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Over 25 years ago, on September 29th, 1998, we watched a brainy girl with curly hair drop everything to follow a guy she only kind of knew all the way to college. And so began Felicity. My name is Juliette Littman, and I'm a Felicity superfan.
Join me, Amanda Foreman, who you may know better as Megan, the roommate, and Greg Grunberg, who you may also know as Sean Blundberg, as the three of us revisit our favorite moments from the show and talk to the people who helped shape it. Listen to Dear Felicity on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Well, welcome to the Jason in the House podcast. I'm Jason Chaffetz, and thanks for joining us. We're going to talk today a lot about the World Cup. You know, it's the world's biggest sporting event. It doesn't even... I mean, everything else pales in comparison. We talk a lot about the Super Bowl, and we're focused on that here in the United States, but I got to tell you, globally, when the World Cup's happening, whoa, everything shuts down. Everything shuts down. So...
I'm really excited to talk a little bit about that. Of course, I'm going to highlight the stupid because there's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. I'm going to talk about a few things in the news.
And then we're going to chat with Jenny Taft a little bit about this. You are going to see her. If you watch the World Cup, you're engaged in watching that on Fox. You're going to see a lot of Jenny. Super talented. One of the great rising stars at Fox. But you're going to see her on Fox Sports a whole lot today.
But hang in there with us. Let me give you a few bits and tidbits about the news. The election, obviously, still counting votes. Isn't it amazing that we're this far along and they still haven't closed out the races?
At the time that we're recording this, in California, the Valadao race, as I like to call it, Congressman Valadao, they'd only counted like 54% of the votes. I don't know how you can be this far along and only be 54% of the way through the counting, but that's where they're at. Anyway, a few bits about the news. One is...
I think perhaps one of the more beloved people in this country is Jay Leno. And, you know, suddenly we got this news that he was somehow working on his car and some sort of accident happened.
was rushed to the hospital. All I can say about this story is, you know what, Jay Leno, I think, is an exceptionally good person. Now, I've had the opportunity to meet him a couple of times. Super nice person in any setting. I love him on television, but I can tell you, he's equally of a nice and just sweet gentleman in person. And, you know, it was just my way of saying, you know,
I hope you keep him in your thoughts and prayers because for him to have this accent, it burns to the face. I hope it's as minimal as he kind of brushes it off as he, of course, being a comedian, he just kind of joked about it, but he did have to cancel some personal appearances and
I just hope he's okay because his story, uh, with him and his wife and everything he's done reaching the peak of the summit of popularity. And then even after his time on the tonight show, he's still going out doing different events, corporate events, private events. Um, you know, he's got a, uh, events that he does in smaller venues and, uh, he's just an American treasurer and it just hope he's okay. Uh,
Something a little bit more serious. One thing that I think is going to be in the news, you know, we talk a lot about Republicans taking control of the House of Representatives. And yes, they can be a participant and put a block on big parts of the president's agenda and spending and everything else. But one of the key components is going to be how the president and the executive branch
How are they going to react to investigations? I can tell you as the former chairman of the House Oversight Committee, the speed in which the Obama-Biden administration reacted to subpoenas was pathetic. It was little to none. I think Democrats then suddenly are in charge. Guess what? Every Department of Justice request was just filled automatically, quickly, swiftly, and
And it's really going to be interesting to see how that changes with the precedent that they set. One thing that maybe is not yet on your radar in terms of where are Republicans going to spend time doing investigation, and outside groups as well, I think is going to be back to examine what, when the world was Executive Order 14019. 14019.
Now, this was a directive to all federal departments, agencies, and personnel
to help get out the vote. Now, on the surface, yeah, okay, the federal government saying, "Hey, help get out there." But then, then when you actually go through and you read the details and you start to understand what was going on in this thing, I think it's something that the Republican Party, quite frankly, was not paying enough attention to and probably should have gotten a lot more
attention. So there is the Foundation for Government Accountability. I have no affiliation with them. They are suing the federal government because they wanted the details behind this executive order. Now this according to a report in The Federalist. Now they've gone to court because the Freedom of Information Act put forward by the Foundation for Government Accountability was not fulfilled.
