The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 1: Old **** Face

Episode Date: March 4, 2024

We have a huge update on Tony's Hall of Fame Hypothetical with answers coming in from across the MLB world. Then, Stugotz has his Weekend Observations: did you know J.J. Watt played hockey this weekend? Plus, our Iowa Correspondent Lucy Rohden zooms in to discuss Caitlin Clark and our Friendly Neighborhood Race Lady Jemele Hill helps put Clark's stardom into perspective within the rest of women's basketball history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe Kings Network. This is the Don Lebatore Show with the Stugatz Podcast. Stugatz, you know that Tony has been trying for several weeks. He has been workshopping. What has been a great question that has gotten a lot of response every time that he asks it, any room that he asks it in, except when we were trying to do it in Las Vegas in front of people during a live show, when Billy undercut him from the very start and ruined the ability to ponder his question of whether a player in baseball who went one for four

in every single game with a single for five straight seasons and had an 800 plus game hitting streak would make it into the Hall of Fame. Yeah, first ballot. Zero career home runs, zero career extra extra base hits a career 500 OPS Yeah, but it doesn't play the field I hit in every game he played 810 game hitting streak Chris Cody has now put out to this question to a series of people okay at the beginning it was just

Adnan Burke Mike sure Boog Shambi five people five baseball, Boog Shambi didn't answer in the vote candle. Still waiting to hear back from Boog. Yeah. I tried to get it on to Billy, because I think you have a better shot at this than I do. Classic Boog. I have not asked Boog. I did ask for you, Jeff Koenig and Craig Council.

How many people have you now asked? How many responses have you got? 16. You want me to just rattle some names before I give you responses? How many people have you now asked what how many responses have you got 16? You want me to just rattle some names before I give you responses? We have Tino Martinez Bob Costas Keith Oberman Mike sure Craig counsel rich waltz Kyle Seeloff Bill Ripken Harold Reynolds Carlos Pena Wow, and I'm I got I got Sources I more I'm in Los Pena. Wow. And I got sources. I'm expecting more submissions tomorrow. But as of right now I have 16.

Are you reaching out to all these people on your own? It's kind of. My tentacles are. Okay. I thought the five that we asked were supposed to be the definitive answer and then we were going to go with that. Correct, we're tired of the question.

I didn't like that answer. You can't contain this. It's bigger than the five. What is it, five years and hit every day? I actually thought it was Kirchin who was gonna decide this for us. I can ask, Scott Rowland. I mean, you have to play in Major League Baseball

for 10 years to be eligible for the Hall of Fame. So he's not even eligible. Kirchin and Costas got in there quick with that, but then we followed up, this is a hypothetical, yes. We're putting that rule aside for this hypothetical So you just are gonna keep asking everyone until they say yes. No, it's not about yes Billy it's not about yes It's because all the nose

No, it's the thought exercise for people in baseball the real people that know okay now like you who wants to undercut There are people that know I'm trying to bring baseball back by this conversation We're gonna see this on MLB network when they want to be like, wow, where'd that come from? Oh, here. It's never going to get to yes, because this isn't a question that serious baseball people will entertain as putting in the Hall of Fame. But this is why, like, when you talk to little kids, they're like, I want to be an astronaut.

You're like, okay, you can be an astronaut. Like, that's exactly that. Just tell them what they want to hear so the conversation ends already The conversation is not ended because we're keeping it alive But I'm guessing you're getting mostly no because that person is kind it's kind of amazing that they kept playing that person given At some point after two and a half seasons of no extra base hits you have to wave that person now All right, so look where we left off was it was wave that person. Now, alright, so look, where we left off was, it was- Oh, Hunter gave me a hit. Wave that person, he's on base every game. Yeah, but he's on base one every four times.

Triple away though. It's not a good on base percentage. He's a bad baseball player. Let me just update the audience where we're at. He's a bad offensive player. Where we left off last week, we had three nos. Tim Kirkchin said, if an NBA player makes a three in four hundred straight games averages three points a game no assists

no plays no D he's not a Hall of Famer that was Tim Kirchins rebuttal Mike sure also voted no he said it would be exciting every time he started a game 0 for 3 though okay but but they would break into coverage and everyone would hate this guy because they'd break into coverage for a crappy player every time He's 0 for 3 this is sure said this is what Craig counsel said actually because Craig counsel's response spoiler There well I'm gonna give him this one, but you can give them the other one you have plenty of others and now Stugots is also texting Scott Roland wait you you're texting Craig counsel. Yeah, I want to sing take me out to the ballgame at Wrigley Field

You can make this happen. Wow, wow. I mean, boo good. I mean, if he responded. Little Stugots. Right, and he won't. Craig Council's closer, I feel, to the first. And that didn't take Jess Long there.

