The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 1: Red or White?

Episode Date: July 9, 2024

Chris Wittyngham joins the show to talk soccer as the Euros and Copa America continue. The crew asks him about Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, soccer stan culture, and why he didn't make his hotel bed. Then, what color dot would you prefer to find in your hotel bed? Plus, JuJu delivers a WNBA Minute with a perfect beat thanks to EP Chris, and Pablo, as always, capes up for Daryl Morey. Also, was Novak Djokovic booed at Wimbledon? Does it matter if it was actual booing? Does he care? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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He also wears glasses, so I would like you to be able to confirm or deny that Dan LeBataar's glasses are fake and they don't actually magnify anything or improve vision at all. Just fog. It's just because he wants them to fog up, it makes him look cute and intense. Cute. You think that's a cute look? I don't think it's a cute look. I've also seen Dan's glasses up close, a lot of thumb prints on them.

And so I don't feel like you'd go through the trouble of looking through thumb prints that much if you didn't need them. I've also, like, I'll hand him a stack of papers and then he'll put the glasses on. So unless it's a full performance, which I don't think Dan capable of in that respect, I think that they are real glasses. Witty, there's not one prescription on it. It's tough.

They do have food on them though, so maybe they're just for protection. How can you tell that they have prescriptions on them? Well, when we put them on, like, oh, okay. More importantly, we wanted to have you on to talk about footy. All right. So you got some beef with Cristiano Ronaldo's performance in the Euro so far.

What do you got to say about that? Yeah. I, I got the Ronaldo fanboys upset at me, didn't I? So basically after watching their performance in the Euros, he scored zero goals. He's 39 years old. And I was really frustrated watching Portugal because they're an amazing team. If you look at their group of players,

they might be right up there with the very best teams of the tournament, France, England, Spain, and they just did not look like it at all. And it seemed like the entire time they were in service of Cristiano Ronaldo. And I think it should be the other way around. When you look at the comparable talent between the other players and Ronaldo, he should be

servicing them. He should be trying to fit his game around them and instead they're pumping in crosses. He's crying at halftime of extra time in the Slovenia game in the round of 16. He's taking penalties and missing them. He served almost no function in this team. And yet somehow he was untouchable. The manager couldn't sub him off and he was the star of the show the entire time. That makes no sense to me,

given where he's at in his career. I understand everything he's contributed to Portugal and growing the profile of Portugal in the world. But at this point, it's time for him to go. It was time for him to go two years ago. And somehow still, the Portuguese national team thinks, this is all about Ronaldo. Guys, it's not, it's not anymore.

633. Do you know what that number is? Whitty, does that number mean anything to anyone in this room? I believe- Is that the number of career goals that Cristiano Ronaldo has scored this career? I believe it's the number of millions of Instagram followers he has.

As the number one... Number one, not Kardashian, not Taylor Swift. Ronaldo is the single most popular person in the world. Not in sports. More than the king. Therefore, he has earned the right

that he gets to decide when he hangs him up. By accruing Instagram followers. Yes. Popularity wins out wins the day. He's hot. Every time. And let's not forget, he's only 39 and looks really good still. So in that Portugal uni, I believe that everyone will always service him until he steps away.

That got real explicit. He's not good. He's not good. He's not good anymore. Or at least he's not good at this level anymore. And he demonstrated over and over again. And at a certain point, this is a sporting competition, not an Instagram competition. And it seems like he is dead set on playing all the way

through to the 2026 World Cup. He's gonna be 41 years old running around out there because he's got Instagram followers. Like he's gonna try and Tom Brady this thing without winning anything like Tom Brady did. Like it's over for him at top level. Also Diana Tarassi in this thing. But salute, back to you.

Woody, Pablo Torre here, guy whose swagger you jacked. I have a question about what the Cristiano Ronaldo fan boy is like. How would you characterize his army of fans? What distinguishes them? Because I'm not native to this part of the internet, apparently, and there are 633 million of them or whatever. Did you confirm, is that the number, Chris?

Confirmed. Thank you. So to answer your question, I think the Ronaldo, so basically the soccer internet has divided itself amongst messy people and Ronaldo people and everything is viewed through the prism of that one singular sports debate. There is a whole other segment of people that just don't engage in that, but amongst the fanboys there is certainly a section of messy supporters too, but the Ronaldo fans, they're

armed with a full amount of talking points. Like this is politics where they go, he scored this number of goals in the Champions League knockout round. He's won this, he's won that. What has Messi done? And then the Messi people will go, well, he's actually scored goals in the World Cup knockout round. That's actually one of my favorite stats.

