Jason Benetti: MLB's Funniest Broadcaster? | Hour 1

Summary

The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Episode Title: Jason Benetti: MLB's Funniest Broadcaster? | Hour 1
Release Date: May 26, 2026
Summary by Segment with Timestamps

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Overview

This episode, recorded at the Elser Hotel in Downtown Miami, features MLB broadcaster Jason Benetti—known for his wit and originality—joining Dan Le Batard, Stugotz, and the crew. The main theme is the intersection of humor and sports broadcasting: why isn't sports coverage funnier, and how does Benetti manage to infuse genuine levity into his broadcasts? The group also debates memorable broadcast moments, sports media personalities, and current MLB/ NBA storylines, all with the Show’s trademark irreverence and banter.

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Section 1: How Many Catchphrases Can Jason Benetti Sneak Into a Broadcast?

[01:57 – 07:15]

• The show sets up a fundraising gimmick: broadcasters sneak silly catchphrases into live sports calls, with donations made to ALS charity per phrase used.
• Stugotz worries Benetti will be too competent at this and bankrupt him:
  • “I fear Benetti will do all 60 of them. Like, I genuinely fear he’ll bankrupt me.” (Stugotz, 03:01)
• Jason Benetti joins the conversation, clarifying rules ("Does it have to be exact tonality?") and the difficulty of slipping certain phrases into a game.
• They play a hilarious, rapid-fire list of the phrases (some examples: "I'm Fuller than Vern Fuller," "Nice hat, asshole," "Trailers for sale or rent," “Hee Haw 3 Bideup”).
• Benetti commits to the challenge but points out some are almost impossible for a professional context:
  • “The one that includes the word 'asshole' is probably a no for me, right?” (Benetti, 07:04)
• There’s friendly banter over who should get paid what for which phrase, and worries about the "bankruptcy potential" if Benetti takes it too far.

Notable Quotes:

• “You know, the plate umpire will drop his signature like he haw3 or whatever...” (Dan, 02:31)
• “There is a dump button. It's called Jason loses one of his jobs.” (Benetti, 07:20)
• “Once this sort of phrase is installed in my head, I start to see it on the face of every child across the country. So I can't be responsible for when it comes out of my mouth.” (Benetti, 06:13)

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Section 2: The Dinner with Boog—Meta Conversation about Baseball and Broadcasting

[08:00 – 11:25]

• Benetti and Boog Sciambi are auctioning off “Dinner with Us” for charity, with listeners able to bid extra for a celebrity third guest (“If you want Barack Obama... better bid and we'll go try to get him”).
• Role-play: Dan and Benetti imagine an awkward dinner with “fake Boog” – re-creating Boog’s bombastic, tangent-filled style.
  • "I was just talking about the Mac and cheese. Why did Jim Deshay's come up? No, I wasn't even going to say anything." (Dan, 09:20)
• The crew discusses the art of silence in baseball broadcasts, referencing Giants announcers Kuiper/Kruko giving 12 seconds of silence after a walk-off loss:
  • Dan: “Can you tell me what kind of bravery that requires... to just stay silent and have people checking the television because they think they lost the sound?” (10:03)
• Benetti: It requires confidence, but “at the end of a telecast where it feels like homicide was committed on your baseball team,” you have to plug the next sponsored segment in a cheery voice, which is an absurd contradiction.

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Section 3: Why Isn’t Sports Broadcasting Funnier? Benetti’s Theories

[11:25 – 14:02]

• Dan lauds Benetti's humor, asking, “Do you have a theory for why more sports coverage isn’t funny?”
• Benetti, with self-deprecating wit, says:
  • “So here’s why other people aren’t as funny as me. Let me start with that...” (11:48, Benetti)
• He theorizes that broadcast tradition is stiff, but audience/team culture (especially after losing streaks) expects somberness that he finds bizarre:
  • “The whole, like, somber because of losing thing just has never matched my sensibility and seems a little bit like the Chuckles the Clown Mary Tyler Moore episode... I'm never in the right place for the social norms.” (Benetti, 13:11)
• Benetti prefers to keep broadcasts “alive” and will still crack jokes during an eight-game losing streak.
• The segment ends with playful appreciation for Benetti’s personality:
  • Stugotz: “You need to stop respecting the somberness of the fan base and just be yourself at all times... you're beloved because you're funny.” (17:57)

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Section 4: Remembering John Sterling—Intentional and Unintentional Humor

[18:35 – 19:49]

• Trista asks Benetti for his take on now-deceased Yankees broadcaster John Sterling, calling him “very funny, low key.”
• Benetti says Sterling blurred the line between bit and genuine personality:
  • "You could never possibly put all the sliders of personality into the proper place to make another one of him. There's no chance." (18:47, Benetti)
• Sterling's pop culture/music references and self-awareness made him “still underrated” outside New York.

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Section 5: Reporter Showdown – Who Painted the Picture Better?

[19:49 – 22:44]

• Stugotz has Benetti judge two sideline-reporters: one in NYC ("It’s pandemonium, it’s euphoria!") and Jeremy Tache in Miami (“This crowd here is hoisting babies!”).
• Benetti diplomatically calls it a “coin flip,” but jokes that Jeremy's “hoisting babies” moment felt staged:
  • “...Jeremy said, okay, when I start the phrase, they're hoisting babies, take your small child and do the Simba thing with it, which I think is dangerous and I also think is unacceptable.” (21:22, Benetti)
• Show lampoons “creating the news” by staging reactions.

