Transcript of Ben Stiller Tells The Truth About Dan: "You're Knicks Fan" | Local Hour New

What are you laughing at? What are you laughing at?

I'm laughing because they're counting me in and Mike Ryan says, as they're counting, I can't hear the numbers being counted in because Mike Ryan's last words before the mics came on was, did you know there was a service where you can have a mystery woman, you can pay to have a mystery woman cry at your funeral?

$500. They stay silent the entire time, kind of in the background. An attractive lady from what is advertised, and they'll just cry. Now, this could be really useful for some lonely types, or it could be one hell of a last prank to play on somebody.

Okay, now you're hiring this woman, so it's not like you're hiring her so that people around think that you have a very attractive woman at your funeral. You're alive, you're hiring her. So what is—

no, no, no, the purpose, the joke that I would play And really mess with somebody is, you know, family distraught.

Your wife.

I just put it—

primarily the joke is on your wife.

The other person's wife.

I could kill her.

So maybe it's like your brother-in-law who passed away is your sister's husband and you're playing a prank on your sister.

Let's say we have this— I have this relationship with you where you and I have been joshing each other the entire life, right?

Not bad.

Yeah, you know, like one last rib. I'm gonna have this attractive mystery woman cry at your funeral.

And do you imagine your friend who's watching down, hopefully from heaven, Find it to be funny?

If you've had that kind of relationship.

I have been doing some estate planning because we had a sudden death that didn't have estate planning around it, and it has been quite the mess to try and handle that. And I'm trying to figure out all of the funny jokes to put around the estate planning and the funeral itself.

You got $500?

I don't think that one's as funny as you do. I think it's funny to talk about his content. I think it's a bad prank to play from the beyond because people are going to be confused by that.

But I'm definitely doing this for yours.

I did think that there would be, you know, clowns and stuff could be funny. Just clowns at a funeral that no one's explaining. Just that somebody, somebody, somebody sits in the back row dressed head to toe as a clown that nobody knows is just sitting in the back row. And you don't know whether that person came to the funeral dressed as a clown as a joke or has a job immediately after the funeral and doesn't want to get changed.

In between gigs.

I actually think he came from work.

Does the clown car—

isn't included the clown car?

I'm thinking these things out. I have to figure out how it is.

And who's that attractive young woman on his arm?

No, see, that's—

and the balloons?

No, see, the The mystery woman crying. What is this service? How do I— what is the place that you, uh, that you rent a weeping, uh, woman to grieve at a funeral? A mystery woman.

Yeah, hang on, let me put it— I put it in the group chat. All right, it's called Dark Secret. That's the name of the service. And then, and like, I'm led to believe that it's a gothy woman, and the woman will show up at your funeral, cry in silence, and then vanish. This is the Dan Levator Show with the Stugatz Podcast.

Boog Shambi, perhaps the best baseball play-by-play guy going right now, is going to join us in an hour to talk about a cause that's very personal to him and we are helping him with. He had a friend locked in the prison of ALS. And so for the last several years, he's raised a lot of money and gotten all of baseball behind his cause. And so the show is going to be helping him today in an assortment of ways. But I don't have any chemistry on air with one of my greatest friends.

Always awkward.

And Zazz has great chemistry with Boog because Zazz's first job was basically, uh, Boog's producer. And so I think, I think Zazz should do it and I should just sit here because I don't have chemistry with him.

You'll ruin the chemistry pretty instantly.

I mean, I had him on Zaslo Show 2.0 last week. I kind of already did this. Do you want to just play? Do you want to play that?

No. Oh, but I do want, uh, at the very least to give him an assortment of catchphrases. What is our goal? To get him to say how many of these Greg Cody catchphrases during a Cubs broadcast. What if, in exchange for our audience— anytime we ask our audience for money, our audience is one of the most special audiences there anywhere in terms of getting behind causes that matter to us. Ron McGill, most notably. Uh, when Boog joins us, what's a success? What are we negotiating in exchange for our audience's support? How many of these do we need to get on the air for you guys to feel like it was successful?

Well, I like spending your money, Dan.

Yeah.

