The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 2: Carolina Mike (feat. Lucy Rohden)

Episode Date: November 18, 2025

"I take the 'shut up' part away." Lucy stops by to determine whether James Franklin got a "good job" at Virginia Tech, whether Lane Kiffin is facing an ultimatum, and whether the Panthers have a TikToker to thank for their success. Also, we have a Browns related Gasbag of the Week and a LeBron take that may shock you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stucats podcast. Hey, Dan, it's me, Lucy, and we're here at Texas, Georgia, in beautiful Athens from the best college towns in the nation, and everybody keeps barking at me. Are you the types of bark at somebody? If needed, yes. I'll give people a subtle, just woof. Like, I'll be kind. I would say not often enough. I certainly do.

I did three, four times on the way over here. You have to. You know, they got to know what Athens is about. I have the overalls on. I take off one of the straps and I'm like, I'm like, take this from me. And then I get down on all fours. So I'm reenacted?

Okay. And I'm like, I'm like puzzling at a fan. I'm like, it's like a leash. You know what I mean? I feel like if a Texas fan came up to me, me I probably bark you know if they were if they were starting the aggression a little bit I'd be like yeah what do you think Texas fans should move if Texas moves at people they're just getting a lot more barks right back I was

not to say yeah this is not gonna be good if they start moving at people I think it would be hilarious I like that I think they should it wouldn't be that intimidating and but it would be entertaining for sure I was like thinking I was like what sound do long horns make and obviously the real answer obviously is moving you know like would it be like a D Oh, definitely a deep moo. It's like guttural. Like, I can't make this a... Wait, Rose! You!

Are y'all scared of Archmanning? Do we not care about him? What's the approach there? I love my arch. You know, I love the University of Georgia. We had the arch. I don't even know who Archmanning is, honestly. It's honestly not concerned at all whatsoever. I mean, he has, sure, some good throws every now and then, but Nah, nothing to be concerned about. He's no gunner. No gunner. I mean, Gunner's chef's kiss. Rumor has it, I mean, I think he was named after the Arch for the University of Georgia, so.

I think Arch Manning is actually rated pretty well. I think it's his auxiliary players, his running backs, wide receivers that don't bring as much as a punch as Georgia has this year. Kind of like that perfectly rated, overrated, good football player. When it comes to pressure, kind of falls back a little bit. Nepo baby? Yeah. I think he is coming around. He was overrated, over-hyped, I should say, at the first of the season, but he's coming around.

I think next year he will be a top-tier quarterback. Extremely overrated. I'm not going to lie. He was supposed to be that high-sman front-runner. No, he's not as good as people think. He's not bad, but he's not as good as people think he is. Okay, so who do we have here? Yeah, this is Toro and Zora.

They look like Longhorn. Yeah, well, there are Bevo's backups. How long have we been doing Bevo's backup? Well, so she is 12 and he's 10, and so we've been traveling with him their whole lives. Okay, so what's, oh, we got the cord caught. Can I move your paw, buddy? You think you could be the offensive coordinator? That's a yes.

Do you think Texas fans would be happy or sad if Sark decided to leave for the Titans job? That's a great question. I mean, they should just be sad all the time because they're rooting for Texas, so. I think they'd probably be sad because, I mean, think about it. Who else do they got? I think they would be sad. because who are you going to get that's better to replace it? I think Sark would be more sad if you left for the Titan job.

I'm not going to lot. With the amount of NIO money Texas has, I think he can probably spend more money with the longhorns than he can with the Titans and be more successful. This trip to Athens was brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app and use code Lucy for $20 off your first order to term supply. What do you even look like? I don't even know.

Elmo Animal, I've gotten a few of that. I've told like a runway type of outfit. There's a lot of option you could go with. So how do you put this together? Yeah, so over the course of last semester, I collected about 200 pom-poms as I left the stadium, pocketing about 20 each week, just, you know, got a shirt, some pants that I wasn't wearing anymore, and just hot-gluted the trick. It was perfect. Do you have like a name, you call yourself?

