Hour 2: Greg vs. The Porpoise

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Hour 2: Greg vs. The Porpoise"

The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Air Date: March 3, 2026
Participants: Dan Le Batard, Stugotz, Greg Cody, Zaslow, Juju, Mike Ryan, Junior Stugotz

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Episode Overview

This episode delivers the show's signature rapid-fire banter on sports culture, culinary debates, the NFL Draft, Magic City’s influence on Atlanta, sharks and their “bad rap,” and pop-culture sequels—with plenty of quirky segues and friendly arguments. The crew dives deep into questions of value on and off the field, the impact of arm length at the NFL Combine, Magic City’s legendary status, and, notably, whether you'd rather face a shark or a porpoise.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Chicken Wing Preferences Debated (01:33 – 03:10)

• Zaslow’s Unusual Eating Quirk: The crew pokes fun at Zaslow for refusing to eat chicken wings because he doesn’t like getting messy.
• Favorite Wing Styles:
  • Stugotz: "My personal favorite is Mayang wings."
    • Zaslow: "My personal favorite is garlic parm." (02:13)
  • Team Drums vs Flats: Dan and Zaslow are "flats only," while Stugotz is "drums only." Greg Cody is "down the middle," preferring both.

2. Magic City, Strip Clubs & The Atlanta Hawks Partnership (03:10 – 09:00)

• NBA Tie-In Controversy: The Hawks plan a Magic City theme night, prompting debate—sparked by NBA player Luke Kornet's public discomfort about the league associating with a strip club.
  • Juju defends Magic City: "This is a high-level establishment and very successful. So it doesn’t fall under the category that [Kornet]’s…" (03:37)
  • Greg Cody’s Take: "I am rather shocked that the Hawks are doing this. ...This isn't minor league baseball. When have you ever heard of a professional sports franchise partnering with a local strip club for a theme night?" (05:28)
  • Dan Le Batard contextualizes Magic City: "I don't even want to call it a strip club. I want to call it a juke joint... an incubator for top rap artists that have broken through." (05:48)
• Atlanta Institutions Ranked: The crew debates whether Magic City is a bigger Atlanta cultural icon than the Hawks or even Coca-Cola.
  • Stugotz: “In terms of cultural reference point, I think Magic City is more of a cultural icon in Atlanta than the Hawks.” (07:22)
  • Juju: "It's not better than Magic City." (07:59)
• Strippers & Respect:
  • Zaslow: "It’s so antiquated in 2026 to look down on women who choose to do this for a living. Women who are making a lot of money and perhaps more money than they could make in a job that Luke Kornet would find acceptable. It’s their life." (08:37)

3. NFL Combine & Arm Length Obsession (10:25 – 14:36)

• Media Over-coverage of Combine:
  • Zaslow: “I honestly think we make way too much of the scouting combine... the idea that Reuben Bain is worrisome to some teams because his arms are 33.9 inches instead of 34.1 is just absurd to me.” (11:02)
• Draft Investment Anxiety:
  • Stugotz: “If you're making investments, giant investments that are largely unscientific... don't you want to play probabilities there with, with literal inches?” (11:48)
• Mike Ryan on Tape vs. Measurables:
  • "Reuben Bain does well [against NFL body types]. So I think that translates.” (20:25)
  • Adds context: “Aaron Donald did a lot of things that Ruben Bane can do... You need to be versatile, you need to be good against the run... Aaron Donald did that. I think Ruben Bane does that." (22:13)
• Historical Context of Arm Measurements:
  • Zaslow wonders: "How long have we been measuring arm length seriously at the combine? I have a feeling there are dozens of hall of Fame linemen... who had short arms.” (24:08)

4. Positional Value & The NFL Draft (26:25 – 27:55, 40:46 – 41:12)

• Devaluation of Running Backs:

  • Stugotz: “There is no position in the sport that has lost more value than that one [running back].” (30:46)
  • Mike Ryan: “I think you [draft a running back high] if you don’t have holes, that you can afford to take this. Because I do think he’s a special player. ...Context matters.” (26:43)
  • Discussion of Dolphins, Kansas City, and drafts past.

• Do Scouting Experts Know More?:

  • Dan: "If you're looking out arm length as your differentiator, like, I don't trust you, really, anyway, like, are you really watching the tape?" (31:55)

5. Sharks, Porpoises & Their Reputations (32:59 – 41:12)

• Ron McGill’s Shark Redemption Crusade: The long-standing show theme that sharks have been unfairly vilified by Jaws is revisited.

  • Mike Ryan challenges: “I've never heard a show that's got so many good things and so many excuses for these killing machines." (34:05)
  • Greg Cody: “These monsters under the water... they're going to kill you if they get close to you.” (34:05)
  • Dan explains Spielberg’s struggle with Jaws’s realism and cultural impact.

• Shark vs. Porpoise—Who Would You Rather Confront?

