Transcript of Felix Rosenqvist: The First Bearded Indy 500 Winner | Hour 2 New

This is the Dan Lebatard Show with the Stugatz Podcast.

This episode of the Dan Lebatard Show is presented by DraftKings. DraftKings.

Yeah.

The crown is yours.

The winner of last weekend's Indy 500 is going to join us here in moments. Felix Rosenqvist is going to be with us. The closest Indy 500 ever. He won it by 0.0233 seconds. Heartbreak for the second-place finisher. I want to, before we get to that though, go back to yesterday's conversation about the weird way that Bryce Harper brushes his teeth. Greg Cody, I don't know if you have seen this or not, but this is how Bryce Harper brushes his teeth, he puts the toothpaste in his mouth first. He does not put it on his toothbrush. He just squeezes Minty Fresh into his mouth from the bottom of the tube and then starts with the brushing. It seems unpleasant, and it got us into a conversation about how couples brush their teeth. I think the angriest, or close to the angriest, that Valerie has ever been with me is one time I did not Like, I was bothered by the fact that my toothbrush was used, and I'm like, I don't like that. I like my toothbrush to be my toothbrush. I'm not sharing. I don't want to be sharing.

And she was mad because that means, like, you're saying she's gross.

Well, I'm not saying it's gross. I'm saying I don't want my toothbrush in any other human being's mouth. Not anybody's. I want my toothbrush to be only my toothbrush.

You could be saying he's gross.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

You didn't want that for Valerie.

I would never say that about my beloved angel. I'm not saying her teeth or any part of her is gross. But my mouth is broke. Did you hear me last segment? My tone was bad and it came out of a stinky mouth.

Keep saving the butte.

How do you guys do this with your significant others?

The guys this morning thought that I was weird that I have my own— I think Trista was offended, maybe as a woman, I don't know. But that—

Why did you give it that marbly sound?

Well, because maybe it's a couple's thing, you know? Like if you were with someone and You— anyway, whatever.

Let's move on!

Let's move on!

Focus on the wrong thing here.

Head on the ball!

Trissa especially was offended that I have my own toothpaste. My wife has her own, I have my own. What's the problem here?

What is the point of that?

It's a gag.

Well, I— I— when I'm brushing my teeth, why do I have to go over— we have two sinks— why do I have to go over to her sink and like fiddle around and find the toothpaste.

You can just put the toothpaste in the middle between two sinks.

Well, is it the same brand?

Yeah.

That's weird.

That's where it gets a little weirder. I'm in a similar situation. Sinks are far apart, not even connected. They're both on their own island.

Big bathroom, huh?

I have a different toothpaste preference.

Yeah, I do too.

So I have my own.

Yeah, I think she— I think, look, my wife very clearly likes us having completely separate stuff when it comes to the bathroom.

Bedrooms.

I think that's what it's about. Girlfriends.

You have to have different toothbrushes. Come on, what do you—

well, yeah, Dad, we're saying toothpaste.

Okay, toothpaste.

Everyone has different toothbrushes.

Okay, well, not apparently not everybody because, you know, Dan's using—

no, this was something that happened one time and it never happened again.

Yeah, toothbrushes cost like $3. Go buy your own. Um, I would sooner brush my teeth with my forefinger, which I have done, uh, than use my wife's toothbrush.

And it's nothing against her, That's not brushing your teeth. Doing it with your forefinger.

No, no, no.

I mean, that was a move when you were like 8.

When have you done that? You said, you said, I've done that.

No, occasionally, you know, I'm on a one-night trip. I'll forget to pack a toothbrush. I don't want to go buy it.

You call downstairs, they'll bring one up to you. I'm the kind of guy that does that.

Yeah, you go like this.

It's done.

I also shampoo my hair in a swimming pool.

I may have invented that.

That's not brushing your teeth. It's dirtying your finger.

No, it isn't.

Eh, butterfinger!

My family was over my dad's house for Memorial Day in the pool, and my wife and my—

also known as Greg's shower—

my wife, my daughter, and my sister-in-law all learned of that fact in the pool, and they were like just mortified at the idea. They're like, wait, you bring shampoo in here? And he was just like, yeah, sometimes. He got really embarrassed.