I call myself pom-pom man, typically. Pretty straightforward. Do you guys miss Carson Beck at all? Not at all. Get him out. Not even a little bit? Not even a little bit. I think he's starting to show exactly the quarterback that he really is. He's a good quarterback, but when you put pressure on him and he has to be. to come through. He's not what you think he is. I mean, when I just see him throwing his team under

the bus, I mean, I'm glad he's out of here. They wanted him. Yeah, and they got it. I mean, they paid like four million. It wasn't worth that. He's not worth that. Yeah, I mean, everybody was saying Carson Beck, it was Georgia's fault. And then he went and actually turned into Carson Beck and through four interceptions. And, I mean, I'm just happy that he's finally revealing himself. I think he had like a Halloween mask on or something for the first four weeks. But yeah, no, I'm kind of, we like Gunner. Gunner's our guy. I mean, I've been my watching him play some games and stuff. And like, I'm definitely happy that he found his crew.

I feel like he has a really good fit there. But, you know, what I'm about to say to that? Boom. Okay, so here's the situation. Rose's job is to film B-roll on the field. Myself and Mike Malley, who you may or may not know, are up in the press box, uploading, working, watching football. So we look at Rose's footage and it's entirely all of Matthew McConaughey.

She did not get shots of anything else but Matthew McConaughey. She's a movie out of that town. Yeah, but that is not your job. And then as we are walking down to the field to meet Rose at the end of the game, who do we meet Matthew McConaughey? Rose, did you meet him? No. We just look at each other, but he was ignoring me.

All right, all right, all right. Dan, some teams just have that dog in them. And some teams don't. And that would be Texas that doesn't. That was unpleasant. Folks, the leaves are turning. The weather's getting a little chillier. That means a football games are more important.

That means football time. Should be Miller time. Game day hits different with a Miller light in your hand. From jaw-dropping touchdowns to fantasy heartbreaks, my fantasy season's over already. But you know what makes that better? Miller time. It's the beer that's been there for every moment.

50 years of great taste, simple ingredients, and then iconic golden color you can spot from across the room. And here's the kicker. It's just 96 calories, 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces, the original light beer since 1975 and still hitting different five decades later. So whatever your game day looks like, remember Miller Time is always a good time. Miller Lite, great taste, 96 calories. Go to Miller Lite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you. Or you can pick up Miller Lite 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. Thursday night football is on and it's only on Prime Video this week. The Buffalo Bills and Houston Texans collide in an AFC showdown. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. Eastern with football's best party TNF tonight. Not a prime member, not a problem. Simply sign up for a 30-day free trial. It's the Bills and the Texans on Thursday at 7 p.m. Eastern only on Prime Video.

Restrictions apply, see Amazon.com slash Amazon Prime for details. Real quick, want to talk to you about how GameTime is the official ticketing partner of the Dan Levitard show. Grateful that GameTime has been on with us as long as they have because I use this product all the time. I travel for football if I'm in a new city. I like to see what concerts are in town. One of the very first things I check is my favorite app for the secondary ticket market, the GameTime app. Why? Because it gives me zone deals, favorites, panoramic seat views. Most importantly, the lowest price guarantee. Because if GameTime does not have the lowest price for you, game time will credit you 110% of the difference. I've lived it, folks. I've been at a place where I saw cheaper tickets. They credited me. It's legit. Game time ticket coverage means your purchase is covered with the most flexible customer service policy in the ticketing industry. Take the guesswork out of buying NFL tickets with GameTime. Download the game time app,

create an account, and use code Dan for $20 off. Your first purchase, terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code D-A-N for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download the game time app today. Don Lebertard.

He seems like a not-nice guy, and he's always been a not-nice guy. I don't care for him, and I hope he has the day he deserves. Oh, let's see. Stugats. I hope he has the day he deserves.

That's how I get people when they're really mean to me. I'm not like, go F yourself. I'm like, I hope you have the day you deserve. I think it's so much It's a great kind, it's a great kind insult. Yes. It's beautiful. It's leaving it to the cosmos to

sort it out. That's a less southern, bless your heart. This is the Dan Lebatar show with these two gods. From down under, Australian Wallabies rugby coach Joseph Schmidt is reporting today that Alexander Barkoff may be back on ice with the Panthers as soon as January. All right. We've officially beaten that joke into the ground. He's run out of coaches to use. I don't know why he chose that. He makes some choices that are unusual around here.

Let me do the etymology of humor here. Part of the joke is you start with the famous coaches and then you work your way down to really, really obscure coaches. Major penalty, five minutes, spruiting comedy. Enhancing comedy is more like. Okay, you can just leave for a little while. We were welcoming back after Lucy Rodin has told us of her travels. And it's too bad, too, because I wanted your thoughts on James Franklin. You came in here saying that Virginia Tech had a shiny toy.

