The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Big Suey: The Billy Hamilton of Hockey

Episode Date: June 2, 2025

"I urinated next to Clint Black, the country star, once." Who cares if Connor McDavid is the fastest player in hockey? How 'bout he wins somethin'? Also, Amin has a report from his in-person experience with Pascal Siakam and Gregg Doyel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Proximo. Cuervo.com. Please drink responsibly. Cuervo. 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 band to nowhere, fat face, and the habitual liar. This episode is presented by Smirnoff. We do get a lot of comments from people who are not familiar with the show. to you guys? I've done it. And now here's the marching man to nowhere, fat face and the habitual liar. This episode is presented by Smirnoff. We do game days. Please drink responsibly. The Smirnoff Company, New York, New York. You can be very afraid and properly respectful of Connor McDavid and also have what I'm about to say be true as to why it is the defending champions might not fear what cometh this way, even though I would fear what cometh this way,

not just with Home Ice, but because the growth of this kind of transcendent talent sort of demands that he step up and win this to be the talent that I believe everyone hockey thinks he already is, just better than everybody. And what he's facing though is the following. It is a franchise that not only took out

and beheaded Tampa and all that it was, but made Boston and New York go about doing a different kind of business. And now has Toronto's GM saying, we need to change our DNA because what we are isn't what they are. And so now you're slicing through the top of the toughest conference with the deepest team Paul Maurice has ever had.

If Connor McDavid is to be the champion I believe him to be, that his greatness demands, he will slay this giant, but it will be a giant he slays. Like, they're every bit as good as each other, except they have the better player, but Florida's plenty happy with the best player they've got and the soldiers behind him, because this thing is deeper than what beat him last year,

but he's stronger than what he was last year. No, I think Edmonton has the two better players. They have the two best players in the world. However, the Panthers have the better team. Now, the Achilles here in this situation is Florida giving up stretch passes. So if Conor McDavid or Leon Dreisau gets behind the Panthers defenseman, I mean, that's going to be a breakaway one-on-one situation

against Bob and that's not going to go over to us. Not like it's a Maple Leaf or anything like this is kind of McDavid here. But how about the quote though, from Toronto's GM, we have to change our DNA. It's obvious. But what you're leaving in your wake in Carolina and Toronto, like Amin- How did Carolina get some message ever?

That's Amin- Like what are we leaving? Like let's just run it back. Rod Brindemore always is like, we're this close. And I'm like thank you, thank you Rod. I love how Carolina approaches everything. God bless the Carolina Hurricanes. Keep running it back, you guys are close.

Amin had the proper tone with the Knicks when he says, they were very good. Why do we have to immediately change the architecture? Well, the why is, Carolina and Toronto had some of the best teams they've ever had, and it wasn't good enough. They had teams good enough to hope that this was the year and it was taken out by the defending champion in a way that's so overt that you have to change the way you're doing the entirety of business

because they've passed you. We know how competitive these things are so when it's these two teams they just buzzsaw through the playoffs. I know that Toronto, I know that Toronto took them seven games, but the playoffs are generally pretty hard. This all-intentioned purpose is to pretty easy paths for somehow. I'm not saying the teams weren't good, I'm just saying to go to go 12 and 2 through one conference and to go through, you know, tested once by Toronto, you ran through the conferences to get to, these are clearly the two best teams. Like no one would- You ran through the toughest division, certainly in hockey.

And I think the divisions, I really hope the NHL goes back to one through eight best records in the conference, because you have a situation with Carolina where they've just tricked themselves into thinking they're the second best team in the conference. When they're not, I don't even know if they, they probably get a wild card if they're stuck

In the Atlantic and by the way if you ranked that series if you rank the teams in the Eastern Conference one through eight First round matchup would be Carolina and Florida I bet you that five game series loss would hit a hell of a lot different if it just so happened to be in the first Round I mean the regular season really didn't matter I mean both the Panthers in all this matter. I mean, both the Panthers and Oilers kind of rested up for this playoff. And the Panthers really needed that rest because we saw Maddie Kachuck in the Tampa series come out and did what he did.

