Oral History of the Dan Le Batard Show: Episode 9

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz – Oral History of the Dan Le Batard Show: Episode 9

Release Date: January 10, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode 9 of the "Oral History of the Dan Le Batard Show," hosts Dan Le Batard and Stugotz, alongside contributors Billy Gil, Roy Bellamy, Mike Ryan, and Izzy Gutierrez, reflect on the evolution of their beloved sports and pop-culture show. Filmed from the Elser Hotel in Downtown Miami, the episode delves into the show's journey, its diverse talent pool, memorable moments, and the unique chemistry that has captivated audiences for years.

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Evolution of the Show's Talent

Dan Le Batard's Vision for Co-Hosts

Dan Le Batard emphasizes the intentional selection of co-hosts to diversify the show's dynamic. He states, “This show has some of the smartest shit you're gonna hear anywhere in sports entertainment because of the people we're interacting with” (04:00). Le Batard highlights his role in bringing in guests who not only fit the show's comedic and entertaining mold but also add depth to discussions on serious topics like housing discrimination.

Building Friendships and Chemistry

Roy Bellamy underscores the importance of personal relationships in creating a successful show. “We took the time to get to know each other. These successful shows are relationship shows” (15:02). The hosts discuss how genuine friendships translate into on-air chemistry, making the show relatable and engaging for listeners.

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Key Co-Hosts and Their Impact

Greg Cody

Greg Cody, one of the show's original co-hosts, is fondly remembered for his humor and laid-back presence. Billy Gil recounts the initial challenges of integrating Greg into the show: “The first 13 appearances were a real struggle” (10:50). Despite early reservations about Greg’s sports knowledge, his unique persona became an asset, contributing to the show’s charm.

• Notable Moment: The revelation of Greg’s personal health struggle brought the hosts closer. Dan reflects, “As things have happened over the last few years, including with his cough, that make me appreciate and value our friendship even more” (18:08).

Sam Van Gundy

Former NBA coach Sam Van Gundy joined the show during a transitional period. Dan explains, “Our friendship started with writing about him in a newspaper, which built a genuine connection” (23:20). Sam’s intelligence and straightforward nature added a layer of credibility to the show’s discussions.

• Notable Segment: The “Stan Van Gundy Basketball Street Walker” segment showcased Sam’s willingness to engage in playful yet insightful sports commentary (28:20).

Bomani Jones

Bomani Jones is celebrated for his intellectual contributions and thoughtful perspectives on societal issues. Mike Ryan describes Bomani as “the James Baldwin of sports media” for his profound insights (34:09). Despite initial challenges in aligning his media style with the show's tone, Bomani became a pivotal voice, enhancing the show’s depth.

• Impactful Discussion: Bomani’s ability to seamlessly integrate serious topics with the show’s lighthearted nature made the conversations both smart and entertaining.

Sarah Spain

Sarah Spain’s tenure on the show marked a significant shift, introducing a strong female voice into the predominantly male lineup. Billy Gil shares, “Sarah came in and she was the alpha in that room” (47:16). Her assertiveness and professional background brought a fresh dynamic, though it initially caused some friction among the co-hosts.

• Memorable Interaction: Sarah's freestyle rap during her appearances highlighted her versatility and willingness to embrace the show’s comedic elements (54:22).

Aminohassan

Aminohassan is lauded for his unwavering loyalty and deep understanding of the show's ethos. Billy Gil expresses immense gratitude, stating, “Amin was a blessing to us… he cares about this cast of characters and he cares about the people who listen to it” (58:05). His ability to balance intelligence with humor made him a cornerstone of the show.

• Dedication Highlight: Aminohassan’s commitment during vulnerable times underscored the strong bond between the hosts and their contributors.

Mina Kimes

Mina Kimes is recognized for her intelligence and approachable demeanor. Billy Gil praises her ability to make complex topics accessible without belittling the audience: “She was smart without making people feel stupid” (63:15). Despite being initially perceived as inexperienced, Mina’s charm and growth turned her into an endearing presence.

• Favorite Memory: Mina’s willingness to participate in humorous segments, like riding a zip line while using a translator, showcased her versatility and adaptability (64:35).

Marty Smith and Izzy Gutierrez

Marty Smith brought infectious joy and high energy to the show, pushing creative boundaries and elevating production standards. Izzy Gutierrez, on the other hand, provided unwavering support and honest feedback, acting as the glue that held the team together during challenging times.

• Marty’s Legacy: His ambitious nature and collaboration with production partner Jonathan Wy enhanced the show’s dynamic (73:07).
• Izzy’s Support: Izzy’s loyal friendship and insightful feedback were pivotal in maintaining the show’s integrity and cohesiveness (74:11).

Dominique Foxworth and Pablo Torre

Dominique Foxworth and Pablo Torre added intellectual rigor to the show. Dominique’s multifaceted talents and Pablo’s sharp intellect were balanced by their ability to engage in both serious and humorous discourse. However, Pablo’s interactions sometimes highlighted the tension between different co-host dynamics, adding depth to the show's conversations.

• Dominique’s Versatility: Dominique’s ability to engage on diverse topics made him a valuable contributor (76:21).
• Pablo’s Intelligence: Despite occasional tensions, Pablo’s smart contributions enriched the show’s content (78:05).

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Memorable Moments and Anecdotes

Throughout the episode, the hosts share numerous humorous and heartfelt stories that highlight the camaraderie and unique personalities within the team.

• One-Man Parade: Greg Cody’s solo celebration of Connor McDavid’s performance became a symbolic moment of personal joy and self-validation (19:07).

• Sarah Spain’s Freestyle Rap: A standout moment where Sarah embraced the show’s playful side, crafting an impromptu rap that showcased her quick wit and adaptability (51:22).

• Izzy Gutierrez’s NASCAR Anecdote: Izzy recounts an embarrassing encounter with NASCAR’s chairman, Bill France Jr., which underscores the show’s blend of personal stories and humor (44:49).

• Mina Kimes on the Zip Line: Mina’s adventurous spirit shines through as she navigates a zip line during a live segment, demonstrating her willingness to embrace the unexpected (64:38).

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Challenges and Adaptations

The episode candidly addresses the difficulties of integrating diverse talents and maintaining a cohesive show while accommodating various personalities and styles.

• Balancing Intelligence and Humor: Hosts discuss the challenge of ensuring that intelligent discussions do not alienate the audience, striving to keep content both smart and accessible.

• Dynamic Shifts: As new co-hosts like Sarah Spain and Bomani Jones joined, the show had to adapt to shifting dynamics, ensuring that each contributor's strengths were leveraged without overshadowing others.

• Remote Contributions: Managing remote co-hosts like John Amici required creative production solutions, highlighting the technical and interpersonal skills of the production team (03:17).

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Concluding Reflections

Dan Le Batard wraps up the episode by emphasizing the importance of trust, relationships, and the collective effort in shaping the show. “So much of this is built on trust and relationship” (79:24). The hosts reflect on how their connections with co-hosts and contributors have not only enriched the show but also fostered a loyal and engaged audience.

• Future Outlook: The episode concludes with a hopeful tone, anticipating continued growth and the introduction of new talents, while cherishing the memories and contributions of those who have been instrumental in the show’s success.

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Notable Quotes

• Dan Le Batard: “This is the oral history of the 10levitard show with ST guys. [...] Now we're strengthening our show and giving our show some ra that it hadn't had before.” (01:35)

• Roy Bellamy: “They have to be relationship shows. [...] We take the time to get to know each other” (15:02)

• Billy Gil: “Sarah Spain was the one who got the most amount of criticism. She turned our audience completely around. She's beloved by all of us.” (54:10)

• Mike Ryan: “Bomani is smarter than the grand majority of people that I have ever met in my life. [...] He does not want to compromise a shred of his conviction or dignity.” (34:09)

• Izzy Gutierrez: “Izzy has been a friend, colleague, and someone who our show and my career has imprinted because he came after me at the Miami Herald.” (75:42)

• Greg Cody: “The name is Spain, but they call me the Commish. [...] Best believe the hype.” (51:22)

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Conclusion

Episode 9 of the oral history series offers an in-depth exploration of the intricate web of relationships and personalities that define "The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz." Through candid discussions and shared anecdotes, the hosts celebrate their diverse talents, navigate the challenges of evolving dynamics, and reaffirm their commitment to providing entertaining and insightful content. This episode serves as a heartfelt tribute to the show's legacy and a testament to the enduring bonds that drive its success.

Transcript

[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 Cash Back Terms apply.

[Greg Cody]

You know what's smart? Enjoying a fresh gourmet meal at home that you didn't have to cook.

[Dan Le Batard]

Meat.

[Greg Cody]

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[Mike Ryan]

Doing research for a movie that involved a certain adult film actress. And so I was walking on the.

[Dan Le Batard]

Whoa, what are you doing? Stew guts. 20 mediocre years.

[Chris Cody]

Yeah. After several tests, they found a tumor in my chest.

[Dan Le Batard]

This is the oral history of the 10levitard show with ST guys. We're putting a bookmark right in the middle of our oral history here with something that isn't chronological but is delightful because basically we're going to introduce you to a whole bunch of friends that we made while right in front of you, in front of your ears, in front of your eyes as the most interesting, curious, and smartest talent at espn. Either was something that we could borrow liberally from because we saw them elsewhere and thought they would fit with us, or they were interested in creative challenges, saw something outside of Bristol that was a little different, wanted to work on highly questionable with my father because that was goofy. And now all of a sudden, our show has some resources to import talent, a travel budget. And now we're strengthening our show and giving our show some ra that it hadn't had before. Between the familiar and silly and fun and now some. Oh, this is some of the smartest shit you're gonna hear anywhere in sports entertainment because of the people we're interacting with and because of the way a segment could go quickly from something that was really funny to something that was super deep about housing discrimination. And you were like, oh, this show has some Range. So let us introduce you here to some of our friends.

[Billy Gil]

And it was all born out of. As you probably learned if you've listened to the previous episode, this was all Dan. Dan really was a driving force behind getting guest co hosts. And that concept in on our show is kind of born from Hawk leaving. And Hawk was the third voice on our show. When he left, I wasn't quite there yet. Dan didn't trust me to be that third voice.

[Roy Bellamy]

Right.

[Billy Gil]

But he knew the value in it. And we identified Greg Cody, Stan Van Gundy, Dan's friend Barry. We were trying a bunch of different.

[Roy Bellamy]

That was a bad idea, though.

[Dan Le Batard]

That was not. Wait a minute. Wait a minute, Wait a minute. He's mad at me. I need to stop this right now.

[Roy Bellamy]

He's not mad at me. I just gave him a case.

[Dan Le Batard]

Fake Howard is refusing to participate in this documentary because he has said that no talent stugots ripped me, and I will not tolerate it. And so he is mad. He's not. He's not participating. That I didn't defend him more vigorously because we did have at a time. Greg Cody Bomani Jones, Stan Van Gundy, and my traffic attorney.

[Billy Gil]

Yes, yes.

[Dan Le Batard]

Because we were going for a. Hunter S. Thompson travels with his attorney or Howard. Howard Stern brings in an assortment of weird characters. And the reason for this was actually I was trying to tap into with fake Howard the same thing I tapped into with Mark Hochman, which is college friend, who I find funny. This whole show, I would say, is born of early 1990 conference calls where six of us would get on a phone line and just start making the jokes that ended up becoming what this show was actually doing.

[Roy Bellamy]

Do I have to apologize to Barry.

[Dan Le Batard]

Now, publicly and privately?

[Roy Bellamy]

I just sent him two speeding tickets, though. He's defending me.

[Dan Le Batard]

I know, but you have to apologize. You have said. And you said it again. You said that he was terrible. It was a bad spot that we put him in because he's uproariously funny. I would say he's top three people I've ever known, Cody among them, who makes me laugh all the time. But his sports knowledge needed to be a little stronger than it was.

[Roy Bellamy]

So I agree with you that he is funny. My criticism is not of Barry. It's for you bringing on Barry and putting him in a ridiculously difficult position.

[Billy Gil]

You're not making it.

[Roy Bellamy]

I'm just trying to spin it now.

[Dan Le Batard]

I know, but let's talk to the Friends. Let's talk about the Friends who are wildly successful in a positive episode that doesn't have one of the most beloved characters in our history. Fake Howard, calling you a no talent.

[Roy Bellamy]

So, so, so great.

[Billy Gil]

Please put the show away, bro.

[Roy Bellamy]

I love it. I will. I love it. It's funny. He's defending me right now.

[Billy Gil]

I almost nuked an episode.

[Dan Le Batard]

You have no idea. I wrote Fake Howard a long, sincere email apologizing on your behalf that Mike Ryan was on.

[Billy Gil]

I couldn't believe it. I'm. Or is this a fake?

[Dan Le Batard]

I was asking him to be a part of the oral history, and he said, I think it's best to let sleeping fakes lie.

[Billy Gil]

We're going to get into it when I do an oral history on the oral history because I've had to save it a couple of times. Yes. But let's begin with, like, the first foray into a coast, the most natural one. We had Greg Cody as a day one guest, and he was a weekly feature on our show. Pretty natural that we try him out. What was your motivation in getting Greg around? Was it any more complicated than he was on our show? And he made you laugh and he made you happy, and this was at a time where you wanted that comfort.

[Dan Le Batard]

Level, all of that. And I just liked being around him. And I was getting to make some of the things by my design. And I told you in a previous episode, it also helped a great deal that the thing that I was doing, the medium that I was doing it in, I didn't respect it.

[Billy Gil]

Yes.

[Dan Le Batard]

And so I found someone that somehow.

[Billy Gil]

Respected it less than you did.

[Dan Le Batard]

We found an assortment of people. Do you not remember how bad Mina Kimes was at the beginning?

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah.

[Chris Cody]

Yeah.

[Roy Bellamy]

Well, Mina and I didn't say that.

[Billy Gil]

Mina and Greg have found a way to turn them, being relatively green at this, and in some cases not relatively super green at this, into an asset, into a charming little asset that made the audience root for them more. Now, Greg has never really been. He's gonna take exception to this. He's great at this as an ensemble character. He's wonderful. Super funny, thoughtful, smart in terms of the executing of a radio show. And being a radio talent taking direction, knowing to hit his marks, has learned nothing. Keenly aware, no. He's somehow got worse. He's not. But that's part of.

[Roy Bellamy]

But if he learns it, he'll be worse for the show. We want him to stay where he is right now.

[Billy Gil]

But you can imagine, like, when you consider his shtick and our legacy listeners, the people listening to this know what his shtick is, and it's a great default. Usually if we Wanted. Okay, I got nothing to talk about. Let me just talk about LeBron James and the Miami Heat, because that's easy. I know there your defaults actually became when we brought in all these voices, their idiosyncrasies. And no one was more idiosyncratic than Greg Cody. So it had a lot of great, wonderful qualities to it. But if you just drop Greg Cody in like a one time sample, which we were doing early on, you'd say, what the hell is this? This guy's bad. If you were a program director, why are we putting this guy on the air?

[Roy Bellamy]

Bad, but good. Good. Bad, I guess.

[Billy Gil]

Which was our show.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yes. But it made Dan relax, like having his presence. And I realized that pretty early on. And that was important for both of us. Mike. To have Dan as relaxed as he could be all the time. Right. That was a big deal. Greg does that. He did it. He does it now. Is a more relaxed person when Greg Cody is in here. And I am so thankful that Dan has brought Greg into my life in this environment over the last. Which have been tricky both on and off the air. For me personally, one of the great things that has happened is the relationship I've developed with Greg Cody. He is a wonderful man.

[Billy Gil]

He is a great man.

[Roy Bellamy]

He is. But he made Dan comfortable and that's noticeable even until today on Tuesdays. Dan is a more relaxed person than he is any other day of the week.

[Dan Le Batard]

There are a couple of things here to me that are interesting in the bones of what it is that we do. One is that we are very much an acquired taste. Right. So the longer you stay with us, the more your dedication becomes sticky around this thing because you're getting to know the characters and the people more and you're getting familiar with all of that. So there was that portion of it that gave me a great deal of comfort, obviously. But there was also in play the fact that we're falling out of favor in Los Angeles, at least in part because acquired tastes, you have to stay with them in order to develop the allegiance. And so in all of our helping others become people who can rise to stardom from within this, the thing that has to be in play is does the show like being around them? Because if the show likes being around them, then I, as a listener, am going to like being around them. And now you're just creating oil wells of likability and you're finding different places where people can connect. I don't know where people might connect with Roy versus Greg Cody, but you're Giving them a variety of options on where to connect on. I like this person for reason X.

[Billy Gil]

Your friendship with Greg was sweet. It gave our show a bit more charm, and our show could certainly still do for more of that from a producer's perspective. Initially, I really struggled trying to see the fit in having Greg outside of the obvious, which would stay in the general comfort level, which was always my North Star when it came to these things. But it took a while for me to figure out, this is gonna sound terrible. Truly, the extent of how bad Greg Cody was, to the point that, like, that eventually became my default. Oh, no, it works because he's bad. Let me just accentuate. Let me somehow turn this huge weakness into a strength. And I think even for Dan on the air, hosting that took a while too, for an entire show. Like, how do we. You being bad? The joke that comes over time. So I remember, like, the first, like, 13 appearances being a real struggle. We even took a couple of weeks off because I didn't necessarily think it was a fit. Dana and I had some discussion as to whether or not we'd continue it. And certainly once we went to espn, how do we bring this Miami Herald writer along with us? It was a struggle. I thought.

[Roy Bellamy]

So, Dan, how did you navigate that? Because that's interesting. Greg is one of your best friends, and he comes in and your executive producer that you trust is saying, hey, this isn't very good. The only way to make this good is by highlighting just how baddie is, which not many people want to do. I'm okay with it, or I have been okay with it for the most part.

