The Word Podcast: Sports, News, & Stuff · The Word Podcast

Sports Labor Disputes, 4 Trumps & a Lie, Scottie Wins (and Opens Up)

·1 hr 47 min·5 clips

Most Americans see themselves as “temporarily embarrassed billionaires.”

The Word opens with its usual fake-casual check-in. James Mundia and Rich Abernathy joke about being back after a short hiatus, then immediately turn the idea of being "technically not lying" into the first running bit. They keep the pace moving. The show slips from the opener into subscription housekeeping, platform shoutouts, Twitter, and an Instagram brag that leans into James's new-boomer energy. Then the conversation swerves. A riff on a Fabletics ad with an AI voice becomes a broader complaint about cheap advertising, meme-style Trump impressions, and how often the same synthetic sound is getting shoved at listeners. They do not treat the topic like a lecture. Instead, they work it like two people trying to figure out, out loud, why a company would choose a voice that sounds just real enough to be unsettling and just fake enough to be obvious. The joke keeps mutating. From there they talk through how people scrolling past clips may be used to hearing AI voices, and how an AI-voiced ad could blend into that noise. That leads to a sharper point. If every low-cost spot sounds machine-made, a real human voice may become the thing that stands out again. They keep nudging each other on the economics. The hosts frame the move as capitalism shaving cost wherever it can, even when the result feels a little uncanny. The conversation stays self-aware. They joke about doing the ad for less money, then keep trimming the number lower as the bit escalates. The ending pulls back into show business. The hosts remind listeners to leave reviews and share the show, then drift into a college-radio memory about long sessions, a 25-cent beer spot, and the plug getting pulled. The sign-off is as overbuilt as the rest of the show. They close with full comic alter-egos and the kind of loose, affectionate chaos that makes the whole episode feel like a hangout.

As heard by us

A loose, funny sports-news hangout that turns ad-tech and half-truths into part of the joke.

The Word settles into an easy, offhand rhythm, with James Mundia and Rich Abernathy back after a short hiatus and quickly landing on their own "technically not a lie" logic.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a sports-news show that turns AI ads and Trump impressions into a running bit.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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