The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Local Hour: The Barn Needs Me

Episode Date: May 9, 2025

This is not about her vs. the Panthers; this is about Teddy Swims vs. the Panthers. Plus, Mike stares lovingly at Chat GPT Hockey Expert, Andrew Hawkins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is the Dan LeBattor Show with the StuGuts Podcast. 20 years into this show, and I'm not exactly sure what kind of energy this show gives off, Hawk. Probably a manic energy. But one energy I'm pretty sure it doesn't give off is white girls love to tell me I'm awesome. Hey, come on. I finally started paying attention. You specifically or like? No, no, no, like no no no because like the show open which that song is a banger And I really hope I'm not blowing up a spot. I don't feel like We talk about how much of a banger the opening song is every time I do the show this is no exaggeration It it's the first thought that comes into my head as soon as it plays that it's way too cool for us

They're way too cool for us you guys too cool for us. If you guys have never thought that, if you have never thought, man, this opening song is a banger, then yes, it is too cool. Do we know who this is? So I'm assuming it's a royalty-free track, which is why it's playing, which I'm sorry, kid, gotta get a better agent. Like, that song is so good.

I mean, he's carrying. I would see that dude on tour. I would see that dude on tour. I would see that dude on tour. Can we make this a thing? Let's find out who it is. There's nothing he can do, because legally, if it's royalty-free, this is the path you chose, my son. But I would love to do something for the guy, man.

I want to hear his other music. There's a couple royalty-free bangers out there that live. You will sneak up on them. Yeah, like the Hardy Boys entrance. Royal old-school Lex Luger theme royalty free There's a couple really good ones do you think he has any idea that it's the show open here I Really would love to he probably recorded this like five years ago and He has no idea that man a show with that's hosted by 250 over plus it is just banging its way into its sports talk show with white girls love

to tell me I'm awesome oh man it's special I want to see it pop up in like a Taco Bell commercial you know cuz that's what we had some imaging once that we use for some segment all of a sudden it's like is that in that subway no it was it was my Tony's top five theme it was like a Taco Bell commercial. You know, cause that's what we had some imaging once that we used for some segment. All of a sudden it's like, is that in that Subway commercial? No, it was, it was my Tony's top five theme. It was like a Dallas Cowboys, like Amherst Bank commercial. I was like, wait, I was like, Leo, wait. That's why we paid 4.99 for that. That's my song.

What are we doing here? Royalty free music occasionally has some bangers up its sleeve and the NBA playoffs has certainly had more than a few bangers up its sleeve. And the NBA playoffs has certainly had more than a few bangers up its sleeve. Last night, kind of non-descript night in the association, we know with Steph being out, that was probably the result that we were headed for. The one thing that I was interested in watching last night,

you're always gonna be interested in like, whatever Draymond and Rudy Gobert have going on. So I just have that on the TV on mute, just to see like, if there's gonna be a fight breaking out. But also, does playoff Jimmy have one more last job in him? Does he have one last heist in him? And I think going up 2-0 on the road is probably a little bit of a bridge too far there.

But tonight we're back. Tonight in the association, we got high stakes. We got Cleveland fighting for its life over there. Ernie Johnson fighting to be like the most right ever about a playoff series. And we got the best player on the planet going up against OKC, haven't done what they needed to do on the road,

split one, now they have home court over in Denver. I'm really curious to see how this goes out, but a pretty chill night in the association. If you missed out on it, you don't miss too much. And over the weekend, we have, of course, New York Knicks all day. There was a bit of a scare when got his ankle stepped on. We were like, oh no, are we about to lose yet another star for the NBA playoffs on the Western Conference side? Obviously, Steph got hurt with the hamstring injury. And then all of a sudden he needs help to get hobbled back into the tunnel, back into the locker room,

and then comes out like if nothing happened and looked like incredible. Well, on that note, Paul Pierce, famously, when I don't have a wheelchair, nothing actually happened. Well, something happened. Yeah, he shit his pants. It happens. So the key storyline in last night's NBA for me was Paul Pierce walking to work. Because Boston went down 2-0 against the New York Knicks and he said that he would make an eight hour walk

to the Fox Studios. In a robe. In a robe, wearing slides. He said barefoot. He said barefoot. In the tweet that I saw. So all I saw was the last video and I was immediately skeptical of a dude

whose nickname is The Truth. So let's play some video here of Paul Pierce, we report you decide kind of deal, because I didn't think he actually made this entire walk, but Hawk, you told me that he was kind of livestreaming this. I thought maybe they had good propaganda, because I didn't go deep into the story, but from what I saw, the articles, the headlines

made it seem as if he was giving frequent updates that people weren't questioning whether or not it was legit. This video we're gonna play is alive. So he was live. I just don't think we know whether there was some like gaps there where it's like, oh, he just jumped six miles in an hour.

Okay, I see. I'm skeptical, because he doesn't look, let's roll it here. Let's roll it here and we can have it low, but I'm skeptical of how sweaty he looks at the end. All right, time for me to get the stepper. Oh, damn. It's nice and right outside, all right.

So this is him leaving his house. Not barefoot. Yeah. All right, now let's cut now to a later version of it, the one where he's like celebrating. Let's see what we got here. Damn, dawg, I made it, y'all. We made it, y'all.

