Americarnage #40: It's All a Ratings Scam

With the Iron One still out of the country, he says it’s nothing to do with a waitress called Candy but we have our doubts, Nat and Dan are feeling a little blue. Luckily friend of the show and man of a thousand Vegas stories Mr Ben Isaacs is in the house and ready to take on the big man’s mantle...

In other news: Dan has never met Nat’s wife, something which gets as surprising amount of discussion [mainly cut – HdP] Mancave get some love and Ben gets some Mancave stuff, which is nice; Unibet get some love, but less than they might have when it turns out they don’t actually put a steak in your account when you open it; Ben has been watching Cuba Gooding Jr be OJ Simpson – on telly, not in his garden or anything; SB50 gets a full run-down, kicking off with an audio postcard from the Big Man; aside from that, some very serious things get talked about the bad things which happen in the NFL and we actually mean it this time – serious things; in the NBA Cleveland lead the East, from the Raptors who are now just two games behind after the Cavs lost to the Hornets and the resurgent Celtics; in the West it’s the Warriors from the Spurs; in the NHL Washington lead the East from Florida and New York; in the West it goes Chicago, Dallas, St Louis and LA; lots of Mancave Mailbag goodness; a Unibet charity bet and much-diddly-uch-much more…

Nat, Mike and Dan aren't in the studio this week, it's just Harry the Producer and he has some news for ya'll.

With Nat on IR with a Filming, Mike and Dan needed a safe pair of hands to help them out with tonight’s show and they don’t come much safer (well, there is one guy…) than Mr Hockey Erik Janssen who immediately has the guys talking about money and not taking your dad to work…

In other news: Mancave have 20% off all gift sets and buckets in honour of Father’s Day so buy some, tell yourself you’re going to give it to him, then keep it; Unibet are dishing out a £25 deposit bonus when you sign up via unibet.co.uk/americarnage; Mike dishes out a few betting tips, some are good; Dan suggests you go further, this might not be so good; Dan brings up the Great Slippery Phone Insurance scam; the guys all went to see The Boss; Mike talks about Ali; Erik tells us about Sidney Crosby lifting the Stanley Cup; no matter how good this is, should hockey tip into June? The gang think not; Mike and Erik talk about the late, great Gordy Howe; in the NBA things have been strangely un-thrilling as LeBron’s Cavs and Golden State knock it back and forth, including some dick-punches as per last year; then all of a sudden LeBron and Kyrie made a game of it which, combined with some Golden State indiscipline takes it to Game 6 in Cleveland; Mike talks baseball and Rex Sox knuckleballers; in the American League everyone sucks, in the National League there are some great games – we might be over-simplifying… things happen in the Non-Stop League too but still three months until first Gronk-Spike so let’s keep it to that right now; there are some cracking questions in the Mancave Mailbag and, you guessed it, much, much more…

Nat, Mike and… Well, that’s it this week as Hollywood is wrapped up in other business and the super-secret special guest fails to materialise – no, names, no pack duty to paraphrase the Iron One – but the guys might have done the odd show together so we’re in safe hands here. It’s not Americarnage After Dark, it’s Americarnage Before Sunrise – but who’s Ethan Hawke…?

In other news: The Americarnage Question of the Week offers up another winner of epic amounts of goodies, guaranteed to let him give up renting and #OwnTheBathroom; old mates Unibet are offering £25 when you head over to unibet.co.uk/Americarnage; Mike used to teach kids who don’t read so good; Nat, Mike and Dan are off to see The Boss this weekend – Mancave goodies to any ‘Carnage fans who snap a pic with any of them; Mike talks epic tales of the sporting past; Nat talks Hanks and Desert Island Discs; we’re at the sharp end of the NBA season and it’s the Cavs vs Golden State; in the NFL, Walter Thurman has nixed his NFL career at the age of 28; Fitz and the Jets are talking but not agreeing yet; in the NHL it’s all about the Sharks and the Penguins; there’s some baseball – mainly Mike’s Redsox – loads of great stuff from the Mancave Mailbag and of course much, much, more…

Nat, Mike and Dan are all together again! It seems like it’s been ages but in many ways, not long enough… To make things even better the gang are joined by the award-winning sports journalist, old friend of Iron Mike and man who holds the key to the question he must never answer “will there be a London Franchise?” NFL’s David Tossell.

