The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 2: Runaway Freight Train of Gibberish

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

An exploration of Dan’s relationships as a Step-Cat Dad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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It's time for... Against the Scream! And it's brought to you by our friends at DraftKings. DraftKings, the Sprains. And it's brought to you by our friends at DraftKings. DraftKings, the crown is yours. Roy, kick us off. Devils at Blue Jackets tonight, I got a word to staff for you here. The Devils have failed the cover in nine straight

night games versus opponents on a losing streak. The Blue Jackets on a three game losing streak. The Devils just lost to the Penguin 73 on Saturday. The Blue Jackets are underdogs in this game by a goal and a half. It begs the question, could you find a stat for anything? Wow. Yeah. That was an oddly specific stat.

I know. It's ridiculous. And because of that stat, ongoing Blue Jackets tonight as the underdog, a goal and a half underdog. OK, you're not worried they've run out of gas? It's been one of the nicer stories in the sport but they look totally listless. Yeah. But I mean it is a night game. It is a night game. That's not good analysis. It was actually. It is a night game. It's making me stay away from the

game. I know that that was the opposite of the intention but the form is so bad from the blue jacket. I don't think that Roy made a very convincing argument for what it is that he's asking us to bet no no it's a nice game and New Jersey can't beat a team that's on a losing streak. He was a good point. Now we go to Billy for our Anaheim Ducks pick of the week. Ah we've been flying high together you know what they say ducks fly together and we have been hot when we have been picking the ducks for and oh I believe this season on ducks games It's always a one and a half goal spread there and the ducks aren't always winning, but they're always covering but friends

I hate to disappoint you tonight. I'm not taking the ducks ducks aren't playing tonight. All right dead I'm gonna switch things up a bit guys. I don't know if you heard MLB starts tomorrow. Big series. These are games that everybody marks down on their calendar. They say, I can't wait for these games. The season's officially starting and everyone's excited about these games. Everybody cares, they count.

That's what we've been saying around here all day long. So, Dodgers are at the Cubs in Tokyo, but they're still the road team. Yamamoto is taking on Imanaga, but I think the story of the day Should be no surprise to anyone show hey, Otani that guy guys is a rock star in Japan I don't know caught on today's pretty good. Well, you saw what was going on this past weekend So they had some games they had you know The Dodgers were playing a team there and the Cubs were playing a team there and they had split it up

It was kind of like a double header situation. They couldn't get the fans out because Shohei was playing in the first game and said, guys, you gotta, you gotta skedaddle, get out of here the second game, you don't have tickets for these games. Couldn't clear out the stadium. People love Shohei Otani over there in Japan, so for that reason, for that reason,

I'm gonna take the Dodgers, Crust Man, one and a half tomorrow against the Cubs at Chicago at Tokyo against the Sprains! Just a runaway freight train of gibberish. 4-0 Ducks fly together. Yeah well you didn't give us anything on the Ducks. They've been money. I've been tailing. They did lose yesterday but he didn't make a pick for yesterday. Not yesterday's game. Chris Cody

Did I hear you under your breath ripping Jay Williams in the other room? Well, I just I you know, this is bracket season Dan. This is everybody. What's their bracket? Who they got? Who's their final four? What's their upset pick? I am just looking for experts that I can copy their picks I saw Clark Kellogg has Clemson going far boom boom, Clemson going far in my bracket. But not Jay Williams. He's zagging while others zig. All ones and two seeds in his Elite Eight. Which might end up being right. It's one of those things, you think you gotta overthink it, sometimes you don't.

But it's like, Jay Will, go on a limb. Give me something. Chris, I literally just filled out my first women's NCAA tournament bracket. All ones and twos Yeah, I mean gotta find your three or four Yeah, but I don't know Except LSU. I mean they were a three seed when they won weren't they yeah

Only like two years ago working a three come I have I have a final four right now. That is so chalk I have Yukon upsetting USC in the in the elite eight making a final four right now that is so chalk. I have UConn upsetting USC in the Elite Eight making the final four, but then I have UCLA, South Carolina, and Texas. I'm like, I don't feel good about this. No, but you should feel good about it. The women's game isn't madness this time of year. Like the top 20. I don't even like South Carolina like this much,

but I just don't see them losing to North Carolina or Duke. If you win with your bracket, you're gonna split it with like 17 other people in your pool. Well, that's the thing. Also, I mean, so like, yeah, last year when I filled out my women's NCAA tournament bracket, I was like, if I go all chalk, I'm gonna win this thing.