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Section 6: Modern MLB Freaks, Ohtani vs. Wemby, and the Evolution of Athlete Superstars

[22:44 – 27:02]

• Recap of pitching phenom Jacob Mizorowski’s 100+ mph performance leads to discussion of Nolan Ryan’s legendary intimidation.
• On generational “freaks”:
  • Jeremy asks Benetti: “Bigger freak right now: Wembanyama or Ohtani?” (24:35)
  • Benetti picks Ohtani: “The Dodgers basically get an extra person twice. Once because he's that good at both things, and then twice because of the roster exemption.” (24:38)
• Stugotz and Dan speculate if Ohtani will win a Cy Young:
  • “If he puts it down on paper and says, I'm gonna do it, just by sheer force of will, he's gonna do it. I think he's such a joy to watch. And that's asinine.” (Dan, 26:02)
• The crew marvels at Ohtani’s unique combination of skills, concluding he’s a “cyborg without a cyborg's personality.” (Dan, 26:37)

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Section 7: Sportscaster Pronunciation Debate & The Value of Magic Tricks

[32:55 – 37:06]

• A light segment turns into a running joke about how to pronounce NBA coach Tom Thibodeau’s last name ("Thibodeau" or "Thibodeau"), with references to French linguistics and crowd-sourced online sources.
• Trista: “In French, the H is never pronounced... so in names like Thibodeau, the letters th are simply pronounced like a standard hard T.” (35:12)
• Stugotz: “Minor penalty, two minutes, delay a show.” (35:28)
• The panel ultimately agrees to let Thibodeau dictate his own pronunciation.

Sub-debate: Breaking Down Magic Tricks in Sports Media

• Discussion about Pablo Torre’s "debunking" of mentalist Oz Perlman, set off by Colin Cowherd's ribbing (“We've gone from investigative journalism to debunking the Easter Bunny.” [30:46, Cowherd])
• The show laughs about Cowherd’s critique and debates whether explaining magic tricks spoils the fun or enhances appreciation.
• Jeremy: “That’s why I like Penn and Teller, because Penn and Teller explained the trick.” (34:21)

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Section 8: Modern Basketball Stats and the MVP Conundrum

[38:12 – 42:13]

• The group debates statistical inflation in NBA scoring, comparing modern numbers (e.g., Shea Gilgeous-Alexander) to Jordan’s Bulls.
• Stugotz: “There has been an offensive distortion... teams... probably double digits better than Michael Jordan's Bulls teams...” (39:04)
• Jeremy and Stugotz discuss how the MVP isn't always the best player in the playoffs, citing LeBron/ Derrick Rose and Steve Nash/ Shaq.
• A lighthearted mention of a fan holding up a mini Oscar for “flopping” at a game: “He's the first two time MVP to also win an Oscar award courtside...” (41:54, Jeremy)

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Section 9: The Changing Vibe of 'Inside the NBA'

[42:13 – 42:52]

• Dan notes, “Not quite feeling the same, even though everything is the same except for a couple of things,” about Inside the NBA.
• Jeremy theorizes viewer habits have shifted: other studio shows compete for attention.
• Pablo jokes: “You're not waking up to Charmed in the Morning.” (42:52)

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Episode Highlights

• Most Memorable Quote:
  • “Once this sort of phrase is installed in my head, I start to see it on the face of every child across the country. So I can't be responsible for when it comes out of my mouth.” (Benetti, 06:13)
• Funniest Running Bit:
  • The overblown fear of Benetti bankrupting Stugotz by being “too good” at sneaking in catchphrases for charity.
• Baseball as Comedy and Tragedy:
  • Benetti’s take on refusing to match team/fanbase gloom, even during losing streaks.
• Touching Tribute:
  • “You could never possibly put all the sliders of personality into the proper place to make another one of him. There's no chance.” (Benetti on John Sterling, 18:47)

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Conclusion

This episode is classic Le Batard Show at its best: free-flowing, irreverent, and packed with industry insights and meta-commentary about sports media. Jason Benetti’s presence elevates the conversation about humor in sports broadcasting, while the playful debate about catchphrases, the realities of modern sports stats, and the loving eulogy for John Sterling show the full range of the show’s comedy and depth. Even if you missed the episode, this summary distills its endearing mix of insight, banter, and laughter.

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Transcript

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[Greg Cody]

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[Dan Le Batard]

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[Stugats]

James Harden in three elimination games this season, seven for 27 from the field, one for 17 from three.

[Jeremy]

They're gonna give him more money.

[Stugats]

Woof. We've told you before that Jason Benetti is as good as anyone who is broadcasting games of any kind, not just baseball games. And we wanted to bring him in to see if we could get a discounted rate for charity on sneaking catchphrases into a broadcast. I'm told that Boog was able to do one of these this weekend. He's going off script. We have not. Do I have to pay for this? I told him I'd give him $1,000 for a Hee Haw 3 to his ALS charity, but I don't he's not doing it when he's supposed to do it. He's just doing it whenever he wants to.

[Dan Le Batard]

You know, the plate umpire will drop his signature like he haw3 or whatever. Is that the same when he's just doing it Part of conversation.

[Tony]

He didn't actually.

[Jeremy]

He didn't actually do the call obvious.

[Dan Le Batard]

And he didn't say.

[Stugats]

But that's right. He didn't say the bidet up. So I think I only have to give $400 instead of $1,000.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, yeah. Just take the money from the charity. For sure.