And the Department of Justice is arguing that they don't need to fulfill that FOIA request because, and I'm reading in quotes, the presidential communications privilege applies to the strategic plan because it was solicited and received by the president. That's the argument, is that they have executive privilege. Now, but here's a snippet from the president's executive order, which you can go look up online.
Assist applicants in completing voter registration and vote by mail application forms in a manner consistent with all relevant state laws and soliciting and facilitating approved. Now, I want to everybody should know what an approved nonpartisan third party organizations and state officials to provide voter registration services on agency premises are.
Now, remember, in 2016, we knew that 95% of the federal workers donated to Hillary Clinton. In fact, in several of the departments and agencies, including the State Department, the Agriculture Department, Education and Labor, 99% of donations went to Hillary Clinton. So if you don't think that, oh, hey, well, it's just, you know, they're doing a service for the public, right?
This is servicing Democrats. I mean, these federal employees overwhelmingly, 99% in these departments and agencies, some of them, but on the average, 95%, they are, they are Democrats.
So, you know, all of this flies under the radar of what you might see in, say, from pollsters or people out there canvassing. If the federal government is using federal personnel, federal facilities, what did that look like?
And why are they not willing to tell the public who were these approved nonpartisan third party organizations? I think you're going to see that Congress wants to know a lot more about that. And I think you're going to see outside organizations. I just want to put it on your radar because this one is highly suspicious to be able to leverage federal government offices and personnel, taxpayer dollars, your dollars to
to get out the vote is just absolutely stunning to me. We haven't been on that road before. The one other thing is I just want to say congratulations to Harris Faulkner, Faith Still Moves Mountains. Faith Still Moves Mountains is her latest book. Her other book was fantastic.
Huge success. This one is out as a Fox News book. And you're looking for something for Christmas and inspiration and Hanukkah, whatever it might be.
Faith Still Moves Mountains. I hope what I'm going to try to do is get Harris back with us and do a little podcast just about this book because knowing her commitment and her heart and passion, I'm just telling you, this is going to be a good book, and I want to talk some more about that. And then on the other end of the spectrum, let's bring on the stupid because you know what? There's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. ♪
All right, let's go to Twitter. Do you call them twits? I guess if you work for Twitter, you must be a twit. Is that I'm not trying to be trying to be cute, but not derogatory. But I think that's what you call them.
I think it's just kind of unbelievable that the arrogance of these employees. Oh, I don't want to work for Elon Musk. Elon Musk built a rocket better than NASA so it could go up and then land back out on a pad in the middle of the ocean. And so they could use it again. I mean, he built an electric car where everybody else for everybody been trying to build it. He was years ahead of them.
So you would think that if he came in and purchased a company like Twitter, you'd be jumping up and down. You'd be excited about it. Now, I know they did some layoffs. I know they did some changes. But as Elon Musk said, look, we're running a business here. We can't lose $4 million a day. That's their daily loss. I mean, this is one of the most mismanaged companies ever.
So I know his plate is full and he's talking about how do I do, you know, SpaceX and Twitter and, you know, and Tesla. I mean, his plate is very, very full, right? Well, one of the things they decided to do is they got to get rid of the free lunches because they were spending millions on buying people breakfast and lunch. And I don't know if it was just a joke or the truth, but they said they never did dinner for these employees because nobody ever stayed late and worked.
He made it sound as if it was a pretty lazy, laid-back atmosphere. And you can only blame so much on COVID. He said, you know, look, you got to go back to work. So for bringing on the stupid, come on, Twits, Twitter employees. You're going to have to work and work hard if you're going to have a prestigious job like that at Twitter and make good money. Also, Meta.
owner of Facebook, Instagram, laying off 11,000 people, Amazon, laying off 10,000 people. There's a lot of people that are going to be out of jobs. But you know what? You can't just have this arrogance that everything's going to grow and be there in perpetuity. You actually have to produce and make things, good things happen. All right, that's enough from the stupid.
