It’s our 4th annual Bracketology special! We’ve got the tools you need to ace your bracket and win your pool this year. Buckle up, and let’s go for a magical college basketball ride together. We spend the first segment of the show breaking down how this year’s bracket came together in this first place—did the committee get it right? After that, we dive into the main event and make some picks! At the 41:00 mark, we’ll walk you through our bracket, starting at the Sweet 16 and ending with a surprising pick to cut down the nets in Glendale when this thing’s all done. Good luck, and godspeed with your NCAA tournament journey!
It's one of the hotly anticipated shows each year: the Oscar's prediction special! Have we seen any of the films? No, not really. Do we have opinions anyway? Yes! Tune in to hear our takes on this year's nominations for the 89th Academy Awards and fill out your Oscar party scorecards. We somehow manage to bat a ridiculous percentage in this thing year after year, so enjoy!
Your goal for Super Bowl LI? DON'T LEAVE $$$ ON THE TABLE! Our annual Super Bowl preview gives everything from predictions about the big game, a forecast of Lady Gaga's halftime show, and all of the prop bets you can shake a stick at. Whether you're an evil New England Patriots fan, or you're joining the masses on the Atlanta Falcons bandwagon, we've got you covered. In the words of Teddy KGB: "Pay that man...pay that man his money!" If you enjoy the show, subscribe on iTunes and share it with a friend or two!
Another regular season in the books, another year goes by where the Bills and Browns miss the playoffs. It hurts, but that’s how this podcast came to be in the first place. Sadness aside, there are four teams remaining to battle it out, with four elite quarterbacks at the helm. We debate the merits of the Packers, Falcons, Patriots, and Steelers, and try to reconcile what the fan in us wants with what the analyst in us thinks will really happen. Two of these teams will have the opportunity to compete for Lady Gaga’s friendship at the Super Bowl, and that’s what really matters, after all.
In the second act of our 2-part-year-in-review special (with Darren White in studio!) we do what we know best and take a look at the year that was in sports. From Deflategate to Lochte-gate to being annoyed by the fact that everything has to be "something-gate" now, we talk about which sports stories from 2016 we'll remember years down the line.
It's time for our 2-part year-in-review spectacular with special guest, Darren White! In part 1, we spend some time looking at why 2016 will go down in infamy. We touch on the passing of prominent pop-culture and social justice icons, and dive into a discussion of how important artists have been (and will be) in a time of volatility. We wrap up with chatter around the best music of 2016 before heading into the sports world in Part 2 of the special!
Bowl season is upon us! As promised, we take a look at some of the most exciting matchups in the lead-up to the College Football Playoffs, and we dream of some of the games we'd love to see if we were the head honchos on the bowl committee. WWE stipulations work their way into those dream scenarios (naturally). For those of you who like to sprinkle a little cash on the games, we give you our top 8 picks for bowl season! College football, sports betting, and the great "Elf on the Shelf" versus "Mensch on the Bench" debate are all part of this jam-packed episode. Enjoy!
Ethan and a loyal listener took a journey this weekend that could best be described as living a video game in real life. Detective work, fast thinking, and bold-faced lies all came into play, and he re-lives the story for us in the first part of this week's pod. After that, we chat football. No matter how futile your team's playoff hopes may be, the phrase "They Have a Path" gives us something to cling to. With the final bye week, the NFL playoff picture is shaping up after all teams have played 12 games. We revisit our initial season predictions (crushed them) and project the road the next 4 weeks of football might follow. SO. MUCH. NARRATIVE.
Thanksgiving might be a challenging holiday to navigate this year, so to celebrate our 4th Annual Thanksgiving Spectacular, we go through our "Thanksgiving 2016 Survival Guide." We've got four chapters for you: One for every year of this extravaganza. Tune in for the hottest of hot takes on "Friendsgiving," side dish strategies, and holiday table talk game-plans!
After a depressing World Series collapse by the Indians, Cleveland native Ethan is in need of some grief counseling. We talk it through and get him on the road to recovery in this week's episode. Come heal with us as we battle sports depression. Cubs fans? feel free to troll. Afterwards, we hit one of our favorite annual topics: the Toy Hall of Fame! Inductions are around the corner, and we debate the merits of nominees like bubble wrap, transformers, and pinball.
