Transcript of Hour 2: The Awkward Top 5 (feat. Mad Dog Russo & Katie Nolan)

This is the Dan Levatore Show with the Stugats podcast.

Is the King of Radio Row there? Is he there? Yes, Danny.

How are you, pal?

He's already there and he's ready to go and he answers to the king of Radio Row. He knew what I was talking.

No, I don't mean it that way, but I knew you were chatting, so I figured I'd fill you in. How are you doing?

What's going on? We've already started, and I've identified Chris Mad Dog Ruso as the king of Radio Row because who's more the king of Radio Row than you. I think of you and Jim Rome with his bodyguards, but you don't do bodyguards because you're a man of the people.

Funny there, Danny. Well done. Yeah, 1990, so a long time doing this, and there was no Radio Row in 1990. Niners and Broncos in New Orleans. Three or four of us there, the local radio guy, Howard Eskin, Eddie Andleman, guys that you are familiar with, and in a hotel lobby at the Hyatt, 5510 San Francisco.

You invented Radio Row then? You're saying you were at the original Radio Row and it wasn't a row?

No, it wasn't an original.

No, but there were three people there is what you're saying.

Well, Pete Franklin for WFAN went the year before. That was the San Francisco. That was the Miami Super Bowl. No, that was San Francisco, Cincinnati in Miami. And he went to that when I was at WFAN. I'm sure Pete went to some radio rows prior to that in the early '80s. I am not the originator of radio row. I think that WFAN, the fact that we did 24/7, and then the Giants got to the Super Bowl in 1991, our third or fourth year there, I think that had something to do with it. That was the one in Tampa when they beat the Bills. The first one that I recall where they actually put us in some convention setting in a hotel ballroom was the Dallas Buffalo game in '93. '53 '17. And of course, Bibi, so '52 '17, whatever the final was, Bibi against Leonlett. At the Rose Bowl. That is the first one that I recall that there was, say, seven or eight stations in the same area at Universal City in LA. That was that Super Bowl. They were the Cowboys, which was their first that they won. They beat Buffalo, obviously, twice.

They beat Pittsburgh, and that was the first one that they beat the Bills on. Greg Coty- That one I remember.

Were you pointing at Chris Ruso because you're laughing that he gets the scores right or likes giving the scores from 30 years ago? Because he's showing off when he does that.

Rightly so. I am. Good job, Danny. I am showing off a little bit. But that was the, I think it was 31-17 Cowboy start of the fourth quarter against Buffalo. That's when Wright, when Jim Kelly got hurt, and Wright played the second half. And then Dallas said, That was not Buffalo's first Super Bowl. That was their third, but it was Dallas's first. So the Bills had already lost to it, the Giants in Washington, and then Dallas killed him that year. Those are the early days for me doing this. Now, there were a lot of guys, including our old pal Joe Brown, who worked for the NFL, who went to every Super Bowl from Super Bowl 2. And remember, I think she's passed away. Clark Kent's mom went to every Super Bowl. Her chiefs were in Super Bowl 1 against Green Bay, and that was in '66. So there are some who have been to every single one. The The first one that I went to was Super Bowl 24 with San Francisco and the bangles. So I'm 24 behind certain people. How's that?

Now, dog, Radio Row has certainly changed a lot over the years. Lots of podcasts now on Radio Row. Do podcasts belong on Radio Row?

Who am I to say? You're the king of Radio Row. Danny, you and I both know there is a difference between podcasts and doing a daily show Monday through Friday, the grind of it, there is a little difference. Everybody is piling on. They want to do podcast. It's a Super Bowl. Little Chris Ruso is not going to say they can't. But you're right. That adds to the aura and the plethora of media here at these games. Remember, this is a weird one because the game is 44 miles away. They should be called the San Jose 49ers, not the San Francisco 49ers. The game is 45. That stadium is 45 miles from here. It's the furthest away from the city His name, I think, of any team in the league for crying out loud. I mean, MetLife is 10 miles from downtown Manhattan, 44 from this. Now, there has only been a couple of Super Bowl here, right? Dolphins played in Palo Alto against the Niners when Moreno got killed. That was in Palo Alto, if I'm not mistaken. And then you had the Carolina one against Denver in Super Bowl 50. Is this only the third one?

It might be in the history of the NFL. I'm not positive. I don't have to count that. I think it's the third one.

Juju Can you put it on the poll, please? Should they be the San Jose 49ers instead of the San Francisco 49ers? That is a good one. Because they're 44 minutes away.

