The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Big Suey: The Eric Gregg Game

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

" A dude found a way to make a bongo sound sad. That is impressive." Last night's World Baseball Classic semifinal between the United States and Dominican Republic ended in controversy, and America-First Isolationists, Jonathan Zaslow and David Samson, think Geraldo Perdomo has to swing the bat. Trysta shares her Top 5 games to watch in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, and the gang reacts to news that the NBA is looking to expand to Las Vegas and Seattle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Malcolm in the middle, life's still unfair. A special four-part event, streaming April 10th on Hulu on Disney Plus. Welcome to the Big Suey, presented by Draft Kings. Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan Lebitard 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 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. This episode of the Dan Lebitart show is presented by Draft Kings. Draft Kings! The crown is yours. Nice. The World Baseball Classic last night ended in controversy.

The United States advances. They beat a Dominican Republic team that hadn't trailed in the tournament, was clubbing everybody and is one of the best lineups ever assembled. The last pitch was not a strike. If they were still using replay, they would have overturned that as a strike. And after the game, Soto's just saying, well, everyone knows we're the better team.

after they have lost. And there were a few things from that game that I want to cover with you guys. First of all, I was listening on the ride home from our Oscar and Selection Sunday watch party on the radio. And it was the television broadcast

on the radio, and I hear Aaron Judge hit a ball making the sound that Aaron Judge's bad is made. I hear, I'm not watching, I hear the crowd make the noise that suggests to me that everyone thinks it's a home run and the announcer

does this which was perfect he says did he get enough of it he did not because the ball is robbed at the fence by J. Rod

and then he recovers so well by saying and Spider-Man Rob Superman but he was stuck in the air right before that And Aaron Judge, whenever he hits a ball, I always think anytime the ball is in the air off that guy's bat, even if it's an infield pop-up, that it's going out of the stadium because he's got these superhuman dimensions that would make him one of the best baseball players ever if Shohei Otani did not exist to make his time now pale compared to Shohay's. But the game ends in controversy. Samson, what did you cover on nothing personal as it related to the specifics of?

that last pitch was simply not a strike. I was trying to explain to people like Tony, who is sulking, obviously, that that's not why the DR lost. You have to understand that when you're playing the USA in the semifinals, you best be swinging. You cannot be caught looking because MLB would like the USA to advance. It is why they lost. They had a runner on third. They would have had a runner on first and third. It would have been a walk.

It should have been a walk. It was not a strike. It was a ball to end the game. You have to be swinging. You cannot let the umpires decide the game. When Austin Wells is stopped at third base, you've got to have pinch run for him with O'Neill Cruz, and then he scores on that, and it's outrageous. It was mismanaged.

Hey, Albert's new. Albert's new. I'll give him that. But the DR lost because of managing, not because of an ABS call. So I didn't see the very end of the game. I'm old and I'm tired. and I woke up in the morning and I saw the controversy

I heard the controversy I'm like okay this pitch must have been like not anywhere close and then I saw the video and I can be perfectly honest with you it's not even close to as egregious as I thought based on the conversation that I saw online

about it not being a strike and on top of it it's two out two strikes bottom of the ninth one run game you better be swinging at that pitch guys it wasn't a strike like you guys can keep doing this That's not how baseball is played.

I understand. But if it close, Dan. But no, no, not with instant replay anymore. You guys are using 100-year-old. There's no ABS. But you guys are using 100-year-old rules. These guys play usually under, I know the strike zone, and I can get it right, and they will fix it with instant replay.

It simply was not a strike. And you guys are real casual about making it this absolute, David. This isn't the reason the loss. This is the reason for the loss. And no, the game would have continued if that was called. correctly. It was not called correctly. But the hit is instinct on two strikes. Protect a plate. Guys, this is the hardest thrower in the history of throwing baseballs, okay?

Isn't that more of an argument of like, I better just swing if it's closed? It's easy for you guys to sit here and say how easy it is to swing at that pitch if it's close. I think it's easy. This man throws very hard and he threw a breaking ball three, two. Like, yeah, I'd see he throws 105, you've got to sit fastball. it's 105. He throws a breaking ball. It's out of the strike zone.

