Podcast Summary: "Hour 1: Da Yankee Loo"

The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Date: October 9, 2025
Featuring: Dan Le Batard, Stugotz, Tony, Mike Ryan, and special guest The Kid Mero

Episode Overview

Broadcasting from the Elser Hotel in Miami, Dan, Stugotz, and the crew welcome The Kid Mero for a lively, irreverent hour covering sports, Hispanic culture, pop music, and football picks—with frequent diversions into reggaeton debates, Yankees misery, and the nuances of cultural greetings. The tone remains loose, hilarious, and insightfully chaotic throughout.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Cultural Greetings and Pandemic Changes

Context: The Kid Mero is asked whether COVID shifted his approach to greeting people (the traditional Hispanic kiss and dap).

• Mero (02:37): "I've been operating like a Latino male since I exited the womb...I'm kissing every titi I come across. Has not changed."
• The group discusses how the "kiss greeting" depends heavily on context, especially outside Hispanic circles or professional settings.
• Dan (04:46): "It's a game time decision... If you feel the energy and they are a kiss receiver, and you're a kiss giver, you just feel it."
• Mero (05:45): "You gotta meet their energy. You can't be the one that tries to set the tone— that's where you end up in trouble."

2. Bad Bunny and the Super Bowl Halftime Show

• Discussion pivots to culture wars around Bad Bunny's Super Bowl selection.
• Dan (07:35): "First of all, you're an idiot...This is the most popular artist on the planet. NFL playing games worldwide—they're trying to globalize American football. What better way than by having a Puerto Rican do the halftime?"
• Points out the NFL's need to engage "black and brown bodies" (players and fans) and sees Bad Bunny's selection as both strategic and inclusive.
• Stugotz (09:03): "Taylor Swift is bigger."
• Mero and the crew debate club bangers vs. stadium hits; no one’s ever yelled to play Taylor Swift in the club (09:19).
• Dan (10:00): Acknowledges Swift's audience: "It's not for me... it's for most people like me. You're not a 14-year-old white girl."
• Tony asks if Spanish curse words will be censored at the Super Bowl. Dan and others joke about how the FCC doesn't police Spanish-language radio because they don't understand it (11:14).

3. Yankees Postseason Humiliation

• The group relentlessly (and joyfully) roasts Mero's Yankees for a historically bad postseason.
• John Sterling Hit by Foul Ball (13:22): Crew plays the viral clip of the Yankees announcer getting hit by a foul ball.
• Dan (13:35): "Old man pain, bro...Old men don't feel pain, so when they get hurt, it's like, yo, that shit really hurt."
• Mero defends his fandom, downplays rival celebrations, and argues opposing teams treat beating the Yankees as their "championship" (22:49).

4. Reggaeton: "Top 25" Debate

• Tony introduces Complex's "Top 25 Reggaeton Artists" list (24:43).
• Contentious rankings (e.g., Nicky Jam, Hector & Tito placed too low).
• Mero and Tony build their own Top 5s.
• Tony (29:40): "Nobody has been able to put out 1–6 albums with rarely a skip. Think of any rap artist, rock band, pop artist—Bad Bunny has 6 of them."
• This prompts a debate: Billboard “hits” vs. cultural impact and "vibes."
• Mero (44:37): Cites Billboard stats—Bad Bunny has just one #1 hit, vs. legends like The Beatles and Mariah Carey (44:29).
• Tony: “It’s about the vibes. It's not about numbers.”

5. New York Sports Woes

• Crew highlights New York’s championship drought among major men’s teams (33:53): "110 combined consecutive seasons... since the Giants won the Super Bowl in 2012."
• Dan (34:09): "That's being very misogynistic. We're not talking about the women. We got Gotham FC. Liberty also."
• Women’s teams, Gotham FC and the Liberty, get their due.

6. Spanish Idioms: "Echo de Yogurt"

• Tony introduces the Cuban phrase, meaning "made of yogurt," as a metaphor for feeling drained or exhausted (36:32). Mero and the crew riff on cross-cultural phrases and their PG-13 potential.

7. Football Bucket Picks: Dentech Promo

• The group brings Mero into their football picks segment with "the bucket."
• Rules explained: Pick a random team; can redraw once, but must keep second pick. If your team loses, there’s a penalty.
• Mero ends up with two good helmets, expresses love for Roy and chooses the "bye" (41:43).
• The segment quickly turns into more clowning about teams, penalties, and random stats.

8. Billboard Hits: Numbers vs. Impact

• After Tony praises Bad Bunny, Mero brings statistics:
  • Mero (44:29): "Billboard says The Beatles are #1 with 20 #1 hits; Bad Bunny has one."
  • Tony: Stands by his “no skips on albums” claim, reiterates the importance of “the vibes” over chart stats (45:02).
  • Dan: "It's all about the vibes. It's not about the numbers. It's about the eye test." (45:06)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Dan, on cultural greetings:
  "It's a game time decision...If you feel the energy and they are a kiss receiver, and you're a kiss giver, you just feel it." (04:46)
• Mero, on club music:
  "I've never been at a club...where anybody's been like, yo, throw on that Taylor Swift. She doesn't have bangers." (09:19)
• Dan, on the Super Bowl Halftime controversy:
  "First of all, you're an idiot. This is the most popular artist on the planet right now." (07:35)
• Dan, Yankees pain:
  "That's old man pain, bro...Old men don't feel pain, so when they get hurt, it's like, yo, that shit really hurt." (13:35)
• Tony, defending Bad Bunny as a generational artist:
  "Nobody has an album from top to bottom that has zero skips. Bad Bunny has six." (29:40)
• Mero, on New York sports heartbreak:
  “110 combined consecutive seasons...since the Giants won the Super Bowl in 2012.” (33:53)
• Dan, on women's sports success:
  "That's being very misogynistic...We got Gotham FC, Liberty also." (34:09)
• Tony:
  "It’s about the vibes. It's not about numbers." (45:02)
• Dan:
  "It's all about the vibes. It's not about the numbers. It's about the eye test." (45:06)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:38 – Mero joins football picks and discusses pandemic greetings
• 03:24 – 06:00 – Discussion on cultural greeting norms and energy
• 07:01 – 11:10 – Bad Bunny/Super Bowl halftime debate, language, and culture wars
• 13:22 – 14:06 – John Sterling’s foul ball viral clip (Yankees pain)
• 17:34 – 22:49 – Ongoing roast of the Yankees and NY sports
• 24:43 – 30:02 – Reggaeton Top 25 Artists debate
• 33:53 – 34:27 – NY sports championship drought stats
• 36:32 – 37:28 – “Echo de Yogurt” Cuban idiom explained
• 38:11 – 41:43 – Dentech ‘bucket’ football picks with Mero
• 44:29 – 45:06 – Billboard hits debate: numbers vs. vibes

Tone and Vibe

• Highly conversational, irreverent, affectionate—plenty of friendly banter and cross-cultural ribbing.
• Mero’s presence brings playful chaos and a distinctly New York/Caribbean flavor.
• Frequent (and hilarious) code-switching between English and Spanish, and between sports and pop culture.

For New Listeners:

This episode perfectly encapsulates the unique energy of the Le Batard Show—chaotic, bilingual, sports-obsessed but never too serious, always attuned to social dynamics and music, and unafraid to chase any tangent.

Recommended as a must-listen for fans of sports, Hispanic culture, reggaeton, and comedy.