Hour 2: Thong Sandals, Uric Acid, and Evolutions (feat. Ron Magill)

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz Episode: Hour 2: Thong Sandals, Uric Acid, and Evolutions (feat. Ron Magill)
Release Date: February 5, 2025

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1. Introduction and Guest Welcome

The episode kicks off with host Dan LeBatard introducing guest Ron McGill, amidst playful banter about recent activities and office situations.

Notable Quote:

Ron McGill (02:12): “Dominique has been texting me topics that I should ask as the host of a sports show... welcome, Ron McGill.”

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2. Vultures in South Florida: Behavior and Environmental Impact

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around the influx of turkey and black-headed vultures in South Florida, marking the official start of winter. The hosts delve into the ecological role of vultures, their unique behaviors, and the challenges they pose.

Key Points:

• Migration Patterns: Vultures migrate south for the winter, perching on high buildings like the courthouse, leading to frequent sightings.
• Ecological Role: Vultures consume decaying animals, preventing disease spread.
• Challenges: Their presence near high-rise buildings leads to issues like window damage and public nuisance behaviors.

Notable Quotes:

Dan LeBatard (04:44): “That is the official start of really winter in South Florida... turkey vultures that come to the courthouse.”

Ron McGill (07:05): “They have a lot of natural tolerance, natural resistance to all the bacteria and infective elements that are found in dead and decaying animals.”

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3. Dress Code and Office Culture

The conversation shifts to office dynamics, focusing on dress codes and professionalism within the workplace. Anecdotes about enforcing ties in a sports office setting highlight the tension between corporate professionalism and the relaxed culture typical in sports environments.

Key Points:

• Dress Code Enforcement: Efforts to introduce formal attire in a traditionally casual sports office met with resistance.
• Cultural Clash: Transitioning from a metropolitan environment (Montreal/New York) to Florida necessitated changes in dress norms.
• Personal Experiences: Hosts share personal stories about navigating dress code policies and maintaining professionalism.

Notable Quotes:

Amin Elhassan (18:23): “I made everyone go and wear ties every day. And someone said to me, you’re gonna live here?”

Ron McGill (26:20): “We are trying to make us dress like a breakdancing squad. Like, why are we all wearing the same stuff?”

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4. Sports Marketing Insights: Nico Harrison and Steph Curry

A deep dive into sports marketing unfolds as the hosts discuss the influential roles of individuals like Nico Harrison in major sports deals. The conversation explores the intricacies of sneaker endorsements, trade dynamics, and the behind-the-scenes maneuvers that shape athlete endorsements.

Key Points:

• Nico Harrison's Influence: Examination of Nico Harrison's role at Nike and his impact on high-profile deals.
• Steph Curry's Endorsement Journey: Analysis of Steph Curry's transition from Nike to Under Armour, highlighting the strategic missteps and market reactions.
• Reporting vs. Reality: Discussion on how media reporting can sometimes misconstrue the actual events and decisions in sports marketing.

Notable Quotes:

Chris Cody (28:36): “This was the most read article in the history of ESPN.com... how Luka Doncic got traded to the Lakers.”

Ron McGill (33:06): “The meeting has a PowerPoint presentation, and the PowerPoint presentation is clearly for Kevin Durant.”

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5. Merchandise and Promotional Strategies

The hosts engage in a light-hearted discussion about merchandise, promotional strategies, and the potential for the show's own branded apparel. This segment underscores the importance of branding and audience engagement through merchandise.

Key Points:

• Merchandise Ideas: Exploration of potential branded merchandise for the show, including T-shirts and uniforms.
• Promotion Tactics: Debates on the aesthetics and practicality of merchandise, ensuring they align with the show's image.
• Audience Interaction: Encouraging listeners to engage with the show's branding efforts through merchandise.

Notable Quotes:

Amin Elhassan (23:53): “If we gave you free LeBatard merch from Lebatardaf.com would you wear it every day on the show?”

Chris Cody (24:00): “Absolutely... I'm wearing merch. I wear... I'll wear anything.”

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6. Closing Remarks and Final Banter

As the episode nears its end, the hosts reflect on the discussions, share humorous anecdotes, and engage in playful teasing. The closing segment reinforces the camaraderie among the hosts and sets the stage for future episodes.

Notable Quotes:

Ron McGill (27:43): “So nasal openings, guys.”

Dan LeBatard (27:55): “Always a Pleasure, guys and gals. Take care.”

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Conclusion

This episode of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz offers a blend of insightful discussions on environmental issues, sports marketing intricacies, and workplace culture, all interspersed with the hosts' signature humor and camaraderie. Featuring guest Ron McGill, the conversation provides listeners with a deeper understanding of both the natural world of South Florida's vultures and the complex world of sports endorsements and marketing strategies.

For those interested in the intersection of sports, environment, and workplace dynamics, this episode delivers engaging content with a mix of humor and informative dialogue.

Transcript

[Mike Ryan]

You're listening to Giraffe Kings Network.

[Dan LeBatard]

Yeah, sure thing.

[Chris Cody]

Hey, you sold that car yet?

[David Sampson]

Yeah, sold it to Carvana.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh, I thought you were selling to that guy.

[David Sampson]

The guy who wanted to pay me in foreign currency. No interest over 36 months.

[Amin Elhassan]

Yeah, no.

[David Sampson]

Carvana gave me an offer in minutes.

[Amin Elhassan]

Picked it up and paid me on the spot. It was so convenient.

[Ron McGill]

Just like that.

[David Sampson]

Yep.

[Ron McGill]

No hassle?

[Dan LeBatard]

None. That is super convenient.

[Mike Ryan]

Sell your car to Carvana and swap hassle.

[Chris Cody]

For convenience.

[David Sampson]

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[Dan LeBatard]

This is the Dan Levator show with the ST Podcast.

[David Sampson]

This episode of the Dan Lebatard show with Stugots is presented by Smirnoff. We do game days. Please drink responsibly. The Smirnoff Company New York, NY so.

[Ron McGill]

Dominique has been texting me topics that I should ask as the host of a sports show, do topics that involve the luka doncic trade. LeBron James how difficult it is to make trades when you have a reputation for being bad at making trades. And to that I say, welcome, Ron McGill.

[Dan LeBatard]

I have no answers for any of those questions, brother.

[Ron McGill]

Well, we have. We have you on for a far more Important reason. It's me. I mean, David Sampson, Jess, Jeremy and Chris.

[David Sampson]

What is David doing?

[Dan LeBatard]

He brought in the all Stars.

[Ron McGill]

That's right. In no way is this a backup second string substitute teacher scenario. This is definitely the first stringers.

[Dan LeBatard]

There you go.

[Ron McGill]

Ron, where are you right now?

