Transcript of Hour 2: Sir, Do You Know Where I Can Find A Bathroom?

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This is the Dan Levatard Show with the Stugats podcast.

This episode of the Dan Levatard Show with Stugatz is presented by Venmo.

This is mortifying. He is the former running back for the University of Miami, played in the NFL, played in the CFL. He's the son of Walter Payton, an exceedingly kind and decent humanitarian. He's a sports reporter for Chicago's WGN9 News. He's the host of the Jerry Payton Show. He was on the wrong end of being looked at through my racist prism and stood behind some brochures while on the phone. And because he's a very sweet, sweet man, forgave me instantaneously. But, Jared, thank you for being on the show. Please his recount, Recount this horror for a divided America. And again, I'm sorry, you got my profound apologies in the middle of the convention center. I haven't quite shaken it off yet.

Well, Dan, first and foremost, I appreciate you, man. Yeah, let's get into it. That was Thursday at Super Bowl. So the news that broke a Virginia McCasky passing, God rest her soul. I was out doing a I hit back at home because we had NFL honors that night. So TV back at home. Everybody wants you to... My relationship with the bears and also the McCaskeys, they just wanted to get my word before heading off to NFL honors to give out the Man of the Year award. So I had to find a place in the Convention Center where I could sit down, put my iPad up, and talk back to Chicago. Excuse me. After I started to look, I'm watching you walk towards me as I'm getting done, and I didn't look where I was. I knew it was a table, and I saw some brochures on the side, but I wasn't paying any attention. I was actually just trying to get my stuff done while a lot of people on their phones talking about nonsense walking by me the whole time as I'm talking about Virginia Rackesky. And the next thing you know, I'm watching you walk towards me and I'm going, took me back to Coral Gables, 305.

I'm just like, Holy cow. Stan Levitard walking towards me, and he definitely knows who I am. He has to. He watched me grow up as a kid, breath smelling like Similac in Miami and Coral Gables. I'm like, he knows Excuse me? And when you walked up to be so gentle, you were like, Sir, do you know where I can find a bathroom? And it was that moment where I was like, Oh, man. Like, Dan, he doesn't know who I am. He has no clue. He don't know me. Maybe I've grown up a little bit. Maybe he didn't have the fake diamond studs in my ear from when I was in Miami. Maybe. I don't know what it is. And I didn't know what to say to you, Dan, but I go, You know what, sir? Just to let you know, I don't work here. And you go, Oh, my gosh. I'm so sorry. I said, This is going to make it even more awkward. I'm Jared Payton. You're like, Oh, my gosh. Doing exactly what you're doing right now. It was like you saw a ghost when I told you this. Racist.

Rejudging the racist. Jared told the story in a much nicer way than I remember it, because from what I understand, Dan's blonde, white wife was looking for a restroom, and Dan walked over to the nearest African-American, and I don't think he said, Sir. I mean, I'm guessing- Wait a minute.

I said, Sir. I'm guessing.

He did say, Sir. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. I feel like you rolled your lips up like you're about to make a B sound. Just a... Boy, where could my beautiful- Did you say that, Dan?

You're not the same thing at all.

You said, You said that?

Sir is not the same as doing You're going to say brother?

You shouldn't say that, Dan.

No, I thought he was going to say brother. He said, What makes it worse is Dan knows him. He is blind to all people who are not white. He just saw a black man and thought, Look at this employee. He didn't help me find a restroom for my swan.

Jared, did he give you a tip?

No tip, but I got to give Dan a little bit of slack here. No. Anybody that knows me knows that sitting behind that desk and smiling probably the way that I was smiling, I probably did look like I worked there just a little bit. You know what I'm saying? I'm just a happy go-go guy. But I was more disturbed than he did not know a Cany member.

The 2004 Orange Bowl MVP.

Yeah. Put some respect on my name. You You know what I'm saying, Dan?

I mean, yes.

I had to play behind Frank Gore, Willis McGahee, Ben Portis, Najee Davenport, James Jackson, Carl Mantzsche.

You weren't there.

Yeah. Yes. I apologize again. We brought Dominique on. Yeah, you mentioned that. You mentioned it in an assortment of sounds. Do you have any other thoughts on this, Dominique? Because he is much nicer than you, but he doesn't get to decide for everybody what is and it's not right here.

