Casual Friday with Jeff Shulman and Michael Wong

Hi, I'm Joshua McNichols, and I'm Monica Nicholsburg.

We host KOW's Economy Podcast Booming.

It's taken 10 years and almost $4 billion.

But at long last, Light Rail will soon run across Lake Washington.

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On the latest episode, we find out what a bridge in Scandinavia can tell us about our own future.

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Hey, good morning. I'm Patricia Murphy. It's Friday.

This is Seattle now. This week, the Seattle Supersonics are dangerously close to a comeback.

Mahjong is becoming a favorite social activity for Seattle's young people.

And Washington State is making a stuffed marmot the face of a new anti-literary campaign.

UW Marketing Professor Jeff Schulman and Asian verified creator Michael Wong are here to break down the week.

But first, let's get you caught up.

There's another rapid ride bus in the works.

Construction's begun on the eyeline in South King County.

It'll run between Renton, Kent, and Auburn.

The bus replaces Route 160.

Metro officials say the rapid ride line will operate every 10 minutes during peak period.

And reduce travel times for riders. It's scheduled to open sometime next year.

State Attorney General Nick Brown is asking a federal court to enforce its order that requires the federal government to release funding for mental health in schools.

The court ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze the Congressional approved money in December.

They released some of the funding, but not all of it. Congress created the grants to make it easier for students to access mental health help in light of school shootings.

And if you're out and about this weekend, a heads up about light rail service in Seattle.

Trains between Capitol Hill and Soto stations will not be operating on Saturday and Sunday.

Instead, shuttle buses will arrive every 10 to 15 minutes to get passengers through.

Crews are replacing a cracked rail and finishing up some projects to prepare for the cross-leake connection.

Check back for more headlines on tonight's episode of Seattle now.

It's Friday again. If you can make it to UW campus, today is supposed to mark peak bloom for the cherry blossoms.

Jeff Schulman's here. He's a marketing professor at UW's foster school of business and director of what it takes.

A documentary about substance use disorder and recovery. Jeff, director, how you doing?

Thank you for having me. It's great to be here. I'm doing well.

This is a surprising and wonderful credit that I'm adding to your name.

Yeah, premiering May 6th at the Admiral Theater. So I'm pretty stoked that you gave that a little plug there.

Yeah, glad to hear it. Michael Wong's here too. He's the creator of Asian Verified.

You may have seen his videos on social media or read his column in The Stranger.

Michael, first time on the show, you got recognized on your way in. So you're off to the start.

I love the KUOW staff, man. I'm happy to be here living large today. That's the sound fact.

And you know what's sad is I've been here several times. Nobody recognized me. Love for Jeff.

We've got to put a picture of him in a break room or something.

All right. Well, we're going to go easy on you because you're a first timer.

All right, you two before we dive in, we're going to start this week in the Stevens pass subreddit.

We're a photo of a white limousine stuck in the snow during last weekend snowstorm may have caught your eye.

The stretch limo was clogging an entrance to one of the resort's parking lots.

The owner of the vehicle posted on the subreddit after the image went viral.

Apparently he collects limos and this is his personal stretch.

He said he didn't even intend to park there. He just got stuck turning around.

He did everything he could to move it. He also says he'd do it again in a heartbeat.

All right, a little few more questions than answers here. Why on earth would someone do this?

And why would they want to do it again? What happened? That was so joyous about that.

Well, I looked into this fella, David Richter. This is his username on Reddit.

This is not his first time getting stuck in the snow in a limo this year.

Get out of here. This guy has, in fact, yes, I love people who collect stuff.

This guy has like a dozen limos that he just rocks and rolls in the snow or whatever weather.

He just bought a Seahawks limo a couple months ago for $400. I mean, let him loose.

Oh my God. All right. So I was going to ask what we learned from this guy.

But what we really learned was he doesn't learn and this is a hobby.

Yeah. This is a hobby. He gets a lot of karma from posting.

I mean, there's a subreddit called s**t limos that he is a top poster in.

So this guy is living it up. In fact, I'm not sure he's not doing this for content at this point.

All right. All right. Jeff, what is the most badass or crazy thing you've ever done in the snow?

