Transcript of Connor McDavid? Connor McOverrated! | Local Hour New

This is the Dan Levator Show with the Stugatz Podcast.

We did it, everybody! Give it up for Friday! Yeah, we did it!

We did it!

We made it! All right, we got through the week. That's how it's done. The weekend starts for everybody. That's right. All right, we got a good crew today. I don't know if this crew's worked together yet. We have Dave who's out there on the West Coast. Dave Dameshek. Hello, Dave! Give it up for Dave joining us. Hello!

Hey, what's happening, everybody?

You know, hi-li outfits Sports, now out of context, when I look at them, they're the only sport that involves slacks besides golf. Am I right?

It could be right.

They're wearing baseball pants.

Could be right.

Is that what they are? Baseball pants are not like a bat. You know, again, out of context, who says baseball pants are inherently more athletic than slacks? Who came up with baseball pants and football pants for that matter? Really, when you think about it, the sport whose uniform is most tailored to to help the athletes wearing them is basketball. Like, that makes sense. Like shorts and tank top liberating so you can make the movements required to perform at your very best.

Sometimes— I don't know, you know, based on what Dave is saying, sometimes I'll be watching hockey, which I've given a try this Stanley Cup playoffs. A good sport.

What'd you think last night?

Look, Ducks and Oilers, I got to catch a little bit when I got home last night. I'll get to that in a second. But based on what Dave is talking about there, sometimes I'll be watching hockey and I look at, you know, the uniform and I remember what a massive pain in the ass it is for these guys to get dressed. There's so much going on. They're taping the leggings, like they're actually using tape, okay? There's so much happening. What a huge pain in the ass to get dressed. Basketball? Throw on a tank top and some shorts, let's get out there and play. Anyway, BattleCourt today?

Yes, but— and the hockey gear is so heavy that in between periods they take it all off.

Yeah, and then they gotta do it all again. Yeah, it's crazy.

How often, how often does it occur to you— what, does it occur to you at least once every hockey viewing that, wow, this is a fantastic athletic activity, and by the way, they're doing it all on skates? That happens to me like once every 3 games or so. I, I, I, I'm a fly up on the wall watching myself watching these people do this, and I'm like, What a weird thing to devote my time to watching. This is such a fringy combination of requirements to do this thing. Like, you know, basketball, like, do all that, but also you have to wear blades on your feet the whole time you're doing it.

It is curious to be the 4th major of the 4 major sports here because it is kind of wild. And you would think it would be regional specific, but no, down here, state of Florida, one of the best hockey centers there is. Eh, eh.

I don't know what you mean.

Let's see the ratings. Let's— well, let's see what the ratings are. Yeah, I mean, do people— are people watching it? It's not an indictment, by the way. It's not your obligation. Sounds like one. Hockey— if the Panthers are— why not just, uh, all right, what a loser's lament.

Check the ratings, Dave.

Have you checked fingers around here? You got two of them right up yours, buddy.

That was so aggressive for Friday morning. My bad, I just woke up.

Well, Tony gets defensive about it.

Thank you. With the rings on too.

Yeah, I mean, put them—

you know, the Penguins You know the Bengals have won 5 of what you're talking about.

I didn't know that.

I have no recollection of that.

You are actually breaking that news to Tony, literally.

Mike, BattleCourt, what do we got going on?

We have the BattleCourt semifinals going down today at Casino Miami. Now it's closed doors for the Cyclones 3:00 matinee showdown with the Fireballs, but you can follow along on YouTube and the ESPN app. The ownership and brain trust of the Cyclones will be in attendance rooting their boys on, trying to make it to a second consecutive Battlecourt final, trying to be the first team in Battlecourt history to repeat. Zazz, this is a big deal, and tonight is a pretty good match too. This— I know there's a big slate in the NBA and hockey. Some teams can be packing their bags to Cabo tonight, but Renegades versus Chargers.

Put your kids to bed.

That's a doozy. That one's probably getting the sound on the night, Zazz.

I saw Big Show on my, uh, on my drive here this morning. I saw the billboard, Big Show coming to Magic City Casino, Keith Sweat.

Oh yeah, well, we play Casino Miami now.

Oh, those are not the same things.

No.

All right, well, there you go. Give him a little plug. Speaking of which, last night I did pull the trigger. All right, I was wondering yesterday— I am the Ticket Ninja, you know, which means I know how to get the best prices, the best deals. I know all the presale passwords. I swear to God, yesterday there was a WWE presale that went on sale yesterday. I swear my right hand to God, I guessed the password correct.

