Biscuits with the Boss (Ted Lasso S1E2)

Christian

Welcome back to the dog track. Greyhounds. This is Richmond Til We Die. An episode by episode conversation about the Apple tv plus show Ted Lasso where we explore the characters, their relationships to each other and how they're able to make us laugh until we can hardly breathe one moment then make us feel with the deepest parts of our hearts. The next For this episode. Our conversation is all about episode two titled biscuits,

Brett

but we do not recommend that you smother these biscuits and gravy. All right now, y'all? What do we know about the biscuits from this episode and from this series?

Christian

They're horrible, are they? That's what I hear. I mean they should probably be called biss quicks. Hannah Winem has said that like it's the greatest acting job of her career to make those things look delicious as many times as she had to eat them,

Marisa

by the way, Hannah, congratulations on your Critics choice Award. Also, we should probably note that biscuits like we this is a different word used in the UK for biscuits, right? Instead of what we say, what we call biscuits here. Right? So people might not know that we're talking about cookies, right?

Brett

We're talking about cookies.

Marisa

We're talking about cookies.

Christian

It's a sweet treat

Brett

to numb the sting of defeat. Uh huh

Marisa

Anyhoo I'm marissa, you may remember me from the other podcasts where I said I hate podcasts. I'm starting to hate podcast less and I'm also starting to love ted lasso more.

Christian

I'm christian, I am the soccer and barbecue guy

Brett

and I'm Brett. And if given the choice between a lion or a panda, I would choose panda because they look like they have so much fun all the time.

Marisa

Pandas are beautiful, majestic creatures.

Brett

Would you say they're more majestic than lions though?

Marisa

I mean as someone who's more indoors e than outdoorsy, like I get their vibe.

Brett

You don't really want to have to work that hard for my food.

Marisa

Yeah. Also I lived in china for years so I feel like I'd have to go panda just to like to own that.

Christian

I have to go lion because Brett, I can feel the love tonight, but to be clear um not Jonathan, taylor thomas lyon, not Matthew broderick. Lion clearly donald glover. Lion,

Marisa

is this the time to announce my embarrassing crush?

Brett

For sure.

Marisa

So you know actually this is the Lion King was Brett's like favorite Disney movie by the way. And um

Christian

I like the part where your confession involves embarrassing things about Brett.

Marisa

Well, I mean I don't find that part embarrassing but when we first met and we were dating, you know, I told him that oh I love that movie. But like as a as a young girl, I had a giant crush on teenage Simba. Like it's like during Hakuna Matata to where he like comes of age and there's just like something strangely like,

Christian

must be,

Marisa

I don't know, he's become a vegetarian and he's just like, there's something sexy about him. 

Brett

He’s got that vegetarian glow.

Marisa

I know you

Brett

Get three seconds of that in a montage.

Marisa

I was, please don't put that in the podcast.

Brett

Who among us did not have a crush on cartoon? Simba, honestly,

Christian

or Miss Piggy

Brett

Mhm

Marisa

Okay, I just always spent tea everywhere

Brett

on that amazing note talking about looking fresh christian, Tell us about the soccer gear you're wearing today.

Christian

Today I'm representing my hometown Portland Thorns Football club, which for a brief period of time I think was probably the best women's football club on the planet. The clubs in England are starting to catch them now, Unfortunately. So today I went with the full zip hoodie underneath the lightweight puffer vest. You're also wearing a hat and yeah, I'm tripled up, tripled up on thorns gear today, write a rock and roll for the

Brett

season, thorns representation is strong.

Christian

Thank you. They'll be very happy to know that I'm very excited because they just signed Crystal Dunn who in my mind is the best player on the United States women's national team currently. 

Brett

That's a great gift for them. I know it is pumped. Clearly, you should have three pieces of clothing. Lots of players

Brett

make us proud.

Christian

 Okay, all how quickly can we recap this episode?

Brett

After a restless night ted waltzes into Rebecca's office and initiates biscuits with the boss. A time where he brings Rebecca cookies and makes an effort to connect with her.

