The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Local Hour: That's The Price Of Being An Actor

Episode Date: April 9, 2025

Michael Malone gets fired, David gets evil, Greg gets good water, and Billy gets hard. Today's cast: Dan, Stugotz, Greg, Chris, Billy, Jessica, and Mike. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Shadow Show. Shadow Show. Shadow Show. Shadow in it. Shadow in it. This is what I walk into today, Chris. He just announced, Greg Cote, your father, just announced, I have no headphones as they're counting in. Five, four, three, two, and he got lost on his way

here into the studio even though he spent last night in the hotel. So he. I got a panicked phone call. This doesn't fit anywhere. Okay, all right, it fits. Take that off. You can't hear me right now.

Yeah, you can't hear you. This hotel is tricky by the way. I'm with Greg. It's to your right, Greg He can't hear me right now. Yeah, he can't hear you. I'll help you out. This hotel is tricky, by the way. I'm with Greg. It's to your right, Greg, like down to your right. The place that it always is, Greg. The place that it's- He can't hear me. He can't hear you, that's right. It doesn't fit anywhere.

Thank you, Billy, I appreciate it. So why, Chris, why did he get lost? Why did he stay in the hotel? I walked in on him just generally discombobulated, while Stugatz told him that he was somewhere recently with Zach Thomas and that he was more famous than Zach Thomas because people were chanting his name. I don't know the setting.

I don't know what I was walking into. I was telling Greg that recently I was on an airplane sitting across the aisle from Zach Thomas and I did not recognize Zach Thomas. I didn't know it was him and the people were coming on the plane and I got three stooos. Zach Thomas got nothing. That's crazy. Silch and I think he enjoys it.

I'm serious. That's great. Yeah, Zach would rather be anonymous. He would be. Yeah. He spent his career like that. Playing middle linebacker, not being Brian Erlacher, getting a thousand tackles, and taking 10 years to make the Hall of Fame.

I didn't realize you were going to take out Zach Thomas. Is there bad blood here? What's going on? No, I love Zach Thomas. Oh, I can tell. He's been on the Greg Cody Show podcast several times. I think you're crushing the voters there because the voters put Brian Erlacher right in.

Yes, thank you. Zach Thomas had to wait tenure. You're taking a shot, if his name was Brian Erlacher, he would have been in. No, I milked that for three columns because I was pushing for the game for years. And you do a comparative of his career stats and Brian Erlichers and

and Zach Thomas has the upper hand it's ridiculous that that he isn't seen as as Brian Erlicher except his teams famously were mediocre mediocre. I agree with the name thing. Multiple times on your name on your show Greg what out of a hundred where did he land on your top guests of all time? That's a good question, Billy. You know, he was stout. He was in the middle somewhere. Number 54, maybe?

That would have been great if I'd thought to do that. That would have been terrific. Nice knowing his number, by the way. Most don't, I'm sure. Especially those people on the plane. They have no idea. What's wrong with your voice? I know.

Is this still the cruise that's in your voice? It's, after last night's event, you know, we went by an unnamed local bar and- What event? I might have hit a pretty high. You know, I went to an acting class, Dan. Did you really? Yeah. You know, I'm not-

Wow. Most people know that I was in a major motion picture in the early 80s, absence of malice, but I'm not content You know, I believe in life you got to grow you got an inch forward You got a move you got to advance kind of want to know that I want to grow. Yeah exactly I want to know I want to grow I want to learn I want to earn and so I find myself last night Let's start my show among amateur actors This is the Don LeBattor Show with the StuGuts Podcast.

You were saying, Greg Cody? Oh, you know, I hate to talk about myself, but it came up that I was in an acting class last night. Even though I've appeared, you know, in a film, I was among beginning actors, last night, even though I've appeared in a film, I was among beginning actors, which was refreshing for me. And you stayed in the hotel in order to have an immersive training in method acting? Like you stayed, I can't believe that it's 70 years old.

I don't think a lot of 70 year olds are staying away from their house in the same city. Wait, were you teaching the class? Or were you a student? I was a student. Oh. But. You could in the same city. Wait, were you teaching the class? Or were you a student? I was a student. Oh. You could teach the class though. He was in a movie.

