The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 2: The Day After July 5th

Episode Date: June 30, 2025

Boxing: dead. Rock & Roll: dead. Coach O's dress shirt buttons: dead. LeBron James' career with the Lakers: DEAD? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen boys, we gotta talk about Jägermeister. A go-to guy at home, at the bar, or maybe even out at the rink. A drink so ice cold, it deserves its own video tribute at every sports bar across North America. No trash talk, no running its mouth, we love the confidence on them. Jägermeister sent us an ad to read on the show, but they're so confident they said, don't do any of that normal ad stuff. Tell the listeners two things, Jägermeister is great, but everyone's been drinking it wrong. Damn that's cold. Well how should we be drinking it? They're so glad you asked. Ice cold at zero degrees fahrenheit to be exact.

Ice cold shots of Jägermeister. That's it, that's all they want to tell you. So wherever you are, if you're hanging out with friends or at the bar, call the shots. Cheers with ice cold shots of Jägermeister. Damn that's cold! And remember to check Jägermeister out at DraftKingsXJägermeister.com. Drink responsibly Jägermeister Liqueur 35% alcohol by volume, imported by Mass Jägermeister US. White Plains New York. Now is a good time to remember where Tequila's story truly began. In 1795, Cuervo invented Tequila. What are you doing here? Anytime someone says Cuervo, I show up.

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Quervo. The tequila that invented tequila. Proximo. Quervo.com. Please drink responsibly. Quervo. This is the Don Leventor Show with the StuGuts Podcast. It has been funny as the rare live trade makes an appearance involving the local team during

our show to see Greg Cody in real time go from, that's not surprising, ooh good trade, ah less good. It's happened in the last few seconds as the information is trickled in on Minka Fitzpatrick for Jalen Ramsey. We have done a pro football focused deep dive. We have consulted a Barry Jackson article. In his six years for the Steelers,

Fitzpatrick has 18 interceptions, including three return for touchdowns, four force fumbles, and six tackles for loss. But last season was his worst. He permitted a bloated 127.6 passer rating in his coverage area, a huge drop from the previous five years. I suggest you go look at whether or not

T.J. Watt played in those games. I suspect there is a difference between the games he plays in and the games he doesn't in the Pittsburgh secondary. That's a good theory too. Apparently they used him a lot different. He was more free roaming when he had his success over in Pittsburgh, but look, he was asked last year.

He was graded 44th in the NFL at his position. They were using him in the box a hell of a lot more. So not good. At first I thought you said he was asked something. No, he was asked to play more in the box. And he was asked. And then he gave up a career high five, touchdown, surrendered, and he wasn't doing the,

I know Greg loves turnovers so much, he wasn't forcing those many. On the other side of the coin, Jalen Ramsey was pretty good at corner, despite all the talk about him switching positions, and they did a lot with him in terms of sending him. He had batted balls at the line of scrimmage he created a lot of pressures he was actually quite good at the run game was 16th among corners however when he's a more he's a more versatile player when pff put out a list of their top 10 corners despite the not necessarily

matching up with the grade they gave him a top 10 spot in their top 10 rankings so Jalen Ramsey a pretty solid year at corner despite everyone trying to move him over to safety. Now, it's natural to assume if they're given up in all pros safety and Minka Fitzpatrick is a plan to finally move Jalen Ramsey over, would he be better being used the way that Minka was? Cause Minka was proven over the course of a full season

to struggle with that. So an interesting trade, no doubt. I know these guys are all pros, but this feels like just a local trade. Is this that big of a trade nationally? Dude, you have a reigning Pro Bowler and John U. Smith. You have two former All Pros, Minka Fitzpatrick and Jalen Ramsey.

