The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Best of DLS: Chris Steals Greg's Laptop

Episode Date: January 1, 2026

Nothing says New Year's Day like a father and his son arguing over football. In this hour, you will hear one of the maddest Greg has ever gotten at Chris on the air: when Chris barged in and stole his laptop as he was working on his preseason NFL predictions. If we learned one thing this day, it is this: NEVER mess with the sanctity of Greg Cote's NFL predictions if you do not want to face the consequences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stucats podcast. I've been asking, go ahead and keep typing, don't let us pop. I didn't know you were starting. You ended the last segment so well. The countdown usually is where, oh, you didn't have your headphones on. Okay. His team rankings are due today, guys. He has a deadline.

You could clue me in that we're starting. How high do you have the dolphins? I'm not telling you. They're going to be top. Oh, my God. I happen to have my rankings open in front of me, but it's top secret information. I bet you I'm at 14. No, it's too high.

Like 17. No, he'll be in the top 15. He would never go against his team that way. You don't think 17 did, like throw people off? There's just no way he's going under the midway point. I guess it would be 16. There's no way. Okay, first of all, the rankings that I have now, which Christopher probably purloined and illegally looked at,

or not the official final rankings. I'm going to come in there and help you with something. I'm not going to look at your screen. No, this is not happening. I assure tone, I assure you, I promise you that there's no way that he puts the dolphins in the bottom half of the league. 17 is just enough to throw the people off the scent, right? Oh, no. They're going to be elbows grabbed.

Oh, no. They're going to be elbows grabbed. He's furious. Okay. I'm going to tell Christopher right now, if he, if you reveal on the air where the dolphins ran, I am going to be genuinely pissed at you. You do not do that. You're getting into my business now.

Seriously, he better not do that. Okay, he steals my computer, breaks the whole screen. There it is. There it is. He's left you with Justin Keyboard. It's embarrassing. Christopher. He took your dignity.

I'm just looking. Don't say anything about it. I'm serious. Okay, I'm going to tell you this right now. Are you hearing me? if you say that on the air, I am not hosting the draft party Thursday night. Wow. Period.

Do you understand me? Do you understand me? The draft party will not be at my house Thursday night. We've got an Avery Johnson situation. If anybody on this show reveals where I have the dolphins ranked or anything else about my rankings, I am not hosting the draft party Thursday night.

Take that to the bank. I'm saying it all my life. You have so many tabs open. I'm saying it all my life. I will not host the draft party. draft party Thursday night. If anybody says anything about my rankings on the air. Greg's standing on business right now. It's the clocking to you? And now

I want to push this because among other things, I want Chris to actually take that to a bank. I want him to go to a bank and say, listen, my father, see what the teller's reaction is when you say my father has threatened that if I take that back, give me back my

computer. Jack. Jack. Avery Johnson's father thinks this is aggressive. I may I've exited it out. I hope you have it saved. Oh no. 1440 is the password. Oh, no. All right, I'm going to bring it back in.

I'm scared. No, no, just hold on to it for a second. I'll stay here. Dan, you can't see our van. This is not. Listen. This is a bad idea. I have seen him yell at Christopher this way since Christopher was four.

When he starts throwing around the Christophers, I don't need to see the front of his face to know that he's serious. And the greatest of all the threats, when he threatens not to host a draft party, when it's the center of his life, he doesn't want to take away that draft party. That's what he wants to be doing. But he will.

If you reveal that the Dolphins are 14 instead of 17, if you reveal that and take away his paywall thunder, really? He just spoke to me in silence. No, it wasn't even sign language. He did not waste words. He just did Keanu Reeves the Matrix and summoned you over with a finger

because he didn't want to waste the breath of having you test his rage anymore. He's just sitting here with nothing but a keyboard and I got to tell you, it looks pathetic. I want my laptop back. I'm not the least bit amused by this. I'm not kidding.

and how angry I am. I know you're not. Okay. And this is what I'm going to do. Give it back, please. And Dan, stop stopping us from giving it back, please. I am going to, no, I'm going to send them both to the penalty box. I'm not going to the penalty box.

