The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Big Suey: Dave Mixes Up His Whities

Episode Date: October 30, 2025

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Starting point is 00:01:55 Quervo.com. Please drink responsibly. Quervo. Welcome to the big suey. Presented by Draft Kings. Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan Levitard podcast. I'm sorry.
Starting point is 00:02:10 I'm not going to apologize for that. In fact, the only difference seems to be this imaging. I have been tempted in restaurants just walking past tables to grab somebody's fries if they're just there. That hasn't happened to you guys? I've done it. And now, here's the marching band. to nowhere, fat face, and the habitual liar. This episode of the Dan Levit's art show is presented by Traff Kings.
Starting point is 00:02:33 Traff Kings, the crown is yours. We are attempting to get David Sampson's audio fixed, and he will be with us in moments if we do get it fixed. In the interim, I wanted to ask you guys about some of the things happening in college football that I believe don't have a precedent, but you tell me if you think I have this wrong, because in a couple of places I was looking and I'm like, man, this doesn't seem normal that before Halloween, you would have the following jobs come open at schools of some repute. Oklahoma State, UCLA, Virginia Tech, Arkansas, LSU, Penn State, Florida.
Starting point is 00:03:17 That seems like a ton before, like in the middle of the season, buyouts, those are all, you know, programs that coaches would want the jobs. And then the other story that I saw that I was like, that none of that can be real, but it's real. LSU's governor is just saying, oh, no, the LSUAD is not picking the next coach. Absolutely not. He's not picking the next coach while Ed Orgeron is talking to the morning show at ESPN unsportsmanlike and saying not only, I'll come back. I just got to go get my truck. I'll come back as Lane Tiffin's assistant if you want me to. Like that seems like Total chaos. All of that. And we're halfway through the season. I have not seen, obviously, you haven't seen that with the governor and Ed Orgeron, fresh off his championship, looking better all of a sudden now that they fired Brian Kelly. But that's an inordinate number of good jobs to have open, big programs. Denna, when you say LSU's governor, you mean the governor of Louisiana is saying that?
Starting point is 00:04:20 When you say governor, like, an NBA, NBA, I think the owner. And I'm like, LSU has a governor of the football. program. And he also referenced, Dan, the governor, when talking about why the AD is not going to make that choice, he referenced, he's also the one who hired Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M, and they had to pay him all that money. He's like, this guy sucks. You have used sucks a great deal over the course of the first few minutes of this show. The governor's name, and it is the governor of Louisiana, is Jeff Landry, and the AD is Scott Woodward. And Scott Woodward's not responsible for the extent. that has the buyout with Jimbo Fisher, but he is responsible for initially hiring Jimbo Fisher for an enormous amount of money. That governor, by the way, great accent. Oh, my goodness, Luke. Come on. Are you going to say thin ass? Not only a great accent, Juju, it's exactly the way that I want my governor of Louisiana sounding, and it's exactly the quotes I want to hear him giving when he says,
Starting point is 00:05:20 oh, the AD's not making this higher. I'm going to make this higher with a bunch of important people. just have never seen that happen before. Have any of you seen it happen before where the governor of a state comes out and says, no, my program, not the athletic director's program? I love it. I think this is a lot of fun in our homogenous society ever more so. It's great. It's sort of like Brad Wesley in Roadhouse. He plays by his own set of laws. Well, I'm going to call the cops. He owns them too. That's great. That makes it more fun. It turns it into a movie. I know what homogenous means, but Chris was struggling with it.
Starting point is 00:06:00 Can you break that down, bro? No idea. I heard a mean say it a while ago and thought I would sound smart. And I'm going to get richer. I mean, Dan, you've never heard a governor talk. This is how the governor is talking about the current AD. Quote, we are not going down a failed path. And I want to tell you something.
Starting point is 00:06:18 This is a pattern. The guy that's here now, what are even saying by name. The guy that's here now that wrote the contract. Texas A&M, 70-some million dollars. Right now, we have a $53 million liability. We're not doing that again. And you know what? I believe we're going to find a great coach.
Starting point is 00:06:35 Well, that sounded more like Zaslow than it sounded like the Cajun accent of the governor of Louisiana. That just sounded like the way you say Thai food. I don't think you were, you weren't very deep in character on the Louisiana accent there. And I want to tell you something. It's a pattern. No, it's getting worse. No, I was just emphasizing. I wasn't trying to do an accent.
