Transcript of Hour 1: Dan Doesn't Preview Games

This is the Dan Levatard Show with the Stugats podcast.

The Dan Levatard Show is sponsored by Liquid IV. Don't let the grind drain you. Ditch the glitch with zero sugar and zero crash from Liquid IV. Tear, pour, live more. Go to liquidiv. Com and get 20% off your first order with code dan at checkout. That's 20% off your first order with code dan at liquidiv. Com. It's energy that hits different, balanced, steady, and smooth. Thanks to L-theanine and caffeine, zero sugar, three times the electrolytes of leading sports drink, plus five essential vitamins, two refreshing flavors, strawberry kiwi and Blackberry lemonade. Liquid IV, tear, pour, mix, and you're good.

I found encouraging and somewhat hopeful that even though our country is divided in ways that feel just more turbulent than much of anything that I could remember remember in my lifetime, that what happened with Jimmy Kimmel seemed to land on a core principle for Americans that didn't exactly create as much debate as it did outrage. And given how skewed things politically are, I was encouraged because there are all manner of horrors happening all over the globe, that many Americans were in indignant as Americans that that would happen to Jimmy Kimmel and that somebody wouldn't stand up to power when faced with something that didn't feel like it had a lot of precedent. So late night television last night did a good job, Jon Stewart and Colbert. Jimmy Fallon can't keep up in this space. He's not as good at these things as some of the others are. But part of the reasons late night, beyond the ratings, is under duress is because largely, Late Night has run left and run liberal. We've always accepted that comedians, even though the one you liked, like Johnny Carson, who was benign and you allowed in your living room, or Jay Leno, make fun of power.

That's a thing in this country that people care about. David Letterman is, to me, the godfather of all of this stuff. I liked him a lot more than Johnny Carson because he was different than Johnny Carson. And he's the first person I ever saw on television, criticizes employer and have the power to criticize his employer on the platform that the employer gave him. I loved what David Letterman introduced me to when I was in college and I was watching late at night, something that felt forbidden. I couldn't believe what it is that I was seeing. Letterman was asked about what happened here with Jimmy Kimmel when he was on a panel, and he had a couple of things to say about it. Keep in mind, a lot of people are still running scared. They don't know what to say because when you see that happen to Jimmy Kimmel, you no longer know where the lines are. You You can't see that happen with Jimmy Kimmel and think you're living in the same time that you lived in moments ago, because what that was was benign compared to other criticisms I've seen from Jimmy Kimmel and others.

I'm also not really willing to entertain talking about government censorship as if it's a thing that is going to happen when it just happened. We're there, we're here. The alarm bells that were sounded months ago, it's led up to this. It was all forecasted. You see the SEC chair who wrote Project 25 reveling in it, you're here.

I did find interesting, though, that Americans, whatever their political leanings, if we pulled them right now, they would identify it as censorship and would object in this country to the idea of censorship. I told you yesterday that coming from communism, I had my family, all they got in Cuba was a government newspaper that they knew was lying to them, that they knew that it was propaganda, and I'm not comfortable seeing this happen right now in America.

If I may, I'm totally fine with ABC. If their executives got together and said, We need to suspend Jimmy Kimmel. I think there's confusion as to what he actually said, but that's on him for opening the door. It's a sensitive time. It's open to interpretation. If they heard from affiliates, and this was all on the up and up, and they decided to pull them, there are absolutely consequences for things that you say. The problem here is the very clear government interference for many people.

That feels un-American, and there is still more reporting to be done on this because I'm seeing reporting, and I don't know what's true anymore, and this is part of what's happening with the media and the information where you just don't know what's true sometimes. I'm seeing reports that Kimmel was asked to apologize to Kirk's family and a variety of things, and I just want to see more reporting so I can find out what is true here. But I want to get this sound from Letterman because he's the first one I ever saw have a freedom as a court jester that I didn't think the court jester's had. Tell us what you think about what happened last night to Jimmy Kimmel.