[Dan LeBatard]

In a temporary office situation that we have here. We had a little bit of mold and asbestos in our administration building, so they had to mitigate the situation, so to speak, so we were exiled. And thankfully, the Zoo Miami foundation has been very generous and put me here in a corner of the building where sometimes it gets a little loud. But it's a. It's a. It's a nice alternative.

[Amin Elhassan]

And for those of you who are not watching on the Dan Levittard and Friends network, Ron does not have enough wall space. It is quite clear from the shot that there are pieces of art that are strewn on the floor, leaning against curtains, which you shouldn't do with art. Maybe against a fireplace. Ron, I'm very concerned.

[Dan LeBatard]

Thank you, David, for throwing me under the bus. Listen, I'm very appreciative that I at least had this room. I could have been outside on the grass under the rain, so I'm happy.

[Ron McGill]

Ron also looks like somebody who has just thrown Amin Alhassan out of the club.

[Chris Cody]

No, he doesn't.

[Dan LeBatard]

No, no, no.

[Chris Cody]

Way too tall.

[Dan LeBatard]

I had a breakfast that I attended with the mayor this morning. Now, it wasn't just me and the mayor. It was me and a lot of people, but it was just one of those breakfasts. You know, I try to be respectful when I attend those. Power breakfast, so to speak.

[Chris Cody]

Billy Corbin there, too. No. Okay.

[Amin Elhassan]

I feel like respect would have been one more button higher to the chain. Maybe just.

[Ron McGill]

Ron looks great.

[Amin Elhassan]

I'm saying the Mayor. The mayor for Senator.

[Dan LeBatard]

I want the chain.

[Ron McGill]

You just made Ron McGill cover up the.

[Amin Elhassan]

No, he's not with the mayor anymore. He's with us. That's why.

[Ron McGill]

Unbuttoning buttons.

[Amin Elhassan]

I agree. That's how to look when you're doing Dan's show.

[Ron McGill]

Ron. Ron, we summoned you for an actual pressing concern, which is that Amin Elhassan and I stay at this lovely building, the Elser Hotel. We stay near the top floors in the 40s. And we have.

[Dan LeBatard]

I know what it is already.

[Ron McGill]

We've encountered some. Some vultures.

[Dan LeBatard]

That's right.

[Ron McGill]

Can you explain what we've been encountering, please?

[Dan LeBatard]

Yep. That's the official start of really winter in South Florida. And that's telling you how late it's coming. Generally speaking, it was Always judged by the. The turkey vultures that come to the courthouse. These vultures all come down here for the winter. They're coming up from up north. They migrate down and they look for high buildings to perch on. There was a big issue at the courthouse for a long time because they, you know, released a lot of fecal excrement that kind of stained the windows and made the courthouse look like a snow covered mountain there for a little while. But this is a cyclical thing that happens every year in South Florida. Originally, like I said, was the label of the start of winter. Florida is when you see all these vultures, you know, people who go down to, for instance, Everglades National Park. There's a huge problem. What the hell is Samson doing? Picking his teeth.

[Ron McGill]

I know, it's really not great.

[Dan LeBatard]

Jesus Christmas.

[Amin Elhassan]

What do you. That's a video issue.

[Dan LeBatard]

Talk about my cluttered office and you're picking up your teeth in front of the venue.

[Amin Elhassan]

That's an outrage. Whatever just happened, I'm sorry, Ron.

[Dan LeBatard]

Back to the vultures. They will go down. For instance, if you go to Everglades national park during the winter and you park your car, let's say down at Anhinga Trail, you'll see a bunch of tarps that the National Park Service provides for you to cover your car. Please use them, because the vultures down there will literally strip your windshield wipers off and then strip the rubber seal all around your windshield and windows on the vehicle. Nobody knows why they do it. It seems like it's part of practice for them, kind of like stripping hard skin off of dead animals to start their feeding. But it's a big problem that the National Park Service has been facing now for several years. So these vultures, you know, they become quite bold. They can be a little bit destructive, though. They play a very important role. Let's face the facts. They take away these decaying dead animals that can spread a lot of disease. They have a couple of gross habits. I mean, one of the grossest habits that vultures have is to cool themselves off. They literally poop all over their legs. So then they crap on their legs and then as it evaporates, it cools them off. That's part of the way to cool them off. Another really kind of unfortunate habit that they have is if you corner them instead of trying to peck you, what they do is they projectile vomit to you. Like, like an exorcist type thing where it just comes out smart. And, you know, vomit by itself is already bad, but vomit of decaying Dead animals that they have been eating is there. That'll make you an instant gag reflex.

[Chris Cody]

Their stomach acid is a little stronger than ours, right, because they eat so many, you know, things that have been exactly dead. Right.

[Dan LeBatard]

They have a lot of natural tolerance, natural resistance to all the bacteria and infective elements that are found in dead and decaying animals. So. But they pay a very important service to us. I mean, I don't want to go out there and have to pick up that raccoon off the road. If I, if, you know, if the vulture is going to eat it, it's a win, win.

[Amin Elhassan]

But you have to be dead or decaying or is there a risk if I go on the balcony, the vulture will just take me?

[Dan LeBatard]

No, it'll never take you, David. They don't want anything to do with anybody live. They will fly away. You won't be able to get even, get close to them. They're up on that balcony, on the top floors there, because that's where they're safe from any predators on the ground, cats, dogs, or anything like that. So that's a natural instinct. Plus also, they really don't fly well until they get the, you know, the thermals.

[Ron McGill]

Yeah, they're gliding, Ron. I see them glide.

[Dan LeBatard]

That's right, they glide. As a matter of fact, just recently, something happened that is a phenomenon that doesn't happen all the time, but it has happened in the past where they just rescued like 40 vultures out of the ocean, out of the bay, because they were flying and using the thermals. And then there was a big temperature change all of a sudden came in the front, the thermal disappeared, and all the vultures literally plummeted to the ocean. And once they hit the water, they couldn't get out of the water again. Several of them drowned, several of them were saved. But this is a phenomenon that happens rarely, but it is an incredible phenomenon when all of a sudden all these vultures just fall out of the sky.

[David Sampson]

Ron, what do you think? You're a man of science. I remember you with the Eagles, you had a camera up there to like, capture all the important things that we could learn. What do you think about us putting a camera outside of Pablo's balcony, putting a little chum out there and just seeing what happens, seeing if they'll come and bite.

[Dan LeBatard]

Well, the fact of the matter is it's illegal to purposely feed wild animals. Well, that would not be a legal thing for you to do to bait vultures with something out there.

[Ron McGill]

Now, hypothetically. Yeah, really hypothetically.

[David Sampson]

I just Forgot.

[Dan LeBatard]

Hypothetically, if a raccoon happened to die on the 36th floor of wherever you're staying and was on the ledge, oh, heck, I think putting your camera there would be cool as heck.

