Transcript of Hour 1: The Old Dogs (feat. Matthew Berry and ******* *****)

All right, Smirnov. Official vodka of the NFL, the world's number one vodka. Here's the deal. Game day is everything. The noise, the rituals, the passion, the dip, the wings, the dip again. Smirnov belongs in that mix because if you're tailgating or hosting or just sitting there checking your fantasy lineup every 30 seconds, you need Smirnov. Otherwise, it's not a real game day. They've been doing this since 1864, which is, I don't even want to do the math. A long time. They're award-winning. They make cocktails super easy, and they're all about bringing fans together. So, yeah, we do game days. That's their thing. And if you're over 21, you should, too. Grab a bottle of Smirnoff at your local retailer and head to smirnoff. Com to find recipes of delicious cocktails perfect for game day. Please drink responsibly. Smirnoff, number 21 Vodka. Distilled from Grain, 40% alcohol by volume. The Smirnoff Company, New York, New York. Please do not share with anyone under legal drinking age. This is the Dan Levatard Show with the Stugats podcast. This episode of the Dan Levatard Show was presented by DraftKings. Draftkings, the Crown is yours.

Sound like that hurt. Sports are bursting right now. World Series tonight, basketball last night was nuts. Just totally crazy deep into the night. There's too much sports to get to, not enough time, but we start with the cyclones because I've been to get to the cyclones all week, and I keep getting knocked off the cyclones, and you will not knock me off the cyclones anymore.

We had incredible basketball last night. Dan, me and Amin are doing our own show. Steph Curry is back.

Aj Mitchell for the Thunder Good of the Bay. I wish that right now we had just Tony and Amin going live 20 minutes after bananas last night. We're not there yet.

The World Series is tonight.

I know. We just got to Damoshek is going to do the fourth hour on a Friday. We'll get there. Please get me.

I don't think that's accurate, but that's happening either. But still, check out football, America.

America. Cyclones.

Top of the table, cyclones. You know, greaty team is here. We're led by the UnDateca. A great draft pick led by my- Is this AI? No, that's how he plays. And that photo of El Barba grabbing his lower back.

El Barba not even on our roster.

No, that's when our injury replacement got hurt and needed an injury replacement.

We have not gotten nearly enough. Mike forfeited a game the other day at the top of the table, Mike, to protect- That's his beard.

Are those dreads?

Yeah, he dreaded his beard.

You can see the heart, though.

Yeah, you could. You could because it's inflamed.

I can see his gut.

Seconds later, he got a theragun to the lower back and was replaced by an active gigolo. Your dad? The Magic City front on. We put the magic in Magic City. But we are top of the table. We are coming off a tough loss. The fixture list has been tough.

Mike, you've been with this team through thick and thin. Chris doesn't show up to the games anymore. He's the owner.

Mike- He wasn't there when I was fighting with Unda in the locker room. You were in the locker room fighting your star player and forfeiting a game. Boss, I need to play.

Chris was nowhere to be found.

Yeah, that's fair. But that was my job that day as GM. I was allowed to forfeit the final match because we had the game in hand. Then I tried to do the same exact move because Manu has got a groin, a mighty great groin that is. I wasn't allowed to do it that time, and Hyro had to go in there. Hyro, great draft pick. Look, we're going to have a say when it comes to the battlecourtfall Championship, and that's all we wanted. Now, I'm not thrilled losing one to the renegades. That's tough. That means Udonis has a banter advantage over us. I don't like that.

Is he showing up?

He shows up to the game.

He shows up. He's a serious owner.

No, he loves Pelota.

He doesn't show up every game.

Fuck. No, he left a little early this time because we were that dominant.

He's the owner of a team, and he's proud of it. He's a Miami economy. He's a Miami business, and this is one of his teams.

Yeah, but we got to talk, and I'm like, I got a very difficult... Then Bueno hasn't played a single match for us. He's out for the season. It's no Bueno, Dan. But Robin came in as a taxi squatter.

He better get a ring if we win.

Yeah. No, I mean, he's still there fighting.

No, I mean, Robin should.

Oh, Robin will absolutely if we win. Man, if we win. There's only one championship, and that's the Miami football hurricane.

I was embarrassed. That would mean more. I was embarrassed last time I was there. Ray Lewis and Udonis Haslem wipe the floor with our team, with Metalark's team. In a championship finale, that's the last time I was there. I'm a front runner.

Well, Ray Lewis was just there for fun. That wasn't even his team. He loved Spelota that much. He's scouting.

When's the next game?

The next Friday game, I think is in two Fridays. Correct me if I'm wrong. I think it's in two Fridays.

We have two in November.

Yeah, the front on is electric.

You should have Damoshek there to wear somebody out talking about '90s Pirates' baseball. That guy's hot breath.

That was so funny. Mike was like, Just say the name and watch him go.

I've got to salute him.

He literally pulled a Tom Barroso photo. That was unreal.

And then started going.

I would have thought we planned it.

Croqueta, he says it very well. David Samson does not. Correta.

No, no, no. Correta.

Yeah.