We made it! We made it! Doesn't look too sweaty. Oh my God. They got a wheelchair for you. Oh my god That's good comedy right there This is crazy I Can't believe I'm never doing this again, y'all. I ain't never put no bit like this ever again.

I don't know. Now with that hairline and that sun, you're gonna be a little, you're not gonna be shinier than that? All right, so when he left the house, it was clearly, I would say, give or take around 5.07 a.m. I have no idea, but looking at the sunlight and it was kinda, in LA. It was 70 degrees yesterday. or 7 a.m. I have no idea but looking at the sunlight and it was kind of glee glee in LA it was 70 degrees yesterday that's a nice where

in LA yeah and that was the high yeah so at 5 a.m. in LA it's gonna be like 58 mm-hmm you know this is it's not like Florida where it's 97 degrees 24 hours a day so if he's leaving that early, I can see where it's a little chilly. You know, he's closing the road when he's walking out of the house, so it's probably cold. Our video team is showing here

just some footage of his day. It's not all Instagram Live. There are clearly, you guys, put up what you have here now, clearly Instagram stories are involved here. It's not 100% live, so my radar's up. It's up. Yeah, like, do that time, good job, Chris. Do that time, that time scrape that you guys were doing

in the preview screen where we kind of like go over, go over the stretch of time. It, my skepticism is not that he was committed to the bit, but I kind of feel like maybe there was a car on standby. You know that Fox sent out security. Right. That he wasn't doing this by himself. So there was absolutely a vehicle around him

while he did this. There's no way Paul Pierce is just walking eight miles in LA, committed to a bit for content for Fox, and people know about this. He even put out the map and the route that he was gonna take. So I imagine there's a crew following him, making sure that he's okay.

So the skeptical part of me is, and I'll bring in Skeptical Billy here, is did he go from certain points in this car, freshen up a little bit? I don't care if it's 70 degrees, you're gonna be shinier than that. That's where I'm skeptical. I mean, the low was 59 when he started.

I think he did it. I live in LA, man, I'm pretty spot on. I like it I like them Well, I never realized how much I say I like them until you cut that clip and then everybody says it back to me now It was the pitch though. I go to that page Yeah, I don't know why I do it. I have no idea There's so many things about this show that have really turned the the mirror around. There's so many things that I'm confused about as well. I don't know why people in the street keep calling me Walter.

Oh, that's right. That happened. And I haven't been here for weeks and I laugh it off as if I know what the hell they're talking about. But it has been happening pretty frequently. Can I ask you a question? If you ran into Greg Cody in public, would you recognize him? Oh, for sure. He apparently wouldn't recognize you. Now, I wasn't aware of this.

You guys have never met. Like, you guys have never been scheduled against one another. Or he seems to think that you guys have never met. Yeah. He might not be wrong. Yeah, but I'm also, I played football, so my memory's not, you know? We're in the same boat. Well, he's also approaching that age

where his memory's not. My brain, his brain are like really neck and neck there. Plus it was at the height of us talking about White Lotus and like Hawkins and Goggins, so like there was some people saying that my dad heard Hawkins, thought Goggins, so that's where he got Walter. But his name is Walton.

But it's Walton. That's what I'm just saying, I'm just trying to, my dad can just kind of your apologize for your father So he thought my name was Walter. Yeah, or he like I have a book or I have a clip of someone mentioned you And this is him being like I have I don't know Walter That's me like someone said Hawkins, and he's like I don't know Walter okay. Well. I also don't know Walter Hawkins all right. I mean I so that's why people are calling me Walter. That makes sense.

Some people have asked me to change my Twitter name to Walter, they have like, I'm talking about at least 20 times. It is kind of odd that you guys have never been staffed on the same show or had interactions. I mean, it's a show that has like a shared universe. And you've been in this building for a couple of years now. I've been here, yeah, no.

It's just really odd that you guys have never interface. I thought he retired from the show. Oh. Uh-oh. My dad is very regularly dismissive of other co-hosts. He has this thing where he likes to be. He's the goat. He's an OG.

I do feel like, though, I've been on the show even prior than the last two years. And he may have been on the show while I was like a call-in guest. I'd have to go back in the archives and check. I think we can have someone on that assignment. Yeah, there was probably a day that you were taping with Joe Thomas and you had a studio doing a...

Call-in. Although, that would mean three seats are occupied in this studio. So I'm not exactly sure even if the studio layout would lend itself to that. Yeah, maybe not. But I don't feel like it was this studio. I feel like it was this studio.

I feel like it was OG Studio. I'm talking like 2018. Wow, Cleveland? 19, yeah. I think this might have been a Clevelander sitch. All right, well, we got to track down that video. So I'm just kind of ticking down the moments to Nick Celtics. And I really wasn't aware that I could be this big of a Knicks

fan. Like I am, I worked out in Tims the other day. Like I am so pumped for this and it kind of dawned on me because I hated New York and the New York Knicks and that Heat rivalry when I was growing up meant everything in the world to me but then the Heat have had such more of an intense rivalry with the Boston Celtics

over the course of their franchise history. Now it never came to blows, but in terms of stakes, in terms of, you had multiple blueprint games, you had Paul Pierce's stupid ass in the middle of it. You had so many things going, I hate Paul Pierce. Clearly. By the way, Jason Tatum, since the Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat, you include the Olympics, and now he's shooting about 27% from three in these high stakes games. He played in the Olympics?

