The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 1: An Hour Of Mystery-Solving

Episode Date: March 23, 2026

"Ethan! Come in here and show us your bruise!" Zas and Chris are exhausted after getting dominated in a street hockey tournament over the weekend. Plus, Dan is fascinated by whatever is going on that's keeping Christian Wilkins out of the league, but quick! Which one is controversial: The Pussycat Dolls, Josie & The Pussycats, or Pussy Riot? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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So make every dish the greatest and eat the goat. This is the Dan Levitard show with the Stucats podcast. This episode of the Dan Lebitard show is presented by Draf Kings. Draf Kings, the crown is yours. Whoa! A little slide step. Zaz, why are you so sore? What's the matter with you?

I see you hobbling around. My God. Dan, I am so sore. I just mentioned that. Yeah, he just said that. He's setting it up for the audience who just started listening. It's okay. If you're just joining it. I am hobbling around this whole morning, Dan.

On Saturday. We're doing like the Chris, Chris, Cody? The Chris Long Kong is yours. On Saturday, on Saturday morning, your employees, me included, we signed up and we played in a street hockey tournament at the Florida Panthers Arena on Saturday. Who played? Who won? Chris, Roy, Ethan. Real rag-tag group.

We had Gabe, who was our ringer out there. Sneaky good hockey player. Rose. Useless. Whoa, wait a minute. She'll admit it. Are you saying she didn't rise to the occasion? And let me tell you something.

Hockey is very hard to play. David Drug was on golden. Hockey was, it's very hard, I mean. That's your first mistake right there. No, no. No, he was a stud. He plays ice hockey goalie for real, right? We had two players that had hockey experience, Dwarke and goal and Gabe.

But isn't Dwarke kind of like, you want a bigger guy to be a goal? Yeah, you see how big the pads are? Pads are in order to wear. You don't know puck, man. I saw the score of the last game. Plays aren't fat. They needed something else in the goal. You think goalies are fat?

Dan, it's three on three and each team has a goalie. But were the rest of you just like, you've got to know how to skate. No, no, no, no, it's street hockey. Street hockey. They're in shoes. You're in street hockey. That's what made us think we had a chance. Street hockey.

Dad thought street hockey meant like guys had like bandanas and chains and stuff. I'm sorry, I missed the street part of this. So like Dwork is in, every goalie for all the teams were like real golies. The pads, everything, like geared up looking like Strogate Bobrovsky out there. It was a ball, by the way. Yeah. Not a puck. But we show up there and the regular street hockey ball.

Like a hockey ball, dude. Don't act like you don't know. There's a regulation street hockey ball. Yeah. Doesn't bounce. Yeah. Oh, really? And the other teams we played for were definitely all, like, real ice hockey teams.

That was the annoying part. You know, they knew what they were doing. And if I could tell you, Dan, two minutes into the first game. Oh, so tired. I can't even breathe. Are you bent over the whole? Oh, yeah. We came out of the gates a little hot, and we all were winded way too quick.

You know, we're changing on the fly. You don't have to wait for the whistle. I'll open the door. Come on. It became a thing of, like, Zaz, commit for me. No, no, no, I'm not ready yet. Yeah, oh yeah, I had to wave them off. We were all looking to get off the call.

Yeah, I had to wave them all. Wait, the sub was waving off. Yeah, yeah. I was like, hey, you got to come out and the guy will wave off. Yeah, I was on the other side of the board and Chris, yeah, I was going, no, no, no, I'm ready. I mean, when I would go out, I would just walk away from the board so there was no option. There was like, where Chris go?

You guys are, so you guys are the opposite of the pitcher who refuses to come out of the game when the manager comes to pull him. I mean, granted. You guys are in the bullpen as the pitcher who refuses to go into the game because he's too... I couldn't breathe, Dan. You can't play if you can't breathe. So you guys play two games? You guys play two games?

The first game, okay, the score was respectable. We lost the first game five to two. But if I could tell you, the other team had the puck 99.9% of the game. And that's putting it lightly. Like, we never actually had the puck. We had moments where we shot the puck down to the other end. the four. And twice it went in. I scored. I scored our goal.