Yeah. I mean, I think that we... Jared's a really nice guy, but we could have forgiven you potentially because he was behind the desk. But really, what makes it so that it's unforgivable is that you know the man. You know him. And the fact that you go way back with him was not enough to swot away the racist goggles that you wear throughout your life.

He played for your team at your school.

You covered him. You wrote about him.

I didn't see his lips pucker enough to say, What? But if that would have happened, this would be a whole different conversation. There would be leak video from the Convention Center, Jared Payton seeing here beating up Dan Levatard. The two know each other from an interview previously in 2001.

Dan would have been busted up during the post-fight interview. I don't know what I missed that boy off so much. I just wanted to know where the restroom was. I just had to peepee.

You said that?

I did. Yes, I did. I apologize again. I'm not going to say it's not my only infraction here, because since then, I have come back to Miami and I have reported a morsel that what I remember from the conversation afterward when Dominique was witnessed to all of this is that Jared came over and told us a story about his father how it is that his father played. Dominique's face, he's a professional football player, was to be disgusted by what it is that must have done to Walter Payton's feet. I made the mistake of reporting that as, Walter Payton wore no socks. Walter Payton wore no insoles?

Insoles, yes. He ripped the insoles out of his shoes so he could have a better feel and a grip. I can only imagine what his feet looked like. Honestly, Dominic, I'm going to be real with you. My dad took care of his feet. His feet weren't that busted up, but I don't know how he did it. There's no way that I could have done that. And we're talking about all the different surfaces he played on, especially at that hard Astro Turf back at Soulja Field back in the day. I just give him a lot of credit. And a lot of those guys back in the '70s and '80s with the gear that they had and how they played. My dad was a real one, man. He was different.

The man, he pioneered from Mississippi all the way to the Super Bowl only so that his son could be mistaken for a convention employee by a man who reported on him. That man ran around and scored touch downs with no insoles in his shoes. He's from Mississippi, Dan. You imagine with that man experience? And now from his grave, he has to feel you telling his son to carry you to the bathroom and calling him a boy. Mistaking his son for a brochure vendor. Oh, unbelievable.

A noble profession, nonetheless.

Not at all. That's not the problem. The problem is that you know him, Dan. Also, I'll have you know that Dan was out here talking about him saying that he would play with no shoes or socks. He played barefoot. Dan is making up stories talking about Walter Payton used to run touchdowns barefoot because his memory is so bad.

Jesus. Dan, I tell you, man, as much grief as you're getting-Not enough. Not enough, but you're still one of my favorites, man. I appreciate you. Class act. For all that you do. All that you do. You've been an OG in the game for a long time. I've watched you from a long time. You get people like myself a glimpse of what it takes with the hard work. You put it in, you get a chance to be able to get what you want. And I see you, man. As hard as my dad worked to make sure that once we met our heroes, that they would give us a little bit of time, the fact that you were almost calling me boy and then giving me a hug and taking a picture with me, I'll take that. I'll take it. I'll take it.

Baby steps. We're making our way.

How did this end with Jared apologizing for Dan?

Yeah. How did you pull this off, right?

And Jared saying, I see you after I literally had not seen him. But Dominic, if I may, real quick, and thank you, Jared, I will receive that compliment. I am honored. You're a sweet man, man. You're a sweet man who descended from a man who was also sweet. And I will tell you, as ferociously as Dominique defends you now, originally, when we asked for your telephone number, he sent me another Black Jarrett, not you. He sent me the wrong Black Jarrett. So I don't know if that's racism. I need a ruling, but it wasn't- Hold on.

It wasn't- So, Dan, this is something that I've been working on with my kids for a while. Take responsibility. Right now, we're focusing on Dan improvement. Trying to deflect me. Take responsibility. Have we addressed your racism yet? Yes. Have we solved it? No, it's not solved. Because rather to take responsibility, you're deflecting the responsibility to whom? Another Black man. I'm asking- Stand down racism. Don't call him boy, Dan. Racism, because race is him. Maybe you understand it if I do some Slam Dan and I use the same word and put the inflection in the wrong place. Yes. Because racism, race is him, Dan.

