Transcript of Local Hour: Inside Baseball

It was spicy in that room today. Greg Cody came in, and Greg Cody has sat in his chairs as low, and his phone just pings, and I just said, Greg, that was your phone? Because he didn't look up, didn't seem to hear it. He's like, I know, I know. Show hasn't started yet, buddy. Relax yourself.

Because I walked in when he said relax yourself. I didn't know what that was in reference to.

But that's just the end. You're just catching the tail end of the spicy. He's got something for you today. He's got something for me. He's got podcast ego that's out of control. And so now he's picking fights. He's looking for beefs, and he comes after you in a way that... Me? Yeah, he came after you.

I wouldn't say that.

You feel like you're on that level?

Chris Cody, what would be your analysis? Do you believe that your dad... Did he or did he not come after me? Yes or no? Yes. Did he or did he not come after Zaz? Yes. Okay, so did you think you were going to come here and do this quietly today?

There's a big difference. I did come after you. I did not come after Zaz. I reacted to being questioned about Zaz. I'll be the judge of that. There's a difference. Relax yourself. I love that phrase. I'm surprised it didn't make my top 50 catchphrase count that. What did? You don't know. No, I do know.

He learned his lesson. He wrote it down this week.

He wrote it down this week. Where are his artifacts from his garage? Because I heard he was complaining at the bowling alley that not enough was made of his artifacts last week.

Well, that's true, if I'm being honest. If I'm going to take the time to go through all my memorabilia and present a few things on the show, at least make a big deal out of them.

Greg, we did have that as a segment, and it died on your watch. You just stopped bringing stuff in.

Well, because the first time I did it, it did not receive the- What are you talking about?

It was wildly popular. Show and tell with Greg Cody. You brought something in from the game room of Curios. We were all like, This guy's weird, and then it just went away.

Okay, all right. Maybe I'll bring it back. No.

And you know where- Jack. Mike, you know where it went away last week? Because he's like, not enough was made of mine, Curios. Yeah, you stop talking about them. We need you to present them, not just, look at this fascinating media guide from '69, guys. It's a pamphlet. I got no other material other than that.

No, that's perfectly fine. I'm good with that. Thank you. You just stop bringing stuff in.

I know. I'll continue bringing stuff in.

Same with the soups.

Where is it today? Where's your back in my day? It's Tuesday. Do you have a soup?

No, I don't have a soup.

This is the Dan Levatore Show with the Stugats podcast.

Zazlo has burst onto this scene, right? Very rarely has someone fit into our environment this seamlessly so quickly. But he's also getting very comfortable. And so I can see him now, feel him getting annoyed by Jeremy before the show. A little bit. I've known Zazlo a long time, and I can see what's happening now as all of these chemicals come together, led by Greg Cody, who is spicy today. And we're going to get to some of the sound from his podcast. Chris, can you give me Can you give me a context, please? Why is he doing this? Is it just to generate numbers in the modern age because the media has fallen apart and he needs to get his clicks, or is he legitimately mad at me and Zazlo?

Now, Ripping Dan definitely does Numbies, so I don't know how honest he's being, but he definitely ripped you. Do you want me to just give-No, I don't want the context for what it is that he's done.

I just want to understand what he's doing.

I think he genuinely... With him, he seemed genuinely upset about with you. With Zaz, I just asked him a question He thought he was giving a compliment and then started gripping him.

Look, these two people have not liked each other for 20 years, okay? This is the rare time for the last few months they're in the same room together. Would you have considered him a nemesis? Where would he have been in terms of the media people you've feuded with, Harold. Bricker, where does he rank on the list? He's top 10.

And look at me in the eyes when you say it.

He's top 10. Yes. What is he? That's a good ranking. Put that on your podcast instead of 50 catch phrases you don't have.

I don't have 10 enemies. He might not even make that list. He's been critical of me in my column writing. I tend to be critical of people who are critical of me. It's a yin-yang thing. We're going back and forth.

I will say what he did to Zaz was more backhanded. I think he thinks he was being neutral with Zaz.

What he did to me. I'd like to hear what he did to me.

This is being built up. I think you, he went in intending to rip. Zaz, I don't think he actually meant to.

