Hour 1: A Real Piece of ****

Summary

**The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz — Episode: Hour 1: A Real Piece of ******

Release Date: November 21, 2024
Hosts: Dan Le Batard, Stugotz
Location: Elser Hotel, Downtown Miami

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1. The Legendary Caller: Benny from Fort Lauderdale

Focus Timeframe: [01:04] - [07:10]

One of the standout moments of this episode revolves around the infamous caller, "Benny from Fort Lauderdale." The hosts reminisce about Benny's memorable call where he humorously highlighted the Miami Dolphins' undefeated season by stating, “[07:16] Benny from Fort Lauderdale: I want to say that the 72 dolphins are so special because they won every game and then they won all the playoff games.”

Notable Discussion Points:

• Unique Humor: The team appreciates Benny's simplicity and comedic timing, with Stugotz noting, “[02:44] ...if Hawk is laughing, if Mike is laughing, if Chris, Billy, if they're laughing, Roy, the audience is laughing...”
• Cultural Impact: The call became so popular that imitators began replicating Benny’s signature line, solidifying his place in the show's history. Stugotz emphasizes, “[05:16] ...Benny from Fort Lauderdale, if you've been listening since day one, that is a top ten moment for you all time.”
• One-Hit Wonder: Despite attempts to find Benny again, the original call remains a singular highlight, with Mike Ryan concluding, “[06:38] ...Benny was a one time only appearance forever.”

Memorable Quote:

• Mike Ryan [07:39]: “...that is the rare voice where all of us will conjure something similar in terms of a visual image.”

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2. Pre-Thanksgiving Christmas Decor Debate

Focus Timeframe: [12:07] - [19:37]

As the holiday season approaches, the hosts delve into the perennial debate of when to start decorating for Christmas. Mike Ryan passionately argues for setting up the Christmas tree early, associating it with the onset of football weather: “[19:20] ...I believe we're getting football weather this weekend. I believe it's going to be snowing in Lambeau. And once you throw the snow on Lambo field, I'm allowed to put up my Christmas tree.”

Key Highlights:

• Personal Preferences: Dan Le Batard shares his ambivalence towards Christmas decorations, stating, “[18:29] ...I don't have any, like, Christmas decorations...”
• Cultural Observations: Chris Cote humorously points out the disconnect for non-celebrators of Christmas, “[13:38] ...those of us that don't celebrate Christmas. So it's like everything you're describing is just some foreign concept to me.”
• Favorite Christmas Carols: The hosts exchange their preferred holiday songs, with Mike Ryan surprisingly favoring “Little Drummer Boy” and Chris Cote advocating for the playful “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas,” sparking laughter and light-hearted banter.

Notable Quotes:

• Mike Ryan [19:37]: “...I want it the maximum amount of time if I'm going to get a live Christmas tree...”
• Chris Cote [16:04]: “I want a hippopotamus.”

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3. Locker Room Dynamics: Giants and 76ers Under Scrutiny

Focus Timeframe: [19:56] - [38:07]

Transitioning to the world of sports, the discussion intensifies around the internal struggles within the New York Giants and the Philadelphia 76ers' locker rooms.

New York Giants:

• Daniel Jones' Benchning: The team grapples with the emotional fallout of benching quarterback Daniel Jones, leading to player dissatisfaction. Chris Cote analyzes, “[22:38] ...having said that, I’m still gonna stick up for Daniel Jones when he gets benched because that's kind of shiesty what's happening to him too.”
• Financial Discontent: Players express frustration over financial decisions prioritizing Daniel Jones over star player Saquon Barkley, questioning the organization's trustworthiness.

Philadelphia 76ers:

• Joel Embiid’s Frustration: Joel Embiid is visibly upset over leaked locker room conversations, referring to the leaker as “a real piece of shit” ([21:13]). This breach has fostered distrust within the team.
• Team Morale: The discussions highlight how management's decisions and internal leaks are damaging team cohesion and player trust. Chris Cote remarks, “[36:46] ...everything we’re doing here is fake. How are we supposed to present a product to the masses that is believable if the people in it are saying it's fake...”

Impact on the NBA:

• Marketing vs. Reality: Chris Cote criticizes the NBA's current marketing strategies, arguing that allowing negative stereotypes and narratives erodes fan confidence. “[40:57] ...the NBA at its core has a marketing problem. We allow stupid ass ideas to take hold and be like, that's our reputation.”

Memorable Quotes:

• Mike Ryan [22:11]: “...it feels like he's not going to go smart enough, which he eventually did...”
• Chris Cote [38:07]: “...the NBA is fantastic. I love this game. This was how we sold our game in the 80s and 90s...”

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4. On The Marketing of the NBA and Stereotypes

Focus Timeframe: [40:46] - [41:59]

The hosts delve deeper into the NBA's portrayal of players and how stereotypes, particularly around race and work ethic, are perpetuated in sports media.

Key Points:

• Stereotyping Issues: Mike Ryan highlights the problematic nature of associating laziness with black athletes, emphasizing the inaccuracy and offensiveness of such stereotypes.
• Nick Wright’s Critique: Chris Cote references Nick Wright’s comment attributing NBA rating declines to excessive three-point shooting, challenging the validity and underlying biases of such statements.
• Player Perception: Izzy Gutierrez points out the inconsistency in public perception, noting that players like Nikola Jokić aren’t subjected to the same criticisms, illustrating a double standard in how athletes are viewed.