It was a half-court shot. I just found it on my stick and just flung it. Soft goal. And I got so lucky. It just went in. And I was so tired. I didn't even celebrate. It just rolled past the dude's leg. Like, he must not have thought it was going to reach him. Was this like a mighty duck situation where you had the clap bomb or whatever? Well, you weren't allowed to slap shot past you.

Yeah, you could waist down, waist down, you know. And then the, now, I took a puck off the forearm at one. because I was playing defense. My right hand is broken. I wore a puck to the hand at one point. My hand broke. I'm playing defense, so like I'm kind of standing in front of Dwork, you know, like I'm trying to make sure no one gets them.

But these teams, they're lining up for these big shots. Ethan, come in here and show us your bruise. I'm in the line of fire here. I mean, I took a puck to the arm. I'm trying not to catch a stick to the mouth, you know? Like, and then you're up against the boards and you're fighting against guys. Are they check in? No, no, no checking.

But, like, you are battling for the puck against the boards. And it's really physical. Ethan took one right under the nipple. No one wants to see that. He took a puck right into the nipple. Chris Cody, he fell at one point. His knee was bleeding everywhere. Yeah, he fell down.

You're six. So that was a first. At one point I felt my legs were just like, I'm done running. You ever had that thing where you're running and all of a sudden you just like go. Like as if you're going downstairs. Your legs are just like, look, we've been doing this for about a half hour now and I'm done. You can keep running. I'm not.

And I just went down. How'd the other goal get scored? Oh, inexplicably. Funny you ask, a great pass. Luckily, I found the ball with, in our own, in our own. Tape to tape. And I actually had a nice pass. Gabe was cherry picking a little bit.

Gabe was cherry picking. I flung it down to Gabe and Gabe did a nice, Gabe was our only real player. It's actually a beautiful goal game scored. I got a nice pass from the ref who was definitely judging us. We realized at this point that we're never going to score unless we cherry pick and maybe we get lucky flinging the puck to the other end of the floor. Tony, they did the Vivek.

The first game, we lost four to two. Five two. And he, I think it was four. Whatever. In my mind, it'll always be four. With the position, like, he said it. A hundred percent of the, it was such a feat. We never had the puck.

The idea that we only lost five to two was one of the more incredible feats in the history of hockey. It's like Ocho Cinco saying when he played Rao Madrid, he couldn't like touch the ball. There was never a point where one of us passed to the other. Right. We never had. It was always, holy shit, I have it. Dump it down! Yeah.

They're on me. It was all happening so fast. So after the first game, we felt good. We were ready to quit after the first game. Everyone was dead. Dwarc looked dead. I've never seen Chris so red in the face. It's every day.

No, but like, dude, it was like seven times. We were so tired. I didn't see my wife. We were playing that game at like 9.30. At about 4 p.m., I saw my wife for the first time. She's like, why are you so red? Oh, wow. I was still red.

So the next. I would have thought she said that upon meeting you. So the next game was at 1030. All right. We get out there. We see the team that we're playing. This team. Oh, my God.

They got gear. A bunch of try-hards. From the knees to the toes, they got metal shin guards. This is the Iceland team in my head is too. And I'm like, holy shh. Are you kidding me? And so some of the puck luck we had in the first game. What was the score of that one?

That's the second game? You got mercy ruled. It balanced out in the second game. Mercy ruled. Put it on the poll. Put on the poll, Juju. Put on the poll, Juju. Are you embarrassed when you say the score of the game was... What is the mercy? It was 10-0. The second game was 10-0. But...

How does he spell it? But... They were toying with us. That team? Oh, we got video. That team ended up winning it. Oh, did they? The team that beat us 10-0 won the whole thing. So that made us feel a little better. What are we seeing here? What is this video of? This is us?

No, but like, is it a moment? This is a B-roll. We're going to have a package. There were way too many F-bombs this morning in our package that we put together, so they're still tightening it up. We will have a package to show the audience probably tomorrow. No, it'll be at the end of this hour. We're going to allow the audience to see how terrible you guys. But look at us. Look at us out here.

I'm so tired. This is the first game, by the way. This is the one we competed. These other teams who, what were they representing? You guys represented Dan Levitarcho. Anyone can sign up. They were like real ice hockey teams. 80% of these teams, you know?