Oh gosh. Nothing. I mean, for me, it was driving to Lake Winatchee State Park with my kids.

And I was like clutching my steering wheel as I'm taking those curves with like half an inch of snow.

That's that's brave enough for me. Don't you have Chicago history?

Yeah, Chicago everything's flat and the roads are straight.

It's a grid and they're probably good at dispelling the snow.

Yeah, we we act like it's a new thing every year for us.

It was funny. I moved here and I'm like, why is everybody freaking out about the snow?

I could drive in the snow and then I took one drive trying to go up Queen Anne Hill.

And I'm like, yeah, no, this isn't going to work. No heck no.

All right. Well, this guy of course needed a toe and he says the Stevens pass crew was incredibly kind and patient.

They even let him go inside to warm up drove him back down the mountain.

What does it say about Stevens past staff?

Why do you think they were so cool about it?

There's a situation where a limo could make you smile.

I think this is one of them.

I think probably Stevens past staff has seen it all at this point because this is the last bingo sell on their card.

They nailed it for the season.

Jeff does the sweet ending encourage more daring behavior.

I don't know. It's always hard, right?

Like that person was so grateful that they were nice to him.

So maybe it's a sign that we should be nice.

Yeah.

But not great enough to not put them in that spot again.

Oh, right.

All I could think of was people who were trying to get into that lot and how fortunate it was that the Stevens pass people caught this guy before some of the people like half mile down the road did for real.

Moving on to the big story this week.

NBA fans brace yourselves.

It seems like the Seattle supersonics may finally be on the horizon.

The biggest hurdle comes next week when the NBA board of governors will vote on the opening expansion bids for Seattle and Las Vegas.

The goal to have the supersonics returned for the 2028 NBA season.

You know, I'm not a big fan of talking about stuff like this at a time.

I'm a Murphy, but this is actually real news.

Are either of you a little nervous that this is going to jinx things?

I'm not nervous.

It's going to jinx it, but I've seen this play out before when Chris Hansen celebrated the return of the sonics and had a huge rally and buying beers and everybody's celebrating.

I mean, this city has experienced heartbreak on this many times and I don't get too excited yet.

You sound jaded.

Yeah.

I did a whole season of Seattle growth podcast about what a return of the sonics would mean to Seattle.

It felt like it was imminent and that was almost nine years ago.

Holy crap.

Yeah.

I got to say I was listening to last week's show.

It kind of makes sense that Howard Schultt had to leave Seattle for the sonics to come back.

You know, it's one of those rebirth situations.

It feels like this is the closest it's been in maybe the last nine years.

And also that I read that the owners will get a one time check of $500 million for passing this.

And I'm sure there was big checks in the past too.

But who's saying no to the $500 million today?

What do you think, Jeff?

I don't know.

I need that right now.

Yeah.

I mean, the lot still has to happen.

I mean, that's we're talking billions and billions of dollars.

And you know, Paul Allen is one we thought could do it.

Bomber, we thought could do it.

But then he did the bought the clippers Jeff Bezos.

We thought could do it and would do it.

And he seems to be less in Seattle more and more.

And so who's going to step up and put that money together?

I don't know.

Yeah, the cost of the new NBA team could range from seven to 10 billion.

But there is a lot of money in this town.

Sports writer Danny O'Neill says they're definitely people willing to step up.

Like the group that put together the climate pledge arena.

What's going to happen if God forbid the Board of Governors votes no?

We get to do this next year.

Oh, man.

Definitely going to be the opposite of a Super Bowl parade.

That's right.

Steady party for another Tuesday.

Oh, man.

We have talked about the return on this show before.

A lot of the old official Sonic stuff is still in a warehouse somewhere waiting to be put back up.

Would you ever consider naming the team anything other than the Super Sonic?

No.

Oh, my God.

That would the thunder.

That's the only name I take.

Oh, no.

I would take that back.

Oh, man.

I would take that back.

Oh, man.

And just throw it away.

But I think I see what you're saying.

We need to be the Sonic again.

That it's a huge boom.

We're sitting here on the Ave.

