Speaker 1: Hello, puzzlers, Welcome to the Puzzler Podcast, the Surprize Onion
Speaker 1: ring in your daily order of puzzle French fries. I
Speaker 1: am your host, AJ Jacobs, and today's guest is the
Speaker 1: great Charlotte Wilder, sportswriter, host of the show Oddball about
Speaker 1: the NBA, and frequent guest on the Dan Levitard Podcast.
Speaker 2: Welcome Charlotte, Thank you so much. Aj. I'm thrilled to
Speaker 2: be here.
Speaker 1: We are delighted to have you. We know that you
Speaker 1: consider puzzling a sport and you love puzzling, So your
Speaker 1: perfect guest today. I actually I am going to turn things
Speaker 1: over to our Chief Puzzle Officer, Greg Pliska, who has
Speaker 1: written a puzzle just for you. Greg.
Speaker 3: Welcome, Thank you, Aj, and thank you for being here. Charlotte.
Speaker 3: This is so fun having you.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I can't believe I'm talking to the CPO, right.
Speaker 3: I mean, they only let me out of the lab occasionally,
Speaker 3: most are I am. I was down here subscribing to
Speaker 3: your substack. Actually I was very.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: I'm a fan of yours. It's great. This is good too.
Speaker 3: Kind well, and since one of your big topics of
Speaker 3: fandom is sports. We're going to play a favorite game
Speaker 3: of ours that we actually did with Jay Billis on
Speaker 3: a recent episode that we told a wide opposite world
Speaker 3: of sports. Okay, but actually I think maybe today we'll
Speaker 3: call it oddball sports. The idea is that we're familiar
Speaker 3: with the major North American sports leagues, right and their teams,
Speaker 3: and in this puzzle, we're imagining the opposite world version
Speaker 3: of these teams, where all the team names are replaced
Speaker 3: by their opposites.
Speaker 2: I love it. I did listen to that episode, so
Speaker 2: hopefully you didn't repeat.
Speaker 3: I will not repeat, No, of course not. You're warmed up, you're.
Speaker 2: Ready to get ready, I'm excited.
Speaker 3: I think I use this example in the other episode,
Speaker 3: but I'll use it again, which is, if there's a
Speaker 3: California basketball team that's named for female monarchs, they would be.
Speaker 2: The Sacramento Queens.
Speaker 3: Sacramento Queens exactly the opposite of the Sacramento King. So
Speaker 3: that's the that's the basic way this works, all right,
Speaker 3: here we go. This is an East Coast football franchise
Speaker 3: that's named for the other gang in West Side Story.
Speaker 2: Then it would be the New York.
Speaker 3: Sharks exactly right, not the New York Jets, but the
Speaker 3: New York Sharks, which is a fun one because of
Speaker 3: course there's the San Jose Sharks.
Speaker 2: I know. I was like, I feel like there should
Speaker 2: be more sports teams named Sharks, right.
Speaker 1: Right, Like it's a pretty good the ultimate Predator exactly,
Speaker 1: although I prefer the sports teams not named after predators,
Speaker 1: the nice ones.
Speaker 2: So you don't like the Nashville Predators.
Speaker 1: Exactly, that goes right, Yeah, that is a little on
Speaker 1: the nose, exactly. I prefer Cardinals. I think Cardinals like
Speaker 1: they eat, they eat fruit and stuff.
Speaker 3: I think, Yeah, I feel like I could have done
Speaker 3: this puzzle with the Winnipeg Jets and it would have
Speaker 3: just automatically.
Speaker 2: Been harder, yes, because I would definitely have forgotten that
Speaker 2: the Winnipeg Jets exists. No offense to Winnipeg or the
Speaker 2: or the Jets, exactly.
Speaker 3: One of the great one of the great trivia questions
Speaker 3: all the teams that have the same names. But that's
Speaker 3: not what we're playing today. Back to opposite world of sports.
Speaker 3: This is a team that's the oldest continuously operating professional
Speaker 3: sports franchise in North America that was founded in Boston
Speaker 3: but moved south when they got too scared.
Speaker 2: Okay, founded, So it's the opposite of what on this one?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Can you the questions?
Speaker 3: No, it's a team. It's the oldest continuously operating professional
Speaker 3: sports franchise in North America. They were founded in Boston,
Speaker 3: but they move south when they got too scared. It's
Speaker 3: a baseball team.
Speaker 2: Oh oh oh oh oh, yes, okay, sorry the would
Speaker 2: this be the Atlanta scaredy Cats?
Speaker 3: Okay, I was going to say the Atlantanta the good cowardlyes.
Speaker 3: I was going to say they're not brave, they're cowardly
Speaker 3: the Atlantic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess that scaredy Cat is not the technical
Speaker 2: opposite of brave.
Speaker 1: But I like it though. I mean, that's a predator.
Speaker 3: You got.
Speaker 1: That's a better name for response.
Speaker 2: There you go, Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 3: Look. As a New York Mets fan, I'm happy to
Speaker 3: call them the Atlanta coward Lees or scaredy Cats or
Speaker 3: whatever you want to call them. All right, here's another one.
Speaker 3: This is the only publicly owned NFL team and they
Speaker 3: like to empty their luggage at every hotel.
Speaker 2: Oh man, Okay, so I know the team. So we're
Speaker 2: working with the Green Bay Packers here, I'm trying to think,
Speaker 2: what is the opposite of packer, the Green Bay empty outers.
Speaker 3: You know, I just defaulted to the Green Bay unpackers.
