The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Dan Reacts To Greg Cote's Miami Dolphins Apology | Local Hour

Episode Date: April 29, 2026

"Can you call it a mansion if you can't afford a sofa?" Did you watch the Miami Marlins and Janson Junk outduel Shohei Ohtani last night? Zas didn't, but that's because he was switching back and forth between the NBA and the NHL Playoffs from his cuck chair, rather than his uncomfortable leather couch. Also, as Dan rails against Greg's apology to the Dolphins over their 1st round pick, Chris leads the group on a search for the best items you'll find in a junk drawer. Today's cast: Dan Le Batard, Greg Cote, Jonathan Zaslow, Chris Cote, Jeremy Tache, Mike Ryan, Roy Bellamy, and Tony Calatayud. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cody's coming hot today because I just asked him if he apologized in his column for his draft day reaction to what the dolphins did. And he said, I didn't apologize. I was wrong, but I didn't apologize. And then it escalated to the point where he just dismissed me with a middle finger and said. No, that was a different subject. It was the same area of conversation. But he dismissed me before the middle. middle finger by calling me, he just said of me, you analytic freaks.

Right. Yeah, you all get carried away with dissecting everything. Like if I tell you that, well, the heat was second in the league and points scored this year, a fact, if it's a fact, I got to check that. I think they were second. And then you're going to dissect it like, well, you know, that doesn't come. No, no, no, it's not that, that, that, that, that. You wrote in your column about Riley and Shula.

you said after an awful embarrassing playoff exit two seasons ago, the heat improved by six wins this season and had the highest offensive rating in club history. Right. It's a fact. Well, but... Jack. Thank you. Cortez says it's not a fact. He writes in the notes that he decided to write to your column

because every time you write a column, Zaz used to do this. He's got criticisms. He's got critiques. Every time you write a column, this is what Cortez wrote after what you said was the highest offensive rating in club history. This is just made up bullshit. We're first in offensive rating when LeBron was here. Cody doesn't know the difference between offensive rating and pace and points per game.

And you called him and me, you analytics freaks. Yeah. And I think I gave a middle finger to Cortez, not to you. I want to make that distinction. Look, I can't get internet right now. You guys mustn't pay your electric bill. But if I could get internet, I would look up. We all have internet here except for you.

And the lights are on. I'm trying to look up something. something to verify my case. And this is a conspiracy. I think Cortez has arranged for me to be offline right now. If I were to be online, oh look, here it is right here. Okay. Offensive rating, this is Basketball Reference.com, which is pretty reliable. Offensive rating and estimate of points produced or scored per 100 possessions. This year they had 116.7. The highest in club history, the highest rating they ever had in the Big Three era with LeBron was 112.3. Now, you can spend that and say, well, that's offensive rate. That means this, because

that, I'm just going by pure numbers here. What I wrote was accurate. No, but the part that's not accurate because the analytics are just numbers and they require context. The two things that aren't accurate here is you're not accounting for pace of play. They have the highest pace in the league. They were not the most efficient team in the league. And also, you're not accounting for general offensive explosion all over the league. Everybody's better at offense. Yeah, but but only one team was better at scoring points than Miami. Look, I'm not apologizing for the season they had. They weren't good enough,

although they would be in the playoffs had Bam not gotten hurt against Charlotte. But nevertheless, they're not good enough. I'm not saying they were. They wouldn't have gotten into the playoffs. They would have lost to Orlando. It's too early for this shit from this guy. Stuff him in a locker. Let's move on.

In Greg's defense, offensive rating does adjust for pace. Thank you, Billy. Thank you, Billy. I mean, I wish I'd have said that. He's right. It's adjusted for pace. I don't know what you guys are talking about. Billy's right that you're right?

Yes, Orlando. Billy could have said it's adjusted for anything there and you would have ran with it. Zigak. This is the Dan Levator show with the Stucats podcast. I feel pretty alone here. because I'm surrounded by people who want to talk about hockey and basketball, and none of them stayed up to watch Jansen Junk Out duel Shohay Otani. None of them have watched the last two Marlins games against the Dodgers.

They should have beaten them two times. That's right. Should have. If they didn't always spend money on relievers who are gas cans, what is the Fairbank situation? I'm not going to be able to get you guys to talk about this at all, right? I see everyone just drift off the moment. It's a late-night baseball game, and Otani's pitching, and he's still a freak.

Like, I don't care how common you think it is to see somebody going out there throwing a hundred pitch, striking out nine guys. He's not, he's an outfielder, baseball player, infielder. He could probably catch, and my guess is that there haven't been any players in the history of doing these things, not Rick Ankeel, not anybody, who could pitch the way he could pitch the way, he pitched yesterday as a position player. Remarkable, but he's been doing this for some time, and it's not all that odd to see him pitching during the regular season.

