The Big Suey: Wearing Nothing But a Ribbon (feat. Domonique Foxworth)

Summary

The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Episode: The Big Suey: Wearing Nothing But a Ribbon (feat. Dominique Foxworth)
Date: November 14, 2025

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Episode Overview

Broadcast from the Elser Hotel in downtown Miami, this "Big Suey" edition features Dan Le Batard, Stugotz, and the whole crew (including Dominique Foxworth, Chris Ryan, Tony Reali, Amin Elhassan, Mike Ryan, and Jeremy) tackling sports, pop culture, and the peculiar minutiae of group chats, gift-giving, and sports fan outrage. This episode leans into NFL discussion, playful sparring over memory and name-flubbing, and a remarkably detailed exploration of holiday gift-giving, all topped off with the show’s signature humor and camaraderie.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. NFL Analysis & Rants

Trust Between Quarterbacks and Receivers

• The crew debates whether Drake May could truly have "trusted" Stefon Diggs since middle school (03:33).
  • Dominique Foxworth: "[Trust] is not, when you want somebody to get open… Trusted a receiver is about knowing that he's going to be open… Do you not trust Patrick Mahomes? Never met him." (04:12)
  • Mike Ryan points out that trust is a two-way street and develops over time. (04:37)
  • The group collectively agrees that "middle school trust" is a stretch but finds Tony Reali's argument entertaining.

The Packers’ Problems

• Dan asks if the Green Bay Packers are "unserious" or just injured (05:35).
  • Dominique Foxworth: "Unserious, unfortunately... It's not one thing. They're having pre-snap penalties… their quarterback occasionally throws back across his body into the chest of a defender." (05:39)
  • Jaden Reed’s absence is noted as a factor but not a full excuse for underperformance (06:30).

False Start Penalties & Offensive Line

• Chris Ryan rails against false starts at home games, demanding perfection (07:11).
  • Dominique Foxworth: "Absolutely unreasonable… Spoken by someone who never put their hand in the dirt... It's so obvious and so easy... I don't understand how you don't see how this is possible, that you could overlook something so obvious." (07:45, 08:23)
  • This sparks a classic football-vs-civilian perspective argument, ending in laughs about Dan needing to "feel the dirt" to understand the pressure (09:12).

Quarterback Development & Organizational Carryover

• Chris insists Drake May and the Patriots are set for a decade if he stays healthy, citing year-two QB stats (16:42, 18:08).
  • Amin Elhassan: "What carryover is there from you thinking this organization has been good for 20 years?" (17:22)
  • Foxworth: “Of course not. He's going to have some years where things don't work out… But I think it's pretty fair to say that he's going to be one of the best quarterbacks in the league for years to come." (18:12)

Giants' Coaching Conundrum

• What should the Giants do with their coaching vacancy?
  • Foxworth: "The obvious trap is to go try to find the best offensive mind… I think given the last several years of Giants football, they need somebody who can kind of get the whole organization in alignment.” (19:53)

Young QBs and Concussion Protocol

• Discussing the risk of continuing to play a QB with four concussions, Foxworth advocates for letting him get reps but cautions decision-making.
  • “He needs this experience to understand—even in that game we saw… understanding the situation is more important for him.” (20:58)

2. Sports Media, Group Chats, and Social Dynamics

The Tennis Group Chat Challenge

• The perils of being dropped into group texts with strangers about niche topics (tennis) and comedy ensue.
  • Dominique Foxworth: “I don't know nobody, so I don't know how to act. I got jokes that I want to say… but I don't know if I can. It's just a bunch of strangers…” (11:34)
  • Amin Elhassan: "I think John Isner is in it, and I made some sort of ‘to hell with Georgia’ remark, and I don't think he took it well." (12:14)
  • Everyone agrees group text etiquette is tricky, especially when one doesn’t know the audience.

3. Name-Flubbing and Dan’s Memory

Recurring and humorous throughout, the crew roasts Dan for consistently mangling names:

• John Mulaney called "James Mulvaney" multiple times (16:03, 22:00).
  • Dominique Foxworth: "The fact that you can't remember it. Case in point, steel trap. Nah, that is a wood trap you got up there now, man." (11:14)
• Mix-ups involving sports figures:
  • "Lou Harris," "Lou Williams," and "Montrell Harris" for Montrezl Harrell (27:53)
  • "Golden State gold, Georgia Tech yellow jacket" (28:36)
• This builds to a meta-joke about Dan’s recall capacity, leading to playful calls for Dan to only refer to people by last names or initials.

4. Wide Receivers and Deep Threats

In discussing Smith-Njigba as an elite receiver:

• Dominique Foxworth: "Nothing about his play jumps out the way you see Justin Jefferson… but he is the best deep ball player in football so far this year." (24:58)
• The group cites Jerry Rice and Mike Evans as unconventional deep threats.
• Debate emerges: Can you be an elite deep threat without elite speed? (26:05)

5. Gift-Giving, Ribbons, and Relationship Comedy

A highlight, leading to the episode title ("Wearing Nothing But a Ribbon"), the group deeply unpacks anxiety around holiday gift-giving:

• Chris Ryan: "I do scavenger hunts… Then at the end, it's me on a bear skin rug with an arrow pointing to my penis. Yes, that's the big at the end." (33:21)
• Amin Elhassan: "Ribbons on it!" (33:34)
• Dominique Foxworth: Shares failed attempts at thoughtful, funny gifts (a Cisco cameo; a bad poem vs. diamonds). "That's called being a bad gift giver, Dan, because I'm trying…” (36:39)
• The segment morphs into struggles with being “thoughtful” vs. just “expensive,” and the pressure to be creative for partners.

6. Genuine Compliments vs. Agenda-Based Flattery

• Foxworth makes the case for complimenting strangers as a life-brightener (37:51).
• Dominique Foxworth: "I've been trying to do that more often… it's probably once or twice a year somebody will say something nice to me and I will remember it for my whole life." (37:51)
• Chris Ryan: Calls out agenda-based flattery as "just lying to spread your own agenda."
• Amin Elhassan: “Professional settings, oddly enough, I think it's a very effective tool.” (38:43)

7. Sports Business: MLS and the Paywall Problem

• The group analyzes MLS's failed experiment with Apple’s paywall (41:24).
  • Dan Le Batard: "MLS is now capitulating to say, hey, this didn't work. Viewership’s down, attendance… has dipped down to 2022 levels." (42:03)
  • Dominique Foxworth: "If you're in a growth stage, you want it as easily accessible as possible… they'll get more money from Apple with this paywall deal like right now, and that'll show a jump in revenue which will lead to increase in franchise values. But I can't imagine they thought their numbers would crater.” (46:00)
  • Chris Ryan: "You actually struck gold on all things Messi related and you didn’t grow your league while it was happening… That is a management failure of the highest order." (45:07)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "It's not one thing… they're having pre-snap penalties on big important downs and their quarterback occasionally throws back across his body into the chest of a defender. It's just a bunch of different things."
  — Dominique Foxworth on the Packers (05:39)