What was it?

I swear to God, it was for SummerSlam, okay? I tried one password—

Paco beware!

I tried one password, it didn't work. On my second attempt, alright? It was like getting Wordle on your first attempt, alright? I guessed it straight up, unlocked it. Summer. I couldn't believe it. Straight up guess. It could be any word in the world. I guessed the word.

That was your second attempt?

Second attempt, yeah.

What was your first one? Slam?

WWE Live. You always gotta try WWE Live first.

Zazz, how do you figure out a password? Is it a reference to something in your personal history? Is it an acknowledgment?

Oh, like how do I choose a password when I'm setting something?

I mean, I don't want to— I don't want you to betray, you know, your bank account or anything, but no one's going to try to access it probably. But let's see if we can figure out how Zazz comes up with his password.

Yeah, I'm going to say let's not try and have a session where we figure out my password.

Roman Reigns the best too.

Roman Reigns best.

So is it a reference to an athlete that you, uh—

I'm not doing this. I don't want people to know my password. We're not doing this.

We're not gonna do that anymore.

What are your favorite numbers?

Just, uh, give me the last 4 of your social.

Anyway, what was your childhood address? Anyway, we're not going to be able to guess.

Is it a reference to your, to your family, or is it a reference to, to sports? I think that's what a lot of people—

I'm not doing this.

G Money dollar sign 41.

You know what, I will be honest, for a very long time my password was Glenn Rice-specific for a very long time. It's not anymore, so I can say that to you now, but for a very long time, yes, you could have figured out everything in my life if you know a little bit about guns.

Palin.

That's all—

Palin.

Yes, that's not a secret anymore, Sarah Palin. Good for you, Glenn. Good for you. So anyway, last night, I pulled the trigger, all right? I bought the tickets, I went to Guns N' Roses last night. It was expensive, went at the Hard Rock Live. It's my third time seeing them, I hadn't seen them in like 10 years. I love Guns N' Roses, man. And I took my wife, we had really good seats, it was at Hard Rock Live, which is literally one street from me. That's the key. I mean, is there a better scenario than when— 'cause if you're gonna get me out of the house at my age on a weeknight, eh, you're asking a lot.

Yeah, you gotta have at least the Intercontinental title on the line.

So there's gotta be like some juice to it. And if the concert is literally on the street that I live on, and it's 8 minutes away from the home. I mean, come on, that's enticing. And so yes, we bought tickets yesterday for Guns N' Roses, my wife and I. Axl's out there, he's doing the moves still, you know, he's got the microphone, he's got all the Axl moves out there. And they played for about 3 hours. They played close to 30 songs.

Too long.

They played.

Yes.

I'm gonna be honest. I'm gonna be honest here, it was a long show. It was long. It didn't need to be that long. Like, did I need the 4 or 5 cover songs that they mixed in? Probably not. All right, it was long. And I'll tell you, Mike Ryan, because you warned me, Axl Rose, he looked really good. Yeah, looked much better than he looked, I would say, 10 years ago. He's got better shape.

I agree, he's in better shape and he's had better work done. Corrective measures.

Looks good. Looks good.

Yeah, how did he sound?

Not great.

I saw some videos from the show. Someone put the caption, "Welcome to Parrot Jungle." He did not sound great.

Musically, they sound fantastic. I mean, there's like— Slash is going to be able to play guitar. Duff McKagan is going to be able to play the bass until they die.

How great does he look?

Slash?

No, Duff.

Oh, Duff looks amazing. Looks amazing. He's definitely in his 60s, looks amazing. Slash, a little bit of a belly these days, but look, he's Slash, what are you gonna do? Uh, and like I said, Axl, I love seeing him out there. I love him running around doing his moves. Uh, didn't sound great, but still, I had a really good time, Dave.

Do they, um, first of all, is it, is it sort of the vibe of a nostalgia tour? Like, I have gone out to, I went to see Cal Ripken play during the streak, even though he would, by the tail end of it, wasn't at his best anymore. But I felt I needed to witness it. Basically that vibe. And the second question I have is, is it really a virtue, these 3-hour shows? We hear all the time— just last week ago, Tashay was talking about having— or 2 weeks ago, seeing Springsteen. People always tell you, I do this thing like, man, he gets out there, he's, he's, he's 87 years of age, or whatever Springsteen is now. 87 years young, gets out there, 3 and a half hours. Like, who needs 3 and a half hours? Me. Just about me and everyone in the, in the building. Yeah, I could have, I could have taken another hour. I would have been grateful to to have 15 more songs?

