The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 2: Jonathan Yaslow & Jeremy Foreplé

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

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Levitar Show the question, do you know what HiLi is at Levitar Show? And I also want to put on there, is the sports anchor endangered? Yes or no. Jonathan Zaslow, who's in with us today, will have a segment on HiLi here with Tony and Mike toward the end of this hour. But Jonathan Zaslow is in here today. He's a rising star at ESPN and he's a rising star at ESPN who's creating ESPN on ESPN crime because a coworker is mad at Jonathan Zaslow. Yeah, I heard about that. And Jonathan Zaslow's placement in a strange place that I wasn't expecting to find him,

it is a strange thing. Jonathan Zaslow was under the banner headline, celebrity picks. College basketball celebrity picks. I don't understand how you're a celebrity. I didn't understand entirely how Jay Billis would be considered a celebrity at ESPN. These are just expert picks.

They're not celebrity picks. And somebody's mad that Jonathan Zaslow gets to make picks and that they don't get to make picks. My name's right up top there. You got Dick Vytal and it's a picture of him and it's who he selects and it's Seth Greenberg and it's Jay Billis and it's me. I'm right next to those guys and there's my pick.

Obviously I picked the Florida Gators, that's my alma mater, but I'm right there. I'm right there on the Tournament Challenge app where you can compete against celebrities like myself. I'm right there and from what I understand, not everybody is pleased with me being, because apparently my picture, my name is one of the first ones there. Clinton Yates, ESPN radio, I heard today, he is not pleased that my name is right, that my picture, my name is front and center and he's not there. He's not happy about it.

Hang with him, Clinton. Put it on the poll, Clint Yates, good guy. I'm going to defend him in most aspects of life. Did you just no comment me rolling out? Yes, I did. I did. I'm with him on that. You're putting me in a bad spot here.

No comment. Roy, you were producing the day that he slept. You were. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was.

I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was.

I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was you just no comment me, Roy? Yes, I did. I'm with him on that. You're putting me in a bad spot here. No comment. Roy, you were producing the day that he slept, the day that he was supposed to fill in, right? Yes, yes, I was there.

Cool. Yeah, yeah. I don't know what the look was on your face. I was confused by the look on your face. Clinton Yates is complaining about something that- I'm a celebrity picker, that's not my fault. Come on. I don't feel like any of those people

should be classified as celebrity pickers if all they're doing is being experts picking games on that website. Like, might be celebrities outside of ESPN, but I think if they're, I think this- Well, it's because you're competing against us. You're competing against the celebrities. That's the point in the app, in the tournament challenge.

Have you risen to the point that you should be somewhere on the marquee with Dick Vitale? For sure. Everybody knows, especially when it comes to college football, because I host college football tailgate on ESPN radio, college football experts, you got Paul Feinbaum, you got Heather Dinnage, you got me. Everybody knows those are your college football experts. College basketball, I'm not going to say that I'm exactly a college basketball expert, but certainly there are people out there who would like to compete against me. And that's why I'm up there with Seth Greenberg and Jay Billis and Dick Vitale. Zaza, why was it that you didn't know like half the people on my list? Yo, don't worry about that, all right? All you need to know is that you can compete against me

in the tournament app challenge. That's it. That's all you need to know. No one's interested in how many players I can name. Nobody's ever thought about that. I was going to ask Tony what that look was on his face when I called Zazlo a celebrity and why it is that he looked like he had walked into a bathroom that had left a lingering bad smell. But now I have my answer, which is he doesn't think

you're a celebrity or an expert. He thinks you're just somebody whose face is enraged Clinton Yates on the website because it doesn't belong next to Dick Vitals. We're trying to figure out like, is it alphabetical maybe? But then it's like, Jonathan, it's like, no, Zaslow's like, Nobody ever starts Z at the beginning, so it's certainly not alphabetical.

It's you're trying to get people to sign up on the app. And the way you do that is you put some of your biggest celebrities in the front. And that's why you have my face right there with my pick everybody wants to know who I pick pick the gators everybody sees my face right there and like I would love to compete against this celebrity I can't believe Roy no comment in me Clinton Yates I don't know what your relationship is with Clinton Yates. But Jesus, like it's Clinton Yates. I don't know why.

You were next to me as I was calling, where is Clinton? Yes, I was, I was there. The show has started, where is Clinton? He overslept, that's what happens sometimes. I mean, you could have said that. I could have. Most celebrities don't oversleep, that's why I'm up there.