Insights:

• Narrative Control: There is a consensus that the NBA needs to take control of its narrative to maintain authenticity and fan trust. Chris Cote asserts, “[40:57] ...instead of controlling it, instead of like, Stern did, keep it under wraps.”

Memorable Quotes:

• Mike Ryan [39:27]: “...the stereotype has gotten out there when it's asinine like that nobody can play at that level just sort of flippantly...”
• Chris Cote [41:47]: “...if we sell our thing with joy, it's joyful. The NBA cup is a great example of this...”

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5. Community and Charity Highlights

Throughout the episode, the hosts briefly touch upon local Miami initiatives and charitable events. Mike Ryan promotes Give Miami Day, urging listeners to support local charities such as Pelican Harbor, Miami Waterkeeper, and Guitars Over Guns. He states, “[17:10] ...givemiamiday.org is where you go.”

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Conclusion

In this episode of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, the hosts blend humor with critical discussions, touching upon memorable moments like Benny from Fort Lauderdale’s iconic call, the perennial debate over Christmas decorations, and deeper dives into locker room dynamics and the NBA’s marketing challenges. Through engaging banter and insightful analysis, Dan Le Batard and Stugotz provide listeners with both entertainment and thoughtful commentary on the current sports landscape.

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Note: Advertisements and promotional segments have been excluded to focus solely on the episode's substantive content.

Transcript

[Dan Le Batard]

You're listening to Giraffe Kings Network.

[Stugotz]

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[Chris Cote]

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[Stugotz]

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[Chris Cote]

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[Chris Cote]

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[Mike Ryan]

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[Chris Cote]

[e-mail] Want to shop Walmart Black Friday deals first. Walmart plus members get early access to our hottest deals. Join now and get 50% off a one year annual membership. Shop Black Friday deals first with Walmart Plus. See [e-mail] this is the Dan Levator show with the St. Gats podcast.

[Billy Gil]

This is behind the bit. This is behind the bit. This is behind the bit.

[Amin Elhassan]

For the past 20 years you've seen and heard bits on the Dan Lew Show. You may have wondered to yourself, what are these bits? And what's wrong with these people?

[Mike Ryan]

Benny in Fort Lauderdale, you're on 790.

[Benny from Fort Lauderdale]

Hi, this is Benny from Fort Lauderdale.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

We've established that.

[Benny from Fort Lauderdale]

I want to say that the 72 dolphins are so special because they won every game and then they won all the playoff games.

[Billy Gil]

That's a pretty good call. Who is this?

[Mike Ryan]

Is this your favorite show caller? Oh my God. That is a perfect sports radio call. Comedically, the timing on. Hi, this is Benny from Fort Lauderdale. We've established that Stugatz has never been sharper to then follow with the single most obvious point that you can make, which is that the undefeated Dolphins won all their games in the regular season and then the postseason. That is a perfectly stupid call to encapsulate all sports radio caller wisdom, but.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

Then to have Hawk on the back end kind of finish him off. Benny, you know, it's like the biggest compliment. We've been fortunate to have two super smart executive producers who are also very funny guys. They know funny when they hear funny. I remember saying, we've established that and seeing Hawk burst out in laughter in the other room. And for us it's like the highest compliment because if Hawk is laughing, if Mike is laughing, if Chris, Billy, if they're laughing, Roy, the audience is laughing because those guys don't laugh it much. So we know they're laughing and it we hit all the notes there.

[Mike Ryan]

It was perfect what he had to say.

[Amin Elhassan]

Was the 72 dolphins was so special because they won all the games. Like, oh, come on, man. This is why we don't take calls anymore. Because of that.

[Stugotz]

Dan always had an open disdain for the traditional sports radio caller and established rules. Pretty quickly, don't ask me how I'm doing. You don't actually care. It's just filler. Just get on the show, give me your point, and leave, and we can go on to the next one. Now, callers eventually became a huge part of our show with fakes and songs, and we established quite the top that nature with calls, and calls can actually be good. And Benny from Fort Lauderdale, when he was screened, did not necessarily fit the mold of a caller that would get through on the air with Dan. Very traditional sports take. If you hear the call, it's not really a topic we'd say yes to, but I remember in the screening process, Benny from Fort Lauderdale sounded so unique and so funny that we thought that if we put this caller on the board, magic might possibly happen.

[Mike Ryan]

That was one of the original calls we took. We didn't even want to be that show. We were that show for about eight months taking calls, but that was within those eight months.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

And Dan had rules with the callers. He wanted you to get right to your point. He didn't care. Like, you don't care about how we're doing. We don't care about how you're doing. I mean, we do.

[Mike Ryan]

Get to it, get to it, get to it.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

Establish these rules. Don't give us your name. Don't give us your location. Just get to your point. Hey, it's Benny from Fort Lauderdale.

[Mike Ryan]

And my point is, the Dolphins were undefeated because they won all their games in the regular season and all the games in the postseason.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

How the did that call get through?

[Mike Ryan]

It's really amazing. They really built this one for content, right? Yeah.

[Amin Elhassan]

The. The most famous thing we did was the Elton John parody. I wouldn't say parody. We just put Benny from Fort Lauderdale in and from Benny actually saying his name and location and replace it with Benny from the Jets. That was all we did.

[Benny from Fort Lauderdale]

Betty from Fort Lauderdale.

[Chris Cote]

Oh, wonderful outfit.

