The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Oral History of the Dan Le Batard Show: Episode 11

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

In this episode of the Oral History of the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz, Dan, Mike and Stu take us through the era following John Skipper's departure from ESPN leading up to just before the COVID-19 pandemic. In this time, a power shift is going on at ESPN as Jimmy Pitaro assumes the role of president after Skipper's departure. The crew shares how the shift in power affected the show's ability to discuss some of the hot-button political issues taking place during the second-half of the first Donald Trump administration. In this episode, you will hear Dan's comments in which he calls ESPN's policy about discussing political issues "cowardly" while Mike Ryan was at a show even in Fort Wayne, and the fallout that ensued. You will also hear from former ESPN radio executive, Traug Keller, about what went into the decisions ESPN made to be stricter about the content discussed on the show, as well as the infamous dinner he had with Dan and Dan's agent. Then, stick around for this week's supercut which includes legendary moments such as Billy Gil's home run call, corporate Michael, and the single most important thing the Falcons have to do to beat the Patriots. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Ten Leather Tards. Welcome Derek Jeter! And that concludes our Marlin coverage for the season! Stoogats. What's the single most important thing the Falcons have to do to beat the Patriots? I'm proud of this project, we're proud of this project, narcissistic though it is, and I do believe that the second half of this has the potential to have more information and be more interesting and more honest than even the first half because there's a lot of stuff in here that I have not talked about and that I will need help remembering with Mike and Stugatz because it felt like such a crisis time where the things I was about felt like they were

being attacked and I didn't quite feel supported by anybody but the people that we had most closely around us. I lean on Mike more than me. Well I'm curious I think I think this episode more than any of the other ones is going to have us trying to talk out what happened here. Because if we thought the timelines got screwy before, we're walking up to COVID, which was such a life-changing event that it screwed everybody's timelines up. But just for you in the audience, where we're at right now, the last episode, we covered John Skipper stepping down from his position at ESPN. There was about a six month period, to the best of my knowledge, Stu, where the people that were in place below John Skipper

kind of stayed in place in a holding pattern as Disney tried to figure out the direction of ESPN and who they were gonna put in place there. There was actually some safety in knowing that for at least six months, we just keep the status quo. Well, those people below John Skipper were people that we had relationships with, that they became accustomed with the show and the kind of work and productivity

that we put out. But they were also pretty good people. It was Trog Keller. It was Marcia Keegan. They liked us. We liked them. They spent a lot more time with us than they ever had because John Skipper was no longer there. Trog Keller, I was senior vice president of the ESPN production business units, oversaw some of the smaller ESPN businesses. Both shocked and saddened, right?

It's out of left field and saddened because I'd known John quite a while, even before my time at ESPN and my role at ABC. And I knew John to be just a smart, creative executive and considered him a friend. I enjoyed our many conversations that ranged from, is there a God, to how are sales going? Anyway, it was a shock to the system, and John had given us a lot of leeway in regards to running the radio business. He knew we knew what we were doing,

and he, along with Norby, let us do our thing. I did say, okay, you know, when there's a change at the top, there's always change. That's what happens in corporate America, and so buckled down and waited for what was next. I didn't realize though that that's why they were spending more time with us. You didn't? No, I really do think that people, if you're interested in sort of doing a forensics on how we did what we did in a way that made people curious, how are they able to do that at Disney? And it's because off

premises a lot of stuff can be kept away from me, given how weird our whole setup was. What they have now with McAfee is not something that they had tried before. Let's rent this ready-made thing and thrust it upon our people and let it live over there and leave those people alone.

And that's not the deal that they sign up for. So it created an assortment of problems that I really wasn't privy to because Mike is getting battered in all the things that you feel in the last episode because he's fighting in defensive protection of the executive producer job on this show is protect Dan. Just make sure he's okay so that we can all be okay

because if you take care of the show, it will take care of you if you protect The show it will protect you and just to further clear up the timeline We're in the second half now of the first Trump administration And by then most people are tired and it's not just the people that are going through the things that are triggered by what they see On the news It's also people on the opposite side of the political spectrum that are tired of you complaining about it And this is the height of the ESPN is woke

machine and there's a whole economy now of people getting clicks and covering the media through a conservative lens and you're getting aggregated a bunch and you're one of the lead dogs when it comes to getting engagement on those things. So the world is a changing and once John Skipper leaves, I'm more in tune because I'm getting more of the complaints and I certainly know of more things to keep away from Dan and more things to be more careful with, but also more thoughtful with. Again, I said this in a previous episode. Part of me does miss some of the guardrails that ESPN put in place when it came to political

discussion because it did force us to be more thoughtful and generally less abrasive with the words that we use now that we're more independent and we have partners that don't manage us quite like that. If we're emotional about something, we convey that emotion and it's probably working against our best interest. I know that for a fact in terms of perception, in terms of growth. So I do kind of see where ESPN was going with it, but this was a top line call from Disney. We are not going to be perceived as woke anymore. I will cover as much of this as I can.

I know Mike Ryan has said previously that we or I have to be careful here. And I don't feel like I have to be careful here because my emotions here have subsided on wherever it is I was hurt. And I can see clearly now without that emotion, the benefits and why it is ESPN is entitled to run its business, however it is that ESPN wants to run its business. And so I don't have disparaging things to say about how all of this ended. I will say that I was hurt because I wanted a big company to stand for something when I knew the reasons that I was hired there and the company changed and the country changed,

but I didn't change. The reasons I was hired there at the beginning was to do that job. And so whatever was getting me in trouble was me just thinking, hey, I'm doing the job that you hired me to do when you went and got the Latin columnist from Miami to speak on things that are also social commentary. We probably don't have enough time to get into it. Suffice it to say, it wasn't a fun time because for obvious reasons, it didn't make sense for the Walt Disney Company, especially ESPN, a sports network, to start to get involved in politics because of how divided the country was becoming.

So, you know, you go one direction, you've immediately alienated half your audience. And as much as Dan, I think, probably thought he could make converts with to his perspective, that just wasn't the business we were in. So managing that was, yeah, it was tough. I mean, there were gray areas and it wasn't a lot of fun, but we definitely don't have enough time to go into that, nor I think in my retirement do I wanna go back to it. I think I still have a little PTSD from it all.

But the dynamic change, meaning John Skipper left, and I think he left you a much wider range of things that you could discuss and maybe some of those guardrails kind of came down a little bit, I don't know, but that's interesting that you've gotten yourself to a place where you're okay with it and I'm guessing that's because you are now running your own business. Well, yeah, we benefited from it, yes. We have been able to increase our value because of the things we were able to take from the

discomforts of they did not want the headlines of me going out the door screaming and yelling about how hurt I was because they know what was happening in those meetings and they are scared of too many revelations coming out. And it's easier to just pay to make them go away. So I don't want to be in a position here where people are expecting that I'm going to be guarded and have too much careful here I will tell you as honestly as I can the things that happened here and I will betray no inner secrets in doing so because I don't think the people involved who cared about us are Guilty of some of the things that I'm gonna be talking about here

But at the end there and I will keep saying this to people, I did not know how it is that we were protected by Skipper. I did not take advantage of that. I wasn't in any way aware of it. I thought the deal when we got there is you will leave us alone. And they largely did leave me alone. Again, I did not know how Mike was dealing with some of these things that he had to deal with. When the decision gets made that someone who comes from my past with what you know about me,

know me to be as a journalist and as a Cuban person who is always talking about the exile experience. When we've gotten to the point in America where the president of the United States is saying to brown women, go back to the country that you came from. Anybody who knows me being Cuban or any part of my story or the sacrifices my father and mother made

so that I would have the freedom to be like, no man, no employer tells me what I'm saying about this. And I have to go through Nick Wright to say it because of company policy of I've got to go through a sports figure of some sort to talk about this thing if it's in the news, you know where it is that I would break on that stuff. I think when John Skipper left, Dan lost his rabbi, his guy, right? So John brought Dan on.

John championed Dan and rightly so. Dan was a really talented journalist with a different perspective and one that created a great radio show. I remember going down to South Beach years before trying to get Dan to do radio, but it took Skipper to work his magic to get him to finally do it. But look, when Skipper left, it wasn't just Skipper leaving. I think the country was changing a little bit too. And certainly talking any kind of politics was becoming more divisive, but I think, you know, Dan felt like he was hired for a certain

reason and for a bunch of reasons that were, I think, good and right. But things change in corporate America. And I think he dug in and he didn't like it. And he knew what he was hired for. And that's what he kept doing. So I do think he got angry or his time went on. It was a great radio show. It still is. It's a great podcast with its own audience. I think not every show is meant for ESPN or is ESPN meant for every show, right? Things evolve. This ESPN, right? And so I think, by the way, at the end of the day, it all worked out for everybody. So for the first two years of the Trump administration, there were a lot of places where the intersection of sports and politics met. Colin Kaepernick discussion being huge and it being a pop culture conversation. Towards the latter end there were three

big things that happened in American politics, two of which did not have a sports tie to whatsoever. And that was the instruction that I got while we were in that six-month period without John Skipper being there which is if you're going to broach anything that could be conceived political, try to find the sports avenue for it. The first thing that happened was the treatment of illegal immigrants at a nearby facility here, the kids in cages thing. That was one that got all the way up to Dan.

Dan spoke eloquently about it, emotionally about it, and there were no sports ties for this. I got taken to task because I said some things too, because this was a cause that was important to me as well. I started getting really frustrated with their stance on this because we were talking about humanity. I didn't view this as a political discussion. I found the conversations that we had with ESPN brass after that show very disheartening and very frustrating. Dan, what do you remember about that? Man, there's someone there I love

who calls me in the middle of this. I'm getting it so little, Stu Gautz, I'm promising you that it's just, I don't know how much of this mic is taking for me because things that should be obvious because I'm naive are not obvious to me. So when Trog and Marcia come down, two people I care about,

two people who were very good to us, I'm not thinking it's because I need to be monitored or watched or that they have to cultivate these relationships to take care of me. These are people I care about who have helped me. One of them said we'd be working there for as long as we wanted to work there because he and his son loved our radio show so much

and he really understood radio, uncommonly understood radio. So I'm not noticing or feeling it. But someone who's there who I would say I have, and we had the best of executive relationships with, calls me and says, why would you talk about that immigration thing? It's boring.

That's somebody who doesn't come from where I come from. I love this person. We just come from different places. Why I would talk about that thing is because it's a deeply personal thing to me to see that happen to minorities and people who aren't minorities don't care about it. Why am I having a conversation with someone I love

that doesn't understand this and so I can walk him through it but it's still something that causes him and them problems because who can get Dan under control? Who can get Dan to stop talking about this? And the answer is nobody. Well, this gentleman in particular was always kind of the buffer and would defend us when they would have their company head meetings, department head meetings. And he was always kind of a Dan guy.

And this was the first time that I got clued into the amount of pressure that he was probably being put under as Disney tried to get out of this. I didn't understand that. And if I had, like this happened to me naively with the Deadspin vote thing. Like this was another thing. This is more benign, but once it got to me, hey Dan, you're putting Skipper in a bad spot

and you're putting a whole bunch of people that Skipper cares about in a bad spot because Deadspin is being viewed as anti-ESPN and you've just climbed in bed with Deadspin. So once that's presented to me, of course I'm going to be some semblance of reasonable. But as an employer, I would ask anybody who cares about me, because I've never had these kinds of problems with employers, I do expect some sort of understanding of why it is I was hired and who it is that I am before you make a phone call like that.

Right, that was the puzzling part to me is you have Dan as smart, as good, as eloquent as anyone in the media, not just sports media, the media. And if you know anything about Dan and his history and things that are important to him, and really to you as well, Mike, to our audience, to other guys on our show, Dan's gonna talk about that stuff. Lord knows I tried to get him not to talk about it,

but if I can't get him to not talk about it, then no one is gonna be able to convince Dan not to talk about it. These things are important to him, and it was always confusing to me, why'd you hire him? Why does there need to be a sports angle, a sports tie? Why can't Dan just talk about something that he's passionate about?

