The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Oral History of the Dan Le Batard Show: Episode 12

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

In this episode of the Oral History of the Dan Le Batard Show, Dan, Stugotz, and Mike explore the COVID era of the show. What began with fear and anxiety as a global pandemic unfolded eventually turned into what the guys consider one of the most creative eras of the show. You'll hear from all three about how the show stayed afloat during an unprecedented time despite early struggles with technology and communication. They also explore how creativity could run free due to the lack of sports and the desire so many creatives had to find a platform to express their voices during the shutdown. That all comes out in this week's supercut, which features some of the funniest bits from this time with the likes of Adam McKay, hilariously troublesome interviews like the show's infamous chat with Action Bronson, and the show's icy relationship with Michael Doleac.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. Yes! Tomorrow. StuGuts. Taking his shirt off doing stuff like that. Oh my God! 20 mediocre years. Man, I'm really sorry. This is literally the worst way to ever do this. This is burning my heart that this is happening, but if you can hear me, just understand I'm sorry. This is the oral history of the 10-Levitar show

with StuGuts. I'm sorry. This is the oral history of the Tan Levitard show with Stu Gatz. So this will be an interesting time to revisit because I smile at it nostalgically, even though it was kind of awful. And it's when COVID comes to visit and we're having trouble getting things like, hey, can I have a microphone to do the biggest sports radio show that there is in America? And Mike Ryan is getting essential worker status and we are handling COVID professionally

by having hand sanitizer into places, following the rules and do America's biggest sports radio show from an apartment in your building, Dan. See if you can figure out the zoom and see if you can't stop feeling that this is exactly where your career is going to shit because you called John Mulvaney, one of the world's great comics, James Mulvaney, because this is where I'm starting to feel everything's coming apart for us.

We're in a sad apartment. There's 80s wrestling playing on the televisions. Mike Ryan has brought in everyone by Zoom and we are doing a bare bones minimum show that can't have chemistry because we're doing it in a place that's just awful. At least you had 80s wrestling. I mean that's something right? Yeah man, alright. This is a dark, cold, amazing fun time.

For everyone. Yeah. Well not fun. No there's some fun in here. There's some fun in it. There's some for us but not for everyone. Stugats there. Yeah, well not fun. No, there's some fun in here There's some fun for us, but not for everyone Plenty of fun Stu gots. I enjoyed never watch WrestleMania 10. I had a blast Mean you didn't have to commute. I know I was living my dream and I had no traffic when I was commuting I was working out

I'm guessing that Stu gots has not even heard one syllable of what represents during this dark cold creative time what I believe to be some of the funniest stuff that we have ever done in the history of this show in the shadows of people knowing we were in trouble and doing like some really funny comedy with some talented people. Like I was talking to Jonah Hill and John C. Reilly, and we had some talented people doing bits where we were making a lot of funny creative jokes, but not able to do the show itself daily very well. Like it didn't have any chemistry because look at how we were doing it, Stugat.

We actually eventually got to chemistry, and I'm really proud technologically, of things that we essentially invented. Dan just said we had a bunch of people on zoom no at the beginning of this zoom wasn't a thing having people just pop up on a zoom wasn't commonplace we had to rig things and invent stuff I'm really proud of the shows that we put out during this era now granted it took us a little bit of time it took everybody time the audience reception to what we were doing they were just so grateful to have anything, especially something regular and consistent, that people might look

back on this. I'm sure a decent chunk of our audience would say, that was my favorite era of the show just because of how much our show meant to them. I've had a number of fans come up to me recently saying we've gotten them through their darkest period. And for many of them, it was COVID. It was that time sitting at home because I don't think many of us, especially down here, realize I could go outside. Like, I was playing golf. We would do the show, and then I would go golfing. But think about people who are in tiny little apartments, and they have no form of entertainment.

There's nothing going on. They're really struggling. There's mental health issues. And I had a number of people saying, hey, at the darkest time in my life, you guys, really, and they do compliment the show, saying, it might be the best couple of years or year that we did, it made them smile during a time in which they never thought that they would smile.

This is one of the coolest things, if not the coolest thing. It's the best. About our connection with our audience that makes this super uncommon. As an entertainment vehicle, you can do anything, but I'm gonna spend three hours with these people, because I feel like I know them.

They brought me through a time like this when, in an epidemic of loneliness, Stu Gotz, we're trying to provide normalcy for them by, look, we're having the same problems you are. Look at Dan, he just called him James Mulvaney, because he can't do the show all of a sudden. I don't think we'll ever lose those people. Like, those people who were in on the joke with us

over those six months, like, we can fall apart, and as long as we're still trying to do a sudden, I don't think we'll ever lose those people. Like those people who were in on the joke with us over those six months, like we can fall apart. And as long as we're still trying to do a show, those people will listen to it. Like for the next pandemic or epidemic of loneliness that comes that we can help you through, it's the coolest. Is that a prediction? It's the coolest. It's just the coolest.

Look, man, I don't know what disasters come this way, but I am proud of the fact that the people who ride with us know that we're gonna keep trying to show up for them every day because that relationship actually is the core of our entire business. I know I can still hear Finney barking in the background. Yeah, yeah. Shout out to all the people. And I can still hear Dan yelling at me.

So let's take it to the beginning of... How frustrating do you think that was for me? Like to try, not just that. I think about it, like I can control my dog. No, no, no, I'm sorry. Look, I'm sorry. I don't mean that. You could control what time your landscapers would come over, you motherfucker.

There were no landscapers in my town. There were landscapers. It was a shutdown. Yeah, my perfectionism gets in the way sometimes, especially during a pandemic. There is some pent up frustration. He yelled at Abby, I mean. Everyone, disrespect!

It was just chemistry. I just wanted the show to sound like the show sounds when it's good. That was impossible, but the show was better than anything else that was out there. And I think that meant a lot at the time. So let's take it to the beginning of lockdown for us because go bear Tom Hanks, that all happens.

And I think we essentially have a week, especially down here in South Florida. The world really ended for us down here when Flanagan's closed. That's how you knew. I remember it felt like at any time they would have a lockdown for us, corporate mandate from ESPN.

And I had no idea what that would look like. None, zero, no one talked to me. I remember that weekend, I was like, this might be my last weekend for a couple of weeks, months. No one knows exactly what would end up happening. I went out on a boat because I was like, this might be my last opportunity to go on a boat. Let me soak up the sun as long as I'm allowed to.

And I get a call from Amanda Gifford, one of our bosses over at ESPN while I'm on the boat. Also a hugely positive influence for us. Doing a great job, by the way, with ESPN's college football. We knew that she was a superstar and she ascended quite rapidly over at ESPN. She was great.

She called me and said, Hey, we're going to be broadcasting outside the Clevelander in people's homes. Your show is also doing that. I'm like, you're joking, right? Like who's going to engineer Dan? Dan doesn't know how to engineer. Like how is this going to work? She said, we have a couple of remote units, these IP devices. Sugat already has one in his home because of the weekend shows that you were doing over at ESPN, which got a lot of fanfare. Yeah and stupidity. Yep

and I actually got Amber Wilson's. I had to have Chris Cody pick it up from her house and Chris Cody dropped it off at the Clevelander. I literally get dropped off by a boat onto like one of these neighboring islands and I get an Uber and I go to the Clevelander to pick this up and it looks like apocalyptic. Not in that it's empty quite the opposite Everyone's on South Beach super spreading their life away because this is the last opportunity to party I'm like wait a second You don't want me to go to the Clevelander because it's unsafe, but I'm going to the Clevelander to pick up this device

She's like that's right. Okay, cool the unsafest place on the planet right now I'm like look this simply isn't going to work Amanda at all Dan doing this by himself You're not gonna have a show you're not Sue can figure it out Dan's not gonna know how to engineer this stuff I have to learn some of this stuff. There's no way I can teach Dan remotely I need to be with Dan right she says fine you can go but only you I'm like What does this mean for the shipping container? We haven't figured that out yet. I'm like, okay, but we have Dan We have Stu don't have the shipping container. We have me figured that out yet. I'm like, okay. But we have Dan, we have Stu. Don't have the shipping container, we have me. Cool, what am I to do with this device?

Well, Dan's gonna be working from home. Start with plugging it in. That's where I started. And I didn't have the opportunity to really test this. I got to Dan's apartment, his condo in the beach. Man, this is eerie. I can smell it. Like, there's so many things about that.

They're just so vivid. And what are they? The smell of your apartment. I can certainly smell the apartment that we later ended up going to because South Beach was empty and in your building there was another apartment that was a bachelorette pad. This is so good. There were like little dicks everywhere. Yes dildos. Like little low confetti penises. All over the floor. Yes. That weekend had been a rough shot run through South Beach. Some of it was for some ladies. And their remnants were all over the apartment

we were occupying. What was the smell that you remember in that apartment? Sex. It didn't smell good. It didn't smell bad. Basically, it was a kitchen without a garbage disposal. So there was like months old food that had caked into the sink that I was smelling.

It smelled like home. A weird, distorted home. But the first couple of shows I get to Dan's apartment, Dan's in his shorts, it like Dan, Valerie, Hey, what's up? Like my wife does not want us there. No, but this is where we're going to have to do the show for now until Dan finds a better place. Or in our minds a couple of weeks when life gets back to normal, because that's what everybody thought.

We never knew that we were going to be doing this remotely as long as we did. Because if you remember everything about lockdown is like, okay, in a couple of weeks, we'll get our lives back and everything got prolonged. Your wife didn't want us there because she didn't want us doing the show, or she was afraid because of COVID? No, I would say that our apartment's not that big, and just putting America's largest sports radio show with its volume in the middle of her life is gonna kind of ruin six hours of her day. By the way, Mike's essentially...

You know where to go. This is Mike's office. I know, I don't have a place where she wouldn't be hearing... I love you, Val, but... She doesn't have privacy. Everybody else has privacy. Everyone's doing their things in their own homes. Imagine you're broadcasting there in your home, but I'm there. Right.

Abby's not gonna have the same kind of freedom and liberty or at least she's not gonna feel that way. If I'm there, she's gonna feel like she has a guest in her home. Everybody else got to feel like they were at home. Dan's home was the studio and I was there as producer engineer. So Valerie did not feel any kind of relaxation at home

and also it's locked down, not very many places where she could go. So I understood why we had to get a different place. But the first couple of shows that we did, I remember being very bad, very bad. And we had all sorts of sports news to help us along the way. God bless Roger Goodell.

