Transcript of Local Hour: The Chick-Fil-A Controversy

This is the Dan Levator Show with the Stugatz Podcast. So let's start out with the real controversy. Lots going on right now. It is a Friday show, which means of course we have our pal Dave Dameshek out there on the West Coast. Hello, Dave. There he is in Miami.

What's going down?

We got a full crew here in the shipping container, but man, Things were said last night, things happened last night, and it involves a food that we all love. What is going on with Chick-fil-A? Jeremy, can you, can you fill me in here? All right, so is Chick-fil-A like the new promotion the way that they used to do Papa John's for the Heat games? Like it's now a Chick-fil-A thing?

The way that this promotion works is if a road player misses 2 free throws in the second half, 2 consecutive free throws, you get a free Chick-fil-A promotion. I like— I like those 8 nuggets.

Yeah, I like those kind of bits, you know, because anytime— because you're saying anytime in the second half, not just fourth quarter?

Anytime in the second half.

Wow.

Okay.

It's very generous, Chick-fil-A. And so, so if a road player misses the first free throw, like, is the crowd getting into it?

Absolutely.

Every time. Because they'll, they'll put it up on the screen. Like, they'll tell you at halftime, like, hey, if this happens, because they want the crowd to get into it. And then They'll remind people and people like sometimes the biggest pop of an entire game, if it's a blowout, is that moment when someone has missed a free throw.

Bad crowd. Now, of course, I think everyone remembers like the most infamous moment of these, right, is Boban, where Boban Marjanovic a few years ago— Dave, do you remember this? Where Boban was on the free throw line and then he was playing for Houston at the time. He was on the free throw line. It was a road game. And everybody knows you get free 3, what, wings, whatever it was. And this— see, this one was so weird to me because Boban missed the first free throw and everyone in the crowd now stands up, they're all cheering, they're very, very excited. And Boban, even though he's on the road team, clearly understands what's happening here. But here's the thing, it was a close game, it wasn't a blowout, and Boban motions to the crowd I got you. He says, I got you. He puts his hand up and he points at everybody and he says, I got you. It's okay. I got you. And then he proceeds to miss the second free throw and he comes up the court pumping his fist. Everyone was excited, but like, it was a close game. Why did he do that?

Point shaving. Pablo's got to look into that.

Yeah, that's a point shaving scenario right there.

Well, Pablo has looked into this. He did an episode on chicken eligible free throws with Amin.

Where did I miss that one?

Well, you were here.

Yeah, you were here. You were supposed to watch, but they figured out the CCR, which is the chicken conversion rate, and not Creedence Clearwater Revival. That is an oldie. The chicken conversion rate, you know, about that one player in the league is sky high. Giannis Antetokounmpo shoots free throws going into the season at right around 68%.

Hold on, I'm going to stop you right there. Wayward Son is Kansas, buddy.

It was. Carry on, my wayward son.

Like I said, you know about that song by Kansas? My Wayward Son.

It's Carry On, My Wayward Son, and it's by Kansas, not by CCR.

Sorry, Jeremy.

Yeah, it's Fortunate Son. Fortunate Son. But we can carry on. So 68% for Giannis normally on free throws, 63% in the fourth quarter. Chicken eligible free throws. He misses 8 out of 10 free throws. It's amazing on chicken eligible free throws.

And he's the one that did it last night, right? Okay, so this happened last night.

Last night I texted him immediately.

Yep. All right, so Giannis missed 2 free throws and the crowd now as a result gets this, this Chick-fil-A promotion.

That's right.

So what is the controversy?

The controversy is that the Panthers also have a promotion and the Panthers promotion is if Bob or whoever is the goalie that night has 30 or more saves. Roy, I'm right here, right? 30 or more saves. If 30 or more saves, 30 or more saves, 30 or more saves for Bob and you also get a Chick-fil-A promotion.

Do the Panthers have to win too? No. No?

Oh, interesting.

Okay. So by my math, looks like Daddy's looking at 16 today.

Yeah, yeah, you would think so.

So, well, why are you doubting that?

Because it seems as though on the Chick-fil-A app, they may only be letting you cash in on one claim.

They are. I'm, I'm on the Chick-fil-A app right now. I'm an avid user of the Chick-fil-A app. And I'm looking at, yeah, I'm looking at the rewards and my rewards only show an 8-count nugget.

