Transcript of Local Hour: Shaq Wants To Kill Dan Le Batard

Hey, guys. It's time to use our influence to get a whale. What do you mean? So remember how, with the Dame Trade, the Boston media used their influence to shift the public opinion on what the heat trade package was. Yeah. One of a Championship. One of a wear. That's exactly right. And you remember how on this show, we spent a month influencing the public opinion on head-to-head and why Miami should be in the playoff. Thank God for that, by the way, Mike. Thank you. You're welcome. Everything that I do for the program is for you. That show was awesome. That's right. And we got them into the playoff. It's a championship game. I'm so glad you can admit this now. No. My shifting public opinion. Yes. It worked. It worked.

It's been an exhausting couple of months, but hey, thank you for the credit, pal.

Of course. So now what needs to happen is we need to do the same thing here with Yannis onto T'Cumpo, there was too much saying, Oh, Spoh doesn't play Glowware enough. Why wouldn't Milwaukee want Glowware? Dan trying to pretend like Tyler Hero was the centerpiece of this trade package. Yeah, what was that about? Hyping up all these first-round... Oh, Golden State has a best offer. Golden State's offer is garbage. Sucks. We know it. Everyone knows it. It's a bad offer. But guess what's happening? Offer. Over at ESPN, because they want the narrative-What they say? Of Yannis and Steph together. It's, Oh, my God, look how great this is. They've got Bobby Marks out there doing mock trades with Jimmy Butler included, even though Golden State has said they're not going to include Jimmy Butler. Why? Because they want the public perception for Bucks fans and NBA fans at large to be that this trade is the only one available when it's not the best trade. It's a crap trade. It's the heat trade. It's a sci-up. And so we, right here with the Dan Lepetard show, we can use our influence to change the public perception over the next 24 hours, the next 48 hours, and land ourselves, Yannis, onto T'Cumpal.

It just goes to show you how legacy media does. That's right.

This is the Dan Levatore Show with the Stugats podcast.

A lot to get to nationally and locally. Greg Cody just did something he never does. He turned his computer to me dramatically. He touched me on the elbow, and he showed me a news story. What does that news story read, Greg Cody?

Breaking news. Sources: Kraft, not selected for Hall of Fame class of '26. That would be Robert Kraft, who everybody thought worked behind the scenes to make sure Belichick wouldn't get in so he could have the stage without Belichick.

Well, he may have still done that because how bad would it look if Belichick got in? He didn't.

That's fair. But the assumption, I think, was that Belichick would not and Kraft would.

The assumption was that Kraft wanted it all to himself, so I'll do it this year and get Belichick out this year.

How'd that work for you, Robert?

I don't know how you don't put that guy in the Hall of Fame. He's going for his seventh title, 11 Super Bowl's three quarterbacks, three coaches. What the hell are you talking about? Of course, he's a Hall of Famer. But let's move on to some of the local things, and we'll get back to that because we got James Harden, evidently about to make a mess or already has made a mess, and he's going to be traded. That happens overnight when the Clippers, we said just yesterday, they're playing well and they get smoked by the Sixers. And Kawhi's got these quotes on James Harden. It's a surprise. Respect his decision or whoever's decision it is that's still going to be my boy. Trust the front office, he says. None of those people are going to be there anymore. Ballmer screwed all of that up. And there's a conspiracy theory that they're keeping Kawhi out of the All-Star Game because of all of Pablo's reporting. Put that off to the side. Put everything you guys did with the Miami Heat last night. You went to their gala, Shaq's mad at me. Shaq did something funny to Chris Cody that we'll get to in a second.

But the thing I have to start with, because I haven't felt quite this way since Barcoff's injury, but I will say the worst I have felt in two and a half years of watching Panthers Hockey is hearing this quote come out of the mouth of this player, Matthew Kchuck, after they lost at home to Buffalo. Buffalo is better than they are. A lot of teams are better than they are. The Panthers are above 500. They're pretty good, but that's not good enough in this league. This quote from Matthew Kchuck is as bad as I've felt about the Panthers in two and a half years outside of Barcoff's injury. We're in trouble now. That guy doesn't say that unless he knows it. And that guy being scared signals to me what you guys all felt when you came in here yesterday, where I got Mike and Roy and Zaz all crestfallen because they're like, It's over. That loss finishes us last night. At home, allowing five goals, you make it three-three, going into the third period, and you lose the game and you lose to Buffalo.

