Greetings, and welcome back to Zachast. I am Chad, that's Pat. This is your official podcast for local government nerdery of all kinds. We don't have a lot today, but since we have committed to this two-week cycle, we felt like we needed to just do it. Otherwise, w- we'll basically just get off track, right? Like, we'll, we'll- this habit will end, and then you'll, you'll never hear from us again. So-

Mm-hmm

... we are here, and we're gonna make the most of it. So Patrick, how about we start? Just tell me, how, how was your spring break?

Spring break was good. That's why we don't have a lot, right? 'Cause last week we basically did nothing.

We've just been completely out of pocket for a week here.

Yes, it's been, it's been wild. Uh, no, spring break was good, man. Uh, we actually did not travel for spring break this year. Uh, we played baseball, uh, on both weekends, so we didn't do any traveling. Uh, but we did go experience Andretti's. Have you ever been to an Andretti's?

Is that the go-kart racing thing?

It is the indoor go-kart racing. It is the easiest way to spend $200 in less than 30 minutes that I have ever done in my life. It was-

30 minutes?

30 minutes.

Wow!

My kids rode-

That's, that's worse than the main event

... three, three times a piece, right? And they had two different tracks, so they were on two different tracks, and in about 30 minutes we spent 200 bucks.

Must be nice to-

Yes

... have that kind of cash to blow.

Um, it was a lot cheaper than taking a trip.

That's true.

But yeah, uh, it was, it was an interesting experience. But I'll tell you, we were in The Colony. Um, and, you know, I do, I do love that area in The Colony, which is very vehicle-centric, very car-center... Like, you can't get- you actually can't walk between Nebraska Furniture Mart and Andretti's, um, really, without driving. It's kind of a, you know, a weird set- like, it, it, it's walkable in certain parts of the development now. Uh, so, like, things have gotten better, but it's just kind of a weird mix. Um, anyways, went to Andretti's. Really what I wanted to talk about, though, have you hear- have you heard of this place called Gamebox?

Gamebox?

Yes.

No.

Gamebox. It's an immer- it's like an immersive escape room-

Okay

... is the better way to say. Well, yeah, probably not even an escape room, but it's an immersive environment where you can go in with your family for about an hour. It's usually, like, 50, 60 bucks for an hour, right? And you can be like the Ghostbusters in an actual Ghostbusters scene, right? And it's like this immersive environment.

Are you trying to escape, though?

Well, I, I think you're, like, trying to complete something to-

Get out of the room, right?

Okay.

Like, it's just like a-

I, I-

... like a fully... It's, it's not like VR. It's like actual reality, but you're playing a game.

Correct.

Okay.

And it's, like, three walls, and then there's, like, a glass wall behind-

Mm-hmm

... right, that people can, like, see into the room, I guess. Uh, but there's, like, three walls, and it's, uh, it's immersive, right? So, like, you're in this world as a Ghostbuster, like interacting with the Ghostbusters.

Do people watch you?

They also have Paw Patrol. Everybody loves Paw Patrol. Paw Patrol?

Have you ever seen Paw Patrol Live?

Uh, no.

Oh, my God.

Chad, I have never put myself in the situation-

It's so bad

... to have to see any of those live shows like you have. You've seen, uh, Frozen Live, right? Let's, let's, let's go through all of the shows-

Okay

... that you've seen live. Can we hit those quickly?

Um, I have never seen the Frozen musical. I have seen the Shrek musical.

Okay.

I have seen Paw Patrol Live.

Okay.

My wife took some of the kids to see Blippy on stage.

Wow! Okay.

And I don't know if you know this, but there was a huge scandal about this because it wasn't the real Blippy.

I had no idea-

Yeah

... there was a real Blippy.

Are you fa- you're not familiar with Blippy?

No.

Okay.

How about Bluey? Bluey's the new Blippy.

Well, I'm going to Bluey next weekend.

Are you? Okay, see.

Yes, I'm taking the, the two little ones to Bluey. I love Bluey.

But-

It's such a great show.

Blue- Bluey is a great show because it's, it's kind of like Shrek, right? It's written for both levels. Like, there's an adult side to Bluey-

Mm

... and then there's, like, the kid side, which is, it's... And there's some good humor in there, and there's great life lessons.

Yes.

Sorry, keep going. Um-

What else have you seen live? Anyw- I was gonna tell you about Blippy.

Uh-huh.

Okay, so Blippy is a YouTube channel, and it's for kids. It's this guy who dresses in a bow tie and suspenders, and he talks in this kind of high-pitched, silly voice, but he, he will go to, like, a museum and-

Okay

... explain things to you. Like, so it's, it's actually decent content for kids, if... Like, semi-educational versus some-

Okay

... of the other crap that you can see on, on YouTube. But this guy has made a fortune on Blippy, and when they went on tour, it was- they had, they had hired an actor, basically, 'cause he didn't, he didn't want to go on tour.

Okay.

