The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Local Hour: The Grim Reaper is Out of Control

Episode Date: September 15, 2023

It's time for Dan and the crew to take a visit to the Bucket of Death, but the grim reaper has been testy today, and we're not sure what to do about it. Then, Lucy and Jess are here to recap Texas-Alabama, discuss teams you don't want to play across CFB, and preview Tennessee-Florida in their definitely-unnamed segment. Plus, fantasy football guru Matthew Berry joins to discuss building his fantasy business after an awkward start from Dan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. It's really not important to me to have a lot of things to show off fancy cars, you know, a giant home. Those things are just not part of who I am, but I've been coached and I've learned through my advisor that it's not one size fits all. Everyone has their own preferences. Everything that I do with Edward Jones

is tailored to who I am. Edward Jones, we do money differently. Visit EdwardJones.ca slash different. This is the Dunlabor tour show with the Stugat's Podcast. I don't think that we had a clip this week that got America more agitated than David Samson being the face of corporate greed and aligning himself with a CEO who argued that the economy has to feel pain, that people have to be unemployed, that the employer needs to get back in charge of an employee who wants to work at home. It was very unpopular. I got a lot

of calls from people asking me what the hell kind of asshole David Samson is and I got some calls saying he's absolutely right that the American employee needs to get his or her ass in shape. Any of those pro Samson calls coming from within our own company? Well, our company is a funny one here and I thank you. Thank you for this one carefully. Thank you for bringing this up because our company is a funny one. I thought of that CEO this morning, when my morning started with, man, this is a weird, weird workplace.

And you might ask yourself, well, how was today any different than any other weird, weird workplace about how employees come and go as they please and don't have anything in the way of responsibility and we're a charming, charming mess. The reason that I thought about it this morning is because what I walked into today is

that the Grim Reaper came into work a little early and got into an immediate argument with, I guess, his overlord, Mike Ryan, I think all of us would agree that Mike Ryan is, in general, symbolicallyically the boss of everything around here that is darkness. And the grim reaper was supposed to go to the bucket of death with Lucy and with Jessica and failed to do his job, allowed Jessica and Lucy to get out of here without death.

And so I'm witnessing this morning, the grim reaper said bad employee and I'm thinking to myself, I need to do something about the reaper. The reaper is not doing his job correctly. What kind of asshole am I as a CEO or a founder or just as a company builder? What kind of boss am I if I can't get the reaper under control? If Lucy and Jessica can just escape without having to go to this thing, that, builder, what kind of boss am I if I can't get the Reaper under control, if Lucy and Jessica can just escape without having to go to this thing, that, well, what kind of boss am I? I never want to do.

I never want to do the bucket of death. I'm the only one around here who actually does the penalties. When's the last time any of you were in a costume, any of you? Yeah. I put on a happy face every day I go to work. I had one, one punishment last year, completed. Jude, I'm not talking to you, although you did just arrive three seconds ago when you didn't even see it.

I mean, I mean, it's working. You didn't see the stuff that happened with the rape, or you weren't even here, you don't have to leave. You don't have to immediately, why are you wearing a glove? It's very your surgical glove. Look, I was testing this blanket with your dirty ass hands, and that's why I got the glove on, sir.

That's Santa Claus. Workplace. I did not realize that you were a germapho. What? I only say it every time I speak. He said where you. He's the biggest love of a- He's the biggest love of a-

That's why you like Samson so much. Yeah, that's a good act. Get to know your employees. This from Jimmy's window is closing at Dade Teflon Don. Dan Lebertard selling out is really sad. Sports journalism is dead. Samson is a horrible person,

but so is the guy giving him a platform. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Sell out. Why would anyone call you a sell out? The bucket of death is brought to you by KFC's New Hot and Spicy Wing. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh Self a run it's a run it. I Got the Kansas City chiefs. All right, so Billy's got the Jags you have a three point favorite on the road I'm like the guy ahead and I'm gonna keep it I'm gonna put back the Keep put it on the pole plays do you ever put back the juicy?

They started game with Henning. I think they've started a Henning game we have the swap helmet wrong that's very bad that's not confusing I feel like I should probably throw it back this that's a good helmet yeah you kick another one you pick another one yeah and to see what you'll be swapped out this is my first year doing the bucket yeah we'll find out who she'll swap with after the fact. So it's the Raiders. OK. Tony's argument was, you can put the Raiders back. My headphones are on.

The Raiders. OK, this is how this segment goes. Always good, good. We're a media company. Your headphones don't work. Raiders at bills, the Raiders are an eight and a half point dog against the Bills. I'm really confused though, Mike, for a number of reasons.

One of them is last week, we pulled death of grid, nobody knows what it meant. Tony doesn't know how to play this game if he's asking to put the Swap Helmet back. The Swap Helmet is one of the few good things in there. You could take anyone else's time. I was actually with Tony because having a Swap Helmet for someone that's not here

Just makes this more of a mess when I actually thought this edition was pretty buttoned up reaper reaper What are you nodding about makes him more of a mess because you didn't do this with Lucy and Jessica keeping the Raiders for the swap helmet Because we're all inclined to say put it back. No, no, because the first one doesn't count together a second one on the Reaper editorializing his great. That's a good point. I'm drawing a second to the Reaper. You don't you don't you're not involved in this other than the dispensed death. He's giving off an annoyed vibe. Cardinals. All right. And he's worth all my great. Oh my god. The Cardinals. The Cardinals are the worst team in football and they are a four point

Underdog at home against the giant only Wow, Dan. Here's the reason why you're wearing mad costumes and I'm not is because I say throw it back when it needs to be thrown back That's the difference The difference Tony we're in a ton of costumes Tony. You're wearing a costume right now What is that how how much? The Wizard of Oz. Oh, life is a bear. A lion, a tiger, or bear across all sports. Oh, mine.