Yeah. What can I tell you? Like I say, I want to immerse myself in learning. I want to learn. I want to earn. And so I was in a class. It was very enlightening. The instructor, I don't know what you'd

call an acting instructor. You nailed it. It was very enlightening. The instructor, I don't know what you'd call an acting instructor. You nailed it. She was excellent. She opened my eyes to stuff. You know, when I was in Absence of Malice, Sidney Pollock, the acclaimed late great director, didn't have a lot of personal dealing with me. You know, I dealt with sub-directors. And so this time I felt like I was with a real acting coach and she was great you have an issue right now that has afflicted me before as I initially Started trying on glasses. It's fogging up on your right eye

As you say you've had your eyes opened because I think your glass is the glass is a little too close to your face And there's something about the weather in South Florida that makes glasses that are too close to your face. It's the coffee he's has the steam going up his face while he's drinking it. That's a good point by the way you all make a make a note Dan Meadowlark needs to spring for coffee sleeves because when I first started drinking this coffee it was almost too hot to pick up, but now it's fine. That's you know, I'm slipping full, burns your lap, all of a sudden, boom. Yeah.

You know what I mean? Yeah, I do know what you mean. Easy street. Yeah, thank you. Mm-hmm. Very good. Good coffee though, I gotta say it. Christopher was supposed to get me some brand name coffee outward, and he reneged on his deal.

And so I'm left with whatever brand this is. Your voice sounds like it's been battered by the sea. He had acting class today. Were you yelling in acting class? What did you learn? He said he drank too much last night. He had like three beers after. There was some yelling in acting class.

I was asked to read scripts and do roles that required me to raise my voice and character. And so I'm paying for it today. You know, this is the price of being an actor. Right. You know, you got to immerse yourself. And raising your voice.

Yeah. Because I've noticed as I get older, Dan, when I raise my voice, and I'm going through it right now as well, when I raise my voice, my voice is shot. I used to yell all the time, voice was fine the next day. If I yell just a little bit the day before the next day, voice is wrecked. It was the cigarettes in the garage this morning. Probably. David Sampson is lurking around the premises here and he's got some good stuff to talk about,

but I wanted to start with the firing of Michael Malone. That seems crazy to me, and the way they have sped up in the NBA, that I guess it's three of the past five NBA champions have fired their head coach within two seasons of the firing, makes me wonder, in today's day and age, I wanna play this sound from Mike Malone six days ago after they lost to the Trail Blazers and ask you if this was the last drop in the bucket

where an NBA champion who has the best player in the league fires its coach because they're tuning stuff like this out. Have some pride. I didn't think we'd play with any pride tonight. I feel like they took that. I really care. It's not my job to evaluate how they take things. My job is to be honest and sometimes brutally honest.

And tonight it was a brutally honest message. And the guys that are full of s*** won't hear it. You know, they'll say, coach is tripppping. And the guys that maybe do really care will, because they're not going to go back and watch their minutes because nobody watches their minutes. Nobody watches film. So we'll have to show them the film. And I said, if somebody disagrees with me,

please speak up. And nobody said a word. So, again, I'm not really concerned with how they took that message my thing is being honest with how we just played and the same thing that's been bothering us of late that I talked about pregame the turnovers to rebounding was even worse tonight and I didn't think it could get any worse but it did I want to ask you guys about one sentence in there, which he said, it's not my job to evaluate how they take things.

I'm not totally sure in today's age with today's player that that one flies. And I say that as someone who remembers being impressed by Eric Spolstra early in his career when I asked him about players liking him or players coach and he's like I am NOT here for anyone liking me. Do not care whether they like me? It's totally irrelevant. I ask you though, is it? I think the NBA has changed quite a bit though since you had that conversation with Eric Spolstra. I can see where Michael Malone, he says that, Michael Malone's always spoken with a bravado about him, but he's saying that as an

NBA, a recent NBA champion head coach that has succeeded with that very core. At the very highest level, they won a championship with him issuing that message, going about things a certain way. I don't know what's changed really, except for the rest of the conference probably getting a little bit better and the results not quite being there. I spoke to people that would know that cover the NBA because I don't follow it that closely. I saw this alert and once again the second time this year after the Luka trade I'm like is this real? Could they have possibly done this? This is the second top five seed in the Western Conference that has decided to fire its head coach

with 10 games remaining in the season. It's crazy, Kevin O'Connor. But I'm sorry, but what they told me was Michael Malone tends to ride his team really, really hard. And when the results aren't there, you don't have the success. We've seen this in the NFL where the authoritarian type of head coach, his act wears thin after a little bit.

Me as a Heat fan, I'm really shocked that a team with a championship pedigree that failed to deliver on expectations actually had a punitive measure for leadership, that's crazy. You said when the results aren't there, that team's really good. Well they're 47 and 32. They're the fifth seed in the West right now.