How about for every one of these catchphrases that he decides to deliver, you stake a cash total behind.

A lot of money.

What should the amount of money be to make this suck?

You stake $10,000 per catchphrase. He is your best friend.

I mean—

And it is an important cause.

Yeah, it is. You do want to end ALS.

Or 9,000.

You do, right? Either way.

Okay, 9.

What are the phrases on here most likely to make it on? He respects baseball, but over the years I've actually been quite delighted to see him go from somebody who was super anxious about overpreparing for stuff to somebody who can just sit in the middle of the chaos, because it's a bit of air traffic control, the number of people talking to you and the things that are happening during a baseball broadcast that is televised. Boog Shambe has gotten very good at being relaxed. So when Mike says that, I wince because that could cost me $200,000 because he, he cares about this cause and he's comfortable enough in his career, his profession, how good he is at this and the safety of his employers that he will get carried away.

New math, $180.

I'm not listening to you guys on this. I'm not going to give this much money to something. Well, you can do it. If any of you would match me, we can do it.

I got $5 for me. I'm spending all my money on a dark secret.

Think about it.

Which are the phrases here, Zazz, that we have that might be likely to get said on a Cubs broadcast? I think of the Cubs broadcast as being a manicured, sacred place, and so if all of a sudden he's yelling "Sassafras" on a home run call and it's got no context or explanation.

Jeremy just said in the background, "This count is fuller than Vern Fuller." I mean, this is going to be easy money for him.

It's, it's going to come easy to boog because one thing that I've noticed about Greg Cody's countdown is a lot of these catchphrases were born while he was calling baseball games that his son was playing in.

I mean, my guess is because it has to be something that he can somewhat fake that as part of the broadcast. So I could probably see him going with, "You're gonna go to Buffalo with Bernie Parmley." That's what I—

I want to make it difficult for him. I want him to work in Georgia! Ah, Georgia!

Does he have— does he have leeway to change things a little bit? Because bunt works a lot better than punt.

Yeah, he can do that. He can use some, uh, creative poetic language.

Could probably also see him going with, "Nice hat, asshole." Where's yours, by the way? Yeah, where is my hat?

I want during the broadcast, there's just like a promo for some movie and there's a trailer and you just hear, "Trailers for sale!" Where's my clip clip?

You look like a billiard ball. That stray laugh from the soundproof room outside, uh, was Ethan and annoyed me.

Annoyed me last night.

Be easy.

What happened? What? I'm sorry, Jeremy. What happened to your guys, Colorado Avalanche? You promised me that they were going to win the title easily, and now all of a sudden Tortorella's got his players taking 40 pucks to the face.

Well, the first thing was Cale McCarr did not play, so they lost a lot of firepower from the blue line. It's a big one. And they blocked a lot of shots last night. Vegas did.

Yeah.

Good defense. Yeah.

I—

can I walk back my take? Like Vegas with Eichel and Marner and Carlson, they got these defensive forwards that are, that are not going to neutralize Colorado's rush, which, by the way, as Roy mentioned, their rush past that blue line is affected by not having Cale Makar, one of the brilliant offensive-minded blue liners in the league and really great on the rush. The thing about Colorado is they have McKinnon and Makar. And when you take one of those out, then you have a recipe with them eating pucks and with their aggressive forechecking with very capable two-way forwards. This could be a really interesting series. And the added bonus of it appears their goalie is getting hot and they're playing their best hockey at the right time and they're villains. They're kind of embracing it. That locker room thing, while it was punitive because they lost a second-round pick, that appears to have galvanized this team.

This is the United States of America! It ain't the United States of Tortorella! The thing that Mike is talking about there is that they've frozen out the entirety of the media. It's not just a second-round pick that they've lost in violation of league partnership rules. I think it's It's also a $100,000 fine.

And nobody goes $100,000 specifically to Tortorella, which— that's a lot.

Yeah. You got to think that hurts.

That's very punitive.

And Tortorella probably smiles a menacing grin and delights in the tax deduction of that because he's not supposed to be at the top of the sport again. He— it's, it's kind of crazy everything that's happened there with that franchise in general. Just all of it is nuts. It— I—

it—

I— you can make the argument that that is the best sports thing that Vegas has ever had. It would be that or Jerry Tarkanian. Like, that's— that's the list.