He shows the plate discipline of not swinging at it and you punish him for it by all of you saying you've got to swing in that spot as if he's Carlos Beltran at the end of the Mets series before instant replay.

If this was reversed and it was the other way around, the isolationist pitch forks. America First, Samson and Zaslow would be freaking the out right now.

Well, She is so right on this, and I like the idea of literal pitch forks. Sporks about that pitch. Just like, just not a pitch fork, but just tiny little sporks that you just come out on the field with and start stabbing the umpire because it was a terrible call. I don't want to be associated like that because that's not at all. I'm extraordinarily fair in my anger and frustration as it relates to umps and calls and dealing with it. The guy who doesn't know that Europe and soccer exists and that there's a different way of keeping score elsewhere.

Have you? Have you been to Anfield? You didn't just do that to me. Have you? Have you been in the Enfield? He just gave me his resume. You have Liverpool season tickets? Being to Liverpool.

Six weeks? Is what it is that he just did to me. Cavern Club? I'm not justifying my sports cred by telling you that you teach people. It's not. It's your bias. She's so right about what she's saying. America would be making the opposite argument of this if this had happened to the American.

That's right. Welcome to sports. No, but Dan, honestly, I really, no, I really think, though, if I saw, like, if it's close. If it's close, you have to swing. There's no replay in this tournament. You meet with your players before a game to talk to them about the circumstances of the game. The DR players knew that when you're up against the league wanting USA to advance, you've got to change your approach.

Where was that umpire from? Do you hear what he said? You meet with your players before the game to talk about the circumstances of the game. The Americans were dealing with a manager who didn't know what the stakes were earlier in this series. That's true, David. You meet with your players and you tell them, hey, look. just in case, the guy who throws 105, if he goes three, two, breaking ball on you, you got to swing at the end of the game, even if it's out of the strike zone.

You're so wrong. The players for U.S. knew that they had to beat Mexico to advance. They knew about the game three and game four. So stop with that. Mark DeRosa, and I'm not going to defend Mark DeRosa at all. Sounds like you're starting. No, what he did is a fireable offense by meeting with the media the way he did him being so wrong about what he did that in a regular season, I think about canning him.

But the players, they know exactly what's going on in a particular game. They just do. I just, I can't let a couple of inches determine whether or not I'm going to swing in that spot in such a huge moment with two strikes in the game online. I'm telling you, I thought I was going to wake up and I was going to watch the replay. I thought I was going to see Eric Gregg back behind home plate. I really did. And it was not that.

We'll get to that in a second. I want to teach the kids about Eric Gregg and the Levan Hernandez, Greg Maddox game. But here is Mero, our friend, the kid Mero. He is doing a live stream watching the game with his friend. This is the reason that people do these live streams so that you can have the frustration at the end of the game. Here is a last pitch that is clearly not a strike. Let's see how the kid Mero and his friends reacted. Oh, no!

It's down. That's a fucking... Apple call. That is a fucking terrible goddamn call. You cannot call that. The sad bongo. The sad, straight bongo. Cannot make that call.

That's a great take. I thought he was complimenting his take that you can't make that call. But he meant not swinging. It was a great take. How phony is that guy in the back row saying it's a great take? he's cheering for the U.S. he was excited and then because he and the other guy back there were wearing

PR hats. He was cheering for the U.S. he was excited about the end and then to make sure you're getting the guy's good graces who are cheering for DR in front you got to let everybody know that's a terrible call. I saw you. I saw you playing both sides. I noticed that same things as what a phony. I was like

is he cheering as well? He's lamenting on audio and cheering in his history. I'm glad with the result. but now let me make my friends know that I'm really on their side too. Well let me, I want to see the whole thing again, and I want you guys to hear the incredibly sad. It's the saddest I've ever heard of Bongo B. It's just one stray bongo sound in the middle of them and their despondents.