  • Zaslow: “If you run into a shark in the wild and you give it a punch in the nose, the shark will turn tail and run... Now, if a porpoise... I would rather confront a shark than be hit head on by a bullet..." (37:01)
  • Mike Ryan: "Let's put you in the open water and I would love to see your reaction to a porpoise swimming alongside you and a shark..." (38:07)
  • Juju: “Let me introduce you to a tornado full of sharks.” (41:41)

• Pop Culture Shark Obsession:

  • Mike Ryan: "There’s always a new shark movie. …I just really thought we got it right 50 years ago [with Jaws] and we didn’t need to do more shark genre movies." (39:00)

6. Pop-Culture Sequels & Prequels: "Heat 2" and Sharks (41:12 – 44:17)

• Heat 2—Book to Movie:
  • Mike Ryan: "It tells three stories simultaneously... De Niro's past, Pacino's past, and we stay with the future with Val Kilmer." (42:36)
• Al Pacino’s Famous Scene:
  • Stugotz: "Hank Azaria has told us that that particular scene, which Hank Azaria was under Pacino, as he yelled, she's got a great ass. He was legitimately scared." (44:00)
  • Greg Cody: “She’s got a great ass!” (43:51)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Magic City as Culture:

  • Dan Le Batard (05:48): “I don't even want to call it a strip club. I want to call it a juke joint. ...a place of communing, a place to come together and eat some of the best wings in the region.”

• On Football Draft Gimmicks:

  • Zaslow (11:02): “...the idea that Reuben Bain is worrisome to some teams because his arms are 33.9 inches instead of 34.1 is just absurd to me.”

• On Sharks’ Reputation Origin:

  • Dan Le Batard (32:59): “I think the reputation that sharks have is created absolutely by the movie Jaws. That is something that had a cultural impact in America that was enduring.”

• Shark vs Porpoise Showdown:

  • Zaslow (37:01): "If you run into a shark in the wild and you give it a punch in the nose, the shark will turn tail and run... Now, if a porpoise... I would rather confront a shark than be hit head on by a bulletin..."

• On NFL Front Office Scouting:

  • Dan Le Batard (31:55): "If you're looking at arm length as your differentiator, like, I don't trust you..."

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Timestamp Highlights

• 01:33 – 03:10: Chicken wings debate—messiness, favorite flavors, drums vs. flats.
• 03:10 – 09:00: Magic City night with the Hawks, Atlanta institutions, and strip club respect.
• 11:02 – 14:36: NFL Combine overhype, Ruben Bain & arm length concern.
• 20:25 – 24:08: Aaron Donald comp, arm length history.
• 32:59 – 37:36: Shark reputation, Jaws’ influence, sharks vs. porpoises.
• 41:12 – 43:32: "Heat 2" book and potential film.
• 43:43 – 44:17: Pacino's "great ass" scene & behind-the-scenes insight.

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Episode’s Tone & Character

The show maintains its classic, irreverent energy throughout; debates are lively but always playful, packed with inside jokes, audience polls, and storytelling tangents. The participants frequently interrupt one another, keep the mood light, and blend Miami sports culture with mainstream pop-culture references. Their banter covers everything from serious topics like women’s agency in clubs to the absurdity of fighting aquatic animals.

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This episode is a quintessential example of the Le Batard Show’s mix of sports hot takes, offbeat humor, and deep dives into everything from Atlanta’s cultural identity to NFL draft minutia and the enduring mythos of the Great White Shark. A perfect dose of chaos, cultural insight, and locker-room laughs for fans.

Transcript

[Dan Le Batard]

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[Stugats]

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[Stugats]

You said you were over him, but his hoodie's still in your rotation.

[Dan Le Batard]

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[Stugats]

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[Junior Stugats]

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[Stugats]

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[Junior Stugats]

This is the Dan Levatar show with the Stugats podcast.

[Stugats]

Of all the unusual things about Jonathan Zaslow, him not eating chicken wings because he doesn't want to be eating with his hands, he doesn't want it to be messy, is one of the stranger culinary habits that he has. Many of them will be explored on Mystery Crate. He does not have any shame about this. For the rest of you, what is the best chicken wing to have? Because famously, Magic City's lemon pepper wings are among the best in America. But when you think of wing flavors, what do you like best? My personal favorite is Mayang wings.

[Greg Cody]

Talk to me, Dan.

[Zaslow]

Yeah, I've had those. They're good. Little Asian aspect there. My personal favorite is garlic parm. Garlic and parmesan. Excellent.

[Greg Cody]

I think before we get to flavors,

[Stugats]

we go, are you a drum or

[Greg Cody]

a wing guy or gal?

[Dan Le Batard]

Flats only.

[Greg Cody]

Really?

[Zaslow]

That's great, Cody.

[Stugats]

Oh, I'm drums only.

[Zaslow]

Flats only.

[Juju]

I had a drumsticks.

[Greg Cody]

I had a flat time in my life, but now I'm just down the middle. Give me a little both.

[Zaslow]

Got to go flat.

[Stugats]

Fence sitter. Pick a side. It's a time to pick a side in America. I'm Fine in the middle at Lebatard, show chicken wings, drums or flats and then put four flavors. If you've got four to choose from, you got lemon pepper is one of them Garlic parm. I think Buffalo would be another one. Buffalo if you go fourth. I'm, I. I'm going off the grid with my. That's not a. That's not a usual popular one, right?

[Juju]

Yeah, I like hot with lemon pepper sprinkles.

[Zaslow]

Wow. Combining two of the. The titans of Wingland, that's all you got? Yeah.

[Stugats]

I was surprised there. I thought you had a little more. Juju is obviously famously Atlanta. And the Atlanta Hawks are celebrating the region. They're celebrating the famous nightclub strip club in Atlanta, magic City, on March 16th. And I've, I've seen. It's. It's a small controversy. It's something of a controversy because of one NBA player.

[Juju]

Right? One NBA player. One of my favorite NBA players too, which is very disappointing. Luke Cornett stood up and he, he basically. I don't have the statement in front of me, so I don't want to go word for word, but I just don't think he's abreast of the security that's provided for Magic City employees versus other places. This is a high level establishment and very successful. So it isn't. It doesn't fall under the category that he's.