It is odd to see Connor McDavid on the brink of elimination. That's not odd. Well, in terms of sports priorities, that's something that happens less often. There was so much last night. You had multiple NBA games. I was flipping back and forth on my tablet, of course, in the Zaslo Mansion bedroom. And I was also flipping with the hockey. It would never occur to me to put the Marlins on.

When you got Jansson Junk on the mound? Are you kidding me? Get the hell out of here. 11 straight scoreless innings for Janson Junk. There's one thing interesting about the Marlins right now, in my opinion. And it is that the fact that the Phillies and the Mets suck so badly, a combined 20 and 38, firing managers, that opens up wide the NL wildcard race for the middling teams like the Marlins, where if we If we can get lucky and be four games over 500, maybe we have a chance to make the wild card.

We, journalists? I'm speaking as if I'm a fan or the Marlins. I can't do this in April. It's April. And you're talking about the Wild Guard. Okay, but the part that I'm just, I understand that you don't want to do it on the Marlins. Otani pitched yesterday against the Marlins. Got his first down.

And he strikes out nine guys. Now, there are other interesting things about the Marlins, including the junk's going to make a hell of an ace once they trade Sandy, Mint C. because they are going to trade Sandy. Like, I think that's pretty much guaranteed. Yeah, they would have less year if he hadn't sucked. But that's a bad name for a pitcher, correct? What?

I think it's a great name, junk. You know, being a junk ball thrower is, like, a good thing. Put it on the poll at Levitador show. It's not a good thing. That means you don't throw hard. Greatest junk ball thrower? Jamie Moyer. Put up a poll at Levitical.

The Lefty Specialist, though, crack you lefties. Hard to hit junk. Put it on the poll. Junk. good name for a pitcher, bad name for a pitcher. Dan, I think you're doing a thing of like generations past where like bad meant good but good meant bad and you're like, why is everybody saying everything's bad? Because it's good. Well, junk doesn't get to be good.

Junk is junk. I've heard it in a positive way. That guy's throwing. Junk. Tough to hit. Junk. I think that junk is a slur for a pitcher. I don't think pitchers want to be known as junk throwers.

Are they changing? When did that change? No one alerted me to this time. Well, guys are throwing harder now, and it's harder to see a guy that just throws junk, but it was not a negative thing. Now, if a guy's last name was Hanger or Meatball. Jansen Hanger, that would stand me. Meatball, it's tough to put in a positive light.

Man, that guy threw a meatball. The Braves have a bummer. I will say, yeah, Aaron Bummer, who gave up two runs last night with Braves. That's a bummer. But I will say, like, being a junk ball thrower, not necessarily a good thing. Now, if the guy's got a good fastball, you tell him to stay away from it. from the junk because he throws four or five different pitches. Now that's where you could be using junk in a positive connotation, which is exactly what you

would do with junk is a slur for a pitcher. Junk is an insult. It is pejorative for a pitcher. I have not been notified otherwise. You mentioned the Phillies. Don Mattingly managed his first game for them yesterday. They got their first shutout of the season, but you guys don't want to talk about any of this. You saying you're toggling between games.

This must be very frustrating to you because you are a multi-television person. You have bragged about the fact that you are somebody who's watching all of these games. You don't miss any playoff action. It's on all your television. But once you're relegated because of your wrestling habit to having to hide under the covers and watch the tablet in bed, it's harder to toggle back and forth on an iPad. You're going between games. But you don't have two games up at the same time, do you?

No, no, I don't. That is an issue. And I will tell you where the issue stems from, okay? Because I need a little bit of help. Because in the Zaslo Mansion family room, I got the. the multiple TVs, of course, so I could watch multiple games. That's no problem. But when I watch on my tablet, it's obviously because I'm in my bedroom and my wife doesn't let me put the TV on. So I'm watching on the tablet on my stomach. Everybody knows that by now. Here's the problem.

You may be saying, Zaslo, why aren't you watching then in the Zazlo Mansion family room where you have multiple TVs? Dan, I don't like my couch anymore. That's a problem. Can't you get a new couch? Shouldn't you get a new couch? Yes, but, you know, my wife rightfully points out, Couches, especially good ones, are very expensive. And she sees it as there's nothing wrong with this couch. She's like, we just got done paying all this couch, you know? But I don't like the couch anymore, so I don't want to watch in there at night. At nighttime, I want to be comfortable.