Guys, I think this might be the biggest controversy Chick-fil-A has ever faced.

Yeah, I can't think of another.

So, okay, you can't combine the 2 then and get 16, but can you order 8 and then another order, order 8?

Tony?

No. So usually what they do is, because obviously I'm a frequenter of this reward—

whisper, whisper here, don't tell them.

So, so what they do is that you can see on the app, it's like, you know, Miami Heat promotion, whatever. This one, they didn't put a name, right? It's either Miami Heat or Panthers or whatever. It just says you get 8 nuggets no matter what, but it doesn't specify which one they're actually—

Oh, so you don't even have to be at the game to get the—

No, no, no, no. As long as you have the app, you can go in and redeem your nuggets.

The thing I remember, leaving those Dolphin games after a Dolphin win, you got to bring the ticket stub. Where, Chris? The strip club. Right into— That's right, right into Tootsie's. Go ahead.

How old are you guys?

Ticket stubs?

So you can see our Panthers promotion, Heat promotion, Papa John's, you know, Heat win is still valid.

Oh, good, good, good.

We can get Papa John's tonight.

50 off.

50 off.

It's a great deal. They used to be, by the way, they used to do it on, on stuff that was already on sale. So it was like, all right, we have a promotion where you can get 2 pizzas for, you know, $11, and then you would drop the 50 on top of that and you'd get it for like $5. But they got wise to the game. They're like, nothing on promotion you can get 50% off. It has to be full menu price. So whatever, long story short, we're looking at only one promotion here, a reward for a South Florida Chick-fil-A, but it would usually say Heater Panthers, doesn't say anything.

Make it right, Chick-fil-A.

8-count, that's it.

Okay, so like, is this the first time all year that there's been 2 missed free throws and 30 saves in a Panthers game?

A Chick-fil-A eclipse? I don't know, I'd have to look it up.

A Chick-fil-A eclipse, Dave!

I have to jump in from the other side of these United States. States to ask, who is checking to see, is it based on zip code to verify that I'm not going to— I can't tap into this from Southern California?

Yeah, Dave, it's geofenced. It's geofenced for South Florida. So you could probably have like a Lakers one or a Kings one or something.

Yeah, probably like a 75.

I get my chicken, I get my chicken at Magic City and I just stay out of this entire long drive for you.

Hey, so, uh, all right, I, I'd like to, you know, get a definitive answer from Chick-fil-A. All right, maybe within the next few hours. What's going on there, you know? But are the Miami Heat for real? The Heat have won 7 in a row. They are a season-best 9 games above.500. You know about that Pelo Larson last night, Mike? I know you've been dialed in. You're a big NBA fan over the last like 2 weeks. You just started watching the sport.

Yeah, I, I tapped out on the NBA. By the way, I believe the Celtics are.500 since Jason Tatum, uh, came back.

Uh, and he had to rest last year.

Let's not mention that the last 2 games been at the Spurs and at OKC, I believe, on back-to-back nights. We just move on. But right now we're 500, and that's what we said would happen. That's exactly what we said would happen. Uh, no, I was actually a little sick last night. I went to bed at like 6:20. I tried to fight through, uh, yeah, I tried to fight through the NyQuil as long as I could because I was watching an incredible FSU-Duke game. I went down to the wire. Bobby Buckets for FSU is a hell of a player, but Duke ends up surviving. So I'm dialed into the ACC. I'm trying to watch as much college basketball as I possibly can because on Sunday we have select your Sunday. We have the, the selection day for the NCAA tournament. We have Oscars red carpet. We'll get into that in a little bit. But also, I kind of think that this is like a niche interest equinox that's going on on Sunday too, because we mentioned there's Indian Wells, there's Left Turns in Las Vegas, there's The Players going on as well. You got AEW Revolution.

There's a lot going on on Sunday.

Oh, all right. There you go. So, Dave, you know about Select Your Sunday?

I do know about it. As a matter of fact, I'll be a part of it, friend. I'm going to be joining the livestream. Excited for that. Yeah, I think that Selection Sunday, even though my interest in college basketball has dipped a little bit, like I think everybody in these United States would agree with me about that, I think it remains in the top 3 greatest sporting events that involves no actual sport. The Selection Sunday, along with the NFL Draft, the NBA Draft lottery selection, that's up there. Yep.

