Hour 1: The Matthew Kugler Dance Video (feat. John Amaechi)

Summary

The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Episode: Hour 1: The Matthew Kugler Dance Video (feat. John Amaechi) Release Date: April 14, 2025

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Introduction

In this engaging episode of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, hosts Dan Le Batard and Stugotz, along with co-hosts Chris Cote and Billy Corben, delve into a variety of captivating topics ranging from political antics to the mental health of athletes, interspersed with personal anecdotes and lighthearted banter. A special guest, John Amaechi, joins the conversation, adding depth to the discussions with his unique perspectives.

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Welcome and Guest Introduction ([01:21] - [05:14])

The episode kicks off with the introduction of John Amaechi, who shares his experiences navigating international borders. Amaechi discusses the challenges faced by his colleague who was detained for 36 hours, contrasting it with his smoother experiences due to his Global Entry status.

Notable Quote:

John Amaechi ([01:35]): "The idea that that stress exists in America is really strange for me."

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The Matthew Kugler Dance Video and Trump's Pathology ([02:42] - [07:40])

Chris Cote presents a humorous analysis of Donald Trump's self-reported height and weight, juxtaposing him with athlete Matthew Kugler to highlight discrepancies between self-perception and reality.

Notable Quotes:

Chris Cote ([02:42]): "The pathology of lying here, as somebody who is a psychologist, what do you make of, of doing things like this where you're just perfectly okay saying 6, 3, 224 pounds when that lie does not meet the eye test?"

John Amaechi ([07:23]): "You're going to do whatever you have to do, say whatever you have to say. This is remarkable."

The conversation shifts to the broader implications of public figures misrepresenting themselves and the psychological underpinnings of such behavior.

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Mental Health Strain on Athletes ([07:54] - [13:21])

The hosts transition to a serious discussion initiated by Chris Cote about the mental health challenges faced by elite athletes. References are made to Michael Phelps and Neal Brennan's commentary on the perception of athletes' mental health.

Notable Quotes:

Chris Cote ([07:54]): "I'm worried about Jessica. I'm loathe to admit this publicly, but I think she's addicted to scratch offs."

Tony ([09:05]): "If they play outrageously great, you can't have this going out. He might have figured that out from our experience with Tyler Van Dyke a couple of years ago."

John Amaechi provides a balanced perspective, acknowledging that while the intense discipline required for elite sports can lead to non-normative behaviors, it doesn't inherently mean all athletes are mentally unhealthy.

Notable Quote:

John Amaechi ([10:43]): "Not every elite athlete has to live in a world of misery and mental ill health. But they are going to be wired slightly differently than what you might expect your next door neighborhood."

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DraftKings Sponsorship and Talladega Superspeedway Trip ([08:12] - [05:03])

Stugotz shares exciting news about an upcoming trip to Talladega Superspeedway, facilitated by their sponsor, DraftKings. He expresses enthusiasm about experiencing one of NASCAR's biggest events firsthand.

Notable Quote:

Stugotz ([04:06]): "It's a dream and it's all being made possible because of DraftKings."

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NCAA NIL Deals and Tennessee Football Controversy ([17:15] - [23:06])

The discussion shifts to the world of college sports, focusing on the Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals affecting athletes like Tennessee quarterback Nico Amalivia. The hosts dissect the implications of his departure amidst performance concerns and the broader impact of NIL on team dynamics and recruitment.

Notable Quotes:

Jessica ([17:33]): "It's just a really strange and kind of crappy situation when Josh."

Chris Cote ([20:27]): "You're going to do whatever you have to do, say whatever you have to say. This is remarkable."

The conversation highlights the challenges teams face in balancing athlete compensation with performance expectations, reflecting on past instances like Tyler Van Dyke's recruitment.

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Personal Anecdotes: Gambling with Scratch-Offs ([23:06] - [29:23])

Adding a personal touch, Jessica narrates her experience with scratch-off tickets, humorously detailing her initial wins and subsequent addiction to the pastime. The hosts join in, sharing their own stories and debating the best utensils for scratching tickets.

Notable Quotes:

Jessica ([24:41]): "Every single thing that I scratched off was a winner. That one alone was 15 bucks."

Chris Cote ([29:02]): "Do you use a key or a coin? Do you have another applicant here?"

The segment fosters a lighthearted atmosphere, encouraging audience engagement through relatable experiences.

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Technology Frustrations: Self-Checkout Systems ([30:37] - [34:15])

The hosts pivot to discuss frustrations with modern technology, specifically self-checkout systems at grocery stores. They lament the inefficiencies and technical glitches that often require human intervention, comparing these experiences to other technological challenges.

Notable Quotes:

Chris Cote ([32:06]): "See you later. I don't know what it is that you guys see with self checkout."

Mike Ryan ([34:05]): "There's nothing better than life."

The debate underscores the ongoing struggle between technological advancements and user-friendly experiences.

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Workforce and Manufacturing Jobs Debate ([34:25] - [36:10])

Chris Cote introduces a discussion on the American workforce's reluctance to engage in manufacturing jobs. Citing opinions from political figures like Donald Trump, the conversation explores societal perceptions of factory work and the economic implications of outsourcing such roles.