No, I don't know if, I lost by a million points. Like, there are people that are very good at getting these first round games right, like the eights and nines and everything. It's not me, okay? It's really, it's not me. I even have Notre Dame losing the second round here, which would be a huge upset to Michigan, I believe.

Why'd you do that? Shut the front door. Why are we shutting the front door? Because I said last night, they've really petered out at the end of the season, I don't feel- Is this a size thing? Does Michigan have size on them? They do have a good freshman, a big, but so does Notre Dame,

so it's not a size thing. It's Notre Dame just so it's not a size thing. It's Notre Dame just petering out, and this is me protecting my emotional hedging right now. This all begs the question, what is the perfect amount of brackets to fill out? Are we begging that question? Some people wonder, do you just fill out one?

If I fill out multiple, am I doing the same results in every bracket? Peter Burns had a theory that you fill out three. Right when it comes out, you just poop one out. That's this one. And then your second one is you think about it. You look at matchups, you dissect, you really crunch the numbers, that's number two.

And number three, you go with your heart. You just, what you want to happen. So you fill out three different brackets and you see what's what at the end. I wish the bracket makers went with their hearts and were cognizant of the fact that we could have a UCLA USC rematch in the Final Four in a South Carolina Texas rematch which is literally like what we just did last weekend like if they if

all the one seeds make it that would be so annoying why did they do that flip them around I wanted to ask you guys a question about Stephen A. Smith and Larry David, but before I do that, I wanted to tell you a story from my home this morning, and I wanted to ask you guys what you think of it. None of you are cat people, correct? There's nobody in here. I love cats, but I don't have one. Go cats.

I'm a dog. So I've always been a dog person, and I've never had much of a relationship with any cats. My family did have one for 20 years, but it was outdoors and it wasn't the connection that I have with dogs. But my wife is a cat person and so I have inherited two cats that now boss around a pit bull and I see their personality and it's been delightful

to get to love cats. The old one, a gray old cat, was on the kitchen table the other day and when my wife looked up that cat had a piece of her breakfast in its mouth and isn't supposed to, a piece of avocado. They don't even like avocado. I don't know what she was doing. And my wife, who I've never seen the side of her at this old gray lady, shouted, asshole. And the question I wanted to ask you guys. They usually are.

Well, but I thought, I almost use asshole exclusively for males, that Otis, Otis is an asshole. The other cat is an asshole, but I just don't think of asshole as someone that gets, something that gets, we were talking before about quarterbacks and whether a quarterback can be too confident, be an asshole, be a dick. I don't think of that as something I say toward women.

Am I being some, like, do you often call women assholes, females assholes? Well, it was a cat. I know, but she was calling a female cat an asshole and it felt wrong to me and I just started wondering whether that was a male, whether I was somebody who was just doing assholes exclusively for males. I've called my wife an asshole before.

Remember last week when I said that she wouldn't let me get ice cream after 8.30 with my daughter? I called her an asshole once when she did that. Yeah, asshole. All cats are assholes though. Yeah. They're jerks. I would describe them as jerks. Every last one I've done.hole. All cats are assholes though. Yeah. They're jerks. I would describe them as jerks.

Every last one of them. No, they're all assholes. No, even. That's like a feature, not a bug. I don't go with asshole when I'm angry with a woman because there's so many great other words that are gender specific to call them. I believe women can be assholes.

You all have one. Thank you, Roy. That's excellent. This is one of your weird gender blind spots, Dan. First of all, you shouldn't call women anything. But also, you can call them asshole. Just never have. Just never have.

Speaking of which, this is an awkward transition. Wait, can I ask you a question about your cat before you transition real quick? You said you inherited them. Is it like if you're like a step daddy, like do you then adopt the cats also so that you're the cat's daddy? Or no, like real kids?