Now let's do just a little bit of stories from the halls of Congress. I like to do this from time to time. What's happening right now is the freshman orientation. New members, even though there's still some undecided races, they're coming in, they're getting their badges, they're going to soon have a lottery. They literally pick ping pong balls with numbers on them out of a bin to see who gets what office, when, and so on.
They're going through the orientation. They're going to be voting on the rules package. They're going to be basically prepping up for what is going to be a massive day and yet I think is going to be a yet-to-be-decided speaker's race. Now, there is news out about the individual vote. I understand that. But the reality is the way our framers set it up, they're on the floor of the House and
Each member, the clerk, literally calls out the name and says, Congressman, Mr. Amaday of Nevada. And then Mark Amaday is the congressman who just won reelection from Nevada. He's got to stand up and yell out who he's in favor of for speaker. That gets to be very tough because you have to get to 218. There are no exceptions. It's not just the majority of who are there. You have to get to 218.
So it'll be fascinating to see what happens there and they go through that. I can tell you, having been through this process, it's an ugly one. I was surprised when you go into leadership votes, guess what? The people that are running for those offices, they don't speak. They get a nomination. They get a second. That's a one-minute speech. And then I think...
two one-minute speeches, and then they vote. There's no speaking. There's no question answered. Now, they have a quote-unquote candidate forum a day or two beforehand at an inconvenient time, and only a fraction of the people actually show up. It's a terrible process.
But those in leadership kind of like it that way because they want it to be highly predictable. Then they have a vote. And sometimes they release the number if it's advantageous for whoever wins. Sometimes they don't release the number. And over in the Senate, they do it totally different. Very opaque.
They get together, they have their lunch, they vote for leader. Now there's been a lot of complaining and bellyaching by a number of members saying we shouldn't be voting before the Herschel Walker runoff, which I think is true. I'm in that camp. You're having a person missing from that discussion. There's only going to be, at the best, 50 Republican senators. You're just going to exclude one from the discussion and the vote?
That doesn't make sense to me. And why the rush? But the other thing is, I know a number of these senators, I think Ron Johnson, Mike Lee, Josh Hawley, Marco Rubio sent out a tweet about this stuff. It's one thing to complain about the timing of it. Rick Scott from Florida has also complained about this. It's another thing to actually stand up
and try to run against him, Mitch McConnell. And so that'll be interesting too. Two totally different processes. The Senate, very opaque, can't really see it.
In the House, the way our smart framers set it up, you got to stand and yell that name. And that makes it hard to get to 218 when your majority is so, so small. All right. So as we kind of transition from the news and perspectives from stories from the halls of Congress and the orientation and all that.
As we get into this, I just want everybody to understand the gravity of what's going on here because it is a huge global event. And, you know, there's a lot of strife in the world. There's a lot of conflict in the world. There is a lot happening in the world. But when two teams come together, I'm telling you, those countries just shut down, you know,
The United States is kind of an outlier in this. I think most every other country in the world is so totally focused on this. It happens every four years. Not everybody gets to qualify, but they do qualifying matches all the way up, and they do what are called friendlies and nice matches out there. U.S. has struggled a little bit. They've struggled a little bit.
And some of these friendlies leading up to it, but I think the expectations are real high. If you've watched anything over on Fox News,
You will see Jon Hamm and the ads that they're doing in order to promote this. And personally, I am really, really excited about this. You know, I like to say, you'll probably hear me say this a few times, I am totally comfortable, much rather watch an English Premier League game or something from the Bundesliga than to actually watch an NFL game. I like football, played football, got through college kicking football,
But you know what? I absolutely love soccer. And I want to talk some more about this. So why don't we kick things off and have a little conversation with Jenny Taft from Fox. And then you can follow her over on Instagram. She's got a big social media presence, Jenny Taft. And then I want to give you some other thoughts on what's going on. So let's get Jenny Taft on the phone with us.