Well, Steve Kerr's decision making when it comes to Jason Tatum is kind of validated. No, kind of validated, no. And I know he won a championship in the middle of that, but Jalen Brown carried his ass. So Jason Tatum, we're looking at you. You got to rise to the occasion. You idolize Kobe? Okay. I think I saw Nick Wright call him,

he is a Kobe Bryant of Paul George's, which is a bar and a stinging indictment. That is, how long, I'm gonna text him, how long did it take you to come up with he is a Kobe Bryant of Paul George's? He'd tell you like three seconds. That is a crazy good line. They need to win both games at Madison Square Garden. They need to win both games at Madison Square Garden.

They need to win both. I know that they need to win four to win the series. Thank you for holding up the board. They need to win four. I know, but they ain't winning four if they don't come away with both these games. I'm telling you right now, you give the Garden one dub, and they're just one win away

from potentially a clash with Halliburton, and then all the videos from that Friday Night SmackDown that they did are gonna pop up. I mean, Halliburton literally picked up brass knuckles and Jalen Brown hopped over the barrier there to stop him from doing that. Like, they had a face-off in the middle of the ring. People didn't know that this happened

between Jalen Brunson and Tyrese Halliburton. I had no idea. Yeah, they went into a WWE ring, had a face-off. Halliburton was wearing a Tyrese 316 t-shirt and shorts. He had brass nucks in his hand. This is something that happened. They had a face-off. Halliburton had his own entrance.

Like, he had, like, this was something that happened. What is this? I'm telling you, it was like last summer. Pull the, we need the clips. Pull the clips. Get the stills. The stills are incredible. You think it would, you think it's like last summer pull that we need we need the clips Yeah clips get the stills the stills are incredible you think it would you you think it's AI No, this is something that actually happened with the Halley, but we don't have we don't have Nick Celtics today So what we have today is a blueprint game potentially for the Florida Panthers now the Florida Panthers

They've been down two games during this run They've been down two games during this run, they've been down two games in a series before Roy, they were down three one to Brad Marshon and the Boston Bruins when they were in eight seed, they came back in that series at the depth, tie that game in game seven and then Swaggy calls game. So like the Florida Panthers have been here before.

Now I understand, down oh two, we're just saying how the Celtics are borderline screwed because they dropped the first two games a Lot of people are holding up. Well, why don't you talk about the Panthers? It's a different situation They drop the first two games in Canada now they come back home They come back home and I gotta tell you I'm not nervous yet Well be nervous as if Toronto scores the first goal then then I'll be doing all the all the tricks in the trade as if Toronto score is the first goal, then I'll be doing all the tricks and the trade when it comes to all the skepticism

that I have about Brad Marshon and that acquisition. Roy, I'm telling, I know he's been the best player so far for Florida this series. That line has been our best line. That line has always been our best line. No. That line has always been a good third line. Reinhardt, Kvarkov, and that second line, it's been a good third line, I'm with you.

It's been an elite third line for years, but it's rarely our best line. Not rarely, no. That has always been the playoff energy line. That has always been the line, you wanna get a winger going, you put them with E2, and you put them with Lundell. And the fact that Brad Morchan is rising to the occasion,

I think good for him, but I think it's a testament to how good that line is. It jump starts a bunch of different people. I think if I'm saying, if I'm looking at the first two games, who needs to play better? I'm looking at Kachuk and Bob. I think people are being a little too hard on Bob. I think Bob has had some good saves.

You want to say that he's let in some soft ones. That could be fine. He has let in some soft ones. You gotta make those things. The last goal was bad. The last goal was a bit of a snipe. Knives is in front of the net screening him, and that goes up a 90.

And that's Mitch Marner. I understand what you're saying. His positioning needs to be a little bit better. What I'd like to see from Florida is they've let Toronto screen Bob at their free will, and we've got to get some bodies pushing bodies over there. That's slow them down, the counter. You mentioned who needs to be better,

and you'd lump Bob in there, and I would put Bob 12th on this list. To me, it's the first two lines. Like, I mean, outside of the Barkov power play goal, the first two lines have been empty. Your top six have been bad, and they just haven't, it's not like score goals, guys. That's not what I'm talking about.

I'm just saying like handle the puck, be where you're supposed to be, be awake and aware. When Barkov is sending a centering pass in front of the net, Swaggy's not expecting it. I don't know if every pass at Carter Verhege has been bad, but it seems as though that's either been the case or he's just completely out of position.

Verhege had it in front of the net with like five minutes left in that game. He needed to put that one home. But Carter Verhage, number one on the team, needs to do better. Yeah, all season long. He needs to do better for the past few months. He hasn't done well at all.

All season long. And I watch these games, and I'm not necessarily sure it's something that Toronto is doing. The Panthers best players just need to wake up. Reinhardt, Barkov, Kachuk. Kachuk had a nightmare of a game. He almost looks like he's still battling with something. I think we always do this.