Can you adopt a cat that's already been adopted? I think they adopt them together. What are you asking me? Because I- So like, you know like when you get married and you have step children, right? Like sometimes the step parent will adopt the children and then it's like this is-

This would be a step-pet scenario. Yeah, step-pet. A B-word. Do you consider them yours? Did she have the cats before you were around? Do they feel like you're- Get your cat out of here. Are you like an R-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r- I don't think, I think they are her cats, but I have absolutely grown to love them. So what does that mean?

So like they're yours. But you haven't done the formality of adopting them. No, I don't have any paperwork. They are, nor do I feel about them the way that she feels about them, because I cannot reach those heights. They are not mine. Well, they can be, that's why you go adopt them.

I think you just answered your question, Billy. Yeah, geez, that's sad. These are about my limits, though. This makes me a step-pet dad, because she had them before me. Isn't that why you asked the question, Chris? No, but if you become a stepdad, those children obviously were there before you go in and you marry the person,

and you become the stepdaddy. So I'm just wondering if that's a thing that can happen when you marry someone that has pets that you then view. Do you view them as your kiddies? Well, you've asked this again and I view them as hers and why do you make that sound? It's just sad. Why is that sad?

If they were children, would you love them? Yeah. I do love them. Wait a minute, why are you making this? But the way you're saying it, it sounds like. But you don't love them enough. Yeah, like they feel lesser than. You could love them more, is what you're saying. I would say, I don't, why are you making this? But the way you're saying it, it sounds like. But you don't love them enough. Yeah, like they feel lesser than.

You could love them more, is what you're saying. I would say, I don't know, are you and your significant other, the way that you love is exactly equal in strength? I believe my wife is capable of greater loves than I am. I believe my wife has fewer limits as it regards love than I do. I believe her love is bigger than mine.

I think that Lee and I are equally dead inside, which is why it kind of works. That's good. Yeah, you should get a cat. Why do you have a limit to your love? Why can't you love the cats more? I have found that over the length of this relationship, I have learned that my love is less limited

than I thought it was, but when I met her, I was a certain kind of limited, and since then, I've noticed that the way she feels about the cats is stronger than the way that I do. That's just a cat thing, I'm with you. Like I've had family cats that I'm just like, yeah I like the dog way more. Like my parents have had multiple cats,

and we don't touch them, we just say hello, just a pass by relationship. Also, like counterpoint I would say, just based on the story you told us, you've never called the gray cat an asshole. So like, that could, like, you could be capable of more, you're calling yourself Mr. Limited, I say we go to Mr. Unlimited here,

in terms of like the love that you can give the cats. But also, when you reach the level of love, you also can reach that level of hate that you probably can't reach with the cats also, where you couldn't bring yourself to calling the cat an asshole because you don't seem to have that passion one way or another towards the cat.

I know that Mike and Jessica both have relationships with animals and do you and your spouse feel exactly What'd you just call her? Exactly the same about your pets? Is your amount of love for the pet exactly the same? In my household I think so. I think we both love Big. Now the dog does not reciprocate the equal amount of love. I was going to say the same thing. Yes, I think Lee and I both, we love Willow dearly

to death, but she really, really likes Lee. Because animals aren't smart enough to balance out. They just play favorites. They're like, yep, I like that person a lot more. It often is tied to when they feed me. When is this feeding session happening? How early did this person catch them in the feeding cycle? That's at least what I tell myself as opposed to- What can I get away with?

Wait, Roma likes Cynthia more? Roma likes Cynthia more. They like people they can get away with stuff. It's like kids. Like, my daughter likes my wife more because she can get away with her. You're the disciplinarian. Opposite for us though, because Lehman's the disciplinarian

and she really respects him. She does not respect me at all because I let her do whatever she wants. A lot of it is tied to feeding time. But they also both adopted those animals together, like while they were a unit with their significant others. So it's not like Jessica's coming in and Lee had Willow beforehand.

Although Billy, we adopted Willow and then I moved to Miami like six months later and Lee and Willow stayed in New York for like a year and a half because of work. So me and Willow were long distance for about a year and I think she really resents me for it. We've never gotten over that hurdle. To be clear, when you accuse me of loving less because I'm a step-pet

dad, those animals are also clearly hers. They behave with her in a more loving fashion than they behave with me. So when they get a lesser love from me, it is reciprocating their lesser love of me because they were hers before I met them. So you have a transactional emotional relationship with the cats. You need to be the bigger person here, Dan. I mean, you're the only person in this equation with the cat, but you need to be the bigger person and say,

you know what, I'm going to love you unconditionally whether you love me or not. That's the thing. Not all cats like that. Really? Like Chris was describing about, like, you know, seeing the cat and just being like sup and then walking away. Yeah.