That's a fucking awful call. That is a fucking terrible goddamn call. You cannot call that. Cannot make that call. That's a great take. I hope the kid watched that back and realizes who is roots. I actually, I'm fond of that guy afterwards. That's a baseball fan there. He knew he had his rooting interest. Guys, a dude found a way to make a bongo sound sad.

That is impressive. Forgive me, because I'm going to play this a third time. The reason I'm going to do this a third time, though, is I want you to see and see if you can freeze it on the secret handshake between the two guys in the back because it wasn't just that he was happy about it. It's that the two of them were happy about it and they gave a secret in the middle of all of their friend's misery.

They tried to hide a secret handshake because they were happy. You saw it. You saw it. They tried to hide it behind that guy. Carl Anthony Towns is also Dominican. He is famously Dominican. They love him in Washington Heights as a Knicks player.

And he also had a reaction while he is festooned in the Dominican colors, and he's not happy about the call either. The ball? Was it a ball? That last we watched not. Hell yeah, that was the ball, man. Some bulls. You are I should hide a channel.

Oh, yeah, Fernando Tatis Jr. Come on, Mom. That was a ball as hell. That was a strike. No, hell, no. You say that as an American. It was ball as hell. So that's what it comes down to, though, that the ump is from Denver?

I did just look it up, unfortunately. Unfortunately, it's from Denver? Yeah. So that means that, by definition, a U.S. umpire is going to purposely call a ball a ball. If I'm hitting in that situation, that's more of the argument for you got to swing in anything close there. We got Denver, Colorado behind the plate. You know the umpires. You know the situation.

You don't stop well as a third. First of all, you pinch run for them. Also, they made a third out at third. Tatee. There were some base running mishaps. It takes a great throw. I love making them make a play. Judge, though, makes that play.

Pitching and defense wins. And the U.S. bullpen shut them down for five plus innings. Folks, listen up, quick break in the action. Are you counting down the days until payday? Instacash from MoneyLine can help you access up to $500 of your hard-earned pay early. There's no interest, no credit check, and no monthly fees. So you can manage those in-between expenses with less stress. Download the Money Lion app and link your qualifying bank account to see what you qualify for.

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Don Libetard. punctuate this segment with what is your strike three call. Well, strike one would be strike and then you stand up and you give a good point to the right. Stugats. That's same for strike two. But strike three, you get down low, you got your hands behind the catcher, all right, the right arm goes up into the air. And then you finish it with the punch. The right arm flings way up into the air.

Ha! Yeah! I wish I could see that. It's terrible. Audio's great. This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stugats. Can I just stop you guys for a second, though, on what I'm about to say, because I feel like from our couches, behind the microphones, we underestimate a handful of things. There is a pitcher throwing a ball, fastballs, harder than anyone has ever thrown a baseball.

Up until the last, I'm going to say eight years, maybe nine, that pitcher on a three-two count, there is no circumstance under which he's throwing a breaking ball. I'm going to say that's something that's happened, maybe the last seven years. Somebody who throws 104 miles an hour with Tatis on deck does not throw a breaking ball on a three-two pitch. You guys sitting here saying, you've got to swing the bat.

When a human being is throwing a baseball harder than anyone ever does, does and you have to sit fastball on that pitcher. If you do not, you're going to watch, what you're going to have happen is he's going to throw it right down. If you're sitting breaking ball there saying you just got to swing at everything, he's going to swing a month late if he's sitting on breaking ball because you can't expect a breaking ball there. Do you guys realize how much easier it is to be the critic in this spot than to be the guy

who actually swings the bat at a pitch that wasn't closed? He said afterward, I knew it was a ball. It is a ball. It's a ball. It's a ball. It's a ball. that wasn't a strike. I just think you're almost making our point.

Like the better the pitcher, the better stuff from a pitcher, the more I'm just protecting the plate. This guy's so unhittable. That's how I feel. Anything close, I got a swing. Yep. So it's just like to be able to be like, oh, that was an inch low.

