NFL Schedule Release + Top 5 Games To Look Forward To | Local Hour

Summary

Episode Summary: NFL Schedule Release + Top 5 Games To Look Forward To | Local Hour

Podcast: The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Date: May 15, 2026
Hosts: Dan Le Batard, Stugotz
Guests/Contributors: Chris Cody, Tony, Zaslow, Dave Damaschek
Location: The Elser Hotel, Downtown Miami

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Main Theme

This Local Hour dives into the excitement and cynicism surrounding the just-released 2026 NFL schedule. The crew debates the significance of schedule release day, discusses the grim outlook for the Miami Dolphins, explores the trend of viral team schedule videos, and counts down Tony’s "Top 5 NFL Games to Look Forward To." The episode then pivots to NBA drama, focusing on recent revelations about Giannis Antetokounmpo’s behind-the-scenes behavior and how changing superstar attitudes may affect future team building.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. NFL Schedule Release: Anticipation vs. Apathy

• Friday & Football Returns: Dan humorously celebrates that "football is back" with the schedule drop.
  “Five months in, five months. That's when football starts. But it's back. It's back now. Football. That's right. Schedule release yesterday, everybody.”
  – Dan LeBatard, 01:08

• Cynicism About the Hype: The cast questions why NFL schedule release has become such an event when opponents and venues are already known in advance—just the order is revealed. “The schedule release is stupid to me. We've known all the teams they're going to play… The one thing that I did, like when I was a kid… was, OK, how many games are the Dolphins playing on Monday Night Football?”
  – Dan LeBatard, 08:57

2. The Miami Dolphins’ Bleak Prospects

• Low Expectations and Tone Setting: The Dolphins’ schedule looks daunting, and Chris has little optimism, suggesting their opener versus the Raiders will determine if the team musters two, three, or maybe five wins. “If they lose that game at Vegas, you're staring at a two win season. And I piped up, I said if they win that game, then you're staring at a three win season.”
  – Dan LeBatard, 06:57

• National Irrelevance: Dolphins among five teams without a single national television game, reflecting low expectations. “Those five teams right there, no national TV games.”
  – Dan LeBatard, 08:44

3. NFL Schedule Release Videos: School Projects for Billion-Dollar Brands

• The crew discusses the social media contest of creative team schedule release videos.

  • Dolphins’ Gimmick: Players are told "Mr. Ross" wants to see them, only for Rick Ross to appear. Chris finds it predictable, but it trends highly.
    “I don't want to be the guy that I saw it coming, but... as soon as the first joke of 'Mr. Ross wants to see you,' I was like, OK, clearly Rick Ross is going to appear.”
    – Chris Cody, 10:52

  • Winners & Memorable Entries:

    • Lions: Coach Dan Campbell simply pins up a static schedule.
    • Raiders: Parody of 'Step Brothers' with their quarterbacks—called “winner” by the room.
    • Colts: Simpsons-themed entry, heavily produced.

  • Quote:
    “It does have...a little bit of sort of a school project kind of… all the students go off into the 32 different directions and they come back to present to the class their cute little project for the year.”
    – Zaslow, 11:38

Memorable Moment

Raiders “Step Brothers” Parody
“Did we just become best friends? Yup.”
– (Raiders Video Parody, 13:54)

4. Top 5 Games to Look Forward To (Tony’s List, 18:23–22:18)

• #5: 2026 Season Opener - Seahawks vs. Patriots

  • Rematch of last year’s Super Bowl. Intrigue centers on how Patriots’ new coach Mike Vrabel handles it.
  • “Game one, Seattle Seahawks, New England Patriots. Big game. Not for on the field, but for things off the field.”
    – Tony, 19:01

• #4: All Thanksgiving Games

  • This year includes a rare Thanksgiving Eve (Packers–Rams), traditional Thanksgiving (Bears–Lions, Cowboys–Eagles, Chiefs–Bills), and Black Friday (Steelers–Broncos).
  • “We got a Thanksgiving Eve, which I don't remember being a thing…”
    – Tony, 19:28

• #3: Christmas Games

  • An “absolutely crazy slate” for Christmas: triple-headers and prominent matchups.
  • “Christmas Day, we got a triple header. Packers, Bears, Bills, Broncos, Rams and Seahawks.”
    – Tony, 20:40

• #2: The Entire Bills Schedule

  • Buffalo faces relentless "bangers" every week, making their season must-watch.
  • “They played 19 games of straight bangers. The entire Bill schedule is on my list of must watch games...”
    – Tony, 21:14

• #1: Week 18, Seahawks vs. Rams

  • Final game, likely to decide playoff positions. Praised for late-season drama.
  • “The NFL pits their two best teams against each other in the division late in the season. …Week 18, the most must-watch game of the 2026.”
    – Tony, 21:50

5. NBA Sidebar: Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Reputation Under Fire (24:00–39:59)

• Miles Turner’s Revelation: On a podcast, he claims Giannis was habitually late, sometimes hours, for Bucks flights, and Bucks coach Doc Rivers imposed no fines for tardiness.

  • “Guys are an hour late to the plane. It got to the point where I just…knew not to show up until like, an hour after they said the plane was taking off. ...Giannis is going to show up whenever he wants.”
    – Miles Turner, 24:45/25:17

• Hosts’ Reactions:

  • This insight leads to speculation Giannis's days in Milwaukee are numbered and prompts a discussion on star privileges vs. disrespect.
  • “Is Giannis a pain in the ass? ...maybe Giannis is a huge pain in the ass behind the scenes.”
    – Dan LeBatard, 30:09/31:18

• Comparisons to LeBron & Dwight Howard:

  • Giannis’s behavior is compared to previous superstars who bent teams to their will.
  • “He's Dwight Howard redux…He might be a little phony.”
    – Stugots, 36:56/37:03

• Will Miami Pursue Giannis?

