The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 2: Work In A Salad

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

"Count the dongs is a totally different website." Amin joins in on the conversation from earlier about Inside The NBA, then delivers his Weekend Observations in which he reveals he doesn't like Tommy Boy, he hasn't watched Florida basketball since Nick Calathes, and Marco Belinelli has a documentary coming out. You know bout that Marco Belinelli Summer League? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is the Dan Levatore show with the Stucats podcast. Amin's going to join us in a little bit here. We'll get his weekend observations. I also want to get his thoughts on the conversation we were just having and play for all of you. Mike Wilbon's last appearance with us where he was complaining like an old guy the way that Barclay and Shaq do about today's NBA. I was actually surprised by his response because Mike Wilbon has loved basketball like very few people I've ever known in my life. to see him sour on today's sport actually caught me off guard. But before I do that, I wanted to ask David and all of you,

if you're watching specifically what's happening at CBS as Stephen Colbert does the best show he's ever done, freest show, talking politics nightly, in a way that he's uniquely equipped for, and to see Jimmy Kimmel's evolution from the man show to now he's regularly tackling politics and the both of them are doing something that's in the realm of Bill Maher

while the established late-night entity of Johnny Carson falls apart because Jimmy Fallon can't do what Colbert has always done and what Kimmel has grown into doing. But CBS is bought and paid for. What's happened to one of our legacy media items is about to collapse as soon as Colbert leaves and you will see nothing on there ever again

that feels anything like what Colbert is presently doing. His show's on fire. Like if you watch right now, he's honoring what John Stewart did when bringing the Daily Show up as a credible news outlet that's fighting for democracy and it's a jester

fighting against our dull, incompetent, corrupt felonious king. A court jester who's doing his job correctly. But are you watching, David? everything specifically happening at CBS where there is a billionaire corporate takeover that is trying to turn it into something that more resembles Fox News and isn't in any way something that is in any way aspiring to objectivity. Well, Fox News is actually not all that in good graces either with the government. And really what the bigger concern is is whether or not you can threaten to take away the license of a media company for not talking.

about an issue the way the president wants you to talk about it. That to me is the most concerning issue where you need them to talk about the war in Iran in a certain way or you will threaten them with their lifeblood. It is absolutely should be scary to everyone here, no matter your political views, if there is a risk of a state-run media. I haven't seen, I have, I have not seen what is presently happening in media in my entire life. lifetime, not adult lifetime. Even reading about history, I'd have to go back to McCarthyism to feel anything like what it is that is presently happening with the government weaponizing all sorts of things in order. What about Cuba? I thought that was state run. That was part of the

problem with the state run media. No, but that's talking, you're talking about 1959. That's before McCarthyism. You're talking about something, the last thing that I could remember that feels anything like what is presently happening in and around the media where the government is actively trying to create fear that changes the way that all of these free speech enterprises do business. It's something I've never seen in my life. This is something that no one listening to this is seen in their life. They're coming after Tucker Carlson too. I don't know if you guys saw that accusing him of being some sort of Iranian spy essentially.

because he was texting back and forth with someone before the strike happened. And that part was very surprising to me. Oh, it's not surprising. Right. He's now, that's the whole problem with dealing with authoritarian policy is that you think you're in, but then you're out. And when you're out, you can't get back in, and everybody who's in becomes out.

And then all of a sudden you're left with one person sitting alone at the top. Trump has lost Alex Jones. So this is the process that happens. And so the question is, can we hold on long enough? Tucker Carlson and Alex Jones now aren't far right enough. It's not about far right to me anymore. It's really not about make America great. It's really about who is going to only do what he wants,

when he wants you to do it, the way he wants you to do it. It's not really about far right or far right. Yeah, he's lost plenty of people on the far right that don't think he's far right enough because of what he ran on. like Nick Fuentes is essentially a Nazi. He's a white nationalist and he's telling everybody to vote Democrat because this guy ran on Epstein files. This guy ran on no wars. Like those are two central platform issues for many on the far right. Isolationism. You can't be claiming that when you're in yet another Middle Eastern war with no real plan. So he's lost a lot of people that are still

white nationalist on the right for not going overboard. One of the things that you have to focus on as we hit the midterms and as we go on is what position will Republicans take and is it possible that you can go back to being a Republican? Because what got lost with Trump 1, 45 and Trump 47 is people who are run-of-the-mill Republicans, there was no room for them anymore. And if you're seeing the possibility of room again and that room is manifested by voting Democrat, that's when you get a change. But let's talk about the control of the media and let's talk for a