What was the Jared that you sent us? Who was- What's Jared Jack up to? Who was the Jared that you sent us the wrong telephone number for? And Is that also racism, though milder than mine?

No, it was a Black Jared. It's a dad of a kid who's a really great basketball player, actually, who goes to my kid's school. I think his son committed somewhere to play one of the big schools. But yeah, they're both Jared's in my phone. I clicked Jared and sent you the wrong Jared. It's okay. I take responsibility for pressing the wrong button.

Jared, thank you for being on with us, sir, and thank you for always being so gracious. He's the 2004 Orange School MVP. Hold on. When are we going to discuss reparations?

You don't get to just say, I'm sorry. The wrong has been done.

When is we going to negotiate some way to repair this situation?

Reparations in this situation. Right, Dan? That's what you would pretty much- Why is Greg Cody howling like a hype man?

Yeah, I thought that was funny.

I think you should Venmo, Jared Payton, a boatload of money right now. A boat, a whole boat. Damn right. Hold up. Why is it got to be a boatload? Why is it a boatload? Why is it a boatload?

Why is it a boat?

I don't know. Why wouldn't it be a boat? Dan and my people, this is suggesting, I don't know, I don't really mess with boats. That's how this bullshit started.

That's right.

All this bullshit started on a boat. The white man talk about getting on the boat. I ain't getting on I don't damn boat with you, Greg. You get on the boat. How about if I let you be the captain? What? Let him.

You're saying it's my boat, I'm going to let you drive it.

It's always been your boat. If it's your boat, you let me drive it.

That's the way Kanye just works. I can't afford my own boat now. Uh-oh. This boat happened to be mine. I'm allowing you to drive it. If it's your boat. No, no. If it's your boat and we're having a nice excursion on the and you say, Hey, Greg, you want to steer the boat or whatever, pilot the boat, whatever boat drivers do, then it's a kind gesture.

Kicksaving the boat. Thank you.

I think you capt in a boat. You drive a boat. What do you do? Captain or driver boat?

Full circle because Dan thought that Jared was a boat captain at the beginning of this story. I don't think that was a kick save.

I don't think it was a kick save.

I don't know.

He gave him a rebound. I'm going to be honest, though. Dan asked me in that moment, Could I swim? And I was like, Yeah. That's not true. That's not true.

How do you do that?

How do you do that? Come on. We'd definitely be able to swim if you all had to put semen in the pools just because of the integration. You're racist. Yeah. What do you mean, yeah? Yeah. What's in the pool? I think it was in the south when integration happened rather than allow black people to swim in the pools, white people decided to put cement in them and made it really hard for people to learn how to swim. Oh, race lessons. Also, it's a men's.

It's That's what he said.

That's why I always go cement.

Never heard cement said that way.

You'll find cement on the boat.

Chris, you don't like the way I talk?

Well, his dad let you drive his boat, Dominic.

Hold on, Chris.

I'm sure that that is a role that a black man would do just fine if it weren't for the Caucasian neptastasy that has got you in that seat.

It's an odd thing to do with Jared Payton on the line.

No, it's a perfect thing to do. He needs to see this.

Going at Chris Cody for nepotism is a a weird bar.

Hey, hey, stop it.

Jared, quick question before you head out. Which would you rather win the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award or a Super Bowl MVP?

I probably win the Man of the Year Award.

It's the most prestigious award.

Liar. Is it all right if I win the MVP?

No. Only reason why, because I never got game to... I mean, most people don't know this about me, that I only played football starting my junior year in high school. So I was an all-state soccer player. Tried up for the national team when I was in seventh grade, eighth grade. I was a I'm not a soccer player than I was football player. I just decided to jump over to football to try it out my junior and senior year in high school. So winning a national championship to me on that team was special because of the guys that I was around, Ed Reid, Andre Johnson, all those guys. I could name all the runningbacks that I was with. So it really wasn't to win championships. I was always proving myself just to be able to play because people didn't think, you're not good enough to be here. You'll never make it to Hype College. You never make it to the pro. So I just wanted to be there. And I didn't know how long it was going to last. And I've seen that the championships and being on those teams last, but also being around this award and watching the guys that I get a chance to, like Eric Armstead, who won this this year, and Cam Hayward, how it elevates them on a whole nother level.

