Thirsty Topics podcast

From Ralph Lauren Holidays To Penny Farewells And Retail Smiles for 11/20/25

• Lawrence Elrod & Meryl Klemow

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We trade the beige Christmas for rich color and nostalgia, then challenge the quiet creep of rounding as the penny exits. From Target’s 10-4 smiles to a shaky red carpet security moment, viral resumes, robot pratfalls, and an MLB betting scandal, we weigh comfort against trust.

• colorful, traditional holiday decor replacing minimalist beige
• blending Christmas and Hanukkah with cozy, nostalgic touches
• the penny’s production cost and rounding concerns
• Target’s 10-4 policy, service warmth versus shopper overload
• Ariana Grande security scare and response by Cynthia Erivo
• virality ethics after a resume goes public and leads to a job
• robot demo fails and our uneasy path to automation
• MLB gambling scandal, integrity of sport, and consequences
• upcoming live show in Fallbrook and travel plans

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Tired of surface-level inspiration? This raw, transformative documentary digs deep into turning pain into purpose. Mainstream platforms wouldn't touch these powerful stories of resilience, but you can access them now on elrodvnetwork.com.

Tired of surface-level inspiration? This raw, transformative documentary digs deep into turning pain into purpose. Mainstream platforms wouldn't touch these powerful stories of resilience, but you can access them now on elrodvnetwork.com.

Tired of surface-level inspiration? This raw, transformative documentary digs deep into turning pain into purpose. Mainstream platforms wouldn't touch these powerful stories of resilience, but you can access them now on elrodvnetwork.com.

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Hello, and thank you for listening to Thirsty Topics podcast! I'm Lawrence Elrod, and every week Meryl Klemow and I dive deep into the stories that matter, the conversations that shape our world."

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SPEAKER_02:

Hello everyone. Welcome to this week's episode of Thirsty Topics. I'm Lauren Selrod.

SPEAKER_00:

And I'm Meryl Klimo.

SPEAKER_02:

Hey Meryl, how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_00:

Hey, I'm so good. I'm so good. How are you?

SPEAKER_02:

You know what? I am doing fantastic. I can't complain.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. I can complain, but no one really cares, right?

SPEAKER_00:

I do complain all the time, even when things are fantastic. It's it's good. To me, it's like fun to gossip and complain every now and then. I don't care if they're bad things to do.

SPEAKER_02:

You got a van every so often, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, exactly. Also, today everyone will want to know I was cleaning the house and I found two gift cards that my boyfriend was hiding from me, and I found them each to seize candy's chocolate, to seize chocolate. So now he doesn't know that I know that we have gift cards to get chocolate.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, are you gonna put it back or are you gonna just tell me five?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh no, I'm gonna go get those like chocolate lollipops by myself and not tell him.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, at least they're not going to waste, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. They'll be going to someone that uses them and wants them.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, this week we're gonna let you start off, Meryl.

SPEAKER_00:

Yay. Okay, well, I'm talking about judging and complaining. Something I complain about in the past has been like the trend in the recent years of a beige Christmas or just very minimalist Christmas. It's something I don't like. I like a lot of color in my holidays. Um, and so I find it very annoying. Of course, anyone could do what they want, but I think like the Christmases that we've seen, at least I don't know, I've seen it in California where things are just very, very beige and just white and cream colored, it gets me very upset. So uh I'm happy to see that the Ralph Lorenz Christmas trend is making itself, you know, coming, it's making a comeback. Now, Ralph Loren, we all know from like the polo shirts. Um, it's also very preppy clothing. And I tend to think of it as more like plaids and reds and green and just a traditional almost 90s, like New York feeling type of Christmas. So they're saying that uh really this just means that now people are wanting more colors in their Christmas homes, and it focuses on certain elements found in his home or in homes and then in the Ralph Loren line, which really means it can just be like deep reds and greens, dark wood and pine garlands, the stuff that we think about with traditional Christmas. So um it's just funny though, seeing young people be like, I can't wait for my Ralph Loren Christmas, and we're like, this is just what we've been doing is like making things red, red and green. You you weirdos made it raised for a while.