Also Notre Dame guys. Little Stugots and everybody. Like, you know Craig Council, what can I get out of the deal? Exactly. But what he said is that is an ESPN Hall of Famer for sure huge ratings Oh, yeah that ground ball through the six hole But late in the night And then Jeff Passon also said no he said 500 o.p.s. Awful you can't reward someone for being consistently bad

So that's four nos we have because Dan just said Craig Council Respectfully Jeff Passon. That's the opposite of consistently bad. He is consistently okay. Dude, one for four, yeah, I was gonna say. I'm waiting on Scott Rollin, I'm waiting for a response. I also just asked Jabba Chamberlain, how about that? Oh my God. Our only yes, as of last week, was Adnan Burke.

And it was like a, yeah, after he was like, we already talked about this. He has kids. It was very unfilial about it. He knows the drill. He did not think it through. I got another yes exactly Billy Greg Cody says yes all a famed voter I don't know about that. I had to ask him. He's a Hall of Fame voter another yes Tino Martinez Wow Taylor knows his son. That's how we got to him well adnan Adnan Verk, Adnan, Billy, you accuse Chris

of the thing I think you need to be accusing Adnan Verk of because once he found out that he was the only yes, he started asking other people the question on Chris Cody's behalf. This is how this metastasized is because Adnan Verk wanted more yeses, not Chris Cody. Well, go ahead, Billy. No, that's how it's gonna end up on MLB Network

is he'll ask someone one day on one of his shows? I tried I was like I didn't you could have this cuz I know Tony would love it if that question ends up on MLB network Are we just like texting all the baseball players? We know this question now. All right. I could probably get a few names Okay, hey send it off. All right, so right now as far as I've announced we have four no How long are we gonna stretch this out? We've already talked about it on four shows. We're four to three right now. But when Harold Reynolds enters the game. Oh.

That's a fourth yes. We are tied, four, four. Really, Harold Reynolds says he did something no one has ever done. But factually on the hypothetical, he wouldn't get in. So he's basically saying he would never get in. No, but he's saying he would vote for him. He's saying yes, but he's like he'll never get in but I'd vote for him

Craig Mitch says no. No, we're at 5-4 now. Jeremy just told me that No, I think it's five I don't know. I know we have four yeses that's what I know for a fact Craig counsel says no. Rich Waltz says no. Rich Waltz, former Marlins broadcaster, says, that team that kept him in the lineup at D8 should be dismanded. Dismanded.

They have the highest ratings at a very high point. Disbanded is what he wrote. I think it also depends what market we're talking about here, too. You guys wanna hear from Keith Oberman? Yes. Yeah. Usually no. Nobody who hit more than 60 home runs is in the Hall of Fame two straight No hitters doesn't get you in the Hall of Fame two-thirds of those who threw no hitters in a season aren't in the Hall of Fame

The guy who struck out 500 men in a season isn't in the Hall of Fame. I think that's a no for KO What's the matter I just I just got patched into my headphones. Raul Ibañas. Oh, OK. He says, if you have an 800 game hitting streak, you're Jesus Christ. Oh, I don't think that's a direct quote. That is an absolute direct quote from my head. But are you in the Hall of Fame? Is Jesus Bill Ripken says no.

Well, if I have a face in that, sure. Jeff Koenig says no. He says a remarkable feat in an unremarkable career. Ooh. Did you just call Bill Ripken a butt face? No, no, I called him Old F*** Face, worse. Oh. That's famous. That's his thing. It's on his baseball card.

Did you guys not know this? Yeah, Google Billy Ripken F face. Well, you... I will not do that. Yeah, Google Billy Ripken F face. Well, you... I will not do that. Yeah, no, trust you. I'll trust you. No, do it.

It's a dangerous game, Billy. You guys don't know anything. Uncultured swines. Oh, he's right. Thank you. Finally a smart person in this room. You want to go ahead and tell us more of the story, his baseball card? His baseball card says it on the barrel of...on the knob of his bat.

It says F face, and it's a valuable baseball card because they didn't realize that it said f face so there's all these baseball cards of Billy Ripken that say f face on it and then they had to like go out and put one out that didn't say that because it says f face on it so it's 10 5 check back tomorrow for more votes and it's not Dismanded disbanded Don lebatard Lou holds number one tripping my balls off I Can't play little touch of gray You cannot give me enough fake Lou holds saying any number Enough still guts drool on the microphone.

