The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The TV Cheater | Local Hour

Episode Date: August 28, 2026

"T.C., baby!" Zaslow is frustrated that his wife skipped ahead of him on a show they're watching, but Amin has a solution. Plus, why did the Panthers get compared to the L.A. Dodgers? And a look back at how the Heat went from a miserable roster to a contender in the year and a half since Jimmy Butler demanded out of Miami. Today's cast: Zaslow, Your ol' pal Dave Dameshek, Roy, Amin, Chris, Jeremy, and Tony. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics, and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify.

You are listening to the Dan Levitar show in partnership with the Drafkin Sports app. Now live in all 50 states. Yeah, we did it everyone. We made it to Friday. Give it up a Friday. That's how you do it. That's a Friday show. Look at this crew we got here today.

I don't know if this group's worked together yet. We got Tony and Amin and Chris and Jeremy and Roy. And of course out west we have Dave Damashek. Hello, Dave. Oh, Vision in Red this morning, Zazla. Good. Look, I, everybody knows at this point. I look good and red. Everyone knows two things about me. Never a cuck. Look good and red. Everybody knows that. So, I need some, I need some help here. Like, does anyone else run into this problem? I got so many apps. I got a lot of apps. And apps are

great. Go watch movies, watch TV shows. And last night, my wife and I, so, so we're watching, we're watching a couple of shows right now. Like, Dave, do you watch, do you have shows that you specifically watch with your wife? Yeah, and I think at some point I don't want to detour too hard here, but at some point we have to talk about the morality of going behind your significant others back and watching

the show when they're not available because they're having a busy week and the repercussions of doing that. There is no morality. You just do it, and then when you're going to get ready to watch it with them, you'd be like, oh no, like you just, all you got to do is act. They're not paying attention to you.

They're paying attention to the show. ladies and gentlemen, nobody actually cares that you're discovering it at the same time. All you have to do is just keep the shroud alive and that's what makes love flourish. Is keeping the charade I mean, well, the charade, but in your world, the charade is watching it a second time

because no thanks. I TV cheated with my wife where I watched season one of Ted Lassow, never told her, and she was like, we got to watch this, and then I watched it with her. What, you fake laughing? No, I just was like, oh, this is a good show. And I just acted like I was watching.

watching it for the first time. Not hard. It's not hard, guys. Just go ahead, sit down. It's like, oh, he falls down. Like, ha ha. That's it. Because she's not, or he is not turning a look.

Wait a second, that laugh wasn't quite as loud as I thought it would be for that funny of a joke. Oh, you got me. I have a feeling there's a big twist coming in this second to last episode. Don't do that. My wife is awful about that. We'll watch shows together and, you know, I work on the weekends. I work on. almost every Saturday and Sunday, like this weekend.

I'm working tomorrow for ESPN. I'm working Sunday for ESPN. And if my wife and I are in the middle of a show, I'm working, I'll come downstairs and I'm done. She's two, three more episodes deep into the show we're watching. How dare she? I'm like, what the hell? She's right here.

What the hell? That one you can't fake through. If it's like literally, we're watching it right now, the other person leaves and comes back. Yeah. It's hard. Because here's a problem. Here's a real problem.

I'm going to tell you, watch out for this one, kids. When you log in and you watch a show. So let's use the example of Tires. Tires Season 3 just came out on Netflix like a couple weeks ago. If you watch the episode, there's a telltale snitch red line. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. This one's been viewed.

Oh, the next one is this. So this is what you do, guys. My wife's not paying attention to that. You create a different login. I call it guest because I'll say, oh, my brother. I gave my brother my log and I told him, don't mess up my algorithm. Use the guest one.

So the guest one, that's the one where you're cheating on everyone with. And then you come back and you watch it. It's a good move. Yeah, that's a great move. That is a good move. So I'm in the middle of my wife and I, we have a few shows right now.

This is, we're in a golden age right now this time of year. There's a few shows going on at once that we're watching together. We're watching Ted Lassow together. We're watching Richard together. Anyone watch Reacher? That show's awesome.

He just kicks everyone's ass. Yeah. Yeah, a little bit of a monotonous plot. It's kind of the same thing over and over. I love Reacher, man. He's always big and he's strong and kicks your ass, okay. There's only one Reacher. It's T.C. baby.