This is a very big problem. I want a new couch. You got to get a new couch there. I know. You got to get a new couch. It's more of a chair guy anyways. Don't do that. It's not true.

And let me tell you something else. All right, people, you listen to me when I said, stop sending me hotel room pictures with the empty chair. So you know what people are doing now? They're sending me pictures in the hotel room where there's like a stage. There's a stage that people apparently are watching on. That's not me.

I would never get that hotel room. I would advise you. Stop sending me that. I would advise you in the modern media age. You see everything is collapsing, right? Sports media isn't what it was. No media is what it was. no one has the cuck lane.

It's not taken by anybody. You adamantly denying that you're a cuck. I'm not a cuckold. It's also a lane nobody else has in the national sports media, the one that you have. But if you'd like to take it a step further, you're a wrestling fan. If you want to do the heel turn into full cuck,

the audience is already treating you as if you are. No, no. I will never be a cuckold, all right? One time, one time. Billy Crystal showed up in my dream. It wasn't real. It was a dream. To be fair to Zaz, no one has that lane being a cuck hole. But also, no one has the lane of constantly having to deny being a cuck hole.

I put him in both lanes, and I'm saying if he wants to take it further as he evolves and grows in the modern age, it's already something you're associated with as much as Falwell's kid. 100%. When you hear the word, you think of Zaz. That is true. Anytime I see the cuck chair, I'm like, Zazz. that is such bullshit. And you know what's the real bullshit?

You are glossing over the real problem here. And the real problem here is, how do I get a new couch? Call up Tim Couch. He'll give you some advice. Somebody had to say it. Horses. Yes. Oh, I forgot.

I wasn't supposed to hear that. You are supposed to hear. It's your inner monologue. You're the only one hearing it. You don't engage with it. You just. And it does. This guy trying to explain the inner monologue rules.

It's funny. It does sound too much like my inner monologue, I think. I think we need to have some range between yours and mine because it could be confusing. Dan, keep applying pressure to Zaz to have someone take his wife for content. Crague. Zaz, from what I can tell about his sofa situation? From what I can tell about Zaz's sofa situation, he's not in control of anything at home, even buying his own sofa.

which has to do with his personal comfort so that he can watch the games, which is about the only thing he cares about in the world. You have to be able to overrule your wife there on that one thing. Like, you can take advice everywhere else, but you're working so much at this point that you should be able,

after a year of work, to have the couch that you want so that you can enjoy the games and not have to toggle back and forth. That's not the way to watch any of that last night going back and forth. You need both games. You need all the games on at the same time.

I shouldn't have to lock. in my bed watching in the dark, total darkness, watching on my tablet, switching back and forth between like four games that were going on last night. I want to be in the Zaslo Mansion family room on a brand new couch. And you know what kind of couch I really want, Tony? I want one of those deep couches. You know about those deep couches? You want a deep couch? Looking like a little kid with your legs up in the air? Yes, yes. I want my legs to be dangling off the couch. So you got a shallow couch right now? Yeah, got like a regular shallow... Is that hard? Is that what you don't like about it? It's a leg. It's a

And leather looks good and people hear leather couch and like, ooh, that's fancy. I got news to you. It's not comfortable. Leather couch are not comfortable. They're not good. Can you call it a mansion if you can't afford a sofa? No, it doesn't do the affording, okay? Just because you can afford something doesn't mean that you go out and do it.

You have to respect the dollar, Greg. You need me to tell you about respecting the dollar? I don't respect the dollar. Clearly. Well, because I'm respectful, all right? I respect the dollar. and you don't just spend all willy-nilly, but I need one of those deep couches.

But Zaz, in the playoffs, you've got to suck it up. Everybody's expecting you to watch the games and be ready and knowledgeable about these games. Well, I am sucking it up. I'm watching it up as going down to the leather couch and sitting your ass there and watching all the games. You can rent a couch. Rent a couch.

No rent a couch. You can do that. How about a sectional? How do you feel about a sectional? Put it on the poll at Lebitard show. Can you call it a mansion if you can't afford a couch and also are leather couches uncomfortable? Because I don't think leather couches are uncomfortable.

That's not something I've even heard before, and you guys are agreeing about it casually, and it's legitimately not anything I've heard anyone ever say. You're supposed to melt into a leather couch. So what's happened? You can't get sticky. They can't get a little sticky. How long have you had your couch?

Maybe like four or five years. It's an hour for already. Okay, so you're tired of that couch, although I do want four or five years isn't a long time for a couch. That's a relative novice. That's the problem. Couches, guys. That's the problem.