[Greg Cody]

What was his biggest concern?

[Stugats]

I didn't see the stickers abreast there purposely. Or did you? Did you?

[Juju]

I'm a rapper. I'm a rapper. But speaking of rapper, I got some new music.

[Zaslow]

I'm.

[Juju]

I'm making my. My debut back next Tuesday. Next Tuesday, everywhere on. On these streaming platforms. And I'm changing my name. Find out what that name will be Thursday at Jujugati.

[Stugats]

Wow, you really took it in a different direction there. We were talking about name change. Not just a name change, but promoting his music.

[Mike Ryan]

He had to keep you abreast.

[Stugats]

He did keep me abreast. Did you have any thoughts here? We just put the statement on. What is Cornet getting wrong here in terms of does. Is he making this feels it's degrading to.

[Greg Cody]

That strip clubs in general is degrading to women and doesn't believe that the NBA should be partnering with this type of establishment. And I got to tell you, I love a strip club. Don't get me wrong. I love strip clubs. All right, you want to. You're trying to throw me in a Waymo. All right, how about you send me to a strip club anyway, I'm just saying. I'm just saying.

[Stugats]

The last sentence of Cornet's complaint here says, please join me in petitioning the Atlanta Hawks to cancel this promotion as to ensure that the NBA remains a safe, respectful, and welcoming environment for everyone involved.

[Greg Cody]

Again, like, I love gentlemen's establishments and I think this is funny what the Atlanta Hawks are doing, but I am rather shocked that the Hawks are doing this. You know, like, like Trista. When have you ever heard of a. This isn't minor league baseball. When have you ever heard of a professional sports franchise is partnering with. With a local strip club for a theme night?

[Dan Le Batard]

I think you need to get down to the ATL and really do some deep. We need some journalists. Pablo Torre needs to go down to Magic City and really dive into how important that this. This establishment. I don't even want to call it a strip club. I want to call it a juke joint. I want to talk about it being a breeding ground, an incubator for top rap artists that have broken through. A place of communing, a place to come together and eat some of the best wings in the region. We cannot say Luke Cornet, have you ever been to Magic City, Luke Cornet? Because he says, regardless of how a woman finds her way into the adult entertainment industry, many of this space experience harassment and abuse. That's not what we're doing here. It's Magic City on a Monday playing the Orlando Magic. It's a perfect comedy. And the sweatshirts. I need juju. You have to get me one of those.

[Juju]

I already ordered two, by the way. Pre order right now on AtlantaHawks.com. but yeah, you said it perfectly, bro. It's like you have to do your knowledge. Do the knowledge on what you're talking about. Like, I can't come in here and give a man, you know, that heated rivalry show. They shouldn't have that show. Hockey is about this. Hockey is about that, bruh. I ain't even watched the show, man, so I can't be that passionate on it.

[Stugats]

At Lebatard's show is the question that I want answered more of an Atlanta institution. Magic City or the Atlanta Hawks, and I'm not even kidding.

[Greg Cody]

Or that aquarium.

[Stugats]

When I put those two things next to each other in the NBA. In terms of cultural reference point, I think Magic City has more. Is more of a cultural icon in Atlanta than the Hawks, which who have never won anything more than Coca Cola.

[Zaslow]

It's a good nominee.

[Stugats]

It is not.

[Mike Ryan]

It is word association.

[Stugats]

It is not. I don't. I. You Think that if I ask the audience here, Coca Cola, and they're going to go to Atlanta, like, that's the Magic City.

[Greg Cody]

I'm aware that that's where their big factory is.

[Juju]

Yeah, we got a Coca Cola flat factory.

[Junior Stugats]

It's. It's amazing.

[Juju]

But, yeah, it's not better than Magic City.

[Stugats]

I'll just say that I'm talking about associated with Atlanta. When you think of Atlanta, trap music, I mean, well, but definitely.

[Dan Le Batard]

And that's a big reason why.

[Greg Cody]

Well, ti's performing too, that night.

[Juju]

Exactly. And I'm glad you brought up ti because TI is a perfect example of these old brothers. Still got it. 50 Cent jumped out and posted a picture of his wife trying to make fun of him just because he didn't want to do the verses. But ti, his son, his other son, and even his younger daughter have put out great, fantastic dissonance on 50 Cent. And, man, I'm proud to be from Atlanta.

[Zaslow]

I think it's so antiquated in 2026 to look down on women who choose to do this for a living. Women who are making a lot of money and perhaps more money than they could make in a job that Luke Cornett would find acceptable. It's their life. Do with it what you want, young ladies. That's my attitude.

[Juju]

Zagaki, thank you.

[Stugats]

I wanted to go to you for all of your strip club expertise.

[Zaslow]

Yeah, I have attended strip clubs in my day.

[Stugats]

Attended them?

[Zaslow]

No.

[Greg Cody]

All right, I'm gonna leave.

[Zaslow]

Not lately.

[Stugats]

Put it on the poll Levittart show. Does anyone use the verb attend when talking about strip clubs?

[Zaslow]

Here's the thing about strip clubs and people my age. Back in the day, the strip club is where you went for a bachelor party. Like if you were getting married, you and a handful of buddies go to the strip club, bring a bunch of singles, bring a stack of money.

[Stugats]

I've been wisely, Greg, before for going to a strip club. Strip club with dollar bills and asking for change.

[Zaslow]

It's true, though.