[Stugats]

Yeah, I think, well, you got to honor. You kind of honor the.

[Pablo]

Dan didn't do that. Boog did.

[Jeremy]

Boog left money on the table.

[Stugats]

That's Boog's fault. And Boog could have helped people suffer from ALS more. And he failed. And that's a Boog problem. And we'll bring on Jason Benetti here to see if he can do better. I think it should be cheaper, though, with Benetti. Do I have this wrong? I think because this is what I fear. Boog will do it three or four times. Benetti will do all 60 of them. Like, I genuinely fear he'll bankrupt me. Here he is right now and he's smiling the entire time. We have sent him a list of the phrases. How many of these do you think you could do during a broadcast?

[Dan Le Batard]

Nothing says, yeah, Jason, go do this. Like hazing. Boog coming into the segment for doing it wrong. Yeah, it's super welcoming. I'm very happy to do it. No, it sounds like fun, but there seem to be a lot of parameters. Like, does it have to be the exact tonality? Do I have to do it in the same cadence? I just want to know what the rules are before we embark on this.

[Stugats]

Okay, fair enough. Fair enough. But it's hee haw. 3 Bideup is the whole phrase. You gotta do the whole phrase. Let's play for Benetti all of the catchphrases and see how many he thinks he might be able to do.

[Greg Cody]

Number 60. I'm Fuller than Vern Fuller. 59. Where's my click click? 58. Hey, Butterfinger. 57. Punt. 56. Scranton. 55. I'm busy in a one arm paper hanger. 54. Georgia, Georgia. 53. I'm the kind of guy that. 52. Ball on the jack. 51. Hey, hey, with the monkeys, baby. Thank you, Billy. 49. I love him like a pet. 48. Who made it a salad? 47. We're rolling now, huh? 46. You're brain beating me. 45. Let's go, States. 44. Driver comfort is paramount. 43. Dummy up, save up. 42 catches catch, can. 41. Doesn't make it right. 40. So on and so forth. 39.

[Stugats]

Very good.

[Greg Cody]

38. The Little League Theory 37. Nice hat, asshole. 36. The others, they all learn from me. 35. Don't go showering to try to please me. 34. Look at that jerk.

[Jeremy]

33.

[Greg Cody]

It's like a packing house in here. 32. What'd you learn? 31. Hee Haw.

[Stugats]

3.

[Greg Cody]

Badap. 30. I'm not gonna take a quiz. 29. Sassafras. 28. Would we break a window? 27. Hello. 26. Who won? 25. Trailers for sale or rent? 24. You gotta eat a peg of dirt before you die. 23. Three words. We are the Lobos. And now 22, you're going to go to Buffalo with Bernie Parmalee and number 21, Rappy Cac.

[Stugats]

Go ahead.

[Dan Le Batard]

So this is why I think the tone matters. Like if you're going to get me at the dollar tree rate, which you seem to be interested in. I think. I think one of the things that we have to agree on is if I nail the tone, that's a double your money sort of red, white and blue, three point contest ball situation.

[Stugats]

Okay, I'll agree to that. Now, where are we doing this though? Are we doing it as the play by play announcer of Sunday Night Baseball on NBC and Peacock? Or are we doing it as the television voice of the Detroit Tigers?

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, Dan, here's the problem. Once this sort of phrase is installed in my head, I start to see it on the face of every child across the country. So I can't be responsible for when it comes out of my mouth.

[Stugats]

Okay? So it can happen at any point. All right? Any, any point until Lou Gehrig Day, June 2, we might have the pleasure of just hearing. How many of these do you think you can do? Because what should I be paying for this? Guys, we are paying $500 for each boog phrase. But again, boog. I thought Boog was going to bankrupt me by doing 20 of them. He said I'll do three or four. I fear Benetti will do all of them. And then just check the Greg Cody podcast featuring Greg cody and last 20 we haven't played and start doing those. I fear this man, this man can cost me a lot of money. How many do you think you can do?

[Dan Le Batard]

So how many were there? There are like 35, something like that.

[Pablo]

40.

[Dan Le Batard]

I can do, I can do. I can do 100 of them. No. So, but here's the thing. The one that includes the word asshole is probably a no for me, right? I just have to say.

[Stugats]

Right.

[Dan Le Batard]

But I do have a message. What's that?

[Jeremy]

There's no dump button on your network.

[Dan Le Batard]

There is. There, you know what? There's. There is a dump button. It's called Jason loses one of his jobs. It's exciting. We like using that one. Some people really like using that one. And I will say Boog does have a message for you, Dan, that he sent me. It's. I. I was told that there were rules to this, so I, you know,

[Stugats]

I didn't know you did. I didn't know you had a Boog shami in your repertoire. I didn't know that.

[Dan Le Batard]

You know, it's. It's fine. But I thought that we were friends,

[Tony]

So.

[Dan Le Batard]

Here's the thing about Boog and the charity, though.

[Tony]

I don't.

[Dan Le Batard]

I don't know that Boog has told you this. Boog and I are doing a joint. We're doing a joint charity item that's gonna air on his show. It's called Dinner with Us. Because who wouldn't want to have dinner with us? Boog and me. Right? The hubris is part of the package. So you're gonna bid on having dinner with us, but you can also put in an extra dollar amount bid to bring a third person along with us. And that dollar amount has to hit the level that that person, whoever that is, that celebrity. If you want Barack Obama to be at dinner with us, you better bid and we'll go try and get him. So there's an extra bid of can we get this person? Like, somebody could put in, like, Dan Levitard and can we get him to dinner with us? And they'd have to bid, what, like, 50, $60 million?