[Benny from Fort Lauderdale]

She's a red king.

[Chris Cote]

She's got electric boo.

[Benny from Fort Lauderdale]

Maddie from Fort Lauderdale.

[Stugotz]

So we had a top that nature when it came to calls, and all the callers found Benny from Fort Lauderdale funny, and it became canon. Essentially, people would be fake Benny from Fort Lauderdale, fake Cuban Benny from Fort Lauderdale, and they would just replicate the call.

[Benny from Fort Lauderdale]

You're listening to the Dan Levitz show.

[Mike Ryan]

Spanish Benny from Fort Lauderdale. Spanish Benny, you're on 790, the ticket.

[Chris Cote]

Oh, no. Established that. That's it.

[Mike Ryan]

What is happening?

[Billy Gil]

SOS un bueno, caller.

[Stugotz]

It had quite a few legs. It was. We were laughing at Benny from Fort Lauderdale for quite a few years after that call. I'm glad this bit exists, actually, so we can revisit it because that is certainly one of the more well known calls in our show's history.

[Mike Ryan]

You cannot do better than that in its stupidity, in its simplicity.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

But Benny was right.

[Mike Ryan]

Yes, he was right. He's right forever.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

If you love our show, there are certain staples to the show. And I will safely tell you that. Benny from Fort Lauderdale, if you've been listening since day one, that is a top ten moment for you all time, I think.

[Mike Ryan]

Yeah, it's pretty high.

[Chris Cote]

Did he ever call in again?

[Mike Ryan]

No, no, we went looking for him. No, we went looking for him. We never found him again. Benny was a one time only appearance forever.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

Had we found him again, he still would have tried to hammer home the point. 72 Dolphins Greatest team undefeated. I miss Benny. I do.

[Mike Ryan]

A real one hit wonder, Benny from Fort Lauderdale. Let me just hear the call here again because I think all of you, I think this is the rare voice where all of us will conjure something similar in terms of a visual image. I don't think a lot of us will have different visuals on what this person looks like when they sound like this. Benny in Fort Lauderdale, you're on 790.

[Benny from Fort Lauderdale]

Hi, this is Benny from Fort Lauderdale.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

We've established that.

[Benny from Fort Lauderdale]

I want to say that the 72 dolphins are so special because they won every game and then they won all the playoff games.

[Billy Gil]

That's a pretty good call. Who is this?

[Mike Ryan]

He's pink, right? That person is pink. That person has gotten too much sun.

[Tony]

I see him leathery.

[Mike Ryan]

Okay. Either way, too much sun.

[Tony]

Too much sun.

[Mike Ryan]

I don't know if it's the best caller in show history, though, because I believe Lombardo was the best caller in show history. I don't have a better caller than this in my memory. Al, you're on 790.

[Benny from Fort Lauderdale]

Yeah, hi, Lombardo. Dan, I can't believe how accurate you are on this obvious point while how slow on the uptake the other guy is. It is so obvious. I mean, you take a look at golf, someone who has the yips. Sam Snead, my God. In the late 50s, he had to go to sidesaddle. Then they had to change the rule. You couldn't go croquet. He still went sidesaddle. The Opposite way, both feet to the left of the ball. You see guys like Bernhard Langer that have had the yips and went to the long putter three different times. You've got guys like Ian Baker Fitch was one of the greatest putters in the world, won the British Open, got the yips, went to the long putter, couldn't even putt again, quit the game, became an analyst. You go to pool or no, a better example, you go to bowling. Are you trying to tell me that if Mark Roth is starting to miss a lot of 10 pins in the channel or hooking it too much, that he isn't going to go smart enough, which he eventually did to a lighter ball, a 14 pound ball. Sometimes it looked like a little child speckled ball at your local bowling alley. So we can move cross alley and throw it up to make 10 pins at the 95% rate you're supposed to on the PBA tour. Or if you're shooting pool and you have the closed bridge that all great players have. Like Jimmy Chiara, who was the 1943 champion of the world who broke me in. Although he did say I had a choke stroke for the money. And he was right. I was a better three cushioned Bears player. If you can use an open stroke like Joan Rivers on bad acid, if you get the job done, get the job done. It's all about whatever works, works. It's just like life. If you want to go through life trying to fornicate with the most beautiful woman in the world that you can while also have a main squeeze and four or five mistresses on the side, rock on. And then try to keep trading up. But then once you're lucky enough to find that foxy angel of your life, if you're not smart enough to grab onto her and hold on to her for 14 years while you enjoy your summer home in Lake Garda for six weeks every year, then you're a dummy. But what works, works. Dugouts, you lame. Uptake.

[Chris Cote]

That's not real.

[Mike Ryan]

It is real. And when I met him one time, his cologne was coffee and cigarette. Unsurprising, I know that scenario at the.

[Dan Le Batard]

End was way too specific.

[Mike Ryan]

It really was.

[Chris Cote]

He also sounded like Taffer midway through. He did the 95%. Like he sounded a lot like Taffer explaining why beer at 36 degrees is the optimal temperature. But at 38 degrees you're getting 50% of the keg as opposed to 95%.

[Dan Le Batard]

Do you see that Taffer tweet the other day? Tony, you know what I'm Talking about.

[Chris Cote]

I've seen all the taffer tweets where.

[Tony]

He'S on the private jet and it's kind of like a profile of him and it's like a bar. Hates to see you.

