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Dan LeBatard
This is the Dan Levatar show with the Stugats podcast. It makes me happy every time I see this man's face. I believe I'm one of the few people in the world who would say
Stugats
such a thing about Stan Van Gundy. I don't know that he just brings happiness and joy with him wherever he goes, but every time I see him, I'm made happy.
Dan LeBatard
He's the lead game analyst for the NBA on Prime. There are a number of different things I want to ask him. I'll start in the obvious place, though.
Stugats
Stan, do you know how much a postage stamp costs?
Stan Van Gundy
I'm not sure. I think I'm going to say 42 cents.
Stugats
That's the last time I use one. Would you be shocked to learn that it's now $0.76 for a postage stamp?
Stan Van Gundy
Do you find that I'm not shocked to remember it? No, I'm not shocked that I'm living in the past.
Stugats
78 cents. I'm sorry, Jeremy just made a correction after his important for a yeah, 78 cents. My bad, my bad.
Greg Cody
You didn't send Me to that post office for no reason.
Dan LeBatard
That is.
Stugats
Well, I did, actually, but.
Greg Cody
Okay, that was a double negative.
Stugats
Fair enough.
Dan LeBatard
So, Stan, I've got some basketball questions for you. But how. How are you doing in general? And how was this season for you on Prime? You are now a bit of a vagabond when it comes to being a
Stugats
prostitute of sports media. You have worked for just about everybody. How was this season for you compared to the other seasons? It seemed like you were having a
Dan LeBatard
great deal of fun, especially when you
Stugats
were doing a game with Dwayne Wade.
Stan Van Gundy
Yeah, look, the whole thing was a great experience. I think that the people at Amazon NBA on Prime, they. There's really a commitment to trying to provide a quality product. I worked with great people, both in front of the camera and behind were treated well. I think it was just. It was a great experience for me and I'm looking forward already to next season. I've actually got a WNBA game for them coming up on June 25th. I asked to get a WNBA game and so I've got the Sparks at the Toronto Tempo. June 25th.
Dan LeBatard
Nice. I like that you're expanding your horizons that way and that you're making requests of management or demands, perhaps Demands. Before we get to the basketball stuff, though, just to clean up some questions we've had around here that we've been talking about. At what age, Stan, did you give up the tighty whities as underwear?
Stan Van Gundy
Oh, wow, that's. That's a good question. Long time ago, but I don't remember. I don't know, probably 25 years ago.
Tony
I wore it into college, Stan. How about that? Whatever. They're comfortable. Hang with them.
Dan LeBatard
I mean, Stan was. It sounds like Stan was wearing them until he was 40 years old. It sounds like Stan was wearing his tighty whities until he was about 40 years old, which is fairly fair.
Greg Cody
Coaching the Magic, like coaching Dwight Howard and had tighty whities?
Dan LeBatard
Is that what you're alleging, Stan? That you were coaching Dwight Howard and you were.
Jeremy
That wouldn't have been 25 years ago. Hold on. The timeline is off.
Stan Van Gundy
It's getting there. It's getting there. But it wasn't true. I was coaching the heat 25 years ago. But, like, I don't. I mean, I'm so old now. I'm so old now, guys that, like, when I hear a song, my kids get on, I said, well, that's a recent song. They'll go, that was for. If it was in the 2000s, it's yesterday to me.
Dan LeBatard
Well, we just had this conversation recently. I'm appalled by what they're presently calling oldies because, you know, outkast becomes oldies all of a sudden just because it's the early 2000s. But everyone tells me I'm wrong. They're telling me if it's early 20s, early 2000s, that makes it now oldies.
Stan Van Gundy
I mean, to me, oldies are the seventies.
Luke Thomas
Yes.
Stan Van Gundy
You know, I mean, it's, I think to me it's the area, the era when I was in high school, that's the oldies to me. And so I would be the 70s. Everything after that is, you know, very contemporary.
Dan LeBatard
No, those are moldies. Those are entirely different category.
Stugats
You absolutely have this wrong. We've already covered all of this.
Dan LeBatard
Also, before we get to the basketball, does a streaker, in order to classify as a streaker, have to be nude?
Stugats
Yes.