That's fun.

I think NFL Draft. I think those would be your top 3, right?

All right. So Sunday. And what time are we starting? What is it? 5:45 Eastern. 5:45 PM Eastern. You could check us out. YouTube Live. All right. Select Your Sunday. We're going to have a lot of fun. It's going to be something for everybody to do on Sunday night. Everybody's normally bored on Sunday night. You don't have to be bored now this weekend. We got a great show on Sunday night planned for everybody. But Jeremy, I— so the Miami Heat have won 7 in a row. They are 9 games over.500. Pelo Larsen was great last night, career-high 28. Jakšočūnas, he looks like— that's new Goran Dragic.

That kid is good.

He's your boy. Well, no, no, last night Pelo Larsen was my boy. I think— so I don't normally have favorite players anymore. Like, do you have a favorite player on the teams that you love?

No, I'm 34.

Right, exactly. Exactly. I don't have favorite players anymore.

Really?

Sam Bennett's my favorite Panther.

I kind of— that's how I enjoy the NFL now since I don't have a team. It's like I just root for certain players. And the NBA is a lot like that.

That's the standard for the younger crowd.

Yeah, you'll have your Steph Curry fans and they'll follow him wherever. That's why you have your LeBron fans that have been Heat fans, Laker fans, Cavs fans, and they just move along with them. It seems like pretty unique to soccer and the NBA in this country.

Like, Dave, do you, do you still have favorite players on your favorite team? I don't mean like, oh, I love watching, you know, Patrick Mahomes. You're a Steelers fan. Do you have a favorite player on the Steelers?

I guess I do. I was struck by Tony, who's on the younger side of things, saying that he's a 34-year-old man. I thought that the newer generation of people all vibed in that direction versus team brand.

No, no, I agree, I agree, Dave. My thing is I don't like— like, I like the Heat, but I'm not sitting there being like, man, I really love Bam, he's my favorite player.

That's how I feel.

I don't have that. Like, I have, oh, I really like watching Steph Curry play or Jokic play or, you know, whomever, but I don't sit there and be like, my favorite guy is Pella Larsen.

What age?

Can a 28-year-old have a favorite player?

Yes, yes, I think 28 is still a good age. For me, for me, it started about 10+ years ago. I'm 45, alright? I know I look younger because I got like a Benjamin Button thing going on right now, but about 10 years ago, I got to a point where I don't have favorite players anymore because it's weird to me for a guy who's younger than me, "Ooh, you're my favorite," even though like I'm a lot older than you. Like, that's weird to me, you know what I'm saying, Dave?

I do get it, but also I think this is what players fall into all the time, is that they think, "Oh, fans," you know, on social media and otherwise, and back slaps wherever I go and everything else. But when push comes to shove, It is always interesting to see the player get surprised when the fan base turns on him in favor of the team brand when there's contract negotiations afoot. And I might hold out and not deliver services. It's— I'm always struck by the players being surprised by the fan reaction, like, wait, I thought you guys had my back. Like, no, no, we want the team to win, man. And you're hurting our ability to win games. We want you to sign. We want the team to pay you out. Until you start refusing to deliver services, then we are going to turn on you because you're hurting our team. It is a funny, a funny dynamic that I think plays out in the 21st century all the time here. The players feeling betrayed by the fans.

Yeah. Quick break to tell you about a special Miller Time I had with my good buddy Mochetta. Mochetta texted me the other day. He said, hey, what are you doing for the game? I said, I'm just on my couch right now. Doing nothing, enjoying it. He's like, hey, do you want some company? I said, from you, Mochetta? Absolutely.

Mochetta comes over to the house and I pull out the Miller Lite.

Miller Lite made that casual hang a memorable good Miller time with my good friend Mochetta because Miller Lite brought us together. We took that first sip after we toasted our beers and we knew we made the right call. We watched a game. All of a sudden we're standing up on our feet, big threes are being drained, and White cans are being clanged. See, times like these, that's exactly why Miller Lite is my go-to. Clean, refreshing, easy to drink, brewed for taste with simple ingredients. The original light beer since 1975, and it still hits different for yours truly and his good friend Mochetta. Cheers to legendary moments made with Miller Lite. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to MillerLite.com/Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.