Correta. Lived here 25 years. President of the Marlins in the middle of Little Havana. Correta. Was going to be making it a booming Hispanic economy. Correta. There's just a pharmacy there in a 711 now. Correta.

The same side of Wendy's. Correcta.

I want to get to the basketball, but I think I have to punish Amin for hitting me with a Ron Borges in the last segment. It sent me reeling. It was not being a good teammate after he has worked very hard the last couple of days, flying between Miami and New York to be serious journalist guy next to Pablo during a federal investigation.

I heard Colorado Avalanche, and I thought about who was on that team. I remembered Adam Foote, right? He was on that team, right? I remembered a couple of other names, and then I said, Oh, yeah, that's right. Ron Borges played there, right? After he left Boston?

No? Ray Borg is going to sting with me for a long time. I felt that when I called- You mean sit with you? No.

It'll sting. It'll sting with you for a while.

Don't seize on him just because you're insecure.

You can say 88th June, 127, Doug.

Before we get to the basketball, though, please get, because I don't want to just skip past, the greatest player there's ever been in soccer. We talk about a time of greatness, LeBron, Shoheya O'Neill, But Messi re-signing in Miami, I don't want to just skip over it. And they handled the optics on it beautifully because they packaged him correctly with a commercial that's moving, with good marketing.

You guys haven't seen this. I'll get play by play because This is largely video, so let's go ahead and play it right now. But the club formally announced Lionel Messi's extension. It seems as though Messi will indeed finish his career with Inter Miami, which is just a wild statement. This is arguably the greatest player ever. So it starts with Messi sitting down in an office- Dramatically. Dramatically reading the contract, presumably for the first time. I assume this is what he's doing over all the details. This is how he does business. This is how goats operate, folks. He puts pen to paper on this table. And he's about to look at the camera, very pleased with himself because he signed his famous signature on it. He looked straight to the camera, and then boom, we revealed that it wasn't an office. It was all a façade. It was just a curtain behind him. A drone shot pulls back the new stadium that he will unveil as an Inter Miami player. He is sitting in the middle of it. That's where he signed the contract at Freedom Park.

Can I ask a question Are you guys not in the least bit concerned that in a city where every construction project takes decades, it feels like, to complete?

This will be a miracle.

This stadium is up this fast. Every time I land, it's a little bit more or it's a lot more completed. I'm like, I don't like this.

Well, that's what the owner does for a living. And if you thought this was fast, you should have seen how fast their stadium up in Fort Lauderdale came together at Lockhart because that was crazy.

Okay, if you're not familiar with what our swampland is and how many developers have gotten away with building quickly here with varying degrees of safety, do you realize the wonderful grift that the city of Miami, which is just a way station between small Latin American countries and whatever the real America is becoming now. Marca. That stadium being built that fast in our city has to be one of the greatest miracles I've ever seen in construction in this town filled with scam and everything else. And Messi built it, and Messi will get to building a stadium near the airport and getting soccer to Miami, he built it here. He built it off of whatever the Apple arrangement was. He's going to get to a stadium built near the airport when we can't build on anything. We've got no more room to put anything anywhere except up. That right there is going to be the stadium that becomes whatever Ross's stadium is worth to the Dolphins, $10 billion, whatever Jerry's stadium is worth to him. They got it to the stadium in this town. That's a miracle. Our developers don't work that fast. Our construction people do not show up on time.

Except for across the street.

Second question. Is this going to make airport traffic worse?

Can't be safer.

I've been to Sofi Stadium, and you look directly up and you're like, Oh, my God, that is an entire airplane that I see the silhouette right over me.

It can't be safer. Those kinds of lights around airplanes can't be argued as safer.

In a weird way, Mike, I trust LAX more?

That's saying a lot.

Lax is one of my least- Sofi is much bigger than this stadium.

Raymond James is also near an airport. There's a lot of stadiums that are near airports. Trust me, if you've sat in Sofye Stadium and you hear just a gigantic buzz overhead, you are shocked at how low those planes are over Sofye.

Before we get to last night's tonight's basketball because it really was majestic, and Eduardo Perez will be here to talk about the World Series, which also promises to be pretty great internationally. Thank God. Jeremy, I felt for you today that baseball can't make the show with this World Series.

The greatest athlete who's ever lived is about to play in a back-to-back World Series. He's going to start on the mound in game three or four. It's unbelievable, and we don't care.

So Wemby is going to be in the World Series?

El Barba?

He had three home- More like a pancita.

He's seven, seven and lying about it.

He is amazing.

We are watching because Wemby, everyone is now saying after one game, Oh, yes, MVP, watch out. He's going to take over the league. That's not fair.

You're going to tell me my favorite thing. But I did not see this coming. I got hit like a ton of bricks. Going on Twitter after game one of Wemby being amazing and seeing all the highlights and everyone like, Oh, my God, he's incredible. This This is a goat in the making. And seeing LeBron fans say, Oh, look at them going crazy after one game. He wouldn't last a second in this era. And it was a highlight of LeBron getting fouled by Danny Granger. I was like, Oh, my God. It's finally happened. The LeBron fans have now gone through the other side of the Looking Glass and have become the guys who are old and saying, This young guy wouldn't survive an hour.