Speaker 3: It's not very interesting.
Speaker 2: Oh oh oh no, it's good though. It's accurate.
Speaker 3: I just like the image of you know, Jordan Love
Speaker 3: there just getting everything out of his suitcase.
Speaker 2: Before I had that image, I immediately saw Jordan Love
Speaker 2: in my head, like holding a suitcase up and shaking
Speaker 2: all this stuff up.
Speaker 3: Just get it out. Here's another one. This is Benedict
Speaker 3: Arnold is actually the mascot for this Northeast football team.
Speaker 2: Okay, so, Bennette, I'm gonna go Trader is what one
Speaker 2: of these words good?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 2: Uh so I'm trying to think Loyals.
Speaker 3: Uh, this is a football team in the Northeast.
Speaker 1: The Trader's part, right, I know, that's what I can't
Speaker 1: think of.
Speaker 2: What what the the hold on Dolphins? No, that's Northeast.
Speaker 2: That's just because furthermo oh oh, Patriots. There you go,
Speaker 2: New England Traders, the.
Speaker 3: New England Traders. Exactly.
Speaker 2: You guys keep getting me on the things I love most.
Speaker 2: I got tripped up on the Taylor Swift time cover
Speaker 2: the other day. I'm sailing and now on the the
Speaker 2: NFL team that I actually root for.
Speaker 3: So all right, you were trying to go way outside
Speaker 3: the box.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, all right, all.
Speaker 3: Right, let me do two more. This NBA franchise got
Speaker 3: in trouble when all of its fans started pulling down
Speaker 3: their pants and waving their backsides at the opposing players.
Speaker 2: Okay, is this is this the Phoenix Moons.
Speaker 3: It's the Phoenix Moons. I like, I hope we get
Speaker 3: a video version of this one because the look on
Speaker 3: your face when the penny dropped is terrific.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, okay, it's not that.
Speaker 3: It's the Phoenix Moons exactly. Phoenix Moons, all right. And
Speaker 3: the last one for you today, Harry Potter. Fans have
Speaker 3: nothing but scorn for this NBA team, and it's Dursley
Speaker 3: family mass Scott's.
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, you know, nobody can nobody can stand the
Speaker 2: Orlando Muggles, can they?
Speaker 3: Oh? Interesting, Muggles is the opposite of magic.
Speaker 2: Or uh Orlando Normals.
Speaker 3: No, no, you're you got the right You got Muggles
Speaker 3: is the right one. But I was thinking of a
Speaker 3: different team that it's the opposite of Oh my.
Speaker 2: Gosh, oh okay, hold on.
Speaker 3: Uh more, specifically the opposite of muggles, right, the people who.
Speaker 2: Have yes so so the Washington Muggles, the.
Speaker 3: Exact wizards, opposite of the Washington Wizards. Very good. I
Speaker 3: like you found like two answers.
Speaker 2: A lot of sorcery going on in the.
Speaker 3: NBA, neither of what your predators aj.
Speaker 1: That's true, Well a wizard could be that is for
Speaker 1: an evil wizard. I'm hoping that they're they're positive wizards. Uh,
Speaker 1: you did well, you did perfectly. You got and you
Speaker 1: got to right answers in one So that was exciting.
Speaker 1: Where can people find more of you talking about actual
Speaker 1: sports teams.
Speaker 2: All sports things, which a lot of the shows I'm
Speaker 2: on when I'm actually talking about sports do sound similar
Speaker 2: to this when I talk about sports. So you can
Speaker 2: find me on Oddball, on the Draftings Network and YouTube,
Speaker 2: Dan Levochart show, Gojo and Golic I'm on every Wednesday.
Speaker 2: Occasionally Pablo Tory finds out I forget what I do
Speaker 2: because there are a lot of different things which I
Speaker 2: feel very lucky. It's a luxurious problem to have in
Speaker 2: this industry.
Speaker 1: Excellent and Greg, often, if not always, you have an
Speaker 1: extra credit for the folks at home.
Speaker 3: I feel like you don't let me out of the
Speaker 3: puzzle lab. If I can't have an extra cress. Why
Speaker 3: you're not coming out? Yes, I do have one. This
Speaker 3: is a challenging one. This hockey team never uses a show.
Speaker 1: Never use as a shift. Okay, I don't know it,
Speaker 1: but I will think. I have a whole day to
Speaker 1: think about it. Yes, and you'll get that answer next episode.
Speaker 1: Before we go, one quick note, our intro phrase today
Speaker 1: about onion rings and French fries was written by Puzzler
Speaker 1: listener Mateo Paradise. Thank you Mateo and listeners. You can
Speaker 1: submit your own at the puzzler dot com and we
Speaker 1: need it because I'm running out of ideas. Just kidding,
Speaker 1: I actually I love writing those things. Puzzlers, please don't
Speaker 1: forget to subscribe to the Puzzler podcast. If you are
Speaker 1: enjoying it, tell your friends and we will meet you
Speaker 1: here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles. They will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 3: Hello, puzzlers, this is Greg Pliska, your chief puzzle officer,
Speaker 3: here with the extra credit answers from our last episode.
Speaker 3: We played Random Fandom with Charlotte Wilder. All about two
Speaker 3: word rhyming phrases. We gave you two extra credits. One
Speaker 3: was this is a little snack you have when you're
Speaker 3: playing an indoor racket sport that, of course is a
Speaker 3: squash gnash. Thanks for playing along with us, and remember
Speaker 3: the puzzler, like everything else, is a sport,