The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Local Hour: People Forget How Good Barry Bonds Was

Episode Date: March 14, 2025

Has Dr. J lost a step? Today's cast: Amin, Izzy, Roy, Jeremy, Mike, and Tony. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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proximoquervil.com please drink responsibly Quervil This is the Dan LeBattor Show with the StuGuts Podcast. You know, as I get older, two things happen to me with my relationship with baseball. Number one is, I don't know what's happening. I don't watch any of these games. Most of the names I recognize are the sons of players that I knew from a yesteryear, right?

And at the same time, I've discovered a deep love and affection and a desire for my Instagram algorithm to continue giving me baseball videos. Like these videos of like Barry Bonds talking about the good old days and Greg Maddux and all that stuff, I'm here for all of it. I was watching one about Ken Griffey Jr. talking about like the first time he turned

his hat backwards or whatever. I'm fascinated by all this stuff. I love it when it pops up into my thing. Sometimes they're talking about like stuff that happened in AAA. And I'm- Is this just a, like is this just an extended version of the 90s baseball game? when it pops up into my thing. Sometimes they're talking about like stuff that happened in AAA. Is this just a, like is this just an extended version of the 90s baseball game? Is it just because of nostalgia

or could it be like a player from 2015 telling you a story and you're like okay with it? Sometimes it's a player from 2015 telling a story. I just like the stories. The stories are really interesting. It seems like baseball players have interesting stories. Do you think it's because you're now like learning something

about the game as they're telling you that story because you maybe don't know it on that intimate of level to where they're giving you their expertise or is this just their good storytellers? Cause to me, this is sort of similar to how like there are a lot of basketball fans who tangentially follow it only through trades and rumors and aren't actually watching basketball. Yeah, no, it's absolutely the same variety as that.

I guess the basketball equivalent would be, imagine if someone discovered basketball or rediscovered their love of basketball through Jeff Teague stories. Like, it's not even like you grew up on Jeff Teague playing, but Jeff Teague telling stories about things that happened and then he walked into practice. It doesn't even have to be Jeff Teague to me

because like I'm watching videos and it's like, wow, this Tom Gugliotta guy was a problem and they basically just like break down his entire game. I don't see. Tom Gugliotta, I'm not just tired. I mean, you said Barry Bonds earlier, you gonna go with Jeff Teague as a comparison? Well no, I'm just saying like, my thing is this,

I just used Barry Bonds because it's on the sheet and that's the video we're gonna throw to in a second, but it's not what Izzy just said. I could care less about like, and this is why Jeff Konine was so good. Look at his location, I'm not here for that. I'm not here for any of that, I don't care. But I do care about

Jeff Kona and telling a story about how one time I was getting drunk with John Rocker and then so and so what? I know I'm just saying like whatever whatever names or sometimes it could be names that I don't know It was Mike Chibbiata and Mike Chibbiata came in and said hey man who took my pizza? So what you're saying is like Rob Nen needs a podcast. Is he a good storyteller? I don't know. But what is that level of player? We need a Jeff Teague caliber of player,

a former big leaguer who was either a borderline all-star or an all-star once or twice, that type of level of big leaguer. If they, a few of those guys, started podcasts and just had a bunch of old big leaguers coming back, Joey Votto actually would be the guy to do this. Kevin Millar. Ooh, Kevin Millar's a fun one.

I've seen him on what's his name podcast, with Julian Edelman's podcast, and he seems to have good stories. Millar's great. He seems to have good stories. Because he's played with so many legends of the game and was part of the 2004 Red Sox, so he's got that whole tie in.

Is there any way I can learn more about that team? Yeah, you can watch a documentary about it. Where? It was produced by Metalark Media on Netflix. Oh wow, okay. What's this Barry Bonds video? So apparently, and I'm gonna let the video guys cue it up, but it is a video about Barry Bonds talking about

hitting 100 mile per hours of fastballs. And to me it's like the seat i'd be the exception to google the other thing is i saw a series of videos a team act was doing like two months ago i he's started to like to reform in any stop but it was basically like this is what i was looking for every single time the moment of the fender does it like it's not if it's time will be out of telling me this

now i'm in but if it's like some nerd who's trying to tell me, I watched every single Tom Gugliela game. I don't care about people breaking the game. But it wasn't, and by the way, we're gonna have to vamp for a while, because I was just told nowhere back there is this video. Why do we have a sheet?