Cristiano Ronaldo in four World Cups has never scored in the knockout round of the World Cup. It's fairly remarkable. But when you look at that debate, I think that's everything. And so it's been it was about Real Madrid and Barcelona. And now it's about these two people, how they are aging. And everything is viewed through the prism of how does this suit my argument in the debate? How does this suit the way that my worldview, because they also represent

two different things. Ronaldo has more Instagram followers than Messi, despite in my opinion, Messi being better player, because Ronaldo represents something. He represents the, right. He represents also that. He represents that look. He represents that you pop your chest out and you stick it out before a free kick.

You go, before you take a big free kick in a big game. And you're, it's about aura. It's about all these nonsense things. And so there are, as a kind of person that likes an individualist in the world, whereas Messi is just demure, team first, helping others, creating for others, and helping to lead his team.

They're really representing two completely different things. I get the sense that Woody's a messy guy. What makes you say that? Messi's a team first guy. It's all about Miami. Since Woody's a messy guy and Ronaldo is no longer participating, we can go ahead and talk about Argentina and the Copa because they are still playing.

What should we be excited about for eight o'clock tonight where they take on our continent mates? I guess South America versus North America. Who you rooting for in this one? So I'm probably gonna root for Canada in this one in this one and despite this scurrilous accusation that you think that I can only be a messy guy, he has not been good at this Copa America. That's a pretty messy guy bed behind you. He has not been good at this Copa America. He has been injured in this Copa America and

there's some legitimate conversations about whether or not his level is falling off. Now he does have the ultimate argument winner which is that he won the last World Cup and he can round himself into form because the thing about Argentina is we don't really know much about this Argentina team because they haven't played anybody. Their group was a joke. Their knockout round thus far has been a joke. They haven't played anybody. All of the good teams were on the other side of the bracket. So realistically, they had their ticket for the final in Miami basically already punched before the tournament even started. They just got to be at this point one of either Uruguay or Colombia in the final in Miami and they can potentially win another major tournament. But really, we don't really know what this team looks like. Messi has not been great, but against Canada tonight,

they probably played their best game of the tournament against Canada that second half in the opening game of the tournament. So I think that Argentina will probably win tonight just because they have a lot more talent, but I don't think we know a ton about them at this moment. Lads, while we're talking about the beautiful game, let me remind you that with not one,

but two massive soccer tournaments happening right now. Our partners at DraftKings Sportsbook have an offer for all customers. That's right David, all customers. When you place a pre-match three-way money line bet on a team to win only, if that game ends in a draw, you'll get your original bet back as a bonus bet. Euro 2024 or Copa America only

pre-match money line bets to win only max reward varies opt in required only on draft kings. The crown is yours. What a read. I'm not an easy. What an easy catch my breath through the whole thing. You had it almost right. I read it correctly, but the breath was way off. You have to figure out when you're going to pause on those.

Thank you, David. He did that. He confirmed the number of total Instagram followers and he got music for Juju. Actually while we were very while we were talking I refreshed it's actually 634 million now. On top because of this show. It's a million during this interview. Witty is it the um. Definitely what happened instead of Chris just totally not checking. Is it uh are you really broken up about the US team not making it out of the group stage? Because you strike me as a bed maker

and the idea that your bed is unmade right now. Yeah, can you tilt your camera down a bit? Because I don't know if the people on YouTube or the Draftings Network can necessarily see just the mound, there it is. Yeah, that seems, seems like you're stressed. Are you stressed? Is this a burr halter?

No, I'm not stressed. I got into Atlanta at around 1.30 in the morning last night. So it was definitely a late rise for me and I had to grab a shower. So unfortunately I was not able to make the bed to the satisfaction of the Levitard audience. Yeah, there are a lot. Nice hotel, what hotel is that?

But also like none of them are good. I wish hotel pillows are better. Magic City tonight, bro? Magic City, Wings? Good Wings? Nothing. Damn, bro, winning. I will not be visiting Magic City

after my game in Kennesaw tonight. I will be staying in the lovely surrounds of Kennesaw, Georgia. Would it shock you to know that I do not unmake a hotel bed, that I slip into it? Bro, me too, bro. Okay, I'm glad we're here. I keep a extra suitcase.

I got a carry-on suitcase with just comforters and this trophy in it for here. Soon as I get here, I go into the secret closet, go to the room, put that on top of the cover because spring break here at the Elstree seems wild, according to my sheets a couple of times ago. And so I never touched these sheets. So look, bro, David Sampson, you are a minch.