Yeah, this is a massive trade. You don't see trades like this in the NFL. You had Eric Dickerson for Cornelius Bennett trade and like we mentioned, a 21 years since the last All-Pro for All-Pro swap in the NFL. For me it's mostly a major national trade because it directly involves Aaron Rodgers in terms of what they're doing to make this a win-now moment for Aaron Rodgers who they're not going to assume they have more than one season. I think the most interesting part about this a win now moment for Aaron Rodgers who's who they're not going to assume they have more than one season I think the most interesting part about what

Greg Cody just said there is the only way that that elevates into a space where people are talking about it as a game-changing type of trade is because you've already seen the paradigm shift of the Steelers and Dolphins used to be excellence as a national brand. Now they are regional phenomenons that when you get Aaron Rodgers and go this aggressively win now with a trade, you're going to get people's attention because Pittsburgh is playing a different game by getting what is clearly the last year of Aaron Rodgers's career, incentivizing it and creating around him so that he has the dink and dunk that they tried to win the Super Bowl with Rothfussberger at the end with conservative offense and let's

see if TJ Watt can stay healthy. And they needed to do something to upgrade the weapons on offense too, because if you look at it, they kind of really, even though they added DK Metcalf, they really stripped away from that roster. Most people can't name their RB1. And now they bring in a Pro Bowler coming off a career year, a guy that's produced in their OC system before. So it's a good move.

And this is the Dolphins essentially saying we don't want to rebuild, because I would have thought these guys would have been traded for picks. We're building for the future, so this is them kind of being like, no, we don't want good picks, we want a player that can help us now. I wanted to ask you guys off of a conversation that we began to have last week, where I was lamenting

when we talked about Max Kellerman that boxing hasn't been able to find what has always been its rightful place atop the combat sports. Over the weekend Jake Paul beat Julio Cesar Chavez. You'd be forgiven for thinking it was the father. It was not. It was the son. He hadn't fought in a while. And Jake Paul continues to do a really extraordinary job of marketing where he's feeding on people who don't know anything about boxing. And so he's going and grabbing an assortment of smart names to make him a true boxing phenomenon in the pay-per-view age where I can't even

dismiss anymore his actual boxing skill and it's not because he's eating named fighter beating named fighters it's because he's done such a great job of picking the correct ones to fight so that he's he's fooling the uneducated fan into thinking that he's a phenomenon and he's made perception reality by picking the perfect marketed fights in order to not he wasn't gonna be able to top what he did with Netflix and Tyson in terms of a viewing experience, but he continues to win fights and the phenomenon hasn't ended and Furthermore on behalf of the circus of boxing, I find myself wounded for actual excellent fighters

that it's marketing today that wins and not excellence. Was marketing not always a huge part of what made this legend though in boxing? Like all of these names, it was first and and foremost skill but it was the legend that then grew around these guys and as someone who is an uneducated boxing fan like you started to say that Paul has turned himself into a pretty good fighter but is it just a mirage like how good is that skill if he can win these fights? He's an okay fighter but I can't have Ariel Hawani as the gatekeeper for MMA saying that John Jones's

Legacy is somehow tarnished because he didn't fight all Comers and didn't fight all the best and now I've got Jake Paul making his name only Because he's stepping on names that don't have anything left and that the MMA fighters that he was fighting None of them were strikers. You're fighting Anderson Silva 10 years after his prime. When is the last time this Cesar Chavez had fought? Because even when he was fighting- I think it was Anderson Silva. Even when he was fighting-

And he lost. When he was fighting in boxing, he was losing the last of his fights. But like Ariel and John Bones Jones, what he also said was he's tested multiple times positive for performance enhancing drugs, he's dodged the biggest names, that's why he doesn't consider him

one of the greatest of all time. I don't think anyone considers Jake Paul the greatest boxer of all time. So it's not like the same thing. And Ariel's from Montreal. No, but right now I can make the argument that if I ask people listening to this name a boxer Jake Paul Mike Tyson Julio Cesar Chavez it's an odd thing that has happened where someone who is

