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Dave Damashek
Hi, and hello, my fellow football Americans. We've got the man from Basketball, Illuminati and Cinephobe, and the Dan Lebatard show, our pal Amin Elhassan coming up. Meantime, I've been delinquent about my role as uniform czar, or the uniform. And call me what you want. I'm an aesthete, the Beau Brummel of sports fashion. So let me real quick give you my belated opinion on the Tennessee Titans new getups, which are really kind of sort of their old getups before they transitioned from the Oilers into the Titans and swapped out Houston for Nashville. First, I like them very much. The summoning one's nomadic past is a good idea by themselves. Then the uniform and gives these getups a B. But of course, nothing exists in a vacuum in the copycat league. And the NFL's now lousy with powder blue. Easy to overreact to the shiny new object there in Nashville, but I'm gonna still ride with the Chargers as my favorite powder blue ensemble. But the Carolina Panthers also wear a very similar shade of blue, and the Dolphins wear aqua, and the Jags wear teal. And 15 of 32 teams now wear a jersey that's some shade of blue. Well, the Cowboys prefer their white jersey still, I think, but less and less over the last decade. And I'm worried on behalf of the players. Don't you know, back in the 80s, Bills QB Joe Ferguson couldn't distinguish his own teammates from AFC east defenders because four of the five teams wore white helmets, so they switched them to red. And now with more and more matchups of home and home uniforms, I'm worried the NFL's aesthetics are falling back into SEC territory. Six out of 16 SEC schools, Bama, A and M, Oklahoma, Arkansas, South Carolina and Mississippi State wear maroon and white. Did you know that? Yeah, of course you did. Because if you watch them at all, it looks like a scrimmage out there. I'm keeping my eye on you, too, Big Ten, with five of your teams wearing red and white. Okay? It still means more or maroons more in the sec. What I'm getting at is it's too much. Or as the bad kid or bad guy or whatever he was in the Incredibles put it when everyone's super, no one is. And the same goes for powder blue. Meantime, I'm getting hot under the collar here. It's April, not much madness left. We got the Masters on the way, some baseball, all of it adds up to us all being a little bit closer to football. So let's start the show. Yes. Hi and hello. My fellow football Americans. Welcome to Football America. Presented it as ever by our pals at DraftKings. DraftKings. The Crown is yours. And here's for something for you to do. Subscribe, subscribe wherever you find podcasts to our YouTube page. Football America. Remember the exclamation point. We appreciate you doing that. Pablo Tori shadowed our doors a week ago. We appreciate all the thoughts from that episode. That was a really juicy one. And the week before that, we had the king of all draft stuff, Daniel Jeremiah. So join the conversation. A good one on the way today as well. And on our way to Pittsburgh Penns for the draft. So make sure you're tuning in there. Like I mentioned at the top, it's our old pal joining us today for the show. We're going to talk about football. We're talking about basketball. We'll talk about the game of life and we'll talk about movies. Amin Elhazan. What's the poop, fella? How you been?
Amin Elhassan
The poop is regular and consistent every
Dave Damashek
morning around 8am Excellent, excellent, excellent. So, as you know, there was a, a buzzer beater in the that led to the final four in college basketball. I want to talk to you about that. I want to talk to you about Danny Hurley. I want to talk to you about Gino Oriema and all the rest of it. Before we jump into that, though, quick question for you and for the guys. Oh, actually, before we get to that, we got to settle our usual hash here. It's episode number 58. And so Gino Fuentes, the, the floor is yours. Who is the player or the players in contention for the greatest ever wear that jersey number in NFL and sports history?
Gino Fuentes
We're in linebacker territory here. So we're getting to number 58 here. Jack Lambert, Derek Thomas, Von Miller, Jesse Tuggle, Kim Bokamper. If you're a Dolphins fan, the only one that comes to mind for NHL is Chris Letang. And I can't think of a baseball one off the top of my head. Anyone got a 58?
Dave Damashek
Yeah, the Tanger number 58. You know what? I'm going to start off as a, as a, as a nice fella here. I'm going to give this one, I'm going to defer to Amin here. Who's the greatest number 58?
Amin Elhassan
Derek Thomas, right?
Dave Damashek
No, no, no. He was, he was very good. But I'm going to go with Jack Splat. I mean, he's the face of pro football, right? Is he, you know I. For out of context, if you said show me the defining, put them face mug of the super bowl era, is there one better than Jack Lambert with. With the. How much.
Gino Fuentes
How many teeth did he have left at the end?
Dave Damashek
I don't know. But I mean, right. I mean, am I overstating things?
Amin Elhassan
I feel like you're doing a. You're doing a thing here again,
Dave Damashek
trying to get your goat.
Amin Elhassan
Just a little, little. You took that terrible towel away for a second, right?
Gino Fuentes
Derek Thomas had sacks in a game once or something like that.
Amin Elhassan
Dude was amazing. He.
Dave Damashek
Listen, he was spectacular. And I mentioned the NFL draft. What is it, 89 or 93? I always forget. Four of the first five picks are not just hall of Famers, they are all time greats. And the second pick is Tony Mandarich. So it's four busts in the hall of Fame and. And then at the other end of the spectrum, an all time bust in Tony Mandarich. Which reminds me again, I mean, you're a wordsmith. Bust is our rangiest word in our language. I mean, it has so many. Think about the complete ends of, of. Of the spectrum of if you're great, as in one of the all time greats, they will make a bust of you and put it into a Hall of Fame. Or if you're a bust, you're the worst.
Amin Elhassan
Yes.
Dave Damashek
Makes no. Makes no GD sense.
Amin Elhassan
Well, look, hey, and if. If you're. If they make a bust of you in the hall of Fame, you might be privy to some other busts.
Dave Damashek
Busted.
Amin Elhassan
At which point you will bust.
Dave Damashek
Yeah, well, you know what? And also you can bust the craps table. And that reminds me to ask you this. It's spring break week for a lot of people, including for my kids, Jean Claude Van Damask and. And his siblings, all with a window of 48 hours. And I wanted to do something with them this week with all four kids overlapping at the same time. And the best I could come up with was a quick road trip to Las Vegas. I mean, does that make me a good parent or a bad parent?
Amin Elhassan
It depends.
Dave Damashek
18, 17, 12, and 9.
Gino Fuentes
Yeah.
Amin Elhassan
Look, I'm speaking as someone who goes to Vegas very frequently for work, and I cannot think of anything more off putting than children in Las Vegas. I can't stand.
Dave Damashek
Oh, you're one of those.
Amin Elhassan
Oh, man.
Dave Damashek
You're like. You're not somebody who complains about children at 30,000ft in the sky?
Amin Elhassan
No, no, no, no, no, no. Just in Las Vegas. This is like planes. Hey, we all have to get somewhere These kids don't control it. Like, what are you gonna do? There's no airline. That's just for kids, right? But Vegas is a uniquely adult experience. I don't want to see people who are not of age anywhere. It kills me every time I'm walking the Strip at 2:30 in the morning. A certain amount of.