Starting point is 00:06:55 Let's make sure everybody heard me. Regionality is great. It's been taken away from college sports. It's why they mean more to the players than being a professional athlete. And we need to get back to that. And I'll go extreme. What this reminds me of is my old idea that you should only be able to recruit guys from your state. Let's see who the best state is in college football.
Starting point is 00:07:19 Let's see who the best state is for basketball and so on. As these Olympics approach, what if the N. NFL, what required that only people for, you know, the original six in the NHL for, for 25 years. I mean, people talk about the original six as though it was a funny little chapter in sports. It was a quarter century. There were six teams. And the Canadians won the majority of the Stanley Cups. Why?
Starting point is 00:07:47 Because you had negotiated. Well, but why then did the Rangers never win Stanley Cups? It's because you had negotiated. with players within, I think, a 50-mile radius of city center, which is hysterical and fascinating. And I don't know how anybody ever went to games in New York, except for the novelty of it, but you knew you had no chance of ever winning. But setting that aside, yes, I would love a state Olympics. Let's do that. Let's see what is the best sports state. And at minimum, what if you did that with the NFL, that you could own, that you, I mean, Miami would
Starting point is 00:08:25 do well, and so with Los Angeles, and yes, I mean. What Dave, thank you, Dave. What Dave is talking about is from the olden days, the territorial pick. That's how the Royals would move from Rochester to Cincinnati got Oscar Robinson. It wasn't because, like, they were the worst team, whatever. It's because, hey, like, he lives here, so he goes there. Same thing with the Philadelphia Warriors getting, Will Chamberlain is like, yeah, because he's from Philly, so he gets a play here.
Starting point is 00:08:53 The idea was that you could drum up local support If the hometown kid is there But we found out later on That's a dumb system, man Let the players play anyway, man I can't be the only one who thought this When I was a kid growing up I thought that the teams
Starting point is 00:09:09 You had to be from that city To play on that team You're absolutely right You are that dumb No one else thought that grown up Put it on the poll at Lebitard show When you were growing up Did you think that the players
Starting point is 00:09:23 from your local professional team had to all be from that city yes or no. As I'm looking in the corner of our show today and seeing this particular section of the Metal Arc Media Network, Lebitard and Friends Network, I don't
Starting point is 00:09:39 believe that any entity that talks or makes things for a living has two people more different than Dave Damashek Football America and Jujugadi Alleyoop. I believe that between the two of them, we have two people who are wildly different, one of them perpetually referencing movies from the 1970s.
Starting point is 00:10:05 It is not, it is not Juju. It is Dave Damashek, if you want, movies like Heaven Can Wait and other coverage of movies from the 70s, Football America, Monday and Fridays for you, Alleyoop, whenever important basketball things happen. Tell me. Roadhouse was almost released in the 90s, Dan. It wasn't in the 70s, but it was in 1989, please. Dave, I'm going to need to get you some help, okay? One thing you need to stop doing is interrupting Amin. Another thing you have to stop doing is saying, Amin, here, you can talk now.
Starting point is 00:10:37 Like, we'll handle that part, all right? Just allow us to handle the part where we're talking when we're supposed to talk. I find it quite charming, actually. I like it, too. Giving you permission to talk? Give me, yes, the gentleman across the aisle. I felt like I was in Congress. Way more concerned about staying on the right side of Cash Patel.
Starting point is 00:10:59 No offense, Dan. He's not Cash Patel anymore. He's out of, you've got to keep up here with his costume changes. I'm intrepid journalist Amino Hassan, working on stories, uncovering truths with Pablo Tori, who's coming on later on the show. Thank you, Pablo. Pablo is coming on later in the show. Have we lost David Sampson for good? We're trying to get his audio right.
Starting point is 00:11:21 the Pablo Torre finds out has also been covering a lot that's Belichick related and I just wanted to read you guys the quote from Belichick because one of the Pablo Torre finds out reports recently was doing a deep dive on Mike Lombardi that I think a lot of people are going to find super interesting he's just doing stuff that nobody else is doing and Belichick is objecting to a number of different things that are coming out about his team and The quote that he's given here recently, he just lost in overtime to Virginia. Virginia's played three overtime games this season. Belichick lost going for a two-point conversion at the end in overtime. Quote, I'm sure there's a lot of other people that want to get clicks and views and posts on my face or whatever. But it's just a bunch of garbage, end quote. This is his move, right, to just call it. at my face all over, just to keep merging.
