The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 1: Warren, What is it Good For?

Episode Date: August 21, 2024

Dan, Stu and Amin discuss whether LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant's era of domination in the NBA is over. While that is going on, Tony is curating his list of Top 5 Gunslingers that he teases for later in the show. It leads into a heated debate throughout the rest of the show about what qualifies a QB as a gunslinger. Dan calls an audible on everybody and discusses the show's desire to have a fantasy show and Billy has a bone to pick with magazines. Stephen A. Smith accused Dan of being in cahoots with the Dolphins about the Brian Flores comments, but we don't know why, and Warren Sharp's real name is not Warren Sharp. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. Summer's the best time to run the way you want. Dial it up with new challenges and programs and bring your workouts with you to make the most of outside sunny days. There's no better way to do that than with Peloton. With Peloton, take advantage of how beautiful it is outside right days. There's no better way to do that than with Peloton. With Peloton, take advantage of how beautiful it is outside right now. You can go on an outdoor run or even a walk

if you're not feeling like running, all while working on your tan. Summer's the best time to push your pace. Move how you want, enhance your fitness journey, and feel like your most empowered self. Whether you're prepping for a marathon or improving your pace, whatever road lies ahead, your training starts here with Peloton Tread or Tread Plus. Peloton's programs and instructors take you

to new heights. Tap into their expertly programmed workouts and real-time metrics like pace targets that can take your fitness journey to new heights. From their strength classes designed for runners on the Peloton Tread or Tread Plus to guided outdoor runs on the Peloton app, Peloton's classes challenge you to be your best. Call yourself a runner with Peloton at onepeloton.com slash running. Now's a good time to remember where the story of tequila started.

In 1795, the first tequila distillery was opened by the Cuervo family. And 229 years later, Cuervo is still going strong. Family owned from the start, same family, same land. Now's a good time to enjoy Cuervo is still going strong. Family owned from the start, same family, same land. Now's a good time to enjoy Cuervo. The tequila that invented tequila. Go to Cuervo.com to shop tequila or visit a store near you.

Cuervo, now's a good time. Trademarks owned by Beclet, SAB, the CV, copyright 2024, Proximo. Jersey City, New Jersey, please drink responsibly. This is the Dan Leventor Show with the Stugatz Podcast. Stugatz, you have heard me lament in the way that things have sped up in coverage of sports and just social media addictions in general. That we rarely appreciate historic greatness when we're sitting in the middle

of it. Usually it's something you have to look back on and then your arguments can never be wrong when you're arguing on behalf of Michael Jordan being the best ever and he represents what I want represented as that part of the generation. Michael Jordan went over Karl Malone and Clyde Drexler and Charles Barkley and all of them. He ends up trampling everybody and I want to know from Amin and you, where you put this age against Michael Jordan given that the three guys who were competing

over this generation that we just enjoyed in the Olympics because we all realized, oh, this is the end of something pretty special here with these three guys. You had three Jordans going against each other and one of them had a more valuable shot than the others. Jordan didn't have to play against anybody who was making all the threes who was shooting like Curry. He only had to do it against Reggie Miller. The game's math changed and then Durant joins Curry and

LeBron can't get to a couple of the championships from there. So I mean historically how will we regard the three guys who end up elbowing out Mello and Dwayne Wade and Chris Paul, whereas the previous generation, Michael Jordan was there to vanquish all comers, but I don't know that Drexler was as good as Curry or Durant are. Yeah, I don't think Drexler specifically is as good as those guys that you name, but I think people would name different names from that era.

They would say, you know. Charles Malone. Yeah. Eli Chauvin. Patrick Ewing. Yes. Shaquille O'Neal. Like those are the names of that era.

Now all of them are big guys because that was what the game was. The game was center-driven, big man-driven, and then if you think about it, shooting guard was kind of like the least glamorous position. And then Jordan kind of changed that. But Dan, I mean, that's the hard part about comparing errors.

That's why I'm not a big fan of the, oh, LeBron or Jordan conversation because there's so many variables that every one of these great players both benefited from and were penalized by I'm just asking you to put this group these three Unprecedented players having to play each other at the same time right put the generation in some sort of context before it ends here Are you talking LeBron LeBron Curry and Durant those three? I'm talking about how wonderful a time it was in basketball to see these guys fight over a decade for all the titles.

Well, I mean it's not over yet. Like all three of those guys are still really good and all three of their teams have aspirations of continuing to pull over. It is all over. You think it's all over? It ended last year. I told you this last year and you disagree with it. You believe in old guys forever.

You believe in the old guy ability to summon something, and the young guys took the league last year. That one is obvious. Those three guys will not have a better chance than the ones they've already had. I disagree on the grounds that it's not like those three guys came short. I think the supporting cast around them came short. They were not provided with all the tools necessary.

So, by way of example, if you take Jason Tatum off the Celtics and you put Kevin Durant, you think the Celtics aren't as good? But that's not what happened. Kevin Durant joined Jason Tatum Celtics to win the two titles that he won. My point is this, Dan. My point is it's not that Durant and LeBron and Curry,

their time is over. It's that the surrounding infrastructure around them has failed them at this point. And fail is a tough word because those guys have experienced a lot of success in their day. But I'm just saying in the present time, the part that is stopping them from winning again isn't, oh, if only Curry was as good as he was a couple of years ago.