I don't think you were kidding. This is the king of Radio Row. We went on a fascinating deep dive. The reason why Radio Row exists the way it does today is because of Mad Dog Ruso. Jeremy, fill them in. In 92, in Minneapolis, Mad Dog was going to do a broadcast live from inside the Hyatt Hotel in which they said Mad Dog was staying. The Hyatt said, Well, you got to pay $40,000. They said, We'll go do it at the Holiday Inn across the street for free. They did that. Because of the success that happened in Minneapolis, the following year in '93, WFAN said, We're sending everybody. We're broadcasting live. We're funding it ourselves.

Did you not know that you'd invented it? Were you not aware that you had- First off, good job by Jeremy.

That was the Mike and Amanda. I do remember we did not stay. We stayed in the Hyatt in Minneapolis. That was that cold weather. One of the cold weather Super Bowl, and Minneapolis did a great job with it. And that's when Buffalo got killed by Washington and Thurman Thomas misplaced his helmet. You guys remember that? Of course. And missed the first play. And I do remember we did this show in a different location than the Hyatt lobby. I did not know about... I have heard that story recently, but at the time, Danny, I was not aware of the $40,000 fee. So if that is the case, that would answer why, in fact, there was a A change in philosophy with the NFL of making it Radio Row. Now, the year before that, remember, that was Giants in Buffalo, and Mike and I went to the Championship game that year in San Francisco. That was the 3P game in which the Giants, Roger Craig fumbled, and the Giants ended up kicking that field goal. Five field goals. That won the game. Yeah, that was a... I think it was... 15, 14. 15, 14. They were down 14, 12.

Craig fumbled. Giants go down the field with Hosteller and kick the field goal. And there was no week off that year because of the war. So we went right from San Francisco to Tampa, and we did the show at the Tampa Hyatt. So there was not a media roll then, but there was a lot of giant fans who came down for the game, and they watched the show at the second floor of the Tampa Hyatt, and the Tampa Hyatt hired a band for the week. The band said, We can't do this because all the giant fans came down and wanted to hear Mike and Chris do a show on the Giants. So the band left, and we controlled the second floor of the Tampa Hyatt there with the great Buffalo Giants Super Bowl 2019 with the field goal missed by Norwood, as you know, the 48 Yarder. I I remember we had George Young on at five o'clock on Friday afternoon. There must have been 300 giant fans watching.

The GM of the Giants.

There you go. Who used to work with the... Who was the player personnel director for Shula with Miami. Damn right. Who, in fact, there must have been 300 giant fans watching George Young. I remember that. That was in 1990. What war? What war? That was the Persian Gulf War. What year was that? In 1990. He wasn't even born. That there was no week off. They changed that, no week off, and getting in to the Sombrero in Tampa. That was the old stadium. That's where the game was. Getting in. You had to get there basically four hours before game time because of precaution. Whitney Houston did the national anthem, and they were basically snipers on top of the stadium because of the tensions with the war. That's a famous one.

I don't think we've spoken about anything in this interview that's happened in the last 20 years.

Yeah, I know. Well, you get me on. You get me on, you guys. You're going to be talking about that. I'm 100 years old. You're going to be talking about the old days for crying out loud.

He headlines Mad Dog Sports Radio on SiriusXM, including Mad Dog Unleashed, weekdays at 3: 00 PM Eastern. You can also see him every week on First Take. He's got, obviously, a gift for the genius of what sports radio is. Chris, I ask this question sincerely out of curiosity. Do you believe that everything you say is interesting? Because I think you have to in order to be as good at delivering interesting things as you are. I don't mean it as an insult. As you're talking, you used to talk for six and a half hours a day, right? Your show at one point was six and a half hours, and I think that probably mutates you into somebody who's got to believe everything he's saying is interesting.

Well, you have to be a good salesman because you have to convince the audience that what you are saying is interesting. That's the first thing a good talk show host has to do, especially if it's on for a long period of time. As you said, Danny, Mike and I were on 1: 00 to 6: 30. Then when I got to serious, it was 2: 00 to 7: 00, and no commercials were serious. If you're going to do a show under those scenarios, you got to make sure that what you say you're into, because if you're into and you're enthusiastic, you can convince the audience, Well, he cares about it, so it must be something I should care about. And that's where being a good salesman is important. And my father was a salesman, so that's where that gene came from. I think you got to have that. I think you got to have a little curiosity. I think you got to be able to be interested in a lot of different things. History helps. You've been doing this a long time, Danny. You have that same gene. If you're curious, that will help you, Danny, be a good talk to host.

