It’s been awhile since the last Pass It Down episode, and like Lucy Ricardo, Mike and Natalie have some splainin’ to do. It turns out they both have new jobs (kinda/sorta, in Mike’s case), one of them is going Hollywood… and blatant racism–from the mouths of NFL owners, or otherwise–pisses them off as much as ever. Oh, and they believe that a certain fictional British sportswriter should have his testicles placed under the guillotine. Happy Blocktober, everyone.
The end of Pass It Down’s unannounced hiatus starts off with a bang, as Natalie details Mike’s untimely head-bang and its chilling effect on his co-host. After commemorating this year’s relatively tame Blocktober, Mike talks about his eight-year NFL Network journey and why that unlikely partnership ended last summer. We discuss his first story for Bally Sports, which broke the news of Houston Texans chair Cal McNair’s racially insensitive comments at a charity golf tournament, and some of the other toxic forces at the highest levels of a league striving to drape itself in anti-racist symbolism. From the Dan Snyder investigation to the Jon Gruden emails to the Woody Johnson allegations, we get into all of it. Mike also talks about the importance of being part of a team and gets nostalgic about some of his sweeter moments at NFL Network and Yahoo! Sports. And for you Ted Lasso fans, Mike and Natalie have a few things to say about Trent Crimm of The Independent and why he is a blight on humanity.