I would say that the latter question depends on your love for who you're seeing, if they're any good. Like Pearl Jam used to play— it's been a little bit, a little while— but they used to play 3-hour shows, and it's like, oh my God, the only thing wrong with the 3-hour show is that it's not a 4-hour show.

But do they have the songs to support 3 hours? I mean, I would say the same thing about Guns N' Roses, and no disrespect to Pearl Jam because I know their faithful are hardcore. But I mean, after what, about the year 2000, how many— how many— I think it's 10 albums, you think, have been— how— okay, but how many of the songs within those albums would you add to the catalog rightly to say like, yes, they belong in the high— in the top 10 of the Pearl Jam songs of all time? I mean, if somebody who's watched from a distance, who's lost interest over the years— I like Pearl Jam a lot in the '90s and whatever, it's like, all right, I mean, they're better bands, But okay.

All right. I feel like this is heading in a direction where I'm going to get aggravated, and I'm not trying to get aggravated on a Friday morning. All right. So, you know, we're going to go back to the Guns N' Roses part of this conversation.

Asking questions. That's all. I just— I'm just asking questions.

I do think it felt a little bit like a nostalgia act. And I will say this for this reason.

Because they haven't released an album in 20 years?

Yeah, 18 years, actually. That is true. I will say this.

Has it been 18 years since Chinese Democracy? Wow.

Everyone in the crowd— we had good seats. We were sitting in the orchestra level. Okay, unless you were on the floor, like they had the pit, you know, which, holy crap, can you imagine standing for 3 hours? Give me a break.

I've done that. I've done the pit for GNR at that venue.

It's a lot. It is.

That's a lot.

And half the time I'm shazaming because I didn't think they had 3 and a half hours worth of music.

Here's why it felt a little bit like a nostalgia act, what you're describing there, Dave, because I would say 90% of the crowd is sitting the whole show.

Tough, tough. They got up for Welcome to the Jungle, though, right?

Well, that was the opener. So everyone gets up when the lights—

that's what they open with.

Yeah.

Wait, they play for 3.5 hours and they open with Welcome to the Jungle?

You got to let everybody know where you are. You're in the jungle, baby. You're going to die.

Does he— does he scream like, you're all going to die?

Tries. Yeah, he tries.

Is the journey of November Rain— is that like a— is that like they start out sitting down and then they rise up?

No.

At the appropriate time? No, no, no. It's not acoustic performance, Dave.

Oh no, it starts with the piano.

No, I understand, but it's not all of them are the same.

November Rain is an epic song.

Yes, of course, of course.

I'm not denouncing the song.

No, I'm co-signing. And an incredible music video. I mean, that song takes you on a journey.

That was back when music videos were music videos, all right? Give me a movie here. Give me a story. Yeah, you're getting married in a church at the end of a cliff and Slash is playing on the very edge. Be careful, Slash, don't slip. Incredible.

Hey, it's Mike Ryan, and I want to talk to you about the random midweek hang that you have with your friends. Maybe it's NBA game. You get a text, hey, come over, you want to watch the game? And maybe you're like, ah, I don't know, I kind of just wanted to stay home. And then you think about it after your buddy hits you up, and you know just the thing that'll make that regular hang, that regular midweek hang around the basketball game, into a special time, into a Miller Time. That's right, this happened to me just last week. I grabbed a 6-pack of Miller Lite, said I was on my way, and next thing you know, we're arguing about rotations like we're on the coaching staff. Yelling about a missed call, and the game's coming down to the final possession. It was one of those nights that you look around, you take a sip, and you think, yeah, this was the right call, and my friendship's stronger for it. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Lite. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to MillerLite.com/Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer.

It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories. And 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.

Going for 2 when you're up by 5. Switching the zone when man isn't working. Oh, and building your new stadium in the state your team actually plays in. In sports, some things just make sense. You know what else makes sense? Drinking Jägermeister shots.

Ice cold.

Drinking it any other way would be like punting on first down or letting your worst hitter bat first. Or like going for 2 when you're down 3 with a second to go. It wouldn't make any sense. So don't let the team down when it comes to Jägermeister. Drink it cold or don't drink it at all! Jägermeister. Damn, that's cold. Drink responsibly. Jägermeister Likör, 35% alcohol by volume, imported by Mast Jägermeister US, White Plains, New York. Don Lebatard.

