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Dan Le Batard
You're listening to giraffkings Network.
Stugotz
You know that sound? It's the sound of money hitting your Venmo account. A friend paying you back. Or maybe it's getting cash back from your favorite business when you pay with the Venmo debit card. Or it's realizing you can pay with Venmo at checkout at thousands of brands. Now there are so many more ways to answer the question what's your Venmo? Download Venmo today. The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank N.A. pursuant to license by MasterCard International Incorporated. DOSH cashback terms apply. You know that sound? It's the sound of money hitting your Venmo account. A friend paying you back. Or maybe it's getting cash back from your favorite business when you pay with the Venmo debit card. Or it's realizing you can pay with Venmo at checkout at thousands of brands. Now there are so many more ways to answer the question, what's your Venmo? Download Venmo today.
Dan Le Batard
Thanks.
Stugotz
The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank N.A. pursuant to license by MasterCard International, Inc. DOSH cashback terms apply.
Chris Cote
This is the Dan Levator show with the Stugats podcast.
Mike Ryan
I'm not going to start in the obvious place. We'll get there in a second. But something happened before the show that I want to address because I was envious of what happened in the other room. I saw a door swing open and I saw an entire room light up and react to news that they had received. I thought someone did Udonis Haslam walk in? What happened over there? And then big news was broken to me and God, I am so jealous of Taylor who got to deliver this huge news. Chris, what was the news that you guys received that made that entire room light up?
Tony
It was baseball related. And if we start there as a hint, like what could I say in the baseball realm that would get the room fired up? And I'll tell you, it's the Yankees getting rid of their beard policy.
Mike Ryan
That's insane news and worthy of that reaction.
Jeremy Tache
I think we did it. I think it was us. We were the tipping point.
Mike Ryan
Tony, I think you're absolutely right. Our edition of WHODET is the most recent one where we couldn't get two of the most recent Yankee signings because we Paul Goldschmidt looks Dominican all of a sudden when he's clean shaven.
Tony
Hall of Fame guy's a Hall of Famer and none of us knew him.
Mike Ryan
Totally unrecognizable, clean shaven. So I'm glad that the Yankees look, America's already on the rebound. Nature is healing, the country is healing, at least in sports terms.
Tony
George Steinbrenner is rolling over in his grave right now.
Mike Ryan
Jess, do you have an official statement this is worthy of an official statement from the New York Yankees?
Dan Le Batard
Yeah, it says, statement from Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner. Alteration of Yankees F facial hair policy. In recent weeks, I've spoken to a large number of former and current Yankees spanning several eras to elicit their perspectives on our long standing facial hair and grooming policy. And I appreciate their earnest and varied feedback. These most recent conversations are an extension of ongoing internal dialogue that dates back several years. Ultimately, the final decision rests with me. And after great consideration, we will be amending our expectations to allow our players and uniform personnel to have well groomed beards. Moving forward. It is the appropriate time to move beyond the familiar comfort of our former policy.
Mike Ryan
Well groomed beards.
Chris Cote
Took them a while to have this conversation, eh?
Mike Ryan
It took him a while to just say, hey, you can grow a beard.
Greg Cote
That's all that determines what's well groomed.
Mike Ryan
How many PR firms helped craft that?
Jess
Did you meet?
Dan Le Batard
My Catholic school determines what is well groomed.
Mike Ryan
Someone or some company made at least $600,000 coming up with that statement.
Dan Le Batard
And I still stumbled over hell for some reason.
Tony
Man, this just teaches me change is possible. Yeah, I would have never thought that they would do this.
Greg Cote
And they did.
Mike Ryan
Hooray us. Hooray Yankees. This is great. This can only help the game. All right, so speaking of growing niche sports, let's talk about hockey last night. He's the best player in the world. You may want to mark him. I.
Chris Cote
That was ridiculous.
Mike Ryan
All right, so look, headline great for the sport. They gave us a week in February, a random week in February that we all really came together and argued about politics. And it was great. And we loved the game of hockey. The hockey was top of the line stuff. You had a great game, deliver on all the hype and expectation. I'm sure this number is going to be massive. You lose in overtime, that's tough. I understand that. But how you lose in overtime really kind of really twists a knife a little bit because number 97 is Connor McDavid. MC. Overrated. I think we can drop that for a little bit. Pretty big goal that he scored last night. He's the best player in the world. He's wide open in front of the net. He's Wide. He's wide open in front of the net and that's number 34 that is supposed to be marking him. Auston Matthews, who in the group chat I saw was referred to as Austin Bad Thews who did not have the greatest tournament. I know he set some people up and defensively he played all right. But this is a huge, huge mistake from a Selkie finalist, one of the top defending forwards in the league. You cannot do this.
Chris Cote
From face off dot the face off dot top of the face off circle to the bottom of the face off circle. That's how much room that he had. It was a full like they were in Rhode Island. That's how wide open they were.
Tony
It's not only Matthews skates away from McDavid in that defensive spot. He had three scoring chances minutes earlier. So Matthews had on both ends of the ice a chance to do what McDavid did in his first chance in overtime. He got the puck and he stuck at home, top corner.
Dan Le Batard
I mean, I wasn't rooting against Team usa. I really swear to God I wasn't. However, when I heard, as I was falling asleep, I heard the game winning goal call. I did do a yeah. When I heard Connor McDavid had scored, I did a yeah. I rolled over and fell asleep.
Chris Cote
Mike Jordan Bennington, the start overtime.
Mike Ryan
Yeah, he was incredible. Made three huge key saves.