Notable Quotes:

Chris Cote ([34:29]): "Americans do not want to do these jobs. Cuz these jobs suck and they do not pay enough."

Stugotz ([35:00]): "There is some dignity in this."

The hosts debate the balance between economic efficiency and the preservation of domestic labor markets.

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Conclusion and Farewell ([37:09] - End)

As the episode winds down, the hosts recap the day's discussions, from athlete mental health to personal gambling stories, maintaining their signature blend of humor and insight. They also promote upcoming sports events, emphasizing the dynamic nature of the sports world.

Notable Quote:

Stugotz ([37:09]): "What time is it? It's Game Time."

The episode concludes with upbeat energy, leaving listeners eagerly anticipating future conversations and topics.

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Key Takeaways

• Mental Health in Sports: Elite athletes face unique psychological challenges due to the demands of their professions, but this doesn't universally translate to mental ill health.

• NIL Deals Impact: The evolving landscape of NIL agreements in college sports presents both opportunities and dilemmas for athletes and institutions alike.

• Technological Frustrations: While technology aims to simplify tasks, issues like self-checkout inefficiencies highlight ongoing challenges in user experience design.

• Workforce Dynamics: The reluctance of Americans to engage in manufacturing jobs underscores broader economic and societal shifts, influencing both domestic policy and international trade.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

1. John Amaechi ([01:35]):

   "The idea that that stress exists in America is really strange for me."

2. Chris Cote ([02:42]):

   "The pathology of lying here, as somebody who is a psychologist, what do you make of, of doing things like this where you're just perfectly okay saying 6, 3, 224 pounds when that lie does not meet the eye test?"

3. John Amaechi ([07:23]):

   "You're going to do whatever you have to do, say whatever you have to say. This is remarkable."

4. John Amaechi ([10:43]):

   "Not every elite athlete has to live in a world of misery and mental ill health. But they are going to be wired slightly differently than what you might expect your next door neighborhood."

5. Stugotz ([04:06]):

   "It's a dream and it's all being made possible because of DraftKings."

6. Chris Cote ([17:15]):

   "Can we please talk about what just happened at Tennessee?"

7. Jessica ([24:41]):

   "Every single thing that I scratched off was a winner. That one alone was 15 bucks."

8. Chris Cote ([32:06]):

   "See you later. I don't know what it is that you guys see with self checkout."

9. Chris Cote ([34:29]):

   "Americans do not want to do these jobs. Cuz these jobs suck and they do not pay enough."

10. Stugotz ([37:09]):

    "What time is it? It's Game Time."

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This episode masterfully balances humor with serious discussions, offering listeners both entertainment and thoughtful insights into current sports and societal issues.

Transcript

[Dan Le Batard]

There are people out there all across the country pushing boundaries to grow the game of golf. Like champion speed golfer Lauren Kupp, who plays faster than anyone else. And Will Lowrey, whose work in the golf community inspires more kids to get into the game. As a champion partner of the Masters, bank of America supports everyone determined to find out what's possible in golf and in life. What would you like the power to do? Bank of America? Bank of America NA Member FDIC Copyright 2025 bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.

[Stugotz]

Now's a good time to remember where tequila's story truly began. In 1795, Cuervo invented tequila. Cuervo, what are you doing here? Cuervo.

[Chris Cote]

Anytime someone says Cuervo, I show up.

[Stugotz]

Well, I do know that to be true. But even during ad reads like Cuervo, I think he could lay out, especially.

[Chris Cote]

For one of our great partners, sweet, delicious Cuervo.

[Stugotz]

Since then, Cuervo has stayed true to its roots. The same family, the same land, the same passion.

[Chris Cote]

Cuervo.

[Stugotz]

So enjoy the tequila that started it all. Cuervo.

[Billy Corben]

Cuervo.

[Stugotz]

The tequila that invented tequila. Proximo. Cuervo.com Please drink responsibly.

[Billy Corben]

Cuervo.

[Stugotz]

This is the Don Levator show with the Stugats podcast.

[Billy Corben]

This episode of the Dan Lebatard show with Stugats is presented by DraftKings. DraftKings. The Crown is yours.

[Chris Cote]

Our friend John Amici has braved our borders and customs restrictions to be here helping us with the all important meetings. Got to have meetings. Welcome, John, it's nice to see you.

[John Amici]

Oh, thank you. Good to be here.

[Chris Cote]

How hard and how much fear was there involved with trying to get over here to hold me in your bosom?

[John Amici]

I tell you the interesting part was a colleague of mine, an academic at another university, recently found themselves stopped, held for 36 hours and then gently ushered back to France. So since that point, it has made me breathe deeply about coming into the country and not again, it's not anything about the people of the country. It's just about the. The process of going through the border. And it's notable to me, I suppose, that I travel to the Middle east for work and, and places that others might imagine to be more hostile from a governmental point of view. And I feel less stressed than I felt coming in. I've got global entry, right? So I've been double checked. The home office has checked me for my to make sure I'm not a bad person and so is the US government and they were all really very pleasant and so it turns out to be a bit of a nothing. But the idea that that stress exists in America is really strange for me.

