The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 2: Connor McUnderacheiver

Episode Date: June 5, 2024

We finish off veggie talk before heaping praise onto the people on YouTube who help us fix things. Then, the most famous sports journalist in the world, Greg Cote, stops by to share what it feels like to be an international star AND to double-down on his takes. Plus, Stugotz is blown away by C.J. Stroud's QB takes at a young age, and it leads us to the classic body switch hypothetical. Plus, Steve Levy is here to laugh at Cote's take, the majesty of Sunrise, some Florida Panthers players who deserve credit for their dominance, the LACK of New York bias on his ESPN coverage, Canadians rooting for Edmonton, and who needs to step up for the Oilers to potentially beat Florida. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. This is the Don Leventor Show with the Stugats Podcast. Lettuce is easily like substituted. That is true. Also, I feel like every like like one or two years, there's a weird lettuce outbreak and they're like can't eat lettuce for a bit. I don't even like lettuce. And everyone goes on fine. You just made it the best of them. That's why I'm not talking about me talking about life. And it's just because you you can either have it on a salad or in a burger. I just think because salads are

very widely consumed. It does have a lot of uses. But we've we've named two. Salads, sandwiches, we got the burgers. Sandwiches in general, more than just burgers. I mean, that's a big, those are big categories. Lettuce wraps, garnishes. I'm just saying. Lettuce wraps, Billy. You can have other wraps. See, like lettuce. You need the cold texture of the lettuce going up against the hot texture of the chicken. This is the point I was trying to make. Lettuce is You need the cold texture of the lettuce going up against the hot texture of the chicken. This is the point I was trying to make.

Lettuce is more important than Brussels sprouts. Brussels sprouts taste great, and I love them when they're cooked great, but my life would change more if lettuce went away than if Brussels sprouts went away. How would your life change? Because then every burger, I'm just like, I want lettuce into a fun play on.

You just said you didn't like lettuce. I don't. I'm not talking about- I'm not talking about anything. She doesn't have a burger. I'm talking about society here. No, you just said my life. Yeah.

I'm speaking in general. You can't decide on behalf of society. It was your opinion. Most people like lettuce on sandwiches. But your life would not change. Right, but most people's would change more than a person's life. So it's not that important to you.

It's important to everyone else is what you're saying. You got it. Right. Hmm. Okay. That was a sigh right there. So I think we're supposed to talk to Greg Cody, but I don't know what's going on anymore.

We are. I saw Taylor coming in today. Yeah. Not to put his business out there, I saw Taylor coming in today. He just did. He was coming a different way than he normally comes, because he normally rides his scooter like up the garage

and parks like inside, but I saw him coming in the front door of the building that we work at. And I asked him like, no scooters today. He's like, no, I took the bus. My scooter has a flat tire. And then he said, I was like, well, how long? He's like a couple of weeks. And I'm like, well, why don't you get like,

how don't you get a change? And he's like, oh, I don't know where to get a change. And we started going down this path and I'm like, Taylor, like I can figure out how to fix your scooter tire, not me personally, society. But I said, society can figure out how to change your tire. Just go to YouTube, someone has put up a video of your probably exact model scooter changing the tire,

just order the parts and I'm sure you can figure it out. You're a resourceful person, you're a smart person, you can figure it out. Because I guess he had a bad experience with, this has happened before where his tire got blown out or got a flat tire, whatever. He went to some guy named Tire Tony. Tire Tony went- Scooter Tony.

Oh, Scooter Tony, sorry. So Scooter Tony fixed his tire one day and then the next day it was flat again so he went back to Scooter Tony. Scooter Tony tried to charge him another $120 to fix his scooter tire that he charged him $120 for the day before. Taylor, again, not in my place to put anything else out, Taylor went and wrote him a bad Google review while he was in the guy's place and walked out.

Then Scooter Tony called him to complain about the fact that he got a bad review and Taylor didn't answer. But the Scooter Tony bridge was burned when Scooter Tony tried to double up the payment on this. So we said, Taylor, just buy the tire, whatever, we'll figure it out, we can go. And then he was going on YouTube and found a person that can change his tire, we just don't know the parts

or how exactly to change the tire. Not Scooter Tony. Not Scooter Tony, we're done with Scooter Tony. Scooter Tony tried to rip off. And if anyone out there is planning on doing business with Scooter Tony, don't. Don't. Let that be your warning to anyone out there. He's looking into with Scooter Tony, don't. Don't. Let that be your warning to anyone out there.

He's looking into the camera and he's pointing, he's serious. If you're trying to rip off Taylor, don't do it. And if you see someone named Scooter Tony, which Taylor admitted he didn't know if the guy's name was Tony, I don't know where Scooter Tony came from, it's just what Mike Fuentes called it,

so there may not be a Scooter Tony, but don't go to Scooter Tony. Anyway, the point is, people. There's a point. Yes, people. There's a much larger point here. There always is, Roy. It just depends on how long it takes to get there.

We were able to find the video of how to fix Taylor's scooter on YouTube within minutes. And I want to give a shout out to all of the people in society, all the heroes in society, who decide on their spare time to put up videos on YouTube fixing random things.

Because I've been able to fix so many things that are specific to me, because some helpful person just decided, you know what, I'm gonna put this on YouTube. I had my old refrigerator, it had a situation where we would bump into it and it would turn itself into showroom mode.