Go together. I'll bring this. I want my computer right here before I do anything. It'll be in the penalty box. No, I'm not going to the penalty box until I get my computer right here. You can bring it to me. This is fine. This is good.

No, you can bring it to me. Greg, you're going to stop that now. Okay, yes. No, I'm not. You're going to stop that now. No, no, I'm not. I'll leave. I'll go home if you want me to with my laptop. But I am not going in the penalty box until my laptop is connected to my computer. My son is, this is not your fault. My son has gone over the line here. I am genuinely upset. We know. Okay. So how about make it right? Yeah. You're letting Dan off easy. It's part of the joke. It's partly Dan's fault. It's ridiculous. It's partly my fault. Yes. that we're not able to have fun with Greg Cody's rankings of 14 or 17 for the Dolphins. That's right, because they're serious to me. Okay, Christopher, if I don't have that computer here in three minutes, I am not hosting the draft party Thursday night.

Put the clock up on the screen. Please do it. Lewis, put up a clock on the screen that gives us our three minutes here. Okay, and please do that. And Christopher, you send out a notice to the rest of the league saying that the draft is going to be at your house because of what you did to me today. to gather ourselves here for the nature of this threat, okay? Where's my three minute?

Hold on a second. I'm going to start. All right. You're going to start it. Don't wait until 30 seconds. Just go in there. No, no, no. I need the dramatic tension of the three minutes, please.

Of course you do. Yeah, I'm good on tension. No, I want it a little more. I guess who Mike Flentes is. Okay. Again, listen to what's happening, Greg. Let's play now. Billy, that's a good idea.

No, no. Let's play the game right now. Does Greg know the name of everyone in this office? let's uh let's just how you make things uh chris hand hand his computer okay it's on the screen 245 oh boy i don't i don't i do you guys understand what this threat is i don't totally it's a big draft party that's happening thursday gregg has been gracious enough to open his home is a pf i draft if christopher thinks i'm kidding i am not he doesn't think you're kidding no i think he does no he does not uh we are in a a tense situation though and we're stuck in it

Like, the discomfort is real. It is awkward, and we are now on the clock, and it's very dramatic. It's down to almost two minutes. I know. It's 2.15, which means he's still got a little bit of time. Now, I... Okay. I cannot express you how serious I am about Thursday night.

Don't hold your heart, all right? Yeah, I'm scared me. No. On my life, I am not hosting this draft party Thursday night if I don't have that laptop. Have we revealed anything? I don't care. I'm giving you an ultimatum. You now have a minute and 50 seconds.

It's, yeah, it's a minute 49 now. This has been... I've never been more angry connected with this show, ever. A minute in 38. Can we put up the LSU photo, please? I don't care. Oh, my God. That doesn't make me nearly as mad as what's happening right now.

anybody who thinks that's me is an idiot a minute 20 minute 15 it has to be in my hand before it goes to all zeros in my hand a minute eight see Christopher thinks I'm kidding

about not hosting this draft party okay on my life On my granddaughter's life, on my granddaughter's life, I am not hosting this rap party unless I have that computer. Why does this keep escalating? Who else's life is he going to take before the end of this? Again, I remind people as a discomfort sweeps over the room dramatically that this is the difference between the dolphins being ranked 17th and 14th. And I'm guaranteeing you, it's not going to be in the bottom half of the league. And the only way it's going to be in the bottom half of the league is if he changes it.

The way that he just alphaed this room is the single most impressive thing I have seen Greg Cody do since he had a schoonerle for his 30-year-old deck shoes. Look at the tension in the other room there, Greg. Good. There's tension in this room, too, emanating entirely from me. I'm fanning it a bit. I'm participating. You would never. Well, wait a minute, though. First of all, you will not tell me that this is not good.

You will not tell me that. And I'm watching. Mike's hiding behind a plant. And the rest of you, I can see your faces, but what he has just done is old man's strength. What you just saw was him telling you, as he's told you for a little while, I got stamina.

