The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 1: The Meadowlark Hodgepodge

Episode Date: June 7, 2024

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To hear them in person, plan your trip at TNVacation.com. Tennessee sounds perfect. This is the Don LeBattor Show with the Stugats Podcast. Are we resigned to the idea that this argument is unsolvable? What's the argument though? The argument be... And so exactly, this is where I want to set the stage, right? The argument is that Caitlin Clarke is always going to be both a hero and a villain, both a David and a Goliath, both overhyped and underrated, both a heel and a face to use

wrestling terms, in a sport where she as as a white woman, is a minority group, while also being a majority outside of it, while at the same time, the majority inside this same sport is only now feeling what it's like when people start to give a s*** about what they do. Meaning that the appreciation they're even beginning to receive from the mainstream is being attributed to this person who is not them and in fact is defined in opposition to them in lots of demographic ways in actual broader society.

That to me feels like a real problem when it comes to how this is going to evolve. All right. I'm going to be your layman's translator here because you said a lot there. Basically you're saying is she overrated? Right? Kind of, right? I mean, it's what you're saying is obviously a lot more complex than that because when we say overrated, we're talking about, you know, her treatment on the court, her marketing

appeal, her responsibility for the league, all of these things are different debates, but they're kind of wrapped up into this broader, I guess, or this overarching umbrella. Is she getting too much credit, attention, treatment, all of it? Is it too much? Are we putting too much on her? And Pablo, I don't think it's going to be solved in so far as she is always going to get the benefit of being a white woman, being a straight woman, the things that come with the benefits in this country that come with that in terms of marketing dollars, promotion, etc. That is real. However, she also, I think, people who, there's people hear that and they say, but you're ignoring the fact that she also is getting those things mostly because she's

really, really good at entertaining. Yeah, I think in the long run, the things within the WNBA will resolve, excuse me, within the community of the WNBA. Will she cease to represent something to us who watch it? Never. Yeah. Maybe it'll change for different people, but she just happened to be this person at this time with this game in this country, in this sport that makes it so she and this happens to a lot of athletes. You come to represent more than just, I mean, a lot of people you come to represent more

than what you intend to represent. It's kind of the one of the trade offs of being a superstar like that. Not to say that it's right or wrong, but it's something that you can't change. That's the part of the story that's resonated with me the most, frankly. Like when she trends. Okay, so again, this is I'm really not trying to be solipsistic here, whatever. But this is, you know, we everybody is bringing their own experience clearly to the story. And it is why it's so emotional for so many people. For me personally, when I see her trending and people arguing about her and I see people like Clay Travis coming to her defense, I'm thinking, God, that sucks. And I've had the experience where, you know, when I guess various people have criticized

me or come at me for identity-based reasons, I've had people leap to my defense on the internet. And while they're my friends and I love them, I appreciate them, there is always a part me for identity based reasons. I've had people leap to my defense on the internet and while they're my friends and I love them, I appreciate them, there was always a part of me that's like, just, can we just not talk about it? I just want this to go away. I just want to do my job. And I, and I, so I see that and I think, oh my God, I like another day, another news like she just, it must be exhausting for her. And you know, my version is tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of what she's dealing with, but it must suck for her and for her teammates that they've become this stand in for culture wars and things that have nothing to do with them.

I am surprised by the degree to which culture war is all over this. It's that silence is tacit approval of her fans, who are people who are in this case, not her friends, but people who are trying to use her to make that point. Yeah. And so the question I guess I'm articulating here is, what responsibility do you have as a public figure to disavow the people who are crusading on your behalf? Right? Because silence is different from explicitly saying Dominique.

That's impossible because the tough thing about this situation is normally there is an entity or a sport or a movie or a celebrity that is already so big that most of the conversation is dominated by people who understand this entity. The unusual thing about this particular situation is most of the people talking about it do not understand it or not fans of it, do not have the history in it. And you can't just pretend like because there's a chance that when there is

something Kaepernick happens in football, There's a chance for a segment of the football public to go and talk about their only football, talk only about football in their corner, because it's so big. It's impossible. Like, the amount of people who have interest in this story and wanna engage in this story dwarfs the, like, actual, legitimate, pre-existing fan base. And so, like, I think we're fooling ourselves

if we are trying to imagine some way where she can possibly just ignore it, or we could just go play basketball, we could just let it go. Like, it just can't. And she hasn't spoken on it, which is a whole nother lane to go down. Well, I think it also... The dynamic is really, really tricky. And the I don't think she bears responsibility, Pablo, to speak out or whatnot.