Well, this is a misery In the world of somebody who is an authoritarian, maybe a dictatorship, sooner or later everyone is going to be touched. But this is me. For 30 years, I did this for a living. So I see this happen. They took care of Colbert. That That was rude. That was inexcusable. The man deserves a great deal of credit. He's in the Hall of Fame nine times. And to be manipulated like that because the Ellison family didn't want to trouble Donald Trump with this move, so they got rid of him. Not only got rid of him, got rid of the whole franchise. You're not going to have to worry about anything, Larry. It's all gone. It's fine. Good night. Then my good friend Jimmy Kimmel. I feel bad about this because we all see where this going, correct? It's managed media, and it's no good. It's silly. It's ridiculous. You can't go around firing somebody because you're fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration in the oval office. That's just not how this works.

Let me hear the other sound from Letterman as well about how he did this. That was a franchise that he lorded over that just ended 33 years of late night television that Colbert inherited. Let's hear Letterman's other thoughts.

Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, senior, Bill Clinton, George Bush, the second Barack Obama. Yeah. All right. And attacked these men mercilessely, never once. Well, Jimmy Carter, not so much, because what can you say about Jimmy Carter? He was just a sweet guy. But everybody else we really went to work on. I can remember Bill Clinton we really went to work on. Then it got so... It was like, Whoa, this is a gift. What are we going to do? Bill Clinton, he's out of office after eight years of Bill Clinton. Then George Bush came along, and it was easy motoring after that. But the point is beating up on these people, rightly or wrongly, accurately or perhaps inaccurately, in the name of comedy, not once were we squeezed by anyone from any governmental agency, let alone the dreaded FCC.

Yesterday, I was talking about the dangers in weaponizing federal institutions to do things like censor. One of the things I said by going after the head of Disney is, get off your knees and stand for something. If you have power, if you have power and money, use power and money. But the thing I wanted to ask you guys is if you're in the position of of running Disney and the argument from the leader of Disney is, I got to protect the company and I got to protect the money. That's my job. I'm asking you to go outside of your job and have some conviction beyond the felonious ones than the President of the United States has on the resume in terms of conviction. I'm requesting something of you that isn't technically part of the job. The job is to protect the money, yes? The money is more important than freedom, correct? The job as he has it, and this is his identity, Bob Iger, there were reports he was going to run for President of the United States, that he got so popular and got so strong and was so benign as a public figure.

Is it an unfair request for me to say, Get off your knees and stand for something?

But they need that NFL merger to go through. There's an antitrust situation here that the Department of Justice needs to take a little look see at. So if you're Bob Iger and you're getting pressure from the SEC knowing that you got this other merger going on, what do you do? They're all exposed. And that's because what was in the 1970s where there were 90 media companies, and it was spread across many different. You basically have five people, five companies, five entities owning all of media now.

But I'm asking you guys, what is the job and responsibility of the person running Disney in this circumstance when the affiliates are coming after a treasured employee, an employee- To protect their mergers. To protect everything, to protect all of the money. Obviously, this is all a follow the money situation. And you just mentioned that's a giant merger. Disney has been in trouble here for a while because they have not been able quite to keep up with the changes. Disney is in a worse position than it has been. But getting the NFL and giving the NFL 10% of ESPN is a move of both smart and desperate.

Yeah, it's a difficult position that Bob Iger is in. I think we'd all concede that, and we'd all like for him to do the right thing. I used to work for Disney and not crazy about ESPN. It's an impossible situation that they are. I'd say it's BS that the onus to uphold the First Amendment is on them and not the federal government. If I were them, I'd go on the offensive and How is this our call? Why are we pressured to make this call? This is a constitutionally protected right. I would put it, I'd really amplify and turn up the heat on what's going on right now with the federal government, because while they're all playing ball and protecting their interests, and yeah, that's sleazy, we're talking about the US Constitution. We're talking about something that is associated with America. It is a fundamental principle. When that government is actually applying the pressure to the private sector, therein lies the issue. That is un-American.

Except that Rupert Murdoch doesn't seem to lack the stomach for this particular fight.

He's got so many interests, though. You could say he's got the one Epstein reporting situation over here that has had a lawsuit discussed, but he's also got plenty of other interests that have been willing and able partners of the current administration.

So you guys don't expect anyone to stand up to the power here because of how compromised everyone is, because their leverage. If you're in a position where you have less power, as everyone does, than the federal government that's not interested in what was previous precedent or previous rules, if you've got less power, you have to bow because you still have plenty of power, but you're always going to have less than this entity. You're always going to have less power than the state.

