Pablo Torre finds out everything, from losing ESPN the day his daughter was born to betting on himself to winning a Pulitzer, exposing Steve Ballmer, Life Surge, Tim Tebow, Bill Belichick and taking on sports’ most powerful.

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Ryan Clark (0:30)

By now, you know Pablo Torre finds out everything. But this wasn't even supposed to be his career. Pablo was supposed to be a lawyer. He certainly didn't expect that he'd take that Ivy League education and use it to talk sports or investigate billionaires, expose scandals, and somehow become one of the best storytellers in the business. This conversation starts with the day he'll never forget. And by the time we finish, we probably talk about some days that the subjects of his investigations would love to forget. Pablo's transparent, storytelling is vivid, and his recall is dang near perfect. His investigations start with something as simple as, something doesn't smell right, and at least one ended in a Pulitzer Prize. We talk expectations, failing LSATs, and losing your job while gaining a brand new baby girl. We get into Steve Ballmer and the Clippers, Life Surge, Tim Tebow, and how much did Hawaii actually know? And yes, I had to ask Pablo, why he cared so much that Bill Belichick had a young girlfriend. This conversation could have gone on for hours, and there's definitely going to have to be a part too, because Pablo has heart, he has depth, and a moral compass that drives the way he tells and investigates stories, whether it's figuring out what a billionaire has done wrong to pay his star guard, or death row inmates who happen to love the cowboys, Pablo always finds out. But today, he's the one in the hot seat, and Pivot fam, this one was a banger. So please welcome Pablo Torre to The Pivot.

Pablo Torre, man, welcome to the show. This is Channing Crowder, this is Fred Taylor, I'm Ryan Clark, Pivot family. Thank you for pivoting with us. I'm gonna say this before this even starts. I am so glad I'm on this side of Pablo Torre Finds Out, because I'm going to let you know, you start investigating me, I'm signing the peace treaty day one.

Channing Crowder (2:48)

He's a young man now, don't look at me, Pablo.

Pablo Torre (2:50)

We got a lot of show left, though, thanks.

Ryan Clark (2:53)

Man, but welcome. Congratulations to you and your entire team. It's just incredible investigative reporting you've done, the Pulitzer Prize as well. That's a team award, but obviously, you're the face of it, three sports Emmy nominations. I just think what you have done is phenomenal, but people kind of see that right now and they don't know the journey, right? And today we want to talk a little bit about that. So I think I have this day right. Bring me back to February 24th, 2020

It was a day that a lot was happening, not only in the world, but in Pablo Torre's world. So talk to me about scrolling your phone in the hospital waiting on Violet.

Pablo Torre (3:34)

It is crazy that this all happened on the same day, but I am the father of a daughter who arrived in this world on February 24th, 2020 And she was three weeks early. And these things you can't plan, I realized immediately. I am the type of, apparently, the type of dad who will be in the, we called it Uber Black that day, just to give you a sense of, we're gonna do this right.

And I live in Manhattan, and I am the type of dad I realize that isn't gonna yell at the driver. I'm gonna like, for some reason, you discover things about yourself, like I'm gonna be patiently like checking my watch and trying to get there as fast as possible, but I'm not gonna be the guy in the movies saying, step on it, you know, drive onto the fucking curb. It wasn't that.

And as I'm learning these things about myself, we enter the waiting room, and I also learned that the New York Post has just published an article saying that my television show at ESPN has been canceled. And so life arrives, and something very meaningful to me also goes away in public. And I just remember thinking to myself, I can't believe that when I think about the birth of Violet, my daughter and my wife who didn't take painkillers when giving birth, the most NFL-like person in my family is my wife. It's like the toughness of giving birth without an epidural. I'm going to remember all of this in the context of also this headline, and that sucked. I don't want sympathy. I just want to point out that sometimes the universe can make it feel like you're the main character for today. And that was what February 24th was like.