Can you and Tony give me the best of what you got on basketball last night? Five minutes is it enough time.

Last night, we had two great games. Obviously, the rematch of the finals yesterday between the Thunder and the Pacers. Sans Halliburton, but a lot of the Pacer guys stepped up. You want to start there really quick? Yeah.

You know what, man? A lot of people wrote off the Pacers like, Oh, their season's done. They've just got to wait until next year. They're competitive, man. Scrappy team. They're scrappy as hell, man.

But OKC playing two double overtime games, and it wasn't even the most fun from last night. And Tony fears Houston because everyone they have is Spider-Man.

I'm very intrigued by the Houston Rockets.

Before we move on for this game, I also want to shout out. Tony, we're talking about in the secret show, right? Aj Mitchell. Wow. You ever played last year as a rookie this year? Two games? The guy's balling.

And that's what they needed, right? They needed another guy that can control the ball, control the pace of the game. You can't just put everything on SGA shoulders, even though-Especially without J Dubb out there, because he went out with the wrist injury. Exactly. But looking at the Pacer side of it, Benedict Matheron.

Benedict Matheron. Good.

Really good. Are you guys just making up names?

No. Are you guys testing us to see if we've really been paying attention.

That guy played in the finals, right? He had a game.

You guys are going to dork out on basket. This is unfortunate.

T. J. Mccoll didn't even play either. I want to give Mike a name. Mike, you may not know this name, but I'm going to guarantee you're going to know. He's good. Johnny Furphy.

That's No, that was fake. Johnny Furphy. Trust me.

They're going to guess, Mike, eventually.

He's white.

And he's white. Well, it sounds white, but... You know what Johnny Furphy does better than anything, Mike?

He's a fake player?

He dunks on people hard.

What does Benedict Matherin sound like to you?

Well, I know he's black. Happened to know. I saw one game. But Furphy? Where did Furphy go to school?

Sounds like a Harry Potter character. Where did Furphy go to school?

Let me check it out. He's a second-year player. I'll tell you what, in Summer League, he dunked on this Bulls rookie, Noah Senye, and that was the highlight of Summer League because he dunked on him so hard. The face that poor Noah made was just like...

Played in Kansas.

There you go. Johnny Furphy from Kansas.

Oh, man, it's real.

Johnny Furphy, man.

Go take a look at him.

But on the poll at Lebitard show, does Does Benedict Matherin sound like a Harry Potter character?

But, Tony, I wanted to talk about the second game.

The second game is crazy.

First of all, Aaron Gordon.

Ten for 11 from three. From three? Yes.

He had 50. He's the guy that dunks.

50.

Aaron Gordon, I described him as the guy who dunks, just takes alley-ups, 10 of 11 from three. And yes, he had 50, and he wasn't the story last night.

No, the story was one. The story was old. Wardell, Stephen Curry, the second.

The old dog still got it.

I remember Dan was like, The old guys are just going to move on, and we got new guys. I'm like, Man, let me tell you something about these old dogs. Because Steph Curry last night turned in the type of performance, Dan, that is If it weren't on late East Coast time, everybody would be talking about.

I mean, so this is mastery of the highest order. When we talk about the greats we're watching, LeBron's giving his league over, Ohtani's amazing. I don't know who's better, McDavid or Mahomes. We're talking about the greatest mastery. In shooting, there's never been this. He's an unprecedented player.

In a sport where everyone argues everything. Who's the best player ever? Who's the best power forward ever? The one constant is everyone knows who the best shooter is.

But also Olympic hero, and how does he make it from there? And also last night, puts them to sleep when he's here still to remind you, Don't forget about us because we can be better than even Aaron Gordon on his best night.

Down three with seconds to go in regulation. He hits what me and Tony talked about. That's a bad shot.

For anybody else.

Anybody else, that's a bad attempt. What are you doing? With Steph Curry, it's not even a no, no, no, yes. It's a, Oh, yeah, this one's good. He hits the shot, and everyone's focused on the gyrating hip thrusting celebration that he did at the baseline. That's what kept getting rerun on all the shows this morning. My part of celebration I love the most is he hits the three-point, he looks at the Nuggets bench, and he says, Call that time out. Call that timeout. He demanded them to call timeout. That's ballsy, man.

And he's what, 37?

He's getting better.

He's getting better. He's aging like fine wine, but he looks like he's running out there like he's 26 years old.

It can't be getting better. It can't be getting better.

He's got gray hair now.

I talked to his trainer.

It can't be getting better.

And his trainer says he's better now.

There's no such thing as better. Yeah. Wait.

No.

Did you talk to his trainer? You didn't talk to his trainer.

I happened to know. I happened to know. Yeah, clear out. I happen to know. You happen to know?

He happens to know?

Great Scott, he happens to know.

He happens to know. Don't wave those fingers at me.