No, he's just as good as he was. It's, man, Jonathan Kamingo, not quite good enough, right? Klay Thompson, not quite as good as he once was. And so I'm not going to sit here and say it's over for any of those three guys, because they're still playing at an extremely high level. It's just how do we get them the help and support they need? I would say for LeBron, it's over.

LeBron has shifted his focus. I want to be there for my kid. I want to play with my kid. He's not chasing championships. If he wins one more in LA, great. Curry, I still think he can win a championship. And Kevin Durant oddly has the best chance to tack on multiple championships to his resume. Both of you. If he lands in the right spot. Both of you have upset me now because I'm trying to have a conversation with you about the last 10 years and you want to have a conversation about the last 10 minutes.

I'm not interested in the end of their careers. I'm asking you both to put into context the fact that we have seen three all-time greats, three all-time greats that don't have precedence as basketball players. None of the three, there's never been anyone who's existed like the three that we just watch they fought for the championships for ten years and last year was oddly unsatisfying with the Celtics throttling everybody because they didn't have one of those three guys they basically indoctrinated an era of fans into these are the three best and good luck discussing and arguing who's fourth among them because these are the three best and good luck discussing and arguing who's fourth

among them because these are three guys for all time now I'm asking you to put it in some sort of context because they beat each other and one of them didn't just beat the other two every time the way that Jordan did I mean the context is that this was a great generation and it's a generation that's not over but yeah like I don't know what you're looking for in this argue to be honest is that this was a great generation and it's a generation that's not over. But yeah, like, I don't know what you're looking for in this. I'll go to be honest with you. I will tell you the generation that had Jordan was the best generation. If you're trying to compare generations, don't do it. I care about you. I'm not trying to compare generations. I'm trying to ask you guys

whether it can properly be celebrated, what it is that we just witnessed, because we spent the three years criticizing Durant and Lebron Steph's the only one who comes out of that unscathed. We spent the entire time questioning their greatness. Well, Steph never chased titles I told you when Durant started to chase titles Dan. It was gonna work against him. Okay. I did I told you that the second he started doing it Curry just stayed put He stayed put with a team that was built through the draft doing it. Curry just stayed put. He stayed put with a team that was built through the draft mostly and then they tacked on Kevin Durant. Like Curry didn't go anywhere. And so I

think Steph Curry is probably going to win like one more title. But I'm with the mean. I don't know what you want us to do with context. I mean. What's the, what's the, do you guys got anything for us here? I just, I just think it's great. They're great. No, but I think it's an era for all time is my point. It's the only one that pales. Your parents, okay, can tell you all about Wilt and Bill Russell, and no one can explain to you

how it is that actually Bill Russell ended up dominating a player like Wilt, who was the better player, like in an obvious way. That time is so far in the past, it might as well be ancient fossilized nostalgia. We're living in a time for all time right now and it's what you just felt during the Olympics. The fact that you sort of realized it while they're taking out the Wemba-Nyamas and the Yokichs who are now, as you argue on behalf of, they've

still got time left. I mean, they've had the sport taken from them by who is regarded as the best in the world and it's Yokich. It It's by consensus, whether you like him or not. Well, and the Celtics. Yeah, but they've had the sport taken. Best player in the world title is not something we'd give Steph, Kevin Durant, or LeBron right now. In the words of Ricky Bobby's dad, oh, you could be second.

You could be, hell, you could be third. Like, OK, so they're not the best. You think, like, so they're out of the top 10? They're out of the top 100? Like, they're still great. But I said that about Aflac, and you guys told me that I so they're out of the top ten They're out of top hundred like they're still great But I said that about aflac and you guys told me that I couldn't have him in the top 20 I thought that he would never was that's the difference that a lot was never in the top 20 But but then you went back to wilt and Bill Russell

Dude in the 80s we had dr. J Magic bird Isaiah Thomas preach and Moses Malone and all these guys fought over the titles And and they won the titles and they split and they had to go through one another so I don't think like this is unprecedented We have a Habit of like thinking what's happening us right now is like the only time this has ever happened right that sort of stand-up comedian talking about He said oh people say, oh, I don't wanna bring a child into this world. What, a world of like medicine and air conditioning

and things like that? Like somehow it would be better to bring a child into the world 100 years ago? Now like, look man, the reality is, we're all going through a similar, not the same experience because there are different challenges and different benefits and rewards,

but it is similar in that there's always gonna be a bunch of other people that are dealing with the thing. What are we laughing at? Oh nothing, I mean just keep going, you're rolling. You're sounding good, you're giving. I was. Some rights have gone away. And when everybody's laughing, it kind of is.

50 years ago. What's that? Some rights have gone away that we did have 50 years ago. And some rights that we did. There was a better time. There were things, yes, there are things that we had. There's a few ones that got taken away like a year ago. Summer of 84.