[Billy Gil]

Greg sometimes isn't even super okay, Greg.

[Roy Bellamy]

So how did you navigate. Was there ever discussion there with Greg about, hey, this is the way we need to do the show with you, to work around you?

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, Fake Howard is also one of my closest friends, and after a while, we discontinued that project. And it hurt me to do that. That one is one that I remember. Like, it hurt me to have to end that because I wanted that to work. But. But the experience of Greg Cote. I'm sure this isn't lost on Mike, but perhaps this will be a surprise to the audience. What we learned there was so successful on the knowledge of. Well, with reps, people will get to know this person, like, this person. You will make this all the more addictive. We fell in love with that and learned enough from that enough to recreate it on Highly questionable with my father. And I had the same questions with my father as I did with Greg Cody which is, could this or would this possibly be funn if it were with someone who knew what they were doing? And I don't know that I ever answered the question for myself whether we could ever come up with the organic funny that happens with incompetence. If we were trying to script it, if we were trying to be funny about it. And I've concluded that there are a hundred things that have happened with Greg Cody and my father that are so funny that you could not recreate them in fiction. They have to be organic in order to be that funny.

[Billy Gil]

Our discussions as to whether or not to continue with Greg, it wasn't like I had strong conviction, and I don't think you also had strong conviction. I think we were very much approaching it as like, let's wait to see if this actually works. Like, let's keep trying.

[Dan Le Batard]

I don't remember it being challenging. I remember parts of our radio show. I remember parts of our radio show being challenging. But I remember the fact that he couldn't use a phone and the technical difficulties of all that, that we ended up playing with that by, like, hanging up on him six times during a segment when he's calling from San Antonio. Like, I don't remember in this particular equation. I don't remember the struggle in it. I remember the struggles at the beginning with Stugats. I remember at the beginning with Fusion. I remember the struggle the first day replacing Colin Cowherd. This struggle, I do not remember.

[Billy Gil]

It was a struggle from a production standpoint, too, because he started with us. Keep in mind, Greg's been with us in every incarnation of the show. Greg's been there either as a guest or as a co host. He's been in every studio that we've ever created content. And that's key, because the first studio that we were creating content out of, when we were trying to get Greg as a regular co host. You remember the studio setup? I was looking at you directly in your eyes.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah. It was weird.

[Billy Gil]

I had a profile of sue got and I was looking at the back of Greg's head.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yes.

[Billy Gil]

This dude doesn't know where he is. In terms of clocks and stage direction.

[Roy Bellamy]

This is a young Greg Cody when.

[Billy Gil]

I'm looking straight at him. So imagine how oblivious Greg Cody is when he's just locked in on you. He got no respect for the clock, no idea what we're doing, no idea what voices are in his head. He can't even see where they're coming from.

[Roy Bellamy]

But I remember thinking to myself, this works. And it works for two reasons. Dan's more relaxed, Dan's happier. That's obvious. But Greg fit in like our audience. They embrace that. They embrace mistakes. We're a bunch of wackos. I mean, all of us in our own different ways. And Greg kind of fit in. He loves sports. He takes it seriously. But Greg's got a great sense of humor, and he's not afraid to make fun of himself. And so for me, I remember early on, like, yeah, there's a lot of potential with this guy here, as long as he allows us to make fun of him.

[Dan Le Batard]

You have to understand, though, too, that whatever my frustrations were with him on air that were funny, they were also funny for 20 years before that, off air around anybody who saw us interacting. The best of these shows are relationship shows, all of them. Tony and Mike or wherever it is, Howard Stern, wherever it is, that you think of the things that create the longevity and the audience that'll stay with you over having children and generations and stuff. They have to be relationship shows. I've been telling Roy on the hockey show, like, accentuate how weird it is that you and Dwark are friends. Because if it's a relationship show, you can get to a further place with your audience. You can get deeper with the connection to your audience.

[Roy Bellamy]

It's funny you say that, because you and I didn't know each other when we started doing the show, but Dan and I and I told people this a lot. We took the time to get to know each other. Dan and I really took some time, as did Mike. Mike and I spent some time getting to know each other as well. That's important because you're right. These successful shows are relationship shows. Dan, we did a lot of growing on air together, but we did take some time and have some conversations that allowed the show to be better because we got to know each other a little bit.

[Dan Le Batard]

You're right that it's important, but we didn't know each other at all when we started. And when I think of just general discomforts in doing this, when I talk about how these things have to be relationship shows, I think of two times. I think of our first six months together, and I think of the general awkwardness on national television of replacing Bomani Jones on Highly Questionable, a co host of many years with great talent at this, with an assortment of people I was meeting for the first time and dating essentially as co hosts on television. When I think of discomforts in settings where the relationship is not built in, and now all of the frenzy and tension and friction and drama of stuff that happens around ego and vanity and television are in play. And you don't actually have the relationship relationship I have with Greg Cody, which is no matter how angry I make him, we can mine that for content and it will not matter afterward. We will still be friends. Look at how that worked out for Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe. If you don't think that that's dangerous to start making your co host angry on purpose or saying things that make him angry accidentally, like, you got to be careful with all that shit. In a way you don't necessarily have to be with friends. You really know.

[Billy Gil]

Before we move on, your favorite memory of Greg Cody on the air, I want to ask both of you, I'll go first to give you guys some time, and you may have the very answer. But part of the cheat code with Greg Cody was the Hard Network out because it was a struggle getting him approved by espn. We were always going to win. That battle never actually escalated to hill to die on status. But we had to convince them, and it's hard to convince ESPN Radio folks that, hey, this guy is going to continue to walk into the Hard Network out and be cut off. It's going to sound super unprofessional. People don't realize it's a secret sauce.

[Roy Bellamy]

They don't realize, listeners, how important the Hard Network out is the ESPN it got.

[Billy Gil]

But it helped get Greg over. And I'm like, look, from a radio perspective, you got people hanging on every word knowing that this thing is going to happen at the very end and 90% of the time it's always going to deliver. So the Hard Network out really locked Greg Cody in with us as a co host.

[Dan Le Batard]

From there on out, we don't have a more memorable Greg Cody story than Stugach gently walking him toward the story of having a tumor in his chest.

[Roy Bellamy]

I just want to give you a sample of what Greg Cody sounded like, which set us all off in a panic. Everyone except for Greg Cody, because he's old and he's stubborn, he refuses to go to the doctor. So that's what you sounded like for the better half of a month. Now, me, Dan, everyone, we told you repeatedly to go to the doctor. You ignored us. You finally went to the doctor and the results of your visit to the doctor were what?

[Chris Cody]

Yeah, after several tests, they found a tumor in my chest.

[Dan Le Batard]

Chest is Dan Stu and Greg Cody on ESPN Radio, like all the Hard Network out stuff is funny, but I will tell you that as I've aged, as things have happened over the last few years, including with his cough, that make me appreciate and value our friendship even more than I ever did. It's the recent stuff that stays with me. Not just because I'm old and I forget things from a long time ago, but because his happiness means more to me. And so the visual that I'm struck with when you ask that question and no time to think about, you know, 20 years of friendship on air. I'm laughing at the visual of him in a one man parade outside of our studios here in my convertible.

[Roy Bellamy]

So good.

[Dan Le Batard]

The reveal on television of how lonely the pan out of just Greg Cody in a one man parade. I don't even know what he is celebrating. I don't remember. But what I do remember, McDavid Distinct.

[Roy Bellamy]

I think it was.

[Dan Le Batard]

It might have been. Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was the one.

[Roy Bellamy]

He was validated. His take was validated.

[Dan Le Batard]

The one man Panther parade in celebration of Connor McDavid is overrated. Yes.

[Billy Gil]

Best directing we've ever done from a video.

[Dan Le Batard]

The what is staying with me is the symbolic snapshot of the joy on his face because he was at the center of his narcissism. And a parade that had only one man in it.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah.

[Dan Le Batard]

His dream.

[Roy Bellamy]

The only one invited.

[Dan Le Batard]

His dream parade is the parade that is just about him and doesn't even involve anybody.

[Billy Gil]

Do you have a favorite moment?

[Roy Bellamy]

It was the hard network out but now that I'm thinking about it and you know, feeding Greg Cody's vanities and his ego and all that stuff. And Greg, you know, he likes it to be about Greg. The Vegas show we did at the Circuit.

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh wow.

[Roy Bellamy]

Just to see him sing on stage and perform in front of Wuang in front of Wayne Newton for Greg. Yeah. The Hee Haw 3. That's as happy as I've seen Greg Cody in as many years as he's been doing.

[Billy Gil]

You know what?

[Dan Le Batard]

That's. That is a better. You chose a better one than me.

[Chris Cody]

I'm sorry it's ending. It's sad but it's true. Honey, it's been a lo. These moments we're left with. May you always remember these moments of share. There's wind in our hair and there's water in our shoes. Honey, it's been a lovely cruise so let's go cruising.

[Dan Le Batard]

You know what stayed with me from that as moving.

[Roy Bellamy]

I got emotional.

[Dan Le Batard]

As genuinely moving as it is to think about Mike Ryan's last day as executive producer on our show was tailored around how do we make Greg Cody the star? And for once in his life. Singing no less, totally prepared for the moment. Nailed it for once in his life. On Mike Ryan's last day as executive producer, Greg Cody figured it all out and was produced well enough that the visual images for me of that day aren't of his just general joy. Singing on stage, which performing in Vegas as the singing sportswriter, which we did 20 years ago on ESPN radio, that's one kind of achievement. But I'm telling you, watching him prowl in a tuxedo the halls of the hotel before performing, radiant. And I'm also noticing how old and.

[Billy Gil]

Tired is it getting his own episode looks?

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, we gotta get to the other, we gotta get to the others.

[Roy Bellamy]

I mean, he asked for a moment.

[Billy Gil]

I mean, I asked for a moment.

[Roy Bellamy]

Dan was moving up, I know he.

[Billy Gil]

Was, but it was going to be a 10 minute thing and now I already feel like, I can already feel Pablo complaining. Why? He's only got eight minutes by comparison.

[Roy Bellamy]

Wait a second. This is a good idea because how much would Greg Cody love his own episode?

[Billy Gil]

I think you're trying to get out early and I'm not going to let you have that. We move on to Sam Van Gundy now. Sam Van Gundy, we didn't really know beyond your own personal relationship with him. So got to and I, all we knew is this is a former head coach of the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic. When Hawk left, Sam Van Gundy was in between head coaching jobs and he brought us instant. Now, I've highlighted in a previous episode the extent of what a challenge it was to get him actually just on the air and for that to feel seamless. But why did you want Stan on this show? The timing worked out. I know you gave him your own equipment. We all kind of knew that Stan was going to be in demand, so that this was kind of like a fleeting thing. But it was really impressive. When he started, we were just a local show and we had Stan Van Gundy, a former coach of the year, I believe, on our show as a.

[Dan Le Batard]

Regular contributor and had him on in a way that made it known that he liked us and we liked him. And I had a genuine friendship with him that was born from the beautiful starting point of I wouldn't stop writing when Pat Riley was about to replace Stan Van Gundy on the championship 2006 heat in the newspaper, that even Stan Van Gundy would tell you that Pat Riley's a better coach than he is. And finally, after writing it like the third time, Stan Van Gundy called me and said, stop fucking saying that. Because it's not true. I would not say that. And I'm like, come on, Stan. He's a better coach than you. He's like, I would never say that. So I'm not going to say that. But our friendship started there. And what I actually remember about that the most, not the friendship part, but him doing stuff with us beyond how challenging it was to send him equipment and everything else, is they wouldn't pay for him. I remember having to write checks and not tell Stan that the checks were coming from me. I had to, like, money launder because.

[Roy Bellamy]

You wouldn't take them.

[Billy Gil]

790 didn't have a budget for a former.

[Roy Bellamy]

We didn't have a budget for anything. Right.

[Dan Le Batard]

I had to send it through a third party to make it not known that he wasn't getting. Getting paid by the radio station because he wouldn't have accepted the money if it wasn't for me and then wouldn't have done it if he wasn't paid. And I just wanted that kind of credibility.

[Billy Gil]

That's great producing, dude.

[Roy Bellamy]

It's really good.

[Billy Gil]

You got your guy. Yes, by any means.

[Roy Bellamy]

And he has no idea that you paid him. I mean, to this day, I don't.

[Dan Le Batard]

Think he does, actually. I don't. He wouldn't have accepted the money. He would not have. Because I was offering to do it and he was declining when I couldn't get the radio station to pay for it, so.

[Billy Gil]

Guts. I know why you liked having Stan Van Gundy.

[Roy Bellamy]

All the guests I was taking. Taking care of booking guests at this time in the show's history.

[Billy Gil]

You were helping out. Yeah, I was helping out.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yes. Yes. Listen, you give me Dan LeBatard, I'll get some good guests. You give me a Stan Van Gundy and forget about it. We'll get Greg Popovich. We'll have Coach K on whenever we want.

[Billy Gil]

You know how much Dan loves talking to head coaches.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah.

[Roy Bellamy]

But you know what I found is that we were getting different coaches. Like a different Greg Popovich. Not because he was talking to Dan and me, because he was talking to Stan.

[Dan Le Batard]

Stan.

[Roy Bellamy]

It's like Stan knighted us. If Stan thinks these guys are cool, then they're good with me.

[Billy Gil]

Remember the Tom Thibodeau we got?

[Roy Bellamy]

Oh.

[Billy Gil]

Because Stan was delightful. They're laughing along.

[Roy Bellamy]

He laughed.

[Billy Gil]

And it found a way to make head coach interviews appealing for Dan. It's kind of funny that Dan wanted a former head coach on as a coach when you consider all the baggage that he had associated with head coach interviews.

[Roy Bellamy]

But this is not your normal head coach. This is a head coach who has opinions on other sports, on things inside of sports, outside of sports, politics.

[Billy Gil]

So many political opinions and just a.

[Roy Bellamy]

Warm and gentle man. I love that man so much.

[Dan Le Batard]

I wouldn't have done, though a show with Tom Thibben and no relationship with him. The reason above all others that Stan was on our show was neither the friendship nor the credibility. It's because I knew how smart he was. And now time for Stan Van Gundy's top NBA Nuggets on a Wednesday show thingy. Yep, evidently it's not any better. Okay. It's the same crappy image.

[Roy Bellamy]

I think he added a little sound effect at the end there. A little pause, a little bit better.

[Dan Le Batard]

Roy paused a little longer. All right, number three, your third best nugget of the week. There's only four teams in the league, all in the Western Conference, who are in the top 10 in the league, both offensively and defensively. Oklahoma City's leading the way first offensively and ninth defensively. And they're the only one of those four is also in the top 10 rebounding wise. And the other three are the Clippers, San Antonio and Golden State. Surprisingly so. The Thunder are better, right, Stan? The Thunder simply better. Better than they were last year. Yeah, they're better because they've got a better approach, I think. Not that they were bad last year, but I think they've got a better, more consistent approach at the defensive end.

[Roy Bellamy]

Am I wrong? Stan Abaca seems a lot better this year than he was last year.

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Look, I think personally, if you had to vote right now, and it usually doesn't go to guys playing as well as he does, but I'd make him the most improved player in the league. I think he should be in the All Star Game. I. I think this guy's outstanding. I don't know what you're doing with the sound effects there. I don't know.

[Roy Bellamy]

It's a transition from nugget to nugget.

[Dan Le Batard]

No, no, but. But we haven't even gotten to the second nugget yet. But everything that comes out of his.

[Roy Bellamy]

Mouth is a nugget playing the sound.

[Dan Le Batard]

Whenever he says anything, whenever he says anything at all.

[Roy Bellamy]

Nuggets.

[Dan Le Batard]

I believe Mike Ryan has a really good eye for talent. Some of the other hosts that we're going to talk about here, Mina and Pablo, I had next to nothing to arriving here, but we can work with smart. Smart can lead to funny, smart and likable within our group of people. Can be a very good ingredient.

[Billy Gil]

We can work with really smart or really dumb. It's either between.

[Roy Bellamy]

There's no in between.

[Billy Gil]

There's literally no in between. Before we move on, what is your favorite memory of Sam Van Gundy on the air with us? I will go first to buy you guys some time.

[Roy Bellamy]

Okay.

[Billy Gil]

We did a segment called Stan Van Gundy Basketball Street Walker, which I don't think he was totally comfortable with.

[Dan Le Batard]

He was not.

[Billy Gil]

In which I made him a prostitute on the street that you would solicit for basketball opinions. This was a hot new twist on Stan's hot nuggets. And I was afraid to even run that idea by him. And I was shocked that he afforded me the one time he decided to do it, which I'm eternally grateful. And I kind of caught the hint to never do it again. But the fact that I got Sam Van Gundy to take part in Sam Gundy Basketball Street Walker, I'm eternally grateful.

[Dan Le Batard]

These are very difficult questions to ask on the fly when you're asking me for a library to go through a catalog of a decade or more of stuff with a person. So what I would say to you as it relates to Stan is the thing that I remember more was the feeling of delight when it is that I would be surprised by learning something about a friend on air that we could then chase. That would create the chemistry that he wouldn't necessarily know how to create on his own because he's not a broadcaster. He's not working with an ensemble. But when we just discover, like, how horribly bland he is about potato chip tastes, shows just. Just. Just whatever thing that we could play with to make him a more outsized human character. My father said that he did highly questionable because he wanted to make people know his son a little bit better, a little deeper. Another side of his son, Greg Cody does the same thing. Softens me in that regard. I'm appreciative that we were able to show Stan Van Gundy to the audience in a way. Perhaps the audience didn't know him before he was on with us.