That's right. Clinton Yates came after you and I heard, I believe that Clinton Jates has a I Believe that Clinton Yates. Oh, hi Leah justify. I do that with Y's and J's all the time. It's a human thing I can't help it. I called him ya Morant I believe Clinton Yates has a reasonable gripe because he's been at ESPN a lot longer than our beloved Jonathan Yazlo.

How do you feel, Zazz, about White Lotus? We have been- Oh my God, this White Lotus. Go on, I'm sorry. No, that's all right, you take it. Okay, all I'm saying is, I've been watching this White Lotus now for three seasons, and I'm watching this one, I watch every single week,

and I really enjoy the show. Let's not, you know, brush that on the rug. I like the show, but I sit there, and I watch this show every single week, and nothing happens. Nothing happens. Every single week week I sit there waiting for something. Now something kind of happened this past week, you know, a little incest.

Something kind of happened this week, but for the most part every single week, is there such thing as a little incest? Every single week I'm waiting for something to happen and the only thing that ever happens in the show is in the final episode Nothing happens the entire season. I'm just sitting there with nothing. I think that's a fair criticism I think white I've said before some version of white lotus has had four episodes so far this season and produced about an episode and a half of material but when he says a little incest spoiler alert because I've gotten in trouble for that this week I did have a visceral reaction it was a strangely

visceral reaction again spoiler alert here so that he's left it vague enough that you don't know who the incest is between. And I'm not actually sure, because I don't know how this particular definition works, but brothers kissing on the lips in a way that's not French kissing made me recoil, even though they're actors and not actually brothers. That's the right response. They tricked me into thinking that they're brothers,

and I did have a recoil on that that was instantaneous on, wait a minute, adult brothers kissing that feels an uncommon kind of wrong for me in a way that I haven't seen on television before. Unless you betray your brother and Michael had to kiss Freyda on the lips in Cuba to let him know it was you, Freyda. Yeah, that was okay. It was you. No one recoiled it, like that was like, yeah I get it, I get what he's doing it. Like that was like, yeah, I get it. I get what he's doing there. What we saw in the White Lotus, like I don't get what he's doing there.

And part of the weirdness, I guess, was that one of them seemingly really enjoyed it and the other one did not like it at all. I was like, well what's happening here? Well, he was questioning whether or not he liked it, I think is really what's going on. Well, they were on X. They were on several things.

And a boat. Again, I should have said a bunch of different spoiler alerts and I did not. Again, I should have said a bunch of different spoiler alerts and I did not. Oh man. People are gonna be mad. Because of the implication. People are gonna be mad.

It happens every time. But I thought I was okay because it was last Sunday and now it's Thursday. Last week, that's last week. Well we're supposed to do spoiler Wednesday, Dan, not spoiler Thursday. But that didn't make you, that didn't shock you as much as Sam Rockwell's monologue,

right? Well that's another spoiler. How do they put both of those in the same episode? A show that gives you nothing every single week, every year, nothing happens in this show. They gave you both of those in the same episode. Saying nothing happens in White Lotus is being, you're someone who doesn't like foreplay.

That's what White Lotus is. White Lotus is just hours and hours of foreplay leading to- Jeremy, foreplay expert? Well, I mean. Quite the visual we've created. I mean, yeah. Oh, did you see that? I mean. We don't need to be doing foreplay after Incest.

Like, we don't need to be, they did, they literally. Well, no, I'm not talking about the Incest. No, but they literally gave you that last week. They gave you what is the promise of whatever that party's gonna become between brothers and others? What are you guys smirking about back there? That guy, Jeremy's a little killer.

Just picturing Jeremy. Let me see it, let me look at your tongue. I can't see that thing. Let's see it, say, see, see, see. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that.

I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. You did create, Jeremy, for everybody the discomfort of really Jeremy, you're gonna be confident foreplay guy. I like it.

Do you do that fist bump? Everywhere else, I am a confident person, just not this studio. Well, but that one though. Hell yeah, brother. Look, a lot of people can be confident about their abilities with foreplay.