Hello. Jenny, Jason Chaffetz. How are you? I've never spoken to you in my life, but thanks for answering the phone. I mean, I feel like it's about time that we chat. I feel like I know you so high and yeah, call me anytime. Well, you're very nice. You're very nice. Like you've,
You've got a very interesting sports background. I mean, you've got a family that is, I mean, some people play sports, some show up, but your family was like all in on sports. We really were. Tell us a little bit about your mom, your dad growing up, and then I want to start talking about the World Cup and some of the stuff that's coming up.
Well, first of all, thank you for saying that about my mom and dad and brother. Everyone will be very happy that you noticed the athleticism from the Taft family. No, I mean, my dad was a professional hockey player and he was also my coach growing up. And I always like to say, though, my mom was a speed skater. So I like to say that I got my skating from her. And my brother was a college hockey player, played overseas, and I ended up marrying a retired hockey player. So it's in my blood. I always knew I wanted to
Well,
Well, you didn't take the easiest route. I mean, it wasn't like you were in curling or something. I mean, lacrosse is about as tough a sport as there is on the face of the planet. And if you're growing up in a hockey family marrying a former hockey player, I mean –
Do you like to hit or be hit? Well, gosh, I mean, come on. Is that even a question? Girls hockey. And you know what's funny about hockey? People are like, oh, you don't check in hockey. It is so physical. The girls game, you can do a lot without actually checking. My husband now, thankfully, has all of his teeth. That was a big thing. He lost two playing and he now has a full smile and he can't avoid taking pictures with me anymore because that was the excuse before. Like, I don't have teeth.
Now he has to always be in a photo with me. So, look, it is a hockey family. I actually have a six-month-old right now. She is just crawling, and trust me, skates are coming soon. Well, very good. Very good. And now, one of the things that's coming up that we wanted to chat with you about, because you covered this before, but is the World Cup. Yes.
You know, for a lot of Americans, like I grew up playing soccer. Okay. Ever since I was a little kid, California, Arizona, I just, I played soccer year round. That was my sport. I transitioned and became a place kicker.
And for a Division one football team. But nevertheless, I love soccer. I much rather watch an English Premier League game than an NFL game. Really? So look at you. Yes, I love it. I dig it. But it's hard for some of my friends who didn't grow up playing soccer. And maybe they played a little AYSO and kicked it around, you know, here and there.
but to understand globally how big this sport is, how the world will come to a standstill when these games start to be played. That's so true. And I, even though I love the game of soccer and I have been fortunate, I've covered the Women's World Cup twice now, and I was in Russia for the men in 2018, and I didn't even understand the global impact of the game. And I've always liked
I grew up playing. I mean, I enjoyed the game. But when you understand the fandom that is international, being at a World Cup, it takes your breath away. So for the United States to be there and look, you know this. It was a big loss when they didn't qualify in 2018. That is old news. It was embarrassing and it was a low point for U.S. soccer. But no one shying away from that. This is a young sport.
hungry team. And I know they most recently had these friendlies that weren't the most positive performances, but maybe I didn't score. We got to find a goal scorer. So that is a thing. But
If you look at the team as a whole, the collective talent, it's the most talented team. So can they show up? I believe they will. Do they have the swagger? 100%. It was an odd combination of matches where there were no fans. I was actually in Spain for that second match against Saudi Arabia. And look, they didn't score. You mentioned it. But I just believe in who they are as a team. And I think that they can get out of the group. And I think that they should and expect to.