  • Zaslow reports Heat are interested, but Dan is concerned about Giannis’s age and injury history more than attitude.
  • “My hesitation comes from his age and his injury more so than this.”
    – Dan LeBatard, 34:18

• The Weight of Superstar Ego:

  • The crew suspects Giannis’s demands and status may not translate well outside Milwaukee’s cocoon.
  • “I think he's going to realize very quickly wherever he goes next, because it seems very unlikely that he's going to stay there, how good he had it.”
    – Stugots, 32:15

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Schedule Release Hype:
  “It's such a big deal because that meant the rest of the country is going to get to see how good my team is.”
  – Dan LeBatard, 09:00

• On Dolphins’ Schedule:
  “If they lose that game at Vegas…two win season…If they win…three win season. What's the difference?”
  – Dan LeBatard, 06:57

• Memorable Burn:
  “It looks like shit.”
  – Chris Cody on DIY Haircuts, 06:22

• On Giannis’s Subtweet After Podcast Fallout:
  “Getting better every day and minding your business.”
  – Dan LeBatard (reading Giannis), 33:42

• On Superstar Immunity:
  “Money doesn’t change you, it just exaggerates what you are.”
  – Zaslow, 37:16

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Return of the NFL & Schedule Release Begins: 01:08
• Dolphins 2026 Predictions & Despair: 06:32–08:56
• Discussion on National TV Snubs: 08:44
• Viral Schedule Videos Talk: 09:57–14:23
• Tony’s Top 5 NFL Games: 18:23–22:18
• Debate on Giannis, Late NBA Planes, and Privilege: 24:00–34:18
• Giannis’s Future, Heat Interest, and Age Concerns: 34:18–39:59

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Tone & Language

The tone is irreverent, quick-witted, and self-deprecating—a hallmark of the Le Batard Show. Banter is sharp, the mood is skeptical yet nostalgic, and interruptions abound as the cast balances sports seriousness with absurdist humor.

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Conclusion

This episode spotlights the intersection of fandom, media spectacle, and sports business. While poking fun at the spectacle of schedule release day, the hosts still indulge long-suffering Dolphins fans and rake over the potential drama of the NFL's juiciest matchups. The NBA sidebar proves a lively detour, exposing the shifting reputation of once-beloved stars—always through the show's signature comedic skepticism.

Whether you’re a diehard sports fan or simply enjoy sharp pop-culture commentary, this episode delivers insights, laughs, and lively debate, embodying the spirit of South Florida sports talk.

Transcript

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[Stugats]

This is the Dan Levator show with the Stugats podcast.

[Dan LeBatard]

Five months in five months. That's when football starts. But it's back. It's back now. Football. That's right. Schedule release yesterday, everybody. We did it. We made it to Friday. Let's give it up for Friday. Give it up for Friday. There you go. Dave Damaschek, of course, joining us from out on the west coast. Hello, Dave. How are you today?

[Zaslow]

Zaslow, first of all, congratulations. A nice little write up on you in awful announce and good to see you get some flowers there. And yes, like the football season 2026. I'm born anew. I gave myself a new haircut for this occasion and now I'm ready to launch into 2026 football in five months. And in between, that's. I hate to start off on a sour note, everybody, but I looked up this morning and realized it's just about all over. Yes, we can make snarky remarks about the scheduled release of the NFL, but after a few more NHL and NBA games, we got nothing but baseball.

[Dan LeBatard]

Okay, hold that thought for a second.

[Zaslow]

Ryan's going to jump in.

[Dan LeBatard]

Hold that thought for a second. Dave, you gave yourself a haircut.

[Zaslow]

I did, yeah. Since COVID Two major events. I haven't worn denim jeans since. Since COVID And I've been cutting my own hair since. Since that event.

[Dan LeBatard]

All right, now I want to ask about that. Why have you not worn denim jeans since COVID What is the correlation there?

[Zaslow]

It wasn't really an act of choice. It just is something that Happened. And I looked up a couple of years after the fact and realized, you know what then? Denim jeans have been sitting on the shelf for quite some time. And I went back in my brain and realized it was during COVID you know, that, you know, remember, all rules were off. You know, as we get a half decade away from COVID Zaslow, can you look the man in the mirror and say that there weren't some benefits to it? I'm not trying to diminish the real life consequences, the heavy consequences, but for your life, did you gain something from the experience? I kind of did. I didn't mind sitting around a lot in the house. People lamented like, I can't go out. I was like, I can't go out. Terrific.

[Dan LeBatard]

I gained weight. That's it. That's the only thing I gained. How much? I don't know. I'm not one that steps on the scale on a daily basis, but I know that that is certainly what I gained during COVID Now let's start hitting the bottle. Oh, of course. We did so much drinking. Are you kidding me?

[Zaslow]

Yeah.

[Dan LeBatard]

So much alcohol. I got to have a rule.

[Zaslow]

Did you have a rule I don't start until 5 or anything like that?

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh, you know what? That's an interesting question, actually. Okay. Because there have certainly been times from, okay, I'm only gonna drink on the weekends. All right? And then the weekend quickly turned into, okay, well, the weekend's obviously also Friday. So now we're doing Friday, Saturday, Sunday. But then it's like, you know, when I was in college, Thursday night was a big drinking night. All right? You go out on Thursday. So now we're doing most of the week, we're drinking. And then it just turned into, you know what? If I feel like drinking, I'm a drink.