[Stugats]

Well, you guys are, like, friends with Eddie Vedder and st a really big prize like that. You guys can actually get somebody giant to be at that dinner. But I'd like to recreate that. Just. Let's play with this for a second. I'm sitting next to fake Boog at dinner. Can we go ahead and recreate what that sounds like as you're looking at the menu and the pecan encrusted tilapia?

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, can you first ask me where I'm staying, what hotel I'm staying at for the dinner with us?

[Stugats]

Where are you staying that weekend we're having dinner?

[Dan Le Batard]

I wouldn't worry about it. He literally said that to me. I asked him where he's staying in Arizona on the phone, and he goes, I wouldn't worry about it. I was like, what is this? This is not conversation. So he'd be sitting there with the menu and he'd be like, I'm not eating red meat anymore. And yeah, you know, JD's, JD's the best. I mean he really is the best. You're like, I was just talking about the Mac and cheese. Why did Jim Deshay's come up. No, I wasn't even going to say anything. I was just, he just does that. So there's like the low sort of hum, the.

[Jeremy]

Yeah.

[Dan Le Batard]

You know.

[Stugats]

No, you got it down this, this last week the Giants have had a really tough season and they lost to Arizona on a walk off. And Kruko and Kuiper are among the best that there are in announcing the Giants announcers. And on the walk, walk off, they gave 12 seconds of silence, 12 seconds of silence where that you can just hear how crushed they are. And I think it was Kuyper who said, I don't have anything to say. And then they just stopped the broadcast. Can you tell me what kind of bravery that requires, like what kind of job security it requires and confidence in your skills to just stay silent and have people checking the television because they think they lost the sound?

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, it's fun too. My favorite version of that. Number one, yes. It takes a ton of confidence. Number two, I like when something bad happens and then we are required to say something like the cure auto insurance post game show is next, right. Where it sounds like you are unbelievably crushed, just deceased inside. And then you very quickly become a NASCAR driver and you have to say, oh, the 41 tied car did great today. Right at the very end of a telecast where it feels like homicide was committed on your baseball team.

[Stugats]

Something we've been talking about around here that I want to particularly discuss with you because baseball allows you the room to do it and you're legitimately funny all the time in the broadcast. Do you have a theory for why more sports coverage isn't funny? Why just more sports programming isn't as funny as you are? For example.

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, you talk about hubris. What a question. So here's why other people aren't as funny as me. Let me start with that. So it's a good soundbite. No, I, I do think, I do think if you we just had on our NBC show play by play of the first game under the lights at Crosley Field in whatever year, what, 1939, I think wherever the first night game was and that we had the sound full of the announcer and he was like, welcome to Crosley Field. Where today, you know, I just think we've gone a long way in baseball broadcasting. Number one I think I really want to do a game like that where I'm always touching my ear to see if somebody has news from the war. And then you say, you say, brought to you by Woolworths and by Penny Saver, you know, sort of thing. I think that's a better way to call baseball. And then two, I think over 162 games. Sometimes you just don't want to be fun or funny. Like, you lose nine to one and you're supposed to not talk for 12 seconds. I think it's the safer version of. Of doing things. And I also, you know, you're the voice of a team on these regional shows. And being the voice of a team, I think, I think people. Andy Dirks and I, the Tigers analyst, and I just had this conversation off the air a couple days ago. I think people want, for some reason in the audience or with the team, like, the Tigers had lost eight in a row. I think people want you to sound like the team. So if they've lost date in a row, our inclination is to, like, wear black and go. Try to, like, lean into it completely. But the whole, like, somber because of losing thing just has never matched my sensibility and seems a little bit like the Chuckles the Clown Mary Tyler Moore episode where she goes up and she can't deliver the eulogy, and then she starts hacking up a lung, laughing. And then they say, oh, great to see you laughing. That's what Chuckles would have wanted. And then she cries like, I'm never in the right place for the social norms. So I think that's why this thing plays.

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[Trista]

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[Stugats]

You don't remember the idea?

[Dan Le Batard]

I was probably like that kind of thing.

[Stugats]

Something.

[Greg Cody]

Okay. No, the home run call was that kind of swing. That kind of thing.

[Pablo]

Stugats. Oh, it's a good call.

[Greg Cody]

Thank you. And plus, it doesn't matter who's hitting it. Like you're not tailoring it to a particular name. You know, all that jazz, you know, you don't got to do that.

[Pablo]

Oh, that would be a great call.

[Greg Cody]

Swing. That kind of thing.

[Dan Le Batard]

This is the Dan Levatar show with The Stugats.

[Stugats]

How old are you? Put it on the Poll Levitage show. Do you remember the Chuckles the Clown Mary Tyler Moore episode? You must. You're younger than this. Mary Tyler Moore is early 70s.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah. So it's. I'm 42. But you know who can take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile? It's you, Dan. And you should know it. With each glance and every little movement you show it. Love is all around. No need to waste it. You can have the town. Why don't you take it? You're gonna make it.

[Stugats]

After all, that's how you should talk during an eight game losing streak. You need to stop respecting the somberness of the fan base and just be yourself at all times. You know good and well that you're as popular as you are, at least in part because people see the fullness of your entire personality. And it doesn't matter whether or not there's a losing streak or not. You're beloved because you're funny. You're good, but you're also funny. It's rare.