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Dan Levatard. My algorithm on Instagram is dance, all boobs. Stugatz. It's a good algorithm. This is the Dan Levatard Show with the Stugatz. Yeah, so, so I am with Tony where like I got to a point where I don't, I don't have favorite players anymore, but, but I, I think Pelle Larsen is my favorite player on this Heat team, which is weird because I'm like 25 years older than him. Uh, but yeah, Pelle Larsson, I think, is my favorite player on this team. He was awesome last night. But, but what I do want to say is I'm, I'm, I'm really excited about the Heat right now because they've been playing great and there's fun things going on with them right now. And for just the second time in 2 years, I'm going to a Heat game Saturday night. Big game.

Big game or not a big game?

Everybody knows that's a big game.

Big game.

I don't want to do spoiler alert for Zaslo Show 2.0 today, but that's a big game. Heat Magic Saturday night. So I'm going Saturday. I'm taking my younger son because he's way into the Heat these days. And I want to—

who's his favorite player? Because he's in the age of having favorite players.

I'll get to that. Like, I have an explanation for that. Very good question, though, Tony. Put that in the holster. So Saturday night, going to the Heat game. Heat Magic battle for 5th in the Eastern Conference. Don't laugh at that. It's funny.

5th. They're both 2.5 back and forth, by the way.

I gotcha. I gotcha. It's just funny when you have the buildup. It's a big game.

They're tied for 5th. That's right. So, so Saturday night I will be making my second appearance in just 2 years at Conseja Center. It is very, very exciting. Everybody come and say hello. I love you. Long time.

So I have to— I have to— I have to— I'm sorry to interrupt. I really— my head's spinning. The announcement in the last 4 minutes of this show is that it's weird or childish to have favorite players in sports. I'm confused.

No, no. I think on Like, there's a difference between your favorite players to watch, like, in the league— I love watching Wemby, he's my favorite to watch— and having a favorite player on your team where, like, you're a little kid and you gotta buy his jersey.

I'm with Dave.

I think, I think the former is weird. Like, I just root for guys. Like, it's like, he's good, and so I like to root for greatness. I think those people are the weirdos, because where that delivers you is, why do we have to debate these things about LeBron versus Jordan. Okay, that one's a little tired, but why do we have to try to figure out— I haven't heard that argument. Can't we just agree they're both great? No, we can't do that. What are we doing then? What is our role in the entire operation if we're not having those sorts of debates to figure out? By the way, I don't know if everybody's noticed that every league awards a title at the end of it to try to define who the best is, and then they do an MVP. For individual greatness? Why are we trying to get away from— it's too much. Why do we have to figure out who's better? Because that's the whole point of what we're doing. That's why we do the sports in the first place.

I, I was made to feel a little embarrassed, and there was consensus in this studio that everyone's like, yeah, you have your favorite team, you don't have a favorite player. I'm like, damn, I feel like a dork for loving Matthew Kachuk. He's my favorite Florida Panther. I'm just shrinking over here. I guess I'm a child.

It was once they pointed out of the player being younger than you that that's weird. Started to feel— but I'm still with Mike. Like, I have a favorite player. Yeah, but I am older than—

am I a creep for liking every Malachi Tony post? He's 18.

And is the opposite then true? Do I have to like everybody? Is it like I have to like everybody the same then? Is that what—

no, this isn't communism. You can like whoever you want.

Have a favorite. Well, if I can't have a favorite, If it's weird for me to have a favorite, then I can't have least favorites either, right? That's kind of what you're saying. They're all the same. And then that takes us into the Jerry Seinfeld— well, now I'm just rooting for the laundry.

Unsatisfied. That's what we do though. We do root for the laundry. We have an entire dedicated March Madness rooting for laundry.

Not Mike Ryan. Mike Ryan stopped rooting for an entire brand because he didn't like that.

That's a different story. And then I followed Baker.

It's exactly right.

Yeah, I followed Baker. I stopped rooting for the laundry and started rooting for the guy. And now that more Miami Hurricanes are going to be drafted higher and more prominently. I'm gonna be like a Prokains guy, rooting for my boy Cam.

We've always kind of been a Prokains.

Yeah, we just haven't had the Prokains.