Oh, the LA games. There was a time you used to be able to treat your quarterback like shit and you wouldn't go crying to the media. Tony and I were doing like a top five gunslinger list back here, so that's kind of where the distraction has been, Dano. Sorry to make you. But I'm working on it. So it's top 20 male actors of the 2000s. Is that where you're putting Ben Affleck? I would put him in the top 20 of male movie stars. I would put him of this of this millennium. No, he only had any. So 2000 forward? 2000

forward. Okay, I'll work on that. I've got some bangers in the early 90s though. No, not really what in the early 90s? Good will hunt 98 mid 90s my 98 was good That's end of the 90s We're already on the way out and by the way that was like finally him and Matt Damon arrived and then they started getting Rolls after that those roles didn't happen to because people saw the movie in 98 like wow, let's cast them So then they filmed in 99 2000 was the first of those movies came out thank you I mean what happened was that we were watching the Gardner Minshew video back here Dan and then we started thinking Gardner Minshew gunslinger right and then we started thinking who's a who's another gunslinger let's get top

five gunslingers going so we've got that list for you. Thank you for doing that and at any point you guys want to participate in the show we're doing over here that'd be good too. Prep for the next segment. I hadn't gotten to Gardner Minshew yet. I don't think anyone understood what you were trying to get to. That's the generational context. I don't know what you want. I think since 2000 is what Tony cut off.

Was that 2000? Does Brett Farve's off the field antics remove him from the equator? That makes him more of a gunslinger. Putting him in a vacuum guys. No off the field anything. What am I doing in this vacuum? Just on the field.

Chris Cody bit. Don't judge around here. Why can't he be in the gunslingers? Not his list, my list. We'll see. We're gonna bring politics into this? What makes him more? I try not to.

Amin's arguing saying- Billy was just asking. Makes him more of a gunslinger. Dude, if you're out here scamming people and showing your dick and stuff, that's kind of a gunslinger attitude they gave you. Wild, wild west. Put that on the fly. He's right about that, by the dick and stuff that's kind of gunslinger attitude Gunslingers not a positive or it's just like a catch-all for all types of reckless behavior Sometimes reckless behavior is positive like throwing a dart down the down the field for a touchdown like when your dad just passed

I'm talking like oh no. Yeah, I think this list is specific to football, though, not just general gunslingers. Again, hadn't gotten there yet. Don't know why you guys were doing your own private show back there about gunslingers. Just prepping for the next second. Yeah, but I wasn't going there yet. We have to prep. We have to be a step ahead.

Yeah, step ahead. We're playing a step ahead. We're trying to be where you're going, not where you were. Dan, you're a little bit of a gunslinger. I don't know if you know this. See, they've got to be prepared. They've got to be organized. They got to be organized. You're out here just throwing it like Curry, Steph, LeBron.

Listen up, folks. The college football landscape has changed a lot. NIL deals, social media, the transfer portal. There's never been more distractions for an athlete, but Powerade knows what's important. The commitment to the game. The game is what matters. With 50% more electrolytes then Gatorade thirst squencher powerade hydrates athletes as they block out the noise and put in the work hydrate your grind with powerade grab a pack today on Amazon or to store near you see product label for

additional details it takes more than libertard Lebatard. Stugats. This is the Don Lebatard show with the Stugats. Well, here's something that's happening around here and now we're not going to Gartner and then shoot. You can stop. Oh wow, look at you. You got us. Whoa. Gunslinger just denied.

All you've done is denied the audience. You haven't denied me anything. They really wanted to hear about Gartner and then shoot. You know they did. Guys, we drew up the play, everyone's lined up. Dan hikes the ball, says, you know what? Fuck it, I'm going that way. Took it, put it under my arm and walked right out of the stadium. Nah, Dan's the one that ends in the homes. He toss it behind his back. The play starts breaking down. He makes it happen.

He makes these things work. Dan came a trabajar hoy. And we're getting in his way, so stop it right now. Dan, back to you. Gunslinger talk. That's really what I back to you. Yeah, gunslinger talk. That's really what I wanna do. Can't wait to do it. The thing that I wanted to ask you guys, because this is happening around here a lot, and I don't know what to do with it.

You have a bunch of people in the other room who are clamoring and really want to do a fantasy show for the audience audience and we are not good at doing fantasy shows there is you can absolutely rig your clickbait by just this time of year doing fantasy garbage people are snorting it everybody is trying to you know they're basically trying to get up to speed on all things football a week before the season. Mike Wright on God Bless Football this Friday. I mean, fantasy footballers.

Getting you ready. And the video team wants to do something fantasy related. I don't know whether it's centered around Tony. And I am just adamantly against us doing this as a cheap content play just to just to diddle the audience because of the fantasy shit that you guys love. First off let me speak for the video team the fantasy audience we could do a kick-ass show if we were allowed to do a kick-ass show I think that's the most important thing so if we had the go we could make it happen. The green light. Exactly. Tony not to cut you up I'm gonna just say this

right now, maybe if you had a couple of gunslingers, you'd do the show. What is this, okay? There can only be one gunslinger. You think that, oh no, there can always be multiple gunslingers. You think gunslingers wait for an okay? They just gunsling, that's what they do.