Dan LeBatard
Okay, thank you. I appreciate how definitive you were. Now let's see if you'll be that definitive on some sports questions we have. First of all, give me a historical comp for Jalen Brunson.
Stan Van Gundy
I don't, I don't have one, to be honest, because I think, you know, you can go back and have other small guards like Isaiah Thomas, but the game was different. And I think for what he's done in today's game, I don't think there is a historical comp for him.
Dan LeBatard
Can you explain to me what you saw in that series and how different it was from what Anything I've seen in a series is where it seemed like The spurs were 10 points ahead all the time and they were either tied or leading every game with two minutes left and they end up getting dominated in the series. I just, I don't have a lot of reference points for. That team is so young, it simply doesn't know how to win late in games because it hasn't played many latent game situations. As opposed to Jalen Brunson, who's been playing three years non stop of latent game situations.
Stan Van Gundy
Yeah, look, what, what amazed me about the series. I don't know that I've ever seen a series where it seemed every game followed the exact same script. I mean, normally there's, you know, people will say, hey, every game's different and it usually is. But in this series it was San Antonio get out to a double figure lead early, it gradually seeps away, and then in the third quarter they gain the lead, you know, get back up again, and then can't hang on. It was, it was every game. And so by the time we got to game Five, and you're halfway through the third quarter, you just have this feeling, you know what? They're not going to win this game.
Tony
Stan, for the first time in NBA history, it's eight consecutive unique NBA champions. But also during that stretch, there have only been two teams, Miami and Boston, who have even returned to the Finals in any capacity during that stretch. Is San Antonio going to be one of those teams who gets back to the finals sometime soon?
Stan Van Gundy
Well, they certainly can be.
Greg Cody's Inner Monologue
They're.
Stan Van Gundy
They're good enough and they're young enough that we're going to see them sometime in the next eight years. But look, Oklahoma City is much in the same situation. That's going to be a great rivalry going forward. But I like how San Antonio is situated. I mean, they're three best players or 22 or younger. We haven't seen that. And so I think what Dan said, a lot of that had to do with the way the game's finished. But the experience they gain this year should help them a great deal. Look, I think the biggest thing going forward is for them to improve. It's not automatic. I think it will come down to the humility of guys like Wimby, Wimby and Castle. And by humility, I don't mean modesty. I mean, you know, a lot of times what star players want to do when they struggle or struggle to reach their goals, they'll. They'll say it wasn't the other team had nothing to do with them. I just had a bad game. That's the wrong approach in my mind especially would be now. I think it's got to be the humility to say that this is what New York did to me. This is how they took away my effectiveness. Now what do I have to do to improve that? If they have that kind of humility, and my bet would be that they do, then I think you'll see them make great strides and they're going to be a team to be dealt with for the next decade.
Luke Thomas
Stan, the future of Giannis Antetokounmpo has become a bit of a soap opera this offseason. Where do you think he ends up and why?
Stan Van Gundy
You know, I think, Greg, it's really, really hard to tell because it's, as we've learned, it's not always in the players hands. Now you can want to be traded, but the team's going to get the deal that's best for me. I have questions on teams that given up way too much for him and not because he's not a great player. But his health has become a major issue over the last few years and you start to wonder is this guy going to be a Kawhi Leonard type of guy that you can't count on to be out there and be available enough to really help you? And how much of your future are you going to mortgage on the gamble that he'll stay healthy? It hasn't been a good picture lately.
Tony
Stan, I don't want to put you in an uncomfortable spot to be critical of another coach, but what do you had you thought at all what you would have done if you were coaching as far as de' Aaron Fox went in this series, would you have done something about maybe sitting him?
Stan Van Gundy
I don't know about sitting him. No. I think that, you know, he's one of their top guys. They played him. He didn't play well in the series. I think the Aaron Fox would admit that. I think everybody in San and Antonio, you know, would admit that. But he certainly wasn't the, wasn't the only problem. I think second half of game four, especially when Benyama was not nearly good enough. Castle, who I'm a huge fan of, was not nearly good enough in game five. In fact, he was, he was bad. About the only guy that was good down the stretch in the last couple of games was, was Dylan Harper. Vassell was pretty good. Look, I think that what we do, right, when things come down to the end and teams lose at the championship level, you gain more scrutiny certainly because everybody's watching and so we've got to pick out who to blame. I just think San Antonio is way ahead of schedule, but wasn't quite ready. They have a lot to learn. Hopefully they will and they'll go back and continue on this path to greatness. I mean, listen, this was a team that won 34 games last year. I mean, to be where they were is incredible. So they're so far ahead of where anybody thought they'd be. I know at the beginning of the year most people were saying if they could get in the playoffs in one of those top six spots, that would be an incredible year. Play in was probably more likely. And they're in the NBA Finals after winning 60 plus games. I mean, come on, this was a great, great year and I don't think we need to find someone to blame. We need to find more people to give credit for for that.