Dave Damashek
I don't, I don't.
Gino Fuentes
What are the kids doing out there?
Dave Damashek
Any of my kids out on the Strip at the morning?
Amin Elhassan
Gino, that's my.
Gino Fuentes
It's 2:30 in the morning doing.
Amin Elhassan
I've seen them in a stroller. They're pushing them in a stroller and the kids up. I'm like, go to bed.
Dave Damashek
That's crazy.
Amin Elhassan
Go to bed. Kid doesn't want to see strippers handing out cards.
Mike Fuentes
How dare you assume that I think that this is.
Dave Damashek
I. Listen, I'm rationalizing. I'm the one doing it. But consider if I just told you, without the, without the weight of, of Sin City and all of that and all, you know, the reputation. If I told you there's a land that offers up very affordably, by the way. Offers up big swimming pool and cartoon scenes to, to. To drink in with your eyeballs. And buffets, breakfast buffets and golf and all of that. I mean, that sounds like a good place for kids, I'd say.
Amin Elhassan
When are you showing up to Scottsdale? Foreign.
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Dave Damashek
Oh, I have a good question for you, Amin. You have to speak on behalf of all Phoenix sports fans. I shall second. Maybe I'll get there. But before we do, that Fuentes boys weigh in. I Now amin has me feeling bad about myself.
Mike Fuentes
So I was once one of these Vegas kids. My dad loved Vegas. He lived in Vegas. He was a blackjack dealer in Vegas for a long time. So we're eight years old. Yeah. My dad lived in Vegas. After college, he left. He was at the University of Wisconsin. He left there, went right to Vegas. He was a blackjack dealer for like, four or five years, I think. Then he came back to Miami. But since my dad liked Vegas so much, he took us there on vacation one year. And they had it under the guise of, we'll take the kids to see the Grand Canyon. And, you know, all this. You know, because in Miami, we have nothing. We have swamp and flats. So it's like. Well, they'll go see mountains, they'll see the desert. They'll see what it's like, the Grand Canyon, this whole thing. And, you know, it was really just an excuse for my dad and, like, some of the older guys in my family to go gamble and drink and do all this stuff. So one day, we weren't going to the Grand Canyon. And they were like, you're gonna come with us. We're gonna take you to this place. You're gonna have fun there for eight hours. And we're gonna go have our time. They took us to the MGM Grands. They had, like, an internal. Not internal, but, like on campus. Not real water park. Just like a. Like a park. Like an amusement park. And it had roller coasters, and it had all these fun things. And I had a great time. You know, the nighttime was on them. It took us to see shows. That's where I saw Siegfried and Roy. So. Siegfried and Roy? Yeah. That's awesome. When I found out magic was bullshit. Because we sat right on the end of table at the end. And it was just my mom, my sister and Gino. Because my dad was going off playing craps and stuff. And we're sitting right at the end, like, you know. Cause it was like stadium seating, right? So it's stadium seating all the way down. Then there's a big part in the middle where you can walk. And they do a trick or whatever, and they. The guy comes by and he says, hey, tuck your legs in, right? And everybody told us, tuck your legs and tuck your legs in. And then all of a sudden, from the corner of my eye, a guy comes running past, full speed, dressing all white. And my sister goes, that's him. And then, sure, shit, boom. It's Roy in the middle of the crowd. And that's when we discover that all these magicians and magic were all bullshit. All right? Because the guy just ran out from the side right where he needed to be.
Gino Fuentes
My thing would be, like, through the eyes of the kid that you're taking, they're enjoying it. They're loving it. Because there's, like you said, there's a bunch of stuff to do.
Amin Elhassan
There's.
Gino Fuentes
There's pools, there's buffets, there's parks, there's water and all this stuff. Now you're thinking about it through the eyes of an adult. And like a debaucherous adult, you know, the kids are at inconvenience because I'm. My mind is in a filthy place when I'm out here, and I don't want these kids crossing my mind.
Amin Elhassan
Takes me out of it.
Gino Fuentes
Exactly.
Amin Elhassan
It takes me out of it.
Mike Fuentes
I gotta say.
Dave Damashek
I don't think they're picking up any hookers at the bar. I mean, I don't think that's even gonna.
Mike Fuentes
Neither am I. Yeah. Just for the record, neither am I.
Amin Elhassan
Just want to walk and talk freely and. Oh, a child here.
Mike Fuentes
But when you're a kid, too, Vegas, very stimulating place. Not so much for your old.
Dave Damashek
I agree. That's exactly what my thought process. When you're nine years old, cartoon. Correct. The scale of it is going to blow them away. And I also think that it might break them. Sort of like the parent who, like, oh, you're smoking a cigar now. Go sit in the closet and smoke the entire box of cigars and break that. I feel like them seeing it at this impressionable age maybe will make them ultimately sort of like, yeah, I don't need this.
Mike Fuentes
Happen it as a ground also.
Amin Elhassan
Well, we've got some two case studies
Mike Fuentes
right now, but when you're, what, nine years old, you see the Eiffel Tower, the Sphinx and a pyramid all within, like the same four blocks. All right? You don't know the difference.
Amin Elhassan
You're.
Mike Fuentes
Have a good time, you know, and the Statue of Liberty, it's right there too.
Amin Elhassan
I feel like you. A kid walks in and sees all that stuff and all these adults excited, says, I can't wait for my turn to come up here. And you're fooled and hear all those noises and see people go, yeah. And everyone's celebrating. You're introducing them. This is a gateway that you're doing Dave Danishek.
Dave Damashek
Okay, Maybe that is what I'm doing. And then I will, you know, 10 years, 20 years from now, I'll look back and say, you know, 2020 hindsight. I'm a terrible parent. But in the meantime, off we go. Soon enough. Let's. Let's kibitz about sports right now. And I mentioned Gino or Gino Oriemma and, and, and Danny Hurley. I mean, amid. I get that everybody loves to hate Duke, but this to me felt very much alien versus Predator. Whoever wins, we lose. Because Danny Hurley is in the winner circle now once again. And he's pretty loathsome. And I think that again, maybe veering into hyperbole. I think Danny Hurley has worked his way, yes, to one of the great coaches that we've seen, but also one of the more hateable figures in my sports lifetime. How say you?
Amin Elhassan
I mean, yeah, I wonder if someone, you know, if old Bobby Sr. Bob Hurley saw it and said, what gives you the right to act like that? And Danny says, I learned it from watching you, Dad. I learned it from watching you. Because if you don't know Bob Hurley, the father of Bobby Hurley and Danny Hurley was a legendary high school coach in New Jersey who was a prick in no uncertain terms. And, and by the way, I think that's something that Bob Hurley would be like. Yeah. And Danny Hurley would also say.
Mike Fuentes
Yeah.