second about a post-truth world because I think we're already there. When you talk about the things that my parents warn me about, which is you can't trust the propaganda, you can't trust the media, you cannot trust. The way that communism fell in Cuba in the late 50s and early 60s has all of the things in it that we're presently talking about, minus the artificial intelligence, minus the fact that I now, and this has been the case with me for a while, but I'm a little stunned to see it happening with the young people around here, I just don't know what's real anymore when I'm watching just about anything. And my wife, who's younger than me, can spot all of this stuff better than me when I'm watching an ad. And she's like, that's not a human being talking. That's a fake mouth

on that person. And I'm like, I don't see what you're seeing here, but it's happening now all over the place in a way that's more confusing than it's ever been. And it's all only going to get worse. Imagine when the propaganda was just you can't believe what you're reading in a newspaper because they can fake that. Now my eyes are consistently lying to me. No, we're beyond cooked. And I don't know if we ever get back from it because AI is only going to get better, but they started really in the 20 teens with Facebook targeted messages that essentially helps sway that election. And now here we are where you're counting fingers and looking at how much coffee might be spilling out. That's always my go-to. I got to look at the fingers. It's insane. And the

conservative oligarchy's assault on truth has been a wild success. Sometimes it looks like, hey, the verified account doesn't have a blue check anymore. Have fun. That's because you get to decide your own truth, which means we get to manipulate you and we get to devise our own truth too. We don't actually have to be accountable if we're beholden to journalistic principles. We're going to consolidate all the true journalism companies, and they're going to be owned by oligarchs, too. I don't think there's any coming back from it because I don't know if we're going to have that grand reshaping here in this country. You need to have a set standard, at least federally here in the United States, that if something is AI, it needs to be tagged. I don't know if we're

going to get there. It certainly won't be this administration. And by then, by the time you have an administration change, are we legit too far down that road to ever come back from it? So you know about that Create Your Own Algorithms as? I got a good algorithm. You know about that algorithm, Tristan? A little BBL? I know what you're talking about. Hey, Roy, buddy.

You know that energy shift when the game gets good and everybody altogether in unison knows to stand up on their feet? Oh, absolutely, Mike. Yeah, you've been at many big-time sporting events. You know that moment quite well. That's what it's like when you take your first sip of Quervo. Oh, delicious.

It's the signal that says, We're not checking the time anymore, pal. It's when small talk turns into stories. Quervo, man, it's at high five, a random stranger effect. That's right. The game is popping. You're hugging people you never met before. That's the kind of energy that Quervo brings.

It's so smooth, so delicious. That's the Quervo effect. Keep it, Quervo. Don Lebertard. My algorithm on Instagram is dance, all boobs. Stugats. It's a good algorithm. This is the Dan Lebatar show with the Stugats.

Amin is here and I want to get him in on the conversation we were having before this. But Amin, Zaz was wondering whether inside the NBA has gotten too negative as a studio show. Let's play this sound of Michael Wilbon. Again, Michael Wilbon, obviously, a voice from my youth on loving basketball more than. than all of the other sports by leaps and bounds. And I was really surprised when this was his answer to my question recently. The sport today in its evolved form where players are getting hurt all over the place, they're playing a different style, 53 is a game.

Everything that's happening in the sport, do you love it the same way that you did? I hate it. I hated this week more than ever. I wanted to come and sit down and watch a real game between Oklahoma City and San Antonio the other night. and then I find out half the people aren't playing, which is the norm. It's the norm for half the people you pay to see, whether you paid to see it in person

or at home on one of the nine streaming dissurfances that makes it so you don't even know where the games are. You don't even know where they are. Is it on Prime? Is it an ESPN? It's on NBC. NBA TV?

Where the hell's the game? I can't find it. I was with Charles Barkley one night in Arizona recently. We're having dinner, and we were like, hey, we got to go watch that game. And Charles and I both look at each other and go, where's the game? Where is it?

Two people who are employed to talk about basketball on national television don't know where the damn game is. Yeah, but that's just old guys. That's just you know. No, it's not old guys. No, it isn't. It actually isn't. I asked my son about it.