During this four year run, it's a pretty amazing way that the Panthers have gotten to the playoffs and then three consecutive finals because they've done it all. They won a President's trophy and they realized second round exit at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning, we're not good enough, let's trade the face of the franchise. Then they squeak in as an eighth seed, do it all on the road, get to a final broken, and then they are the best team in the sport. Well, not president's trophy, but have home ice throughout the Eastern Conference. And this one, they decided, you know what, we're just going to be road warriors the entire postseason.

They can beat you any type of way, and they can get to the final any type of way. When Paul Murray says it's the best team he's had and the last one he had was a champion, and when what I will keep saying cometh this way throughout hockey history, when something that looks like this. What do you talk us that way? Because they're like four guys historically who can be feared the way this one is where he's a fastest skater ever. I mean, he's one of the greatest players ever. I got to say hats off to you guys because a lot of Panthers fans were worried

about what you guys would do with your Stanley cup preview. Just run it back called the best player in the world. Who's plenty pissed off, overrated. I'll give my dad time. Yeah, I mean we get it. He's got to win the cup for you to crown him one of the greatest of all times. But I think it's very clear who the best player in the world is right now. If you want to rank him against Ghost, that is your prerogative. And if you want to frame the discussion that way, I guess go right ahead. I don't know how it serves it because that guy, I don't like the look in his eye and I don't like the way that he plays hockey.

That guy's a demigod. All right, can you help me here, Billy? Because Mike's trying to cut us off at the knees before we even get started. Greg Cody, it wasn't just Vegas that made it all go to his head. Greg Cody made himself the center of the Stanley Cup final. He made himself the center, the star media personality calling Conor McDavid

overrated last year, infuriating Mike Ryan. You guys got so serious that you thought my billboards were gonna jinx your team that you would. Everybody ran diarrhea shitting themselves not allowing me to do some things because Mike didn't want us blamed for ruining the Stanley Cup final championship run because we had to get Greg Cody more attention.

Yeah, silly superstition. They blew a 3-0 lead. We were all panicking. Well, not me. Asinine, that would be the situation that we were in. Well, Luke over here was fine. My ass was inside my chest. Okay, Connor McDavid is the fastest skater in this series

Yeah, Billy Hamilton was the fastest player in baseball. Would that get here you go? That's a very good point I believe as always Billy no one ever said he's the greatest of all time exactly We've been hearing for ten years now not five years not three years for ten years We've been hearing how great Conor McDavid is he's not a two-way player The best two-way the best two-way player in this series is named Alexander Barkov. Thank you. Okay.

McDavid has to win a championship, or he can't be, you can't keep calling him Jesus and the chosen one. You can call him that. And this and that. You can call him McJesus, that's all right. But I mean, he won the ConSmyth last year, best player of the postseason.

While you were calling him overrated. Yeah, it's fine I get it to be an all-timer to be on the Mount Rushmore. He's got to win a Stanley Cup That's great. You don't need to make it a narrative I think he's crystal clear that he's chasing ghosts, but he's the best player in this series He was the best player in the series last time it's ridiculous to give the cons my to a player from a losing team Yeah, it's just a mockery. It's happening for it. He was that good. Nah, it's a mockery. No, it's a mockery. Right now he's in the class of Apollo, Anton, Ono. That's about it. Exactly. Also, he's not chasing ghosts.

He's chasing Panthers. Hello. You got that right. I'm already here. I already said hello to you this morning. Oh, and he gave you the left hand, a little Elvis. You got a little, oh, he looked at it. He did a little wiggle and he just got it.

Look out now. Hey, Norton. I don't like what's happening to my left. Norton! I don't like what's happening over here. Billy, I'm gonna need you to corral some of this. I'm trying to help here. Okay. Art Carney. It doesn't feel like you're trying to help.

Let me get a palate cleanser here. Give me the testy siacum. The show's been a little scattered today. Give me the testy siacum I asked for 40 minutes ago. Ask out, can you make sense of it, for those of us who don't play this game at this level? You know what was the state, you're saying they played harder than you guys,

you didn't fight them hard enough. How is that possible? What do you mean? How is it possible not fight hard enough in game? What are you talking about? They played harder than us. It's okay, we played hard, but they played harder. What's your point? I don't get it.

What is you're saying you guys got out fought? That happens in the game though, that's basketball. In the game? You did it in the game? You're saying? You're good, you're good, bro? You're looking for something I know, but damn. No, no, but I'm telling you though.

