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Dan Le Batard
Limu Emu and Doug. Here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us. Cut the camera.
Stugotz
They see us.
Chris
Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty.
Dan Le Batard
Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Very unwritten by.
Duke
Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates.
Dan Le Batard
Excludes Massachusetts.
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Duke
Pablo.
Greg Cody
No, we're not allowing it.
Dan Le Batard
No, I don't think we can do that on this one. Just because he's still milking from this trough and having Mark Cuban come in. I don't know. Was there any breaking news in this story? I thought, what is Billy shaking his head about here? I don't know what. I don't think this is worthy of that.
Roy
Is there going to be discipline? Can we get to the discipline portion of this investigation?
Dan Le Batard
Not until Pablo gets all of his clicks beforehand because he's the only information center on this story.
Greg Cody
No discipline. You get a 90 minute cat fight.
Roy
I asked a question off air, but I didn't get an answer, so I'll just ask on air. Can we talk about the fact that like Mark Cuban interrupted a very important company meeting because he was recording, I guess, like slightly before, and he just showed up in a company meeting when they were recording this, which was kind of crazy. He's just like, look, he's like, I'm Mark Cuban. He's just like waving around. If you're like, all right, Mark, like, hit the road, Jack. Like, we got business attend to here.
Dan Le Batard
I did think it was funny that right about when we were going to start the company meeting, I see Cynthia just point excitedly at a screen in New York where Mark Cuban has popped up in Pablo Torres office. And she was just legitimately delighted to see that he was there. And I wanted to say, hey, Cynthia, wrong Cuban. Like, she. We were about to start, and she was just excited that the Shark Tank guy was wandering around Pablo's offices, too. As far as I can tell. Just argue with him some more when Mark Cuban is out there pretty alone. Although I have some withering criticism of Pablo Torre here that I want to read you guys and Pablo when he's on with us later. Somebody goes after Pablo pretty hard. I haven't seen a whole lot of people going after Pablo.
Greg Cody
Oh, I'll look forward to that. I'm at the point where I'm just ready to let this investigation play out. I mean, the Mark Cuban episodes. I argue politics often too much, many would say. And it reminded me a lot of that. Just a refusal to capitulate, a refusal to give you an inch, a refusal to take a standard logic leap. And I was just like, all right, I got you, Mark. No one's changing your mind.
Chris
To me, that was, like, the most interesting part of this. It wasn't any new information, but it was essentially looking at two people who have two diametrically opposed ways of looking at a story. You have one person in Pablo who looks at the humanity, who looks at seven sources.
Dan Le Batard
I don't use that that way, Chris. I think you're using that too strongly. And it can only be used in times when there's breaking news, not just when there's an argument on Pablo's podcast.
Greg Cody
You can't just use that every time you want Jeremy to stop talking.
Chris
He has seven sources, human beings. He's making logical leaps from one.
Greg Cody
Fancy.
Chris
And you're looking at Mark Cuban who is unwilling to look at any fact and link it from one thing to another. He's using AI as his research tool, literally putting in, like, ad reads for the AI software that he uses. It's two diametrically opposed ways of looking at the world for an hour and a half of yelling at each other.
Stugotz
This is the Dan Levator show with the Stugats podcast.
Dan Le Batard
I had not actually read this entire story criticizing Pablo Torre until right now during that hockey intro, and I just noticed that this person goes after me, too. So do you guys want to hear somebody really criticize Pablo Torre? And then I will tell you afterward who it is, and you tell me Whether that person was right or wrong in doing this, as Pablo Torre again does what Pablo Torre does, which is get attention for himself. And you guys say correctly. Just tell me at this point when the investigation is over. But do you know how rare it is in any time in anybody's sports journalism career for them to be the epicenter of where you have to go for the only new information there is on a story that people crave? But media partners aren't covering the way that a dissatisfied public would like a story covered. So Pablo is absolutely milking this cow. This cow is being milked even though this udder has stopped giving milk for the moment, or the milk is stuck for the moment. And it's just Mark Cuban coming around every once in a while and pinching a teat and running off. What are the. What is. What are the teats? On another.
Greg Cody
I mean, you said farm machine last week.
Dan Le Batard
Well, you didn't answer my question. What is the. What is the thing you squeeze on a.
Greg Cody
That's nipples. Those are nipples.
Dan Le Batard
They are nipples on a nutter.
Stugotz
Yeah, teats.
Greg Cody
Yeah, teats. There you go.
Dan Le Batard
I called it a teat, and then it didn't seem like the right word. And then I went to utter. And then I went to farm machine. Then I started losing confidence. And then you just bark nipples.
Roy
What's with the farm fascination as of late?
Greg Cody
I don't know.
Roy
This is a late stage. Like, you know what, when we finish here, me and Val want to go and own a farm.
Duke
I can see that. I can see Dan having a farm.
Greg Cody
I think you like the idea of it.
Roy
Not.
Dan Le Batard
No, you couldn't.
Greg Cody
I'm not doing anything on a farm.
Duke
Well, the chickens. You're gonna have chickens.
Roy
He was so excited. Excited about me planting a tree for some reason.
Stugotz
Like, the udder is the entire apparatus, and the teats. Are teats part of the udder.
