There are certain bits that write themselves, and Jon Gruden cracking a Pokemon pack on the set of Gruden's QB Class is at the top of the list. This is a man whose entire broadcasting career has been a running gag about him stumbling over the names of grown adults who play in the NFL. Hand him a stack of cards featuring 1,000+ creatures with names cooked up in a Japanese design studio, and you have a recipe for absolute chaos.
Gruden on the QB Class set, Rays cap on, fumbling through a fresh pack of Pokemon cards.
The setup is perfect. Gruden looks like every dad who got dragged to a card shop by his kid and is now squinting at syllables that were never meant for a guy who coached the Raiders. Half the joy of the clip is watching him commit fully — there's no bailing, no 'whatever this thing is called,' just full Gruden-effort takes on names he's never seen before in his life.
The main Barstool account ran it back with the CFL gift bag still sitting next to him.
And of course Stoolies took the bit and ran with it the only way they know how. The Pokemon angle naturally bled into Gruden's other reputation — the old-school recruiter who would talk a 38-year-old linebacker out of retirement over a steak dinner. Catching them all, signing them all, same energy.
A clip of Gruden in full podcast-recruiting mode, repackaged as him assembling his Pokemon roster.
The whole thing works because Gruden is in on it. He knows the name-pronunciation thing is his calling card at this point, and he leans all the way in. Give us more of this. Give us Gruden ranking starter Pokemon. Give us Gruden trying to read a Yu-Gi-Oh card. Whatever the next pack of weird syllables is, put it on his desk and roll tape.