This is the Dan Levitar Show with the Stugatz Podcast.
This episode of the Dan Levitar Show is presented by DraftKings. DraftKings, the crown is yours.
June 2nd is Lou Gehrig's Day. Go to projectmainstreet.org to help raise funds for those living with ALS. You can get your End ALS shirts as well. I'm wearing— Dan, you're wearing your NDLs shirt, right? And look, look at Boog. Boog, look at that head of hair on you. Look at that. Look at you. How are you, Boogie?
How you guys doing? It's nice to see you this morning.
You got your NDLs shirt behind you there.
That's—
that's the Cubs. No, it's the other one. Yeah, there you go. It's tough because it's, you know, mirrors. That's a Cubs version of the NDLs shirt you have for every Major League Baseball team available, right?
Yep. All 30 and portion of the proceeds go to Project Main Street to help people living with ALS. You can go to projectmainstreet.org and you can donate, you know, $5, $10, whatever.
Can you— I spoke to you about this recently, obviously, and you've been, you've been doing this for Project Main Street for 20-plus years now. But can you explain to everyone in the audience who maybe doesn't know how much it's all grown and everyone you got participating in what you have going on and raising funds.
Yeah, I mean, we're just trying to raise awareness. Unfortunately, it's a, it's a very underfunded disease. It's a disease. I think, you know, you think back, most people probably— I think half the people probably don't even know, remember what the Ice Bucket Challenge was for. It was for ALS, and it was started by Pete Frates, who was a BC baseball player. Pete and Pat Quinn, who have both since died. and I basically just wanted to reach out and get the shirts on, you know, and put them on social media. So we got, you know, Paul Skeens and Bobby Witt Jr. and Mike Trout and, you know, all the Cubs and around the league and, you know, Mark Few and Danny Hurley and yeah, a ton of guys, you know, and Hall of Fame guys as well. So I had a good one. I sent the shirt to Greg Maddux and we had everybody take a picture. And then say, end ALS. And then say, hi, I'm Greg Maddux. Get your shirt on and wear it on June 2nd, Lou Gehrig Day. And he— all he sent me was a video that just said, end ALS.
I love Boog's background. Now, I also hang all my old credentials on door handles. I do the same exact thing.
Yeah, yeah. There.
What would happen if, like, if you got rid of those credentials? Like, are you afraid that if You know, that event happens again, they're not going to let you in. What's the deal there?
It's a great question. I don't really know why I have them. I'll go throw them out right now, live on the air if you want me to.
I would. Yes, please do that. Do that for us. Declutter your house and just—
do you have a favorite declutter? Yes.
Do you have one that's your favorite? Do you have something in your house? Do you have a treasured bit of memorabilia that is more treasured than all the others?
I would say my press credential when I went to the Olympics in 2000. I looked really skinny on the picture, so I like that one.
Jack, no, you weren't skinny. You were jacked. You were— no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You were super. You were— you looked like Mike Olstad today.
I don't think I have a real favorite piece of memory. I mean, at this point, it's— I mean, look, I had two Marlins World Series rings. I guess I got to say that those are the two things, right?
Can I tell you, there was one time when I was doing the show with Boog that I was scared because he grabbed me one time.
He's very strong.
He's so strong.
Yeah, me too.
Like, Boog's a big guy, so obviously already strong, but like, he's so much stronger than you think he is.
Well, I will explain to you when it is I learned it. Me and my brother attacked him from both sides and he lifted his arms like Chewbacca and threw us across the kitchen, the two of us. It's unbelievable.
You're too strong, Boog.
It's unbelievably strong. It's ridiculous. And his calves, he would beat you over the head with them.
I'm just old now, but thank you.
Yeah, we have a recommendation for you here. We're trying to see— I don't know what the right amount of money is that I would have to offer you to do this for a Cubs broadcast. But Greg Cody has an assortment of catchphrases, 60 of them, that he is counting down. 60? Yes, it used to be 50, but now it is 60. And so we're just going to play them for you real quick. If you want to write down any of these, you tell me the amount of money I have to give to this cause per usage because we don't know what's right. We don't want to desecrate your broadcast, but let's just play all of the—
You kind of do though.
Yeah, kind of do, but for a good cause. So go ahead and play them here for Boog and let's see which of them he thinks he can use.