Very few would say so out loud among their friends. Real ones though. The number of people who would say, put it on the poll, at LeBittard Show, are you good at foreplay? At LeBittard Show, and do you want to hear your friend talk about how he's good at foreplay because there are two things I don't want to imagine among any of my friends any of them

I don't want to imagine any of them embarking upon foreplay I don't want to imagine any of you wiping your ass either. Those are the two things I'd like to keep out of my life Forever more a little secret. Just say Ryan Lingerhans. Over and over again with your tongue. I thought it was Sid Sipitz. I thought that's what you were doing. Well, you know, depends. I don't want to talk about this anymore.

I find myself to be deeply, deeply disturbed by everything we're talking about. But I did get you thinking about Ryan Lingerhans. I didn't need that in my life. Thank you. Think about them the next time. I really don't want to think about any of this anymore. The thing that I did want to ask you guys,

because I'm watching something happening here that I haven't seen a lot of. And I would ask you in my entire life, I haven't seen a lot of it. And I would ask you if you guys believe That what is presently happening is going to be enduring for Shane Gillis Shane Gillis is the most popular comic in the world right now After what are you guys laughing about back there? I'm just saying Ryan Langer on just has taken this thing for a walk

See how it works taking what a walk We'll see you salutes and you please I don't want to Way too far on that one If you ain't you're doing it wrong. Bones, I'll fist ya. The thing that I wanted to ask you guys about Shane Gillis is he is presently selling out arenas in less than a day where he puts the tickets on sale

and they sell out right away. And that's not something I've ever seen in my life of any comedian, but whatever it is that you imagine to be the most enduring comedians, because I remember Kevin Hart famously sold out a football stadium and was the first comedian to do that, not just in Philadelphia, but that any of us had seen. And the question I'm asking you guys, is Shane Gillis gonna go down with Richard Pryor in all of these all-time greats, as he's done Saturday Night Live twice

in the last 11 months, and he is helping Saturday Night Live more than Saturday Night Live is helping him, and he's done it twice in 11 months after being let go by Saturday Night Live without ever appearing on Saturday Night Live So there aren't a lot of stories like this. I mean first things first. He's got to get out of the West Shit Shane Gillis Alexander's the joke he's making there Alexander might not even say get out of the West in what sport I just you know, I know in hockey. Yeah, I knew the sport. I knew the sport. I didn't get the reference though

Then when you got it, I like it. He was smiling. Like I said, Ryan Linger on I like it Dan to be honest So I think he needs the longevity right like he's come onto the scene so quickly From the time that he was working in Philly and doing his own thing to now getting to Austin doing stuff with Rogan and like really exploding in that scene he needs a longevity of what a Richard Pryor would do what an Eddie Murphy would do what a Dave Chappelle would do where you have these year in year out he's putting out great specials he's selling out these arenas but he continues to evolve his act as he as he matures that's an excellent point for Richard Pryor as an example and Kevin Hart who's shown that

he has longevity. There's also Andrew Dice Clay and Dane Cook, guys that were like the biggest acts at the time, but of a time. Dice is back by the way. Joe Rogan's numbers as he continues to help an era of comedy that looks different than most before it. His numbers have dropped. He's no longer the number one podcast in America. Midas Touch has almost doubled his numbers recently, and part of the reason for it is a lot of his listeners are really upset about the Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, that class of richness talking

to them about the sacrifices that they need to make on behalf of America. They're upset about Elon Musk. Elon Musk, you guys have been watching what's been happening with Tesla and the Tesla stock and how it is. He is just getting obliterated because we were talking earlier about likeability. It seems like Elon Musk isn't polling well with anybody because it's almost impossible to be likable when you're that rich, when so many of the people absorbing you have the

issues that they have with and around money. They just, I don't know who gets to be the rich person who's hugely likable when they're famous. Right, who's the billionaire who people like? Famous for being rich. Right, and Bill Burr kind of nailed this one on the head. They also don't like being told what to do by a guy that, no, the system kind of worked out for you.

Like under Joe Biden, you became the richest man on the planet. Like, what is your problem? As a billionaire, like, how are you so mad with this country? Why do you want to change everything about this country when it kind of worked out? Because it's not just white people.

