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Don LeBatard
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Dan LeBatard
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Don LeBatard
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Dan LeBatard
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Don LeBatard
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Homedepot.Com how doers get more Don this is the Don Levator show with the ST Podcast.
Dan LeBatard
So after the Rams Seahawks game, that was a legitimately great game between teams that are rare in that sport. In that we know they're good. We knew both of those teams are good. We don't have any questions about how good they are. You can have your quibbles with Denver, with the Patriots because of the schedule they've played, but I think all of us watching Rams Seahawks know that both of those teams are good football teams. And I was talking about imperfect measurement systems after that game because the point of the games is to get to the television dollars and get everyone paid. It's not actually to measure the best team. We all understand that part, right? That's not cynicism. The point is not to have the best measurement system.
Stugotz
Sure it is cynicism. You can look at it the way that most sports fans look at it, which is, you know, I want my team to win a championship. That's what. That's what they really play for, right?
Dan LeBatard
But history will remember whoever wins the super bowl forever as the best team. But the Denver Broncos played 17 games to get this much of a home field advantage and then are playing without their starting quarterback and lose by three points. Maybe the Patriots are the better team. That game doesn't prove it. They just won because, at least in part, the Broncos didn't have their starting quarter quarterback and the game had to be played correct.
Stugotz
You're on like a weird sports nihilist kick though. That's the breaks in that sport. Tons of fans will be like, oh, our season was undone by injuries.
Dan LeBatard
I'm not on a weird nihilist take. I'm going somewhere with this. The thing that is the accepted measurement system is always flawed, and it doesn't matter what I think. History will remember that whoever wins on Sunday, no matter how they win, was the best team, whether it was so or not. That's how we're doing it. That's accepted the part, though. That was funny to me about something that I did with Mina and Pablo on Pablo Torrey finds out is we were talking about whether or not you like bad weather games. And I don't like them because they make the measurement system even dumber. The second half of the football game made to decide who will play the Seahawks in the super bowl was stupid. Fun to watch, visually lovely. Nothing to do with how we do measurements on who's better. Nothing to do with it. But people love weather games. I'm in an unpopular opinion in wanting the game to be played in a way that offers me the best measurement because what I want is who's better. That's what I want from my game. Not is the weather affecting the game, not is it raining and snowing, but it's an unpopular opinion to have most people want to watch bad weather games, even though it can make the football stupid.
Mike Ryan
Yeah, I love it. I love it. I kind of feel the same way about Thursday Night Football, where I like Thursday Night Football as long as my team's not playing in it. You know, I think it's a disadvantage for the two teams that are playing, but I like my Thursday Night Football. I like the bad weather game as long as my team's not playing in it and my team's not at the disadvantage. I like watching the snow all over the field. I dig it. I like it.
Dan LeBatard
So when you accuse me of nihilism, Mike, they're playing 17 games because Sean Payton very badly wants that last one to be played in his stadium because of the advantage that it is for that defense to be playing in that stadium and making a team in the Patriots who are unbeaten on the road have to climb over them. But there's no way of making the argument that convincingly, outside of the scoreboard that we got an accurate measurement of who's better when one of the teams doesn't have its starting quarterback.
Mike Ryan
Isn't that the bigger reason why.
Dan LeBatard
And the second half is totally the second half. It's not possible for anybody to play football in.
Stugotz
Yeah, but they, they both had to play in it. And I think you should be happy with the, the strides the NFL has taken and moving into these new billion dollar stadiums that there are fewer outdoor games now. They're all getting retractable roofs. They're already talking about a retractable roof in Denver for their next spot. All these places outside of Buffalo and Lambeau are basically trying to put a dome. Even the Browns new stadium, that's an AFC north team, they're trying to put a dome on it and it's part of the design. Chicago, their new stadiums, wherever state they decide to put it in, that's going to have a dome. Kansas City that you could always count on. Arrowhead being a weather stadium late in the season, that's going to have a dome. So I think you're getting more your way and I think it's going to have a cool novelty to it to actually see snow and weather impact some of these games. I'm not, I'm not with you on this sport needs to name the best team because I need that. No, I just need to name a champion. And these individual battles that teams spend weeks preparing for, that's part of it.
Lucy
Yeah.
Mike Ryan
The, the weather part. I is so far so much further down the rung of the reason that the Broncos lost behind. They didn't have their quarterback. Like if they had their quarterback, they're probably going to win in the terrible weather game. Right? I mean, they lost by three points of Jared Cinema. Bo Nix doesn't get hurt. Who cares about the cold weather? They're going to score more than seven points. It was, it was, it was Bo Nix being out, which is why they lost, not because of the weather.
