The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 1: The Old Dogs (feat. Matthew Berry and ******* *****)

Episode Date: October 24, 2025

"Life uh-uh-uh finds a way." There are two killer guests in this hour, or at least there are supposed to be. Amin and Tony bring you through the unreal night in the NBA, Jeremy is excited about the World Series, and can Shohei Ohtani and Victor Wembanyama merge the two worlds? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

That's annoying. What? You're a muffler. You don't hear it? Oh, I don't even notice it. I usually drown it out with the radio. How's this? Oh, yeah.

Way better. Save on insurance by switching to Bel Air Direct and use the money to fix your car. Bell Air Direct, insurance, simplified. Conditions apply. This is the Dan Levitard show with the Stucats podcast. This episode of the Dan Levitard show was presented by Draft Kings. Draft Kings, the crown is yours.

You sound like that hurt. Hell yeah. Sports are bursting right now. World Series tonight. Basketball last night was nuts. Just totally crazy deep into the night. There's too much sports to get to. Not enough time, but we start with the cyclones because I've been wanting to get to the cyclones all week,

and I keep getting knocked off the cyclones, and you will not knock me off the cyclones anymore. We had incredible basketball last night. Dan, me and Amin are doing our own show up. Steph Curry is back. AJ Mitchell for the Thunder Good. I wish that right now we had just Tony and Amine going live. 20 minutes after bananas last night. We're not there yet. The World Series is tonight. I know.

We just got to Damashek is going to do the fourth hour on a Friday. We'll get there. Please get me. I don't think that's accurate, but... That's happening either. But still, check out football, America. Mirka. Cyclones. Top of the table, cyclones. You know, gritty team is here. We led by the Undataka, great draft pick. Led by Monument. No, that's how we plays. and that photo of El Barba grabbing his lower back El Barba not even on our roster

No, that's when our injury replacement got hurt and needed an injury replacement We have not gotten nearly enough Mike forfeited a game the other day At the top of the table Mike to protect Are those dreads?

Yeah, he dreaded his bearded his beard You can see the heart though Yeah, you could You could because it's in flame I can see his gut Seconds later, he got a therogun to the lower back and was replaced by an active jigolo. Your dad?

The Magic City for Anton. We put the magic in Magic City. But we are top of the table. We are coming off a tough loss. The fixture list has been tough. Mike, you've been with this team through thick and thin. Chris doesn't show up to the games anymore. It's the owner.

Mike, you wasn't there when I was fighting with Wunda in the locker room. You were in the locker room fighting your star player and forfeiting a game. Boss, I need to play. Chris was nowhere to be found. Yeah, that's fair. But that was my job that day, as GM. I was allowed to forfeit the final match because we had the game in hand. Then I tried to do the same exact move because Manu's got a groin,

a mighty great groin, that is. And I wasn't allowed to do at that time. And Hiro had to go in there. Hiro, great draft pick. Look, we're going to have a say when it comes to the Battle Court Fall Championship. And that's all we wanted. Now, I'm not thrilled losing one to the renegades. That's tough.

That means Eudanis has a banter advantage over us. I don't like that. Is he showing up? He shows up to the games. He shows up. He's a serious owner. No, he loves. He loves Spelota. He doesn't show up in every game.

No, he left a little early this time because we were that dominant. He's the owner of a team and he's proud of it. He's a Miami economy. He's a Miami business and this is one of his teams. Yeah, but we got to talk and I'm like, you know, I got a very difficult thing. Bueno hasn't played a single match for us. He's out for the season. It's no Bueno, Dan.

But Robin came in as a tax. He better get a ring if we win. Yeah. No, point no, I mean, he's still there fighting. No, I mean, Robin should. Oh, Robin will absolutely if we win. Man, if we win. I will, there's only one championship and that's what the Miami football hurricane.

I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed last time I was there, Ray Lewis and Eudonis Haslam wiped the floor with our team, with Metal Arc's team. In a championship finale, that's the last time I was there. I'm a frontrunner. Well, Ray Lewis was just there for fun. That wasn't even his team. He loves Spolota that much.

He's scouting. When's the next game? The next Friday game, I think, is in two Fridays. Correct me if I'm wrong. I think it's in two Fridays. We have two in November. Yeah, the Fronon is electric. You should have Damashek there to wear somebody out talking about 90s Pirates baseball.

That guy's hot breath. That was so funny. And Mike was like, just say the name and watch him go. I've got to salute him on. He literally pulled the Tom Barrasso. photo and that was unreal and then started going the thought we planned it uh croqueta he says it very well david sampson does not correcta no no no correcta yeah correcta lived here 20 25 years president of the marlins in the middle of little havana correct was going to be making it a

booming Hispanic economy correcta there's just a pharmacy there in a 7-11 now correcta the same I want to get to the basketball, but I think I have to punish, I mean, for hitting me with a Ron Borges in the last segment. It sent me reeling and was not being a good teammate after he has worked very hard the last couple of days, flying between Miami and New York to be serious journalist guy next to Pablo during a federal investigation. I heard Colorado Avalanche, and I thought about who was on that team. I remembered Adam Foot, right? He was on that team, right? I remembered a couple of other names, and then I said, oh, yeah, that's right.