Now, the one thing I'll say about Blippy is even though his Blippy content is decent for kids, he has a very interesting backstory

Mm.

... which I will not relay on this podcast. I will just suggest-

So it's like a Pee-wee Herman style backstory?

It's not that kind, but it is also kind of gross, so-

Okay. Okay.

Uh, 'cause he, he used to do some YouTube videos or s- or Vine or whatever it was. Um-

Okay

... some of them were not the most appropriate things, so, um-

But he's a YouTube star now, so he makes, like, a million dollars an episode, right?

Yeah, I don't think he's at MrBeast level, and I, I'll say-

Okay

... I don't know, like, those kids' shows really come and go. Like, for the longest time when my oldest was young, it was Ryan's World.

Okay.

And then, then it was, like, the Fun Squad and the Kid City and Kids Claus. So there's, like, a bunch of different kids' shows.

There was K- there was Kid President for a little while.

I don't remember that one.

I don't remember that kid.

That may have been-

Okay

... before my kids' time.

Yeah.

Um, all that to say, like, I absolutely hate kids' YouTube, because most of the content on there is just drivel, like, it's kids playing with weird dubs-

Mm

... and, like, lots of fast cuts. Like, if you're gonna watch-... a lot of cuts and short clips, just like watch Sesame Street.

I-

Which-

I literally just, just had this conversation with another parent about motivation. Um, and my wife, who's a, a high school educator, said, "This is, this is the world we deal with now," because, long story short, we had an outfielder who didn't react to a fly ball off of a bat.

Mm-hmm.

Like, you know, just didn't see the ball hit the bat, didn't react to it. And I was like: Man, I just, I wish he would be more motivated. And my wife said, "It's probably more focus." I said, "What do you mean?" And she, like, went into this whole, like, routine about education and, like, how they have to teach differently now because of YouTube, right? Like, if you watch a MrBeast video, it's like the same script.

Oh, it's so frenetic.

Yes, correct.

I, I tried to watch one episode because they... He had this deal with Elon Musk where he made a video on Twitter, and they were running it as an ad, but it wasn't being shown as an ad, so it was very controversial.

Mm.

Um, and so I, I watched like three minutes of it, and it almost broke my brain. It was so awful.

But, I mean, basically, the comment is, is like, it... Are, are we creating, like, an entire generation of ADHD? Uh, because they just can't... Like, they're so used to the phonetic sound that happens-

Mm

... when an ac- action happens, that if it's not that sound, it's like I don't get a awareness, right? I don't, I don't, like, focus in-

Mm

... at that moment. It's like we're zombies until we hear that, you know, like, rip roar sound. Um, and then bam, I get there. And even, even, like, stuff that I do... Like, I, I'm, I'm a big Dude Perfect fan.

Mm.

I, I really like Dude Perfect, especially for my kids. But even Dude Perfect does that, too, right? Like, you know, it's, "We're gonna, like, guess the best cereal, and then we're gonna be like... You know, we're gonna have Cereal Monster!" It's, you know, like, the, the way they roll through that is just... I don't know.

It's all very formulaic to, to get people to just stay watching it, especially kids.

I mean, does that roll all the way back to B- to Bozo the Clown? I mean, can we blame Bozo the Clown?

Bozo the Clown? No, that was his-

You never watched Bozo the Clown?

It was an extremely slow-paced show. I... Okay.

Bozo the Clown was s- slow-paced up until the point of action.

You're talking about the game show, right? Or the cartoon?

The, the kids show that would come on PBS-

Ah

... the game, the, the actual, like, real show with the real Bozo the Clown.

Yes, where they had the Grand Prize game?

Yes, the Grand Prize game.

That was on, that was on WGN.

Oh, was it?

Yes.

Okay.

And I know that-

Yeah

... because I would constantly write in to be the at-home winner, and I never was. But I always wanted to go play the Grand Prize game, 'cause I knew I would win it.

So, so we're s- we're sponsoring, um, we're sponsoring the UNT MPA banquet-

Mm-hmm

... uh, which, uh, is a pretty ins- important sponsorship to us, 'cause, you know, obviously, uh, we- we're UNT alums. But also, it's Dr. Bland's last year, on the way out. Uh, congratulations to Dr. Bland.

Wow.

It's his official retirement. He's the keynote speaker, and we get to do the three-minute intro and make fun of him for three minutes. I think that's what we're gonna do. But anyways-

Roasted.

Roasted! Um, but I gotta ask the question about you, and that response that you just gave to the Bozo the Clown- ... I wish I would've had that. Because so the marketing department, communications marketing department calls me, and they start asking me these questions about, you know, like, how we came together and, you know, blah, blah, blah. I was like: "Well, he was, like, a super nerdy kid on the other side of the classroom, and I was kinda loud and obnoxious, and, you know, somehow we became friends."

We balance each other out.

Um, we balance each other out. I never wrote in to a game show, ever. Just-

Man, I would watch it-

Maybe you go ahead and clarify that

... every weekend. Um, it was-

But it was a great show.