Dan LeBatard
Yeah, but you don't have to be bothered by imperfect measurement systems. I'm not even bothered by it. They're all going to be some semblance of imperfect. It's not possible to make a perfect measurement system. If I were the Broncos though, and people were saying to me today the Patriots are better than you, I'd be like, they are. Like, are you sure?
Stugotz
But we like playoffs in this country. There are perfect measurement systems. Premier League, the team that wins the Premier League over the course of an entire season filled with fixtures that are one home, one away, where every team plays every team twice, like that's a perfect measurement system. There isn't a random playoff. They name a Premier League champion at the end of the season. We like playoffs in this country. We like playoffs even in that sport.
Dan LeBatard
In this country, that is also not a Perfect measurement system because one goal is so valuable in that sport that you end up becoming something that is very difficult in small samples to measure. When it's just one goal is so it's so much larger in value than everything else that's happening. That is the way. There is no perfect measurement. Golf measurement system. Actually individual sports. Individual sports in team sports, I should say, because in individual sports like boxing and tennis and some other things, you're right, that that is a better measurement system than what it is that we're talking about.
Tony
Damn. But you're asking for perfect measurement system in an imperfect game, right? The ball's oblong. The ball's gonna bounce a weird way. Weird things happen, right? If you look back and look at.
Mike Ryan
You look up Oblong or did you know?
Dan LeBatard
No, no, Oblong.
Tony
I knew that.
Mike Ryan
You looked it up.
Tony
No, I knew it.
Mike Ryan
You knew it right now.
Tony
I knew it right now.
Mike Ryan
I feel like maybe before when you were gathering the thought you went on to your stats and you looked up oblong.
Tony
I was looking at stats and I'll tell you the stats that I was looking at right now. I was thinking of the 2007 Giants. If you talk about the best team, right, 2007 Patriots were the best team. They should have won by any metric because all the metrics told you they were the best team. Yet the little Giants came out, had a win against the Bucks, had a win against the Cowboys, came out and had a super, super big win in overtime against the packers in sub zero temperatures in Lambeau. And if that game gets played somewhere else, maybe there's a different scenario that ends up going on. Packers go to the super bowl, the Patriots beat them by 40. Right? Like that one play, that one weather game changed the dynamics of everything that happened. Led to the Giants being the Patriots in the Super Bowl.
Dan LeBatard
That's a great example because I still maintain that the Patriots, that team is the best. It's. Well, it's not just better, it's the best I've ever seen. Of course it's not just better than the Giants and everyone else that season. Better than any I've ever seen. Mina dismisses all people who love the cold weather games as Birch Signalers. Oblongly Burchew Signalers. You guys were all complaining about the cold. Say it one more time, the laughs will come. Burchew Signalers. Shit. Bad idea by me. Let's keep it moving.
Mike Ryan
Dan, you don't believe that he knew Oblong, right?
Dan LeBatard
Burchoo Signaler. Alright, that one's on you. I Tried to talk you out of it. I believe that oblong is how you say I belong.
Mike Ryan
Oblong.
Dan LeBatard
You can make three syllables, one syllable better than just about anyone I've ever met. Did you guys watch the Grammys last night? Because I'm convinced that what we're headed toward this weekend is the Bad Bunny bowl, also featuring football.
Stugotz
I watched almost the entirety of the Grammys and I just kind of fell asleep. Yeah, I fell asleep just before album of the year. And I liked it. I always liked the Grammys. I liked the musical performances.
Mike Ryan
Who performed.
Stugotz
Oh, man. The entirety of the best new artist category. Reba McEntire did it for the first time. There was a cool Post Malone moment.
Lucy
Lauryn Hill.
Stugotz
Lauryn Hill, the first time she played in, like six years, did a nice little tribute to d', Angelo, among others. So I watched the entire show. And this is the first time in what I think several years, like, you'll. You can always count on it in the Golden Globes and in Hollywood. But a lot of award shows have really toned down making magas feel bad about themselves or their decisions because they've all been told, like, it actually affects ratings. But the go woke, go broke thing is not. It's a bit of a fallacy. And it was cool to see pop culture kind of once again find its collective balls and say, no, you're going to deal with this here. You're not gonna have your soft comforts of me not having to tell you this is bad. You're gonna have to hear that this is bad. And by comparison, it's gonna make people like Jelly Roll who have been living in this really awesome. How great is life? This is great. We can all get together. I don't actually have to have any opinion to speak into a microphone and show their ass a little bit. So I kinda like that society is forcing people's hands again. Like, nah, we play by your rules for a couple of years, making you feel better about things, and now people are dying in the streets. I like that the culture came back and met people.
Dan LeBatard
Bad Bunny doesn't normally make political statements, does he?
Stugotz
He does. He.