That's a tough spot to take there. And you don't get to say good eye. And in the hundreds of years that we've been playing baseball, you know that's a fastball in that situation. He knew that was going to be a fastball in that situation. So I go off the plate. It wasn't a fastball. It was a curve ball.

He was sitting for it. Like, if he said, you've got to sit fastball there. The guy throws 105 miles an hour. Right. You have to sit fastball. What do you mean, right? Right. We knew it was going to be a fastball.

He just sat on the curveball. Minor penalty, two minutes. Dumpster juice takes. Wow. I want to show all of you, for those of you who have not seen it, I want to relive the Levan Hernandez, Greg Madden. The late Eric Gregg, early in this game, Eric Gregg was calling strikes that were in the opposite batters box.

Levan Hernandez struck out 15 batters in this game, at least in part because the strike zone was the most ridiculous thing that there has ever been in the history of playoff baseball. So we are going to just show you all 15 strikeouts here. Oh, it's in the other batters box. Well, they all are, except for a couple. There's a couple, but I love the last. one. The last one where Fred McGriff. It's a backdoor curve ball. The ball is two feet outside,

never even close. Fred McGriff just look. Here it is. Oh my God. It's incredible. I'm telling you, if you out there, you're a Miami fan, you're a Miami sports fan, whatever, and you're like, oh, yeah, of course. I remember Levin Hernandez. I remember the Eric Gregg game. If you have not watched it recently, it's, it's even worse than you remember it being. The calls are so That's what I thought I was waking up to this morning, Dan. This is the only baseball game I have ever seen, ever, because players are fairly consistent when they say, I don't mind an umpire who is calling a very lenient strike zone.

I just want to know that he's going to consistently do that over the course of a game. Eric Gregg gave the same strike zone to Levan Hernandez that he did to Greg Maddox, but resourceful Levin Hernandez, who came from Cuba realized in the first inning, wait a minute, he's going to give me a strike in the opposite batters box every time. And he just started throwing all of his pitches in the opposite batters box. And Eric Gregg, you would say this is the worst umpired game that you've ever seen, correct, David? Like that there's never been a worst one.

No, it wasn't the World Series. It was against the Atlanta Braves, but it was in the playoffs to get to the World Series. I mean, I've watched CB Buckner and Angel Hernandez, and we've seen some bad ones. But the consistency is a funny point because, yes, it doesn't matter where the strike zone is if it's consistent. But now with ABS, there's going to be, there literally will be a consistent strike zone. But Eric Gregg is not thought of as a terrible umpire the way CB is or the way Angel is. It was just, it was, yeah, it was just one of those days. No, but Eric Gregg is forever associated.

His name is forever associated with that poorly umpired game. Not with, I'm saying not within baseball, that's all. Okay, Angel Hernandez was worse as an umpire career, lifetime body of work. Angel Hernandez, congratulations. Well, it does matter in that Angel Hernandez is forever known as a bad umpire, but I've never seen a worse umpire than the one in this game. A worse umpire. Don't be judged by your worst empire.

It wasn't a moment. It was nine innings of moments. It was 15 strikeouts. Those are 15 moments at the very least. To your point, though, from last night's game, that Arod said after the game that that is that guy's hot zone. And at umpire, he calls that down pitch a lot. So that is information that they would have.

He did it all game. That's more for the argument of you got to swing. By the way, he did it all game. Yeah, are there other moments in the game where he called that a strike? Yes. Yes. But Dan, that doesn't go for Dan because that doesn't help his narrative about Mason Miller throwing 108. I mean, which he doesn't throw.

You guys just do this thing, though, where you make it sound very easy to do the thing that you're saying as if you don't understand what you're watching. Like, it's a hard thing to be in that situation against that pitcher who was struck out 19 of the last 20 guys he's faced. Hitting's hard. All of whom were swinging hard on the last pitch trying to protect the strike zone. I know, David and Zaz act like they could just do it, right? Like they... No. No, that's not true.

We're just saying swing. That's not true. I just... I think it's really close. You have less than a split second to decide how close it is if it's a ball or strike. And in that spot, two out, two strike, bottom nine, one run game. In that split second, I got a swing if it's close. And he chose not to.

