The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Hour 3: The Racket Smash (feat. Jessica Smetana)
April 8, 2026
Recorded live from the Elser Hotel, Downtown Miami

Episode Overview

This hour of the Dan Le Batard Show welcomes Jessica Smetana as the crew meanders through the latest in sports and pop culture with their trademark humor and skepticism. The central segment is built around Greg Cody’s bold claim that he could smash a tennis racket in one or two throws—a feat eventually, and hilariously, put to the test. Along the way, the conversation touches on NBA and NCAA coaching, live stream “hexes,” Miami’s new Inter Miami stadium, Angel Reese’s WNBA trade, the Don Staley-Geno Auriemma drama, and whether friendship wins championships.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. NBA & NCAA Coaching Comparisons

(01:50 – 04:35)

• Dan raises questions about why Michael Malone (taking over the North Carolina basketball program) is being trusted more than Bill Belichick was with North Carolina football, referencing Belichick’s struggles and quick dismissal.
• Panel consensus: It’s easier to maintain an elite basketball program at a blue-blood school like UNC, due to recruiting power and program heritage, compared to turning around a middling football team like UNC's.
  • Greg Cody: “You can probably name them on one hand, the number of teams where basketball is so big that it completely dwarfs football on the same campus. And North Carolina is definitely one of those.” (04:03)

2. Le Batard Show “Live Stream Curse”

(05:21 – 07:50)

• Chris Cody laments that the crew’s watch-alongs and live streams consistently bring bad luck to Miami teams.
  • Jeremy Peacock (jokingly): “It’s 0 and 647.” (05:43)
• Dan details their most recent misfortunes: The Heat’s blowout loss, the Marlins’ collapse, and the hockey team’s playoff elimination, joking about Miami sports culture now rooting for losses to improve draft lottery odds.
  • Dan: “We're such losers that we're rooting for losing to improve our positioning with ping pong balls.” (07:34)
• Crew: Debates the true value of improving draft position by a few picks, largely agreeing it rarely matters unless it’s a top-4 lottery jump, but also that “pick 12 is better than pick 16.” (09:21, Mike)

3. New Inter Miami Stadium Experience

(09:25 – 13:52)

• Greg Cody details his trip to Inter Miami’s new stadium—impressed by its interior but unimpressed with the unfinished exterior and brutal airport-adjacent traffic:
  • “That stadium is not finished. There’s giant cranes, construction cranes taller than the stadium.” (10:47)
  • “Inter Miami will never play a game any day, anytime that isn’t affected by airport traffic.” (11:26)
  • But, once inside: “It’s a palace. … Messi is going to become a part owner when he’s done playing. He’s always going to be a face of the club in a way.” (12:37)
• Panel: Debates if Messi’s legacy will keep fans coming post-retirement; consensus is that the club’s brand power, youth academy, and recent success will carry momentum.

4. The Anticipation: Greg Cody’s Racket Challenge

(17:19 – 19:33)

• Central throughline: Will Greg Cody actually break a modern tennis racket by smashing it as pros, like Medvedev, famously do?
  • Dan: “That looks like something that Greg Cody will not have the power and ability to break in any way.” (17:19)
  • Jessica worries more about damaging studio equipment than Greg injuring himself, suggesting the garage for safety. (18:41)
  • Greg Cody expresses guilt about destroying a “perfectly good racket”—“It would be like having a beautiful 16-ounce perfectly cooked ribeye steak and throwing it in the garbage.” (18:59)

5. Angel Reese WNBA Trade & Atlanta Dream

(19:33 – 24:27)

• Jessica critiques the popular narratives around Angel Reese’s trade to the Atlanta Dream, clarifying most takes misunderstand the Chicago Sky’s dysfunction:
  • “It was interesting, Dan, to see people who aren’t familiar with the Chicago Sky but do have thoughts about Angel Reese try to swoop in with a take…” (19:58)
  • “This has been the Sky’s MO for eternity. All of their best players ask to leave…”
• Trade deemed lopsided in the Dream’s favor, with Atlanta becoming the “SEC’s WNBA team” for branding and fanbase synergy.
  • “You can kind of market the Dream as this is the SEC’s WNBA team.” (22:40)
• Greg Cody queries if the Dream are now favorites; Jessica says it’s too early but lauds the fit: “She averages over 13 rebounds per game in her rookie season… She’s probably going to, you know, get the ball a lot in the paint…” (23:12)

6. Nostalgic Digression: Paper Newspaper “Machines”

(24:27 – 25:49)

• Panel humorously debates what to call those old coin-fed newspaper stands.
  • Jessica (laughing): “It’s a stand, isn’t it? ... I don’t think I would call it a machine.” (24:47)
  • Greg Cody: “I used to call it a newspaper box … You can cheat and steal and take three news.” (25:19)