He's 17. He plays high school basketball. I don't like All-Star Weekend. Talk about lightweight and talk about the NBA's had years. to address and fix the all-star game and apparently is afraid to. Who do they not want to cross? They don't want to cross LeBron. They don't want to cross.

Who is they don't want to offend? Thief, I doubt it's those two guys. But who are they? Who's the league afraid to offend? You want to put a game out there of international players versus U.S. You'd have interest in that. The moment the Super Bowl is over, you'd have fascination with that. They're scared to do it.

And they come up with three teams. He's just lazy. You know what it is. I know I'm not going to curse and say what I want to say. You know what it is. Starts the B and an S. We're going to bring in Amin here, who I want to commend because I'm trying to change my relationship with the NBA because of Amin's valid criticisms of my opinions, because I subscribe to all these tropes.

Let me re-engage with the sport and let me see if it's actually entertaining again. So I'm doing that right now. Amin, we've played these opinions from Michael Wilbon, Shack and Charles Barkley and how they sound crotch. and old and disgusted with the game as it is today. And I'm just asking the question, haven't their opinions always been old and crotchety? The only thing that's different is that they're actually old right now. I mean, Shaq was complaining about the NBA when you had traditional bigs.

Dwight Howard wasn't good enough of a traditional big man for Shaq. So I'm sure he's not going to like some guy that doesn't come out to the perimeter. I think the only difference here is these guys have just gotten older, but their opinions are the same. Yeah, I mean, Shaq for sure. I've told the story on this program a million times, but I saw Shaq the year the Warriors won their first championship. This was in January or February of that year.

So they saw it and won anything. And I saw him out and he said, hey, how's it going? Da-da-da-da-da-da. He said, who do you think is going to win? I said, who do you think is going to win, Bigfella? And he said, nobody's beating them light-skinned boys from Golden State. This is someone who absolutely understands the modern game, showed me video soon after of his high school son,

who's 6-9 or 6-10, and how it was nothing but perimeter based. He said, this is the way the game is played, and they do it better than anyone else. So Shaq's not like, oh, I couldn't believe they shot so many, that's not at all his real opinion. The problem is when you're dealing with Shaq, you're dealing with someone who constantly feels like,

I got to play a character, I got to be on. Now, sometimes the character services his own legacy, meaning I played this way, So if I speak ill of playing that way, well, basically what have I done to my own legacy? I've ruined it. So sometimes he speaks in service of that. Sometimes he speaks in service of just being antagonistic. And we've seen it all the time, even within the context of the show, against Barclay,

telling him your opinion doesn't matter because you've never won a championship. This is all someone who is playing a role on TV and a role that's rewarded him quite handsomely. When it comes to Wilbon, this is where I see him getting old, because he's complaining about not knowing where the game is. Instead of saying, wow, the game is now on in more places for people who don't have to get a league pass subscription, instead of doing that, he's complaining about in the first year of a new TV rights deal, having to find some new stations.

That's all it is. Five years from now, will we still hear these complaints? probably not. But what do you make in general of the negativity of the coverage? You still love the sport. You get mad at Mike when he's that critical of it. Your passion shows all the time. Your enthusiasm has not waned. Jeff Van Gundy was let go, at least in part, because he was criticizing officials too much. Your enthusiasm for the game is infectious. What do you make of old people railing against the game? I don't think Jeff Van Gundy got let go because he's critical.

I think Jeff Van Gundy got let go because ESPN does weird things sometimes where they let people go. who are more than qualified to do their job. That's, I truly believe that. I don't think, because let me go this way, if the NBA was pressuring ESPN about coverage, there'd be a lot of people who got let go. There'd be a lot of people who got let go.

I mean, you can believe what you want here. I have slightly more information than you do here on why it is and how it is Jeff Van Gundy was let go, and it's not quite as random as one bozo executive making dumb decisions. Like, they happen to know? They had a problem. I do happen to know. It is a happen to know.

Wait, do you know, Jeff? They happen to have... He happens to know. They have a problem. They had a problem with how negative he was on the officiating. Sure. Sure, sure. But, you know, again, ESPN, I don't think I ever will use them as the kind of the weather vein of which way...

Or bellwether, there you go. of which way these things are going. But overall, Dan, negativity sells across the board in everything it seems like. And I think people went 10 toes in on just this negative coverage. And it's funny, I heard you earlier mentioned, oh, players don't like Barclay. Man, like, I've listened to some of these player shows. They don't sound enthusiastic or positive either. It's just they don't like when someone else does it, right?