They're threatening to remove licenses. This is what Donald Trump said this to a pool of reporters on Air Force One yesterday. These networks, they have evening news. They criticize me. They have licenses. They can't do that. This is something that he said.

So you have to back down from that fight. You have to protect the money. You cannot stand for anything outside of protecting the money.

Dan, I think I gave you a playbook. You're in a difficult spot. So you turn it right back around on the federal government and make this a First Amendment issue.

This episode is supported by FX's The Lowdown, starring Ethan Hawk. Allow us to introduce you to Lee Raybon, a quirky journalist, rare Bookstore owner, unofficial truth seeker who's always on the tail of his latest conspiracy. This time, his most recent exposé puts him head to head with a powerful family that rules Tulsa. Meaning only one thing, he must be onto something big. Fx's The Low Down premieres September 23rd on FX. Stream on Hulu.

Dan Levatard. It's a Judge coach, sweetie. Stugatz. Let's go say hello.

This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugats. Yeah, Paramount couldn't even stand up for the news division at CBS News. I mean, 60 Minutes, and that, what happened there? I don't expect them to... They're going to end up bowing down to this, man. It's very unfortunate.

Okay, so you bow down, though, but you bow down without explanation. You don't even explain any of it to us. You don't even come out and say that. You don't explain to us in your voice that, Hey, I can't do anything here. You have to no comment. You have to sit it out. You have to just keep paying the extortionist.

I think, well, we don't know what the game plan is here. This was a joke that was told on Monday, right?

Well, we do know there's been silence in the explanation. That we know. We know that we're all confused, and in the absence of an explanation, everyone is putting their own explanation in there.

I've seen reporting done on this that Jimmy Kimmel and ABC, they got together. Everybody acted super professionally. Emotions were not running high here. They were all trying to find what is obviously a very complicated solution to all this. There were that ABC is hopeful that Jimmy Kimmel and his show, remember, there is an entire employee base here that is also suspended right now looking for answers. They are working towards a path to getting back to air. I think the absence of a quote is probably better than a quote that lands on the wrong side that shows that you're kowtowing to the current administration.

You explain to me why, and this is the specific lack of spine that I find everywhere around corporations that I I expect to have some spine. Can you not come out and say, Jimmy Kimmel has been suspended indefinitely, but it's not because of anything that he said. It's because we're under duress from the federal government on our licenses, and we've suspended him indefinitely to protect him and this show and our merger. Can you be honest? Instead of no commenting and hiding in the shadows and making it look like you're doing the weakest possible thing, can you offer us something in the way of an explanation, or you just have to hide from the bully?

I'm sure that there is an explanation that they can give you that is more nuanced than just hide from the bully. But we've seen, we were at Disney when they were impacted by MAGA boycott and ESPN is too woke. We've seen that seed change. We've seen it benefit these companies as some of those stances softened. And look, this is an emotional time with what happened to Charlie Kirk being terrible and all, and that seemingly being the catalyst to where we are now.

What happened to him being terrible. Also, you have to be careful about how you're saying that much of what he said, much of what he said, was also terrible because posthumously, he leaves... He's more useful. He is more useful to Magga this way.

I mean, it's proven to be a catalyst to go in a certain direction, a certain direction that was forecast casted in Project 25. So they've made no bones about how they try to use the FCC to influence certain things. And fighting back, essentially, has been the stance. Using this opportunity, as tragic as it is, to go at enemies and go at enemies of what they view as their movement is certainly something that they're seizing on. It's a very complicated thing. There's dollars and cents. They're a publicly traded company. They have this incredibly important merger that I'm sure internally, they might be hinging their very survival on. So I don't know exactly how you handle it. I know how I think I would handle it, but I don't have all the data available to me. The problem here is that they're facing this crossroads. The problem is that they have to weigh what does it mean if we try to protect our First Amendment rights? What does this mean for our merger? Because we know if we come out harshly on one side, we're not going to get this merger cleared because they're going to hold that against us.

