The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Local Hour: The Florida Panthers Championship Parade

Episode Date: July 1, 2024

Today's cast: Amin, Mike, Roy, Jeremy, Jessica, JuJu, and Tony. The Florida Panthers Championship Parade on Fort Lauderdale Beach took the internet by storm yesterday, so while we wait for Amin amid his travel delays, Mike chats with Roy and Jeremy who were on the scene in the middle of the mayhem about the day that was. The crew discusses Ryan Lomberg pouring a drink on Jeremy, the fans waiting out lightning storms, Aaron Ekblad dunking on Brooks Koepka, and the actual hockey transactions ahead for the Florida Panthers this offseason. Then, before we dive into the details of NBA Free Agency later in the show, Tony and JuJu give us some of the best details from UFC 303 and some highlight reel moments. Plus, JuJu says it's time we all just celebrate winners and stop trying to make fun of other people's parades! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. Now's a good time to remember where the story of Tequila started. In 1795, the first Tequila distillery was opened by the Cuervo family. And 229 years later, Cuervo is still going strong. Family owned from the start, same family, same land. Now's a good time to enjoy Cuervo, the tequila that invented tequila. Go to Cuervo.com to shop tequila or visit a store near you. Cuervo, now's a good time. Trademarks owned by Bekley. SAB the CV. Copyright 2024. Proximo.

Jersey City, New Jersey. Please drink responsibly. This is the Don LeBattor Show with the StuGuts Podcast. Today's episode is sponsored by DraftKings. Stay tuned because you'll hear more about DraftKings and all it has to offer throughout the show. DraftKings. Stay tuned because you'll hear more about DraftKings and all it has to offer throughout the show. DraftKings, the crown is yours. Happy Monday everybody, it's Mike, Dan and Stu are off today. Amino hasn't supposed to be in, he's got some travel issues. He'll be joining us in progress, but thankfully I have a good team around me, half of which was at the

parade yesterday. Jeremy did some bang up work out there. You got the clip, you got the clip. And even if you were watching at home on the broadcast, the way that they directed it, they missed the meat of it. You don't have a shot of Aaron Echblad saying it. Do we have that video of Aaron Echblad saying the thing that will resonate from this parade? Because I thought all in all it

was such a perfect South Florida parade for hockey. It had all the things that are good about South Florida and all the bad things about South Florida especially when it comes to hockey but I thought that South Florida acquitted itself nicely. Here is the moment courtesy of Jeremy Tashay on X. Aaron Echblad, one of the leaders on this team, comes out with a traffic cone, and for context, Brooks Koepka was famously caught at a Panther game saying, Echblad, you stink, you're a traffic cone,

and that's how you know Brooks Koepka is a real Panther fan. Because this is not something, yes, granted, Aaron Echblad, you get one over on Brooks Koepka. Brooks Koepka, no one calls your fandom into question. You are not an actual Panther fan if Aaron Echblad hasn't frustrated you several times over. But credit to him, he stopped Connor McDavid 1v1, he had that moment, and Jeremy, you got this moment from the parade.

Jeremy and Roy specifically, how are you guys doing? I asked you before the show, if you did the old timey Looney Tunes thing of just putting your bare feet in, in a hot tin of water with a thermometer in your mouth. I am a fair weather fan. I was on my way to the parade. I was driving down from Orlando. I got as far as the Galleria Mall and the downpour was just too much.

I couldn't leave my car to get to the place, to get to the place. Unfortunately, I left Orlando maybe a bit late and I realized after being rained on all weekend, I can't do this, but you guys had your jobs to do. You guys had to cover this momentous occasion. You couldn't just do what I did, which is just watch it from my couch at home.

How are you guys doing? Are you feeling okay, Stuffy? Oh yeah, I'm feeling all right. Actually, at the parade, the current shirt and jacket I have on is a replacement from the shirt that I actually wore at the parade. I went to the Tommy Bahama

and got myself a Panthers Championship t-shirt. Incredible. At the Tommy Bahama? Is that your first ever Tommy Bahama purchase? It is. Okay. Jeremy, you got, not only did you get rained on, but Ryan Lomborg, I see it in the videos being looped behind Tony, he dunked a beer all over your head. It was a truly, it was amazing. It was truly amazing to have that experience because I was already clearly soaked by the rain

for hours and hours of downpour. Lombard came up and clearly wanted to have that experience but it was such a special day and something so unique. I'm definitely feeling it today. I'm exhausted. I think you can hear it in my voice. But like to be in the fans and all these people who through thunderstorms, through lightning,

literally making static electricity come through the speakers from the stage, everybody stuck around. The fans that were lined up at six or 7 a.m. alongside the barricades It was like nobody left and everyone was there through literal thunderstorms Waiting out and having an unbelievable time