When they complain about who are these guys that are held, you know, who haven't played, how dare they have opinions? I'm like, because some of your opinions are all about, hey, when I did it, when I, it's all about, again, servicing your legacy and your resume rather than just saying it how it is. And Zaz, I thought you were absolutely right. And that's, I mean, I guess everyone go play some bets tonight because Zaz got something right. like the idea of like, hey man, it's okay to say Saturday night was a fun game and we don't have to look at it in the big picture. Does this mean they're going to win a title?

No, we can just talk about Saturday night two good teams in the Western Conference jockeying for position and we got a great game and we can just talk about that. The whole point to mean is that they wouldn't talk about that as a great game. That's how this conversation started. It is that they did not, they weren't wowed by the greatness of what should have been an important game. The larger point as it relates to that specific

game is what regular season game is going to get you excited if that one, between the Lakers and the Nuggets with all the stars playing with a controversial ending, isn't the one that gets you excited. But then at the same time, I feel like everybody's

sports journey includes a rearing by the people who brought you that sport. So for me, I think of people like Walt Clyde Fraser, I think of Bill Walton, I think of Doug Collins, I think of Isaiah Thomas, I think about all those guys who, in my formative years of watching basketball, these are Hubey Brown, people who are breaking down what's happening in the game and why you should do things this way and why you shouldn't do things that way,

and overall being fairly positive about the game. You're right, Dan, I love this game, was the slogan of the NBA. I think they should bring it back because you've got to make it, flip that switch of positivity and love over eternal negativity about everything. Now, positivity doesn't mean we never criticize. Positiveity doesn't mean everyone's always awesome. I got a weekend observation note about Doug Christie talking about, oh, we never tank in Sacramento like, ah, like, you know, like that doesn't mean I got to be a way to go, Doug Christie, you're doing a great job. But it does mean that when something good happens like bam, out of bioscording 83 points, let's not sit around and nitpig and say, oh, this is reasons why this 83 point doesn't matter

because this and the other one, we know you go through history, all these big scoring events have the same element in it. And that's my biggest thing when it comes to NBA criticism. It's when things are being done that have always been done, but we're going to pretend like it's brand new right now. We're going to get to Amin's weekend observations in a second, but let's hear Reggie Miller here defending the 83-point performance of Bamadabio. I don't care if it's your local church league. You get a chance to go for history. You go for it.

And I'm so tired of all these podcasters and all these guys that never played the game talking about all the sanctity and they ruin basketball. I do not care. 83 is 83. and for Coach Folström to be getting a lot of hate from this, your hate is misdirected because it should be towards the Washington generals. I know they're the wizards. But the way they were playing, they look like the Washington generals.

Okay, but that's where your hate should be. I mean, your thoughts there? So, number one, I agree 100% with Reggie. Number two, Reggie is a guy who's an old guy who was drafted in 1987, who played much of his career in an era where the game didn't look like what it does now. And Reggie, for the most part, is a positive voice when he talks about games. Now, people hate Reggie Miller for other reasons. I can't speak to that.

But, again, the other thing that we're victims of is we focus in on the negative voices. When there are a lot of people on broadcasts, not on podcasts, not on these weird, you have to dig to find it on the national broadcasts who speak about the game in a glowing and positive manner. Don Lebertard. Doesn't matter anywhere. We could do it in Buffalo or Baltimore, Eva. He said you could do it where? Anywhere.

Oh, whoa. Oh, that's crazy. That's crazy. That's crazy. He said he could do it anywhere. That's crazy, murder. Murder, tell him. Stugats.

I had no idea of me and had that in his locker. That might be his best. That's crazy. I'm not kidding. That's crazy, killer. It's two America's dead. You don't get it. This is the Dan Lebatar show with the Stugats.

You mentioned Bill Walton. Here is a photo from years ago of the late Bill Walton. We forget how tall these human beings are and how regular things in life don't apply to them. They can't shower in normal showers and hotel rooms. They cannot sleep in normal beds. And their legs are so long that they have to sit on three banquet hall chairs. He had a bad back.

That too, but he also needed help. He made it sound like they did that. He needed to be higher as well. He needed to be higher. It's for his knees. It's for his legs as well. It's why the players on the NBA bench, they sit on that huge cushion. Phil Jackson, when that started, go back and watch Phil Jackson with the Bulls, that was in regard to the pain he's in.