Starting point is 00:12:24 Dismissive. MySpace, FaceTime, Instagram. But I think that's the, I think that's the first time he's gone, my face. I think he's done, he hasn't done Insta talk, but he's done a number of them. I think my face is not something that's made an appearance before. Your thoughts, Zaslow, because you've been, you were at North Carolina. I was listening, I was listening to, like, you know, whispers of scandal. I didn't hear anything, though.
Starting point is 00:12:52 I have an update from David, by the way. He wrote, everything is broken, bleep it, I'm furious. Good vibes from David this morning. I mean, he's, yeah. I feel bad. I saw him. He was struggling. He's having a tough time.
Starting point is 00:13:04 He's making time that he does not have for our show, and then he can't get his equipment to work, and he's just going through it in a way that's just unholy. I feel super bad for everything that's happening with David Samson. And you can check out nothing personal as he continues to work through really horrific heartbreak and pain because he really does care about his audience. I mean, I wanted to talk to you about the Phil Jackson news that came out yesterday where he was talking about, among other things, because he's selling a book here. And I don't know how much damage Phil Jackson did to his legacy at the end, but it is hard to go from winning as many championships as he did to being the guy who falls asleep on the subway. and runs the Knicks into the ground, and they only get repaired after he leaves. And the quotes that were excerpted from his book are about how the relationship with Carmelo Anthony
Starting point is 00:13:59 was totally unsalvageable, unfixable, and that he just decided to up and go because they couldn't get along. Yeah. So the book, by the way, which is called Masters of the Game, a conversational history of the NBA in 75 legendary players. So it's not about his Nick's tenure, but the excerpts that have come out by the New York Post are obviously the Nick-related stuff. And it's disparaging to Carmelo's making it seem like the relationship was broken largely because of Carmelo. Carmelo, for his part, he thinks Phil Jackson is the reason why he didn't finish his career as a Nick.
Starting point is 00:14:37 He said, I wanted to stay, and they pushed me out. Jim Dolan and the owner of the Knicks and Phil Jackson had a very specific conversation about we need to trade. Carmelo Anthony if we're going to rebuild this thing. So it's, it's, like, I wouldn't say it's shocking. It's kind of what we kind of already assumed happened, but it's just a little bit more detail from Phil Jackson's perspective. Don Lebertard. Doesn't matter anywhere.
Starting point is 00:15:02 We could do it in Buffalo or Baltimore, Eva. He said you could do it where? Anywhere. Oh, whoa. Oh, that's crazy. That's crazy. That's crazy. He said he could do it anywhere.
Starting point is 00:15:15 That's crazy, murder. murder, tell him. Stugats. I had no idea of me and had that in his locker. That might be his best. That's crazy. I'm not kidding.
Starting point is 00:15:26 That's crazy, killer. It's two America's dead. You don't get it. This is the Dan LeBatar show with the Stugats. I was mentioning before because Bill Simmons was super defensive
Starting point is 00:15:43 on behalf of the legacy of Bill Belich. and that Bill Belichick's legacy will not be impacted by this ending because history doesn't remember the punctuation. History remembers the statement before the punctuation, and Phil Jackson's legacy obviously is golden forevermore. But if you're someone like Phil Jackson or Bill Belichick who wants to keep working in his 70s, what good is a legacy being untarnished if you can't actually get jobs? that you want anymore despite your legacy? Like, you can tell me it's not going to impact the way that you think about someone 100
Starting point is 00:16:23 years from now, but while they're living right now and they can't work in their business anymore because the ending is such a disgrace that Belichick can't work in the pros anymore and that Phil Jackson couldn't get a job right now if he wanted. That's why it is going to affect Belichick's legacy. That's exactly what, like, Phil Jackson could have kept coaching out to the Lakers if he wanted, could have any job he wanted. As a matter of fact, when he wanted that Nick's front office job, he got it. Belichick can't get an NFL job.
Starting point is 00:16:55 I think both of them are proof that you can tarnish your legacy. Nothing is untarnishable if you F up as much as they did, right? With Phil Jackson, he could have coached, he could have kept coaching the Lakers. You know why he wasn't a coach at the Lakers or any other coaching job? Because Phil Jackson wanted to coach home games only. All right, bro. Like, you got to know when to hang it up. and step back at that point.