Yeah, I mean, you would think a country our size, the ability to develop a program that can be highly competitive on the world stage. I mean, obviously, the Englands of the world that have such a rich tradition are going to be heavily favored. And to be a little critical here, I've always been concerned about the coaching. It's the coaching side of the equation. I think we've got young, talented players. I just don't know that we have the best coaching along the way.
Yeah, and I'm really liking getting to know Greg Berhalter at this point. I've spent a good amount of time with him at this point. And what I can tell you, I believe the players believe in Greg and what he's doing. And we don't have to get into names of what did and didn't happen the last couple years where we really were having a hard time finding that leadership. I think the players like Greg.
I think they believe in Greg and I think there is a cohesive mindset and approach to what needs to happen to be successful at the World Cup. So, yes, is Greg going to be evaluated on this World Cup? 100 percent. Greg Berhalter knows that. But I I just get the sense and I'm again, I've been fortunate, fortunate enough to be around them a little bit. And in Qatar, I will be embedded with the team. So daily I'll see them feel the pulse, the energy, the energy.
I just feel like it is a group that likes each other. They believe in what Greg's doing and they are confident. These guys play overseas. Like you said, you watch them like there's so much talent and they will be able to put it together, in my opinion, on that big stage. Yeah. You know, Gutter's an interesting place. I've been there. I used to serve in Congress once upon a time. And so I were there kind of via the United States military and military.
and the United States Navy. And so I got a little bit different flavor and sense of it. But certainly in the Middle East, for them hosting this World Cup, the opulence is nonstop, I can tell you. But the atmosphere is probably going to be a little bit different. And certainly, you worry about the temperature, the lack of humidity, or too much humidity. It depends how the winds are blowing there.
it's going to be fascinating, just the atmosphere. And look, every team has to deal with that. But, you know, some of the hometown teams a little closer to home, they probably have a little easier time adapting to what is a very different situation than we've probably been in in the past. This is totally unique. And what I like to point out, because we are in Qatar, it's about the size of Connecticut when you put that in mind. I mean, that's a crazy, I mean,
Think of Connecticut. It's tiny. So we will be driving to all of these different matches. I have horror stories for another day of traveling through Russia in 2018 because all the flights were at 1, 2, or 3 a.m. And I'm sitting next to the fans and they had a loss and some people had a few too many drinks. And that was just the flight home. There might have been a little alcohol. Just a little bit.
And it's crazy Russian fans. I mean, it was an odd, I mean, it's a book. Stu Holden and I have a great story of just fighting over a better seat on a plane. And I love Stu more than anyone, but we were like, I can't sit next to these fans anymore. So point being, the fact that we're driving is a huge advantage. And I think that goes for the players as well. The time of year, you mentioned it, it's unique. It's this holiday season. We know why we're doing it that way. It's the weather, it's,
It's all about the temperature and the conditions for the players. But while it's different in terms of their time away from their teams and they will have a quick, really weak before match play begins, I think that they'll be able to recover quickly in that sense that all of their their home base is their home base. And that's going to be a huge advantage. And that's just not for the US. So that's everyone. You're listening to Jason in the house. We'll be back with more of my conversation with Jenny Taft right after this.
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$45 upfront payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three-month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes. See details. What do you see pluses and minuses for the team? Because, I mean, I mentioned one of the obvious negatives in the, I don't know how many matches, last several matches, I think they've scored like one goal. And the ability to finish and actually hit the back of the net has been, it's a real criticism there.
Absolutely. Well, we got to find a way to score goals. Okay. So we got to score goals. We're going to, we know that that is something we need to, to need to know. The positives for me are so many of these players and we know, well, you know, Christian Pulisic, we know Captain America. We, we know that name. Many know his, his name, but he hasn't had that opportunity to have a world cup moment.