Right, but the players who sit on it today, it's because of their knees. Dave, what are you disgusted by? What are you doing? What are you doing? You try to prove a point by finding something to Ville. No. No, because I disagree. You are media.

No. Time now for Amin's weekend observations. It is time for him to share his game notes. No one in the media will tell you what happened better than my boy. I mean. Weekend observations, brought to you by Miller Light. Legendary moments, start with the light. Other way, I could see David's legs on his way out.

He should... They only see me from the waist up thing. We should put a bunch of chairs in there for him to sit in for his long legs. Not enough chairs. Last night at the Oscars, there were a lot of rooting interests. Some people wanted Michael B. Jordan to win best actor, and he did. Some people wanted PTA to win Best Director, and he did. David Samson wanted Mr. Noron.

Nobody versus Putin to win the best documentary. And it did. I wanted Train Dreams to get shut out of every possible category. And by God, it did. Just like that. Make no mistake. Anonymity for that piece of shit movie is back. The gone boring drivel.

Oh, I have to listen to this all weekend love. Oh, Train Dreams are so beautiful. Boring. Nothing happens in it. Train dreams It's like picking all the boring parts of Red Dead Redemption 2 and making a movie out of it. Oh, you want to just pick

certain herbs and flowers and then ride around for 20 hours or across American West? Yeah, that's it. Congrats to Team USA. Way to go on the road in a hostile environment and get a win. It's got to hurt for the public, right?

If Team USA had lost, there's literally dozens of other sports that we turn our attention to. Like, okay, cool. What's next? Let's do that one. This is literally the only thing that DR has. No? You know what they say? What do they, Papa?

Albert Pujol's is their manager? Work in a salad. Whoa. What? You and me can't be making that joke. The work in a salad. Salad, work in a salad. I do as my fifth meal.

Is he looking big these days? That's what he's saying. Who made it a salad? Why is that, Dan? Why is it black people can make black people jokes, but fat people can't make fat people jokes? Yeah. Right?

If you guys made a black person joke, I'd be offended. But if I make a fat person joke, you're offended. But if you make a fat person joke, now it's taboo. It's called hypocrisy, I mean. Ah, thank you. Thank you, Roy. You're welcome. Victor Wenbiamma.

Hippo. Said the other day that the inflammation and swelling is down all over his body, except for in one place. Hey, Wemby, leave the cheeky humor to Ant Man. Your job is to be the NBA saint. Nobody comes to a Jerry Seinfeld show expecting Richard Pryor material. If you're looking for an independent sports and entertainment podcast network with great content like Pack Your Nyes,

basketball Illuminati, here's the science, and Cinephobe, check out Count the Dongs. I mean, Dings. Count the Dongs is a totally different website. I think you've got to be careful with that. Don't type that in.

Dark web. That's called a callback, folks, in comedy. To things that happen in yesterday's show. Speaking of Cinephope, Cinephope episode 303, the long-awaited, much-requested. Everyone's been dying for this one, Tommy Boy. This movie set the standard for comedy for a generation of white people, including my co-host and my freshman year college roommate at Georgia Tech. For black people, not so much.

Cinephope, wherever you get podcasts. You guys like Tommy Boy, let me have Zaz. You love Tommy Boy, right? Love it. Never. seen it. Excellent movie. I wasn't even going for that joke,

Zass. Never seen it. Roy just called it. Excellent, though. What do you do with that? Because this does not fall along your racial lines, your convenient racial tropes. Yeah.

Roy, you're not being an ally right now. I'm sorry, but it's a foul. You keep a six-pack of soda in here? I'm with you, mean. Swack. Roy the Ravens. Roy, disagree. But what about Roy's opinion here?

Roy sideswiped you. He is saying that he is a black person who liked Tommy Boy. Roy, watch me be an ally. Dan, we are not a monolith. There you go. That's how you do that. Good job. Tommy won't wingy.

You said it's white people movie. You made white people a monolith. You did that. I didn't do that. You did that. Dan, do you like Tommy Boy? I do. The Ravens.

Now where are we on this? What are we doing with Tommy Boy? Tommy Boy is not funny. I don't want to do this? It's not funny. That's crazy. And for years, I had to hear people say, something in something baby voice with a Y and the Indy and think that's like a hilarious thing.