[Juju]

The real victims right now are the booby trap. Because here in Miami, I feel like they have a case if Magic City has one, you dig?

[Stugats]

We cost an NFL Penn guy his job because he went straight from the airport over to. What I guess, was it Scarlets or. Yeah, tootsies. What? It went straight.

[Greg Cody]

That Scarlets would like a word.

[Stugats]

Don. Don Van Naada said that word. Loved the report. Loved to put in the report. The details of. Landed. Didn't even put his suitcase in the hotel.

[Greg Cody]

Had a car service waiting.

[Stugats]

Just went, had his luggage waiting expensively in the parking lot at NFL players expense as he didn't end up at his hotel room until the following that there aren't a lot of places in America who do that. There aren't a lot of cities that stay open all night so that you can do something like that. Greg, did you have any thoughts on the recent conversations that we've been having about the scouting combine and the stories coming out of the scouting combine? Whether it's to Diego Pavia's still got too much personality for the position or Ruben Bane's arms are too short.

[Zaslow]

Well, it's the latter that interests me. I honestly think we make way too much of the scouting combine. I know if you're a scout, if you're preparing for a draft, you have to do it. But the idea that Reuben Bain is worrisome to some teams because his arms are 33.9 inches instead of 34.1 is just absurd to me. And I think we glorify that. It's the same way if you're running a 40 yard dash in 4, 3, 9 instead of 4.41. It doesn't make any difference. It doesn't say whether or not you're a good player with a good future in the NFL. And I think we just aggrandize the combine and make too much of it. I think it's overblown.

[Stugats]

A couple of things here though. It's not just that we need football coverage at a slow time and any amount of football is an amount of football that people tend to want. If you're making investments, giant investments that are largely unscientific because so much of this is subjective and the combination of many, many players are separated in that sport by literal inches. It's the difference when a play is called perfectly and I have 10 guys trying to block 11 defenders and what I need is my running back to be able to hit that corner corner with a step of speed that is faster than the cornerback who can get there. When that's what you're doing and it's the investment of your life as scouts or general managers and your future is involved in getting that right, don't you want to play probabilities there with, with literal inches?

[Zaslow]

Yeah, but we're not dealing with a step of speed. A step of speed is, is a long. That, that's major. We're dealing with a blur of speed. If you're, if you run 4, 3, 8 as opposed to 4, 4, 1, that means you're getting to the finish line about that much slower.

[Stugats]

But it's, it's a huge difference. It's the difference between you getting drafted in the first round as a cornerback and not the fact that you're putting something, you're putting out a time that's in the four twos.

[Mike Ryan]

Yeah, well, how offensive linemen make up for speed off the edge is with their wingspan. And once you engage in a block, when wingspan does matter, it's a data point. Look, Ruben Bane's picked on guys that are a little undersized in the ACC, but he's also gone at 6 foot 6. Blake Miller from Clemson, who's going to be a top first or second round pick and put out his worst tape against Ruben Bane. Reuben Bain I'm not saying it's not important because it is. It's impactful making your decision. But there's going to be tape in which a guy who's bigger with longer arms can kind of contain him on the edge. But that's what he has a motor that doesn't stop in the running game. He can make an impact there. And it's not like wingspan is the key to stopping Ruben Bane because he can go at those guys, too.

[Zaslow]

I agree that the quantifiables are valuable information to the teams and the scouts preparing for a draft. I don't think they're particularly interesting from a fan standpoint and I think the media overcovers it. And I disagree with you when you say it's a slow time of year. We're coming to the NHL and NBA playoffs. MLS has just started. We just finished with the.

[Junior Stugats]

That's right.

[Mike Ryan]

MLS just started.

[Stugats]

They're about to start. They haven't gotten the stakes. Games haven't started yet.

[Zaslow]

World Baseball Classic. I mean, there's a lot going on that shouldn't rivet our attention to Indianapolis. Watching guys do a shuttle run for two weeks a year. It's just. But Jennings dunker, it's absurd to me.

[Stugats]

I think people just miss football. I understand why they would miss football.

[Greg Cody]

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[Mike Ryan]

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[Junior Stugats]

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[Zaslow]

called me on my own podcast. He called me full of shit, claiming that I'm faking interest in the Solar eclipse.

[Mike Ryan]

Well, you do do this.

[Greg Cody]

You love to just get excited about everything.

[Zaslow]

Okay, Junior Stugats. I had to school you and explain

[Greg Cody]

to you he was going to take you to Augusta.

[Zaslow]

I mean, when I was 17 years old, Alan Cherry and I used to haunt the Bueller Planetarium.

[Greg Cody]

This is the Dan Levatar show with the Stugats.

[Stugats]

Just to get back to the Ruben Bane thing for a moment. When we're talking about fractions, when we're talking about inches, when the consensus seems to be that Jeremiah Love is the best player in the draft, but he plays a disposable position, Ruben Bane does something. He's saying I'm the best player in the draft. It's the most interesting thing I've heard him say. I know a lot of guys say it. He's saying I'm the best player in the draft, but he's doing it at a position that's more valuable than the one Jeremiah Love plays. And I understand that we have to get into critiques that are very minuscule when you're talking about some of these guys in the top 10. But how many things, given that this isn't a great quarterback draft, how many things are more valuable than pass rush in football?

[Greg Cody]

Cover corners right there with it. I don't think it's more valuable, but right there.

[Stugats]

I don't think. If you tell me. I just saw what Seattle did.

[Juju]

Pressure with four.

[Mike Ryan]

Say it.

