The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Oral History of the Dan Le Batard Show: Episode 4

Episode Date: November 1, 2024

In the most tense episode yet of the Oral History of the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz, Dan, Stu, Mike and Mark Hochman do their best to take us inside what ultimately led to Hoch's departure from the show. The crew also dives into whether Stugotz was ever close to leaving the show as he and Hoch found success doing two-a-days in the mornings. After Hoch leaves, Mike Ryan takes the reigns as executive producer and fights the internal struggle not only to keep the show running clean but to gain Dan's trust. Plus, as the show tries to find a third voice, some of the show's most iconic characters like Greg Cote, Bomani Jones, Stan Van Gundy and Fake Howard join the show to help provide Dan and Stu some relief. While all of this is happening, a young Roy Bellamy, Billy Gil and Chris Cote are just joining the show and trying to find where they fit in. It's a loaded episode that you will not want to miss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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No purchase necessary. 21 plus ends November 15th, 2024. See rules at website for participating area and other important details. Sponsored by Diageo Americas Inc. New York, New York. This is the oral history of the Tan Levitard show with StuGuts. ["Tan Levitard Show with StuGuts"]

It was really interesting to hear you guys almost conveniently pick things that happened afterwards as justification for things that happened beforehand. Because you guys have clearly worked this out and the fact that we day in and day out had such a routine where the scenery doesn't change it's hard to not do that but through your own rationalizations for your own behavior because everyone thinks that they were right there's some maybe admission oh I got that part wrong I know Hawk feels like he did the right thing for him. And I know Hawk feels like he was hurt

by whatever happened with Highly Questionable. I know for a fact, Dan was hurt by what happened with Highly Questionable. I know you were hurt and confused and playing all the sides, but I know what happened there. Set off a course of events that there was no coming back from.

Set off things that we're dealing with today. I'm in this chair, Hawk's not in this chair. So if I could, one more time before we get to the end result, which was Hawk leaving. Dan, what really went wrong with the discussions with ESPN and doing a televised version of the Levitard show? They wanted the radio show as a test case for whatever it is that they're doing now

in the space with McAfee, can we air this thing? And when the most powerful creative executive they had came down and decided within 15 minutes that our radio show could not be something that is broadcast live on Disney Air, that idea died in my head as an idea that could be executed, me working for them without being full-time for them. I did not want to be full-time for them. I'm learning now as we talk about this, Stu Gatz's resentment about not being a part of the television show,

when I always thought ESPN was a me thing, because I'd been working for 10 years for ESPN. I wasn't considering at that time in any active way the creation of a television show other than the radio show we were already doing that included other people. That was an Eric Ridehome vehicle and idea and he had orders to find a minority personality to put on television because they did not have one. The hock thing ended to me the night that he was at the improv and he is doing a stand-up comedy routine and I am learning with the jokes that are on stage how betrayed he

actually feels by the fact that I'm doing a television show that does not include him. But as we talk this through, I'm really not sure why it is anybody would simply expect to be doing a television show with me once they decline the radio show. I was strutting around with uber confidence. Did you not hear me earlier? Like I just figured like, hey, we do the radio show well together.

You're going to ESPN, gonna do a TV show. It's like having you on my lap when I'm doing PTI with Tony and Mike. have been great that would have listened that would have been fine I would have taken that I mean I should have picked a different analogy, right? These are all things but here's the thing Right be a part of you're telling me you're taking all the things that I want in life You're saying no you can't have them so that was a source of resentment But I also felt like Mike and I think you probably experienced this,

Dan and Hawk are really good friends. This goes back to college. They're best friends. It's why we hired Hawk. And I felt like I was being caught in the middle of a squabble here where Hawk didn't want to drive down. And now that I'm really talking it out,

I have some resentment towards Hawk for that as well, because I do believe that if Hawk was willing to drive down and wanted to stay with the radio show and never ever did that roast of Levitard at the comedy club that perhaps we would have done the TV show together. You will have to get Hawk's insights on this but as I recall the only consideration on however it is that we can pivot from the radio show not being televised to an Eric Ridehome production where he's the producer as the creator of Around the Horn and pardon the interruption was if I could bring in Hock as a producer but he wanted an on air role. As I recall, but honestly cannot remember the idea of an ESPN vehicle that involved Hawk and Stugats, but wasn't the radio show.

Now, I was never offered any producing role whatsoever on Dan's TV show. I wasn't offered any kind of involvement in Dan's TV show. Period. End of story. There was never a conversation and it was fine. There was no distress over it. There was no harm, no fall. I was bummed, but that was it. And so in this hypothetical where you ask, you know, would I have accepted the job? Yeah, I would have accepted a TV job because in my head, that would have been a huge move upwards in the realm of producing. You go from radio show to television show, and that would be worth the extra commute down to Miami,

but you're asking it to me 15 years later in that moment. It was never a question. This is all hypothetical. So the truth is no, I did not want to commute further south for the radio show for the job I was already doing. And if you ask me now 15 years later, you know, would I have taken the TV job? Yeah, sure. I would have. Seems like that would have been a great career move, but it really is just a hypothetical because it was never offered

So now what am I left with a longer commute and no TV show? All right So we'll talk about where that leaves you and the good thing about this oral history is Hawk will get his word in It's very clear that everyone's got a different view and a different understanding of when this even happened But you mentioned the Mark Hockman Sports Comic Night at the Improv. To me, I knew that these tensions were boiling over. I had heard the commute thing. I had heard people wonder aloud why they weren't a part of Dan Lebatard's Highly Questionable. And I knew that there was a resentment. The resentment was made very awkward

at this live event where Hock went to an improv and performed a set and it very quickly became a roast of Dan Lebatard. Sue, you were in the audience, I was behind the drum set. And I was very uncomfortable behind this drum set. It was awkward and as it was happening, maybe this is just time warping it. But I kinda knew right then and there, their time together and the relationship that they had had

up until that point was never gonna be the same. I felt it, it was over. Dan was upset and he had every right to be upset. I was upset. I didn't know Hawk was going to do that. And to a lesser extent, it was about me. But it was a roast of Dan. And so if you know Dan very well, and you know how much relationships and friendship and loyalty and all that stuff means to him, to have a guy go up there in what felt like a mean way, not a playful way, Rose Dan. And I say this loving hawk, like I do. As a qualifier, I do. I love him.

He's as important to my success as anyone in this industry. But what he did that night, in my opinion, felt wrong, was wrong, and I knew as it was playing out that our show was gonna change forever because Dan was not gonna stand for that. The sports comic night was really a fun night and that was one of those organic radio moments too. It wasn't even my idea.

It was a comedian named Dave Williamson who came up with the idea and contacted the show via email, and we went from there on it. I've been told over and over again beginning that night how funny everything was. I'm super surprised that you guys feel like it landed awkwardly because it wasn't. Every joke worked. It was not my intention to go after Dan. It was my

intention to have a fun comedy night. That was it. The first joke I told that night, the video is on YouTube. The entire performance is on YouTube. The first joke that I told that night was at my wife's expense. I said there's a lot of important people here. My wife, Lori Hockman, one of them, no one can fuck up a sandwich like Lori Hockman. And the crowd applauded, because it was something that I kind of goofed with on the show before.

So no, it wasn't my intention to have a go or roast Dan. I made jokes about him for four or five minutes. Then I made a bunch of jokes about Stu Gatts for three or four minutes. And it was all in the name of fun. Dan for years, before the radio show, even when we were in college, used to say the same thing, which I know he says to this day, insults are the language of intimacy among males.

And that's what the jokes were. I mean, it was just me busting the chops of some of the guys that I work with. So, yeah, I didn't think it landed awkwardly. He obviously took it in a different way than it was intended. And it certainly changed the show forever because he made a decision that I was, you know, disrespecting him publicly as I stood in front of a brick wall that said improv comedy club. But it was what it was.

It wasn't meant to be anything other than jokes. It's funny how you guys see that. And I don't remember it exactly that way. This is how I remember it, because this was a big night for Hawk. I believe that this would be- It was his dream. As good as he could feel,

and I remember being there in a fully supportive role and laughing and supporting what he was doing, which was really hard and brave to do. And I was pleased that our crowd was supporting the thing that he was doing, which was really hard and brave to do. And I was pleased that our crowd was supporting the thing that he was doing. Briefly, it was a segment that was born on our radio show where he would write out old crappy stand-up comedy sets and roast people in sports, and it became so popular

that it birthed an entire live activation. With that said, and Hawk's dream was to do a comedy set live at a comedy club, and this was fulfilling a dream for him, I thought he was going to do jokes. Most of the roast was at Dan's expense. I just remember feeling badly for Dan. It felt like a lash out. No, but I will tell you guys honestly, honestly, because I remember applauding, laughing and having my hands over my head making sure that he felt supported in what I thought was a

brave thing that he was doing. It wasn't until we got to the Nevin Shapiro jokes, wherever they were in the show, and he was saying that I'm Nevin Shapiro for creating Highly Questionable Without Him, that I'm hearing for the first time, oh, wait a minute, this isn't just funny. He's actually hurt by this, and this is how he is telling me.

