The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Big Suey: The Gold Medal of Dan Le Batears Interviews

Episode Date: February 11, 2025

Stop putting people on the couch, Le Batard. Enough with the crying. Then, Greg and Stu reflect on the Jimmy Butler's time with the Heat, Jeremy Strong wants you to know he's in on the bit, and Stugotz wants Aaron Rodgers back on the Jets. Plus, Greg Cote is incensed that the 1972 Dolphins aren't ranked as the best Super Bowl winner of all-time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. I've been looking for my phone for- In DAX's domain, we see all. So we always know what our cars are worth. All of them? All of them. Value surge, trucks up 3.9%. That's a great offer. I know. Sell? Sell.

Track your car's value with Carvana Value Tracker today. You hear that? Ugh, paid. And done. That's the sound of bills being paid on time. But with the BMO Eclipse Rise Visa Card, paying your bills could sound like this. Yes!

Earn rewards for paying your bill in full and on time each month. Rise to rewards with the BMO Eclipse Rise Visa Card. Terms and conditions apply. 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 gonna 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 LeBattard Show with Stu Gatz is presented by DraftKings. DraftKings, the crown is yours. Stu Gatz has been real chatty during the breaks. He was just ripping me nonstop. I don't even know what the starting point of you ripping South Beach Sessions was. What, I walked into the room and you and Cody

were howling with laughter and it was about South Beach Sessions and I don't even know what it is that you were laughing about or what triggered the thought. We were discussing how we thought the last segment ended very, very well and Greg prefers you to end a segment with a great point as opposed to trying to get him on some sort of hard network out, you know?

Because you're really good at this. Like you make great points and it's been a while since you took us and carried us to a break and it felt good and you and I were talking right afterwards and I said, Dan, don't worry about anything else, baby steps. You took it to the break, it felt good and we you and I were talking right afterwards and I said Dan don't worry about anything else baby steps you took it to the break you made a great point we finished right then and there and Greg was saying you should be Dan's producer you should produce South Beach Sessions and

I said if I did I would tell him hey enough with putting people on the couch of right like let's move on to something fun and funny you're a fun and funny guy Dan Dan, and all you do is serious. Get away from the serious. That's all we were saying. I mean, in fairness, Dan has always been like that. Like before you were on the air, I used to call you Lebatiers, Dan Lebatiers,

because your interviewing style was you wanted, if you got a tier out of somebody you were interviewing, you'd won the gold medal. I mean, that's the gold medal of interviewing to you is drawing emotion out of somebody you were interviewing, you'd won the gold medal. I mean, that's the gold medal of interviewing Q is drawing emotion out of somebody. That's not true. Yes, it is true. It is, it's your gold medal.

What medal is it? Yeah, it's not gold. It's your gold medal. You don't care if you break news, you just want tears. Love of tears. Not news, break hearts. There you go. So Stugatz says, where's the funny?

Because I believe everyone would take a look at the entirety of my career and say that on radio and television, all he did was respect television and radio way too much. The funny is here and the serious and the deeper is there, but I'm almost fundamentally incapable of small talk. Like I don't do it very well. I don't have very much interest in it.

That's not true. You and Mike Fuentes, I saw before the show, a nice five to six minutes. Ask him how many times that's happened since he's worked here. Go ahead. It was like, I was like noticing it. I'm like, look at Mike and Dan.

Look at Dan. Are they, they're just talking about life? He is walking a little bit taller today. I'm not good at that, but I will say, this one is surprising to me. This one I don't have, because in keeping, Chris, this might surprise you about your father. In keeping with your dad having a perspective in his 70s,

and I don't know how he came about this, because he's someone who is almost allergic to learning and changing. At this age, it's not something that he wants to be doing. And yet, more than anyone on earth, your father, after listening to several two hour South Beach sessions, will reach out multiple times and say,

this is the best work you've ever done dan this this is the best stuff in your career that you've ever done cuz your dad has some sort of want for this vulnerability that men love to mock about look at repat riley crying in the meeting because he's uh... coward or whatever it is you think he is uh... when all he is is greedy about winning and he would do whatever it is you think he is, when all he is is greedy about winning, and he will do whatever it is that he wants

in order to win, and Jimmy Butler put him in a checkmated spot where he had to pull out my dad card. Like an act of total desperation to try and get what he wanted, because there were no others. It's the final card, I mean. I seem to have checked in with the Miami Heat recently, especially after that athletic story. I'm wondering if they were at all bothered by the dad stuff or the stuff surrounding