[Zaslow]

Well, it's funny, because I've been saying for about 20 years now that I have future Dave isn't gonna be living for much. I'll live vicariously through my kids. That's why I had them, because I'm vain. I want to get something from it. And I suspect that when I'm old, I'll just live through them financially and otherwise. But also, I used to say, when I turn 80, all bets are off. That's when the heroin starts. But then I moved it up to 75 a few years ago. I'm thinking now 65 years of age. 75. 65 years of age. I start taking the spike. How say you?

[Dan LeBatard]

Okay, I. I thought I was the only one. Well, me and my friend and now Dave is doing the same thing. I have a. I have a pact with a friend that if we both live until 90, we're gonna do heroin. Like, I. I didn't know that that's something that other people have. Have.

[Stugats]

Did you make that pack with Dan? Because he has this take too, but no. Yeah, he wants to become a huge heroin guy.

[Dan LeBatard]

Dave has the take also. I did not know this.

[Zaslow]

William S. Burrows, Zaslow and Damek and Levitar's. Welcome to the party too. To our heroin then.

[Chris Cody]

Me and my buddy have a plan that when we get in our 70s, we're going to go to the horse track every day.

[Dan LeBatard]

So you're just going to be normal. You're just normal guy.

[Stugats]

So you're just going to become your dad.

[Dan LeBatard]

Okay, now, now, Dan, Dave, back to the hair. How are you cutting your own? Like you got scissors in the back of your head.

[Zaslow]

That's how well I'm doing it. Well is the answer, as you can plainly say. Okay. The wife gets very upset. Yeah. You know, she's always got a list. I don't know who she thinks appointed her to be the negative Nancy about everything, but she's always like the. She's like, ugh. You got. You're going to Miami. Oh, no. You have to go to a professional barber and get that fish. Look at what you did to your hair. And I say, I can't see what I did. I can only see the front. And that's all anybody sees anyway. Who cares? I'm not a three dimensional person anymore. All you're seeing is this punum staring at you. Who cares what's in the back there? It's an afterthought to me, literally and figuratively. Apparently, I don't do a great job on the back.

[Dan LeBatard]

It's hard.

[Zaslow]

I think. I think the results are in. This looks pretty good.

[Chris Cody]

It looks like shit.

[Dan LeBatard]

I do my own hair.

[Stugats]

Please.

[Dan LeBatard]

I do my own. I do it myself. Does that surprise you?

[Tony]

That I believe.

[Dan LeBatard]

Yeah, I do it myself.

[Zaslow]

How would we know with that hat?

[Dan LeBatard]

Well, you could just imagine. All right, so yesterday the Dolphins schedule came out. That's right. A very big to do. At 8 o' clock last night, the Miami Dolphins and the rest of the NFL, they released their schedule. And I mean, I look at this and I'm. You know what? I got three wins here.

[Chris Cody]

Oh, man, it's brutal.

[Dan LeBatard]

I got three. I'm looking at three. You should have heard Dave. You should have heard Chris Cody's rationale. As we're looking at the Dolphins schedule before the show starts. He, he, he thinks that week one game at Vegas, big huge tone setter because if they don't, if the Dolphins lose that game, that one, if they lose that game at Vegas, you're staring at a two win season. And I piped up, I said if they win that game, then you're staring at a three win season. What's the difference here?

[Chris Cody]

If they win that game, they're looking at a standard bad four or five win season. If you come out of the gates 10 against Las Vegas, even though Las Vegas is not good, you lose that game against a bad Las Vegas team, it's just like, this is going to be awful. They're not going to win a single game against anyone that's decent. They have two games against the jets that you're like, all right, they got to win those and like, you know, they're just going to split those. This is a two win team. Big game. Week one, Dave.

[Zaslow]

I mean in the copycat league and what have you most recently seen? You know that the team that represented the AFC in the, in the most recent super bowl in week one lost to the Raiders. And I don't know, I'm trying to think what happened with the Raiders the rest of the way. I don't think it went real well except that it yielded them Fernando Mendoza, who the last time we saw him was beating Miami in a big game. And now in week one, who is Fernando playing?

[Tony]

Chris, can you say that the Raiders are bad when the Dolphins are worse? Can you look at a team that you're, that the team is better than the team that you root for and be like they're bad.

[Chris Cody]

But I'm just, if you're the Dolphins, you look at that Raiders game, I get it. The Raiders are looking at it like this is a great week one game. I'm not saying, you know, that both teams think this is a winnable game. And I'm just saying, you got to. This is just a, so a tone setter for the season.

[Dan LeBatard]

The Raiders and Dolphins are two of five teams in the entire NFL. I think the other ones are Arizona, Tennessee and the Jets. Those five teams right there, no national TV games.

[Tony]

Good.

[Dan LeBatard]

None. No national team. And see, the schedule release is stupid to me. We've known all the teams they're going to play. We know if they're home or away. We just haven't known exactly what week they're playing. Okay, we're fine, whatever. I don't care. The one thing that I did, like when I was a kid that I liked about the schedule coming out was, okay, how many games are the Dolphins playing on Monday Night Football? Like, that was such a big deal to me because that meant the rest of the country is going to get to see how good my team is, you know, and, you know, my father would be able to buy us maybe one tickets for one game a season. I want to go to Monday Night Football. That's the game I want to go to. But now who cares about this schedule release?

[Chris Cody]

I can't remember. Zero. Like, even the Dolphins, who have been bad forever, they have one Sunday night game, and then even now they don't have third. You know, they've gone away from. Every team gets Thursday. Dolphins don't even have a Thursday night game, which is kind of good, I

[Dan LeBatard]

guess, but good, good.