Wait, you like slide in? Like what's the visual of this? You guys don't un-kick, I gotta get those tight covers out of here. What witty is? Right, cause they're pinned underneath the bottom of the bed. Exactly.

And so you can't fully elongate your legs. You gotta get it swept out so you can have some room to operate. I'm 65 inches. Hell yeah. I don't have any issue with elongating my legs. Who describes their height in that fashion? Somebody for whom the inches are more impressive

than the feet. What was on your sheet when you got here? Oh, it was, okay, this was a couple of times ago and it was while I was putting my sheet on top of it, I got a sheet and then I got a comforter. I was putting it on, I was like, wait, what is that? Red dot on the white cover. And so I took that cover off and threw it

under the damn bed, well, under the closet thing. You feel me? And I just, it's so disgusting. So it looks pretty great. Would you rather a red dot or a white dot on your sheets? Put it on the poll. Chris Whittingham, something, soccer, Spain and France, who you got?

It's actually dis-spasming. I just, I am, I so, I can't believe Witty's room. I'm happy for you, Witty. Hey, do you ever go to the Stanford studio for Galazzo? What are we doing? I don't know. So we're letting Witty go. He's got stuff to do.

We're letting go, let him go. We have to let him go. He's got stuff he wants to do. I like Spain today. Spain. They're a good team. Oh, good pick. Also red dot or white dot on your sheets,

what would you prefer? Probably red. Love you, Witty. Really? I think I go white. Love you too, lads. You can catch Witty on CBS Sports, Gal would you prefer? Probably red. Love you, Whitty. Really? I think I go white. Love you too, lads. You can catch Whitty on CBS Sports Closet and Apple TV. Thank you, sir.

Well done, Whitty. Thank you, Whitty. Bye. The Dan LeBattard Show with Stu Gotz is sponsored by BetterHelp. The impact of social media on mental health is a topic of growing concern. What do you do when you get caught up

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H E L P dot com slash D L B. Don Lebatard. Sports. Stugats. More sports. This is the Don Lebatard show with the StGuts. I don't care what color the dot is. If I see a dot, I'm switching rooms, maybe hotels. I cannot bear the thought of that. I've only switched hotels one time in my life. Because of dot? The carpets were damp. That could be condensation.

It was in Orlando, I went cheap on the hotel. It was years ago when I was, yeah, and I was at some like, I don't remember what the hotel was but the floors were damp. What movie did you watch last night? Yesterday I watched Dancer in the Dark. All right, loved it. It's an intense movie.

It's with Bjork. I haven't reviewed it yet, I'm nothing personal, but we could do a movie review segment. We have a WNBA segment. We got two juice cans. We have all sorts of ice cream. Wait a minute, hold on, wait a minute. What's that sound? That musical sound I hear.

What is that very catchy musical sound that an executive producer may or may not recognize? We still gotta do your top five at some point. Hey, we inside. Look, and this is what I'm gonna do. WNBA minute, no notes. I'm not even gonna look at the nose I'm just going top of the dome if I need help remembering some team that's all I might need bottom of the team. Natasha Howard being back too, don't over or underrate that. That is properly rated.

Cause a Rikey always is gonna be a Rikey. I need a pause, I didn't breathe. I didn't do the thing that David said, catch your breath first. I came in hot. I'm with you. So yeah, let me take a deep breath. All right, the LA Sparks, right behind them,

or ahead of them. They just got Azaray Stevens back. That right there will prove, I promise to God, Azaray Stevens coming back will cancel out the loss of Cameron Brink because I feel like they are about the same type of player, same position, but with Talbot getting hurt the other night, that really hurt as well. So keep faith in the LA Sparks. If you are LA Sparks fan, I see you guys, Aerie McDonald, welcome back to the league.

Welcome back to prominence because she is in the mix. Salute to the team. Going, moving on, The Atlanta Dream. The Atlanta Dream got a lot of work to do. You feel me? In my opinion right now, they might, I'm not gonna say that. I love my dream

owners I got faith with you guys but we've had a lot of injuries this year like we got Ryan hurt we got a neighborhood Canada hurt Jordan Canada we got a lot of people just just on the team just not ready for the championship this year and I see Paige around the corner I'm not saying we should tank for Paige but I'm just saying I'm not not saying that either salute to the dream we gonna get it together above them I see Paige around the corner. I'm not saying we should tank for Paige, but I'm just saying I'm not not saying that either Salute to the dream. We're gonna get it together Above them I see I don't talk the bed out. Are we back? You dig me? Above those the Washington Mystics the Washington Mystics are not their record

I repeat the Washington Mystics are not their record Big Mama Steff is in the building salute to her They got key injuries as well Shakira Austin, B Sykes, oh my god B Sykes. If B Sykes come back the Washington Wizards, I mean the Washington Mystics are a top five team. Right now, ready to go. Also moving on, congratulations, I'm going a little higher in the standings. Congratulations to the Minnesota Lynx for winning the Commissioner Cup. Holy moly. Salute to Lil Fezy aka Nefiza Carter. I mean, Kyah. She won the MVP, the Commissioner's Cup MVP.

