The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Local Hour: Zeroing In

Episode Date: June 6, 2024

Today's cast: Stugotz, Greg, Chris, Jeremy, Lucy, Roy, and Tony. Folks, we have a second helping of Greg Cote. The crew dissects the differences between "targeting," "zeroing in," and "honing in" as Woj and Shams reports differ between Dan Hurley and JJ Redick as the next Lakers Head Coach. Then, Stugotz has a Top 5 List of Guys Who Told Their Agents To Poke Around UCONN. Plus, we get to Greg's feud with the entire country of Canada after calling Connor McDavid "McOverrated." Will he double down? What's the best result for Greg? What's the best result for the show? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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We have ourselves a second helping of Greg Cody. Well, too much. What do you mean too much? It's just more than me. Never enough. Okay, who needs him? Who needs me? I need him. Okay. I'm here for you. I need as much as I can get. I mean, the NBA finals tip off tonight. LeBron will

not allow the NBA finals to tip off without making himself the biggest story, bigger than the NBA finals, as it is reported by Woj that the Lakers are preparing a massive offer for Dan Hurley, the head coach at UGOT. This is great, this is LeBron at his absolute best, Greg. It's perfect, it's perfect. Now, there's no one around here that's less knowledgeable when it comes to journalism than me, but it seems like all these journalists nowadays are reporting stuff without actually reporting stuff.

That's exactly right. It's like the Lakers are circling in, so if he doesn't end up being the coach, you're kinda good. You're not saying that he's the next head coach. You're kinda just like, if he ends up being the head coach, I was right. If not, I didn't actually report it.

Listen to the language of the last two days. So, Shams reported yesterday, reported, that it would be JJ Reddick. But the language in the tweet is, the Los Angeles Lakers are zeroing in. Ooh, I love a good zeroing in. On JJ Reddick. But the language in the tweet is the Los Angeles Lakers are zeroing in on JJ Reddick as the front runner for the franchise's next head coach. So not just they haven't agreed to anything, they're zeroing in on it,

but zeroing in as the front runner. So not even zeroing in on hiring him and then woge today breaking the Los Angeles Lakers are targeting Connecticut's Dan Hurley to become the franchise's next head coach and are preparing a massive long-term contract. So no, they haven't offered it. No, they haven't even finished the contract.

They're preparing to offer it and yet these are all posed as breaking news. This isn't the breaking news yet. Tell me when someone's been hired. Tell me when someone's actually had a contract offer. I understand. It's like saying I was targeting Nick Saban to be the next head coach, all right?

We're just making shit up here. Right, and who isn't? Yeah, I'm targeting Chris Evans to be my boyfriend. We're just talking. Yeah. What was the first term used? The one? Zeroing in. Which one do you guys like the best, honing in, zeroing in,

or targeting? When I picture zeroing in, I picture me at the Benihana looking at the chicken and shrimp. I'm zeroing in on it. I haven't ordered it yet. But it's what I'm zeroing in on. In order, it's targeting. You're targeting.

You're looking at the area. Then you start to hone in on the area. Right. And then you see everything that's in your way and then you zero in on that final topic. I like a honing in. I do. Uh Greg, what do you like? I mean there is a journalist who's here. Uh Greg, what do you like in terms

of terms? I like a, I like a targeting. Targeting is because it, it, uh, you know, your, your picture of bullseye. Right. They're targeting, they got a bow and arrow. They're about to shoot an arrow right picture of bullseye right there targeting they're gonna bow an arrow they're about to shoot an arrow right into the bullseye right preparing a massive offer I hate the fact that they they call it breaking

news though okay it's what it is it's it's sort of breaking speculation it's not breaking news that's not a crack doesn't have the same ring to it though I know breaking speculation is like a weird phrase. Right. But that would be more accurate than breaking news because they're not even saying they have made a massive offer to Hurley. Preparing could mean anything. Preparing means they're thinking about it.

Right. Yes. It is coming from the best NBA reporter in the business, Wode, but you're right. Like if you think Hurley's going to be the next head coach, come out and say it. Yeah, there's a real art to breaking news that isn't really breaking news. And on the Herald staff, Barry Jackson is a great reporter. Like he probably breaks more news than anybody on our staff. But even he uses that careful language when he's reporting something that isn't finalized.