And I don't like I said earlier, I don't envy the position she's in. But because of her approach, which is keep my head down, play basketball, occasionally just, you know, she when she she's asked about it, I think she gives the answers, you know, you would expect. Oh, she's very complimentary, by the way, to Angel Reese to all these players. She says the right things ostensibly on that level. I think and this is not her fault at all. It, unfortunately, feeds into the feeling of mistreatment because, so look, when people say the WNBA players hate her, that's clearly bullsh-t. They are painting with a broad brush and it is ridiculous.

However, you know, when you see Angela be celebrating after the foul, obviously there's, you know, some bad blood or rivalry there. And frankly, that's when people say there's no, no one dislikes her, then they feel gaslit when they see that because clearly there's something there, right? The problem is in typically in sports, like if you took that a player celebrating, let's say go to go back to your example, the WAA, let's say we saw Anthony Edwards celebrating if Luka Doncic was fouled, we'd be like, yeah, oh God god and because we know those guys are gonna like, you know, they're gonna be chippy and it's me fun It's trash talking. We love that in sports

But in this example, it feels one-sided in that regard because she's not punching back and she can't in a I don't I maybe she can I don't know but It's very, very tricky. And I think it only feeds into this issue of like this doesn't, like we want it to feel like normal sports rivalry and chippiness and all the things we love in sports. But because of the unique dynamic of this and because of what it means to all these people,

it can't feel that way. It's not, it doesn't feel that way right now. Right, and look, I think even the language Dominique about like, you know, punching back and all of that, like she does, I mean, you can go and find now a highlight reels of her doing her own hard fouls. Right? So I want to be clear about just the literalism versus what we're talking about here, which is how she is framing the story as a PR concern, which is when she's at a press conference, what she's saying. And I think about someone like Paige Becker, right? So like there are ways for a white player

to endear themselves to a broader demographic. In this case, the majority group, 60% of the WNBA is black women. Paige Becker goes out of her way to say, I acknowledge all the privilege that I get. And this is a real, I think, informed opinion that is based in truth for being a conventionally attractive white woman. With the light that I have now, as a white woman who leads a black led sport and celebrated here, I want to show a light on black women. They don't get the media coverage that they deserve. And what Caitlin Clark is seemingly doing is more trying to say, can we just play basketball? And she doesn't want to actually have to preemptively apologize. And I don't think

she has a responsibility to do that. What I'm really trying to think about is if you were trying to make this story go away, if you were working with Caitlin Clark, like what are the moves available at this point? Because all of it feels like it's rooted in also the internet, by the way, in which case good luck trying to isolate the variable that people are mad at. You can't. Like I can't even begin to tell you how to make this go away. Like you can't. And I think also mixed into this and as Mina said a couple of times, we bring all of our baggage to this, or not even baggage, our experiences and our understanding to this.

And while this goes back to your original point, Pablo, where she is a minority in her sport, she is a very, comes from a very privileged majority in this country. And the idea of a white woman falling down and calling for the authorities, it does not come off. Like there's a segment of society that's automatically going to be like, oh, here we go. Which is obviously, it's not something I'm saying is fair to her, but that's so deeply rooted and ingrained

in the history of this country that is completely like absurd for us to think that there is something that Caitlin Clark can do or say that's suddenly going to be like, Oh, okay, it's cool. Now let's just play basketball. Yeah, Mina, Mina, the other one more thought just to throw to you also is like, I find it incredibly frustrating and I guess unsurprising that like you also aren't really allowed to, I mean, even that phrasing is tricky, right? It feels like it is very easy now to confuse a criticism of an individual with you rooting against the group that they are representing as the Avatar. Right.

And so when it's like, hey, Angel Reese, I find what you do on the court to be Dreymon-like. And if I'm talking about Dreymon Green, I'm talking about someone who can all say plainly is unlikable. But because this is an Avatar for a group for whom that accusation is a larger problem, for reasons that are obvious when you go to the larger society that we inhabit, then it's like everybody

is feeling, I think, like they can't really say how they feel. And that's why everybody feels like they're gaslighting each other fundamentally online. I think that's a good example of how in this story the problem is all these actions by individual actors are being conflated with like a broader group feeling or sense, right? Like we should be able to say, hey, like, Angel Reese clearly doesn't like her. Without it being a statement about, you know, all black women or all WNBA players or all whatnot. Which again, like I said, to

me on his face is absurd. But I think there are people who are watching. So everybody who it's like what are they called that the rush amount right when you see everyone sees something different. So that moment, which is really what sparked all of this, it was already certainly simmering. But that moment, the Carter foul, Reese reaction, the non-common afterwards, both of them taking to social media, all of that, and then the reaction, and then people reacting to their reaction, that's the moment.

