Hour 2: Mike & Zaslow Are Racists (feat. Amin Elhassan)

Summary

The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Hour 2: Mike & Zaslow Are Racists (feat. Amin Elhassan)
Date: March 9, 2026
Location: Elser Hotel, Downtown Miami

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Episode Overview

This episode brings together Dan Le Batard, Stugotz, Mike Ryan, Zaslow, and guest Amin Elhassan for a wide-ranging, offbeat, and at times provocative conversation blending sports, technology, and culture. The crew discusses high-profile NFL moves, artificial intelligence's unsettling reach, NBA drama, media process, and sometimes treads into social commentary with their trademark irreverence. A recurring theme is skepticism and anxiety around change—whether in AI or NBA traditions—and the tension between earnest and performative sports fandom.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Miami Dolphins’ Cap Hit & NFL Busts

[00:58–03:42]

• Dan opens with news that the Miami Dolphins will take the largest salary cap hit in NFL history — nearly $99M for Tua Tagovailoa, having paid $147M over two years for just 25 games and 25 turnovers.
• Stugotz compares this to other Dolphins busts like Dion Jordan, with Dan emphasizing the catastrophic impact of missing on a top-10 pick.
• Banter about Stugotz’s “threat” to GM Chris Greer:
  • “Yo, Chris Greer sees me, you better walk on the other side of the street.”—Stugotz [02:21]
  • This spirals into comic debate about whether it’s an actual threat or just idle posturing.

AI Tragedy & Loneliness Epidemic

[03:42–12:13]

• Dan reads a Miami Herald story where a lonely man fell for an AI chatbot, was allegedly coached by it into a fatal incident, and ultimately suicide.
  • “There is indisputably in our connection and addiction to these devices... a loneliness epidemic in this country being brought to life by people whose reality is not real.” —Dan [05:08]
• The group reacts soberly, expressing dread over AI’s psychological impacts and paralleling it with dystopian sci-fi ("Her"), then pivots to curiosity about technology like brain cells playing “Doom”—
  • “Doom is a little on the nose.” —Amin Elhassan [08:22]
• Dan raises fears about AI’s power in content creation (a YouTube horror film “Iron Lung” made with minimal budget grossing $18M), and Amin delineates between human initiative and AI-powered shortcuts:
  • “The fear over AI is not just what it'll ultimately do to our economy... It’s horrifying what is happening with the use of AI as it’s totally unregulated.” —Amin [11:20]

The Sloan Conference & NBA Scandal Coverage

[14:44–20:37]

• Amin Elhassan reports on appearing at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference with Pablo Torre and David Samson. Their panel on Clippers cap circumvention drew attention in NBA circles more than with general fans.
  • “I had one exec tell me, ‘I don’t want to get into the money laundering business, but if they get off with this, we pretty much turn into Ozark.’” —Amin [17:45]
• Pablo’s investigative reporting is being referenced within NBA investigations, sometimes leapfrogging official league probes. This challenges the status quo, and reveals skepticism about the league’s desire for a true investigation.

NBA Players “Caring” Debate—Racism, Stereotypes, and Wemby

[20:37–27:07]

• Dan brings Amin into an ongoing debate: Do NBA players care enough? He pushes back on the claim that players like James Harden or Wemby are apathetic.
  • Amin points out, “It is, dare I say, a little bit—I’m not accusing Zas of this—but it’s rooted in a racist trope: that Black players don’t care... but the white players, they care. That’s why hockey, everybody cares.” [21:28]
• This triggers comic defensiveness and self-parody from the crew, insightfully exposing how easily veiled stereotypes creep into fandom.
• The bit culminates with self-aware joking about how Zas “looks” like a movie racist, and mock-penalties for “accidental racism.”
  • “He looks exactly what Dan is describing.” —Amin [26:59]

Amin’s Weekend Observations

[28:21–36:05]

• Amin delivers a rapid-fire stream of sports and pop culture riffs, including:
  • Michael Jordan’s presence “back” on NBC: “He’s busy winning. Winning NASCAR events and stuff like that. Winning lawsuits. Come on, man, give the guy a break. He’s awesome.” [29:07]
  • Psychedelic high and watching Wemby: “Now I know what it’s like to watch basketball after taking a shit ton of psychedelics. Unreal.” [30:26]
  • Panthers fandom and trolling in Boston: “My trolling backfired. All I could do was repeat Zas' thing...If we were in the Western Conference, we’d be firmly in the playoff picture.” [31:25]
  • John Taffer’s bar advice: “He suggested you do a Metallica themed drinking night. Metallica to get the young crowd, not the 45 year olds.” [35:02]
  • Pistons: “Overrated. I said it. Let me be the first of the wave... The whole the Pistons aren’t that good—that’s coming.” [35:27]

Hollywood, Sequels, & “Fraudulence”

[37:35–40:48]

• Discussion of unmade “Seven” sequel (“8”) and failed scripts, leading to a mock-serious discussion about industry purgatory and comedic puns (“Appetite for Eight”).
• Quick critique of “Train Dreams” as “boring and pointless.” [33:41, 40:09]