Just walk by, a little head nod. Yeah. That's cat companionship for a lot of cats. That's all you need to do. Paul McCartney's rule of love does not apply to cats. They're a strange breed. The love that you make is not equal to the love that you take. I think that you might need to have cat dates,

you know what I mean? To kind of establish your relationship with the cats independent of your wife's relationship with the cats. Because it seems like that's really what's going on here is that there's the relationship that Valerie has with the cats. Because it seems like that's really what's going on here, is that there's the relationship that Valerie has with the cats, and there's a relationship Valerie has with you. And you and the cats are married together

in this relationship because of Valerie. But in reality, you guys are all in this together, and you're a cat family. Whether you wanted it or not, this is where we are. So I feel like maybe the way that we overcome this is that you have some you time with the cats, and then you guys can strengthen and form your own bond. You have your own little inside jokes.

My relationship is fine with the cats. I don't need any more of your cat advice. My relationship is good. I feel like you need to learn how to love, it sounds like. I'm trying to help here. You have to open up if we wanna move on. Yeah, not helpful. I'm happy for your blended family though.

It's not easy to have cats and dogs get along famously. Well, we had an incident. Uh-oh. Yeah, oh yeah. No, look, this was a fight. Oh my god, this was terrifying. Well, they have to establish that the dog was inherited, OK, and the dog again is a pit mix.

This is actually very amusing because he's muscular. Everyone's scared of the dog. Everyone is scared of the dog except for these cats. So the incident actually was a dangerous one because the dog ended up biting Valerie on the leg while lunging at the cat. But so they have to sort it out, right? McGill was actually teaching us. In retrospect, this was a dumb decision.

In retrospect, bringing in rescuing a pit bull mix with two cats in the house and territorial about space and having them have to have it out was a terrible idea but the pit is now terrified of the orange cat because of the story I'm about to tell you okay I we are giving medicine to the old gray bag of vacuum cleaner dust in in her ear and I go to put her down and I didn't realize that the dog was there when I was putting her down. So the cat runs away from the dog even though the dog hasn't done anything, the dog is just there. But the protector, the orange cat, the male cat who

thinks he's the boss of my house because he is, sees the gray lady run away, sees the terror, and then goes straight on to attack the pit bull who doesn't know what it is that's happening because he's never seen this orange creature who's always been respectful behave this way. Is your cat's name Gray Bag of Dust? I'm starting to piece together what's going on here. You call one the orange one, and then you call

the other one the old gray lady and the Gray Bag of Vacuum Dust. Which one's the asshole? I understand the gray bag of vacuum dust, if I followed correctly earlier. I think what's going on here is you're refusing to give them names. It's very simple.

You have a male orange cat, Garfield. You have a gray old cat, we'll figure out a name for that one, but if you give them names and you make them feel more than, then that improves the relationship. You call one of them Otis? One of them is Otis after Otis Redding, yes. Oh, a good name.

And I've been avoiding the other one because I don't want to give the name because it's Footfoot and it's a ridiculous name. And I don't want to. Garfield was right there. So I was trying to avoid that. Yeah. Named after Stu Gatz?

That's the other one. When he said Footfault? That's the other one. Named after my old college football segment. So one foot wasn't enough, huh? You're like two foot. Well, I knew that was coming, and it's what I was trying to avoid.

I like that name. That's precisely, that's why I called it. Footfoot's a good name. It's cute. Yeah, Footfoot's a cute name. So you thought referring to them as a gray bag of vacuum dust. Would just like, that one'll

They're paws. They're paws. Easier, yes. Footfoot's a good name. Don't feel bad about that. I like that name. Footfoot's cute too though. I don't feel bad about that.

I was simply trying to avoid what I knew would be the feeding frenzy of you guys enjoying that. My sister's cat's name is Kennewick. I was trying to avoid just that, like just that. Howdy folks, it's Mike Ryan, one to responsibly speak to you about my favorite time, Miller time. Look, a lot of things are coming back in a season.