And what you could do is you can go to an old-fashioned bank and you can tell them that he's not hosting that draft party, If you, I still want you to do that. I want you to go to a bank and find a teller and see what they're, I just want to see an assortment of tellers what their reaction is. And I wonder if there's some sort of crime that you could be committing that they will make you like a bank robber or something because you're just weirding out people and you're going to be escorted out by security. Do you care at all that you, look at what that room looks like right now.

All of them have been reduced to nine-year-olds fearing a father. and a grandfather's wrath. You have reopened the scars here on, oh, come on, we were just playing with somebody that we respect and like. Why are we arguing this way about the fact that he was waving keyboard at us? I didn't hear a lot of respect and like and what just happened. I certainly didn't feel any respect for my son. The respect that you did not feel that is accurate for you not to feel

is a respect for a top 20 list of rankings. It's a top 32. It's an entire league. Any hack can do 20. Who does the top 20 rankings? It's insane. Before the season starts. Ridiculous.

Hey, Jeremy, happy holidays. Happy Junuka. I want to toast you. Actually, I don't. I will toast with you. Okay. We're co-workers. Mm-hmm.

Friends, you could say. No, we cannot say that, but we both enjoy. An ice cold Miller Light. That's true. Especially around the holidays. You know, it's a 50th anniversary of Miller Light. It's really amazing. Every time we say that, I can't believe it.

Well, it's crazy because, like, they've basically been partners with the Dan Lebitard show for half of their existence. Wow. When I put it to you that way, we got an old-ass show. Yeah, we do. That's crazy. Hey, let's look around at our friends, not each other, and our family, even though they're not here. I do miss your brother, though. Yeah, I know.

I'll bring him back. And take that for a sip. Look around and know that we made the right. decision. When it comes to a domestic light logger, Miller Light is the best. And it's a holiday season, as we mentioned. Why don't you enjoy that holiday season? By drinking a beer that won't weigh you down. The original light beer since 1975 still hidden different, 50 years

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I'm not going to apologize. I wouldn't expect you to apologize. You're a giant infant. Okay. You have no control over your emotions. You have no control over your emotions When you're calling someone you know an idiot I don't deserve it

I don't deserve it And you're a fool for saying it Okay Stugats You're a fool I was kind of following Oh you're locking in right now You're locking in on eyes

Yeah, all right Let's drop the gloves pal Let's rock You should be thanking me For what? Every day For what? For what?

For what I've done around this character And the second shit gets real for you You want to come at me and call me a fool? No, no, no, no, seriously. Seriously, pal, I've added 10 years to your career. This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stugats. So, in football, we've gott.

So in football, we've got Kenny Pickett going to the Raiders. We have Amari Cooper going to the Raiders. To the Raiders. Can't do that shit. My parents divorced. What? Do your show? Well, you put something in the middle of it here that is a bit hostile.

Oh, I put it in the middle of it. That started with me? You're acting like we revealed it. When someone stole my laptop, that's me doing that? You're acting like it was revealed. It was revealed. What was revealed? You said a number that is much too close to the number.

Well, that's just us guessing. I don't remember what it was. anything. You won $12,000 yesterday. Oh, damn it. You revealed the number. I didn't hear it, and he's pointing it out. I didn't hear the number. What's the number he said?

I'm not going to say. Did any of you hear the number that Chris said? It's 17, Dan. I told you already. Whatever number he said will not be where the dollar is. Wait a minute. Oh, wait. Now the number's changing? Maybe. Oh, no. Depending on how accurate he was. You know, it's ridiculous.

You're messing with my livelihood when you do stuff like that. Yes. Yes. Okay. And, you know, you're thinking of the show first, which in that seat, I get it. But I almost wish you hadn't brought it back. So you would have seen how serious I am about not hosting the draft. You should cancel it anyway.

Oh, my God. You want to take it again? Seriously. You want to take it again? Do something else to piss me off. And you'll be setting out a group text, and you'll be hosting that draft. Put up the hospital photo. No, I'm kidding.

