The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Best of DLS: Tonguing The Shell with Nick Wright

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

We start the final day of our 2025 recap by spending some time with our good friend Nick Wright. In this episode, you'll hear when we all learned the different ways to eat peanuts, whether that be tonguing the shell or like an elephant. Also, this hour was from the day that Pablo Torre dropped the Kawhi Leonard story, so you'll hear Nick's reaction to Pablo's big scoop. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stucats podcast. All right. Happy Friday, everybody. This is our last day without having brand new shows coming at you. We'll be back. Better than ever Monday. That's true. Better than ever.

So here's where we are. These were two of the most requested hours, both in the replies and the DMs. And one of them I would have bet on. and one of them I had forgotten about. And we'll start here with that one. Remember the, I believe, the very first time we brought in Hampton Farms. Maybe it wasn't the first. Maybe it was later on.

But Nick Wright came on and he talked about tongue in a show. And this kind of, I've forgotten about this too. I'm excited to relive this. Enjoy listening back because this is some really good stuff. So that's what you're going to hear in this hour. And next hour, man, Mike really did bring it with. with characters this year. This one actually as a bucket punishment,

which is pretty great. It's Mike as Pete Carroll. What a tough punishment as I ate 70 chicken nuggets during a show. I wore a full Vecna costume. I mean, and Mike just had to chew down. And yet this is the one everybody wanted to hear. Way to go, audience. What about my Nuggets episode?

No one requested that? I didn't, I'm going to be honest with you, Chris. I did get a couple of Vecna requests, but because I'm a selfless human being, I included the Pete Carroll one. You're like, I can't make this about me. I can't make this about me. I put my brother in this week, but I didn't put me in this week.

This is exciting. I'll tell you. Fun couple weeks. Fun couple weeks. We did great. It was awesome. And now we'll all actually see you on Monday. Bye.

Going to get to Nick Wright here in a second. And also, I need to get to Billy because I don't know what his thoughts are on the coach's poll. But I've been told he's got a girl. stray shots at me for some reason about the coaches pull. I don't know what your deal is. Poo-poo, I guess you're jealous that FAU's not in there. Couldn't sniff the coaches poll. Wow. That's right. I went there.

Do the coaches have to admit who they voted for? Is it transparent? I actually have a theory on who it was. I think it was James Franklin because Penn State plays FIU this weekend. So I think that if you're James Franklin and you put your opponent in the coaches poll

then you're like, look, this team was in the coaches poll. Outside looking in. It's a working theory of mine. I haven't proved it yet. I'll talk to Pablo, and in eight months we'll figure out if that's true or not. Oh, Nick Wright has a bit of a nemesis issue with Pablo. Before we get to that in a second, bad day to have a nemesis issue with Pablo, incidentally. We'll see what Nick has for Pablo in a second.

But first, we've got a new partnership here with Nuttiest Fan. What are we doing here? I've had some of these hot peanuts. They're delicious. Oh, the Hampton Farms Peanuts are the best. We are doing nutty as fan, Dan. Left you, speechless. I mean, it is.

I mean, I was, because he said the hot. I haven't had the hot. I've had the spicy dill pickle and just the classic. So I couldn't speak on the high yet, but they're all fantastic. And it's the nuttiest fan, Dan. Brought to you by Hampton Farms. Get nutty with Hampton Farms, the official snack nut of the tailgate. And be sure to keep an eye out for Lucy Rodin at Iowa State if you think your team has a nuttiest fan.

So here's what we're doing, Dan. I'm going to show you two college football fans. And you're going to tell me who's nuttier. And then you can go to our Instagram. The fans can vote on this, and we will reveal later in the week who the nuttiest fan is. The first one, we talked about him a little yesterday. It's the Alabama guy. This guy just throwing a bird in the middle.

He saw the camera was on him. He a deadpan bird. All right. That's our first option. That's salted peanuts right there. That is salted peanuts right there. That's good camera awareness. That is.