I love the fact that one of the last things that Ryan Lomborg would do as a Florida Panthers pour beer on the top of Jeremy Tash's head. I'm happy about it, too I'm sad that Lomborg is going yeah Yeah I'm happy about it too. I'm sad that Lomburg is going. Yeah. But at least he gave us that parting shot. And I thought it was, I was bummed that he didn't take the microphone at one point, but it seemed as though nobody who was up for a contract extension spoke,

except for Sam Reinhart who sent a video message. By the way, your friend, bad job. Bad job by your best friend, Sam Reinhart. Skips a parade because he's supporting his best friend who's getting married. Be a little bit better with the calendar. Maybe move that one into July. Yeah. I don't know, man, because next weekend would have been July 4th weekend and that's the

whole thing. Yeah. No, look, you get married when you get married and Sam Reinhardt missed like three opportunities to make sure that this conflict wouldn't pop up. But then he got the game winner in game seven. But the good news that a lot of Panther fans woke up to, and there was a lot of momentum for months and months and months. It was assumed by people close to that organization, cover that organization that Sam Reinhardt would be coming back to the Florida Panthers. And these terms are

tossed out like hometown discount. Look, this is a player that really fulfilled his promise. He came into the league with a lot of hype, struggled early in Buffalo, came here, became a 50 goal scorer. After not being a top liner initially, he had to work his way up. Perfect partner for Barkov on that line. One of the sneaky better two-way players in the league. Sam Reinhardt does not take defensive possessions off Roy.

He was fourth in the Selkie voting for best defensive forward this season. So you gotta imagine this age is pretty well because the annual value on this contract is 8.65 million. That is a bargain for a 50 goal scorer that is a two way player that scored the game winning goal in game seven. You consider what Forestlings number is and that discount applied. You're paying those two players who are elite players about 14 million dollars Panthers right now have about 11 million

dollars clear and a lot of free agents I don't know how Brandon Montour comes back that doesn't seem possible given some of the money that is being spent on defensemen in this market he may have to go get his money also you can't bring him back and pay him more than forestling or that much more than forestling so that one more than Forestling. So that one's a little bit tricky, Jeremy. Yeah, I mean, it's gonna be a different look in the surrounding players,

but what's special about what you have now is a team that just won the Stanley Cup and so many talented players in your core, locked up not for like three more years. Sam Reinhardt's now here for eight years. Matthew Kachuk signed a long, long contract with you initially. Alexander Barkov's gonna be here forever.

Just 28 years old and he's already been here forever. Right, so to have this group locked up long term, not for three or four seasons like you might see in the NBA, but here in the NHL, eight years of this group, it's really a great time to be a Panthers fan. And the Panthers still have to re-sign Anton Lundell as a restrictive free agent. Yeah, where do they think that deal is going to fall in between? Because a restrictive

free agent, he's got to get some decent money. He is presently a third liner, one of the better third liners. And again, fits the identity and culture of a lot of these players, a two-way player. He's probably going to get his, so that's going gonna eat into your chunk. You look at the available free agents right now for the Florida Panthers, maybe Stenland comes back, Stelars is getting interest, he had one of the, did Stelars have the best goals against average in the league? Yes.

Your backup goalie, he could probably command some mid number one money out there. Jessica and Tony and Juju, my experience, I don't know if you guys spent your Sunday watching on TV, it was all across the local channels, they all gave up on the dump button. I was bummed that I couldn't be out there in the parade, but I pivoted to watching on my couch and I really enjoyed it. And I wonder, Jess, was this something that you were laughing at as someone that's not necessarily a South Florida sports fan? or was this something that you felt galvanized an audience

and was like a pretty unique parade experience, because that's where I fell. I did think it was really funny just how terrible the weather was, because there was lightning. I was watching the radar from my warm and cozy living room, just thinking to myself, man, I really hope Roy and Jeremy and Greg Cody

don't get struck by lightning today, because that would be a really sad way for this all to end. We were close. I mean, it was a very funny, it's so rare to have mornings like that in South Florida where it just is a complete wall of thunderstorms first thing when you wake up, and it was perfect that it was on the morning

on the Stanley Cup parade. It was also very Florida that they didn't evacuate because I've been at large public gatherings. I had been like, I was at Universal for two days prior if there's lightning in the area you go inside There was a large congregation people with a lot of electrical equipment through it makes you a very large body of water They were not moved On the ocean I was looking on the ocean right and I saw this big Wall of clouds with rain coming down, but I also saw four freighters out in the ocean.

About 10 minutes later, gone. A wall of rain made them disappear. The people didn't get moved out, which I found curious. Logistically, probably more dangerous. I'm sure someone was crunching that, but I've been at Lollapalooza's, where they evacuate the entire grounds. If it were a golf course,

the siren would have been going off all morning. There would not be people out there. Thankfully no one got hurt. And by the time you got to the end of the parade, it added to the aesthetic. Everyone soaking wet from just pouring beers. I've never seen someone wandering through a parade with a bucket of beer.