I'm not sure what you're doing. Looking on a pacifier to avoid eating my own face. This is the Don Lebatar show with the Stugats. It is time for Stugats to share his game notes. No one in the media will tell you what happened better than my boys do weekend observations brought to you by Miller life great taste 96 calories available for delivery

Dan He's far from his prime When he was terrorizing opponents on the pitch both in England and in Spain Doing it while biting their ears in the process and like most people in their later years he moved to Florida for a slower paced life but this weekend he turned back the clocks bringing his scoring boots with him and bagged a brace at a moment's notice and Dan just like that make no mistake about it with two goals in Inter Miami's win over Orlando City.

Luis Suarez is back. I can't believe that you're he's back. I mean, that's the most stunning. He's back. I've ever heard soccer fan. You know that Dan out Congratulations to Caitlin Clark for breaking the all-time NCAA scoring record previously held by Pete Marovitch pistol Pete Just so we're clear no in my personal record book. No, it's still Pete's record

Because unlike pistol Pete Caitlin didn't do it in three years and did it with a three point line. Of that, still gotsbook.com. Why are you shaking your head? I mean, it's just get Pete some cred. OK, it's important that we do that today. Oh, what do you mean? Instead of 44 game, it's important.

She's great. I said she's great It's Pete's record in my personal record book. Hey Pete do it on color TV Half-iddy's it I think Justin Fields on follow the Bears love that love it man. What do you think he means by that? Johnny Manziel boycotting boycotting the Heisman Trophy presentation in support of Reggie Bush because it doesn't sit right with his morals. Dan, you know what the M in Manziel stands for? Moral. Yes. Well, look at you.

Following along Johnny Morals. Oh! Following along. Johnny Morals. He did say he was humbly removing himself from the ceremony because it doesn't sit right with his morals and values. Humbly? Humbly.

Sam Hartman. Looks like a better looking Keanu Reeves. Yeah? It's just the hair. Oh, he's better looking. It's just the hair. He's he's better looking. It's just the hair. He's also 30 years younger, two guys. You don't have to pit two good-looking men against each other.

I'm just saying Prime Hortman, Prime Keanu, and Prime Keanu, everyone knows his point, break. Who's better looking? Sam Hortman. Yeah. Thanks. How do we not talk about Eric B. Enemy going from Super Bowl winning offensive coordinator to out of the league in two years.

Life comes at you fast. Well we didn't talk about just the job he had to take in a conference that's falling apart for a team that nobody wants to be a part of to be an associate head coach. If you're ever looking for DePaul, you can always find them at the bottom of the big East standings. The blue demons stashed his way and he's something the ponder file. Tony is Caitlin Clark, the best athlete to never win a championship. No need to discuss it now, just stash it away for a rainy day. I mean, it has to be her or Kevin Durant, right? Where did that shot at DePaul come from?

He was just watching basketball this week and he's like, he hasn't paid attention to them since Dallas Comages was there. The great Ray Meyer. It's the last time they were any good some to Paul kid is listening to the show right now like where did that go from unnecessary it's funny you guys mentioned this because I wrote down thinking back I'm not sure why you'd be looking for DePaul nobody is ever looking for DePaul Chicago is looking for DePaul it's in one of those I states that Dan thinks is one state the blue demons mm-hmm thank you Steve Martin sauce Gardner in fairness

to McColl Harbin the Jets offensive game plan isn't the most difficult code to crack first down rush for three yards down, rush for minus five yards. Third down, pray, fourth down, punt. It's the way they've been doing it for 40 years. I hate them. That story, the McColl-Hartman story, is great for a number of different reasons, but one of them is him allegedly selling the game plan

or giving the game plan to the, was it the Eagles? Eagles and the Chiefs. But no, but then the Jets beat the Eagles. And they had their the Eagles Eagles and the cheese but no but then the Chets beat the Eagles and they had their best offensive game against the cheese oh man Notre Dame left tackle and projected top five pick Joe Waltz ran a five second 40 yard dash at six foot eight inches and 321 pounds. They're not making O linemen like they used to, Dan. Oh, how the next winning on the road in Cleveland without Jalen Brunson.

Oh, gee, I can't pronounce his last name at Julius Randall. Gritty win behind 28 points from the Italian kid from Delaware. Dante diva Chenzo. It's funny to like 12 people. You're one of them. No, not really. I'm not one of them. Chop Robinson is a great name for a defensive lineman. Top 10 for me.

