I Listen So You Don't Have To: Steve Austin Show Ep. 201

Austin talks to a podcasting icon and a former NFL all-pro
Photo Credit: WWE.com

If you're new, here's the rundown: I listen to a handful of wrestling podcasts each week. Too many, probably, though certainly not all of them. In the interest of saving you time — in case you have the restraint to skip certain episodes — the plan is to give the bare bones of a given show and let you decide if it’s worth investing the time to hear the whole thing. There are better wrestling podcasts out there, of course, but these are the ones in my regular rotation that I feel best fit the category of hit or miss. If I can save other folks some time, I'm happy to do so.

Show: Steve Austin Show
Episode: 201
Run Time: 1:39:58
Guest: Adam Carolla (19:14), Amani Toomer (51:20)

Summary: Austin traveled to New York for a PodcastOne event and recorded this live show. He starts with Carolla discussing the nature of crowd funding, difficulties of air travel, being around people wearing too much perfume and a handful of movies, including Carolla’s new project, Road Hard. With Toomer, they discuss the retired NFL veteran’s health condition, his early football career, going through the combine and draft, comparing college football to life in the NFL, his take on different coaches, evaluating quarterbacks and the recent Super Bowl. During the close, Austin gives us his word of the day: fiddlefart.

Quote of the week: Toomer, on the NFL draft combine experience: “It was just a really weird situation. Half the day you walk around the combine, and you’re in your shorts, no socks, no shirt, and you’re just walking around in line going to doctors offices — it was really strange. And I remember walking into an auditorium where there’s a stage and a they have scale … step on the scale, right in front of everybody with your shirt off and you’re kind of just looking around … ‘Wow, I feel like a real piece of meat right now.’ … It was a really dehumanizing thing. That’s my biggest memory of the combine, being the first time I ever felt like a piece of meat.”

Why you should listen: Carolla is, according to PodcastOne, “the godfather of podcasting.” If you’re familiar with his work but not in this medium, well, here’s a halfway decent chance to get a feel for how he translates. The Toomer interview was stronger because he and Austin have similar backgrounds as professional athletes and Austin’s football passion enables him to ask decent questions.

Why you should skip it: There is very little wrestling talk whatsoever. If you’re not a fan of Carolla’s humor, or the way he dominates every conversation, you’re better off skipping that portion. And while the Toomer talk is the better half of the show, it’s not particularly interesting or illuminating to anyone beyond his most ardent fans.

Final thoughts: I’m still not entirely sure what the purpose was of having Austin be part of this New York event, though he and Carolla can both draw more than 1 million downloads for a single podcast episode. I don’t fault Austin for releasing the live show — it was far better audio than a Colt Cabana live episode, for one thing — as he told listeners about the trip in advance and with two shows a week it’s unlikely he’d have time to record anything better than what we got here. Still, don’t feel bad if you take a pass on this one in hopes the Thursday show will be more entertaining.