Hey everybody, I'm on vacation, but I'm bringing you one of my favorite episodes ever originally ran in August of

2021. So in anticipation of season three of Ted Lasso, which is coming very soon. This is my conversation with the great

Brendan Hunt, aka coach beard. So a couple notes after we recorded this, he was kind enough to send my Chicago Red Stars players a hype

speech for the season, which was awesome. And to follow up on our conversation around Southport lanes, I did buy and send him a bowling trophy from the closing

auction of his former workplace. If you don't understand any of that, it'll all make sense when you listen to the podcast. Enjoy.

Welcome to That's what she said with Sarah Spain, a podcast about, well, whatever the hell I want, actors and musicians, athletes, comedians, neuroscientists, wine experts. If I find somebody interesting, I'm bringing them to you. We'll talk about how they became who they are, how they found success, battle failures, and how they ended up here, talking to me.

I'm Brendan Hunt, and my dilemma is I'm a bears fan who shares a child with a Vikings fan that child being raised in Los Angeles.

Okay, so I know this one well. My niece and nephew are a constant battleground for sports oiltees in the family. I've thankfully got them both locked in on the Red Stars, proudly rocking their gear to sports day at school. But my sister and I are battling their dad on the MLB front.

We are offering up lots of Cubs gear and we're trying to counteract his Red Sox fandom. And I think it's going to help us that they live in Chicago and we can actually take him to Cubs games. Plus obviously the ubiquitousness of Northside gear around these parts helps.

So it's going to be tougher for you. You have to navigate parents of different loyalties and living in enemy territory for a third team.

But what I will tell you is this from having lived in LA outside of Sofie Stadium. If you look at the rest of LA and its surrounding areas, there are probably more fans wearing bears gear than Rams.

Because we travel and all the Chicago folks who live there proudly rocking the gear all the time. I mean, I think we all know LA fans don't really show up till the post season out there.

They've got movie premieres and beaches and attractive people meetings to attend. I presume. Because I remember when I lived there and those Lakers car flags were popping up in the spring as if the season hadn't already been going on for months.

So stand strong. I believe that the pull of the bears and their rabid fan base is powerful enough to take out the Rams and the Vikings.

But do not let the kids get their hands on one of those Vikings yeller horns. Because if you put that with one of those helmets with the horns.

I don't know man. That could really capture their attention and their imaginations. And that could lead them to a very sad, very dark, very purple place.

That's what she said.

It's rare to meet someone who doesn't like the show Ted Lasso. If you don't know about it, Jason Stakas is an American football coach, hired to coach a British football team.

And it gives you some of the regular fish out of water hijinks that you'd expect, but so much more heart and humor and a real subversion of the sitcom tropes that feels progressive and thoughtful, witty and warm.

You could find people who haven't seen the show yet. Absolutely. But someone who has watched Ted Lasso and didn't suddenly feel like their body was made up of sunshine and rainbows. Haven't seen it. Haven't met a one.

So I was actually surprised when I read a critique of the show in the Washington Post by columnist Ingoo Kang. She said plenty of nice things. But she also wrote in part quote Ted Lasso is a fantasy of decency of non toxic masculinity of leadership through emotional intelligence.

It's kindness porn. A la shits Creek Brooklyn 999 and Parks and Recreation shows with fervid fan bases that cherish rather than question those series credulity straining tolerant settings.

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