[Dan Le Batard]

Thank. I try to be, but that also encourages me. And I don't think I need the encouragement because then I then, like, that's where Boog will be like, yeah, you can. You can save the funny for the people who are funny.

[Trista]

I wanted to just chime in and get your. Your thoughts on John Sterling. Rest in peace to him. I thought he was very funny. Low key. Is he. Was he intentionally funny or unintentionally funny?

[Dan Le Batard]

I think both. I think that's the joy of John Sterling is that he was doing a bit. But it was also him. But he also understood he was doing a bit. And every time I talked to him, I left thinking, you could never possibly put all the sliders of personality into the proper place to make another one of him. There's no chance. Like he walked into our booth with the White Sox one day when I had some friends from college in the back and he just said hello. Kind of did a little lap around the back of the booth and then walked back out. And I was like, I have no idea what the purpose of that was, but he wanted to do it. And he was such a joy to talk to because you felt like you were talking to another era. But his ability to make references to pop culture and to musicals and all this stuff, I think he's actually underrated still outside of Yankee fans, because I think he understood the bit. I love John.

[Stugats]

How you are a exceptionally professional broadcaster. I want to put in Front of you for your judgment and arbitration. Two people who are reporters in the industry, one from New York, one from inside the house here. And tell me which of these was done better. First we go out to New York. Look behind me. See behind me. For the first time since 1999, it's a go New York gal. It's pandemonium, it's euphoria. It's nothing but New York joy. Oh, what a time to be in New York City. Build back to you. And now we compare that to Jeremy Tache at Heat regular season game number six. You're counting us right now as the Miami Heat have just won game two of the NBA Finals. You can see that this crowd here is hoisting babies into the air. This crowd is ready from the moment this game started and it has continued here as the Miami Heat have just upset the Denver Nuggets. We've got fans going crazy. We're high fiving. Everybody's ready. An unbelievable night right here in Miami. Who did it better? Benetti.

[Dan Le Batard]

I think that's why the phrase coin flip was invented. So what I would say is this.

[Stugats]

Coward.

[Dan Le Batard]

No, no, no, no, no. We're going to go into this. We're diving in here. No, there's no cowardly here. But thank you for the encouragement. It felt like New Year's Rock and Eve for both of them. I think it's. I think somebody said in both of their ears, hi, Jeremy. Somebody said, hey, if you could just act like the ball's gonna drop in times square for 10 seconds or more. I do have this slight sense that Jeremy said, okay, when I start the phrase, they're hoisting babies, take your small child and do the Simba thing with it, which I think is dangerous and I also think is unacceptable.

[Stugats]

Creating the news instead of following the news, making it happen. There wasn't even a baby born when that was ridicul.

[Dan Le Batard]

Accusation. Is this Benetti? This was natural and in the moment. I sense with the defensiveness that there's a chance you had said, hi, what's your. What's your kid's name? Oh, that's nice. It's Brian. Please throw him when I say hoisting babies.

[Stugats]

Yep. There were not babies plural. Hoisted, by the way, was fraudulent fake news.

[Dan Le Batard]

Because that was happening next to me.

[Stugats]

You could have looked all around me

[Dan Le Batard]

everywhere.

[Stugats]

Dan, can you.

[Dan Le Batard]

It was happening everywhere. That's an issue. Somebody should have called Miami Heat. H.R.

[Pablo]

welcome to Miami.

[Stugats]

Yes. Yes, Child Services. Yes. It seems illegal. It should be illegal. And it is dangerous. Also dangerous. Jacob Misarowski, yesterday, through four innings, he struck out nine. He had 57 pitches over 100 miles an hour. Did Nolan Ryan ever do anything like that? Was that. Is this. Has this ever existed in a human arm before?

[Dan Le Batard]

I. You know, there's this whole discussion over whether the radar guns are the same as they used to be and the apocryphal stories that come out of previous eras when we can't just check it with one click. But I love that Jacob Mizorowski says after the game, that's what I do. I throw hard. Like, give me that. Give me more of that. In baseball, you create more characters that way. But I. I would say about Nolan Ryan, the story that seems most fearsome that I've heard in baseball about somebody just being on the mound, other than maybe Bob Gibson, like, if you. If you look at wrong, he's going to hit you. But the Nolan Ryan discussion when he was pitching in the shadows at Angel Stadium and people truly feared for their lives in the batter's box when the ball went from dark to light to dark into the box, that. That makes me think that even if he didn't throw 103, 57 times, he was just as dangerous.

[Stugats]

Can you guys get for me, please, a marlin to talk about facing this human being or get. See if you can get stowers on to see. To talk about being hit in the hand.

[Dan Le Batard]

You mean from the hottest team in baseball?

[Stugats]

Try. Yeah.

[Greg Cody]

See.

[Stugats]

See if you can get me a marlin. I just want to. I want to find out if I sleep correctly the night before facing this guy. What are you laughing about?

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm laughing about you sounding like the king with the oddest eating habits ever. Get me a marlin. Somebody who. Get me a marlin. I need a marlin and I need it braised and I need it in lemon sauce. Get me a marlin.

[Jeremy]

Jason, bigger freak right now. When Benyama or Ohtani?

