Transcript of Joel Embiid's Sixers Future Up In The Air + Mike's Top 5 Studio Shows | Hour 2 New

This is the Don Levitt Show with the Stugatz Podcast.

Joel Embiid's 3-year, $193 million extension begins next season, which made these comments from Joel Embiid with his colicky baby super confusing.

All right, VJ's gone. I know, you know, and you know, I'm gonna talk to him. He's gonna be better, uh, and he was amazing for his year. Tyrese is going to be better, and he's taking a step every single year. PG that we saw the last couple weeks, um, you know, he still got it. Um, and then everybody else, I, I don't know who's gonna be here. I don't even know if I'm gonna be here, but you know, whatever happens happens.

What are you smiling about?

Has a player doubted what team he's gonna play for next season before the contract that he just signed begins. That's what we're talking about here. He doesn't know if he's going to be a Sixer next season. His new contract hasn't even started yet. I don't think I've ever heard of that before.

I've got some stats here from, uh, the Knicks, and I want you guys to tell me which is the most impressive of these stats. Uh, best point differential through the first 10 games of a postseason, the Knicks are +194. The next best ever is the 2017 Warriors. I think that's the team I said when I saw it play, that's the best team I've ever seen. Uh, they were +170. So the Knicks are 24 points better than, uh, the Warriors were in 2017. This is the longest postseason win streak in the 80-year history of the New York Knicks. Uh, this is from Josh Dubow of the AP. There have been 8 times in the play-by-play era since 1997 that a team led a road game by more than 40 points. 8 times. The Knicks have done it in 2 of their last 3 playoff road games. And the last game they just played, the 1.459 points per possession, it falls just short of the NBA playoff record.

It was such a good time to be a Philly sports fan a week ago.

Knicks would have dog walked the Celtics. I'm sorry. Well, let's call space, Spade.

They beat them last year. They were built to beat the Celtics. The Celtics, and they will have it tougher against Detroit, but the way that they look is super impressive. Tony's still not convinced about anything Detroit-related.

Look, I love Cade Cunningham, but I think if you're picking guys in series, like even with the Cavs, I'd probably pick Cade first and then everybody else would be a Cav for the next 3 or 4 or 5 players, right? I'm looking at the Knicks the same way. I'd probably take Cade, then Brunson, then KAT, then OG, then like I'm going a long ways away before I take Amen Thompson or Asur Thompson.

They're going to win the East, New York.

New York has the best shot to make the NBA Finals they've had in the last 25 years.

Yeah, they're going to win the East.

So, uh, 80 years franchise history, the Knicks have won a total of 6 playoff games by more than 25 points, but over the past 2 weeks during their 7-game winning streak, the average margin of victory is 26.4 points. This— if, if I put the Celtics uniforms on this Knicks team the way it's playing, you'd say that team could beat OKC.

This also marks the third consecutive year where Dan says this is the best time to be a Knicks fan since that lyric.

They've gotten better for 4 years. They've gotten better every year for 4 years.

I know, but like, we got to get used to it. They were in the Eastern Conference Finals last year and like Halliburton had like an Eastern Conference Finals like moment after moment after moment.

Now the real question is, because they did this last year after the Knicks advanced past the second round, are they naming the streets in Manhattan after Knicks players? That's what you do when you win a second-round playoff series. You change the names of the streets to the players.

Uh, Mike is not wrong when he accuses me of saying this is the best the Knicks have felt, uh, every year for the last 4 years, but they've improved every year. It's, uh, it's actually the way that an ascent tends to look. when you get to the Finals. You suffer, you suffer, you suffer, and then you break through. I know you guys talked last week. I want to bring this up, though. I want to bring it back because I found really interesting the way that people rallied around Charles Barkley as if he were a lovable underdog because Draymond was mean to him. And the part about this that I want to talk about, because I know it was chewed up by everybody last week, is something that I don't think has been chewed up by everybody, which is Draymond was trying to be funny, but he doesn't do funny well because he's, you know, as we saw last night at the Kevin Hart roast. Yeah, he's mean and unlikable. And so he'll not be able to replace Charles Barkley on that show because they're not going to make the mistake of going with someone who's just a loudmouth and doesn't have any actual range.