[Stugats]

And Seattle just did it with a player that previously would have been in that conversation with James Harden on guy you don't trust in the playoffs. Just eliminated Sam Darnold from that entire conversation. A game that he played fine in, but not great because pass rush is. It's the most valuable thing. Michael Lewis wrote the blindside and wrote the science of this is how the left tackle became the most valuable thing because it protects the most valuable thing. But if it's a weak quarterback draft and what I have is something that can blow up your left tackle, like, that's the. There is nothing more valuable that you can give me in football than a guy who can do that. And I don't care that his arms are shorter than the next guy's. I saw what that guy looked like in college, and the University of Miami has had very few of those throughout their history. Somebody who can get back there no matter what.

[Greg Cody]

The one thing I will tell you, and because I had this conversation with, like, draft analysts from ESPN over the last week about Ruben Bane, I know what I saw with Ruben Bane. I would love for him to play for the Dolphins. Be amazing if the Dolphins were able to select him at number 11. But I do think there is something in the game interesting about the fact Reuben Bane's arm length is under 31 inches. Okay. And in the history of the National Football League, there has never been a player with 31 inch or less arms who has had a season with double digit sacks. So you're essentially asking yourself, of all the players in the history of the NFL, is this one Ruben Bane? Is he going to be the guy that is different from all of that? And I think that's interesting to consider.

[Mike Ryan]

Yes, I'm willing to bet on it. Because the same things that are being talked about Ruben Bane right now are the same reasons he wasn't given a full five stars in high school. And when Ruben Bane came in there and Mario Cristobal said, this guy is essential to what it is that we're doing. Everybody wanted to see Reuben Bain at Greentree against look who he's going up against in practice. A top three pick. A guy that's got an NFL body type. And you see him perform against guys with NFL body types all the time in Coral Gables. Reuben Bain does well. So I think that translates. If he can do it against our O line in practice, he can do it at the NFL level.

[Stugats]

But what Zaz is saying here, and I think this part is fair. If your job depends on it and you've got a hit on a top 10 pick because you can't miss on those, like it'll. It'll set you back in your employment to miss on those. You're asking Ruben Bane to physically be an unprecedented player.

[Greg Cody]

Is he gonna be something we have never seen before? Maybe he will.

[Mike Ryan]

So far, so good. He has been.

[Stugats]

But you have the part of the conversation that's interesting to me, right? And I do this all the time with coaches. Right. The reason Mick Cronin is the way that he is is because he's a control freak who doesn't actually have that much control. Once it is, everyone starts playing and it's gotta be exasperating. It's gott to affect your mental health and your happiness to be a coach who's a control freak and you have control over 10% of the stuff when it happens. You can call timeouts to just stop things from happening to you that are out of your control. Your job depends on getting this right. It's not a science. It's subjective. There are a thousand things that can make a player a failure, a quitter, and One of them before now has not been arm length like that. I've heard about hands in the scouting combine. This is the first time.

[Mike Ryan]

Second, Aaron Donald was a famous case study. Dan and Aaron Donald did a lot of things that Ruben Bane can do, which is if you're one of those guys that doesn't exactly have the measurables you need to dominate. The tape needs to speak for it. And you need to be versatile. You need to be good against the run. You can't just be a pass rusher. You need to be able to have some versatility to you where they can put you anywhere along the line to maximize what it is that you're bringing to the table. Aaron Donald did that. I think Ruben Bane does that. Not to the level. I'm not saying he's Aaron Donald. Aaron Donald may legitimately be one of the greatest football players I've ever seen, if not the greatest at his job. That's a hell of a comp. But he does so much, so many different things on the field and he's so good against the run that I think it's fine.

[Stugats]

You're doing Aaron Donald arm length. It was the squatty size in general of Aaron Donald that I remember that he's a bit. That he's just not.

[Mike Ryan]

He wasn't a prototype.

[Stugats]

He was undersized, large as you would want for somebody who needs to be a run stuffer. Look, there are precious few. I don't know you guys. Tell me how often you've seen this, because when I talk about the University of Miami and pass rush, it's not edge rushers that I go to. It's Cortez Kennedy and Warren Sapp because of how much holy shit there was for me in how are those guys getting right through the middle of all the double teams to always be in the backfield? Like, I have seen very few college players who are getting sacks from the defensive tackle position. That's sort of. If you're undersized there. I understand the questions, but getting around the edge is an entirely different thing. And I have never. Honestly before now, I have never considered the idea that an edge rusher's arms would be too short. Not any of the good ones I've seen. It's not. This is the first time I'm ever hearing this about somebody I know is gonna be a good pro because nobody can block him when he's low to the ground, on edge, leverage.

[Zaslow]

And I have a question to that point and I don't know the answer to it. How long have we been measuring arm length? Seriously, at the combine? Because what I have a feeling is I have a feeling there are dozens of hall of Fame linemen, offensive and defensively in the hall of Fame who had short arms.

[Stugats]

You have just brought up a subject that no one can answer here because none of us can possibly know what it is that you're saying. You've thrown dozens out. There have gone hundreds. You could have gone two. You have no idea how many short armed hall of Fame offensive linemen.

[Dan Le Batard]

I know what I know.

[Zaslow]

I think. Thank you. I think dozens hit it right in the middle. If I said hundreds it would have been gross hyperbole.

[Mike Ryan]

I recall Elvis Dummerville and the discussion around his size and it was actually the other thing. I'm like, this guy is super undersized. How is he so effective? And it's because his wingspan was so huge. It really helped him put out one of the great gadget guys off the edge. Like this guy is just a pass rushing demon.

