The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Episode: Hour 2: Found Your Niche But What About The Keish
Date: August 27, 2025
Location: Elser Hotel, Downtown Miami

Episode Overview

This episode of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz features a unique blend of sports banter, cultural commentary, and a powerful discussion on contemporary immigration reporting with TikTok journalist Carlos Eduardo Espina. Set amidst the lively Miami backdrop, the hour balances silliness, sports nostalgia, and meaningful engagement with the realities facing Hispanic and immigrant communities in America. The hosts then pivot into their signature playful takes on sports media, football weekends, and musical performances from their fan community.

Key Segments & Discussions

1. Interview: Immigration Reporting with Carlos Eduardo Espina

(02:10–16:33)

New Journalism Through Social Media

• Carlos Eduardo Espina discusses his rise as a social media-based journalist, primarily via TikTok, reaching Hispanic audiences with real-time news and community-driven content.
  • “It almost started as, you know, just an accident. I was bored at home, started making videos about citizenship classes and it just blew up…” (02:56, Carlos)
  • He posts up to 20 videos a day, aggregating information from news sites and submissions from the community.

Reality of ICE Raids and Community Journalism

• Espina shares how unfiltered ground-level videos sent by individuals have shed light on the harsh realities of ICE raids, often in stark contrast to sanitized versions shown in mainstream media.
  • “A lot of these videos have only come to light because there's just someone…pulling out their phone and recording it, putting it on social media, sending it to bigger accounts like myself so we can amplify it.” (04:00, Carlos)
• He explains that some content is too graphic for TikTok’s community guidelines but finds fewer restrictions on YouTube.

Impact on Latino Communities

• Raids have caused widespread fear, leading to economic impacts on Latino-owned businesses as people avoid public life.
  • “A lot of Latino businesses took a huge hit because people weren't going out as much…Some people have already had to shut down.” (05:58, Carlos)

Rights During Raids & On-the-Ground Reality

• Despite knowing their constitutional rights, community members often see those rights violated during raids.
  • “What the Constitution says, what the law says, and then what's actually going on. And unfortunately, they're two different things.” (07:56, Carlos)

TikTok as Career, Niche vs. “Keish” (Quiche)

• Espina reflects, humorously prompted by Dan, on his decision to enter the hard news niche rather than lighter content (“dancing or cooking on TikTok”).
  • “I could do a dance. I could cook, or I could talk about immigration. And then you decided, you know what? This is the route I'm gonna go.” (07:58, Dan)
  • “I was like, this is, like, the dumbest app ever…But my first video just blew up.” (08:21, Carlos)

Disinformation and the Limits of Social Media

• Carlos elaborates on the explosion of both legitimate and fake news across platforms, emphasizing echo chambers and dangers of AI-driven misinformation.
  • “There's just so much misinformation. And now with artificial intelligence, it's gotten completely out of hand…I say that as someone who has in many ways benefited from this.” (12:21, Carlos)
• Face-to-face conversations are advocated as a partial answer to the post-truth environment.

Concluding Thoughts: A Dystopian Media Future?

• Carlos expresses concern for the future social fabric given tech, misinformation, and AI.
  • “I am really worried for the future. Not just of our country, [but] society in general, you know, with everything going on on social media, technology, AI and all that.” (15:44, Carlos)
• “That's what sports are for, right?...to distract myself from what's going on, at least from an hour or two.” (16:08, Carlos)

2. Media & Sports Banter: Aging Icons & Broadcast Rituals

(19:06–28:49)

The Lee Corso Farewell & Ageing in Sports Broadcasting

• Discussion of how ESPN has managed the gradual sunsetting of beloved College Gameday host Lee Corso.
  • “We're going to allow someone to age with grace…We're going to let Lee Corso on television get old gracefully and send him off correctly.” (20:47, Dan)
• The crew imagines an ideal sendoff—possibly a simulcast tribute between ESPN and Fox, referencing sports TV history and rivalries.
  • “Big Noon needs to also pay tribute to Lee Corso because there is no Big Noon without College Gameday. We all know this.” (23:18, Host)
• Jokes about old age, changing networks, and the shared affection for cultural sports rituals.

