The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Amin Believes the Miami Heat Can Win It All | Local Hour

Episode Date: October 9, 2026

"That's a good apple, man." Before he performed some T-Pain at karaoke last night, Amin took a trip across the street to watch the Miami Heat preseason game and had a realization: Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Heat are really f****** good. Plus, for Mike Ryan's birthday wish, Dave Dameshek and Roy Bellamy recreate Jonathan Bailey's sensual audio version of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Today's cast: Amin, your ol' pal Dave Dameshek, Roy, Chris, Jeremy, and Mike. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There is nothing casual about football season. You can tell yourself, you're just going to watch one game, and six hours later, you're emotionally invested in a fourth quarter between two teams you don't even care about. That's what I love about this time of year. The entire weekend becomes football. Your texting friends, tracking games, second-guess and coaches, convincing yourself you saw something before everybody else did. And then Monday comes around and you get to do the whole thing again.

Those are the weekends you remember. And for me, some of the best ones have usually involved some good people, a great game, and a cold Miller Light. No matter what triumphs are in store this season, legendary game days start with Miller Light. Cold, crisp, refreshing, that clean finish. And it's part of plenty of memorable football weekends. Make Game Day legendary. Go to MillerLight.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Game time is Miller Time.

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So instead of hearing this lovely track, you'll hear this in seconds. Hello, Intact Insurance. You're listening to the Dan Levatar show, in partnership with the Drafkin Sports app. Now live in all 50 states. All right, we made it. We did it. We made it to Friday. Look at this crew.

I don't think we've ever worked together before. What we got? We got Chris Cod. Cody. We got Mike Ryan. We got Roy Bellamy. We got Jeremy Tashay. We got Dave Damashek from the West Coast.

What's up, Dave? What's happening, everybody? Yeah, maybe we should just do the entire show today in our best respect of Zaslo impressions. That's a good call. That's not today. Sounds awesome. That's awesome.

There's a lot to get to. A lot locally happening. I went to the heat game last night. We'll talk about that in a second. But highlight is back, guys. Can you give me a highlight update, Mike? You know how Chris Cody thinks that the Panthers are undefeated? The opposite for the cyclone.

Yeah. We've only drawn and lost. Your favorite runners up are starting out of the gates pretty slow. And we need a dub in the worst way. And tonight, it's a finals rematch. We play the Chargers. And as everyone in the world knows, we lost in devastating fashion of these guys. It went all the way to the final point.

And Inaki double-faulted. And that's how we lost the title. They didn't earn the point. It was a very controversial one, too. I think about it every day. Take me through the NBA on NBC intro monologue going into this rematch. A few short months ago, you got to do my Mar-V-Albert boys. A shoe four months ago.

A shoe fort. What was that? No. Shoe for. Bob Costas. Oh, Bob Costas. I would take three hours. Right.

He's so wordy. Two short months ago. There you go. Take the vine. The Sust of Cyclones. We're on the precipice. It's just a cyclone. Really?

He had been that way for several years. Sorry. The cyclones. Cyclones. Okay. The cyclone? Yeah, fun last sight. What happened?

This is my bowling, Chris. I had karaoke last night, guys. What did you sing? I did two songs. I did two and a half songs, actually, if I must. First, I did Usher Nice and Slow. That was karaoke standard. Crowd pleaser.

Then I went to the old reliable, T-Pain, buy you a drink. Buy you a drink. That's my go-to. Went up there and was a full version, and I realized, I was like, why? I haven't had that much to drink. why is it so hard for me to remember these lyrics?

Why am I having to stare at the screen? Because as you guys know, there's rules to karaoke. They damage, like, you know that? There's rules to karaoke? I don't know what the hell we're doing. We have a giant weekend of football. Seahawks in 49. This is the local hour, sir.

