The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Local Hour: Notre Dame Game Inception

Episode Date: December 5, 2024

Today's cast: Dan, Stugotz, Izzy, Chris, Jeremy, Jessica, and Tony. Dan made a huge mistake yesterday: NOT exploring more within Jessica and her dad's relationship while watching Notre Dame games together. Dan and the crew examine every ounce of what the Smetana household is like on a gameday against USC including singing alma maters, throwing Christmas ornaments, and breaking televisions. Then, Stugotz leaves to go talk to the QB who beat Miami this weekend, Dan is frustrated with the Shipping Container for rummaging through gifts sent to the studio for him, and, despite our best efforts, we end up discussing the College Football Playoff AGAIN. Plus, the Miami Heat blew out LeBron and the Los Angeles Lakers. Izzy and Jeremy discuss whether this was more about the Lakers ineptitude or Tyler Herro and the Heat figuring some things out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to DraftKings Network. This is the Don LeBattor Show with the Stugats Podcast. Today's episode is sponsored by DraftKings. Stay tuned because you'll hear more about DraftKings and all it has to offer throughout the show. DraftKings, the crown is yours. You have heard me, Stugats, over the years and seen me be way too hard on myself for a variety of silly things. I'm trying to get better at that, but I went home yesterday and as I'm leaving here, I'm feeling bad for any number of failures on my part that include not being able to wrangle Mike Ryan all week. Like just not being able to control him,

making everyone insane with University of Miami talk. Because of course that's how that season is gonna end and how he's going to combust. He was reasonable in faking it the first day and then Stu Gott said he was disappointed in him and then it just unleashed a rodeo bull. I would not allow it. I wanted to see some emotion from Mike bull. I would not allow it.

I wanted to see some emotion from Mike Ryan. I wanted him to fight for his team. Right, you wanted some, and one day turned into three, and then everything got high-checked. I'm sorry. Regardless, the thing I aired most on yesterday, there was something sitting in the middle of our show that we just walked away from way too quickly.

And it's Jessica and her father watching Notre Dame and calling each other assholes when they're getting just a hundred yard returns to get them into the playoffs. Like I don't, I wanna know more about what's happening in this household. I want you to paint a picture for me that has more details in it on how crazy it is

to watch something like this with your family. There's nothing else quite like this, right? There's no sporting event that is this. There is a sort of unspoken thing with me and my dad where when we watch Notre Dame games together, like anything that happens from the first quarter to the fourth quarter, nothing else in the world matters afterwards. Like it happens, we watch the game and then afterwards we pretend like nothing happened. So in 2016 Notre Dame was historically bad. Four and seven season,

their last game of the season came against USC. Dory Jackson ran back a punt return and my dad was decorating for Christmas because this is like a tradition. Every year when Notre Dame finishes the season at USC, my dad puts up Christmas decorations while he curses under his breath about Notre Dame. That's how you do it. So in 2016, Notre Dame has no shot at making a bowl game.

Did they win? They are terrible. But is it a superstition? No, this is an anxious, like, I need to do something with my hands, so I'm gonna obnoxiously and angrily string up Christmas lights. So in 2016, terrible season,

like Brian Kelly might get fired. They can't make a bowl, the bowl streak's ended, it's over, this team stinks. This USC game basically is meaningless. And my dad got so mad at the kickoff or the punt return touchdown, he threw a Christmas ornament at the TV and broke the TV. Wow.

Sean ornament. And like, yes, it was like a porcelain dog with a Santa hat. Like super embarrassing stuff. Let's think about this for a second. There aren't many ornaments that actually would break the TV, right? None of those stinky. Right, the ornament didn't break.

The balls, none of those balls. The balls would not break a TV, no. They're foam, I think. But neither would the Christmas, neither would the star on the top of the Christmas tree. Like, I have one cube with Bruce Willis climbing through the air conditioning ducts and die hard that would break my television.

But that's the only one. Yeah, I mean, it was like a super embarrassing moment for everyone. It was like, yeah, don't do that. But once the game ended and Notre Dame finishes the season four and eight, we're like, all right, well, like, we just gotta pretend like that never happened because it's all part of the rivalry weekend,

you know, rivalry game, rivalry weekend. He lost his temper, it's okay, and now we move on. I have a lot of follow-up questions, and we all do really. First of all, paint for me the picture of what the ornament is and what part of the television he is breaking and what the repairs cost and like is it a crack, what is happening here?