They're in lies the issue. Everyone understands the tricky position that they're in, and they shouldn't be in this tricky position because the SEC and the DOJ shouldn't be weaponized the way that they are. Tone. I will calm down.

Agreed, but I just would like somebody, if you're not going to fight publicly, at the very least, how about you wimper some form of your truth instead of just being quiet because you don't want in these emotional times to fall on the wrong side of anybody. I'll push back there.

People aren't being Quiet. Did you watch what happened on Late Night? Steven Colbert is still doing shows. Oh, I'm not talking- John Stuart is owned by Paramount. Jimmy Fallon did have a go. Everybody carefully, everybody smartly, everybody parading the situation that we now find ourselves in. But people are speaking out.

I'm not talking about the people who are speaking out who are not responsible for this decision. I'm talking about somebody tell me what happened here who made the decision in your voice with your name on it so we have a better understanding. It's not left to the people at the other networks to do the fighting for you because you can't do it for yourself. I just want a modicum of truth or explanation from some of the principles, given that in sports, somebody makes a mistake in a game and we've got a microphone in front of their face right afterwards, and they're not allowed to no comment. They're not allowed to not be accountable about what just happened out there. You can't do this stuff in the shadows and expect a public who wants information and doesn't trust the information it's getting with your truth.

Yeah, but that athlete doesn't have to worry about being sued for $15 billion like the New York Times is right now. It's just an awfully convenient place for us to say, ABC needs to do more, when to me, there's a very obvious wrong thing here that should unite. I'm actually encouraged by how it has united because there are plenty. Again, Charlie Kirk is a martyr for somebody. He's a martyr for many who are free speech advocates. This encapsulates both Dems, heck, Independence, and MAGA, conservative Republicans. They all benefit from our First Amendment rights.

You're saying, and I don't know if I should agree with this, because I know this is the corporate model to no comment. You do not speak in your voice as a corporation. There are very few corporations like Ben and Jerry's that you don't know what corporations actually stand for because most of them just stand for money and nothing else. How to get more money, what do we have to do to get more money? But you're saying it's made worse by simply laying out for people, either in a quote or by answering questions. Here's what happened and why. Here is the truth from our perspective.

I think right now there are a couple of important things at play, and we'd be foolish to not say that they are certainly considering their own important mergers and their affiliates' potential mergers. But also, if I'm Bob Iger, if I'm ABC, if I'm Disney, I also work towards a solution that gets Jimmy Kimmel back on the air as quickly as possible so he can speak for himself on this matter because he's the one that is presently being silenced. So while I'm not possibly appeasing Dan Lebitard and many others that want stronger leadership, I think that this is a situation that calls for tact. My objective is letting the person that is presently banned from taking the air get back to air. I game plan with my executives, and I go about the right way of doing that.

The part that we disagree on, though, is you're saying it's a time for tact, and I'm it's not a time for silence. It's not a time for silence. And you're saying, Yeah, you got to be careful. I'm like, No, he's already bullying everybody and taking their money. He's already doing that. So you keep backpedaling and you keep going, Let me be polite here and let me do tact. And you never say anything to us in your voice. Maybe you're right. Maybe it's better to just have people argue about the silence. And then Jimmy Kimmel becomes his own symbol because it feels like he's a victim here.

Look, I've been in situations like this with show for that company, even independent, where there are certain things that we're just not going to talk about, and they're tough decisions. And I don't know... I've certainly not experienced anything to this level. So I think it's very convenient for me to be a critic I can say not enough is being done here. But I certainly know a tricky spot. I've been in a pickle before Zaz.

My movie theater sells pickles.

And I will say-How much?

It's 2. 99. It's a decent deal.

I will say that while I enjoy the conversation, The only thing that you've done today on a football Friday, as it pertains to the College Game Day biggest game of the weekend, is talk about a 20-year-old murder, and that is a failure on your part.

Do you want me to talk about how the University of Miami has raised enough donations to build Vinnie Testaverdi and Gino Toretta statues?

I would tell you they better keep a spot open there for Mr. Beck.

How about Kam Ward?

Kam Ward didn't get a Heisman. These are just the Heisman winners of the program.

You to go look at Gino Toretta's stats from his Heisman season?

I know it's laughable. They played a different sport back then.

