The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Local Hour: The Pressure of The Second Seat

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

It was a crisp night in the Spring of '77... Today's cast: Dan, Greg, Chris, Billy, Jeremy, and Jessica. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...

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Starting point is 00:01:39 in this seat. You know, I'm used to staring the show because of the Greg Cody Show podcast, which has my name in it, so it indicates that – Darrell Bock Twice, the Greg Cody Show featuring Greg Cody. Greg Cotty With Greg Cody, right. But no, I'm thrilled to be in this seat, honored to be in the Stu Gott seat. Darrell Bock So you're denying what sources say, but you just confirmed it beforehand, and then you denied it.
Starting point is 00:02:03 You said – Greg Cotty What I confirmed was that there's more pressure in this seat being the second guy instead of the third guy It's like there's more pressure batting third in the lineup than batting eighth, you know, that's that kind of thing What about batting second and batting third not much difference? Lead off the the only pressure spots in a baseball lineup or batting first Third and fourth. What? That just doesn't make sense.
Starting point is 00:02:26 Everything else is gravy, you know, that kind of thing. Because, you know, if you're batting seventh or eighth, you're on a holiday. Yeah, but after a certain inning, you could be batting fourth that inning. Well, that's true. You know, the guy batting eighth could bat fourth that day. Right, so what are you doing?
Starting point is 00:02:43 And you know that the best hitter in a lineup now more often than not bats second. Yeah, that's a new thing. Is that right? It's new. When did that happen? About a decade ago. Really?
Starting point is 00:02:52 What's the rationale behind that? More at bats over a long season, you get like 40 or 50 more at bats. I think third's probably more stressful than second though. I would think so too. But that's... No, you're right. I mean, we're on the same page on that one.
Starting point is 00:03:07 Second, that's an easy spot. If the leadoff guy gets on, you're in a no-lose situation. You know, you're bunt. Anybody still bunt? The sacrifice bunt used to be a thing. Like, Otani bets leadoff. Some managers just go with, if I bat him first over the course of a long season,
Starting point is 00:03:22 he's gonna get X more at bat, so I'm gonna put him first. Back in the day, if you batted a home run hitter lead off you were laughed at. You were laughed at in the league. It never happened. Can I ask you just a quick question here? How is it possible that you have been trudging out to Marlins games for the last 10 years and it has escaped your attention that the best hitter in baseball now hits second. I don't Acknowledge it. I don't think it's true. Oh, is there any quantifiable proof proof to that name name one team?
Starting point is 00:03:54 Yes, it's all of the best hitter batting Every team is good hitter on the Marlins. How would he know what a good hitter is? No you can't I mean it's ridiculous the Marlins. Greg, how do you not know this? You've been you've been going to baseball games for the last ten years long long enough to have earned a Hall of Fame Vote how do you not know that baseball has switched to its best hitter now? They I do love when baseball brilliant people suddenly discover. Oh, yeah, get our best hitter more in bats. It's like, we've been doing it wrong for 100 years. Black Guerrero Jr. with the Blue Jays,
Starting point is 00:04:32 one of their best hitters batting second in their projected starting lineup. Gunnar Henderson for the Orioles batting leadoff. Never heard of him. Guerrero projected as batting second for someone other than the Blue Jays. We're gonna skip past he's never heard of Gunnar Henderson? Yeah, well, we're gonna just start the show and see where we end up with him not feeling at all the pressure of being the second chair.
Starting point is 00:04:57 This is the Don Leventor Show with the StuGuts Podcast. That's Budcast! We're in for an experience today because if you guys are not aware of what happens to Greg Cody the week before his annual I'm Going on a Cruise and all I care about is just please put me at a bar for seven days so I can stand in the middle of the sea drinking from the drink package. Greg Cody tends to mail it in right before that annual trip. He is already sort of, he's sailed to sea on vacation. Chris, are you taking this trip with him?
Starting point is 00:05:38 Is this another family trip? How often does your father lean on you or get carried back to his room by you? Because that free drink package is something that he really he attacks with vigor. I'm gonna give him credit I rarely have to carry him back to the room I would say that there's a lot of pointing we go to the elevator that way that way down Did you a cruise ship for those who haven't cruise shipped long hallways? Yeah, long ass hallways and depending on what flight of stairs you walk up
Starting point is 00:06:09 You're never quite sure are you starboard or you the other you know There's pictures clearly that say that near the elevators and help you out with that like anything Do you know where you're going we're going to the Caribbean be more specific st. Kit. Kits. Whatever. St. Kits. Okay, that sounds like a small island.