the dad stuff, because Jimmy was dealing with this for quite some time and he was actually performing at a very high level while he was dealing with this. And when we've talked about the Miami Heat have given liberties to Jimmy Butler that they haven't really given for other people, it's not just media availabilities, although Eudonnis went through something similar and the Miami Heat absolutely acquiesced to everything that was going on in that personal life, but I would be particularly hurt by their knowing the effort that even I just know and it's probably a tip of the iceberg. It's more hurtful than that, right? Like we can do all the stuff about leaking in business play and everything else but this is a

notoriously private organization at least in part because they like to control the messaging and the optics that has never had anything like that so the most hurtful and embarrassing thing I would think about this although I did not ask this question is that you are basically showing everybody the organization to ask. Like you, this is a private organization that prides itself on that is not how we behave. The lead thing is accountability and you know, now we'll see in Golden State with how everything is going, where and how that goes with Draymond Green, the fated embers of Draymond Green's career trying to tell Jimmy what to do when Draymond Green ain't in charge anymore but

has always been the sort of fire of what it is that that team does. But the part about this is the mess when if we parse through the details of everything that happened here Jimmy already had a different set of rules than anyone who's ever played here because of what Shaq and Wade and LeBron brought that forced change upon Riley, but not so much change that Riley's ever gonna let somebody else be in charge. Is there an admission that they miscalculated this thing? Because we said it was as it was happening. The press release was a huge miscalculated this thing? Because we said it as it was happening.

The press release was a huge miscalculation because you backed a player in which very reputable people who are very rarely wrong said he wants out of here. And by the way, he ended up going to one of his destinations that Shams reported at the beginning, where Bern Lee was over there saying, no, none of this is true. They totally misread that situation.

Do they at least acknowledge that now? Because they backed a dude into a corner that you do not back into a corner. They blame him. Hmm. It's awfully convenient. They got to see their own missteps here. He blames them. That's where we are. That's how it gets there. Well, let me ask you this. When it came time that Jimmy knew that they were not going to give him the the max extension he wanted. Isn't that where it all began to go sour? He realized that his future was not with this franchise. Just as the franchise realized we're not gonna win with Jimmy our best player. We take it Jimmy as far as we could take Jimmy. Two years, $111 million, all of a sudden Jimmy found his joy again. That's

exactly how it happened, the moment that he got his extension. It was always about money and it's sad that the divorce ends his extension. It was always about money. And it's sad that the divorce ends this way. It was always gonna come to an end unless as sort of stated before the season, as were the expectations, as were the things that Jimmy Butler echoed when he showed up at training camp.

He played a bunch of games and played at a really high level and then maybe the Heat would pay him in that sort of Twilight contract or one that they believed they could still get a little more out of him. But when we got to this point, it ends in this really nasty way because it took a month and a half in the middle of the season and we saw, you know, Jimmy Butler take 14 free throws in his final six games of the Heat, now 26 in his first two with the Warriors. That shows you the difference in the play style. I'm going to make this the final words on Jimmy Butler and this will probably end up

being a lie because we've talked about this even today, about 20 minutes longer than we should have. But here is Eric Spolstra and this part is funny to me, right? Because of how it is that we piranha feed on the details of the discord. To me, Eric Spolstra is giving the proper voice to what all of this should be before divorce and money and business and everything get in the way. Jimmy Butler has cost himself friendships in that locker room from the way that he has handled his business, but I do believe here is the perspective that is the proper perspective to have

from Eric Spolstra about the last five years. Yeah, you know, the longer I'm in this business, the more that I feel like there's less absolutes, more things can be true. And in this case, I don't have to completely understand how we got to this point, but what I can have is a sense of gratitude completely

It was a great Partnership and collaboration for five years some really deep core memories I'm grateful for them. I'm grateful for the time to be able to coach a player like Jimmy You know every once in a while I flip through my journal from the bubble and I get goosebumps when I take myself back to that experience. It's so intense. And from the competitive standpoint, the team could come together in really unique adverse circumstances and to have that real sense of the team and a spirit

Those are indelible memories that I'm gonna treasure that you know the rest of my career and my life I hate to admit this but I'm gonna steal that journal This team's missing killer mentality Almost made me exactly right just fawning over the X. The music. What is that though? I love that music. What was that music? He had nothing to do with that music. What was that music to make it I could have done with just the words I didn't need the helpful music. I needed the music. Goosebumps multiple times. You got goosebumps? Oh god. Goosebumps. Those type of videos get me and Spoh, he's right. No.

He's right. We should think back on this years from now. This was a good thing with Jimmy. Was his best marriage. It was his best. It was. That's where I was. Like both parties acted the way that they've acted their entire careers in the end.