You could tell these people. Did they know who you guys were? We were in Dan Levitarcho show. shirts. Embarrassing. No, we had some people over here watching, knowing who we were, a few people being like, oh, you guys, because we had cameras,

so they're like, you guys with a show or something? Yeah, like, I'm miced up during the game, you know. And that might be worse than them knowing who you are. It was fun bonding. I feel like everyone out there, we had a good time together. I did have a good time. Dan, am I right on that? It's worse that they didn't know who they were.

They're like, who are these jackass in the cameras? No, some people did. Some people did, jerk. I would say, no, I'm going to answer this question in its entirety. I would want people to know who you guys were until you started playing that way, at which point I would be celebrating that no one knew who you were representing us

with great soreness and asking out of the game. And basically you led the tournament in people who are on the sidelines saying, I don't want to go back in. That is not... Roy was out there taking guys out. Yeah, I got slashed in the back of my calves twice in that game. Here's the thing.

Okay, so we lost the second game. Mercy ruled 10-0. All right. Every team, though, is guaranteed. Every team is scheduled for three games. We all went home. You forfeited. Some people had to leave to go work. Some people are goalie. We're wanting to go to the hospital.

Well, I have... No, I'm kidding. I think ESPN is trying to kill Zaz. I heard him every time I was in my car this weekend. It was Friday night. It was Saturday afternoon. Every time I was in my car, it was Zaz. And I'm like, is this, is this taped?

Is this, are they playing? 24 hours Zaz. It was just on the, ESPN Radio has been replaced by Zaz Radio. It's just Zaz on all the time. Put it on the poll. Should ESPN Radio change its name to Zaz Radio at Lebitard show? We don't have to put that. You should think that went over.

Why? His association with us. I saw we got aggregated. Transition. I didn't see we got aggregated, so I don't know what my inner monologue is talking about. I did you a favor. It's a whole thing. I'll talk to you later. Hello, friends, hello listeners. I want to talk to you about Chime, because Chime is changing the way people bank, and honestly, it just makes sense. This is fee-free, smarter banking built for regular people, like you and me, not old-school banks charging overdraft and monthly fees just for trying to get through the week.

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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.

more, 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 Quervo brings. It's so smooth, so delicious.

That's the Quervo effect. Keep it, Cuervo. Don Lebertard. While there's nothing official, and conversations are still ongoing. Was that a fake chef? I tried. It was pretty good. It was I feel like there's legs.

I tried at the beginning and then I lost confidence in it. Why? It was good. It was good. You got this. There's nothing official. Yeah, it's so good. Conversations are still ongoing.

Stugats. It is trending towards Nick Siriani, remaining the head coach of the Eagles. This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stugats. It's the group because I have not, in my recollection, seen a story quite like the one involving Christian Wilkins. Christian Wilkins. was an excellent player for the Miami Dolphins. He was a first round pick. He was very good at what he did and made that defense better than it had been in a while.

And he signed a big contract with the Raiders. And then something weird happened in the locker room. And he hasn't had a job since. This is a player out of Clemson who's still very young. There's nothing wrong with his body. But the details on why he's not playing football. not only allude me, they're not being reported by anybody. It's just, hey, something weird happened in the locker room.

And one of the things I've seen, unconfirmed, is that he kissed a player on the head, correct? Like, isn't that, isn't that, like, one of the things that's being thrown around a mystery that doesn't have very much explanation for why a first round pick, who's a very good run stuffer, who's very good at creating pressure up the middle, hasn't had a job for more than a year and a half, was just let go by the Raiders and then hasn't been in football since. What are the details here that are facts?

Yeah, a year after he signed the huge deal with the Raiders, they cut him right before the season started. Now, he was dealing with an injury, but still they cut him because apparently something happened with a player in a locker room, which we're all kind of assuming he may have kissed him or tried to kiss him, and it made the player on.

uncomfortable, the player went to HR, and Christian Wilkins then ended up being cut. The Raiders, of course, were never going to cop to that being the reason why they cut him, but everybody knows that something strange happened in the locker room. He obviously sat out the remainder of the season. He still doesn't have a job. And, you know, I saw the other day. It was the end of last week, Jordan Ronan, who covers the Giants for ESPN NFL Nation, because apparently his name was mentioned.