The other night I was staying in. At least, that was a plan. Then the text from my buddy Eagle Eye comes in. Mike, we've got the games on. I say, yeah, I grab a pack of Miller Light, and immediately my plan's gone. Now it's playoff basketball. Every possession feels huge. Baseball's on another screen, and I somehow care about that, too.

Everybody's got takes flying. Nobody's watching just one thing, and we're all way more into it than we ever expected. It was one of those nights that you take a sip, you look around, and you think, yeah. This was the right move. That's why I reach for Miller Light. It's clean, refreshing, easy to drink,

root for taste with simple ingredients, just 96 calories and 3.2 carbs, the original light beer since 1975, and it still hits different. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Light. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to millerlight.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller light pretty much anywhere.

They sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories, 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Hey, Roy, buddy. You know that energy shift when the game gets good, and everybody, altogether, in unison, knows to stand up on their feet? Oh, absolutely.

Mike. Yeah, you've been at many big time sporting events. You know that moment quite well. That's what it's like when you take your first sip of Cuervo. Oh, delicious. It's the signal that says, we're not checking the time anymore, pal. It's when small talk turns into stories. Quervo, man, it's at high five a random stranger effect. That's right. The game is popping. You're hugging people you never met before. That's the kind of energy that Cuervo brings. It's so smooth, so delicious. That's the Cuervo effect. Keep it, Quervo. The NBA playoffs are here in Draft King's Sportsbook

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Limited time offer. Don Lebertard. This guy comes in as the next Wayne Gretzky. His nicknames include the chosen one and McJesus. Okay? He's a great player. He scores a lot of goals. He scores a ton of assists.

But it hasn't translated to making Edmonton a powerhouse in the league. They're in the final. Stugats. What's your nickname for him? McOverrated. This is the Dan Lebatar show with a Stugat. How did you get tired of it, though? Did you have anything to do with the select?

Yes, of course, and it's one of those deals like, ooh, you press this button and it reclines. And it's like, ooh, this is a fancy leather couch. And it's got the cup holders and it's got the charging ports. I got taken away with all that stuff. And the reality of it is, I don't need all that bullshit. I need a deep couch that I get just chilling and my feet can dangle. No, I have a fairly new couch and it's got that recline. and it's got the cup things and it's just

How old is your couch? Your couch is old. No, no, no. I got it. We bought a new couch. It's probably a year. I got a new wife. Charlie ate his couch. He ate my old couch. Trump and Charlie ate his couch. So I had to get a new couch, man. I'm going to start a GoFund me page so that Zaz can afford a new couch. Not about affording, but I will take free couch.

We get lifted around like a pharaoh. Dan, I did make, because you mentioned junk, you besmirched the word junk. I made a top five ways the word junk is used positively. Okay, but it's not on a pitcher, and we can do that in a second. I mean, maybe it isn't here. You don't know that. All right, let's see what we've got then. Top five, let's go.

Number five, junk ball pitcher. I invalidate your list and don't want to hear the rest of it. Number four, junk drawer. A junk drawer is not a box. What are you talking about? It's where you keep the batteries. I'd love to look in your junk drawer. I don't believe Dan has a single ally in this room.

You got to have it. You got a tube of chapstick? You put it in the junk drawer. A junk drawer is positive? A paperclip? It's got stuff you need. All right, put it on the poll at Labitard show. Do you think of the junk drawer as a positive place?

Now, follow me on number three, because you're going to dismiss it right away, but I have an argument. Number three, junk mail. It organizes the mail I don't need. Okay? If not, my mailbox would just be chaos. Nobody likes junk mail. No, I know, but it's, I'm appreciative of the junk mail section. The junk mail folder is really what you're saying.

I don't ever look at it, but it's just like, I'm glad it's there. It's just getting all the crap out of the way for me. Number two. Junk food. Number two, huh? You got something better than junk? Oh, I know what number one is, baby. Tony, fist me.

Junk in the trunk, buddy. Junk in the trunk. Fis this bomb? I want to read from Greg Cody's column here because I can't believe what he did. I am really stunned that on Thursday of last week, we did a live stream, and we had the reaction that we had. The overreaction, dare say. I don't think it was an overreaction. I come to realize it was.

Hence my column, which you can read at Miami Herald.com. Go ahead, Dan. I didn't mean to interrupt your flow or your show. Yes, she did. The Miami Dolphins had a chance to get someone I could argue is the best pass rusher in Miami Hurricanes history. I might get an argument from you guys, but I don't know who would be arguing this one vociferously. Hall of Famer Ted Hendricks would like a word. Okay.