Okay, so I have a question for you because I've never seen the Tom Cruise Reacher movie. That's why I said there's only one Reacher, T.C. baby. But you're telling me, Reacher, like Tom Cruise can pass for Reacher. He's like five foot one. He's tiny. He's Reacher. I don't know about that. Jack Reacher, he walks up.

He does his... He kicks ass? He lives in, like, motel rooms. He travels around. Right. He bangs broads. He's Jack Reacher. And he kicks ass?

He kicks ass. Tom Cruise, you never seen Tom Cruise? Hello? Ethan Hunt? Mission Impossible. One through a billion? I know, but the whole point is, in Reacher, Alan Richon, Richardson, he's so much

bigger than everyone else. He kicks everyone's ass. Ah. Anyway, we watch Reacher. We watch Ted. Lassow and yesterday, this is the point of why I brought up apps, yesterday we started watching, or we wanted to start watching Lioness. From season one?

No, no, the new season came out recently, all right? So we, I think this is season three. So we want to start Lioness. What a show. Glad Taylor shared it. He knows how to make a show. So we want to start watching Lioness. And I sign on to Paramount Plus.

It's on Paramount Plus. And so I click on the show and it tells you. me that like my payment is not up to snuff and so it won't let me start watching the show. Okay, fine, not a big deal. Matter of fact, I recently had to change cards. So I'm sure that's the issue, you know? And now the problem, because all these apps, I don't, do I go to the app to change my info? Do I go to the website of the app to change my info? And then I do that and it tells me, nah, nah, nah, no, no, player. You didn't sign up through Paramount. You signed up through Google Play. And I'm like, all right, well, what the hell is that even? Like, how do, how do I get

to Google Play? I, I can't keep track of all of this. So, I could watch Linus last night. I don't know how to get my account back up and running. Here's the deal. How you sign up for these services matters. Because if you go through Apple, for example, right. I do that for some. It's more expensive. They are taking a fee on top of whatever the subscription is. Same thing through Google Play or whatever the Google Marketplace, whatever they call it. Like all these things are just kind of in-betweens because it's like, oh, it's convenient. Just sign up with me.

But they're really, they're gaming you. Right. Like I probably did it with like a bundle is why I did it like that. So I made this mistake of doing it through Amazon for Paramount Plus, not realizing that I actually get Paramount Plus for free. That happens all the time. Like, I'm pretty sure I've been paying for ESPN on the ESPN package for years. I work at ESPN. I'm certain I get it for free.

No, you don't. No, I think I do. No, you know. I'm very important. No, you don't. I'm telling you. So this was the thing. When Disney Plus first came out, I remember, they were like, do you want Disney Park passes, like the car?

Yeah, I get those? Or do you want free Disney Plus? And I did the math. And I was like, give me the passes, dude. Of course. I'll pay. And at that time, they signed them the Hool. Hulu thing, but now after they did the Hulu thing, you know, I got the Hulu thing going on.

You know about the Hulu thing he's doing? The bundle. The bundle. I mean, I have the bundle. The grandfather bundle. The Grandfather bundle. What is that? So I signed up for Spotify premium like a decade and a half ago.

And at the time, they were like, if you get Spotify premium, we'll give you Hulu for free. Wow. And I have not paid for Hulu since. And as a result, I don't play for Disney Plus. Oh, so you can't touch that. It's like upgrade your plan. No, no, no, I'm not touch nothing. Never upgrade.

I do ads. don't care. Right. Right. Right. So, like, Dave, I don't know what to do. I want to watch Linus and I can't figure out how because I don't know how I paid for this. Yeah, I think you've officially crossed the threshold in the old age as welcome. Yeah, once once it becomes too much the technology and you start shouting at no one in particular about that you don't understand. I was getting so mad yesterday. My wife is sitting, I was getting so mad. My wife is sitting next. My wife is sitting next. My wife is sitting next to me. She goes, your face is turning red. Like, I'm, I'm, I'm close to chucking the remote at the television.

And then I'm also going to need a new television because I'm going to break it. I was, I was getting so frustrated yesterday. Oh, man. All right. I can't believe that the make good that Cody and Amin are willing to do. I mean, like, you're a good guy in it too much. You'll sit through the exact same show in this big ruse. Like, you snuck ahead and watched a. few episodes, but then to be a good mate, you'll sit through the exact same show a few days later.