You can look at that, and if somebody says, and you can hear people say, the WMA does not have a problem with her, but then you look at that and be like, wait, no, I just, I'm seeing this, this is happening, it's happening, right? Okay. But then if somebody was to say, well, clearly, you know, this player does, people say, why are you saying the whole league does? I don't know. Like, I feel like I'm not articulating myself well. My point is everybody's looking at this like one incident and then like using it to paint

a broad brush in whatever direction they want to go with. In the same way that like, you know, when people say, oh, you know, she's, you say, Kaylen Clark gets the benefit of her identity from a marketing promotion standpoint. There people say, you're discount, by leading with that, you're discounting her skills as a basketball player. Yes. But then if you don't acknowledge it, people correctly will say, well, you're ignoring something that is just fundamentally true. I guess my point is like everybody is right.

And wrong. It's about this. Right. It seems perfectly calibrated to piss off everybody because there's so many things that are true at once. Exactly. If you're like me and you get that for you, Paige, it's not even just like here's the clip.

I'm saying I'm being fed outrage on both sides and whoever you are, if your consumption of that is not just the clip or whatever, or the entire game rather, but rather a tweet saying look at these thugs or conversely a tweet saying, oh, everybody's going to protect this thing. White girl, whatever. I, of course you're going to be inflamed. And I think that's the problem. That's one of the many problems with this story. That's already, as we've been talking about, calibrated to anger.

A lot of people is their consumption of it is through the lens of these extreme reactions, which are only stoking, like a lot of people are reacting to the reactions at this point and not the actual stuff that's happening. Sometimes with this stuff, I think about it like, imagine how we're going to look back on this and how what parts, what rough edges are we going to send off. And 20 years from now when the WNBA is handing out $100 million contracts, are we going to look back at this era and sand off some of the uglier points and say, like, Caitlyn Clark and Angel Reese won't let you forget

that she was a part of the college stuff, too. Caitlyn Clark and Angel Reese ushered in this tension that brought attention to the game. And then it made me think that, like, we often retell that story of Bird and Magic. We didn't have social media back then. I got a feeling that there were some racial undertones to why that became such a, like, exciting overtone. It wasn't just their style of play. I mean, yeah, overtones definitely.

We're all in overtones today. So we didn't have social media back then. But my guess is the tweets that we would get from the 60s and 70s would have been rough. And the funny thing is a couple of years ago, I went back and watched their college game that everyone talks about, point to... People point to those days and say, back when these guys didn't like each other, they played hard. So I went back and watched that college game

a couple years ago. And in the first couple of plays, Bird helps Maddic up. Maddic, like, puts his arm around him. And it's just like, we have recast that whole... Go back and watch it. You just got to watch the first quarter. And they're like lovey-dovey. And we have recast that whole, go back and watch it. You just got to watch the first quarter. And they're like lovey-dovey.

And we have recast that whole thing in a way that suits us. And I just imagine 20 years from now, we're going to recast this in a way, whatever the version of social media is then, we're going to recast this in a way that's, that like buffs away all this foolishness and writes this as a triumphant story of these two women

building up the league. Backstreet's back, alright! Since the dawn of mankind, we've cooked our food over an open flame and debated the best way to grill. One thing not up for debate, grilling and beer always go together. But not just any beer will do. Whether you barbecue, text in style, or just celebrate Wednesday with burgers and dogs, I love Miller Lite. Every single time my team plays on television, I am sitting behind that television screen with a Miller Lite or three. Miller Lite keeps

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You were in such good disguise and I didn't know it was you. It's me, a Celtics fan. This is the Dunn-Levatar Show with the Stu-gots. Welcome back to Oddball. I mean, we're in Boston. the Stugats. Welcome back to Oddball. I mean, we're in Boston. It's the finals. We got a lot to talk about, but there is something else we have to talk about it because it's in our contractually obligated contractually obligated contract.

There it is. Straight from the redundancy department. Yes, which of redundancy. Yeah. And it's actually under the LeBron category. It's a clause beneath it. It's the Lakers head coaching position Everyone's like oh, it's JJ Reddick's job. Well today comes out that as of this taping Dan Hurley the head coach of Yukon currently Is the has been the Lakers number one choice this whole time lot going on here. What's happening in this pea soup of?