Tony
Went back to 2019.
Mike Ryan
Yeah, he was. He was incredible for them. But I think we all kind of had the, the Alonzo morning reaction to the, to that goal, which is not the result we wanted, but certainly the result we deserved. What I don't balance of things.
Tony
What I don't get though is we're going to play this Marchand sound where he's kind of going at the Chuck brothers for giving them bullet bulletin board material before we play the Marchand sound. What did they guarantee victory? Like, what is he talking about here? When were they or were they just. Was it the fights at the first game? Like, I don't understand though. But he said he specifically says when you're running your mouth in the media, like what were their quotes?
Mike Ryan
Let's, let's. I'll address that because I know what he's talking about here. Brad Marchand, who I hate immensely. This guy sucks. He's a rat. But he's look grats to him. He gets to be the winner on the day. Let's hear what he had to say post game.
Brad Marchand
Sometimes when you shoot your mouth off in the media, I mean it bites you. You know, you can do that during the season, but when you're playing best on best, there's.
Mike Ryan
There's.
Brad Marchand
It's different, you know, and they get a little bit ahead of themselves, but they're great players, and there's not many guys in the league that play the way they. And they're extremely effective. But, you know, when you start giving teams ammo, it can work against you as well.
Mike Ryan
So the running the mouth and the Tkachuk brothers, they can run their mouth primarily on the ice. But what he's referring to is what happened after the United States beat Canada 41 in Montreal. They were asked about the fight, and they said that it came up in the group chat. And in the ensuing days, I think Brendan Hagel said, like, we don't have a group chat. And then Matthew Tkachuk was asked about that while he was sitting next to his brother. He's like, I don't know what to tell you. Like, maybe they don't like each other. That's what he's referring to. That is repressed Canadian male emotion right there. For them to take such issue with a group chat thing is, I don't know, kind of weird to me, because then look at this. And credit to Canada, good banter from Trudeau on down. They deserve it. Look, we certainly deserve it. But do we have the still of Brendan Hagel's IG story? So a group chat has big breaking news. Group chat has finally been formed. Brendan Hagel has given evidence of this, and it's called Champions with a big Canadian flag and cool. I can see Sam Reinhart's in that. Glad he made the cut. Brad Marchand's in it.
Chris Cote
Sidney Crosby's in it.
Tony
227 unread messages. Is he in our hockey group chat?
Mike Ryan
He must be in our hockey group chat, man, that's a highlight. Group chat on a given day, they're.
Dan Le Batard
All just Ethan special.
Mike Ryan
You have no idea how much that cuts for poor Ethan. There is at least 33% of, like, the main group chats have Ethan muted. I love Ethan, though, when he's in. He's all in. He's all in. Volume shooter. But he makes some occasionally. Love you, Ethan. Ethan is wearing a hockey jersey today again today as a big surprise. I guess he's going to a steakhouse after. After the show.
Dan Le Batard
Tune into Mystery Crate to hear that story.
Mike Ryan
Yeah, all right. God bless Ethan. The group chat thing is weird. The really seizing on it, I guess. Like, man, you want to talk. Really reaching for bulletin board material here. It's USA Canada. When you have the president like insulting your country as a whole in 51st state to seize on the group chat thing is a little odd. I don't really get what's happening there. But let's go back to the macro. The. The whole theater of this thing that culminated with last night's incredible moment that.
Tony
Was an all star game.
Mike Ryan
Was that the immediate pivot? Chris, you've got to be a tournament.
Tony
Is that the immediate exhibition?
Mike Ryan
Great exhibition.
Tony
I mean, honestly, I felt better about USA losing when I saw how indifferent the. You know, they get their chance with the cup like they do with the Stanley Cup.
Chris Cote
They didn't care.
Greg Cote
Dude.
Tony
The hockey players with Stanley cup, they do a full lap around the arena. It's like you can see them like, oh my God, the. The Canadian guys with that trophy, they went like 10ft, turned around, handed it to next guy. Like it did like. I know I'm drawing for. I'm reaching here. But it did make me feel a little better about the loss.
Mike Ryan
Yeah, a couple reasons for that. No one grew up wondering about the day that they might possibly lift the Four Nations Cup. I mean, it's just the Four Nations.
Greg Cote
I just love the way we were talking about this four days ago. I can't get so much the greatest event that was ever created in the history of sports and made the NHL far surpass the NBA and everything that ever imagined about. And if the US won, it would have been the greatest thing that's ever happened. But as we said, it was just a geopolitical moment that was sweeping everybody up and it will never, ever, ever, ever be as cool as it was four days ago.
Mike Ryan
All right, shut up.
Greg Cote
You could do the four. You could do the Four Nations Cup. That's over a hundred years. It'll never be.
Tony
You want to talk Wembley?
Mike Ryan
I'm sure we. Let's talk Wemby and how the. Look, the NBA is in shambles right now.
Jeremy Tache
Look, NBA is not in shambles, by the way.
Greg Cote
Insane.
Jeremy Tache
What you NBA is doing a great job.
Greg Cote
Crazy people.
Jeremy Tache
I love the NBA.
Mike Ryan
What?
Jeremy Tache
What?
Mike Ryan
So Jeremy, you seized on that.
Dan Le Batard
I don't.
Mike Ryan
I wholeheartedly still stand by my statements. This was awesome. This was the biggest thing I would love to have won it. It hurts so much.
Greg Cote
Glad you enjoyed it.