Starting point is 00:06:31 That's a name that implies it's a very, very small island. Yolga nailed it. Okay, St. Kits and something. Tobago. Nevis. I don't know where we're going. We're not going to Trinidad and Tobago. They have a nice rainforest there.
Starting point is 00:06:43 Where, Nevis? No, it's St. Kits. Oh, okay. You can zip line, it's fun. Nevis doesn't even sound like the name of a country. Okay, great. I was told that the Greg Cody Show featuring Greg Cody has a reveal today that was both embarrassing to you and that you didn't realize until several minutes after announcing it
Starting point is 00:07:07 that it should be embarrassing to you. Why? I don't know what you're talking about. Well that you apparently reveal when you lost your virginity on the latest episode of The Greg Cody Show featuring Greg Cody. Yeah, it's an estimate. Who can remember that far back, to be honest with you? I mean, you know, it's so, you know,
Starting point is 00:07:29 I could have been off by a year. I think I might have been a year younger than I estimated. How did this come up? Well, we have a March Madness special that dropped today. Yesterday. Yesterday. And by that, I mean, we don't talk about college basketball at all, but I do my Mount Greg more which as everyone knows is a top five not a top four
Starting point is 00:07:50 I do my Mount Greg more of marches brackets baskets and balls and Under the category of March was top five marches of all time Yeah, I happen to lose my virginity in the month of March as I recall and so that was one of the five marches and there's a poll online today under my Twitter feed, it's always Twitter to me, still not X, that includes a vote on which of the five should be the number one seed. March. March 77, running away with it. I Think it was 76. It was 77. You're just embarrassed about this now. I'm not I was in my early 20s
Starting point is 00:08:29 I'm you know it happens. I don't lie like most people you know everyone else is lying I mean, I think why would I be embarrassed about that? You know I hadn't found anybody or should I say no one had found me you know I was playing Stratomatic baseball when I should have been dating in high school. What can I say? You know, I'm living my life. I'm doing all the best I can. R.C. Your son said that afterward you were sheepish and wandering around saying, is 23 old to be losing your virginity? J. Well, Christopher was howling with laughter as if it was like
Starting point is 00:09:05 abnormally old. Maybe it is, I don't know, but say I'm not swayed by whatever anybody else thinks. Like you say I should be embarrassed by that. I didn't say you should be embarrassed. I didn't say you should be embarrassed by that. I said that it was reported that you were embarrassed by that. For the time that feels a little late for me. I'm not shaming you. A lot of people wait for marriage. There are a lot of reasons to not do that. But it was just funny to me because you, I think, thought that that was the average.
Starting point is 00:09:33 You thought it was OK at the beginning, and then you were meant to feel shame that you didn't feel like feeling. And now you're defying about not having felt that shame because you're just sort of covering up and hiding the shame. Well, what way does psychoanalyze me, you know, without it. But that's just, I just gave a timeline. I just gave a timeline of factual
Starting point is 00:09:52 information. I was somewhat surprised by Christopher's reaction because to me I I have never and and still don't think of it as abnormal, you know. So it was the FAU dorms? It was afterward. If he's 23, he's out of college. It took him a while to get on. It took me a while. Keep in mind, I worked for the Miami Herald.
Starting point is 00:10:12 They had me work 39 hours a week, so that I was essentially full-time, but they didn't have to pay me like a full-time employee or start my benefits clock. That should have been your first warning, that journalism was trying to do it on the cheap. Yeah, but back it was the heyday of journalism. You kidding me 70s and 80s. That's when we were king But what is a heyday? Hey day, is that for horses like on days? I don't know but I don't know what a heyday
Starting point is 00:10:40 No, because it's he why it's not ha why so what is it? What is a Hay Day? A Hay Day is the best of times. I know, I know what a Hay Day is. The answer to it is Willie Mays. I know, I don't think. Let's say Hay Day Kid. That's right.
Starting point is 00:10:52 Speaking of Hay Day in journalism, there was a Yale Review story that I saw yesterday that said Vanity Fair's Hay Day, and the guy in it, Graydon Carter, for 25 years was the editor there and made $166,000 per article that he wrote. And he wrote like three articles a year and was just raking in cash. Wow. That was the heyday of journalism. That's crazy. I probably get about $78 in our column. I want to go through again what is on the Greg Cody show featuring Greg Cody?