So it would essentially turn off the cooling and just have the lights work as though it was in a showroom, right? And I could not figure out how to do it, right? Some helpful person, the exact same model of my refrigerator, put up a video on YouTube and three or four different times we bumped into it and this happened and we only found out

cause like all the ice had melted and there was like a times we bumped into it and this happened and we only found out because all the ice had melted and there was a huge puddle around it and I was able to fix it in two seconds. Just boom boom, push this, push this, hold it down for four seconds and it turns right back on. Anything that you need to fix, someone has put up a video on YouTube to fix. My air fryer, one of the buttons fell out,

was on my counter. I'm like, how do I put this little button, because there wasn't just a clean slot for it. YouTube, exact model, exact mistake. Nailed it. See, I'm like, how do I put this little button, because there wasn't just a clean slot for it. YouTube, exact model, exact mistake. Nailed it. See what I'm saying? It's crazy. Really?

Yeah. I've been able to change brake lights in my car because someone put up the exact same year making model of my car, this is how you do it. What isn't on YouTube? Is there anything I can put in there? The crazy thing about it too is that those videos, while they seem like so random and whatever,

then you look at the numbers, like 657,000 people watch this video and it's like whoa they're always so they're always so soft spoken to they're like hello welcome to this tutorial of how to you have to be because you're about to do something that you're not comfortable doing you don't know how to do it and so you have to be like hey it's gonna be okay make sure to like and subscribe and yeah there's being here there's one guy on YouTube I don't remember his name right now but he's like hey this is your dad advice like I'm gonna teach you all the things that your dad

I teach you if you don't have a dad like you know the dad advice guy. Yeah Oh, I follow him on tik-tok So he's like here's how to fix a toilet and you're like, oh damn I've never had to fix a toilet before my dad never show me my dad doesn't want to fix a toilet So he's there like you gotta unscrew this and then you gotta put this here and do that and then fix it I found one cuz my wife a ring that my wife had not her wedding ring a ring that she had filled down the drain Oh, you know how the drains are kind of like scooped. They're like a J trap or whatever So I went on to this guy's channel. I remember what his name was but I went on

He's like this is how you get a ring out of the drain It was the exact title of what I did like ring out of drain bathroom, whatever and he's like, you know I'm plug it here and plug it there. So I took it out. there was a lot of gunk inside by the way so I was kind of it was kind of gross yeah but I ended up scooping it out and getting the ring out and I was like look this dude even though I can't shout his name because I don't remember I respect to that guy who is this guy's dad advice from Bo I don't know let me see feels like this guy's 97 top speaking of dad's look break let's bring on Chris's dad Greg Cody is on the line he is ready to join

us he is the biggest star in the national media today everyone is talking Speaking of dads, let's bring on Chris's dad, Greg Cody is on the line. He is ready to join us. He is the biggest star in the national media today. Everyone is talking about not one but two of his takes from yesterday. One in the Herald, one on the show. Before we get to the great Greg Cody, let's play the clip that aired on SportsCentrum. Is this the most ridiculous hot take ever? This is Mick Ridiculous. Absolutely. I said, I'm all about click bait, reader engagement, pandering to the home crowd. I get that. And maybe it's working because here we are talking about it.

So it's mission accomplished. But like, if you know anything about hockey, and I'm assuming Greg might, you know that one player, no matter how great he is, cannot get it done and win a Stanley Cup on his own. Not McDavid, not anybody. But McDavid clearly is the greatest player in the game. He is generational. He's one of the best offensive players in the history of the game already.

He has proven that beyond a shadow of a doubt. So Greg, I'm sorry, this is preposterous, outrageous, ridiculous, and just flat out wrong. So I know the Miami crowd might eat it up going up against McDavid, but if you're a hockey writer, at some point you're going to look back at this article, this headline, this headline and say, that was not my finest journalistic moment because this is just ridiculous and wrong. Again, he called him a hockey writer. Sorry. Greg Cote, your thoughts.

Well, I am not guilty of being a hockey writer. I'm a general sports columnist who dabbles in hockey when hockey is important, which it is this time of year for sure. And I stand by that opinion. Now, you can quibble with the word overrated. I could have called him an underachiever. Underachiever? Yeah, I could have called him an underachiever. Make disappointment. He? I could have called him an underachiever.

Make disappointment. He's a three time MVP. I think both fit. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's an, you know, that's an individual award and his stats are great. But my whole argument is that right now, at this point in his career, he has great stats that amount to empty numbers.

And I maintain that when you come into the league called McJesus, called the Chosen One, and expected to be the second coming of Wayne Gretzky, and you're in your ninth season, and you haven't won a Stanley Cup yet, you have underachieved. You haven't met your lofty expectations yet, beyond lofty expectations. I'm not arguing that he isn't a great player. I know his speed. I know 97 is the best player in the game right now. Although that's probably arguable.

Austin Matthews might have a little to say with that. Leave him alone. I mean, this is the biggest media star going today. Go ahead. I'm just saying in terms of expectations, in terms of the hype that he has, he's in his ninth year, he hasn't raised the cup yet, and based on the betting odds I see, he is not expected to raise the cup this time either.

I know it's not a one-man game, but one man in hockey who's that good, who's Wayne Gretzky good, can lift a team to championship level, and he hasn't yet, so that's my take. Your point on all this is what scares me the most about the Oilers in this series. Every all-time great has a Stanley Cup title. And he's gonna get, so like history tells us, he will get one.

That's the part that scares me about this. Okay, hasn't history told us that for the last eight or nine years? That you know LeBron didn't win till his ninth year. Like it's not that crazy. People, usually stars are drafted to bad teams. So they're bad at the beginning. But you don't get what's going on here.