We have huge college football games. Get back to karaoke. Yeah, fade them down. It's local hour doing local things. And karaoke is a competitive sport. Just power through. So there are rules to this. One of the rules is, if you don't know,

I know the song, don't sing it. I know the lyrics are on the screen, but if you have to stare at the screen, that means you don't know the song. So I find myself staring at the screen, I'm like, what's going on? What's happening to me? And the answer, my friends,

is that they gave me the wrong song. They gave me bartender. Oh. And so I'm like, you know what? Upgrid. It took me all the way up to the hook and I was like, this isn't my song. So then I started singing the hook,

this isn't the song I picked. No way. But you don't know the lyrics to bartender? No. So you did what you do to our video. video team when a little mistake happened. Of course. Instead of just rolling with it. No, let me stop everything.

There was a mistake. When T-Pain says they brought us, they brought us drinks to drink, we drunk them, got drunk. Yeah. Felt that. Chris, I don't stop everything. I do roll with it, but I roll with it by pointing it out. I would like you then, let's just complete the circle here. We're going to just spin our wheels.

I would like you to do T-Pain karaoke as Zaslow. Go. I had to take a swing first. Baby girl. Three nose only doing that out. Hey, brother's drinks. Three nose am I doing that out. Were you drunk home?

Got drunk. Great eyes only doing that out. Very drunk. Green eyes, I'm going to do on the art. I'm going to buy you a drink. Broke up on my girl last night. So there are other rules to this. Someone picked Bohemian Rhapsody.

Get all the way the hell out of here with that. You can't sing... No, it's not that it's too long. It's that, you know this, I mean, you can't do a song with that long of an instrumental at karaoke. You can't... Well, that, but also that long of a song. It's way too long.

It was three minutes and had a long instrumental. I would raise an eyebrow. But I'd let it slide. But it's like a seven, eight minutes song. How do we feel about in karaoke? I do this move. I did it on the last cruise I was on. You do the first verse and chorus,

and then you just go, all right, that's good for me. And you just kind of like, I'm done. You fade out. You like, give it. a look to the person controlling it. You're just like, all right, I did it. Everyone laughed. As long as it's not awkward. It's because I came, I did a, can you take me higher creed? And I like just nailed like my limited fake creed.

Yeah. And it was just, so like I got, I had such a good reaction to the first chorus and verse that I was just like, I'm not going to keep, it's the same joke again. So I'm just going to ride that I'm going to ride into the sunset. Girl, I've been shaking, sticking and moving. Try to get to you. And that booty. And that booty. That booty. You and that booty.

Right now it's not even doing that. Chris, I wish people had the courtesy like that. I'm not going to beat it. I'm not going to beat what I just did. Like you said, I hit a high note, literally and figuratively, and I'm going to walk out on it. The crowd enjoyed it. Yeah, man, it's just going to be a minute of like, oh man, that first verse was awesome. Yeah.

I don't want that. I like that. I might start doing that. I might start doing that. The best way to be able to capitalize on the second verse or chorus is to then, during that second chorus, just stick out that microphone for everybody to join. So it's like first one, nail it. Second one, build up to the second chorus. Everybody loves that hook and then stick that microphone out there.

Still keep performing it, but you don't need to do that right in the microphone. Nobody needs that. I'm sprung, dog, she got me. Got me doing things I never do. If you're only been, I'm telling you. Here's the thing, Jeremy. Yes, if you follow the rules of karaoke, which of course I have codified and tabulated for everyone's enjoyment.

Like, don't pick long songs, but also pick a song that the crowd will react. will react to. We had that last night. You know, picking a song that nobody knows this song, man. So now we're listening in four minutes that you sing a song that no one's,

like everyone's on their phone. I'm not gonna lie. I feel like Jeremy would do that. You brought the energy down. Never. There's a deep cut from this album. Absolutely not. No way.

I've got a fresh lineup. Would never do that. Fresh outfit. But to have the parking lot on smash. That's a little bit of cherry picking going on. Let's be honest. Plus, I got a Chevy with a 4-54. No.

You know about that 4-54-old. Mike Ryan, I would like that. like you in honor of your birthday to sing yourself happy birthday as Jonathan Zazzle I don't know that's like such a that's such a downgrade from what I've been doing

sing happy birthday as Jonathan Zazzle doing the Stephen A. Smith what? Oh okay the everybody should have to do their worst impression singing happy birthday to Mike Ryan I'll do my Bill Simmons singing happy birthday

that's not the way that birthday is worth You don't make me do things. That's not a way. That's not how a birthday works. Do you know how a birthday works? Do you know how a birthday works? Happy birthday. I make the request.