Yeah, we watched it-

It was a Saturday morning show, right?

I think it was Sunday morning. We'd watch it before church.

Was it Sunday morning? Okay.

And if we had to leave before the Grand Prize game, I'd always get upset.

Do you think Bozo the Clown actually went outside and drank whiskey and smoked a cigarette after the show, like every, like, parody of him showed after the fact?

Probably.

That was, In Living Color, I think, did that, right?

Oh, Homey the Clown.

Homey the Clown.

Yeah.

Yeah, which was basically a... It was kind of a parody off of-

It was, yeah, it was a parody

... Bozo the Clown.

Yeah.

Yeah. So-

Yeah. There's an episode in Fresh Prince where they meet Dougie the Whale.

Oh, I do remember-

Remember that?

... such a good show.

Yeah, and he's in the back, drinking.

O- okay, um-

Will gets in a fight with him

... millennial Gen Z, millennial Gen Z-ers who are not Fresh Prince fans, like, that's one you have to go look up. Go, go look up on YouTube for the Dougie the Clown.

Dougie the Whale.

Uh, Dougie the Whale, Dougie the Whale episode.

Yeah.

He gets so offended by Dougie the Whale.

It's funny, 'cause Carlton loves Dougie the Whale.

Yes.

Like, he's the one that wants to go.

Wow.

Speaking of in-person character shows.

Yes. Yeah, super cool. All right, so, uh, back to live shows. Any other live shows that I missed? I feel like there's a couple, like, embarrassing ones that you haven't brought up yet.

I feel like there's a difference between a live stage show, like Paw Patrol, and an, an actual musical. Um-

Who's your favorite Paw Patrol character?

I don't have one.

Oh, I just wanna make sure. Okay.

I, I know all their names.

Chase is on the case!

Yes. I know all their names. That show is terrible. I-

It's the same premise all the time

... I think for a lot of reasons. I don't wanna, uh, I don't wanna go too deep into why I don't like it, but I just, I just don't.

But you, you, uh, you were about to say something about the pedestal law enforcement gets placed on- ... on that show, I think. I think that's where you were going. Just for everybody's libertarian mindset there, that's where Chad's going. So we're not gonna dig into that deep, right?

Yeah.

That's-

Just leave that one separate

... that has more to do with being a city manager and having to negotiate with police departments, and salaries, and things. I just... Chad, still, you, you have, like, PTSD for salary negotiations.

I do. It's... I also don't like the idea of outsourcing, like, all public safety responsibilities of a city to a kid and a bunch of dogs. Like, just the idea of it seems like it's not the best thing we should be teaching children, but I don't know.

I mean, I, I-

There's a lot of reasons

... just want everybody to know, we, we did not plan on any of this conversation. This is totally off the cuff, and-

I have thoughts of-

That went to an amazing place

... on Paw Patrol

... like, that, that went all the way to: Should we be subcontracting-

... police services to dogs.

And children.

And children.

The answer is obviously no.

Yeah.

Obviously no.

All right, back, back to this. I, I feel like there's a live show you're leaving out. Like, there's something like a Peppa Pig or something like that, really embarrassing, that you've gone to.

My kids have never been into Peppa Pig, except my, my youngest. So we have these little story boxes that they can listen to bef- as they fall asleep.

Okay.

And he liked a Peppa Pig story for about two weeks.

Okay.

And then he moved on to Frozen, and then Moana, so.

Yeah.

I think I do, like, I-

Go ahead

... I'm a big Moana fan. There's a new Moana coming out, right, this summer?

Is there?

I think so. There was a preview of it in something I saw the other day.

Hmm. Wonder what-

Yeah

... what they had to tell in that story. Um-

Maybe, maybe when I went to go see... Oh, what was the Joaquin Phoenix movie? Come on.

Napoleon?

Napoleon. When I went to go see Napoleon, I think there was a Moana deal in Napoleon.

That's an interesting juxtaposition.

They always do that, though.

But why? Parents are gonna see that-

Because-

... and then, like, they're not gonna care.

Moana's Disney, and that was Disney, so Disney's gonna do- they're gonna push all their best Disney products in that.

I don't think it's on Disney. I think it's on Apple TV.

Oh, it is on Apple TV.

Yeah.

So maybe it wasn't that one. Okay. Yeah, you're right. Sorry.

So one thing I did think about was k- was doing some kind of blog or podcast where I dissect Disney movies and highlight, like, the biggest plot holes that make the entire movie basically worthless.

Okay.

Frozen is the most obvious example, and that we've talked on this podcast before about how much I dislike Frozen.

Mm-hmm.