Amin Elhassan
About himself because it's part of the Persona. It's to be aggrandizing and, and kind of rough around the edges and a bad, bad, ill mannered, I should say ill mannered kind of person. But the interesting thing, Dave, is when you think about what was interesting to
Dave Damashek
interrupt that point, the thing that I've said a number of times, at least where it applies to football and I'm not sure if it carries over to basketball, but the idea of the Rah rah, Newt Rockne kind of guy and then turning into this type A, you know, hard O guy, that Bill Parcells figure, you know, basically a pigskin version of Bob Knight that worked in the 20th century. But there's not much evidence of being that cat and it working this century. How say?
Amin Elhassan
Well, I mean, like what I say is first of all, those two things run hand in hand. Like the idea, the idea. I'm not co signing it, but the idea that, hey, part of my success is because of the way I approach it is my up. My attitude towards this and that's why I'm successful. Right. That we see the, the most famous example of this obviously is Michael Jordan, that people think, oh, Michael Jordan was, was an asshole. But like, that's why he was successful. As if without being an asshole, you could have never been that successful. We Talk about coaches, particularly modern day coaches. I think it's true. You see it more often in college, usually going to be older guys. So Tom Izzo is a hard O to use your term. He's still around, I think Calipari, even though he comes off as very slick and polished to the outside world, internally, he's someone who is very demanding of his players in the NBA. Not so much because, I mean, it's kind of evolved that way. When you have guys that are making multitudes more money than you are, not only because that's how much they're paid, but also that's how much more important they are, you really cannot coach in that way. The closest thing we probably have right now is J.J. redick on NBA level.
Dave Damashek
I was going to say that. Yeah, and that's ironic too.
Amin Elhassan
Yeah, it's, it's more, yeah, it's more a lot of, you know, a lot of snarky commentary rather than, you know, what you think of with Danny Hurley, which is outright screaming in people's faces
Dave Damashek
as far as that goes. This, this then works neatly with my next question for you. And as I cobble together this list of the most loathsome figures that we've experienced as sports fans, let's try to do it over the last 30 or 40 years. Here's my list.
Amin Elhassan
Okay.
Dave Damashek
Danny Hurley is now on it. Bob Knight. I went to Indiana University. I wrote him a letter in my senior year and asked if I could come by and interview him. And I remember saying that I'd like to show you, Coach Knight, that you hate the media. I want to show you that our school is producing a better generation of journalists upcoming here. And lo and behold, I sent the letter as a lark. And a week later I called up and I got the assistant who then became famous or infamous later on for having a plant thrown at her head by the aforementioned Bob Knight in the office. I called her and she said, yeah, Coach Knight will see you on the floor next Wednesday at blank time. And I was like, what? She said, yeah, Coach Knight, we'll meet you there. He'll finish up practice and then you guys can, can have your conversation. And so then I was racked with nerves for the, for the next several days. And then I went over there and I brought a camera with me, obviously to capture it on video. I had a shooter with me and he, we went out there and this is in the age of Calber Chaney and Greg Graham and Allen Henderson and all of those guys. A a would be legendary team that came up just short in the. In the final four against Duke, but they're all around. They're shooting their free throws to wrap up practice. And right in the middle of the floor comes Bob Knight, 6 foot 4, 6 foot 5. As he approached me with. With that gate that you had there, like John Wayne. Almost like John Wayne. As he came over to me, he was half man, half eagle. And he said, what's with this camera? You didn't mention anything about a camera. And I was like, well, I want to capture it on video. Obviously this will, you know, help me get a job in the future. So he was already put off. Put off by the interview. I asked him a question. I asked him another question, and then he said, let me stop you here. If you can get your shit together by tomorrow, you can come back and try it again. And was your shit not together?
Mike Fuentes
Yeah. What was the question like that you didn't have your shit together.
Amin Elhassan
Were you hemming and hawing the question?
Dave Damashek
I asked him? No, I was not hemming and hawing more than I usually do.
Mike Fuentes
Did you go up and say, what's the poop, fella?
Dave Damashek
Maybe. Maybe I did. So what?
Mike Fuentes
That would throw me off.
Dave Damashek
Well, I did joke on the way over there, wouldn't it be funny if Bob Knight got into us like he does the average journalist, right? And then all of a sudden, he. He was doing it. It wasn't so funny anymore. I said something to him a lot. They had lost. They'd gotten whipped by Kansas the year before. And so I said, is there any sense of revenge among the guys? And that was, you know, that was out of bounds for him for some reason. I don't know.
Amin Elhassan
Why did you ask him? It was a must win game.
Dave Damashek
I did he. So he. I said, all right, well, and then he turned to walk away, and he got five, 10ft away. And then he turned back around and he said, you know what? I'm going to need that tape. And. Oh, so. So the guy took it out. It was one of those high eight tapes, like the size of a little old cassette kind of thing. And he took it off. And then we're standing there like, oh, my God, like in, you know, cold sweat. Like, oh, my God, I can't believe that just happened. Bob Knight just swore. Just swore at us. And. And then the. The shooter was like, I have other stuff on that tape. I need that tape back. Come to think of it, we can't just let him have it. And so then we go knock on the locker room door. Yes, A trainer A trainer pokes his head out. He's like, I don't know, guys. I don't know where that tape is at this point. I mean, it was 90 seconds later. I don't know where that tape is at this point. Then the trainer walked back out after a few minutes and said, sorry boys, that tape's gone. And just kept on walking like kind of chuckling to himself. And then I really had to look inside myself. I had to, I had to have a long conversation with the man in the mirror. Coach Knight was challenging me to up my game. Do I show up the next day. There were some moments where I thought, no, I'm going to teach him a lesson and ghost him. But sure enough, I did go back the next day with the shooter softball with the same shooter and, and said I asked him a couple softball questions at the end. He said, now that's how you do an interview. And he said, and I got you something. And he produced the tape from the day before and it was all taped and glued together. And when we put it into the machine, it didn't work anymore. But, but the effort was made. That was my experience with Bob Knight. Bottom line is he's an asshole bully, so he's on the list. Where do Tom Brady and Bill Belichick rank are they hated more than they know.
Gino Fuentes
What I've, I've, I've turned around on this. When they were Patriots, I hated them anytime they talked to the mic, anytime you asked them a question, and I despised their answer because they wouldn't say shit. But then Tom Brady went to Tampa Bay and him and Gronk were fucking pleasant. And Bill Belichick now has this, this, this 20 something year old girlfriend and he's funny to me now. And so
Dave Damashek
he's, you know, somehow in spite of having the 20 something year old girlfriend, I can relate. And he's in Chapel Hill, which by all I've never been, but by all accounts is picture X and every picture. Somehow he's a pitiable figure now, you know, So I don't mind him anymore. I still dislike Belichick. But the other side of that is Amin is Brett Favre, who I think everybody kind of liked when he was a player. Except for the tail end of things. I thought it got ridiculous. And I don't understand how packers or Vikings fans ever found their way into rooting for that guy. He torment. If you're a Vikings fan, he tormented you for a decade and a half. Who cares if he's the missing piece? It ain't Worth giving up your dignity.
Amin Elhassan
He was pretty good, though.
Dave Damashek
I know there's no.
