Chris Cote's Sprint For Chicken Sausage | Hour 1

Summary

The Dan Le Batard Show: “Chris Cote's Sprint For Chicken Sausage | Hour 1”

Date: August 3, 2026
Location: Live from the Elser Hotel in Downtown Miami
Main Participants: Dan Le Batard (host), Chris Cody, Tony Reali, Tony Romo, Jeremy Zaslow

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Episode Overview

This episode revolves around the familiar chaos and comedic commentary that defines The Dan Le Batard Show. Broadcasting from the lively and interactive setting of the Elser Hotel, the crew’s banter covers a smorgasbord of topics: from Chris Cody’s frantic dash for breakfast sausage, to the confusion over food etiquette, an on-air field sobriety test, and a deep dive into the future of sports broadcasting in the wake of Tony Romo’s legal troubles. The hour closes with spirited discussion about the Dodgers’ dominance in baseball, financial structures in sports, and the implications of megamoney in TV sports commentary.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Great Sausage Incident: Chris Cody’s Sprint for Breakfast

(00:45–06:47)

• The Scene: The episode opens with Dan confronting Chris about his unusual pre-show energy and what seems to be sausage-induced distraction. A surveillance video reveals Chris’s hurried, almost panicked, dash to grab a chicken sausage just before airtime.
  • Dan Le Batard: “He then ate like a pelican. Did not chew anything, just tossed it up in the air with his mouth and then swallowed the entirety of the thing the way a wiener should not be swallowed.” (02:48)
• Sausage Supply and Etiquette: Tony Romo explains the weekly chicken sausage delivery and the crew’s ongoing debate over breakfast priorities. The team details the delicate politics and etiquette of communal food, including Chris’s disregard for available tongs.
  • Chris Cody: “I'm a firm believer that if you're not going to make contact with something else, you can reach in and grab shit with your hands in a public setting as long as there's no contact.” (05:22)
  • Dan Le Batard (bluntly disagrees): “You used your fingers as tongs. When the tongs are right there…” (05:44)
• Food Shaming and Hand Hygiene: The discussion escalates with mockery over finger-licking and “wet sausage” preferences. The crew holds a mock poll on whether it’s appropriate to grab community sausage barehanded when tongs are available.

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2. Tony Romo’s Future: Broadcasting, Controversy, and Sobriety

(07:04–23:19)

• Tony Romo on Leave: Dan transitions to national sports media, focusing on Tony Romo being put on leave by CBS following a DUI/OWI incident. He highlights the immense salary disparity between Romo’s broadcasting gig and his NFL quarterback earnings.
  • Dan Le Batard: “Romo's getting twice as much, roughly, as Jim Nantz. And Jim Nantz has had to work his entire career in order to get there. And Romo gets that by virtue of being the Dallas Cowboys quarterback.” (18:10)
• Broadcasting as Big Business: Dan and Tony Reali analyze the marketplace for top TV sports talent, comparing sports broadcasters’ pay to the major stars of sitcoms and reality TV.
  • Tony Reali: “If you are the star of television’s biggest show, your salary is in line with the stars of television’s biggest stars...” (17:15)
• Field Sobriety Test Skit: To satirize Romo's predicament, Dan puts Chris through the same field sobriety test that Romo failed, finding the process confusing even while sober.
  • Chris Cody (struggling): “What? Can you start over?” (11:13)
  • Dan Le Batard: “Romo failed and it hadn’t even started. She…She…” (11:45)
• The Role of TV Broadcasters: The team debates whether high-salaried analysts like Romo or Tom Brady actually attract/retain viewers. Dan argues that game viewership wouldn’t dip if a high-profile color commentator was replaced, despite the network paying them outsized sums.

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3. The Unfair Dodgers, Salary Cap Debate, and Power in Sports

(31:11–38:21)

• Dodgers’ Trade Deadline Dominance: Dan finally pivots to his major sports point—how much the Dodgers’ financial power warps baseball’s competitive balance.
  • Dan Le Batard: “They have what feels like three times more money than everyone else. And so when they make those propaganda ads on behalf of the salary cap…when's the last time in sports you saw a trade that all sports fans react to with ‘that's unfair?’” (32:20; 33:56)
• Structure of Sports Leagues:
  • Debate over whether the salary cap ensures fairness, how the second luxury tax “apron” functions—and whether anyone in the audience truly understands it.
  • Jeremy Zaslow explains: Players’ unions want both a “tax floor” (to force owners to spend) and a steep “tax ceiling” (to discourage outspending). But Dan points out that these structures often serve as excuses for rich owners, rather than real barriers.
  • Dan Le Batard: “The truth of the matter is they're using that second apron to do the collusion without doing the collusion.” (36:23)
• Free Market vs. Collusion: Dan muses that, even without a cap, “Ballmers and Snyders” would always exist—but Zaslow pushes back, noting that collusion and spending floors are necessary for “competitive balance.”
• Comparisons with European Soccer: Tony Reali highlights the unpredictability of open-market sports in leagues like the Premier League, suggesting American fans like to believe every team has a chance.