[Roy Bellamy]

So, Mike, mine is a weird one only because it was significant in that Stan. I realized right then and there Stan understood and didn't have much of an ego when it came to doing media. Maybe he does as a coach. But when it came to doing media, Dan gave him the choice of listening to a mocked up graduation speech I did for the Connecticut School of Broadcasting or to talk about some serious NBA stuff. I think it was Stan's Nuggets. Dan Gave him the choice. Stan did not let Dan finish the sentence before he said, you better go to that graduation speech. Like, he knew what our audience wanted, which is pretty special considering what Stan Van Gundy has done with his life and his career. He wanted me. He didn't want him. He wanted me. And that was cool.

[Billy Gil]

Oh, another great sentence segment that we did with Stan was ASMR with Stan Van Gundy where he would just be playing. He would just be chewing Pringles and candy, running his thumb across. We made it very sensual.

[Roy Bellamy]

He's such a good sport.

[Billy Gil]

Stan, I'm going to need you to reach to the bag of Pringles, pop it open and chew them into.

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, no, it's already open.

[Billy Gil]

Okay, just chew the Pringles into the microphone.

[Dan Le Batard]

He needs to have silent.

[Billy Gil]

Stan, go ahead and grab a peanut M M and make sure to chew it loudly into the microphone.

[Dan Le Batard]

Shouldn't it be a couple of them.

[Roy Bellamy]

So that it's a handful?

[Dan Le Batard]

I'll do two.

[Roy Bellamy]

Of course you will.

[Stugotz]

Stan. You really think the Bucks and the Celtics or the Sixers can really take down the Warriors?

[Dan Le Batard]

I do. This is crazy. Like, I can't talk.

[Billy Gil]

Go ahead and grab a handful of Big league Chew and start chewing it loudly into the microphone.

[Dan Le Batard]

No, but it's gotta be a good sized wad of big League chew. The.

[Roy Bellamy]

The.

[Dan Le Batard]

The. The.

[Roy Bellamy]

Ch.

[Billy Gil]

Last but lot. Le. Not least, go ahead and grab that toothbrush and just put the bristles under your thumb and rub it across a few times while you answer a basketball question. Yeah, he was great. All right, let's move on to Bomani Jones. Now, this was a dude that you had to learn how to work with on the air. You didn't have the preexisting relationship.

[Roy Bellamy]

Well, Mike, we all did though, right? With all these people? Because I remember, like, as each one came in and I'm sorry to cut you off there, Mike, I remember thinking to myself, how am I going to be when this particular person is in every week? How do I have to change my game? And so it was kind of challenging from that regard with Stan Van Gundy. Bomani. For me, I don't know if there's anyone who's better at this in the entire industry, but holy shit, was I intimidated. I was.

[Billy Gil]

In terms of being a guest contributor and just bombing in and giving you things that you'd never even considered. Bomani is as good at that as anybody I've ever encountered. Dan, you were the driving force behind Bomani Jones. I think this was a name that appeared on your radar via Jason Whitlock.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah. And that thing that you're talking about didn't have a precedent for me in sports. As the person who was resident thoughtful guy on societal stuff. Anybody who was working in this industry that I would be listening to on whatever was the larger societal stuff, I would at least think myself, largely, they're equal. Like, there are a handful in television broadcasting, whatever they are, the greats, you know, Keith Olbermann or Bob Costas, who could do television things, I'd be awed by them. But in terms of instantaneous intellect, that would surprise me and awe me. And I'm not going to say intimidate me the way that Stugatz is saying, not physically. His brain challenges. No, I understand what you're saying. Look, Bomani's intelligence is intimidating. He is smarter than the grand majority of people that I have ever met in my life. But what I'm telling you is from very early on, when it comes to talent appraisal, I was like, oh, better than me? Haven't felt that a whole lot.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah.

[Dan Le Batard]

Young, new and better than me on the big broad stuff. And something we did not have at all because Roy is quiet, powerful, black voice. Like, when I tell you we'd been preparing for Colin Kaepernick. We'd been preparing for Colin Kaepernick. Just as strong a black voice, culturally resonant as you will find anywhere in the history, history of sports media. I can make the argument that he's the James Baldwin of sports media.

[Roy Bellamy]

It was interesting because a lot of these guest co hosts would come in and they were so excited to be a part of the show, but, you know, to meet me, to meet Dan, to meet you, to meet the shipping container. But they were always hesitant in terms of how were they going to fit in. They didn't want to speak. Not Bomani. When Bomani came into our studio, it was his show for the day. Yeah.

[Billy Gil]

How do we.

[Roy Bellamy]

I don't know if Dan liked that. It was. How do we work around Bomani? Mina was working around us. We were, from the first show working around Bomani Jones. I don't know how you experienced that, but it was definitely different than all the other co hosts because Bomani is so confident and he's like, hey, if I'm sitting in your studio, I got the best shit and I'm giving the best shit to your audience.

[Dan Le Batard]

One of the many things that I admired about him is that he would never compromise a shred of his conviction or dignity to fit in with anyone. Or anywhere. And I underestimated also that every other co host was walking into what was a place where my father is and there are pictures all over the place of fans stuff. And so that can be something that can be hard on people and was hard on him. But I never saw it because I don't know that very many people would be able to know Bomani well enough or see him clearly enough to know when that might be bravado, when kind of, I belong here, and I've always belonged here, and you will be talking about me after I've shown you how I belong here. That might be 100% confidence from the very beginning, or it might be something that he's learned to show you because you're never going to see inside of his stoicism where he's insecure or where it is you've hurt him.

[Billy Gil]

I remember it being challenging in that we're not the type of show that Bomani would do. We have an entire career now of Bomani and he does very good work. And his brand doesn't necessarily line up with our brand.

[Roy Bellamy]

It was tricky.

[Billy Gil]

We had to figure that out on the air. And this, the co host era of our show that began at 790 with those three names, Greg Cody, Sam Gundy and Bomani Jones. That's how I knew I was starting to get good at this production stuff because I started getting up for these challenges. It was challenging.

[Roy Bellamy]

They were vastly different.

[Billy Gil]

They were all uniquely different. Bomani was the guy that had the most experience because he was doing radio locally. But also most of his early appearances were also bombing in from a radio studio in Raleigh. And we're all getting to know each other and we don't actually get to interface, which was difficult. But interpersonally it would be challenging because the timing would be a little bit off. Managing Bomani's feelings, managing Dan's feelings, making sure that you were okay with, hey, every other day I'm clearly the second voice. I'm taking a bath, back seat. How am I okay with this? How does my character change St. Gotts with somebody else being the second voice? And it allowed for us to be really efficient with our funny because we'd write on the fly. Yes, I appreciated that challenge. Bomani really tested me in ways that I hadn't been tested by another voice. And I was really appreciative of it.

[Roy Bellamy]

I think of all the guest co hosts, Bomani, in all the right ways, by the way, was the most challenging for us. The second Bomani started speaking on our show. I was like, yeah, your shit is better than my shit. And Bomani didn't care that. That I was trying to fit into a little window. If he had something to say, he was going to say it. So it was just an adjustment period. And Bomani understood. I would talk to him a lot during the breaks just to kind of get our timing down. But he spoke so quickly and so intelligently and he filled so much time that it did give me and Mike time to kind of sharpen our sense of humors. And how are we going to get out of this particular conversation?

[Billy Gil]

Bonnie was so good with your character.

[Roy Bellamy]

And he was great with my character.

[Billy Gil]

Yes. And you represent the most ridiculous aspects of our show because at this point we realized, hey, by comparison, Sugats is only going to get dumber as a character.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yes. Thank you, Mike.

[Billy Gil]

So let's, let's lean in. And sometimes he would say some absurd shit in the middle of a profound Bomani thought, and he'd co sign on it and give you buy in right away. And it allowed us in one segment to be the smartest show and the dumbest show all at the same time.

[Roy Bellamy]

Bomani got that. I think Dominique Foxworth was the first guest co host to realize, hey, I don't need to be on Dan's side, I need to be on Stu's side. Like that's the popular side to be on.

[Billy Gil]

I think.

[Roy Bellamy]

I think Bomani did too. Yes.

[Billy Gil]

Bomani figured that out. And that's where the show really had some really charming moments.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yes.

[Billy Gil]

And it was always a great off ramp to the serious stuff because we do the societal stuff more. Because Dan was craving that and he didn't always have those voices. I don't think we've ever had a voice that was as capable of it as Bomani.

[Roy Bellamy]

But Dan was always. And so I don't know if I've ever asked you this. I have wondered it before. You were always, usually are the smartest person in the room. And in walks Bomani. As. As you said earlier, younger, better, smarter. How did that impact you? Because those shows were tricky for you as well.

[Billy Gil]

And how did you take your radio experience and decide shortly thereafter, I'm gonna partner up with this guy, even though I don't have to. The show's name is Dan Lebatard is highly questionable. This is so helpful on my radio side that I need it on the television side.

[Dan Le Batard]

I just wanted to lift him. I wanted to lift that voice. It was important to me. After he had stumbled in some places that didn't seem like were his fault just because he had run into some of the same things in stupid management that you run into when you're not dealing with like minded people or people who have any idea what you're about. And that can be off putting something that looks like arrogance to you and walking into your place and making himself very comfortable. I could see where that would scare a lot of people. I will say two things about Bomani Jones that made this what you're calling challenging. One is every other co host was arriving in some form of either will you guys make me a star? Or appreciating you guys will make me a star. Bomani got here with I'm already a star. It's just folks haven't noticed it yet. And then on top of that, I'll.

[Roy Bellamy]

Make you a bigger star.

[Dan Le Batard]

That's right. He was very helpful in doing that for us as well. But one of the key things here, like when you talk about the challenges of this, it's not just remote and everything else. Bomani said his sense of humor ain't our sense of humor.

[Roy Bellamy]

Right.

[Dan Le Batard]

He has said that. And that isn't like every other co host that we're talking about talking about here. That, that makes it something different. That's to America's stuff.

[Billy Gil]

My favorite memory of Bomani on the air was when he would let that sense of humor out and it made it all the more funny when he'd let his guard down, buy in on some of the ridiculous stuff, introduce us to DJ Mike Hitman and invite us into his world. The Stevie ain't blind stuff was so great, so good from Bomani Jones and I.

[Dan Le Batard]

What I Stevie Wonder ain't blind.

[Billy Gil]

Yeah, just stuff is great. Is it?

[Roy Bellamy]

I think so.

[Dan Le Batard]

Just saying his name.

[Billy Gil]

Stevie. So I, I just omitted his last name. I don't think so, but.

[Dan Le Batard]

And now with this weekly pop culture.

[Stugotz]

Minute, here's my favorite song, Bomani Jones.

[Roy Bellamy]

Point to that webcam. It's not on you though.

[Stugotz]

I just noticed that and I did. Sorry, ladies. That's probing you. Anyway, guy fell asleep.

[Dan Le Batard]

Excuse me, I'm sorry.

[Roy Bellamy]

Oh, you want to wait till the camera's on you put it on me.

[Billy Gil]

Go.

[Stugotz]

Stevie Wonder is 64 years old. Stevie Wonder will soon be the father of triplets. Did you see this triplet? Stevie Wonder's about to have three kids. And when they're born, you know what he's gonna say. Aren't they love Lovely. You're gonna look at him now. Maybe you thinking to yourself, well, Bomani, you keep harping on this Stevie ain't blind thing. But isn't she lovely? Is about a daughter of his that was born that somehow he decided was lovely, even though he quote, could not see her, unquote. This is all I'm saying. Have you seen the pictures of the young lady the Stevie's with that's having these babies? Pretty good looking, as are the other women that I've seen throughout time tied to Stevie Wonder. Now how you gonna tell me that that man can't see, but just randomly keeps coming up on bam. Just coincidentally keeps coming up on bad ones. And anybody should show us what true love really is. And that true love sometimes mean you get with an ugly woman, it should be Stevie Wonder. But oh no, no, no, no. He's not with no ugly women. And you know why? Because he ain't trying to spend all his life looking at no ugly woman. That's why. Because he's looking at her.

[Chris Cody]

Because he's not blind.

[Stugotz]

Allegedly.

[Billy Gil]

Bomani Jones, as dynamic a talent as we've ever been around on the show. Eternally grateful for his contributions. Briefly, let's touch on John Amici. Because he wasn't a regular guest co host, this was more sporadic in part because he was across the pond. It was very difficult from a production standpoint getting him connected. Sometimes he's vacation like in the woods of Great Britain. It was tough to get him aboard. But he provided a lot of eloquence, a lot of humor too because he was very playful. He was a big nerd too. And it allowed us to do what does the God say? With John Amici, sue got mispronunciations and that was a really great benchmark for our show.

[Dan Le Batard]

Obviously a brilliant man. I'd worked with him for a long time. I had a segment on Sunday morning sports radio rotating every three weeks the smartest guys in the NBA. It was Donald Foil, Shane Bennet Badier and John Amici. And John Amici was a good deal smarter than the other two. And that's not an indictment of the other two. He just was somebody that obviously became a friend and was also someone, I will say that wiped out the traditional Latin homophobia that I had seen from grandparents and uncles and everything else. Because upon meeting him and going through some of the coming out journey with him, I learned sitting on a bench in the Miami Heats arena, when he turns to me and I don't know he's gay yet and it's part of him telling me that he's gay, he asks me something I hadn't Considered, which obviously many people had before that point, but I had never thought of it. He's like, do you think that gay people. That they're born that way or that it's a choice? And that conversation led to me sort of reevaluating some of the things that I hadn't considered very much before and been like, well, I cannot hold any kind of viewpoints that have been handed down from caveman Latinists before. If I respect this person so much and he's about to teach me things that I have not considered, correct me if I'm wrong.

[Roy Bellamy]

You didn't realize he was gay even after he told you to meet him at a gay bar? Is that.

[Dan Le Batard]

That is correct. And I didn't realize he was gay while there were rainbow towels and Queer as Folk and Cirque du Soleil on the tivo either. He said he was trying to tell me a variety of different ways, but I'm an idiot. And so I just didn't have any. I just didn't have any knowledge here.

[Roy Bellamy]

Mike. I remember Dorking out when you told me Meech was coming on. I'm like, the guy who played at Penn State who scored the first point. That guy's coming on our show.

[Billy Gil]

He's a friend of Dan's, a gigantic human being.

[Roy Bellamy]

But I was so proud of the show from a production standpoint because I don't fit into that conversation. So how were we going to do something with me and Mike? It was really your idea. You guys. You and Billy, I think. And it was fantastic. Like, how am I going to be a part of a conversation with Dan and John Amigi? Well, I'm not.

[Chris Cody]

Yep.

[Billy Gil]

The strong suit accentuate how dumb you are by comparison and make that a bit. And how competitive if John sells the hell out of that.

[Roy Bellamy]

So good.

[Dan Le Batard]

So we're gonna play a game here with Amici in which we give him things that Stugots has previously been trying to pronounce. And Amici will either be stumped or he will pronounce them correctly. So let's give him the first thing that Stugots has tried to pronounce and failed to pronounce.

[Roy Bellamy]

The compliment. Compliment.

[Pablo Torre]

My goodness. I mean, I thought this would be easy.

[Dan Le Batard]

You're stumped already. Stump the Meech.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah, let's try it again.

[Dan Le Batard]

Let's give him another clue.

[Roy Bellamy]

Closely. John, listen closely. It's a compliment.

[Pablo Torre]

I mean, that word begins with a zed, but it sounds like a compliment.

[Dan Le Batard]

It's accomplishment. I can't believe we stumped you with the first one. How does that start?

[Pablo Torre]

With a zed.

[Dan Le Batard]

No, that's the st. Yeah, John.

[Roy Bellamy]

I mean, listen, I take a flame thrower to the English language.

[Dan Le Batard]

Let's hear accomplishment again.

[Pablo Torre]

Speak it to spew it.

[Roy Bellamy]

It's a compliment.

[Dan Le Batard]

I mean, that's amazing.

[Roy Bellamy]

Well, I'd like to hear John say it. I'd like to hear John say that word.

[Pablo Torre]

What was the word again?

[Dan Le Batard]

Accomplishment. Let's have a duel between the st. Let's do it again.

[Roy Bellamy]

The compliment.

[Pablo Torre]

Accomplishment.

[Roy Bellamy]

The compliment.

[Pablo Torre]

My God, it's actually making me say it wrong.

[Roy Bellamy]

It's a compliment.

[Pablo Torre]

A compliment.

[Roy Bellamy]

This.

[Pablo Torre]

This should be a CD so that people can learn the language.

[Dan Le Batard]

I feel like this is Sesame Street. Like we're playing Sesame. Sesame Street. Here's the way the evil Sesame street character pronounces it. And here's the great. The great accent and the way that the Englishman with perfect pronunciation pronounces.

[Roy Bellamy]

It's a compliment.

[Billy Gil]

We still go to him occasionally when we just say, we need a smart person on this topic. He's probably among the smartest we know. No, definitely among the smartest we know. Sarah Spain was a good examp.

[Roy Bellamy]

She terrifies me.