Tony
He does. He's been known to make political statements, especially when it comes to lgbt, you know, conversations and stuff. He had dressed as a woman in one of his songs, you know, 10, you know, five or so years ago. So he's not one who's gonna shy away from stuff like that. But just from the musical perspective, he won album of the year with a great album, and it's just cool to see somebody Hispanic be at the top of not only the Latin Grammys, obviously, but as the regular Grammys, where it's like, all right, we're here. Like, you have to pay attention to us now.
Stugotz
First time a Spanish language album has won album of the year at the top?
Mike Ryan
How about first time two pro wrestlers won Grammys?
Stugotz
That's right, Bad Bunny has won.
Mike Ryan
And Jelly Roll.
Stugotz
Jelly Roll, that's right. He wrestled on SummerSlam.
Dan LeBatard
Forgive me, I was of the impression that Bad Bunny makes political statements through the art, not speaking at a microp.
Stugotz
Yeah, he talks a lot about eating ass and taking photos. Caught that part. But occasionally there's like a lyric about ass.
Lucy
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Mike Ryan
Hopefully.
Lucy
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Don LeBatard
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Dan LeBatard
Mike Ryan's in there and he's the one with a baby. He's the one who's gotta, like, worry about what the future is. And Mike Ryan bet on DraftKings because Mike Ryan bet on us. This is the bet you're afraid of doubling down on putting up a billboard in Edmonton.
Stugotz
Stugats. I care more about Matthew Tkachuk than I do my daughter. This is the Dan Levatar show with the Stugach.
Dan LeBatard
Let me hear what it is that he had to say while winning album of the year. In a climate. You know, I don't know if you guys saw this, but Florida, which has been aggressively bad about some of this stuff, Florida is now making it so that driver's license tests are only in English, not Spanish, not Creole, not anything. Just aggressively unwelcome to people who don't speak English if they want to drive in this country. Can we hear the sound from Bad Bunny last night?
Stugotz
I'm gonna say eyes out. We're not savage.
Dan LeBatard
We're not animals.
Stugotz
We're not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans. The hate get more powerful with more hate. The only thing that is more powerful.
Dan LeBatard
Than hate is love.
Stugotz
So please, we be different. If we fight, we have to do it with love. If, yeah, we don't hate them. We love our people, we love our family. And that's the way to do it. With love. Don't forget that, please. Thank you.
Dan LeBatard
I have always thought that it is very difficult in a second language to talk about some of this stuff because many people who are hearing that whoever is on the other side of that are just thinking he's an idiot because he's trying to speak a second language and he's not doing it with the fluency of his first language. It's much easier to learn a language before the age of six than it is to learn a language the way the brain chemistry works on human beings after. Than after the age of six. So he's speaking in a second language. And I was just always of the impression that he didn't do things like that in English, at least in part, because so often famous people who are speaking in their second language are afraid to sound stupid. I sound stupid sometimes speaking Spanish because it's my second language. I would not attack difficult subject matter in Spanish. Wouldn't even come near it, because I wouldn't be. I wouldn't be comfortable that I would express myself correctly in that language.
Tony
It's incredibly cool to see because a couple of years ago, Bad Bunny didn't have any English chops, right? Like, you would hear him on songs, and maybe he had one word in English if he was featured on an English song. But he's come a long way in, you know, being able to describe himself and speak eloquently and almost fluently to try and get, like, the main topics around. So that's. It's a big. It's a big piece of growth for him.
Dan LeBatard
What are you guys expecting on Sunday? Both in action from him, but react to him like, what's. What's going on?
Mike Ryan
People are gonna freak out. You're gonna freak out. Yeah. I mean, because every year we do this, right?
Stugotz
Really? I mean, but they got their own halftime show this year, right? So they're not gonna be upset about Bad Bunny because they have choices. They got the turning point thing.
Tony
Who's the other thing?
Lucy
What?
Stugotz
Who's on the other one? Yeah, Jelly roll.
Lucy
For real.
Mike Ryan
People are gonna freak out every year we do this. Okay? And all. You know, some people really enjoy the halftime show, and some people really hate the halftime show. And this one is going to be the most polarizing of all them because there has not been. There's never been a lead up to a halftime show.
Dan LeBatard
Most polarizing of all of them.
Mike Ryan
Yeah. Like, what would you say has been the most polarizing?
Dan LeBatard
I mean, just during this climate with Kendrick Lamar, if we're choosing sides on everything, on every single thing. Kendrick Lamar rapping in an aggressively black halftime show that has to be run by Jay Z because they're trying to diversify an NFL that, you know, is trying to recover from Colin Kaepernick. That one was pretty polarizing.
Tony
It was polarizing because of the. The political or not the political, but the pop culture climate between Drake and between.