This guy comes in as the next Wayne Gretzky. His nicknames include the Chosen One, and McJesus. Okay, he's a great player, he scores a lot of goals, he scores a ton of assists, but it hasn't translated to making Edmonton a powerhouse in the league. They're in the final.

Stugatz!

What's your nickname for him? McOverrated.

This is the Dan Levatar Show with the Stugatz. Hold on, we got to do something for the first 10 minutes here.

White guys, I don't know.

To America.

You don't know?

No, Slash is kind of like a little ambiguous.

All right, uh, had a great time. Jewish, is he?

Yeah, of course. He's got quite the tan.

That's my dog right there. I knew it.

Guns N' Roses, Pearl Jam, Springsteen. Who else did we mention that was incredibly white, dude?

Slash's name is Saul Hudson.

Huh, he's a Saul.

Wow. Better call him.

Is he only Jewish?

Yes, but his father is Jewish, right?

So when I got to the hard rock—

that's legal, everybody. Don't— I, I, I feel some, uh, moment. He has refuted the claims. Semitic Warriors on the case.

He— okay, thank you, Semitic Warrior. I'm a little tinge of Sicilian. That's what I'm hoping for.

So when I got to the Hard Rock last night, right before I went into the building, into the Hard Rock Live, you know, there's the sports bar next to it. My wife and I, we order a drink, and I look up at the screen there and I see the score of the Knicks-Hawks game, and it says— it was like 61-19. What the hell? Like, how could that even be a real— how many points were they ahead by at one point? Like, what was—

slash Black parent.

Dad is English, mom is African-American.

We got a Jew mixed in there? No?

And he was named, named after the cartoonist Saul Steinberg.

I told you. Racially ambiguous.

All right, there you have it.

Play on.

I couldn't believe the score.

So he's not a bar mitzvah?

No. Alright, that was a falsehood right there. So, you know, look, if you had the Hawks +50 last night, you're a loser. You know, maybe you should have bought the hook, maybe a little bit more, you'd have come out a winner. But we'll get to all the basketball shocking stuff, but I do want to actually mention the hockey here. And the Anaheim Ducks advanced last night. They knock out Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. And this is very appropriate because you may know, you know, one of the, one of the few things— sometimes you got to take a stance. Sometimes you gotta, you gotta push in the opposite direction. And that's what Greg Cody did a couple of years ago. All right, so Connor McDavid, who now loses in the first round to the lower-seeded Anaheim Ducks, Greg Cody's got some bragging rights. Connor McDavid, where have you gone?

You've been pissing in the wind. Out on the ice. How fast you have skated without having won. But after all these years, it's no surprise. You didn't face the Chuck and you couldn't beat the Tuck, so you're still mc-overrated in my eyes.

Connor McDavid.

David, where did you go? The extension wasn't what you hoped it'd be.

Oh no!

You didn't face good Chuck and you couldn't beat the Ducks, so you still look overrated to me. Yeah, you didn't face good Chuck and you couldn't beat the Ducks.

Yeah, you still look overrated to me.

That's a cashy song.

Let's give it up for Greg, we can actually— let's, let's give a toast to Greg Cody. What a great job.

A toast to Greg Cody getting it right for 3 years in a row. It's worth a toast. Thanks to Cuervo.

Greg Cody, what a guy. Did the Florida Panthers break the Edmonton Oilers 2 years in a row? The Panthers took that ass. And then you get the whole conversation this past offseason about McDavid and is he going to remain in Edmonton and gives like— it's like a show-me short little extension that he signs. And then the result of that is to lose in the fir— have a really frustrating regular season and then to lose in the first round to the lower-seeded Anaheim Ducks. So Connor McDavid's now a very big story, Mike. Did the Panthers break the Oilers?

I think you can argue that they broke each other. Those were physical series, back-to-back years, both those teams making it all the way. In one instance, playing the last possible game available. I do. I think you could make an argument that that takes a lot out of you. And we saw that the Panthers kind of crumbled under it. I mean, the very first second Barkov stepped on the ice, his knee gave out. So I think you can make the argument for both. However, the Oilers actually made the playoffs. They did not have the same kind of injury problems during the regular season. Hell, nobody really had them compared to the Florida Panthers. This is a tough look for the Edmonton Oilers because while Coach Q has been there before, and there are some veterans on this Anaheim team and we do like them. That's still the Anaheim Ducks, right? That's their first try in the playoffs in several years. That is quite embarrassing, Roy. You can probably say they broke themselves. I mean, they're goating and getting worse and they made a trade. They traded Stuart Skinner to Pittsburgh for Tristan Jarry. They gave up the 8th most goals in the league this year.