Like he's got to go in top 10 just come his name great job into Miami beating Orlando city five to nothing in the battle of the bright line that messy do it in the what huh do it in a little more hunt us open cup Do it in LeMaur Hunt, U.S. Open Cup. LeBron, you score another 40,000. You'll never be him. LeBron, less points, more rings. Caitlin Clark, you too.

The Wizards went 0 for 12 in February. The W and Wizards stand for Winless. Top five athletes or entertainers. That can a wizard. O-L-I, Ozzy Smith. Number five, Wiz Khalifa. Number four, John Wooden. Wizard of Westwood.

Number three, Wandy Rodriguez. Wizard of Westwood number three Wandy Rodriguez number two JK Dobbins it's a rage number one thank you I thank you Tony Merlin Olson doing a writing gesture with his hand. Yes. Thank you Watch out for Nashville the breads PGA live golf getting chippy What's going on there man those guys don't like each other Fighting over money. Well, some guys took the money and some guys did it. You can't blame the guys who took the money. Get over it. I thought you just meant they're using their wedges a lot. Manchester is blue. Since Jake Dibbler

took over at Ohio State, they are four and one with wins over Purdue, Michigan State and now a 23 point beatdown of Michigan. Don't let the Buckeyes get hot. It's March, Dana. JJ Watt should only play hockey in Lake Placid. The Warriors lost by 52 points to the Celtics. Steve Kerr, for your sake, I hope the ink is dry. That guy's ridiculous. What? I mean, he's ridiculous. $35 million for Steve Kerr. Get out of here. It's absurd. Michigan is two and 17 in the last 19 games. Joann Howard, don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out. Put it on the poll, please, Juju, at LeBatard Show. Average age of the person who says,

don't hit the door. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. And then just put over under dead. I mean, it's unbelievable. It's like, what is that? I don't know. I have zero doubt JJ Watt insists that the 1980 gold medal game was against Russia

the Soviets Was against Finland everyone it wasn't Russia, but JJ thinks it's Russia He doesn't I think he does I'd be shocked if he doesn't Where's the straw man here on this thing? Where is it there? Straw man! I have zero doubts, it doesn't mean. If JJ doesn't have Jim Craig and Mike Aruzioni and his top five athletes of all time, then I simply don't know what's what nowadays.

Nowadays. Of all time. If you ask JJ what, top five athletes of all time, you don't think he's putting Jim Craig and Mike Aruzioni in there? It was a- Are you crazy? It was a hockey game. And Ken Morrow?

45 years ago. JJ Watt's not even 45. He doesn't care. Nobody gets why we're talking about JJ Watt, Lake Plaston in the- Because he's playing hockey over the weekend. He thinks you know that. I'm so confused. talking about JJ Watt, Lake Placid, and the, uh, because he was playing hockey over the weekend. He thinks you know that. I'm so confused.

JJ Watt was playing hockey, and he thinks we all knew that. Well, I mean, we're doing a score show, I mean. Oh, you're gonna judge people for not knowing about stories. I didn't know what happened to the next two weeks ago. You don't know how to pronounce their players' names. Dan, I don't want to alarm you But Shohei Otani has played three spring training games and is batting over 700 The top of their lineup is Mookie Betts Otani and Freddie Freeman four MVPs between three hitters

How did Rob Manfred allow this? That's crazy Atlanta's better Are they? They have Chris Sale apparently, I just saw. What? Braves have Chris Sale. No way. He's still around, huh? It's a bad contract. Good for him though. Really? Yeah, you know, I had an injury in Boston.

Get him out there. Xavier Worthy. Brought the 40 yard dash record running a 4 to 1 of the combine fast so I got really that's excellent analysis my observation is bad he's not wrong but it's it is the most obvious of the observations the guy who ran the fastest time in the history of the combine is fast it's not a great I'm not hearing a lot of it today though. Just that simple. I'll just say it Matt Rempey everybody recently made his NHL Talking about JJ Watt playing hockey. They're giving more should be talking giving more though Like no one's just being like fast. Yeah Matt Rempey Recently made his NHL debut for the Rangers and already has five fights in his last seven games

He has spent more time in the penalty box than on the ice. That's what being an enforcer is all about. Goon. Hockey player. In honor of the great Chris Morton sit, the Chris Morton sit, top five information guys in sports media history.

Wow. Oh, I lie. John Clayton. Professor. Number five. Jay Glazer. Number four. Adam Schefter. Number three. Peter Gammons. Number two. The Miami Bouncer that called in told me and Dan that Shaq was getting traded to the Suns we dismissed them. I saw him Friday. Five minutes later Shaq was traded to the Suns. Shaq got a guy. He wasn't a bouncer he's the dare t-shirt guy I saw him Friday he introduced himself after all the shares. Dare t-shirt guy? Like drugs there? Huh. Like he invented the dare t-shirt guy like drugs there, huh?