Greg Cody
There you go. We've been applying cynicism to this episode. This is a very good episode because he gets Mark Cuban in studio and they argue for 90 minutes, and that is very appealing to many. If you're looking for story advancement, there's some of that here. Mark Cuban doesn't really allow for that because he keeps interrupting Pablo with nonsense. Really, I. We want to be good partners to Pablo. This is an episode. If you like people fighting, go for it. If you want a story advancement, listen to the previous episodes.
Chris
I would also say, if you've only sort of tangentially followed this story, this is a good way of kind of getting all of the information from both perspectives out there, not necessarily in an easy flowing way, but to be able to kind of recap where the story's at.
Dan Le Batard
I just haven't heard anyone other than Mark Cuban providing a different perspective to Pablo's. I haven't heard anything but a applause for Pablo, save for Mark Cuban. But the headline on this story is Any investigation of Steve Ballmer should center on one dude, Pablo Torre. Good morning, Pablo Torre. Before we ramrod Steve Ballmer from the NBA, should we investigate it? Should we investigate whether this Harvard huckster still should be employed in the media business? How's that for a first sentence?
Stugotz
Huckster.
Dan Le Batard
Harvard Huckster. The Harvard huckster is going to join us in an hour and 15 minutes. He accused the Clippers owner of circumventing the league's sacred salary caps through a sordid deal with Aspiration Now. Commissioner Adam Silver has announced that the NBA vetted and approved the green banking company in 2020 mean 2021 what it means in 2025. Kawhi Leonard in signing a sponsorship with Aspiration 2022 did nothing to violate the league's collective bargaining agreement. If Ballmer signs a deal with Pepsi, as Silver said, Leonard can sign a contract with Pepsi afterwards should the league operate this way. Fact is, 30 owners make the enforcement rules, not Pablo Torre. The financial firm crashed which sends co founder Joe Sandberg to prison. Yet no one cares. The league doesn't demand a probe of all sponsorship agreements. Tory could have informed us before he went ape on the air. He didn't. So the Clippers will continue to perform in good faith at Intuit Dome near the airport despite a so called legal investigation that might not end until next spring. While proving that former Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was right in trashing Tory on social media. I appreciate journalists who try to find the truth. I do not appreciate journalists who swing and miss and sell themselves as smarter than the audience. Tory has done this on around the Horn, the second ESPN show he allowed to fade off the air. And it's and it's time. His editors at the Athletic tell him he's leading the majors in strikeouts. Earlier this year he reported Jordan Hudson would be leaving the North Carolina football program despite her status as Bill Belichick's girlfriend. She has not left at all yet. Tory never apologized. Nor will he apologize for Ballmer. He will continue to wait until the playoffs end and a law firm decides the league was right. By then he'll be finding out something else that may or may not be true. Tori should probe all 30 teams. What else would he find? He will say the league has a lucrative deal with espn. Seriously. Baxter Holmes is a journalist more trustworthy than Tory. The problem with Pablo is that he has worked for Dan Lebatar who urges him to chase people.
Greg Cody
That is a weekly meeting in this person's.
Dan Le Batard
That's the one that Mark Cuban crashed the other day.
Greg Cody
It's calendar.
Dan Le Batard
Yeah.
Greg Cody
Who we going after now?
Dan Le Batard
Cracking a story means you must know the entire truth before going public. Who helped bring Tory and Lebatard to metal arc media? John Skipper, who left ESPN as president after a cocaine scandal.
Greg Cody
I'm beginning to know where this is from. Oh boy.
Dan Le Batard
Any guesses from someone other than Mike? Any guesses who the author of this story is?
Roy
I think it was Armando Salguero.
Dan Le Batard
A good guess. It is not Armando Salguero. Who wouldn't care once at all about around the horn fading.
Duke
Who is Jason Whitlock?
Stugotz
Yes.
Dan Le Batard
Jason Whitlock. No.
Stugotz
Oh, that's a shocking. That's shocking. Shocking.
Dan Le Batard
Same category of disgraced jester fool. Jay Marriott. I was.
Greg Cody
Whoa. I was gonna catch Jay.
Dan Le Batard
Wow.
Greg Cody
Because of the around the horn thing.
Stugotz
Yeah.
Dan Le Batard
I had to search the entire Internet to find one person who was willing to take Mark Cuban's side and go after Pablo Torre.
Stugotz
He really loves you man.
Greg Cody
Yeah.
Dan Le Batard
Well I. I think Jay is hurt by the way everything it for him at espn.
Greg Cody
That's one way to put it.
Dan Le Batard
Think that. Why?
Chris
How did things end?
Dan Le Batard
Jay has been writing things since then that suggest that he's a bit embittered that others are having some success that he's not having.
Greg Cody
Careful. We do have that weekly meeting.
Dan Le Batard
Jay Mike Chase you. You would not like what we find there.
Greg Cody
We can next web crawler search on that one pal.