[Chris Cote]

Oh, yeah, come in.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, I thought of you both immediately.

[Chris Cote]

Oh, man, that guy's great.

[Billy Gil]

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[Chris Cote]

Stugats women stay home in the kitchen where they belong. This is the Dan Levatar show with these two gods.

[Mike Ryan]

I did that to my wife the other day. She said something taffer. She said I was doing something taffer related. And then I looked around like the Christmas tree, you know your Christmas tree's up. The imaginary Christmas tree. The way that we say Taffer talks to people. My Christmas tree is not yet up, but I don't think it's inappropriate to buy a Christmas tree before Thanksgiving. Put it on the poll, please. Juju at Le Batard show. Do you think it's okay to buy a Christmas tree before Thanksgiving? Because especially if I'm buying, I've had the last couple die on me because they're not cut right at the bottom. So they become these dry things that represent sadness in the middle of my living room. But if I'm going to get the pain in the ass of putting this in the car, on the car, getting it home, making a mess of my car, all of that stuff. I want to enjoy it for more than a month. I want to keep it up a little extra on the front end and I want to keep it up a little extra on the back end because I got to be honest with you, don't enjoy decorating the Christmas tree. Don't enjoy any of that. Enjoy having one. Enjoy having one, but don't enjoy the process of decorating it.

[Amin Elhassan]

Are you like being in a rush or something buying this tree at like the week before Thanksgiving?

[Benny from Fort Lauderdale]

Right.

[Mike Ryan]

I want it the maximum amount of time if I'm going to get a live Christmas tree that I then have to take care of. If I'm going to bring a living thing into my house that's going to. It's going to shed. It's going to be something that is difficult to get into my house. It's big. I'm going to be sticky after I put it in the house. If always.

[Dan Le Batard]

Could also be describing a horse.

[Chris Cote]

Yeah, yeah. Dan. This is for Americas. Yep. Because those there are those of us that don't celebrate Christmas. So it's like everything you're describing is just some foreign concept to me. The idea of you get a tree and you gotta take. I didn't even know you had to take care of the tree. I swear to God.

[Amin Elhassan]

You get a fake tree.

[Tony]

It's got a water.

[Chris Cote]

No, I thought the real tree. It's in a pot.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Chris Cote]

I thought the real tree just stood up like in the corner.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

I don't balance it.

[Mike Ryan]

Just like stay like.

[Chris Cote]

Yeah.

[Tony]

Perfectly cut.

[Chris Cote]

Yeah. Like they slice it in a way where it's like flat and then they put it up there.

[Mike Ryan]

Maybe you thought a tree could last for two months without any water. Totally dehydrated. Just sitting in a corner of my house balancing, without any. Any foundation.

[Chris Cote]

It's evergreen. That's the.

[Mike Ryan]

It's not though different kind of tree. Mine the last two years have turned brown because they're. Because the water isn't being absorbed from however it is that the bottom of the tree is supposed to be cut.

[Amin Elhassan]

Also those pots have like screws in it with rubber stoppers that you can actually straighten the tree with.

[Mike Ryan]

So what is too early for you to see Christmas decorations anywhere? I'm talking about outside. Like, I understand that you're saying that these aren't your religious beliefs, but. But I've told you guys before, Christmas music makes me happy. I like. We don't have a change of seasons in South Florida. Even though it's going to be possibly in the high 50s this weekend. We're all a little scared of what cometh this way. 59 degrees. A possibility, but that's the season change to me when I see lights and everything else. Because not every year do we get the 59 degrees.

[Dan Le Batard]

I love when you bust out your old English this time of year. I think we're. We have a late Thanksgiving this year. Right. Like it's the 28th. I think it's. It's. We're starting to see it out in public places. Right. It's okay right now.

[Chris Cote]

Dan, you said Christmas music makes you happy. Do you have a specific favorite Christmas carol?

[Mike Ryan]

Little Drummer Boy.

[Chris Cote]

Really?

[Mike Ryan]

Yes.

[Chris Cote]

I bought these gifts for you.

[Mike Ryan]

Do you have a favorite? I do. I thought that you didn't. This is for America.

[Chris Cote]

It's music. But I like music.

[Mike Ryan]

I think decorations. I like decorations. I like lights.

[Chris Cote]

I don't like decorations. I think that's a hassle. But I do love this song. I want Hippopotamus for Christmas. You ever heard that one?

[Mike Ryan]

I have, yes. I think we have it here. But I don't think that that would classify as anyone's best Christmas carol.

[Chris Cote]

That's the best Christmas carol.

[Amin Elhassan]

Oh, there's two. One from the Temptation, Silent Night. You know when everybody sings Merry Christmas. That song and Donny Hathaw. This Christmas. Those are the two.

[Chris Cote]

Donnie. What about Mariah Carey? All I Want for Christmas is you, man. No.

[Amin Elhassan]

Overrated.

[Mike Ryan]

James Brown. Funky Christmas.

[Amin Elhassan]

Oh, that's good.

[Chris Cote]

What about Santa Claus?

[Amin Elhassan]

Goes straight to the ghetto.

[Tony]

That's Christmas in Hollis.

[Chris Cote]

Run dmc. Christmas in Hollis.

[Mike Ryan]

Does that count?

[Chris Cote]

Yes, absolutely.

[Amin Elhassan]

Yeah.

[Tony]

Christmas is in the name.