Some of those dill nuts. And competing with this Alabama fan is two UM fans who had an interesting choice of Jersey. It's a husband On the back of his UM jersey It says I blank in peace And then his wife I assume it's his wife sitting next to him Yeah, you don't know that

Her jersey just says peace That's a spicy dill pickle peanut If I've ever seen one She's the piece You get it So these are our two Chris I can't tell you how poor a spokesman We have

When you're doing the spokesmaning Last time he got a sheet steal out of this so who knows what he can get out of this well I'd actually read the read was fine it was just the setup could have been better it was driving the pictures it was the you that was not fine so who's the nuttiest fan voted our Instagram I'm voting for the UM fan okay excellent work by you professional as always let's get to a real professional Nick Wright he has issues and has had issues with Pablo Tori we haven't just always doing this Dan

just fanning the flames can I say something about your new sponsor it's positive it's not negative i i i go to baseball games and these days you know what happens you buy a bag of peanuts and they're they're unsalt like they're plain like you because the whole idea of the peanut is you put it in your mouth you crack the shell you spit the shell out but it's a lot of flavors in theory back when we were a proper country that's what it was go to a yankee game up here i don't know steinbrunters are saving money on salt it's just it's a tasteless shell So I don't know the name of your sponsor, and I don't have any points on the package. But that sounds like a wonderful product that I will now try because I like the dill pickle, spicy, it all sounds good.

Now you want to talk about Pablo Tori's tweets. I don't care. Not yet. I still want to talk about peanuts. Nick, I have a question for you. So if somebody who eats the shell of the peanut, like just the whole thing, like if it was just one shot, insane or not insane? I have a buddy that eats it that way. He's saying the whole shell, isn't he?

I've done that. Put it on the Polot Labart Show. Do you eat the whole shell when you eat the shell peanut? You can't do that. I don't. So I know what you're talking about. Tony. Tony.

But no, I know Tony. I know his name. But that's not what I do. But you put the peanut again. I'm risking getting memed here, but that's okay. You put the whole peanut in your mouth. You crack it open with your molars. You then, you know, depending on how dexterous your mouth is, you can then, you know,

Bifurcate, the actual peanut and the shell. You spit out the shell. Like a sunflower scene. Like a sunflower. Yes, exactly. Part of that is the delicious coating of the shell. Ridiculous. In today's days are gone.

Now, Tony's saying his buddy just goes one shatter. But listen, I know some people that eat the apple core. Like, I almost feel like it is either a sign of lack of, like it feels very cavemanish. He's an animal. He's not a negative. Yeah, it just feels like, you know what? if we you know if things ever really go south and we're all on our own that guy probably has a slightly greater chance of survival like he's his he hasn't evolved to you know contemporary

luxury which is probably positive Nick when you crack a peanut do you like peel off the skin on it because I've read that it's actually beneficial to you health-wise if you eat the skin yeah no you got to eat the yeah I mean we're not this isn't it's not a pomer pomegranate like we're at a baseball game drinking beers like it's not we're not trying to be dainty speaking like um speaking of dainty put this on the poll has pablo tory eaten one single peanut in the last 30 years i'll say no why what are you what are you doing there what do you imply it's just it just come on just feel like i agree with him though yeah yeah i mean come on it just if we're like tony's friend who eats the entire peanut with shell

I have a visual image of him and I feel like I know that guy a bit and I feel like that guy's not hanging out with Pablo. No, he's not. He's definitely not. Am I right? All I know is he eats the whole peanut with a shell. That's all I know. And so, yeah, that's it. We're at a baseball game together and we're just eating

and he's like three people down. So we start looking and then all of a sudden the entire bag is gone but we don't see peanut shells anywhere and we're like, dude, what did you do with all the peanut shells? He's like, that's how I eat him. That's a vomit. Oh, come on. You remember a couple years ago when pistachios had a moment that you just saw a bunch of commercials for pistachios and it was just like this green nut?

You're like, what is this company? It's like, no, it's just it's just pistachios. It's just the farmers. Yeah. Yeah. It's like when we were growing up, the milk lobby was like we got to put a lot of money into endorsements. And evidently, again, for the fifth time and this one complimentary to bring up Pablo, I didn't know there was a tree lobby. I didn't know they had marketing budgets.