They didn't pause free agency at all. We had Tom Brady go into the box. We had sports things to talk about. And our show was so sportsy the first couple of weeks because we were such a relationship based show, a comedic show. And the biggest thing that our comedy needed was timing. We had zero timing. We had zero line of sight. We weren't doing the zoom thing. We were doing like aim. We were doing Skype. Not everybody had a webcam at this time. So we couldn't tell where people were

going. I remember that our microphones at the very beginning were so bad when people didn't know how to do stuff on Zoom. I don't know if it was a Yeti mic, but just the quality of microphone listening back to those first COVID shows was just terrifying to listen to in hindsight. But I feel like we found our footing relatively fast.

Working from home, you thought it was gonna be great. And then I had back issues from sitting on my dining room table for six straight months. Just way too much of me and my wife together. Like nobody needs that much time together. Like I'm telling you, people out there, you think you wanna work with your spouse or at home with them every day, you don't.

It's just way too much of each other. But those were scary times, and you look back on them now and you kind of smile because it brought us, you know, what a weird time that probably, hopefully will never happen again. But yes, an interesting time to say the least. Well, it was tough because one thing, my wife and I went through a miscarriage during that time. So it was really tough.

I had to bail out on one of the shows so I can rush her to the hospital to complete the miscarriage there. Obviously, if you know our story, she was pregnant four times. The first one was Claire. Second one was no development in that miscarriage. And then she gave birth to Aria a couple of years later,

who passed away six days after she was born. So yeah, it was a tough time for me and Anid and Claire. And aside from that, from a work aspect, because we didn't have an office at that time, I set up at the dining room table. So I had all my stuff. I was the only one that, from a work aspect, because we didn't have an office at that time, I set up at the dining room table. So I had all my stuff. I was the only one that really had a microphone because I bought it off of Amazon.

ESPN did not provide us with podcast mics like we do have right now. I had my little microphone arm and it's right in front of me. I'm at the dining room table. I got my toast right here, my tea. I'm looking at this Zoom screen with nine boxes. I'm just waiting my turn trying to make sure that we don't talk over each other,

which is another thing because communication at that point on Zoom, really, really tough. You gotta go through the chat box and everything. So you gotta make sure your fingers up. Hey, I'm gonna go here. So that was the whole communication thing. And Dan himself needed Mike for everything to work technologically and

yeah he didn't really know anything about but yeah that time was really tough for us as a show but then we started getting used to it. Were you guys expecting something different though when we started doing that? I remember thinking this is going to be a disaster. Our standard didn't change. I know but that's the problem that's where I got frustrated with both of you because I knew what we were trying to pull off was nearly impossible from doing radio for as long as the three of us have been doing it and you two still held the same standard that you've always had during an unprecedented time in American history. That's right. And I'm like

hey get off my back! That's right. No that's the standard. Yeah. Standard is the standard. Right. Yeah like this was was a challenge, no doubt, and it would help explain why we would have trouble running into upholding that standard. But Mike, I get standard or standard, but the radio mechanics, the doing of the show, you knew enough about radio, like you knew it was going to be tricky, right? Yeah, no doubt. Oh, but it's two gods. Dude, we would, Dan would pose a question to you.

There would be six seconds of silence. I understand. And we'd be like, oh, we lost Stugatz. That would happen multiple times a show. Like, yeah, it would drive you crazy. The lack of control. You know I'm a control freak. I know.

The lack of control in it. Stugatz is right, though. I just figured there were certain times that may have changed your- Stugatz is right. Stugatz is right that under the circumstances, it should be sane and understandable that the show is going to slip. But I want to offer this as context, and I'm going to probably both embarrass Mike here and really excoriate an ESPN executive who deserves it here.

For the entirety of my adult televised lifetime, Eric Ridehome has been regarded as the most visionary of sports producers in the history of the business. adult televised lifetime. Eric Ridehome has been regarded as the most visionary of sports producers in the history of the business. Overrated in my mind. He has been exceeded, I see, during COVID by another producer that I believe, and I've told Mike this, it's the greatest compliment I can give him.

I say better than Ridehome, because during this particular time, Ridehome did not bail me out in all the ways that I was falling apart during a pandemic. Mike Ryan ran into the breach with his technological equipment and did a bunch of different things that other people wouldn't have done

to make sure that our audience got the standard. He's the protector of the standard. So that is part of what it is that we're doing here, showing you the innards of how it is this thing got built. And during a time that the audience wanted this thing to be as good as it was Mike Ryan is driving to the beach as one of 11 people who's allowed into this apartment covered in dildos because the people need their content from Stugots and goddamn it Stugots get Finney to stop barking.

Oh enough of you and Finney. Newborn 2. Christ. Newborn 2. Still scarred from it. At this time. Finney is. I forgot about the HQ aspect of it all. I would often say well after the show because I had to set up for HQ. Ride Home didn't have to. I was just doing it to help Dan because there was no show. There was no economy without getting Dan set up there.

I remember Ride Home gave me like a crazy huge Amazon gift card for just like being a human and helping Dan throughout that. Yeah, we kept it going. You deserve more. You probably heard that like, Amazon gift card, really? That's all I got you.

Those pandemic highly questionable. So I can't even believe that we did those shows with no content. There was nothing in sports going on, but we were doing better stuff. Stugat, we made some funny stuff over this time period. I remember this as a content time. Sort of delights me in a way that I'm surprised by

thinking about it right now. I remember it feeling because our show really thrived when there were no sports going on. Like I always felt like our show was better during the summer months than it was at any other point in the year. And I just felt like this was a long summer. A really long summer. But we had nothing to talk about. Except for the last dance. Yeah but when you don't have topics when you can't... The last dance in Tiger King became our sports. Yes, that carried us. When you don't have

sports topics to lean on, it forces the creativity and I think that was probably one of our most creative times. Right but we didn't have the think tank that we used to. No. And while Dan and I were getting closer during this time, how could you not? We needed each other and we both needed work. You're watching 80s wrestling together. That is the ultimate way to bond. Come on. Like, with confetti penises all around. All around. I do kind of miss it. Jealous now. I do kind of miss it. You would have had fun. You would have loved it. I know I would have. I wish we were all hanging out together. Can you imagine? I walked of miss it. You would have had fun. You would have loved it. I know I would have. I wish we were all hanging out together.

Can you imagine? I walked in what Valerie's response would have been. This is so funny when I think of, I want to do sights and smells for a second because this really does summon what is a cold, dark, lonely, fun time because for four hours a day, like it's not convenient enough that it's the Clevelander three blocks away, okay? We're now going to bring this inside my most intimate space and we're going to try to do this

in a way that's as good as what we normally do, which has all sorts of eye contact chemistry, 20 years of knowing each other. Network clocks, spots, so much nonverbal communication on our show. And I don't have the ability to non-verbally communicate in a timely fashion. Right. And you got me at home with a dog barking, wanting to work out, playing golf, my wife's trying to get some stuff done, they're just yelling at me.

You being totally reasonable about, during a pandemic, can I do a bad radio show? Right. Right. And the answer from me and Mike is no, but you're right. We were unfair. And I'm telling you, when your answer was no, I would then not back to you, but I would go to Abby and say, they're two fucking assholes. I'm so sorry.

People are going through it right now. I am very sorry. My mom was dying. I am so sorry. Whoa. I had nothing to do with that. Just wanted you guys to feel bad. OK, but that just escalated. He got an that. No, but well- I just wanted you guys to feel bad.

Okay, but that just escalated. He got an opening on guilt, and he all of a- Eat it! I'm very sorry. I didn't have anything to do with it either, by the way. Yes, I know. What, my mom? Yeah, we had nothing to do with that.

We did go to the funeral. Via Zoom. Via Zoom. You looked so grown up. And then you mocked it, right? No, I was- I was working out. We did mock it. You did mock it. We did mock it. You mocked it right after all I was I was working out. You did mock it. You did mock it You mocked it. I mean it was a bunch of old people

That's good content come on No, we need to find that content and audio and play it just the people talking on stugatsa zoom That were 80 years old at his mom's funeral god bless zoom Zoom because initially it was Skype and nobody knew how to work that damn thing. Oh my gosh, every legacy media personality struggling to get on the show with us. We had one engineer over at Bristol. We had initially no way of getting the shipping container involved.

And then we discovered Zoom and the way to get the shipping container, which was hugely important to Dan because our audience wanted to hear from Billy, Chris, Roy. And so did Dan. Dan needed the outlet too. He needed the fountains of content. And the only way that we can get them on the air

because we only had so many IP devices at ESPN radio. They weren't gonna justify sending Chris, Cody, Billy and Roy an IP device. So the only way that we could do this was through the teleconference app. And there was no way, or at least ESPN hadn't figured out a way to patch that through the board certainly not without a delay so what we would do is we would have a central zoom hub that would be on my laptop. Dan could finally see you guys and try to get the

timing down but if you wanted to talk to members of the shipping container I would take my headphones off and I would put the microphone to my MacBook speaker and that is how we got the voices of the shipping container involved. I couldn't hear the show at this point when it was like, I couldn't hear what was going on. If Bristle was trying to talk to me, my headphones were at my MacBook.

Which is very dangerous for us, yes. Yeah, that's how we did it for a good month and a half. Technologically, it was awful. I mean, everybody sounded bad because everybody was using the laptop microphones. But yeah, it was awful. I mean, everybody sounded bad because everybody was using the laptop microphones, but yeah, it was not a good sound. Still had to get our advertising in. Just still had to do a show somehow.

The fact that we got that off the ground to me, it's just a miracle. Really Zoom, the biggest winners out of all that, because I'm sure everybody put money into their stock and it's skyrocketed from there because nobody was using Skype. Nobody was using Teams. Zoom was the thing. And I guess it provided the best audio out of everything. So I just remembered like it was bad, bad sounding microphones on a majority of these laptops and don't forget internet issues because you got to deal with people

who might have a better internet connection than others. I was on a wireless, it was fine. So it was that too. So technologically, it was a tough time for everybody to, you know, get together and have audio quality that actually sounded good. This was both one of the most amateur things that I have ever seen, but also one of the most majestic innovations that I've seen from inventive Cuban people who can make a boat out of toilet parts. This was ingenuity. Well, no, the show was not quite sharp in this form. In hindsight, it probably took a lot longer. You know, in my mind, it only took us weeks to find some continuity on Zoom.