This is, yeah, I mean this really puts my, paints my dad in a bad light. So I really don't mean to do this. You called him an asshole during play. He was being an asshole. Okay, but I mean. but now he's not like now It's fine. The game's over. Do you see yourself becoming him when you're alone now? I am Notre Dame like what parts of him?

Is me like are you throwing ornaments like what's no I don't but I would I mean I'm not gonna put we all would in that we're good this year I would this is the the stakes of this year's USC Notre Dame game I would this is the the stakes of this year's USC Notre Dame game We're so high because this USC team they were not a great team they couldn't end fourth quarters against teams that they had leads over and They have a lot of talent a very good offense their defense was super banged up injured But made made stops in that game that gave the offense the ability to win the game Exactly and Notre Dame's best player, Jeremiah Love, was out with a knee sprain.

So it was not looking great. What year are we talking about? This is four days ago. Okay, my bad. That's the fourth, seventh season. Right, I was confused too, Chris. Alright, alright. Chocular!

I do have a follow-up question. Jess, so you said whatever happens within those four quarters after that, you just let it go. But when he broke the TV and the game was over, what happened then? We all just moved on. Luckily it was right after Black Friday, so got a Cyber Monday deal. I mean, this really does make my dad seem terrible

and he's not, so I feel bad about this. Okay, Jessica, Jessica, look. I think I've already told the story on another podcast before. You've protected the asshole. You have done plenty to protect your father, who you called an asshole during the game, and I am instigating this because you told us the story of what it's like to watch a crazy game

with you and your dad. How did the television break? Was it cracked down on the screen? Is that what broke? It was like one of those things where like a bunch of, you could see a bunch of colors. And so like the TV still worked, but the picture had some colors in one part.

What was the, and how heavy was the ornament? It was like a dog with a Santa hat, and it was like a ceramic dog head with a felt Santa hat, and arms and legs. Was he aiming for the television, or was he just throwing, was it just a raid? Ah, shoot, and then it just kinda all happened. It really happened very quickly.

And again, this game in 2016, it didn't matter. Didn't matter. This one this weekend mattered. The fact that he still cared that much in that awful, god-awful season, I think is a testament to really his love, his love of Notre Dame. But this year, the game did matter did matter this year it was pretty close

Notre Dame had a lead most of the second half it was pretty close and so when the first pick six happens with Christian Gray not of Fifty Shades of Gray of Notre Dame football and there was a penalty flag we were all sort of like ah oh no is this is the run back in account and that was when there was a penalty flag we were all sort of like uh... oh no is this is that run back in account right and that was when there was some confusion about what the flag was over and perhaps insults were hurled perhaps there was a sort of

angst angry tense moments before it became obvious there was actually going to win the game but then before the game even ended and we all came together and we send the alma mater, and then we all were like, wow, we can't wait, we're gonna go to South Bend for a playoff game, this is gonna be amazing. So like, it was completely forgotten.

Who's the all? Is it the three of you? Me and my mom and my dad. Okay, no dog, no Willow? Willow also. I don't think she's gonna come to the game though. Okay, but no, Lehman's not involved. This is a real, this is a real fam, but the-

I dragged him to so many Notre Dame games. Hold on. You think Liam wants to see this no leave me sorry Leman fine yeah yes what did I call Liam I was thinking about Neeson his nickname is Leman so that's where the thing that I want to gone too far ask you is you're in the center of the room with a broken television, singing the alma mater with your parents and your dog. No, that was 2016. This year, no broken television.