Ron Borges played there, right? After they left Boston? No? Ray Bork is going to sting with me for a long time. I felt that one. I mean, sit with you? I called, no. It'll sting.

It'll sting with you for a while. Don't seize on him just because you're insecure. You can say 88's June 127, dog. Before we get to the basketball, though, please get, because I don't want to just skip past, the greatest player there's ever been in soccer. And we talk about a time of greatness. LeBron, Shohei Otani, Messi re-signing in Miami.

I don't want to just skip over it. And they handled the optics on it beautifully because they packaged him correctly with a commercial that's moving, with good marketing. Right. You guys haven't seen this. So I'll give play-by-play because this is largely video. So let's go ahead and play it right now.

But the club formally announced Lienel Messi's extension. It seems as oh, Messi will indeed finish his career within her Miami, which is just a wild statement. This is arguably the greatest player ever. So it starts with Messi sitting down in an office. Dramatically. Dramatically reading the contract, presumably for the first time. I assume this is what he's going over all the details. This is how he does business. This is how goats operate, folks. He puts pen to paper on this table, and he's about to look at the camera, very pleased with himself because he signed his famous signature on it. He looked

straight to the camera and then boom! We revealed that it wasn't an office! It was all a facade. It was just a curtain behind him. A drone shot pulls back the new stadium that he will unveil as an inner Miami player. He is sitting in the middle of it.

That's where he signed the contract at Freedom Park. Can I ask a question? Are you guys not in the least bit concerned that in a city where every construction project takes decades, it feels like, to complete. This will be a miracle. This stadium is up this fast.

Every time I land, it's a little bit more, or it's a lot more completed. And I'm like, I don't like this. Well, that's what the owner does for a living. And if you thought this was fast, you should have seen how fast their stadium up in Fort Lauderdale came together at Lockhart, because that was crazy. Okay, if you're not familiar with what our swamp land is and how many developers have gotten away with building quickly here, you know, with varying degrees of safety. Do you realize the wonderful grift that the city of Miami, which is just sort of a way

station between small Latin American countries and whatever the real America is becoming now? That stadium being built that fast in our city has to be one of the greatest miracles I've ever seen in construction in this town filled with scam and everything else and messy built it and messy will get to building a stadium near the airport and getting soccer to Miami he built it here he built it off of whatever the apple arrangement was he's going to get to a stadium built near the airport when we can't build on anything we've got no more room to put anything anywhere up anywhere except up that right there is going to be the stadium that becomes whatever ross's stadium is worth it's what to the Dolphins, $10 billion, whatever Jerry's stadium is worth to him,

they got it to the stadium in this town. That's a miracle. Our developers don't work that fast. Our construction people do not show up on time. Except for across the street. Second question. Is this going to make airport traffic worse? Can't be safer.

I've been to Sofi stadium and you look directly up and you're like, oh my God, that is an entire airplane that I see the silhouette of. right over me. It can't be safer. Those kinds of lights around airplanes can't be argued as safer. In a weird way, Mike, I trust L-A-X more? And that's saying a lot. L-A-X is one of my least- So-Fi is much bigger than this stadium. Raymond James is also near an airport. There's a lot of stadiums that are near airports. Trust me, if you've sat in So-Fi Stadium and you hear a just a gigantic buzz overhead, you are shocked at how low those planes are over so- Before we get to last night's basketball, because it really was majestic, and Eduardo Perez will be here to talk about the World Series, which also promises to be pretty great internationally.

Jeremy, I felt for you today that baseball can't make the show with this World Series. The greatest athlete who's ever lived is about to play in a back-to-back world series. He's going to start on the mound in game three or four. It's unbelievable, and we don't care. So Wembe is going to be in the World Series? El Marba? He had three homers. Or like a pancita.

He's seven and lying about it. He is amazing. We are watching, I mean, because Wembe, everyone is now saying after one game, oh yes, MVP, watch out, he's going to take over the league. That's not fair. You're going to tell you my favorite thing. But I did not see this coming. I got hit like a ton of bricks.

Going on Twitter after game one of Wemby being amazing. seeing all the highlights and everyone like, oh my God, he's incredible. This is a goat in the making, da-da-da. And seeing LeBron fans say, oh, look at them going crazy after one game. He wouldn't last a second in this era. And it was a highlight of LeBron, like,

getting fouled by Danny Granger. I was like, oh, my God. It's finally happened. Like the LeBron fans have now gone through the other side of the looking glass and have become the guys who are old and saying this young guy wouldn't survive an hour time. Can you and Tony give me the best of what you got? on basketball last night. Five minutes is it

enough time. So last night we had two great games. Obviously the rematch of the finals yesterday between the Thunder and the Pacers Sands Halliburton but a lot of the Pacer guy stepped up. You want to start there really quick I mean? Yeah, you know what man? Like a lot of people rode off the Pacers like all their season's done. They've just got to wait until next year and

they're competitive man. They're scrappy as hell, man. But OKC playing two double overtime games and it wasn't even the most fun from last night. And Tony Fears Houston because everyone they have is... I'm very intrigued by the Houston Rockets. Before we move off of this game, I also want to shout out.