• "There must be offensive linemen throughout the sport who have never had a false start penalty, who have had 10 year careers without having a false start."
  — Chris Ryan (08:04)

• "Can we get just like a small mason jar of dirt so Dan can stick his hand in it and see if he feels the same about this BS take?"
  — Dominique Foxworth (09:12)

• "The fact that you can't remember it. Case in point, steel trap. Nah, that is a wood trap you got up there now, man."
  — Dominique Foxworth roasting Dan's memory (11:14)

• "You can only put your sexy body at the end of a scavenger hunt once. You can't do that every year."
  — Dominique Foxworth on overusing romantic gift ideas (36:59)

• "You actually struck gold on all things Messi related and you didn’t grow your league while it was happening… That is a management failure of the highest order."
  — Chris Ryan (45:07)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• NFL trust and "middle school trust" debate: 03:33 – 05:35
• Packers as ‘unserious’ discussion: 05:35 – 07:11
• False start/O-line pressure argument: 07:11 – 09:12
• Tennis group chat perils: 11:34 – 12:41
• Name-flubbing and Dan’s recall gloom: 16:03, 22:00, 27:53, 28:36
• Discussion of deep threats in NFL: 24:58 – 26:49
• Gift-giving and the origin of the episode title: 32:28 – 37:31
• Complimenting strangers vs. agenda-based flattery: 37:51 – 39:27
• MLS, Apple, and paywall business failure: 41:24 – 46:37

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Tone and Style

• Playful, relentlessly self-deprecating, and intellectually curious.
• Frequent interjections, mock outrage, banter, and running jokes about Dan’s "steel trap" memory.
• The crew exhibits the signature "shipping container" chemistry: no one is safe from being skewered, yet all discussion is underpinned by mutual affection and genuine insight.

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For New Listeners

If you’re catching up on this episode, expect a trademark blend of informed NFL debate, offbeat humor, and relatable anxieties about holiday expectations. The interplay between Dominique Foxworth’s sharp analysis, Chris Ryan and Dan Le Batard’s neurotic energy, and the rest of the crew’s conversational chemistry make for a must-listen, especially as they veer from gridiron breakdowns to earnest, funny stories about gift-giving and modern friendship. Avoiding all ad breaks and sponsor reads, what remains is a brisk, joyful hour of sports and life as only The Dan Le Batard Show can serve it.

Transcript

[Dan Le Batard]

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[Dominique Foxworth]

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[Dan Le Batard]

What are you doing here?

[Chris Ryan]

Cuervo? Anytime someone says Cuervo, I show up.

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, I do know that to be true. But even during ad reads like Cuervo, I think he could lay out, especially for one of our great partners.

[Chris Ryan]

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[Dan Le Batard]

Since then, Cuervo has stayed true to its roots. The same family, the same land, the same passion.

[Chris Ryan]

Cuervo.

[Dan Le Batard]

So enjoy the tequila that started it all. Cuervo.

[Chris Ryan]

Cuervo.

[Dan Le Batard]

The tequila that invented tequila. Proximo. Cuervo.com Please drink responsibly.

[Chris Ryan]

Cuervo.

[Dominique Foxworth]

This episode is brought to you by Disney. This Thanksgiving, Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde are back on the big screen. So grab your family and friends as Disney invites you to return to Zootopia for the fur nominal movie event of the holiday season. See all your favorite Zootopia characters, plus new favorites in the most paw some movie of the year.

[Jeremy]

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[Dominique Foxworth]

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[Chris Ryan]

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[Dominique Foxworth]

Call of Duty Black Ops 7 available now. Rated M for mature.

[Chris Ryan]

Welcome to the Big Sui presented by DraftKings. Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar to.

[Dominique Foxworth]

The other Dan LeBatard podcast?

[Amin Elhassan]

I'm sorry.

[Dominique Foxworth]

I'm not gonna apologize for that.

[Chris Ryan]

In fact, the only difference seems to be this imaging. I have been tempted in restaurants just walking past to grab somebody's fries if they're just there. That hasn't happened to you guys.

[Dominique Foxworth]

I've done it.

[Chris Ryan]

And now here's the marching man to nowhere Fat face and the habitual liar.

[Tony Reali]

Hey, yo. This episode of the Dan Lebatard show is presented by DraftKings.

[Dominique Foxworth]

DraftKings.

[Tony Reali]

The Crown is yours.

[Chris Ryan]

Let's play for Dominique Foxworth. Some sound here of a Chiefs fan ripping Josh Allen. Always funny when old people rip athletes. I feel like defense.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Ned hit Josh Allen in the nuts coming into this. If he has any with all of its injuries. Deck his ass, Chicken shit. You're in Alabama. 60 yard boot. Deck his ass.

[Tony Reali]

Hell yeah, chicken.

[Amin Elhassan]

Punch him in the nuts if you got any.

[Chris Ryan]

She knows ball and balls. Yes. Drake May appears to have taken the top of the division. Did you hear from anybody, Dominique, before the season you told us the Colts were going to be good. Did you hear from anybody before the season that would have predicted 11 games in that the Patriots would have the best record in the sport?

[Dominique Foxworth]

Absolutely not. I think we thought the O line would take more time to come together and we thought Drake May was a good quarterback but not develop into the guy that he is now. But Mike and the defense still as good as it's played, they still have some shortcomings. They give up big plays every now and then a little more often than you would like. But Mike Frable's done something special there really quickly. And I know that you're going to call me out for just when you can't explain something, say the coaching just did it. But I can't explain it. So I guess maybe it's the, the only thing that we don't understand fully.

[Amin Elhassan]

Dominique, is it possible to build chemistry with someone by watching them on TV when you were in middle school?

[Dominique Foxworth]

I missed something. Obviously I missed something I haven't listened to.

[Chris Ryan]

Drake May was asked Drake May was asked when he started trusting Stefan Diggs and he said when he started watching him when he was 13 in middle school.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Yeah, I mean I was going to say hell no. But I guess in that case I was like you, Dan. I had to sound off last night. Is that something they said in the.

[Tony Reali]

Broadcast or something postgame interview?

[Chris Ryan]

It's, it's something Drake was saying. We, we pulled the Kentucky fraud chickens on him because we don't. We. Tony said correctly that trust is a two way street.

[Dominique Foxworth]

It's not when you want somebody to get open. So like I feel like in that case, trusted a receiver is about knowing that he's going to be open and knowing he's going to catch the ball. It's definitely. Don't. Don't you have any athletes that you trust? Do you not trust Patrick Mahomes? Never met him.

[Amin Elhassan]

Trust them.

[Dominique Foxworth]

At the end of a game, you don't ask Patrick Mahomes. I mean, I wouldn't ask.

[Mike Ryan]

You just made my point, Dominique. I don't, I don't know Patrick Mahomes, but I trust him. Drake may who's 13 years old, not.

[Tony Reali]

A two way street.