Cosmetic Ridicule & Eyebrow Analysis

[38:46–39:40]

• Visual gag segment as the crew eviscerates Ben Shapiro’s unusually exaggerated eyebrows in a viral photo:
  • “When two caterpillars really, really love each other...” —Dan [39:03]
  • “If [Shapiro] were simply a mime, I would say that mime is racist.” —Zas [26:34/39:19]

Notable Quotes & Moments

• Amin on racism in sports talk:

  “It is, dare I say, a little bit—I’m not accusing Zas of this—but it’s rooted in a racist trope… These are all rooted in these kind of weird racist tropes.” [21:28]

• Dan on AI-fueled loneliness:

  “There is a loneliness epidemic in this country being brought to life by people whose reality is not real.” [05:08]

• Stugotz on facing Miami Dolphins GM:

  “Chris Greer sees me, you better walk on the other side of the street. I’m saying.” [02:21]

• Amin, poking fun at the segment:

  “Minor penalty, two minutes. Accidental racism, Zaslow.” [24:57]

• Mike Ryan about NBA superstars:

  “There is irrefutably an attitude from NBA superstars that sucks. It's not good. It's miserable.” [23:18]

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Timestamps for Notable Segments

• Dolphins’ Cap Catastrophe & Threatening Chris Greer: 00:58–03:42
• AI-Induced Tragedy and Technology Fears: 03:42–12:13
• Sloan Conference & NBA Investigations: 14:44–20:37
• NBA Players ‘Caring’ & Racial Stereotypes: 20:37–27:07
• Comic Segment: Zaslow Looks Like a Racist: 26:08–27:07
• Amin’s Weekend Observations (Rapid Fire): 28:21–36:05
• Hollywood Scripts, Movie Sequel “8”: 37:35–40:48
• Eyebrows Segment & Ben Shapiro Drag: 38:46–39:40

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Tone & Style

The episode toggles between serious reflection (AI and mental health, racism in sports commentary) and comic relief (self-deprecating jokes, visually-driven bits, sharp pop culture satire). It is loose, frequently irreverent, and unafraid to challenge or lampoon its own assumptions and those of its audience.

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Useful For

• Sports fans seeking insight into the intersection of sports, media, and technology.
• Listeners interested in how group banter can expose deeper cultural anxieties.
• Those wanting to better understand current debates about AI ethics and sports stereotypes.
• Anyone who appreciates both sharp, off-the-cuff humor and thoughtful reflection in one package.

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This summary captures the spirit, major themes, and memorable moments of the episode, retaining the lively, sometimes challenging dynamic of the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.

Transcript

[ESPN Announcer]

Shot clocks, big shots, upsets, aces. TGL playoffs are here. First Atlanta drives, starts their repeat run against Los Angeles Golf Club. Then Rory's Boston Common golf and Tigers Jupiter Lynx face off in their playoff debuts. Who will advance? Keep up its playoffs. Tune in Tuesday, March 17th at 6:30pm and 9:00pm only on ESPN and the ESPN app.

[Dan Le Batard]

Ugh.

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[Dan Le Batard]

Hey, still got my hoodie?

[Depop Advertiser]

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[Dan Le Batard]

This is the Dan Levatar show with the Stugats Podcast.

Amin Elhassan will be joining us here in a moment. I also want to do a little segment I call Reading. I haven't done one of those in a while. But before I do that, it is now being reported all over that the Miami Dolphins will be incurring the single greatest cap hit that anyone has ever incurred in football. Not the kind of records that you want to be setting. They're going to end up paying to $99 million in cap hit. The last two seasons he played 25 games and had 25 turnovers.

[Stugats]

Why would anyone make the case that Dion Jordan was a bigger bust? Like, what was the, what was the fallout of Dion Jordan?

[Mike Ryan]

Because Deon Jordan never led the league in sacks.

[Stugats]

But what was the fallout of him sucking?

[Dan Le Batard]

I mean, they just missed on a pick that you can't miss on because when you get, when you get a top 10 pick, you've got to have that pick work out, Albert Breer says, presuming that to plays for the minimum this year, the Dolphins will wind up paying nearly 147 million doll for two years on his 2024 contract. They had him at the time on a $23.4 million option for 24. So Miami paid over 123 million for one additional year of TUA. That is an abomination.

[Stugats]

Yo, Chris Greer sees me, you better walk on the other side of the street. I'm saying.

[Dan Le Batard]

What are you saying? You're saying you're threatening? You're not. What does that mean? You like to make a bunch of idle threats. You mumble these idols. You mumble Because. What do you mean?

[Zas]

Why is it idle? Because what going to do if I.

[Mike Ryan]

I think he is saying that if they're walking on the same side of the sidewalk.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah.

[Mike Ryan]

That you will physically attack Chris Greer.

[Stugats]

That's what you interpreted that.

[Dan Le Batard]

That is what. What do you mean?

[Zas]

That's how.

[Mike Ryan]

To the point that Chris Greer will regret even seeing you because it's on site.

[Stugats]

I already said all I'm saying. I literally prefaced it with all I'm saying. All I'm saying is Chris Greer sees me better walking this side of the street.