[Chris Cote]

I want to just show you something we've been playing with today, which is Donald Trump saying he is six'three £224 and the pathology of lying. Because I'm just putting him next to an assortment of world class athletes who have a similar weight and size and there seems to be a discrepancy between how he looks and how they look. The pathology of lying here, as somebody who is a psychologist, what do you make of, of doing things like this where you're just perfectly okay saying 6, 3, 224 pounds when that lie does not meet the eye test?

[John Amici]

So I'd say two things. One. Hold on, hold on. So this is what I'd say about that. Sorry, I'm just, I'm totally distracted by.

[Billy Corben]

That was Matt Coogler the juxtaposition?

[Stugotz]

Indeed it was.

[Chris Cote]

Were you just.

[Stugotz]

And believe it or not, the shorts match the shirt.

[John Amici]

Oh, that is.

[Chris Cote]

What were you. I've never seen you speechless or not ready to be talking like a professional broadcaster at every moment.

[John Amici]

That particular, that shirt. Also the pose. It's like he's part of Trump's entourage.

[Chris Cote]

He's dancing.

[Stugotz]

Well, that was at Daytona.

[Chris Cote]

He's dancing.

[John Amici]

So essentially then the same thing.

[Chris Cote]

Mike, why don't you get your gearhead so that you could tell us all about the trip you're about to make to Talladega?

[John Amici]

Oh, my God, that's going to be incredible.

[Stugotz]

Well, while John Amici gathers his thoughts real quick. It was Bristol, baby. Kyle Larson bounces back from a terrible race at Darlington, which made the same mistake twice and did not finish. He just totally lapsed the field. He was, he was. The best car by a wide stretch. Wins that race at Bristol. Kyle Larson, second win of the Cup Series team. But yeah, hey, DraftKings is helping me out. Actually go to Talladega because I wanted to stay in the INFIELD because it's NASCAR's biggest party on the circuit. And I, I waited a little too long to do that. Apparently, like, you gotta get that request in for a long time. But thankfully my partners at DraftKings heard this was something that I was interested in, work something out with nascar. So I'm gonna go there in a camper with three of my friends to Talladega Superspeedway for the most bonkers race weekend the NASCAR Cup Series has to offer. It is a trip that I've really wanted to take for Quite some time. It is a dream and it's all being made possible because of DraftKings.

[Chris Cote]

Camper. You're doing a camper.

[Stugotz]

We got a camper. We got premium RV pass. It's incredible. There's concerts, it's the biggest party on the circuit, so I'm looking very much forward to it.

[Chris Cote]

John, you were saying before we interrupted you.

[John Amici]

No, no. So just to be clear, I mean, this is the thing where they just go around in a circle, right?

[Chris Cote]

Yes.

[John Amici]

And so it's like tailgating at cars, going around in a circle.

[Stugotz]

Well, I mean, sometimes it's an oval shape, sometimes it's maybe more of a triangle. They do have road courses as well, so, you know, it's not always left turns, but predominantly left turns.

[John Amici]

Are you there? So is this one of those things where you're there for the part? Cause I've met people who go to football and they're there for the. Not for the actual football. Is this one of those things?

[Stugotz]

I'm there for both. I really do love and.

[Jessica]

Do you mean soccer?

[John Amici]

No, no, I meant your football. Sorry, your football, not the real football.

[Chris Cote]

You were saying about Trump and the pathology of lying before you got distracted. I did dancing and shirt.

[John Amici]

That's still amazing. It's still going to haunt me in my dreams. So the thing that happens with human beings is that the way we think we look is influenced by a lot of different factors. You and I, we all know people who, when they look at themselves, even in the peak of their prime, they see someone ugly and fat and. And awful. It's very. This is a test. This is a test of uncommon difficulty. He. Is that how you dance?

[Stugotz]

Stay on point to Pitbull.

[Mike Ryan]

We're trying to figure out what the song was.

[John Amici]

It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.

[Stugotz]

I think that's. Don't stop the party.

[John Amici]

Anyway, so people look at themselves and they have no idea what they actually look like. And then there are some people who are surrounded by others who reinforce their terrible idea. So whether it's a child in a family who thinks they're fat and their mother looks at them and even though they're not fat, that says, yeah, you are a bit overweight. So some. And he's got a group of people, a group of sycophants around him who reinforce that he is indeed the same as many of these other figures, and he is muscular and handsome and whatever else. And I don't know. I don't know that it's the most relevant part of the pathology. That I might notice around him.

[Chris Cote]

It's not the most relevant part. It's just something funny that came out yesterday because I can't believe the brazenness of it. Like there's. There is no one on the planet that we would show photos of Trump and they would say, that person, 6, 3, 224 pounds.

[John Amici]

No. But that's what happens with the, you know, the, the kind of convergence of power, sick of fancy and this need to grift. Right. You're going to do whatever you have to do, say whatever you have to say. This is remarkable.

[Chris Cote]

Okay.

[Stugotz]

It investigation, by the way.

[John Amici]

I don't know what to do right now.

[Stugotz]

There is a gentleman, not to be outdone, with a beard in the back and the Dale Jr shirt. And I've been trying to read his lips to decipher which one of the Pitbull bangers might be sung. Now, I don't think that Stone stopped the party. Best I can tell, though, that might be fireball.