That team is really good though. It's a weird conference in that you know they're like a game away from the eight. They've never been the one seed. That's not who they are. They didn't win the championship as the one seed. They've never been the best team in that conference. But when you have the best player in the league don't you expect the record to be better than 47 and 32? What it's been almost the entire time Jokic is there during his reign of dominance is about where it is. This isn't about the record when you're doing it at this point. I kind of understand the GM being fired though. Well here's what Kevin O'Connor says and yes I understand the GM being fired too but he says absolutely nuts Booth and Malone never liked each other, rarely spoke, and talked behind each other's back.

With the team struggling on the court, Nuggets ownership decided to fire both of them, and that seems insane. And it does feel insane because it is rare, not since the Luca trade have I double checked the Shams account and been like, am I getting Schefterd or Ballsack? Yeah, one of, like I have to,

did someone spell Shams's last name in a way that is meant to trick me because they changed a letter and can buy a blue check mark now. Oh, I have the mobile alerts, but even then, just like the Luke one, I'm like, there's something's wrong here. You know they can't do this

without at least mentioning it to Jokic, and I just wish to be a flat on the wall for his indifference. I'm just being like, I don't care. With the Taylor Jenkins stuff in Memphis, I'm like, well you know that this probably went through Ja at some point and I can see Ja having opinions on the matter. Jokic, I assume that they cleared this with him but I'm not really sure. I don't care.

I don't care. I don't care. Ball basket. Is the season over? No, you still got to play. I mean, not only is the season not over, they could still win home court advantage in the playoffs. It's crazy to fire them when they fired them. Well, they have more information than we do, right? They do for sure, but when I hear a coach question his players' pride, that's a red flag. I don't think any player, and it isn't just a red flag I don't think any player in it isn't just this generation I don't think any player ever wants to have their pride or their

effort question you can question the physicality of their play or something they're doing technically wrong but to say that you don't have any pride or you're not trying sarcastic Lee saying oh they don't watch film there's no show me if there's no way he said it thinking this is gonna cost cost me my job. I won a title a couple of years ago. Sometimes you gotta lie, Dan. Sometimes lying is the best policy. I'll tell you, you gotta say, listen, my guys are champions.

They will figure it out. We don't watch film, but we have the best player in the world. You have to just say the things you need to say to keep your job. You know what I'm saying? They were the one seed when they won the championship in 2023. Oh, were they?

Okay, thank you. Jokic is like, what will get this over quicker? Okay, new coach, bring him in. Whatever you want. I don't think those accents are working for me. Did you see on TNT, Lefkoe asked Shaq, like, you know, 2001 Shaquille O'Neal versus 2025 Jokic. What happens?

He goes, Slovenian chicken. and then he goes on the thing and then like Lefko just like tries to squeeze in. He's Serbian. Guys I want to talk to you about something that I don't think we think about enough on a daily basis and that's comfort specifically when it comes to underwear because let's be real when it's not right you're going to feel it all day and that's why I want to tell all of you about Tommy John. Because the first time I put on a pair, I knew my underwear drawer would just simply never be the same. Tommy John just recently sent some of their product to those of us in the shipping container. And this is my first time wearing Tommy John underwear. I was really blown away by the comfort, by the stretch that was available within the design, by the texture.

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Everyone with a toy on themself, telling play stories, and stick outside the top everyone with a play story where he plays more than you do. Stugatz! I always like leaving Dan on high. I hate the chicken. He's done! He's done! He's done! He's done! He's done! He's done! He's done! He's done! He's done! He's done! He's done! He's done! He's done!

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He's done! He's done! He's done! He's done! He's done! He's done! He's done! He's done! He's done! He's done! He's done! He's done! He's done! The thing I wanted to ask you about what you just said because you said I don't know I don't know what changed and one of the things that changed pretty dramatically where power is concerned is the players now if we're gonna make it the three of the last five NBA champion coaches have been fired within two years the players

guaranteed money and position is more guaranteed than the coaches and the power that the player has by virtue of that makes it more important that you like him or listen to him or respect him makes it more important now than it's ever been. If I make the power and balance with the coaches something that the coach can behave like this and control just your minutes, Russell Westbrook can sabotage you. Russell Westbrook's game, it's been,