Go ahead and get Zaz the stats.

Because growing up, like Gino Toretta, I remember growing up and watching Gino's like, Oh, my God, these numbers are amazing. If I were to see those numbers now, I'm going to It's going to make me sad.

Go ahead, Mike. I think it was 19 shutdowns in the season. So you've got- What? Different sport. I think it was... And he had pros everywhere. Hold on a second. I believe the receiver's on one of his teams. Do I have this right? I might be conflating errors. I think it was Brian Blades, Brett Periman, and Michael Ervin as one set of receivers in the huddle. I think that's the team that lost to Penn State, the one that had- Wasn't that Tessa Verdi? I think Tessa Verdi had five inceptions.

Tessa Verdi lost to Penn State.

Okay, so yeah, I am conflating errors.

Toretta had Lamour Thomas in Copeland.

Okay, I am conflating errors. Okay, so both of them got a lot of help. But Vinnie Testaverdi's numbers were much better than Gino Toretta's. Give Zaz Gino Toretta's numbers so he can see what it is that won the Heisman that year.

I mean, for the younger Cains fan, Gino Toretta was so good, I remember. I'm afraid now that you're about to make him sad.

He wasn't as good as you remember, and neither was Ken Dorsey.

A 56% completion percentage. I think Carson Beck presently is in the '80s. Just 60 yards over 3,000 passing yards. Just got over that line. 19 touch downs. Per season. 19 touch downs, seven interceptions.

Only 19 touch downs?

That was his 1992 Heisman Trophy winning season.

Mike, go ahead and look at that schedule, too, so that you can see who-Oh, he went through Marshall Falk. Go ahead and look at who he was beating on those 19 touch downs. So you see- A lot of Rutgers there, a lot of Temple there.

Not a lot, but- A lot of Yukon.

Enough for you to wonder why there aren't some four and five TDs in there, because there aren't any if you had only 19 in a season.

Who else were the Heisman candidates against him that year?

So I'm glad that you asked. I actually have that available to me. Garrison Hearst, the F-Worn, mentioned Marshall And believe it or not, I did not know this because I was just a young, and Desmond Howard did return to college football the year after he won the Heisman. Really? And he lost out to Gino Toretta.

Man, I don't like what you just did.

I don't like that. You just put it in a perspective. They were playing a different sport.

Honestly, if you didn't give me any of that information, you said Zazlo, Gino Toretta, a quarterback of your Canes childhood, how many touch downs do you think he threw in his high as been year? I would have said 40.

I sent my Ryan a text the other day because he was making fun of me for saying that Rex Grossman dragged those Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl that compared Troy Akeman's best season and Rex Grossman's best season. They were basically the same because of how different the sport became where Troy Akeman, whatever you remember or think of Troy Akeman- I mean, what did he throw over 20 touch downs once maybe? One time. This one season, he had a Rex Grossman season where he had 23 touch downs, and that was the best season that Troy Akeman ever had.

He's got Michael Irvin and Alvin Harper.

Dan Levatard.

I've never stepped foot on that campus. If you told me right now, your life depends on it, go to Santa Fe University and just take a picture. Stugatz. I would die. I don't know where it is.

This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugatz. I did appreciate the scroll down memory lane, but again, we've talked about Something that happened 20 years ago and now 30 years ago when Miami has its best team in 20 years playing Saturday night against a hated rival, College Game Day has decided this is the story they want to tell. And the most impactful transaction in South Florida sports history is going to be out there on that stage making a moment.

I'm broadcasting from the stadium tomorrow.

You're going to be broadcasting early. The gates open at 2: 30. I know. I don't think you're going to be setting up a scene there. The scene is going to be on campus where Matthew Kchuck and Pat McAfee will undoubtedly do something that goes viral. Because now that you don't have a mascot head, it's basically all about who's going to be the guest picker and can they make a moment. I trust Matthew Kchuck in this spot.