Mike Ryan
While it was cool, it's still cool. It was still the best. And like, I can't wait for next year in the Olympics. Now we have a great storyline. They hadn't played best on best these nations in 11 years and all you had was, you know, a. A Historic rivalry. The US Got the better of them in the World cup of hockey in 1996. I remember watching that as a little kid and knowing what a big moment that was. But recently, when these two nations have met in finals, it usually ends in heartbreak. In fact, Sidney Crosby has five medals to his name. Five gold medals in international hockey. The United States as a whole have four in their history. So we are absolutely little brother here. And it was weird. It was weird in how the look, the politics of it, the media coverage of it. We somehow gave Canada the right to be the underdog in hockey. I mean, at certain points in this tournament, they had Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Nathan McKinnon and Cale Makar on the ice. They are not the underdog. Like if we're doing this in video games, their overall team score is higher than the overall team score of the United States. But the United States had the vibes, they had the attitude. They were hosting the final. This was a pick em game when it came to betting lines. And most of the action was on the United States. But make no mistake about it, the United States is always going to be the underdog against Canada. And something weird happened, maybe politically, where that narrative switched. And you can't give the more talented team also the right to call themselves underdog. That's weird.
Chris Cote
Well, going into this tournament, I mean, their inspiration was Johnny Goudreau and his death and the memorial lies in him in this tournament.
Tony
The fans, fans overshadowed the fans chanting, Johnny. Hockey was awesome.
Chris Cote
That was awesome.
Mike Ryan
It was a great moment. Mike Riccione coming out in the Johnny Goudreau hockey sweater. Yeah, that got buried. That got buried by all this ridiculousness as it made it to the cable. No, I don't think anybody would agree with that.
Tony
Oh, that's a great show. No, just background television ridiculousness.
Mike Ryan
Just turn it on.
Jeremy Tache
Always on.
Dan Le Batard
Maybe.
Mike Ryan
Come on.
Tony
Still slaps.
Dan Le Batard
How many times, seen all of it.
Tony
How many times did Canada have to have too many men on the ice before they were going to call it?
Chris Cote
The puck was too close to the.
Mike Ryan
Bench, but they had it.
Tony
Like there was multiple times where the announcers were like, that could have been too many men.
Mike Ryan
Yeah, it seemed like the one penalty that I think they only called one penalty, the Arizona. It had to be like super obvious. You knew that the stripes weren't going to be. Yeah, it was playoff rules in this one, which I loved. Look, top of the line effort. Great theater, great drama, the players caring. Matthew Tkachuk's probably not going to play for A few games for the Florida Panthers. It's insane that the players that were in this tournament have to turn around now and start playing for their clubs in two days. Some tomorrow.
Tony
Can we put back up the Canadian group chat? I'm wondering with all this group chat talk if there's like USA players or Canadian players not in these group chats. And they're like, what the hell?
Mike Ryan
Yeah, there's got to be a green phone. There's got to be a green text.
Tony
Like Swayman's, like, why am I not in these group chats?
Mike Ryan
Yeah, I like the idea of there being like, maybe Cale Makar in this group chat, man. Shout out to the NHL. They got this right. And it's not just the NHL. The players also have to show that they wanted to do this. And the players union were a driving force. International hockey means a lot to these guys. And I know PK went viral, drawing comparisons to the effort to the NBA and the NHL. But that's also one of the other storylines that was unfortunately bigger than the Johnny Goudreau thing. And I understand the Johnny Goudreau thing is for hockey puck heads that know the story. For me, that was prevalent throughout this tournament. It wasn't what was headlining cable news, we all know that, but it happening during this kind of weird inflection point for the NBA. As I want to get to the Wemby stuff now too is really interesting because there were abuelitas that were watching this game last night. This was huge for the sport of hockey. I don't know if that sustained momentum, but like I said, the Panthers play tomorrow. There's a lot of people that are going to identify with this. And it's really unfortunate that Matthew Tkachuk got hurt because he has shown time and time again on grand stages that he's. He's willing to be the superstar, he's willing to be the face of hockey. And you would love to just keep that momentum going, but I do. I cannot think about this NHL exhibition tournament, whatever you may call it, best on best though, and not think about the NBA. And the NBA had a crushing blow yesterday with the Victor Wembanyama News. And this is really serious as he fans know that that went through the Chris Bosch thing like this is career in jeopardy type of stuff. Now there have been reassurances that they think he's going to be fine. They caught it. It has not spread. They caught it in the shoulder, but this is a really scary thing. Tony, were you the first on this beat?
Jeremy Tache
I had Some. I had some information that was given to me that I kind of had seen the. The writing in the. In the. On the wall, like, hey, something's happening with Wemby and Mike. You talk about the deep vein thrombosis thing. Obviously, Chris Bosh had that, but Brandon Ingram also had the. Almost. Basically. Basically the same exact thing that Wemby had, which is a shoulder. So I'm not a doctor, obviously. I only Play 1 on TV, but.
Tony
Thank you for clarifying Those.
Jeremy Tache
Those blood clots obviously can move around your body into places that. I think Serena, a couple years ago, had one, like, in her chest, in her lung or something. Something like.
Mike Ryan
There's.