There's like, you throw a dart.

You're going to hit a vintage store.

Huge boom for the vintage stores.

Okay.

Huge boom for the muralists in town who need to mock up that fellow who rocks all the Sonic's gear all the time on a wall somewhere.

Okay.

We need this for the city.

What is the most amount of money you'd be willing to pay for a ticket to the first game back in 2028?

Oh, man.

You believe like in Jynxing and then you're not going to sell in the first ticket.

I would pay.

You're trying to manifest a bit.

Somebody else wrote this script.

Yeah.

That is an epic jigs.

Well, we won't answer it.

Yeah.

We won't answer it.

I'm looking forward to concessions.

I'll say it.

We'll see.

A quick note before we move on about the WMVA.

Fans of Seattle's already existing basketball team got good news this week.

The season will begin on time after the league and the players agreed to a new contract.

Great news.

Go storm.

Let's go.

Yeah.

It's a big one too.

It is.

All right, move it on to our next topic.

Let's talk about another sport that's rising here in Seattle.

Majang.

Michael, you wrote a really great piece about the Emerald City tile club and their monthly nights at Stoop Brewing.

It has an awesome origin story.

Now it's tables full of people playing Majang.

Just really fun atmosphere.

Tell our listeners what is so attractive about this game for people?

Look, if you are one of the many people who right now who are looking for a life that's returning to analog.

I would beckon you to think about what's happening outside your crib right now.

And one of those things is Majang Knights.

Okay, dominated by young Asian American people.

Why I say this is because the game of Majang is so much of a grandma grandpa game, especially if you're Chinese like me or Filipino.

But yes, I went to Stoop a couple of weeks ago and I was surprised to see hundreds crowded in this upstairs area of Stoop Brewing playing Majang.

People are finding dates.

People are having dates there.

People are finding roommates there.

This is a movement.

I think we should all, a situation we should all be monitoring for sure.

That sounds like an awful lot of fun.

Jeff, would you be interested in a Majang Knight?

You think you could learn the game in a crowded bar?

Majang just reminds me of my grandma Mourna.

We would play that all the time.

Let's go.

Shout out to Mourna.

Really?

Does she like the gamble?

She did like the game.

She already knew.

We get along.

We get along, Mourna.

We get along, bro.

Is there smoking and traditional Majang?

Oh my goodness.

Yes.

Oh, absolutely.

And the fits are in accordance to something like this, maybe.

A little marble situation.

You don't want to see me at the table.

You know what I mean?

You don't want to see it.

So is it gambling or it's...

You can't gamble.

That's a great question.

Yeah.

You also like to gamble.

I learned Majang through my Filipino family.

So we absolutely gamble.

There's all sorts of ways to have points all across the board.

You could lose and still win money.

At Emerald City Talk Club, there's no gambling.

But some of the tables did look like World Series of Majang situation.

Very serious.

Okay.

Super serious.

But most of the tables are super open.

Everybody's trying to teach each other.

It's really easy and more about learning about each other and even the game too.

All right.

Well, this is a growing trend in the city and around the country.

There are a few different Majang pop-ups around Seattle.

Like Michael's piece mentions.

I wonder what it says that Majang is gaining popularity.

Do we need something to get us off our phones?

Is that what...

You know, honestly, when I thought about this, I'm like, isn't that what pull tabs are for?

No, you're right.

Yeah.

But there's something so much more social about a 20-minute game.

The soundtrack of the shuffling tiles.

And that there's different gameplays to learn.

That being the basis of an analog hangout is, I think, the gist of it.

This is not a Majang driven trend as much as I think a return to analog.

And then Majang is the vehicle people are using.

I think that's really cool for Asian Americans.

You know, I love the tactile thing with the tiles.

Oh, yeah.

You know, I love a good weight like backgammon even.

You said it, right?

Yeah.

You know, my son told me he's 20 now.

But he told me he was playing with friends at lunch in high school.

Majang?

Yes.

And I was like, again, like you, Jeff, I'm like, what are you?

Is Asian verified now?

Asian verified.

Let's go.

And he's been years now.

They invested in a Majang set before they graduated.