I told you, what else you want me to tell you? Well, what you're telling me how? That's all I'm telling you though. I told you what else you want me to tell you Well, what about you tell me So go ahead Who's this guy who's this guy? What's your name, bro? Did he know who he was that like he doesn't know who he is He doesn't know he is because Greg does Doyle's a columnist and columnists sometimes don't come to games. So I hear.

Swoop in for the playoffs. Yeah, that's like true. There's so many, it used to be that if you were Pascal Siakam in your town, you would know who the local newspaper columnist is. You wouldn't know who that is. I would have no reason to think that Pascal Siakam is going behind the paywall at the Indianapolis Star

to see what Greg Doyle wrote about his 30-point performance. He can afford it. Well, I just, I don't imagine that these guys are going, all right, put it on the poll at Levitard Show. Are the Pacers all paying for Indianapolis Star subscriptions? Yes, vote yes. Maybe the team pays for all of them to have it.

Support local journalism No, number two clay Thompson used to famously read actual newspapers. There you go at in the line We love that by the way, see how come I thought gave a very good answer a very legitimate answer I like an athlete who's willing to admit man. We busted our ass. We played hard. They played a little harder It's not a crime to admit that. So I was there. But how? It's not a criminal. That's true, there's nothing criminal about it,

but now twice, I mean, has done this where I was there. I wanna give you behind the scenes things about what happened there. He was there. And you guys just keep on talking about other things. So the funniest thing is Greg Doyle has his laptop in his lap, right? And as soon as he's done asking the question,

the moment Siakam starts answering, this is the thing that doesn't come up on the broadcast. He is typing feverishly. You know that Kermit the Frog meme of him at the typewriter? Rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata. That's exactly what it looked and sounded like. Rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata.

I'm like, how are you even hearing what he's saying? Siakam says, like, how's that possible? Well, I mean, so, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, rattata, ratt He's like, how's that possible? Well, I mean, so, I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it, and I'm sitting there trying not to bust out laughing because it's so, dude, I'm gonna try and recreate, I'm gonna point my microphone like this.

Man, wow, geez, poor laptop. That's exactly what it sounded like, it's also an older laptop. That's Ira Winderman's move with the heat. You always hear him clacking away during the questions. It was clacking like it was a typewriter. Yeah, you have to. Number two, the rest of the press conference,

he kept making passive aggressive comments, I mean, Siakam did, about playing harder. Sometimes that happens in NBA games, and he stares at it. I love that move. Number three, do you guys hear what the dismount was? Read about it tomorrow. He said this, and he didn't make eye contact. He just kind of kept typing, and he was like, wellount was read about it tomorrow. He said this and he didn't make eye contact He just kind of kept typing and he's a wall you read about it tomorrow. That's it

Yeah, I was at the whole time. I was like this Greg Doyle guy. What's his what's his big deal? Then he hit the dismount. I was like, you know what it kind of won't be back. What was his like body energy? What was that? What was looking for there? What was I looking for? Okay, well done. I'm glad you know Hold on his body just having fun making movies hold, well done. I'm glad you called. Hold on, his body. Just having fun, making movies. Hold on, his vibes. Why don't you say vibes? What are his vibes? His body language, thank you, Lewis, in my head.

What was his body language like after the question? I'll be honest with you, he took it like a G, but then again, he was typing like Kermit the Frog, so I don't know what his vibes were. Chris? Look at him, right there. That's exactly what it looked like. I'm not lying.

Chris, you called for the ball. Little Sunday Sativa? You called for the ball. Little Sunday Sativa? You called for the ball, and you said body, and then you did this. Well, because I was like, it's such an obvious one. Body language. That's why I was like, I didn't know that one. The Kermit the Frog, that was his body language.

Number three, and this is the part where- You already gave us number three. It's number four. Number four, number four. And this is the part where I get to be full self-indulgent. My head, the back of my head is in the shot. Oh, I want to see that. Yeah, if you play it back, that's the back of my head in the shot.

Great. Go ahead and play it back. All right, so let's see if we can see the back of Amin's head in the shot, if we play it back, because I don't see anybody's head. Up, up, up, up, up, up, up. There you go. All right, let's see what we've got here. Go ahead and play the sound again, because there was something else I thought was funny about this.

