you weren't here, this show would fall apart.

Hard Knocks is just a 45-minute commercial for whatever team they are profiling

Hard Knocks is just gonna be like a 45 minute commercial for whatever team they happen to be profiling because otherwise no teams would ever do it and the NFL wouldn't allow it.

The Barstool Sports partnership with Fox Sports will not change the content of Pardon My Take

I'll say right now, [the Fox deal] is not gonna change this show at all. We made sure of that. We, we it's gonna be a great, like, this is very different than the ESPN partnership back in 2017. Fox is a very willing partner. They're very excited. We're very excited. They believe in us. We believe in them a lot different than what we went through with ESPN.

The new FS1 show featuring Barstool Chicago will not cannibalize Pardon My Take

It's gonna be a mix of everybody in this office and people that might not be in this office right now that might stop in. I don't expect to be spending a full-time jobs worth of time going on the show, but I'll go to try to make it on like once a week is what we discussed. That way it's not gonna cannibalize Pardon My Take.

Announcing you are writing a book is the funnest part of writing a book

Announcing that you're writing a book is the funnest part of writing a book. Oh yeah. Now we gotta write a book. We've ended up canceling the books at the last minute several times, which always feels great to do.

I will officially retire from broadcasting in two and a half years

Two and a half years, and then I'll be done. I won't be working, yeah. I won't. I'll be strictly Sandler movies and that's it.

Adam Schefter uses specific character limits to bait clicks in notifications

I saw his post about a trade. It said Jalen Ramsey has been traded from the Miami Dolphins to, and then it was the...dot dot dot. It cut off right there. I think that Schefter knows exactly how many characters to use to make people actually click through and look at his tweet instead of just looking at the notification. I think that he's that good.

The NBA Finals don't feel special because there is no 'Finals' script on the court anymore

How do you not have just like a script NBA finals? How do you not have anything, maybe even on the baseline there? It's the same argument I make with the throwback jerseys... When I watch a highlight of this game 10 years from now, I wanna know it was the NBA finals and there's nothing on the fucking court except YouTube TV.

The Stanley Cup and NBA Finals should be scheduled to happen at the same time

What I'm rooting for is for the Stanley Cup and the NBA finals to happen at the same time. Yeah, I, well, around the same time. I don't know how the schedules work out with like how they're set. But I would just prefer to not have one series be over while the other sport is still going on.

WNBA players should stay off social media to avoid the toxic discourse

I would imagine that most of the really, really bad shit that you deal with is from people that are DMing you from anonymous accounts... I would just log off, have somebody else run your social media, do your ad deals, do all that shit for you. But don't, I, I would stay off.

Live human performance is superior to AI in music

I think that meant that you just want to actually kill us because if it was the, if it was equal, then you watch... but you can't, you can't beat a live show... No vibes from ai.

Jim Nantz's wallet toast card was actually a prank on a reporter

So the card is a prank, but he does like his Toast Nantz style... Nantz ordered his special brand of toast... I made sure the reporter saw the card and when he asked about it, I said, well that card has saved me a lot of hours.

LeBron's swearing in the McAfee interview made him more relatable

The part that I liked the most was the swearing. It makes him relatable. It was the best swear.

LeBron James is one of the best and most gracious interview subjects

I'd say him [LeBron], I appreciate the times that we talk where I think he gives you more than just the, the garden variety. When they [LeBron, Tiger, Jeter] seem like they're invested and actually present in a way that they're—I don't wanna say into it, but that it isn't a chore. That's the best you can hope for.

TV networks must fix scoreboard spoilers that show scores ahead of the live broadcast

I don't understand how it's still an issue... if you're watching four games at once, half the time you see the scoreboard on one game and it will be ahead of the actual game you're watching... figure it out. Don't let it spoil us.

The Pardon My Take crew will attend Gen Con in Indianapolis in August 2025

[Timm Woods]: The Indianapolis one is Gen Con. It is the biggest Dungeons and Dragons convention in the world. And if you guys were there, I could take you on the whole tour. [Big Cat]: End of August. We're in. 100% we're gonna do that. That sounds amazing.

The Simpsons characters are significantly better in 2D than 3D

I did watch the first half of The Simpsons broadcast last night, and I don't know why it took me so long to remember this. The Simpsons are a million times better in 2D. The Simpsons in 3D. Not that fun.

Al Michaels is at his best when he is visibly annoyed by the quality of football

When Al Michaels is at his best now is when he's annoyed with the quality of football. And he was so annoyed. He gets into surly old man mode very early on in the first half. He was just like, well this is awful. This is terrible, Kirk, get me outta here.

TV reruns are actually actors performing the exact same script live for a second time

I used to think that when you'd watch a rerun of a show on TV, that it was an all new taping of the exact same script... I thought that like, I'd be watching Saved by the Bell... They're doing the same song, but they're just taping it again for us.

Michael Phelps ruined swimming for me because he was too dominant

Michael Phelps ruined swimming for me personally. Because he was so goddamn dominant that, and it happened so recently that I'm watching swimming and I'm like, well, Phelps would've beaten all these guys.

Adam Schefter is one of the few media members you can actually trust with off-the-record information

Adam and I actually are close... he's one of the media members you can actually trust that if it's off the record, it's not going anywhere. Like he actually will keep it close to the vest.

Rory McIlroy's tire spinning exit gave reporters a better story than a boring press conference would have

The media gets so mad after Claire. And then they have all their articles about how this person didn't give them anything to write about. Right. And he actually, Rory gave everybody so much more stuff to write about. Right. So much more stuff to talk about by not answering questions than he did if he had stuck around and just given like deadpan answers of credit to Bryce. And he played really, really well. Of course I'm disappointed. Very upset that I missed those puts, you know? Yeah. It's one of those things, golf's a hard game. That's what Rory would've said.