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Howdy, listeners. It's Mike Ryan and Chris Cody. Hey, everyone. Hey, Chris. We love hanging out so much. You were at my birthday the other day. You're old. You know what I saw in your hand? What? A can of Miller light. Whether it's a can, whether it's a bottle, a draft pour of Miller light. The draft for you. You see that beautiful, iconic color right away.

The coldness to it.

Yes, Chris. The ice coldness to it. Whether you're hanging out with me on my birthday because I'm old or you're at a game, you know that Miller light just makes every special time a Miller Time. That's how you make the special times by making a Miller Times. Game day just hits different with Miller Lite in your hand. Hitting different. From jaw-dropping touch downs to fantasy heartbreak, it's a beer that has been there for every moment. Fifty years of great taste, simple ingredients, and that iconic golden color. That coldness, Chris. That icy coldness. That icy coldness. The original light beer since 1975 and still hitting different five decades later. Miller Light, great taste, 96 calories. Go to millerlight. Com/dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Light 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. I see coldness.

Russ Springer, Paul Sorrento, Alvaro Espinosa, Jeremy Bernitz. Bud Black. Chad O'Jay. Julian Alan Tavares. Paul Asenmacher. Alan Embry.

Jeremy, thinking he's whispering sweet nothings to me, is whispering right before we start, do you know that the Dodgers have the top three K-per-nine-inning guys in the history of big league baseball?

It's not even including Yamamoto, who's actually their ace.

That's right. It's crazy. It is. It's a very good staff.

I'm going to be locked in tonight, Dan. You know I'm a big Dodgers guy.

Big Dodgers guy. Will you open your MMA hangout on Saturday by talking about the World Series? Will you do some? I might. Maybe you should do some sports show that is not just MMA. Maybe you should invite Jeremy to yammer about baseball over there to pollute your MMA audience. I might. What are you doing tomorrow? He's not. What do you mean?

He said he might. I don't believe it. I might. Depending on what Jeremy's doing. He might. He's a busy guy. But Am I? Ufc 321 in Abu Dhabi. It's an early start time for the MMA hangout. 2: 00 PM start time Eastern. 2: 00 to 5: 00. We'll be hanging out.

You're going to be right here. You're going to be in the studio.

Right there, literally sitting where you're sitting, the exact seat.

Live programming opposite MMA.

Mma and college football.

This is a card that you're going to want to watch. If you don't watch it, you're going to want to watch Tony watch it. Exactly. Because we got big meaty men slapping some meat in this main event.

It's the heavyweight Championship of the World. Title on the line, Tom Aspenal versus Cyril Gane. And Mike found out Cyril Gane.

I saw the video from this. This photo does not do it justice. Cyril Gane, his name should be Cyril Gane's because this dude is in impeccable shape. He's plus 300 in a fight.

He looks like Miles Garrett, basically.

He looks incredible. I can't wait to watch these big, meaty men.

It's going to be a massive fight. So we've got that going on for the main event. Ufc 321 MMA Hangout, presented by Boost Mobile. Start time 2: 00 PM in the Lord's time zone.

Aspinal is that good? Aspinal is the best heavyweight over the guy on the right.

I'm telling you, Tom Aspinal is the best heavyweight of all time in a couple of years.

But did you see the body?

Yes.

Mike, I appreciate you doing that on behalf of selling a fight. The idea of we've been watching fights throughout time where one guy is all jacked up and the other guy is just simply better, and it doesn't matter. Stronger, faster.

Look at this guy. This guy is plus 300.

The picture didn't give him justice. No. This guy's massive.

Holy shit. Wow. Big underdog. Yeah, but the chin, though. That's the issue. Just chiseled everywhere in the chin. Glass chin?

Yeah. Okay, so everything you're doing here, it's just leering in men. That's all that we're doing. Thank you.

Welcome to the Capping some meat.

All right, let's bring in Matthew Berry. Give him as much fantasy information as you can. There's also a whole lot of good betting advice in here, I realized last time he was talking. Yeah, me too. Matthew Berry.

Stevenson.

Matthew Berry.

Matthew Berry. Matthew Berry.

So let me get my pen. I got to write some of this down because there's some good betting information here. All of Stevenson to score.

That cash.

All right, there we go. Hey, Dan, of the seven quarterbacks that faced the Dallas Cowboys this year, five of them have scored at least 24 fantasy points. They not only allowed the most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks, it's three more points than any other team in the NFL. So far this year, by the way, Bo Nix, their opponent this week, is fifth in pass attempts per game. In four games as a starter this year, Jackson Dart, has 35 % of the Giants rushing attempts in the red zone. When they get in close, they use Jackson Dart more than you think he has at least one rushing shutdown in three of those four games. Any time, a countdown bet might work for Jackson Dart this week. He's averaging over 21 points in his four starts this year, including a 23. 6 game against the Philly Delphi Eagles the last time they played a couple of weeks ago. And every single game this year, the Cincinnati bangles have allowed a 16. 9 fantasy points to a running back. Brees Hall is, in fact, a running back. By the way, so is Isaiah Davis in case... That's the nicest thing I can say about Brees Hall.