I just like to, I like, Chris, you're saying you said you did a whole season. Yeah, I like to seem really smart about shows. Oh, you'll say, oh, I bet this is going to happen. Like predict things. My wife and I, we do that to each other. We're like, oh, this is what's about to happen. We haven't seen it yet. I've seen it.

That's fun if you see it. Try seeing it first, then do it. It's a fun game to play. And so this happens to me when I, when a Star Wars show comes on because I watch it with my kids. But because I do a podcast, Darth a means rule of two, get it wherever you get podcasts, reviewing the stuff, I got to review it. Basically, I got to watch it the night it comes out, be ready to record the next day. But we don't watch as a family until Friday at the earliest. So you're watching twice.

So I watch it twice. But like I enjoy it. Like, number one, I enjoy it when I'm watching it again, most of these things because you're picking up on things you didn't see. or whatever. And then sometimes, if you know it's a nothing episode, maybe Dad takes a nap. What I miss? But is there transparency to that? Like, they know that's happening.

That's transparency. Because for me, like, I love rewatching stuff. So I don't mind watching it a second time. I also don't mind. You're going to be honest about it. Yeah, I don't mind if my wife watches a second time. But tell me. Tell me that you've done this.

No, I don't like. I'm not faking it. You're a snitch on yourself? Come on, man. Self report. Oh, that's crazy. Jeremy. Never coming on a bat.

The bachelor party, I tell that much. Hey, this is TV, okay? I have a standard. My TV standard is higher than my personal life standard and that I don't care what you do to me. But TV, you better be honest about it. Buddy, let me tell you something. Never, ever going to learn that I already watch it.

I'll sit down there, and I know how to play. I know how to play that part to a T. Like doing like little gas and stuff. Yeah. The key is you can't overdo it. Normally it's women faking it. The part I struggle with the most is when I know a good part's coming

I look over my wife's like nose deep in her book Oh and you want to tell her hey make me pay attention I feel like a good scene's about it come here You should probably pay attention to this scene Do you have to cough twice at the room? Yeah you want to cough and makes it seem natural You're missing the point

If she's nose deep in her book That means she can't notice that you've already watched this Now you get to be nose deep in your phone Or do whatever Guys the point of this ruse Is to make the other person believe you're watching it for the first time. That's all it's about.

That's why I cough, though, because I would never cough if I had watched it. My wife has... We're off the rails as a society. If this is what is meaningful, shared experience is passively sitting quietly and watching other people do stuff on the monitor in front of you.

We're lost. You know, where's love gone? My wife has no shame. This is the mark of a solid relationship. That's right. Watching a show together? Sheesh. No, I hate it when she watches it ahead of me.

She's very selfish. And if she wants to watch a show, she watches it. But at least she tells you. Yeah, but I don't want to then play catch-up. I want to watch it together. But I thought you liked being a cook. Tony, you know that moment at a party or a tailgate where everything just sort of clicks? I know it well.

It's usually when I show up. Everybody goes crazy. Yeah, you usually take all the credit for it. But it's because Tony usually walks in with Quarv. Walking like this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Queervo is a thing that turns hanging out into this is the night. It has that effect on people.

It does. You usually take the credit for it. But again, it's the Cuervo effect. It's like that moment in a big game where everyone in the crowd just starts standing up, hooting and hollering. Keep it quavervo. Keep it quervo, baby. Down lebatar. DJ Laz is playing Gulo in the back from my pit bull.

Here's Dave Damish and he's like, hey, guys, Pittsburgh. All right. Everybody's like, who the f*** is this guy? Demichick. He goes, what TV's the Penguins game on? Who the hell is this guy? This is the Dan Levitator show. Okay, everybody knows how about me. Roy, do you TV cheat?

No, we don't watch TV really. At all. Okay. I like it. Just like an accepted thing. Good punctuation. You do your thing. So tonight, Tua Tua Tua's revenge tonight as the Falcons are at the Dolphins. Tua is going to light the dolphins up, right? I mean, that's what's going to happen, right? Definitely. That would be the best case.

That is what the show. That is what's going to happen. For show content, for show content purposes, we need him to go crazy. That's what's going to happen. Because there does feel like a little bit of a momentum where if Tua play tonight that he's not going to be on the Falcons at the start of the season. Now maybe that means they cut him or they trade him somewhere else for like a seventh round pick. I don't know. But it feels like if he's bad tonight, he's not going to be on the Falcons.