The place that Elon Musk finds himself in at the moment, I'm curious whether he knew what he was in for, whether he could have had any idea, because anyone can get around and get behind the idea of, yes, please, slash government inefficiency. That seems like a great idea to just slash that. But the intended and unintended consequences of that, when you're doing something like paying $44

billion to be the popular high school kid who has bought Twitter, my guess is that he had not accounted for the backlash on we don't like you. I thought that was what he was trying to buy. It wasn't just power and influence that he was trying to buy. I thought he was trying to buy also. Do you think he thought this was gonna make him popular? I thought he didn't think it was going to make him

this unpopular. Yeah, because usually if he if politicians that climb aboard the Trump train, it's worked out. Won the popular vote and they do see, at least within their own party, their star ascend. It hasn't been the case for Elon Musk. That could also be because part of the campaign, even though he was adjacent to the campaign, the size and scope of his job, it wasn't really a campaign issue. So there is a bait and switch aspect to all the power that he's getting.

But yeah, this is billionaires. It's a type of super villain. It's like a Bond villain type of guy. No one's like, Bond villain is the path to likability. No, he's Lex Luthor is what it feels like, right? I don't know how it is that you get to likable when what people associate with you Is you're the richest person in the world and he's not anymore, right?

Like the the amount of if you can give me some of the numbers on how much money he has cost Tesla recently and himself it is a bit breathtaking And I don't even understand it how it is that you can lose these sums or make these sums of money even if you are on the cusp of innovation and the future and a gasless society that runs on electric cars. Elon Musk is still the number one richest person in the world and that'll only get better because the Commerce Secretary was on Fox yesterday telling everyone to buy Teslas. But imagine you have somebody who is the richest person in the world, has gone through all these things, and is still the richest person in the world even though he lost all this

money on stocks. So how far ahead was he to then tumble to then still be there? Bezos gave away, I'm sorry, lost half of his wealth in the divorce and then quickly made it right back immediately after being divorced because of the separation between the wealthiest people in the world now and the people who don't have money. Yeah, percentages on interest. Like you can make that back very, very easily.

The Tesla thing though, like there's a subtext to why he did that thing at the White House too is because when he purchased X, he borrowed money to purchase X, and as collateral, he put up shares of Tesla. So if it dips below a certain price, that puts the X thing in jeopardy. Let's talk about something that makes watching College Hoops

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Celebrate responsibly Miller Brew pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Tastes like Miller time. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Hey friends, it's Jerobar here, and I'm here to tell you all about Boost Mobile, which is now a legit nationwide 5G network. So I must take a break from the jokes here for a second and put on my serious voice because I would never ever joke about a 5G network that has invested billions building 5G towers across the country. Not even once. Not even if Mr. Boost Mobile himself asked me to. There is

nothing funny about it. Boost Mobile is now a legit nationwide 5G network and also provides coverage across 99% of America. Seriously. Visit BoostMobile.com or your nearest Boost Mobile store location to learn more. The Boost Mobile network, together with our roaming partners, covers 99% of the US population. 5G speeds not available in all areas. Don Lebatard. No one else here is willing to do a Trump or a Biden.

That's not true, Dan. Okay, Tony, you can catch up. Man of a thousand impersonations. That's not bad, man. Finally. Not terrible. Pretty good. Stugatz. Yours is terrible. You just gotta get a little redder little pinker right there, man Yours is not that you're biting. What do you mean?

That's not terrible This is the down Libertar Show with the Stugats. Let's go now here to this highlight thing that Mike and Tony did. I'd like to watch this together because what would you guys tell people by way of tease on what this is? Well, I would love for people to come out on Friday night. The Cyclones are playing. Fridays are open to the public. It's the only day that Battle Court is open to the public. It is free to attend. We are going to have a big crew out there. A lot of people from the show are going to be rooting our it is free to attend. We are gonna have a big crew out there. A lot of people from the show are gonna be

ruining our sess to cyclones. Even though they're just a cyclones now, it's hard. I, sess to cyclones is so close to my heart. But we're gonna be out there causing a ruckus, causing a scene, cheap drinks. Come on out, have a good time with us. Dan, this is part of the Tony Tonight series where we uncover, it's my love letter to Miami and the things that we do

and the places that we go. A big piece of Miami history is highlight and understanding what that means in its context of the sport and what it means to Miami and the Hispanic culture that comes from Spain down to Miami. I talked to Mike, who's obviously a co-owner of one of the teams.