I do it on the deep end.

Does that have to do with it?

Because it definitely stays on that side.

It has nothing to do with Okay, the others, they all learn from me. The pool guy— oh, it's the deep end— will send a gigantic jug of chlorine once a week. What is that chlorine?

You're still doing a chlorine pool?

Yeah, the chlorine damages your hair, neutralizing the shampoo.

No, I don't look at it that way. It's okay.

Why don't you just bathe in bleach then? Why don't you just do that?

That seems dangerous, Dan. Are you suggesting people do that?

I'm telling you that what you're doing—

Levittard suggests people bathe in bleach.

I think that chlorine, once you get out of the pool covered in chlorine, you're not clean, you're just covered in chlorine.

Anybody who goes in the pool then is quote-unquote covered in chlorine.

Nah, most people have saltwater pools like I do.

No, I don't think that's most people.

No, I think saltwater pools are becoming a thing. I don't know if it's more popular, but it is a trend.

Most people though.

I don't know if it's most people.

It's evening out a little bit.

It's rich people, honestly.

I think it's still more chlorine pools.

Oh yeah, I'd much rather have a chlorine pool. I don't want to go to the ocean. If I want a saltwater pool, I'll go to the ocean. Or go showerin' to try to please me.

Or in the shallow end.

You gotta do it in the deep end though. See, it would be rude to wash your hair in the shallow end.

Of course.

Because that's where most people hang out.

I've been watching the Indy 500 champion listening to this, and I think he's mortified, so let's just include him on part of these conversations that we're having. He just won the closest Indy 500 ever. Felix Rosenqvist is with us. Yes. Welcome to him. So first question, a normal question. Thank you for being on with us. What do you think about somebody who shampoos in their swimming pool?

That's the, that's the funniest question I've had since I came to New York.

You're welcome.

I don't think that's a— that's probably a red flag to me.

Not a yellow flag?

No, it's a red flag.

But checkered flag?

Maybe, yeah, yellow flag.

Okay, caution. That's more like it.

Thank you.

Okay.

How do you feel about somebody who pees in the pool?

Gotta say green flag on that one.

Okay, you made a good game.

I'm guilty. I'm guilty of that one, I think.

All right. Green flag, caution, red flag, checkered flag. I like the whole thing. How about squeezing a toothpaste tube directly into your mouth and then brushing?

Green flag, baby. Oh, wow.

Wait, do you do that? I know green flag means you're okay with it, but do you do that?

Yes.

Whoa, we found a second one.

I think I've been guilty of that. Because sometimes, you know, when you don't, you just want to freshen up and you just do, you just need like toothpaste in your mouth, but you don't need a toothbrush. So you take a little, basically what you said, and then a little gulp of water and you like flush it out. So yeah, I definitely do that.

Homemade mouthwash.

All right, your significant—

Mouthwash.

Which flag is your significant other using your toothbrush?

What flag she considers my toothbrush?

No, no, no. If I tell you your significant other wants to use your toothbrush, what kind of flag do you give that? Green flag, yellow flag, or red flag?

I think it's a green flag. You know, it's family. It's family on that toothbrush.

Letting the water run the entire time you're brushing your teeth.

Yeah, I do that all the time. Really? It's a red flag for my significant other. He thinks about the water bill.

If you splash the mirror while you're brushing your teeth, do you immediately clean it?

No, never.

Yes, I do. That becomes kind of an annoyance over time.

All right. I like how thoughtful you are. Now, stay with me. This is going to take a turn. Do you stand or sit?

Oh, no.

Gotta stand.

At night I sit.

That's a man that wants a long-term relationship. You can't have extra dribble around the floor.

Well, no, I mean, well, I'm a very clean guy, so I'm just not going to take the guests at night, bro. I don't want to turn on the light. All right.

Well, actually, I got a better answer.

Standing at night, sitting.

All right. How about— all right. When we're going in for the pit stop number 2.

Going deep.

And it's time to wipe. Standing or sitting?

Wait, wiping number 2.

People does stand.

Yeah. This is a reaction that we always get.

Yes.

It's actually like a 50-50 split.

You'd be surprised.

But the sitters cannot imagine a world in which people stand.