Like he invented the dare t-shirt. Oh, he was well the day the day that he broke the story the single greatest story this show Has ever broken because we haven't had a bigger one unless it's my engagement Betrayal dad. Yeah, I got that one. Cody. It's the biggest story We've ever had that guy broke the story the shack had traded to the heat and we laughed at him and dismissed him. What does he do now, where'd you see him? I saw him at Feast with the Beast at the Zoo. Oh, wow. I was there, I didn't see you.

Dan was in VIP. I was there with the dare T-shirt guy. We were in VIP. By design. Being served beans. Roy, you remember that as a bouncer though, right? Yeah. Yeah. Was he ever a bouncer? I don't think he that as a bouncer though, right? Yeah. Yeah.

Was he ever a bouncer? I don't think he was ever a bouncer. Oh, he's a t-shirt guy. Maybe he was a bouncer. Sell t-shirts or just wearing the t-shirt. No, he's wearing one. He was wearing one. He didn't invent it though.

He did not invent the dare t-shirt. No. Huh. I have one of those. Those dare shirts. I think I got it in elementary school. It finally fits me. Did it work?

Not really. We laughed a t-shirt guy off the radio, me and you. That's right. Number one, he'll be happy to know we're talking about him again. Do you think the percentage of kids that wore dare T-shirts, like there's a higher percentage of kids that did drugs or didn't do drugs?

Did. Did. It's my weed smoking shirt. Is it? No. The kids that wear them out wear it ironically to do drugs in. All my shirts are. In the entire closet.

Smoke weed in all of them. More. Hopefully I'll see you in heaven. Coin toss for me. One person I can assure you you won't be seeing is a certain former Baylor head football coach because he's going straight to hell speaking of hell or Pryles Dan those are the weekend observations you have it as a coin toss that you're going to hell Don Lebatard! Trist and Sheldt.

Stugatz! Trist and Sheldt. This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stugatz. We will bring in Jamel Hill in a second, but our Iowa correspondent who's not even working today is insisting on coming in here and cheerleading. I think she might have some objections to some of the opinions you've had today. I heard you during the break saying,

we have not reached equality until I can say Caitlin Clark's a choker for not winning a championship. Am I wrong? So Lucy, that's right. That's where he started. That's where he started today. We will get to Tramel in a second, but do we have imaging?

We've got imaging. We think. Well, he told me he had imaging. Back! All right. Lucy Rodine, Iowa correspondent. All right. Have at it, Lucy.

Tell us all of your thoughts from yesterday. Yesterday was maybe my favorite moment of like my all-time Iowa fandom and I know you're thinking Lucy you're an Iowa fan there aren't that many moments and that might be true but yesterday was still so high on the list just when it started off college game day you see the crowd they all have their women's basketball lives here sure it's like oh my god my amour comes out. Caitlin Clark screams was the best moment of my entire life. She was so happy.

She was so pure. Then for her to go out break the all time NCAA scoring record, all time, I know there's conversations about NIA, NIA, and D2 scores that have scored more than Caitlin. That's that's not the point of this right now. The point is that Caitlin Clark came in. They beat the crap out of Ohio State. I feel like the score was closer than it actually was.

If Iowa plays like that, if Ham Stoke plays like that, if we see Sydney and Folter keep that going, Iowa will win the national championship. We're gonna win. We're gonna win, Stu. You won't be able to say that anymore because we're gonna win. I hope I never have to say it again to be honest with you.

A technical free throw is not the way to do that. Well she was a little off in the first half. She was trying to do a little too much. Caitlyn she got a little yippy. You saw this ahead of the Kelsey Plum record. You could see that Caitlyn was kind of in her head about it. Once I didn't like the technical free throw and I also don't think that should have been a technical. However, it doesn't matter. Who cares? who cares? Iowa won, she went off, had a great game. Not even her best. I was like, oh, she probably left 15 out there. Still at over 30.

That's my girl, I'm so proud of her. How you do it absolutely matters. I'm with Dan on this. I would have missed the tech. I would have. You would have missed it on purpose. Getting in a more traditional way, flashy way. Oh, bullshit.

Get out of here. I think it works because. Getting in a more traditional way, flashy way. Oh, bullshit. Get outta here. I think it works because she broke Kelsey Plums record on that like insane logo three. She already had that moment. And I hope that Katelyn said, I don't care about the record, I just care about getting the win. And that's why she made her free throws.