[Zaslow]

You.

[Dan LeBatard]

You know, I didn't remember until moments before I was on ESPN last night. So I happen to be thinking about this, and I didn't remember until moments before the schedule came out. Oh, yeah. This is when all the teams, their social media departments, they make the videos and they put the videos out on Twitter and it's like, all right, somebody's gonna have to do an apology because they're gonna be the ones that had Tyree Kill in handcuffs, you know, and all right, then there's gonna be another team. It's like the big winner. Oh, my God, you are so funny and so creative. So that I do, like, a little bit. But I didn't see the Dolphins, like, what did the. Chris, you know what the Dolphins did? I did not see that.

[Chris Cody]

The Dolphins did a thing where the players were pulling up to the facility and it was just like, oh, no, this is intense. And the. The front desk person's like, Mr. Ross is expecting you. So players were like, oh, I need to see the owner, Mr. Ross. Oh, no, this is scary.

[Dan LeBatard]

What players did. They.

[Chris Cody]

It was just. They should.

[Dan LeBatard]

I mean, Dan told us yesterday, as much as no names on this team

[Chris Cody]

point there weren't a lot of recognizable players, but just random players. Mr. Ross wants to see you. Mr. Ross wants to see you. Oh, I'm so nervous. They walk into the big reveal, chair spins around, and it's Rick Ross. You know, I don't want to be the guy that I saw it come in, but I guess soon as the first joke of Mr. Ross wants to see you, I was like, okay, clearly Rick Ross is going to appear. Like, I saw it from a mile away. So it didn't do much for me, but it was trending. It Was one of the more popular ones, views wise.

[Dan LeBatard]

So what? Was there anyone that came out as, like, the clear winner? The most viral social media team Detroit. What'd they do?

[Stugats]

All business, Zaz. It was Dan Campbell at a computer. He printed out a sheet of paper. He put a thumbtack to it on a board, and it was a static image of a schedule. And I'm sure Dave danishek loved that.

[Zaslow]

Listen, I'm not such a cynic that I get down on this. It does have to Zaslow's point, a little bit of sort of a school project kind of effectively that all the students go off into the 32 different directions and they come back to present to the class their cute little. Their little project for the year. Look at what Timmy did. Look at what he came up with this year. And then we all have to gather around and applaud and tell them how cute it was. It was fun. Listen, those videos are cute. They now pay top dollar. They pay. They go out and hire comedy writers and obviously big time celebrities.

[Dan LeBatard]

Well, the colts use the Simpsons. They must have to spend a lot of money do that, right?

[Zaslow]

I was wondering about that partnership because clearly they had the flash, the. What was it? Disney plus at the back end of it. And hold on, that at the end of the video. So that must have been a big part of the deal. But they still had to pay out, right, for the Simpsons?

[Dan LeBatard]

I would think so, yeah. Chris, can we play you have a fun one that maybe we could play?

[Chris Cody]

One of my favorite ones was the raiders one. It was, you know, they have the two quarterbacks that you would call maybe nerdy with Kirk, cousins and Mendoza. So they recreated the stepbrothers.

[Stugats]

Hey.

[Zaslow]

Hey.

[Stugats]

I'm Kirk.

[Tony]

I'm Fernando.

[Stugats]

You're gonna have to call me Kirk O chains.

[Zaslow]

Cool. You're gonna have to call me the mandal.

[Stugats]

So this is the locker room, and

[Dan LeBatard]

rule number one is do not step on the shield.

[Zaslow]

What happens if I sneeze around it?

[Stugats]

Don't do it.

[Tony]

What if I don't do it?

[Dan LeBatard]

So what's the best Star wars movie?

[Stugats]

Empire strikes back or rogue one?

[Zaslow]

Ha. Trick question. Star a new hope, which was originally

[Tony]

titled just Star wars in 1977, but

[Chris Cody]

then they changed it to Star A

[Dan LeBatard]

New Hope in 1981.

[Zaslow]

Say your favorite football play.

[Stugats]

On three.

[Tony]

1, 2, 3.

[Zaslow]

Turbo Ride 63 Y Shallow Jinx.

[Dan LeBatard]

Did we just become best friends? Yup. Number one, Fernando Mendoza. A little bit stiff. Number two. That's really funny. That's a great video, Dave. That's really Good.

[Zaslow]

I like that one a lot. That's very strong. I think that is your winner. I thought the Titans was good.

[Dan LeBatard]

That's good.

[Zaslow]

I thought the Colts was fun in parts. I think that would be my winner. Stand there. One, two, three.

[Stugats]

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

[Zaslow]

I know it well.

[Tony]

It's usually when I show up, everybody goes crazy.

[Stugats]

Yeah. You usually take all the credit for it, but it's because Tony usually walks in with Cuervo.

[Dan LeBatard]

Walking like this.

[Stugats]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cuervo is a thing that turns hanging out into this is the night.

[Tony]

It has that effect on people.

[Zaslow]

It does.

[Stugats]

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

[Zaslow]

Cuervo, baby.

[Stugats]

Chris, Cody, when you come over to my house and we put on the games, I got basketball, I got baseball going on, but what do I lay out for you and the boys for entertainment and drinking?

[Chris Cody]

Miller Line.

[Stugats]

Uh huh. Those beautiful white cans or on draft or the bottle, if you prefer.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh.

[Chris Cody]

When you open that with the can, though, and you.

[Stugats]

One of the best sounds on the planet. You pair that with the right game. You take that first sip, we both look around. It's not a bit.

[Chris Cody]

I have goosebumps thinking about the first sip.

