The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Local Hour: NFL Free Agent Frenzy

Episode Date: March 12, 2024

The crew didn't realize how much they missed football after the blazing news of NFL free agency from yesterday. Mike will not stop talking about the MInnesota Wild pulling their goaltender. Greg rips InterMiami for not taking the MLS Cup seriously and Pablo Torre joins the show to talk about his latest PTFO on TRL.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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This is the Don Lebatore Show with the Stugatz Podcast. We're presented by DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. Download the Draft King Sportsbook app today and use code Dan for special offer when you sign up. That's code Dan, only at Draft King Sportsbook. Stugatz and Greg Cody know this better than most. This show is a bit of a bucking Bronco, for example. Chris Cody forgot to just turn my microphone on.

That's the big deal. Ha ha ha ha ha, free agency Dan. And well, but hold on. Bronco for example Chris Cody forgot to just turn my microphone on that's the baby Free agency Dan and well but hold on so yes It is a bucking Bronco, but I often feel like the UNLV football coach whose video I cannot play anymore in good conscious Because it's not a fun cushion It is a concussion and he got hit in the head and he was concussed I right now in between got hit in the head and he was concussed. I right now in between the bucking Bronco months of Greg Cody's a star in Vegas, he ha three rules. And the playoffs that are coming heat and Panthers.

Oh my God, a storm is coming and we're going to have to ride this out over the next few months. It's going to be unpleasant. Mike is going to be really emotional all over the place. He hates Terry Rose here in a way that's not reasonable. But today what I have is something I did not have during yesterday's show. During yesterday's show, I left the studio and as soon as I left football pinged into my life in a way that I hadn't noticed just how gone it had

been the money's over here this guy's over there you could tamper it was unbelievable so I'm going to release the bull and hope we don't get concussed here that was crazy yesterday and I didn't see it coming Dan hate is a strong word. Not strong enough. I don't want to talk about Terry Rosear. We're going to talk about the Panthers in a second. Just because the only reason I brought him up is because Mike's been off for three days. He comes in here like a bucking bronco. He has opinions on everything like the Minnesota Wild. I worked for eight hours on Sunday.

It's just one day. Okay'm gonna, it's just one day. Okay, yeah, it's a fine. But. How much Minnesota Wild talk did I miss? You missed it all. Really? You saved it? Yeah, we saved it.

Oh my god. Yeah. John Hines. Oh my god pal. 57. 84-2. Uh huh. I'll get back to that in a second but the footer sure that's

all he has the foot no it's not all he has trust me it is not all he has he when he was working eight hours with Adnan and Samson and Ben Lyons on Sunday to produce an uncommon event for us because we don't usually do that around the movies he was forcing into the show at every turn, and has been talking nonstop for three days about a rule he did not know, and the risk that the Minnesota Wild took eight points down by pulling their goalie, and risking the loss of a point in overtime in a rule that Mike did not know, and the most flabbergasting thing to Mike in all of sports is him not knowing something.

Right on the head. But more on that later. Proceed was set in the show up. Thank you. We'll get, thank you. I know what you're trying to do, set the show up. That's all I'm trying to do. All I'm trying to do is tell you that football went crazy yesterday.

We need to respect you trying to set the show up, got a layout for the host. The addiction arrived again yesterday. You guys had missed it, you were in withdrawal, you didn't know how strong the withdrawal was. We don't have to explore my curiosities whatsoever just because I wasn't here yesterday. You guys had missed it, you were in withdrawal, you didn't know how strong the withdrawal was. We don't have to explore my curiosities whatsoever just because I wasn't here yesterday. No. So when I look up yesterday and I'm like, what do you mean Jacob's is moving?