Marisa

Ted then overseas, his first practice sorry training session as the team prepares for their match against Crystal Palace back in the locker room, he takes a moment to ask the squad to submit their request to improve the locker room. In a highly decorated suggestion box made by Nate and his niece

Christian

Ted letter asked Rebecca how he can begin to get through their star player Jamie Tart and she advises them to seek input from Jamie's girlfriend kelly. While Ted is talking to kelly, a photographer sent by Rebecca secretly takes blackmail photos of their encounter

Brett

before the match with Crystal Palace Ted and the team throw a surprise party for Sam Abyssinia who has struggled to find success since transferring from Nigeria.

Marisa

Richmond lose to Palace for one after the match, Ted pulls Jamie aside to encourage him, but he still criticizes Ted and the team to Trent crim from the Independent on the way out to his car.

Christian

The episode ends with Rebecca instructing Higgins to have the blackmail photos of Ted and keely published in the next days tabloids. Mhm.

Brett

So, like we mentioned before, this episode is titled biscuits and these sweet treats are the key to unlocking some of the big themes of this episode. Ted bringing biscuits for Rebecca shows that he's not just nice, he's thoughtful and we're going to talk about how there's a difference. So, first let's talk about the disarming thoughtfulness of Ted Lasso. We see that Ted starts to make breakthroughs with several characters in this episode through his thoughtful acts, the biggest might be the obvious one that Ted brings cookies for Rebecca and he initiates biscuits with the boss and we see in this episode how she's resistant at first, but then eventually she softens and she starts to become obsessed with finding out where these biscuits are from.

Christian

There's a he has a skill of seeing people as individuals and also understanding what they need. And so he certainly like tries to have some conversations with Rebecca, but I think the idea of giving her a gift is something that's going to help him jump over one of her fences. Whereas with Higgins, it's kind of like that time spending time together so that he can view himself or so that Higgins can know that he is seen like as a person by somebody where he's not really being seen by Rebecca.

Marisa

Yeah, I think you're right. And so, you know, I am a professor and I studied education and one of the things we talked about a lot was Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Um this motivational theory in psychology, um that's really about a five tier model of human needs and how at the bottom, you know, we have these physiological needs, things that have to be met in order to get up the pyramid to the top, which is self actualization. So these physiological needs are things that Ted does really well in his first encounters with people, things like, you know, these can be basic needs like food and water and warmth and rest, but the next one would be, you know, up the tier would be belonging and love needs. So he's meeting Rebecca with biscuits, literally food in order to make her feel feel important and to start making his way up that pyramid with them. And I think that's part of his, his charm and his ability as a leader is to try and get all these characters that he's encountering up to that self actualization where there they're achieving their own full potential. And that can include, you know, anything from on the field to off the field, I think with his players too,

Christian

and that's where the thoughtfulness is different from like a detached niceness. I think we probably all know people who are nice all the time, but that's really more of a wall than it is approachability and for ted I don't think it's a wallet can kind of seem like that, especially the first time you watch it because of the folksiness of his character, it can kind of seem like, oh man, this guy is just super sappy. But then I think once you get to the end of this episode and you realize, oh he's actually making the biscuits, then there's it changes the perception of him to understand the difference between thoughtfulness that takes effort and just like sugarcoating everything for people to reduce friction.

Marisa

So biscuits is just one of those ways that he's meeting physiological needs and we see him do that with others in this episode two

Christian

and beyond physiological needs to his insistence on knowing Nate's name and his deep desire that may understands that he is known as an individual. And even I think like the picking up on the fact that Nate is ignored, not just that he's mistreated but he's ignored. And so then for ted to say no, like you're not going to be ignored, you are going to be seen. Rebecca uses the term in this episode where she talks about I think he's relentless optimism, but it's also true with his relentless thoughtfulness. He just does not give up on that because more than most of the characters in this show, he is really like confident with who he is, he's not perfect. And there will be times like when that will waiver and when he will doubt and when he will be broken too, but he is not embarrassed by his sense of humor. He's willing to be spontaneous. He's willing to keep at it and be in his own skin, even when it's clear that his skin is very different from everybody else's skin in England.

Brett

Yes, he is relentlessly thoughtful and insistent that people kind of know that in a way he Rebecca asked him, please don't bring any more biscuits and she knows that he's going to bring more biscuits. And then in the previous episode, we talked about how Nate. I was stunned that someone asked his name and ted does that again in this episode because like you were saying that's that's important and I think he does that with multiple characters and sort of even with things that aren't as obvious, he kind of brings these characters in um and begins to include them in ways that make them feel important and that he can start to build this relationship with them.