No, it's not. It's not close. It's the Vegas Golden Knights. I granted—

really?

UNLV was such a big deal early '90s.

Made it to the Stanley Cup in their first year. They made it to the Stanley Cup in their first year of existence.

This— this story though, to hire Tortorella, what was it, 7 games, 5 games? Like, how many games before the end of the season. Did anyone see any of that coming? The idea that they would get a notoriously coaching villain?

And they—

you watch them all season, they can't beat a single good team. They played playoff teams, they would get just trounced.

They weren't that good this year. No, they, they lost more games than they won.

It's an interesting story because, you know, Marner's rewriting his whole narrative in the postseason. Jack Eichel is a brilliant player.

You can't walk it back though. You can't say a couple of days ago it's— like Like, who does that? Where have you ever seen on television someone say, hey, I've got flatly OKC and Colorado are obviously going to win the championship, and then 2 games get played and you're like, never mind?

Yeah, no, I regretted it when I said it. I still think Colorado wins this series. Makar coming back will be a huge boost. And look, for all we talk about Vegas, you know, Utah showed that, you know, they aren't unbeatable. And Colorado is certainly more talented.

I'm stunned to hear what you're saying.

I think Colorado wins this series, don't get me wrong, but there's a lot of things working in Vegas' direction that lead to a pretty sizable upset in my opinion, especially when you take the entire context of the NHL season.

This is the United States of America! It ain't the United States of Tortorella! Manager gets ejected and you hear, "Don't go showering, try to please me." Alright, we'll see what you guys do with Boog when he's here in about 30 minutes. I'm gonna try and sit some of it out because I'm not joking when I say it's one of the weirdest things of my professional lifetime. The fact that one of my closest friends in the world— I don't have any on-air chemistry.

Does he feel the same way?

We'll ask him. You should ask him. We're going to rummage around in your relationship because Boog's the one who saw— Boog is the talent scout who first saw something in the billiards ball. Like, he looked at this head that was not bald, that was not bald.

I was— I was the big dog.

Boog saw— he looked at the number 5 ball and he said, I think that should be talking at a microphone. And he helped birth—

it's true—

the rising stardom of Zaslo around here and everywhere else. So we will get to that in a little bit. Good. Thank you. I heard him the other day. I actually heard him the other day because I had left the Marlins game from the previous night on. And so I'm driving in. He was calling. They were trying to find him. He was in Northern California at 5 a.m. and they clearly found him late and woke him up. And the big dog was calling in from, from some part in North Carolina. And I was both delighted and hurting for him because he sounded so groggy at what was 5:00 in the morning California time. Just someone couldn't find him and then they located him. There was a producer talking for a while. I don't know how Hollywood—

I got, I got to hear his take on the whole Inter Miami thing.

So we will get to that in a little bit. A little bit. Uh, we've got David Sampson today and Jessica as well. Uh, but Jeremy has spent the morning, uh, accusing me of something, and I haven't, I haven't really gotten the details of this accusation. He's just simply calling me a Knicks fan. So, uh, that's right. So, well, okay, so what's happening here? And before, before I get to the details of what's happening here, who are you guys rooting for in basketball? Who you guys are rooting for? What to happen in basketball?

Spurs. I, I'm good with the Spurs.

Spurs-Nicks.

Spurs and not the Knicks because I'm from here.

The Cavs out of here.

F the Knicks.

Don't—

if you want the Knicks to have the most pain, I want the Knicks to get to the final and lose to the Spurs.

Yeah, that's how I feel.

Yep. I mean, that's fine, but I'm certainly not rooting for them the way Dan Lebatard is, that Jersey guy over there.

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Don Libertad!

I'm just here to say one thing. The Knicks are back.

Stugatz.

Kyrie Irving, 6 points, fraud. Everybody was like, yo, he's better than Jaylen Brunson, he's better than— the Knicks should have drafted him.

Fraud.

This is the Dan Levatar Show with Stugatz.