Starting point is 00:11:25 You said top five marches. Yeah, final five marches brackets baskets and balls Bracket five brackets of all time or is that like tournament years? Like I love the 99 NCAA bracket like what does that mean? No, it's it's I'll give you an example What does that even mean? No, it's... I'll give you an example. One of my top five brackets is the, carpenters know it well, the angle bracket, which is
Starting point is 00:11:50 a classic 90-degree bracket which affixes together two different types of wood. I was making my... I once had a tall table around my avocado tree and I used angle brackets to attach the tabletop to the 4x4 legs. That's an example of a classic bracket that nobody ever gives respect to. Nobody knows what an angle bracket is. I've got to tell you, I'm shocked that you would be so ambitious as to think you could find five brackets and the reason this has made the top five is because of how hard it is to find top five brackets.
Starting point is 00:12:29 No, it's not a carpenter over here, he doesn't know. There's brackets aplenty. Yeah, there really are. You can do brackets for days. Give another bracket, give another teaser. I believe there, I think one of them was the short-lived television show called brackets. Yep Did you include the brackets
Starting point is 00:12:50 Races right where you that's where you sort of put like the rubber bands when you're trying to fix the way that your overbite Might work that did not make the Wow. Oh, I that's gotta be a bottom bracket though This thing well keep in mind. It's tough to make a final five. It's tough to make a Mount Greg five. But that is not the way that is said. A Mount Greg five? Yeah, a Mount Greg four. What is the name of that? What is it?
Starting point is 00:13:15 It is not a Mount Greg five, is it? I don't know. What do we call it? Mount Greg Moore is his top five. Greg, it is so great to see you on your own podcast that has your own name twice. Always go, I don't know, what is it about this thing that I do, Chris? Tell me more about it. I can't be bothered to answer questions or retain information about my own podcast.
Starting point is 00:13:39 And you just point to your son and say, I don't know, Chris, go ahead and tell him what I think about things. Well, that's, he's my executive producer. I pay him as such, and sometimes I rely on him to fill in the details. Chris, you just rolled your eyes that he pays you as such. Well, yeah, I mean, he knows how I feel about that.
Starting point is 00:14:00 Okay. Different conversations. But anyway. Well, wait, wait, wait, what, no, it's not a different conversation. It the one i want to have now where he thinks he's paying you well and you think he's not so he'd he'd just he'd just said i don't have to retain my own thoughts because of how well i pay my executive producer who then rolled his eyes at how well he's not paid. Well, he's feeling a little bit entitled.
Starting point is 00:14:28 I'm gonna, if I ask Christopher how much time he devotes to the Greg Cody Show podcast on a weekly basis, I don't know whether he's gonna exaggerate it or not. I'm saying some weeks, it's maybe an hour. Of actual recording, you know, then there's creative, like thinking about the show. Okay. Of creative. Repeating your thoughts that you can't retain yourself the stupid call you and yet you want to have every Wednesday the point is stupid call
Starting point is 00:14:53 called an organizational meeting oh wow you like meetings for your own show we have a phone meeting we don't have a meeting where we're all in a room here's the meeting he's saying anything that's worthwhile. Here's the meeting. Greg Cody goes, we should have a guest this week. For like 30 minutes. Christopher, get on it. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:15:11 It makes, it's like. Who books the guests, Christopher or Yeti? Both. Sometimes I do. If there was budget cuts and you had to choose one, Christopher or Yeti in terms of who is more responsible for the putting out of the Greg Cody show with Greg Cody? Good question. Who would you choose? That's a tough answer because Christopher is the
Starting point is 00:15:30 second-in-command on air, like he's my Robin to Batman, but Yeti does most of the producing work, most of the social media work, and stuff like that, so I need both. So Yeti, which of your top fives did you feel the best about? Balls, brackets, baskets, or marches? I think all four of them came out fabulously. The idea for this was Christopher's but my execution was top-notch and I would not say that if I didn't believe it. Will Lucille Ball appear in top five balls of all time? Yeah, you know, she was very important in my life.