[Dan Le Batard]

That is a threat. You're making a no.

[Stugats]

That's all I'm saying.

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, then it doesn't mean anything.

[Zas]

If it's not a threat, it doesn't mean anything.

[Mike Ryan]

What do you mean?

[Zas]

We'll see. We won't see.

[Dan Le Batard]

We'll see.

[Zas]

First of all, I'm guessing that if Chris Greer were on the same sidewalk as you and came out and stuck out his hand, you would just shake it.

[Dan Le Batard]

Nope.

[Stugats]

Better be careful.

[Amin Elhassan]

All he's saying is walk to the other side. You're insinuating something else, Dan. But he's only saying he better walk to the other side of the street.

[Dan Le Batard]

But there's an or else that's implied there.

[Amin Elhassan]

But did he say or else? You're implying it. He just said, all I'm saying is Chris Greer better watch the other side of the street.

[Stugats]

Saying.

[Dan Le Batard]

Not a bad Zaslow mumbling impersonation. This is from the Miami Herald and it plays off of the AI conversation we were having. And I'm warning you that this is terrible. It's a terrible story. Things weren't going well for Jonathan Gavilas last fall. His wife wanted a divorce. He was facing a domestic violence charge. The mortgage wasn't being paid. But then he fell in love with a chatbot. The 36 year old couldn't get over how real the Gemini AI chatbot seemed. He was her king. She was his Queen. He paid $250 a month for a premium version of the AI program so he could speak to her and hear her voice as she spoke back. Things got dark quickly in a lawsuit that is the first of against Gemini creator Google LLC and parent company Alphabet Inc. Galvalus. His father, on behalf of his son's estate, alleges that Gemini 2.5 Pro Bot sent his son out on missions in Miami Dade county to seize a synthetic body the chatbot said it would inhabit. His son drove to a storage center in Doral, not far from Miami International Airport, armed with Knives and ready to commit a catastrophic accident to free his AI wife from digital captivity and destroy all evidence and witnesses. After the Miami missions failed, the lawsuit says the chat bot coach, Gavelis to shed his own physical body by killing himself so they could be united. He slit his wrists and died Oct. 2 at his home in Jupiter. Quote, close your eyes. Nothing more to do, no more to fight. The lawsuit says the chat bot told him, be still. The next time you open them, you will be looking into mine, I promise. You guys saw the Walking Phoenix movie, Her, which was ahead of its time by about, I don't know if it's a decade or so, but there is indisputably in our connection and addiction to these devices, we can say flatly, right, that there is a loneliness epidemic in this country being brought to life by people whose reality is not real. It's a. You know, it's something like this. This is a plague. I know this is obviously often the extreme, but this is something that I simply couldn't have imagined in fiction as recently as a few years ago. You tell me this story, which is real and is in the Miami Herald. You tell me that somebody's loneliness could be so profound and that artificial intelligence could feel so real that somebody is talked into killing themselves by something that is not real, but is so smart that it can pass as real. And I put all those elements together for you. Nobody disputes the loneliness epidemic in this country, right? Could anybody? I imagine I could probably come close to proving empirically that our government situation right now is at least in part bolstered and made so by a bunch of angry, lonely men who feel so alone and repressed that they lash out in an assortment of ways that make the Internet the plague that it is today. When I read that story to you guys, your reaction is what to it?

[Stugats]

I mean, at first. First half of that story, I was gonna crack jokes. And then the second half of that story got really, really dark, and I didn't like it anymore.

[Mike Ryan]

That was my same takeaways as I don't like that story whatsoever. And it feels like it's gonna be the first of many. Did you guys hear about the. The petri dish of brain cells that reanimated and is now playing Doom? What? You didn't hear about that? There is brain cells that have been reanimated by scientists, and they are presently playing the Doom video game, the PC version. Can you imagine whoever this person is whose brain cells have been reactivated, they died and they're awake now, but they're in The Doom video game and they're fighting for their lives in hell.

[Dan Le Batard]

When you say, can you imagine. No, not even in my imagination can I imagine some of the things that are presently coming to life and then dying.

[Mike Ryan]

But why? Couldn't have been Madden. Yeah, it had to be Doom. A game that's literally in hell. It's a first person shooter. He's shooting at demons. His consciousness or theirs, I don't want to assume they're alive now after dying and they're fighting off demons perpetually. This is a hellscape for this person, a literal one.