Number 60, I'm Fuller and Vern Fuller. 59, where's my click click? 58, hey Butterfinger. 57, punt. 56, Scranton. 55, I'm busin' a one-armed paper hanger. 54, Georgia! Georgia! 53, I'm the kind of guy that— 52, ballin' the jack. 51, hey hey with the Monkees, baby. 50, thank you, Billy. 49, I love 'em like a pet. 48, who made it a salad? 47, we're rollin' now, huh? 46, your brain beatin' me. 45, let's go States! 44, driver comfort is paramount. 43, dummy up, say bop. 42, catch as catch can. 41, doesn't make it right. 40, so on and so forth. 39, very good. 38, the Little League theory. 37, nice hat, asshole. 36, the others, they all learn from me. 35, don't go showering to try to please me. 34, look at that jerk. 33, it's like a packing house in here. 32, what'd you learn? 31, hee haw. 3, ba-dap. 30, I'm not gonna take a quiz. 29, sassafras. 28, would we break a window? 27, hello! 26, who won? 25, trailers for sale or rent. 24, you gotta eat a peck of dirt before you die. 23, 3 words, we are the Lobos. And now 22, you're gonna go to Buffalo with Bernie Parmley.
And number 21, rappy cac.
Your thoughts? How many of those do you think you can work in?
It went really fast, and in typical— like, they're— I mean, I could work a lot of them in. I, I don't really want to work much of them in. I'd be interested in possibly getting a little sassafras in there.
How much would I have to give you to make it something that tempts you to, uh, you know push the envelope a little bit because you laughed, you laughed at a couple of them. Would you like to hear the list?
You're going to Buffalo with Birdie Parmley. Like, what am I— I mean, it's gonna be tough. That's like taking me back to my old talk radio days. I'll send you the full list.
I'll send you the full list so you can really drink it in.
But let's play it. Let's just play it for him again and just let's— I want to again play it again.
That's right.
Well, I want him— we did it very fast to him. And so I want him to be able to absorb some of them. Let's just play him.
Didn't he get to 20? I thought he only got to 20.
Yeah, well, he's updating it every week, so that's like— we're still updating it. So the next 10 weeks he'll do the rest.
You remember about those radio teases, Boog?
Yeah, yeah, that's what this is.
Play it for him again. Go ahead and play it for him again.
Okay, let's play it again.
Number 60, I'm Fuller and Vern Fuller. 59, where's my click click? 58, hey Butterfinger. 57, punt. 56, Scranton. 55, I'm visiting a one-armed paper hanger. 54, Georgia. Georgia. 53, I'm the kind of guy that— 52, ball on the jack. 51, hey hey with the Monkees, baby. 50, thank you, Billy. 49, I love him like a pet. 48, who made it a salad? 47, we're rolling now, huh? 46, your brain beating me. 45, let's go States. 44, driver comfort is paramount. 43, dummy up, say bop. 42, catch as catch can. 41, doesn't make it right. 40, so on and so forth. 39, very good. 38, the Little League theory. 37, nice hat, asshole. 36, the others, they all learn from me. 35, don't go showering to try to please me. 34, look at that jerk. 33, it's like a packing house in here. 32, what'd you learn? 31, hee-haw, 3, ba-dap. 30, I'm not gonna take a quiz. 29, sassafras. 28, would we break a window? 27, hello! 26, who won? 25, trailers for sale or rent. 24, you gotta eat a peck of dirt before you die. 23, 3 words: we are the Lobos. And now 22, you're gonna go to Buffalo with Bernie Parmley.
And number 21, rappy cac.
Yeah, one more time. I will not.
I will give, uh, $500 for every one of these you use, uh, to projectmainstreet.org, uh, for any one of these that you use. How many do you think you can get in? Uh, because there are some— there, there are about 20 here that I don't think it's possible for you to get in. I don't think you have enough creativity in you to be able to get some of these in here.
It's not his fault.
It's not his fault. I don't think anybody could. He's doing a— he's doing a serious thing. He's doing a baseball broadcast.
You don't think he could work in 'You're going to Buffalo with Bernie Palmer'?
No, I'm with Dan.
He's not talented.
That hurts.
I think I could get a decent amount of them in. Um, don't make it right. I'm looking at them right now.
You're the kind of guy that, uh—
nice hat asshole could be tough.