SPEAKER_02:

It's amazing how things quote unquote go out of style and then come back into style, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Like how all the kids now want like Y2K clothes and everything, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh yeah, especially with the ripped jeans. Growing up, that wasn't a ripped jeans now. Everybody wants a ripped pair of jeans, exactly.

SPEAKER_00:

So I think this is a good thing. Now, uh, do you tend to put thought into like Christmas decor or anything anything like that?

SPEAKER_02:

We like to have a lot of color when we do Christmas, so we like to have colorful lights. Um, we also like having different types of decorations. There's a lot of nostalgia when I do because my wife wants to throw away a lot of my Christmas ornaments because she said they're so old, but I'm fighting on that one. But good.

SPEAKER_00:

Aw, maybe maybe there's could be like a special spot on the tree, like under things for you or something.

SPEAKER_02:

That's true. That's true, that's true. I mean, if I had my weight, my tree would be up year-round, but the wife won't let that happen.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, me too. I'm already now. When does your tree go up?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, we're gonna it normally goes up after Thanksgiving. Um, who knows? Maybe I'll try and sneak it up beforehand, but nine times out of ten, it'll be after Thanksgiving as usual.

SPEAKER_00:

That's so sweet. Well, I I definitely love this trend just because I think just comfy, cozy is what I think of with Christmas, and like the last couple years when I see the beige decorations, I just can't help but just feel like something's lacking.

SPEAKER_02:

So now when do you put your Christmas tree up?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I'm Jewish, so I but I like to celebrate the best of both wallets. Oh no, no, no, I love it. Like I love, I definitely, definitely celebrate Christmas, and it's like my favorite um aesthetic of the whole year for sure. So we celebrate both. We're we're like my boyfriend will put out a Christmas tree, probably same thing around like the end of Thanksgiving. Um, and then we decorate it, and then we'll also like light a menorah. And you know, I'm I'm bad in the way that I don't really like put as much Hanukkah stuff as I should, but um, yeah, I'm like obsessed with Christmas, even though I'm Jewish, and both my parents are too. I think it's just something about the cozy feeling, and maybe I don't know. I just like I love the whole time of year and I love like the feeling of it so much. So it's definitely like even Jewish stuff included, it's like my favorite holiday times a million. Yeah, I mean, I think regardless of your nationality, I just think the time of the year is something that everyone can relate to, and you know, it does bring out the best on a lot of people, yeah, definitely, and just the whole feeling of it, like the cozy and and all that stuff, and the movies and Christmas time, like I think all of it is just peak humanity. So I'm happy to hear that it will be colorful this year.

SPEAKER_02:

I agree with that. Talk about nostalgia. Um, don't know if everyone is aware of this, uh, but I guess it's official. Uh, the penny will no longer be made now. No, yes, uh, the secretary of the treasury has decided to suspend production of the one cent coin known as the penny upon determination that it is no longer necessary to meet the needs of the United States. The decision was influenced by the rising cost of providing the penny. I'm sorry, producing the penny. So um, I guess to produce it, which had increased uh a dollar and forty-two cents to three dollars, oh I'm sorry, 1.42 cents to three point six nine cents per penny. So I don't know. What do you think, Merrill? You think this is a good idea?

SPEAKER_00:

No, I miss it. I think I think I feel like we're messing things up that don't even need to be. I feel like first we need to address the whole economy, then worry about pennies. But I mean, I know we talked about this before too, that like I still love, I understand that we need less and less change in coins and we're moving to like not so much a cash society, but I don't know. I feel like there's bigger and better things to worry about.

SPEAKER_02:

I agree. I mean, from a a dollar per item, I guess when you if they round it up to five cents, it's like it's not the end of the world. I know a lot of these companies, especially these big mega companies, those few cents are gonna make the millions of dollars.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Well, they should even do that, they should help us out with gas, and it's like, okay, just call it three dollars a gallon. Don't don't say it's like 343 or anything, just round down for us instead of up.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah, because you know, gas, which I never understood it is it's like 2.995 or whatever. It's like, dude, just make it an even number or yeah, a rounded number instead of like this decimal point after the the two, you know, it just doesn't make sense.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. And I always fall for it too, where I pay with credit card, but then I always get excited by like the cash price of gas. But but anyway, I think I think you're right that I think like there's I don't know, it just seems like we're getting into so much of the minutiae, but we know that this is going to benefit the the billionaires and like the big CEOs and the big companies by this because they'll be able to round up or round down in a way that like totally helps their margin.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, absolutely. So I I I did was a little surprised at how much it costs to make, though, but yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_00:

Now, do you at any given point do you have like change on you at any time?