You know what was the thing, you said they played harder than you guys, you didn't fight them hard enough. How is that possible? What do you mean? How is it possible to not fight hard enough in game two? What are you talking about? They played harder than us. It's okay, we played hard, but they played harder. What's your point? I don't get it. My point is you're saying you guys got out fought. That happens in the game though.

That's basketball. In the game? Is that? You're good? You're good, bro? You're looking for something, I know, but damn. No, no, but I'm telling you though. I told you.

What else you want me to tell you? Well, what you're telling me is how. That's all I'm asking. Well, what else do you want me to tell you? Well, what about you telling me? So go ahead. Who's this guy? Who's this guy? What's your name, bro? That's me turning my head back and forth, cause I'm like, is this really happening right now?

On the scene. Check out his body. Yes, unmistakably your head. The reason that I found it funny though, for how long do you imagine that Pascal Siakam has been interviewed after games? 15 years, just, or 10 years? About 10 years.

10 years going back. For 10 years, he's been trotting out, they just played harder than us. Never expecting a follow-up. Never expecting any damage to be done, just they played harder than us. I've been saying this for 10 years and you know what I've done? I've ridden for 10 years as Pascal Siakam. Nobody cares what I have to say about anything because I just say they played harder than us and

it's okay. And he wasn't expecting a follow-up and it's a good follow-up. Well how is that possible? He doesn't know or they wouldn't have gotten their asses kicked in that kick. How long has Greg Doyle been a columnist? 20 years? Yeah, long time. He got in trouble with the Caitlin that kick. How long has Greg Doyle been a columnist? 20 years? 25? Long time. He got in trouble with the Caitlin Clark comments. How long has he been, it took him to figure out, I'm gonna ask the follow up about playing hard.

Like an old dog. No one ever does though. Why would they? We have accepted they played harder than us since it was invented. And we go on our merry way. No one's ever been brave enough to ask how. How is that possible?

Why would they play harder than you? See how it's dad you swoop in for the playoffs you ask a tough question You make some news Greg Doyle is very good at what he does. I support him entirely one G or two G's entirely two G's we don't like that We don't like that. We don't like the two G's entirely you support him on the on the Caitlin Clark thing No, no, no, and he did defend him there. No, I I support him on the on the Caitlin Clark thing or no no no and he did defend him there no I he went overboard with the Caitlin Clark leery kind of comment and he admitted later that he was very wrong so it's not a hundred percent you don't right in this case I do I thought his follow-up question was very legit I love

the question because it then the real answer after that is well they care more than we do about their jobs but he said not not though, Siakam, to his credit. Well, he didn't want to follow it up with, he didn't want to follow it up with, the real answer would be what? Yeah, we were playing in New York, we knew we were coming back home and the game didn't matter that much to us, so all of a sudden all of our players played poorly, every last one of them. Now the funny thing about that press conference, I don't think it reveals, but you know, I

told Juju the other night, because I was there, him and Halliburton, they were incredibly relaxed for a team that got its ass kicked and now we've got to go back to win the game six. Usually in that situation you get a player say, hey we got to win back at home because we're not going to come back here and all. No, these guys are like, ah we got it. They seemed so confident, I was thrown off by it and so I know that that exchange, it got a little irritated. I think it was because Greg kept going after him over and over again. But overall, his demeanor in that press conference was super relaxed.

And what we saw on Saturday, I was like, oh, yeah, it makes sense. They knew they had this. The Daniel Abitart Show with Stugarts is sponsored by Liquid IV. All right. I've recently started to learn how to play hockey. And when I'm packing up my gear, I got my essentials. My helmet, my pads, my skates, my tape, my stick, and of course, Liquid IV. It's a must have for easy on the go hydration powered by Live Hydro Science. Check out the new Raspberry Lemonade Hydration Multiplier.

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You have some hot takes today. Joe Chestnut's a fraud. Oh, he's on fire. He called Connor McDavid overrated before the show. What the hell was that, Greg? Yeah, no. I love it. Stugats.