[Chris Cote]

It's Christmas time in the.

[Tony]

It's in Hollis. Dan. You don't like Hollis.

[Mike Ryan]

I just don't think of Christmas carols being hip hop. I don't think of Christmas Carols 2.

[Chris Cote]

America's Racist. Racist. I want a hippopotamus.

[Mike Ryan]

I wonder why I don't associate Christmas carols with hip hop.

[Chris Cote]

I don't want a doll, no dinky tinker toy I want a hippopotamus to.

[Mike Ryan]

Play with and enjoy.

[Chris Cote]

I wanna hippopotamus.

[Dan Le Batard]

You just associate it with Hippo Pop.

[Mike Ryan]

This can't be the best of Christmas carols.

[Chris Cote]

It's a fun song. Have you ever seen the video? She just got a music video.

[Tony]

We know the answer. It's DJ Laz's.

[Mike Ryan]

It is pretty good. Springsteen. Santa Claus is coming to Town.

[Chris Cote]

Second Springsteen.

[Mike Ryan]

Reference of the show. Not here, buddy.

[Amin Elhassan]

No, no, no.

[Mike Ryan]

Jackson 5, can you guys get for me? Are we allowed to play what it is that Tony is referencing?

[Chris Cote]

Of course.

[Tony]

DJ Lazard.

[Mike Ryan]

I think we need the big Booty bass locally that.

[Chris Cote]

Wait, there's a remix.

[Tony]

The Big Booty bass remix? Yeah.

[Chris Cote]

I think they only played that one.

[Tony]

On Power 96, though. Cynthia, if she's out there, she knows bass.

[Mike Ryan]

Let's see if we can find that. Speaking of Miami, incidentally, I want to tell people again that today is give Miami Day. Let's go to givemiamiday.org because among the people that I would give to all of this is tax deductible. Pelican Harbor. If you're looking for charities and don't know which ones to choose, the Pelican Harbor Seabird station does good work. The Miami Waterkeeper does good work. And guitars over guns does good work. If you're looking to raise money for some people locally here who are trying to help in good and pure ways. If you have some disposable income and want to help Miamians, givemiamiday.org is where you go.

[Dan Le Batard]

I don't have any, like, Christmas decorations. Where? In my apartment currently. But when I picture putting up Christmas decorations. Dan, it's the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I'm watching a NFC north game on Fox. It's like Bears, Vikings, and the da da da da da da da da da da da is on the tv.

[Chris Cote]

Is that a Christian?

[Dan Le Batard]

While I'm like, yes.

[Chris Cote]

When they do the, like, slate.

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, my God. When they do the graphics with, like, little ornaments and, like, the little frasier.

[Chris Cote]

Fur, the robot comes out with a Santa hat on.

[Dan Le Batard]

Cletus.

[Chris Cote]

And he does Cletus a spin move.

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, it's the greatest thing. This is how you get ready for the season.

[Chris Cote]

Oh, wow.

[Amin Elhassan]

Three America.

[Mike Ryan]

The reason I think I'm allowed to put up a Christmas tree before Thanksgiving is because I believe we're getting football weather this weekend. I believe it's going to be snowing in Lambeau. And once you throw the snow on Lambo field, I'm allowed to put up my Christmas tree. Am I not?

[Chris Cote]

Like, isn't that frozen tundra? Is the.

[Mike Ryan]

I mean, that's.

[Chris Cote]

That's the go ahead.

[Tony]

It's 49ers packers, too.

[Chris Cote]

Big game. Big game with the snout.

[Dan Le Batard]

People keep saying this isn't a good NFL weekend. I disagree. We got a lot of good matchups this weekend. We got the Harbol Monday night. I can't wait.

[Mike Ryan]

Can you guys tell me? Because I want to go through here. What is happening in a couple of different locker rooms. And I'm curious, Amin, specifically, how it is that you react to what's happening in the 76er locker room. So in the locker room of the New York Giants, Daniel Jones has been benched. And there are a couple of people in that locker room who are mad at their own organization for benching Daniel Jones, messing with his money on top of, you know, making a decision that might not be a football decision to save some money on Daniel Jones and his injury risk. And also Thibodeau, for them, had said. Or is it Thibodeau? I always get those wrong. I always put an H in there with both the coach in New York and the defensive end in New York.

[Tony]

I think Thibodeau is a defensive end.

[Chris Cote]

No, Thibodeau is the coach.

[Mike Ryan]

I think they're both Thibodeaux, if I'm not mistaken. But it's not Thibs, it's Tibs. And I think it's supposed to be pronounced Thibodeau.

[Chris Cote]

No, they pronounce it Thibodeau, but much like Kristin Pulisic, Thibodeau does not pronounce his name right. They've Anglicized it because people reading it in English as th makes a th sound, but it's a French name. Th is a t sound. It's Thibodeau correctly pronounced, but he doesn't pronounce it that way. So we go along with things to call him Thibodeau.

[Mike Ryan]

Okay, so the Giants defensive end Thibodeaux did say before the season, said it to anybody who would listen, put his name on it. We should have paid Saquon before we paid Daniel Jones. And I want to ask you those financial issues that. That players are thinking about and talking about before I get to the 76ers, how problematic is it? I know it's normal, but how problematic is it that your players are looking at the organization with distrust on how they spend money? And this is a unique kind of transaction in that sport. Hey, we're destroying our bodies for you. Company. Company that pays us. And we don't agree with how it is you're spending the money. We thought that Saquon should have been paid before Dan. Daniel Jones. You let Saquon go. You made us worth. And now because you paid Daniel Jones, you're trying to save money on Daniel Jones. How much of an infection is all of that?