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Yeah, sure thing. Hey, you sold that car yet? Yeah, sold it to Carvana. Oh, I thought you were selling to that guy. The guy who wanted to pay me in foreign currency no interest over 36 months? Yeah no. Carvana gave me an offer in minutes picked it up and paid me on the spot. It was so convenient. Just like that? Yeah. No hassle? None. That is super convenient. Sell your car to Carvana and swap hassle for convenience. pick up these may apply

Don LeBataard we didn't get to your guys's against the spread. You're right. You're right. You're right. I don't have it against the spread Because I wasn't prepared for this segment You have actively played defense against me today in a way that has rarely been this undercutting Stugats defense wins championships, baby This is the Don LeBataard show with. Stugats! Defense wins championships baby, that's show business. This is the Don Lebatar show with the Stugats! Anyway so the bag vacuumed us. The other one is Clovis. I was trying to avoid all of the ways I know you guys to obviously not be helpful and so I didn't successfully because I'm getting older and I've lost a step and so I made it

an old gray bag of dust. But what happened was, and you guys would have actually enjoyed the visuals of this because I don't still have the scratches on my arms, but I did for a while. I've never seen Otis, the orange one, this way because the orange one knew that this was a fight for dominance of the house. The pit bull did not know that that's what was happening. And I got between them, and it was a bad idea because then the cat charged me.

And so what ends up happening is, I'm holding the cat by the belly, that's the worst place to hold the cat, and the cat is also holding me by the arms and we're both screaming at each other. And I am, as- Another reason why I don't like cats, the claws. You don't have the thumbs to do that.

What's the dog's name? The dog's name is Early. Oh. This is you being helpful again? Come on, a pit full, you name it Armando. It's right there. Is that named after who? Named after not Dan yesterday for the selection show.

You were late. I was looking at 545. A boat is a whole thing. Is this? OK. A boat and a train. Not just a boat, a boat and a train. Hey, Coach L was on time.

So was my father. I was just holding the cat, and we were both screaming at each other. And for us, it was a draw, right? Okay, you get to be the man of the house and that's me saying it to him and it's also him saying it to me. And what God decided there is early

is no longer in charge around here and my wife is bleeding and that was all terrifying. And we had to keep them apart for several months because we didn't want that to happen again. Oh. That's too bad, man. Yeah, it was brutal. Violence.

Huh. And now everyone gets along? Yes, everyone's fine. Well, now, Early will simply not, Otis will wait and stand in front of him and make Early turn his face and not look at him because he is now the dominant creature in the household. They had to fight it out in order to establish that.

This sounds unhealthy. It didn't seem great while I was in it. Not with all the blood. Are we past it now? We were both, yeah, well, I'll never forgive Otis for that. I'll never forget it, I should say. It's not that I won't forgive it. It's now I have a healthier respect than I ever had.

Do you have Ron McGill on retainer to be? Yeah, did he show up at your house? Oh, he was very helpful during this. Your pet whisperer. I'm just picturing him sitting at the middle of the couch, like, all right, come here, come here, kitty. I'm just picturing him sitting at the middle of the couch, like, all right, come here, come here. I'm just picturing him talking about what cats do when they have sex.

Like, he's just not paying attention, just talking about animals having sex. Let me see your cat's vagina. He'll do that April 13th if you want more cat vagina information. April 13th, poppydominos.com, Sex and the Animals, he is breaking out. What was in retirement and what has sold out

every time he's done it for more than 20 years at Zoo Miami, poppidominos.com is where you go if you wanna play in the tournament or get general admission tickets. Or I should say, because this is all a fundraiser, all proceeds going to Ron McGill, you can go to the website and there's stuff you can buy if you cannot go to Banshell,

because all of the money is gonna go to Ron McGill. Is Ricky as short as we make him low in this promo? No, that is not accurate nor is my father's belly that big either Ron is also not this short relative to the two of them. No, I don't know what Poppy looking down It's strange This is not in any way accurate Am I my father's belly is not that either, but that's what we're going with in the promotional poster.

Don't forget Domino, the wrestler's gotta be there too. He didn't make the graphic. Wow. The thing that I was saying about Stephen A. Smith and Larry David being courtside during that much-bally-hood LeBron confrontation, the thing that I wanted to ask you guys dead seriously, does it seem to you like Larry David would enjoy Stephen A's company?