You were up to zero in it. That's what a last stand is supposed to look like. You had your energy line contribute in the first minute. You have Evan Rodriguez do what he usually does against the Buffalo Sabers. And then you double up Buffalo on shots. And I guess the ironic part about it is the guy that probably ends your run is Alex Lyon, who started this whole thing when he was a hot goalie for Florida, when you were in a similar situation, quite honestly, with where we are with Bob. Bob's numbers this year are bad.

No, literally, we're at worst.

Hey, Bob, how about you stay in the goal?

No, you can't get on him, too.

Maybe there's a contender that needs a goalie that wants to bet on Bobrowski recapturing his form. But this is certainly the end of something for Florida. I don't think it's the end for their core, but a lot of the faces that became local heroes and key contributors. Florida may be a seller at that deadline.

They might. Not anything big. I don't think they'll sell anything big, but they may be a seller, some smaller pieces. They're done for this year. And by the way, last night feels like the death blow. It's going to get a little bit worse before we go to the international break because you got Boston and Tampa this week. Two teams that were also- Must win? No, we're past it. Last night was a death blow. They are not going to make the playoffs. I told you a couple of weeks ago, I was starting to get nervous. Last night was it. They're nine back now of the final payoff spot. They cannot stay healthy. They lost Bennett last night. Marshawn Marshan is missing in action. Lundell, he's missing in action.

The career line was the best line.

It's like you get one guy back in the lineup, you lose two more. It's a loss season, and they'll be back next year.

So I get Vrotsky stopping 88 descent of the shots on goal.

Career worst.

That's terrible. So it's about time to start looking at Tarasoff at number one for the rest of the season.

So Zazlo said a couple of weeks ago, he was officially worried about the Panthers. Roy is benching their two-time champion goalie.

Sounds like Roy's nervous because Roy doesn't usually give us this.

Well, listen, how they made the playoffs in that run versus Vegas in the Stanley Cup final, they needed help. They're not going to get that help this season. It's just too good in the East.

Too many good teams, so many good teams. Greg Cody, your thoughts here. I was very pleased to hear today. I couldn't believe it. A Back in My Day is in the holster. So the Cody family is producing the content of sound that has Shaq mad at me that we're going to get to. And Greg Cody has a Back in My Day. What are your thoughts here? Because we were singing the song, I'm going to say not two months ago. Oh, how lovely it is. They all take discounts. They know how to run their organization. They are such a model franchise for excellence when 30 years they've been total incompetence and all these guys love each other and they all take less money to be here. What a great way to defend the title. I actually prefer that it goes this way to injury than losing in the first or the second round in the playoffs because you're hurt, because you're a little bit hurt and not quite yourself. Here, everyone in the league knows, Oh, this can't be taken away from them. They were just hurt. Nobody took this from them. Right.

I don't think anybody, realistically, including major Panthers fans, expected three in a row. I just don't. It hasn't happened in the NHL.

Even if they were healthy? They were healthy.

It hasn't happened.

They were healthy. That's what the expectation was. They were healthy.

That had been my expectation.

I don't think so. I don't think the betting odds were that. I think it hadn't happened in the NHL for 30 years for a reason.

Weren't they favored, though? At the beginning of the season- That's what they were supposed to chase.

You would look around and say, Well, I know it's really hard to do, but why not this team? Why not this team that's been the three straight Cup finals already. Why not this score that is still relatively young despite all the minutes that they've played? Why not us was the attitude, I think.

Yeah, but when Barkoff has lost for the season to a knee injury before it even starts, I think that's a death note. No, no, no.

That's after. We're talking about different things. Yeah, after Barkoff went out for the year, my expectations changed.

Okay, I don't think the general expectation was three in a row.

I think they were the betting favorite, though, before Barcov got injured. I believe they were still the betting favorite.

I can't even engage in this. This is ridiculous. Every Panther fan was saying, Let's three-peat.

But let's hear-Not the realistic ones, okay?

And then the injuries mount. But there's no excuse for having a losing record at home. That's What surprises me is that there's been no There is an excuse, though.