And that's what Matthew, he had 10 glass bottles in a bucket that I think he literally picked up at the elbow room that he just made a pit stop along the way. He got out of the bus, went to the elbow room, got a bucket of beer and also took a dip in the ocean. Tony, you've recently caught hockey fever. Were you spending your Sunday on your couch

watching the parade? I was, I had a couple things to do, like family things. We had some lunch that I had to attend. So I was watching on social media. My brother-in-law was there at the parade. So he was sending us videos of like the downpour and just like everybody soaking wet, just like having fun and stuff. I would never have gone to that. Not because, not because I don't love the Panthers. But it's in Broward. One, one, one, it was in Broward to One. One. One, it was in Broward. Two, the rain, you have to get ready for a rain situation

like that. I got to get my shitty shoes. I got to wear socks I don't really like. The swag can't be on 100 because I'm getting soaked the entire time. Plus, I don't think I'm a poncho guy. Jeremy, you did not wear shitty shoes. No.

This was a nightmare. Allegedly. Because I did not. Yeah, well, allegedly is fair. Well, he did not wear his shitty shoes. No, this was a nightmare. Allegedly. Because I did not, yeah well, allegedly is fair. Well he did not wear his shitty shoes. Right, not my version of shitty shoes. I'm sorry, I love you Jeremy. Still shitty shoes generally. No, but this was like, obviously I was wearing

a water taxi poncho because I was not prepared for this. I have a Bally Sports branded rain jacket and I guess did not anticipate, I looked at the weather, it said on Saturday night it said 30% chance of rain at 10 a.m. And I was like, okay, it'll rain for 15, 20 minutes like it does in Florida. I'll get under some shelter, I'll probably already be there and then I'll be fine and it'll be over.

And it was while I was on my way on the water taxi standing on the second floor of it that all of a sudden the skies open up and there is a torrential downpour. So I was soaking wet underneath the poncho that I then put on that had no real purpose, I guess, after that. I probably should have just not worn the poncho,

but I didn't want to get worse. And I anticipated, all right, it'll be a half hour, maybe an hour of rain. And then it rained all day long. It's still raining right now. It's still raining. That. It's still raining. That doesn't happen here, especially on the beach where the wind is supposed to push those storms away

and yet here we are experiencing that on the day of the parade, but the energy was spectacular as a result, like it was, it could have been an amazing day without all of it, but there was something about the thunderstorms and people sticking through it and every person I spoke to had been a fan for 20 plus years and now they're there enjoying this experience together. The Dan LeBoutard Show with Stu Gotz is sponsored by BetterHelp.

The impact of social media on mental health is a topic of growing concern. What do you do when you get caught up wishing your life looked like someone else's? Comparison is the thief of joy and it's easy to envy other people's lives. It might look like they have it all together on their social media, but in reality they probably don't. Therapy can help you focus on what you want instead of what others have so you can start living your best life. It's helpful for learning positive coping skills and how to set boundaries. It empowers you to be the best version of yourself. It isn't just for those who have experienced major trauma.

If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapists at any time for no additional charge. Stop comparing and start focusing with BetterHelp.

Visit betterhelp.com slash DLBTODAY to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H-E-L-P dot com slash D-L-B. Don LeBretard! 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. Stugarts. I care more about Matthew Kachuk than I do my daughter. This is the Don LeBathard Show with the Stugarts. First of all rookie mistake you have to follow the National Weather Service on

Twitter. They were on top of it from the moment I woke up yesterday morning. I was like, oh, this is going to be interesting. They might have to call off this parade. I was worried about getting sunburned. Second thing, are the videos of the players on the buses waving to like six people fake news? It seemed like the parade route was not well populated. The bad video that's circulating is literally

the start of the parade where the bus came around Los Olas and you could see the very edge of the parade on one side. So the further you got in and the deeper you got toward the stage down A1A was where the majority of people were. This happens every parade. Sounds like they should have had their parade in Boston. Oh, too soon.

But yeah, it's just hilarious. This is a perfect example of saying, like, bro, you making fun of parades and celebrations when your team is at the house, you, sir, are the biggest joker. I don't give a damn if it was one person at this parade. The Florida Panthers are champions, god damn it. That's all that matters.

People who make fun of parades, you are a loser god damn it. That's all that matters. People who make it fun in parades, you are a loser at the house. Raise that cup. Yeah, I had mentally prepared myself because for every parade, outside of ones that happen in Kansas City, every parade will have these isolated views of a thinner part of the parade,

and it'll go viral, and it'll be the visual that goes out from that parade and I was already not gonna let it bother me. I'm not gonna make the excuses about the weather. I think South Florida acquitted itself quite nicely. There was a lot of energy. I think the Panthers were pretty smart about how they structured the entire thing. It was very clearly, let's have this big gathering place. I think with the rain and everything, it made for really cool visuals. And like Juju said, who cares?