Pass covering. But it's, yeah, it's sort of targeting, you know, just words like that, targeting, preparing, zeroing in on, you know, it's an art of journalism is to say that you're breaking news when you're really not. You have that target, the bullseye, on Dan Hurley's back, right? Oh yeah, or right on his chest.

Okay, it's a Rob Polinka and LeBron James and the Buss family, they're all shooting at that target, is that what you're saying? That's exactly right. And JJ Reddick is off to the side getting the collateral shrapnel, I think. When I see that Dan Hurley report, I think I go through the John Gruden prism of it's just his agent trying to get him more money.

I mean not that woge. I feel like the the agent might just leak it. I don't know. It's just I don't trust anything is what I'm really trying. I will say this that Dan Hurley has talked about wanting to be an NBA coach for a while now. He's done all you could do at UConn. They went back-to-back national championships. He has the best program in America right now. So he's talked about being an NBA coach. Your first job being the Lakers coach. That's a pretty damn good job. There's also a trend here where college coaches were the stars of college sports and you're seeing a bunch of them leave. They're going to the NBA because they don't like what college sports and you're seeing a bunch of them leave. They're going to the NBA because they don't like what college

sports has become. You saw coach K walk away from it. Nick Saban walk away from it. You've had others walk away from it. Jim Harbaugh left college, went back to the NFL and now you have a guy who's in the perfect position. Back-to-back championships with a great recruiting class coming in and tons of money and he's like, eh, Ronnie James. I mean, it's crazy what's happening in

college sports. It's been more work than ever to be a college coach. I do disagree with one thing that you said. Coach K didn't step away. He just he just lost the title and hung around. He's still the head coach of Duke. You just don't you're not like he has to take it one step away. He just lost the title and hung around. He's still the head coach of Duke.

You just don't, you're not like... He hasn't taken one step away from that place? He's got an office there still. Alright, put it on the poll. Has Coach K even taken one step away from the Duke jump? Just one step? Nope. Well, the one step seemingly is according to a bunch of different sources in the article in the Athletic with Shams is helping the Lakers decide who their next

head coach would be. And everybody thought when that was initially sort of put out there, that that would automatically mean JJ Redick, his former player. But it looks like now, if Dan Hurley actually ends up being the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, that it's Bobby Hurley's brother, Dan Hurley, Bobby Hurley, who played for Coach K,

who now ends up getting that inside track. So one way or another, Coach K's influence is felt with the Lakers and clearly with the Duke program, too. I'm imagining Coach K's phone ringing. He's like, it's LeBron. He's like, honey, it's LeBron. We're getting back into coaching. Hey, what's up, LeBron?

Hey, oh, Lakers job, honey, I was right. Lakers job, yeah, you want me to help? Well, oh, you want me to help find the coach? Oh, I thought, honey, cancel the plans. I'm gonna help LeBron find the Lakers coach. That was amazing acting by you, I'm proud of you. Pretty good, that's not bad. Especially the gesture with the phone here,

the classic moan gesture. And the look away too. We all do that, right? Don't we all do that mid-conversation, talk to our, like, honey, this is who I'm talking to. Yeah, you pretend to. Do you guys wanna hear something crazy? This generation, they don't do the phone, like the thumb up pinky, they just do a flat hand.

Oh, really? Yeah, they're not used to this type of phone, so if they're pretending to be on the phone, they'll be like, oh, isn't that insane? Really? Yeah, it's all on TV. Man, the game is changing. Everything is changing.

So it's like, hey, what's up? This is totally different. Really weird. It's weird. It's like you get your hand on your ear. It's exactly like that. It's great for the audio audience. My kids never talk on the phone, though.

They text? That's it. Social media and texting. They aren't FaceTimers. That's where only old people face. Like, Dan's the only person that FaceTimes me. Speaking of Dan, he is tracking down this story in LA right now. Yeah, we have him on the case.

So we'll see if he has any news for us before the end of the show. Yeah, special correspondent. Getting back to his roots. Yes. Yeah, I wonder who his source is because if you're breaking news, it's interesting to analyze so-called breaking news and how it emanates because like somebody like Woj is an agent for agents. And I don't even mean that as

a criticism, but chances are very good that his source is an agent of some sort. You know, I would place that at 100% or close to it yes you know back in the day you would assume that the source was somebody connected with the team you know a GM you knew very well or something like that but that's not the way it operates now if you have if your best sources is Drew Rosenhouse just to pick an agent's name at random you're in much better shape than if your source is Chris Greer the the Dolphins GM. No doubt. He's not gonna tell you anything

he doesn't want you to tell you. Right. The agent is gonna tell you what suits him. You know, which is- What benefits the agent is not what benefits the team. Right, exactly. You're saying that like it's a good thing, but that doesn't mean you're getting the truth.