I didn't know any of this, but I do now. Well, pistachio seems like a Pablo type of nut. Not a classic nut, but he has like the higher end nuts. No, macadamian nut would be the way that Pablo goes. No messiness. Dan, that's why you're the goat. Correct. You just nailed it.

That is absolutely correct. Macadamia nut is, if there is a higher draft pick of the exact idea that I'm trying clumsily to convey, I can't think of it. macadamia nut is correct and probably if he were on here he'd be like did you know that's actually not a nut be like shut up man it's a lagoon it's a lagoon it's a lagoon it's a lagoon no like really is it sorry i just tried at tony's friend's way in the way that dan says he has occasionally like a circus elephant yes um i uh i got to say for like a one-off not terrible i like changing the texture let me take it for a walk it's It's not gross.

If you eat 20 of them and you break it up with the entire salty flavor of the shell as well with the right chosen shells, that's not a terrible decision. At the very least, you have to tongue the shell because that's where the salt is. You tongue the shell. Oh, you got this spicy dill. You brought us Greg Cody. You brought us full circle. This is what I'm saying. If you ever come to New York City during baseball season, I'll take you to a Yankee game, buy you a bag of peanuts.

That's gross, Chris. and what you'll notice is there is no salt on the shell, which is a bummer. It's totally unheard of. That's crazy. Not terrible. That's obscene. Shout out to Kiki. That's how good these Hampton Farms peanuts are.

You can eat from shell and all. I feel like this is the greatest endorsement ever. We're just doing 10 minutes on this product, and I don't even have any. You should mail me some at least. Macadamia nuts are coming back as a result for the most opulent nut that is available. However, pine nuts are... So I'm talking about. Pine nuts are listed as more expensive than macadamia, where pine nuts range from about $22.3 to $51

and $61 per pound. No way, pine nuts. Macadamia nuts are the most expensive nuts. Hold on. Can I ask you a question, Dan? Because even though I've sadly never in person met your father and he's, you know, an older Cuban engineer and my dad's an older Italian fireman, I feel like. like they're similar.

Did you growing up in a room of your house have, like at not necessarily at all times, certainly around the holidays, just a bowl of like walnuts and the heart, the cracker, and then the lobster cracker thing just sitting there that occasionally, yes, that occasionally your father might just to remind you, you know, if push comes to shove who's in charge,

break the walnut in his hand. Nobody ate those. Just to show you he could. Nobody ate them, but they were always out. They were available, and it felt like it was an intimidation thing. At least we're in, and my dad's one of the greatest men I've ever known, but it feels, I bet, I bet it was similar for you growing up. Yo, Greg's choking.

Greg, can we get you some water? He's having some trouble with the choking on the eating of. No, these are, I'm eating the hot ones. Best nut I've ever had. Wow. They're so good. Has anyone ever practically used a nutcracker? They're simply decorative, right?

Like, no one actually goes and like, oh, I need a new nutcracker. Yeah, but you're like, my nutcracker is no longer working. Unless your dad's a firefighter who breaks them with his bare hands to intimidate people. With his hand, yeah, just to let people know who's boss. That's right. We didn't have much money. So the greatest extravagance that we had in our childhood was my father taking us to seers of all places,

to go to the place where they had the hot nuts. And he would go grab a few of them. And he was pretty famous for just stealing stuff and walking around the grocery store, eating it without paying for it. Yeah. And daring someone to say something to him. My dad did the same thing. Yeah, they're just samples. I see people doing that all the time with grapes as well as nothing.

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. 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 they've basically been partners with the Dan Levitard 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 later brewed for flavor with simple ingredients like malted barley rich balanced coffee notes and that iconic golden color that you can see from across a room the best holiday beers are the ones you don't expect Miller Lite

great taste 96 calories go to millerlight dot com slash dan to find delivery options near you or you can pick up some Miller light pretty much anywhere they sell beer tis miller-time celebrate responsibly miller brewing company Milwaukee wisconsin 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces the stage is set the college football playoffs are here every snap every drive every touchdown draft king sports book the number one sports book for life betting puts you right in the middle of the action from real-time wagers to season ending thrillers draft kings keeps you locked in from kickoff to the final whistle.