But I could totally see a scenario where he plays well tonight and lights up the dolphins. Do you think the rest of the country is paying attention the way we're paying attention? Of course not. Dave, like I want to say yes to that because for the first six years of his career, Tua has been a very polarizing character. Now, maybe that's because he went to Alabama. I don't know what the reason is, but Tua has been a player who, despite playing for a team that has not done anything. And Tua being a player who has not done any winning, everyone has had an opinion about him, Dave, for his entire career so far. Yeah, if you blur your eyes and in broad strokes, you know, the notion of we like to build people up and then knock them down and then turn them into a punchline.

and all of that, especially when they're multi-millionaires. That's part of it. But I do, you know, whether or not he's going to play well against the dolphins is neither here nor there, in my opinion. What I think is striking is what you saw last night, that Mike McDaniel, coaching with Justin Herbert, who I don't know if you heard the dolphins could have had, that he looks like the real deal and Mike McDaniel is going to elevate to another level. with an actual franchise QB versus what Tua proved to be for you guys. Yeah, I mean, by the way, to weigh in Zaz on what you were talking about earlier in the week, Dolphins fans should absolutely feel emboldened in booing Tua. Yes, they should definitely be booed.

I heard you guys talking yesterday about this, and I'm Team Nobu. Like, I think, yeah, it's a great restaurant. I just feel like you can be on both sides of like, yes, Tua was frustrating at the end, but he also gave us good things. some concussion issues. Like, I just don't, like, I can, I can parse it. I can hate the way it ended, but also appreciate that he did some good things for us. And it's just like, wait, like, I'm just not a booer.

As I've gotten into my late 30s, like, it's just you have to be, I have to be so out on you to actually give you the energy of booing. I agree. Is Tua, though, can I just jump in very quickly? I'm sorry. I wanted to just say, I think Tua is the all-time QB bust for, for draft. Evaluators. I know Jamarcus Russell had a lot of hype around him, but if you

start around the John Elway thing, as hyped up as he was, can't miss guy. He was one of those guys. Peyton was one of those guys. There are just a small handful of ones who can't miss. No, and Andrew Luck fulfilled it.

He just retired early. He did. But he can't miss it. Right. He didn't flop. Right, exactly. And Trevor Lawrence was going to be one of those guys, I think. But I think he probably He's turned the corner. He's turned the corner. Yeah.

Right. I think two and now stands as a guy, if you remember, the first time, to your point about Alabama and all of that, throwing that touchdown in OT against George and all of that, that starts the clock. Like, you didn't really know who he was necessarily, but you knew that, like, he's an ascendant star and it is an unstoppable thing. And he really just, he is to me, I think kind of you could circle him as the biggest draft evaluation flop. of my lifetime. Is Caleb Williams one of those guys? Yeah, I think that's right. I think he is.

Yeah, I think he's one of those guys that was can't miss. He's going to have to be a great quarterback to fulfill, you know, everything I was said about him. Is who else was, because you're right about the way we spoke about Tua, not just us when I say we, and him ended up ending up being a bust. It's weird, those ads because, you know, in retrospect, like what were we looking at? What were the evaluators looking at? He's six feet tall.

He doesn't have a big arm. It's not like he's a fast guy or anything. What was what amounted to it. It's sort of like Bryce Young, as a matter of fact, that Alabama, like what about him makes him can't miss? Because Bryce Young is borderline. People and maybe now have amnesia about that. But a few years ago, Bryce Young was like, oh, obviously, you want to fall all over

yourself to get this. Yeah, but we didn't speak about Bryce Young the way that we did Tua. I think you're right. I'm just saying that. But, but in. both cases like this six feet tall, a six foot tall guy who isn't especially strong arm. Like what? He's definitely going to set the NFL world on its ear. Chris, I'm with you. I'm not a booer either. Although, you know, in WW, I go to W.HL boo. Boo. You know, come on. But I, I'm not a

booer at sporting events. I just, it doesn't make sense to me. I agree. You are delightful. You're not a boor at all. Thank you. And we can agree, though, he's going to be merciless booed by the home crowd. He will get booed. I agree. Like heavy booze when he runs onto the field for the first time. Aaron Boone. There's no shot he doesn't get booed. Yeah. Boog Shambi. And he's probably going to play into the