I like him, he's a running back, he's great. And I would want him, if I was in that league, they're five, I don't think are disposable. He's one of them, wait, he's going to Green Bay, they have Aaron Jones, why would they do that? Aaron Jones is cut. I would want Aaron Jones, Why is Aaron Jones not there? Is he he's a little bit older, but he's cheaper and now somebody spent money on a running back and that was one of the

50 interesting things yesterday You said Aaron Jones was cut then well now he's not Aaron Jones Vikings one-year deal. He's still cut Still cut he goes there anymore. He's still cut. He's still cut. He goes there. He's got a team there. Second Sam Darnold. All right, well thank you Billy. I will give you a stat of the day right now. Oh geez. It's pretty good because I did not have this a couple of years ago. In this year start of the day, start of the day, start of the day, in this year start of the day, start of the day, start of the day, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,

hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, the last two years and think of what you thought of Russell Wilson who just sold the most expensive or has put on sale the most expensive house in the history of Denver a Four bedroom house were 25 million dollars four bedrooms 12 baths in your pool movie theater yoga Four beds and 12 baths or something off there. Okay, but hold on We'll get back to that if you want, but this is not the part of the state of the day that I'm giving. Yoga studio. He's got a yoga studio.

Yeah, he's got it. It seems like a lovely home. Yesterday's contract movement was such that Sam Darnold will now be paid 10 times more by the Vikings than Russell Wilson will be paid by the Steelers to play football next year. And Sam doesn't have to play. A one year ten million dollar deal for Darnold, Russell Wilson is going to get one point two million dollars from the Steelers. That's going to be the bargain in the sport, right? Even if he's

mediocre. Yes, yes. Even if he throws nothing but interceptions, it'll still be fine. No, no, no, no. You could... That was your... No, if he throws... Just all interceptions? If he throws nothing, it's not a bargain. That's a waste of ten million. If he throws nothing but interceptions. Well, how many interceptions? Based on NFL salaries? Are you kidding me? The former dolphin guard just signed a hundred million... Robert Hunt signed a 100 million dollar contract. Guards are back.

Crazy. I mean... I want to just note for the audience that CJ Stroud has a base salary of $900,000. Yep. It's so important. What is Brock Parties? You guys realize the stat he just gave you though, right? It's like we've gotten to the point, well oh shit, if you got the money right there,

you're good. You're totally good. And now the dolphins lose all their players because they didn't win in the window you had to win in the window when you had the quarterback at value and you got to re kill for that you got job and you got a bunch of defensive pieces and now this part i don't get like if i'm a dolphin fan i'm pissed here i really am i'm angry about this because there was a lot

that had to be endured so that the dolphins could have the draft pick that they would get right with Christian Wilkins get it right in every way like that guy we knew he's gonna be great he's great he got his other defensive tackle paid as well because you can't pay everyone around here now he goes to the Raiders a hundred and ten million dollars eighty six million guaranteed and that's just as a no matter what you're doing for when now, you cannot justify that decision to me when a maximum professional like that is groomed by you from rebuilding. You got it right and you have to sell it away when that's an important defensive piece.

And he did everything right, including serve you the last year with honor, even though you were insulting him on contract and you risked getting hurt like a model professional Greg and it pissed me off that they lost him right they should have tried harder to sign him a year earlier you're right but the one thing I would quibble with is that the idea of the Dolphins window was closing if to a continues to improve and becomes as good as they think then the window is open. It has to be at value Greg. It's like to me what what Mike said. Well the Chiefs don't have my homes at value anymore. They still do. They're still winning. Still gots. He's still cheap now. I still

gots. He's cheap now. Like what don't say I understand that before understanding it. They had my homes at one good contract and now they've got him at another contract that represents value. Yeah because because the cap keeps going up and the cap is projected to go up quite a bit, which is why some of these running back contracts that you see the spin on it is Tony Pollard at 8 million against the cap now will kind of feel like 4 million against the cap three years from now. I think Chris Greer has earned some credibility and patience here. They just cleared $20 million in reworking Jalen Ramsey's deal.

While they haven't signed anybody yet and the group chats were all freaking out when Wilkins left, that meant you had to sign Van Ginkle. And Van Ginkle's going to Minnesota with Sam Darnold and Aaron Jones. I think be patient. You don't know. Maybe they had a corner move Ramsey to safety.