not quite an amateur fighter he can fight professionally poorly that he is somebody who is beating an assortment of people who are spent and still has a conversation around him that allows him to make giant dollars. It's not, I haven't seen a whole lot of people jerry-rig the modern game the way that the Paul brothers have on turning influencer status into genuine real sports influence at a time where I've told you guys before that say what you will about Floyd Mayweather he was well ahead of his time as a business and realizing the power that individual

brands have in sports LeBron was late to realizing it Aaron Rogers was late to realizing it Tom Brady was late to realizing it, Floyd Mayweather maximized, Money Mayweather maximized money because of how he figured out how to sell himself in the modern age. Jake Paul, I can make the argument that Jake Paul is a bigger star in combat sports than anyone Dana White presently has.

Yeah, I'd say quite easily. Okay, so where are we in terms of the best or the most known fighter in the world is somebody who's not one of the 100 best fighters in the world? We're in a bad place with boxing, but also they're giving the people what they want. They have a failure to develop their own stars,

much like the UFC has now, but the UFC has at least shown you they can build back up after these valleys they can have peaks again they're in a valley right now boxing gives its biggest cards over to Saudi Arabia it's usually on streaming platforms people have to go behind a paywall it's not super accessible to the sports fan they don't have these super fights that get the the attention of the people all that much boxing has a lot of issues but also they'd argue no, our sport is doing fine. Prize fighters get big-time purses, we're doing great with our buy rates and even though

we're not part of the sports nomenclature anymore, we're a huge booming business especially with all that Saudi money pumping in. Well isn't Jake Paul the first self-made spectacle, the first YouTube star, the first influencer, who has been so good at self-promotion that he has elevated himself to a level way beyond what his talent deserves? Certainly the archetype for that. Yeah, he is, and in a way that we haven't seen before. I mean, it's an individual sport, so way back to Cassius Clay becoming Muhammad Ali,

we saw a guy with personality in the ring who was reading poetry, who became bigger than just a boxer. But this guy is doing it from YouTube. This guy is just literally manufacturing himself from nothing, and I'm gonna say he's duped us all in the sense that we continue to talk about him like a Legitimate big star. Oh, no, but though historically he is not no, but this is not a this is not a duping

This is one of the biggest marketing achievements of my sports lifetime this These sports are the gutter They are filled with bad business and an assortment of immoralities. They are individual sports that don't require team play to have someone who on merit hasn't climbed to what is one of the most meritorious things there are. Can you beat other people up for money when it's just you against him? Like, merit doesn't get more measured by everyone than that. This person has skirted merit. It's not all marketing, but it's a genius celebration of marketing.

It's just enough boxing talent to allow the marketing to make him rule combat sports when it comes to fame right now without needing the credibility. This is happening all over. This is happening all over social media. All these TikTok social media people, they're like, what's my next avenue? Some have gone boxing. Addison Rae is a big music star now. Some try to be stand up comedians. It's just like we get this fame, we have this following, where's my avenue?

And Jake picked this avenue, and it started at the beginning as just, let me fight my other YouTube friends, and he's decent at it, so he's just riding this wave. And if you hear this as something that sounds like criticism, and I understand why the tone of it would, and I understand why specifically me and Cody talking about this might seem like the establishment mainstream is threatened by whatever is the democracy of the internet but I have for years wondered what happens to sports content when everyone's in the

game when everyone has access and more specifically during a time where mainstream media crumbles, where you've had it, if not contaminated, eaten up by the number of different options that the person listening to this has. I have told people before that the success of our business model is at least

in part because of the numbers that we have of people, but it's also the amount of time that they spend with something. Jake Paul has mastered. How do I get fans, not sports fans, fans? How can I be interesting enough? And of course he would choose the carnival game that has no rules in terms of media governance boxers say and do things that are worse than anyone else because everyone knows that that's the sewer and the whatever your corporate sponsorships are You make your money with your fists except this guy doesn't actually have to fights old men fights old names fights people who aren't actually actually have to. Fights old men, fights old names, fights people who aren't actually strikers, and continues to fool a gullible public the way it's easy to