They just hired a shiny toy. But instead, I'll get Lucy's appearance. opinion on this instead of yours, an informed one, an expert one instead of, as I mentioned, yours. Welcome, Lucy. That is an ill-fitting hat you are wearing. I salute you for wearing it. You shouldn't wear, am I wrong about this? I'm not a stylish person. I just think the brim is a little too straight. I think it's a little too wide. It looks more like a canopy, like an awning. It looks like a bit like an awning there. So am I wrong that your hat is too straight? And it's a little bit too large as well, I would say.

Man, damn. Okay. Do you want to tell me my sweatshirt's ugly, too? Is it Jeremy okay? Already did that to me last week. I don't think your sweatshirt is ugly. Okay, it is the fashion. I will say when I bought this hat, I agreed with you.

And I thought the brim was a little too straight. But then someone was like, hey, that's the coolest hat I've ever seen. You should buy it. This is what happens, Lucy. And then when I was waiting in here in the waiting room, Lewis literally said, hey, I want to say nice hat, not asshole. nice hat. It's a cool hat. And I get complimented on it all the time. People are DMing me trying to buy this hat off me and you think it's ugly. This is what

happens, Lucy. You walk through the streets and people are complimenting you on your style. And then you walk in here and Dan says, is that a punishment? I don't think it's an ugly hat. I just believe. Did he ask you if it was a punishment? Yes, he did do that to me last week. I saw that he did. He did. The security guard in the street, the concierge in the lobby, every person in that room, you can ask them to a man, to a woman. My cardigan is great. On Jeremy, five minutes for being Jeremy. Do you understand sarcasm?

Again, the hat is nice. Lucy, the hat itself is nice. It's just the brim. You just bend the brim. It really doesn't bend the brim. Like, look at this. That's not something that's going to happen here. I also have glasses on, so it doesn't help.

I think it looks cool. I think you have to take risk in fashion. things work out, sometimes things don't. I think it's worked out fine. Again, purple is one of my colors. Fair enough. We'll just agree to disagree and move on. No, I'm right. James Franklin as the hire for Virginia Tech, and now the buyout at Penn State is slightly less because why is my dad not in the penalty box? I don't understand what your dad is doing. Your dad just does, he plays by his own rules. What did you think of Virginia Tech hiring James Franklin? This is exactly what I thought was going to happen. Like when James Franklin got fired, I was like Virginia

Tech is the most natural landing spot. And despite all the things I've said about James Franklin, I really do think this is a good hire. He has a ton of experience in the area. He was an assistant coach at both Maryland and James Madison. Virginia Tech has announced they're putting a ton of money into their athletics department, like $229 million. And like James Franklin, we know he could build a program. He's done that with Penn State. He sort of did that with Vanderbilt. Like, that is something that he has experience at and the issue was obviously the big games. Not to be rude,

that's a little less likely in the ACC. The odds you're running into Ohio State every year is it's not really going to happen as much. So I really think that this is a good move by Virginia Tech because you have the DMV right there. That's an area that James Franklin is going to be able to recruit really well.

I think that this will get Virginia Tech back into competition for winning the ACC. I certainly don't think that it's like a national champion relationship level spot with that James Franklin hire, but I do think that this is what Virginia Tech needed, and I think this works out well. And now with Penn State, the buyouts drop to, what, $9 million, so you can kind of guess what his salary is going to be at Virginia Tech based off of that. But not me, because I'm not good at math. Lucy, do you think that was his top choice if he had the

pick of the litter? Yeah, I would think so because I don't think that LSU or Florida were possibilities. I think that it's like a cultural fit, like sort of like Virginia Tech and James Franklin just seems like it works. I don't think James Franklin was like dying to go to Arkansas or anything, which Arkansas Twitter has been so weird this week. They truly believe they're getting every single head coach. So they were like devastated when James Franklin went to Virginia Tech. I think that this is the most natural fit for both sides. And I really do think this works out to a certain extent. Is Virginia Tech a good job because Frank Beamer sort of made it a good job? But is it a good job? I think with the, with Virginia Tech saying, hey, we're investing a ton of money.

into this, then it becomes a good job. I would say that he's built such a culture there that like Virginia Tech doesn't necessarily resonate with like people my age. Is this like powerhouse? But like people a little bit older will sort of feel that Virginia Tech's a great job. I think James Franklin has the ability to make this a really competitive job. Like once again, you have the ACC, which just is not as good as these other conferences. The competition is a little less. And I think something that's like weirdly kind of interesting about this is this comes off the heels of Maryland's telling everyone that Mike Loxley is going to stay there another year, which I'm assuming half the people who were listening to the show had no idea

Mike Loxley was still there. That works out really well for Virginia Tech because that's your top competition when recruiting the DMV, and they're not going to go play for Mike Loxley at Maryland. They're going to go play for James Franklin at Virginia Tech. That just seems like a better fit. So I really truly think that this is going to work out for both parties. Look at this current landscape in the ACC. You'd be surprised if Virginia Tech was a player next year because I would not.