Don't do it. I like the Kenny Pickett topic. Let's do that. It was a good transition. The Mori Cooper thing. I mean, that's how, like, Jacoby Myers, you do. What now? We're going to get a Mark.

The hospital photo is as mad as I've ever seen him before this. But the hospital photo is something that we showed only because he had already shown it on social media. Like, he provided it for us. No, no, no. I provided it to my social media followers. Yeah. You made it public, though. That's putting it out public.

Okay. What does a picket trade mean for should be? If you tweet out a photo, you can't be upset. It's out. That's fair. Who's QB2? But this is an anger that I don't know that I've seen from him before. He says you're messing with his livelihood.

I don't believe that that's true. I don't believe that his livelihood would be impacted in any way whatsoever. if you revealed that number. I don't believe that there will be more subscriptions to the Miami Herald to get to that paywall, but okay, he's entitled to feel that. It escalating from he was willing to give his life, and then he just gave up your daughter's life as well?

That's where the game ended for me. I mean, yeah, because I needed to inform you how serious I was. I was aware. No, you weren't. I don't think you were. I feel like we all were, Greg. No? Mike was hiding behind a plant.

I don't think Christopher, honestly thought that I would stand firm and not host that draft Thursday night. You don't think I can tell when you're really upset. You didn't come back very soon with the laptop, did you? That was my fault. I just want to examine for a second before we move off of this. Please. Just, well, I don't want to move off this part, though. It's such a funny threat to get to the height of rage and say, you're going to have to host your own party. I'm going to pull the party. I don't think Chris particularly cares. I don't know.

I know you care about it. You would have made it work. I know you care about that as a threat. That threat was something meaningful to you, but it clearly wasn't working as a threat. It's like one text. Hey, we're having it at John's house now. Well, great.

I don't like this. Okay. What does that draft party mean to you, Greg, just so we have an understanding? Because it seems as though they're not taking this seriously. Like, it would just be a text to change things. I mean, I enjoy the league. It's a keeper.

league, which is itself a pain in the ass, but I enjoy the league. I feel like you're punishing yourself with that threat, though, that you want to host that party, and if you don't get to host that party, the punishment is greatest for you. No, no, that's not true. Christopher asks me to host the party every year. You have a bigger house than I do it. Okay. And I'm happy to do it, but in the build-up to me hosting the draft, you don't want to piss me off. You know what? I feel bad for what's happened here. Let me set you up to talk about this more. It is

time now for a weekly update on our favorite team, Rex Lobos. Oh, look at that. They're trying to cheer you up there. I don't have a Lobos up there. What? This is makeup sex right here. Just did your draft on Saturday.

You had a good draft. I haven't memorized my lineup yet. He's not ready for a Lobos up this. Not ready for a Lobos up. You're springing on me. All right. So hold on a second. there. Will you now honor

Minor penalty, two minutes. Murdering the show with their bare hands in a dismemberment kid in cold blood. Murdering the show with a dismemberment kit with your bare hands in cold blood. That's a two minute penalty for you. Yeah. For Greg? He was a victim of a crime.

Thank you, Billy. That's okay. We're victim blaming. And now that he's shown everybody who's boss, because he, look, it's only happened one other time where Dominique just refused the penalty. You have to respect the system here even though we've disrespected you. Your rage has

subsided and perhaps you can respect the delayed penalty. You can leave the laptop. Just leave the laptop. But the way to make up for what just happened is to send me to your ridiculous penalty box. That's a good way to make me happy. Well, I'm sorry we're not making you happy but... He's going to go

to the kitchen. What are we talking about here? Rage fueled 20 minutes where I can see everybody scored eyebrows in the other room because I felt like he was yelling at you the way that he yelled at you when you were five yes like it was just a completely unreasonable escalation of things that's right I've seen that yell many a time Don Lebertard you want me everything you owe me everything you have added 10

years my career yes I have this man who the hell are you Stugats I am who the You are you. Bullshit. You're a rude young man. You're a fool. You're a fool. I already called you a fool.