Also, diddlers. Mm. Not the word I would use. I'm not here to diddle the audience, by the way. The fantasy stuff is disgusting to me. It's disgusting how much you guys eat it up. I maintain that if we started a fantasy show, and Tony's right, it needs to be a good fantasy show,

we could turn anyone into a fantasy expert. Well no, you can't. No, I think we can. It's a guessing game though. No, no, I know you think we can. I think a lot of people think we can. I think that's the problem. We can't't you have to actually know what you're talking No

I think there are people who work with us that know exactly what they're talking about and be very good at it They just need people to set them up. That's all Last time you checked field Yates for whether he's right or wrong on this. No one ever does my point Well the thing that I wanted to ask all of you because you're all fascinated by this fantasy stuff, I want to play some sound for you here of, and I think Stugatz, you may not have noticed this because of how you both produce and consume content at this point. But whether it's Hassan Piker or people like Warren Sharp, there are a whole lot of people in the democracy of the podcast space who are aggressive, okay,

type A personalities on how it is they're gonna conquer everybody by having better and more information than others. And they found a way to, I don't know what Warren Sharp's past is, but a lot of people who didn't like their happiness in law, like Mike Florio or one of the original content monsters, they wanted another career.

They found that the sports industry was ripe with both people who were cavemen and kind of lazy. And so they have more information and better information than most. But having that information doesn't necessarily result in you being able to predict results because I'm going to play some sound for you here of Warren Sharp, who is excellent at football information. I honestly don't know what his past was, but I'm going to just give you a two minute breakdown of him talking about all two of things and this guy's

Preordained right to this as a career still got is just that his information is really good and people trust that he's making value measurements on On the NFL that have more data than most to his rookie season was 2020 Second season was 2021 both of which were under Brian Flores his rookie season and his rookie season was 2020. Second season was 2021, both of which were under Brian Flores. His rookie season and his second season, you know where the Dolphins offensive line rank dead last, they were the worst in pass block win rate. They were the worst in PFF grades, the worst offensive line in the league. His receiving core those two years, you know where they

ranked dead last in wide receiver separation, they could not get open. His number one receiver was Devante Parker, we know his problems. His number two was a tight end Mike Kisecki. Number three was Jalen Waddle who he only had for one season and number four was a running back Miles Gaskin. An utter catastrophe of guys mostly with limited skill and no ability to separate. They also ranked second to last in yards after the catch obviously because they were not being able to get open. The receivers couldn't contribute it. The offense wasn't designed to give it, which brings me to coaching. His rookie season, the offense was designed

by a formerly retired 64 year old Chan Gailey. He comes out of retirement to design the offense for Ryan Fitzpatrick. It was COVID and Tua is rehabbing this ridiculous hip injury that ended his college career. Fitzpatrick takes all the snaps during camp to get him ready for the season. Tua then is thrust into the offense midway through the season. If you remember, after the season, Chen Gailey comes out and says that he was totally shocked that Flores decided to throw Tua in there

because he didn't have a preseason, he didn't get any reps, and it was a totally new offense for him. Gailey doesn't make many changes to the offense, forces Tua to play Ryan Fitzpatrick's offense, and obviously it's a disaster. Then you go to 2021. He's got's offense and obviously it's a disaster. Then you go to 2021. He's got co-offensive coordinators this season. So new set of coordinators,

George Gotze and Eric Studesfield. These guys have no experience calling plays. It's very confusing who is going to do what. Brian Flores doesn't announce who's going to be doing what. His number one receiver misses seven games. His receivers had the worst separation in the NFL. He's playing behind the worst offensive line in the NFL yet again, and his running backs ranked 30th in rushing efficiency. So he's got nothing on the ground, his receivers aren't helping, his offensive line is terrible, the play calling is not good, and despite all of that, he improves in nearly every single stable quarterback metric across the board. So you want to look at his overall stats and say, oh, Tua wasn't great his first two years in the NFL.

Maybe you could say that if you want to, it's a bad argument to make considering everything else that went around him and what we have seen these last couple of years when he's been actually playing in a competent offense with decent play calling and a little bit better structure. You chose that video over gunslinger talk. I mean, Jesus.

Knows what he's talking about. Tighten it up, right? Guy was an engineer. How about you put your hand in the mean, Jesus. Knows what he's talking about. Tighten it up. Guy was an engineer. How about you put your hand in the dirt? Geez. Oh, God. You're a minor penalty to it. Rambling.

Sharp, Sharp, yeah. Yeah. Oh, so he says Sharp? Yeah. He says Sharp? Yeah. I sent Sharp to the penalty box. It was rambling.