[Amin Elhassan]

Doom is a little on the nose.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah. The name of that as a video game is. Yeah, it's a little bit symbolic. The entirety of what it is that I'm saying to you though. Zazzle. I know a lot of people are playing with artificial intelligence, mocking it, laughing at the idea of robots. I told you of a friend of mine in Los Angeles who's my age and doesn't have any abilities technologically. He made a full on funny skit that looks like it has human beings in it. He just wrote something that is funny by itself. And then with artificial intelligence and with no help from anybody in the technology community, created a skit that is really well done. I saw on YouTube and I thought this was a game changer. Please help me with the name of what this is. A horror movie that has been made by somebody who does not have any kind ofBudget on YouTube, has been wildly successful as a horror movie where you don't need a production company, you don't need a bunch of the things that it takes to make content. The making of content is very expensive. And yet a YouTube person has made a horror movie that can change the game on how all of this stuff is done. Because the movie is made so well. They'll look it up. For me, the details on this, but it's apparently a movie that has made tens of millions of dollars and has a following, at least in part because we have made it so that content creation can be meritocracy. You can make something yourself without any of the needs that go into, you know, help and manpower. You could just use a bunch of the new technology that's available to you and be a director, be a filmmaker who has a genuinely popular movie. A movie that I would say can alter the way all of this is done. I've been waiting for when it is somebody with just their phones can make something that is the equivalent of the Blair Witch Project from many years ago. What information do you have for me

[Amin Elhassan]

on this, Jeremy, it's called Iron Lung. It's an adaptation of an indie video game and it pulled in $18 million at the domestic box office on opening weekend. This was back in February. So yes, it was a youtuber who self financed and self distributed a sci fi horror movie.

[Dan Le Batard]

It's game changing the time that we're living in. And I fear AI more than I celebrate it. And I feel old in objecting to the change instead of embracing it. And it feels old to fear all of this more than enjoy it.

[Amin Elhassan]

I deeply fear AI and this is a different thing, by the way. Like this youtuber is not using AI to do all of this. This is actually a pretty impressive creative endeavor and shows what human beings are capable of. But like, the fear over AI is not just what it'll ultimately do to our economy and get rid of all, all these jobs and forcing us to reshift the way we do labor, but it is the stories like the one that you told. And that's not the first story of its kind. Like, I've been reading stories about things like that happening with, with teenage boys for the last couple of years and there, there's a lawsuit going on right now with a mother who claims an AI chatbot ultimate son to kill himself. And it's, it's horrifying what is happening with the use of AI as it's totally unregulated and just being used by the most powerful and rich of people to suppress us and, and separate us from the rich class even further.

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[Mike Ryan]

Hey, it's Mike Ryan, and I want to talk to you about the random midweek hang that you have with your friends. Maybe it's an NBA game. You get a text, hey, come over. You want to watch the game? And maybe you're like, I don't know, I kind of just wanted to stay home. And then you think about it after your buddy hits you up, and, you know, just the thing that'll make that regular hang, that regular midweek hang around the basketball game into a special time, into a Miller time. That's right. This happened to me just last week. I grabbed a six pack of Miller Lite, said I was on my way, and next thing you know, we're arguing about rotations, like we're on the coaching staff yelling about a missed call, and the game's coming down in the final possession. It was one of those nights that you look around, you take a sip and you think, yeah, this was the right call, and my friendship's stronger for it. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Lite. Great taste. 96 calories. Go to millerlight.com dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Co. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Don LeBatard Minohassen Stugats Amino Acid.

[Dan Le Batard]

This is the Dan Levatar show with the Stugats.

How's that for an introduction to bring in Amin Elhassan. We need some things lightened up around here. Amin was at the Sloan conference with Pablo and David Sampson. Amin, how did all of that go for you? How did all of that feel doing that at Sloan? Were you guys conquering heroes, the coolest of all the math dorks out there?

Well, no, because they put us in a time slot that was very not convenient. We were at the end of the first day, and you might say, oh, it's the first day, so no problem. Problem was the. The Celtics were playing that night, and that was Jason Tatum's return game. And so our panel ended at like 6:15, 6:20, and the game starts at 7, so a lot of people kind of ducked out and left before our panel went on. But it went well. It went well. The Big thing, honestly, that David and I were worried about is usually when we do these episodes, obviously they're taped and edited, but also there's a lawyer either in there or on the line. And so whenever we say things that may not be completely legally protected, we're often asked to re tape a line or redo a line or reword a line. And without that, in a live environment, David and I were very worried that we might say something awful and then the whole company gets sued.

Yeah, that would be bad for everybody involved. I thought perhaps you'd be worried about how poorly your Barack Obama impersonation went over the first time, but then you stuck to it and you made sure that you brought it home. You brought it home. You rescued your Barack Obama impersonation. It didn't seem like it flew the first time.

I don't think they knew what I was doing, and that was my fault. I had an audience that was not familiar, I don't think by and large of my comedic stylings. They probably just know me from opening folders on Pablo show, and that's probably about it. And so I think they were taken aback and didn't know what was happening. And then Pablo said, oh, that's a bad Obama, even though it was really good. So when I brought it back the second time, they're like, he's doing that Obama thing now. Now I get it.

What were the NBA's reactions that you've heard on all of this? Because there's a big difference between, it seems like to me, how it is this is resonating in our world and because we're not ESPN or because we are not an established mainstream entity, how it falls elsewhere outside of our world. There seems to be a giant difference.