fool the uneducated and take money from them these days. It seems easier than it ever has been. Well, when I used the word duped, I meant I was referring to a gullible public. You know, you refer to him as a marketing genius, and he is, and he's a self-manufactured bad boy. That's why after this most recent fight, the crowd is booing him, and he's saying, F you, shut up, F you to the crowd. That's the persona. The skill's not boxing, though. The skill's attention getting. And he's brilliant at it, okay? But I just am sort of hesitant to just cheer a marketing achievement instead of a sports achievement.

But it's not just a marketing achievement though. He's beating name fighters. He's beating, he is beating. Look, he beat Mike Tyson. He's beating. And he beat the son of a name fighter. Yes, he beat Mike Tyson. Who lost to Anderson Silva.

He works hard. I don't think this is working, actually. I think the Mike Tyson thing worked, and people went there, not for Jake Paul, they went there to see Mike Tyson possibly die in a boxing ring. And we saw Mike Tyson pass up a clean shot at Jake Paul. I don't think this stuff is working.

I don't know anybody that watched this fight, by the way. It was on Dizone during the Club World Cup. We're talking about it after. We're probably the people in the media space that are talking about it the most. I think he needs to start challenging himself because the novelty of Jake Paul talking his way into watching you see if he can get punched

in the face or not, I think that's worn thin. It wore thin after he lost. And he had to go to the Mike Tyson trough. But he'll eventually just jump to the next thing, right? Because the way that this is working in every industry, whether it's boxing, whether it's music, whether eventually sports media, it's creating fame for yourself as an influencer first

and then picking some sort of quote unquote profession from there that you go into that industry and you master. So to Chris's point, Addison Rae, she was just a TikTok influencer who was studying sports broadcasting in college, but she blew up and then has tried to find her niche and now it's music. Why?

Because all of her followers are flooding Spotify and gaming, not those algorithms, but listening to the songs. And you have to have a quality of music or boxing or whatever it might be that is up to snuff to be there, but you'll end up having way more success because of the fame that you gained on the front end.

They take a lot of hacks too. They'll try a bunch of different things. Speed tried a song and it was terrible. Everyone's tried to be a DJ at one point. Yeah, that is gonna be a big time revenue stream. Jeremy, you know something about me, right? You know when I'm grilling outside and it's summertime, you know how I supplement my summertime? Of course I do. I make a Miller time. Of course that beautiful white can

Oh when it's so hot outside I just I just put it right to my forehead right there and just roll it sometimes right on the forehead Cool my body down and then I crack it open in some relief and then that first sip brother. Does that first hit that is a top five Sequence of events that you can possibly go through. I'm just serenity now when I just imagine that first sip of Miller Lite. Just think about it, it's making me happy. Dude, the sun is out, it's nice, you have your friends showing up, you got your family there, you just had your first sip of Miller Lite and you know what? You're happy, you're blissful, you're fulfilled. I've been stocking my cooler with Miller Lite for years,

and for good reason. It's brewed for taste. Only 96 calories and 3.2 grams of carbs. This year, Miller Lite turns 50. That is five decades of cookouts, laughs, and ice cold moments that never miss. It's the original light beer, and it's still my go-to. Miller Lite, great taste, 96 calories.

Go to MillerLite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Cheers to 50 years of Miller time. Celebrate responsibly, Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Hey friends, it's Jarabarra 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. Listen boys, we gotta talk about Jägermeister. A go-to guy at home, at the bar, or maybe even out at the rink.

A drink so ice cold, it deserves its own video tribute at every sports bar across North America. No trash talk, no running its mouth, we love the confidence on them. Jägermeister sent us an ad to read on the show, but they're so confident they said don't do any of that normal ad stuff. Tell the listeners two things, Jägermeister is great, but everyone's been drinking it wrong. Damn that's cold! Well how should we be drinking it?