[Billy Gil]

Was a good example of what this show, during that golden era, the show having some influence and power in that we would see people around the network that weren't getting utilized that I thought were super talented, that weren't being properly utilized under the ESPN umbrella. And Sarah Spain, immediately, she was a contributor. When I was watching Numbers Never Lie. I thought she was so smart. I very clearly wanted to also have a woman because I've gone through a lot of names right now, no women. And I wanted to make sure that women's sports was starting to rise to prominence. And we had some blind spots, and we were talking about all these things that was happening in sports where women were victims and we were just guys weighing in. And it was a huge blind spot for our show. So I saw Sarah Spain. I thought she was super sharp. And then I was really stunned to learn, oh, she's. She's an update anchor on ESPN Radio Chicago. I'm like, what? I want to get her in for an entire show. Let's fly her down. So Amanda Gifford allowed me to fly Sarah Spain down, and immediately I was stunned by how she was the alpha in the room. This was also a challenge because we had no idea. Even Bomani, he would still kind of defer to this is Dan's show. And he would defer to the dynamic. Sarah shows up. Sarah is going to be the Alpha in that room.

[Roy Bellamy]

She was pounding me first episode.

[Billy Gil]

She was a bully. She probably. I think she would say in retrospect, she was probably too hard on everybody. But you have to understand her climb. Look, she was super talented. Sarah Spain was a massive talent and she was. This is sexist, in my opinion, doing an update anchor role at ESPN Chicago when she was capable of.

[Dan Le Batard]

So, oh, she was better than a lot of the people she was doing the updates for. But that's symbolic of the industry and I don't want to sound like we don't have the blind spots that Mike is talking about because even though she was better than most of the people in the industry, when she got here, I would say I did a poor job of onboarding her. And also she didn't learn as quickly. The things that Mina and Dominique and Bomani learned about the winning position is to side with Stugatz. Once she sided with me on things, then it became knocking Stugatz around in a way that could be less funny. Just because there's not the balance of all of the chemicals that you need. And now it's me and Sarah ganging up on Stugatz. And that's not a winning position for a whole bunch of listeners who are used to the familiar thing and also might not know where their blind spots are on misogyny and might not like that a woman has come in and is bull the room of their favorites.

[Billy Gil]

She came in with a bit of a callous already because the entire medium had been cruel to her.

[Roy Bellamy]

She's one of the most confident people I have ever met in my entire life.

[Billy Gil]

She knows she's damn good.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yes.

[Billy Gil]

And she's had to fight up until that point for all of her opportunities that I think it almost caught her by surprise. Like, no, no, no. We're here to lift you up. We're not against you. You don't have to be tough with us. We're here to get the most out of you and put you in the best possible light. I think she then picked up on that. That and then we got to really see her really soar within our show because she felt comfortable enough to do things like create a freestyle rap. And she really shined.

[Roy Bellamy]

She let her guard down.

[Greg Cody]

The name is Spain but they call me the Commish. C O M M I S H you don't want to mess with this. Step into the grid and I'll rule your world. The show's alpha male is a ball busting girl when you pick your fate, you know I'll make it stick. Save your excuses, yo. They don't mean the horrors of the grid. Best believe the hype. Like sand to your neck or a bowl full of tripe Running like Baywatch eating a whale A whole damn show with your hand in a pail. Call me up when you need me to rule. You get so nervous you start to drool. Stomach is twisting now you're clenching your butts sick like you ate 36 donuts please take it easy on us.

[Billy Gil]

Please.

[Greg Cody]

Sarah Spain, you know I'm bringing the pain. The name is Spain, But. But they call me the Commish. A velvet glove with an iron fist. Fat Face Dan and his little wiener friend. In case you didn't hear me gonna say it again. The name is Spain but they call me the Commish. A velvet glove with an iron fist. Fat Face Dan and the Wiener stew Never forget who I am to you. I'm the commish. Don't f with dis.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm the commish.

[Greg Cody]

I said you don't f with this. Yes, I'm the commish. I said don't f with this.

[Dan Le Batard]

Excellent.

[Roy Bellamy]

She is so much more confident than we are.

[Dan Le Batard]

There's more. There's more.

[Greg Cody]

Ain't you sorry? Look at you too. Can't believe Burt Reynolds kept talking to you. I got laid a lot. He said without blinking. What's that? Like you were probably thinking. While all of south beach has been getting boom boom Dan's been dropping heaters in the Clevelander bathroom. Stu say sleeping on his living room couch when he smells like gas Wifey always finds him out. Two sorry gas bags from 10 to 1. Their war on football just ain't no fun. Why you so mean? Take it easy on the guys. Don't you worry. I can barely hear him cry. For Fat Face Dan and his wiener sidekick. Ain't nothing new to get dissed by a chick.

[Mike Ryan]

Excellent.

[Greg Cody]

The name is Spain, but they call me the Commish. A velvet glove with an iron fist. Fat Face Dan and his little wiener friend. In case you don't remember gonna say it again. The name is Spain but they call me the Commish. A velvet glove with an iron fist. Fat Face Dan and the Wiener sue never forget who I am to you. I'm the commish. You don't f with this. Said I'm the commissioner. Yeah, you don't f with this. Yes, I'm the commish. Don't f with this.

[Billy Gil]

She let her guard down and she was such a huge deal for this show because there were challenges. We've never had a woman on our show before.

[Roy Bellamy]

She's the commish.

[Dan Le Batard]

We had Allison on the show, but we did not have someone coming in in a co host type of role.

[Roy Bellamy]

What was amazing about Sarah, Mike is right. Dan is right. Like, she came in, she sided with Dan. They were pounding me. That never feels good. It doesn't feel good for me. It doesn't feel good for the audience, who is very protective of me. And I appreciate. But Sarah learned and she got it. So she showed her willingness to be produced, to let the guard down and to take on the role of commissioner, to do some things with me that were funny. And now we're teaming up and we're going against Dan. She gets it. She gets this industry, but she is so good at it. And I think in terms of all the guest co hosts, Sarah came in and she was the one, I think, early on who got the most amount of criticism. She turned our audience completely around. She's beloved by all of us.

[Dan Le Batard]

It's interesting, though, that Mike is pointing out something about Sarah that's also true of Bomani. All of their history would bring them to us in a fighting position. It wouldn't necessarily be a trusting position. Right off of the bat. The trust has to be earned between both sides. In our cases, it's just like, do you fit in? And with the things that we're talking about, you can see the difficulties of fitting in. If we're not aware of, oh, this person has had all of the stuff involved with this industry not being great or this country not being great to black people and women, and they're bringing all of that into the room with them. When we're just like, hey, can't we all just dance around here? We're all going to have fun. And they're coming in with, wait, why am I an update person in Chicago when I'm better than most of the hosts on this station?

[Billy Gil]

And we're starting to realize that our show is starting to be a bit of a launchpad with Bomani and with Sarah. Once Sarah starts routinely getting featured on our show, she kind of ceases being an update anchor in Chicago and starts getting her own jobs as a host of a show. She gets more appearances on around the Horn and her career starts to ascend. We certainly got in at the right time.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yep.

[Billy Gil]

But we see that, hey, there's a connection here. There's more opportunities being presented because we're giving a platform for these people to shine. So I was very proud of that Amin Al Hasan fits in that mold. Amin Al Hasan came on my radar through talking to George Sedano, who was an occasional contributor. He said that Amin would be so great on your show. This guy is really funny. He's underutilized at espn, which he was at the time, just basically doing numbers, Never Live and SportsCenter and ESPN News Hits. And Sedano gave enough of a cosign that I wanted to get him in and try him out. And I remember the first day on the show you thought he worked at the Clevelander.

[Dan Le Batard]

That's right. He was eating and I thought he was a waiter that was eating in our area at the Clevelander. And I'm like, why did the waiter who brought the food up here start to sit down and eat it?

[Billy Gil]

Yeah, I never met him before.

[Dan Le Batard]

Right. And also I didn't make this mistake. The reason that he was here with me is also the same reason Mike Sedano had told me the same thing. And he had never done that before with anybody. As someone who grew up listening to our show and being imprinted by our show. And Amin was somebody who was tired of going and standing on a mark at espn. Wanted to be a different kind of creative. Amin and Katie, I would say were. Katie Nolan were the most respectful kind of. I'm not gonna say the opposite of Bomani and Sarah, but I'm still waiting.

[Roy Bellamy]

For Katie to speak.

[Dan Le Batard]

I mean, the most respectful about not wanting to jump the jump rope at the wrong time in what it is, the chemistry of the show was so they would sit out long periods of time. And in Amin's case, I had a lot of conversations with him around the Clevelander bar about him not wanting to do basketball expertise stuff and me explaining to him, no, that's why we had Stan on like when you're talking basketball and serious on sports, you're better than most people. And that's an ingredient that we want around here so that people can get some of their vegetables with all of the other stuff that's in the circus tent.

[Billy Gil]

Yeah, we needed the nutritional value because look, we're a bunch of goofs and the audience is hot on our tails knowing that we actually don't know shit about sports. So we need all the credibility that we can get and exchange as a barter will also give you plenty of avenues to be ridiculous. And another example of a career starts to ascend. People start seeing him on our show and he starts doing more Sports Nation stuff. He starts being put on TV in more of a light hearted light and he got out of it what he wanted to. Incredibly loyal to us, fucked with us from day one, was a huge fan of our show and didn't need the show explained to him when he walked in the door. Which was a bit of a change of pace from all the previous co host, even Sarah, we had to kind of explain, even though she was a little bit more familiar. Amin was a fan. He was a chronic. He would listen to us daily. So it was actually, Whoa, hugely refreshing. I don't have to explain any of the jokes. A guy has pretty good timing. He knows when to lay out. He knows when Stugats is cooking on something. And that was really welcoming and made me want to get more of it.

[Roy Bellamy]

Mike, I'm glad you said that because we're doing this for our audience and they're very loyal and the audience should know that, like Amin, there is no guest co host we've ever had on that understood and got the show and listened to the show more than Amin had before he set foot into our studio. And then just to kind of elaborate on what it is you just said when we left espn, Amin left espn. Amin has been a blessing to us. He has worked hard. He has been great. He's always been there for both me and Dan and for Mike as well, and for the show and for the audience. He truly cares about this cast of characters and he cares about the people who listen to it.

[Billy Gil]

No one more ride or die with us in that co host table than Amin. And that's not a slight on anybody else. Everybody else had other things going on. Greg Cody had no choice but to be ride or die with us.

[Dan Le Batard]

You know what? It's okay. I want to say this publicly. It's okay to be someone who's right or I'd like to live also. You don't have to go down in the flames with us, not the game. No, it can be. Look, it can be right. And I'd prefer not to die. If we can just stop short of that. The loyalty doesn't have to end in my debt.

[Billy Gil]

How about I'm right and I'll give you guys six years to figure it out. We welcome that, too. But Amin, I'm sure, really surprised you. And I'm sure you found it hugely flattering when you were. You felt pretty vulnerable when we were leaving ESPN and you decided to build this company with John Skipper. Amin was one of the first people you heard from saying, I'm with you no matter what.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, of course. So much of this is built on trust and relationship and I would say, and I say this every time that we go around and shake hands with the people who listen to our show. My God, it's such an unusual relationship with your entertainment option that, you know, the whole backstory of that. And it means something to you that Amin would ride or die with us. And it makes it, you know, the reason that we can do all the stuff that we do. Because your connection to this thing is different than it is with your other entertainment options, certainly the ones in radio and podcasts, because you feel like, you know, the people involved and you know what their relationships are.

[Billy Gil]

He was great. I'm so blown away by his not dead. I'm so blown away by his. His loyalty to us. And he's still a key contributor on our show, and he's carved out quite the interesting character for himself as well. Love Aminohassan. And I can't really fully articulate well enough how much that meant in a pretty vulnerable time for us for him to leave everything behind and be like, I'm with you guys no matter what. Pablo, he was more like, I'm Ryder. Or, wait a couple.

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, it's everybody.

[Roy Bellamy]

I'll just say it.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm Ryder.

[Billy Gil]

You know what? Well, let me wait a couple years to see if this works.

[Dan Le Batard]

Let's talk about Mina before we talk about Pablo, because I want to say a couple of things, but when you say that of Pablo, it feels like a stinging indictment. That place in the comfort of it is very hard to leave. Amin's the only one who did it, and I don't blame any of the others who did not do it, because it's a hard thing to do. There is something very comforting about knowing that your career is on airport televisions on mute all over America in a way that's much different than whatever it is that you find occupying the podcast space.

[Billy Gil]

He knew that it would be difficult. He knew that it would be very different. He knew that he wouldn't have the same platform, and he knew that he wanted to be with us. So immense love for Meenal Hassan. I'll take your direction there. Let's talk about Mina Kimes. Mina Kimes was someone that we both had identified. Dan, I think you deserve a little bit more credit than you afford yourself here on Mina, because I had reviewed the tape, and my ultimate takeaway was, I really want to get Mina in here. I really do. I fear that she's, like, too green for this, and maybe she needs a few more months, some more exposure on our show. Maybe we have a Few more guest hits. And I was in West Palm beach and we spoke, like, early Sunday morning. And you're like, you sure about Mina? Because I think we can make that work. I'm like, well, I mean, there's a reason why you're circling back on Mina. Because I kind of felt like we decided, let's table that for a little bit. And you circled back on it and made me think about all the things in different prism. And I guess you caught me at the right time. I was like, you know what? Eff it. We had had pretty good luck getting to know people on the air. Let's ride. Let's see how this goes. And my concerns were valid. Incredibly green. But I wasn't that hip to how much of that would be an asset to us, how charming that would be, how endearing that would be to an audience. And then when she sat in here like, look, I knew Mina Kimes was smart. I had been a fan, but I had no idea how smart and how easily she could make her intelligence accessible to the listeners. She was smart without making people feel stupid. And that's a very special quality because I'd line her intelligence up against anybody, including John Amici's on our show. But out of everybody, Pablo include. Pablo is very bad at this because he makes people feel dumb.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm bad at it.

[Billy Gil]

Yeah. Dan's bad at it.

[Roy Bellamy]

Terrible.

[Billy Gil]

No one's been better in media than Mina at this one. Specific.

[Dan Le Batard]

She's likable. She's more likable.

[Roy Bellamy]

Likable smart is what you're saying?

[Billy Gil]

Yes.

[Dan Le Batard]

She's more likable than I would say anybody that we've had. Unless you're grandfathering in an old guy clause for Greg Cody. In terms of curating Poppy, yeah, Mina has some of the highest, but I don't think Mike does it justice when he says green or incredibly green. Straight up amateur.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah.

[Dan Le Batard]

Like, didn't know what she was doing with any technical aspects of what we were doing. But that stood out. Out as charming because you could see all of the range in it. And we did make comedy out of the incompetence, which was plentiful because it was almost strange. I'm going to say not almost strange. I'm going to say it was legitimately confusing to me. How can a person be this smart and this dumb? Like, how is it possible that she can't just get some very simple things, like someone's talking in her ear to give her a cue?

[Billy Gil]

She needs to not stop talking on the 17th time? No, less.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yes.

[Billy Gil]

Mina bought in from day one. Mina loved the sandbox, wanted to have more fun. She wasn't eager in ways that you would probably put a negative connotation on. She wasn't ever really about advancing. Her career never came off that way. Her career advanced naturally because she was just so good. She kept growing and growing. She got better with every appearance. She was still always going to be green, but she also was definitely aware that that could be an asset to her because it helped her relate to the audience.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yes.

[Billy Gil]

Keep in mind, she wasn't like the absolute Navy seal as Dan would describ describe it when it came to football. No, just yet. She was learning how to do that stuff and we made really good use of her and her laugh was infectious. She wanted to participate in things like Roy's realm. She was down to dress up.

[Roy Bellamy]

She was down for anything.

[Billy Gil]

She was down to be the punchline. I love Mina Kimes zipline.

[Dan Le Batard]

Mina Kimes is on a zip line at a mall even though she's terrified of zipline. Yeah, Mike, I saw you talking to me on the phone. You were giggling with laughter. I'm assuming it's because she sound so afraid.

[Billy Gil]

Well, at first it was because she sounded awful, like she. It was terrible. We need this to work on the radio, so we had to rig something. And I believe Mina's calling us right now with the phone just taped to her bra.

[Dan Le Batard]

Okay. Is that what is. Sorry. What is happening? Right. Yeah. Well, yes. Mina, give us your surroundings. All right, so there are currently two Mall of America employees trying to take tape my phone to my bra inside, to be specific, so that when I go down the zip line, I'll be able to give you my take without losing it. Okay. So.

[Billy Gil]

All right.

[Dan Le Batard]

Without losing the phone. Okay, that's good. The boobs are all right. The boobs involved.

[Roy Bellamy]

What's the single most important thing the ego time to do to beat the.

[Dan Le Batard]

Patrons down with my feet. Oh, my God, this is so scary. Hold on. Oh, I'm really scared.

[Greg Cody]

Okay, hold on.

[Billy Gil]

Just.

[Dan Le Batard]

Just jump.

[Billy Gil]

Just sit down and lift my feet. Just jump.

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, my God. Why do I do this, Mom?

[Chris Cody]

I have to maintain a fast rest.

[Dan Le Batard]

In the fourth quarter. Not like the Falcons and they have all the jets.

[Chris Cody]

I guess that's the opportunity.

[Roy Bellamy]

She's still with us.

[Dan Le Batard]

Where do I stop?

[Roy Bellamy]

So get to Brady with four is what it sounded like.

[Dan Le Batard]

Is that what you said, Mina? We put pressure on Brady. We find out if Mina Gimes is still alive. Maybe next.

[Billy Gil]

I'm her biggest fan and I Am so grateful for that phone call that Dan gave me that one Sunday morning that gave me a pause and made me reevaluate because we brought her in really early in her career. And watching her career now, where she's on ESPN football coverage, Monday Night Football now a part of Netflix. She jumped with us once we started a network. Mina Kimes football podcast was a linchpin of the Lebatard and Friends network that we built over at espn. I'm so eternally grateful for her friendship. As decent a person as I've ever met, as caring and loving, loving and authentic as a person as I've ever met. I'm the biggest Mina Kimes guy there is.