You're taking this very seriously. You wanna argue with your dad? Your dad doesn't give a shit, okay? Your dad wrote something and gave his opinion and everyone's talking about it in different countries. And that's all he cares about. Hold on a second, that's what I'm trying to figure out. So Greg, this is something you believe.

This is not clickbaity, this is not something you were doing to some McRib him. It's all of the above and I'm gonna admit that. Listen, if you read the column I wrote, okay, I believe, I'm paraphrasing myself here, but I think I'm quoting myself accurate. The column begins, Connor McDavid is overrated. Boom.

In other words, I intentionally wanted to make a statement that would, you know, get you conversing and watching. And well, you said clicks. I didn't. You did your job, Greg. Don't apologize for it. You did your job No, I'm yeah and to Stu got to the point. He's right on the mark here. Okay, I don't take listen I now I know what Sinead O'Connor felt like when she ripped up a picture of the Pope on national TV

I mean the idea that I would blaspheme this god of hockey The idea that I would blaspheme this god of hockey in the entire country of Canada, with the possible exception of the small pockets of Calgary, would think that I'm an idiot. That's fine with me. It's sports. It's just hockey. I don't think Conor McDavid has lived up

to his potential yet. That's all. Well, how are the clicks? You can disagree with it. How are the clicks so far? Yeah, how are the clicks? You can disagree with it. How are the clicks so far? Yeah, how are the clicks? Pretty good. Now, McOverrated is coming to town.

Will you be McInterviewing him or not so much? I will be McInterviewing him in a McGroup interview. Yeah, I'm sure I will after. Any reference to the article written, maybe you don't mention that you did it just say, you know, there's people out there who are saying. Yeah, some are saying, exactly right. I'm certainly not gonna bring that up, why would I?

Dave Hyde, Dave Hyde. I've moved on. Yeah. You've moved on? You haven't moved on. You're giving an interview about it. I've written another column since then. You retweeted the old column.

That is true. I retweeted it, yeah, only because I hadn't yet, I hadn't yet reacted to the firestorm, so I tweeted out, if you haven't seen the column yet, here it is. Well, is that like an arson returning to the scene of a crime that he started? That's not a bad analogy.

Yeah, probably, probably. But here's the thing, and Stu Gotz alluded to it. I don't take sports that seriously. Like, if I write a column saying, I think Patrick Mahomes is overrated or I think LeBron James is overrated or I don't think I think Michael Jordan was two two more championships away from the all-time It's just an opinion. It's just a sports opinion and into the point of the gentleman who was speaking there from Canada I'm not a hockey writer. I'm not an expert. Um, and I, and I don't pretend to be, but I see sports from a macro standpoint,

uh, and overlooking the entirety of sports. If you come into the league with the hype that Connor McDavid had in nine years in you're still looking for your first championship, there is something missed. And believe me, I know about stuff missing from resumes because I grew up in my journalism career covering Dan Marino one of the greatest quarterbacks ever but never won a Super Bowl and that's a legitimate hole in his resume and right now in Conor McDavid's resume if you're calling him the second coming of Gretzky he's in his ninth year and he hasn't won a Stanley Cup yet that's on

him not me. Greg, I think you'd like to know that when you type in Greg Cody on Google, first thing that comes up, Greg Cody, Conor McDavid. There you go. A lot of people looking up. Greg, how do you feel? He mentioned your name twice. The first time he did it, it was very condescending.

We'll play it for you and get your reaction. Greg? Greg? Okay. We'll play it for you and get your reaction Greg Okay, well here's the good thing in Canada they know how to pronounce my last name because Cody or Coté is a very common it's like Smith or Jones in In in certain areas, I don't know if it's Smith But well, I mean it's a very name. Ask my friends up in Canada right now how common their surname is.

Yeah, there you go, Johnson. Whatever. Whatever. How'd you feel about a newscast talking about your flags, the fact that you pointed out, we have this clip, okay, so he made news twice, not once, but twice yesterday.

Here's the second thing. Finally tonight, did you know that the state of Oregon and the country of Paraguay have something in common? Why am I telling you this? Because we are here to educate and inform, just like the good folks over at the Dan LeBattard show with Stu Gatz. Paraguay, from South America of course,

and the US state of Oregon are the only two flags, official flags, that are different on either side. How about that? See? Forgetful. What do you mean by that? Yeah. What do you mean by that?

Can you say it again? Telegram? But slower, slower. Okay, forget, okay. So they're different on both sides. Yeah, if you look at- The shape is different. What's on it is different. The look is different. So they're asymmetrical. No. No, if you look at it. The shape is different. What's on it is different.

The look is different. So they're asymmetrical. No. No, no, no, no. Both sides. Like the front of the flag and the back of the flag have different things on them? Yes, exactly.

Oh! Yes. I've never thought of the backside of a flag. Yeah, like the Florida state flag, the Canadian flag are the same on each side. Only in Paraguay and Oregon are the two sides of a flag different. That kind of thing, Alan.

And you know it. What a day for you. Thank you, yes. And by the way, the Greg Cody Show podcast broke that news about the flag fact. With Greg Cody. That's right, thank you, Roy. You got it.

Manny Marino, whose career would you rather have? Eli. Marino. What? Yeah. Two rings. I would. Yeah. I know, I get that.

I get that. I'm not saying rings are the be all end all of someone's career, but I think if your career aspires to be, live up to the nicknames McJesus and the Chosen one you you have to have a Stanley Cup on your resume you have to It's very difficult. There's no argument. Jesus had no Stanley Cups. That's a good point Billy. Mm-hmm. That's a very good point Yeah, you did have a couple of a cup. Yes, holy grail. Yeah Chalice a gold chalice not nearly as important as a stamp. It wasn't it wasn't a gold chalice. Not nearly as important as a Stanley Cup.