Don't knock it till you tried it.

Yeah. I gotta say this.

And I'm sorry for all of this, by the way.

Wow.

Wait, so there's a 50-50 split.

It's pretty close.

I don't think it's 50-50.

You don't have to do a split.

You can just stand up and then just, I don't think, I don't think it's a 50-50 split, but you are shocked to learn learned that there are people who wipe standing up.

So yesterday I learned that I'm the first bearded Indy 500 winner ever in 110 years. And that was the most shocking fact of my life. This, this fact might have just beaten that one.

I must fill you with pride.

How about that?

All right. Let's talk to him about why he's here. Again, the closest Indy 500 race ever. 0.0233 seconds. Did you know you'd won?

Uh, yeah, I was pretty sure I'd won it, but I had to kind of double-check. You know, I saw people on the grandstand celebrating. It's like half a million people there, by the way. It's absolutely nuts. But for a split second, I was like, you probably should confirm. And then I heard my team radio and it was like absolute roar and it was like a brawl on our pit stand. And then I think I allowed myself to accept that I won it. Yeah, it was pretty cool.

What are the craziest things that have happened to your life in the last couple of days?

I got a telegram from the King and Queen of Sweden. Wow. That was pretty— that's kind of when you realize that you've done something special. Otherwise, I mean, I won a Corvette. I won $4.3 million. I won— I have it in my pocket.

Oh, he lists the money first.

Hold on a second. This thing.

Oh, that's good.

A lot of stuff, a lot of swag comes with this win. And I think we're only getting started, to be honest.

Well, tell us something about the swag in a second, but tell us how you got the telegram. I didn't think we were still doing telegrams. Did someone hand you a telegram? Did someone email you a telegram?

So basically the king's people reached out to my people and it was an email conversation and I had to provide my physical address. And then they sent the telegram in the form of a letter and a copy in a PDF to my email. Wow. So it's a mix of the future and the past.

But so when you click—

Very cool.

When you click on it, you're like, you don't know what that is. Which one did you get first?

Oh, I'm in New York now, so, uh, I got the PDF.

Okay, so you're clicking on it, you're like, what is this? Do I trust this? Is this real? Is this— is this spam?

Potential malware.

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Dan Lebatard.

What is the worst part of the life?

Stugats.

The worst part of the life of what?

This is the Dan Lebatard Show with the Stugats.

What is the community of Swedish athletes like? Is it close? I'm wondering if you've been hearing from other professional— like Gustav Forsling of the Florida Panthers, or anybody else, uh, that's reached out to you.

Weird.

To be fair with you, I haven't really looked. I have— I think it's in the 4-digit amount, the amount of messages, and that's not including Instagram DMs. Like, text message and WhatsApp is like over 1,000, and I haven't even We've just been on a whirlwind here, like a media tour. I'm going to take a— when I come home tonight, I'm going to sit down and go through. But yeah, the two previous Swedish Indy 500 winners have contacted me. It's pretty cool. We have three, I think. Yeah, that's a 9 million people nation.

When you say the swag is incredible, go ahead and tell us some of the things you're just being handed. Baskets of free stuff.

Pretty much. Pretty much. It's, uh, wherever we go, it seems like I just now have like people around me that handle stuff for me. And I'm a— it's so weird, man. I'm like not a very extravagant, extravagant guy, but now apparently I have like servants and people that carries my water bottles and gives me coffees and, you know, wake me up in the morning like a little alarm and stuff. It's, uh Definitely a different life from this day on.

Is this something that you have literally dreamt about? Does racing and winning a race this way, is it something that has actually crept into your sleep?

If I had any sleep, I'm sure it would have. Yeah, dude, it's— I mean, I don't know how much you follow racing, but that finish was like— a lot of people I met said it was the best Indy 500 ever. And Yeah, this is stuff you dream about since you're a kid. It's just incredible.

I'm curious, the draw of the Indy 500 to a European, because, you know, half a million people on the grounds. It's a huge moment for IndyCar and all eyes go on that here in the States. But in Europe, that's Formula One country. I wonder if you guys grow up over there knowing about the Indy 500, if it's on a pedestal the way that it is here.