Even though Bridget Carlton might have sort of won that MVP that night because she put in 23 points and I don't know, it's really the reason. But get well soon Lil Fezy. She had a leg or ankle. I'm not sure right but she's sitting out right now so it's gonna take Bridget to step up again it's gonna take Courtney Williams it's gonna take a team collaborative effort and salute to my big big Dorca Yuhas salute Dom. I don't know that might have been like three minutes W got a lot of minutes I got one question for you to close it out sorry oh no no need to apologize that's plenty of W can anybody knock off the

Aces is there any realistic chance let's close it out is there any team that can beat the Aces or is it a foregone conclusion? The Aces are the field who you got Juju. The New York Liberty are doing good and the Connecticut Sun doing good and I want to congratulate Angel Reese also for goddamn doing the breaking the record. She broke Candace Parker's record. 13 double-doubles in a row. Also, Kaitlyn Clark, she did her first triple-double in history by a rookie. So I want to get to them sisters first.

But the Connecticut Sun, they also got a word, something to say about the ACES Championship title run as well as the New York Liberty. I think the New York Liberty are going to go and win this year. To do. Ooh, we're calling Upset Alert. To you, John Quayle. I love you. That's the field. Yeah, that is the field're calling Upset Alert. Salute, John Quayle, I love you. That's the field.

Yeah, that is the field. Aces versus the field. He took the field. Well done, Chris. Nice job with the music. Sorry. Chris was so- No, you were great.

Chris was so self-satisfied that entire time. What? I didn't do anything there. No, no, no, it was just like, look at the music that I queued up. And it was- I feel like that's the least of the important things he's done so far today, trying to keep this house in order.

I think he did a great job with it, but don't, it's the WNBA minute that mattered more. The content of what Juju said was better than the music. And I gotta sharpen that up. I was rambling too much, I did too much lower than I should've went screaming. Well, it's Jessica's F1 minute actually 60 seconds, because the two minute intro to the show

is an example, it's not two minutes. It's the fastest two minutes in all of sports, actually. So is Jessica's F1 minute one minute? Yeah, the bet is about a minute. Give or take, David. So the WNBA minute needs to tighten up. WNBA minute has a lot of work to do, and I'm sorry, I'm gonna do better, guys.

I got your back next time. I love the end though because the whole what struck me about the WNBA recently Did you see the vote counts for the All-Star game? Yes. Yes the vote counts Multiples larger than it was last year 6x and 700,000 600,000 for Reese and Caitlin and last year the top vote getters were in the 60,000 range. Right, right. That is a, that's a major, major thing. You're vibrating. Everything okay? Yeah, just phone.

It's been a couple times. And the All-Star Game being in Phoenix this year is a big deal because Diana Trotsky used to go out there and talk. Juju Gotti is trying to explain to everybody should appear as extreme and deep WNBA knowledge. He's trying to squeeze in a million things and prove that he actually watches this league and David Sampson is going at Dominique over his vibrating phone. I'm incredibly distracted by the fact that it's happened not once but now twice and it's been vibrating the whole table. Do people not know you're working now? Have a little focus man, you can fight through a little phone vibration. You know what vibrates the whole table? Do people not know you're working now? Have a little focus. You can fight through a little phone vibration.

You know what vibrates the whole table? Khalia Copper coming down the lane when BG's right there. Salute to Scottie Diggins-Smith as well and Seattle Storm. They are looking good. Do you have full credibility when there's no one you don't like? What does that mean? Is there a team that you don't like in the WNBA or a player you don't like? Yes, absolutely, but I'm not sure that the meat... this is a great topic because you know how we sit here and say, Darvin Ham should be fired, and we get into the microphone and say, James Harden, you're fat, or James Harden, you're doing this. We haven't reached that level, in my opinion, that we can actually say

certain things to these women, these powerful women. I want to get to that level. Right, and that's why I'm teetering that line because there's a lot of changes I can see being made, but I don't wanna harp on, you know what I mean? You wanna get to a world where we can tell the women they're fat? No, not fat.