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4. Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Chris Cody’s Breakfast Confession:
  • “Between 8 and 9. Priority work. Second priority breakfast.” (04:06)
• On TV Salaries:
  • Dan Le Batard: “Why are we paying those people that way?” (23:13)
  • Tony Reali: “[Broadcasters] are linchpins to entire networks programming. There's a reason why they go to these advertiser conventions…” (21:33)
• On Tony Romo’s Future:
  • Tony Reali: “If he was dominating, dialed in, they’d be like, oh, O.W.I. swooped out under the rug. Who cares about that?...And now it’s like, oh, will he?...It might be a way to get out from under the rug.” (15:39–15:48)
• Dan’s Takeaway on Sausage Hygiene:
  • “Are you disgusted by someone who touches the communal microwave with their wet sausage fingers?” (26:09)
• On Dodgers’ Financial Might:
  • “...they have the ability to get out from under the contract if they want to. And this is not a crime that would normally put that contract in jeopardy. It’s only in jeopardy because they’re already unhappy with him.” (19:14; referring to Romo, but echoes later in Dodgers’ coverage)

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Notable Timestamps

• 00:45–06:47: The Chicken Sausage Sprint & Food Etiquette Debate
• 07:04–13:51: Tony Romo on Leave, Broadcasting Salaries, and Chris's Field Sobriety Test Skit
• 23:50–26:46: Further fallout from the sausage saga—microwave contamination
• 31:11–34:10: Dodgers’ Deadline Trade & the Problem of Big-Money Franchises
• 35:32–37:06: Second Apron, Salary Cap Explanations, and Media Confusion
• 38:01–38:21: Philosophical Closing: Free Markets, Fan Hope, and Collusion

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Final Thoughts

This episode showcases everything listeners love about The Dan Le Batard Show: its mix of irreverent humor, inside jokes (“I love a wet sausage!”), on-the-spot polls, and surprisingly sharp analysis of the intersection of sports, money, and culture. At its heart, the first hour delivers a playful yet probing look at sports media, labor economics, and just how seriously (or not) one should take communal breakfast. For fans and newcomers alike, it’s an hour that weaves breakfast hijinks into biting commentary about who really wins and loses in modern sports—and who gets to decide.

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Transcript

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

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[Tony Reali]

You are listening to the Dan Lebatar show in partnership with the DraftKings Sports

[Dan Le Batard]

act now live in all 50 states,

[Chris Cody]

This episode of the Dan Lebatard show is presented by DraftKings Sports. DraftKings. The Crown is yours, Chris.

[Dan Le Batard]

Were you not ready to do that? Have you been thrown off in general by the eating of the sausages at the wrong time? Like, what's happened to Chris?

[Chris Cody]

And my arms are tired. It's been a rough morning.

[Dan Le Batard]

Okay. So were you when I come here, man. Yeah, you do come here. Do me a favor, do me a favor of coming into the studio here. I wanna test you with something here in a moment and I want you to be behind me when we give you this test. Real quick, before I get to this Skubal conversation, because baseball is fascinating to me. Baseball's my favorite. I like it better than football and always have. The trade deadline is interesting to me and the randomness of baseball. The thing the Dodgers have done that does give them some guarantees that you normally don't have in baseball is the money makes it so that they can always make the playoffs. But just based on what happened this weekend, I don't know if you guys noticed this part of it. The Mariners were really close to winning the championship last year and they traded Luis Castillo to the White Sox, who were the worst team in the history of baseball. The White Sox are in first place in the American League Central and they're trading.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah, Tony. But everybody's basically within a handful of games of first place.

[Tony Romo]

Upset about the Dodgers and they went and went for the worst team. Historically, the first place are bad right

[Tony Reali]

now, but like two good series are back in.

[Dan Le Batard]

But my point is though, that the White Sox acquire Castillo because they're in first place because the Mariners are no longer any good, even though they were real close. And the Blue Jays aren't any good either, even though they were real close last year. Like the Blue Jays couldn't have been any closer to being a champion last year. But this year it all changes and everything gets turned around. But the reason I bought Chris Cody into The studio with us is a. So that he can watch the video of. Can you guys explain to me what's happened here with Chris Cody? Because we now have the surveillance video of him deciding as soon as the show is starting, he's decided to scamper, scurry, run, waddle into the eating area and find himself very quickly a sausage that he then ate like a pelican. Did not chew anything, just tossed it up in the air with his mouth and then swallowed the entirety of the thing the way a wiener should not be swallowed.

[Tony Romo]

Yeah, Dan. So we have these chicken sausages from this place, and we.

[Chris Cody]

So good.

[Tony Romo]

They're so good. They come in once, once a week. And everybody.

[Chris Cody]

What's in there?

[Tony Romo]

A little maple honey or. I don't know what it is, but we eat them. And we're like, yo, this is great. So we told the ladies that order our breakfast and lunch. Hey, make sure chicken sausage on the menu at least once a week. Chris has realized, wait a second, I can have a couple of these.

[Chris Cody]

It's like three of those things.

[Tony Romo]

Some people don't eat the chicken sausage. They go. They go for the bacon, which allows.

[Dan Le Batard]

Chris, your mouth is watering.

[Jeremy Zaslow]

It is.

[Chris Cody]

You heard it right.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah. You also love a wet sausage. This is a dry sausage. This is a dry sausage.

[Chris Cody]

Some juice in that tin, but yeah, half and half.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'd say, Chris, can you just give me some understanding, though, of how much time was there before the show started? How did your decision making go? Why did you scamper the way that you scampered, in a hurry and a bit of a panic to get those sausages?

[Chris Cody]

Well, I would say, unlike others around here, during our pre show, I'm locked in, not really worried about breakfast. Unlike Roy. Big plate of breakfast, but. So I'm first off.