[David Sampson]

I just left my, this raw meat out on the balcony. I forgot it out there.

[Ron McGill]

But, but hold, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. There's a lot that I'm processing here. So the vulture, just to get back to where they came from and why they're here. So vulture, these turkey vultures, the fact that they're turkey vultures, is that right? Am I saying it or no?

[Dan LeBatard]

Turkey vultures, there's also, there's also beef vultures too. There are the black. There's two species that we find down here, the black headed vultures and the turkey vultures.

[Ron McGill]

Okay.

[Dan LeBatard]

You know, initially was just turkey vultures, but now we're seeing a lot more of the black headed vultures. And what you see the most is if you drive down the turnpike and you drive some of these landfills, the dumps, you'll see them like by the hundreds flying over the dumps looking for, you know, for food.

[Ron McGill]

Right? So let's just say hypothetically, if we were to put some garbage and raccoon carcasses on our balcony, if we were, in fact. Can we bring Ethan in here?

[David Sampson]

Ethan, get in here.

[Ron McGill]

I want to, I want to just run, run an experiment.

[David Sampson]

What is the filet mignon of these trash mountains for them? Like, what do they find where they're like, this doesn't. But nothing beats this.

[Ron McGill]

Great question.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh, man. I guess, you know, people who throw out rotten food from their refrigerator, you know, that they're spoiled. That's, that's, that's, that's the ultimate buffet for these vultures. The worse it smells, the more rotten it smells, the more delicious it is for them. And also, you know, understand when meat rots, it becomes much more tender, so it's easy for them to eat.

[Chris Cody]

Ron, I've never imagined birds having a sense of smell. Where do they smell? Like, where are the olfactory.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh, if you look, if you look at a vulture's bill, you'll see they have a very large nasal opening that actually can go all the way through. So their sense of smell is phenomenal. Having said that, they also depend on each other because once a vulture has pretty decent eyesight, they see a bunch of vultures circling over a certain area, they go, hey, hey, hey, something happened over there. We got to get over there. So that's when you see them all start congregating and circling.

[Ron McGill]

Yes, Like a crowd outside of a club during super bowl week. The vultures have been circling my balcony. And on that balcony I would like to put David Sampson and Ethan, who's here. Say hi, Ethan.

[David Sampson]

David, stand up next to context.

[Dan LeBatard]

So nasal openings, guys.

[David Sampson]

And look at those things.

[Ron McGill]

So between the two of them, if we were to slather both of them in maybe meat juice or raccoon carcass, who would the vulture be more likely to take away?

[David Sampson]

David's on his tippy toes.

[Dan LeBatard]

Listen, I'm going to go not with David. But what's. Ethan.

[David Sampson]

Is that Ethan?

[Ron McGill]

Yeah, Ethan.

[Dan LeBatard]

I'm going to go with Ethan. He's got less facial hair. There's less obstruction to go through. Ethan kind of looks a little bit like a young David Cassidy, doesn't he?

[David Sampson]

A young David?

[Ron McGill]

Ron calls you a young David Cassidy?

[Dan LeBatard]

I think he does. A little bit like a.

[Ron McGill]

He doesn't know who that is. Ron.

[Dan LeBatard]

I don't know who the hell that is.

[Amin Elhassan]

Ron, stop.

[Ron McGill]

No idea.

[Amin Elhassan]

Ron Cassidy, he didn't know who David Cassidy was.

[Dan LeBatard]

Okay, Yeah, I figured he's too young, but he looks like.

[Ron McGill]

It's a compliment. That's a hell of a compliment.

[Amin Elhassan]

David Cassidy is a good looking guy.

[Mike Ryan]

He did just have a birthday.

[Amin Elhassan]

He was a good looking guy.

[David Sampson]

Happy birthday, by the way.

[Amin Elhassan]

Oh, I thought he meant David Cassidy.

[Mike Ryan]

Not that young anymore, am I right?

[Chris Cody]

Ron, I got a question for you. You often talk about how animals, when they're around places with humans, they begin to learn certain habits. Like, oh, this is where we can find food because the humans leave them here.

[Dan LeBatard]

Come on. Excuse me, but look at that picture. Doesn't that look a little bit like him?

[David Sampson]

Not really.

[Ron McGill]

I see it. No, I see it. Ron has.

[Chris Cody]

It's in the eyes.

[Ron McGill]

Cheekbones. It's in the cheekbones.

[Mike Ryan]

I was going to say smile.

[Ron McGill]

Them cheeks.

[Amin Elhassan]

Those pukas were so big.

[Dan LeBatard]

I had those pukas. I had those very same pukas, man.

[Chris Cody]

So? So, Ron, the animals pick up on, like, human behavior, activity, and adjust accordingly to their lifestyle. Why is it birds keep flying into windows?

[Dan LeBatard]

Don't they ever learn?

[Chris Cody]

Aren't there any rumors through the bird world like, hey, guys, you hear what happened to Steve? Yeah.

[Dan LeBatard]

Understand? Understand. They're flying into windows because they don't realize the window's there. What they're seeing is a reflection of the habitat behind them. So they just think it's continuing and they think it's another bird in front of them until it gets too close where they can't stop.

[David Sampson]

There's Another bird here, but I'm not.

[Dan LeBatard]

Stopping, you know, I'm catching up to him. I'm catching. Oh, gee, it's over. Okay.

[Ron McGill]

And in the vultures defense, Mina Kimes walked into a glass door at Dan's wedding for similar reasons.

[Dan LeBatard]

That's a good point, man. That is a good point. That's a good point. But the bottom line is, yeah, the window situation is because the window is reflecting the sky behind them and they think the sky is continuing and it's not until it's too late. And that's why they hit the windows.

[Ron McGill]

But we should be glad that the vultures are here is what you're saying. We should be embracing them as much as they might projectile vomit the remains of, you know, they would only do.

[Dan LeBatard]

That if you tried to grab it, if you tried to bother. It's a matter of self defense. They don't do it like, oh, this is my everyday thing. Let me just projectile vomit on your car for no reason at all. That's not what they do. Vultures are actually pretty clean animals, believe it or not. And the role that they play is so important, man, I cannot tell you, you know the diseases they prevent from spreading just by what they do.

[Amin Elhassan]

Ron, I've been waiting for this moment and I'm going to ask you the most important question. Because it's a boba meister. I think the white that we see on the balcony from the vultures or bird poop that gets in your hair or on your clothes. I thought it was urine, not poop.

[Dan LeBatard]

You're right, it's uric acid. It's the bird's form of urine. The white is the uric acid. Birds don't produce fluid urine. Same with reptiles. You know, if you see an iguana poop, you'll see this big clump of brown, which is the fecal material, and it's surrounded by some white spots. That's the uric acid material. So that's the urine phase of things like birds and reptiles. So you're very smart in that.