No. No. All right, I wanna talk about, since we got, we're coming off the aces, one of the best teams, constructed teams in basketball. At some point I want to talk about Pablo's boy Darryl Morey who is either the most overrated or underrated GM in all of basketball because he manages to put together really impressive teams time and time again but not really make or never make it to East we slandered we had it we had another segue there speaking of James Harden let's talk about the guy in Darrell Morrie who

has seen the future of the game I think as clearly as anybody has and said it's not James Harden and said in the end I'm gonna need to move on from this James Harden guy it's remarkable what the Sixers have done. So for people who aren't familiar, the 76ers were, and this is a great graphic we've just put on screen, but the 76ers entering this off season had one move to make, and if they did not make that move, they would have been totally fucked.

And that move was signing Paul George. And so for people who aren't familiar with what happened, Darrell basically went all in on, I can acquire this guy by trade in this new version of the collective bargaining agreement that has changed the economics of the NBA. And if I can do it, then I'm back in the game. And if I can't, I am in fact, deeply, deeply overrated. And so I think the question is like, did Darryl Bori, or rather, did Darryl Boriy, or rather, did Darryl Borey have on the line his entire reputation this off season?

And I think he salvaged it by getting Paul George, while also getting, by the way, an Ocean's 11 roster of guys that he keeps on assembling for one more job. Yeah, I mean, it's gotta be Ocean's 12 or 13 by now. He's been doing it far too many times, but I do think that- Ocean's eight.

He hasn't won anything. They are a are a yeah he hasn't won anything which is why I said he's overrated and underrated because the moves that he makes are like the James Harden move initial James Harden move is incredible and then managing to put together a team around him that was competitive despite the fact that no one thought it would be impressive and then moving to the 76ers and really putting together a team that seems like a real Eastern Conference contender right now

Despite the fact that Joel and B can't stay healthy and he did it after putting together a team that we thought was the Eastern Conference Contender at a time before with limited assets. So the strategies of Darrell Mori have seemed pretty sound and impressive and sometimes even innovative but the results which is interesting to me that you say that I Like Terrell Mori. Yeah, I do but what I'm just sure and I may have it wrong because I wasn't I didn't know where we're going Does he have a ring on his finger? No, no I have the Sixers why you're you're so up on the sixers has that process been to one Conference finals even Scarface front. Do you think finals. Pablo, do you think the Sixers team

gets out of the second round? Yes, I do not. You think they're better than the Knicks or Celtics? I think they're better than the Knicks and I think that the big, and look, so we're in this era where there's no real big three as a trend anymore, and the Sixers have the greatest big three in the NBA.

Joylen Bede, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George is the greatest big three in the NBA. I'm gonna skiv it over underey, and Paul George is the greatest big three in the NBA. I'm gonna skip it over, under, and then wait to see. So we're gonna mix nothing personal with the Levitard show. What is the total number of games that Embiid, George, and Maxey will be in the starting lineup together out of 82? I'm gonna set the market and then you go over, under,

and we're gonna remember this clip when the NBA season's over. Okay. 45. Over. Over. Okay. 45. Over. Over. Okay. I definitely think they go over 45. But that-

I think this Olympics don't help though. Like, Joel Embiid, salute to wanting to play, but brother, last time we saw you, you had one eye and one leg. So like, brother, like, take a summer off if I'm a Sixers fan. Yeah. That's outrageous that he's playing the Olympics.

I would not have, if I'm the Sixers owners, I'm not allowed, I don't want him to get one minute of playing Tiger. He'll sit out for Serbia. Yeah. I mean, there won't be a ton of pressure on him. Sorry, Serbia. I thought you did that.

I thought that's why you said it. You know that it won't be a ton of pressure on him. I think that it's partially the experience for Joel and Beat. I'm not sure. I get the point that you're making. He's injured every year. I get it. But I don't think that this particular thing

is gonna be deciding factor. He's injured every year. He's gonna be injured again. That's the deciding factor in their season every year. Whether we're gonna say Darryl Morey is a genius or is a failure is gonna be based on whether the player who can never stay healthy in the postseason can actually one time stay healthy.

Bet you took the over of 45, so you assume he's gonna be not out for half the season. I don't think that was a hard call to take the over on 45. What would have made the harder call, 65? Yeah. That, I mean, that's the easiest under of all time? No, look, here's my thing with Darryl, I wanna be clear about this,

it's not that I think he is like a super genius, I just think he is super savvy about the rules of the game. And he is the classic example of somebody who the league office has to worry about when it comes to somebody exploiting all of the ways that a team can be innovative around contracts, around how to pay guys, around how to build teams. And all of that is also existing alongside a very basic observation around how Drell has operated, which is he fetishizes stars. On some level, like the very basic math of the NBA is the story of the most advanced math guy

in the same sport, which is that in an era in which it's harder to get stars than ever because of the changing business of the CBA, the reason they got Paul George is because the Clippers said in a press release, David, that was stunning, the CBA prevented us from re-signing. That's not what they said. That's not what they said.