News and pea is spelled P-E-A? You said it. Okay, okay so this is one of my favorite things is like oh what's going on we have these conflicting reports I'm like because this is a news don't get me wrong like whoever gets the Laker job that's gonna be interesting but like telling me who gets the Laker job that's gonna be interesting but like telling me who gets the Laker job right now does not material alter my life in any way over the next couple of months or whatever because in a world with no press releases and no press conferences and no newsbreakers we'd find out when oh when he's coaching the Lakers yeah Dan Hurley is the coach of the Lakers oh wow

he's at the training facility right so, like, oh, s***, Dan Hurley is the coach of the Lakers. Oh, wow, he's at the training facility. Right, so it's just like this rush to get something out there without confirmation. It's ridiculous. It's just an exercise in futility. But I do find it hilarious. In 2004, the Lakers interviewed Mike Trzeszewski, the great college coach, and he turned them down. And then in 2014, 10 years later, they interviewed Roy Williams, the great college coach. Roy Williams, they went after Roy?

They did, and he turned them down. I forgot about that. And so now here we are 10 years later, 2024, they're going after Dan Hurley, and it's like, every 10 years, Lakers get rejected by a great college coach. Yeah, the best coach, they go to him and they're like, you want to come here? And they're like, nah, I'm good. Also, I could see a world in which Danny Hurley is like nah I'm good because after when people were linking him to the Kentucky job after Cal left

he was like I just got my wife closer to New Jersey granted it's the Lakers I understand the lights are bright you kind of got to do it sort of be a ball and move to turn that down there are a lot of people though I mean whose feelings may be hurt by this and we need to hype them up. Do we? We are gonna do a hype me up because we haven't in a long time. Okay.

And I'm gonna start by hyping up podcasters. Because listen, JJ and LeBron have a podcast together. And even if, first of all, this isn't news yet. Danny Hurley doesn't have the job. Yeah. It could still be JJ's. And that means that you, who have a basketball podcast with 30 subscribers, there's hope for you, too.

Yeah. I mean, look, everyone in between, right? Like us, I guess. Bill Simmons, you know, all the guys. I could be the head coach of the Lakers. Zach Harper. Imagine Zach Harper, the coach of the Lakers. Wow. Imagine the movie clip. They chill before every game I'm I'll tell you I'm gonna hype up. I'm gonna hype up you confends I got a good friend Mike sure who is a you got vendors, but I'm fairly sure did not go to you con But that's all you can from Connecticut. Yeah, whatever. This is all we have in New England

I mean, but this idea that like you're living in this golden era of Connecticut basketball, and then it could be all dashed to dreams. Only way it could be better is if Dan Hurley gets the job and says, my lead assistant, Gina Ariema. Then my chair's world is crumbled. To be the Lakers head coach? Too many people I know would fall apart. Although if Danny Hurley left, could his brother Bobby Hurley, who is currently the coach of the Arizona State Sun Devils, what if he goes to UConn? I'm Bobby Hurley for a hype be of also.

Bobby. Dude is like. You're doing amazing, man. I played in the league. I was like, well, that's my brother. He's not even good enough to play in the league. I played in the league. Yeah, give Bobby Hurley the Lakers head coaching job.

Anyway. JJ, Reddick? JJ, you're doing amazing, man. Whether you're the head coach or not, your life is awesome. All right. So Charlotte, let me throw some at you. Okay. Okay. Because I think you're better at some of these than I am. Grant Williams. Grant

Williams, this is not about the Lakers job, but we're just going into general hype me ups now. Grant Williams played for the Celtics last season and played for the Mavericks this season. Both teams kind of said thanks, no thanks. And now here they are playing in the finals against each other. Hype up Grant Williams. Grant, my dude, listen, this is the you think they get there. Sorry, I'm going to do this in the straight face. You think they get there without you?