I know, but it's just he looks. But he looked good against Tampa. He's just gotta wake up. Swaggy, maybe that ship has sailed. I was worried about that contract. Like maybe, I'm pretty sure Cardiff or Hague's best hockey is behind him. Now, I was believing in Sam Reinhart,

but from mid-season on, now I'm a little curious as to what I've saw over the last year and a half. Which is the real Sam Reinhart? Please stand up. I'm not super, super concerned yet, like I said. This is a champion. This is a team that has had its back against the wall. And most importantly of all folks,

that's the Toronto Maple Leafs. Oh yeah, they got something in them. In their back pocket. They're gonna blow it somehow. That's the Toronto Maple Leafs. They look good to start against Ottawa. And then the weight of that Maple Leaf on the front of their jersey started weighing them down.

And Ottawa almost came back in that series and tied it up 3-3 after being down 3-0. Well, it's the major thing that the Panthers are going to have to show up because they're allowing the players to get behind them. Their transition defense has been very good. The rush against a team who's top 10 and goals on the rush, you can't have that happen. A lot of stress passes have gotten past the defenseman leading the breakaway. So they're going to have to show up to transition defense.

Hock, what do you think? Must win tonight? Yeah, I mean, if they tighten their neutral zone gaps and get Kichuck the puck below the dots, I mean game three. Yeah yeah absolutely the neutral zone, well that's where the stretch passes come in and Toronto's very good at stretch passes and all season long actually over the last two and a half seasons Florida's been bad at defending against stretch passes. I think the upset in this series so far is Toronto hasn't exactly cashed those in. That's coming. Florida's defensemen have been

terrible. All of them have been bad. And I'm right there with you. We need to get Kachuk in that happy place behind the net, like quarterback in that power play. You need to draw some penalties and you got to avoid the dumb ones the way that Kulikov has. I know Kulikov is going to play, but he's been a disaster so far in these first two games. Are you asking Chad GPT? I mean, Forchek was disruptive as ever, but there's lapses in defensive coverages off the rush that hurt him. You know, expect Maurice to adjust at home to get Barkov out against Nylander's line. And I think game three will tell a completely different story.

Nylander's been the... Well, Nylander, Nylander, I grew up with them. That's what makes me scared. If there's anything that's scary in this series is that he's hot. completely different stories. KneeLander's been the... Well, Nylander, KneeLander, I grew up with them. That's what makes me scared. If there's anything that's scary in this series is that he's hot. Yeah, he's a really good player. Physically and literally and figuratively. And he's one of the few players on Toronto that you know is a gamer.

I know he had that weird thing where was he concussed last year? Where was William KneeLander? Matthews hasn't really gotten going yet. He's still silent right now. Yeah, he's still silent. Marner's one of those players that tends to disappear, and you know that you're gonna lose a game if Marner's gonna have a snipe like that.

I don't think that that goal was so bad. And like I said, Bob had some really big saves. So he stopped some that should've went in, and he let in some that he probably should've stopped. This is about Florida's best player scoring some goals, and just playing some good hockey. Stop being so sloppy with the puck and taking some bad penalties, Hawk.

Yeah. That's what you had GDT came back with. It's loading. It's a little slower than usual. Folks, listen up. If you run anything online these days, a podcast, a merch store, whatever it is, you're basically forced to wear 12 hats.

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No tech expertise required. Just visit kinsta.com slash Dan to get started. That's Kinsta.com slash Dan. The NBA playoffs are here and it's time for all the high stakes drama, the clutch moments, the jaw-dropping plays, and if you're looking to make the playoffs even more exciting, DraftKings Sportsbook has you covered as an official sports betting partner of the NBA. Make it a playoff run to remember with DraftKings. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now and use code DAN. That's code DAN, D-A-N, for new customers to get 200 bucks in bonus bets when you bet

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On behalf of Boothill Casino and Resorting Kansas, 21 and over, age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Voighton, Ontario, new customers only. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.co slash audio. Don Lebatard. Mike Ryan's in there and he's the one with a baby.

He's the one who's got to like worry about what the future is. And Mike Ryan bet on DraftKings, because Mike Ryan bet on us. This is the bet you're afraid of doubling down on, putting up a billboard in Edmonton? Stugats. I care more about Matthew Kachuk than I do my daughter.

This is the Don LeBathard Show with the Stugats. The real question I have going into this Game 3 at home and our barn, had to say barn was working in a barn no matter what. Who's drumming tonight? The first series was not happy. It was like the seventh guy for Inter Miami and then John who Smith.

All right, we need to do better. John who did a good job. I'm not saying no, no, no, this is not my, I'm not judging their, I'm just saying name, like get me excited. Kramowski should have never been drumming that drum. Right. Never. It's just so I don't know who they got today.

Roy, I don't know a little inside source here. What are we looking at here? No,ming that drum. Right. Never. It's just so, I don't know who they got today. Roy, I don't know, a little inside source here. What are we looking at here? No, no word yet. Who are we thinking? No word yet. Maybe like a Heat, like it's not gonna be like a Heat player or something. It's not gonna be Donnis Haslam

because he's gonna be at the highlight, the Battlecore Champions. That's true. Keep an eye on Jack Nicklaus. Yeah. They busted him out earlier. That was last season. That was the Stanley Cup.