This year, nothing was thrown because Notre Dame won. My fault, my fault. No, that's okay. We're alternating timelines. This is like a Christopher Nolan film. We're going back, we're flashing back to 2016 because this informs the sort of like evolution of our relationship. So in 2016, like I'm still fresh out of college,

me and my dad don't have the relationship where I can be like, hey asshole, you broke the TV. Now I'm an adult, he's an adult, he needs me, I need him. We're like sort of, okay, we have this sort of understanding here. I can call him an asshole. He can call me an asshole and it sort of neutralizes. And no one here is quite an adult

around this particular thing. Maybe in all other aspects of life, but I believe the asshole and the descendant of the asshole, though I thought you said yesterday that you blamed your mom. I learned it from you, mom, not from him. You're saying now today you learned it from him too. No, I learned how to be annoying about sports

from both of them, but specifically about the sort of obnoxious, angry clapping during football games that I got from my dad. But we're all cheering for the same thing here, right? Why are we all being assholes to each other? Mom, dad, Jess, what's happening? Football. Playoff, it's the playoffs.

Is he like, Notre Dame lost a embarrassing to each other, mom, dad, Jess. What's happening? Football. It's the playoffs. Notre Dame lost a embarrassing, just horrendous game. By the way, my parents were at, to Northern Illinois earlier this season. Oh, this season. Yeah, this year. Although every game in 2026 was also embarrassing. 2016.

2016. 2016. 2016. Can I get the Stamford? Oh, we're in the future. It was sports dominator. So all the games in the future are embarrassing, huh? Yes, what about the opposite end of the spectrum when you guys are as happy the biggest touchdown you've ever been around each other Is it like a I have not got okay. Listen you hold your questions. Let me get the answers to mine, please

the alma mater is being sung by the three of you with a barking dog just and and where does this rank in terms of joyous family moments we're going on an adventure our team's great we've got an impossibly handsome coach we're ruling the world and the three of us are singing like where does this rank in terms of joyous family sharing it It was really great. And video team, you're painting a picture right now that is inaccurate. There's no golf club smash in the TV. It was like a, ah!

And the ornament went flying. It wasn't like a, god damn this TV thing. It wasn't like that, video team. So stop doing that, that's not fair. But it was like a feeling of relief where we went from like, we're all really tense. We're all like, like oh my god is USC about to ruin this season. Are they gonna do this? I hate this team so much. They already ruined my childhood. They've ruined my whole life with the bush push We can't let them get away with this Lincoln Riley's a fraud

Notre Dame needs to win this game to then immediate like sort of relief and then immediately like so what do you guys want to do? For dinner and we got a couple pizzas and we celebrated and it was really nice and we'll never speak of it again. We will never speak of it again. And will it happen again when we're watching the playoff game together at Notre Dame Stadium? Maybe. But then we'll never talk about it once the game ends. We'll never talk about it again. We have the same kind of thing, but not to sports, right? I feel like just in life, Cuban and Hispanic parents get upset and kind of things fly out of their hands in ways that are inconvenient for those that are standing in the path of the

thing being thrown. But it's not usually for NFL or college football games. Cause like my mom doesn't care if the Canes win or not. My dad does, right? But like he's not going to throw something. But my mom would maybe like una chancleta or like, I don't know, like control or remote control, maybe a wooden, a wooden spoon for like a Suela all of a sudden don't know, like a remote control, maybe a wooden spoon for like a asuela. All of a sudden, you know, I'm rough housing

with one of my siblings and then like pow! Oh, where did that come from? It was my mom, she had said no hueo de mano 11 times and then all of a sudden, I get a spoon to the back of the head. Stugatz has to leave for a moment. It's too bad that Mike's not here to hear why it is and how it is that he has to leave

because he's been tormenting Mike secretly with a private joke on God bless football for a while now. And that joke is to just bring on the guests that defeated the University of Miami the week before. I don't know who he got, but he's got to go record with somebody. I usually get the coach of the team that beats UM. I didn't know who he got, but he's gotta go record with somebody. I usually get the coach of the team that beat UM.

I didn't do that this year. I got the quarterback that beat UM. Oh, let's go. Honda Accord? Yes, I got the Honda Accord, yes. I mean, that's great. However, I do wanna know the logistics of winners get washed if you win the last game of the season.

Does that mean he can keep showering throughout the entire off season? or if you get one shower but then you have to wait till the next win to shower again that will be next week Fran Bran okay can you ask his quarterback though about coach stinky and that particular revelation by coach stinky sure yeah let's see what that produces God bless football is exploding all over the internet on Sunday. They are making out at the, I don't know if this is the end of an American tour, but it's the punctuation for the holiday season on God Bless Football's American tour.