But also, the, uh, Rapunzel came up this week, as we were on yet another Disney cruise. Um, big plot hole in Rapunzel, that when Mother Gothel steals Rapunzel, she doesn't tell her that she has- she tells her she has this, her actual birthday, and so when they're releasing all of the lanterns every year on her birthday, she can correlate these things together. If she had just said, "Oh, yeah, your birthday is, like, June 12th," then there would've been no relationship, and maybe she still would've to, uh, get out of the tower and go see the, the lanterns, but them being on her birthday made her particularly interested in escaping to go see them, which brought-

If you're a listener-

... the entire house of cards down on top of Mother Gothel.

If you're a listener who actually understood any of what Chad just said, um, the Sudoku puzzle that is your mind is- it's, it's an amazing place, that that's where you go. So, uh, what about Caillou? Did you go to a live show of Caillou?

What is that?

Oh, good. Okay. Caillou, nobody's kids should watch Caillou. By the way, if you're about to have kids, uh, please make sure that Caillou does not come on. Caillou is the greatest complainer of a kids' show that's out there. I-

Think it's on Nickelodeon?

Oh.

Maybe.

Speaking of-

Yeah

... Nickelodeon, we started watching-

Uh-huh

... this documentary last night on HBO Max.

Oh, so I-

Yeah

... I've, I've actually, I've watched episode one on this one. Yeah.

It's-

Yeah, it's-

It's not good.

The, are you on the Amanda Bynes one?

We're, yeah, we finished episode two last night, so we just kinda got through Amanda Bynes-

Okay

... and then, um, into, like, all that's over, Amanda Bynes is kind of over, and then-

Yeah

... now they, they just, uh, kind of at the end of it, display one of the, one of the kid actors who was in- involved in some of the pedophilia stuff.

Yeah. Okay.

Like, #spoileralert, but-

Yeah

... it's not good.

So it's not good, yeah. Uh, but it's, you know... I've, I've watched the first episode, and I'm into it at this point. It's... Yeah, this is very rare that you and I are watching the same show at the same time.

That's true. Almost never happens.

Okay, did you watch Air Masters on Apple+?

We've got two episodes left.

Okay. It's, it's-

We started watching Manhunt.

Not, not as good as, as, uh-

Band of Brothers?

Band of Brothers. Band of Brothers is, like, one of the greatest-

Or Memphis Belle

... you know, docuseries. Uh, well, that's a movie, and it's amazing, too.

Yeah, but it's also over in an hour and a half.

That's correct.

And so is this, too-

Yeah

... nine hours.

Yeah. Memphis Belle is also, like, one of the best movies to watch with, like, surround sound.

That and, uh-

Top Gun

... U, uh, U-51, U-50, what, U-

U-571.

What was the... U-571.

Yeah.

Oh, the depth charges in a surround sound movie theater, it's amazing. So all right, that's all we-

Whenever, whenever I get a new sound system, which hasn't happened in a long time, Top Gun is always the first movie. That opening sequence-

Yes

... beautiful.

Yeah, it's pretty good. It's pretty good. All right, let's get into the, like, one city topic we're gonna talk about.

Okay.

Rent rates in Austin.

Yes.

Tell us what's going on.

Austin has built a bunch of apartments-

Mm-hmm

... and rent rates, according to rent.com, were down 12% in 2023.

Wow! And do we, do we know why rent rates are down?

Yes.

Is it just a supply-

Supply?

Okay.

See-

So-

... there's this, there's this, uh, thing in economics, I'm not sure if you've heard of it, when-

Is this Keynesian e- economics?

No, this is classical economics.

Okay.

When supply goes up, the demand curve shifts as well, and it adjusts the, the price. Like, supply and demand are related, and they, they ultimately eq- equilib- equilibriate at different price points based on the two factors of those things, supply versus demand, quantity supplied versus quantity demanded, all this kind of stuff. So if you add a bunch of housing, the prices will come down. It's kind of a cool thing. You should check it out. Ask ChatGPT.

Okay.

It'll explain it to you.

Yeah, I'll have to, I'll have to go ask that to explain. Uh, my, you know, heavy load of economics classes at A&M just really never taught that correctly.

Yeah, it's, it's very advanced, so I, I wouldn't expect your entry-level course to cover supply and demand, but yeah, it's a thing.

We were real big into Keynesian economics there.

I'm sure Keynes still recognizes demand, 'cause Keynes is just a demand side...

It's just demand side.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Stimulation.

You can encourage the demand side to stimulate. Yeah, so-

Speaking of demand-side stimulation, um, there's a proposal now to, like, provide $400 of tax credit for first-time homebuyers.

... you heard this?

Haven't we done that before, though? Like, didn't, didn't when you and I bought our first house, didn't we get a tax credit-

I did

-of some kind?

I think I did. I got a free government giveaway, like $6,000 or something like that.

Yeah.

And if you moved from your house in so many years, you had to pay it back.

Yeah, well, I haven't read all the details-

It was like $2,000 or another one, though.

Yet another one of these sort of demand stimulators. The problem with these things-

Yeah

... is that you stimulate demand, but you don't increase supply. You're just raising the prices.