Greg, did you have any thoughts here on James Franklin to Virginia Tech? Well, the buyout, I think, went from almost $50 million to like $10 million. So it seems like the winner here is Penn State. How were they able to negotiate that buyout down that far? So his contract was written so that it was an offsetting buyout. So I'm assuming because that buyout has dropped to $9 million, you can sort of figure out that, okay Virginia Tech is paying James Franklin X amount of money because the contract was like, hey, we're going to give you this $50 million, but you have to go find another job.

You have to get that job and get a salary that's market value. And then whatever you make there, we will pay the difference versus what you originally had. So it was like kind of standard just contract stuff. So we don't know James Franklin's like contract yet at Virginia Tech, but you can kind of take a guess. Once again, that is for someone who's good at math to figure out. Lucy, is that the key right there when you say you have to get a job that's market value? Because I would think, hey, if I'm James Franklin, want to take a really small contract, but you have to use that money on NIL.

Yeah. So, like, Virginia Tech has already said that they were putting this money into their athletic department. That was something that they announced, like, a few months ago, that it was $229 million that would be invested into Virginia Tech Athletics. So, like, theoretically, you could have used the money from James Franklin's salary to, you know, boost NIL back. But I don't think he was ever going to make what he was making at Penn State to do that. And his contract did require that he takes a job that, like, you would be like, that's appropriate for him to make that amount of money. They are on their fifth losing record in

the last six seasons, and they haven't won more than eight games since 2017. If you think of them as a big program, you're doing so on information that's 10 years old, because they have not been a relevant program. But James Franklin was the first person to make Vanderbilt matter. He made Vanderbilt matter, though, with a whole lot of questionable shit going on off the field. No, yeah, and that's true. And that's something you have to look out for, especially when like this year of a lot of college football coaches getting hired that have less than stellar, or fire, excuse me, that have less than stellar reputations. I think you can look at the Penn State job as well and think about how, you know, where that program was at when he inherited it. Obviously, Bill O'Brien did some work to

kind of bring them back a little bit. But he was taking for Penn State specifically a program that had been decimated by NCAA, you know, horrifying, horrifying scandals that had really like, you know, truly almost broken that football program to bring them back to where they were really impressive because a lot of people have been like, why would James Franklin work here if Brent Pry didn't? Because Brent Pry was the D.C. under James Franklin at Penn State. It's because Brent Pry had never built a program up before. James Franklin has done that. It's one of the things that he has done really well and has shown that he can do really well. The sort of question you have with James Franklin is what happens when Virginia Tech comes back if that happens? And now you're competing

for a college football playoff and you got a big game again. And your in-game decisions are going to matter a lot more when you're in the ACC championship game against Miami or potentially a good Clemson team again. That's when we're going to start to see the old like ugly kind of James Franklin head like up here. But for right now, for what Virginia Tech needs, James Franklin and I think is the best guy for that job. Lucy, how much do you think skin weighs? Skin? Yep, the skin on your human body.

20 pounds? Wow. Wow. Oh, my God. You are great at this game. You are wonderful at the how much do you think skin weighs game? I didn't think you get that exactly right. Where is Lane Kiffin going to end up?

Do you have any thoughts here? Well, this one is weird because last night it came out, the athletic reported that Ole Miss came to Lane Kiffon. Kiffin and was like, you have to decide by the Egg Bowl. So by the Mississippi State game, it's going to be LSU, it's going to be Florida, or it's going to be us, which I think is kind of a bold move for the Ole Miss administration to make, because it was reported this week that Lane Kiffin's family, not Lane Kiffin, got a trip to Baton Rouge where they were shown around the town. And then the same thing actually happened earlier that week in Gainesville. So like,