I mean, is anyone else still amazed that Russell Westbrook is still out there getting minutes when he is by volume one of the worst three-point shooters we've ever seen in the history of the league and only gotten worse as his game has declined. A guy who averaged a triple-double for a season and got to enjoy the ego of being the MVP of the league has played in this league about two or three years longer than I thought he was going to fit anywhere because Of what his usage rate demands and what his inefficiencies are with the basketball a lot of people are pointing to this and just saying

well what the GM did to get fired is that Bruce Brown who helped them win a championship is gone and What's in its place is a Russell Westbrook? That's at the very tail end of the fumes of his career And I would have thought that he would have already been out of the league because I didn't think that he was gonna be somebody On a bench playing 12 minutes a night I remember looking at a couple months ago and being surprised at how good Westbrook was playing for them now the numbers are probably Dipped a little bit, but he's having a better year than he had last year for them

I I think you're right to seize on that, regardless of him improving year over year. I know they've won with this core, but you have what might be the most unstoppable offensive force in the history of the game, and to surround him with that same level of talent and slowly pick away pieces that made a difference on a championship team. That's not really a recipe for a GM keeping his job, especially when you've already established what the new standard is for a franchise. So I totally get the GM, the head coach, I'm shocked. Like I can understand firing Malone after if they disappoint in the postseason, but I guess the thinking is from staying cronky on down, we have

what I just said, the most dominant offensive force in the NBA. We cannot waste another year of this window. We are not gonna get to the top of the mountain with this head coach. And if that's what they deduced, then you gotta support it, right? No.

Okay. The reason I don't have to support it is because of the timing. But you support it with the heat. It's a weird timing. It's a weird timing. It's a weird timing. I don't see. They think a new coach is gonna be the thing

that helps propel this team to an NBA championship? I'm not going to sit here and question people who have a lot more information than I do and a lot more investment in what they're doing, making a decision that is shocking to me. But I'm shocked by the timing of it. It's not, we've changed the rules, okay? Hey, champion coach, you've got two years and being 15 games over 500 after two years

is not enough. You now have less than two years to do it, but firing the thing that Memphis and Denver has done here with, you know, fewer than five games before the playoffs, I don't even know the mechanics. Do you think anybody in our audience can explain to me the mechanics of just overhauling your entire management team this close to the playoffs?

Like, what does it even mean to get this person out? And when I ask you about, does it matter if players like their coach, to me the reason this is being done, even though we don't have all the reporting information on this, is because they believe by simply getting Mike Malone off their neck, whatever tactical advantages he offers, whatever knowledge of the players he offers, whatever coach of the year stuff he offers, they think is not as worth as much. Let's get these people off of these players at a wildly inopportune time. And I ask you guys, like if you think this isn't a wildly inopportune time, where would

I have to put it for you to be shocked by it? Right before the playoffs? Two games into the playoffs? I mean, this is effectively right before the playoffs, but like this seems like a move that you would normally applaud as leadership because this is not the time most people would do it. Most people would wait till the end of the season

till a failed playoff run. And here they're saying, this is what we've determined to be the problem and this is the piece that we feel like we need to remove. Let's remove it now instead of wasting a playoff run. When you say two games into the playoffs are you thinking the Nuggets are down 0-2 in a series they fire the coach? That would be great. So in the NBA there aren't very many recent examples especially when you're trying to cite something this close.

Tai Liu would probably be the most recent example of a mid-season change. I would say in Europe, in soccer, both on the international and club level, there are plenty of examples of a management change right before an elimination stretch in a competition or a pivotal point in the season where the team goes on to go on a run.

Hockey the same way, but ten games before the season. You have a couple examples with the Lakers, but this is a fairly new phenomenon in the United States. Jessica, can you please tell me the year that the the Nuggets were the one seed? How many games over 500 were they when they were the one seed? Well, they were 53 and 29, so.649 or.646 winning percentage. Craig Berube and Dan Biesma, I probably butchered that last name for the pens, both midseason changes. So I was just looking up interim coaches. Most of these happen way closer to the middle part of the season than the latter though. Yeah and they have injuries going into the playoffs so I think this is telling

you the front office I guess is like we don't think they're going to go very far. The defense has not been good like this is this team's not gonna make a deep run anyways because of this five game skid they've been on so let's just do it now and get it over with because we know this is not gonna be the year that they win. Oh, I don't believe that, no, I believe that this is a move meant to try and alter that, that they've decided that with Malone, this isn't the year and with someone else, it will be. Like, it's not that this is merely shocking,

it's the timing. More than just firing the coach, which is surprising enough. But let's go out here, David Sampson, nothing personal, he just finished with nothing personal. What were your thoughts here on everything that the Nuggets did? What Billy is saying about leadership