Man, that right there, it just changes your life, especially for me, because giving back in services, what my dad taught me is the rent that we pay while we're on this Earth. And you can win championships, but to be a good person, give back in your community, lead the legacy that you lead, that's what keeps you around forever. And that's why my dad's talked about the most. It's not the football, it's the impact that he had on people. And that's what I struggle with most, not to be like him as a football player, but to be like him as a person because he was flawed. He had his flaws. He wasn't perfect, but he lived his life right with his in his heart, and I think that's what's so special. So I got his replica right here, so you know what I'm saying? I just keep this one around for handy. So it's pretty cool that he got one of those. I got a Natty because he didn't get a Nattie. So I think we cover all bases by if I got a chance to be able to win that Walter Payton Man of the Year.

I'm really, really uncomfortable doing this.

Yo, chicken time. No, you're lying.

You're lying.

I'm going to be honest, I don't really feel comfortable. You would take the Super Bowl if you I feel like I don't want to do this after it said, Yo, chicken time. His dad was a good man. He's not lying. He doesn't lie. He's not a liar. Greg Nobody told us.

Greg, you think I look like the guy from Captain Phillips when you said I could be the captain of your boat? Is that what we're saying now? Is that what we're doing? You think I'm a pirate? I'm a Somali pirate? Is that what you call me Mews? What movie is that? Captain Phillips.

He got you there, pal.

What movie is that? What movie is that? What movie is that?

You don't think he watches movies?

Jared, thank you for being on with us. Dominic, thank you. Appreciate the time, gentlemen. I'm sorry for everything.

It's all good. Just everything. I'll be looking for the reparations, though.

How much you want. Can you send 40 acres via Venmo? I got to get that mural. Go, Keynes.

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Don Lebatard. But it's just his titt are sitting on the shelf that is his belly. Stugatz.

He said Titties. It shocked me a little bit. I wasn't quite prepared for titt.

This is the Dan Lebatard show with the Stugatz. That's right.

It's time for...

Against the Spread.

It's brought to you by our friends at DraftKings. Draftkings, the Crown is yours.

Roy, kick us off. Usa versus Canada for the Four Nations Championship. Looking at the injury front, Austin Matthews with an upper body injury, and the K'Chuck boys both had lower body injuries. They're expected to play. Charlie McAbury will not play. He has an affection from the injury sustained versus Sweden. Kael McCart is coming back for Canada. I think if USA neutralizes the speed of Connor McDhaven and stops Canada's transition offense, I think it'll be a very close game. It might be 2-1 USA, so I'm going to have to go with Canada, who's a one-and-a-half goal underdog against the spread. Against the spread.

You guys are bullying me.

I'm saying the United States are going to win 2-1 It's a good bet, though. He's right. You're laying some juice, though. It's against the spray. You're laying some juice on that.

He picked Canada?

Against the spread. To cover plus one and a half. It'll be a close game.

It'll be a close game. One and a half goal underdog. Over to Mike. I'm going to the Europa League on I like the way that Roma have played over their last few games under Claudio Renari, a legend of the game. He's won the Premier League with the Leicester City, all right? And he's back at Roma, and he's doing a really good job. So I'm going to take the minus one and a half against Porto in the Europa League. Go States. I would never do that. I can't believe it. Against the spread, man. I would never do that. But they're going to win. I literally picked Finland last week. Okay.

I do remember that you did do that. I want to play some sound here for a couple of reasons. First off, I want you guys to give me the assessment. Dan Arlowski signing off of NFL Live. Is he taking a long vacation because football's over or is he going to take another job? Does this goodbye say to you goodbye temporarily or goodbye he's leaving ESPN as someone who hasn't been critical of some quarterbacks, at least in part because he wants to work in the league again, as accused by nick Wright. Nick Wright has accused him of this. He's also, nick Wright, who is being quite the media ombudsman, I believe, has accused Stephen A. Smith of going after Bronnie extra hard because LeBron won't talk to Stephen A. Smith, which, what's that?

That's not- That'll change once we get President Stephen A.

It will change.

You're right. We're not going to call him President Smith, right? President A.

Can you guys put up, please, the sound here of Orlovsky saying goodbye?

You guys know this is the end of the season for me, certainly for RC as well. I'm taking a break, won't be on TV for a long time, but I just want to say thank you to you guys. Steven A. Miles, Shannon, for a great season. Love being with you guys.