I make the request. What's your request? My request is, let's cue up the Jonathan Bailey, Audible. Oh, yeah. I got an idea. I got an idea because I love Dave Damashak's voice. Everyone in the audience certainly does. and I don't know if you've heard this clip, Dave.

I'm going to play for you in the audience. This is from the most recent audible release of Bram Sokers Dracula, and here's award-nominated actor Jonathan Bailey playing Dracula in an incredible scene. This blood that pours from me has your Lucy in it. No, drink. Ficker in my dream. Drink. No, no, no, no, no. There is no living. You are not wriggle away. Drink from me.

And with this baptism of my blood in your mouth, throat and veins, you shall be my servant. Let me tell you some Dracula, good fans. Great fans. What I want for my birthday is for Dave Damashek to recreate that scene. As Jonathan Zessel? No, as Dave Damashek. As like the Dave Damashek on 11 type of stuff, all right? You bring me that heat, Dave Damashchek.

Yeah, give me the vigorous lover. All right? Really, I'm a method performer. Good, good, good, yeah. Pull that shirt down. I want to be sick in my balls as to how good your Dracula is. And I want your scene partner to be boy.

No. Roy's the other side. Okay, good. Wait. You know about that apple? Does everybody have their lines? This is what I want for my birthday. Roy, you have an apple? Hold on, impromptu. Roy's got an apple. Roy's got an apple. Roy, of course. He always has an apple. Every morning I see Roy. He's flowing that apple up in the sky. A catch me. Day damage, do you have your lines?

I am ready to go. I have my sides. Okay. Now, in this scene... Please only call me Dracula, though. Okay. Dracula, I need you to really tap into that fire, that passion. I will do that now. All right, here we go.

And action. Mm. Mm. The blood that pours for me has your Lucian. Hmm. Now drink. It is you. The figure in my dreams.

Drink. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. There is no leaving. You will not wriggle away. Drink from me. And with this baptism of my blood in your mouth, throat in veins, you shall be my servant. No.

Well done. Well done. Are we going to win an Emmy? Can I say something? Was I nervous to do scene work with Roy? Yeah, pretty intimidating icon in our business. But you know what? He gave me the room.

He gave me a playground to take some chances. And that's why I got into the class. I thought it was a little too much from Roy. I think you needed to bring it down a little bit. It's a good apple, man. That was a real moan. Take two. The blood that poured from me.

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NetSuite.com slash dLB. Going for two when you're up by five. Switching the zone when man isn't working. Oh, and building your new stadium in the state your team actually plays in. In sports, some things just make sense. You know what else makes sense? Drinking Yeagermeister shots. Ice cold.

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Yeagermeister liqueur. 35% alcohol by volume imported by massed Yeagermeister U.S. White Plains, New York. Dan Levitar. I don't like to work blue, but I do have at least one pal that I can think of who has, actually he says he fell asleep in coitus. Dave Demichick. You may look at me and be surprised to hear this. I happen to be a vigorous lovemaker, so that would never happen to me.

This is the Dan Levitar show. So last night I went to the Miami Heat preseason home opener. And guys, I think we've been underselling how good the heater. Oh my God, they're going to be so good. Look, before anyone, I get it. It's preseason. But you see things that make you think, oh, that's what it's going to look like. And I actually have a couple of observations, a top five, if you will.

Observations from last night's game. Some O'LIs first. O'LI. He's still meth at the count. It takes a while to deprogram. Jack Nicholson was the same way in Cuckoo's Nest. O'LI. I saw a guy in the Elser Lobby who was barefoot with his foot on the couch.

Was it Vin Baker? No. I didn't know whether I should say something or not. You should have. I should have said something, right? I feel like a coward. Put your damn shoes on. O-L-I.