Like I don't think he's coming out for the championship. You don't think he's coming back? Dude, that was a very controversial one. But did they win? If you're Jack Nicklaus and you do a Stanley Cup. I don't think he's coming out of round two. You don't think he's coming back? Dude, that was a very controversial one. But did they win? If you're Jack Nicholas and you do a Stanley Cup final game, you can't then do a round two game. Yeah. You can't go back in round two.

You should never be invited back if when you drum, the team loses. That's true. It's all about positive juju here. But Florida is down 0-2. And the Toronto Maple Leafs in their playoff history are 11-0 when they go up in a series 2-0. Now, most teams are.

When you go up 2-0. Except for the Kings. Yeah, that's very true. Which leads me to my next point, and we'll close with hockey on this. The Edmonton Oilers are gonna win the Stanley Cup. So scary. They're gonna win the Stanley Cup.

And LA had them dead to rights. I was watching that game in the RV at Talladega, and we had them. We had the oil done and dusted. They had that miraculous goal there, and then the dumbest challenge in the history of sports, and it just ends the series right then and there. You're watching it, and you realize LA's coach just ended this series.

Edmonton and Pete Blackburn had a great tweet about watching the Edmonton Oilers, right then and there. You're watching it and you realize LA's coach just ended this series. Edmonton and Pete Blackburn had a great tweet about watching the Edmonton Oilers because when that team goes down, it is horrifying. Keep in mind, this is the Vegas Golden Knights, a team with championship pedigree, and they look completely helpless when Edmonton truly has it going.

No lead is safe. Pete Blackburn tweeted out last night, every Oilers game is like watching someone start a bar fight by immediately giving the other person a gun and then kicking their ass in self defense. And that couldn't be truer. There is just so much talent. Dries Seidel, once again, a finalist for the heart.

McDavid hasn't even truly gotten going yet. They have so much speed, so much talent, and on top of all of that, they've done the suffering. They're pissed off. And they know that they can microwave a comeback at any point. This team is so dangerous, they got that look. I'd be terrified to play them.

I think the one opportunity to kill them was wasted by LA. Edmonton has it going. They're gonna be Stanley Cup champs. Switching goaltenders from Stewart Skinner to Calvin Pickard actually helped them out too. He's undefeated right now. And if you look at Pickard's numbers, it's not crazy impressive,

but if you watch the games, contextually, he's made some very timely saves, some big time saves that has kept some deficits from getting out of hand. I was so happy to see Seward Skinner between those pipes. Pickard is a bit of a different situation. He might be good enough.

Now, I don't know if he's at the level to win a Stanley Cup. They're gonna get tested, and this clip will no doubt be rehashed when they're inevitably down 2-0 in a series, and then they do that thing again. But Edmonton looks frightening right now, and I think that they've done the right amount of suffering

and it's just finally their time. He's the best player on the planet, and he's gonna win. Thank God we got them when we did. I don't wanna play this game, but if your stewards get, put yourself in his mind, is he rooting, does he wanna play, or does he just wanna win in the playoffs? They're up 2-0, is he hoping that they lose game three badly?

So that he can get in? I don't think he's coming back. I know, like. Hot hand, I don't think you could be able to get picked out. You think they would give him even a loss? Like, if Pickard had a bad game, they'd stick with him for one more, you think? I think they'd give him one bad game.

Yeah. I just always wonder, it's like the Stu Gott's question of like, happiest guy on a losing team. Like, is this guy rooting for his goalie? Because they'd still be in it if they lose it. I don't know, it's just like an interesting dynamic. Tarana's gotta go wall, right? Yes, yeah.

They're just gonna, I mean, wall played well, and you have the easy thing in your back pocket saying Stoli's just not right yet, he still can cussed, so you keep riding the hot hand. He didn't make the trips, Stoli. All right, so it's gonna be wall for the next two games, at least, I know that they have that young prospect goalie that they were really excited about

that didn't necessarily run with the opportunity. But this is your opportunity, Florida, to get back in this series. I have, I don't know why, but I'm pretty certain this is going back to Toronto 2-2. I certainly hope so. Florida's screwed if it doesn't. But this is where the champions prove that

they're the San Lee Cup champions and they defend their home ice. Now they haven't been so good this postseason in home ice, especially not on the power play. What are they, Ofer at home on the power play? 50% on the road and Ofer at home. That's gonna have to turn around. That's gonna have to turn around.

Two factor? Yeah, and the Maple Leafs are due 11 and 0. There was one story in the NHL that didn't have to do with any of the playoff teams and Joel Quenville is back in the NHL. That's unbelievable. It's I mean, it's not though. No, no, it's not because Dan Bowman has a job right now He's in the front office for Edmonton like but that's just that's not a good look and I think look if in a vacuum

Anaheim made a good hire. Yes Anaheim is one of those teams, and I know Billy was hot on the ducks. They're right there. They got some good young talent. They need to be a little bit more disciplined. Now I know that they kind of had a disciplinary in it at Coach, but Coach Q is kind of overboard on that.

He's a guy that's been there. It is the right hire for them in a vacuum. But also, he was at the helm in Chicago overlooking all sorts of sexual assaults, power dynamics that were totally abused, and that's really, really bad. When it happened, it felt like, given where Coach Q was in his career, that that was it. He was never coming back to the sport. And things have changed. And he's back. And Anaheim picked the perfect day

and the perfect time to announce it as a new pope is being announced. You could not have gotten, do you think that they were just watching the Conclave coverage waiting to, all right, we got white smoke, we're announcing Coach Q right now? Smart, genius, genius level.