[Tony Romo]

First off. Stop that. Stop right there. Stop right there. I don't like you and Zaslow breakfast shaming people. Cuz Z says the same thing about me. He's like, tony gets everything on the. Yeah, because nobody eats anything. And I feel bad. I have Cuban guilt. I can't leave stuff on the plate. I got to get the sausage. I got to get the egg.

[Chris Cody]

Between 8 and 9. Priority work. Second priority breakfast. Other people have that a little closer together. So what happens is we get to like 8:55. And I'm like, I haven't eaten anything. I'm hungry. So I'm hearing the open, and I'm like, is it too late? It's never too late. So I scurry over and I Get a sausage. I feel like I was doing the right thing there.

[Dan Le Batard]

Did you get one sausage? How many did one did you get?

[Chris Cody]

I didn't have time for multiple. I wanted. I love a wet sausage. Yeah, I do too, Pablo.

[Dan Le Batard]

The issue that I have is that that seems like something that you could have done, should have done, might have done before it affected your first words on the program that sounded like they had a sausage stuck in them.

[Chris Cody]

That's fair.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate you allowing for fair criticism in that spot when all you notice

[Chris Cody]

I grabbed the sausage with my hand there, too. That was. It's a rough look. We don't have a lot of time.

[Tony Reali]

The tongs there or. No, see in the background, Greg Cody's already starting his awkward march to the. The couch. It means he got about 10 seconds.

[Chris Cody]

You can see I'm. There's some true scurrying by me there. There's no, like, there's no lollygagging there. I am. I got somewhere to be.

[Dan Le Batard]

You are absolutely right when you ask the question, Tony, were there tongs there?

[Chris Cody]

There were.

[Dan Le Batard]

He looked at him, but his urgency was such that he just grabbed it. No napkin? No.

[Chris Cody]

Not touch any other sausage.

[Dan Le Batard]

Just.

[Chris Cody]

I'm a firm believer that if you're not going to make contact with something else, you can reach in and grab shit with your hands in a public setting as long as there's no contact with any other setting. That's why I got a buffet at a work setting. If you're not going to touch anything else, you can grab.

[Jeremy Zaslow]

Strong agree on this, actually, Chris.

[Chris Cody]

Thank you, Jeremy.

[Jeremy Zaslow]

I'm not the one you want support from, though. I licked my fingers that one time and everybody shamed me about it.

[Chris Cody]

Yes, you did. I love a wet sausage.

[Dan Le Batard]

I don't think it can be excused that you went in there and grabbed it with two fingers. You use your fingers as tongs. When the tongs are right there, like, you can say you didn't touch any sausage, but those sausages are grouped together. And I believe they were freckles on some of sniper.

[Chris Cody]

When I'm. When I'm grabbing food out of a pan, I'm like a sniper.

[Tony Romo]

Okay.

[Dan Le Batard]

I don't believe you're a Green Beret. I don't believe that you are somebody. I don't believe we get a watch.

[Chris Cody]

Oh, there's Jeremy with his finger in his mouth.

[Tony Reali]

See, that's hell, man.

[Chris Cody]

Knuckle deep.

[Jeremy Zaslow]

It's on me. That's not knuckle sausage.

[Chris Cody]

So here we go. This is now we're gonna watch the replay again of me. Let's. Let's do a little play by play here. All right? So I walk up here and you're going to notice, got to get a plate first because I'm not a monster, okay? I'm not just going to take a sausage. So then I lift the thing, I look around, make sure no one's looking.

[Dan Le Batard]

Whoop.

[Chris Cody]

Just grab it. All right, There we go. Easy. Easy peasy. And then off to the microwave. A good 15 seconds. But it's a good little. A Good zap time. 15 seconds.

[Tony Reali]

You did lick the fingers before you put it in there.

[Chris Cody]

Well, because I didn't want to touch the.

[Jeremy Zaslow]

We park our cars with the same garage.

[Chris Cody]

Not a great look for me here. Like I said, I have time, guys. Time crunch.

[Dan Le Batard]

Put it on the poll at Le Batard show. Should you grab the community sausage with your two fingers and not the tongs? When the tongs are right there, they're

[Tony Romo]

on the other side of that.

[Dan Le Batard]

There's no.

[Chris Cody]

Been a long reach. Would have been a long reach.

[Tony Reali]

Time.

[Dan Le Batard]

The reason I have asked Chris. Chris Cody to stand behind me is because I want to put him through a test without any warning to see how he does. For those of you who do not know, and we will get to the school story in a second because it's the one dominating the trade deadline. And I'd say sports in a way that surprised me because I didn't think baseball could still do this. The reason I have Chris Cody behind me is because Tony Romo.

[Chris Cody]

Oh, no.

[Dan Le Batard]