But hey, so is Isaiah Davis in case Brees Hall can't go. Worth noting that as of this writing, the Falcons are this broadcast, I should say, Falcons are over a countdown favorite against the Miami Dolphins. Dan, in games that the Falcons win this year, the reason I bring up that the Falcons are such heavy favorites, in games that the Falcons win this year, Tyler Algier averaging over 14 touches per game. And over the last four weeks, no allows more rushing yards per game to opposing runningbacks than your Miami Dolphins. They give up 143 yards a game. Five of the last six games, J'Cory Bill Crosky-Merritt has been held to under 11 fantasy points. That includes both starts by Marcus Mariota, who's going to make the start on Monday night. He has a five 100 % target share. So when you think about the fact that the commanders are double-digit underdogss on the road to Kansas City, I don't think J'Cory Crosky-Merritt has a nice game this weekend. Love the kid, but I bet it's a Jeremy McNickel's game. Very quietly, Zay flowers has at least eight targets this year in every game, but two. Why do I bring up that number?

Because this year, wide receivers that have seen at least seven targets against the bears are averaging almost 19 fantasy points for a game. Of course, all this assumes Lamar Jackson is back. Only two teams this year allow more yards per game to the slot than the New York football giants. For the year, Devante Smith has over 60 % of his targets from the slot. I don't think people realize that Smith is due for a very good game. In all the games that Mike Evans has missed over the last two years for the Bucaneers, K. D. And their tight has a 22 % target share and averages over 14 fantasy points for a game. There's going to be no Mike Evans on Sunday for the Bucaneers, and they play the Saints, who have allowed a shutdown to an opposing tight-end in three of the past four games.

The thing that I just I just realized that it's been of an epiphany for me, and I apologize that I hadn't seen it before today, the illumination of, Oh, Matthew Berry is just giving away money here. He comes in here for three minutes. I didn't realize- You just figured this out now? I didn't realize that this man is just giving away money when he's like, Oh, Kate Otton, you got to go Kate Otton. I'm an idiot.

This guy's good. Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry, weekdays live on YouTube at noon Eastern.

I just realized why he's popular. It just happened. Just now. You just realized. No, because in plain sight, this man has been giving away money for 10 years.

Yeah, it's not my boyish good looks, Dan. It's definitely not that.

Okay, but I didn't know it before now. So I'm sorry.

This is why you play fantasy football, Dan.

Yeah, I'm I'm an idiot.

There is a lot of overlap between fantasy football, DFS, sports planning at all.

No, but I saw you sneak in there in any time, touch down bet. I'm like, That's not a fantasy thing. I heard that. That's not a fantasy thing. But any time, touch down bet. Wait a minute. He's speaking code in front of me, and I've been not paying attention as he's giving away money. For how many years?

It's been a number of years. Long time. Been doing this a long time. It's what I do for NBC on Football Night in America as well. You and I are both The Crown is ours. We're both in the DraftKings family.

See you later, Matthew Berry. Hampton Farms' nuttiest fan. I needed to get to that. I haven't had enough show. There's more basketball to talk about. Eduardo is coming on next. He doesn't want to talk basketball.

Can we You want to basketball with him? Before Eduardo, let's do Hampton Farms. Congrats to the B-Y-U fans for making their President Shane Reece crowd surf this week. Just look at that. I would watch his wallet. I'm watching his wallet if I'm him, but that is our Hampton Farms winner. Check out Get Nutty with Hampton Farms, the official peanut of bowl season. Keep an eye out for Lucy at LSU. If you think you are your team's nuttiest fan. Don Levatard. I mean, they used to call me Chris Carioqui. Stugatz.

That back row is bringing it today.

This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugats.

I really don't feel like there's been enough room in the show today because I wanted to hear Tony and Amine talking about the Steph Curry shirt that Chris Cody is wearing because Steph Curry is here to still tell hockey and the young people, Hey, still my league. I'm not just going to give it up to LeBron at the end, or Aaron Gordon, for that matter, or Jokić.

We didn't even talk about the Nuggets. The Nuggets look like a really good team, too.

Zazlo has texted me. He says, Aaron Gordon has officially entered the MVP conversation. He's going to keep us up to Three different candidates after three different days. It was Wemby's, but- It was Luca, then Wemby, and now Aaron Gordon. Now Aaron Gordon. A 50 burger. No, but on Steph Curry's Night. Am I wrong?

Can you be an MVP leader if you're winless? I don't think you can.

Good point.

Two of his three names are winless. Zaz doesn't care what your opinion is. He has said Aaron Gordon has entered the MVP conversation.

Where would they be without him?

Point differential.

Yeah, that's a good point. But also, who'd they lose to? The guy who should be MVP, Steph Curry.

On Chris Cody's shirt, don't forget his Olympic moment. He will continue to give us moments till the very end.

You're saying he can't get better? He's getting better.

No, by getting better, get out of here.

Is this a transit of property thing, like the McGuffin? If someone outperforms Steph Curry tonight in Portland, then they're the MVP. Like Highlander.

It's a match.

Chris Cody is now giving him the highest form of love, a love once only given to Tua, to look at him longingly and worship Steph Curry because it was Steph Curry's night last night.