[Dan Le Batard]

I love her.

[Roy Bellamy]

She's fantastic. She is the first of all the co hosts. The one who was most excited to meet me and the quickest to jump into the stugouts world was Mina Kimes. And I will never forget that. Like from day one she was like, this is the side I'm on. I want to be with this guy. I would work with her on hot takes. But we should also say this. Mina had. She never walked into our studio and never met any of us. Mina would still be at the same place that she is right now. We are not taking credit for her career.

[Dan Le Batard]

Okay.

[Billy Gil]

No doubt. If anything, like, look, we got additional eyes on her and people realize right away she had all the talent in the world. I am happy and proud of our association with her, especially because conveniently, like, we were tied to her early in her career, but she earned everything that she got. Look, she also really ascended at a time where being affiliated with us wasn't beneficial to her career.

[Roy Bellamy]

Right.

[Billy Gil]

Like even since then, like getting her still to appear on our show. These became negotiations, these became battles and Mina would pound the table for us. And in many respects comes full circle. She's given us more now than we gave her back then.

[Roy Bellamy]

I remember Mina telling me what she likes so much about coming down to south beach and doing the show with us because TV is so rigid and you can't really show your personality. And she said, this is a place where my full personality can come out. I am quirky, I am a little bit dumb, like in terms of street smarts, but I'm very book smart. She used to tell me it was so refreshing for her. And I think that's a common theme through all of the guest co host. This was a space where if I'm acting the way I'm acting, you're acting the way you're acting. This is A space where they could just be themselves.

[Dan Le Batard]

You're saying television's rigid. And what I would say is television isn't rigid there. Television just doesn't have the amount of time that we have to shore more range of personality we're doing every day what is the equivalent of six or seven half hour television shows. And so there's just more room to talk on all subject matter.

[Billy Gil]

Yeah, I. I love Mina Kimes and I'm so grateful that even though we've tried to nuke it at every turn unknowingly, that she's still allowed to appear on our show. And she's only got to grow from here too. She's got to be one of the biggest stars. She's already one of the biggest stars in the industry. Briefly, I want to touch on Marty Smith, who was a co host for a brief moment in time, and Izzy Gutierrez, who still slides into the studio with us. Marty was another guy that I saw who wanted to do more at espn, wasn't doing enough, wanted to be around fun things. His joy was infectious, eminently likable. One of the most liked members around our show also came around our show around 2017, when Miami was actually relevant as an outlier in the 21st century. And he was down here all the time, would go to events with us and we made every segment a Marty party. And he kept wanting to push things out to the edge, do more ridiculous stuff. And he made our television, television product have to meet his ambition. And I loved him for that.

[Dan Le Batard]

Many of his appeals are obvious. Okay. But a couple of things that people may not have noticed about why it is Marty fit so well around here is in part just like many of these other personalities that we're talking about here. Nothing like him has ever existed in our world. None of it.

[Chris Cody]

Right.

[Dan Le Batard]

Like all of the stuff. If you imagine us as an animated thing, Marty is the cartoon horse who arrives with the perfect faux hawk and just looks impeccable and somehow fits in, even though he's not like any of the other things that you have in your environment.

[Roy Bellamy]

But he has a football in his hand.

[Dan Le Batard]

He has a football in his hand. That's the connector. And the cartoonishness of his exuberance and his joy are unlike anything that we have here energetically. Even all of the talkers here, no one has. There's nothing quite like that particular effervescence that we're talking about.

[Roy Bellamy]

I think there are some guest co hosts that Dan brought to us and there were some that we brought to Dan. This is One that we brought to Dan. Right? Like Mike and I were constantly telling you, Marty, Barty, this guy, he's always got a football on his. Throwing around a football. We had him on the White House lawn throwing a football to somebody. He got kicked off the White House lawn. I want someone. Rather than do like a 10 yard, like, in route, I want someone to go deep because there's a lawn behind you and there's a couple of trees, and I want to see Marty fling the pill. Yeah, I want Marty. I want him to go deep. Like, deep on the White House lawn. I want him going deep, like 40 yards out. Like, make those trees behind you. That's the end zone. That's where I want them to go.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

All right, help me out with this jacket.

[Billy Gil]

Okay?

[Izzy Gutierrez]

Here's my. I got my jacket off.

[Dan Le Batard]

Okay?

[Roy Bellamy]

Listen, Tell them to ignore the snipers on the top of the building and all the people with machine guns there, and just tell them to go deep.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

This is Corey. Okay, guys, this is Corey. Corey is the. The best audio man in television.

[Dan Le Batard]

All right, that's debatable.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

He's about to. He's about to run a post at that tree right there.

[Roy Bellamy]

Nice. A skinny post. Yeah, go ahead, skinny post. Marty's taking the jacket off. Marty's taking the jacket off. Marty, party at the White House. He has taken his jacket off and someone is going out for a pass. Yeah, dimes.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

We're dropping dimes around here.

[Roy Bellamy]

Can someone else throw the ball to you? Like, can you go out for a pass on the lawn? I'd like to see you go out for a pass and have one of your guys and your staff throw you the ball. Is that possible?

[Izzy Gutierrez]

No, I think we just got. Did we just get yelled at?

[Roy Bellamy]

Oh, you did. Did you really? Did you really?

[Izzy Gutierrez]

So, okay, somebody said. Somebody said for doing that, we could get shot. So we're not going to do that.

[Roy Bellamy]

I think it's worth the risk, to be honest with you.

[Dan Le Batard]

This show kills enough people.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

Not me, bro.

[Roy Bellamy]

All right? Not me.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

I've gone out for passes in a lot of locations, but not that I'm not trying to take fire. Thank you.

[Roy Bellamy]

Marty is such a genuine, kind man, and he loves our show so much.

[Billy Gil]

And you can't mention Marty without his production partner, Jonathan Wy, who would often hit me up. Hey, we're going to be in Beijing with Cristiano Ronaldo. Can we do something? I'm like, yes, I have no idea, but I'm going to try like hell. And I will put you in touch with someone that knows what you're talking about. But he. But, dude, these guys were. Sorry for people to just say yes.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yes.

[Billy Gil]

Because they were way more ambitious and creative than I could have been. You want to talk about a production talent super tandem. Wiley and Marty Smith have this crazy chemistry and they just, like, feed off of each other's ambition. The great guys. One last note on Marty. He was the first person that really let it resonate with me that, oh, we're doing really good, fun work that everybody wants to be a part of. Because here's this guy that I think is like comparison. A wild man.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah.

[Billy Gil]

For espn. And he sees our show as an opportunity. And that was hugely flat flattering. Izzy Gutierrez is a guy whose loyalty and friendship I've really come to value. He has been with us on the air in some form or fashion for several years, but not that consistent. But I think what Izzy has given to us as a gift is his love, his loyalty, and his ability to support pretty much any road we go down. And I really value his honest feedback, too. I go to him for feedback probably more than anybody else, whether he knows it or not, because I really, truly value his opinion because he's been with us for so long and he's seen all the twists and turns we've taken.

[Roy Bellamy]

Feedback on everything. Right. I go to. I go to Izzy.

[Billy Gil]

Personal feedback.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah. Feedback on whether or not I'm being a good person or not. Like fundamentally decent person. And you're right. Rolled with anything that we would do. I know Dan has a special relationship with Izzy. Mine has really blossomed in the last four years. He is such a warm, introspective, caring person. He has been such a positive in my life. Not on the air. I'm doing fine on the air. Off the year, I needed it. I needed someone like Israel in my life and I've gotten it. And his advice is always spot on. He's amazing.

[Dan Le Batard]

Izzy has been a friend, colleague, and someone who our show and my career has imprinted because he came after me at the Miami Herald. And not unlike Sedano or Whittingham or all of these people who have seen the entirety of the evolution from before we were on radio. That's just a friendship that goes back a long time. And we had the extra benefit of not realiz just how many shows, 300 or 250 shows on television are to get co host too. So Izzy being available in Miami as a friend to do whatever it is that was needed on either one of the shows is a balm. And A glue. And people do not realize the daily doing of this. What an undertaking it is to just sprint that much on a treadmill daily. And so he was always available to help. The way that your best friends are when you move from place to place.

[Roy Bellamy]

What I have found with Izzy is I'm upset. I haven't had Izzy in my life longer, to be quite honest with you. But Mike, you would agree he's one of the few. He could sit in Dan's seat and he could sit in my seat, correct?

[Billy Gil]

Yeah, he. He's a five tool player and that's kind of how we use him. But I think what he probably doesn't realize is we use him for the vibes of feedback. He's just as genuine a person as they come. I think it's in Pablo Torre's contract now that we have to talk about him last. So we'll get to Dominique Foxworth beforehand.

[Roy Bellamy]

Really?

[Billy Gil]

Dominique Foxworth. I think he was put on my radar and I known him to be a fan of the show. I certainly knew him from his playing days. He was always on Twitter. He would leave comments and he was very clearly a fan. Occasionally send me a message saying what a big fan he was of ours. But I think Mina was like, you guys have to talk to Dominique. He loves your guys show so much. And I was eager for that opportunity. And he fit like a glove pretty much. Day one.

[Dan Le Batard]

I would be remiss if I spent any more time as we do this oral history telling everybody how responsible we are or aren't for the ascent of these people. When Tony Reali and Eric Ridholm with their production of around the Horn, Pardon the interruption and highly questionable, they all were instrumental in bringing some of these people into our lives. Ride Home is the one for me who discovered Foxworth. I had never known any of his work or that he was a fan of our show. But Ride Home found an athlete and we haven't had a lot of those over the years. Found an athlete who he thought, much like Sedano, thought that Amin would fit in our world world that he thought would blossom in our world with just a little bit of fertilizer. And obviously he's become a dear friend and is somebody probably has more range on intellect in terms of what he could conquer career wise than anybody who has lived in our space.

[Roy Bellamy]

I wonder why he does this.

[Dan Le Batard]

To be honest, he could do anything successfully. Obviously did it as cornerback. That's pretty hard. Harvard Business School. That's pretty hard. And has chosen to do do some of this nonsense. Just because it's fun instead of hard.

[Billy Gil]

Fills my heart with love. To know that he could literally be doing anything with his time. And he finds so much joy in being around Dan and Stu in the shipping container. And he still is a fan of our show. Chronic listens every day. How do you have the time? Why do you still care? Why do we still meet?

[Dan Le Batard]

Always flatter. Always flattering to me that he listens. That way he doesn't have the time to listen.

[Roy Bellamy]

Mike will laugh though, because I dorked out the same way. When I heard with Meech, I was like the guy who played at Penn State. Dominique. Four time pro Bowler. Are you kidding? Mike, we're gonna have him in studios. Oh, the guest I can get.

[Billy Gil]

Yeah.

[Roy Bellamy]

I realized we didn't need guests. With Dominique, I realized he was just so good on his own. But again, and I said this earlier, he was the first one and I think he kind of set the tone for the rest of the guest co host that kind of sided with me. Like he could go toe. He perfected it. He can go toe to toe with Dan. Dan would acknowledge that he's every bit as smart, if not smarter than Dan is.

[Billy Gil]

What's so funny is when he. He knows he can and he checks out on that entirely. I'd rather do the foolishness with you until this day.

[Roy Bellamy]

And I will just get a text from Dominique that simply says, love you. It means so much to me to get that. And they usually come at the absolute best time, as if he's eavesdropping on my entire life. I need it. He gives it to me. It's two words. It means so much to me. I send it back to him. He is so great and so talented and he should be doing something more productive with his time than this.

[Dan Le Batard]

I mean, I would say that most of the people that you have mentioned in this are smarter than I am. And that was part of the appeal.

[Roy Bellamy]

I would say this. They all owe me a big thank you. Maybe they are smart, but perhaps they're not as smart as we think they are. They were sitting next to me. You're welcome.

[Dan Le Batard]

It helps. And on that note, I want.

[Roy Bellamy]

I don't want to talk about this guy.

[Dan Le Batard]

I want to let the audience know that I am delighting in the fact that Pablo Torre has listened to all of this, waiting to hear how we. We talk about him. And I'm leaving.

[Billy Gil]

But the pig's feet.

[Stugotz]

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[Dan Le Batard]

Says here I'm supposed to tell you.

[Stugotz]

About the refreshing tropical lime flavor of.

[Roy Bellamy]

Mountain Dew Baja Blast.

[Dan Le Batard]

But what does refreshing tropical lime mean exactly?

[Stugotz]

Allow me to describe it in a.

[Dan Le Batard]

Way that my fellow DraftKings players will understand.

[Stugotz]

Mountain Dew Baja Blast tastes like a buzzer.

[Dan Le Batard]

Beating three pointer to cover the spread.

[Roy Bellamy]

Nailing a multi leg parlay, setting the.

[Stugotz]

Perfect daily fantasy lineup.

[Dan Le Batard]

It's like hitting an underdog money line.

[Stugotz]

And I want you to know that feeling too.

[Roy Bellamy]

So make your picks and then grab.

[Dan Le Batard]

Some tropical lime flavored Mountain Dew Baja Blast for you and your buds. Available wherever refreshing beverages are sold. Hey, Happy New year friends. It's 2025 and a new year can mean new opportunities for a lot of you out there. I imagine you spent the last couple of weeks sitting and thinking how to.

[Roy Bellamy]

Make your 2025 special different and set yourself in the right direction.

[Dan Le Batard]

One way that you can do so is actually by following my boss Dan LeBatard's path and starting your own business. You might have a lot of questions.

[Roy Bellamy]

How do I get started? How do I come up with a brand?

[Dan Le Batard]

How do I sell stuff to people? What am I even gonna sell?

[Roy Bellamy]

Just take a deep breath. Shopify has got you. Shopify makes it simple to create your.

[Dan Le Batard]

Brand, open for business and get your first sale.

[Roy Bellamy]

Get your store up running easily with.

[Dan Le Batard]

Thousands of customizable templates. No coding or design skills required. All you need to do is drag and drop. But I know you're thinking, what happens if I don't act now? Will I regret it? What if someone beats me to the idea?

[Roy Bellamy]

Don't kick yourself when you hear this again in a year because you didn't do anything.

[Dan Le Batard]

Now with Shopify, your first sale is closer than you think. Established in 2025 has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

[Roy Bellamy]

Sign up for your $1 per month.

[Dan Le Batard]

Trial period at shopify.com batard all lowercase. Go to shopify.com Bard to start selling with Shopify today. Shopify.com Bard Stan Van Gundy, can you please give us something negative to say about Poop Sandwich? Look, Poop Sandwich may not have been the Lakers top choice, but he was certainly number two. And this hiring stinks. He runs a constipated offense. His team. Teams have played crappy defense. They just loaf around. And frankly, this hire just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. By the way, I've seen every episode of Blue Bloods, everyone. Is that right? Okay, we'll get to you in a second. Everyone, go ahead and give us a minute. Review of everything you know about Blue Bloods as fast as you can, please. Well, I know. I know everything. I was very disappointed when his wife died, when Linda died, died. I think that was. That was very, very tough. But, but here's the main thing. I think if anybody on that show could actually in real life play their role, it would be Donnie.

[Roy Bellamy]

Thank you, Stan. That means a lot to me. Stan, I really.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

I'm touched by you saying that.

[Dan Le Batard]

Thank you, guys. What a warm moment between you two, really. When I came into work today, I thought to myself, might we get a warm, warm televised moment between Stan Van Gundy and Donnie Wahlberg? And we just got it right there.

[Stugotz]

There's one old head pizza man came up to my porch one day and they had just started instituting a delivery charge. And I'm like, up there goes your tip right there. Sorry, buddy. So he's looking at me, I get my change back. I'm like, I appreciate it. You ain't got my tip, man. I'm like, there's the delivery charge. I don't get that delivery charge. Well, sound like you need to go take that up with your manager.

[Dan Le Batard]

So Stugots is out here ruining the Internet for everybody. Stugots. Now, this is. It's great that in the social media, media age that. That we all have the ability to complain and demand better customer service and keep people who are in commerce honest. Okay, what did you do yesterday with JetBlue? What did you do?

[Roy Bellamy]

It was a long day. I flew up Tuesday after the show and on JetBlue, and the flight was delayed, by the way. And that was the fourth consecutive flight I've taken on JetBlue that has been delayed. So I flew up last night, then yesterday, picked up my daughters from camp, and then immediately from the bus, we went back to jfk. Airport, which is a very busy airport. But we went back there and we were getting ready for a 4:30 JetBlue flight. Well, flight was delayed. 5:18. That's the fifth consecutive flight that I've been on with JetBlue that has been delayed. So we finally board the flight at around 5:18 and, and then the pilot comes on and says, you're going to be sitting here. We can't even leave the dock until 6:00. So you're going to be sitting on this plane here till 6:00. And it's a long day. Five consecutive flights that have been delayed. JetBlue. So I take the Twitter and I start going at it with, with JetBlue.

[Stugotz]

I support this.

[Roy Bellamy]

Thank you. What?

[Stugotz]

Hundred. Oh, I do this.

[Billy Gil]

I've done this.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yes. And, and Dan, it started with the. At JetBlue Experience, always delayed, but we have TVs and a basket full of snacks.

[Stugotz]

I'm with you 100%. Number one, corporations respond very quickly to social media complaints. Number two, Dad, I guess you must not know about my experience with my cable television provider from a couple of years ago. I ever tell you about that?

[Dan Le Batard]

No.

[Stugotz]

This is why you should do these things. This is why.