They should add a pass rusher because that was a huge issue last year. And it should be noted you can still end up paying the quarterback like Kansas City has and maintain key pieces They just resigned Chris Jones. That's all I'm saying then you can still pay your quarterback the big contract and still put together A roster that could win a Super Bowl. That's all I'm saying Talking about the cap hit with Patrick Mahomes and how they won in the window. Last year's cap hit was 37 million. This year's cap hit is 58 million for Patrick Mahomes. So you talk about winning in the window, $20 million now that they've, you know,

re-signed Chris Jones, but there's pieces that are missing on that team and they still want to sewer it. This is the part, okay? Like this part's super interesting because we'll get lost in the minutiae and the frenzy of happiness today, okay? But the model to follow now, after the Patriot

way, 10-part documentary on Apple, because that story's done, no one wants to play for the Patriots anymore. Like, you realize that that just happened where they were talking about Patriots wanting Mike Evans? No thank you, I don't want to go there. Baker Mayfield, no thank you, I don't want to go there, both of them choosing the team that Tom Brady brought with him to Tampa, the city, and the Patriots fall apart. And all we're talking about right now is money, money, and how do you spend the money? And the model in that sport is Kansas City, you lose Tyreek Hill, somebody else gets good, but you're good because you've got quarterback and you've got quarterback at value. And now everybody knows it and everything's built around him. But you're good because you've got quarterback and you've got quarterback at value and now

Everybody knows it and everything's built around him. Look man. Mahomes wants in this ownership game too with the Royals and everything He's doing he wants to compete. He's learning now what all of the former quarterback Broadcasters out there like the Acrements and the Manning's and the Brady's Mahomes is in ownership now He has learned at the knee of all these people. He's a two-time champion. He can build that for a decade working with in partnership with his franchise the way Brady did. Yeah, you can restructure me here. You can do this here. I'm making enough money. We're all winning here and I don't want to go anywhere else because I got an A plus coach, but they're going to have to fix those facilities and they're going to have to fix that ownership because Mahomes isn't going to stay quiet on where that power is

because he knows he's got it. He flexed on the league after Kaepernick and the knee, like they bent, Gidele bent when he, like he's got real power now. And now racism's over. That's right, he solved that too. You can't put, what's that under the salary cap? What's that worth?

Solved racism, they could take it out of the end zones. But yesterday, what was the most interesting parts of this, Stugots? Because I haven't seen this part of this part. Billy, you saw this. You saw the flicker. And it's always good when the old flame comes back to the old Warhorse champion. God bless football. Crushed it at the Super Bowl. I haven't felt like this since Joe Maurer made it into the Hall of Fame I mean look I saw the crust fall off of stugots this morning and he roared to life with and shocked me with it Because it was like an old spark in the bedroom. He's like Dan. I've got winners and losers from yesterday Oh, do I top five winners top five losers? I have to start there. I'm sorry. It took me so long We saw the wild to get to oh yeah when do you Mike when are you gonna shut up about it like

what how do what do I we've never seen it before we all learned that was a rule you pull the goalie you run the risk of losing the point that you would get if you lost in overtime ballsy as thing I've ever seen that is crazy eighty four point what rule dash eighty four point two See, he's a hero now because it worked, but it was a dumb decision by him. Coach, this will not become a trend. There are eight points down. What Mike's point is, you're just playing...

If you need the two. You're just having fun with mathematics. Like, yeah, I know the odds aren't on this, aren't good, but I need to make up eight points, and it's gonna be hard to make up eight points no matter how much we gamble. To your point earlier in the show, it is not every day you can get one pass, old Mike Ryan.

That's right. And John Hines of the Minnesota Wild, he alerted me to this rule that you could totally expose and gain advantage. It is ballsy though, I mean, there's no goalie there. But four on three is a much bigger advantage than your conventional six on five. Stu Gatz here, did you know that according to FBI property crime data,

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That's linkedin.com.prep. To post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Don Lebatard. Sports. Stugats. More sports. This is the Don Lebatard show with the Stugats.