[Chris Cote]

I appreciate the investigation. Continue with the investigation. Before John leaves for more of these meetings that he's helping us with here, I'd like to continue a conversation that we began to have last week about the mental health strain on athletes. Whatever it is that you feel fell off of Rory McIlroy yesterday because of however it is that he would feel approaching that initial tee box on Sunday. One of the things that I was talking about was the lopsided nature of what someone like Michael Phelps has to do to be a winner in the lonely swimming category of I've got to do all the disciplined things as a swimmer to live underwater. And I'm not going to diagnose him with autism spectrum, but he's got swimming spectrum stuff where, like just being in the water all the time, he is somebody who got so great at that that maybe some other things fell by the wayside. And Neal Brennan, the comedian, says, well, of course it's because the greatest of athletes, they're not mentally healthy, they're insane.

[Tony]

ESPN's always carrying on about how athletes need to have good mental health. And I want everyone to have great mental health, but not athletes. You know what I call an athlete with good mental health? An assistant coach is what I call him. What documentary did we all watch about basketball during COVID last dance? Correct. Did Michael Jordan seem mentally healthy to you in the slightest? Giant mansion, one chair. Here's what we learned during the last dance. We learned that Michael Jordan's hobby was basketball, but his passion was revenge. It's what fueled him it's what fuels all the greats, like settling scores and holding grudges. I was at a restaurant recently and some little kid was crying and his dad was like, son, just remember the most important thing in life is to never take anything personally. And I slid in, was like, unless you want to be the greatest basketball player who ever lived. Yeah, if they're great at sports, they're out of their minds. Tom Brady, not well. Did you see him try to play? Toward the end, whenever he tried to run, he looked like he was on the toilet and he left his phone in the other room. Tom Brady tried to retire, made it like 10 days finally. He was like, I don't know these kids, they were like, dad, will you come outside and throw the ball? And he was like, with you guys, no.

[Chris Cote]

Thoughts, amici?

[John Amici]

Yeah. So he's right and he's wrong. Right. So are there, Is there a particular mindset of an elite athlete that would definitely come at odds with what we might expect for the norms of society? Absolutely right. But the very same thing happens with the reintroduction of veterans back into society. The very same thing. Cause the mentality of being someone who is that kind of disciplined in an environment of that kind of peril creates a mindset that is not exactly normative for mowing your lawn and saying hi to the neighbor and borrowing a cup of sugar or whatever. So yes, you're right. There are some things that shift. However, does this mean that every athlete who's elite has to be mentally unhealthy? Michael Jordan in the Last Dance is not an example of what had to be for him. He made choices that meant that certain key people never appeared in that documentary and refused to have a word to say about it. He made choices and those choices had consequences both for him and his sense of being wrongly done by and his sense of having to. To whatever else, carry all the weight or whatever else. Not every elite athlete has to live in a world of misery and mental ill health. But they are going to be wired slightly differently than what you might expect your next door neighborhood.

[Chris Cote]

I thought that. Robert Smith, I've told this story before. The great running back who retired early. I thought he was uniquely qualified to retire early because he had a doctorate, had a million different interests, and was walking away from football while he could still walk, while the knees worked. And very soon after losing the discipline of you have to be here. At this time, he was throwing up into a bucket by his bed, drinking too much in the morning because the lack of discipline, structure being something that he had been his entire life. By the time he got to 30, he couldn't deal with what was happening.

[John Amici]

Dan, having a hobby outside of your work or even an education isn't what saves you. It certainly isn't what saved me. It's the idea that at no point did I think I was a basketball player, did I think that's my title and that's my role. It was what I was doing. It wasn't who I was. When your occupation is your definition, that is inherently always problematic. And that's the difference. The difference is that when people call me a basketball player now I am insulted. I don't lament it. Even when people tell me they can beat me at basketball, I'm amused rather than insulted. These are the. This is the nature of this, right? It's the nature of this.

[Mike Ryan]

Be amused when I pull the chair. Buddy.

[Chris Cote]

You can go now. I'm pulling your chair. You didn't like the chair. You said it was too small. You try to post him up and he would just move. Good seeing you. Thank you. Thank you for all your help and all of your care.

[Stugotz]

Investigation did bear out that that was indeed Fireball.

[Roy]

Fireball.

[Stugotz]