those seem to be the two primary options. Lane Kiffin is taking the approach that it feels like he's going to leave because he's not explicitly saying, saying, hey, I'm not going to leave and I'm not signing a contract. Like, Matt Ruhl at Nebraska signed an extension, one that I would not have given to him, but he signed an extension. Dan Lannan came out and said, I will not leave Oregon. I will be here as long as they want me. And Layton Kiffin's like, I don't want to talk about this right now, guys, what a game, huh? Like, I don't want to mention it. So it does feel like he has one foot out the door. I think what's really interesting about this is now that there's an ultimatum, now that there's a deadline. Old Miss feels like not necessarily a

but Ole Miss will most likely make the college football playoff at this point. What if Lane Kiffin says, okay, I'm going to LSU, I'm going to Florida, where does that leave Ole Miss during the playoff? Who is going to be coaching that team? Because he has an ultimatum in front of him here. It's very sort of weird how Ole Miss has gone about handling this. Like, I personally wouldn't have done that because, you know, maybe if you want someone to stay, you don't give them an ultimatum.

But it's a very sort of weird situation. I feel like he's going to leave personally. Can you walk me through what happened at Michigan State? So they get Mel Tucker, they give him a giant extension. He was good for one year with Kenneth Walker as his running back. And now they vacated three years' worth of wins. They were fined a small amount of money, but also 1.5% of their athletic, or I'm sorry, their football budget, which is a big number. That seems like a legitimate penalty, but the forfeiting of victories, that's silly, right?

Yeah, it's weird, especially because, like, as an Iowa fan, when this came out, Iowa, like, the university came out, and they were like, we are not marking any of those games against Michigan State that we lost as wins. Like, we're not doing that. So, like, I don't, I've never understood, like, forfeiting the victories because, like, what does that really mean? Mel Tucker is sort of like, he's kind of a, speaking of Matt Rule a little bit earlier, this is a very different situations, because Mel Tucker ended up being kind of like a gross dude, and I don't think Matt Rule is, where, like, the funniest part of these college football, like hiring cycles is how everyone gets so scared that they are willing to commit to somebody who was bad because I believe they gave Mel Tucker that giant extension after the LSU job opened up because they were terrified he was going to leave when in all actuality all that money should have gone to Kenneth Walker the third that was what made Michigan State so good that season and so it was just a bad judgment move on Michigan State to extend this guy that they only really had seen one year of which just ended up being an anomaly obviously everything went down though they're hill from there where he was, you know, a really creepy dude to someone

whose entire job is to teach you about really creepy dudes. And then now they've hired Jonathan Smith, which this just doesn't seem like it's working out either. That's another interesting sort of school to watch right now. They're a really bad football team. Do you hire Jonathan or fire Jonathan Smith given the competition around you? It's a weird spot. Michigan State's an athletic department that just like, there are messy stuff going on there all the time. Can you explain to me, because I didn't see the game.

Explain to me how Texas A&M got down 30 to 3 and explained to me how they won that game by allowing zero points in the second half but scoring four touchdowns. Because that, without having seen, it seems to me the wildest result in college football this season. I only got to watch the first half. And the first half, let me tell you, you don't want to be throwing interceptions. And you don't want to let South Carolina get hot. It was just so quick the way South Carolina was moving, where it would be? Okay, you pick off Marcel Reed, 80-yard touchdown pass.

All right, cool. Tech Stadium has the ball again. Marcel Reed throws another interception. All right, you're driving down the field again. It was just like efficient defense from South Carolina that they were able to like really translate into points very, very quickly. I know that you say it's the most shocking result of the college football season. And I agree with that in the sense that that's a crazy comeback and like congratulations A&M.

It's not shocking in the result that that happens. happened to South Carolina. That is something that South Carolina football just is. It is a level of like stupidity and absurdity and just I cannot believe that happened to us. That is what South Carolina is. I did not get to watch much of the second half from what I saw later. It was just that Texas A&M was a completely different football team. It was that Mike Elko remembered, hey, I signed a fat extension this morning. We're going to turn this around. I think that is one of the more Texas A&M hasn't played anybody with a winning record in the SEC, I believe, at this point. but that was their most impressive win to me

because you're in that position where you're going to have to fight back you're going to have to show that you really are one of the most talented teams in the country this really solidified Texas A&M for me there because that's a difficult situation to be in especially getting down at home like that in the first half that's embarrassing stuff

and when your state troopers are fighting people that's not good Lucy is there a storyline going into the playoff rankings coming out tonight that you're most interested in I think Mike Ryan's not there right he is not here okay cool Yeah, Miami Notre Dame I'm interested in. It seems like there's a lot of things going online with him about that,