["Song of the Year"] Chris Cote, are you ready? Do you have sound effects for, I mean, the old giant is roaring back to life. It's like seeing Godzilla win an Oscar. Like I couldn't believe what rose up this morning from the sea. Winners and losers from yesterday,

Greg Cody, you write for the Miami Herald, have for many years the football column, did you write off of all of the transactions yesterday because the dolphins lost big yesterday in the frenzy if you're doing the first day of free agency. The first day of free agency shouldn't matter, but all of a sudden we're doing a lot of accounting with like one of the fascinating things about what this football transaction shit has become is the idea that all of us are now math experts on the salary cap because we're all doing

finances with what the transactions are because you can't you cannot convince me that Jacobs is worth more than Jones at those contracts, but I'm not the one who's professional enough to know what those value assignments are. Like I can't do it, I can't, I don't know how to tell you. Like I love Jacobs, we're all watching the disposable running back.

I love watching Jacobs run, but Aaron Jones behind that offensive line made Jordan Love look pretty special. I'd value that Certainly you would value that but I think what you're looking at is you're looking at the situation where a team has the quarterback Jordan Love on a rookie contract so any running backs gonna kind of look good in that situation. Well LaFleur is proven throughout his time in the NFL that he can design a run game with the rest of them. The chokehold that this sport has on America is something to behold,

because we thought it had plateaued a couple of years ago, the sport was actually at an inflection point, and now it's bigger than ever. Globally, it is also getting bigger. You have really smart leadership within the NFL that realizes their footprint is growing. And look at this, on a day where six teams are alive for the president's trophy in the NHL, what are we talking about Austin Neckler to the

commanders by the way this is the time of year in the NFL when even casual fans are acutely aware that their team was $21 million under the cap yesterday and now they're $4.5 million with play money with with over the cap okay but symbolically what just happened there felt really cold to me where old-timey Greg Cody football writer from the past comes in complaining about the money and still doing it and no but look at what just happened there Mike snuck in some and might not be news to everyone listening to this, but just snuck in wait a minute What Austin Echler to the commanders and it hurt me on behalf of Billy and Stugatz

They made Austin Echler a star. He was a bigger media star than he was Before we met him, you know, but you guys equal party guys carried him over the home Were you heartbroken for him into the ground if anything? He did have a bad year by his standards. Yeah, yeah bad contract Well, that's not a great contract for him two years for the commanders. None of us would want to do that No, put it on the pole, please that LeBon Tartre show. Do you want to carry the football for two years for the commanders? He's been death sentenced. I take 11 million dollars to a tote the rock for the 20 carries a game

Let's hold on he's not saying he'd survive right no, I let's examine this part for just a second You think you take a season worth of running back hits where you have to play the position. You can't just fall on the ball each time. It could last a game. He could get hurt immediately. He would still get paid. I would fake an injury.

Yeah. You think you're gonna get the full guaranteed money faking an injury? It's not one year. It's two years running the football for $11 million. Okay, did you hurt for him yesterday? Were you heartbroken for him as your friend? As a friend, he's become a friend of your show.

No, I wasn't heartbroken. I was surprised that he went to Washington based on some of the things he told me and Billy leading up to free agency, but he got $11 million on a two year deal. He has told us before, he likes to keep the contracts, at least moving forward. He wants to keep the contracts in terms of years. He

wants to keep him short because he's not certain when he wants to retire, he's not certain what he wants to do in his post football career life. He had bad luck in terms of he had his worst career season last year. He was derailed by injuries even when he came back. He wasn't, you know, great because you could tell that the injuries were still there and there was a lot of free agent running backs. So I mean, I think he took what he could get. I have a theory though that I wasn't gonna do on air, but we're here, so I'll do it here amongst friends. Who's a part owner of the Washington Commanders now?

Who? Magic Johnson. Yeah, and he's, Austin Eckler has always been setting himself up for life after football. For business. Making business connections, kind of networking with people. Austin Eckler has always been setting himself up for life after football, making business connections, kind of networking with people. That's not a bad contact to have. Okay, so, okay, so you are right now, that sounded like a dookie bomb. That sounded...

I would never, I said it was not for air. For the record, not for air. He dropped the dookie. Apparently it was for air. Well, no, just bleep all of that out in the post. You set it on air, though. I'm just talking amongst friends. You know what I mean?