Maybe the Giants would be a team that Christian Wilkins. and Jordan said something to the effect of, something happened in that Raiders locker room, quote, that's going to be hard to come back from, end quote. And here we are. It's like, no one really knows. Like, Adam Shepter's kind of beat around the bush about it as well. But he's, yeah, like, I think his career's over.

But I don't know because, you know, I'm assuming Dan's bringing it up because his name has come up a lot. Yeah. The Vikings, the Giants, the Patriots, like there seem to be teams that are considering it. Well, his agent came out in receipts. response to that on Friday, his agent then came out, I think is David Moologeta. His agent came out and said, 26 teams have reached out.

Okay, all right. Now, right. Everybody wants me. All right. Relax, David. Molligetta. Mugeta. Shepter's reporting from July.

Wait, Moola Geta? Yeah. His name, his agent is his name, Mula, Geta? Mula, Geta. Mula, Geta. Yeah. That's the fabulous Mula? Best name in sports other than Yankees' GM, Brian Cashman.

The reporting from back in July when it happened, it said Christian Wilkins was released. He kissed a fellow player on the head. The teammate took offense to it. They said that it wasn't the sole reason for him being cut because they didn't like the way that he had been rehabbing his injury. Right. Of course, that's what the Raiders are going to say. And he had like $35 million guaranteed remaining. And there was a source that had told the SPN that it was a playful incident.

But obviously the teammate didn't take it that way, filed complaints with HR. And then they ended up here where the Raiders didn't make any more comments after that. It has to be multiple incidents like this. There just has to be. Look, and there have been pictures, like, even when he was with the Dolphins, like there's post game we've seen where he is kissing a player, like on the forehead. You know, he's really excited after the game. And he's done some kind of, he's done some weird stuff too.

But hold on a second. Like, I want to ask what's fair here, all right? because when you have a mysterious circumstance that doesn't have explanation and doesn't have details on it, coming from the team that did have an openly gay player in the NFL, Carl Nassib played for them and they had some sacks, and then he was let go kind of quietly. And when that is one of the details, kissed a player on the head, and then everybody gets weirded out. they go to human resources.

What's fair to talk about here when you have something that is a mystery that is uncommon in football where a first round pick who's in his prime and is useful to people can't get a job in the league for a year and a half? And the only detail we have is weird locker room behavior

that suggests, because it is suggesting it, that a player was made uncomfortable by an advance from Christian Wilkins. Like that's what the suggestion is. It's what's in the murkiness of the mystery. I'm asking what's fair because I don't know

what's fair here. I think, I mean, I don't know if you can describe it as in advance. I don't know. Very clearly made people uncomfortable. I think that's safe enough, but we don't know how serious Wilkins was about it. We don't know how it was perceived.

We just know that it made people uncomfortable, and maybe the talent isn't worth inviting this in your locker. I don't think it makes you uncomfortable enough to go to human resources in a sport where they don't do that. Like that, the huddle doesn't go to human resources. Well, I mean, well, okay, so there's a couple of things

here. Number one, like Mike said, I don't think in advance, I don't, I'll be honest with you. I don't think anyone in a locker room would do that, regardless of orientation, because it's just a, if there's a code, and there's a workplace. Yeah, but first round picks don't get waived

without explanations and banned from the sport. Yes, so you say, well, what happened? And it sounds like, a pattern of behavior. I think we've all had the friend that, like, plays around in a way that's like, oh, man, that's not cool, but he still does it. And so maybe that's part of it. But then the other part, Dan, you say, why would they go to HR?

I wonder if that's the almost like a defense mechanism for the person making the complaint. Like, typically in a different era, we would have handled this differently. But we're in a different era, and I got to cover my back. And my agent's telling me, you know what? Go talk to HR. make it do it basically the right way do it by the book because as we begin to have more of these corporate America value systems in a place where the values are very different to locker room you've got to protect yourself if I'm going to complain about it I can't say oh he's doing this because then now

I turn into the bad guy so I do it the right way by going to HR I have never heard never heard of it of a player going to HR on another player but that's my point Dan it's like it's it speaks to the era we're in now, right? 15 years ago. Does it speak to the era? Absolutely. Because to me, in the absence of details and the mystery of what we're talking about, this is a good player.

