The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Oral History of the Dan Le Batard Show: Episode 9

Episode Date: January 10, 2025

It's halftime here at the Oral History of the Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz and we're putting a pause on the narrative of the show. Instead, this week we are featuring some of the guest co-hosts that we could not have made it 20 years without: Greg Cote, Stan Van Gundy, Bomani Jones, John Amaechi, Sarah Spain, Amin Elhassan, Pablo Torre, Mina Kimes, Dominque Foxworth, Marty Smith, and Izzy Guitierrez. Hear from Dan, Stugotz and Mike about how they decided to bring on these legendary voices that have been featured on the show over the years and how their relationships evolved on air. Then, stick around for an extra special supercut that showcases the best moments from some of your favorite characters in show history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. and a small fountain drink. So pick up a McValue meal today at participating McDonald's restaurants in Canada. Prices exclude delivery. 10 Levitard. We were doing research for a movie that involved a certain adult film actress. And so I was... It's not a bomb! And all this was going to hurt! Whoa!

What are you doing? Stew Cuts. Oh my God! Oh my God! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! 20 mediocre years.

Yeah after several tests, they found a tumor in my chest. This is the oral history of the 10 Levitard Show with Stu Guts. We're putting a bookmark right in the middle of our oral history here with something that isn't chronological but is delightful because basically we're going to introduce you to a whole bunch of friends that we made while right in front of you, in front of your ears, in front of your eyes. As the most interesting, curious, and smartest talent at ESPN either was something that we could borrow liberally from because we saw them

elsewhere and thought they would fit with us or they were interested in creative challenges, saw something outside of Bristol that was a little different, wanted to work on Highly Questionable with my father because that was goofy and now all of a sudden our show has some resources to import talent, a travel budget. And now we're strengthening our show and giving our show some range that it hadn't had before between the familiar and silly and fun, and now some, oh, this is some of the smartest shit you're gonna hear anywhere in sports entertainment

because of the people we're interacting with and because of the way a segment could go quickly from something that was really funny to something that was super deep about housing discrimination and you were like oh this show has some range so let us introduce you here to some of our friends. And it was all born out of as you probably learned if you've listened to the previous episode this was all Dan. Dan really was a driving force behind getting guest co-hosts and that concept in on our show is kind of born from Hawk

Levin and Hawk was the third voice on our show When he left I wasn't quite there yet Dan didn't trust me to be that third voice right, but he knew the value in it and we identified Greg Cody, Stan Van Gundy, Dan's friend Barry. We were trying a bunch of different. That was a bad idea though That was not wait a minute. wait a minute, wait a minute. He's mad at you. I need to stop this right now. Well, he's not mad at me.

I just gave him a case. No, Fake Howard is refusing to participate in this documentary because he has said that no talent, Stu Gott's ripped me and I will not tolerate it. And so he is mad. He's not, He's not participating, that I didn't defend him more vigorously

because we did have, at a time, Greg Cody, Belmont Jones, Stan Van Gundy, and my traffic attorney. Yes, yes. Because we were going for a Hunter S. Thompson travels with his attorney, or Howard Stern, brings in an assortment of weird characters. And the reason for this was actually,

I was trying to tap into with fake Howard, the same thing I tapped into with Mark Hockman, which is college friend who I find funny. This whole show, I would say, is born of early 1990 conference calls where six of us would get on a phone line and just start making the jokes that ended up becoming what this show Was actually doing do I have to apologize to Barry now publicly and privately?

I just sent them two speeding tickets though. He's defending me. I know but you have to apologize You have said you and you said it again. You said that he was terrible I just it was a bad spot that we put him in because he's uproariously funny. I would say he's top three people I've ever known, Cody among them, who makes me laugh all the time. But his sports knowledge needed to be a little stronger than it was. So I agree with you that he is funny.

My criticism is not of Barry. It's for you bringing on Barry and putting him in a ridiculously difficult position. You're not making it up. I'm just trying to spin it. No, I know, but I'm trying. Let's talk to the friends. Let's talk about the friends who are wildly successful

in a positive episode that doesn't have one of the most beloved characters in our history, Fake Howard, calling you a no talent. So, so Dan, that's so great. Please put the shovel away, bro. I love it, I will, I will, I will. You're gonna make this all so much deeper. I love it, it's funny.

He's defending me, right? I was nuked an episode, you have no idea. He's my attorney. I wrote fake Howard a long, sincere email apologizing on your behalf that Mike Ryan was on. I couldn't believe it. I'm like, is this real or is this a fake? I was asking him to be a part of the oral history

and he said, I think it's best to let sleeping fakes lie. We're going to get into it when I do an oral history on the oral history because I've had to save it a couple of times. Yes. But let's begin with like the first foray into a co-host, the most natural one. We had Greg Cody as a day one guest and he was a weekly feature on our show. Pretty natural that we'd try him out. What was your motivation in getting Greg around?

Was it any more complicated than he was on our show and he made you laugh and he made you happy and this was at a time where you wanted that comfort level? All of that and I just liked being around him and I was getting to make some of the things by my design and I told you in a previous episode, it also helped a great deal that the thing that I was doing, the medium that I was doing it in, I didn't respect it.

Yes. And so I'm found someone that somehow respected it less than you did. We found an assortment of people. Do you not remember how bad Mina Kimes was at the beginning? Yeah, Mina. Yeah, well, Mina and I didn't say that. Mina and Greg have found a way to turn them being relatively green at this,

and in some cases, not relatively, super green at this into an asset, into a charming little asset that made the audience root for them more. Now, Greg has never really been, he's going to take exception to this, he's great at this as an ensemble character. He's wonderful, super funny, thoughtful, smart. In terms of the executing of a radio show, being a radio talent, taking direction, knowing to hit his marks. Has learned nothing. Keenly aware, no, he's somehow gotten worse.

He's not, but that's part of the trailer. But if he learns it, he'll be worse for the show. We want him to stay where he is right now. But you can imagine, like, when you consider his shtick, and our legacy listeners, the people listening to this, know what what his shtick is and it's a great default. Usually if we wanted, okay I got nothing to talk about let me just talk about LeBron, James and the Miami Heat because that's easy I know there. Your defaults actually became when we brought in all these voices, their idiosyncrasies and no one was more idiosyncratic than Greg Cody. So it had a lot of great wonderful qualities to it but if you just dropped Greg Cody in like one-time sample, which we were doing early on, you'd say, what the hell is this?

This guy's bad. If you were a program director, why are we putting this guy on the air? Bad, but good. Good bad, I guess. Which was our show. Yes, but it made Dan relax. His presence, and I realized that pretty early on, and that was important for both of us, Mike, to have Dan as relaxed as he could be all the time right? That was a big deal. Greg does that.

He did it, he does it now, is a more relaxed person when Greg Cody is in here and I am so thankful that Dan has brought Greg into my life in this environment. It's the best. Over the last four years which have been tricky both on and off the air for me personally, one of the great things that has happened is the relationship I've developed with Greg Cody. He is a wonderful man He's a great yes, but he made Dan comfortable and that's noticeable even until today on Tuesdays Dan is a more relaxed person than he is any other day of the week There are a couple of things here to me that are interesting in the bones of what it is that we do one

Is that we are very much an acquired taste, right? So the longer you stay with us the more your dedication becomes sticky around this thing, because you're getting to know the characters and the people more, and you're getting familiar with all of that. So there was that portion of it that gave me a great deal of comfort, obviously, but there was also in play the fact that we're falling out of favor in Los Angeles, at least in part because acquired tastes, you have to stay with them in order to develop the allegiance. And so in all of our helping others become people who can rise to stardom from within

this, the thing that has to be in play is, does the show like being around them? Because if the show likes being around them, then I as a listener am going to like being around them. And now you're just creating oil wells of likeability and you're finding different places where people can connect. I don't know where people might connect with Roy versus Greg Cody, but you're giving them a variety of options

on where to connect on I like this person for reason X. Your friendship with Greg was sweet. It gave our show a bit more charm and our show could certainly still do for more of that. From a producer's perspective, initially I really struggled trying to see the fit in having Greg outside of the obvious, which was Dan's general comfort level,

which was always my North star when it came to these things. But it took a while for me to figure out this is going to sound terrible. Truly the extent of how bad Greg Cody was, to the point that like that eventually became my default. Oh, no, it works because he's bad. Let me just accentuate. Let me somehow turn this huge weakness into a strength.

And I think even for Dan on the air, hosting that took a while too. For an entire show, like how do we make you being bad, the joke, that comes over time. So I remember like the first like 13 appearances being a real struggle. We even took a couple of weeks off because I didn't necessarily think it was a fit.

Dan and I had some discussion as to whether or not we'd continue it. And certainly once we went to ESPN, how do we bring this Miami Herald writer along with us? It was a struggle, I thought. So Dan, how did you navigate that? Because that's interesting. Greg is one of your best friends.

And he comes in, and your executive producer that you trust is saying, hey, this isn't very good. The only way to make this good is by highlighting just how bad he is, which not many people want to do. I'm OK with it. Or I have been OK with it for the most part. Greg sometimes isn't even super OK with it. Greg, so how did you navigate?

Was there ever a discussion there with Greg about hey, this is the way we need to do the show with you to work around you? Well, Fake Howard is also one of my closest friends. And after a while, we discontinued that project and it hurt me to do that. That one is one that I remember. It hurt me to have to end that because I wanted that to work. But the experience of Greg Cody, I'm sure this isn't lost on

Mike, but perhaps this will be a surprise to the audience. What we learned there was so successful on the knowledge of, well, with reps, people will get to know this person like this person, you will make this all the more addictive. We fell in love with that and learned enough from that enough to recreate it on Highly Questionable with my father. And I had the same questions with my father as I did with Greg Cody, which is, could this or would this possibly be funnier if it were with someone who knew what they were doing? And I don't know that I ever answered the question for myself whether we could ever come up with the organic funny that happens with incompetence

if we were trying to script it, if we were trying to be funny about it. And I've concluded that there are a hundred things that have happened with Greg Cody and my father that are so funny that you could not recreate them in fiction. They have to be organic in order to be that funny. Our discussions is whether or not to continue with Greg.

It wasn't like I had strong conviction. And I don't think you also had strong conviction. I think we were very much approaching it as like, let's wait to see if this actually works. Like, let's keep trying. I don't remember it being challenging. I remember parts of our radio show being- Oh no, it was, Dan.

I remember parts of our radio show being challenging, but I remember the fact that he couldn't use a phone and the technical difficulties of all that. That we ended up playing with that by like hanging up on him six times during a segment when he's calling from San Antonio. Like I don't remember, in this particular equation, I don't remember the struggle in it. I remember the struggles at the beginning with Stugats. I remember the struggles at the beginning with Fusion. I remember the struggle the first day replacing Colin Cowherd. This struggle I do not remember. It was a struggle from a production standpoint too because he started with us. Keep in mind Greg's been with us in every incarnation of the show. Greg's been there either as a guest or as a co-host. He's been in every studio that

we've ever created content and that's key because the first studio that we were creating content out of when we were trying to get Greg as a regular co-host. You remember the studio setup? I was looking at you directly in your eyes. I had a profile of Sugats and I was looking at the back of Greg's head. This dude doesn't know where he is in terms of clocks and stage direction. This is a young Greg Cody. When I'm looking straight at him. So imagine how oblivious Greg Cody is when he's just locked in on you. You got no respect for the clock No idea what we're doing. No idea what voices are in his head He can't even see where they're coming from

But I remember thinking to myself this works and it works for two reasons Dan's more relaxed Dan's happier That's obvious, but Greg fit in like our audience. They embrace that they embrace mistakes. We're a bunch of wackos I mean all of us in our own different ways, and Greg kinda fit in. He loves sports, he takes it seriously, but Greg's got a great sense of humor, and he's not afraid to make fun of himself. And so for me, I remember early on, like, yeah, there's a lot of potential with this guy here,

as long as he allows us to make fun of him. You have to understand though, too, that whatever my frustrations were with him on air that were funny, they were also funny for 20 years before that, off air, around anybody who saw us interacting. The best of these shows are relationship shows. All of them, Tony and Mike or wherever it is, Howard Stern, wherever it is that you think of

the things that create the longevity and the audience that'll stay with you over having children and generations and stuff. They have to be relationship shows. I've been telling Roy on the hockey show, like accentuate how weird it is that you and Dwork are friends because if it's a relationship show,

you can get to a further place with your audience. You can get deeper with the connection to your audience. It's funny you say that because you and I didn't know each other when we started doing the show. But Dan and I, and I told people this a lot, we took the time to get to know each other. Dan and I really took some time, as did Mike. Mike and I spent some

time getting to know each other as well. That's important because you're right, these successful shows are relationship shows. Dan, we did a lot of growing on air together, but we did take some time and have some conversations that allowed the show to be better because we got to know each other a little bit. You're right that it's important, but we didn't know each other at all when we started. And when I think of just general discomforts in doing this, when I talk about how these things have to be relationship shows, I think of two times. I think of our first six months together, and I think of the general awkwardness on

national television of replacing Balmany Jones on Highly Questionable, a co-host of many years with great talent at this, with an assortment of people I was meeting for the first time and dating essentially as co-hosts on television. When I think of discomforts in settings where the relationship is not built in and now all of the frenzy and tension and friction and drama of stuff that happens around ego and vanity

and television are in play, and you don't actually have the relationship I have with Greg Cody, which is no matter how angry I make him, we can mine that for content and it will not matter afterward, we will still be friends. Look at how that worked out for Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharp, if you don't think that that's dangerous to start making your co-host angry on purpose

or saying things that make him angry accidentally. You got to be careful with all that shit in a way you don't necessarily have to be with friends you really know. Before we move on, your favorite memory of Greg Cody on the air? I want to ask both of you. I'll go first to give you guys some time and you may have the very same answer, but part of the cheat code with Greg Cody was the hard network out because it was a struggle getting him approved by ESPN.