Such a weird thing for me that this comedy show, which was literally just a comedy show, was the expansion of a radio bit. Mark Hockman's sports comic was a fun radio bit. Everybody got a kick out of it and I would do really hacky jokes. I thought I did really hacky jokes when I went up there, even when I was roasting Dan and roasting Stu Gotz. But I also was up there, I did a whole bunch of LeBron jokes, I did a whole bunch of David Sampson jokes, I did the Javi Vasquez jokes, which was a running gag on Mark Hockman's sports comic. It literally was all jokes. To know that Dan decided the one joke where I said, you know, he's doing a TV show without me. Hey, it's my own personal Nevin Shapiro. Like, yeah, it literally, I can tell you right now, however many years later, it was literally

a joke. I never imagined Dan being my own personal Nevin Shapiro. Dan was a very good friend of mine, stood in my wedding and was responsible for my radio success. So like, yeah, I didn't, I didn't, didn't and still don't consider him my own personal Nevin Shapiro. The fact that he took what was said in a comedy club, I can understand if it was out of the context of being in a comedy club. If it was somewhere else at a restaurant and I'm making jokes at his expense and he gets, you know, sensitive about it and thinks that for whatever reason

it was meant to be hurtful. I can understand that, but I mean, I'm literally playing the role of Mark Hockman's sports comic standing at the brick wall at the improv, telling jokes about everyone from my wife to Stu Gotts to Dan to Ron McGill to, you know, I mean, go down the list and for him to go, yeah, that one joke, that was real disrespect and that created a lifelong fracture in our friendship and our professional career. Mind boggling to me. And then so it culminates in a very interesting thing to me. So the next day on the radio show, which is where obviously we would talk about this great comedy night, he doesn't mention it at all, which became very apparent to me that he wasn't going to mention it by,

you know, towards the end of the show. And I think he mentioned it kind of in a cursory fashion. And then we did have a huge blowout in the parking lot because I didn't understand why he didn't mention it. I thought it was a great show bit and I thought it was great for me personally. But it is funny now when I look back on it in retrospect, there's been two times where I've done something

outside of the show, right? When I was involved in the show, there's been two times where I've done something outside of the show, right? When I was involved in the show, there were two times. The sports comic night, which I thought was great and he ruined it for me the next day by really hammering home that he hated it. And then when I started doing two days and I was doing mornings and so I was doing something outside the show and he made it very clear on the air that he was unhappy with it. So there were two times where I kind of tried to branch out and do some stuff in addition to what I was doing something outside the show and he made it very clear on the air that he was unhappy with it. So there were two times where I kind of tried to branch out and do some stuff in addition to what I was doing for the show and he didn't like it either time,

which now when I look back on retrospect, I kind of see a pattern there. And so in the drive home with my girlfriend afterward, because so much of the show was about that is when it started to thaw what we were doing together as a show. And now I'm starting to be like, oh, that was disrespectful. I should take that as disrespect, right?

That feels like disrespect. And then the next day we did the show. And because I was then angry, I didn't talk about the show at all in the doing of the show. And he was upset. No, and the argument that we had in the parking lot after that show in which he looked at me and said,

I'm responsible for your success is where that was the last thing of that kind that would be said to me. No, I never told Dan that I was responsible for his success. It's almost insulting to have to say that out loud because like, I mean, the guys are an award winning columnist for the Miami Herald before we ever started the radio show. Had a national show on ESPN on the weekends, RadioWise was doing a whole

bunch of stuff. He actually helped me escape my miserable life, you know, as a music DJ at a small little radio station. So no, I was never, never responsible for his success. Never told him I was responsible for his success. Was always very proud of his success to be quite honest because he was such a good friend of mine. Now, was I proud of my role on the radio show? Did I feel like I had a major part in the success of the radio show?

100%. That was a collaboration in my mind between me, Dan and Stu Gotz, whatever my percentage was, but I absolutely feel like I was very instrumental in the success of the radio show, but I don't think that's out of line to think that. I kinda knew my time on the show was coming to an end after the comedy show because he stopped talking to me.

Dan stopped talking to me a lot, stopped going to me on the show very often. He just didn't care for me much anymore. When it officially ended, like when I officially knew it was over, we were at the end of two days. I had done the mornings that day and then I came in to do the afternoon show.

And I remember Dan saying to me, hey man, you look tired. Why don't you just go home? And so I was like, oh, really? Like, you sure? Like I thought, you know, like, wow, I get an extra afternoon of rest. Like he'll let me catch my breath for a day. And he said, yeah, oh, really? Like, you sure? Like, I thought, you know, like, wow, I get an extra afternoon of rest. Like, he'll let me catch my breath for a day.

And he said, yeah, you can head on out. And he said, in fact, you don't even need to come back. Like, just focus on mornings. You don't need to come back. That's like, it hit me. I was like, wow, he just ended my time on the show. I remember I drove home and I got home and I told my wife, I said, I think I'm done on Dan's show.

Like, he told me I don't need to come back. So that's when it was presented to me. That's why there was never a farewell show. That's why I never got to say goodbye to anybody, you know, over the air. Like I just disappeared from the show one day is because, you know, he just told me, he said, you don't need to come back.

So in all of this, you're getting, I'm sure, the venting from Dan about Hawk and- I'm getting it both ways. And you're getting Hawk venting about Dan to you. Throughout all of this data collection, I could see where Dan feels like, are you picking a side? Because you end up doing this morning show with Hawk, which now, with all this context,

very clearly feels like Hawk soft launching his on-air career apart from the Levitard show. You're seeing where you fit in on that now Dan's got resentment for what's going on in the mornings. You're gauging all of this. You're playing the game You end up being on a side that sees you saying with the LeBotard show. What's going through your head? I'm enjoying what it is that we're doing I had no idea while we were in it that they were gonna eventually offer us full-time I had a feeling because the show we were doing was good.

Were you doing this in part out of resentment for Dan? I was doing it because we were asked to do it. Like, Sedano left and I understood why a radio station would want to take two popular figures from a popular show and for a two month run, see if they can kind of gut out two a days during a heat championship run. So you weren't clapping back at Dan.

I wasn't personally clapping back at Dan. Well, you knew that you were actively riding sidecar in a clapback. Well, I knew what Hawk was doing, and I knew Hawk was trying to launch an on-air career. I don't think Hawk ever lied to me or Dan about wanting to be on air. I knew the first week I met Hawk, I knew Hawk eventually was going to be an on-air personality, because that's what he wanted.

It's a funny question to be asked, when did you decide to start chasing an on-air personality because that's what he wanted. It's a funny question to be asked, when did you decide to start chasing an on-air career? Because I never made that conscious decision because I thought I had an on-air career. I was on Dan's show, I had a great speaking part on it, and at this point I had my name on it. Like, that's all I wanted. It was the Dan LeBattard show with Stu Gotz and Hawk. I had an on-air career, so I wasn't chasing anything. My time on Dan's show came to an end because he was very unhappy with me and no longer wanted to be around me.

And we were doing two a days at that point. So when Dan's show was taken away from me, my on-air career as, you know, a solo host or as, as the guy who drove the show began, but that just happened by happenstance, I was never chasing anything because I had everything I wanted. I don't know if because I had everything I wanted. I don't know if I'm doing selective recall here. There are things in here that I'm learning, but I don't remember outside of you guys being tired,

understandably, because of what you were doing. I don't remember having any issue whatsoever with the idea that there was a morning show. The thing that I remember, and this again, might be rationalization for how it is that I get to be right in this scenario, but what I remember being hurt by is that you and Hock were talking to QAM, the rival station, after we at 790.

Our thing was, sure, more show for us. We're gonna take all the power. We're gonna be on all day. This'll be fun. Hopefully, StuGots won't be too tired but it wasn't until not even the fact that you guys were talking to QAM which I would understand but that I didn't know that you were talking to QAM and that it seemed obvious to me that QAM wasn't merely trying to hire you guys but wreck the strongest thing in the

market by hiring you guys that is how I remember specifics, but I may have some of that history. That's on Sedano. I mean, he's the program director. Try to pry us away from you. I don't know whose faulty memory it is that there were QAM conversations at that point, because there wasn't. I was under contract with 790 The Ticket,

which prevented me from talking to another radio station, prevented me from even accepting or looking at an offer from another radio station. And 790, the ticket would have had the right of first refusal on anything that was offered to me anyway. And then to top it off, George Sadano, Dan's friend was the program director at QAM. And he wouldn't have tried to poach us from Dan.

That would have been like the ultimate sign of disrespect. The first conversation I ever had with QAM about going over there was in 2013, when I was doing Mornings with Zaslow. There was never, and I can't say it more emphatically, never a conversation with QAM while we were doing Two a Days about going over there. Never once.

Dan says that he didn't know I was speaking to QAM and he was hurt to discover it in whichever way that he did. I wasn't talking to QAM, so I hurt to discover it in whichever way that he did. I wasn't talking to QAM, so I don't know how he discovered it. Again, I talked with WQAM in 2013. My contract was ending at 790, the ticket on December 31st, 2013. And then I had a three month no compete. So I started at QAM on April 1st, 2014.