I saw Jeff Goldblum in like a Jurassic Park movie. It must have been the original Jurassic Park, saying some form of the equivalent of, I'm always looking for the next future Mrs. Jimmy Butler. Like, this was his best marriage, but the marriages are all going to end badly because that's how marriages tend to end. Wait, just so we're clear, Goldblum said Jimmy Butler?

I don't know. It was the next future Mrs. Dr. Malcolm. That's how marriages tend to end. Wait, just so we're clear, Goldblum said Jimmy Butler? The next future miss is Dr. Malcolm. But Dan, if I told Heat fans six years ago, next year, you're going to get Jimmy Butler, you're going to make it to the NBA finals with him as your best player twice, Heat fans would take that. That would exceed every expectation Heat fans have. And everybody would be thrilled to have Andrew Wiggins

if you hadn't mentioned Kevin Durant. I don't know. Look, beating Boston, those two runs were great. I love listening to the radio stations out there, having that over Boston. But now that Boston took the message that the Miami Heat refused to take when they lost to Boston and totally did a drastic change to the roster and became really good after that. I think we can all agree now with the benefit of hindsight that it kind of ended up holding this franchise back because they kept thinking that they could go on these miraculous outlier runs

that really in that sport have no precedent in a full season. You can have a lockout run but I think it ended up tricking us into fool's gold. I can't. I'm trying to get out, okay guys, but everybody wants to talk Jimmy Butler, so go ahead Cody. And like I'm trying like everybody. I know, but I want to talk about other things that I can't. So please Greg. Information Dan. Right.

And that's how I'm advancing the story, but I've done it for 22 minutes, 22 minutes too long. It was a miscalculation to think Jimmy Butler as butler as your best player is gonna be good enough to win championships i don't want to say his five-plus years were a failure by any means they were not but let's not retrofit it he did not win a championship that was why they signed him the standard here is championships he's not going way he never will be and and he's an alpha dog though wanted to be treated like

he's going way okay and that's why he's gone anyone say he's going with that's the final word i thought spose we're going to be the final word but okay fine that's the final word another bit of bad news by the way i was telling you i told you months ago valentine's day keep an eye at keep an eye on that arbitration minnesota uh... and if you're a heat fan what what you wanted is A-Rod not to win that arbitration because that's where the Anthony Edwards relationship is. It's with A-Rod. He's here with him in Miami all the time. And so if A-Rod had not won

yesterday the ruling on ownership of the Timberwolves in that arbitration hearing, all of a sudden Anthony Edwards, who's been pretty vocal about how bad they are this year, and they are bad with him. What's happened there is a little, I guess it's not confusing, but a whole lot of people think that Carl Anthony Towns wasn't as good as he is, and he's clearly that kind of good, because all of a sudden Anthony Edwards doesn't look

quite like the league wrecker as a Timber Wolf. The next MJ? I mean that's the best. Last year is the best Timber Wolf's team we have seen. Like it's better than any of the Garnett teams, right? Did Garnett make one Western Conference? He made one Western Conference. With Luttrell and Sam Cassell.

Yeah. And so that's the best Timber Wolf team that there has been, but there are a number of different things that I wanted to get to today inside and outside of sports. One of the corrections that we have to make, Stu Gatt, I believe that we have to now acknowledge, put this on the poll please at LeBretard Show, is Howie Mandel, now America's greatest prankster, because he had everyone believing that Bill Burr and Billy Corgan are brothers and evidently all of that was nonsense perfectly acted throughout by Bill Burr who pretended throughout to be and still pretend to be irritated by the revelation from Howie Mandel and Billy Corgan that they were brothers who descended from the same

father. I've been all over this. I've seen every interview that has been done about this. I've seen the interviews in question. I've seen all sorts of investigative pieces and I still don't know the actual answer. Bill Burr could have misspoke and creaked the door open to all sorts of scrutiny but to contextualize this conversation Dana White several months ago went on Howie Mandel's podcast and acted his ass off and kept the con for about a month until he was pressed on what happened there and he's like, no, Howie actually just asked me to do this bit and I went along with it because I think he's great. So was this the next con from Howie Mandel?