We were always gonna win that battle, never actually escalated to Hilda Dion status, but we had to convince them. And it's hard to convince ESPN radio folks that, hey, this guy's gonna continue to walk into the hard network out and be cut off. It's gonna sound super unprofessional. But trust me, it's funny, it's a secret sauce aspect.

They don't realize listeners how important the. It's a secret sauce aspect. They don't realize, listeners, how important the Hard Network Out is to ESPN. But it helped get Greg over. And I'm like, look, from a radio perspective, you've got people hanging on every word, knowing that this thing is going to happen at the very end. And 90% of the time, it's always going to deliver. So the Hard Network Out really locked Greg Cote in with us as a co-host from there on out.

We don't have a more memorable Greg Cody story than Stugat gently walking him toward the story of having a tumor in his chest. I just want to give you a sample of what Greg Cody sounded like, which set us all off in a panic, everyone except for Greg Cody, because he's old and he's stubborn, and he refuses to go to the doctor. I... So that's what you sounded like for the better half of a month now.

Me, Dan, everyone. We told you repeatedly to go to the doctor. You ignored us. You finally went to the doctor. And the results of your visit to the doctor were what? Yeah, after several tests They found a tumor in my chest He stands to my great Cody on ESPN radio

Like all the hard network out stuff is funny But I will tell you that as I've aged as things have happened over the last few years Including with his cough that make me appreciate and value our friendship even more than I ever did. It's the recent stuff that stays with me, not just because I'm old and I forget things from a long time ago, but because his happiness means more to me. And so the visual that I'm struck with when you ask that question and no time to think about, you know, 20 years of friendship on air. I'm laughing at the visual of him in a one man parade outside of our studios here in my convertible.

The reveal on television of how lonely the pan out of just Greg Cody in a one man parade. I don't even know what he is celebrating. I don't remember, but what I do remember distinctly, it might've been. Yeah, it was the one man. He was validated. His take was validated. but what I do remember distinctly, it might've been, yeah, it was. The one man. He was validated, his take was validated. Yes, the one man Panther parade

in celebration of Conor McDavid is overrated, yes. Best directing we've ever done from a video perspective. What is staying with me is the symbolic snapshot of the joy on his face because he was at the center of his narcissism and a parade that had only one man in it. The only man that mattered.

The only one invited. His dream parade is the parade that is just about him and doesn't even involve anybody else. Do you have a favorite moment, Tyler? It was the hard network out, but now that I'm thinking about it and feeding Greg Cody's vanities and his ego and all that stuff and Greg you know he likes it to be about Greg. The Vegas show we did at the circus just to see him sing on stage and perform in front of Wu Tang and in front of Wayne Newton. The Hee Haw 3. That's as happy as I've seen

Greg Cody in as many years as he's been doing this. You know what? That is a better, you chose a better one than me. It's been a lovely crew These moments we're left with May you always remember These moments are shared by few There's wind in our hair and there's water in our shoes Honey, it's been a lovely cruise. So let's go cruising. You know what stayed with me from that?

As moving- I got emotional. As genuinely moving as it is to think about Mike Ryan's last day as executive producer on our show was tailored around how do we make Greg Cody the star and for once in his life singing no less totally prepared for the moment. For once in his life on Mike Ryan's last day as executive producer Greg Cody figured it all out and was produced well enough that the visual images for

me of that day aren't of his just general joy singing on stage which performing in Vegas as the singing sportswriter which we did 20 years ago on ESPN radio that's one kind of achievement but I'm telling you watching him prowl in a tuxedo the halls of the hotel before performing radiant and I'm also noticing how old and tired my getting his own episode looks But it was gonna be a 10-minute thing and now I already feel like I can already feel Pablo complaining why he's only got eight Minutes by comparison. Wait a second. This is a good idea because how much would Greg Cody love his own episode? I think you're trying to get out early and I'm not going to let you have that.

We move on to Stan Van Gundy. Now, Stan Van Gundy, we didn't really know beyond your own personal relationship with him. Sugats and I, all we knew was this is a former head coach of Miami Heath and Orlando Magic. When Hawk left, Stan Van Gundy was in between head coaching jobs and he brought us instant credibility. Now, I've highlighted in a previous episode, the extent of what a challenge it was to get

him actually just on the air and for that to feel seamless. But why did you want Stan on this show? The timing worked out. I know you gave him your own equipment. We all kind of knew that Stan was going to be in demand so that this was kind of like a fleeting thing, but it was really impressive. When he started, we were just a local show and we had Sand Van Gundy, a former coach of the year, I believe, on our show as a regular contributor. And had him on in a way that made it known that he liked us and we liked him. And I had a genuine friendship with him that was born from the beautiful starting point

of I wouldn't stop writing when Pat Riley was about to replace Stan Van Gundy on the championship 2006 heat in the newspaper that even Stan Van Gundy would tell you that Pat Riley's a better coach than he is. And finally, after writing it like the third time, Stan Van Gundy called me and said, stop fucking saying that.

Because it's not true, I would not say that. And I'm like, come on, Stan, he's a better coach than you. He's like, I would never say that, so I'm not gonna say that. But our friendship started there. And what I actually remember about that the most, not the friendship part, but him doing stuff with us, beyond how challenging it was to send him equipment

and everything else, is they wouldn't pay for him. I remember having to write checks and not tell Stan that the checks were coming from me. I had to like money launder because he wouldn't take them. 790 didn't have a budget for a former. We didn't have a budget for anything. I had to send it through a third party to make it not known that he wasn't getting paid by the radio station because he wouldn't have accepted the money if it wasn't for me and then wouldn't have done it if he wasn't paid and I just wanted that kind of credibility. That's great producing dude. It's really good. You got your guy by any

means. And he has no idea that you paid him. I mean to this day. I don't think he does actually. I don't he wouldn't have accepted the money he would not have because I was offering to do it and he was declining when I couldn't get the radio station to pay for You got I know why you liked having Stan Van Gundy. Oh the guests I was taking care of booking guests at this time in the show's history We're helping out. Yeah, you I was helping out. Yes. Yes, but you line account. Listen, you give me Dan Leventhal I'll get some good guests. You give me a Stan Van Gundy and forget about it We'll get Greg Popovich. We'll have coach K on whenever we want. You know how much Dan loves talking to head coaches

Yeah, but you know what I found is that we were getting different coaches Relax. Like a different Greg Popovich not because he was talking to Dan and me because he was talking to Stan Stan gave him lessons. It's like Stan knighted us. If Stan thinks these guys are cool, then they're good with me Remember the Tom Fibbito we got? Oh, because Stan was there. Oh, ited us. If Stan thinks these guys are cool, then they're good with me. Remember the Tom Fibbido we got? Oh, oh, it's a light bulb. They're laughing along. He left.

And it found a way to make head coach interviews appealing for Dan. It's kind of funny that Dan wanted a former head coach on as it goes, when you consider all the baggage that he had associated with the head coach interview. But this is not your normal head coach. This is a head coach who has opinions on other sports, on things inside of sports, outside of sports, politics. So many political opinions. Just a warm and

gentle man. I love that man so much. I wouldn't have done though a show with Tom Thibodeau and no relationship with him. The reason above all others that Stan was on our show was neither the friendship nor the credibility. It's because I knew how smart he was. And now time for Stan Van Gundy's top NBA nuggets on a Wednesday show. Um, the thingy. Yep. Evidently it's not any better. Okay, it's the same crappy image. I think he added a little sound effect at the end there. Yeah, a little pause. A little bit better.

A little bit better, yeah. Roy paused a little longer. Alright, number three, your third best Nugget of the Week, Stan. There's only four teams in the league, all in the Western Conference, who are in the top ten in the league, both offensively and defensively. Oklahoma City's leading the way first offensively and ninth defensively, and they're the only one of those four is also in the top 10 rebounding wise and the other three are the Clippers, San Antonio and Golden State surprisingly. So the Thunder are better right Stan? The Thunder are simply better.

Better than? Than they were last year. Yeah they're better because they've got a better approach I think, not that they were bad last year but I think they've got a better more consistent approach at the defensive end Am I wrong Stan? Abaka seems a lot better this year than he was last year. Oh my gosh Yeah Look, I think personally if you had to vote right now and it usually doesn't go to guys playing as well as he does But I'd make him the most improved player in the league. I think he should be in the All-Star game

I think this guy the league. I think he should be in the All-Star game. I think this guy's outstanding. I don't know what you're doing with the sound effects there. I don't. Well, it's a transition from nugget to nugget. No, no, but we haven't even gotten to the second nugget yet. But everything that comes out of his mouth is a nugget. No, they're playing the sound whenever he says anything, whenever he says anything at all.

Nuggets. I believe Mike Ryan has a really good eye for talent. Some of the other hosts that we're going to talk about here, Mina and Pablo, I had next to nothing to do with them arriving here, but we can work with smart. Smart can lead to funny, smart and likable within our group of people can be a very good ingredient. We can work with really smart or really dumb. It's in between for us.

Yes, there's no in between. There's literally no in between. Before we move on, what is your favorite memory of Sam Van Gundy on the air with us? I will go first to buy you guys some time. We did a segment called Sam Van Gundy Basketball Streetwalker, which I don't think he was totally comfortable with. He was not. In which I made him a prostitute on the street that you would solicit for basketball opinions.

This was a hot new twist on Stan's hot nuggets and I was afraid to even run that idea by him. And I was shocked that he afforded me the one time he decided to do it, which I'm eternally grateful and I kind of got the hint to never do it again. But the fact that I got Stan Van Gundy to take part in Stan Van Gundy basketball street walker, I'm eternally grateful. These are very difficult questions to ask on the fly when you're asking me for a library to go through a catalog of a decade or more of stuff with a person. So what I would say to you as it

relates to Stan is the thing that I remember more was the feeling of delight when it is that I would be surprised by learning something about a friend on air that we could then chase that would create the chemistry that he wouldn't necessarily know how to create on his own because he's not a broadcaster he's not working with an ensemble but when we just discover like how horribly bland he is about potato chip tastes or just whatever thing that we could play with to make him a more outsized human character. My father said that he did highly questionable because he wanted to make people know his son a little bit better, a little deeper, another side of his son. Greg Cody does the same thing, softens me in that regard. I'm

appreciative that we were able to show Stan Van Gundy to the audience in a way perhaps the audience didn't know him before he was on with us. So Mike, mine is a weird one only because it was significant in that Stan, I realized right then and there, Stan understood the show and didn't have much of an ego.

When it came to doing media, maybe he does as a coach, but when it came to doing media, Dan gave him the choice of listening to a mocked up graduation speech I did for the Connecticut School of Broadcasting or to talk about some serious NBA stuff, I think it was Dan's nuggets. Dan gave him the choice, Stan did not let Dan finish the sentence before he said, you better go to that graduation speech. Like he knew what our audience wanted, which is pretty special considering what Stan Van Gundy has done with his life and his career.

He wanted me. He didn't want him, he wanted me. And that was cool. Oh, another great segment that we did with Stan was ASMR with Stan Van Gundy. Where he would just be playing, he would just be chewing Pringles and candy, running his thumb across. We made it very sensual. He's such a good sport. Stan, I'm going to need you to reach to the bag of Pringles. Pop it open and chew them. Oh no, it's already open. Okay, just chew the Pringles into the microphone. He needs to have silent time. Okay. Stan, go ahead and grab a peanut M&M and make sure to chew it loudly into the microphone. Shouldn't it be a couple of them so that it's...

A handful. I'll do two. Of course you will. Stan, you really think the Bucks and the Celtics or the Sixers can really take down the Warriors? I do. This is crazy. Like I can't talk. Go ahead and grab a handful of Big League Che chew and start chewing it loudly into the microphone.

No, but it's gotta be a good size wad of Big League chew, the chew. Last but not least, go ahead and grab that toothbrush and just put the bristles under your thumb and rub it across a few times while you answer a basketball question. across a few times while you answer a basketball question. Yeah it was great. Alright, let's move on to Bulmani Jones.

This was a dude that you had to learn how to work with on the air. You didn't have the pre-existing relationship. Well Mike, we all did though, right? With all these people. Because I remember as each one came in, and I'm sorry to cut you off there, Mike, I remember thinking to myself, how am I going to be when this particular person is in every week, how do I have to change my game?