Mike Ryan
That was the main.
Tony
That was more so than anything was, right? Anything that was, oh, this is aggressively black, say pedophile. It was aggressively Drake versus that was.
Mike Ryan
The whole story of, oh, my God, I can't believe he said a minor. You know, everyone's going crazy about. That's not what the reaction this is going to be. This is going to be a cultural, racial deal that the fallout is.
Tony
And to be fair, this is not the first time that Bad Bunny's performed at the super bowl because he was a guest on the Shakira J. Lo1 from 2020, right, where everybody was like, oh, wow, this is the most aggressively Latin, vibrating, different, you know, halftime show. Bad Bunny was there. Now this is him, what is it, six years later, basically. And at that point, I was telling you he's the biggest artist on the planet. And all of a sudden now, again, not wrong, just early for me. Where was Taylor Swift last night? I didn't see her.
Dan LeBatard
Tony does keep saying that. I was not wrong. I'm never wrong. I'm just early. Know the origins of how it is the halftime show became the seismic thing that it is. For those of you who do not know some of the details. The artists are not paid. They get a budget to perform, but they. The artists are not paid. The way they are paid is that sales always spike in an enormous way when America at large is introduced to an artist, no matter how popular during the halftime show. But are you guys aware of the history? Because some of you, I don't know if Jeremy and Tony, if they are old enough to have remembered when In Living Color kind of stole the halftime audience one time on a competing network. Because during the halftime show of football, there was something that made people leave football and go to see Jim Carrey and what the Wayans brothers were doing on In Living Color. And that's the moment that that changed where the NFL was like, no, no, no, we can't have the audience leave during our football game because we have a commercial interruption. And now you have a concert that is going to be as. I mean, I don't know if it's as. As anticipated as the game, but I'm not joking that much when I say it's a Bad Bunny concert. Also featuring football. Given that even though this is the most surprising super bowl there's ever been between the opponents, it doesn't seem to have the interest level that the pop culture phenomenon that is one of the biggest artists in the world performing and performing in a way that Zaslo is saying it's going to be crazy. You guys don't seem to agree with that, though. Zaslo is saying something. Zaslo saying that this is going to be the most polarizing show there's ever been because he's going to be speaking. I just told you. In Florida, the political climate has gotten so bad that any nationality that doesn't speak English is going to have trouble getting a driver's license because they've ceased allowing you to take the test in something that isn't English. If you thought you didn't understand Kendrick Lamar's lyrics in a very black halftime show last year, what are you going to do when you don't speak Spanish and Bad Bunny is making you dance anyway? Because he's using lyrics that don't have English in them?
Tony
But that's as his point. It is the most polarizing halftime of the entire history of this because it's not in English.
Mike Ryan
And what happens when he comes out wearing a dress?
Tony
I don't know if he's going to do that. Yeah, I don't think he's.
Zaslo
But it's also. That was sort of talked down after it became an Internet rumor. But the bigger part is not just like, no pro clutching over Spanish. It's they're literally sending ice to the event. Like, Donald Trump is going to make a political display of this, whether bad money does or not. And mind you, so the pregame show performer is Green Day. And back in 2016, they were saying, no Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA. Enchanting at award shows. It was the first true, like, hey, this guy's a fascist political statement made by an artist. That was a decade ago. So if you think they're going to start this thing quietly after Bad Bunny just said that at the Grammys in the lead up, because that was part of it with Kendrick, too. He won album of the year and then he was performing at the super bowl halftime show. So there was this week in between for everybody to get even more hyped up about what was going on after Bad Bunny says that if you don't think that the Trump administration is gonna make a thing of this in a protest of the NFL, which they've already done before, that's really what's adding fuel to that fire.
Tony
The ticket prices are really high. I don't know if they're gonna find anybody there that's gonna be of Hispanic origin to afford those prices anyways.
Stugotz
But Bobby Kraft's like, come on, take it easy this once.
Tony
But also, this is Bad Bunny. The first time he's performing songs from this album in the United States, right?
Mike Ryan
Like his entire cancel his tour.
Tony
No, the tour was never canceled. It was just a residency in Puerto Rico to have everybody fly in to Puerto Rico. He's also doing a world tour that does not include the United States. So this is the first time that you'll be able to see and hear these songs in the United States. And that makes it, again, such a big deal.
Dan LeBatard
Did you guys, speaking of football, have any opinion or care about the news that Ravens have hired as a coordinator Declan Doyle, who is 29 years old and they move away from Harbaugh and whatever it is that the stability of Harbaugh is? I learned last week with you guys that Harbaugh, like Chris Fowler, is 65 years old. I was stunned. Both of those people look much younger than 65 years old.