So that's an observation from seeing on. Because I was on my way to the game. On the way to you. O-L-I. The Miami Heat did the unthinkable. They sold a sponsorship for the Game Ball. The Game Ball is now delivered by FedEx. Hell yeah.

At center court, they come out with a FedEx box. Open the box. The ball's inside it. And I just thought, man, is nothing safe? Well, the Heat, they've done that before. They have? Yeah, multiple seasons they've done that. Because it's just another day of the life of the goddamn boss.

I knew that for sure. I pay attention. Oh, a lie. Rumors of Clay Thompson's defensive demise are greatly exaggerated. That dude last night was swatting down balls and deflections and moving his feet. And I said, that guy looks pretty spry out there. That's the thing that's crazy right now is I think it's because there's, he doesn't want to be the weak link on that group of five. And he clearly is the weak link in that group of five.

And so he's out there to show like, you don't need to always play Pella in this. I can still play defense and we're not going to be forced to not be able to switch. I still function. O'LI. Had I fly you. O'LI. The heat as a team seemed to have spent a lot of time in the sun because everybody is very tan. Clay, that's the darkest I've ever seen Clay.

All right. Number five is going to sound dumb. Yonis is huge. I told Mike Ryan last. night, I realize I have not seen Janus live in person many times in my life. And so seeing him come out and I was like, good Lord, it doesn't translate over TV. On TV, he looks kind of slender. In real life, he's massive. He's a monster. Yeah. It kind of washed over me yesterday and talking about this with a mean. Lost in all of the predictive analysis about how the NBA is going

go this season is no one's really considering, including me, no one had really considered that Janus could just remain as good as the last time we saw him playing at an elite level. Mike. It's not baked into anybody's analysis. When you say remain as good, we're talking about an MVP caliber player. Now playing for Coach Spolshaw. Right. Like, it sounds insane to say right now, but it's like, oh, shit, he might win MVP.

Yeah, like, he's the prize of the eye. off season. That's the best player available. If Janus is what he was and he's a genetic freak, I mean, if anybody can bounce back from an injury, it'd be that guy. He looks incredible. Number four. And Mitchell. Number four, the heat are going to play fastest. Like, I was shocked how many times they ran. They ran constantly. No, that's the thing. I mean, like, if you watched their team last year. They were constantly running. And that was with a team that included Norman Powell and Tyler Hero and Kala Ware and the beneficiary of all of their easy buckets because of the fast break was a

guy who finished in top three and six man of the year and Jaime Haka's Jr. And they helped rejuvenate his career off of a bad second year. The guy who's going to be the beneficiary of most of those baskets now is Janus Anta Tocumpo, getting him easy buckets, let alone his ability to create his own shot. Like, they're going to move. Number three, Janus pin-downs are going to be unguardable. They were, so he said pin down screens for Clay Thompson, for Tim Hardaway Jr.

For anyone who's coming off of that curl, like, yo bitch, it's like, you're going to have to make a decision. Either this guy's going to get a bucket or this guy's going to get, he's going to dunk it. Pick your poison. Your poison. Pick it. I mean, how likely is it? You know how sort of in the here and now of pro football?

Sean McVeigh has sort of jumped the league a little bit by putting three tight ends out there. That's his preferred way. And defenses don't really know how to respond to it because football has gone a certain way the last couple of years. How likely is it that the heat can sort of change the conversation about the way the Eastern Conference is flowing in terms of style of play? can they just go big on everybody and for all the all the concern all the hand wringing like what are they going to do have two seven footers out there that's that's not can that can that work and sort of change the way you have to play play basketball is that a winning path because no one else is able to do it or the other side of that is can the sixers do it because they now have lebron and ambide and can match that yes and no so so the heat i think they're going to open with janis and bam they're going to close with Janice and Ben, but in the middle, they're going to alternate a lot. They alternated a lot last night, and they

obviously didn't play in the second half. They only played in the first half. So yes and no, I think there's still going to be long stretches where it's like one of those guys and four shooters out there on the floor. They'll have that a lot going for them. The Sixers is different because they don't have the shooting.