But the question I wanted to ask you guys is, think about this for a second. History of sports broadcasting. Give me all the people who are funny, because I find really weird that the sports playground, which should be fun and games, doesn't have more funny people in it, more people trying funny. And one of the reasons it doesn't have more funny people is because trying funny is the worst thing that you could be on television if you're gonna make people wince and cringe, which is what Draymond did with trying to be funny. He made everybody wince and cringe and somehow made the most fun studio show there is. He spoiled it by his mere presence. He's the guy at the great party who does the thing to ruin the great party, and I think cost himself that job. Like, I think that they're making their determination on, no, Charles will be done in a few years, but you can't be the guy because you're not actually someone who's amusing enough. You don't make fun of yourself. You're not— you take yourself too seriously even when you try to be funny. It's not funny. Give me the list of names.

Go ahead. The people who have been in sports. We talked to Jimmy Kimmel about this once, and he says, yeah, everybody's worried about what the television critic is going to write, so they don't take any chances. Jimmy Kimmel was on, you know, Monday Night Football one time for 5 minutes, and it sounded different than anything Monday Night Football has ever done because all of a sudden near the serious stuff, you had the funny guy. But give me the names you associate with funny in sports, history of sports broadcast.

Well, I'll tell you right now, like Paul Bissonnette's good right now.

Yeah. Yes. He and Charles have nailed it. And it's a testament to Turner's production that these guys go for funny and they deliver on funny and they come off likable. Yes, it's because sometimes people overshoot the mark. But the funniest things in sports are usually things that are characters that were unintentionally funny, like John Madden and then Gruden. And they kind of find their zone and people tune in because they make them smile. But that's just them naturally doing that, not trying to be.

Bill Walton. I was going to say Bill Walton was that. Yes.

Mm-hmm.

That's it.

Ray Hudson. Not funny.

Again, in that same class of like, this guy's just brilliant. Actually, you could say that Ray Hudson is trying to be funny because he certainly works and writes those things out.

Yeah. Krukow is funny. I mean, the Giants broadcast. Baseball has more room to do it, right? Bonetti's funny. Baseball has more room to do it.

I'm stealing from our YouTube chat now. Bob Euker, people are throwing in.

It's rare though, my larger point, and it's strange, right? So I was in Los Angeles last week and I wanna talk to you guys about the Kevin Hart roast last night because Netflix is doing something that I find just fascinating because Netflix has just purchased comedy. And really what they've done is saved comedy, right? Because if late night is gonna be gone and if Joe Rogan is gonna be fading as a place where comedians break out, Netflix is there to save all of comedy by doing the smart thing and just realizing that all of these comedians have their own audience. You can make a special relatively cheap, you put it on Netflix, and all of a sudden comedy has a whole lot of money flowing through. But last week in LA, all of America's biggest comedians, all of them purchased by Netflix, were in Los Angeles, and all of them were having trouble selling out their shows. Because there were so many comedians performing in Los Angeles last week. Uh, and I'm surprised that sports, which ought to be a playground, doesn't have more funny in it where you're getting Walton dead, Euchre no longer in the game.

You're, you're naming people and you're going into the past to get them. I'm giving you a couple of baseball names But to me, it's super strange. And I'm asking you guys, isn't it strange to you guys that sports doesn't have more shows and people who are going for funny?

Dan, a lot of the people that are those positions are kind of dorky. Dentsch.

Zarlane.

It's people that are comedians go be funny somewhere else. Like, right? Like every rapper wants to be an athlete. Every athlete wants to be a rapper. There's a reason why there's only one lane for you to be in. You can't be a comedian, but then also be, you know, heading Houston Astros broadcast.