So, uh, the problem with what you guys are rooting for is the Knicks and the Spurs, the matchup, that the way that that one works. Works. There's no one in the league who's been better bothering Wembenyama than Anunoby. Like, there's no one. Statistically, no one exists. And you saw OKC's resorted to thuggery. They're just, uh, Hartenstein is out there not playing basketball.

Yep.

What are you talking about? He's playing tough physical basketball. Guy has a limited offensive game. What he's going in there to do is wreak havoc.

He's the biggest Wemby hater in the world. Literally biased over here.

That has nothing to do with Wemby. What?

Nothing to do with Wemby?

Literally.

All he's doing is hooking Wemby's arms and grabbing him and trying to tug him to the ground.

I did not mention the Galactic Dictator's name not one time. All I said was that Hardenstein went in and did what he's supposed to do. Hook an elbow, throw a chicken wing. Like, that's what you're paid to do, buddy. Grab boards, shoot that little floater, and give somebody an elbow.

It's kind of true. Like, it's the old, hey, you got 5 fouls, you know, use them. Like, it's kind of true.

Well, maybe they should call one of them.

Uh, he also pulled Castle's hair.

That was crazy, guys.

We got to keep our head on the ball here. Eye on the ball.

Eye on the ball.

Dan's a Knicks fan. Stay focused here. He's trying to get us on last night's game. He's trying to push us away.

It's been a 3 and a half year bit.

That's right. I have proof.

Keep your head on the ball.

He knew what I meant.

Thank you.

No. Damn you, Chris.

Maybe Boogaloo will say that.

We had him.

Damn it.

You let him squirm away.

Why did I try to talk? I'm speaking. What is the accusation? I am a Knicks fan because I thought that that game, that Game 1, was a delightful thing if you love sports?

No, because you're a Knicks fan.

You are. You are.

You've been actively professing your Knicks fandom for years.

I can go out.

I can show you. Do you want me to physically show you how you're a Knicks fan?

Do it.

I have proof.

Don't make me get a supercut of all the moments that were like Larry Johnson's 4-point play. Don't make me do it.

It is shocking that whenever you refer to Larry Johnson's 4-point play, you also don't mention that it was a phantom foul. Like, no one touched him. Everybody knows that.

The thing that I'm mentioning there that most people, I'm guessing, don't have any idea what I'm talking about— put on the poll @LevittardShow: do you know what is being said when someone mentions Larry Johnson's 4-point play? Yes or no? I'm talking about the noise in a building. I'm talking about just specifically the way New York felt connected to that basketball team in a moment when, uh, this century it is the best that New York basketball has felt.

Didn't we say that after they were chanting Bobby Portis's name in the Garden? I, I get it, it's a, it's a great atmosphere. I'm not denying it. You asked the question, what are you rooting for? I didn't have an answer. I want to see this thing play out. I'm rooting for great games, and so far this, this is delivered. This part of the NBA playoffs is delivering, and I just want to see this sport be captivating again because Zazz coined this, and it stuck in my mind ever since he said it, go on, back in the Heat days. The NBA playoffs are all about drama, drama, these big moments where it's mano a mano, iso ball, mid-range jumper against great defense, these dramatic moments. And because of the way that the sport has gone, you're not getting these game situations that allow for those theatrics. And I just want to see those moments. It's—

and we've had him so far through 3 conference final games We've gotten moments.

This has been so exciting, but I'm not going to forget what happened last year when Halliburton had us, you know, just jumping out of our skin.

I did feel watching last night and I turned to my son late in the game, this series is going to be a war, you know, and but last night I thought was a really good sign for the Knicks because you see, because of the way the Thunder and the Spurs are playing. Jalen Williams is already hurt now. Dylan Harper is already hurt now. If that series goes 7 games, what kind of physical condition is the winner in? And that's why a team like the Knicks, or the Cavs for that matter, does actually have a shot.