Lucy
We are so old that people named Declan are being coaches. And like that was like, for me, Declan's like that new. Like, like 6 year olds, 5 year olds. Like the fact that there's a 29 year old named Declan just makes me feel really old.
Mike Ryan
I felt a little weird over the weekend too, where I realized that every first year NFL head coach that's forever now going to be hired all of them younger than me. Like I'm always now going to be older than every first year NFL need.
Lucy
Another Pete Carol in there.
Dan LeBatard
You know, I think the Dolphins just hired somebody older than you. I think Halfley is a year older than you. But, but getting back to Declan Doyle and the idea of what kind of young is too young. He's the same age as Lamar Jackson. The coordinator for the Ravens is the same age as Lamar Jackson. And at what point do you as an audience disqualify somebody with the ageism of that young person can't be such a savant that they are going to do something that is admittedly hard. Right? The play calling you've seen this year, you saw that the Lions window closed because Dan Campbell can't do it right? Isn't that. Didn't we arrive at oh, they missed Ben Johnson. Look at how the Bears took the division from the Lions. They took it from the division. Took the division in one year because Ben Johnson takes The play calling with him. What do you make of this movement that would allow a 29 year old? 29 year old is damn close to savant given the difficulties of what that job is.
Tony
It just feels like they're trying to get these guys younger and younger. You look at Sean McVay who got, you know, a head coaching job at 30 years old and now look where he is. A Super bowl, almost made it to another Super Bowl. Like, he is one of those guys that are savant. You look at this guy, Declan Doyle, you're hoping to get one of these guys early so now he can be on your team for five years, ten years, and then end up transitioning to be a head coach. Like, you got to get him young.
Mike Ryan
I mentioned this last week, like I've asked players, former players, they only care if you can get them ready for Sunday. They don't care about the guy's age. They don't care if he's played. They only care about the words coming out of his mouth. And if they can get you ready for the game.
Stugotz
Just find the head coaching hire curious for Baltimore because they got out John Harbaugh and they replaced him with a Harbaugh guy. A guy that was on John Harbaugh's staff in Baltimore and then was with Jim in Michigan and with the LA Chargers. Like, they liked everything about John Harbaugh except for his dynamic with his quarterback. They're like, we just need to get you out of this building. But we like the way that you do things. So we're going to get the next John Harbaugh. Howdy, folks. Mike Ryan here. Quick break to talk to you about one of our show's longest, most tenured and greatest partners, Miller Lite. I love this product because so many moments were made legendary by having Miller Lite there. And it's not just the good times. Sometimes you and your pals are sad because a game didn't go your way and you take a sip of Miller Lite and you still recognize. Darn, this tastes good. And I made the right call. And that, that sound of cracking open that beautiful white can, it does make me feel better. Thank you. Miller Lite. So many legendary moments. Start with a Miller Lite. Miller Lite just fits pretty much any occasion. Clean finish, refreshing, brewed for taste with simple ingredients like malted barley. And at 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces, it never weighs you down. It's the taste that beer lovers have trusted for over 50 years. The original light beer since 1975 and still iconic today. Legendary moments start with Miller Lite. Great taste. 96 calories. Go to millerlight.com dan to find delivery options near you. Or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Co. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.
Dan LeBatard
Don Lerd. But it's just his titties are sitting on the shelf that is his belly.
Stugotz
St. He said titties. It, like, shocked me a little bit. I wasn't quite prepared for titties.
Dan LeBatard
This is the D?
Stugotz
Ler show with the stuff.
Dan LeBatard
Can you guys walk me through the history of Declan Doyle? Because I don't know how to separate the things that I'm about to say to you. Declan Doyle was already the coordinator of the Bears last year at 28 years old. But was he. But was he, like, do we know enough to know whether that was Ben Johnson or Declan Doyle? Because I think most people are giving whatever credit you give to Caleb Williams improvement. I don't think anyone's giving that to Declan Doyle. I think all people are looking at that because we don't know enough and saying, that's Ben Johnson, not a Ben Johnson disciple that's making Caleb Williams look like that. And furthermore, I would say that, man, the Bears had some fluky stuff at the end of games that doesn't have much of anything to do with play calling. Like, they just had. They had some wildly fluky stuff.
Tony
But again, the. The ball is oblong, Dan. Weird things happen in that game. All of a sudden, Caleb Williams is running 50 yards in the opposite direction and then throws a ball. And then all of a sudden, it's cold comet there at the end. Like, yeah, football is weird. Weird things happen.
Zaslo
Well, and to your point, I mean, Mike McDaniel was the offensive coordinator in San Francisco before coming here to Miami, but I don't believe he was the play caller. I. I'm not sure we could separate the difference between Mike McDaniel and the role that he was in as the whiz kid versus Declan Doyle. But all I know about Declan Doyle's age is I'm pretty sure he was a student assistant at Iowa while Lucy was still a student there, which shows you how young he really is.
Mike Ryan
The Dolphins did that with Joe Philbin, too. Joe Philbin was Aaron Rodgers offensive coordinator. Yeah, but he didn't call any plays like McCarthy called the plays. It's the same thing.
Dan LeBatard
It's not the same Thing Because Joe Philbin looks like he came from the age of pilgrims. And we're Talking about a 29 year old Declan like Joe Philbin.
Lucy
You're right. I got to see what he looks like.
Dan LeBatard
You do, right? At 29 years old.
Mike Ryan
I think you know what he looks like, though.
Dan LeBatard
I look at Lebatard show. Just put this on the poll. Do you trust a 29 year old offensive coordinator? Yes or no? NFL. NFL. Not. Not college. Not high school. Yes or no?
Tony
Lane Kiffin was 30 years old when Al Davis hired him as the Raiders coach. Right.
Zaslo
Like.
Tony
And look where he is now. The biggest coach in college football.
Dan LeBatard
Yeah. But he made a lot of mistakes in order to get.
Stugotz
Still can't be trusted.
Tony
That's a Lane thing, though, not an H thing.
Stugotz
Right.
Zaslo
All right, let's see Declan here. Yep.
Lucy
About what I thought he'd look like.
Tony
Looks like Lehman.
Dan LeBatard
He looks like Ethan.
Tony
He does look like Ethan with a beard.
Dan LeBatard
I would not trust Ethan with anything.
Tony
I think Ethan would be a hell of an offensive coordinator one day.
Dan LeBatard
Never mind my offense. Look at poor broken Ethan in there. He doesn't like it. But I wouldn't trust you with my offense. No offense. Did you guys. I did. Not much like with the Grammys, where I don't. One of the ways I age out is that I don't know a great many of the artists. I'm also aging out on some pop culture stuff. So someone like Glenn Powell eludes me his. His fame. I saw the Running man here, a remake of a movie. I really like the original Running Man. And Glen Powell made a new Running man that has $110 million. Well, it depends on what you want. Right. Because it doesn't have a Terrible Rotten Tomatoes rating. It's not like Melania. It's got a decent rating for what it is that it is, which is just a big dumb action movie. But the part that I was surprised by and didn't understand in any kind of way is Glen Powell was bad in it. And Glen Powell. I'm stunned that I'm saying what I'm about to say was a worse actor in this than Arnold Schwarzenegger was in the original. And so the popularity of Glen Powell as an actor eludes me. But I'm being introduced to him here. He's. He's popular. Have any of you seen this movie? Have any of you seen the Running Man? None of you? Neither the original nor the other one.
Stugotz
File this one away.
Dan LeBatard
We're gonna want to request Glen Powell. And then I can get mad at everyone. When we don't book him, don't react to me. Just keep it moving.
Tony
Dan, to your point, I haven't seen the original Running man, even though I've been told by multiple people said that I would very much like it.
Dan LeBatard
It was a good movie.
Tony
I'm excited to watch the old one, not the new one. Glimpow is okay.
Dan LeBatard
It's fine. I don't know if it'll hold up right for today because no way. Well, keep in mind though, at the time, you're talking about a really unique concept where a game show of people playing for their Life. This was 1987 or whenever it was. It was a unique concept and I doubt very much that it holds up. But in 2025, with the stuff that we're talking about, ice and otherwise, there is a good mov to be made inside of the concept of the running band. It could have been a good movie. It should have been a good movie. If you're updating it with $110 million budget, it was very much not a good movie and not worth watching and didn't even honor the original the way that I would have liked it honored because I was hoping that if they're going to take an original idea and make it unoriginal by just simply remaking it, you would do it better.
Stugotz
Just a scathing takeout of Glenn Powell' Running man right now. He hated this one.
Dan LeBatard
Well, I had expectations for it. I liked the original. None of you guys, you saw the original Running Man. You could speak. You could speak to the. As our movie expert here I am.
Mike Ryan
I'm great movie guy that I am.
Dan LeBatard
Sure Mean will have opinions on this when he joins us in the next hour. I am positive about that. The original Running man you would. You would say was. Where would you give it on a zaslo Rotten tomato meter.
Mike Ryan
I mean, I haven't seen it in forever. I'm sure if I saw it now, it's not going to hold up. But I liked it when I saw it. I was a kid. Yeah, I liked it. What's. What would you want through 10, 6?
Dan LeBatard
That's not the way the rotten tomato meter works.
Lucy
1 through 25, like, what are we doing here?