Starting point is 00:17:18 He became a head of a front office with zero front office experience. He talks about, oh, I didn't want to hire Derek Fisher. I went to hire Tony Bennett. But Tony Bennett wouldn't do it because his kid was in high school. Buddy, that's the job. That's the job. But he didn't know, he didn't understand the job.
Starting point is 00:17:34 So to me, it's a great corollary, Dan, between the two of them. The only way I think we remember them kindly, sadly, is after they're dead. But as long as they're alive, All we're going to remember is how it went down. I think you guys are overstating the dent that this puts into Phil Jackson. The Knickerbockers are, to me, just an afterthought. I mean, he did it with the Bulls and the Lakers, as you know.
Starting point is 00:18:00 Bill Belichick has really wrecked his legacy, in my opinion. It now stands to me if on either side of Tom Brady, he was a mediocre coach, mildly successful, I guess, with the Browns. But, you know, in total, yeah, Belichick has really, really done some damage and obviously people want to genuflect to him legend and all of that but the stuff with the with the woman is weird and that also dense his legacy let me ask you a question Dave do you is it your opinion I'm not talking about publicly in your opinion that bill Beltech maybe wasn't that great of a coach that is exactly what I am saying I the magic
Starting point is 00:18:39 of Tom Brady is it is hard to put your finger on what exactly he figured out about about pro football that made him thrive and win over? I'm not saying Belichick was a passenger along for the ride, but he was really playing at the fringes when the bulk of the work was being carried by Tom Brady. I mean, clearly. Belichick coached in the NFL for 10 years minus Brady. One playoff one.
Starting point is 00:19:06 Brady wasn't coaching the defensive side of the ball, though. So like there has to be some sort of like, all right, Belichick did something. It wasn't just Brady doing everything. But Brady then went somewhere else. but Brady then went somewhere else and won. Brady's amazing. Brady won a Super Bowl 13 to 3. That's not Brady winning that Super Bowl.
Starting point is 00:19:22 Yeah, like I feel like we're really oversimplifying kind of everyone's contributions, right? That first Super Bowl, when they beat the Rams? One touchdown pass the entire postseason for Tom Brady that year that they won the Super Bowl. Good staff from you. He was just an incredible defensive mind. And they put together some solid offenses. Also, remember the Matt Castle year? Am I the only one who remembers the Matt Castle year?
Starting point is 00:19:46 When they didn't make the playoffs. Yes, I do remember that one. The Dolphins' Year. And absolutely. Quarterbacks, when you have the man, and he's still on his rookie deal, as has been off discussed, you can really load up on defense,
Starting point is 00:19:59 and that's what's going to carry the day. There have been a number of guys in the 21st century who are high in QBs who won Super Bowls more because of the defense. Russell Wilson, Ben Rothesberger, the first one against the Seahawks, and Tom Brady, that first Super Bowl, against the Rams. Of course, that one is stained by the SpyGate
Starting point is 00:20:18 stuff and there's Deflate Gate and there are a number of the TB12 stuff and everything else. I think there's all a stink on that entire Patriots era, as glorious as it was for Boston sports fans, I think it will loom and does, it's not what's going to be in a hundred years. Right now it has a stink on it. Tony finds out what gave me 30 seconds of him talking, he's biased. He's absolutely biased as a Pittsburgh Steeler fan, talking about stuff from 2003, 2004, when you were in the running for making Super Bowls? Dude, I hear it. That's it. Tony found out. Dave Damashik, bias. What
Starting point is 00:20:51 Dave Damashek is saying is that Bill Belichick should have checked himself before he wrecked himself. And you can bet on that. I don't think that's what I was saying. Your signature line. You have said, though, you have declared that the legacy. is indeed wrecked and I just don't know what value a legacy has if it's not going to be wrecked 10 years from now but right
Starting point is 00:21:22 now when you want things that cash in on your legacy you're not someone who can actually cash in on your legacy Cash Patel Hassan is what my name is. Dan the reality is I think you just hit the nail
Starting point is 00:21:38 on the head and let me take this all so I can differentiate that I'm not Cash Patel Hassan right now. Amino Hassan. Reality is, Legacies. Loud jacket. They don't matter.