Roy, let me explain it to you. You know more about hockey than I do. And this is coming from a guy that's watched Connor play six times, if that. This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stugats. I don't believe that Indiana has any chance in this series, but if they do, we're going to have to rethink how we thought about Pascal Siakam. Because-

So the Miami Heat. Yeah, Kawhi Leonard is going to get credit for winning a championship without any help, even though this man was at his side, and he was a problem in this series. Like his physicality, even in a game when the Knicks were coming through and it was just knees to the junk, knees to the junk, we're gonna come in knees to the junk,

Pascal Siakam was a handful for everybody. Like he was... He was a franchise changer to a degree. I mean, I know Halliburton came online, but you acquire a Siakam to further aid in the development of a superstar. That was one of those moves that went kind of, it was an understated move because everyone was whale chasing and he was one of the guys

that Miami kind of poked around in and decided not worth our draft capital. And now he's totally changed the fortunes of the Indiana Pacers. I mean, I think, I think for the Pacers when they did that deal, it was absolutely a chips to the middle of the table thing because they realized, man, Halliburton is special and we need to get him the supporting cast. You remember the guy that they traded away was Bruce Brown, who had just won a championship with Denver, great role player, but a role player.

And Siakam is an all-star caliber player, obviously a former champion, former G League champion. And so he brings that kind of gravitas that they needed to take the program to the next level. Why did you just do former G League champion? I didn't know that about him. Yeah, neither. I didn't know that he was in that grind,

that she stands for grind. Him and Fred Van Vliet, they won a championship for the Raptors G League team. And a lot of people point to that as like, these were the seeds of Championship Toronto. All right. And Kawhi. So as we follow the storylines of a season, right?

Because I do believe that basketball will suffer in this next round from just tropes. Like I don't want the new thing, small markets, whatever, whatever, whatever. Even though these are two, I believe, interesting stories and not just that, interesting stories at a time that we spent the entire season talking about Luca, talking about LeBron, talking about Steph, talking about Jason Tatum, talking about Edwards, talking about Steph talking about Jason Tatum talking about Edwards talking about John Morant who was gonna be next who was gonna be next who was gonna be

next oh oh okay it's gonna be Shay Gilder's Alexander and it's gonna be a Pacer team that we have to tell the stories about somebody and the third story in this series is Siakam is it it not? Like this is how names get made this time of year. I was telling you about where Tatum's moments, where Tatum's moments. Halliburton got the moments in a series that Neesmith and Siakam won. Halliburton got the moment, the moment, and so I ask you, I ask this as a serious question. Siakam's already more highly regarded than he was four or five games ago, correct? Siakam has just made some sort of leap

in terms of reputation outside of basketball because we have to fill these storylines with somebody and Chet Holmgren will be here soon enough, but the Pacers were the surprise. Yeah, yeah, the Pacers surprise, and he was the one that was their most consistent player in the conference finals You know, that's the other thing about Halliburton then he had the moment you could say that He also had a lot of like disappearing acts within that conference finals

And that's really the reason I think that the spread between him and Siakam in terms of winning MVP was that I think the voters Were saying Siakam was the guy that showed up pretty much almost every night and Halliburton kind of Came and went but in a series that demanded his and Naismith and every neat neat Smith everything they were doing there Physically, I mean, yeah like to bother Brunson. I haven't seen Brunson that bothered all season This was the wear down of seven games. This was him being worn down on defense There is not I don't think Nick's fans recognized Brunson being ground to dust by the sheer physicality of what of their wing players of Indiana's wings I guess it's a form of physicality What it was was Indiana understood that we play fast and they don't.

And so if you listen to the way they talk, whether it was Halliburton, whether it was Rick Karla, they kept saying, it's day one of 13, it's day two. They kept emphasizing that this thing is a marathon, a marathon in which we sprint every mile, and they can't. They're gonna try it, but they can't. And what we saw was in game six in particular, but really this is a cumulative effect,

the Knicks just got tired. They could not keep up with the Pacers running, running after makes, running after misses, didn't matter. And then as they got tired. The minutes of the season, the minutes of the year, catching up to them. The depth of their rotation versus the Knicks rotation, although Tom Thibodeau did relent

and start playing more of his bench. And what ended up happening in game six is when you're tired, you start making mistakes. The Knicks defense started to suffer greatly because they were tired of making tired mistakes. And then for Brunson, when you see what Nimhart did to him in game six, six steals for Nimhart, right? Hounding and harassing Brunson.