They're so glad you asked. Ice cold at zero degrees Fahrenheit to be exact. Ice cold shots of Jägermeister. That's it, that's all they want to tell you. So wherever you are, if you're hanging out with friends or at the bar, call the shots. Cheers with ice cold shots of Jägermeister. Damn that's cold.

And remember to check Jägermeister out at DraftKingsXJägermeister.com. Drink responsibly, Jägermeister L'Cour 35% alcohol by volume, imported by Mass Jägermeister US. White Plains, New York. Don Lebertard. Greg, how's your birthday going so far? I invented it. It's going fantastic. My wife and I are staying home tonight We're watching the the debate on TV. We're gonna want to do something special for David It's a it's a nice day for me so far still gods That sounds like a not a super nice night the debate old people love that shit. Yeah That's exactly right, yeah, that's exactly right. That's exactly right. Old people do love that shit.

And I'm old now, I can't deny it anymore. This is the Don Lebatar Show with the Stugats. Is it even possible? I'm dead serious about this when I asked the question because I was listening to a band, I was listening to just old rock music this weekend, and I was wondering to myself if it is even possible for a 90s rock and roll band to exist today

as a discovery given how we're making music these days. Is it even possible? Nevermind the idea that rock and roll is dead, I'm just talking about is it even possible for a 2020 the way music is made today for a band to break nationally the way that we're making things the same way that individual artists would, which is going on TikTok and having a song that ends up streaming enough to where you gain that popularity on the front end. But bands are few and far between these days.

It's why like the 1975 was headlining Glastonbury and they're like the only band left. I wanna die. Dan LeBataar looking into a camera saying rock and roll is dead, they're bands. I'm not saying rock and roll is dead. Yeah, TikTok is a, you said it. You said rock and roll is dead.

I think there are plenty of rock bands that have burst onto the scene lately. I think rock music is exciting. I'm a little disappointed about rock music's lack of things to say right now. It seems as though coming out and being overtly political works against people's best interests. I think there's like a rage against the machine type of hole left in rock music right now, but there's plenty of exciting bands. Fontaine's, DC, Idols, Turnstyle is having a huge moment right now. Bands are blowing up. It's a good moment for rock. How about Coach O at a wedding? How about Coach O at a wedding singing and dancing? Can I get-

Colt Taggison, roll wave! Look at this guy, shirt's coming off. Whose wedding is this that he just feel, I mean I guess your Coach O, you just take it off. He's always shirtless, I always see him running on the beach shirtless. You have to be somewhat close to the people getting married to do that, right? Or you're just Coach O and you do it?

Do you have to be, put it on the poll at LeBotardShow, do you have to be close to the people getting married to take your shirt off while dancing on the dance floor aggressive move if you're not close but i think you can be a plus one coach joseph has a different set of rules i think i think coach show if coach always at your wedding are you going to be disappointed if he doesn't take his shirt off what was he invited to the wedding is my question can i hear what he said at the beginning there? Because I didn't hear what he shouted.

What was the drunken slogan that he shouted? Gold Tigers and Roll Wade! Roll who? Was it Dwayne Wade's wedding? Maybe it was... Roll Wade! What? Gold Tigers and Roll Wade!

Also, he's in recovery, Dan. From the weekend. Gold Tigers in, roll wave! Man, I wanna get to the bottom of this. What the hell's he saying there? Is it Wade? Is it Wayne? Gold Tigers in, roll wave! Roll away?

Wave, maybe he's saying? Gold Tigers in, roll wave maybe he's saying? Go Tigers and roll wave! Wade? The point is that he was on the dance floor and he was shirtless, he was wearing a dress shirt and he took it off entirely the way you imagined he would take it off, one seductive. Go Tigers and roll wave!