Okay, so w- what... In the Austin market-- first off, I, you know, there, there's also been talk about in the Austin market, a lot of folks who've moved there during COVID to escape have kinda moved other places now. So do we think that has something to do with it as well?

That there's less, uh, there are fewer people there? I don't think the population-

There-

... has gone down.

Okay. I mean, you gave me the number the other day, that we added, like, 400,000 people to the Golden Triangle.

The Texas Triangle.

Texas Triangle?

Yeah.

Yeah. So-

Yeah

... Golden Triangle is the mall in Lewisville. Sorry.

No, that wouldn't-

Got that wrong. Didn't. Oh, you're right.

Yeah, there's also a Golden-

Is it still called the Golden Triangle Mall?

I don't know, but there's a Golden Triangle-

It's still there?

... Boulevard that runs through Keller and Southlake. Actually, I think it turns into Southlake Boulevard, because of course it does.

Yes, yes. Because of course it does. Our friends in Southlake are gonna have a comment to that. We have a few listeners there. Thanks, guys.

Um, yeah, so the Texas Triangle, which is the DFW region-

Mm-hmm

... down to Houston and Southeast Texas, down to sort of the Austin, San Antonio area, 400,000 people between July 1st, 2022, and July 1st, 2023. I, I remember that.

Which, I mean, there's some pretty crazy growth, like South San Antonio is seeing.

Yeah.

Like, that area now is starting to see some really crazy growth, too.

So that's-

Whereas, you know, it was kinda like north and... Originally, it was, like, north and, like, east San Antonio, right?

Yeah, like-

Where the growth was

... filling in all that gap between Austin and San Antonio.

Yeah.

New Braunfels-

Mm-hmm

... San Marcos-

Kyle, Buda. Yeah, and now it's kinda wrapping around the South Side, so which is, which is wild. But, um, yeah, that's, I mean, that's a huge growth number. So we still, we still have, obviously, we still have growth. Uh, so are some of the changes that the City of Austin is making in their planning and zoning processes, like, are those having an impact in the density numbers, which is allowing for... 'Cause o- obviously, Austin has a problem with affordability, right?

Mm-hmm.

It's one of the least affordable markets in the state of Texas. Probably is the least affordable market in the state of Texas, I would imagine. Uh, big cities, maybe.

I don't know.

Maybe?

You'd have to do some math on that.

Okay. Do some white paper research. So, but is Austin...

Yeah.

There was a lot of controversy in Austin about their new zoning. They had a lot of political turnover because of that over the last 10 years, right?

Yeah. That's, it's kinda par for the course whenever you wanna make sweeping overhauls to your zoning. But, yeah, the, the Austin, in particular, I believe, was one of the instigators behind some of the legislative pushes, right? 'Cause they, they, they couldn't get it, couldn't get it passed.

They couldn't get it done.

Yeah.

Yeah. They couldn't get the NIMBYism out of their zoning code. Yes.

Yeah.

So, which speaking of, are we allowed to talk about this?

What?

Are we allowed to talk about your grand invite?

Uh, let's save that one.

Okay, we'll save that one.

Okay. I'm pretty sure it's official, but I don't think it's officially official.

Okay.

So we can hang on to that one for a little bit. Um-

I'm pretty excited for you.

It'll be.

Yeah.

We'll, we'll talk about it whenever we can talk about it.

Okay.

So, uh, baseball is back.

It is.

Spring training is back. We've talked about baseball already, but I, I, uh... There's something I- we could talk about here that-

What's that?

I've been wanting to write about it, and, like, bring back the roundup to write about it.

Mm-hmm.

But since-

Okay

... baseball is back, maybe we can chat about it.

Okay.

Okay. Are you ready for this?

Wait, wait, wait for it, everybody.

Okay.

Wait for it.

We've talked about adding new apartments. We've talked about changing zoning codes and things like that. Okay.

Mm-hmm.

One of the topics that, that a lot of cities are looking at is, and they always talk about it, and this is the phrase that they use, is they want to moneyball this development.

Yes.

Can we talk, can we talk now about the moneyball?

We can.

Okay, good. 'Cause this, this has been s- stewing on my mind for a long time.

Okay.

Okay?

I'm waiting to hear it.

Okay. This is a bad idea. Don't-

Moneyballing development?

... moneyball development. If you wanna moneyball something mechanistic, like how can we get the most out of our street funding, that's fine.

Okay.

But when it comes to building things and creating communities, you, you can't get around the fact that it is a complex adaptive system that requires more than just looking at the financials, right?

Agreed.

Like, you can build developments that make you a ton of money, but that are terrible places to live, terrible- terribly integrated into the rest of your city and the rest of your community.

Mm-hmm.

Um, so, like, that cannot be-

I think the better way to... I think the better way to say it is, it should only be a factor.

You should, you should-

Not the driver

... first look at, how do we make good places? And then come back with, "Is this financially sustainable? And if not, how can we tweak it?"

Okay.

But yeah, it should never be the driving factor in how you're building your city.