Also, Tony, it looks like Meech literally ran away from the grind. Hi De ho listeners, it's Mike Ryan. And look, sports is about to pick up. We got playoff time locally. We got F1 in Miami. We got play in games for the Miami Heat. We got the NHL playoffs. There's nothing better than the NHL playoffs. This is a hockey town. A lot of in demand tickets. And let me borrow from my experience last year during the NHL playoffs, all sold out games. Wanted to be there to watch my team win the Stanley Cups. What did I do? I went to GameTime. That's right. And guess what? GameTime made it so easy because of this brand new feature that they got called gametime picks. It makes getting tickets to see your favorite teams play even easier. Gametime picks filters out the fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste time scanning through thousands of tickets. Get all in pricing, folks. There's a little option that you touch so there is no surprise at checkout. What if you're going on the road? You want to see your team play on the road. You've never been in this arena before. You want to make sure you're getting good seats. Guess what? Panoramic seat views. It helps inform your decision and it really makes all the difference in the world. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets. With GameTime Picks, download the GameTime app, create an account and use code DAN for $20 off your first purchase terms. Apply again, create an account and redeem code dan for $20 off download game time today. What time is it? Game time, folks, it's Mike Ryan. And do you know that Miller Lite has basically been a partner of this show for almost 20 years? And as we celebrate 50 years of Miller Lite, that means for a large chunk of it. And look, I didn't go to school for math, but I'm pretty sure that's like 80% of the time that Miller Lite's been existing. They've been with our show and I'm so grateful for it because we truly believe this. If you listen to us back in our radio days, throughout our times in national radio, to the pirate face to now, now you know that Miller Lite has been a huge supporter of ours. And I've always been a huge supporter of Miller Lite. Why? Because it's got tastes. You know, you can depend on a great beer trusted by beer lovers for 50 years. Miller Lite Great Taste. 96 calories. Go to millerlite.com dan to find delivery options near you. Or you can pick up 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.

[Roy]

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[Jessica]

Don'T like Smutty either. Stugats women stay home in the kitchen where they belong.

[John Amici]

This is the Dan lebatar show with the Stugats.

[Chris Cote]

Can we please talk about what just happened at Tennessee? Because this is the natural Tennessee football. This is the natural ascension of what's going to happen with the chaos of paying for players. Nico Amalivia, now, what's his name?

[Jessica]

Yamaleaba.

[Chris Cote]

Okay, so it's not Amalivia. Okay, because he's leaving Tennessee now. We talked to Leonard Hamilton about this. He had players boycott on him. Where else has this happened where somebody thinks they're worth $4 million but the school doesn't feel like they're worth $4 million and now the portal has largely dried up and he's going to have trouble getting whatever money he thinks he has earned from another school. Eleven of his 19 touchdown passes last season were against UTEP, Vanderbilt and Chattanooga. So he only had eight touchdown passes in the big games that Tennessee was playing. What do you guys make of the details of the business of this?

[Jessica]

I think the whole thing is honestly kind of sad. I feel bad that people are going to now, like Tennessee fans especially, are going to be really angry with him and blame him for this. And I also understand why you would if you were a fan, because this is someone that Tennessee went to bat for. They obviously spent a lot of money on his recruitment and paying this nil deal, which of course we don't have any of the contract deals in front of us. So we're just going off of what a lot of the reporting is saying about the details of the number and how much he was owed this year and how much he was asking for, etc. Etc. But the fact that a quarterback who took a team to the playoffs, obviously with a lot of help, with a great running back, good coaches, great defense, would ask for more money and basically not have any leverage to get what he was asking for because of some of the underperformance issues like you mentioned, Dan, and then would just leave and enter the spring portal, which really, really limits your options because a lot of teams already have allocated money for who their quarterback's going to be next fall. A lot of administrators are operating under the fact that the house settlement is going to come through and they're going to have this $20 million cap, soft cap, or maybe it's a hard cap. We don't really know. There's an NIL clearinghouse that we don't have details on, but they're operating under the auspices that like, we already have decided this is who our quarterback is and we've set aside money for him and to have to all of a sudden be interested or maybe be interested in Nico. And $4 million is what he's asking for this late in the game, like that's it's going to be hard for him to find a spot. That being said, it could end up working out for him. He could end up finding a place to play. He could end up getting more money than he would have made at Tennessee. And financially, maybe it works out. I just think that the whole thing is kind of sad and instead of being mad at him and maybe some bad advice that he could be getting, I think like this is one of the reasons why five years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, when all of this stuff was arising as an issue in college football, the NCAA sat on their hands and they didn't really try to come to any sort of conclusion, proactive conclusion, about how to prevent things like this from happening. And so here we are with a 20 year old who's made a really, you know, drastic decision early in his career that's going to stick with him for the rest of his life and certainly change the trajectory of his career and a lot of the careers of his former teammates, his former head coach, his future head coach and etc. So it's, it's just a really strange and kind of crappy situation when Josh.

[Chris Cote]

Hypo says no one is bigger than the team and he puts his foot down on. You can leave starting quarterback of playoff team. He's doing it because he's not that good. Right. He wouldn't be putting his foot down if that was Cam Ward, right?

[Stugotz]

No, I think he's putting his foot down because he just has to at that point. Because Nico was engaging in a holdout at that point. Mario Cristobal spoke about this, was asked. A lot of coaches are going to be asked about this, like, what would you do if this situation's like you, they have to go. You can't establish that precedent.

[Chris Cote]

But what if it's Cam Ward though?

[Jessica]

No, I think it's a good question, Dan. Like I, I don't know for sure if they would have let him walk away if he was having. If he played an outrageously great season last year and they can't afford to see him go, quite literally, because it's going to set them back in a. In a year where they thought they were going to be better and make a playoff and make all the millions of dollars that comes along with it. I don't know if we can answer that, but I think this is. If you're talking about it from a leverage standpoint, he certainly would have had more leverage had he played to the level that I think was expected of him before the season started. But that's just something we'll never know.