That again is the cumulative effect of, boss, I'm tired, man. I'm like, I can't, I don't have anything more. And the Pacers do. And that's why I kept saying, it's, first of all, the talent level wasn't that disparate, but more importantly, the Pacers had a more effective game plan and they executed. I'm curious whether or not you guys are gonna get swept up

in the sheer athleticism of what we're talking about where Chet Holmgren, best rim protector in the league by percentage, identifies as athlete. Doesn't say he plays a position, says athlete is what he plays. He's got that team is youthful, has uncommon swagger, and both styles are fun, and we can say youthful, right? Siakam is an elder. He's the wise elder. Miles Turner's also been around for a bit. Yeah, how about Miles Turner?

Imagine every day hearing your house is going to get foreclosed and then like, oh, the bank put it off a little bit more and then one day you're like, you know what, not only is it not get foreclosed. And then like, ah, the bank put it off a little bit more, and then one day you're like, you know what, not only is it not getting foreclosed, here's some cash. Can I ask you this question? I've always liked Miles Turner as a player, and always Miles Turner is available,

and nobody seems to want him, and I don't totally understand. I think he is the perfect, whatever, there's an intersection of lines of like value versus desire stuff and he is the exact level of good enough for everyone to want but not good enough to Demand to demand the price that they're asking for and so that equilibrium point is where he lives Almost getting traded but not quite hold on a second. How does he fit in this series, too? Okay, so I'm glad I'm glad you asked this question because I came up with this remarkable theory

that the Indiana Pacers are really good. It's just that Oklahoma City is literally the same thing, but way better, right? I was like the Panthers with Carolina Hurricanes, not the Cahawkees. But that's also a recipe for Indiana to steal a couple of games. Sure, sure.

So it's like Indiana says, we've got a center who block shots at the rim and also he shoots threes. And Oklahoma City says, ours does too. He also leads the league in rim percentage defense and also he can bring the ball up and make plays. Oh, OK. Well, guess what? We have what we have. We have a defensive pesk of a perimeter player who can guard guys bigger than him. And Andrew Nimhart and the Thunder say, yeah, one too his name's Lou Dorton he's all defensive

team oh okay we got we got we got a point guard from the future he controls everything he's brilliant he's he's dynamic he's got all these moments and the Thunder said cool yeah ours was MVP of the league oh okay well let's talk about benches we got a guy a white guy who comes off the bench who's scrappy, who gets into defensively and hits big shots in TJ McConnell. And the Thunder say, cool, we've got NBA champion Alex Caruso. Every level that the Indiana Pacers bring,

the Thunder have the same thing. It's just a little bit better than what they have. I'm actually getting more excited for this series hearing you describe that. It makes me think it's gonna be better than people realize. It's absolutely from a basketball perspective. Look, here's let's make an agreement. If you don't work for Disney or if you don't work for the NBA, get the fuck out of my face with ratings talk. Why do you care? Why do people, the lay person, care about what the ratings are? It's going

to be very fun basketball. It's amazing basketball. It's going to be fun. Up-tempo, you've got personalities. You've got someone who's very willing to be America's villain in Tyrese Halliburton. You've got two excellent coaches. You've got guys on one side who've won a championship and guys on the other side who've won a championship. All of this is culminating over the next,

you know, 8 to 14 days, depending on how long the series goes, but it's not going to be boring I promise you that when he says though Pesce Okay, because I don't know how I'm gonna sell this part to America because I'm with a mean on everything It's delightful to watch the young people take over. I just you've heard me say I think Jokic is the best thing I've ever seen offensively for efficiencies And I saw OKC hunt him down like hunting dogs. It felt like if this is all survival of the fittest, the physically fittest, seeing that team chase down Westbrook and Jokic, that team, because it now wants to be the champion

and Indiana is the same kind of young and hungry as well. But when he says Pesc, it's a good deal better than that for Nemhardt because what I'm telling you is I've not seen Brunson look like that all season ground down to dust when it's like oh it's not even gonna be Neesmith fighting through every screen now it's gonna be this guy Nemhardt so he holds Brunson to 38% and 30% shooting but he also held Donovan Mitchell to 23% and 16% shooting like it's a little more than passed there what i saw at the end of that game i saw somebody being discussed as the most beloved nick ever drown and i a p n because his coach had run the entire team in the ground they

didn't have anything from their bench and now they're turning the ball over when in that sport that's the greatest advantage ok c has they protect the basketball and they steal it They know it better than anybody they have a better combination of doing that than Historically great teams right like what the Pacers did to the Knicks pressure Full-court pressure turning them over turning steals into live-ball turnovers layups points That's all Oklahoma City does it better than anyone right and so you're right about Andrew Nemhart Maybe I am selling him short.