Injuries are the excuse.

Well, then why do they have a better record on the road? I mean, home has not been a safe haven for the Panthers this year.

Well, I'll say why, okay? For For example, what you have seen from them in terms of excellence over the course of the last few years is they win the third period, they choke you out, they're the best team in the sport, they're Championship good in the third period. You got no chance in the third period. Yesterday, it's 3-3 in the third period. They bow. That's what happened to them at home.

They just don't have the guys, the guys that you would turn to to be there.

It started to feel like what Dan is describing a couple of weeks ago when Marshand and Kachuk return. Remember, for the first time ever. They played a regular season game next to each other. Panthers won a couple of runs. It's like, All right, now we're amazing. You could win games when you have your lineup. And they were choking teams out in the third period for two games. And then we lose Lundell and lose Marshan. And of course, Seth Jones is still on. It's like it's a disaster.

And there's been paper cuts along the way, even though it's not an injury. Carter Verhegey goes away for a little bit. Seth Jones and Kulikovs are out for extended periods of time. Bennett last night.

Who knows what he's doing?

These are players that they counted on throughout this entire run. Bennett being out means that they have zero active centermen that were on the ice for the game, clenching Stanley Cup game against Edmund Tim.

It is a staggering thing to actually see, not surprising given how physical that sport is. But their greatest advantage last year, we could talk about how good Bobrowski was. We could talk about how great Barcoff is in all the ways. But their greatest advantage last year, and McDavid, if you got him in an honest moment, would tell you this, it was too many waves of depth, man. To have it lost like that, where the depth can't bail you out, where you're the deepest team in the league and the depth cannot help you at all, you're going to lose home games because everyone's so hurt that you cease to have depth. That's a little crazy. I don't know. I haven't I haven't actually looked at the numbers on games lost to injury, but I've got to imagine that they're at the top of the league, games lost to injury, I'm guessing by a pretty substantive margin when they've gone from having the league's best depth to not having any depth at all.

They're down like 10 guys, right?

But I'm with Dan. This is a better way to go out, certainly less heartbreaking. And now you're looking at potentially an offseason. Florida's offseason has always been like a month and a half long, and it's usually at the elbow room half the time. A proper offseason to get this score, one more run before they all go north of 30, one more run.

This part is interesting to me, though, when you talk about a proper offseason. I really don't think, not even hockey fans, the most ardent of hockey fans, never mind casual sports fans, have any earthly understanding of the physical toll it takes to win a championship in any of our four major sports. Not just hockey, but hockey more than most, because hockey's got the travel and the brutal violence. Football doesn't have the travel. It's eight games. It's not 40 of them. Basketball has the travel, but it's not this physicality. Base has more travel But it's not this physicality. So when the Warriors burn out after four years and Clay's body breaks and Kevin Durant's body breaks, and Draymond wants to fight everybody, winning up there really hurts. And having no off-season, What's happening here when you guys say, Oh, what bad luck? This ain't bad luck, man. This is what that sport does to champions who want it the most. Kachuk has been playing as a torso for the last two years. He's coming back and they have to rest him for a great period of time because he's out there and the only thing that works is his naval.

It's totally nuts, the physical pain that these guys go through to get through that. I don't think anybody, watching, listening, caring the most has any earthly idea. This happened to the Panthers. It's not bad luck. It's the result of what they chased and earned. This is the result. The result is everybody's body breaks. It's more probable to happen to guys who don't have any rest and have to play more games than the guys who don't have to play because their offseason starts early.

It caught up to the team that's played the last hockey game of the season the past three seasons. Remember how this run started? Their bodies were broken. Remember all the wedding photos that these guys had that first offseason after losing to Vegas? I mean, guys were in neck braces, guys were using He had two crutches. It was ridiculous. Matthew Kachuk had the only win in that playoff series was assisted by Matthew Kchuck, who broke his sternum in that game and came back. And he's only been hurt since then with lower body injuries. It's crazy. I think the Bobrowski stuff, though, can...

Yes, he's older. That's going to be interesting how they handle that, his contract's up.

Yeah. I think maybe some of the things that we've seen affect him is he's lost the best two-way center in the game in Barcov, and that has certainly impeded our defense, which has made him less- He still has that plan.