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Four additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.com slash audio. Limited time offer. Don Lebertard. My wife says this is a sexy voice. It really is. Yeah. I'm hard.

Thank you. Wow. Stugats. So am I, actually. I don't know why. This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stugats. Nick, I want to talk to you about an assortment of football things, but we have a Tyreek Hill problem in Miami.

You know him pretty well and followed him plenty when he was in Kansas City, where the chiefs were smart enough to not allow him to talk in public very often in front of microphones. What can you tell me about what it is you're seeing from Tyreek Hill who? his last year in Kansas City he was saying we're going to win seven or eight championships in a row he doesn't know how to lose and now he's not a captain for the dolphins

and everyone assumes he'll be traded before the end of the year because if they start losing he's going to be a problem. Yeah I don't know I don't know if I necessarily agree he's going to be traded because I don't know if they're going to pull the ripcord before the trade deadline. I do

know that I'm very excited for Kansas City Chief in 2026, Tyree. kill i and that's been that that has been written for the last couple years now here is my this is not a defense of tyree kill okay but the the the the tyree kill and the dolphin situation it is analogous and this is going to be awkward and uncomfortable but it is i think the right analogy if you are in a long-term serious relationship and somebody cheats you have a fork in the road moment where you must decide, you know, after a set period of time,

am I over it or am I not? And if I'm over it, then it's done with. We will move forward, it will not be consistently brought up. You won't be six months later in a fight dropped on you. And if you're not over it, then you need to, and you're not gonna be able to get over it, you need to break up. The every week, Tua and the team,

and being like, Yeah, Tyreeks got to earn back our trust. Man, Tyreeks sure was an ass at the end of last year, up to and including them being the only team in the league where the hands down unquestioned best player isn't a captain after being a captain in the last two years. It's a half measure. And so I think that's foolish.

I think that what Tyreek did at the end of the year was awful. And if the dolphins wanted to sever ties at that time, so be it. They can't. They can't. Nick. They can. Right. So then you just got to grin and bear it. Then the public, the public message needs to be, ah, we don't listen to Tyreek. He says a bunch of crazy stuff. The guy runs super fast and is a great receiver and we love him. And yeah, what you can't do is be like, we don't want you. We don't trust you, but we need you. That's not going to work. We all know that's not

going to work. So I just felt like, I feel like this is a half measure that I, that I'm not a fan of. I'm also curious for you guys, I don't know what would be more interesting because I think either of these is possible. Do what would, if type, do you think it's on the board that Tyreek was voted a captain? And Mike McDaniel was like, nope, cook the book. That's what I said. It was just theorized earlier in the show today that nobody whatever it's the perfect crime let me run another theory by you nick so i think that maybe tyreek comes in and he's feeling some remorse for how he's handled situations and he said you know what guys i don't want to be a captain this year and he showed that he really is a true leader and team captain by removing himself from the ability to be a team

captain showing both maturity and growth yes and if that happened then you know what i do to really put a nail in the coffin of this story when I'm Mike McDaniel announcing the captains I announce all of them and then I say and one more back Tyreek Hill and everyone clap oh yeah Ty because here's the thing like and this is I there would be nothing what what in again I don't think this happened and this is unfair to two up but it is a fun thought exercise what if Mike McDaniel's counting the votes and he's like we got a problem on our hands boys Tyreek got more votes than two. Like, what we can't do is have that, have that be the situation. Now, he said it

was overwhelming for the six guys who got it and that's fine. I just, he was, I think Tyreek was never a captain with Kansas City, which that's the other way to go is be like, ah, this guy does a lot of things, leadership's not one of them, so we're never going to put that on his, on his plate, but when he's been the captain the previous two years, this is a little messy and my opinion. Hard knocks concluded last night. It's the most boring hard knock season ever. I know how you feel about the bills. Did you watch any of that? I have not watched hard knocks last couple years. And when you say you know how I feel about the bills, you mean the only person in sports media who's been right about them every single year the last five years, including last year when