Tony Romo has been put on leave by cbs, which is at least a little curious because there are no games right now. And so J.J. watt evidently is going to replace him much cheaper while he's on leave for preseason games. And one of America's preeminen broadcast chemistry teams is going to be disrupted for at least the near future and maybe longer, depending on whether or not CBS wants to get out of that contract. And so Romo is being paid. For those of you who do not know, Romo is being paid by CBS on average, $18 million a year. It's more than he made in all of the years of his playing career, except for one. To me, that's crazy by itself. The fact that Tom Brady makes more as a broadcaster than he does for playing, the fact that Tony Romo more and makes more as a broadcaster than he does from playing is crazy. But you are symbolically, and in actuality, you are a face and voice for the league that has been pulled over on the side of the street. And with that comes a responsibility, I would say, that puts your job in jeopardy more than if you're merely the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. If you're the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, you can survive a DUI or an owi. If you're the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, if you're the face and the voice for the league on a preeminent broadcast and they're already unhappy with you for a number of reasons, this might be the beginning of the end of Tony Romo and one of America's premier broadcast teams. And I assume that contractually they might be able to fire him for cause and get out from under that money. My guess is that the delay in all of this and putting him on leave is at least in part so that they can figure out what they want to do. Because the only thing that saves or eliminates Tony Romo's job right now is if his bosses were happy with him before this happened. Because they'll defend him if they were happy with him and fine with his progress and where it is that he was headed, but they'll figure out a way to get rid of him if they were not happy with him. And I want Chris to try the field sobriety test because I found it confusing while listening to it and sober. Like, this woman peppered Tony Romo with questions that I would have failed if she'd come in here into the studio and asked me to do it at 10 o' clock in the morning on a Monday.

[Chris Cody]

Walk in a straight line right here.

[Tony Reali]

But that's usually when you're super drunk,

[Dan Le Batard]

Chris, you don't feel confident in your ability to follow these instructions laid out for you. The way I'm going to just play

[Chris Cody]

talking straight line, follow the pen with my eyes. Don't move my head. Never done it before.

[Dan Le Batard]

Just heard, no, that's not. That's not what I'm going to ask you to do. After all of that, I believe that she gave an unfair field sobriety test. Now, I think Tony Romo would have failed whatever the test was, including, you know, give me something on a snap count like, I think he would have failed all.

[Tony Reali]

All of the tests he failed. Are your grandparents alive?

[Dan Le Batard]

But I believe. Let's have Chris Cody try to follow these instructions. Try to follow these instructions as given by the police officer to Tony Romo.

[Police Officer]

Do not start the test until I tell you to do so. Do you understand?

[Chris Cody]

Yep.

[Police Officer]

When I tell you to start, raise either leg, all right? With the foot approximately six inches off the ground. Keeping your foot parallel to the ground. Keep both legs straight and your arms down at the side. So foot parallel to the ground. Okay. All right. Keep both legs straight and your arms down at the side. Holding that position, count out loud in the following manner.

[Dan Le Batard]

Okay.

[Police Officer]

1001, 1002, 1003, and so on until you are told to stop. Keep your arms at your sides at all times.

[Dan Le Batard]

Wait.

[Chris Cody]

What? Can you start over?

[Police Officer]

Keep watching the raised foot.

[Chris Cody]

What?

[Police Officer]

And then you just tell me which foot you want to raise. Okay. I think I'm going to raise my right. Okay.

[Chris Cody]

Yes.

[Police Officer]

Approximately six inches. 1001-1002-1003-1004. And so on until I tell you to stop.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Okay.

[Chris Cody]

Thank you.

[Police Officer]

Okay. Gotta tell you to begin.

[Chris Cody]

Oh, I already started.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yes, I got it.

[Police Officer]

Okay.

[Dan Le Batard]

The test hadn't even started. I hadn't even started.

[Chris Cody]

I was doing it the whole time.

[Dan Le Batard]

Romo failed and it hadn't even started. She. She.

[Tony Reali]

It was confusing.

[Chris Cody]

I was like, what? Look at the foot.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50 page restoration block. Or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it, ready to make anything online make sense. There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required compatibility and availability. Various 18 plus down Levitar.

[Chris Cody]

For 5 minutes I was watching everyone just like, nope, not letting you in. Not letting you in. So when I got up there, I had to say something and I said it. Cheaters never prosper. Chris Cody, my buddy was saying, not today.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, but you're not today.

[Chris Cody]

I think that was what he was adding. Yeah, that would have been so much better. But I'm telling you, the response I got from this guy was what I said was amazing. Cheaters never prospered. This guy yelled as angry as he

[Dan Le Batard]

could, I ain't cheating. This is the Dan Levitar show. Jason Benetti came on with us and told us the other day that the field sobriety test has to be made easier. And I now agree with him because Tony Romo had no chance of passing that test if they got him in the broadcast booth at one o' clock on a Sunday. Like, he wasn't going to pass that test. You know why? Because he played a lot of football and like his back hurts and his head hurts and he's got cobwebs and standing on one foot. Did you Guys, see Kirk Cousins try and do drills. This is Kirk Cousins. He's still in the league. Did you see him try and do drills for the Raiders? You play that position for 15 years in the league, they can make all the rules meant to protect you. You're still. Put it on the poll at LeBatard show. Can a 35 year old quarterback who's still in the league passed a field sobriety test while sober? Any of them, and any of them just. They're going to be. You're going to have to lock them up because they're going to be under the influence of football.

[Tony Reali]

What does the hair look like?

[Dan Le Batard]

Drunk hair.

[Tony Reali]

That was drunk hair. That was drier.

[Dan Le Batard]

Chris, get out of here. You failed.

[Chris Cody]

Take the rest of the day off.

[Dan Le Batard]

You failed the test. I want to play the video for the audience of Kirk Cousins.

[Jeremy Zaslow]

Luis Arias has been traded to the Philadelphia Phillies.

[Dan Le Batard]

Nice, Dombrowski.

[Jeremy Zaslow]

Thanks. I hate it.

[Tony Reali]

For what it's worth, I looked up CBS's next preseason broadcast. Best I could tell from cursory Internet searches, they only have one preseason broadcast. Week three of the preseason. So that's August 28th.