And the only reason I ended up at QAM is because Sadano left and went to ESPN in Bristol. So if Dan's talking about he was hurt to have found out I was talking to QAM in 2013, that's probably hard to believe because I hadn't been part of his show for a couple of years at that point. If he's hurt that I was talking to QAM

during the two-a-days time, he can let that hurt go because I never was, never had a single conversation. I'm joking. It's also a time for accountability. Guys, you have to remember, Jeff Dennis had just taken over. His job was to slash jobs. His job was to come in and get rid of a lot of people. And so I don't think Hawk and I had a lot of confidence

in terms of what was the future of 790 the Ticket. I had a ton of confidence in the future of me and Dan doing a radio show together, but I was already on air. Hawk wasn't, Hawk was the guy who put his name on the show. Hawk was the guy who wasn't on air, who wanted to be on air and who was very good on air. And so we had a decision to make. Hawk and I spoke.

For me, it was a fairly easy decision. We had the success in the morning. That was enough for me. There was no way I could do both. I was not going to do both. For any long, sustained period of time, two months was enough. I was happy with my role, and I felt like Dan and I were just kind of hitting our stride. So for me, it was an easy decision.

For Hawk, it was an easy decision as well. He wanted to do mornings. The only real conversation I remember having with Stu Gots about actually leaving the show to do our own thing, I can remember the morning that we had it. This was towards the end of Two a Days and Jeff Dinitz had made it clear, we want you guys to be the morning show now, but you were going to have to make a decision. We couldn't do both.

I knew that I couldn't go back to afternoons because Dan was hating me at that point. It was pretty clear that I was destined for mornings. Stu Gotz had a decision to make. The only conversation we ever had, and I can remember it like it was yesterday, I was destined for mornings. Stu Gotz had a decision to make. The only conversation we ever had, and I can remember it like it was yesterday, I was at Corner Bakery, which is now gone, but it was on Glades Road in Boca. I was going there to have breakfast with my wife,

and I ended up sitting outside in one of their silver chairs talking with Stu Gotz about, hey, we could be the next Paul and Ron in Miami, the Miami market, Paul and Ron, that was a big deal, which I thought we could have been. But yeah, that was the only real conversation where I was like, Hey, this morning show is working and we work well together and it could be fun. But that was the only real conversation. I don't recall another conversation beyond that. What did you make of your on air dynamic with Hawk? Because one of the things that was curious

was it wasn't following the formula that was set from the show, which was if we assign numbers to it, Dan is one, Stu is two, Hock is three. From what I remember about the morning show, it was very much a Hock vision and your character kind of stayed the same. And Hock was just kind of more assuming the conventional host. I drove the show. I don't remember it exactly that way. It was more of a 50-50 show. What did you make of the dynamic shifting to the point that now I'm equal partners with the executive producer who's putting himself on air?

I didn't mind it. Like, I wasn't equal with Dan, so at least I got to equal with someone. And I understood why I wasn't equal with Dan. So this, on a personal level, what we were doing felt good to me. I was talking more. I was controlling more of the conversation.

Perhaps it was more of the kind of show I had originally set out to do in the first place. But there's no way I would have had success in the mornings if not for my experience in the afternoons with Dan. Did you guys think that I didn't like the... We knew you didn't. But you thought I didn't like the... We knew you didn't. Yeah, I don't...

Yeah, no. That is not how I experienced that. I mean, you were getting us with no sleep doing our second four-hour shift of radio. Why wouldn't you resent us? You weren't getting the best of us. You were getting the worst of us. I wanted our show to be good,

but I don't think of myself. The reason that I don't think that what you're saying is so is because I don't think of myself as someone who has ever blocked either one of your successes actively. Like, that's not a conscious decision. I don't recall not rooting for you guys under any circumstance. We recall getting to you in the afternoons

and being exhausted and you not being happy about that. And you had every reason to be unhappy with what it was that we were doing. I mean, I don't blame you until this day. Like, we were doing a lot, we were tired, and it was an important time during a championship run, and the audience that was getting the best version of me and Hawk was the morning audience

and not the afternoon audience. So. But you weren't met. It's. So, Hawk's upcoming move with his career is telegraphed to you. You're considering maybe leaving the Lebatard show. Like, it becomes pretty clear to you

that Hawk is leaving the Lebatard show. Like it becomes pretty clear to you that Hawk is leaving the Lebatard show. Yes. Dan, when this is all happening, is that also clear to you that Hawk is leaving the show? I mean, we were moving toward that and I was supportive of that ever since the argument in the parking lot after that improv show. Like we were trying to figure out

what would be the way for Hawk to get some of the things that he wanted. But Monty has said this and others have said this. It is difficult to be in the position that Stugatz has been in where you have to accept a role that is unequal and then would be gratifying to find your own show imprint and voice. I'm just surprised to hear Stugatz think

that what I was mad about is that they were doing it in the morning, although I suppose if the impact is on the show in the afternoon, I can see myself being bothered by that. I can't see myself being bothered by you guys having your own voice when Hawk became the program director, put his name on the show, and these were not things that I objected to.

No, I'm not saying, so just to be clear here, you were not bothered by our success, you were not bothered by us finding our own voices, you weren't bothered by that. What you were bothered by was getting an exhausted Stugatz and an exhausted Mark Hockman in a show that made Stugatz in a show that made Mark Hockman and you weren't getting the best version of us.

I am sitting here telling you, I was upset on your behalf. I understand that. Dan am sitting here telling you, I was upset on your behalf. I understand that. Dan, was there an aspect of it that's like, why are they so much more excited about this thing in the morning than coming here and trying to? We were more awake. Man, I'm just, I'm- Why is their relationship with what they're making

in the morning happier than what they're making with me? Okay, what you're asking me to explore is something that I have not explored and I don't believe myself to be. So, if you tell me that what is being harmed here is our ability to do the thing we do best that I care about most, which is doing it well, then I would understand why they, six weeks in, would get tired and be physically in a less attentive place because and I you're gonna have to fill in some of the details I don't know if Hawk is doing all of the production for his morning show that he's supposed to be doing for the afternoon show because both of those are full-time jobs and so I don't know if all of the best stuff is going over there I don't

have an active recall of resenting that, but it does make sense inside my character that if our show was suffering that would piss me off. I don't remember having any conversations from once on end with Hawk about him eventually leaving. I think he spoke to me in more certain terms far closer to when we were actually arriving. And I remember thinking like anyone what's going on here. And I'd be a fool to not recognize the tension that was in that studio in and around it at this time. The specter of Hawk leaving becomes more and more a certain thing. When does the decision get made by Stu Gotz that he's going to stay put and stay with his role in the Lebatard show?

So I think as the two-a-days came to an end, QAM did pursue me and Hawk mornings and maybe even afternoons at the time. I think that that was a thing. It was. No, but that's the part that stung, right? It was Joe Bell. The part that stung. Joe Bell called us, yeah.

The part that stung was the general manager of QAM working with them. But we fought to beat all these years. Nah, I was never pursued by QAM to go head to head with Dan until I was doing mornings in 2013. That, again, is the first time I ever talked with QAM. And again, there never would have been an opportunity to go to QAM because I was under contract with 790

and George Sadano was doing afternoons. Like he would have had to replace himself with me. It doesn't make any sense. So no, there was never any kind of pursuit to go head to head with Dan during the two a days time. To get back to the original question, Hawk and I had a discussion. I think I knew what the offer was.

And I said, I need a weekend or the weekend or a couple of days to think about it. And then I took a day and I called him and I said, I'm going to stay with Dan. I wish you luck. He said, are you sure we could be doing this locally for the next 25 years? But I just remember feeling like, again, I started the station and would not have started the station without Dan. I felt like our show was really picking up momentum. I don't think I could have done what I did in the mornings

if not for the time I spent with Dan. And I didn't feel like we were finished. And I felt like we were going on to bigger and better things. It wasn't that I was not willing to bet on myself. I was willing to bet on myself. I wasn't done on this bet yet. The bet that Dan LeBattard and our show was going to turn in to a big deal. And I don't regret my decision. Oh, I don't think Stu Gotz was ever really considering leaving Dan's show. And again, I never would have left either. I was, you know, pretty much told you're leaving Dan's show, but I don't think he ever really considered it because

why would you leave that show? Like things were going well. We were happy, you're leaving Dan's show. But I don't think he ever really considered it because why would you leave that show? Like things were going well, we were happy, it was tough to do the two a days, but we were still really happy on the show. So he didn't really have the thing pulling him to mornings that I did. The thing pulling me to mornings was, I didn't have a job in the afternoons anymore.

I wanted to keep on working in radio. He never really had that pull that I did. I don't think he was ever really close to leaving. I don't recall the exact conversation where Stu Gott said, hey, I'm sticking with Dan's show. Mornings was fun, but yeah, I gotta pick one and I'm gonna pick Dan. I don't recall that actual conversation.

I can imagine it went something like this. Hey buddy, I love you. I love Dan. Gonna stay with Dan, but I still wanna take you to Cafe Matarano and have dinner, me and you, and Lori and Abby, and you'll still be a big part of the show, buddy. People ask me all the time, do you regret it?

No, I'm happy with my decision. Look where it took me, look where it took us. And so that's kind of what I was thinking. It didn't take me long. There wasn't a lot of thought involved. What I thought happened there in the doing of all that, how I remember that period, is one of the negotiating leverages that you had while talking to QAM is both of you felt pretty secure that if you did that, I would no longer do radio.