And so it was kind of challenging, from that regard, with Stan Van Gundy. Bomani, for me, I don't know if there's anyone who's better at this in the entire industry, but holy shit was I intimidated. I was! In terms of being a guest contributor and just bombing in and giving you things

that you'd never even considered, Bomani's as good at that as anybody I've ever encountered. Dan, you were the driving force behind Bomani Jones. I think this was a name that appeared on your radar via Jason Whitlock. Yeah, and that thing that you're talking about didn't have a precedent for me in sports as the person who was resident thoughtful guy on societal stuff. Anybody who was working in this industry

that I would be listening to on whatever was the larger societal stuff, I would at least think myself largely they're equal. Like there are a handful in television broadcasting, whatever they are, the greats, you know, Keith Oberman or Bob Costas who could do television things. I'd be awed by them, but in terms of instantaneous intellect that would surprise me and awe me and I'm not gonna say intimidate me the way that Stugatz is saying. Not physically, his brain. No, no, I understand what you're saying. Not physically, his brain, the challenge. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, oh, better than me. Haven't felt that a whole lot. Young, new, and better than me on the big broad stuff and something we did not have at all

because Roy is quiet, powerful black voice. Like when I tell you we'd been preparing for Colin Kaepernick, we'd been preparing for Colin Kaepernick just as strong a black voice, culturally resonant as you will find anywhere in the history of sports media. I can make the argument that he's the James Baldwin of sports media. It was interesting because a lot of these guest co-hosts

would come in and they were so excited to be a part of the show, but you know, to meet me, to meet Dan, to meet you, to meet the shipping container, but they were always hesitant in terms of how were they gonna fit in, they didn't wanna speak, not Balmany. When Balmany came into our studio It was his show for the day. Yeah, I don't know if Dan liked that It was how do we work around Balmany mean it was working around us. We were from the first show working around Balmany

Jones, I don't know how you experienced that but it was definitely different than all the other co-hosts cuz Balmany is so Confident and he's like hey if I'm sitting in your studio I got the best shit and I'm giving the best shit to your audience. One of the many things that I admired about him is that he would never compromise a shred of his conviction or dignity to fit in with anyone or anywhere and I underestimated also that every other co-host was walking into what was a place where my father is and there are pictures all over the place of family stuff and so that can be something

that can be hard on people and was hard on him, but I never saw it because I don't know that very many people would be able to know Bomani well enough or see him clearly enough to know when that might be bravado when kind of I belong here and I've always belonged here and you will be talking about me after I've shown you how I belong here that might be 100% confidence from the very beginning or it might be something that he's learned to

show you because you're never going to see inside of his stoicism where he's insecure or where it is you've hurt him. I remember it being challenging in that we're not the type of show that Bomani would do. We have an entire career now of Bomani and he does very good work and his brand doesn't necessarily line up with our brand. It was tricky. We had to figure that out on the air. And this, the co-host era of our show that began at 790 with those three names, Greg Cody, Sam Van Gundy and Bomani Jones. That's how I knew I was starting to get good at this production stuff because I started getting up for these challenges. It was challenging. They were vastly different.

They were all uniquely different. Yes. Bomani was the guy that had the most experience because he was doing radio locally, but also most of his early appearances were also bombing in from a radio studio in Raleigh and we're all getting to know each other and we don't actually get to interface which was difficult but interpersonal it would be challenging because the timing would be a little bit off managing Bomanis feelings managing Dan's feelings making sure that you were okay with hey every other day i'm clearly the second voice i'm taking a back seat how am i okay with this how does my character change Stu gots with somebody else being the second voice and it allowed for us to be really efficient with our funny because we'd ride on the fly.

I appreciated that challenge. But money really tested me in ways that I hadn't been tested by another voice. And I was really appreciative of it. I think of all the guest co-hosts, Bomani in all the right ways by the way was the most challenging for us. The second Bomani started speaking on our show I was like, yeah, your shit is better than my shit And Bomani didn't care that I was trying to fit into a little window if he had something to say he was gonna say it

So it was just an adjustment period and Bomani understood I would talk to him a lot during the breaks just to kind of get our timing down But he spoke so quickly and so intelligently and he felt so much time that it did give me in my time to kind of get our timing down. But he spoke so quickly and so intelligently and he filled so much time that it did give me and Mike time to kind of sharpen our sense of humor and how are we going to get out of this particular conversation? But Monty was so good with your character. And he was great with my character, yes. And you represent the most ridiculous aspects of our show

because at this point we realized, hey, by comparison, Sugats is only going to get dumber as a character. Yes, thank you, Mike. So let's lean in. And sometimes he would say some absurd shit in the middle of a profound Bomani thought, and he'd cosign on it and give you buy-in right away. And it allowed us, in one segment,

to be the smartest show and the dumbest show all at the same time. Bomani got that. I think Dominique Foxworth was the first guest co-host to realize, hey, I don't need to be on Dan's side. I need to be on Stu's side. Like, that's the popular side to be on. I think Bomani figured that out.

I think Bomani figured that out. I think Bomani did too, yes. Yeah, Bomani figured that out. And that's where the show really had some really charming moments. Yes. And it was always a great off-ramp to the serious stuff, because we do the societal stuff more, because Dan was craving that, and he didn't always have those voices.

I don't think we've ever had a voice I was as capable of it as Bo Mani but Dan was always and so I don't know if I've ever asked you this I have wondered it before you were always usually are the smartest person in the room and in walks Bo Mani as you said earlier Younger better smarter. How did that impact you because those shows were tricky for you as well How did you take your radio experience and decide shortly thereafter? I'm gonna partner up with this guy even though I don't have to. The show's name is Dan LeBattor Desyley Questionable. This is so helpful on my radio side that I need it on the television side. I just wanted to lift him. I wanted to lift that voice. It was important to me after he had stumbled

in some places that didn't seem like were his fault just because he had run into some of the same things and stupid management that you run into when you're not dealing with like-minded people or people who have any idea what you're about. And that can be off-putting, something that looks like arrogance to you and walking into your place and making himself very comfortable. I could see where that would scare a lot of people. I will say two things about Bomani Jones that made this what you're calling challenging. One is every other co-host was arriving in some form of either,

will you guys make me a star or appreciating you guys will make me a star. Bomani got here with, I'm already a star. It's just folks haven't noticed it yet. And then on top of that. I'll make you a bigger star. That's right. It was very helpful in doing that for us as well.

But one of the key things here, like when you talk about the challenges of this, it's not just remote and everything else. Bomani said his sense of humor ain't our sense of humor. He has said that and that isn't like every other co-host that we're talking about here. That makes it something different. That's to America's stuff. My favorite memory of Bomani on the air

was when he would let that sense of humor out and it made it all the more funny when he'd let his guard down, buy in on some of the ridiculous stuff, introduce us to DJ Mike Hitman and invite us into his world. The Stevie Ain't Blind stuff was so great from Bomani Jones. on some of the ridiculous stuff, introduce us to DJ Mike Hitman and invite us into his world. The Stevie Ain't Blind Stuff was so great.

So good. From Bomani Jones. And I... Stevie Wonder ain't blind. Yeah, just... Yeah, the Stevie Ain't Blind Stuff is great. Is it? I think so.

Just saying his name Stevie, so... I just omitted his last name. I don't think so, but... And now, with this weekly Hip Hop Culture Minute, here's my favorite song Bo Manny Jones To that web game it's not on you though. I just noticed that I did sorry ladies that's private anyway So maybe one guy fell asleep. Excuse me. I'm sorry. Oh, you want to wait till the cameras on you put it on me go Something Stevie Wonder is 64 years old Stevie Wonder will soon be the father of

triplets Did you see this? Triplets Stevie Wonder's about to have three kids and when they're born, you know what he's gonna say Aren't they lovely? You're gonna look at them. Now maybe you think it to yourself, well Bo Manny you keep harping on this Stevie Ain't Blind thing but isn't she lovely is about a daughter of his that was born that somehow he decided was lovely even though he quote could not see her unquote.

This is all I'm saying. Have you seen the pictures of the young lady that Stevie's with, that's having these babies? Pretty good looking. As are the other women that I've seen throughout time tied to Stevie Wonder. Now how you gonna tell me that that man can't see, but just randomly keeps coming up on bandwagon?

Just coincidentally keeps coming up on bandwidth. If anybody should show us what true love really is and that true love sometimes mean you get with an ugly woman it should be Stevie Wonder but oh no no no no he's not with no ugly women and you know why? Because he ain't trying to spend all his life looking at no ugly woman that's why because he's looking at him because he's not blind allegedly. Bomani Jones as dynamic a talent as we've ever been around on the show eternally grateful for his contributions briefly let's touch on John Amici because he wasn't a regular guest co-host was more sporadic in part because he was across the pond it was very difficult from a production

standpoint getting him connected. Sometimes he's vacationing like in the woods of Great Britain. It was tough to get him aboard, but he provided a lot of eloquence, a lot of humor too, because he was very playful. He was a big nerd too, and it allowed us to do what does the God say with John Amici. So you got some mispronunciations, and that was a really great benchmark for our show. Obviously a brilliant man. I'd worked with him for a long time.

I had a segment on Sunday morning sports radio, rotating every three weeks, the smartest guys in the NBA. It was Donald Foil, Shane Badier, and John Amici. And John Amici was a good deal smarter than the other two, and that's not an indictment of the other two. He just was somebody that obviously became a friend and was also someone, I will say, that wiped out the traditional Latin homophobia that I had seen from grandparents and uncles and everything else because upon meeting him and going through some of the coming out journey

with him, I learned sitting on a bench in the Miami Heats arena when he turns to me and I don't know he's gay yet and it's part of him telling me that he's gay, he asks me something I hadn't considered which obviously many people had before that point but I had never thought of it. He's like, do you think that gay people that they're born that way or that it's a choice? And that conversation led to me sort of reevaluating some of the things that I hadn't considered very much before and been like, well, I cannot hold any kind of viewpoints that have been handed down from caveman Latinist before if I respect this

person so much and he's about to teach me things that I have not considered. Correct me if I'm wrong, you didn't realize he was gay even after he told you to meet him at a gay bar, is that the- That is correct. And I didn't realize he was gay while there were rainbow towels and queer as folk and Cirque du Soleil on the TiVo either.

He said he was trying to tell me a variety of different ways but I'm an idiot and so I just didn't have any, I just didn't have any knowledge. Mike, I remember dorking out when you told me Meach was coming on. I'm like, the guy who played at Penn State. We scored the first points. That guy's coming on our show.

The AAA's history. He's a friend of Dan's? A gigantic human being. But I was so proud of the show from a production standpoint because I don't fit into that conversation. So how are we going to do something with me? And Mike, it was really your idea, you guys, you and Billy, I think, and it was fantastic. Like, how am I going

to be a part of a conversation with Dan and John Amici? Well, I'm not. Yep. The strong suit. Right. Accentuate how dumb you are by comparison. And how competitive John sells the hell out of that. So good. So we're going to play a game here with amici in which we give him things that stugatz has previously been trying to pronounce and amici will either be stumped or he will pronounce them correctly so let's give him the first thing that stugatz has tried to pronounce and failed to pronounce it's's a compliment. It's a compliment. My goodness. I mean, I thought this would be easy.

You're stumped already, stumped them each. Let's try it again. Let's give them another clue. Listen closely, John, listen closely. It's a compliment. I mean, that word begins with a Z, but it sounds like a compliment. It's accomplishment.

Accomplishment. Accomplishment. I can't believe we stumped you with the first one. How does that start with a Z? That's the Stugan. Yeah John, I mean listen, I take a flamethrower to the English language. Let's hear accomplishment again. Speak it as spew it.

It's a compliment. I mean that's amazing. Well I'd like to hear John say it. I'd like to hear John say that word. What was the word again? Accomplishment. Let's have a duel between the Stu gots. Accomplishment. Let's do it again. It's a compliment. Accomplishment. It's a compliment. My God, it's actually making me say it wrong. The compliment. Accomplishment. This should be a CD so that people can learn the language. I feel like this is Sesame Street.

Like we're playing Sesame Street. Here's the way the evil Sesame Street character pronounces it and here's the great accent and the way that the Englishman with perfect pronunciation pronounces it. It's a compliment. We still go to him occasionally when we just say we need a smart person on this topic. He's probably among the smartest we know. No, definitely among the smartest we know. Sarah Spain was a good example. Oh, she terrifies me. Was a good example of what this show during that golden era of the show,

of what this show during that golden era of the show, having some influence and power in that, we would see people around the network that weren't getting utilized that I thought were super talented, that weren't being properly utilized under the ESPN umbrella. And Sarah Spain, immediately, she was a contributor when I was watching Numbers Never Lie.

I thought she was so smart. I very clearly wanted also to have a woman because I've gone through a lot of names right now, no women, and I wanted to make sure that women's sports was starting to rise to prominence and we had some blind spots and we were talking about all these things that was happening in sports where women were victims and we were just guys weighing in

and it was a huge blind spot for our show. So I saw Sarah Spann and I thought she was super sharp and then I was really stunned to learn, oh, she's an update anchor on ESPN Radio Chicago. I'm like, what? I want to get her in for an entire show. Let's fly her down. So Amanda Gifford allowed me to fly Sarah Spain down

and immediately I was stunned by how she was the alpha in the room. This was also a challenge because we had no idea, even Balmonte, he would still kind of defer to, this is Dan's show and he would defer to the dynamic. Sarah shows up, Sarah's going to be the alpha in that room. She was pounding me. First episode. I think she would say in retrospect, she was probably too hard on everybody,

but you have to understand her climb. Look, she was super talented. Sarah Spain was a massive talent and she was, this is sexist in my opinion, doing an update anchor role at ESPN Chicago when she was capable of so much more. Oh, she was better than a lot of the people she was doing the updates for, but that's symbolic of the industry. And I don't want to sound like we don't have the blind spots

that Mike is talking about, because even though she was better than most of the people in the industry, when she got here, I would say I did a poor job of onboarding her and also she didn't learn as quickly the things that Mina and Dominique and Balmany learned about the winning position is to side with Stugatz. Once she sided with me on things,

then it became knocking Stugatz around in a way that could be less funny just because there's not the balance of all of the chemicals that you need and now it's me and Sarah ganging up on Stugatz and that's not a winning position for a whole bunch of listeners who are used to the familiar thing and also might not know where their blind spots are on misogyny and might not like that a woman has come in and is bullying the room of their favorites. She came in with a bit of a callous already because the entire medium had been cruel to her.

She's one of the most confident people I have ever met in my entire life. She knows she's damn good. And she's had to fight up until that point for all of her opportunities that I think it almost caught her by surprise. Like, no, no, no, we're here to lift you up. We're not against you.

You don't have to be tough with us. We're here to get the most out of you and put you in the best possible light. I think she then picked up on that. And then we got to really see her really sore within our show because she felt comfortable enough to do things like create a freestyle rap. And she really shines.