No, 88% on stopping shots doesn't have to do with Barcov.

No, he's not a replacement-level goalie right now. He's just not good. Maybe Maybe a team takes a chance on him. I do think that it's the end for maybe a handful of guys. Yeah, giving up three goals per game is not going to win your games at all. Yeah, it's going to be a tough offseason for him.

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In the grocery store, in the freezer aisle. Bonus, they're all in the same box. You don't even have to go 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.

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It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories and 3. 2 carbs per 12 ounces. Don Levatard. For weeks, months even, during the regular season, I wondered, allowed, what Kevin Steenland did. And then about three weeks ago, it hit me. Stugatz. He gives him one of these, and he gives them one of those. This is the Don Levatard show with the Stugatz. It stinks. It stinks. It's just such a bummer.

I was bummed sitting there watching that game last night.

We all felt it when Vorkov went down in a heep the second he touched the ice for the first time this preseason. But there were moments where you're like, No, this team is good enough. Marshawn, he's in his bag. They're good enough to fight and scrap their way, and then no one wants to see them, and they're not going to get that opportunity.

Well, yeah. And you figured at least, All right, it's going to be tough to make the playoffs. I always felt it was going to be tough to make the playoffs once Barcuff got hurt. But my guess would have been, We'll get to a week left in the season, and we'll be a couple of points out, and we'll have a chance. We're in the middle. We're in early February, and we're calling it.

I'm promising you guys that getting to grieve early is better than the result you were headed for, which is a first-round exit where it feels like Toronto, where somebody took it from you when they didn't take it from you. You were hurt. It hurts, but this will hurt less than what would have happened in the playoff for sure to this team.

But that's what I always thought was the floor for a two-time champion. I didn't think the floor was, don't even make the playoff, even with all the injuries. I thought the floor was, you eke through the first round, you're eliminated in the second round, something like that, to not even make the playoffs, even with the injuries, is a surprise.

To me, though, it's not a surprise just because it makes all the more impressive what they've done the last two years. All of these teams have been this good the last couple of years, and they've beaten all of them. Hockey has been impossibly good, 10 and 12 and 14 teams high for the last two seasons, and the Panthers have been better than everybody.

I hate that Carolina is going to get this moment just because they waited us out. But I love that Buffalo is going to replace the Panthers in this situation because those fans absolutely deserve it.

Not going to the playhouse for what?

14 straight years?

We deserve it.

I don't care. We went twice already.

I deserve a third one before they deserve anything.

What are you talking about? I just started paying attention to I live in a swamp. Give me three in a row.

Buffalo deserves. Eat shit, Buffalo. Why care about Buffalo.

Put it on the poll, please, at Lebitard Show. Does Zaz deserve a third championship more than hockey fans in Buffalo deserve one. At Levitard show.

Just a playoff appearance.

I'm promising you guys. I know you don't believe me now because it hurts and nobody wants to hear contolences at the funeral. It doesn't mean anything. But I'm promising you guys that losing this way feels better losing to Carolina in the playoffs. Then losing in the first round. I agree with that. I'm just telling you that all-I don't want to make the playoffs.

I don't buy this. I get it. That would stink. Losing in the first round, but get me to the dance.

No, it's like now, you wouldn't lose in the first round to Carolina because it's not the way it lines up. But losing in the first round to Tampa or Toronto. No, that would feel worse than this.

I'm supposed to listen to your logic when you wanted that first Stanley Cup to go seven games when they were up three, nothing?

You. That's right, Roy. You. I mean, that guy over there.

He was right. Ultimately, it was so much better that way.

It was so great.

It was so much better.

You'll remember it forever.

It didn't feel good during the time, but it was better.

You said what was the worst memory in the last couple of years? Being tied three, three with Edminton. Having blown three in a row. That's about as low as I can remember.

I disagree. You saw I was happy about it. Mike accused me publicly of, That's performative. I'm like, No, it's great. Game sevens are wonderful.

No, I was pretty cool with winning the title not in seven or blowing a three-oh lead.

I was two, but now knowing what we know, this was better.

Last year was pretty sweet.