[Chris Cote]

Can we try to answer it, though? Because Hypo is making a big show of. Like, this is happening throughout sports now. It just happened to champion Michael Malone. We are giving money and power to people not old enough to be trusted with it. And what ends up happening if they don't care about either your program or your system is something like this where Josh Hypo can now be like, I showed him. And I'm like, well, he's not that good. Like, that wasn't an actual test for you. Like, I know you don't want the discomfort of your starting quarterback leaving, but if you think you can get a better one for that money, that's what the game is now. The game is doing the measurements on value as the coach. The game's not puffing out your chest. And no one's bigger than the team.

[Stugotz]

Yeah, I. Given what they had invested in this player and what his ceiling is, remember, he's still very young in his development that they're not happy about this, but. So I don't think it's like I'm making an example about a guy that didn't yet live up to expectations. I kind of think that he did. He's progressing fine. We all thought he would be a little bit better. We thought that he's 20.

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Stugotz]

We thought that that offense would look closer to what it looked like at the start of the season, by the end of it. And that wasn't necessarily the case.

[Jessica]

But he's also, yeah, worth mentioning a lot of drops. Like his adjusted completion percentage is like 72%, something like that. And the drop rate was higher than like, a lot of other top teams. But yes, like this. Certainly not his best games against Georgia, certainly Ohio State and the teams that, you know, you would have liked to see him play well against.

[Stugotz]

Are there upgrades potentially available around the nation? I don't know. When you talk about availability, it is just going to be funny when they no doubt get in the weeds and talk to people that perhaps won't even enter the portal. Right. And they're going to play a pretty dirty game in trying to upgrade at that position, too. But I understand why Josh Hyple said this. Mario Cristobal's direct quote was, I don't care if it's the best player in the nation, you can't have this going out. Now, he might have figured that out from our experience with Tyler van Dijk a couple of years ago, where this popped up during a spring window. And Tyler Van Dyke wasn't really in the portal, but was invoking some of these things, like, he may look to go elsewhere. Miami did indeed bring him back. Look, there's a lot of people that flirt with this, that leverage their nil collectives that you never hear about entering the portal. I would say the vast majority of people that have nil deals leverage situations that they're technically not allowed to because they're not in the portal yet. It's the third threat of going into the portal, and to Jess's earlier point, they still don't have this settlement. Many people. If I'm representing a student athlete that can command big nil money money, I would say this might be our last chance to fully max out here on a market that is still pretty wild and unsettled. Before Rev Share comes in and before people get started being slotted into cap spots, you may want to go out there and maximize your leverage while you still can.

[Chris Cote]

I'm a little worried about Jessica. I'm loathe to admit this publicly, but I think she's addicted to scratch offs.

[Jessica]

I had a wild weekend. Okay. So I had a bunch of singles that I found in my nightstand.

[Billy Corben]

Hell, yeah.

[Jessica]

Like $30. Probably from the fine bucket. Probably from when I won. Won the fine bucket. And I was like, what am I gonna do with, like, 30 singles? I don't know. I don't use cash that much. Let's buy some scratch offs. So Leemon and I went and we bought some scratch offs. You could get a lot of scratch offs for $30. So we ended up with, like, a stack of, like, 15 scratch offs, and I won $50 and one of the scratch offs. Every single thing that I scratched off was a winner. That one alone was 15 bucks. And I got a little hooked. And I was like, should we go back? Should we get $50 worth of scratch offs?

[Stugotz]

Especially since you already took one stack and closely doubled that.

[Jessica]

Exactly. So then we went back, we got $50 worth of scratch offs. I got another huge stack. And there's this crossword scratch off game where you scratch off the letters and cross off, like in the crossword, like the letters. If you get enough words, you get more money. So if you get like three words with your letters, you get 20 bucks. If you get four, you get 30 bucks. Whatever. I got four words. So I won $30 just on that ticket alone. And then I did like 10 monopoly scratch offs and I won another $27. So I ended up with $47. Now I think, yeah, I don't know, I just said the math wrong, but it was $47. So we went back and we got more scratch offs. So now I'm, I'm like 30 scratch offs deep on Sunday.

[Chris Cote]

Where were you going to get them? Like a 711 or Milams.

[Mike Ryan]

Okay, yeah, Milams. Milams, always Milams, never.

[Stugotz]

What you said.

[Jessica]

I thought it was milams. Yeah, you're wrong, Dan.

[Stugotz]

Tomato, tomato.

[Jessica]

What do you think?

[Chris Cote]

Doesn't go there.

[Mike Ryan]

Thank you, Dan.

[Chris Cote]

The, the way that I recently got grabbed and I don't know what money you ended up with, but this is sort of the way that gambling empires are built with your money. I went and got lotto tickets, I would say for the first time in like 35 years, and immediately won $600.

[Jessica]

What?

[Chris Cote]

I couldn't believe it.

[Jessica]

I mean, I feel like I'm single handedly paying for the education system in Florida. I assume that's where the lottery winnings go, but I really have no bullshit.

[Chris Cote]

I don't know where your money went, but I had to go someplace. They don't even pay you after $500. You have to go to like a specific Tallahassee.