She let her guard down. The name is Spain, but they call me the commish. C-O-M-M-I-S-H You don't wanna mess with this Step into the grid and I'll rule your world The show's alpha male is a ball-busting girl When you pick your fate you know I'll make it stick Save your excuses, yo they don't mean the horrors of the grid Best believe the hype, like sand to your neck or a bowl full of tripe

Runnin' like Baywatch eatin' a whale a whole damn show with your hand in a pail call me up when you need me to rule you get so nervous you start to drool stomach is twisted now you're clenching your butts sick like your 836 doughnuts please take it easy on us please Sarah Spain you know I'm bringing the pain the name is Spain but they call me the commish a velvet glove with an iron fist fat-faced Dan and his little wiener friend In case you didn't hear me gonna say it again The name is Spain but they call me the commish A velvet glove with an iron fist Fat face Dan and the wiener stew Never forget who I am to you I'm the commish Don't F with this

I'm the commish I Don't F with this. I'm the commish. I said you don't F with this. Yes, I'm the commish. I said don't F with this. Excellent. She is so much more confident than we are. There's more. There's more.

Ain't you sorry? Look at you two. Can't believe Burt Reynolds kept talking to you. I got laid a lot. He said without blinking. What's that like? You were probably thinking. Well, all the South Beach has been getting boom boom.

Dan's been dropping heaters in the Cleveland Earth bathroom. Stoos ain't sleeping on his living room couch. When he smells like gas, wifey always finds him out. Two sorry gas packs from 10 to one. Their war on football just ain't no fun. Why you so mean? Take it easy on the guys. guys don't you worry I can barely hear him cry for fat face Dan and his wiener sidekick ain't nothing new to get dissed by a chick the name is Spain but they call me the commissionish of Elvig Love with an iron fist.

Fat face Dan and his little wiener friend. In case you don't remember, gonna say it again. The name is Spain, but they call me the commish of Elvig Love with an iron fist. Fat face Dan and the wiener stew. Never forget who I am to you. I'm the commish. Oh!

You don't F with this. Oh! Said I'm the commish. You don't F with this. I'm the commish. Yeah you don't F with this. Yes I'm the commish. Don't F with this. She let her guard down and she was such a huge deal for this show because there were challenges. We've never had a woman on our show before. She's the commish. We had Allison on the show but we did not have someone coming in in a co-host type of role. What was amazing about Sarah, Mike is right, Dan is right, like she came in she sided with Dan they were pounding me that never feels good it doesn't feel good for me it doesn't feel good for the audience who was very protective of me

and I appreciate that but Sarah learned and she got it so she showed her willingness to be produced to let the guard down and to take on the role of Commissioner to do some things with me that were funny and now we're teaming up and we're going to get Stan. She gets it She gets this industry But she is so good at it and I think in terms of all the guest co-host Sarah came in and she was the one I think early on who got the most amount of criticism. She turned our audience completely around. She's beloved It's interesting though that Mike is pointing out something about Sarah that's also true of Bomani.

All of their history would bring them to us in a fighting position. It wouldn't necessarily be a trusting position right off of the bat. The trust has to be earned between both sides. In our cases, it's just like, do you fit in? And with the things that we're talking about, you can see the difficulties of fitting in. has to be earned between both sides. In our case, it's just like, do you fit in? And in with the things that we're talking about, you can see the difficulties of fitting in. If we're not aware of, oh, this person has had all of the stuff involved with this industry not being great or this country not being great to black people and women. And they're

bringing all of that into the room with them when we're just like, Hey, can't we all just dance around here? We're all going to have fun. And they're coming in with, well, why am I an update person in Chicago when I'm better than most of the hosts on this station? And we're starting to realize that our show is starting to be a bit of a launch pad with Bo Monte and with Sarah. Once Sarah starts routinely getting featured on our show, she kind of ceases being an update anchor in Chicago and starts getting her own jobs as a host of a show. She gets more appearances on Around the Horn and her career starts to ascend.

We certainly got in at the right time. But we see that, hey, there's a connection here. There's more opportunities being presented because we're giving a platform for these people to shine. So I was very proud of that. Amin Elhassen fits in that mold. Amin Elhassen came on my radar through talking to George Sadano,

who was an occasional contributor. He said that a mean would be so great on your show. This guy is really funny. He's underutilized at ESPN, which he was at the time, just basically doing numbers never live in sports center and ESPN news hits. And Sadano gave enough of a co-sign that I wanted to get him in and try him out. And I remember the first day on the show, you thought he worked at the Clevelander. That's right. He was eating and I thought he was a waiter that was eating in our area at the Clevelander. And I'm like, why did the waiter who brought the food up here

start to sit down and eat it? You had never met him before. Right. And also- I didn't make this mistake. The reason that he was here with me is also the same reason. Mike Sedano had told me the same thing and he had never done that before with anybody as someone who grew up listening to our show and

being imprinted by our show and Amin was somebody who was tired of going and standing on a mark at ESPN wanted to be a different kind of creative. Amin and Katie I would say were, Katie Nolan were the most respectful kind of I'm not gonna say the opposite of Balmany and Sarah but I'm still waiting for Katie Nolan were the most respectful, kind of, I'm not gonna say the opposite of Balmany and Sarah, but- I'm still waiting for Katie to speak, I mean. The most respectful about not wanting to jump the jump rope at the wrong time in what it is the chemistry of the show was,

so they would sit out long periods of time. And in Amin's case, I had a lot of conversations with him around the Clevelander bar about him not wanting to do basketball expertise stuff and me explaining to him no that's why we had Stan on like when you're talking basketball and serious on sports you're better than most people and that's an ingredient that we want around here so that people can get some of their vegetables with all of the other stuff that's in the circus tent yeah we needed the nutritional value because look we're a bunch of goofs and the audience

is hot on our tails knowing that we actually don't know shit about sports. So we need all the credibility that we can get and exchange as a barter. We'll also give you plenty of avenues to be ridiculous. And another example of a career starts to ascend. People start seeing him on our show and he starts doing more SportsNation stuff. He starts being put on tv and more of a light-hearted light and he got out of it what he wanted to. Incredibly loyal to us. F**ked with us from day one. Was a huge fan of our show and didn't need the show explained to him when he walked in the door which was a bit of a change of pace from all the previous co-hosts. Even Sarah we had to kind of explain even though she was a

little bit more familiar. Amin was a fan. He was a chronic. He would listen to us daily. So it was actually, whoa, hugely refreshing. I don't have to explain any of the jokes. The guy has pretty good timing. He knows when to lay out. He knows when Sugatze is cooking on something. And that was really welcome and made me want to get more of it. Mike, I'm glad you said that because we're doing this for our audience and they're very loyal and the audience should know that. Like Amin, there is no guest co-host we've ever had on that understood and got the show and listened to the show

more than Amin had before he set foot into our studio. And then just to kind of elaborate on what it is you just said, when we left ESPN, Amin left ESPN. Amin has been a blessing to us. He has worked hard, he has been great, he's always been there for both me and Dan and for Mike as well and for the show and for the audience. He truly cares about this cast of characters and he cares about the people who listen to it. No one more ride or die with us.

Yes, he's great. And in that co-host table than Amin and that's that's not a slight on anybody else. Everybody else had other things going on. Greg Cody had no choice but to be ride or die with us. You know what? It's OK. I want to say this publicly. It's OK to be someone who's ride or I'd like to live also. You don't have to go down in the flames with us.

That's not the game, Dan. Look, it can be ride and I'd prefer not to die if we can just stop short of that. The loyalty doesn't have to end in my death. How about I'm right and I'll give you guys six years to figure it out. We welcome that too. But Amin, I'm sure really surprised you and I'm sure you found it hugely flattering when you were, you felt pretty vulnerable when we were leaving ESPN and you decided to build this company with John Skipper. Amin was one of the first people you heard from saying, I'm with you no matter what. Yeah, of course. So much of this is built on trust and relationships.

And I would say, and I say this every time that we go around and shake hands with the people who listen to our show, my god, it's such an unusual relationship with your entertainment option that you know the whole backstory of that. And it means something to you that Amin would ride or die with us and it makes it the reason that we can do all the stuff that we do

because your connection to this thing is different than it is with your other entertainment options, certainly the ones in radio and podcasts, because you feel like you know the people involved and you know what their relationships are. He was great, I'm so blown away by his. He's not dead. I'm so blown away by his loyalty to us. And he's still a key contributor on our show. And he's carved out quite the interesting character for himself as well. Love Amin Elhassen. And I can't really fully articulate well enough how much that meant in a pretty vulnerable time for us for him to leave everything

behind and be like I'm with you guys no matter what Pablo. He was more like I'm writer Let's talk about Mina before we talk about Pablo because I want to say a couple of things But when you say that of Pablo, it feels like a stinging indictment. That place and the comfort of it is very hard to leave. It means the only one who did it, and I don't blame any of the others who did not do it, because it's a hard thing to do.

There is something very comforting about knowing that your career is on airport televisions, on mute all over America in a way that's much different than whatever it is that you find occupying the podcast space. He knew that it would be difficult. He knew that it would be very different. He knew that he wouldn't have the same platform and he knew that he wanted to be with us.

So immense love for Mina Elhassen. I'll take your direction there. Let's talk about Mina Kimes. Mina Kimes was someone that we both had identified. Dan, I think you deserve a little bit more credit than you afford yourself here on Mina because I had reviewed the tape and my ultimate takeaway was I really want to get Mina in here. I really do. I fear that she's like too green for this and maybe she needs a few more months, some more exposure on our

show. Maybe we have a few more guest hits. And I was in West Palm Beach and we spoke like early Sunday morning and you're like, you sure about Mina? Cause I think we can make that work. I'm like, well, I mean there's a reason why you're circling back on Mina because I kind of felt like we decided let's table that for a little bit. And you circled back on it and made me think about all the things in different prism. And I guess you caught me at a right time. I was like, you know what? F it. We had had pretty good luck getting no people on the air. Let's ride, let's see how this goes.

And my concerns were valid, incredibly green, but I wasn't that hip to how much of that would be an asset to us, how charming that would be, how endearing that would be to an audience. And then when she sat in here, like, look, I knew Mina Kimes was smart, I had been a fan, but I had no idea how smart and how easily she could make her intelligence

Accessible to the listener. She was smart without making people feel stupid and that's a very special quality Because I'd line her intelligence up against anybody including John Amici's on our show But out of everybody Pablo include Pablo is very bad at this because he makes people feel dumb and I'm bad at it Yeah, Dan. Yeah terrible. No one's been better in media than Mina at this one specific trade. She's likeable. She's more likeable. Likeable smart is what you're saying. Yes. She's more likeable than I would say anybody that we've had unless you're grandfathering in an old guy clause for Greg Cody in terms of curating. Yeah, Greg and Poppy. Yeah, Mina has some of the highest, but I don't think Mike does it justice when he says green or incredibly green.

Straight up amateur. Yep. Like didn't know what she was doing with any technical aspects of what we were doing, but that stood out as charming because you could see all of the range in it and we did make comedy out of the incompetence, which was plentiful because

it was almost strange. I'm going to say not almost strange. I'm going to say it was legitimately confusing to me. How can a person be this smart and this dumb? Like how is it possible that she can't just get some very simple things like someone's talking in her ear to give her a cue. She needs to not stop talking. On the 17th time, no less. Amina bought in from day one. Amina loved the sandbox, wanted to have more fun. She wasn't eager in ways that you would probably put a negative connotation on.

She wasn't ever really about advancing her career. It never came off that way. Her career advanced naturally because she was just so good. She kept growing and growing. She got better with every appearance. She was still always going to be green, but she also was definitely aware that that could be an asset to her because it helped her relate to the audience.

Keep in mind, she wasn't like the absolute Navy seal, as Dan would describe it when it came to football just yet. She was learning how to do that stuff and we made really good use of her and her laugh was infectious. She wanted to participate in things like Roy's realm. She was down to dress up. She was down to be the punchline.

I love Mina Kimes. What a zip line. Mina Kimes is on a zip line at a mall, even though she's terrified of zip lines. Yeah. Mike, I saw you talking to Mina on the phone. You were giggling with laughter. I'm assuming it's because she zip line in a mall, even though she's terrified of zip lines. Mike, I saw you talking to Mina on the phone, you were giggling with laughter, I'm assuming it's because she sounds so afraid?

Well, at first it was because she sounded awful. Like, it was terrible, we need this to work on the radio. So we had to rig something, and I believe Mina's calling us right now with the phone just taped to her bra. Okay, is that? That's coming from, oops, is that what is happening right? Yeah well yes Mina can tell give us give us your surroundings. All right so

they're currently two Mall of America employees trying to tape my phone to my bra inside to be specific so that when I go down the zip line I'll be able to give you my tape without losing it. Okay, so all right, without losing the phone, that would, okay, that's good, the boobs are, all right, the boobs are involved. What's the single most important thing the ego has to do to beat the patrons? Down with my feet?

Oh my God, this is so scary, hold on. Oh, I'm really scared. Okay, hold on. Just jump? Just sit down and lift my feet. Just jump! Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,

oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, So get to Brady with four and see what it sounds like. Is that what you said, Mina? Put pressure on Brady. We find out if Mina Gimes is still alive. Maybe next. I'm her biggest fan and I am so grateful for that phone call that Dan gave me that one Sunday morning that gave me his pause and made me reevaluate because we brought her in really early in her career and watching her career now where she's on ESPN football coverage, Monday Night Football, now a part of Netflix.

She jumped with us once we started a network. Mina Kimes' football podcast was a linchpin of the Leviton Friends Network that we built over at ESPN. I'm so eternally grateful for her friendship, as decent a person as I've ever met, as caring and loving and authentic as a person as I've ever met. I'm the biggest Mina Kimes guy there is. I love her.

She's fantastic. She is the first of all the co-hosts, the one who was most excited to meet me, and the quickest to jump into the Stugats world was Mina Kimes. And I will never forget that. Like from day one, she was like, this is the side I'm on. I wanna be with this guy.