Cause she's a team player. How hard was it for Travis Scott to get to that game physically between snow, airports, and travel? Well, I don't know if you've heard about global warming, so it was 60 degrees there. So it was lovely. He was able to get there quite easily.

Iowa actually has an airport very close by that's not like impossible to fly into. So he probably had a little private jet land in the Cedar Rapids or Iowa City Airport. He came in. Or Indianapolis. Or not Indianapolis.apolis. It's just seven hours away. It's seven hours away. They also by the way ESPN like four times called Iowa Iowa State put up Iowa State graphics that pissed me off that was not cool. What other thoughts do you have before we give the floor over to Jamel we just wanted to get you to celebrate for a few minutes. This is such a cool moment and that's an Iowa fan as a diehard

Katelyn Clark fan. Like just take it in, enjoy it. I've been watching her for four years at Iowa. I remember when she committed to Iowa, it still doesn't like I'm not used to it. Every time she shoots one of those crazy logo threes, why are you doing that? Every single time that I see her vision, I'm like, this is, we're watching one of the greatest to ever do it. We should just enjoy it.

We should be there. We should live in the moment. And you know what? Hannah Stulke, shout out to you. You don't get the praise you deserve. And Iowa will win the national championship if she can continue this. It's all about Hannah.

Oh, and look at her shirt. Lucy Rodine, Iowa correspondent. Thank you Lucy. We appreciate the time. We will not read any of the criticisms that say there's no three-point line or shot clock when Pete played and used a larger basketball. How was that Caitlyn's fault? What does that have to do with her? What is she supposed to do about that? I ran the math really quick it looks like at 19.9 three-point line Pete would have shot 13 three-pointers a game and average 57 points per game

Lucy good talking to you. Thank you. We'll see you later this way Lucy Rodine, Iowa correspondent. You mentioned that, thank you. Jamel, what are your thoughts here because it is quite the phenomenon. You, it is a fairly, you've spent a lifetime covering sports. We haven't seen anything like this before. No we haven't, but let me just say real quick, God bless you, Lucy, God bless you. Don't let this industry take this unbridled enthusiasm that you feel right now. How you feel right now, witnessing this as a student journalist,

like keep this feeling with you forever because they will try to destroy it. They will try to beat you down. Keep it, Lucy, keep it. Anyway, just sorry. No, you're so right. No, no. Well, she's wrong. She's not a student down. Keep it, Lucy. Keep it. Anyway, just thought I should tell you. No, you're so right. No, no. Well, she's wrong.

She's not a student journalist. She's a professional. But she's got the enthusiasm. She's got the enthusiasm. I thought she was a student journalist. I'm so sorry, Lucy. I didn't mean to disrespect your resume. I'm a bad guy.

She graduated. It might have been the imaging. She graduated. Okay, I thought she was a student journalist. No, but she has the enthusiasm of a student journalist and you are right as a grizzled veteran to notice that the business will eat her up and chew her out.

She will not sound like that 15 years from now, just dealing with us, yeah. No, no, she won't sound like that at all. In fact, she will sound just how I'm about to sound right now in about two seconds when you guys cue the NAICURD friendly race lady music. I will sound just like Hitler will sound 15 years from now. Your friendly neighborhood race lady.

We're not there yet though. I'm worried how she's going to sound next year without Caitlin Clark on her team to be perfectly honest with you. Because then she's just going back to rooting for Iowa. That's true. But what did you make of everything you saw, Jamal, yesterday?

Because, like I'm saying, even as I watch this growth, and I talk about some of the things that we've talked about, which is like that regular season college basketball ratings are better than regular season and the a ratings uh... katelyn clark is at the front of a movement that i never expected to see flourish in a place like iowa

yeah i mean i i think it's just really incredible to watch all these new fans coming to the game the fact that katelyn has created her own economy and this is the moment i think think, in women's sports. But let's just say women's basketball, because we've seen, obviously, with women's soccer, we've seen some other very important seminal moments in other women's sports.

But for women's basketball, this really feels like their time. I mean, it's been an escalating movement. Waitings the last five years have been really incredible, both at the college level and at the WNBA level. And now there is somebody else, maybe a bigger phenomenon than we've seen maybe in maybe 15 or 20 years, somebody that is going to transition to the WNBA and bring hopefully all of this enthusiasm, these fans, all of this with her. It felt, I said this last year when Angel Reese and Kate LaClarke obviously scored off

in the women's final four, is that this very much feels like this could potentially be the Larry Bird, Magic Johnson kind of moment, if you will, in the sense of that something that was so special at the college level transferred over to the professional level and it changed the NBA forever. Have you given any thought as all of the streaming services fight for sports content and these are undervalued rights properties? What this is going to end up going for when this stuff sells for what it's worth? Yeah, it's grossly.

