The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

The Big Suey: Cam Newton's Hat Travel Case (feat. Pablo Torre)

September 12, 2025
From the Elser Hotel in Downtown Miami: Dan Le Batard, Stugotz, Pablo Torre, Chris Cote, Billy Gil, Mike Ryan & guests

Episode Overview

This "Big Suey" episode delivers a classic cocktail of sports banter, inside jokes, and a deep-dive with Pablo Torre about his explosive reporting on Steve Ballmer, Dennis Wong, and Clippers–salary cap intrigue. Amidst the chaos, the show ponders the logistics of Cam Newton’s iconic headwear and relishes in the absurdities of sports broadcasting and podcasting life.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Weekly Show Rituals: Punishments, Picks, & Tree-Planting

[02:02–06:21]

• Punishment Games Update:
  The guys revisit last week’s lost bet punishments, with Chris Cote humorously defending his “Kawhi Leonard: Plant a Tree” penalty by arguing, “I will plant as many trees as Kawhi Leonard has planted... I planted a tree. Punishment paid.” (Chris Cote, [02:44])

  • The crew, skeptical of his “proof” photos, demand more authenticity:
    “That is not you.” (Pablo Torre, [03:18])
    “Is that AI you?” (Mike Ryan, [03:20])

• Football Picks & Bucket Ritual:
  The panel draws teams for their weekly NFL pick-em, with playful back-and-forth and brand plugs (“Thank you, Dentek!” – Billy Gil, [06:21]).

2. Pablo Torre Deep Dive: Clippers, Salary Cap, Ballmer & Wong

[06:22–14:13, 17:13–26:23]

• Height Jokes & Video Angles:
  Dan wonders why Pablo towers over his podcast guests:
  “Why is it that you look so much larger than Samson in all these videos?” (Dan, [06:22])
  “Thank you for asking. I'm 5'10 and three quarters...” (Pablo, [06:43])

• Reporting Bombshells – Steve Ballmer & Dennis Wong:
  Dan and Pablo break down Torre’s recent reporting about the LA Clippers’ alleged salary cap workarounds, focusing on NBA owner Steve Ballmer and roommate/partner Dennis Wong.

  • Pablo’s most delightful reporting detail? “My favorite one is actually that his name is Dennis. There is another Dennis. There's a different Dennis...” (Pablo, [08:18])
  • Pablo details the depth of his investigative legwork, referencing ethnic expectations and fact-checking rigor:
    “I just don't know if people appreciate what it takes...to investigate an Asian American Harvard graduate who works in the NBA. Like, if I do this, that's how you know it's real.” ([08:18])

• Ballmer’s Roommates & Harvard Connections:
  Harping on 1970s Harvard lore: “Titans of industry allegedly smoking weed for the first time and wondering to themselves, ‘When will we ever own a basketball team…’” (Pablo, [09:16])

• NBA’s Shifting Attitude & PR Fires:
  After Torre’s reporting, the NBA went “from...‘We all love Ballmer’...to the additional reporting makes it such that, oh no, he's ensnared here...” (Dan, [11:19-12:00])
  Pablo details the Clippers’ “last-ditch PR spin” and mocks the flimsy excuse that Dennis Wong invested $1.99 million in a failing company just to “save his daughter's job”:

  • “[That] is insanely nonsensical...” (Pablo, [13:18])
  • “If you were to do that, that's a different potential crime!” ([13:55])

3. Inside Reporting: Kawhi Leonard, Load Management & Clipper Payments

[17:23–22:22]

• Internet Theorizing: Did Missed Payments Change Kawhi’s Playing Time?

  • “Billy posited that, well, why would he [Kawhi] care about a $1.75 million payment? …no, this is bookie logic. It's the principle.” (Mike Ryan, [17:23])

  • Pablo unpacks verified facts: Clippers were three months late paying a contractually obligated $1.75M to Kawhi, which triggered “increasingly furious” calls from his camp ([18:34]). The payoff came only after Ballmer’s roommate and Clippers co-owner, Dennis Wong, made a suspicious $1.99M deposit into the company at the center of the investigation.

  • Pablo’s sly inference:

    “If I was a Clippers executive...and I had a guy who was [complaining]…about how he wasn’t getting the payment he was legally entitled to, the question then becomes…how voluntary is the pain that you're expressing [for load management] ...That would be an outstanding question for someone to look into.”

    (Pablo, [20:52])

4. Sports Journalism & NBA Media Dynamics

[21:29–26:23]

• How hard is it to challenge the NBA’s richest owner?

  • Dan speaks to the tooth-and-nail nature of going after Ballmer:
    “If you’re going to go after Ballmer…you have to be super careful, super careful not to get a word wrong. And that’s not the media landscape we’re living in anymore…” ([28:01])

• Pablo Torre’s Philosophy & Mark Cuban Interview

  • “My philosophy is that I've been ready to talk about this. What I'm not worried about once I publish is my familiarity with the reporting.” ([22:22])
  • Pablo and Dan discuss the NBA’s default urge to protect the owner class and how the show's rigorous legal and factual checks create a rare zone of confidence:

    “The last thought I have is just, it was stupid what Steve Ballmer did on one level…he was victimized by a company that he partnered with to try and deceive the NBA. … He was not breaking the law, he was breaking the NBA’s rules.”