Correct. Don't both count.

All right, so let's do this. Okay, let's find out first, because I don't know why your father's mad at me. Let's find out first, why are you annoyed with Jeremy? What's going on with him? Because he's trade deadline, trade deadline. He won't shut up about everybody's being traded everywhere. At one point, I look at him, he's playing a flute and a and he just can't talk enough about the trade deadline. We're like, Still football, kid. Still football.

I wouldn't go as far as say Jeremy was being annoying. I wouldn't say that. But I will say, one thing I've learned about Jeremy, he could talk. He can talk. We're doing the Jeremy show out there today. Save it for the air. All right?

No, don't save it for the air. I'm good with it expiring out there and then never getting in.

But I got a full episode of the Jeremy show over there.

I know. We all did. We all I'll do. I'm trying to have my coffee, maybe have a bag of cream cheese. Every morning, it's aggressive. Mike comes in with the heavy metal music, and Jeremy starts talking to you, not until your eyelids frost over.

It's a nice remix, the death metal and Jeremy talking.

No. And today, though, today, Greg came in here spicy. First thing he said to me wasn't hello, it was respect yourself because I'm telling him, Oh, your phone might ding during the show because you don't seem to- Relax yourself. Yeah, that's a fine.

Not every genre of metal is death metal, you amateurs.

I did do relax yourself, and I said respect, I think, by mistake. It's in part because I think I have this right. Zazlo does not have any quibble with liking you. You're an extraordinarily likable person, but I do get the impression, and this is the place where it hurts Cody the most because Cody takes the great pride of identity of being a columnist. I'm not sure that Zaz respects your opinion as a columnist. I think that's the starting point. I don't think you dislike him. Greg's eminently likable. All right.

Wait, Zaz, be careful because what Dan just did has nothing to do with the Greg clip. He's just trying to further divide you.

Well, I mean, something's been put on the table here. I need to pick it up and respond now.

Look at his face.

He knows what he did. No, wait a minute. He knows what he did. Yes, he does. Look, Greg.

I'm telling you.

This is why I'm smiling. No, this is why I'm smiling. I'm smiling because of what Zaz said, which is, No, you assos, let me pick up this bit of content that Dan has handed me because it's a good space, because I'm a good radio person, because I know what's interesting.

You're in a play pen right now. You love this.

If somebody puts my name on the street, I'm going to respond. And Dan's telling me my name was on the street. So here's what I got to say about that. For one, when I first started doing this show, I didn't know Greg Cody personally from a hole in the wall. All I knew was the columns. Do I care for the columns? Well, when you're a kid and you read a column that says, Trade Dan Moreno, crushing your hopes and dreams as a little dolphin fan, we're not off to a great start. But then, once I get to know him here in studio, I'm like, All right, this guy's not so bad. All right? This is a nice man, as I suspected, by the way. This is a nice man, as I suspected, and now getting to know him. Like, you know what? I think I do like him. Don't care for the column, but personal. Which would you rather? Would you rather someone like me, Greg, care for you personally or care for you professionally?

Obviously, I'd like both, but- Can't have everything. Listen, I don't care if somebody doesn't love my columns. Not everybody does. That's right. It's fine. I got no problem with it. I like Zaz, and I've gotten to know him better in the last several months.

I'm a nice boy.

We'll get to all of this in a second. But Chris, your takeaway, when you left the podcast, okay, and it's the Greg Cody Show featuring Greg Cody. With, right? Thank you. Did you think that I was It has gotten back to me that he just told me to bleep you and that he's legitimately angry at me. I don't know what it's about. It could be any number of things because your father's remarkably sensitive after all of these years of friendship.

It was an aggressive FU as well.

Yeah, well, let's listen to that sound first. Let's listen to Greg Cody on the Greg Cody Show featuring Greg Cody, and I will find out with the rest of you what he's mad about because I do not know.

My problem is Dan Levitard, of all people who lost his vote in disgrace with good reason, being the guy who says, I should lose my vote because I changed my mind over the course of six or eight years.

We're having two different conversations. I don't think you should lose your vote. I'm not with Dan on that, but I'm just... I can't... The most you've ever sounded like Trump the way you're defending that tweet.