I know, it's crazy. This is— I'm gonna say something. I hope you guys don't think less of me, even though both of these people are younger than I am. I, I should— I maybe I shouldn't say it too loud because it's embarrassing. I like, I like Sidney Crosby on the Pittsburgh Penguins more than I like Vili Koivunen on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Does that make me— is that, is that crazy? Yes. That make me a weirdo?

What the hell? I'm a huge I'm a huge fan of Eric Carlson. I've been following him, like, I like watching him play. I tune into all his games. I kind of feel some kind of way now that he's not playing as well, even though he's had a nice little bounce back and he's with the Pens.

Oh, he's very good.

I generally don't like the Pens, but when he was an Ottawa Senator, I would buy Carlson t-shirts. I do like players. I like tuning in. I love watching Macklin Celebrini. I think there are certain players that are appointment—

Do you know about that? Celebrini, come on!

All right. So this is a very controversial—

I take Celebrini for my lumbago. Is that a disease? Lumbago?

That sounds like one. Very controversial start to a Friday show. But since we have not spoken to Dave yet this week, there was big reactions last night at the Heat game from Erik Spoelstra, Bam Adebayo, because they're at the center of the controversy over the last couple of days. Dave, before we hear from them because this is the first time we've gotten to hear from Spo and Bam since the 83-point game on Tuesday night. Dave, how did you experience what took place with Bam Adebayo?

Before Spo and Bam, which out of context sounds funny that we're going to hear from them, this is— and I don't want to get hyperbolic early on a Friday, but I'm going to say what I feel. This is— move over, tan suit— I don't know what else this is. The dumbest controversy that I can recall in my lifetime. I mean, what the hell?

Where—

what is exactly the thing here that Bam needs to apologize?

This is the—

and by the way, when we talk about rooting for players, that's what's at the root of it. People are offended for Kobe Bryant, right? I mean, that's what's at the root of all this is people are puffing their chests out. You hurt my feelings because I want Kobe to have this this, uh, this record, not, not Bam in a game that doesn't really matter. I mean, do we have to take away because it hurts football fans' feelings? Like, I like Larry Zonka better than I like Timmy Smith from Washington who broke the Super Bowl rushing record. It's not right that he has 204, uh, Super Bowl rushing yards. Take it away. This is the most bizarre thing that people continue to buzz about days and days after the fact. And by the way, the other thing that people keep skipping over is it's not even a record. Of course, it's the craziest, right, controversy I've ever seen, right?

Of course. So, so last night, Eric Spolstra— this is before the game last night, it's his first availability since the game on, on Tuesday night. And, and granted, he spoke after the game on Tuesday night, but that was before we had 48 straight hours of people shitting on Bam and shitting on the Heat and shitting on Erik Spoelstra. So here's Erik Spoelstra just straight up telling everyone you're not getting an apology.

I apologize to absolutely no one, period. And, you know, going into the game, you know, it's a Tuesday night game against a team where they're not playing for anything, where their organization is trying to lose. We've already lost a game, you know, in that kind of situation. We have players that are sitting out. And I spoke to Bam about— I want, as our best player and team captain, for him to be locked in and ready. And he sure was.

I, I think a lot of people really enjoyed Eric Spolstra last night because they're there and there's more from him. But he was saying a lot of the quiet things out loud. And I think a lot of people really appreciate it. But I liked how he started there in that clip saying how I'm going to apologize to no one. And that part is important to me because I think maybe— I think maybe when the national folks, be it media or fans, when they talk about Heat culture and, you know, we heard the other day, which I found very offensive, Tim McMahon from ESPN, who's a very good NBA reporter, but talking about how heat culture is dead now, I don't ever want to hear it. Like that, that was offensive to me. All right. But I think what a lot of people are missing about what heat culture is and what heat culture means, it's them not caring about anyone else outside the building. It's them not caring about what anyone else thinks. How anyone else feels, and they do what is best for them and what they care about in that building. I mean, how many times does Eric Spolstra— one of his go-to phrases, right, is, "We're not for everybody." That's one of his lines.

"We're not for everybody." That is Heat culture. They don't care about what everyone else is saying. And so I feel like we haven't talked about that part. Enough. So I'm glad that he pointed that out.