Yeah, it would. I mean, not what we know about his character. I'm sure if he was around him long enough, he'd come up with something that would bother him. But Larry David famously loved sports. I think he would revel in it. I could definitely see them kind of grumbling under their breath to each other about basketball, right? Like sort of complaining back and forth.

By the Knicks, yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Because I just would think that somebody who was bombastic, I don't know what Larry David gets along with, but I would assume it would just be other comedians. It would be other people who are actively having a sense of humor about everything

or the process of being a comedian. Well, I've heard him talk to Conan O'Brien and others. Conan O'Brien has said when he comes over to parties at his house, like, what is the comfort level that I have to give you? And he's like, you gotta give me at least three comedians or three comedy writers, otherwise I'm gonna be a disaster. I'm not gonna be good with those people.

I'm not gonna have a lot of tolerance for whatever the social setting is. But you guys think that sports is the great connector there. Yeah, they're common bond of complaining for most of their lives about the New York basketball team, I think, brings them together. You throw something at them just to get them riled up, you know what I mean?

Like you say something, I know this is something that Stephen A is gonna really not like, and you say that just to see if you can get them going. Well, you would enjoy doing that. Yeah, of course, why not? You think that Larry David would enjoy riling up Stephen A. Smith? Yeah, I do.

I think he would enjoy that. I also learned one thing Knicks fans all sort of have in common is they don't want your sympathy. They want to be angry and complain and annoyed, but as soon as I am extending my, the other morning, we woke up the morning after the Nix Warriors game, and I was like, oh man, I'm so sad the Nix lost that game,

and Lehman was like, get over it. I was like, oh, jeez. Cliche is misery loves company. Exactly. Both those guys are famously miserable. You just gotta be miserable together. That would be a good place to connect. When we were talking earlier about how competitive sports are and the lengths that athletes will go to in order to circumnavigate the health issues that are these tests on the body. I don't know how many of you noticed over the weekend

that there was a very specific report that came out on Paul George. Jessica was talking about the pressure to perform and amid competitive people and amid aging. The Philadelphia 76ers have been the biggest disappointment in the league this year and one of the biggest disappointments in the history of the league over the last 20 years. Joel Embiid is now out for the season but the specifics on the Paul George report I thought were interesting

because they had one sentence of detail that can only really come from Paul George, which is five straight days before the All-Star break in order to play games he took pain-killing injections. It was oddly specific to see in the report and Paul George is under the immense pressure of this is the end of his career, the end of his relevance, he's gone to a team that had expectations. He created the expectations by being the missing piece. And now the whole thing has fallen apart. And he also had the pressure to play through

all of the injuries that would result in five straight pain killing shots in order to get on the court for the 76ers in a totally lost season. I think he added the detail of when this happened because there was a lot of fan blowback to him posting himself on a relaxing vacation during the All-Star break. So if he frames it as, I was actually playing hurt,

I needed this relaxation, people were just getting in his mentions for having a good time away from the sport. So I think that that's part of the intention there. But what are the thoughts though? I'm assuming that it's true, okay? Whatever the intention of it, Paul George and his people are trying to buy favor with, hey, this person's trying their hardest.

The expectations are an enormous pressure to have when you're paid like him and Philadelphia has totally fallen apart all around you. So you're going to the extremity of caring so much that you are trying to mute your body screaming five straight games and telling fans that in order to buy you what? Nothing is the answer, right? That fact buys him not one thing from one fan. Nothing. Am I wrong about this?

That there is no amount of nuance that's going to be applied by a, oh, a tolerant Philadelphia fan who's really upset by everything that's happened, who cares one iota that Paul George cares enough to take shots for five straight games in what would be the easiest situation to be like, I'm not playing anymore.