But you know, maybe if I listen back, it took longer. But it was just like our show in studio. It's all about Dan's comfort. And then once Dan kind of leaned into, okay, there's going to be some talking over, you know, Zoom's tough. It's like hard when there's seven people trying to get in over Zoom.

But I think once Dan kind of just let go and realized that, look, people are happy to have content right now. Cause it was at a time of just let go and realized that, look, people are happy to have content right now. Because it was at a time where some people weren't doing shows. Like we were one of the few shows that we barely skipped. So I think people were just happy to have us

and we were kind of just happy to be doing it because it was such a scary, weird time. Like it was one of those things that once we got to years in with it, because by the end, we were doing it for multiple years on Zoom. We were cooking. It was almost weird doing a show in studio because we got so good at it.

But yeah, the first few months was definitely an adjustment. I want to ask you guys a business question here because as we stir around in some of the places we might've felt betrayed or neglected by a lack of support, as you say this, I have not thought about it before now, justify the expense of sending the shipping container equipment. Am I unjustified, entitled, or bloated in ego

when I ask you guys, is it unreasonable for me to assume that we had a radio show that was big and popular enough that's sending equipment to four people? It's not a ridiculous request? You are all those things, actually. And I think most of all, you're uninformed because there are only so many of those devices

at ESPN Radio. And guess what? Every radio show in America and across the globe is trying to get their hands on those devices Which leads to a shortage right so they're expensive They're hugely expensive and I could see like the request for hey can the shipping container each get one of these individual IP units Being met with are you fucking kidding me right we need our host. I can't get one for Scott Van Pelt right now because there's a two month waiting period to get one of these things. Yes.

How dare you? Yes. So yeah, you're. I think considering the times, Dan, yes, it was pretty ridiculous for you to assume. Oh, but no, but keep in mind, I'm not remembering any of this until he's expressing it. What I am remembering is I was having trouble

getting a single microphone, and so just that one thing was something that felt like disrespectful and all the other stuff that was happening, but I wasn't making big ass for giant things. I'm asking that question now as Mike says it. We were all frustrated. I don't think we were really fully comprehending

supply chain issues really. Yeah, we were asking people like, you want another microphone? Why not a narwhal? Like, why don't you ask me for an endangered species? Because that's essentially what's going on there. And I wouldn't expect you to know it. I certainly understand the frustration. Hell, you were probably frustrated, not because of a microphone,

but because of how you were feeling over at ESPN. I would say that our general friction with ESPN management had subsided because they were grateful that we were doing this stuff. You are asked to take a pay cut and I want to ask you about that. But let me talk to you about the solution that I workshopped with Chris Winningham. And this is something that we've never really revealed. I was doing Chelsea Miked Up with Chris Winningham. Chris Winningham was an intern of ours.

When I got hired by Chelsea to do content, they asked me, what do you need to put out a show for us? I need Chris Winningham. And Chris Winningham and I were recording Chelsea Miked Up at the time. That's another reason why Valerie wanted me out of the apartment because I'd go from doing his show highly questionable. And I was doing Chelsea miked up. I mean, poor Valerie was doing it there, but we had workshop. I remember the conversation came up. He's like, you know,

Mike, I've been thinking about the issues that you're running into credit to Chris Winningham. He's like, I think if we use one of the mic ports for not a microphone and we plug it into the computer we can get the sounds from the computer into the mic port and you could essentially have all the zooms go through as if they were on the microphone through the IP unit. Now ideally this would all be fed to ESPN but ESPN didn't know anything about even zoom at this time and I would be flying blind talking to someone else and trusting them with timing fade up fade down it would be a disaster so I wanted to be in control. So we rigged our IP device to the computer.

Chris Whittingham came over in gloves and masks and rigged the IP unit and it worked. It worked. And that's how we got crystal clear audio, zoom audio from the shipping container was our workshopping, working through Chelsea, mic'd up our crazy idea worked. And so that's how we fixed the headphone thing which was a big thing around this time What turned out to be is this gonna be a couple of weeks? Is this gonna be a month turns into several months ESPN makes the ask of its talents their higher paid talents Hey, can you volunteer a portion of your salary? Give us a little bit of a break here

Maybe we can take care of some other people. You had a very unique request that didn't fly over well with some folks at ESPN. But again, dating back to the supply chain issues, you not knowing the nature of your questions causing any friction, you make a genuine human ask about where your salary could go to and how has that met? Stigatz, do you remember at all whether or not they took,

you'd remember. They did, yeah. Took the pay cut, yeah. You volunteered, because it was optional. It was an optional thing to. No, I remember. Did it feel optional? It did not feel optional.

It also felt like the right thing to do at the time, I guess. I would say that it did not feel optional, but especially given what it is that we were feeling now in terms of turbulence, and are we going to remain here? It seems like Mike and Stugats think we're not going to remain here. I'm blissfully, what do you mean?

We're following, yeah. We're working with these people. I'm done. I had several months to tell them, Dan, I think we're kind of done. Right, I didn't want to believe it. And so I'm still not sure of it at this point. We're done, Dan. But I'm saying, yes, of course. so I'm still not sure of it at this point. And we're done, Dan.

But I'm saying, yes, of course. So I'm thinking to myself, well, I don't remember bonuses when we were doing well. And it doesn't make total sense to me that a corporate entity this giant would need now discounts. But if it's to protect the company, and it seems like a lot of bad stuff is happening and there's a lot of uncertainty,

I didn't have any resentment whatsoever about the idea of, okay, seems reasonable enough. This is a ridiculous way to make a living. ESPN has been very good to us and we make money and can't believe we get to do any of this. Sure, no problem. But would you mind, I've had cameramen here who've moved from a Hylia studio over to here.

Some of them don't speak English. That 10% salary reduction, if I could give it to them, can I direct where it is that it goes? And the answer was no, and I was hurt by that. Right, well that's not a reduction in their mind, they're still spending the same money, you're reallocating 10%. No, but okay, yes, but I thought these people,

because they don't work for ESPN, but you understand the part, yes. Of course, that part, they don't work for ESPN. Yes. That part. That part again, with you understand the part, of course. That part. They don't work for ESPN. That part. That part, again, with the supply chain issues and Dan not knowing if his questions are dumb or whatever, or if his requests are dumb, like ESPN legally had no way to do this.

As part of a publicly traded company, they can't actually circumvent that. Like if you wanted to do that out of your pocket, they could look the other way and not know about it. Well, I ended up doing it anyway because... They weren't ESPN employed. And so yes I don't understand any of that and again... They didn't work for ESPN.

Yes, I got it. They all deserve to be paid but they didn't work for ESPN. I'm just making sure we're clear. ESPN outsource the production of highly questionable to another company. You were right to ask Dan and they were right to I guess say no. Look he asked me a question and I'm telling you something that hurt at the time, and I didn't understand it, and now that you explain it this way,

I'm not as entitled to that hurt. Of course, they have their company, and it has its employees. I just thought of the people who had been doing this show for eight and nine years, who were part of this little circle that was adjacent to our little circle, that is an inner inner trust not a lot of people are allowed in it. Hey, we're going to take care of all of these people, right? Because this is a bad time for them

too. They've made this thing with us for eight years. Can I just put this money over there? But yes, of course, the math on that doesn't work. Right. I remember thinking to myself, if I didn't take the optional pay cut, which didn't feel optional, I remember thinking it would be a worse look for me, right? Like they were keeping tabs on who was actually doing it. Well, that's what makes it not optional. Well, yeah, it becomes knowledge amongst everybody at ESPN, the people that are doing this,

and that's how they get you to do this. There were a couple of talents that pushed back on it and were a little worried, like, do I ever get it back? No way of knowing. And your bosses, everyone is so thankful for their job at this point. We don't know what the world is going to look like. You're afraid to tell your bosses no.

Right. So it's implied that you should do this. It feels a bit ruthless though, right? Like if you- Oh no, I would say it's hard to criticize any decision and any conversation and any questions asked during that time period, because it was such a confusing period and stressful period,

not just for us, but for everyone. For the people running ESPN. Oh, but no, no, but I do think that this question is fair to ask. Yes, at a time of great vulnerability when people are uncertain, a giant corporate structure hypothetical X immediately leans in and says, where can I grab an extra 10% in a way that everyone's confused? Like, that's pretty corporate cold. Like, I can question that. Yes, I can. Okay, well you did. And I think you were right to. They hadn't considered the camera people because they weren't on their books.

So what you did was a very humane thing in that what about all these people? Like there's no furlough for them. Like what pot of money do they have? How do they make their livelihoods? It's a reasonable ask. I'm just explaining why it was that Dan got it up. But that's Dan.

Anyone who knows Dan knows Dan's gonna ask that. And so, look, and it's fine. Like I said, the things that have happened since then have all rewarded the way that we've done business. And there have been some ancillary costs to protect the feelings of people. I am deeply grateful that those people helped make us a video company

because there were all sorts of things we didn't see that we needed that those people helped burst. So it all ends up being our money anyway. The simulcast of our show at this point has some static images because we don't have cameras, but also, Lebo starts coming over to the apartment and sketching live shows so that our visual presentation can have some kind of supplement.

So good. We were trying to push, like, how can we still be creative as the ground rules change? And I'm really proud of that. And then something funny happens. The first couple of weeks month, it was about survival. The second month was like, how do we make this feel better for us?

The third month of it was, how can we really push this? How can we use COVID as a benefit? How can we use the fact that we're disembodied voices with no real live video to our advantage? And also there's a whole bunch of creative people that have their projects on pause. How can we use some of the smartest minds in Hollywood to work for us?

Maybe they just want the creative outlet. Dan starts getting close with Adam McKay and all these other creatives in Hollywood that are dying for some sort of creative outlet. And we started doing these bits that I'm really proud of, that we didn't present to the audience as bits. We were trying to fool them. Phil Hendry's style, which in the first couple of episodes

I told you, probably had more influence because of how much Hawk loved him over our show than any other show that was out there. This was very Phil Hendry-esque. How did we get to making bits? How were you on the phone with Jonah Hill and John C. Reilly where there are huge names in comedy and improvisational comedy that are coming through

just playing characters. We never reveal their identity. This is all really cool stuff. But this was a time where everyone was bored and everyone wanted to be creative. It was an easier time to get guests. It was the easiest time in the history of the show because people just wanted an outlet.