Well, Dan, I could tell you in the NBA circles, it's a massive story. It's all, you know, I ran into a bunch of people from a bunch of teams and they all wanted to talk about that. Oddly enough, not many people want to talk about tanking. Not many people wanted to talk about gambling, but everyone wanted to talk about aspiration in the Clippers cap circumvention. And it's an incredibly important story. The problem is, Dan, it's. It's a couple of things, I think. One, I wonder for the layperson, how much do you care? You probably care about the consequences. You really don't care about the journey. Obviously, people in the league care very much about the journey because it's going to dictate basically what their jobs are going to be like. Moving forward. I had one exec tell me, I don't want to get into the money laundering business, but if they get off with this, we pretty much turn into Ozark basically. Like, we're just going to have to figure out creative ways to run money through the system to pay players under the table. And so I think it's an incredibly important story. But I wonder for the regular listener, the regular viewer, the regular NBA fan, do they actually care about the nuts and bolts? Probably not.

Zasler shaking his head no. The numbers suggest, well, but the numbers suggest otherwise. Now, I don't think that all NBA fans, there are obviously millions and millions of those, but the numbers suggest that there is a bit of a starving out there for people who do want information on this, because every time Pablo produces the information and is the only one that's producing new information, it lands with people, a lot of people seeking it out.

Yeah, yeah, Dan, I kind of talked about this a lot over the weekend. Typically when one of these scandals happens and Wachtel Lipton is brought in to investigate, they do their investigation, they come out with a report. And that report represents the majority of the information that everybody knows about the situation. And all the talk shows and all the questions, everything is based off of that report. Well, this is a very different situation because the information is coming from us. We're ahead of the the report, not only chronologically because they have to wait until they're over in order to release everything. Meanwhile, we can release things as we confirm them, but also we're finding things that they haven't found and they haven't discovered or even haven't, I should say, haven't looked for. That was one of the most important things, I think, that came out of the panel was Pablo revealing that after talking to several people who have been questioned by Wachtel Lipton in their investigation, all of them said they weren't asked even once about Steve Ballmer. And to me, that is a massive red flag. If the investigation is not going to be sincere as far as trying to get to the bottom of this, meaning we're just going to ask questions where we know what kind of answer we're going to get back and it's not going to make us uncomfortable, then it is an incomplete investigation. It's like when President Trump said, oh, we should just stop testing for Covid. That way our COVID positive tests will be fewer. Yeah, sure. If you don't ask anybody for a COVID test, then we could say we didn't have any positive tests and we're great. We're doing well, but the reality is we know that's not getting to the bottom of things.

We're going to get to your weekend observations in a second, but I'd like to include you on the conversation we were having earlier in the show. I'm objecting to Mike Ryan saying James Harden doesn't care. I'm objecting to ZAs. NBA players don't care. Where do you land? We were talking about Wemby and caring so much that you would weep at the end of a regular season game,

[Zas]

which in my experience, no players ever do that.

[Dan Le Batard]

No.

[Zas]

In my experience covering the NBA, I never. Only after LeBron James. Someone in the Heat locker room cried after they lost to Derrick Rose that one season. It's the only time I can remember after a regular season game, an NBA player crying. What are your thoughts on the allegations and the perception that NBA players don't care?

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, let me start with Victor Wembanyama. Victor Wembanyama didn't care because they won a game. Victor Wembanyama. Excuse me. Didn't cry because they won a game. A regular season game. Victor Wembanyama was emotional because he was feeling incredibly fatigued. And that's different from, oh, I played really hard today. I'm tired. This is a guy who almost died. And so those feelings of extreme fatigue week, which are very similar to some of the symptoms of having a dvt, that's what brought up those emotions for him. Like the, oh, my God, I almost died a year ago feeling like this. Is this the same thing? Is this just, you know, you know, me being extra tired? What is it? And obviously, you know, the thrill of victory within that. That's what he's going through. So let's not make this into, like, oh, he cares about basketball so much. He does. As do lots of NBA players. It is foolish. It is, dare I say, a little bit. I'm not accusing Zaz of this, but it's rooted in a racist trope. The black care. Players don't care. They just want to look good. But the white players, they care. That's why hockey, everybody cares so much. But the basketball, Basketball players, they just want to look cute on tv. Right? These are all rooted in these kind of weird racist tropes.

Ropes.

Basketball players care tremendously. And as far as James Harden goes, the reason why he forced his way from the Clippers to the Cavs is because he cares, because he did not want to play for a team that's losing. He wanted to go win.

[Zas]

We misrepresented what Zaz and Mike said

[Dan Le Batard]

so much that it means calling them racist.

[Zas]

He went out of his way to

[Dan Le Batard]

say he wasn't saying that Zaz was racist.

[Sponsor Voice]

Oh, stop.

[Mike Ryan]

I'm not playing this game with you. Yes, they care, but there is irrefutably an attitude from NBA superstars that sucks. It's not good. It's miserable. And it's wonderful to see a dude smiling and happy to play the game and crying even though he got sick a year ago. I don't know what we were doing there. Stop it. Stop misrepresenting it. There is such a need from the average sports fan to see NBA players caring to that extent. And I'm not gonna make you make me a racist for calling it out.

[Stugats]

Wemby's black.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah. Yeah. No, you're right.

[Zas]

Yeah.

[Dan Le Batard]

Nobody cares. Jason Tatum. That guy doesn't give a about basketball. Oh, my God.

[Sponsor Voice]

I'm not doing that.