But I will just say to you, all of it was set up for the following. Clearly knows what he's talking about, and when he came on with us, went 0 for 13 picking games and had to give people a subscription rate of a dollar because he was so embarrassed, because all of the knowledge in the world doesn't actually help you predict the results

in real or in fantasy. But you guys would be here to tell me I'm wrong, correct? That in fantasy, you can have information That's better than all the people you're competing against sure you can but I think fantasy is a lot about the vibes too Dan The show has to have vibes on it right it has to be fun It has to be getting you ready for the week it has to be like all right. We're starting these guys We're not starting these guys, but it's got to be fun. If it's just information driven. It's kind of boring Yeah, you got it. You got to give the people something and give the people what they want. That's the problem though

I think that most of what it is that you're seeing skyrocket up the charts this time of year in fantasy Is not entertainment. It's all info. It's not they want the information. It's not because it's a wacky show It's how do I beat this guy out of my? $800 league because someone's giving secret information out there that I don't have everyone's hunting for gold right now It's not to say there's not a market for a different fun fantasy show I'm certain that there is but Dan is right people who listen to that stuff. They want that information Everybody is just hunting for they want to be at their draft They want to make a pick and they want everyone to say good pick good pick

Well, yeah, and I need other people to tell me who those good picks are gonna be who am I taking in the seventh round? Where's the value? I need I need other people to tell me who those good picks are gonna be. Who am I taking in the seventh round? Where's the value? I just want people to congratulate me. I don't actually care if I win in fantasy. I just want, there's nothing worse than you go up to your board in the draft, you put your sticker there, and just silence. There's no bad, I'd rather be mocked for a bad pick

than just silence. That earring, it's like the longest walk back to your table when you're at the draft, and there's just nothing said. What is he doing? Are you guys still doing physical in-person drafts? I have a couple, those are the best. I'd never do that, no, I don't like doing that. The online ones are faster, but I love a good,

let's all get together, let's talk shit. Hey, the lights are flowing. Ugh. But I mean, they also live in the same place where they grew up, so they have bigger friend groups here. I don't have any friends here, so that wouldn't work for me. Friendless. Chris Cody, you are telling me that you'd prefer

the echoing laughter of drafting River Craycraft than just silence when you go to your board? I'd rather hear reach, reach, than just silence. That's a good one. Can you guys tell me what you think of the Warren Sharp mustache? Pornish. In general, it's aggressive.

It's a signature look. I can't imagine Warren Sharp without the mustache. That's a good point. Look, he's in the penalty box. Yes, he's in the penalty box. Two minutes for rambling. It was good condensed information. But Stugats, I think.

Condense it more. Exactly right. Do you have? Well, he condensed two years into two minutes? Well, you know you can talk fast enough to have people think you know, let's get it down to six All right, so you don't think he knows what he's talking about. Well, you're the Duke you're in you're ranked Warren sharp, that's not what I'm doing here. I like Warren sharp put it on the pole Does the Duke know more about football than Warren Sharp? Does the fifth, internationally ranked fifth

football insider, Six. Are you fourth now? What are you? This is gonna be awkward when we get to the football meetings and I see Warren Sharp, but now we're gonna have to talk about this thing that Dan caused, this wedge between us.

Stugats, do you have the book bag on you that the other day you pulled out one of these magazines you're still going through to get your fantasy secrets, because do any of you still use any of the fantasy magazines in order to stock your team with ringers instead of listening to the five podcasts that have skyrocketed up the charts? I actually have a bone to pick with Warren Sharp,

if we're gonna be honest. Actual physical magazine. Okay. Here's the thing. I tried to get his Warren Sharp pre-season book, he puts all this work into it, whatever. Here's the thing, I tried to get his Warren Sharp like pre-season like book, he puts all this work into it or whatever. It's the Bible. Did you call it the Sharp picks or something like that? I want a hard copy.

It's called Warren, what is it good for? I don't want to be scanning and scrolling through a PDF. I want like, I want to go like this and I want to put my fingers through all the different pages, go like, I want to leaf the pages, you know what I mean? Like I want to annotate things things like I want stuff like that but it's just a PDF from what I could find he used to have the regular book yeah I

want a hard copy became more of a tax on him actually creating a business so like the PDF is way easier because he could just send you 500 pages instead of printing a book and then sending it and also Billy are you not a fan of control F no I'm not I like going through I like feeling I have accomplished something if I'm gonna read 15 words in a book I want to you know go through 200 pages to get to those 15 Are you reading the book or you just looking at it? I was intending on reading it But now now there's a lot of information in those Warren Sharp NFL previews

Like there's a lot of graphs and numbers and you got as there's like of graphs and numbers and data. There's like 6,000 pages. Tell me who to pick. Stugatz is waving around now. And he's holding. It's like seeing Donald Trump holding the Bible upside down. He doesn't totally know how to hold something. 350 plus pages, Dan.

You want to touch it? Something that needs to be read. He doesn't know how to hold it up. I got my air in shots. God, I'm so confused reading that. I don't know what the hell's going on. The almanac? Yeah.

Does the Phil Steele tell you who the other three running backs were who won the Doak Walker Award two years in a row? I didn't get to that, baby. I'm glad we got back to that again today. It went so well yesterday. Put it on the poll, please, Juju, at Levitard Show. What should Warren Sharp's book be named? Warren, what's it good for?