people said, you know, actually it's a rebuilding year. And oh, Bill's troll, Bill's hater, Nick Wright, was like, nope, they're going to be in the AFC championship game right again. And, and I actually think that's going to happen again this year. I did not see it. I did see Sean McDermott yesterday in his annual, maybe even semi-annual at this point, press conference where he's like, people don't understand what great human beings live in Western New York and like what how how amazing our fans are and doing that whole thing because there is some weird monopoly on like Americana base, inversely correlated to how awesome your city is. And so he then, he then said twice.

He was like, I'm so sick of hearing about the bills and the Super Bowls. They made four straight Super Bowls. That'll never happen again. Oh, really, sir. Well, that's interesting because the team that kicks your teeth in every suit, every playoffs has made three straight. That feels to me like a Freudian guarantee. that the Chiefs aren't making the Super Bowl.

Noted. I haven't noted. I haven't noted alongside all of the nonsense I've heard about the defining dynasty of the defining sport of our time. And no one ever again will make four straight Super Bowls, unless, of course, the Chiefs do what they do every year, which is make the Super Bowl. In terms of hurt for you personally, where you invest your mouth and your heart, last year's loss in the Super Bowl for you and money, yes, and money. Your feelings when you lost the Super Bowl last year to Philadelphia and loudly had proclaimed that you wouldn't lose. Where did that one rank in terms of after it's over, you're actually hurting?

Worst sports loss of my life, Dan. Thanks for bringing it up on the eve of the new season. Is it the worst? It's the worst sports loss of your life. Just financially? It hit for the trifecta. Financially, professionally, emotionally, emotionally, all of it. You know, I'm a Max Pleasure, Max Payne guy.

I know Dan likes the trials and travails of my, you know, financial gain and ruin, so I'll tell you guys a fun little one, then I'll get to the real emotion of it. I had obviously made a lot of bets before the year and during the year, Chief's Future bets. I also am in a very, it's kind of convoluted, but it is a... gambling what I will call consortium where future bets are traded like stocks and you can be like hey I'll give you a hundred shares of the Chiefs for 200 shares of the Lions and doesn't matter moral of the story is going into that Super Bowl because I'm such a sharp gambler I was in a position where if the Chiefs lost the game I lost less than $10,000 but if they won the game I won

close to 80 because of all the swaps and trades I'd made so for a normal person that would be the action I'm like I can't not bet the actual game to so chiefs minus two and a half give me a lot of that they're gonna win by a field goal then they got curb stumped so that wasn't great the other reason it's the worst sports loss in my life Dan is a couple the cup you know multi-fold one is Prima Holmes the chiefs never played in big games I heard You know, my dear friend and mentor, Colin Coward, say Patrick Mahomes got dropped into the greatest situation any player had ever been in. The Kansas Chiefs in the 30 years before Patrick Mahomes had gotten there, won one playoff game.

In the 50 years before he had gotten there, they've been to one conference championship game. In the seven years since he's been there, they've been to seven straight and five Super Bowls, but that's neither here nor there. It was emotionally devastating because they entered that day with the opportunity to become the greatest team in the history of American team. sports and that's now gone. Like they, if you win three straight Super Bowls, you know, and get to win four out of five or I'm sorry, it would have been four out of six and all of it, you're just minted and I do I think that they're ever going to have a chance to win like win one game be the greatest team of all time. That'll probably never happen again. So yeah, that's why it was devastating on all

fronts. Luckily, in 30 hours, that's last year. And last year might as well be a hundred years ago. We're into 2025. What are you excited about this season beyond the Chiefs? Oh, so much. I'm excited about the annual tradition of it's not Lamar's fault. Look at the EPA per play. I'm very excited about that. I'm very excited about the the cope that we're going to have in late January when Lamar either wins another MVP or comes close to it and I listen to all the smartest football people I know explain to me how he's actually playing the quarterback position at the highest level ever and if you look at all of his interceptions last year when there were only four three of them actually weren't his fault he's solved it and then when once again he plays one of his worst games of the year and the playoffs they're like sample size you moron you think the results matter you idiot you Neanderthal you think there's such a thing as a big game quarterback haven't you seen the Ravens DVOA I'm excited for that I'm excited for