and what we're talking about a coach saying he doesn't care whether or not he's liked or not, even though in this case I would say it probably had something to do with what was happening at the end. The only possible excuse here is that something majorly acute happened. That is the only way that you could make a change like this, three games to go. When the Hawks fired Hubie Brown, they were not in the playoff race, and that's the closest example we can find in the association. But now the problem is,

you had the vice chairman, the owner's son, go out and explain why he did it, and the explanation was incredibly bizarre. He made a statement and then went on TV saying, there were a lot of very disturbing trends. We evaluated this very carefully, as though to say that in a power struggle between the GM and the coach, the solution is to fire both. That's not the solution. You choose a side and you fire one of them and you don't do it with three games left. There's no need

to because as a leader, you can empower the winning side of the power struggle and you can neuter the losing side without creating this sort of havoc. There was simply no upside to it. I expect the Denver Nuggets players to have a players only meeting today before they play the Kings. And I expect them to just go play and ignore the idiocy that was exemplified

by the front office. You say there's no upside to it. They don't think that, correct? And the idiocy you're saying by the front office. You say there's no upside to it. They don't think that, correct? And the idiocy you're saying is a front office and a leadership team that won the championship a couple of years ago. You're saying no upside, even though they would not agree with that assessment.

Or do you agree with Jess that they've given up on the season and this is just to get the odor, this is just basically Febreze in the bathroom after you've made a mess. I spent my career chasing Amy after winning the World Series in 03. I know exactly what they're doing. Obviously you want to do anything you can. You're not throwing away any season because you never know when you're going to do it again so you try every year to do it. The Cronkies actually believe that this will make the difference in the Western Conference

and of course it's silly, they promoted the assistant, the great Rick Edelman's son to be the coach. Is he gonna put in a whole new system in the draft and the players in the minutes? It's preposterous. There is no change that will happen with the Nuggets. Their fate is their fate. And all it does is make them look silly.

Well, the counting stats, especially defensively, are pretty damning and they've shown, that has shown they can dial it up and they've never been as bad as 20th in defensive efficiency so that may play to something that Woody Page set on around the horn yesterday. Woody Page has been in that market for a long time and he covered the Denver Nuggets and he had sources that said, I think you can kind of tell from the Michael Malone clip that we played, that Malone's message to the players had gotten stale.

They were over it and Jokic did indeed sign off on this move to further the point that Malone had gotten stale with the team. Gotten stale with a couple of games left in the season. Yeah. The expiration date was long before this. Do you have any decent theories, David? Any decent theories on how things could possibly be so bad

between a general manager and a coach that the owner throws up, if both of them are saying, either he goes or I go, and the owner says, fine, you're both right, both of you get out of here. Yeah, we had it in the Marlins organization where we had fights between general manager and manager or general manager and head of player Personnel or general manager and AGM and it was always a power struggle that exists in any company you have that and That's why I'm telling you you choose one side or the other

But you choose it at a point that makes sense for the organization When you put the grenade at the John Moran grenade that was thrown into the nuggets right now When you put the grenade, the John Moran grenade that was thrown into the Nuggets right now, you can't believe or imagine that it's going to be able to effectuate change quickly, as quickly as is required with three games left until the playoffs. There is nothing Edelman can do that's different than Malone. He's not going to change the players or the minutes because the owner could have had that done 10 games ago or 20 games ago. And so what they were evaluating,

I can't figure out for the life of me. But for me, power struggles, we solve them, we choose a side, and then we fire one of them and keep the other and empower them more until they prove they're not good. And then we fire that person too. David, it seems like the side that you chose was Larry Bynfest, was the GM.

Is that because he's in charge of the entire organization from an on-the-field standpoint, so you figure, hey, if he wants the manager to go, I gotta go with my guy, right? Yeah, we chose Larry Binfest until it was chosen Dan Jennings over Larry Binfest. So power struggles change, and the only thing that's common is that they're always existing

in any company, and it's incumbent upon the owner or the president to choose in that power struggle. It happens, not in sports, it happens on Wall Street, it happens everywhere. And with the Nuggets, what they did is they said, here's an idea, we're gonna actually get rid of both of you. And in my experience, because I've considered this, the problem is then you've gotta bring in somebody