In other news: Mike talks about what it is to be human; Dan talks about great telly; David mentions his new book which you need to buy – The Girls of Summer (it’s to do with cricket); Nat breaks the great news that we’re bringing back Ask Mike – new videos coming soon gang, get your questions in and we return to the cult of personality; in the NFL, lots of things were stolen and fraudulently sold but this time it’s nothing to do with the [insert least favourite coach here]; Mike rates the Baltimore, Green Bay, Seattle and Cinci; in the NBA, season MVP is Steph Curry - why even bother to debate it, not only did he win for the second year running but is probably a cyborg sent back to kill Trump who took up basketball instead and got all 131 first choice votes, the first player in history to do that; actual games happened, Dan tells you about them; in the NHL, the Lightning obliterated the Islanders; in the West the Sharks and the Predators have split 6 games, after San Jose cruised to a two game lead with Logan Courtue and Brent Burns scoring for fun; things happen in baseball, including slow, old, amazing home runs; loads of Mancave Mailbag goodness and my gosh with David in the house is there much, much more…

Nat and Dan rock up to the studio this week in the certain knowledge that the Iron One is elsewhere, although quite what this means is up for debate – options include stumping for Ted Cruz, doing things for the mob and other less (more?) salubrious options. Whatever he’s up to he’s sent in lots of good stuff and, what’s more, the guys are joined by the legend that is Erik The Producer Janssen.

In other news: the Mancave Champions Club App Question of the Week winner this week is Mr James Cooper of Minehead who bags himself a load of goodies – you can get involved too by downloading it right…. NOW! Jimmy Garopollo makes an early appearance and then reappears quite a bit – which is nice; Erik has been watching Better Call Saul – a near-Nat level of cultural relevance; conversely, Nat has been watching The Jungle Book – the new one and everything; Dan ran the Brighton marathon and got sunburnt in the cold; all sorts of pre-draft manoeuvring in the NFL and Iron Mike talks you through his version of the first 10 picks; will a new top cornerback make the Racistskins any better? Johnny Manziel is still in the news for all the wrong reason, think this is just how it goes; the NBA Playoffs are underway and everyone is injured; Cleveland are the only ones through so far; OKC and the Spurs will play each other in the West; Erik tackles the NHL with a catch in his voice due to the lack of Canadian teams in the playoffs; the Blues are through to face the Stars; the Kings are out; in the MLB the White Sox execute the most ridiculous triple play ever in the history of anything; Albert Pujoles hits 565 homers, which is also pretty mental; Erik then breaks out The Birthday Game for the first time in a while and it inspires this week’s competition; there’s the usual Mancave Mailbag goodness and definitely much, much more…

With Nat still in Panama dealing with the fallout of recent events, Mike and Dan find themselves doing a two-hander this week, something that immediately and unsurprisingly becomes a bit rude. It involves hands.

In other news: Mike stood in for Nat on Talksport 2 the other night, it was fun; the Question of the Week on the Mancave app is Adam Wright from Cardiff – he wins a big box of goodies and you can too; Dan has a lot of three points, but that’s what happens when he’s not allowed to talk for two weeks; one of them is a film, another is telly and the third is a book so it’s very nearly a media clean-sweep; the NFL round-up is less sports and more CSI but then that’s depressingly familiar; lots of trading and manoeuvring ahead of the draft; Kaepernick is once again in the news and what the bloody hell is going on there? In the NBA the Cavs have won the East and the Warriors have won the West, although the Spurs did their damnedest to spoil that party; Kobe’s retiring apparently, no-one cares; the NHL playoffs start TONIGHT and Washington had their best ever season resulting in a top seed while everyone else just kind of gets slotted in somehow; lots of other things but also David Cameron has been fired… From his coaching job with the Ottawa Senators; stickball season is back and Mike talks a lot about that, Dan less so; loads on Mancave Mailbag goodness and just the right amount of much, much more…