[Stugats]

Ever put it on the poll, please. At Lebatard show. Is Elvis Dumerville the most wonderful of names?

[Zaslow]

It's a great name. It really is. They go so well together. The Elvis, the Domerville. Beautiful.

[Stugats]

Look how happy he is. Were you afraid that I was gonna throw a pen at you? You flinched as if I flinched just cause I ohr I was pointing at you.

[Mike Ryan]

Dumerville had the wingspan of that of a dude that's 6 foot 4 even though he was 5' 11.

[Stugats]

I think when I think arms in the NFL, for some reason I think of Alonzo Spellman and it's the size of his arms because they're long, but they were also the most muscular of arms. And now we've lost our way because we've spent a good 15 minutes talking about the length of arms off of Greg Cody's complaint that he doesn't like the scouting combat.

[Mike Ryan]

I mean, I hear your argument. If it's to nail a pick, like do you take the chance there? Well, then I ask you the same question. If you have to bet is Reuben Bain going to be good at professional football, I bank on him. I understand it's a bit of an outlier, but his entire career he's been an outlier and he's done it against incredible competition very recently.

[Stugats]

Where are you guys though? On Jeremiah Love. Like this is an athlete of athletes, right? Stands out, jumps over people all the time. Probably needs to stop doing that. He's going to get hurt. But I don't take a running back high that Day is done. Why would anybody be taking a running back high?

[Mike Ryan]

I think you do if you feel like you don't have the holes, that you can afford to take this. Because I do think he's a special player. Despite only running for 33 yards against Miami, I really rate the player. I think he's fantastic. And if you don't have holes or you need another weapon. Kansas City is one of these rumored teams that would see him as a fit. I actually like them doing that there. I'm not one of these people that are just flatly. You don't draft a running back. I think context matters.

[Stugats]

But everybody's saying that's the best football player in this draft like that. And he's not going to be taken first. Like, I don't know where. I don't know where he's going to be taken. Because what's happened in that sport at that position is a bit stupefying to me. Where they've replaced the running game with the passing game and made the running back not have value anymore. And so where is he being projected to go? Where is Jeremiah?

[Mike Ryan]

Same top 12.

[Greg Cody]

I think he's gonna do it.

[Stugats]

Dolphins, they won't.

[Mike Ryan]

They have hn, but they have hn. I don't. I don't think that's a fit. And they have plenty of holes. Like, again, it's. It's a luxury to take them that high.

[Zaslow]

Yeah, I'm looking at the draft here. Mel Kuiper. Mel Kuiper.

[Stugats]

Did you beat him in exacto. Did you. Did you beat him in exactos last year?

[Zaslow]

I think I did.

[Stugats]

You think you did or did you?

[Zaslow]

I'm pretty sure I did.

[Stugats]

Have you?

[Zaslow]

I'm pretty sure I did. Been a minute since the last draft, so I'm not positive. But he hasn't gone number nine. And you're right, that talent at a different position would definitely be top five.

[Junior Stugats]

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[Greg Cody]

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[Stugats]

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[Greg Cody]

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[Zaslow]

Dan Levatard Baker Mayfield tearing up Tampa Bay 38 for 45 Stugats Stratham this

[Greg Cody]

is the Dan Levatar show with the stugats.

[Stugats]

There is no position in the sport that has lost more value than that one. Correct? When we talk about how it is that people are paid, when you talk about the salary cap and the fact that all of these guys, all of the people who are running these teams are looking for the advantages in whatever small place it is that they can find them. These tiniest of places where again, it's all so subjective, like none of it is science. Do you guys believe I am genuinely curious about this for all the things that we assign. Obviously the Eagles and Seattle do a good job with the selecting of players, but do you guys believe that when they look at players they're seeing something that Pete Carroll doesn't see that the game has moved past wherever it is that Pete Carroll can have an advantage because he's seeing something that a player can become. Do you guys really believe that once you get to the level of where these people are who are selecting players, that maybe they see stuff that we don't see, but you think that they see all sorts of stuff that. That the next guy doesn't see who's picking a team?

[Dan Le Batard]

I think in general, there's dumb people at all levels, and we're seeing that with even juju's favorite team. And Brandon Bean, like, he's made a lot of really bad mistakes, and he's still getting promoted. So if you're looking out arm length as your differentiator, like, I don't trust you, really, anyway, like, are you really watching the tape? I mean, we see what Howie Roseman does, and I don't think he's looking at that. I think he's looking at whether this is a prospect that I think will fit into our system that is a defensive monster and can get after the quarterback. Like, I. I just really think that if that's the minutiae you're going on, you're already fucked.

[Juju]

And your Pete Carroll point, once you hit your wagon to Geno Smith after you've already left Seattle and now you bring him to Las Vegas, I think I might know who could be better at that position than you do, big bro.

[Greg Cody]

Tristan, say it again.

[Dan Le Batard]

I think you might be.

[Stugats]

You know what I mean?

[Junior Stugats]

It's just.

[Stugats]

Minor penalty.

[Greg Cody]

Two minutes. Personal foul, Mike.

[Stugats]

Personal and foul. Ron McGill is going to finally be on with us tomorrow to talk about his retirement. And Ron McGill for a while now has been telling us that the reputation that sharks have is unfair. I think the reputation that sharks have is created absolutely by the movie Jaws. That is something that had a cultural impact in America that was enduring. I think it still ranks as the number one horror movie ever made. I told you guys recently that I saw a good documentary on prime about the making of Jaws that had all sorts of fascinating facts in it, including that Steven Spielberg's career almost ended right there because of the number of panic attacks that he was having because he wildly underestimated how hard it would be to make a movie on water.