That was the worst part of losing Louisville, losing the McGuffin. It now resides in Kentucky.

My father has arrived in the other room. He was told Eduardo Perez was going to be here. He is friend with the Perez's Tani Perez, Eduardo's father, who I once asked, Do you ever pee in a shower? Good question. On behalf of this show, Tani said he did not. His wife said he was lying. Foiled. I've just embarrassed an elderly Cuban Hall of Famer. My father didn't believe Tani Perez either.

Should DeAndre Jordan still be getting 3. 6 million? He just signed with the Pelicans.

He's a great guy.

He's a good locker room guy.

He's a great guy, man. 3.

6 million for five?

Kids at home where it's like, Oh, you should be nice. No, it's not because of karma or whatever. It's because you might get paid $3. 6 million just for being a great guy. Be a great guy.

He was mocked as a laughing stock two days ago. He's being mocked on television as being bad at basketball.

Who's mocking him?

Bad at basketball.

He's a great guy.

He's great at vibes. Exactly right. What do the Pelicans need, by the way? You guys are great guys.

They need a great guy. You guys cannot be talking about last night's basketball and end up on DeAndre Ayton for some reason. No, not DeAndre Ayton.

Jordan. Deandre Ayton. Deandre Ayton.

Now, that one. They need to work on that.

Oh, my gosh. Luca, I feel bad for him, man.

Luca is not going to be happy in about six games.

A lot of heartburn. Six You got it in six games? A buddy of mine who's in the league sends me a text, and he says, This Ayton thing is not going to work. I said, Yeah. I got Luca killing him by Christmas. He said, Christmas? He said, Halloween hasn't gotten here yet.

Put it on the poll at Levitard Show, Is Luca going to kill DeAndre Ayton before Halloween?

Yeah.

At Levitard Show.

It's frustrating, beyond frustrating.

He has all the tools, but then doesn't at the same It's one of my great joys in sports and basketball, I should say, because that's my thing, is when you know something about a guy, not because it's insider information, whatever, but because you watch the guy a lot, and then he gets to a new team and you realize that fan base knows nothing.

They really don't know anything. And so the Lakers are like, Oh, my God, we got our center. He's the number one overall pick. He can dunk, he can shoot jumpers. I'm like, You guys don't know what you're getting. You don't know what you're getting into. And I said, I guarantee midseason, Luka is going to want to kill him. And then I saw that first game and I was like, Midseason might be too far. Let's go Christmas. And like I said, my buddy said, Christmas? Halloween isn't here yet.

Really quick on the defending champs. They're playing a lot of basketball. Are they young enough to just continue to put the pedal to the metal and play hard every single night?

Double overtime, first two games of the season, taken to the end.

A lot of young legs, which is good, but this seems like a team that needs to get a little bit more of pace going.

This is what I'm going to say, what concerns me. It concerns me that it took you double overtime to beat either of those teams. A Houston Rockets team where they're just getting to know each other and a Pacers team that's missing its best player and obviously lost its starting center.

Wait a minute. You're going to do, Concern me that the defending champion has won two straight games. I'm concerned. It took double overtime against a finalist from a year ago that's without its best player and the Rockets that are supposed to be the best contender. People are learning somehow what, Sagoon is good. Yeah, he was the best player on the number two seed last year, and Houston got Kevin Durant.

One of my favorite things, by the way, from opening night we didn't get to talk about is the way Reggie Miller pronounces Shane Gunn. He calls him Shane Gunn. S-h-a-n-e, space-The Gooner. The Guner. G-o-o-n. The Guner is what I like to call him. But Shane Gunn sounds like... What does Shane Gunn sound like to you? Shane Gunn, to me, sounds like a mid-major college football coach who is doing a great job with this program and is going to get poached by one of the Power Five schools.

Former D. Lineman. Yeah.

You're making first name Shane, last name Goon, G-O-O-N. Yes. Not Sen Goon.

That's not me. He's not Hispanic either, though. I even know I'd like that. Senguun.

Senguun? That's how you guys say it?

He was the best player on the number 2 seat.

Abertigo Sengún.

It sounds like a dish. Give me some of that Mofongo on Senguun.

That That isn't even the game we're talking about from last night. You can have your choose. I do think it's funny that OKC is going to be an afterthought and instill some of the storyline things that are going to captivate us.

It's like the Western conference has 19 different story lines the way that the East does not. But we didn't even talk about Wemby, right? I asked, I mean, privately, is the WENBI thing for real? Because I keep having this- How can it not be for real? I just keep having this resistance of like, No, not yet. It can't be.

It can't be. Help me with the context of this because you and I agreed that Shaq underachieved for what he did. Wemby is an unprecedented player. When someone comes, who was it? Was it Michelle Beatle? It was yesterday. Somebody said, No, Wemby is going to be a top 10 player in the league ever if he just stays healthy, because clearly, that's a level of mastery that I never do this in sports. It was Rachel Nichols. I don't even do this to Shoheya O'Tani. I don't say that what Shoheya O'Tani is doing is unfair. That it feels like- It feels unfair. I know, but I get it, but I I don't have the same feeling that I do with Wemby. Well, wait a minute. You're going to be so much better that every game is possibly going to feel like Shoheya O'Tani hitting three home runs and striking out 10 because you can break all the statistics in this sport. When you go 40, 15, and zero turnovers, you're spending the game on your finger.