Yeah. Or Sharp's Picks, is that what you called it? Is Warren Sharp his real name? No. Sharp is a fake name, right? Of course. It is? Or sharps picks is that what you called it is Warren sharp his real name. No Is a fake name, right? What is it is it is it is it Bill sharp? What is his first name? His last name is not there's no way it can't be sharp, right? Find out Warren's real name for me, please I want more information judge coach, sweetie

Spinoff knows there's no I in football. It's a weed thing, an experience best enjoyed together. Whether you're home or away, we rally together, we cry together, and we always rally cry together. Because in fandom, there's definitely no I. Spinoff is the perfect vodka for crafting delicious cocktails that are easy to make and versatile for any fans over 21. As the world's number one vodka and the official vodka partner of the NFL Smirnoff brings an award-winning taste to every game day celebration. With a rich history dating back to 1864 Smirnoff is all about igniting the collective spirit. So when it's time to cheer on your favorite team remember we do game days with Smirnoff. Share the moment, share the spirit and

make every game day memorable. Drink responsibly. Smirnoff bringing fans together, one cocktail at a time. Grab a bottle of Smirnoff at your local retailer and head to smirnoff.com to find recipes of delicious cocktails perfect for game day. Please drink responsibly. Smirnoff number 21 vodka. Distilled from grain. 40% alcohol by volume. The Smirnoff Company, New York, New York. Please do not share with anyone under legal drinking age. Don LeBard. You were that kind of sad this morning taking the barrage of anger from Stugatz because you hadn't booked him enough interviews. The only reason I keep bringing this up is because you are throwing a big party on Thursday. You're doing it and I want people to support what you're doing because Stugatz has not

made this easy. Stugatz. Um, well, you know, I, well, yeah, you know. This is the Don Lebatard show with the Stugarts. ["The Stugarts Show Theme"] Would you guys please do me the favor of getting me updated on the following that I am now being texted about and tweeted about? Somebody is accusing S- uh accusing Stephen A. Smith of, well that's interesting,

Stephen A. Smith on first take insinuating that Dan Lebatard and his show are in cahoots with the Dolphins and the NFL and Tua with that interview. Inside job. I don't know what the accusation is entirely. Guys, I'm sorry. I gotta come clean I am actually an agent for Roger Goodell and I've orchestrated all of this everything the building of metal arc media the studios

Everything you've done here over the last three years basically since freedom has been one massive conspiracy Between the NFL and myself to entrap you, Dan Leventhal, and make you a tool of our oppression. I am grateful that you immediately jump into the mode of defending us against this with your sarcasm, but I'd like to know the nature of the accusation first. Jessica, what did you just take a giant bite out of there? It looked delicious.

And it looked a bit carnivorous, and I think there was some cupcake involved. How much food did you just stick in your mouth? Hold on, Jessica, it looked carnivorous? It was trying to eat Jessica back? Yes. You need to fill more time, Dan, she can't talk yet. I made a mistake just now.

I forgot to eat breakfast during the break because Taylor had the Phil Steel book, so I started reading through the Phil Steel book and then we started looking through the 247 rankings of 2028 recruiting class quarterbacks to see who was still in college. A number of players still in college actually. So I was distracted by all of that

and then I was like, oh my God, I forgot to eat my toast from this morning. So then I was like, well, I have to eat it now because I can't wait for another break. So I took a big bite of it just now. It looked like icing though wasn't it was cream cheese of some sort Okay, I'm sorry it looked both like dessert and meat and it looked like a great deal I'm not gonna eat until Sunday. I'm saving my meat appetite for the barbecue contest Make sure that I'm ready, you know to go to Key West with Roy

contest, make sure that I'm ready, you know. To go to Key West with Roy. Ready for Mr. Meat Master. The fishing tournament slash barbecue slash. All purpose charity event that Roy and Jessica are doing on the southern most point of the world. I think Roy called it a mishmash of random charitable shit. Yes, they did an excellent job of not promoting it well. They were exceptional at that.

So it means a spy? That's what he is claiming, but I'd like to get back to the previous detailed reporting of what is Stephen A Smith actually accusing me of? Can you guys get some actual information as opposed to Amin just riffing? It seems like he's saying that the Dolphins wanted you to ask Tua that question. You asked the question so Tua could give that response. He wanted to get it out there. But you're basing this on no information that you've got either, okay? Very good. So you want to mean not giving me... I did do it, Stephen A did! I know, but I don't know what he did and before you guys go straight into reaction mode, can you please tell me what he did? We will get to your reactions in a moment. Get yourselves informed before you give the reaction. If that is what it is though did the Dolphins tell you to ask that question yes obviously oh The thing that I wanted to get to with all of you from the last segment is we've done some research some journalism

Groundbreaking and Warren Sharpe's real name is Tyler brick inner no doesn't work brick ner Tyler brick ner That's a fine. He missed the opportunity to go by the brick. Oh my god That's a fine. He missed the opportunity to go by The Brick. Oh my God. If he was a hoops guy, that would have worked though. But JT already had it. No, if you go hoops and you go by the nickname The Brick, you're just Russell Westbrook. You don't wanna be The Brick.