so I'm a little nervous to talk about it. Miami Notre Dame to see how those two sort of line up will be interesting, and I'm also really excited or intrigued to see what happens following Alabama, Oklahoma this weekend. For me, anyone who's telling you that Texas still has a shot at the playoff, I think that's wrong. I think they're dead. I think that is a team that should not be in the playoff. I'm excited to see what happens with Oklahoma after the win this weekend,

how they jump, and how far Alabama falls. What did you make of Oklahoma, Alabama? That was weird in that Alabama had twice as much yardage in that game as Oklahoma. Oklahoma is only good at defensive line play. Yeah, no, it was literally an entirely defensive victory for Oklahoma. That was it. Their defense was just so good that they won. Their offense can be pretty anemic.

It's very, very single-faceted. They cannot score many points. It's very Brent Venables of them, but like, hey, if you win, like, if your defense is that good, which their defense is that good, you're going to be competitive in everything. I don't see them moving on. I think they're a playoff team with that win. I think that's a good enough win that's going to take you far. And I think that if you look at their record,

a loss of Texas and Red River, that doesn't count to me. Red River is a weird, made-up, like, vortex in the universe where whatever happens there just, like, isn't real. And then a loss to Ole Miss. I think that they are a lock for the playoff right now. I don't see them moving on beyond the first round, though, because their offense is so anemic. It was just such a good defensive game for them that they were able to win.

Put it on the poll, Juju, please. Is Texas, Oklahoma, just a weird vortex in the universe that isn't real at Levitard show? Chris Cody, make yourself useful here to put the punctuation on this segment with the only sound you're good at making. There you go. Let's go ahead and do Lucy's Internet Minute Minute. Oh, what? Time to get in it. It's Lucy's Internet Minute. You are good at making that sound.

Uh-huh. So we have a sports Internet Minute today. Yay. Yay. Everybody clap. Yes. And it's about the Carolina Panthers. Really?

Yeah, the clapping is still going. So obviously the Carolina Panthers are having a weird fun year. And there's a direct correlation with a TikToker named Carolina Mike. And he is a Carolina fan that lives in Minnesota. And all he does is every week before the game, he sings the same song he wrote. But it's really not about the Carolina Panthers. It's called $150,000. And the song is like, hey, if I had $150,000, what would I do?

And he was like, well, I wouldn't buy the Carolina Panthers because that's not enough money to buy the Carolina Panthers. But maybe I would give some money to the Carolina Panthers. Maybe I would buy some tickets for the Carolina Panthers. Maybe I'd buy some gear for the Carolina Panthers. And ever since he has started singing this song and getting the Carolina Panthers like fandom really going, they've had a very good season. And they actually invited him to perform this song called $150,000, which you should all look up because it's really, really catchy at a game a few weeks ago. and that has been the secret to the Carolina Panthers success this year.

They have a better record than the Kansas City Chiefs. I proclaimed their season done after they beat the dolphins. So just for the record, after Carolina beat the dolphins, I proclaim their season done after Seattle lost to the Rams. I said they're the best team in the NFL. Lucy, thank you for being on with us. We appreciate your time. As always, she is headed to Gainesville this weekend.

Yes, as the Gators play host to the volunteers, Did you and Lucy, did you see each other? Nah, I didn't get to meet up with her this weekend. You were in the same place. What happened? Yeah, no, I understand. But, like, you know, it's a big city. She's working.

I'm working. Didn't work out. I'm actually curious to hear your thoughts on what you felt about the Georgia vibe. You know what? It's interesting that you say that because this was my second time in Athens this season. And as we were leaving, we were saying to each other felt different this time. And we couldn't explain it. So that's really interesting that you say that.

And not like different in a good way. No, no. Something was off about Athens and even around the stadiums. We did the show like right out front of the stadium. Something was off, Lucy, but I can't put my finger on it. You're 100% right. It's kind of sleepy. Yes, it was sleep.

And it was such a monster game, especially because right before it, you know, Oklahoma, they beat Alabama. So kind of, you know, opens door a little bit more for Georgia. It was a sleepy atmosphere. You're right. It's all the opioids. Was it haunting? Lucy, make a ruling on this.

Is this sound here haunting? Let's go dolphin. Yes. Yeah, echoy pirate sounds. That is Dan Marino starting a let's go dolphins chant in Madrid. Let's go dolphin. It's the trailing. Dolfes.