what I think could be a monster year from Baker Mayfield and a team that I think's going to make the Super Bowl the Tampa Bay Buccaneers I am very excited about that and I am also excited to see what the rationale come around week 14 when Kansas City is about to clinch the AFC West how all the folks who were like well listen I know Mahomes is great but have you seen Bo Nix what they're saying because that is there is there is no hotter take out there on the sports marketplace than Bo Nix is going to

to be the guy that dethrones the greatest quarterback of all time, and that's going to age quite poorly. You couldn't help yourself. You couldn't help yourself, though. I asked you non-chiefs division, and you always bring it back to the chiefs. You cannot have an interest that doesn't somehow involve the chiefs. I asked you non-chiefs division. Dan's, Dan, it's 1938. Dan's hosting a physics talk show and he's like hey non-Einstein tell me what you want and then you'll be end up referencing somebody and he's like you you Rube why where's Oppenheimer when you need him I don't know man yeah you're right I do think that the that in 20 in the 2020s that the Kansas City Chiefs and

Patrick Mahomes are the main character of the movie and everyone else is supporting actors. I don't like your hostility and I think it's born just because Pablo's having a big morning. Big morning. I think I think that that's what the problem is that you're just that you're that that Pablo's having a big morning and you hate it and there's nothing you can. I don't hate it. That's the thing. I think I really legitimately respect the, and I think important, important niche he's carved out. I mean you there's there's no other way to in six be do you know how groundbreaking your work has to be to in six months become you know according to

time magazine a more influential podcaster than Joe Rogan or Dan levitard I mean those guys have been working at it for 30 years or 20 years and I I want listen here's the deal I want to root for Pablo But then, occasionally, things like his name being in the mini crossword and him tweeting it, okay, fine, I'd probably do the same thing. But then also tagging in the picture, the Peabody Awards makes it to where I just can't, I just can't see that exist. and not react. Like, it's again, I'm happy for the guy, I suppose. And the work he's doing is in our silly cartoon world

quite important, and I do like the fact that he's actually getting the documents and doing journalism. I don't know, you know, I'd like, I haven't followed up on the Malik Beasley Exposé because I thought he had him dead to rights and then I guess the feds disagree, I don't know. I actually tend to say,

side with Pablo on it. So there's a lot of these things that I think are relevant and good. But then, like again, there was a moment in time where Pablo is doing the mini crossword. He sees his name and he's like, this is awesome. And then he's like, I should screenshot it. And then he's like, I shouldn't just text this to my mom

or my friends, I should tweet it. And then right before he hit send, he was like any, Should I, anybody I should tag? Should I tag the New York Times? No. Everyone knows its times. What if I tag the Peabody Award? That's just, I'm sorry, that's hilarious.

That is objectively hilarious and I can't get over it. I just can't. Don Lebertard. What do we got here? I got a magnum condom. Um, we won't get that out. That's shocking. Stugats.

Here's a picture of Christopher when he was like three years old. Right next to the condom. Yeah. That's a subtle reminder. Never forget. This is the Dan Lebatar show with the Stugats. You're not wrong. I mean, I love Pablo, but that was.

worth lampooning that that is worth yes also also worth lampooning is that he joined us to talk about his story today from the harvard club uh but what did you think about the actual story what was your reaction to reading some of the details you've read on what you'd agree would be the biggest sport story of our day yes before football starts um it's the most important sports story of the day now first things first just got expanded so it's three hours long I'm not sure if we have quite enough time in those three hours to talk about Kauai Leonard on the Eva football but if maybe if we get to a fourth hour I think we would have fitted in here I mean honestly you're gonna hate this answer but my my reaction is