And we've got a Miami watch party. It is Sunday, December 8th, this Sunday, 12 to 5. It's Vivo Dolphin Ball. That's an incredible, fun Miami, ridiculous place. It's a fun spot. I'll be out there. God bless football. I'll be out there.

Check it out. Vivo at Dolphin Mall. Very good enthusiasm. I don't know why people wouldn't flock right now in tailgate based on just the passion you showed in delivering that. I'll be out there. God bless football.

I'll be out there. Check it out. I'll be out there. There we go. You did good Trump hands, splaney hands. You did good Trump splaney hands during that. I mean, that's what I do when I'm explaining something, all right? You go out there. There we go. You did good Trump hands, splaney hands. You did good Trump splaney hands during that. I mean that's what I do when I'm explaining something, alright?

You go out there if you want. If you don't want to, you don't have to. You gotta keep working. Come on, come on. You keep working on Trump, okay? Because I'm gonna put a wig on you and I want Shane Gillis 2.0. What about me, man? No, I don't want that. That one's so good.

It's over, buddy. You got about a month. I don't want him anymore. Come on. Let me Man with a boom you are You pardon your son You did end with come on anyone would do there's rockets flying. It's gonna happen with the next guy to blood thicker than water Who wouldn't appreciate a father pardoning his son. You spent yesterday pardoning your father. He parties hard, man.

Your father yesterday getting mad at us for trying to help him. That was crazy. I was talking to him last night at bowling about that. I'm like, what did you do? You pitched a fit and then you're like, out of nowhere. Okay, fine, I'll do it. That's how he realizes when he's wrong.

That's exactly where it shifts. It just takes, he's on delay. It's like chip away at him. He's really stubborn, he's really stubborn. And he also thinks he's the only reason for his stardom. Like he hasn't had any help. Be clear on that. Like there is nothing there except narcissism. And I will tell you that it was perfect

for him to go from a genuine rage To you handing him wu tang shoes and him dissolving into a puddle of i'll do whatever you want You've given me a gift. I am a toddler. I'm a 70 year old toddler How many times is he going to wear those shoes? Realistically over under let's say one and a half How many pairs of those shoes did we get? Because I got a pair and when I went out, this happens a lot around here when we get gifts, Elise has told me about this. You guys got to be careful around Elise, my assistant, because she sees things. And Elise has told me that whenever a box comes for me, it gets ravaged by everyone here. And she has to like fight like a bird of prey

to make sure that people don't think, don't take, steal basically, things that are sent for me. Yeah, no she does that. You got a good one. She's aggressive. I got one good one and a lot of bad ones. Why is everyone trying to steal my shit? Steel is a heavy word.

I don't like steel. More just seeing, hey, is this something Dan actually wants? Because Dan, your name's on everything around here Every package essentially has your name on it. So we're just gonna peruse through it. Make sure it's you know We don't waste your time Dan. I thank you for that except that not a thing has gotten to me Well, I know you and you don't want it Clutter the mark. I'm still there waiting for you. They're right there. They had your name on them They had like Atlanta United they had UM socks and demar de rosen you know

Hey somebody hit up barren Davis and tell him to send some cookies these people here would love his cookies for the holidays somebody Yes, somebody listening to this but all of you badger barren Davis and tell him he has not sent the cookies that I know These people would like to eat for the holidays that you reminded me of because of the DeMar DeRozan socks that delight me." Hey DraftKings fans! Are you ready to elevate your game day snacking experience? This college football season, we're feeling the cheesiest with Cheez-It! That's right, delicious Cheez-It! crackers not only satisfy your snack cravings for game day excitement, but they are also

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while you select your weekly players for college football's cheesiest challenge all season long. So snack and play like a champ with Cheez-It. Agent eligibility restrictions apply, void where prohibited. See draftkings.com slash Cheese It for full details. Don LeBattard. Mr. Mr. Shirt, if I may say for a second. Miami, they were simulating the snap count

the entire game and they were clapping at the line of scrimmage. And the only thing I want to see clapping are them cheeks on Mrs. Met in my face, Mike Shirt. All right. So that's one thing. Stugots. They're a bunch of cheaters, Dan. And you know who should be cheating? Mrs. Met in my face, Mike Sher. All right, so that's one thing. Stugats. They're a bunch of cheaters, Dan. And you know who should be cheating? Mrs. Met on Mr. Met. And he can watch if he wants.