[Roy Bellamy]

Well, the net result for me and Bomani's. Right. And I'm glad that you're on my side with this one, is JetBlue emailed me. I mean, we went back and forth for a while and at one point, whoever's controlling JetBlue's you know, Twitter feed, they said, hashtag hang in there. And I responded, hashtag, you hang in there. Because once we got off the dock, we were 16th in line to take off, which takes another 45 minutes. After that.

[Dan Le Batard]

I don't think you deserve any money back.

[Roy Bellamy]

Oh yeah.

[Dan Le Batard]

For five delayed flights. I know that's what you want. I know that's what you're fishing for.

[Roy Bellamy]

I got an email this morning from JetBlue customer service and they're thinking about either refunding me. Well, no, because they gave me the option. We'll refund the flight here or we'll give you future free flights. I'm trying to decide which one I want.

[Stugotz]

Dude, you should. When the dude said hang in there, you should have been like, yo, you want me to hang in there? You know what you can hang on to?

[Dan Le Batard]

Here we go.

[Stugotz]

That's what you can do.

[Billy Gil]

Take the future flight. So you can complain about that one and then get another.

[Stugotz]

First of all, it's worth noting that the airline industry is the only business that consistently messes up and never once considers giving you back your money. Every other business, if they mess up, they know they got to give you back your money. A lot of it is beyond people's control because that schedule starts early. The first flight gets delayed.

[Dan Le Batard]

Everything trips down because they're giant metal things in the sky. Sometimes it's hard for them to get 3,000 miles.

[Stugotz]

You told me the plane was going to be here at 6:30. The plane needs to be here at 6:30.

[Roy Bellamy]

And here's what else gets me. It's on the way to New York. The plane was actually there. It was ready to go. You know who wasn't there? The crew. Why? Because they were coming in from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Do me a favor, have the same crew on the same flight all damn day.

[Stugotz]

Try this. I had a plane not leave because. You ready? You ready? You ready?

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah.

[Stugotz]

The pilot didn't come to work.

[Dan Le Batard]

That happened.

[Stugotz]

It didn't come to work.

[Dan Le Batard]

That happened sometimes on a 6 o'clock flight. They're not great paying jobs. That happens. No, I don't.

[Stugotz]

Guess what? Most jobs that involve getting to work at 6:00 in the morning are great paying jobs. And the people still come to work.

[Dan Le Batard]

But I wanted to talk a little more about Damari.

[Stugotz]

Carol, I care what you want to talk about.

[Dan Le Batard]

Predator. Well, you started by saying predator in Spanish. Trying to say.

[Stugotz]

I was trying to show you that I've been learning.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah, but you haven't.

[Stugotz]

But I did. My cleaning lady sent me a text the other day actually to congratulate me on how much better my Spanish had been. And then I went in the translator and put in another reply because I always hit her up on the translator and she's so proud of my Spanish and I just don't have the heart.

[Dan Le Batard]

To tell her you're cheating.

[Stugotz]

How else I'm going speak Spanish to her? I would just make it up.

[Dan Le Batard]

But did you just take the compliment? You just took the compliment and then went back to your translator to continue your fraudulence about translating via text with the translator?

[Stugotz]

I replied, it said gracias, which I didn't need the translator for.

[Dan Le Batard]

Wait a minute. That compliment though, doesn't mean anything. You accepted that compliment as if your Spanish is actually getting better?

[Stugotz]

No, but like I feel like you're not giving me enough credit here. Right. And the credit here is that I could probably send her things in English and I do not. I try to make the effort to learn some Spanish and to connect with her culturally by looking up Spanish descent and that's kind of how I pick up some words, even though I haven't like learned any of them. Did we mention that Matt Ryan threw a pick six to go along with that pick two that he threw right there? Did we get to the round? The only thing that game was missing was afterward, one of their players getting busted for soliciting a prostitute because that's the most Falcon thing to happen ever. Or your franchise quarterback deciding, hey, I got a little free time. Who wants to fight some dogs?

[Dan Le Batard]

This doesn't sound like bitterness at all.

[Stugotz]

How about the time their first thousand yard rusher, they stopped the game to give him the ball and he ended the game with 995 yards? Would you like to talk about. How about the time Jerry Wright scored five touchdowns on Charles Toast Demery in 1990 while Dion's on the other side doing I don't know what. How about the time the head coach left the letter in lockers because he was going to quit his job because the quarterback got caught dog fighting Robbie Petrino?

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, that was good.

[Stugotz]

How about the time they scored two points in a playoff game? Uno, Dos.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, there's that.

[Stugotz]

Or maybe when they blew a 17 point lead in the second half of the NFC championship game. I could have told you all those things were going to happen.

[Dan Le Batard]

Like, I don't know anything about him other than like, man, he was relaxed in the middle of that scandal. St.

[Stugotz]

Gods would be that relaxed.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah, I think I'd be that relaxed.

[Stugotz]

I think you've been spending your whole life waiting on a moment to get in front of the world and tell lies that big. Like, I feel like the little lies have all been training for the big lie.

[Roy Bellamy]

I tell Dan, man, you just got deliver it with confidence, be loud, deliver it with confidence and you're good, man. Do it all the time in the show. I have no idea what I'm talking about half the time.

[Dan Le Batard]

All right, let's lighten it up around here. Let's go ahead and play Stump the Meat. Yeah, what are you laughing about? I mean, it has no.

[Pablo Torre]

Because once again you guys don't realize perhaps, but Mike, he's now taken to a 20 to 40 second trash talking rant in the, in the breaks before Stump the Meat, essentially telling me I've got no chance today. He said, I cut out two clips that would have killed you anyway, but the ones I put in are going to kill you anyway. You're going to lose. It's, it's, it's the. He becomes Trump in these moments.

[Dan Le Batard]

Okay, so he is trash talking you.

[Pablo Torre]

Oh, my goodness.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, like crazy. Why did it have to be Trump? You couldn't go to, like, Gary Payton or a trash talker. No, no, no, no.

[Pablo Torre]

Gary Payton was good at it.

[Dan Le Batard]

All right, get out of here. All right, here we're trying to get. I can't even say with a straight face. We're trying to keep politics out of the show because listen to what we talking about. For three days, I'm sitting here crying in front of a microphone about politics and Cuba, and I'm going to tell me that he can't mention a syllable.

[Roy Bellamy]

Listen, let's get away from this with my inability to speak.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yes.

[Roy Bellamy]

All right.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yes. Let's be free here. All right, here is the first nominee. Stump them each. This is something that Stu got said that was hard to understand. He's a professional broadcaster. What is this?

[Roy Bellamy]

Climbing.

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, I think I know what that is.

[Roy Bellamy]

Climbing. Climbing. Climbing, Climbing. Climbing.

[Dan Le Batard]

Fat Chris, what do you think this is? You were pantomiming something back.

[Roy Bellamy]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, I don't think he's right, but. Okay, Meech, make your guess. Go ahead.

[Pablo Torre]

Climbing.

[Dan Le Batard]

That would be my guess. My guess would be climbing.

[Billy Gil]

Congratulations. Means you have won.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, see, look at.

[Pablo Torre]

Look at that tone. How very well.

[Roy Bellamy]

Because he knows what's coming next.

[Billy Gil]

Because I told you I was going to give you one.

[Roy Bellamy]

Right.

[Dan Le Batard]

He gives you the easy one first.

[Roy Bellamy]

Now let's get back to Chris Cody for a second. What were you doing?

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, what were you pantomiming? That was not climbing.

[Stugotz]

That was a softball pitch.

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, softball, Softball, Yes. An easy one's the first one.

[Roy Bellamy]

All right, got it. All right.

[Dan Le Batard]

And Mitra's. You're in his head, Mike, because Meech was totally. He was not confident on that one. And the one. One of the wonderful things that's happening here is if something seems a little too obvious, he thinks you're trying to trick him. This is all. Yeah, this is all such a mind game. Next one, please.

[Roy Bellamy]

Follow. Follower. Follower. Follower. Follower. I think.

[Pablo Torre]

I. I don't know, but I'm gonna go follower.

[Dan Le Batard]

That's what I would guess, too.

[Billy Gil]

Oh, so close.

[Roy Bellamy]

It's just follow, follow. Yeah.

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, so he put the er. You can be excused for thinking that it was follower, because it definitely had an er in it.

[Roy Bellamy]

Follower. Follow.

[Dan Le Batard]

I feel like we should give Meech that.

[Roy Bellamy]

No, no, no.

[Pablo Torre]

Because then we get in this whole thing that you cheat in my direction, when really it's only the other direction.

[Dan Le Batard]

Follow is the root of follower now. All right? I mean, that Seems very stringent.

[Pablo Torre]

I should have known because there would. You know, he just. There are five or six syllables in what he just said, and I should have known. It distills down to only.

[Roy Bellamy]

You just should have known.

[Dan Le Batard]

All right, next one, please. Oh, for the love of God. I think I know this. I think I know.

[Pablo Torre]

See, I'm in two minds either. And I don't know. See, again, it's always. I don't know why you would even say this word, but either it's fabric or you're talking about. If Brett Favre was still playing, I would think it was that.

[Dan Le Batard]

Okay, that's Brett fabric. Yeah.

[Billy Gil]

Great.

[Dan Le Batard]

Green Bay packers quarterback, Brett fabric. I'd go fabric, too. There.

[Pablo Torre]

Or I'm going fabric.

[Dan Le Batard]

Former Angels catcher George Fabregoss and his fabric.

[Roy Bellamy]

Nice.

[Dan Le Batard]

There we go.

[Pablo Torre]

Okay.

[Roy Bellamy]

Why are you rooting for Meech?

[Dan Le Batard]

Meech is two for three. This is now he's got to get the last two. And Mike seems to be very calm. Oh, nervous. You're nervous?

[Roy Bellamy]

Are you really nervous?

[Billy Gil]

Yeah, he's been good. This.

[Dan Le Batard]

All right, let's see.

[Billy Gil]

Remember, he almost got followed.

[Roy Bellamy]

Give him some of the good stuff.

[Dan Le Batard]

All right. Somebody writes in that. I'm pretty sure that what you just heard was a entire one, 800 flowers read what else we got about you.

[Roy Bellamy]

About you. Voucher. I think I know this about you.

[Pablo Torre]

No, I'm sorry. You say that every single time. And most you have no idea about you.

[Dan Le Batard]

Have you gotten one right about you?

[Roy Bellamy]

No. You bout you. No, bout you. Bout you.

[Dan Le Batard]

What the hell is that about you?

[Roy Bellamy]

I got it, though.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm not sure if this is two.

[Pablo Torre]

Words, cuz sometimes they're two words and not just one word about you.

[Roy Bellamy]

About you.

[Pablo Torre]

It sounds like about you. No, I don't know about. About you.

[Billy Gil]

I think it's statue at its voucher.

[Dan Le Batard]

Voucher. Voucher. Voucher, of course.

[Pablo Torre]

Do it again one more time.

[Roy Bellamy]

Voucher.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah. Oh, good Lord. Sort of there somewhere.

[Pablo Torre]

It's in there, but the words are. All the letters are all mixed up.

[Dan Le Batard]

All right, so. And here is the money ball. This is for the victory. What's your level of confidence here, Meech, given that the last one is always the hardest one?

[Pablo Torre]

It is low.

[Dan Le Batard]

Okay, let's see what we've got here. Oh, the love of God.

[Roy Bellamy]

That's an easy one.

[Dan Le Batard]

It's.

[Pablo Torre]

It's like you sped up a word there.

[Roy Bellamy]

Secret.

[Pablo Torre]

Secret.

[Dan Le Batard]

I would guess Caesar.

[Roy Bellamy]

I would also guess Caesar.

[Billy Gil]

That is him saying stugots.

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, for the love them.

[Pablo Torre]

Oh, my. We've been engaged in a global conversation about race and racism. You've probably had discussions at home, at school, or at work. And in those conversations, you've probably heard the term white privilege. You may have even had this term used in a way that felt like an insult or an accusation. Others will have told you that it's all just made up to make white people feel bad. And none of this is right. Privilege is a hard concept for people to understand because normally when we talk of privilege, we imagine immediate, unearned riches and tangible benefits for anyone who has it. But white privilege, and indeed all privilege, is actually more about the absence of inconvenience, the absence of an impediment or challenge. And as such, when you have it, you really don't notice it. But when it's absent, it affects everything you do. There are lots of types of privilege out there. The privilege of being born into a wealthy family versus a poor family is kind of obvious. But then there's the privilege of being able bodied versus having or acquiring a disability that most of us take for granted. I have two very close friends who are wheelchair users, and I'll be honest, when I first met them, I was completely ignorant about the everyday ways their lives are made harder through no fault of their own. Some of these ways are simply thoughtless, but some of them are just the way we live, just the way we build infrastructure, just the way everything works. That just makes their life harder than mine. That's just one of the ways that I'm privileged and understanding that embracing that doesn't make me a bad person. But ignoring it raises the chance that my friends will be excluded in ways that are not obvious to me. And as their friend, I can't allow that. There's a good chance, as a white person watching this, your life is already hard. Every day you have to overcome some difficulty or challenge just to get by. But you can still have white privilege. White privilege doesn't mean you haven't worked hard or you don't deserve the success you've had. It doesn't mean that your life isn't hard or that you've never suffered. It simply means that your skin color has not been the cause of your hardship or suffering. There is nothing but a benefit to understanding our own privileges, white and otherwise. It brings us closer to those who are different. It helps us be vigilant about the ways we treat others different than us. It helps us make a society that is fairer and more equal. Having white privilege doesn't make your life easy, but understanding it can Help you realize why some people's lives are harder than they should be.

[Billy Gil]

I'm going to say something and I just want you to tell me how it makes you feel.

[Pablo Torre]

Okay?

[Billy Gil]

Just do it.

[Greg Cody]

It makes me think of Michael Jordan, so I can't say how it makes me feel on the radio.

[Billy Gil]

Oh, wow.

[Dan Le Batard]

Wow.

[Billy Gil]

Michael Jordan sex symbol.

[Dan Le Batard]

Also, this is a podcast.

[Greg Cody]

Oh, right. Well, then I can't say it because there's different rules.

[Billy Gil]

We can get away with a little bit more.

[Greg Cody]

Michael Jordan. Yes. Would be up until maybe five or six years ago, my number one hall pass.

[Roy Bellamy]

Really?

[Dan Le Batard]

What happened five or six years?

[Greg Cody]

Well, he got kind of old.

[Billy Gil]

What's the biggest celebrity you've ever been faced with?

[Greg Cody]

Ooh. I was fairly drunk at Michael Jordan's son's high school graduation party that Drake and Lil Wayne performed at. And I may or may not have given him my card and said, just in case you ever need anything, which is.

[Stugotz]

How do you play?

[Greg Cody]

Embarrassing.

[Billy Gil]

There's a lot to not to unpack.

[Dan Le Batard]

I was trying to follow down out.

[Roy Bellamy]

Who got the card?

[Billy Gil]

Was it Drake? Was it Lil Wayne? Was it Michael Jordan?

[Greg Cody]

Michael Jordan.

[Roy Bellamy]

His son?

[Billy Gil]

Michael Jordan. Yes, Senior.

[Greg Cody]

His heiress.

[Billy Gil]

What?

[Greg Cody]

The father gave him my card. Did it say you ever needed it?

[Billy Gil]

Why would he need your help?

[Stugotz]

What did the card say?

[Greg Cody]

Hall pass was one of my old cards from when I lived in la. So one side was my acting headshot. No, this is the other side was my phone number character because.

[Stugotz]

And how long before he called?

[Greg Cody]

Still waiting.

[Roy Bellamy]

Wow.

[Billy Gil]

How did you get invited to this party?

[Greg Cody]

This woman that I worked with had been on several vacations with Juanita and the kids, almost as a sort of chaperone of sorts. And so she knew that I was a big fan and invited me to the party. And I had just met Michael two months earlier at a Super bowl party and I acted a little strange.

[Dan Le Batard]

Okay.

[Greg Cody]

So that when he saw me again two months later at his kids graduation party, still remembers, he was like, what are you doing here?

[Billy Gil]

Oh, no. You made an impression. It certainly did. Can I ask you a question?

[Greg Cody]

Yes.

[Billy Gil]

What was the drink that got you there?

[Greg Cody]

Probably a vodka Sprite.

[Billy Gil]

What did you do the first time.

[Stugotz]

You met Michael Jordan that he remembered.

[Billy Gil]

How strange you were?

[Stugotz]

Michael Jordan must meet hundreds of people.

[Greg Cody]

He was in a VIP area of a party that I was covering the red carpet for. I discovered him before the party truly began, when he was alone and no one knew he was there. And he was near the corner where the red rope separated the vip. And so I asked if he might take a photo with me. And the security guard kept saying no. And I kept upping the ante as to why he should take a photo with me. And I may or may not have said when you got divorced my mom emailed me and said there's still a chance. And I may have said that when I was growing up you lived one town over and I used to go to your house and stand on top of my car to look over the gate and see if you were in the front yard.

[Billy Gil]

That's great.

[Greg Cody]

And I may have said that I had a plan once to go trick or treating and then faint at your door so that you'd have to bring me inside while you called 91 1.

[Dan Le Batard]

Good God.

[Stugotz]

Naturally the second meeting was you showing up at his son's graduation party.

[Greg Cody]

But he did eventually take the photo with me because either he thought it was funny and compelling or he was scared. But Charles Oakley was with him and took the photo. But part of his thumb covered the corner.

[Dan Le Batard]

How much distance was the restraining order for still pending.

[Billy Gil]

Do you think the photo might have just been to pass around the security detail?

[Greg Cody]

Potentially. I've never been back. Not just to the bar but the city it was in.