Okay, you say this, but my mother's a season ticket holder for the heat. I want to get to the heat stuff here because it's interesting what you guys did last night, what happened with Shaq and an assortment of things that had Pat Reilly dancing at the gala because it felt to everyone here like he knows he's going to get Yannis. Oh, yeah. But my mother went. So the Bulls and the Heat played three games, and my mother goes to all the games. And the last one, the Heat, won by 50 or 60 points. And my mom was like, That was terrible. I I hated that. I sat there all night and I'm like, They were up by 50 all night. And I'm like, You guys think you want that? But if I give you the result of seven games instead of five, and I give you the memory forever of, do you Remember how scared I was before game seven? The fear is part of the fun. I understand that you thought you were going to lose. You think you want that, but a four-game sweep is less fun. It's just less fun than winning in seven.

Put it on the poll at Lebitard show. Is winning in less fun than winning in seven? Because I disagree with you guys. You guys don't understand. You guys want to blow everybody out by 60. I was bored by the first 30 games of this thunder season. I was just bored. I like watching that team play. Bored watching them play. Now, it's more interesting.

Now you're back.

Right. Now, I'm like, Okay, people got a chance. Even Michael Jordan, we always made the argument, Will Reggie Miller do it? Will Karl Malone do it? Will somebody do it? It was always close. There was always a reason to think, except for the year that they won '72, there was always a reason to think that Michael Jordan might get knocked off by somebody. That was part of the fun, and it's what made Michael Jordan, Michael Jordan. The fact, what makes the Panthers the Panthers is that they beat up. Man, they beat McDavid in his prime twice. Twice. They beat this at the height of his powers. You'll have that forever.

Yeah, they turned him into Mcoverrated. Here we go. No, I'm just saying. You.

We're all mad at you.

The Panthers did that.

You are not one to talk after costing us the University of Miami Championship. Me?

You. You.

We had the thing.

Roy, don't start. Do not start, Roy.

Everybody saw that coming. Tony will never forgive you. Tony will never forgive you.

I may have seen it coming, but I didn't say it out loud.

Again, you could see it coming and keep it in your heart, okay? In the deep resistance of your mind. The moment you speak it, and then he throws that interception, I will be on my dying deathbed, never forgiving Roy for what he did.

Yeah, zip it up.

Put it on the poll. Is dying deathbed redundant?

You want my thoughts on the Panthers?

I do want your thoughts on Yannis in the Heat. Who went last night to the Heat Gala? What's the information I need to know from the Heat Gala? Because I understand that Shaq is mad at me, but also, Chris, you went You insulted him, correct? You personally made the mistake. Do you know this story, Greg? Do you know what your son did to insult Shaq? Do you know what happened?

No, I'm just picturing him looking up like this.

Well, that's part of it. Yeah, Jeremy and I were miced, so our move was to every guest, them the mic, they hold their mic, and we can just have a free-flowing conversation. Yeah, let them feel comfortable. Shaq may or may not have hit me with, I don't hold mics.

Did he curse?

Did he curse? We got a whole package here we want to show you guys. At you. Hey, yo.

What? Who's package? You're ready to play the the entirety of the package? So you guys- Dan, we talked to Wade, we talked to Riley.

No, but hold on.

But give me... No, wait a minute. Before you throw it to the package, give me some information. It's easy. So you go, for the love of God, man. Dan. Just an amateur. Has he never done this before?

It's called a conversation back and forth. You throw it to me. I talk about the light thing. You set the oven.

You got the oven getting a little bit hot.

That's what I was doing.

You said it to 450.

All of a sudden, it's like 250, 300.

What happened? Did Shaq curse at you?

Did he abuse me? At me? There were many curse words said by Shaq. I forget how many were directed at me. You definitely got a few.

Okay, but how many were directed at you because he said, I don't know, I'm asking you, did he say, I don't hold mics or I don't hold bleeping mics? Do you remember? Can you quote him directly as the son of a journalist?

I don't remember, specifically. We can play you the sound in the package, Dan.

All right, play the whole damn package.

I'm sorry, Cody?

How's it going? How's it going?

He keeps demanding that I land the whale. I might be out there looking, but I got a guy in a chair back there with a big harpoon, and that's Andy Ellesberg. Once I identify it, he goes, What do you think is the most annoying thing about Dan Leventhal? I don't know what's the most annoying, but if I had to pick one, I would say his voice.