And he got burned. I mean, the umpire was wrong, but he got burned. I don't want to get burned. Swing. Neither. What other takes, David, did you have regarding the world baseball classic as the United States ends up advancing and beating the team that has looked the best in this tournament? But the United States was favored last night, at least in part, because Skeens was starting for them.

Skeins gave, as we talked about. He did 70. Do you notice his ass? 71 pitches. And done. You're allowed to go 90, but the Pirates said, no, thank you. So it's only, it's only the, it's only the U.S. team that has those types of? No, every starter that has a Major League contract, the Major League team dictates to the World Baseball Classic team, the amount of pitches. Can you walk me through some of this, though, because if I were a Major League team, the United States didn't used to have these kinds of stars playing in the United States. this game. And I don't know that I'd want my stars playing in this game, even if it's good

for the sport, because I wouldn't want anybody getting hurt, anybody as valuable as schemes, who is almost single-handedly responsible for the Pirates' Improved Playoff chances. I would not want that person getting hurt off of my employment watch. Yeah, there was a nice agreement with Bill Nutting. Bob Nutting, excuse me. You know he gets a lot of that. That's his real name, Bob Nutting. Bob Nutting is the owner of the Pirates. Good for him. I don't know why I said Bill, but it's Bob. Well, but that's not the part of the name I was noticing. The nutting part. You never heard the word nutting?

Yes. Right. So, yes. So they don't want their players. Odd question. But when you have revenue sharing, we've done these negotiations. That's why I can talk about it. Where they'll say to you, hey, we want Stanton or we want Yelich or we want whatever. You know, the answer is, well, well, if you don't give them, let's talk about your revenue sharing. Let's talk about some grievances that are against you. Let's talk about other points of pressure that can be applied to teams like the pirates, and then you see Skeens on the team. That's number one.

And then you can hide it with the Air Force stuff and hide it with I Love America stuff, but the negotiation was with nutting. They milked a whole lot out of skeins. Three of his uncles were in the armed services. It's a whole lot of something. They made him a 6-6 fighter pilot.

I expected him to take the mound just to land on the mound in a military chopper and a black hawk. You're making me, I don't want to be not patriotic, but give me a break, would you? We're playing harder because of my relationship with the Air Force. No. But the pitch count consideration, that's pre-negotiated.

Is it exactly what he would have pitched in spring training anyway? He actually would be more because you're about 10 days away from his first start, which will be March 26th. And so he pitched on March 15th. So he's got one more start, and then he starts opening day. So this was his day to pitch, which is why it was predetermined that he'd pitched the semifinals. All of it was pre-done, including the number of,

of pitches. The negotiation is can we let him go 80? Can we let him go 90? And the pirates say, no, no, 70. They pulled them at 71. So one extra pitch. But they had a bullpen that was ready to go and the bullpen shut them down. Your thoughts on

Juan Soto saying after the game, yeah, everyone knows we're the better team. Who cares? Silly. This is why we play. I don't want to sound like a broke, you know, like a dope is what we play to games, you know, but like it's literally why they play. sometimes the team that's not better wins.

Yeah, but he's saying that that was decided by the umpire at the end on a call that wasn't correct. And so the game shouldn't have ended on that. Well, but then he's assuming that if it was called correct, they were still going to win the game because they're the better team, and that's just wrong. It's not wrong. It's unknown. Yes. No, it is wrong. There's actually no way to say we judge it on rings.

We judge it on gold medals. It doesn't matter who's heard. Didn't the Heat win a title and there was somebody who didn't play? I'm totally blanking. I know the Knicks lost a title when Ewing didn't play. Cavs won. No, Warriors won because Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love were both out. Okay, and the Warriors, that's part of their dynasty.

No one talks. It doesn't much matter. I don't really care when people are injured and you win because of that. The Raptors won because Durant and Clay Thompson were hurt, but I still don't know what you were doing with the heat. Maybe you're thinking about 97 with the brawl and Ewing and Oakley and Starks were all. Because that Knicks team was better. and guess what? The heat won. They came back 3-1.