I would work with her on hot takes. But we should also say this, Mina, had she never walked into our studio and never met any of us, Mina would still be at the same place that she is right now. We are not taking credit for her career, okay? No doubt. If anything, like, look, we got additional eyes on her

and people realized right away she had all the talent in the world. I am happy and proud of our association with her, especially because conveniently, like we were tied to her early in her career, but she earned everything that she got. Look, she also really ascended at a time where being affiliated with us

wasn't beneficial to her career. Like even since then, like getting her still to appear on our show, these became negotiations, these became battles, and Mina would pound the table for us. And in many respects comes full circle. She's given us more now than we gave her back then. I remember Mina telling me what she likes so much about coming down to South Beach and doing the show with us, because TV is so rigid and you can't really show your personality.

And she said, this is a place where my full personality can come out. I am quirky. I am a little bit dumb, like in terms of street smarts, but I'm very book smart. She used to tell me it was so refreshing for her. And I think that's a common theme through all of the guest co-hosts. This was a space where if I'm acting the way I'm acting, you're acting the way you're acting, this is a space where they could just be themselves. But you're saying television's rigid. And what I would say is television isn't rigid there. Television just doesn't have the amount of time that we have to shore more range of personality. We're doing every day what is the equivalent of six or seven half-hour television shows and so there's just

more room to talk on all subject matter. Yeah I love Me and the Kimes and I'm so grateful that even though we've tried to nuke it at every turn Unknowingly that she's still allowed to appear on our show and she's only got to grow from here, too She's got to be one of the biggest stars She's already one of the biggest stars in the industry briefly I want to touch on Marty Smith who was a co-host for a brief moment in time and Izzy Gutierrez who still Slides into the studio with us Marty was another guy that I saw who wanted to do more at ESPN Wasn't doing enough wanted to be around fun things. His joy was infectious, eminently likable, one of the most

liked members around our show. Also came around our show around 2017 when Miami was actually relevant as an outlier in the 21st century and he was down here all the time, would go to events with us and we made every segment of Marty party and He kept wanting to push things out to the edge do more ridiculous stuff and he made our Television product have to meet his ambition and I loved him for that many of his appeals are obvious Okay but a couple of things that people may not have noticed about why it is Marty fits so well around here is in part just like many of these other personalities that we're talking

about here nothing like him has ever existed in our world none of it like all of the stuff if you imagine us as an animated thing Marty is the cartoon horse who arrives with the perfect faux hawk and just looks impeccable and somehow fits in even though he's not like any of the other things that you have in your environment. But he has a football in his hand. He has a football in his hand, that's the connector and the cartoonishness of his exuberance and his joy are unlike anything that we have here energetically.

Even all of the talkers here, there's nothing quite like that particular effervescence that we're talking about. I think there are some guest co-hosts that Dan brought to us, and there are some that we brought to Dan. This is one that we brought to Dan, right? Like Mike and I were constantly telling him, Marty, Marty, this guy, he's always got a football on his hand.

He's always throwing around a football. We had him on the White House lawn throwing a football to somebody. He had him on the White House lawn throwing a football to somebody. He got kicked off the White House lawn. I want someone, rather than do like a 10 yard in route, I want someone to go deep because there's a lawn behind you and there's a couple of trees and I want to see Marty fling the pill. Cory, come here.

Marty, I want him to go deep. Like deep on the White House lawn. I want him going deep. Like 40 yards out. Like make those trees behind you. That's the end zone zone that's where I want him to go all right help me out with this jacket okay here's what I got my jacket off okay listen tell them to ignore the snipers on the top of the building and all the people with machine guns there and just tell them to go deep. This is Cory. This is Cory. Cory is the the best

audio man in television. That's debatable. He's about to run a post at that tree right there. Nice, a skinny post. Are you ready? Yeah, go ahead. Skinny post. Marty's taking the jacket off. Marty's taking the jacket off. Marty party at the White House.

He is taking his jacket off and someone is going out for a pass. Ready, set, hit! Dimes. We're dropping dimes around here. Can someone else throw the ball to you? Like can you go out for a pass on the lawn? I'd like to see you go out for a pass and have one of your guys and your staff throw you the ball. Is that possible? No I think we just got... did we just get yelled at? Oh you did? Did you really? Did you really? So okay somebody said somebody said for doing that we could get shot

So we're not gonna do that. I think it's worth the risk to be honest with you. This show kills enough people Not me, bro I've gone out for passes in a lot of locations, but not that I'm not trying to take fire. Thank you Marty is such a genuine kind man, and he loves our show so much You can't mention Marty without his production partner, Jonathan Wiley, who would often hit me up, hey, we're gonna be in Beijing with Cristiano Ronaldo. Can we do something?

I'm like, I have no idea, but I'm gonna try like hell. And I will put you in touch with someone that knows what you're talking about. What did I call again? But, dude, these guys were star for people to just say yes. Because they were way more ambitious and creative than I could have been. You wanna talk about a production talent super tandem?

Wiley and Marty Smith have this crazy chemistry and they just like feed off of each other's ambition. The great guys. One last note on Marty. He was the first person that really let it resonate with me that we're doing really good fun work that everybody wants to be a part of. Because here's this guy that I think is like comparison, a wild man for ESPN.

And he sees our show as an opportunity. And that was hugely flattering. Izzy Gutierrez is a guy whose loyalty and friendship I've really come to value. He's been with us on the air in some form or fashion for several years, but not that consistent. But I think what Izzy has given to us as a gift is his love, his loyalty, and his ability to support pretty much any road we go down. And I really value his honest feedback too. I go to him for feedback probably more than anybody else, whether he knows it or not, because I really truly value his opinion because he's been with us for so long and he's seen all the twists and turns we've taken. Feedback on everything, right? Everything.

I go to Izzy. Interpersonal feedback. Yeah, feedback on whether or not I'm being a good person or not. Fundamentally decent person and you're right, rolled with anything that we would do. I know Dan has a special relationship with Izzy. Mine has really blossomed in the last four years. He is such a warm, introspective, caring person. He has been such a positive in my life. Not on the air. I'm doing fine on the air. Off the air I needed it.

I needed someone like Israel in my life, and I've gotten it. And his advice is always spot on, he's amazing. Izzy has been a friend, colleague, and someone who our show and my career has imprinted because he came after me at the Miami Herald, and not unlike Sadano or Whittingham or all of these people who have seen the entirety of the evolution from before we were on radio.

That's just a friendship that goes back a long time and we had the extra benefit of not realizing just how many shows 300 or 250 shows on television are to get co-hosts too. So Izzy being available in Miami as a friend to do whatever it is that was needed on either one of the shows is a balm and a glue and people do not realize the daily doing of this. What an undertaking it is to just sprint that much on a treadmill daily. And so he was always available to help the way that your best friends are when you move from place to place. What I have found with Izzy is I'm upset because I haven't had Izzy in my life longer,

to be quite honest with you. But Mike, you would agree he's one of the few. He could sit in Dan's seat, and he could sit in my seat, correct? Yeah, he is a five-tool player, and that's kind of how we use him. But I think what he probably doesn't realize is we use him for the vibes of feedback.

He's just as genuine a person as they come. I think it's in Pablo Torre's contract now that we have to talk about him last. So we'll get to Dominique Foxworth beforehand. Really? Dominique Foxworth, I think he was put on my radar and I'd known him to be a fan of the show. I certainly knew him from his playing days. He was always on Twitter.

He would leave comments and he was very clearly a fan. Occasionally he'd send me a message saying what a big fan he was of ours. But I think Mina was like, you guys have to talk to Dominique, he loves your guys show so much. And I was eager for that opportunity and he fit like a glove pretty much day one.

I would be remiss if I spent any more time as we do this oral history telling everybody how responsible we are or aren't for the assent of these people when Tony Reale and Eric Ridehome with their production of Around the Horn, Pardon the Interruption, and Highly Questionable, they all were instrumental in bringing some of these people into our lives. Ridehome is the one for me who discovered Foxworth. I had never known any of his work or that he was a fan of our show,

but Ride Home found an athlete, and we haven't had a lot of those over the years, found an athlete who he thought, much like Sedano thought that Amin would fit in our world, that he thought would blossom in our world with just a little bit of fertilizer, and obviously he's become a dear friend and is somebody, probably has more range on intellect in terms of what

he could conquer career-wise than anybody who has lived in our space. I wonder why he does this to be honest. Could do anything successfully obviously did it as cornerback that's pretty hard Harvard Business School that's pretty hard and has chosen to do some of this nonsense just because it's fun instead of hard. It fills my heart with love to know that he could literally be doing anything with his time and he finds so much joy in being around Dan and Stu

in the shipping container and he still is a fan of our show, chronic, listens every day. How do you have the time? Why do you still care? Why do we still mean so much to you? Always flattering to me that he listens that way. He doesn't have the time? Why do you still care? Why do we still mean so much to you? Always flattering to me that he listens that way. He doesn't have the time to listen. Mike will laugh though, cause I dorked out the same way when I heard with Meach,

I was like the guy who played at Penn State, Dominique, four time pro bowler. Are you kidding Mike? We're going to have him in studio. Or the guest I can get for Dominique. I realized we didn't need guests with Dominique. I realized he was just so good on his own. But again, I said this earlier, he was the first one and I think he kind of set the tone for the rest of the guest co-host that kind of Sided with me like he could go to it. He perfected it. He can go toe-to-toe with Dan Dan would acknowledge that He's every bit as smart if not smarter than Dan is what's so funny is when he can't he knows he can and checks out On that I'd rather do the foolishness with you until this day

And I will just get a text from Dabhanique that simply says, love you. It means so much to me to get that. And they usually come at the absolute best time as if he's eavesdropping on my entire life. I need it. He gives it to me. It's two words. It means so much to me.

I send it back to him. He is so great and so talented and he should be doing something more productive with his time than this. I mean, I would say that most of the people that you have mentioned in this are smarter than I am, and that was part of the appeal. I would say this, they all owe me a big thank you. Maybe they are smart, but perhaps they're not as smart as we think they are. They were sitting next to me! You're welcome. It helps. And on that note, I want I don't want to talk about this guy.

I want to let the audience know that I am delighting in the fact that Pablo Torre has listened to all of this waiting to hear how we talk about him and I'm leaving. But the pig's feet with the pig's feet. Whale costume? This is a message from sponsor Into A Turbo Tax. Taxis was dealing with piles of paperwork and frustrating forms and then waiting and wondering and worrying if you were going to get any money back.

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Stan Van Gundy, can you please give us something negative to say about Poop Sandwich? Look, Poop Sandwich may not have been the Lakers' top choice, but he was certainly number two. And this hiring stinks. He runs a constipated offense. His teams have played crappy defense. They just loaf around. And frankly, this hire just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

By the way, I've seen every episode of Blue Bloods. Everyone. Is that right? We'll get to you in a second. Everyone. Go ahead and give us a minute review of everything you know about Blue Bloods as fast as you can, please. Well, I know everything. I was very disappointed when his wife died, when Linda died. I think that was very, very tough. But here's the main thing. I think if anybody on that show could actually, in real life, play their role, it would be Donnie. Thank you, Stan. That means a lot to me, Stan.

I'm touched by you saying that. Thank you, guys. What a warm moment between you two, really. When I came into work today, I thought to myself, might we get a warm, televised moment between Stan Van Gundy and Donnie Wahlberg? And we just got it right there. There's 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,

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 charge I don't get that delivery charge well sound like you need to go take that up with your manager. So Stu Gotts is out here ruining the internet for everybody Stu Gotts now this is it's great that in the social media age that that we all have the ability to complain and demand better customer service and keep people who are in commerce honest. Okay. What did you do yesterday with JetBlue? What did you do? It was a long day. I flew up Tuesday after the show and on JetBlue and the flight was delayed by the way.

And that was the fourth consecutive flight I've taken on JetBlue that has been delayed so I flew up last night then yesterday picked up my daughters from camp and then immediately from the bus we went back to JFK Airport which is a very busy airport but we went back there and we were getting ready for a 430 JetBlue flight well flight was delayed 518 that's the fifth consecutive flight that I've been on with JetBlue that has been delayed. So we finally board the flight at around 518 and then the pilot comes on and says, you're gonna be sitting here.

We can't even leave the dock until six o'clock. So you're gonna be sitting on this plane here till six o'clock and it's a long day, five consecutive flights that have been delayed JetBlue. So I take the Twitter and I start going at it with with JetBlue. I support this. Thank you. What? Oh I do this. I've done this. Yes and and Dan it started with the at JetBlue experience. Always delayed but we have TVs and a basket full of snacks. I'm with you 100%. Thank you. Number one corporations respond very quickly to social media complaints.

Number two, Dan, I guess you must not know about my experience with my cable television provider from a couple of years ago. I ever tell you about that? No. This is why you should do these things. This is why. Well the net result for me, and Bamanis right, and I'm glad that you're on my side with this one, is JetBlue emailed me. I mean we went back and forth for a while and at one point whoever's controlling JetBlue's you know Twitter feed they said uh hashtag hang in there and I responded hashtag you hang in there because once we got off the dock we were 16th in line to take off which

takes another 45 minutes after that. I don't think you deserve any money back for five delayed flights. I know that's what you want. I know that's what you're fishing for. Well I got an email this morning from JetBlue customer service and they're thinking about either refunding me, well no because they gave me the option, we'll refund the flight here or we'll give you future free flights. I'm trying to decide which one I want. Dude you should have when the dude said hang in there you should have been like, yo you want me to hang in there you know what you can hang on to? Here we go. Take the future flight so you can complain about that one and then get another. First of all, it's worth noting that the airline industry is the only business that consistently

messes up and never once considers giving you back your money. Every other business, if they mess up, they know they got to give you back your money. A lot of it is beyond people's control because their schedule starts early. If the first flight gets delayed, everything trickles down. Because they're giant metal things in the sky. And sometimes it's hard for them to get 3000 miles on time. You told me the plane was going to be here at 630. The plane needs to be here at 630.