It wasn't a gold chalice. That would have gotten you stuck in the Knights Templar. Indiana Jones. Exactly right. That was the wooden one. Spoiler alert. Well Greg, congratulations on your big day. We're very happy for you, man.

It's a big one for you. You did your job, man. Don't apologize. Okay. I'm so proud. Okay. Thank you, Canada. I love you. I'm so proud. Okay. Thank you, Canada. I love you.

Always have. The Dan LeBittard Show with Stu Gotz is sponsored by BetterHelp. This year has gone by so quickly. Reaching the halfway point of the year is an excellent time to reflect on your mental health journey, assess your progress, and make plans for the future. Ask yourself, what's something you're proud of in 2024 so far? What's something you still want to accomplish this year? When life goes fast, it's important to take a moment to celebrate your wins and

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That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P, dot com slash d l b today to get 10% off your first month that's better help h e l p dot com slash d l b Don lebatard he has been great. He's made great hires. I said all we've said he said all Everything you're saying it's all been said. Okay, you gotta understand one thing two gods me maximum That's right. I say it it hasn't been said boom. Okay, you gotta understand one thing. Stugats. Me maximum. That's right. Until I say it, it hasn't been said. Boom. Okay, understand that. You're the mayor. Until I say it, it hasn't been said. Me maximum. Me maximum. Me maximum. This is the Don LeBathardt Show with the Stugats. What do you guys make of what CJ Stroud is doing? Because you have a quarterback in his second year and quarterbacks don't say a thing. What's he doing?

We've made fun of that. Well, he's being honest. Well, because, but in what sense? Because he's said a lot of things in a lot of places. I don't think you traditionally hear a second year quarterback, or really any quarterback for that matter, give his top five quarterbacks in the NFL. I certainly don't think you hear a guy who hasn't won a Super Bowl himself say he'd rather have Eli's career over Aaron

Rodgers' career, that Matthew Stafford would have done a lot more with those Packer teams than Aaron did. He seems to have a problem with Aaron Rodgers. He's not the only one, by the way. But he seems to have a problem with Aaron Rodgers. He's not the only one, by the way, but he seems to have an issue with Aaron Rodgers. Just a quarterback talking the way he's talking without really doing much other than his fantastic rookie season, that's all.

You typically don't hear quarterbacks talk. I mean, we know that. The first interesting thing Dan Marino says will be the first interesting thing that Dan Marino says. Well, the next interesting thing that he says will be the first. Also the first, you know what I mean. Joe Burrow's a good example. Joe Burrow's a good example of a quarterback

that he came into the league and was really good, really quick, and he didn't do what CJ's doing. He didn't, oh, I'm popular now, let me go out and hit the podcast scene. No. Does he have a podcast? Because that could be what he's doing of trying to get out there as someone who's interesting.

I have to look that up, but he's definitely doing something. Joe Burrow is putting a lot of pressure on himself this year, in my opinion. He's coming off of an injury. He kinda needs to, was it, you know, actually him, is he gonna recover from the injury? Also his hair. The hair that he's coming into this season with,

he needs to succeed. He cannot be a flop with that hair this year. There are rumors of a breakup too. Really? Yep. Wow. We don't know anything, but there's been a lot of chatter. So is that why he's growing out the hair?

Potentially. Interesting. You really perk up at hair. Well, I got a haircut nobody noticed, so I'm excited to talk about it. Roy did. No, he didn't. No, he didn't.

He just didn't say anything. No, Roy noticed that she did her nails, but she did not. I'm just talking, guys, I'm just talking in general. Roy, we're doing this show for a long time. We always talk. We make fun of Ryan Tannehill because he doesn't say a thing and now you have a quarterback who's saying a ton of things, but he doesn't have any rings and he's talking about quarterbacks who do have rings and he's telling

us which one is better, who's better, whose career he'd rather have. He's talking about a quarterback with a ring in Aaron Rodgers saying he should have more rings. And Eli has two and he's saying he'd rather have Eli's career and he's

saying he's going to have more rings. And he's saying he's going to have more rings., who's better, whose career he'd rather have. He's talking about a quarterback with a ring in Aaron Rodgers saying he should have more rings. And Eli has two, when he's saying he'd rather have Eli's. Aaron Rodgers has won four MVPs. Aaron Rodgers has been to the NFC Championship game five times, he has lost four of those. He's considered to be the best by some people. So this is how I do it.

Many, many years from now, I will have a sit down with my grandson, okay? You will. And it better be many, many years from now I will have a sit-down with my grandson okay you will and it better be many many years from now or granddaughter okay or granddaughter or none if your daughter's on my grandchild talk to yourself my grandchild thank you for correcting depending also on the state of your you know mental capacities yeah yourself yeah thinking you're trying to what are you doing this to God's right here he's gonna be very same thing everyone go ahead very so many many years from now we will will have a sit down and my grandchild will hopefully

ask me, Dad, who are the greatest quarterbacks of all time? You're on a rocking chair. I'm on a rocking chair. Your grandchild won't call you Dad, then there's definitely something that needs to be looked into. They'll say, Grandpa, Pop Pop. Kids on your lap, Pop. I'm trying to paint the picture here.