I got tricked yesterday. You guys will find this funny because I'm watching the game on Amazon Prime, and I was confused because it had gotten dark outside, and I was still watching Ryan Fitzpatrick interact with Bill's and do a Ryan Fitzpatrick lookalike contest with Bill's fans. I didn't realize that because I was streaming it, Amazon had taken me to the beginning of the broadcast when I was expecting. I didn't It was a midway through the second quarter, you fast forward. I wasn't paying attention. When's this game starting? That's what happened. It was dark outside. I'm like, Why are they still doing wacky things with the fans when I feel like the game should have started by now? It's just because I went to the broadcast and I hit play, and it just took me to the beginning of the broadcast, even though they were already an hour into the broadcast. The game last night, Amazon is doing an amazing job with all of this. For all the criticism Al Michael's got for feeling or sounding bored in his '80s, it still sounds and looks huge. I really am amazed that no one has much of any complaints on this transition to Amazon Prime and streaming.

They are doing a broadcast that is giant, and they're doing it without complaints or mistakes that I'm seeing.

So, murder 20 years ago, team of 30 years ago, back to last night's game.

I don't preview games.

We still don't know why Zaz was sad that the dolphins were tied, and he's refusing to tell us because he forgot.

Oh, that's right.

Yeah, he forgot to go. Are you okay? You want to go to neurologist or something?

Like I said, people lose their train of thought sometimes. How do you go to neurologist?

I'm worried about you. I'm saying this as a friend.

Listen, all of this right here, this, this doesn't need your concern.

Okay. Dan, you don't preview games. You weren't exactly previewing Buffalo, Miami, but you talk plenty Miami entering that big game. There's plenty state of the program stuff that you can do with the University of Florida, which seems to have their own Waterloo situation, and the University of Miami that has about 80 blue chips in attendance for this and 11 of the top 20 wide receiver prospects as things are clicking for more with Chris Ball in year four.

Or I could talk about Indiana, Illinois, and I don't believe that you guys would want to do that because it's a preview.

Name a player. Name a player in either of those two programs. Name a player. Name a player. That's right. We would turn our attention to DJ Lagway in the disastrous Florida Gator program. Four of those five interceptions that DJ Lagway through against LSU were with good protection. He seems broken. He seems heavy. He seems like he doesn't trust in his body. He seems hurt. Billy Napier seems in over his head. And here come-Miner penalty, two minutes. Murdering the show with your bare hands in a dismemberment, kid in cold blood.

In case anyone's wondering, Mike is very much still alive. Someone investigates the murdering of the show. Can't be like that story you're talking about before where they just knocked on the door and thought that guy was dead. Mike's alive. I saw him. Yeah.

Everyone knows if you're looking for someone, you can't find them. They're dead.

That's crazy, right?

It's a little odd. Has anyone checked on Chris Cody? He's not here today.

Must be. Damn. I wonder if anyone told his wife.

Florida football is going to swallow Billy Napier right now? Did that line stay where it is that it started at seven and a half?

It looks like it's nine and a half right now.

A lot of people thought that the Bill's Dolphins line was going to go up above twelve and a half, and the money went the other way because the NFL was going to NFL, and then all of a sudden, the line at the start of the game became eleven and a half points.

Someone said that was free money last night. I don't know who.

Yes, you were wrong about that. You also have said, though, that Miami over the Gators is free money, and that went from seven and a half to nine and a half.

I would probably be right about that then. The money is telling us that.

It seems weird, right? So you tell me what you made Zazlo of as a college football expert. What did you make of the Florida LSU game where Florida's defense is good. Florida's defense is obviously good. Florida's defense couldn't overcome five turnovers. But if you're on the road at night at LSU- Tough place to play. But that game shouldn't be close if you're a quarterback.

If you're a quarterback, if you were to- I don't know how good LSU is. I really don't, because I'm doing some transitive theory here, but I don't know how good Clemson is. Lsu barely got past a Clemson team that, of course, lost this past week and the week before that, barely They got by Troy. So I don't know how good LSU is. I feel like they should have won that game by more than the 10 points. Man, I think the Canes are going to take it to them tomorrow night. I think it's going to be really ugly for DJ Lagway. He might stink. I don't know. He might stink. I think it's going to be ugly for Lagway. I think it's going to be ugly for the Gators. I think tomorrow's going to be a lot of fun for the Canes fan.