You can't call me. You're an idiot again. It's a fool of. You're an idiot twice. You're an idiot for dismissing how much I've helped you. This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stugats. exciting. This segment is brought to you by Comcast Business, powering the engine of modern business with advanced networking and security solutions. What kind of introduction is that for John

Isner? We've been wanting to talk to John Isner forever. John Isner's a hero of ours. Usually he's the guy taking part in something that's dragging on too long. Big High Life fan. That is correct. John Isner, this is very exciting. We have not gotten to speak to you before, but we have spoken of you for a long time. Because your Your serve is the most majestic thing that any of us have ever seen in tennis. So thank you for joining us. We appreciate it. It feels like I don't know if we've talked to you about this or if I've read about this because I thank you for joining us, as I said.

Yeah. Thanks for having me. How long is this question? Longer than your matches? Yeah, this is a long one. Spit it out. Your physical advantages. Is there a way that physics allows you to serve? better than anyone else in the sport? Well, yeah, absolutely. I'm able to

create angles when I was playing that most of my opponents aren't able to pull off. You saw that a little bit last night with Riley O'Pelka, although he lost, of course, to Carlos Alcraz last night. He's about my height and he can create some serious angles

when he's serving. So when you're almost seven feet tall playing tennis, the serve is 100% going to be your best weapon. And if it's not, You shouldn't be playing tennis at all. I should mention that he's won 16 ATP tour singles titles. He's the tallest top 10 player in history.

Your history, when did you know you were going to do this as a career? Oh, that wasn't until my junior year of college. I didn't have pro aspirations. And typically in tennis, like bigger players take much longer to develop. It just takes a lot longer time to grow into your body. So that was definitely the case for me. And my junior year in college, I got pretty good and decided that, You know, I didn't want to work a regular job, so I pursued professional tennis after my senior year.

I mean, I went to all four years of school at the University of Georgia and had a long pro career after that. So going to college was critical for me. But it actually, like some players, when they leave high school, they face a tough decision, whether to turn pro or go to college. For me, it wasn't tough at all. I had to go to college, but I just wasn't good enough. Do players or fans get mad at how you play tennis because you're so singularly, excellent at aces? Yeah, players do, and that's a good thing.

That's what I wanted. I wanted them to get mad and get frustrated because that's basically when I knew I was doing my absolute best out there is when frustrating my opponents when they can't get a racket on my serve and they don't have much rhythm. That's typically when I was playing my best ball. Sometimes I would even feel uncomfortable out on the court,

but at the same time, I needed to realize that my opponents were feeling more uncomfortable than I was. Fans alike, Big servers, we're affectionately known as servebots, as Mike Ryan definitely knows about that term. And, yeah, like, fans like to poke fun of us as like being served bots, but like, what do you want us to do, right? Like kick a serve in and rally 30 balls with Carlos Alcraz. It's not going to happen. So, yeah, but really, I mean, most of that rage comes from, you know, the Twitter spaces and stuff like that.

So it's really not. In real life, I think at tournaments, fans are much nicer. I should tell the folks that we're in the middle of the U.S. Open here, the first round, and it's been interesting so far, Isner's joining us from the U.S. Open. And have you seen what happened with Medvedev? I know we have hotheads throughout the sport, but where you've got a match point, and the photographer seemed to feel really bad about what happened there. Your thoughts on what happened there where Medvedev is just going crazy? Yes. So I have a bit of a different take. First of all, I don't think that photographer, credential should have been revoked. He clearly made a mistake. He clearly felt awful about it. Kicking him out of the tournament, I think that's a bit harsh. If I was the umpire, I think the letter of the law, he made the right call. But in that situation, when Mevedev was already losing his mind, that's much easier said than done when you're watching this match, you know, from TV. He should

not have awarded Bonzi a first serve, just knowing that Mevedev would lose his SHIT. Um, if, you know, had he got a, had he got a first serve. So I think you should just let it be, you know, it's just a four or five second delay. No one would have complained if they just, if you just let it go and just said second serve. John, Medvedev, since blowing it against Sinner at the Aussie is a totally different player. This is a guy that was thought to at once be challenging the kings of the sport. And I believe this is his third first round exit in a major in his last four attempts. It's manifesting.