[Chris Cote]

I mean, it's detrimental, massively detrimental to morale. But I think the more interesting thing is that they would frame it that way. Usually players would say we shouldn't have let Saquon go. It ain't up to me to figure out the money parts. Like we should not have let him go was usually how they say it for them to say it specifically, hey, you should have paid him before you paid that guy. Now you're a little bit of within the locker room culture, pocket watching. And so that speaks.

[Mike Ryan]

Isn't everybody though?

[Chris Cote]

They don't usually talk like that. Usually they tend to avoid counting other people's money or how they got their money or when they got their money. It's usually, like I said, it's usually expressed as we should have never let Saquon go. And now implicit in that is like we should have paid him before we paid the other guy. But you don't say that part out loud. You just let. But people connect the dots from there. So that is weird. But then it's also weird that having said that, I'm still gonna stick up for Daniel Jones when he gets benched because that's kind of shiesty what's happening to him too. It is. I mean, it's not great. And it definitely does not feed belief in the people running this thing. Right. I don't trust management and maybe I don't even trust my coach either.

[Tony]

To make matters worse too, you're QB2, who you benched Daniel Jones. You have Drew lockdown. All that situation is he has incentives in his contract of playing time. If he plays a certain amount of percentage of games, if he's got a certain amount of yards, touchdowns, all these different things, he makes money. So it's like we're not even going to QB2. We're going to QB3, who we swore you would never see again. And now the return. Please save us Tommy DeVito.

[Mike Ryan]

I'm not sure about this because I'm still learning in these circumstances all the time. I think Sheisty's a slur. I don't think that that's something that we should be saying. I don't know about Irish goodbye. I do know that that's a stereotype. But I will learn audience, as we go and get corrected wherever it is that I need to be corrected on that because when I heard that, to my ear, it feels like a mistake I've made before that that you're not supposed to say that.

[Tony]

It's also what we call ski masks.

[Chris Cote]

Now, which is again used because people rob people when you wear one.

[Mike Ryan]

I understand. I'm not. I'm just telling you I don't know. I'm not even saying. I'm not even saying that. I know that I think it so.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

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[Billy Gil]

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[Amin Elhassan]

LeBatard we're gonna win.

[Mike Ryan]

Stugots.

[Chris Cote]

We're gonna win.

[Mike Ryan]

They're annoying.

[Chris Cote]

An old reference. This is the Dan Le our show with these two gods.

[Mike Ryan]

The other locker room I wanted to talk to you about, though more interesting is the 76ers locker room. They are now 2 and 12 and they lose again. Last night. Paul George hurts his knee and Joel Embiid is mad and feels betrayed about the fact that his 32nd meeting with Maxey was reported as a leak as being called out by Maxey. And he's portraying it as this is a 30 second conversation. And the part that he's angry about is not Maxey calling him out. It's that it leaked. It's the same thing that Draymond Green and the warriors were mad about where all of a sudden the video of Poole getting punched is everywhere. These are communities that believe in us against them. And when stuff gets out of the locker room, it ends up with Joel Embiid saying, quote, whoever leaked that is a real piece of shit. It's bad to call someone a piece of shit, but when you put the real in front of it a real piece of shit, damn, you're extra angry. Like it's not enough to call that person a piece of shit. You want it known on the front end that that's a real piece of shit. It ain't one of those fake little dog poops you put some. And my thoughts here amin are that that locker room is in a distrustful place. And Joel Embiid is the kind of superstar that if you do not properly appreciate what it is that he's doing for you, it feels like he could get into his feelings about, well, why don't I go do this somewhere where they will appreciate what I'm doing for them instead of where it is that I'm presently breaking my body.

[Chris Cote]

Yeah, it just seems like an escalation of that have been happening since the summertime or all these things are building up on Joel Embiid. But. But Dan, like I feel him, man. I'm with him on this. I get. Look, I wear two hats. One hat is this job that I'm doing right here. And, yes, I like to hear that story. And that gives us content for the week and content on Oddball and then NBA Radio.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

I.

[Chris Cote]

So many places I can go and talk about this, but the other hat I wear is. As a basketball guy, I'm disgusted. The idea. We barely got out of that room. We barely got out of that room, and someone's already, ooh, you'll never believe what happened. Like, it disgusts me that. And this is the part where, again, I've been told in the past, me and you can never come back because the way you do things just. I'm a dinosaur. Because I would literally round up everybody in the room. Room and be like, phones out. I need to right now. I won't say anything. Once we get. Everyone who's in the room is in the room right now. Phones out. We're gonna find out who leaked that shit. Because there is just about synchro sanctness or sacred ground or whatever. This is our internal issues as we are internally trying to fix it. And someone's out there thinking this is a good thing to tell anybody on the outside, let alone a newsbreaker. So him being irate like that in the same way that Draymond was irate about in the worst of words, and you guys were like, well, that's not. I'm like. I'm telling you, this thing only works if we all believe that we're together on this. If someone is running around, running their mouth about what happens here, it all falls apart. And you know what the irony is, Daniel? It reminds me of a different story. Completely different story. The Adam Schefter, Ray Lewis to FAU Report. Right? That was instantly, like, kiboshed by a bunch of people. Can I see that one? Or is that one a little.