Okay, but this is a bit of a distortion, okay, what you've seen the first 2 games in terms of how it is you do the measurements. The Spurs don't have a point guard, so Castle keeps turning the ball over. It's how OKC wins. Last night's game was won by OKC. Castle's got 20 turnovers. In 2 games because they're not playing with a point guard. Good luck with that against that team over an extended period of time. But when he comes back, you've got a different series there because they need someone who handles the ball. What are you shaking your head at me for, Tony?

I'm just thinking, like, do you— is it a different series when Fox comes back?

Like, he's—

he hasn't been healthy enough to play, so now he's going to be out there and playing against guys that are piranhas.

This is unprecedented turnover territory we're in because you got a young guy who shouldn't be handling the basketball that much, turning it over 20 times against a team that feeds off that. The reason OKC wins is defense, turnovers, fast break. That's why, like, you can talk about Shea Gildress-Alexander all you want, but what they do on defense is the thing that's special, and it starts everything else.

Guys, we are not keeping our head on the ball right now.

I know.

Imagine, if you will, sad day, we put Greg Cody in the dirt and we turn to our right and there's this tatted-up goth girl just weeping. And then she disappears.

Nice.

Baby!

We should have some fun with that particular funeral. I think he would want that. I still want to get the game involved that rewards a listener for coming up with the correct thing we're putting on the tombstone.

Like—

Crowded tombstone.

There are a lot of things.

You put a lot on there.

There is. Presented by Brad Williams's podcast.

Uh, let's go out to Jeremy in the other—

I like Babel.

Let's go out to Jeremy in the other room and find out what it is that he's accusing me of. Go ahead, Jeremy.

Dan, there is a 5-pronged approach, of course, against you.

You do nothing efficiently.

One, Dan Le Batard himself has said he's fed up with the Miami Heat organization, trying to distance himself from the fact that he used to be a Miami Heat mouthpiece, now propping up the opinions that are anti-Miami Heat for several years now, out of the shipping container and out of his own mouth. Point number 2, he was looking for more New York Knicks correspondence going back several seasons. The first time he evoked the Larry Johnson game while his own co-host that was sitting next to him was a self-proclaimed Knicks fan. No, we needed to have more New York Knicks. Point number 3, as the George Soros of sports journalism, he has funded a now Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. Where's he from? He's from New York, Dan. Pablo Torre, who refuses, by the way, as a guy who went after Kawhi Leonard, an aspiration, he refuses to go after Jalen Brunson. Chris, play the clip.

I would like to say to Jalen Brunson, to Rick Brunson, to John Macri, to Joe Budden, to the guy I will encounter on the sidewalk today, I am not looking into Jalen Brunson.

Point number 4.

4.

One of the biggest Knicks fans in the world, Ben Stiller. You know what it says here, Dan? It says, Dan, I know you're Knicks fan. It should have said you're a Knicks fan, but it said I know you're Knicks fan. Why does he know that, Dan? Because he's a Knicks fan. It takes one to know one, as they say. And number 5. And this is the real smoking gun. What is the first thing that Dan Le Batard thought to do as he delayed his own production crew by 45 minutes to do a show in the studio you're presently sitting in? He went on Sam Morell's podcast grinning like a fool, praising the way in which he loves the Knicks, how happy he was for the Knicks to win, the joy that he felt watching this team in, oh, the beloved Garden. Chris, play the clip.

Yeah, I know you're not a Knicks fan, but you gotta, you gotta at least have enjoyed that a little bit last night.

I was legitimately happy.

Case closed.

Wow, wait a minute, I said I was happy for him.

No evidence of that.

Wow, that's creatively—

wait a minute, incredible, Jeremy, great work.

Mule eating briars.

That's Dan's body.

You just heard Sam say, I know you're not a Knicks fan. Let That seems to go—

he's trying to help you out there.

It's sarcastic.

And you rebutted it with, I'm happy.

Can I hear that again?

I know you're a Knicks fan.

Yeah, I know you're not a Knicks fan, but you gotta, you gotta at least have enjoyed that a little bit last night.

I was legitimately happy.

You can't on one end hold up Sam knowing you're not one and ignore that Ben Stiller knows you're one.

You're, you're, you are Knicks fan.

You are Knicks fan.

You're Knicks fan.

Dan, I knew you are Knicks fan.