[Jessica]

It says it on the back. It's like if you win more than $500, you have to Tallahassee. I'm like, what?

[Chris Cote]

I spent as much in gas to go to the place I had to to collect my winnings just because I wanted to collect the winnings. But it was a pain in the ass with traffic to get over there. And then the next time I played, I didn't get but a couple of numbers and all the money went away. Did you end up quitting ahead?

[Jessica]

No, we went back and we were like, well, this was found money. Let's just keep going. Why not? So we got $47 worth of scratch offs back at the store, came home, scratch them all off, no winners, nothing.

[Billy Corben]

What do you use to scratch? Are you a key?

[Jessica]

It was a lot of fun. Lehman has this BCS national championship Pin from the last BCS National Championship game when he was covering it at Sports Illustrated. It's got the perfect little hard metal edge. Yeah, it was perfect. It was really nice. Although we were fighting over, at one point, I. I, like, took all of them and I was like. I started going. He's like, I want to do some of these. I'm like, but I want to do them. And then we are fighting over who's gonna do.

[Chris Cote]

What do you guys think is the most used utensil to scratch off? Is it a key or a coin?

[Mike Ryan]

Penny key.

[Stugotz]

Because you gotta do it at the actual facility.

[Jessica]

No, we took them home, Roy. This was. This was an event. Like, we were taking. You know, we were taking our time. We were enjoying ourselves.

[Billy Corben]

Pour a nice. Pour a glass of wine. Do your scratch offs.

[John Amici]

No, no, no.

[Stugotz]

I'd like to sample the audience. Let's put that on a plane.

[Chris Cote]

No, I will. But know what, Roy?

[Stugotz]

No, no, no. I'm doing it right there. Because if I win, I'm turning it in at the publix right there so.

[John Amici]

I can get my money.

[Billy Corben]

If it's less, there are two strategies. There are the people that just scratch it right there. I'm with Jess, though. If I'm going to do it, it's going to be a whole thing. We're going to bring it home.

[Chris Cote]

Three questions, then for the poll. Number three, are you addicted to scratch offs? Number two on scratch offs, do you use a key or a coin? Do you have another applicant here?

[Jessica]

And then a BCS National Championship pin from the 2014 game.

[Chris Cote]

And then the third one. Do you do the scratching off in the store or do you do it at home at Lebatard Show?

[Stugotz]

The other option is a fingernail.

[Jessica]

That's insane, boy. That's crazy.

[Stugotz]

That's insane.

[Billy Corben]

Gross.

[Stugotz]

Don't do that.

[Chris Cote]

You are a monster.

[Stugotz]

Wash your hands afterwards.

[Chris Cote]

A monster. Put it on the poll at Lebatard Show. Do you use your fingernail on the scratch off?

[Billy Corben]

Are you staying strong with it, Roy? Or are you back off?

[Chris Cote]

Or do you judge others as monsters who use their fingernails?

[Stugotz]

You got your key to do it. Wipe the gunk off from underneath your nail bed.

[Chris Cote]

Are you. Are any of you guys inserters instead of tappers on the credit card?

[Stugotz]

Hell, yeah.

[Billy Corben]

It's a great question.

[Stugotz]

Excellent.

[Billy Corben]

I mean, you're definitely. If you're still swiping in this day and age, you're just a monster.

[Jessica]

We're all tapping it sometimes.

[Stugotz]

You want to tap it first before I'm.

[Billy Corben]

I'm pro Tapping. But there's these. Every once in a while, you find the one. It's like, where am I. Where am I supposed to tap? You're like. All of a sudden, you're like, that's why I'm.

[Chris Cote]

That's why I'm an inserter.

[Billy Corben]

Yeah. But then with the inserting, all of a sudden you get the. The terrible feeling of, sir, it's not in enough. Can you really get it in there more? You gotta, like, hold it in there. It's just.

[Jessica]

It's.

[Billy Corben]

It's more of a dangerous game, the inserting. I'm a tapper, so I saw this.

[Stugotz]

News story on the local news channel about those credit card readers, as specifically at gas stations that if you insert your car. I always. Anytime I go to a gas station now, I fiddle with the. The credit card reader a little bit. And one time I found one of the fake ones that was there to scan the card. It just so happens I go to a gas station that the scanner wasn't working because I'd much rather tap. So you had to insert. So at that one, I would always play with it. And one time, one of those fake contraptions that was sealing people's identities fell off. I'm like, oh, my God. I'm glad I watched that.

[Billy Corben]

What are we looking for with the rattle? Like, when you say you should.

[Mike Ryan]

If it comes off.

[Stugotz]

If it comes off. It shouldn't come off. Like one was. It was overlaid over the proper credit card reader, and I shook it, and the plastic part just. It just came off. It's a credit card skimmer that pulled it.

[Billy Corben]

That shouldn't be allowed.

[Stugotz]

Thank you. P.S.

[Tony]

It isn't.

[Jessica]

It's not.

[Chris Cote]

I think that most of you might think, and it would be a reasonable assumption to make, that I am an inserter just because I'm old and because the credit card gets inserted someplace. The reason that I am an inserter is because I am so tired of the number of times that the tap is inefficient or not working. And I just want to avoid the inefficiency.