second half too. Which is like we should be like if we were going to be those fans of like you think you're cool you're carving us up here, it's the third preseason game. The fact that you're playing in this is embarrassing for you. Yes. Devin Buker. Yes. The fact that he's possibly playing for a job

in the third preseason. season game. Look around who's playing in this game, bud. Yeah. I know I just flipped. I went from let's not boo him to like, hey, you. You're emotional. But if he's going to be like, hey, I'm, if he's like, you know, feeling himself, don't be feeling yourself. You're playing in the third preseason game. How will you feel you? Okay. Let's, but also check yourself. He leads a drive. He leads a big scoring drive. And then as he's coming out field, he's feeling himself. That's, that's when I would, that's when booing would be. He knows better than that. I don't actually, he might not as from

I don't think he knows better. It's kind of embarrassing though, right? Like you got a big, you know, drive for a touchdown on the third preseason game in the third quarter. You're still playing and you're fired up about it. Will he have more money by himself than every person on this field combined today? Dave, I've called on you. You're like a teacher. Go ahead.

Well, I'm curious. Is Miami, obviously, as a foreigner to your lands, you know, is Miami a booing sports town? Like, Philadelphia is the worst of the worst. they are very proud of themselves. The fan bases and the local media. They love to puff their chest out about the fact like, Philadelphia is too tough for a lot of athletes. Like, are you sure you're really helping the case then?

Are you really doing the best you can for your teams? If you're booing guys out of town and you're breaking them emotionally, is that too much sway? Are you really helping out the local sports collectives? Is Miami one of those towns? because I think L.A. and Miami are associated as sports town. Like, ah, the fan bases have better things to do. They're out there on the beaches.

They don't really care. What's the reality? This is a good question. I think Miami is completely average when it comes to, are they a booing town? Like, it's certainly not along the lines of the big ones like Philadelphia, New York, if they'll boo their own players when they're not performing well. But I definitely also don't think it's this apathetic fan base that's just all, you know, hey, everything's okay, we don't care enough not to boo.

I think they're your average. We will boo you if you deserve it. Who are the non-buing fan bases that you're speaking of? Oh, I mean, like, can you imagine you're at a New Orleans Pelicans game and they're booing their own players? Of course not. There's no way that New Orleans fans are booing. You need people in the crowd.

Yeah. So it counts, though. That counts then. Yes. So that counts then. San Jose. Are San Jose fans booing? I don't think so.

Oklahoma City, never boo. They would never boo. That's right. They would never boo there. Remember, when the, what's that paper called? The Oklahoman? Yes. When they did that story, remember, where they were critical of Durant.

Wasn't it who critical? They called them Mr. Unreliable. It got such a poor reaction from the fans. They released a retraction of the headline. Shout out to Barry Trammell who wrote it, but the funny thing is, like, the actual column was like a really big. balanced, like, good article? No, but the headline was too mean. The headline, whatever picked the headline basically got him in trouble.

Right. So though that's a city, they don't boo. I think Miami is like completely average in this regard, Dave. Do you think, you know, Romo's in the news, Tony Romo is back in the news. Apparently he has accepted responsibility. I love when people do that. I love the, the my bad guy when you're playing pickup basketball, like who shoots the ball. He's covered by three people and you're open underneath the hoop. And then he shoots a, an impossible three-pointer airball. And he goes, my bad. Yeah, that wasn't in question, man.

Everybody understood it was your bad. Tony Romo should have stood strong. He should have continued to claim no responsibility. No, no, no, it was her. It was her. You all saw the video. But people always still hold that up. In the year of our Lord 2026, like,

no more pressure on anybody in sports than the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. Do you sense that that's true? I think that's a laughable thing to be saying this deep. into the millennium. I think at this point in Dak Prescott's career, I don't think that that is an accurate statement. No. But do you think there's more pressure on a Dallas Cowboys quarterback

than there is in any other NFL? Maybe like right when Dak Prescott got the job for the first time, I would say that, yeah, that feels like that's a very pressure-filled job. Yeah. Does Malik Willis have any pressure on him? No. With the dolphin. No. It feels like he had