Dan Le Batard
But Lycos if you're. If you're Pablo though. Honest question. Honest question. Because he got criticized for this on Jordan Hudson when he kept going to that click. Well and when you think of. I don't know. Do. Do you guys even know what the technical definition of a muckraker is like an old timey muckraker. He's the modern. In the modern age applying new school journalism principles and old school journalism principles. He's trying to do what is popular in the Internet age with young people while applying old newspaper stand. But it can be viewed as muckraking if you'd like to. He's certainly not afraid to stick his face in with his facts on any argument because he believes the facts are on his side. But I ask you, if you're the only one dominating a story, if that story makes your empire, the business you're building stronger and stronger because people keep coming over to just you for the information. Like this is. This is a super rare thing where only one person has information that the odd that a segment of the audience hundreds of thousands of people really crave aren't getting anywhere else.
Greg Cody
Well, like, if we're gonna treat this criticism seriously, I would appreciate. If you're gonna attack someone's journalism by doing some journalism of your own. Jay has those chops. He doesn't offer any journalism of his own. He tries to poke holes in Pablo's by just taking the side of the man. Even Mark Cuban, admittedly in this episode, does his own journalism, has people reach out to him to have a counter argument. Just to say. Just to dismiss Pablo's intentions and dismiss all the journalism thereafter without doing any of your own is lazy even for Jay.
Dan Le Batard
Put it on the poll. Who has done journalism less recently? Dan Lebatard or Jay Marioti? Because you say he has those chops. I ain't seen him in a long time. Like, I don't know what he's been giving his opinion for a long time. He hasn't been doing the reporting on journalism in a really long time.
Greg Cody
I mean, the point of that whole thing is to take shots at Pablo, you and I guess the journalism there and defend Steve Ballmer. That's another thing. You gotta be a real weirdo here to just cape up. I understand why Mark Cuban is. Because he's an owner. He's of that class. Everybody else that is not an NBA owner. Why are you rooting for Steve Palmer?
Dan Le Batard
Let me slow you down on this.
Greg Cody
Though, because that's because you hate media that much.
Dan Le Batard
That part I found curious at the beginning, but people backed off. Like, at the beginning, I found really weird the number of people who didn't want to believe the first story. The first story was an initial backlash against the media and a weird defense of the seventh richest man in the world. But after that, all of those people, except Mark Cuban and Jay Marioti have gone away because Pablo keeps hitting people in the face with. With a fish. Like. And it's just an assortment of facts that. That can't really be disputed because he's reporting facts. He's not. He's not really giving his opinion here. How is it? Can you explain this to me? Because this has happened in the last few years. It kind of snuck up on me the same way. Two games on, two football games on Monday night did. When did that start?
Greg Cody
That's just the new norm.
Duke
Probably the fourth time this season it's happening.
Greg Cody
It's happening again next week. That means more of the Monday Night Football weeks are double headers.
Duke
That 7:15er always sneaks up.
Greg Cody
It's just a double header.
Roy
I like it. I don't hate it.
Dan Le Batard
No.
Greg Cody
I kind of hate it just because I'm worried about Chris Fowler. You can say no to one assignment. I feel like if we just say no to one, the throat will settle, I don't know.
Dan Le Batard
And miss the announcement. On when they decided to give us two Monday night games. I used to think, oh, there's been a weather, something weather related or a suspension or some site of some sort of scheduling calamity that makes it so that there are two Monday night games. I didn't see the announcement that we were now going to two Monday night games. Is it because they just want to give ESPN more games and they're more, they're a better partner with ESPN. They now, the NFL now owns 10% of ESPN that like what's the reason for this?
Greg Cody
I mean, they're paying more now. The Bucks are playing the Lions on Monday night. That is a great game. That is a perfect standalone Monday Night Football game. That game is kicking off at 7 because you got Texan Seahawks kicking off at 10pm after that. The Bucks have played on Monday night twice this season. Both of them. This double header format, I used to think, okay, we're taking in data like the NFL Europe thing, like let's see how people react. And then you're 15 years into the experiment and you're like, okay, this is just what it is now. And for Monday Night Football it feels like this is just what it is now. The majority of the season is going to be doubleheaders.
Roy
There's also games in Europe every single week like through mid November. Now like every Sunday there's a 9am game, East Coast, Lord's time zone. Because every week there's a game in Europe.
Duke
I do believe this is our first 10pm One. All the other ones I believe have been 7, 15, 8, 15.
Dan Le Batard
But how much is this going to change? And I was not aware that we were changing this. I understand the logic. What's better than three hours of Monday Night Football? Six hours of Monday Night Football? What's better than some football? More football? What's better than just Monday Night Football? Football on Thursdays and football on Sunday morning and football and football and football on Christmas and football on Thanksgiving. I understand that they want all the time slots, even the time slots that haven't been invented. But I am confused and do think it's at least partially diluted that there used to be one game we were all watching on Monday night and now I got to have two screens if I want to watch all the games being played on Monday night.
Roy
Well, that's the thing about like yesterday. Yesterday there was a 7 o' clock starting, like an 8, 8:30 start or something. So they were both being played at the same time. At least this coming Monday it's staggered somewhat so you can watch both games. But like that 10 o' clock game can honestly start at 11:30 or 12. That's fine.
Greg Cody
I don't care about Billy. I feel pretty confident. Texans Seahawks, 10 o'. Clock. We're not going to make it.