Fat guy and a little cool. People are in a little coat. See, I beat you to it. It's not funny. Fat guy and a little cold. You ain't paint chips as a kid, didn't you? Chris Farley's not funny. You could take a bull and put it up your ass.

But I'll take your word for it. The butcher. I mean, look, that's what he butchers it. That's the joke. He butchers it. Put it on the poll at Lebitard show. Was Chris Farley funny? Go ahead of me.

I give Chris Farley a lot of credit for being an incredible physical comedian. He was not afraid to put his body on the line. He was incredibly nimble despite being a bigger guy doing cartwheels and stuff. Not for me. Not for me. Where did he get the energy to do all of that? Never been cow tipping before. What you do, you put your shoulder.

shoulders into it and you push. You are proving a means point. You specifically... It's not a bad impression. No, it's a good impression, but the fact that he can recite every single, every single line from that movie as if he's been studying the script at home. It's Herbie Hancock.

When it's that old, when the movie's that old, he has proven at every point a means point. Bo Derek? Rob Lowe. Rob Lowe was ineffectual. in that movie. He wasn't even in good shape. That was the 90s for you.

Hot mom. The Ravens. Voided the Max Crosby deal that would have sent Vegas to first round picks. Instead, they signed Trey Hendrickson to a deal, thus losing zero first round picks. I know you're not here, but put that in the something to ponder file. Hey, March Madness.

Reminds me of last year, getting in a heated, spirited debate in the office with Florida alum Ethan Bedowski. By how the Gators had no shot to make it to the final four. After battling to a stalemate, I walked away and mentioned to Mike Fuentes. I haven't watched a single second of Florida basketball since Nick Calathe. That time of year. Jim Ursa's estate sale. Netted $93 million.

including Muhammad Ali's fight robe from Ali Liston 2. From his first public appearance after changing his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali, that sold for $44,000. A Jackie Robinson bat from the 1953 season sold for $406,000. An Amid spiral notebook containing 28 pages of Sylvester Stallone's original Rocky script sold for $500,000. You disrespectful sons of bitches. Speaking of disrespectful sons of bitches.

A new season of Bar Rescue. And we've got you covered at Here's the Science, a Bar Rescue podcast. Hosted by Real Live Bar Restaurant Consultant Chelsea Reynolds. Commercial Kitchen and Food Truck Vet Colin Cassar. And two guys who might actually have paid even more for an original script to Rocky Files. Zach Harper and myself. Spoil alert. It's just crayon scribbles in the back of a utility bill.

Wherever you get podcasts. WMBA commission Kathy Engelbert. Setting an artificial deadline of today for a deal to get done to avoid disruption of the season. Textbook create a sense of urgency negotiation tactic. I learned this yesterday. Salome is older than SGA. and about a year younger than Janus.

Think about how y'all talk about these people and then put it in the perspective. That dude is older by three years than SGA and a year younger than Janus, who is like damn near ancient now. Ridiculous. NBA Board of Governors meeting this week to explore two new expansion locations.

Vegas and Seattle. Park my words. If the Vegas expansion team is not also gaming licensed operator in the state of Nevada, it will never work. David, I'm interested in your opinion on that. They're not going to allow them to have an independent source of revenue that the other teams don't get. They're not going to get a license as their own team as part of expansion. I don't think that, no, I'm saying if they're not already licensed.

So if it's not someone who already owns a gaming operation in Nevada, it will never work. It's the most saturated market in the world in terms of venues per capita. There can have gambling inside the arena if you're referring to that, where you can have slot machines and games and betting. David, how do you make money at your building on non-game day nights? General. No, you have to have other events. You have to have...

The sphere is struggling for this reason. It costs way too much, and the ability to get events every night in a building makes it too hard. Wizard of Oz has helped a lot. It's not that. It's not the ability to get ax. It's the ability to get acts in the most saturated per capita venue market. You're not just, in New York, you're competing Barclays and MSG. In Vegas, there's no shorter of just 16 to 20,000 seat venues.

And they all have casinos attached to them. You know which one doesn't? The sphere. That's why they're struggling. It's totally connected to the Venetian. What are you talking about? Exactly. Who owns the sphere, David?