But the thing that gets me about those videos, thing that gets me, is just the wow factor. They're like odd. It's like when you have these kids listen to Nirvana for the first time, or Smells Like Tees, they're like, wow, this is a banger. And so they're just like, oh my goodness, look at this googly on it, he had a drop step,

he had a jumper, I was like, come on. I hate those videos too, I hate those videos too. Where it's like, kid listens to Enter the Sandman for the first time, like, okay, whoa, whoa! Like, shut up, you've heard this song before. Juan Soto was on a podcast with two other Hispanic guys and they were talking in Spanish, so Juan was able to actually go through his... Are we sure it wasn't Paul Goldschmidt?

It was 100% Juan Soto. Clean shaven Paul Goldschmidt. It wasn't, because he was throwing in Dominican slang, which I thought at that time Paul Goldschmidt, that picture of him was Dominican, but it wasn't. So Soto's talking about an at bat that he had against the Guardians in the playoffs or something. He's talking about how a guy threw him a slider this way and he waited. He hit a foul ball. He threw him the nastiest changeup he had ever seen. He swung and hit the foul ball. He knew at that point, okay I got you. You threw me your best two pitches. There's nothing

that you can do. So he's like, all right, I sat on the slider. It came back. He's like, the only one they hadn't thrown me was the fastball. So he threw it up and I smacked it out of the park. So he's talking, all right, I sat on the slider. It came back. He's like, the only one they hadn't thrown me was the fast boy. So he threw it up and I smacked it out of the park. So he's talking about it with these two guys. And he's like, I knew exactly when he threw me that change up. That was the nastiest pitch I've seen. And I hit it. It was over for him. This is what I was saying. I mean about like learning about the game, because I think part of this is when you hear these stories,

when you hear these guys talk about singular at bats that they remember, there was this documentary with Barry Bonds and Greg Maddux where it was really about, it was a Greg Maddux documentary on MLB Network, but they broke down this singular at bat where he gave up a home run to Barry Bonds, and it was a similar conversation to what you're talking about, Tony, where they're going through each pitch

and the sequencing and why they know, all right, now the count is two and one, this is the pitch he's gonna throw me, it's why I'm gonna hit a home run. And these are the things that if you're just, you know, watching the game casually and don't really know, you don't understand, like, the chess match that's happening each pitch,

where Greg Maddux was not only setting up a singular at bat, he's throwing pitches in the first at bat so that when he faces Barry Bonds the third time in the game in the seventh inning, he has him off balance. That's the stuff that, to me, like, I eat up. See, Jeremy, but like, you're like, did you learn anything? It's not about learning, it's just,

I like hearing these two great players tell me the story of how they navigated this thing. And so we've got the video queued up. He's actually talking to Stack and Matt Barnes on all the smoke. 100 mile fastballs pissed you today. You hitting any of them out? 100? That's easy.

Right now, today. I don't care how hard you throw a baseball. They're gone. There ain't no way you can throw a baseball six six six six so I can't just do like this. If there's a catcher behind home plate that sits like this, what the hell? I agree. When you throw 100 mile down, you just go like this. If there's a catcher behind home plate that sits like this. I agree.

When you throw a hundred miles down, you just go like this. I agree with him. Boom. All I did was change this object to a bat. Boom. Boom. I ain't gotta change nothing.

I just changed the object. Right now. Now, if you're asking me to do something spectacular, that would take time for my body to get used to it at 60. But just going up there. Now, if you're asking me to do something spectacular, that would take time for my body to get used to it at 60. But just going up there. But to go up there and hit it, I don't care how hard you throw it. As long as I can see it, I hit it.

How good is his eyesight? Is that the insight that you were like, are you shocked by that? Like I can just put a bat in front of a hundred mile per hour pitch and it'll go the distance? Well, he didn't say go the distance, he said hit it. No, put bat on ball.

I mean, you could bun it. Yeah, he said I can hit a 100 mile per hour. Is it an age thing too? Like him at 60 still being able to do it? Cause like Dr. J famously on his birthday every year goes and dunks it to prove he can dunk it. Marcus Johnson too. Not every year.

It's been a little bit for Dr. J doing the dunking thing. Marcus Johnson does that every year. Well, Dr. J is trying to pretend like we ain't noticed. He's lost his step, is that what you're saying? 75 years older than he is. Prove it, Dr. J. Juju, put it on the poll. Has Dr. J lost his step?