Tony, we're talking about it in The Secret Show, right? AJ Mitchell. Wow. We ever played last year as a rookie this year? Two games? The guy's balling. And that's what they needed, right? They needed another guy that can control the ball, control the pace of the game.

You can't just put everything on SGA shoulders even though... Especially without J. Dub out there. Exactly. Not with the wrist injury. Exactly. But looking at the pacer's side of it, Benedict Matherin. Benedict Matherin. Good.

Are you guys just making up names? No. Are you guys testing us to see if we've really been paying attention? Well, that guy played in the finals, right? He had a game. You guys are going to dork out on basketball. This is unfortunate. Hold on.

Teacher McCollum didn't we play either. I want to give Mike the name. Mike, you may not know this name, but I'm guarantee you're going to know Johnny Furphy. That's fake. No, no, that was fake. They're going to get us, Mike, eventually. He's white. And he's white.

Well, it sounds white, but. And you know what Johnny Furphy does better than anything, Mike? He's a fake player. He dunks on people. Hard. What does Benedict Matherin sound like to you? Well, I know he's black. Happen to know.

I saw one game. But Furphy? Where did Furphy go to school? Sounds like a Harry Potter character. Where did Furphy go to school? Let's check it out. He's a second-year player. I'll tell you what, in Summer League, he dunked on this Bulls rookie Noah Senye.

And that was like the highlight of Summer League because he dunked on him so hard. The face that poor Noah made, it was just like, oh. Play to Kansas. Oh, there you go. Johnny Furphy from Kansas. Man, it's real. Johnny Furphy, man. Don't take a look at him.

But. Put on the poll at Lebitard show. Does Benedict Matherin sound like a Harry Potter character? But, Tony, I wanted to talk about the second game. The second game is crazy. First of all, Aaron Gordon. 10 for 11 from 3. From 3?

Yes. Yeah, 50. He's the guy that dunks. Aaron Gordon, I described him as the guy who dunks just takes alley-oops. 10 of 11 from 3, and yes, he had 50, and he wasn't the story last night. No, the story was one. Wardell, Stephan Curry, the second. The old dog still got it.

I remember Dan was like, the old guys are just going to move on and we got new guys. And I'm like, man, let me tell you something about these old dogs. Because Steph Curry last night turned in the type of performance, Dan, that, like, if it weren't on late East Coast time, everybody would be talking about. I mean, so this is mastery of the highest order. when we talk about the greats we're watching. LeBron's giving his league over. Otani's amazing. I don't know.

Who's better? McDavid or Mahomes. Like, we're talking about the greatest mastery. In shooting, there's never been this. He's an unprecedented player. In a sport where everyone argues everything. Who's the best player ever? Who's the best power for it ever?

The one constant is like everyone knows. Okay, but also Olympic hero and how does he make it from there? And also last night puts them to sleep when he's, He's here still to remind you, don't forget about us because we can be better than even Aaron Gordon on his best night. Down three with seconds to go on regulation. He hits what me and Tony talked about. That's a bad shot.

For anybody else. That's a bad attempt. What are you doing? With Steph Curry, it's not even a no, no, no. Yes, it's a, oh, yeah, this one's good. He hits the shot and everyone's focused on the dirating, hip thrusting celebration that he did at the baseline. that's what kept getting rerun on all the shows this morning.

My part of celebration, I love the most is he hits the three-point. He looks at the Nuggets Benton. He says, call that timeout. Call that time out. He demanded them to call timeout. That's ballsy, man. And he's, what, 37? Dog, he's getting better.

He's getting better. He's aging like fine wine. But he looks like he's running out there like he's 26 years old. It can't be getting better. He's got gray hair now. I talked to his trainer. It can't be getting better. The trainer says he's better now.

There's no such thing as better. Yeah. Physically. Did you talk to his trainer? You didn't talk to his trainer. I happened to know. I happened to know. Yeah, clear out.

Happen to know. You happen to know. He happens to know. Great Scott. He happens to know. He happens. Don't wave those fingers in me. Gather everyone.

Get the children. He happens to know. So wise. All your favorite NBA players are back. In draft King's Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA is D. Place the bet on NBA stars this season. New customers, download the Draft King Sportsbook app now use code Dan.

That's code D-A-N to bet five bucks and get three months of NBA League pass plus get $300 in bonus bets if your bet wins. In partnership with Draft Kings, the crown is yours. Gambling problem, call 1-800 Gambler. In New York, call 877-8-Hope-N-Y or text Hope-N-Y-4-669. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. called 888-88-889-777 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly.