Which means you can take the Detroit Tigers if you'd like? No, no. Across all sports, you've got the bangles, a minus three if you want a football team against the Ravens. The Jags are a three-point underdog against the Chiefs. Well, the Jags are not three point underdog against the Chiefs. Well, a Jag isn't it. I mean, you could take a college team, you see a way. You know what, no, no, I'm gonna keep it, and I'm gonna stay in the NFL, and I'm gonna

keep the Bengals minus three. I think big bounce back from Joe Burles. All right. Good home, the sports, thank you. You've got to, I have chosen anything in sports. I'm sorry, I just ruined that, but I have I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Go ahead and look up on the go ahead. He's rolled. I got the charges. They had the Titans minus three. Got to know I'm keeping it. Package extra slapping. They chargeers. Yes, at the Titans, Tannen Hill was terrible. All right, I'm going for myself first

because I also have to pick for Jessica. This is for me. First helmet. Seahawks. That's going back, I think. There are five, yeah, they're at the Lions underdog. That's going back. Five and a half point underdog.

I'm gonna pick a helmet here. The Jets, God damn it. Okay, I was picking for Jets, right? That was for Jets, great. That's my move, that was my move. I heard you. All right, here's your Jets. The Jets are an eight and a half point dog

against the Cowboys. Uh, the pink helmet. Big apple. By the way, that's how you do it. What does that mean? Any New York team? Any New York team across any sport. Uh, you want to come back?

Let me look. I'll put it back. I'll put it back. I'll put it back. I'll put it back. I'll put it back. I'll put it back. I'll put it back.

You get to get more views. Yeah. You want accountability. This is what you do. If you're not here, someone picks for you, but they get the choice of which pick is theirs and which pick is yours, right? That way it puts the pressure on Lucy and Jess and whoever is not here to be like, yo, Reaper, we need to do this now because I'm not letting this happen tomorrow. I like that rule, Jess.

Jess has the Giants. Do you want to be the commissioner of this league? Billy was very bad at it. Like the worst I've ever seen. Would you like to be the commissioner of the league so that you can make rulings and you can make rules? You don't know what kind of hell you've just invited. Are we always talking about his bad judgment

and you want him in charge of something? Well, he just had a good idea. I have a good idea. That's all it takes. That's a parameter. Ah, good idea. Manel Lark will take from any of you a just had a good idea. I have a good idea. That's all it takes, that's a barometer. Ah, good idea. Manel Lark will take from any of you a single birthed good idea.

Like if you can all produce one single idea that is good, I'm here for it. That's black. We've been here for two years and haven't done it yet. Also, BIS 1985. Not that bad. That was a dilapidated courthouse. Now it's a casino.

Roy, what did you just pick? Bears, no, don't back. The bears are a three-point dog. Dog-ish it. At the Buccaneers. The Patriots. Whoa. The Patriots are a two and a half point underdog at home against the dolphins. You are betting against the dolphin.

But they are wearing red throwbacks. What a fight. Dolphin spreads a small. It makes me nervous. Green Bay Packers with my first pool. against the dolphin. But they are wearing red throwbacks. What? Why? Dolphin spreads so small. It makes me nervous. Green Bay Packers with my first pool. One point dog at Falcons. I'm going to keep this one.

Bejou, that's how. Who? Bejou. I don't know why you made it. Bejou. Bejou is a club in Boston. Sorry. Okay. Yes, that's all that that

Mike Smith. I told you he's gained weight put on a mustache and he's just gonna ride be John Robinson into the future Mike Smith. That's a former Falcons coach. I'm sorry. What is his name Alex? I think there is Arthur Arthur. Yeah, he's in there Smith. Yeah, yeah. Party. Come to be with me. My bad. That's a fine. All right right, I'm swarming Mike Smith wasn't either coach that look like a guess who character I got them boys The cowboys are a big favor against the jets a half point favorite. I'm keeping it Reaper I've got to decide what it is your punishment is for Reaper, I've got to decide what it is your punishment is for getting into an argument with my grime before the show. I shouldn't be allowed to look in there

and just pick. Yeah, you should put that one back. See all that. Well, let's let our commissioner make a ruling. Oh, the Reaper is taking the law into his own hands or their their own hands. Sorry, Reaper. The bills. I have the bills. I'll take the bills. Yes, you do have the bills. Yeah, all the bills, Dan. The bills. I have the bills. I'll take the bills. Is it an eight point favor against the Raiders? Yes, you do have the bills. Yeah, all the bills, Dan. Thank you. Thanks to us. This one was pretty clean. It was. Yeah, this one. How about us? Good job, everyone. I'm not. I don't have that much resentment towards my fellow castmates.