So he's cozying up to magic, which I didn't even think about that, but I think you're right. I didn't say he's cozying up. I'm just saying, you know, he's a man who is focused on business also, and it's not a bad person to have in your corner. OK, so can we explore this part of it for a second? Because Austin Eckler, first time he came on our radar, I'm gonna say two or three years ago,

had some of the same savvy back then that Kelsey had, where he realized pretty quickly I'm younger, I have a space here of people that will follow me if I make myself interesting on the internet. And Eckler has been business interested, I mean, look at what we're talking about yesterday and the grinding at that particular position. You got about seven years to earn, kid, and you're gonna be really lucky if you get those seven years because your body's gonna break, even those two God's things

he can do it for a season for $11 million a year. Two seasons. Two seasons. For five and a half million a year. Echler, Echler, I've called him a scat back, even though he's not, but I think of him as smaller, even though I know how muscular he is. That game does savage things to the body, and you've got a very short period of time to make the money. Echler saw what Iguodala's seen, and what a lot of these guys saw, where, oh, I'm most relevant as a media person if I'm in the game,

because as soon as I get out of the game, man, there are a lot of people competing in that space. And now the marketplace dictates what all your worth is. But if I can make myself a media person, man, that's what Ryan Clark did. I think he interned with Howard Stern and ESPN while he was a stealer. Like, they... Interning. Very loose. Right. He wasn't exactly living in like the interned quarters at Bristol, Connecticut.

Thought Antonio Pierce interned for Howard Stern. Okay, Antonio, that's right. So forgive me, Antonio Pierce also. Ryan Clark wasn't making coffee runs. But no, no, no, he was at ESPN. I think he just conflated to it. They both did the same sort of thing. They were still playing football and working at ESPN because they realized like Draymond Green,

oh, there's a bridge to more giant things as spokesmen. But let's, I don't want to delay anymore. It's three and a half minutes enough times to God's, because it doesn't feel like, you haven't brought one of these in in a while. Do I need to save this for a segment? Because we got plenty of football to talk about. You should probably save it for a segment.

That's fine, yeah. All right, then we can get into the Minnesota wild. Oh, nice. And exactly how that might have turned their season. If I'm a free agent upcoming, if I'm staying right hard, I say, wait a second, what are they cooking up there in Minnesota? All right, let's do this because we're about to have a national story on our hands, all

right, Stuguts? I don't want to play this. I know our audience doesn't want Panthers hockey talk, but it's coming here for an extended run because the Panthers are in position to have President's Cup to be the best team in the league. You don't want that. Yeah, you don't want the best team in the league. You don't want that. You don't want it. I would avoid it. It's cursed. It's cursed.

Although they are playing a style right now that is more conducive to playoff success. They are co-favorites for the Stanley Cup along with Edmonton, who the Florida Panthers have beaten along the way. Huge potential Stanley Cup finals preview tonight in Dallas. I don't think you can get Billy and Tony interested. What are you talking about? I'm a credentialed covering hockey member of the journalism community.

That's Roy, that's not you. I was at the Stanley Cup final last year tweeting right alongside Roy. Some people said Roy stole my tweets. Some people. Tony, are they gonna be able to... Because you... What?

No, no, no. Why not? These players have been here for such a long time. Some people Tony are they gonna be able to You know In here for such a long time. They are a true competitor. It's fun. It's really fun. Yeah I don't know you you're just you don't like time that I'm giving you a reason to feel invested We're saying these names look I don't want to come out here and talk about Panthers hockey every day I do it because I care about this. Barky. And I care about you. I want you to be invested because this is your best shot. Egg flat. At a championship.