On behalf of Boothill Casinoin Resort in Kansas, pass-through of per-wager tax may apply in Illinois. 21 and over. Agent eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Restrictions apply. Bet must win to receive bonus bets which expire in seven days. Minimum odds required.

NBA League Pass auto renews until canceled. Additional terms at DKNG.g.com slash audio. Limited time offer. Howdy listeners? It's Mike Ryan and Chris Cody. Hey, everyone. Hey, Chris. We love hanging out.

so much you were at my birthday the other day you're old you know what i saw in your hand what a can of miller oh whether it's a can whether it's a bottle a draft pour of miller light uh the draft pour you see that beautiful iconic color right away the ice coldness to it oh she's so good yes chris the ice coldness to it oh whether you're hanging out with me on my birthday because i'm old or you're at a game you know that miller light just makes every special time a miller time That's how you make the special times by making them Miller Times. Game Day just hits different with Miller Light in your hand. Hitting different.

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Miller Light, great taste, 96 calories. Go to Miller Lite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller light pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.

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Bud Black Chad OJ Julian Tavares Paul Asenmacher Alan Embry Jeremy thinking he's whispering sweet nothings to me is whispering right before we start. Do you know that the Dodgers have the top three K-per-9 inning guys in the history of big league baseball going in? It's not even including Yamamoto, who's actually their ace.

That's right. It's crazy. It is. It's a very good staff. I'm going to be locked in tonight, Dan. You know I'm a big Dodgers guy. Big Dodgers guy. Will you open your MMA hangout on Saturday by talking about the World Series?

I might. Maybe you should do some sports show that is not just MMA. Maybe you should invite Jeremy to yammer about baseball over there to pollute your MMA audience. What are you doing tomorrow? He's not. What do you mean? He said he might. I don't believe him.

I might. He might. Depending on what Jeremy's doing. He might. He might. He might. He might. UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi.

It's an early start time for the M.A hangout. 2 p.m. Start time Eastern. Two to five, we'll be hanging out. You're going to be in that seat. You're going to be in the studio. Right there. Literally sitting where you're sitting, the exact seat.

Live programming opposite MMA. This is a card that you're going to want to watch. And if you don't watch it, you're going to want to watch Tony watch it. Because we got big, meaty men slapping some meat in this main event. It's the heavyweight championship of the world. Title on the line, Tom Aspinall versus Cyril Gone. And Mike found out Cyril Gone. Doug, I saw the video from this.

This photo does not do it justice. Cyril Gone is. His name should be Cyril Gaines because this dude is in impeccable shape. He's plus 300 in a fight. He looks like Miles Garrett, basically. He looks incredible. I can't wait to watch these big meaty men. It's going to be a massive fight, so we've got that going on for the main event.

UFC 321 M.M.A Hangout, presented by Boots Mobile start time, 2 p.m. in the Lord's time zone. Aspinol is that good? Aspinall is the best heavyweight over the guy on the right. I'm telling you, Tom Aspinall is the best heavyweight of all time in a couple of years. But did you see the body? Yes. Mike, I appreciate you doing that on behalf of selling a fight. The idea of we've been watching fights throughout time where one guy is all jacked up and the other guy is just simply better.

And it doesn't matter. Stronger, faster. Yeah. I mean, look at this guy. This guy is plus 300. The picture didn't give him justice. No. This guy is massive.

Holy shit. Wow. Big underdog. Yeah, but the chin, though. That's the issue. You know, just chiseled everywhere and the chin. Yeah. Okay, so everything you're doing here, it's just leering at men is all that we're doing.

Thank you. Welcome to the app and some meat. All right, let's bring in Matthew Barry. Give them as much fantasy information as you can. There's also a whole lot of good betting advice in here I realized last time he was talking. Yeah, me too. Matthew Barry. Matthew Barry.

Matthew Barry. Matthew Barry. So let me get my pen. I've got to write some of this down because there's some good betting information here. All the Stevenson to score, that cashed. All right, there we go. A, Dan, of the seven quarterbacks

that face the Dallas Cowboys this year, five of them have scored at least 24 fantasy points. They're not only allowed the most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks, it's three more points than any other team in the NFL. So far this year, by the way, Bo Nix, their opponent this week, is fifth in pass attempts per game.

In four games as a starter this year, Jackson Dart has 35 percent. of the giant's rushing attempts in the red zone. When they get in close, they use Jackson Dart more than you think he has at least one rushing touchdown in three of those four games. Anytime touchdown bet might work for Jackson Dart this week. He's averaging over 21 points in his four starts this year, including a 23.6 game against the Philly Delphi Eagles, the last time they played a couple of weeks ago.