I think ESPN really struggled, really coming to grips, and I actually learned this when Castro died too. Our experience, Dan and mine, Dan's parents leaving communism, my dad as well, the plight of the Cuban-American, it's not understood the way that Cuban-Americans understand it, and you can say that for a lot of people, but nationally, there is a bit of a a sea change there's just fatigue when it comes to these people having a voice and a general misunderstanding about their plight and I found that with the death of Castro and I kind of found that at ESPN with this discussion and that we were talking about our own personal experience decent things that were afforded to our parents that weren't being afforded to people at that time as the vitriol

turns up. And I understand why Disney is going in this direction. There were a lot of things about Disney's business model that are going sideways at this point, and they're struggling to wrap their brains around. What's the reason for this? It's really the whole cable bundle thing was, it was a huge ruse, but they're trying to take in Intel and find out reasons as to why this is happening to their business model.

And part of the feedback that they get is you're Too woke you're too political Disney's I mean got broad appeal ESPN supposed to have broad appeal I understand how they kind of do let's get away from this It's why I don't really harbor any ill will say for maybe one or two people out there But I was really hurt by the kids in cages thing because I felt like no one was actually Hearing me and I didn't feel like I was having a discussion with human beings. I felt like I was having discussions with vessels that were relaying a message from on high and that's the first time I experienced that that I wasn't getting anywhere that no

one could look me in the eye and really see where I was coming from that nor did they care right which hurt they weren't listening to you know they weren't caring about what it is that you were going through at the time no and maybe it was my struggles as a communicator, but Dan's a pretty good communicator. And I was on these calls. Like we got pulled aside on our own call about this. And we were kind of begging and really confused

why they wouldn't afford us to speak from personal experience here. Because that's not political. That's my life. That's Dan's life. The lives that our parents and grandparents had, and we were giving voice to that, and it fell on deaf ears. It was right then and there that I knew like, the lives that our parents and grandparents had, and we were giving voice to that, and it fell on deaf ears.

It was right then and there that I knew, like, man, that was really unpleasant. I did not like that. And I was starting to be afraid, man, whoever they put in place next, is there more to come? Right, so disappointing, because I have always told Dan, like, use me as a gauge for the audience, because if I find something interesting,

there's a good chance that most of the audience is gonna find it interesting. And I remember feeling your guy's pain, feeling your passion, feeling you wanting to talk about it, and also remembering just how good both of you were on the topic and it was a personal thing. And I remember saying to myself, this is riveting because both of you taught me a lot about how it is you grew up and where it is you grew up. Well, I prided myself on that. It's always been important to me to allow people

to discover what is, in my case, borrowed pain, because I like saluting my parents by getting the words of my mother somewhere near Kornheiser. So when Obama is speaking in Cuba about relations between the countries, I'm on ESPN blasting, blasting ESPN for going over there because I'm presenting this as an argument and seeing something that serves everybody

during a different time, right? Serves Skipper, serves everybody. Skipper asked for me and my parents to go to Cuba on that trip. My dad wanted to go with me. He was ready to go. My mom refused, so we did not go. She refused to answer any of Skipper's calls.

We didn't end up going. But I was on television presenting those viewpoints. That's what I was there to do. I was born to do that. Now make it Colin Kaepernick. I see that. Initially, that's not even to me a politics story. All I see when I'm there is like,

holy shit, that's gold. That's content gold. Like you say we moved away from this stuff, or you can see why it is that you can move away from it. It came to us. Like there was no avoiding it when it's there. So I thought of that first. But it happened on a football field.

Yes, and I thought of that first and foremost as a work of art. Like that's why you hired me. This is why we can have thought provoking discussions. 100%. And I have this essentially a Trojan horse to have like really important conversation and it's protected in every single way. But we deviated from that leaning on personal experience. I remember I was in a car ride with someone that was actually working at this

detention center and I was really chastised. Like you don't know if that person's actually working at detention center. I'm like, I guess you're right, but I also read the news. I know what's going on over there. You shouldn't have done that. I'm like, okay, but there's personal experience here. They didn't really care for it. So I was worried. But shortly thereafter, Jimmy Pataro is named as John Skipper's replacement. We do go up to Bristol, we have a meeting

with Jimmy Pataro. I liked him from the jump. Yeah. And I kind of felt like, okay, there's a chance here for a good relationship to be formed. And also, there was something that happened in between the kids in cages and send her back controversy on this show we Kind of stepped into it on a trump thing and Jimmy Pataro had our back and I was like, okay cool Is this move? I don't know. But if it is a move it's working with me. I'm like, okay cool point for Jimmy Pataro This seems like it can work. What do you remember about your first meeting with Jimmy Pataro? I always liked him and I am now introducing myself to him in the middle of a controversy but

as preface for you and him I would say when I ask the audience who am I who do you think I am or who do I think I am when presenting myself to you my answer would be somewhere in the person who brings you a Cuban story so that you can find the humanity in yourself and in that story, a storyteller, and feel something in there. I don't need Jimmy Pataro to know that before meeting me, but when I went to go see Jimmy Pataro after this, and this one, I was good, I made a deal that I wouldn't normally make to honor and respect him to make that look like that was him summoning me to meet him versus what it actually was. We're getting out ahead of ourselves. You got summoned for something that happened even after the center back.

But this is the first time I'm physically meeting him. You're not talking about a phone call. We had a group meeting in Bristol that you may not remember that we all went up there, which was just like all of us meeting with him. And that went well. There was something that happened. I forget with Trump that he had our back on. I remember I went back up to Bristol by myself and another meeting with Jimmy probably doesn't remember this at all. And I said, look, I understand the position that this company is in. I understand that we all work for Disney,

that things like what our show is more known for fair or unfair are going gonna pop up a little bit more. Just know I'm going to continue being mindful of this. Gotta try to keep the discussion civil and try to keep ESPN's guardrails relatively intact but we are not going to avoid the intersection of sports and politics. When it comes up we will avoid rhetoric as best we can and I will be as much of an ally as I can for your management team as long as you understand my position. We left it there pretty well and then two weeks later or thereabouts I'm in Fort Wayne, Indiana at a show event and the send-her-back controversy happens and this if I can pinpoint one moment in our show where it was just done for us at ESPN. This is it. This puts that in motion. Remember,

we just had one with the kids in cages. We had a meeting. We're good. Jimmy defends us. I'm there two weeks earlier saying, don't worry. If I'm in that studio, I gotcha. I'm not in that studio. Right. As an aside in that meeting, Pataro's telling me, keep it on the track, Stu. And Dan gets emotional because of all the framing that we've done in this episode. In this moment in particular, where you address this on the show and you call out ESPN in particular because that's also what raised everybody's antennas because you went at your bosses because at this point, you know, they want you to stay away from this and you turn

that into content. Dan, to me, it felt strategic and I've always kind of felt like that. I'm not there. Billy at this point is in the penalty box. You have no producers there. Mina was co-hosting with us this show. She was not in the studio. Right. I feel like you were protecting her from what was about to come. I was there but I wasn't really there. I wanted to do Marina Montana. I mean it's very clear that this was with intention. I don't think your intention was just nuke the whole thing with ESPN but you were fed up with the rules that were put in place and you wanted

to challenge that and you set forth a chain of events that really just ended everything at ESPN with this segment. I remember you wanting to kind of, and correct me if I'm wrong, kind of setting a precedent. Hey, I don't care who's running this place. No one's going to tell me how to do this. No one's going to tell me how to do the show one's going to tell me how to do the show I will tell you that as you guys talk and there's been a lot of this throughout this oral history where some things get jostled and I don't remember things correctly so I don't have any recollection of the meeting in Bristol you guys are talking about I only remember two times meeting with Jimmy Pitoro but you will forgive my memory lapses and what it is that we're talking about here as I try to remember it as best I can.

Do you remember Fort Wayne? What I remember is Mike Ryan really being mad at me in Fort Wayne because he put me on FaceTime and I was cursing at the audience and I bottled tequila in my hand and at this point I'm guessing he's feeling I'm either self-destructive or that we're just careening toward the abyss. So he's in Fort Wayne and he thinks some things here are strategic that I'm not gonna remember as strategic. I promise you that Stu gots. There's one thing that I remember being strategic about that day and it's pulling Mina out of the room because I knew I was headed to get into trouble and I didn't want her anywhere

near whatever that trouble was but I was left me in but but I was- You left me in, I mean. But I was blissfully, blissfully naive about how deep a trouble we were in and how the walls were caving in on us. I was pissed off about the specifics of a few restrictions that had been put in place, but I didn't know they were restrictions that were put in place because our jobs were in trouble. I never thought I was pushing against a boundary

so much in here that we might risk losing our careers. It's a consequence I would abide, but I didn't think it was a real one. So ESPN on ESPN crime, you were always very quick to say, whenever someone got in trouble, like whenever Bill Simmons got in trouble, like you can't take shots at ESPN personalities

or ESPN or Disney. And in this segment, what really got aggregated was you going at ESPN's policy like, I can't talk about this unless I have a sports guest on when this is bigger than all of us. You were essentially calling it cowardice. I may be framing it a little lazily there, but that was really at the crux of this disagreement. It's like you were taking shots at ESPN or at least that was a perception. Well, the perception also is somewhere in there a new president is being greeted by being called a coward by somebody who can be in a position in this political climate

to if Disney is not going to tell you to stop with the woke talk. No, I'm an employee at Disney, but I'm one who comes from a journalistic background, hired by journalists, having worked with journalists at what ESPN was doing with journalism, and those people taught me to do journalism and know all the fights and arguments that we would have over 20 years of me saying to them, guys, do you understand how much more valuable it would be to everyone involved if ESPN covered ESPN the way it covers everyone else with the same sort of judgment and therefore you allow Criticism from within the building to give everybody more criticism because you're doing things responsibly

Journalistically and honestly you're treating your own company with the same judgment that you're nailing athletes with And they're well within their rights to say terrible idea Dan LeBoucheard. No. And they did And they did and it's a look and you approach it very thoughtfully like isn't this a great idea? Actually no it's not it's a terrible idea. You're your boss. It's more arrogant than that even. It's more it's more arrogant by me than that even. Don't let everybody do it. Just let me. Just let me do it. I'm the biggest thing here. Come on. I wasn't either guy that would push boundaries anyways. I gotta tell you, the show got so big at that point, I agreed with Dan. Yeah, well, I kind of, like, aren't we grandfathered in?

I can be trusted to do it. You don't need to trust anybody else. You guys used to. Don't you still? Come on, don't you remember? Wasn't that great fun? Don't you remember how much applause we got when you wanted my dad and me in Cuba? That one, right? I'm criticizing the employer while I'm on the employer. We did that together, didn't we? New sheriff in town, we found out.

Now I'm in Four Way in Indiana because fans of our shows like had a great grassroots event. Are you saying at what point Dan was the sheriff? No, Skipper was the sheriff, but we carried favor with the sheriff. And I provided those tidbits of those previous meetings that I had with Jimmy Pataro to say like, within a very quick amount of time,

we've gone from, don't worry, I got you, we'll be mindful, we're all aligned, you like us, oh, you did us that favor there, cool. And then Dan's on a microphone going at ESPN, calling the new president essentially a coward. Didn't mean to do that, by the way. Just to be clear, okay, no one will hear a bad word from me on Jimmy Pataro.

That guy tried to do right by us was in an impossible spot This was not a good position for him to be in to be clear on that We did put him in an uncomfortable spot by the words that you picked I'm in Fort Wayne, Indiana because and I really wish in retrospect although my life turned out pretty great afterwards The reason why we weren't all in the in Fort Wayne, Indiana was ESPN from a liability standpoint why we weren't all in Fort Wayne, Indiana was ESPN from a liability standpoint wouldn't green light the entire show going over there. They had raised funds. They wanted a whole broadcast there. I was out there. We got thousands of people to a minor league baseball game for us.