Roy
Oh no. Start that game later. So I don't even see the start of it. So I don't feel like I need to stay up.
Dan Le Batard
Not going to make it in terms of being wrong. I was almost introduced to Mark Cuban being wrong when he announced that football was headed to a saturation point that would eventually end up with us wanting less football. He said that about 10 years ago during the concussion crisis, and that has not happened. It's just more and more football everywhere. And there's stuff from the games last night that I do want to talk about before we get to Diana Rossini and an assortment of others. But the question I'm asking you about feeding at this particular trough, isn't it what everybody would do if they were trying to grow their business and they had their teeth in a story that, that, that clearly is something that is leading to Pablo Torre finds out growing at a rate that almost no other sports podcast since New heights like new sports podcasts. The the entire landscape is so fractured and so many audiences are in so many different places that sports podcasts aren't really growing. You're not getting a ton of new sports podcasts that are growing. This one is. And it's because at least in part, he has seized stories that make people taste all the other offerings that he has. He's got his own promotional vehicle in that he's got exclusive content at a time that everybody wants exclusive content.
Greg Cody
The Chinese are potentially stealing Jannik Sinner's brainwaves to train super soldiers. That was in the middle of all the other reporting. But yes, we're a media company and the Kawaii investigation from this podcast is doing numbers, bruh.
Chris
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Greg Cody
Hey, audience, I got a special treat for you because I want to talk to you about Miller Lite. But I want to talk to you about Miller Lite with my good friend Rose. Hey, Rose.
Dan Le Batard
Hi, everybody.
Greg Cody
When we hang out, and we hang out often, we're friends. I consider us friends.
Dan Le Batard
Yeah, me too.
Greg Cody
We're often toasting the good times. And what am I toasting with?
Dan Le Batard
With Miller Lite.
Greg Cody
That's right. Miller Lite. Whether you're hanging out with your dear friend Rose or at game day, it just hits different when you got a Miller Lite in your hand. From jaw dropping touchdowns to fantasy heartbreaks, it's a beer that has been there for every moment. 50 years of great taste, simple ingredients, and that iconic golden color that you can spot across the room. And it's just not the color of the. The beer, which is brilliant. That beautiful white can. How beautiful is that? Is that you doing the sound of a can opening? Is that your favorite sound?
Dan Le Batard
No, it is a horsey.
Greg Cody
A horsey. All right, we'll stop doing that. And here's a kicker. Miller light is just 96 calories, 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. The original light beer since 1975. That's right. And still hitting different five decades later. You're so good at this, rose.
Dan Le Batard
I know.
Greg Cody
So whatever your game day looks like, remember, Miller time is always a good time. Look at us. We're a great tag team. High five again. Can you do that? That beer sound one more time. And the horse sound one more time. Regret asking you about that one, but the Miller light sound is good. Miller Lite great taste. 96 calories. Go to millerlight.com shan to find delivery options near you. Or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsively. Miller Brewing Co. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Sin 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounce ounces.
Stugotz
No, it says.
Greg Cody
Oh, says.
Chris
I don't know about you guys, but I'm someone that's constantly adding stuff to different carts on random websites. Like, there's a teal marlins hat that's been calling to me for like, two and a half years that I'm constantly getting advertisements for is something eventually I'll purchase because I keep those things in the cart. Then I see it. That beautiful, glowing purple shop pay button.
Greg Cody
Boom.
Chris
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Dan Le Batard
Don lebatard our panther group chat.
Duke
We're confident against the lighting. This is a different team.
Roy
You're a Panther group chat. No, no, I think no.
Duke
But, dude, you're. You're so wrong on that. We've been terrified of this team forever, and I think there's a different energy where the Panthers, they want the lightning.
Greg Cody
Stugach.
Dan Le Batard
I want T shirts made for this Panther run. What could be this Panther run. Our Panther group chat. We're not afraid of the lightning.
Greg Cody
That's a Tagline for World Raw 3.
Dan Le Batard
This is the Dan Levatar show with the stug. We'll have Pablo on and we will read him Jay Mariotti's criticism. The Harvard huckster will join us in about an hour. But locally we've got a handful of stories that I want to get to that we haven't had time over the last few days to get to. So I will ask you guys which from among these is most interesting to you as a group? Because last week and we haven't been talking about Inter Miami soccer all that much and when we do we're generally just talking about Messi. It's the only that we discuss around here as it regards this team. But Jordi Alba announced his retirement after signing an extension and he is one of three signature international names that this team has outside of Messi. Has had outside of Messi. Correct. And that was weird. That struck me as weird. What didn't strike me as weird and we didn't talk about this at all and we should have this was I aired here Eric Spoelstra being named and the head of Team USA while being from the video room across the street here, the longest tenured coach in the NBA and in a GM survey the coach that 52% of the GMs. That's a lot to get to get that kind of consensus on something as subjective as coaching. 52% of the coaches in the NBA say Eric Spoelstra is still the best coach in the NBA even though last year he called a timeout he didn't have at the end of a game and cost them the game and had probably his worst year ever. I think. I think it was his worst year ever.
Duke
And that shows in the numbers because I believe last year he won it with 60%. So like whatever happened this year, they are people holding that timeout against them it seems.