So we know his potential. I can't wait to see it on display. He's also grown up playing with a guy like Weston McKinney and Tyler Adams. They've known each other and played together from the youth years. I mean, that is, they are close. And a guy like Weston, I was thinking about this today, like,
He lived overseas in Germany because his dad was stationed overseas in the Air Force and he fell in love with the game. He met the U.S. team when they came over. He met Landon Donovan. There's a great photo of them. Like these players have looked amazing.
dreamt about this moment to be at a World Cup and because they've been able to kind of grow up in it together that's where I think the chemistry really does matter and I felt it I felt that I felt that energy around them so the positives the
They like each other. I think it matters. I think all of that will go into what the performances we see on the pitch. And although they're young, they're seasoned and who they're playing against overseas. And I think that will all be so important when it comes down to it. Yeah, the continuity of just knowing each other. I think a lot of nations struggle because they maybe compete against each other. Then suddenly they got to be friends and on the same team, but they're just not used to the same cadence, the same rhythms, the same atmosphere.
nod of the head to push the ball forward into open space. And if your other guy, if your buddy doesn't know that that's coming, he's not going to get the jump on the other player. So I think that is important. One other thing I wanted to ask you about, contrast for us for a moment, Jenny,
The Women's World Cup and what you saw there versus the men's, is there a huge difference? I mean, it has gained so much popularity around the world and certainly in the United States, the women's game in relationship to the men's. But the women's have had more success than the men have had. You know, I am so fortunate that I've now been a
part of both of those teams. And what I will say, in 2015 was my first time covering the women. And that was pretty remarkable to me because that's Abby Wambach. Those are players I personally, as an athlete, looked up to. I mean, I tell people I was more nervous to interview Abby Wambach than Kylian Mbappe. Like, Abby Wambach, like, she was who I looked up to. So as a reporter, that was a pretty cool moment for me. But the way the U.S. women...
Always rise to the occasion. They are just they have this unspoken swagger that they've just it's in their DNA. They are the team to beat. They know it. They carry themselves that way. And surprisingly, for the first time.
Those other countries are catching up. We saw they just lost against England and that was a friendly. So we're going to take that out. They lost to Spain most recently, but they always find a way to get it done. So for the women, it's actually coming up to Australia, New Zealand. That's this summer as well. They are the defending champs for a reason. They have that leadership and swagger and just being around what they've done for for women's.
for the women's game, but the fan base, boys and girls. I mean, it's incredible to see just what they've done for the sport. And in terms of the men's game, I just, I look at it so differently. If you look at the women from 2019, they were the average age oldest at a World Cup. And now we're looking at the youngest average age for the men's World Cup for this U.S. team. So it's,
They're different players in different stages of their career. But what's exciting about the men that we're about to see, they're about to be a part of this journey for years to come. Like this is a core group that I believe we will start to see develop and they will get this experience and that's going to help them as the years progress. Right.
So tell us about the coverage that we're going to see, lay out how it's going to be. Because like I said, a lot of people don't understand that these things happen every four years. They're sort of like the Olympics that way, but it's even bigger than that. But explain what Fox and what we're going to be able to see here at home. Well, what's so fun. And the only thing that's a little hard for me, I'm going to miss some of my normal college football weekend. So for me, I'm going to have to leave early from a college football season that I love, but Fox Sports is,
I
I mean, we've always owned the fall and now it's really going to define Fox Sports. We're going to have so much football action. We're going to have soccer. So you can wake up and watch all of our matches. If you look at the group stage, they're going to really be playing a lot of these games at 8, 11 and 2 p.m. Eastern. So every U.S. match will be at 2 p.m. Eastern in that group stage. So you can see all the coverage and how fun that it's the holiday season. So a lot of families will be together. They'll be able to watch together and
And it's kind of a marathon, the World Cup. The group stage is a blur. I don't even know if I sleep in those first two weeks. It's just madness when you're going match to match. And like I pointed out, because of the proximity of these locations, these stadiums, I'll be able to be at some other matches as well. So I'll be with the U.S., but I'm also going to be covering a lot of other important games and events.