[Dan Le Batard]

So to put him on leave now for a month as you sort all of this out and to announce the specifics of it's not just putting him on leave. J.J. watts, the replacement. You don't have a game who was

[Tony Reali]

celebrated last year, but you don't have a game.

[Dan Le Batard]

You don't have a game until August 28th. So you're putting him on leave now. So you're telling us right now that he's on leave until at least the 28th. Correct. By telling us that J.J. watt is the replacement, you're telling us we're gonna hear a game that is disrupted in one of the premier booths in all of football. Nance. Tony Romo, one of the highest paid broadcasters in the history of sports, is being taken off the air for at least one game and replaced by a cheaper J.

[Tony Reali]

It would be a weird thing to announce if there wasn't going to be a game at least that he'd miss.

[Dan Le Batard]

So what's your best guess on whether or not Tony Romo still has a job after this?

[Tony Reali]

That's a great question. I don't know. And I also don't know what's fair. They might be waiting to see how this all goes through legally, too. But it does. You know, I was a little skeptical. I'm like, man, it might be a little soon for Dan to take it there, but I think you're right on the money. This could be absolutely be leveraged by CBS and Paramount in a way that gets them out of a contract they might be regretting 100% because if he

[Tony Romo]

was dominating dialed in, they'd be like, oh, oh, wi swooped out under the rug. Who cares about that? He'll be ready for football week one. And now it's like, oh, will he? We don't know. Might be a way to get out of the rug.

[Tony Reali]

When I was growing up, the baseline for commentators was be super drunk, preferably on the job.

[Dan Le Batard]

I mean, I always thought Pat Summerall was drunk. There are broadcasts where Howard Cosell was indeed drunk.

[Tony Reali]

You know why there are all these empty spaces in baseball? It's not the game. It's because they're reaching over to drink something big and brown.

[Dan Le Batard]

Harry Carey was probably drunk on occasion. But the thing that I want to talk about with you guys on the importance of these broadcasters, okay, because this has been something that has been intriguing to me the entirety of the last, I'm gonna say 15 years where all of these prime jobs end up going to former Dallas Cowboys, even though the Cowboys are never any actually good. Whether it's Jason Garrett or whether it's Aikman or whether it's Tony Romo or Moose Johnston, whoever it is you want to pick. The former Cowboys get the best jobs. And also I'm wondering how intrigued you guys are by this part. Do you find it interesting at all that Romo makes more as a broadcaster than he ever did as the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys? Except for one year when he made more than his average salary from cbs, which is playing. He's working once a week. He doesn't have to do all of the off season training. The job is less rigorous in all the ways than playing football by a multiple of a thousand.

[Tony Reali]

Right? I am with you there. Being quarterback seems way more difficult than doing what Joan Tony Romo does now alongside a gym Nance on on. However, let's look at the marketplace. If you are the star of television's biggest show, your salary is in line with the stars of television's biggest stars like Ray Romano. Ray Romano was making an ungodly amount of money when he had the biggest sitcom. Charlie Sheen was making an ungodly amount of money when he was a star of Ryan Seacrest, same deal. And that's exactly what these guys are. For whatever reason, we are not programmed that way. But Jim Nance and Tony Romo, they are the stars of televisions and not by a little biggest thing going.

[Dan Le Batard]

This is where I'M gonna stop you, though. Do you know how many years Jim Nantes had to work to get to his salary, which is still half as much as Romos, which he got walking in the door.

[Tony Reali]

But it's the position.

[Dan Le Batard]

I get it. I understand why it's happening. But Tony Romo is getting twice as much, roughly as Jim Nantz. And Jim Nantz has had to work his entire career in order to get there. And Romo gets. Gets that by virtue of being the Dallas Cowboys quarterback.

[Tony Reali]

But I think you're also minimizing that achievement. Tony Romo also worked his entire career to get himself in a position where he is in demand as a lead voice, the same way that Tom Brady did.

[Dan Le Batard]

Agreed. But not at that job. He's being paid at an entry level experience the biggest salary that there is. He's making more than Joe Buck. He's making. He's making more than everyone except, I believe, Tom Brady. I believe.

[Tony Reali]

But there is a scale. There's a scale for. He auditioned for the job and there is a scale for lead analysts on the network afternoon.

[Dan Le Batard]

But this is my point on that. When you say the scale, it's about to change. If they can replace him with J.J. watt, they're not going to pay J.J. watt the way that they're paying Tony Romo.

[Tony Reali]

I think if it changes, J.J. watt gets a raise.

[Dan Le Batard]

He'll get a raise, but he's not going to be making $18 million. They have an ability here. If they want to look, look, there is right now. And I learned this in a way that was really stupefying, given that I sat right in the middle of it and did not notice what was happening with sports media seats. Okay. There became a time at ESPN where if Jamel or Pablo or Bomani or Sarah Spain or anybody wanted a seat on ESPN television, the only one remaining was the one next to my father. Like all of those people, there was one seat remaining for it. So I sort of saw Swimming right in the middle of it. I saw the way that ESPN ended up contracting before it contracted because there was one seat available for all of the people that I worked with, and it was next to my father. Right now, in broadcast streaming, everyone needs broadcasters. Everyone wants live sports. No one but CBS was paying like that, except for Fox for one guy, and it was Romo. And I think he might have just thrown away that bag, and I think he might have changed the way that that position has to be paid, at least at cbs, because they have the ability to get out from under the contract if they want to. And this is not a crime that would normally put that contract in jeopardy. It's only in jeopardy because they're already unhappy with him.