I love you all.

Never know what the future holds, but I'm taking a break, and I'm sure I'll see you guys as well. So I just want to say thank you. Appreciate you guys so much.

Appreciate it, too.

We love I appreciate you.

That sounds to me like a contract that ends at the Super Bowl, and he's just not sure yet.

I think never knows what the future holds can be just an appreciation for being alive at the moment and saying, I will see you in several months because I'm going to be going away for a while and don't take any moment for granted.

He said, I'll be off the air a long time. That's more than several months.

A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to talk to Dan when he was at a similar career crossroads, and he was very thoughtful about it. Just leaning off my life experience, I would believe what he's saying there, and he's taking his time to focus on what his next move is.

Do you happen to know or is that something- No, I haven't talked to him this go around. The other sound I wanted to play for you because this This has been a startling reinvention. The fact that Rick Patino now has, and I don't know if they've lost in the Big East recently, but he was asked why his record recently was 12 and 1 in the Big East. What he thought of that, his response was how the bleep did we lose the one? Because Rick Pitino is now back in the game, and they were losing this game at halftime. And this is from Vice Sports, and I think this is a part of something that Netflix is doing, if I'm not mistaken. Here is Rick Pitino going-It's Vice Sports. Maximum vampire coach at halftime of a game he's losing recently. Dig in and be a basketball player. Dig in. Every time you miss a shot, your game deflates. We don't care about your missed shots. Play for your defense. You guys keep blowing opportunity upon opportunity upon opportunity. You're like children with bad things happening. Instead of digging in and be tougher, you wilt. Where Where is your toughness?

Where have you guys been raised that you're so weak mentally that you just give up when something doesn't go right for you? Don't you know what adversity is all about? That's the game of life. Not the game of basketball.

You don't f it down when things go wrong.

You dig in and get tougher. Your whole life's going to be adversity. Learn how to deal with it. On the back of his jersey, the college coach lording over the players. Does that actually say Pray, P-R-E-Y? Yeah. I can't believe he's back toward the top of this sport.

He's always on top of it. Whenever he's active, he's on top. Rick Pitino wins. It was like a mixed reaction there. The coaches are supposed to impart life advice. I didn't find anything wrong. Where were you raised? I don't know.

When life gets Rick Patino adversity that he may have caused for himself, he digs deep, he gets tough, and he rises back to the top.

I thought it was good advice when he He said, be a basketball player. I think that's something all basketball players should be able to relate to.

Yeah, that's true.

Imagine he said be a hockey player. Really confusing, I would say.

That's what we've been doing all show today. Basketball players, be hockey players.

If I may, there's one thing that Dominique said. I don't understand. We all just went with it. The NFL showed you that owners, management, players, down the line, they can all get on the same message and understand what affects business. We're affording basketball. We don't think basketball players can do the same thing. What are we doing there? We can't put the toothpaste back in the tube with basketball players as Coca-Cola and Jeff Bezos bend the knee. The basketball players are too rich and powerful. What is happening here? Of course they can. This takes strong leadership. Be a hockey player.

What I will say on that front is that after George Floyd happened, the league's reacted differently to the player power, and the league reacted differently in service of labor. Listen to its players more, stronger stars with bigger voices, and as soon as Mahomes said something to Guadel, that then changed. These are two vastly different cultures, these two sports. The tight end is going to get the respect beat out of him by men like Patino on his way up the climb. They may indeed take strong political stances, but when Kaepernick did it, Jerry Jones got him gone forever. That's not how that behavior was received in basketball by the leadership. You are talking about two different cultures, and the one in football runs toward discipline more necessarily than the one in basketball because they fancy themselves the military in football. They're doing a different thing culturally than basketball. You remember that in the bubble in basketball, there weren't any football uniforms that had education reform on them in football. It was end racism, and that was gone in three years. And end racism was only put there because Mahomes made it so.

Guys, Roger Goodell dug himself out of it. Whatever the NBA is dealing with right now, keep in mind, Roger Goodell was dealing with people complaining about the style of play because it was bad at the time, Ray Rice and Colin Kaepernick. The NBA hasn't dealt with all those things at the exact same time to that magnitude. Not once. And Roger Goodell turned things around.