It is, and you would think that the eyes of the world would be tuned into the Anaheim Ducks coaching search. But when it comes to people in power that have overlooked sexual assault, the eyes of the world are gonna be on the Catholic Church. It's just like, by comparison, you're talking about thousands of cases and cover-ups, so we're naturally gonna be fixated on that.

But Anaheim Ducks, in terms of a news dump, it's hard to get much better than that in terms of your timing, because this is going to get totally swept. I feel like in terms of hires they could've made that made news, Gordon Bombay would've been the only one bigger, right? If the Ducks hired Gordon Bombay.

Yeah, hiring a fictional character, yeah, that would've made a lot of news. Because the Ducks fly together, if you guys don. Yeah, what's your dilemma for tonight's game? I have an interesting dilemma. I bought my wife for Christmas Teddy swims tickets on game time by the way I used game time for the best tickets and it's tonight and I told her at the beginning of this the playoffs that you know We hope that we get lucky with this Teddy's you love doing this by the way You love having tickets on nights that there's huge games happen because it happened the other day didn't it?

How can I project this didn't you go to a swims? He's a singer. He's like big-time act Yeah, he's a rising star. He's a swimmer, but uh and I and I bought my wife tickets. I had planned on going and My wife's not happy on going and my wife's not happy. Jelly Roll. He's a lot like Jelly Roll in that he's a white guy with tattoos that people like and has the voice of an angel. So my wife, we're in an argument right now. And she wants me to go.

I told her to invite her sister, invite a friend. And so we're still, like, it's tonight. And I still don't know yet how this is going to be resolved. Did you buy these tickets before the schedule was released? I brought these tickets for Christmas. Whoa, she should've been angry. Thank you, Roy. You gotta know it's May, though.

Oh no, trust me, oh trust me. In these arguments, no more gifts in May and June. No more gifts, no more concerts. And if I'm being honest, it was one of those last minute, couple days before Christmas, I think I need one more thing kind of gift. We've all been there. I need one more thing to really feel like

I've done enough here. So I just pulled Teddy Swims out of my firm. And it's just like, now it's screwing me. I regret doing it, a terrible choice by me. And I need Melanie to go to this concert. So if we can all just push energy towards my wife's friend Melanie, please go to this concert, spare me some pain.

Well, another scenario here is game fours on Monday's day that one I've already gotten approval Wait, you know how about this because we have Saturday plans if they lose this game. You're not going to game four right here No, you're not going that you're selling that my wife tried to paint it as game three you have game four so game three is not Important I'm like I'm telling you game. This is the most no tomorrow There is no tomorrow if they drop this game, you are not going to game four. The Panthers, the barn needs me. It does.

Well, the barn needs him. You're pushing it, dude. If I put my tickets up, you know who's gonna buy it? Toronto fans. Yeah, Maple Leaf fans. But you already got approval to skip Mother's Day to go to a Panthers game now. You're skipping a Christmas present also.

Like two times in three days, you're really pushing it. Well, my wife is playing this gymnastics because we have Saturday Mother's Day plans this year. So she just is like, oh, we're doing something Saturday so it works out, you can go on Sunday. That's a losing game for you, friends. Just so you know, when Mother's Day comes, Saturday wasn't gonna have been Mother's Day.

It was though. Before the hockey schedule came out, we had Saturday Mother's Day plans. I'm just, it's a tough one and I put my foot down. We're arguing right now, we are in a fight because my wife has kinda just been like, oh, she's guilt tripping me of like, oh, you don't, what's more important?

She's making this about her versus the Panthers. Mother's Day and her Christmas present. No, no, this is about her, this is about Teddy Swims versus the Panthers. Teddy Swims is a great name by the way. I don't know much about him. It can't be his real name. I'm all for like, verbs as last names. I think't know much about him. It can't be his real name. I'm all for like verbs as last names.

I think that's a good thing. His name's not even Teddy. It's not? No, it's Jaden Collin Dimmesdale. That sounds like a serial killer. 100%. That's a good one. Also like if you murder people and you sign Teddy Swims,

like that's kind of, that's a sick serial killer sign. Or like Britney Spears. Like yeah, we know that now, but if we didn't know who serial killer like sign or like Britney Spears like yeah We know that now, but if we didn't know what she was and she saw like Britney Spears It's like that's scary. You know what you know what I've always thought Hawk is When when I I have two daughters right and when my daughters were born I felt like Immediate relief and I was like okay. Thank God like no matter how badly I screw this up And I was like okay. Thank God like no matter how badly I screw this up There are very few women serial killers so like no matter what I do probably won't be serial killers

Yeah, just statistically and by the way I would like to say like I fully like on record I fully believe in women's ability to be serial killers should they choose to be like and I would support the decision and if my Daughters decide to be serial killers. I would support them, right? I would still love them. Also usually white. You wouldn't be any more supportive of your daughter's serial killers than you would your son's serial killers. Yeah, I don't have one,

but I would believe in my daughter's equal ability to be serial killers as my son if I had one. You've made humanity better. Possibly better. I don't think there's ever been a Cuban serial killer that's a woman. Well, you know what?