That's the interesting thing to me is if you look at the Sixers' roster, they have good shooters, they have streaky shooters. They don't have like a crazy knockdown, never leave him alone. They got the type of shooters if the guy misses his first couple, defenders are going to start sagging. So I'm very interested to see either who for the Sixers is going to make a shooting leap

or how Nick Nurse is going to figure it out. But I digress. Got to go to my number two point observation from last night. Yovitch threw a BS lob to Janus who caught it awkwardly in the paint in the first quarter and everyone's asshole puckered up. Because he did that weird like his legs are. are really wide apart and his knees are kind of almost knocking as he's trying to scramble to pick up the ball.

And it was just like, because in my mind I saw it happen. It was like, yeah, the guy's amazing and then kaput. I don't know which one to shoot. My number one observation from last night's Miami Heat Game, the play where Janus, they're running the break. Tim Hardaway Jr. is leading. He's coming down the right side. Janice is like maybe a step behind half court. Screaming, get me the ball.

Tim Harder throws it to him. He takes like two dribbles, left hand dunk over, I believe it was Eve Missy and one. It was electric. But like the way he covers ground so quickly, it's breathtaking. It was breathtaking to watch. I was sitting on Media Row and there's a couple of times everyone's just kind of looking at each other like, Jesus Christ, this is going to be.

be different. Yeah, that's a dunk right there. It's amazing. No, I mean, he's going to be so good in this offense. And he even spoke after the game about he needs to kind of get used to playing this fast because he's never played like this before. And this is a different supporting cast. Like, I'm not going to immediately before they've even played a game,

say it's the best supporting cat, he's won a champion. Yeah. Like, obviously you have Drew Holiday and those guys at the height of their powers. That's the best one. Yeah. But what he has now is it allows him to play differently. And what? We're doing it. Oh, yeah.

Oh, no, we're doing that thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've lost Dave. Like, we've lost, maybe everybody. You will not wriggle away. Mike, I'm going to say it to you like this. Everyone's going to listen to this segment. Here they go.

Heat homers, whatever. No, we're going to be right. We're going. There was a point last night where I was looking up at the banners and I said, they're going to move those numbers over because that seven is going to go up there. That seven's going up there. Yeah, it is. It's going.

And in the corner there would be a Goron drugge. Yeah. I heard on the radio some buzz for the Indiana Pacer's chances of getting out of the east. I mean, what do I mean, this is a fascinating Eastern Conference all of a sudden, right? Yeah. I mean, the, the reigning champagne, one of the most iconic championship runs that we've seen in any sport in the last decade, at least from the Knickerbockers. And it's funny that given the largesse of New York City team high profile, that that isn't the buzz, that the Knickerbockers can they repeat. It's more about who can survive this Eastern Conference, right?

I mean, I thought the Pacers kind of had this season in mind with their roster management last year. But the concern is not just Haliburton coming off an injury, but he had a weird recovery. And people aren't exactly sure if he's got to return to form. Yeah, he had shingles. he caught a reaction and the medication and forced him to gain some weight and he didn't look like he was in playing shape

and that was just a couple months ago Yeah I think I think part of this verb for the Pacers is based off the last time we saw them when they were good right which is during the finals but people forget

they were like a lower seated team that had to go on the road and win a couple of series in order to get to the finals and there's a level of almost amnesia people get when a team does well in the playoffs, it's like, yeah, but your regular season wasn't great. It reminds me on the player level, like Gabe Vincent, the year that the heat went to the finals, he was incredible in that playoff run, but it's like, everyone's like, he signed with the Lakers,

oh, they got a shooter. I'm like, you haven't watched Gabe Vincent. Yeah, he was just hot. He just got hot at the right time. And so I'm not saying the Pacers are like, oh, I'm not selling on them, but I'm just saying in terms of an excitement about them, there's going to be an adjustment there that they've got to do. and then they've got to be superlative in a way that they weren't. Well, who are then for all the buzz around various teams?

Boil it down for us real quick here. Who are the teams that can realistically get all the way through the East and get to the finals? I know you have to jump to the last page of the novel here that hasn't even been cracked yet. But still, do your best. You told us, by the way, you said it when the Knickerbockers were not the clear-cut favorite there. At least that's where he slipped up. We're in good shape here. Your pal Dave's never going to slip up there with knickerbockers.