these are the these are the lengths the league has to go to prevent LeBron from six rings. It's just unbelievable. He was gonna sign with the Lakers. They was gonna have AD and Kauai and rip off a whole bunch of them and then they're like we'll look the other way, pay him extra, he wants to be in LA, but we can't have that happen. So that was my first reaction. My second reaction is it seems a little clumsy. Like in today's day and age, I would have thought there's easier ways for a multi-billion to slide a guy a few million bucks like maybe maybe Balmer and Kauai if this is true need to spend a little more time in the high stakes gambling world there's there's a lot of ways to transfer millions of dollars that don't involve notarized contracts with LLCs like that seemed odd but that's I I'm impressed I'm impressed that they got the info I do think it's noteworthy my guess is this gets a little swept under the rug, but any time you can get, you can include in your media that cool, like,

voice distortor thing, it's a win. Like, I'm a big fan of that. And in the, in the, in, if we were to stack up all of the instances, someone was like, I need the face and voice distortor. I don't know where whistleblowing on Kauai Leonard's extra money ranks in the on it, but it's, you know, It is, that is, I think, charming as well. I'm surprised to hear you say, though, that you're underwhelmed as you are by what might be the ramifications of this. So it doesn't make your three hours of conversation today because I do believe whatever you imagine the penalties are going to be here. If I gave you the penalties today, there would be no circumstance under which you would tell me that's not a story you're talking about. Oh, so that's actually, you know, if you guys all pull back the curtain a bit, that's actually,

one of the reasons that I don't think we're going to talk about it today on the show is it to me it goes one of two ways either the NBA turns a blind eye in which case it's a story but like what it's it's a better written article long form podcast thing than seven minute television segment or there's real penalties and if there's real penalties then we'll have obviously ample time to talk about it. I don't, I would, I would set the over under at penalty for this at one and a half second round picks and I would probably take the under because my guess is this is and this is this is not a shot at the story or the reporting at all. This is more about the league. My guess is it's just easy.

for them to be like, like, we got to kind of do nothing because the real penalty, it feels like a max men situation, the real penalty would be way, way, way worse than what happened to Joe Smith and or the Timberwolves. Is it Joe Smith? Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, the Timberwolves of Joe Smith. And I don't do, do we think the NBA wants to just generationally kneecap, you know, the clippers and that new arena?

NBA, but the other owners, I believe the other owners will be pissed off enough about this. And what you said, which is the Lakers could have had him and we're going to have him and the Clippers evidently cheated in order to get it. Or does Nick think that the other owners are like, damn it, they're on to our circumvention. Right. Well, that's, I want to be very careful with this, okay? And so careful that I don't even want to say the names. Go on. Um, there was a very unique thing. that happened with one of the league's absolute super marquee franchises and super marquee players like seven years ago where a player a player who was a

clear max player arguably one of the very very best players in the league took less money on an extension than he could have and it saved it was like six million dollars less than he could have gotten and it saved the team zero dollars in cap space they were over the cap whatever but it saved the owner like third again 30 million call it in luxury tax okay but it didn't help the team on the court at all there was no competitive reason to do it it was you know a hundred millionaire player losing out on six million so the owner who's a multi-billioner could save 30 and it never made sense and the only way that

to me ever made sense was if the owner was like hey man uh rather than me send the league office 30 million to pay you six here's a flash drive that's got 10 million in crypto on it I'm gonna leave that on the table and you figure out whatever contract you want like I I I always felt like that specific instance was so illogical that there had to be like okay we'll make you a hole on the back in. Maybe it wasn't as simple as the, you know, crypto drive, but something. And so I do, I wonder how prevalent things similar to this are, just maybe not as ham-handed as a no-show contract. Can you guys look up for me some of the information on Anthony Carter with the

heat? Because I remember something happened with him where I remember it very well. Okay, tell Nick the details on this, because I assumed that the heat had some sort of side deal because of what I always thought. What Anthony Carter and his agent ended up doing. Yeah, I mean, Nick, we're talking back this is 2004 and Anthony Carter had a player option which he, his agent

forgot to opt into the money that the heat now didn't have to pay him allowed them to sign Lamar Odom and Anthony Carter ended up missing out on back then what was a pretty significant amount of money and it really benefited the heat and I always thought you know what? Because I don't think even Anthony

Carter fired his agent after it. I was like, ah, you know, he's being made whole somewhere along the way. Was that the agent? Like, it's an agent who would never make that mistake. Was that Bill Duffy? Like, but you think, you think this is a whole hummer that the NBA is just going to skip past? I don't, I, again, because I poked fun at Pablo, I don't want it, I don't want to be misconstrued here. I do not think this is a ho-hum story.

I think this is legitimately excellent journalism. them, I think it is, it seems like they've got them dead to rights. I think it is too, it is, the path of least resistance is to find a way to skip past it. I didn't think it was, and again, people get very, again, I'll try to be careful. I didn't think it was a ho-hummer when it was like, hey, crazy thing, maybe the greatest baseball player certainly of our generation his translator has simply the greatest credit limit of any gambler in America oh okay no problem nothing to see here at at some I know that never and again maybe this is because I'm very fluent in

like legitimate kind of high-stakes gambling worlds that's the type of credit limit that really can only be extended to someone Who is known to have tens of millions of dollars and I didn't think now again Maybe that maybe the translator just had the worst bookie and they just you know maybe they thought he's backstopped I don't know that to me felt like There's it doesn't quite make sense to me But the easiest thing for everyone was to be like that guy's a gambling addicts That guy's a gambling addict with a very irresponsible bookmaker. It's like okay like that struck me as odd and so

And so sometimes I think on these things, the path of least resistance is the way the path people go. He is the host of What's Right with Nick Wright. He's on FS1's first things first. You can watch him on first things first. Weekdays at 3 p.m. Eastern on FS1. We have less than 50 seconds left. Your answer or rebuttal to your nemesis, Mina Kimes, claiming that you fraudulently had two different number one teams, that you told her the Ravens are the best team in the NFL.

And then months later you went on with Dan Patrick. said the chiefs are the best team in the NFL. Wow. Okay. Well, Mina sets up her show where that it's she gives you a binary choice. She says I think it was Eagles or Ravens. I could only pick one of them. And so Mina is, Mina and I, I almost have to be clear on this because my bosses and her friends thought our, like we were really at a real beef. And so I actually adore Mina and, you know, and she's obviously much, much smarter about, you know, the most boring parts of football than me. I can kind of just see the actual landscape of the league better. But I had no choice there.

And Mina cannot question my take integrity. There's a lot of things. You can make fun of my nose. You can say I might have a gambling problem. You can be, you can question how I, you know, got the platform that I did. All those things. You can call me outright obnoxious. That's fine.

Do not question my commitment to take integrity in any circumstance. So that's what happened. Obviously, I think the chiefs are the best team in the league. But again, I'm not as smart as the folks that are like, actually, if you look at adjusted EPA over a five-year stretch, the Ravens are historically great, and the playoffs, they don't really matter. By the way, subscribe to the podcast, please. You guys' listeners, I would appreciate it.

What's right, Nick Wright. Thank you. It is great. does it with his son and he said, he said we can make fun of his nose. He said we can make fun of his nose. Dan, I have something better than that. He's not germane to the conversation. Dan, I have something better than that.

Lewis, can you pull up? He met somebody that is very famous online and I was very excited to see this collaboration. Once we get it on the screen, it's going to be exciting. Nick, you, Nick, you met Coozine. Oh, this is good. Looking into a mirror. You have Coozine. Me and Coogeen.

This was a good bit. This was a good bit we did. Oh, my God. Me and Koochene. Yeah. Me and Koojian. That was a good bit. Yeah.

Again, what's right with Nick Wright? He does it with its son. It's different. And he's allowing us to make fun of his nose. So there it is. He said it is casting indeed a shadow on his teeth. Casting a shadow on your teeth. Nick, it's good.

It's good to see you. We'll talk to you soon. Send me some of those peanuts. See you guys. We'll talk to you soon. Take care of, brush your hair. All right, kicking things off with Smyranoff, the official vodka sponsor of the NFL and the number of vodka in the world. Chris, Cody, you're here.

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