The whole thing is that we have six fans. This is the start of something. And I know everyone tapped into the 30 years. This Panther franchise has existed for 30 years in the South Florida market. And there are a lot of people that were at that parade that really just started giving them the time of day. And that's fine too.

This is about building something. This is not a destination. It's a sort of something hopefully for them. Tony, I saw you wanting to get in there. Do you want to defend the South Florida sports fan? Because you knew that these photos would be coming. Of course. And I mean, especially when you talk about the Panthers,

it's browered. It's raining. You knew that you were going to get a smattering of people at some point, just because you hold up on the towels. We have six fans or whatever. But you know, Juju was saying, we're talking about a parade. I don't mean to sound like AI, but not every single inch of the parade route is going gonna be stacked with people.

It's totally fine to have a sport that's still trying to find its footing. There hasn't been a real reason for this franchise to have a connection, particularly with the Miami Dade fans. There hasn't been any real moment. This was a bizarre championship in that maybe I cared about this championship

possibly more than any other local sports championship. But usually when other teams make a run, you see like stuff in shop windows, people wearing their jerseys. That may be the case in Broward, I don't know. But in Miami Dade, it's one of those things that if I saw a person with a Panther hat on, I'd give them the DiCaprio point and I would find occasional isolated instances of people being passionate, but this is hopefully something to build on. There weren't places that you could go to, especially in Miami Dade, where you could have the Panther game on and ask for the sound and not get a funny look. And now I think we're finally turning that corner and we're building.

A lot of the cities that have Stanley Cups, obviously, are smaller cities in scope of Miami. And there's so much to do and there's so many things around that you don't have those small shop windows with like, go Oilers or whatever. Well, I don't know about that. Chicago's pretty big. The original six are big markets.

Columbus, St. Louis. I think it's totally fine that we lean into the- Columbus does not have a Stanley Cup. But you know what I mean, Ryan. The sideshow appeal of Florida. This is totally unique. They had a parade, an ice hockey team had a parade on the beach. In pouring rain.

In pouring rain. It should have been evacuated. Absolutely. It was pretty dangerous. And I thought that everything that happened last night was perfect for South Florida hockey and for this franchise and its fans. There's a camaraderie that's starting

to build amongst the people that either have been there for a month or 30 years, because I spent most of my day prior to the speeches and prior to the parade actually starting, walking through the rain to all of these people who'd been camped out there since, you know, five, six, seven a.m. And each time that I walked up to someone

with a microphone, everybody behind them started chanting, all six of us, all six of us, because there's an embracing of like, hey, we know that we're a new fan base, relatively. We know that there are only so many of us that have been around watching hockey. For most of their history, they've been a joke. They've been a laughing stock.

Exactly. And I think there's an embracing of that and acceptance of it. And now, wanting to prove like, hey, like you said, Mike, this is the beginning of something special. This isn't the end, but everyone was celebrating like it was the last day on earth. That's what the drinking was like. The hugs, the screaming, it was spectacular. Well, you never know down here when it rains that much, it could actually be the last day.

I'm embracing that we live in a major city. The Tri-County area is huge, even though it's all hashtag one territory. And I'm embracing the boutique aspects of this the novel aspects of this and I hope that much like what happened in Tampa where the seeds were planted in 04 and unfortunately they're one of the great hockey towns in North America now I can't imagine if there wasn't a lockout a work stoppage after they won their first cup but they kept building and almost had to

kind of hit the reset button, start again, and they built the right way. And I really think South Florida can grow to really deeply appreciate hockey, but they gotta have this kind of success. They have to keep making deep postseason runs. And I do think that we'll see the tide change a little bit, and maybe you'll see a few more Panther logos

in mom and pop shops, and't you don't have to point at three people at the Publix maybe the Publix is adorned with Panther stuff. Well it was a grassroot situation in Tampa. I mean they built from the ground up over there and I think the Panthers have to do the same thing. Now they got that new facility in Fort Lauderdale with the Royal Memorial. They build a couple more rinks. You're gonna have a lot of new young fans actually playing the sport. So if they can get these fans to play the sport, they can get these kids to play the sport,

you'll grow the culture down here. Throughout some of the properties we have here on DLS, I've made a list of things that are for other people, and I just added, I just wanted you guys to know, sports parades are for other people, not for me. I just wanted to let you guys know that. You never went to any of the heat parades? I did, which is why I found out, you know what? Not for me, for other people know me I just want to let you guys know that you never went to any of the heat parades I did which is why I found out you know what not for me

for other people yeah Chris Cody and Ethan are in a Panther group chat that had a pretty good feeling about all of this happening and they were actually lamenting in the group chat like and I know Ethan went to the parade we should be in this parade like what we we should be in the parade. I'm like, what? We should be in the Panther Parade? And they were citing, Raheem Mostert was at the parade. I'm like, guys, Raheem Mostert didn't make a mockery of the entire Stanley Cup final. Yeah, of course they said no.