SPEAKER_02:

Very rarely, most of the time, you know, I I don't use cash, but you know, I do I do keep um something on me at all times. I'm kind of old school, you gotta have some kind of cash on you.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I agree too. Anytime I I even see my parents, they're like, you have to have$15 on you at all times. But yeah, I I still think change is fun. I don't know where you live, do you have those like Coin Star machines that you can dump your cash in? Yeah, I see, but then but then of course, typical is that it takes like a cut, so you'll put all your quarters in, and then of course, it like then like is like thank you, you actually made four dollars by this.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep, that is true. But I guess uh, you know, it's a sign of the times, I guess.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Well, another sign of the times, uh, Target customers will soon see more smiles and maybe even more exchanges with employees thanks to one of Target's new policies. Now, this is called the um the 10-4 policy, and it requires employees who are within 10 feet of customers. They have to smile, make eye contact, wave, use friendly, approachable, and welcoming body language. And then if staff members are within four feet of customers, they must personally greet the guest, smile, and initiate a warm, helpful interaction. Now, this is called 10-4. It's uh one way that Target is trying to elevate the shopping experience. Okay, my thought with this, it is uh that I I love like the thought of people being nice and sweet and like having a nice interaction, but we all know Target's where there's so many people working, and like what if you have to go through this with like eight different people while you're just trying to buy detergent or something?

SPEAKER_02:

That is true, that is true, and I I think that um I think this is part of their way of getting because you know Target has lost a lot of money ever since they did that boycott. Target has not been the same, yeah. So I think this is maybe their way of trying to counter that a little bit. Um, whether it works or not, you know, only time will tell. But you know, I'm kind of weird where when I go to the store, especially the grocery store, I will only get into a lane where I see the cashier smiling. Really? Yep, I don't care if it's young, old, male, female, it doesn't matter. I only try to go to the ones where they smile. So even if I gotta wait behind a few more people, I'll do it. It's no big deal.

SPEAKER_00:

That's so funny. And see, like I was just thinking about this the other day, because I would definitely classify myself as like very extroverted. I love, love, love talking to people. I feel like I'm hopefully like relatively nice, but I will I I'm almost the opposite where I'll go to the person that I feel like is going to not talk to me at all or like not ask any questions. It's it's very weird. I always feel like if I'm shopping or something, I just don't want to have. Of course, it's like, how are you? Good, how are you? Like, I'm I'm always okay to exchange pleasantries, but I like don't want to have any interaction other than just like if someone's there to help me, they will. So it's so funny how that is because I specifically don't go to Trader Joe's a lot because like they'll they talk so much about like, what are you up to today? And I'm I'm like, what if I've told you I'm gonna kill someone?

unknown:

Like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

Like, if they made a quiet Trader Joe's, that would be my favorite shopping place. But instead, they they actively lose out on like my business because I so don't want to talk to them. Um, but I think this is good. My only fear is just if you if like four customer service people are there at Target, then that means I have to have like four warm interactions with someone. Like, I don't know. It's not the worst thing in the world, but I just don't want to have to be talking like the whole time that I'm just trying to pick up dog food.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I can I can see that point. You know, you you kind of want to get in, do your business again out of there. So I I get that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I also do feel like it's gotten really annoying, especially in California with the shoplifting, like needing to get everything out of glass or out of a case, like toothpaste, toothbrush, it's gotten really ridiculous. So if they can improve service one how it's like, don't make all of us get punished because of people shoplifting, like if they're able to kind of put stuff back so we don't have to go get someone if you want like a toothbrush or something, that would be very helpful.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, I agree, and you know, I would just say that you know, tighten up on on your security services because I've seen instances where people have gone in and got rows and rows of stuff and walk out with it. Really? We all know that okay, you can't do that unless someone's working on the inside.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, no one's that blind, yeah, yeah, or they just they don't know the person, but they're just like not about to risk their own whatever to go after them shoplifting, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, now that I would I would say never do because there's nothing in that store worth your life, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah, yeah. But I thought this was good, and I mean, like, I heard that a lot of businesses and CEOs try to learn from Disneyland and Disney World of like how to be nice to your people and even like while they're in line, how to entertain them. So um, yeah, very inter excuse me, interesting.