This one, right here. It's not even Inter-Miami. Sam Reiner. It's this team. Inter-Miami, we'll talk about in a second. I want Greg Cody to rip them for sitting all their stars against Montreal, because I'm guessing he's impatient. No, no I didn't and I I wouldn't because that was a game that they could have won without a minute's early in the season and all

that and they they were unbeaten in the first three games my concern with the the Harons I love using that nickname is that Messi is going to be spread out so thin by all these competitions. Copa America, Leagues Cup, Paris Olympics, they're going to want them to play in. You get 40% of Messi, it's good enough. No, no it isn't. No, no. It's very late for 100% of Messi. You do have to save his legs and they prioritize the Concacav champions

like Ty against Nashville. They got a great result on the road a tough place to play 2-2 Louis Swariz who many people rode off scored a 95th minute equalizer and they decided MLS that's more of a marathon we just want to make the playoffs in that sport we got to save Messi's legs we'll give him a break against Montreal came back to bite them but that that's a math that you do that's a winnable game without having Messi is a financial bonanza it's a hundred percent a great signing don't get me wrong but there is in my mind there is a likelihood that they're not going to win an mls cup with messy and the reason for that is that there are so many other leagues that they're playing in in the middle of mls season the business play its marketing

gotta keep the main thing the main thing dan Dan. Right, Greg? It's, you know, to me the MLS couple is... This is Inul and proof Dan Lebatas show with the Stugas. Gamble on by DraftKings. the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health to support life-saving progress in mental health care. From May 27th to 31st, people across Canada will rise together and show those living with mental illness and addiction that they're not alone. Help CamH build a future where no one is left behind. So, who will you rise for? Register today at SunriseChallenge.ca. That's SunriseChallenge.ca. Don Libertard! at sunrisechallenge.ca. That's sunrisechallenge.ca. Power steering there's another one. Why don't I give my power to the car? The power that I once had the car is a ton of metal. I'm a damn college graduate Stugatz Bluetooth HD radio satellite. I'll take AM please with Wolfman Jack

Talking through the static and I'll crank the windows down so everybody can hear I'm Greg Cody and that's how it was back in my day. This is the Don Lebatar Show with the Stugats. Before we onboard Pablo Torre, Pablo Torre finds out, always interesting, relentlessly interesting, every episode, it's hard to do that. Not a lot of people are doing that podcast space, very crowded.

I would urge you to listen to Pablo Torre finds out because every last episode is something that has been more curious and interesting and thorough than most things, almost all things I've seen in this space. Before I do that though, Greg Cody blew through the hard network out and still had opinions on Messi that he had not gotten off. He wants 100% of Messi's time, even though I'm saying he's here for 40% of him, build soccer in America, teams up with Apple, make soccer matter in Miami,

makes people interested in MLS, grows the sport, and is a marketing deal at the end of his career. But Greg is right, they paid for 100% of his time and his attention. I would say they paid to get their money back in marketing him correctly to build the sport that makes them charge twice the ticket sales. It's a rock band.

Man, look, can we please stop with the integrity of I've got to win sports, because that's what matters. Messi wants to win a business here, and 40% of him is what Apple in the US and Miami will get. And Hong Kong will complain when he doesn't play there enough friendly, but this part of his career is him making money at this time in his career and also he's the best. Yeah, and he's still winning. Soccer is different. You have several opportunities to win hardware. He did so and winning the leagues cup inaugural League's Cup, brought the first trophy

to InterMiami last year, and they're telling you, by not playing him against Montreal, while MLS and the MLS Cup is important, and clearly, Greg Cody feels like it's the most important here, let's have a chance to win Club World Cup as the representative from this qualifying region, where you can actually have a semi-final on a neutral site and you could see the likes of Inter-Miami playing the likes of

Real Madrid for something of note. Financial windfall, no argument there, but... But that's all that matters. No, I disagree. I disagree. I mean if they're gouging their season ticket holders so much that Mike can't afford to go to the games, it's all that matters. That's how they're keeping score. Gouging is all that matters. You that Mike can't afford to go to the games, it's all that matters. That's how they're keeping score. Gouging is all that matters. You can keep score differently if you want to be romantic about it, but you've seen soccer fail all over that patch of land 50 years living down here. Right.

50 years you've seen soccer fail. This isn't going to fail if they can gouge the fans. As long as Messi's here and has stars around him, what about five years from now? Well five years from now the Well, five years from now, the entire stadium's gonna be fully under water. There you go. When you say the best, are you saying the best ever? Messi.