Starting point is 00:16:08 I love Lucy. I mean, Lucy and Ricky, you know, that was ahead of its time. Ricky, a Cuban guy, speaking in a very thick accent, almost like Poppy, maybe more so, and that was a time in TV when there were very few people of color or foreign nations on TV. So that was trailblazing. Lucille Ball, one of the great women, dynamic women of the entire 20th century, politics, screen, no matter what the category is, she was just fantastic. So chances are, I'm hinting that she might have been one of the
Starting point is 00:16:47 One of the final five seems like stronger than a hint It suggests that if we tune in to the Greg Cody show featuring Greg Cody there will be prominent placement where we would get some Redundancy on what you just said about your admiration for Lucille ball you want to reveal one of the baskets now? I feel like we've dipped our toe in each one. Is it Lucio Ball? I don't know, the Lucio Ball, I don't wanna give it away. I wanna get to Billy's tournament here, which we have not updated, which begins on Thursday,
Starting point is 00:17:15 our March Sadness tournament that involves the fans. That's something that we must get to at some point today. But also, I wanted to get to the fact that Jessica spent an hour recently just listening to Jeremy. And that sounds like that could... Awful? Well, unless it's a back and forth,
Starting point is 00:17:40 listening, just listening to him talk for an hour, listening to anybody talk for an hour can get droning. Yeah, that's true Dan. So yesterday, Lehman and I got tickets to Unrivaled, courtesy of DraftKings, it was the final. So we had to drive all the way to Medley, which is not a short drive in rush hour traffic. And Lehman turned on his favorite Knicks podcast,
Starting point is 00:18:04 because the Knicks were playing the Heat last night at Madison Square Garden. And we turned it on to the Knicks film school, I think it's called, and Jeremy was the guest. And so we turned it on and I was like, oh, you know, it'll be a short drive. We'll listen to 20 minutes of this. Well, no, it was, it took like an hour and a half
Starting point is 00:18:19 to get to Medley, which is like west of Doral. Like, it's not close. And so I listened to an entire hour of Jeremy break down the Miami heat in the car while we sat in traffic in the baking hot afternoon sun. Did you love it? I, you know, I want to do the bit and say, no, you're annoying, but actually like,
Starting point is 00:18:40 when he's not being interrupted and purposely being annoying, it was, it was pretty informative, I hate to say. And how did that play out based on the results? Because the Heat, Tracy Morgan last night. Yeah, well, Jeremy actually was 100% correct in his analysis of when the Heat lose every game. Jeremy, if you want to jump in here so I don't get it wrong. It's not that they're starting out the games in their ass
Starting point is 00:19:02 the entire four quarters. They're actually playing well well and then they sort of lose the plot in the second quarter and then get blown out in the third quarter. That's exactly right. They start the game hot, starting lineup, kind of no matter what the starting lineup has been recently.
Starting point is 00:19:15 Nine nothing. It gets off to a hot. Nine zero last night. It was 12 zero last night. And they were up, I believe, 27-14. And then they brought in a certain backup point guard and things went awry, and all of a sudden it was 33-31.
Starting point is 00:19:28 And this has been the issue for Miami. They go up 13, they go up 17, and they haven't been skilled enough to end teams early in the game, go up 25 or 30. They let teams get back into it, and you have a single digit score at the half, and then everything goes awry in the second half. So as an unbiased member of the media,
Starting point is 00:19:46 would you say it's coaching is to blame or is it roster construction, lack of talent? Like as someone who's just fairly judging the teams and their failures, what would you say is the reason and how do you fix that? Little bit of column A, little bit of column B, little bit of column C, everybody's failing right now. They've lost eight games in a row,
Starting point is 00:20:03 it's the most games in a row Eric Spolstra's ever lost as a head coach. Ever. No, I'm messing that up. He sounds broken, he sounds sad. People are trying, getting tired of the trust process. Spoh, Jeremy Cortez, you, which, who?
Starting point is 00:20:18 Who's broken and sad? Spoh, Eric Spolstra sounds broken and sad. Let's play the sound of Eric Spolstra sounding, you know, we're pretty annoyed at this point hearing this coach talk with these words because it doesn't sound as brilliant or entertaining when they're not in the finals. That's the thing that we've been trying to, we've been racking our time, our brains, everything, you know, trying to find solutions for that.
Starting point is 00:20:50 We have not come up with solutions and we've pretty much tried everything. That's why I say I haven't been able to come up with solutions for that. This has been one of the biggest challenges of a regular season that I've been a part of. And we just have to stay the course. This is the NBA. So we'll have another game on Wednesday night. They have blown more leads than anybody in the league.