And every single game this year, the Cincinnati Bengals have allowed 16.9 fantasy points to a running back. Breeze Hall is, in fact, a running back. By the way, so is Isaiah Davis in case. That's the nicest thing I can say about Breeze Hall. But, hey, so is Isaiah Davis in case Breeze Hall can't go. Worth noting that as of this writing, the Falcons are this broadcast, I should say, Falcons are over a touchdown favorite against the Miami Dolphins, Dan,

in games that the Falcons win this year, the reason I bring up that the Falcons are such heavy favorites, in games that the Falcons win this year, Tyler Algier, averaging over 14 touches per game. And over the last four weeks, no team allows more rushing yards per game to opposing running backs, then you're Miami Dolphins. They give up 143 yards a game. Five of the last six games, Jacori Bill Kroski Merritt, has been held to under 11 fantasy

points that includes both starts by Marcus Mariotta, who's going to make the start on Monday night. He has a 5% target share. So when you think about the fact that the commanders are double-digit underdogs on the road to Kansas City, I don't think Jacori Kroski Merritt has a nice game this weekend. Love the kid, but I bet it's a Jeremy McNichols game. Very quietly, Zay Flowers has at least eight targets this year in every game, but two. Why do I bring up that number?

Because this year, wide receivers that have seen at least seven targets against the bears are averaging almost 19 fantasy points for game. Of course, all this assumes Lamar Jackson is back. Only two teams this year allow more yards per game to the slot than the New York football giants for the year. Devonte Smith has over 60% of his targets from the slot. I don't think people realize that Smith is due for a very good game. In all the games that Mike Evans has missed over the last two years for the Buccaneers, K-Dotton, their tight end, has a 20. 22% target share, and averages over 14 fantasy points for game.

There's going to be no Mike Evans on Sunday for the Buccaneers, and they play the Saints who have allowed a touchdown to an opposing Titan in three of the past four games. The thing that I just realized, and it's been of an epiphany for me, and I apologize that I hadn't seen it before today, the illumination of, oh, Matthew Berry's just giving away money here. He comes in here for three minutes, and I didn't realize. You just figured this out now?

I didn't realize that this man is just giving away money when he's like, oh, Kate Otten, you've got to go Kate Otten. I'm an idiot. This guy's good. Fantasy football happy hour with Matthew Barry, weekdays live on YouTube at noon Eastern. I just realized why he's popular. It just happened. Just now.

It just realized it. No, because in plain sight, this man's been giving away money for 10 years. Yeah, it's not my boyish good luck, Dan. It's definitely not that. Okay, but I didn't know it before now. So I'm sorry? this is why you play fantasy football damn yeah i'm sorry i'm an idiot there there is a lot of overlap between fantasy football dFS sports no but i saw you sneak i saw you sneak in there in any time

touchdown bet and i'm like that's not a fantasy thing i heard that that's not a fantasy thing but anytime touchdown bet wait a minute he's speaking code in front of me and i've been uh not paying attention as he's giving away money for how many years it's uh it's been a number of years long time been doing this a long time and it's it's it's what i do for NBC on Football Night in America as well. You and I are both, you know, the crown is ours. Yes.

And we're both of the Draf King family. See you later, Matthew Barry. Hampton Farms, nuttyest fan. I needed to get to that. I haven't had enough show. There's more basketball to talk about. Eduardo's coming on next. He doesn't want to talk basketball with him.

Before Eduardo, let's do Hampton Farms. Congrats to the BYU fans for making their president, Shane Reese crowd surf this week. Just look at that. I mean, just, I would watch his wallet. I'm watching his wallet if I'm him. But that is our Hampton Farms winner. Check out, Get Nutty with Hampton Farms,

the official peanut of bowl season. Keep an eye out for Lucy at LSU. If you think you are your teams, Nuddi's fan. Don Lebertard. I mean, they used to call me Chris karaoke. Stugats. Darioi. That back row is bringing it today.

This is the Don Lebatar show with a Stugat. I really don't feel like there's been enough room in the show today because I wanted to hear Tony and Amin talking about the Steph Curry shirt that Chris Cody is wearing because Steph Curry is here to still tell hockey and the young people hey still my league I'm not just going to give it up to LeBron at the end or Aaron Gordon for that matter or Yokic and we didn't even talk about the nuggets like the nuggets look like a really good team too Zaslow has texted me he says Aaron Gordon has officially entered the MVP conversation.

He's going to keep us up to date here. Three different candidates after three different days. It was Wembe's, but... It was Luca, then Wembe, and now Aaron Goulders. Now Aaron Gordon. A 50 Burger. No, but on Steph Curry's night. Am I wrong?

Can you be an MVP leader if you're winless? I don't think you can't. Good point. Two of his three names are winless. Zaz doesn't care what your opinion is. He has said Aaron Gordon has entered the MVP conference. But, I mean, where would they be without him? Point differential.

Yeah, that's a good point. But also, who they lose to? The guy who should be MVP, Steph Curry. On Chris Cody's shirt, don't forget his Olympic moment. He's got one of the, like, he will continue to give us moments till the very end. You're saying he can't get better and he's getting better. But getting better, get out of him. Is this a transit of property thing, like the McGuffin?

Like if someone outperforms Steph Curry tonight in Portland, then they're the MVP? It's like Highlander. Yeah. It's a kind of match. Chris Cody has not. now giving him the highest form of love, a love once only given to Tua, to look at him longingly and worship Steph Curry because it was Steph Curry's night last night. It was the worst part of losing Louisville, losing the McGuffin.