Shout out to JT. JT, man. JT The Brick is a legend. He really is. Put it on the poll please, at Levitard Show Juju, is JT The Brick a legend? Radio Hall of Famer.

Absolute legends. no doubts, man. Well, let me go back for just a second here, okay, because I'm telling you that I know Warren Sharp does know what he's talking about, and I also admire, I really do, that in the age of content creation and democracy, that some people hustle their way into the zeitgeist by just having better information

when they're eating at the same trough that everyone else is trying to eat at and the hunger is obvious in their work. Take the mustache away though, he's got nothing. I mean, it's fair. It's a big part of his game. That's his whole bit. Well, he does have good information.

Again, it's not just the mustache. No, but you know. It's helping, certainly. Not gonna dispute it. But the thing mustache. No, but you know. It's helping, certainly. Not gonna dispute it. But the thing that I wanted to ask you guys, because Stugance really does believe that everyone can lazy their way into it the way that he did.

And so he believes he can create a Warren Sharp out of just magic and God bless football. That he and Billy can find their, what do you mean no, Billy? What do you mean no? No, this is a situation where we had a talk and I said hey, let's try to be on the same page this season if we can so that everything runs

as smoothly as possible, like keep me up to date on some of these things, you know, this and that. Just like, let's make this smooth, let's make this football season fun, let's be hand in hand here, me, you, let's talk this football season fun, let's be, you know, hand in hand here, me, you, let's like talk to the people that help. All very unlikely. With the guest booker,

so we don't have surprise guests. He's an untethered balloon that's always deflating, you will have no control over him, you'll be tired by week three. Well, I'm not even. Did Jessica just spit a bunch of avocado into a cup? It was a radish. It was a radish, yeah.

Well, lo and behold, I walk in and I find out Stu Gotz is pitching new fantasy shows Which I've not been made aware of and with with new shows come promises of where they're gonna air and such and I You know, I find these things out on air and I say please let's not let's not continue says, okay We won't won't won't and apparently this has been going on today If you overheard this somewhere in another room, I don't know what's going on. I'm still negotiating. Well, Stugats thinks he can invent, Stugats believes he can create out of Chris Cody's law office or his mother's law office, that he can create a character that dominates the fantasy

space by just going on God bless football all the time and siphoning audience. This is all I'm saying and it's all I've ever said as it relates to fantasy, okay? I have a friend, his name is Inferno. He's a ringer. I hired him to run my baseball team. He is going up against people who do this for a living.

Jamie Eisenberg at CBS Sports, he beats them every single year. He has the information, he's doing the research, he has no interest in talking into a microphone, but I could take somebody else. There are countless people like Inferno out there roaming the earth that don't have a platform That know more about fantasy sports and the guys actually talking about fantasy sports I'm gonna find one and you think it just so happens to be Chris and Tony

Well, no, I think Chris may know someone Tony might know someone I know I know a few people that know a lot more than some of the people I'm hearing out there That's all give me a chance. I know platform. I know a few people that know a lot more than some of the people I'm hearing out there. That's all. Give them a chance. Give them a platform. I don't believe that there are a great many people who know a lot more than Matthew Berry. Like his whole game is. Dan, how hard is it to do this? Listen, don't take a quarterback first five rounds. You know, the gap between the best quarterback and the worst quarterback.

It's not that big of a gap. That's why you don't take one to the fifth or sixth round. But the gap between the best running back and the worst running back, a lot smaller. That's why you take them in the first round. Boom. Information fantasy guy. Matthew Berry joining us next week. Is he? Yeah. He's awesome, man. Matthew Berry. He's great.

He's, he's, he's. Yes. You know what, Dan, earlier you played. Have you heard his Jay-Z story? I have, cause he's in the same fantasy game. You're gonna hear it again Monday. The, uh, you were talking about Warren Sharp and it's like oh This is what fantasy

You know info fantasy content is like I would argue that Matthew Barry finds a way to make it fun and Yeah, and engage his studio had puppets. I got in trouble for using that studio dude that studio Yeah, we tried to use show was awesome. You got, wait, what? Yeah. We tried to use this to do the puppets. Yeah, cause we went up and we did a little stint in Bristol when Dan was on his honeymoon.

And what happened was, is this was at the peak of Music Dome and The Masked Singer, and I was really pushing to do a Music Dome from the Sports Center set. And they did not like that idea at all. And the consolation ended up being, you can do it in Matthew Barry's studio, but don't tell anyone.

And we did do it in Matthew's Barry's studio. And what I heard was the line that we crossed was when we started playing with the puppets. Like it was fine to be doing it in the studio, we were pushing all the little levers and everything, things were flying down. We were like, we were really exploring the space, updating everybody on what happened on the Masked Singer.

And then once we touched the puppet, that's when we really got in trouble and we had a talking to. Where'd you? Alarms went off in the life of Matthew Barry as soon as any of the puppets are touched. Wait, where'd you touch them? What?