I mean, he's always been a hot head, but he's breaking rackets. He's doing BJ signs to opposing players. Is he long for this sport? It feels like that was, that might have been it. Yeah, he's losing his mind. I mean, three first round losses in a row for a guy like DeNal Medvedev, who's made lots of slam finals has won a grand slam, this one, the U.S. Open. It's been number one in the world.

He's just losing his marvels. I think, truthfully, he's just mentally exhausted, trying to chase, perhaps at the front end of his career, Djokovic and Rafa and maybe even fed a little bit. And now towards a mid to late part of his career, Cinder and Alcara has come along. And just the prospect of him winning a big tournament has just become a lot more challenging.

And I think that chase has just worn him down. But also, you know, he's a big guy. And he plays, as you all know, he plays 13, 14 feet behind the base sign. He's big and he's skinny. and maybe his body's just wearing out on him a little bit because he plays such a physical game out there. Moves so well for his size, but he's very wiry.

And maybe his body's taking a little bit of toll. It definitely does seem like he should take a break, put the rackets away, mentally refresh, and, you know, try to come back strong next year. Boris Becker said Medvedev needs professional help. If you're a friend of Medvedev or a family member, would you tend to agree? I don't know about professional help.

I think he would need to, in my mind, he would need to just sit down and talk with those closest to him, his wife, his coach, his trainer. I think just putting the rackets away and not focusing on the next tournament and having to practice. And he's got two kids, I believe, just spend time with your family.

And don't focus on tennis and realize, in my mind, like, that dude's made a crap ton of money. He's been very successful. Life is all good. Take a break from it. and then come back and he should be all right. You played 17 years, so can you explain to us physically what it is that Djokovic is doing, having had a career longer than 17 years?

What is this? Do people even understand what this sport does to the body? Yeah, it's brutal. I mean, especially when you, for the most part, we're playing on hard courts, which is very, very tough on your body. So what Novak is still doing is otherworldly. I mean, he's 38 years old right now. Of course, he's playing a limited schedule, but like for his ridiculous standards, he's been like the fourth, the fifth or sixth best player in the world, like to date, having not played many tournaments this year.

It's just crazy. But for him, as you get older, you certainly have to pick and choose your spots. And obviously, he's just focused on the grand slams. He wants to get the number 25. But he's in my mind, the most dedicated and professional player, I think, are sports ever seen. Like, everyone works hard on the court and off the court. Ralph is a great example. I think what Novak does off the court with his diet and his sleep and his habits. And he's a bit like Tom Brady in that regard. And that's why he's the greatest of all times, just like someone like Thomas.

I hate to compare two goats like that. But they take care of themselves so well. He's so strict on his diet, his hydration. He sleeps in a hyperbaric chamber. I mean, he's sort of obsessive about his recovery. And that's a big reason why he's still doing what he's doing at 38 right now. Having played all these matches in his career, it's very remarkable. my mind he's one of the greatest athletes of all time not just tennis players we know that but i think greatest athletes of all time he's remarkable how is he different from you in terms of being obsessive compulsive about taking care of himself because i would assume that you were similar you're all you're you're you're all looking for edges wherever it is that you can get them and you spent 10 years in the top 20 yeah i was i was very dedicated to my body i mean i just did a lot of things i took

care of myself being so big. I have to spend a lot of time in the gym to keep myself healthy and keep myself feeling strong. I don't know. I mean, he knows his body like better than anyone knows their body. He knows exactly what to put into it. Early on in his career, he figured out that gluten was not for him. He's a vegan. He has his own supplement company that he promotes and drinks and just like everything he does. He just knows exactly what fuels him perfectly. I was very good in that regard. I'd like to think I was one of the best, but Novak just takes it to another level. What do you love being able to do now, John, that you couldn't do while you were an active player? Well, I like being on the other side of