Good get. Yeah, great get. Well, this was also several months ago, so I'm gonna be made very uncomfortable with how I look fat We're you fat. Yes, you could say that you know, whatever and then we got players. We got coaches We got a whole bunch of people. So this is Tony tonight invades Highlight. All right. We're here with the king of the battle court. We're here with the mayor of the Magic City front on Mike Ryan Ruiz owner of the cyclones

Co-owner co-owner of the cyclones. Co-owner. Co-owner of the Cyclones. Where's your other co-owner? I think Bahamar. That's a nice spot. Yeah. He's already in Cancun depending on how you look at it. The season hasn't exactly gone our way. How does it feel to be an owner of a highlight team? Battlecourt team. There is a difference. For the uninitiated, there is the great sport of highlight, which originated in the Basque region. And what Battlecourt has done is applied a team concept to it. It works kind of like team racquetball in a sense.

Florida is the only place where this sport is played in this country. And Battlecourt is a very unique version of the sport that is played nowhere else. So it's Battle Court. I feel like growing up, highlight used to be a big deal, right? Back in the eighties, you would have this place packed. Thousands of people watching highlight.

Yeah. The transition from then to now, like what's happened with highlight as a sport? Well, I think the sport is right now at an exciting inflection point and it's accessible nationwide via YouTube, the HiLi app, Watch ESPN and ESPN3. I wasn't quite at the age where it was peaking

and it was a place to see and be seen, but I'm of the age where these places started closing down. Danny HiLi is still kinda cooking, keeping the sport alive, but there used to be plenty of other places nearby where you can watch Ily. And it kind of got said, and our show has a very proud history of trying to do its best to revive it.

Come on, few guts! Hey! Mike Ryan! Pelota! A real natural fit that the Levitard show and cast members adjacent to it are linking up with Battleport and trying to revive it. I think you've been out here for a game before. Multiple times I've been out here. It's a fun atmosphere. We get people into it.

Our side in particular starts chanting and acting all sorts of ridiculous. It's a real fun way to spend a Friday night. And all I want is people to give it a chance. Did you know how much was going to go into being a HiLi owner? I can't lie when I was first approached by the fine folks at Battle Court, I thought it would be largely ceremonial. And just an opportunity to cosplay Chris Cody as this ridiculous sports team owner that would parody some really

outrageous sports owners. But a funny thing happened when we first got involved. We really liked it and they really empowered us to really manage the roster. We built relationships. I watch so much Highly. I'm not gambling again. I honor the code. I don't take action in the sport, but I like scouting. I like pretending like I know what I'm talking about. Like I said, we have a proud track record. If you follow the sport closely enough, you can kind of GM it.

Do you think that Highlight is a sport that is accessible enough for kids to start growing up and playing it? We were talking about that before. It's a hard sport to get invested in because anybody can pick up a pickleball paddle, anybody can pick up a racket or soccer ball or a pigskin and toss it around. There's not many places down here where you can pick up a sesta, number one,

they're very hard to find, they're all handmade, and find a wall where you can fire off a pilota at 100 miles per hour without doing some serious damage. It's a very dangerous sport, so I know it's really difficult to play. Have you put on a sesta? I have. Have you thrown the pelota against the wall? Not well, yeah, it's very hard. It feels unnatural.

You wanna turn your wrist, you wanna turn your elbow, you wanna do all sorts of things that'll actually injure your arm. I have the ultimate amount of respect for people that do this. Maybe you'll have the opportunity to put a sesta on your arm. It'll feel very unnatural.

I always have to remind myself of that. Anytime there's like an unforced error and I get frustrated with the player, what they're doing out there is insane. How about you do it? I would literally die. I'm not joking. If you put me out there in an intense regulation game of Battle Court, I would die.

There's a million decisions that they have to make in a given three set match that their life literally depends on. What I like about Battle Court is it almost has the idea of like a live where you get teams together and you can start rooting for something. What's your favorite thing about Battle Court? Well, it's going to sound corny,

but in getting to know the sport and getting to know the players and knowing people's backgrounds, it's, this is a passion play. These people are deeply passionate about this sport. There's no other way that they would find themselves here on the one place on the planet that plays this brand of highlights. The least I can do is take the time with you, speaking in front of cameras and a Ford Art platform on the Levitard show. To really let people, to pound the table for something that is really cool and gnarly. Like, people shouldn't really be doing this. It's so dangerous and cool to look at,

especially when someone's diving after a rebote off this one huge piece of glass. I think two players have broken. That's how hard, this bulletproof glass. Two players have broken with just a serve and they dive into this net full speed and find a way to acrobatically not injure themselves. I mean, how can you not love it?

["Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy"] Can you explain to me some of the intricacies of the words in highlight? Because there's a lot of great words in highlight. Chula. And it kicks to the inside perfectly to score. in Highland because there's a lot of great words in Highland. Uh, chula. Chick-chack. Reynard. Backhand to the outside. That's saved by Julin. Robote.

He passes. Robote saved by Julin. Something very specific to Battle Court here, the Magic City bounce. Ooh. I'm not exactly sure what the Magic City bounce is. Anytime the ball does something you don't expect you just say ah Magic City bounce. There are a couple players here that have like signature tosses. Lopez on the cyclones has this crazy backhand shot. What a catch by Lopez. Here's the backhand low runner. He's new to the game

of battle court. He's been playing over in the Basque region on courts that are three times the size of this. So you can imagine on this battle court front time with that bulletproof clasp, a player that's known for his backhand shot. It is a gnarly shot. Robotei right pulled to the outside and tipped. Beautifully played by Lopez. Do you have a favorite player? Our team captain, Manu. Not Janobli for those. No, but in terms of stature in the sport, he's better than Manu Janobli. He's the best backcorder in the world.

And he has been on the Cyclone since Battlecourt's inception. There are a lot of great people here in the sport, but I struck up a friendship with Mike Corballo and I have the ultimate respect for Manu. So those two guys are their lifelong Cyclones no matter what happens even if there are other incarnations of the cyclones Look at that beautiful jacket Anybody that's ever won a championship with the cyclones or plays for the cyclones this year has this beautiful bomber jacket that caused me Way too much money that I'm not telling my wife about

She's not gonna see this Cynthia, do not watch. Mike Ryan Rees, thank you. The mayor of the Magic City Fronton, the king of Battlecourt himself. Not the owner, co-owner of the Cyclones. We dropped the sesta just to Cyclones. Just to Cyclones. Oh, it's a it's an honor. Mi gente. Thank you for watching Tony Tonight. Did not have Mike being more pear-shaped than Manu. Was surprised by that.

Got caught off guard. Mike looks good, man. And he looked good then. There was more of him then. There's less of him. Just more to love. Less of him to love these days. The Boston Celtics have just sold for a record amount of money for a North American franchise, topping the

commanders that went for about six billion dollars. The Boston Celtics have sold a good time to sell coming off of a championship. I'm a little surprised that it's more than the most expensive football team. I hope the new owner relocates them. That would be hilarious. Whatever man. F them.

To Seattle or something. Little Rock, Arkansas. Whatever. I hope they lose the team. Did I just hear you mutter or whisper, it was a mutter whisper, F them? Yeah. Anyone wanna step to that statement about the Boston Celtics?

No, co-sign. Anyone? Nope. I'm over here. Full heartedly agree. Mm-hmm, F Boston. Thank you. That's a lot of winning that's being done in Boston,

though, with their basketball team, where they win the championship And then sell for more than a football team It's like that or so some more sell for more than any football team ever do they get a banner for that they should David want to come back on and tell us what a bad business investment It is to buy a sports team because you're gonna lose money new guy got ripped off They made Three classic overpay

Speaking of Boston, what do you think of Martian? Oh my I'm excited for Martian I'm excited. I look at you different now. I was you know, I'm look I'm trying to another Stanley Cup here All right, you're talking about I'm looking why'd you bring this loser aboard? He's one of the great post-season players. All right, he's a rat, but he's now our guy. All right. Last two post-seasons, I haven't been impressed with him. I was very, well, we knocked him the, oh, last post-season.

All right. But now he's on our team. And if the guys in that dressing room are okay with it, then you kinda need to be okay with it. All right, you're not about the team. That is a pretty good point. If the guys, if Sam Bennett is okay with it, Mike Ryan, you better be okay with it.

We were talking about Shane Gillis Alexander earlier, and for those of you who do not remember, this is something that happened. The Oklahoma City Thunder traded Paul George for Shane Gillis Alexander and five first round picks. You leave a little bit of context out when you say it like that though. And Danilo Gellinari.