I mean, number one rule in all of that, just build less parking lot.

Yeah, that'd be great.

That helps.

That's pretty good. Um-

Pro tip: less parking lot.

Fewer.

Fewer-

Well-

... parking spaces?

Less, less parking, fewer parking lots.

Yes.

Feel like we had talked about this last time, too. Um, so the, but the reason that I have been, had this on my mind... So before, not their most recent one, postseason, when the Rangers won the World Series, but the one before that-

Mm-hmm

... there was an article that came out in The Atlantic that was basically arguing that Moneyball ruined baseball.

Okay.

Right? And right around this time, this is the reason that I didn't bring it up, I said to you, like, two days before I saw this article, I sent you a text, and I said, "I have this concern about cities Moneyballing development, because they're playing a finite game and not an infinite game."

Okay.

Right? So for those who aren't familiar with this concept, finite games are things that have clearly defined rules, they have clearly defined players, they have a starting time and an ending time, and a goal-

Mm-hmm

... to achieve in order to win, right?

Yeah.

Like Checkers-

Yes

... is a finite game. Infinite games are... They're not really games, per se, but they are things that we do, where the purpose of playing them is to keep playing them, right? Like, if an election, a single election, is a finite game, 'cause you has candidates, and then you have an election day, and then you have a winner. Democracy is an infinite game, right? The purpose of being a democratic country is to continue having democracy, right? So if you start to mess with the elections, try to Moneyball the elections, and treat democracy itself as a finite game, you can run into some serious problems. The author argued the same thing about baseball, right? Baseball itself, the nine-inning game, is finite. There's a s- there's a well-defined objective. Uh, we use statistics to figure out how to win that game, the individual game. But what happened is that the long, the long game, the infinite game of having baseball be a good sport that people care about and wanna watch, suffered. So I don't know if you remember this, but baseball got really difficult to watch for, like, 10 years.

Yes.

Like, the entire 2010s, it was... It got really bad.

Yes.

So they- we made a bunch of changes to the game, and now it runs a lot faster. Um, I still think there are some issues, but, uh, it, it is much better now, now to watch.

They changed the baseball, so the ball goes over the fence more often.

Well, the problem is, like, the pitching became so... I don't know if precise is the right word, but, like, the math and the s- the, the, the st- strategy behind all of those moves and the shifting and everything else, like, basically, y- y- you could know where a hitter was gonna hit the ball, right? So, like, offense-

Right

... was, was-

Yeah.

Basically, baseball became either you're gonna hit a home run or you're not gonna score.

Well, and we de-incentivized stealing bases, right?

Well, because-

That was the other-

... Moneyball

Another thing we did.

Yes.

Yeah. Correct.

So it's-

And, and now that's back in the game. And, and to me, that makes, like, one of the biggest differences, the fact that guys steal bases makes a huge difference.

Yeah.

Now-

So, so this came up again recently-

You get, like, a Mookie Betts, who steals a second base and a third base, and it's just... It makes it so much more exciting to watch.

It makes it more exciting to watch. I still think that there are, are legitimate reasons why you shouldn't steal, like why you shouldn't sacrifice bunt. I think that out is still important. But as, as the game shifted for the original Moneyball concept, then the things that were undervalued became different, right? So the, the Moneyball was a moving target. Either way, the reason that this really came up is because recently, w- as my oldest son has gotten into soccer, um, I've been trying to get into it as well, and it's, it's a beautiful game. It's, like... It's extremely fluid. The most interesting thing to me is when I watch their, their trainings-

Mm

... is how difficult it is to translate those activities, the drills that they do and things like that, into an actual game. And it's not just because they're young, it's because when something happens on the pitch during a game, it's almost never set up by something that you can replicate in practice, right? Outside of a free kick or a throw-in or a corner kick-

Right

... the way that you got into that position is not replicable because of all the things that happened before it.

Yeah.

And so I found this book called Net Gains, which talked about the analytics revolution in soccer and how much difficulty they had trying to replicate Moneyball, um, in soccer. And almost all of it came from the fact that the game itself is not as finite and defined as something like baseball or football, where you have plays and pitches-

Mm-hmm

... um, and, and the game resets after everything. Um, I just thought it was really an interesting corollary to how cities operate, right? 'Cause nothing-

Well, like, even in football, don't we feel like the Moneyball in football has kinda gone by the wayside, too? Like, I mean, I feel like we've gone... I, I mean, if you look at-

No, and in fact-

Yeah

... I think it's g- I think it's getting stronger. Like, have you ever watched one of the Amazon Thursday Night Football broadcasts?

Yes-

They have-

With all the analytics

... real-time analytics.

Yeah.

Well, they will, like, highlight players with a probability that they're blitzing.

Yeah.

They will call out hot routes. Like, basically everything Tony Romo did in his first couple of games as an announcer, they're using-

They're doing-

... machine learning to do-

To do it

... in real time.

Yeah.