Starting point is 00:21:48 They don't matter if they only come posthumously, right? Pete Rose, if he goes to the Hall of Fame, like, who cares? He didn't get to enjoy that. And that's really what it's all about. And that's why I think it is something that you need to be cognizant of as you're an older individual in sports is not doing things that have the potential to ruin it. I think Phil Jackson, it's not just the failures with the Knicks, Dave. It's also like the LeBron's posse stuff.
Starting point is 00:22:16 It's like a lot of out-of-touch kind of old-generation white guy stuff that he said that kind of really mucked it up. If he had just been a failure, a great example is Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan, by all accounts, was a failure as a basketball executive and as a basketball owner. He's still Michael Friott, Jordan, though. So, like, when it's insights to excellence, I'm there. Phil Jackson can't have an insights to excellence segment on national TV because everyone's going to be a and not the dude that was saying that LeBron just has his boys around and that's it.
Starting point is 00:22:46 So that's the part that I think is the corollary with Belichick. I think Belichick's failure is one thing. I think the bigger thing is like you're making an ass out of yourself with this girl and all that stuff. And that's the part that really threatens it. If he was just merely like, oh, he's not winning anymore, I think that wouldn't be quite as crazy. Another example, I know I'm rambling here. But I was thinking about Larry Brown. Larry Brown, Hall of Fame career, legacy of jumping from city to city coach.
Starting point is 00:23:14 Like, his last couple of jobs were all in college, and, like, he coached a high school team. But it's Larry Brown. He loves basketball. He loves basketball. He loves basketball. That's all that comes to. Larry Brown loves basketball. He wasn't wildly successful towards the end of his career.
Starting point is 00:23:28 We just give him that grace. I think it's the scandal portion of it that does a lot of the tarnish. Well, but one of the things that Damashik is saying here that I do think, think sort of bears repeating, Phil Jackson is 11 championships. Like, it's not one, it's not seven with one quarterback.
Starting point is 00:23:47 It's 11 championships. Two different places. Eleven championships, ladies and gentlemen, with Michael Jordan, Shaquille, O'Neill, and Kobe Bryant. Like, yeah, it wasn't the same quarterback the whole time. It was still Hall of Fame. Elite, elite, elite, elite, elite, elite, talent. And don't get it to us. And Dan Lebertard, you of all
Starting point is 00:24:02 people should remember, coaches, if you don't have players, What are we talking about? This is talent-driven business. Okay, but hold on. Like, he got to the Lakers and took over a team that had Shaquille and Kobe Bryant.
Starting point is 00:24:16 They weren't any good. They weren't any good. They weren't any good. They weren't 57 games. They hadn't won the championship. Oh, wow, they hadn't won a championship. Guys, you can't do that. You can't act like, they're like,
Starting point is 00:24:27 oh, my God, what are we going to do? How do we play basketball? And Phil Jackson comes in and says, give it to the big guy. Ah! What a genius! We never would have figured that out. Look, I'm not trying to discount his contributions.
Starting point is 00:24:41 What I'm trying to do actually is the same thing for Belichick. It's like, yes, these guys put great talents in positions to be successful. But we cannot just throw away the idea that they had great talent to begin with. Let me do this with you guys then and just do a thought experiment with you. Because you mentioned Larry Brown and obviously that Pistons team responsible for one of the great upsets in basketball over Shack and Kobe. That was a team that didn't have a star, and so Larry Brown gets forever credentials based on winning something that had Chauncey Billups or Ben Wallace as the best player on the team. When I ask you, give me the coach with the greatest pedigree of championships.
Starting point is 00:25:27 Joe Gibbs. Who has done it with an assortment of talent that you would not consider great talent. Who's the top of the pyramid? who doesn't do it with the Michael Jordans and Shacks where you're winning multiple championships because Larry Brown is one championship but you're winning, that's a good one. Joe Gibbs is a good one because who was...
Starting point is 00:25:45 Bob Knight. Who was, who, well, he had Isaiah Thomas, right? Like, I don't think anyone, you know, Larry Brown is going to be somebody who obviously goes to the top of this list in terms of winning without a superstar player. But when we talk about multiple championships or a coach that has an unimpeachable record because you're looking at that coach
Starting point is 00:26:05 and saying, well, I don't know how he did it with multiple teams and not Shaquille O'Neill and Kobe and Michael Jordan. Rick Carlow. I was just about to say that one. That's a great, that's a great one. Dirk Novitsky would like a word. Yeah, but he was old at that point.