Amin Elhassan
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Dave, think about this. Is it, oh, this guy tormented me? Or is it, hey, Packers, I got your quarterback, right? Is that more the feeling that you have, right? Like, oh, this thing that you guys are going to put in the hall of Fame, guess what? He's our quarterback now. And if he had been successful, gotten to the super bowl and won a Super bowl for them, it's the ultimate. It's like, yeah, we stole your quarterback and you guys pushed him out of the door and said he wasn't good enough. Guess what? Enough to get me one.
Dave Damashek
I guess that makes some sense now. The. The answer is largely, is that what you would do if you're a Vikings fan? Yes. Which is why I can't imagine why the packers so quickly turned around and embraced him a couple years after he retired to be like, no man wasn't good enough for you to play in Lambo, the greatest joint you could play in in pro football, you have to run off. You could have gone to a lot of places. You didn't have to go to a division foe, but you did. And if you're the Vikings and you win a Lombardi, and your Lombardi count is the same as it was for the packers, and I guess you do have the edge. Either way, it's gross. But also, Favre has become sort of the opposite of John Madden, which was. He was hated when he was the Raiders coach. I've made this point before, and people find it hard to believe, but when he was the Raiders coach, he was just downright loathsome. And then everybody loved him a decade later. Brett Favre, I think people like a lot less. Because of the volleyball stuff, right?
Amin Elhassan
Well, because volleyball stuff with his dick pics, because of. I mean, like, he has a long kind of rap sheet of things that happen.
Dave Damashek
I didn't know where you were going with the dick pics. He has a long.
Amin Elhassan
Oh, no, no, he doesn't have one of those. But he's got a long rap sheet of kind of detestable episodes that started again before he retired, and not necessarily because he went to go play for the rival Vikings or anything of that nature, which is also interesting because if you think of the start of his career, also kind of a show. So he's a rare reverse sandwich you got in the beginning and in the end. But the middle was like the. The fun, lovable parts.
Dave Damashek
So does he make our list here?
Amin Elhassan
I Think he does like that. That this, everything that's happened since basically the jets and on has made him into a negative personality in the, in the psyche of people.
Dave Damashek
The MLB umpires are now, they. People are now. Are now feeling sad for them because they're just exposed. But of course, not unlike Brett Favre, but. Yeah, well, different than Brett. Somebody exposed himself. But, but I think referees as. Just as a collective, they have to be on the short list of most hateable, right?
Amin Elhassan
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's like there's one in every sport that everyone knows by name. Angel Hernandez in baseball, Scott Foster in the NBA. Right. Like, there's, there's. I wonder if hockey fans, none of them are likable.
Dave Damashek
Who. I mean, who's the likable one?
Amin Elhassan
Oh, Billy Kennedy.
Dave Damashek
Ed Hockey because he got ripped.
Amin Elhassan
Ed Hockley because of the guns. Billy Kennedy because he, he does his reviews with a fun reading voice.
Mike Fuentes
He also has like this like game show look to him. Like he hosts like a 70s 80s game show with his mustache. Yeah, I feel I like him now.
Amin Elhassan
Dave, you, you are a massive hockey fan. Do hockey fans hate hockey referees? I don't, I don't feel like I hear that a lot about how the referees do this one.
Dave Damashek
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. In, in, in. In a lot of ways more so. I remember being in the igloo in Pittsburgh with my old man, and depending on who the referee was skating out that night, he would announce like, well, we're screwed. It's Gary Frazier tonight. He. My. My old, my. My old man lived a, A paranoid existence when it came to sports. He thought that broadcasters had it in for the Steelers, referees had it in for that, and, and the industry bent to our rivals like that. Well, the league, he was one of
Amin Elhassan
those guys they want.
Dave Damashek
I don't think they're against our teams. I don't think anybody's just. Although there are a lot of Penguins fans who are accusing NHL officials of being against the Penguins right now. Also, Barry Bonds is on the list. Right? I think we all agree.
Amin Elhassan
Combination of the, The PED use. And also he was a magnificent asshole.
Dave Damashek
Tom Wilson, speaking of NHL guys. Goon, cheap shot artist. All, all of that. He should be on this list. And then you mentioned JJ Redick, and I think that's an interesting one. I think Christian Laetner is the face of loathsome Duke players. But it's crazy how they have pretty consistently had at least one of those guys who you really, really, really hate. Some white guy with a, with a. Just a His sitting face is smart ass, you know, so I don't know why, but it just conveys that to the world. The camera cuts to him.
Amin Elhassan
Let me ask you a question. I asked this to Dan Levittard earlier this week and he had a very unsatisfying answer for me, which is my Duke University awareness starts with Christian Laettner and those teams with. With Grant Hill and Bobby Hurley, et cetera. And Christian Laettner was the face of. I hate these guys. Was Duke hated like that pre Christian Laitner and if so who was that face for them?
Dave Damashek
No, Bobby Hurley also was a 1A. He was also unlikable in my opinion. But. And Coach K sort of in between became more unlikable, I feel like as things wore on. No, in fact, to answer your question, as somebody older than you, those Duke, the first real good Duke team that actually played in the. In the title game and lost to never nervous Purvis, Ellison and Louisville. That was a imminently likable team. Johnny Dawkins. Dawkins and, and Billis and Mark Aller and Barry was very on that team. Danny Ferry joined. He was the freshman when all those guys got, you know, when they were upperclassmen. Yeah, he kind of bridged the gap into the Latener, I think Leitner and Fairy. I wonder if they overlap. I bet they did buy a season or two. That brings me to another good question. I mean we have so much to get to and we're already way into the show here. 20 years from now, if you want to throw out anybody Fuentes boys to any other loathsome people I left off the list here. I'm sure we could do OJ Shows on.
Gino Fuentes
Didn't you have a Jose Canseco?
Mike Fuentes
Yeah, I said Jose Canseco is one that pretty much got.
Amin Elhassan
I feel like people like that.
Mike Fuentes
He was. No, I don't know. He. I know he was an asshole and I know he wasn't like liked by a lot of teammates. I think like he had maybe with a stigma of like he's a bad boy. So people like that, like even though he was on the same team. Mark McGuire. Mark McGuire was pretty much loved until the steroid thing came out. Rafael Palmero kind of became really disliked after he lied straight up and got.
Dave Damashek
I feel like everybody feels sad for him.
Mike Fuentes
No, no, because he's. Because he's the guy that was like, wow, all these guys are liars. Because he was so blatantly caught.
Amin Elhassan
I mean he did the. Yeah, he did the.
Mike Fuentes
I've never like that Congress. I'VE never taken steroids. And then, like, two days later, he took steroids.
Amin Elhassan
You know, it was.
Mike Fuentes
It was tough for him. But, I mean, I think you went. You went kind of light on Belichick.
Amin Elhassan
Curt Schilling. That's.
Mike Fuentes
Ooh, Curt Schilling. Yeah, that's a good one.
Dave Damashek
Yeah, that's right. That's post career stuff. Yeah. But imagine if you're Belichick as a human being. I hope that the majority of us can agree that Aaron Hernandez is a worse human being than Bill Belichick. But I think your foot, I think your sports heart would tell you that you dislike Belichick more than you like Aaron Hernandez. Right.