And here's what else gets me. It's on the way to New York. The plane was actually there. It was ready to go. You know who wasn't there? The crew. Why? Because they were coming in from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Do me a favor. Have the same crew on the same flight all damn day. Try this. I had a plane not leave because... You ready? You ready? You ready? Yep.

Yep. The pilot didn't come to work. That happened. It didn't come to work. That happened sometimes. On a six o'clock flight. They're not great paying jobs. That happened sometimes. No, I don't, guess what? Most jobs that involve getting to work at six o'clock in the morning are great paying jobs and the people still come to work. But I wanted

to talk a little more about Demare and Carol. Anybody care what you want to talk about? Predator. Well you started by saying predator in Spanish. I was trying to show you that I've been learning. Yeah, but you haven't. But I did. My clean lady sent me a text the other day actually to congratulate me on how much better my Spanish had been and then I went to the translator and put in another reply because I always hit her up on the translator and she's so proud of my Spanish and I just don't have the heart to tell her. You're cheating.

How else am I going to speak Spanish to her? You are cheating. I'm just making it up. But did you just take the compliment? You just took the compliment and then went back to your translator to continue your fraudulence About translating via text. No, I replied it said gracias, which I didn't need the translator Wait a minute that compliment though doesn't mean anything you Know but I feel like you're not giving me enough credit here, right?

And the credit here is that I could probably send her things in English. And I do not. I try to make the effort to learn some Spanish and to connect with her culturally by looking up Spanish to send. And that's kind of how I pick up some words, even though I haven't like learned any of them.

Did we mention that Matt Ryan threw a pick six to go along with that pick two that he threw right there? Did we get to the round? The only thing that game was missing was afterward. One of their players getting busted for soliciting a prostitute. Cause that's the most Falcon thing to happen ever. Or your franchise quarterback decided, Hey, I got a little free time. Who wants to fight some dogs?

This doesn't sound like bitterness at all. How about the time their first thousand yard rusher, they stopped the game to give him the ball and he ended the game with 995 yards. Would you like to talk about the time Jerry Wright scored five touchdowns on Charles Toast Demery in 1990, while Diaz on the other side doing I don't know what? How about the time the head coach left the letter in lockers

because he was going to quit his job because the quarterback got caught dogfighting? Bobby Petrino, yeah that was good. How about the time they scored two points in a playoff game? Uno dos! Yeah, there's that. Or maybe when they blew a 17 point lead in the second half of the NFC Championship game. I could have told you all those things were going to happen. Like I don't know anything about him other than like man he was relaxed in the middle of that scandal.

Stu Gatz would be that relaxed. Yeah I think I'd be that relaxed. I think you've been spending your whole life waiting on a moment to get in front of the world until lies that big. Like I feel like the little lies have all been training for the big lies. I tell Dan man you just gotta deliver it with confidence. Be loud deliver it with confidence and you're good man. Do it all the time in the show. I have no idea what I'm talking got to deliver it with confidence. Be loud, deliver it with confidence, and you're good, man. Do it all the time in the show. I have no idea what I'm talking about half the time. All right, let's lighten it up around here.

Let's go ahead and play Stump the Meats. Yeah, what are you laughing about? I mean, it has been. Because once again, you guys don't realize, perhaps, but Mike, he's now taken to a 20 to 40 second trash-talking rant in the breaks before Stump the Meat. Essentially telling me, I've got no chance. Today he said, I cut out two clips that would have killed you anyway, but the ones I put

in are going to kill you anyway, you're going to lose. He becomes Trump in these moments. Okay, so he is trash talking you? Oh my goodness, yeah, like crazy. Why did it have to be Trump? You couldn't go to like Gary Payton or a trash talker? No, no, no, no. Gary Payton was good at it.

All right, get out of here. All right, get out of here. We're trying to, I can't even say with a straight face, we're trying to keep politics out of the show because listen to what we talking about for three days. I'm saying I'm crying in front of a microphone about politics in Cuba and I'm gonna tell Meach that he can't mention a syllable. Listen listen let's get away from this with my

inability to speak yes all right yes let's be free here all right here is the first nominee stump the meets this is something that's to got said that was hard to understand he's a professional broadcaster what is thisbing uh oh I think I know what that is. Climbing uh hmm climbing uh climbing uh climbing uh climbing uh uh fat Chris what do you think this is you were pantomiming something back there whoa whoa whoa well I don't think he's right, but okay, Meach, make your guess. Go ahead. Climbing? That would be my guess. My guess would be climbing. Congratulations, Meach. You have won. Yeah. See, look at that tone. I'm very spectator of you. Well, because he knows what's coming next. Because I told you I was gonna give you one. Right. He gives you the easy one first. Now, let's get back to Chris Cody for a second what were you doing yeah what were you pantomime me that was not

climbing I was a softball pitch oh yes an easy ones the first one all right all right and me trees you're in his head Mike because me was totally he was not confident on that one and the one one of the wonderful things that's happening here is if something seems a little too obvious, he thinks you're trying to trick him. Like this is all, yeah, this is all such a mind game. Next one, please. Follow. Follow.

Follow. Follow. Follow. Follow. I think I know. I don't know, but I'm going to go follower. That's what I would guess too. Oh So close it's just follow

Follow yeah How so he put the ER you give me excuse for thinking there was follower because it definitely had an ER in it follow Follow I feel like we should give me each that no No, no, we know and we get in this whole thing that you cheat in my direction when really it's only the other direction Follow is the root of follower now. No, all right. I mean that seems very stringent I should have known because there would you know He just there are five or six syllables in what he just said and I should have known it stills down to only you Just should have known. All right next one, please

Oh for the love of God I Think I know this I think I know you don't All right next one please. Frab. Oh for the love of God. Frab. I think I know this. Frab. I think I know this. Frab. See I'm in two minds. Either, and I don't know, see again, it's always, I don't know why you would even say this

word but either it's fabric or you're talking about if Brett Favre was still playing I would think it was that. Frab. Okay that's Brett. Frab. Yeah, great Green Bay Packers quarterback, Brett. Fab. I'd go Fabric too there. I'm going Fabric. Former Angels catcher, George Fabregas.

Fab. And it's Fabric. Nice. Yeah. There we go. Okay. Woo. Why you rooting for Meach? Meach is two for three. This is now he's got to get the last two and Mike seems to be very calm. Oh nervous. You're nervous

Are you really? This all right. Let's see. Well, he almost got followed give him some of the good stuff All right, somebody writes in that I'm pretty sure that what you just heard was a entire 1-800 flowers read What else we got? Bat you. Bat you. Bat you. I think I know this. Bat you. You know, I'm sorry, you say that every single time and mostly you have no idea. Bat you. Have you gotten one right? Bat you. No. You. Bat you. No. Bat you. Bat you. What the hell is that? Bat you. I got it though. See, I'm not sure if this is two words,

because sometimes they're two words and not just one word. Bouchouf. Bouchouf. It sounds like... Bouchouf. No, I don't know. About? About you?

I think it's statue. And it's voucher. Voucher. Voucher! Voucher, of course. Do it again, one more time? Bouchoufer. Voucher. Voucher. Of course. Do it again. One more time. Voucher. Yeah. It's sort of there somewhere.

All right. It's in there, but the words are all the letters are all mixed up. And here is the money ball. This is for the victory. What's your level of confidence here, Meach, given that the last one is always the hardest one. It is low. OK, let's see what we've got here. Oh, for the love of God. given that the last one is always the hardest one. It is low. Okay, let's see what we've got here. Secret. Oh, for the love of God.

Secret. Secret. Secret. Secret. That's an easy one, Peach. Secret. Secret. It's like you sped up a word there.

Secret. Secret. Secret? I would guess Caesar. I would also guess Caesar. Zee- And it is him saying Stugatz. Oh, for the love of-

Oh my. We've been engaged in a global conversation about race and racism. You've probably had discussions at home, at school, or at work, and in those conversations, you've probably heard the term white privilege. You may have even had this term used in a way that felt like an insult or an accusation.

Others will have told you that it's all just made up to make white people feel bad and none of this is right. Privilege is a hard concept for people to understand because normally when we talk of privilege we imagine immediate unearned riches and tangible benefits for anyone who has it. But white privilege, and indeed all privilege, is actually more about the absence of inconvenience, the absence of an impediment or challenge, and as such when you have it, you really don't notice it. But when it's absent, it affects everything you do. There are lots of types of privilege out there.

The privilege of being born into a wealthy family versus a poor family is kind of obvious, but then there's the privilege of being able-bodied versus having or acquiring a disability that most of us take for granted. I have two very close friends who are wheelchair users and I'll be honest, when I first met them I was completely ignorant about the everyday ways their lives are made harder through no fault of their own. Some of these ways are simply thoughtless, but some of them are just the way we live, just the way we build infrastructure, just the way everything works that just makes their life harder than mine. That's just one of the ways that I'm privileged, and understanding that, embracing that, doesn't make me a bad person.

But ignoring it raises the chance that my friends will be excluded in ways that are not obvious to me, and as their friend, I can't allow that. There's a good chance, as a white person watching this, your life is already hard. Every day you have to overcome some difficulty or challenge just to get by, but you can still have white privilege. White privilege doesn't mean you haven't worked hard or you don't deserve the success you've had. It doesn't mean that your life isn't hard or that you've never suffered.

It simply means that your skin colour has not been the cause of your hardship or suffering. There is nothing but a benefit to understanding our own privileges, white and otherwise. It brings us closer to those who are different It helps us be vigilant about the ways we treat others different than us It helps us make a society that is fairer and more equal having white privilege doesn't make your life easy But understanding it can help you realize why some people's lives are harder than they should be I'm gonna say something and I just want you to tell me how it makes you feel. Okay. Just do it.

Oh, it makes me think of Michael Jordan. So I can't say how it makes me feel on the radio. Oh, wow. Wow. Wow. Michael Jordan's sex symbol? Also, this is a podcast. Oh, right.

Well, then I can't say it because there's different rules. We can get away with a little bit more. Michael Jordan, yes, would be up until maybe five or six years ago, my number one hall pass. Really? What happened five or six years ago? Well, I got kind of old. What's the biggest celebrity you've ever been faced with? Ooh, I was fairly drunk at Michael Jordan's son's high school

graduation party that Drake and Lil Wayne performed at. And I may or may not have given him my card and said, just in case you ever need anything. Which is embarrassing. There's a lot to unpack there. Try to follow down. Who got the card?

Was it Drake? Was it Lil Wayne? Was it Michael Jordan Jordan his son Michael Jordan Senior his air this what the father even my car Why would he need your help what did the card say I'll pass Ah question one of my old cards from when I lived in LA so one side was my acting headshot How long before he called my acting head shot. No, this is. The other side was my phone number. Starting to play the character. And how long before he called?

Still waiting. Wow. How did you get invited to this party? This woman that I worked with had been on several vacations with Juanita and the kids, almost as a sort of chaperone of sorts. And so she knew that I was a big fan and invited me to the party. And I had just met Michael two months earlier

at a Super Bowl party, and I acted a little strange. So that when he saw me again two months later at his kids' graduation party, he was like, what are you doing here? Oh, no. You made an impression. I certainly did. Can I ask you doing here? Oh, no. You made an impression. You certainly did.

Can I ask you a question? Yes. What was the drink that got you there? Probably a vodka sprite. What did you do the first time you met Michael Jordan, that he remembered how strange you were? Michael Jordan must meet hundreds of people. He was in a VIP area of a party that I

was covering the red carpet for. I discovered him before the party truly began, when he was alone and no one knew he was there. And he was near the corner where the red rope separated the VIP. And so I asked if he might take a photo with me and the security guard kept saying no. And I kept upping the ante

as to why he should take a photo with me. And I may or may not have said, when you got divorced, my mom emailed me and said, there's still a chance. And I may have said that when I was growing up, you lived one town over and I used to go to your house and stand on top of my car to look over the gate and see if you were in the front yard. That's great. And I may have said that I had a plan once to go trick or treating and then faint at your door so that you'd have to bring me inside while you called 911.

you'd have to bring me inside while you called 911. Naturally, the second meeting was you showing up at his son's graduation party. But he did eventually take the photo with me because either he thought it was funny and compelling or he was scared. But Charles Oakley was with him and took the photo, but part of his thumb covered the corner. How much distance was the restraining order for? Still pending. Do you think the photo might have just been to pass around the security detail?

Potentially I've never been back. Not just to the bar but the city it was in. Pump, pump, pump it up. She got a good head on her butt. I pump it up. I'm not a one hit wonder. They know all my stuff. You let me turn into the brother that you almost was I done seen a lot of stuff and I done been in things and I'm sell-off like that man that

brought me in this thing how you out here celebrating like the winning team no calm down calm down stuff ain't how you think it is take a look around I'm supposed to be on a vacation right now. But I'm home while in word to DJ Khaled back with another one. I'm steady dropping bombs on your head top. Been that way since I could make your bed rock, huh? You're good. You gotta give a thank you speech while this is happening?

Yeah, acceptance. I would like to, I got a lot of people to thank. I'd like to thank Roy for not really caring about anything at all. You got it. And, yep, I'd like to thank Roy for not really caring about anything at all. You got it. And I'd like to thank Billy, apropos of nothing, for making me be way more efficient in my deodorant use. You can save pennies everywhere, Billy. I'd like to thank Stu.

