Pocket Dogs Podcast: The Football Edition.
Sep 24, 2026 · 34 min · 10 segments
Carpenter Cole at it again. Are the 49ers legit? The los Angeles Rams are back. The giants are screwed
Now on Sunday as I sat in my comfortable chair with a pillow so my butt cheeks don't fall asleep during the Bears-Vikings snoozefest game, I saw poor Caleb Williams go down like he was shot by Vasily Zatsev.
I thought to myself, man, the Madden curse is no joke.
And for those of you living under a rock or in the Eloy Correctional Center, the Madden curse is when a player decides to allow his image to be put on a video game cover of John Madden football.
And since the 90s, and checking my unverified stats that I'm basically guessing on, I'd say at least 60% of the players put on the cover have either been injured or have had the worst years of their career.
It's a huge list the size of a CVS receipt from Peyton Hillis only rushing for 500 yards to Michael Vick breaking his leg to even a couple seasons ago when McCaffrey missed the entire year with calf cramps.
Some curses have actual stats to back them up.
Like the curse of the billy goat, where a tavern owner was kicked out of a Cubs game during the World Series because he brought a smelly goat to the stadium and people weren't having it.
And on his way out, he cursed the Cubs, saying that they would never win another World Series.
Well, that curse, it lasted 71 years, from 1945 to finally when they finally won it in 2016.
Or King Tut's curse, where when they found Tut's tomb and opened it, some of their party died of mysterious reasons.
But out of all curses, the Madden curse seems to be the most legitimate of them all.
So, when I saw Caleb Williams running toward the sidelines during the game and collapse to the ground like Chris Kyle gave him a brainstem shot from a mile out, I yelled at my TV, holy shit, the curse is undefeated.
That followed up by me watching him scream and rage writhe in pain, but not just saying a loud ow, it was more like he stepped on a landmine and a lieutenant dand himself.
They were saying that judging by the incredible amount of pain that he was in, it's more than likely that it was a grade 3 tear of the hamstring or a full Achilles rupture, and both of them need surgery, and both of them are season-ending.
Well 10 minutes later after a long commercial break we see two guys soldier carrying Williams to a cart.
Two guys needed to help him because he could not put any weight on his leg.
Then a few moments later you see him being driven off the field with a towel covering his face because the guy is snot bubble crying.
Then at the very end of that ride on that cart he pulls the towel off and exposes his toddler crying face and he gives the crowd a thumbs up sign.
Now, normally I wouldn't question a man's intestinal fortitude.
Some people are blessed with a high pain tolerance and others they are not.
You guys know my buddy Shirtless Ian, right? Well, according to the Pocket Dogs podcast poll we had a while back, he is the second favorite character behind Tuna Can Matt.
Anyway, Ian calls me up one night and he's gasping for air.
He said he has never had more pain in his life because he pulled his groin bowling.
Now on Sunday as I sat in my comfortable chair with a pillow so my butt cheeks don't fall asleep during the Bears-Vikings snoozefest game, I saw poor Caleb Williams go down like he was shot by Vasily Zatsev.
I thought to myself, man, the Madden curse is no joke.
And for those of you living under a rock or in the Eloy Correctional Center, the Madden curse is when a player decides to allow his image to be put on a video game cover of John Madden football.
And since the 90s, and checking my unverified stats that I'm basically guessing on, I'd say at least 60% of the players put on the cover have either been injured or have had the worst years of their career.
It's a huge list the size of a CVS receipt from Peyton Hillis only rushing for 500 yards to Michael Vick breaking his leg to even a couple seasons ago when McCaffrey missed the entire year with calf cramps.
Some curses have actual stats to back them up.
Like the curse of the billy goat, where a tavern owner was kicked out of a Cubs game during the World Series because he brought a smelly goat to the stadium and people weren't having it.
And on his way out, he cursed the Cubs, saying that they would never win another World Series.
Well, that curse, it lasted 71 years, from 1945 to finally when they finally won it in 2016.
Or King Tut's curse, where when they found Tut's tomb and opened it, some of their party died of mysterious reasons.
But out of all curses, the Madden curse seems to be the most legitimate of them all.
So, when I saw Caleb Williams running toward the sidelines during the game and collapse to the ground like Chris Kyle gave him a brainstem shot from a mile out, I yelled at my TV, holy shit, the curse is undefeated.
That followed up by me watching him scream and rage writhe in pain, but not just saying a loud ow, it was more like he stepped on a landmine and a lieutenant dand himself.
They were saying that judging by the incredible amount of pain that he was in, it's more than likely that it was a grade 3 tear of the hamstring or a full Achilles rupture, and both of them need surgery, and both of them are season-ending.
Well 10 minutes later after a long commercial break we see two guys soldier carrying Williams to a cart.
Two guys needed to help him because he could not put any weight on his leg.
Then a few moments later you see him being driven off the field with a towel covering his face because the guy is snot bubble crying.
Then at the very end of that ride on that cart he pulls the towel off and exposes his toddler crying face and he gives the crowd a thumbs up sign.
Now, normally I wouldn't question a man's intestinal fortitude.
Some people are blessed with a high pain tolerance and others they are not.
You guys know my buddy Shirtless Ian, right? Well, according to the Pocket Dogs podcast poll we had a while back, he is the second favorite character behind Tuna Can Matt.
Anyway, Ian calls me up one night and he's gasping for air.
He said he has never had more pain in his life because he pulled his groin bowling.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.