You think that's why we weren't in the parade? No, I think we weren't in the parade because we were asking Damien two weeks before they actually won the thing. And I think the Greg Cody thing didn't help. And I think largely our show treated this, not, we didn't, we weren't reverential enough to Laurie Stanley or the Florida Panthers.

And I think Dan is naturally predisposed to wanna make fun of sports. And we, well, I read an article about an awful announcement. Dan, no. I read an article about, an awful announcement. I read an article, an awful announcing that made it seem like for once in our show's really toxic history, they finally found a cause that united a lot of listeners. And that was cool to have that perspective

that people in Columbus, Ohio were rooting for the Panthers because they never gave hockey the time of day. And they've been hearing about Roy get the table and the CPR line and Randy Muller goal calls for our shows 20 years and they felt some kind of tie. I will say that it did not unite this show. It was very divisive here on this show. I was fighting with Juju, I was fighting with Greg,

I was certainly fighting with Dan. It was all pretty bad. Emotions got ramped up after they blew that 3-0 lead, telling you. I mean, the argument you had with Greg broke contain. I was at Notre Dame last weekend, and people that do not watch hockey or the Labotard show were like, hey, so what's the deal with that Mike guy?

So yeah, it wasn't a good look for me, and I knew that going in there, but you know how Dan does these things. Dan very clearly wanted that to happen. Absolutely. Because he was pushing all my buttons to make that happen. And at a certain point I'm like, okay, then I guess we'll lean hard bit.

And then I lean hard bit, and then the same thing always happens when I lean hard bit. And not only that, I'm leaning hard against like an octogenarian. And this is just not a good look for me at all. And yeah, Dan got what he wanted and that's the cost of doing business with Dan. And you didn't get a float out of it.

No, exactly. But nobody got a float out of it luckily because they didn't have any media on any of the floats. No they did not. Just Randy Miller. Let me tell you something. I was on two Miami heat floats. I've got two parades under my belt. I was there next to Poppy, hitting pots and pans. You bring South Florida luminaries, but we don't deserve that one because we made a joke of it because everything around here is a bit.

We. And sports fandom usually is canon, and I will admit my own. I think Roy got punished more than anyone else for this. I kinda got to do whatever I wanted. Yeah, well you occupy a very unique space. You don't count. I will, I was the only one that was calm in this situation.

Like me. You were never scared. Never. We know this about you, Roy. But I will underscore my own hypocrisy here. Usually I'm taking the piss too, and everybody's sports fandom is there for the taking. I actually handled the Mario Chris-a-Ball

not kneeling thing in stride. The Panthers thing got to me because I'm so sick of being that guy. I mean, how sick can you be if you're taking off your Rolex threatening an 80-year-old? But I guess there are performative aspects to this that, all right, F it, I'm here. It's kind of like when you're at a parade and you're soaking wet. At a certain point, you just stop giving an F. Your shoes are ruined so you might as well enjoy yourself. You say dump a truley on me, right, Jeremy? At a certain point, you just stop giving an F. Your shoes are ruined, so you might as well enjoy yourself. You say dump a truley on me, right Jeremy?

Yeah, that's exactly right. It was funny, if you look at the video, Ryan Lombard did sort of pause for a second to make sure that I was cool with him pouring the drink on me. And the pause that I took before deciding whether or not to say yes was, should I drink this on camera

or should I just have him pour it on my head? Because I had to make the obvious professional decision as you can see in the video, very professional of me. But I'll tell you, it was really cool how many of our show fans were out there yesterday and it really did sort of galvanize because every time I was walking through there was somebody yelling Jer Bear or Jeremy

or where's Chris, where's Mike, where's Roy? Because everyone was really excited about it and whenever I stopped to actually talk to people, they all asked, hey, were the last couple of weeks a bit? All of them, because I think everybody was legitimately concerned about how Metal Arch Media is holding up. Did you know where Chris was?

Because I'm looking for him, so. No, was he at the parade? Was he? No, he was not at the parade. I think he decided after the 11 night, you know what, I'm good, I'm done. Yeah, I gotta tell you the 11th thing did help My my decision-making process and then I kind of had my celebration With the Panthers and I do want to take like the final 50 seconds of this segment to salute Ryan Lombard

Your your colleague on the hockey show David Dwork did make it seem like Ryan Lombard is gonna get his money in the open market and he deserves it He deserves it and I don't know if you saw the Wired for Sound from game seven. While everybody had a sphincter that was this tight in that barn. You were there for that game seven. That was as bizarre a pregame atmosphere as I've ever experienced in my life. What Ryan Lomborg delivered before that game seven is exactly what they needed. The juice. He's a high-energy guy and also he's pretty media savvy because I could tell he recognizes guys like Jeremy and guys that cover the Guys and girls that cover this franchise

And he he made it a celebration that everyone could be a part of and Ryan Lombard. There's a lot of 94 jerseys He's not necessarily of a talent level that would of 94 jerseys. He's not necessarily of a talent level that would necessarily reflect the amount of jerseys that are in that arena that were 94, but he's had big-time playoff moments. He's a fan favorite, he's a physical guy, he's an energy guy. I just wish they handed him a microphone at that parade so we can have that one moment, but best of luck to him wherever he goes. Howdy folks, it's Mike Ryan and as you know I've been telling you on the air about the Game Time app.