[Amin Elhassan]

So when people say, I can't see Ethan's face.

[Dan LeBatard]

If you light up his face, take the head off Ethan, Put it side.

[Chris Cody]

By side, either take the head off.

[Dan LeBatard]

Take the hat off. Come on, man. If you put.

[Ron McGill]

The nose. The nose.

[Dan LeBatard]

He's got it all going on. David Cassidy.

[Ron McGill]

Ron nailed this.

[Chris Cody]

And usually even has puka shells on today. He doesn't, but usually he does.

[Dan LeBatard]

And he's got the hair thing going for him too. He could feather that hair out.

[David Sampson]

Special dude out There.

[Dan LeBatard]

Special dude brother. Let me tell you. Back in his day, David Cassidy was.

[Amin Elhassan]

There was no one bigger.

[David Sampson]

Look how cute Ethan is. You know, I'm hitting this thing for him. Happy birthday to him.

[Ron McGill]

I don't care. Good luck.

[David Sampson]

That's the guy that edits our audio every day. Him and Jeremy, our handsome little man. Good job.

[Dan LeBatard]

There you go.

[Ron McGill]

A remarkable thing.

[Dan LeBatard]

Got some dance and stay away for a while. You guys are pretty good. Thank you.

[Ron McGill]

You know what? Many such cases.

[Mike Ryan]

You're right.

[Amin Elhassan]

Think about what Ron just said.

[Ron McGill]

That's a compliment. I mean a compliment truly from.

[Amin Elhassan]

From Ron Miguel, of course. I'm super despondent that Ethan doesn't know who David Cassidy is because he doesn't understand the level.

[Ron McGill]

Ron. Ron. David was telling us a 10 minute story about Alan Ald. And now we've moved to David Cassidy. So thank you for.

[Dan LeBatard]

Actually, it's a legend. He's a freaking legend. The guy.

[Ron McGill]

What was his nickname?

[Amin Elhassan]

Hawkeye is a character.

[Chris Cody]

Do you not know this?

[Amin Elhassan]

You had never heard of Hawkeye?

[Ron McGill]

I've never seen mash.

[Chris Cody]

You've never.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh my gosh.

[Amin Elhassan]

Have you heard of the book the Last of the Mohicans? I have character name in the book.

[Ron McGill]

I'm gonna guess it's Hawkeye.

[Amin Elhassan]

I'm gonna guess you haven't read it. It's all good.

[Ron McGill]

Okay?

[Amin Elhassan]

We're all good here. There's nothing to see here.

[Chris Cody]

I've seen the movie. At least there's a movie. Oh, I can't even.

[Amin Elhassan]

Suicide is painless.

[Chris Cody]

Well, that's.

[Amin Elhassan]

Yeah, that's a TV show.

[Chris Cody]

But I was singing the. I was singing the. The Last of the Mohicans is what?

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh, well, you guys.

[Amin Elhassan]

Daniel Day Lewis.

[Chris Cody]

Yeah.

[Dan LeBatard]

You guys are killing it.

[Amin Elhassan]

Ron, we appreciate it.

[Ron McGill]

Not only are we killing it, we are then going to pick the bones of the things we have killed and continue to spray our uric acid all over everything.

[Mike Ryan]

I thought his name was Bruce. Bruce Cassidy.

[Dan LeBatard]

Nope.

[Amin Elhassan]

David. There's also a Sean Cassidy who played the Hardy Boy. He was handsome too. Very.

[Dan LeBatard]

It was rumored that David Cassidy had a little thing going with Shirley Jones on the the Partridge Family.

[Mike Ryan]

Oh, his middle name is Bruce?

[Ron McGill]

How.

[Mike Ryan]

How come I knew his middle name and not his first name?

[Ron McGill]

Notably different from Bill Cassidy, who did cast the deciding vote to approve as a director of Health and Human Services. A guy who also loves roadkill as much as vultures. That was yesterday.

[Amin Elhassan]

Today, old news. Sorry, Ron, but thank you. Keep doing the work of God. We need it.

[Ron McGill]

Ron, thank you so much as always.

[Dan LeBatard]

Always a Pleasure, guys and gals. Take care.

[Ron McGill]

That's right.

[Chris Cody]

Just one guy.

[Mike Ryan]

Still just gal.

[Amin Elhassan]

By the way, wrong S, but we're all good.

[Chris Cody]

Did you guys catch Ron, say, winders? He turned into a prospector there for a second. You had to get him away from the winders.

[Amin Elhassan]

And I was like, oh, he knows everything about everything.

[David Sampson]

He's the best. I said that three times during that. Like, what? There's nothing we can throw at him.

[Ron McGill]

You can throw him an alley oop that's 50ft in the sky, and he will dunk it.

[Amin Elhassan]

Because he's so tall or because he knows so much?

[Chris Cody]

Both.

[Amin Elhassan]

He's that kind of presence. It looks a little like Scarface, though, today. He doesn't usually dress that.

[Mike Ryan]

Love that look. Great look.

[Ron McGill]

I want Ron to dress like that all of the time.

[Chris Cody]

I feel like with the white suit and the chain.

[Ron McGill]

I like how he was like. I was meeting the mayor and it's like, of course. This is what the mayor of Miami should be met.

[Amin Elhassan]

Like, isn't there a hierarchy of who you're going to meet with and how you dress? If he were with the senator, I would think that he'd go button up and maybe in tie. If you go meet the president, you definitely wear a cravat. And if you meet, like, someone just in the city council, you can do a collared shirt with no jacket. I think that there's a hierarchy for dress code with who you're meeting.

[Ron McGill]

What is the lowest rank of person that would make you wear a tie?

[Amin Elhassan]

So I don't wear ties anymore. So I don't wear them to funerals. I don't like rule weddings. Yeah, I do not wear ties.

[Ron McGill]

This is also a post divorce.

[Amin Elhassan]

No, it's post Wall street and post. I moved to Florida and I changed the dress code with the Marlins.

[Chris Cody]

Really?

[Amin Elhassan]

I made everyone go and wear ties every day. And someone said to me, you're gonna live here?

[Ron McGill]

Someone said to you, close.

[Mike Ryan]

You had to have immediately become the most hated person in the entire.

[David Sampson]

Logan Morrison was like, that's.

[Amin Elhassan]

I wanted there to be a level of professionalism with all of our employees. And they said, in Florida, here's the problem. And I was coming from Montreal and New York. They said, your first summer, it's not gonna last for a week with you wearing a tie. And I didn't know I'd never been here during the summer. And I changed the dress code. Summer number one.