Dan, I'm going to kill you when I see you.

We're here at the Kaseya Center. Hi, everybody.

This isn't a pitch call. Okay. We're-anton Walker is here. He'll be back. Start right here. What do you remember the most about celebrating that 2006 Championship?

Really just how special the group was. We was a really close group of guys that hung out together, did everything together to achieve a common goal.

The potential for Is this Journalism? Jeremy's excitement about meeting Dwyane Wade. It's like, Play it cool, dude. Act like you've been there before.

I'm not going to play it cool. My neck, my back, my Michael Doliak.

It looks like we're not getting Doliak.

It turns out we didn't get Michael Doliak.

Oh, there's Pat Reilly. Oh, boy, Pat Reilly to my right. Oh, my God. This is so exciting. This is like my childhood.

Pat, what do you remember most about celebrating the 2006 Championship?

That team was special. They stepped up big time. It was just a series of big-time moments were big-time players. Big-time. Superstar players. They're all Hall of Famers right now. All of them, at that moment, with a little bit of age and experience, they made the big plays when it counted the most.

I want to ask your top three Bruce Springsteen songs.

Well, I love The Rising, Land of Hope and Dreams. I got his whole catalog, but the one that Chris and I really relate to, and get levitard and play it on his show sometimes, Back in your Arms Again. It was on 18 tracks.

How do you feel about you and Chris being a couple of hat guys here? Yeah.

You like the style? Swack? I try.

What's your favorite story that you've shared of a moment with Coach Spoh thus far in your career?

Favorite story, if you will. Story.

When he called time out in Detroit and we didn't have one.

Do you ever just give him like, rip him a little bit like, Hey, Detroit.

We always in the huddle now, I always ask him how many timeouts he got. So just make sure me and you are in the Both on the same page.

Oh my God, Dwyane Wade is right here.

He's right there. There you go. We got-Oh, Mike's brother. Okay, hell yeah, man.

I love that. I love that.

All right, sir, what do you remember most about celebrating 2006 Championship?

The parade, the 15 Strong that we weren't allowed to look at. I used to actually come in here and shoot a night, and as soon as I pick up the cover, security guard, Hey, don't do that. Pat Reilly had 24 hours security on that thing.

What is more embarrassing when your phone light is on by a mistake or when you realize that you're walking around and your backpack is wide open? Probably say the backpack because you don't know it's going to fall out.

Besides Shoheya Thani, can you name a baseball player?

Who was that? No. Oh, yeah, I'm a baseball fan. William Contrari.

There we go.

All right. All right, that's it.

We can both do it at the same time.

The coach, Tony Fiorentino. I just want a yeah, baby. I just want one yeah, baby.

Yeah, baby.

Not from you.

Between you with the nickname The Glove and J Will with the nickname White Chocolate, who had the better nickname of the point cards?

Of course.

Of course. The Glove. White Chocolate was cool, but the Glove is what it is. Big Glove, baby.

What is the strangest thing you've ever eaten in the car? Our boss recently admitted to eating chicken wings, and one of our coworkers said an entire rotissary chicken.

I would probably say a hard boiled egg just because that's just the worst thing you can do to everyone in the car. Who is that? We're hard, though, right? No medium. You don't want that congealedness, just the fully hard. That's right.

Probably a McDonald's burger. Who doesn't have a double Big Mac and a Coke? That's when you're really, really, really I'm hungry.

Man, I used to eat everything. I used to come with candy, Big Mac, strawberry shake, fries.

What's the big bucket of... What's it called? Cheese puffs?

No. Cheese puffs.

Just look over your shoulder. You're 6 o'clock. Dwyane Wade just walked in. Coming up next. Jeremy marinates his pants.

All right, I'm going to start here. Dwyane, I don't really know how to tell you this, but you're my favorite athlete and probably favorite human of all time. You're I'm going to respond.

The human is... Give me a hug, bro.

What do you remember most from celebrating that '06 Championship?

I just remember all of us. We look at each other now, man, just gleaming, just beaming. I always say, We all became the greatest of the road players in the world. We all played our roles to perfection no matter what it was. And so I'm just proud. That's all I can say about '06, man. I could just put proud next to it because everywhere I go, I walk around proud knowing that we accomplished that championship because it was the first and the hardest.

