Show Notes
This week, we are operating on a generally elevated baseline of anxiety. Between hosting an 11-kid birthday party with a piñata, Erin's washing machine dying right when she needs to wash couch cushion covers, and a slammed hand in a truck door, the stress is very real. We crack open a full sugar Red Bull and a Spindrift to try and get through it. We kick things off with some "anti-motivation" for your hot summer runs: when the wind and heat are getting you down, just remember that you could be enduring 36 hours of labor or passing a kidney stone. We also vent our absolute rage over our posture after seeing photos of our rounded shoulders in the new Team Struggle Run shirts. Desk life and side-sleeping are clearly taking a toll, but we do have some positive fitness updates, including Erin mastering the dead hang and building sturdy wiffle ball strength through her pull up training. Next, we go on a massive rant about app registration requirements. We are completely sick of immediate pop-ups, cookie preferences, and forced account creations. Honestly, it would be easier to just hand-deliver our passwords, blood tests, and retinas straight to Jeff Bezos so he can just have all our data once and for all. We celebrate our former podcast guest and track-and-field Paralympian, Beatriz Hatz, who is making history as the first differently-abled contestant on Love Island. We also touch on the crazy drama of a local police officer quitting his force to join the same show. We then dive into a dedicated FIFA segment, covering three wild soccer stories. First, there's an alleged ban on outside water bottles that will force fans to buy overpriced water in the blistering heat. (I think FIFA recently repealed this, but we recorded before that.) We also discuss Heineken’s clever "solo fan" commercial featuring Xavi, which leads us to admit we would absolutely fail to recognize a celebrity like Bad Bunny if he sat next to us undercover. To wrap up the sports talk, we share a wholesome video breakdown of the Japanese national team arriving in Nuevo Leon, Mexico, in matching suits to receive traditional rancher hats from the governor. Moving into pop culture, we give a behind-the-scenes look at how TMZ actually gets the scoop, from keeping producers stationed daily at hospitals and courthouses to instantly calling everyone from mailmen to neighbors when news breaks. We also issue a quick reality TV PSA regarding Amanda Batula from Summer House: beta blockers are for lowering your heart rate during fight-or-flight moments, not for zoning out like benzos. For our "No Bad, No Sad" segment, we review arguably our best viral video yet, a corporate dad letting his inner DJ out on the turntables at a Guitar Center with his daughter.
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More from NonMembers Only
Welcome back to NonMembers Only! We kick off on National "Evaluate Your Life" Day as Erin unpacks a genuinely brutal birthday weekend. After attending a devastating funeral on Friday that left her filming brand ads with severely swollen eyes, she spent her actual birthday standing in torrential rain to run a hydration station for the LBI 18 Miler, getting so soaked her sweatpants were falling down. She also shares the hilariously unhinged greeting card her seven-year-old made for her mom after a minor tractor-trailer accident, and recounts the extreme anxiety of her first post-college job at a nanotechnology startup—which ended with her quitting on the spot after the owner screamed at them for opening a door to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning. In sports, we check in on the Pepto Pugskins fantasy football team, as Mike and Erin learn the hidden tabs for undrafted players. We also discuss the Olympic torch traveling to Hawaii in an archaic miner's safety lamp for the LA 2028 games, and formally announce that our highly anticipated trip to the Microsoft Excel Championships has been canceled due to budget cuts—though it's a blessing in disguise. We also marvel at a jump rope champion's wildly fast 30-second speed run and the terrifying flash floods that resulted in zero finishers at the grueling Moab 240 endurance race. In "Erin's Tea Time," we expose the Chinese running influencer who bragged about her Berlin Marathon PR before getting stripped of her time and dropped by her sponsors when photos proved she hitched a ride on an e-bike. We also evaluate a new fitness study proving that simple rest and sleep are just as effective as expensive "dude-bro" recovery hacks like cold plunges. We discuss a grandfather's live WWI artillery shell doorstop, celebrate 61-year-old Donna Jean Wilde's five-hour world record plank, and finally, in "No Bad, No Sad," smile at a wholesome video of 2026 Nobel Prize winner Carl Deisseroth sharing his massive optogenetics award with his ecstatic kids.