[Stugats]

We take that first sip, we open it up and we're looking around. There's just that five seconds of almost eerie silence where you're just soaking it all in and you're like, man, did we make the right call or what? That's why we reach for Miller Lite. It's clean, refreshing, easy to drink, brewed for taste with simple ingredients.

[Chris Cody]

Wow, that golden color.

[Stugats]

Just 96 calories and 3.2 carbs. The original light beer since 1975. And it still hits different.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

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[Stugats]

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[Dan LeBatard]

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[Dan LeBatard]

Don LeBatard. My algorithm on Instagram is. Dan. It's all boobs,

[Stugats]

stugats.

[Dan LeBatard]

It's a good algorithm. This is the Don Levatar show with the stugats. Dave, let's throw it over here to Tony, who was all over to. Let's not acknowledge what just happened.

[Tony]

Okay? Okay.

[Dan LeBatard]

I meant to say.

[Zaslow]

Please acknowledge it.

[Dan LeBatard]

I meant to say Tony. I accidentally said Dave. So I tried to do a quick cover there. Quick, as if I was telling Dave what I was gonna do. But there's no reason for me to tell Dave what I'm gonna do next. I could just do it.

[Zaslow]

Yeah.

[Dan LeBatard]

It's like a waste of time.

[Stugats]

But you're okay?

[Dan LeBatard]

Yeah, I'm all right. Everybody calm down. Tony, NFL schedule release last night. You got a top five for us?

[Tony]

I've got a top five NFL games I'm looking forward to now with all the schedules set in Stone. Top five NFL games of 2026.

[Dan LeBatard]

To get music or give him some music?

[Tony]

Let's give him music at least.

[Dan LeBatard]

Music means we're serious.

[Tony]

First day of NFL season. Thank you.

[Miles Turner]

Okay. All right.

[Chris Cody]

Pick and choose when you want the music.

[Tony]

Pick and choose. It's the NFL. You know that. My music hits in the NFL season.

[Dan LeBatard]

Now you gotta get to hate you.

[Stugats]

Pick and choose when he has the music.

[Tony]

All right, number five. The first game of the 2026 season. Super bowl rematch. Game one, Seattle Seahawks, New England Patriots. Big game.

[Stugats]

Hey, Huge game.

[Tony]

Not for on the field, but for Things off the field. I want to see how Mike Greenbold comes out to that one.

[Dan LeBatard]

I mean, everybody's like, oh, my God. Amazing. Patriots, Seahawks opening, like, whatever. I'mma watch it like it does. Whoever's playing.

[Tony]

I'm a watch number two, all Thanksgiving games. Have you seen the slate for Thanksgiving?

[Chris Cody]

Wouldn't it be number four?

[Dan LeBatard]

I think five Thanksgiving games there is.

[Tony]

So they have a Thanksgiving Eve, which I don't remember Thanksgiving Eve being a thing. It's like the day you go to Boogies and hang out with all your friends. Correct. That's the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

[Zaslow]

Oh, my God.

[Stugats]

You go to Boogies.

[Tony]

Zaz, you know boogies?

[Dan LeBatard]

No.

[Stugats]

Too far south for him.

[Tony]

Okay, Me and you, we'll see. We'll see each other at Boogies, but we'll also see Packers, Rams on Thanksgiving Eve. So I'm going to read you the slate. Packers, Rams on Thanksgiving Eve. Then Thanksgiving, we got, of course, the Bears and Lions. We've got the Cowboys versus the Eagles. And then the nightcap, we've got Chiefs and Bills in a massive game. Plus Black Friday, we got Davies Steelers against the Broncos. So a loaded slate for Thanksgiving Eve, Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

[Dan LeBatard]

Dave, you know about that? Black Friday.

[Zaslow]

I know about Black and gold Friday, friend. Come on, Broncos. We'll see you on the banks of the Three Rivers box.

[Tony]

Maybe Drew Allerby starting by then. Number three, all Christmas games. Another just absolutely crazy slate for a Christmas Day.

[Dan LeBatard]

Well, what day of the week is Christmas?

[Stugats]

I mean, Christmas is always number two on these lists. You miss a golden opportunity.

[Dan LeBatard]

So Christmas is a Friday. So you're telling me it's like a full slate of games on Friday?

[Tony]

We've got Thursday night, Christmas Eve, we've got Texans and Eagles. Christmas Day, we got a triple header. Packers, Bears, Bills, Broncos, Rams and Seahawks.

[Dan LeBatard]

The NBA must be so mad.

[Tony]

More on that in a little bit. The Grinch stole Christmas. Number two, the entire Bills schedule.

[Dan LeBatard]

Well, why?

[Tony]

Have you seen it? Have you seen who the Bills play?

[Dan LeBatard]

No, why would I be? Why would there be? You know what? Let me go see the Bill schedule.

[Tony]

Okay, well, I want to read you some of the Bill schedule outside of their division.

[Stugats]

Unavoidable. They have so many primetime games. Dude, they are matchups.

[Tony]

The schedule's insane. All right, they start the season at Houston. They play Detroit. They play the Chargers, the Patriots, the Rams. Then they play Baltimore, Minnesota. Then they play Kansas City, New England. Again, Green Bay, Chicago, Denver. They played 19 games of straight bangers. The entire Bill schedule is on my list of much Watch games like, other

[Chris Cody]

than you just read every game except Dolphins, jets, like, do they have an easy game outside of Dolphins and Jets, Is there like a game that's like, that could be considered Vegas?

[Dan LeBatard]

I just think it's interesting that Tony has them playing 19 games when the rest of the league is playing 17.