And now they play online because they're all in college.

It's separate locations.

Oh, yeah.

But no, no, there's still a set.

That's a thing.

That's impressive.

I hadn't heard of Majang in decades.

And then just last week, my mom was saying that she is taking a Majang class.

So it's not just young Asians.

Let's go.

Your mom's cool.

She's cool.

And I love that.

I love that it's more than for Asians, too.

I think that's sick that your grandma was into it.

And that your son's into it.

Your mom's into it.

That's so cool to me.

What other games do you think would be a good fit

for specialized nights like this?

What a pop-up for like Connect4 or Battleship work?

I will take people down and Connect4.

I can't anymore, bro.

Anyway, you're nasty with that.

Yeah.

Pokemon.

Oh, okay.

In fact, my next column in the stranger is about Pokemon.

And this is a game that is easily played because the cards are so accessible and cheap.

I'm not talking about new packs.

But if you want to make a deck, you can do so for a couple bucks, a 60-card deck.

If you didn't know, in the CID, there's a real-life Pokemon gym that is turning out dozens

of global champions.

I swear.

Are these like little characters?

No, so you're playing the game with the cards?

Oh, like the people are the champions.

Yes.

Yes, the owners of the cards.

Had to say you're old without saying you're old.

I think I am sticky.

I think I'm going to stick to Connect4.

Yeah, I'll give you two.

My eyes glazed over.

I just felt like really proud that we have advanced preview of what's going to show up in the

stranger.

But I didn't understand a word he was saying.

That's okay.

Moving on to our next topic.

Washington State hit an expensive milestone this week.

The war with Iran is showing up at the pump.

The state's average gas price now $5 a gallon, according to AAA.

The average in King County is just under $5 in 30 cents.

And of course, that's an average because I for sure have sent photos to my sisters on

the East Coast with much higher gas prices than that.

I load filling up my tank these days.

In fact, I was rushing to work this morning and I got in and I got a little salty with my husband

because there's only one bar.

There's only one freaking bar in the car.

Dear, anyway, the price of gas gets some people going clearly me.

Do you stress about getting gas?

I walk to work.

Look for you, bro.

That's great.

I'm very lucky.

All right.

Fitch.

I have a car that doesn't use gas very efficiently and that works well for somebody who's very introverted

and hermit like me.

I don't leave the crib.

So this was my allocation of gas for the week to get to Seattle to do this.

And I'm happy about it, dude.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, I'm not stressing too much but I can't recognize it sucks a lot.

And I think about the people who use gas for work a lot like truck drivers and stuff like that.

Absolutely.

If you're forced to do like gig work, you know, driving around everywhere.

The war in Iran has led to supply chain disruptions, which is where these rising costs are coming from.

National average is about $3.80.

Washington's average is the second highest in the country behind California.

Have you been driving less raised?

I know you said you had your home for the week.

Do you like store it up for a couple of weeks if you want to take a long road trip?

Boy, I drive a four-runner guy.

Oh, yeah.

Any trouble.

Yeah, it's F out there.

But where I get my gas is Fred Myers because I buy my Pokemon cars in there.

So I get a lot of discount.

Guys, I'm getting $1.50 off the gallon at the Fred Myers.

It's nice.

It's nice.

It's nice.

Of course, you can't find a Fred Meyer in the city anymore.

Talk about that, people.

Jeff, it's UW Spring Break.

No road trips for you, I'm guessing.

No road trips.

Yeah, it's sad.

My wife just said, she saw $6 a gallon.

And thankfully, she gets $0.40 off from some sort of grocery store.

Oh, yeah.

Yep.

You got to use the points in days when it's trying times, call for points.

And I tried to tell, I was saying we should fill up our gas tank last week because I thought it was coming.

I know.

And then now I'm thinking we got to just wait a week or two.

Because I think what's happening is everybody's getting that cover of low.

It's the Iran War.

So I get to raise my prices.

And at some point, people are going to start changing the behavior and the gas stations will bring it back down.

Yeah, I did my big fill up a couple of weeks ago with the same thing in mind.

Like, I'm going to do this once and then I'm going to beat all that now.

We're host.