Welcome. For showing me that it's okay to look weird with your hair on television. It doesn't matter what you look like. And so, I'm sorry, here's my trophy. It's very heavy Like to thank Dan for motivating me By telling Derek Dietrich that it was the most sensual and beefcake this studios ever been. Oh

That was all the motivation I needed I wore my deepest V today. It's not really that deep but um yeah, all right. Thank you everybody All right, so you should know you should know This is coming back bigger and more obnoxious next year all right Careful who wins it you're gonna add like good things to it's going to be amazing Thanks, Mike Ryan is the real winner here. He's been trying to get rid of that thing for years unless he wins Mike Ryan is the real winner here. He's been trying to get rid of that thing for years. I mean, unless he wins next year. Oh, what? So now winning is a punishment. Okay, cool. But I'm just happy we finally have a champion

who's happy to take this trophy. Go nuts Izzy, make it your own. Hey, there's my logo. Add some prestige to it. Also, good luck getting out of the studio and that into your car. I heard y'all talking about P.M. beside famous famous people and I peed by a lot of famous people, but I have a really funny story. So when I was really young, like right out of college, I got hired by NASCAR to write for their league website. And so I'm super amped.

So in order to do that, to get started, I had to go to this orientation type of thing at NASCAR headquarters in date or beach florida so i'm waiting for this orientation to start in the lobby of the nascar headquarters and i'm looking around a lot out of like man i'm so anxious i really got a p so i go in this bathroom in the lobby i'm in there i'm here that the bathroom right like i'm paying and he walks bill frr. the chairman of

NASCAR the man who built this thing into the like thrust NASCAR into the national consciousness in that era so I am freaking out he's at the urinal beside me and I'm going through this thought process in my mind like what are the rules of engagement conversationally when you have your junk in your hands? Like I don't know how that works, but I gotta tell this guy, I am so appreciative that you believe in me. Thank you so much for this opportunity.

It's been the dream of my life to work for NASCAR, but I don't know how to say it, so I just go for it. And I said, Mr. France, I cannot thank you enough for this opportunity to represent your company I will not let you down I will be passionate I will be dogged I will work so hard he begins to speak I expect this great moment of inspiration this great welcome he says who the hell hell are you? And I was completely, I was completely destroyed. My ego was destroyed. I didn't know what to do so I just sat there and held myself. It is one of the worst stories I've ever heard. So episode two of the podcast. All that for this? That was no payoff whatsoever. A meandering route for no payoff.

I went to the bayou, a place called Port Eads. It's where the mouth of the Mississippi meets the gulf. Well, there was this old Cajun boy, and he goes, Hey man, one o'clock this morning, we're gonna go out flounder gigging. Okay, cool. Flounder gigging is where you take this spear and you stab the fish under the water, right? Well, he had this light that looked, it was kind of shaped like a metal detector. And he held it down underneath the water. It allowed the light lit up underneath the water so that you could see the fish coming. So we're not seeing any fish.

He goes, well, there are gators in here. I went, what? Excuse me? What? He picks the light up out of the water and points it to our right. No lie, like 20 feet away, I saw 50 eyes. What he picks the light up out of the water and points it to our right no lie like 20 feet away I saw 50 eyes What Marty in the bayou at 1 o'clock in the morning 20? No lie 20 by you gators that would chomp your leg off and I started cussing this dude

He was like man. Don't worry. They're more they're more scared of you than you are them BS, homie Right now the younger Cody more talented Cody now, by far. Oh my God. Oh my God. That's gonna hurt, man. Wow. Put it on the poll, at LeBotardShow, please. Is the younger Cody already the more talented Cody by far?

Absolutely. I love this poll. Do you listen to the show? Greg gets a whole day. And then all he does is misplay his own hits throughout the course of an entire day. And then somehow you guys make

entertainment around the fact that he's bad. You laugh at him being terrible and by like somehow we're like, oh, this was a good day because he could somehow dribble the ball on his foot and you guys scoop it up and make it an alley and dunk it. He's like, hey, guys, see what I just did there.

It's outrageous. Whereas on the other hand, Chris is in the back producing, doing all this production stuff, slides a line in here or there. Bang, bang, boom. Efficiency. You hit him with the corner three plan, defense, set picks, boxing out. And Greg Cody comes out of the locker room after smoking a cigarette and takes off his warm up, has on the wrong shorts, got on the away shorts instead of the home shorts, dribbles the ball, offers the foot several times in the course of the game. You guys turn it into points and then he's

like, follow me, listen to my hard cash. I don't cut my toenails 90s ass shorts Chris has some 90s ass shorts. I'm just wearing shorts. You have some hard ideas as Shorts, they're not cargoes explain. Why are they 90s because feel you see like heavy and heavy They are you sure told them 90-ass shorts. They're made out of like backpack material. Yeah, take our pants off no one I have to remind myself that I'm actually wearing pants because my 2018 as shorts are so thin and up let me look at your shorts look at those thin as shorts I mean those modern short very similar to mine look at those no at your shorts. Look at those thin ass shorts. Look at those modern shorts. Very similar to mine. Look at those shorts. No way.

These are future shorts. You have them. Past shorts. Touch my shorts. Touch my shorts. Nanotechnology on these shorts. Feel that. Nanotechnology.

Yeah, that is good. Let's weigh our shorts. Those shorts must cost so much money. Billy, you got modern day shorts, right? Yeah, they're blue shorts, quick silver. They're like the ones that can get wet. Those are amphibious. He's got amphibious shorts. Your shorts, your 90s ass ones that can get wet those are amphibious he's got amphibious shorts your shorts your 90s ass shorts see money aren't amphibious you got those you got those shorts wet it would take

them two hours at least oh yeah these are actually everyone with modern shorts dry 30 minutes out of here with your 90s ass shorts I used to wear cargo shorts so I thought I was better there is There is a problem. Well, no one's wearing cargo shorts, but I believe the modern-day nanotechnology shorts can in fact make the evolution to cargo shorts because everyone looks at these and says there's no way I can make a cargo short out of this material. It's so lightweight. Everything that goes in the pockets would be just so baggy and look so weird. Nope. I have good shorts. I'll wear them tomorrow. You can tell me tomorrow if my shorts are tell me tomorrow my shorts alright, but see money you're admitting that those shorts are 90s-ass shorts

They are a little heavier than what I felt Yeah, okay, except 90s shorts shorts. They're not jorts jean shorts. No they're not but they're not cargoes Okay, what are they made out of it's like a burlap you got a burlap short on yeah, I don't know man I'm sorry. I'm disappointed. So I keep reading about whales and dolphins and blah, blah, blah. Then I stumble upon this great animal called the narwhal,

which is essentially a unicorn whale. A unicorn whale. What? Google it. Oh my God. N-A-R-W-H-A-L. Thank you. Look at it. Life changer. Narwhal. I'm looking up old copies, learning about them. I stumble upon

another animal that is also amazing called a tufted deer. It's a deer with fangs Dan. A fanged deer. Are you a carnivore? What are you doing tufted deer? Look it up. Oh copies, tufteder, learn it, love it, live it. You welcome. I did first take a bunch of times. One of them was with Coachman, and he did one of the weirdest things in the history of the world.

We're about to start the show, and he takes his two fingers and puts them under his tongue, and then grabs his neck around here, and then goes, neck! Gah, gah, gah, gah, gah. Neck! Gah, gah, gah, gah, gah, gah, neck! Gah, gah, gah, gah, gah, gah. And I'm there and I look over, ah!

And I'm just like, hey, what in the ffff is going on? And he was like, I'm just doing my voice exercises. Jonathan Goatman. Neck! Gah, gah, gah, gah. my voice exercises. Jonathan Goatman. No, got got got got. Do we go to the. X got to give it to you. He's going to give it to you. He's going to give it to you.

We're going to be going to. Do we let it go? X got to give it to you. X got to give it to you. Uh, he gonna give it to ya. X gotta give it to ya. He gonna give it to ya. Hey Roy. What, what? Oh no. What? What is this?

What is this? Who is that? Hey Roy. Is there a parrot in the room? It's Roy. What, what noise is this? I flew all the way to the kingdom of my own god. She can never stay in character.

Silence, Trump. Oh, Tom, you made me stand in this closet with a freaking broom. You're there. Oh, stand there. Oh, all right. Get it together, witch. We put you, we boosted you with all these special effects.

Stay in character. Silence, even though he makes an excellent point. I'll let the parents speak! Someone else make it. All the way to the Kingdom of Miami just to see the royal children, Princess Claire, Princess Juliet, Princess Chris Cody's child, whose name I don't remember.

Princess Chris Cody's child. All I want to do is present them with a definitely not poisoned apple. I'm not. I'm not. Speaking of which, it's Claire's birthday on Thanksgiving. Are you that? Perchance, how much does she weigh?

I'm just curious. 35 pounds. How does she take the seasoning? I'm not. I'm not. It sounds like she wants to eat the Princess Claire. Simple questions. Princess Claire, Princess Claire, Princess Claire, Princess Criss-Cord is a baby whose name Mina doesn't remember. We shall rename the holiday Clairegiving.

Clairegiving Proclamation. So shall it be written, so shall it be done. We're supposed to be doing the Turkey Trot, which is a local marathon down here. I'm doing the 5K, the Queen apparently is doing the 10K, and Claire's doing the kids K. A kids K? A kids K. Yes.

Marathon? Marathon. Marathon. Yes. That's? Marathon. A marathon. Yes. That's when you watch a lot of night fights back to back to back. That is Greek mythology, I believe. And who is chasing you as you run?

A whole bunch of runners that actually will be in front of me because I'm walking. No one finishes ahead of the key. No one finishes ahead of the key. No, and that's a proclamation right there. Yes, so shall it be written. Proclaim it. I just said.

The witch is trying to say something. Go ahead. Perchance, might I visit the castle? I've been in this forest for quite some time. No. Wow. So shall it be written, so shall it be done. I've been in the forest. You don't like-

Just a few minutes. Shall I get the witch? Shall I fetch the witch? Sure. Fetching the witch. Hey, the witch is here. Hey, witch. King Roy?

King Roy? King Roy? Where is Princess Claire today? Princess Claire. Princess Claire. I just want you to know for no reason in particular. Princess Claire today? Princess Claire. Princess Claire. I just want you to know for no reason in particular. Princess Claire. Princess Claire.

I just like to look at her. With seasoning. Pablo Torre in with us, always grateful for his presence, but not all of you are. So on Twitter, some of you have beat the rush to mock and criticize Pablo, and we will have those gather on Twitter, say what you will, it's funny and clever. You don't have to encourage them. And Pablo will read it in his own voice. The funnier the better they are, the more likely we are to have good content from it. Pablo Torre is Asian Stephen A. Smith. Not in delivery or cadence, just no clue what he said when he's done talking take away this guy's thesaurus the Asian Stephen A Smith I'll put that on a business card sure Stephen Asian Smith I think you should put that in your

Twitter handle changing my Twitter even Asian Smith is absolutely the place that you need to go there. Are you doing it now? Yes, that's right now, immediately. I had hamsters that bred, gave birth, and had little hamster babies in that hamster wheel. We had a plastic cage, it was a plastic hamster wheel. So the hamsters would have their babies there,

they'd be like rolling along, and then I realized that the hamsters ate their yug. Oh no. And the hamster wheel became a spinning wheel of decapitated hamster baby heads. Oh my god. Oh my god. Pablo. Pablo.

Pablo. Pablo. It's true. Hashtag condom animals. It's horrifying. How old were you? I was like in fourth grade. It was horrifying, Dan.

None of those things that I described were exaggerations in any way. The heads of the baby hamsters would spin around in some sort of death rattle because the adult parent hamsters would spin around in some sort of death rattle because the adult parent hamsters would run in the wheel as the baby hamsters body parts lay strewn across the plastic enclosure which I provided for them. We've got Kevin O'Connor from The Ringer joining us on the post game show. Yeah! What the hell? Okay.

You can't figure it out, can you? In my defense. Kelsie is trying so hard to get out of here. Yeah. In my defense. Hold on. In my defense. Believe it or not, I can't even say this shit out loud. In my defense, we were doing research for a movie

that involved a certain adult film actress. And so I was... God, it's falling on the computer! No! What are you doing? You left your computer earlier! What are you doing to me? Oh my God.

Hold on, hold on. That was seven hours ago. That was seven hours ago. It was research. You know what we just catch you watching. I mean, I mean, I don't know what you're talking about. No, I don't know. I don't know what you're talking about. We recorded podcast today.

There was that was up. Sure. What podcast? What are you talking about? It's called Cinephobe. It's the podcast where you and I watch movies that are poorly rated. I brought to you. We don't want to actually get a fresh set of phone produced by Anthony Mays wherever you get podcasts this month, Matthew McConaughey month. And we were watching a movie and in the movie there was an adult film star that I did not know was an adult film star. I did not know was in the film star. I don't I don't know about this.

I don't know about this. I just sounds very busy in the middle of doing the podcast. Sir, you didn't know he she was if I could pull up the tabs again, I will show you the name. You can pull up your history. Yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, makes him sound very senile. I do, when a girl seduces me and tells me all of these hot stories and dirty things and tells me how much he wants to suck on me and takes my shoes off and licks my feet and touches me. When I'm in a limousine, she takes off all her clothes.

The limo driver said, what is going on? And she started sucking me on the way to Mr. Coon's house and I thank her. I thank her for making me feel good. Sir, the question was, is this your handwriting? Oh, yes, yes it is. Come on. Here's the home of the brave.

Strictly in the United States. Strictly in the United States. Did you come for the fight? I came for the fight. Who do you have in the United States strictly in the United States did you come for the fight? I came for the fight who do you have in the fight? I got the Morris Brothers three in three rounds strictly in the United States my name is Dom Kang

don't confuse me with any imitators imitators, uh subjugators pontificators or any other kind of Gators. The only Gators I like are on my feet. Welcome to the jewel of South Florida, the most beautiful city in all the nation, the greatest station that ever existed. The United States of America.