This is the Don LeVar Tar Show with the Stugats. The Stugats has left to talk to the Syracuse quarterback. Chris, you're done with Alabama UM talk, right? It's been about two and a half days too much. I'm done with it on this show. I'm done with it driving in today. The big dog and Dono just talking about, oh, Miami and quality wins over 500, just done with it.

That's good. Like, I've gotten from Miami got screwed here too. You lost, if you would have said at the beginning of the season, and here we are, we're gonna do this conversation again. No, we don't have to. We don't have to. I wanna hear it.

I just wanna say this one line. If you would have said to Mario Cristobal at the beginning of the year, okay, here's what you gotta do. There's two games, only two games matter. Georgia Tech Syracuse, you gotta win one. You do it, you're in the playoff. You take that Mario, he would say, hell yeah,

and if I don't win one of those, I don't deserve to be in. He would have said that. And now, that's what happened. So you're out. You're barely out. It proves how good of a season you had. You're the first one out. You deserve to be out. I will tell everybody that Miami is spectacular for the sport in every way coming down to the conclusion of doing more for the sport by missing the playoff than they would have done if they had played in the playoff with that defense because we're going to spend this amount of time doing the thing that college football wants us to do when all we've got is the Army-Navy game argue. Care and argue. Make

all you numerical arguments and try to do it on merit when we're going to try to keep disguising that this is something between a beauty pageant and figure skating. It is like the thing that I don't think that people are understanding about this because they go to the committee and the committee is supposed to have the facts and then you're assuming that the facts then support or make the conclusion Alabama should be in at 12. You do it the other way. Put Alabama first in at 12 and then find what you need to make the argument.

Like it's not, you guys keep thinking it's about merit, it's a beauty pageant. It's not merit, it is subjective eye of the beholder shit. Well, beauty being in the eye of the beholder Why is Alabama more attractive than say a Heisman? Potential winning quarterback with that type of offense because you keep harping on the defense But nobody cares about defense really offense is what makes you beautiful, isn't it? I'm sorry in terms of a made-for-tv event if you've got a high scoring offense and a great quarterback, you're more attractive.

That would be my argument anyway. God, you guys just all hate football. You are the one who loves the nine to six game. Again, I will stop Izzy there and I'm with you, Chris. We'll move on in a second. In fact, we're gonna get a palate cleanser with my father in 50 Shades of Grey. We're gonna go back to that.

Oh well, it works, it's easy, and I miss my father's voice. I did not kill him. I just miss his voice here on the show. I have not heard him around here in a little while. Go ahead. But I again tell you, Izzy, as you say all of that beauty, it's because you have to start with the idea

that Alabama's gonna get in because it's Alabama. Like that is, I will not lose sight of what that brand is over the last 20 years. What that brand is is as big a brand that there has ever been in that sport. And it's at the time of Nick Saban when he's dynastic. And Jeremy, you wanted to say something? I just don't understand how we can spend

every single season saying it's so good for the sport when Miami is good, because they're one of the biggest brands in the sport. And then at the same time act like a mid-major, like some team that, oh, you know, plucky Miami. Like, it's not a big brand just like Alabama is. Oh, no, no, no. It is a big brand. I'm stopping you brand just like Alabama is. If this was even- Oh, no, no, no. It is a big brand.

I'm stopping you on just like Alabama is. There is no such thing, and there may never have been any such thing as just like Alabama is. Do you see Alabama gear all over the country? Like you see UM stuff? Unless you're talking Jessica, Jessica's Notre Dame championship teams

of galloping ghosts and New know, Newt Rockne Dan 1988 Don't pretend like oh my god, I'm talking about when you're winning all the championships You're at kudos not one or two of them are not one or two championships all the championships like the the run that Alabama Just went on is unlike any since Miami and USC were doing things like that over five and six years. Huh, big brand, Miami and USC.

We're doing it again, I need Poppy. Yeah, go ahead, you're right. And now, Poppy reads a passage from 50 Shades of Grey, page 186. He flexes his hips, so his p***y pushes against me. Yes, right there. He runs his teeth along my shin. This is back.

