The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Big Suey: The Baseball Kiss of Death

Episode Date: October 11, 2023

The crew wraps up their conversation with David Samson on teams in Vegas and athletes owning franchises. Billy gives us some more info on his broadcast tonight as we dive into the former Spanish Language radio stations in Miami. Plus, Stephen A. Smith spoke about Marcellus Wiley on The Breakfast Club, and Dan, Stu, and the Shipping Container discuss the world-building Stephen A. is doing around his own personality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. Welcome to the big, sweet, presented by Giraffe King. Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan Levitard 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, that face and the habitual liar. If you think there's no human element in referees and umpires, you're absolutely incorrect. That's not what I'm saying. You're saying that the business element oversees all.

That's what you're saying. In a way, business element is a huge part. But the arbiters are supposed to be impartial. They are supposed to be immune to that. And you're suggesting that they're not, while not outright claiming a fix, is suggesting a distortion that feeds conspiracy fans who believe that the results are ordained. It's not scripted. It's not ordained. But if anyone's been watching sports for the past 40 years, how do

you not agree with what I'm saying? How have you not seen it through the course of your fandom when you look and say, wow, they're not fouling out that player. That player definitely committed a fifth foul and a sixth foul. They don't want to give early foul trouble to a star in a big game. Sometimes it happens because there's no choice because it's so obvious. But other times they swallow the whistle. How many times in the NBA do you see two guys go up and foul and they give the foul to the one who doesn't have four fouls to the one who's not Luca Donnelly. That's because the other

guy was like, that was me. Sorry, Reff. Have you ever seen that? They put their hand up. No, no, that's on me. Oh, and this happens, this happens in soccer too, where you don't give second yellow cards in certain situations. There, there's sort of an extra step for a second yellow card offense than a first yellow card offense. Just pick it up some steam, Dan. But at the same time though, like, and this particular thing though, the answer for me with refereeing has always more been incompetence than conspiracy.

And if you lend any credibility to the idea that conspiracy is potentially in play, then it allows your fans to think that the results are sort of not on the level, which is sort of completely destroys the whole thing. The whole thing of watching sports is there is this neutral plane upon which this game is being played. Well, Whitty, you just talked about yellow cards. So what do you, what happened in soccer? I believe that there is an accepted star treatment bias that is universally considered by all that isn't quite

the commissioner letting the umpires know, hey, we need this to go five games that those are two different things. Well, and also, I mean, to your point, David, there is definitely a different standard for files that occur in the first 10 minutes of soccer matches then files that occur in the second half. Referees do not want to give red cards

in the first 10 minutes of games and quote, ruin the occasion, especially if they're big games. Well, hold on a second, because is David, are you saying there's communication between Major League Baseball and the Ums or the Ums just no? Are you saying during the game? There is no game before the game. Before the game. There is always a question.

He is saying that. Yes, he is saying that this is. There's meetings every before every game, Stu. And they're communicating, hey, it'd be nice if this series went longer ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha If it was a tie on the door when Stugot says we're gaming steam here and Billion Stugots come in they both gave me finger guns today trying to compete on who's cheating more right now the Braves Whistling or the Astros and And now Samson is accusations You both the publisher will find out we're just saying

You and Stugat. We play at the scene. You and Stugat came in here today and your baseball analysis was the astros and the braves are cheating. That's all you had in the name of analysis. And Samson is here to tell you, hey, it's being whispered about in those closets that the umpires gather in before the game. They're not closets, but they're not.

The one that Joe Robbie was. Don't tell me it wasn't a closet. I do, the one that your stadium absolutely wasn't janitors closet. The Joe. When you build a new stadium, you actually have to build umpires a nicer room, but we gave them the cheapest shower heads and sink things. What are those faucets? So there were different

levels. Sink things, Mark. When you're allocating faucets and toilets, what kind it is. And we went with the kind of flusher where you can use your foot and the side flushes. David, you're actively discouraging them. Yeah, and you're signed. You want to buy them. We, and you're signed. Why'd you buy them? We're talking about the human element.

Ah, so much. Get in my toe, you know what I mean? How much money were you saving as you tried? That's the other thing. I mean, the saving 10 million on faucets. That's a toilet. You're buying military toilets for like 40,000 dollars. That a trolleve.

With bidets and seatwormers. You're going to have so many overruns if you ever build something, Dan. You have to save things a dollar at a time. They add up. I am building a home. I am. Our toilet paper is pretty filmsy here. Yeah, we don't have that too plight.