I'm just saying, it used to be an annual thing. I guess lockdown, but it's a different Dr. J now, and he's trying to pretend like the last memory of Dr. J is dunking for Tony. Just saying. Maybe he's tried and he failed, and he's like, let's not put that one out. Of course, you wouldn't, like, yes, you just

stop doing the videos. No, I can't do it anymore, guys. He should be honest. He's like, OK, the year is 63. When you're 63, you can't dunk anymore. It would be helpful. Let's have Dr. J on as a guest. Matt Sullivan, get us Dr. J as a guest

so we can just ask him one question and then he can go on his way. When was it? I mean, this is a very important data point for all of us, like Tony and I. How old is Marques Johnson? Is it Marques or Marcus? Marcus.

Marcus Johnson is, he's got to be around dr. J's age, maybe a little younger He's a little younger because he like his prime was in the 80s and dr. J's was in the 70s So whatever dr. J is he probably about 10 years? Marcus Johnson, yeah, so like six eight how tall is dr. J? 66 are we sure cuz don't we shrink a little bit? Marcus Johnson is 69 years old Yeah, can I um? This is a video. I know we have ready so

74 yeah, but how old is that video how does dr. J right now? That's a good way that's how we do math best You are a sleuth. Yeah, he is 75 years old He is 75 years old. Last year! That was last year! Last year, Mike! Let's go! Where was the video from 75 years old? That video's from six months ago. Can we check how tall the rim is, though?

How high it is? Is that 10? What do you mean? He turned 75 on February 22nd. We didn't see the video! So it's been three weeks. It's been cold. It has been cold.

Even though he's at a gym. It's a bit chilly, huh? He's like Sugahti. He's got a little bony. What's the weather? I need the video! Because now the age is 75. That's at a gym. He's a little bit chilly. He's like Sugaatsi. He's got a little bony arm in my mouth. What's the weather? I need the video. Cause now the age is 75. That's a tipping point. I also believe entirely in what Barry Bonds

is saying by the way. Well you gotta just see it, right? I think Barry Bonds, probably on five teams in baseball, could be a designated hitter against right handed pitching. Because in the modern game, if his eyes are still, no, if his eyes are still the same as they were, because this game has become so much about home run, strike out, or walk, and he had the greatest eye

in the history of the sport. So at the very least, he'd basically go first pitch swinging on fastballs and try to occasionally hit one out. He might hit 10 homers in a season by lucking into it. But his eye was so incredible that I bet his on-base percentage could be good enough that there are some teams in which he could be an effective designated hitter

against right-handed pitching only. They are not gonna walk him. Aye, but you don't think so? No. All right. Jeremy, what Jeremy's doing is the old Bill Russell, which is someone's asked Bill Russell once, like, hey, how would you do in today's game?

And Bill Russell said, oh, probably about 12 points, maybe 10 or 11 rebounds. And the guy's like, wow, you think the speed of the game would affect you that much? And that fetishism of a modern game, he's like, well, yeah, I'm 75 years old. Exactly. That's what you're doing right there.

It's like, Barry Bonds, how would you do in today's game? I'm probably about 10 homers. Really. We forget how good he was, man. But that's the thing. I wish I had a large enough show where I could be like, we're going to get Barry Bonds as a guest, and the first thing we're going to do is we're

going to do an eye chart. Oh, man. And I'm just going to be like, yo, read the lowest line that you can. I want to know how good his eyes are. This is a weird sports science reboot. I know, right? That and forcing a 75 year old Dr. J.

To dunk. To dunk because his annual video is three weeks late. There you go. We can't let Jeremy get away with, people don't remember how good Barry Bonds was. People don't remember. No matter how good he is, can't remember how good he was.

They don't listen to the show. People don't remember how good he was. And Dan't listen to the show mention how good he was. And Dan will go on a diet, type. Well, Dan remembers. Yeah. Like, that's like the North remembers. People forget Muhammad Ali. Good boxer.

Yeah. People do forget. Hey, guys, I did my annual thing, speaking of things that happen annually. Every year, roughly around this time, on the other side of the All-Star break, before we get to the playoffs. Can we put that on the poll?

Sure. Do people forget how good of a baseball player everyone was? What I've realized is what I meant to say was in his last season when his body was breaking down and all of that, but I realized that what I now said was, oh, people don't remember that the greatest hitter of all time was good at baseball. That Gretzky guy.

That now takes over for Stu Gatz. That's on me. Wow, they want some stuff in Edmonton, huh? People don't remember that. No. Did he say that for real? Yes. Oh, man.

Even though Wayne Gretzky is the goat, he should know everything about the goats. Eh, people don't remember. He won in Edmonton. People don't remember, I always feel like, his code for I don't remember sometimes. Right? That's what you're doing.

You're like, I forgot. I've got everybody in there. Yeah. So then everyone else. It's like when Dan asks, why aren't people asking questions? I'm going to find some stats from that last season so you guys can see what I was talking about. The video that we played was from 11 years ago.