And they'll say, listen, Grandpa, who are the greatest quarterbacks of all time pop pop And I will tell you that I will list a number of quarterbacks including Aaron Rodgers Before the name Eli Manning comes out of my mouth. Yeah, but at the time the greatest quarterbacks gonna be someone like skateboard Smith or something Not be listening to any of this. We're like, what are you talking about? Who the hell CJ'soud will be CJ Stroud Think about the advertising opportunities for skateboard Smith if skateboards are still a thing back there in the future back then. Yeah then Back to the future back to you, Stu Not only that he he also kind of went after and Rogers personally to on million dollars with a game with Wallo and Gilly

He came out and said the reason why he doesn't have as many rings as other quarterbacks is because he was kind of a bad teammate. So he throws that under, like throws him under the bus on, I know Brady's a good teammate. Why he has all those rings? Why does Aaron Rodgers only have one ring? He's not that good of a teammate. A lot of look at me, Louis stuff from CJ Stroud.

That's what I'm saying. I saw DeMarco Murray was talking with the media a couple of days ago. And he's like, oh, big difference in CJ this year. This year he's stopping drills down when it doesn't look right. He's like, everyone come here. Like he's just, I don't know.

Wait, he's being a leader as a quarterback in the face of a franchise? There's a line. You don't want him to do that? There's a line. Lead less, Chris is saying. There's a line. I'd better have some respect.

He commands respect now. Who would you rather be, if you could switch bodies with either person, would you rather switch bodies right now with Aaron Rodgers or with Eli Manning? Just bodies not like brain that's part of his body. Oh, then yeah Eli probably you'd rather be Richer too Eli's richer. Yeah, cuz I don't know about that. Oh my he's making so much Aaron's made a ton Yeah, but he's got post career. Yeah, Aaron's not gonna get any endorsements again ever the internet telling him on a state Internet is telling me Eli's net worth is 160 160 million that was Aaron's and growing though. That's the difference

He like made more than that Well your net worth is not always everything you made well. What's Aaron's money on stuff I? Think they're assigned deals bigger than 160. Yeah. Well, he signed him twice. I think yes I believe the Jets play the Texans that's gonna be a doozy. It says 200 for Aaron He's got 252 worth of career earnings in the NFL, but I do agree that the future earnings is so pro Eli Omaha productions if he's is that 50-50 cuz it's always kind of like. It always feels way more Peyton. But also you have Arch Manning coming up. This family, all the marketing opportunities,

they're about to skyrocket. Eli made $252 million in his career. So he has blown $90 million. And that's why his net worth is $90 million less than he made. I find that hard to believe. Why do you have it if you don't spend it? I don't know if you can trust

any of these celebrity network sites, but. But their number is growing because of what they're doing post-Greer. Aaron could still do, I understand what you're saying about the sponsors, if Aaron wants to do a show or be an analyst, like someone's gonna hire him. I mean, it's Aaron Rodgers.

Until they kick him off. He'll do something that's gonna be like, ah. I think Aaron. I think he has enough money to do whatever he wants and not worry about it. Yeah, they're both rich. I would like both of their bank accounts, happily. I do think that, I mean, I think that people definitely

would be hesitant to give him a Sunday NFL kickoff job wondering what he could say and what position he could put them in. I like putting ourselves in the room when Eli and Payton were doing the pie chart on Omaha Productions. Because you know, Payton's like, I'm Payton. Yeah, but Eli was so close to having two rings

and Payton only having one. I'm just saying, I feel like that's 64. If I'm Payton, I go in 60, 40, right? You're good with that? If Eli, I'm good with that, I'm like, yeah, you do all the work, I don't care. Exactly. Show up once a week. You think it's 60, 40?

Through Eli's places or whatever. 60% of Payton's money the work. I don't care exactly once a week I think it's 6040 do Eli's places or 60% of his money 70 30 Really, that's why I like back. That's when Eli's like 65 35. Yeah like what does Eli Manning do within? Omaha I'm asking well he hosts the main show is the likeable one on right But I don't know if he does anything else. Like when I see all those like EP credits that Peyton Manning gets, I never see Eli. He does like the Radio Row hits. But he's also in the Corona commercials, I believe. Yeah.

We had him on because of Jabba Chamberlain. There are some EP credits though, that are phony EP credits. For Eli, you're saying? In general. For Peyton. Just general. Just putting his name on it because he's the boss.

He just put EP next to something, whatever, because whatever reason. Like this Cody intern. Just enough in general for Peyton just general just putting his name on it because he's the boss Whatever reason but it's Cody intern like what CJ It's so confusing because he's doing the rings thing and I should be proud of him But he doesn't have any rings that he shouldn't be doing the ring thing. I Have a question. What's that Billy for this show? And it's something that has been discussed multiple times And it is in relation to JJ Rettig and I guess rumors yesterday that the Lakers hired him, even though they haven't yet, or maybe they have, but they're not announcing that they have.

There seemed to be yesterday like this buzz, like he had gotten hired. But that's not been reported. I don't care if it's reported or not. JJ Reddick's gonna be the next head coach of the Lakers. It was one of those reports that's not a report. It's like they're circling in. Yeah.

Like it was just. So here's my question because we've discussed this and Dan's discussed this in particular in regards to JJ Reddick. He said JJ Reddick will make more in his media career than he did as a basketball player. This is now kind of halting that, at least for the moment. His media career you would think is now on hold, right?