[Mike Ryan]

Okay, but my point is this. The two way street is later. You were here in the segment. I already explained it. So not you, Dominique. Hold on a second. So Drake May in middle school is watching Stefan Diggs get open on everybody, right? He trusts him from that angle of like, oh, if I know one thing. Stefan's going to get open if he's running a 15 yard out right now. The second part of the trust is Stefan Diggs meets Drake May. I trust that Drake May from throwing me the ball in practice. Now the trust is a two way street. I trust him now.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Trust that he's not going to throw me into getting hit or anything. Exactly. I so I feel like is Tony the only one who believes that this is possible? Because I. I gotta be honest, Tony, I love you. Don't like my company. I don't like if everybody else in. Everyone else in there, Amin and Dan and Chris and Mike and everyone else cowards.

[Mike Ryan]

I don't want speak up is what it is.

[Dominique Foxworth]

This is nonsense. I think you're right. I agree with you. But I'm have to rethink it before I fully commit. We got to win some other people over. I mean it's. I think it's a responsible thing to do.

[Dan Le Batard]

Dominique, are the packers unserious or are they just too hurt?

[Dominique Foxworth]

Unserious, unfortunately. I think the answer is that they are currently an unserious outfit because it's not one thing. Like if it was just they're too hurt at the offensive line and that was the problem. That's one thing. They're just too hurt at the receivers and that was the problem. That's another thing. They're having pre snap penalties on big important downs and their quarterback occasionally throws back across his body into the chest of a defender. It's just a bunch of different things. And that's the part that makes him feel unserious. Like it feels better when there's one thing you can point to like this is when this guy comes back or if we can correct this thing. Part of their problem. And I guess it could give you some optimism if you are a Packers fan. It's like we can put all these things to the side but their problem is I don't know exactly how to fix what's wrong with them. Because every game or even in the course of the Eagles game, there are a number of different problems and they were all different throughout the course of the game on offense.

[Dan Le Batard]

But you don't think they win that game if Jaden Reed is simply out there because that is a huge absence for them. When anything breaks down, when love needs to make a play, he looks for Jaden Reed and he's been out since week two.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Yeah, I'm sure that that would help but I mean they lost to the Panthers and they lost to the Browns also So like it's, that's part of the problem for me is it's not just, I think we, we can get away with small sample size explain in a way a bad performance for a lot of teams in this league. But the sample size isn't that small for their offense underachieving and like games they should play better and like I would be fine if this Eagles game popped up. If we didn't have those other games to point back to and say yeah, their offense is kind of inconsistent and doesn't show up when they need them most.

[Chris Ryan]

You mentioned pre snap penalties and I was railing about this earlier in the week in the way that Tom Coughlin might. But I really want an answer from you on this. If my team is at home, given the military complex of the week of pract preparation that is football, if I'm playing at home, is it my reasonable right as a coach to believe that the entirety of the season not a single one of my players will ever false start at home when they come out of the huddle because they've been told what the snap count is and they should know the snap count.

[Dominique Foxworth]

This is absolutely unreasonable. I heard you doing this rant earlier and I get where you come from, but it's spoken by like someone who never put their hand in the dirt. You gotta put your the dirt. Can you imagine the number of things that Dan, you of all people, I think you appreciate the intelligence that it requires to play this game.

[Chris Ryan]

None of the other things do I have to remember if I don't remember the first thing, like if I don't, if I get the first thing wrong, all the other things I have to remember become irrelevant. I feel there, there must be offensive linemen throughout the sport who have never had a false start penalty, who have had 10 year careers without having a false start.

[Dominique Foxworth]

There must be possibly, maybe. I strongly doubt that there's a starting offensive lineman that's had 10 year career and never jumped off sides. But I think you're right. And part of the problem or part of the reason why it happens is because it's so obvious and so easy and it's so like running the mill. It's not the thing that you're thinking about when you approach the line and you see a super athlete trying to rush you and there's emotion that you have to be aware of and you gotta check the protection and the defense is shifting and in your mind this is the biggest third down of the game. It might tilt the balance of your career and you're In a contract year. Then you move like, I don't understand how you don't see how this is possible, that you could overlook something so obvious.

[Chris Ryan]

Because the HAHA is to fool them. They told me in the huddle what that was.

[Dominique Foxworth]

They told me you don't put your.

[Dan Le Batard]

Hand in the dirt, though.

[Mike Ryan]

That's the issue.

[Dominique Foxworth]

You're having this conversation holding a piece.

[Chris Ryan]

Of paper in the air.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Can we get. Can we get just like a small like mason jar of dirt so Dan can stick his hand in it and see if he feels the same about this BS as take where after he does, you just got to feel the dirt. It'll help you understand.

[Mike Ryan]

You've never seen Miles Garrett on the other side.

[Chris Ryan]

You get an offsides penalty the entirety of your career. Did you. Were you playing bump? Were you playing bump and run? And did you ever jump off sides?

[Dominique Foxworth]

No, like it's impossible for me to jump offsides yards away.

[Amin Elhassan]

If he did, I'd be impressed.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Yeah, I would blitz every occasion from, from the quarter spot, but I wouldn't. I would wait and react or from the nickel or something like that. And I. Even in high school, in college, I never really jumped. I was like, did I have other stupid penalties on occasion? Yeah, those things happen. Because you're thinking about 100 other things.

[Tony Reali]

I can't find anything on pre snap penalties, but Zach Martin retired never having held six over 6,600 snaps a quarter.

[Dan Le Batard]

Jumping offside is especially dog.

[Amin Elhassan]

That would be amazing. I'd love to see that.

[Dominique Foxworth]

I mean, the quick jam. Like that could potentially happen if you're doing a quick jam. But it's. I mean, that's.

[Amin Elhassan]

Think about the quarterback's cadence for him to get the cornerback.

[Chris Ryan]

What happened? Oh, God damn. So if it happened to somebody, what you would say? Well, he was thinking about so many other things. He's got so many other responsibilities that he has to be thinking of.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Dad, you never forget to unload the dishwasher. You never forgot to do something around the house that is obvious and simple.

[Amin Elhassan]

Not.

[Dominique Foxworth]

That's never made a mistake. Never forget anything. It's a steel trap.

[Chris Ryan]

It's not. It's not a mistake.

[Amin Elhassan]

If.

[Chris Ryan]

They told me in the huddle when we were going, they told me, I.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Told you to do this. I listened to this show for decades. You messed up your own name one time. Dan, shut the hell up. Like your brain is not so much better than everyone else's. I understand how ridiculous it, it is, but it doesn't happen that often. There's not a Ton of false starts because the hardcount got guys, but occasionally it's gonna happen.

[Chris Ryan]

I don't think I messed up my own name. When did I mess up?

[Dan Le Batard]

You had to bet if you had.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Hey, dad, the fact that you can't remember it. Case in point, steel trap. Nah, that is a wood trap you got up there now, man.

[Chris Ryan]

Mike Ryan. Mike Ryan is always criticizing various forms of my text behavior. Why did he include you on a group text with 30 people you do not know?