[Chris Cody]

David, let me ask you something. Was this universal, like basketball? Excuse me. Baseball ops, everybody, or just everybody?

[Amin Elhassan]

You're in the office.

[Mike Ryan]

Imagine if Dan made us wear a suit and tie every day in the office here.

[David Sampson]

David also mandated that fans wear suit and tie. That's why no one showed up.

[Chris Cody]

Would you. Would you call that standard in baseball? Or was that you? That was you putting your own little twist on.

[Amin Elhassan]

That was me trying to bring Wall street to baseball.

[Ron McGill]

That was you cosplaying as the New York Yankees.

[Chris Cody]

No, but the Yankees don't.

[Amin Elhassan]

No, it was not, actually. I mean, I like where you're trying to be funny, but no, it wasn't that.

[Chris Cody]

Most sports franchises, they, they, the guys at least in ops, maybe the other, like marketing, whatever. But like for ops, everyone's wearing like team issued sweatshirt or like the polo or whatever. Like that's, that's what we wore every day.

[Amin Elhassan]

Collared shirts, standard issue. Were you forced to pay for your collared shirts? But hell no, man, they gave them to you free.

[Chris Cody]

The first day, first day of training camp, like, you go down there, the equipment manager hands you this suitcase, you know, like the duffel bag, the team issue duffel bag.

[Ron McGill]

Swag.

[Chris Cody]

And it's just. Yeah, because.

[Amin Elhassan]

Yikes.

[Chris Cody]

Because, well, back then it was Adidas. Adidas was just sending us stuff. So it's like, okay, you get this. We got shoes. The shoes weren't cool shoes, but they were shoes. Like, now they're Nike and they're getting tech fleece and they're getting air Maxes. And I'm like, oh, you guys get great deal. I used to get these ugly Adidas sneakers that I would never wear.

[David Sampson]

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[Ron McGill]

Wow.

[Dan LeBatard]

What's up?

[Ron McGill]

I just bought and financed a car through Carvana in minutes. You, the person who agonized four weeks.

[David Sampson]

Over whether to paint your walls eggshell.

[Dan LeBatard]

Or off white, bought and financed a car in minutes. They made it easy.

[David Sampson]

Transparent terms, customizable down and monthly.

[Ron McGill]

Didn't even have to do any paperwork. Wow.

[Mike Ryan]

Hey, have you checked out that spreadsheet.

[Ron McGill]

I sent you for our dinner?

[Mike Ryan]

Options finance your car with Carvana and experience total control financing subject to credit approval.

[Ron McGill]

You know that sound? It's the sound of money hitting your Venmo account. A friend paying you back.

[David Sampson]

Or maybe it's getting cash back from.

[Ron McGill]

Your favorite business when you pay with the Venmo debit card. Or it's realizing you can pay with Venmo at checkout at thousands of brands. Now there are so many more ways to answer the question.

[David Sampson]

What's your Venmo?

[Ron McGill]

Download Venmo. Today, the Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank N.A. pursuant to license by MasterCard International Incorporated. DOSH cashback terms apply.

[Dan LeBatard]

Don LeBatard. Chris Cody does an impression. Just be careful.

[David Sampson]

Dangerous game here. This is a dangerous game.

[Dan LeBatard]

I don't want to play this game. He was saying, man, I could do such a great. No, I don't want to play this game. He's like, man, this is like.

[Chris Cody]

This is who we're going to trust.

[David Sampson]

I mean, you do it. Let's let a mean do it. I think still got.

[Chris Cody]

I think you could do it, Chris, because you did a great Charles Barkley. You're one for one there.

[Dan LeBatard]

Did no one just hear the segment we just did with Amin? We cannot be taking judgment. Is not the council from the local drunk on whether or not you should do the impersonation of a black man stumbling over his words like you don't.

[David Sampson]

See the bad there it was Mose and Moody. Moody Moses.

[Dan LeBatard]

That. It sounds worse. Be careful, man.

[Chris Cody]

We gotta like.

[Dan LeBatard]

We cannot do this.

[David Sampson]

It's too close to the line.

[Chris Cody]

This is where the line is. Something legitimately funny can't be funny because we're scared our ginger's gonna do something racist by accident.

[David Sampson]

Carry the hell on. Dan. Rachel.

[Chris Cody]

Dan. The line is where we feel alive, though. This is the Dan lebatar show with the Stu cats.

[Amin Elhassan]

If we gave you free lebitard merch from Lebatarf.com would you wear it every day on the show?

[Chris Cody]

Absolutely.

[Amin Elhassan]

If we had the uniform, that it would be Lebatard. Different merch from the merch store.

[Chris Cody]

Maybe like 12% of my wardrobe as far as T shirts and stuff is stuff that I bought. It's all free stuff. It's all like, percent.

[David Sampson]

Huh?

[Amin Elhassan]

No, but I'm asking for this show.

[Chris Cody]

Yeah. If you gave.

[Amin Elhassan]

Would you wear. If the dress. If we had a dress, would the.

[Ron McGill]

Shirts be made by Robert Graham?

[Amin Elhassan]

No, they'd be available on le batardaf.com Pablo But I'm asking.

[Mike Ryan]

Having a uniform, but it has to be comfortable.

[Amin Elhassan]

No, but you'd get to choose. You. You'd get to choose. It would be issued by the company, and you would get to choose anything on the website and you'd have a little casual.

[Mike Ryan]

I feel like I'm also the only person here that actually dresses nice.

[David Sampson]

I was gonna say. Yep, sign me up. I'm offended by that.

[Mike Ryan]

And Jerbear wears the occasional nice cardigan. I will.

[David Sampson]

That's true.

[Mike Ryan]

For that.

[David Sampson]

Today he's going. Today he's going with the Dan look.

[Dan LeBatard]

Yeah.

[David Sampson]

Just got a T shirt.

[Amin Elhassan]

I'd like to think about that because I'd like to do more promotion, not just during the video breaks. I'd like us to wear what we want, our audience.

[Ron McGill]

For sure.

[Chris Cody]

If I got free merch, I would wear the free. This is free. I'm wearing free merch right now. Not from Le Batard, but I'm wearing merch. I wear. And look, where's my camera? If you have a business and you want to promote it, just send me merch. I'll wear it now. Make sure it doesn't look ugly, but, like, if it looks good.

[David Sampson]

You hear that, Viori?

[Chris Cody]

Yeah. You gotta wear it. I'll wear anything.

[David Sampson]

I mean, for what it's worth, David, I asked you once for a free shirt of my own with my own face on it, and your response to that was no. And the only reason we have it is because of Dan, not your face. So you don't get anything for free.

[Amin Elhassan]

Yes.

[David Sampson]

And I was trying to do what it is that you're asking right now.