Good, good, good pool. Good pool. To be clear, next week week do we enact the absentee rule I Like that rule. Yeah, but it just keeps the segments cleaner, but you don't like a mean as the as the commissioner I'm just saying we may want to think about that. I know we're sorry for good ideas, but we He's got terrible. He's got famously terrible judgment, but great ideas It's a it's a conundrum. Look, man. And also perhaps an overstatement. A real Sophie's choice.

Ha ha ha. Ba ba. Ba ba. Ba ba ba. Ba ba ba. At public mobile, we do things differently. From our subscription phone plans to throwing a big sale right now when no one else is. Well maybe they are, but who cares, our sale is better. And it's on right now, no waiting necessary. You have the latest phone, now take advantage of a great price on a 5G subscription phone

plan. It's the perfect deal for anyone who could use some savings right now. Subscribe today at publicmobile.ca. Different is calling. Don Lebertard. Well, my point about Jimbo Fisher is that an ex-saving, he's been trying to cancel me for saying that Mrs. Met has cake and Bobby Baldwin would have said, Mrs. Met, she has snatched. Still got shh. Damn, I never paid for a player. Now, I would pay for Mrs. Met, she has snatched. Stugats.

I never pay for a player. Now, what paper Mrs. Met to give me a lap dance? This is the Don Lebert of violating with the names you guys keep coming up with. We're on week three of bad suggestions. Was there a particularly bad one this past week that you rejected? I would call all of them particularly bad, but college Dame Day? Come on. Come on. I think there was a fundamental misunderstanding of the types of names we were looking for when we did the whole segment where Mike was suggesting

very sexist names, and then the audience was like, oh yeah, let's go with all of those. I'm not saying college Dame Day is sexist, but the gendering thing was what we were trying to avoid. And that's all UCSS, girls, because that was all of those in my Twitter mentions, but we forgive you. Cause college football's back, I think week two slapped,

it was everything I wanted it. Alabama, Texas, my highlight of the weekends. Like it was seeing the Alabama dynasty, I don't wanna say die, cause I don't think it ever will, but start to just fade before our eyes. Yeah, it was. It was.

It was. I had so much fun. Like, I've never caught myself rooting for Texas, although I did tell you I thought they would win. Very, like, cautiously, sold and then taken. You did. That's a dub. That's two weeks in a row that Lucy and I have predicted two things that came true, Duke and Texas.

TBD, wait till the end of the episode, see if there's a third this week. But yeah, Texas one, Texas one big too. It was like one, Quen yours. Oh my God. Love watching him. He might be my favorite player this year that isn't Iowa's punter. It was, it's nice to see Texas back because I'm a firm believer that when people are like

college footballs better when Texas is better than Nebraska and Miami or I shut it's great all the time it's great all the time but I do like the Texas back I think it brings this whole just like added hatred and flair and then you've got them joining the SEC I love that game I thought it was awesome I'm sorry that Alabama is down to season ending but I'm kind of ready for it to get be done. Sorry not sorry. Our producer Taylor put in our show notes of the eight game Sabin had lost at Bryant and Danny Stadium. Three came at the hands of quarterbacks who won the Heisman trophy. Little trivia Lucy,

while you already saw the show notes. But those of you at home pause think, ooh who are they? It's like the tribute question. No free ads, bleep that out, Taylor. It's Cam Newton, Joe Burrow, and Johnny Mansell. So maybe Quinn Ewers, because he's gonna be like, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.

Heisman watch. Are you putting him on Heisman watch? Oh yeah, I thought he was already on Heisman watch. He came in with, if you're a quarterback for like a power five team that's ranked in the top 15, you're probably on Heisman watch. And need absolutely deserves to be there. So one of the things, we'll just hit the Colorado stuff

a little bit, and I only say that because we talk about it so much on the main show that you're probably like, this is enough Colorado talk. Right, but they won. They won. They won. And Nebraska is not good at football, it's crazy. We are new.

What? What? My God. Yeah, kind of saw that one coming. Yeah, kind of crazy, it coming. Yeah. Kind of crazy. It was only three points spread. I think Vegas needs to catch on with the fact that Colorado's pretty good this year.

I actually think the other reason they did that is they were like, I know no rest. It's going to keep it close. It's not going to win, but I know they're going to keep it close. That is true. They are elite at losing one score games. They kept, well, they didn't keep the streak alive.

Yeah. We'll see the rest of the season. Just you wait. We're going to drop a couple of those this year it's it's not hard for them to do we compiled a top five list for this week Lucy should we get into that now as we start to talk about some of the losers from week one heck yeah we should tell us what the top five list is so this is our list of top five teams you don't want to voluntarily schedule. Because every year you will see that Arizona has scheduled, one of the teams that will be on the list,

I'm not gonna spoil it. And you're like, why'd you do that? Why'd you do that? There's nothing that hurts me more as an Iowa fan than seeing one of these teams on the schedule. Because I'm like, our whole bit with the non-conferences, we don't wanna play anybody. That is our thing.

Quit trying to make it tough. Yeah, Michigan has done a really good job of the last couple of years not putting any potentially upsetting group of five teams on their schedule and it's worked out for them so far. So this is like a warning inspired by North Carolina narrowly avoiding a loss against AppState at home. This is a warning.