They wanted to talk. They wanted to laugh. They were cooped up too. Stavros made an early appearance there with a great bit. McKay, yeah, he needed a place to put it. And all of these people needed a place to put it. I think Jonah Hill's people ran away from him playing a bat meat lobbyist. I think there was just a whole bunch of stuff that happened there that short-circuited something.

It was funny the way that it was, but it would have been funnier if it had been Jonah Hill. The thing that you just hit me with though, because I do want to talk about the fun, these were fun creative things, but when you mentioned my brother and you mentioned his artwork, I do want to figure out a way to make those prints something that's available to our audience. It's some of the last work of his that... It was on his website for a long time. Yeah, yeah. But I want people to see what that time was because of the interpersonal connection

of what I'm going to tell you here, which is, my brother was broken at that point in his life. And doing that helped him. I don't know what happened, but there was just a short circuiting that happened, and my brother was in a place where he needed to do something creatively that would heal him up and give him confidence. So those pieces of art are something that

are really meaningful to me. And I'm sorry of that, but it is a beautiful thing to remember that he was hurting then and just making stuff for our audience was something that helped heal him. Dan, correct me if I'm wrong, but this is a time with your brother where some behavior is a little erratic and we're all a little confused as to why some of this stuff is happening and no one really knows what ultimately is the root cause of all this, which is the sickness. That is also happening as the world stops, everyone's lives change, work becomes a bit of an escape for you.

The audience, and not only that, Stu Gatz really knows how much you personally are under at this point. I had no idea. Because work is not going great, too. All these things are meeting at a head, and it's also at the mental health crisis of our time. I didn't know that your brother was going through stuff

at the moment. Mike, there was such a disconnect at that point. It was hard. But I didn't know because your brother was going through stuff at the moment like there was such a disconnect at that point like it was yeah But but I didn't know because Dan didn't correct me didn't tell me you didn't you didn't really know what was going on I mean some of it was confusing some of it had to be hidden some of it protects his privacy I'm chasing him through the streets at midnight trying to catch up to him because I'm just worried about what's gonna Yeah, it was... it was an unrecognizable thing and, uh, yeah, things were happening in public that I needed not to be in public, so it was a bit of a frenzied time

in all regards, But I was worried about him and some of it was so unrecognizable because you don't know how to diagnose what that one of the heartbreaking images I have is being at a birthday party for my dad with my brother, my brother being just so manic for an hour that I left with my wife saying, this person who represents the thing that I've always loved the most, I don't like him. Like who is this? Like what is it? And so all of that was beyond turbulent. It just was perpetually confusing.

One of the things that I remember from this time and not fully knowing that you were going through that, the ways that our fans talk about our show being there for them during this time, we were all impacted by this. You lost your mom to COVID. I lost my grandfather, who I lived with for several years. The show's been there for me. The show's been there for Dan. The show's been there for you. The show's been there for everyone who's a part of the show. The show, when my mom passed away, people were like, what are you doing? You're going on the air, grieve. Taking a beating.

Taking a beating. Stigots was really strong during that time. Yeah, and I don't know if I properly grieved yet. In fact, I know I haven't, but I remember the show saving me because the doing of the show, the laughter, even while Dan was yelling at Finny, the laughter that we shared,

and really just the creative process that I think we all have grown to love over time really helped me through the most difficult and dark time in my life. Yeah, that time was really challenging personally, professionally. Also, Stugats didn't get to grieve it, by the way. He kept working through it. No, man. That's certain, that's healthy. And it had to be really confusing for the rest of the shipping container who already had a reduced role because of the construct, but they don't know what's living inside anybody's head. We're all pretty divided.

We're doing our best to talk and laugh with one another. We're glad that we're all there for one another, but it's different. It's really different. It was almost like nice. Like, okay, the world is completely shut down. At least I can turn on zoom every morning and talk to my friends for a few hours. It makes this odd time in the world feel kind of normal. Doing the show, that was definitely the time when you had the most appreciation for what we did. It was just like, holy shit, the world has stopped. People's lives have been turned upside down

and we were still able to do what we do. So it was obviously a scary time, but definitely a moment that made you feel appreciative of what you had. Another thing that happens during this time is George Floyd happens and there are riots and ESPN didn't get on our asses about how we could talk about this. There were no sports ties.

There were no sports. They let people speak freely on this. We did some good stuff there. We had some really good guests. I'm really proud of the stuff that I did with David Samson there. I grew as a talent, as a producer. I really loved some of the challenges that this presented in terms of my skill. This is about as sharp as I've ever been as a live producer, multimedia. I was learning all sorts of things. Still got the Sampson stuff was so good. I know

it was. Like going through the innards of a sports organization that way. I stayed home during lockdown. There was like a work holiday where the show just had it off and I was at home for one day and I was so stir crazy. Keep in mind, I'm still going through my mental stuff. I'm coming out of it. I have my daughter, I have to be. And like anybody, I feel like the wall's closing in on me. I was at home one day and I told my wife, we're moving. I went nuts home one day and I told my wife we're moving. I went nuts for one day. So I needed having that show daily for me and my mental as I was coming out of really,

truly the darkest chapter in my life. Right. I think having a schedule and having somewhere to be and something to do every day helped all of us. We all had friends that didn't have that blessing. We all had friends that had got laid off or worse, friends that had passed away, friends of friends, parents of friends. There were a lot of things that put life in perspective. Dan spoke to it some there. There was so much serious shit out there that I

do have immense regret for yelling at you when Finney went and shut up because it wasn't all that important. Darrell Bock No, it wasn't. Ben Hickman It wasn't all that important. Darrell Bock Well, I thought at the time I was thinking to myself, there's no way this could be that important. But I'm glad you guys finally came around. Yeah, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry too. Apologize to Finney, not me. Well, but we can. Finney bit me. I visited you during one of those days, and you've never apologized to me for Finney biting me. Revenge game. I mean.

I would say that we do owe Stu Gott some apologies. No one owes me. No, well, I would say. You literally just said we owe you an apology. No, I said Finney. Apologize me. No. Well, I would say really just said we owe you an apology No, I said Finney It could have sued you And you pretended like it didn't happen. You were just gaslighting me the rest of the time I'm there introducing you to my daughter for the first time. I was nice your fucking dog bit me hard

You to my daughter for the first time your fucking dog bit me hard Broke the skin right I mean he's are there is a general lack of discipline with Vinny that would be probably off I mean seriously you just apologize you can apologize What are you doing? Look at me? I'll apologize to you. I'm gonna look at you, but I will never apologize that fucking dog Oh, really? Yeah, he bit me We established that Folks did you know that sleep is one of the most important parts of recovery? Whether you're a pro athlete or just looking to crush your day, getting the right kind of rest is key.

And that's where Sleep Number Smart Beds comes in. Since 2018, Sleep Number has partnered with the NFL to help elite athletes get quality sleep that they need to perform at their best. In fact, 80% of NFL players sleep on sleep number smart beds. Tough workout? The sleep number smart bed can be adjusted to suit your needs. Firmer one night, softer the next,

giving you the ultimate recovery boost. And let's talk about those sweaty sleepless nights. The new Climate Cool smart bed adjusts up to 15 degrees cooler on either side with scientifically designed cooling programs to keep you comfortable and undisturbed. Sleep Number SmartBeds don't just help you sleep, they learn how you sleep, providing personalized insights to help you get even better rest. It's like having a sleep coach right in your bedroom. Why

choose a Sleep Number SmartBed so you can choose your ideal comfort on either side. And now save 50% on the new Sleep Number Limited Edition SmartBed, limited time, exclusively at a Sleep Number store near you. See store or sleepnumber.com for details. Hey friends, it's Jarrah Bear here, and I'm here to tell you all about Boost Mobile, which is now a legit nationwide 5G network. So I must take a break from the jokes here for a second

and put on my serious voice, because I would never ever joke about a 5g network that has invested billions building 5g towers across the country not even once not even if mr. boost mobile himself asked me to there is nothing funny about it boost mobile is now a legit nationwide 5g network and also provides coverage across 99% of America. Seriously. Visit BoostMobile.com or your nearest Boost Mobile store location to learn more. The Boost Mobile network together with our roaming partners covers 99% of the US population. 5G speeds not available in all areas.

The Dan Levitard Show with StuGots is sponsored by BetterHelp. We talk a lot about red flags, the warning signs that tell us to stay away from toxic relationships. But what if we spent more time looking for green flags? You know the signs that a relationship is actually healthy, supportive, and worth investing in. So what are some green flags to look out for? Good communication, emotional safety, mutual respect, and someone who genuinely listens to you. Whether it's a romantic partner, a friend, or even a co-worker, recognizing these positive traits can help you build relationships that truly love you

back. And if you're not sure how to spot them or even how to practice them yourself, therapy can help. It's not just for people going through major challenges. Therapy can teach you positive coping skills, how to set boundaries, how to show up as the best version of yourself. BetterHelp is accessible, affordable and convenient with over 30,000 licensed therapists and a fully online platform so you can find the right match for you. Plus you can switch therapists at any time at no extra cost. Discover your relationship green flags with BetterHelp. Visit

betterhelp.com slash D L B today and get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H E L P dot com slash D L B. Dear Sports. Dear Sports. Dear Sports. Dear Sports. Dear Sports. I really miss trying to find my car after the game. I miss stadium bathrooms that smell like urine, barf, and regret. Dear Sports, I love when the really drunk frat bro who drinks too many hard seltzers during Sigma Phi's tailgate is obliterated by kickoff. Oh, and guess what? He's sitting right behind me. And as an added bonus, he apparently thinks he knows more about coaching than Newt Rockne.

Dear Sports, you know what I miss? The 16 days off between every NBA playoff game. Putting El or Los in front of a team name to honor Hispanic heritage. I miss awkwardly standing as an overweight guy shuffles 13 seats down to find his seat only to get up again during the next time out. I miss being that overweight guy. I miss logging on and seeing everyone talking about the big game. Then looking at my mentions and seeing people tell me my takes are so bad I deserve to walk

into a lake of fire. Dear Sports Lake of Fire. Dear Sports. Dear Sports. Dear Sports. Dear Sports. Dear Sports. I love that my Knicks somehow won't be done paying Joe Kim Noah the 72 million dollars

we owe him until 2022. I love when my local Miami-based MLB team already adheres to social distancing because 13 people go to the games. I miss the way me and all my friends smell after tailgating. The Farmer's Insurance Open, where the best player in the field is Brandt Snedeker. That sad guy next to me who keeps standing up

to start the wave, even though it never gets stronger than a smattering of 13 people who pity him. You know what I absolutely love? Being a fan of Miami Hurricanes football and having a national championship stripped away from my celebrating hands while the fireworks fill the sky because mother****** Terry Porter has a bogus pass interference call because he's clearly in bed with a mob. because he's clearly in bed with a mob. Dear Sports. Dear Sports. Dear Sports.