One of the leverage points you had is that our show would be ended but also our mastery of the market would be ended because I would not likely continue 100% doing it by myself without them. Was that indeed the case? Were you going to stop doing radio if both Stu and Hawk left? At the time it was my third job and at the time I had already made a move that I was uncomfortable to make which was full-time at ESPN so I probably would have ended up doing some different version of radio there at ESPN that wouldn't have been what it is that I was doing but not necessarily in drive time locally doing the same thing I'm having trouble sort of remembering exactly what it is that I was feeling at the time,

but I do remember feeling so strongly like, oh wow, okay. But again, my recollection of this is that the reason that I was doing Highly Questionable is because they were thinking about doing afternoons at QAM and because I wouldn't be doing our show anymore. Are you aware that Sugats has a decision to make? Are you also waiting the way that Hawk was for Sue to make a decision? I just remember being hurt by learning

however it is that I learned that they were talking about this with QAM and nobody had told me. After that, I've concocted the scenario in my mind that that's when and how I did Highly Questionable because it all runs together on me on whatever it was was a hyper tense period of our stuff breaking apart. It's very much being treated by those that had a hand in it as a traumatic experience because people's relationship

with the timelines get skewed that way so it's a real fascinating study. I mean Mike there's so much going on in my head if Hawk leaves is Dan is Dan gonna be the same? Is he gonna be happy? Is he gonna be happy with whoever is gonna replace Hawk? Because the only experience I had with Dan without Hawk was the first year or so of the show with Andy King, and that wasn't any fun. And so I'm thinking, like, how are Dan and I gonna do this moving forward?

So there's a lot of things I'm wrestling with, like, what's the show gonna be like when his best friend, who I hired, leaves the show to go do another show because Dan's not comfortable with change And so I was worried about all that stuff was there ever a formal conversation that you had with Dan where you're like I'm staying or I don't you just kept letting trace take over contract negotiations And you were just a part of the show that he was negotiating I don't know if we ever spoke do you remember if we I'm learning about some of this stuff now like I don't know if we ever spoke. Do you remember if we I'm learning about some of this stuff now Like I don't remember some I remember learning after the fact It wasn't like I learned while this was happening that it was happening

I learned after the fact it had already happened It was a stunner really putting this timeline together and finding out Dan LeBattard is highly questionable debuts in September of 2011 And Hawk and Sugat's due to auts in September of 2011 and Hock and Sugatse do Two a Days the summer of 2012. That's shocking. And Hock starts the debut of Hockman's morning show on 790. Throughout those talks, he decides he's going to stay at the same station that you are and just go to the morning show. That show premieres in the summer of 2012. Says here that I've ultimately at this point decided to stay with 790 and do a morning show with Zazz. No, I didn't ultimately decide to stay with 790. I had no options. That was it.

I was fired from Dan's show and I can't stress this enough. I didn't have any offer from QAM because I'd never had a conversation with them and I was under contract with 790. So my only job at 790 when Dan said you're no longer wanted on this show, my only job was mornings at that point. I had been, you know, juggling both and now I was doing mornings with Zaslow and my excitement level was fine. I was sad that I was done on the afternoons, but my excitement level for mornings was fun and we were putting together a really good show. So I mean, you're just forced to turn the page at that. There was no, it wasn't going back to lobby for my job. Dan had made it clear over a couple months, like, Hey, I don't really care for you anymore. So I was doing

mornings with Zazzle. We were having fun. We were putting on a good show and that was my new life. It was surprising to find that out, given the conversations that we've all had about this. Are you sure Stu Gatz, by the way, just not sure of anything. But are you sure that you guys were talking to Joe Bell because they'd heard you guys together on the morning show? Or were you guys talking to Joe Bell before you guys had done anything together on the morning show? No, Joe Bell conversations were strictly a product

of us doing the morning show together. And combined with, you're right, by the way, this might be the thing that puts Dan out of business or Dan off the radio, takes Dan off the radio. Of course they factor that in, because as a programmer, who wouldn't factor that in? Weak in the show that you're trying to beat and perhaps get them off the air.

Keep in mind, all of this is happening. Din it's slashing jobs on 790. We see a lot of great people that were in that cluster lose their jobs. Your show is in some form of free agency I can't really pin down if it was in 2011 or 2012 And I'm not sure how long you extended for if you guys even did a short one I remember highly questionable once it was settled on a direction. It was pretty much a quick development after that

So a lot of big things that shaped the history of this show are happening inside of nine months So it's natural that you would confuse some of the timelines, but this is also pretty uncommon. This is a major daily TV show, free agency when you're top dog in the market, host considering leaving, host actually leaving and starting his own show after flirtations with the rival station. This is a lot and it's a miracle. And keep in mind how, how stressful covering the heat was during this time. This is a lot. Do you guys wear this in your everyday life? At this point, this is your career.

You're making decisions that will affect your career forevermore during this nine month space. Did you feel it day in and day out? The business of this in retrospect is interesting because my agent never negotiated any of the radio stuff or was never involved in any of the radio stuff until it got to ESPN. This was always the playground off to the side, the third job that wasn't as serious as the other jobs. It was, you know, the silliness that we do. It's part of the reason that it was so fun and so to have it impacted, you

have to understand I'm giving away negotiations to Stugats and to Hock. My agent's not handling any of the details that are involved in any of this. And so it's this thing off to the side that feels fun and precious and business contaminant free until right now, until you arrive at whatever this turbulence is where everybody wants theirs, everybody wants more, there has to be a shift in how some of this stuff happens. And now there's a formalization of the relationship with this giant corporate entity.

So, Hawk Leaves, let's try to turn the page. Please. I hated the way that I left the Levitard Show because I was just gone. I mean, I put in eight years of real hard work from, you know, the real beginning to get where we were at. So, yeah, that was not the way that I would have left. I wouldn't have left, to be quite honest. I wanted to expand on interest the way that everyone on the show is doing so, but I wasn't able to do that. And so, no, I didn't leave the way that I had wanted to leave

because I didn't want to leave in the first place. And if I was told, yes, your day is done with Dan's show, how do you want to go out? I would have done like some sort of farewell or something. But no, I was just asked not to come back and then I was gone. I have nothing but great memories of my years on the show. I really do.

During this oral history, I've heard things that I hadn't heard in years, some of the super cuts at the end, like where I'm literally crying laughing. So I have great memories of all my years on the show and everyone that I work with. I did find out during this oral history what Dan and Stu Gotz and maybe even Mike think of me. And that was a real big slap in the face

because I didn't think that I was, I know that I wasn't think that I was, I know that I wasn't disloyal. I never talked with another radio station and never intended to leave the show. I was asked to leave the show. A lot of the stuff that was said about me during the oral history, you know,

Stu Gott says emphatically, I put my name on the show without asking anyone. I mean, that's patently ridiculous. It just doesn't work that way. And we had collaborated on stuff for eight years, How he would think that I would just put my name on the show. Like that's interesting to me. I applaud all the guys on the show from Dan and Stugatz. You know, Stugatz wanting to do stuff outside the show. So he does shows on WFAN and writes a book and Dan, you know, the art of conversation on ESPN and the television show itself outside of the radio show You know when it was DLHQ like all these things Roy Bellamy has the hockey show and Mike Ryan gave up the executive producing role because he wanted to do other stuff that was More passionate to him and his own personal pursuits

I was never given that leeway and that's weird to me, but I'm only finding out about that during this oral history. I did a comedy show and Dan resented it so much that it fractured our relationship. And then I did the morning show, which I was doing in addition to the afternoons and Dan resented that so much that it further fractured our relationship.

So I found out a lot of stuff in this oral history that makes me sad because they remember the show in a completely different way than I do. But, you know, it is what it is. I loved the trip back in time. I didn't love so much finding out, you know, that Dan and Stugatz thought I was egomaniacal and conniving and looking to get out of their show so I could do my own because none of it was true. It's just not true.

It's provably false. So that part makes me sad, but it doesn't lessen my enthusiasm for what we created on the show over about eight years. I'm immensely proud of that and will always be. Now we have to have a show without Hawk. Scary. Certainly had no idea how that was

gonna go. I was well in over my head. I thought in the role that I was already in. So talk about Hawk leaving. The realization knowing that he's on 790 the ticket. He's gonna keep doing his thing. Stu and I, we're gonna keep doing our thing. But now we gotta keep doing our thing without a guy that helped us find our voice. And now for the moment, we have Mike slotted in as EP. But it's not just Mike slotted in as EP. It's Mike slotted in as EP when he knows that he's in over his head. I suspect he might be in over his head. And my mother and my brother convinced me that he's not in over his head, but can you get Mike some help? And so I talked to a long time song and dance man from old timey radio to see if I could get Mike that help and arrogant Mike who's in over his head is deeply insulted by the idea that he would need help from a song and dance man.

Allow me to say, I wasn't at the point of being deeply insulted. I was deeply insulted that I had to audition this person. So Dan put me in a terrible position. He tends to do that. As I often do. I was in a pressure cooker. I was in an impossible act to follow. It was a losing proposition for me every which way,

because not only was Hot Gone, anytime Dan sits in as a co-host for part in the interruption, it's a losing proposition anytime that person me every which way because not only was hot gone, anytime Dan sits in as a co-host for pardon the interruption, it's a losing proposition anytime that person says their name isn't Tony Kornheiser. You're replacing the guy, right? Yeah. And also, he taught me everything that I knew.