Dan LeBatard
1 through 100 is the way that the rotten tomato.
Mike Ryan
Can I tell you, though, Can I tell you though, speaking of that rotten tomato meter, the Melania rotten tomato score is the funniest rotten tomato score I've ever seen, Dan. The media score gives it 10% on the left side, by the way. And the Audience score. He said it on the right side, by the way. He said it 99%. There's definitely. I would bet you there's never been an 89% difference between media and audience score. 89%. The audience is telling it's a perfect movie.
Lucy
Practically.
Mike Ryan
99%. 10%.
Tony
Listen to the people.
Mike Ryan
The funny score, man.
Dan LeBatard
It is. Let's. Let's look up. Can you look up for me, please? The greatest percentage of difference that there has been between audience and media. Well, no, but this has been happening more and more in Internet critique. Right. Where all of these movies that have a political leaning end up getting supported so strongly by the people who have that political leaning that. That what you just pointed out has happened more in the last five years than has happened in the history of Rotten Tomatoes.
Tony
To be fair and respectful to Rotten Tomatoes, they've got a good thing going. But I'm kind of done with them, if you want me to be honest.
Don LeBatard
Honest.
Tony
Nobody has a good movie anymore. There's not one movie that's been made that's good. Everybody says every movie is garbage.
Stugotz
You're done with them now after the Melania thing.
Tony
No, no, that's fine. I don't care about that.
Stugotz
That's it. I'm done with these folks.
Tony
To be honest, I didn't even know if it came out. But more importantly, it's that every movie we talk about. Dan just took out Running Man. Like, what was the last good movie? Can anybody agree on a good movie?
Stugotz
What was a good movie?
Lucy
One battle after another.
Dan LeBatard
Wait a minute.
Tony
Was it God?
Stugotz
We don't like that one. No, that's a bad movie.
Dan LeBatard
I just saw this week and give.
Tony
Me a good movie, Dan, if I.
Dan LeBatard
Had legs, I'd kick you. And it was really good.
Stugotz
What a terrible take from.
Tony
It's not a terrible take. Complains about every movie.
Stugotz
Watch. I'm going to try Song Sung Blue.
Tony
Didn't hear it.
Stugotz
Yep. See? But not a good movie because you haven't.
Tony
I'm still trying to figure out what Hamnet is.
Dan LeBatard
That.
Stugotz
That is a bit of a triggering title.
Dan LeBatard
That movie is stunning. That's a stunning take from Tony that we are no longer making good.
Tony
According to Rotten Tomatoes, no movie is ever good. Because if it's good, the critics like it, the audience hates it. If the audience loves it, the critics hate it. Figure it out.
Dan LeBatard
Sinners on Rotten Tomatoes has a 97. Sinners does not as good as Melania. It has also. And it has. It had 16 Oscar nominations.
Tony
How much they won.
Dan LeBatard
Okay, well, it hasn't come. They haven't done the Oscars yet. It can't win the Oscars before the Oscars happen.
Mike Ryan
We don't find out the awards before the show. Tony, do you understand how the Oscars work?
Tony
I worry about me.
Stugotz
I watched like five movies over the weekend. I got all sorts of takes. I saw the Anaconda movie.
Dan LeBatard
Hold on, hold on just a second here. I got to get Tony out of here.
Mike Ryan
Minor penalty.
Dan LeBatard
Two minutes for verbal diarrhea. What?
Tony
Okay. Talk about Anaconda with Jack Black.
Zaslo
Good luck.
Stugotz
We will. I didn't like it. My biggest issue. Not funny enough. It was pretty meta. They were trying to, like, do a movie behind a movie, a making of a movie and, like, call out some of their, like, script devices. But it just needed more laughs, needed a little punch up on the comedy. There is one guy that essentially just plays Jon Voight's character and does a bad Jon Voight impression the entire time. And I enjoyed that, but I just wanted more hearty laughs.
Mike Ryan
Anaconda difference between the media score and the audience score? Only 27%.
Stugotz
Yeah. I would say the movie was just okay. But the thing that the comedy has working against it is it's not very funny.
Dan LeBatard
How did you have time to watch five movies this weekend?
Stugotz
The temperature dipped below 40. So I just.
Mike Ryan
What else do you watch?
Stugotz
Gummied up. Watched a Royal Rumble too. Got a breakdown of that. Saw a song. Sung blue. That. And I was told that there would be a twist. That movie did change quite a bit.
Dan LeBatard
Do you guys have a Royal Rumble update? You ended last week by it sucked, Dan.
Mike Ryan
A little disappointed.
Stugotz
It sucked. We were right to be worried about giving the second best pay per view over to Saudi Arabia.
Mike Ryan
Shouldn't have been over there.
