Americarnage

Nat, Mike and Dan rock up at the studio to find a pile of Mancave goodies on the table which means there must be a guest about but damned if they can see him. They get started only to catch a glimpse of movement which resolves itself into TV, radio and indeed NFL’s Vernon Kay who had woven himself into the fabric of the place using Mancave's new CamoMoisturiser. Or they're a bit crap at seeing. Either or. In other news: Mike lists every single cast member of a show; Vernon has had etiquette lessons with Andrew Luck but in the end rocks a travel cup; Nat and Mike are starting their 5Live NFL coverage at 8pm on Thanksgiving and every Sunday after; the Bengals keep their primetime jinx going; the Pats keep rolling;’ the “is it the end of Peyton Manning” question gets an airing again; grass-roots Football in the UK and the future of the sport in the UK gets a surprisingly coherent discussion; in the NBA Cleveland lead the East from Chicago; the unbeaten Golden State Warriors lead the San Antonio Spurs in the West; the NHL has a new leader in the East, the New York Rangers are above Montreal who have played and lost one more; in the West it’s Dallas and St Louis; loads of #AskVern and Mancave Mailbag action; Dan breaks out a cracker of a game created with Vernon in mind plus much, much more...

With the Iron One out of action this week Nat and Dan decide that they’ve got to get a man of equal stature in, a sports writer and broadcaster of impeccable creds and unbounded charm. So not like Mike at all then. Luckily the ‘Carnage little black book comes up trumps with the brilliant Andy Brassell whose sports writing chops are so good he WATCHES NBA FOR FUN. Nuff said. Also, Carlson has sent an NFL round-up and listen out at the end for a phone message from friend of the show Vladimir Putin.

In other news: Nat is ill but powering through; Dan has seen Mississippi Grind and rates it; Ryan Reynolds gets a mention; Belgian and Dutch film gets a very short look-in; Nat talks muppets, an easy stretch for this show; Andy talks second educations; in the NFL the Bengals have surpassed the haters to seem like the real deal, something which will now mean they lose next week; the Colts show up this week, derailing the terrible yet otherwise winning Broncos; the Panthers are still unbeaten, as are the Pats who are the subject of a my-first-NFL chat for newbie Andy; in the NBA the Cavs lead the East; Warriors lead the west – all as expected - the Pelicans, the Nets and the 76ers have lost every game so far – so they are NOT good; in the NHL the Canadiennes replacement goalie Mike Condon is crushing it; Gary Bettman says there is no plans to expand the NHL currently, which means no-one bought Las Vegas Unlimited Buffet season tickets; loads of top-class Mancave Mailbag action; Dan brings it with a game; there’s a competition – and of course much, much more…

Nat, Mike and Dan are known for their wide range of sporting tastes and many’s the hour they’ve whiled away considering what would happen if one sport took the methods and ethos of another. They never wrote any of it down though so they’re totally beaten by guest this week Martin Calladine whose book The Ugly Game is all about what the Premier League can learn from the NFL. Dan, as you can expect has some very particular views on that…

In other news: Dan is frisky this week, so is Mike – worrying; Nat and Martin made a COPA90 film together recently, no-one has seen it; Mike has seen a Horror Western and HdP is weirdly excited about this; Dan has a sandwich recommendation that has nothing to do with Pinocchio; Columbo is the most realistic detective show ever apparently; the NFL continues mental – Eli throws 6 TD passes and loses; Kaepernick is still terrifyingly rubbish; the Broncos are still the worst winningest team; the International Series is over for another year but don’t worry, next year they’re playing ALL the games here; the NBA season tipped off last Tuesday with a regular sight – the Cavs letting everyone down - but they’ve won every game since; Lebron became the youngest player ever to hit 25,000 career points; Tim Duncan has now broken the record for the most games for a single team; Kobe Bryant sucks; in the NHL Montreal lead the East by some distance from the Capitals, Dallas leads St Louis and Minnesota in the West; loads of Mancave Mailbag action, comp winners and indeed much, much more…

Nat, Mike and Dan rock up at the studio to find that they’re not alone, far from alone in fact: Olympic gold medallist Mark Hunter is in the house but also so is Nate – Carlson Jr - so it’s the fullest house we’ve had since the 100th show...