They are, uh, the best story remaining, says the Knicks fan.

Yup, I think it's Wembenyama versus OKC.

Yeah, pretty obvious.

Taking over the league, becoming the next LeBron.

Uh, put it on the poll at LeBittard Show. Bigger story: Wembenyama winning the championship or New York winning the championship? At Le Batard Show.

For the same reason that I was telling Greg Cody I believe that he's wrong about the Knicks being the best thing that could happen to the league, them winning the championship. Totally off base.

You see?

Every year, us being able to point at the Knicks, are they going to do it this year, and they continue to not do it, is the best story.

Don't let this guy slide off the hook again. Keep your head on the ball.

Keep your head—

Keep your head on the ball. He just changed the poll question thinking we wouldn't notice. What's the biggest story, New York winning the championship or Wemby winning the championship? That's fine. That's a discussion for another day. It's not the one that we're having right now. The bigger story right now is Wemby taking on this OKC budding dynasty, and I'm sure the ratings will reflect that. Championship? Yeah, I'm with you. New York finally winning an NBA title the same year they win an IST potentially. Can you imagine?

I mean, they're going to repeat against the Spurs if they do that. But Dan, the first thing you went to go do was celebrate on this Knicks podcast with Sam Morell, of which, by the way, at the end I heard him say to you, you, that he's going to go get a bunch of other Knicks fans, but he wanted to start with you. Ridiculous. Ridiculum, as some would say.

The Little League Theory.

Hey, Butterfinger.

Inexplicably, just—

Well, I think he can get the Little League Theory in there because he can just be talking about Little League. There are a number of other ones here that are harder to get in.

Well, hey, Butterfinger, you could do it for an error.

Well, they had 3 of them in the first 3. Innings yesterday.

So, like, Tony, yesterday I was waiting for the bathroom and Dan was ahead of me and the door was closed.

He farted?

No, I heard it. I did hear a wayward yur.

Dan, did you throw a yur?

No, he's making— he's making that up. And I—

all right, you got me there. I made that part up, but everything else Jeremy said was true.

Don Lebatard.

While there's nothing official and conversations are still ongoing—

was that a fake Schefter?

Because it was pretty good.

Yeah, I feel like there's legs.

Yeah, I tried at the beginning and then I lost confidence in it. Why? Good.

It was good. You got this.

Nothing official.

Yeah, it's so good.

Conversations are still ongoing.

Stugatz.

It is trending towards Nick Sirianni remaining the head coach of the Eagles.

This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stugatz.

I want to, uh, not get out of the show today without a couple of things, uh, being discussed around here. One of them being, uh, what it is that happened across the street here, uh, yesterday at the Freedom Tower. Another thing, uh, you know, related actually, uh, Stephen Colbert leaving the air tonight because, uh, yeah, it's the last— the last show is tonight, and I want to talk about that as well. But before we get out of the, the local I want to talk about what Bobby Marks is saying about, uh, Giannis Antetokounmpo. Uh, Bill Simmons and Zach Lowe have been talking to people in the league and saying they're surprised how lukewarm the interest is in Giannis. Zach Lowe is saying that Miami remains suitor number one, and Miami is also the large betting favorite if you're someone who bets on these things, uh, to land Giannis. And I just think Boston has more to offer, and Boston now has to change its game plan because we've all seen what the structural flaw is in Boston, correct? They won it, uh, when the, the game is changing so much and they're out ahead of the curve.

They won it the one year it was available to them by playing the style of play that now everyone has caught up to. And losing to the Sixers that way in a Game 7 at home after you already lost to the Knicks that were built to beat you because on the nights your threes don't work, you're a disaster and people hate-watch you, including your own fans, because going 9 for 53 from 3 is just really unpleasant to watch. Boston has more assets and more ability to get him and then becomes more formidable than Miami if you team Giannis with someone who's better than Bam.

Sure, but isn't it a conceit top to bottom, starting with Brad Stevens on to Joe Mazzulla onto the entire roster, if you trade for Giannis and do the complete reprint of the blueprint where you're taking all these guys and sending them somewhere else, it's a conceit that the whole thing is a farce and it's, and it's done, right? Because you're adding in Giannis, you're gonna have to send shooters, you're gonna have to send Jaylen Brown. Like, what are you gonna do with Joe Mazzulla who coaches a certain style?