Mike Fuentes
I have one. I have one for Amin. I want to get his take on this post career. Michael Jordan's taking a beating.
Amin Elhassan
Oh, that's only because he was so high.
Mike Fuentes
Yeah, that, like, he can only come down.
Amin Elhassan
It can only come down. But he still occupies a very rare air. No pun intended. Like, he's still. He's still a deity. He's just a little bit more tarnished than he was when he was playing.
Mike Fuentes
Yeah, because I know, like, oh, you just said.
Dave Damashek
But that reminds me, Mike, Bill Lambert, you cannot have a list like this without putting him on there.
Mike Fuentes
I think that's mostly for players. Right. Like, I don't think a lot of. I guess if you were like a
Amin Elhassan
Bulls fan, people hated Lambert now. Now, I don't know, like, where his Q rating is, but in his time, people hated Lambert. People hated Mahorn, People hated and probably still do a Isaiah Thomas.
Mike Fuentes
That whole Pistons team except for Joe Dumars.
Amin Elhassan
Joe Dumars was the one that everyone liked. Kenny Smith tells this funny story about being a rookie and playing against those bad boy Pistons. And he said, you know, they went on a little run, whatever his team did, and so they called timeout. And they're walking past the bench, walking to the bench, and they're crossing. You know, their bench is over here. Pistons bench is over there. And as they cross, Joe Dumars clips them on purpose, hard. And Kenny's like, I'm doubled over. I'm out of breath. And all I could muster was like, But I thought Joe was one of the good ones. It was like the betrayal of Joe Dumars doing something dirty was way worse than the actual game. Your wind knocked out,
Dave Damashek
by the way I'm starting this conversation. Like, I. I think I did say over the last 30 or 40 years, because if you get to the mid 20th century and before a bunch of racists, Ty Cobb and all those guys. So I guess they're. They're much worse. The question I was going to ask for you is. And Christian Laetner leads into the shot that vanquished dudes the other day. And, and revenge best served cold because Christian Laettner was way back when knocked UConn out of the tournament before he made the famous shot against Kentucky. He also put them out, put UConn out in the Meadowlands. I, you know, prisoner of the moment stuff. And everybody's so cynical and everybody has to pull cauldron like it wasn't that impressive a shot. First of all, one thing I will say is that the Yukon kid who had just made a three pointer 30 seconds before in that game to make it a game and make it plausible that the Huskies might in fact pull this thing off, he makes that shot. How many human beings in that spot, given the evidence of like, I just drilled that three. Don't shoot it when the ball comes back into your hands with three seconds to go, instead you pass it off to somebody else. That was a, that was a wild move and underrated. The kid stroking it from, you know, 28 is a. It was impressive too, but given the ball up in that spot. Right.
Amin Elhassan
I mean, I got an argument with Dan Leardard earlier this week about this. I told him like, hey, oh, you did you. Yeah, yeah. It's a shocker, right? He never does that. I said, Yukon is. This is part of, this is the experience. That's a roster of mostly sophomores, juniors and seniors versus Duke, which had, I think only 20% of its minutes played from a season ago. Returning to this roster. Some of these guys had been around for the championship and certainly for the final Fours. So when you, when you put that into perspective, that's a veteran move. Even though the kid who hit it was a freshman, the guy who made the pass was an upperclassman and he made the smart, heady play. Because at the end of the day, Dave, what we're watching on TV during March Madness is mostly a bunch of children playing high stakes basketball for the first time in their life.
Dave Damashek
A lot of guys always blown away and the one off of it, like, you screw this moment up, there is no tomorrow. You don't get game two or four to redeem yourself.
Amin Elhassan
Carlos Boozer's son, Kaden Boozer, the, the one who won't be like a top five pick in the draft, had a really bad turnover that led to that made three. And the guys on the show were talking about, oh, well, he's never seen a full court press before. I said no, he, he's just never done it in front of 20,000 people going crazy knowing that this is for a trip to the Final Four. Sorry, Columbus High School probably didn't provide that kind of pressure staked environment for him. And so this is all kind of melting into all that. By the way, Christian Laettner and Duke and them boys back in 92, guess what? Those guys were all upperclassmen playing against who? Michigan Fab 5.
Dave Damashek
Well guys, the Indiana Hoosiers got all time job in that game and I'm not, I, I'm my father's son and I don't know why but, but the Hoosiers all filed out of that game. Never filed out all season long. But Calber Chaney and Greg Graham and all filed out against Duke. That sucked. Leitner makes his shot. That is I think in the top three. It's, it's greatest postseason game enders that I've ever seen. I want to make that list real quick with you now. By the way, Jordan against Georgetown doesn't count because there's 15 seconds left. And Dwight Clark against the Cowboys making the catch doesn't count because there were 58 seconds left in that game. And the lateral play, Cal over Stanford doesn't count because that was a regular season game. So go from there.
Amin Elhassan
Okay, so we've got got just in no particular order, Michael Jordan the shot over Elo. You've got Michael Jordan the shot over Brian Russell in game six. 98. You've got Frank Wych, Music City Miracle. Oh yeah, you've got the kid whose name escapes me from Villanova to win the, the national title against North Carolina against unc. Yep.
Dave Damashek
Yeah, I can't think of the kid's name either. That was 20 embarrassment for me.
Amin Elhassan
Jenkins.
Mike Fuentes
I'm on it.
Amin Elhassan
I, I want to say it's, it's Chris Jenkins, but that might have been another player from another sport. So I don't know.
Dave Damashek
Basketball, because of its nature has more of these. Well, hockey should have more.
Amin Elhassan
I'll give you one that I.
Dave Damashek
Overtime goals.
Amin Elhassan
I was in the attendance for this one. Game one of the World Series. Freddie Freeman, bases loaded. Ooh, I was, I was there. I was dressed head to toe in my Yankee gear and I had, I actually have the video where I start recording like here we go, one more out because his bases loaded, two outs. It's like one more out and we just stole game one in la and I heard the crack of the bat and I swear to God I can show you the video. I didn't even follow the ball. I just, my phone just goes down because I knew from the sound of the crack of the bat that shit is out of here. It's up to 101. It's going up to, to Studio City somewhere.
Mike Fuentes
Chris Jenkins, I think Chris Jenkins. Chris Jenkins, but Chris with a K.
Dave Damashek
Ah, I was gonna say. I knew that part. I did know that part. The. Yeah, I mean, among postseason home runs, that's probably top five. Luis Gonzalez beating the Yanks in 2001.
Amin Elhassan
Yeah.
Dave Damashek
Significant and weird looking play. Almost like a Godfather assassination. There's always something oddball about somebody getting killed in the Godfather. There's some weird element to every death. The Luis Gonzalez hit, the infields drawn in, and it was just like a knuckleball out shortstop off of.
Amin Elhassan
And the context, it's. It's Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer of all time, that he gets a hit off of. But I kind of feel like a baseball, if it's a base hit, doesn't have same juice.