Dear Sports, I love that Deion Waiters gets paid $13 million to get so high that he starts seizing on an airplane. But when I do that, everyone looks at me funny. I love totaling my fantasy numbers going into Monday Night Football. Being up three points. But the guy I'm going against has Patrick Mahomes and all I have left is Austin Safarian Jenkins. Dear sports, you know what I miss? Eight minute mound meetings between pitchers and their managers.

No one knowing what a catch is. No one knowing what a catch is. No one knowing what past interference is. I miss getting home after seven hours of tailgating and needing nothing more than three Advil, a shower and some gold bond. Dear sports, you've made me scream horrible things that would get me fired immediately. Things that have made me force my living room furniture

to sign non-disclosure agreements. I miss Jags Titans Thursday night. I really do. All right, so the shipping container has been laughing at you here and I joined in the laughter because of your contention. Chris, you wanna take it up with him first because the shipping container is agitated

and they wanna crack at you right now. Chris, you take it up first. Well, Jorge Sadano famously said that Rudy Gobert should have been suspended for getting the coronavirus. And I'm just saying, I'm seeing reports that Anthony Davis has a cold. Should we maybe fine him? I'm thinking that's at least a fine. What do you think, Sadano? It wasn't about him being suspended because he contracted the coronavirus. It's because he so flippantly was touching other people's stuff, particularly reporters who were all freaking out because we had no idea what this thing was all about. That

was my issue with him was just him being reckless in that situation. So no, Chris, Anthony Davis shouldn't be suspended for a cold or whatnot, but you should do better than asking college football to play flag football Okay, cuz last time I checked you stuff to huddle during flag football. That's true. Good point by their Billy What do you have for Sedano? You've been making well, so we're B is about to come back So I'm wondering if we still are on that bandwagon of should he be suspended for being reckless or not? Or is it all is forgiven?

Well, what I said was if I were the commissioner I would have suspended him. I'm not the commissioner clearly Billy so Adam Silver has chosen not to do that so he can play on at this point. And by the way I saw your Walter Mercado documentary yesterday the last 10 minutes I could have just fallen asleep. It was great up until that point. They should have ended it. Oh my god. It was in Ramlos' interview. They should have ended it. The whole day, Ramos' interview. Whoa, this is the most outrageous thing you've said since you thought someone should get suspended for getting sick. He's lashing out. Wow.

He's lashing out because- I thought we were one team here. No, he suspended Gobert for getting sick and he's doubled down on it. And what I wanna know, Sudano, is how lonely did you feel as no one has supported you? Much like Chris Cody's flag football take, there is not feel as no one has supported you much like Chris Cody's flag football take there is not a single Person who has supported you on this Rudy go bear should have been suspended for being sick

Should be suspended for being you did you did you did you did you get dope I didn't say that So God, don't you start with me. I know where the bodies are buried. So Dono, I just saw a video released on Twitter of Jason Tatum sneezing without covering his mouth. So I think what was that? That's the first two games of the season, you think? Maybe they should just give him some clam juice or put some, or put his foot in garlic and maybe that'll work itself out. He's coming after you for no reason, Chris.

You haven't misrepresented a thing he said. Dono, it's your boy Tony. Listen, really quick, the NBA snitch line, a lot of people are using it. I should have used it on you when you wore the turtleneck on TV. What's your thought about the snitch line? Who the hell is Tony? Yeah. Who are you again? What are your thoughts there? I have no idea what he's talking about. Did

you invent turtle necks? Okay. Yep. All right. No, the snitch line is what he's asking about, which go big. Your boy go bears already complaining about this snitch line. He says it's petty. Listen, is it petty? I don't know man. At the end of the day, you need to keep people safe. And you know, Doc Rivers is joking saying that he's already called about LeBron and everybody. But I would, I don't know if I would do it. I would probably just, man I don't know. I don't know. It's a terrible, I don't know. I would do it. I would probably just man. I don't know. I don't know. It's a terrible I don't know. I have a terrible answer for this I don't know you couldn't have been any worse on this subject sonata you're shook because

Everyone attacked you because you're the only one who said that rodigo rudy gobert was sick and you botched the dismount totally like that Was the worst answer i've ever heard from an nba analyst on an nba question tony stymied you ever heard from an nba analyst on an nba question tony's stymied you well you know what you guys are also interrupting my mac and steven a time can i get back to that all right go back uh... and watch your first day to wait is clarifying his initial tweet supporting nick cannon that's what's on first take right now you guys really flustered sadano against the donald famous of the network for the

exclusive report that rud Gobert should be suspended for getting sick. And now the suey nominees for best Michael Dolyak song. Listener Ben, return of the Mac. Return of the Dolyak, you know that he's not wack and Michael doliac and he's taking it to the rack Return a doliac. I think he played with Shaq That's Michael doliac and he never smokes the crack

Listener chandelier one two three one two three swish one two three one two three swish one two three one two three swish throw them up till i lose count i'm gonna pass to michael doliak Doliak Michael Doliak He's gonna shoot like the defense doesn't exist like it doesn't Listener Brendan ice ice, baby J and listen Doliak is back with a brand new adventure Something got the hold of him tightly Average 15 minutes a game, nightly playoff stop Yo, I don't know, he had a cup of coffee with the Nugs and O'Fo Listener Phil, my neck, my back My neck, my back, my Michael Dolyak

TV producer Lorenzo Rodriguez, yakity yak He played with Ladner and MacDuff Sh. He played with Leighton and Michael Shack. Was great with rebound and put back. At times a wide is down the floor. She don't play back your bar no more. Michael, yeah, don't talk back. That was good. That was good.

That was good. Listener Joe, staying alive. Joe, you're on ESPN radio. Go ahead. Thanks a lot. I didn't know. I'll give you the verse then. I didn't know we were going to-

Just get to it. Let's go. This guy's amazing. Well, you can tell by the name of my jersey, I'm Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac. Pray for the heat for three seasons, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac,

Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac, Michael D'Oliac,oliac, toliac, microtoliac, toliac, microtoliac! Microtoliac! Amazing. That guy's voice when he was speaking, I did not expect that singing voice.

Listener Matt, get by with a little help from my friends. What would you do if I took a clue? Would you stand up and try to block me? Please, stop me, friend, stand out. I'll back it out. I will try to hit it from the top of the key Oh, Doliak, goodbye with a little help For Brace LeFrance He's Michael Doli, yeah. Yep.

And Mother Santa don't know how to act. Yep. He'll fuck you out and leave you on your back. Yep. Don't take it to his face. Michael, thank you. We'll do it again with you tomorrow. Yes.

Tomorrow. You know, the Marlins bus? Yes. Tomorrow. You know the Marlins bus? Have you ever seen the Marlins bus around town? It was John Henry's motor coach. He bought and from scratch a two million dollar motor coach. That's like a tour bus that had couches and and TVs and direct TV. And he would drive it back and forth from his house in Boca de Pro player. And then to spring training him back.

This was his bus. And a condition of the sale is he wanted to keep the bus. He wanted to have the bus for him in Boston. And right before the deal was closing, it's my famous and favorite bus story is I called John Henry and I said, by the way, we're taking the bus. And he lost his mind. He hung up on me. He started wearing because I just wanted to give it. I was so annoyed with the way that Lucinda and David

Ginsburg were acting that I said, you know what? I don't care. I'll walk away from this deal over this bus. John Henry at a black tie event, he was at a wedding. He walks out of the wedding. He calls me and he starts swearing at me, right? Saying, I'm telling you right now, this is my effing bus. I'm not even talking to you about this bus.

The fact that you made me step out of this party about this bus, this is an outrage. I said, John, let me be very clear. Enjoy your wedding. There is no deal without the bus. Click. Next phone call I get is from Major League Baseball. Bob DuPay. You're gonna blow up the biggest franchise swap historic.

You're a part of history, David, and you're telling me over a $2 million bus you are gonna blow this transaction up? I said, Bob, I'm telling you now, no bus, no deal. David, are you being serious? Are you flexible in this in any way? I said, Bob, I will die on the bus. Two days later, John Henry die on the bus. Two days

later, John Henry gave up the bus and he really didn't talk to me much after that. And we still have the bus. What do you mean you still have the bus? The team still has a bus or when Jeter closes, you ride that sucker out. Oh my God, you did. It's even better than that. We're selling to Jeter. Jeter is not paying attention to anything other than the fact that a rod is not getting the team. That's to Jeter. Jeter is not paying attention to anything other than the fact that A-Rod is not getting the team. That's all Jeter cared about. Literally that was it.

So there's an asset in the deal. It's an asset deal, which means you're buying assets. He was buying the assets from us, from Jeffrey. And one of the assets was the bus. So how old is this bus now? It's by the way, this bus can go forever. This bus can go to a million miles. It's got 50,000 or a hundred thousand miles on it.

And this bus, it is gold. I am sitting in PJ Loyola's office with Jeff Cohnine. PJ Loyola is the head of communication. The guy who hates all of you guys because you do nothing but manipulate me. Yeah. He can't even listen to these local hours, right? He has like PTSD from a sweat standpoint.

So he's worried and worried. So we're sitting in his office, me, Jeff, Coneye and Loyola. I said, Coneye, this team is being sold, but I have a crazy idea. Let's call Jeffrey and let's buy the bus. The two of us. So we call Jeffrey and say, Hey, Jeffrey, um, we want to buy the bus, the two of us. So we called Jeffrey and say, hey Jeffrey, we wanna buy the bus from you. And Jeffrey said, well, I don't care.

Does Jeter think he's getting the bus? I said, who cares? We're just gonna take it out of the deal. Jeter won't care, he won't know the difference. Jeffrey Loria sold the bus to me and Koenig for 10 grand. 10 grand! Amazing! We, Koenig and I started a company to buy the bus.