[Dominique Foxworth]

I love it. Mike is such a good guy. I was talking about tennis, and he has a tennis group chat.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Dominique Foxworth]

And so I got into tennis group chat. That. And I want to engage. Like, I don't want to be a bad texter. I've been working on getting better at it. However, I don't know nobody, so I don't know how to act. Like, oh, yeah, I said, it's you. It's like three people in there that I know. And so I. I got jokes that I want to say. I was like, I don't know if I get. It's just a bunch of, you know, the phone numbers come up. It's a bunch of strangers from all over the country talking about tennis. And I can't really fully engage because I don't know who these people are. I want them to think I'm crazy, because what I would say if it was just me, Mike, and Amin would be very different than what I say, depending on who's in the chat.

[Amin Elhassan]

Dominique, I'll back you up on this one, because I think John Isner is in it, and I made some sort of, like, to hell with Georgia remark, and I don't think he took it well. I was like, oh, I thought we were all like, tell me each other here.

[Tony Reali]

Exactly.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Exactly. I didn't know John Isner was in there. Now, I definitely not going to share my bullshit tennis opinions with a professional tennis player. I don't know anything.

[Chris Ryan]

So you don't know. You don't know how to act. Here Amin is acting the way that he always acts, but you simply don't know how to act.

[Amin Elhassan]

I had to pull back because I thought. I thought I could act the way I always act. And then, like, I didn't get a warm response. It's like, oh, okay.

[Dominique Foxworth]

I also, Yeah, I don't know. I don't want to get into that situation because I had a couple jokes pop up. And then there are some people who are free, willing. They send some things that they feel confident about, and I'm like, can I like this. I want them to know that this is safe. But I also don't want anybody else to think I'm on this team. If this is the wrong place, you know you can't act the same way at work as you do amongst your friends.

[Jeremy]

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[Tony Reali]

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[Dominique Foxworth]

Warning.

[Tony Reali]

This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

[Dan Le Batard]

When I think about the holidays, I think about the little moments with my dog Roma. The ones that make the season feel special. Put a little elf ears on her.

[Dominique Foxworth]

You know the deal.

[Dan Le Batard]

Take some selfies, post it for people that probably seen it too much. I love my dog. That's what I'm trying to get at. That's why I'm joining Chewy Claws who's out here making pet's wishes come true. From November 4th through December 24th, you can share your pet's wish at chewy.com chewyclaws it might come true and it helps others, too. Every wish triggers a donation of five meals to shelters and rescues across the country. And if you share your pet's wish through the Chewy app, they'll double that donation. That's 10 meals for pets in need just for participating. I've been using Chewy for years. Legitimately. They've made my life easier for me and my dog, Roma. Food, toys, meds, all of it shows up fast. No stress, and being part of something like Chewy claws, where a small thing like a wish can make a real impact. That's the kind of stuff I care about. Every pet deserves a wish come true. Send your pet's wish to chewy.com chewyclaus it might become a reality. Plus, your wish means Chewy will donate five meals to Pets in Need.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Don LeBatard.

[Chris Ryan]

Who is the comedian? Is it James Mulvaney? How do you pronounce his house?

[Dan Le Batard]

John Mulaney.

[Chris Ryan]

There you go. Thank you, John Mulaney.

[Dominique Foxworth]

$2 ye.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, that's a bad fine. Wow. Everybody started shaking their head.

[Dan Le Batard]

I mean, he's arguably the most popular comedian right now. James Mulvaney.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Stugats.

[Chris Ryan]

Put it on the pole. Guillermo. Is John Mulvaney the most popular columnist at lebaton?

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, my God. Comedian Dan. Jesus, get it together.

[Chris Ryan]

Excuse me, comedian. My bad.

[Dominique Foxworth]

This is the Dan Levitar show with these two gods.

[Chris Ryan]

Amin was right earlier in the show when I was saying, I don't expect Patriots regression from Drake May. And he's saying, well, what carryover is there from you thinking this organization has been good for 20 years. And what I'm waving around is that, you know, per Doug Claussen, Year 2 quarterbacks with 200 plus passing yards in each of the first 11 games of a season. The list is 2018. Patrick Mahomes, MVP, 1984, Dan Marino, MVP, 2 25, 2025, Drake May. Like, that's the list of people, oh.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Did you just mess up a year? How could you mess up the year? It's the year that we're in right now.

[Amin Elhassan]

He didn't forget it. He just merely misspoke. But Dominique, I guess my point was Dan was saying, we're not gonna see any regression from Drake May. And I said, well, what proof is that? He's like, well, because the organization. I said, dan, again, most of the people working there weren't there from when they were dominant previously. I mean, there's a couple of people working.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, but not just the organization. Also, year two quarterbacks don't have this kind of pocket presence.

[Amin Elhassan]

He's great. I'm just saying this game has a way of figuring people out, of bringing it back down to earth. I remember there's a point where you guys were swooning over Justin Herbert. And yeah, he's still great, but it's not like what you were talking about in his first or second year. And so, Dominique, is it possible that like. Like, can. Can you unequiv. Not unequivocally, but can you confidently say no, it's smooth sailing from here on?

[Chris Ryan]

I think the Patriots are going to be good offensively for 10 years if he doesn't get hurt.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Yeah, I mean, I think that you guys are saying two different things. I think that what you can say about the Patriots for the rest of Drake May's healthy career, you can probably pretty confidently say they're going to be pretty good. But I mean, those names that you mentioned, Patrick Mahomes, stands out. Like, he's had some years and that offense, just. Just as recent as last year and part of this year, have had some pretty rough runs right there. So I think. Is he going to be this level of quarterback all the time? Of course not. He's going to have some years where things don't work out the way that he plans, be it injuries or his own, like, decision making, things will change. But I think it's pretty fair to say that he's going to be one of the best quarterbacks in the league for. For years to come. And the Patriots are safe there.

[Amin Elhassan]

So CJ Stroud type thing is never going to happen to him.

[Jeremy]

Him.

[Dominique Foxworth]

I mean, I would say that the thing that happened to CJ Stroud is part CJ Stroud, but mostly they won't protect my man. And so I think if you put C.J. stroud in a slightly better situation and his receivers can stay healthy, I think C.J. stroud, you see it. And to be honest, C.J. stroud's first year, we were raving about how impressive he was because it was relative to our expectations for him. Like, if you go back and look at the stats from that season, it wasn't all that great. Like, it was. It was good and he was attacking deep downfield. He was playing in a way that we didn't expect and we were like projecting he's going to be one of the best quarterbacks in the league based on what we were seeing. But in that year, I think he, Yeah, I think his QBR was like in the 60s or. Yeah, like the 60s or high 50s. It wasn't like he was in the 80s balling out the way Drake May is right now.

[Dan Le Batard]

The Giants seem to have a young quarterback at a desirable contract and they have young skill guys that are hurt. But what do you do with that head coach vacancy if you're the New York Giants?