[Amin Elhassan]

No, I agree. But as we're looking toward the future, we're trying to think of new things, new ways to promote what we're doing. And I agree that I said that to you. And I don't want to apologize. I want to say that I've evolved.

[David Sampson]

All right?

[Amin Elhassan]

And I'm looking at you've evolved into.

[Mike Ryan]

I'm sorry.

[Chris Cody]

So, Jeremy. This is his version of getting rid of the Tide.

[David Sampson]

Yeah.

[Dan LeBatard]

I'll take.

[Ron McGill]

Wait, wait, wait. I'm not sorry. The past version of me that I no longer am is sorry. But me, David Sampson, have evolved.

[David Sampson]

That is what he said.

[Chris Cody]

That past version doesn't apologize either, though.

[Amin Elhassan]

I'm. I'm.

[Mike Ryan]

But you know what? Credit for evolving, because some people don't evolve.

[David Sampson]

I appreciate it.

[Amin Elhassan]

Listen, and I'm not perfect. I was not perfect in my last life. I'm not perfect right now. And what I'm doing, I'm trying to be better. I'm trying to help the company.

[Ron McGill]

We are trying to make us dress like a breakdancing squad. Like, why are we all wearing the same stuff?

[Amin Elhassan]

Have you ever been to an NBA game? Have you looked at the bench of an NBA game recently?

[Mike Ryan]

I don't want to wear the same thing Dan Levatar is wearing.

[Chris Cody]

Let me know right now. I.

[Mike Ryan]

Or Chris Cody.

[Chris Cody]

I love what's happened. There are some people, 12 guys wearing.

[Amin Elhassan]

The same exact thing.

[Chris Cody]

I love it. There are people complaining like, I missed a days of no. Because the coach who makes $7 million a year and has a deal with.

[Ron McGill]

The local and copyrighted 3 Pete, he.

[Chris Cody]

Gets to wear the nice stuff. And then everybody else has to scrounge.

[Amin Elhassan]

Up whatever they got for and be Doug Moe.

[Chris Cody]

Yeah. You all know, man, I liked. I liked it.

[Dan LeBatard]

You know what I mean?

[Ron McGill]

Yeah.

[Mike Ryan]

By that explanation, like, you and Dan should be dressing the nicest of all of us. You're our executives that make the most money.

[Chris Cody]

Our money.

[Amin Elhassan]

I don't feel. I don't. I dress nicely for every show. When I'm in New York, I wear a blazer and shirt for every nothing.

[Mike Ryan]

For shorts and for every Lepaton cargo shorts and sandals.

[Amin Elhassan]

You do see what I am every Wednesday, I'm in a blazer.

[Dan LeBatard]

Thong.

[Ron McGill]

Sandals.

[Amin Elhassan]

What are they?

[David Sampson]

Sandals?

[Amin Elhassan]

They're thongs. I call them thongs.

[Ron McGill]

I wish you wouldn't.

[Chris Cody]

Thongs to the memories.

[Amin Elhassan]

That's the name of the show.

[Mike Ryan]

I guess we are wearing the same thing to work.

[David Sampson]

And now I need a David parody of thong to thong. Thong, thong.

[Chris Cody]

Oh, Jeremy, get on it.

[David Sampson]

Not that one.

[Chris Cody]

Why not?

[David Sampson]

But it's about sandals. All right, let me get to work.

[Chris Cody]

Jeremy, here's the word for you. Sandalous.

[David Sampson]

Sandal is.

[Ron McGill]

Yeah, see, Dominique's texting me that I need to take control of the show again. Can we bring it back to this Nico Harrison thing for a second? Because we're talking about what we're supposed to call things. And I feel like, I mean, on the Internet, people have misinterpreted something that was reported by Ethan Strauss at ESPN in the most clicked article on ESPN.com.

[Mike Ryan]

At the time, the Nike Steph Curry presentation.

[Ron McGill]

Yes.

[Mike Ryan]

What is the truth here?

[Ron McGill]

So people online have been saying that Nico Harrison called Steph Seth.

[Chris Cody]

He did not.

[Ron McGill]

And that's not what the story is. No, I mean, can you help clarify what the actual story is? Cuz it's one of the great stories in sports business that now comes back because Nico Harrison is the aforementioned, formerly anonymous guy who is now a thing that everybody has an opinion on.

[Chris Cody]

Right. So first of all, this is the most read article in the history of espn. More than Deflategate, more than Tiger woods crashing his car on Thanksgiving, more than any of those things. This was the most read article in the history of ESPN.com, ethan Strauss wrote it and it was.

[Ron McGill]

And it's 2016.

[Chris Cody]

In 2016. It's the example I bring up when I say the difference between news and transactions. If you tell me Luka Dynagic got traded to the Lakers and I didn't get a newsbreaker, Shams doesn't report it. I don't see it on SportsCenter and there's no press release and the agent doesn't say anything and the player doesn't go into social media. How would I know that? It happened when I turn on a Laker game. I was like, hey, what's Luka Dodges doing there? That's how I know. So it's not news. I was gonna find out one way or another. To me, news is stuff that we never were gonna find out. When we found out that Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, hey, they actually hate each other. Right. Because of the great reporting of Seth Wickersham. That's news, right?

[Ron McGill]

Right. There is something to the idea of when news is breaking. It'd be nice if it was breaking out of a thing that wanted to keep it contained.

[Chris Cody]

Exactly. Stuff that, were it not for the work of these intrepid journalists, we would never know. So Steph Curry goes from Nike to Under Armour. And everyone says, oh, you know, like that happens all the time. Upstart company comes in, bunch of money, stock options, whatever, and guys make the switch. But then Ethan wrote about how that came about and it's a long story. It starts with Kent Bazemore of all people, who's a virtual unknown NBA player.

[Ron McGill]

But a friend of Steph Curry's a friend of Steph Curry and an Under Armour client.

[Chris Cody]

Yes. And he's the one that led the recruiting pretty much to bring him over. But the nail in the coffin was when Nike was presenting its kind of, hey, this is our vision for your sneaker and your brand.

[Ron McGill]

Nike had to argue that Steph should stay with Nike. And this was in August. I mean, the second floor of the Oakland Marriott beneath the practice facility of Golden State. And notably missing were the people who actually had power.

[Chris Cody]

Yes.

[Ron McGill]

At Nike. So this guy, Lynn Merritt was a shadow. I mean, not even shadow. He's just known as. As the guy.

[Chris Cody]

He's a power broker within Nike. Right. Like so all the. David you would know. Right. If you walk into what you perceive to be a big meeting and then you walk in and it's like, these are all subordinates. These aren't the big dogs.

[Amin Elhassan]

You can't meet with non decision makers.

[Chris Cody]

There you go.