[Tony]

That kind of thing. Number one, week 18, Seattle versus LA in the battle for everything. I love how the NFL pits their two best teams against each other in the division. Late in the season. You could have had one game early, One game late. You had could have had one game in the middle. One game late. No, let's go. Week 16, week 18. For all the marbles, we Rams, Seahawks, week 18, the most must watch game of the 2026.

[Dan LeBatard]

All right, there you go. Excellent job, Tony. Top five from last night's schedule release.

[Zaslow]

So as breaking news, Tony just laid it out for us there. I don't know if everybody heard, but the Bills have a tough schedule this year also. We knew that five months ago. This thing about reacting to the schedule, even though everybody already had this information, is so wild to me. I do think, though, to Tony's point, and because I'm a, I'm a dip and didn't put two and two together, did the NFL schedule makers really cynically choose the Patriots because of Mike Rabel? Is that why they're in the. The debut game of the whole season?

[Dan LeBatard]

I mean, they're going to get a lot of attention.

[Tony]

You don't usually get the super bowl rematch as the first game.

[Zaslow]

I know it's a paper that you're running. I mean, by the way, as a reminder for everybody who's like, oh, it's the. It's the Super Bowl. Why would you. It's the lamest idea creatively. Like, yeah, just what we just saw. Just do that again. Everybody will take that. But also, does everybody remember that that game sucked? That's the start to this season. Weird.

[Dan LeBatard]

So I want to show you a podcast that I discovered yesterday. I want to show you a clip from it. If I were to tell you if we were doing real or fake podcasts, and I told you there's a podcast that is featuring Briana Stewart and Miles Turner. They're the co hosts, would that be real or fake? Fake podcast.

[Tony]

What's it called?

[Dan LeBatard]

I don't remember.

[Tony]

Actually, that'd be a big thing because the whole thing is Mike really gives, like, witty names for the ones that are fake so it could draw you.

[Stugats]

This one's ringing a bell. I think it was actually Featured.

[Dan LeBatard]

So it's real. Brianna Stewart, Miles Turner. All right. And yesterday on this podcast, they got into a conversation about. So I guess w. WNBA just started last weekend, and WNBA teams, coaches are starting to find players for more and more things, which I guess makes sense because now they actually make good salaries. So in order to keep everybody line, coaches fine you for whatever, any number of reasons. So listen here to Brianna Stewart as she then asks Miles Turner what it was like as far as the fine system in Milwaukee and what the conversation then evolves into. We get fined for all types of stuff. Now, you guys can find a lot.

[Miles Turner]

It depends on the coach. So Doc Rivers, he didn't find anybody. Guys were late all the time. Guys were, you know, showing up to film whenever they want to show up. Guys were missing meetings. Like, it was one of the craziest things I personally ever experienced. We literally, if the plane took off at 2 o', clock, we weren't leaving until 4:30. I'm being so serious, bro. It was crazy, though. Guys are an hour late to the plane. It got to the point where I just. I knew not to show up until like, an hour after they said the plane was taking off. It was crazy.

[Tony]

So who's the teammate that's most likely to be late? Well, all of yours, obviously, because nobody gets fined.

[Miles Turner]

Giannis. Giannis is going to show up whenever he wants.

[Dan LeBatard]

Okay, so let's start with the first part, and that's Doc Rivers, who apparently is letting the team run wild. All right? He's being asked this stuff because it was his first year in Milwaukee, played the rest of his career in Indiana. Doc Rivers is now fired. Anyone surprised, I guess, that Doc Rivers allowed the inmates to run the asylum? Like. Like, I don't think anyone finds that to be any kind of revelation. But the second part, which is certainly what is garnering attention, is that Giannis would show up hours late. Hours, several hours late. Now, this is the kind of stuff that we heard about Jimmy Butler in his last year with the Heat, when he was clearly very unhappy that Jimmy Butler was routinely hours late for the plane. But Miles Turner, straight up offering up the information that Giannis behaves that way. The first thing I want to ask you, Dave, what is Miles Turner thinking in offering up that information? Like, why would Miles Turner offer that up? Unless. Unless he believes there's no way Giannis is on Milwaukee next year, or there's no way that he is going to be on Milwaukee next year, because that's a weird thing to offer up for the franchise's greatest player.

[Zaslow]

I agree with you. But is it calculated to the extent that he is trying to call out Giannis to send a message or to your point that it is understood that Giannis is out of there despite the fact that's the element and we kind of have talked about this over the preceding few weeks here where Giannis is concerned is that it's a troubling trend that he's a pain in the ass. And it's starting to. I mean the. He requires. LeBron catches a lot of crap in Los Angeles for more or less insisting that his son get drafted in the second round. Giannis doesn't get it seems to me from a distance anywhere close to the heat that that LeBron catches for requiring not one, but two siblings be on the.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh, you're totally right. Like, you know, I sit here and tell you LeBron's son is on the team and he does not belong in the NBA. Giannis is not brother, brother, z. Plural. Don't belong in the NBA. And you know, part of the, the, the, the schism between Giannis and the team late in the season he wanted to play. He wanted to get back out on the court at the end of the season where he ended up buying a grievance against the buccaneer the Bucks was because he wanted to play. He wanted to play with his brothers. All right. That was part of what was going there. Don LeBatard. John, can you rate my Al Pacino from that billiard scene in Carlito's Way if I do it for you? I think it's pretty good.

[Stugats]

Yeah. Ok. Stugats.

[Dan LeBatard]

You think you're big time? Are you gonna die big time?

[Zaslow]

That is on my infamous scale of 1 to 10. That's a, that's a 7.6 solid.