and you've gotta to start with the GM Because if you hire a coach first, then you're basically Emasculating whatever GM is brought in so then you have to start with the GM So you give an interim tag to Edelman and then start again during the offseason. Why didn't you just wait? So David this is a conference where there's only one dominant team and if you're Denver you're allowed to think you know what? We're underperforming, we could still be the second best team in this conference. You don't think that firing an unpopular coach,

even now, even with this timing, is gonna provide some sort of a spark? You don't believe in that spark theory based on sudden change? We don't talk about this much, and I loved Jack McKeon and if you go back and ask the players in 2003 what did you think of Jack McKeon? They would say God we loved him he was the cuddliest old man we didn't know what the hell he was doing he didn't know half our names he was doing things that were so outrageous

that we couldn't stand it but it worked we happened to win games and then we won the World Series by the way two years later we fired't stand it, but it worked. We happened to win games, and then we won the World Series. By the way, two years later, we fired him because it wasn't working anymore. And so sometimes it's just about the moment, and it's about having the right players getting this magic pixie dust, and then you spend the rest of your life chasing it.

Well, let me ask you about 2006, where you guys were in wild card contention to the latter part of the season. You decided to fire Joe Girardi, who that year had won National League Manager of the Year. He only lasted one year there. So I assume, even as you guys were in wild card contention, Girardi's act had worn thin. So did you guys actually consider a managerial change as you guys were pushing for that final

wild card spot? Yeah. Well, earlier, he was fired during the season, if you remember, and Greg, you may have covered this. He got fired during a game. In October? No, it was not in October. It was during the actual regular season when he yelled at our owner during a game

to sit down and shut up, so we fired him. And then the players did a mutiny, so we rehired him for the rest of the season, knowing we were gonna fire him, and we begged him not to be the manager of the year, but we knew there was a chance, because we had overperformed giving the payroll, but it didn't stop us.

But that was a power struggle between all of us and Girardi. How does the campaigning process against your own team winning manager of the year? It's a strange one, but you certainly don't invest a lot of money and time. You call up the writers and say, hey, excuse me, any chance you cannot vote for a guy

we're about to can him. Now, David, you didn't try to talk Loria out of firing this manager just because the manager had yelled at him and told him to shut up? That doesn't seem like a firing offense to me unless the owner is especially thin skinned. We wanted to fire Girardi at the opening press conference, Larry and I. From minute one, we didn't want to hire him.

He was not on our list, but he was a forced hire. And from the opening press conference, we knew that we were going to have a problem with him because he was making demands for coaches like Bobby Meacham and Mike Harky and Gary Tuck to be hired. And he was just a nightmare from minute one. And we told the owner, we don't want to work with him. And the owner said, he's the manager. That is the decision.

And so when Girardi, we led him to water because Jeffrey liked to sit next to the dugout and yell at umpires and players. And we knew Girardi didn't like it. And we waited for that pot to boil and simmer. When Girardi stood up and yelled at him, we cheered up in the box. Up comes Jeffrey.

Jeffrey says, get rid of him. And we were like, are you sure? Get rid of him right now. We're like, yes, baby. We walked down after the game and said, Joe, you're fired. You're evil. Can you take us through the in-game firing of Jack McKinnon? And the mutiny. Well, the in-game firing of Jack McKinnon? And the mutiny.

Yes. Well, the in-game firing was Girardi, not McKinnon. And so what happens is Jeffrey comes up and says, fire him. So we go down and we're standing outside the dugout and we get word in like, Joe, you're about to get fired just so you know, finish managing the game, but you're done. He comes in after the game and we say, by the way, you can't do that, you're gone. And we were so happy.

But then, that was a team of young players as you recall. And those players, it was Uglin, it was Hanley, they loved Joe Girardi because he was a player's manager. It was his first time managing and he didn't really know what he was doing. And they did a mutiny in the clubhouse when we told the players just like Cronkite asked to tell the Nuggets players hey Mike Malone's gone the players basically said you know we're not going to play and I said of course you're going

to play we'll we'll send you all down like you're going to play or you won't get paid and they said no we're going to go to Jeffrey and we're not gonna play. And so we then had to crawl back to Jeffrey and say, uh-oh, we gotta keep Girardi for the rest of the year, but we'll can them the minute the year's over. But these players are being ridiculous and they're just young infants, but we're gonna have to acquiesce to them.

It was a nightmare, Greg. I don't know how much the media was aware of that as it was happening, but you were all outside the clubhouse while all of this was happening. The mutiny happened when the clubhouse was closed after the game. The Dan LeBattard Show with Stu Gatz

is sponsored by BetterHelp. Life gets busy and your mind carries it all, but just like your body needs care, so does your mental health. This is an investment in clarity, in peace, in you. Let's talk numbers. Traditional in-person therapy can cost anywhere from $100 to $250 per session, which adds up fast.