Like this agent's gonna manipulate you and tell you exactly what he wants you to say. No, but Chris, your dad's right. When it comes to the player though, you're gonna get something that's closer to the truth from the agent than the actual team itself. Right. Yeah. Because the agent is not going to flat out lie.

I mean, he's not going to invent an interest in Hurley if there isn't a grain of truth. It's the one time they tell the truth. I mean, I'm telling you, Greg's right. I mean, are we questioning Greg Cody? He's been doing this forever. All the times John Cunin's agent said that he was in the running for this job to get him more money for Monday Night Football, that agent was lying.

Right. That agent was just trying to get him a raise. Like if this is like- What is Dan Hurley making at UConn? Do we know? It's gotta be somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 million a year. Now I know this offer, but they're preparing, people are speculating it's going to be north of a hundred million dollars. But again, if you're Dan Hurley, you've won back-to-back championships. The job is the Lakers' job. This isn't the T-wolves or Oklahoma City. It's the Los Angeles Lakers. And if it doesn't work out,

Dan Hurley could go back and pick any college job he wants. Right. As of January 24, Hurley earns annual salary of $5.3 million, a substantial jump from his previous salary of $2.9 million back in 2018. Wow. I just, I don't know. I don't trust anyone. It is the public posturing that's different, right? Because we watch all of this stuff play out in public in a way that we didn't used to. When it was just breaking news in a newspaper, there weren't going to be articles about a team potentially zeroing in on this person.

But now, the way to generate not only revenue, but to do your job is to sort of follow the drama all the way along, whether that's the trade deadline, whether that's a player requesting out before free agency, whether that's a player in free agency, and now the coaching cycle as well, particularly when you're talking about LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers and names like as sexy

as LeBron or JJ Reddick where people know who they are, you want to see the drama play out. And so it doesn't even matter whether or not any of these reports are true, whether they're coming from agents, as long as you have the saga playing out in front of us, that's what matters. And you wanna be first on breaking the news,

but ultimately, so long as you're the first to break one angle of the story, that's kind of all that seems to matter to these publications. Man, LeBron is playing us like a fiddle right now. We got game one tonight and we are sitting here just like, oh, who's gonna be LeBron's next coach? We're dumb. Who was that?

What are you doing there? That's us. That's us? You're imitating us? You could have just spoken in your normal voice though. Yeah, learning guys are smart. No, it doesn't work. I mean, you're right, you had to do it that way. It's a good way. It's a good job. Do you guys think JJ Reddick's upset? I think well I heard

Brian Windhorst say and I think he's as connected to this particular story as anyone because he knows this group so well. I heard him say that perhaps there's another job inside the Lakers organization for JJ Reddick. But I don't want another job. I want the head coaching job Redding. I don't want another job. I want the head coaching job. If I'm leaving my cushy job as media and podcasting and doing stuff with LeBron. But maybe this is a job where JJ doesn't

have to leave that stuff. An analyst. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. Have you ever had a job where you're already getting another job, but you still have those two weeks at the old job?

And you're like, I'm getting another job. I don't really care what's going on here. Let's just hang oh that you know you you're upset by what I do okay no biggie whatever I'm out of here anyway I feel like JJ was like on that path of like the podcast I'll do it when I get to it no biggie whatever and now that Dan Hurley is going to be the coach he's like damn okay let me schedule another podcast let me call LeBron see what's up. I think Dan Hurley was just on their podcast. Yeah I think he was actually. I think Dan Hurley was just on their podcast Yeah, I think he was actually I think he was I think he was on like in the last two weeks And they were talking about how what a great offensive mind he has Yeah, but at the same time though if you're if you're JJ Reddick no matter your confidence level