[Chris Cody]

Good job.

[Stugats]

That's a suey nominee right there.

[Dan LeBatard]

This is the Dan lebatar show with the Stugach.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Again.

[Zaslow]

You know, I broken record from week ago or two weeks ago, Dave. But are you guys sure really meditate on this? By the way, I saw a list of the three preferred destinations of Giannis and the Miami Heat were not one of them. And it makes me think because it always hurts my feelings. Well, when there's a big time recruit in, in the region of football America that, that I come from and I see that one of the three final schools for, you know, a blue chip prospect is not Pitt. I get it hurts my feelings. Does it hurt your feelings that Giannis has not circled Miami as one of his preferred destinations or. I'm not sure if it's even Giannis putting this list out, but they're floating all these names of appealing destinations for him, and Miami isn't one of them. I mean, look, it does make sense to me, except that I don't think if you're the team receiving Giannis, I feel like you get about a year, a year for a Magic season with Giannis, not an Orlando Magic one, but a Magic run to a title. And then that's going to be about the extent of what you get out of Giannis, because he's old now. He's got. He's not going to be dynamic for much longer. Okay, so even still counts as consistently dynamic.

[Dan LeBatard]

Okay, so the first part, you know my. Does it upset me that the Heat's name was apparently not on the list? No. Because while I don't expect you to remember at the start of this past season, sitting in that chair right over there, okay, Dan was here that day. So Dan was in this chair and I was sitting in that chair. And I specifically said Giannis, his people have reached out to the Heat, that they are interested in Miami if things go awry in Milwaukee. So I know this. All right? So, no, I don't care what that list says. I don't care what that report is. But I think the bigger thing here is because it doesn't even matter if Giannis is the star, if he's the best player on the team when you're showing up hours late for the plane. I understand star players get treated differently, as they should, but it doesn't mean that they should be disrespectful to the rest of the guy, to your teammates, and that kind of stuff is disrespectful. And looking at things like filing a grievance against his team, all the stuff behind the scenes, the bigger question for me is, is Giannis a pain in the ass? Because Giannis has had a great reputation for pretty much his entire career. And I'm wondering, are we learning now maybe Giannis is a huge pain in the ass behind the scenes.

[Stugats]

I think that he's been at the perfect organization that is so grateful to have such a transformative player. I mean, he said in interviews he wants to be buried in Milwaukee. That is such an insular town in franchise. Not a lot of leaks. I mean, expectations aren't as high. They're not this great legacy franchise, even though they recently won an NBA title. He can do things like miss the playoffs and you don't hear like, what a failure, really. The, the narrative is whatever Giannis wants it to be. He's been in control of the message. He's even had people in that franchise do his bidding to try to protect him. I think he's going to realize very quickly wherever he goes next, because it seems very unlikely that he's going to stay there, how good he had it.

[Tony]

And we talk about Giannis and we look at other superstars and other just like bigger than life personalities in the NBA and everybody kind of goes to the beat of their own drum. Like, you, you think that Jimmy Butler, you think that other guy. LeBron guys are making the team bend to their will. Like, yeah, I'm going to be late an hour and a half late to the plane. Like, what's up? You going to do something about it?

[Dan LeBatard]

I don't think that's normal. I don't think that's a common thing. Like, yeah, stars get catered to different. But they. It doesn't mean that they put out their teammates. It doesn't mean that they're disrespectful to their teammates time. I don't think that that's a very common thing that you have the star player behaving that way. Like, that's. That's not. That's bad what we're hearing there. The same way it was bad how Jimmy Butler was being disrespectful like that in his final year. And it just like. And so Miles Turner made those comments, which I think is odd. All right. And then kind of a subtweet here. You tell me. All right. A little bit of a subtweet from Giannis Antetokounmpo where he put out. Now it's on Instagram, it looks like where he was playing basketball. He's in the gym with his son. And the caption underneath it is he just writes getting better every day and minding your business. And he put that out shortly after that podcast dropped with Miles Turner. Kind of feels like he might be referencing what Miles Turner said there. I think it's a little bit of a subtweet going on there from Giannis. But this, like, I think this is a guy who might be a little bit of a pain in the ass.

[Stugats]

Yeah. Are you souring on him? Totally. Since like the whole mid season trade drama, striking out. I'm of the.

[Dan LeBatard]

That kind of behavior doesn't work here in Miami.

[Stugats]

No, I'm. Well, it has. You do make some concessions. I mean, to. To a degree. They Both bent, right? LeBron and the Miami Heat. When Lebron came here a little bit, but they were rigid at first, famously, with Shaq, like, no, you're going to talk to the media. But, you know, as the times have changed, players have been a little bit more empowered. I'm curious, though, where are you on Giannis?

[Dan LeBatard]

So the behavior stuff doesn't bother me as much as 32 years old. He's 32 years old, and he's coming off of, you know, a season that he hardly played because of injury. And I'm not 100% sure if adding Giannis, forget just, you know, does it make them a contender? You see what Oklahoma City and San Antonio are doing, and it's almost like, all right, does adding Giannis get us close to those teams? All right, if it doesn't, do we trade everything? Do we trade all of our assets right now when it might not even matter? Like, overall, I think the Heat are going to be all in on Giannis, and certainly they'll be better if they acquire Giannis. But my hesitation comes from his age and his injury more so than this.

[Stugats]

I mean, you're used to this franchise acquiring players that you didn't like, right? I've had. I always hated Kyle Lowry, and I didn't really keep it secret, and I just had to, like, roll with the punches, but I held him to a very.