The cool thing is that it is— everyone back home knows what this race is. And I, I grew up, uh, you know, when I was 8, I saw Kenny Bräck win it, my fellow Swede, in, in '99. And it's just one of those marquee events that it's like the Masters or the Super Bowl. Like, everyone knows about this race whether they love racing or not. And, and that's why it's so cool, you know. You're— it's If you won any other race, you would be obviously in this community, people know about it. But this one is like you jump in a cab in Gothenburg and people know what the Indy 500 is. Yeah, dude. Now I think it's here as well, which is awesome.

I'm curious just about the toll on your body for a race like this. How sore are you after racing period versus the Indy 500, like as specific as you can get? Because I think a lot of people don't realize how much of an exertion it is.

It is an incredibly physical sport. It's probably the sport where it looks the easiest, but it is the most difficult. I mean, I didn't realize, but we were in the cars for 4 hours on Sunday and you basically have this little like straw to drink out of with basically like drinking hot tea because it sits next to the radiator and it's super warm. So it's, it's a massive physical toll, uh, but I think Indy 500 is more like a mental— the mental aspect is actually bigger than the physical one. Uh, but yeah, we unfortunately, we have to train a lot for, uh, preparing ourselves for these races. Felix, what is the hardest part of the life Dude, it's, it's pretty easy to be me right now.

Is it? I would think that the having a baby a couple of weeks ago is the reason you're actually not sleeping. It's not the last couple of days.

And the reason why I'm in New York, so I don't have to change diapers.

Congratulations on that. She's taking care of everything and you've got servants now who make sure that everything is taken care of for you.

You'd never— Exactly.

You'd never won an oval race before, ever?

Correct. Yeah. I've only won the, the ones where you have to turn right as well.

So how rare is that?

For me, it's very rare. And for me, it's such a statement to myself more than anything to win an oval. Like in Sweden or in Europe, we don't have ovals. So my first oval race was the Indy 500 2019. And I was like completely terrified. By the way, it's like an absolute crazy thing to do. Like you're racing at 230 miles per hour, wheel to wheel, and everyone's an absolute lunatic in this field. Like you have to be to be good. But I wasn't then, but I kind of learned how to become one and to not let my fear distract me. But yeah, ovals are— yeah, they're, they're fast, they're dangerous, but they're, I say, also more rewarding when you, when you win. You mentioned the prize, $4.34 million.

$500 million.

What are you going to buy? I have a lot of bets. $500 million, I'm going to buy this, buy that. I have to buy a snowmobile for my sister, apparently. I'm going to start with that. Apparently.

What do you mean apparently?

I heard you talk about like pools before.

Yes.

Like you talked about swimming pools and chlorine and all this. I tried to do that myself and to like do the whole mixture with chemicals. Now I might actually Pay someone to—

Yeah, it's amazing.

You're getting a pool guy. You got to get a pool guy.

Do my chemicals for me.

Yes, a pool guy and a snowmobile for his sister.

That's right.

Got a good one.

$90 a month.

Felix, congratulations, sir. Delightful to talk to you. It was fun watching and it was fun talking to you.

Thank you very much.

Except for the long pauses. Thank you. We appreciate it. That was a high wire. That really was.

I love that guy.

Yeah, it's, uh, he was pretty playful, pretty lovable.

You think the Indy 500 winner would have faster Wi-Fi somehow?

Answers incredibly slow.

Thoughtful, very thoughtful.

The shampooing of the hair in the pool, uh, Cody, uh, you're, you're not rethinking that? You're, you're doubling down on that?

Yeah, of course, tripling down. Yeah, I'm disappointed that, uh, you know, Rosenqvist, uh, didn't, uh, get on board there.

You feel clean when you get out of the pool?

Very much so. Yeah, yeah.

Put it on the poll at Le Batard Show. Do you feel clean when you get out of the pool? Because I don't. I feel like there's a chemical on me. I feel if it's not a saltwater pool, I even— well, saltwater too, actually, but, uh, chlorine is worse. Like, I feel like there's a film off on me when I get out of a pool, and I don't want that in my hair. That's not like— shampoo doesn't remedy the fact that I don't want chlorine in my hair.

Chlorine is a cleansing agent, you know. What are you doing?

You think it's good for the hair? You think chlorine— you think—

I've been told that by meteorologists.

Meteorologists? Weather people? Weather people?

Yeah, Don Noh, the former Channel 10 guy, told me that chlorinating your hair was good for you.

Don Noh is who you mentioned? Someone who hasn't been on television doing the weather in 25 years. How is it that you've only gotten worse since this?

Root for the Canadian team.

Oh my. I'm good, no Joker!

Go ahead, put that on rerun, replay, what do you call that? Repeat.

I'm good, no Joker!

He sounds like Commissioner Gordon telling Batman to go get the Joker.

Thank you. I'm good, no Joker! Why would I ask a meteorologist if chlorine is good for the hair?

He deals with rainfall and stuff like that, water. Precipitation.

But chlorine's not in any of that.

Precipitation.

Greg's right about this.

You're doubling— you're doubling down. You're doubling down on chlorine and shampooing in the pool. You sound like Becky Hammond. Becky Hammond said the New York Knicks cannot win with Jalen Brunson as their best player. And she was asked about it again. And Becky Hammond did her best Greg Cody.

Nicks fans, you're taking a little bit of grief from what you said about Jalen Brunson.

You are.

I'm not big enough.

I never say—

hey, exactly why I'm saying—

no, I mean, I speak from, I speak from experience, and I never— you know, Allen Iverson got MVP and he lost in the Finals, and I think the two best teams are probably in the West, but I'm up, I'm up for being proven wrong. And that's the other thing is I think Jalen Brunson's a hell of a player, a hell of a player. I'm speaking historically on the NBA with what I said. I don't know why that's being brought— like why everybody's so stuck on that. I said it 2 years ago. I stand by it.

I'm glad you cleared the air.

There's no air to be cleared. I said what I said. He proves me wrong, he proves me wrong. I mean, good for him. But I do think the 2 best teams are in the West.

We know who you like, right?

Oh, well, you know who I'm cheering for.

She's not wrong.

Not yet.

Not yet.

I'll make her right. That's also true.

Uh, I like that answer. This is all like gotcha social media old dudes.

They were aggressive, that media.

She ain't wrong yet.

Prove me wrong.

Need that to question Jackson Dart.

Yeah, and then I like, yeah, okay, so, so what, then I'm wrong?

Cool.

Well, you kind of really undid this for the internet, Becky.

I mean, even if even if the Knicks win the Finals, from an historical perspective, like, she, she's still right. She's still right. I mean, the only small guard who's your best player that leads you to a championship, it's Isiah Thomas. And so I think it's fair 2 years ago to ask, is Jalen Brunson Isiah Thomas?

You don't put Steph in there though, because Steph is a little bit bigger and we've just changed the entire game. I've been saying that all of my life. Since Isaiah won it, I've been saying— won it with a broken foot, didn't he? Or didn't he?

I think they lost.

They lost that year. That's right. He was playing in the Finals with a broken foot.

What a performance.

Yes. But Steph, I just think that maybe that's no longer true because if you can shoot from 30 feet, all of a sudden the size starts mattering a little bit less if we're going to just distort all of the numbers. So it might— I think a lot of things. I think a lot of people covering sports these days have to sort of rethink some things that have been true the entirety of their lives. Wemby can make it true by just all of a sudden the Spurs win and they didn't have to lose first, right? We've been saying that one for a long time. You have to suffer some before you win the championship in basketball.

She did mention Steph in that original piece with Malika Andrews. She was like, you know, Steph's really the outlier. But I don't think Steph really falls into the same category. I don't know what she's talking about. He's an off-ball guard. He's more of a shooting combo guard. Like, he's, he's moving a ton without the ball. I think she's talking about put the ball on the floor, you know, a guy that creates his own shot. And Steph certainly can, but that's not really what his role is.

Don Lebatard.

What do we got here? I got a Magnum condom. We won't get that out.

That's shocking.

Stoogatz. Here's a picture of Christopher when he was like 3 years old, right next to the condom.

Yeah, a little reminder. Yeah, never forget.

This is the Don Levitar Show with the Stoogatz.

We can probably take the helmet off.