That's all I'm saying. Okay. First of all, I'll never say that again. I know Lebitard very well. I know when he's serious-We're having two conversations. And when he's not. I know when he's serious and when he's not. He was serious when he said, he thinks I should lose my Well, you.

I mean, you should lose it.

No. A, I shouldn't lose it, and B, you're the last person on earth who should be admonishing me about the way I handle my vote.

Why? Because I took a noble stand with a compromised media and lost my vote over principle? Or because of you, a shill for baseball who barely pays attention and forgets to vote in Andrew Jones and then votes him in years later?

I never forgot to vote for Andrew Jones.

No, you were vehemently against it.

Yeah, and so were about 20% of the electorate. I He was one of dozens and- You said he'd never get in.

You did a condescending tweet that was dismissive of people even suggesting.

At that time, that was the climate for Andrew Jones's candidacy. Things change. You can't. Guess what? You don't know.

Nothing changed, though.

Nothing changed, Greg. Nothing changed other than your mind.

Okay, why do you think that a number of players go eight or even 10 years without getting in and then suddenly get in?

Let me set this up for the audience again because it was legitimately shocking to have a listener point out after Greg Cody parades around, Look, guys, I voted Andrew in this time as the sanctimonious gatekeeper.

Was that the face he made? Yeah, I know my baseball, guys.

I asked my son whether he was a good center fielder or not.

I had that tone of voice, did I? Yes.

I was like, I didn't know anything about Michael Tucker or anybody of those braves. I don't know anything about Andrew Jones other than that one scandal he had where he had the Gold Club trial and didn't know the names of either of the strippers he had slept Michael Tucker. The hell? Anyway.

Can I read the tweet?

Andrew Jones didn't even spell his first name right.

Oh, there it is.

But a great defensive player.

The gatekeeper comes in with that one, telling minorities how to spell their name. There he is.

Everything I'm not about a minority with you. I'm making fun of somebody's name. I know, but- It's not spelled correctly.

Yeah, but other people spell differently than Anglo-saxons.

Anglo-saxons. It's always about that with you. Were we in medieval times. Andrew Jones. Anglo-saxon.

You are gatekeeper on whether Andrew Jones should be in the Hall of Fame while telling him his name is spelled wrong.

And this tweet exists. I'm prodding. I'm poking. I'm having fun.

This tweet exists of you.

Five years ago, all right, you screenshotted your 2021 Hall of Fame ballot. You remember everyone who you voted for back in 2021? I do not. I'm going to tell you. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Manny Ramirez, Todd Hilton, Kurt Schilling, Gary Sheffield, Sammie Sosa, Omar Vesquel, and Billy Wagner. And you attached to it, I appreciate all your comments on my Hall Ballet, but one thing jumps out. You, Andrew Jones, folks, are delusional. Seriously, good player. Hall, not close. Zero shot at Cooper Sound, sub-zero, if you prefer.

They should take your vote.

Five years ago, that was the truth. Every word of that was the truth.

I feel like if you asked Tim Kurchin five years ago, he would say, It doesn't make my ballot this year, but you don't know, maybe further down the It wouldn't be a condescending, You're an idiot if you're even considering ever voting for him.

Okay, but Tim Kurchin, whose baseball opinion I respect as much as anyone's, Tim Kurchin would defend me right now because unlike everybody else in this room, Tim Kurchin is a fellow voter like myself. Tim Kurchin realizes- He would defend not voting for him. That people change their mind. That's why... You think it was just me?

Yeah, but generally, the information changes, Greg. No, wrong.

You're wrong. You're spilling coffee all over yourself.

No, you're wrong.

No. You're wrong.

Read the tweet again. How do you defend this?

Okay, when you say people don't change their mind, obviously they do, because five years ago, Andrew Jones was getting about 22% of the vote, and he inched up to 75. Why? Because dozens and dozens of voters like me decided to be a hall of famous.

You don't vote 10 in every year. The distinction that you're not making that Tim Kirchen would is, and it's more polite and respectful of baseball than you are in this tweet. He's saying, There were other 10 guys more qualified, and I could only vote for these 10. He was 12th. I'll get him in five years. That's not what you said. You reined down judgment on this is not a Hall of Famer. That's not what you did. You don't vote 10 in every year. You were holding on to that vote with the steroid guys. You were holding on. You're not lenient with your vote.