I'm not saying be a comedian. I'm saying where are the people that you just simply associate with lighthearted and not serious and, and just names that you associate with that person's entertaining, right?

But is— I'm going to ask you an honest question. Isn't there too much of that going around in sports? Everyone is trying to replicate some derivative of the, the Inside the NBA, Fox NFL coverage, Jocular. Here's an entertainment segment.

Are you including the Athlete Podcast? Is that what you're saying?

I think I saw Awful Announcing doing something on this, that all the studio shows have just gone for funny and most of them are just not funny and also not informative and seem to make sports fans feel a certain type of way. I got an original idea. Because there's so many funny options out there. Why doesn't someone try to do more of what Amazon does with its basketball stuff? Like, just if I am watching this, I want a freebase on insight and analytics and expertise. Give me the hardcore stuff.

I think there's a lot more of that than funny.

I don't, I don't.

See, I think Mike's right that people are trying to, but nobody's doing it. So I don't— like, who are the actual funny ones though? Like, I agree that people are— they want this, they want their Barkley character. Every studio show wants their Barkley. I get what Mike is saying, but they're, they're failing at it. So there aren't that many options out there that you're like, that's funny.

There are great shows that, that are able to do both. Like, I think College GameDay kind of found this lane. It took them a little bit, and they're still kind of navigating a post-Corso world. But there are a couple of segments. There's one that Wiley produces with Nick Saban where it's with Reese Davis, and you are getting Incredible stuff there to the point that you're like, I kind of wish this was a little bit more of the show and a little less giving away money, but at least I get that nutritional value. When I go to a soccer match, I'm learning most of the time. But Paramount Plus, this is actually the Paramount Plus Champions League studio show should be talked about a little bit more. I know you guys, I mean, getting you to watch it with the sound on is probably a laborious ask, right? But if you were to ever give that a chance, you'd find a way to be entertained and certainly learn something because soccer is a little bit different. But I like being able to get nutritional value when I'm getting hyped up for a sport.

But you guys are talking about two different things, right? Because I think what you are talking about when you say a lot of people are going for X, it's chemistry that they're going for, and most don't have it. Chuckle fests or faking laughter because you have to to help your teammate is not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about Give me a name you associate it with funny, because John Madden's not even that, but I'll give you entertaining on John Madden. He wasn't funny, but he was entertaining. Euchre.

Gruden was a laugh riot.

Euchre, Bill Walton, and Gruden. But part of the reason that that's happening, okay, I guess Walton and Euchre are different. Gruden, you get funny because the bar is so low on expectations for funny with Gruden that he climbs over a very low bar. Euchre and Bill Walton were just funny to listen to because they had a little bit of comedian in them.

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Chris Cody, when you come over to my house and we put on the games, I got basketball, I got baseball going on.

Ugh.

But what do I lay out for you and the boys for entertainment and drinking.

Miller Lite.

Uh-huh.

Those beautiful white cans or on draft or the bottle if you prefer.

Oh, when you open that with the can though, and you—

One of the best sounds on the planet. You pair that with the right game. You take that first sip. We both look around. It's not a bit.

I have goosebumps thinking about the first sip.

We take that first sip, we open it up and we're looking around. Oh, there's just that 5 seconds of almost eerie silence where you're just soaking it all in. And you're like, man, did we make the right call or what? That's why we reach for Miller Lite. It's clean, refreshing, easy to drink, brewed for taste with simple ingredients.

Ah, that golden color.

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I love you, Miller Lite.

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Don Lebatard.

That's not my favorite region.

Context needs to be applied.

I was going for a joke and I thought that context was applied. We'd like to rip that out of context. I was going for a thing and I have a family.

You're going to pretend here that you don't love Matthew Tkachuk more than you love anybody you've ever loved?