You've been mentioning that, and yet I am confused by the way that Florida was able to, whether LSU is good or not, five turnovers on the road, that is not something that should result in the opposing team only scoring 20 points. But your quarterback throwing five interceptions, it's not just five interceptions, because when the hell do you see that anymore? The only guy who does that in the pros is Trey Lance. I guess Jared Goff did it once, but it doesn't happen very often that you see five interceptions. But it wasn't just five interceptions. It was five interceptions where you weren't asking LSU to make a play. Those were five super easy interceptions because he was making very bad decisions with fluttering butterfly balls.

Yep, throwing off of his back foot, too. We're talking double and triple coverage. Hell, at the end of the first half, I think the game was still tied late in the first half, and it was literally just, Don't turn the ball over here. And he threw an interception at the end of the first half, which I think LSU then capitalized the field goal on. Just really terrible decisions.

Are you excited about something more than that game this weekend?

Well, Russell Palooza tomorrow night. Come on now, Mike, you know what I'm talking about? But no, Gators and Canes, I'm most excited about. I think it's all day. I'm going to be there all day. I might have to go to sleep a little bit early tonight, Dan, because I want to make sure I have my energy tomorrow because I'm broadcasting 10: 00 AM to 1: 00 PM tomorrow right there, Fan Zone at Hard Rock Stadium. Now, granted, the gates are not going to be open yet.

How can you call it a fan zone with no fans?

Yeah, granted, I We can't control what time my show is on ESPN radio and what time the game is, all right? But we're going to be broadcasting probably no one inside the stadium grounds because they don't open until after we get done. But we do a live digital show before the game. There'll be a lot of people for that. I hope people come and see us. We're going to be at Fan Zone. Big Airstream studio. You'll be able to see us. I'm very much looking forward to it.

But can they get to you? It sounds like Fan Zone-When the gates open. But are there going to be people there at the time that you are there?

For the 6 o'clock show?

Yeah, for the digital show. That's where you could see this face, all right? I'm going to be on camera.

I love that punum.

Thanks, man. I appreciate it.

You got a good puss.

This is a good puss right here. Yes, I'll be on camera for that. People will all be around me. We're going to do Man on the Street stuff, too, walking around throughout the day also.

You bet you're going to be gathering while no one is there in the parking lot.

No, people are going to get in when they get in, and we're going to do stuff, all right?

Well, if you want to get into the gates for a big NFL game, or perhaps that game that we're talking about right there, you only have one option, as far as I'm concerned, to take the guesswork out of buying NFL tickets. You do so by downloading the GameTime app. You create an account and you use code Dan on your first purchase, and you get $20 off. Terms apply. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Flash deals, zone deals, panoramic seat views, and unparalleled ticket coverage. Game time.

You mentioned Russell Palooza. Aren't there issues going on with how fans are going to get this? Yes, there are. And what's going to happen here? Do we know? Is there going to be something that gets decided?

It's not going to be fixed before Russell Palooza.

I mean, it would appear the people, is it YouTube TV?

Youtube TV. I think Xfinity. I have both of those things, so I'm presently shut up, but it's all right. I'll be at the game of the week.

So someone like Mike who isn't getting access to the new ESPN digital app, which has Russell Palooza tomorrow night, you then have to pay $30 for the month to watch Russell Palooza. You to buy the app on its own. Those people who don't... That's bad. Yeah, it's not ideal for those people.

That's bad. And this just seems to be a continuing trend where TKO, who is assumed ownership from Vince McMahon in control. They stink. It has been fun for fans. They just awarded Saudi Arabia, Russellmania 43. I hate that. After back to back, I don't know if you've seen what's going on with the Las Vegas economy, not exactly buzzing right now. They ripped away a Russellmania from New Orleans and got more money and maximize the dollars and everything, including comments from Mark Shapiro, is geared towards, Yeah, we're going to make you pay more for tickets. It doesn't seem super family.

Who would have known that Vince McMahon was looking out for the family?

He would run towns and house shows in towns, knowing that it would lose money to keep fan interest alive. This is a big mistake, and it's going to come back to haunt them, I really do think, especially now when there's an alternative with money.

Big mistake. I'll tell you who loves money, Dan.

It's a bit flabbergasting. Everybody loves money. It's a bit flabbergasting to watch the customer bleeped again and again in sports.