I mean, Paley would like to have a word. Jesus. If Miami does not, if they don't win an MLS Cup with Messi, part of his time here will be considered a disappointment. Agreed. You really care so much about MLS Cup. You think it's got that much prestige. That's the league he's playing in.

Who's the reigning champion? That's the league he's supposed to be in. Who's the reigning champion? He's not here for Queens, Mike. It wasn't. I'm not going to take a Queens. I'm not going to take a Queens. The answer is it wasn't us.

It wasn't us. It wasn't us. It wasn't us. Okay, if the reigning champion was in or Miami, I would know it. That's true. That's a message. But it wasn't. He is right about that.

Maybe, I don't know. Pablo, go ahead, you wanted to get in. I was about to defend Greg before that sequence happened. I was about to say that we need more Gregs that the MLS needs more Gregs because that MLS know article, the excuse me, I'm already supposed to myself as a poser who's not a really fan of MLS needs more Greg's because that MLS no article the excuse me I'm already supposed myself as the poser who's not a really fan of MLS MLS needs more Greg's because if you just sort of take it and you're like yes

Leo Messi is just doing like the equivalent of an extended cameo video from a celebrity for the city of Miami and for Soccer America all this is even sadder which is need someone just like it is Pablo Pablo, but it's what it is come on like I It's it's what it is. It's a he has all of the power He has all of the power and you're lucky for a second of his time is the reality and he knows that economically He knows that culturally he knows that in every possible way and so Greg saying actually how dare you disrespect? This sweet 16 party is both Sad but also necessary for someone anyone to say all I'm saying is that if they don't win an MLS Cup with messy that segment of his time here is going to be seen as disappointing it's as simple as that they have to they have to win the league he came here to play in and save soccer in America and grow soccer in America. What if they're the best team in all of Conca-Cath? Then go on to the club world cup.

Okay, then they cash five million dollars. Just because you don't know about it doesn't mean it doesn't mean something. But in Greg's defense, if Messi doesn't care about the MLS and Inter-Miami doesn't care about winning the MLS, why should I? He does, you just gotta pick and choose. There's fewer Conca-Caf Champions League games.

You gotta, they already gotta buy in that competition. I really don't wanna have to explain this all over again. No, no, let me interrupt you because- Did they win their IST? Basically. Put it on the poll please at LeBatard show. Does it mean- Technically there's three IST.

But they won it anyway. I think they opted out of the Sockers could be at least three. Not a UTI problem. This is a uniquely right now I think all over the globe. There are millions to God's is spawning in politics and anywhere because when Mike Ryan says, does it mean something if Stu God's doesn't know about it?

You fool Mike Ryan. No, nothing means anything unless it only fits within the framework of where Stugatz is ignorant. Thank you, Dan. I see my time to the representative from New York. We've already wasted his time. Yes, we have. And Pablo Torrey finds out.

I will tell the audience again, Pablo, what is it that you've got coming up in this episode? Because I think one of the things that's most special about the podcast is that you can't really tell where the next one's gonna end up and if we just follow your curiosities you're going to uh... thoroughly report them in a way that's vigorous it's why the voice of the show is uh... special and different than most that are out there now i appreciate that sincerely that's actually what i'm going for dan always

insults my shows. This one he doesn't insult. That is the compliment that I take with any of the specifics that he's just given me. So in this episode, I wanna ask the room actually, what are the words total request live mean to any of you? I'd like Greg to weigh in. I'd like the shipping container

who's already responding to that title to weigh in. What do we got? I think of it as a nostalgic Carson daily time of like, you know, growing up in pop culture. I think of my childhood every day when I get home from school, see where the Backstreet Boys are, see where Brittany's at.