Of Dr. J? Of Dr. J. That wasn't when he was 74. That was when he was 63 years old. Wow. Who's got here doctoring video? Well, that was a real video. I get the joke. That was a real video, but he wasn't 74 when he did it.

See, can't believe everything you see on the internet, kids. Update from me, it was uploaded six months ago, not taken six months ago, apologies America. This is a message from sponsor Intuit Turbo Tax. Guys, Taxes was waiting and wondering and worrying if you're gonna get any money back whatsoever, and then waiting, wondering, and worrying some more. Now, Taxes is matching with a Turbo Tax expert

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The guide is free to you at netsuite.com slash dlb. netsuite.com slash dlb. NetSuite.com slash DLB Don Lebatard Sugar daddies these things I'm telling you. I love sugar daddies. I like those too. They get stuck in your teeth like you can't chew them They're like impossible to chew. They are impossible to chew. They're like sugar daddies everyday. Stugats! This is the Don Lebatard show with the Stugats. There is a video that I know is relatively recent. We just got got, right? By that video.

Um, I got got so bad and I'm so glad that, uh, Tony's wearing a team USA hat cause it made me think of it. Um, we touched on it at the top of oddball. So sorry about repeats here if you heard this, but Mike, you tell me, should we play the video that has a fake element to it first and then explain why I got God? I don't even have to explain, it'll be very easily.

Or should we explain it first and then play the video? Play the fake video. Play the fake video. It's a real video. It's a real video. It's a real video. It's a real video. Fake element. There's a fake element in there. It's a real video. It's a real video. It's a real video. It's a real video.

Fake element. There's a fake element in there. There's a fake element in the video, and I believe that whoever put this out decided to wait a good amount of time from the Olympics until now because, I'll give you a little insight into what the video is, I believe I saw the video during the Olympics. Yes. Okay, I believe I saw the video during the Olympics, okay?

I believe I saw it, and it was not memorable, right? So that's why when I saw what I saw the other day, I was like, okay, I don't remember any of these answers, I don't remember the video at all, and then by the end of it, I was still certain that it was, like I shared it with my sister, I shared it with Anthony, and I was just like, this is real. Like I shared it with like my sister, I shared it with Anthony, and I was just like, this is wild,

and I'm vamping here because we don't have the video yet. But this is how badly I got though, because as I'm talking about it, the first person I told it to knew, was one of the producers on Oddball, he knew exactly what I was talking about. He let me get to the end of the story before he was like, yeah.

That's how you found out it was not real that's how I found out I thought you just knew because by the end of the video it's pretty obvious play the video play the video when you lost your virginity 19 years old freshman in college took me out of Davis and college feed two hands. It's a loud day on campus that day. 17, probably the last one here. 14? No, that's Cal. 15. 15 going on 16. It's the summer before my sophomore year. My dad has it on video. Nah, I was 14. Yeah, 14. I was 13 years old. 13? 13.

I'm 13. 13 years old. 12. 12 or 13. Let me know. 11. 11? How tall were you at 11?

I was six feet. I was so floored. I was like, well, wait here, let me give you my thinking on this, all right? So for those who don't know, wait, is it obvious what the actual question was to everybody? Yeah, yeah, for sure. So when I first watched the video, I'm saying to myself,

oh, they're obviously starting with Steph, because if Steph answers the question, everybody else will answer the question, right? So I'm like, okay, Steph and, and this one where Amin got me with the two hands, two feet, I'm thinking it's just, he's just counting how old he is on both hands, he needs both hands and both feet to count how old he is.

The part that I didn't listen to was a loud day on campus that day, which I should have said, why does all of campus know that Steph Perry has lost his virginity today? The giveaway was just how cool they were with the question. Steph was like, yeah, no, this is like a regular postgame question.

Exactly. And then here's the other dead giveaway. When Tyrese Halliburton said that my dad has video of it, but I'd also heard some weird shit about his dad. So I was like, wait, I don't know. Maybe that's going to happen. Shouts fire. What happened there?

This is how Izzy imagined it, right? It's like, he's like, that's my boy! That's my, you get him, sorry! No, I actually had a recorder. Turn around, turn around. I had it as an accidental recording, and his dad was like, well, I'm just gonna keep it. I was like, all right, it's time to watch

Back to the Future 2. Oh, God! This isn't Back to the Future 2? Who burned over my DVD? Oddly enough, the one person where it was like a split second where I was like, wait a second, that couldn't possibly be true, or he couldn't possibly have answered it that casually, was Kevin Durant.