Also, you're not supposed to hear about it when a player goes, hey, HR. You're saying something like, I've never heard it. We're not supposed to be entitled to hearing that stuff. I imagine it's happened a lot, and that stuff is successfully kept internal. I imagine, no, it doesn't happen a lot. But like I said, I think, you're right. More routinely, a lot was an exaggeration. I'm saying that it's happened, and the fact that we're hearing about it actually says to sometimes that the system is not holding in place.

But I would argue, and again, my information might be dated, and I mean, your information might be dated. But the authority figures in the locker room are the coaches. It ain't HR. I know. I'm just speaking to, like, when someone does approach HR in these settings, you're not. supposed to find out about it. Yes, yes, although it happens, right? But then what I'm saying to you is you are kind of operating on a dated system in terms

of if it were any other type of, hey, behavior that we don't tolerate it on here, then, yes, the internal police is itself. And you say the coaches, I would take it a step further. I would say, no, it's usually someone in the locker room, the locker room leaders first. The vets, right? Yeah, the vets. and then if it goes beyond players, then you talk about coaches or the general manager.

But given, it seems like, again, we're all just guessing here, maybe that's irresponsible. Well, I'm starting with what's fair here, because we are guessing, but the mystery sort of puts you in a position where you guess because there's very little precedent for this kind of thing that doesn't have any information afterward. This is a good player. It's a player anybody in the league would,

want to me. It's not absurd that 26 teams would be interested in him. I don't think you can say that when no one in the league wants. Look, this is what I'm going to say. Based on the limited information, it seems to be behavior that's inappropriate that some might consider. Had to have been multiple times. Multiple times that some might consider to be of a sexual orientation issue, right? Given that 10 years ago, 15 years ago, maybe they full. metal jacking him, right? Like, beat him up in the

locker, in the showers, right? Ten years ago, maybe the team, the coach suspends a guy, whatever. Now I can see a player being like, I got a problem with this, but if I react the way traditionally we've reacted...

Then you may be hate... Now, I'm the bad guy, it's a hate crime, I'm homophobic, I'm all these things. So the recourse now is not, we policed ourselves, the recourse is, especially if I have advisors like an agent, like someone who's an adult who isn't in the locker room, you're going to say, do it by the book. The complainer, you go to HR and I like, I like to complain about this.

And that's how you do it in order to create the paper trail, not because that's how I handle things, but because I am protecting myself from any allegations that might come my way if I express my displeasure in any other fashion. And talent-wise, like, if there was other teams that wanted him, they would have gone and gotten him, right? There's been terrible things swept under the rug, and people have said. still played for years and years and years. Guys, in July of 2025, this person signed a $110 million contract with $85 million

guaranteed because there were several suitors for his services. A year later? A year later, he can't play? Nobody wants him? A year later, after getting $80-plus million guaranteed. No, man, come on. Like, what are you guys talking about? Good decision by Greer, letting him go.

Hiring him back. So what if he gets picked up this office? What if it was the year, he didn't play, and then he gets picked up. Then what are we supposed to do with that? Number one, I don't think he's going to. But number two, does it not make sense for him or his agent to come out with some type of statements? Like, why can't they push back against this narrative that is seemingly keeping him out of the sports? So that's the other part of this.

That's the, this is, what was my man that was a coach here before? Ryan Flores. Brian Flores, right? Like, it's like, oh, you might have a right? you can whistleblow, that will 100% guarantee you'll never have a job again. Not because of what he did or didn't do, but because teams typically look at

if you break the sanctity of the thing, basically, by pointing fingers or whatever, then it's like, how can I ever trust you? It's not even, it could have been anything. It's like, remember routine cognito, who was the guy that he was born? Jonathan Martin. Jonathan Martin, right?

Jonathan Martin doesn't have what happened here, but it's like he never ended up anywhere again because I'm not going to bring a guy in here who's going to... The thing about this, though, that is multiple layers of this are confounding to me. But nobody seems to know reporting it, but all the teams seem to know. I think some of the reporters know and they don't want to say it. They're beating around it. Like, it's going to come out one day. And it's like I just say here, Jordan Ronan said what he did is going to be tough to come back from.