You could kind of say the opposite of this is not heat culture and Tim McMahon saying like heat culture is dead and all that stuff. It's like the antithesis of that. Like, this is exactly what heat culture is, is getting your guy a record, getting your guy to do something that only one other person in the sport is doing.

What's best for us.

Yes, yes. And he quoted Conor McGregor at the beginning, I'd like to take the chance to apologize to absolutely nobody. And like, that's how you got to play it.

Once both talked like the entire time about the respect that he has for Bam and how this is so not the player that Bam is, not from the skill set perspective, but more from the— he is someone who was always just sacrificing for the team. Everything he does is about the team, team, team, team, team. So on a night where he could make it about the celebration of the individual player, about the celebration of the captain, he said, I would do anything for Bam, like, period. As his head coach, I would do anything for Bam.

Yeah. So let me give you a little bit more of Eric Spolster here. And one thing that Certainly Heat fans noticed. Everyone in the building had an amazing time. And here's Eric Spolster on the fans going back and forth.

You know, at the end, all that happened under 2 minutes. It was already 76 deep at that point. And damn right, we're going to go for it at that point. So I've seen, you know, people, you know, say, you know, you've got to be a purist. I'm a Darwinist. In this league. Really, you can do anything you want in this game. You can approach it however you want. If we get criticized for what we do, it was probably irony in these, these two organizations. There's nothing wrong with what they're doing. If you can, you know, tank and get a great draft pick, I don't care. Like, you can do anything you want in this league. You can approach it however you want. We don't do that. And, you know, we have a 13th pick. Do something that you're trying to get out of the number 1 pick. You know, I've seen teams hack-a-shack. Debate it, not debate it, who cares? You can do whatever you want. You foul 3-point shooters, not foul 3-point shooters. I don't— you can take the last shot in a game that's already over or don't take it. Who gives a damn?

Dave, that's a good line right there. If you noticed where we're doing with the 13th pick, that being Bam, We're doing with the 13th pick what they, the Wizards, are trying to do with the number 1 pick.

I thought that you were gonna say the line of everyone saying I should be a basketball purist. I'm a Darwinist in this league.

I don't like that. Oh, I do like that.

Oh, you know what you're talking about?

Communist? I do like that.

Don Lebatard! To us, residents? Oh wow! That's pretty good!

You think I haven't been practicing?

Stugatz! I didn't realize we had a substitute complicated legacy choice. Brought to you by Toyota.

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Second down and 9. This is the Dan Levatar Show with the Stugatz.

By the way, the thing about heat culture, I think To some degree, it's suspended by the fact that Eric Spolstra— and I don't think we talk nearly enough about this— looks exactly the same as when we first met him 20-something years or so ago. And I think that's the through line, even more so than Pat Riley, who somehow had the Wilford Brimley looks exactly the same as we always knew him for a long, long time until recently. Now he looks a little bit older, but now Spolstra, the same thing. I think that's what maintains that— what gives us the perception that the Heat are unchanged. But either way, I think we just— you know how we asterisk things like, well, that happened in a 16-game schedule or 17, 162 games versus 154. We now need a snowflake for the ones that when people don't like it, like, well, I don't like that Bam Adebayo has, has more single, single-point game, had more points in a game than Kobe. So let's put a snowflake next to him from now on. Would that make sense? Would that make everybody feel better?

Better than an asterisk, I guess. Here's— here's— okay, now let me set it up a little bit better. Here's Eric Spolstra about the fans.

Our fan base is electrified by this moment. This locker room has wanted something. You know, I joked about it after the game, but I texted even a little bit with Dwyane afterwards. And, you know, he's talking about that, that buzz. Well, there's going to be a buzz now. There will be a responsibility to that buzz.

Good.

You know, I want there to be pressure, you know, on our team. I'm banking on that bringing out another level, you know, for our group. And, you know, we're trying to seize the moment right now.

So I could tell you, you know, I experience— Dave, I experience sports a lot nowadays through the eyes of my teenage boys. Okay. So it's a bit of a different experience. It's a great different experience. And what's happened as a result I watched the game the other night with my 14-year-old who has really just started to get very into sports over the last like year plus, okay? So while he still loves sports, he's still learning the nuances and that kind of deal. So there's— so that's really fun experiencing that with him. But as a result of Bam's game the other night, he is so pumped now about the Miami Heat. He He, he can't believe that he saw Bam Adebayo score 83 points. He can't stop talking about it.

