Top Secret Base Mailbag | Volume 2 (Patreon)

Well folks, we've got bad news and good news. The bad news is that y'all sent us so many great questions for this 2nd edition of our Patreon mailbag that Will broke his wee little typing fingees trying to write up our responses to all of them. We're working on getting his calcium levels up to normal levels so that this doesn't happen again.

The good news, however, is that we were able to Pivot to Video and try a new kind of format for responding to all of your inquiries in a timely fashion. For this edition of the mailbag we got Jon, Will, Seth, Ryan, Alex, Joe, our director-editors Jiazhen and Charlotte, and our motion graphics artist Tyson all on one big Google Meet call and recorded a little panel of sorts. It's a bit raw and lo-fi but we thought it would be a fun and experimental way for us to shoot from the hip with your questions and be a little more conversational with each other, and all of you out there, too.

I will level with you: it's 2 hours long. We covered everything from how The History of the Seattle Mariners came to be, to how we prefer to hang our toilet paper on the holder (Our Answers May Surprise You!!!). It's definitely a lot, but we had fun touching on all these various and disparate topics and wanted to get through as many questions as we could. And there's a bunch more we couldn't - several of you had questions specifically for Kofie and Clara, but they weren't able to join us for this one, so we'll have them answer those in a future edition.

Anyway, let us know what you think! Should we keep doing mailbags like this? Go back to written posts? Maybe a mix of both? Let us know in the comments. In the meantime I gotta finish all these popsicles so that Will has fresh finger splints. Enjoy!

xoxo,

Ryan

QUESTION TIMESTAMPS:

03:03 - What college did BEEFTANK attend? (Jiffypop)

04:26 - Just finished re-watching Pretty Good, Ep. 12. I’ve always been curious if anyone who was there has ever seen that episode of Pretty Good. Did anyone involved in or at that Troy State vs. DeVry game ever reach out or comment about it? (Brandon Boyer)

06:44 - Have you guys used AI for any work you do on the videos? If you have not, have you considered it? (Vickter)

10:35 - Favourite/leave favourite NYC subway stations? (Demure)

14:50 - If you have ever cried because of a moment in sports, what happened to cause it? (lolplatypi)

20:32 - You're stranded on an island and you get to take 3 things with you; what are you taking? / Who dies first in the Secret Base horror movie? (John Hopwood)

24:52 - Favorite Simpsons episode? (Eamonn Patrick Quinn)

27:12 - I heard (From REFORM! pt. 3) that you used to work at Krogers pushing carts. As a fellow former Courtesy Clerk at Krogers, how was it there? What was it like working back then? (Sol Hoerig)

29:32 - If the team was all taking a road trip together - who drives and who gets AUX? (Johnathan Currie)

33:33 - What are your top 3 booty songs? (songs about butts, songs that sound like butt, interpret it how you wish) (Keegothewise)

36:47 - Will Untitled ever return? It was one of my favorite series you guys made. (Hayek)

41:04 - Which way do yall orient toilet paper? (THE BATLORD)

43:05 - AIR BUD? (Gillups Fabrizio)

44:40 - Questions for Jon and Alex: when did you first hear about the Seattle Mariners story? Who first presented it? When did you know you were going to make a documentary about it? How long did it take to create it? Lastly did the covid pandemic impact the release schedule of the series? (Jake Huffaker)

47:22 - Hey Jon, I'm wondering if REFORM! was a one-off foray into the political world, or if you're interested in making more documentaries focused on political figures. I was just reading Michael Lewis' book on the '96 election "Losers" and thought that Morry Taylor would score well on REFORM!'s Fascination Index. (Tucker Legate)

48:37 - Jon/team, would you consider bringing Lunch Judgement back? The Spilly saga is one of my favorite things on the Internet. (Jacob Kief)

50:11 - What's your go-to leader on Civ 6? (Liam Says Bring Back Card Show (Please))

51:42 - Is there a chance any of those old secret base blog series from sbnation.com will return on Patreon or somewhere, other than the dorktown articles (like the reviews or secret base hall of fame)? Jon’s blog about rust is still one of the best things I’ve ever read. (Max T)

52:51 - Would you ever consider a Dorktown live show with presentation, debated, meet & greets, merch, etc? A live tour would be super fun. (Erik Helmle)

54:00 - I always enjoy when SB vids get a chance to talk about positive relationships in sports teams, or how some folks irrespective of skill etc are just nice to be around. Any chance of some sort of Anti-Beef history? (Zorak)

55:07 - Can we get a Rewinder on EVO moment #37? (Zorak)

56:54 - Last mailbag you mentioned several sports that weren’t in your wheelhouses, is golf a similar thing? Have you thought about or pitched (ha) golf stories recently? I’d love to show him a golf story about the worst professional game or another golf beef or whoever you think the wackiest golfer is! (Some Nobody As President)

1:00:44 - Did John travel on an airplane from Washington Dulles airport to Dayton Ohio for the solar eclipse in April 2024, or perhaps did I sit behind his doppelgänger on that plane? (Timothy Richardson)