Jeremy Tache
There's a lot of things that blood clots can do. Luckily, they caught this. They were talking about how Wemby was very sluggish, how he was very. Just kind of like, he looked tired. He looked exhausted. 24 7. Obviously, you're playing an NBA schedule and flying and doing all these different things, you're going to feel pretty exhausted. But the team was like, wait, Something just isn't right here. Obviously, he ended up finding that. That he had that. It's a tough. It's. It's tough for the NBA right now, but the good thing is that in six months, when the season starts again, he'll be back and ready to go. And I thought there was something interesting where Anthony Edwards, who is obviously bravado, who is face of the league, in a sense, got asked during the All Star game. I don't know if, Jeremy, you saw this. It was like, hey, are you ready to be the face of the league? Is that your place? And he's like, nah, that's Wemby. Like, Wemby's going to be the face of the league, not me.
Mike Ryan
It was. It is. I mentioned that this. This week on the show, the face of the NBA is Victor Wembanyama, and 48 hours later, he's out for the rest of the season. And there were some Bosh parallels, because when Bosh had his second one, remember, Bosh bounced back after the pulmonary embolisms, and then there was, like, a weird skills competition, and Victor Wembanyama had a weird skills competition, which feels a little weirder now with the news. That's funny. Yeah. And so there are parallels there. For Bosch, when the second one popped up, he's on blood thinners for life. That's not necessarily going to be the case here for Victor Wembanyama, which was. It was actually the solution. The cure for Chris Bosh is What caused the end of his career, which was the blood thinners.
Greg Cote
That's exactly right. And with Wemby, he will go on blood thinners to fix this blood clot. But that's the whole thing. You really can't play sports on blood thinners. That's why heart issues become a thing and players are immediately out of the league. So for Wemby at least, the reporting thus far and everything that the spurs have said indicates, like Tony said, he'll be back at the start of next season and they'll go from there. They right now were a couple of games out of a play in spot anyhow, and so they have their own first round pick. If you're looking at the future of the spurs, him now missing this amount of time and getting them in the top three or four of the draft.
Mike Ryan
And landing Cooper Flag, inevitably, we can't let that happen. Nope. I'm just letting you know we can't let it.
Greg Cote
You don't think that's a possibility that they end up IN Don't. Speaker 3 and land. If not Cooper Flag and Ace Bailey or whoever is going to be right there to help catapult them with the Aaron Fox and Victor Wembanya. I mean, look, it's the Spurs. All that said, this is a scary thing. Anytime blood clots pop up, you're. You're worried for the future of anyone's athletic career with Wemby being everything that he is, not just as this athletic freak who was going to win defensive player of the year, who's one of the most dominant forces in the league already in year two. You also have all these guys like Anthony Edwards across the league embracing. That's the guy. Wemby's the guy that all of us are willing to look at and go, he has everything that's needed in terms of personality, in terms of demeanor, in terms of competitiveness to be out here as the face of the NBA. So when you miss that guy for the second half of the season and a chase for a play in spot, of course that's awful news for the league.
Tony
I'm wondering what this did to his memorabilia, like market because that's like Wemby's like the hottest name in terms of like cards and memorabilia. So I wonder if like, are things crashing? Are people buying low? Like, how do you.
Mike Ryan
I think it's a huge blow not just for the spurs, however. The first name that I thought of was Chris Bosh. The second name that I thought of was David Robinson because the spurs were in a Similar position. They had David Robinson. He got hurt. They put themselves in position to get Tim Duncan, and if they get Cooper Flag out of this whole thing, that's incredible. I don't like it one bit. I don't like it one bit. But I think the league could have really used Victor Wembanyama in the postseason. I think it's a huge blow. You worry about the rest of his career because if this pops up again, you have the very recent comparison with Chris Bosh that, okay, that's blood thinners for life. Right. He's a liability out there. You can't put him out there. And that's hugely unfortunate. And I'll address the elephant in the room with my initial Victor Wembanyama takes. This was not what I had in mind. Okay. When I talked about his long term health and his fragility, I was thinking maybe ankle. All right. Yeah.
Tony
No victory lap for you today?
Mike Ryan
Yeah, no, no victory lap. I was made very uncomfortable with the amount of text messages and DMS that I got. Mike, you were right. You're like, wait, what? It's a dub. An unfortunate dub.
Tony
A Victor lap would be funny.
Dan Le Batard
How are you taking a victory lap today? I feel like Jerry Bear should be taking the victory lap for being right.
Greg Cote
About everything involving hockey ever.
Chris Cote
Whoa, whoa.
Tony
How are you right?
Mike Ryan
What do you.
Greg Cote
How was I right?
Mike Ryan
Are you politicizing this last week?
Greg Cote
I'm politicizing.
Mike Ryan
Yeah, you're politicizing.
Greg Cote
I was me. It was me.
Jeremy Tache
I was the one who.
Greg Cote
Let's. Like, I was the one who did that.
Tony
The last week and a half was awesome for hockey.
Greg Cote
Yeah, it was super cool.
Tony
There was also a lot of politics involved.
Mike Ryan
Yeah.
Greg Cote
And everything I said was right.
Mike Ryan
What did you say? What did you say on Tuesday?
Greg Cote
What'd you say when I told you guys that inevitably Team USA would embrace Trump because the overwhelming majority of the roster is right leaning. And so in turn, when he embraced the team, they would continue to embrace it and politicize it in a moment that only was being followed by the abuelitas that you mentioned because of this political moment. And all of those people will drop off the face of the earth and the tournament will never be a school against.
Tony
I didn't even.
Mike Ryan
Well, apparently he's done in depth reporting and he's seen, like their voter registration.
Tony
Asking what did they do to embrace him.
Greg Cote
Every quote that came out after Bill Garrett.
Mike Ryan
No, not every quote. You got a quote from J.T. miller and a quote from Bill Guerin.