Dan LeBatard
Stan, I do want to put you in a bad spot. Yes or no? If Pop is the coach, the win that series. No, if Pop is the coach, they win one of Those late games?
Stan Van Gundy
No.
Dan LeBatard
Okay, so you're, you're saying it has nothing to do with coaching, that there, there is.
Stan Van Gundy
No, not at all. I think, listen, I think that what Mitch Johnson did this year, first of all, was absolutely incredible. Just what I said about their team. Nobody thought they were ready to do this, and he got them to the point that they got to. I don't think that. I don't think that there's very many coaches, Pop included, that could have gotten them. I mean, take a look at Wimby's first year with Pop. I mean, you know, and I'm not saying this is a knock on Pop. He's quite possibly the greatest coach in NBA history. I'm just saying the game is different, the players are different. And Mitch Johnson did an incredible. I thought, you know, how they played the end of games, their players did not get the job done. I don't mean there's nothing Mitch can improve on and that he won't go back and look at things. But. But no, I did not think. I did not think coaching had anything to do with what happened at the end of those games or throughout the series.
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Greg Cody's Inner Monologue
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Luke Thomas
Hey, that's what I'm talking about.
Tony
Tony, you know that moment at a party or at a tailgate where everything just sort of clicks?
Jeremy
I know it. Well, it's usually when I show up, everybody goes crazy.
Tony
Yeah. You usually take all the credit for it, but it's because Tony usually walks in with Cuervo.
Dan LeBatard
Walking like this.
Tony
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cuervo is a thing that turns hanging out into this is the night.
Jeremy
It has that effect on people.
Tony
It does. You usually take the credit for it, but again, it's the Cuervo effect. It's like that moment in a big game where everyone in the crowd just starts standing up, hooting and hollering. Keep it Cuervo.
Luke Thomas
Keep it cuervo, baby.
Stan Van Gundy
Don LeBatard, you know how these late season games are. We don't know. It's a big game for the Knicks. We have absolutely no idea how Boston will play it. I don't know who they'll play, who they won't play.
Dan LeBatard
Stugats.
Stugats
Okay, all right. That's fine. That's an excellent promotion. You know, I love that. That's great. That's it. That's perfect advertising for the game of the Knick game. That was a shitty sales job.
Tony
This is the Dan Levatar show with the stugs.
Dan LeBatard
What did you expect from Wemby and did he disappoint you?
Stan Van Gundy
He didn't disappoint me. I think what he should learn from the series is, you know, everybody will look and say should get, he needs to get stronger. And clearly that's the case. But I think the reasoning is, look, the Knicks were the first team that could for 48 minutes every game be big and physical with him. Nobody else had the capability of doing that. And I think what the Knicks were able to do throughout games and throughout the series, they were able to wear on him. He needs to condition himself even better. And I think he's pretty well conditioned, 7 foot 4 guy, but he's going to get stronger and more conditioned to be able to deal with that physicality. Oklahoma City couldn't do that. I mean, Hartenstein and Chad Holmgren not nearly as physical as Carl Anthony Towne and Mitchell Robinson. A lot of teams only have one big guy. The Knicks were able to wear on him. They wore him down. And look, if we just look
Greg Cody's Inner Monologue
at
Stan Van Gundy
two different positions, but Brunson was able to play 40 plus minutes a game and be absolutely at his best at the end of games when Benyama in fewer minutes was not able to be at his best or anything close to it down the stretching games. Part of it is Brunson's older, stronger, better conditioned at this point, which he should be win. Benyama's got to keep working to get himself to that level. But I think overall what he did in this postseason of what's going to in years to come, which is phenomenon in this league that we have not seen.