No, that's not the context, all right? It's a little bit unfair. I'm not trying to defend the Clippers, all right? It was a great trade by Oklahoma City, but you kinda need to add the Kawhi Leonard part. The Kawhi. Come on. Well, I will talk about Kawhi Leonard for a second here

because I find his story to be hugely interesting in the shadows in that it would appear that his body broke down during and with the watch and care of the San Antonio Spurs and that whatever his gripes are that have never been made public in his voice that he left San Antonio at least in part because of everything done to his body that has subsequently harmed his career in a way that is obvious because we do not talk about Kawhi Leonard anymore and

when it's the Clippers getting 50 from somebody they're getting it from James Harden. But I think we don't talk about Kawhi Leonard anymore. And when it's the Clippers getting 50 from somebody, they're getting it from James Harden. But I think we don't talk about him anymore because there's nothing to talk about. Like there's nothing new. We've been doing this with Kawhi Leonard. He left in 2019, left Toronto in 2019. So we're going on six years of the same.

No, but my point on that is, it is in the middle of the super team era, Kawhi Leonard won a championship by himself. And whatever that cost his body is something we haven't seen that dude since. Like it's been that six years of what should be his prime or something close to his prime when he was at the height of his powers and at the top of the sport, his body has clearly betrayed him. To that point, it's like you have James Harden and Kawhi Leonard on the same team and like,

we don't talk about the Clippers ever. And they're not even the best team in their city. They're really good though. Like that's the crazy part is they've been good without him. And when he's there, they can beat just about anybody in the West. That's what's really wild right now is there are all these teams right around the play-in.

You have the Timberwolves who made a run last year, the Clippers, they have the same, not the same winning percentage, but they're both 18 games back. So they're sitting at seven and eight. And then you have Golden State, right there is the sixth seed, just a game ahead of them. So all those teams are vying to square up against whoever

the three seed is, but man, when you're thinking about being Oklahoma City or Houston or the Lakers as these one, two, and three seeds, the Clippers to me of all those teams might actually be the team I want the least. They're deep, they're big, they're physical, and if Kowais is there, man they're good. They could have won the championship last year if they'd been healthy. Yeah, but we've, I think part of the reason that I'm shaking my head is we've seen this movie before. We're gonna get to the playoffs and he's not gonna play. No, that's totally fair and for that matter when you're looking at one of the other teams there, it's Golden State,

Jimmy is going to be there for the playoffs because he hasn't played for a year, so he's going to be available. Going back to Boston and trades for a second, can we look back at the Mookie Betts trade? Can we examine the Mookie Betts trade that has to have Boston Red Sox fans still upset? Well, it's really crazy because when you look back at it five years ago, obviously, Mookie Betts now just won a World Series with the Dodgers. They're one of the greatest teams you've ever seen. And the Red Sox were on a path when they had Mookie Betts and a whole bunch of these other guys coming up,

Xander Bogarts, who's no longer there as well. The reason this came up recently is because Alex Verdugo was an outfielder for the Yankees last year. Not the best season, still a free agent, kind of surprisingly. He's been a big league player for several years. But he was the headliner in the Mookie Betts trade. So when you look back on February 10th, 2020,

the Red Sox traded Mookie Betts and David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for Alex Verdugo Jeter Downs and Connor Wong wolf That was the trade that they made and it's the fact that the Red Sox are even a competitive franchise When they made a trade that bad shows you that they've actually done a pretty good job. Otherwise, that is one of the most overwhelmingly terrible trades I can think of, maybe in baseball history. Mookie Betts is one of the best players of this era by a long shot.

We were talking with David Sampson earlier this week and he objected to what was a prisoner of the moment contention, he alleged, that I was saying that this Dodger roster, you can make the argument that's the best roster that's ever been assembled. And the over-under on wins for them this season is 104 and a half. And he mentioned the Mariners team of Randy Johnson, Griffey, that won,

was it 111 games or 115? 116, I believe, 116 games. But that team wasn't over under 104 and a half before the season. I've never seen a team that is expected to win 104 games. That's not something that I've seen in my lifetime. Can you imagine taking the over, I've been to Dodgers over the season, a 104.

I mean, what is that? Like you can assemble the argument that Betts, Freeman, and O or no tiny you put those three together that whatever you thought babe Ruth's murderers row was in 1927 a hundred years ago that it's not as it's not the Dodger lineup of today because they got Ruth and they got bets and they Got Friedman they got Freeman like they've got babe Ruth Maybe the closest that you have in terms of an era of free agencies, the 98 Yankees, but I don't think there's anything close to what you're seeing.

They have a player better than Babe Ruth, and he might not even be their best hitter on their team.