That is the wildest thing to me, how bad their goalie situation has been the last few years.

Yes. And it's been an issue the entire year. So look, we tee off on Pat Riley. How could you not get a star to pair next to Jimmy Butler. For the Oilers, there was one issue with this team. It was the most obvious thing. You don't have a goalie that's good enough. This year they really took some swings and it felt like they didn't have confidence in anybody. They kept doing this yo-yo thing with the position. Real bad window to be wasting when we're talking about Connor McDavid as a generational player and Draisaitl's not bad in his own right. Bouchard leads all defensemen in points. This is a disaster, Dave Dameshek.

Not bad. Leon Draisaitl is considered one of the top 5 hockey players on the planet Earth right now, just behind his pal Connor McJesus. And yet they haven't paired up to win a single Stanley Cup. And it's funny that it would happen against Anaheim because that used to be the home of the 1A answer to what pair of superstars have never won a title together. And that would be Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout way back when. That era is over with. This persists. Up in Edmonton. And now McJesus, in my opinion, has an important decision to make. Sincerely, do you want to— do you like your neighborhood in Edmonton so much, your teammates, the uniforms, or otherwise, that will keep you there out of some sense of loyalty? And if I'm gonna win a Stanley Cup, I want it to be as an Edmonton Oiler, or shame the devil. Or are you more in line with— I don't think there's a— it's disgraceful if you're— you were Kevin Durant 10 or 15 years ago, whenever it was, to say I need that ring to validate everything else, and so therefore I need to move on.

I'm—

but it would be like to get it done. But you know what, with the, with the Durant comparison, Dave, it would be like if McDavid left this— you know, he's not a free agent, but like if he were a free agent, he went and he joined the Avalanche.

Yeah, kind of. I do— I mean, I don't want to get in the way back about that debate about KD, but I do think for a minute there he was, with all due respect to Steph Curry, the best player on at least one of those dubs, title winners. But either way, yes, I I'm picking up what you're laying down, but, you know, I do think that— are you really? If you're— I mean, you can transcend just the sport of hockey to make it more compelling to everybody out there. By the way, I'm feeling the same pain as McJesus is as a Crosby fan. We both lost to teams wearing way too much orange. But, but at least I, Sidney Crosby, and I can look back at the 3 Stanley Cups we won. McJesus is the one who should be incented to try to move. This, this discussion, Zazz said before the show started, is it— has Crosby played his last game in Pittsburgh? Like, no. Why would, why would he have played his last?

I don't have a crystal ball.

Who needs to— why? Okay, I don't need one. Sidney Crosby has no reason to want out of Pittsburgh. What, what, what about his career requires the gilding of the lily for him?

I would argue the loser—

Jesus, if he wants to do this with a Stanley Cup, he better get out of Edmonton.

Perhaps the losing, just throwing a possible reason, is that the losing and the, the, the no appearances in the second round for a while. And keep in mind, Connor McDavid was not great this series either. I mean, he had a goal and 5 assists, but he was a -8. He was on the ice for 13 goals and 8 assists. That's an excellent point by Roy. I think the story here is it's been some time since Connor McDavid has been consistently good in the playoffs. Like, we're talking about several games here. Now you can understand him struggling.

Go back to his last 2 playoff series, this one and the Last one last year.

Now you can—

I could—

Yeah, you can understand going up against the Florida Panthers, a team that is uniquely equipped with how great their forecheck was and arguably—

Ah, okay.

Again, you have 2 rings that are presently up your butt, up yours and around the corner.

I know, but I also heard you say, Mike Ryan say about 3 or 4 minutes ago, nobody had the injuries this year. And then he said, like the Florida Panthers, which I feel like from the word like on was, was all a bunch of jive. Because the Florida Panthers didn't have the injuries that the Florida Panthers alleged that they had. Yes, I get Sasha Barkov got hurt at some point, but the rest of it was a bunch of—

not a small thing.

At some point, at some point he got hurt.

I am talking about that they did the same gamesmanship crap with, uh, when you're allowed with injuries and all of that kind of crap. They basically ghosted the back end of the season. They had no dignity. Dave Dameshek, how about the last two right up here?