Starting point is 00:21:25 They've now tied Utah for most blown double digit leads. And as Jeremy mentioned, Eric Spolster has never lost this many games in a row and he's wearing it. Yeah, stay the course is sort of an odd thing to say. Right. Well, he's just used to saying it. Like there are certain phrases that he has.
Starting point is 00:21:44 Jeremy, I believe a number of Heat fans can do a top five of phrases they are done hearing Eric Spolstra say, but he's so used to saying it that yes, you need a different course. Go to a different course, whether it's a path or whether it's an instruction that someone's going to teach you. You're in the wrong course. You're in the wrong classroom. We have enough is one of his hits. They don't right now. No, you don't coach. You don't
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Starting point is 00:23:54 pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Tastes like Miller time. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Hey friends, it's Jerr Bear here, and I'm here to tell you all about Boost Mobile, which is now a legit nationwide 5G network. So I must take a break from the jokes here for a second and put on my serious voice because I would never ever joke about a 5G network that has invested billions building 5G towers across the country. Not even once. Not even if Mr. Boost Mobile himself asked me to. There is nothing funny about it. Boost Mobile is now a legit nationwide
Starting point is 00:24:36 5G network and also provides coverage across 99% of America. Seriously. Visit BoostMobile.com or your nearest Boost Mobile store location to learn more. The Boost Mobile network, together with our roaming partners, covers 99% of the US population. 5G speeds not available in all areas. Don LeBataard! What do I got here? I got a Magnum condom. Um... We won't get that out.
Starting point is 00:25:08 That's shocking! What? Stugatz. Here's a picture of Christopher when he was like three years old. Right next to the condom? Yeah. That's a subtle reminder. Never forget.
Starting point is 00:25:21 This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stugatz. Never forget. This is the Don Lebatar Show with the Stugats. I do give him credit for honesty because you, as you said, you rarely hear any coach at any level in any sport say something to the effect, I'm out of answers. We've tried everything and nothing's working. Well, the last, essentially what he said. The last two games, They're not really in them Like whether you start or not, you're losing the games by 20 points to Memphis and New York. That's different
Starting point is 00:25:54 the There were a couple of odd basketball results last night, right? Denver ends up winning at Golden State sucks for the Warriors, huh? They're terrible Stinks for Jimmy Butler. Man, crazy. They lost a game? Without Jokic. What? This character.
Starting point is 00:26:11 Without Jamal Murray, it's the one that, you know, gets interrupted around here and isn't allowed to speak for an hour straight. Why are you like this? You are so normal on that podcast. I'm sorry, everything's tough here. Jamal Murray doesn't play, Jokic doesn't play, and then after the game, Kerr says,
Starting point is 00:26:26 of Kerr, we need to get him rest, he's tired. Kerr, he says, I'm not tired, my back hurts. And then Kerr says he's been carrying the team for a month. And then you get the weird result of Indiana beating Minnesota when everyone is watching Minnesota and saying, huh, they might be playing recently over the last six weeks like they can climb into a championship conversation that only has four or five teams in it but Minnesota loses at home because of course I'll be topping and Indiana I
Starting point is 00:26:59 would love to have Indiana as my team I would love if if I can't have a championship team, something that looks or feels like Detroit or Indiana is something that I would love to be watching, falling in love with because of, because they can play in a game like that on the road against Minnesota and put up 132 points because they're gonna get their offense against anybody.
Starting point is 00:27:22 What's crazy for Obie Toppin is he had a historic night last night in Pacers history. Not only did he hit the game winner, but he joined Paul George as the only Pacers ever to have multiple games in a season with 30 plus points, 10 plus rebounds and five plus made threes. Like Obie Toppin is having one of the special Pacers seasons. It's so bizarre. Maybe Mike tries to sell it now. Oh, then. Better time than ever.