How often do you think about the Anderson-Varejou dunk?

I'm thinking about it now, as you said. I wasn't before this.

In terms of single plays in your career, though, what are the plays that jump out of just like...

It is that from a dunk standpoint, number one. And then it's just the play over the guys on the sideline against Cleveland.

Oh, around the guy. Then I took a lot of the shots.

Yeah, come on.

I took a little bit from... I used to do that outside in Chicago. I brought it to the NBA. I used to do that outside.

Superlatives for your 2006 teammates. Okay, so who was the class clown?

Gp.

Shaq. Kill O'Neill. Shaq, always.

Who were the two teammates most likely to butt heads?

Shaq and Zole.

Me and Zole.

Ud and GP. Antoine Walker. James Post.

Who was the life of the party?

Kill O'Neill. Shaq. Me. Antoine Walker.

That's what he said. Teacher's pet.

Me. Dwyane. I would say Zole.

Wild Zole morning.

And best all around.

We'll get it to big Zole. He deserves it. Oh, Dwyane.

I'm going to get it to Shaq. That's what he The now that you're second and done. Me.

What's worse, height shaming or hairline shaming?

Well, I don't get height or hairline shaming because I smack mother. You want to keep your hairline.

Our boss, Dan Levatard, thinks that you hate him. How right is he?

I do hate him.

However, we never disrespect him.

If I've seen him with his family, I'm going to be like, Hello, Mr. Dan. But if we're in a place where we can go at it, we can go at it.

All right, guys. We did it.

Don't pan down because Jeremy urinated himself during the Dwyane Wade interview.

Yep.

Back to you, Dan.

Sag mal, Nikola, hast du auch immer dieses Gefühl, bei der Steuererklärung mit einem Bein schon im Knast zu stehen?

Boah, nee, gar nicht.

Wieso Steuer ist so die Steuer-App, mit der ich wirklich nichts falsch machen kann?

Wow.

Das heißt, damit ist alles sicher?

Ja, genau. Wieso Steuer ist die Steuer-App, die dich versteht? Weil Steuer betrifft ja dein ganzes Leben: Arbeit, Kinder, Partner. Du kannst nichts falsch machen.

Stimmt. Nice. Fühlt sich gar nicht wie Steuern an.

Steuern erledigt? Safe.

This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugatz.

I have a lot of questions. One of them is when Jeremy hugged Dwyane Wade. Is that journalism? Put it on the poll at Lebitard Show. A better nickname, White Chocolate or the Glove. And also, if you would, Lewis, at your For your convenience, when Shaq says, I'm going to kill you, can we put on the screen at some point the frozen reaction of Chris and Jeremy totally betraying me and roaring with laughter, something that's decidedly not funny? If a person then siged.

Look at Chris. He's like, A couple of stoos.

That's the moneymaker boy. Come on. That was great. That's why we're there.

We're there to hear Shaq say, I'll kill Dan Lebitard.

That is when the The whole night is worth it, baby. That is horrific.

That's great.

That's just good humor.

He's not joking. He is, by reputation, somebody that everyone in the world would do word association and say, A giant.

Look at my face. I didn't notice that.

You remember the picture of Russell Wilson when he gets drafted and his fiancé or wife or whatever at the time has exactly Chris's face. If we could zoom in on that, she's there like, I made it, baby.

There I made it, baby. I did it.

The size of that betrayal is staggering to me. How happy you guys were made. He was not joking, and that's not deadpan. If I'm with my father, he will be nice. And if he sees me alone, he's not happy with me. He will choke me. You know what he'll do to me? He will do to me what the mountain did to Pablo Pascal in Game of Thrones. What's the matter with you guys?

It's Pedro Pascal, by the way.

I I did that for the second time. Keep it moving. Keep it moving.

And we'll remember what Roy said later.

Also, who was that? Who was that girl? Who was the lady?

Oh, Vlad Golden's fiancé?

Now, who's Vlad Golden?

The heat center, Vlad Golden? You didn't know Cameron Volger?

Who was Cameron Volger?

Vlad Golden's fiancé. Really?

We're going to do this? We're just going to go round around with that?

That was before we got anyone, and no one was over with us. We were just like, We need to get a warm up here.