And I was just starting to get a little bit better on the other stuff. My network as a guest booker was getting a little bit better. I learned the value of getting organized. Was I an all-time guest booker? No. But in retrospect, I look at some of the guest lists that I was putting up, and it's better than what we can do today. Like, I started to figure that out, and I was starting to become an adult, and used to my responsibilities then and there. And this was hugely unsettling. I knew I couldn't do the same job Hawk did. I was going to

have to do it a little bit different, but I also knew that was going to take me time. I didn't know if I had the time, and Dan certainly wasn't giving that off, in that everything that I did from that moment, Hawk deciding to leave, wasn't until several years after, felt like an audition. It was constantly scrutinized. Until this day. Only until Dan trusted me to go into rooms

with people at ESPN, did I know that, all right, I came through it. But even interpersonal stuff that I was doing, because I was genuinely a friend of Lebo's and friendly with Dan's mom, those dinners were to help me get a better understanding of Dan. But also I felt like I had to prove my worth as a human being to these people so they could see whenever Dan would openly question whether or not I was the guy, that I had a ceiling to me. I could figure it out. Just like I figured out the other role, just give me a chance. In the middle of all this, there are other names

like Allison Turner, this song and dance man that I don't remember his name But Dan it was so what was his name? No, he just did radio sounds and he played instruments As a song and dance man like it's the vaudeville age It's all the back back when a guy would perform on the radio on a stage by like pretending to play a bunch of kitchen instruments to make it sound like theater of the mind.

It was so hastily done. It was like kinda like Dan couldn't find the time to talk about the stalking horse when it came to, he couldn't like, Dan couldn't find the time to even talk to this EP candidate that it got outsourced to me talking to my own potential replacement. Mike, you didn't like change. This was a massive change. It wasn't a replacement Mike it was somebody to help you that you

took on. You tell that to the song and dance man. Song and dance man thought he was gonna be the guy. In Dan's defense we both had confidence in you and your ability to do the job. We just wanted to get you some help but I also think that was a time with Hawk leaving where in some weird way, it kind of bolstered whatever lack of trust Dan had for me. It kind of like, okay, he's staying with me. This guy knows how to produce radio. He loves radio.

He'll help Mike get to where Mike needs to get to along with some other people. If we surround them with the right people. But he and I had confidence in you because you cared, Mike. You cared about us. You cared about the show. I cared deeply. I remember Dan asking me, me all right Hawk leaving was kind of weird in that I didn't get a debrief really from Hawk it was just like yeah we have formalized what you'd been thinking about here's a backup j-drive I'm here if you need me pat on the back go like grown-up

shit and Dan I wasn't being talked to at all this through all this like politicking behind the scenes and posturing I was you want to talk about along for the ride I didn't know where the ride was going the day before I became EP and these scenarios are being real then asked me What do you need to be successful? I'm like Billy like Billy was an intern that I had trusted I started on the show as an intern in 2010 in 2012 I was. I was kind of freaking out not knowing what was next. So I asked about the possibility of interning for Highly Questionable because I knew they filmed in Hialeah and I kind of liked TV at the time more than I liked radio. I think basically the people at

Highly Questionable thought Dan was like telling them to give me an internship where really he was just like who is it that's in charge you Talk to them and figure it out So I kind of almost snuck through the cracks and ended up interning at highly questionable. I actually turned down I was offered by Hawk a Overnight board-op job so I had to choose between interning for free in Washington DC at highly questionable or taking an overnight board op job and I thought I'm never going to work for ESPN.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. So I took a risk and I turned down a for sure job to get a foot in the door. The summer was ending and I didn't have any job prospects. And I remember having a conversation with my now wife, then she was my girlfriend, and I was like, I should have taken that job. I'm coming back now, I don't have a job. You know, I worked at a mall, I quit my job at the mall. What am I gonna do?

Am I gonna go back to working at the mall? Like, what do I do? And I remember I was at a grocery store in Maryland and I got a call from Mike, and it was him telling me that Hawk was leaving the show officially. I'm gonna take over the show. I'm trying to get an additional producer brought on but it's not approved yet. Do you want to do it again? Like it's not approved yet but like come back and like intern for a little bit while we kind of get it worked out. I was excited because again I

mean I had been there for two years. I left thinking I of get it worked out. I was excited because again, I mean, I had been there for two years. I left thinking I was done with the show. I wasn't going to be back. And I didn't really know what the future was. And this was like best case scenario. Roy was kind of like our board off, but also a producer. So I knew I had Roy in terms of like cutting audio.

We can maintain that level that if something good happened on the show, Roy hadn't here for it. When Huck left, I could tell that Dan was worried about us keeping the show sounding clean. And especially for me as a board operator at that time, that was primarily my job. And with Mike producing this thing, we were worried about making sure that this show was clean. It sounded clean to us. Dan grew his trust in all abilities to keep this show running on time and keep the show free from mistakes. And with Billy coming in, you know, he had to earn dance trust as well. And it was way too much for just two people with Mike and I. So with Billy

coming in, that really helped us out. As well as Chris Coley coming in. I wasn't too worried about where the show was heading. It wasn't Billy with a question, Mark. It was Billy. It's absolutely my guy. He's my right hand man. Billy's my guy. Yeah, I knew like, I didn't want to invite anybody else because I thought it's funny when I listened back to episode one. Yeah, other people were interested, but I had faith in that we got the show. And while it wouldn't be immediate through no lack of effort on our end, but there was just some stuff there with Dan that was going to take time. He wasn't just going to walk in the door trusting me. I certainly had to earn it. It's one thing to earn it with his family and them saying he's a good guy.

That's all fine and dandy. I needed to be better than a good guy. I needed to be a good executive producer. And I certainly wasn't that at the start. No, but you turned into a great one. But we've all been through that with Dan. Like you're not, you're not terribly secure. Am I going to be good enough? Am I going to live up to his impossible standards? And I remember you and I having conversations, Mike, we've all been through it. It's fine. I think we're 12 years in at this point. I'm like, 10 years in? 12 years in?

And I'm telling you, hey, I'm still not certain he trusts me. But he trusted me enough to help you out and help you find your footing. And then we saw pretty early on, like, holy shit, he is good at this. The in-show stuff is really the stuff, we care that you work around the clock, but I do really believe that that time really put for the three of us, because Hock left, can we survive

without this great executive producer? And we did, and I feel like it made us a better show, and it really drew us probably as close as we've ever been, because the three of us were really going at it together. It was an insane pressure that I felt. I cracked under it several times. I cracked under it with you guys in the room. I cracked under it driving to work. Had my first ever panic attack in that parking lot shortly after Hawk leaving. You were a mess.

Because Dan made it clear that he didn't trust me just yet. And Dan, from the doing of a show thing, this is a huge inflection point. You also lost a very popular third voice on the show. Yeah Hock leaving the show... And he was hurt by it. ...would hurt us with our audience because I would say that Cody and Billy are the most popular characters on our show right now for listeners of a certain age. Hock, universally, was beloved and he was good on the air. Yep. Yeah, I totally felt for Mike at that time that was an unenviable position because, you know, Dan was, I'm guessing,

just based on what I've heard during the oral history, feeling betrayed, even though he shouldn't have been, but feeling betrayed. And so he probably didn't want to put all of his trust in Mike and probably, you know, bristled at times. And so, yeah, tough spot. But I remember telling Mike, like, whatever you need, I'm here at the radio station. I can help you out as much as you want. I've got all the phone contacts. I remember making a hard drive. You had external hard drives at that point, making an external hard drive of every piece of sound that I had from the Dan Levitard show's existence.

I remember making a hard drive for him and bringing him a hard drive and saying, here's everything that I have. And, you know, lean on me whenever you want, but it shows you a little bit about Mike, like his intestinal fortitude. He got through what was probably a really tough time on the show just because of all the change and came you know out of it on the other side looking really good. And you're not just considering what to do from an EP standpoint, you see the need for the third

voice. So after Hawk leaves we start doing things like bringing Greg Cody in for entire shows We discover Bomani Jones who I think was put on your radar by Jason Whitlock and Bomani starts doing shows from the Carolinas and we get an ISDN over to Stan Van Gundy's house and Stan Van Gundy tries to fill the Void of Hawk being gone because these were stable on-air talents that you knew at the very least I have an interesting show with them as Mike struggles to find his own creative voice. Trust is earned and when I give it, I give it completely but I don't give it completely until it's been earned and the period to replace Hawk had a lot of change in it. It was Greg Cody on Tuesdays, it was Belmont Jones on Wednesdays,

it was Stan Van Gundy on Thursdays, and for a very short period, it was fake Howard, my traffic attorney, on Fridays. That was the one where I was thinking I should have stayed with Hawk. I mean, that was too far. That was also recreating, trying to recreate exactly what I had with Hawk, which is our other best friend from those conference call games who would play characters and stuff, but didn't

know nearly enough about sports to do what we were doing. That was a difficult conversation, telling him soon after we had started, yeah, this isn't working. We're going to need to go in a different direction. But then the show became whatever it became for however long it became with Balmany, with Stan and with Greg Cody filling in, uh, you know, three days a week. After I was excommunicated from the show, I didn't pay that much attention to it because my feelings were hurt. I had still wanted to be part of the show.