Because Kevin Durant doesn't share this type of stuff. He was just like, yeah, 13. And I was like, wait a second. But then the way my heart dropped when they got to Bam, and Bam said 11, and I was like, oh, Bam! Sex crimes. Clutching your pearls. And then the follow-up, if I had pearls, oh, so clutched.

The follow-up was really where it should have gotten me. The follow-up on Bam being, how tall were you when you were 11? I was just like, that's not my follow-up question, but whatever. And yeah, the answer was, the question was, how old were you when you first dunked? And when you hear that, you realize how stupid I feel.

But I honestly, like I wanted that moment. Like I want to be able to be fooled. I wanted that clutching pearls moment from bam, and I was like, I'm glad that I got faked out there, because it was totally worth it. Now I just have to tell my sister that that's not real. So two things, number one, again, the number of answers that were just like,

this doesn't fit for the question posted, right? Or does it? Number two, the fact that when you listen to the beginning of the video, it's clearly a dub over, right, it's complete different sound quality. How is that clear? It's very clear. When you're on the toilet and you's clearly a dub over, right? It's complete different sound quality. It's very clear. When you're on the toilet and you don't have headphones in, how is that clear?

Okay, maybe without cams on. Little echoey in the air. Yeah, it all sounds the same. But number three, again, the number of lines in there, two hands, two feet, loud day on campus, my dad has tape of it. The loud day on campus might have slipped past my ears. I'll tell you the one that sold me for a second

was when Embiid said 17 and the other guy says, he's a late starter. Yeah, he's a late starter. Two hands, two feet. Two hands, two feet, I was like, how is this happening? No, you guys have that, what, as a pose that I was thinking he was two hands, two feet,

and throwing a stick like that. Yes, that's exactly. I mean, it's obvious to me. It's like counting how old he was. He needs both hands and both feet. That would have never crossed my mind, counting with hands and toes on how old I was. It's really, in terms of the brilliance of the video,

Izzy described is exactly what the ball sacks and the centels are going for. It's like, it can't just be fake. It has to be fake, but something that you would believe to be real, right? The idea that Steph Curry wouldn't lose his virginity until he got to Davidson. And the way he said it, like he was ashamed

of his face, he was like 19, you know, it's crazy. You want to believe, right? Like the X-Files, I wanna believe, right? The other thing is, it's perfect, like, this is one of the best viral videos because this person watched the video and said, I'm just gonna dub one line in there. And then let the rest of the video do the work.

It is brilliant. As opposed to, I don't know if you guys have seen the deep fakes that happen. It's like, it'll be like a Draymond Green press conference and it'll say outlandish stuff. And guess what guys, I found out how to suss out a deepfake. The teeth? No.

It's the voice. The voice has no intonation. It is always at the same kind of thing. Yeah, and then I slapped him and I slapped his mom and that's how I feel. And it sounds exactly like that, but it's like, there's never any inflections or anything like that. So I figured out how to avoid being deepfake.

It's just to talk wildly and then go quiet. That's why Stephen A. Smith talks the way he does. Because that way he can't get deep faith. The goat. It's brilliant. It's a brilliant tell. I'm telling you. So you're saying Stephen A. was ahead of the game.

He was ahead of the game. He was ahead of AI. He was like, wait till AI gets here, I got something for him. He was like the bad guy in Madame Web, saying like, one day they're gonna figure out the technology how to find people, and when they do, I'll find these people and kill them first. Everyone gets a reference.

I mean, I was about to say, Madame Web? Madame Web. A huge box office smash. Hey, man. Probe. What? File. You filed that?

I filed Madame Web, yeah. I didn't finish it. I don't like Dakota Johnson is what I found out. Yeah, same. She's a little smug. I don't like her smugness. A little. Yeah, that's her thing.

But there were more problems than just Dakota. Were there? Yeah. Were you reminded enough that it was like about 20 years ago in that film? I don't think there were enough pop culture references to establish that. I thought that was a Charlotte's web sequel. What did you think of Idol last night? Of who?

What did you think of Idol last night? Idol who? What'd you think of Idol last night? Idol? Yeah. Oh, that's all I was gonna say. You threw me off because I'm like, is it Idol on? Like Lionel Richie is one of the guest hosts, or not even the guest host, he's one of the hosts.

Lionel Richie and who else? Luke Bryan, Katy Perry. Carrie Underwood. Oh really? You guys are locked in, dude? Damn. Carrie Underwood's back now. Because Katy Perry's touring.