Yeah, and the audio, I'm sorry, the video accompaniment is Ed Orgeron made by AI. as a pirate, which doesn't have any link to anything. But if he was singing, yo-ho-ho, ho, let's go dolphins, it would sound something like this. Let's go, don't. Thank you, Lucy. Appreciate the time. On Fox 1, you can stream your favorite live sports, so you're there for the biggest moments as they happen. For me, I cannot deal with spoilers, so I need to see it live, especially on college football

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Stugats. Wee! This is the Dan Leavatar show with the Stugats. I've been told that the crack staff here has finally, and they do this intermittently, gotten gas bag of the weak sound. Are you guys interested in hearing? I see all over ESPN they're arguing about Shador Sanders. It's maddening.

It's a ratings grab. I don't understand why we're talking so much about a fifth round pick unless all you care about is fame. You don't care about the football. You don't care about anything. You just care about fame. And in Cleveland, we've got Ken Carmen. I don't know who he's arguing with here. Anthony Lima, his co-host.

Okay. So they are arguing. and Shador Sanders has created a great deal of tension and passion. Let's go ahead and do. And it starts with Ken Carmen and he's talking about how this was a, like, Shadur was supposed to be a developmental pick. They used the term development. I didn't use the term development. You didn't.

They did. So I'm going to blame that. It's not what this league is. It doesn't matter what this league is. It's who they are. But this league is not Kenny about making sure to force feed a fifth round pick that should not have been drafted after they took a third round quarterback. That is not what this league is. We are not a charity case.

This league is not set up to make sure that Deon Sanders' son gets a thousand wrecks. I'm sorry, Josina, and I'm sorry, Ken. And I'm sorry all these people that are trying to act like the Browns are sabotaging him. He's a fifth round pick. I didn't say it was sabotage. What are you guys expecting this league is about? Hold on, hold on, hold on. This is a little league.

Hold on. This is a T-ball. Hold on. We're not trying to foster some great environment for kids to learn. This is not. This is not sports talk radio. in Seattle. This isn't, no, shut up for a second here.

Sorry to say it like that. I take that word away. I take the shut up part away. But let me get back to the matter because now you got me really pissed off at you because let me tell you the truth of this matter. You are not talking about any NFL team. You are talking about the Cleveland Browns.

That's who you are talking about. You need to adjust your conversation to this football team because that's the entire reason we're in this quagmire. Gas bag of the week. Quagmire. He immediately regretted and took back the shut up. He goes, shut up!

No, I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean that word. Put it on the poll at Lebitard show. Are you allowed to immediately retract your shut up while taking the sting out of your shut up? If you do it right away, I think it's okay. Really? If you let any amount of time go by, it's like, nah, no, it's too late.

You got to own it. He did it right away. You can't regret it. You got to own it. If you tell somebody to shut up, own it. No, but he's allowed to acknowledge that was not nice of me. I'm taking that back. You know, right away. I

would forgive. You have been very hard on LeBron James, Aslo. You have said that LeBron James is faking an injury. Oh, yeah. I did think it made me laugh to see the headline, LeBron James, and then parenthetically,

Syatica, returns to the Lakers. You are thinking what's about to happen here, given that the usage rate of Luca, has made the Lakers look like the Mavs that went to the finals. Because when you give Luca the ball all the time and just allow him to dominate the ball, he will dominate the game.

And, I mean, I'd be curious about your thoughts here because the Lakers with Luca through 14 games and Luca's missed a few of them and Austin Reeves have been great. They haven't looked like they missed LeBron at all, even though statistically LeBron was a top 10 player in the league last year. And you also have to point out, you know, Luca's usage rate and all that, this is Luca in the best shape of his life right now with that usage rate.

No, I think tonight's super interesting. He's questionable return tonight, so maybe he returns against Utah. Lakers are 10 and 4. They're having a terrific start to the season. I think this is super interesting, like how he's going to be reintegrated into the lineup. And, you know, like if they lose to a Utah team that sucks, that's a fun story tomorrow. That's right at my wheelhouse. I didn't know your name was Amin.

Well, no, he first started off. He asked the question to me, and I'm curious to hear what you have to say. He was following it over to you. Okay. No, he first directed that at me. I don't know. The question came in. No, I will say, Dan, you said Zaslo, you've been critical.