Button at a time. He struggles with the wrist. Always a tricky part of the button down. The people around him cleared as if they knew. Like there were a group of people around him while his shirt was on. And then his shirt got taken off, but not all of it. The arms and hands got stuck in the sleeves inside out.

And then he looked like an inflatable car dealership man It's not just that part It's the fact that he goes to unbutton the shirt and he unbuttons every button But the bottom button I've been there and then still goes to take it off over his head and that's where he gets stuck Why not just finish the button? He didn't uncuff the wrists. Dancing with the shirt Do you put your foot there like once Like once you have it connected to both wrists. Do you push down with your thigh?

What has happened here is that he's already started to undo the shirt and now he's in too deep and now the shirt is inside out and the sleeve is caught on his expensive watch, the watch. And so he gets it stuck over his. It's on both wrists. My man's in a straight jacket right now. But it's because he didn't unbutton the sleeves.

He didn't unbutton his cuff links. That looks about like what I expected it to look like. And what they don't show you is the sort of murmuring lack of grace as you stumble off the floor realizing that you haven't successfully taken off your shirt and you're just wearing a dress shirt as handcuffs now in front of you. Go Tigers and roll away!

He's beloved, yeah? Oh, for sure. Yeah, inexplicably. Speaking of beloved coaches, what do they do with Corso? Because Corso's having his final college game day. He's going to put on Brutus the Buckeye, we all assume, to make it a full circle, beautiful moment. And then you have a full season.

College game day is known for the head gear. Do they retire the bit? Do they give it to someone like Sabin or McAfee? Well, I think like McAfee kind of has turned his pick into the like I'm gonna engage the crowd So I said they're retiring it they're not doing it. No, I know no, he's not gonna do headgear But I just think they will now end with McAfee will do his big Like I got some dogs over You know where he like gets the whole crowd like that's how I think they'll switch from headgear

to just back a few, make your big exciting thing. Really? I think they're gonna kinda need that headgear. They're gonna need that moment. I think they should make the guest do it. But you can't have another, that's just his thing, right? You can have a role, if it's the guest. Bradley Cooper putting on a headgear

is gonna be insulting. Oh, that's awesome. Are you kidding? No, I'm gonna be like, no. Are you kidding? Bradley Cooper putting on headgear is amazing. I'd be like, that's not that. You wanna talk about social interaction? That's great. Actually, we fixed it.

You can't do that. Have Bradley Cooper do it. Just him every week. You think the solution to all things related to losing Corso is covering the beautiful face of Bradley Cooper? They're at the very end. Have them do a headgear thing.

You gotta retire the headgear. Hey, we have Our guests this week hold the umbrella boom. I got a bulldog on my head at the end. That's great That's buku. That's a that's a social media bonanza right there. Now you're talking Gary. Now you're talking my language Gary Levitt Get it with that voice Get it with that voice. You guys think Bradley Cooper is the solution. Billy just said it's retired, it's over, you gotta come up with a new gig. That's a big mistake. Yeah, but he's just saying they shouldn't.

I didn't decide it. They should not. What is it gonna end with? We need a big booming moment that's gonna pop right before kickoff of the noon games. We're just gonna have a pick and there's gonna be Pat McAfee doing the thing that he's gonna be doing all throughout the weekend from his show, like, Roll Tide, ho, ho, we've seen that, and that's his thing,

but we're gonna, you can't end with something that you've seen all week. That's what they're gonna do, I'm telling you, they're gonna move him to the last spot, he's gonna get the last big name. You guys were telling me that last year, Fox was making inroads with its show. That show, the College Game Day,

is one of the most successful brands in the history of sports television. And I don't believe that Corso is a ratings game breaker one way or the other, as beloved as he is. I don't believe that him not being there to do the one silly thing is gonna be what puts one pregame show over the other. I would regularly, that's just always put it on

in the morning, TV for me, but if I miss it and it's like 11.50, I always am like, oh, let me go to the, like I don't know if I'm gonna do that as much now. You won't, no, you obviously won't. Obviously, if you're going to the end of college game day, at least in part because your college slothy Saturday is starting.