And then all of a sudden, one day I just wasn't, it was like raw emotion there. And it probably would have caused me pain listening to it. I would have wanted to interject or I wanted to put my spin on something and obviously I wouldn't have been able to do that. It was hard to be a passenger or a witness to something that you've been part of for a long time and then all of a sudden you no longer have any voice in it whatsoever. So I focused on the morning show. We were having fun on the mornings and was just kind of creating this new life,

you know, where I was getting up at four in the morning and trying to go to bed early. So I didn't, I just, I can't comment too much on the show after I was dismissed from it because it was too painful to even try to pay attention, keep tabs. What do you remember of Roy, Billy, and a young intern, Chris, at this time?

Well, at that time, because we were bringing other voices in who were either professional broadcasters or more adults, the shipping container recedes into the background and are choosing their spots on being the sixth and seventh voice instead of the third voice, right? This probably would have been the time where the producers were on the microphones. The least.

The least by a lot, I'm guessing'm guessing yeah we had a different comm situation and this is where texting is still an integral part of the show and the job of the producers at this time was a little different back then you had the show lay out in a way with that third voice on remote keep in mind that's a very difficult show to produce audio only I'm less on the air because I'm running the show I'm dealing with same Van Gundy who's not a radio professional. I'm working through the technical aspects of getting these shows done. Not just running the show but learning the plate spinning involved with also being the guy who

can, I'm guessing this is the period where the shipping container learns how to best feed and sharpen the jokes that get into the room because you guys are learning, you're learning all of that in where it is to fill the holes on the broadcasting silence. This is where Sugats's character is starting to get really, really strong because he essentially has a team of writers in his ear. When you tell people, hey, Sugats produces the show

on the fly with Mike, that's where it started because I was trying to help Mike get through those first couple of months. I knew he was uncomfortable. I knew he had some doubt. He was unsure. But yes, the hiring of Billy, Billy specifically for me, Chris and Roy, and Roy was there already, but those two guys were great additions to the show.

I didn't know when they would start talking. All I knew was Billy and Mike, but Billy, man, took my character and ran with it. I always tell Billy, hey, it's nice to say things into someone's ear who is willing to say the things you're going to say into his ear without question, blindly, because I trusted him and I trusted Mike, but Billy and Mike and their contributions to my character are as important to my career as anything.

I mean, Billy's presence here has been a blessing for me. I started producing Stu Gotsen, really, I guess, feeding lines in his head a little bit after I had officially been hired. So I interned for a while. Then eventually I was hired. And at the time, I didn't talk much on air. And it was really just like dance to Mike talking on air.

And then the rest of us would just do, you know, Roy would contribute. The rest of us were just doing like behind the scenes stuff, right? So I learned that if I had a joke that I thought was funny, I could give it to Stugatz and he would more than likely say it. And I was blessed with, I guess, his inability to have a filter and just kind of go immediately. So a lot of times I would give Stugat's things that I myself would not want to say and not want to have attached to me because wasn't the best but I knew it was probably funny and I knew that he would just say it regardless and not really worry about the repercussions or consequences from that. We found a nice

little groove where I'd said things that, you know, if I'm looking for a job in five years I don't want to attach to me. And he just doesn't care if it's attached to him or not. And it's a perfect fit, like a glove, but not O.J.'s glove, because that one didn't fit as Carl Douglas, guest of the show, told us. And then you had to quit. And it's probably one of those things. I wouldn't make an O.J.'s glove reference, but Stugatsch would be more than happy to. Think about though, how it is that the show

is shifting there, where you had a situation where it was very clearly delineated, number one, number two, and here's a third voice. And that third voice is getting off the jokes himself. That third voice is finding the comfort of being the third voice that Lest is expected from, and so can make all of his jokes winners. All of the, because he doesn't have to talk the comfort of being the third voice that Lest is expected from, and so can make all of his jokes winners,

all of the, because he doesn't have to talk all the time, so he's picking his spots and learning that. Now you take out the music of that, and it had to be replaced by all of you by finding how it is to strengthen the second character and do the show through him, and also try and welcome in this assortment of people that we were essentially dating as a third character that weren't interested

in the previous rhythms of the show or how to do the third voice. They were just being themselves. And so you guys are surfboarding between how do we make the second character stronger and how do we help the third character without speaking? It is night and day walking into the production studio now as it was back then. It was a very manic experience doing the show back then. I think the biggest part

is because we're not on radio anymore. Because timing out a show, I'm constantly trying to time out a show, find spot placement. I have this voice connected here. I need to test it. The audience is hearing a nice clean interview with a guest. I'm telling Sam Vangunndi, no, no, no, turn your mic off. Now you go. The timing of the show, I was really proud of it back then because we had a lot of things going on. I have disembodied voices, cue speakers going off. It's sensory overload, but the audience is hearing a really clean show. I really earned a lot of Dan's trust in just being able to have a clean show that wasn't breaking guess We're there when they were supposed to be he knew how locked in I was on a show if I heard a cue

I'd have a sound there or timing was getting pretty good. I had to worry about traffic reports It was just an insanity if you traffic if you walked into the studio and heard just the crazy amounts of sound and Sensory overload. Yeah, that was going on during the show was manic. Part of me misses it because it kept me sharp, but also it eventually burned me out. There was one day the pressure was such and I felt like I had such a little job security at the time that I remember I got diverticulitis in Las Vegas. I was at a Friends Bachelorette party and I ate some bad gazpacho and like they almost

had to do surgery on my insides. I was hospitalized for three nights. I got discharged and I drove straight to the studio because I felt like if I miss another day, the song and dance man was gonna take my job. It was so heightened that I understand why it was later on that I burned out. We got through Dan's general lack of trust in the situation.

It's weird to me that you would say you didn't feel like you had job security. It honestly is unusual to me. I mean, early on, I understand. I interviewed my potential replacement. You did not interview your potential replacement. He thought he was going to be. He can think whatever he wants.

It's more important that I think that he wasn't going to be. He was there to help you. Well, it wasn't said to me that way either. Correct. It was like, Mike, talk to this guy. Yes. And I'm glad that with hindsight you felt that way but I didn't have those reassurances there. I felt like every day I was fighting for my life. I swear to God. Right. And I didn't have a name of my own to go fall back on. Like I needed this thing to work. Yeah.

At that point I had made the decision to leave FIU because I already had the career I was going to school for. I kept telling you you were gonna be fine. Now granted I had made the decision to leave FIU because I already had the career I was going to school for. I kept telling you, you were going to be fine. Now, granted, I'm not the person you should be trusting. I understand that. I've earned that. But I kept telling you, hey, you're good at this, kid. You're going to be fine.

He likes you. I didn't feel good at it. There was only one thing that threatened your job security, and it was yelling at me. That was it. It was not even yelling back at me. That didn't stop them, though. It was instigating the yelling at me. That was it. It was not even yelling back at me. It was instigating the yelling at me. That was the only thing that made me say, you've got to get a handle on that that's not okay.

Well, that's a great tease for our next episode. Because I- You should just start yelling at him next episode. I start not being okay. And the pressure that I was under from initially replacing Hawk starts boiling over later on. And it was too much for me straight up. I cracked.

I'm not gonna come out and talk about it like I was a survivor. Like it got to me and it got the better of me. I survived it. I had a really good show that was going along and chugging nicely and actually ascending. But it took all of me and it eventually won. It was really difficult.

Oh, the show always wins, Mike. Yeah. I mean, do you agree with that, Dan? Well, we're going to get... I mean, the show is all consuming. We're going to get to a point where the show actually really does win in the next years, at least in the eyes of the... But can you believe that bullshit with fake Howard?

Like Stan Van Gundy is one thing, but Monty Jones is another thing. But to have like, hey, am I not enough? Am I not enough that you're gonna bring in fake fucking Howard Schnellenberger on Fridays and it's gonna reduce my amount of airtime? I'm fine giving it to Stan, I am fine giving it to Greg Cody, I am fine giving it to others,

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So, God, Stan, Peyton Manning just flew into Miami after being waved by the Colts. Peyton Manning, he left a press conference in Indianapolis where he's been waved and immediately flew to Opelaka. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it makes the first thing he did. Yeah. At this point, I would be surprised if he does not end up here.

I would be surprised. I would be surprised if this is not where he ends up being the quarterback. We've been losing way too long Help us get off the snag Painter The fans are on their knees Painter Sound with the Dolphins please Painter No more Hewitt, Lucas or Trent Green

Matt Moore and scream Matt Moore Will show him the door and you'll heal and your career your career will go on Go on Turn by Payton way you'll be safe, cause we still have Jake Long

Nerves, arm, however you are I believe that your career, your career must go on and on. I don't know who you are. I know what you want. If you're looking for me to play for you, I can tell you I don't have an interest. But what I do have are a particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for teams like you. If you let Marshall go now, then I'll consider you. But if you don't, I will look for you in the schedule. I will play you and I will defeat you.

And then you have to go, oh well, he had already been released. No, they just, they both did the decision. Strohkalk? Alright, good. I'm sick of hearing that stuff about Derrick Rose because of the truth of the matter. I mean, great, you won a game last night, that's fine. I don't even think he starts for the Miami Heat, to be quite honest with you.

I mean, he's fine. The real star in Chicago though is the system. He's a system player, he's a product of the system. Thibodeau should be hailed as the hero last night against the Bucs, not Derrick Rose. You tell me right now, if I give you the Miami Heat starting five and I tell you next to Dwayne Wade at the one, you could have Derrick Rose or Mario Chalmers. Chalmi?

Chalmers is the guy. Oh, come on. Oh, Dan, come on, seriously. I'm telling you. Better three-pointer for this team, better three-point shooter. He'll sit at the arc, he'll drain threes. You guys are sitting here saying with a straight face that Derek Rose would not start for the Miami Heat I'm telling you right now if you offered me Derek Rose for Mario Chalmers straight up

I would stick with Mario Chalmers like any other names added to the deal Is it just Escobar and some guy whose name I'm not even attempting this one dad I mean you could have added if you want. It's like 19. Hecky Avara Yeah, I believe there's a new name and his name is henderson alvarez I don't know. Oh, he's a pitcher. Yeah, he's a pitcher poppy Did you hear what happened with the marlins poppy? Why josh johnson is gone? They traded everybody poppy They traded josh johnson. They traded burley. They traded jose reyes. They sent them all to toronto Ray is they send them all to Toronto?

All of them to Toronto. What happened to Stanton? They kept that guy here? No. Yeah. They kept standing here. Dad, don't complain about Stanton. You want them to trade Stanton? Huh? You want them to trade him because he was too cheap. That's why? Bobby. If you were making, if you were making 10 million dollars, then you help me go?

Bobby. What? What the hell? What? What can I tell you, buddy? That's the way they operate. Hey, you know, there's, I told you, they when they operate hey, you know, there's I told you there there there There are money fans. They're no baseball fan We're gonna tell you which was going to be their start now, you know, who's going to be the number one? picture now

Neovaldi Oh Henderson Alvarez they're bringing back this guy what is Charlie Huff Buster only is now reporting that Bonifacio is also on his way out. Oh geez. Bonifacio is also on his way out yeah. Yeah Bonnie's gone. Bonnie only makes about two million a year. Mike Redman welcome to South Florida. Really? Went from single-a to single-a. Wow. Well I mean that's the way it is, buddy. I mean, you know, the man is a look at the bottom line on the main decisions. They were, they were from the bottom up.

It looks like John Buck also going. Yeah. They got a rookie at the cashier. That's good. That's good. Yeah. Great deal. Finally.

That's what I think. What's! Yes! Great deal! Finally! They might have taken... What's the guy? What's the guy? One of the guys that they let go. One of the pitchers. The one that had the best pitch was the Grand Slam ball. I forgot the guy's name. Volstead? He might be coming back. What's the guy? Volstead?

Volstead! He might be coming back. The best picture was a sinker but never sank. You know, you stay in the pool on top of the plate there. All right, Bobby, I love you. All right, take care, buddy. Good talking to you. Yeah. He said he loves you.

Yeah, that's right. He loves you. Didn't get a love bank. Good talking to you. Take care. Well, we got rid of Buck. This is Hawkman Acoustic. Yeah, stripped down and acoustic. I think what you said was this is Hock stripped down

and acapella, isn't it? I wasn't gonna do any kind of big opening or any kind of music bed. I just wanted to riff for you a little bit, kind of like storytellers. Go ahead, riff away, Hock. All right, George Clooney, I gotcha. You're cool, okay?

You go up there to accept your Golden Globe. It takes you 10 seconds to remind everyone that you're friends with Brad Pitt, okay? We gotcha. You and Pitt are boys. You're both saving the world together. We gotcha. We're so lucky that you guys are on our planet. Just go up there, accept your award, and say thanks, okay?

We know that you're friends with Brad Pitt. We gotcha. And that brings me to Meryl Streep. Meryl Streep, you're so surprised you won an acting award huh you really need to mouth I can't believe this when they call your name I got you Meryl Streep you can't believe that people think you're acting is good you've won every acting award there is you really think we think you're shocked that you want an award. We got you Meryl Streep You're humble even though you're not just go up there and accept your award and say thanks and Johnny Depp

By the way, you were born in Kentucky and you grew up in Miramar. What the hell accent were you giving us? I gotcha. You're such a unique talent Johnny Depp I gotcha. You're such a unique talent Johnny Depp that you've created your own accent for your own unique world that you live in. I gotcha. What kind of recruiting class did you have, Fake Howard? Oh, it was a fantastic class, Dan. A truly a terrific class and I think all the fans of FAU should be excited about the upcoming seasons and the future looks bright over at FAU. What'd you get? Well, we got a little bit of everything. We start off with our running back class that I think was truly outstanding. The lead guy, I would say, is Slowpoke Johnson.

He's terrific. We're very lucky to have him. We were able to woo him from some of the other top schools that were recruiting him. The other running back we got... Well, wait a minute. That sounds like a horrible nickname for a running back. Oh, no. You'll be very surprised. His speed is deceptive.

I know they call him slowpoke, and that's so he can lure the opposition into thinking that he's slow, but you'll be very pleasantly surprised, I think. Okay, who else you got? For wide receivers, we've got a guy named Lazyeye Williams. He's terrific. He was rated the 700 best prospect by one of those web bloggers and you know I'm a huge fan of all things of the blog. Is there a lot of interest in the fan base in Robert Griffin III and two do you think

the Dolphins have the stomach to give up let's say three first-round picks to move up from where they sit at eight? I think the Dolphins would give just about anything that's in the stadium the the nachos, the popcorn, the beat writers, they would give anything to be able to trade up. I don't think there's a single thing that he wouldn't give up in order for the rights to pick RG3. The fan base down here, I mean, they want a quarterback. When you move down here, when you move from here, Miami will always be known as the magic city and will always be known as quarterback city. In Miami, I don't know if you speak Spanish, we have a phrase, el futbol es ropa vieja, which is football is life,

especially you know with quarterbacks. So Mark, we really appreciate it. I know you've had a busy day. We appreciate your joining us. Mark Hackman from Sports Radio 790 in Miami. Mark, look forward to talking to you down the road and thank you a whole bunch. Hey, I appreciate you having me on and as we say in Miami, adios maracas. Thank you, appreciate it. Thank you, sir. Okay, we had a little, a couple segments there, a little tosses of El Spaniol here. Very nice. Listen, we're Piers and you guys have a great popular show down there. But to me, Stu, I'm embarrassed to say I'm a sports talk show host.

When guys like you go on the air and criticize people for not smiling, what are we coming to? Did you guys criticize the Heat and LeBron James at all last year? Because it appeared they weren't having as much fun. Were you not wanting to take a shot for making fun of Dirk Nowitzki for being I come out of a rejoin in which you guys are talking about nipples and doing what and Lord knows we do the same thing okay and yet you weren't embarrassed today to be a sports radio host because someone's criticizing Derek Rose for not smiling yes I'm coming out of the nipple rejoin that's what you're doing it was a body part of a solution that we all have a little have a

little bit of a credit so i think that we all have a little and and you're right we all do have nipples i throw i have to uh... my dog all of the ability to my own about that i have a brother laws actually got four of them i would get the quad nipple working on his how about that uh... that the better the try it never the quality of the president he's got the quad nipple working? He does! How about that? I've heard of the Tri, I've never heard of the quad. That's awfully impressive. He's got it.

Listen, we all have nipples, that's fine. We all have the ability to smile too, don't we? Let me ask you about being of his... No one's more serious than these two clowns down there who think the world revolves around them. Drama queens. Yeah, oh, I guess the world's a better place now that we lost. The heat of lust.

Dirk's got the sniffles. I mean, how mature are these two? This is the second interview I've done in Chicago in the last few days in which we've discussed nipples. Why is nipples such a hot topic up in Chicago? Nipples? No, he said sniffles. Sniffles. They're making fun of him. Dirk's got the sniffles. Get your mind out of the gutter, street guts. It's not all about anatomy there, Wiener. It's not about a bean club, okay? Fake Jason Jackson, you're on 790 The Ticket. Dad, let me tell you, it's you got 790 The Ticket, dad, you wanted it, thanks for putting it together.

Special edition of 24 Hot Seconds, talking about that. The fake Stephen A. Smith. Stephen A., what's going on, my brother? First of all, I am not your brother. The bottom line is the fake Jason Jackson, your histrionics has caused me to pontificate on your dossier, which I cannot facilitate at the end of the day you have done nothing but create a quagmire of unmitigated proportions

oh look at you little speed using the big words you go up so fast don't they snoog out? God I love it ten seconds left Steve or they you're always going bottle-a-bottle with skip Bayless gotta ask you this one question about skip does the carpet match's the drapes You don't have to answer that I'll answer it first I will I will say that I am a man of integrity and extreme fortitude when it pertains to skip Bayless is pubic region The hair is also fake TMI too much information

Jackson double-j or just a Jackson get nasty you haven't asked me. 24-Hot-Seconds, brought to you by Atlantico. Atlantico, Rob, tell them Steve and I, don't care, Atlantico. Back to you, Eric and Tony. What are the Hurricanes going to do about a facility? Are they just going to make the Dolphins home their home? Do they have something in the works for a new Orange Bowl? Well, the Marlins are building their new ballpark at the old orange ball site. So that's out of the question. I would say that for the foreseeable future, UM is going to be playing at Sun Life Stadium. But that doesn't mean that they can't have that feeling back.