No, I'm gonna keep it on, and I— and it's falling apart. Part, by the way, I have American Gigolo Richard Gere in my hand because it's falling to pieces. The gearhead's not in good shape. I wanted to get into, because we have coming out later today, the Step Back part of a series that is looking back historically at LeBron James during this time. Izzy, Amin, and myself sat down for a while and we talked to an assortment of interesting people who have been in LeBron's life. And it's a 6-part series and we're proud of it. So you could check that out on the feed later today. But LeBron is again, the reporting again from Brian Windhorst is no discounts. If Cleveland, if you want him, you're going to have to pay full price. It's not going to be that LeBron James continues to be underpaid. I've said this before. LeBron James, every season that he has played has been underpaid. Because there's a salary cap. And if there were not a salary cap, what he brings to your team, to your economy, to your city, you cannot pay him enough to have him not be underpaid in that sport.

So he refuses to take a discount, even if it's the great punctuation story of going back to Cleveland. What are your thoughts there, Zazzle? According to Windhorst, this is according to Brian Windhorst.

Nothing wrong with that from LeBron's perspective. But you can't also say winning's most important. And that's okay. Like, that, that's totally okay. You could want both, but winning is not most important if you're not willing to take a pay cut.

I would think he would put winning first. I, I would think he would go to someplace thinking, this is my one last chance to get another ring. And, and if that means you have to take $10 million less a year— this sounds ridiculous to say— like, if, if that means you only have to take $10 million less a year you do it, you know. I mean, at this point in his life, how rich is he, you know what I'm saying? Like, the difference between making $55 million a year and $48 million a year is nothing.

Yeah, but they have $3 million to spend according to Windhorst, and he made $54 last season.

It is hard to believe that he won't— like, if he makes $50 now, that you won't take $25 to help you win, especially because like —like, if he does do that, like, does anyone think differently? I'm like, oh, that's good, you're not worth $50 million anyway. Like, why not? Money.

Because he's cheap as hell. He's just about the same cheapness as Tom Dundon. He doesn't even pay for the premium Spotify. What? This is not an either-or choice.

It's not in LeBron James's mind. And I've been making a form of this argument since people accused A-Rod of selling out by going to the Texas Rangers and demanding a contract that was exactly double, $252 million, the largest ever given in sports before that, which was $126 million to Kevin Garnett. He wasn't choosing losing there. He thought he was going to take the winning with him. Why wouldn't LeBron James think that everywhere he goes he takes the winning with him, given that for more than 20 years everywhere he goes he takes the winning with him?

Also, A-Rod doesn't get enough credit because he was actually trying to give some money back and the union would not allow that, if I recall correctly. No, you're right. A-Rod was really trying to help facilitate initially what was a Boston deal that was very close. And then he ended up going to the Yankees. But he was, he was all about winning at that point in his career. I'm going back to the Texas Rangers. No, I am too. No, no. He made that decision. I'm with you. He didn't think Texas was going to be bad. He thought he was the final piece. And then he suffered. He won MVPs, but they were last-place teams. And then when it got time to Boston's interest, Sox wanted him. He was willing to do whatever it took to facilitate that deal. But, you know, you can't have a guy at the peak of his powers with that union agreeing to that sort of stuff.

I mean, I understand what you're saying about, you know, these players, they believe they're taking the winning with them, so why would LeBron not believe he's taking the winning with him? I don't think it's about that. We're talking about a salary cap sport here and a player who has long talked about needing other good players around him. So it's not that he doesn't believe that he's taking the winning with him, it's if you take less money you can continue to get all the good players around.

I understand why the money is a fascinating part of this. All the contract terms are going to be interesting to me. How long does he sign for? How does he want to keep his options open? Does he sign a multi-year deal? What does that look like? Player option after player option? I think it's all interesting.

I envision he goes back to what he did every year this last go-round with Cleveland, where every year's a 1+1.