[Tony Reali]

Right. But I do think the marketplace, like Aikman makes similar money. Brady makes more. There's like five of those jobs. And he's right in line with what people make at that job.

[Dan Le Batard]

And CBS and Paramount now have the ability to lower it. They have, yes.

[Tony Reali]

Yes. But ultimately it's because if they're seizing this opportunity and we have evidence that suggests they've been unhappy. And it's not just them. I mean, people have soured on Tony Romo, the Joe Sports fan. Where's the predictive analysis?

[Chris Cody]

Where.

[Tony Reali]

Where's all that. That fun stuff that we used to like about Tony Romo? Generally? His stock is down across the board.

[Jeremy Zaslow]

I think should be paid more like. I think every single person on a professional live sports broadcast should be paid as much as anyone in any position in the United States.

[Tony Reali]

I do think that there's this weird thing, and Dan's guilty of it too, where we don't look at these people as linchpins to entire networks programming. There's a reason why they go to these advertiser conventions and they're pitching everything and they're doing it with the faces of the network. And Jim Nance and Tony Romo are faces of that network.

[Dan Le Batard]

And when you are on the face, when you are the face of a network, it can't be pulled over drunk driving and embarrass the network that way in a way that is sustained without hurting the value of what it is that we're talking about. Because I would say to you, and continue to say to you that we overrate the importance of what it is Tony Romo is doing there. Because I don't believe that they will lose a viewer on what is their Sunday broadcast if Tony Romo is not doing it. Not one. I don't believe they will lose one single Viewer because it's J.J. watt. Because it's. They steal Greg Olson because they decide to do it with just some random offensive lineman. You tell me. Do you think. Because this. Because when you're talking about paying someone more than he ever made as an NFL quarterback for a symbolic position, but it doesn't actually cost you a viewer if you eliminate the position entirely. I'll go a step further. If Jim Nance were doing that broadcast by himself, I don't believe CBS would lose a viewer who wants to watch that CBS game. Not one. Not one would leave.

[Chris Cody]

Like to have a Little color.

[Dan Le Batard]

I would too, but I'm just throwing the hypothetical out there.

[Chris Cody]

I agree.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm saying you're still going to watch the game because you're interested in the game. So why are we paying those people that way?

[Jeremy Zaslow]

You know what, you're right. I think they should probably take that position and divvy up the money, give it to the people down on the sideline. Because what they have to do, being prepared at any given moment on a live broadcast to be able to communicate an extra story as they go chat with people in the locker room. Now those are the real heroes here in America that deserve top tier salary stories.

[Dan Le Batard]

Happy 49th birthday today to Tom. Happy birthday to him. I don't care. Good luck.

[Tony Romo]

Did you see him over the weekend on the yacht? Where it was just him in the front of the yacht. This like 12 million dollar boat and he's going on. It's just him. And I felt sad for him. It's like, no, Nobody there to celebrate with you. Not your kids, your wife?

[Chris Cody]

No.

[Tony Romo]

Everybody hates you.

[Chris Cody]

I saw that thing too. Like I don't think that's such a gigantic yacht. I don't think we know he was alone.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah, I think there's people down below.

[Chris Cody]

People were like, oh look how, how sad that is.

[Tony Romo]

On the top deck though, somebody can hang out.

[Chris Cody]

My boy is living. Even if that's like his Sunday morning. Let me just go on a cruise by myself around like everyone. Feeling bad for Tom Brady was hilarious.

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[Dan Le Batard]

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[Dan Le Batard]

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[Tony Reali]

It will be an adventure for the whole family.

[Dan Le Batard]

And watch the Oscar winning phenomenon at home. This is sick. Avatar Fire and Ash now streaming on Disney. Rated PG 13. Dan Levatar the Judge Coach Sweetie. Chris Cody I should go say hello. This is the Dan Levatar Show. Chris Cody. Many of the list listeners are pointing out that after you grab that sausage with your fingers instead of tongs, you Immediately put your hand with those greasy fingers on the community microwave. And you did so believe I licked

[Chris Cody]

them first to clean off. So get your facts straight.

[Tony Reali]

Steve Martin pointed that out.

[Chris Cody]

I want to clean the fingers. I believe there's a shirt wipe there quickly.

[Tony Reali]

Different hand. But then you're touching all of the

[Dan Le Batard]

buttons with that wet finger. You touched all of the buttons with the licked fingers. I mean, that is foul.

[Chris Cody]

Did I not grab it with my left hand? The sausage?

[Dan Le Batard]

The paper towels are right there. So is the tongue.

[Tony Reali]

No. Time, guys.

[Chris Cody]

Time Crunch.

[Dan Le Batard]

Put it on the poll at Lebatard show. Are you disgusted by someone who touches the communal microwave with their wet sausage fingers? Because the thing about the fingers is the sausage was not wet.

[Chris Cody]

I love a wet sausage.

[Dan Le Batard]

The fingers were wet because he put them in his mouth after consuming or after grabbing the dry sausage.

[Chris Cody]

I love a wet sausage. Yeah, not a good look for me.

[Dan Le Batard]

Which one? The fact that you keep stepping every time he's playing the I love a wet sausage or just putting the microwave. Your fingers all over the microwave while they're wet. Which one?

[Chris Cody]

I'm afraid to talk now.