That sounds like Jordan knows. I bet my life that this is not a secret in an end. NFL circles. And what we're seeing play out is because people are working with way more knowledge than we are here just talking about it. Correct. But I'm not used to information being protected by reporters when there's a mystery. Like it's one thing to have your information insiders be bought and paid for. But when something's a mystery like this, I'm not used to a communal gathering of reporters deciding together that they're not going to report something that has news value.

Just mobilize Pablo. That's what we pay for. I think, Dan, the thing you got to keep in mind is, again, given the sensitivity of the topic, there's liabilities involved even for people reporting on the story. You can't just flippantly put it out there because I'm assuming when we say everyone knows in that circle, they know, but they don't have the corroborating or the two independent sources for me to be able to go public with that. But I'm like, Mike, I don't doubt that Schefter and Rap Report and all these people probably

know. In communities across Canada, hourly Amazon employees earn an average of over $24.50 an hour. Employees also have the opportunity to grow their skills and their paycheck by enrolling in free skills training programs for in-demand fields, like software development and information technology. Learn more at aboutamazon.ca. Don Lebertard. We're going to win Stugats. We're going to win. They're annoying. What an old reference.

This is the Dan Lebatar show with the Stugats. Let's segue here to something that happened on morning television here involving the pussycat dolls. What? Yes. I don't know if you're familiar. They're back, Jack. Well, sort of. Some of them are back, Jack.

How many members were there of the original Pussy Cat Dolls? 17. Were there twice as many members of the original? Pussycat dolls as the ones being interviewed on the Today Show? Yeah, there were far more. There were really not that many of that sang. It was a collective, a lot of dancers back there, you know, and really Nicole was a standout star. Name one that's not Nicole Scherziger.

I can't. I can't. But the ones doing this tour, this reunion tour, there's three of them. Wait, Nicole Scherzinger is not one of them? Yes, she is. Yes, she is. But I think the most obvious question would be if you are indeed someone that would be inclined to be super pumped up about the pussycat doll's reunion would be like, all right, where's the other girls?

You'd be prepared for that question. Who's names that I can't name? Yeah, but I'm not a hard-hitting questions here. I'm not a pussycat dolls fan, but if I were, I would know more names. All right. And I would know like the number of people missing. And I'd be prepared, you know, for some sort of answer on this. Can I just ask really quick? I don't care if I sound stupid, whatever. Can I, I, I don't really know who they are. What? Like, what is their deal? What? They're a music group? Yes. Yes. Yeah, they were, look, so like the pussycat dolls were like this thing that gained in popularity that existed before they became a pop sensation. The pop group basically took existing branding, popularized it, and had some songs.

What? What? Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot. That's pussycat doll. Yeah, but the notion, the pussycat dolls existed before, like, Nicole Schorzinger became a, before they were a music group. You would go to Vegas, and the pussycat dolls would be there. Wait, they're just like, oh, wow, and now I'm learning stuff. Wait, they were just kind of... Listen up my buttons, babe.

Uh-huh. Are they controversial? It was opportune. No. Not until now, apparently. It was something that was already established. I didn't know. And they just took, like, these studio voices, and they're like, hey, we have a branding thing for you.

Just slap some Pussy Cat's Bell's branding on it. You're saying, like, basically, like, Jabberwockies all of a sudden had a music career. That's what I'm saying. Wow. I didn't know that. They were a dance ensemble in. Vegas founded in 1995 is what it says. What?

The suggestion of Jimmy Iveen, because of course Jimmy Iveen, they decided to take the group mainstream and their choreographer worked with several other people to get some voices and then all of a sudden, boom, 2004, shall we dance? The film. Not to be confused with Josie and the Pussy Cats. Totally different bands. I think that's who I'm thinking of a little. They're controversial, right?