Trista, can you please, uh, see what kind of math you can do on this? I don't know the exact clientele that Klutch has, but when I you that Clutch, the brainchild of LeBron James with Rich Paul, represents 94 NBA players. And you are getting basically the way LeBron is paid for carrying that sport. You're getting— I think it's 5%. I don't think it's 10%. I think it's 5% of 94 NBA contracts as part of how it is that you're running a business that has to be run with employees. Can you see if you can do some sort of quick math? I don't know who all those clients are, and I don't expect you to do 94 of them, but just trying to figure out what 5% of that would be as LeBron's side hustle. He's got a content business that's losing a lot of money as well. The content business— can you look that up for me, Chris? The reports on how much money the content business has lost over the, over the last year, because it's been a good amount of money that he has lost. But when you say Zaslow that flatly, he can't say winning is the most important important thing if he's not willing to take less money.

I would, and have never understood, I would take less money. I would want to work with my friends and have the best chance at winning at this point in my career because the money would not be that important. And I know I can make it up in commercials. Like, I know I can make it up with a retirement tour just by, just by getting a sponsor to my retirement tour. I could do it, but I'm not in, uh, I'm not the one who tells other people to take discounts on their services. I'm not the one to tell other people that they should get less than they're actually worth when, again, I will say, underpaid his entire career. And why would he want to take $3 million instead of $50+ million instead of putting the burden on the franchise? No, go find other cheap players. You can find me good players. They're going to be players. I've gotten free agents to come to Cleveland because because the traveling circus is something that people want to be a part of when LeBron James is at the center of your team.

It's going to be a little bit different at this stage in his career. He's not that guy anymore. Cleveland is more appealing when you know that LeBron is certifiably the best player in the league.

Sazh was saying yesterday he's going to get Kyrie to come with him. That was yesterday.

Yeah, Kyrie in 2026 is different than Kyrie back then. And even Kyrie back then was like, I'm out of here.

Yeah. Yahoo reported in 2023 his company lost $30 million.

For the NBA, estimate the revenue for his side hustle right around $50 million per year. But there's also other sports that they represent. Remember, they represent the NFL as well. Around $200 million a year is what it looks like they're making off of the contracts.

I don't think that LeBron is still interested in the ownership game, but that costs billions. Like, you have to have— it's not hundreds of millions that gets you into the NBA ownership game anymore. And I, I, all of us, everyone listening to this says take a discount, right? Every, everyone listening to this says what's, what's going to be the difference in your life in real terms, LeBron, between taking less money and not taking less money?

Especially with the example of Jalen Brunson right now with his friends in the championship.

Without that, you don't get OG Anunoby signed to a long-term deal. You don't get Mikal Bridges signed to a long-term deal. You don't figure out a way to get all the Villanova boys those guys there. You don't get Karl-Anthony Towns making $60 million. Without Jalen Brunson taking that pay cut, this Knicks team does not exist.

We do see this everywhere in sports where you'll have great play. I mean, Connor McDavid just took a discount last year.

Tom Brady did it every year, every, every year the last 7, 10 years of his career.

It's not because they're trying to save the owner money. They're trying to help the team in a salary cap sport.

Yeah, that's how the Big Three in Miami came together 15 years ago. LeBron's main source of income isn't even his NBA contract anymore. He's got plenty of money otherwise. And what would assure— more than a sacrifice financially— what would assure that his homecoming in Cleveland is the sentimental, well-received thing that, that everybody hopes it is?

Just be clear on this part though, okay? This changed. You said he did it in Miami, and he did, but never again. Because when he got to Miami, he expected that to come with certain perks. He thought he would get 200 tickets and suites and assortment of other things that would have made it a wink wink deal, and he didn't get any of those things. And so immediately thereafter, he's like, I'm not doing that again, not ever. And he has not. Like, that, that you say he did it before, and he did, but he learned the lesson that I'm never doing it again.

Yeah, but he was 25 then and he's 41 now. People change. He's matured. He's a different person, not just a different player, a different person than he was. And I think at this point in his career and his life, maybe he is willing to make—

No, he's not. Okay, no, but what do you mean maybe he is? He's not. The conversation started with he's not.

Okay, well, we'll see.

Nobody— well, I can't do anything with that.

That's good radio. Good stuff, Greg. I mean, yeah, right there.

I like that. You can't say that he won't end up taking a sacrifice.

You don't have to bend the knee to the constructs of debate.

And also, good for the Vegas Knights, folks.

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