We're rolling now.
That'd be hard.
The one we want most, and I might be willing to pay more for this, is you saying like a parrot out of the side of your mouth, very good, very good, very good, very good.
Yeah, please.
Yes, yes. That's—
please.
That's Hee Haw 3: Bidet Up, though, for a strikeout.
That one made you happy. You laughed harder at Hee Haw 3: Bidet Up.
Hee Haw 3. Hee Haw 3. I think— I mean, honestly, the best part about Hee Haw 3 And Chris probably doesn't even know this. Like, I remember hearing about Hee Haw 3 when Chris is like 11.
That's right, I came up.
I'm not even kidding. Were we like— and hearing about Greg umpiring and doing that, and Chris being like, Dad, stop!
It'd be weird. It'd be weird if Chris was playing street baseball at 36 with his dad. All right, can you do this? Is tonight the night that doing this, Boog? Like, are we doing it tonight, or when would we be doing this?
Well, uh, so you want Very Good and you want—
Very Good.
I want—
You want—
Yeah, we want this.
And then you want, uh, Hee Haw 3.
Yes.
But then Sassafras.
Yes, Sassafras. But you have some others here. You could— You— Your brain beat me. You could get $500 pretty easy here and there with a couple of these that wouldn't cost you very much.
This count is fuller than Vern Fuller.
Oh, that'd be so good.
This count is fuller than Vern Fuller is. It's really good.
And we've decided collectively we'll allow you to say bunt instead of punt.
Bunt.
Oh, you'll allow me to say what?
Bunt.
Bunt.
Bunt instead of punt.
Bunt.
Shabba, man, let me tell you something, bruh. One of the best decisions I made as an adult is to start selling my merch. I'm getting so many orders in, I can't believe it. People are buying my ideas left and right. It's so just amazing. But that comes with hundreds upon hundreds of trips to the damn post office. That's why I use ShipStation. ShipStation's intelligence-driven platform brings order management, rate shopping, inventory and returns, warehouse systems, and analytics all into one place, saving me up to 15 hours a week on fulfillment. Everything I need to manage getting orders to customers is in one place. I can connect to over 200 sales channels, man. So instead of bouncing between tools and this and that, man, I got one system, man. It compares rates across USPS, UPS, and FedEx, including my own rates, to find the best option every single time with discounts up to 90% off. Boy, ShipStation is a bad mother. Shut your mouth. But I'm only talking about ShipStation. Try ShipStation for free for 60 days with full access to all features. No credit card needed. Go to shipstation.com and use code Dan for 60 days for free.
60 days gives you plenty of time to see exactly how much time and money you are saving on every shipment. That's shipstation.com, code Dan. ShipStation.com, code D-A-N. And shabba!
Howdy, listeners. We're in that part of the sports calendar where you got multiple big games going on simultaneously, and you gotta decide either to make the investment in multiple screens or to prioritize one thing. And one thing I always prioritize when I'm watching a game is Miller Lite. That's right, Miller Lite can make your time spent watching these games with a buddy or pal even better. That moment where the game tips off, the NBA playoffs are rocking, you toast that white can, and you think immediately after that first sip you made the right call. That is the glory of Miller Lite. I reach for it every time. It's clean, refreshing, easy to drink, brewed for taste with simple ingredients, just 96 calories and 3.2 carbs. The original light beer since 1975, and it still hits different. 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.
The NBA playoffs are here, and DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner in the NBA, brings excitement to every game all postseason long. When the lights get brightest, The best players in the world show you exactly who they are. Playoff stars turn it up round by round, and DraftKings turns it up with them from the first round through the finals. Bet player props, bet live, stay in the action the entire time. New DraftKings customers bet just $5 and you'll get $100 in bonus bets instantly. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app, use code Dan so you're ready for the moment. That's code Dan. Turn $5 into $100 in bonus bets instantly. In partnership with DraftKings, the crown is yours.
Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MY-RESET. New York, call 877-8-HOPE-N-Y or text HOPE-N-Y. Connecticut, call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino in Kansas, wager tax pass-through may apply in Illinois. 21 and over in most states. Void in Ontario. Restrictions apply. Bonus bets expire 7 days after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see sportsbook.draftkings.com. Com/promos. Limited time offer.
Don't remember the idea.