They're a cartoon. Scooby-Doo. They're a cartoon. How could they be controversial? All right, anyways, let's get to this clip. Hold on a minute. How do you spell M-U-L-G-H-E-T-A? Oh, I was going to say M-O-O-O-O-L-A, E-T-A. Let's listen to the sound for a question the pussycat

all should have been prepared for. After they found out that you guys were coming back as a trio, not as the original group, how did you arrive at that decision? Well, I mean, listen, we are just, we are like, We are so as women today, I mean, it has been an ever-changing lineup. And, you know, this is what it looks like now in 2026. You never know what comes next. And I think ultimately we've got to protect our peace.

And when something like the Pussy Cat dolls has so much history, we have ruptured in the past. Okay, so Nicole, we got to get you, you can't be the leader. It was really just Nicole. The other woman did fine. No, no, she choked and her friend tried to bail her out because she froze because they don't want to tell you the truth about why it is the other women aren't involved. Like they don't want to come out and say why it's only the three of them because there's probably some conflict there, I would imagine. So now we got two mysteries, Christian Wilkins and the pussycat dolls. This is the bigger one.

I happen to know, like, they're right about it being an ever-changing lineup because there was one girl that I knew that I went to elementary school with. She was a pussycat doll for like three minutes. like the only ones that mattered were like essentially three of them well informed was it those three it was like minuto how do you happen to know this why do you give me the whole image oh my god he knows he happens to know come everyone it's a no come and listen there was like a he happens to know well informed it was a heat dancer that I went to school with she was a pussycat doll for a hot so wise Zaz you were thinking a pussy riot yes they're conscious

There you go. There you go. Pussy riot! That's, that's, so your brain seized on one word. Yeah. That's the riot. Well, I got that good algorithm, you know what I'm saying? Jesus Christ. From among the things this weekend, and I just love Thursday or Friday.

Thursday and Friday are so cracky with March Madness. It's crazy how they give you this adrenaline rush intravenous, of just monster action all over the place that Saturday and Sunday go too slow compared to Thursday and Friday. It slows down. I want that to be basketball all the time because you've just got action all over the place.

And if you're playing that many games inevitably, mathematically, some are going to be decided at the buzzer with insanity. Like the way that Kentucky won its first round game absurdly to save its season with a half, court shot. That was my favorite moment of the tournament. But the play that Iowa put together with 8.9 seconds left to take out Florida to get that look when they're down to, to get a wide open three from the corner. I feel like they just left the guy open. Yeah, he was open on the

corner. They ran a trap, you know, full court trap. I know, but they also had to know that that's the play that was coming. They're going to throw it to their point guard and do the, you know, who was it? It was the Drew kid that did that when was that. Bryce Drew? Yeah, Bryce Drew did that. Yeah, but that was like four seconds left. It wasn't, it wasn't. Valpo was a great play. That was a great play that they up the sideline and he was contested when he made that shot. Like I've been wanting to ask you about that play, I mean, because, look, everybody knows you're saying it's a great play that Iowa drew up there. No, no, I'm saying Valpo was a great play. No, no, I'm Dan is saying it's a great play that Iowa drew up there.

Todd Golden can't be pressing up to in that spot. Like, because they pressed, it allowed it to be in transition. Of course, they're not going to give up a layup so you spray it to the corner. If you just play it heads up, like that's not happening, right? Yeah, but I'm assuming that that's the play call because you know that they're going to press. Oh, okay. But so what I'm saying is why were they pressing? They were ahead.

You're up, yeah. Why? I don't know. That's a good question. That's a champion coach. Yeah. I think he blew it. This is, again, I go back to college basketball.

It's like, you know, this is the stuff that you guys like and the variability and like, oh, I make bets and stuff can happen. This stuff as a basketball guy drives me crazy. Like, why are you doing this? Remember, this happened in the women's final four. Remember what Kim Mulkey? We're like, yo, Caitlin Clark is shooting every single time. She just left Van Lith on an island the whole game. I'm like, what are you doing?

Like, from a person who watches pro basketball, like, that's the easiest adjustment. ever. But college is a lot of yelling and like, come on and I got to rile up the troops. And a lot of times, like, they're not really that good coaches, dude. It's the same reason why people say, oh, all players are better coming out when they spent like three years in college versus one and done. And I said, well, it depends on which college. Some coaches, absolutely. So Jay Wright, yeah. If you came out of Bill and over three, four years, you're going to be a good player who knows how to play basketball. Some of these other places, just running up and down, man. You're not, you're not learning anything. I think you just wasted four years doing whatever. And so I look at that play. I think Todd Golden blew it in that spot. Absolutely. To beat a number one, typically you have to play better. Iowa did not play especially well.