I don't love Matthew Tkachuk more than my daughter. Stugatz. Now it's pretty damn close.

This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stugatz. I still do find it weird, like genuinely weird, that this wouldn't be a space that many broadcasters, in order to stand out— it would be easier to stand out by being funnier than everyone than to have better information or insight than anyone. Being funny would be— is easier than being at the trough and being smarter than everyone else.

Biz got there by being funny, and if you look at his NHL career, there's really no reason to say he is worthy. I mean, he sits next to Wayne Gretzky. He sits next to all-time greats on that dais, and he is the best part of that show because he is the most entertaining. He is the funniest. He delivers on a high expectation of being funny and entertaining every time.

But I would argue he's just being genuine. Like, I would— like, I don't think he's like not like going for one-liners and like he's just being himself.

He does this entertaining and he dresses up.

He's being regular hockey dressing room guy.

Yeah. Yes, yes. And it works because he seems to be the very best at it.

And Zazz, correct me if I'm wrong, last week we talked to Amin and Dave was here and it's like the realization that you're not funny is something that people don't really get, right? So when you're, when you're growing up and you're like, oh man, I'm funny, people are laughing at me, but then you take this job super serious and you get to a point where you're now one of the 50 people on TV talking about sports, you don't have that muscle of like, oh, let me be funny here.

Oh, go be funny improvisationally when the camera light is on and you don't know what's going to be said next. Not where you can sit around and construct a tweet that you now realize, oh yeah, this is a good copy, I'm gonna send this out now. No, being funny on live television, that's hard. And yeah, I think Draymond probably thought he was funny.

He's not.

Not for Drewski. You say it's hard, but the reason that I would say it's easier than being smarter than everyone else is because of an important thing, right? Comedy, as a professional comedian, is hard because everyone goes in with the expectation of funny. In sports, there's not that expectation. So you're fully capable of surprising us because the bar is so low and there are so few people doing it well that there's not the burden of having to climb over a high bar where you're walking into the room with the expectation of funny. I think the reason that it doesn't happen more often is because there's nothing worse on television than cringe, and therefore people don't risk it. The degree of difficulty, uh, makes it so that they don't even risk, uh, that they're going to be someone who makes you cringe. I heard some of you talking earlier about that the Kevin Hart roast on a few occasions made you wince because whatever. Tom Brady's out there and he's not a comedian, or Draymond Green is out there and he's just clearly not a comedian. So where you place them in, in a room where there's the expectation of funny, they've got no shot, even if you're doing written material for them.

And the tough part is there's actual the greatest comedians that are there that do this for an actual living with the expectation of funny and then crush and deliver over expectations. And then you got Tom Brady, who won— if I remember correctly, I'm old enough to remember that he said he wanted to go and be a stand-up comedian. Remember that?

Yes. Blake Griffin has wanted to be a stand-up comedian as well. And there's something about— look, they've got a playground on Amazon where they can do whatever they want. They got all the money in the world, all the success in the world, all the job security in the world. And what kind of chances are they taking? How many chances are being taken where you try and rattle the cages of the people who have, you know, certain expectations that aren't funny? And Blake Griffin, Blake Griffin does not have the room on that show to show anyone that he's actually somebody who can do stand-up comedy.

No, because he's looking around, he's got Steve Nash, who's not an incredibly funny guy. I think Dirk is probably funny in spurts, but like, they're really—

You think Dirk is funny?

I think Dirk is funny, right? Dan, would you say Dirk funny?

What actual evidence do you have? I don't know.

I think he's a funny guy.

He's been good. He's been good.

I think, Tone, I think it's really hard for anybody to be funny in their second language. Anybody.

Also true.