Did he orchestrate, two guys that have been in social media, they say, hey, they kind of look alike, did he actually orchestrate this whole brother thing to get attention because it absolutely did get attention and its performance art because Bill Burr as Dan mentioned is still keeping up with this con still very publicly upset and has the acting chops actually keep it. Bill Burr if you're not watching first of all I love to hear Bill Burr talk about movies like do critical analysis of it but I also think Bill Burr right now is

on Broadway is it in Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross, or is it in something else? Yeah, Kieran Culkin and Bob Odenkirk. Jeremy Strong is somebody, Stugat, who won Super Bowl Sunday for making fun of himself. It was his idea in that Dunkin' Donuts commercial to emerge from the method acting, a barrel of coffee in a way that had to identify

him in words by Jeremy Strong because you wouldn't have been able to tell from his face that it was Jeremy Strong because of the amount of coffee goop syrup that he had on his face. Jeremy Strong did that only to improve his image by hanging out with Belichick and Ben Affleck and all of these people in this commercial that make that commercial such a national winner two years in a row. I love Jeremy Strong. His commitment to the bit at all times is incredible because he's this method actor that everyone says is kind of a nightmare to be around, but all he cares about at this point is letting everyone know that he understands that.

And I don't know if you guys saw, there was a variety article with him about this commercial and he gives these long eloquent quotes about why he felt it was important to show people that he actually does get the joke. There was one quote that said, "'I got there and they had prepared "'a porcelain white bathtub, which I felt was all wrong.

I wanted it to be something cylindrical so that I could come out of it vertically. If I was in a bathtub, it would seem like I was in repose. It's just amazing that he cared this much about the details of a Tunkin commercial. And totally on brand as somebody who is self-serious in even the quotes where he explains why he's trying to make fun of himself.

What an amazingly clean read there by Jeremy. I mean, you can give me a hundred times to read that sentence, I would never get it right. That is correct. Yes. We all know this. You're gonna try it now. It's not something that even needs to be stated.

It's an understood undercurrent that we have on the entirety of the show. What does repose mean? I mean... Valentine's Day is coming up and for me there's only one place I trust, 1800flowers.com. Every year I order stunning high quality bouquets from 1-800-Flowers that my grandma absolutely loves. Jessica, holy sh... I got the most gorgeous roses. I don't think I ever got that many roses in my whole life. Certainly not from your lovely grandfather.

May his soul rest in peace. Thank you, you made my day. I mean, they are gorgeous. Never had so many roses in my whole life. 85 years, holy s***. And this year, we're partnering with 1-800-Flowers to make sure you're a Valentine's hero with an exclusive offer for Levitard listeners.

Double the roses for free. When you buy one dozen, they'll double your bouquet to two dozen roses. It's the perfect way to say, I love you without breaking the bank. All roses from 1-800-Flowers are picked at their peak. Care for every step of the way and shipped fresh to ensure lasting beauty.

To claim your double your roses offer, go to 1800flowers.com slash Dan. That's 1800flowers.com slash Dan. Yeah, sure thing. Hey, you sold that car yet? Yeah, sold it to Carvana. Oh, I thought you were selling to that guy. The guy who wanted to pay me in foreign currency, no interest over 36 months? Yeah, no. Carvana gave me an offer in minutes, picked it up and paid

me on the spot. It was so convenient. Just like that? Yeah. No hassle? None. That is super convenient. Sell your car to Carvana and swap hassle for convenience. Pick up fees may apply. Hey folks, it's Mike Ryan. It is big game week. And I've got just the thing to make your big game time a Miller time. From fireside conversations to football Sundays, winter means more moments with the coolest people

in your life. Make these moments even better with Miller Lite, the great tasting light beer for people who love beer. A new year is a perfect time for friends, family, the great tasting light beer for people who love beer. A new year is a perfect time for friends, family and great tasting light beer. Tastes like Miller time. Miller Lite is brewed for taste. It hits different than other light beers and when you're hosting your ultimate game day party, why don't you bring out a beautiful silver platter of that amazing white can and know you will make everybody there happy because Miller Lite is the original light beer since 1975 and still the very best one. Miller Lite, great taste, 96 calories.

Go to MillerLite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Tastes like Miller time. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Don LeBretard! You have some hot takes today Joe Chestnut's a fraud. He's on fire. He called Connor McDavid overrated before the show. What the hell was that Greg? I love it. Stugats! Roy let me explain it to you. You know more about hockey. And this is coming from a guy that's watched Connor play six times. Right.

If that. Um... This is the Don LeBattar Show with the Stugarts. Well, to answer your question about Howie Mandel, yeah, that's a great bit. That's a great bit. And it reminded me of the late, great Andy Kaufman, whose whole career was, is he serious? Is this real? Is he acting or is he crazy? Is this really him? And he walked that line, which is, you're just not sure if it's real or not. And I think that's brilliant comedy.

I love the idea of Howie Mandel being the guy that pranks bald people. Everyone's bald that he does this to. Is that like what he's going for? Well, Dana White also stormed off his set. We'll get to that in a second, because that was evidently a prank. But here's the Jeremy Strong quote from that commercial.