You're looking at Dan Hurley's resume, and you're going you know what if I were the Lakers I'd probably hire him too at least that's what the truth serum Answer would be if you're JJ why would you not hire Dan Hurley a guy who actually has coaching experience over? JJ Reddick who has none who host a podcast with LeBron James and is calling the NBA Finals tonight I mean, it's really funny and you can see we have the tweets, but Dan Hurley was on JJ Reddick's podcast in April. It was April 19th that he was on there. And they had a really, you know,

it was an intense conversation about basketball the way JJ Reddick does. And JJ Reddick shares, oh man, I loved this part of our interview, it was so great. And in the replies to that tweet was one King James who said, he's so damn good, along with his staff, super creative with their offense. Love it. And so it's so funny to see on JJ Reddick's podcast,

LeBron flirting with the idea of how much he loves Dan Hurley. But it would stand to reason that JJ is in on this. Like JJ is good not being the head coach. It would stand to reason just JJ is in on this. Like, JJ's good not being the head coach. It would stand to reason just based on what we just said, right? Maybe JJ knows that he's never really been that close, so he's just enjoying all of this. Maybe JJ doesn't wanna be the head coach.

But he's just kind of enjoying, oh, everyone thinks I'm the next head coach. Of course he is, yes. It's cool. It's great for his profile. It's great for his podcast. Yeah, absolutely. You know about that. Well, you know, I've never been a head coach candidate

But you know that kind of thing. I'm sure you've been close if If we're talking coaching experience right like Tyron Lue didn't have any coaching experience He got thrown into a bunch of teams with LeBron won a championship now signed a massive deal with the Clippers like you don't really Experience is overrated as being a coach. You could be a mediocre player and still be a decent coach. Right, it is weird you just being like, oh, Dan Hurley, he's done it. I've seen him do it.

So he's definitely, we don't know what JJ's gonna be. No, I'm just saying that people were surprised this morning at Woj's report of Dan Hurley. Yet they weren't surprised when the report was JJ Reddick. That's all I'm saying. I don't mind if it's JJ Reddick, I mean, but Dan Hurley seems to be a better fit. I'm pretty sure Dan Hurley was

at a UFC fight a few weeks ago or maybe even this last one. Massive UFC. He was shown on camera and he was doing the two, three as if he was going to go for a three-peat at UConn. Right. Well, that's misleading. That one, two, three is a little

misleading. And that's why the kids are able to transfer whenever the hell they want. And that's why Dana and I have been saying for 20 years they should be able to transfer whenever the hell they want because you think you're going to play for Dan Hurley at

Yukon and suddenly you're playing for JJ Reddick and suddenly Dan Hurley's not there and so if Dan Hurley can leave and pursue his dreams why can't you leave and pursue the school you want to go to? Go to choice the the the the But one thing not up for debate, grilling and beer always go together. But not just any beer will do.

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They call him Pooka. Pooka. Pooka Nakua. Pooka Nakua. the they call him his quarterback is not named to yeah. He is This is the done. LeBatard show with the Stoogats. I do have a top five list of guys who have told their agents to poke around stores Connecticut.

He hasn't even accepted the Laker job yet and yet I have a bunch of agents just flocking around. Flogging around. Jeremy gave me a great idea. The next time a South Florida coaching job comes open, we should we should throw your name into the ring. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Just hey, the Miami Hurricanes are zeroing in on Greg Cody.

Women's basketball head coach. That's gonna be a big OLI if I'm on it. That's a massive OLI. Throw Sam Cassell in there. He's always in there. You have to throw a random guy in there. Chris Quinn. Yes, and Greg Cody. By the way, let's not discount the possibility that it's Hurley's agent who is putting this out there merely to get a triple salary from UConn. Maybe. To go from 5.3 to 15 or whatever. There's no way.

There's no way you leverage. I get it if it was gonna be the Orlando Magic or the Cavs or something, but you're talking about the Lakers and using that to leverage UConn after you've just won two national titles. Like, what's the point of that? To get more money out of them. You can get're talking about the Lakers and using that to leverage UConn after you've just won two national titles like What's the point of that? Well get more money out of them? Yeah, you can get more money from the Lakers by just going to the Lakers. No, we're saying to get more money out of UConn