It's not— I'm not even putting that on Dirk. He's struggling to find some words in English, and that's not something that you can do when you're trying to be—

With that said, though, that's— that studio show, as Mike said, like, is one of the better ones that have come out of this new era of streaming for the NBA because they're breaking it down on the court. They're giving you the mind of a 2-time MVP in Steve Nash. They're giving you a guy in Dirk Nowitzki, who's one of the greatest players of all time. Like, it's like you're looking at greatness explained on TV in a way that I wish we got on football. I wish we would get in college football because we get those small things and nuggets from Coach Saban where they kick it out for a 5-minute piece, like in the middle of the show when nobody's watching.

There was something else that I was surprised by in, in Los Angeles. Tell me if you guys are surprised by this at all. Okay. I'm not surprised that Louis CK is working again and having great success again, given his talent level and given the way that time heals. I am surprised that Louis CK was on billboards with brand affiliations being sold actively with brands right next to his name showcasing him while I was in Los Angeles.

It's been a long time.

It has been a long time, but the nature of those crimes are usually something that you allegedly can't come back from if there's indeed cancel culture. And he's not only back, he's all the way back. Like the work itself got comedy, you know, got Album of the Year. And, you know, he made his way back through a podcast circuit that has less restrictions than the mainstream and has gotten some of its success from feeling freer than the mainstream. But I was still surprised to see his face on billboards. That's not something I thought would have— I didn't think that corporate brands would be forgetful in that regard.

I think he also started before the things that he did were realized. I think he started producing his own specials, like, didn't he? He used to stream on his own website.

He was way ahead of the curve in trying to get around all the Ticketmaster stuff by making things more affordable and more direct to his fan base. But still, that doesn't explain what I'm saying, which is seeing his face on a billboard and seeing Netflix be okay with his face on a billboard is not something I was expecting.

But then when you look at corporations, they're kind of like, stick their finger in their mouth and put it to the wind and see which way it's blowing. It's like, alright, can we— is everybody good with putting Louis C.K. on a billboard? Okay, let's do it. Like, it doesn't really matter what corporations do because they have a goldfish mentality when it comes to remembering things of the past and going into the future.

Oh, but usually though, if it's masturbating around women without their consent, that one is dangerous enough.

They leave that off the billboard.

That you don't kind quite forgetful about.

Like, you know, that would get people's attention.

Well, I just think it's word association with him. It's almost the first thing. Like, I don't even know what you guys— if I do word association with Louis C.K., I go stand-up.

I think of red hair.

You go funny, red hair, or full brain, or crimes.

I gotta be with Dan here. I think about the masturbating.

Really?

It's just such an unusual, weird thing to be publicly accused of and to be doing in private that I just— I thought he'd be able to work would work again in time. I did not think that it would be forgotten, because once you— once you're— you're saying that corporations put their finger up and test the wind. If you test these winds, what's coming back is some visuals of this guy in a corner masturbating around people who didn't want—

not a great visual. I get it, I get it, not a great visual. But when you get the name— terrible visual, terrible visual.

But when you get behind a plant—

no, he's out in the open.

Which is what makes it bad, into a plant.

I knew there was a plant involved.

Speaking of, uh, affordable, because we, we were talking about, you know, there was a plant involved, huh? Speaking of affordable, I want you guys to guess because you've heard me complaining, uh, recently, as many people are, about, uh, just the ridiculous prices everywhere. But I saw something after buying an $8 bottle of water that I have not seen before, which is just a regular turkey sandwich.

Welcome to LA.

Not a special turkey sandwich, just a regular turkey sandwich. You guys want to guess what I saw the price of for just a regular turkey sandwich? Not a footlong, not a hoagie, not anything like that. You want to take a guess? And I'm telling you that it was outrageous. Take a guess for what an airport turkey sandwich cost in Los Angeles.

$2.50.

You play the game very well. It's higher than that. Guesses. Keep going.

$25.

I'm just still marveling at you eating in an airport.

Airport food is a lounge guy. They're taxed famously.

I'm going to say, okay, because you don't got that sky club.

Good for you. Good for you.

Stand up to the man.

You took a stand.