Their best player was like 0 for 9 from 3. I mean, they were of double figures for a lot of the second half. They were missing free throws. And then Florida, yes, I understand. Florida clawed back into that game and then took control of it. The way that they ended up losing. They were up five with like eight minutes left or something. When you consider the game flow, it really made the Z.

Since the strange game top, the bottom, but Iowa typically has to play better to pull off an upset like that. But, Mike, no, I, man, I don't like the analysis of Iowa didn't play well when they got down four late and should have caved against the defending champions who were chasing them all game. They should have caved and then they end up winning the game because they don't cave. Like everyone's always talking about, I mean, championship learning, you've been there. before, the team that chokes at the end is the champion? The team that chokes at the end is the team that won all the games last year. I apologize. You don't like the analysis.

No, but I'm saying that Iowa missing shots isn't the same as Iowa playing poorly. Like, Iowa being in that game, I was leading almost the entirety of that game, coughing it up at the end and not folding when they were down four, when it would have been the easiest thing for a champion to put a foot on your neck. and I were returning and then doing that on the last play where I don't know if you guys saw but the point guard was exhorting the guy who was in the corner to take it to the rim no he was telling him he was telling him go go to the rim I gave you the ball get the go get the tie I saw him go like this I saw him go shoot shoot what was he saying driver shoot regardless the the savvy to take a step back like I understand that that's reflex and stuff but That is where you can choke like one of the pussy cat dogs. That was an unfortunate speed bomb. Kick saving a but.

Stofer. Let me hear Zaz say it. Let me hear Zaz say it the way that he like. Pussy Riot. Pussy Riot. I remember Ray Allen telling the story about the three he hit. He said, we practice that every single practice the entire year. and not only they practiced it, but what they would do,

he said we would all be laying on our backs, and they put the ball up to further emphasize the scramble of. I got to get up, I got to get to the right spot. And so I watch this play a million times. I guarantee they practiced this a million times, right? It looked like it. There was no part of this where it's like, well, this is happening. They knew exactly what was going to happen.

The point guard knew who was going to be open. He hit ahead. Had the defense been closer, there was a guy on the, the far side who is wide open because they're playing halfway through. Zaz is absolutely correct. You're up too. The shot clock's off. Why are we pressing? There's no need to full court press. If you want to start, the press started at

half court. Trap the guy in the corner when he gets to him. But you're letting him go with a full head of steam. You've got two defenders behind you and all of a sudden, all you need to do is make one move and spray it out like Zaz said. It was the easiest play ever. Zaz, as a guy who went to school in Gainesville, I got to imagine that we heard of Santa Fe along. I went to a Florida. Thank you. Go ahead. Byron Smith is the Prairie View coach.

They were down 18 at the half in the first game of the tournament against Florida. Midway through the first half. He just started talking to God. Coach, Florida, on an 18-0 run here, what more do you need from your guys to slow this down and get into their game? We need some help from the Lord. They're very good. They're very good. We just got to keep defending, trying to switch our defenses, trying to throw them off.

But they've been very efficient. You do have to ask from help from the Lord When the question has in the first half The 18-0 run Mike, you know I have one rule to live by, right? Don't place parlayers on multiple long shots Don't say a game is one when it hasn't hit triple zero Always drink your Yeagermeister ice cold

That's the rule. Everything else is merely a suggestion Everything else? Everything else. Wearing clean underwear every day. Well, that's just a personal decision. brushing your teeth. Obviously smart, but not a rule. Never pee-pee on an electric fence. Okay, maybe there are two rules.

But the one that is 100% that I insist on completely, Yeagermeister must be drank ice cold. Or don't drink it at all. Damn, that's cold. Exactly. You're finally starting to get it. Drink responsibly. Yeagermeister liqueur 35% alcohol by volume

imported by mass Yeagermeister U.S. White Plains, New York.