So yeah, I mean, if you could make those kinds of projections from the sidelines, like, you could totally change, change the game of football.

Yeah. Which there was a, there was a parent the other day at one of my kid's baseball games, who was using a sign-stealing app.

Mm-hmm.

I'm like, "Come on, this is a 11, 12-year-old baseball." Now, it's upper-level baseball, it's really good baseball, but, like, you're gonna steal signs using an app? Doesn't... Like, this-

Doesn't he know that you-

... it's crazy

... just need a trash can?

Well, I mean, that's all you need, a trash can, and you can win a World Series. But, um, how are you feeling about your Rangers this year? Let's wrap this up with a talk about baseball season starting.

You're just doing this because-

I didn't get to spring training. I did not get to spring training this year.

Okay.

Hey, Cody Bradford, the Aledo, Texas, product, made the rotation, starting rotation for the Rangers.

Good.

So you know, that's good. It's good to see. My kids are gonna have somebody to... A reason to watch a Rangers game occasionally.... we won't turn it on for any other reason.

You don't wanna watch Adolis hit any more, uh, any more homers-

Nope

... off your Astros pitchers?

Nope, I, I don't. I don't. Um, yeah, we talk about market and demand, though. I, I still think, uh, Blake Snell is trying to find a place to play baseball, so is Montgomery. Scott Boris has really, uh, really done a number on those guys this year. They're both looking for short-term deals now, because the market won't give them long-term deals. So, yeah, you know, baseball. But yes, I believe that my Astros will win, uh, the AL West. I'll put that out there.

How long do you think that window is for this team?

It depends if we re-sign Bregman, which that's looking like it's probably not gonna happen. I, I think they're not gonna come to terms. Um, we've already secured up and locked up, uh, Tucker, right? Or we're locking him up on a longer-term deal. We've already locked him up, I think, for two years, and we're gonna get a longer-term deal with him as well. Altuve's been locked, um-

Yeah, but how much longer does Altuve have?

Uh, six years, seven years, I think.

Is he that long?

Yeah. I mean, when your body's that little, dude, it doesn't break down that much. You're good.

Thank you.

So-

You're good.

Yeah.

You're good.

I, I just like that you actually got what I was telling you there. So just, just for people who've never actually visually seen Chad and I stand next to each other, he's a little shorter than I am.

Yeah.

It's not a lot. It's just a little.

But I'm a little taller than José Altuve.

You are a little taller than José Altuve. So-

He can hit the ball a lot farther than I can.

It doesn't look like the famous Judge-Altuve picture when we stand next to each other at all, but, you know. The, um... Yeah, I mean, I, I think-

It's like, uh-

... I think the Astros' run is gonna be pretty good. We have some younger guys coming up. I, I think the disturbing part for the Astros right now is, um, starting rotation. We've got some injuries in the starting rotation. That's okay. Even when we won the World Series a couple years ago, we, we didn't start real well in the rotation.

We won last year without two of our starters.

That's correct. So, um, we'll be fine. I think we were actually a little too dependent on our starting rotation last year, so when we got to the playoffs, our bats were not as hot as they needed to be. Um, and I think that's the kind of the Bregman thing there, too. Like, Bregman's not gonna sign a longer-term deal after what he hit last year. Uh, he wants to have a, a better re-agency year.

Mm-hmm.

Um, and so he's, he's gonna do that for sure and try to get some more money. Um, so yeah, I mean, I think, I think the Astros are gonna be pretty good for a little while. Um, we've got a couple pitchers coming up. Uh, Aaron Netty, who's coming up from triples, uh, may make the major scene this year. He's also a really good pitcher. Um, shout-out to my man, Gomez. Uh, he actually works with my kids, uh, at their training facility, and Caesar is, uh, hopefully, gonna make the Triple-A squad this year as a, as a young grad from UTA. Um, so yeah, I, I, I'm real excited about the Astros organization. I, I think this whole conversation really just laid the level of psycho I have for baseball, that I can name Triple-A and Double-A players, and, like, who's coming up through the system, and all that jazz. I-

I would agree.

Yeah.

My thing, I, I-

It is, it is my, it is my sport, though. Like, baseball is the one thing that I, like, really, really stay in tune with.

I used to be that, um, into the weeds, especially around, like, 2010, 2011-

Oh, yeah

... as the Rangers were in their first World Series phase. Um, it's a lot harder with kids, especially kids who don't play baseball. But the season is also s- just so long-

Yep

... that I will follow and kinda just track how the team is doing, but I don't really start to pay a lot of attention until, like, August.

Okay. So I, I watch, um, I watch baseball on my computer the day after, right? So, like, while I'm working, instead of, like, listening to a podcast, I'll have the game on my other screen. That's typically how I roll, and I can't stand it when the game is on ESPN, because ESPN will not allow a two-screen computer to stream. It's one of the most annoying things in the world.

Hmm.