Quote, it was my response to the idea that I don't get the joke, I'm tired of it. It doesn't really serve anything, it's false. We live in this age where there's so much attention on all the other stuff that's get the joke, I'm tired of it. It doesn't really serve anything, it's false. We live in this age where there's so much attention on all the other stuff that's not the work and we've become sort of conditioned now to talking about the work so much. It really takes away from it.

We'd all be better off going back to a time where actors were able to disappear into the work and there were more absences than presences. They're present in the work and absent outside of that. To which Al Shipley responds, giving a long, earnest interview about your Dunkin' Donuts commercial to prove you don't take yourself too seriously.

Have you heard Kieran Culkin touch on their relationship on the set of Succession? Because they have totally different approaches to everything and Kieran Culkin still takes shots at him through the press and I think Jeremy actually appreciates it. But Kieran Culkin could not care about direction or throwing himself into a role any less. He just wants to go.

He actually worked with Jesse Eisenberg on his most recent movie, and he said it was bizarre working with a director in a scene because he'd act out the scene and the director would give him all sorts of notes, and he's like, shut up, I don't want it, like, I have notes for you. I only watched that movie because he'd chosen it, because I want to see what Kieran Culkin's

next choices are. Jeremy Strong on the concept of the commercial, quote, I also had a memory of my dad. I grew up in Boston and he used to send me into Dunkin' Donuts to get one cream, two sugars. At some point, that reminded me of the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poll about Paul Regears being that ride. And I thought, one creamer by land, two sugars by sea.

Should I talk about the time that I saw Jeremy Strong on Broadway? way. There has not been nearly enough Greg Cody in this Greg Cody Tuesday. You want him to read? So I ask you Greg Cody, Aaron Rodgers leaving the Jets, we have not had enough Stugat's opinion on this as well because That was a pretty spectacular flame out on all things jets for them to release Jay Glazer scoupage hide it in the Super Bowl coverage just like yeah never mind about that whole thing We just did at quarterback. What a disaster. It was a totally failed experiment, especially based on all the hoopla when they signed him, right? I mean, the Jets Super Bowl odds went through the roof when they signed Aaron Rodgers as if he was still in his prime. Then he misses his whole first season injured except for four plays. And then the last season, here's the the weird thing he didn't play that terribly his second half of his season was not bad but he was surrounded by a bad team that he could not lift up a failed experiment and and it's just it

to me it's like oh they want to move on from him my reaction was no duh of course put it on the pole please juju at lebatard show do the Jets have any experiments that are not failed experiments? Or put another way is to call the Jets experiment a failed experiment redundant. Dan, it's a tricky one because I don't know what the Jets are going to do a quarterback next year. And to Greg's point, since October 27th, I think, Aaron Rogers had 18 touchdowns at four interceptions. Like he was really, really good. Good second half. And so I understand why the Jets kind of want to walk away from all the stuff that goes on off the field with Aaron Rogers.

But what are they going to do? And how are they going to find someone who over a 10 game span throws for 18 touchdowns at four interception? They're not going to find that guy. And so I would kind of leave the door open if I'm the Jets to Aaron Rodgers coming back. Because I don't think Aaron has a ton of options. And I think the Jets are his best option. And I think the Jets kind of need him. Why are you falling in love with when he played bad defenses?

He's nuked the last two seasons. He was bad at the start of the season. There were winnable games, games that he didn't win. That Denver game nuked your season. I know, but Mike, what I'm falling in love with is the idea of who's gonna be our quarterback. Like who is gonna be the quarterback if it's not Aaron Rodgers?

Jamis Winston? Jamis Winston is not good enough. His numbers were comparable to when you shoved Zach Wilson out the door. Maybe it's Aaron Rodgers. No, no, no, your season on the end of the season and yet he closed stronger than he started. But overall this was a very bad experiment.

Wasn't worth the headlines. And also they're probably gonna lose what they invest in in Devontae Adams now too. All of it was bad. All of it was super predictable. He's a different quarterback and when all the pressure is off and his friend's over there and he just wants to spam him yards down the field, yeah he'll chuck it down and show you that he can still throw it but he

refuses to for the vast majority of the season when it mattered most. Don't fool yourself into that close. Mike, I'm fooling myself into the fact that we don't have a quarterback. We never have a quarterback. He's barely above the replacement level guy. I would say totality of the season. I don't even have to look at it. I'm guessing over an 11 game span that was the best 11 game span by a Jets quarterback in probably two decades. He's only getting older dude. It's been a very long time since we've seen him be awesome on a consistent basis. We were talking several years, an Olympiad. It's been a long time. That's not the way the aging process works. I think one of the things at play here is that we have