I was probably like, that kind of thing, something.
Okay, no, the home run call was that kind of swing, that kind of thing.
Stugatz. Oh, it's a good call.
Thank you. And plus, it doesn't matter who's hitting it, like you're not tailoring it to a particular name, you know, all that jazz. You know, you don't got to do that. Oh, that would be a great call. That kind of a swing?
That kind of thing? This is the Don Levitar Show with the Stugatz.
I don't know that Chris Cody knows this story. Don't you secretly hate his father for a printed betrayal?
You do this all the time with everybody around here.
I will pay you $1,000 for— you're going to go to Buffalo with Bernie Parmley. I will donate $1,000 myself. To see how you do that.
Okay.
I want to feel— I want to negotiate a little bit. I, I feel like, yeah, $1,000, you're gonna go to Buffalo with Bernie Parmley. Uh, I gotta figure out a way to get that in.
$1,000, it's a promise.
You're not creative or talented enough.
Um, and then, all right, so very good Bernie Parmley. Uh, the parrot, very good. Hee Haw 3. This counts fuller than Vern Fuller.
Hey, Butterfinger!
Guy makes an error. Hey, Butterfinger!
Hey, Butterfinger! Are you doing it? Are you doing it tonight though, or are we gonna have a game tonight? Are we gonna do it?
You don't have a game tonight?
All right, when are we doing it? June 2nd? No, you got too much to do June 2nd. You're doing too much that day.
I got too much to do June 2nd. Uh, I could, I could do it some in the next probably couple games. I was gonna say Friday, but Apple TV's doing it Friday, so, uh, Saturday or Sunday.
Just gotta tell our listeners so they know. They know that they gotta—
so you want— what, what's— so like a weekday is better?
Uh, well, the Skeens game, uh, you guys got Skeens, uh, uh, Thursday, May 28th, Skeens against the Cubs.
I am not working that game. Oh, sassafras.
Hell of a gig you got.
Your brain beating me.
Yes, that's right.
That's right.
Don't you secretly have animosity toward Greg Cody for a betrayal from many years ago?
I don't think—
I think I let it go.
I think I let—
yeah, I won. I won like $10,000 playing blackjack. And then Cody wrote about it. I was like, when I talked to him about it, I was like, Greg, why? Why did you do that? Or at least why wouldn't you check with me? And he was like, Oh, he's like, your brain beating me. Sorry.
Uh, the, the crew here unfortunately has developed out of nowhere a giant interest in the Brewers that just swept your beloved Cubs in a very difficult— in a very difficult, uh, division. Uh, it's an athletic Brewers team.
Oh, there's only one reason. I don't care about the athleticism. I care about throwing gas. Explain this guy to the audience because we have not spoken about their ace.
Yeah, Mizerowski. He's the— I mean, it's, it's absurd. He's throwing throws 102 miles an hour.
He—
what's hysterical is that his fastball averages 100 miles an hour and he gets extension. So the perceived velocity is like 102. Yeah, he's the hardest throwing starter in the history of the sport and he's striking out 40% of the guys that he faces. It's, it's a joke how good he is.
Yeah.
Perceived velocity kind of feels like, feels like temperature. Like the velocity is what it is. Get out of here with feels like velocity. Not you, Boogey.
I would say that it— I would say that if you just like open your brain up for a second, it would be, you know, it's basically— it's basically your brain, how hard the guy throws and then he's releasing it closer.
My bigger beef is with feels like temperature. I got news for you. Whatever it feels like, that's the temperature.
But what he's saying is this guy is also so long that where his release point is, is closer to the batter than other human beings.
That's correct. Yeah, I get you on the feels like thing. I understand. I mean, in Miami, you're not dealing with a lot of feels like temperature, really.
Oh, yeah, we are. Yeah, we are. Because when it gets humid, you know, when it gets humid— when I landed the other day and the pilot said it's 95, it's the middle of May and 95.
That was a hot week, though, to be fair.
It was. It felt like 105, though.
It was like 46 last night at the end of our game.
You guys have to remind me of the day we're doing this. So that we can tell the listeners, because, uh, what Boog is doing here— he has dedicated a great deal of his care and time over the last several years to making something that is taking over baseball on Lou Gehrig Day, June 2nd. Go to projectmainstreet.org. They are raising money for those living with ALS, and they're cool t-shirts. You can get your own team if you have a favorite team. It's, uh, projectmainstreet.org. Make sure to let us know, Boog, the day that we're doing this so that we can make sure that our listeners are there and enjoying. How many of those do you think you can get off?