tennis. I'm doing some work for ESPN during the first week of this. So it's certainly less stressful, but truthfully, like I miss it a lot. I would prefer the stress of waking up and having a match and having those butterflies and having to warm up and stretch and get your body ready. The feeling of winning a match at a grand slam and then knowing you have the next day off to just totally chill and try to recharge is something like I seriously miss because these are the these tournaments are obviously the pinnacle of our sport and you know you don't get that anymore when um when you're retired I get my my fun out of sports with um a hockey chat that I'm in with with Mike Ryan and I'm even in a tennis chat as well that he's the commissioner of so I like chat I was don't forget

about highlight I like chat there's a highlight chat yeah that's the an unbelievable chat. There's a chat about pickles. That's a good one. Yo, my movie The U.S. South Pickles. Yeah, so anyway, I think the pickle chat is my favorite one. Anyway, so, you know, I'm always going to stay tethered to the sport of tennis and just tethered

to just sports in general. I'm a sports nut. I like to talk about it. But I'm very fortunate. I mean, I had a good career and I was an American. I've got a lot of, you know, cool opportunities because of that. And one of those is this week at the U.S. Open being able to talk about this tournament. But just

to be clear when you say that you miss it a lot. The chats about Pickles and High Lie, they have not replaced what it is to play the longest match in Wimbledon history. Like you haven't been able to recreate it with the text chats? Williams. Not quite. The Highlight chat is closing that gap, though. Okay.

That's a special chat. I'm a Cyclones. I'm a Cyclones guy for life now. Okay. Yes. The owner is Chris Cody. This is his father, Greg. You walked in on him.

Yeah. Is that Greg? Yes. Is that Greg of the Mick overrated? take. There we will. Thank you. Got to be famous for something. Venus Williams is playing at 45. Greg Cody has had some

opinions on that. She was playing in the U.S. opener. She was. Yeah, I mean, and she apparently looked, I didn't see the match, but she drew raves for her match, even though she lost. I give her all the credit in the world. You know, one of the hardest

things to do, and maybe you can relate to this, John. When you age as an athlete, It's tough to know when to retire and how to retire because it's so much of who you are. And for her to still be doing it at 45, mad, mad respect and love for what she's done. Mad respect. Mad respect. You were mad respect before because of the disrespect.

Well, it's too easy to say, ah, has been, you know, know when to retire, get out and let the younger people do it. If she still wants to play at 45 and can be competitive, I give her all the credit in the world. No, I'm with you there. I think for me with Venus, it's easy to gear up for Washington, D.C., where she played a few weeks ago, in Cincinnati, which she played two weeks ago in the U.S. Open. But her rankings, nothing right now. She's like, I don't know what she's ranked. It's super, super low, 7, 800 in the world. So what is she going to do from this point forward? Does she want to go down and play challengers? Or she want to go to Asia and play the Asian swing? So that's tough to do at 45, especially when you've been so accomplished like she has been. Obviously, you get to play on Arthur Ashe Stadium in a night match. Like, I'll come back for one match for that for sure because you can't replicate that feeling of playing in that court under the light. But it's not all glitz and glamour on the tour. It certainly is at the U.S. Open.

So it's a lot more difficult once this tournament ends and you look at what the rest of your tournament schedule looks like. I would think that tennis, though, might be something. And I don't know whether you're missing the routine here as well, just the form of what your life used to be. But tennis is so lonely and eats up so many of your childhoods that I don't. I would imagine that after 17 years, there would be some relief on finally. Like, I get to rest a little bit.