LAX. I'm going to say $23.

Higher.

No way.

What is this, a combo? You're getting chips and a drink?

Nope.

Well, is this Wolfgang Puck's?

No, it was—

this is all you can eat.

Earth. You are—

oh, they got your ass there. Yeah. Oh, the way that guy says it.

You farm to table.

Wow. So, all right. So that's a farm to table. Yeah. $31.

No, it was $25.30. Roy got it. And I just ignored him because he played the game wrong. You're saying you're taking thank yous and everything else, but I needed you to go lower because when I go only $0.30 higher than what you've got—

he already went $2.50. What do we do? Alien!

Dan Levitard!

Did you get lost on the way to Home Depot today, Dan? Like, what, what's going on with the flat tire? Get his ass, Mina! Stugatz! But do you look like you're about to ask me to like check the oil on my car?

Get him!

Or like come over and like look around and point things in my house that need to be fixed?

This is the Dan Levitard Show with the Stugatz!

I put together a top 5 of the best studio shows presently. Yes. In all of sports.

Nice.

We begin with OLI. Prime's NASCAR coverage. Now, I have learned that NASCAR itself, like the UFC, basically produces 95% of all the races that you see. And all that separates all the different broadcasters are the window dressings and shows pre and post. Well, Prime did a really good job with its one season. We're coming up to their next opportunity here. Loved the access, loved the superstars. Dale Jr. was really good in his first year. So this will be a common theme. Prime's really good at this studio show thing because number 5 is Prime's NFL coverage. Great stuff. And when they go for funny, it's usually with Marshawn Lynch and everybody likes him. Ryan Fitzpatrick, Andrew Whitworth. These guys are really, really great. Chris is a great host. Tony Gonzalez guy. Yeah, I don't Well, we know how we got it. Number 4, Inside the NHL. Turner's coverage. Again, I mean, a gold standard. One thing that you won't see though is Inside the NBA. It's fallen off that much for me. Number 3, another big reason why is the best NBA coverage belongs to Amazon Prime. Their NBA coverage has been really good. I like that we've had a new sampling of studio shows.

I don't have a problem with it. I think NBC's in-game coverage and presentation still slaps, but the studio show Prime continues a hot streak. Number 2, Paramount's Champions League coverage. Incredible hosts, great panel, informative, funny. Everybody really gets along in terms of chemistry. Probably the best chemistry in a standard studio show. And number 1, no surprise here. Gold standard now, College GameDay.

Did you guys talk at all about Amazon just buying 3 Duke basketball games and changing basic? Duke's going to do some of what Notre Dame did, which is we're powerful enough as a brand to be just making our own deals. And we're bigger than college basketball. We don't have to be something that exists within college basketball. We'll make our own deal and just give 3 games to Amazon. I was flipping through yesterday and was surprised, watched a Marlins-Nats game on Peacock. I'm like, why is this on Peacock? When did—

when was it—

when did— when did Peacock get like— first of all, why Why is this game being televised nationally? Two sub-500 teams, the Nationals and the Marlins.

Dan was on NBCSN on YouTube TV, in which you can also find the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugatz on presently. Well, I get surprised by that every time.

I'm going to tell people where we are, everywhere we are, because we're on in more places than we've ever been. So it's the DraftKings Network, and you can also get us on Samsung TV Plus, the Roku Channel, Vizio WatchFree Plus. To find all the places you can watch, go to thedraftkingsnetwork.com. Draftkingsnetwork.com, but also you can watch us on Peacock and NBC Sports Now Monday through Friday from 12 to 3 Eastern and on YouTube, of course, right now. And for podcasts, we're on Apple, we're on Spotify, we're on Amazon Music and SiriusXM Channel 85. So we're in a lot of places.

I'm everywhere.