Do not voluntarily schedule any of the teams on this list. Lucy, do we have any LLIs? SArthur LLIs. We have both North Dakota State and South Dakota State. I sat my freshman year in Wash Iowa, loose North Dakota State when we were a top 10 team. A couple of Dakota's cutting it up. The Jackrabbits.

That's the team that Iowa scored seven points. Again, that wasn't a touchdown. It was two safeties in a field goal. So yeah, don't schedule them. They're so good. They're really better than most teams. And I would say like they would rank mid tier out of all the FBS.

Yeah. And they don't. They're FCS schools that generally make the FCS championships and the playoffs and they are very good, produce talents such as Carson Wentz and others. Yeah. Terlands. Oh, you know what I'm saying.

Yeah. Alright. Well, bad examples there, but number five, Lucy. Tulane. Tulane feels like one that's like on the up and up just because there's more like name recognition with Tulane lane like Ole Miss. Two lane was this weekend, Ole Miss one, it was very close. Yeah, that's a team you can't, Michael Pratt also did not play, which is very important.

Recorded back for two lanes. Two lane is a team that I feel like people are starting to like get kind of high on just after that US evil bull victory last year, but that doesn't mean you should schedule them. You're going to find them in the postseason. Don't start it off early. Yeah, they're really good. It's not, I wouldn't even say sneaky good. They're usually really good.

And they have the cutest little logo in all of college football. Oh my god, they're little green wave. And they have great uniforms. You're going to be outmatched in uniforms and logo and probably in personnel. So you don't want to lose to Too Lay. I also want to give a disclaimer.

When I say top five teams that I don't want you to schedule, I mean, I don't want Iowa to schedule. I'm fine if everybody else does. It gives a little excitement in the life. We love an app, state Michigan or an app, state, text, say, and m. Iowa, we have a new AD, Beth. Don't schedule these teams. Beth, listen to Lucy.

They'll do it. Got it. Number four. They'll do it. Got it? Number four. Number four is Wyoming. B-A-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D I can't, like, Tony voice. That's insane to do that. And like, I feel conflicted on this one because, wow, was that such an awesome environment? Did that mean so much to like the Wyoming fans and players, students to have a power five team there?

But why would you do that? Yeah, why would look what happened? You don't want to look at your schedule and see that your team's going to Laramie. There's some weird shit that always goes down in Laramie, weird altitude, wind, weather. You don't want it. Great home environment for the Cowboys. Also produced Josh Allen, so, you know, he lost Iowa so it was okay. That's crazy. That's crazy. I'm there.

My God. Number three. Number three, J.M.U. James Madison. The dukes. Yeah. Number three, JMU, James Madison. The dukes. Yeah. They are, they're FBS now. Yeah, second year. Second year, last year they did really well. They could make a bowl game though for some like

technicality reasons. Stupid. Yeah, like the NCAA bureaucratic reason. That was hell. Yeah. JMU is always so good. Like they beat Virginia last week, which, yeah, I think they are looking bad for Virginia.

That's tough. Virginia's I really like Tony. He might not be the guy. He might not be the guy there. Yeah, don't schedule J.M.U. Also upset Virginia Tech in 2010. Number two, this one we already mentioned, AppState. Rollin' near, drink beers. Big thing, Appalachian, that's how it's pronounced. I heard it Appalachian the other day. Who said that? Who said that? Who said that? Stu!

I was not here and I heard it. I was like, oh my god, it's Appalachian. Um, that is, they have been so consistent. They never said anything wrong. That's cool. That one hurt me deeply. Um, they've been so consistent since like, even like the mid 2000s, when they were the FCS national championship

or champion team like they have been so good. My entire life I grew up like an hour outside of Boone. They're some of the craziest fans I've ever seen, a great atmosphere like they are just always so good. They're always so well put together, so well coach, so many big time coaches have come from AppState, including MacBrown. Like yeah, and he was like,

he was like, we're not, I don't wanna play him. He was like, ECU can play him. And he's taking play him. I don't wanna play him anymore. And I think that's hilarious. I think it's fair to me. I love that in this day and age when we're like,

college football is being ruined. And like, everything is about money now. MacBrown's like, I don't want this in-state rivalry that everyone loves because all these teams are very close to one another. I actually hate it because we almost lost to them. So we're not doing this anymore. And I'm going to clench Sean Clark's neck with my hand.

Like he is a baby who needs support so that his giant cranium doesn't fall backwards and flop behind him. Yeah, he's been, he's been real touchy lately. Yeah, what's the deal with that? Okay, there was to deal with that. Just, he's just shrugging. He's just shrugging. All right, that's been he's been real touchy lately. Yeah, what's the deal with that? I'm Okay, there was to deal with that Just he's just shrugging. He's just struggling. All right. That's fine. Thank you for the contribution I feel like then number one team you don't want to see on your college football team schedule Lucy. Oh my god quit schedule in Georgia Quit doing it. Ah You know what I would put Alabama on that list, but after this week, maybe not maybe you should put them on your schedule

I'm kidding. I would don't do that under, but after this week, it may be not. Maybe you shouldn't put them on your schedule. I'm kidding, I would, don't do that. Under no circumstances, can you do that? A little bit of a cop out, number one, but it's fair. All right, Lucy, we've got a couple minutes left. It's week three, week three point five, I guess, because of week zero, whatever. I'm gonna call it week three. It's week three.