I led nothing personal with this this morning. What'd they say? They said that having all three guys bringing all three guys back was a priority they wanted to do, but the constraints of the CBA, the constraints of the CBA, not the rules of the CBA, they could have done it.

They could have gone into an apron with Balmer. They absolutely could have. They didn't feel it was necessary or appropriate to pay George what he wanted, because he took the four years 212 with a no-trade. That's what I'm saying. I'm saying that the math of the CBA has incentivized a cheapness among even the richest,

literally the richest of the NBA owners. He loves his stars and also the same seven guys that he signs at every team, everywhere he goes, every time. He does. Can we have that graphic again? It's only on for like five seconds each time it's on or two seconds.

Pablo, it's not just stars though. He fetishizes foul grifters. And that's the thing that's why Darryl gets so much shit from NBA fans, because it's not just that they're great players They're guys that are trying to cheat the rules. Yeah, and then don't play well in the playoffs. He's okay. So the playoffs thing I Look when the Rockets missed 27 three-pointers in game seven of the Western Conference files against the Warriors That is a choke job that I cannot spin

That that should have been Darryly's best chance at a title and they missed 27 three-pointers. When it comes to Joellen Beed and James Harden I have been an enormous critic of how much they have soiled have made their own beds quite messy when it comes to how they performed it's been an enormous problem so the question for me is how do you

improve the hand you've been dealt with Tyrese Maxey and Joellen Beed you get the guy that you have not had since Jimmy Butler, which is in Paul George, a two way wing who can defend, defend the opposing star that is typically that position. They haven't had that since Jimmy. Well, he's going to have to get to the finals and win or else he's going to be general managing and Zerbia.

Howdy y'all, it's Mike. And since the dawn of mankind, we've cooked our food over an open flame and He's gonna be general managing and Zerbia. Howdy y'all, it's Mike. And since the dawn of mankind, we've cooked our food over an open flame and debated the best way to grill. One thing that is not up for debate, grilling and beer always go together. Even I know that, and I'm not the manliest American type,

but I know that if I'm grilling out there, I need a Miller Lite in my hand. Why? Because Miller Lite keeps it simple, undebatable quality, and it tastes as great as my barbecue. It's a beer that strips away everything that I don't need and holds on to what matters most. The light beer with the most taste, less filling and only 96 calories. Nothing says summer like a Miller Lite. It's the original light beer since 1975 and a perfect companion for all grill masters or wannabe grill masters

across this great land. With a Miller Light in your hand, grilling doesn't just taste great, tastes like Miller time. To get Miller Light delivered right to your door, visit MillerLight.com slash Dan, or you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer. Celebrate responsibly, Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories per 12 ounces. Don LeBattard. You don't remember the idea? I was probably like, that kind of thing. Something? OK, no.

The home run call was, that kind of swing, that kind of thing. Stugats. Oh, it's a good call. Thank you. And plus, it doesn't matter who's hitting it. Like, you're not tailing it to a particular name. You know, all that jazz, you know, you don't got to do that. You just do a like you're not tailing it to a particular name. Correct. You know, all that jazz, you know, you don't gotta do that.

You just do a generic call. Oh, that would be a great call. Up, up, and away. That kind of swing, that kind of thing. This is the Don LeBathard Show with the StuGards. All right, yesterday, your man Novak Djokovic knocked off Hogaruga, right? Did I get it right? Bruna.

Bruna. But before we get into our joker talk, I would like my man Chris Cody hit me with that start of the day music. Start of the day, start of the day, and this is the start of the day. Start of the day, start of the day, and this is the start of the day. Start of the day, start of the day, and this is the start of the day.

Start of the day, start of the day, and this is the start of the day. Start of the day, start of the day, and this is the start of the day. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, to slam quarter finals out of 75. Nuts. So I assume that most of you guys are aware that Novak is not a fan favorite. He's been a dominant player in, how many years, Charlie? About 18 years, over 20 on tour.

He became completely dominant in 2011, so 14 years of dominance. And that stat is insane. That's an 80% success rate to make it to the quarters of a Grand Slam. And are you counting of the 15 that he didn't, the ones he wasn't allowed to during COVID? Where he didn't play at all? Not counting those.