I I will tell you one of the differences there. In football, some of the stars are white Americans at quarterback. In basketball, it's the foreigners who are the white stars in basketball, so they're not the lead voices and stars and faces for your team. One of them is a Black League. Football is not looked at as a Black League. Basketball is looked at as a Black League.

I understand, but look at the last few MVPs. We haven't had an American MVP in this sport. Europe has taken over the game. I just don't understand why we're all throwing our hands up and saying, Well, I guess they can't figure it out in the NBA. Guys, the numbers are the numbers. The arrow has been pointing down, not up. When the NFL decided to stop the Kaepernick thing. No more Neil in during the Anthems, we're all going to get aligned in the name of business. Their numbers increased.

But the difference is non-guaranteed money, guys on rookie contracts in the NFL that don't get endorsement deals. All of these guys are coming into the NBA with a different financial game plan and one that allows them to be individualistic, which is what we're constantly talking about in this country is a good thing. We allow the labor to actually gain power and gain individuality and be able to put their foot down on something. And yet what we want is to, what, suppress the labor enough to where they have to bend the knee?

No, I don't want to suppress the labor enough to where they have to bend the knee. I'm just saying that there's numbers proving that they are not headed in the right direction. And you guys are just saying, Well, that's their toast. It is what it is. This is always going to be the power dynamic.

No, they just worked on it. They tried. I mean, the presentation of this All-Star Weekend was terrible. The idea behind it has some legs. And the first year execution of it did not go as well as Four Nations. We talked about the geopolitical things behind that that allowed Four Nations to take off in the way that it did in a way that might have been different otherwise. But the NBA is working on it. It's just they haven't found a solution, but it's the stage at which they are in the league. This is the thing that Dominique was bringing up, which is when they were first starting with David Stern's heavy fist and really getting all of these guys lined in on one thing, it was because the league was growing and trying to get it to the place that it is now, something the NHL is trying to do. Like I was saying before, once the labor gets there, you're going to see the exact same quit on these events.

I just don't think that we can skip past backlash, slack,/blacklash, some of the things that are happening in here. I'm not saying it's just... Mike, it can be that- Let me cite you an example. Hold on. Let me finish. It can be that and other things, though. It doesn't need to be just that. It can be that and that the exhibition game stink and that they've got a real problem with the players not playing because, for example, it skates on this show when Stugat says that Luca That Doncic isn't playing that much, and he had more minutes last year than any player in the league. It's smearing everybody, white and black, this perception that the Black League is lazy.

We're workshopping here. I don't think that there's a bad spitball here. There are great explanations for it. But let me give you an example in which business crossed platforms and barriers and everybody got aligned because the NBA has shown you they can do this. Adam Silver has shown you they can do this. China. They did it because while the arrow is pointing down here, globally, the sport is still growing. They're looking at international expansion as all these league are. They're not just limited. Yeah, we're probably not going to grow anymore in the States. We can turn some of those numbers around, but our big growth for our sport is internationally. They got the message on China. They can get the message with your efforts not there.

Yeah, but they're not Chinese. The labor is not Chinese.

The labor- The money? What? They're selling sneakers speakers there. Everybody got a board and decided, Yeah, politics aren't good when it was China. To say that they can't fix this, to say that the power dynamic is just totally screwed because of the guaranteed contracts in it, I've seen it happen a couple of years ago.

But it's just the power in having the guaranteed contracts. When your money is secure in basketball, it's vastly more secure than most of the money in football. That's what real power is. To me, this is the natural evolution of everything that's happened in both sports. In football, the owners are still in charge. Basketball, less so. And we don't like that so much. America doesn't like that so much. That sport, those guys, that voice, that power, LeBron and Dwayne starting this power with Trayvon Martin wearing hoodies. That's what you've been watching for 15 years. Now you can rationalize everything by just saying, No, this has nothing to do with race. It's just that the game sucked. But it could be both of those things. It's not either of those things. It's allowed to be both. It's not allowed in today's America to just throw up my hands and say, No, race doesn't have anything to do with that.

We got Travon, George Floyd, Jonathan Martin. Oh, wow. Who else did we get today? Donald Sterling. Donald Sterling made it. Hey, two Americas.

Can't they just try harder?

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