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, man, that is such a good question. The Ohtani thing, because he's been around for so long, I think he just becomes sort of the buzz in the background. I think he becomes the paperwork a little bit that you just rubber stamp. But he's got an ERA under one right now, right? And then he goes like, there are times where he gives himself the lead. He did it over the weekend, the Ohtani thing and his plus minus, especially with what Craig Counsel said about the rule situation, right? You can only have an Ohtani if you have an Ohtani, right? So what he does for your team is one Thing. What he does for your roster construction is another. The Dodgers basically get an extra person twice. Once because he's that good at both things, and then twice because of the roster exemption. I think it's Ohtani just for that reason. But I get the argument that Wemby won't be anything but defensive Player of the Year for as long as he

[Stugats]

plays if you don't know what he's talking about. Council wasn't complaining, but he was saying it's bizarre that all the other teams in the big leagues carry 13 pitchers, but the Dodgers get to carry 13. And a Cy Young guy. Is he going to win the Cy Young? Like, do you believe that before he's done, Ohtani is going to win the Cy Young Award?

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, I do. I think so. For sure. I think with how driven he was as a kid to get to all these milestones that he listed out when he was like an early teenager, I wouldn't put anything past him, ever. He's one of, I would say, like 10 people on the planet that you can say that about that. If he puts it down on paper and says, I'm gonna do it, just by sheer force of will, he's gonna do it. I think he's such a joy to watch. And that's asinine.

[Stugats]

What you're saying is asinine that somebody decided as a teenager that he was going to be by leaps and bo the best baseball player ever and then just did it by sheer force of will.

[Dan Le Batard]

That's right. It's totally asinine. And he's also one of the most fun people to watch on a baseball diamond with the facial expressions. You know, I know he's not like the most verbose guy, but you watch him take in a game of baseball, I think he's a top five most entertaining person. Just personality wise, too. Just watching the facial expressions. He's a cyborg without a cyborg's personality. And I love that.

[Stugats]

Benetti, it's always good talking to you. Thank you for making the time, sir.

[Dan Le Batard]

Thank you. It's been a pleasure. And hopefully, hopefully when I get all those in, you can just take an entire truck of money and back it up to Boog's house.

[Stugats]

We will negotiate this offline and I will tell people before your next broadcast, are you gonna start doing this today? Are you gonna start doing this today?

[Dan Le Batard]

You know what? The one thing that I was gonna say as we were doing it is I need actually a couple of them. I don't know what were said or do I Have to guess?

[Stugats]

No, you can ask. Well, we'll play it for you right now again. And you write down with one of your hotel pens, if you do not mind. You go ahead and just write the offline. No, we'll do it right now. You can just write down for us whatever it is that you think needs some explanation here.

[Trista]

I'm fuller than Vern Fuller.

[Dan Le Batard]

What's. Yeah, like, I don't know. As we're going through it, can I just raise my hand or say, like, I don't know what that is?

[Stugats]

All right, we'll do it offline. See you later, Benetti. Good talking to you.

[Greg Cody]

Good talk.

[Dan Le Batard]

See you later. Love you. Bye. Love you, too.

[Pablo]

Tony, you know that moment at a party or at a tailgate where everything just sort of clicks?

[Tony]

I know it. Well, it's usually when I show up, everybody goes crazy.

[Pablo]

Yeah, you usually take all the credit for it, but it's because Tony usually walks in with Cuervo. Walking like this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cuervo is a thing that turns hanging out into this is the night.

[Tony]

It has that effect on people.

[Pablo]

It does. You usually take the credit for it, but again, it's the Cuervo effect. It's like that moment in a big game where everyone in the crowd just starts standing up, hooting and hollering. Keep it Cuervo.

[Dan Le Batard]

Keep it cuervo, baby.

[Stugats]

Don LeBatard.

[Jeremy]

I ain't never met nobody in the world that's done hate on Blue.

[Dan Le Batard]

Great nomination.

[Jeremy]

Like, who don't like Blue's Clues, bruh? If you don't like Blue's Clues, you're a loser.

[Pablo]

Stugats.

[Jeremy]

Look, you get one paw print. That's the first clue. You put it in a notebook. Now what do you do? Blues Clues. Blues Clues.

[Dan Le Batard]

Sit on the chair and think about it. This is the Dan Levatar show with the Stugats.

[Stugats]

Can you guys get for me, please, the Colin Cowherd sound? I know that you guys talked about this on Friday, but the sports Emmys are tonight, and. And Pablo is going with his crew, his entourage, his posse. He just. What. What Pablo is doing right now is just wandering around the earth going to award shows where he is celebrated and then gets to make a speech. I'm assuming that he's gonna be nominated in several different categories. Most of what's winning everywhere is all of the Kawhi Leonard reporting that he's done, But I don't even know if that's what he's proudest of on that show. There are any number of things that are gon and have been up for awards. And I really was stunned to hear Colin Cowherd start start during the NBA playoffs and NHL playoffs. Start his show with this.

[Tony]

Pablo Torre is a smart guy. I think he went to Harvard and he just won a Pulitzer Prize for journalism. So much respect to him. I think he's very, very talented guy. Don't know him personally, but I think he's super talented. He's been doing a story on the LA Clippers and some shenanigans there. Certainly worthwhile. Earlier this week, Pablo devoted a full episode his latest investigative work on the O's phenomenon. Debunking O's Perlman's tricks. Is he a fraud? No, he's a magician. A mentalist is a magician. Without the props. Both get invited to birthday parties. We've gone from investigative journalism to debunking the Easter Bunny.