Christian

I would not be surprised if at some point in season two we find out that Ted lasso has a can't stop, won't stop tattoo on a piece of skin we have yet to see in the show,

Brett

the second iteration of the belief sign,

Christian

it's good that he's relentless. That is something that he needs to be. Because some of these folks, a lot of these folks that he's dealing with, like their walls are high, I mean you're not going to get through to Jamie tart on the first attempt and his not the inability to get through to him is different from like Nate kind of has to be convinced that he has value. Whereas Jamie has to be convinced that he's part of something bigger to himself. But those both of those things, they're going to take a couple of passes,

Brett

right? Yes. Ted says that he does not make much headway when talking to Rebecca after his first day, he says, what's the smallest unit of measurement you'll have, that's, that's how well I did. And this is right before Keily shows up when she pulls in in her car, like an amazing entrance and she just hops out and says, would you rather be a liner a panda? And I think that this little sequence does a lot to strengthen the relationship between Ted and keely, like he is just a game to just immediately like answer this question. Like there's no way he knew that question was coming and he's just like he has his answer locked locked and loaded. Rebecca is already like walking away. Like

Marisa

disinterested literally says, I don't have time for this, but Ted needs no like instructions or understanding of where this question comes from. He's just willing to play the game.

Brett

Yeah. Ted and keely already kind of get each other.

Christian

Well, you can tell it just in the way that they embody physical space. Like Rebecca walks away um having been fairly gruff and keely turns her back to Rebecca and into Ted so that they're kind of like in a space together and then has her confessional. Like she's a tall and very intimidating woman or like whatever she says

Marisa

there, which I say about so many women all the time.

Brett

Most women are told to you to

Marisa

Be. That's true. I'm five mm foot tall. Uh anyway. But yes, I also think that like this, this goes to show like who Rebecca is too because first she has no time for it. But then once she hears what in her mind is the wrong answer, she cannot let that go. And like as a spicy, italian woman, like I totally get that. Like when, when someone disagrees with me on something that I think is literally right and wrong, there is a right or wrong answer. Like she turns around and she is like, no, y'all are stupid. Here we go. It's lying. Like anyone who says anything different, like you're going to just like get eaten like the stupid panda,

Christian

that's why it's a good thing, you're not on twitter. Probably

Brett

in that same scene where kelley and Ted are talking, Jamie walks out and they posed the question to him and that's when he has his very iconic line of, I'm me, why would I want to be anything else? And then ted kind of takes another swing, saying like, oh I'm not sure you realize how healthy that is, and Jamie is either confused by that are just like very disinterested in this conversation and just moves on.

Christian

He's usually confused, this is

Brett

true. And so we can see like that's another time where Ted kind of takes a swing and a miss trying to make a connection with Jamie and then the only time he succeeds in this episode, it makes even a little bit of headway is later in the episode when after the match, he talked to Jamie in his office and he encourages him. And that's the only thing that so far that has made Jamie like pause and sort of like, see Ted as a person for the first time, we see that that doesn't last very long because then he leaves the locker room and

Marisa

well he tried, he tries to take um he tries to take some of Ted's wisdom out into the parking lot as Trent crim from the independent approaches him and he tries to stay humble for a moment but there's just something that he cannot get past where he has to turn around and say nah like I did my best but they're just you know I'm the one who's pulling this team along. Well I think

Brett

what gets him there is you see to Crystal Palace players in the background walking by and one of them says something like oh they were terrible, they were rubbish and like Jamie over here is that and that's what makes him stop and turn around and be like no like they were bad. I was the only good thing, you know they're in there eating cake and so we see that this is something to track as far as the hurts that Jamie has and how that manifests because he was okay to walk away until he sort of heard until his pride was hurt

Christian

at the end of the episode, Beard and Ted are walking and they're kind of processing through the day, and Beard talks about how much he hates losing, and that's like the thing that has happened that day that sticks out to him, and Ted says Bird by Bird. And it's interesting because Ted's application there isn't that he hates losing as much as Beard does, and so they're going to get better, but more about, I think he's sort of flailing away at these relationships, but he's going to be relentless in that.