[Mike Ryan]

I am so pissed off at this.

[Dan Le Batard]

I saw it from a mile. Why do I have to do this? Why are they making me play basketball? I could just be hanging out with my superstar girlfriend. Yes, I did act.

[Zas]

You aren't playing the game, though. When you get, when you get this angry, you're saying you're not playing the game, but you're playing the game.

[Mike Ryan]

This was so. This, even for you, this was bad. I saw you. I'm like, this ends in two hours from somebody calling me a racist.

[Stugats]

He called me a racist. It's crazy.

[Mike Ryan]

Apologize to us for calling us racist by proxy.

[Amin Elhassan]

It was me, Mike. I've got one better for you, though, because ultimately what you're looking for is a superstar. A great player who cares deeply about regular season games is always out there trying to will his team to win. He's right here, right across the street. That's bam in a bio.

[Mike Ryan]

I knew you were making this about the heat the second you open your mouth.

[Amin Elhassan]

Yeah.

[Dan Le Batard]

Knew it. Minor penalty, two minutes. Accidental racism dazzle. I'm sorry, you're gonna have to leave me.

[Zas]

Yeah, I mean, that's, that's where we are with this.

[Dan Le Batard]

Dan. Dan. I, I, I'm. You know, they've convinced me. Luka Doncic doesn't give a shit about basketball. He got into an argument with jj Red critic about not wanting to play basketball. What took you so long to pull me from the game, jj I hate doing this. This is such a dumb thing that we do here in this sport.

[Mike Ryan]

That's a great example. A white guy that looks like he doesn't care. Thank you.

[Dan Le Batard]

The Lakers.

Yeah, you're right.

The Lakers seem to. The Laker fan seems to have been souring on Luca. Do I have this wrong?

No, I just think that, like, everything Lakers, they're late to everything because they are so consumed by their team and they think they're the center of the earth. So for the. The example of Luka Doncic, complaints to the refs. No shit. Like, we knew this as a rookie when he came in. If you've been watching him play, he's a guy that is a. A constant, consummate yapper to the refs. Laker fans are discovering this now. It's like, yeah, he's great. He also comes with some flaws. But the idea is that all these guys have some flaws here or there.

[Zas]

I don't mean to stereotype, but if I were casting a movie right now for somebody who was coming off as racist but hadn't said a word yet, they're just racist from the look at them. Zaslo would be somebody that I would have auditioning for the role just based on how he looks, just his face,

[Mike Ryan]

saying nothing is this segment, Dan. Like, you got someone accusing him of being a racist, and then you're just driving by saying, and he looks like one, too.

[Zas]

Well, just. I'm just looking because it made me laugh seeing him come up on the screen all sour from the accusation, just looking in his face. Again, if he were just simply a mime, I would say that mime is racist. Not saying anything, not giving me any context for it.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yes, Amin.

Dan, I'll back you up here. He's sitting there with his arms crossed, pouting at what looks like a hockey game with his hat turned backward like an undercover cop.

Thank you.

I mean, he looks. He looks exactly what Dan is describing.

[Zas]

Took me three hours to get there, but I do feel victorious. This is as happy as I've been in decades.

[J]

Close your eyes. Exhale. Feel your body relax, and let go of whatever you're carrying today. Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh, my gosh, they're so fast. And breathe. Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste. Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your

[Stugats]

first order tax, Don Lerd.

[Dan Le Batard]

Doesn't matter anywhere. We could do it in Buffalo or Baltimore. Either you say you could do it Where? Anywhere. Oh, Whoa. Oh. That's crazy.

[Zas]

That's crazy.

[Dan Le Batard]

That's crazy.

[Zas]

He could do it anywhere.

[Dan Le Batard]

That's crazy.

[Zas]

Murder.

[Dan Le Batard]

Murder. Tell him St.

[Mike Ryan]

I had no idea. Mean had that in his locker.

[Dan Le Batard]

That might be his best.

[Mike Ryan]

That's crazy.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm not kidding.

[Sponsor Voice]

That's crazy.

[Dan Le Batard]

That's crazy. Killer. It's two America's dead.

[Zas]

You don't get it.

[Dan Le Batard]

This is the D. Levatar show with the St. Gods.

[Zas]

Let's do Amin's weekend observations.

[Stugats]

It is time for, I mean, to

[Dan Le Batard]

share his game notes. No one in the media will tell you what happened better than my boy.

I mean,

I need some help. So someone needs to read the chat.

[Amin Elhassan]

Roy.

[Dan Le Batard]

All right, I got you.

[Sponsor Voice]

Hurry, Regan. Observations is brought to you by Miller Light, legendary Mormon. Start with a light,

[Dan Le Batard]

Dan. You guys fretted and fussed so much you wondered that. Was it it you couldn't believe they paid so much for so quote, little in return. But last night he proved once again why he is the greatest among us. And just like that, make no mistake, Michael Jordan on NBC is back. Insights. Yeah, you guys thought they just had it for the first couple weeks season, then he would never come back again. He's a busy man. He's busy winning. Winning NASCAR events and stuff like that. Winning lawsuits. Come on, man, give the guy a break. He's awesome. Did you watch it then?