Like we were the draw. I have a spectacular drone shot of the crowd that we drew was really the height of my professional time at ESPN. I was at dinner with a local radio people and other ESPN national radio people there and the social media clips start hitting my phone. And it goes very quickly from one of the highest professional highs to one of the lowest professional lows because I knew we had just stepped in it.

Yeah, and I was upset with Dan on the inside. I think we talked about it maybe when he called Jimmy a coward and he has apologized for it, but. We're boiling it down. That wasn't essentially it. I did not call when he called Jimmy a coward and he is apologized for but we're boiling it down No, wait, I did not call Jimmy. Whatever. I thought that well, wait a minute. It's important. Okay Well this part's important. Okay, but the corporate policy was that I couldn't say anything Unless it was with an athlete as a meat shield and I thought the policy was cowardice What happened last night this felt un-American what happened last night, okay?

Basically a chant, send her back, is not, you know, it's not the America that my parents came to get for us, for exiles, for brown people. Like, there's a racial division in this country that's being instigated by the president and we here at ESPN haven't had the stomach for that fight because Jamel did some things on Twitter and you saw what happened after that and then here all of a sudden nobody talks politics on anything unless we can use one of these sports figures as a meat shield in the most cowardly possible way to discuss these subjects but what happened last night at this rally is deeply offensive, done by the president of our country. And this tweet from Nick Wright, if you're listening

to people chant, send her back about a Somali refugee who serves in Congress. Nick Wright writes, I don't talk politics on here, but this isn't political. This is obvious. This is abhorrent, obviously racist, dangerous rhetoric and not calling it out makes you complicit. The send her back chant and the go back to where you came from are so antithetical to what we should be. It is so right what he is saying there. It is so wrong what the president of our country is doing trying to go down getting re-elected by dividing the masses at a time when the old white man, the old rich white man feels oppressed being attacked by minorities. Black people, brown people, women. That's who we're going after now.

Black people, brown people, women and that's the like let's do it as the platform. That's what you're seeing and the only way we can discuss around here because this isn't about politics it's about race what you're seeing happening around here is about race and it's been turned into politics and we only talk about it around here when steve kurapopovich says something we don't talk about what is happening unless there's some sort of weak, cowardly sports angle that we can run it through when sports has always been a place where this stuff changes. I do think Sugaad, to a degree, is speaking for probably Jimmy Pataro in there. Like, really? You're going to challenge me like this? I feel like I said the same thing. I mean, no, did I not?

Look, man, okay, look. Just, John Skipper worked at Rolling Stone as a troublemaker, I'm a troublemaker, he hired me to be a troublemaker, Disney's only gonna do so much troublemaking because it's Disney and everyone loves the magical fantasy of Disney. If I may though, I understand why you feel like why John Skipper hired you. I understand all that.

I understand who you are, I understand your heart. We both do. But you also have to understand, that's why he hired you. The game has changed for everybody. Right. And you're trying to play by the same rules. Yes, and to kind of put a personal spin on this,

we discussed when we first went to meet John Skipper, me, you, and Dan. And John Skipper was not very receptive to me as Dan's co-host, he wanted Bomani Jones. And then I get a meeting with Jimmy Pettaro, and I get a completely different boss than John Skipper was to me. Jimmy Pettaro loved me!

There were a lot of reasons to like ESPN and be frustrated with the challenges there, but we were the biggest thing in sports talk radio, we were the biggest thing in sports podcasting at the time, the branding helped us, our arrow was pointing up, we were elevating, we had security, we felt like we were cooking. But I want Dan and the audience to understand my disappointment where I'm there for the first whatever amount of years

and I felt like to me the only reason I am here is because of Dan LeBattor. John Skipper does not want me here. He wants me out. He wants Belmati Jones in. You're doing the fantasy football stuff. Your star is ascending. Individually you have a brand now. Right and I start having some Success away from Dan and away from this show John leave Jimmy comes in Jimmy really likes my character likes the thing that we've developed And by the way loved you and loved the show He really did like he told me him his kids they would listen all the time But I went from having a boss that I didn't feel like was terribly confident in me to having a boss who loved me.

Well, at least you mean you feel that way. Jimmy was good like that. Yeah. Jimmy was a salesman and he is. He's great. No, and he's a sports fan. Oh, Dan, he would throw me a football when I saw him in the hallway. I mean.

In terms of chumminess and perfect partnerships. Do we miss Jimmy Petaros? I do. Yeah. He was a handsome man. Yes. Oh, so handsome. Went to Cornell. Yeah. Corporate Michael was a huge fan of his work, would celebrate him with a handsome man. Oh, so handsome. Went to Cornell.

Corporate Michael was a huge fan of his work. Would celebrate him with a Cornell music. So I just felt like, man, the timing on this. But I realize in retrospect, like, certainly, if I were in that studio, it wouldn't have gone down that way. Well, you say this, Mike, I don't know. Let's examine this for a second. Hold on, because it produced one of the funniest video clips in the history of what we do, where Billy was in another room in front of a green screen and just seemed confused and was in charge but couldn't hear anyone talking to him.

Weird time. And the director had gotten off of me as a camera shot and put it on Billy so that went viral the news clips couldn't use it because it was just Billy in front of a green screen. All the mechanics of whatever it is television had to do to make sure that did not become viral had not accounted for the social media age. And so Mike Ryan thinks some of this stuff is strategic and I would say the Cosmos have had a funny time

with our show and this stuff I'm telling you is not strategic I did not take advantage of Mike celebrating our show in Fort Wayne to do something that I wouldn't have done with Mike there I was simply pissed off that a president had said to people that are women and brown go back to your own country Americans Yes, and back to America. Yes, or just go back to where you came from is The crowd shaming sent her back so so it's just that it's two gods like I don't need to explain this part to you I knew the show before we even got in that day I knew where you were going Mike wasn't there, but I knew where you were going and Mike

I am telling you most cases you could stop it in this case, I don't think your presence would have stopped it. I've looked back on that day. I had my feelings about it. I don't fully agree. But what I will say is, if it wasn't this controversy, it would have been another one. Right. Like there would have been another one.

We were headed in this direction because ESPN's company directive was changing and kowtowing to a bit of a shift. And if it wasn't this, it was gonna be what popped up later because Dan was hell bent on talking about, okay, I can only talk about politics when there's a sports tie-in?

Cool, I'll listen to you. Daryl Morey. Daryl Morey happens. He got his wish, yes. But Dan, this Daryl Morey story, and let me tell you guys, rest assured, the block was hot. It felt like to me we were on final warning after the send her back thing, but we survived it.

But my communication and the tone in which people were talking to me was totally different. Definitely new sheriff in town. The Daryl Morey story happens, but Dan, you're not in town when it breaks. You're on your honeymoon. And so this thing is in the news cycle for like two weeks and it starts dying down.

Correct me if I'm wrong. You come back and you're hot on this because this is the story, not Colin Kaepernick, this is the story that you were made to cover. Are you kidding me? An NBA executive taking out one of the biggest NBA markets and essentially getting the NBA blackballed within China? This is huge.

But by the time you wanted to come back and circle back to the story, it had already died down. What can you tell us about this controversy because this probably was indeed the final straw. Well, we've had about 17 final straws in the course of the telling of this story. No, the last one was a point of no return. This was the final straw.

I will have to get that hierarchy from you guys, because I feel like we'll have 19 more final straws before we're done here. I will tell you that some of this time again becomes muddy because I'm gonna lace the personal elements in here and Stugats had a very difficult time where he lost his mother and the show had to go on. So what I'm remembering about this time is at the very end of it for reasons that I have to be careful about talking about because I want to

protect Poppy's privacy but there have been just a couple of times in ways that are really hard to understand where my father's just not all there and there's not a real explanation for it and it puts everything that I care about in some peril. The last days of my honeymoon, I'm talking on FaceTime with my dad and I see a hollowed out look.

It's only happened a couple of times, but I can see, oh shit, I'm in Japan and I gotta get back home and my dad's not right. And so now I'm coming back into also, and I gotta get back to work with my dad on television and even during my honeymoon, the most blissful time with the most blissful woman, I'm churning on and when I get back, highly questionable is the platform that I

was made to write something on this subject and deliver something more powerful here than anyone because of my connection to where it is to have freedom of speech, you know, smothered and how important I think it is. Here's a place for me to be able to make really good content on behalf of underserved people and make a sociological point that will thread this needle on behalf of underserved people and make a sociological point that will thread this needle on degree of difficulty that will make ESPN proud proud that I will do a piece of work that will be substantive and so I'm coming back into that and I can't do it I'm not allowed nobody wants

any part of this subject matter. By then they decided all right we're not gonna feed this furnace anymore and I will say while you were in Japan, we were able to talk about it on the air. We weren't talking about it the same way. Certainly not as intelligently and as powerfully. But it's okay. I'm complimenting Dan. I'm not insulting you. I believe that I had written the most beautiful thing. I believe that I had written the most beautiful thing I had ever written. I wanted to come back and write it and inspired by everything from honeymoon to like the things

I like to identify as being as a professional worker. After we chewed on it for two weeks, they kind of did say in clear terms, all right, that's that on the NBA China, where we're all as a company moving on and you came back ready to have this discussion. They didn't like that. That leads to a disagreement and what became two weeks away at the start of football season, which wasn't the most popular move by the way. And by all means you were entitled to take your honeymoon whenever you like. But given our standing there after the sender back controversy,

like there was some NBA finals off time and then you're off in the beginning of football season. Then next thing you know, we're essentially, Sugats and company is essentially an entire book for the start of fall football because- How'd we do? We did pretty well. It was a very strong book for us. But your honeymoon gets extended like a couple of weeks

because you're flying to New York. This becomes a hill to die on for you professionally, does it not? Again, I'm not viewing these things as hills to die on because throughout this process, as someone blissfully naive about an employer can terminate you. You know, Dan, your history of relationships with employers

doesn't always have to be something that is positive at the end. And you have a crew of people that you employ that you care very much about. And I've also got relationships with the people who are there that I don't believe this is going to end. I believe that I'm making good trouble. I believe that we're.

I mean, you understood where they were coming from with the cowardice stuff. Yes, but I believe I'm making good trouble. I believe I'm doing things in public. I believe him when he says that. I do too. I mean, it's weird. There's a disconnect between you and the SBA.

There's no such thing as good trouble, but if anyone can pull it off, it's dead. Okay, but no, but I understand why they wouldn't trust me to do it, especially after things changed there. But I was being insistent on them trusting me to do it because you hired me to do this, and yes, everything has changed.

But I'm promising you I could do this in a way that will represent everyone well." And they said don't do it. Yeah they said no. They said no. Dan returns to the show I want to say like 10 days later and at this point Marshik, Keegan and Trog are approaching retirement. We have a show event that we fly Trog Keller down to. There's a dinner that's contentious because Dan has had quite a few months over there at ESPN, has become more aware of how ESPN feels about him and his views and is not fully comfortable with how that's framing our show. It's all of a sudden a governor he never had to worry about. It

leads to some contention. And shortly thereafter, Marcia and Trog retire simultaneously and Dave Roberts and Norby Williamson come in and Trog and Marcia were allies of our show. Dave Roberts and Norby Williamson were essentially sent down from on high to carry out this new direction for Disney slash ESPN, which is like, we're getting away from being aggregated. We're getting away from this perception. And we had Dave Roberts around, and he was a big fan of the show, and then something changed when- In fairness to Dave, he was a big supporter

of our show early on. Listen, do I think once Dave Roberts and Norby took over after me and Marcia was gonna be in the end of our show? I don't know. I think, look, radio is not a major piece of ESPN by any means, certainly from a financial point. Do I think that it is an incredibly important barker in a very complex media world

in terms of how many different options there are? Having an entity 24 seven a day, letting people know what's on, what games are coming up, all that kind of thing is a very valuable tool. But at the end of the day, priorities were changing in ESPN, radio was dropping. So I think the patience to have anything that was any kind of disruptor in a business that wasn't considered very important meant it was expendable.

During this time, you mentioned Traude Keller and it is a source of a good amount of pain for me. And I hope at some point that I can heal all of this with him because he was very, very good to us. And I really appreciated his support and just how he loved radio. I've told him this, I've called him this, but there's an explosion in here. You guys will understand that is going to take some telling here. OK, so we'll get in some future episodes to where money became a problem because I wanted to make sure some people around us were taken care of outside of what Disney

could do and there were also liabilities on how much I could give them personally. I don't understand any of it but I couldn't just write checks for people so we invented a business and it was a bit of a miracle that I think Trog Keller was able, company that is cartoon protective, to have a t-shirt company at Disney that would make its own art. It was a bit of a giant victory to have a t-shirt company. No one prior to us at ESPN was able

to sell their own merchandise. Come to find out we weren't allowed to sell our own merchandise at the time we said we were because of a huge lapse in ESPN's judgment and so was it a victory? It was like like keep in mind. This is post skipper. We're still getting dubs right unprecedented dubs over there Mm-hmm and such that it was they were still trying to build out So this is the start of Leviton friends network We were able to start carving out our own thing the way that Bill Simmons had with Grantland

We were starting to carve out our own thing under the ESPN umbrella and bucking against trends that were usually non-starters contractually for them. And so somehow, because we did still at this point have this support, we now have a t-shirt company that will allow me, Stu Gotts, to take some of the money. Here it is. Let's pay our employees better let's have a little company and have a little thing that makes a little money on the side but it had not happened for a number of reasons that I do not understand for about a year and right before my 50th birthday party I'm

at dinner with trogg Keller and my agent Trace Armstrong who says that this is the worst meeting he's ever seen that didn't involve Bobby Valentine. And at this meeting, I think I lost both my agent and Trog, although I have not gotten Trace on the phone, to help explain to me where it is that I lost my agent because of whatever Trog and Trace's relationship was that birthed t-shirts and an enormous victory that made me appear ungrateful at a dinner a year later because I'm saying to somebody who I genuinely love and appreciate his support, Trog, it's a giant company, it's Disney, how can't I sell a t-shirt in a year? Like I was just legitimately confused by how can I not sell a t-shirt in a year? I was just legitimately confused by how can I not sell a t-shirt?

And so it's an enormous naivete. The famous Dan Trace dinner did not impact my decision to retire. I was frustrated trying to run a radio business. Dan was all about Dan. Look, at the end of the day, that's kind of what makes talent great. They are concerned about numero uno and people around them, right? Because that's what helps make them the top of their game.

And you know, Dan certainly was a huge proponent of his people, but I was running a business and I felt like I had hit the wall of the complaining. So I just left. Some points you can only take so much. It was probably a little abrupt, but you know, as you get older, your patience for some things start to wane.

I'm probably guilty of numerous things, but probably losing my patience more quickly as I got older was probably top among them. I was always going to hit the eject button at 60. That is a good time to exit the Walt Disney Company. And it was also clear to me that I was always the oldest guy by a lot in every meeting room that I was in. So no, that didn't impact it. Although it did make leaving more joyful given the chaos that was going on.

I want this thing to be maximum honest and I don't know some answers here. And I would love Trog to know how sorry I am that the pressures brought to bear on me. Okay, because Stugatz, this is a person I deeply care about and I'm wildly appreciative for what was unending support. But I also remember where our relationship there ended because my wife's never seen me that way.

She's looking at me in a kitchen because of everything that's exploding around me. The level of unhappiness I have about please let me be me. This is a time to speak freely and I'm just screaming into a phone standing up, fight, fight for something, fight, fight. The answer's like no, please, like okay we're done here. And please stop yelling at me. What are you doing? Yeah and at that point, I just wanted to talk sports. And at that point Trog had an illustrious career. A wide leader.

He was defending you. I was in meetings in which he was defending you and our show. And Trog doesn't end up attending this event. And very quickly after, retires. And that opens the door for the new power with Avery Roberts. Wildly supportive of us. I do not have a single bad thing to say about Trog Keller. I mean, how could you?

Trog was great. I do look back fondly in some ways on the Levitrog Keller. I mean, how could you? Trog was great. I do look back fondly in some ways on the the Levitard show. I loved it. I loved the content. I thought it was good stuff. It was fun. I thought it created community with its audience. And that's always the most important thing a radio show and audio show can do is create community and keep that community coming back and being able to,

by the way, sell products to that community because that's how you monetize it. But you only do that through trust and staying true to yourself. I think it just got difficult when it started to veer into things. As the country changed, as things got more dicey politically, it got too difficult. And I was glad that in some small way, I was part of that show's success. And I'm glad that it worked out for everybody. But Dave was trying to get a hold of Dan, and Dan wouldn't respond to Dave,

and Dave was calling me in my car and yelling at me for Dan not calling Dave back. And my kid's in the car, and I'm sitting there going like, what do you want me to do? I answered the phone, and I knew like our days were kind of numbered. Miami has the Super Bowl that year. First take is broadcasting from her studios

We feel like strangers in our own home Yes Because we can't even get access to the first take set Dan goes out there with an advanced auto parts battery aka Chris Cody Yeah, and it's just uncomfortable in our own home all of it We are very clearly falling out of favor Norby and Dave are in our studios. They barely talked to us I don't have the greatest interaction with them. I also notice around the Super Bowl, a lot of people are getting sick.

Like just to help frame the discussion for what's coming. This is not good vibes around our show. Very quickly after the new management team comes in, there's more feedback, more stop doing that, more stern tones, definitely stop doing that. More feedback on like, wait, what? You don't like what Mr. Roberts, like you liked our show before. You liked this specifically about our show and now you don't

like it about it we would have meetings and i would just be persona non grata in these meetings and it feels like they're about done with us and i feel like the hammer is going to drop at any moment dan i don't know if you feel the same way and something stops all that from actually culminating covid rudy gobert touches a bunch of microphones, Tom Hanks gets sick, and all of ESPN's plans, I think, which were headed in the direction of altering our show. Maybe not fully letting go of our show, but altering our show drastically. There was something coming. Right. Everything gets suspended because COVID-19.

You guys, though, honest to God, please correct me if I have this wrong. For whatever the problems were with management, I'm still never thinking that one of the consequences of this is that while we're in the contract, they're gonna push us out. I agree. It's just not a thing that I was thinking about. I'm like this is. We have contracts.

No, I was thinking it the entire time. I was afraid, I was afraid. I know what you were thinking, brother. I was right there with you. I had more business acumen than both of you did at the time. Yeah, no doubt. I was right there fearing that too, because I was in these meetings. Dan was never in the meetings with Dave Roberts and hearing how he would talk about our show there and seeing the change within him when it came to our show, I knew something was changing there, but Dan's approaching it.

Like we have contracts and we're still doing this thing. It's more than that though. Like I honestly, and I'm not sitting here claiming that this is some brave rebellion, it's stupidity. It is being just wildly unaware of the storm that was actually around us. Had you known you were jeopardizing the show

and ESPN and our jobs, would you have changed what it is you've done? This is what I would tell you because I'm being governed by trying to be authentic to the audience because, this thing has lived in service of where our connection with the audience is. 100%.

So, but whatever's happened over 20 years, I think that we can- May I say I think so. I do. I do think that Dan would have changed the content. Had he known. Had he known the gravity of the situation. See, and I was keeping too many things on. I'm sorry to stop your train of thought,

but I happen to know there were plenty of times where Dan has decided against something that he wanted to do for exactly that reason. Right. To protect you, to protect everybody's life. I understand that, but I'm sitting there going, how does Dan not know? And I'm so frustrated because I have landed

at the place professionally where I wanted to be. Well, you're getting the Dave Roberts venting calls. Yeah, right, where's Dan? The thing is though, and this, yeah, it speaks to how differently we look at it through all of our eyes. If I had known, this is gonna be funny to you guys, if I had known that it would respond

in our immediate firing, I may have still gone down with that battery. You would have did. And been at the back of first take just to have that as the joke as the punctuation. But. Ha ha! But, but I will tell you that the ultimate governor is ultimate. The first one on this will protect everybody on the show.

Holy shit, this is gonna be good, right? This is gonna be funny. Yeah, we're having a lot of problems. They're not gonna fire me over this. This'll just be funny. It's a pool, it's first take. Derek Henry's there, I'm yelling at a battery. Come on, come on.

As an inside joke for our- Derek Henry sat next to me, I have the seat lowered, he has his seat raised, it looks even taller than I- For our audience getting that joke on first take, if that gets me fired, maybe I choose that, maybe. But there have been any number of times that Mike has talked me out of whatever is the flippant joke because it's actually gonna get us in real trouble.

I like some of the trouble, Stu Gotts. I did not think that what happened was a possibility of happening even as it happened to us. Real quick, because I know I wanted the cliffhanger of COVID, but there's another thing that happened that was it happened to us. Real quick, because I know I wanted the cliffhanger of COVID, but there's another thing that happened that was deeply painful to us. Our relationship with 790, the ticket had dissolved. We were on 560, the Joe, once again called 560 QAM

down here locally. With very little notice, they decided, yeah, we're not gonna take your local hour anymore. And I know that that was extremely hurtful and it continued a trend over the years of just us being out of the loop because we first and foremost thought of ourselves as a Miami show in the market was so important to us. Dan had worked that hour for free.

You had worked that hour for free and we were just basically told we're going to go in a different direction and we're like, your entire enterprise exists because of us. We save the company. What are you talking about? And you're not going to give us heads up. How hurtful did you find that? It was more heartbreaking than everything

we just talked about. Really? Yes. 560 The Joe. Yes. Really? Yeah. But not everything that we're about to talk about.

No, but Dan only cared about being in this market. Like, we talked about the struggles of convincing Dan to go national with our show in the first place. So I understand that, because that's all you cared about. You cared about the Miami market. Yeah. Hugely hurtful to find that out. Yeah.

Devastating, heartbreaking. But the most heartbreaking thing that happens to our show happens after people start coming back to work. But we've got an entire COVID era to discuss because our internal tensions with ESPN management types, that kind of gets put on ice as the entire world hits pause and the pandemic changes everything. I will ask you guys. The flip of, I thought it was important, had you known.

I thought that discussion, I saw Mike kind of light up a little bit. Thank you. No, it was good. I wanted to defend our guy too, because I've known Dan, there's been like four dozen times where I'm like, Dan, this jeopardizes everything.

And I know you wanna do it and- And he did it. And no, no, no, and he doesn't do it. Or he alters it. Really? He listens to me, I'm like, Dan, this jeopardizes everything. And I know you wanna do it and- And he did it. And no, no, no, and he doesn't do it. Or he alters it. Really? He listens to me, I'm like, Dan, if you go down this road, when he has a full grasp ahead of time of how it might impact everybody,

Dan almost entirely acts in the best interest of the group. There was so much change so fast during this time that Dan genuinely was confused by it. And you were avoiding so many phone calls, which if you would have answered one of them, you would have had an idea. Just one Dave Roberts call. One phone call. He's yelling at me. My daughter's in the car.

I'm at a lacrosse tournament. I know what your answer is to this question, but I want to ask Mike this question, because Mike Ryan made some of the decisions with an unborn daughter on gambles that we've taken as a show in the name of believing in ourselves and believing in the content. So if I tell you now, Mike Ryan, not with everything else that has happened,

but that the hill we're gonna die on, Mike, you're not gonna believe this, but this is how it ends at ESPN. It ends because Dan and we knew that if we went down to the pool with Chris Cody in the battery and sat in first takes shot, that we would immediately get fired and did it anyway. Yeah.

Would you have chosen that as the joke to end our ESPN tenure, even if the consequences were your unborn daughter doesn't get to enjoy the fruits of all of your labor and good decisions since? Yes, 100%. But I think you ignoring Dave Roberts and Norby Williamson that entire trip down to Miami had more to do with it than the battery.

So you know my answer to that question? Yes, I'm pretty sure I know that you would just stay at ESPN and not cause any trouble and just eat muffins. Coming up next, we lighten things up with a death of millions. Oh. Stugaccio, I want to tell you a story. I'm serious here. My wife and my two daughters, they begged me to buy a Peloton.

So I bought a Peloton and then I watched that Peloton sit in my office and stare at me. So you know what I did one day? I looked at it and so I decided to get off my ass and I jumped on the Peloton because no one else was using it and I paid for it. I mean, so why not? Then I realized eventually that they bought it for me. And I got to tell you, way more challenging than I could have ever imagined. Peloton coaches are walking the walk. I love the coaches. I do the Grateful Dead one. It's fantastic. They have a sub three hour marathon runner, military trained athletes, a former college basketball player, and so many other well rounded coaches on their team. All this experience really shows in their classes, which are never short of challenging, especially

for me. So I jumped on it that first time. It was challenging, more challenging than I thought. Then I wanted to beat the bike. And so I kept jumping on it and I absolutely love it. I mean, I'm the only one who uses it, but again, they got it for me. I mean, I had no idea. That's a little passive aggressive that you think. Find your push, find your power with Peloton at onepeloton.com.

Guys, it's that time of year Valentine's Day is coming up. your power with Peloton at OnePeloton.com. She knows it's happening and yet she's surprised and loves them every single year. And this year I'm partnering with 1-800-Flowers to make sure you're a Valentine's Day hero with exclusive offers just for our listeners. Double the roses for free. When you buy one dozen roses, they'll double your bouquet to two dozen roses. It's the perfect way to say I love you without breaking the bank. Trust me, 1-800-Flowers always delivers and the roses are incredible guys. We got the sneak peek of the roses at the Levitard Show studios and they're incredible. Alright, long stem red roses accompanied by an hourglass red vase.

Everything beautiful. They're timeless, luxurious, romantic, ready to get you going for Valentine's Day in the office has never smelled better fellas. It's a must have on this Valentine's Day. To claim your double roses offer, go to 1-800-flowers.com slash Dan. That's 1-800-flowers.com slash Dan. Hey folks, it's Mike Ryan and I need to talk to you about something that I use religiously. Anytime I'm hosting a big dinner party, I want to impress people

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And if the pizza near you sucks, they will ship you New York style pizza from John's on Bleecker or Chicago deep dish pizza from Lou Malnati's, I do that all the time, or even New Haven or Detroit style pizza. If you are truly gluttonous though, they will ship you Guy Fieri's famous trash can nachos, which I kid you not are the ultimate game day centerpiece. So if you're looking to host an epic Super Bowl party or any party for that matter,

go to goldbelly.com and get free shipping and 20% off your first order with promo code Dan. That's goldbelly.com code Dan for free shipping and 20% off your first order. Give us as much as you can here. Take us up to the dramatic first pitch. Billy. Jose Arenas standing at the back of the mound.

He reaches down, he's rubbing some dirt and rosin on his hands. And here we go. Oh, now he's writing something on the mound with his fingers next to the logo. I can't see what he's writing. Right. He's, uh uh, oh here we go. And the wind up and the pitch. Oh god a home run on the first pitch! Welcome Derek Jadon and that concludes our Marlin coverage for the season!

Saturday it's bark in the park night at the Fort Myers Miracle Game. The Miracle take on the Lakeland Flying Tigers at six o'clock. Six o'clock. Ooh, an oatmeal. Let's see oatmeal. The dog friendly event includes doggy pools,

adoptable dogs as well, even treat bags for your own puppies. It's also Buddy the Elf night. So if you dress as Buddy the Elf, you get a special ticket offer. There's a Santa hat giveaway a car giveaway and It's Greg coat night Right cody night, okay

We kick off our Super Bowl coverage with Kenny G. What's the single most important thing the Falkens have to do to beat the Patriots? Have me play the national anthem. Big boy. What's the single most important thing the Falkens have to do to beat the Patriots? Man, they gotta keep spreading that ball around like they've been doing it. Matt Rodgers gotta stay poised and calm and play the same kind of ball they've been playing. Queen Latifah is with us. What's the single most important thing the Falkens have to do to beat the Patriots?

Oh boy, they got to stay healthy and they got play the entire game cuz Tom Brady ain't no joke Kenny G Thank you for making yet more time for us. What's the single most important thing the Falcons have to do to beat the Patriots? Oh I see it. I told you yesterday. If I'm such a national anthem, that's all you need to do right there. Just get me to play the national anthem and that's it. And your dreams will come true. We continue our Super Bowl week coverage with Ron McGill. What's the single most important fame the Falcons have to do to beat the Patriots? I think the Falcons are going to beat the Patriots first of all, and I think they just

have to let Matt Ryan do what he does. Bill Burr is as funny as funny gets. What's the single most important thing the Falcons have to do to beat the Patriots? I do not want us to play catch up against those guys. And I think that defenses win championships. Patriots have a good defense. As much as the Falcons are like ranked 25th, I think they sucked earlier in the year and they got their act together.

I'm judging them the way they played against Seattle on Green Bay. I think it's going to be a classic. David Johnson with us now. What's the single most important thing the Falcons have to do to beat the Patriots? Oh, that's a tough one. I would say run the ball. Ezra Edelman is a brooder. What's the single most important thing the Fallands have to do to beat the Patriots?

What? Kenny G, thank you for making yet more time for us. What's the single most important thing the Falklands have to do to beat the Patriots? Oh, again, I need to play the national anthem there. How many times do I have to tell you that? Yeah, all right, all right. Bob Lee is the best journalist that ESPN has.

What's the single most important thing the Falcons have to do to beat the Patriots? Score more points. Kyle Schwaber. What's the single most important thing the Falcons have to do to beat the Patriots? The Falcons run the football. His latest album, Brazilian Nights, is available now for tour dates. Visit KennyG.com. Doesn't Stu have a question for me?

Oh yes, excuse me. I'm sorry. Our bad. Very good Kenny. I mean hold on a second. Hold on. What's the single most important thing the Falkens have to do to beat the Patriots? The single most important thing? I need to play the national anthem at the game.

David Diehl, what's the single most important thing the Falkens have to do to beat the Patriots? I think the biggest thing that they have to do to beat the Patriots is they need to play clean mistakefree football. It takes a full two weeks of preparation to get ready for that game. Number one, you have to be prepared for the unexpected. You have to know the rules of the game. But the biggest thing for me looking at this game is it comes down to coaching. And I talk about halftime. The halftime usually come in, it's about 15 minutes during a regular season game or a playoff game. But the Super Bowl, it feels like you're in there for like an hour. I'll never forget in Super Bowl 42.

I'm like, okay, we still have time. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'll come back out. I'm sitting in the bathroom and I'm going, I'm taking a pee and I'm start singing free falling. I'm like, wait a second. I could hear Tom Petty in the stadium while I was in the bathroom going, I'm like, OK, this is definitely the Super Bowl.

I like the cut of your gym. You've realized you're not man enough. You need man 101 in your life. It takes a real man to realize he made a mistake. But an even bigger one to realize that mistakes are the domain of the loser. They're called mistakes, not Mr. Stakes. Trade in that Hyundai Sonata, get yourself a Chevy Silverado and drive your Keiser to Mark Schlaris Man 101. And when you think you've arrived, you haven't. We tricked Google Maps into thinking we're located somewhere we ain't. Why? Because here at Man 101, we'll always make you go that extra mile.

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We'll even allow you to recharge your batteries in our world class spa. You've heard of saunas and mud masks? We kind of have that. Only we lock you up in Texas Tech's equipment room and just put your hand in the dirt. And remember, each day ends with Mr. Schlereth chewing you up and spitting you out. So sign up right now for Mark Schlereth's Man 101. The price is whatever you can afford as long as you put your money where your mouth is. Enroll now and get two free tickets to the gun show.

Which just means you get to look at Brian McCann doing some arm curls so long as you don't look him in the eye. Mark Schlerer's Man 101. You're welcome. You're welcome. You're welcome. You're welcome. You're welcome.

You're welcome. You're welcome. You're welcome. You're welcome. You ever watch the combine? All these so-called football players prancing around in their skivvies? Worried about being aerodynamic and clocking a good forty? Here at Mark Schlaris Man 101 the only sports where we hand you is a hard hat and a lunch

pal. Protein shakes? We don't drink shakes. Why? Because we already got the best damn blenders on earth. Our jaws. Butch up.

I know life has its ups and downs. They're called squats. Now drop and give me 20. Mark Schlaris Man 101 You're welcome. Now drop and give me twenty! Mark Schlarus, man 101! You're welcome. Ladies, we must do everything in our power to fight toxic masculinity. For the men in our lives, for us, for the future of society. But until then, take advantage of the fact

that if you fart at the bar, no one will think it was you. You've heard of Mark Schlaret's Man 101. This is Katie Nolan's Woman 101. Tickets are going now for just 79 to 82 cents on the dollar, depending on your industry. Katie Nolan's Woman 101. You're welcome. Ladies, when a man says, Well, actually, Do you instantly get your period? Do you definitely, always, totally watch the WNBA?

Never miss a game when dream of it, it's like so important to you. Then Katie Nolan's Woman 101 is a seminar for you. Learn such valuable skills as crying discreetly on public transportation, writing a work email without an exclamation point, and how to not poop. Katie Nolan's Woman 101.

Seriously, I have not pooped since 1995. Do you dislike Lena Dunham as much as your male friends, but feel uncomfortable saying so in a public forum? Hashtag me too. At Katie Nolan's Woman 101, we'll teach you how to deploy useful phrases like, I support the message, just not the messenger. So you can be the ally the world constantly expects you to be. Did you find the Aziz Ansari story to be completely relatable but still pretend to be outraged because support of the Me Too movement was more important in that moment than your personal opinion or experience, even though that you have had that experience, I mean

who hasn't had an experience that was similar and it's uncomfortable and you get that, but it was just it wasn't time for you to voice that opinion right then. It was more important that you talked about the movement so you didn't counteract all the work that all the all the wonderful women who we believe in were doing for it just was it's really complex and you what was I trying Katie Nolan's woman 101 it's not a problem honestly I'm happy to help domestically he's won everything there is to win a Barcelona yeah and he started Barcelona what 13 yeah he's won everything there is to win at Barcelona. Yeah. And he started Barcelona with 13. He's won everything there is to win. Here's how you know what Messi's about.

When they were winning the best things at Barcelona, it was Messi, it was Xavi, Iniesta, David Villa, that was a team. When they would break from 2008 on and go their separate ways for major tournaments, Xavi and Iniesta and David Villa and all those Spanish guys from Barca were winning tournaments. Euro 2008, World Cup 2010, Euro 2012. Good math. Messi, the second he steps on a field without that core is average. And you have seen it in Copa Americas, you have seen it at World Cups. He's now gone 675 straight minutes without scoring a World Cup goal because Javi's not there, because Iniesta's not there, because David V is not there.

And the best players I've ever seen in my life can play with anybody. Cristiano Ronaldo can play with any, Michael Kerik sucks. Derry Fletcher sucks. Why is stabbing Michael Kerik? I'm making a point. I'm making a point that Ronaldo didn't have Javi. Ronaldo didn't have any ESTA. Zinedine Zidane could play with anybody.

And he did it constantly at Ju've had to s for france real madrid scoring the final at hampton park in scotland he could play with any ronaldo fat ronaldo from brazil could play with anybody and when that's greatness that's about

that's a guy you respect i love slants, man. Wow. That's what they're sponsoring. Yeah. Wait a minute, was that you or Gruden who just did that? I love slants, man. Wow.

No, I love my brother, man. He's over here, actually. He's looking for his quarterback over here. Where's Robert? Kirk. I love that, man. Fats and Infos limited fake Jay Gruden. It's just too obscure. Very limited. Where's Robert? Kirk. Fats and Infos limited fake jay-groo-d-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n I'll help you look for him man. Robert, Kirk, Kirk. Robert, Kirk, Kirk. I should hold a

camp man to find your quarter. This is the Gruden Brothers. What would it sound like? Let me do this another way. What would it sound like if the Gruden brothers were teaming up to play hide and go seek? I love that game. You count, okay? I'm gonna go run. One, two, three.

Don't forget about four, I love four. Four, Robert. Robert. I'm out here playing with your quarterbacks, man. Ready or not, man. Robert. I'm out here playing with your quarterbacks, man. Ready or not, man. Come. Try to not look under. Hey, I see you, man.

Tag, man. Who'd you see? Who'd you see? Who'd you see? Fat Rob? Fat Rob. Yeah, okay. So stupid. Oh my god.

Demolition Man is Drexler. Absolutely not. Not that hard to beat Jordan. Drexler. Look, it's not a- Paul Millsap. A couple more years. I mean-

No, you know what? I find his way in. No, I got it. I'll tell you what Demolition Man is. Demolition Man is Jamal McGlore. That's- No! No! No! No! No! more years I mean I'll tell you what demolition man is demolition man is Jamal McGlore that's that's disrespectful unbelievable but just following it I

mean how sure are you that Baker Mayfield is gonna be a star? I mean, he's got the goods dude. Now if there's anything that was an unnecessary Minutes get out of here. Thank you very much. Definitely definitely deserve that. The goods dude? That's gotta be more than two minutes. A five minute major? A five minute major! Yes, a five minute major. And we're a road game! He's got the goods dude? Nick, thank you so much for being on with us. Really enjoy your work. Thanks for having me. Have a great day. Why do you carry around $2,000 unless you're paying off a referee or something? It's pocket change. Whoa! What happened? What happened? I didn't imply that. Doc Rivers is like a saint. One of the great coaches of all time. Mm-hmm. Put on the poll, Guillermo. First of all is Greg Cody as a journalist, spectacularly reckless, put that on the poll first. And then secondarily, put on the poll as well is Doc Rivers paying referees.

I never said he was. Dan, Dan, listen up. Turn up your headset. Marriage is tricky. I got tricked into it by Abby. And now Valerie has played the same trick on you. I thought you were smarter than that. Anyway, here's what you need to know.

Your days of winning arguments are over they are God forget about that You'll never win another argument again Just wait She'll make the crooked logic. I've used in the past seem like scripture No matter what you're always wrong Even thinking that you were right is wrong I see you nodding knock it off you are wrong remember that wrong secondly pick a day of the week for sex one day you'll thank me later.

Not everyone gets a day. I pick Sunday because the Jets stink. I hate them. Not Sundays. The Jets. I hate the Jets. Abby hates Sundays. Sundays are all I have left.

Sundays and golf. That's right. Pick a hobby. You'll need to escape the house. A lot. Just don't pick golf. Because I have no interest in playing with you. If you have kids, here's what you do. Put a lacrosse stick in their hand.

Force them to be a lefty. I'll coach them for a price that will split their future earnings. 90-10 my way. Good. Good. By the way, if you have a kid Does that mean we have to fire Chris Cody? That's how nepotism works, right?

Lastly and Dan I can't stress this enough I Hope you got a brain. You're a metrics guy. 51% of these end badly. I may not believe in stats, but I believe in money. The most important thing on your big day isn't love or happiness, it's the prenup. I really hope you got a John Hancock on the dotted line before you waddle down that aisle. And if you didn't, if you do get divorced, I get 100% of your stuff, except the kids. You're stuck with them for life. To recap, marriage, tricky, I got tricked, Thought you were smarter. You'll never win an argument again. Cricket logic. Pick a day for sex. Thank me later. I hate the Jets. Abby hates Sundays. Pick a hobby. Escape the house. Kids. Lacrosse stick. Left-Handed, 90-10 My Way, Fire Chris Cody, Nepotism, Preenup,

John Ancock, Waddled, Where's Joe Buck? Somebody check on him. I think the brownies are out. And now, it's time for a smoke break with Mikey C. Alright, here we go. Oh yes. Didn't need to turn the tables on. This is great.

Alright, welcome to a new edition of Smoke Break with Mikey C. I'm your host, outsider Mikey. Oh, drop it. That's okay, I got it, I got it. That voice that you're hearing, I'm very excited, joining me out by the dumpster, is none other than Mina Kimes. Welcome to the show, Mina. How are you? I got it. That voice that you're hearing, I'm very excited. Joining me out by the dumpster is none other than Mina Kimes. Welcome to the show, Mina. How are you?

Hi, I'm good. Thank you so much for having me. It's great, nice to have you. Mina's actually been doing more interview questions on me lately, but I did some research for you. I got all these things. I could go off script, but I don't know where to go. So let's run through these real quick.

You get to interview a bunch of cool People all the time and everything like that Athletes and stuff have you ever gone to visit somebody and all of a sudden they were smoking while you were trying to do an interview smoking Maybe like a cigarette either or I guess well I Non cigarette division yes, yes No cigarettes though everyone's in the non cigarette division? Yes. Yes? No. No cigarettes though. Everyone's in the non cigarette division. Yeah, the times have changed. And you know I live in California. Yeah, nobody smokes out there do they? Not a lot of cigarette smokers, no. That's too bad.

Did you know there's an article from TVOvermind.com about you? Ten things you didn't know about Mina Kimes? I think a lot of those articles are computer generated. Is that what it is? Yeah, I think a lot of them are written by bots. Well, it was written by Tom, yeah, it just says Tom. Don't think Tom's a real person. Just gonna go on a limb and say that. Well, I was gonna back home, my research is so much better, because these questions that

I have, like number 10, there's not a lot of information, is it getting in your face? No, no, no, no, it's okay. I should have, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no until I was in college. Yeah, Mina started out as a business journalist. I think I knew that. Yeah, that's actually, oh, you printed it out. Well, I forgot. This one, she has a net worth of around one million. I would have actually guessed higher, probably. Um, I don't even know how, quote unquote, Tom would have arrived at that.

Oh, he's got your salary right here and everything. Um, that is inaccurate. Yeah, well. Yeah. You know, I've probably interviewed more millionaires by a dumpster. We should call it Guin inaccurate. Yeah well, you know I've probably interviewed more millionaires by a dumpster. We should call Guinness. Yeah. Like who's interviewed more millionaires by a dumpster than Mike EC? You have carved out a very specific niche. Yeah, what else is there here?

Oh, Mike, Collecrino's coming up. Is your recorder still on? Yes. I just wanted to make sure, it's always that. OK, this one I wanted to ask you. She reports number four thing you didn't know about me and the times she reports on a lot of different controversial subjects, but tries to avoid any personal controversy. I guess I think that's true of us all. Right. Or at least the second part.

And then they take shots at you. Her social media following is substantial enough. Whoa! It's definitely not on par with a lot of other celebrities that are in full view of the public on average. Wow! Warren's comparing me to. I feel like at ESPN I'm pretty high up there. Do you know about what you're at for followers?

My Twitter is 280 something thousand. So I think that's pretty, Mike, is that? Yeah. Go Joe, what are you sitting at? I'm at like 175,000. That's good. That's a good 175 is good. I'm at 18,000.

That's a lot. That's not bad for like a buying. I follow you. Yeah, that's right, yep. This is not a very good article. No, I was kind of disappointed by it. All right, well, that's all that I have left. So.

Well, thank you for joining me, Mina. I really appreciate you doing this and we'll catch you on the internet hopefully soon. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate your follow. We have a very uncomfortable tension and have had one around here since we got to ESPN between us and management. And I don't like what's happening around here. There's division everywhere. I don't even know if Roy's leaving right now because he's fed up or a Roy and Billy Roy and Billy are not down with what Michael and Christopher down with someone's gonna walk out of that door and never come back I'm telling you at this point

But there is a real tension. Thank you I mean for sitting in because at any point today anybody can walk out of here because they were we're having arguments in the hallway about stuff Billy is very frustrated He hasn't been able to get his shots off the last couple of days because corporate Michael is doing nothing but Advertising and selling out at every turn Billy has lost his best friend Chris who has come over literally to the side of... My right hand, Dan. Michael and Michael is insisting I talk about NBA playoff basketball.

What I insist is for the audience setting up who you are, who your co-host is, and start nailing the topics du jour. Also, what time? Yes, what time? What station are people listening to? Well, a lot of them, a lot of different stations. I can't tell them. What network are you on? ESPN radio.

Who is that behind you? Who, listen, listen, hold on a second. Hold on a second, hold on. I have no idea who these people are. I gotta stop for a second. I have to stop for a second and forgive this audience because more and more ESPN executives Keep flying down here. We we work in a closet in a closet over a bar and more I'm every time I walk out of this studio

There's another person with a tie who looks exactly like all the other people in a tie and now there's someone sitting behind you Mike, I don't know who that person is Michael. is the person behind you Oh McDonough he's our business strategist see the show is growing so is our overhead yeah he's awfully brown for being a McDonough isn't he gotta watch that compliance video I've been on you about that I'm talking about literally what are we doing here? Yeah, I was following you. I agree. Building TSL.

Legit question. It's part of GEI, man. Yeah. In fact, I know GEI is hard for you guys to understand, but coming off of our two-minute sellout at the Gramercy Theater in New York, my right-hand man Christopher has actually brought a graph. Thank you, McDonough, for preparing this. OK, so here is, right here, as you can see,

here is global in this pie chart. You see that little sliver right there in the pie chart? That was our global expansion before the initiative. And now, Christopher, that's global expansion now after the initiative. All black. Good job. Does that mean we've taken over the world or? AM radio. The future of AM radio is ours. We can do whatever we want with it. I do feel like we've totally lost Billy though. Billy, you haven't said much

of anything for the last two days. He's confused. Well, he's not just confused. He's also sulking as an added bonus. I'm not sulking. I'm sad for what we've become. Please elaborate. I mean, I think we all know what's going on here. You care to expound or do you want to just be pretending that we didn't sell out, but we've totally sold out. And it's sad. I mean, we used to be self-deprecating now are self-congratulatory. It's just, it's a sad turn that we've taken. We are Mike Francesa. We did sell out.

We absolutely did sell out. The Gramercy Theater in two minutes. Because of W-E-E-I. No, it's G-E-I. Put it on the poll, Guillermo. Is God Bless America controversial because it's getting pulled off of some of the ballpark. We're gonna not do that. Switch topics, Billy, do not put that poll up. because it's getting pulled off of some of the ballpark.

We're gonna not do that. Switch topics, Billy, do not put that poll up. Do not put that poll up, that's a direct order. What do you mean? It's a direct order. Oh, thank you, Aminold. Michael, I got you. Decaf?

Yeah, I got you sugar and I got you equal, I didn't know which one you'd like better. Both are fine, thank you so much. Amin, go sit in the penalty box. This mean really coming I mean go sit in the penalty box Whoa, those sit in the penalty box you know, get out of here Amino get out of here jobs You know, you're just sucking your get out of here leave, please. Thank you I'm so I mean this is so ready for this week to end. This is so sophomoric.

We should be talking about the things that matter, like Kevin Durant's performance. Instead, you're kicking people out and putting them in penalty boxes. Christopher is out in a pool, which has to be some sort of hazard. I haven't seen the compliance video yet. This is pretty unprecedented. And generally, the show is growing and being more successful than ever. Your segment on First Take was the highest rated quarter hour of the day. First Take, the biggest show in America with relatively zero promotion, I might add.

You were number one. Why? Global expansion initiative. Right. I need a Kimes as a commercial because of my emails to my superiors saying that she should be the face of what we're doing and our expansion. Gramercy Theatre, May 18th, New York, record time that show sells out in two minutes and you're telling me what I'm doing right now is a bad thing?

I see these as all successes, wild successes. We were talking about farting on first take. Yeah, I got that email too. You know what? I'm calling Mr. Williamson. What? You enforced my hand. What do you mean? You want us to talk about the topics of the day and I'm saying we went on first take and we talked about farting.

I mean, and it was the highest rated quarter hour. Am I supposed to be afraid of you calling Mr. Williamson? Is that supposed to strike fear in me? You think I'm Billy? I'm calling Mr. Williamson right now. I have a direct line. Yes? Mr. Williamson? Get out of here.

Let's get out of here. Roy, Billy, Roy, lock that door. Lock that door as soon as he gets out. Lock that door. Don't even let him back in. Thank you. Thank you. We empty the fart folder next.

It started with a gut feeling that nobody wanted to believe. In mine I would have claimed and bless you would have smelt it. But all the data was there. I don't think there's much question about that. Chris Carter. I'm pretty certain that Boom made a noise with his mouth. Tom Jackson. And PJ Carlisimo is the Geiger counter reader

who's the first to know some sort of catastrophe is coming but can't get anyone to listen to him because they think he's a coke. He's coming through the hair. Oh, no. No, not the perfect cut. I worked too hard this week. Jim Tomsula.

A lot of examples of football history. I've worked too hard. You've thrown everything away! We stole the Gramercy out in two minutes and all you want to do is fart around quite literally! How'd you even find that Tom Sula clip? Why do you have a hammer? Why was I locked out? The show is growing! You know what? Get out of here. What? I quit! What? Whoa! I quit!

He's had fun farting around and being small time! Ladies and gentlemen Actually, no not yes, it's just gentlemen because this is an unrelenting ocean of sausage I'm looking at. Gentlemen, may I present to you Relenting ocean of sausage. I'm looking Gentlemen I present to you Greg coding You screwed it up because you were... You already screwed it up.

Let's do it again. We did this like seven times today. You screwed it up. Do it again. The song's for you. You're taking the applause. You're smoking. He couldn't.

He was taking the praise. He got caught in. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Let's go back and do it again. What we rehearsed. We did it like seven times today. He got it wrong every time. Are you attending a Laker game tonight?

My gosh. Let's go, do it again. Don't walk from it. Ladies and gentlemen. Just gentlemen, Rick Cody. Oh yeah! You gotta sing soon. This song is yours. Start spreading the news

I'm grieving today Because Zion won't be part of it. New York, New York. What? Too soon? It is time to do the spelling bee. Alright, gentlemen, we've done this for several years running. We haven't done it during the NBA playoffs this year because we've done this for several years running.

We haven't done it during the NBA playoffs this year because we were saving it for something special and then we settled on, let's just do it in New York anyways. All right, whatever. We got to burn this up. So you will each be given three names, totally random, totally random, and this will be a competition. These are names in the NBA playoffs. I got this. All right, Dan will go first Dan and make sure if you if you have difficulty understanding the name ask for it in the sentence. Yes, please

your first name is Kevin Durant Can I hear it in a sentence, please out of here. Can I hear it in a sentence please? When things got tough in Oklahoma City, Kevin Durant took the easy path and left to Golden State because he couldn't win on his own. As a result, none of his rings count in a Stugat's personal K-E-V-I-N-D-U-R-A-N-T. K-E-V-I-N-D-U-R-A-N-T. Kevin Durant. Good job, Dan.

If you spell the K-D, you would have been banned. I'm up one to nothing. Dan is up. Here we go. Here is Sugata's's name totally drawn at random Boba Majanovic Oh Jesus Christ I got this? What the hell, can't even know what I got this?

Would you like it in a sentence? I would like to hear it in a sentence please, yes Boba Majanovic looks like the reclusive giant from a children's fairy tale who is initially misunderstood because of his size and child demeanor but then forever beloved when his unexpected heroics saves local children from a precarious situation. B-O-B-A-N. Yeah! Am I still alive?

I'm on to the second last name, Marjanovic. Oh my God. M-A-R. He got Kevin Durant, Mike. It's just totally Toronat Rand. Yeah, I know it is. Uh. Toronat.

Man. M-A-R-J-O-H-N. Boban Majanovic. What? B-O-B-A-N-M-A-R-J-A-N-O-V-I-C. Boban Majanovic. So close, so close. Okay. What's my second word, second name?

Totally drawn at random. Here's Dan's. Russell Westbrook. The hell out of here, man. Can I hear it in a sentence, please? Dan is incapable of talking about Russell Westbrook without saying either fast-twitch muscle fiber or meat chill. Hissing radiator. I do hissing radiators. Hissing radiator, I do hissing radiators. Hissing radiator is another one.

Is he two L's or one L? R-U-S-S, were you asking me? E-L-L-W-E-S-T-B-R-O-O-K. Russell Westbrook, R-U-S-S-E-L-L-W-E-S-T-B-R-O-O-K. Russell Westbrook. Aqua? All right, next name, totally drawn at random. Sugats are still in this, here we go. Let's go.

Yanez Adedekumbo. Get the hell out of here. We heard a sentence. Sugats thought that the Greek freak was going to hug all the titles but somehow had the Celtics beat him last round just like that the Paul Pierce sucks! Paul Pierce sucks! Paul Pierce sucks! Paul Pierce sucks! Paul Pierce sucks! Not exactly on time. Alright, T-H-E G-R-E-E-K F-R-E-A-K. What's up? What's up?

Janice at the combo. G-I-A-N-N-I-S-A-N-T-E-T-O-K-O-U-N-M Big Noon Saturday is making progress in the ratings. That's because it takes a formula of College Game Day and goes to the fifth best game of the week. You've responded to not only the insight, but generally Brady Quinn's smile. And if you've ever looked at Reggie Bush and thought, Zaddy, you're in luck. Because coming this fall, an all new network dedicated to college athletics, brought to you by the same people behind Speak for Yourself, it's Fox You. Fox You.

Have you ever wondered what ESPN you might be like only with former employees? Well, Fox You. Fox You. You ever want to watch Pepperdine versus Pacific? Fox You. Fox You. We don't need conference championship games.

No, we've got Chris Broussard talking to you about the Big East. But it doesn't stop there. We've given an entire show to the editorial staff of TheBigLead.com dedicated to who they think is coming out of the A10. Don't get left out, call your cable operator today and tell them F-U. Fox you. And learning nothing from our past, coming this spring, F-U2.

F-U2. That's right, an entirely new college athletic sports network that you also didn't ask for. Have you ever wanted to hear a 20 minute diatribe from Jason Whitlock on why Penn State football players should cut their hair? Well F-U2. F-U2. Did you ever wonder how much Joel Klatt sounds exactly like Mike Gullick Jr.? Well F-U2.

F-U2. Call your cable operator and demand more Flock Sports. Tell them F you and F you too. Fox you. Fox you. There are many people on this bandwagon who at the end of last season said to yourself, maybe even shared it openly, you said we got robbed. If we didn't have injuries, those bum ass reps,

we would have won our seventh national championship. You heard me, Filipe, that's seven. Well, guess what, bro? Next year is here. The time is now. And all that they cut out from UF, and all the stupid Seminoles, and the haters and even that rat Nevin Shapiro All of them will be watching us. The time is now and don't any of you

Overestimate this moment. This team ain't got a **** on us, bro When I walked into that stadium today, they patted me down and they found the extra beer I had in my cargo shorts They took it from me because this place is wack as **** but I persevered because I had to be at this game. They scheduled us to play on a Sunday night to try to throw us off. They scheduled in a different city because they know we are the dopest team in the country and everyone wants to see us. Bro, the NFL didn't even want to start this week because they know that you was playing

on Sunday. And you know what happens when you play prime time on a Sunday night? The whole world watches you. And let's be real, whenever the U plays the whole world is already watching because it's all about the U. But for other teams, the whole world watching causes pressure. And when there's pressure we drink cafecito and for the weak, pa la gente de evils When they drink cafecito se cagan

No bro imaginate cagandote delante de 100 mil gente en the stadium at national tv Que pena But for the strong Pa los caballos When we drink cafe, we focus. When you walk out there and you see a hundred thousand Canes fans yelling, Stabilize. When you go out on that field and everybody's running around and things aren't going your way

because the rest hate us and everything gets a few cags from time to time, remember. That's straight, focused. Because it only takes one play to bring out the turnover chain. Let me tell you a story. Last year in West 32, me and my boy George were down two cups in beer pong. Two cups?

The other team only had one cup left. I remember it like it was yesterday. We were in the middle of my game day playlist and Sarosura had just come on. I looked into Jorgito's eyes and he looked into my eyes and he said, bro get your sh** done. Next thing you know we hit a cup, then another cup, then the other team tried to bounce one in and I said, oh you know what, hold on with that bouncing sh**. And bim bam boom we hit the final cup and the game was over. And you know why?

Because no one is better at beer pong than Kane's fans. And because I got my **** done. That day we barely walked into the stadium because of how fated we were in the middle of the second quarter. But we walked in as beer pong champions. In all my years of winning championships, the one common thread that was woven into each of those teams was a promise. The same promise that me and Jorgito made, one man to another, I will get my done. Can you guys make that promise to each other?

Can you go out there and get your done? That day we walked out of West 32 and we made history. And today you get to write your history and don't let any come in me get in the way of you writing your history. You must've had so much fun with in folk. What a great word in Spanish. Like we need to start shouting and chanting this throughout South Florida and folk out there.

It's a dangerous one. I know, but that's not. I know, I know, I know. That's a guess. I understand. I understand that I'm in the danger stone, Mike. What's the matter with you? Great recall. Great recall. Oh man. I, I, I don't know what else to say about people. I'm in love. I can't get enough of this character and it's not a character. It's the it's we grew up around all of us grew up around him all of us. It's real life bro. This is real. This is 100. You're talking about character. Who's a character? What are you talking about? What else? Are you coming or you're not coming this trip?

We have one spot left. I started doing a head count yesterday. Me, or Hito, where it going? Garo one's coming. Garo two is coming. Garo three is coming. I don't know what was going on 25, 30 years ago. She like, oh no me, I tell her,

Mala or what, but everybody was named Garo. So we have one spot left if you want it, Danny. Danielito. Yeah, Danielito. We're ready. We are about to bring them. We're going to put the big D in Dallas. If you know what I mean. You know what I mean? I don't know what you mean. Tell me. Explain to me what you mean.

We are going. Oh, we're gonna embarrass that yo Orgeron la cosa va a ser mala, va a estar mala You can bring your cajuns if you want. We're bringing a cojones Yes This shipping container has consumed so much Cuban coffee this morning. We are Jack, baby! Feel my eyes! Friday! Friday!

One more time! Love it! Oh, boy! Oh, boy! Oh, my God! I did two of those! I did two of those! Give me another one! AHHHHH!

AHHHHH! AHHHHH! Put it on the pole! Yeah! People! People's here! People! People, what's happening? People, the coffee supplier is here!

A drug dealer is here! His name is actually People! We have an actual What's happening people? The coffee supplier is here! Our drug dealer is here! His name is actually Peepo! We have an actual Peepo here! That guy makes some mean coffee! My god! I don't think that people know this is actually how it happened on the show.

That Billy created a character called Peepo before any of us actually knew what People. We just said that I was always being contacted by A-Rod's People instead of A-Rod, and that he inevitably had a guy named People. Then a few months later, a guy comes to work for us and his name is actually People. And so Chris Cody is in the bar downstairs and his name is actually people. Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Like if there's only one, get the hell out of here, Dan Leviton, enough of you! Like if this is fake!

Wait, that's his name? Well, that's the other thing. Dugance doesn't know the name of anyone who works here. Except for Bruce, who's always asleep in the other room. What's up with that? He doesn't know anyone's name here. I got some great shots of him yesterday sleeping. Action shots, yes. Of Bruce? T got some great shots of him yesterday sleeping.