Cross your fingers. Maybe we break the mold. I feel pretty confident in that. I feel like there's serial killers every shape, form, size. I bet you we can find one relatively quickly. I mean, the best serial killers, you don't know who they are.

You never find out. Those are the, that's the Hall of Fame. We're not talking about Hall of Fame. No. Well, I mean, my daughters, I feel it could be Hall of Fame serial killers. You think so? Well, that'd be good,

because then you would never know. I think to be Hall of Fame, number one rule is, nobody knows it is the case. It's kind of like being a good guard in the NFL. Yeah, it's like when you're the best version, we don't know your name. We don't know your name. As simple as that.

Yeah, I've caught myself looking off in the distance lovingly at chat GPT hockey expert, Andrew Hawkins. Like, if he wants to poke his head back in here, I ain't mad. You're okay with it? There was one story in the NFL that we actually didn't really get all that into on the day that it broke, If he wants to poke his head back in here, I ain't mad. You're okay with it? There was one story in the NFL that we actually didn't really get all that into on the day that it broke, and it was kind of weird how it broke because Adam Schefter was like, trade

is coming. And then people had all sorts of questions about the compensation, and that was the George Pickens acquisition. I kind of thought the compensation was kind of on the money, given how crazy George Pickens is. Yeah, I mean, I don't know him personally, but on the field as an athlete, his persona on the field is crazy.

Yeah, he's one of the crazy, in terms of watching a player. Yeah, the fun, the fun of it. Yeah, in terms of spazzing out on the field, this guy is capable of anything. He's like Draymond in that way. Yeah, a little bit, a little bit. And it's kind of crazy to say this

in terms of unpredictability and crazy style on the field. To ever wear that uniform, he might be. He's up there. He might be gold medalist. In a short amount of time, without a Hall of Fame quarterback, he's up there for sure. What did they train him for?

Was it a third rounder? Is that what the competition was? Which is kind of, you know, this is a guy that is still new in his career. This guy that people don't deny his talents. Had some of the craziest in-game catches that you'll ever see. Unbelievable talent, but also a psychopath on the field

and someone that could actually hurt your team chemistry in the locker room. Someone that can give you a big time penalty. Some guy whose inconsistency and unpredictability on the field almost seems like a perfect fit for Dallas and what Jerry Jones is always trying to accomplish, which is just like, he's just a mad scientist over there putting all these different variables together. The good news is that they already have a number one over in Dallas and it's C.D. Lamb. Me and Hawk were talking before the show and it's like, was George Pickens the number one?

He's like, no, he's a really good number two, because you can't have your number one be that unpredictable. Your number one's gotta be like, all right, I know my job, I do my job, and that's what it is. Like, number one is the guy you rely on in all situations. I always say when, and I don't know, do you guys want an analyst Hawk? Because I got a tweet, or I got a message from a meme. Preferably hockey analyst Hawk, but yes, you can do this.

Yeah, I mean, that's powered by chat GPT You can do your day job But I posted something where I was talking about Mike McDaniel on Rich Eisen and then a mean commented This is the analysis that they get and we get fun CTE and for me fun CTE Hawk is the better version of Hawk. I agree, but I never know how in depth you want me to go Let's go. let's go. We need like 45 seconds to a minute every appearance of actual real analysis.

I'll give it to you. All right, so George Pickens, just like you talked about, he is very unpredictable. When I look at a number one receiver, I want you to be able to do two things at a high percentage. Catch and run a slant when we need it, and also be able to execute go balls, right? Now, George Pickens loves going deep routes,

contested catches, he can do that. But on a third down and five, one-on-one, we know you're getting the ball, we know they're trying to stop you, they're shading a safety your way or shading a linebacker, can you still get free and make the catch? I don't think George Pickens has developed his game enough to do those kind of things consistently.

Like to be in a spot always for the quarterback, to make sure he's doing all the little things away from the ball. Yes, we know you want the ball. Every receiver wants the ball. And we know you're great at making a play on the ball, but you gotta know how what you do when you're not being the target

affects the entirety of the offense and also affects your ability to have a higher percentage of getting open. And that's what I've always questioned about George Pickens. Does he have an ability for a number one receiver to have the talent? Yes. Is he that level for skill?

And does he execute his game at the position to be a number one? I would say no. So third rounder makes sense for the Cowboys and he is the number two to CD Lamb, who will be the unequivocal number one. I wanna stay here for a little bit and pick on that brain a little bit more

because George Pickens assumed that he was the number one in Pittsburgh. And talent-wise, yeah, production-wise, a little hit or miss. How does, I guess I'm asking you to get inside George Pickens' head, which is a crazy place to be, but it's pretty well established where CD Lamb is in this league. And for George Pickens to go into Dallas, how do you think he approaches that?

Do you still think he thinks he's alpha? Oh yeah, he has that personality for sure. I don't mind that. I like it. I like him. Come on, come on man. I thought we were faster than that. All right, but yeah, I like that mentality and mindset.