What I'm not selling short is that Lou Dort is better. Like that's the part. It's not that the Pacers aren't good. It's that every version they have, like to go back to car analogies, you've got a Toyota Highlander, I've got a Lexus Land Cruiser. Okay, so let me ask you. And there can be only one.

So let me ask you if there can only be one, the great one, okay? Because when he mentions Lou Dort, I'm thinking physically, okay? Just physically, Lou Dort is a different thing than Nemhart, just size-wise. When you look at the great one, Wayne Gretzky, what's the size difference between him and Connor McDavid?

When- And Wayne Small. I know, but when Billy makes fun of McDavid being the fastest player on the ice, and when? Yeah, but this is also Billy Hamilton hits like Barry Bonds. You're minimizing his accomplishments. He's Barry Bonds, but with Billy Hamilton. He's not autonomous. So Connor McDavid's using steroids?

He's faster than everyone, and he's bigger than most. Is he not? What are the dimensions of McDavid versus? Versus Gretzky David versus Goliath. He's only six to McDavid people think he's like six six Right only yeah, I mean that's not six six. That's not extraordinarily tall Fastest though at six to his fast. No, he's no no he's not just fast He's the fact he's the fastest person on the planet playing that sport. He's arguably the fastest to ever play.

Right, and yet he's never won a championship. It's not just speed. Skill with the puck. Handles on the puck. Elite. It's a team sport, dude. Yeah, so is basketball. Yeah.

There's five guys on the ice, there's five guys on the wood. If you're an extraordinary basketball player, you lead your team to a championship. Crystal clear. Crystal clear. Crystal clear. I think you'll get it. Hopefully, not this time, but I know where you stand on the all-time rankings, but he's the best player in the world. It's clear.

All right. Well, one, Wayne Gretzky, 6 feet tall, 185 pounds. Conor McDavid is 6 foot 1, 194 pounds. There is no way. No, you say that. Wayne Gretzky is that height. I mean, I stood next to him on an elevator. He's a tiny, well, I had to bring that out.

No, maybe not skis. Contextually, it's not a look at me Louie. Come on, it is a look at me Louie. No, it's a catch me on context. Catch me on context. Is he a get in and go to the corner kind of guy? Was he sitting in the middle? What was like his demeanor in the elevator?

Does he touch multiple floors to be a rascal? Oh, what a rascal. That was, I don't get starstruck, but he has a presence about him. He seems like a back corner guy. Like I'm going in there, I don't wanna be recognized, I'm just gonna go back right corner, just kinda stand here.

It sounds like he was too small though too. It sounds like you expected him to be larger. Well I'm 6'3", and I was, by comparison, these guys are larger than live personas. The aura though. But if he was wearing skates, he'd be closer to my height. Yeah, so I think maybe that's it Yeah, he'd be taller on skates wouldn't he? Yeah, well, that's how that works Yeah, I

Urinated next to Clint black the country star whoa He's very short He was wearing his hat his cowboy hat at the time and I was still taller than you first said I thought you meant bud black the manager for no No, no, Clint Black. Clint Black only 5'9". Yeah, exactly. You say that Connor McDavid was the fastest skater in the league. You know who's the slowest skater in the league? Clint Black.

Matt Dikachuk. Ah, champion though. He's very slow. Alright, so that's a mean throwing in a Clint Black for no good reason and he's going to just leave now because... I thought it was a valid reference by him. It's the way of show. If Clint Black was in the league,

he'd probably be the slowest skater. Especially if he skated and the cowboy had two minutes' point. Mike Ryan, how do you feel about McOverrated T-shirts selling like crazy as Panther fans taunt Conor McDavid bringing back Greg Cody's finest moment last year? Thank you. Buy him up. If you mention Panthers fans, I'm really worried about how Panthers fans are going to behave this postseason.