What do I need to play for? For what? I mean, it is a data point. I don't know how rational Sixers fans are about it, but I would say, well, he stinks. And I guess part of that is he's hurt, and that's why he stinks. Philadelphia was supposed to be, when this season started,

it wasn't Cleveland. There was going to be however many games better what is it now seven eight games Cleveland finally had its 16 game lose a winning streak broken by Orlando and the Celtics don't look right and no one cares right they barely beat the Nets I enjoyed the call I was listening to the call it's someone for the Nets named Wilson and the announcer G kept hitting threes and the announcer, gee, he kept hitting threes, and the announcer on the radio just kept shouting Wilson

like the volleyball and castaway. But that game, Boston has been playing with its food all season, and we all, I think everyone listening to this knows that the dilution of the regular season has been such that no one listening to this actually believes that Cleveland will be Boston once the playoffs come and once Porzingis and Drew Holliday and Derek White

and everyone is out there so that the Celtics can just take 53s a game and you can watch Peyton Pritchard become the most heroic, loved player in the history of Boston outside of Larry Bird. It's an advantage that a championship buys you to the the notion that they'll they know they've been to the heights So they know exactly what they have to ratchet up for and we've seen them do it before and it's not something that you could Afford the Cleveland Cavaliers having their core not one anything It's it's funny though the way that we do that because we haven haven't seen you do it, then we think you can't do it. We did that just to the Boston Celtics before they did it,

and now they get to be the team. It's a silly way to do it. That's what Josh Allen's going to be dealing with until he actually does it. It's, yeah. He very well may be the second greatest quarterback ever, and we'll never know, because he's always playing the greatest.

But the Sixers were supposed to be that. When we talked before the season about what the Eastern Conference was going to be it wasn't Cleveland it was Boston Philadelphia Milwaukee they're the ones that have the Stars that's what you win with it's not it's not Mowgli Jared Allen Garland and Donovan Mitchell no you need stars and Philadelphia was supposed to have them no doubt it's been a disaster no but not just a, the biggest disaster in the league. There's not a bigger disaster than that one and it may cost Darryl Morey his job even though I don't know if it'll cost him his

reputation, but Darryl Morey solidified his reputation as the guy who gets people when he landed Paul George and so I present all of this to you to ask the group. Five pain painkilling shots. Athlete cares enough to be 20 games under 500 cares enough to take the five painkilling shots and then to have publicly released that he took the five painkilling shots. What does it by him? He's definitely looking like he did that when he canceled his podcast, the optics of look, I need to lock in and be serious about basketball right now.

So this is a guy that has struggled in the postseason. He's let the moment get to him before. I think he's just trying to find some, some alleviation a little bit, some decompression on, on, from the stress that he's under right now. We haven't done an F1 minute yet. I've erred in not doing an F1 minute yet. My apologies for not getting to this earlier. Jessica is the only one among us celebrating St. Patrick's Day. We've mentioned nothing about it. We have not mentioned anything about racing today

either. Very excited. It's been how long? How long has it been? How many months has it been since we got the delirious speed of an F1 minute? I mean, it's been several months. Chris, play the music. Because the end of last season, I didn't do one for every race. I was, you know, saving it for the exciting ones and this past weekend, Dan,

Formula One was back and it was exciting. And we are starting the season down under at the Australian Grand Prix. To catch you up, Lewis Hamilton is at Ferrari, now Carlos Sainz is at Williams. No one knows what a rookie driver is, and Max Verstappen is still the defending champion. It's Yucky in Melbourne.

And here we go. Oh no, before it lights out, Isaac Hajar has crashed his racing balloon to the wall in the formation lap. Oh, so sad, so embarrassing. After a delay, the race can finally begin. Lando Norris keeps his lead on the first lap, but Max Verstappen is right behind him in second place, but oh no, another safety car.

Jack Twohans Alpine is into the wall, just six turns into the race. Carlos Sainz is also on as well as Williams' debut. Verstappen can't keep up with Norris' blistering speed, and Piastri is in hot pursuit. Charlotte Claire C is full of water. It must be from all the water, but the slippery track is taking out everyone.

Verstappen has the race lead, but it's another safety car. A small American man with an unshaven beard has wandered onto the track in Australia. He's muttering under his breath about NFL free agency and the marshals can't get him to come home. Stugatz, come home. Lando Norris has won his first Australian Grand Prix and Burn May Lander is the driver of the day.

Where is Dugats? I saw him, I saw a picture at a college baseball game. He was wandering around on the track at the F1 race, Dan. Wait, the driver of the day isn't the winner of the race? No, it's the safety car driver, it was a joke. Cause he did a lot of loops. Got it? Yeah.