I was asked this yesterday. It's like, put into context how great that performance was. I said, he was guarded by the guy that we generally consider to be the best big man defensive player in the If you had to pick out of everyone in the league, who's going to guard Wembenyama? I want someone tall and long and agile and laterally agile, can move around with Anthony Davis. And he made him look like a fool. He made it look unfeared.

A perennial defensive player of the year candidate who is the first of these seven-foot unicorns who can almost guard anybody on the perimeter.

I have a prediction. He's going to force the league to change something about its game drastically. I think the athletes have long outgrown the dimensions of the court. He may be the one that makes the court larger because it's an unfair advantage.

To give him more space, I think actually- No.

He gets up the court in three strides.

But Mike, so now you just made it harder for everyone else.

No. What about T.

J. Mcdonald, Mike? This is T. J. Mcdonald.

This is the thing that I've been... Yes, think about him. He doesn't stand a snowball's chance in that.

But if you make the court bigger, you've actually helped Wemby and hurt T. J. Mcdonald even more.

Something needs to be done. This is what I warned you about several years ago.

They're going to make the court smaller.

Okay, can I just have the- Bonebooth. Can I have the conversation with you guys, though? Because baseball can't be... The thing about Ohtani that is so amazing is that he's making it seem routine, and yet he very often fails. Ohtani spends a lot of time failing because it's a failure rate sport. Because he pitches often. Yeah, and he pitches. But I don't look at Ohtani and say that's unfair because baseball can't be made unfair. But it's just about the most unfair thing I've ever seen in baseball outside of maybe Barry Bonds when they had to walk him 134 times.

Dan, one of the most unfair things in baseball, my memory, was the 1995 AL Wild Card Series, Mariner's Yankees. Me as a Yankees fan, watching Randy Johnson feel like he pitched 700 times that series. I'm like, How is this possible?

How does he do it? There are certain things in sports that when you see them.

Now make him hit home runs.

Correct. No, that's right. Randy Johnson's also up there 6-10 and hitting three home runs, one out of the stadium. I'm not saying that what O'Tani is doing is any way sane or it has any human reference point.

But you think it's fair?

But I also saw him go one for 17 with eight strikeouts because the game is different. When I'm watching Wemby, it's like watching Shaq, where I'm like, the dimensions of that are the human body not making it fair. That's too good. You can't have someone out there who's making the world's greatest athletes all look like they're sixth graders. There's a distortion of the physical body that makes it so that person is going to be someone who feels unfair. I never say that.

This was coming at you like a hurricane, and you were all just like, Look how fun. He's a monk. This is great. No, he is. He's destroying the game you love.

To be fair, Dan, he shot 35% from three last year. He had a lot of games where it was not so incredible, not so impressive. I think it's the same. To me, it's the same. It's just like, What am I supposed to do with this? That's the unfairness. Like a teenager, me, watching Randy Johnson pitch nine games in a five-game series. How is this possible? What am I supposed to do with this? Everything has zero fatigue or anything. He's hit 99 every single time. The same thing with Wembeya. It's not perfect all the time, but enough Half of the time, it's perfect enough to make you feel helpless. And that's what Shoio Ohtani does. He can go one for 17 and have eight strikeouts. And I guarantee you, there's not a single pitcher who faced him like, This dude is whack. There's always that fear of, Oh, my God. In the same way that watching Steph Curry last night, we talked about it, bad shot. But when it's Steph Curry, it's like, Oh, no.

This is how we're going to lose. To the Ohtani point, though, where the pitchers respect him so much, he's in the midst of a one for 17 slump and they walk him.

Yeah, to get Muki Betz.

It's like, Oh, you're going to walk me to get to another guy who's probably a Hall of Famer in a couple of years, too.

Think about how crazy that is.

I am saying that the level of mastery is the same, but I view baseball. Tell me if I've got this wrong, Because I understand what you guys are saying. Ohtani's previous game before that playoff game that was the best playoff game ever played was against the Marlins when he broke all sorts of records and had some 10 RBI game with three or four home runs. One of them hit off an infielder. But it's like the greatest offensive game you have ever seen. That is correct. That is not what Wemby is doing. But I can see it from here.

What does that look like? If it's 40 and 15 and three with no turnovers, what does it look like?

But he's still physically growing. He is still young. And what cometh this way, if it's not already here, is the storyline of, can Steph ward off this spider person who Antetokounmpo was supposed to be when he was going to dominate and win all the championships? But this person can come and take all the championships in a way that I think is going to feel unfair. If not already, it's like a couple of games down the line.

The thing I keep going back to is funny that Chris is wearing that shirt because that's such a cool moment from the gold medal game. That's not the coolest moment, though. The coolest moment is still the three that he hit over Wembenyama and that shot that we have. It's one of the great sports photos of the ball time.