Matter of fact, you had nine that year. You could have had a 10th.

That's another Another example of the electorate changing its collective mind. It used to be that the steroid guys were persona non grata. They got 10% of the vote, 15%. Now, they're up to 40 or 50%, and I set the trend there. A lot of voters are coming on to the fact that it should not be a lifetime ban. It should not be a life sentence because you may or may not have done steroids six years earlier.

I'll get back to this in a second because we've got Mensa news, and I also want to get to the UM schedule here. But I don't want to let this go because of how wrong he is about this and just defending really something that, while not immoral, is unbelievably beneath him.

I love that. I get to use this expression correctly. This is inside baseball.

Yeah, and it's Hall of Fame vote, and it's the wheelhouse for Greg Cody because he's very proud of having this vote. So it insults him enough to say bleep you to somebody who has a different opinion than him because it means a lot to him to be a voter.

I'm just confused because on one hand, I'm very proud of Greg to say, Hey, I was wrong back then. I've changed my mind. I'm allowed to do that as I age, as I get more mature, as more data comes to light. But also, I'm not budging on this tweet.

It's great.

Just say, Hey, that tweet, da.

You would think they go hand in hand, but no.

This is what Erlene's married to. He'll come around eventually, but it'll never be in the moment.

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Don Levatard.

Yeah, very nice. Imagine if someone told you you couldn't have a Corvette. Stugatz.

I'm a grown-ass man. Who's not filthy rich. I can't afford a Lamborghini. Well, I probably can, but that's beside. Hey.

. This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugats.

Five or six years ago, 80% of the electorate would have agreed with that tweet- It's the being condescending dad.

That there's no- It's not just not voting. Get that out of here. We're not criticizing you for not voting for him.

You were offended with anyone who said- You can have your reasons on why he didn't vote for him, but your reason in that tweet did not age well.

You dismissed the idea of him ever... You say in that tweet- Delusional. And it's never going to happen.

You show me anybody trending at 20% right now, and I will say the same thing. There's no chance this guy is going to get in. All right.

So Cody is sticking to, I was right at the time, he's a stubborn man. We'll get to his beef with Zazel in a second. But Mike, what is the Mensa news? I'd like to go over... This has been a long time since I did this. Billy's going to be so mad. I'd like to go over the UM schedule with you. That's not a sentence I thought I would ever say again in my life.

Well, the schedule through the prism of potentially having a quarterback should make for a new discussion. The statement from Young Money. Through close collaboration and principled negotiation, we have successfully negotiated an unprecedented path, one that has now been reached fair and mutually with an agreeable resolution. We commend Darien Mensa for his extraordinary professionalism, maturity, and unwavering commitment to making the decision that best serves his future and family. His approach throughout the process exemplifies the highest standards of character and integrity. With that foundation in place, we are pleased to announce that Darien Mensa, supported by our legal team and legal counsel and young money, has reached a settlement agreement with Duke University. He has bought himself out of His NIL deal with Duke. His name was officially entered the portal. Darien Mensa is now free to go wherever he pleases.

And there are no restrictions, and there's nothing going to be coming forth in terms of court issues or injunctions or anybody?

Unless part of the settlement was that he can't go a specific place, which I don't believe so, Dario Mensa is now free and clear to do what he pleases. This is, I believe, the first time an athlete has bought himself out of his NIL deal. I imagine wherever he goes will make him whole. Because remember, this was not a Miami lawsuit as it was portrayed in the media. This was a Darien Mensah Duke lawsuit, and they have come to a settlement.

Can you give me some information on Young Money Lil Wayne, is that his company?

I assume he's part of the financial backers of it. Yeah, it's an offshoot of the record label.

Okay, so now you see what's happening, right? Just pay attention to the game because the agents and the hip hop industry and people who know how to make money around the hustle, if you're going to say agents rule things and there are no rules. Yeah, we'll just buy ourselves out there and we'll cash in the next future million over here when he goes to Miami and we make him a bigger star. That's the game we're playing now, just so that you know where the power is, how agents run things, and there's less governance there than there is anywhere in what is professional football. So the Lil Wayne's of the world and their capitalist hustlers can get into this game by the players, say, We got you, kid. We'll front you, whatever.