    (Pablo, [25:00])

• Journalism Quip:
  “She [my wife] is so mad at me.” ([24:26])
  “The market rate for me suppressing this is probably higher than my all-in career earnings.” ([24:36])

5. Pod Hijinks: Cam Newton’s Hat, Shaq in the Seats, and Football Giants

[33:09–37:10]

• Cam Newton’s Hats – In-Depth Investigation
  “When Cam Newton flies, do you think he wears his hat or has a massive hat travel box?” (Chris Cote, [33:09])
  Consensus: The hats are valuable ($800 apiece), and he likely uses a travel case instead of wearing one in-flight.

• Size Comparisons: Cam Newton, Draymond Green, and Shaq
  Debate about which athletic giant appears most “formidable" in person.

  • “He would be 6’6, 250, so smaller than most power forwards. ... Would he look bigger than Draymond Green?” (Dan, [36:17])
  • “I think there’s more than just height when it comes to judging how big a dude is.” (Billy Gil, [36:45])

6. Sports Media Musing: NFL Broadcasts, Humor in the Booth, and TV History

[39:25–44:50]

• Monday Night Football’s Rise and Broadcast Trivia
  Dan shares:

  “Monday Night Football in the early 90s…it was behind The Naked Truth, Suddenly Susan and Carolina in the City.”
  (Dan, [39:25])

• The Future of Sports Broadcast Comedy
  Arguments about whether humor belongs in major football booths.
  “N one of those people (comic color guys) have ended up working because the thing is such a cathedral that you can’t be not serious in the football booth.” (Dan, [44:04])

• Irreverent Poll Topics:

  • “Does Cam Newton travel wearing his hat or does he lock it away in a travel seat?”
  • “Did you assume Baldinger worked out in flip flops?”
  • “Weightlifter who says ‘we were stacking plates, pal’: douche or no douche?”
    (Multiple, [33:33–38:13])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Chris Cote, arguing his punishment:

  “I will plant as many trees as Kawhi Leonard has planted. So I would say that has been paid off already.”

  [02:44]

• Pablo Torre, on ethnicity and reporting:

  “If I do this, that's how you know it's real. I feel like, is the credibility I've earned ethnically?”

  [08:18]

• Dan Le Batard, on Ballmer’s shifting support:

  “The whole mood shift of the board of governors…went from ‘We all love Ballmer’…to…oh, no, he’s ensnared here.”

  [11:19]

• Pablo Torre, on PR spin:

  “The only head of a pin that anybody who wants to spin this has left to dance upon…It must have been to save his daughter's job. And I will you that not only is that insanely nonsensical...”

  [13:18]

• Pablo Torre, on withholding stories for leverage:

  “The market rate for me suppressing this is probably higher than my all-in career earnings. So horrible decision by me…”

  [24:36]

• Classic moment:

  “He would have gotten away with it…if it wasn’t for me.”
  (Scooby-Doo riff, Pablo, [26:25])

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:02] Weekly NFL bucket and punishment games
• [06:22] Pablo Torre enters; height jokes and video framing
• [08:18] Deep dive: Ballmer, Wong, Harvard anecdotes, NBA reporting
• [13:18] Pablo eviscerates the “saving daughter’s job” defense
• [18:34] Analysis: Kawhi Leonard payments, load management speculation
• [21:29] Pablo discusses journalism’s difficulty, NBA power relationships
• [24:26] Pablo jokes about the cost of suppressing his story
• [25:00] “He was not breaking the law, he was breaking the NBA’s rules”
• [33:09] Cam Newton's hat travel logistics, athlete size debate
• [39:25] Dan on MNF’s 1990s TV context and rise of football
• [44:04] Debate: funny broadcasters in the NFL

Tone and Spirit

The episode is fast-moving, irreverent, brimming with inside jokes, and reflective of the Dan Le Batard Show's unique blend of sharp sports commentary and absurdist humor. The Pablo Torre segment balances hard-hitting investigative insight with self-aware asides about podcasting, media foibles, and NBA politicking.

Listener Takeaways

• Pablo Torre’s reporting on Clippers ownership and salary cap circumvention is shaking up the NBA’s boardroom dynamics.
• The NBA was slow to react because the league and the media “protect the partners”—owners—even as evidence piles up.
• Cam Newton probably owns an $800 felt hat box for travel, and his physical presence is impressive enough to block ringside views from Shaq-level seats.
• The show continues to find comedy in the small details of sports (like Baldinger’s gym footwear and the value of “stacking plates, pal”) while questioning who makes sports broadcasting “funny.”

If you missed the episode: expect hard laughs, sharp NBA and NFL insight, and Pablo Torre at his fiercely reported, dryly joyous best—plus the mystery of the Cam Newton hat case, unsolved.