And fair enough, a Hall of Famer from the 1970s, and Ruben Bain would have to do a lot in order to be what he was professionally. But I have no qualms saying that since I've been watching Hurricane football, this is the best pass rusher that there has been. From the edge, I think Warren's Sack getting pressure up. The middle was lunacy. But from the edge, this is the best I've seen. They passed on him to take an offensive lineman when they have done a lot of drafting of offensive linemen.

to not excite the fan base and never been able to block anybody over the last 25 years. So Greg Cody, in the fifth paragraph of his most recent column, Dolphins New GM earns trust on Proctor. Not my most recent column, but continue. My most recent column was the one about Pat Riley chasing the ghost of Don Shulen trying not to end his career so futilely and so disappointingly. Where's my click, click? Go ahead. Well, it's weird for you to interrupt your own inner monologue.

That's a little weird. No, I always listened to my inner monologue. How about Knard Lang? You weren't listening to your inner monologue. That's why you interrupted your inner monologue. This is in Greg Cody's column. The start was inauspicious. Well, no, the instant reaction to it made it seem that it was.

I'll admit I was part of the parochial knee-jerk opinion in the moment that Miami should have selected, available Miami Hurricanes, Edge Rusher, Ruben Bain, and therefore anyone they chose instead would be an awful pick. I was wrong. Yes. A man not to admit it. Yes. This is a good segment.

Keep reading. And I'm glad I've waited a couple of days until the draft was over and the dust had settled to write this. So you're admitting you're wrong, even though nothing has happened in the last three days to change. In the three days between those two opinions, nothing has happened that is different. You just had one opinion in the moment, and now you have the opposite opinion three days later when nothing has happened. Okay, the only thing I regret about what you just read is using the phrase dust has settled, which is a little clicheish, which I try to avoid. Look, I felt the way you did in the moment initially, because my first reaction was surprise. I didn't think that Bain was going to last that long.

I thought he was going to go to New Orleans a couple of spots earlier. Hence the disappointment, hence the reason for the disappointment. I would say it was surprise as much as disappointment, but the two sort of were hand-in-hand. Since then... There's no objection to this pick if Bain's not available. There's not a real objection to the pick. Okay, some people might have mentioned Caleb Downs, the best safety in the draft they could have had. There was some.

And like the Sabin comments, Kitt and Proctor was a bit of a flawed prospect despite him being good. Okay. For what it's worth, and this is anecdotal evidence. Mel Kuiper Jr., who researches the draft like nobody else, had him going exactly 12th. He's a first round pick. Nobody's disputing that. Look, I don't think the reaction was what you normally get in these circumstances when something's a reach. That's not what this was.

Nobody's objecting to this because it was a reach. Everyone agrees this is a big, strong physical person who's a first round pick who deserve to be in the top half of the first round. The reason people are upset is because somebody who's local, who's available, who we've actually sketched. for several seasons because all of us have watched him play. It's not just watching one Alabama game where they throw a screen pass to this guy and he runs it, you know, toward the goal line. Yeah, I don't want my new general manager to make a popularity contest of this and earn the easy applause by taking who he thinks the fans would want.

There's a reason that the NFL waited until the middle of its first round to draft Ruben Bain, and that is whether we make fun of it or not, the show. short arms, gave pause, and told some teams that maybe how great he was in college will not necessarily transfer to the NFL. When I considered that possibility, and when I did more research on Caden Proctor, which is largely that he's not only a behemoth, but he's extremely quick getting out of his stance and into his blocking mode. Did you not know this when you were doing your research on mock drafts for your exactos and your Zagakos?

I did, but I didn't consider it as fully as I needed to. I had him going number 17 in my mock draft. In terms of physical freaks, okay? We talked yesterday about the fact that there's a dude from Nigeria that the Eagles just drafted even though he's played no football in his life.

I just don't even understand. Tony, my eighth round idea would hit. I don't understand how much catching up he must have to do when other guys have played eight years of football and he's just strong athletic. He's 6'4, 306 pounds of runs of 4-6-3. You know what you tell him?

The guy with the ball, go get him. Dan, the eighth round, you only select players who've never played football. Literally, everyone's on the board. It does seem like we're taking Brooks Austin's take and just flying by him. It's like he's even probably sitting back being like he could be good. Look, Brooks Austin did say, look, I'm not doing actually what happens all the time around these draft picks where you just grabbed someone's opinion and parrot it. All season long, Proctor was talked about in just about every Alabama game they were talking about him.

He's in the backfield. They do strange things with him because he's giant. Like his trait is he's giant and strong. He was somebody that broadcast would focus on. He was hard to miss. He had a real good stretch of the season. But also, it's not like that loss at FSU, people didn't notice him. He was a turnstile in that game.