to realize LeBron James and Tom Brady are aliens. They were aliens. You can't replicate that. And now because of Tom Brady, you just assume that somebody like Aaron Rodgers is going to be great at 37 and great at 39 and maybe play into his 40s. It doesn't happen. Tom Brady was an alien. The norm is Aaron Rodgers falling off the cliff and failing at his age. Late 30s. Yeah. I happen to think though that, and i know this is not popular in sports shout era i happen to think that both stugatsch and mike are right

about this because uh... while mike is saying barely above replacement player stugatsch is right that in the history of the new york jetson ten or eleven game run of eighteen and four is absolutely not zack wilson like i know that there are numbers that can be cherry picked to make it look especially when it comes to wins and losses like those uh... those ten years are the same and everyone hated zach wilson but i understand how it is to gots gets tempted by the last ten games only because in their absence he has no idea idea what's gonna play quarterback for him.

And there's not a lot of worse positions to be in, and I'm assuming they're going to draft a quarterback, but there aren't a lot of worse positions to be in in football than heading into an off season and there aren't good quarterbacks available. Or as there is in this off season, somebody's gonna take a chance on Aaron Rodgers if he wants to play as a starter because they're in the same predicament that the Jets are in. We don't have someone and we

need to sell tickets with some hope at that position. Someone might take Daniel Jones, someone might take Kirk Cousins, there are some guys out there but those aren't solutions and I don't know if those guys are better than Aaron Rodgers in fact they're not. Well you can make an argument that Kirk Cousins is not anymore He touts that arm injury is the reason but you mentioned Kirk Cousins and Kirk Cousins and Ben Roethlisberger Towards the tail end of his Steelers time. These were teams that are like well We could probably be better But what do we do we're worried about what if we reset and we get worse at the position somehow and they end up holding

On to those guys maybe a little bit longer than they should have. You are not in that class. The Steelers and the Vikings were way closer. You are not a good team. So you hit reset. You don't just keep treading water with this guy that's not gonna get any younger, that is not gonna be less outspoken, that is not gonna bring you fewer distractions. He's just not good enough at this stage in his career to welcome all that other stuff. And you as a team are not good enough. My biggest fear two years removed from the Achilles

is that Aaron Rodgers will go somewhere else and have the season I wanted him to have here. But he's not going to have it. I would rather him be bad with the New York Jets than be good elsewhere. That's insane. He's not going to be good with you next the New York Jets than be good elsewhere. That's insane He's not gonna be good with you next year. I know take there's no way. He's good Russell Russell Wilson straight-up trade

Justin Fields Rogers there was a point I think I said earlier this year that Justin Fields should be the Jets next starting cornerback But that was then this is now that was before 18 and for I mean Sam Darnold reunion I said earlier this year that Justin Fields should be the Jets' next starting cornerback. But that was then, this is now, that was before 18 and four. I mean. Sam Darnold reunion? No, no. Oh, come on.

Sam would never come back. What a story that would be. Sam would never come back. At this point, you believe that the situation of the Jets is so dire that Sam Darnold would never go back there, but you'd be willing to want Sam Darnold because I assure you, Sam Darnold will not look without Justin Jefferson the way he does with Justin Jefferson.

I don't want him. We don't have that guy. All the best things that have happened during Sam Darnold's professional career happened away from the New York Jets. He is not going back to that dumpster fire, I promise you. And the Jets don't want him, so it doesn't matter. But that's not the part that you threw it through that prism with at first. At first, you've made that 2025 is the year that Sam Darnold, that's a thing that's so.

Think about what have happened the last five years in football that Stugatz is saying today, Sam Darnold doesn't want to come back to the Jets. And Flacco reunion. Right, well maybe. I mean, that's an interesting way to go name. Maybe third stops the charm for Mac Jones. Don't you think Sam Darnold would take less money to go elsewhere? Do you agree?

Like let's say the Jets made the biggest offer to Sam Darnold. You think he's taking it? Cause I don't. I don't really wanna talk about Sam Darnold. How about the Pastronaut? He's available. The only reason that. We're doomed man. about the Pastronaut, he's available. The only reason that...

We're doomed, man. Josh Dobbs. Yeah, he's out there if you want him. Trey Lance? I mean, there's options, Stugat. There's no good options. Trey Lance. All bad.

Trey Lance. There is no quarterback in football now that I associate with five interceptions more than Trey Lance. Ooh, Tommy DeVito's a free agent, Stogotz. And you're friends with his agent, I mean this could be perfect. Stilotto? Yeah.