Dan Le Batard
And then I want to get to McDaniel saying Tua was wrong. So from and and the Panthers lost last night. Reinhardt scored a shorthanded goal. I thought they were going to beat Philadelphia when they got down three, two and then they started allowing empty net goals and I'm sure Roy was crushed. He thought they were going to go undefeated this year.
Stugotz
Yeah, 82. Oh no. Yeah, that's exactly what I thought there.
Dan Le Batard
Which one do you guys want to tackle which of the four is most interesting.
Duke
I want to feast on the Dolphins.
Greg Cody
Yeah. The Jordi Alba story. Like we can. We can circle back to that with Greg Cody in here. My beloved football lover in Greg Cody. I'd like to chew on that story with him.
Dan Le Batard
Where is he today? I was expecting him. I was expecting him and Stugots today. Where. Where is Greg Cody?
Duke
Greg is at the doctor's office finding out whether he needs to have surgery. He will be in tomorrow.
Greg Cody
And stugats is there for emotional support.
Dan Le Batard
Greg Cody's knee is hurting and he's probably going to need surgery there. I would think the way that he was walking yesterday would suggest to me that that's not something small that he's got going.
Duke
Tony said yesterday that he could probably just rehab it.
Roy
Well, that's that.
Chris
Oh, yep, that's it.
Dan Le Batard
We will have Tony's top five somewhere from in south Florida later today. What do you have for me on the Dolphins? Can you get for me, please, the Mike McDaniel sound? I'm surprised that all of you haven't brought up anything yet today on Nick Wright's poker game last night where he was offering, he did well, $5,000 for the shipping container. Roy, you were not here. He was offering $5,000 for the shipping container. If in a big poker game that he had last night, if he ended up winning big money.
Roy
That's one of those things that doesn't show up on a 1099. Exactly. So how are we to verify any of that or ask him, like, hey, how'd it go?
Dan Le Batard
You know, yeah, he could be lying, but he did kind of offer it to you guys. Do you guys have video? Because he did send us some video here. We should get that. I know he, Chris Cody, at the very least some video about how he did. But I'm surprised you guys have not already asked me today how he did, given that there was going to be $5,000 split among you. That was just free money that Nick Wright offered to give away yesterday.
Roy
Yesterday was kind of confusing because I think we're still all trying to sort out the car's involvement and the financials of the situation. Are we trying to acquire a car? Take Nick Wright a car. Then there was a doubling down, I think, and someone mentioned escrow at one point in time and it seemed as though the bets were being escalated to being long term bets. So I think everything's still being sorted out.
Dan Le Batard
Well, I don't think it's being sorted out. I did indeed wire him money that I was hoping and expecting would end up in the shipping container because I owe him this money. And now I only have two outstanding debts. Let's see if Roy. Nobody here knew the answer. I have two outstanding debts around here. Bets that I have not paid off in my lifetime. One was mentioned yesterday, and I don't remember what I lost. And I think think this is a contrivance of Mike Ryan and others just to get me to pose like Prince Fielder on the body issue, swinging a bat nude. It has been reported by you guys that I owe that bet, but nobody remembers what it's for. And I'm pretty sure you guys are making that up. And I don't need to pay a bet. Even though I went to a dollar store to buy Prince Fielder's body tattoos. I don't have to pay a bet unless you guys can prove that I owe it. But there is one that still gnaws at me because I don't like to owe people anything. There is a bet that I made on the air years ago that I did not pay and have not paid that I still owe. It still bothers me and no one can figure it out. Certainly somebody in the audience bothers you.
Roy
Just do it.
Dan Le Batard
Well, it requires me getting on an airplane and running in a mascot race on an airplane.
Greg Cody
Well, I feel like I'd remember this.
Dan Le Batard
I don't have to run.
Duke
Race would not be on the airplane.
Greg Cody
You dream this.
Dan Le Batard
The mascot running to. No. Roy. Do you have Roy? You have me running in a mascot race on the aisles of an airplane.
Stugotz
Running to the actual gate. I don't know.
Chris
Dan.
Duke
Took you very literal.
Greg Cody
Yeah.
Chris
Has been on a long time. You used to be able to do that.
Greg Cody
Yeah. Don't pin Roy down here. You're the weird one.
Stugotz
Is this.
Dan Le Batard
How am I. You guys still don't know what I'm talking about. None of you do.
Duke
But I don't. I know that you're talking about a mascot race at a stadium, I presume, in Milwaukee.
Dan Le Batard
Yes. I bet Matt Mitrione that he would not beat Kimbo Slice.
Duke
Oh.
Dan Le Batard
In a UFC fight. And I don't remember what the stakes were for him, but the stakes for me were that I had to rise. He must be from Milwaukee.
Roy
Right?