zero, but I think like we've talked about. There is a sneaky pressure on him because it's easy to say in August, like no matter what happens, man, you are all set, you're paid out and just go out there and ball out and make us feel good over the course of 17 games about 2027. I think that reality is going to be very different if they're, you know, two and 15. It's easy to say it now, but Halfley's employment is going to be in question. Malik Willis, is he really the franchise QB? We're not going to draft Archmanning or otherwise. I think that once you see 2 and 15 on a piece of paper, it's going to

feel very different. John David Booty. So this is the thing with Malik Willis. He actually, starting has the easiest things. Like, just be competent. If you're just competent, everyone's going to be head over heels. Like, oh, this is so fun to have a competent quarterback again. Run for a few first downs. Oh, that's

fun. Yeah, just don't be a complete F-Up, right? But then, as the year goes on, and if you're Malik Willis, you're like, I kind of want to stay. a starter in the NFL. I like this. So that's when the pressure starts to ratchet up. I think internally for him that I got to play well enough to convince these folks upstairs, don't go sniffing around in a draft or a manning

or something or other. Make sure you stick with me. But the reality is right now to begin the season, oh my God, this guy's on cloud nine. He can do no wrong other than doing wrong. Boobie Gibson. So that's tonight. Dolphins, Falcons. I am, I do wonder if to a steps in it post game, no matter what happens? Like, what's you going to say post game? Again, I think they're like, so how do you feel about the booze out there?

Um, I didn't really hear him. He's going to say something like that. I was like, yeah, I heard a lot more cheers, actually. He's going to give us some alternate reality, which, by the way, I don't think he's lying. I think in his scrambled egg brain, he does hear cheers and probably like people, you're doing great. That's the ringing, Tua. That's not cheering.

Jeremy, put it on the poll. Is Tua going to claim that he didn't. hear the booze tonight. Boa Tagaviloa. Tony, you know that moment at a party or a tailgate where everything just sort of clicks? I know it well. It's usually when I show up. Everybody goes crazy. Yeah, you usually take all the credit for it, but it's because Tony usually walks in with Quervo. Walking like this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Quervo is a thing that turns hanging out into this is the

night. It has that effect on people. It does. You usually take the credit for it. But again, it's the Quervo effect. It's like that moment in a big game. where everyone in the crowd just starts standing up, hooting and hollering. Keep it quervo. Keep it quervo, baby. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales,

using automation, analytics, and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations. more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify. When WestJat first took flight in 1996, the vibes were a bit different. People thought denim on denim was peak fashion, inline skates were everywhere,

and two out of three women rocked, the Rachel. While those things stayed in the 90s, one thing that hasn't is that fuzzy feeling you get when WestJet welcomes you on board. Here's to WestJetting since 96. Travel back in time with us and actually travel with us at WestJetting. Jet.com slash 30 years. Dan Levitar. John, can you rate my Al Pacino from that billiard scene in Carlito's way if I do it for you?

I think it's pretty good. Yeah. Jonathan Sasselow. You think you're big time? But you're going to die. Big time. It is on my infamous scale of one to ten. That's a 7.6.

Solid. Good job, Dan. Good job. That's a sui nominee right there. This is the Dan Levitare show. I want to bring something from the NHL yesterday. Getting closer to hockey, man. Is anyone like super excited for the Panthers like me?

Yeah. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. Roy, you're a credentialed media member. Yes, I am. You were just brimming with happiness, Roy, when I bring that up. It was Friday. So Connor Hallibuck, who you may remember before the Panthers,

signed Jacob Markstrom, traded for Jacob Marker, excuse me. The Panthers were rumored to be in on Connor Hallibuck, who might be the best goalie in the NHL, and it was said that he has requested a trade, and like every player in the NHL, it seems, has a no trade clause. So he has to approve the trade. And very similar to Brady Kachuk, when you have a no trade clause, like Brady Kach,

you just say, yeah, the only team I'm going to approve a trade to is Florida. And so then Ottawa has to trade Brady Kachuk to Florida. Or they can keep them, but, you know, if you want an untenable situation, otherwise you're training him to Florida. And so Connor Hullabuck wants to play for the Panthers. Panthers couldn't make the deal happen because he makes a lot of money, and that's a difficult trade. And so they wound, you know, it's a salary cap sport.