It is where I go exclusively for the secondary ticket market and I've been there a lot this summer between the hockey playoffs and summer concert season. I've been spending a fair chunk of my time on this app. Why though? Because I know they got the low price guarantee. I know that when I open up the Game Time app this is the premier place for value in the secondary ticket market. I get all in pricing, just a little touch of a tab up on the top right of my app and I get no surprises at checkout. Zone deals, flash deals, I made an impulse buy for

Game 7 of the NHL final and I absolutely loved it. I'm a world champion! Game Time is an authorized ticket marketplace of Major League Baseball, so why don't you take the guesswork out of buying MLB tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use code Dan for $20 off your first purchase, terms apply again, create an account, redeem code D-A-N for $20 off your first purchase, download Game Time today, last-minute tickets lowest price guaranteed. Don Lebatard! For weeks, months even, during the regular season, I wondered aloud what Kevin Stenlon did. And then about three weeks ago, it hit me.

Stugats! He gives him one of these, and he gives him one of those. This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stugats. ["The Stugats Show Theme Song"] Gonna get all the Panthers shots up here in the early going as this is more local and before Meme comes in here because it's a fascinating time in the NBA. Paul George is headed to the Sixers and the Miami

Heat haven't done much so we'll speak to that when Meen joins us but there is a move that appears to be happening in the NHL and I heard a lot of F the Lightning chants at the parade out there yesterday. Well that was about the thunderstorms and lightning not the Tampa Bay lightning. They leaned in, and they took their potshots. Chuckie took another potshot at Edmonton. And... I didn't even realize the symbolism of the lightning

almost ruining another panther's Stanley Cup. But not phased. The symbolism here, Jess, is that, once again, the panthers are unfazed by the lightning, not the other way around. You're talking about ancient history at this point. You're right, but, whoa. the Lightning ending the Panthers parade. It would have been terrible.

Cool. And you couldn't let that one happen. But while that parade was going on, the Tampa Bay Lightning made a very interesting move. They clear about 11 and a half million in space. The Sergechev trade to Utah caught a lot of people off guard. Sergechev gave Tampa big emotional lift coming back from a gruesome compound leg fracture. Really good player when, I don't know if he's ever going to reach those levels again, but

might have been a difference maker had he been healthy for that entire series against the Florida Panthers, who knows. He gets moved. Yeah, him coming in during the series got them that one game. Yeah, oh, the pop that he got, I was there for that. It's crazy, and he's a good player. But he gets moved, and you assume, okay, if they're clearing all this space, they're clearly far apart on Stamcoast, maybe this is about getting Stamcoast his money.

Not the case. Stephen Stamcoast appears to be headed to one of four franchises in Nashville right now, getting a lot of the hot buzz, I think a betting favorite for him to go to Nashville. But the room that they cleared was for Jake Gensel, which is a surprising move for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Everyone assumed that if Gensel does test the market, it won't be there because they don't have the room for him. The wide expectation was that he was going to re-sign with Carolina. Doesn't end up happening. Apparently, they felt

like they had a deal, pretty much the framework in place, but then the open market changed things. So, Gensel goes to Tampa Bay, and this is a big-time acquisition for Tampa Bay. But Roy, here is my Pro Panthers spin on it. Gensel and I know the analytics like him and he does some things off the puck that you don't necessarily see. I see not talked about enough a smaller winger that you can push to the boards and will go missing during key stretches. Didn't they just have that with Kucherov? A lot of their best guys, and now you take Sam Coase out of the picture, a lot of their best guys are smaller and that leans

into some of the advantages. You saw how the Panthers drafted over at the over at the sphere. Nobody under six feet. The Panthers identity is we're gonna have big guys that can skate that are also skilled. They're going small-winger Jake Gensel, maybe someone you could say, maybe some of those stats are empty, you got to play with some talent over there in Pittsburgh. And when Carolina needed him most,

he didn't really show up. What's your immediate reaction to Jake Gensel to Tampa? Seven years, nine million. Those are the numbers that came in. When you hold that up against the Sam Reinhart reported details, where Sam Reinhart is a two-way player, he's a 50 goal scorer, scored a game winning goal in game seven, where Gensel might have been

a little frustrating at times during that Rangers series in particular. I mean, who else do they have? Really? Look, there is moves to be made for Tampa Bay with that space. I think they're just going talent onslaught and try to meet the Florida Panthers depth a little bit. But you lose Sergei Chev and you lose Stamkos.