It's called WGTFB LLC. We got the effing bus LLC. You and I have a pretty interesting dynamic. You have your side of things with how the Marlins went down and I speak for the fans and I have a really good knowledge of what happened there and I like to think that I can call you on BS. But when it comes to the Montreal Expos, I'm outgunned in that department. I can't speak for the Expos fans because I don't know enough.

So I brought in the number one Montreal Expos fan that I know and certainly known the world over as the prime Expos fan. I bring in Ariel Hawani. The overall sentiment of Ariel and most Expos fans were that you and Jeffrey were not at all serious about keeping Montreal a baseball town. David contends that Major League Baseball wasn't serious about keeping Montreal really and Montreal wasn't serious about keeping the Expos due to his negotiations with the regional sports networks. David, could you articulate a little bit more as to what you ran in on because I imagine you and

Jeffrey bought this team with hopes of turning Montreal into a World Series champion because that was the conversation that you had in the locker room and Vladimir Guerrero didn't understand a word that you were saying. How quickly did you run into the notion that maybe they don't want us here? So let me just explain to you what happened from day one is that we were told by Bud Selig during negotiations, just so you know, if you think you're going to come into baseball at this level of investment, and all of a sudden move the team and have it not work in Montreal, you will not get permission. You will not get the votes. You have no chance to move

this team. You are a new owner. Do you really want to go to Montreal? It is an absolute disaster up there, but you really want this? And we agreed to go and try. With no promise, no guarantee, no ability to canvas the owners, which is what I would do going from Montreal to Florida, making sure that we have the votes to actually get a deal done. I had no access to the owners, no ability to actually try to figure out what position we were in. We had no choice.

What we did say is the downside is limited. The upside is infinite. And that made it a business deal that was worth it, even with how horrible the PR was, even though how much we were not like from the beginning. And it's nice that you wanted to hug and felt that we were so great from the beginning. But we were not painted that way by our own partners. Because we would go into meetings, we negotiated before we got the team, that it wouldn't be just me trying to get a TV deal, that we would bring these limited partners, Steve Bronfen,

the new limited partner, Jean Coutou, the man, Pierre Michaux was so widely respected, and Jacques Menard was the number one banker in Montreal that they would come and they would negotiate. They would be helpful with the provincial leaders, with the people who had the money to put into a stadium. They knew these partners, Ariel. They knew that in order to get a stadium and save baseball in Montreal, there would have to be public money.

They knew that we were all broadcasting, budgeting to have higher broadcast revenue. They approved all of the financials before the deal was ever done. So you're acting as though they were shocked when the numbers didn't hit that we had to do a cash call. But that is revisionist history. If you want to paint the picture that the limited partners were only in it for photo ops, they were only in it for season tickets, they were only in it to say that they were going to be a part of the Expos, but not really invest in the Expos and make them better and they didn't want you guys to come in and ruffle feathers, that's fine.

You can make that claim. And trust me, I have my issues with the limited partners as well because it seemed like they cried foul when the ship had sailed with the lawsuit. It was pretty much a dead situation by that point. But to paint the picture, what just bothered me, and I don't want to harp on this the whole time because there's a lot of other things we can get to, it just really bothered me that your opening statement would paint a picture about a beautiful city and a beautiful province, one that you lived in for two years. And I find it fascinating that you kind of boasted about the fact that you lived in a

hotel for two years, which suggests to me someone who lived in a hotel for two years had no interest in actually planting roots in the community and staying there long term. If you're living in a hotel, sounds to me like a pit stop, if you will, but I'm happy that they helped you out with the pay-per-views. It would sound to me like you didn't want to actually understand the situation. You didn't want to understand the history of the Montreal baseball scene in the community. Why you would need someone who speaks French to lead the franchise. What were your qualifications when Jeffrey appointed you as the president? What were your qualifications in terms of leading a baseball team, being the president of a baseball club? Did you have any experience?

Listen, you can question any one of my business principles you want. You can be as angry as you want. It doesn't matter. The real question we're asking is, did we come in and lie about trying to save baseball in Montreal? And my answer is there was one limited partner and one organizational executive for MLB who did not know exactly what we were going to do and then did do as it related to the TV deal, to getting the new stadium, to bringing in corporate sponsors. Everybody knew the plan. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha My apologies. The game soccer zealots claim is so complex, Soccer. The beautiful game, a game soccer zealots claim is so complex in its artistry that us

simpletons just don't understand it. To which I would respond by saying, no, we understand it just fine. We're just not entertained by it. We digress. At what is considered to be the world's game, he is considered the greatest in the world. Despite the fact that he's never won the most prized trophy in his sport. Born June 24th, 1987, Lionel Andres Messi lived with his family in Rosario, Argentina, a small, quaint town where if the going gets tough, the tough gets going. And he did get going to Barcelona.

And he did get going to Barcelona. It was there, at the age of 13, where Messi sculpted his talent, and where Lionel became known as La Pulga Atomaka. It was there he would fall in love with what is known in some parts as Joga Bonito. It was there in La Ciudatando, that he perfected his craft. It was there, in La Taquita da Plata, he would play his entire professional club career. And it was there where he would be charged with and found guilty of tax evasion and fraud. Now, like the true fraud that he is, after one bad season, Lionel Messi wants out of Catalonia. After two decades, the world's greatest player most assuredly must have told his owners face to face. Not La Polga Atomica. He informed them

via fax. Oh teams will line up to try and acquire the 33 year old legend, but I hope that they know this, that behind that youthful, innocent looking exterior, there lies a monster. A monster that will kill you via fax when his privilege is called into question. A monster that is capable of tax evasion and fraud. A monster that is also capable of standing in front of a federal judge and lying to the judge's face. And a monster that is probably a tad overrated. I thought when Magic is saying that kind of stuff and then there's the dad in a wrestling ring

taking his shirt off doing stuff like that. Oh my God! What happened there? I know Miami cares about that. Mike, I know, I know it was contentious. I know it was wonderful. And again, it's TJ Warren. Man, I was alerted to the fact that TJ Warren is playing Jimmy Butler twice in one week.

Thanks to Rachel Nichols, who hosts the jump, which is a national show this all the hostility coming to a head twice in one week. This is a major plot line. If you're not invested in the regular season component of this NBA bubble, I just gotcha. And what Dan doesn't realize is TJ Warren on any given night can light you up for 45 points. I need, because this show can be whack-a-mole sometimes, I need to put these things on the pole at LeBotard Show. Is TJ Warren ever involved in what Mike Ryan described as a major

storyline and, because you're not gonna skate on this one either, Stu Gotts, can TJ Warren give you a 45 points any given night? I'm guessing TJ Warren has never scored 45 points. I don't know why you did that. I really have no earthly. I'm gonna change the game. I have no earthly. Can you look up the career high for me on TJ Warren? As you say, TJ Warren can give you 45 because I'm gonna go the opposite on that. I'm gonna say TJ Warren can't give you 45

on any given night. What if I told you that one of college basketball's most decorated coaches was born 400 years before the sport was first played? That he clearly chose basketball because it was indoors? it was indoors. That after several lustful centuries roaming the beyond, he finally found love on an Italian restaurant table for 15 seconds. That he could have gone for a second course and still had time left on the shot clock. That he expected accountability from everyone around him, but he himself wasn't capable of looking in the mirror. Literally. That the opponent he feared the most is Holy Cross. is Holy Cross. That up until this point the only thing that stuck to him were a few crumbs from that restaurant floor. That this whole time he's been coaching

90 minutes away from Transylvania University. That he's not too worried about his latest scandal because if he sits out the next few hundred seasons the right job will become available. That Van Helsing isn't walking through that door. That UMass might need a coach, but Minuteman would be giving him too much credit. That the FBI put the final nail in the coffin. ESPN Films presents the greatest example of time healing all wounds, except of course for a going to be ripped. Wow. Yeah, I know. 10 total, three, three, three. That's nine. Stupanity.

We are going to get to Action Bronson and the World's Strongest Man should be six time. They've got a new single Action Bronson does. I don't think Magnus does. He said while you were off there, while the connection was bad, he had mentioned that you have lost a lot of weight and that he admires that.

What got into you? Why did you you decide I thought it was all I thought we enjoyed being about the munchies yeah no it's luring again okay the connection is bad again unfortunately back to Magnus okay back to Magnus Magnus and this is going about as well as thank you Billy again for laughing in my face. Magnus, can you guys hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Hello? Yes, sir, action. Action.

Man, I'm really sorry. This is literally the worst way to ever do this. This is burning my heart that this is happening. But if you can hear me, just understand I'm sorry. Hey, Pop, how you doing? I'm good. I got Tommy right here. Wow.

Rory is going to do it a little bit later. He's late for dinner. So I've got Tommy right here. And then you ask him the questions. What's up, you guys? How you doing? How you doing, Tom? We really appreciate your time. Thanks so much for doing it.

Anything for Sambo. Sambo asks, I say yes. This is exciting. Like, Tom, first off, let me just say thank you. As a New York Jet fan, thank you for getting the hell out of my division. Finally. I appreciate it, man. Well that wasn't the intention to help the Jet fans. But I do appreciate it. Tom, I'm wondering in quarantine, you have a famously... You look like you're in quarantine, man. Are you in a closet? Where are you at right now?

I am. He really is, man. I'm in a master. Yes. I just moved into a house like you and I'm yet to get my office set up. Charlie's got a master's flag behind him. He's really winning this so far. He is. Tom, aren't you tired of beating Peyton? I mean, aren't you tired of it? No. You kidding me? Wait a minute. He's got his fair share of mine too. So, Eli is the one that I'm actually I mean, aren't you tired of it? No, you're kidding me. Wait a minute. He's got his fair share of mine too.

So Eli is the one that I'm actually happy I'm not playing. It's Eli on the golf course. Payton, I got a shot. That's a good point. You got to get out against Payton. The star of the OJ Simpson documentary that won ESPN and Oscar was not OJ Simpson, it was this man, Carl Douglas. He is our attorney, the show's attorney. What do you make of what you've seen in America as a guy who has, you know, been a part of the biggest civil rights law firm that we've ever seen in America

with Johnny Cochran? What do you make of what's going on in the United States over the last five days? And thank you for making the time for us today. Well, first of all, Dan, thank you for having me on your great show. You know, I'm a big fan. I watch it every day. I've been, man, a civil rights lawyer for 40 years. And I've always believed that the Lord put me on this earth to sue police officers and if I can leave your listeners with one thought at least it is that police brutality has not gotten worse man it's just being televised when

I was growing up Gil Scott Heron of the last poets once said that the revolution would not be televised. But that was before the invention of cell phones. Trust me when I say this is a cultural revolution and it's alive. Damn, there are so many George Floyds that weren't televised. I got a case that I call the forgotten man Oro Nunez Sr. it's spelled N-U-N-I-S. Stu got Oro was a 47 year old Jamaican American who was unarmed and on March 13th he stood five foot four inches tall. He weighed 145 pounds.