I think you're seizing on the wrong thing. I'm not sure how involved. I know Lil Wayne is a financial backer here, but this is not anything different. Yeah, he's repped by young money, but there are a million agents that would handle this the exact same way.

No, let me backtrack because what Mike is saying is correct in that the news of the day, should there be no limitations, is that Mensa is probably coming to Miami. The next news on that is whatever Duke is willing to or can put up as a fight of No, we're not the Minor Leagues for Miami, where you can just buy our quarterback when we've got to deal with him. The business of this- Fight's done. I know. Okay, the fight is done now, and you're reporting that it's done and that Duke has no recourse.

Unless there's some new information. That's what settlements are.

What do you imagine that conversation was like? The reason that I brought up the young money portion of this is because the ability to buy yourself out of a contract in future conflict is usually something the athlete does not have unless pressing against future earnings. So when the business of this comes and the agents get involved as they are running the sport through these kids, what do you imagine this means to the business of football as the business of football is what Miami just almost won last year?

I do think that this is an interesting case study because this is a whole new world with an athlete, specifically at that position, buying himself out of a multi-year NIL agreement. You don't often see multi-year NIL agreements, too. There Darian Mensa was... I mean, he might be viewed as Kurt Flood in a couple of different respects because Duke, with rev share money, poached Darien Mensa from Tulane, established a whole new market. Mensa got more than double what Pam Ward got for Miami. It sent the quarterback pricing market into a new stratosphere last year, and now he has bought himself out of a multi-year deal. Again, like Kurt Flood, just a whole new precedent.

Okay, so how do you guys feel about the Kurt Flood thing? Because that is a very religious sports language he's using. I want to come back here. It's a bit lofty. I want to come back here for a second, though, because I've been guilty of being a bit lofty as it comes to Deon and what it is that he was doing and is doing in Colorado as the original business sports mercenary. Young Money, I think, also represented Travis Hunter. Okay. One of the things that's happening here, Travis Hunter wins the Heisman. Travis Hunter gets D on that contract. Travis Hunter becomes a top five NFL player. The power in the sport that's going to the player after Northwestern threatened to unionize and everything that happened over the last five years, this is a really interesting precedent. If Mike's going to put it in Kurt Flood territory, it's a pretty interesting precedent, the details on how you buy yourself out of this deal. If you want to be the guy who replaces Fernando Mendoza, because now Indiana is the big program with the big money, and you want to be a five million a year quarterback.

I think where it can approach Kirk flood territory is you have Dabo, who's as old school as it comes, who's dealing with his own poaching situation and Ole miss, calling for collective bargaining. People may look to this and say, if multi-year agreements don't mean anything, and these athletes can just buy themselves out and score another NIL deal that takes care of their lost wages when it comes to this settlement, then you have something that could potentially be viewed as, if not the tipping point, one of major things that gets this closer to where it needs to be, which is a collectively barged sport with clear and identified rules.

It is really fun, precedent-setting chaos. It really is. It's fascinating. If you don't have any morality about the capitalism of your games, if you're just watching it as a test study, what's happened in the last five years to this sport, where we all saw that the Mario Cristobal contract was something. If he's going to get the best players, if $90 million on contract to a coach with a salary cap of about $21 million is going to get you all the biggest and the best players, then everyone's going to want to play that game. To see Miami rocket through the last four years of, Oh, the whole thing's changing. It's going to be straight business, straight cash, homie. To see what's happening where thousands of kids are being churned up in this portal. They get the college football's door closes in their face. They go from one day to the other not realizing, Oh, wait, we were doing business. I did it poorly. Thousands of kids in that portal are having their college careers ended. It's cruel, it's awful. But you're seeing the machine come to life, and there's no stopping it.

The rich get richer in college football right now. And look at what Miami has done. They've gone from record-setting Kam Ward to Carson Beck to Darian Mensa, presuming that they get him. At the most important position- Aren't we presuming that?