You replace them with a really different type of player and Jake Gensel kind of feels like a panic mover, Roy. Yeah, and they absolutely lowballed Stephen Stamkos as well. That was insulting what they did to him. I mean, three Stanley, well not for him, two Stanley cops for the Lightning for him. That's insulting and I'm offended on his behalf despite being a Panthers fan. You don't do that to him. Tony, do you match Roy's passion on this topic? Absolutely. Stamkos is just one of the legends of the Tampa Bay area and you're gonna give him that set. You know you you look at my man's deal,

seven years, nine million, which is a crime by the way. How does that math even work out? When you start talking out of your ass, you do the Trump hands. Of course I have to. You also sound like Stu Gutz doing the good senior guard play on March of Ascension Coast. Well, let's talk about something that is a little bit more

in your wheelhouse. I saw a highlight reel knockout. Now I did not see this UFC pay-per-view, although I was excited about the main event. Well, let's talk about something that is a little bit more in your wheelhouse. I saw a highlight reel knockout now I did not see this UFC pay-per-view. Although I was excited about the main event I was just in Universal Studios at Pat O'Brien's I could not do it. I could not watch the UFC event What did I miss? Okay, so you missed again? This was originally supposed to be Conor McGregor versus Michael Chandler a massive card in its own right cuz anytime that McGregor is on a card the entire world watches, right?

he gets taken out the main the co main event also gets removed between Jamal Hill former champion of friend of the show and Carlos Olberg they're now out enter a new main event between Yuri Prohaska and Alex Pereira who is the hottest star right now in the UFC. There's nobody like him. Highlight real knockouts. What you saw at 300 where he knocked out Jamal Hill. Intimidating dude. Six four, 230 pounds, just an absolute monster, right? So we had that main event.

The co-main event falls apart four hours before the fight. So as everybody's in route to the fight, Brian Ortega who's supposed to be part of the co-main event, he gets sick, 104 degree fever, he gets out. Dan Ige, another fighter, with four hours notice, comes in, makes weight against all odds, goes in and has an absolute bang of a fight, probably the second best fight of the night between him and Diego Lopez, another rising star of the promotion. So all in in all it was a lackluster card but with those two fights are really stepped up and then what you saw between Yuri pro-hoska who's an insane person in his own right when he found out that he was gonna have the chance to avenge his

Lightweight light heavyweight title he was in the Aaron Rodgers. I'm gonna sit in the cabin for three days No lights, no water, no sustenance. Nothing was was the quote my boy was locked in right the last samurai Yeah, it was fire because the champ he said he saw a tail in pro Hoshka's game during the pregame video that he had put out on Instagram He said oh, he's dropping his hands every time he blocks a kick checks the kick Yeah, and then what 40 minutes later across the head head, knocked out, you dig me? So what's crazy at the end of the first round, he hit him with a left hand falling back,

like a fadeaway jumper, falling back left hand that knocked him out at the buzzer. He fell on his back, looked around, was like, oh my God, got up wobbly, they sat him on the corner. First second of the second round, we see something like this. I don't know if we have B-roll or if it's audio. I'll talk through it if it's B-roll.

Let's see. No, this has audio. Okay, so high head kick, like Juju said. He kind of gave him a faint like he was gonna go low on a leg kick, which he had done previously in the first round. Goes high and absolutely knocks him out. They had to hold up Yuri Prohaska.

Herb Dean was like holding him up. Yuri was walking around like whoa. He didn't have his sea legs with him. But what we're looking at right now is Alex Pareda is fast tracking himself to a UFC Hall of Fame career without a doubt. He's got- He's fighting so much lately.

Not only is he super active as a champion, middleweight knocking out Izzy Arasanya, commanding middleweight respect everywhere, then he moves up a weight class and then destroys everybody in that weight class. We have another angle of the knockout that we could play here. This was, boom, like it is over.

Jeez. And broke his toe on that kick too. It did break, he did break his toe, but what we're looking at is one of the greatest runs He's only had about 10 or 11 fights in the UFC and he has more title fights than non title fights in his UFC career Again, he's not the global superstar of a McGregor or whatever He doesn't speak the language, but he's incredible and he's fast-tracking to a Hall of Fame career like sprinting because of the kickboxing There's a lot of comparisons.

I think the thing that he gets compared to John Jones the most is his ability to move in weight class. John Jones, very similar. A lot of people were fantasy booking a weight class that they could both fight each other in. I don't know. There's no way. There's no shot, right?