Stugotz
It was not good. Bad vibes. The crowd. I couldn't tell if they were packed. Apparently there was some sort of optical illusion.
Dan LeBatard
Yeah.
Mike Ryan
Not good.
Stugotz
If I have to ask if there are people at this event, it's probably not a hot crowd.
Mike Ryan
I was distracted by the crowd the entire night and not in a good way. Not good.
Stugotz
Dan and Dan. We didn't get Chris Jericho. We were waiting for Chris Jericho's comeback. And then number 30 was Gunther, who had already retired AJ Styles or at least retired him from WWE.
Mike Ryan
More AJ Styles last match, man.
Stugotz
At least for WWE. WWE, yeah. He didn't take his gloves off and put him in the ring.
Mike Ryan
And you know, all the women, they have to be dressed head to toe. Like they can't show skin because they're in Saudi Arabia. And I mean, you know, the event.
Stugotz
Just didn't have juice, Dan, and it was regrettable, to say the least. And if this is how we're starting The Road to WrestleMania, I think TKO is botching it.
Dan LeBatard
You guys don't do that very often. You guys don't come all too often.
Stugotz
Now. I am, after they botched the John Cena thing, I'm like, all right, this product just bad. I, I gotta, it's gotta earn my respect.
Mike Ryan
I very rarely do that. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the show. I did enjoy the show. I always enjoy the show. I enjoy wrestling. But I, I, I found. I thought it was underwhelming. It was like, it wasn't that great.
Zaslo
How could you enjoy it if the women had to wear clothes?
Lucy
What did you just do with I always enjoy it? It seems like you didn't.
Stugotz
So you.
Lucy
Just have to say, I always enjoy it.
Stugotz
No, no, it's like, I didn't like it.
Mike Ryan
No, m. Mike's right.
Stugotz
It's like pizza.
Mike Ryan
Yeah, pizza is always good, but there are certain. Pizza, it's a lot better. And Royal Rumble is always good, but there are Royal Rumbles.
Dan LeBatard
Pizza is not always good.
Mike Ryan
Oh, yeah.
Dan LeBatard
Hospital pizza is not good.
Lucy
Right?
Dan LeBatard
It's not down on this. Hospital pizza is never any good unless you want.
Stugotz
Unless you're hungry. And then they give you a hospital pizza and you're like, all right, I guess this is fine.
Mike Ryan
I think you're wrong. I've never taken a bite out of pizza and said, I'm not going to finish this slice.
Dan LeBatard
You think that hospital pizza is good?
Mike Ryan
Well, I don't. Maybe I've never had hospital pizza.
Dan LeBatard
But you're arguing that you had so.
Stugotz
Much hospital pizza, you can't even eat pizza.
Dan LeBatard
How have so much pizza?
Stugotz
Yeah, you taking the time to order it at a hospital seems like a strange order for a dude that can barely eat anything.
Mike Ryan
Can you order an entire pie from the hospital?
Dan LeBatard
No, you can't even get an entire pie from the hospital. It's just these crappy cardboard slices from the hospital. Did you not see how I inflated next to my brother's deathbed? You're really asking me why I would be at the hospital so much?
Lucy
You got fat.
Dan LeBatard
I thought you.
Stugotz
Yeah, I thought you lost a lot of stress weight. Is that because of the hospital pizza or the tragic death?
Mike Ryan
But did you finish the slice?
Lucy
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Episode: Hour 1: The Bad Bunny Bowl
Date: February 2, 2026
Location: The Elser Hotel, Downtown Miami
Hosts & Crew: Dan Le Batard, Stugotz, Mike Ryan, Tony, Lucy, Zaslo, others
In this lively episode, Dan, Stugotz, and the crew engage in classic Le Batard Show banter, navigating sports, pop culture, and societal issues. The episode centers around the anticipation for the Super Bowl—especially the cultural spectacle of Bad Bunny headlining the halftime show (dubbed the "Bad Bunny Bowl" by Dan)—while also delving into football's imperfect measurement systems, the polarizing nature of award shows, increasingly young NFL coordinators, and movie critiques. The discussion ranges from detailed sports analysis to wide-ranging commentary on identity, language, and media, all in the show's signature irreverent tone.
[01:08–09:46]
[09:50–14:06]
[15:46–18:38]
[18:38–24:55]
[24:55–32:20]
[32:20–39:17]
[39:17–41:20]
The episode features the uniquely chaotic, irreverent, quick-witted tone that defines The Dan Le Batard Show. The crew doesn’t shy from controversial cultural territory, mixes humor and introspection, and balances deeply skeptical—sometimes nihilistic—sports critique with genuine enthusiasm for pop culture, music, and the kitchen-sink nature of sports fandom.