I know. But Chris hold on the offer that's being prepared is a hundred million dollars UConn's not giving you that. Right No, but if he's now making seven million a year instead of five and a half like it's just that you could be making 25 Right or 30 right but so you know but but Yukon in the college realm is the Lakers you could argue or at least they have been recently and if Hurley genuinely prefers coaching college basketball which some coaches do then maybe he is just looking for a raise from Yukon I don't discount it as a possibility that's all I think something that like we're not acknowledging with Yukon is they did win two back-to-back national championships,

but this will go down as one of the more dominant runs in college basketball history with how good these teams were. So you have this situation where if he comes back, the odds of a three-peat are really, really high, but there's not much else he can achieve, because not only have they won two national titles, they will go down as one of the best college

basketball teams runs of the modern era. No question. This makes perfect sense. If you indeed want to coach in the NBA, you've talked about it. You've expressed your desires to coach in the NBA and the Lakers job is available with LeBron and Anthony Davis and it's a hundred million dollar deal. This is the time to take that opportunity. There will never be a better time for Dan Hurley. His stock will never be higher. He'll never be more coveted coming off back

to back national championships and it's the Lakers. Lakers, Celtics, Knicks. You take the job. Yeah. That's it. That's true. Yeah. And and you're right. Like and the analogy would be if you're a baseball manager and the New York Yankees job comes open you take It no matter what because they're the New York Yankees correct and the Lakers have that aura and mystique and history and they always will Mm-hmm a fun kind of hypothetical here is is we're just assuming that this is all for LeBron And of course, he's making himself the center of attention before the NBA Finals. It's amazing. The fact that he could still do this at the age of 39.

We're letting him do it. There's a game being played tonight. We just did 20 minutes on him. But the hypothetical that's interesting is, well what if JJ Reddick is LeBron's guy and what if he was all along? And the way that Woj has positioned this with the Ziering in or wherever we are, in his thread on Twitter, you know, he's talking about not only the tactical advantage that someone like Dan Hurley presents, but also his player development, which doesn't sound like what you wanna build

around a 40-year-old LeBron James. So what if, what if it's that, or if LeBron doesn't intend to stay in Los Angeles and he and JJ Reddick are a package deal potentially going somewhere else, like Cleveland, that maybe is moving their stars with Clutch Management's own Darius Garland sort of being flown out there. And Bickerstaff is out.

And maybe not just Cleveland. That's played out, though. He's going to go back to Cleveland after he already went back to Cleveland. No, but Tony think about it. To end his career and bring Brawny with him. Cleveland's favorite son comes home with his son. Again?

Come on. Yeah, he does whatever he wants. Maybe not Cleveland, maybe anywhere else. Maybe the next. Miami. The idea, well, they have a head coach. He's 39! Go over there.

And he comes with a kid who we're not certain if he's going to be good in the NBA and he comes with a coach who's never coached before. JJ can be Spoh's coach in waiting. I'll take him. I would fire Tom Thibodeau tomorrow. You just got done saying

JJ might not be a good coach. I don't care LeBron's a great player. And we'll be forever. Never getting old, that guy. Chris, why were you yelling at us? By the way, we will break all of this down with Donnie Wahlberg. About 20 minutes. Why were you yelling? I can't speak. Why were you yelling at me and your dad? Because of agents and lying. Just because I...

You did it in our headsets, it was weird. I mean, it's just because you guys are like, you guys did a thing a couple minutes ago where you're just like, what do you mean? The agent's definitely telling you. And I just feel like if there's anyone in this scenario, GMs, agents, players, like, we should be trusting agents the least.

Well, everybody in sports has an ulterior motive. Right, but you guys decided that the agent is the one that is definitely telling the truth. It's like, no, everyone's lying for their own interest and we need to be skeptical of everyone. Chris, who do you think wants this news out there? His agent so he can get more money with UConn or get this job.

Or get the job, right. That's why I think that's your closest to the truth in this case, I understand what you're saying, but your closest to the truth when you go to the agent on this That's all I'm saying again, Donnie Wohlberg The one thing we can all agree on is that LeBron James's hands are all over anything that's about to happen Yes, whether it's the next Lakers coach whether it's his own career move whether it involves Bra whether it doesn't, LeBron is steering this

entire conversation. Mm-hmm. Do you guys want my top five guys who have already contacted their agents and their agents are already poking around Storrs Connecticut? Absolutely. Sure, why not? Oh, well, I have what? Not Greg Popovich.