And guess what? We lost. Yeah. So that's it. Right. Right. Minor penalty, two minutes. Delay a show. You should wear it. I don't know what it is that you were doing, and then we just got stuck in the quicksand because you offered nothing. In fact.

Minor penalty, two minutes for adding nothing. A double minor? Yeah, double minor. Four minutes for Samson so he can walk out of here with his flip-flops and his cargo shorts and his reggae. ridiculous long-sleeved shirt, and then he could say to Trista that she looks like she's dressed inappropriately. You should be ashamed to yourself. I tried to clean it up and it got worse, honestly. I know. You tried to help him, and we kept sinking deeper and deeper. What game in the last 30 years are you thinking of when an important player was out? And then we just started

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Don Lebatard. Go peepa. Go-pe. This is the Dan Lebatar show with the Stugats. Let's get to the top five games to watch in this tournament from Trista because we have not talked enough about the actual tournament that begins really on third. I know we've got playing games before that because you've got to get your gambling in. But on Thursday, we really don't need this many teams. There are not enough good teams to be in this tournament. And this tournament's top heavy. Like maybe we'll get some upsets, but it seems to me like the one seeds are a good deal better than everyone else, even though Michigan lost to Purdue, even though Florida lost to Vanderbilt.

What I've watched from Arizona and Michigan and Florida, and specifically, Duke all season suggests to me that there are a good deal better than everyone else, even if you like your Iowa States and your Texas Techs. But this tournament is fun because there's a lot of randomness. Do you have any OLI here, Trista, or do you just have a top five?

I just learned what OLL is. So no OLL for me. This is just in the first round, so not in the full tournament. First game to watch in the first round of the tournament. Yukon versus Furman. a very spicy matchup. Dan Hurley feels like this is not a championship quality team this year.

I don't know if that's mind games or whether they're going to get exploited by Furman. Listen, like... Oh, yeah, like that drop. I mean, this is a Furman team that was injured all year. Now they're finally healthy. They're monsters. They have two 6-11 players to watch. I think they could bully Yukon.

This is upset alert for me. Whoa, she's putting the town on alert. Look at that. Number four. Number four, Wisconsin versus High Point. I really like High Point. They're 30 and four. Nobody knows who they are.

They force turnovers better than anyone in the country right now or almost. Wisconsin's biggest defensive weakness is defending the exact style that High Point plays. I think that this is not just a mid-major team hoping for a miracle. I think Wisconsin's very trendy, maybe even more trendy than High Point, and I think those teams fuck around and find out. have this in our own tournament and we can give people the update on this it's the west region it's the thursday game it's one 50 p.m. number five wisconsin is represented by Jonathan zaslow looks like your big toe after hitting the corner of the bed that's so good we don't want to lose that that's why it's seated so high but high point makes a lot of threes

they've got a fun offense number 12 high point is represented by scott fan pelt looks like adam silver on steroids. I don't know if it's steroids, but it's like a human growth hormone, a healing cream of some sort, not for muscles, for illness. Cryogenic chamber. Just cortisone. Or hydrochortizone. Number three.

Number three, TCU versus Ohio State. Man, you got to watch this one. I think this is one of the more spicy matchups in the first round. I think TCU has some of the best wins. so far this year. And I think they beat Iowa State. They beat Texas Tech down the stretch. Defense is top 25 in the country. If they get past Ohio State, they then draw an injured Duke team that's missing two important players. This game itself is a coin flip. The reason that you watch is because of the chaos it sets up if TCU wins. This is the East region and our looks

like tournament. This is the 1215 p.m. Thursday game. The eight-seat Ohio State is is represented by. Mina Kimes looks like the therapist who starts to listen to your story, gets caught up in a daydream, then simply says, and how does that make you feel while having no idea what you actually said? This one's really good, though. I want TCU to go deep in the tournament.

