The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Big Suey: Something's Up With The Pipes In Here

Episode Date: May 16, 2024

Fred Katz of The Athletic reported the news of the Knicks' motivational fart and now joins our show to discuss the details. Will he break his journalistic code of ethics and tell us who did it? Will the crew be able to guess the player? Then, Kelsey Plum is winning her divorce, a new character named "ChadGPT," and Dan tries to create boundaries. Plus, David Samson is here to let us know why Roger Goodell does NOT care about player safety, the business of the WNBA, and the problem for the Chiefs with Harrison Butker's vitriolic speech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to DraftKings Network. Welcome to the Big Sui, presented by DraftKings. Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan LeBattard podcast. I'm sorry, 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

that if they're just there. That hasn't happened to you guys? I've done it. And now here's the marching man to nowhere, fat face and the habitual liar. We are right in the center of our investigation here of everything that's happening with the New York Knicks. We have now reached out to five Knicks beat writers

about the motivational fart that won game five. Christian Winfield of the Daily News tells us exclusively that the farter quote, could be a rotation player. We have Steve Popper of Newsday telling us simply you'll have to check with Fred and now we have reached we're reaching out to the Knicks for official comment but now we have found Fred Katz and Fred Katz is of the athletic on Saturdays he hosts hosts the Knicks podcast, Katz and Shoot twice a week. And he broke this story. WFAT.

Thank you. Thank you very much. He broke this story. Take me through the details of your reporting, how you reported it, what level of shame you had in reporting it, the status of journalism that you reported it. You know, you know, Dan, you go to journalism school and you study everything

there is to be studied, right? And you have to learn everything that's textbook and you learn ethics and you learn the history of journalism and mistakes that other people made and ways that people handle tricky situations and how to report in war zones and all that and you never go over whether a fart is off the record on the record around background and so it's really something you have to figure out in the moment it's a trying situation but I'm really glad it got us here did you guys are doing due diligence did you guys get do yeah due? There's so many bad jokes here.

Can you, did you actually choose to talk to anybody, reach out to an editor to decide whether something like that is off or on the record? And furthermore, you're protecting who it is that did that. And so I think you're treating it there as if it were off the record. And I don't think it should be. I'm treating it is is on

background. I'm treating the the culprit to be a not necessary part of the story to share starter or rotation player. I'm not even going to go now that's still protecting your sword. Listen to me. There are reports out there that it might be a rotation that's right could be a look can you confirm what you have to listen I'm not going to do this with you unless you get me at least slightly closer I want to change or push up against whatever the ethics are of this because now you've reported it and you're doing it on background but you didn't get permission to report it okay you reported it anyway and so you're denying us this information,

but you're responsible. If you're going to come out here, you choose what you want it to be. Get us a little closer to the truth. Fred. I'm wasting a lot of money and time investigating your big story. And graphics. All right. Here's what I'll tell you, Dan. As, as, as a reporter, there's, and you know this, you go in the locker room and there is a certain element of, that's true as well. Honestly, there was none.

It was very loud and that was about it. How about that? No, the opposite. It was loud but proud is really what it was. But also not, you're saying no smell. It was just audio. It was purely audio, as a matter of fact, when it happened, it strung along for, I would say, a lot longer

than one might expect for a fart of that volume in that context. Well, you reported it was epic, okay? I don't know how you arrived. It was. Well, you, what you reported. It was epic. OK, I don't know how you're right. Well, you OK. This has been a squeaky door for length, for length and for for length and for and for volume is exactly why. And a few a few players looked over.