You are a key part of this. You were a key part of the Celtics team in 2022. And I was one that went to the finals. And when they got rid of you, I was like, I don't know, we need that dog. You also did instigate Jimmy Butler into having one of the best series ever, which was questionable decision. But listen, you were here, you were part of the team. You were also in Dallas until the trade deadline. So technically you could win a ring with Dallas. If Dallas decides to give Grant Williams a ring, Grant Williams gets a ring. Also, more important than all of this, you are a speaker at the Middle Tennessee High School Sports Awards coming up. And that's a big stage too. And people need to pay attention

to that. So Grant. Such a big stage that Charlotte had to check the copy. Like the Middle Tennessee. I just want to be sure I got it right. It's a lot of work. Well, we live in Tennessee, just middle Tennessee high. All right. Well, I mean, now it's your turn. You have to hype up Jabari Smith Jr. I didn't, I wasn't aware that he, the former very high draft pick currently with Houston,

I didn't know that this young man needed hyping up, but he asked, well, just what, take a look at this. What would you say to somebody going into their third year who hasn't really lived up to the expectation that has been set on him? What would you say to somebody going into that? How old are you? 21. 21. I've been in that situation.

Everybody else in the world that's your age that's 21 is still probably in school trying to figure out what they want to do in life. Aww, Jabari. Trying to figure out what they want to do in life Oh Chibari All right. So first of all, he asked that question like he's a camper There is a little the camera they got like we got Jason Tate come to camp today and he raises his hand like what would you Give to whatever and I was like Jason Tate thought Taylor I was in the same position no you weren't a 21 everyone was like oh my god this guy was clearly the best guy in his draft yeah

Out of control man like this is actually the hardest harshest criticism era of his career right yeah everything has been a smooth sales since then so like You buy with Jason Taylor. Hey wouldn't be me kid ha! And he'd drive off like in a Ferrari or something. I was also like, why is Jabari Smith in media availability? He's like a part of the NBA players correspondent. They always do this every year. But I was like, oh, okay. I like Jabari Smith, you know what I mean?

I like him as a player, I think he's a good kid. But man, like, get out of here, man. Asking them camp questions in media availability. I thought it was endearing and cute. Sure. All right. Well, that was a terrible hype me up. That wasn't a hype me up at all. You just hyped him down.

All right. But let's give me another shot. Give me another shot. Yeah, I'm gonna give you another shot. Matthew Kachuck, the Florida Panther, who I've heard a lot about because of our time on the Dan Levitard show. Look, he is from St. Louis,

and he should be the coolest guy from his high school right now. He's going to the Stanley Cup finals. He's playing in the Stanley Cup final. And the only problem is that Jason Tatum is also from his high school. No f**king way. Yes, here's evidence.

My name is Jason Tatum. And one reason I came to Chaminade was because of the sports, mainly basketball. Another reason why I came to Chaminade because of the great people and great fans like Graham Niemeyer, Jack Sponer. I love basketball. Another reason why I came to Chaminade because of the great people and great fans like Graham Niemeyer, Jack Sponer, I love basketball, Navelli and Matthew Kachuk. Okay that is that's crazy so I mean you have to hype up Matthew Kachuk the second coolest athlete from Comandi? Chaminade? Chaminade. Chaminade. Chamonix. Chamonix.

Exactly as I said. Preparatory school. And Comandi, you came and you played in the Stanley, but the NBA finals is bigger and better. Oh, man. You thought, you walking around in Miami and everyone's like, yeah, you go ahead. In Miami, he's fine,

because everybody hates Boston anyway. So there's no problem there But when you go home ain't nobody talking about this They'll talk about the NBA finals because the NBA finals is what matters You know what I want to be Jason Taylor again in my Ferrari say oh by the way like you pull up and Reverse come back to Maddie Kentucky and to you oh Have fun being like the other day games or whatever, and just peel off, man. Dude, what are you doing? You're not hyping anybody up.

I'm hyping myself up right now. I'm hyped. This is a disaster of a segment. Look, I hope the Florida Panthers win the Stanley Cup. Yeah, aren't you a Panthers fan? Big time Panthers fan. Big time Panthers fan. But I'll be honest.

All of three minutes. I'm a bigger fan of Chaminade basketball, not hockey. I like Chaminade. So, Oh, commandee. Um, all right. Well now I'm going to hype someone up because you're so bad at this.

Okay. Who is it? Joe Masula. Oh, did you hear what he had to say? You know, like his, his media availability has been incredible. Performance every day, day after day after day. This is the latest one he had. Okay.

Staying in the moment, doing the things, the same things that go into winning from before. How do you do that now with the brightness of the lights, the bigger stage and all this extra stuff? Yeah, I mean, unless they change the light bulbs in the arenas, there won't be any brighter than they were in the last series. All right, Charlie, you gotta hype up the guy who has to change the light bulbs in the arenas, there won't be any brighter than they were in the last series. All right, so you got to hype up the guy who has to change the light bulbs in the arena.

