Monday means Guys' Day, and Gunny Sarge and B Cash are back in the booth with Cam holding it down on the boards. The Monday Morning Quarterback runs hot: MLB stretch run heating up with Yankees-Cardinals, a fourteen-run Blue Jays explosion in Toronto, and the AL East tightening up game by game. NFL preseason brings backup QBs fighting for their careers — Zach Wilson's still out here, Quinn Ewers flashing in Miami, and a defensive back deciding Titans-Falcons on a pick-six. B Cash takes the long way around to LIV Golf and lands on what might be the realest sports take of the year: loyalty is what you can afford this quarter. Plus the Lynx going 3-and-0 against the Liberty, the NBA moving to Amazon, and Houston getting scary AND crotchety with KD.

In walks Kimbra Piedmont, founder of Piedmont Regulatory Strategies out of the DMV, was advertised as a permit-expediting entrepreneur. What actually shows up is a lawyer who's won every trial she's taken, a fixer who reads rooms for a living, and a self-described nut cracker. The conversation goes places the booking did not predict: why bureaucracies aren't actually about paperwork, why payoffs are a mistake even when they work, why most people don't lose because they're wrong, what state legislators are actually doing for the money, and why information is the only currency that doesn't lose value. Plus dating fake mobsters, wannabe mobsters, and actual mobsters (spoiler: all boring), the difference between power and leverage, and what Kimbra would put on a probe shot into space to represent humanity after we're gone.

By the end of the hour, Michael and B Cash are pretty sure Arnold sent a heavy hitter into the studio. Kimbra's pretty sure they're delightful. We leave wondering how much of life actually works the way she just described.

If you can't get you a Kimbra, get a wolf.

Study the game. Go hard in the paint. Stay all the way up.

Guest: Kimbra Piedmont — Piedmont Regulatory Strategies

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. YouTube, TikTok, all that good stuff. GreatestPlayersInTheGame.com. Buy the merch — we gotta fund the cookout somehow.

The Cookout is officially on.

Michael and B Cash launch the Friday show by laying down the law. Literally. The Cookout Handbook is born in real time: don't try to pair your phone with the speaker, don't request a song, don't laugh harder than everyone else, write your name on your cup, and whatever you do, act like you got some sense. Captain Brolic is checking invites at the door. Violations will be handled swiftly. By the left pant leg.

Before the guest arrives, the hosts and Cam get into a full culture check-in. Michael finally saw Superman and has thoughts. B Cash has a theater horror story involving a groaning man, a Kaiju, and a kid who yelled something unforgivable at Lois Lane. Cam breaks her silence to dissect Sinners, deliver a flawless impression of Michael's sports metaphors, and offer the most concise take on AI in entertainment anyone's heard: "Ethics and regulation. And I hate it."

Enter NeoN. Stage left.

NeoN is a 22-year-old session guitarist from Chicago's south side. He learned guitar from his aunt at nine years old and never stopped. He moved to New York to pursue music. He's currently doing session work through his manager while writing his own material on the side. He's talented, he's hungry, and he's one of the most magnetic people to pull up.

The conversation goes everywhere. The AKA-to-Nissan pipeline. Why B Cash didn't go to college. The value of self-education versus formal degrees. How hip-hop traveled the world through collaboration. What Aunt Syl means to NeoN's music. Why a performer stopped an entire memorial concert to retune his guitar. And what piece of art you'd send into space to represent all of humanity. NeoN's answer involves deep music theory, sub-Saharan African rhythm, and then Purple Rain because sometimes you have to... dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun- KISS.

The centerpiece of the episode is NeoN playing a genre-bending cover of Lift Every Voice and Sing that leads into the most substantive conversation the show has had yet about culture, national identity, and who gets to decide what songs belong where.

Cam says approximately eleven words. Every one of them matters. She calls Leon's music "quite good," which from Cam is a standing ovation.

This is what Fridays sound like now.

Study the game. Go hard in the paint. Stay all the way up.

0:00 — Welcome to the Cookout: The rules, the vibes, the V-Series smoothie 2:00 — The Cookout Handbook: napkins, horseshoes, corn hole, and Captain Brolic 5:00 — Don't pair your phone with the speaker. Don't request a song. Don't. 6:00 — "Let us COOK!" — The Cookout is open 7:00 — Culture Check-In: Michael finally saw Superman 8:00 — B Cash's theater horror story: the groaner, the Kaiju, and the kid 10:00 — Sinners: Cam, B Cash, and the vampire logic debate 13:00 — Cam's impression of Michael. Michael's reaction. 14:00 — AI in entertainment: freight trains, Blockbuster, and ethics 16:00 — NeoN enters the Cookout 17:00 — The vegan cookout test: "Does the potato salad have raisins?" 18:00 — The mutual friend: she's got a memory like an elephant 19:00 — AKAs, Nissans, epi-pens, and Set It Off 21:00 — College, comedy, and the value of self-education 23:00 — The fumbled introduction: "Who is this dude?" 24:00 — NeoN's music journey: Aunt Syl, short rock, and learning guitar at nine 27:00 — Session work: "I'm just a hired gun at that point" 29:00 — Music is human: onions, spices, and universal constants 31:00 — Run-DMC, Aerosmith, and how hip-hop traveled the world 33:00 — Leon plays Lift Every Voice and Sing 34:00 — The conversation: national anthems, culture, and who gets to decide 38:00 — B Cash vs. Michael: the market is not a democracy 40:00 — The Waddle: a new dance, a new stride 41:00 — What would you send to space to represent humanity? 44:00 — Purple Rain and call it a day 45:00 — Cam: "It's quite good." The highest praise. 46:00 — Closing: your invite is permanent, NeoN

• Website:https://GreatestPlayersInTheGame.com
• YouTube: [insert link]
• TikTok: [insert link]
• Instagram: [insert link]
• Merch Store: [insert link]
• NeoN Social Media: [insert links when available]

the cookout, friday podcast, NeoN, Leon Rivers, guitarist, session musician, Chicago, south side, FAMU, music podcast, culture podcast, Lift Every Voice, national anthem debate, Superman review, Sinners review, Ryan Coogler, AI entertainment, SAG-AFTRA, hip hop, guitar, session work, new music, emerging artist, comedy podcast, dating, college debate, Prince, Purple Rain, Black culture, cookout culture, new podcast 2025

The very first Ladies' Night.

Michael and B Cash open by laying out what Wednesdays are about: a space built for women to take the reins, for the conversations men and women should actually be having, and for the hosts to listen more than they talk. They're still figuring it out. That's the point.

Amanda Bibbie is a 22-year-old model living in Brooklyn who visits the show. She walks in confident, charming, and ready to talk about dating in New York, the modeling industry, and what it's like to be a young woman trying to make it in this city.

The dating conversation is hilarious. Amanda's Hinge horror story, her theory on DMs versus real-life approaches, and her breakdown of what it's actually like when guys find your Instagram page are some of the most honest things said about modern dating on any podcast this week.

Then the conversation shifts to her career. Amanda describes her path from pageants in Florida to swimwear shoots in New York. But when the questions get specific, things get uncomfortable.

What follows is one of the most genuine conversations about ambition, identity, and the gap between who you present yourself as and who you actually are. Michael and B Cash share their own stories of faking confidence before they had the skills to back it up. And Amanda drops the performance and becomes the most interesting version of herself.

This episode is about the distance between pretty and Fashion with a capital F. It's about what happens when the room knows more than you do. And it's about what you gain when you stop pretending.