Marisa

Yeah, and that's a another clever and literary allusion to An LaMotte's um book by the same title, Bird by Bird. She's a writer and a teacher of writing. And um this title of the book actually comes from a passage in the book that um is a story about her dad who's also a writer And it says 30 years ago, my older brother, who was 10 years old at the time was trying to get a report on birds written that he had three months to write. It was due the next day, we were out at our family cabin and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder and said Bird by Bird buddy, just take it bird by Bird. And I think that's something that we all understand. You know, people say like how am I gonna eat this giant meal? It's like one bite at a time. So yeah, I think ted really does hate losing. Um But for him it's it's really about the process, it's about the process of making these relationships with people around him, but also I think he really wants to win two. So for him it's bird by bird, this is one loss, but you know, the next day they're going to start training again and hopefully the next the next wind will come.

Christian

The thing that ted gets about bird by bird, that beard can't accept, which this is the difference between competitiveness and compassion is that um it's okay to fail. So in that book, Bird by Bird um and pardon the fruity language in the words of Our Little white, but like has this whole like big section on shitty first drafts and this idea that you have to write, and it's not going to be good and you're gonna throw a lot of it away and you're gonna change a ton of it, and then it kind of like gets whittled and it gets molded. Ted has a patience for that. Like, he has an appetite for that with relationships. He will take the l and wake up the next morning and make another box of biscuits. There's a bit more of an urgency, I think for Beard. And that's the tension in their relationship is like, you can't you can't throw away too many drafts when you are the coach of a team, eventually you have to win and you have to make money or else you're gone Where? And that's just a different mentality than I am going to be relentless in loving these people are improving these people.

Marisa

Yeah. And and Lamar also talks about how that's like the perfectionism that eats away at anyone who creates anything right? Is that terrible pressure to to have it be perfect on the first try. And it can ruin your work. And you can, you know, again, we find ourselves procrastinating or finding ways to not address whatever the central goal is of our of our job or our time with other people. And I think yeah, Ted is great at thinking about the one step at a time, but that we soon see that maybe that's not enough or that's not fast enough for beard.

Brett

So to sum up the bird by bird reference, we start to understand that Ted's commitment to the process is really fundamental to our understanding of the lasso way I'm putting air quotes around that um this idea of a terrible first draft. And we see that with several characters in this episode, Jamie sticking out as one in particular. But we see other times in this episode where Ted makes a connection and starts to build a better relationship with characters. We've already talked about Keeley, but there's another character that happens with and that's Sam. We see that when Ted ass Beard, why Sam has been struggling, Beard tells Ted it's because he's essentially because he's homesick. He's been down in every stat since he came over from Nigeria, and Ted decides to throw him a birthday party and get the team involved. And then we kind of see how that that relationship between Ted and Sam is strengthened in this episode because of that, but it's not without its tension.

Christian

That tension moment is one of my favorite moments this episode where my antenna kind of went up and I started tracking and just asking questions about what is going on with race in this show. And in this series it kind of started at the very beginning when ted gets into kind of like the pickup soccer match um with the young girl. And it was surprising to me that they chose to have that be a black girl. Um because one of the places where black women are really underrepresented in England is in the soccer world. Like if you look at the national team for England, there are only a handful of women and very few of them have a lot of caps or that's soccer vernacular for appearances, which is very different from other countries like America, the United States or France where there is not perfect but better representation then as Beard and lasso are walking and they're playing that word association game. They're talking about Alex Haley's seminal work in the first guess is roots, which is a great guess because that's what most people remember or think about when they think of what Alex Haley has written. Um and then ted jumps in like no, the autobiography of Malcolm X, which is a real like, quick but deep dig, because not a lot of folks remember that Alex Haley helps write the autobiography of Malcolm X, because it's called the autobiography of Malcolm X. So you just kind of assumed that like Malcolm X or the whole thing, but he didn't, and then you get to this part in Sam's birthday party and they're in the locker room and Sam and Ted are having like a legit moment where Sam is feeling cared for and they're talking and they're sharing um just about parenthood and about their family, and then at the end of it, Sam says you know I can't I don't I don't want to keep this army man that you gave me and ted immediately like doesn't rationalize, doesn't say anything um just kind of like oh yeah imperialism and seems like yeah man imperialism, like we just have a different view of this and the reason that that interests me is because you see at the very same time that Ted is showing up, he also knows when to shut up. So he is apparently like well read and well versed in uh literature that's not just written by white people. Um and so he's like had that study and he has that passion and he is doing a good job to try to reach out to stand like he gets him um those kind of like dessert crackers from Nigeria that means a lot to Sam and so he's like finding ways to to bring Sam's home to him, but at the same time like when he has that blind spot and when he doesn't get it, it's not like, oh well you know my grandpa fought in the wars and it was it was never personal and like it means a lot to me. How can you not take my Green Army man? No, he just like takes that and steps back and then let's Sam be the teacher in that moment. And so like for me as I'm looking, I'm like, look we got like uh ted lassos lessons for white dudes. Like maybe that's something that will track throughout this series. Like what can um I think white people learn about operating in that multi ethnic, multicultural context.