Starting point is 00:26:19 He wasn't that old. He was kind of old. He didn't with JJ Barrier backing down LeBron. He did it last year with the Pacers that no one likes. I thought we thought about championships, my bad. They were on the precipice of four. I was actually asking about multiple championships, right? Whitey Ford.
Starting point is 00:26:33 I mean, I'm sorry, Whitey Herzog, Whitey Ford, Whitey Herzog. I got my old baseball play. That is Whitey's mixed up. Old Whitey's mixed up. Okay. I'm sorry, Dave. I'm going to have to do this again to you. Again?
Starting point is 00:26:47 I'm sorry. Leading the league and penalty. Minor penalty, two minutes for tripping the entire show. You can't get your Whitey's right. You're supposed to be an expert. Look at you. You've got to be an expert in Whitey. Dave, your Whitey's need to be.
Starting point is 00:27:03 more tidy. Kicking yourself out? He's going too. No, he's taking him. He's taking him to the penalty box as Cash Patel. Look at what happened to your headset. What happened to your helmet? Why are you falling apart physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually?
Starting point is 00:27:25 Listen, being a race car driver, it's not as easy to looks. I didn't know you were borrow, brother. Juju, I told you those costumes are harder to do. He's going to be exhausted by the time he leaves here. You keep telling me I'm tone deaf because I said that I get headaches whenever it is that I have to wear the costumes. In my meager defense, by the way, because many of you have pointed out, really, Levitard, you got a headache because you wore a suit. The headache was because I was wearing those bad bunny glasses and trying to read with them, and I can't, and my eyesight is bad. And so when I was trying to read, I was having all sorts of problems.
Starting point is 00:28:04 And also the bad bunny gloves made it so that I whispered to Lewis and it went out over the air. Get me the Brian Kelly dancing video because the gloves. So the glove, you pressed the wrong button because of the gloves. No, it was fat. My glove finger was fat and it didn't press the button, the talk back correctly. And it's one of the many things that gave me a headache. So I'm making an assortment of excuses. But it is harder, correct?
Starting point is 00:28:28 Then you would think it is you're going to be more tired. You're going, where are you going this weekend as far of your college football coverage? I have a really busy day today, too, because I'm on ESPN tonight also, and I can feel the headache coming on because of this helmet and the weird earplugs that I'm wearing. Tomorrow I'm going to Jacksonville, World's largest outdoor cocktail party, Florida, Georgia. I'm very excited about that. I don't want to make this easier, but I would be fine if you held it under your arm the whole time because that's how I picture is a race car driver.
Starting point is 00:28:58 They have the helmet under their arm, no, helmet on the. the whole time? What are you guys saying? Whatever, man. Like, I'm all right for now. Don Lebertard. You're getting started on the breakfast flan? Oh, man. I've been singing a song to myself all morning while breakfast flan. Stugats. Have you never heard the breakfast flound song? No, hit me with it.
Starting point is 00:29:15 Okay. I wish I had some breakfast flound. Breakfast flound. Where can I find a breakfast like that? This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stugats. What are your thoughts about the SEC that I believe has been exposed in recent weeks and is being carried by Texas A&M, which is clearly good. But Texas A&M wasn't what we were expecting to be at the top of that conference. We were expecting Georgia to look more like Georgia, Alabama to look more like Alabama.
Starting point is 00:29:58 and you've got Vanderbilt and Missouri at the, you know, able to beat those schools, able to play close games against those schools, and last weekend, okay? Because Texas really labored and barely won. And they're just not good. We're just saying flatly that Texas is not good. Texas ends up laboring and Georgia ends, or Alabama ends up laboring when you're talking about South Carolina and Mississippi State. Those are supposed to be the dormats in the conference.
Starting point is 00:30:30 Yeah, South Carolina stinks. Mississippi State, Mississippi State's sneaky, decent team, even though they have not won a conference game in two years. I know it sounds stupid. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Can you be, put it on the poll at Levitard show. Can you be a sneaky decent team when you haven't won a conference game in two years?