I guess. You know who's opening up for Katy Perry? Oh no, you don't know. Even I'm not. No, hold now. Because Katy Perry's touring. I guess. You know who's opening up for Katy Perry? Oh, no, you don't know her. Even I'm not. No, hold on. I was more in. You don't know Katy Perry's tour schedule? Well, I know that Rebecca Black is joining her on tour.

It's Friday! Yeah. Let's go, Friday. She's opening. Wow. And shows where the tour is at. Dude, they stapled her to the tour to move units. Really?

Yeah. Pretty wild. Juju, put it on the poll, would you spend money to go watch Rebecca Black live in concert? She did a boiler room set too. How much money? If I can get like a cheapish, like 30 bucks.

What are they playing? What kind of venues are they playing? I would imagine they're playing big venues. What kind of venues do you think they're playing? Yeah, for Katy Perry, I would imagine they're big. Stadium status. I think it's arenas. I think Kaseya, right?

That's pretty big. Yeah, that I wouldn't probably pay for. Arenas? Yeah, but it Perry, I would imagine they're big. Stadium status. I think it's arenas. I think Kaseya, right? That's pretty big. Yeah, that I wouldn't probably pay for. Arena? Yeah, but it's struggling to sell. Well, that makes sense. By the way, Barry Bonds led Major League Baseball in walks in 2007 as a 42-year-old. He had 132 walks.

Aaron Judge last year in one of the historically great seasons of all time in the middle of his prime, 133 walks. People forget he's good. People forget. People forget how good Aaron Judge is. People forget he's good. People forget. People forget how good Aaron Judge is. People forget how good Katy Perry was. I mean, she got a catalog.

2008, 2009, Super Bowl. Her bag is crazy. Her catalog is incredible. Yeah, I liked her Super Bowl performance. Teenage Dream, great album. Killer. I'm going to tell you, man, it's like sometimes, I always have these realizations late, like Jeremy realizing that Barry Bonds was actually a pretty good baseball player That you know sometimes like I remember I went to years ago. I went to

Migos opening for Drake and I was like so you went to a Drake I went to Drake concert, but like they were like Migos is opening I'm like all right What are they gonna do like bad and bougie and keep it moving and then like they start they started an hour and a half late Which by the way, that's showbiz baby. The union fines for being. They pull that stuff at Lollapalooza. The overage is out the wazoo.

Wow, this Rebecca Black has quite the rec. They can't, what? I've never seen her before. Really? Well she was a child before so I don't. It's also things that a straight guy can't say. Right, that's why I said it, you're welcome guys. You're gay

There it is So you were saying They go and they go song after song after song after song after song and I'm like Jesus Christ. I Somehow didn't realize bangers and they make music. No, but it's just like every song I knew is a hit I and it is a hit not like a deep cut or a b-side every song so like similarly Katy Perry I'm not going on Katy Perry concert. Then I started thinking about all the songs like yo, she got a lot of songs, man She got a lot of songs and now you're telling me people aren't gonna go see Katy Perry, but they're gonna go see Rebecca Black

The the people that are buying the tickets, yeah. Ah, losers. Everything's ironic now. That ticket. That's more sick. It's just her last album like totally flopped, so. I'm not there to hear her last album. Pop music, you gotta kinda stay relevant.

I'm the only person that's been able to do that where they just like kinda bomb in for like, hey, I've been away for 15 years has been shared. But, but here's the thing. I think there's a difference. You're saying Katy Perry's last album flop. I'm thinking about, I'm not here for Katy Perry's new music. She, at this point, she's a legacy act, right? She's a nostalgia act. Aren't we not over,

but aren't we not listening to as much new music anymore because people aren't listening to the radio necessarily. There's a lot of music discovery with social media and like TikTok and whatnot. It's just, yeah. Enter the Sandman. She's in a weird place where she went a couple album cycles without a real huge hit, kind of became a little bit of a joke.

Yeah, she got embarrassed recently. Her most recent singles have been trash. You've got the Dr. Luke stuff hanging over it. That's a big bit of a joke. Yeah, she got embarrassed recently. Her most recent singles have been trash. You've got the Dr. Luke stuff hanging over it. That's a big part of it. Pop music is one of those things. Rihanna's gonna be able to pull it off. No, but she's- Because she's one of the biggest artists of all time.

But she's doing it. To me, Beyonce's doing it. She's active. Beyonce- Between going away and coming back, you're saying, of genuinely not releasing a record for a decade and then trying to come back and make something new like Mary J Blige I'm not going to Mary J Blige to go listen to her new music I want her like play the hits do

wonderwall basically I'll say an artist that I actually respect I like Carly Rae Jepsen but she had to keep it going to keep ascending in terms of venues and now she's you know I don't know I don't think Mary J. Blige sang Wonderwall. No, I know. But like, that's a joke. I was doing a reference to something else. You're doing a thing. People forget.