Marisa

I think we can take lessons from ted on how he relates to women too. I think he's always respectful. Um One thing I noticed in the interaction that he has with the girl who plays soccer um the first time we see her she's playing with some boys from school, you know and you know they're they're talking about oh I can't believe I got beat by a girl and it's very negative right? The way that they're talking about a girl. And the next time Ted takes her on he takes her on playfully. But he's like wow, instead of being upset that she's more skilled than he is, he celebrates her right? And he's encouraging her, he's like wow, you're incredible. Yeah.

Brett

And you see her joy when she turns around, like she's kicking the ball away.

Marisa

And and again, that's one tiny way that he makes relationships with this this girl. We'll see other times throughout the series. Um but when he goes into biscuits with the boss, or he comes to Rebecca in need of help in how he's going to relate to Jamie, say he he comes legitimately wanting an answer from from the from this person from this woman. Um he goes to Keeley and he asked her a question like, teach me how to talk to Jamie and he's not there to educate them or to make them feel less than he, he legitimately wants to understand from their point of view, what it is that he can learn from them. Um And I just I really appreciate that, and I look forward to seeing him. Um give these women, you know, more props and platforms and ways to show off their bad a serie

Brett

as we look at

Christian

the work that this show does in challenging and at times like dismantling patriarchal paradigms, I do think it does more work in the arena of gender than it does in race, and this show does a lot of good things in with with race. Um it is very representative. I know that there are some critiques that um there are a lot of stereotypes manifested and I can see where that happens at the same time. I think in a comedy like this, like that at some point is probably going to come up. I do think it does a better job than most of um disarming some of those stereotypes, which we'll see later in this season, and if you can I don't know, like dabbling in in them respectfully. Um but at the same time, whiteness remains very much at the centre, so on the periphery you have a lot of diversity and it kind of like dips in and out. Um one of the great things about the show is the women are I think the strongest characters and the most resilient characters. Um they are the ones that you probably come away respecting the most when you see their growth and when you see how they overcome the ways in which they are hurt. But the core of the show, Even with the diversity on the periphery, does remain very white and it'll be interesting to see how they deal with that moving forward, like spoiler alert, but they have um hired a black female actress to um play the role of the team psychologist for season two. And so you have this breaking down of stereotypes, like you're not bring in this angry black woman, you bring in a black woman to be ostensibly like the smartest person in the room um which is I think a cool thing in an area of growth and over these next two seasons will just kind of like see where it goes. And if Ted lasso stays in a place where it centers whiteness, I would still say it's better than most of the shows out there like that. And not every show is going to do the super important work that like Watchman does. Um not every show is going to have the writer's room that will allow to do things like The Good Place does. I think Ted Lasso is better than most, but it's just worth acknowledging some of those dynamics that are going on there. Mm

Christian

Okay,

Brett

let's bring up the vibe, just a bit christian. Were there any barbecue sightings in this episode?

Christian

There were we have ted and his care package from his family pulling out and tasting uh, sample from a bottle of arthur Bryant's barbecue sauce. It is located in the original is located in the 18th and vine district in Kansas city Missouri, which is also where the Jazz museum is in the negro leagues Baseball museum. It is probably like the first famous barbecue joint in Kansas city. Um it's super old and one of the interesting things about it is, it is in fact very famous for its sauce. People from texas will kind of rag on like when they wanted this Kansas city barbecue, they'll say, well, Kansas city barbecue is more about the sauce than it is about to meet. And I would argue with that, except in the case of Arthur Bryant's, that is true. If you like go to Arthur Bryant's, they showcase the sauce and like giant kind of like buckets in the front window. And even when you read on their own website how they talk about their legacy, the sauce has a lot to do with it. So it makes sense that Ted if he's going to bring like sauce from any of the places in Kansas City that this is the one that he brings because it is in fact iconic.

