It's Something Unpredictable, But in the End Set Hike!

The 36th inaugural episode of Set Hike! celebrates the return of NFL football by spending the opening fifteen minutes debating how Australian pronunciation, whether time is a social construct, and if Michigan keeps a secret DraftKings-sponsored clock in a drawer specifically for manufacturing extra seconds. Things briefly become alarmingly professional when legendary Philadelphia sportswriter Les Bowen joins the show and casually unloads 40 years of Eagles knowledge from memory, explains why Sean Mannion should hide safely in the booth, questions whether Jeff Stoutland’s departure could break the offensive line, and somehow says “Willie Lampkin” without realizing he has just activated Dr. TAT’s Pee-wee Herman secret word. Once Les escapes, the crew immediately destroys whatever journalistic credibility he left behind by investigating Panda Dan’s white Johnson, selecting French game-day cologne, debating whether smoked wallaby belongs inside a meat pie, predicting an Eagles massacre of the Washington Clarendons, and imagining Vic Fangio being physically carried into the coaching booth like an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. Finally, Stat Boy attempts to correct the fundamental physics of time replacing Cesium-133 with Hydrogen-1's isotopes which naturally segues into confirming Landon Dickerson’s 40-yard dash time before revealing the Set Hike! R&D Department has apparently been employing Rob, not Randy, this entire time—which is perfect, because after an offseason featuring horse racing, Uruguay, Baltimore slander and whatever the hell else this show became, football is finally back and nobody needs to pretend any of this made sense. Key Topics Discussed 00:22 — NFL Week 1 Has Arrived: Melbourne, Time & International Football 09:40 — Michigan’s Secret Clock & the Missing Second 15:01 — AJ Brown, Hate-Watching New England 22:45 — Les Bowen Joins Set Hike! (!!!!!!!!) 25:35 — Sean Mannion, Andy Reid & the Eagles’ New Offense 30:28 — Jeff Stoutland, Outside Zone & the Willie Lampkin Alarm 35:18 — Who Replaces AJ Brown? 39:06 — Jalyx Hunt, Trent Cole & the Eagles Defense 41:48 — Les Bowen on Old-School Eagles Misery & the Lurie Era 46:40 — Booth vs. Sideline & Battery-Resistant Windows 50:22 — Les Bowen on Sportswriting, Access & Beating the Robots 55:12 — Eagles–Clarendons Preview, Panda’s White Johnson & Game-Day Cologne 01:01:54 — Smoked Wallaby, Meat Pies & Week 1 Predictions 01:10:05 — Macy’s Predictions, Slayer Sound-Off & Zulu Nation Forever 01:15:55 — Stat Boy Corrections: #IsotropesTalk, Missing Birthdays & R&D Identity Crisis Statistics & Facts A "jiffy" is a real (informal) unit of time — one-hundredth of a second.  A second is officially defined as the duration of a set number of vibrations of the cesium-133 atom. Eagles won NFL championships in 1948 and 1949 — and the team was sold in between those two seasons. Owner Leonard Tose once nearly moved the team to Arizona. Sean Mannion is calling plays from the coaching booth (not the sideline) in Week 1. The buckeye is a tree in the soapberry family, Ohio's official state tree; its nut is a glossy brown nut with a light tan patch. New items this year: Tush-Push Tater (loaded baked potato), Kool-Aid glazed chicken wings, South Philly Special cheesesteak.  Memorable Quotes "The LA Rams are cramming for the test. The Niners are studying." - Dr. TAT "Lane Johnson is a unicorn. He can do anything... he's the best offensive lineman ever." - Les Bowen "40 years ago, if you told an Eagles fan they were going to win 11 games in a season, they would have been ecstatic." - Les Bowen "The thing that I learned is you can't see a damn thing" - Pro-Booth Les Bowen on coving games from the sideline "I disagree with what you just said. I love the world, I love to travel the world " - Panda Dan "What's the over-under on the amount of times the announcers blame jet lag for false starts tonight?" - Stat Boy "This is when the cologne goes on, the Johnson stand tall, and we are here and ready, boys." - Dr. TAT **************************************** A HUGE thank you to Les Bowen for taking the time to join Set Hike! and help us kick off the upcoming NFL season. For decades, Les was one of the unmistakable voices of Philadelphia sports journalism, covering the Flyers, Eagles, and some of the most memorable eras in the city’s sports history with the knowledge, humor, and perspective that made generations of Philly fans feel like they knew their teams a little better. Getting the chance to talk Eagles history, the 2026 team, and the evolution of sports media was genuinely special for all of us. More than anything, we’re incredibly appreciative of the body of work Les produced throughout his career at the Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia Inquirer, and the role it played in shaping how so many of us followed Philadelphia sports growing up. Thank you again, Les, for your time, your stories, your sense of humor, and a career worth celebrating. Follow Les Bowen on X: @LesBowen Follow us on x.com & Instagram: @sethikepod Call/text line: 1-(234)-SET-HIKE (738-4453) Email us: [email protected]