[Mike Ryan]

Pump, pump, Pump it up.

[Roy Bellamy]

She got a good head on her.

[Dan Le Batard]

But I pump it up. I'm not a one hit wonder. They know all my stuff. You let me turn into the brother.

[Roy Bellamy]

That you almost was.

[Dan Le Batard]

I done seen a lot of stuff and I didn't been in things. And I'm sell off like that man that brought me in this thing. How you out here celebrating like the winning team. No, calm down. Calm down. Stuff ain't how you think it is.

[Roy Bellamy]

Is. Take a look around. I'm supposed to be on a vacation right now.

[Chris Cody]

But I'm home.

[Mike Ryan]

While in word that DJ Khaled back with another one.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm steady dropping bombs on your head top. Been that way since I could make your bed rock.

[Chris Cody]

Huh?

[Roy Bellamy]

You gotta give a hard work you.

[Dan Le Batard]

Speech while this is happening.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah. Acceptance.

[Dan Le Batard]

I would like to.

[Roy Bellamy]

I got a lot of people to thank.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'd like to thank Roy for not.

[Roy Bellamy]

Really caring about anything at all.

[Dan Le Batard]

You got it. And yep. I'd like to thank Billy apropos of nothing for making me be way more.

[Roy Bellamy]

Efficient in my deodorant use.

[Dan Le Batard]

You can save pennies everywhere.

[Roy Bellamy]

Billy. Like to thank Stu welcome for showing me that it's okay to look weird with your hair on television. It doesn't matter what you look like. So.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm sorry. Here's my trophy it's very heavy.

[Roy Bellamy]

Be careful.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'd like to thank Dan for motivating me by telling Derek D. Dietrich that it was the most sensual and beefcake.

[Roy Bellamy]

This studio's ever been.

[Dan Le Batard]

That was all the motivation I needed. No offense to deets.

[Roy Bellamy]

I wore my deepest V today.

[Dan Le Batard]

It's not really that deep, but yeah. All right, thank you, everybody.

[Roy Bellamy]

All right, so you should know. You should know this is coming back bigger and more obnoxious next year.

[Chris Cody]

All right?

[Roy Bellamy]

You're careful who wins it.

[Dan Le Batard]

You're gonna add, like, it's going to be amazing.

[Roy Bellamy]

Mike Ryan is the real winner here. He's been trying to get rid of that thing for years. I mean, unless he wins next year.

[Billy Gil]

Oh, what, so now winning is a punishment? Okay, cool. But I'm just happy we finally have a champion who is happy to take this trophy. Go nuts, Izzy. Make it your own. Hey, that's my prestige to it. Also, good luck getting out of the studio and that into your car.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

Yeah, I heard y'all talking about pee inside famous people, and I peed by a lot of famous people. But I had a really funny story. So when I was really young, like right out of college, I got hired by NASCAR to write for their league website. And so I'm super amped. So in order to do that, to get started, I have to go to this orientation type of thing at NASCAR headquarters in Daytona Beach, Florida. So I'm waiting for this orientation to start in the lobby of the NASCAR headquarters. And I'm looking around and I'm wide eyed, and I'm like, man, I. I'm so anxious. I really got a pee. So I go in this bathroom in the lobby. I'm in there and I'm using the bathroom, right? Like, I'm peeing. And in Walks Bill France Jr. The chairman of NASCAR, the man who built this thing into the, like, thrust car, into the national consciousness in that era. So I am freaking out. He's at the urinal beside me, and I'm going through this thought process in my mind, like, what are the rules of engagement conversationally when you have your junk in your hands? Like, I don't know how that works, but I gotta tell this guy. I'm like, I am so appreciative that you believe in me. Thank you so much for this opportunity. This been the dream of my life to work for nascar, but I don't know how to say it, so I just go for it. And I said, Mr. France, I cannot thank you enough for this opportunity to represent your company. I Will not let you down. I will be passionate. I will be dogged. I will work so hard. He begins to speak. I expect this great moment of inspiration, this great welcome. He says, who the hell are you? And I was completely. I was completely destroyed.

[Chris Cody]

My ego was destroyed.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

I didn't know what to do, so I just sat there and held myself.

[Dan Le Batard]

It is. Is one of the worst stories I've ever heard.

[Roy Bellamy]

Episode two of the podcast, all that for this.

[Dan Le Batard]

That was no payoff whatsoever. A meandering route for no payoff.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

I went to the bayou place called Port Eads. It's where the mouth of the Mississippi meets the Gulf. Well, there was this old Cajun boy and he goes, hey, man, 1:00 this morning, we're gonna go out flounder gigging. Okay, cool. Flounder gigging is where you take this spear and you stab the fish under the water, right? Well, they had. He had this light that looked. It was kind of shaped like a metal detector. And he held it down underneath the water. It allowed the. The light lit up underneath the water so that you could see the fish coming. So we're not seeing any fish. He goes, well, there are gators in here. I went, what?

[Roy Bellamy]

What?

[Izzy Gutierrez]

Excuse me, What? He picks the light up out of the water and points it to our right. No lie, like 20ft away. I saw 50 eyes, guys.

[Billy Gil]

What?

[Stugotz]

Marty in the bayou at 1:00 in the morning.

[Izzy Gutierrez]

20, no lie. 20 bayou gators that would chomp your leg off. And I started cussing this dude. He was like, man, don't worry. They more. They more scared of you than you are them bs, homie. They're I terrified right now.

[Dan Le Batard]

The younger Cody, more talented Cody now by far. Oh. Oh, my God.

[Roy Bellamy]

That's gonna hurt, man.

[Dan Le Batard]

Put it on the poll at Le Batard show, please. Is. Is the younger Cody already the more talented Cody by far? I love this. Do you listen to the show? Like, Greg, it's a whole day and then all he does is misplay his own hits throughout the course of an entire day. And then somehow you guys make entertainment around the fact that he's bad.

[Chris Cody]

You laugh at him being terrible.

[Dan Le Batard]

And by like, somehow we're like, oh, this was a good day because he could somehow dribble the ball off his foot and you guys scoop it up and make it an alley hoop and dunk it. He like, hey, guys, see what I just did there? Outrageous. Whereas on the other hand, Chris is in the back producing, doing all this production stuff. Slides a line in here or there Bang, bang, boom. Efficiency. You hit him with the corner. 3 Playing defense, setting picks, boxing out. And Greg Cody comes out of the locker room after smoking a cigarette and takes off his warm up as on the wrong shorts. Got on the away shorts instead of the home shorts.

[Mike Ryan]

Dribbles the ball off of his foot.

[Dan Le Batard]

Several times in the course of the game. You guys turn it into points and then he's like, follow me. Listen to my podcast. I don't cut my toenails.

[Roy Bellamy]

Ain't I special?

[Dan Le Batard]

Stop it. 90s ass shorts.

[Billy Gil]

90S ass shorts. Chris has some 90s ass shorts.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm just wearing shorts.

[Billy Gil]

You have some 90s ass shorts.

[Stugotz]

They're not cargos.

[Dan Le Batard]

Explain. Why are they 90s?

[Billy Gil]

Because feel them.

[Dan Le Batard]

You see how heavy and they're not heavy. They are.

[Billy Gil]

You're shorts. 90 ass shorts.

[Dan Le Batard]

They're made out of like backpack material.

[Stugotz]

Let's take our pants off.

[Dan Le Batard]

No one.

[Billy Gil]

I have to remind myself that I'm actually wearing pants because my 2018 ass shorts are so thin.

[Stugotz]

Doc, stand up. Let me look at your shorts.

[Billy Gil]

Look at those thin ass shorts. Look at those modern shorts.

[Stugotz]

Very similar to mine.

[Billy Gil]

Look at those shorts. No future shorts. You have them past shorts.

[Dan Le Batard]

Come on.

[Stugotz]

They probably touch my shorts.

[Billy Gil]

Touch my shorts. Touch my shorts. Feel that nanotechnology.

[Stugotz]

Yeah, that is good.

[Roy Bellamy]

Let's weigh our shorts.

[Stugotz]

Those shorts must cost so much money.

[Billy Gil]

Billy, you got modern day shorts, right?

[Stugotz]

Yeah, they're. They're blue shorts. Quicksilver. They're like the ones that can get wet.

[Billy Gil]

Those are amphibious. He's got amphibious shorts. Your shorts, your 90s ass shorts. See, money aren't amphibious.

[Dan Le Batard]

You got those shorts wet. It would take them two hours at least to dry. Oh yeah, these everyone with modern shorts, dry 30 minutes out of here with.

[Billy Gil]

Your 90s ass shorts.

[Stugotz]

I used to wear cargo shorts, so.

[Roy Bellamy]

These aren't good either.

[Billy Gil]

Tony, I thought I was better.

[Stugotz]

Now this is.

[Billy Gil]

There is a problem. Well, no one's wearing cargo shorts, but I believe the modern day nanotechnology shorts can in fact make the evolution to cargo shorts. Because everyone looks at these and says there's no way I can make a cargo short out of this material. It's so lightweight. Everything that goes in the pockets would be just so baggy and look so weird.

[Dan Le Batard]

Nope, I have good shorts.

[Stugotz]

I'll wear them tomorrow. You can tell me tomorrow if my shorts are wearing.

[Billy Gil]

All right, but see money. You're admitting that Those shorts are 90s as short?

[Dan Le Batard]

They are a little heavier than what I felt.

[Roy Bellamy]

90 ash.

[Billy Gil]

Yeah, okay. Except 90s as short.

[Dan Le Batard]

You didn't say it.

[Stugotz]

They're not jorts. Jean shorts.

[Billy Gil]

No, they're not, but they're 90s.

[Chris Cody]

Okay.

[Dan Le Batard]

What are they made out of? It's like a burlap. You got a burlap short on?

[Stugotz]

I don't know, man. I'm sorry.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm disappointed. So I keep reading about whales and dolphins and blah, blah, blah. Then I stumble upon this great animal called the narwhal, which is essentially a unicorn whale. A unicorn whale.

[Roy Bellamy]

What? Google it.

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, my God.

[Roy Bellamy]

N A R W H A S. Thank you. Look at it.

[Dan Le Batard]

Life changer.

[Roy Bellamy]

Narwhal.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm looking up okapis. Learning about them, I stumble upon another animal that is also amazing called a tufted deer. It's a deer with fangs, Dan. A fanged deer.

[Chris Cody]

Are you a carnivore?

[Stugotz]

What are you doing?

[Dan Le Batard]

Tufted deer.

[Chris Cody]

Look it up.

[Dan Le Batard]

Okapi's tufted deer. Learn it, love it, live it. You welcome. I did first take a bunch of times. One of them was with Coachman, and he did one of the weirdest things in the history of the world.

[Roy Bellamy]

Oh, please tell.

[Dan Le Batard]

We're about to start the show. And he takes his two fingers and puts them under his tongue and then grabs, like, his neck around here and then goes. And I'm there, and I look over and I. I'm just like, hey, what. What in the yeah, yeah is going on? And he was like, I'm just.

[Chris Cody]

Just doing my voice exercises.

[Roy Bellamy]

Jonathan Goatman.

[Stugotz]

Give it to you.

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, no.

[Stugotz]

Is there a parent in the room?

[Dan Le Batard]

He's right.

[Billy Gil]

What. What noise is this?

[Dan Le Batard]

I flew all the way to the kingdom of my. O God. She can never stay in character.

[Billy Gil]

Silent, strong.

[Dan Le Batard]

Dumb. You made me stand in this closet.

[Roy Bellamy]

With a freaking brain.

[Billy Gil]

Get it together, witch. We put you. We boosted you with all these special effects.

[Dan Le Batard]

Stay in character.

[Billy Gil]

Silence. Even though he makes an excellent point.

[Roy Bellamy]

Someone else make it all the way.

[Dan Le Batard]

To the kingdom of Miami just to see the royal children. Princess Claire, Princess Juliet. Princess Claire, Princess Chris Cody's child, whose name I don't remember.

[Stugotz]

Princess Chris Cody's child.

[Dan Le Batard]

All I want to do is present them with a definitely not poisoned apple.

[Billy Gil]

Speaking of which, it's Claire's birthday on Thanksgiving.

[Dan Le Batard]

I mean, what perchance, how much does she weigh? I'm just curious.

[Billy Gil]

£35.

[Dan Le Batard]

How does she take to seasoning.

[Chris Cody]

It?

[Billy Gil]

Sounds like she wants to eat the Princess Claire.

[Stugotz]

Yeah, Princess sounds like Princess Chris Cody's.

[Billy Gil]

Baby, whose name Mina doesn't remember.

[Dan Le Batard]

We shall rename the holiday Claire Giving.

[Billy Gil]

Proclamation. So shall it be written, so shall it be done. We're supposed to be doing the turkey truck, which is a local marathon down here. I'm doing the 5k, the queen apparently.

[Stugotz]

Is doing the 10k, and Claire's doing.

[Billy Gil]

The kids kids K. Yes. Marathon. Marathon. Marathon.

[Stugotz]

Yes. That's when you watch a lot of night fights. Back to back to back Greek mythology, I believe.

[Billy Gil]

And who is chasing, facing you as you run? A whole bunch of runners that actually.

[Dan Le Batard]

Will be in front of me because I'm walking.

[Billy Gil]

No one finishes ahead of the key. No one.

[Stugotz]

No one.

[Billy Gil]

No. That's a proclamation right there.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yes.

[Billy Gil]

So shall it be written. I just said the witch is trying to say something.

[Stugotz]

Go ahead, bro.

[Dan Le Batard]

Perchance might I visit the castle? I've been in this forest for quite some time.

[Billy Gil]

No.

[Dan Le Batard]

Wow.

[Billy Gil]

So shall it be written, so shall it be done. You don't like for a few minutes? Shall I get the witch? Shall I fetch the witch?

[Stugotz]

Sure.

[Billy Gil]

Fetching the witch.

[Stugotz]

Hey, the witch is here.

[Billy Gil]

Hey, witch.

[Roy Bellamy]

King Roy.

[Billy Gil]

King Roy.

[Dan Le Batard]

Where is Princess Claire today? I just want to know.

[Roy Bellamy]

For no reason in particular, I just.

[Dan Le Batard]

Like to look at her with seasoning. Pablo Torre in with us. Always grateful for his presence. But not all of you are so on Twitter. Some of you have beat the rush to mock and criticize Pablo. And we will have those gather on Twitter. Say what you will, that's funny and clever.

[Stugotz]

You don't have to encourage them.

[Dan Le Batard]

And Pablo will read it in his own voice. The fun. Funnier the better they are, the more likely we are to have good content from it.

[Stugotz]

Pablo Torre is Asian Stephen A. Smith. Not in delivery or cadence. Just no clue what he said. When he's done talking, take away this guy's thesaurus.

[Dan Le Batard]

The Asian Stephen A. Smith.

[Stugotz]

I'll put that on a business card. Sure.

[Roy Bellamy]

Stephen Asian Smith.

[Dan Le Batard]

I think you should put that in your Twitter handle.

[Stugotz]

I'm changing my Twitter handle.

[Dan Le Batard]

Stephen Asian Smith is absolutely the place that you need.

[Roy Bellamy]

Are you doing it now?

[Dan Le Batard]

Yes, that's right. Now. Immediately.

[Stugotz]

I had hamsters that bred, gave birth and had little hamster babies in that hamster wheel. We had a plastic cage. It was a plastic hamster wheel. So the hamsters would have their babies there. They'd be like, rolling along. And then I realized that the hamsters ate their young.

[Roy Bellamy]

Oh, no.

[Stugotz]

And the hamster wheel became a spinning wheel of decapitated hamster baby heads.

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, my God.

[Billy Gil]

Pablo. Pablo.

[Dan Le Batard]

Pablo.

[Billy Gil]

Pablo.

[Stugotz]

It's true. Hashtag Con of mammals.

[Dan Le Batard]

It's horrifying. How old were you?

[Stugotz]

I was like in fourth grade. It was horrifying. Dan, none of those things that I described were exaggerations in any way. The heads of the baby hamsters would spin around in some sort of death rattle because the adult parent hamsters would run in the wheel as the baby hamsters body parts lay strewn across the plastic enclosure which I provided for them.

[Billy Gil]

We've got Kevin O'Connor from the Ringer joining us on the post game show. Yeah.

[Dan Le Batard]

What the hell?

[Mike Ryan]

Okay.

[Billy Gil]

So hard to get out of here.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah. Hold on.

[Mike Ryan]

Believe it or not, I can't even. I can't even say this out loud. In my defense, we were doing research forever movie that involved a certain adult film actress.

[Dan Le Batard]

And so I was. Oh, what are you doing?

[Mike Ryan]

You left your computer earlier.

[Dan Le Batard]

What are you doing? I mean, that.

[Mike Ryan]

Hold on.

[Dan Le Batard]

That was seven hours ago. That was seven hours ago.

[Mike Ryan]

I swear to God.

[Dan Le Batard]

It was research.

[Mike Ryan]

I swear to God. Zach, you know what?

[Billy Gil]

Did KOC just catch you watching porn?

[Dan Le Batard]

I mean. I mean, I don't know what you're talking about.

[Mike Ryan]

No, hold on. I don't know.

[Dan Le Batard]

I don't know what you're talking about.

[Mike Ryan]

We recorded what podcast today. There was that. What's up?

[Roy Bellamy]

Sure.

[Billy Gil]

What podcast? What are you talking about?

[Mike Ryan]

It's called Cinephone. It's the podcast where you and I watch movies that are poorly rated on rot. We don't watch it or perhaps didn't get a fair shake at Cinefo. Produced by Anthony Mays. Wherever you get podcasts this month, Matthew McConaughey month. And we were watching a movie, and in the movie there was an adult film star that I did not know was an adult film star.