Like I do not think he's going, you think he's gonna continue to do a podcast? You could Doug Gottlieb it. He's head coached. So Billy was not aware that Gottlieb took a head coaching job and is still doing his radio I did not know that yeah, where's he at Green Bay or something? Yeah, he's at Green Bay, and he's still doing the radio. Yeah, but the Lakers job is slightly different than Head coach of whatever school right is it not? Wisconsin Green Bay yes, that's a different job

Yes, you think he's still gonna be doing it? Ooh and how about this? If LeBron stays with the Lakers, you, LeBron hates all his coaches, we can say that confidently right? I don't think that we're painting with a broad brush there. He does, he always, if he doesn't dislike them at the beginning, he grows to dislike all of his coaches right? No way. It would be, you must listen to if he grows to dislike all of his coaches, right? No way, if you must listen to, if he hated them, the two of them, player and coach, having a podcast together on the same team, right? No way that that happens though.

Not only that, maybe what LeBron is doing is hiring JJ Reddick so that way they can in turn draft Bronnie. JJ Reddick goes, hey, you scratched my back, I'll scratch yours, let's get Bronnie in. Get me the gig and I'll hire, you know, I'll draft your son. I think JJ says no. And that's where the first rift is. I think LeBron says yes to them continuing the podcast.

And if it's a no, then, and LeBron needs a co-host, I'm here for him. And if LeBron goes to Portland, then they can't. You could break down X's and O's like JJ. Of course. Howdy sports fans. I assume you're sports fans if you're listening to this podcast. Mike, I am a huge sports fan. I'm a big concert goer.

I like big events. I like hard to find tickets. So much so that I've scoured the marketplace for them. And in all of my experience, I kept coming back to Game Time. It was my favorite marketplace for tickets because they have not done me wrong. I buy so many tickets that I've had some experiences where I need their customer service help. Well guess what? You'll be happy to know that's not a hassle at all. They got back to me so quickly. I bought countless tickets from Game Time. The lowest price guarantee folks is a big one. I'm telling you right now you're incentivized to go shop the marketplace.

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Stugats I want t-shirts made for this Panther run, what could be this Panther run. Our Panther group chat, we're not afraid of the lightning. That's a tagline for World Raw 3. This is the Don LeVatar Show with the Stugats. ["The Star-Spangled Banner"] We love Steve Levy. He has been on with me and Billy several times. He has joined us on the show with Levitard a few times as well. He is a friend. He was mad at me because I told

him this would be video and that meant he had to put on a shirt. Good day, Steve Levy. I had to change shirts. This is my good shirt. You can imagine what I was wearing before. Please tell us, what were you wearing before? You don't want to see me in a Butcher Gras tank top, okay? It's not as good. Steve, before you came to Sunrise, Florida for the first time, did you think Sunrise, Florida was paradise?

So look, I've been going to South Florida for a long, long time. So I was definitely surprised. Again, you know, I go back to the original Panthers days. So when they first moved out to the arena, it was probably the very first time I was in Sunrise. I think they had a legal seafood there in that mall across the street.

Oh, they did, Steve. God, did I love that place. They still do. Yeah. It's been closed for like 10 years. Boston Roots, you know, is illegal. I'm like, all right, we'll go get some chowder there. We'll be OK, you know? So I did not think it was paradise.

I've always questioned why, why the arena was put there. And listen, it's a great arena. And the fan base has been terrific. And obviously, all they do is win now down there, city of champions, Sunrise and. No one calls it that. No one calls it that, he knows that, it's why he said it, yeah.

That's not the city of champions. No. We stayed at that AC Marriott early in the playoffs, right across the street. And so let's just say it's conveniently located. Let's put it that way, how we doing? All right, at the end of this interview, if I may, I'm gonna ask you your top five things the and so let's just say it's conveniently located. Let's put it that way. How we doing?

Alright. Uh at the end of this interview, if I may, I'm going to ask you your top five things to do in Sunrise, Florida. Okay? I mean, because you've been. Time to think about it. Can it be top two? It could be top two. That's fine. Yes. Okay.

Top two is fine. Uh Roy has been telling me confidently that the Panthers are the best team in hockey and he's been saying it all year. Is he right? Well, if he's been saying it all year, that's really impressive They are they are the best team in hockey right now And they've been probably since the start of the playoffs. I would say they are the best team in hockey I can't believe how good they are and maybe that's on me that I shouldn't be surprised But they are the best team and they were so much better than the Rangers to me that series felt like a sweep

And and and we're so impressive in every facet of the game, you know I'm not for Shasterkin, you know, there are blowouts in that series and it's definitely a four game sweep So yes, Florida is the best team in hockey. Well, there's blowouts in that series and it's definitely a four game sweep. So yes, Florida is the best team in hockey. Well, there's two teams right now though, Steve. What's the question? Well, Billy's saying it has to be one of the two. It has to be the Panthers or Edmonton.

No, no, it doesn't have to. You can be the best team in hockey and go out in an early round or something. Things happen in hockey. Weird stuff. Correct. I would say in all the sports, you're right. The best team does not always win in that sport.

And so you are correct. In other sports, that's not the case. But in hockey, a team that's not the most talented wins all the time. You know, that's why you see the eighth seed win the Stanley Cup from time to time. It happens probably every 10 years. Chicago did it. The Kings might have done it. So anyway, the point is it doesn't happen in the other sports.

Almost impossible to be the eighth seed in the NBA and win the championship. It does happen in hockey based on injuries and the other team having a hot goalie. And then the rest of the team might not be that great, but you have the best goalie you could win on those nights. So anyway Steve a quote in one of our co-hosts Greg Cody's article went viral in Canada today. Apparently he believes that despite the fact that he's a three-time MVP and has all the stats Conor McDavid is overrated because he has a one a stanley cup uh... in fact he called a mick overrated what are your thoughts on that it's a terrible nickname that's my first thought

no he can't be can't be overrated he's the best player in hockey i don't think you can be overrated now look he does need this for his career uh... he does need it to cement his his career and his career might you does need it to cement his career. And his career might, you know, he might be halfway, guys. This might be still his prime in his ninth season, which is pretty remarkable.