7. Mike Tomlin’s Future & TV Potential

(25:49 – 29:42)

• Dan/Panel discuss Mike Tomlin’s quiet departure from the Steelers and speculate on his broadcast potential.
  • Jessica: “He just always has a weird way to say something that you’ve never heard, which I think makes for a good television analyst.” (27:51)
  • Greg Cody is skeptical about Tomlin’s TV “effervescence.”
  • Dan pushes back: “If you give me all of the coaching personalities … This is the very top of the list in terms of fun talkers and personality.” (28:59)
  • Comic aside: “Jason Garrett’s on television!” (29:25)

8. The Racket Smash: Live Payoff

(39:52 – 42:57)

• Anticipation builds as Greg brings the racket outside for his fiery display of strength.
  • Jessica (deadpan): “Let’s go back to Greg and see him hurt his little baby pinky fingers.” (40:12)
• The panel places bets: scratch, dent, catastrophic shrapnel?
• Greg confidently declares: “I feel really confident. I think the racket will break the first time I strike it. If not the first, then certainly the second.” (41:03)
• The big moment: Greg strikes! The result?
  • Dan: “That wasn’t good enough… I don’t think I wanted… Still usable. I don’t think…”
  • Jessica: “That angle of his… Trying to kill Karacha, Bill Murray in Kingpin.” (42:48)

9. Dawn Staley vs. Geno Auriemma & Women’s College Hoops Drama

(32:32 – 36:55)

• Jessica delivers a measured but critical take on Auriemma’s recent media beef and half-hearted apologies.
  • “I’m sort of judging the body of work here. And the body of work, to me, tells me that he’s a sore loser…” (33:08)
  • On Geno’s apology: “There’s a humblebrag in the first sentence… At least we know he actually wrote this one.” (34:51)
• Dan asks how this affects legacy; Jessica contends the perception as a sore loser predates this episode for some fan bases.

10. The Power of Friendship in Sports

(37:27 – 39:01)

• “Power of friendship”—a running joke about team chemistry deciding championships.
  • Jessica: “This is an example of how the power of friendship won a championship for UCLA women’s basketball this season … They all wanted to stick together and come back and win this thing next year.” (38:04)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Nothing seems to go right whenever we do a live stream for real.”
  — Chris Cody (05:21)

• “We're such losers that we're rooting for losing to improve our positioning with ping pong balls.”
  — Dan LeBatard (07:34)

• “I would hate to ruin a perfectly good racket… It would be like having a beautiful 16-ounce perfectly cooked ribeye steak and throwing it in the garbage.”
  — Greg Cody (19:14)

• “This has been the Sky’s MO for eternity. All of their best players ask to leave.”
  — Jessica Smetana (19:58)

• “He just always has a weird way to say something that you’ve never heard, which I think makes for a good television analyst.”
  — Jessica Smetana on Mike Tomlin (27:51)

• “I will forgive, but I'm not gonna forget.”
  — Jessica Smetana on the Geno Auriemma/Don Staley beef (35:26)

• “Let’s go back to Greg and see him hurt his little baby pinky fingers.”
  — Jessica Smetana, setting up the smash (40:12)

• “That angle of his… Trying to kill Karacha, Bill Murray in Kingpin.”
  — Jessica Smetana, after Greg’s failed smash (42:48)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:50 – Malone vs. Belichick: Why is basketball “easier” at blue-blood schools?
• 05:21 – The Le Batard Show watch-along curse; Miami sports misery.
• 09:25 – Greg Cody’s Inter Miami stadium adventure (unfinished and underwhelming exterior, but a palace inside).
• 17:19 – Introducing “the racket smash” and Greg’s bravado.
• 19:33 – Angel Reese WNBA trade: Insight and league impact.
• 23:00 – Will Atlanta Dream become instant favorites?
• 24:27 – Newspaper “machine” or “stand”? Panel debates.
• 25:49 – Mike Tomlin’s future: TV personality or not?
• 32:32 – Dawn Staley vs. Geno Auriemma: Apologies and legacy.
• 37:27 – Friendship as a superpower: UCLA women's basketball.
• 39:52 – Bets on Greg Cody’s upcoming “Smash Heard ‘Round the Studio.”
• 41:03–42:57 – The actual racket attempt: anticlimax and jokes.

Conclusion

This episode is a quintessential Le Batard blend: irreverent, insightful, and full of inside jokes and cultural detours. The “racket smash” becomes a metaphor for the crew’s endearing overconfidence, with Jessica Smetana lending expert sports insight and deadpan wit throughout. The show also offers candid commentary on women’s sports business moves, local Miami developments, and legacies in coaching—proving the Le Batard Show can be both goofy and genuinely thoughtful, often in the same breath.