Then it slides into me again. So slow, so sweet, so tender. His body pressing down on me. His elbows and his hands on either side of my face. Oh, Anna. He breathed and he let's go. My name a benediction on his lips as he finds his release. His head rests on my belly, his arm wrap around me. I just want to enjoy the quiet, serene afterglow

of making love with Christian Grey because that's what we have done, gentle, sweet lovemaking. The Galloping Ghost went to Illinois. You guys just don't know football. Red Grange, Galloping Ghost, they did the 100-year anniversary game with Illinois and Michigan this year. You know what, my bad, I was thinking just of the four horsemen a time and I'm sorry, was thinking just of the four horsemen a time and I'm sorry I'm sorry that you know the 50s better than I do back when Notre Dame ruled the world and and weren't there our third time making the playoffs since the playoff was instituted and you know are you trying to argue with me that Notre Dame has been

the same program in terms of winning championships that it was when it was ruling college football really good they just saying, they're really good. They're very good. They lost to Northern Illinois this year. And they still made the playoff. How about that? And all you had to do was try to tie the game against Syracuse and maybe you win that one and you're in the playoff too, Dan.

There was nobody. You're lashing out on every, you're all lashing out at Alabama and Greg Sankey and the SEC. You have no one to blame but yourself and Mario Cristobal for blowing it again. And you know what, if you had blown out Cal like you were supposed to and Virginia Tech like you were supposed to earlier in the season, I actually think better argument. But I think the committee said, wow, Miami struggled to win all their ACC games this year, all of them, and they lost two. And for that, sorry, you're not in.

Agreed. Agreed on all counts. So stop talking about the goddamn Alabama, Oklahoma game. Who cares? It doesn't matter. Alabama won't even make it. But the team that is ahead of them at 12 deserves it less just looking at their record.

Like this stuff can't, like if we're- Record has never mattered. Ever. In the history of the college football playoff. It's never mattered. Ever. Okay. The record has never mattered, ever, in the history of the college football playoff. It's never mattered, ever. Okay. The record, like we're acting surprised. It's never mattered.

It is an invitational, like you just said. There are teams that they prefer to have over others, but it's based off a resume, and they have told us year after year after year after year, if you're going to lose games, you need to have great wins. And Miami had zero of those. I think a losing position for Jeremy is cutting him off with my father at every turn when he starts talking. And now, Bobby reads a passage from Fifty Shades of Grey, page 343.

I groan and run my fingernails across his neck, and he gasps a strangled moan. You're going to unmanned me, Anna. You take me. I sit down onto him, reveling in the fullness of my possession, reveling in his reaction, watching his unraveled beneath me. I feel like a goddess. Ah, nah, touch me, please. I lean forward and steady myself with my hands on his chest. Come on, baby, I need this. Give it to me. And I explode, my body a slave to his, and wrap myself around him, clinging

to him like a vine as he crows out my name and climb access with me, then collapses its full weight pressing me into the mattress. I think this is how we can get Dan to throw an ornament. Well I'm telling you where I am right now, okay, and I don't feel good about where my life is at the moment. I just got pushed around by Jeremy and Jessica because I haven't been the same since benediction and release. That sentence, like, I have been knocked, I have been, when my father said benediction on his lips and then there was a release, like, I cannot,

you don't understand the way that you're triggering for me the memory of being under my parents' bed when they were having, well, I didn't know what sex was at the time. The bed was just a rockin'. This is your first, this is your ultimate core memory. I think this has driven everything about your life. This is the thing, it's been buried for 50 years.

Like, that memory is not something I considered until you guys conjured the image again. I don't know where I was the first time we did 50 Shades of Grey with my father but I don't remember it. How long did it last? I've got no memory. It was very short.

But I didn't, that's in retrospect, I didn't know what they were doing. I didn't know what they were doing. Why is the bed rocking? Look, for me it wasn't even discussed. That was in retrospect. At the moment it was just fear. These are not small people. The bed is rocking. I'm under it.