Starting point is 00:30:49 He's right about that, though. Like they're always in the mix. They're always like playing. It's like, oh, they're only down seven to Tennessee. Dan, look at these. They lost in overtime to Texas. Texas last week. They lost by two to Florida on a late interception the week before. And a couple weeks before that, they lost in overtime to Tennessee. Like, I'm telling you, Dan, this sneaky decent team
Starting point is 00:31:08 Zaslo. Listen to me. You know about Starkville? Billy Napier got fired for the indignity of playing a close game against Mississippi State. They were going to fly, Dan. Timing was perfect. You know, he's the third coach in the last five years to get fired after beating Mississippi State. Like usually you don't get fired after a win. Two of them, it was Jimbo Fisher, Billy Napier, the other one was the end of a season. So that was a little bit of a cheat. But it happened three times after beating
Starting point is 00:31:37 Mississippi State. But that's not sneaky decent. That's a team that hasn't won a conference game in two years and has gotten three coaches fired for playing close games against them. Not losing to them. I'm not retracting. I'm sticking with it. Sneaky. You can put that on my tombstone. Mississippi State,
Starting point is 00:31:53 2025. Sneaky decent team. Why would you want that on your two Because I own that take. That's fresh. But why would anybody want that on the- You know what? Hang on a second. Mississippi State, sneaky decent team, copyright. Only thing that doesn't suck, apparently, according to Zazz.
Starting point is 00:32:13 Mississippi State. I'm trying to expand my vocabulary, all right, dude. All right, let's cover this. Just to be clear, Derek Jeter sucks. Oh, my God. Mississippi State, decent. Sneaky. Phil Jackson sucks.
Starting point is 00:32:27 Mississippi State Decent. Sneaky. What was the other thing that you said sucked? You said something else sucked. I think there were three sucked. The helmet?
Starting point is 00:32:39 I mean, definitely yesterday I told you Charlotte Horn's suck. Well, they do. They do. That is quite the miracle, though, that Michael Jordan did pull off being the owner of the Hornets who haven't won a playoff
Starting point is 00:32:51 game in 10 years and a playoff series in more than 20. No effect to the lake. See, none whatsoever. You're overseeing what is a cataclysmic effort by your basketball team. Half the teams make the playoffs, the salary cap and equality, reward that when you're bad, you get good. Not Michael Jordan, but he gets insights into excellence, even though he hasn't sniffed them in more than 25 years.
Starting point is 00:33:18 He's excellent, and I'm not going to stand here and have you just disparage the good name of the greatest to ever. lace them up. I have to jump in here to announce this. Michael Jordan, the all-time greatest of his sport. Mario Lemieux, though, stands as the most significant figure to one franchise in North American sports history because, as opposed to Michael Jordan, as soon as he retired, he saved the franchise by then purchasing the franchise and then winning three more Stanley Cups.
Starting point is 00:33:55 and when they needed him to do it, he put the sweater back on and returned to the ice. There has never been anyone more significant than that. However, let me just say, Michael Jordan, that was a different job. He was a player. Then he became an exact. Are we dinging Tom Brady from going from football player to broadcaster slash executive? I think we kind of are getting to that place.
Starting point is 00:34:17 To that note, we never talk about Tom Brady and the Raiders. What happened? What happened there? It's coming. I thought that was, I thought everything will be different now. You're only going to fix everything. You're saving everything. You're Tom Brady.
Starting point is 00:34:30 You're a genius? What happened? We don't even mention it. We don't even bring it up. Mississippi State is 14th out of 16 teams in the SEC. I'm glad you didn't say sneaky decent. You would owe me some money. On your tombstone.
Starting point is 00:34:45 That's how copyright works, Dan. Copyright. You guys just yell it first. Copyright. On your tombstone? I'll tell you what. They're going to win this week. They're going to beat Arkansas.
Starting point is 00:34:55 first conference win two years and then you'll all be like wow that's aslo he he had it first that's right i did they uh they didn't win a conference game with mike leach before he passed away or was he the last uh was he the last winner of a conference game there because when uh when lane kiffin and mike leach went to the cc god this seems like a charming quaint time a million years ago but before oklahoma and texas went to the cc brought all their reputation to the SEC and now the SEC kind of stinks. Mike Leach and Lane Kiffin went to the SEC and those are perfect jobs for those guys
Starting point is 00:35:34 because there are no expectations. Like what a great job for Lane Kiffin that he's just as good as some of those teams at the top of that conference and we're giving him and assigning him all the credit for beating teams that aren't that good because anytime they win a game on the road we're giving Lane Kiffin all of the
Starting point is 00:35:55 credit for having at the quarterback position, one of the great names in all of sports, Trinidad Chambliss. In 2023, Dan, Mississippi State won at Arkansas, 7 to 3. They're going to beat Arkansas
Starting point is 00:36:13 again this weekend. Wait a minute. So the last win by the sneaky decent Mississippi State was a 7 to 3 win against Arkansas and you won on your tombstone. the copyrighted knowledge that they are a sneaky, decent team. That's right.