Gino Fuentes
Like, it's not Joe Carter. Joe Carter. 1993 for the Blue Jays. I remember that as a kid out of the park.
Dave Damashek
Well, Bill Mazeroski won the series. He beat the Yankees in extras. I mean, beat him in extras. That's the greatest home run in postseason history. Low Charles of State knocking off Mighty Five Slam a jama buzzer. Derek Wittenberg, a sharpshooter when there was no three pointer. So it was crazy that he was taking 22 footers and they only counted the same as whatever you scored from right underneath the basket. But he was a sharpshooter. But he came out, he threw an airball, and Low Charles picked it up, caught it, put it into the rim without his feet touching the ground. And that was a weird one, too. Valvano running around the floor. I think that has to also. Jimmy Chitwood.
Amin Elhassan
No, absolutely.
Dave Damashek
South Bend.
Amin Elhassan
Absolutely not. No Jimmy Chitwood. No fictional characters.
Mike Fuentes
Now, Now I'm here, like on a dog with a bone. With this Villanova box score from that game and the video.
Amin Elhassan
The whole team is NBA players.
Mike Fuentes
Well, no, but not even that. But like the big NBA guys. Pedestrian. Jaylen Brunson, 22 minutes. He had four points.
Amin Elhassan
Yeah.
Mike Fuentes
Josh Hart, he had 12. Okay, that's pretty good. The lead scorer for the game, Phil Booth.
Amin Elhassan
Phil Booth.
Mike Fuentes
No idea who that is.
Amin Elhassan
Yeah, wait, I, I.
Dave Damashek
Let me go, let me go. More black and gold for you. Wave my terrible towel. You have ven winning it right before. I mean, at the Gun.
Amin Elhassan
But hold on.
Dave Damashek
Beating the Rams, it was. I don't like kickers either, but that, I mean, they won the super bowl at the gun.
Amin Elhassan
Sure, sure. And I'm not trying to take away the clutchness of the. But it's not like he hit a 60 yarder.
Dave Damashek
It was 45 though, right? It wasn't. It wasn't a chip shot either. Sure. I, you know what I think is ironic is that my whole life I would look at the Super Bowl. I love Super Bowls and think, man, one day I'd love to see one of these things go to overtime. And I thought that Rams Patriots game was heav. Headed for overtime. And I was there and I was. Oh, this is going to be great. The two overtimes, we've gotten pretty underwhelming, I don't think. I don't. I don't think either one of those re. I mean, the, the moment. Because it wins the super bowl, you have to list them, but I don't think they were great moments. The greatest last second score in sports history is the Immaculate Reception. Right?
Amin Elhassan
Well, look, I think that a lot of that is folklore though, right? Is, is, is it, is it. Was it a great play or is it because we don't have any clear video evidence of whether the ball hit the floor or not?
Dave Damashek
Don't. Let's not play that game. I'm not.
Amin Elhassan
That's what makes it. That's, that's what grows the mythology. If it was a clear catch, we'd be all right.
Dave Damashek
Well, speaking of mythology, that's what will determine whether or not that this Buzzer Beater by UConn resonates in a quarter century. Is. Does Yukon go on to do anything? Well, no, those Steelers didn't win the Super Bowl. They, they lost the next week to the Dolphins, but it did. It perceived at least to be the starting point of the greatest dynasty of the 20th century in football. So I think that's why all these years later, people look back at it. I don't think it would. The, the, the, the, the Miracle City Music, whatever it's called, Music City Miracle was great, but it, you know, they didn't win the super bowl as a result. If they did, I think it would stand out a little bit more.
Amin Elhassan
What about. What about Bryce Drew Valparaiso? What about Quiet Leonard against the Sixers in game seven? Like, these are. Well, I guess they went on to win the title, but, but Bryce Drew Valparaiso, like, that's one of the most famous shots in NCAA history. And like Valparaiso they went to Sweet 16. I think that was all they did. Bryce Drew, still coaching, by the way. Shout out to Grand Canyon University.
Dave Damashek
He mentioned his New York sports fan affection because he mentioned the Freddie Freeman home run. So I think he's earned this one. I'm going to start with you. I mean, I think you present as very New York, but also you work for the Phoenix Suns. So I'm going to double dip here. We've been doing this. We did it with Pablo last week. We did his. If he can have. Because, you know, in the age of free agency and expensive jerseys and all that, to get them customized and whatever, you know, you don't want to screw this up because you're. If you get the wrong one, that guy could be traded or signed somewhere else in six months. And now you got to start from scratch. Here we go. I mean, the three New York sports jerseys you would most want to have. The best ones to own and the three worst to own as a New York sports fan.
Amin Elhassan
Okay, so best to own is going to be a lot easier, and it's, it's even easier because I already own two of these three.
Dave Damashek
Let me guess. Let's say let's. I was just going to say two. I knew it was a Yankees 2.
Amin Elhassan
Yep. Derek Jeter and a Yankees 2. Pin Stripes, no name on it. Because we're, we're adults over here. We're not little kids.
Dave Damashek
Clyde Frazier, 10.
Amin Elhassan
No, first of all, I'd like to point out it's Jeter pinstripes. Don't like the away jerseys. Too bland.
Dave Damashek
I kind of like those. I think. I think they're strong. They're like, we don't. We have more important things to worry about than how we look for whatever city we're in. We're not in New York City, so it doesn't make a difference. This city is. Is irrelevant because it is not nyc. And we're just going to tell you who we are. New York.
Amin Elhassan
I appreciate. I appreciate that explanation. Still not a jersey I'd like to own. Number two, a home white. Patrick Ewing, 33. I own a road. Patrick Ewing, 33. The home white, though. Lot cleaner. Especially those from the mid-90s. Like, just that clean white. And the orange lettering with the blue outline on it.
Dave Damashek
I love that one because I'm intrigued by it because I legitimately don't know if you're a New York Knickerbockers lover from way back, how do you feel about the Patrick Ewing era? I mean, it feels like you'd Be more vexed ultimately than overjoyed.
Amin Elhassan
Quite the opposite. It's complete revisionist history in New York. At the time, this man was one of the three best centers in the league. They were booing him for, oh, I don't know, taking a team of CBA cast offs to multiple conference finals and NBA finals and stuff like that. And now, now that he's been gone and obviously the 25 years of being bad in between really helps. Everyone loves Patrick. Oh, he's one of my favorite players, whatever. But I remember, I remember how people hated on Patrick Ewing. And then number three. Now, I don't know if this, the jersey design is as to credit so much as what it represents. A Blue Giants number 56.
Dave Damashek
Nice. That's a good.
Amin Elhassan
That one. You know what that means when you see it. Walk in down the middle.
Dave Damashek
But that's a great choice. All right. I respect all three of those.
Amin Elhassan
By the way, I'm speaking as someone who owns a Knicks Chris Childs jersey. So, like, I could have been like a real hipster with this. But no, I went with, you know, these are the ones where you're always going to be, you know, if the criteria is I never have to worry when I wear one of these, I think those are the ones that get it done.