Oh man, soon. Sooner, right around the corner. Nine Sunday, nine Saturdays? Get through July. Noon sloth, I think it's, what are we, 10 weeks away? I heard the other day and it made me sad. I actually heard the other day somebody start a segment with Ken Schottenheimer, make the Cowboys successful again.

And I'm like, no one can answer that question successfully. There's not a person on earth who could give a good answer. That's why it's a great question. But it's why it's on in June and July. That's right. It's just like Cowboys, Ken Schottenheimer, make them successful. Go ahead.

Show me all the people who are great at answering that. Go ahead, I'll wait. Yeah, you know who isn't Jerry Jones isn't great at answering that. We are starved. Have a sip of your coffee, that was a good answer. That was a good contribution right there, have a sip. We haven't heard from him in a while.

We've been missing Greg Cody. This hasn't felt like a Greg Cody Monday. Is he writing his column? The way that it needs to. I'm writing a new one. Check his computer. I knew it his column? The way that it needs to. I'm writing it. Check his computer. He wasn't interested in the column when it was just Jalen Ramsey.

But all of a sudden, some more names got involved. Heard a lot of pecking over there. Yeah, there were some clicks involved. And all of a sudden, he's sniffing around, trying to figure out how he can get to the front of the internet line. Quick remark about Corso retiring. You have to retire the big

comical paper mache head here's what's gonna happen I predict paper mache head yeah here's what's gonna happen the game of the week you're gonna have the two mascots side stage okay you're not gonna know who they're gonna pick you're gonna find out who they pick when the winning mascot bounds joyfully onto the center of the stage. That's the way they're gonna replace the Corso head. So just way more boring. Well, it's dramatic.

Hey, it's an idea. You got the two mascots there, nudging each other, you know, playfully. Who's gonna be first? All right, no bad ideas. What about a wrestling ring? Two opposing fans get in the ring wrestle? Yeah, okay. I need the paper mache heads Greg

I have an idea what if you make like a deal with like Hasbro or whoever it is, right? Right and you have giant rockum Sockum robot mascots No, you're talking and then you start going like this and it's a stance a boom boom boom And then all of a sudden the mascot who loses head explodes with confetti coming out and candy like a pinata I'm telling you what Billy has that thank you nailed. Thank you nailed it patent that Black Sabbath with Ozzy Osbourne is playing its final show ever in Birmingham, England The day after July 5th, they say final show but July 6th? July 6th? Like John Jones retiring you don't believe it? Another good one take another step. No. You don't believe that Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath are retiring? Why wouldn't you

believe that? I would believe that. I will say and I love Ozzy Osbourne I will say he's had pretty serious health problems so because of the health not because of the age because of the health it could be willing to allow this retirement is being above your skepticism in this one instance because Ozzie's sick yes my favorite holidays the day after July 3rd the most dangerous holiday the day I don't know why you presented July 6th this way. I'm kind of reeling right now He's gonna play with Black Sabbath the day after July 5th I meant to say the day after July 4th instead I got stuck July 5th

It's late in the show and I'm stumbling around so I meant to say after July 4th Thank you for seizing on that immediately GOLD TIGERS AND ROLL AWAY Thank you for seizing on that immediately. Go Tigers and roll away! You were trying to take your dress shirt off and it got caught on the red. I want you guys to imagine what that felt like to Coach Joe immediately when the cameras stopped, okay? So he's taken off his dress shirt poorly.

The bottom button has not come off. He has taken it over his head and slid it down inside out down both his arms, but it's now clearly stuck on both of his wrists and Start doing a dance move with it realizes. He's got nothing else When you can't get it off there's one move to do I can't get it off though. He has this. And when you can't get it off, there's one move to do. Ah!