People forget, yeah. People forget about Wonderwall. Carly Rae Depton had another song after Call Me Maybe? Carly Rae Depton's like, she plays Coachella. She plays festivals. She's got a lot of respect as a songwriter and as a music artist. She puts out good music.

I'm not here with the songwriter. She did a, well you often don't know like what she's writing. That's what I don't trust it. Like that's that's what they do. They'd be like oh you like that huge hit song? I wrote that. Like okay I'm gonna take it. How about you sing it? Yeah number one it was so great and you're a singer. Why did you make it a hit? Why'd you give it to someone else? I'll give you an example of where it's a great singer that wrote a song and just someone was such a star, not even a better voice, but it just took it next level. And we'll use the recent example of Rihanna.

Sia wrote Shine Bright Like a Diamond. Yeah, guess what? You know why? But Sia's got a better voice. No, she doesn't. Than Rihanna? What? Come on, dude.

Isn't the dream the dream of quality artists who write a lot for others? Is the what? Like you think Rihanna has a better voice than Sia? No. No, I agree with you, Mike. No, Sia's got like an all time voice. All time voice.

She just wails, that's what she does. Excuse me? Is she bulletproof, right? Isn't she bulletproof? No, that's LaRue. Ah, it's the same shit, man. Hey guys, let's talk about hoops. It is, most definitely.

What are we doing? Finally. Man, I really thought that you wanted to keep talking about like female pop stars from 2009. Yeah, well, you didn't buy a ticket, so we're not gonna do that. Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift continues to make music, all popular at the same time. No, yeah, to me there's two piles.

There's two piles. There's a pile where like, I'm still doing this shit, and there's a pile that, remember when I had the biggest hit in the world? Katy Perry's in the second pot. Yes. But it's difficult for a woman in that age range in pop music to embrace the fact that she is now

a nostalgia act. Lady Gaga, by the way, is the perfect example here of she was gigantic, has remained popular in terms of pop culture, but her music, people really did not go crazy for the last couple of albums, but now she just released a new album that sounds a lot like the stuff she was making 15 years ago. And that was the perfect play, because she's playing

to the nostalgia of the beginning of her career while making new music and took the time off to act, which is sort of similar to what Justin Timberlake did between Future Sex Love Sounds and then the 2020 experience, that same type of thing. Hey, lady, it's your cousin, Sissy, Sissy Gaga. You know that new song you've been looking for? Well, listen to this.

And she plays her old music back to her. She's like, oh, snap, this is gonna be the future right here. Can we play a banger from 20 years ago? Right, can you hit the start of the week, start of the day? Start of the week. Start of the week. What happens once a week?

This is the start of the day. Short one. Start of the day, start of the day, this is the start of the day. Start of the day, start of the day, this is the start of the day. Start of the day, start of the day, start of the day, and this is the start of the day. Start of the day, start of the day, and this is the start of the day. Start of the day is brought to you by NYX Professional Makeup Shop now at nickscosmetics.com or retail

in your U. You know what, do we have a Venmo read too because I'm going to find myself here. That's got to be $10 right for calling it Stata of the Week. It's like I've never listened to this freaking show a day of my life. Like I'm sending $10. People forget. People forget. I forget.

The Minnesota Timberwolves are 11 and 0 in the last 11 games that Julius Randall has played. Oh, naturally. So is he good or bad? Is he better than Gobert? And what does that mean? I got two of those guys that I don't know. I thought Julius Randall was bad.

Situationally. So if you put a situational guy next to another situational guy, they've had 11 straight situations where like this really works. It all runs up. In the right situation, it would be amazing. You know what the situation where they're not good is?

The playoffs. But they eliminated the Nuggets last year. They made it to the Western Conference Finals. So like that really confused me because I was all on, okay, we'll find out about the T-Wolves here. And then I found out about the T-Wolves and they're pretty freaking great. Well,'ll find out about the T-Wolves here, and then I found out about the T-Wolves, and they're pretty freaking great. Well, as you bring up the T-Wolves

and get into the conference finals, it brings up a very important time in my life every year, which is, right, like, shortly after the All-Star break, but before the playoffs, I've gotta start booking hotels for the finals. Because if you wait until we figure out what the finals matchup is gonna be they're either all sold out and you got to stay 20 minutes out of town like me and Tony at Cleveland All-Star or

Or the hotels are like 900 bucks a night And so I've got a list here guys of cities that I deemed to be finals worthy This is not a top five because I could way more than five and I don't know Wow, I'm more not a top five, because there's way more than five. And I don't know. Wow, way more than five. Way more than five cities. Wow. Way more than five cities.