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Stu Gutz. That good. I had the beards grown out a little bit. I got a you looked kind of good. Stugats. That good? I had the beards grown out a little bit. I got a little life in my face I feel like. Little tan, Colorado, San Francisco. Great time. You got life on your face. You've got death on your face. I think you've got 40 to life on your face. This is the Don LeBattard Show with the Stugats. Chris can you do me the favor and just isolate the laugh of David Sampson when firing somebody. I want to get that laugh and have it broadcast and echoey and sinister.

David we will come back to you in a second. I wanted to ask Greg Cody while he is here, I don't know how much you guys talked about this last week, if at all, because what was dominating the conversation on a basketball hall of fame that's very liberal to get into were people talking about Dwight Howard and Carmelo Anthony, but they did not talk very much about the last name that snuck in on the list that I saw at the bottom,

and I was surprised by, which is, oh, there's Mickey Harrison in the Basketball Hall of Fame, and I guess Stugats is just learning that now, and I don't know what kind of news that made locally or how much people cared. It can't be disputed that he's a good owner, but I didn't immediately think of him as a Hall of Fame owner,

even though three championships is Hall of Fame owner. And I would want to work for him, given what it is that I've watched him do with the Miami Heat, which is super unusual. And this is something that you just don't see very often where you see this kind of wealth and power and ego. The way, and it serves the Miami Heat to do this, but the way that the Miami Heat are actually run by Mickey Erison and Nick Erison and they allow everyone because it serves everyone to know and

think without any kind of rebuttal that Pat Riley is the deciding vote on all basketball things when he is not. It's a vote of five and the Harrison's have two votes and Mickey Harrison has been very quietly in the shadows for 25 years of that. The legacy and the myth of Riley is something that serves everybody, but most owners aren't okay with that. I think it was a good selection because when you're the owner, you get residual credit for everything good that happened, everything bad as well, but in Mickey's case, the three championships, hiring Riley, drafting Dwayne Wade, getting LeBron, in the macro, I think, and the stability of that franchise.

That's been the most relentlessly, consistently winning franchise in South Florida sports history. And I think the owner gets residual credit. Plus, Basketball Hall of Fame lets in too many people Let's be honest. It's easier to get in. Yep to the Naismith Hall of Fame than it is other halls of fame But can I say that Mickey Harrison deserved it? Sure. Yeah, and and I also like the thing you say it in a voice That's any better than the one. No, I can't water

Can we get the man something to drink? The Hall of Fame move that Mickey Harrison made was hiring Pat Riley. I don't know if that gets you into the Hall of Fame, but getting Riley away from the Knicks to run your organization in Miami, that's the Hall of Fame move. Of course. Yeah, but like I say, everything that went right, the owner gets credit for that. I mean, you know, having the new arena built that's under his ownership, you know, so so yeah I think he deserved it and and Sylvia Falls Miami born also made the Hall of Fame WNBA great. So shout out to her

That's maniacal Do we have other laughs to compare it to because I believe he laughed harder when Bob Ross's family ripped him off. I thought that he enjoyed... I thought that he enjoyed... I thought that laugh was a more sinister laugh than the laugh that we get when Samson fires somebody. Greg Cody is claiming something shocking, I believe. Greg Cody is claiming that the Miami Heat and Inter Miami have Games of the Year on the docket.

Yes, right. Games of the Year. I mean, tonight, Miami Heat at Bulls is, for all practical purposes, Miami at Chicago, Heat at Bulls is going to, is for all practical purposes, is going to determine home court in the play-in. That's a big game, Dan. It's a big game. It is. Okay? Keep in mind, that's in the context of a meh season, a nothing season. Other than the Jimmy Butler controversy, this has been the most forgettable Heat season

in recent memory. So tonight at least is a game with stakes. Inter Miami, I don't have to tell Mike Ryan, they have to win against LAFC because if they go out in the quarterfinals of the Coca-Cola Champions Cup again on top of the crap they took in the MLS Cup playoffs last season, that heaps so much pressure on Messi because as much as Messi has meant for this off-field health of the franchise in the league He's failed to deliver a major cup and don't tell me about the league's cup Nobody cares about that. It's gonna tell you about the supporters shield the supporters shield is important

But it's also the regular season and and as my great friend Stu gots would say do it in the playoffs Yeah, which they infamously did not last year. Bring in the water. Thank you, guys. Yes, somebody please help him here. I read the story. You sound great. He doesn't sound great.