I still need you to essentially do your job. Like everybody, when you're coaching a team or building a roster, like there are people with a high upside, high ceiling. Maybe if this situation happens, we get the most out of them. But then also if the floor is bottomless, that's hard to build around,

especially when he is your best receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers. It's like, man, we're gonna come into this game and we don't know what he's gonna do at any given play. That's hard for you to build a game plan around. That's hard to see what your holes and needs are as an offense. So you go get DK Metcalf and you can argue,

okay, who would you rather have over the next four years? But no matter what you can say, I know who would you rather have over the next four years? But no matter what, you can say, I know what DK Metcalf is gonna do within the confines of the whistle. He still has a little wow child to him as well, but at least as a player, he's a lot more consistent than what you see from George Pickens. So when, what you're saying is,

you don't want a number one who wanna run blocking play is people elbowing somebody? Yes, that's essentially it. Just move right that down. Right, yeah, that's essentially it. Just put right that down. Yeah, I'm kicking real game here. Don't people elbow a dark cloud. You're not gonna get that analysis anywhere else. But he was on a franchise that had Mike Tomlin,

who's navigated crazy receivers before. Yeah, yeah. And there were people there to kinda check him. It wasn't the veteran teams of Pittsburgh past. He goes to Dallas, and Dallas is the kind of place where they've made these moves and they expect guys to not be crazy, and then they're so crazy

because it's a bit of a rudderless ship. It starts at the top, because Jerry's kind of a wild man. Yeah, Jerry's nuts, man. Bring on the nuts. So like this, that's a crap. That's okay. Yo, what's up? Going to the club pretty quickly?

Yeah. So who's gonna hold this dude in check? Like in that wide receiver room? I don't really know if that's CD's style and he's not there in his career where he's like veteran guy, right? Yeah, I mean it would likely have to be Dak Prescott. I mean this is a new toy for Dak Prescott to use because it's hard to even, we talked about CD and LAM,

when there's no other threats. Like hey, you are making my job 10 times harder by not giving me the balance of making sure we have somebody that you have to give attention to. So I do think it's gonna be, it can get pretty balanced pretty quickly because George Pickens seeing one-on-one and C. Lam seeing one-on-one, you gotta pick your poison.

Is George Pickens the kind of guy that you look at and it's like, that's untapped potential? Like, he can be a consistent number one in the league, or is George Pickens what he is? Like, this guy's gonna be kind of a helter-skelter experience and always kind of someone that you can't fully depend on. Because I'm not saying like he's a finished product,

but I don't necessarily think that it's gonna just all of a sudden. I think he'll do better in Dallas than he did in Pittsburgh, like statistically, and I know that was a big topic. Well, because of the quarterback situation, no? Because of the quarterback situation. Schefter put out a tweet about receivers who left and didn't do better, and he also had Mike Wallace on there. I would argue Mike Wallace doesn't belong on that list,

but then Emmanuel Sanders did well, Plaxico Burress did well as well, and the fact that Pickens is early in his career and he's going to a better quarterback with a need for what he does I think will be it. But to your question, yes it will always be all over the place. Antonio Brown, who obviously people think of every time they talk about Steelers receivers and what Tomlin had to deal with. What Antonio Brown did better than anybody is be obsessed with football.

I mean, this is a guy that I remember after my first year in the league, we were both had an appearance with the NFLPA, collegiate bowl, and he's like, yo, come, you know, I'll come to your room at some point, blah, blah, blah. So this is like a week after the season. My body still hurts from the last game.

His season is over. This is before he's taken off as Antonio Brown and I like, you know, knocking the door. He had he drips and sweat with a ladder in the in the hotel room got done with an hour and a half of just ladder drills and I'm talking about drenched in the room brought his own ladder and it wasn and this is what he is always. And when you put that kind of work in, it's gonna show up on the field.

I don't know if that is George Pickens, but that is the only way you can say, okay, George Pickens, I'm confident he'll develop into a consistent player at a high level. I mean, it's definitely a sad story, what happened to AAB, because you look back at interviews from that time, he was just a different cat. And the eyes were in his glassy.

I mean, we all know that there's a lot going on there with AAB. I mean, it certainly played out in the public before. But yeah, people forget where he came from, what he had to do to work. He's a dog. Yeah, absolute dog. Even with the hard knock stuff and his feet all torn up, that guy would work super hard

and then lost the plot, everything got away from him and what was going on between the years played a factor there, but I don't know if George Pickens has ever shown the commitment to the game that AB has. No, no, and maybe because he didn't have to get it the same way AB had to get it out the mud, you know what I mean that AB come from a horrible neighborhood in South Florida family situation not great no he had to fight for his life literally fight for

his life was on his own as a young teenager you know packs his bag up literally one bag and goes to walk on at Central Michigan he's a six-rounder he leaves it like literally he had to earn every piece of it. So I think just that mentality of him not knowing what was next is what fueled the way that he worked. I don't know if that's George Pickens reality. Well, like Dallas Cowboys,

when they typically take these swings, I don't know what the record is, it kind of feels like the Dolphins too, when they go after big time talent, it doesn't always work out. It's worked out in some cases. You can argue Brandon Marshall worked out. Certainly with Ricky Williams it worked out,

but their history is littered with guys that they took big swings on, David Bossen types, where it just didn't end up working out. And Dallas, it starts at the top and it kinda always feels like they take these swings and it doesn't necessarily go their way. Usually you can lump in the Cleveland Browns. And I wanna have a discussion with you,

a Cleveland Browns luminary, about what the F they did a couple of weeks ago.