So we'll see. I don't believe he's overrated. I do believe he's the best player in the sport and is cracking into already top 10 and maybe could be one of the top five greatest players in hockey history. So think about that for a second. So you can't be overrated, but I think he does need the Stanley Cup at some point to cement his legacy. Greg came out earlier to clarify his statements. He said he's an underachiever. Does that sound better? Does that feel better to you? I mean, hockey it's a hard to put that you know put that in hockey it's

hard to put it on one guy like you know he wasn't getting a lot of help for a lot of years and now he's getting you know more help and guys have matured and stepped up and some acquisitions have worked out there and goaltending and all those kinds of things. Again, it's why hockey is special because it is so different from the other sports and regardless of who you are, you know, Wayne Gretzky, you know, didn't win the Stanley Cup every single season, right? And in fact, I think he only won four Stanley Cups, only I say. But I think that's, you know, here's the greatest player without question who played, I don't know, he played 20 years in the NHL. So 16 of those years, you know, he didn't win the championship. So you do have to have some help. Even the greatest forwards in the sport

can only play really, you know, 21, 22 minutes. That's a third of the hockey game. So defensemen actually can play a larger role. It was, you know, guys like Gustav Forslund, who's a third of the hockey game. So defensemen actually can play a larger role. Because you know, guys like Gustav Forslund, who's you know, we need to talk about like PK wants to put him in the con smite the potential and he's right about it. Gustav Forslund has been unbelievable. And I still think, you know, we talk about an underrated guy and the name people don't know they have to know about him now because we're talking about him every night. Steve, there were some complaints about the ESPN,

your version of the ESPN broadcast being too pro in New York. No, no, complaints about ESPN? No, campaign. Never happened before. It seems like you guys were being too pro rangers in this situation. In fact, you made a joke about it. I mean, obviously you got Mark Messier on the broadcast. Obviously, he's going to be Pro Rangers. It

seems like PK Subban during the Eastern Conference final, he was on the side of Florida. Do you agree with that? Well, I'd say we really do try to play it down the middle. And, you know, if we had Brian totally screwed Lind on our panel Billy Lindsey you know we might have more that's a nickname. That's how you do it. That's right.

Cody you try to go down the middle. You have a jet poster behind you in a Buffalo Spirit. That's that's a Chris Berman nickname back in the day when Boomer was on our coverage and the players loved it.

He would do his nicknames like he did for major league baseball. Totally screwed. That always reminds me of that. So listen, I think, you know, the Rangers were a story for a long time. Sort of team of destiny, but I, you know, I got into it on Twitter or X whatever we're calling it now with some Florida fans who would give me a hard time about how that we were not impartial according to him. I'm like, listen, how many times can we say Florida is the better team in the series?

Florida has been the dominant team. We can't talk more about Sasha Barkov being a monster forward in, you know, all three zones. And we can't talk enough about Gustav Forsling. Like we're all over it. Every time we interview a player, it was, you know, it was a Panther. It was Bennett or Kachuk. You know, the Rangers have very little personality and flavor in terms of interviews we were talking to Florida players you know pre-game every single night so no I think that charge is unfair you know Messier obviously and this is

another tricky series for us because of his Edmonton roots so we'll see how we play that but I thought we were right down the middle and we give full marks to the better team. And again, like I said before, Florida should have swept the series. That's how good the Panthers were. You've been around this game for a very long time. You love hockey. And I'm wondering, we were discussing this.

Does Canada rally together when they're playing a team from the United States or are the people in Montreal not rooting for the team in Edmonton? So that's a great question. United States or are the people in Montreal not rooting for the team in Edmonton? So that's a great question and that's a real, that'll be a real storyline. I do not, I saw Gretz say this the other night that all of Canada will be behind them and look maybe it will be because it's you know Alberta's kind of friendly you know what I mean Edmonton, Calgary they all get along but I know when it was Vancouver against Boston Montreal and Toronto were not in

Then if Toronto ever made it in the state like a final Montreal would not be rooting for them and so on and so forth So, you know Winnipeg is is a nice story. Maybe Canada would get behind little Winnipeg. That's not the case So I'm really not sure What the store will be there I think is good there. I think it's good for the game. It's good for the game on a lot of areas, right? So Florida Panthers, the best team in hockey. We've got them. We've got the best player in the Stanley Cup final.

We have a Canadian market in the Stanley Cup final. No team from Canada has won the Stanley Cup since 1993. So that's 31 years ago. And that was Montreal beating Barry Melrose and Wayne Gretzky and those LA Kings. And since that time, no Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup. They've only been in there a few times since. So it's interesting to watch from that perspective.

But I can't tell you for sure if all of Canada is behind the Edmonton Oilers. Calgary would be the litmus test right because that battle of Alberta that's fierce that's real Matthew Kachuk will absolutely be abused by the crowd in Edmonton. See what a Vander Cane has to say about all that from their history from the Calgary Edmonton series in games in the past. So, but that'll be a fun storyline to watch. Well, who else is going to have to step up for the for the all is in this series? I mean, you got McDavid, you got Dry Cider, you got Hyman. Who else is going to nurse?

You got the game. And so Evan Bouchard has been really, really good. I think he is, you know, a year or two away from catapulting himself in the Norris Trophy consideration. But to me, Stuart Skinner is the story. He was, he really improved against Dallas. He really showed he belonged. He looked so confident.