It's a, it's a huge bargain right now i think women's sports especially women's basketball if you think about it and all i ask people to do as they're constantly ramming the women's game up against where the men's game is in its current form is to look at the same measure of time of when the women's or women's sports

started to take off. Like how long that took. It usually took, you know, two, three, sometimes four decades, but it's a really solidify and come together. And I think this is what you're starting to see the evolution of now all the hard work. The fact that a lot of these women had been in this game and been committed to this game when there wasn't the type of payoff that you're seeing Caitlin Clark have now. You know, there was something, even though this was a great moment, Dan, I have to be honest, there was one small bit of it that was sad. And this is where the conversation takes a turn. I saw something that Lynette Woodard said.

Now, Lynette Woodard, one of the greatest players in women's history, and when she played in college, it was still under the AIAW, which was the governing body for women's sports before the NCAA began to include women's sports. So, quick history lesson, everybody, not until the early 80s that the NCAA actually included women's sports. So, they had their own separate governing body, which the netwooder had the record for a large school, the scoring record for a large school. And she said that if it wasn't for Caitlin Clark, people wouldn't remember her. And that made me really sad. And because the unfortunate downside, if you want to call it that, to Caitlin Clark's success, she's so great, she deserves all this attention. The Nike ad was phenomenal. But it also makes

you understand the erasure that has happened in this game. And Lynette Woodard, again, I said she holds the large school scoring record. Pearl Moore actually holds the lower school scoring record for the AI AW, which was 4,061 points. None of these scoring records are included with the NCAA. And that's the shame of it, is that they didn't transfer over these scoring records are included with the NCAA. And that's the shame of it is that they didn't transfer over the scoring records. And I'm not saying that that diminishes in any way what kind of player and what kind of performer and what kind of talent that Caitlin Clark is.

But when people are talking about who she's doing this on the shoulders of, a lot of it is black women who, frankly, legacies have been erased. And so I hope this is an opportunity, a teachable opportunity for people to understand the people that came before them. And so when you hear someone, I know she got into a lot of trouble, but when you hear Cheryl Swoops talking about and trying to contextualize what Caitlin Clark has done, she's probably thinking not only about herself, but all these other women who have come before her that have had their legacies pushed aside and erased because that's just in many ways how sports fans are programmed to do when it comes to women's sports.

So I hope this is a good opportunity for people to learn more about the great players that have preceded this moment. I don't know if that, like I hope the same thing,. I don't know if that, I hope the same thing, but I don't know if that's happening at all because I think the coverage of women's college basketball this season has completely ignored the fact that South Carolina just had their second back-to-back undefeated season.

They haven't lost at home in like three or four years and they're the best team in the country right now, ranked number one undefeated 27-0, having lost an SEC regular game in years and I feel like they're getting no national attention. And I think part of it has to do with the fact that we, as an entire sports media industry, don't cover women's sports very well to begin with.

And also the jobs keep shrinking more and more too. But I'm wondering, Jamel, how you feel about that and the fact that it feels like, yes, we're talking about women's basketball more, but it's mostly just Caitlin Clark in Iowa. Well, if you recall, and I'm so glad that you brought that up. If you recall a couple of years ago, Paige Beckers, the obviously outstanding player for UConn, she gave her SB speech, because I think she was awarded female

athlete of the year. During her speech, she made a point to recognize the fact that the entire sport and even the sport in the moment of where it was in that particular time was a sport that was built off the contributions and the effort and the commitment of black women. That's not to diminish what white women have done. I have had these conversations with black women who have played basketball, who currently play basketball, and with some who coach basketball. And they don't begrudge, and I don't want to collectively speak for all of them. But one thing that we have certainly talked about in the last few years is how there are certain machines that get behind

certain players and not others. You wouldn't know, looking in many ways at women's basketball, to know that Angel Wilson is probably the best player in the world. And you probably wouldn't know that. And you look at their success, you can now add a New York Times bestselling author to it. And, but these machines, I mean, I have to be honest,

a lot of times not saying it's strictly the time, a lot of times they do follow white players. And there is this worry and this concern that a lot of the phenomenon is being built specifically around Certain faces for certain reasons and so that's why Paige Beckers her speech a couple years ago was very meaningful and it meant a lot To a lot of the players who are playing in the game who see this kind of happen and I get it with Caitlin Clark I mean the living in Iowa playing for a university that traditionally has not had some of the other success. It's an underdog story. It's a middle America story.