Merch - https://nonmembersshop.com/ We kick off the episode celebrating National Farmers Day by debating whether baling hay makes farmers actual athletes, before diving into our lingering disgust over lettuce grown with manure "poo water" . We finally swallow our pride to share the embarrassing origin story of our podcast, which all started during the pandemic when Sam gifted Erin one of Mike's Pizza Pocket Hoodies. In gaming news, Erin explains how she's escaping the "dopamine pit" of unfulfilled fitness goals by playing a relaxing Pokémon game (Pokemon Pokopia) and trying out Pathbound, a fantasy walking app that uses real life steps as stamina to smite hollow pixies. We also discuss Steppa, an app where users bet on hitting their 10,000 daily steps for a share of a $170,000 prize pool. On the sports front, we share a quick "Pepto Pugskins" fantasy football update, lamenting how the autodrafting might not be the smartest thing. In our news roundup, we review the controversial new spectator rules for the upcoming New York City Marathon, which officially ban confetti cannons and unauthorized sponsored cheer stations. We also discuss New York's new high-tech "robot toilets" equipped with a strict 10-minute time limit. Shifting to the extreme, we react to an athlete attempting to kayak 700km down the deadly Congo River basin alongside gorillas and hippos. In the collectibles and marketing world, we applaud the genius "NASCAR Swear Jar" campaign that lets fans guess the cumulative number of driver expletives to win a cash pot, and we marvel at Michael Jordan's $12.2 million game worn jersey being sold by Rob G., the same entrepreneur who recently purchased a Jai Alai league. We also squeeze in a serious health update, as Erin details her agonizing wait for genetic testing results and surgical consultations for her sentinel lymph nodes following a melanoma diagnosis. To lighten the mood, we explore the fun of magnet fishing in rivers for lost trinkets and marvel at the discovery of an 1884 shipwreck recently uncovered on the shores of Nantucket. We also follow up on the dedicated DoorDash driver who got into a severe car accident; his loyal customers have since raised $15,000 for him. Finally, in "No Bad, No Sad," we highlight the wholesome journey of a Japanese man biking from Chicago to LA who experienced the best of American hospitality when a stranger invited him to stay in his home, and a police officer helped push his heavy bike up a steep bridge.
We kick off celebrating a massive 7,000 Instagram follower milestone and share an intimate 50th wedding anniversary recap before diving into a four-player session of Super Mario Wonder. We discuss upcoming Nintendo releases—including the highly anticipated Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake—and gawk at a Pokémon card that just sold for an eye-popping $1,020,000. Finally, we praise the USA Women's Wheelchair Basketball squad entering LA 2028 as reigning world champions. 👋 New from the Spotify Home Feed? Hit the [ + FOLLOW ] button at the top of your screen so you never miss our Monday morning rants! New episodes drop religiously every Monday at 5:00 AM EST.
We kick off celebrating a two-week health streak and debating wedding table etiquette before sharing a neighborhood encounter with a rumored retired NFL player. We dive into a viral Hyrox race controversy from Beijing and break down the fiery NASCAR brawl at Bristol between Carson Hocevar and Ryan Blaney. Finally, we expose a shocking front-office scandal within USA Team Handball and open up a pack of the chaotic new 30th-anniversary Pokémon cards live on the mic. 👋 New from the Spotify Home Feed? Hit the [ + FOLLOW ] button at the top of your screen so you never miss our Monday morning rants! New episodes drop religiously every Monday at 5:00 AM EST.
We kick off celebrating World Mini Golf Day and issue a major podcast ultimatum before diving into a raw mental health and melanoma diagnosis update. On the sports front, we review the wild Philadelphia Eagles "Big Dom" drama, explore the insane World Nomad Games (horseback rugby with a goat carcass), and break down the Rams vs. 49ers Melbourne time-zone strategies. 👋 New from the Spotify Home Feed? Hit the [ + FOLLOW ] button at the top of your screen so you never miss our Monday morning rants! New episodes drop religiously every Monday at 5:00 AM EST.