[Tony Reali]

What do you do if, like, if you're Tony Romo's agent, You point to the fact that the ratings are better now than they were before I showed up. We've seen quantifiably, ESPN improved its Monday Night Football booth, and the ratings reflect that. And not only do their ratings reflect that, the maining cast ratings have dipped because more people are on espn because Joe Buck and Troy Aikman have settled

[Dan Le Batard]

the waters, because all of football has gone up in ratings everywhere. Everybody's ratings are up during football season.

[Tony Reali]

Everyone's right. But this is an argument that I'd use in a negotiation. If I'm Troy Aikman and Joe Buck, I rescued your booth.

[Dan Le Batard]

Okay. So what do you think's gonna happen here, though? What do you think? The conversations are happening right now in private. Do you believe your best guess is Romo's gonna keep his job, yes or no?

[Tony Reali]

I don't wanna be reckless. My personal belief is that they're unhappy for it to leak out the way that it did. And also, this is just industry chatter around Tony Romo too. Yeah. I don't think you're wrong in them seizing this opportunity potentially because they're just not happy with the performance of Tony Romo.

[Dan Le Batard]

We can question the all of it, including when you're making that kind of money, not having a driver at all times so that this doesn't happen to you. But one of the Things that I go to, even though I don't want Tony Romo to lose his job and I don't want ever for people to be defined by their worst public mistakes. The fact that he was asking to stretch his back and everything during that, the fact that I think that he's cloudy because he had a bunch of concussions and a bunch of injuries, that puts him in pain. I think think most quarterbacks walking around the world at this age playing the way that Romo played, with as many injuries as Romo had and played through, I think many of them are in a constant pain and discomfort. I want to play for you now the video of Kirk Cousins running the other day because I have. I have something that I want to put in front of the audience and the American people as an idea, and you tell me whether it's a good idea or a bad idea. Let's watch Kirk Cousins here running some sprints with his teammates very poorly. Clearly not an athlete of any kind. This is also. If I told you this is Adam Sandler, one year of eligibility left in a movie where he's a 50 year old trying to make the team in college, you would tell me that's not the quarterback of the Raiders. That's Adam Sandler trying out for a team in his 50s. He might as well be holding a jar of pickles and trying to eat from it as he does his exercise. I'd like to go to Roger Goodell and Jay Z and an assortment of pieces and say, you know what? I've got a job for Colin Kaepernick. If you can't be more athletic than him in a private workout, you can't start at quarterback. As this league, in this league, if you can't just simply move around during the drills better than the present day Colin Kaepernick, you shouldn't be allowed to have a starting job in the NFL. Last time I saw Kirk Cousins, he had an arm that was a noodle

[Tony Romo]

to reach even towards Achilles. Also, forget to mention that let's have.

[Tony Reali]

Let's have Colin Kaepernick and Tom Brady do a shuttle drill. Who you picking?

[Dan Le Batard]

It's a good question, clown. I'd be fine with picking the patriots. Starting at 49.

[Tony Reali]

It's the first week of camp. That's day one of camp. Cut the guy a break. Oh, wow.

[Dan Le Batard]

Okay. So you don't think he should be fresher because his body's not injured by an assault?

[Tony Romo]

No. It takes you a while. Shake the rust off. You ever run a sprint in your life?

[Tony Reali]

You got it. It's the beginning.

[Tony Romo]

You ever run a sprint? Answer that.

[Tony Reali]

Some people use the warm ups to warm up. Dan.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Man.

[Dan Le Batard]

Okay, so from the off season, Kirk Cousins is having an office.

[Tony Reali]

Let's see how you look doing that.

[Tony Romo]

Do a sprint.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'd look like that.

[Tony Reali]

No, he looks.

[Tony Romo]

He looks way better than you.

[Tony Reali]

Way better.

[Dan Le Batard]

I disagree. I believe that I play it again. I believe that I could absolutely do what Kirk Cousins did as the starting quarterback of the Raiders because Fernando Mendoza is not ready. I can absolutely do that. What? Are you kidding me? He's not even. He's not.

[Tony Romo]

You would look better than that.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, I look the same. I'd look the same.

[Chris Cody]

Maybe he was just sitting on his foot and his right foot's asleep.

[Tony Reali]

I think he's going out of his way to get a full stretch on that Achilles. I don't see anything wrong with that. I don't. Yeah. Good gait. Fact should start week one.

[Dan Le Batard]

For a team that's going to be one in 16, I bet you Mendoza

[Tony Reali]

looks a little bit better at that drill. But that's not. That's not playing quarterback. There's way more to it.

[Dan Le Batard]

Moving on to what I believe is the story of the day in sports that it's taken me too long to get to in earnest because I was too busy talking about Tony Romo, the Los Angeles Dodgers, skewing the sport in such a way that has people howling that what they just did by trading for school is unfair. I don't know. Have you guys heard anybody else saying, what is my theory? That the Dodgers got him just to keep him off of every other roster that can beat them in the postseason?

[Tony Reali]

No, I like that. Take a lot, actually. It's a luxury that they can afford.

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, they can afford every luxury.

[Tony Reali]

Well, they can afford the luxury because they're not being taxed as if they make a ton of money. They're being taxed as if they're bankrupt, which is unfair. Until 2039.