OK, OK, OK. I'm going to go out on a limb and say your names like Sully. Sully, my dude. Listen, if you did change the lights in the arena, I'm asking you on behalf of everyone in Boston. Don't tell Joe Mazzullo. Let him think. Let him have his whole mentality if it's just another game, it's just another possession. Let Jason Tatum be like, as long as we box out and do fundamentals and blah, and Jaylen Brown, just let him keep being like, you know, it's a, it's just one other game. Let them keep thinking that. If you

change those bulbs, no, you didn't. And also Joe Mazzullo, you beautiful weirdo, how do you keep doing it? How do you one up yourself every single time you get up to that press podium? I can't wait to see you in that interview room. You better win every game, that's all I gotta say. That's how you do it, I mean. Okay, well, speaking of bright lights,

I'm gonna give you one other chance, I don't know why. Luca was asked about the pressure he faces of playing in the finals, and he said that he's faced tough crowds before here's what he said Is there one game or one place in particular in your whole career NBA international? That was the most rowdy environment that you can remember. What was the craziest? Yeah, it was Remembered it was quarterfinals of yearly against Panathinaikos against Panathinaikos. In Panathinaikos, the crowd went crazy and we started, they started winning 20-0. So imagine that.

If you're surprised by that answer, it means you have never seen European basketball look at what it's like there. Yeah. I mean, this is no joke This this is what we call American exceptionalism where we think like we have the best of everything including fans. Nope Don't even measure up you tell me to tell me that Murph and O'Shaughnessy over here drunk off their asses could compete with what we just saw on that screen right there Well now you have to hype up Murph and O'Shaughnessy Who Luca doesn't think are as scary as European fans.

They're not. You know what? Murph and O'Shaughnessy, you don't have to be scary. You just have to be loud and not leave early like you did last time I was here. This has been the worst hype me up. I mean, I've done an amazing job. You have been absolutely horrible. If you want to feel better, don't come to me in Alhassan. Charlotte was the one that was sh-t on you guys. Charlotte and Donnie Wahlberg. I wasn't. I was just saying, stick around. Stick around, Boston fans. Don't leave.

If you leave early at the finals, I will hunt down each and every single one of you and give you a wedgie. You know where they don't leave early? Don't... I don't... Panathinaikos. Whatever. The ma-sh-tals were there all game long. We'll talk to you tomorrow.

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He started yammering about don't you hate the phrase controlling your own destiny destiny can't be controlled right? oxymoron Stugats, I fully thought you were to go in with take the oxy out of it. That's what you are. I Didn't say it. I'm saying that's oh I love you. You didn't say I love you back. You're mad at me. Put it on the polgier mode. Does Stu God's throw out I love you's only to get I love you's back.

Greg, I love you. I love you. OK. Feel better. This is the Don LeBattar show with the Stu God's. Game one. That's the nothing personal word of the day. I have five choices today. We have plenty to talk about and I just have to start. The NBA final started.

Adam Silver spoke to the media. Can't wait to talk to you about that. The Yankees have an injury problem, so does MLB. Baseball's in London, quite exciting. And all of it pales in comparison to what happened to me in a conversation with Koke yesterday. And I'm excited, it's Friday. In the next 49 minutes, we'll get to it all. Let's start with the NBA game. Finally, there was a game. Quite exciting to watch Stephen A. Smith walk in

with security strutting in to get a total of 30 seconds of half-time attention. The real story should have been on the court. Love what they did with Bill Walton. I'm watching the game and all I keep thinking as I'm watching Boston Dallas, in addition to what our pick was, which was Southlake six and a half over Mavericks, which hit. I was thinking when you play a seven game series,

when you lose game one and you're on the road, you're good. The players do not take that loss. Not even one minute into the shower. The winning team takes that win as though, okay, that's normal. And then they've moved on to the two days off. What we have to do in media, I'm not going to do it, but what others will have to do is say, well, what does this tell you about the series?

What does this mean going forward? What changes did you see now that you've watched one game? Everything that we said about the NBA finals, Luca is the best offensive player on the court. Tatum and Brown versus Irving and Luca cancel each other out. And then what's going to happen with the supporting side? And then hello, poor Zingas. And there you go.

One game. I think the focus on it should have been more maybe on Doris Burke. First time a woman has ever been an analyst for a championship series game. She's amazing. She's been doing it forever. So well-deserving. It absolutely annoys me that it's even worthy of note. But here we are, I guess progress always has to get noted for it not to get noted. So hopefully that's the end of it being noted.