[Mike Ryan]

It's sacrosanct is the other word you were looking for, by the way.

[Chris Cote]

I know.

[Amin Elhassan]

Kibosh.

[Chris Cote]

I was doing. I was doing a cinephile reference when I did that one, but.

[Amin Elhassan]

That's Right.

[Chris Cote]

But anyways, what's cinephobe? Oh, glad you asked. It is the podcast where Zach Harper and I review movies that are poorly rated on Rotten Tomatoes and try to ascertain whether they're accurately rated. Maybe they didn't get a fair shake. It's cinephile. It's produced by Anthony Made. You get wherever you get podcast this week. Batman Forever, starring Tommy Lee Jones as Harvey Dent and Jim Carrey as the Riddler. And it's the one with the nipples.

[Amin Elhassan]

In the Bats, right?

[Chris Cote]

Yes. Val Kilmer, Val Kimmer. As Batman, but Tommy Lee Jones was.

[Mike Ryan]

Harvey Dent in that.

[Chris Cote]

He was two Face.

[Amin Elhassan]

Two Face.

[Chris Cote]

He was two Face. Yeah. And trust me, his rendering a little bit different from Aaron Eckhart. You definitely want. You definitely want to catch this episode this week.

[Mike Ryan]

Is that where you soured on Jack Nicholson from in that movie? The way. The way that. Or where he played the Joker? How he played the Joker?

[Chris Cote]

He did it great. He did it great. He did a good job in that movie. I'm more about, like, the run of Jack Nicholson movies from, like, 1990. Everything from Wolf on basically, like, come on, guys.

[Amin Elhassan]

As good as it gets.

[Chris Cote]

It's Jack Nicholson, like, with a midlife crisis or whatever. Like all. Everything. Midlife crisis, whatever. It was.

[Mike Ryan]

With a tick. With a tick.

[Tony]

With some sort of anger management.

[Chris Cote]

No, it's not.

[Mike Ryan]

Yeah, like ocd. That's right. An OCD tick.

[Chris Cote]

I digress. Ray Lewis, right? This report comes out, it's immediately squashed, right? And. But it's squashing away, saying, look, there has been no direct communication between Louis and fau. Meaning maybe it went through some intermediaries, maybe some feelers were out in whatever direction. But again, the fact that someone is like, hey, you know, FAU is asking about Ray Lewis. Oh, word. Okay. Adam, you'll never believe what happened. Like, just shut the F up for five seconds. Let life happen. There's no value for you to be the first to tell Adam Schefter this. You think Adam Schefter's gonna get you a job one day because of all this guy as a lead candidate to be head coach or whatever? Like, it's so dumb that people are selling out their people, their quote, unquote friends, for what? For fleeting.

[Mike Ryan]

Are you allowed to do what Amin would do in this situation as an HR violation?

[Chris Cote]

I'm not.

[Mike Ryan]

Am I allowed to say, hey, everybody, your phones? Like, what?

[Chris Cote]

No.

[Amin Elhassan]

No.

[Mike Ryan]

But Amin is basically saying that what he wants in the locker room environment is an employment violation.

[Chris Cote]

This is. This is. I treated this with the utmost supreme level of alertness. Like, this is our top priority is whatever happens in here, you like it, you don't like it, you hate some. Whatever. It stays in here.

[Mike Ryan]

You can't have distrust.

[Chris Cote]

You can't have distrust. And if there's one thing to say, oh, man, coach is terrible. I don't like coach. And it's been leaking that the guys don't like coach. Like, oh, okay. It's another thing. We're like, hey, guys, we're having a meeting about this stuff that we're trying to fix. And literally within 30 minutes of the meeting being over, it's already out the details because Shams had the meeting happened and Maxie stood up and held and be accountable in front of everybody. Sam Amick and David Aldridge had the direct quotes. So someone either multiple people were talking or someone was talking to multiple people. That is such a gross violation of the privacy of what we're doing here and counterproductive. That's the other thing. It is counter to what we're trying to do here. You are trying to actively destroy and cause division. So not only are you is someone just a Chatty Cathy, but you might be an op. You might be working against what we're trying to do here. I don't want you in my locker room. If I found out if I were Nick Nurse and I found out if it was a staffer, I'm firing them. If it's a player, I'm trading or cutting them.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

You're good on Chatty Cathy.

[Chris Cote]

Thank you.

[Mike Ryan]

Izzy, why is it Chatty Kathy as opposed to Chatty Charles or Chatty Charles Charlie? Chatty Kathy was a doll back in the day. I guess it was a talkative doll.

[Amin Elhassan]

Spelling Kathy with a C in this situation.

[Tony]

Amina is a child of the David Stern regime though, right? Like, I mean, do you feel like if Stern was still doing it, that you would have these kind of things? Would he make a phone call? Like, how would that work with Dave?

[Mike Ryan]

Stern can't control an individual locker room.

[Chris Cote]

This is a Sixers problem. This isn't an NBA problem. So it would be fine. Stern is more. Some of the other things, like what we talked about with Izzy yesterday, you're going to find a guy for saying no homo, which is radioactive in sense. The same amount of a player who shoved a media member, like, no way, no way, dude. Like, that's not how that works. A three game suspension for physically accosting someone. And again, we're not gonna get into the specifics of why he did it. I said it on the day it happened. I was like, look, I get it. I understand. And he understands too. He said, I don't care what the consequences are. Meaning, I understand I'm gonna get in trouble for doing this, but I'm gonna do it. So we're all good on that. But the fact that the fine is the same as. As. As saying words that, as Izzy pointed.