Dan LeBatard
We are hanging on to dear life with his Internet here and they're taking guesses and bets on where you're joining us from. I've got Animal Kingdom in Orlando.
Greg Cody
I've got Lake Eola park, got the
Jeremy
Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse Lake Little Mary.
Greg Cody's Inner Monologue
Wow.
Dan LeBatard
Where are you Stan, that has such bad Internet?
Stan Van Gundy
I am in Blue Ridge, Georgia, in the mountains.
Greg Cody
Oh, nice area.
Dan LeBatard
We were all very wrong.
Tony
Very nice.
Luke Thomas
Okay, Stan, if you can hear me, has Jalen Brunson earned a forever spot on the upper pantheon of New York sports all time heroes?
Stan Van Gundy
Oh, absolutely, absolutely. I think just for what he's accomplished, Greg, he's earned that. But on top of it, I think when you're a smaller guy, people relate to you a little bit more. And it was 53 years in between championships, he was the lead guy. The game that clinches it. He had his best game of the playoffs. Like no question, he's, he's right there at the top.
Dan LeBatard
Yes or no, Stan Van Gundy owns a wallet. No, the wallet if someone has one should be in the front pocket or the back pocket?
Stan Van Gundy
Front.
Dan LeBatard
Do you judge somebody who has coins in their wallet?
Greg Cody
Wow.
Stan Van Gundy
I mean, I think it's a little strange in this day and age, but I don't know that I would judge them.
Dan LeBatard
Okay, but if you're saying it's strange, you're judging them.
Stan Van Gundy
Okay, I am.
Luke Thomas
You're right. Strange.
Stugats
And what does Stan do with change?
Dan LeBatard
Because I imagine Stan tells everybody at
Stugats
this point he has no change.
Dan LeBatard
He just gives it to. He leaves it behind, wherever it is
Stugats
that he is not.
Dan LeBatard
I'm not talking about dollar bill change. I'm talking about coins.
Stan Van Gundy
Yeah, I mean, I've got a bunch in my car, but I never. I never use it. And I've got a jar of change at home which I should probably cash in. I mean, I'm like most people. I don't use cash all that much, so I don't have. I don't get much more change anymore.
Dan LeBatard
Prepare any more basketball questions you have, because I am taking off of the back shelf something that you have not seen or heard around here in a long, long time. It's an old game, but for us it's a new game because we haven't played in a very long time. And now it's time to play Douche or no douche. Here's your host, Douche Lebatard, reclining your seat on an airplane.
Douche Lebatard (Game Host)
Douche or no douche.
Stan Van Gundy
No douche.
Dan LeBatard
Ripped jeans.
Douche Lebatard (Game Host)
Douche or no douche.
Dan LeBatard
Douche Wearing cologne.
Douche Lebatard (Game Host)
Douche or no douche. Douche.
Stugats
Reading texts over a stranger's shoulder on an airplane.
Douche Lebatard (Game Host)
Douche or no douche. Douche.
Dan LeBatard
Sending your food back at a restaurant.
Douche Lebatard (Game Host)
Douche or no douche.
Stan Van Gundy
No douche.
Dan LeBatard
Person who doesn't wave thank you. When you let them merge into traffic.
Douche Lebatard (Game Host)
Douche or no douche.
Stan Van Gundy
Huge douche.
Stugats
I never do standing up immediately when a wave when the seatbelt light goes off after landing.
Douche Lebatard (Game Host)
Douche or no douche.
Stan Van Gundy
That's me. No douche.
Stugats
Grunting while working out at the gym.
Douche Lebatard (Game Host)
Douche or no douche.
Stan Van Gundy
Douche.
Dan LeBatard
Signing your emails. Cheers.
Douche Lebatard (Game Host)
Douche or no douche.
Stan Van Gundy
Douche.
Stugats
You are excellent at this game. I love your conviction, Stan. I love that you weren't afraid of anything. You are a brave human being. Zaz never waves to somebody when you. When. When they let you in on track.
Tony
It's survival of the fittest out there.
Stan Van Gundy
No, no. I'll tell you what. When I let the end and they don't wait.
Jeremy
Well said.
Fox One Advertiser
Damn it.