Action shots, yes. Bruce, tweet some of them out. Bruce sleeping. It's gonna be me in about 25 minutes. So is the crash a little bit? I've been riveting. No. High.

Woo! I wanna put on the poll at LeBotard Show and it seems like a simple ridiculous question in Miami, but have you ever had Cuban coffee? Because I don't believe that many of the people listening, because we're on like 270 some odd affiliates and it's hard to get Cuban coffee some places in the country.

And so I imagine that most people listening to us do not know that that is like snorting crack cocaine. We should have some more. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You want some more? People! You guys gotta be careful with that stuff. I can stop whenever I want, bro!

I don't have a problem down that road. You have a problem! People! Hey! That stuff is dangerous, man. It is. You can't start. They come in these little thimbles, these tiny little thimbles.

People thought you just wanted him for his personality and radio charisma He didn't realize you were just using People I did one of those before around the horn we had to stop taping the show I thought I was having a heart attack. It is it's crazy No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Pivo, I did one of those before Around the Horn. We had to stop taping the show. I thought I was having a heart attack. It is, it's crazy. You know, my, I was, I had one of those one days and I felt smoke coming off my eyebrows.

One of my eyebrows caught fire. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! You guys want shots? Yeah, let's get some shots. You guys want shots? Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,

hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, I don't think it's safe. Put them down boys. You ready? You ready to go slam it? Down the hatch.

Alright everybody throw it down. Oh wow people. People drinking it straight from the cup? Jesus. This guy's an animal. Oh my god he's not using the tiny thimble of crack cocaine. He's using an entire cup of it. I've had seven since nine.

Oh my god, he's not using the tiny thimble of crack cocaine, he's using an entire cup of it! I've had seven since nine! Ah! I'm sweating! Did he just drink out of that large cup? He did! It's crazy! Crazy person, that's exactly what it was!

It's so hot in here! Of course you're hot. You guys are one of a human resources problem. Better if you keep dancing. Hahaha. Hahaha. Alright, come back. Bring it.

I'm staying in the shirt. Hahaha. Whoa. How did Billy end up not wearing a shirt? People, put your pants back on. What the hell just happened back there? Are we still on? Where's my shirt? This is very aggressive for this hour in the morning. Time now for Guillermo's epic sound of the day.

It is going to be epic. Hey guys. Hey Guillermo. Real TBT we got today in the epic sound. Dan, you familiar with Hawk Harrelson? Yes, he's one of the best. It's his 33rd year as the White Sox TV announcer and six years ago, Hawk Harrelson was pretty upset with something that went on in a game

when a pitcher was kicked out of a game for throwing behind a batter. Here's the sound. What's up? What are you doing? He threw him out of the ball game. You've got to be faking me. What in the hell are you doing? What are you doing, Wagner? You've got to be kidding me. That is so bad. That is absolutely brutal. That is unbelievable.

That is unbelievable. I'll tell you what, they have got to start making guys be accountable. That is totally absurd. That just tells you he has blue. Here's an umpire in the American League, knows nothing about the game of baseball. They had got to do something about this. I'll tell you. They got some guys in this league that have no business umpiring. They have no business umpiring because they don't know what the game of baseball is about.

And he is one of them. We have always had problems with this guy right here. He ought to be suspended. If they want to keep him as an umpire, send him back to school and teach him what this game right here. He ought to be suspended. If they want to keep him as an umpire, send him back to school and teach him what this game is about. Yeah. Courtesy WGN.

Great contribution for the color guy. Put this on the poll, Guillermo. Should What Are You Doing Wegener replace Do You Believe in Miracles as the greatest call in the history of broadcasting because the Wegner is comedically perfect. What are you doing, Wegner? Just referring to the umpire.

That should be a tone fine, but it's delightful. Referring to the umpire by only his last name is magical. Sounds of the Day is brought to you by Dollar Shave Club. Upgrade to shaving with a fresh blade, whatever you want for a fraction of the price. Join DollarShaveClub.com today. All right, this allows us to do a bunch

of different announcer rants. Yes! Let's continue, let's segue from what are you doing, Wegner, to our favorite Ed Maloik. Down by two, 198, inbound to Love on the left side with one jump, it was up for the shot, it's blocked by Marion. The ball comes into the arms of Dallabare,

the horn sounds and the ball game is over. The Timberwolves are screaming for a foul, there was none called. Rubio off to Love, oh that's a foul! That is unbelievable. Referees are booed as they go off the floor. Brutal! David Guthrie is right there. He didn't have the guts to call it also.

Go Ed Malloy! Oh great, so great. Oh, Ed Malloy will never be top, not even by what are you doing, Wegner, even though what are you doing, Wegner, is better than do you believe in miracles, but is this Hawks announcer? Berating the Miami Heat does it deserve to be in the conversation Down low it's gonna be Al Horford he drives he goes up and get knocked out hard Oh my goodness the Heat have resorted to thuggery and Al Horford slow to get up Miami

They're down by 19 and they have to resort to the street stuff. That should be a flagrant foul. These Miami Heat players are street thugs. And here Stugatz is the terribly tinny sound of Dave Lamont at a Florida Atlantic game. Yeah, the broadcasting quality is not good. Breaking out the good stuff. But he is also furious. You cannot tell me that the flag, that's not possible.

Where's the commissioner? Where's Wright? Where's Wright Waters? Where's Wright Waters? I mean, he took him a lot to get into the flag. He is defenseless! He's a... I'm gonna be dead!

Throw a flag! Third down! Cooney throws over the middle, behind the receiver, incomplete. It'll be fourth down and three. Van Kemp took a helmet to helmet shot regardless, even if he wasn't in his slot. You know what? I don't really care if you people look at me in the press box. You know what? I don't care. That's a flag.

And I'll fight any one of you if you want it. That's the mood I'm in at the moment. Was that the 53 Sugar Bowl? 1853. if you want it. That's the mood I'm in at the moment. Was that the 53 Sugar Bowl? 1853. The most recent sound we played there was the Hawk Harrelson sound from six years ago. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

I think the Lamont one is the best. I think that ESPN and Disney should reconsider this whole thing about giving my arrogant ass the microphone. Go Ed Malloy! The incongruent images of Chris Cody in a ridiculous car battery costume, dancing happily. He will ask all our guests some awful car specific pun while in that costume. Is it hot in there, Chris?

You need to pump the brakes on the negative attitude. All right, I am revved up for today's show. Let's do it! Ruh-roo-roo! All right, don't use all of your material yet. Guys, this is just a speed bump. All right, we're gonna get through this. yet. All right. This is just a speed bump. All right, we're going to get through this. Being a real negative charge right now,

we're going to need a positive charge for you. How hot are you? I just changed my AC filter, so I'm good to go. Oh, for the love of god. Reving hot. All right, get out of here. Jorge, what has you revved up for this Super Bowl, my man? Whoa. Why isn't this Super Bowl, my man. Whoa.

Why isn't this guy here, man? Exactly. Exactly. It's a talking battery. Well, answer the question. The talking battery asked you a question, though. Revved up for the Super Bowl. I'm stunned because I've never talked to a battery before. What was the question again?

How revved up are you for the Super Bowl? I believe it was. Vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom. I'm revved up like a car that has an advanced auto part battery in it. That a boy. Me too. Woo! Vinny, can we pump the brakes on Patrick Mahomes as the goat?

Buzzer. Vinny, which team is under the most tire pressure this week, my man? Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Car battery, please get in here. Whoa, I just saw Chris over there. I thought the car battery was Chris. It is not a car battery. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha I had absolutely no idea what you just said. I'm really charged up about what's going on today. Oh, please get out of here. I have to be honest.

I know I came late. I don't understand what this is. Tariq, you're a real speedster. Who's going to be breaking the speed limit on Sunday? Oh, for the love of God. I've got a battery back there. It is a corporate sponsor. I want to, on air, take that battery down there myself and stand in the crowd behind First Take.

Do I have permission to take? I want to put in the First Take shot both me... I'm not asking... I'm asking your assessment. Dude, dude. Is the authority given to me as eternal yes man to one damn LeBattard? Knock yourself out, pal. Alright, let's go, battery. We're out pal. All right, let's go battery. We're going down there. Chris, you help the battery get down there.

The battery has entered the shot. Yeah. Okay, wow. They have cut away. They have Derek Henry on first take right now. This is not terrestrial radio norms where you tell your audience to tune away. Supplementally, if you watch,

there is a battery and a Dan Levatard at a bar. Jiggling. I believe ordering a drink in front of some bikini beachgoers that are sitting at the edge of the Cleveland pool. It's amazing, the visual. So now he's going to come back and he's going to be all happy. He's going to be happy. He's in a happy place now.

He's in his happy place. All right. He has crashed first take effectively. I assume pulling rank Oh, there is a producer trying to stop Dan Lebatard. Oh, no, this is getting tested. Oh my god Dan is in his face. Oh boy. Yeah, are you better idea? Forget about a happy place play-by-play of Dan and the security guard Oh my this is awkward as I'll get out. Alright, so me and Billy. This is the absolute strangest I've ever died on. Me and Billy are at Radio Row. We are watching through a television screen, live footage right now of Dan Leventard trying

to get the advanced auto parts car battery on the set of First Take and screaming at a security guard. If you watch ESPN news right now, you have a live shot of Dan talking to a security guard, pointing up at the ESPN studio South Beach sign. I guess in- Do you know who I am? This is my house. I guess saying that this is the house that I built,

I can only imagine. Von, which Edge Rushers pistons are really gonna be firing off on Sunday? Dan made everything here incredibly awkward by crashing first take including the batteries a little shook Is the producer that tried to swipe side swipe our segment, but Dan really stepped on the gas like look Oh for the love. Let's just really put this in our rear mirror. All right, it's past us We'll move on. I just like it fired. Mike, you shouldn't have seen him though. I was looking deep into the battery's soul.

I was, and the battery was, ask the battery how the battery really felt because the battery was very scared. The battery. I'm glad I was covered. Mike, I had, Mike, no joke. I had to keep telling the battery, speaking into the battery's face. Listen, I'll take all of it

Okay, you're not gonna get into any trouble here. Whatever happens here falls all on me I will say it was my idea that I dragged you down there that I threatened you I was really stalling hard that producer must have thought you were real dipstick You were so scared battery. Tell the truth. Hold on a second Was battery still like acting like, for whatever reason, the battery has a bounce with his cartoon hand. No, but Mike, ask the battery some questions here

because I'd actually like to know, seriously, battery, how did you feel about what was happening there? Stop making driving jokes. I don't want to hear any more driving jokes. I want a serious answer from you on what it is that you were feeling as that was going on because my heart rate was through the roof. I was very uncomfortable.

I was thinking, I hope I don't get fired. I'm glad no one can see my face. I hope this all ends well for Dan. Ha ha ha ha. Gave us a real spark. I thought we were in a real bad jam. How were you feeling one to 10? How nervous were you?

It was a real fluid situation at the start. I was a little low, but then you kept saying to me, don't worry, I got this. My wheels were spinning though, that's for sure. Oh, for the love of God. Look at that, you're tickling. How many of these do you have? How many? Why didn't I have more of them yesterday

when all the sound was going down around here because these people keep pooping on our audio. I'm running out of fuel here. Well, where was it yesterday when I needed it? Awkwardly shifting gears here. The Astros really hit a speed bump with that whole cheating scandal. What'd you make of that?

Ha ha. Chris, I know you got a lot of miles on the old odometer, but what are the chances we can jump start this comeback? Me playing? Frank, in your long career, you've never broke down, my man. What's your secret? Just trying it. Miles this Sunday who's gonna be kicking tires and lighting fires? Yeah I don't know I think it's gonna be a good game if Andy Reid wins I'm happy I'm big you know Eagles fan, but I like I like this like this

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light beer since 1975 and still the very best one. Miller Lite, great taste, 96 calories. Go to MillerLite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite 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.