Brett

Okay, so the sauce is like an anchor for this episode. Ted says uh in that scene that the flavor can teleport him right back home and then he asks Rebecca if she has a food like that, and she takes a very quick glance at the like the half eaten box of biscuits on her desk and then she looks back at Ted and says no. And there's this great moment where he like quickly looks down at the thing too and it's like, like, like he already has her number with these biscuits and he knows it and he's just like relishing that. So clearly it's the biscuits for her. It's the sauce for Ted, we see the sweet cracker treat. Chin, Chin kind of playing that role for the character of sam in this episode. Um and so this is just, these are all more examples of Ted being thoughtful in specific ways with food.

Marisa

I find that really interesting. You know, that idea of like food, comforting and transporting you back home um as a, as a music teacher, as a choral director and as a voice teacher, um, a lot of the lessons that I teach, um I'll spare you the pedagogy, but you know, and singing, we want to have space in the mouth. So, um the soft palate needs to be lifted. And one of the ways that I teach that is to ask my students, All right, let's, I want you to think about the best smell you've ever smelled. And I would say almost 100% of the time when I ask students, what's that? What's that smell you're smelling? What's that smell you're imagining in your mind? Um, They almost always say some sort of meal or dish that, you know, brings them back home. That's something their their mom, their aunt, their their grandmother, dad, who whomever has made for them. Um, So I just think that that's such a powerful thing that we all can understand. Um, just how food can make us feel comforted and feel like home.

Christian

Some kind of way. That's how food makes us feel

Brett

Well. Speaking of delicious food, we have some great music playing when Ted brings out the cake for sam's birthday. We know it's good because when Ted takes the cake up to Rebecca's office, Higgins has his mouth full of cake and says it's goo

Brett

it has to be good. There's no way Higgins would lie to us. So what is the song that's playing when the, when they, when they start the party after losing their match

Christian

 Award Tour by a tribe called Quest. This episode did cause me to project some unrealistic expectations on the series. Like I was so geeks. So we had biz Markie in the first episode, and in this episode we get Tribe. Um They also had Onyx playing Slam when they were in the shower, which was one of my favorite songs. That's when Higgins dancing too. Yes, Yes, that's right. That's right. When he gives advancing. Um They had slammed, which is one of my favorite songs in middle school and then not nineties hip hop, but still a really great vibe. There was some lizzo playing at Keeley's photo shoot. And so at this point I just have these visions in my head that like this entire series is going to have this background, awesome hip hop soundtrack. And then after this episode, no more All Mumford and Sons all the time with some Lumineers.

Brett

Yeah, it definitely takes a hard

Christian

left turn, which is like fine. It just me building up that expectation. Did. It left me wanting,

Brett

We're saying that we want more 90's hip hop and season to correct some music supervisors. If you're listening and Jason Sudeikis, Let's make it happen

Christian

please.

Brett

There's another song that I really enjoyed hearing in this episode that is a town called Malice by the Jam, which is a song from 1977. And it has this very classic 70s rock sound. Um And this I geeked out when I heard this because this song was on the very first FIFA game that I ever bought. FIFA 04. And it was one of the songs that would come up a lot and FIFA games are known for their soundtracks and for their playlists. Um not only because the music is great, but it's it's representative of its all global music. So there's artists from all over the world doing all sorts of different styles of music. And so this is obviously a very like british sounding rock band. But it just took me back to the listening to the FIFA soundtracks and just being introduced to so much great music through through that. And I don't know that any of these songs are really playing any like deep roles as far as how they're how they're moving the story forward. But I do think it's interesting that a town called malice is playing as the announcer. Arlo White is telling us that this is a Darby match and that these two teams have

Christian

this rivalry and just to help the soccer Newbies out at home. A derby match is when you have two teams from the same city or the same town and in their rivals and they're playing against each other.