[Amin Elhassan]

Big mistake that people make. If you have a decision maker against a non decision maker, you have a waste of time.

[Ron McGill]

So the person who was there running the meeting instead of Lynn Merritt, who was famed for being a power broker, a LeBron James advisor at the time happens to have been Nico Harrison, who was a sports marketing director. That was his title. Not like Grand Poo Bob, but sports marketing director.

[Chris Cody]

And I'll give Nico some grace here. It's not like he was like the intern or entry level. No, at this point he is. He's pretty elite within Nike. He's Kobe Bryant's rep. He's Anthony, Anthony Davis. Like a lot of, A lot of the big names.

[Amin Elhassan]

Lepper.

[Chris Cody]

Yeah, he's.

[Ron McGill]

He would go on to be the VP of North America Basketball Ops for Nike. But he was not the number one.

[Dan LeBatard]

He was.

[Chris Cody]

He was not the number one guy. He was not the VP at the time. But also I just want to make sure he was not like the entry.

[Amin Elhassan]

Level guy wasn't the intern.

[Chris Cody]

Yeah.

[Amin Elhassan]

It wasn't Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson.

[Ron McGill]

And so the meeting begins. Amin.

[Chris Cody]

And they. It was. He mispronounced his name.

[Ron McGill]

Yeah. So the thing again, Nico is running the meeting, but the reporting is. And this is according to one of the unafraid people who ended up being a source for Ethan, a meaningful source. Who was in the room. Dell Curry, Steph's dad. Who said that one Nike official accidentally addressed Steph as Stephon. Stephon Curry. Stephen Curry. Not. Not his actual name, but the mispronunciation. So the meeting begins with them mispronouncing the name of the person they are recruiting. Not Great.

[Amin Elhassan]

Not gonna end well.

[Chris Cody]

That's the part where I couldn't remember. But I don't think Nico was the guy that mispronounced.

[Ron McGill]

He's not credited as the guy who accidentally addressed him as such.

[Chris Cody]

But people have taken that story out of context and turned it into Nico Harrison.

[Amin Elhassan]

Which people now?

[Chris Cody]

Yeah.

[Ron McGill]

Oh, no.

[Amin Elhassan]

Why are we telling this now?

[Ron McGill]

Because you come because of Nico Harrison being the guy who is again, credited and discredited with the Luka Doncic trade erasing the owners of the team. Incidentally, he's credited as the guy who called Steph Seth. But the funnier part of the meeting.

[Amin Elhassan]

Maybe Seth was there.

[Ron McGill]

I. That's irrelevant to what we're doing. The funnier part of the meeting, though, David, which I think you might appreciate, is that this meeting that was again, run by Nico Harrison. Right. So what does he get discredited for here? Maybe it's the fact that the meeting has a PowerPoint presentation, and the PowerPoint presentation is clearly for Kevin Durant.

[Chris Cody]

Yeah.

[Ron McGill]

His name is left on there by accident because they're repurposing a thing.

[Chris Cody]

Yes.

[Ron McGill]

For someone that they actually cared more about, for this guy that they're basically doing the theater of caring about. And that is an incredible.

[Amin Elhassan]

I've seen that a million times. Have you guys? Not when you're in sales. We got. I got resumes sent to me many times saying it is really be my honor to work for the Rangers. Or they. Because it's someone who.

[Mike Ryan]

I've gotten resumes like that, too. I was working at SB Nation. It was like, I'd love to join Bleacher Report. And we immediately threw them out.

[Amin Elhassan]

Immediately. Any spelling mistake put a P in my name.

[Mike Ryan]

Or there was one that was like, dear sirs. And I was like, out.

[Chris Cody]

You know, I once threw one out. Well, actually, I didn't throw it out. I almost framed it. I kept it in my desk. But he said his opening line was, I'll never forget this. I am writing to you on the advice of Pat Riley and Eric Svolstra. And I said, I've never spoken to either of these guys in my life. You're telling me the things you're gonna.

[Amin Elhassan]

Reach out to Amino.

[Chris Cody]

Reach out to Amino Hassan. He's the guy. I'm like, get the. But then I was like, I threw it away. Then I'm like, no, I'm keeping this one, because it was just so ridiculous. Who knew 10 years later I'd be on speaking terms with Pat Riley and Eric Spoelstro?

[Ron McGill]

Mm.

[Chris Cody]

Yeah. Joke's on me, I guess.

[Amin Elhassan]

No, the joke's on him for calling you 10 years too early and not getting a job. The reason why he went to Under Armour has nothing to do with Kevin Durant has the misname or the mispronunciation or the fact that it was Nico instead of, you know, Phil Knight. It's simply what Under Armour was doing back then is they were doing irresponsible deals and startup companies. And one did this a bunch of times. There's a bunch of companies.

[Ron McGill]

Oh, and one. Oh, speaking of merch, I'd love to wear. No, it's just old enough to be in my sweet spot.

[Chris Cody]

But, David. Yes, except that one was the one that was the right deal. Like, you're right. But that one, you know, like a broken clock.

[Amin Elhassan]

It turns out they hit on that one.

[Chris Cody]

And you know who else hit perfectly on that one? Kent Bazemore, who's rich beyond everyone's wildest dreams now because of. He had Under Armour stock.

[Ron McGill]

Yes, because Steph Curry and that shoe became, if not next to Kyrie Irving's shoe, the most popular shoe among young people.

[Chris Cody]

It was the number one selling basketball sneaker, like, for the first.

[Ron McGill]

It was. It was for Under Armour. Yes.

[Chris Cody]

No, no, the most. The top selling basketball sneakers.

[Amin Elhassan]

Including Air Jordan.

[Chris Cody]

Including Jordans. Because. Because it was every. Like all these youth teams. Under Armour was.

[Ron McGill]

Oh, this was again, going back to the idea of dynasties and villainy. This was the warriors right at their heyday.

[Chris Cody]

Risk is hit right at the peak. And then the Steph Curry twos came out, and that's where it kind of right.

[Mike Ryan]

Their stock was, like, doing really well in the mid 2010s, but it's not doing so hot anymore.

[Amin Elhassan]

So that, to me, is what I wanted to mention, is that you can get all the players and get all the excitement and have the great press conferences, but if you speak to Kevin Plank or others who own Under Armour stock, they're despondent beyond repair.

[Ron McGill]

Well, yeah, if you look at the curve, 20, 21 peak, and then it's.

[Amin Elhassan]

Been a lot of value, and that's four years later. And the market has been going up, up, up until the tariffs and. Well, till the tariffs started and then disappeared and the market rebounded, which is ripe for insider information.

[Mike Ryan]

But I've been thinking the same thing.

[Amin Elhassan]

Don't kiss yourself. You got to buy the dips. When they dip because of something Trump does, you buy that dip. Buy, buy, buy. Because he's just making it up.