Not a ton of great games on the schedule this weekend. Are we predicting any upsets? Are we locked into any games? I know you might be going to the Florida Tennessee game? Yes, we might be going to that game if we are. It's because game time is sending us use code DLB for, I don't know, a discount. Well, I don't know the parameters of it,

but we certainly wouldn't have a code if you didn't get anything for it. So, yes, we might be going to Tennessee, Florida, in Gainesville. I am not very high on Tennessee this year. They've struggled in their first two games against Virginia, not good Virginia team in Austin P, which is kind of crazy to do that. I think that Joe Milton has a lot of hype, not that he's bad, but every time I say a highlight of him, he's never throwing a football,

he's just throwing something else really in orange. And I could do that. We've been over this before. Yeah, I would like to see you try. And I don't mean that in a mean tone, because it came out of me. It would just be fun if we did that over a weekend. All right, let's do it.

But yeah, so I think Florida is kind of desperate right now. Billy Napier doesn't know if he's gonna have a job next year, the opening. Graham Mertz also. Not Florida quarterback. Wasn't too hot at Wisconsin. When the portal at Florida, not sure how much I trust him slinging it.

This is a game I pick with like zero confidence, but just because weird stuff can happen in Gamesville. And we got to pick something. Yeah, we got to pick something. Bands something loose. This is last year's given us nothing. Yeah, we got to give something. Bands something loose. This is last year. They're giving us nothing. Yeah, this is last year's Utah game with Tennessee and gamesville. I could see an upset happening, but I don't don't bet on it. Do not put your money on it.

Put money on what's your Michigan cover in sidewalk? No way. We do those guys by 28 points. I don't care who it is. If they score 28 points It will be the first time they reach the 25 point threshold of the season with Brian Farad So there is your tip Take Western Michigan and the points They're not gonna beat I or they're not gonna beat Iwab, but they're not like that. I'm not gonna avoid Sorry, I know I screwed that up. I probably made you more scared than you needed to be there. I'm going to be watching the backyard bra Lucy.

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by the customer, availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state. Don Lebatard. Smart. Stugats. Mortes, smart. by state. Don Lebatard. Sparts. Stugats. More Sparts. This is the Don Lebatard show with the Stugats. It's good to see you, Jim.

Yeah, good to see you. Yeah. Are you my friend? I have been better, but thanks for asking. It's a difficult question to answer at the moment. I have not gotten any good at answering it recently just after that. We don't need to do it. Yeah.

I mean, I saw in social media, you know, there are words are inadequate, you know. Most people just lie. Yeah. You should have good, just lie. I'm good. Keep it moving. Yeah. Most people do just lie. You said you should just lie. Good, keep it moving. Yeah, most people do just lie. That is correct. Five, but when someone asks me how I'm doing,

I like to tell them how I'm doing. Well, especially when they add with, like, common my friend, well, then I feel the need to be honest with you. And then it just complicates everything. Yeah, that's where we are with the awkwardness of this. We're wasting his time. You promised. It's all good. Well, we started already we started already I was a great awkward start a Twitter a person on X writes in

Stugot saying that he expected the worst from the jets and wasn't surprised at all by the Aaron Rogers Entry after predicting they would go 15 and two is why he's the best. Yes, yeah! Matthew Barry, I think, is viewed as the best when it comes to the brand of fantasy football. In fact, I don't know Matthew and thank you for joining us. I don't know who you view as a competitor in the business of this. If Shams and Wohj are competing, who's the person out there that you look at and say,

this person is trying to come and take my corner? You know what? No one's ever asked me that question. And there's no easy way to answer that without sounding really egotistical, right? You know, that like, because I either say, oh, well, this person is somebody that, you know, I either say, I don't have any competition, which sounds super ego-tistical, or I say, this person is, and I don't know, here's what I will tell you, is that the people I respect, I'm in business with, some way somehow. And like, the fantasy

industry is filled with it, and sports betting industry is filled with a ton of people that I think are really, really good at their jobs. But, you know, I have this startup fantasy life and a lot of the people that I have hired for fantasy life for the people that I respect most in the industry. And so I'm lucky in that, you know, guys like Dwayne McFarland and Ian Hartitz and Matthew Friedman and Pete Oversett and Kendall Bonswell have come and worked on fantasy life for me. And then there's a lot of people great at NBC. I have tremendous respect for my former colleagues

at ESPN, so, but I do not think that there is someone in the industry that is, to your point, a shams to my woes or my shams to somebody else's woes, depending on how you want to say it. I don't think there is that person. Well, I want to talk to you though about the business of fantasy life that you mentioned because you had athlete investors on this. The newsletter is a growing thing and I want to ask you, because you told us last time

you were on with us, very complimentary things about ESPN, but they wouldn't let you do some of the side projects that you wanted to do. They wanted to inhibit your freedom. So take me through what had to happen for you to get to LeBron James and others to invest in what it is that you were doing with fantasy. You want me to talk about just sort of building that business once I left the SPN? Yes, building it and also the recruitment of money because athletes are seeing value in this because you're an industry leader.