Starting point is 00:27:47 Dan, I feel like you could just jump on the Pacers bandwagon. Like, no one's gonna judge you for it. Just. I feel like I just did. Just do it. You, I don't know whether you were jumping on the unrivaled bandwagon last night,
Starting point is 00:27:58 but was that your first game attending? Because what you got was a stunner in the final, right? Like, that's Nafisa Collier's team the Owls they had only lost one time all season and they were leading in that game by 20 points that is an inventive experiment by the way that John Skipper and others are investing in Steph Curry is one of the investors as a made-for-television event that is allowed to that is created to bolster an economy outside of the WNBA for women who are complaining about their pay have been right to complain about their pay and now
Starting point is 00:28:35 recent others are mentioning the idea of You know Creating a work stoppage in order to make sure they are paid better So this league is a made-for-television event has been what kind of success can we say because in terms of conversation? They've gotten a lot of conversation and if you don't need fans and are just existing as a tournament That's meant to be televised because people need programming This seems like a smart idea with women who are underpaid taking their fame putting the I've heard that they've got these great Facilities and stuff but there is a little bit of cabin fever because as you said, it's medley It's not a part of Miami that most that anybody is traveling to for tourism. It's over by the airport
Starting point is 00:29:20 It's a place where my father grew up working in factories There's just not a lot over there except for a number of enormously famous women basketball players Who are better than most people in the world? Yeah, so the vinyl upset the owls in the semi-final So last night was Rose verse vinyl and the Rose one it's Chelsea Grey's team She was the MVP of the final game It was a lot of fun like you said it's a made-for-tv event because it's not Gray's team she was the MVP of the final game it was a lot of fun like you said it's a made-for-tv event because it's not in a huge arena it's in like a soundstage and there's not I don't know the total seat count
Starting point is 00:29:53 but it's very small but the inner arena atmosphere is actually really fun and there are tons of fans there it was just a really like entertaining environment tons of celebrities there Dwayne Wade and Gabby Union were there. Asia Wilson was there. Francis Tiaffa was there. There was a lot of celebrities. Court side watching the final last night. So it was really fun.
Starting point is 00:30:12 I think the basketball itself has been really fun to watch because it's three on three, but it's not half court three on three. It's like a condensed like two thirds court. They have a target score fourth quarter, you know, ending, so every game ends on a buzzer beater or a game-winning shot, which is really exciting. The pace of play is really fast because it's three on three, so they're constantly running the court.
Starting point is 00:30:38 And so it's been really fun to watch. It's been fun to watch the crossover teammate of like crossover teammate, you know, like teammates that have never played together before coming together and playing together on a team like this in this like small setting is cool. So I think fans have really enjoyed it, especially because usually in the WMB offseason, your favorite players are abroad, you might not get to watch all their games. And so this has been on TV a couple nights a week and has been easy to follow and there's like tons of, like tons of engagement coming out of it. And I think from what I understand,
Starting point is 00:31:09 the players feel like they're getting like an ownership stake in the league. So they feel like a sense of ownership over it and like making it fun for the fans. And I think you can really tell that like, this is a fun thing to get people engaged and get people excited about. It made me really excited
Starting point is 00:31:25 for the start of the WNBA season. It is easier, obviously, to just take a couple of concentrated months where you can make some money outside of the season and you don't have to go and run the risk of ending up in a Russian jail the way Brittany Greiner did because you're trying to get money overseas because they pay better overseas. But when you say it's a soundstage a warehouse do you feel while you're in it that it's not quite an arena that the that the fans make it an arena or the environment makes it an arena but that you might as well be on the soundstage of a game show no actually they they make it really feel like it's an arena it's just not you, it's not like 20,000 people.
Starting point is 00:32:05 It's like a thousand people or whatever it is. But like the, there are some really bad in arena DJs and entertainment in basketball. I will not name names, but whoever they have doing all of the in-game stuff for Unrivaled is very good at it. So like, it doesn't feel like you're on a TV set at all. It actually just feels like you're in a small arena. I've been to a number of college basketball games in the last
Starting point is 00:32:29 year. And this unrivaled in stadium or in arena was much more lively and exciting and was like a fraction of the number of people that have been at those games. So I really enjoyed it. I didn't know what to expect because it is not a lot of people. And like the farthest seat from the court is I think they said 20 feet away like it's really really close but the energy is great. I mean three-on-three basketball is is really fun. I enjoyed watching it during the Olympics this past summer so I was a little bit familiar with like how the pace of play works but this is not quite the same rules as that. This is more of a full court experience.
Starting point is 00:33:06 So I just really enjoy it. Like Chelsea Gray is, I think, like the perfect athlete for this format because she's so good at like shot creation. She can shoot from anywhere on the court. She can pass really well. And so I think it was very fitting that her team won and she was the MVP.