All right, let's see what we've got here. Let's see here. Just anything, we'll do it. Careful, just fine. Minor penalty, two minutes asshole Didn't also fail try and fail to get go ahead Thank you. Get out of here. Excellent timing. You've been in fact you've been impeccable today. Yeah, my fault It's my fault on the timing

Let's talk about how you failed already to get Matthew Cherry off the ground on God Bless Football because you wanted an alternative to Matthew Berry and that fantasy expert didn't actually become anything. Well, as before we thought we could get Matthew Berry on the show, then he got on the show and we kind of punted on the idea. Well, Matthew Cherry, guys, spoiler alert, if you are catching up from seasons one through three of God Bless Football on your podcast,

you may wanna change the channel right now because about week four season two of God bless football We introduced Matthew Cherry, which is actually Greg Cody giving Good idea wrong guy. Yeah, no It could have worked But then we also didn't realize there was an actual Matthew Cherry that played football We caused a lot of confusion that week as well and then Greg was busy I believe the following week and then that idea just went away yeah that happens with God bless football Billy do you feel like you're on the same page enough I've

been hearing from Stu gots for several months this guy in Chris's office I'm gonna make him a fantasy star this is not weeks old he's been talking about it all summer this is the first I hear this someone in someone's office yeah what yeah just your regular average Joe Billy I'm telling you I could eat first off I am certain because I trust Chris that this person he's like inferno okay knows more about fantasy than the people talking about him secondly these people who do the research who put in the time, they just need a platform. I'm going to give this person that platform.

That's all. It doesn't have to be a god bless football thing. It could be his own entity. I don't care. You're just charitable work. You just want to give this guy a platform, get him off the ground. No, hold on.

What we're trying to do here with me, Stu Gotz, and Chris is basically almost like an American Idol, but for fantasy. Right? We're going to give people the platform. Hey, you're a great singer. Prove it to America. Correct. Yes with me Stu gots and Chris is basically almost like an American Idol, but for fantasy, right? We're gonna give people the platform. Hey, you're a great singer prove it to America. Correct. You're a great fantasy football expert Prove it to America and then we're gonna give them the platform if they suck We boot him we get somebody else and we're gonna fact-check all the guys who are doing it Because no one else is you know, you're gonna fact-check all the guys Well someone on our staff is but I mean it's not gonna be me

But we are going to check the field Yates is the Matthew Barry is just gonna talk about doing things you don't actually do Like just take a breath I have a tough time sitting down I gotta be I've noticed I like to I like the pace man. I do you're busy man, but it's like you cause these own Good luck this season with God bless football Billy. You're gonna be made crazy Can we give the give the people the stat of the day music, please? We've got competing stats of the day here between me and StuGuy. Start of the day start of the day in this year start of the day

Start of the day start of the day in this year start of the day, start of the day, start of the day, start of the day, start of the day, start of the day, start of the day, start of the day, start of the day. Is yours inside of sports or outside of sports your stat of the day Inside of sports, I think well you would know you'd be the only one who would know Some of its inside some of its outside 5050 let's see what we've got Courtesy of at our Mancini on Twitter, Sister Jean was 12 years old when Thomas Edison died. Beat that!

Is that a better stat that in Finland there are more saunas than cars? Oh wow. It's hard to believe. Which is the better stat? Put it on the poll please, at LeBittardShow. Did you know that in Finland there are more saunas than cars? And weirdly they do both naked.

It's a weird thing about Finland. Summer's the best time to run the way you want. Dial it up with new challenges and programs and bring your workouts with you to make the most of outside sunny days. There's no better way to do that than with Peloton. With Peloton take advantage of how beautiful it is outside right now. You can go on an outdoor run or even a walk if you're not feeling like running. All while working on your tan. Summer's the best time to push your pace. Move how you want. Enhance your fitness journey and feel like your most empowered self. Whether you're prepping for a marathon or improving your pace. Move how you want, enhance your fitness journey and feel like your most empowered self.

Whether you're prepping for a marathon or improving your pace, whatever road lies ahead, your training starts here with Peloton Tread or Tread Plus. Peloton's programs and instructors take you to new heights. Tap into their expertly program workouts and real-time metrics like pace targets that can take your fitness journey to new heights. From their strength classes designed for runners on the Peloton Treader Tread Plus to guided outdoor runs on the Peloton app, Peloton's classes challenge you to be your best. Call yourself a runner with Peloton at OnePeloton.com slash running.

Hey folks, it's Mike Ryan and as you know, our show has changed a lot over the years. You guys knew me when I was 19 years old. I'm now a family man. 38 years old. Man, I've been in this industry for a long time. Grateful to be a part of this show and grateful for one of our long time partners over in Miller Lite. It's the one thing that hasn't changed over the course of this 20 year run.

The great taste of Miller Lite. Another thing that hasn't changed is that it's less filling. Why don't you tell me right now? I'll take an opportunity to lay off for a brief moment to listen to you and tell me what your favorite thing is about the original light beer. Go ahead. Wow, a lot of you spoke at the exact same time. I actually couldn't make out any of it. Whatever it is that you said your favorite thing about Miller Lite was, don't worry. This debate was sparked in 1975 and they still haven't settled it.

You don't have to choose what's best. Miller Lite has great taste and is less filling. 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. Fewer cows and carbs than premium regular beer.