How about the NBA releasing? Can I bring you inside a conversation that we have during jewel events in baseball? We work with the network, which is Fox. And Fox flies in stars of its shows, its shoulder programming shows, not baseball related. Like if there's a sitcom on Fox or if there's a drama on Fox, and they go to baseball games, and then they get sit in areas, the camera people know where they are.

And then as part of the broadcast, there's certain times when you pan to the star. The Knicks do that, which we've talked about with celebrity row, where there's a whole big McGilley about who sits where, who pays for what and what the Knicks ask for in return. It is the same thing during the world series. The NBA finals was last night and we got Donnie Wahlberg and Mark Wahlberg. Now, Mark Wahlberg, who doesn't love Mark Wahlberg, but I was struck by the lack of stars and the list given by the NBA.

You should check it out if you can find it. It's quite funny. It had a lot of football players. Jeffrey Lurie, not the former owner of the Marlins, but the current owner of the Eagles, he was on the list submitted by the NBA. And the cameras, I watched the whole game, Coca. I'm pretty sure the only time they panned to anybody

was once to Mark Wahlberg. I may have missed something while I was distracted by talking on the phone or putting the show together with Coca and Sara, but I don't know. I was struck by that. I was struck by Jimmy Butler too. If you're a Miami fan, you're excited that he's on a commercial. Are you excited about a Jimmy Butler commercial with bad boys or was that only shown in Miami? Can't be. I watched it from New York. Cut that. That was ridiculous. It's Friday. Hi, I'm David Samps. 4-8-69. Jimmy Butler got nationwide attention by appearing in ads with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. And it made me long where the McDonald's ads with Larry and Michael.

So that was game one. There'll be a game to South Xerop one. Nothing. The real story for me happened before the game even started. Commissioners have to meet the media, go listen to yesterday's show. And I didn't have a list of Q&A. I was not in the room. I have no connection with any of the media members.

I just know that commissioners before game ones meet the media or an NFL before the Super Bowl. You get prepped. There are people in the PR department. You come up with a written Q&A. You rehearse it literally on a podium with a microphone. Sometimes you just do it behind your desk drawer. You go through what you know the questions are going to be. Adam Silver was ready for every single question as though it were scripted. Adam Silver did not pause, did not hesitate. His answers were spot on perfect. His only one mistake, which is amazing when you speak for 35 minutes, when he said net,

when he said Netscape instead of Netflix, who cares? But let's go through some subjects really interested me and you. What would be the number one thing that you'd want to hear Adam talk about? Would it be Caitlin Clark or would it be the media deals and Charles Barkley? I would think that people would not expect Adam Silver to talk about Caitlin Clark,

but he certainly was ready when asked and he said it's a welcome to the league moment. And he said, it's a welcome to the league moment. People may not realize that the WNBA is owned by the NBA or that the WNBA was started by the NBA 28 years ago, or that Adam Silver was part of that starting of the league when he worked for David Stern, or that they have a huge vested interest. The NBA does in having the WNBA be successful and him telling everybody, welcome to the league for Caitlin Clark. However, it would be silly of us not to acknowledge that race is a factor in all of the discourse surrounding this event. And he had a perfectly logical and intelligent explanation and intelligent explanation where he simply said,

he believes in Caitlin Clark to protect herself. He believes in the league to work itself out through these rookie issues. But he also understands that all of the noise, because man, there's so much noise, he recognizes that's a part and he looks forward to it. Noppy. Doesn't that make sense? Sounds like what we all would wish.

Wouldn't it, wouldn't it be great if race were not what it is where it's just full of people who are racist. Then he got into the media deals. Let's talk about the media deals. Do we have some sound from Adam Silver on that, that we can examine? Complicated for several reasons. One is the advent of new platforms, particularly streaming and the interest of streaming companies and in the traditional media companies of also carrying our games on streaming platforms.

It's complicated because with multiple partners, all seeking similar assets in many cases, just figuring out the right way to balance those games as they go to different partners. And then lastly, as you said, we tend to do long-term deals. We think that's good for the stability of the league, but it means to a certain extent you're trying to predict the future, which is, of course, impossible.