You're right, Chris. David, you're telling me that you actively gave the umpires what you believe to be the worst toiletries available to anyone in professional sports? Oh, I don't care about anyone in professional sports, but the people in the suites get really good toilets with good flushers and nice faucets and there's a different level of of it's called FF&E

Furniture fixtures and equipment with and you have a budget for it with nice nice stuff to people who are paying you the most money And you give the worst stuff in the upper deck and in the umpires room and in the visiting clubhouse by the way That explains why dinkinger was shitting into a hole then in the ground That explains why Dinkinger was shitting into a hole. Then in the ground. Whatever the Marlins play. Is that the funniest empire in the end you can pick up? It's the best. David, between LeBron and Shaq, wanting the franchise in Las Vegas, what do you imagine

when basketball does end up getting to Las Vegas? What is ownership going to look like there is Lebron going to have the ability to pull off ownership in Vegas more than Shack? I think I'm going to get in trouble because I talked about this on days show nothing personal that's out now. NBA wants Lebron over Shack. There's no question. But people thinking that LeBron is going to be able to be like Jordan, he's not. In order for LeBron to be the control person of an expansion team, the NBA is gonna have to change

its rules and query will they? Because they want LeBron in there, but he doesn't have the money to pay the expansion fee and to be the control person and to be the biggest equity holder. And there are rules that the NFL has, the NBA has, that MLB has about what an owner has to put in and what percentage of the team the main owner has to have. That's why you have magic, who is a great part of an ownership group, but it's a really an outward facing part. Lebron is the type who wants to be in charge. The MLB had this issue with Jeter. When Jeter wanted to be the control person, MLB said, no,

you're not allowed to be. You're not putting in enough money to be the control person. So it had to be Bruce Sherman. But Derek Geter got to run the team. My view is LeBron doesn't want to run the team. He wants to be the Bruce Sherman of the Vegas team, and I don't know how he's going to do it. But the NBA will find a way because they'll choose LeBron over Shaq as they should, but they have to change the rules. And I don't know that he'll get the votes to do that.

But David, isn't LeBron's involvement with that to do with his involvement with Fenway Sports Group who are apparently the actual financiers of that whole thing? It, I mean, it's not. And Redbird Capital. Of course, that's where he's gonna get his money. The same way Giergat has money with Sherman. So I understand where LeBron can come up

with the money to do it. But I'm talking about him being the name. There's one guy, and that's it. There's one control person of every franchise. How does LeBron become the control person versus being in an ownership group? He can be in an ownership group in Vegas, and that's gonna work, but my view of LeBron

is he'd wanna be the control person. But I mean, that's impossible in both the NFL and the NBA at this point. When teams are going, I mean, that expansion for these can be what, five billion billion for an NBA team in Vegas, at least $5 billion. Right, so I mean, there are, how many people in the world that,

like our individuals, not as part of venture capital firms, that can afford that, it's 150, 200 people in the world can afford to pay $500 billion for even, before you even build an arena before even doing it. Jordan's the only athlete who's ever been in the Forbes top list. He's not worth $3 billion. But what was the Charlotte Hornitz worth then? Were they worth $300, 350 million?

NBA teams used to be affordable. It's a completely different world than it was in the late 2000s. Did the Milwaukee Bucks get sold for like 300 million dollars at the time? That's preposterous now compared to what you buy for an MBA team for. It's the same thing like what you're what you're MLS did with Beckham giving him an option when he signed with LA for 25 million to get an expansion team and the owners were okay because they wanted Beckham to have it. The owners are not going to give LeBron an option for an expansion team

out of reduced fee because they need the expansion fee money to pay down their debt. So LeBron is not gonna get what Beckham got. And frankly, I don't know that anyone will ever get back back to that again. Like the reports or that message sort of got offered a piece, but that will never ever happen again.