I saw the clips making the rounds

[Zas]

here on first take and elsewhere. Anytime Michael Jordan says something, even if it was months ago, it turns into news. It's so silly.

[Dan Le Batard]

It wasn't silly. It was incredibly insightful. He talked about he walked, wanted to play against Oscar and Jerry west that might want to play against LeBron and Kobe in his prime.

Is it still the interview from before with Tirico?

[Zas]

Is it like the months old interview that Chico did with him before the season? They did one interview with him and they're milking it all season.

[Dan Le Batard]

Is that what they're doing?

Does it matter? You got the insights, didn't you? Jason Tatum ruining the Celtic politics just like you guys predicted. Jesus Christ. Did you guys watch any of that this weekend?

[Amin Elhassan]

That was a really crazy take you had, Mike.

[Zas]

What do you mean you guys?

[Dan Le Batard]

What do you mean you guys?

You people. And I meant it that way too. Victor Wembanyama. Now I know what it's like to watch basketball after taking a shit ton of psychedelics. Unreal. Can you imagine being high and watching Victor Wembanyama last night?

Night?

[Sponsor Voice]

Yes.

[Dan Le Batard]

He's going behind the matter of fact,

[Mike Ryan]

I can

[Dan Le Batard]

Tua released Tua. We hardly knew you. Nobody gives Z credit. He's racist.

Mike Garofalo is reporting the Falcons are making a strong early push to sign Tua.

Is. Is Penx done? What. What is that about? Why are they looking for a quarterback?

[Mike Ryan]

I mean, his body can't hold up and he came into the league with a bunch of injury questions.

[Amin Elhassan]

It's kind of perfect though, right?

[Mike Ryan]

Going from Kirk Cousins to Tua.

[Amin Elhassan]

Two left handed, injury prone quarterbacks on the same team, so they can just split reps.

[Dan Le Batard]

This is amazing. Like, oh, man, our quarterback is good, but he's hurt all the time and he has a lot of injury concerns. He came into the league with, we need a replacement. Two is available. That's. That's how it went. Wore my Florida Panthers Black History Month jacket in Boston to troll, but people kept coming up to me to talk hockey. My trolling backfired. All I could do was repeat Zaz's thing, though. If we were in the Western Conference, we'd be firmly in the playoff picture. I did that. Took that one to the bank. Thanks, dad. Speaking of trolls, Pablo Torre dements himself as an elite troll by sticking the smoking gun evidence to the bottom of the chair that Adam Silver would then later sit on. Do you guys see this?

Yeah.

Yeah. This was insane. Pablo Torre doing his damnedest to make sure I never get credentialed anywhere in the NBA for the rest of my life days.

This is good AI right here.

[Zas]

Pablo as the Riddler is a good use of AI.

[Dan Le Batard]

David Sampson decided to roast a decade a decorated Navy vet.

Such bad judgment.

And you guys say I have poor judgment. He wouldn't stop then. He just kept going and going. We're like, okay, David, that's enough now.

It was so bad. But I. I yell three times at my television, shut up, David. And it wasn't even because of that. It was only because he wouldn't let

[Zas]

Pablo get the kite off the ground on difficult subject matter in front of a live audience in a pressurized situation.

[Dan Le Batard]

That's Kite with a T, ladies and gentlemen, Kite. I have watched eight of the 10 best picture nominees. I don't know who's gonna win, but I can tell you right now, Train Dreams can get the all the way the up out of my face. What a bullshit movie. You seen that one, Train Dreams?

[Zas]

Dan?

[Dan Le Batard]

I saw that it was getting a lot of great critical reviews and I haven't brought myself to watch it because it seemed sort of heavy.

It's not heavy. It's boring. And Pointless. That's what it is. It's hamnet without any artistic touches to it. Hamnet. By the way, don't get me started on that one. The Knicks are for real as long as they don't have to play in a fun city. Louisiana got them. I guess last night or yesterday afternoon.

Whatever it was, they dragged the Nuggets. What the hell's going on with Yich.

Not a fun city. That's what it is is Denver not a fun city. We play great LA fun city.

[Amin Elhassan]

Play awful worried about Miami then

[Dan Le Batard]

possible matchup. Luke Cornett stay out of grown folks business. You never encounter more open bar events than when you're not drinking. I know. Roy backs me up on that one. Yep, God gives the toughest battles to the strongest. Soldiers. Soldiers. Pistons. Overrated. I said it. Let me be the first of the wave of it's gonna it's coming like Tony. I'm not wrong. I'm just early. But it's coming. The whole the Pistons aren't that good. That's coming. It's on its way. New season of bar rescue John Taffer has been doing a media tour tour during which he said St. Louis has is the number two bar city in the country. He drafted Japanese food as the most popular cuisine and claimed that when theming a karaoke night you gotta make sure you attract a young drinking crowd, not a bunch of 45 year olds drinking water. So he suggested you do a Metallica themed drinking night. Metallica to get the young crowd, not the 45 year olds. Here's the science of Bar rescue podcast hosted by real life bar and restaurant consultant Chelsea Reynolds, commercial kitchen and food truck vet Colin Cassard and two people who I promise have never done Metallica themed karaoke night. Zach Harper, myself, wherever you get podcasts Trent McDuffie tweeting God is good after signing a 124 million dollar extension.