Marisa

I get it christian, it's like, you know, I'm a new york Yankees fan. So when the Yankees play the myths, it's like the Subway Series.

Christian

Yes. Speaking of the announcer who's talking about this being a Darby or Derby, my most convincing soccer thing from this episode has got to be Arlo White. If you ever turn on one of the big matches on NBC or NBC Sports network for the english Premier League, Arlo White will most likely be the announcer in the United States of America. So hearing him like in this show announcing a match that had a lot of energy with it, like that was very familiar and very comforting and just felt very true to form for what I would expect if I watched Crystal Palace play A. F. C. Richmond on my television interestingly enough, Arlo White is also part of my at least convincing soccer moment because you've got him and he's sitting there with his co commentator and they're sitting there with their microphones in their hand. Those are very authentic microphones that look funny to people in the United States, but what a lot of soccer announcers use and their computers, but then they have bare naked tables And if you follow Arlo White on twitter a lot of times when he's commentating a match, he'll post a picture oftentimes from halftime with whatever snack that he has, but you'll see that his snack is sitting on this giant board that's full of like color coded sticky notes with all kinds of information on them that he's using as he is talking about the match. So he just looked woefully unprepared for this Crystal Palace Fc Richmond match, which is not how he would be. Yeah, it was real.

Brett

Yeah. In reality his desk looks a lot more like Carrie Mathison, like solving the problems in

Christian

homeland, yep, it looks awesome. It's inspiring. It really

Brett

is extensive notes. Mm

Christian

Yeah. During the first ever biscuits with the boss. Ted asked Rebecca to play a game. First concert, Best concert. Just to recap Rebecca's first concert and best concert Both Spice Girls, which is like, hey,

Marisa

hey, I mean if

Brett

I had seen the Spice Girls, that would probably my answer.

Christian

Yes. Ted went with Kenny Rogers for his first concert. Beastie Boys for his best concert, feels very authentic to who he is. Higgins goes with boy George karma chameleon. And do you really want to hurt me? Seem fitting for someone who's a director of football operations though? The Boy George thing does make you maybe um I feel a little surprised when you see that he has a wife and family. But hey Higgins, you do you uh you guys first concert? Best concert go

Marisa

Well, first concert for me would be um, you know, being raised in a christian household, I would have to say my first concert was Point of Grace, That's a great one. Y'all remember a Point of Grace. I used to sing, you know, christian no point of Grace.

Christian

It sounds familiar, but I couldn't tell you a song that they sing.

Marisa

Oh man. And then probably best concert would be one of the ones that my husband and I went to brady boo boo. Um I would have to pick Justin Timberlake's 2020 Experience.

Brett

All right, My first concert, I'm going to go with the first concert that I bought tickets myself for and that would be, I saw Fallout Boy was the headliner and they were playing with all american rejects and hawthorne Heights. And I ended up seeing Fallout Boy like five more times after that. So I was that guy with the bangs and the hoodies. Um so that was, that was the scene and probably the best concert is also one that we saw together. The JT concert was great. I also really enjoyed when we saw john Mayer, that was a great show. He's just he's a great

Marisa

player. Yes. And a really funny um comedian too

Brett

and can whistle in tune like nobody's business whistling into his heart. And john Mayer can nail it.

Christian

If walter, the muppet can do it. I don't see how hard it could be, but

Brett

maybe he's also just very skilled.

Marisa

Well, let me talk about pedagogical, what happens, but christian, let's hear yours.

Christian

When I was 15 years old in 1995 I paid 30 of my own dollars to go to a concert headlined by R and B. Group, juicy, wow, No, but here's the deal also appearing on the bill that night, mary J. Blige, the notorious big puff daddy, the loonies, junior mafia and Adina howard in the building. I saw them in the building. But for whatever reason, they did not perform that night. Naughty by nature, wow. Right. I mean, so $30 for a 15 year old kid?