Fox is just committed to showing everything and being at home. I want to tell stories. I'm going to be with the U.S., so I want my mom to get to know Christian Pulisic, but I also want the fan base that understands soccer and has been following his career to also get something out of what we're able to bring to the table. So I hope we can be a place for everyone to come and enjoy, and soccer unites us at a time of year that is all about that joy and holiday spirit, and it sounds a little cliche or corny, but like,
it's the best time of year and now we have the World Cup? Like, it's really amazing to think about. Well, it is. And we can all get behind and root for the USA and shed aside some of those, you know, tumultuous political things. This is something that if you can't unite behind supporting the USA and the World Cup, come on, then we'll never get you there. Jenny, we look forward to hearing and seeing you. And can I give you a little piece of advice? Please.
Don't pick up the phone. Answer calls from strangers, guys like me. Just don't do that. All right. Fair enough. I would have thought you would have learned that by now. Yeah. Yeah. You know, let's be careful out there. Good to know. Thanks for having me. Thanks, Jenny. Appreciate it. We're going to see a lot of her this World Cup coming up.
Well, I can't thank Jenny enough. And you'll see her a lot. I mean, she'll be everywhere. And she does know her stuff. And I really appreciate her doing this. You're listening to Jason in the House. We'll be back with more right after this.
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All right. I can't thank Jenny. She's got one of the greater gigs in sports. I mean, to go spend a month hanging out there in Qatar, gutter, she is really going to love that and enjoy that. And things get kicked off. Now, let's go back. I want to talk a little bit about the schedule and how to watch and where to watch and what you can do. Because
This is what's really cool about this global event. Things are going to kick off. You can watch on Monday, 2 p.m. Eastern on Fox. The United States is going to play Wales.
And things kick off. The tradition is the host nation gets to play the first game. That's happening on Sunday. It's on FS, Fox Sports 1, FS1. Gutters playing Ecuador, 11 p.m. Eastern time. But the next day, the opportunity for us here in the United States to watch is going to be 2 p.m. Eastern on Monday, November 21st, where the United States will play Wales.
If the United States, you know, so many of these games end in a tie. But if the United States has a chance, an opportunity to win a game, this is one of their best shots right off the bat on Monday, November 22nd. What's interesting is then we'll be followed up on Friday, the 25th, 2 p.m. Eastern on Fox. You can watch the whole game. The United States is playing one of the favorites to win the whole thing. They're playing England.
England is a perennial challenger. Between England and Brazil, oddsmakers think that one of those two teams is going to actually take home the World Cup. And so if you want to see a really good, hard-fought game that the United States is playing in, that's 2 p.m. on Friday, November 25th.
If you just go over to Fox Sports, you can look this up pretty easily. But then I think one of the more interesting games that's going to happen just after we get done with Thanksgiving here in the United States is going to be on Tuesday, November 29th. Circle that time because 2 p.m. the United States is going to play Iran.
Iran, of all places. Now, that's been somewhat controversial. You know, should Iran even be in the World Cup? But again, sports is one of those things that kind of, you know, politics, you know, all the national, international intrigue and countries that don't get along well.
the Olympics and the World Cup usually kind of blow past that. So what will be fascinating there is Iran just across literally that water. I have been out there in the – some people call it the Arabian Sea. Some call it the Persian Gulf. But if you look at the map, Iran is just across –
When I was back in Congress, I actually went to Qatar or Qatar, however you want to pronounce it, and went out on a ship. And I went out on the San Jacinto. The San Jacinto is a Navy cruiser. I spent the night out there, the sailors from all over the country. And it really was amazing. Went into Qatar.
Then they gave me some classified briefings. They took me out on a helicopter, a little bit of rainy weather, take off on a helicopter, and then you land on the ship right there in the Gulf. You're about 14, 15 miles off the coast of Iran when you finally, as you're cruising around and supporting a ship
you know, part of a carrier group there and absolutely fascinating to be so close in proximity to Iran. I mean, it was just kind of surreal, the men and women and what they did there. So when they are coming to actually play Iran there in Qatar, they are literally just across that little ocean passage, which really, if you look at it on a map and certainly if you're out there in the sea, it's not very far.