Nat, Mike and Dan are back in the game after two long weeks out of the studio and it turns out their cultural references are just as fresh as they’ve always been, something which Dan is not slow to point out. Anyway, they’re short on time but it doesn’t stop things from rollin’ rollin’ rollin…

In other news: there’s wifi in the studio for the first time in ages, this is only relevant because it makes us happy; Dan outlines the “banter” defence before moving on to a critical dissection of Zootropolis which Nat joins in on; Mike has been watching season 2 of Bosch and things about the Easter Rising – not as many parallels as you might think; Nat brings up a new podcast about The West Wing and it just gets better from there; there are Mancave Question of the Week winners (download the app and get involved folks); the NFL is suing the NYT because they don’t have enough money yet; the touchback gets moved and the touchback stays still, angering most; Julian Edelman has an overdue game; oh, plus there’s some free agency stuff – Alfred Morris to the Cowboys for one; there’s some pre-season baseball for the first time in simply ages; in the NBA the Cavs lead the East and the Warriors lead the West; the Clippers have three players who statistically out rank Stef Curry which is kind of amazing; there’s lots of Mancave Mailbag goodness, a game starts, stops and is edited out (for everyone’s own good) but never fear – there is much, much more…

Nat, Mike and Dan are on fine form this evening for a variety of reasons but mainly based around Mike’s natty new birthday haircut. It’s a hell of a do to be sure and it’s either that or the Irish Whiskey he’s presented with during the show which gives a rosy glow to proceedings…

In other new: local Camden business Trufflesecco does not get the nod from Dan and he expresses his distaste for these things; Mike has seen Concussion which is not that good apparently, who knew? Nat has a brand new Talksport show coming up soon, watch this space for more info and ‘Carnage listeners will definitely recognise many of the guests; Dan has read a spectacular book and shares it with the gang; in the NFL Free Agency is just as mental as the season that preceded it – now that Tom Coughlin is gone the Giants are spending all the money in the world; RB’s are mainly running between teams this time of year; Mark Sanchez is a Bronco and he’s probably among the many people confused about this; in the NBA the Cavs lead the east and LeBron is still on top; in the West the Warriors and Spurs are up top; NHL things happen, great Mancave Mailbag things happen, a twitter-based game happens and it’s great too and of course the requisite much, much more…

Nat, Mike and Dan romp into studio after a break with enough energy to immediately turn International Women’s Day into mum jokes and worse. Business as usual then. Luckily they move on to much lighter things, like the resurgence in football (soccer) violence and the places of Nat and Dan’s respective teams in this. Like I said, business as usual…

In other news: A competition sparks a series of revelations as to what the guys find attractive with Dan in particular entering into the spirit of things; the Mancave Question of the Week is running on the app and there are winners galore – Richard Stubbs and Stephen Fowldes over the last couple of weeks – so download the app and get involved; in the Mancave not-on-the-app competition we get two winners who both get stuff; Mike has been watching a lot of things, many of them good; Dan talks about football violence and racism while Nat has been to see Alvin and the Chipmunks, so that’s nice; in the NFL there have been retirements - Peyton, Calvin - weird signings (Incognito) and plain old oddness - Bill has lunch with Donald; the Jets have Crazy Chip’s Fire Sale in return for all the picks; if the Rams get RGIII it will be the funniest thing in recent NFL history; in the NBA, the Lakers win things and Kobe takes credit; Golden State are back in the game; in Oklahoma there’s been a suspicious death which has something to with basketball but is very suspicious; the Spurs are making a bid for the top but being ignored because they always seem to do this; in the NHL 16 games left and the Caps are dominating like no-one else ever has; the Ducks are on a streak too so let’s see how that works out; there’s a discussion of a game to happen in the future and we reckon it should happen; Mancave Mailbag goodness from the ‘Carnage massive and of course plenty – sorry – I mean much, much, more…