So I like to think myself curious, and I If you like the history of it. If you like the history of it, you're curious, and you got a crazy personality, you can be a talk show host if that is, in fact, what you want to be. When I started in the early '80s in Jacksonville and Orlando, the second job I had was at WKIS in Orlando. Good News Talk Station, 74 AM. I did 6: 00 to 8: 00. And the old general manager who hired me, a fellow by the name of Mike Guier, who put Bob Trumpy on the air at CKY in Cincinnati. Trumpy just passed away about, what, six months ago. He knew sport. He brought me in the office one day. This would have been probably '85. And he said, Chris, you have the perfect blend for a talk show host. You got all those little ingredients to make you a good host. And Guier told me that in '85, so I've thought about that my whole life. And he put Trumpy on the air. And Trumpy was a good talk show host, too, at CKY. So in Orlando, 6: 00 to 8: 00 Monday through Friday, in the mid '80s, I'm sitting here doing sports talk at 24, 25 years of age.

So there you have it. Longevity is important. 40 years of doing this. Mad Dog, what's your favorite Bad Bunny song? My favorite Bad Bunny? What do you mean Bad Bunny? Bad Bunny. Bad Bunny. I couldn't tell you. The band. That's okay. You got the wrong. I can tell you my favorite CCR song. No. I can tell you my favorite Sure. Let's go there.

What is it?

I can give you my favorite Doors song, but I can't give you the... That's a little rough. That one I can't. I'm not good at that stuff. That's okay. They're doing a half-time, so now I understand.

That's all right. Let's play the sound for Mad Dog to see how it is. I don't think he's self-conscious about these things. We've done a form of this before. What happened to you here, Mad Dog?

Out of the quarterback in this ball game here, stick him. Oh, yeah. That was funny. Where did I come up with that? Where did I say that? I said that two weeks ago. What station did I say? I said it- WKCY. I guess I said on FA. What station?

Wkcy.

He's being a smart ass. Don't listen.

My bad, dog. I see why. Here's what I did. I said it on our show, and Jimmy trainer picked it up, and then everybody heard it. That's what I did. Yeah, and stick him instead of stick him. That was pretty stupid. But the half-court shot I attempted there a few weeks ago, a couple of months ago. Low rough. That's the thing. You can't take yourself too seriously. Be yourself. Try to be authentic. If people think you're a nut, sometimes, what's the big deal? You must be doing something right. You've been doing this a long time. You're doing it right. You must be doing something right. Lightning Round. That was a bad one. No, that was a bad one. Lightning Round. Stick them instead of stick them.

Lightning Round because you got to get out of here. Headlines, Mad Dog Sports Radio on SiriusXM. I'm just going to do this. So rapid fire. Best city to host the Super Bowl?

I know this sounds crazy. I love Minneapolis. They took advantage and they capitalized on all the snow. That was the one with Buffalo and Washington. It is crazy. What you're saying is crazy. They had stuff, what you could do, and they took advantage of their surrounding scenarios.

Lightning Round. Most entertaining Super Bowl game.

That I have seen. Before I worked, Dallas, Pittsburgh, 35, 31, back in the late '70s when Thomas Anderson said, Bradshaw can't spell cat if you spouted them the C and a T, which is fine.

Go ahead. Best food to eat watching the Super Bowl.

Nachos.

Best halftime performer.

Springsteen, Tampa.

Seahawks or Patriots?

Seahawks. I'd be shocked if they lose.

Enjoy Bad Money and the Half-Time Show. Good.

They're great, dog, by the way. They are amazing.

You were great. Appreciate it, Mad Dog. Thank you. All right, Danny.

Always appreciate it. Danny, thank you. Legend. You got it, pal.

A legend. I got 8 Danies. 8 Danies. That's a record for me. I'm so happy to get 8 Danies from him. It's the highest honor, the highest honor. Him and Will Bond, the only ones allowed to call me Danny.

Guys, let me tell you something. One of the greatest joys of my life was when they When I finally opened a white castle in my neighborhood in Phoenix, Arizona. I lost my mind because I'm so used to eating white castle at home when I was in New York. Now I can have it all the time.

I'm in Phoenix.

But when I come to Miami, there's no white castle. You know what I do? Go to the freezer aisle because right there, they got the variety pack with all the great White Castle flavor in there. You're getting a lot of slider styles. You're getting classic American cheese, you're getting jalapeno cheese, and if you're a bacon lover, you're getting that new Cheddar Bacon Cheese sliders. The classic cheese gives you all the taste of a great American burger, while jalapeno cheese sliders give us serving of spicy to each bite. And the new Chetter Bacon cheese? That literally brings home the bacon, folks. With real pieces of bacon in Chedder-flaved cheese. Guys, I know what you're thinking. Your mouth is water. My mouth is watering just reading this. That's completely normal. You can find each of these sliders where? In the grocery store, in the freezer aisle. Bonus, they're all in the same box. You don't even have to I got to get four boxes?