I will say, as somebody who I would say I'm of all of us in here, I'm a casual Heat fan. Last night, first game I tuned in for like the pregame show. I don't know. There was just something about coming off of that game.

You watched the whole game?

No, I did not watch the whole game, but I watched the— I saw tip-off. I saw Jeremy do his report, his secret report about the jersey that they were selling. Thanks, man.

And then—

but there have to be like other kids. Like, my son can't be the only 14-year-old who now is like, I want to go to the game on Saturday night. And I, I, I keep—

Bam's incredible. Imagine like the Big 3 spurred so many young kids that were like, oh, wait a second, like, this is basketball now? It's like, no, this is the, the Holy Land. This is like the Holy Grail right now. But a lot of kids were birthed into that, and now using the 83-point game as a springboard, it's like, that'll just draw more kids under the tent to be like, oh wow, this is really cool.

And it does it for the team. Like I was talking to some of the guys in the locker room before the game and Fontecchio said it and, and Pella said it after the game, which is like they were just, they were looking for a moment that could bring them back to the conversation in the league because winning a few games in a row was, you know, it was doing it in part. But at the beginning of the year when it was, oh, they're, they're playing with all of this pace, everybody was in on it. They were winning some games and they were in the national conversation and then things sputtered and nobody cared. This brought them back into it, and it happens to coincide with the 7-game win streak. And now all of a sudden, oh, they're the highest-scoring team in the league, and they're winning 7 games in a row, and Pelo Larson setting a career high. Which, by the way, look, I may not have been sidelined to interview Bam after his career high, but I did get to interview a player after their career high. And I will always remember the night Pelo Larson scored 28 points.

Don't tell us the Pelo Larson story again where you recognized him.

Oh, you want to, you want to You want to hear the Pelo Larson story where I came in here and I told all of you?

No, I—

well, I watched the red, white, and pink scrimmage.

There it is.

During his rookie season. And I will never forget that in the fourth quarter of this scrimmage, there's about 3 minutes left to play. And Pelo Larson draws a charge underneath the basket. And when he draws that charge, the way Eric Spolstra's face lit up, I've never seen it. I haven't seen it. I hadn't seen it then. I haven't seen it since. It's one of the most impressive things I've seen. And I told all of you, buy your stock in Pella Larsen then. You should have bought it.

What I think is weird is this is sort of quintessentially Florida stuff, isn't it? Because Jimmy Johnson's Canes used to get a lot of— got a lot of heat, uh, pun intended, for running up the score. And Steve Spurrier, the old ball coach with the Gators at the height of their powers, would run up the score and people would get miffed about this. And so now It aligns with, like I say, Florida sports, that people are raw about Bama. But the distinction here is this happened in the NBA. And that's what, that's what Spo is talking about, that, you know, Darwinism and all that. This was an NBA-sanctioned game. I get that it's unsatisfying when you look at college football historic numbers that like Robbie Bosco at BYU in the, in the WAC, he has way more passing yards than guys from credible conferences and all that. This was an NBA game. I don't even know what to make of this, this so-called controversy. It's the weirdest one, like I say, I've ever seen in my life.

So how about Bam? Bam now got to respond to all the criticism that he has also heard over those 48 hours.

For the couch coaches, I mean, if you're in my shoes and you have— first of all, y'all are blaming me. You should be blaming the head coach. Get that first. I was not the one— let me go one-on-one the whole game until I started— until I had 70, then you started to send a double. At that point, I got 70 with like, what, 9 minutes left to go in the game. You think I'm not going for it? Like, like, and that's the thing that's crazy when they talk about the unethical part of the basketball. I'm like, if I have 70 with 9 minutes to go, who would just be like, you know, coach, just take me out? Yeah, right. Anybody in my shoes with 9 minutes left? Okay. A minute? All right. 9? Yeah, I'm going for it.

These are incredible building blocks for Jay Lucas next season as he takes the reins as Miami Heat head coach, according to Jay Williams.

Whoa, hold on. What did Jay Williams say?

Jay Williams on the ACC broadcast yesterday when Miami beat Louisville. And close game. Yeah, it was a close game. I mean, it was a 1.5-point spread. All the ACC games yesterday were close. Yeah, it was.