It actually didn't get a reaction audibly at all. It got pure silence and a look over to that one player and that one player looked around as if he was being inconspicuous and said with a completely straight face, sums up with the pipes in here. No, no, no. Got the huge laugh. No. Okay. So it wasn't the far. Wait a minute. All right. So we are now getting. All right. Now we're getting more important details. It was not the fart that cut the tension. It was the lie. And it was the lie. It was the lie. It was the lie. And I am pretty confident. The lie was said

tongue in cheek because it was really the entire sequence that really did it. And I wouldn't say there was a ton of tension to begin with. However't say there was a ton of tension to begin with, however, if there was any tension before that, I think it all evaporated there. All right, can I get some help from the room, okay? Because I'd like to interrogate our journalist. He likes being the journalist, he's broken the big story,

he gets the big attention today for it. But I would like to ask him questions that he is comfortable answering that doesn't betray his source Doesn't break the rules of the ethics of the locker room, but get us slightly closer To being able to sniff around who this might be than we presently are what side of the locker room did this come from? What side of the locker room? Yes This came from a locker room, a, a, a locker somewhat,

somewhat centered, somewhat in the middle, somewhat in the middle. Okay. So it could be one of the better players cause they're not going to put the bet. Like the best players I feel like are in the middle. I don't know enough about it. Yeah. You guys asked a shitty question there that doesn't know. But what I'm doing right now is I don't think that really helps you there. I can, I can maybe depending on locker room placement, I can eliminate some guys.

But you've got the investigator here and all you're doing is creating more investigation for yourself. He goes into the locker room now. I mean, it's very clear he's not going to give us what we want. No, I understand that, but your question didn't get us any closer to an answer. It will once I get the picture of what it looks like. Now, but the audience needs an answer to this. Can I get some help from the room here on, it is a player who has had minutes in this series. It is a player who has had minutes in this series.

I will give you that. See, now we're closer. It is a player who has had minutes in this series. I can give you that. How many rebounds? I can tell you that. No, you can't do that. That's too close to it. You guys don't know had minutes in this series. I can give you that. How many rebounds? I can tell you that. No, you can't do that.

That's too close to it. You guys don't know how to play this game. Has this player averaged more or less than 25 minutes per game for the Knicks in this postseason? Well, it's gotta be less. It's gotta be less. It's gotta be less. It's gotta be less. He's guessing, again, an epic fart reported in the Nick's locker room, an epic fart of

leadership. But is he throwing that out there because maybe this player was averaging more than 25 minutes per game, but then got hurt and is no longer playing and he's taking the zero minutes into account. These are the questions we have to ask ourselves. Okay, not really out loud though. Those are the questions we have to ask ourselves. Okay, not really out loud though. Those are the questions we should keep to ourselves as we get closer to the truth here.

I'm just looking for looks on his face as we throw this out. For clues, I understand. We are trying to get to the bottom of this. Lucy, do you have any questions that you think will get us closer to the truth? No, but I just have a question in general. Don't you think that if this fart brought the locker room together, then the player would be proud of this fart

and want their identity out there to get MVP? It's a big win. It's a great point. It is a fantastic point. He may very well, however, I think I would have to check in with that player first before I publicly embarrassed him. I'm trying to tell everyone about your fart. That's right.

Let's ask. Okay. What you can do is say no. Would you describe the fart as precious? You know, there was actually a precious. There was a precious fart moment earlier this year. What? I eliminate him from this one that I feel that I feel

confident in saying because that one got some play on Nick's Twitter. Hartenstein. There was Hartenstein does have a centrally located locker. Precious. What was the previous fart story with Precious, please? It was a he let one one go during a scrum. And that one got out and made its way

onto the internet amongst. So Nick's farting is becoming a thing. If we have one final show guess, can you confirm or deny? Because you've given us a lot of sleuthing to do, and I think we're close to having a formal guess. I don't think he's gonna tell're close to having a formal guess. I don't think he's going to tell us if we have a form. I can give you the guests. I can't confirm it. You can try to

read it from my facial expression. I will always protect the farter. That's that that I think is rule number one of journalism at this point. Okay, always protect it. All right. Given the jersey number, where the fart location was, Jeremy asked some really good questions. Jeremy, you wanna present our guest? Hold on, before you do that, I'm getting texts here from other sources telling me,

I don't know what, I can't talk to you guys directly, that it's Burks, that it's Burks, is what I'm getting here, just on my texts immediately. So if that's what you guys wanna offer as our official guest, be careful. That wasn't gonna be our guest, so now we might have to do some more investigating because we were putting- It did blink a lot when Dan said that.

That's interesting. We were putting together the combination of how many minutes per game was this player playing, where was the location in the locker room, if we're talking about a long and powerful fart, we're thinking maybe a big man. Alec Burks does not have a centrally located locker. Okay, bad information I'm getting.

I have the layout of the locker room. But Jeremy, I don't know what you're doing. You cannot profile these things based on size. I mean. No, we've had a lot of context clues here. Yeah. But Jeremy's saying. I don't think size matters at all.

Yeah, I think it never does. Height has no correlation. Yeah, fiber all. Height has no correlation. Yeah, fiber does. Height has absolutely no correlation. What is our guess? Mitchell Robinson. He smirked. He pursed his lips. Well, I can tell you this.

That's a poor guess because Mitchell Robinson is currently recovering from surgery. Well, right. Not even. It was not. Not around. It was not around at all. A lot of medicine in the system. What a shitty guess by us. That's the worst.

That's the worst guess could have gone. Shitty. My God. McBride. That's the one that I can confirm. That's what all of our investigation produced. Look at that. Look at.

Deuce McBride. All right. You know what? You go sit in the penalty box. Fred, you get sit in the penalty box Fred you get out of here. Thank you for your reporting I had two minutes for high-sticking get out of here. Thank you. I I love you guys have me on I love you guys are looking into this you guys are the best show. Thank you, sir The athletic NBA show on Saturdays he hosts the Knicks podcast cats and shoot twice a week What were the rejected names before Cats and Shoot? What were, like, what finished in second place?

Cats on Broadway was one that was put out there, but that was honestly even cornier. I thought that was even cornier than Cats and Shoot. Jeremy loves it. Look at him over there just grinning maniacally. Thank you. Thank you, Fred. How, I'm just ashamed of our group.

I think our audience is disappointed on our behalf that the community wanted to make a good guest there and you guys trying to do the research come up with Mitchell Robinson. This guy's treating it like Watergate. He's not even around the team. WFAT. Why are you still here? Why are you, get out of here? Why are you still here?

You need to get out of here. Are you who are you talking to? I don't want both of you both of you get cats out of here get Chris Cody out of here get everybody out of here Because I'm I'm I'm annoyed Mitchell. How can Mitchell Robinson be our guest? He's not around. He's not around the locker room access. He's not in a central legal case. He's not around the team! It was McBride! He was McBride! He did it, Ken! You tried to guess Alec Berg!

It was gonna be Alec Berg before! But you took Alec Berg's guess! You took Alec Berg's guess! No, I threw it to you! Just because you took our guess before! That's not how you set up our game! By taking our guess? God, I hate you guys!

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Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories per 12 ounces. Fewer cows and carbs and premium regular beer. Don Lebatard. Some 500 seasons it's been lonely. Now the best player is on our side. Been losing and losing for much too long. But now we're back with New York pride

Stugats Jalen You've got us on our feet Jalen We're gonna win the East Jalen Without Randall we're still doing fine This is the Dan LeBattar Show with the Stugarts. David Sampson is going to join us in a little bit here. Before we get to that though, there are a number of things that I want to cover with you guys because I don't know if you've been following the travails of Darren Waller. He has just gotten pretty publicly divorced from

Kelsey Plum. Darren Waller, for those of you who do not know, the first I learned of him is he's another one of these giant tight ends for the Raiders who can't be stopped because he moves around the field at his size in a way that's super unusual but also has talked a lot about demons and mental health stuff and addiction and darkness and was thinking about retiring during the end of last season after being traded to the Giants and The whole thing with the Giants seems like it was awful Teran Waller got to run all over the field when he was playing before that had to be a shitty experience for him

And he wanted to retire and generally in football when I hear a player wants to retire I'm like, oh that guy is totally done like if he's doing it for money or some other reason other than he likes doing it or He's if you if you're not playing that game with your heart You're smoked And I don't and haven't followed the details of his divorce. So lucy I don't know how he's publicly losing his divorce as this becomes a mess in public My only knowledge about this man is I felt bad for him

if he's battling demons and stuff to want to retire from the sport. There's probably something going on in his life that is pretty turbulent. He's not necessarily losing the divorce so much as Kelsey Plum is winning the divorce. So it came out about a few weeks ago that they officially split up.

There were rumors for a while they didn't post each other on Instagram. This was also a very notoriously private couple. Most people did not know they were dating until they just posted that they had gotten married, like photos of their wedding. So they got divorced a few weeks ago or officially split up. And since then, Kelsey Plumb has been on an absolute heater. She showed up to the Aces first game two days ago. That woman looked so good. She had like, her abs were out.

She had like a kind of like little titty top on. She looked phenomenal. And then you're watching the game. Wow, she looks amazing. She shows up. What's all over the commercial? Kelsey Plum in a Skims ad looking absolutely amazing. My girl, I can always tell when someone's going

through a breakup, cause they get exponentially hotter and that is what has happened to Kelsey Plum. And I'm sorry she got divorced, but damn, she looks good, go Kelsey. I wanna ask you about my professional marriage here and the places where it is falling apart. The one with Stugats that I have, I want to ask the group here how I'm to feel about the following, because David Sampson is going to join us, and David

Sampson's a little bit hurt by how it is that Stugatz asked for Sampson to write part of his book for Stugatz. Stugatz is basically outsourcing all of this giving us deadlines in some cases there's been a real tear system on it who he gives the most respect by calling personally verses legitimately having his people reach out to jessica and others on his behalf to tell them what they will be doing for him and his book for free. The question I have, because he never asked me to write the foreword, he told me, and

he told me I had a deadline of May 5th and I've got a lot of things going on in my life and these things take time. He wouldn't know. He's not writing a book. We are. And when you write, these things are hard, and I thought because he asked me to do it, that mine might be a little mean in tone,

because I don't know what anyone else is writing, and he's telling me to be mean. He's saying, just hammer me, buddy, and I'm like, are you sure? And so I wrote it at the deadline, two weeks ago, and told him I've got a busy time coming up if i need to rework it i need time i'm going to be in africa i've got things to do he hasn't read it

in two weeks this work he's asked me to do for him for free that took a good amount of a weekend what am i to do with the fact that the stew gotts book experience is filling me with resentment and now that forward is going to be meaner than i wanted to be because i And what am I to do with the fact that the Stugat's book experience is filling me with resentment and now that forward is going to be meaner than I want it to be because I don't know the tone of everything else being written about it and he's just saying, don't worry buddy hammer me. Just wait to the book tour.

How am I supposed to feel about all that? You know who you married. I know that this is the thing and him being like this is canon and he plays right to it, but you can't possibly pretend to be surprised or exasperated at this point. You should just mail it in. Write like a paragraph.

I was actually using Chad GPT to just do it for me. Chad GPT? Chad GPT. The frat AI. That's a good character though. Let's put that one, set Chad GPT to just do it Chad GPT chat the frat the frat character though Let's put that one Chad GPT aside. What's up, bro? Artificial stupidity um like just like Google it or whatever I'll know man Listen see you talk and just goes man. That, TVT is a good character. He listens to you talk and just goes, man, that's crazy. I tried, but it was really shitty. It wasn't good enough, wasn't funny enough, and I'm like,

I should have done it the way that he would have done it, which is just mail it in. But I want it to be something that he's proud of. We're putting our show's name on it. Our audience is going to buy it because there's legitimate good writers writing it. It's stugotsbook.com. But when you say I'm not allowed to be surprised, Mike. Just breathe in, breathe out. Let's have some za. When you say I'm not allowed to be surprised.

What are you doing here, dude? That's my thing. Did you watch Cale McCarr last night? Number eight. His name loosely translates into K.A. Ocho. I can perpetually be surprised by how far he pushes out the disrespect until I have to knock it down on him. But in this one instance, if he doesn't get organized, I at the front of his book am really

going to be insulting him in a way that offends his wife. Sounds like you need to set some boundaries, Dan. I'm having some trouble with that, Lucy. Can you help me? Because our entire company has an issue with that, because I'm not good at it. You should say you lost your phone, bro. It's really not my job. I think you need a licensed professional. New phone, who dis?

I asked yesterday, Billy, if he wanted the promotion of being Metal Art Consultant to be that licensed professional, but because I set very poor boundaries, he's like, yeah, I don't want to do that. It all comes back to the boundaries. But I don't want to boss everyone around here. I want them to be their best selves. You just need to worry about you. Chad, he gets it. Chad always gets it. Mike Ryan is troubling me because his obsession with racing that's made an appearance out of nowhere when we are talking basketball

and hockey and he's snorting enough adrenaline for everybody around here. But Mike Ryan is somebody who will get obsessed with something and then he's on the train listening to four Toronto Maple Leaf podcasts and what he's doing with NASCAR right now, out of nowhere. What do you like there, Barube?

Out of nowhere, what he is doing with NASCAR where he's showing me his arm today and it's got goosebumps on it because of something. That is happening. Yeah, I saw a fan made trailer for an Intimidator four part docu-series that is going to Amazon Prime. Amazon Prime, they're in the live sports game,

have been in for a long time. Next year they get a NASCAR package, and to celebrate this, they've announced a four part series on the greatest racer of all time, Dale Earnhardt Jr. In my opinion, greatest character in the history of racing. And yeah, I got goosebumps watching what I'm pretty sure is just a fan-made trailer because I'm reliving all these great moments. I used to really like NASCAR when I was a youth growing up, seeing the Intimidator Black No. 3 against a rainbow- colored duppont of Jeff Gordon

And it was a golden era and also I've just been reliving all these great race finishes because when it comes up play-by-play You can't really get much better play-by-play than you get with NASCAR So I'm reliving all these things. I'm watching it through a child's eyes, and I love NASCAR racing They've been electric finishes what started as a bit to rebel against Formula One because I just don't get it, and me just doubling down on what was a fake gear head type of character, has become a very real affinity for the motorsport.

And now I'm really into Kyle Larson because he had the greatest finish to a race, the closest finish to a race in NASCAR history. You and your wife jumping up and down on the couch. It was a great moment. It was a great moment. It was electric. It also felt like America.

And Kyle Larson is doing what few have tried to do before. I don't know if you know this, Dan. Bush and Stewart had done it prior. Only Tony Stewart was the only one that actually finished all the miles in there. But Kyle Larson, who Marty Smith told me a couple weeks ago, is the greatest living driver on the planet. More talented than Max Verstappen. That dude knows racing, but I was pretty shocked to hear that.

How could a stock car driver be considered here? Well, he's racing in the Indy 500, and on the same day, he's traveling to Charlotte to participate in his NASCAR race. It's a feat that very few have even attempted, and even fewer have actually pulled off. And he's not had a lot of time to practice. He's IndyCar race car drivers that 10,000 hours the whole the whole deal. His practices are getting range shortened and they've asked IndyCar

drivers about Kyle Larson because they've seen these novelty acts come and go. He's got the respect of everybody. I would really love to talk to Kyle Larson about this because if that can't get you in that one singular day, then motorsports is not for you. And I know largely it is not for our audience. But the theater, the drama, and the actual achievement of this is amazing.

Well, you say motorsports is not for our audience. And what I would say to you is prepare okay prepare because of what happened with f1 and netflix and what is happening with sports and streaming right now because this is from mike florio to see every game in the 2024 nfl regular season you'll need nbc cbs fox abc sundayicket, NFL Network, ESPN, ESPN+, Amazon Prime, Peacock, and Netflix. And... And don't forget, you'll actually need cable to really consume everything because you need

those credentials to log into a lot of those apps. Also I would say to you, watch Netflix, pouring a lot of money, 10 part documentary on Jerry Jones, really excessive Jones really excessive really excessive will ferrell doing a golf thing on netflix uh... everyone is rushing to sports i don't believe amazon has any chance of losing out on all nba stuff because amazon's got the most money and i'm assuming that they're going to start getting all sorts of stuff and then we'll need the programming that supports all the stuff they have because I'm guessing if they're competing with Netflix,

they're gonna start throwing all that money at those places. I don't know if it's thanks to companies like DraftKings at legal sports betting, but it does, or the pandemic where everybody was just so hungry for anything that you had Korean baseball have a moment, but sports are certainly on the rise. The viewing and the ratings are all up. And that's why I'm partly really concerned about what's going on with the NBA in terms of a national scope. I know regional sports ratings tell

a different story, but I would be really concerned if I were Adam Silver. And it doesn't seem to really matter because they're going to set a new high watermark when it comes to rights anyway. Howdy folks, it's Mike Ryan and as you know, you're probably a sports fan, you know it's playoff time, and you probably have a team that you want to root on and maybe you're like me and you're not a season ticket holder so you miss the first crack at getting tickets so what do you do? You check the secondary market. Well, let me tell you about my best friend in that secondary market because I've tried

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Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account and use code DAN for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code D-A-N for $20 off. Download Game Time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. Don Lebatard. We love you, we've got you, we've all got each other. Let's go, right now. Stugats. One, two, three, Brett. One, two, three, Brett!

This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stugats. Let's get an expert on this subject in here. David Sampson, his podcast is nothing personal and if you want to be super informed on these kinds of things, I don't believe there's anyone doing it better in sports business. So tell us what Gadel is doing here because both of these things going on in sports with football and basketball is fascinating. Netflix deal tells you that football is still King Howe. Well it tells me that there's another bitter for the rights and that Gadel is willing to play football on any day of the week and he's willing to not care about player safety and he can claim he does all he wants but he wants games whenever

he can so he has inventory to sell whenever he can and he wants to widen the lead that he has over the other leagues he wants to be the king of everything and good for him i think it comes at the expense of the consumer. But guess what? Every company is trying to raise their prices and get you to spend more for fewer chips in the bag. That is as old as capitalism. So sports is just catching on and trying to make owners happy. And the reason they're doing it, Dan, is that the cost of entry has gone up so much.

And we talk about this on the sporting class. There's an episode coming out with John Skipper and Pablo Torre, I hope tomorrow. And one of the things we talk about is how interesting it is. When you spend 10 million on a sports team, it's okay if you're not getting every nickel from the consumer.

When you spend 6 billion, you gotta start finding new ways to make money. Can you tell me the Chief's problem, though a thing that harrison butler just did during commencement speech where he took out an assortment of groups we didn't even get to the anti-semitism yesterday when we're starting to read some of the comments there's a petition now of more than thirty thousand

signatures uh... for the chiefs to release him of course he's going to become a hero to uh... members of a hero to members of, certain members of the far right. What is the problem the Chiefs have and what's going to happen going forward here? Well, the biggest problem is the Chiefs are playing on every day of the week this year except Tuesday. The biggest problem is they're trying to go for a three-peat and they have a distraction that they just don't want to deal with. And the NFL came out with a statement putting itself with separation away from this place kicker.

And I had a way to see on nothing personal and I got crushed for it online. But I don't think he kicks again for the chiefs, no matter how good he is. And I'm not saying he doesn't have the right to his opinion. He doesn't have the right to tell me what my opinion should be. And then if my opinion is different, that my opinion is wrong. And that was the tone of the speech. Of course, he was preaching to the choir at the school. He does have that right. He does have that right that you're saying he does not have to tell you your opinion is wrong.

So let's talk about free speech. I love that you wanna do this. Free speech is the ability to say anything that is within the bounds of the constitution that basically says that if you don't like what I'm saying, it doesn't matter if you don't agree with what I'm saying, it doesn't matter. However, I have the right to choose whether I engage with you, whether I give you the platform to do it,

you can be yelling into the wind that that's still free speech. The chiefs have every right to release him for what he said, and they don't need to hide behind free speech. They don't need to hide behind anything other than I don't want you representing me. And that is totally legal. Well, I think it's understood that they have that right. And Colin Kaepernick's not playing because the NFL did that to him. But I don't hear anyone saying what you're saying that Butker just lost his job. I don't hear anyone saying that.

And the reason I'm saying it is when you run a team and you see what this is doing, I had the view that Kelsey and Swift were gonna have a problem and that the Chiefs would certainly choose Kelsey and Swift. Oh, but wait, no, no, wait. Mahomes was on with McAfee and did say that I never speak to Harrison butker he sits next to

me in meetings and I will not speak to that person but I thought that that was I thought that that was about you know quarterback doesn't respect the kicker I didn't think it was about his politics. I didn't hear him say that so I don't know I don't know exactly what you're referring to as to why he doesn't speak to him, but it's very common within a clubhouse that you've got players who can go whole season and they say nothing to know

that I don't know but wait wait wait this was a couple of years ago and I don't know the context I just saw a short clip my home said that butler sits next to him in the meetings and he doesn't say anything to him all season because of his views are i don't know i don't like no that wasn't what we're talking about that wasn't clear in the interview but what i'm sick you're just mentioning that the chiefs can run him off of the players have a problem with what it is just that he just did

but I'm assuming they already know who this person is. Oh so you think the reason Mahomes doesn't talk to him is because of his views and that he's a kicker and kicker I don't need your opinion on anything I don't care if I agree with all your opinions I don't need your opinions on anything you don't actually play football you kick the ball with your foot opinions, I don't need your opinions on anything. You don't actually play football. You kick the ball with your foot. And it hasn't mattered until now when he became a viral sensation for certain people and his views were put out there.

And again, I want to be clear, just because I disagree with what he said doesn't mean he doesn't have the right to say it. My point is that the way in which he did it and the form in which he chose, totally his choice and his right to do it. But that puts his job in jeopardy because he's on a team where the biggest star of the team is the most accomplished woman in theory, and maybe in practice, the single most accomplished woman in the world is a part of the chiefs and way more a part of the chiefs than he is. Alright, Samson,

let me put you in this room because you're saying things that I don't believe are going to happen. I don't believe they're going to be any consequences to this for him even though his value is only as a kicker and those are largely disposable but he's a good one and a champion and if he somehow gets waved then he becomes a fighter for a cause of some sort somebody who's too hot for the NFL you're the the guy running the Chiefs right now freedom you're the guy running the Chiefs right now this is your problem what are you doing you're the owner and president of the chiefs.

I'm making sure that Kelsey and Mahomes are okay and I'm hoping not to have to release him because he's good. If he were bad, I would have released him immediately. Okay, but that's not any kind of stand at all. This is a team that also signed Matt Arisa. Wait, you asked me what I would do if I were running the team. That's right. You're saying they're going to be you're saying you think he's played his last down for the Chiefs, and that can only be so if they wave him. Because I think the way this ends is that it has legs.

And I don't think the story goes away. And I don't mean a petition with 30,000 signatures. I think it creates a problem inside that locker room more than silence, which is really not a problem in a locker room. And I think the chiefs will have no choice. They're hoping that the next story happens and that this gets under the table. But my view is some stories become an avalanche right now. It's a pebble, but once it becomes an avalanche, there's no turning back from it.

And I think this story becomes that. Can you talk to us about the business of the WNBA as all these streaming services need sports content and now the WNBA has charter flights and broadcast deals and it is now a giant business. It is a different business than it's been for the last 25 years. It's entering a phase of value that is cashing in on all of the things. So explain to me what you see happening right now with the finances of the WNBA. Right now the WNBA is in fake it till you make it mode. And the reason I say that is they've got a anchor tenant now.

And Caitlin Clark is that anchor tenant. It's like the keystone. The question is, how are you monetizing that? Sp spending extra money on charter flights? That's more expense. Where's the more revenue coming from? You saw 2.1 million people watch her first game with a fever. And then you saw a, a diminution, a, it was almost like a Bomani-Jones situation where a quarter of the people stayed for the second game. And the problem with that is when you're in the middle of a broadcast deal, which is what the WNBA is,

trying to break away from the NBA, is this now the time? Everybody's saying, yes, take advantage. We've got Clark, we've got sold out games. This is amazing. But when it comes to dollars and cents, in actuality, the WNBA value proposition has not changed. But it could change if they can somehow take advantage of Caitlin Clark more so than 2.1 million people in game one or more so than the first game in New York this coming Saturday, more

so than putting them on private planes. They've got to find a way to increase the value of sponsorships, to increase the value of teams, and to get their own broadcast deal. When those happen, then the WNBA business has changed. I feel like they've already done that. Like the WNBA, Kaitlin has been a catalyst and will continue to be a catalyst, but it's been growing for the last five years.

When Kaitlin was drafted, it was almost immediately that the fever released a Caitlyn Clark line on their team store. I bought a hat. It's very cute. I'll wear it next time I'm here. But they've done a good job with it. And I think what we're like kind of discounting here is we've had more star power in this rookie class than we've ever seen. And they are bringing something that former players weren't bringing. Those are NIL deals. So Caitlin already has a sponsorship with Game Bridge, which is based in Indianapolis. I think those will carry over to the team.

Like specifically alone watching the WNBA games on Tuesday night, I saw so many ads, CarMax with Sabrina, Asia, Super, Skims. Like the sponsorships and the viewerships are all coming. I think the big question is how do you translate that into negotiating your next TV rights deal? And how do you translate that into what the teams are selling for? Because again, you could do a full your mark,

which that may be a reference from before you moved to Florida with the Panthers, where he had a ton of sponsors, but they weren't paying anything and a ton of attendance and they were giving tickets away. I've done all that in this market. The fact is that that doesn't do anything for your business. It just makes it look like things are good. So I saw those commercials too and I am rooting for it, but there's so much pressure on Caitlin Clark to perform

and people were shaming her for turnovers and not shooting well. She is a rookie coming into a league against professionals. It's a different world. Could she be the best player in the game soon? Yes, but she shouldn't be expected to be it today. No, I agree that she has like an insane amount of pressure on her. And even if she doesn't succeed right away, like hate to say it, people love to watch women fail.

People will tune in so they can give the Stu Gott's take of she's terrible and she's overrated. Like that's something people will tune in to watch. I think something that I note specifically is outside of the fever, the Sparks, the Aces, the Mystics have all had games that they've had to move to bigger arenas because the ticket sales have been so, so much bigger than they were previously.

So I think you are seeing, people are willing to spend money to see a WNBA team. The thing with the fever, not selling out as many tickets, they've sold out majority of their tickets for tonight. They just have tickets selling really cheaply. I think it's also important to note that right now Indiana has a team in the NBA playoffs as well. Like they're such a thing as fan with.

I think that once the NBA season starts to slow down a little bit, you're going to see just this insane rush of people looking to go to the WNBA. And I think Caitlin's a big part of that. I think Angel's a big part of it. And I think the existing stars that we're now getting to know a little bit better are also a huge part of that as well. I used to use fan with all the time,

all the time when the heat were still in it, when the dolphin season was happening. Hey, that's why people aren't coming to Marlins games. I used to love that as an excuse. And it was total horse hockey because it turns out fan width is way, way bigger than one would think. And I thought those venues were changed because those were all Caitlin Clark games.

Are they changing venues for just regular matchups? Yeah, like the Mystic Sky game. Like it's, there's so much interest in this rookie class specifically. And Caitlin is the big name and and she's deserved all Of that but people love Cameron Brink. They love Angel Reese It's it's coming along for a lot of teams outside of the fever David stay right there because I want to ask you About your movie review and why you just did that asshole move to Balmonte. We're gonna come back with that in a second

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