You can get us wherever it is that your menu choices are. I wanted to talk about something here. Bobby Cox represents, or represented now that he has passed away at the age of 84, a dinosaur from another time when the manager mattered in a way the manager will never matter again. And also, I believe he now has an unbreakable record. Tony, can you tell me who is in second place? Because I believe it's going to be one of the most unbreakable records in sports, which is 158 ejections. He was ejected from almost a season's worth of baseball games.

Would have loved him to get to that full season mark. That's a— that's something he left on the, on the field, I'd say.

Uh, number 2, I'd like to know who was second because that is now over, right? With instant replay, you're just simply— that's a good guess. Uh, I don't think that we're going to come close. Can you guys find video please of Lou Piniella just coming out and grabbing second base and throwing it into center field? Uh, because just Get, get that video of Lou Piniella. But it does—

baseball was baseball.

Is, is there anyone else in triple figures for ejections?

Who's McClendon?

Second place ever.

I'm looking at John McGraw in second place with 131. Bobby Cox, according to a large language model here, Bobby Cox had 162.

I think that—

no, no, no, full season.

I saw this on X yesterday. It's regular season. If you include playoffs, I believe he did get to 160.

So he was thrown out of 4 playoff games as well.

He was ejected from 4 158 regular season.

And you often talked about the Superstation. That was a tough week for anybody who grew up with the TBS Superstation because those '90s Braves represented something to everybody. Either hated them or you loved them, but it brought out a lot of emotion from you. They were in every world championship discussion, probably didn't live up to their expectations, but they were good every year during the '90s. Ted Turner and Bobby Cox in the span of 5 days. That's a little bit of the '90s dying.

Uh, the '80s Braves introduced me to cable television. I don't think Ted Turner ever won a Pulitzer. I don't think CNN ever won a Pulitzer, but my information has been wrong on this. I do believe though that Ted Turner managed at least one Braves game. He was in the dugout and tried to do ostrich races as well. I believe they had ostriches on the field running around, but that's an unbreakable record now, right? With instant replay, no No one will ever get to 158 or 162 ejections again.

The next active manager is Terry Francona, and he is currently sitting at 54. He's got a ways to go, but he better get angry.

Now Aaron Boone is on a much better pace than Terry Francona. Like, Aaron Boone is only 7 ejections behind, and he's done like a third of the games that Francona has. So I'd say if there's anyone one that can fight this good fight, it is Aaron Boone. But I don't even think he has the chance.

Who's the clubhouse leader in respectfully disagreeing?

I don't think in the modern age with technology, I think this makes it something that no one's going to be able to get to. Because even Aaron Boone, though he gets ejected, I've got to assume empirically ejections are way down, correct?

Yes.

Like, they just—

not even gonna look it up. They are.

Don't have to look it up.

I mean, come on. Challenges They gotta be down. Let's all assume they're down.

You could get ejected if you challenge the ABS even though it's completely right, but then you lose your mind and then get kicked out, right? That'd be an easy way to get kicked out.

Yes, alright, fine, I'll look it up.

Yeah, but I don't think it's gonna happen 158 times is my only point. I have not talked yet about hockey, and there were a couple of things that I wanted to bring up. I don't know how you guys feel about Carolina being like OKC where they have not lost a single playoff game yet.

I hate the Carolina Hurricanes. I can't believe this is gonna work out for them. Just like, let's just hope Florida gets injured. It actually worked out for them. I hate this NHL playoff format that allows Carolina to do exactly what they did last year, by the way, too, and fool everybody that they might be championship good just because they benefit from a bad NHL playoff format that sees them go through the 8 and 7 seeds to get to an Eastern Conference Final.

The only difference, Dan, is this year in the Eastern Conference Final, unlike 2 of the last 3 years, they're not gonna run into the Florida Panthers. Panthers, who would take that ass again.