Yeah, it was honestly, it wasn't, I know that, look, I'm very blessed and I'm, you know, knock on word, but it can't really, it wasn't that tough to raise money for. We actually had to turn people down that wanted to invest. I mean, because it's actually, it's a pretty good story, right? I mean, very simply, I bootstrap the whole thing, right? So it's one of the reasons why I left last year

was that I felt there's some momentum. So, Ispin, we're like, you gotta get rid of it, and I'm like, I don't it's one of the reasons why I left last year was that I felt there's some momentum. So, Ispin, we're like, you got to get rid of it and I'm like, I don't want to get rid of it. So, I had this merch store, this fantasy life.com merch store, and was doing pretty well. And we had some, you know, email addresses. And we were sending out emails to everyone that signed up for the merch store that had fantasy news and an analysis and advice. And it's just in a free email. And I'm friends with a guy named Austin Reef who is the CEO and co-founder of Morning Brew. Are you familiar

with Morning Brew? No. And I know the name of it, but I don't know what it is. I've heard more. It was an awkward pause there and I had a few. I felt the need to be honest. Yeah, no, it's all good. It's a, it is a, it is a, it is a newsletter for, they could consider themselves the Wall Street Journal for millennials. Anyway, but it's a newsletter business that was founded by Austin and his partner and did very, very well and then ultimately sold for a ton of money to business inside. Okay. So anyway, Austin's a friend and we're having lunch and I'm like, listen, I don't know anything about it. He nails like, look at this. And can you give me some advice? Am I doing

anything right here? And he goes, yeah, here's my advice. Screw your merch store, focus on this. This is your business. And he's like, you're doing about 8 billion things wrong. But even with one hand tied behind your back, you're doing better numbers than we did in your three of Morning Brew. He says, this is a real business.

You need to focus on this and run it like a real business. And I'll give you some advice. And he is on our advisory board. And so he's been a great friend of the company. On that morning. And so I know what you're talking about. Yeah, definitely. What just happened that Jessica and Tony fell out laughing there in the middle of my

conversation with Matthew Barry, because neither of them could be bothered to be helpful when he asked them the question, have you heard of Morning Brew? That's not what happened. You were talking to us in our headset, and I do know what the Morning Brew is. It's a very popular, I'm shocked that Mike didn't know what it was. I had to fill the silence like a f***** idiot. I awkwardly said no, and then I heard it like five seconds later,

and I was like, oh, I know what it is, and then Tony was like, I know what it is too, and then we were both laughing at Mike. Such a fool. Do you guys wanna offer anything on the microphone? I'm just, I wanna ask him about guillotine fantasy leagues because I saw this clip on my IG Reels algorithm because it's fantasy football time

and that's what I'm searching mostly. And I want you to tell Dan and the audience about this new fantasy format that I think might actually make the whole concept exciting for Dan because we've lost some a long time ago with fantasy talk. But it's a brand new, we people have been playing fantasy sports for decades now,

and for something new to come on the scene, that's unexpected is exciting, tell the people about it. So Dan, let me ask you this. I'm happy to explain Gui-Teen Lee because it's awesome and I play it and it's a lot of fun But we're halfway through me answering the first question about how did I get LeBron to invest in this thing? So you tell me like I think all I want to talk I want to talk This is the thing about fantasy. Okay. I don't actually hate fantasy

What I hate is that everyone who has a fantasy team thinks that I'm interested in what happened with their fantasy team. And I have no interest whatsoever in anybody else's fantasy team. This has been a bit of a profitable plague that has come throughout sports where everyone thinks they're a general manager. But the business of what you're doing is actually interesting to me because you've cornered a difficult market and anybody who thinks that this is guessing or that you're not playing a very sophisticated brand of poker with how valuable your information is, they don't understand what an assassin you are as a businessman to break free from ESPN because you saw that they were limiting you in a place where they shouldn't have proprietary rights over you

if they want you to succeed as a businessman. That is correct. And so fast forward just real quickly. In essence, basically, I bootstrapped the business for a year, we did seven figures in revenue. We were profitable. I took the money from the merch store and I hired one employee.

I hired a CEO, a guy named Elliot Chris, who's done a great job. And so over the course of the year, that was March 1st, 2022, that I hired Elliott. April 1st, 2023, 13 months later, we hired employee number 12. We're now up to 15 full-time employees on the company. And so in essence, basically, to answer your question, how did I get to some of these athletes and some of these big business men that invested as well. Casey Wasserman, Maverick Carter, Tony Khan, owner of the Jaguar, Roger Aaronburn,

co-owner of the Miami Marlins, Chad Hurley, the co-founder of YouTube, George Pine, the CEO of Brewing Capital, some of those guys, along with the Joe Burrows, the Josh Islands, the John Legends, the Austin Ecclers, the Jamar Chases of the World, and LeBron as well through his family office. The way we were able to get to them is it's a very simple story.

The newsletter business is hot. It's fantasy and sports betting, which is hot. We are a profitable business and it's me at the center of it. And oh, by the way, I'm working now. I'm no longer working DSP and I work at NBC Sports. And when I went to NBC Sports, I was very clear like, I'm not coming to NBC Sports unless I can do whatever I want with fantasy life and NBC See sports was awesome and they said to me they said look Chris Collins worth owns pro football focus

We are comfortable with our talent having an entrepreneurial side as long as you accomplish what we need you to do for us on NBC side And so they've been very happy with me. It's been a great first year at NBC and so It was actually a fairly easy pitch to a lot of these investors basically saying like, hey, here's the business. We're already profitable. Here's where we're going. I've got a good team behind me. I've got my social platforms as well.