If you had to take a guess, I would say I'm gonna, I'm gonna try to get 3 or 4 of them in. 3, 4, 5, in that, in that range. So I would love to get— if I can get— you're gonna go to Buffalo with Bernie Parmley? He's so good. I will definitely try to, try to get that in and scare up the cash from you guys.
Amazing.
What will the reaction be to that?
Yeah, I can't wait.
So confused.
Yes, it is confusing. Any other good ones on here before we let him go? Anything on here that has a degree of difficulty that we would pay more for?
I think that if, if in a big spot a Cub pitcher gets a strikeout and I really lean into hee-haw, 3, I think that's worth $1,000.
You gotta have a bidet up.
That'd be great.
You gotta have the bidet up. You gotta go, "Hee haw, 3!" Little pause.
Bidet up!
So if it's only "Hee haw, 3!" it's $500.
Correct.
And if he throws in "Bidet up!" it's $1,000.
That's a gag.
Okay. Deal. Deal? Do we have a deal, Boog? Deal. Alright. There it is. He is the voice of the Chicago Cubs, the voice of Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN Radio. And Zazz had it right. A tremendous head of hair. Just so good. Just really good today. Nice seeing you, buddy. I love you.
Love you guys.
The Giannis conversation we were beginning to have got a little bit sidetracked as it was happening. What are you smiling about, Tony? Good job.
Boog is funny, man.
I like Boog.
He makes funny faces too.
He does.
He was mogging a lot during the— during the—
mogging?
Yeah, he was on screen. He was looksmaxing and mogging. He was like, kind of raising the eyebrow, doing a little bit like the people's— or not people's elbow, but the Rock's eyebrow.
You had trouble remembering the people?
No, I'm not a dork, so I don't know. Shrimp throw my elbow.
You said he did a thing with his eyebrow and you didn't know that the word eyebrow.
Thank you, Chris.
Just seems weird.
Giannis, the idea that this sport not only has broken its main players but has evolved somewhere beyond Giannis where trade interest in somebody who, when he first arrived at dominance, we kind of thought that that looked like an unprecedented physical human being, that the sport would this quickly evolve beyond his usefulness in a way that Zach Lowe and Bill Simmons are saying, that the trade market is lukewarm on damaged goods, um, is crazy to me.
Well, I'll tell you what's also interesting is This is a league that you had to have veterans. Your best players had to be older and experienced. It was not a young person's league. You do not win with young teams. And now it seems like everyone wants young guys. And the Thunder, the Spurs, they're gonna be around forever now. They're probably the two best teams. They're super young. And it used to be that is not the formula for winning.
And Giannis is no longer super young guy. Uh, I'm going to say it again though. This player never available. Like, it's just not something that's usually so that you can change your franchise's fortunes. But there has been damage done here in a number of places, not the least of which is they haven't been good enough with him while trying to build around him in a way that the league has evolved past because he's not one of the good 3-point shooters.
It's not surprising that the market is lukewarm. You say that this player is never available. He's literally been made available. The last two cycles. I think everybody's over this guy.
Uh, it seems clear, but what I'm marveling at is— and Zazz, you know basketball enough to know this— a player who caves in every single defense when he has the ball is usually not someone that you can get. He's, he's someone that you either get and keep, or you're stuck without being able to develop someone like that, because in the history of human bodies, there have been very few that function that way. He, before when Banyama was popularizing. I can go from the free throw line and just reach over and dunk.
Yeah. The reason teams are going to do it is because if— or whatever team winds up doing it— if the market is in fact lukewarm, like maybe the offer that the Heat were making at the deadline, they could even pull back a little bit.
That can't be accurate. It cannot be accurate that the market for Giannis Antetokounmpo is actually lukewarm.
It's surprising to see what Bobby Marks threw out there in terms of the players.
Because that's less than what we thought the Heat were offering.
Yeah, it would be what we thought the minimum offer would be, which was Tyler Herro, Khalel Ware, Nikola Jović, and then a haul of picks from there.