Let's hear the difference. But lying is sometimes the best policy. Thank you. My wife says this is a sexy voice. It really is. I'm hard. Thank you. Wow.

So am I, actually. I don't know why. Just to tease our video that's coming out of my dad acting, the improv classes last night, I don't want to ruin anything, this reminded me of it, oddly sexual. A lot of it, not my dad's fault, he didn't bring it there,

it was brought there to him and it was awkward. Baby! Yeah, it was great. I loved it. It was an improv, him and it was awkward baby. Yeah, it was great I loved it. It was an improv in the right off. I said that yeah, okay Good water by the way metal art water some of the best on earth you instantly sound better with a little hydration man Hydration why are you so bad at taking care of yourself? I let others do that for me. Mm-hmm Why don't they do it better? That's a good question. He's got a 70, right? You're so bad at taking care of yourself. I let others do that for me. Uh-huh. Why don't they do it better?

That's a good question. He's gotten to 70, right? Yeah. He's alive and kicking. He made it. Yeah, exactly. Thank you. Yeah, but he's gotten to 70.

I won. You think he made it here alone? I mean. He's gotten to 70, but he's gotten to 70 coming in here and lamenting why he looks so much older than 89-year-old Jane Fonda, who's 19 years older than he is. Yeah, she's had work, I haven't. My dad went down a slide on the cruise.

Really? Yeah, right I did. Wow. I sure did and enjoyed every minute of it. Were you sore the next day? No, no. Actually, two slides. He went down a kid's slide, randomly,

and then he went down like an extreme water slide, like a family style really. A big flume. Yeah, that was fun I'm physically active. You know you walk from your office to the Garage I do it all yeah, by the way this hotel. We're in oh boy. You go to the elevator There's no great hotel great part. It is a great. I mean we love the ulcer, but it's beautiful But confusing when I go to an elevator I expect to push a button to open the door. It is a great, I mean, we love the ulcer, but. It's beautiful, but confusing. When I go to an elevator, I expect to push a button to open the door.

I got a call this morning, he's like, I can't get on the elevator. He's like standing in the elevator well and there's no buttons, I'm like, Dad, walk back out to the hallway, there's the scanner thing up there. He's like, oh yeah, okay. And then he calls me back,

I can only get down to the lobby. How have you been getting up here every week since you've been doing this using that elevator without knowing how that elevator works? There are no buttons in that elevator. I've got the fob that I use at the lobby level. This is the first time I've ever, I think, it's the first time I've ever played.

But that fob works on any level. You've stayed here before. Yeah. But the fob was in my, it'll only take you to the floor that we're on. It'll only take stayed here before. Yeah. But the fob was in my, uh, it will only take you to the floors. Yes. It will only take you. Right. Yeah. So why didn't you try the fob that you usually try? Because it was in my satchel. Right. You know, I had my room key with me, but I didn't have the fob, Andy. If only one of those people who takes care of you had been around to just take care of that for you. Well, I've told you for years I need a PA. You said you need a staff. You said you need an entire staff

and that you actually want a king's staff that you want not just the people that work for him, but a staff you can carry around to order them around. I wanna have a chief of staff. The president does, I want one. I think I need one. I'd like to apply for that position. That would be great. I want to be on your staff.

Oh my God. Somebody sent in a staff for him at the old studio. I don't think it made it over to this one. Yeah, that was majestic. It was like eight feet tall. Whatever happened to that stuff. Only we still had it. What could that thing be doing now?

I still have my dad's walking cane. Is that so? Which is a... Wild Bill. Yeah, which is a mini staff, I guess you'd call it. That was the cane that I used, Mike, when we did the owner bit, remember where I? Final game of the season.

Oh yeah. And then I felt instantly uncomfortable because I was wearing a cowboy hat and I had a cane. An old man's cane. And it was just oddly uncomfortable. Right. Everyone looking at me like, this guy's a racist.

That was fun. Billy, why are you still hard? Folks, I want to talk to you about Game Time. I've been using the Game Time map plenty as I'm starting to plan my summer concert season, looking for great trips around concerts and also with a sporting equinox in town essentially. I've been checking the Game Time map every single day to see if I can get great deals on NASCAR and Tennis. And let me tell you about this amazing new feature that Game Time has now called Game Time Picks that makes getting tickets for events even easier.

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