SPEAKER_02:

Very, very, very interesting. Now, this one, uh, this story here is not the best story in the world, but uh, we definitely need to talk about it. Uh, crazed uh Johnson Wang, who goes by Pajama Man online, rushes Ariana Grande at the wicked event. Cynthia Arivo uh fends off the intruder into security is able to whisk him away. Um, this is so bad on so many places.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I have I've seen the video from like all these different angles. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. So basically, an Australian man named uh Johnson Wynne, known as Pajama Man, jumped a barricade and grabbed Ariano Grande at the Wicked for Good premiere in Singapore on November 13th, 2025. Wynne has since been charged and sentenced to jail time for the incident. Now, what's crazy about this, this is not the first time he's done this. That's what's crazy. Really? Yeah. And if you if you remember the video, he not only jumped the barricade to get over to her, he actually got her hand, uh, his hand around her her neck. You know. Oh my god. I mean, obviously he didn't farm her, but just the idea of someone being that close to you in your personal space, that had to be terrifying, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean, to me, that's like a security fail times a million, the fact that they were able to have this person get that close, and they didn't. It was if you watch the video again, too. Cynthia was one of the first ones to like rush into action, and she actually like acted faster than a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, she did, and you know, she really protected Ariana, and you can see the fear on our uh uh on her face, you know, when this guy, you know, went up and literally put his arm around her, you know. Yeah, they interviewed him, and you know, this guy thinks it's funny, it's a joke, and it's not funny.

SPEAKER_00:

It's not no, no, and it's like what is so funny about trying to get to them, or yeah, that's really did he say like what he was ultimately trying to do?

SPEAKER_02:

I I think he did that for views because right after the incident and he got uh arrested and everything, you know, he went online bragging about it. That's what's crazy.

SPEAKER_00:

That's really scary and weird, and yeah, yeah, like I said, it's it's weird that there wasn't, I feel like there should always be like a security buffer, like right where she was, and she had people to the side of her and like up and back, but that if he had like a um a real weapon or if he wanted to actually hurt her, I feel like it could have very well been orchestrated.

SPEAKER_02:

That's the scary part about it because what if he wanted to do harm to her? He would have had the opportunity.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I know it's very, very scary. And and I get it, at these events, you want you know, you want the the celebrities to be accessible. There's nothing wrong with that, but there's also nothing wrong with having a security guard walking right beside you. I mean, let's face it. You have to think about some of these people out here now, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