So that's not counting those. Yeah. 60 of the 75 Grand Slams he's played. Yeah. But that brings us back to Dominique's question of like, this guy isn't really well liked. Like at some point, even the guys who we, in all of sports who get on our nerves,

if they're good enough, eventually we construct a story around them and we start to love them. He's still getting booed. And like when LeBron comes to your town, you may boo him, but you show up to see LeBron. It feels like Novak is never quite got to the point where. But he's not getting booed.

He's getting rude. I thought it was Rune. Like that's the thing here. There's a whole thing. We can play the clip. So this guy's last name that he played yesterday is Rune. And after any time that guy would do anything good, this world has an obsession with the un sound.

So if your name is Rune, when you do good things, we're going to yell Rune. We don't do it with mats oon sound. So if your name is Rune, when you do good things, we're gonna yell Rune. We don't do it with Matts, for some reason. Matts. It just, it doesn't, for some reason we do it with oons. We have the, hold on, hold on, hold on. Before we play the sound, I just wanna point out, the reason why people are obsessed with Rune

is because it does sound like ooh, it sounds like a, I, play the clip, you can dodge for yourself. Hit it, guys. And to all those people that have chosen to disrespect the player, in this case me, have a good night. I love that. Good night, good night. Good night, good night, very good night.

I'm hoping that they were just commenting on Rune and that they weren't disrespecting you. They were, they were, they were. I don't accept it. I know they were cheering for Rune but that's an excuse to also boo. I, I, I, listen, I've been on the tour for more than 20 years, so trust me, I know all the tricks, I know how it works. It's fine, it's fine, it's okay.

I focus on the respectful people that have respect, that pay the ticket to come and watch the night and love tennis, and love come and watch the night and appreciate the players and the effort that the players put in here i played in much more hostile environment trust me you guys can't touch me there is no one who is more unlike LeBron James' description of Ronnie James than Novak Djokovic who is in a a sport, Dominique, where booing is not allowed, and so he is objecting to the idea

that they're getting away with taunting me under the rude people. Is he aware of that? Does he know of our world's obsession with that sound? I disagree with you. There's nothing to do with him, they weren't booing him. I don't agree with Novak Djokovic on many things, but I do know that he's not well-liked and that they don't booing him. I don't agree with Novak Djokovic on many things, but I do know that he's not well liked

and that they don't like him. And maybe they're booing, maybe they're wooing, but I think more than wooing is the support of Rue. More than that is like them wanting Novak to know they don't mess with him and he's fine with that, which I love, what's wrong with having villains in sports that are comfortable with it? He like played that role perfectly.

He like talked trash back to him and hit him with a snappy comeback. At what point in that match do you think he was like, you know what, I'ma hit him with after this one, I'ma hit him with that good night. He crushed him, to be fair. That's great. He took out his racket and played it like a violin

after winning a point towards the crowd. Outstanding. I want it to be the world's smallest violin that he played, but he played it on his racket. On his racket, across his shoulder, like a true maestro. Yeah, that's perfect. It's kind of shaped like a violin. But at what point in the match do you think he started,

I guess around the violin time, when he started thinking, oh, I'm gonna cook these losers, you can't touch me. That was awesome, I loved it. I love that he's acknowledging it. I do wonder though, whether he is also just caught in a perpetual hamster wheel of his own. Creation.

Of his own insecurity. So the thing about this, a lot of the Djokovic personality dislike was from when he wanted to be loved. When he tried to be funny and disingenuous and had this sort of a rod like persona. I'm coming to crash the party. I don't care about beating Federer Nadal, but I really want you to like me. The last couple years of like f*** it Novak has been far more interesting and authentic. Because he is never more dangerous as a tennis player, as this tennis mercenary coming to vanquish everyone than when the crowd is against him.

That said, I don't think they were booing him at Wimbledon. So, okay, I guess I hear what you're all saying. I would have booed his ass as long as he was like, y'all have been mistaken. I would have been like, Roo, get out of there. They're going to boo him now. Right, I would have booed him. For sure. So now when he plays his quarterfinal match or his semi-final, is he in the quarters?

Cause right now Alcares, your guy, is playing the quarters. But I- Uppa break. So Jokovic plays tomorrow in the quarters. He's gonna get booed. I think so, I guess my point is it doesn't matter whether they're saying Roo or Boo.