Tony, you know that moment at a party or a tailgate where everything just sort of clicks? I know it well. It's usually when I show up. Everybody goes crazy. Yeah, you usually take all the credit for it. But it's because Tony usually walks in with Quervo. I'm walking like this. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Quervo is a thing that turns hanging out into this is the night. It has that effect on people. It does. You usually take the... the credit for it. But again, it's the Cuervo effect. It's like that moment in a big game where everyone in the crowd just starts standing up, hooting and

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Dan Levitar! Let's throw it to my boy Jeremy Tache, who's sideline right now. Tash money, what you got for me? Jeremy Tache. Thanks, Jacks. This is the Dan Levitare Show. Brunson and Company, and you said that's the team. Forget about the Celtics, forget about everybody else.

That's the team that's going to get to the finals. And so it was. So now, do it again. I mean, who can survive this Eastern Conference for all the buzz around various teams? I think it's... Tell us the handful. The handful. If you're going to have a hiccup, you want it to.

to be on Bokers. That's for sure. That's right. The Knicks are still number one in the East. Dren. Nick or Bocker. O.G. Anobie.

Number two, I'm going to go. You didn't answer my question. I did. I just said the Knicks. He said the Knicks are at the top. The only team they can get to the finals of the Knicks. I said, he's giving you all the teams. He said, one.

Now there's a number two. It was red alert after the hiccup. Talk about intriguing. talk about intriguing teams and all that, but what teams can actually get through it? Are you saying the heat or one of those teams that you would say, yeah, I could see that thing, get into the phone.

Yeah, Dave, here's how it works. You ask me a question. You let me answer the question. It jumped all on my head. Oh, I thought you were going on the number two on your other list. No. The list of teams. You already finished that list.

That list is done. Number one was that left-ed-ed-adad dunk by Yonis over Emisi. Oh, so you're now into a list. into my list. I'm answering you a question. Take it away. I mean, drink. The Nix are my clubhouse leader.

And then other than Nix, I would say the heat. I would say the Sixers. And this is going to be controversial. The Toronto Raptors. I agree with you wholeheartedly. Toronto Raptors. Ameen had a great Raptors take. And it wasn't just that because I'm on with the Raptors.

I like that call a lot. But we were watching a commercial for the NHL, and Marshawn Lynch was featured. Oh. Yeah. And he was in the crowd. And he was, and Marshaun Lynch has had this very interesting post-playing career. Right.

Where he went from like the anti-media guy. Surly. Surly mean to people very short in interviews to being this great character. Great personality. Yeah. opens up. and is just known for having fun. Amin had a great call that I fully agree with.

I think Quy Leonard is the next Marshaun Lynch. I think when he's done playing, you're going to see a guy with great personality and smiles and like having fun, the fun guy. It's a good take. Yeah. He is a fun guy. Did you guys see him getting interviewed by somebody in Toronto

where they just like harmlessly asked him if he was getting any free meals around Toronto? And he just was like, nope, nothing free. Not getting anything. No NCAA violations here. Dave, I want to ask you, Lynch. Well, wait a second. Your list there, the thing that's controversy,

you said it's controversial to say the Raptors, what stands out is that you didn't say the Celtics. So the Celtics cannot realistically get to the finals this year? I don't think so, no. I don't even think they get to the conference finals. You can put that. All right. There's your clip.

El Hassan, I don't think the Celtics can get to the finals. El Hassan, no finals for Celtics. Not even the conference final. Elhassen, Celtics, S-U-X. At least four teams. And you didn't name the Pacers as one of the teams that could get to the finals, but they apparently are a factor as well. They are.