Dolan. Who owns the Venetian? Not Dolan. You're talking about the sphere making money as a standalone entity? It's because the expense of turning on the lights is way more than T-Mobile Arena. Every time they do an event there. I'm talking about when you own a gaming operation next door, it doesn't matter. you can take an L on the event because you're funneling them to your slot machines.

That's why, by the way, the Cleveland Cavaliers make money hand over fist because they have a gaming operation, literally attached via Skyway to their arena. So you're assuming the Mets with their casino now, where the chop shops are, they're in good shape. They're about to be in a lot better shape than they've ever been. Leave it to the Kings. To even be bad at being bad. Winners of two straight, five and five in their last 10. Head coach Doug Christie defiantly announced the Kings will never tank.

And I said, oh, so you guys are 18 and 51 by trying your best? There's a Marco Bellinelli documentary coming out. No. We're a long way from the last dance, folks. No. The hell we doing. Speaking of hell, art bryles. Those are the weekend.

Observations. That one Bellanelli Summer League, though, he had to be there. Amin, do you remember that one summer league? I was there, man. It was the Golden State Warriors were all trying to break their own record, the Summer League scoring record.

It was between Bellanelli, Anthony Morrow, and Anthony Randolph, and all three of them. You couldn't have told me on that day that those guys weren't going to run the league in like three years. They were amazing. The New York Jets have traded Justin Fields

to the Kansas City Chiefs. That just happened according to the athletic. I am found that I'm surrounded by complete indifference about this and every face that I look at in the room I mean your thoughts last night on the Oscars

Oh, you know, it was our Again, I was just rooting for one eventuality and that was for train dreams to get blocked on everything That's negative. That sucks. Oh no, I'm going to be negative on this David because I posted my rankings of the best movies I watched from the Oscar

nominees. I said, Number one was Begonia. I thought that was the best move. Not that it was going to win. I'm just saying that was the best movie I saw. I thought sentimental value was incredible. I actually thought it would win because it was about a filmmaker in part. And I thought that would get the academy really invested.

It did win. Well, I thought it would win Best Picture is what I thought. But yeah, it's sentimental value I thought was just an incredible movie. You thought the best movie of the year was Begonia? It was the most creative story, most entertaining, and incredible performances by Emma Stone and by my man Jesse Flements.

I just didn't like the ending. I liked it all the way up until the last like 15 minutes. I don't know how they were supposed to land that plane, but, you know, I just was a little disappointed in that. I really liked it the whole time. Yeah, the ending is weird because, without spoiling it, I found myself, because the movie is about how people will believe

whatever they want to believe, and they're going to believe it to a crazy extent, right and it's kind of a real commentary of the world it is that we live in today and then the ending kind of subverts that a little bit but but I thought it was an incredible movie sentimental value was incredible too

but I know that people don't like reading subtitles so there's that David I want to know what you think of this list this is from Amin on the movies of the year he's got at number 10 train dreams and then there's a canyon size gap and then number nine, F1. Number eight, Hamnet.

Number seven, there's a big gap between Hamnet and number seven. Frankenstein. There's a big gap between number six, Marty Supreme. Number five, sinners. Number four, one battle. Number three, secret agent. Number two, sentimental value. And as he says, number one, Begonia.

What's the big gap? I don't know you could do a big gap at a top ten. And that is brand new for me. Well, I put the gaps in there, David, to indicate to people that there is, like, so for instance, between two and three, there's a massive, massive leap to me, the sentimental value in Secret Agent. They're like tears. Yeah, like tears. Yeah, I just want to make it clear that it's not like the same separation between one and two as there is from two and three. And definitely not the same separation between two and three as there is from nine and ten.

Ten was awful. I'm glad we made all that clear. I'm glad the Oscars made it clear Mike you know I have one rule to live by right Don't place parleyes on multiple long shots Don't say a game is one When it hasn't hit triple zero Always drink your Yeagermeister ice cold

That's the rule Everything else is merely a suggestion Everything else Everything else Wearing clean underwear every day Well that's just a personal decision Brushing your teeth Obviously smart but not a rule

Never pee on an electric fence Okay maybe there are two rules But the one that is 100% that I insist on completely, Yeagermeister must be drank ice cold. Or don't drink it at all. Damn, that's cold. Exactly. You're finally starting to get it.

Drink responsibly. Yeagermeister liqueur 35% alcohol by volume imported by mass Yeagermeister U.S. White Plains, New York.