[Mike Ryan]

Michael, this show's stance on sharks is well noted. And I am assuming you and Ron McGill are both on the take from Big Shark, because I've never heard a show that's got so many good things and so many excuses for these killing machines.

[Greg Cody]

Ridiculous. These monsters underneath the water who. They're going to kill you if they get close to you. And you're trying to tell me get a bad rap because of a movie? Are you talking about you go surfing, you come out, you lost a limb?

[Stugats]

No, that's. There are many.

[Mike Ryan]

I've seen that happen.

[Juju]

That.

[Stugats]

That's happened.

[Mike Ryan]

That is a thing.

[Stugats]

You've seen it happen.

[Mike Ryan]

People get bit all the time.

[Greg Cody]

Monsters.

[Stugats]

It's a mistake. The shark is making a mistake. And there are many more surfers who surfing who are not getting their limbs lost to a shark than there are.

[Mike Ryan]

Maybe the first bite's a mistake, but what happens when they keep gnawing? Where are you and Big Shark then?

[Stugats]

Where are you in the prequel to Jaws that you are reading, listening to?

[Greg Cody]

Oh, this a prequel.

[Mike Ryan]

Yeah. So I'm fascinated by this as someone that loves taking an established property and seeing what talented writers can do with it. And this leads me to another topic of conversation, which is heat too. But I did not know this. Steven Spielberg was off the success of Jaws. He was pressed by the studio to make a sequel, naturally. And he didn't want to make a chronological sequel like ended up happening. People just wanted to see the killer shark kill again. He wanted to do an origin story that was a prequel for one of the characters. Quinn in that movie famously survived the sinking, which was a real thing, even though Big Shark doesn't want you to know about it. The sinking of the USS Indianapolis in the Pacific, in which several. This is a real thing that happened. Nicolas Cage was in a movie about it. They got eaten alive by. By sharks.

[Stugats]

So we're all.

[Greg Cody]

We're still doing the sharks.

[Juju]

Getting a bad rap, Dan.

[Mike Ryan]

Killer sharks. It was very clear to the sharks in the Pacific that these were human beings and not the normal type of food, and they were just hanging around picking them off. This book is unbelievable. Now it comes out with like, the USS Indianapolis, and then it tells a story. So you kind of have this early crescendo, but it is incredibly vivid and terrifying when you're reading it with your ears. It puts you there. And I would actually really like to see this movie. And I thought it was an incredible concept. And Steven Spielberg, actually. I wish he were empowered to actually do it back then. He maybe didn't have the juice to be like, I'm not gonna do your normal sequel thing of going in order. Let's focus on this incredible character.

[Dan Le Batard]

I thought it was gonna be a prequel on the origin story of the shark.

[Zaslow]

The shark, little baby shark. The shark in Jaws was cartoonishly large. Like in the wild, you rarely if ever see a shark big enough to swallow.

[Stugats]

It didn't work, though. It was really funny when they started filming that it would just end up coming out of the water ass first, like tail.

[Mike Ryan]

I mean, respectfully, I don't see you doing a lot of work in the Isle of Guadalupe. Those things are monsters.

[Greg Cody]

Greg, you ever seen the Meg that shark? That reputation is deserved.

[Zaslow]

In the back. Let me tell you something about sharks, okay?

[Greg Cody]

Put his drink down.

[Zaslow]

The average shark is like a nurse shark or something like five, six feet. If you run into a shark in the wild and you give it a punch in the nose, the shark will turn tail and run a punch in the nose. You have to be. And McGill will back me up on this. Now, if a porpoise. A porpoise moves like a torpedo through the ocean. I would rather confront a shark than be hit head on by a bulletin. No, a bulletin.

[Greg Cody]

I mean, I would just tell lies.

[Stugats]

No, no, that's not true.

[Zaslow]

Absolutely true.

[Greg Cody]

This is terrible advice. Please do not follow it.

[Mike Ryan]

Let's put you in the open water and I would love to see your reaction to a porpoise swimming alongside you and a shark. And let's see how your big shark apology tour goes then.

[Greg Cody]

We're going to put Zaz in a waymo to a strip club and my dad in the ocean.

[Zaslow]

Okay? The porpoise in my scenario is bulleting toward me like a torpedo, whereas the shark, which doesn't move as quickly as a porpoise, if that comes to you

[Stugats]

and they're the dinosaurs of the sea.

[Greg Cody]

Like for the audio audience, he's holding out a boxing motion.

[Zaslow]

I'm saying it's a. I'm saying it's a five or six.

[Mike Ryan]

Have you ever seen Flipper? If there's a bottlenose dolphin going that fast towards you, it's probably because there's a shark behind you and it's trying to protect.

[Greg Cody]

Why are you making sound effects?

[Stugats]

So that you could hear the speed of his fists cutting through the. Through the wind.

[Mike Ryan]

Porpoises are only a problem if you have your period. Everyone knows this.

[Zaslow]

Well, they are attracted to blood, I'll give you that.

[Juju]

And the water cast like a slight. You can't really see what you're like. You punch there and the shark is slightly there. And so what happens when the shark grabs your calf first? Do you still punch?

[Mike Ryan]

You know what? The brave men of the USS Indianapolis tried plenty of punching the sharks taking

[Zaslow]

the sharks juju brings Up a good point, because everybody knows that the punch underwater is not as.