Especially, I mean, that purchase option, you say, twenty five million i think the most recent expansion team into mls sandiego is at five hundred million david what most most groups want the broad to be their control guy it doesn't matter what they want matters what the mba rules are right and the rules are that if you're going to be the control guy of a partnership and in the on the board of governors with the mba that you have to own a certain amount which groups those two got to billionaire doesn't want to give lebron more

control than the billionaire has like you think somebody wants to give lebron the control if it increases the value of your franchise if it makes better players want to come there to play for you i would think that some people would be okay with the brown be the control got yeah sure i'ma did it uh... but you know i really think it some people would be okay with the bra on being the control guy. Yeah, Sherman did it. Uh, but Peter wasn't really the control guy. Not well. And he wasn't the control guy. He just sort of looked like the control guy. Uh, I, I would assume that anybody buying in for that amount of money would want everyone to be their employee period. You also, by the way, saw with Michael Jordan, what happens when you are the control guy

and you've kind of seen it to a lesser extent with LeBron when he's been gotten free rain on the teams. like he could be the greatest basketball player ever and not know how to successfully run a basketball franchise. Billy, we are completely aligned when I said that Derek's good at being a shortstop. It doesn't mean you can be a CEO. It's two very different skills and Jordan found that out. It's funny. His reputation is not tarnished because his team

went up so much in value. But can anyone say that Michael Jordan had a successful reign in charge of a basketball team? No, I don't know. But it also, it does not preclude you, though. No, it's also got a shot at them. It's just, it's one of those, it's like, sometimes the baddest players aren't great coaches.

Like, it doesn't mean the brum would be bad at it. It's an easy-your-sell lost faith. But it might not be good lost faith It's not good But he might be good But he might not be oh No one's ever been that means no one's ever be He might be average It's impossible to be if no one's ever been he's not gonna be okay odds are because the Orioles got swept that the next one will be good.

You and the O's man. Samson, we don't have any time for your movie review. I urge the people to listen to nothing personal. He takes great care to cover subject matter. I will tell you again that not a lot of people are doing. Never mind alone, but not a lot of people are doing at all. Nothing personal with David Samson. Thank you, sir. We will talk to you again next week. Take care. At Public Mobile, we do things differently. From our subscription phone plans to throwing a big sale right now when no one else is. Well, maybe they are, but who cares. Our sale is better.

And it's on right now no waiting necessary You have the latest phone now take advantage of a great price on a 5G subscription phone plan It's the perfect deal for anyone who could use some savings right now Subscribe today at public mobile dot CA different is calling Don't let a tart. Let's go to a 80 Don Lebatard. Let's go to 80. He was bow. Wow. I think Billy typed an 8 instead of a 8. 5 is a clear day. Wow. Two guts. Number 8.

He got three. It's Chris Conor on the line. He's seeing. This is the Don Lebatard show with his two guts. This is the Don't Liberty Show with this two cats. There is in general always a lot going on around here. So just in the last couple of minutes, when there was for a moment blissful silence around here. What I overheard, it didn't last very long.

I've got two cats on one front asking me, hey, Dan, I haven't made our annual call to Bob Custis yet. We have one call a year that he allows us to come on the show. Should I call him because he saved a person's life? With the Heimlich maneuver. And my answer was yes, we should make the call to Bob us. Yes. But as this was happening, Billy is wandering past me and whispers at me, you're the baseball kiss of death. Every team that you like immediately fails in a spectacular fashion. The rays, the orals, the marlin. Who are you into now?

And hold on a second. What do you have against the Rangers? I will get there in a second. The Rangers just weren't that good the second half of the season. They were very good mashing the ball the first half of the season. And then I thought they were falling apart. They were falling apart the second half of the season. I mean, how about some credit for a team that lost Jacob DeGron, they lost Max Scherzer. I mean, that's what former Metz-Dudy. It's amazing. All the Rangers did was spend and spend and spend and spend and spend and trade and trade and trade and trade and trade and trade and trade and trade and the worst

It looked the further deep they sunk into it and somehow that's led them to being in the else and Garcia is one of the coolest players I've ever seen every credit every time he hits a home run Really just an enormous amount of sweat. I bet baseball a lot this season, but I didn't watch it a lot. So I was a big ranger's over guy, but I learned a lot of, I was like, they have a oldest Chapman. That's fun. I was like, this Garcia guy, who's he?

He's good. He's fun to watch. You bet a sport you don't watch on? Yeah, it's madness. We do a ranger's over, baby. Money in the back. You just like, look at the box goaler and see if they score a lot of goals. The Orals, the Gackie. the Orioles totals were good all season two until they got to evolve deal of a season

They're gambling again They're team totals then four and a half over four and a half they they match But as all of this is happening also Jeremy is apologizing to me because during the segment on Israel he was supposed to be wearing a bear costume He informed to me that he was supposed to be today wearing a bear costume as part of I gave him a pass I have the part of his punishment. You're not in charge of the grid of death anymore I am well, but you are no you're not writing in all of everybody's punishment Yeah, no, but I'm the enforcer. You're the secretary. I'm in correct. Yeah

Retroactively retroactively Jeremy goes sit in the penalty box Wow, I give him a pass He was great to go. Yeah, why you're not in charge? Well, who's in charge then? I'm in general of everything happening here. That would be me Well, he's going to the I know there's some checks out I know there's a lot of confusion about that around here. When you got a look in the mirror then, when people aren't completing punishments, it sounds like.

As all of that was happening, Stugots was daring Billy to name a single Utah player. The miners. And what I told him was, I got nine and a half hours to get this to God. I'm good as long as you don't book the head coach of the merchant marine for us later today, which is how these things end up going on lighter days.

Did he try to get the FIU coach? Sixth-Thirty. I don't. And before kick off, yeah. Whitney, Whitney, can FIU will do anything. Whitney can speak to this because I really don't believe that most people listening to this have any earthly idea how hard it is to do what Kirk Herbstreet does Where you go from one game to another midweek and you have to learn

95 new players and you're doing two or three of these a week when our Michaels is pretty good at all this stuff is doing once a week Because this stuff is hard. Yeah, the color guys jobs easy. Come on. Whitties doing the real work back there. I mean, he's just looking at a roster. He sees the numbers. He's reacting the plays. The color guy, he's dancing around Whitties. The live illustrating. I've heard you on spring trainings, two guys.

You've told me before how easy it is. And then I've seen proof that it's not quite as easy as you think. I was in the lead seat. No, Dan. I mean, that's different. I was a dancing around anyone. You did both jobs poorly. Thank you. You David Samson took the lead seat from No, Dan. I mean, that's different. I was a dancing around anyone. You did both jobs poorly. Thank you. David Samson took the lead seat from you during that

spring training. Well, yes, because you're very smart contingency plan. You lost the lead seat quickly because you think the jobs in sports are all jobs that you can do. And Billy's going, tonight, where can they hear you do FIU football, Billy, because you haven't told anybody. You seem, even though you're nervous about everything and fear just about everything, you seem calm and weirdly relaxed about the fact that you don't know very much about what you're headed into in terms of you tap football. I will be prepared for you tap football.

You can listen on 1140 double kubea today. It will be in English, but it'll be on a Spanish station. And we're working out a situation where it can be, we can be streamed at the same time, you know what I mean, maybe on the social media. And if you want to do this, friends, if you want to watch the game, it will be on ESPN 2. And then you could put that on mute. And then you can tune in. And you can listen to the call of the game. So you can kind of, if my words not painting an accurate picture of what's going on because I get distracted by, you know,

Rory the Panther or something in the end zone, then you can see what's happening in the actual game. Woody, it's someone who is climbed in the industry to do some of the big... I know where this is going. Biggest events in sports for Apple Television. Where would you put on the show business broadcasting ladder doing a game in English on Spanish language? I don't like that. I don't like what's going on here.

As a venture of having done that, it definitely feels like you're yelling into a well. No, our fans, listen, guys, pause up tonight. This is going to be the biggest college football game and conference USA out there. And I feel like the nation, as a whole, is gonna kinda galvanize around the Panthers tonight. On Vice Night, they're gonna have their Vice Uniforms on there. And they're gonna watch the game. And tonight, we're all Panthers. I'm just gonna say it.

Pause tonight, we're all, thank you, Whitty. Pause up everybody. Around the country tonight, we're all gonna be Panthers watching the game on ESPN 2 on mute and then listen to the game on Glec Gouwéah. La grande, I'm a meat in English, which was a confusing thing because- Are those two different stations?

I don't know. My dad thought that I was calling the game in Spanish for a while when I told him about this and he's like, yeah, you're doing the game in Spanish, right? I'm like, you thank God bless you for believing in your son so much. There's no way that I'm going to be calling a college football game in Spanish. Forgive my ignorance here because my information is dated, but is not, is it not so that the le kueh ah is the most aggressively political Spanish

station in the history of this? They flip formats. I think they're just a general new station now. What are you trying to accomplish? I am saying. Are we trying to draw people to this or away from this? This is the station that airs the games. That's where it's going to be on.

What do you want me to do? This is what I need to explain to America that might not be familiar with this. Before Rush Limbaugh, okay. What polluted our market was aggressive Spanish language radio that was as far as I could tell totally ungoverned by people who were speaking English. And what I would listen to on Dole-Li-Goo-A with transmissions that I knew were coming in from Cuba in the background. Hearing beneath what it is that they were doing was a form of radio that at the time as

I was growing up was clearly unregulated. It was one of the most influential radio stations of its time, but I mean the audience for it literally, it aged out of being a relevant demo. It's now a Spanish sports stock station. No, it's now the home of the panthers. Yeah, and that's what we're gonna be talking to. No, but what is this up, everybody? What is right, they flip the format, Dan.

It's all sports all the time. In the volume. I don't know how long. I mean, I'm on Beast another one too. I got that wrong, but Louis said it in my head today as I was talking and I should know better than just. Why is Louis trying to get me to say this? Why are we getting comfortable talking to my head? Why just Louis have access to anybody? I don't know to anybody. I

don't know. It is not good judgment that is pollution. It is a virus that needs to be stamped out him talking in everybody's ears. It is not helpful to anybody as far as I can tell. Danny, you're going to go to the game tonight? No, Billy. not helpful to anybody as far as I can tell. Danny, are you gonna go to the game tonight? No, Billy, I'm on it. What? I said the cage. It's a big one.

Quick drive. I want to get back for a second to something that I believe is very different about Miami. I mean recently, when we got into census talk, seemed to object as many people do to me saying that Miami is, I believe unique in a number of respects in America. And I was talking about how foreign-dade county is. And I heard a stat the other day that I didn't even know in terms of how foreign-dade county

is. That 75% of Dave County homes, the language being spoken at home is not English. I don't believe that's true of many counties of that size anywhere in America. There are places like Washington Heights and places in Los Angeles and San Antonio that may have some of that, but Miami is hugely different in that respect where in my age, Dole Kueh-A was by far the largest of stations down here. They would crush all the English-speaking language stations because of us being a city that is sort of between Latin America and traditional United States, it floating around in the

Caribbean, kind of separate from everything in the United States. The thing that Billy is doing tonight on Dobleh, Gubea, which I am stunned to learn now, is a total sports station. And oddly enough, the station this show used to be on is now the Dobleh, Gubea of the market, which is $790 the ticket is now the talk, or political talk format station in the market. How confused is your father, Billy, by everything happening tonight, that you were brought, how confused was he by you telling him,

I am coming on here and doing it in English, and he thought you were doing it in Spanish, which by the way, I would go to see. I would go to see you attempt to do that in Spanish. We're just listening. Well, that sounds like you're going because you think I'm gonna fail. It sounds like it's not from a place of support.

Billy, I would be going to do to you what you have done to me the entire time you have sought to sat in that seat since I've known you. I've been here like six months. I feel like, Dan, I announced the other day. I said, I'm here to uplift people. And everyone laughed at that. That's what you do.

Yeah. Yeah. You are looking forward to this evening. You are no longer nervous about these things. You are celebrating that you are able to be an alum and call a game, and you're going to be uniquely yourself. You're going to bring chaos to the proceedings. I, uh, so this is a, I was invited.

This is going to be the second time I've done this. The last time I was in 2019, so it's been a while. And I do have a second game booked two weeks from now. Wow. I'm kind of trying to figure out the best strategy here because I don't want to get my second game canceled, but I want to have fun. So I have to tow the line here, Dan. You know what

I mean? I have to give them what they want, but also not go too far. So I'm not what you want to be invited back. Exactly. Right. Greg Cody references. That's what you should do. I don't keep you coming back. That kind of thing. Zagaki. Be just okay tonight. All right. No, I want to be good. I want to get I also I also think I kind of know what they want for me and I don't think that it's like serious analysis which puts me in a situation where it's like, I'm gonna clown to you.

And you know it. Will you throw in a phrase for the audience? Is there a chance that you throw in a Greg Cody phrase as one of your signature calls? Sure. You never know. You never know. Don Lebatard. phrase as one of your signature calls. Sure. Don Lebatard. Listen, it could be Julius Randall's building.

I have a that. The Mecca. Are as Julius, the Mecca, stugats. Steve Martin was a prop comment. You said that. I said it two seconds earlier than you. This is the Dan Levatar show with the Stugats. Stugats, it has been fascinating, legitimately fascinating, as I talk a lot around here about how the sports media...

elder statement, elder statesman, how it is that they are going to age. Steven A. Smith is now on a show where you see on the bottom line all the time, the number one sports debate show on television, you see advertising for he is building something outside of ESPN, for Shannon Sharp's brand and show outside of ESPN is scrolling across the bottom. And I don't know if people have noticed or even care, but I will tell you that I've noticed because it's not something that can be ignored. When there is so much fracturing of audience that you question all ratings and everyone is divided because there's so many different people making things in different places and television numbers are down because we are not watching things the same way that we used to.

First take on Monday did almost 900,000 people watching at one time, which I think represents their best rating in 20 years. I don't even know what was going on in 03 that would put the number that high. Football always helps. I don't know what was going on. If Tibo was a part that sounds like it was too long ago,

I don't know what was happening, but that is a monster number when all numbers. Tibo is like 2006. When all numbers are declining, that is a giant number to have stationary in daytime that represents almost twice as much as what that show has always done at its best. And Stephen A. has spent two years defending his decision in various places, or maybe 18

months, to not have Max Kellerman on that show because he wanted to do a different show. And he's being rewarded with it with numbers that you don't generally see on television these days. The NFL helps college football helps, but I think having the Cowboys lose on Sunday night, the way they lost, I think a lot of people tuned in to see Stephen A's reactions to that. It's not just that though, because he's taken Shannon Sharp took the people from Skip Bayless with him. I told you at the time that Skip Bayless at this point needs Shannon Sharp more than

Shannon Sharp needed Skip Bayless and that has proven to be true. But in defending his decision, I want to play some sound for you. We already played the sound of Marcellus Wiley saying that Stephen A. was threatened by Max. Threatened by Max's intellect. He pointed out, among other things other things that Stephen A had a learning disability when he was young and Stephen A went on the breakfast club because he's been doing a hell of a job of promoting his things and promoting his brand. And again, it's been fascinating to watch, too, God says his power has grown there. Him being able to take what is already the number one

show there and turn it into his personal commercial for his brand and things that he is building outside of ESPN. Here is Steven A. on the Breakfast Club responding specifically to Marcellus Wiley's commentary, which was commentary I had not heard anywhere else from anybody when he was talking about the removal of Max Callerman. I think speak for itself the decisions that will may speak for itself, it is what it is, business is business, period. In terms of what Marcellus Wiley said,

now, that I will direct, I will address that directly. And I only have one thing to say, here and I work together, got a lot of respect for him. I know the man he was talking about, that was the best friend. I get all of that. No problem. Here's my only issue for a black man to sit up there and say another black man. It's scared of somebody's intellect. Come on bro. That's just the line you cross it. And I have nothing more to say other than that. That's sad that he would go that route. I guess that he's gonna get attention

because obviously everybody will watch us the breakfast club every chance we get. And you're gonna see, talk about it. I'm certainly not gonna argue with him. I've always had a lot of respect for him. Me and Marcelo's Wally have never had one issue. And I don't care what support he has for his boy or anybody else. I get that. I support my boys too. But I would never in a million years say that one black man is scared of the intellect

black man is scared of the intellect of a white man. There is no disputing stugots that he has been rewarded for the decisions that he is making in ways that are empirically measured. He objected the other day to me saying that he wants to end skip bailiffs his career. His response was no, I just want to compete. No, he doesn't. Well, I don't think he actively, I don't think he dislike Skip. People, man, Shannon Sharp and Stephen A are perfuse in their gratitude for Skip Bayless offering them an avenue and a platform that allowed them to grow the things that they

grew. And he says he doesn't want to end anyone's career, that he wants everybody to be able to make money at this trough, but he wants to make more of it. He wants to win more and at the moment there can be no disputing, that he is winning more because everyone is losing numbers to got all of this is so very fractured. Skip Bayless one day early in the season with a new format was doing a number of like 60,000 gathered at their television to do 10 times that To have people on morning television watching a show and it's football and it's Shannon Sharp

But it's also ESPN Dan. I mean it's a bigger platform I know but for God's he's been on ESPN for a long time with the number one show and not done this kind of number like that if you tell me it's also McAfee's not holding the number that the number is not holding you tell me it's ESPN But McAfee's not holding the number. It's almost an impossible number to hold if I don't put a game there Most things that ESPN puts on don't do that number unless there's a game there. PTI used to do stuff like that at the beginning when it was an ad, when it was at the advent of what it is. You remember when PTI would bleed into sports center because they just wanted to grab the numbers. They wanted to hold the numbers.