But the Celtics and Pacers are five, six-ish in your book. Yeah. And I would throw Atlanta there, too. You also haven't named the Cavs or the Pistons or the Hornets. And I don't believe that any of those are capable of getting there personally. But those are teams, like the Pistons were the number one seed last year. The Cavs still have both Donovan Mitchell and James Hardin. The Hornets were a team that in the second half of the year was incredible,

and they made the move of Lamello Ball for Nas Reid, which a lot of people believe is obviously going to help them. So my thing is this. It's easier to count the bad teams in the East than to count the good teams. All those things you can name are good. The Celtics are good. They don't suck unless you're making an infographic, in which case, S-U-X. Yep.

But if we're talking about the best, the best of a... It's the four you said for sure. That's the way I see it. Maybe I might change my mind. Like some people have changed their mind, apparently. We've got some sound here. I'm really fighting off the urge to wonder if I might have been wrong on being too glass-half-empty on Miami. So I watched some of their preseason game.

It's great. Janus looks great. I said the 14 minutes swung you, swung you. Yonis looks great. I have no idea how him and Bam are going to play. But obviously, they're swing guy as Wiggins. because you can even, you know, you can see it from when you read this stuff and just in general. Like, Janus just, he creates open space for guys.

You still have to put the wall up if he has the head of steam. And I just think Wiggins is in a nice spot. Oh, my gosh. That gives a voice to what dawned on me yesterday. No one had considered that Janus can still be elite. He played 36 games last year. In those 36 games, he averaged 27.6 points, 9. eight rebounds and shot 62% from the field.

It was maybe his most efficient and prolific year of his career when he was on the floor, and everybody looked at 36 games and believed that all of those games that he was out was due to just being banged up. Dude, he was trying to get out of Milwaukee. Like, he was hurt, but they were different types of injuries. No, let me tell you. He was hurt for a few games, but the end of the year was them sitting him. Right.

There was a whole fight about it. There were reports about that. So Eric Name, who now covers the heat for the athletic, but covered the bucks the last few years, Eric Name told me we would come out to them warming up, and Janus would go through these incredibly intense workouts and cap everything with like windmill dunks and reverse dunks and shaking the rim.

And it was basically like his passive-aggressive way of telling everybody, I'm fine. I can play right now, but they're not letting me. So this idea that there somehow has been a slippage, It reminds me of the Dr. Dre line. They say the Dre fell off how. My last album was a chronic. It was like, yeah, man.

Last time you saw me, I was incredible. That was a chronic. There you go. Beat me to it, Mike. He forgot about Dre. You don't do that. You don't forget about Dre. I wanted to ask Mike on your birthday and happy birthday.

I'm still waiting for you to sing it to yourself as Jonathan Zaslow. As Stephen A. I'm curious. Oh, that'd be good too. I can grant you one birthday wish, a Hurricanes National Championship this year, or, you know, January, a Miami Heat title in springtime or a time machine in which you can travel to whatever concert in music history. But only one. Only once? And what if I then say you don't get the opportunity for the other options?

Ever? Maybe ever again. Ever again. So I don't leave the hurricanes a chance. Ever again. No, if the correct canes, if you choose the canes, you're ruling out the heat for, say, the next decade. They will definitely not win a touchdown.

Any bands on YouTube, dude, you got to go. Yeah, I'm going Keynes. I'm going Keynes. Especially if, like, you're writing them off for a decade, and I don't leave their title chances to chance in Mario Cristobal. No, give me the Keynes championship all day. You will never see me happier in my entire life than when the canes get number six.

Can I just say that a time machine that can only take you one time and it only takes you to a concert, like that sounds like a shitty time machine. You're talking about DMX at Woodstock? You complain about my time machine. If you want to get a time machine, go get your own goddamn machine.

I just offered this one to Mike Ryan as a birthday gift because I'm an empath and I'm a generous soul and I want him to have a happy birthday and you're belly aching about the quality of my time machine. If you're an impact, give them a time machine that actually gives them something good. Like being able to get some stocks invested or predict a Super Bowl. Come on, come on, come on.

That's not the way that a Dave Damashik hypothetical works. What? That's not the way Dave Damashick hypothetical works. I know. That's why it needs work. Keynes a impact. Kane's championship or you get in at the beginning of Bitcoin. Keyes championship?