Greg Cote
And there was an I'll find Another.
J
One if you'd like.
Mike Ryan
No one clearly seen all their voter id.
Dan Le Batard
Did he give them a pump up speech or something?
Mike Ryan
He spoke on like. So was it Bill Guerin that came in with the speakerphone? All right, so we know where Bill. I think it's safe to say, given the Fox News interview hit that Bill Guerin did where he lines up politically.
Greg Cote
Remind me of his titles.
Mike Ryan
He's a general manager.
Greg Cote
Yeah, that's right.
Mike Ryan
What does that mean?
Chris Cote
He knew already.
Jeremy Tache
Mike, Germany's an ally.
Mike Ryan
Would you like me to go into the political donations of Pat Riley and Mickey Arison?
Greg Cote
Riley's.
Mike Ryan
Let's throw. Let's throw a blanket over an entire organization because. Because of a general manager.
Greg Cote
Well, and players and look, I mean.
Mike Ryan
I'm not safe to assume.
Greg Cote
Crazy.
Mike Ryan
I understand what you're doing. Was he rooting for the Canadians? Was this guy rooting for the Canadians? The Canadians aren't conservative. Not at all. No. The Canadian hockey players. No. Wayne Gretzky is only playing golf with 45 and 47 all the time and being encouraged to run for Prime Minister of Canada.
Jeremy Tache
Great one.
Mike Ryan
Yeah, the great one. So, like, look, there's conservatives everywhere. We have to try our best to make this work. I don't like it either. And yes, I looked at the screen capture and I tried to identify who's smiling.
Greg Cote
I know who was smiling.
Mike Ryan
Auston Matthews. You got a huge smile on your face. I know what you want to do with Matthew and I'm not so sure there, pal.
Chris Cote
No, I think it's more what I.
Mike Ryan
Want to do, actually. Yeah. Just given if you want to read into quotes and what Matthew Tkachuk has said. I know he spoke very excitedly, proud to be an American at the White House, but he's also been.
Chris Cote
What do you expect him to say? Yeah, he's one of the captains of Team USA going into this tournament.
Mike Ryan
What do you expect him to say? He's been really good about shielding that, but when it came to the. The rainbow stick tape, Matthew Tkachuk's been on the right side of that. I think Matthew Tkachuk is playing this about as well as you can, but I'm not. I don't know the political leanings. I think it's safe to say no.
Dan Le Batard
No one's asking you to go like player by player by player. It's just that I've seen fans say that the current feeling of patriotism is a little icky when the President of the United States is threatening the sovereignty of. Of our friendliest neighbor, threatening tariffs all of that. I think that was Jeremy's point and.
Greg Cote
That it would have been embraced differently had you been set, because we were talking about this in the context of the NBA All Stars in the NHL All Stars. And obviously, if you were sending the NBA all Stars up to Canada, this.
Tony
All goes, we would be rooting for them, too.
Mike Ryan
Yeah.
Greg Cote
Oh, it's not who we would be rooting for. I root for the United States of America.
Jeremy Tache
I'm not about that.
Greg Cote
But anti American.
Mike Ryan
Sure.
Greg Cote
Like, sure.
Mike Ryan
Okay, we'll put it on the poll. Put it on the poll. It's Jeremy, Tess. Are you guys crazy?
Greg Cote
Hey, friends, it's Jerbear here, and I'm here to tell you all about Boost Mobile, which is now a legit nationwide 5G network. So I must take a break from the jokes here for a second and.
J
Put on my serious voice because I would never, ever joke about a 5G network that has invested billions building 5G towers across the country. Not even once. Not even if Mr. Boost Mobile himself asked me to. There is nothing funny about it. Boost Mobile is now a legit nationwide 5G network and also provides coverage across 99% of America. Seriously? Visit boostmobile.com or your nearest Boost Mobile store location to learn more. The Boost Mobile network, together with our roaming partner, covers 99% of the US population. 5G speeds not available in all areas.
Stugotz
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Mike Ryan
Howdy, folks. It's Mike. And look, it's been an exhausting couple of weeks. Even on the show, there's all sorts of which sport takes it seriously enough. Where's the effort? Let me tell you something. As long as I'm sitting down on the couch and I have a beautiful white can of Miller Lite in my hand, I'm good. I make any sports time of Miller Time. And it's the perfect supplement because Miller Lite makes all the moments better with great tasting light beer. For people like you and me, who love beer, it's always the perfect time for friends, family, and a great tasting light beer tastes like Miller Time. Miller Lite is brewed for taste. It hits different than other light beers. The taste that you know you can depend on. No games, no gimmicks, just great beer. For people who like beer, it has simple ingredients like malted barley for rich, balanced toffee note flavors and the iconic golden color that we all know and love. The original light beer since 1975 and still the very best one, Miller Lite Great Taste. 96 calories. Go to millerlight.com dan to find delivery options near you. Or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell. Beer tastes like Miller Time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Don LeBatard. There is no question, Dan Lebatard, show included anybody else, that this guy is the best player on the planet. Whether he wins the Stanley cup or the coxmite this year, there is no question about it. Stugats overrated. Wait, what's going on? Dan Lebatard. How you doing? Altered world or what? Oh, my God. Goodness.
Chris Cote
This is the Dan Levatar show with the stugats.
Mike Ryan
I. Look, I just get what you're saying.
Dan Le Batard
Re listen to Tuesday's show, you might.
Greg Cote
Have a different perspective.
Dan Le Batard
Jeremy got shouted down on a number of points that were then proven right within 12 hours.