And so it wasn't that tough. And in the case of a lot of these people, and I'm happy to talk about any individual investor, if you want, but I know all of them through fantasy football, all of them play fantasy football in some way, shape or form. And so I have a, I'm closer with some of them and others, but the athletes don't necessarily play, but they understand the business of it. Austin Eccler does play, but Josh Allen played when he was in college. And so the people that managed their investments

understand what a great opportunity was as well. So happy to talk through any of that, but that's how that happened, Dan. And I do wanna get one shout out here. Specifically, we talked a little bit last time. And I actually don't remember if this was on air or off air, because you and I had a nice conversation after the show.

But your COO, Bill McCompady, is a dear friend of mine, has been for a long time. Him and I started the ESPN around the same time. When I was thinking about all this, Bill Mokapedia had probably like a four-hour dinner in New York where I asked him, I said, I'm really inspired by Dan and what he did, leaving ESPN and forming metal-lark media. Can you take me through that process and don't tell me any secrets, but can you tell me how you sort of helped build that? He took me through that and gave me a bunch of invaluable advice.

Again, I said this to you privately. I'll say it publicly. Thank you for loaning Bimmel to me for some time. You've got a really good employee there. Matthew, in 11 minutes or less, can you describe what a guillotine league is? Ha! I can do it in one, I can do it in less than one minute, right? A guillotine league is very simple. You draft a fantasy team just like you normally would.

It's a normal draft, right? And you start a normal lineup. What happens is you don't play head to head. You just start your lineup. And on Tuesday morning, after all the games are in play, the team that has the lowest score in the league is eliminated from the league forever is just cut. And all of the players in on that person's team go back into the free agent pool for other teams to claim.

And you keep doing this until there are no teams remaining until there's only one team remaining. That is a guillotine league. And it is incredibly fun. It's a sweat like no other as you're going in Monday, football, and all of a sudden your quarterback has gone down with Achilles injury and you also had Garrett Wilson and is he going to get any passes? And so it's just, it's sort of a really intense game because once you're done, you are done.

And because it keeps getting smaller and smaller, you know, you get in, it's the eighth week of the season and all of a sudden, Patrick Mahomes is on your waiver wire. And you're trying to decide, do I want to bid on Patrick Mahomes or Jalen Hertz? It's kind of crazy. And as the teams leagues get smaller,

like the teams get better, and anyway, it's incredibly fun. It seems like Dan wasn't really into the guillotine league. So Matthew, can you describe to him the vampire league? Maybe that will get him interested. Yeah, 10 minutes. Yes. Um, I, by the way, I understand, I will just say this.

I'll answer your vampire question in a second, but I'll say this. I understand Dan's plight because I mean, I, that's literally my job. My life, my career is listening to other people talk about their fantasy teams. And even I'm like, uh, yeah, I get it. You know what I mean? Like so, right. I mean, it's, it's a, uh, you know, it's a long running part of my take joke, right? No one cares about your fantasy team.

So I totally understand if I'm Dan Levitard, the last thing I want to do is hear about your fantasy team. So I appreciate Dan's point of view on that, on that topic there. So vampire, um, vampire league, though. Yeah, vampire league very quickly is and as in states, you pick your size league states 10 team league and nine of the people in the league draft like normally one guy, one person, I should say one person is the vampire. That person does not draft. Okay. So then you go through the draft and the rosters are expanded. So the nine teams have kind of a little bit of an expanded roster. They draft once the draft and the rosters are expanded. So the nine teams have kind of a little bit of an expanded roster.

They draft. Once the draft is done, they can make no moves. They can't pick up any players. They can obviously change their starting lineup, but they can't pick up any players. They can't make any trades. They're stuck with that team. The vampire now has to create a team of all the free agents, all the people that were drafted.

And each week, they will play another team. And if they beat a team that was able to draft, they're able to steal a player from the other team. They basically trade. They vampire, if you will, a player from the other team that they beat. And so as the season goes on, the vampire gets stronger. Like, in essence, sucks fantasy blood, if you will, out of the opposing teams. And so that's the idea is, can you, in essence, build a team from scratch? And think about it, like this week, like no one drafted Pukin' Nakuwa, like that would be somebody that you pick up, right?

You know, there are quarterbacks that emerge that probably didn't get drafted in those kinds of leagues, you know, Jordan Loves, Sam Howell had nice games, et cetera, et cetera. So it's a really fun format, I think especially if you're the vampire. I've been the cetera. So it's a really fun format, I think especially if you're the vampire. I've been the vampire before. It's a fun format.

It's not as fun as guillotine, but it's fun. Check out the vampires, fantasy football, happy hour, with Matthew Berry, as well as his weekly articles and video content across Roto World on NBCSportsEdge.com. Before you get out of here, give somebody, give everybody a valuable nugget of fantasy information that will carry them through the beyond because they need Matthew Berry's inside information, secret sleepers, secret value, eight minutes or less, give everyone all of your maximum

sleeper, most valuable information for free, that they don't have to go to a newsletter. They don't have to go find you. You're giving it to them because they found Matthew Barry right here. And as he just told you before, no arrogance. He's got no competitors. He's the best there's ever been. Uh, thank you. I will say that I will say that a lot of people questioning was was Pukin Nuku, the the Rams rookie wide receiver was he a fluke with his 15 targets. He tied with Tyree Kyl for most targets a week one. I don't think he was.