Dan did the move of, started with Zaslo, and then midway through was like, I mean, I'm also interested in you. Yeah, that's what I was to watch. I got your back, Dan. That question was coming to me. Shut up for a second here. I think there was an original Zazlo. Am I on face here? You are on face.

He started originally. Shut up for a second here. Shut up for a second here. Hold on. Take that shut up back. All right. You know what's funnier, a bigger story, a crazier story? What's that?

We talk about, oh, the Lakers haven't missed him. Hey, guys, the NBA hasn't missed him. Y'all don't feel that? Like, he's been gone a month, and I haven't seen anywhere. People are like, when's LeBron coming? Nobody cares. But is that because we know he's coming back at some point? No, I think it's because, well, first and foremost,

because the Lakers are playing well without him. But beyond that, it's like, yeah, this league is evolving. The stories that we're told for 22 years or whatever are coming to a close. And there are new stories that people care about now.

People care about Shea. People care about Donovan Mitchell. People care about all these stars all over the league. It's like crazy because even I would say even a year ago. It's like, how is the NBA going to adjust it when LeBron's gone? And like, we just had a month of it. I'm like, Justin, pretty fine.

And pretty quickly, if you ask me. The Lakers are 17th in offensive rating and 15th in defense. rating. Is LeBron going to make either of those things better? I mean, Zazz, you could take this one. Yeah, Zaz, take this one. I mean, he should make them better offensively. He's not going to make them better defensively, but he should make them better offensively because even if we're not talking about him scoring, you know, the smartest player in the league maybe. He's going to be able to fit

himself in offensively and help there, I would think. The question we all ask is like, how much is he willing to relinquish? This is the ultimate control freak. Not that it was a bad thing, obviously to great success. But at this point, is he willing to relinquish that control and to be something lesser than what he probably believes he can do? Or maybe he looks forward to it. He's like, man, I'm old.

I want to save myself for April, May, and possibly June. And so in order for that to happen, I need to let Luca and Austin Reeves do more. We're going to overanalyze everything. I love it. It's going to be fun to watch what happens because they have been winning, and Luca has looked great. Yesterday on the show 24 hours ago, we ended at about this time the second hour of the show talking about Bernie Kozar and Bernie Kozhar headed in to get his liver replaced. You have an update for us, Greg. Did you talk to Bernie's friends and family?

Just by text, not in person, but the surgery went well. He woke up feeling great. And in Bernie's style, he said, said I'm looking forward to the rest of my week and I'm looking forward to the rest of my life. It was a long-awaited surgery that he desperately needed after one disappointment and apparently it went well and that's the update. Y'all ain't ready

for my analysis, man. I was just, he wants to say what he said before the show and I'm like, you get out of here. We don't want your take on this. See, Judge Me right here, Dan. They were playing back and forth here of like, I think I should do it. And I was like, no. Yes. Amin's opinion before the show was

uh, not helpful, uh, was, uh, not something that should be on air. Oh, I never heard that. Uh, but, uh, when I went to, uh, Cody on this, uh, I thought he would have more in the way of an update, but all he did was shoot Bernie a text and get a response. Yeah, I apologize that I didn't speak directly with Bernie during the surgery. Uh, while the surgery was ongoing, uh, You know, he was under general anesthesia, but still, he might have come to the phone and spoken to me during the surgery. I apologize, I didn't make that happen. Greg, you know where you messed up. You should have called Spoh. Because I'm pretty sure Spoh would have had an update on Bernie's.

Excellent. Spoh was brought up unprovoked by LeBron James yesterday. Just throwing that out there. LeBron James said, you know who always said positionless basketball? Eric Spolstra. And, you know, what else he said is that he could fit on any team in the NBA. Fit in, don't fit out. By the way, Bernie Kosar.

is also projecting that Barkoff's going to be back on the ice a lot sooner than most people think. Former Panthers Minority owner Bernie Kosar. That's right. There you go. I like it. I have no idea if it's true, but if it is. It is true. What do you mean you don't know if it's true?

You didn't know that Bernie Kozor was a minority owner of the Panthers? No. What was you? Like 1,000th of one scintilla. Dad, remember the time we ran into Bernie Kozar at Chili's? Yes. He paid for my meal. He did?

No way. I brought that up to him when I talked to him Saturday. I brought that up and he remembered it, yeah. What did you order? Oh, God, I don't remember. Two for 20? No, he, after the fact. This is a new and an improved Dan Levitar show with the Stugas.

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