Dan Oro Nunes was the husband and father of seven. Mr. Nunes was suffocated by the Chulip Vista police department in San Diego County as they tried to detain him. Mr. Nunes had done nothing wrong. His daughter had called the police for help, but you see, Dan, cops in small towns aren't often trained as well in cops in the big cities. Cops in small towns don't often get the cream of the crop in terms of police candidates. They get the leftovers to be kind.

But there was no video taping Oro Nunes Sr. when he got suffocated by five cops. Nobody is marching for Oro Nunes Senior. And if five trained cops could not detain an unarmed man who was five foot four without killing him, I say they don't deserve to be police officers. to his wife, to one of his seven children, why nobody is marching for Oro Nunes Senior. Why do you think that this one feels different to America, even if it doesn't necessarily feel different to you, Carl Douglas? Because George Floyd, separate from any other occasion that I had ever seen in my life, narrated his own death. Mama, they're hurting me. You guys are gonna kill me. I can't breathe. He was narrating his own death.

Then the man with his knee on his neck had his hand in his pocket. The fourth cop was standing within arms reach and could have tapped him on the shoulder. Okay, okay, he's down. We've got him. The fourth cop, the Asian cop, could have simply said, Ben, you see they are filming us right now. But that reflects a culture. He had 18 separate occasions when he was complained about and he got off.

So there's a culture in Minneapolis. That culture is viewed because Omar Jimenez, a black reporter from my alma mater, Northwestern University, was arrested on the air. The sound man said, guys you do know that we are recording this don't you? But there's a culture By the code of silence then the code of silence is the greatest impediment to reform in the police system nationwide The code of silence is why cops don't report on other cops

is why cops don't report on other cops, because it's dangerous out there. And a cop never knows when he's gonna need someone to back him up. So a cop would not dare say anything that would go against another cop, because the next call, God forbid, that may go me. So that code of silence is that the essence of what is wrong in police departments across this country, not just in Minnesota, brother, not just in Miami,

but everywhere. Last week on the Dan Leventard Show, Dan seemingly challenged you to a fight for charity. How serious do you think Dan is about doing this and what's your response to that challenge? Dan Levitard is a big mouth. He's all talk and no action and I can promise you if he's even remotely serious it ends very badly for him. But I will give you this delimited part of your serious opt for the two hundred fifty thousand dollars for whatever charity we come up with and uh... we can do it now

okay challenge accepted with big money to dan levitard you have twenty four hours to respond uh... what are you doing on sunday night's charles uh... so before uh... you are mostly watching the last day after they've got the bill going on about this out of my diary that the mla fight that were also uh... but you know that what the last day of s

and uh... what do you what do you do with what it is that you're watching obviously you were featured prominently a few episodes ago well Well, I think it's all over the place, depending on, I mean, it's all over the place. I mean, you know, you got to see Michael Jordan is the greatest competitor I've ever been around. And it's amazing to play against him. And you can see at times he can be like a bully, but it's been fun just giving something different to watch. I'm curious though, I'm curious Charles, when you see, cause I've been made sad watching you. I've heard you talk in a couple of different places about how your friendship isn't what

it was because you criticized his, his management. And he obviously the film shows that he holds on to these slights and doesn't let go. But life's too short, man. Can't you reach out to him and fix that? That's never gonna happen, Dan. You can let that go. That's never gonna happen. Hey, Dan that go That's never gonna happen. Hey Dan stop it brother. We're good. Michael's doing great Chuck's doing great But that's never gonna happen brother. I'm too stubborn for that

You know me better Dan He tends to hold on to grudges then Charles's He tends to hold on to grudges then Charles's Charles I'm wondering do you think do you think back in your prime the way he treated his teammates? I'm not saying you would have treated you like this and I know you play with them on the dream team I'm not suggesting that do you think you could have played with Michael, not dream team play, Pippenhorst Grant play with Michael, be his teammate. Well, you know, he knows he has select the prosecution

over there, right? He knows who to pick on. No, no, listen, I, Michael's awesome, but let me tell you something. He would have been, there's certain guys you can't treat like that. Like you have to know what guys you can treat badly and they're gonna accept it. You know, screaming at guys all the time, punching guys. Come on man, there's certain guys that will whoop the hell out of you if you try doing that. So, you know, he has selective prosecution. I mean, Scott Burrell and Steve Kerr. I mean,

come on man. Good boy. Good boy. When, when, did you feel bad for anybody? Did you feel bad for the way anyone is being portrayed in it? Did you feel bad for the way anyone is being portrayed in it? See, uh, actually Jerry Krause, uh, cause I think, uh, you know, rounds off his thrown him on the bus and drove over him like 10 times. You know, the notion that Jerry Krause broke up the bulls, anybody who thinks that's got to be a fool. Uh, Jerry, Jerry Roger didn't want to pay those guys. You know, he had a chance to play hard as Grant and he let him go. See that's the thing that's funny too. You go back to episode 2

I think it was, everybody talked about how much money Skyler was making. Michael wasn't making that much more. He was making more from Nike but other than the last two years when Michael made $30 million, he wasn't making any money. And the reason they broke up the Bulls, he didn't wanna pay anybody. He didn't wanna pay Scottie. I guarantee, I don't even know what Dennis was making,

but I bet it was peanuts. When it was time to pay everybody, he broke up the team. And he threw Jerry Krause, like, Jerry Krause broke up the Bulls. I'm like, come on, man, it's Jerry's round dollars money. If he wanted to keep that team together, they would have stayed together. Tiger King is the name of the Netflix documentary. McGill knows everyone in it. He binged the whole thing to God's yesterday. He watched all seven episodes and this is how a lot of

people are going to end up watching this thing. So without giving too much away, Ron, what can you tell us about your observations? You knew these people, you know these people, but you didn't know them this way, did you? I didn't know to the extent of how whacked out of his mind this guy, Joe Exotic, is. I mean, I realized he was an oddball. I didn't agree with the things he was doing at all. I've said it many times on network television that this whole thing of keeping these animals as pets and using their cubs to make money by selling pictures with them is something I abhor. But having said that, this guy is so whacked beyond even that. I mean,

that's the least of his totally messed up mentality with these animals. You know, this is a series about not just wild animals and keeping them as pets in your yard, but it's about sex, it's about alleged murder, it's about all kinds of... you couldn't make this stuff up if you wrote it. If you wrote this and put it in a book, they go, this is the dumbest book ever read, none of this would ever happen. Well, I thought the most normal of the private zookeepers was the drug lord from Miami who was sentenced to 100 years in prison and served 12. You know Mario, right?

I know Mario very well. I knew him very well. And I actually worked with him way back when when I started 30 something years ago. You know, he taught me how to hand raise a lot of animals. I will say this about Mario. He loves animals. And he knows his stuff a lot of animals. I will say this about Mario. He loves animals and he knows his stuff about working with animals. He openly admitted to me afterwards, he made a lot of bad mistakes, did a lot of bad things, but at the end of the day, as far as his caring

for animals, I think he does an incredible job doing so. Do I agree with what he does with those animals, like having a chimpanzee and taking pictures? No, absolutely not. And he knows that because though I respect his knowledge of animals, I no longer will ever go to his facility or anything like that because I totally disagree with that philosophy. So you knew him back when? You knew him when he was Scarface? I knew him before he got busted, yes. And then the whole went through the whole process of when he did get busted.

You know, I will tell you, Dan, I remember working in his warehouse because I was working with animals. They're learning how to work with different animals. I didn't get the opportunity to work with it at the zoo. And I remember, you know, I remember he had a briefcase like you saw in the movie on his desk and he'd opened the briefcase and you'd see all those hundred dollar bills wrapped in those, you know, perfect little like you saw in the movie on his desk and he'd open the briefcase and you'd see all those hundred dollar bills wrapped in those you know perfect little like you see in the movie I mean this is like a movie stuff but you know one thing I will tell you all the things that he did and he admitted he did he never ever did it in front of me

I never saw any any semblance of that other than that briefcase I remember seeing with money I think he had to get a key out of it to give me something to get in the back room and he opened the briefcase and I couldn't help but see what's in the briefcase and going, holy Jesus. This is like, you know, those Miami vice days. And I'm thinking I'm living an episode of Miami vice here. Now, Dan and Mike watch two episodes, Ron, you watch the entire thing. I watched one.

I'm wondering, though, and I'm guessing a lot of people still haven't watched it. They're hearing about it for the first time. So without trying to give too much away, what made you angriest watching this series? Just the fact that we have so many people with this mentality of keeping these animals as pets Thinking that can make money out of them exploiting them by kind of anthropomorphizing them thinking Oh, come on Everybody wants to swim in a pool with a tiger Everybody wants to lay down on their building take a picture with a baby tiger that has been ripped away from its

mother for the sole purpose of making money out of it, and then most likely when that tiger gets to be a mature adult, it is dumped somewhere, or worse than that, killed and thrown into a pit because it's no longer useful making money because you can't take pictures with it anymore, and that's what happens with a lot of these situations. Okay, and I'm hoping that this series, as crazy as these people were, opens people's eyes up and they start looking at some of these things and saying, wait a minute. Now, I got to stipulate that you can't throw the baby out with the bath water. There are truly some good sanctuaries that do an incredible

job of caring for their animals. But what you saw in this series is not those sanctuaries. You know, this guy, oh my God, my blood pressure boils when I think about what I was watching. I couldn't even lay down on the couch watching. I had to sit on the edge of the couch staring at the television like I wanted to jump in there and punch him. I mean, it's just unbelievable what goes on. And unfortunately, most people don't know about it because a lot of this goes on like in places like Oklahoma and Ohio.

But here in Florida, we've got a problem with that too and some of these roadside attractions so people need to understand I can't tell you how many times I've done interviews on Good Morning America CNN every time there's been a tiger attack or some other attack in one of these places where you know it turns out it's one of these roadside attractions where they just don't have the the right conditions to maintain these animals properly. I've seen you interact with animals, Ron, and they love you. And I am wondering, because what I see when I watch the first episode is a bunch of happy big cats who are being loved and they are loving back.