I'm telling you the eighth round starts one day you're a school teacher. The next day you're in Dolphins camp and be wild. So just what I'm used to, just so that you guys know where it is that the local, regional, the resume locally. What I'm used to being taken, if it's an offensive lineman with that pick, is Bryant McKinney. And what that looks like in college is no one gets a sack on it. Like not in practice, not in professional football, no one ever can get past the guy on the left side. That's not this guy. Like if you were not watching Alabama this year, Ty Simpson was viewed the way that he was because he didn't have enough time.

because this guy was, this particular guy was promising, but not very good. Like, he was okay. First round talent, but got blown by all the time. Arturo is good. Okay, first round talent, strong, behemoth, and quick. Those are some assets that the dolphins really liked, and I can see why. Something else is that he's 20 years old. He's not fully developed, and they think they can develop him. Another thing they love is versatility. He was a left tackle. He can. and play right tackle. Right now the dolphins list him on their depth chart as the starting right guard. The other thing is, if you take a year to develop this guy, okay? If you take a year to develop him,

you only increase your chances, which are already pretty good, that you're going to get the first round draft pick and maybe get Archmanning a year from that. How can you be wrong already three days later about what your initial opinion was? That's what, I don't want to actually argue this again, too late for that, obviously. But how can your opinion already be wrong? How can you be admitting? Your wife would love for you to this easily admit when you're wrong. You do not admit easily when you're wrong. And the entire time I've known you, how and what change that made you, other than homerism and just hearing these people talk,

it's not like you broke down film. You read what other opinions were other than Brooks Austens, and those opinions swayed you. Like, did you feel bad? For who? For your reaction? Like, did you feel like you made the kid feel bad based on your reaction? No, no, not at all. Look, my reaction Thursday night when I was doing my live mock draft in the other room over here,

I had about 10 to 15 seconds to write what my reaction was, which I've already discussed in the moment was, wow, I am shocked they didn't pick Rubin Bain. That was my reaction, okay? And I reconsidered that because I researched it further. That was a very fast, sped up first round. I didn't have any time. I'm not making excuses here. I'm giving you reasons.

The Herald wanted me to instantly create and publish a poll on how most people felt about the first round pick. It sounds a little bit like excuse-making. No, it isn't because I'm explaining, I'm going behind the scenes to explain part of why I didn't have much time to think about. You're saying that the draft expert for the Miami Herald was so shocked by what has happened that he gave the wrong opinion. That's what you're saying. No. No, I'm not. You're putting way too much weight in a live mock draft review.

What I'm putting weight on is you saying I was wrong. My opinion was written fully two days later. It was published online Sunday and in print Monday. Okay, you can read that. And look, you've been yelling at me as long as we've known each other that I never admit I'm wrong. and now when I do admit I'm wrong, you're all over my ass about it, which I don't appreciate. I just can't believe it. You're a hypocrite. Okay, you've got to take it, you've got to take it for the truth it is when someone admits they were wrong. Nobody in journalism does this. You should be giving me credit, okay? My initial opinion was very surprised that they didn't take Ruben Bain, and then I had to research how good Caden Proctor really is, which I did. Okay, you can continue on this subject. I'll continue.

you to talk about it as long as I want to. Look into this camera right here and apologize to the Miami Dolphins for you being so shocked by what they did that you had the immediate wrong opinion. No. They shocked. The apology is about a draft grade. That's pretty funny. Like, we don't know who's right or who's wrong.

He's apologized. That's what's hilarious about this. Don Libetard. All right, we got to go back out there. That was big. Wake him up. Uh-oh. He doesn't want to be bothered anymore.

Now it's getting tense because he didn't need that as a result. He needs something that happens. You can see it, Mother Efforting on. Can we bother? Are we bothering you right now? Turn on your microphone, Greg. My microphone's on. Stugats.

Paint the scene. The paint the scene is I got to go to work. Good night. This is the Dan Lebatar show with the Stugats. Cannot be the environment that issues someone being emotionally mature enough to take a couple of days, revisit their initial take, see the Dolphins draft in totality, which I think might be the best argument altogether. Yeah, we have our feelings about number. number one, but look, they got some pretty good players in this draft, recognizable players.