Dave Damashek
All right, you want the worst, we'll do the bad ones now.
Amin Elhassan
Okay. A rod Yankees jersey. I own that as well. As soon as, as soon as the transaction was completely. I remember I went to mlb.com and I bought a rod number 13 because they said you can't wear three because they're not going to unretire Babe Ruth. So 13 for a rod. And I was like, this is, we're going to win like every World Series forever. I didn't know at the time.
Dave Damashek
Number two, I think you give that one up. Yeah.
Amin Elhassan
Number two, also a jersey I own. And you're going to really love this. It was an Antonio McDyess Knicks jersey that I then had custom remade to be an Eddie Curry Knicks jersey.
Dave Damashek
Again, that's, that's the winner. The double whammy. It went Eddie Curry to save it.
Amin Elhassan
Eddie Curry. Because I was like, oh, McDistal, he never played. Like, oh, well, this Eddie Curry guy's gonna, he'll be the savior.
Dave Damashek
Lone save that didn't work out.
Amin Elhassan
Yeah, yeah. And then number three would have to be. Oh, Charles Smith Knicks jersey. You are Charles Smith Knicks jersey. You're, you're. You are pariah instantly.
Dave Damashek
Why? Because he couldn't finish at the rim 17 times.
Amin Elhassan
Dunk it one time. Just dunk it once.
Dave Damashek
Listen, that's where we connect. That's where our cars are parked in the same garage. Charles Smith, before he was a Knickerbocker, was a pit Panther.
Amin Elhassan
Yes, he was.
Dave Damashek
Probably still stands as the greatest pit Panther basketball player.
Amin Elhassan
Chevy Troutman would like a word.
Dave Damashek
Oh, come on. With Chevy Troutman. Yes, the. I loved those pit teams with me Gore and Jerome Lane and Sean Miller. Oh my God, I love those teams. They got Barry Goheen. Talk about a buzzer beater. They got but beat by Vandy in the 88 Sweet Round of 32. They. They. They could have won the whole thing that year. All right, now I'm getting upset. I don't want to do that. All right, Mike Fuentes, since you seem scutchy, what do you want to do next year? Do you want to. Do you want to do Amin's Phoenix based jerseys or do you want to do some movie talk here? Do you want to hear his thoughts on Gino or the Phoenix base?
Mike Fuentes
Phoenix based jerseys are just the Suns.
Amin Elhassan
No, that's not true.
Mike Fuentes
What else is there?
Amin Elhassan
No, that's not true.
Mike Fuentes
Talking about Arizona Coyotes.
Amin Elhassan
Man, you never told me Shane D. But he wasn't on my list.
Mike Fuentes
But yeah, okay, okay.
Dave Damashek
Give a. Give us those real quick.
Amin Elhassan
Okay. All right, so number one, the all the white home version of the Charles Barkley Phoenix Suns sunburst jersey. Dare I say the most beautiful jersey in the history of NBA basketball that like it is perfect.
Dave Damashek
Way too much. Way too much.
Amin Elhassan
Number two, the alternate orange PHX Steve Nash jersey. This is the year after he won mvp. And that one was not a fan.
Dave Damashek
Not a fan aesthetically of that look. And not sure that Steve Nash deserved those MVPs.
Amin Elhassan
Well, don't you.
Dave Damashek
I'm not.
Amin Elhassan
Don't you. Don't. Don't start.
Dave Damashek
I'm not going to do it.
Amin Elhassan
Number three, Cardinals red Larry Fitzgerald.
Dave Damashek
Nice.
Amin Elhassan
Classic. Classic. Another pick guy, right?
Dave Damashek
Do you forget about the Cardinals?
Mike Fuentes
He has a pick guy.
Dave Damashek
Yeah, no, of course he was a pick guy.
Mike Fuentes
Yeah, that didn't really enter into my. Into my thing when it comes to him.
Amin Elhassan
Mean.
Mike Fuentes
Because he's such a big basketball guy. I didn't really think about the Cardinals.
Amin Elhassan
You guys want to hear more? The worst.
Gino Fuentes
Definitely want to hear this.
Amin Elhassan
All right, number one. Saw this in life, in real person. A Cardinals Neil Rackers jersey. Do you guys remember Neil Rackers? If you guys don't remember, I want you to guess.
Mike Fuentes
Of course I remember.
Dave Damashek
Neil.
Amin Elhassan
Don't say anything.
Dave Damashek
Dave Fuentes brothers Okay, I know what it is.
Amin Elhassan
Neil Rackers. What position?
Mike Fuentes
Yeah, he is a punter.
Dave Damashek
Fair.
Amin Elhassan
Kicker.
Mike Fuentes
Oh, punter. Kicker. Yeah. It's whatever Google showed me right away
Amin Elhassan
when I. Dave, I saw someone wearing Neil. Not someone I saw multiple. Some people wear Neil Rackers jerseys at Cardinals games and I was just like, what? Where does your life take you?
Dave Damashek
The state of your franchise is pretty grim if you're going out to get the kickers. Like how many Raiders people at the height of Ray Guy's powers were choosing his jersey?
Gino Fuentes
There's got to be something. There's got to be some kind of inside joke going on with that.
Mike Fuentes
I mean, until until recently, you would have saw a bunch of Tucker jerseys and a bunch of Kostowski jerseys. Kostowski. I feel like you, you know, like, because you know there's always that one guy who's like, well, I don't want to get a Brady jersey or a Gronk jersey. Those are everywhere. So I'm gonna get the kickers.
Dave Damashek
I guess Venetary is something.
Amin Elhassan
Neil record. Neil Rockers is not one of those guys. Oh, man. Especially not when Neil, by the way,
Dave Damashek
Neil, by the way achieves the rare feat of being a bad name for both a baby and a grown up man. Neil. Oh, go ahead, go ahead there. All right.
Amin Elhassan
A son's Casey Jacobson jersey. Casey Jacobson, ladies and gentlemen. Stanford.
Dave Damashek
I remember Amin El Hassan. We, we've gone on and on and I feel like we've barely skimmed the surface here. I was going to talk with movies with you. All right, I'm going to ask you very quickly. Mike Fuente is going to be upset. You just have to answer this. Just no, no, no commentary around it.
Amin Elhassan
Just yes or no.
Dave Damashek
Let's do one of our. Yeah, well, just rank these.
Amin Elhassan
Okay.
Dave Damashek
Tom Cruise versus Harrison Ford versus Robert De Niro versus Will Ferrell. First place. You can watch his movies anytime you want for the rest of your life. Second place, once every two years. Third place, once every decade. Fourth place. Never again.
Amin Elhassan
Damn. First place. This is going to be easy for me. It's Harrison Ford.
Dave Damashek
It's not okay, goodbye, Godfather. But I hear you.
Amin Elhassan
No, look. Hey, man. Godfather to India, Indiana Jones trilogy and Star Wars.
Dave Damashek
Like who made it a salad?