He had a very strong camp. They like him a lot in LA, even if Cooper Cup, if and when Cooper Cup comes back, my expectation is that Pukin' N'Koo will actually will continue to be a thing. There's a bunch of different usage things that were really interesting, I think, from week number one.

I'll just give you a random one. Nick Chubb caught four passes. There's something like, yeah, whatever. Nick Chubb four passes. I'm like, well, but Nick Chubb, I'm not saying he's going to be Chris McCaffrey or Austin Eckler, but the fact of matter, Nick Chubb, like, that's a six, that's a north of 60 reception pace. And if that's going to be a thing, like, he got four targets.

He was third on the team in targets. If that's going to be a thing under this new offense, it's going to be more pass happy under Dishonel Watson. And Nick Chubb is going to catch three to four, five balls of game. Number one, running back in fantasies within the range of outcomes for Nick Chubb, because he's, I think, the best pure runner in the game. And it's a team that should be in scoring position early and often given their defense and improved offense. So that was sort of like a little thing that's like, oh, that's interesting. Zay Flowers played 50% of the target chair for the Ravens. I mean, and looked electric and with the injury to JK Dobbins, my expectation is that

Zay Flowers who got two carries in that game, I think he'll get more opportunities in the backfield as well. That's an offense that's going to be really interesting as well. So there's a couple of Ask me any question about any player and I'm happy to give you some stuff But those were the first three things that popped in my mind six more minutes Yeah, six more minutes on the clock if you oh, I got I gotta You don't have to use them, but you don't have to use them. I'm just saying that everyone I don't know whether I don't know how you feel walking through life,

but I assume that you were surrounded by piranha and that people want at every turn you to give them secrets because of how crazy they are about this thing and they wanna beat their friends and they wanna have more information that the other person doesn't have. And so I would assume your entire life is spent with people hassling you for secret information.

It is definitely a constant. I once had somebody who said, my dad once told me, never have a job where you could go to a party and somebody says, hey, let me ask you a question. Like, it never be a doctor, or in my case, a fantasy analyst. I'm like, yeah, too late.

It does happen. It definitely happens a lot. But on the other hand, Dan, the in my case, a fantasy, and I'm like, yeah, too late. It does happen. It definitely happens a lot. But on the other hand, like, Dan, the power of that, the fact that people want that information and that they're constantly asking, like has led me to some amazing relationships and opportunities and things that have gotten to done, even just, we're talking about, like, again, almost everyone that's on my investor list, and listen, it's not charity. They all have, you know, very smart business analysts that look at the look of the proposal and everything like that. But every one of those relationships started with, hey, let me ask you a question.

Hey, I play fantasy and I'd like some advice. And so, it's led me to some amazing things. I mean, like Avengers Endgame is because Joe Russo wanted some fantasy advice at one point and that developed a friendship with Joe. So I'll give you some other ones to stop the top my head. I think that I'm nervous about Christian Kirk. I think his game will be better, but look Calvin Ridley and Zay Jones on the outside, like those are the two guys for the Jacksonville Jaguar. So they played over 90% of the snaps. In Christian Kirk who last year never had a snap rate below 75%, I think he was at 62%

on Sunday against the Coltsnap. In fairness, the Colt have a great slot corner in Kenny Moore. So my expectation is that this week against the Chiefs, Christian Kirk will get more run. But make no mistake, like that pecking order of the Jaguars offense, which I think is an emerging offense. I'm a Doug Peterson fan, I'm a Trevor Lawrence fan. It's Calvin Ridley. It's Zay Jones.

And then it's Christian Kirk, who last year was a big, like, so I'd be nervous. I'm nervous about, if I had Drake London and I have zero shares of Drake London, if I had Kyle Pitts and I have zero shares of Kyle Pitts this year. I would be super nervous. Like that is it. That's a team that Arthur Smith is trying to hide his quarterback. And here's the thing, it works. They beat Carolina. They beat Carolina handily. Like he's gonna run like the Tyler Algier thing.

I don't think he get a lot of his work, work came with the fourth quarter. It's still gonna be B. John. If you have B. John Robinson, don't panic at all. But what I will say is that I don't know that that offense, even in a negative game script, and there'll probably be a negative game script against the Packers this weekend.

But even in a negative game script, I don't know that that offense can support three viable fantasy pass catchers, and I considered Beigeon Robinson a viable pass catcher. He was involved in the passing game a lot, and then you've got coppits and Drake London. So do I expect zero and one targets for them like we saw on Sunday. No, but like relative to where they were drafted, both guys, I think I would be very nervous if I had London or Kyle Pits because Arthur

Smith wants to do nothing but run the ball and hide his quarterback. And as much as us in the world of fantasy football, complain about it, it's working. They are compared last year. They won their game against Carolina. It's a division that's winnable. I don't know why artler Smith would change. So you're saying he wants the ideas quarterback, but when I saw him on the sidelines, because he put on a little weight and a mustache, I thought he himself was trying to hide. I said, because he looks like a different human being than he looked last year.

Matthew, thank you for being on with us. Congratulations on your success. It's cool to watch. Thank you, my friend. Any time. Pleasure to be here.