Shove them so far up them that, uh, it clogs his throat a a little bit because his points are just that of a Hayden Nass hater. What the hell are you talking about? They're the most hurt team in the league. And it wasn't like Evan Rodriguez. It was— even though he got hurt too, it was like, they're super—

get your hand out of my face, Mike Ryan! Get your hand out of my face!

They had over 500 man games lost, David. I mean, don't, don't, don't, don't—

you know, you don't need to understand.

I'm not telling you— you're, you're looking back at the injury report and saying, well, look, they didn't play, they didn't dress, so they were injured. Doesn't mean they were actually injured. They decided like, well, we're not playing.

No, it does mean— it actually does mean they were actually injured.

Embarrassing yourself, Dave.

We're an original 7 franchise and you're jealous.

Wait, so everybody— there was just a plague that swept through South Florida? Yes, that resulted in the injuries. You want to know what the plague was?

Reaching the Stanley Cup Final 3 straight seasons and winning it twice.

Okay, you know, doing this.

Yeah, now we agree.

Now the cup doing this.

Oh, I've done this.

Common misnomer.

I've done this.

No, no, common misnomer is repeated that they only went to 2 straight. They actually went to 3 straight. Remember, Matthew Tkachuk cracked his sternum and came back and had a game-winning assist against Vegas Golden Knights.

No, that's not crack sternum.

Of course I do. It's Gretzky's favorite team. I know all about the Florida Panthers. You understand I've done this, right? Well, I mean, I've physically done this with, with the silver up over my head. Then I put some iron City beer in it, then I drank it down.

Can we get an update here?

Stanley Cups, people in Miami telling, telling me, what was the last time you did that? What was the last time you put the cup over your head? They know about that. They know what it is to, to be a champion over and over again. Look at this.

Title Town, what are you talking about? That's right, you know about that parade on the beach?

I high-fived Ryan Lomberg after he went up a stripper pole. They dipped the Stanley Cup in the ocean.

He poured a beer on me. I told Paul Maurice I love him and he said it back.

Stood behind Sam Bennett in the bathroom at LIV. Iron City from a Stanley Cup. The end.

Don Libertard.

You have some hot takes today, Joe Chestnuts of Rye. Oh, he's on fire. He calls Connor McDavid overrated before the show.

What the hell was that, Greg?

Yeah, no, I— I love it.

Stugatz.

Roy, let me explain it to you. And not that you need to, you know more about hockey than I do. And this is coming from a guy that's watched Connor play 6 times, right?

If that. Um, this is the Dan Levatar Show with the Stugatz. Can we get an update here on day 5 of Keep Michael Yormark the Hell Away from the University of Miami? Uh, I feel like it's actually going pretty strong. I get lots of messages like on social media with with fans who are, are very upset at the prospect of him even being a candidate to be the next athletic director at the University of Miami. And I'll get people, hey, Zaslo, why is he so bad? And then I explain it very simply. He's a terrible, terrible man. And everyone's like, okay, great. Well, you know, I don't want that snake oil anywhere near the Miami Hurricanes. Thank you for enlightening us, Zaslo. And the people who do know Mike Ryan that they're, they're very pleased as well that there seems to be this wave of, of, uh, uh, negativity surrounding the idea, just the idea right now that Michael Yormark is even a candidate for athletic director as Dan Radakovich stepped down.

I mean, when has anybody ever really worked up this much emotion around an administrator? Great point. This is not what they, uh, had envisioned, and it's certainly not what Michael Yormark envisioned several months ago when he started posturing for this job. That the as you mentioned, the reaction to this has been toxic.

I don't think I've seen anyone support the idea that he would be a good candidate.

No, I mean, yeah, actually Gary Furman wrote like a very glowing article—

Come on, Furman!

—about Michael Yormark being— I think he called it the dealmaker at the door.

Did it come out right after Gruden was formulating his staff?

That is something in the past there. The dealmaker at the door doesn't exist. At least when he had the opportunity to make all the deals down here 20 years ago, he was famously bad at making deals. A lot of self-dealing. Giving people, as David Sampson mentioned, his contemporaries in the market that were also team presidents were left in the lurch because they would go to potential sponsors and be like, why would I pay you for this signage when I can get it for free from Michael Yormark and the Florida Panthers?

I was stunned hearing that yesterday. I did not even know that.

Very bad reputation. But you remember what Vince McMahon said after Survivor Series 1997? Oh yeah. Brett screwed Brett. He was right, actually. And I think what happened here was Michael Yormark was counting on this being done and dusted in, in shady back rooms and never being brought to light.

And then just one day they were going to announce, hey, he's the new AD.