Those numbers are long gone for everybody in sports television except this show on Monday. Yeah, but there's still something to be said, Dan, even today, for a show that's consistently there, same time, same channel every single day. It's been there for years. It will be there for years. There's still something with a great host, not a good host, a great host with great opinions. Whether you like Stephen A or not, you can not debate whether or not he is excellent at television.

He's great and he's there every single morning in the same slot on the same station at Pat McAfee. As you mentioned, he just got here. Like it takes a minute. It took us a minute. It takes everyone else to got nobody's doing those numbers. No, but that, but I think Stu got hit on exactly why that's happening, which is they have carved out a lane where you feel like they not only provide the definitive opinion on something, they set the agenda for the day. So often their takes end up becoming the prism through which review sports. And well, what will first take say about this on Monday? And the idea that even if it is the Cowboys losing by 32 to San Francisco, it's well, what will they say about the Cowboys losing by 32 in San

Francisco? They have developed a niche where people want to hear what they have to say. They set the agenda for the day, and whether it's 400,000, 600,000, 700, I mean, realistically, those numbers are pretty small, particularly in the context of what the actual games themselves do. But it's more about they have a cultural relevance where they set the agenda for all of sports conversation. And it's not just the sports conversation steven a has started doing a fair amount of like naval gazing in terms of

talking about himself we are talking about steven a talking about himself and his co-workers we are doing that on first take the no no this is how he's growing the thing outside of that. The thing that he's growing out. This is how he gets earned media. This is how like people, like the the human drama of I dump my coast to the curb and we're doing better. We're doing it. We're promoting Stephen A right now by talking about and all of us if we were Max Kellerman would hate that. Correct. Like absolutely despise the idea that Stephen A Smith, what does this like year on from him?'t think Matt Kellen is talking about that? It's still banging on about it.

I'd be like, dude, can I have my career back please? Like you're just digging more shovels into my career. Can you stop and essentially building a super team of the other personalities who have been capable of doing the same thing? So you bring in all of these other personalities and their audiences. They know that you're the guy.

And from there, you build a narrative that's not only about how do I react, by the way, as the best in the business at being able to react to sports, but also you care what I have to say about me. And so you're gonna come to me in all of these other circumstances where you wanna know what's going on about my life, the same way that we talk about the athletes.

Like he's turned himself into the personality. I'd go a step further though on watching closely what it is he is doing and saying because when Stugant's in the middle of layoffs, he's telling you, I can be next. And then you watch on ESPN, the scroll for a daily info commercial of him telling you, and you can catch me over here on the

Stephen A Smith show on YouTube where I have my own production company, and you're treating ESPN, the power in sports, as something that is a promotional vehicle for your other projects outside of sports, where you have more room to do the naval gazing and the conflict and create the tensions with the athletes that get people to where you are away from ESPN. He's clearly building a safety net right in front of your eyes like he's doing it. If he's telling you out loud, I could be next when everyone knows he's untouchable. I can be next when every time you call up ESPN.com all you've got there are McAfee and Stephen A Smith. It's just the faces of who it is they've made the big investments in and it's their faces

again and again. And he's telling you I could be next on the firings. It's clear that unemotionally rationally he's protecting the business and the brand of Stephen A Smith in the event. He gets let go by ESPN again because he's told you here on South Beach sessions, other places, he's told you about how wounded he was, how lost he was, that he lost the identity. ESPN, Stugans, Dan Patrick was talking for a couple of years

about working in his attic. I'll tell you personally, how hard the last two years have been without the infrastructure of what it is that they provide. The idea that he's plotting it right in front of your face in the event that they make him expendable, he's not going to be expendable. That's how McAfee is the model to him. McAfee has this enormous deal where he'll be face of college game day 12 to 3 NESPN.

But if that ever fell apart, he just goes back to his YouTube platform, which is an enormous thing in other people's algorithms. Stephen A. Basic looked at it, looked at it and goes, oh, I need to, I need to build one of those. I need to have one of my own ecosystems that survives on its own. I think that's how like Mac if he's probably inspirational to other people.

I heard back from Kostis. He said no. Said he's busy with baseball. He told me to say hello to you. He said perhaps next week when his portion of the baseball playoffs is is over, hopefully between now and then he'll save another life. Okay. I mean, we wanted to just go to restaurants and hope that people choke.

Just go watch Kershaw pitch. The Orioles already did. choke. Just go watch Kershaw pitch. The Orioles already did.