And it's not like the NBA where it's kind of like a soft salary cap. And Angel has a hard salary cap, all right? There's no negotiating it. And so the Panthers ended up going in a different direction. and they traded for Jacob Markstrom. But yesterday, for the first time, Connor Heller Heller Bech spoke, and Connor Hellebock said,

yes, he has in fact asked for a trade. And so yesterday on, I believe it's on TSN, yesterday on TSN, you have one of the analysts who compares the Florida Panthers to the L.A. Dodgers. I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the office of Gary Betman

because, you know, He is kind of shooed away the idea that there's an issue with state taxes and with, you know, Southern teams. And, hey, when they weren't any good, it didn't matter. But if he ends up in Florida, how do you, like, you've got a Dodgers situation on your hands all of a sudden. Like, you've got, you got a lot of teams in the league being like, well, what are we supposed to do? These players are just basically mandating this is the only place they're going and teams are capitulating and giving it to them. This is so stupid. for 27, 28 some odd years.

No one brought up Florida having no state tax, and that's a reason why the Panthers have an advantage over other teams. The Panthers have an advantage over other teams because they're good, because they're good and they're really well run. And then you could also add in the, hey, no state tax. But this has been a thing forever and it's never benefited the Panthers apparently until the last few years. But more importantly here, Roy,

how is it a Los Angeles Dodgers type situation when there's a salary cap? There's a salary cap. How could it possibly mimic what's going on in baseball where the Panthers just get all... Like, Connor Hallibuck can say until he's blue in the face that he wants to go to the Panthers, but there's a salary cap.

Also, the Panthers have nothing that they are willing to part with to give to Winnipeg. Yeah, I mean, I just... I don't understand. Man, it's such a tired. And who was it that for, oh, it was Paul Bissonette, right? It was Bissonette like a couple years ago. It was like, oh, Panthers, you know.

Yeah, he started the entire thing. Yeah, the NFL. Everyone taking less. He's like, these guys, everyone's taking less money because of the taxes. The NHL may have to do something about this or no state. Maybe they have a different type of salary cap for the Florida teams. Get the hell out of here. How could it be anything like the Dodgers?

There's a, Dave, there's a salary cap. How is it anything like that? Because, again, blur your eyes a little bit, and I understand the specific differences that you're pointing at, but it's Miami, Florida, L.A. people in the Midwest have a chip on their shoulder about, like, oh, those fancy pantses think they're better than us. This perpetuates that when you become a borderline dynasty like the Florida Panthers. People already resent living in South Florida, and you think you're better and all of that kind of weird, that vague sort of resentment of people,

who live in in Sun Belt Cities and all of that. And then if you make it that, as you say rightly, the thing that really pushes it across the line is they start winning Stanley Cups. And now you're really, really resentful if you're up in Canada, if you're up in Alberta, you think chicanery, something ain't right here. This ain't fair. I am very excited, though, for the Panthers. It's going to be fun, man.

It's going to be really fun. Everybody's going to hate them. You're the evil empire. You're the evil empire or bearing towards that. and you're not an empire jet yet, but what you are is the modern day Broad Street bullies. That's the other thing. People are not going to like people don't like the style of hockey that the Panthers win with and that they are doubling down this particular offseason.

If people haven't been paying attention, they're just getting heavier and meaner, and they're going to play a, you know, on the line, if not across the line, brand of physical hockey that a lot of people don't like. P-A-N-T-H-R-S. David Booth. So if the Panthers are right around the corner, the heat are also right around the corner. Jeremy, you are ranting and raven this morning about the Miami Heat. What were you saying?

Well, they just signed Nick Richards yesterday. Oh, yeah, that's right. And so that's their 14th roster spot. I mean, we like that as a backup big man? As your 14th roster spot, that's a great pickup. Again, this is a guy who's going to have to vibe for minutes behind Bam, Janus, and Bobby Portis. But, like, yeah, like in case of emergency break.

glass kind of guy, that's a great pickup. It's also behind Yovich for the time being. Now, Richards is more of a pure center and that's really the advantage here, which is if you need a big body, you don't have to do the thing with Yovich that he has hated. Not a shooter. In the past years, which is having

to play the five defensively. Yovitch is going to get his opportunity to play the four and try to salvage what he's been. But I saw Ethan Skolnick point this out. What you say? What this heat roster looked like around Jimmy Butler the day he was traded, which is, you know, sabotaging everything about 18 months ago.