It's a great photograph. They should find it. It looks photoshop. It doesn't look real. But God Almighty, when you talk, I mean, about symbolically where it is that survival of the fittest happens in sports. Steph Curry will forever be loved because what he does physically makes no sense in that sport. It requires a precision that he has not been gifted the way Wembenyama has been gifted a body that is wholly unfair.

But at the same time, you know what that picture also represents? Mike, it goes back to a name I said earlier in the show, Dr. Ian Malcolm, which is that life finds a way. You can see Wembenyama. Look at that. That ball is gone. And look at Wembenyama.

Look at the size of his hands.

It's just crazy. But here's the thing. Wemenyama can have all that height and that agility and that offense and that IQ and that great personality and great teammate and everything. He still can be best by a dude who looks like a regular guy when we're watching on TV.

Can we all just, the Majesty of this photograph, just look at Steph's eyes, and that is not the trajectory of a jump shot. No. He's looking into the Cosmos. He can't see the hoop from there. He's not looking at the hoop. He has to look straight up to an angle in the sky to throw it through seven stars. If you look, the amazing part of that photo is, if this were the evolutionary chart, it'd be like, holy shit, you got to be kidding me. I've got to conquer the sport by getting over the greatest form of human evolution there has ever been in athleticism.

The raw line straight from his navel to Steph Curry's eyes. That's where he's at.

It's not often that recently you see a photo and you're like, That's an all-time great photo. Everybody's reaction was that. That photo was taken by Gerard Angelo, Zamilano, and Esra Shah, two photographers on one photo credit. That's crazy.

Fan reactions behind her also, too.

Because it's in France. That's the other part of this question that we have to remember. It's in France.

Behind the enemy lines.

Photograph.

On treacherous ground.

Oh, easy there. I make you choice.

Ohtani had a game where he got to 50-50 for a season. He was 6 for six, scored four runs, had 10 RBI's and three homers. It's not the greatest game he's ever played because to go to the World Series, he threw six innings, allowed two hits, struck out 10, and went 3 for 3 with three home runs.

That's the part where it's not going to make sense. That's the other thing, Dan, is when you tell the story decades later, when all these guys are gone, when, like I said, we have Shohe, Jenkins, Jackson playing in the wide receiver for the Chiefs one day. It's that you're going to say that stat line of the 50 home run game, and it's like, That doesn't make sense. It's like a Wilt stat line. And then you say, And that's not even his best game. It's like me when I say Wilt Wilt once averaged 50 points a game for a season, and I said, That's not his most impressive stat. Do you know what the most impressive Wilt stat? Not that one. Not that one. It's a family show. Family show.

I was about to say it was that one.

Do you know what the most impressive basketball stat that Wilt Chamberlain has? The one that will never be broken because I can see 50 points again getting broken. I can see 100 points getting broken, the one that will never get broken, ever. He averaged 48 and a half minutes a game one year. 48 and a half minutes a game for a season. Ladies and gentlemen, there are only 48 minutes in an NBA game. So that means he played every single minute and also every single minute of overtime. 48 and a half minutes, that is the one stat that will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, It's ever be broken.

If you just put on this photo one more time on the screen, because I want to reference what Mike is saying when you know you're having a historic sports photograph taken. It's not just the physical parts of it, and it's not just the physics of it, the look on Steph Curry's face and his wrist, if you know anything about basketball, that is a photograph of human ingenuity. It's a photograph. That's human ingenuity on how does man survive when things around him get bigger, stronger, and faster in a way that's physically impossible.

Life finds a way.

It's a perfect encapsulation for the US having it back then, but it's coming.

Okay. All right. What?

That's decontextualization.

Excuse me? Viral decontextualization. I'm sorry. Yes.

I'm a provocateur. You're not sorry.

You know, it's funny for a video that I did. Oh, actually, for the Louver heist video I decided to add some elements, and I threw in. When I said it, it was almost as fast as me on Ninja Warrior. Going back and looking, I had to pull it up, the screenshot. When I did Ninja Warrior the first time, you know every single Every single ESPN show, other than First Take, no, Sports Unit had me. Every single ESPN show had me on. Every single one, Get Up, Highly Questionable, You Guys, Mike & Mike. Every single show had that clip. That's what made it one of the most watched clips ever because NBC typically never gets clips onto ESPN because the whole rivalry thing. I did that.

What was the context of that and what we were talking Viral decontextual.

You know anything about this, Trey is Savage?

I know nothing about this. I know Blake Snell is about to shove tonight. Trey is Savage starting game one for Toronto. Don't even know who he is. Don't care. He made his professional debut earlier this season. He started the year in single A in April. Then he got to high A in May, double A in June, triple A in August, made his first Major League start in September. Where's that, Eduardo? First playoff start at the beginning of October. He's starting game one of the World Series.

It's a real boy meets World Series situation, huh?

Where's that, Eduardo?

Because Ben Savage started in this show called Boy Meets World. And so he was like a guy who was a single in the World Series. Topanga. Oh, Topanga, yeah. And Cory and all that.

Papi estaba esperando Eduardo.

Eduardo.