Is it possible that these tigers are happy? Is it possible, Ron? You know, happy is a is a hard term to interpret when it comes to animals. I think many of those animals are physically healthy, yes. I don't think it's normal. Tigers are solitary animals. It's not normal to see ten tigers in one pen. No, it's not a kumbaya thing where they think, oh look, we're all one happy family, we're all brothers and sisters, I love you, I love you. I don't think that is normal. I think at the end of the day, that puts a stress that might not be easily seen by a lay

person, but the animal is stressed that way. There'll be scenes in this thing, if you haven't seen them yet, where these animals get in some pretty brutal fights. That is not acceptable. That's just not acceptable. So people need to get that out of their heads. Again, there are some legitimate sanctuaries that are doing a good job of rescuing cats from places like this guy's place. You know, when they get confiscated, there's no place to put them. There are places that are taking them in and doing the right job and protecting them. But I would have to say the majority of people in this country who are keeping lions and tigers and similar types of animals in their backyards

as quote unquote sanctuaries are not sanctuaries they're exploiting these animals to make money. I get this story the other day about Tim Jerns he's a strength coach at southeast Tulsa college and I'm like how can this be real is this real and I'm just sort of shouting it around and then Allison finds Tim Jerns this is a person who exists and I, I couldn't believe some of the things that I was reading. But anyways, Tim, I'm thank you for doing this. First of all, appreciate your time. Dan, it's pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me on. I've just done though, it's some of the things that you're doing during what is obviously a pretty panicked time in America where you're you're

running your guys through football drills still. Well, first off, that's misleading, typical depressed that they would put it out there like that these are optional strength and conditioning sessions that we're having these are team building exercises, purely optional. And fortunately, I've got a great crop of young men. And every one of them has decided to show up for this. But I feel like you're you're dabbling in like some gray areas

here where fully optional, like I was sort of told one of the details that was sort of appalling to me is that these these felt like involuntary OTAs. Well, look, here's the bottom line, and you know the way it is with what you do with your radio show. Like, if you tell your people, hey, I'm having a barbecue at my house on Sunday,

it'd be great if you could come by. You're the boss. Everyone knows they should show up. So yeah, there's a little bit of that going on. People care about this team. You know, there's a lot of pride in my young men. So they're showing up, they're getting stronger. And while the nation is hiding, these young men are looking for an edge. Dan, I think the thing you don't understand is we're a small little school. We're a little school

that wakes up in the morning, we pull ourselves out of bed by our nutsack, we get to work and we're scrappy. We don't have the money of an Alabama and Auburn. So while everyone else is taking a playoff, we gotta go in and we gotta hit it twice as hard. Okay, all right, that's fine. You hit it twice as hard, but what you have happening, like are you not aware of what's happening in the country right now in terms of quarantine

and now's not the time for anything, for anybody to be hitting anything twice as hard. I have nothing but respect for what everyone's doing out there and I understand what's going on but I'm going to tell you something right now. We're being safe, we're working hard, but also we're aware there's a greater danger out there. There's an unseen danger out there that's even greater than what we're going through and it's called weakness. There was some controversy I used to I was strength and conditioning coach at Dawson College small small school up in northern Florida fine institution and we had a ritual before the football season would

begin where every player would turn to his right they would then produce a serrated blade and cut the arm of the player to their right and put a little bit of blood in their mouth. And the theory behind this was we got to lack the taste of blood in our mouths because we're not going to win just by getting five star recruits and laying back in a Barker lounger. We got to work extra hard. And we did have a player who got sick and the AD at Dawson College, a fantastic man named Ted Beeman, he sat down with me, we shook hands like gentlemen, and we both agreed to move on. Somebody got sick? Is that what the backstory is? Someone got sick from the tasting of blood?

Someone did get, we don't know if it was directly from the blood, but someone did get sick. Yes, that is correct, sir. Can you explain to me these workouts? Because these details are impossible to believe. As I'm reading some of these things, I'm finding all of this to be very dangerous, really. Well, it's not any kind of strength and conditioning is going to push people into new thresholds of pain. So I'm sure when you look at it on the printed page, it doesn't look as great. But all I can tell you is every young man who is here wants to be here. of pain. So I'm sure when you look at it on the printed page, it doesn't look as great. But all I can tell you is every young man who is here wants to be here. These are optional.

These are not mandatory workouts. These are voluntary workouts. And yeah, I've invented some workouts on my own. There's one where we do a fireman carry. That's two young men. We'll carry another man up the dorm stairs, and then when they get to the top, they rotate and they carry a man back down. These are 10 story dorms, so it's a bit of a workout. There's another one we call it 20 men in the bubble, and what I do is I rent a local fantastic business

around here called Luby Party Supplies. We get a bouncy castle and I get 20 young men in there they all go down to their skivvies they're in their underwear and it's sort of like King of the Hill. They're bouncing around in there it's awful hot everyone's grappling wrestling and you have players throwing each other out of

the bouncy castle and there's one man left and that man gets an hour break if and you have players throwing each other out of the bouncy castle and there's one man left and that man gets an hour break if he wins that drill. We've got a couple others. We've got no water Tuesdays. Tuesdays we work out, there's no water. You feel the pain, you feel the burn, you plow ahead. Are there doctors around watching what you guys are doing?

We have actually my, she's not my wife she's my girlfriend but she lives with me so essentially my wife. My wife is a school nurse at a local elementary school so she oversees our workouts. No water Tuesdays if anyone's feeling dizzy or anyone's feeling off they take a little break. No one's happy about it we may give them a little barking while they're taking the break, letting them know that you know we're not lacking the way they're playing it. But my wife, she oversees this. Sharon, she's a beautiful woman. She's ten years my senior. She's got a couple kids that I love. I treat them like my own. And she's there. She's making sure everything is walking the straight and narrow. We've only in four years of doing this program, I think we've had to call 911 at the most eight times.

Wait a minute, what? Yeah. Yeah, we've never lost a player. We've never had anyone suffer permanent injury, but a couple times. Yeah, we've had players where we need some EMTs to take a look at them. And guess what? We're all stronger for it. They move on. Two of the players did drop off the team, but otherwise it's about getting harder. It's about seizing the opportunities when you have them, sir.

Two are gonna take us on a trip so far from here. From boring mediocrity to dominance so near. You know why? Cause we've waited so long. Since Merino! We've waited so long 7-9 for so long Golfers waited so long And now we've got a tour ticket to paradise Won't you grab a mask and we'll leave tonight

With our tour ticket to paradise With our a ticket to paradise With our to a ticket to paradise We've waited so long We've waited so long Since 9 o'clock so long We've waited so long And now we've got a two-a-ticket to paradise. Won't you grab a mask and we'll leave tonight with our two-a-ticket to paradise. With our two-a-ticket to paradise. Woo! Welcome to another Greg Cody Tuesday, a weekly celebration of white mediocrity. It's the opening scene in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and it's the line of the guy whose name I always forget and I ask Mike Ryan every time to tell me what the name of the guy is.

It's a very uncomfortable scene at the beginning of the movie, Jason something or another. Jason Segel. Jason Segel in that movie while he's walking around naked, because a lot of people have seen it, now in real life says to people, your mother has seen me naked. Just so I'm clear, my mom has never seen you naked? Correct. Correct. That's not what I'm saying there. Anyway, move.

My mom has. This is another Greg Cote Tuesday. For over a decade, a weekly celebration of white mediocrity. Welcome to another Greg Cote Tuesday, a weekly celebration of white mediocrity. Here's the thing about a third nipple, and I've done a little research on this. If the third nipple is located anywhere on the body except where it's supposed to be,

it's referred to as a wart. No, that's true, medically. Look it up. Shocker! I'll look it up for you, Greg. Please. How are you gonna look up? I mean, it's a medical fact.

Third nipple, referred to a wart? You could, sure. I'm on it? Yep. Dan, you asked him. I mean, you asked him. Probably found that in the medical dictionary as well. Welcome to Greg Cody Tuesday, a weekly celebration of Caucasian mediocrity.

Caucasian mediocrity. Welcome to Greg Cody Tuesday, a weekly celebration of Caucasian mediocrity. Cody's shirt today. What year do you think Cody's shirt today is, Stugatz? If you had to guess. I want to go late 80s on that shirt. What year is that shirt? I have no idea. Who knows a year of their clothing? It's not year of their clothing it's been ironed in a decade

driving a 1989 shirt way you know nobody knows a year of a shirt yeah but I feel like you bought all your clothes in one year and you haven't bought in any clothes since all right today's poll take a picture of Cody put it up on the poll today I want to know I want people to guess what decade this shirt is from the only interesting thing about this shirt it's not made out of cloth it's actually made out of paper this is another Greg Cody Tuesday for over a decade a weekly celebration of white mediocrity hey friends it's Jerabare here and I'm here to tell you all about Boost Mobile, which

is now a legit nationwide 5G network. So I must take a break from the jokes here for a second and put on my serious voice. Because I would never ever joke about a 5G network that has invested billions building 5G towers across the country. Not even once. Not even if Mr. Boost Mobile himself asked me to. There is nothing funny about it. Boost Mobile is now a legit nationwide 5G network and also provides coverage across 99% of America. Seriously. Visit BoostMobile.com or your nearest

Boost Mobile store location to learn more. The Boost Mobile network, together with our The Dan Levitard Show with StuGots is sponsored by BetterHelp. We talk a lot about red flags, the warning signs that tell us to stay away from toxic relationships, but what if we spent more time looking for green flags? You know the signs that a relationship is actually healthy, supportive, and worth investing in. So what are some green flags to look out for? Good communication, emotional safety, mutual respect, and someone who genuinely listens

to you. Whether it's a romantic partner, a friend, or even a co-worker, recognizing these positive traits can help you build relationships that truly love you back. And if you're not sure how to spot them or even how to practice them yourself, therapy can help. It's not just for people going through major challenges. Therapy can teach you positive coping skills, how to set boundaries, how to show up as the best version of yourself.

BetterHelp is accessible, affordable, and convenient with over 30,000 licensed therapists and a fully online platform so you can find the right match for you. Plus you can switch therapists at any time at no extra cost. Discover your relationship green flags with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash D L B today and get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp H E L P dot com slash D L B.