Starting point is 00:36:33 No one's going to be laughing when they get that first SEC win this weekend. They're like, wow, Zazlo, thanks a hot tip. You're welcome. Zaz, how you feel about the Florida Gators going against the Georgia Bulldogs this weekend? Do they have a chance? I think they keep it close in the first half. It could get away from them in the second half. Gators' defense elite.
Starting point is 00:36:49 All right, but boy, they're not good this year. Maybe they play for their new coach. I don't know. How good is Texas A&M, though, because, for all of this money being spent on coaches and buyouts, what does it tell you when Mike Elko is sneaking in there and he's nobody's favorite coach? But clearly, Texas A&M is the best team in that conference.
Starting point is 00:37:09 There's not a dispute about that. Is there like we've all been kind of unimpressed by whatever it is that Alabama and Georgia are now, even though they could both be playoff teams. Nobody has been impressed by how it is any of those schools look. one's been impressed by what Texas A&M is. Well, the irony with college sports has become that the way to close the gap on the heavyweights is with NIL, which is sort of the opposite of why baseball has the Dodgers
Starting point is 00:37:39 so hated because they spend more than everybody else. The sneaky fact with Lane Kiffin and Kurt Signetti and otherwise is they've closed the gap. By the way, Kurt Signetti, a good name to add to your list of coaches who win without stars, but they both kind of are able to add stars that they wouldn't have been able to. to get a decade ago because of the NIL age. I don't think there's any reason to pay the coach like that anymore. Like these buyouts and the coaches, you don't have to pay them like that if you're going
Starting point is 00:38:05 to just give somebody. If Andrew Luck's going to come to your program and bring you a donor who says, I'll give you $50 million as he's done, isn't that what you want more than anything? Like if I say to anyone listening to this, what do you want right now, given what you've seen from Brian Kelly and James Franklin, and given that the top of the sport now has Signetti and Mike Elko in it, if I say to you, what would
Starting point is 00:38:31 you rather have? I guess Nick Saban would be an outlier here because most people are just going to say I'd rather have Nick Saban. Kirby's smart too. What would I rather have? Would I rather have somebody who simply brings me $50 million donor by virtue of running
Starting point is 00:38:47 my athletic department? Or do I want the coach who's going to be whatever leadership guy that creates a program but I'm guaranteed nothing I mean these buyouts what what are some of the numbers being thrown out on just the the the buyout figures that we've we've had this year in the amount of money that's being paid to coaches to not coach between three guys been 170 million dollars that have been fired and then obviously with that oh that's a quarter billion dollars but you can
Starting point is 00:39:17 spend that money so much better if if I were just to say you know what I'm just going to have somebody who oversees this and is somebody who raises money and I'll have my coordinators handle it and I'll spend the money on players I'd rather spend it on players in the pros you wouldn't be telling me to go spend the money on the coach you would you'd be telling me to spend the money on the players the previous record for buyouts combined in a season was 118 million and we've already hit 170 million to tony's point with three months left in the season but then what you're describing is again the professionalization of college football right which is when you don't have to spend on the labor I got all this extra money so yeah I'm going
Starting point is 00:39:53 spend on Nick Sabin, all these guys. But as you pointed out in the NFL, I got to spend on labor. I only got so much I can spend on coaching. And that's what's happening. So now that the labor is getting money, you don't need to pay as much of the coaches. What an interesting thing to live through, like just to watch it happen. Like, it wasn't that long ago that Tanahasi Coates was writing for the athletic about, or no, it wasn't Tanahasi Coates. That was about reparations. You understand how I make the connection between injustices. But where they were just talking. talking about how ridiculous it is that the NCAA had the rule system that it has in place,
Starting point is 00:40:30 and everything is caved in in the last five years. I'm all over, Mississippi State Plus Four. Now is a good time to remember where Tequila's story truly began. In 1795, Cuervo invented tequila. Quervo. What are you doing here? Quervo. Anytime someone says Cuervo, I show up.
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