The other thing I wanted to talk to you guys about, it's not just Carolina, but I know you guys hate Tampa as well, and the story involving Victor Hedman. I want to get into this because, uh, he's the captain of their team and he missed the last 22 games of the season, including the 7 playoff games, uh, and he did so because he said he needed, uh, to take care of his mental health, which is something that everyone can get behind. I just don't think of hockey where you're expected to play through everything no matter what it is that's happening with you, but especially if you're the captain.

I think that makes you believe it's pretty serious, right?

I just can't imagine what it must be for someone to take care of themselves like that, to go against all of the pressures that in all of your patterns culturally in that sport to say, I'm feeling frail, I am not available to my teammates, and I'm the captain. I'm the captain of the team. Now, I don't know if you think he would have made a difference in a 7-game series, but I think of the locker room for hockey, and especially when I read his quotes and he's talking about the toll that hockey takes. When it's taking, one would assume, largely the same toll on everyone who is in that locker room with him. The specifics of being the captain in that sport, the culture of that sport, the amount of strength that it requires while feeling weak to say, I cannot do anything at the end of this season, I am not available to my teammates during the difficult time of everyone is playing being broken at this time of year. I'm curious how that one goes over in the locker room where they have more information that we do about what's going on in his life, which I imagine must be incredibly serious for him to do what he just did, because I'm trying to think of the place in sports where more is required of you on this particular front than captain of a hockey team, because I think captain of a hockey team means more than it means anywhere else— football, basketball, wherever it is that you think of captains.

I think, and Roy, you could speak to this, you can talk to the culture about the culture of pressure involved with what is demanded of you when you're the captain. And one of the things that's demanded of you is you're available Yeah, absolutely.

He's the basically the extension of the coach. He's able to talk to the referees, and in the 7-game series which they went through with Montreal, which they lost 2-1, he absolutely would have made a difference in that series.

My guess is it's captain of the team, it's been on the team for 17 years. My guess is that the guys in that dressing room are like good with it.

Yep.

They, they know that this— I'm sure they— I would imagine they actually know what's going on, and they're— they probably know it's something that's very serious.

Over the last like 3 years, there's over half a dozen examples in that sport in particular where players are granted mental health breaks. Um, hockey's actually pretty, pretty good about this. We experienced it down here when Spencer Knight was going through it. What's rare is when you see it be a team captain, a guy who's going to have his jersey retired by that franchise, a championship-winning player come out and say— and when you say it was a 7-game series, he certainly could have helped. They've had to navigate some— there was always something weird going on with Victor Hedman. You didn't really know if he was actually hurt, and hockey's so secretive about injuries, and guys play through insane stuff all the time that you just thought it was this nagging physical injury that had to be pretty bad for their captain and not be out there. Now, it was pretty bad, but it was between the ears.

Uh, football and hockey, the violent physical sports where you're doing, you know, borderline crazy inhumane things to make sure that you get out there. Can I count on the guy next to me? Is a giant part of the culture. And to go into the playoffs and have a 7-game series— they have more details than we do, and I am not questioning here, because if someone has to take a mental health leave for that amount of time, I am going to give that person grace. I'm just less sure than you guys are, given what the culture of the is that the other guys don't look at him and say, why couldn't we count on you with the last 22 games we had left when we're former champions, when we've just watched the defending champion Florida Panthers go down and there's an opening here for a team that had a chance, you know, to go through the Eastern Conference because it was good enough to get through the Eastern Conference.

Well, you got to look at it on the other side now because he viewed himself as a liability going through this. So obviously the team understood that he's going to have to take a little leave of absence so he doesn't hinder what would have been, you know, a possible 7-game win. It's the most important point that he felt that he would be a net negative out there in their pursuit of a Cup. And it's a unique situation because not only is he a champion for this franchise, a retired jersey-capable player, but also that team, they've been through a lot of runs together. It is a veteran team.

Team.

They know what Viktor Hedman is made of, and they probably were in full support.

We're in a real new age though, a real new age when it comes to mental health, when a captain of a hockey team does this quietly.

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