Amin Elhassan
There it is. Number two. This is where it gets murky. So now I've got Tom Cruise, I got Robert De Niro and I've got Will Ferrell. Right? So I'm going to go. This is again a consistency versus peak conversation here, folks. Robert De Niro, some of the greatest films ever made.
Dave Damashek
Rachel, maybe more great movies than any actor in history.
Amin Elhassan
Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Godfather too, right? But a shit ton of horrible movies.
Dave Damashek
I never nothing this century, right?
Amin Elhassan
Meanwhile, Tom Cruise, like a metronome, may not be the greatest movie I've ever seen, but they're pretty entertaining. You've got Edge of Tomorrow, you've got Collateral, you got the Mission Impossible series minus Mission Impossible 2, you've got born Rain man, right?
Dave Damashek
I mean, born on the fourth of
Amin Elhassan
July, Days of Thunder.
Mike Fuentes
Jerry Maguire.
Amin Elhassan
Jerry Maguire. Tropic Thunder. Tropic Thunder. I'm going to Tom Cruise easily at the number two spot.
Dave Damashek
Our greatest star, right? Our greatest movie star saved movies.
Amin Elhassan
He saved.
Dave Damashek
He better than Clark Gable, better than Redford, better than the industry.
Amin Elhassan
He literally saved, single handedly saved an entire industry that was gonna crater, right? Moviegoing. So now I'm down to Robert De Niro, the aforementioned incredible resume. Robert De Niro.
Dave Damashek
And you might never see Goodfellas again if you make the wrong choice here or the right choice for you.
Amin Elhassan
And Will Ferrell, who has under his belt also a plethora of hilarious movies, some of the funniest movies ever, and then also a bunch of movies that I could do without. And at this point we always go to the tiebreaker, Dave Damaschek, which is do I know someone who's materially impacted by this? And it's Adam McKay. So I'm going to go Will Ferrell of the. Sorry. Robert Dairo. Sorry. Good fellas. Sorry. Taxi drivers.
Dave Damashek
Sorry.
Gino Fuentes
Sorry. Every gangster movie ever.
Amin Elhassan
Well, you know, I still got Caro's Way.
Dave Damashek
I, I, I, I hear where you're coming from on this list there. I like the element that you've added, which is like if you had to drop all the actors movies into a hat and just blind draw one out, that would help you make a decision. You would probably go Harrison Ford or Tom Cruise because you could get some real stinkers in there if you go De Niro. You might go find yourself watching Rocky and Bullwinkle if you ain't careful with yourself.
Amin Elhassan
Hey, Piper Parable.
Dave Damashek
Yeah, that's actually, that's, that's all right. That is all right. What was her movie? Coyote Ugly.
Amin Elhassan
Coyote Ugly, Yep. That was the Piper Pair of Boots. She's a star. She's gonna make it.
Dave Damashek
Cinephobe is where you find more movie talk from him. More basketball talk. Basketball. Illuminati. And he's burning on everything. Arguing with Dan LeBatard and the rest of the crew on the Dan LeBatard show whenever they're lucky enough to have him down there in Miami. It's the great Amin el Hassan. Let's keep doing it, fella.
Amin Elhassan
Absolutely. And a good day of poop to you, sir. Is that how he says it?
Dave Damashek
Poop.
Amin Elhassan
How's your poop?
Dave Damashek
Poop to you. Something like that. Something like that. All right. There goes Amin. Here we go. To thank you to the Fuentes boys and Soup Campbell for carving out some time this spring break week for us. So I can. So I can go off to Vegas with my kids and be a good parent. Or a bad one. We won't know that hash won't settle itself for at least 20 years. But in the meantime, like I say, on our way to the draft in a few weeks. In the meantime, we'll keep buzzing for you. We'll get back on track. Track with NFL draft stuff as that gets closer and closer. And for the Fuentes boys and for Soup Campbell, thanks so much, my fellow football Americans. It's been a thin slice of heaven.
Air Date: April 3, 2026
Live from the Elser Hotel in Miami, this episode is a mash-up of sports, pop culture, debatable rankings, and irreverent fun. Dan Le Batard, Stugotz, Dave Damashek, and special guest Amin Elhassan (Basketball Illuminati, Cinephobe) dive into the aesthetics of football uniforms, the most loathed figures in sports, buzzer-beating sports moments, the surprisingly deep topic of taking kids to Las Vegas, and a passionate debate over which actor’s filmography you’d want most on a desert island. Throughout, the discussion is free-wheeling, snarky, and blends deep sports knowledge with pop culture punchlines.
Timestamps: 00:00–03:15
Dave Damashek opens with a “uni-nerd” rant about the Tennessee Titans' new uniforms and NFL teams’ obsession with powder blue:
Damashek worries that NFL aesthetics are becoming like the maroon-and-white-dominated SEC, with too many teams using similar colors.
Timestamps: 03:15–06:23
The panel weighs candidates for best athlete to wear #58, notably Jack Lambert and Derrick Thomas:
Spinning into wordplay, Damashek marvels at “bust” being both a badge of greatness (in the Hall of Fame) and total failure.
Timestamps: 06:23–13:43
Timestamps: 13:43–34:26
Damashek and Amin attempt to construct a list of the most “loathsome” sports figures of the past 30-40 years:
Notable Quote:
"I think Christian Laettner is the face of loathsome Duke players. But it's crazy how they have pretty consistently had at least one of those guys who you really, really, really hate." (28:05, Damashek)
Timestamps: 34:26–41:52
Recap of the most iconic “walk-off winners” in sports:
On the Immaculate Reception
Timestamps: 43:11–52:20
Amin on Barkley’s Suns jersey:
"Dare I say the most beautiful jersey in the history of NBA basketball." (49:31)
Timestamps: 52:20–55:47
Pick the order—Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise, Robert De Niro, or Will Ferrell:
Amin’s Rankings:
Damashek on De Niro:
"Maybe more great movies than any actor in history, but a shit ton of horrible movies." (53:29)
Amin Elhassan (on Las Vegas with kids):
"Vegas is a uniquely adult experience. I don't want to see people who are not of age anywhere." (07:02)
Dave Damashek (on "bust"):
"If you're great, as in one of the all time greats, they will make a bust of you and put it into a Hall of Fame. Or if you're a bust, you're the worst." (06:05)
Amin on movie actors:
"Robert De Niro, some of the greatest films ever made...but a shit ton of horrible movies." (53:24)
Fast-paced, punchy, and not afraid to get silly, this conversation blends deep sports nerdery with pop culture debate and plenty of friendly flame-throwing among the hosts and guests. The proprietary blend of nostalgia, critique, and debate makes for a signature “Dan Le Batard Show” vibe: brainy, breezy, hysterical, and genuinely insightful on both sports and life.
Whether you care about sports jerseys, hate-watching Duke, or defending Tom Cruise as America’s box-office savior, there’s something for everyone to chew on in this episode.
For More:
Catch Amin Elhassan on Cinephobe (for more movie talk), Basketball Illuminati (for basketball analysis), and follow the rest of the Dan Le Batard Show for more irreverent sports and pop culture coverage.