The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Episode: Hour 2: Cheddar Fred (feat. Fred Warner)
Date: February 3, 2026

Episode Overview

Live from the Elser Hotel in Downtown Miami, Dan Le Batard, Stugotz, and the usual cast dive deeply into their trademark blend of sports talk, irreverent humor, and pop-culture tangents. This hour features a blend of Super Bowl chatter, Olympic hot takes, an extended and playful interview with All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner (plus his cheese doppelgänger), and some pointed discussion about NBA star James Harden’s legacy.

1. Opening Banter & Super Bowl Week Antics

• Super Bowl "Shilling" Joke:
  The show makes fun of the annual tradition of Super Bowl coverage featuring athletes "shilling" sponsored products.
  • Stugotz teases that Fred Warner will soon join, joking:

    "We make fun every year of the fact that these guys come on and they're shilling something. We'll find out together what what Fred Warner is shilling." [00:38]

• Bit Creation:
  They brainstorm ways to update Stugotz's long-running "single most important thing to do to win the Super Bowl" bit, possibly by inserting random team names to see if guests notice.
  • Dan:

    "I want to add an element to it by just throwing Patriots in there in somebody else's voice... and see if everyone just answers the question or whether somebody stops in their tracks..." [01:25]

2. Winter vs. Summer Olympics: Popularity, Relatability & Nostalgia

Key Discussion Points:

• Greg Cody Drops a Bomb:
  Greg surprises the group by announcing,

  "The Winter Olympics start tomorrow." [02:10]

• Are Winter Olympics Popular?
  Greg claims they're as popular as the Summer Games—everyone else disagrees. Argument hinges on ratings versus "word of mouth."
  • Stugotz:

    "That's ridiculous, what you're saying. The only...-way to measure popularity is ratings." [02:49]

• Relatability of Olympic Sports:
  Dan and crew note that Summer Olympic sports feel more familiar, but some Winter sports become favorites when an American dominates.
  • Dan:

    "Winter sports are not as relatable... At least in the Summer Olympics, I'm watching Usain Bolt, and I'd be like, 'I can do that.'" [04:21]

  • Stugotz:

    "If America had the most dominant skeet shooter, we'd be like, I love skeet shooting." [05:35]

• Gymnastics & Figure Skating:
  They debate which sports are truly the most popular—track & field, swimming, figure skating, or gymnastics.
  • Stugotz on Olympic icons:

    "[Michael Phelps] got us to wrap ourselves in the flag and care... If somebody was doing that in skeet shooting, we'd like skeet shooting." [05:16]

• How Do Athletes Get Good at Dangerous Sports?
  Stugotz marvels at the training necessary for dangerous sports like the squirrel suit or the pommel horse:

  "How do people get good at that?...You don't get a second chance to practice that." [06:15]

3. James Harden: Chasing Legacy or Chasing Contracts?

[08:00 - 12:28]

• Harden's Public Statements vs. Actions:
  Dan reads James Harden's quote from September 2024—"I'm home. I don't plan on going anywhere else. I want to leave a legacy..."—then reflects on how quickly Harden reverses course for contract demands.
• Harden as NBA Cautionary Tale:
  • Dan:

    "James Harden is a cautionary tale of what can happen if you lean too hard into mercenary, if you don't care to play defense, if titles aren't a thing..." [09:24]

• Rewriting Legacy with a Few More Made Shots:
  Stugotz brings up Harden's infamously poor Game 7 shooting versus the Warriors (2-for-13 from three, team was 7-for-44), mulling a "what if":

  "If five more threes go in... is Harden's legacy any different?" [11:00]

  • Dan:

    "Yes, because he's got to have a title too...His legacy is a guy that maybe could have been a champion, but didn't care enough to...help his team get better." [11:41]

• Role Players & Historical Parallels:
  The group points out that even Kobe and Wade benefited from timely role player heroics.
  • Stugotz:

    "Everybody needs role players, though... Mike Miller, Shane Battier." [18:03]

• Harden's Impact vs. Westbrook, KD, D-Wade:
  Ultimately, they contrast Harden’s legacy to other all-timers, questioning whether stats, style, or rings define greatness.
  • Dan:

    "I think he's third of those triplets they had in OKC... They won't say the same things about Westbrook that they'll say about Harden. They won’t. That guy was a dog." [18:23]

4. Fred Warner Interview: "Cheddar Fred" and Grit

B. Football Toughness & Personal History

[22:53]

• Toughness and Team Culture:
  Stugotz asks about Warner’s pain tolerance and the culture of the Niners as “lunatics.”
  • Warner:

    "You have to have something a little off upstairs to be able to go out there and say, hey, I'm going to willingly go into multiple car crashes every single play... it's a melting pot of different guys who have gone through hard things to make them tough." [24:29]

• Respect for Trent Williams:
  • Fred:

    "Anytime you got a guy who's over 300 pounds and has the feet of a ballerina in the midst of a grizzly bear... you definitely don't want those things getting on you." [25:09]

C. Heritage, Dreaming Big, and Drive

[25:24]

• Mexican Heritage & Family:
  • Warner laughs about his Spanish ("Espokito. Espokito masomanos.") [26:08]
  • Shares about his family's culture, grandmother’s influence, and growing up in LA.
• From Third Rounder to NFL Star:
  • Warner:

    "My dream was to make it in the NFL... When I got here and realized I could do it... I just continue to see different doors open for myself on the field... Now, I feel like there is no limit." [26:25]

  • On realizing he belonged:

    "I looked up and it was week one...I was the starter at mike linebacker with the green dot..." [27:19]

D. Career Milestones & Gratitude

[30:03 - 32:52]

• Becoming the Highest Paid Linebacker (Twice):
  • Warner, on receiving historic contracts:

    "...It truly was moving to tears both times. And my gratitude is through the roof...you kind of see your life flash before your eyes, of everything that it took to even get to that point." [32:15]

• On NFC Championship Comeback:
  • Fred details how close he was to playing:

    "We were one game away... the safest way... was to come back for the NFC Championship Game...I was on that field in practice... that is a huge blessing in itself." [33:08]

E. Quick Hits Before Exit

[34:59 - 36:01]

• Rams vs. Seahawks:
  • Warner:

    "At the end of the day...it's not about who's the better team. It's who plays the best for 60 minutes...I've had plenty of instances where I thought we were the better team...we just unfortunately weren't the better team for those 60 minutes." [34:59]

• On Sam Darnold’s Career:
  • Warner:

    "I'm proud of him...obviously a 49er at heart. Even though he has to wear that, that disgusting blue jersey now." [35:36]

• Will Cheddar Fred Be Eaten?:
  • Warner:

    "I think the latter. I think the longer that it sits out, just like most dairy products, you don't want to partake." [29:41]

  • On mispronouncing "replication":

    "Little replication, whatever that word is." [29:56]

  • Show teases Fred about "replification" for minutes after.

5. Post-Interview Debrief & Show Hijinks

• Stugotz on Interviewing:
  • Admits to pushing Warner for emotional answers:

    "I'll ask you four times how emotional that was for you." [37:53]

• More Joking About Cheese and Mispronunciations:
  • "Replification" becomes a running gag.
    • Chris Cody:

      "He called himself out for that. He would have had fun with it." [38:31]

• Shaquille O’Neal & Fear Factor:
  • Cody and Jeremy delight in recounting a tense/funny moment where Shaq, very seriously, says he wants to "kill" Dan.

    Shaq: "Dan, I'm kill you when I see you." [41:18] Chris Cody: "We're all scared he's going to kill our boss." [41:40]

Notable Quotes

• Dan Le Batard:

  “James Harden is a cautionary tale of what can happen if you lean too hard into mercenary, if you don't care to play defense, if titles aren't a thing…” [09:24]

• Fred Warner:

  “…You have to have something a little off upstairs to be able to go out there and say, hey, I'm going to willingly go into multiple car crashes every single play…” [24:29]

• Stugotz:

  “Do you know how rare it is to be a joke with that as your resume? Those three things?” [17:36]

• Fred Warner:

  “It truly was moving to tears both times. And my gratitude is through the roof in both instances…” [32:15]

• Fred Warner (on cheese sculpture):

  “This is insane, man. I'm actually seeing this for the first time myself. …We call this Cheddar Fred right here.” [20:38]

Key Timestamps

• 01:25 – Invention of new Super Bowl bit
• 02:10 – Winter Olympics break-in
• 09:24 – Harden as a cautionary tale
• 20:28 – Fred Warner interview begins
• 22:53 – On toughness and injury
• 26:25 – On NFL dreams and exceeding expectations
• 32:15 – Contract milestones and gratitude
• 34:59 – Rams/Seahawks playoff discussion
• 35:36 – On Sam Darnold
• 41:18 – Shaq says he wants to “kill” Dan

Bottom Line

This episode delivers classic Le Batard: sharp sports debates, loving ridicule of Super Bowl promo culture, candid and engaging athlete interviews, and high-calorie audio nonsense (including the debut of “Cheddar Fred”). The segment with Fred Warner stands out for its blend of sincerity and silliness, and the James Harden legacy chat is a thoughtful meditation on stardom, contracts, and the blurry lines between greatness and punchline in pro sports.