[Billy Gil]

I don't.

[Dan Le Batard]

I don't know about this.

[Billy Gil]

I don't know about this.

[Dan Le Batard]

This sounds very fish.

[Mike Ryan]

In the middle of doing the podcast search.

[Billy Gil]

You didn't know he.

[Dan Le Batard]

She was.

[Mike Ryan]

If I could pull up the tabs again, I will show you the name.

[Dan Le Batard]

I mean, you can pull up your history.

[Mike Ryan]

Yeah.

[Dan Le Batard]

No, you don't.

[Billy Gil]

Do it.

[Mike Ryan]

It's whatever you are imagining in your head, it's like 100 times worse.

[Billy Gil]

It's worse.

[Mike Ryan]

First of all, you didn't read it right. You got to read it in his voice. Well, I fool around sometimes. You know how he talks like this? And it's very absent minded, this little, little tone. He thinks it's mirthful, but instead it makes him sound very senile. I do when a girl seduces me and tells me all of these hot stories and dirty things and tells me how much he wants to suck on me and takes my shoes off and licks my feet and touches me. When I'm in a limousine. She takes off all her clothes. The limo driver said, what is going on? And she started sucking me on the way to Mr. Coons house. And I thank her enough, I thank her her for making me feel good.

[Dan Le Batard]

Sir, the question was, is this your handwriting?

[Mike Ryan]

Oh, yes, yes it is. Strictly in the United States. Strictly in the United States. Did you come for the fight?

[Dan Le Batard]

I came for the fight.

[Mike Ryan]

Who do you have in the fight? I got the Morris brothers.

[Chris Cody]

He's got brothers in three and three rounds.

[Mike Ryan]

Three rounds. Strictly in the United States. My name is Dom Kang. Don't confuse me with any imitators. Imitators, subjugators, pontificators or any other kind of gators. The only gators I like on my feet. Welcome to the jewel of South Florida. The most beautiful city in all the nation. I mean, greatest nation that ever existed. The United States of America. Where we are here, we are gathered, we have accommodated thousands of people, including behind you, right there. That's right. To celebrate, to pontificate, to excoriate. The greatest combat arena ever. Strictly United States. He can improve in the sense that he can adjust his focus in life as far as from being the best player to being a more complimentary player, more facilitating player and all that. But in terms of being as great as he was the last couple of years, that's out the door.

[Roy Bellamy]

Never again.

[Mike Ryan]

It's not happening. Comparing you with a team like the Spurs, a team like the warriors has, even a team like the Thunder, they're not on that level. It gets worse from here. That's the other part that people don't get. He doesn't improve anymore. He gets worse every day. Yesterday he was better than he is today, and so on and so forth. Last year he's probably thinking to himself, yeah, I didn't win mvp. They're trying to do the MVP redistribution program. Like, okay, let someone else have it. Everyone knows I'm still the best player on the planet. And then this year starts and oh, no, you're not. You're not. He's not the best player on the planet anymore. Not even when he tries. He can try his hardest. He's still not as good as Steph Curry. Oh, crap. Not only am I not gonna win the title this year, it's never happening again. He's not gonna win in our championship. This is the first time I can ever remember in the NBA Finals where I'm talking about why one team is Gonna win and everything I said is right. They can't play that style.

[Dan Le Batard]

They can't keep up with them. They're not smart.

[Mike Ryan]

Smart enough. They don't shoot well enough. Every single aspect of the Cavs. And I'm not saying they're not a good team. This is a championship caliber team. In a world where the Golden State warriors don't exist.

[Chris Cody]

His name is Cooper good at running curls but when his hammy got a tear he saw Puka standing there his blade diminished Hustle take over Nakua hopped into the car McVeigh has maybe found a star and then that Stafford threw him 25 and two oh, there's a brand new kid in town out of BYU they call him Puka Nakua his quarterback is not named too Had a weird dream last night. I dreamed that I was on my last show on the Leardard show, my farewell show.

[Roy Bellamy]

This might be it.

[Chris Cody]

It could be, you know, where you allow me to say that I'm retiring, when in fact, you've privately fired me. And guess who's singing my outro song? Jimmy Buffett is in the studio singing Lovely Cruise. And that's how I go out.

[Roy Bellamy]

What is going on?

[Dan Le Batard]

What an inglorious ending.

[Chris Cody]

Have you heard that song? Bring tear to your eye. Farewell to my career at a lovely cruise. Fantastic.

[Dan Le Batard]

Wait a minute. You dreamt about the show last night? Hold on.

[Chris Cody]

I did. Well, a couple of nights ago, I think. Yeah, I was tripping on tryptophan.

[Dan Le Batard]

Huh.

[Billy Gil]

Is this something you want done?

[Chris Cody]

Yeah. I would like Jimmy Buffett if you can swing it. I don't know how much juice Leardard has left. If you can get Buffett in the studio to sing Lovely Cruz on my last day on the air, that's Nirvana. That's better than being a garbage.

[Dan Le Batard]

Hold on.

[Roy Bellamy]

Really?

[Chris Cody]

Oh, yeah.

[Roy Bellamy]

Sail off into the sunset.

[Chris Cody]

Yeah.

[Dan Le Batard]

Hold on, hold on. You actually dreamt about.

[Chris Cody]

I swear I did, yes. It's been a lovely creek.

[Dan Le Batard]

Please give me.

[Roy Bellamy]

Put us there, man.

[Dan Le Batard]

Please give me.

[Chris Cody]

I mean, what a romantic song. You hear it on cruises, you know, obviously, when you're coming back into Port Sunset. Oh, pina colada.

[Dan Le Batard]

I want every detail of this dream.

[Chris Cody]

I mean, you know, it's a. It's a tearful goodbye, and then all of a sudden I'm surprised the surprise element's gone because I dreamed it. But in the dream, I am shocked to the point of weeping when all of a sudden, you know, we've got a special guest sing Farewell for you, and Jimmy Buffett comes in and he.

[Billy Gil]

Walks through the door of the tiny room with a guitar.

[Chris Cody]

Yeah, and it's not the entire coral reefer band, but he, he's not alone. He's got like a couple of guys with him. Green Acres is the place to be. Farm living is the life for me.

[Billy Gil]

I just enjoy a paint house view.

[Dan Le Batard]

Cody just bailed. And now it is time to take a trip down memory lane.

[Stugotz]

Here's your guide, Greg Cody, with back.

[Pablo Torre]

In my day.

[Chris Cody]

Christmas trends. They're all bad folks. We've let this time of year get away from us. I mean the entire holiday season. Although here I'll focus on Christmas and Santa Claus. Still the Mack daddy of winter. He knows you when you're sleeping. He also knows who you've been sleeping with, by the way.

[Dan Le Batard]

Whoa.

[Chris Cody]

Where was I? Oh, yeah.

[Dan Le Batard]

Baby, baby, baby.

[Chris Cody]

Why Christmas has gradually gotten worse. I won't repeat my rail against artificial trees, except to say if your Christmas tree is not a living thing that you need to water every few days, guess what? You don't have a Christmas tree. I also won't repeat my rail about how present giving has devolved into an unimaginative exchange of gift cards. When was the last time you hand carved somebody's gift out of a block of wood? Exactly. But I want to concentrate today on two new beefs about why Christmas is sledding breakless down a hill, headed for hell. First, outdoor. More lighting. Greg Cody earns the outside look on his house. He's up on a ladder, claw hammer in his right mitt pocket full of sharp tacks, inching along the roof lines, stringing lights, stringing them old school, just like Norm Rockwell would have painted it. You know what shortcutters are doing now? Sticking a single laser light in the ground, flipping a switch, and watching a shower of thousands of of lights bathe their house. These folks have not earned their outside look, and you know who knows it? Santa. You ever stopped to consider how your laser light could blind Santa or his reindeer as they flew overhead?

[Billy Gil]

Yeah.

[Chris Cody]

You didn't, did you? Because it's all about you, isn't it? Does not the very phrase Merry Christmas begin with me? Even worse than the laser light trend is the sad state of Christmas songs. Christmas songs used to mean Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Or maybe White Christmas by Der Binger or Nat Cole. Crooning my nuts, roasting on an open fire. Now the old classics, the traditional songs. The carolers would sing in harmony under wintry street lamps.

[Dan Le Batard]

Wait a minute.

[Chris Cody]

You can barely find those songs.

[Dan Le Batard]

Wait a Minute, wait a minute. I don't think the lyric is my nuts.

[Chris Cody]

Is that what I said?

[Dan Le Batard]

That's a totally different song.

[Chris Cody]

Hey, yeah, I misheard Nat King Cole's lyric on that.

[Dan Le Batard]

My nuts roasting on an open fire.

[Chris Cody]

Nuts roasting on an open fire Seems horrible.

[Dan Le Batard]

It seems the opposite of Christmas.

[Chris Cody]

Well, you know, but again, it was a classic. Now, the old classics, the traditional songs, the carolers would sing in harmony. Harmony under wintry street lamps. You can barely find those songs played anymore. They've been elbowed off the airways by the awful and unwelcome oxymoron of modern Christmas songs by Mariah Carey in One Direction and every other artist trying to glom a fast buck with a bad holiday album. You come to my house this time of year, you'll see a real Christmas tree. Underneath it, you'll see gifts utterly unidentifiable because they've been poorly hand carved from blocks of wood. And you'll see me on the ground outside, writhing and screaming for help beside a fallen ladder. But unheard over the ear splitting decimals of Perry Como, Little Drummer Boy. I'm Greg Cody, and that's how it was back in my day.

[Dan Le Batard]

And now it is time to take a trip down memory lane.

[Stugotz]

Here's your guy, Greg Cody with Back in My Day.

[Chris Cody]

Okay, here it is. Sorry. Adultery.

[Billy Gil]

For this one.

[Dan Le Batard]

Wait, wait, wait, wait. By accident. What just happened? I think that's the record. Roy, for years, has been counting the amount of time that he. Pregnant pauses There. That was the record. Because he was looking for his paper because he was surprised that he has a. Back in my day.

[Chris Cody]

I got a lot of papers here. I'm a busy man. Adultery first, an important disclaimer. This Back in my Day is absolutely not an essay born of personal experience. And if it were, what was the chance I'd actually admit it on a national podcast? Okay, let's be honest about something inherently dishonest. Adultery, infidelity, cheating, whatever you want to call it was so much easier back before technology came along and ruined everything. Or rather, so I'd imagine the clandestine Casanovas would lament. Cheating was easy once. You just had to make sure you weren't doing it around friends, neighbors, or co workers. So if you lived in Mayberry, the two of you drove up to Mount Pilot, got a corner booth at the bar, then a room at the no Tell Motel, and called it a night. You were blessedly incommunicado. There were no cell phones allowing any business busybody snoop to record or photograph You. You were completely out of touch until you dropped a dime and a payphone. There was no cctv, closed circuit cameras spying on every movement you made. No facial ID technology. No TMZ with hired spies around every corner. No social media splaying wide everyone's personal life. Now every text message and voicemail exchange is retrievable. You think delete search history actually does that? Your naivete is so cute. Back in my day, you wrote a fake name in the motel guestbook. The board clerk said you're in room nine, Dr. McGillicuddy, and you went on your merry way. Now there'd be an unblinking ring camera above the door ratting on you. It isn't just relationship cheats who have it tough these days. How the heck do criminals get away with anything? Snatch somebody's purse on a city street and see how fast the cops shout out closed circuit images of you in the actual. All across social media with close ups. Nine different angles in slow motion. You think that old timey ski mask works? There's technology to unmask you now. The day is coming when we will all have a computer chip in our noggin allowing the law to trace and catalog our every step. The cell phone in your pocket is doing the same thing today. Bugling your whereabouts. 24. Seven modern day debauchers and Lotharios have only two choices. You either give up your cheating ways or you hopelessly bemoan technology and understand that today a smartphone would be pinging your exact location in that dark corner booth as you swig your third Manhattan. I'm Greg Cody. And that's how it was back in my day. It's first and 10 from the Lobos. 29 Eisner with the swing pass.

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, McGillicuddy.

[Chris Cody]

Jean's only one for the 28. You know, 28 was the year Mickey got his start with the company named Boat Willie. I remember telling the director at the.

[Dan Le Batard]

Time all by works. I didn't think it would fly.

[Billy Gil]

Mickey, I think play has resumed, man.

[Chris Cody]

Nobody interrupts Mickey Mouse on Disney air. You do that again, Gruden, and you'll wake up in Orlando dressed like a chipmunk.

[Greg Cody]

Okay, second down to nine.

[Dan Le Batard]

You could get the delicious succulent ham shank or butt portion. Is the butt portion a delicacy of some sort?

[Chris Cody]

It very much is. I can testify to this. The cut of meat when I make pulled pork. Slow cook a pork roast to make pulled pork. The cut of meat I use is called the Boston Butt. So it's A delicacy. I eat butt all the time.

[Dan Le Batard]

We learned during the local hour that Greg Cody of the Miami Herald D does an annual gala at his home. And gala is really stretching the definition of the word gala. It's at his house. He wears a suit. He's the only one wearing a suit. There are how many people there every year? Six people. I mean, Guillermo, put it on the poll. Can you have a gala with six people?

[Chris Cody]

Of course you can. Exclusivity.

[Dan Le Batard]

You can't, man. A gala has to have more than six people at all.

[Chris Cody]

I don't think so.

[Dan Le Batard]

So Greg Cody of the Miami Herald has this alleged gala at his house to celebrate his. It's an alleged gala every year.

[Billy Gil]

PFPIs.

[Roy Bellamy]

It's a gala, man.

[Dan Le Batard]

What does PFPI stand for?

[Chris Cody]

Pro Football Predictions Incorporated. But we just say pfpi. The family legend.

[Dan Le Batard]

And it's very serious to him. And he was mad at Fats and Info because Fats and Info showed up late and drunk as Fats and Info Info often does. Late and drunk after bottomless mimosas on Sunday morning. Delicious bottomless mimosas. And so Greg Cody doesn't have his back in my day today just because he's filled with bile and rage toward his son. He's never been. He said he's never been as mad at his son because Greg takes this very seriously. It's a family tradition. 21 years. This ridiculous. Gayle.

[Chris Cody]

Yeah. This was our 13th annual gay gala of the modern era. And we came back in 2004 after laying dormant for about three decades, having started in 1969. But you have to understand, on the. On the PFPI calendar, the gala is a sacrosanct day kin to a national holiday in our house.

[Dan Le Batard]

It's like a guy. It's like Barrett Robbins not showing up for the Super Bowl.

[Chris Cody]

That's pretty much it.

[Roy Bellamy]

How long did. Did your son know about the gala? Like how long and weeks.

[Chris Cody]

We set the date weeks ago.

[Roy Bellamy]

Okay.

[Dan Le Batard]

And Barrett Robinson. Robinson had an excuse. He was bipolar. Right. Fats and Info's excuses that he's a drunk.

[Chris Cody]

Bottomless mimosas.

[Dan Le Batard]

Bottomless mimosas. Which is an unacceptable excuse to Greg Cody. But I want you to picture this, okay? Greg Cody is the only one wearing a suit and largely the only one taking this seriously. Correct? No.

[Chris Cody]

I think just about everybody but Christopher took it seriously.

[Dan Le Batard]

That's not true.

[Stugotz]

No one takes it seriously.

[Dan Le Batard]

What are the detail. How many awards are there?

[Chris Cody]

We have six official statistical categories. Weeks leading weekly titles. 10 win weeks unique Hits Slash Raccoons award, which is named after my late great mother, who traditionally led the league in unique hits because she knew nothing about football and would pick the Browns to beat the Patriots. And, you know, so she would hit on an acorn every once in a while and. And set a PFPI record with 18 coonskins back when it was just called the Raccoons. I mean, the unique kids award. So that's it in a nutshell.

[Dan Le Batard]

That's four awards. What are the other two?

[Roy Bellamy]

That is talking out loud about this. He is hearing for the first time how he does.

[Dan Le Batard]

I think it is dawning on him for the first time. Good Lord, this is angry as I've ever been in my son. Listen to me.

[Chris Cody]

The other statistical awards are, of course, overall standings and best weeks. Best individual, of course. I think our best individual week this year might have been 14 and 2.

[Dan Le Batard]

What are the names of the six teams at this alleged gala?

[Chris Cody]

Mom's Maniacs, of course. Chris's Critters, Dick's Rough Riders.

[Dan Le Batard]

Wow. That's your brother Dick.

[Chris Cody]

Greg's Lobos, Mike's Chickens, and Christie's Ferraris.

[Roy Bellamy]

Don't you dare, Greg.

[Dan Le Batard]

Cody's wearing a suit. He's handing over a trophy to a family of five other people who don't want his trophy, don't want him driving.

[Roy Bellamy]

He's just now realizing all that Stupid.

[Dan Le Batard]

All what this is.

[Chris Cody]

Take it seriously.

[Billy Gil]

What a year 2024 was. Happy New Year's, everybody. New Year is this week, and some of you are going to be counting down to the new year. With a lot of friends and a lot of family around. That's a lot of pallets. How do you make everybody happy? You make them happy by making New Year's time. A Miller time beer with taste you know, you can depend on on that. Won't let anybody down. No games, no gimmicks. Just great beer for people who like beer. In all my favorite moments of 2024, Miller Lite was right there by my side. Responsibly, of course. Miller Lite is brewed for taste. It hits different than other light beers. Simple ingredients like malted barley for rich, balanced toffee note flavors and an iconic golden color that we all know and love. The original light beer since 1975 and still the very best one. Miller 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 Co. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.