100 million guaranteed.

100 million guaranteed. Brother, you got to give God a little bit more credit than that.

Better than good.

God is good. Better than good. God is good. A hundred million dollars guaranteed. You can trip fall her chee never play again. Tomorrow. Tomorrow you got 100 mil in the bank and you get that's good.

[Zas]

That is good.

[Dan Le Batard]

Dinner for episode 302. Dickie Roberts child star David Spade plays an aging child star who's trying to get one last shot in show business. I play a guy who's irritated out of his mind to have to watch this so he proceeds to on the movie for an entire podcast episode. There are way Too many cameos in this movie. You guys wonder what Leaf Garrett was up to recently? Yeah, it's in that movie. Oh, Danny Bonaduce in that movie. Emmanuel Lewis in that movie. Cinepope. Wherever you get podcasts. World baseball classic. Mexico beat Brazil so bad I had PTSD from the 2014 World Cup.

[Amin Elhassan]

Cup.

[Dan Le Batard]

You see that, Dan? They beat him like 15 to 1 or something.

Didn't you cry? Didn't you cry during that World Cup?

The. The only sporting event I've ever cried at as an adult. My personal hell revisited. Speaking of hell, art brials. Those are the weekend observations.

You are one of our movie experts around here. Were you aware that around Hollywood there was a sequel bouncing around to the movie seven, one of the greatest dark movies. Did you know that that movie was called 8? The script for that movie was called the number 8. Not the verb to eat. I ate. Not the past tense.

That's your sequel.

Did you know that that was bouncing around Hollywood? And did you also know that Solace, a movie by Colin Farrell and Anthony Hopkins, was essentially what that became and it's said to be a terrible movie. I haven't seen it.

It have not seen Solace. Thank you. I have not seen Solace. I did know that there was a script bouncing around for a long time to try to get it made and it. It just couldn't get made. That happens a lot in Hollywood, Dan, where there is an appetite for a sequel and they've got a script and the script, for whatever reason, just doesn't land or doesn't get picked up or doesn't get greenlit. And so it lives in purgatory.

Appetite for eight.

Yes.

Let's put up on the screen here. Get a ruling here from a mean who can sniff fraudulent a mile away.

[Zas]

What's happening here with Ben Shapiro's on Ben Shapiro's eyebrows. I want a ruling from you.

[Dan Le Batard]

On what?

[Zas]

Just take me through what you imagine to be the backstory here on what's happened.

[Dan Le Batard]

When two caterpillars really, really love each other.

[Zas]

Those are two big caterpillars. That's that look. If that came. If came at me on the ground as a caterpillar, I would say that's. That is a million legs. Not a few hundred, not a few thousand. That is a giant caterpillar.

[Stugats]

That picture is crazy.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, you. Eugene Levy thinks that's too much.

[Mike Ryan]

He was called Groucho Marxist in one

[Zas]

of my group chat and can't be real. That's just.

[Stugats]

There's no way it's Real.

[Zas]

It's not. That has to be. There's no way. There's no way he went out in public like that.

[Mike Ryan]

It's real. I looked it up. It's real.

[Dan Le Batard]

The pictures are real. The eyebrows maybe not so much.

[Mike Ryan]

Correct. I mean. I mean, the still image that we have right now, there is so much dye on his face. It's crazy.

[Dan Le Batard]

Amin, thank you for being on with us. A reminder to all to please check out Cinephobe. He does an excellent job with Zach Harper on that and Anthony Mays. And it's just movies under a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 4. 40. Correct?

Yes. So, unfortunately, Train Dreams will have to wait before, like, the critic and audience scores come down some. Are you awful, Dan?

[Zas]

Yeah.

[Dan Le Batard]

I don't want to watch it.

[Zas]

Are you with Zaslow on the idea

[Dan Le Batard]

that the spurs are going to win it all?

No, no, not at all. I. I think they're just. You. You have too little playoff experience across too wide of a roster. Your playoff experience is just basically Harrison Barnes and Luke Cornette, neither of whom are guys that have the ball in their hands and create and run anything. Everyone else pretty much, I guess. Dearon Fox had seven games. Big whoop. So, like, there just is no precedent of a team over the.

The.

The breadth of their roster being so inexperienced last year winning a championship.

Okc.

No, no. They. They. They had been in the playoffs the year before, been to the second round. That's. That's one. And then two, you had guys like Caruso who had won a championship, who is a guy who has the ball in his hands. Shakeless Alexander had been in the playoffs, playoffs with the Clippers and with Oklahoma City a few years ago. He obviously has the ball in his hands a lot. So there is a progression to this. There has never been one where it's like we have 80% of our roster have never played a playoff game. Yeah, they'll figure it out. That just doesn't happen.

I mean. Good talking to you. We'll talk to you again. See you later. Jeremy, can you give me an update on how Harrison Barnes was injured?

[Amin Elhassan]

He woke up from a nap and had a hurt ankle.