That has to affect even as many years as Ariana's been doing it. Like after something like that happens, it probably makes it so crazy just to be out in public. And I feel like I would get very paranoid and very like that's as much as we all like think, oh, celebrity is fun. I I don't think that's fun not being able to like go to a mall or be walk around without having to have like all these weird suspicions.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah, and let's face it, you know, that security detail is not cheap, but you you gotta have it once you get to a certain stage, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, definitely. So yeah, that's scary, but good for Cynthia. She jumped into action at first. My my it's so funny because my very like um paranoid self was like, or skeptical self was like the conspiracy side of me was like, this was staged just to show that they're good friends, and how Cynthia like jumped into action, but then once I saw that it was a person for real getting arrested, I'm like, okay, maybe it's not a conspiracy.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, well, I can tell you one thing. Um, her friend, uh, you know, Cynthia, she's a true, true, true friend. I mean, she stepped in, did not hesitate. So my hand was off to her big time.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. Yeah, I love her. That's yeah, I think that's really cool. I mean, we all have a friend. My friends would be running away. They'd be like, bye, you're off to off to defend yourself. Um, well, I feel like a good use of fandom just happened. I thought this was hilarious. Where I don't know if you heard, but at a so okay, so at a Jonas Brothers concert in Buffalo, New York, um, someone was videoing the crowd and they caught a man looking at a resume while he was watching the show. And so it was like a man reviewing, yes. And so, and then they zoomed in, and then the resume was for this guy, Scott Kelly. So there was like a businessman reviewing, you know, half watching the show, half review checking his email, and he got a resume from a man named Scott Kelly. And then that video went really, really viral, and like 50 million people saw it on TikTok. And then the Jonas brothers chimed in saying, like, Scott Kelly was a great man, I'd hire him, or like, you know, Scott Kelly was our best employee. And so they were being very silly about it. And then the internet found who Scott Kelly was, and he went on all these programs saying, Um, yes, I did get the job, and uh it was just really funny, I guess. And he was a veteran, which I think is is very great. And so um, yeah, I think that's funny. So instead of hating on the man who was like looking at a resume, they've just said, hey, he was multitasking, and um, yeah, I think that's great. So I think that's really cute. And and then the uh Scott Kelly didn't know who the Jonas brothers was at first, but now he said he obviously knows. I mean, that's kind of embarrassing. He took that in stride because could you imagine like 50 million people just like you can you can zoom in and see his resume, and I feel like on some, and this is a grown man, so I'm I'm glad that he like took it as in fun rather than just feeling embarrassed about it.

SPEAKER_02:

Um yeah, I mean, uh some people would even be pissed about it because you know to me that was kind of tacky to put the resume on social media. I get it. People want to get their likes and you know go viral and everything, but I don't think that should have been on social media because that's personal.

SPEAKER_00:

I know. Well, well, that do you think that the guy, like who do you fault in that? Do you fault the person that posted it or do you fault the guy that's like at the Jonas Brothers looking at the guy's email, checking his email?

SPEAKER_02:

For me, it's the guy who posted it. Because no one expects someone to be looking over your shoulder, zooming in on your screen or your phone.

SPEAKER_00:

True. But I also feel like a part of me, just even as someone that has applied to jobs and everything, maybe we hope that like people give more consideration to a resume rather than just like looking at it as at a concept. I mean, maybe he was just looking at his new email and he was gonna look at it more tomorrow. But you would hope that like if this guy was a hiring manager, he's not exactly like I hope that wasn't the only time that he was gonna look at the resume, basically, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

That's true, that's true. And you know, a lot of times um a person when they look at resumes, and and you're starting to see this more and more in the workforce. A lot of times they post jobs that don't even exist, which you know, where they're they already know they're hiring from within, or they're trying to justify budget, so they put out a fake ad that they know they're not hiring for, which means that you have people coming in, they apply to it, they even go through interviews, and then either get told they don't have the job or the new thing now, and even employers do it, they just ghost you. You don't hear nothing back.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I think I I know ghost jobs are like a really big thing, like that is like a huge, especially on LinkedIn and everything. So, so yeah, I I think it's a multi it's different things. I could see myself posting this if I was like, because sometimes I've been in crowds and I've seen people shopping on Amazon or something, and I've been like zooming in on what they're looking at, but this person I don't think expected like 50 million people, and I don't think they expected Scott Kelly to like get on the news and everything.

SPEAKER_02:

That's true, that's true. Well, the good thing is it worked out well for Scott, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly, and I think that was really sweet. So he's a veteran, and I think the person that he sent it to was like another fellow veteran who told him to apply. So it seemed like it was something that this guy was maybe waiting for in his inbox, but um, and now he's a Jonas Brothers fan for life. I think that's so cute.