Starting point is 00:33:20 Angel Reese was out last night cause she re-injured her wrist, I believe. But she was the defensive player of the year and unri re-injured her wrist, I believe, but she was the defensive player of the year and unrivaled and so that was, you know, she helped that team get to the you know championship game. So it's a bummer that she wasn't there, but I think, you know, it just sort of highlights different characteristics of players that maybe don't always come out in five-on-five basketball and like really shows how different skills are more important there and like being able to play two ways in three-on-three is super important
Starting point is 00:33:51 because you're constantly hustling back and forth. It's an 18-second shot clock, it's moving really really fast, you're just running up and down the court like constantly. It's amazing that the league was this successful after they tried so hard and and gave the moon offered the moon to Caitlin Clark to play and she's really the one prominent player who said no thanks but it was a great season anyway good for the league that the Lunar Owls lost because most of the regular season it looked like they were gonna waltz to the championship almost uncontested they were 13 and won the next best record in the regular season
Starting point is 00:34:27 was 7 and 7 they ran away with it and the fact that they lost in the semis was great but that place seats 850 people and I don't know how they can sustain that formula because the bigger they get the more popular they get there's going to be a demand beyond the I will keep saying to you guys that the future of sports doesn't require uh... fans to be in attendance and it doesn't even require fans to be watching on television it's just all programming and that television uh... streamers need the programming sports is one of the few places where people
Starting point is 00:35:07 tune in at the appointed time. Like, there's so few right now. What are they? Name all of the others. Like, I know occasionally, Max has on Sunday nights something that everyone's watching, whether it's Game of Thrones. Actually, you'd be surprised how low the numbers are on something like Succession or something like White Lotus but I don't even know what I would say. Is it award shows? What in programming, what is second place to sports on thing that you do not on your time. You go and make sure that you are there. America goes and make sure it is at the television when sports or something like sports summons us. It's no longer, we have moved so far everywhere in America into convenience.
Starting point is 00:35:59 Bezos is basically everything that he is because he's better at convenience than everyone else So what's second place here on? Something that all of you feel like you have to watch and be a part of at the time the watch so that you can Talk about it with your friends as it's happening and you don't feel like you're left behind by it Jeremy said like maybe award shows fit in that category because I think like the reason sports are unique is because you obviously don't wanna know who wins it like after it happens.
Starting point is 00:36:30 Like if you don't watch it live, then it gets spoiled for you and other things don't. So you can watch it on your own time unless you're listening to this show and you haven't seen The Righteous Gemstones or White Lotus yet, in which case it will get spoiled for you on Monday morning. Yeah, you spoiled gemstones.
Starting point is 00:36:43 But I think you did. Because there's a frontal nudity scene? Yes. It would have been better if I didn't know it was coming. But I knew it was coming, and I was like, there's going to be a penis soon. And then I saw it, and I was like, well, I knew that was going to happen.
Starting point is 00:36:56 I was still like, huh, oh my god. But it would have been different if I didn't know. Anyways, I think Unrivaled is different, though, Dan, because it's a limited It's a limited season. It's not like the full year It's it's very like small and I think it works for what they're trying to create I think that like if the WNBA went to empty arenas and empty stadiums and no one was watching it like yeah That would that would matter and it would suck for fans Like I think the reason that the WNBA has been so exciting the last few years is because they have been packing arenas,
Starting point is 00:37:25 they've been breaking attendance records in various cities. So I think having fans at the games does still really matter to the television. Oh, I agree, no, but it just, it doesn't matter to the business, that's all. It doesn't matter all that much to the business. Well, and when you're talking about trying to get eyeballs at a specific time, like Netflix is trying this right now.