[Dominique Foxworth]

I mean, I think the, the obvious trap is to go try to find the best offensive mind. And we underappreciate the minds of defensive coaches. I think you can see a lot of the best head coaches in football right now came from the defensive side of the ball. Of course there's some good offensive coaches also, but I think given the last several years, 10 years or so of Giants football has kind of been disjointed and like unorganized. I think they need to hire somebody who can kind of get the whole organization in alignment, which is weird because they kept Joe Shane, who he's not incentivized to hire somebody who has the track record or the power or the know how to take over an entire organization because he's the general manager. He doesn't want to give up any of that power. So there's some complications there with the ownership group that might make it more difficult, but I don't think that they should focus on a hire that's only for the quarterback.

[Amin Elhassan]

Dominique Dart has been in concussion protocol four times already. He's diagnosed with one against the Bears, but he's been protocol four times. How would you, if you were the Giants, protect him for the rest of the season? Because the last thing we want is another tool on our hands.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Yeah, I think that he obviously needs to protect himself. And I think implicit in your question is like, would you sit him out or would you play him? It's like, no, I think I would, I would definitely play him. Like, he needs the reps, he needs to learn and these are lower stakes situations. And I think that's part of what he needs to understand is in the course of a game, if it's first and 10 in the second quarter, we don't need like Super Bowl John Elway helicopter dives. And I understand he thinks he's bringing or he is bringing some energy to this team and setting the, the tempo. And you'll see Patrick Mahomes do stuff like this at times too. But I think he needs this experience to understand. Even in that game we saw, Caleb had a bunch of a few big runs early in the game, he slides later in the game, he's diving for the goal line. Like, I think understanding the situation is more important for him. And you're not going to be able to demonstrate that unless you get him out on the field.

[Tony Reali]

I have yet to locate Dan screwing up his old name, his own name. But I did find multiple examples of him screwing up other names. We start with John Mulaney.

[Chris Ryan]

Who is the comedian? Is it James Mulvaney?

[Dominique Foxworth]

Covid.

[Mike Ryan]

Dominique. Go ahead, Dan.

[Chris Ryan]

No, I just that not defend myself. That sentence represents me looking in the mirror and recognizing in the middle of the pandemic, I've descended into old age. James Mulvaney. That, like, it's the moment that I put the tombstone on. That's where it is that I got.

[Dan Le Batard]

It wasn't. Yeah, it wasn't James Mulane. In your defense, you were just asking.

[Dominique Foxworth]

The question, did you, like, mess his name up, like, three more times in that same little block? They're like, I think Chris was taking it easy. If I remember correctly, you couldn't get it at all. Like, you needed Mike to come in and save you.

[Mike Ryan]

We've got a bunch of big games here on the slate for Sunday.

[Chris Ryan]

Four big games.

[Mike Ryan]

Dominique, which big game is the biggest of the big games?

[Dominique Foxworth]

Oh, is that. That's a Zaslow, right? We get a big game. Tell that man to get some clothes. Show his wife some respect. Don't go. That's what I was trying to tell him. And a wrestling shirt, man.

[Mike Ryan]

That's what I try to tell him.

[Jeremy]

He needs to go.

[Mike Ryan]

Like the ones that we had, like, the knit shirt with some linen pants.

[Dominique Foxworth]

A little sexy, you know, not.

[Amin Elhassan]

You do not want to see Zazzle in a knit shirt.

[Tony Reali]

I want Tony to dress Zazlow.

[Dominique Foxworth]

I do.

[Tony Reali]

I want to do this.

[Dominique Foxworth]

The problem with that is. Or I think Zazzle, what he doesn't understand is he's created such a low expectation that he would kill if just popped out one night. People like me and Tony, that's fly all the time. Like, I don't get no extra points when I fly. My wife is just like, yeah, you're supposed to be fly. That's how you are. But Zaz has created such a low bar. All that man gotta do is put on a button, Just one button. Get you a polo with one damn button, and she gonna be like, oh, my gosh, she gonna do the special thing that you love Zaz. But anyway, the Rams and the Seahawks, that's the game to me, like, that seems like those are the best two teams in the NFC right now, and two of the teams that seem to be. To have the fewest weaknesses of anybody in NFL. I think when you look at their track record. One of the problems with a lot of the teams in football right now is they don't have a lot of great, really impressive wins. And that's in part because there aren't a lot of great teams to beat. But whoever play, whoever wins that game and is another test for Sam Darnold, who he had a couple bad games against the Rams in recent history and a couple bad games in bid situations. So we're going to be looking forward to seeing how he performs in that game. So, yeah, that's the biggest, biggest of the bigs to me.

[Tony Reali]

Dan screws up the bear. Chris Felica.

[Chris Ryan]

Chris Felica.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Oh. Oh, it was, it was penis related too.

[Amin Elhassan]

Oh, he's in the tennis set.

[Chris Ryan]

You said about a month ago, before I heard anyone else saying it, that Smith and Jigba is the best receiver in the sport. And then I look up every time in the second quarter and it's four catches for 82 yards. Everyone knows the ball's going to him, him and no one can stop it. It's. It feels like Justin Jefferson.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Now he feels it's funny because nothing about his play, excuse me, jumps out the way that you see Justin Jefferson. But then if you watch him very like closely, you'll see the nuances in his route running and you see the way that he finds the holes and zones. He's kind of a technician in that way, but he still. What shocks me is without having explosive, like crazy, crazy speed, he is the best deep ball player in football so far this year. And I think we get enamored. I. I'm sucker for this, especially around draft time, is with the numbers, like the big numbers, guys who run fast, guys are really tall and who look good in their uniform and have put up ridiculous stats in college and forget that there's so many other things about the game that I think can work out and you get in a good situation, like he's in with that quarterback, Sam Donald right now. He's to me, at least right now, the best receiver.

[Chris Ryan]

What you're saying there, does it have any precedent for you guys when you think off the top of your head. Oh, beg. Best deep threat in the sport. Not that fast. You're right, not that fast. Like that's it. Jerry Rice is a decent. Jerry Rice is absolutely a great example.

[Mike Ryan]

I would say Mike Evans too. Good deep threat. Not that fast.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Yeah. I mean, I don't want to make it seem like he's slow. It's just like when you think of the deep threat, you think of somebody like Xavier Worthy, right, Who. Who's like setting records, flying back Rashid Shahid, who they just grabbed on the Seahawks. Also like those guys that are just running past people.

[Chris Ryan]

But yeah, see, Jerry Rice doesn't. Jerry Rice. While obviously, no question. Great. Everyone says best receiver ever. It's a consensus thing. It's not. Let's throw him the Randy Moss deep balls. Like Randy Moss was faster than everyone else. Tyreek Hill is faster than everyone else. You can't be the best deep ball. Like, not to my way of thinking. You cannot be the best deep ball threat in that league unless you're faster than the corners.

[Dominique Foxworth]

I watched the games with Randy Moss two weeks ago and I was nervous the whole time. We were. No, I mean, I dropped the name.

