Podcast Summary: The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Episode: The Big Suey: Tony's GuaranTee (feat. Dave Dameshek)
Date: December 19, 2025
Guest: Dave Dameshek

Main Theme

This episode of "The Big Suey" from the Dan Le Batard Show is a rollicking mix of sports banter, football analysis, nostalgia for college bowl traditions, lively debate over the state of sports, and trademark humor, featuring guest Dave Dameshek. The hosts and panel debate Miami’s football prospects, the state of college football playoffs, and the evolution of NFL parity. The episode is underscored by goofy tangents into wrestling, social media habits, and wild hypotheticals.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Miami Football, Playoff Hopes, and Mario Cristobal’s Legacy

• The panel launches into a heated discussion about Miami's reputation for faltering in big games, Coach Mario Cristobal's track record, and whether this year could be different.
• Trista (off-screen/on past episodes) is cited for arguing Miami “always loses this game,” prompting an extended debate:
  • Dan: “He will lose others as well. But he has never actually won this football game and therefore I will not believe it until after I’ve seen it happen.” (03:01)
• Tony offers his now-infamous "GuaranTee" that Cristobal won't repeat his infamous 2023 clock-management blunder and will “kneel the ball to ice the game away” if Miami’s up late.
  • Tony: “I guarantee you that if the Canes are up at the end of the game and there’s an opportunity to knee the ball to ice the game away, Mario will kneel the ball to ice the game away.” (05:47)

2. Media Narrative and National Perceptions

• Dameshek and Tony spar over “Florida bias” and the reality that nearly no one in the national media believes Miami could win the national title even if they beat Texas A&M.
  • Dave Dameshek: “No real national media is like, you know who has a real shot... Miami really has a shot. Like no one. No one believes that.” (04:02)
• Tony notes Nick Saban has praised Miami, but Dameshek dismisses such coachspeak as posturing.

3. College Football Playoff: Apathy v. Excitement (Nostalgia vs. Progress)

• Dameshek admits apathy toward the expanded playoff system, lamenting that the magic of New Year’s Day bowl games — and a “cleaner” way of deciding a champion — has been lost.
  • Dave Dameshek: “I can't really avoid [being a scrooge] where this college football playoff is concerned...I still pine for...the virtues of the bowl system. New Year's Day was maybe the best day on the sports calendar.” (13:56)
• Dan challenges him, noting that “more meaningful football games” is a consumer win, even at the cost of tradition.
  • Dan: “You have a losing argument because there’s just more football on, more days, and the bowl systems have been eaten up.” (20:21)
• Chris Cody reminisces about the old bowl day sequence and the annual satisfaction of knowing the champion after those games.
  • Chris Cody: “Am I right though, Dan...the Fiesta Bowl used to kick it off...and then on the heels of that, the Cotton Bowl with the Southwestern Conf…Then the granddaddy of them all was a sight to behold with Keith Jackson. And then you had the Orange and Sugar.” (16:23)

4. Tua Tagovailoa, the Postgame “Grab Ass,” and Modern Sportsmanship

• Dave Dameshek, echoing Zaz, points out that fans want rivalry and drama, not postgame camaraderie between rivals:
  • Dameshek: “We don’t want that grab-ass out on the field two seconds after your season ends. You ask us to dilute ourselves and dislike these other people because they wear the wrong logo...meet us halfway.” (11:36)
• The panel riffs on sports “kayfabe,” wrestling narratives (especially Iron Sheik and Hacksaw Jim Duggan), and how those performance elements help fans make sense of sports drama.
  • Dan: “I just wanted to do 30 straight minutes of asking Video to go get me Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Iron Sheik video. And then I remembered all the things the Iron Sheik did…” (10:19)

5. NFL Playoff Parity and Randomness

• The evolution of NFL parity is discussed — how even contenders now get blown out randomly, and how seeding is more crucial than ever.
• The guests bemoan how unlucky or fluky losses can doom a season, as with the Rams and their “catastrophic” loss, equating it to the Dolphins’ meltdown against the Titans.
  • Chris Cody: “I mean it didn’t just damn [the Dolphins] for that season...you can make a decent case that that caused the entire era...to spiral down and now the Rams are in that same spot.” (34:11)
  • Dave Dameshek: “If you have to play an extra game...every Game is going to be a 51-49 type of result, then the Rams may have just doomed themselves.” (35:12)

6. Proposed Playoff Tweaks: Make the Top Seed “Call Out” Their Opponent

• One of the more creative segments: Dameshek pitches the idea that the NFL’s #1 seed, after the Wild Card round, gets to pick their opponent among remaining lower seeds, injecting drama and “grudges” into the postseason.
  • Dameshek: “How about at the end of the wild card round...the number one seeded team...the head coach and their star player go to a podium and they announce who they’ve chosen to play in the divisional round. How exciting would that be?” (27:24)
  • Zaz: “Dave, I’m 100% with you. I’ve lobbied for this in the NBA for years…” (28:32)

7. Social Media, Favorite Follows, and Breath Critiques

• The group swaps favorite social media follows for entertainment, with much local Miami flavor (Flanagan’s Restaurant).
• Dameshek is humorously critiqued for “not breathing” during long stretches of talking.
  • Dave Dameshek: “Just the breath thing. It just...you just were like, non stop. And it was like all the same tonality. My...I just glazed right over.” (44:06)

8. NFL MVP Should be Named After an Icon

• Dameshek proposes the MVP trophy be named after an NFL legend, like the “Brady,” to make the award more iconic in the public imagination.
  • Dameshek: “That’s the assignment for everybody today: Come up with what NFL luminary should we name the NFL trophy after so that it does resonate more...So you get not just the NFL MVP, you’ll remember: I got the Brady.” (45:08)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Miami’s Playoff Chances:

  • “He will lose others as well. But he has never actually won this football game and therefore I will not believe it until after I’ve seen it happen.” – Dan Le Batard (03:01)

• Tony’s “GuaranTee”:

  • “I guarantee you that if the Canes are up at the end of the game and there’s an opportunity to knee the ball to ice the game away, Mario will kneel the ball to ice the game away.” – Tony (05:47)

• On College Football Playoff Apathy:

  • “I still pine for...the virtues of the bowl system. New Year's Day was maybe the best day on the sports calendar...If you did that right now, I submit that would be a cleaner way to evaluate who number one is.” – Dave Dameshek (13:56)

• On Fans Wanting Rivalry, Not Postgame Buddy-Buddy:

  • “We don’t want that grab-ass out on the field two seconds after your season ends...You ask us to dilute ourselves and dislike these other people because they wear the wrong logo on their hats. You got to meet us halfway.” – Dave Dameshek (11:36)

• On Expanding the Playoffs:

  • “If it’s 12 teams, well, the 13th team got screwed...It'll expand the 16 and the 17 will get screwed. There’s not...The virtue of the old system was...there was none of this, this arguing about two loss team versus a three loss team deserving a shot at number one.” – Chris Cody (20:47)

• On the Drama of Fluke Losses:

  • “If you have to play an extra game in a league that has become about coin flips when the teams are fairly close to each other...the Rams may have just doomed themselves.” – Dave Dameshek (35:12)
  • “If we said, hey, we’re going to flip this coin and if it comes up on the wrong side, I'm going to take one of your digits with this knife here. You would want to flip it only twice, not three times. Right.” – Dave Dameshek (44:44)

• On Playoff “Call Out” Twist:

  • “How about at the end of the wild card round...the number one seeded team...announce who they’ve chosen to play...That team’s gonna be pissed off!” – Dave Dameshek (27:24)
  • Zaz adds: “Now that team is like, 'Oh, you think I'm easy? You want to pick on me?'” (28:32)

• On MVP Trophy Renaming:

  • “You’ll remember. I got the Brady, and then you have the cool Brady. That’d be cool, right?” – Dave Dameshek (45:08)

Segment Timestamps

• Miami Playoff Debate & Tony’s “GuaranTee”:
  02:57–06:15

• Dameshek’s College Football Playoff Apathy & Bowl Nostalgia:
  13:56–21:35

• NFL Playoff Drama, Rams’ Catastrophic Loss:
  33:03–38:55

• Dave’s Playoff “Call Out Your Opponent” Proposal:
  27:24–29:23

• Wrestling Tangent – Iron Sheik & Fan Culture:
  10:19–13:13

• Social Media Follows & Dave’s Breathing Critique:
  41:32–44:06

• NFL MVP Trophy Naming:
  45:08–end

Tone & Style

The episode is true to The Dan Le Batard Show’s tongue-in-cheek, irreverent, and hyperactive style. Discussions are peppered with personal jabs, nostalgia, complaints about modernity, and a sense that sports are about storytelling as much as stats. Even when examining weighty football questions, the tone remains playful and self-aware, with frequent asides and group laughter.

Summary for New Listeners:
This episode offers a classic Le Batard blend of sharp sports insight, cultural references, group therapy, and improv comedy. Expect spirited football debate, skewering of old and new traditions, wild hypotheticals (like NFL teams calling out playoff opponents), and plenty of inside jokes — all delivered at a breakneck pace with an all-star cast of regulars and the reliably passionate Dave Dameshek.