Well, we are here. We are gathered. We have accommodated thousands of people including behind you right there, that's right. To celebrate, to pontificate, to extoriate the greatest combat arena ever, strictly in the United States. He can improve in the sense that he can adjust his focus in life as far as from being the best player to being a more complementary player, more facilitating player and all that. But in terms of being as great as he was the last couple of years, that's out the door.

Never again. It's not happening. Comparing you with a team like the Spurs, a team like the Warriors, heck even a team like the door. Never again. It's not happening. Comparing you with a team like the Spurs, a team like the Warriors, heck, even a team like the Thunder, they're not on that level. It gets worse from here. That's the other part of it you don't get.

He doesn't improve anymore. He gets worse every day. Yesterday he was better than he is today, and so on and so forth. Last year, he's probably thinking to himself, yeah, I didn't win MVP. They're trying to do the MVP redistribution program. Like, okay, let someone else have it.

Everyone knows I'm still the best player on the planet. And then this year starts and oh no, you're not. You're not. He's not the best player on the planet anymore. Not even when he tries. He can try his hardest. He's still not as good as Steph Curry. Oh crap, not only am I not gonna win the title this year,

it's never happening again. He's not gonna win in our championship. This is the first time I can ever remember in the NBA finals where I'm talking about why one team was gonna win, and everything I said is right. They can't play that style. They can't keep up with them.

They're not smart enough. They don't shoot well enough. Every single aspect of the Cavs, and I'm not saying they're not a good team, this is a championship caliber team in a world where the Golden State Warriors don't exist. running curls but when his hammy got a tear he saw Pooka standing there his blade diminished hustle takeover Nakua hopped into the car McVeigh has maybe found a star and then that Stafford threw him 25 in two oh there's a brand

new kid in town out of BYU they call him Pooka, Pooka Nakua His quarterback is not named Tooa, yeah he is Pooka, Pooka Nakua Fantasy Assassin, it's the time to cash in, yeah it's Pooka I had a weird dream last night. I dreamed that I was on my last show, on the Levitard show, my farewell show. This might be it. It could be, you know, where you allow me to say that I'm retiring when in fact you've privately fired me and guess who's singing my outro song Jimmy Buffett is in the studio singing lovely cruise and that's how I go out

what an inglorious ending! Have you heard that song? I'm gonna bring a tear to your eye. Farewell to my career at a lovely cruise. Wait a minute, you dreamt about the show last night? Hold on a second. I did. Well, a couple of nights ago, I think.

Yeah. I was trippin' on tryptophan. Is this something you want done? Hold on. Is this something you want done? Yeah, would like Jimmy Buffett if you can swing it. I don't know how much juice Levitard has left. If you can get Buffett in the studio to sing Lovely Cruise on my last day on the air, that's Nirvana. That's better than being a garbage man. Hold on. Really? Oh yeah. Sail off into the sunset? Yeah. Hold on.

Hold on. You actually dreamt about... I swear I did. Yes. It's been a lovely cruise. Can you please, please give me... Put us there, man. Please give me...

I mean, what a romantic song. You hear it on cruises, you know, obviously. Wait a minute. When you're coming back into port, sunset, oh! And you collide with the sun. And you're like, oh, I'm going to die. And you're like, oh, I'm going to die. And you're like, oh, I'm going to die.

And you're like, oh, I'm going to die. And you're like, oh, I'm going to die. And you're like, oh, I'm going to die. And you're like, oh, I'm going to die. And you're like, oh, I'm going to die. And you're like, oh, I'm going to die. And you're like, oh, I'm going to die. there man. Please give me. I mean what a romantic song. You hear it on cruises you know obviously when you're coming back into port, sunset, ah, piña colada. I want every detail of this dream. I mean you know it's a tearful goodbye and then all of a sudden I'm surprised, the surprise element's gone because I dreamed it but in the, I'm surprised, the surprise element's gone, because I dreamed it. But in the dream, I am shocked to the point of weeping, when all of a sudden, you know, we've got a special guest to sing farewell for you, and Jimmy Buffett comes in.

And he walks through the door of the tiny room with a guitar. Yeah! And it's not the entire Choral Reefer band, but he's not alone. He's got like a couple of guys with him. Green Acres is the place to be, farm living is the life for me. I just enjoy it, Paint House View. Cody just bailed. I'm gonna love it and give it a go. And now it is time to take a trip down memory lane.

Here's your guide, Greg Cody, with Back in My Day. Christmas Trends! They're all bad, folks. We've let this time of year get away from us. I mean the entire holiday season, although here I'll focus on Christmas and Santa Claus, still the Mac Daddy of winter. He knows you when you're sleeping. He also knows who you've been sleeping with, by the way.

Whoa. Where was I? Oh yeah. Baby. Baby. Baby. Why Christmas has gradually gotten worse. I won't repeat my rail against artificial trees except to say if your Christmas tree is not a living thing that you need to water every few days, guess what? You don't have a Christmas tree. I also won't repeat my rail about how present giving has devolved into an unimaginative exchange of gift cards. When was the last time you hand-carved somebody's gift out of a block of wood? Exactly.

But I want to concentrate today on two new beefs about why Christmas is sledding breakless down a hill headed for hell. First, outdoor lighting. Greg Cody earns the outside look on his house. He's up on a ladder, claw hammer in his right mitt, pocket full of sharp tacks, inching along the roof lines, stringing lights, stringing them old school just like Norm Rockwell would have painted it.

You know what short cutters are doing now? Sticking a single laser light in the ground, flipping a switch and watching a shower of thousands of lights bathe their house. These folks have not earned their outside look, and you know who knows it? Santa. You ever stop to consider how your laser light could blind Santa or his reindeer as they flew overhead?

You didn't, did you? Because it's all about you, isn't it? Does not the very phrase, Merry Christmas begin with me? Even worse than the laser light trend is the sad state of Christmas songs. Christmas songs used to mean jingle bells and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or maybe White Christmas by Der Binger or Nat Cole crooning my nuts roasting on an open fire. Now the old classics, the traditional songs the carolers would sing in harmony under wintry

street lamps, you can barely find those songs. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. I don't think the lyric is, mind nuts, roasting on an open fire. That's a totally different song. Excuse me. Hey, yeah, I misheard Nat King Cole's lyric on that. Mine nuts roasting on an open fire. It seems horrible. It seems the opposite of Christmas.

Well, you know, but again, it was a classic. Now, the old classics, the traditional songs the carolers would sing in harmony under wintry street lamps, you can barely find those songs played anymore. They've been elbowed off the airwaves by the awful and unwelcome oxymoron of modern Christmas songs by Mariah Carey and One Direction and every other artist trying to glom a fast buck with a bad holiday album. You come to my house this time of year, you'll see a real Christmas tree. Underneath it you'll see gifts utterly unidentifiable because they've been poorly hand carved from blocks of wood and you'll see me splayed on the ground outside writhing and screaming for help beside a fallen ladder but unheard over the ears splitting decibels of Perry Cobalt's

little drummer boy. I'm Greg Cody and that's how it does back in my day. Cody! And that's how it goes back in my day. And now it is time to take a trip down memory lane. Here's your guide, Greg Cody, with Back in My Day. Adultery! Yeah! We are back! We're waiting for this one! Wait, wait, wait. By accident what just happened, I think that's the record. Roy for years has been counting the amount of time that he pregnant pauses there. That was the record because he was looking for his papers. Because he was surprised that he has it back in my deck.

I got a lot of papers here. I'm a busy man. Adultery! First, an important disclaimer. This back in my day is absolutely not an essay born of personal experience, and if it were, what was the chance I'd actually admit it on a national podcast? Okay, let's be honest about something inherently dishonest. Adultery, infidelity, cheating, whatever you want to call it, was so much easier back before technology came along and ruined everything. Or rather, so I'd imagine the clandestine Casanovas would lament. Cheating was easy once. You just had to make sure you weren't doing it around friends, neighbors, or co-workers.

So if you lived in Mayberry, the two of you drove up to Mount Pilate, got a corner booth at the bar, then a room at the No Tell Motel and called it a night. You were blessedly incommunicado. There were no cell phones allowing any busybody's snoop to record or photograph you. You were completely out of touch until you dropped a dime in a payphone. There was no CCTV closed-circuit cameras spying on every movement you made. No facial ID technology. No TMZ with hired spies around every corner. No social media splaying wide everyone's personal life.

Now every text message and voicemail exchange is retrievable. You think delete search history actually does that? Ha ha! Your naivete is so cute. Back in my day you wrote a fake name in the motel guest book, the board clerk said you're in room 9 Dr. McGillicutty, and you went on your merry way. Now there'd be an unblinking ring camera above the door ratting on you. It isn't just relationship cheats who have

it tough these days. How the heck do criminals get away with anything? Snatch somebody's purse on a city street and see how fast the cops shout out closed circuit images of you in the act all across Social media with close-ups nine different angles and slow motion. You think that old-timey ski mask works? There's technology to unmask you now The day is coming when we will all have a computer chip in our noggin allowing the law to trace and catalog our every step. The cell phone in your pocket is doing the same thing today, bugling your whereabouts 24-7. Modern day debauchers and letharios have only two choices.

You either give up your cheating ways or you hopelessly bemoan technology and understand that today a smartphone would be pinging your exact location in that dark corner booth as you swing your third Manhattan. I'm Greg Cody and that's how it was back in my day. It's first and 10 from the Lobos 29. Eisner with the swing pass. Oh McGillicutty gains only one for the 28. You know, 28 was the year Mickey got his start with the company, and came out willing. I remember telling the director at the time, all by works.

I didn't think it would fly. Mickey, I think play has resumed, man. Nobody interrupts Mickey Mouse on Disney Air. You do that again, Gruden, and you'll wake up in Orlando dressed like a chipmunk. Okay? Second down to nine! You could get the delicious succulent ham shank or butt portion. Is the butt portion a delicacy of some sort?

It very much is. I can testify to this. The cut of meat, when I make pulled pork, slow cook of pork roast to make pulled pork, the cut of meat I use is called the Boston butt. So it's a delicacy, I eat butt all the time. We learned during the local hour that Greg Cody of the Miami Herald does an annual gala at his home.

And gala is really stretching the definition of the word gala. It's at his house, he wears a suit, he's the only one wearing a suit. There are how many people there? Every year. Six. Six people. I mean, Gerema, put it on the poll.

Can you have a gala with six people? Of course we can. Exclusivity. Um, you can't. Man, a gala has to have more than six people. I don't think so. So, Greg Cody of the Miami Herald has this alleged gala at his house to celebrate his,

it's an alleged gala. It happens every year. It happens every year. PFPI's. It's a gala, man. What does PFPI stand for? Pro Football Predictions Incorporated, but we just say PFPI. The family legend.

And it's very serious to him, and he was mad at Fats and Info because Fats and Info showed up late and drunk as Fats and Info often does. Late and drunk after bottomless mimosas on Sunday morning. Delicious bottomless mimosas. And so Greg Cody doesn't have his back in my day today just because he's filled with bile and rage toward his son. He's never been, he said he's never been as mad at his son because Greg takes this very seriously. It's a family tradition, 21 years. This ridiculous gala.

Yeah, this was our 13th annual gala of the modern era. And we came back in 2004 after laying dormant for about three decades, having started in 1969. But you have to understand on the on the PFI calendar the gala is a sacrosanct day, kin to a national holiday in our house. It's like a guy it's like Barrett Robbins not showing up for the Super Bowl. That's pretty much it. Mm-hmm. How long did did your son know about the gala? Like how long in weeks? We set the date weeks ago. Okay. And Barrett Robbins had an excuse

he was bipolar. Right. Fats and info's excuses that he's a drunk Bottomless mimosas bottomless mimosas, which is an unacceptable excuse to Greg Cody, but I want you to picture this okay Greg Cody's the only one wearing a suit and largely the only one taking this seriously correct No, I think just about everybody but Christopher took it seriously. That's not true, no one takes it seriously. What are the details? How many awards are there? We have six official statistical categories. Weeks leading, weekly titles, 10 win weeks,

unique hits slash raccoons award, which is named after my late great mother who traditionally led the league in unique hits because she knew nothing about football and would pick the Browns to beat the Patriots. And you know, so she would hit on an acorn every once in a while and set a PAPI record with 18 coonskins back when it was just called the reccoons.

I mean the uni kids award. So that's it in a nutshell. That's four awards. What are the other two? I was just talking out loud about this. He's hearing for the first time. How ridiculous is this? He does, I think it is dawning on him for the first time.

Good Lord, this is as angry as I've ever been at my son. Listen to me. The other statistical awards are, of course, overall standings and best weeks, best individual weeks. I think our best individual week this year might've been 14 and two. What are the names of the six teams at this alleged gala? Mom's Maniacs. Uh-huh, of course.

Uh, Chris's Critters. Mm-hmm. Uh, Dick's Rough Riders. Mm, wow! That's your brother Dick. Whoa! Greg's Lobos. Uh-huh.

Mike's Chickens. And Christie's Ferraris. Don't you dare. So, Greg Cody's wearing a suit. He's handing over a trophy to a family of five other people who don't want his trophy, don't want him... He's just now realizing all this. He's just dawned on him about how stupid all of this is.

What a year 2024 was. Happy New Year's everybody. New Year is this week. And some of you are going to be counting down to the new year with a lot of friends and a lot of family around. That's a lot of pallets. How do you make everybody happy? You make them happy by making New Year's time a Miller time. It's a beer with taste you know you can depend on that won't let anybody down. No games, no gimmicks, just great beer for people who like beer. In all my favorite moments of 2024, Miller Lite was right there by my side. Responsibly, of course.

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