It now resides in Kentucky. My father has arrived in the other room. He was told Eduardo Perez was going to be here. He is friend with the Perez's, Tani Perez, Eduardo's father, who I once asked, do you ever pee in a shower? Good question. On behalf of this show, Tani, said he did not. His wife said he was lying.

Foyled. I've just embarrassed an elderly Cuban Hall of Famer. My father didn't believe Donnie Perez either. Should DeAndre Jordan still be getting $3.6 million? He just signed with the Pelicans. He's a great guy. He's a good locker room guy. He's a great guy, man. Look, kids

at home. When it's like, oh, you should be nice. No, it's not because like of karma or whatever. It's because you might get paid $3.6 million just for being a great guy. Be a great guy. He was mocked as a laughing stock two days ago. He's being mocked on television as being bad at basketball.

Who's mocking him? Bad at basketball. It's great guy. He's great at vibes. Exactly right. What do the Pelicans need, by the way? You guys are a great guy. They need a great guy.

You guys cannot be talking about last night's basketball and end up on DeAndre Aiton for some reason. No, no, not, not, not, no, no, no, Jordan. DeAnd Jordan, DeAndre Aiton. Now that one. They need to work on that. Oh, my gosh. Luca, I feel bad for him, man. Luca's not going to be happy in about six games.

A lot of six games. You got six games? A buddy of mine who's in the league sends me a text and he says, this Aten thing's not going to work. I said, yeah, I said, I got Luca killing him by Christmas. He said, Christmas? He said, Halloween hasn't gotten here yet. Put it on the poll at Levitard show.

Is Luca going to kill DeAndre Aiton before Halloween? Yeah. At Levitard show. It's, I mean, frustrating, beyond frustrating. He has all the tools, but, like, then doesn't at the same time. It's one of my great joys in sports and basketball, I should say, because that's my thing, right? Is when you know something about a guy, not because it's insider information or whatever, but because you watch a guy a lot, and then he gets to a new team, and you realize that fan base knows nothing.

They really don't know anything. And so the Lakers are like, oh, my God, we got our center. He's the number one overall pig. He can dog, he can shoot jumpers, he's done that. I'm like, you guys don't know what you're getting. You don't know what you're getting into. And I said, I guarantee mid-season, Luca's going to want to kill him. And then I saw that first game, and I was like, mid-season might be too far.

Let's go Christmas. And like I said, my buddy said, Christmas, Halloween isn't here yet. Really quick on the defending champs. They're playing a lot of basketball. Are they young enough to just continue to put the pedal to the medal and play hard every single night. Double overtime, first two games of the season. Taken to the end.

A lot of young legs, which is good, but this seems like a team that needs to get a little bit more of pace going. This is what I'm going to say, what concerns me. It concerns me that it took you double overtime to beat either of those teams. The Houston Rockets team, where they're just getting to know each other, and a Pacers team that's missing its best player and obviously lost its starting center.

So wait a minute, you're going to do Concern Me that the defending champion has won two straight games. And it took double overtime against a finalist from a year ago that's without its best player and the rockets that are supposed to be the best contender. That people are learning somehow, what, Sagan is good? Yeah, he's the best player on the number two seed last year, and Houston got Kevin Durant. Oh, one of my favorite things, by the way, from opening that we didn't get to talk about, is the way Reggie Miller pronounces Shengoon.

He calls him Shane Goon, S-H-A-N-E, space, G-O-O-N. The Gooners is what I like to call him. but Shane Goon sounds like, right? What does Shane Goon sound like to you? Shane Goon to me sounds like a mid-major college football coach who was like doing a great job with this program and is going to get poached by one of the Power Five schools. Former D-Lyman.

Aren't you making first name Shane, last name, Goon, G-O-O-N. Yes. Not Sen-Goon. He's not a Hispanic either, though. I even know I'd like that. Sen-Goon. Sen-Gun. That's how you guys said.

He was the best player on the number two C. Abertigo, Sangung. Sounds like a dish. Give me some of that Mofongo and Sangu. That isn't even the game we're talking about from last night. You can have your choose. Like, I do think it's funny that OKC is going to be an afterthought and instill some of the storyline things that are going to captivate us.

It's like the Western Conference has 19 different storylines the way that the East does not. But we didn't even talk about Wembe, right? Like, I asked, I mean privately, is the Wembe thing for real? because I keep having this... How can it not be for real? I just keep having this resistance of like, no, no, not yet. It can't be.

So, I mean, help me with the context of this because you and I agreed that Shaq underachieved for what he did. Wemby is an unprecedented player. And when someone comes... Who was it? Was Michelle Beatle or somebody... It was yesterday.