Mike Ryan
But again, he's lifting up a J.T. miller quote and a Bill Garon quote and projecting that over an entire team, which I think is a little unfair.
Greg Cote
Projecting it over a moment.
Mike Ryan
Mike, you cannot talk about this moment without the policy. Right.
Greg Cote
That's all I did from the beginning was saying how this moment you.
Mike Ryan
Re. Listen to this segment. You would. You would feel a little bit.
Greg Cote
I'm taking a victory lap.
Mike Ryan
Yeah, but that's the thing. You're taking a victory lap and victory rap. Look, I'm sure this wasn't like when the US women were being attacked by men. 45. And that was kind of ideal if you were on one side of the political spectrum, because you got to be a patriot. You knew where you were aligned ideologically with the players. And it was like a great moment. Megan Rapinoe, that's like, okay, yeah, you get to pound your chest and wrap yourself in the flag. You get to be patriotic and you get to stand up to someone that is your oppressor. The way that you feel like, that's a great moment. This one's way more complicated, as is everything right now. Overly complicated. And I do not like from a side of the aisle that during the Kaepernick thing, wanted a clear division of politics and sport. And now, like many people in the past, you have a leader that is using the avenue of sports to not just normalize some of this behavior. Steve Bannon gives a very clear Nazi salute at a cpac. Very clear Nazi salute. Like, this is abhorrent behavior. I understand why it's hard to disassociate some of this stuff. I, you know where I stand on this stuff. I have a very difficult time reconciling what's in the news. But then I hear Free Bird. Right?
Greg Cote
Right.
Mike Ryan
And I see players.
Greg Cote
This is the whole thing.
Mike Ryan
There is a lot of athletes that I am, former athletes that are conservative, that I'm friends with. I live in Miami. It's why the echo chamber thing is insane to me. I'm a second generation Cuban.
Dan Le Batard
You don't even have to do all of that. I think the point is just that a lot of people are trying to pretend like this wasn't tense for a particular reason last week. A lot of people are trying to pretend that that's not.
Greg Cote
It was only as intense as it was because of what the moment was. And that was what I was saying then, and it's what I'd continue to say now.
Mike Ryan
I think it would be plenty intense. And I don't think the intensity from the players would be any different if that storyline was not there. I, trust me, when it's right from.
Tony
The news perspective, he's right.
Greg Cote
What I'm talking about is the gloms of people who have flocked to what this All Star weekend was, who had zero interest in hockey before this, press secretaries alike. Correct?
Mike Ryan
Yes.
Greg Cote
And so with using it as a vehicle and the issue for someone on. On my side of the aisle, whether you're as far to my side of the aisle or a Little bit closer to the middle. It was a difficult thing to put all of that aside, to find myself. Nearly impossible for these guys who, by the way, like the Panthers on the team, Matthew Tkachuk, like, these guys are awesome guys. I'm not trying to disparage any of those human beings for what they were going through. It was a pretty intense thing to have on your back on top of wanting to, you know, honor Johnny Goudreau. There's a lot going on.
Mike Ryan
Hugely unfair, I think, to these players. Right, who are kind of professional, rolling with this.
Greg Cote
Yeah, they did what they could, but, I mean, obviously there's some bites that come out and not, you know, I'll see him. Anyone else will see him. You get frustrated, but you don't have a long, in depth conversation with other players on the team who might not feel that way. At the same time, it became really difficult to view this game and this tournament through any prism outside of what an administration that is at the same time doing some of the most heinous things I've seen while I'm alive on this planet, and then wrapping themselves in the American flag around this hockey. Hockey team.
Mike Ryan
It's tough. I get you 100%. I can say that the players, they didn't care about that stuff that was not really talked about. Like, that's.
Dan Le Batard
That's totally fine. I'm just saying, like, Justin Trudeau tweeted last night, you can't take our country or our game. Politics was a big part of the storylines of this tournament. And that's, I think, just.
Greg Cote
It's why 1980 mattered.
Tony
That tweet did numbies, though. 9.4 million views.
Mike Ryan
Big numbers. Look, we went. Chris and I were in a group that went up to Montreal. It would not have felt as tense were not for the political situation right now that the US Finds itself in seemingly by its own doing, not seemingly totally by its own doing. We've never, ever had an issue with Canada. And now all of a sudden, a really friendly nation is booing our anthem straight to our face like, it's not great. It's impossible to ignore. The players did their best in navigating this. Outside of Maybe one wayward J.T. miller thing that you could really read into, no one gave a quote that's like, man, damn, you really let me down there. So credit to them. Hockey players are pretty good that way. They're not going to give you too much, because then Brad Marchand may seize on something totally innocuous. I do want to say, though, that I Want to credit this team for how well that they handled all this stuff. They could have come out and made this an Uber distraction. They didn't. They let. Hey, there were people, Jeremy, and people that feel like Jeremy that were tuning into this specifically because they wanted to get one over on Canada, because the cult of personality is such. Yeah, you're already on the 51st state. And it's kind of like Republicans buy shoes too. Like Team usa. They did nothing to dissuade puck heads that really didn't want the politics being infused into this kind of tournament. They did nothing to dissuade us from it, really. And they certainly didn't do anything to dissuade the people that were coming to this game for that too. In terms of being able to capture a market and know how to grow your game, I gotta say that the players played this to perfection. I have my thoughts about Bill Guerin, but what can you do?
Greg Cote
The other player quote that I had seen, I remembered seeing more, and it was Noah Hannifin who said, hopefully we can get the win tonight for our country and for Trump.