1:01:13 - Is there any crazy story you've always wanted to tell us about, but that has never fit into a video so far? (1 Baseball Elephant)

1:02:42 - What are your favorite movies? (Matt Beaty/Mahul Joshi)

1:06:33 - You’re the manager of a fictional baseball team and you’ve been tasked with creating the all-time goofus-maloofus line-up. 9 hitters, a starter, and a reliever. Who are you picking? (Ethan May)

1:07:46 - Fighting in the Age of Loneliness was a watershed moment for me personally, even if I've literally never watched live MMA. I'm just curious if any similar collaborations (even if smaller-scale) have been floated around or gained traction since. (Nikolai Levnekov)

1:10:22 - What are all of your favorite broadway shows and why? (Aidan Mott)

1:11:39 - Would you ever do a deep dive video on the relationship between sports and their fans? The good, bad and ugly of sports fandom? Not specific to one fan base or another. More about the positives of building a community through fandom, and the downsides of toxicity within those fan bases, etc? (Ben Sweetser)

reply to this from J.C. Abdallah, PhD: Answering your question is what I do for a living. Lol

1:13:47 - Have you considered entering any of the Dorktown Series into and film/documentary festivals. I really think the Hist of Seattle Mariners could have shined bright at festivals, and I think REFORM could also bring in some awards if you tried that. (PerfectlyAdequate) / Would you ever premiere something in a movie theatre? I'm asking because I manage one in Minnesota, and I think it could be a neat idea. I mean, do you think it could be an interesting idea? (Brennan Keller)

1:15:30 - Would love to hear any larger or overarching inspirations you guys have for the tone/content of the channel! (Gabe Taylor)

1:17:18 - I'm a Brit, and I want an NBA team to support and I'm not sure who. So I'm asking for suggestions or maybe try to sell me on a team. (Comrade Jay)

1:21:55 - What's your view on inside the park home runs? (The MD)

1:23:58 - If there were an Olympics style competition with only pro sport league athletes who would you want to see compete in what? (Zach S)

1:24:50 - What's your opinion on the Colorado Rockies currently? Been a lifelong Fan (tortured soul) for my whole life, so I wanna get your take on them. (Nicholas Hawley)

1:26:08 - A discussion of 2019 Jacob DeGrom often providing his own (and only) offense in here got me thinking: given his roots as an outfielder, would Dave Stieb had benefited from playing in the National League? (The Real Ben Shapiro)

1:27:20 - What's the most interesting "news" story to you in terms of how the hell did that happen? (J. C. Abdallah, PhD)

1:30:05 - If the oilers win the Stanley cup this year can we get a deep dive into their absolutely up and down crazy year? (DANN FROM THE BAND MINISTER)

1:31:40 - Is there any football (soccer) content you guys have planned? (Ben)

1:32:17 - pro wrestling + secret base = collision course (Clayton Zeno)

1:32:58 - Would it be possible to send small items for y’all to sign? I have a classic Mariners Hat and a Bob Hamelin card (yep. That one.) that I would love to have signed. (Hagan Ledda)

1:33:51 - What are your thoughts on the Detroit Lions? One of the more irrelevant franchises in North American sports, with a couple revelant moments in history (first season 0-16, 23-24 season) but also housed two of the greatest skill position players of all-time (Barry & Calvin) + an incredible history getting screwed (maybe just a fans perspective lol). Any chance a video/series gets made on them? I feel like there could be interesting stories to tell but also so much irrevelancy and mediocrity that their may not be a good story to tell. (Brendan Simone)

1:34:54 - Hey again, I would like to know if there will be an update on the History of the Atlanta Falcons updating everyone about the Arthur Smith era and now introducing us to the Raheem Morris era? (Noah T)

1:36:23 - Does anyone care about fantasy football at all, and if so, is there a Secret Base league? (Jackson M)

1:37:27 - We know that there’s an active Bob emergency, did we ever look up to see who is currently the anti-Bob? Or investigate which name was most thoroughly represented at different points in the Bob emergency timeline? (Kalvin Filarski)

1:39:05 - Would love to hear your guys take on the Green Bay Packer’s 3 time success in quality QB discovery, is it a fluke? Or are they doing something others aren’t? (Az Cohen)

1:40:08 - I recently read the actual formulas used to calculate Passer Rating in the NFL and, as expected, it's grade-A crazy. What are some of your favorite eerily-useful statistics and why? (Adam Foote)

1:42:04 - In your opinion, who was a better scorer in their prime, Glen Rice or Jerry Stackhouse? (Devin Weinbrecht)

1:43:01 - Y'all excited for that new NCAA Football game? Think there's anything worth exploring in how the franchise went away and is now coming back? (Bryce Page)

1:46:42 - Which sports video game has the best soundtrack? As someone who grew up in the Nintendo/Sega Genesis era, my pick is Laker vs Celtics and the NBA Playoffs for Genesis, it's an absolute banger that had no right going that hard for 16 bit hardware. (Elliott Anderson)

1:50:38 - I’m not currently working in any journalism or sports related field, but my pipe dream would be to break into the field somehow. what would I start with to get into this field? what were y’all’s processes for starting out? (Owen Stegall)