No, come on now. Although, if I got in at the beginning of Bitcoin, we might have already won a championship because a lot of that money would have gone to the roster. It's funny, like, people will invest it in Bitcoin. Like, oh, I got in early and now it's worth, you know, $30,000 or whatever. Like, that's cool, but it's like, it's not actual money until you cash it. Right? Like, you could be Bitcoin rich, but you're just holding on to it.

So not you're not actually able to, like, have yachts and stuff, right? I assume if I did get in early enough, I would have sold a good chunk of it by this form. I assume that you sell, and maybe you can hold on to some, but I think you would sell most. Sell most? Yeah, if you want to be. At the perfect time, at its peak, of course. Like, what else am I? When's the peak, though?

The peak was like a couple years ago. Yeah, but then, like, while you have it, when it hit $3,000 of Bitcoin, you might have thought, oh, my God, this is the peak. But it's like, I would have known. No, I would have nailed it. I would have known exactly when to get out. I would have been, like, hold. You guys have a little diamond hands. Hardle.

You guys. think about like that like this time travel construct of like when I go back do am I just is just me and I'm walking around and doing like the next minute's like like the Nate Bargatsy thing of like I couldn't help or be useless if I went back to the 20s like yeah we have internet someday but I have no clue how to help get us there or am I going back to a younger version of me and sitting him down and say because I could see here's the mess up queen at live aid Wembley I could see myself sitting down with younger me and say you need to take what little money you have and invest in Bitcoin.

Dude, they made a move. That scene is recreated. I can watch that. I can go home and watch it. And I could see younger of me and being like, get out of here. Like just not listening. Like, no, you idiot? Like Bitcoin. I'd be like Biff in back. Get a hominack. All right, make like a tree and get out of here. And I'd smack myself.

It's leave, you idiot. I could see that happening to me. And it scares me. It terrifies me if I'm. being honest. Don't mess with the, don't go into the past. That's the cardinal rule. Why? You're going to disrupt everything that happens after. You're not going to be sitting where you are. You understand, I mean, the lesson's taught to us by the Terminator series, the airtight logic of one and two of the Terminator. Once you get past that, it's a different story. But once you settle into one and two, it is airtight logic in the same level of Groundhog Day. everything that would happen kind of checks out. But if you go into the past and you tamper at all,

if you have a conversation with past Amin, present Amin is not sitting in the chair that he's sitting in right now. You understand that, don't you? Yes, but I'm all right with that. And also I think that... You know about that butterfly effect? That whole cautionary... Is that Ashton Coucher?

Amy Smart. Great fans. Big file, Amy Stark. Smart. I think that whole cautionary tale about time travel thing, Dave is, it's like, that's what they tell you so that you don't want this thing that's awesome. Like, oh, it's really terrible. You don't know what might have.

Like, no, I'm good with it. I'm all right. It's a wonderful life. Yeah. That's what they tell you. Who are the conspirators filling your head with this, with this, so that you don't get into the time machine? It's the people that they're trying to keep it from us. Someone probably got in the time machine given the current state of affairs.

Absolutely. It probably already happened. What a future where Biff is married, it was corrupt, rich and corrupt and married to you. convenience. A mean, no, wait, just for the record, Amin is questioning the people who have come up with the time machine

and the rules and the warnings they have given to us. You're already skeptical of those warnings? Yeah, I think they're lying to us. I think it's awesome. I have a hypothetical for Chris Cody. Okay. She's a guy. Kane's National Title.

Okay. Or, ah, Cyclones win. Give me that dub. one win. It's a bad year so far. Just one. It's been brutal. Ah, I, uh, I win. I'm a fun guy. Tony, you know that moment at a party or a tailgate where everything just sort of clicks?

I know it well. It's usually when I show up. Everybody goes crazy. Yeah, you usually take all the credit for it, but it's because Tony usually walks in with Quervo. Walking like this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Quervo is a thing that turns hanging out into this is the night. It has that effect on people. It does. usually take the credit for it. But again, it's the quervo effect. It's like that moment in a big game where everyone in the crowd just starts standing up, hooting and hollering. Keep it quervo. Keep it quervo, baby.