Yeah. So, um, but the biggest difference between the Astros and the Rangers right now is the Astros have figured out their TV deal, and the Rangers are still in limbo, and that's gonna, that's gonna kill the Rangers for a little while, 'cause it's just so much money.

No.

The Astros kind of went alone.

I think the Rangers really only have maybe two more years of a window. I think a lot of it has to do with Bochy.

Okay.

And, I mean, he came out of retirement. Like, how long is he gonna coach?

Uh, they're young, though, man.

They are, but-

I mean, and they were a rebuilt team. Like, they were just like the Astros, "We're gonna tear it all down and rebuild it," and they did it a solid two years before they were supposed to. I mean, I don't think they're going away. They just really don't have the pitching that, that they need.

So the s- the two star pitchers are old.

Yeah.

Like, Scherzer is super old.

Yeah, Mc- and he's hurt, and Montgomery's gone.

Yeah.

And Montgomery was big time for y'all last year.

Mm-hmm.

Um, y'all wouldn't be anywhere near where you're at right now if it wasn't for him. Uh-

We've got a couple of, uh, good young players that are coming up.

Yeah, Cody Bradford's one of them.

Yeah.

He's good.

Uh, Bradford.

Yeah.

But-

So I don't know. Uh, they're gonna have some, uh, team expansion, though. That's the... the rumor mill is the MLB is gonna expand, starting in a couple of years, right?

What, from the 25?

Yeah, from the 25 they have now, and, uh, you know, I think Austin, San Antonio is, like, on the map-

Oh, uh-

... to get another baseball team

... you're, you're talking about, um, not, not roster expansion but actual teams?

Team expansions, yeah, new teams. So-

I don't think Austin needs a baseball team. I don't think Austin really needs a professional sports team.

I-

I, I hope they don't get one-

Yeah

... um, because the-

Well-

... the one thing about up here in the Metroplex is that college sports, it's not that big of a deal.

Yeah.

And, I mean, yeah, SMU, TCU, UNT, like, TCU's had good football teams. You know, SMU's had decent football teams. SMU can't fill a 25,000-

Yeah

... capacity stadium.

No.

Like, when I was coaching, uh-

But TCU can, which is funny.

TCU can, can fill, um, Amon Carter.

... Is that just because, like, Fort Worth doesn't have that other sports team, so everybody's just, like, total TCU-centric?

I wouldn't say everyone is, but there's- Fort- TCU is definitely, like, Fort Worth's s- uh, team.

And to not have a Triple-A baseball team in Fort Worth to me is crazy.

Yeah, and they're about to get rid of La Grave-

Oh, that's a big deal.

Was part of the Panther Island.

Yeah, it's really sad. So, but reality is, I mean, you're right, college sports is not really all that big in North Texas.

I mean, you've got-

Really good baseball, by the way, DBU.

Yeah.

Go watch DBU play. It's really good baseball. So, um, you know, that's, that's kind of like a gem in the Metroplex that nobody really ever thinks about from a baseball perspective. It's a really good baseball school. So I don't know. Yeah, baseball season's here. Spring is in the air. My grass is turning green.

Yeah.

It's kind of a-

Soccer pitch in the backyard sprung up while we were gone.

Nice!

Now I gotta go mow it.

Yeah, that's sad. That's real sad. Do you have a reel mower for that?

I do, but it doesn't get low enough.

Okay.

So I gotta figure that out.

It's, like, a real reel, or it's like an electric reel?

No, you push it.

Oh, man!

It's not that bad.

That's crazy.

It's... I mean, it's flat-

Okay

... and it's just Bermuda-

Uh-huh

... so, like, it's pretty easy. But, um, I need to find one that can get me, like, half an inch to three-quarters of an inch, because, like, the, the one-inch height is just, it's just too soft-

Too tall

... Too tall. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay. Actually, that's a level of psycho you just explained about yourself.

Well, mainly it's too tall for me, 'cause I'm old, and running through high grass is not fun. So I have a hard time keeping up with my eight-year-old.

I thought short was gonna keep you from being hurt. Yeah. Yeah.

Uh, no, I, I can see over the grass blades. Thank you.

That's nice. That's nice. Well, folks, that's all we have for you today. That was our Grab Bag show.

Grab Bag. We, we found a couple of related topics.

We did. I mean, we went from Bozo the Clown to rinse dropping.

Yeah.

But yeah, I mean, it was, it was not a bad show.

But at least the streak is intact.

It is. It's still here.

Yeah.

We're still going. We're gonna see you in two more weeks. I hope you enjoyed, and, uh, we'll have more to chit-chat, and we'll probably have some data on sales tax-

Yes

... as we continue to see these declines.

Yes.

So hopefully we'll-

As we-

... dig into that here in two weeks as well.

As we continue to wait for the comptroller.

Still waiting on data. Still waiting on data. So all right-

Yeah

... cool. It was great to chat with y'all, and, uh, see you again, Chad, and we'll see you in a couple of weeks.

All right, see you, Pep.