There's no way. When you talk about the heavyweight division, you talk about a guy like Tom Aspinall who walks around at 260 pounds when you walk talk about John Jones greatest mixed martial artist of all time and what he did to Cyril Gahn what does he walk around that what's like 250 yeah right now probably 250 260 somewhere somewhere in that range but I mean when he first burst onto the scene they could fight in the same weight class he was a light heavyweight right he was the youngest light heavyweight title winner UFC title winner of all time. He's a greatest fighter of all time period

but when you look at what Alex has in his game and The success that the other guys have as far as getting people to the ground and choking them out very quickly Tom Aspinall Like guys in the heavyweight division would take care of him very quickly because of that weight discrepancy But I think and you can't really count on John Jones' ability to be available, really. He was going to be available, then tore the pec, and then now it's up in the air. I think the fight to make in the heavyweight division

is Aspinall versus John Jones when they do get that. But I think the next move would be, and we're going to have it in kind of short order, UFC 305, Perth, Australia. We're going to have Drakis Duplassi versus Isi versus Israel Asanya for the middleweight belt if Izzy can beat Drikas, okay Get back the middleweight belt We have a super fight champion versus champion for everything for all the marbles for blood bad blood

Redemption finality closure Izzy versus Alex one last time at 205 for the light heavyweight belt Nobody can beat Alex right now He's on a hot streak is he kind of on a downturn after losing to Sean Strickland in an embarrassing fashion if he can be DDP and you can set up a light heavyweight fight between Alex and Izzy for everything I think it would be one of the biggest fights we can make it Tony getting back to that knockout How do you feel about her Dean stoppage? Did he going too late? He went way too late I think for him he was like I'm not gonna have anybody tell me that I stopped this thing too early. Do you think a part of it was like, damn, what a knockout,

like it kind of froze him a little bit. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Cause I think knockout was so great. Like after this eighth punch on the floor, like her could have stepped in during number four. But again, there has been some, some talk about her being a little slow. He had one time when it was like, bruh, you stopped it early. And then since then, he's been stopping them things late as hell, boy.

He will let you die on the ring first and then go, all right, it's over. I don't know if anybody caught the draft out of the sphere. Really cool visuals. Probably just scratched the surface on what they could do. And Dana took the opportunity to talk about what the NHL had done. By the way, the moment of the NHL draft was something that they kept pretty well guarded as a secret and it was Celine Dion showing up to announce the the fifth pick of the Montreal Canadiens. That was a really cool moment and there were two moments from the weekend that I think kind of won the weekend and that was certainly one of them, Roy. I would say about the NHL draft is not a single team congratulated the Florida Panthers on

their Stanley Cup victory and that's, I had never seen that. So again, I'm coming at this from a pretty peaceful place. I've worked through myself after the Greg Cody stuff. I thought going into that game seven that we were going to lose because vibes were toxic. They end up winning. So I realized Tony has a Colabo shirt. Can I tell you about what Tony tried to do to me? The shirt that Tony is holding right now. In your hand, go ahead.

Give yourself some shine. Sponsored by the Daily Lift. I don't think there's any left actually. Collab with Daily in my hand. Yeah, you did a Colabo with Daily. We love Jonathan, we love Daily. Great guys. I got a text message from Tony saying,

hey, limited supply. Would like to get you a shirt. $45. Same. This is the plug that I put him in touch with. It's my plug. And he's asking me for $45. Just in case you wanted to buy others for somebody else,

I got you on one. You know that. And I texted you as much. You said you got me on one after I told you, quote, fuck off. This two gods is strong. Happy summer everybody. It's Mike Ryan.

As you know, I'm a big fan of Miller Lite. I tell you about it all the time. It's summer and it is the perfect time to be grilling out there. Whether you're smoking, you're barbecuing, you're using charcoal or propane. Please do so with a Miller Lite right next to you Whether you're smoking, you're barbecuing, you're using charcoal or propane, please do so with a Miller Lite right next to you because it is what should be at the center of every backyard event this summer season. Even if you're not doing the grilling, do it with a Miller Lite because any good time is made better by making it a Miller time. Miller Lite keeps it simple, undebatable

quality, tastes as great as your barbecue and it's the beer that strips away everything you don't need and holds on to what matters most. With a Miller Lite in hand, grilling doesn't just taste great, it tastes like Miller Time. To get Miller Lite delivered right to your door visit MillerLite.com slash Dan or you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer. Celebrate responsibly, Miller Brewing Company Milwaukee Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories per 12 ounces. Howdy folks, it's Mike Ryan and as you know I've been telling you on the air about the

Game Time app. It is where I go exclusively for the secondary ticket market and I've been there a lot this summer between the hockey, playoffs and summer concert season. I've been spending a fair chunk of my time on this app. Why though? Because I know they got the low price guarantee. I know that when I open up the Game Time app, this is the premier place for value in the secondary ticket market.

I get all in pricing, just a little touch of a tab up on the top right of my app and I get no surprises at checkout. Zone deals, flash deals, I made an impulse buy for game 7 of the NHL final and I absolutely loved it. I'm a world champion! GameTime is an authorized ticket marketplace of Major League Baseball so why don't you take the guesswork out of buying MLB tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, use code Dan for $20 off, your first purchase, terms apply, again, create an account, redeem code D-A-N for $20 off, your first. Terms apply. Again, create an account. Redeem code D-A-N for $20 off your first purchase. Download Game Time today.

Last minute tickets. Lowest price guaranteed.