And was he even that much of a haul? I think he, I think he put in like 2 picks there, but it was 3. 3.
There's 3. It's all the, all the picks that they could trade without maneuvering anything else. I think there is a maneuver they could make to make that 4 picks.
If that's what the Heat would offer, if that's what it would take— Tyler Herro, Kelo Ware, getting off Nikola Jović and whatever draft picks— you have to do that.
Swap at the end, so it's 2 firsts and a swap in '29.
But one of the firsts is in '33.
Yeah, who gives a shit, you know? Like, if that's what they'd be offering, you have to do it if you're Miami.
Well, and you'd still have a lot of flexibility. Like, they still have— I still have good players— Andrew Wiggins, on a potential player option and bring back a free agent. Now, you could also take those players and do sign-and-trades and ship them for other stars that you could then really start building something around if you don't want those to just be complementary pieces. I'm looking at somebody in LA.
I'm looking at what you guys just put on the screen. That's not going to do it. There's no circumstance under which you're going to get them to take your shitty—
next fan.
Jović contract, and you're not gonna get back his brother and an assort— and Miles Turner and an assortment of contracts that they don't want.
I mean, like, I hear you, but it's not like Bobby Marks doesn't know what he's talking about.
Like, yeah, I, I'm not with us being like, get out of here, Zach Lowe and Bobby Marks telling us that the market is lukewarm.
They have a hell of a better idea than we do. Yeah, Bobby Marks isn't just throwing up bullshit.
That's not gonna do it though. They're not gonna take your bad contracts, and you don't have take any of their bad contracts.
I don't think you're looking at this the right way.
They're undercutting our package.
Yeah, Knicks fan over here doesn't understand that Tyler Herro is on an expiring deal and Khalel Ware is an uber talented young player and Nikola Jović is 22 years old. You're not, you're not getting him at $30 million a year. You're getting him at, I believe, between $13 and $16 over the course of 4 years as a team, by the way, that would be purposefully now starting a rebuild. That's a guy you're perfectly comfortable taking a risk on.
And we're talking about giving up 3 first-round picks. I'm telling you, the days of trading away 5 first-round picks— Desmond Bane, Rudy Gobert, Mikal Bridges— that's done.
Well, especially for a player at this age anymore, like at this age.
Don Lebatard.
I think I would have been on his side.
I would have looked at you like, what did you say?
I'm telling you, me and my friend, the rest of the way home, all we kept saying was, I ain't cheating, Stugatz.
It's like, why'd you say that?
I think he got your ass. I got his ass.
Chris won this one for sure. Not with that, Jeremy. It was great.
This is the Dan Levatar Show with the Stugatz.
Can you guys, uh, tell me from last night's game how much this is gonna escalate if we're 2 games in and we're already at Hartenstein's not playing basketball and Wembenyama's just being like— they're of course going to zealously try to protect their title by any means necessary, on the line or not on the line. And what you have to do when you're talking about game planning for anybody over a 7-game series is you have to physical Wembenyama up. You must do that. And you're going to do it with a team that's not only a defending champion, but a defending champion that plays very difficult defense and many people think also doesn't mind dabbling in the dirty.
Look, you totally have to play a super physical game once we get to this point in the playoffs. I love— I grew up with Heat-Nicks. I mean, I wish we— last night felt like Heat-Nicks, you know, not score-wise, but the style of play. It was a battle every single time they had the ball. And I, I like that kind of physicality. But there's a difference between that and what looks like you're trying to hurt guys. Like, there's— I don't know what explanation Hardenstein can give for grabbing Stephen Castle by his hair from behind, you know. I don't know what kind of explanation Chet Holmgren can give for stepping on Wemba Nyama's foot right as the free throw is shot. These are plays that will hurt You're trying to do these things to hurt people. And this Thunder team now, like, I know we had Amin on last week or two weeks ago and he was pushing back. He doesn't understand why people don't like watching the Thunder. It's this, like, they're dirty. We didn't even mention Lou Dort. I don't know why I said we. I'm the only one talking right now. I didn't mention Lou Dort.
And Shaquille O'Neal Alexander is falling down every time he shoots. He's falling to the ground, man.
They're, they're doing these supercuts on him and now I can't get it out of my mind. I'm fixated on him. I'm locked in and he's falling down every time. You say it's part of the game.
It's part of his game.