[Chris Ryan]

Look at me be Roy.

[Jeremy]

I like that.

[Mike Ryan]

Whoa.

[Amin Elhassan]

I don't complain. I thought so, too.

[Dominique Foxworth]

I thought we discussed. I thought we erased this from the soundboard.

[Amin Elhassan]

By the way, I had a suggestion that they erase the whole soundboard for Dan and just leave him. Like just a penalty. Yeah, that's it.

[Chris Ryan]

I don't know why amin press that.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Wow.

[Amin Elhassan]

By the way, let me say something. Do you guys know what Dan did? Because we've been attacking him about his memory and ability to remember names and stuff. He said, you know what? I'm not going to say jsn. I'm going to say the whole damn name.

[Tony Reali]

He just said the last name, which was a choice.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Wild.

[Amin Elhassan]

That was. That was. No, it's a flex.

[Chris Ryan]

You know that Jackson doesn't spell it ck. You know, he spells it with an X. That's cool as hell, right?

[Amin Elhassan]

Xenopolis. You sell X all of a sudden. It's a cool word.

[Tony Reali]

Now we move on to Dan screwing up the names Lou Williams and Montrez.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Harold, what you're doing.

[Chris Ryan]

The top fair is you keep mentioning Lou Harris and Lou Williams and Montrell Harris. You keep mentioning Harold. Excuse me. Still not my name. That you got me getting wrong there. You got me getting an assortment of names wrong. Not my own name.

[Amin Elhassan]

Montel Jordan.

[Dominique Foxworth]

It's not their snap count. It's the quarterback snap count. Like, what difference does it make? The same way the first thing you. You hear when you're leaving the hu. And the last thing you hear with Leader Hollow is the snap count. When you're looking at that sheet of people that you're talking about the name, like, that's the one, the point, the reason why I chose names. Because it's so obvious that you assume that you won't mess it up. I don't. I mean, let's get off my guy's back. Dan.

[Tony Reali]

We move on to Dan trying to say Georgia Tech yellow jackets.

[Chris Ryan]

Amin's Golden State. Golden State gold. Georgia Tech yellow jackets.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Have you begun yet buying gifts? Have you started Transition? What is the correct time? Yes, I'd like to transition out of you burying me in a library filled with my mistakes. Yes, I'd like to transition out of that.

[Dominique Foxworth]

That one was recent, so it should be fresh in your mind. I would like you to explain to us what the hell was happening. Yellow Golden State jackets. What is that?

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, that's our new name we were talking about. Golden. Golden State gold, Georgia Tech yellow jacket.

[Dominique Foxworth]

The second Golden State is him mocking himself. He, like, mocks himself for saying Golden State. Okay, take me through there. Take me through there. All of your favorite NBA players are back, and DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA, is the place to bet on NBA stars this season. New customers download the DraftKings sportsbook app and use code DAN. That's code D A N. Bet five bucks and get three months of NBA League Pass plus $300 in bonus bets if your bet wins. In partnership with DraftKings, the Crown is sure, sure, sure, sure, sure,.

[Tony Reali]

Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER in New York. Call 877-8-HOPE NY or text hopeny467-369 In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas. Pass through of per wager. Tax may apply in Illinois 21 and over. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Restrictions apply. Bet must win to receive bonus bet. Minimum odds required. NBA League pass. Auto renews until canceled. Additional terms at dkng Co Audio Limited time offer. Folks, fuel your game day with the unbeatable crunch of Hampton Farms, the official peanut of bowl season. Perfect for sharing with friends, tailgating outside the stadium or cheering from the couch. Grab a bag from the produce aisle of your local grocery store and savor the game one peanut at a time. Let's get nutty.

[Dominique Foxworth]

This episode is brought to you by Netflix from the creator of Homeland. Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys star in the new Netflix series the Beast in Me as ruthless rivals whose shared darkness will set them on a collision course with fatal consequences. The Beast in Me is a riveting psychological cat and mouse story about guilt, justice, and doubt. You will not want to miss this. The Beast in Me is now playing only on Netflix. Don LeBatard. I took my son to the barbershop, get a haircut. And my man gave out some limp dap. Oh, no. Damn, damn, damn stugats. I disowned him. I threw him right under the bus. I was like, whose kid is that out here dishing out limp dap? This is the Dan Levatar show with the stugats saying, I am not a good gift giver or gift buyer. Unfortunately, my wife takes care of all those things and I only have to buy one gift for her and I. And I've already started thinking about it for Christmas as it comes up, and I'm terrible at it. I don't know if you guys got suggestions if you know what to do. It's like you don't get the credit. I feel like that for buying an expensive gift. It's like, nice. You get expensive gifts, but it. You're supposed to get something really thoughtful and I just suck it. I'm not that thoughtful. I'm selfish.

[Chris Ryan]

It's a lot. It's a lot of pressure. Right. To have to.

[Dominique Foxworth]

You seem like a good gift giver, Dan. You seem like you are a good gift giver.

[Chris Ryan]

I try to get gifts. Yes. That know my wife that are not necessarily.

[Dominique Foxworth]

What are you proud of?

[Chris Ryan]

What am I proud of? What, that I'm putting together this year.

[Dominique Foxworth]

No, not this year. Just like over the course of like your entire. It doesn't even have to be this relationship. All the relationships. I'm honestly, I'm trying to cheat and steal one of your.

[Chris Ryan]

You seem like I do scavenger hunts. So I do things that are fun, funny, and nice and thoughtful. So it's six.

[Tony Reali]

That'll work for my gift.

[Chris Ryan]

Eight gifts. Yeah.

[Tony Reali]

Like, go downstairs and open up the.

[Amin Elhassan]

That doesn't feel like much of a gift.

[Tony Reali]

Like, look underneath. Someone works the flowers in the lobby.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Hey, hold on, hold on. What's the final? Where's the final. Is it like you laying in the bed. Yeah. Naked.

[Amin Elhassan]

Is that the final spot with an arrow down here? It is. Yes, it is.

[Chris Ryan]

How did you guys see through me so well? It's me on a bear spin rug with an arrow pointing down at my penis. Yes. That's the biggest. Yeah, that's the big. At the end.

[Amin Elhassan]

Ribbons on it.

[Chris Ryan]

Is. It's me just wearing one of those ribbons you put on an SUV when.

[Dominique Foxworth]

You'Re giving you cinder all around Miami. Hot ass Miami. Sweating and thinking and tired present baby.

[Chris Ryan]

How did this get turned around on me? I was asking the group how they are at gift giving. How did this get turned? All of you are thoughtless. Mike, you're not a thoughtless gift giver. There's no way that you're a thoughtless romantic.

[Dan Le Batard]

I got nothing on you, pal. Nothing on you. I am thoughtless compared to you. You're doing a scavenger hunt, aren't you? For your anniversary.

[Amin Elhassan]

Look at Jeremy's sweater. There's no way he's thoughtless.

[Jeremy]

Come on, man.

[Dominique Foxworth]

That's a. I didn't even know Jeremy was here.

[Jeremy]

Yeah, what's up, Dominique? I was trying not to talk so that you wouldn't also bully me for wearing this cardigan.

[Dominique Foxworth]

I think. Be honest with you. I think you look kind of fly. Thank you. I like it. I like, like it. I. I think you need a little. You need a little jewelry. You need a little jewelry.

[Jeremy]

I was given. I was given a chain. I. I had one. It. It broke cuz it was cheap, cuz it. It wasn't real. Obviously I'm not spending that type of money. I need $1,000 from Dan over the weekend. Hopefully the Chiefs cover, minus three and a half. But look, walking down the street.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Never mind, never mind, never mind. I thought. I didn't. It says Miami on it now. Oh, yeah, it's a Miami heat.

[Jeremy]

You get it. Core culture, you know, shout out, court culture. Shout out that guy who stopped me on the way here. Shout out the concierge down here at the elser who was giving me compliments. Shout out a means guy at the American Airlines lounge yesterday.

[Amin Elhassan]

Joseph the bartender.

[Jeremy]

Yeah, Joseph the bartender.

[Tony Reali]

Dominique, look what you did.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Can I tell. Yeah, I'm sorry. Can I tell you the gift that I got my wife that I thought she was going to really appreciate that it didn't work out. It was a few anniversaries ago and. And my wife, like, really loves music. And especially, like, old music. 90s R&B. Like we all love 90s R&B. A lot of Drew Hill playing in the house. A lot of Jodeci. A lot of that type of stuff playing at all times. So, I mean, of course I took her to dinner and all that stuff. And then the one, like, thing that I thought she would find, like, funny and also appreciate was I got a cameo from Cisco telling us happy anniversary. And he. He mispronounced my name. It was like, perfect. It was funny. He was like, I don't know, Don Quaid. He wanted to say it and I thought it was perfect.

[Mike Ryan]

It was funny.

[Dominique Foxworth]

It's Good. She was like, oh, okay. I was like, I got Cisco. Cisco, Thong Song Dom.

[Amin Elhassan]

You telling me Cisco's on cameo?

[Dominique Foxworth]

He was a few years ago. I don't know what he's doing now.

[Amin Elhassan]

You know who else is on cameo? Me. Arthamid. You can order a cameo right now. Birthdays, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, anniversary, whatever. Anniversary. I do it all at Darth Amin. We're running a special right now. Don't miss it.

[Dominique Foxworth]

You got that special, too.

[Amin Elhassan]

Funerals, too.

[Dominique Foxworth]

I'll send you the Cisco video if I can find it.

[Tony Reali]

So you unavailable right now, Cisco? I was looking up to see how much it would cost.

[Chris Ryan]

So, wait, the gift. You say you're a bad gift giver, and yet you're sitting here trying to give your wife something that is both thoughtful and funny, and she finds it neither.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Yeah, that's called being a bad gift giver, Dan, because I'm trying. I would love. There are plenty of things that I'm not good at that, but I don't try. So it's fine when I'm trying. Like, I'm going to do this. One year, I think, surprisingly, she. I. I wrote her a terrible poem a long time ago, which, again, I was like, this will be.

[Chris Ryan]

That's a good effort.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Good effort, to be clear. I mean, I knew I'm not a poet. I was like, this will be funny. And also get across the point that I'm trying to get across. And that was actually a gift that, like, it worked out. Then, of course, there's, like, you buy diamonds every. Every. Every anniversary or every so often, and those go over well. But it never gets to quite the reaction of, like, something that's thoughtful, where it's like, oh, you nailed it. Now, I want to be good at these things. So I remember that, and. But you can't go back to it. That's the thing, Dan. You can only put your sexy body at the end of a scavenger hunt once. You can't do that every year.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, no. That arrow has been used for nine or 10 years now that it's the same ribbon I'm wearing as a thong every single year. You mentioned Jeremy getting complimented by strangers. Is that something that you do at all? Are you comfortable enough? Are you man enough, Dominique, to just compliment a stranger with no agenda?

[Dominique Foxworth]

I've been trying to do that more often because I recognize, like, I go to New York for work every week, and it's probably once or twice a year somebody will say something nice to me and I will remember it for my whole life. So this is my goal going forward. Does anybody else do that? Like, I think it takes a bit of confidence. And you have to be careful, obviously, because some people think you're hitting on him. But my wife's hairdresser came over a couple days ago, and his cologne smelled great. It's like, that smelled great. He's been telling everybody that I said, his cologne smells great. And I just understand how good that feels, and I want to do it more often. And, Dan, you do a really good job of hosting this show, man. You're really impressive and talented and awesome, and I love the gray in your beard.

[Chris Ryan]

It is actually a very easy way to make something stick with somebody in a way that brightens up somebody's day. I don't imagine a meme does very much.

[Amin Elhassan]

No. This is the Doc Rivers press conference, right? Someone asks you a question, say, what a smart question, and then they love you forever after that. So I think in professional settings, oddly enough, I think it's a very effective tool.

[Tony Reali]

That's what I use it.

[Amin Elhassan]

When you tell someone, like, hey, man, I'm big. Like, you go, if you're a guest on a podcast, like, oh, man, thanks for having me on. Big fan of the show. Never listen to that.

[Tony Reali]

It's your favorite episode.

[Amin Elhassan]

Well, you say that. You just say, you know what you do? You do a little. I do a little Google search. Right.

[Tony Reali]

Just so you have one in the holster.

[Amin Elhassan]

Yeah, one in the holster. I can talk about out, like, semi intelligently, but like, on the street saying, like, hey, man, that's a nice sweater. Nah, man.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, but that's all agenda based. You're not doing something to spread feel good. You're just lying. You're just lying to spread your own agenda.

[Amin Elhassan]

Well, that's what he's doing.

[Chris Ryan]

No, he's complimenting a stranger for no.

[Amin Elhassan]

Reason other than to make him feel good.

[Dominique Foxworth]

It's not. I'm saying when I get a genuine compliment from somebody, it makes me feel good, and I try to do that more often. And you made that point about going on shows. Is there anything that you get all the time. Because people check my Wikipedia before I go on their show, and they always bring up that I was born in England. Like, they're the first person to find that. And I have to go through the same thing of like, yeah, my dad was in the military. No, I didn't have the accent. We left before then. But every time I go on the show, I know that you've checked my Wiki. Because if you say, hey, you're born in England, huh?

[Amin Elhassan]

Good day.

[Chris Ryan]

That is worse. I think that's worse than not knowing anything about you. Correct. For them to just cite the first sentence of your Wikipedia is so lazy that it's offensive to you as a former professional athlete.

[Dominique Foxworth]

It just, it's funny to me because I know what they did. They looked at it, they was like, oh, that's, that's so random. No one probably brings this up. I'm a shock em by bringing this up off the bat. And it's gonna soften them up. It's gonna be great. And I play along. Oh yeah. My dad, military. Happy Veterans Day. It's cool. But it's really not that interesting a story. Cause I don't remember anything. I think they're gonna get something out of it. Like, did you play soccer girl though? Like, no, I don't remember at all. We were stationed there. I was born like fish and chips and that was it.