[Dan LeBatard]

I didn't dislike Kyle Lowry before he got here. I disliked him very much when he was here, and I was also very loud about. I've never disliked the Miami Heat player more than Kyle.

[Stugats]

Even Jimmy Butler. I didn't like Jimmy Butler when he got here.

[Dan LeBatard]

No, I was fine with that. Yeah, I don't. I don't think he'd have ever actually, like, the closest I was to the Heat, acquiring a player who I've been very openly against was Kevin Durant. Like, that have been interesting, all the things that I've said about Kevin Durant.

[Stugats]

You were a Terry Rozier guy.

[Dan LeBatard]

No, I just wasn't really on my radar. Like what? Like, I didn't actively dislike Terry Roshi. Like, who cares?

[Tony]

When you talk about OKC and the spurs on the other side of the bracket, I feel like that's aiming a little bit too high. And I don't want to say that it's like, it's NBA championship or bus, and I get that, but we've seen so many teams get injured on the way to an NBA NBA title. Like, Lucas Mavs were just a shell of a team that we're getting there. Obviously, Boston ran through them. So when you look at Giannis acquiring him and getting him to the East. Obviously, you're taking from Milwaukee and adding to your team, but you're trying to beat the likes of Detroit, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, like those Boston. Those are the teams that you need to make sure that you're better than, because you can always have the puncher's chance in the finals. Wemby gets hurt, Shay gets hurt. Check gets like something happens on that other side, you know, a dark horse comes through, like you have an opportunity to win a title.

[Dan LeBatard]

This kind of stuff doesn't bother me as far as Giannis's behavior, you know, if he were to acquire him. The part that I just. I find interesting is like. Like, maybe is Yanis a little bit of a phony? That's the part that kind of maybe. Yeah. Like, I didn't think that really.

[Stugats]

I think this season kind of.

[Dan LeBatard]

He's.

[Stugats]

He's Dwight Howard redux. Like, he. He's.

[Dan LeBatard]

It feels a little bit like kind

[Stugats]

of corny humor, the same kind of half measures.

[Dan LeBatard]

He might be a little phony.

[Stugats]

Everybody likes him.

[Zaslow]

He.

[Stugats]

He gives off Dwight.

[Chris Cody]

Also, LeBron vibes, right. Of just, like. I want to say the thing, whatever I think the people want to hear, that will make them be into me.

[Stugats]

I don't like that.

[Zaslow]

It doesn't. It exact money exaggerates what you're predisposed to do. So they say. They say that about Larry David, specifically, that money hasn't changed him. It's just as intensified.

[Dan LeBatard]

Is that. Is that what they say?

[Zaslow]

I've heard. I remember seeing Jerry Seinfeld say that before I really knew about Larry David or had experienced him on camera himself. That Larry David is exactly proves that point, that money doesn't change you. It just exaggerates what you are. And maybe that's what's happened with Giannis. And I am intrigued to hear your thoughts on who there in that studio with you would be most likely to spin off if you started throwing a lot of money and saying, oh, like,

[Dan LeBatard]

who would change the most?

[Zaslow]

Who the most? Yeah, who. Who the most?

[Tony]

Who would.

[Zaslow]

Who would get out of bounds the quickest?

[Dan LeBatard]

Probably Roy. What?

[Zaslow]

Here are the keys. Here are the keys to the organization. Basically, that's what happened with Giannis, and. All right, he got corrupted. This happens all the time to people. It shouldn't be surprising, I guess. But, you know, Zaz, you're right, too. Tony, by the way, made a good point, too, that I think you do have to consider if you want to contend this next season. Robbing Peter to Pay yourself is the plan. Right? If you take, if Giannis goes to the Knicks or Boston days or Philly or what, that really puts you out of contention, period. Right. If you're the Heat. But if you get him, you can at least indulge the fantasy that maybe this will be your year.

[Dan LeBatard]

It would be a huge blow. Look, the Heat fans, upset as it is, it'd be a major blow. If not only do they not get Giannis, but he goes to Boston, that would be a heavy blow.

[Zaslow]

But, you know, we're in an interesting inflection point in, you know, spectator sports. Russell Westbrook, I float his name for the last five years because I remember saying five years ago, how much meat does he have left on the bone? His entire game is dependent on attacking the rims and rim and giving his, given his, his physique, he's breaking down already. He's not going to make it much longer. And here we are, he's kind of, kind of sort of still relevant. And then there's Tom Brady winning a Super bowl in his 40s and Sidney Crosby playing well deep into his 30s and so on and so forth. So are we optimistic that Giannis is going to remain dynamic into his mid-30s, or is he about to go the, the, the path of most athletes that we've watched in history, which is they start to break down and slow down as they get into their 30s?

[Dan LeBatard]

I think ultimately everything we've seen over the last few months and Miles Turner's comments yesterday, there's no way Giannis is on this team past the draft. There's no way.

[Stugats]

Zero shot.

[Dan LeBatard]

There's no way.

[Stugats]

The Haslam comments were pretty damning, but to echo Dave's point, a little.

[Dan LeBatard]

Jimmy Haslam, by the way. Not you, Donna.

[Stugats]

Yeah, not. Not you, D. But I do think, while I agree with you and there are holes in his game, right, he's not a consistent shooter from mid range or certainly outside or the free throw line. And he has this frame where you put a body to him. You're rewarded to get him to the line. I still think as he gets older, he's a Greek freak for a reason. Defensively, he's going to be a force. As long as he's able to step out onto the court. He's going to be able to be dangerous around the Cup. He is going to be a big time factor in next season, provided that he's healthy. I don't think he's going to fall all the way off, but there are questions about his game.