 Hey, everybody. Yes, we're here and we're back. It's Bob Lorenz. It's Ian Joy. And Ian, you know how I want to start this? I want this conversation to be about making noise. Yeah. I need to make some noise because once sports resumes, we need noise in the stadiums if there's no people in there, right? Hey, Bob, I can hear you so much better for some reason. Is it something to do with your microphone? I mean, what's going on? Why do I hear you better? I have an IT guy. His name is Ian Joy and he told me just turn this little knob on the microphone and the audio will be so much better. Weird, isn't it? You sound good. And yeah, speaking of sound, I mean, it's been an interest in the news recently. Live sports is obviously making its comeback and the talk is going to be with no attendance of fans inside the stadiums for broadcasters. What are they going to do? Are they going to choose to use fake fan noise? Are they going to use fake audio for the supporters or fans or attendants or whatever it may be? And we've watched that in the German Soccer League this past weekend and it made it quite a stir. All right. So tell me about that. Actually, yesterday when you and I were chatting, you had to race off to go see a Bundesliga match, right? And it was a broadcast that they had the enhanced audio where they put in the crowd noise. What did you think? Yeah. Well, yesterday was the biggest game of the German season. It was Bayern Munich, the champions against Borussia Dortmund, probably the second biggest club in Germany. They were going head to head. Normally, there's 80,000 fans inside the stadium watching this game, Bob. And it's loud. You can barely hear anything. I've actually been to the game in attendance. It's so loud. And of course, they wanted to try something different on different broadcasters. So in the UK, they chose to have no fans, no noise, no audio, just listen to the ball being moved around. And you can hear the players communicating. It is pretty cool if you're into that type of thing. And I am. I love listening to. I can understand German. So for me, it's fun to listen to. But at the same time, I miss listening to the atmosphere. I miss listening to the buzz of the game. And yesterday, I got to admit, in the United States, they did a great thing at Fox. They actually put on an incredible sound noise. So they've got someone who's operating the sound from what's happening on the field. So if there's a shot, you'll have someone push a button and it'll go, Oh, it's quite amazing, Bob, that they came up with something like this. I love it. It's like a new TV specialty, right? It's a niche job for somebody in TV. Now you get to be the fake audio crowd guy. But you know, what's interesting to me is when I first thought of that, you could look at it on one hand, well, it's fake crowd noise. That's deceptive, you know? But then I thought about it like, it's not because you're letting people know that you're doing this. It actually is an enhancement to me as opposed to, Oh, we're trying to trick anybody into thinking that there's a crowd there. It's a huge difference to me. Yeah. Listen, when baseball returns, you're going to feel something deep inside that will hurt because you will normally be used to seeing the fans, the noise when the players take to the field, you hear the cheers, the claps. That's not there anymore because we're in a different time at this moment. So we've got to change. We've got to work with the times that have been put in front of us. And that's what the German League tried to do. And I think that's what other federations are going to have to try and do. Other leagues will have to try and do as well. I think it would be pretty cool for networks to have the option. What would be really cool is if you're the viewer at home and you have the option. I mean, could you imagine, Bob, if you're at home and you're like, Well, you know what? I think I'm going to just listen to it with no noise. I can just listen to whatever's going on on the field. You can push a button and then all of a sudden you can hear this audio that would be normally a filled stadium. I think that would be a cool option to have. It's a great idea. And when games do resume, I'd like to think on, yes, if there are no fans in the stands that we could air a broadcast without it, kind of kick the tires on it, see how it feels. And then maybe the next day, you wear it with the enhanced audio. And so it sort of gives you, like you said, options. And you're right. You might like it one way, you might like it the other. But having been a professional athlete, you know what it's like to be in that stadium. And I know they're not hearing the crowd noise. But what does that mean to a player? Like you said, the energy level just changes. Well, here's a great start for you already from the Soccer League in Germany. There has been 22 games that have taken place up until today, right now, 22 games since they returned to action. There has been only three home victories from 22 games. It tells you that the home field advantage is simply not there anymore. Of course, teams are still having to travel. You're still having to go into a hotel. But sort of the home team now before going into games, they're in quarantine. So they're away from their families. They're in home, you know, the home field advantage for me, it's just simply going to be lost. And it's going to make this very interesting now. So I'd say watch the space. Yeah, and what I also find interesting too is we're really starting to move forward. You mentioned the German soccer, they're playing baseball in Korea. Major League Baseball is trying to hammer something out with the players to return. We saw the NHL has come out with sort of a template to have a playoff system that would eventually get to the Stanley Cup finals. So it's all really positive stuff as we look forward. Yeah, everything's starting to bubble now. You're getting the feeling that one's made a comeback, which was obviously the UFC, then NASCAR, the German Soccer League, they're sort of set and stone their plan. And everybody's learning from their mistakes, but they're also learning from what they have done correctly. And I think that's the right way to go. So it gives Major League Soccer, NHL, MLB, it gives NBA, everyone an opportunity to take their time and put the right plan in place. I thought the NHL put a pretty good plan. I mean, I'm excited to see hockey back, of course, I'm excited to see all sports back. We all can't wait for it. But I just think that everyone's starting to get creative now. And you've got to be very careful how creative you get. Yesterday, I think it was in the NBA when Damien Lillard was commenting about if the games don't mean anything, I don't want to play. You've got to make sure if you're going to bring sports back, there's something to play for. We're in a different time right now. So give these players, these athletes who are used to challenging, competing, wanting to win, give them something to play for. If you make it a playoff format, cool, but give every team an opportunity to make those playoffs. You don't want to feel a little bad because I didn't mention another one, the Premier League is not back yet, but they're ramping things up. Contact and practices, full practices. That's a really good sign for them. Yeah, it is. And of course, each country is different, you know, handling the pandemic and issues with COVID-19 has been different in different areas around the world. So they've got to be careful how they implement their own rules and regulations, what they do, making sure that everybody stays disciplined to those rules. But it will be interesting to see when each country makes that comeback. But for me, it's all about this country where we are. I love to see NASCAR, the UFC make their comeback. That was terrific. I can't wait to see the Yankees take to the field again. I can't wait to see the Nets get back on the court again. I mean, those are moments in your life that you're missing out. And that's what I feel sorry for right now for our fans, for our viewers who are so used to having sports in their life. People live for sports, Bob. So we need it back, but we must make sure we're cautious when we bring it back. Yeah, there's no doubt about that. I think for our future shows, maybe you and I should have some crowd noise pumped in, some sound effects when we do this. What do you think about that? And isn't it funny though, too, I was thinking about this. You can have crowd noise and you mentioned that they're in soccer, there were the chants from the fans and there's the applause when a goal is scored. But you could go overboard, right? You could have like crazy sound effects and kazoos and just you don't want it to become a mockery, right? Now the ideas are starting to fall off, right? How about this one, right? How about we take it a step further? Not only do you have an option as a viewer to choose the fake fan noise inside the stadium, you also have a separate option for Bob and Ian to do the commentary on the game. How about that? Now that would be option three options. You've got main commentary, listening to the players, listening to what's happening in the stadium. Then you've got the fine audio, if you want. And then number three, fine audio with Bob and Ian. Now we've got Yes Network, Yes Two and Yes Three. Tune in to all three. Ian, always good to see you, buddy. Talk to you soon. It's a pleasure.