Yeah, like a thief in the night. And the fact that Miami is doing a proper search and his name was out there gave Miami— and those unfamiliar with Michael Yormark, because let's be real, University of Miami, uh, administrators probably weren't familiar with Florida Panthers hockey 20 years ago. Right. And this gave people an opportunity to say, no, no, no, this dude is about as bad as it gets in this market. And you are making a terrible mistake because there's actually a lot of people familiar with the Florida Panthers who also happen to love the Miami Hurricanes athletic department. And this would be a bad personality clash, not just from like a, a business failings thing, because maybe he can learn from his failures of 20 years. I don't know how much he can change. And the person that I worked under for 2 years during an NHL lockout seems to be a bad personality.

I saw the way he treated people. Yeah, absolutely awful.

I don't see how that meshes with Mario Cristobal. I don't see how that meshes with Joe Echevarria. I, these people, like, I'm sure he's charmed them and that's what he does.

Yeah, that's how you become a good snake oil salesman.

Yeah, but trust me, when bleep starts hitting the fan And it comes time to, you know, let your real personality show. That is not a personality that I think fits with the, the Miami Hurricanes. So, Zazz, I would say keep it up. If you're against Michael Jurmerk being the athletic director at the University of Miami, people have not been shy. Really reputable people in the market like Will Mansell comes out and says stuff. That stuff matters. Dan's voice matters. And these things are reaching the University of Miami.

So if I could just mention our great guys with the TV, they put up a couple of pictures of Yormark, but it was actually Brett Yormark because it was standing next to the Big 12 championship trophy. Yeah, they are twin brothers. But they're identical twins. But here's the thing, like, I'm pointing that out, but like, does it even matter? They lit— they're totally identical. It's like, does it even matter if you put up Brett Yormark? They're the same.

There is a— yeah, there's an example. Like, Brett Yormark, I think like 2 weeks ago, the Texas Tech head football coach came out publicly and was like, I don't want to be playing these Friday night games. And Brett Yormark came out as a Yormark does and belittled Texas Tech's head coach, saying he's not in charge here.

And the, and the boosters too, I think he mentioned.

Yeah, he's done this. And that's the big personality. And maybe that draws— I do think people often confuse alpha behavior with guys that can just end up being jerks. And when I was at the Florida Panthers for 2 years, again, this was 20 years ago, Michael Jormark was a jerk to people and he wasn't a good businessman. So I don't really know what we're doing here.

And I'll just say it and we can put a nice bow on this today and then we can reconvene on on Monday, which will be day 8 of keep Michael DeJormaeck the hell away from the University of Miami. But, uh, he should just take his name out of the running. Like, Michael DeJormaeck, you should take your name out of the running. No one wants you here. No one wants you back in South Florida.

He also looks very much like he would be well suited to play, um, an adversary of Merton Riggs.

Yeah, doesn't he?

Yeah, it looks like somebody they would have crossed paths with at some point.

Yeah, you wear a mock turtleneck that often, you fit that Bill.

Jeremy, I'm gonna give you a chance here to shine. All right. Ooh, you must be excited for this weekend because the Marlins are hosting the Phillies this weekend. Marlins coming off of a series victory over the Dodgers. That's right. But the Marlins hosting the Phillies this weekend, who are now managed by Don Mattingly. Yeah, Donnie Baseball.

A little bit of a nepo daddy situation. Reverse nepotism, I'd call it.

Reverse nepotism.

He hired his dad, Preston Mattingly, not Don Mattingly's dad.

That's just nepotism, I believe. I don't think there's— I don't think that's reverse nepotism. I think nepotism is a catch-all. It doesn't— even though in your respect—

Yeah, but you go up the chain, I think it's reverse.

No, I mean, we've seen this with Lane Kiffin and Monte Kiffin. I don't think it's reverse nepotism. It's just nepotism. It's up the chain. Huh. Hey, you're up there.

I'm hiring you. Reverse.

Down. Normal. Dave, is that reverse or is that just nepotism? That's interesting. I've thought about that.

Donnie Baseball works hard, for the record. When you go back into the family lineage, right? Is that reverse? I don't know. Let's just get—

I'm with Mike Ryan.

We have enough to— it's all just nepotism these days. Well, either way, just go with that. But Preston Mattingly is the general manager. That's Don Mattingly's son. And so Don Mattingly was, was one of the— like a bench coach with Philadelphia when they fired Rob Thompson. He becomes the manager, thus his son hiring him. Either way, they had offered the job to Alex Cora before they had Don Mattingly step in anyway. But they're 3-0 in the Donnie baseball era in Philadelphia. They were 9-19.