No, it's one variety box. It's got them all in it.

Perfect for game day, late nights, or anytime you just want something awesomely, oniony, satisfying, steamy, and unapologetically cheesy. White Castle. Crave thy Castle. Listen up, folks. It's game day, and you already know what that means. The noise, the jerseys, the group chats going crazy. I'm telling you, no game day is complete without the world's number one Vaka. You know that that is smear enough. We're talking easy cocktails, tons of flavors, perfect for every fan over 21. Whether you're riding with your squad, watching from home, or celebrating like your team already won the first quarter, Smirnov is the official vodka partner of the NFL. It's award-winning, and it's been bringing people together since 1860. 64, which is basically forever. Smirnov does game days. Big energy, big moments, big wins, hopefully. Grab a bottle of Smirnov at your local retailer and head to smirnov. Com to find a cocktail recipe perfect for game day. Please drink responsibly. Smirnov, number 21 Vaca distilled from grain. 40% alcohol by volume, the Smirnov Company, New York, New York. Please don't share with anyone under legal drinking age. Now, let's get back to arguing about refs. Howdy, folks. Mike Ryan here.

Quick break to talk to you about one of our shows, Long most tenured and greatest partner is Miller Lite. I love this product because so many moments were made legendary by having Miller Lite there. And it's not just a good time. Sometimes you and your pals are sad because a game didn't go your way, and you take a sip of Miller Lite, and you still recognize, Darn, this tastes good. And I made the right call. And that sound of crack and open that beautiful white can, it does make me feel better. Thank you, Miller Lite. So many legendary moments start with a Miller Lite. Miller Lite just fits pretty much any occasion. Clean finish, refreshing, brewed for taste with simple ingredients like malted barley, and at 96 calories and 3. 2 carbs per 12 ounces, it never weighs you down. It's the taste that beer lovers have trusted for over 50 years. The original light beer since 1975 and still iconic today. Legendary moments start with 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. Don Lebatard. I actually thought you looked good. Yeah. Stugatz. That good. I have a beard growing out a little bit. I got a little life in my face, I feel like. A little tan, Colorado, San Francisco. A great time. You get life on your face.

You've got death on your face.

I think you got 40 to life on your face. This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stugats. Big guy. No one's going to realize we're wearing different clothes. We're not going to get those flimsy accusations that lazy just because someone noticed on Reddit that it was tape. Don't let it get to us this time. We did the work. It's the first time they experienced it.

How is it lazy? It's just show. If anything, we should get credit for not being lazy because we worked extra yesterday for the listener.

Don't let it get to you. Do not crack.

Speaking of which, we're working extra after the show today and tomorrow because our postgame today is just going to be everybody talking about the NBA and the trade deadline. You guys are going to stay live on the show here for a while. Tony and Zaz and Jeremy and a cast of characters are going to be doing more NBA talk as part of the postgame today. It'll be live on YouTube. Also, tomorrow, we're going to do a live stream up to the Trade Deadline. We're going to enjoy ourselves and fool around. Also, very happy to see on my screen someone right now who is at the height of her powers. It's not just casuals with Katie Nolan Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's not just her daily Serious XM show fan service. Her Patriots are back. She's sitting down with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. She is maximum New England right now.

Mike, what face is- It's a tough five years that that poor fan base had to endure.

Yeah, right? There's a whole generation of five-year-olds who have never seen the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Katie, it is nice to see you. Again, weekdays, 12 Eastern on Mad Dog Sports Radio. I I'm going to bring you in here first, and I know that Cody's got some opinions here. He thinks the winner this year of the Westminster Dog Show, he thinks that the dog is simply ugly. So what preamble do you want to give this for context? Okay, a minor correction.

Not ugly, but scary. This looks like if the devil had a pet dog, it would be the Westminster Kennel Show champion. It's a Doberman pincher, and it is one of the scariest dogs ever. And when I think of the Westminster Kennel Club, I want my winner to be a cocker spaniel or just something a little, even a poodle, just Something cute like you could imagine having in your own home as opposed to that animal.

A poodle is cute? That's not cute.

Yeah, come on. If you saw that dog walking down a sidewalk toward you, you'd run like hell, am I That dog is perfect.