I love this one, too. Because I thought this should have been seated higher. Draymond Green looks like he has to sneeze. Always, always, because his mouth's always open. Like, whether he's on his podcast. I don't know why that one hit me. I just like that one. No, he always looks like he's about to see.

sneeze. It's not, he's not an arrest state. He's in a state where moments from now he's not going to be able to keep that sneeze down. And how about your number one game to watch here, Trista? It's the number two first. I think we have to get to two first. Oh, I skipped over that.

Yeah, Vanderbilt versus McNeese. Listen, Vanderbilt just beat Florida by 17s Zez. They may be one of the hottest teams in the country right now that sets up another matchup between these two teams. Florida, they need to watch out. Do we want to do this? I don't want to use too much of our tournament yet. So let's go to the next one here. And then finally, number one, for the folks in Miami, it is Miami versus Missouri in Missouri.

Unfair, unfair game. You can't put that game in Missouri. You can't punish the higher seed. No, you can't. And I think obviously Miami is the much more tax. talented team on paper, but they're playing in Missouri's backyard. That always matters in the tournament setting. Their coach hasn't been in the tournament as a head coach before. Virginia just gave the blueprint to everyone. Make this Miami team make threes. And let's see what happened. So I'm really, really excited about this game to watch as well. We've got breaking news here in the NBA. The NBA is holding a vote, Board of Governors, March 24th and 25th. to explore adding expansion teams in Vegas and Seattle.

I assume that's done, right? And they say exploring and they say meeting to talk about. I'm assuming and we're assuming teams will be in Las Vegas and Seattle in short order, correct? Because there's more money for the owners in expanding. And so, of course, they're going to do that, even though they've already got 10 teams in the league that are actively trying to lose. That's the first thing that comes to my mind.

I mean, the regular season kind of stinks in the NBA, and now we're going to add more teams. It's, I don't know. Yeah, it's obvious that it's going to be Vegas and Seattle, but it's not very exciting to me. It would probably reshape the way that the conferences are organized. Shams has alluded to the Grizzlies and Timberwolves move into the Eastern Conference because you are adding... Well, grizzlies or Timberwolves. Well, you are adding two teams on the West Coast in Las Vegas and Seattle. There is going to need to be some reshaping. hopefully down the line when Europe gets into the equation, they just do away with conferences entirely

because they're really dumb, especially in that sport. Is Europe going to get into the conversation? I don't know that these European teams are going to allow that really to happen. I mean, they have had deep conversations with existing clubs over in Europe and a couple of new franchises that pop up there. I think that that's the next piece. It's probably a couple years away, David. But I think five core teams in Europe sounds good with potentially, hopefully they get the right idea. Do away with conferences.

Every team in the league just plays twice. You're around 40 teams and then you take the top 16. Well, first things first. The reason why you call it exploring relocation is that you don't have ownership groups yet. Don't forget there's a fight going on behind the scenes who's going to get the Vegas team. It's not a done deal at all. I know LeBron wants. Well, Rich Paul said he and LeBron have never ever talked about owning a team.

So I'm saying. I'm sure it's never come up. That's what Rich Paul said. It would never occur to LeBron. on at age 40 to think about what's next. That's not how he rolls. So figuring out who's going to own the team because Shaq

had an interest as well. Money Mayweather told me he was getting it. Who did? Money Mayweather. That's three different parties. He'd be part of it. He'd never get approved by himself. He could join some sort of group. You don't think? You don't think an ownership group would just say, sure, Floyd,

come on in, just by yourself. We trust that you won't gamble away all your money. Well, it's not Bruno, but I would say that exploring then-ownership group, we haven't seen yet exactly the Seattle plan. And I remind cities, hear me out. You're paying more to get your team back than you would have to have kept your team from moving to OKC. You made a mistake.

Yeah, but times have changed. I mean, it was 20 years ago. A little less than 20. That's not very long at all. Marlins Park is in the year 15. You're speaking to the city of Seattle as if they're listening right now. They don't know something, and they're listening to you right now. You want Seattle to know that they could have kept their team before by just...