Make it happen. What'd you promise him? A bounty jacket. He's still asking me for it, as if I have some control over this. He's a weird guy, but I love him. I love Stilotto. I think my favorite behind the scenes text

that was sent during Radio row week was Stu got Sending stilado a text about two hours after we had him on saying hey, I found socks for you if you still need them Radio row because a lot of fun that a lot about man. He left he goes. Oh rookie move I forgot to put on socks are like how do you forget to put on socks with Jordan's like how did how did you leave? Your house today loafers? It's Jordan No, it was it was sneakers. I got to put on socks That's psychotic. That is not a rookie move. That's psychotic. That's something else. Well, no, it's normal. Normal normal. I've done it I'm not wearing socks right now. You are not normal. How many shoes are you wearing? I'm wearing my sketchers

When you have your Jordans on what do you do? Yeah, I mean, I don't have Jordan You do have a pair of Jordans. I'm not highfalutin' like that. Juju bought you a pair of Jordans. Oh yeah, those. They're in a museum, you know, I don't dare wear them. These are Jordans. Game Room of Curios.

You also have the Wu-Tang Jordans. You have multiple pairs of Jordans. I've never gotten those. They're around here somewhere. I saw you try them on. I know, but now they're around here, so I want them, the Wu-Kangs. Oh, those are gone.

You're not familiar with how people work around here. You will never see those again. That's what I mean. Christopher's probably wearing them right now. I got my own. The one thing that I learned at Radio Row that made me wince about football, is I learned that Walter Payton played

the entirety of his career not wearing socks inside of the cleats because he liked to run with bare feet. And I was like, I can't imagine what those feet look like. Or smell like. I can't. The socks. What they look like, God rest his feet.

God rest his feet indeed. Yep. He said he's still alive. Do I get $50 from the fine bucket for keeping him alive? It is opposite day. I don't want to see what his feet look like right now. Greg thinks that the Eagles taught everyone a lesson. They taught the entire sport a lesson. What is that lesson, Greg? We've alluded to it earlier. The lesson is offensive line and defensive line

are fundamentally the most. So the most obvious thing. The Parcells lesson. So that's the lesson, the most obvious thing. No, I think it's. Hold on, let's hear him out. Come on, Freddy, go. I think it's quite the opposite of the most obvious thing.

In the age when the Dolphins think it's all the opposite of the most obvious thing in the age when the Dolphins think it's all about getting Tyree kill and and and a quarterback teams are so quarterback obsessed particularly in the age when all quarterbacks except to a run the ball you you downplay the value of an offensive line I think the Eagles have gone the opposite direction on both lines which is not obvious because most NFL teams haven't done it and that's why everybody's looking up at them. I love when we strike a nerve. It's so obvious.

He's spicy. No, it's ridiculous to say that's obvious when throughout the league it's not obvious. Name another team who's- No one does it as well, but everyone would acknowledge the most important part of football is the trenches. Okay, then why don't they act like it? Because there's not that many great players Name another team whose three of five top salaries go to offensive linemen

I would think the Lions maybe with Sewell and 3 out of 5? I don't think so It's a pretty good offensive line What I'm saying, I know the guy, the D Lyman that got hurt, he makes a ton of money. The point is, it's not obvious because most teams aren't doing it. Most teams are not committing. You don't see offensive Lyman being,

you see a couple of offensive Lyman a year go in the first round. People aren't committed to it. Greg Cody is spicy today, okay, because ESPN has ranked its 59 Super Bowl winners. Oh boy. And Greg Cody does not like where the perfect dolphins have landed.

Number one. Are they in the bottom nine? Well, Shula would be spinning in his grave. Right. To his dying day. Spinning, turning? Whatever. To his dying day, the one thing that really rankled

Don Shula was the underappreciation of the only undefeated team in history. And that underappreciation of the only undefeated team in history and that underappreciation continues the 72 Dolphins among 59 Super Bowl winners are ranked right in the middle 24th ridiculous. It's ridiculous. It's absolutely absurd and I'm not even being a homer here There's one team in history that won all of their games and that's the 24th best league champion in the Super Bowl era? No, it doesn't make any sense.

Lions were pretty close for what it's worth. Two of their top five are offensive linemen, left tackle and center. You have to go down to number seven for Penne Sewell though. But there are many, many, many, many teams, I would say, dare say perhaps the other 30 or at least 25 of the other 30, don't have any high paid offensive linemen in terms of top five salaries. Well, I mean, Cleveland has half of their top six being offensive linemen. You don't know anything about what you're talking about.