I love the Rodriguez pick. I love the Bell pick. I think when healthy, Bell, you can make an argument, might be the best receiver in this draft or at least top three in that class. Kyle Lewis, the linebacker from Pitt. They got an edge rusher, certainly not of the oak of Rubin Bain, but they did address that need. I think the best argument is, yeah, we didn't feel great about trading the third, but they got a good player, one that people felt really strongly about at a San Diego State. when I look at the draft as a whole, I think it deserves us trusting them,

even though we got off to what seemed like a rocky start. I'm telling you, I'm looking at some of these couches, man. There's so much more room from the front to the back. Do you want a fabric couch? Yeah, yeah, I want it to be soft, and it's just they're so deep. This is what I really need. Yeah, I got two dogs. Well, that's going to make the fabric couch a little tricky.

Well, I just need to get, it just needed to be a dark color. It's just a little bit more work for you. I thought you're going to say a couch cover. Urinating. You don't train your dogs? A dog will urinate on fabric. He's right about that. They will.

Excited pee when they run around because someone shows up. I'm my dogs. And a cat will use the cloth couch as a scratch. I don't have a cat. It's a scratch post. Well, buy a cat. Yeah, but you can also get one of those, like, rollers that gets the scratches out of those felt couches. It's really a benefit.

You can get it on Amazon like, you know, 19 bucks. Some of them are cheap, but it's like, I don't want to get one that's actually cheap. You know what I'm saying? Cat hating Zaz. Mike is exactly right. You're obsessed with how much greater Ruben Bain is going to be than Caden Proctor. Everybody else in America has moved past that, but you. The Dolphins had a good draft.

They had the most picks in the league, and they hit the positions they needed hard. They drafted eight different positions. They need all the positions. They need all the positions. They needed four more than most others, and they hit those four hard. I actually think more positively about them taking at positions they didn't need, because they're just going for best player available, which is what you should be doing when you're in the spot the dolphins are. They took two linebackers in Rodriguez and Kyle Lewis when you could argue their most deep position was lineback.

I will grant you guys, okay, that real leadership risks unpopularity and their hello to this market as the new leaders of an entirely fumigated building was to do something that was unpopular. and Proctor may be good and Boat Bain may be good. That part doesn't even matter to me, honestly, because all of us are guessing there. Any of them can get injured. This is all pretty random. What you don't get is what this team doesn't have, which is a local guy that people just care about

who's available, who makes plays, who people have been watching for four years or three years before he gets to the pro team. This team has nobody you can. care about. The fan base does not have an emotional investment there. To me, that's worth picking him at 11, even if it's four picks early because all the time these businesses are in marketing and they could use the help. And it was the easiest help and it was gift wrapped for them. If I may help you out and provide a counter. Because I think the dolphins should have

picked Rubin Bain. I think they'll regret it. I thought it was funny. But that was not their introduction to this market. Their introduction to this market was purging the team of Tua and bringing in a quarterback when there was an active market for this quarterback, a quarterback that we all need to evaluate to see if we have him at that price and he is good, that is a great contract and that is a great job. So how do you ensure Malik Willis pans out? You don't help him with Ruben Bain, unfortunately. You help him with guys like Caden Proctor. That's another factor I made in the column you're maligning is that this is going to be a running team. This is a running team. This is a running team with Devon A-chan, and for a change, they have a mobile quarterback.

Okay, they're not going to be throwing the ball 30 times a game. And so to Mike's point, an offensive lineman with this kind of upside is going to be more valuable to your identity on offense. It's a good point if you expect to be winning in the next two years. I think they're going to have a lot of work to do with this fan base emotionally because they're not going to be winning for a couple of years. But you just drafted a 20-year-old. old lineman with astronomical upside who's going to be your stalwart blocker along with Patrick Paul when they are good. They're planning for when they are good, not just to get through the next year. Yeah, but that part's confusing, right? Because they just signed a young quarterback to a short

contract, by the way, okay? So that means they're essentially giving themselves a small window to determine it's any good. It's two years. It's two years he's got because it's a three-year contract, but essentially with the guaranteed money, this is a two-year experiment that they have to figure out whether they can be a winning team with Malik Willis, which I think would be a lot to expect, don't you? Because I thought that the over-under, I don't know whether this was before or after Malik Willis,

I thought the over-under was four and a half. Can you check draft kings for me on that? Like, four and a half. The last time I looked, Arizona and Miami, were at the bottom of the over-under on wins at 4.5, which means whether they like it or not, they don't have to tank to be bad, the dolphins. argue that there have never been lower

expectations on a dolphin season and the one that's approaching, I would also argue that I would bet the over on every single team to win more than four and a half games. I know that that's not possible, but I would bet that over every time. That is such a ridiculous number for a team. They're not interested in winning this year. Like that's

they're interested in fielding a new team. They don't have the players and cannot develop the players fast enough to have that be a winning team. Flores his first year, right? Like this is the only year that rivals that as far as winning expectation. I mean, you had what you had before that season

where people were saying this is going to be a disaster. I don't think it was even as low as four and a half. Nobody knows who plays for the dolphins. Like, it's a nobody team. Like, who's playing wide receiver for this team? Realistically. Well, Malik, Washington and probably Chris Bell. Okay.