It sounds like your husband benefited from that more than you do.

You hear that, Flint?

All right.

One last thing before we go.

Attention, literars.

If you're going to toss your trash in our state, get ready to come face to face with a marmot.

Well, stuffed marmot.

The face of the Washington Department of Ecology's new anti littering campaign.

Seattle Times says the logic here is that this cute little marmot puppet is a stand-in for our conscience.

Focusing on the split second decision to either litter or do the right thing and find a trash can.

Jeff, we'll start with you marketing expert.

Are these ads going to be effective?

Gosh, you know, hopefully they did their marketing research.

But basically, what they should be thinking about is the customer journey.

So as somebody is deciding the litter, what are they thinking and feeling and doing in each step that leads them to litter?

And then you want to get them and communicate to them at the time that they're about to litter to change what they think, what they're feeling, or what they do.

Or hopefully what they do, which is to not get rid of the trash outside.

A cute screaming marmot.

And that's exactly what's happened while you're driving.

And you're like, do I want this dirty thing here?

No, not marmot's going to say no.

I don't know.

I don't know that marmots are going to resonate with the people who are doing the littering.

I'm seeing that it's mostly cigarette buds and food wrappers.

Do we know that marmots only exist in the Olympic mountain range and why have you seen a marmot?

It depends on how they use the marmot because if the marmot really gets you to think about the consequences of your action

and if it sticks with you and maybe gets on K-O-W and people talk about that you litter, you're killing marmots.

And maybe people will think twice.

Well, it's a good point.

Washington says it's spent more than $17 million, cleaning up litter across the state in 2025.

Crews picked up more than 6.2 million pounds of litter over 19,000 miles of roadway in 2024.

Like you said, the most commonly littered items in Washington are cigarette.

But I can't believe people still smoke cigarettes.

I mean, go digital guys.

Actually, don't do anything at all.

No, no vaping, food wrappers, snack bags, glass bottles, or the other stuff, construction demolition debris.

According to a 2022 survey, is it surprising to you that our state litter is this much?

What is this, the like 1950s, where people were just tossing out the window?

I mean, the straight unabashed throwing trash out the window is that's appalling to me.

I can't imagine.

But I actually used to do trash cleanups with my family to try to teach them some responsibility.

Chef Shulman.

Yeah.

Wow.

Walking the world.

Beautiful.

Cleaning up trash.

Our next marathon.

Wow.

Okay.

But then I, even I noticed that sometimes I get out of the car and there's like trash around my car.

Yeah.

Like just stuff just kind of falls out of pockets.

Oh, so the unintentional litterer.

And so now I feel like I got to clean up other people's trash because I'm actually sometimes unintentionally leaving my trash.

Wow.

Wow.

That's a good one.

There went my mayor campaign.

You just good.

I rock with it.

I rock with it.

I rock with it.

We need to put more trash cans and cars.

Guys, this is 2026.

My grandma's had one since the 90s for her Kleenex.

Can you throw your banana peel in a trash can car, please?

Please.

And then the Marmot's going to stop people from taking that trash and throwing it out the window on the highway when it starts to smell bad.

Come on, guys.

You don't want to see the Marmot at your windshield, bro.

It's please.

Please.

We are going to wear the Marmot in Washington.

And we are going to leave it there.

Jeff Schulman is a professor at UWs Foster School of Business and Director of the new documentary, What It Takes.

Michael Wong is the creator behind Asian-verified thanks, Michael.

My pleasure.

So happy to be here.

Thanks, Jeff.

Thank you.

Appreciate you listening to Seattle now.

And thanks to our generous donors for your support.

Don't make me get the Marmot puppet.

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Today's episode was produced by Vaughn Jones.

It was edited by Andy Hurst.

Our production team also includes Caroline Chamberlain Gomez, Brooklyn Jamerson Flowers, and Paige Browning.

Greg Kramer does our theme music.

Seattle now and KUOW Public Radio are members of the NPR Network.

I'm Patricia Murphy.

See you tonight for Keeping Headlines.

Hey, I'm Katie Campbell.

Hosted with me here, KUOW's Arts and Culture Podcast.

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