In other news: Mark brings up a hell of a book and everyone agrees; people in Iceland have had a crisis of confidence and Dan has read about how they got their groove back; Mike talks about a Nazi legacy, definitely not his though; Nate Carlson gets his first broadcast interview and handles it adroitly – a most un-‘Carnage way of doing things; in the NFL, the in-inverted-commas athletic quarterbacks are being outrun by the old pocket-passers; is the Texans situation the most shambolic there’s ever been? The International Series game was fittingly one of two halves; Amari Cooper should be rookie of the year; Honeybadger is getting in people’s heads; in the MLB it’s World Series time and a lot of time gets devoted to the general hatred for New York teams, the Mets and, bizarrely, something called the West Ham Way; in the NHL Montreal lead the east from the New York teams. Nashville just about lead the west from Dallas and Chicago; in Anti Rantaa news, he had another solid game for the Rangers as they beat the flames; the NBA season is upon us and the pick of the games is the Cavs against the Bulls; Derrick Rose is back, after returning from his fractured eye bone; Flip Saunders has sadly passed and will be missed; Metta World Peace is back for some reason; there’s Mancave Mailbag goodness, competition winner, more competitions and much, much, much more...

Nat, Mike and Dan are men who are masters of their chosen professions, men who frequently weep for there are no more worlds for them to conquer. Turns out that the Iron One may have his sights set beyond broadcasting and journalism though, does a Don Draper-esque life await him in advertising…?

In other news: Nat talks Muppets; Mike shills hard; HdP offers to lead him further down the dark path; Americarnage is on Instagram apparently, sure you all care hugely; Dan has seen Sicario and has his usual interesting take on it; Mike reveals his line to get out of any sticky situation; the NFL season continues and is on as mental form as ever and yes, we do mention the Colts; 5 unbeaten teams after 6 weeks and it’s been winning ugly week; Rivers throws for over 500 but no-one cares; Detroit beat Chicago despite neither team seeming to want to win; Mike runs down the MLB and flips more bats than you do; in the NHL, sa if anticipating the results of the Canadian election, Montreal are top of the East with 6 wins out of 6; St Louis are top of the west; in and out of the NBA Lamar Odom is out of hospital after his collapse in a Nevada brothel; the NBA Champion Golden State Warriors have signed free agent guard/forward Xavier Henry and free agent forward Chris Udofia; loads of the usual Mancave Mailbag goodness and of course much, much more….

With the Big Man on IR this week it's down to Nat and the newly-recovered Dan to get things done this week. As they glance around furtively and dare to dream of an Americarnage After Dark, who should appear to save them and everyone else from themselves but All-Pro and now third most frequent guest, the Canadian wonder Mr Erik Janssen. Listen our for some bonus Carlson at the end of the show...

In other news: Glenn Beardon is our Mancave grand prize winner with his tweet about Iron Mike; Dan talks Red Army and Fresh off the Boat; Erik talks The Americans; Nat relays an argument the guys had backstage at Wembley and A Month of Sundays; Andy Dalton gets big-ups; Ely Manning’s position as most hated man in football just because he’s won more than Peyton continues; Kaepernick’s job security gets a quick discussion, possibly not quick enough; Nat makes a wild prediction about he Bears which he wants noted down in case it’s right in a few weeks time; the MLB playoffs are mental-exciting and Erik tells you why; the Utley incident gets a thorough discussion, along with fighting in baseball;l oads of Mancave Mailbag goodness; comps galore and much, much more...

Nat, Mike and special guest Paolo “The Great” Bandini arrive at the studio this week with a sense of purpose which is dimmed only by a slight sense of foreboding. There have been sightings of Hollywood back on English soil. What can this mean? They don’t have to wait long to find out…

In other news: HdP has brought a bunch of Mancave products for the guys and Mike gets a little unnecessary about it; Paolo has seen some documentaries and starts getting into that when Dan Podcrashes his way into the building; luckily there’s very little violence as he’s a little jetlagged and pleasingly squishy; Mike talks about The Crime Vault Live – his and HdP’s new show all about crime fiction; the final round for the Mancave Mystery Star Prize is beginning – exciting isn’t the word; there was NFL at Wembley in case you hadn’t noticed and it was basically the Chris Ivory show; Miami coaching job was outsourced on the way home; the Bears pick up a win; the Bengals seem shakily like a real deal at 4-0; things happen in the MLB, Nat tells you about them; loads of goodness from the Mancave Mailbag and indeed a big pile of much, much more….

Nat and Mike are staring right down the barrel of being a gruesome twosome this week as Dan’s still hiding out in the swamps of Louisiana after a run-in with some locals who took exception to him treating the whole place like an episode of True Detective. Luckily for everyone, except maybe Dan, his old Absolute Radio buddy and Gridiron mainstay Mr Will Gavin is on hand to lend his expertise to proceedings.In other news: Nat and Mike are back on telly - this Sunday on the BBC for the International series so if you can’t make it down, get involved with them; Mike composes songs on Twitter to Osi Umenyiora; Will rates The Martian and the gang agree the recent NASA announcement is really well timed for movie promo duties; Mike goes all arty-movie-tastic again; Nat talks Ballers and wishes it could be a bit more like Playmakers; Glenn Beardon is this week’s Mancave competition winner, coming in via the Champions Club app (check our facebook page for the download link) and gets goodies as well as entry into the grand final; Mike highlights the madness of this part of the NFL season and the undrinkable superlative-soup; Mike Vick is starting; it’s battle of the Ryans at Wembley this weekend; Brandon Marshall’s non-flea-flicker is play of the week; Jalston Fowler is the other play of the week with a painful Welcome to Big School on his second ever rushing attempt; Nat outlines the madness of the MLB right now and highlights an article by old mate Dave Lengel; loads and loads of Mancave Mailbag goodness and, with a promise of a game for next week prepared by HdP, that’s it aside from much, much, more…

Nat and Mike are in the house and with Hollywood out of the country Mike is so keen to get things going that he crashes Nat’s intro in a new record of 3.2 seconds. Making sure the dynamic duo don’t totally kill each other though we have West Ham fan, Niners fan and, last but not least, Olympic gold medallist Mr Mark Hunter who teaches the guys about Firegazing...In other news: Mike crashes everything; Nat talks Doll and Em; Mike has started his London Film Festival viewings which will furnish his 3 points for the next few weeks; we announce the winner of this week’s Mancave competition and tee up next week’s along with some exciting app-based stuff; Mike talks through the weirdest week of an NFL season since that time Chip Kelly traded for Cthulu; injuries abound and all bets are now off; Nat runs down the magic numbers in the MLB, including the age of the newest team manager who will make anyone who left school last century weep; Mike talks Eurobasket; there’s loads of goodness from the Mancave Mailbag and the requisite much, much more...

Nat, Mike and Dan roll into the studio this week with the sort of spring in their step that can only mean football is back – real, regular season, this-really-means-something-not-maybe-means-something god-damned football. So it’s back to business as usual and in that spirit, Mike crashes Nat’s intro beautifully. Ah, it’s good to be back…

In other news: college ball expert and prime mover in the UK’s only pro American Football scouting outfit Mr Matt Phillips is in the house; Mike has seen a film which prompts two major questions – is there life after death and how much nepotism is there in the movie business? Matt brings the dark arts of college football recruiting to the table; Mike tells some of his early athletic stories and they have a surprising theme; Dan brings up the Burn of the Show prize again and offers prizes – vote for the best burn of the show and be in with a chance to win something to ease the pain; the winner of the first week of the Mancave #OwnTheBathroom competition is the brilliant David Hughes who wins goodies and is through to the grand final to compete for International Series tickets; NFL is happening but Goodell isn’t in view; there are pranks; Buffalo trash Indy; Dez Bryant is out; Seattle lost to the Rams; Marcus Mariota really is quite good; MLB things are happening, Nat tells you about them; Dan goes back-to-back with NBA and NHL round-ups; the gus compete on one of the lowest-scoring games ever; loads of goodness from the Mancave Mailbag, including one slip of the tongue and of course much, much more…