There's a good dog. I mean, literally, that's the point. That's what they give the award out for. You never played the game, so you couldn't possibly know what they're looking. I think it's beautiful. It's a beautiful dog. I also think he beat an Afghan hound. That was the runner up. It was like one of those long haired. How do you feel about an Afghan hound? I love an Afghan hound compared to that animal.

With the pointed ears.

You sound very scared.

It's a devil's dog.

Yeah. All right. Well, he won. So deal with You know?

I am dealing with it.

Good. Put it on the poll. Did the Devil's Dog Just Win the Westminster Dog Show? And also, Best in Show, this reminds me. I've not talked, and we have not talked about the passing of Katherine O'Hara. I am certain that Katie's got some opinions on this because that was a heartbreak, one of the great funny people of all time. What do you think of her as first? Because Best in Show is about the first time that I knew of her work most resonantly.

Really? Beatlejuice did nothing for her.

I did. I think of that as a Michael Keaton vehicle. Homealone? I didn't love HomeAlone. That wasn't it.

Yeah, HomeAlone was the first. You didn't? Wait, you didn't love Home Alone?

He thought of it more as a Macaulay Culkin vehicle.

Okay. Yes, of course. Yeah, Home Alone is the first thing I think of when I think of Katherine O'Hara. But Moira Rose, her on Schitt's Creek, she was just consistent consistent. She is consistently funny while also doing it differently. It's not the same every time, but it's always reliably hilarious. I think she was one of the funiest women on Earth, and I was deeply saddened to hear of her passing. It was such a shock, and it really rocked me. I haven't been knocked over by a celebrity death like that in a while.

Was the studio the last thing she did?

Yeah, I think so. I think they just started filming the next season of that, so that must be a real bummer.

Yeah, that's real sad. She was having a great third act, too, in her career. It's like everybody realized we didn't give this person proper appreciation, and she started hogging all the roles. She deserved them.

Give her more.

Quick top five for her best things said on Schitts Creek, and it was tough to narrow it down. I do have an O-L-I, which is the scene where they fold in the cheese. Next step is to fold in the cheese. What does that mean? What does fold in the cheese mean? He folds it in. I understand that, but how do you fold it? Do you fold it in half like a piece of paper and drop it in the pot, or what do you do?

David, I cannot show you everything.

Okay, well-Number five. The way she said baby.

Do you realize the bebe is crying?

I do, yes.

Isn't it scheduled to be dormant by now?

Isn't it scheduled to be dormant by now for the way that she reacts to finding out her grown adult daughter has lice? Well, Alexis has lice. What?

I assume you shaped her head, and we have to put a wig on you. But not within my wings.

These have to be boxed now. Moira, I've got it all taken care of, and I think twice about that garden. It's too late. The notion of that garden is as abhorrent to me as our daughter's scalp. I was worried about you overreacting.

Number three, the Herb Ertlinger fruit wine commercial. You could pick it up wherever you want. Oh, my God.

Musk melon goodness to his oak chardonnay and the dazzling peach cry, to his riesling Rioja. Come taste the difference good fruit can make in your wine.

Number two, her advice about taking nude photos of yourself when the internet can't find them. Then allow me to offer you some advice. Take a thousand naked pictures of yourself now.

You may currently think, Oh, I'm too spooky, or, Nobody wants to see these tiny boobies.

But believe me, one day you will look at those photos with much kinder eyes and say, Dear God, I was a beautiful thing. Oh, and make sure you submit those photos to the internet.

Otherwise, your own children will go looking for them one day, and tragically, they won't be there.

Number one, the only way to respond to if someone else asks you for plans you don't want to do. I am booked What's up, David.

You should see my schedule. I'm positively bedeviled with meetings, et cetera.

The goat. Katie, I will remind everybody that Jeremy began presenting that by saying, I'm going to do this quickly.

I'm sitting at Radio Row, just listening to... I love it. I do love Moira Rose clips, but people are walking by looking at me, and I'm just listening and laughing. I feel very uncomfortable. There's a screen with just my face on it as I sit in a chair and famous people walk by and I laugh. Sorry, Katie. They can't tell if I'm on air or not. They don't know what's happening. It's very uncomfortable. But thank you for playing those clips. I love them.

We had you on to just sit there. No, this is lazy.

No, this is lazy.. No, not at all. Why? Why is it the app with which I can't really do anything wrong?

Wow.

That means, with it, everything is safe?

Yeah, exactly.

Why is it the app that understands you? Because the app is your whole life.

Work, children, partners.

You can't do anything wrong. That's right. Nice. It feels like a car. Is the car ready? Safe. With Why so?

Steuer?

Now, test it.