[Stugats]

I heard that you guys sided with

[Pablo]

Cowherd where Colin was right. I mean, he's true. Like he's. He's right on the nose right there. Like, yes. What were we supposed to believe Oz was Professor X? That he was some higher form of human intelligence? No, he was. He obviously had an angle. He didn't need to ruin it for magicians.

[Jeremy]

Why you look at me like that?

[Dan Le Batard]

Pablo is nominated for outstanding edited sports series, which is for all of Pablo Torre finds out. He's also nominated for twice out of the four nominees for outstanding sports journalism for the Aspiration story and for what is Riley Gaines Hiding?

[Tony]

And that was for doing Debunking the Easter Bunny.

[Stugats]

Put up the picture you guys were just showing me of Colin Cowherd with the dyed hair real quick. That was extraordinarily lazy from Colin Cowherd and his dozens of writers to not even listen to the episode and come away with that takeaway. But it doesn't make him wrong.

[Pablo]

Are we setting Pablo up here for an investigation? The promo look for Colin Coward when he debuted his FS1 show. Something might have been going on there.

[Stugats]

Just trying to get the younger demo with the orange hair. He was ahead of the curve on orange hair. That didn't become popular with presidential candidates until later.

[Jeremy]

I got to give it to him. The balls move. Like, you show up and all of a sudden your hair is a completely different color. Like, I don't have the guts to do that.

[Trista]

I don't think that that's balls move. I honestly think it's a dumb move and like a spineless move. The balls move is, yo, I'm gray. What of It.

[Stugats]

My mother used to get very mad at my dad because, I've told you this, his eyebrows and his hair would go completely gray. And then he'd show up as the boss of a fiberglass plant that he was running the following day with everything Chapaporte black. Like, just totally black from one day to the other in a way that was asinine.

[Pablo]

I don't think it's just the guts that you're missing.

[Stugats]

The idea that you going to criticize the Pulitzer winner and not know how to pronounce Pulitzer is pretty good, though.

[Trista]

But you don't know how to pronounce Thibodeau. Do you do that on purpose?

[Stugats]

Thibodeau.

[Trista]

I thought it was Thibodeau.

[Pablo]

Yeah, it's Tibbs.

[Stugats]

It gets shortened to Tibbs, but it's Thibodeau. The H isn't silent. It's not silent.

[Trista]

I think it is silent.

[Pablo]

I think it is from all those series that we had against Thibodeau.

[Dan Le Batard]

I think it's Thibs.

[Jeremy]

I think it's Thibodeau. And I think the nickname, for whatever reason, because it's easier to say probably, is, is Tips.

[Trista]

Nobody ever calls him Tom Thibodeau.

[Stugats]

Put it on the poll at LeBatard show. Is it Thibodeau or Thibodeau? Because I don't think the H is silent there, and I don't think it should be. Is the. Is the H usually silent In. In, like, if I'm putting it. Where else is the H? Is the second letter silent after a T? Is that. Am I doing that incorrectly?

[Jeremy]

Thompson.

[Stugats]

Oh, that's good.

[Trista]

Thompson.

[Jeremy]

Shirt's not Thompson.

[Pablo]

Keep your head on the ball here. Why is Pablo doing this? Who is asking for this? And also, isn't it funny that Oz was no match for Will Compton's genuine stupidity in that moment? Like, the whole thing was undone by Will Compton not knowing how to spell.

[Stugats]

Do you guys not like to know how the magic is performed? Do you guys not like that in general? Obviously, we don't think any of that stuff is magic. And we end up getting disappointed whenever it is that the magic trick is explained to us. And we're like, oh, that was easier to do than I thought it was. But you don't want it explained to you.

[Jeremy]

No, I want to know that magic makes me angry. I don't like it comes off as voodoo to me. I like, I have to know what's happening. That's why I like Penn and Teller, because Penn and Teller explained the trick

[Stugats]

right and this is why Oz the mentalist has forsaken the magic community. But he did correctly get Joe Rogan's pin number based on what it is, the little information he had from Joe Rogan. And I am generally curious how it is he's able to read body language that way. Jeremy, have you looked up for us a final ruling? Is. Is Trista guilty of the zaz crime of making corrections that aren't correct or did she get it right?

[Dan Le Batard]

According to Nick Friedle, not Friedel, there is a note from 2010 in an article where he joined the bulls. The H is not silent, it is Thibodeau.

[Trista]

But I think actually Tibbs is wrong because in French, the H is never pronounced because the French language does not utilize the breathy English H sound. And thus in names like Thibodeau, the letters th are simply pronounced like a

[Stugats]

standard hard T. Minor penalty, two minutes delay a show. No, the.

[Dan Le Batard]

That's bs.

[Stugats]

He gave you reporting. You went to the Internet. He gave you a credible reporter saying that I was right. And before he got through it, you're like, no, no, no, I'm still right. I'm stubborn as well as wrong.

[Trista]

Is Friedle like the source?

[Dan Le Batard]

What?

[Stugats]

Minor penalty, two minutes delay a show.

[Dan Le Batard]

Wow.

[Pablo]

Joe Thomas,

[Stugats]

Do we have any other sources you've got? Are we going to get stuck on this? Because Jeremy's reporting this. It's 15 year old information, but I did think it was fibs. It did get changed to tibs, but I always thought it should be fibs because I've always pronounced it Thibodeau.

[Jeremy]

Look, it's not French, it's Thibodeau. It's not D. Bardo.