No, but it's okay. I wish I had that job. So Baby Lando won. Baby Lando did and the McLaren looks really good. Although the race was slippery. Now I'm getting more than a minute. The race was slippery. So we'll see what track conditions are like,

you know, next weekend. But they looked really fast. He drove really, really well. They made the right strategy calls. It was a good day. He's the car to beat this year. Yeah. That's crazy. Verstappen, I thought was just gonna have it the sport

and now it's just Baby Lando. Jess told us first, like what, four or five years ago about Baby Lando? I sure did. Verstappen's still in the mix though. We'll see how, you know. But the McLaren looks good for the first weekend. Ferrari, not so much.

Good for Mr. Baby. It is nice to have that speed and intensity of the segment at the end of the show here, because I don't know if you guys saw this, it felt like a snort, a jolt of F1 speed. Did you guys see the Michigan baseball player who pantomimed the snorting of the third base line? I'm assuming he's stolen third base there.

Did I see that? Is it a triple? He got a triple? That is a- Do we know he's doing that? What do you mean do we know if he's doing that? He's snorting the third base there? Did I see that? Is it a triple? Is it, he got a triple? That is a- Do we know he's doing that? What do you mean do we know if he's doing that? He's snorting the third base line. Like what else would he be doing? Could be like a TikTok dance the kids are doing. We don't know.

All right, he's doing it. It does seem like he's just snorting the third base line. That's what he's going for there. Is he not? Did he get in trouble? Are you allowed to do this? If this were Miami, he would have been suspended, right, Mike? You know me, my persecution complex.

I'd say absolutely. Did he get in trouble? I don't think there's an excessive celebration thing in baseball. There wouldn't be any reason to get in trouble there. Also, you could say it's not what he's doing. It's college sports, the final reason to get you in trouble. He was screaming, get in the hole.

The eye black also, that's after a triple, right? That's what he's doing He's sliding into third after a trip. That's a first to third. I'm gonna be very disappointed If that's a balk it was actually it was actually a balk It can't it can't be that it was a line drive. You know what I'm always there you go Baseball humor a coke did you guys see what happened in the Pistons Oklahoma City game Oklahoma City is going everywhere and beating everyone and in the third quarter of the game against OKC They got five technical fouls and Cade Cunningham was ejected from that game where the Pistons were trying to show that they

Belong with the league's top team. I saw that the Pistons coach, not who Shaq thought it was, was, I can't even remember which coach he thought it was. Chauncey Billups. Chauncey Billups, thank you. Not Chauncey Billups. Was very upset and was saying that the refereeing was very unfair and I was curious if there was anything to that because I didn't watch the game. Well it wasn't unfair that was interesting about the criticism that he was

living. It was the level of disrespect he kept talking about that he's insisting on behalf of his team. He's like saying he's saying that it's above and beyond disrespectful for the Detroit Pistons. This you saw that the Pistons Twitter account sent out after shack said he didn't know their players they kept short of sending out tweets of shekille anneal being beaten by the pistons in two thousand and four sitting on the bench next to kobe losing in five games the pestens are taking on the regional identity of the team that nobody is

respecting correctly it's one of the great sports cries that you get. And their coach, Bickerstaff, is saying, I'm not having here this level of disrespect where I'm gonna stay silent and not protect my players while five technical fouls are being called and my star players being ejected at home. Come on, come on.

We're not doing that one. We're not ejecting stars from biged at home, come on, come on. Like, we're not doing that one. We're not ejecting stars from big games at home because everyone's there to see the officials give out technical fouls and the Pistons were. Cade Cunningham was cursing a lot. I did see the Photoshop of Shane Gillis mashed up with Shay Gillis, Alex Zalago. Yep, saw that one too.

I saw that. But that seems very entertaining and interesting though. Okay, you guys aren't interested at all. I can't get you interested in the Detroit Pistons no matter the angle that I try to take to get you interested in a fun and interesting basketball team. I mean, I was interested.

I also am interested in the effect these green St. Patrick's Day goggles are giving me right now. This is what fish in the Chicago River must feel like on Saturday morning. You know, there was at least, is it just Formula One? Because Josh Barry and Wood Brothers won at the Pennzoil 400. Get your own bit. Put your hat on. Put your hat on.

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