But they seemed happy, no? I don't want to talk about this anymore. Your follow-up questions are unpleasant. I would say. And disturbing to me. It's okay, that was your core memory. Mine is the bush push. And that's, you know, it influences how we live

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For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.co.slash.bball. Don Lebertard. I don't think I ever got that many roses in my whole life. Stugarts. Certainly not from your lovely grandfather, God. May his soul rest in peace. This is the Don LeBattar Show with the Stugats! I still have follow-up questions about watching the game with you and your dad and the alma mater and the

Emotion of the moment you are singing the alma mater out loud because you are in the playoff as a family This is the most wholesome wholesome middle America thing. I think our show has ever done Tony have you seen a lot of wholesome middle America things around here? Around here or around Miami? No, around here. I'm talking about our show. If I say to you, okay, look, if you told me, give me the family that sings the alma mater around its television after a home win, I'm going to go ahead. That's the tachys. Never once in my life.

No, I don't see, hold on, Dan. I don't see Jeremy's parents rallying around a football game. I see Jeremy rallying around and watching the game, but I don't see his parents super involved. My dad is a crazy fan. So regardless, my question to the group is, give me something more middle America.

If I walked in here today and said, somebody in our crew did that, Jessica would be the only nominee, right right we don't have anything like that around here I can see Lucy but I'm comparing that to you your dad and your mom watching the game which also has the hostility of wanting to throw Christmas ornaments at the television but doesn't end with a group hug and the promise to never speak of the things that happened here again. I don't even know FAU's alma mater. Which is worse, arm in arm singing the alma mater

or hosting a fake fantasy event like the PFPI? That's not fake. Worse or better, both of these things are lovely. One of them actually happened and one of them is an exaggerated bit I've been doing for the last 20 minutes. All right, well that, no, no, no, no, like, get out of here. Major penalty, five minutes, spooning comedy.

I can't ask you 20 minutes of questions, and then at the end you tell, like, I can't, that can't be it. Did he break the TV or no? Like, doing bit, I'm asking you questions, and I'm buying everything you're saying, and now you've just lied to the audience for 20 minutes And you're buying a new TV with the Gulf Stream breezes blow in the search for truth goes on

Seeking learning sharing knowledge Finding the meeting of the past that is gone This is the FAU where Where nature beams with pleasant weather, fight through. Why are you singing Matt Struett's Phil Collins melody? We strive to learn to work together. Florida Atlantic we praise. Didn't get his dad's voice, huh?

Inhale thy name. FAU. FAU. Before FAU, before I get to David Sampson, I wanted to talk about last night's Laker Heat game, and I wanted to talk about some of what swirls around the Miami Heat where reportedly the Dallas Mavericks and the Houston Rockets are interested in Jimmy Butler. You understand why they would be. Those teams would get better with him.

Miami would not, unless there were other teams involved. You trade away Jimmy Butler, you got to get a player better than Jimmy Butler if you're in Pat Riley's last years doing this. So I would assume that the Laker win last night is because, at least in part, Anthony Davis can't be that. There's got to be something physically that he's fighting with when that's what he is. That's a dominant player and that's not how he looks. To me the greatest concern over the first 20 games for the Miami Heat is you need all three of the guys to be all-stars. You can't

have Tyler Hero being an all-star but Bam is no longer an all-star. If you want to challenge the Celtics who are dominant, all three guys have to be all-stars and you can't get Tyler Hero his, and then bam's just a mess for 20 games. I wanna stick to the Lakers for a second, just because I don't have as much faith in the Miami Heat as I have in the past, but this whole J.J. Reddick thing.

The one part before he started coaching where I said, hey, how are they going to hear J.J. Reddick when he is complaining to them about the defense they don't play? Because JJ Reddick, as a defender in the NBA, effort, not very good, right? Now, you saw that effort yesterday at the Lakers game. What happened, Tony?