[Stugats]

Well, he might maybe his. I don't know if he's got any. Any links to France in his past or is in his ancestry. You know, he doesn't. You know, you're huge. You're convinced that I can look at

[Jeremy]

someone, tell if they're French or not.

[Stugats]

Okay, yeah, all right.

[Pablo]

He actually does look kind of French. If a French accent came from that body, it would not surprise you.

[Stugats]

Also looks like the 67th henchman to be killed and taken. That's not French. That was an indiscriminate. Oh, it was from Traboika. I'm sorry. It wasn't an indiscriminate plot.

[Dan Le Batard]

Basketball Reference.com has the pronunciation in capital letters. T H I B- in lowercase U H-Doh fib a doe.

[Stugats]

Congratulations, Trista. You will fit right in here. Being the stubborn one who Thinks she's right even after proven wrong like that. That is baseline. Everyone who works here.

[Pablo]

She does have a point, though, because, look, fibs can be called whatever he wants to be called. That's how that goes. But it is a French origin. And you do this all the time with th names and you don't think anything of it. He could be mispronouncing it like, I don't care what Pat Certain tells me. It's certain.

[Trista]

It's Tony Dorsett, not Tony Dorsett.

[Stugats]

That's correct. That one you got right, Thibodeau. You got wrong something else. I think, Zaslow, that a lot of people are gonna get wrong when they do their analysis at the end of these careers. What is when Shea Gilgeous Alexander has some better numbers, career wise, than people that you think are better than him because you watch them play, whoever those people might be. But Shea Gilgeous Alexander is going to have, by the end of his time in basketball, numbers better than some of the greatest you've ever seen in basketball.

[Pablo]

Oh, I'm sorry. Cut that question up, please. I need it all. Put it in the club. Do whatever we need to do. I need that. The entirety of that question.

[Jeremy]

I think we're already accustomed to this era of basketball being different than the past ones in terms of numbers. Like, I don't think we're looking at these numbers anymore. Like, oh my God, they're so much bigger. So this player must be better than that guy. Like, I think we've been doing this for a little bit. But the thing that is odd to me, or at least is striking me as odd, during this series with Shake Yodis Alexander is when's the last time the league mvp, let alone back to back league MVP on the Champions, by the way, where you're watching the game. And without question, the MVP is not the best player on the floor. Like, I can't remember that being the case. And every game this series I'm watching, he is not even close to the best player.

[Stugats]

How are we going. You think we're going to do this correctly when all the numbers are in and you think that most people are going to say, let's make it the example of, I don't know, Michael Jordan's Bulls. The best Bulls teams averaged what, like 105 points a game? 106 points a game. Like the. There has been an offensive distortion based on the entire sport figuring out, oh, look, this shot over here is worth more than the other shot and therefore our teams. I don't Even think actually of OKC as overwhelming offensively, even though my guess is they're probably double digits better than Michael Jordan's Bulls teams on how many points they average per game just because of explosion in the league. You think people are going to be able to do that in terms of context when, when the numbers end up making it hard to prove that, that Kobe Bryant was a better player than Shea Gilgis Alexander, even though she, Gilgeous Alexander is somebody who's more efficient than Kobe Bryant.

[Jeremy]

Yeah, I think we're so accustomed now with the three point shot that the numbers are just so distorted. I, I could tell you if just real quick, I'm thinking as well, as far as the MVP not being the best player in the series. We, we did that down here right back in 2011 where LeBron was so clearly the best player and so much better than Derrick Rose. But maybe the caveat to that was we all also kind of knew that LeBron should have won the MVP. I don't feel like people are saying wembanyama. Like everyone was good with Shake Yoda's Alexander winning the mvp. And when Derrick Rose won it that year, it's like, all right, this is the not LeBron this year award. Also Shaq and Steve Nash that one year because it was like. But they didn't play each other in the playoffs. Okay, okay. You know, yeah, for sure. I just feel like I'm watching and I'm like, the MVP's not the best guy.

[Stugats]

The Nash one is interesting because. And I don't think an MVP very often has scored 15 points a game. Although maybe Bill Russell was somebody who was able to do that because his defense was so good. But Steve Nash was averaging 15 points a game and shouldn't have won that second MVP over Shaquille O'. Neal. But what you're saying is an interesting conversation starter because there is something that I can't quite put my finger on that makes me want to discount Shea Gilgeous Alexander. And it's not just aesthetic and it's not just the free throw merchant stuff. I just don't think that he's as good as some of the all time greats I saw play. And I think the numbers distortion offensively is gonna make it so that I have a hard time making that argument 15 years from now. If Shea Gilgeous Alexander's already at two MVPs at 27 years old.

[Jeremy]

Also, he's the first two time MVP to also win an Oscar award courtside over the weekend because of his flopping. So see that? He's got metal stacking up. That's creative, right? He had a fan. A woman was sitting right there, front row. She brought a little mini Oscar with her. And every time he fell to the ground, Shake goes, hogs down. She held it up.

[Stugats]

I think I have something close to consensus on this, on something that's hard to place you guys with me on Inside the NBA, not quite feeling the same, even though everything is the same except for a couple of things. Like, it's mostly the same, and somehow it doesn't quite feel the same. And I'm confused by it. As I'm watching, I'm like, this is weird that I feel this way.

[Jeremy]

I think part of it used to be we're all watching Inside the MBA because we all love it, and we've all loved it for all of these years, but now there are a couple other studio shows we're also watching.

[Pablo]

I know what it is. You're not waking up to Charmed in the Morning.