But the tumultuous nature with the other nations in their proximity to have the Iranians playing a game, I don't know how good or bad that team is. But given the tensions between the United States and Iran, that should be a doozy of a match. And that, again, is on Tuesday, November 29th at 2 p.m. on Fox.
Big Fox. So you should be able to see that. There are other great games that are going along. Some of the favorites along the way, always out of Africa, I think Ghana is always one of the most interesting places
teams to be out there playing. And then after you get through this initial round, then you start to go into the round of 16. The round of 16 starts on Saturday, December 3rd. That continues on. Then you get the quarterfinals, which starts the next week on Friday, December 9th.
The semifinals, December 13th. Third place matches on December 8th, 17th. And then mark your calendar because Sunday, December 18th. It's early. It's 10 a.m. in the morning East Coast time, right? 7 a.m. out there for those of you in Los Angeles on the West Coast.
And the Mountain Time Zone, obviously, 8 a.m., kind of early on a Sunday morning. That is the World Cup championship game. And that is always a memorable game.
the pressure that is on the players in their countries. They could be heroes. They could be, you know, ridiculed the rest of their life. And certainly the pressures on the referees. Always a question, whose loyalty is where? What countries are these referees from? Hopefully the referees don't become an issue on this. But I do hope you get a chance to see it. Again,
I think the pressure on the United States going into this match is can they score goals? Obviously, if you're going to win games, you've got to score more goals than your opponents. The problem in the last six games for the United States is them finding the back of the net. They have scored very few goals.
Defense is pretty good. Midfield's good. I want to have some optimism for the U.S. team, but they have not been in that traditional goal scoring mode, and certainly in their friendlies leading up to the game. And I think that will be the big question mark. You can't just keep drawing every time. You've got to go out and actually win some games in order to prevail.
But maybe this is their year, maybe it's not. Other countries have huge, huge expectations out there. You've got Poland, you have Australia, the Netherlands. Netherlands are always strong. They're always really good at this. France, obviously, have been champions in more recent history. There's a lot of excitement out there.
Probably one of the biggest out there is going to be Brazil. Brazil has got huge expectations in their matches moving forward, and it will be fascinating to see what Brazil does and how they do it.
They're in a group, in a bracket, where it's widely believed that they should prevail, that they should move to the round of 16. But we'll see what they're doing as well. Anyway, I hope you get a chance to see it. It is the world's biggest sport. Everybody else calls it football. We call it soccer for whatever reason. But you know what? It is a great sport. And you will learn...
If you haven't watched already, the majesty of it. And I hope you get a chance to enjoy that. So with that, Fox has put a lot of money, a lot of effort into it. And I just want to give you a little bit of a preview and talk a little bit about the expectation and where it goes. We'll be looking for Jenny, who will be out there, Jenny Taft out there relaying it all back to us.
But I predict that it will be one heck of a world spectacle, and hopefully no other terrorism or any other thing gets in the way of it. Let's just enjoy this sport for the beauty that it is, and I think you'll all enjoy it. So please be sure to stay with us next week. We've got more things coming.
Want to remind you that you can listen ad-free with a Fox News Podcast Plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. And Amazon Prime members can listen to this show ad-free on the Amazon Music app. I hope you're able to subscribe to it. This podcast has been a little different than our normal deep dive into the individual personalities podcast.
But given the global nature of this, I think it's very worthwhile. I hope you're able to subscribe to it, rate it. Join us again next week. We're going to have a more in-depth interview with somebody in the world that's making a difference.
And I hope you're able to join us. Look over at foxnewspodcast.com if you want to see other types of podcasts that Fox puts out. But I hope you like it, rate it, review it, and join us again next week. I'm Jason Chaffetz, and this has been Jason in the House.
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