Dan Le Batard
Right. Like, I'm assuming that that's the reason he was putting me Bloomington, Illinois. Okay. I don't know why it was then. I don't know why he was putting me in some sort of sausage costume. Chris, are you listening to what Nick Wright left you Now? He left a voice Message. Well, send it to video so that we can all find out together how he did in his poker game. But before we get to that, let's play the Mike McDaniel sound. If you're not familiar with what Tua did, he basically volunteered after that Chargers loss and we all reacted kind of the same to this. Like, ooh, that's not leadership. Greg Cody disagreed, but most people thought that Tua saying volunteering that his players, his teammates were late to a players only meeting, it ended up somehow becoming the talking point that was even larger than the Dolphins losing the game. So Mike McDaniel had to address it yesterday. And he does it in his meandering style, which everyone has gotten tired of because it often includes words chosen incorrectly. Like it often has words, words in it that he's trying to use that he thinks mean one thing but don't mean what he thinks they mean.
Mike McDaniel
You know, regardless of an intent and you know, what was on onto his mind after a loss as, as the franchise quarterback, that's not the forum to displace that. I think he knows that now. I, I do honestly believe it was not. There's no ill intention. But you're talking about, you know, I think kind of a misguided representation of player orchestrated film sessions. And, you know, the bottom line is no one's going to be happy and always is looking for reasons for failure to succeed. So you're trying to look for reasons that, you know, you can attribute to losses. And there's a, you know, know, heavy as the crown of being a franchise quarterback.
Dan Le Batard
There are a number of things in there I want to get to. But what is the phrase he used, misrepresentation of player organized film sessions? Is he saying that those weren't player only meetings, that they're being filed as player only meetings by TUA because people are late for them?
Duke
I think he's saying he called it a players only meeting. It's players run film sessions. Like, I don't know if there's a difference there.
Stugotz
Yeah.
Greg Cody
If you're reading between the lines, maybe to his insinuation is that, no, it's a lot stronger. Your attendance is more strongly recommended. When Mike McDaniel saying like this is just like a group film study that they did.
Dan Le Batard
I didn't take it this way and I'd be interested from a reporter who covers the team. What I thought Mike McDaniel was saying there, even though he used twice as many words as he had to use in order to say it, is that Tua called them Players only meetings because they are meetings that only the players are in. But it's not the emergency players only meeting that you call when there's a panic. And you want to make sure that away from the coaches, you're doing things that not even the coaches do to hold you accountable. I think that what Mike McDaniel was saying there is. These are just film sessions. Some guys showed up late, and now two is calling them players only meetings. And when you say they're late for players only meetings, you're creating a. You're, you're furthering dysfunction that we've had for a year around here where people think, I'm not in charge, we're not in control, and the players don't actually care.
Duke
But there is no. To his point, there is no difference in. If you're. If we all agree we're doing a film session that no coaches are part of and you're late to that, that's the same.
Dan Le Batard
No, look. No.
Duke
As a players only meeting, like, that's not good. That's.
Dan Le Batard
That.
Duke
That doesn't mean everyone's bought in.
Dan Le Batard
I disagree. Given that these guys are all at the facility for 12 hours a day and that it's. It's. Given that the whole thing's a military school, there is a difference to me between a film session and somebody and to a call to players only meeting. To me, there's a difference between those two things. But the way the coach explained that, I don't know what he's talking about when he says it's a misrepresentation of players gathering, but it's the least interesting part of what he said there. By saying his quarterback shouldn't have done that because now he's put his coach in a position where his coach is publicly against his quarterback and saying, the quarterback led wrong there. We eat it. When it comes to being accountable as quarterbacks, we do not point the fingers at others. When do you ever see that? You guys tell me after losses with frustration, you get all the cliches. They wanted it more. We weren't trying hard enough. Whatever. We've got to explain the losses, it never comes from the quarterback in a way that makes the coach have to address it the next day and makes the coach and the quarterback look like they're not aligned. Give me all the examples that you guys have of in a press conference. Like, there are a bunch of shitty teams in the NFL. There's only one with a quarterback who has his coach this week coming out afterward and saying, my quarterback said the wrong thing after that game, there's only one. If there's only one team in the league where that is happening and it's just not what the quarterback ever does. That's not the job of a quarterback is to pretend like you're responsible for everything, even in instances when you're not responsible for stuff.
Stugotz
This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. October 10th was World Mental Health Day. BetterHelp used that day to put a spotlight on the real hero. The therapists. The ones who show up, listen and help you figure your life out. Because every session isn't just talk, it's a moment that matters. Like learning to be patient with your kids, fixing a relationship, or finally shutting off your brain at 2am Now I love my friends, don't get me wrong. But they're not therapists. My group chat Total chaos. Sometimes you need someone who knows what they're doing. That's where BetterHelp comes in. Over the last 12 years, they've helped more than 5 million people connect with over 30,000 licensed therapists around the world. World it's the biggest online therapy platform out there, with a 4.9 rating from over 1.7 million reviews. Here's the thing. Life's hard on and off the field. Talking to someone trained to help can make all the difference. World Mental Health Day has passed, but we're still celebrating the therapists who've helped millions of people take a step forward. If you're ready to find the right therapist for you, BetterHelp can help you start that journey. All listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com DL that's BetterHelp H-E-L-P.com D O B.
Duke
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Roy
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Dan Le Batard
Wait a minute.
Duke
You're getting sexier by the moment.
Dan Le Batard
Slow down. We haven't even gotten St. Jason Sanders. You're unnoticed.
Duke
Wow.
Dan Le Batard
Oh, my God.
Greg Cody
One in spite of him.