[Mike Ryan]

Out, it's not exactly the same. Cuz Embiid lost a million dollars in salary.

[Chris Cote]

He got suspended three games, but three games Was. I didn't feel like was enough. So there's things like that. There are a bunch of things. My big thing is, whenever NBA players question whether the refs are on the take, David Stern would put them under the ground. Like, and we've been getting slaps on the R, a $35,000 fine. Bullshit. You just said everything we're doing here is fake. How are we supposed to present a product to the masses that is believable if the people in it are saying it's fake, it's not real. And you might. Oh, I was just angry. Well, shit, be angry. Say some other shit. Don't say that.

[Tony]

So he wouldn't say anything about the news breakers getting news and all these things that would be just kind of like State's issues, teams issues. Like, you guys deal with it.

[Chris Cote]

I'll tell you, the only time they were upset was when the draft, like, people were tweeting out the draft picks before they happened. Because now you're messing up our TV product. But in terms of like, yeah, the Sixers, no, like, that's not. David Stern would be like, yo, you gotta get your house in order. But, you know, this all goes back to Dan, something that I want to talk to talk about earlier, which is Nick Wright saying, threes are why the ratings are bad. And I said, no, it's not threes and it's not load management and it's not wokeness or whatever. The NBA at its core has a marketing problem. We allow stupid ass ideas to take hold and be like, that's our reputation. Instead of controlling it, instead of like, Stern did, keep it under wraps. We create our narrative. We call our narrative. We let anyone just say anything so everyone's like, quiet, Leonard doesn't want to play. And meanwhile, we find out what this dude's knee is made out of. Doritos. He's not playing because he's hurt. Joel Embiid is not playing because he's hurt, not because he doesn't feel like playing. But we allow this thing and we allow Stephen A. Smith and we allow Shaq and Kenny to say these things with certainty. And so all of this erodes confidence in the product.

[Mike Ryan]

That is really interesting what he is saying there, because I do believe that if I just wander around and ask, ask people who aren't even sports fans, but also sports fans, hey, are athletes lazy and don't actually care that much in the NBA? The fact that that stereotype has gotten out there when it's asinine like that nobody can play at that level just sort of like flippantly. Those people have to care crazy or they're gonna lose their money. Cause somebody's gonna take everything that they've dreamt of. Like the idea that that load management has become something that we are now allowed to assign the stereotype of black guy lazy because it's always the black guy, black guy lazy that that has taken hold. My God, is that not just offensive, wildly inaccurate and disrespectful to how hard it is to do what those people do to be great, that you are so right on the idea of the narrat narrative getting grabbed and becoming something that becomes or feels like fact or perception. And then it becomes reality, even though it's just baked in stereotype.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

And the irony of it all is the only player that doesn't care a.

[Mike Ryan]

Little bit is Jokic.

[Chris Cote]

He never gets accused of that. He never gets accused of not caring. But, I mean, we've even sort of participated in this when we fat shame Zion Williamson or. No, but, like, we're talking about work ethic and laziness and he won't, you know, stop eating.

[Mike Ryan]

Whatever.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

Why is Jimmy not playing?

[Chris Cote]

Right, We've done it. I think there's a difference between making jokes about someone's weight and saying. And making hard analysis about, like, well, clearly you don't give a shit. Like, I think there's a difference there. And like, I speak for myself. I've made a lot of Zion Wade jokes, but I've made a lot of Dan Wade jokes. That's what I do. I'm a jerk in that way. But when stories come out about Zion not taking his diet seriously, like, reported stories, like, that's different, right? There's a reported story here that Embiid just doesn't show up on time to things. Sure, sure. But, like, that's not the same as he doesn't want to play, which is what many of the accusations are. And to me. So one of the things is, like, I said, Nick Wright came out and said, oh, it's because they shoot too many threes. And I said, man, Nick, I could sit down with you and watch a game from 2003. I guarantee you, you're going to find it offensive to watch. Not offensive. Offensive.

[Mike Ryan]

I don't think, though, it's any one of those things. I think it's the marketing. But it can be all of those things. Like, it doesn't have to be anyone at the top of the list. It can be all of them because numbers are down.

[Chris Cote]

The numbers are down. But it's not because of those things. The fact that we allow those things to be the explanation is my issue. That's why I say we have a marketing problem. Right? Dude, the NBA is fantastic. I love this game. This was the how we sold our game in the 80s and 90s. Like, I love it. And now it's like this weird thing where everyone's trying to be too smart and like. Well, actually I'm like, look man, it ain't hard. Like if we, if we sell our thing with joy, it's joyful. The NBA cup is a great example of this. Look, they let us all know, hey man, this thing is real and it's serious. And we don't want to hear a bunch of stuff about how this is fake and made up. And so we all bought in. And guess what's happening? We're getting great games in NBA cup games. And so it's becoming a thing. And I believe that applies to everything across the sport.

[Juju]

Howdy, loyal listeners. It's Mike Ryan and we're getting pretty close to wishing folks happy holidays. I'm sure many of you are already in the planning stages of opening up your homes and hosting holiday get togethers.

[Mike Ryan]

Be stressful.

[Juju]

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