I mean, yeah, he's not a really good defender, but does it mean, hey, go play defense like a coach? You know what I mean? No, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that if, because he's fresh, you know, off of his playing days, and most of these players played against him, and probably cooked him when he was defending them,

if he is telling them to play harder on defense, I don't think they hear it the same. I haven't seen a team play that lazily on defense, at least one that's supposed to be good. It was bad in a long time. It was bad. He missed a bunch of wide open threes, made a ton, but it was, I don't know how you guys measure this stuff. It's bad, he missed a bunch of wide open threes, made a ton, but it was,

I don't know how you guys measure this stuff, it's always hard for me, right? I have not seen LeBron James' aging process, but if you're going to see it, it's going to be on defense, right? Like, if you're going to physically see the same, the guy who looks the same and looks a little older, some stubble and stuff,

but he's statistically sort of the same, you're you're physically watching him trying to make the assessment defense is where that's going to suffer JJ Radek and LeBron we're talking about LeBron playing all 82 games this season I imagine as the Lakers this has never happened before in the history of the sport a winning team has never lost four games out of seven the way the lakers have by twenty five plus the lakers lost it if they just keep losing by twenty and thirty but they still got a winning record because they started strong

and right now what arrives to the lakers is jj reddick having the realization of the holy shit we talked all that time on our podcast and i didn't actually account for lebron's aging like what it's going to look like if Anthony Davis can't be the best player on this team. You cannot ask the best player on your team to be the oldest guy in the league. Like that's not there's simple and he played in the Olympics. Like you can and he's got more mileage on him than any player who's ever played. Like I think I can say more mileage,

even in the age of load management, plays all the time, plays for 20 years, and just wrecks his body. I'll take it even further, JJ Reddick got a LeBron James for the first time in his career, probably since the beginning, where it's not championship or bust. That is not priority number one for a LeBron James

in a year where he had his son play with him works hard in a year In a year where he wants to play 82 games of all the years to try to play 82 games This year where you're turning 40 as what to check it off on your list. These are all very let's just say selfish goals Not team goals. It seems like Something could be on the horizon, is he? If you want to play 82 games, you want to show yourself to the fans one last time, you already had your kid play against, you know, play with you.

Now he's in the G League being abysmal. Like, could this be the end of the LeBron James era? He would have announced that. He's going to have a full, like, this is my final year. Everyone praise me. The thing last night is that LeBron was great. Like, LeBron was great from the jump, offensively, even defensively, he was making plays,

causing havoc on that end. Anthony Davis was the issue. In the last two games that they've played, he's been abysmal. It's his two lowest scoring games of the season, 14 points and eight points in blowout losses to Minnesota and Miami. And in both of those games, he's going up against

two of the better defending big men in the league. And last night, what it was, is it was Miami double teaming him every single time he touched the ball. And early in the game, it led to so many turnovers, fast break points for Miami to where even when they were struggling, Tyler Hero actually wasn't that strong offensively until the third quarter when he hit seven threes

in the quarter, but it was fast break points and that's always been Miami's recipe for success. It's just the Lakers defense last night that was inexplicably leaving Hero open. This is what I would say about what happened because Tyler Hero had 10 points in the first half but I watched that game this one's super rare okay I mean it's it's to watch the Miami Heat have their best game of the season and be like because they haven't beaten a team like that all

season they have not a team that good or that way looking like they were overwhelming like that like they haven't regressed over the last two years looking at their best and while I'm watching I'm like no man that's the Lakers cashing that in like that ain't anything to do with like they'll make all their threes but the Lakers have no interest in this basketball game and I rarely watch and see that be that overt and it's not just because Anthony Davis was playing bad and I would say where LeBron got his numbers man someone in the NBA has to do that get the team to 90 points like if

you're gonna double team Anthony Davis almost any player in the league could have had the LeBron game if I made him the second option in that game. But that's the missing link on this team Anthony Davis has to be the driving force. Like we've been saying that maybe since 2020, but it wasn't really true. Now it's absolutely true. And so yesterday is a great example of either he hasn't been treated like he's the man by opponents, or he just doesn't really know how to act when he is treated like that. Because as Jeremy said, the double teams threw them off entirely. I don't know what to do when that happens. Let me just kick it out.

And when you go through these stretches where people say, oh wow, when he plays 20 games in a row, he looks like the MVP, but then you get three or four games like this, he's just not that. He has to be the one that wants it more. More so than LeBron, even more than JJ Reddick because he's just getting into his coaching career.

This is so much better than college football playoff time. Ha ha ha ha ha. Agreed. And. Howdy folks, it's Mike. And guess what? It's Miller time. The holiday season brings around lots of joy

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