Just my childhood nostalgia is what I think of. Greg, do you know what we're talking about? I am familiar with the phrase, but I would not have associated it with anyone or... Do you know what it is? Do you know... It doesn't sound like you're associated with them. I mean, I assume it's like you request a video

on MTV or something, I don't know. So I'll explain this because for Greg, this is the MLS Cup, it turns out, which is disturbing to me. But for everybody else in America, this was the show that determined Music and music sales and popularity of music in America And so TRL came on right after school that out every weekday It was a phenomenon and it was the place where people would not just request Greg they would vote And so this was a democracy. It was the foremost

electoral mechanism in America to determine what's cool, what's popular. And so we're doing a story today that is not a sports story. It's the first one we've done that is actually not even sports but it's about the rigging of the vote of total requests live sparked by computer hackers, a chain letter. If you remember what chain letters were in the AOL days, Dan is still on AOL. He still may be forwarding chain letters of like, if you don't forward this,

you know, you're gonna break your back, you're bathing, clapping to your family, like the threat chain letters. I want 800 flowers at the way I used to do it. Yes, exactly. Dan Levitar will be waiting in a closet. They'll jump out at you with a knife if you don't forward this email.

And there is a movement to put the uncoolest band in 1999 at the top of the charts. And the uncoolest band in 1999, which was the era of NSYNC being the apex predator, the Backstreet Boys as Chris mentioned was New kids on the block if you remember new kids on the block They were the old boy band they committed the cardinal sin of being now the old kids And there was this movement to hack the vote and so we report the untold story of what happens when the first internet

movement that tries to make a mockery of told story of what happens when the first internet movement that tries to make a mockery of internet elections in the way that by the way the Lewis Brinson movement you guys did the move to get uh... zaza patchouliya into the nb a all-star game all of these fan voting mechanisms started with t r l and started with this hat and so we saw the question of what happened and who did it and what was the story and it's shocking to me and my childhood what we discovered because it went a lot bigger than what we

anticipated. Pablo, did you get into it all how Tom Green and his fans essentially successfully did that? Not with a hack, just by actual voting and then MTV ran into a problem where they upset all of the record companies and they forced his song to be retired to not piss off the Backstreet Boys. So I fell into the rabbit hole on seeing like who was in there, who were the characters. Tom Green absolutely was one of these people. This is not a Tom Green story but I obviously am familiar with that Billy.

Likewise like the people who would come on to TRL. Like I want people to understand because I'm worried about now how old I am here. I'm 38 and this is where Eminem, Mariah Carey, everybody, the former artist known as and unlitigated against P. Diddy was there. Like everybody was showing up, everybody in music. And so the thing about galvanizing the vote was the promise. They gave power to kids, to young people in a way

that no one else was doing in America at the time. And so that was Tom Green in that way. But that is by far not the biggest story of how democracy was manipulated. One of the things that Pablo will explore, I can know this without even knowing exactly where he's headed is the idea, Stu-Gatz, of this is, I don't know if it's a Genesis or ground zero for like here is how young people get to influence. You influence them here, they develop influence, and next thing you know, because young people

are the ones who make everything popular, young people are consuming twice and three times as much of the internet as you are, and the power becomes real, the power of young people. And I'm guessing if this isn't ground zero for it in pop culture, MTV and a show being popular on MTV, yeah, would be it. No, Dan, this was it. When we talk about why boy bands were popular, it's because of TRL. It's something I didn't appreciate until reporting this story. You went on TRL because that platform at that time with all these people voting moved markets. So InSync breaks the single season,

sorry, single season, like it's sports, the single week all time record for album sales in a week after they go on TRL. You're very excited about it. No one else here is. I am. No one else. I can see no one else here is

Can you find out what happened to Dave Holmes of say what carry Dave Dave Holmes Billy? I am proud to announce is is the protagonist of this story. What talk to Dave Holmes. He is in this episode. Yes All right Pablo. This is you've aged out you've aged out No, but Young people and Tony has no idea what you're talking about. Oh, no idea what you're talking. I was lucky I was a kid in 1999 was eight years old my dad can Pablo Torrey find out why we're not talking about football Pablo's old Thank you. You know what still got you know what still got? Thank you. Yeah, Pablo Yeah, Pablo Torrey. Come on, TRL, Pablo. We got football. I will listen. I will listen. Football!

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