Yes, and I hate it. It's, it's not good sportsmanship.
Tricking the referees is part of his game.
Yes, it's— he's trying to trick the referees into giving him a foul that he doesn't deserve. It's cheating, and that's the way that I look at it.
Guys, we just— we've been talking about James Harden for 6 months on this show. James Harden was the archetype of—
not in a positive light.
Okay, I know, I know.
People don't like him. People don't like Embiid for those reasons. But nobody's been worse at it or better at it, depending on how you look at it, than SGA.
That tough watch, man. This Thunder team is like— they went from darlings to, ooh, I don't like you pretty quick.
That's just the greatness of what they are, right? Like, outside of SGA, there's a lot of guys who are role players who are good players. But okay, the Chet and Wemby thing, that's just them going back to their 17-year-old games in FIBA where they don't like each other, and Wemby's gotten the best of Chet. For 10 years, right? Like, that's what that is. The SGA thing, that's part of his game. Wemby's also— I don't know, we conveniently didn't mention him diving at SGA's knees for a loose ball he wasn't going to get yesterday. We didn't say that. Wemby, one or two times a game, flies into the stands. Inexplicable, because he's a guy that's super strong and has a super strong core and legs and flies 20 feet into the—
into the— yeah, like, that's—
he flops too. Like, I don't want to hear that people are playing him tough and then he's gonna get hurt he flops his ass off.
Hardenstein though is going to be a point of emphasis now the remainder of the series as long as he's out there. Played a lot more last night than he did in game number 1. And, and so I don't know if you saw this, Dan, after the game ended last night, the on-court reporter, uh, I think her name is, uh, Zora, Zora Stevenson, does that sound right?
That's right.
And she, she asked Sheygodis Alexander on the court what kind of difference Hartenstein made. Listen to this, Dan.
You all made a pivot defensively, hard on Wemby. What kind of impact did Isaiah have tonight?
I'm not sure if it was good, to be honest.
Yeah, break that down for me.
Say again?
Break that down for me. Why was his impact not good?
It was all right. It was good. It was good. We, um, yeah, we wanted to switch it up, give them different looks. Um, yeah, that's what it's about when you play against good players. You gotta switch it up, make sure the rhythm's not the same, and we did that tonight.
Appreciate the honesty. Thank you.
Appreciate it.
Okay, first of all, excellent job by her. Excellent job.
The follow, the follow was important.
Excellent job. Yes, that was terrific. That was weird though, right?
Where you just never hear that.
Yeah, I don't know.
I don't know what to make of it actually.
Well, okay, so let's add a little bit more. So obviously that had everyone who was in attendance, the media members are now buzzing. Hey, you hear what Shea said on court right after the game ended? And so we're talking probably like 25, 30 minutes later is when the players start to come out to the podium. Of course, Shea Gilders Alexander is out there to address the media, and he's asked about that.
Shea, your answer on Hart in the postgame interview on the court was different than the one in here. Can you just kind of explain what was going on there? Um, I didn't really hear, and then once I realized what she said, I gave her the right answer. Yeah, at first I didn't— I heard it wrong when she said What could—
I don't know if he's lying, I don't know, but what could he possibly have thought she said if it was— if the answer was, "I don't know if it helped." I don't know what to make of that.
Let's play the original sound again just so that I can remind everybody this is a human being, okay, that the league is having some trouble marketing because the way we've done some of this stuff in the past with Michael Jordan and others, eh, You don't have to give us any personality. We'll write the mythology around you. Just be yourself. This person's not easy to sell on soundbites because he doesn't say anything interesting ever. And this team with him as its face doesn't quite have a personality outside of its playing style other than they're young guys who are having fun. And when I hear Shea Gilgeous-Alexander talk, I don't hear sales. I don't hear somebody who is marketing himself. He's just being himself. And I did not understand what it is he thinks the question was.
You all made a pivot defensively hard on Wemby. What kind of impact did Isaiah have tonight?
I'm not sure if it was good, to be honest. Yeah.
Break that down for me.
Say again?
Break that down for me. Why was his impact not good?
It was all right. It was good. It was good. We, um, Um, yeah, we want to switch it up, give them different looks. Um, yeah, that's what it's about when you play against good players. You gotta switch it up, make sure the rhythm's not the same, and we did that tonight.