So you're a guy who's fresh off an ACL injury who's getting drafted. Takes a wide receiver before Bell 2. Mm-hmm. Okay. But with that, how do you get a good read on what Malik Willis? 2-2 Atwell would like a word. Okay, Tutu Atwell, who runs a great 9 ball. Okay, great.

The problem is, if you're going to say he's running, this is going to be a running team, they're going to run the ball 30 times, how do you have a good evaluation of a guy? That's not something that you just go over and pass by with Tutu Atwell. He runs a good 9-rout. That's what Malik Willis does best, too. Agreed. That's a good asset. Oh, you're being serious?

No, I'm being serious. No, too-2-at-well does the 9-rout. That's what he does. He was talking to Tony thinking he was joking, not my thinking he was joking. No, no, he runs a great 9-rout. Like, that's why he's still in the NFL. But to the point that Greg was making, he's like, all right, this wants to be, this franchise wants to be a hard nose, run the ball franchise, and figure out what they have with Malik Willis. But how do you do that with inexperience on the outside?

Okay. Obviously, they're in as major a rebuild as they've been in, in my memory. They spent a combined 12 to 15 years with, under the spell of Ryan Tannahill and then two a tongue of Aloha, two quarterbacks who were just. just good enough to always make you say, are they good enough? Neither one was good enough. Okay, they finally realized that. The reason that you've never heard of anybody on the roster is that the onerous to a contract, which they're still stuck with in trying to get out from under, prevented them to sign anybody. With that in mind, getting Malik Willis was a big deal. Okay, they got a quality quarterback who instantly moved above Quinn Ewers as their starter.

He's going to be a good stop-back quarterback for a couple of years. years while they get decent. And the bonus might be that they get the number one or number two draft pick next year and get Archmanning or the guy from Oregon. Wouldn't you say that because they sign Malik Willis, wouldn't you say they're desperately hoping they don't have the number one overall pick because they would hope to not be drafting a quarterback next year? I think if you can get the, they realize they're in a major rebuild. I think the bonus, I'm not saying you intentionally lose, but they're not. they may not have to tank to be bad.

But they're not hoping they draft a quarterback with their first pick next year. I think they might. No, they, no, you don't give this guy this money unless you expect. I don't think he's a bandage. I think they love his deep ball numbers and they're going to build something around him. Okay, we'll see. They're not giving him major money for a quarterback. They got him at a pretty economical.

They're paying him. Look, you can't do it that way. They're paying more for quarterback next year than any team in the league, the way they suffer through the salary cap of Tua. Right. Like, they're, they've got. the worst money spent in the league of quarterback, even if he's a bargain. Like, that's bad money. It's the reason the rest of their team's not going to be that good.

The thing that I wanted to get back to, though, off of the column you wrote, because this took a contentious turn, and I did not mean for it to. Yeah, you did. No, I did not, because it's funny to me. I will ask the question again, because it's so funny in the review of it, you were so shocked by what happened in your initial reaction to them passing at Rubin Bain that a lifelong football expert got hazy, got the wrong

opinion, and then does do the laudable thing a few days later and say I was wrong when nothing changed except you did research and emerged from your shocked haze. That's amazing. No, it isn't. I think you're amazed enough to keep

repeating it and try to get me embarrassed or get me to apologize. eyes or something, I'm not, I do neither. And to finish my other thought, the only thing that changes them... Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, lean further away from the microphone. That's good. Further? Further.

All right, now deliver your point. See, my... This is a new and an unimproved Dan Levatar show with the Stugas. Gambling by Drafkins. The other night I was staying in. At least, that was a plan. Then the text from my buddy Eagle Eye comes in. Mike, we've got the games on.

I say, yeah? I grab a pack of Miller Light, and immediately my plan's gone. Now it's playoff basketball. Every possession feels huge. Baseball's on another screen, and I somehow care about that, too. Everybody's got takes flying. Nobody's watching just one thing, and we're all way more into it than we ever expected. It was one of those nights that you take a sip, you look around, and you think, yeah.

This was the right move. That's why I reached for Miller Light. It's clean, refreshing, easy to do. drink, root for taste with simple ingredients, just 96 calories and 3.2 carbs, the original light beer since 1975, and it still hits different. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Lite. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to Miller Lite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Light pretty much anywhere. They sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly.

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