Dan Le Batard
Oh, wow.
Greg Cody
I love you, Duke.
Dan Le Batard
This is the D Ler show with the two gods.
Greg Cody
It's making everybody in town crazy. I don't know if you've listened to local radio. It's a fun scan. The Big Dog. You know who I'm talking about, right? There's only one Big Dog, but he's.
Duke
Not even anti tua. He's just getting trolled here by his producer.
Greg Cody
Yes, but it's making everybody crazy because no one can actually agree on what's being said here. But here, courtesy of the Big Dog.
Big Dog
Go look at his numbers. I know they're terrible. Okay, A bad, bad example.
Dan Le Batard
Okay.
Big Dog
All right. Hey, we got to go to break here.
Dan Le Batard
Bond over to another.
Big Dog
Don't throw me in with Omar. Don't throw me with Omar. He says dumbass stuff. Not Omar. He does, too, but. But the TUA stuff. Like, I'm tired of our writers defending every time he says something. PR thing anyway. What?
Dan Le Batard
You spent the last 10 minutes defending him.
Big Dog
I'm not benching him. You want to bench him because you sound like a. You're talking about bending. You want to bench him because he said something stupid yesterday. Yesterday. That's not the reason.
Commercial Announcer 1
That's reason.
Big Dog
That's the reason.
Dan Le Batard
I told you weeks ago I want.
Big Dog
To bench the guy. And I told you weeks ago they're not benching.
Dan Le Batard
Yeah, you also told me they were.
Big Dog
Going to beat Carolina. And you told me they were going to throw the other topic in there.
Dan Le Batard
They did cover yesterday, though, so you won there.
Big Dog
And by the way, again, this is not just a 2A thing. It's not just a 2A thing. We got a defensive problem, okay, omar. Chargers had 400 yards. What it. You don't want to hear it, dumbass. You just hear. You listen to what you want to listen to, Woody. No wonder your wife wants to punch you in the face half the time. Hey, right now, I want to talk.
Dan Le Batard
To you about air around the clock.
Big Dog
Air conditioning and plumbing around the clock.
Duke
No wonder your wife wants to punch.
Dan Le Batard
He's still doing it the same way. And I love that he's still doing it the same way.
Big Dog
Hey, right now I want to talk to you about air around the clock, air conditioning appliances.
Greg Cody
He's still got that fastball. Now, the fastball may have always been 93 miles per hour, but it is Pain in the Black 1997.
Roy
93 was another thing.
Big Dog
No wonder your wife wants to punch you in the face half the time.
Dan Le Batard
Hey, right now, Chris Cody said the other day, and it really brought. It brought what I'm gonna call sheer delight into my life from a different time. Felt a little bit like eating those Hampton Farms peanuts does in terms of taking me back to my youth. Chris Cody comes in. The other. Just volunteers to me. I wanted to punch the radio on the way in because of what the big dog was saying about Jonathan Gannon.
Duke
Yeah, it was him and the producer they were on the same page with. You can't yell at a guy anymore. And I'm like, he hit up. And they're both just like, come on. Like, what happened back in my day, you could yell at a guy. I'm like, he hit him. I'm, like, shouting at my. I wanted to call in. I wanted to find out Hollywood's number so I could text him, put it.
Dan Le Batard
On the poll at Le Batar show. Do you still shout at your radio?
Duke
Do you think his wife does want to punch that? They probably made that part up.
Dan Le Batard
No, this is. That's his move. When I. The part that made me smile is what he does in his pivot, which has been his pivot for 30 years, which is some form of. How are the ladies treating you? The ladies hate you or the ladies love you? Those are like, that's it. That's a wonder.
Big Dog
Your wife wants to punch you in the face half the time. Hey, right now I want to talk to you about air around the clock, air conditioning and plumbing.
Dan Le Batard
Billy does it. You are moved sometimes when DJs DJ Laz, TJ says, would be a totally different creature. DJ Laz, the pimp with the Limp is on the radio or Kenny Walker is on the radio. Does Joe Rose still do this for you locally?
Roy
No.
Greg Cody
No.
Stugotz
Wow.
Roy
No, not really. I mean. I mean, he hasn't not been on the radio. He's just been on the radio for my entire life. Forever. So it's not nostalgic if I hear him even. I've never not heard him. It's just always there.
Dan Le Batard
You've outgrown. You've outgrown the entire Joe Rose experience. At one time, you did care what Joe Rose was saying about things, did you not? Or you never cared?
Greg Cody
I think we always cared how he said them. That was always a thing for me with Joe. It wasn't what he said, it was how he said.
Dan Le Batard
Yo. You hardened media veterans now never had a soft spot for Joe Rose. Yelling at the radio before it. Is that you yelling on the radio before you became graduates of the radio. And therefore you never. You never were interested in anything Joe Rose was doing here locally when he was dominating the entire market.
Greg Cody
I used to be a coworker at Joe Rose. I have always been more into Joe Rose for the ad reads.
Roy
I like Joe Rose on tv. Joe Rose on the radio was never really like my thing. I listened to Footie in the Morning.
Big Dog
You don't want to hear it, dumbass.
Greg Cody
I don't have a bad thing to say about you, Mr. Rose. You're a legend and you have a huge head.