I think the sound that they're making is meant more for Novak than it is for Rue. Are you saying, I need to hear the Rues in the previous round. That's what we need to do here. If only there was an EP who could summon such video evidence. The Joker, you throw rocks at the crown

or at the throne, not from it. So just let it slide, Joker. You the Joker, like, yeah, I mean, let them Rue. I gotta admit, not from it. So just let it slide Joker. You the Joker. Like, I mean let him rule. I gotta admit I appreciate it. I now care about like his next match. I mean that's the story of Djokovic to me is the story of a guy who started off wanting to be liked then realized I'm never going to be liked and now I'm going to be somebody who engages with the public in a way that, look, I have rooted for trolls. Joellen Bede is a troll. But to be this good and also somebody who is taunting the crowd, it's a truly dangerous move that you can't really do unless you're one of the greatest players of all time. It's also the way he wins these matches against these people too. He makes

it death by a thousand paper cuts of torturing his opponents. Like Andy Roddick described Novak Djokovic as first he takes your legs then he takes your soul where he extends these matches over and over again. So you get to tennis fandoms interesting because it's for an individual person. Each of these top players has like a Kobe Stan type of fan base. And he gets to suck the life out of all of those fan bases point by point for five hours when he's playing like this. Are they combined as big as Ronaldo? Djokovic plus Federer plus Nadal.

They're better at their sport. In heart they are. I would imagine though that there is no more sport that is underrated when it comes to how hard it is to be good at it, than tennis. I think all professional sports are hard. Being around athletes, how could you agree with what he just said as a professional athlete?

Under, as in? So I think there are levels to the challenges in how difficult professional sports are. I think tennis is difficult in a way that some sports are not because I think tennis doesn't appear to require as much hand-eye coordination as it actually does. I think when you think about the spin of the ball and understanding how to... I think, well, Charlie's a really good tennis player. I think your brother was also a really great tennis player.

So I've learned a lot about tennis since I've started to work with Charlie and I can't do it. Like I can get to every ball. Do you play ping pong? Oh yeah, I would whoop you. I whooped his ass. I would whoop over you. Let's do it, get a table. I'm not sure that any of you would beat me at all.

But the spin that you do in ping pong, the slice, the topspin, so in theory you'd be able to do that in tennis. It's different with the bigger racket. No, I think David is encapsulating my point about why this is an underrated sport. I don't think we need to get into the details of how difficult particular sports are,

but I think because of our American perspective, tennis is not something that we care about nearly as much, and I don't think the way that their athleticism is demonstrated is not as loud, I would say, as like a 360 dunk or Randy Moss taking a ball off someone's back. But I do think, and Carlos Alcaraz is the reason why he's my favorite to watch, is when I watch his highlights, they don't look like tennis highlights to me.

They look like NFL combine highlights. I'm like, damn, who is that? That is crazy. And to that point, whenever TFO faced Alcaraz the other day, bro, TFO was, ugh, I'm like, damn, who is that? That is crazy. And to that point, whenever TFO faced Alcaraz the other day, bro, TFO was up, I'm like, mm, and when he was up a set or two, I'm like, ah, he asked Alcaraz though, and like you said, it's that mental game of it.

It's like, you mano-e-mano against that monster over there. Well, David and I might have been wrong here, because I'm looking at a highlight reel from Rune playing the previous match. And I have like I listened to like a 30 second clip of him winning points and you just hear cheering after you didn't hear a lot of I could play it. I don't know if it's going to be great audio, but you just hear a montage here where you hear afterwards a lot of cheering.

No, not a lot of ruining. No ruining there. Zero ruining. And then they're doing another one real fast here. They're hitting it back and forth. I think they just would have started to boo Djokovic now. You hear rune? No. Not a rune.

No. Not a lot of running. The reason they're doing it is because they have an excuse to boo Djokovic. It seems like the only thing that's been rune today actually has been your argument. Nice. I could have used like a nice sound. I want it to sit there. You know, like,

Howdy y'all, it's Mike. And since the dawn of mankind, we've cooked our food over an open flame and debated the best way to grill. One thing that is not up for debate, grilling and beer always go together. Even I know that, and I'm not the manliest American type, but I know that if I'm grilling out there, I need a Miller Lite in my hand. Why?

Because Miller Lite keeps it simple, undebatable quality, and it tastes as great as my barbecue. It's a beer that strips away everything that I don't need and holds on to what matters most, the light beer with the most taste. Less filling and only 96 calories. Nothing says summer like a Miller Lite. It's the original light beer since 1975 and a perfect companion for all grill masters or

wannabe grill masters across this great land. With a Miller Lite in your hand, grilling doesn't just taste great, tastes like Miller time. To get Miller Lite delivered right to your door, visit MillerLite.com slash Dan, or you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer. Celebrate responsibly, Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories per 12 ounces.