No, no, but it is done. Once you learn, once you lose to Joel Embiid's fractured remains in the first round and, uh, New York's built to beat Uh, it, it is done. Like, what I would think— Boston has been ahead of the curve, and Brad Stevens wins Executive of the Year because he's not afraid to change things. He's not afraid to be aggressive. And the things we're presently watching with Jaylen Brown also suggests that he'd like his own team. And I'm— are you not assuming that that is done? Are Boston fans not— Boston fans, let me do this another way, actually, because you mentioned I'm a New York Knicks fan. I have been talking to a number of Knicks fans over the last 3 years who simply don't want— they don't want LeBron. They fall in love with Hardenstein when he's there. They, they've fallen in love with Anunoby. They do not want to trade Anunoby. And so when I say, like, one of the things I was talking to Sam about is I'm like, you people have become just totally crazy the last 3 years. You reject the idea of having LeBron James. What an amazing thing to have happened in the cultural leadership of the New York Knicks, as that the Knicks all of a sudden are in a place where their fans have fallen so in love with what they presently have that they're like, no thanks, LeBron James.

Yeah, it makes sense to me. Like, and this is something that means a lot to me as a sports fan also. Sometimes you, you want to win with your guys, and the Knicks fan, these are their guys. Like, they want to win with this group. It, it won't— look, winning a championship is obviously the goal, but it means more if you win with your guys as opposed to bringing in a mercenary.

That does mean more to me.

Huh!

Huh! Yeah!

Yeah!

I'm not even surprised. It's obvious.

I felt so seen by him there with that point.

This guy loves OG Anunoby.

You are Knicks fan.

He's obsessed with him. Oh, the Wemby stopper.

Oh, I'm gonna be so torn when it's the Knicks going up against Hartenstein. I don't know who I'm gonna root for.

You guys still love Hartenstein, by the way.

They love him so much.

You, you love him.

We love him. I'm sorry, I've got to get my pronouns right. It's confusing time.

Careful.

Who made it to Charlotte?

That's going to be tough to get on there. I can't wait to hear his vote for what is the toughest one and the easiest one to get into.

The toughest one's a fun game to play.

Toughest one has to be asshole, right?

He can't say it.

That one's gonna—

are we gonna read all of them to him?

I think we're gonna have my dad— we're gonna replay one of my dad's reciting Oh, he's gonna be bored.

Foul ball. What do we break, a window?

We're gonna, gonna ask him to have a pen and, or write it on his phone or whatever, uh, put it on the poll at @LeBittardShow. Do you still use pens?

I guess, yeah, punt would be hard.

Show an opposing fan, look at that jerk.

I know you can make it bunt, but if he used punt, that would be difficult.

I think the one that we have to have that he has to say on a strikeout is hee haw three bodeo.

Yeah, yeah, hee haw three.

Also, I love after an Hey, Butterfinger!

Steve Martin.

No, I'm just saying, like, that's what you're saying.

It again because it's been said.

No, I said first we should highlight that one as well.

You got to eat a peck of dirt before you die.

Already? Damn, talking again.

We will get to him in, uh, 7 minutes or so, but I did want to talk for a second about what it is that happened across the street here yesterday, uh, as politics seep into everything. And, uh, you're talking about something very personal to me, very personal to Miami, um You had in the streets of Miami yesterday something that felt like, right across the street, a community celebration of something that was done just for the symbolic optics and politics of hassling a Castro. So, Raul Castro, we could have indicted him on any number of things at any number of times over the last number of years, and the thing that he has been indicted because he was charged with murder. For those of you who do not know the story, this one is a uniquely Miami type of thing. Brothers to the Rescue, if you do not know what that is, many years ago Cubans were so desperate, kind of as desperate as they are now as we choke out their oil supply, and they go 22 hours a day on the island without electricity. So you can imagine, Zaslo, how you would have to live longer life if at whatever time the electricity comes on for 2 hours, you have to get up at that time and make sure that you handle all of the things that need electricity in those 2 hours.