[Billy Corben]

You're like, am I doing this right?

[Chris Cote]

Where do I have it? The inserter always works. The tapper works. I don't know what percentage of the time, but for me, it's not very often.

[Stugotz]

I hear you. But for me, like, it's also way more sanitary. So I always like to try to, like, give it a wave once or twice.

[Billy Corben]

But when I'm inserting, I'm like, now at the. Like, I'm just staring at this thing, waiting for the words remove car to pop up. It's like. It's just such a stressful thing with the tapping. You see the little lights go across it that light up. You're like, all right, I'm nailing this.

[Stugotz]

Yeah, but the sanitation and the security that comes with tapping for me just outweighs the negatives. Even if it's not working properly.

[Chris Cote]

What's the sanitation of insert?

[Billy Corben]

I'm with you, Dan. There's nothing better than a gas when you. When you insert that thing. Right though if there's nothing better, like in terms of just feeling, you get.

[Chris Cote]

I disagree. There are other insertions that are feeling better than that one. I don't know why you would say that. That's the greatest of all of.

[Billy Corben]

No, I'm saying in the paying. There's no better feeling in the paying world than when you insert that thing. Right. And you feel that back wall.

[Chris Cote]

I would say that one of the things that's happening here. Surely you guys have noticed this with self checkout.

[Jessica]

You wanna go talk to amici?

[Chris Cote]

See you later. I don't know what it is that you guys see with self checkout. And I don't know. I've told you a number of times that I am in the line at the grocery store with other people and I'm looking at the line for cashiers and everyone's older than me. I'm the youngest person because most young people are now self checking out. But I will tell you that just about every damn time I self check out, I have to go get somebody to help me because these three things didn't scan correctly. This barcode didn't work correctly. We're at a point in. In the technology. This happened with cell phones right before cell phone tap, before cell phone towers were everywhere. People became addicted to using cell phones in their car. And therefore there were some ineff in how the cell phone worked because the technology was not yet in the place where it needed to be so that you can make a proper phone call that connects every time it would be hit or miss. I feel like we're this. We're in this place in a lot of places with technology. Do I have it wrong as it regards self checkout? Because this is another place where I stand in line and I feel old in the line I'm standing in. But it's not because I'm old. It's because I don't trust the machinery over there to be as efficient as a human being.

[Billy Corben]

I'm with you. It's rarely efficient. It demands. I put it in bag. It's like, no, I'd like to carry these two items out of the store. It's like, please put it in the bag. You can't scan your next item till it's in. It's like, no, I'm just holding it.

[Mike Ryan]

Okay.

[Billy Corben]

You don't tell me where I'm putting it. If I have enough items that I need a bag, I'll put it in the bag.

[Mike Ryan]

The issue is that the person who's doing the checkout at the grocery store is usually old too. And like, I, I need to go like, I'll scan these 17 items quicker than you can scan the three items. And then another three items. And then Dan's 16 items that he, he's got to get celery. Oh, where's the barcode on the celery? I don't know where the celery is. All you got to do is tap the thing. You type in celery, celery. Oh, it's 13 cents a pound.

[John Amici]

Perfect.

[Mike Ryan]

Boom. All right, next.

[Billy Corben]

There are people that know what they're doing and there are people that don't.

[Mike Ryan]

Like, that's nothing better than life.

[Billy Corben]

When you get the person that know, like the person that's they're walking up to the thing, boom, boom. You're good to go like. And then you get the person that every once in a while where it's like, this is going to take nine months.

[Chris Cote]

Okay. I don't know if Tony is right about this. Put it on the poll, please. At Lebatard show, is the cashier always old? Cuz I don't think that what he's saying is true there.

[Stugotz]

It could either be really old or really young. Yeah, like a high school job too.

[Chris Cote]

Well, they're not, they're not good jobs. This is one of the things that I find fascinating about what's happening right now with tariffs. I simply don't understand why all of America isn't self aware enough to know that Americans in general are too lazy to do these jobs that nobody in America wants to do that they're willing to do more cheaply overseas. Because Americans do not want to do these jobs. Cuz these jobs suck and they do not pay enough.

[Stugotz]

There was an excerpt I read from a person that was in Donald Trump's previous administration that tried to repeatedly because every time they would talk about jobs. Donald Trump has a perspective when it comes to manufacturing, that Americans want to work in factories, that there is some dignity in this. And it's like an America of a bygone age. And he would pull all the data and tell him every time nobody wants to work in factories. People are more likely to up and quit their job if it's at a factory, more than any other industry. But there is a general disconnect and it's not just Donald Trump because you may think that that's coded. I actually saw a study in which Americans think here's Americans would be better off if more people worked in manufacturing. 80% of Americans agreed with this study. I would be better off if I worked in a factory. Only 25% of Americans agreed.

[Chris Cote]

This is one of the things that's happening and I've seen this in Florida, right when storms come and take away entire cities. If you kick all of the migrants and all of the workers out of Florida who rebuild, we will have no one to rebuild it. It just won't. It will not get rebuilt by Americans willing to do these shitty jobs.

[Stugotz]

But that's why we have exempt options.

[Billy Corben]

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[Stugotz]

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