That's a new game day tradition. Have a logo painted on his chest. What do you do if you are trying to keep a show alive that is the most popular thing that you have almost ever had as a network, right? If I was to make a list of most popular things that ESPN has ever had, sports centers on the list and college game days on the list

and there aren't a lot of other things that would be above those two things. They very clearly have pivoted some and credit to the addition of McAfee leaning into the energy of game day. It probably got a little too antiseptic for a little bit. My wife loves suiting in for those field goal competitions that he has. I think using what Pat does really well in those environments are pretty good.

But the show has changed. The reason why I gravitate a little bit more to Big Noon is a lot of the producers that used to work on college game day ESPN decided to put the resources to talent, bring in a Pat McAfee, but I, man when I think of college game day, yeah it's the head gear, but second are those like Rinaldi pieces. Those pieces that tug at the heartstrings and make you rooting for Purdue on your couch on a Saturday evening. That's the stuff that's the secret sauce, I thought, to college game day. So I do gravitate towards those think pieces a lot more that Fox has been doing. But I think game day probably had a difficult time

navigating that transition in year one of McAfee, leaned into it a little bit more year two and it was smoother. Cody, can I ask you here, because I don't want to normalize what it is that just happened in the news stream yesterday. LeBron James, as the oldest player in the sport, opted into a 50 million dollar contract. He's one of two players with a no trade clause, along with Bradley Beal, ridiculously enough. with the no trade clause along with Bradley Beale, ridiculously enough.

And immediately after opting in, his agent Rich Paul said a bunch of stuff that made it seem like he's already at odds with the Lakers because obviously they're a team playing for the future, but LeBron wants to win right now. And my question to you is, would you believe Billy's theory, for example, that people like Aaron Rodgers and LeBron James

just wanna keep getting attention at all times? That this is creating attention because for the first time in LeBron's career, he's playing the last year of a contract. That's the first time that that's happening in 23 years, where he's playing in the last year of a contract. It may or may not be his last year. Do you believe that someone like this in the most nefarious of skepticisms is doing this

for attention, craves the attention that much? I don't believe that. I'm not willing to believe that, but I'm surprised always by the number of people who want to believe it. I don't think you can be LeBron James and have the length and the breadth of career you've had without craving the spotlight and not wanting to ever give it up, ever. And he's not ready yet. I think what's happened in the last 24 hours tells us that LeBron James thinks he has one last hurrah

and it ain't in LA. He wants to go to another team, he wants to be able to pick that team, he's gonna have one last season next year or the year after and it's gonna be glorious in his mind. There's two teams that immediately stand out when you think about it. It's Cleveland, where he could go back

and be a hero once again. Putting a one seed over the top. I'm not gonna say what you think I'm gonna say. The Dallas Mavericks. Because they have Kyrie, they have Anthony Davis, who seemingly he didn't want moved out of town. They also have Cooper Flag. That's a team that he probably assumes he could join

if they give up the rest of their assets and win big. But the Eastern Conference is the place that is the most enticing. Obviously there's Cleveland at the top, but there are some other teams that would probably be interested in adding them. So now Nico trades Cooper flag for LeBron James. That would be a plot twist.

There would be at least a half a dozen teams where the rumors came up, including the one we're in right now, Miami. There's no question that there will be returns to the heat if you had to guessed does he end this season with the Lakers? Yes, or no? Because I'd guess no. Oh, I vote. Yes Pick them line might not start. I would I'd vote no Because they're not gonna win a championship and he knows it and it should be Luca's team now and he kind of gets in the way of Luca.

I think he tries to get to New York. Would you imagine a LeBron James move at a trade deadline? That'd be nuts. I mean, he's gonna be the one who orchestrates it. Just a quick correction, the final concert is not the day after July 5th. It is in fact July 5th, the day after July 4th.

Thank you, thank you very much. Also a correction, TJ Watt played in all the games that make a Fitzpatrick.