I mean, I'm going to have to crash with you, because I haven't booked anything. See, there you go. You're going to start now. You still got time. You still got time. I'm going to run through these, but I'm going to start from most obvious to least obvious.

Number one, Cleveland. Wow. Look, it's Eastern Conference, and also Cleveland's a smaller town. There's a handful of hotels, as we know, Tony. We don't wanna stay in Independence. We don't wanna stay in Independence again. So, went in there, got my Cleveland hotels,

all booked out, great rates. Number two, Oklahoma City. Another small town. Perhaps the smallest town on this list, or maybe not, stay tuned. Number three, and this one always has expensive prices no matter what, Boston. People like going.

Boston that time of year, very popular, very popular. During the 2022 finals, I actually did not book a game six because I thought it would be over in five. And so when game six happened, every hotel was either sold out or legit $1,800 a night and I'm talking about like for the courtyard downtown, not for like the Ritz or anything like that. I ended up staying at a courtyard that wasn't far,

that great and it was like south end and I was like, but it's gentrified, it'll be fine and guess what I found out on that day guys, southeast still hasn't been gentrified. It'll be fine. And guess what I found out on that day guys Southeast so hasn't been just right in some places. No kidding. Oh, I was they were like and it was it was you know I walked in the Dunkin Donuts and it was like record scratch and it'll bloop and we turn around looked at me in line It's okay. Just picking up a mobile order and they kept it moving number four As much as it kills me to say this Los Angeles. Really?

No. I don't think they're gonna make the finals, but if they do make the finals and I wait to book my hotel, I'm gonna be staying by the airport. Don't know what to make of them yet. I know what to make. You're going from most obvious to least obvious, and you've got the Lakers at number four

right behind Boston. That means you think they are a top four potential team to make the finals. That's a good point. Number four is the Lakers at number four right behind Boston. That means you think they are the top four potential teams to make the finals. That's a good point. Number four is not Lakers. You were thinking of just geographically what would be hardest to get hotel rooms if you needed to get them.

It could have been bullish on the Clippers. But also the chance of happening, right? I'll give you an example of someone who's not on the list. Houston's not on the list. Houston's not on the list. Houston, big on the list. Houston's not on the list. Houston, big sprawling city, geographically, if I don't get one of those hotels downtown, I'm screwed, but I'm saying, guess what?

Not gonna happen. Tony, is this the hoops talk you were hoping for? Yeah, slightly. It's an intro. We're doing something inside here. We're doing some sort of hoops. Okay, so number four actually should have been Denver. I don't give a shit who they lost to. I don't give a

shit how many people left. As long as that big Serbian somebody is out there, they got a good chance. Unless they run into Rudy Gobert. Yeah, the good one. The situational one. The situational one. Over seven games? Number five. Now I'm going to Lakers hmm Number six it's like it's a two-for-one though Clippers can get hot exactly they were hot like the other night Zubat the next coming a shack Number six and this one pretty controversial Memphis Over a lot of other teams over a lot lot of other teams. Over the Bay? Well, hold on. No, but it's just like, he's doing a thing. I know he's doing a thing, but Grand City. God chose Memphis. Memphis, Memphis, Memphis. Because A, they're really good. But B, there's like two hotels. There are two hotels in Memphis. There are two of them.

Like you did that. You also say at the Bass Pro Shop pyramid, I think they might have some rooms. I'm not staying at the Bass Pro Shop pyramid. Is that one of the world's largest pyramids? Yes, I think it is. It is, it is. Number seven, now I'm getting to the Bay.

Because they have hotel options. You can stay in Sal Salito too. They've got a lot of hotel options. Sal Salito's beautiful this time of year. Number eight, Milwaukee. The AC downtown. Yep, me and Tony, me and Tony's have adventures. And number nine, and I put him at number nine

just to piss people off, the Knicks. You really have the Lakers ahead of Memphis, Golden State, and even the, well I guess the Knicks is probably on the same level. I don't. If you ask me who's gonna win the championship, I'm gonna say Golden State over the Lakers. That would be an amazing finals.

It's probably gonna be a first round matchup. I'm saying if I had to pick. And also I've been looking for the out. Well no, I just wanted the out. I wanted a declarative statement. Jeremy, tell us the top five that you've got coming up. Top five situational guys coming at you in the Big Sui.