[Mike Ryan]

Except if this is finally it.

[Amin Elhassan]

No this is not investment advice, obviously, but Jessica, you can't think that when.

[Mike Ryan]

You'Re doing something playing the market daily.

[Ron McGill]

Like that, to quote an and one shirt. Grab a notebook. You're about to be school.

[Amin Elhassan]

That's very good.

[Mike Ryan]

Speaking of signature shoes though, Asia Wilson's shoe is coming out in May and it looks phenomenal.

[Chris Cody]

Can I say?

[David Sampson]

Sure.

[Chris Cody]

Did Nike drop the ball?

[Mike Ryan]

On what?

[Ron McGill]

On waiting a May release.

[Mike Ryan]

Like it should be out now.

[Chris Cody]

All Star weekend.

[Ron McGill]

The shoe does look good, if we can show that.

[Mike Ryan]

I think the league like the first game though is May. So it's going to be right when.

[Amin Elhassan]

The start of the WNBA season. All Star weekend. Of what? The NBA?

[Chris Cody]

Yeah.

[Amin Elhassan]

Oh, I think it's based on the wnba, but.

[Chris Cody]

I know, but it's a, it's a high profile kind of marketing, but it's.

[Mike Ryan]

Like her jersey was just retired this week. This past weekend too.

[Dan LeBatard]

So there's.

[Mike Ryan]

I. Doesn't really matter when they launch. Regardless, there's a lot of hype around.

[David Sampson]

Regardless of what season we're talking about. Wnba, NBA. You should get game time. Oh, download the game time app, Create an account. Use code DAN for 20 off your first purchase terms do apply. What time is it, Jeremy? Thank you, David.

[Mike Ryan]

I feel like it'll be really cool when she walks out on the court for like the academy. His first game in the shoe and then it goes on sale and all the other stuff that they're releasing with it. I just, I want all of it.

[Amin Elhassan]

Is the bam stuff because of the shoe? Am I mixing stories?

[Mike Ryan]

Okay, so her jersey was retired at South Carolina this past weekend and she. That's where the video was of her talking about bam that some are calling a hard launch.

[Chris Cody]

But Hard launch.

[Mike Ryan]

I disagree.

[Ron McGill]

But we'll listen good EPA tell for ourself.

[David Sampson]

I wouldn't be who I am today without the love, support and sacrifices of so many people.

[Ron McGill]

And what a blessing to have those.

[David Sampson]

Most special to me courtside today.

[Dan LeBatard]

Especially my favorite Olympian from out of town.

[David Sampson]

Oh, come on.

[Chris Cody]

She.

[Ron McGill]

Chris Cody.

[Dan LeBatard]

Hold on.

[Ron McGill]

Asia Wilson. Chris Cody.

[Chris Cody]

Jessica. If it were any harder of a launch, she'd be pregnant.

[David Sampson]

That's what I'm saying.

[Mike Ryan]

No, a hard launch is like you're like, you don't post anything on social media for two years and then all of a sudden you post a picture and you're wearing an engagement ring. That's a hard line that fell. We already know that. There's like obviously something going on with her and bam and the camera, whoever the camera person is. I know they didn't see this coming. But you gotta. You gotta cut to Bam.

[Chris Cody]

You gotta have a guy, a Bam cam the whole time.

[Ron McGill]

Bam cam. Thank you, ma'am. Absolutely.

[Amin Elhassan]

So. Excuse me. They've been dating a long time. This was not news. The rumor had been.

[Ron McGill]

Well, this is. This is the whole thing. The degrees of launch.

[Amin Elhassan]

Is she launching it coincidentally with the shoe and with the announcement shoe?

[Chris Cody]

Well, that's what everyone was saying, that Bam needs to wear the shoe.

[Amin Elhassan]

Now this is what I was trying to ascertain because that would be a PR strategy, a business strategy to have the shoe announced, to have the relationship announced, to have Bam wear the shoe. It would be a.

[Mike Ryan]

They're just going to keep doing stuff like this and like, not. Not let us see any canoodling. That's my point.

[Ron McGill]

That's my thing with.

[Mike Ryan]

Is a hard launch.

[Ron McGill]

I agree. We have not seen them even. I mean, so yes, they've been in the same photograph together, but it's been sort of in that paparazzi way, which is a soft. If anything.

[Amin Elhassan]

Were they holding hands in Paris?

[Ron McGill]

Were they holding hands, though?

[Chris Cody]

Well, no, there was another canoodling. There was an event here, I think. Was it the main goddess or.

[David Sampson]

No, I think it was the Dwyane Wade statue. Was it not? I thought it was something. She's also related. She has been also like courtsided several games. Or is it metal related? When they got their medals?

[Chris Cody]

I think when they got their medals. Several is understating it. Like there was a point I found out because I'm like, why is Asia Wilson every Heat game? And someone's like, you idiot.

[Ron McGill]

She's a big Duncan Robinson fan.

[Mike Ryan]

I think it was an Olympics related, like Miami giving the key to the city thing.

[Amin Elhassan]

They met in the village of the city.

[Chris Cody]

No.

[Amin Elhassan]

Did they meet in the Olympic village before the Olympics?

[David Sampson]

They were together before that. Or at least that's what a report, Jeremy, that a Miami Heat report from you. That is not an exclusive report.

[Mike Ryan]

That is not what I'm saying. Get the gossip on this.

[Chris Cody]

I will confirm that.

[David Sampson]

I'm not reporting that.

[Chris Cody]

I will confirm to you. They were dating well before the Olympics.

[David Sampson]

I don't know what you're confirming because there was no report. That's an Amien report, not a Jerry report.

[Chris Cody]

That's an Amine report. Dude, he played at the Suns in Phoenix. I'm taking my kid to go meet Jason Jackson. And then Asia Wilson was like, oh, take a picture of Asia Wilson. And I'm like, why is Asia Wilson here? But I'm like, ah, Vegas.

[Mike Ryan]

Sweet summer child.

[Chris Cody]

Dude, it took so many times. I felt like Dan finding out that John Amici was gay. Right? Like, what do you mean? It's like you're going to gay bars with them and stuff and Dan still doesn't get it.

[Amin Elhassan]

Do you say to your kid when you're bringing the kid to the game, cut, cut. Like went to meet. Photo, photo. Are you directing everything?

[Chris Cody]

No, not. Not for that, but I just said, oh, that's cool. Picture with Adrian Wilson. Oh, yeah, but I do. I. We do when we're watching the episode. You see, you see how he cut? See, see that right there? That's. We do that a lot.

[Ron McGill]

I would draft Asia Wilson and Bam Adebayo's child right now.

[Chris Cody]

That kid's not gonna play basketball.

[David Sampson]

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