I want to be a D3 coach. Hell out of here. Number five, JJ Reddick. Maybe. Number four, Bobby Hurley. Number three, he's just taken a poke around. He's great on TV. He looks a million years younger than he did when he

was coaching Jay Wright. Has to be. He looks so good. Interesting. Number two, now we'll have to wait, you know, because he can't go out during the daylight hours, but I promise you his agent knows what to do when the Yukon job comes open. Rick Petino. Yeah. I'm skipping a jump from the the next head coach at UConn and that of course is John Calipari. It's a good list. It's a good list. And number one, I don't care that he hasn't coached the game in Arkansas. I don't care. I do not care.

And if you think he cares, you don't know him. He will leave that job without coaching a game. He will take all of their money and he will be the next head coach at UConn and that of course is John Calipari It's a good list. It's a good list. Thank you. It's perfect. Yeah, appreciate it. No notes. We'll talk about it with Donnie Wahlberg Sound the trumpets. It's horse racing time So saddle up for action with DK horse an official DraftKings affiliate right now new customers who download the DK Horse app can get a 100% deposit bonus up to $250. Just deposit $25 or more and complete the playthrough requirement. Wager on your favorite horses, then

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Deposit and eligibility restrictions apply. See terms at dkhorse.com. Don LeBattard. Your history with him suggests three years of hea- Those are the heaters. Three years of heaters, but this stugat, my partner enlivened by a sportsman- We're having sex, baby. And Joe Mauer, yes, like this two gots my partner in livened by a sports. We're having sex baby and Joe Mauer Yes, like this is the best version of him

What two gods now you are yeah? The feels good. This is the done libertar show with a stew God All right, we'll get back to LeBron James, the whole Lakers situation, but there's a bigger situation going on with this show and in sports in general. And it's not the NBA finals, which tips off tonight. It is not the Panthers playing in the Stanley Cup finals, which will get underway on Saturday. It is Greg Cody's feud with Canada. For those of you who missed it, Greg Cody wrote in a column that Connor McDavid is overrated. Now he's an underachiever. He said that yesterday.

Yeah, he's both. Classic underachiever. Right. So Canada, after Greg wrote this and talked about it on the show, Canada was very upset. Let's play that clip. Is this the most ridiculous hot take ever? This is Mick Ridiculous. Absolutely.

I said, I'm all about click bait, reader engagement, pandering to the home crowd. I get that. And maybe it's working, because here we are talking about it. So it's mission accomplished. But like, if you know anything about hockey, and I'm assuming Greg might, you know that one player, no matter how great he is,

cannot get it done and win a Stanley Cup on his own. Not McDavid, not anybody. But McDavid clearly is the greatest player in the game. He is generational. He's one of the best offensive players in the history of the game already. He has proven that beyond a shadow of a doubt. So Greg, I'm sorry. This is preposterous, outrageous, ridiculous, and just flat out wrong. So I know the Miami crowd might eat it up going up against McDavid, that was just ridiculous and

Jerry is still out on that. We will find out together whether or not it was your finest journalistic moment. What has happened since then? Greg. It's my favorite part of it. Greg. Well, the Greg Cody Show podcast put out a bee sting. What? Yeah, we call it a bee sting. It's a BEE stands for bonus emergency episode. Okay, because I couldn't. Does everything mean anything? Does sting mean anything or no? Just beast thing, you know, that kind of thing.

I like it. Now did you back down at all? Or did you double down? I'll let you be the judge of that. We do have a clip here. Let's see if my dad doubled down or if he backed off a little bit. Oh Canada, so sad I riled you up.

Sad that Connor McDavid for all his stats has not lived up. Sad that your McJesus has never raised the Stanley Cup. All right. He doubled down. I'm not going to back down. I mean, come on. It's a one-sided feud. You know, Canada hates me.

I love Canada. My name is Coté. It's a popular name in French-speaking Canada. Is it? Yeah. And you know, I'm one of them. I love Canada. I've visited there.

Visited Vancouver, Montreal, Quebec. I mean, it's a great city. I visited there, visited Vancouver, Montreal, Quebec. I mean, it's a great city. Coté is the fourth highest used surname in Quebec. Right. Thank you, Jeremy. I mean, you're basically Canadian. I mean. I basically, I have French Canadian ancestry.