I would anticipate Darien Mensa being a Miami hurricane now, yeah. And I do I think what Greg is outlining is pretty spectacular in that- It is. They got Kam Ward, they got Carson Beck, shit looked bleak, and they found a way to get a quarterback that when held in direct comparison to Sam Levy. It did look bleak. Yeah, because Menso was not in the corner.

I will tell you that five days before the national Championship, Mike was very worried, still anxious about, Oh, we're not going to have a quarterback next year.

We're not going to be able to keep this thing rolling because Emory obviously knows about our pursuits. We were very aggressive in trying to get Sam Levy. Jimmy Sexton happened there. Jimmy Sexton, who also reps Lane Kiffin, isn't going to stick his neck out, make Lane pick what he believes is the best job in America and not get Lane the quarterback that he wants. So that's what happened with Sam Levit. Ty Simpson wasn't a fan of how he handled his business, putting the number out there, but he had 32 NFL GMs telling him he was a first-round draft pick. There weren't really any great options. I was breaking down tape of Western Carolina quarterbacks, and they found a solution here, I think, potentially, if you're to believe what's out there with Darien Mensa, who I think is a spectacular quarterback.

This is an obvious solution. An ACC champion. I don't know why you would be bashful about this. To me, okay, I know that now, in retrospect, everyone thinks they knew about whatever they thought they knew about Carson Beck or Kam Ward. But this kid, if you watched football last year, I mean, Trinidad Chamblas would have won the Heisman Trophy if we'd gone another day. But this kid is He looks like a professional quarterback. Let the Miami Huracanes have solved their quarterback situation. They're going to go Kam Ward, Carson Beck, and maybe Mensa is a drop off from Beck, but I don't think he is, actually.

No, I don't believe so either. What I like about Mensa is he's got some guts. We can call it how it is. I think Carson Beck was fundamentally changed after that Louisville game and was a little timid when it came to stretching the field. I'm not sure you're going to see Mensa be that timid. And if you get his receiver, his thousand-yard receiver from Duke as part package deal, you're talking about a loaded Miami team that is well positioned, and they can make another run. They got to win Charlotte. They got to win the ACC.

Well, let's get to the schedule in a second, because look, buying the best quarterback and receiver from your conference champion, stealing those two players from Duke, however it is that you come about getting them, Miami will lose no momentum offensively because Malikai Tony is returning, and a lot of good players are returning.

I believe Shannon Dawson is going to stay. There was some hearsay, conjecture. He was offered up in some interviews. Some schools reached out to him. I don't think that that's fully buttoned up, but I anticipate Shane and Dawson staying.

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Don Lebatard. Surely every time you're watching this, you recognize that your wife is laughing that she married Larry David.

I do, yeah. One of the great characters in the history of television, in my humble opinion. To my credit, my personality- In my humble opinion, followed by to my credit.

To My Credit. To My Credit.

It's amazing. My personality does predate Curve Your Enthusiasm. Stugatz. Oh, wow. I'm not going to say Larry David patterned himself after me.

All right, put it on the poll, please, Jude. You did Greg Cody Copyright Being an Ashole, long before Larry David. This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugatz.

If I may just say, parenthetically, Miami is doing this to Duke at the expense of a former UM coach, Manny Diaz, which is a fun aside.

Well, Manny Diaz has won a conference championship. Mario Cristobal has not. And this is a funny aside in a number of different ways, as now Duke gets dragged again by big boy football, because that's a program that when Miami was coming up, had a track around the field. And Duke was good at offense last year. Duke has been good at offense for a bit. And these two players that Miami got, a big white, fast wide receiver that, never mind the whiteness of it, Miami didn't really have a number two last year. C. J. Daniels was hurt. Marion couldn't be trusted. And so you had Malikai Tony being asked to do too much. This guy's not a two.

No, he's a perfect Sat guy, too. Barcade is pretty spectacular. Coach's son. And that game against Duke is certainly going to have a lot of juice if those two players from Duke end up coming to Miami. Really quirky schedule for Miami this year. Do we have a sound of Mario Cristobal complaining, openly lamenting, the one thing that he would... Look at the landscape of college football. You ask Mario Cristobal what's the one thing he would change about it, and he invoked the schedule.