Mike Ryan
Well, okay, that's Noah Hannifin. Yeah.
Greg Cote
Well, there's two.
Mike Ryan
There's two. Again, I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna project over an entire team. I think it's safe to say, like, white, rich athletes in hockey, you can. You can estimate. You can. You can do your best to try to figure it out. But I think you'd be shocked to know at how many people on the Canada side are kind of. I know. It's a progressive nation.
Dan Le Batard
I don't think anyone would be shocked.
Mike Ryan
There you go.
Dan Le Batard
We know. Yes. We understand that people with a lot of money tend to skew more conservative.
Mike Ryan
It's like when I'm watching the Masters, I'm like, ah. I kind of. Do you think he might be lit? No, I'm kind of making myself.
Dan Le Batard
Tiger woods was at the White House yesterday.
Mike Ryan
Yeah. Celebrating our social team.
Greg Cote
Really put. Is Jeremy Tache anti American on Twitter?
Jeremy Tache
Thank God.
Mike Ryan
Cavoclasian.
Jeremy Tache
Here's the thing. Do we need to have everybody that we watch in sports be on one side or the other? Like, I voted yes.
Chris Cote
Thank you.
Jeremy Tache
I'm gonna vote yes after. But does it matter? Like, oh, this guy's Republican. This guy's a Democrat. Like, we're watching the games. Like, do. Are we really that invested with the.
Greg Cote
Polarization of politics in this moment to.
Jeremy Tache
Be like, oh, man.
Greg Cote
J.T. miller said something about, that's not what we're saying.
Jeremy Tache
But. But you Guys are parsing. You guys are parsing.
Dan Le Batard
Event between.
Jeremy Tache
I hear you.
Dan Le Batard
Teams that represent two countries where one country is.
Jeremy Tache
But we do this across country, across all sports. Oh, my God. Tom Brady said what? To who?
Mike Ryan
He's got a hat.
Jeremy Tache
Where like, we do this all the time. Oh, this person is progressive. Okay, great.
Mike Ryan
What? I don't root for him more. What I don't mean, what I don't like is that's a message.
Dan Le Batard
Progressivism stands for, like, having basic human rights point in history. But my point is you believe that gay people should be married.
Greg Cote
I don't know.
Dan Le Batard
Well, if you don't, I might judge you a little bit.
Jeremy Tache
But my point is this. We're watching a game, right? Let's just watch the game. Right? It doesn't matter.
Mike Ryan
But they're not allowing. And by there, I say conservatives because that was the message when Kaepernick was doing his thing. And it's very convenient to flip the script and just be like, hey, go ahead and deal with it. Okay, I'm dealing with it. I'm a UFC fan. I see a political rally at UFC New York. I see a victory lap. I see every winning fighter go over there and get congratulated by the President. It's kind of impossible at that point for me to draw the line.
Jeremy Tache
Okay.
Mike Ryan
Especially when Dana White is fully endorsing.
Jeremy Tache
Okay, I understand that. But my point is you can just kind of be like, are you upset at that? Or are you like, okay, like, whatever. It is what it is.
Dan Le Batard
I think you can be disappointed by.
Jeremy Tache
Disagreeing with every single time and every single.
Mike Ryan
I want to hear what Jess has to say. Yeah.
Dan Le Batard
There's plenty of players that I love watching who I'm incredibly disappointed by constantly. And I still love sports, and I still watch sports all the time. I love football. I enjoy the shit out of it. I understand that a lot of my favorite players do not agree with me politically. It's. It's tough. There's sometimes there's a line that you draw and you decide, I'm not going to watch that person anymore. That's every person's individual decision as a consumer of the sports that we watch. And it's obviously a very shitty and unique situation that this tournament came at this time where these two countries are in the most tense situation they've ever been.
Mike Ryan
It really is remarkable, the timing.
Dan Le Batard
And you can't ignore that. You just can't cut.
Greg Cote
Like.
Dan Le Batard
Like a lot of people covering sports are being told by their bosses just to ignore all of that. But when the President of Canada is tweeting, you can't take our country after Canada wins. It's kind of tough to ignore that that's happening.
Mike Ryan
It is pretty crazy how all of this aligned because the U.S. and Canada never had issues as long as I've been alive. They've been friendly neighbors.
Dan Le Batard
As a hockey fan, it's been awesome to shit on Canada my whole life and make fun of them for not winning any Stanley Cups in my lifetime, even though all of their players were the stars of the team that I like that won several Stanley Cups. But that's besides the point.
Mike Ryan
He had kaner.
Dan Le Batard
Who?
Mike Ryan
But yeah, he had kaner. But it's. Again, you have to do the. Well, morally, I'm not really down with this guy, but go.
Dan Le Batard
Right. I mean, it's a great. Like there's tons of ethical decisions that you make watching sports and just living in the world every single day. And no one is saying you should like, you know, change what sport you like because of whatever. Tony. Like, you are welcome to like what you like and do what you do. However, I just think it's hard to ignore and that if you feel sort of icky and yucky rooting for a team when this is going on in the background, I understand that. That's all I'm saying.
Tony
Down the middle. Chris thinks this is an important conversation and he's glad that we're having it.
Mike Ryan
I'm super glad that we're having it. The discourse is fascinating because like, all this stuff happened at a moment in time where the politics were impossible to ignore. From the national anthems. They're booing the national anthem. Why they booing the national anthem?
Chris Cote
Well, they were booing it because the Canadian national anthem was so terrible.