Somebody said, no, Wemby's going to be a top 10 player in the league ever if he just stays healthy because clearly that's a level of mastery that I never do this in sports. It was Rachel Nichols. I don't even.

even do this to Shohei Otani. I don't say that what Shohei Otani is doing is unfair. That it feels unfair. I know, but I get it, but I don't have the same feeling that I do with Wembe. Well, wait a minute. You're going to be so much better that every game is possibly going to feel like

Shohei Otani hitting three home runs and striking out 10 because you can break all the statistics in this sport. When you go 40, 15, and zero turnovers, you're spinning the game on your finger. So I was asked this yesterday. It's like putting to context how great that performance was. And I said

he was guarded by the guy that we generally considered to be the best big man defensive player in the league. If you had to pick out of everyone in the league who's going to guard Wembe Niyama. I want someone tall and long and agile and laterally

agile can move around with Anthony Davis and he made him look like a fool. A perennial defensive player of the year candidate who is the first of these seven-foot unicorns who can almost guard anybody on the perimeter. I have a prediction. He's going to force the league to change something about its game. Drastically. I think the athletes have long outgrown the dimensions of the court.

He may be the one that makes the court larger because it's an unfair advantage. To give him more space, I think actually... No, I mean, he gets up the court in three strides. But, Mike, so now you just made it harder for everyone else. No. What about T.J. McConnell, Mike? Think about T.J. McConnell. This is the thing that I bet.

Yes, think about him. He doesn't stand a snowball's chance in heck. Yeah, but if you make the court bigger, you've actually helped Wembe and hurt T.J. McConnell even more. Something needs to be done. This is what I warned you about several years ago. They're going to be the court smaller. Okay.

Can I just have the, phone booth? Can I have the conversation with you guys, though? Because baseball can't be. The thing about Otani that is so amazing is that he's making it seem routine, and yet he very often fails. Like, Rotani Otani spends a lot of time failing because it's a failure rate

sport. Yeah, any pitches. Yeah, any pitches, but I don't look at Otani and say that's unfair because baseball can't be made unfair but it's just about the most unfair thing I've ever seen in baseball outside of maybe Barry Bonds when they had to walk

him 134 times. Dan, one of the most unfair things in baseball, my memory, was the 1995 Five A.L. Wildcard series, Mariners, Yankees. Me as a Yankees fan, watching Randy Johnson feel like he pitched like 700 times that series. I'm like, how is this possible? How does he do it? So there are certain things in sports that when you see them.

Now make him hit home runs. Correct. No, that's right. Randy Johnson's also up there 6'10 and hitting three home runs, one out of the stadium. I'm not saying that what Otani is doing is any way sane or it has any human reference point. But you think it's there? But I also saw him go one for 17 with eight strikeouts because the game is different. When I'm watching Wembe, it's like watching Shaq where I'm like the dimensions of that are the human body not making it fair. That's too good.

You can't have someone out there who's making the world's greatest athletes all look like they're sixth graders. There's a distortion of the physical body that makes it so that person is going to be someone who feels unfair. Yeah, and this was coming at you like a hurricane. And you were all just like, look how fun. He's a monk. This is great. No, he is. He's destroying the game you love.

To be fair, Dan, he shot 35% from three last year. He had a lot of games where it was not so incredible, not so impressive. So it's not, I think it's the same. To me, it's the same. It's just like, what am I supposed to do with this? That's the unfairness. Like a teenage of me watching. Randy Johnson pitched nine games in a five-game series.

How is this possible? What am I supposed to do with this? And everything has zero, like, fatigue or anything. He's hit 99 every single time. The same thing with Wembeiyama. It's like, it's not perfect all the time, but enough of the time. It's perfect enough to make you feel helpless.

And that's what Shio Otani does. He can go one for 17 and have eight strikeouts, and I guarantee you there's not a single pitcher who face him like, this dude is whack. there's always that fear of oh my god in the same way that watching step curry last night we talked about it bad shot but it's like when it's step curry it's like oh no this is how we're gonna lose to the otani point though where the pitchers respect him so much he's in the midst of a one for 17 slump and they walk him

yeah to get to mookie bet right it's like oh you're gonna walk me to get to another guy who's probably a hall of fame in a couple years too like think about how crazy that is i i am saying that the level of mastery is the same but i view uh baseball. Tell me if I've got this wrong. Because I understand what you guys are saying. Otani's previous game before that playoff game that was the best playoff game ever played was against the Marlins when he broke all sorts of records and had some 10 RBI game with three or four home runs. One of them hit off an infielder. But it's like the

greatest offensive game you have ever seen. That is correct. That is not what Wembe is doing. But I can see it from here. What does that look like? If it's 40 and 15 and 3 with no turnovers, what does it look like? But he's still physically growing. is still young and what cometh this way, if it's not already here, is the storyline of, can Steph ward off this spider person who Anta Tocopo was supposed to be when he was going to dominate and win all the championships? But this person can come and take all the championships in a way that I think is going to feel

unfair. If not already, it's like a couple of games down the line. The thing I keep going back to is funny that Chris is wearing that shirt because that's such a cool moment from the gold medal game. That's not the coolest moment, though. The coolest moment is still the three that he hit over Wenbanyama and that shot that we have. It's one of the great sports photos of all time.