[Amin Elhassan]

Poor.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Did you, did you start with a good A? Like I feel like, oh, it sounded more Australian. I was very fault.

[Chris Ryan]

I wanted to ask both you and, I mean, something that's happening over in MLS where they seem to have made a bad business decision putting their games behind a paywall. And Inter Miami right now is in the middle of what is going to be a one month period playing the first round of MLS for. With Lionel Messi. Yes. I mean, I won't lie.

[Amin Elhassan]

When you started with. I want to ask you the question, what black topic are we going to have to tackle?

[Chris Ryan]

No business. No business.

[Dan Le Batard]

We're trying to be right here. Dominique was born in England.

[Amin Elhassan]

Oh, that's right.

[Dominique Foxworth]

I made the same face as you as soon as he was like, I want to ask you and Amin a question. Oh man, we about to get into it. Yes. Colin Kaepernick got blackballed.

[Chris Ryan]

I went with a business question asking my front office guys for some expertise on decisions a league made in growth and expansion of his league. I tell you, Apple as a partner, everybody would say yes. But now they're gonna make their games free next year because they did real damage to their league by putting all of their games behind a paywall.

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, free behind the normal paywall. They were like double paywall. Two paywalls. You had to have like MLS season pass. Now if you have Apple TV, you get access to the entire MLS. It is a capitulation on MLS's part to say, hey, this didn't work. Viewership's down, attendance. You could always count on MLS attendance being strong? Attendance has dipped down to 2022 levels right now.

[Amin Elhassan]

Why do you think attendance is down? Do you think it's related? I don't know if it's related.

[Dan Le Batard]

I mean, last year their attendance was good, but they had a huge boom with Messi being the novelty and for it. I can understand it sliding, but to slide to 2022 levels, that is not the sustainable growth mod model that they touted so proudly.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Seems like Mike is the person that you should have asked this question to, but I think that you can tie the stretch. I don't think it's a stretch to tie the attendance going down to the viewership going down. Because you follow a team, you want to go to the games, you want to watch the games that you don't go to. I think you have more buy in. And I think we all kind of pointed at this time as this being kind of a bad idea. Because to your point, Dan, you said they're in a growth stage. Like if you're in a growth stage, you want it as easily accessible as possible and you may not want to try to maximize revenue. Anytime a company is building, you'll see it like a new company is going to give you a bunch of promotions, give you a bunch of discounts, try to get you make it so this product is a habit for you and you don't have to clear anything. They'll give you samples in the mall because they're trying to get you to stop and buy it. Like they did the opposite. They're like, you got to get reservation to come to this new restaurant that no one has heard of, that no one really likes in a country that is barely into it. So I think it was a interesting strategic move. It probably was financially more beneficial to them in the moment, but I think in the long term, it's already had.

[Amin Elhassan]

A bit of the worst crack dealers ever.

[Dan Le Batard]

We saw Spotify do a reversal when they tried to make their podcast exclusive. We seen the WWE's business tumble quite a bit. They don't. Netflix doesn't even release viewership numbers for Monday Night Raw. And now MLS is doing this. I understand as a commissioner of a league, he has to take like the big money deal. But in retrospect, this went against the best interests of the league by putting it behind this paywall. A league that was trying to grow, a league that has the benefit of hosting a World cup this coming summer, in retrospect, big mistake.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Yeah, seems like it. I mean, I would have thought that wwe, I'm not a WWE guy. But like, it's a long standing business that has really locked in fan base. And Netflix is probably the most common streaming service. I would have thought that if anything, if there was any league or entertainment property that could like survive and not be impacted by it, it would be the wwe. Of course, the NFL is one. But I even think if you put a paywall up for the NFL, it would, would have a dramatic negative impact on it. But I guess we have those Christmas games to look at, right? Those are the Netflix games.

[Amin Elhassan]

The Amazon games technically are paywalled games.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, you guys, you cannot have a business decision. You can't have what I'm about to say. You actually struck gold on all things Messi related and you didn't grow your league while it was happening. Like those two things can't. Like that is a management failure of the highest order to have the best player in the world deliver on being the best player in the world and you're not growing your league while it happens.

[Amin Elhassan]

I think they were ambitious. They thought like, people are gonna be like Messi, I don't care. Sight unseen, here's my money. And what they found out is again, this market is a tough nut to crack.

[Dominique Foxworth]

I also think that it's possible that there's. These decisions always seem so obvious to us on outside, but when you're in a room like that, there's a lot of different things, competing, pulling one way or the other. And I'm sure that they want their franchise values to grow up like that's the most important thing. And they have to find new way to demonstrate that franchise values are going up. I think the assumption was probably that they'll get more money from Apple with this paywall deal like right now, and that'll show a jump in revenue which will lead to increase in franchise values. Which is what? Like we only look at ratings as the only measure. But I think like franchise value and revenue, especially for a young league, is probably something that they're a lot more concerned about than we would think. So they probably win into it. I can't imagine that they thought that their numbers would go up. I'm sure they didn't think that they would crater, but they went into it, I'm assuming, thinking that they'll be able to demonstrate that this is a much more profitable business than originally thought to be.

[Chris Ryan]

The Dominique Foxworth show is something that all of you should listen to because it is smart and interesting and different. You should stop in on the live watch on Sunday during Chiefs Must Win against the Broncos. The shipping container has a $5,000 bet. You should pop in at some point on Sunday. The Dominique.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Yeah, I like that. Nick Wright is making it real hard for us guests. We all supposed to come in and.

[Mike Ryan]

I was gonna say you can drop a little bit.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Yeah.

[Mike Ryan]

Can you drop a little? I know you got money.

[Dominique Foxworth]

I know. Let me. Let me go. Let me go see. I'm gonna go check these couch cushions, see what I can throw.

[Mike Ryan]

You got money in there.

[Chris Ryan]

In the couch cushion? See you later, Dominique. Put it on the poll at Lebatard show. Dominique actually have coins in his couch cushions?

[Dan Le Batard]

Now's a good time to remember where tequila's story truly began. In 1795, Cuervo invented tequila.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Cuervo.

[Dan Le Batard]

What are you doing here, Cuervo?

[Chris Ryan]

Anytime someone says Cuervo, I show up.

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, I do know that to be true. But even during ad reads like Cuervo, I think he could lay out especially for one of our great partners.

[Chris Ryan]

Sweet, delicious Cuervo.

[Dan Le Batard]

Since then, Cuervo has stayed true to its roots. The same family, the same land, the same passion.

[Chris Ryan]

Cuervo.

[Dan Le Batard]

So enjoy the tequila that started it all. Cuervo.

[Chris Ryan]

Cuervo.

[Dan Le Batard]

The tequila that invented tequila. Proximo Cuervo. Com. Please drink responsibly.

[Chris Ryan]

Cuervo.