People will forget in the series prior against Vancouver, Stuart Skinner was pulled. I mean, he did not start games four and five of a series. Career backup journeyman Calvin Pickard started. And at that point you're thinking, all right, they're done with Skinner. How can you go back to him? And yet they do go back to him in, I believe, games six and seven of that series. And he winds up winning it and's been really good ever since. Stewart Skinner's a really likable guy.

He's had his ups and downs. He's not an old guy, he's a young guy. I think he's like 25 or 26. And to me, he'll be among the top storylines in this series because you know what you're getting from Bob for the Panthers in goal. And Stewart Skinner is an easy guy to root for. And I think somebody else to watch for in the series,

you know, he's obviously not on the ice, but is the coach. Chris, don't call me Chuck Knobloch, who, you know, started the hockey season in Hartford as the minor league coach here in Connecticut, ESPN's home team the Hartford Wolf back and you know Edmundon started off the season in brutal shape they changed the coach they go on to win 16 in a row so the coach the experienced coach in Paul Maurice who we love his press conferences against now Chris Knobloch who's you know not even at a full season in the NHL I think that's another good storyline to watch for. All right we have 15 seconds which is all it takes to tell us your top two things to do in Sunrise so go

ahead. I'm gonna wait till the last two seconds of the 15. Is there a P.F. Chang's in that bowl? Oh, there is! Yes, there is! Enjoy, man! And a Grand Lux! Come on! Mongolian beef! Mongolian beef, and not the brown rice either. If you're gonna have it, have it with the white rice, people. You're right. How do you feel about splitting a meal with somebody?

How do you feel about that? Who's that somebody? Chris Cody said he's ashamed of himself because he walks in and he splits meals now with his wife. I've become the guy that I walk in and I'm like, hey, you want to split something? I don't like what I see when I do it. Yeah, so I have started doing that. Yes.

The camera, look, the camera ends 15 pounds and I got a lot of cameras on me at all times, as you know. If I go to a buddy with a steakhouse, and we go out, and we'll have a couple of salads and appetizers, we might split a massive tomahawk. Is that what we're talking about? Then if that's the case, yes, I do that. No, that's what you should do.

One of those tomahawk rib eye steaks that are for like 17 people? Yeah, that's how you do it. We split that, then. I split, yeah. Yeah, steakhouse is fine. You can split it to steakhouse. I think it's the Cheesecake Factory

where Chris was ashamed of them. Yeah, I'm not splitting it to Cheesecake, no. Have you had that shepherd's pie though? I mean, the one at Sawgrass I'm talking about. No, I haven't. I'll put it on the list. So I got three things I wanna do in sunrise. Right, well, if you need a Ford or a Chevrolet, there's one right down the street from your

hotel. Good to know. Yes. All right. Series predictions, Steve Levy on the way out. Panthers, Bestie, Ben Hockey, as we've established. Edmonton might have the two best players. Who's going to win the series? I got Florida in seven. It's a really good series, really close games. I'm hoping we get some high scoring games. Listen, I know we don't have the markets in the US,

you know, everybody's talking about New York and Dallas, but in terms, and this won't make the executives feel any better at our place, but in terms of hockey, the hockey will be grade A. The environment in Edmonton will be out of control. I hope it can hope sunrise in Florida in the in the giant building the Panthers playing

can match it. Oh, we got the hockey will be outstanding. There will be some nastiness. It should be an excellent Stanley Cup final. Was there a very small part of Steve Levy as someone who has to

travel back and forth to these games that was kind of hoping deep down inside, didn't say it out loud, didn't say it at cocktail parties, but was thinking to himself, man, I hope Dallas wins. I think he's in studio. No, we'll be on the road. We traveled for the Cup. Come on, man. Yeah, I know.

We're the worldwide leader in sports. We got to get out of Bristol. Listen, we're three years removed. We forgot, okay? We're sorry. I've been in the studio the whole time. Not so much Dallas, but if we're three years removed. We forgot, okay? We're sorry. I've been in the studio the whole time. Not so much Dallas, but if we're being honest, look, the New York thing was attractive. I could drive to the games at the Garden.

I could see my kids before they take off for summer camp. You know, like there were some redeeming qualities in the personal Levy household for Rangers. But once I had to get on a plane, then it really didn't matter. And so Edmonton, Florida, here we come. Lots of frequent flyer miles and bad pretzels. All right, well, enjoy Sunrise, enjoy Edmonton,

enjoy the series, it should be a great series. You guys will be at every game, right? We'll see you in Sunrise? Yeah, well, Billy's trying to get a credential. I'll be there. I'll be there. But Roy will be there. I can hear you, where are you gonna be exactly? On my couch. Oh. I'll be there. I'll be there. But Roy will be there. Where are you going

to be exactly? On my couch. I'll say hi, all right? I'll mention your name. I'll drop you in there. Oh, well then I'll be there if you're going to do that. Okay? We got a deal. All right. You'll say hi to me? Sure. On air. I'll be hot. Okay. So that's great. What a deal. I don't have to go to the game. What a deal. I don't have to go to the game. I get to take a gummy Valhalla 40 milligrams and Steve Lee will give me a shout out. I appreciate it. If you

need a Chevy Ford, if you need a Chevy or Ford, I know the GM at both places. I got you covered. Okay, you got a guy. Sounds great. I do. Alright. Thank you, Steve. See you pal. Be well, guys. Thanks for having me on. Thank you, buddy. Thank

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