Dan Lebertal. I just meant to-Stugats. Every Cup game. What? This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugats.

Can you tell me how you felt about Belichick not making the Hall of Fame. Did you hear any opinions that landed with you and you're like, Okay, that makes sense?

None of it makes sense. In a world where we say the phrase first ballot Hall of Famer and it means something, none of this makes any sense. It's absurd, it's stupid, it's embarrassing. I think it should be a thing that leads to them changing the way they do that vote, that committee that votes on those five candidates. I heard somebody say that because he was... I think the rationale we heard was because it was so obvious that he was going to get in, they spent their votes on guys it was less obvious for. That's not how it works. It's the Hall of Fame. It's a binary question, yes or no. And Bill Belichick is always a yes. It doesn't make sense to me.

Katie, if it was up to you and you could only put one of Belichick or Kraft in, who goes in?

Belichick.

Did you have any reaction to Kraft not getting in?

Honestly, I'm not happy to say this. I was relieved because I feel like it would have dominated the conversation if Kraft got in and Belichick didn't, and it would have been all we talk about this week leading up to the Super Bowl. I did not want to have that conversation. I don't like talking about the internal politics of the team that brought me some of my favorite victories as a sports fan. I'd rather just make fun of how one of them is dating a really young gal now.

Katie, what do you think of the proposition that Belichick is just being penalized and will get in next year? He's being punished for Spygate.

I think he already was punished for Spygate, and it was a record punishment. There was the most a coach had ever been fined. I feel like at what point does that stop? How many Super Bowl do you have to win before they're like, Okay, we don't need to punish you in this way. I mean, we talk about Bill Belichick and say, Future first Ballet Hall of Fame. It was just a thing you say you didn't even think twice about. Now it's not true. We were all wrong and lying.

How do you feel about Greg Cody's Pinky Ring. Do you have an opinion of any kind?

I can't see it. How would I see it? I got no monitor of you guys. I'm just talking to a big picture of myself who did her own hair and makeup, and it's really not. I don't think I did a good job. Can I look online and see your Pinky Ring? I bet I hate it. I bet you do.

Okay, it's okay. I'm sorry. I thought that you had video there. That's my bad. How have you enjoyed Radio Row? What's that experience been like for you?

It's good. The last time, I actually did a Radio Row here for Super Bowl I had a TV show then, so I had a lot more going on, but it's nice. Today, it's starting to fill. I think tomorrow will be the busy day. Yesterday was a little slow, but it's always funny to just walk around and go like, Oh, that's Octavia Spencer. Why is she here? There's just random famous people that you bump into, and I like that. It's a fun environment.

Did you have some nerves about Affleck and Damon?

Oh, my God. Are you kidding me? We found out two days before that we got it. I had no idea we were even trying to get it. Terrified. The hardest part of that interview for me was that, no offense, they brought their director, and I just couldn't have cared much less. I felt like I didn't want that to come across, but it's like I got 20 minutes and the two of them, Thank you for being here. Mind if I just focus on these two? I don't think I did a good job. That's my thing I sit with now, is I'm like, Hopefully, I get another chance someday because I didn't knock it out of the park, but it was fun and they were awesome, and everything I dreamed of. I didn't throw up, so that's good.

You like Affleck and Damon, but you hate Miami. I'm wondering if you watched the rip.

I did watch The Rip. Is that a real thing? Miami has a Is there a law that you have to count the money that you seize from a crime scene on the scene?

I think that might be a federal law. It seems like a good idea.

I thought they said it was specifically... I thought they specifically said it.

They also called it Hialeia.

Did you watch The Rip, Mike?

I did. They called it Hialeia, and I checked out.

How do you say it?

Hialeia. Hialeia.

Oh, God.

Hialeia. I've always said Hialeia. Hialeia. No. Hey, do you guys miss Mike McDaniel? Are you sad about that? I am.

I did watch Dan Soter's reaction to it. Who's the gentleman that he does the podcast with?

Mark Norman. What do you mean?

Mark Norman.

That was just an episode of his podcast.

He doesn't do the podcast. Mark Norman's reactions to Dan's Fiery Hot Takes were my favorite part.

Yeah. Dan was like, he found out what our side of the business is like when awful announcing wrote like, Dan Soter goes off on Miami's front office. He was like, Why is everybody taking what I said so seriously? I was like, Welcome to the game, dude. This is how it goes. Sports media doesn't care if you were joking or not. You were mad, and now they've posted it. He was getting all the sports media reactions instead of like, Comedy fans, which he got to live in our world for a little bit.

And me and my friend.

What?

Hey, Jesus Christ.