One of the top things, it's minor in the eyes of many. I would eliminate there as in Friday games, man. College football is for Saturday. That drives me bananas. I know, and that might be petty to some. Man, I want college football on Saturdays. I really, really do.

So he's got three Fridays and a Thursday this season, including opening the season across the country in Palo Alto for a primetime Friday game. There's a lot of reasons to not like this, what it does to your body clock and whatnot. Acc games, they have this big deal with ESPN. They have that standalone national window. Might benefit some of the players on the Heisman stage, but also they get spooky. We saw it time and time again. Now, hopefully a more consistent Miami means less spooky hours on Friday. But yeah, we got four of these bad boys, including a FAMU game that will go directly against the NFL kickoff, the first game of the season there. But it does line up pretty well for Miami. And when you consider the two story lines of the two programs programs, and you look at their schedules, that November seventh game against Notre Dame is going to be so blown up and promoted. You're talking about potentially game of the century type of vibe surrounding that game when you consider all the story lines.

When you look at everything on there, I should point out Manny Diaz is also the guy who refused to let Fernando Mendoza walk on to the University of Miami. But you look at that schedule, and when you talk about business building, put it on the poll, please, Juju, is college football for Saturdays. That's an easy schedule, and that Notre Dame game is an obvious monster. But what we just told you transactionally is going to put Miami in the playoffs next year if they don't get hurt. The thing that I was starting to say, though, is that it's going to be hard to replace that pass rush, right? You don't normally have. They fix their defense in one year, and the reason they fixed their defense and the secondary was not exposed more is because in the sport, they had the best pass rush because they've got two first-round edge rushers. Miami's We never had those. Miami doesn't make first-round edge rushers. So to have two on the same team is going to be impossible to replace. I don't say that to criticize Miami. I'm just saying you cannot have the expectation that you're the Georgia or Alabama defensive lines, where you get all the first-round pics on the defensive line.

This is fair. You, sighting history, is true. Miami has never had an edge-rushing tandem the way that they had with Mesador and Bane. Pretty illustrious program. Those are the best edge rushers we've ever had. They're both going to be first-round pics. Ruben Bane did a hit on the local CBS affiliate, and he said he thinks Miami's defensive line is going to be better next year. Reasons for that. We saw Marquise Lightfoot really come online. Hayden Lowe has been injured all season last year, but he's a gamer, a five-star type of guy. You look across that entire defensive line, they are all five stars, with the exception of Moton, who was fantastic for this team last year. And I will snap back a little bit in that, yes, the edge rushers were amazing. Huge credit to them. Big part of the turnaround. Cory Heatherman, I think, deserves a ton of the compliments here because Jacobi Thomas and Keante Scott, not with huge fanfare, they tried to move Keante Scott to an outside corner at his previous stop. He identified those players. He's exceptional when it comes with those nickel safety hybrid type of guys. I think Heatherman is going to be a head coach real soon.

Also a shout out to Jason Taylor in the job he's done with the U. Okay.

And Damian Lewis.

All right, we don't need this to be an acceptance speech. We can shout out whoever it is that you like in terms of credit. What I'm telling you fix their defense is they had two first-round pass rushers. They fixed it in one year. While Mike can be as enthusiastic as he likes about an assortment of five stars, and it should be, because this is how you build the momentum to having the D-Lines that Alabama and Georgia had that have to win up the front because you got bigger, stronger athletes up front. Miami's springboarded into… They just took Duke's position players. That's won the conference with five losses. That won the Championship game, and it did so with offense. They did so because that receiver and that quarterback. It's not because of the line play. And so it sounds like I'm questioning that they can do it as well as they did last year as Mike hyperventilates because it's understandable. This is exciting if you're a Miami fan. I've watched 50 years of UM football without seeing one guy like that on their defensive end. Not one, not Kaleas Campbell. Not one guy have I've ever seen the two they had this year.

It fixed their defense, and it made their defensive coordinator look great because nothing's more important than pass rush.

Yeah, you're right. Ruben Bane was Named the number two player in the entire country by ESPN's top 100 postseason list. Number two in the whole country after only Mendoza. Mesador, I think, really was as good What is Bane for a lot of the season.