Mike Ryan
Well, I heard that too, but you have.
Tony
Did we do that on purpose? That was the Internet. They put a bad singer on purpose.
Greg Cote
Got em.
Dan Le Batard
They should have had Greg do his song.
Mike Ryan
There was no outside framing like the miracle on ice. You kind of knew the story. This one. You had bad faith politicians, bad faith aggregators doing what they could to manipulate a storyline that couldn't give a shit less about the sport. And while all that circus was going on, again, credit to the NHL. They leaned into the circus. They played it down the middle, non political. When it came to their presentation, they would acknowledge it. The players, for the most part, overwhelmingly didn't close any doors to people that were coming just for that. And they are legion. I think there's going to be a massive number. But the people that truly have a passion for the game. Roy, I feel like I can speak for you. This was an amazing experience. This was one of the best things, genuinely one of the best things I've ever experienced around this sport. And that's not just because I went to some of the games. No. Watching it on television yesterday was one of the iconic games in the sport's history.
Chris Cote
Yeah. I think it might actually grow the sport because a lot of demographics that don't usually watch actually watch for the intrigue. So I think it might grow.
Tony
I can't believe that Yankee story.
Dan Le Batard
Actually, I wanted to get back on the topic because we've been trying to discuss back here, like, who is the Yankees player who benefits the most from being able to have their facial hair now? So Taylor put together a few photos for us of before and after shots of Yankees with and without facial hair. So here, the first one is Devin Williams.
Mike Ryan
I'll take your word for it.
Greg Cote
Going to be difficult to beat that.
Jeremy Tache
Devin Williams.
Dan Le Batard
This looks great with a beard.
Greg Cote
So good with a beard.
Tony
So much better with a beard.
Mike Ryan
That's not the same person. It's just flatly not. The eyes are closer together on the photo on the right. That's not the same person. You guys are trying to trick me.
Dan Le Batard
And then, of course, we have Paul Goldschmidt next. Who? You know, gosh, Paul Goldschmidt.
Mike Ryan
Those are two different people.
Chris Cote
That's not fair.
Jeremy Tache
Looks thinner on the right, too.
Dan Le Batard
And the salt and pepper is great. I love a salt and pepper.
Mike Ryan
If I see the salt and pepper in a beard, I'm like, yeah, it's Paul Goldschmidt.
Tony
Is that Gino?
Dan Le Batard
I think we have one more. Let's see what the next one is.
Greg Cote
Oh, wait a second.
Jeremy Tache
Oh, no, that can't be right.
Greg Cote
Mike Ryan plays for the Yankees.
Mike Ryan
I'm really mad about this.
Tony
Taylor might not be here next week.
Mike Ryan
No, guaranteed.
Greg Cote
Hey, friends, it's Jerrah Bear here and I'm here to tell you all about Boost Mobile, which is now a legit nationwide 5G network. So I must take a break from the jokes here for a second and.
J
Put on my serious voice, because I would never, ever joke about a 5G network that has invested billions building 5G towers across the country. Not even once. Not even if Mr. Boost Mobile himself asked me to. There is nothing funny about it. Boost Mobile is now a legit nationwide 5G network and also provides coverage across 99 of America. Seriously? Visit boostmobile.com or your nearest Boost Mobile store location to learn more. The Boost Mobile network, together with Our Roaming partners covers 99 of the US population. 5G speeds not available in all areas.
Jess
All right, I know I got to do this ad read, but hold on, let me reapply.
Dan Le Batard
Did you hear that?
Mike Ryan
Yep.
Jess
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Episode: Local Hour: The Yankees Beard Policy Reveal
Release Date: February 21, 2025
In this episode of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, host Dan Le Batard and co-host Stugotz delve into a variety of sports topics, focusing primarily on a significant policy change by the New York Yankees and the ramifications of recent events in the hockey and NBA worlds. The discussion is rich with insights, debates, and notable quotes, providing listeners with a comprehensive overview of these developments.
The episode opens with a surprising announcement: the New York Yankees have officially amended their long-standing facial hair and grooming policy to allow well-groomed beards for players and uniform personnel.
Reactions:
Impact:
Notable Quotes:
The conversation shifts to the recent international hockey tournament between the United States and Canada, which was marked by both intense gameplay and political undertones.
Game Recap:
Political Implications:
Group Chat Controversy:
Notable Quotes:
A significant portion of the discussion centers around the NBA's rising star, Victor Wembanyama, who recently suffered from a blood clot, drawing parallels to Chris Bosh's similar health issues.
Health Update:
Impact on the Spurs and NBA:
Notable Quotes:
The hosts engage in a heated debate about the increasing intertwining of politics and sports, using the hockey tournament as a case study.
Diverse Perspectives:
Consequences:
Notable Quotes:
Throughout the episode, the hosts share personal anecdotes and observations that complement the main discussions.
Fan Reactions and Player Performances:
Memorabilia and Team Image:
Notable Quotes:
The episode wraps up with the hosts reflecting on the intertwined nature of sports and societal issues. They acknowledge the challenges athletes face in navigating their roles as sports figures amidst broader political and social tensions. The conversation underscores the complexity of maintaining sportsmanship and focus in an increasingly polarized environment.
Final Thoughts:
This comprehensive summary encapsulates the key discussions, insights, and debates from the episode, providing a clear and engaging overview for those who haven't listened. The inclusion of notable quotes with timestamps offers authenticity and depth to the summary, reflecting the dynamic conversations between Dan Le Batard, Stugotz, and their co-hosts.