How did Dan... How did Dan... How did Dan Norman... How did Dan really feel? I mean, he said how he really felt, but he obviously had information about that because he's childhood friends.

No, he's just upset. He's like, your friend gets fired from a job that you think he was good at. I would hope you go to bed for your friend. They weren't texting. He doesn't have inside information. He just found out from me, actually, to be the one to tell him. I found out my A producer texted me and said, McDaniel out in Miami. Dan was at the gym. Dan's a weirdo who doesn't bring his phone to the gym. He doesn't listen to music. He just works out silently. He came back upstairs as I was getting ready to leave, and he walked in the door and I was like, I have bad news. He was like, What? I said, McDaniel got fired. He went beelined to the bedroom, grabbed any Dolphins stuff. I didn't let him buy a lot of merch, but he had a sweatshirt and a shirt, grabbed them both, threw them on the ground, and then stomped on them. He literally stomped on them in the hallway and was like, I hate this team. I don't know. Am I allowed to say the F word? He was like, It's F the Dolphins forever.

I was like, It's always been F the Dolphins forever. I don't know why you made me root for this team for a second or go to their games. But I was trying to be supportive. He's out now, and we'll see how... I think the chargers are... I think that's going to be a good gig for him.

We've done good segments with Katie B.

What is this?

This one clearly lands It was a bad idea. We'll just ream them out in the post-show. Let's keep him moving and try to salvage this.

Katie, that's my inner monolog. That is-Oh, it's great. That's beautiful. That is what I'm thinking privately. It was so much more poisonous than that, though. He was being gentle. He was wearing a stupid sweater.

Hey, ball off me, Coach.

He cleaned it up. My inner monolog is so much angrier than that right now. I can't even tell you. How How is Tom braided improving to you? I was very critical of Tom braided. I thought he was distractingly bad last season and early this season. What are your thoughts on Tom braided on the broadcast?

I think he's gotten much better. I think in typical Tom braided fashion, I feel like he must have watched tape and analyzed it and talked to people who gave him advice or constructive criticism, and I think he worked on it. I think the teeth thing is still an issue, but we don't have to focus on that. I think Tom Tom braided has gotten a lot better. I think in comparison to Tony Romo, I think most people are starting to see that they would prefer Tom braided calling a game. Is that wrong? Does that feel right to you?

There is a sentiment shift that I have noticed that has been aided by Romo getting worse. It's interesting that that's the comparison point and not Greg Olson, who's better than both of them.

Well, Greg Olson is very good. He still has a job, just not the top job, which I think he probably should have gotten. But yeah, Greg Olson is great. Tony Romo, this year, look, I think people loved him a lot at first and then turned on him really quickly, and I was hesitant to join the turning on. But this year, the thing that was grinding my gears about Tony Romo is he would always talk about it like if he were the coach, what he would have done, and then if the play would develop or whatever, and he would go, I was right. You're like, We don't care. We don't care if you predicted it, if you were right, if that's what you would have done. Talk about what's happening, what the coach is doing, what the team is doing. It was all I think we gave him too much credit for the prediction stuff. He was like, This is going to be my whole bag. Now it's aging in a way that you're like, Find a new bag. This stinks.

The laziest thing that he does is that he consists constantly says several times a broadcast that somebody is as good as anybody in the league at doing something. He does it so much, and it's just not possible for everybody that he's talking about to be better than everyone else in the league at something.

Yeah, mathematically, that would be difficult. So I get that. I hadn't noticed that, but now I will.

He's like, Keishaan Boody, one of the best deep route runners in the league.

Who'd you wave at there?

It's just a guy from Dallas Radio that I did a spot with yesterday.

I love a radio row wave.

It's just, look, I'm really popular with the local radio guys. I'm really killing it.

Can you tell us some good inside stories about you making your all radio road things? How does this one compare to any of the others you've heard about or been around?

Look, it's still early days. I know you're not here for whatever reason. God forbid, you show up and come hang out.

I hate it. At the Super Bowl. Katie, I hate Radio Row. Always have. So what?

We all do. We're all here. Kay Adams is here. I just walked by. She was doing an interview with Gronk, and I was like, Oh, I would love to say hi to either of you, but I'm not your own. That's the weird thing about Radio Row. It's like, sometimes you're just sitting here with a headset on. Sometimes you're listening to somebody play a bunch of clips to you, and people think you're just getting set up. So they'll come over and you're like, I'm on TV. So that vibe of Radio Row, I don't like. The best experience I've had so far last night, I got to go out to dinner with Mad Dog and Steven A. Smith. That was a very fun-Wow. Yeah. Steven A. Showed up a little late because he obviously had other engagements, but it was just a fun... The Mad Dog throws this dinner for everybody that works on his channel on Sirius, and it was a fun little moment. I liked that quite a bit. Walked up a lot of hills to get there. The hills of San Francisco, they're not lying. It's a lot.