That kind of thing. Little St. Catherine Street. My Aunt Arlene used to sing Robert Goulet songs in France when I was growing up in the kitchen. Should be singing a song in French. I'm like, what are you doing, Auntie Arlene used to sing Robert Goulet songs in France when I was growing up in the kitchen. She'd be singing a song in French. I'm like, what are you doing, Auntie Arlene? So yeah, I'm part French. I'm part Canadian.

There you go, eh? Is that what she did? That's right. Sang Robert Goulet songs. Can we hear what it sounded like? If I knew any French, I'd start singing right now like she did. Wow.

Is he, come on, c'est pas bien. No. Okay. Me. That's it. Right, I'll boot that. Was that the entire episode? No, well, you know, it's...

Just him singing and then they close it off. I try to defend McDavid a little bit because it's such a ridiculous take. Just to balance it out? Yeah a beast thing is a short episode I think it was 10 12 minutes long, but Basically, I just explained my Opinion which I'll never back down from because I think the opinion is accurate I don't think you can be McJesus and then the next great thing in hockey if you go nine years without winning a Stanley Cup

the next great thing in hockey if you go nine years without winning a Stanley Cup. Alexander Ovechkin took 13 years to win his. Yeah, but if Greg Budd, if the Capitals played the Panthers 10 years into his career, Greg would have written the same article about him. I mean, I think it's, I think it's unequivocal. Okay. That's why, to use an American example, that's why Dan Marino is never going to be considered the best quarterback because he didn't win a Super Bowl. Correct. And there's no guarantee that McDavid is ever going to win a Stanley Cup. He's not the favorite

to do it right now, and this is his first chance in nine years, so the assumption that he's automatically going to win a Stanley Cup is not on solid ground, and the assumption that he's automatically going to win a Stanley Cup is not on solid ground. And the idea that he won't disqualifies him from being considered the greatest player ever. That's my point. I'm just saying, if you wrote about Ray Bork and him taking 21 years to actually win a Stanley Cup, would you have done the same thing there? Would I have?

Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Uh-huh. Yeah. But Ray Bork didn't. He had to move to Colorado to get his Stanley Cup, which it doesn't count my personal record. I think... Do it in Boston. Stugat's booked out. 21 seasons, I mean that's a lot of juice for that he's overrated column to just keep going back every single year. You know what? I think it's a prerequisite. I think unless you win a Stanley Cup, dare say multiple Stanley Cups, you were out of the conversation for greatest ever and

the idea that you're right Connor McDavid would be this consensus greatest player in hockey right now presumably the next Gretzky if I dare say that you have to win a Stanley Cup and he hasn't in nine years and until he does I'm not having it with McDavid is the best ever that's all I I'm not saying I'm right but that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it you really just are putting yourself out there because you're putting yourself very brave when you think about it he's Canadian and he's saying this about the Edmonton Oilers the Oilers he's got to go home eventually if the Oilers win this series

Panther fans fans of this show, me, we are going to blame my dad for this. Zero in on Greg Cody. Hold on a second. What is the best case scenario for Greg Cody and what is the best case scenario for the rest of this show? If the Panthers win in five and McDavid gets like one goal in the series, my dad's going to be able to say, see, I told you I was right. So this is gonna go both ways. If this is a short series for the Panthers, my dad, the noise might actually start coming for McDavid

if like, hey, you're this great, you just lost in the Stanley Cup. Like, it's not a crazy take, but I would have loved the take after the series. No, it's a great take, you have to do it before. Well, my thought is, say that does happen. Say the Panthers win comfortably in five games and McDavid has a fairly quiet series I'm not I'm not gonna gloat because I don't yeah right

two guys is strong in you hear the man out. He'll let others gloat for him. Go ahead Greg I don't consider anything. I've said to be disrespectful What's Connor Mcgavie? It's his opinion I have tried make underachiever I have tried Okay, I have tried to make very clear that I respect all his numbers. Right, you're playing bullshy. He's got the stats. Let him go, man. He's got the stats.

He's a future Hall of Famer. All of that stuff. He's a great, great player. And when I say use words like overrated and underrated, I entirely and specifically mean win a Stanley Cup. And then let's talk about you in the context of greatest ever. If you don't win a Stanley Cup and he's had nine years,

then you don't qualify for that conversation. That's my opinion. And it's the same with most sports. I think that's consistent with most sports. Greg, if I can speak for you for a second, what you did was you laid the table to open the door for McDavid to be this great player.