College Football Weekend Viewing Habits

• They explore how modern fans navigate channel surfing, streaming services, and which channel actually shows the “big game.”
  • “The way that you guys watch television these days, as we go into one of these dirty weekends to get ready for football… You misinterpreted what my dirty meant when I said one of these dirty weekends. I meant…people who listen to this show will spend a weekend on their couch watching non stop football, not taking a shower…” (28:37, Dan)

3. Listener Contributions & Musical Awards (“SUIs”)

(34:45–38:05)

Celebrating the Worst of the Best: Listener-Generated Musical Performances

• The team introduces a SUI category: “Worst of the Best Musical Performance”—a tribute to the most memorably bad but beloved musical call-ins and listener songs.
  • “We have a new category…having a new category this year…it’s called Worst of the Best Musical Performances.” (34:45, Chris Cody)
• Clips feature songs about athletes, inside jokes, and intentionally off-key efforts that deepen the show’s communal spirit.

Nostalgia, Inside Jokes, & Sports Culture

• Banter about how baseball home run milestones “used to mean something” and niche trophies like the “Vetter Cup” between the Mariners and Padres.
  • “50 home runs used to mean something. Oh, that is true.” (39:13, Billy)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “I think most people come to the same conclusion that while immigration enforcement is necessary, the way it's being done right now is just completely out of hand and not okay.”
  — Carlos Eduardo Espina (05:07)

• “What the Constitution says, what the law says, and then what's actually going on. And unfortunately, they're two different things.”
  — Carlos Eduardo Espina (07:56)

• “Most people who are, you know, in support of what's going on right now are not bad people. I think they just…haven't been exposed to what's really going on.”
  — Carlos Eduardo Espina (12:21)

• “I think this country is fundamentally made up of very good people who a lot of times just don't have…the full information.”
  — Carlos Eduardo Espina (12:21)

• “There's just so much misinformation. And now with artificial intelligence, it's gotten completely out of hand…I say that as someone who has in many ways benefited from this.”
  — Carlos Eduardo Espina (12:21)

• “That's what sports are for, right?…to distract myself from what's going on, at least from an hour or two.”
  — Carlos Eduardo Espina (16:08)

• On Lee Corso:

  • “We're going to allow someone to age with grace as we ran one president out of office for getting old and the other one dies in front of us, hiding his ankles from us and is also senile. We're gonna let Lee Corso on television get old gracefully and send him off correctly.” (20:47, Dan)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 02:10 — Start of Carlos Eduardo Espina Interview
• 04:00 — Unfiltered Reporting on ICE Raids
• 05:58 — Ripple effect of ICE raids on Latino businesses
• 07:56 — Rights during raids versus reality
• 12:21 — Misinformation through social media and AI
• 15:44 — Carlos’s anxieties about tech, media, and society
• 19:06 — Shift to pop-culture & sports banter
• 20:47 — Lee Corso’s farewell and sports ageism
• 28:37 — Football weekend rituals and “dirty weekends”
• 34:45 — Introduction to the ‘Worst of the Best Musical Performance’ (SUI awards)

Conclusion

This episode is a microcosm of The Dan Le Batard Show’s unique vibe—one moment intensely real and topical, the next irreverent and community-driven. The discussion with Carlos Eduardo Espina offers sobering first-person insight into how immigrant communities experience and fight the erosion of rights in the digital age, while the latter half returns listeners to the familiar, comedic sanctuary of sports talk and in-joke celebrations.

For more from Carlos Eduardo Espina:
Follow on all social platforms: @carloseduardoespina

For more show content:
Search "The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz" wherever you get your podcasts.