That's what's happening?

Yes. They, they, there are 22 hours a day. The island is both starving and rotting as it has been in some ways for 67 years. Uh, but this is as bad as it's in because they don't have oil, because we are denying them oil. And you have people who have been suffering for a long time who are super resilient. And in our country of great opulence and arrogance, we have, um, the ability to choke out the island, and we also have the ability to rescue the island. But the people in charge now do not care about the people of Cuba. They care about the land of Cuba. And so what happened yesterday today was symbolically a 94-year-old man is being indicted for something that was shooting American civilians out of the sky 30 years ago, and it's murder, and it's Raúl Castro as defense minister who made that order. And so you have basically a 94-year-old man who can't really walk being aided by a bunch of 80-year-olds to walk, being indicted, and it's a Castro regime. That name symbolically is the one we're taking out, even though he's the former president. And what Brothers to the Rescue was doing, uh, Zaslav, for those of you who do not remember this history and this time, there was a time that in Key West, I'm gonna say thousands of people a day because I think it was 2,000 a day, were landing on the shores of Key chest, in automobiles that they had turned into boats.

They're literally throwing their life to the sea. And what Brothers to the Rescue was doing is flying airplanes over— that we overwhelmed the local Coast Guards— flying airplanes between what is considered the greatest graveyard that there is, which is the ocean between Cuba and here, between communism and freedom. Is filled with death. And so the planes were flying over, and Raúl Castro allegedly ordered an airstrike that killed Americans— 3 Americans, 4 people total, 3 Americans who were trying to provide humanitarian aid, who were also doing some propaganda where they were, you know, flying leaflets over the island, but they were violating international airspace. And so that's what the charge was yesterday. And so the weird scene right next door to us was a celebration in the street of murder charges, and the celebration was such that it was happening before the charges were even announced because Cubans in Miami have been waiting for this day where a Castro comes to justice, right? I thought Raul Castro— I honestly thought he was already dead. He's not in power anymore. This doesn't meaningfully change anything, but America is going to do there, it would appear, what they did in Venezuela.

Venezuela. We want that land. We want the ability to build resorts. Well, not we— Trump wants the ability to build stuff in Cuba, and it's valuable land. It's a tropical paradise if you give it oil.

Yeah, it's the jewel of the Caribbean. And, um, it is an interesting situation because, like you said, Raul Castro is 94 years old. Like, the indictment of murdering Emanoel Sárracate was something that happened 30 years ago that people were really upset about. And like, as the years and the decades have gone by, like, people have kind of forgotten. We have on— I want to say it's on Flagler and 17th Street, kind of close to the ballpark. You have the Brothers to the Rescue Memorial that's over there. Like, this is something that is entrenched in the community, but the next generation doesn't really understand what happened, right? It's civilian guys, Cuban families flying over there and, and dropping and trying to help.

Heroes.

Heroes.

Literally heroes that got killed because there was an infiltration of Cuban spies into Brothers to the Rescue, their group. So they knew exactly where they were going to be. They had the coordinated attack. All that happened, and we've kind of forgotten about it. So anytime there is justice for the Cuban people against the Castro regime, people are going to celebrate it, no matter what the underlying theory, the underlying idea is behind whatever political party's in power at the time, to use that as a pawn in their game. Like, this is a win for our people because they tortured and killed and completely dismantled an island for 70 years, and like, you need some sort of retribution on that. And, and seeing that again, 80-year-olds walking a 94-year-old out. Like, that's what the regime of Castro and the Cuban government is. It's all these guys from 60 years ago that are still in power. Think about that.

Also think about the fact that it was happening at the Freedom Tower. It's the first place my father was in the United States. It's the first place they gave him food. They like gave him a bag of things to live here. And, uh, between us and the Freedom Tower, which we can see from our windows out here They've given Trump that land to put what is going to be a library for a man who's never read a book and isn't going to actually be a library. And Mike Ryan loves to tell me monthly that my father is going to be a casino greeter there in 5 years.

I should have a library.