I will tell all of you to listen to her in the two places that I've caught her recently, where she is showing off some of her best work. Casuals with Katie Nolan, Tuesdays and Thursdays. What are you laughing at? Serious XM.

I'm just like, some of my best work. I appreciate it.

Fan service with Katie Nolan, where she's doing a show for an hour where she's got a cool relationship with her audience. Thank you, Katie. Good talking to you.

Yeah, thank you, Dan. Thank you, everybody. Good to see you guys.

Katie, sorry for wasting your time. Except you, German. You didn't waste my time. I miss you.

I wish you were here.

He wasted your time, and I'm seething about it, and there will be notes after the show. In fact, Mike, can you hold up the... No, you don't need to write it down. We have it because of... Yeah, we just have it. Just grab what we have back there that we hold up every show so that the audience can see what is always the note after every show.

Really quick, because we filibuster to find that note for Jeremy, who was just very poor in that segment. Can we find the picture of Dan who looks like Charlie Weiss? Because I've been really wanting to see that.

Yeah, all right. To see That's really unflattering.

Wow. That's AI, right? That can't be true. Is that poppy?

Yeah, I feel terrible about that. How could we let this happen?

We look like Damon Wayne on the top rope of Great White Hype.

After this show today, yes. After the show today.

Tony, block the shot of him. Move over.

How am I going to get out here. Tony, that was also Jeremy's idea.

I heard that I heard about that one. That one went well. My bad on the Katherine O'Hara stuff. If it was all of us talking and we needed to buy some time, it would have worked great. My mistake on the whole K-Card. Just kept going on and on. I saw number three. No, it was long. I had to stop. It's 56 seconds. I just started it midway through. I know it was a popular show, but this is niche. Not that popular. Not niche. Hold on a second. That was the most popular show in America at a time where everyone was at home watching TV. The best line was Olai. Folding the Cheese. You could have done all the Catherine O'Hara lines. Oh, thank you for- Kevin!

He started with quickly. It's real quick. I didn't know how- You're allergic to quick.

I know that he was a star, but I'm pretty sure Catherine O'Hara I had more screen time than Michael Keaton did in Beetlejuice. Yeah, that's a weird one by the way. John Wooden said, He was Beetlejuice!

He was Beetlejuice!

Came in halfway through the movie.

It's a Michael Keaton vehicle. We have after the show today, we've got, What are the people participating in this? I just lost my voice with the way that I screamed there.

So you guys are going to raise hands. Okay, Zazla, Tony, and Jeremy will lead our coverage of the trade deadline. Because that was tough. You might get sent home. Yeah, it might be just me and Zaz on the post-show.

We're going to stay live is the point. We haven't mentioned how well Cooper Flag is playing. This is not a normal thing for a 19-year-old.

We should mention how good Cooper Flag is playing because since Jason Kidd went in front of the Assembled Media and says, I know I've built players in this league before. And me and my friends. I know what I'm doing. Cooper has been amazing. He's been incredible. He's on a tear. We were having the conversation just last week. Kam Booser is quietly being a better freshman for Duke than Cooper Flag was. I'm thinking, Is Cooper Flag just overrated? Is this the right way to handle this guy? Jason Kidd showed us. It was the exact day that I did the White Castle Hot Take thing, where I was like, All right, Konkanupal has a real shot to be the rookie of the year. That night, Cooper had 49 and has been on a tear ever since. Wait, so you bet the Castle was almost as bad as The night that you did it, Cooper goes off.

Barkley's analysis was, I think he's ready after he had 49.

We'll be right back. Mike, you know I have one rule to live by, right? Don't place parlays on multiple long shots. Don't say a game is one when it hasn't hit triple zero. Always drink your Jägermeister ice cold. That's the rule. Everything else is merely a suggestion. Everything else? Everything else. Wearing clean underwear every day? Well, that's just a personal decision. Brushing your teeth? Obviously smart, but not a rule. Never PP on an electric fence. Okay, maybe there are two rules, but the one that is 100% that I insist on completely, Jägermeister must be drunk ice cold. Or don't drink it at all. Damn, that's cold. Exactly. You're finally starting to get it. Drink responsibly. Jägermeister L'Core, 35% alcohol by volume, imported by Mass Jägermeister US, White Plains, New York.