Okay? So this is just a season and a half ago. They went one season without having Jimmy. And now this is the roster. So when Jimmy Butler was there, it was Jimmy with Thomas Bryant, Alec Burke's Haywood Highsmith, Jaime Hockes, Kevin Love, Josh Richardson, Duncan Robinson, Kelle Ware, Tyler Hero, and Terry Rosier. That roster kind of saw. Okay. So the departure of all of those players, plus what ultimately ends up being the total of three first round picks,

18 months later, you've replaced all of that with Janus, Andrew Wiggins, Clay Thompson, Tim Hardaway Jr., Bobby Portis, Davion Mitchell, and then Simone Fontechio, Nick Richards, Ryan Conwell, and Myron Gardner. Look at Ryan Conwell getting a shout out. With that, you've kept Bam, Yovic, Drew Smith, a total Spogai, and Pella Larson, who by the way, I am genuinely of the belief. Pella Larson with the leap he took last year with what this roster is going to be in the role he's going to close game. He's going to close games. He's going to be a six man of the year. Or at least a top three can't do. He's not going to be a six man of the year.

He'll finish in the top three of six men of the year voting for sure. Now we're starting to move it a little bit further down. I believe he will win. I believe he will win. Can you apologize to us for how much you loved that roster that you said for that first roster that you just like downplayed? You loved that roster at the time.

I mean, the team at the time, the team with Jimmy, I'm not going to apologize for Jack. Apologize to Jimmy? Actually? Apologized to Jimmy. Jimmy had his opportunity. They went into that season in a weird space because of the contract scenario, knowing they weren't going to extend him and we're trying to make moves around him to change what was going on there. They felt like if Jimmy brought it that season, that they were going to be willing to extend him. He didn't bring it.

He went into it doing the absolute opposite. of that. They thought that, huh? Yes. Yes, Chris. I know what happens around the team. I report on the team. Yes. Not me. That's what was going on around the team. He's so different at a Marlins game. God. It's the ability to look at what they did then 18 months ago and see where they are now. And this has been a master class of how to run an organization and how to bring yourself from a strange space into a new one. Normally when teams lose a superstar, this is a rebuild that takes years and years and years and years and the heat's ability to go grab another one and overnight completely transform their roster. To me, it's really impressive. And I look at what the roster is now, obviously, they could use one more bucket getter. But the more and more I look at it, and the reason I mentioned Pella Larson having an opportunity to be the sixth man of the years, the more I look at what this team looks like,

the more I realize ball's going to be in his hands a lot. The ball is going to be in his hands a lot. he's going to need to be a playmaker. He's going to need to get to the line. And with that second unit, he's going to do it a lot. He'll also close out games alongside Janus and Bam and Andrew Wiggins. And we'll see who that fifth player is going to be. I'm really impressed with what they've been able to do here.

I know that's not a shocker coming from me. But seeing them round out this roster with a player like Nick Richards, they have depth. They don't have a ton of repeatable pieces. Everybody has a role. And I can only imagine the way Eric's supposed to be. feels about that. VJ.

Edgecom, Dylan Harper. There's a lot of six-pack candidates out there. You would not have thought Jaime Hockes Jr. was going to be the second player in Sixth Man of the Year last year, by any means going into it. And Eric Spolstrom maximized what that player is. I'm telling you, on a team that is going to actually be better than many in the national media are predicting.

This guy is going to play a gigantic role. He's going to play big minutes. He's going to close down the stretch. And Pella Larson is going to. to, Pella Larson is going to be a name that all of you know. He's going to have huge games. He's going to have huge moments in the playoffs. And we'll see how you guys feel about laughing at me then. Market price for Pella Larson to win six men of the year. Go on. Plus a million.

Sports available now in all 50 states. That means yours. Plus 15,000. I can't believe there's even a number. Right behind. He's right behind DeAnthony Melton. Neat Clifford. Cody Williams. next to Obie Toppin, Baylor Shireman. He's behind Cody Williams? He's behind Cody Williams. Well, he's tied.

They're both plus 15,000. Okay, D.K. Guy Santos. Oh, Gallagie. Can I ask you something? Kristen De Silva? Let's, first of all, let it be known. I like Pelham Larson a lot.

But do you think there's a person in the world who has put something on Pell Larson plus 15,000 to win six men of year? Yeah, probably Ethan's Coleman.