You have to know to call up here and say to me that we're trying to upsell the Falcons to you? Sir, you're not a Falcon fan, you haven't been. And if you have been, you don't know what you're looking at. Stop being a Homer, Bo! Get out of my office! I'm not last words, I'm Homer! Don't you ever call me a Homer! Who the hell do you think has been saying the truth since 1973 on Atlanta radio? Who? Who? Who needs me? You're Bobach. I mean, you are that.

Yeah, I'll take that. I don't, you know what? Who? Being called a homer is not the worst insult I've ever heard. Who? So I don't care. Call me a homer. Who?

Thankfully though, when Greg Cody says that Don Schula is spinning in his grave or turning in his grave or whatever. Billy and Stugatz were in New Orleans and they conducted a two-hour seance that is presently being edited for God Bless Football. Tell everybody to see this. Sometimes it's just surprise for us. I want to know how that turned out.

A two-hour seance. So I am here to say that Billy and Stugats, and this is why God Bless Football is the number one football podcast in America three of the last four years, successfully exhumed the spirit of- Well, there's no way to know. Alright, attempted to it successfully. We talked to Bloody Mary for two hours. Whoa.

Well, you did. I wasn't there. That's true. Two hours, they went and talked in New Orleans where you can experiment with voodoo and seance and spirits and death and it's above sea level. Well, you know, I opened up the thing, American cities above sea level

and there's mixed reporting on New Orleans. Like this site says that they're six feet below sea level here. That is correct, their cemeteries are above sea level. Why don't they, they're above sea level. I think they're just above ground. That's correct because there is no beneath ground. It's just the sea.

Well, there is beneath ground. It's just below sea level. You can dig. It's not impossible to dig in. Not very much though. Not very, not. I could dig in. You used to be able to dig deeper.

Not very deep. At your show, I met a man who sent me a shovel in the mail because one time we were talking about and he came up to me and he goes, I don't know if you ever got this, but years ago I mailed you a shovel and I said, sir, I did get that shovel and for three years I'd been wondering

who sent me said shovel and I'm glad I met you and it was his birthday. It was his birthday and his wife said to me, you know what, I've been trying to get him to retire but he's never gonna retire because he keeps doing things like mailing people's shovels. I didn't know you could mail a shovel. Yeah, he figured out how.

Yeah, oh man, what a shovel it is too, Greg. I'll tell you what. It was a gold plated or anything like that? No, but it has the pointed, like, the head on the shovel. It's not one of those shovels that you just move dirt around with the flathead shovels. Get out of here, who needs those? Yeah, who needs it?

Who needs me? Who needs it? By the way, when you reached Shula, did you find him in a good mood? Cause he could be very cantankerous. He was cranky. Yeah, I thought so. You weren't there.

I know. I look forward to it. Sources told me. It's gonna be a good interview. There's a lot of, or actually there aren't a lot of US cities that are below sea level. Most of them in California, Dan, if you knew that. Yeah, I mean, you want to be above sea level. Yeah, that's what some are saying. Valentine's Day is coming up and for me there's only one place I trust,

1800flowers.com. Every year I order stunning high-quality bouquets from 1-800-Flowers that my grandma absolutely loves. Jessica, holy s***! I got the most gorgeous roses. I don't think I ever got that many roses in my whole life. Certainly not from your lovely grandfather. You may have still rest in peace. Thank you. You made my day. I mean, they are gorgeous. Never had so many roses in my whole life. 85 years, holy sh**. In this year, we're partnering with 1-800-FLOWERS to make sure you're a Valentine's hero with an exclusive offer for Lebatard listeners. Double the roses for free. When you buy one

dozen, they'll double your bouquet to two dozen roses. It's the perfect way to say I love you without breaking the bank. All roses from 1-800-FLOWERS are picked at their peak, cared for every step of the way and shipped fresh to ensure lasting beauty. To claim your double your roses offer, go to 1-800-Flowers.com slash Dan. That's 1-800-Flowers.com slash Dan. Hey folks, it's Mike Ryan. It is big game week and I've got just the thing to make your big game time a Miller time

from fireside conversations to football sundays winter means more moments with the coolest people in your life make these moments even better with Miller Lite the great tasting light beer for people who love beer a new year is a perfect time for friends family and great tasting light beer tastes like Miller time Miller Lite is brewed for taste. It hits different than other light beers and when you're hosting your ultimate game day party, why don't you bring out a beautiful silver platter of that amazing white can and know you will make everybody there happy because Miller Lite is the original light beer since 1975 and still the very best one.

Miller Light, great taste, 96 calories. Go to MillerLight.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Light pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Tastes like Miller time. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company Milwaukee, Wisconsin 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.