[Mike Ryan]

It's like.

[Zaslow]

Yeah. Yes. Yeah. It doesn't move as quickly.

[Stugats]

He agrees with you.

[Zaslow]

That may be an issue.

[Stugats]

That's what it sounds like.

[Mike Ryan]

Are you.

[Stugats]

Are you guys surprised? As I always am. Okay. Whenever I'm looking through the movies, the trailers, there's always a new shark movie. And I just really thought we got it right 50 years ago and we didn't need to do more shark genre movies. But there's always a new one.

[Mike Ryan]

Did you see that? The director of Deep Blue Sea is coming out with another shark movie that may not. That I don't think is at all related to Deep Blue Sea. It's about a plane, and this one's been done before, but I guess this one has a higher budget because I think Ben Kingsley was in the trailer. It's a plane that crashes, and then it gets sworn by sharks.

[Stugats]

Yeah, I did see, that's one. That's one of the movies I was talking about. When I'm flipping through the. I'm looking for something to watch, and I'm like, they can't still be making. Like they need to just stop with the shark movies.

[Mike Ryan]

No, People are fascinated with it because they're evil killing machines.

[Greg Cody]

Yeah. You got to see the meg. I mean, that shark looks like Godzilla.

[Mike Ryan]

You know what never happens in these shark movies ever? The shark just swims by and does nothing. Oh, my bad. Thought you were, you know, some bloated whale carcass. Mea culpa. That's not something that happens in these movies.

[Greg Cody]

Jason Statham fights the shark in the meg.

[Stugats]

All right, Zaz. So just to be clear, for those of you who don't know or understand what it is, his enthusiasm is. Just to be clear, what you're advocating for is a movie in which Jason Statham on a jet ski, goes and fights a giant shark on. Also runs on a dock as the shark just keeps. He's running on a dock as the shark right behind him is knocking out pieces of wood. And at the end, Jason Statham win.

[Greg Cody]

Spoiler alert, Dan. The ocean turns into chaos when the mining operation forces them into a battle for survival, facing off against megalodons and relentless environmental marauders.

[Dan Le Batard]

No one's ever said anything about this bucket hat today. I just have been wondering for hours. It looks like a baby bonnet, this

[Stugats]

hat that he's wearing. Okay, so I had a friend of mine in California, he. Oh, my God, I'm going to go to such lengths here now that You've mentioned this hat.

[Zaslow]

Baby Bonnet. That's a good. That's a good call.

[Mike Ryan]

It's a great hat with a great sponsor.

[Stugats]

Yes, that is correct. All of what it is you have said is correct. Goat of hats. And I. I'm going to walk my position back now that you have said that because I had a good even meet me there.

[Greg Cody]

Mike was on it.

[Juju]

Since we walking it back. I'll take it back where we were. Zaslow, you think you scared of the Meg? Let me introduce you to a tornado full of sharks.

[Stugats]

Yes.

[Greg Cody]

You think those sharks had an undeserved reputation?

[Stugats]

The ones in Sharknado? Yeah. Yes, I do believe that we have done to the shark through film something that is wildly unfair, including in that Nicholas Cage movie about the USS Indianapolis.

[Mike Ryan]

Paddle kick punch.

[Stugats]

You mentioned Heat, too. I didn't know there was going to be a Heat, too.

[Mike Ryan]

Yeah, because there was a book he, too, that was written by Michael Mann. So you can trust the guy that wrote the original with the source material. And people who haven't read the book just assume this is going to be a sequel and then they're corrected. No, no, no. It's a prequel. And those people have it wrong, Dan.

[Greg Cody]

It's both different timelines.

[Mike Ryan]

Yes. It. At one point in the story. Well, the way it tells three stories simultaneously, Val Kilmer's character, that's after the events of the Heat movie. All right, Bale. What? De Niro.

[Greg Cody]

And who's playing him, though?

[Mike Ryan]

I don't know who Bale is playing.

[Stugats]

Christian Bale is in Heat, too.

[Mike Ryan]

Yeah, he's DiCaprio, I think, is gonna play Pacino's character. I've always heard Adam Driver was linked to De Niro's character. Maybe that's changed. Although I think Bale is older than De Niro was when he did Heat one, so I don't know how he's gonna play young De Niro, but we go into De Niro's past, we go into Pacino's past, and we stay with the future. With Val Kilmer, however, Pacino's character catches up because there is a foil from Pacino's past that ends up being a foil for Val Kilmer's character, too. I'm not gonna give away the spoilers and the big crescendo there, but it is a fascinating story in that it is both a prequel and a sequel.

[Greg Cody]

I'm into it.

[Stugats]

You guys know, right? And there was no mention of this in the original Heat, but Pacino was playing a character that was supposed to be addicted to cocaine. Right?

[Greg Cody]

I didn't know that.

[Mike Ryan]

I'm not sure how anybody didn't catch on to that. It's like he said that as if he I got a whopper for you.

[Greg Cody]

She's got a great ass.

[Mike Ryan]

My character, this may come as a shock, was on cocaine. It was pretty evident.

[Stugats]

Hank Azaria has told us that that particular scene, which Hank Azaria was under Pacino, as he yelled, she's got a great ass. He was legitimately scared. And they used the take that he didn't think they were going to use because he was surprised by how aggressive Pacino was.

[Mike Ryan]

It was a great video because that's become a funny line because of what's happened with Al Pacino. There was a bootleg VHS of an old school, like, pirate in the theater. And the crowd loved it and laughed their asses off when he delivered that line.