Laid the table. Right? Like that's what you did. You said, Hey, he's an incredible player up to right now up to this very second. He's overrated. If he shows me otherwise in the Stanley Cup final, I'm good. Absolutely. That's what you're doing. You're just laying the table for everybody. Yes. Thank you. I think you lay groundwork and you set a table.

I think you're right. Yeah. The table is set. I think Thank you. I think you lay groundwork and you set a table But you're right opening the door and inviting you into the table, let's all lay the table meal, right So the best case scenario for Greg is that the Panthers sweep they went in five McDavid does nothing he wins Okay, he doesn't say another word If if the if the Oilers win in, and David scores three goals a game, I'm going to murder my dad. Seems illegal. You won't have to.

I mean. I mean, Panthers fans will do that for you. You know what that attitude is like? Okay, this is 100% superstition. The idea that anything I write or say would actually have a palpable effect on how the series turns out is ridiculous Let's stop right there for a second. Do you guys think that in the last 48 hours?

Somebody or him himself that the word overrated a writer in Miami Like does is McDavid aware that somebody has called him over 100% someone in the entire country is talking about it That's what like is he Is he watching SportsCenter? Like did he watch this Mike Johnson hit? Like I don't know, cause I could see a guy like that just totally turning off. In the social media age,

there is no way Connor McDavid has not learned of Greg Cody's opinion on Connor McDavid. Okay. There's no way. And here's my question. Does Connor Mc, does the great Connor McDavid about to play in his first career Stanley Cup final,

need the extra motivation of what some guy in Miami wrote? I hope not for his sake. What if it did? What if it did? I have someone going and getting a print copy of the Miami Herald with your column and physically putting it on a cork board in the practice room. The old bulletin board. Yeah, the bulletin board material. You guys don't understand, nothing would make Greg happier if that were the case.

That would be huge. You would love that, right? You know what, I don't believe in sports superstition, okay? If my guy's pitching a no-hitter into the seventh inning, I better not say a damn word. Hey, McGillicutty's got a no-hitter going. Did you know that? It's not going to affect him on the mound because I say it in my living room. It's just not. Hey, six outs to go.

Yeah, I mean, come on. Superstition. Come on. You're right. If McDavid is paying attention to your opinions on Connor McDavid, A, it lends to your point B focus on the cup he should be the most motivated athlete on earth right now because I guarantee you this McDavid knows what I'm talking about he knows that until he wins the Stanley Cup something is

missing and it's something huge on his resume Dan Marino never got over it no and and neither will Connor McGregor unless he's- Conor McGregor? I mean- Also, no, it doesn't matter. Greg's also right because Conor McGregor, we're still trying to see if he's in 303. Ariel says he is now.

All of a sudden he wasn't. He won a championship. What a great point. Transition. Tony and I were laughing because Chris, you have to give the take before the series. You can't let the series- Not when I'm in emotional panthers training. No, time out. And hear the series. You can't let the series. Not when I'm an emotional Panthers fan.

Hear me out. You can't let the series play out and then give the take that everyone else is giving. Greg is ahead of everyone on this take, and it begs the question. The NBA finals tip off tonight. Do you want to do this again? Do you want to call someone out? Your choices are Tatum or Luca, I think.

Right. It's up to you. If choices are Tatum or Luca I think. Right. Right. It's up to you. If you don't do it, I will. Greg Cody saying that he's not gonna gloat if the Panthers win this series and McDavid is invisible. Like you are going to gloat. If the Panthers win. You're gonna retweet the article and say see if the Panthers win this series, I'm gonna be writing about the Panthers winning their first Stanley Cup in 30 years You're saying it on a parade float. You're saying if McDavid has a less than par series Even though in golf less than pars good, right? Are you gonna write the word Mick overrated in your synopsis of the series? It's a possibility

Mostly I'm gonna write in that scenario, it's probably because Bob had another knockout series and was lights out at the net. And just the way he shut down the New York Rangers big three. Well, it was the Panthers defense, not necessarily Bob. Okay, but the point is, they're capable of doing that against McDavid. They are, I think they are. Maybe they'll prove me wrong, but I have that much faith in the Panthers defense.

And good luck to McDavid, may the best team win, blah, blah, blah. Greg is hoping that Connor proves him wrong, right? I mean, of course. Right? Right? Let's not go that way. Let's not go that way.

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