An older player. Bane had some injuries last year, but I will say Bane and Mesador were on that bad defense last year, and it didn't really matter much. They also brought in Damon Wilson, a 6'4 guy from Mizzou that had nine and a half sacs that will add to that rotation on the defensive line. I'll defer to Ruben Bane, who's seen these guys in practice, some guys that you may not be familiar with, some guys that do some work on Green tree that haven't featured this season like Hayden Lo. When Ruben Bane says he thinks the D-line is going to be better, I think we should listen.

Zazlo, are you still stewing in what the beef is here with Cody? I just like to know. All right, so here, let's play the sound here. Let's circle back around here to Zazlo's discomfort around Cody. Cody, just ask, point blank on the Greg Cody show featuring Greg Cody. With. By his son. It says with right there. I wonder where he learned all this shit stirring. It's not something you should do.

How do you feel, dad? Has Zaz grown on you? Do you find yourself... Is your opinion the same Worse, better, of just in your, what, four months working with Zaz occasionally?

I would say it's... I think he told Levitar that his opinion of me has improved. I think it's the same because when you get to know somebody personally, I think you get to appreciate more who they are.

You just said it's the same.

Well, I don't, and I would say this to his face, I don't love his style of announcing or talking. The What a cutting thing to say.

Give some actual character and personality.

To me, he's the New York radio guy, the boisterous, just the guy who's over the top with...

There you go. The guy that can actually communicate to his audience.

I find it hilarious. He's over the top, right? He's too loud. What's on your like with the way I communicate?

What's on your like with what I do on this show? What's on It's not like the way I express myself and get my opinions. What's the matter with what I'm doing here?

Okay, you could have said that a little softer. There's nothing wrong with the way I talk. My talk's awesome. No, my point, and I said at one point that I would say this to your face, and I will. I prefer Mike Wilbon style to Steven A Smith style. What?

Showing up and wearing a Benny the Bull mascot?

If I'm being honest, I don't like the shouting opinion. What are you doing?

Are you a sorcerist? What are you doing?

Then with your hands. All right. Okay. That's fine. It's fine. I was much more angry at you.

Daring-no, that is deflection.

See, that's what I mean. He thinks what he did to Zaz there. He's like, What?

I don't think- You said you don't like his style, talking or announcing. The way he thought, my preference. You don't like the way he presents, and you did so through an assortment of coughs. That's the funniest thing you've ever done right there, the way all of this dismound. You criticizing his style while you can't get your style beyond the cough.

I gave you a compliment compliment that my opinion of you has changed since I've gotten to know you sitting here once or twice a week for the last almost year. And you said your opinion of me is the same meaning.

No, I think actually, yes. He was saying the same as Zaz, mine has grown.

That's what he- Yes, which I said later in the interview.

But then you're saying, I don't communicate very well.

What are you talking about? Right after that, you're just like, But I don't like the way he talks.

I didn't say you don't communicate very well. I said you communicate in a boisterous manner that is not my preference.

I don't know what you're referring to there.

I think he's great at what he does. He's been big in this market for decades. I'm not surprised that he got the Coveted gig as your sidekick. I think he's very good. But when you get into that loud shouting thing and you're like, New York radio.

Did you just promote him to New God?

I think I did. You did? Am I breaking news?

Well, that's not news. You're breaking news. That's not true.

Oh, okay.

We'll see. He was telling Tony.

He's living my life.

This is incendiary, I believe. Let's play this sound again of Greg Cody because you cannot do funnier than how this clip closes.

How do you feel that? Has Zaz grown on you? Do you find Is your opinion the same, worse, better, just in your, what, four months working with Zaz occasionally?

I would say it's... I think he told Levatard that his opinion of me has improved. I think it's the same Because when you get to know somebody personally, I think you get to appreciate more who they are.

You just said it's the same.

Well, I don't, and I would say this to his face, I don't love his style of announcing or talking.

What a cutting thing to say.

The thing that gives him actual character and personality.

To me, he's the New York radio guy, the boisterous, just the guy who's over the top with...

There you go. The guy that can actually communicate to his audience. I find it hilarious.

He's over the top, right? He's too loud.

Too loud.