It's a great photograph. They should find it. It looks Photoshop. It doesn't look real. Well, but this is, but God Almighty, when you talk, I mean, about, like, symbolically where it is that survival of the fittest happens in sports, Steph Curry will forever be loved because what he does. does physically makes no sense in that sport. It requires a precision that he has not been gifted

the way Wembenyama has been gifted a body that is wholly unfair. But at the same time, you know what that picture also represents? Mike, it goes back to a name I said earlier in the show, Dr. Ian Malcolm, which is that life finds a way, right? You can see Wemba Yama, look at that. that ball is gone and look at Le Minyama. Look at the size of his hands. It's just crazy. But here's the thing.

We Minyama can have all that height and that agility and that offense and that IQ and that great personality and great teammate and everything. And he still can be bested by a dude who looks like a regular guy when we're watching

it on TV. Can we all just, I want the majesty of this photograph Just look at Steph's eyes, and that is not the trajectory of a jump shot. No. He's looking into the cosmos. He can't see the hoop from there. He's not looking at the hoop. There's not, he has to look straight up to an angle in the sky to throw it through seven stars.

If you look, the amazing part of that photo is, if this were the evolutionary chart, it'd be like, holy shit, you've got to be kidding me. I've got to conquer the sport by getting over the greatest form of human evolution there has ever been in athletics. Draw a line straight from his navel to Steph Curry's eyes. That's where he's at. It's not often that recently you see a photo and you're like, that's an all-time great photo. And everybody's reaction was that. That photo was taken by Gerard Angelo, San Milano, and Ezra Shaw.

Two photographers on one photo credit. That's crazy. Fan reactions behind are awesome, too. Because it's in France. That's the other part of this equation that we have to remember. It's in France. Behind the enemy lines. On treacherous ground

Oh easy there I make you choice Otani had a game Where he got to 50-50 for a season He was six for six Scored four runs had 10 RBIs and three homers And it's not the greatest game he's ever played Because to go to the World Series

He threw six innings Allowed two hits struck out 10 And went three for three with three homer That's the part where it's not going to make sense That's the other thing then Is when you tell the story years later decades when all these guys are gone when like I said we have Shohei Jenkins Jackson playing the you know wide receiver for the for the Chiefs one day it's that you're going to

say that stat line of the 50 home run game and it's like that doesn't make sense it's like a wilt stat line and then you say and that's not even his best game it's like me when I say Wilts once averaged 50 points a game for a season I say that's not his most impressive stat do you know what the most impressive will stat not that one not Not that one. It's a family show. Family show. I was about to say. It was that one. Do you know what the most impressive basketball stat that Will Chamberlain has, the one that will never be broken? Because I can see 50 points again getting broken. I can see a hundred points getting broken. The one that will never get broken, ever. He averaged 48 and a half minutes a game one year. Forty-half minutes a game for a season. Ladies and gentlemen, there are only 48 minutes in an NBA game. So that means he played every single minute. also every single minute of overtime, 48 and a half minutes, that is the one stat that will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, if you just put on this photo one more time on the screen, because I want to reference what Mike is saying when you know you're having a historic sports photograph taken. It's not just the physical parts of it, and it's not just the physics of it. The look on Steph Curry's face and his wrist, if you know anything about it, if you know anything about it,

about basketball. That is a photograph of human ingenuity. It's a photograph. That's human ingenuity on how does man survive when things around him get bigger, stronger, and faster in a way that's physically impossible. Life finds a way? It's perfect. Encapsulation for the U.S. having it back then, but it's coming. Okay. All right. What? That's decontextualization. Excuse me. I'm sorry. I'm a provocateur You're not sorry You know it's funny For a video that I did

Oh actually not for the Louvre Heist video I decided to add some elements And I threw in I said it was like it was almost as fast As me on Ninja Warrior Going back and looking I had to pull it up the screenshot When I did Ninja Warrior the first time

You know every single NBCN show Other than first take and sports no sports and had me every single ESPN show had me on every single one get up highly questionable you guys Mike and Mike every single show

had that clip that's what made it one of the most watch clips ever because NBC typically never gets clips onto ESPN because the whole rivalry thing I did that what was the context of that in what we were talking about viral decontextual you know anything about this

Trey is Savage I know nothing about this Blake Snell's about to shove tonight. Trey is Savage starting game one for Toronto. Don't even know who he is. Don't care. Fred's A. He made his professional debut earlier this season.

He started the year in single A in April. Then he got to high A in May, double A in June, triple A in August, made his first major league start in September. Where's that the war? First playoff start at the beginning of October. He's starting game one of the World Series. It's a real Boy Meets World Series situation, huh? Where's Eduardo? Eduardo!

You know, because Ben Savage started in this show called Boy Meets World. And so he was like a guy with a single-A in the World Series. Topanga. Boy Meets War with Topanga, yeah, and Corey and all that. Papi was waiting. I'm also. Eduardo.