We needed star power is what we needed.

Hey, we'll talk to you. I've only got more camera time than Bam's date. We even identified Bam's date. You don't need to.

That's Asia Wilson. Everybody knows that.

Is this journalism?

They said Vlad Golden. I was like, I thought that was a heat thing. Was it a Panther guy?

But can I just say, can we just talk about last night, Pat Reilly, his vibe? There was something going on. Oh, yeah. We know what's going on. I have a theory that doesn't relate to Yannis. It could have been he got to be back in the head coach chair for a night. He was He's feeling the vibe of I'm in charge. This was my team. It's a good theory. Or he knows he's getting Yannis. I'm telling you, one of those two things was happening last night because the guy was happy. He was dancing. He had energy. He was going up to every interview starting the conversation.

It also could have been Quianti. Maybe.

But I'm telling you, I've been around Pat Reilly at these things before, and he had a vibe last night.

That's all I'm saying. I have a theory on what that vibe is, and I believe this is going to come down to Golden State and Miami when it comes to Giannis. And I think that not enough people are talking about this part. I know Milwaukee might want to wait for the offseason because the heat's offer would get better in the offseason. Because they'd have more to give. There is no circumstance in which Giannis wants to play a second half of a season that doesn't matter, like none. And you put him with Bam and Norman Powell, and now you start fool around with whatever it is you can figure out in the second half of a season because you haven't lost pieces that are going to crush you. I'm guessing that's why Pat Reilly is more ebullient there than you might expect him to be because he knows he's got a good chance at fixing this in the next couple of days.

League can't be happy either about Milwaukee essentially benching one of its great superstars, one of the faces of the League during the prime of his career. He got to have another NBA postseason where Giannis isn't a factor. I assume that there is some implied pressure from the League here.

Well, and there was an interesting detail thrown out there. I believe it was in Mark Stein's reporting, which was that Giannis doesn't want to sit out the rest of the season. When he's back from his calf injury, he wants to play. The reason that that's interesting is because him playing in Milwaukee winning games sabotages their pick going into next season. That team does not They want to win more games from here. They need to have the highest pick possible. And so that's a bit of tension that gets created. It's another thing trying to leverage his way out without, again, specifically demanding I go XYZ place.

Jeremy, I have a bit of regret that last week, the angriest that I was for a long time, actually, on the air was simply screaming at you because you were so ready to talk that you didn't listen to anything that was said before you were ready to talk and then went right to your point, Mike Ryan saying that there's implied pressure from the league here is asinine. Asinine. Like implied pressure from the league that Giannis needs to be traded so he can play the second half of the season where the league wants him to? What are you talking about?

Okay, man, we disagree.

But what would that even look like? What's implied pressure?

You don't have to say anything.

Well, okay, then that they're doing.

Do you not know how implications work?

That they're doing. They're not saying anything. But how are you reading in there not anything that it's implied pressure? You're right to report that the league is doing nothing, but you turn it into implied pressure, and I don't know what that looks like. All right.

The implications, Dan. You get it? We're out on the boat.

So it's inferred's pressure, not implied, it's inferred.

Okay.

You know about that inferred pressure?

I don't think there's any pressure inferred or implied from the league going on here on anything.

Why would they care? They just signed a whole bunch of new broadcasting rights with Peacock Cuck, Amazon, ESPN. I mean, it's not on Turner anymore. I'm sure that all their broadcast partners are going to be super-pumped that Yannis isn't going to be playing in the playoffs. It's implied.

It's implied that they want all of their players to play. There wouldn't be any more implied pressure. Who's agreeing with me?

Thank you, pal. We're good. Look at us. Finding consensus. Look at us. A healed America.

Are you buying the idea, Zaz, that because the trading deadline is in a couple of days, Oh, we got Super Bowl stuff today, by the way. Fred Warner is going to join us. Oh, yeah, the Super Bowl. I asked a question before the show.

Yeah, the Super Bowl. Actively, as good at his job as anyone we've had on the show recently. I think dating back to when Aaron Donald was in studio, that's the last time we had someone this excellent at their job.

Michael Biamonte would like a word.

And you're forgetting that Chris Mad Dog Ruso is also on the show. Doggy.

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 drank 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.