Part of me is happy that the series opens up in Edmonton for the first two games because you can frame something that maybe Panthers fans were going to do either way as a retaliatory measure because this is a very heightened geopolitical time between these countries. I remember last year there were folks that were idiots in that crowd booing the anthem and this was before a reality tv show almost told them to start hating them. So I'm very worried about how we're going to do this down here in South Florida and the McOverrated thing is just one ridiculous part about it but I think think we're gonna see something, the deeper you get into what is widely expected

to be a tightly contested series, one that many people are saying is gonna go the entire distance. I think with everything going on between the two nations right now, there's gonna be some pretty ugly scenes, and I'm really worried and I'm hopeful, really hopeful that cooler heads prevail

down here in South Florida, and we don't up the ante on something that we hear maybe in games one and two. That is the correct perspective, of course, and I would just say, so ratchet it up to the funniest possible, most dangerous place that doesn't make us lament and regret saying. So just ratchet.

Believe how dangerous. No, just the, between Canada, look, this has always been fun, come on. Florida stealing Canada's sport. Florida, the modern day Gretzky. Just, I know how it can get between these two nations. We went to the four nations. I mean, I said some things.

And that's when all the things went down. Yes. And Chris Cody said some very regrettable things. And Florida is very red and red hot, and people are gonna be crazy. Yes, you guys all said crazy things. You guys want Kachuk to sever his own head for a title. Worth it.

Yes. Worth it. All right. Because we were on that front line in Montreal as everything was happening around us. Billy brought up steroids for some reason. I didn't, Mike brought it up. Okay, well, just I wanted to ask you guys this

because on Friday night, like it really was funny to watch in Dodgers, Yankees, Otani and Judge just be so much better at baseball than everyone else that they're just meeting and then both hitting home runs. And I just wanted to ask you guys in general on on the damage that steroids did to baseball. Can it would it all feel a lot different in baseball right now if Otani and Judge were chasing their own home run records or baseball's home run records? I'm asking you seriously, two guys were physically bigger than all of the steroid monsters that were hitting the home runs when baseball was played differently a million years ago. Would it make any difference if Otani was now just chasing, you know,

if Aaron Judge and Ohtani were just chasing each other's single season home run records, like post steroids, where I don't think anyone's assuming either one of these guys are cheating. Are you suggesting, like, if they had a McGuire Sosa thing amongst them, as Ohtani and Judge right now for those two franchises, man, I don't know if anything can ever match

that Sosa McGuire home run chase, but it would probably be the best thing for baseball that you could possibly ask for. What I'm saying to you is baseball simply will not have a way to break through to these places where basketball and football or soccer grab people's hearts. If this isn't the story that does it for you, two clean superstars and clean in every way, like nobody says anything bad. grab people's hearts if this isn't the story that does it for you to clean

Superstars and clean in every way like nobody says anything bad. I mean even the gambling thing went away What who gets bad stuff said about him in every way? I mean, we don't know that We thought everyone was clean until they were found to be dirty. Okay, but what they're giving off I mean, I want to be shocked if I'm looking Aaron judge the optics of I heard it He has even reported to prison yet. Like, is that true? How is that possible? He'll get pardoned. Ha ha.

Something that he didn't really have anything to do with it. You know what I'm saying though, Billy? If this story doesn't make baseball pop, because I know how baseball heads are looking at it, they can't believe that Judge is hitting 400 and Otani's the better player. Like that Otani does both things. It's just, it's weird to see at the same time.

It's not just home runs, it's mastery of the sport in a way we haven't seen. And you're not even talking about the biggest star in the sport, the Big Dumber. Doing it from the catcher position with the best slugging percentage in the league. Why aren't you mentioning Calralli? Big Dper and PCA should have been easy keepers for me? And I didn't keep him in fantasy you guys don't care about that. Yeah, I mean Dan

It's it's June 2nd. No one's gonna talk about a tani and judge today. It's June 2nd talking about big dumper Yeah, the biggest story in baseball is the Colorado Rockies chasing the 1899 most losses in a season. They're 9 and 50. Chasing Scheffler for most wins since we have a graphic where Scottie Scheffler and the Rockies have the same amount of wins. Since May, since the beginning of May. The betting lines I'm seeing, the Rockies are playing against the Cubs and the Cubs are like minus 380.