Clemson got a big win.

Yeah, those, those two teams, like, they go to war with one another every time they play. But Miami beats Louisville, advances, plays Virginia today in the semifinal, 3.5-point dog according to DraftKings Sportsbook. But yesterday a lot of people perked up who had the sound on at around like 2:45, like, wait, what? What did Jay Williams just say? Jay Williams. And this was kind of weird that he did it like this because I haven't heard these rumblings that Jay Williams has heard. Jay Williams said rumblings out of Miami that if Erik Spoelstra were to step aside, Jay Lucas would be the replacement. Now, let's— I think this is all absurd.

Well, does Jay Williams mention there to the national audience that there's a major Duke-Miami Heat connection?

Well, he didn't, which is why I say you shouldn't just dismiss this. The part that you need to dismiss is there are no rumblings. We would have heard those rumblings. This is the first time we've heard anything like this.

But it looked like a guy who was planning to step aside.

Well, Jeremy and I were talking. You were in the group chat too. Like, I mean, Spoh seems to love coaching and it would be a real shock. And he just got named Team USA head basketball coach.

That's really what convinced me more than anything. Like, look, we've talked about it.

Here.

Like, Spo's gone through a lot in the last couple of years, but not only is he a basketball sicko when it comes to coaching, and I know he has further aspirations than just going to championships without LeBron and Wade and Bosh, but it's also the fact that he was just named the head coach of Team USA basketball for 2028, right?

And he could do— he could step aside as Heat head coach and technically continue on as international coach. Like, this is something that happens in It's kind of weird that the NBA allows that, where in international soccer you don't see someone coaching a club and country. They usually focus on one. Granted, international basketball is different and Team USA basketball is different, but here's where we can't just dismiss it, where I do think it's a little bit of a juicy one, and it led to some interesting conversations. Spolstra has had a lot going on in his personal life recently. He had the divorce, he had the cancer battle, uh, with one of his children. He just had his house burned down, I assume that's a lot of moments of reflection. All right. But like you were alluding to, as Nick Arison was a team manager for Duke, I assume Nick Arison and Jay Williams have some sort of relationship. Now, I don't know if that's where this came from, but you have to mention Nick Arison's Duke ties. Jay Lucas also Duke ties. And Dan has said several times on this show, and I think Dan is as plugged in as anybody on the Miami Heat.

The natural replacement for Pat Riley when he were to move out of this team president role, whenever that may be, would be Erik Spoelstra. Now, we just kind of assumed Spo would do both, like he's going to do all three things, you know, like Pat did, like Pat did. But the way that the NBA is going, Brad Stevens at the peak of his coaching powers decided, I'm just going to go to this front office role and count on and do that and hire a head coach. And they've had plenty of success there. So while I'm saying I haven't heard these rumblings and I also would bet my bottom dollar that Spoh is not leaving the head coaching position, I would say we can't totally dismiss this out of pocket because of the Duke connections and the fact that we can kind of see this thing coming to fruition if Spoh were really just ready for a change.

I think what we could probably dismiss, though, is Jay Lucas's next stop. Is not going to be the Heat. Like, whatever the next stop is, because maybe it will be the Heat at some point, his next stop— like, there's going to be something in between.

But what if there isn't? What if the play is long-term, like, hey, stay with Miami, this is coming in the next couple of years, you build a foundation, you build a powerhouse there, all of a sudden when it's time, you're right down the street?

I don't think that that plan gets off track if he goes and coaches another school. Like that plan is all— can always be there.

Yeah, everyone just speaks with the assumption that Jay Lucas is not going to be here in Miami and Coral Gables.

You're the one who speaks that way.

No, no, I have that. I'm actually the— I, in hearing some of Jay Lucas's interviews and knowing that we're in a different era now and seeing what he just did in one year, and also we have to keep in mind Miami is removed from consecutive years where they were an Elite Eight team and a Final Four team. Like, this is a pretty good spot for Jay Lucas to be. I'm not just— I'm not one of those people that are resigned to him going to Kentucky, let's say.

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 won 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 pee pee 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 Liqueur, 35% alcohol by volume, imported by Mass Jägermeister US, White Plains, New York.