So part of it is a bet on the partners that we will ultimately align with and that their ability also to adjust with the times and their willingness to continue to invest in media and also become global, which to my earlier point is very important to the league as well. I wanna start right there at the end about being global. He was answering a question when asked about what's happening with the TV deal and he was

going through it saying there's no deal done. He talked about his head of media rights who was in the front row. He said literally working around the clock. Not ask anyone talking in front of the public to say, literally working around the clock, because of course, that man is literally not working around the clock. But I digress. When asked about the different deals, he said, I can't comment. When asked about the matching right that we've covered so often on the sporting class and

on this show, where Turner may not lose its rights. Turner may get a small fourth package after NBC and Amazon and ABC Disney. He said, Oh, I can't talk about match. It's a complicated legal process. That was a planned answer. Side note, not complicated. A right to match is a right to match. You can litigate it, arbitrate it, mediate it.

When the person who has the right to match says, you presented me something I literally cannot match, to which the NBA says, that was our point. Sorry, Turner, you can't be on over the air and as global as NBC and Peacock. You just can't do it. That sentence at the end of that sound was totally purposeful. Talking about and becoming global, which is very important to the league.

Does that sound familiar to MLB wanting to get London to the NFL? Wanting all these international games? What Adam Silver is preparing everybody for is that everything you've heard about the NBA media rights is exactly what's going to happen, but there's not going to be an announcement till after the NBA finals. Charles Barkley can whine, complain and wish he had more information all he wants. Employees are not owed any explanation of what the company is doing.

It's nice to have it. You want to be communicated with. You feel like you're in the dark. I get it. But there is zero reason in this world with all of social media, with all leaking, if you have to inform your employees of what you're doing strategically, you are actually hurting those employees. Adam Silver apologized to the Turner employees for the uncertainty.

That's very nice of him. And I don't want to come off too hard here. Although, Coca can cut it so that I do, and I'm going to give him the chance to. What exactly is Adam Silver apologizing for? For the fact that there are people who work behind the scenes, have you ever seen any company where there are layoffs or any company where they lose a partner or lose a deal? How about people at, oh, this would have been so good. What's the name of the auto part company and Tommy boy when they lose the business with Dan Ackroyd. I can't even. Is this really happening to me? God damn it. What about those employees and that's a small family-owned business. They were despondent and got together.

It's somebody auto parts, Coca. You're not gonna know it. It's from an old Cali. Yes, that's Dan Aykroyd, when Callahan, Callahan, or Callahan. Hold on, we'll do that again. That was funny. I'm actually being serious about what employees need to know and what they don't need to know, and how by Adam Silver acknowledging that he's sad for the Turner employees,

according to David Zasloff, layoffs would not be coming if they lose the NBA because they've replaced it with some CFP. They've got NBA and NHL playoffs. They've got a major league baseball. They've got these racing car racing. So there may be a movement from what you're working on. Or did you think about the fact that if inside the NBA goes to a new network like an NBC, NBC won't be able to take all of its existing people. They're going

to need more people. Or do we just realize that in life there is reallocation of assets every single day in every single company? Some people get laid off, some people get promoted, some people get reassigned, some people get retrained. It is exactly normal. Oh, it's been going on forever in every single industry. Now, I appreciate we live in a time where we have to take care of our employees and we have to be more aware of everybody's feelings. And we have to take that into account when we're at least forward-facing in our decision-making. But in the boardroom, whether it's sports or media or your local ladder company, customers, employees, none of you, none of us are ever brought up in the conversation. Let's do what's best for all the employees who are working behind the scenes on Inside

the NBA. Yeah, that came up a lot during the negotiation. Let's take care of all the people who won't have access to premium streaming services. Yeah, that came up a lot during the negotiation. You think that Roger Goodell, Adam Silver, Rob Manfred, you think they care about your access? No. They are getting the most money they can for their owners so their teams increase in value

and they get extensions and bonuses. And God love them. That's how they should be acting. It is not their responsibility to look out for everybody else and their level of ability to get streaming services. I'm sorry. Not sorry. What about expansion? That was a good one. Adam Silver took a statement directly from the commissioner's playbook on how to talk about expansion. You have to say it's not a done deal. You have to say you're just examining it. You're studying it. You're going to commission a study and you're going to

appoint a committee. Everybody does that. Then you have to talk about we're very aware of dilution. We got to be very, very careful. Very aware. And then in the back of your head, you're thinking, all right, you know, you want to go to Vegas, you know, that Seattle is Jones in for a team after having lost the supersonics to OKC. Dear communities, don't lose your teams because you'll spend four times as much trying to get them back.

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