Appreciate the honesty. Thank you.
Theories? Any theories? We got any theories, audience? We got any theories? I've been distracted, just bored by the interview.
Yeah, I mean, muscle memory type of thing and just looking around.
Well, yes, I, I would say that anybody who's doing doing a halftime interview who doesn't want to be there and wants to just shut their brain off entirely can just go into, we're going to be more aggressive, or aggressive, just say aggressive. They all have a handful of clichés that they can go to. Watch in these interviews how often aggressive is the one that gets, uh, chosen there. But I don't have a theory on what just happened.
Could have made a grand if he just merely said You're going to go to Buffalo with Bernie Parmley? I dare you to work that in, Boogshambi. I doubt your talent.
$1,000 you were giving. I offered only $500 because I thought he was going to choose 20 of them. He only went 3 or 4, and now I feel cheap and I feel like I'm not charitable. I feel like I'm pro-ALS all of a sudden.
Yeah, I also don't want him to pick a weekend game. We got stuff going on. Let's keep negotiating behind the scenes. That Thursday would have been perfect. Skeens, you have the TV to yourself. Give me a little afternoon matinee, you know.
I love a matinee.
I'm a matinee marauder. You know that about me.
I really, really found funny Tony looking up the other day and saying, of baseball day games, who's that for?
Brother, seriously, everybody's at work. Everybody's doing stuff. I know in Miami nobody's working.
Nobody's doing anything. The crown is yours.
It's for their well-being. Because of the travel they have to do.
Yes, and my well-being.
Yeah, but it's for betting action at a time there is no betting act, no other betting action.
1,200 people in the stands!
I know, but that's not what that's for. Baseball's actually smart to do that because they have the betting audience to themselves during—
It's called Getaway Day, guys.
Yeah, yeah, it is.
That's a, that's a little benefit, but it's because of travel.
Uh-huh, and it's also ingrained in the fiber of the sport, and that's all great, Yeah, we've talked about it the first time that it came up, and I'm the one that mentioned, yes, these baseball teams have to land in another city at not 5 o'clock in the morning, and that's the reason there are day games. But Tony's curious and befuddled. Who's that for? Because you're watching in Tampa, you're watching 9 people in the stands on a Wednesday at 2 o'clock.
Jeremy's right, which is why you often see 1:35 PM NBA games. Games.
So I have Kyle Schwarber over 1.5 bases.
They play every day, guys. It's every day, not every other day.
How many people would be at the 1:35 PM Wednesday afternoon NBA game?
If it's a matinee, I'm there. You know that about me.
It would be such a good lane for some of these, uh, leagues to take, uh, to actually make more day games.
That's what the European expansion is for.
They're going to have to do some of these evolutions. You saw that the NFL is going to have Wednesday night games at some point. There's not going to be a time where you can't get some sort of action on sports. Like, people are going to move into those spaces because everyone wants and needs the programming. I did want to get back into a conversation, though, that we started the other day. You guys don't actually care, right, that Prime and Peacock and everyone, Netflix, uh, they're not gonna do journalism. Like, that's done. The, the journalism around where this is headed with these partnerships, there's going to be less and less discomfort and less and less truth between how it is these entities work together. I've told you guys the story, and this is one of the places it can happen, but it can happen anywhere where there's power. Uh, when the concussion stuff was being reported by NPR and football didn't like the concussion stuff being reported and didn't like that one of their league partners, ESPN, had a partnership with NPR to report the concussion stuff, eventually John Skipper, the most powerful man in sports, or person in sports at the time, realized as that was climbing up to him between his league partnership and the truth, oh, I'm the conflict.
And he decided to stop concussion coverage, got out of the concussion reporting business because ESPN was trying to do journalism where there was business. And there was the intersection where the NFL, uh, the NFL players could look up and say, you're brainbeating me. Like, right there, the reporting stopped because John Skipper looked up and was like, yeah, need the money. You good with that? Like, you good with that just being the new norm?
"You're gonna go to Buffalo with Bernie Parmalee?"
Boog is working to “End ALS” through projectmainst.org, and Dan is ready to put his money where his mouth is. And that is a BIG mouth. He also tells us about Jacob Misiorowski, his beautiful calves, and the credentials hanging on his door before we get to last night's game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs, which was full of flopping.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices