NBA One Guy (the West!), an Eagles Mess, MLB and WNBA Playoffs, a Mini-Mailbag and Ringer 107 Picks | With Rob Mahoney, Tom Pelissero, and Joe House

Bill Simmons (0:00)

Hey, I was lucky enough to get a son and a daughter through their early teens and their mid-teens in the social media era. And even though we were constantly monitoring it, there's still a whole bunch of stuff that can go wrong.

Joe House (0:12)

And that's why Instagram teen accounts have automatic protections on by default.

Bill Simmons (0:17)

Built-in content settings for the content teens can see, contact limits for who can contact them, and time management tools like daily time limits, and sleep mode. Teens are automatically placed in the teen accounts. Teens under 16 will need a parents permission to change any of these settings to be less strict. Instagram will continue adding built-in safety features to help create age-appropriate experiences. Learn more about teen accounts and Instagram's ongoing work to protect teens online at instagram.com/teenaccounts.

Today's episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, brought to you by the Ringer Podcast Network, where I put up a new episode of The Re-Watchables. On Monday, we did Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Yeah, we have another horror movie coming on Monday. We did Friday the 13th, the original, the first one because we've not done a Friday the 13th yet. So we figured we'd do the first one to set up the ones we really want to do, which is part four and Jason Goes to Manhattan, which is one of the funniest movies of the 1980s. So you can go check all those out. You can check out a couple of our new podcasts, including Jessalyn at Book Club and What Chaos, our NHL podcast. Crazy NHL season already. A lot of stuff going on. Brian Curtis launched a new newsletter this week as well.

His version of the Press Box in print. It's called Now They Tell Us. He's written two pieces this week. They're both fantastic.

That's what we got going here at The Ringer. I have a really, really, really stacked podcast. It's about as good as I can do. First off, we have Rob Mahoney, because I had to play NBA One Guy for the West, and we talked about 15 players in the West. Went right to Tom Pelissero. He gave us the six pack of NFL information and all kinds of storylines going on right now. Then last but not least, House and I talked about the MLB playoffs. I forced him to talk about WNBA again. It was actually pretty fun. Then we did Ringer 107 picks. And we also did Mailbag. Yeah, that's why this podcast is almost three hours long. It's all coming up next. We're going to take a break. Pearl Jam. And then Rob Mahoney.

This is The Bill Simmons Podcast presented by FanDuel. Make every NFL week more rewarding with FanDuel Rewards Club. You heard me. Just bet like you normally would. Earn points and eligible settled bets win or lose. Keep collecting points, level up and unlock bigger rewards. So keep an eye on your Rewards Club progress and see what you can unlock. This is your most rewarding season ever and it's with FanDuel. Twenty one plus select states are 18 plus DC or Wyoming. GameProb call 1-800-GAMBAR or call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut.

Rob Mahoney is here taping on a Thursday. We are less than a week away from the 2026-27 NBA season. Are you ready emotionally? Where are you standing these days?

Rob Mahoney (3:43)

I hope so.

I'm ready intellectually. I'm ready philosophically. I think the emotions look. We're gonna be riding high coming into opening night, but I hope I can get there by then.

Bill Simmons (3:53)

I didn't think I was ready, and it felt really soon, because football feels like it started a little late this year. Baseball playoffs are going. WNBA playoffs have been fun. I have a college football team. And then three things happened.

One was, I saw a two-minute montage of Darren Peterson just cooking in some pre-season game and making all these different shots in the half-court offense that looked like he was 28 years old. And I was like, oh, okay. So that happened. Then there was a two and a half minute montage of Darius Acuff using D'Montes Sabonis picks and either faking like he was gonna use the pick or not and getting all of these good shots. Did you see this montage?

Rob Mahoney (4:35)

I did not see that montage. Should I make time for it?

Bill Simmons (4:37)

I think you should make time for it. I was delighted and excited about it. And he looked like the guy that I thought he might be in college. So that was the second thing. And then the third thing was we're still less than three weeks away from the season. And we've already had a Philadelphia controversy about whether or not Joe LM. Bede was late for practice involving Mike Breen having to basically recant something that he said. And then Nick Nurse seemed like he was kind of admitting it was true.