You spend enough time down here in Miami, you start to learn some of the lingo. There's a Spanish phrase, bambuleo, which you no doubt have heard at some point, but the Cuban population in Miami, they tweak it a little bit when it comes to the hurricanes. And for the last couple of years, we say, esta noche somos mantequilla, which is loosely translated is, you know, the Keynes program will return and everyone will still cheer for them. Ladies and gentlemen, please give a big welcome to Mark Hockman's Sports Comic. Hope some of that sting from the heat losses

out of the room and we can have a good time again. Oh, this isn't't gonna do it. You know, so they win the championship and then after the championship there's drinking and rioting and police and arrests. And I'm not talking about Vancouver, I'm talking about Deshaun Stevenson's house. Deshaun Stevenson, he was able to post money for bail though. He gave them his neck. Let me see, that's not bad.

That's the first funny joke. That is the first funny joke you have told in the sports comics. The first funny one. Lawyer, you're a con man, smart man, businessman, build a Pontus game to make made all proud. My tax money built your place, such a disgrace Might as well sign the crow at a cheap price We will, we will Trade you

Sign me homie We will, we will Rob you Basically, the decision was made and we sat down after three games and we entrusted all of our scouts and it just so happened that we found that we had to possibly in one self-swoop get a whole lot better and get on the road to getting better. And I actually recognized that names coming back in a potential trader are not names that people are familiar with. In the baseball world, people are familiar with them.

And... Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha It's time to find out who's the biggest d*** in sports. Here's your host, Stan Van Gundy. Alright, Stan, who's the biggest in all of sports? Who's the biggest bleep in all of sports? Well, you know what? This was a tough one for me because I thought of Roger Goodell because of the official fiasco. I thought of David Stern just because well he's David Stern. I gotta go with Jeffrey Loria. You know for a lot of reasons number one what he said about Freddie being a colossal failure. I had to look

that up because Jeffrey Loria's had six managers eight times he's had guys go a full season as his manager and the two best seasons that he's had guys go a full season as his manager and the two best seasons that he's had have been Freddie's two years. So I think what's really been the colossal failure is what's happened after he fired Freddie but even beyond what he said about Freddie I think he deserves the award because I explored it with a few people in Miami and elsewhere and have yet to come up with one name of one person in baseball who has any respect for Jeffrey Loria. Time for Cut the Bleep with Stan's brother Jeff.

There it is! An incredibly rushed brush production job. Are you ready for Cut the Bleep? Because that's not the word to use but Jeff Van Gunn he said there are a number of things in sports that he wants to just cut the bleep. They're like just you guys cut the bleep. Jeff, what are we cutting the bleep about today? Well the first one is when sports organizations say we didn't make this move for financial reason. That would be the number one. Can we just eliminate that and just have them say we are cheap and we want to maximize

profit and so we're making this move. Nobody's gonna re-release Slippery Wind Wet in theaters and get people to go see it again. You cannot compare John Bon Jovi to Star Wars. You compare John Bon Jovi to Sebastian Bach and Bret Michaels and other people of his era that if the kids are lucky, they've also never heard of. Although, living on a prayer was the jam. I do everything, damn it, I have to interview those people. I have to keep track of the rules.

She just touches the letters and they light up for her. I can't stand it anymore. Yeah She's written a damn book! I'm alright. I'm alright. I feel better though. Where's Vanna? Where's Vanna? Like I packed her in the overhead in the plane. I have a life. I had a talk show. What did she have? She has a yarn business. I have a good tipper? You should be a good waiter and then I tip you well. The 15 to 18% is included.

The gratuity is included. Oh, I ain't going above that. You're not? No. That's why, look, he is assumed to be a good waiter by the fact that this is a restaurant where they charge you the gratuity just for showing up. That guy gets a guaranteed hourly wage. If the gratuity is included like that, that person gets an hourly wage. They're not playing the same fighting for tips game.

We have a problem with this society where people feel entitled to tips. Don't beg. Either I give you this money or I don't give you this money. This one old head pizza man came up to my porch one day and they had just started instituting a delivery charge. And I'm like, oh, there goes your tip right there. Sorry, buddy. So he's looking at me. I get my change back. I'm like, I appreciate it. You ain't got my tip, man. I'm like, there's the delivery charge. I don't get that delivery charge. Well, sounds like you need to go take that up with your manager. But you standing here on this porch ain't going to do nothing but start an altercation. Look, this ain't got nothing to do with being black. I demand that people do their jobs. I tell you one thing about black people

I don't think is discussed enough in this tip and discussion. If you think that black people tip worse, number one, you might want to consider that you give us worse service in your own racist expectations. And number two, which perhaps I think is maybe the most important thing,

in our lives we are very familiar with the fact that if you don't do your job, you will wind up on the curb. Other people have lived lives where they think they don't have to do their jobs and they still supposed to get paid. It's a real Occupy Wall Street kind of mentality out there, if we want to be frank about it. I see the tie in between the two. Pool of sweat there.

I've taught you nothing. No, I'm looking at the OPS and on base and slugging and all that. The best year with a slugging percentage was 562 and he's at 437 right now, but I'm still guessing he's better last year Last year he was at 379 slugging OPS 712. That's really bad Stu Gotz. I know and and you're right I am looking at 14 homers and 47 RBI's and I'm saying that's better than most third baseman in Major League Baseball It is like you're not gonna how you gonna replace that production still gots made a point as well Dan thought he had him turned out still gots was looking at enough stance to throw something back at Dan What was Dan gonna throw back at Stu gots or Stu gots?

Depending on how you like to pronounce it Dan your turn I'm creeped out by Morgan Freeman doing play-by-play of this Forge Radio argument. This is actually, to be honest with you, in the nine years of doing this show, this is the highlight. This is something we should have been doing all along, is you just kind of narrating along. I'm here to fix things. I could make this show a lot more understandable. Ride into the end zone, listen to sprangles roar

Balls under thrown, begging you to catch and go Hardline to the end zone Ride into the end zone Penny for a touchdown, never gonna happen tonight They got you fumbling, what a wreck, paying you for defense Hardline to the end zone. Riding through the end zone. You'll never see any again, cause everyone seems to be sold. You know what's coming in the end.

We want unduloc, so let's fold. These are Roy's top ten ideas for new food concessions at the AAA. Number ten, Roy. Lebratwurst. Number nine, Roy. Lebrick oven pizza. These are all going to start with an L.E. huh? Number eight Roy.

Lebrownies. Number seven. Boshton cream pie. Now we're getting somewhere. You see what happened here Dan. The first three were lead. Tough to do it with L.E. And now we're on the Bosch. You see what happened here, Dan. The first three were lead. Tough to do it with L.E. And now we're on the Bosch.

You got it? You get it? Boschkin Greenbott. Number six, Roy. A hot pretzel. I'm laughing at how much of a stretch that is. And how much of a stretch that is. That's so, I think, oh. Number five, Roy.

Ya Cuban sandwich? He's not on the team anymore. Say, hey, hey, how many times do I have to remind you? Roy's list not this. But that would have been something that would have been on the menu last year if they were going that route. Well, he went there. It's his list.

Number 4 Roy on new foods concessions at the AAA. Jamal mashed potatoes. Number 3! New England clam chalmers. This is one of the worst lists we've ever done I mean, I don't know what happened here, but this is this is awful number two Roy, do I and time soup? It only takes one to make the list. Genius. Genius. Why wasn't the genius one a hot pretzel?

Number one Roy. Chicken wangs. Roy! Roy! Roy! Roy! Roy! Roy! Roy! Roy! Roy! Roy! Roy! Roy! Roy! Roy! Roy! Roy! Roy! Roy! I was on the team like five years ago. Mashburn was on there a decade ago! I've got an embarrassing crying in a movie theater story. Do you have one, Stan? Do you have a moment that you can recall where a movie got you?

And really, a lot of it depends. It doesn't always have to do with what's happening on the screen. A lot of times it has to do with what's going on in your life. Although I'm going to have a hard time explaining what the hell was going on in my life once I reveal to you the movie that made a tear well in my eye and just made me really self-evaluate. Like what the hell was going on with me? It didn't even make any sense to me.

Well go ahead, we can't wait on this one. What the chewy? What? I don't even know what the hell happened. It's a cartoon and I don't even remember what happened but it's very strange. Something bad was happening to one of the characters. Are you gonna go up with papers to do your set? Because comedians usually don't have notes.

I don't know if I can remember all the one-liners, but we'll give it a shot. We'll see what happens. August 24th at the Improv. What a show last night! Man, there were so many monster dongs I thought I had accidentally walked into Chippendales! There were so many monster dongs even Julio Franco was jealous! I haven't seen that many monster dongs since I accidentally walked into the Globetrotters dressing room Chris Berman said back back back more times than my chiropractor Sorry Toronto, Toronto, Toronto, Toronto, Toronto, Toronto, Toronto, Toronto, Toronto, Toronto, TRI-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I You play Santa, snapping balls is what you do Fancy, and you knew, more is no help, no help for you

One minute over, then more keys Chop block again please Wish you block for playing! You've been... PANZIE BLOCKED! PANZIE BLOCKED! Yeah, yeah, yeah, PANZIE BLOCKED! Oh! PANZIE BLOCKED!

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