Stugats
Damn it. We've been hanging on.
Dan LeBatard
He was about to say what he
Unidentified Contributor
does when they don't wave.
Stugats
Okay, well, let's hear it. I'm gonna stay with this until the end. You guys have any more basketball questions? I just.
Stan Van Gundy
I just said it. It pisses me off when they don't wave at me. Look at that jerk.
Luke Thomas
Right? Look at that jerk.
Stugats
I'm surprised you missed your chance at singing Georgia when he told us where he was joining us from.
Luke Thomas
I snuck in a Georgia.
Stugats
Did you? Yeah.
Dan LeBatard
I didn't even hear.
Tony
I don't wave when someone lets me. And you've been on I95.
Jeremy
You're a Buster.
Tony
It's like Mad Max. All right, I don't have time to wait.
Jeremy
When you used to play basketball back in the day, when somebody give you an assist, do you go over and give them a high five?
Tony
My point.
Jeremy
Okay, so you do the same thing to that guy. That guy just gave you an assist.
Tony
That's my teammates. Okay, so that guy's your teammates. Teammates on the highway.
Jeremy
What are you talking about?
Tony
Everybody.
Unidentified Contributor
You crazy?
Jeremy
Give him a point.
Stugats
You guys just drowned. Outstanding.
Stan Van Gundy
I agree. Point at him. Acknowledge. Acknowledge. Acknowledge.
Stugats
So you don't have any cologne? You don't own any cologne?
Stan Van Gundy
I do not.
Dan LeBatard
I just imagine that there's an old bottle of Old Spice.
Unidentified Contributor
Yeah.
Tony
Genuinely great musk.
Stugats
Put it on the Pol Levitto Show. Does Stan Van Gundy have a generally great musk? Yes or no? So you've never worn cologne? You've never owned a bottle of cologne, You've never had a bottle of cologne?
Stan Van Gundy
I have, but I haven't in a long, long time.
Dan LeBatard
Any more basketball questions before we let him go?
Douche Lebatard (Game Host)
You guys are done.
Stugats
You guys are finished.
Greg Cody
Okay, Stan, how good of a starting point would Giannis and Bam be for a team if the Heat were able to pull off a train?
Stan Van Gundy
I mean, look. I mean, Dam's a solid player and Giannis is a star, so it's a good starting point. But your perimeter better really be able to play and shoot the ball, you know? So who you're going to surround them with would be a major question. And I have no idea who that might be. And so I'm not sure that takes you to the upper level of teams right away just because of those two guys.
Greg Cody
Okay, but should Otto Lopez be a Major League Baseball starting shortstop in the All Star Game?
Stan Van Gundy
That's a tough question. I'm going to say no.
Dan LeBatard
He's hitting about.350.
Tony
Not good enough for Stan Olo.
Dan LeBatard
I also think that Stan has given up on the Marlins. Didn't you boycott the Marlins? You were a huge Marlins fan for a while, but then they did your friend Freddie Gonzalez dirty, and you basically stopped paying attention to the Marlins, right?
Stan Van Gundy
I did, yes, Until Freddie went back to him as a. As a coach, you know, with Don Mattingly and. But I follow. I follow baseball, but. Yeah, there's just so many good players out there. But, I mean, he. I guess he would. He wouldn't be the starting shortstop, but he's going to be on the all star team.
Dan LeBatard
Thank you for the music again, person who continues to put up his phone and film the entire concert.
Douche Lebatard (Game Host)
Douche or no douche. Douche.
Dan LeBatard
Getting a haircut every two weeks.
Douche Lebatard (Game Host)
Douche or no douche.
Stan Van Gundy
No douche. I wish I had to get mine cut that often.
Dan LeBatard
Ordering a whiskey neat.
Douche Lebatard (Game Host)
Douche or no douche?
Stan Van Gundy
No douche.
Dan LeBatard
Your friend asking you for a bite of your meal.
Douche Lebatard (Game Host)
Douche or no douche.
Choice Hotels Advertiser
Douche.
Stan Van Gundy
Douche.
Dan LeBatard
Stan, it's lovely to see you again. It's always nice. You were great this season. It's. It's been wonderful to see. You were great from the very start, but it's been wonderful to see your market improvement with the reps. You seem super comfortable, super relaxed. You seem like you're having a good time being on the sidelines of basketball games. A much better time than you had when you were standing on the sidelines as a coach.
Stugats
That didn't seem like a lot of fun at all.
Stan Van Gundy
No, this is a lot less stressful. My brother told me back when he was broadcasting, he said, yeah, the only thing I worry about after games is
Dan LeBatard
where are we eating before we let you go?
Douche Lebatard (Game Host)
Just.
Dan LeBatard
And we're really testing your Internet here. But go ahead and give us all your political thoughts on the state of America.
Stan Van Gundy
Oh, my God. Now you gotta be kidding. I mean, let's just sum it up with. We can sum it up with what we saw on Sunday night. Just absurd. I mean, we've taken it to the absurd.
Dan LeBatard
Thank you, Stan. Good seeing you as always, sir. Oh, that was nice at the end there.
Stan Van Gundy
Thanks, guys.
Stugats
Yes, a little.
Unidentified Contributor
How about his Internet?
Dan LeBatard
Hanging tough.
Tony
I know that it seemed like bad
Unidentified Contributor
Internet, but we heard most of what he said that Internet fought through.
Dan LeBatard
Yes. We hung in.
Unidentified Contributor
Like the Iceman said, you hang tough.
Greg Cody
Built a wall.
Dan LeBatard
Very dangerous to go live with. Bad Internet. I was thinking about cutting that off about seven different times because of how I was scared of it.
Tony
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Dan LeBatard
Don LeBatard punctuate this segment with what
Stugats
is your strike three call?
Unidentified Contributor
Strike one would be strike and then you stand up and you give a
Stan Van Gundy
good point to the right stugaats.
Unidentified Contributor
That's same for strike two. But strike three, you get down low, you got your hands behind the catcher. All right, the right arm goes up into the air. Yeah, and then you finish it with the punch, the right arm flings way up into the air.
Stan Van Gundy
I wish I could see that.
Stugats
The audio is great.
Tony
This is the Don Levitar show with these two gods.
Dan LeBatard
Greg, Toby got Some thoughts on UFC 250. We have not talked to him about that. It got a little bit overshadowed by just a gigantic sports weekend.
Stugats
You rarely have two championships in the
Dan LeBatard
World cup, but it was interesting, at least in part because it was the
Stugats
most politicized event, which is saying something
Dan LeBatard
given that at the World Cup, Iran
Stugats
is feeling repressed and being sent back out of the United States after their match.
Dan LeBatard
Being sent to Mexico because we're doing an assortment of absurdities here while trying to play soccer with a country that we're sort of at war with in
Stugats
a war that nobody really wanted.
Stan Van Gundy
Or still a war.
Unidentified Contributor
Still a war.
Dan LeBatard
Yeah, but they weren't even calling it a war.
Stugats
Tony, at the.
Dan LeBatard
Very careful about speaking of war.
Greg Cody
Otto Lopez, top five in baseball in offensive war.
Luke Thomas
Yeah, I mean, I almost think it goes without saying that UFC on the South Lawn of the White House is a travesty. It's a disgrace to the historic prestige of the White House. I thought it was terrible. Not to mention what Josh. It's hocut. Right, Josh, Hocut.
Fox One Advertiser
Yeah.
Luke Thomas
What he said about Michelle Obama was just despicable and it just put a sour note on everything. I just think it demeans the White House and forget who's in the White House right now. To me, it demeans the history of the White House. Then again, nothing says patriotism like a bunch of guys in a cage kicking and punching each other.
Tony
You don't think the White House should be used as a pre fight locker room?
Luke Thomas
Not particularly, no.
Dan LeBatard
Yeah, well, but I'm with Luke Thomas on this and I think you guys should check out what Pablo Torre did with him so that you understand just how much everyone in the media, Greg Cody, is accenting what I believe to be the wrong story. And you know, the optics of this are obviously easy to criticize, but more meaningfully and problematically, the idea that the UFC is now a arm, a propaganda arm for a very unpopular president doing wildly unpopular things against the polling wishes of most Americans. The way that Dana White is in business with Donald Trump. Donald Trump, in a way that is contaminated and corrupt to me, is more meaningful as the media continues to accent the correct thing. That's obvious, which is the optics of this have no grace. There is no class in what it is that you're doing there. But why would there be class? You're talking about somebody in the Oval Office who doesn't have anything that resembles class, who has a shamelessness, that believes that money buys you class, when money he can't buy you class, and is a swirling turd trying to take the country down the toilet with him. The allegiance of these two liars, a carnival barker who's treated as a commissioner and the President of the United States. The combination of these two things. The thing that I think is most interesting there is how deeply corrupt the whole thing is, where you've got Donald Trump's family owning stock and tko. I've told you, Forbes is reporting that all of the Trump kids have had their value go up by hundreds of millions of dollars because of how this
Stugats
presidency is being used.
Dan LeBatard
It's weird to me that we continue to cover something that is just optics, that the main criticism is, oh, that shouldn't be on the sacred lawn of a piece of swampland where they've built an important house, versus the more meaningful criticism. Urge you all to check out what Luke Thomas is saying there so that you can hear Pablo Torre dissect what is, to me, the more meaningful criticism there.
Luke Thomas
But you have to understand the reason I think it's a travesty and a disgrace is largely because of everything you're saying. It's not that they put a sporting event on the South Lawn. This would not have been nearly as controversial if it was a tennis match or a softball game or something else in the athletic realm, but the fact that it was ufc, a violent organization that run by maybe a corrupt guy, and all of a sudden it's a pro Maga organization. It's all political. That was the ugliness of it. I'm not against the idea of a sporting event.
Dan LeBatard
So you'd be fine with a softball. Like, it's the violence that bothered you.
Luke Thomas
It's the, it's the violence. It's the, it's the liaison between Trump and this organization. It's a political. It was full of politics, this thing. It wasn't a sporting event to me.
Tony
No, I think it's the violence that would bother you. Like ufc, whether you like it or not. I think anyone can acknowledge it feels kind of dirty. And yeah, I think it's the fighting on the White House.
Dan LeBatard
How about a football game? Like if there was somehow. That's violent. How about a football game? Like if it's the violence that's bothering you. Cuz all of these things can be true, right? You can be bothered by the optics and also say the UFC had A win because they threw a great event. With great fights, you can have all assortment of issues with Dana White. They are plentiful. And say he throws a great big event that had to be terrifying to throw. Can you imagine the amount of embarrassment that could have fallen on top of Dana White's head if it had merely rained all night?
Tony
I mean, it started embarrassing. It was an hour rain delay to begin the broadcast.
Dan LeBatard
But imagine if it had rained all night. You've got fighters in swamp heat fighting with mosquitoes and everything else outdoors when fights shouldn't be outdoors wars. Because you have to do this, you have to throw this event. It could have been an unmitigated disaster and was not. Whatever criticisms you have, you could have had before the fight. But once the event was thrown, it can be a great event because it was. Because Dana White, during the pandemic, was the only one willing to actually have an event that wasn't scared of all of the protocols. You can believe all of these things have them all be true. You don't, you don't. You don't have to choose sides between all of the things. It could be grotesque and be a grotesque success. It can't be argued that it wasn't a success for ufc. It can't be argued that it wasn't a success for Dana White.
Greg Cody
It's a success for ufc and that they got the event off. I don't know that I would call it a great event when some of the things that were said on microphones become part of it. When you're seeing fighters walking through the Oval Office while with members of the military, so that there's like mandated salutes from the soldiers who were standing in the hallway. It's sort of a mockery of the United States. And like, if I'm a fan, I
Tony
don't necessarily agree with that.
Jeremy
Mockery of the United States. Justin Gaethje, reading the Declaration of Independence, walking out and then kicking Ilya to Poria's ass. Mockery of the United States? Hell no, dude. That was the sickest video that I've seen all. All day.
Tony
There were war heroes, there were veterans who were war walking the fighters down.
Greg Cody
Right? That's the point.
Jeremy
Not against their will.
Tony
You're still acknowledging, you know, veterans. That. That's, to me, that's always a good thing.
Greg Cody
I think it's great that you're acknowledging veterans. I think pairing the fighters with them is the part where I maybe have an issue because you're creating pomp and circumstance around the specifics of the event. And by the way, this isn't just a UFC thing, like a Major League Baseball had the exact same experience if at the end of. Of the MLB All Star Game that all of a sudden was thrown on the White House lawn, if the Home Run Derby was happening there. And the things that came out of the mouths of Major League Baseball players were the same things that came out of the mouths of these UFC fighters. I, as a fan of the sport, would be sort of ashamed of the way the event went.
Tony
We all know we're talking about Josh Hocut there, and yeah, whether it's Josh
Greg Cody
Hocut or anything else, okay.
Jeremy
But that doesn't. That doesn't diminish the fact that people that serve the armed forces are walking out with some of the best fighters on the planet standing next to them, talking to them. The people are shaking hands with them. Like, regardless of your politics, if you're next to somebody who is a great athlete, you're like, holy crap, this is such an incredible moment. And I'm in the biggest moment for this sports history. Like, it's a super cool moment.
Dan LeBatard
You are not alone, Jeremy, in not being able to separate the things, because they're not things that can be separated. We saw 10 years ago with what the political climate was in this country that American football could not withstand the Colin Kaepernick quote, unquote, politics of the moment, even though that was about race. Dana White, a carnival barker, a paid liar, somebody who exists as a person who is the dirtiest in the dirty game at the promotion of the dirtiest things. Because throughout history, all of the people in Dana White's position have been liars. He can have an event that was successful for him that has a series of objectionable things in it. He tweeted or he texted Time magazine and said that he was. He never says this.
Tony
I was surprised that he did this.
Dan LeBatard
He seemed to be a free speech absolutist and he did draw the line somehow. Yeah, that wasn't cool what was done there to Michelle Obama. It had no place in what it is that we're doing. That's more criticism of anything that he files under the umbrella of free speech than I've ever seen from him. But understand, this is a lying sewer rat who happens to have a credible speaker sport that was never credible until he helped make it credible while doing all of the dirty boxing promotion, combat sports promotion things. He gets to win here. Even if the thing has blemishes and it's got blemishes, it indisputably has blemishes, but everything they sell is warts and all. It's almost part of the appeal. When Cody objects to the violence of the sport, the people who love that sport. Sport would say he's being a prude. This is the original sport. This is the original thing that people tested each other in the arena. Who's tougher? One person against the other. But it did feel like gladiator games. It felt. Everything I was watching, everything that I have seen recently from what Trump is doing feels like what you would see in a communist country where you have a leader like Putin who's allowed to score seven goals in a hockey exhibition.
Tony
That was a good showing because everyone
Dan LeBatard
around the sport is just being a propaganda arm for one of the worst people to ever be in charge of anything in the history of our flawed American government. And so I get Jeremy's conflicted feelings. I also get where it is that he would feel sort of alone in people waving the flag around the celebration of. But weren't the fights great? But weren't the fights great? Because the fights being great seems kind of small compared to the size of the moment that we're in and the lack of leadership it has when you're demanding leadership from people who are good at leading. And instead, what you just get is
Tony
a couple of clowns at some point put a double on Putin.
Date: June 16, 2026
Hosts: Dan Le Batard, Stugotz, with Greg Cody, Luke Thomas, Tony, Jeremy
Special Guest: Stan Van Gundy (NBA on Prime Lead Game Analyst)
In this hour, Dan and Stugotz welcome NBA analyst and coach Stan Van Gundy for a wide-ranging, often hilarious interview from the Elser Hotel in Downtown Miami. The discussion spans NBA playoffs, generational shifts, media career transitions, Jalen Brunson's legend, the future of San Antonio, tighty whities, and the etiquette of waving during traffic merges, all capped by the topical, signature "Douche or No Douche" game. The episode also pivots into pointed commentary on the UFC event at the White House, politics in sports, and the broader role of media and optics in an election year, with Luke Thomas leading much of that discussion.
This episode encapsulates what makes "The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz" unique: irreverent, self-aware, smart sports talk laced with offbeat humor, pop-culture tangents, and real engagement with the intersection of sports, society, and politics. Stan Van Gundy’s combination of gruff candor and warmth shines, whether dissecting NBA trends or howling at traffic etiquette. The team offers sharp takes on the NBA playoffs, Jalen Brunson's legacy, Spurs’ future, and the ever-blurring lines between sports entertainment and propaganda during a contentious election year.