Starting point is 00:37:44 Last week, they debuted John Mulaney's new show, Everybody's Live, where they took something that they did for a week and had people tuning in every night for one week. Now I believe this is gonna be a 12 week run where every Wednesday night they're doing something live and the way they're producing that show is such a,
Starting point is 00:38:05 honestly not dissimilar to this, where it's this high wire act of are they gonna mess something up? And watching that live, I find myself, as someone who knows I could watch it the next day or the day after, purposefully tuning in live because I kinda wanna see if they can pull it off, and that type of programming is interesting, seeing a late night show that is putting themselves purposefully tuning in live because I kind of want to see if they can pull it off and
Starting point is 00:38:31 That type of programming is interesting seeing a late night show that that is putting themselves in the position to not just be clips I thought something interesting that happened recently because of all the money that netflix is pouring into Live and the danger of live I saw that kill tony is now doing a version of its show for Netflix that begins in April and that Killtony's fans are beside themselves with anger about having to share that with the biggest thing. With that that that they feel that Killtony will end up getting diluted by whatever they believe, I guess, is the corporate interference of Netflix. An interference that they're assuming that I have yet to see play out anywhere with Netflix
Starting point is 00:39:15 in terms of content control. I found myself actually confused, even while understanding that when you have your own little thing, that when you have the indie band and then Everyone makes the indie band popular. It can be something that first arrivers don't like so much I found confusing Dan if you like kill Tony watch kill Tony or fear that kill Tony will be diluted by the Netflix experience because it's something I'm hearing a lot about but I'm not a Kill Tony person. I've seen clips of it, I don't watch episodes,
Starting point is 00:39:48 but yeah, I mean, I think you're right, it's just audiences want their thing to be theirs. It's also oversight, right? Like, we all saw what happened when Tony Hinchcliffe got a national microphone and the way that people reacted to that. And I would imagine the people watching Kill Tony who hear those types of jokes all the time
Starting point is 00:40:05 know that when it gets to mainstream and when it gets to Netflix either some of that stuff around the periphery is gonna get squashed out in the mainstream or it's gonna kill Tony. Okay, so that fear. What are you doing, Dad? Wasn't it prevalent for Pat McAfee as well, and has it to date not been misguided,
Starting point is 00:40:28 that particular fear of, oh, now it's going to become a corporate thing and change, but it hasn't actually changed, right? Like it was- McAfee's tame in comparison to what we're talking about. Okay, but not tame for Disney. No, but he's gotten away with a lot of stuff that normally wouldn't have happened at Disney,
Starting point is 00:40:46 and then there were also conversations about Aaron Rodgers and others that changed because he was there. At the very least, it becomes a controversy even if the end result remains the same way, right? Okay, but whether there's a controversy or not, has it actually been changed? Do McAfee fans who feared that Disney would ruin
Starting point is 00:41:08 their thing that curses and behaves differently and is outside of the mainstream, that fear to date has been misguided, has it not? Like, I understand why it is that people would fear corporate oversight. I don't understand why anyone would fear Netflix's corporate oversight. They have been a leader in terms of allowing comedians
Starting point is 00:41:32 to do whatever the hell comedians wanna do. They don't interfere. Yeah, I think that's totally fair. You're right. And in that respect, I don't know that anything will change. I just think that I would imagine most of the people who have that specific niche audience that's watching Killtony on a regular basis
Starting point is 00:41:47 are probably looking at any sort of corporation, any sort of mainstream, anything, and what it's been for the last decade or so would mean that some of those jokes that are made on their show wouldn't get to a national platform. I think we've seen a shift. I think we've seen a shift in what's allowed
Starting point is 00:42:05 and what's prevalent in our modern conversation. So maybe they won't have an issue. I don't know Kill Tony from Adam. I assume it's a very popular person or thing. So if you're buying, if you're Netflix buying that, why would you change what you know to be successful if I'm Netflix I'm saying hey kill Tony Don't not only don't change turn up the volume. I don't think they're saying that I mean why wouldn't they they know what they're buying Controversies good for business. I would be like let's keep the volume right where you have it We don't want to change you, but let's not go let's not go louder. I'm just saying right here. It's good for business, right? Attention attention controversy attention at the moment Let's not go louder. Let's just keep it bright here. I'm just saying, it's good for business, right? Attention? Attention?
Starting point is 00:42:47 Controversy? Attention at the moment. I don't know that there's anything, including currency, more valuable as a currency made valuable by younger generations that make everything popular and just something that is valuable from everyone from Kill Tony to Elon Musk, no matter how much money you have, it appears to me that attention is the currency of the day. My Zion take, huh? Ahead of its time.
Starting point is 00:43:18 That has aged so well. I mean, he's so right. That was seven years ago. You guys are like, what are you guys talking about? Any pub is good pub. Again, not good for Nike. That was seven years ago. You're just like, what are you guys talking about? Any pub is good pub. Again, not good for Nike. No, great for Nike. Everybody was talking about Nike.
Starting point is 00:43:30 That's all that matters. Not good for Nike to. Oh, Nike, you're right. They've been really hurting. Not good for Nike to have a shoe be something that could possibly injure the foot of Zion Williamson by not behaving as a competent shoe. Ha ha ha.

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