SPEAKER_02:

Nice, nice. Well, talk about cute. My last subject is a very interesting subject. Um, a robot falls after trying to dance to the Rocky theme song. Um, a Russian humanoid robot named Adol stumbled and fell face first during his public debut in Moscow in November 2025. An incident made viral by the fact that it was walking out to the Rocky theme song. I'm sorry, gonna fly now. The robot developed by tech company Idol Robotics was intended to showcase Russia's advanced uh advancements in artificial intelligence and automation. As it walked onto the stage, the iconic soundtrack it attempted to wave to the audience before losing its balance and collapsing within moments. The lyrics try hard now and it's so hard now from the song Ironically played as a robot like on the ground.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my god, I can't. I I still feel like with those little food delivery trucks and robots, I I still feel like human feelings towards it.

SPEAKER_02:

And what was so crazy? I don't know if you guys can see the video. They call themselves, which I don't get get it, is it's not a person, it's a robot. They call themselves trying to put up this black curtain and prime protect them, and the curtain was like twisted, so you still saw what's going on. And they have to start it was like uh wow, where'd you hire these people from?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I got on too many compilations of robots like in the kitchen slipping, and then they can't get back up. And it's like it's so sad and weird. I I don't like seeing that, but it just shows like the more and more that I see actual robots, it's like I don't think we're ready for it yet. Like, there's all these half-assed like attempts of robot machinery and everything, and it just still seems very sloppy and like not smooth at all.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I would think that they would probably test us out a few times for you know the debut, you know, maybe not just one time. Hey, hey, we got it, let's put them out there, you know. Yeah, two or three times.

SPEAKER_00:

I can't. Whenever I see a robot like falling on the floor, I it it's too much for me to take.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, but I have to admit it was pretty hilarious, though. That was hilarious, and then them trying to cover it up made it even worse. It was like, dude, what are you guys doing?

SPEAKER_00:

This it this is so morbid, but this it reminds me of when like a horse goes down at like a bedding or something and they have to take the horse away and they put the black curtain over it and they're like, never mind, nothing to see, and we all know what's about to happen to the horse, but yeah, that's it's very sad.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, yes, it is, yes, it is. So we're not gonna get that robot for the household yet.

SPEAKER_00:

No, the only robot I don't feel bad for lately is Waymo after we talked about it hitting a kitten and killing it, but yeah, there's one if you if if people have time, there's like the robot in the kitchen, and there's a video of it trying to make scrambled eggs, and it's like the pan goes flying, and then it's like falling on the scrambled eggs on the floor, and then it tries to get up and it runs into a mirror and like crashes.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow, I need to see that video.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I'll send it to you. It's so fun, it's funny slash scary, but I was like crying of laughter. It's too ridiculous.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I know everybody loves the AI, but yeah, some things you still have to work on.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. Yep. Okay, well, my last one, I should have given you more notice for this, but I'm gonna I'm gonna need your help with this one just because you might add some insight that I don't know into it. I wanted to bring it up because I think it's really interesting and um, but it's not something I'm like really well versed in. So it was about uh disgraced MLB pitcher Emmanuel Classe, I think, free on$600,000 bond in bombshell federal sports gambling scandal. Um, I did my best to try to understand it right before we talked, but like let me know if you have different stuff. So, pretty much like uh major leaguer Emmanuel Classe was arraigned on conspiracy and wire fraud charges in Brooklyn federal court on a sports betting scandal that sidelined his career and rocked the world. So uh his teammate also uh got caught with it, and so both were star pitchers for the Cleveland Guardians, and they were indicted um for conspiracy and laundering money. And but like what I couldn't understand from this was so were they betting on them on their own selves to lose sometimes?

SPEAKER_02:

Like from the way they explained it is, and I did not know that you can do this, but literally you could bet on anything in ball game, even you know, if someone's gonna throw a pit, uh a ball, if they're gonna throw a strike. Oh, yeah, like I and I guess what he was doing was he was purposely throwing balls at a certain point, um, to I guess for people to win money and he get a cut of that winnings, you know, it was like hundreds of thousands of dollars per bet. So this isn't small money. And somehow or another, I forgot how they they they figured it out, but the one thing I that surprises me when I see this, regardless of sporting or anything, Meryl, these guys are multi-billionaires, these aren't you know, everyday people, they're making a lot of money, and it's like, really? That's not enough. You gotta put your career on the line for like a few hundred thousand. You're making millions a year, and you're gonna throw it away to make a few hundred thousand. That doesn't make any sense.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. And and your name and your legacy and like your whole career. I that's you're right, they are making that much, but I remember hearing one bet that they did was like, of course, if you do a few of them, it adds up, but like one bet was only$11,000 and it was to throw it a certain way. But it's like to me, you must really not love baseball, or you just get so lost in the sauce. Like maybe you originally love baseball, but you get so greedy and so like far away from what you originally set out to do in your life, you know, that you're doing all these things. Um, and yeah, it's just so so dirty and so like embarrassing and just kind of not dignified.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I mean, you hit it on the head, Merle. And it's that one thing, greed. It's just just flat out greedy. And the crazy thing about it, that the the players that get caught in this stuff financially don't need to do this. That's what makes this even worse.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. And I bet they're I bet they're doing things where they're like, okay, we'll lessen your sentence by three years if you tell us like the names of three more people that are doing it, or you know, like I they're definitely going to kind of like tip off other people about who's doing what. Um and then, but I wonder, do you think they do you think these people talk to like one main person and then that person goes off and talks to their like bookies and all that stuff, or do you think they're talking to a whole bunch of people?

SPEAKER_02:

I think it's a combination of either or. Um now, because they're athletes, they're probably certain people that they deal with to try and hide what they were doing, or at least that so they thought they were hiding it. But to me, it's not worth the risk. Because now, um, you know, again, everyone's innocent to proven guilty, but if they prove this in court, guess what? Their career is done. I mean, it's it's done. And any accomplishes accomplishments that they made or whatever, they'll never be inducted into a baseball hall of fame or any of those things because they've tarnished their career forever.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yep. So yeah, I think that's so crazy. And especially what happened to like Shohei Otani about his person putting bets. It's like I would just note that you most likely will always get caught, and then you may be facing jail time or just like losing your whole career. It's just so not worth it.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah. And you know, everybody's tough until they get the time. You know, you'll have a person that says, I ain't snitch, I ain't no snitch, I ain't telling nobody. We're giving you 50 years. Oh, whoa, whoa, hold on, hold on. Um, let me let me holl at you for a minute, though.

SPEAKER_00:

I know, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Everybody's tough until they get that time. Exactly. So, yeah, I I just again, I I hope it's not true, but if it is, I just shake my head at it because to me, it's just not worth it. It's really, really not worth it.

SPEAKER_00:

Me too, me too. And to be doing that, like if you're gonna go be shady, I feel like be shady away from like the one thing that you're so passionate about, or that your your main, you know, if anything, get into weird betting for other things, like just and and stay out of it with like making baseball or your you know your passion that yeah, and you know, to you know, bet on the game that you're playing in. That's why I I think a lot of these things are rigged.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, Meryl, what do you have coming up?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, um, December 6th, I'm excited about a show that I have in Fallbrook, California at the Fallbrook Winery. So if you live in that area, it's kind of between LA and San Diego, um, near like Temecula wine country. So if you're in that area, come see me.

SPEAKER_02:

That sounds very, very good. Well, if you're in the area, definitely make sure that you stop by, see Meryl, say hi to her.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and I'll miss everyone because next week I'm going to be in Las Vegas talking about betting.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep, yep. It's my like longtime best friend's birthday. So we're gonna be celebrating in Vegas. So it will have nothing to do with comedy. We're just gonna be eating a lot and having fun.

SPEAKER_02:

Nice, nice. Yes. Um, so next week is the holiday week, so we're uh probably not gonna be doing any taping, and I'll probably just put up um maybe something from the past as kind of uh uh a memory or or a repost of something, but it'll still be something there, even though we're not gonna be there. But we're gonna have a good time and we'll be back the the week after.

SPEAKER_00:

Awesome.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, everyone, thank you so much for watching and listening to us. We really appreciate all your support. Please tell more people about us and share online and bring more people to us so they can enjoy this conversation as well.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm Lawrence Elrod.

SPEAKER_00:

And I'm Merrill Climo.

SPEAKER_02:

Have a great day, everyone.

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Lawrence Elrod

Host
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Meryl Klemow

Co-host