I always liked Don Mattingly. I was always a big fan.

Awesome guy. Awesome guy. And really, like I said it on the Pitch Clock yesterday, but the perfect type of manager for a veteran team like Philly that just needed someone to go, hey, long season ahead of us. But they're, they're playing good baseball. They walked off twice yesterday. First team in 22 years to walk off twice in the same day. On both games of their doubleheader against the Giants. And now they come in playing pretty good ball. It's a 4-game set, start of a 10-game homestand for the Marlins, who are 4 over.500 down here thus far this season. Tonight, Star Wars Day, Yacht Rock Sunday, huh?

Can I entice any of you to come out? I love Yacht Rock. They're not doing it on the boat. They don't have a game on May 4th.

They do, but it's Monday and I don't know. I don't know. They're doing it today.

When do you think is the last time someone said said, Yacht Rock, huh? Hey man, if you don't like Yacht Rock, that's your loss.

It did have a huge resurgence. You like Yacht Rock? No. Gen Z loves Yacht Rock. Yeah, there's Yacht Rock.

You love all this other bad rock. Why don't you like Yacht Rock?

I like Yacht Rock.

The hell is Yacht Rock?

Stuff you listen to on the yacht.

Is that like Matchbox 20? Is that—

I don't know. Once they folded in, they got a big win by getting to claim Steely Dan. In the Yacht Rock community. Um, either way, what's the weirdest name for a baby out of the little conversation that Jeremy just had there? Is it Preston? That's a weird name for a baby. Wolverine is a grown man, you can get away with it. But, or, or is it Don? Don, what's it, what's that little sweetie's name? Don? Donald? Donnie? Weird. Or, or is it Jeremy? Jeremy is like, Jeremy is kind of not, you know, uh I'm not, uh, no insult. Go on.

We're gonna lock in our answers. It's perfect.

Weird name for a baby and for a grown-up. And for a grown-up. Am I right? Like, if you were, if you were, if you were a baby named Jerry, would you be, would you be like, hey Dave, what the fuck? Jay and Stephen A. Stephen A. Stephen A. does like, no, no, I'm not Steve, please. It's Stephen A. So if somebody were to meet like, oh, hi Jerry, how are you? Like, no, no. I'm not Jerry, I'm Jeremy. Is that, is that the way everybody else in the room would go?

Or Jerome? What the fuck is happening right now? I was going to say Preston, but he did make a compelling case. I now think it's a weird name.

Jeremy baby? No, no, no.

There's a Pearl Jam song, Zazz, back me up, dude.

Hey, you don't want to be that Jeremy. Yeah, you don't want to be that Jeremy. What do you say? You don't want to know what that Jeremy said. He spoke in class.

He spoke in class.

I'm speaking on the show with Dave.

Relax, bro. Did that put a stink on you, Tashay, when you were growing up, the Pearl Jam song? Did people invoke that around you? No, it came out before I was born, so I didn't have kids bullying me for a Pearl Jam song.

That's always a good counterpunch. Remind somebody about Pearl Jam.

Would you go with Jerry? If you were Tashay, Mike Ryan, would you be like, no, no, please call me Jerry?

I like the name Jeremy. If I had a son, Jeremy would be in the running. Prior to— but that was prior to meeting Jeremy. You would name him after Jeremy Taché? No, I would name him after Jeremy Schocke. Taché.

That's shocking. I would go with Jeeves. Just destined to be a butler.

I haven't met a Preston. I haven't met a Preston. Preston Wilson? I haven't met a Preston. Hey, it's Mike Ryan, and I want to talk to you about the random midweek hang that you have with your friends. Maybe it's an NBA game. You get a text, hey, come over, you want to watch the game? And maybe you're like, ah, I don't know, I kind of just wanted to stay home. And then you think about it after your buddy hits you up and you know just the thing that'll make that regular hang, that regular midweek hang around the basketball game into a special time, into a Miller time. That's right, this happened to me just last week. I grabbed a 6-pack of Miller Lite, said I was on my way, and next thing you know, we're arguing about rotations like we're on the coaching staff, yelling about a missed call. And the game's coming down to the final possession. It was one of those nights that you look around, you take a sip, and you think, yeah, this was the right call, and my friendship's stronger for it. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Lite. Great taste, 96 calories.

Go to MillerLite.com/Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.