This has been a really lonely pursuit. Yeah, no, like for me, for sure. Like that rest period has been nice, but like I still miss it. I get to recreate my childhood sense, like through my children now, which is very special. And maybe they'll go on the tennis journey that I went on as well, which I would love for them to do. But definitely, like, rest is nice. My body isn't beat up as much anymore.

more. And, you know, life's all good after tennis. But when you play for 17 years, as you mentioned, Dan, it's like you've become so routine and just so ingrained. You wake up and you ask yourself the question, like, how am I going to get better today? Even if you're not practicing on that day, you're still trying to get better, get your body better. And that's what you don't have when you retire. So it becomes difficult. It was a difficult adjustment for me. I think a lot of athletes, not just in tennis, face that, of course, when when they retire. John, you have one of the healthier relationships with tennis out of all the former pros. You're hosting a the nothing major co-hosting the nothing major podcast um you're constantly covering the sport um

is that because you were a sort of late bloomer in the sport you kind of got really good at it later because there are other tennis players marty that hate tennis now uh and that seems to be the norm yeah i you know what i always said like midway through my career and towards end of my career that you wouldn't really see me on the tennis tour after i after i retired clearly i didn't uh hold myself to that um I just quickly realized that, I mean, this sport, for me, it gave so much to me. And there's still a lot of opportunities I can gain from in the sport of tennis after I retired. And our podcast has been a great way for us to stay relevant. Unless you're an all-time great, very quickly forgotten on the tennis scene.

So our podcast has been great to keep us relevant in that regard. And again, like be able to talk tennis in New York City for ESPN. Like, that's really cool. So these great opportunities that have come my way, I've jumped at the opportunity. opportunity to do them. And hopefully I can continue to do this for quite some time. I really do enjoy it. You work with some great people. And it's a lot of fun. You get treated great. And so I think a lot of people would trade positions with me right now to be able to, I guess, wear a suit and talk about a sport, which I should know a lot about. Again, the podcast is called Nothing Major. The U.S. Open continues

today. First round men's and women singles on ESPN. Do you agree with Mike Ryan's assessment? If I said to you, I'm polling all former players now. What's the percentage? that hate tennis? I don't think it's as severe as Mike maybe said. I would say I'd give it 40% that like don't have the healthiest relationship with this game because it just, this game can torment you. I mean, you have, you know, so many tough losses and so many horrible nights of sleep after a tough loss.

But I think, you know, overall the good definitely outweighs the bad. So, yeah, there's some good friends of mine. That's a high number, though, John. I mean, that's a high number. That's a very high number. This game can be tough. Mike and I have some friends in the tennis world that don't love the sport. I like it.

And I still very happy to be a part of it. John, how much of that is this generation, both on the women's side and in the men's side, they went up against generational talents that hung on to the sport at unprecedented ages. And how much of that was not just the sport and the loneliness of the sport breaking them, but the fact that they're trying to conquer the unconquerable. Yeah, I think for the top of my head, like you name some European players, like you guys would know, like a Thomas Burditch, is an unbelievable check player who's never able to win a Grand Slam because of those three. I mean, like, for me, like, I can start myself lucky to play in the same era of those guys, but it's not like I was getting like thwarted by one of those three guys at every single Grand Slam in the quarters of the semifinal. So I don't have like, I don't have that feeling, but certainly a lot of players do.

There are a lot of incredible players. David Ferrer of Spain, without. Rafa probably has a Grand Slam on his resume. It might be in the Hall of Fame, but he doesn't now. There's a heck of a player, ridiculous career. But those players were very selfish in the top two players in our game right now. Of course, in Center and Alcraz are also selfish. They're going for eight straight Grand Slam wins between the two of them here at the U.S. Open.

We've got less than 30 seconds left here, but I just want you to entertain a hypothetical with me. If I put you in your prime serving to John McEnroe beyond Borg, Boris, Becker, all of these people, what would happen? I mean, I can hold my own with my serve. I actually saw some highlights of Rod Laver playing on grass years and years ago. He was an absurd athlete. So I think even a guy like Laver would do well in today's modern game. But yeah, you got a favor, of course, the greats like Johnny Mack and Bjorn Borg or

someone like myself. Although, I haven't said that, I could definitely hold serve against those two and make them sweat a lot. Isner, you would embed tennis balls in their forehead. Thank you for being on with us. We appreciate the time. The name of the podcast is nothing major. U.S. Open all week, ESPN,

men's and women singles. First round on ESPN. Thank you, sir. All right, thank you, guys. See ya. Go clones. Go clones. Let's go.

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