No. What do you try to? No, I'm talking about the future cities where you are being threatened to give money or your team will move. Listen to those threats because your team will move, and then you'll be screwed and trying to get it back. It always costs more to get a new customer than to keep your old customer. Well, and that's why, I don't know if you guys saw this, but Adam Silver was in Portland, just a couple of days ago, announcing that the city and a bipartisan way

has essentially going to be paying for this motor center renovation that keeps Portland having the blazers, which was kind of like a piece of uncertainty up until just a couple of days ago. You were part of nothing personal today. Oh, really? Because I found out you're from Portland,

which I didn't know, and I discussed that very topic this morning because what Adam Silver was doing was making sure that everyone understood that there was public money going into the renovation, and you're going to feel good about it. He said to the staffers in Portland and the politicians and the people, you're going to get other events, all the things that you've been missing.

All the ails of Portland will disappear by giving money. And so what made me smile by Adam Silver is he had a schlep to Portland to do this. And my guess is while he's there, what do you do when you go to Portland? You do a quick little... Striple-up. Well, I don't know that Silver did that. My guess is he did a quick stop in Seattle. Well, you swing by Nike if you're in Portland.

You have to do that. And Casa Diablo. He gets Nike for free. No, I don't know. I mean they're an important league partner and they're an important epicenter to business in Portland in general. Speaking of business, the WNBA has another extended deadline today. You're the only one that I have heard say very strongly in the sports media that you believe that the WNBB. might disappear, period, not just for a while, but period.

Where are you right now on where those negotiations are? There have been a bunch of deadlines, and there was one on March 10th. They blew through it. Now it's March 16th, and they're saying today's the new deadline, Kathy Engelbert. Today's the day. So we're going to find out maybe today's the day. But if the women believe they're going to get up to their number of revenue sharing to 30, they're down at 26, will it be 15 or 18?

the relevant part of this is not housing. The relevant part is what will the league look like going forward? And yes, there was a possibility where the owners would say, you guys are way too greedy, but they came off their initial positions and they'll get a deal done. It cannot be 15 or 18. It has to be over in the high, in the low 20s at least. And it can't be this net revenue number that the league keeps saying, like, you're playing these word games.

revenue is gross by nature. Net revenue changes the entire meaning of the word. UFC is the worst at this and they do 17%. The WNBA players cannot, with this kind of leverage, take less than UFC labor is taking. What is their leverage? That they're incredibly popular right now and they don't have to be what the UFC is

in terms of paying its employees worse than anybody in sports pays its employees. Then go fight somewhere else. That's what Dana would say. and he's not wrong. Go fight somewhere else. And these women, go play somewhere else. I say it to the baseball players, too.

This is not about men versus women. If you can play in Korea or Tokyo and make as much money as you're making here, then go do it. But you can't, which is why we're going to win on the margins during every CBA negotiation, and we're going to make sure that we hold out long enough to get what we want.

Spoken like the man. No, but that's just the reality. I don't want to be that, Trist. I don't want to be that to you. That was a we that he was referring. you say we, you sound like management. You said we as management. I meant they. Anytime. You should have said they, Ed. Pronouns, David. Prowns. Terrible in pronouns. Not surprising. You also had Adam Silver going to a small Nike store in Portland.

He had like, stopping by the outlet. I know. Getting the brain in Roy swing, ma'am. Mike, you know I have one rule to live by, right? Don't place parlays on multiple long shots. Don't say a game is won when it hasn't hit triple zero. Always drink your Yeagermeister ice cold. That's the rule. Everything else is merely a suggestion. Everything else? Everything else.

Wearing clean underwear every day? Well, that's just a personal decision. Brushing your teeth? Obviously smart, but not a rule. Never pee-pee on an electric fence. Okay, maybe there are two rules. But the one that is 100% that I insist on completely, Yeagermeister must be drank ice cold.

Or don't drink it at all. Damn, that's cold. Exactly. You're finally starting to get it. Drink responsibly. Yeagermeister liqueur 35% alcohol by volume imported by mass Yeagermeister U.S. White Plains, New York.