Brett

Was this like a tour

Christian

of festival? Like it was a tour? Yeah, it was on a school night

Brett

and it's

Christian

amazing. Yeah. Shut up to school the next day

Brett

You only have to pay 30

Christian

of your own dollars for that. Yeah. These days it be like 150 or something easily. Yeah. Well we're best concert. I'm gonna go with iconic George clinton at the crystal ballroom in Portland. So there's the George clinton piece which is awesome. Just historically then there's the awesome part that um when I was in my formative years like all those west coast rappers were using George clinton and Parliament songs as their samples. So if you go back and listen to um any like dr dre snoop Dogg it's essentially they're essentially all like riffs on George clinton Parliament um Bootsy Collins albums. And then at the crystal ballroom it's got what's called like this old school um floating floor. And so it's a floor that's on a suspension and whenever you get a good concert up there um The thing like bounces and it kind of rolls and it's perfectly safe because it's been around for decades and decades and decades but it feels otherworldly.

Brett

So what did you think of George clinton's appearance in trolls

Christian

world world tour? My Children have seen trolls world tour multiple times. That for me has been a backgrounding movie that I have tried to do work while they're watching. So I didn't know that George clinton was in trolls world tour. Yeah

Brett

he voice is one of the funk trolls.

Christian

What stood out to you guys in regard to what people said in this episode?

Brett

I have to be honest for me this was not the most quotable episode. There were a lot of funny quotes, There were not as many super deep philosophical life changing quotes in this episode I felt like, but one that I did like that is maybe more on that side of things is when and this is a pretty obvious answer. But I like when we have the goldfish sequence where Ted asks Sam what animal has the shortest memory and then he tells them it's a goldfish and to be a goldfish, which I think is good advice. Especially anything like if you're a professional athlete because you're gonna make a dozen mistakes every game and you just got to move on because you're part of a team and you have to continue to play well or else you let everyone down.

Christian

If you read a study that I read from Penn State University as well as another handful of scientific studies, the quote will really start to bother you because you will find out it is not in fact true and goldfish have a much longer memory.

Brett

Like are we talking 30 seconds?

Christian

Not like months. Damn

Marisa

it.

Christian

So, but I'm glad there are people on Etsy selling shirts with the quote on it, good on them, marissa. Any good quotes for you?

Marisa

Yes, I love the quote that we get from Ted as he's watching the young girl who's playing soccer. Um and she she meg's the guy, is that what you call when you kick the ball through their legs?

Christian

So

Marisa

we get this quote from Ted and it's sometimes the best way to stick it to the man is go right between his legs. Huh,

Christian

accurate. Yeah,

Marisa

I love it. And then also, I mean one of the funniest moments in this episode and maybe the entire series is when Ted talks about having lunch with Higgins later, they're having salads in Higgins office and oh my gosh, I just love it so much. He delivers it so perfectly. But Higgins says, sees a year later and ted just like his reaction to that is just everything. And if you haven't like fully appreciated that moment, please go watch it again.

Brett

Yeah, I think that that is my favorite moment of physical comedy from the entire series. It makes me laugh out loud every time I watch it is so funny and the way that Rebecca jumps in that scene when we? Re watching it just the other day, it like it gets me because she looks legit lee terrified that Ted has like burst through this door.

Christian

Like it's probably why we can't think of as many good quotes for this episode is because really, most of the highlights were physical comedy and so former for our audio podcast, go rewatch the episode. People will share all of our favorite gifts. Yes. Yes. Though some people pronounce a gift. I got some good giggles in this episode as they were talking about Crystal Palace in our episode zero. I believe it was. We shared a little bit of the history of Crystal Palace and how a lot of the game scenes were filmed um act the home stadium for Crystal Palace. Selhurst Park in that A. F. C. Richmond like their color schemes and a lot of stuff is taken from Crystal Palace so that they would fit in seamlessly with that stadium. Um There was a point during Ted's press conference where he said um a palace made of crystal sounds mighty fragile which was a funny subtle dig. There's also a moment where he's getting ready to send a team out of the locker room before the match and he says let's go show them whose house this is. Which is funny because they're actually playing in Crystal Palace House. And then it's just funny that Arlo White calls it a Derby when it's not two teams so much as it is real world. Crystal Palace versus fictional reality. Crystal Palace. It was so meta. So it was like Palace reception.

Marisa

That's our show, We'll be back on the dog track in two weeks with our conversation about episode three, where we'll get to know Trent crim from the Independent. Just a little bit better. Check out the show notes for links to the articles, videos, resources we've mentioned in this episode. Thanks for listening and sees a year later. Mhm.