Football is back! We take a swing around the league, giving you a division-by-division look at all 32 teams and their Vegas odds to win their respective divisions. Along the way we hit the top storylines and fantasy nuggets to help you dominate your league this year. Viva la football!
We are back with an NBA free agency pod for your weekend listening pleasure! We mainly discuss Kevin Durant's decision to join the Golden State Warriors, but also cover the greater effect this free agency season has on the league as a whole. We also would be remiss if we didn't cover two of the biggest nostalgia stories of the week, Pokemon Go and the new Blink-182 album. Enjoy!
We are back for the second week in the row! We start with Mike's description of the worst Mission Impossible movie ever. Then we follow with a discussion of the summer sports scene, and how we balance following actual games and off-season. We then listen to the local Icelandic TV call of the victory over Austria in Euro 2016, and discuss how the world needs more "homer" sports announcers. Finally, we go over our plans for the 4th of July weekend, and build our ideal 4th of July BBQ plate. Enjoy!
For the first night in the history of our show, the Futile Exercise is a little less futile. Lebron James did the impossible and brought a championship to Cleveland, and it happened in Ethan's lifetime! We talk about the emotions of Sunday's game 7, break down "The Block," discuss the biggest winners/losers of the series, debate Steph Curry's regular season MVP, and even assemble our "First-team All NBA Party Lineup" of NBA ballers we'd most like to party with after winning a 'ship. One question remains, though...has JR Smith put a shirt on yet??
The Guys are back with the 3rd annual Bracketology special! We take a break from business school and a physics conference to bring you all the tools you need to ace your bracket this year. We cover the snubs, the teams who got screwed, the teams who got some help, and go through our picks from the Sweet 16 on through the national title. Will Buddy Hield "Kemba Walker" Oklahoma to the national title game? Will Kansas walk through the field? Will Fran Dunphy (the Temple coach) finally give in to his eyebrows and go full owl? This and more on the Bracketology Special.
The guys are back and feeling a little incredulous. Inspired by a "Katy Perry is actually JonBenet Ramsey" story on the unimpeachable news source that is the Facebook Trending Topics bar, we discuss our favorite conspiracy theories. Did we actually land on the moon? Did David Stern rig the 1985 NBA draft lottery? Are Sam Smith and Adele the same person? CAN STEVIE SEE?!?!?! All of this and more on the 64th edition of the Futile Exercise
We are back! After completely missing the Super Bowl, we are back with our annual Oscars special. We start with a discussion of the Grammys, and go through our favorite and least favorite performances. Then we get to the main event, Oscar predictions! What makes our predictions different from anyone else's? We haven't seen any of the movies! So if you want to win your Oscar pool, listen intently and follow our lead. You're. Welcome.
Don't you dare be sour, because the Futile Exercise is back! It's a new year, yes it is, and the guys have a New Years resolution to use their Post power Ball fortunes to record more podcasts. In today's episode they discuss David Bowie's death and the phenomenon of using social media to mourn together. We also go into why the deaths of both Bowie specifically, and musicians in general affect us all so much. After the serious topic, they get back to their usual nonsense discussing the new WIAA student cheer restrictions, the NFL playoffs, and attempt to preview the year 2016. Enjoy!
This is how we do it. It's Wednesday night, and we feel alright. After a terrible IU/Duke game during which Ethan imbibed a few Great Lakes Christmas Ales, the guys decided to record the 1st edition of Futile After Dark. Come for Ethan's rant about people named Grayson, stay for Mike's rant about Rex Ryan, and Jaromir Jagr's truth telling.
In the THIRD ANNUAL installation of the Futile Exercise Thanksgiving Spectacular, the guys talk turkey and ask the important questions: Will this be the year Ethan graduates from the kids' table? White meat or dark meat? What's the deal with green bean casserole? A little easy listening for your pre-Thanksgiving travels. Programming note: Ethan is calling to the pod via cell phone, so the dulcet tones of his wonderful voice may sound a little different than what you're used to. Still sexy though. Still so, so sexy.