Straw and Caridi discussed various topics about the nation over some meat pies throughout the episode.
Caridi and Straw both appeared on the 3 Guys Before The Game podcast a few weeks ago, where Caridi asked Straw what he liked to eat. While his first answer was chicken parma, his second was the Australian meat pie.
Adam Gurwitch, a listener of Sportsline with Tony Caridi and WVU graduate in Melbourne, Australia was generous enough to ship meat pies to the studio. They enjoyed the pies while Straw fielded questions about his home country. “You’re about to have a good time, I promise you that,” Straw spoke of the meat pies.
When asked about how he was doing, Straw said that things were going well. “One more week of summer workouts, and then we go straight into fall camp, which is when we put the pads on and start actually playing some football.” When asked about how he feels health-wise, Straw says he’s “feeling 100%”.
Straw also discussed the infamous running of the law-school hill, saying that the team begins summer workouts with six reps and works their way up to “nine or ten”. In terms of who regularly reaches the top first, “Garrett Greene’s pretty quick”, according to Straw.
Listeners then sent in texts for the punter to answer about his home country. His first question from a listener asked if Straw could describe what Vegemite tastes like. “I’d compare it similarly to peanut butter,” Straw began. “It’s like a, it’s a more thick consistency than peanut butter, and it’s very, very salty. Very salty.” Caridi quickly responded with “You’re very kind”, to which Straw admitted that it isn’t good. “I would stay away, it’s a hate or a love thing. There’s no in between.”
Another text asked what the best coastal town in Australia. “If you want wineries and you want surf, I would recommend going to the south of Victoria, in Melbourne, and you wanna take about an hour drive away, and you wanna go to the Peninsula, which is a beautiful area,” Straw explained. “They’ve got great beaches, great wineries, great food, they got a natural hot springs down there as well.” Straw also recommended the town Gold Coast, which he described as “the Vegas of Australia”.
Caridi had a question he wanted to ask Straw himself soon after. “Is there any harvested kangaroo meat available in Australia?” “Oh yeah,” Straw answered. “You eat it?” inquired Caridi. “Lots of it, yeah,” Straw remarked. “I used to make kangaroo burgers. I used to have kangaroo in the morning sometimes.” Straw went on to say that kangaroo meat tastes most similar to venison.
Straw was asked if he played Australian rules football, to which Straw said it was his sport growing up. “Played it for probably around 11 years. Loved it, still love it to this day.” His favorite team in the Australian Football League is the Collingwood Magpies. Their home stadium is the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which Straw claimed holds 105,000 fans, but really has a capacity just over 100,000. That capacity is a few thousand smaller than Michigan Stadium, the largest college football stadium.
A listener who grew up in the 1980’s asked about how the Crocodile Dundee movies are viewed in Australia. Straw thinks they were “just as popular in Australia” and weren’t ever seen in a negative light.
When asked if Outback Steakhouse was authentic Australian cuisine, Straw said it was a “heart breaker to answer” since he doesn’t believe it is. “I didn’t know what a Bloomin’ Onion was until I got here.”
Soon after, the meat pies finished cooking, with the crew digging in and expressing their enjoyment of the meal. “Adam really picked out some good ones.”
Another listener sent in a question asking if it’s true that when you flush a toilet in Australia, the water circles down in the opposite direction than it does in America. “Can confirm that is true,” responded Straw. That phenomenon is called the Coriolis Effect, which is caused by the Earth’s rotation.
The final question Straw was asked was which Australian actress he preferred between Nicole Kidman or Margot Robbie. “I’ve seen Margot Robbie in more movies, so I’m going to have to say Margot Robbie, and the deciding factor would be The Wolf of Wall Street,” Straw replied. “Nicole Kidman’s very good, though. She’s also one of the first Australian actors that became very popular, especially for women.”