Dan Le Batard
Have you ever accused him of, in your area and field of expertise, painting his hair black?
Greg Cody
Yeah, I mean, he's kind of fallen off a little bit. A little bit more salt than the pepper, but yeah, I mean, he was a TV newsman for quite a while. Yeah, that's what they do.
Dan Le Batard
The Eric Spoelstra story of him leading Team usa. I don't think that we should, just because he's the longest tenured coach in the market. And I guess to many people listening to this, he's an old guy now, but he started in this organization as somebody who started at the very bottom of the organization. We talked to Kevin Harlan last Friday, and I did not know that he started as a ball boy. Mike McDaniel started as a ball boy for the Denver Broncos. It's not the most common thing to go and arrive at all of your dreams by snaking through Eric Spoelstra's loved basketball all his life, snaking through the entire system so that you're now the coach of Team usa. You're replacing Greg Popovich, Mike Krzyzewski. This is the Top of your profession where you're honoring your country. And quiet as it's kept cuz he's Filipino. Jackson, another country where he has enormous support, enormous support because he is representation that you do not have in leadership in American sports very often. Eric Spoelstra is a giant pillar now from the video room across the street, like from fetching. From fetching errant free throws for guys who are shooting free throws during practice. He goes from the very bottom rung of the basketball ladder over his career to somebody who is now representing us worldwide as the face and voice of, you know, one, one, one of our proudest Olympic teams.
Chris
And the origins you talk about in his career, the real rarity is that it all happened with one organization. Because you mentioned, right, McDaniel, a ball boy with the Broncos. But you end up in all of these different coaching spots, working your way up the ladder. The thing that's the craziest about Spoelstra's experience is that it's all been here from the, from the jump, it's all been under Riley's wing and now he's blossomed into this coach that is the most well respected coach in the league and now leading maybe the greatest United States team that we have, maybe outside of gymnastics. It's so impressive. And I mean, it couldn't happen to a better guy.
Dan Le Batard
The thing that is interesting about what you just said, the nature of the tenure, the nature of the stability. We just talked yesterday about James Franklin, who was I guess 34 and 8 in his last 42 games, and how quickly basically his job security vanished when he's one of the longest tenured ones. It does really make me wonder whether we'll be allowed to see another story like this, whether there will be organizational stability enough anywhere that you can just withstand that. 17 games into 2010, LeBron doesn't want you anymore as the coach and you have the backing right behind you of the president who's saying, no, I'm not going to protect myself. We're seeing this with the Dolphins, okay? What's happening with the Dolphins is no one wants the blame. Why would anyone want to be the one responsible for it's all falling apart? I think James Franklin fast forwards everything in college sports, makes it all the more professional, because even as it was expected, that's one of the guys who had some sort of security. That's one of the Highest paid guys. 12 years. And I'm going to say it again, again, 34 and 8 in his last 42. That doesn't lose a lot of jobs in America like that. That record I can put at any maybe Alabama, maybe, maybe. But 34 and 8, you don't lose your job. And we've just, we've changed all of the rules by throwing money at it. So who's the next guy?
Greg Cody
It's not just throwing money at it. It's people throwing money at it. If if guys like boosters and guys and girls like boosters were funding Mike McDaniel' at the Miami Dolphins, he would have been gone weeks ago.
Dan Le Batard
You're saying that rich owners are more tolerant? There are more voices in the room than boosters. Yeah, it's good.
Roy
Thursday Night Football is on, and it's only on Prime Video. This week, the AFC north takes center stage as the Pittsburgh Steelers battle the Cincinnati Bengals. Rawr. Coverage begins at 7pM Eastern with football's best party, TNF.
Chris
Tonight.
Roy
Not a Prime member. Not a problem. Simply sign up for a 30 day free trial. It's the Steelers and the Bengals Thursday at 7pM Eastern, only on Prime Video. Restrictions apply. See Amazon. Com Amazon prime for details.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Date: October 14, 2025
Broadcasting from the Elser Hotel in Downtown Miami, Dan Le Batard, Stugotz, and their crew dive into the intersection of sports journalism, controversy, and Miami’s local sports scene. This episode’s main theme is the evolving Mark Cuban vs. Pablo Torre saga, which has put Torre (and his reporting) at the center of a major sports investigation. The crew also discusses the state of Monday Night Football doubleheaders, local radio nostalgia, Eric Spoelstra’s elevation to Team USA coach, Inter Miami’s shakeups, and the latest Miami Dolphins drama.
[01:37 – 13:58]
[15:08 – 17:43]
[18:44 – 19:19]
[23:22 – 25:56+]
[27:39 – 35:15]
[38:39 – 43:18]
[43:35 – 45:54]
This episode delivers the Le Batard Show’s signature collage of sports analysis, media critique, local color, and irreverent banter. From the “Harvard Huckster” saga perpetuated by both NBA owners and media rivals, to the seismic shifts in how NFL football is presented, to heartfelt respect for Miami’s coaching legends, the Local Hour keeps its pulse on sports drama and Miami life alike.
Listeners get the feeling of being in the room for a deeply funny, at times contentious, always insightful peek behind the curtain of modern sports storytelling.