Success in broadcasting is a combination of luck and constant preparation

Luck a hundred percent. A lot of life is being right place, right time... But like certain people tend to be lucky because they're constantly prepared. They're constantly ready for that moment. And then all of a sudden that right moment does flip and it clicks... All you can do is be good.

I completely bombed my stand-up comedy set

It was just, it was all downhill. I knew it was bad. My dad texted me after he just said, 'you okay'. I was, I was like, I'm, I was like, I'm fine... but even if I prepped a year, you can't, you can't teach public speaking.

I'm going to play football as long as possible to avoid having to do sports media

Honestly, man, that's the last thing I want to do is be doing interviews to get myself behind a camera. So I'm gonna try to do this as long as possible and, and diminish those possibilities as much as I can.

I hate watching playoff football on an app like Peacock

I hate the experience of watching a game on an app as opposed to watching on TV, where you can easily and elegantly and seamlessly flip back and forth and show off your skills going back to the game right as it's about to snap again... it's a playoff game and it stinks.

I failed my own podcast production system by not pressing publish

I was the one who did not press the publish button... The system broke, but the, the system will not break again... My system is that I check before I do the [tweet]. I'll never tweet the tweet without seeing, seeing. It's up on, on Apple... I broke my system.

Fans will initially complain that the new PMT studio looks 'too clean' and professional

I think people are gonna love it... but I think there will be a little adjustment where people will be like, oh, they're, they're, they looked. It looks too clean... Just wait.

Announcers need to stop saying 'asterisk' on wins

I don't know why it's become a thing that announcers are now saying asterisk. They did it for the Lions game too. Tarico did the asterisk for No Kelsey, Chris Jones. And then last night they're like, well, asterisk there was tripping on the part return. Who the fuck cares. The Wind's a win.

Silence is the most powerful tool a broadcaster has

I think so there have been times in my career, and that's 20 plus years ago, there are times in my career where you realize silence is the most powerful tool you have to let the natural sounds come over at television, which, you know, I think I've been pretty respectful of over the years.

The AWLs will tune into the PLL tonight

The AWLs will tune into the PLL tonight. ESPN Plus. Calling the Waterdogs game tonight.

The social media app Threads is boring and already dead because it's too nice

I'm already, it was fun for like two and a half days. ... I don't know what to do with it now because I just don't, there's nothing, it's too nice. ... I think I'm done. I think I'm done with it.

The Vegas Sphere is the coolest thing ever and the future of advertising

It's maybe the coolest thing I've ever seen. Like, I feel like it's gonna be everywhere all the time now. Like it's the, it's the future. ... However much it costs to advertise on it is like it's better than a billboard.

Every group of fans that has played this adventure has successfully finished it.

Every one of the a w l groups who has gone through this adventure has gotten to the end and finished it. But I also told them I wasn't sure if you guys would or not.

I would rather watch March Madness 100 times out of 100 over the WBC

If you tell me, would you rather watch World Baseball Classic or March Madness? I'd say March Madness a hundred times out of a hundred times.

Full Swing gets 3.5 balls out of 5

I give it three and a half balls... I think you could get to four and a half balls if you just had Patrick Reed in it.

Sahith Theegala's episode of Full Swing was my favorite

Sahith [Theegala] was my favorite. He was my favorite story and episode. His dad was awesome... when he messed up on 17, that was the most emotional I got.

Tom Brady should practice for the broadcasting booth with me

Tom Brady reportedly is starting to pursue a career in standup comedy... Tom, if you're watching this, you should be spending that time with me practicing in the booth. Let's make it happen.

Matt Rhule will do TV for a year and then get another big college job

My guess is he does TV and then waits this cycle out and, and sees what's available next cycle... he'll be beloved on tv. Unlike most head coaches at that level, he can have a normal human conversation.

The 'He is Him' phrase is being overused in the NFL

I think there's too many hymns right now. It's like church. There's a lot of them. There's a lot of 'em going around. I think, you know, if everybody's great. Nobody's great. So we gotta, I there's gotta be a new word.

I will watch the in-season Hard Knocks in April because I already have in-season football content now

I'll probably watch the in season Hard Knocks in like maybe April after the NCAA tournament. That's when I'll go back and I'll rewatch the football content. But now like I have in season Hard Knocks already, it's called NFL football.

Big Ben's podcast will devolve into him ranking the injuries he's played through

I'm sure that it's just gonna devolve into [Ben Roethlisberger] talking about various injuries. It should just be him talking about, I ranking the injuries that he's played through.

Monday Night Golf is a perfect idea and more sports should use Monday nights

They're going to start doing Monday night golf, which I don't know why more sports don't do this. Monday night is the perfect night for sports because everyone's like, oh man, I wish it was the weekend. Monday sucks. Give us sports. Every Monday night, every Monday, there should be Monday night football every Monday night in different sports.

The Denver airport is the worst one we have reviewed so far

I'm just gonna say it... I take Indy airport and Madison airport over this airport. [PFT: It's in last place.] It's firm last place. That's new power rankings are out.

Vin Scully is the best play-by-play broadcaster of all time

Yeah, no, definitely. He is the best play-by-play broadcaster of all time. He has moments that you could put in a dictionary. Like you could fill a dictionary with just thousands of pages... If I could have 1% of the success that he had, that would be a successful career. He is the best ever.

Pac-Man is the greatest arcade game of all time

The game of the century announced on the Tokyo game show in 1999? And that would be the one that I would have to choose. Pac-Man. Pac-Man was also the first game inducted into the video game hall of fame.

The new NCAA Football video game should be simple for the 'common man'

I just hope they make the game for the common man and not for like the dudes that are playing for like a million dollars... I want it for the regular guy who's going to play, you know, a couple hours at night when they get home from work.