And she is playing the game in a way we have never seen a woman play the game that represents where we are in the modern form of basketball. She's Steph Curry in so many ways. And while there is this phenomenon there and swirling and bubbling and creating this tornado of events I think it is very I don't think it diminishes or takes away from her success at all to say What a minute how do we get here? And what does this really mean not just for Caitlyn Clark before all players when you mention the history though You mentioned magic and Larry and Larry's whiteness helped all of that become what it was like those games were on tape delay before those Finals games were on tape delay before we had a white guy and a black guy fighting for stardom right because what Jessica's mentioning is true

But it's so much in that sport we we gravitate toward the stars more than the teams Yeah, I mean in your right, Dan I mean that was part of what it was. It's like you have white guy from Indiana you're right, Dan. I mean, that was part of what it was. It's like you had white guy from Indiana against a black guy from Michigan. And even though Lansing is the capital of Michigan, but it is a smallish town, maybe not as small as where Larry Bird grew up. But the reality is that those optics were helpful in growing the game. And even though there was that undercurrent of race that was forever there, it did help grow it. And we saw how strong that undercurrent of race that was forever there, it did help grow it. And we saw how strong that undercurrent of race

was between Clayton and Clark and Angel Reese. And frankly, even with Cheryl Swoops, and don't get me wrong, I understand that there was factually some things that Cheryl Swoops got wrong in characterizing her game. And later on, those things were corrected in that same podcast. But Cheryl Swoops talked about the fact

that she was called a racist for critically analyzing her game. And if anybody could analyze her game, you would think Cheryl Swoops would be qualified. So that bubbling, that undercurrent is there. Cause even when I bring up Caitlin Clark, it's like, and we've seen this so much in sports before, Dan is too, is that if you don't call them

the greatest thing you've ever seen, if you don't say, hey, this is the most exciting women's player ever, this is the best women's player ever, that you're somehow being a hater. And if you're black and say that somehow you're being a racist story, Kayleigh Clark. And it's like, no, I've just watched 30 plus years of women's basketball. And I will say she's one of the best college players in history. She is definitely the most exciting women's player in the game right now. But the extra platitudes turns this conversation into something it's not supposed to be. We're supposed to all feel like Lucy right now, but there's always these other things. And you know, unfortunately when you become a grizzled veteran, you can't unsee some of

these things. It's true. It's like you want like, I think the Caitlin Clark conversation should happen, but also it would be great if the rest of the sport got some coverage, at least like a little bit. I feel like it's, this season has been so focused on it, which then like you said, it adds to this feeling of like, you don't wanna take anything away from it,

but you wish there was just more. Like I wish there was just more of it nationally. And you could tell in the analysis to and that that's another part where it's clear that there needs to be some growth in this in this game is that you're having a lot of people chime in who have not watched beyond maybe katlyn clark and i will be on maybe the last couple of years and so

you also see sort of this vast whole in terms of who is talking about women's sports. Certainly there's a lot of incredible female analysts, but Kate Linklart, her success hasn't gotten a lot of them positioned to talk about Clayton Linklart, even though they've been talking about women's basketball for a long time. People are by default looking at the men

to contextualize what is happening. I mean, God bless Shaq. I know, you know, when he said that she was the best women's player in history, and I'm like, dude, I'm sure Miller's still here, right? Like, what? I'm not, again, I'm not saying that those conversations shouldn't be had, but that's what's happening is that people are going to Shaq. They're going to, you know, men who suddenly watch the game. But the women's game while all still basketball, it's a different game. And I think we need more people to be able to analyze this game properly who are women who have been doing this for a long

time. That was your friendly neighborhood race, lady. Was there any moment for you cooler yesterday than the way Caitlyn Clark squealed when she saw the pioneer she saw my amore I don't know if she thinks she's better than my amore but she saw my amore and was delighted by it yeah that was an amazing moment and that's about you know this torch that has passed to me you know you think about my amores age and why she left the game she my more should be playing right now.

But I thought that was great to see and great to see Caitlyn acknowledge somebody who's been obviously a tremendous influence on her career. And again, this offers an entry path and an entry way for those who are just now discovering women's basketball because of Caitlyn Clark. I don't regret you. I'm not going to do you how sometimes soccer fans will do a new thing that comes in this morning just totally haze them the entire time welcome and i'm glad you're here but why you're here make sure that you look through those archives to see some of the women who have done it before you later jimel

good talking to you