[Dan Le Batard]

The secret supersized secret in that sport is that the Dodgers and their television deal altered everything in a way that made them the new Yankees. But even in the age of Steinbrenner, it wasn't this lopsided. Where there were years under Steinbrenner, where the Yankees couldn't and didn't make the playoffs. What the Dodgers have guaranteed themselves is not post season success, but they've absolutely guaranteed themselves. We're getting to the playoffs every year there. We are too good. We have too many reinforcements. It doesn't matter if Snell's hurt. It doesn't matter if Glass now's hurt. It doesn't matter if Mookie Betts stinks now. It doesn't matter. They can just keep replacing everything as they go because they have what feels like three times more money than everyone else. And so when they make those propaganda ads on behalf of the salary cap, and I ask you guys the question, when's the last time in sports you saw anywhere in sports? It doesn't really happen in football. Right. Although the Rams are trying to do it, but it doesn't happen in football. That's unfair. Where the reaction is just from all sports fans. A trade happens and they're like, that shouldn't be allowed. How do we stop that from happening? The salary cap forces all of these teams to govern themselves. Otherwise, this would be happening. This would be happening in football. Somebody would be buying all of the players. It would probably be Jerry Jones, somebody. If there were not a salary cap that forced these owners to govern themselves. And if there was not something that was collectively bargained to put ceilings on the two rich guys competing for stuff, you guys know, this would be happening in basketball and football as well. Somebody would just get all of the players. The reason it can happen here is because there is no salary cap and one team has more money than all the others and now has everyone howling unfairness when it's just not something I see very often.

[Tony Romo]

Well, Dan, you've always talked about that, like, open it up, free market, completely across the board. See what somebody's willing to pay for. Dak Prescott on the open market.

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, to Morris, Smith told us that what you would then is collusion of a different sort to get the opposite way.

[Tony Romo]

Collusion because they're colluding this way, but now they're colluding that way.

[Dan Le Batard]

What. What demora Smith has said is that if you do not. And I don't know. Do you guys agree with this? Because Damor Smith would have vastly more information and knowledge on this than the rest of us. But he says, because I. Because I asked him, do you regret agreeing to a salary cap? And he's like, no. Then I go get. Then I am ensuring that these owners do have to spend their money. Otherwise they will get together and figure out not to spend it. And I'm like, no, they won't. There's always going to be a Daniel Snyder or Jerry Jones or Stephen Cohn or somebody out there who. Or a ballmer who's like, no, I want to win. I'm not. I'm not going to, I'm not going to collude with you. I want to win.

[Jeremy Zaslow]

And that's what the players are banking on in their offer to the owners right now. Because what they've offered is for competitive balance a tax on each end. What they've said is there's going to be a certain number where if you spend over that, you're taxed and you have what's essentially what happens in the NBA with that first and second apron where you pay this massive tax bill. But they've also suggested it at a bottom number that if you don't spend a certain amount, so to create essentially a salary floor, there is a tax because there are so many teams that spend at a low payroll and their view of it is that the teams pocket so much money from revenue deals. The Dodgers are an aberration in all of this. The way they make money hand over feet.

[Dan Le Batard]

I don't believe that as obsessed as we are now with money and money and sports and as much as we talk about money and money in sports, I don't believe that the grand majority of people listening to this understand the second apron. And I don't believe they understand what the league just did with that second apron that the players weren't expecting, which is they all agreed. Okay, okay. It's not because the tax is actually so much because Ballmer can afford it. It's not because. And Gilbert can afford it and does like. It's not because the tax is so much that people avoid it. It's because that then James Dolan can have the excuse, hey, the second apron. It's just so that they can have the excuse. Like none of them have to respect it. And it's not actually so punitive that any of them can't afford it. Maybe there are a few. But the truth of the matter is they're using that second April print to do the, the. To do the collusion without doing the collusion.

[Jeremy Zaslow]

And they did that on top of making roster maneuverability more difficult. You can't acquire guys in sign in trades. So it like, it puts the president of the team or the GM of the team in a more difficult space in trying to improve the roster long term. So it's punitive to the owner who already is like, I don't want to spend all of that money. And the team has to look at it operationally from a perspective of, hey, if we just keep operating in the second apron, we're not going to be able to make the moves in the margins that help you win.

[Dan Le Batard]

Do you believe that most of the audience, or even 10% of the audience understands everything happening or anything happening with the second apron? Not everything. Anything happening with the second.

[Tony Reali]

About the first apron.

[Tony Romo]

There's people in the media that don't know.

[Dan Le Batard]

You understand then what I am saying when I tell you that if I opened up to every owner on football and said, hey, Mahomes is available, you

[Tony Reali]

say you want that, but you don't. It makes, at least in America, this is how it's been. Baseball's been lucky. Cap sports legislate that your team in its small market has a shot. And in soccer, it becomes a point of frustrating. Although I think you could look to the Premier League and be a little encouraged. You have stories like Lesser City winning, you have Bournemouth making it to Europe, you have Brighton making it to Europe, and you have teams like Tottenham. Them almost get relegated. So I, I don't think in football would work kind of that way. We'd all assume, like, man, this team's spending unlimited resources. They're going to be the best. There's too many variables in football. There's injury, the sport, or the ball's not round. And there's things that you can do schematically. I think the, the toughest sport to see that happen would be basketball.

[Dan Le Batard]

I don't think that I would be anti free market, anti capitalism, because the Raiders don't have a chance now with the salary cap and haven't for 20 years. The dolphins with a salary cap haven't had a chance for 20 years. What are they going to do? Have less of a chance?

[Tony Reali]

Like, I mean, but at least the Raiders have something that they can hinge their hopes on.

[Dan Le Batard]

I mean, because they have a draft, but they're. But they're false hopes. I want to get into this a little more because it is super rare to have a trade that all of sports reacts to with that's unfair.