Transcript of The Big Suey: Don't Shoot The Messenger (feat. Tim Kurkjian)

Wow.

Welcome to the Big Sui, presented by DraftKings. You listening to this show, the podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan LeBatard podcast?

I'm sorry.

I'm not gonna apologize for that.

In fact, the only difference seems to be this imaging. I have been tempted in restaurants just walking past tables to grab somebody's fries that if they're just there. That hasn't happened to you guys. I've done it. And now here's the marching man to Nowhere Fat Face and the Habitual Liar.

This episode of the Dan Lebatard show is presented by DraftKings. DraftKings. The Crown is yours, Dan.

I have a new favorite paparazzi photo ever.

It was.

It was Nicole Kidman after her divorce with Tom Cruise's final ads, where she's, like, so free in the air. You know what I'm talking about? We have a new one. William Shatner was caught driving with a bowl of cereal, eating.

What?

Yeah.

Is he driving?

He's driving.

He's at a red light there. My Ryan thinks it's like, a promo because he thinks it's Frosted Flakes, but I don't even know if that's frosted.

Let me look.

Hold on.

That could be like.

Like a raisin.

That's raisin brand.

You can't, like, really tell exactly. Exactly what that's. So I don't know if this is, like, PR or not, but I do know that even if it was or was not pr. He got a bowl of cereal. He put the cereal in. He put milk, and then he went for a drive, and then he had to put it.

He's like, oh, Frosted Flakes glisten. More shops at the same hat store as Michael Lombardi.

94 years old, driving is already a dicey problem.

He looks awesome for 94.

I think this is a setup. I don't know for what. Maybe he's got some kind of project coming out, but this seems like a stage.

He watched Always Sunny. He watched Always Sunny, and he got the idea and went, yep, that's. That's the way to do things.

I think Lucy's right. The best part of this is not that he's eating or even eating something out of a bowl while driving.

He.

You have to figure he poured the milk in it before getting into the car, because you're not bringing, you know, a gallon of milk in the car with. He is eating that like a vet, though.

That is bowl to chin.

The Gap. There. There's no Gap.

He is not. But it's Milk.

There's zero spillage there. If there is spillage, it go right back in the bowl.

That is a man that has eaten.

Cereal in a car many a time.

I'm so sorry to do this to our video team, but have you all seen the video of Michael Rappaport eating on Traders? He puts the whole plate in his mouth and just, like, slides it in. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen. Like, I didn't know humans ate like that.

It's nuts.

About a decade ago, because as society's greatest empath, I don't make New Year's resolutions selfishly just for myself. I make them for all of society. And about a decade ago, my New Year's resol solution for all of us was to replace plates with bowls. They are a better delivery system than plates for almost everything outside a steak, you know, like, you want to be able to cut the steak, but outside of that, bowls over plates. Thank you.

Put it on the poll. Should we replace bowls with plates? And is Damoshek society's greatest empathy? Put those both on the poll. I see the delightful Tim Kirkjin has arrived. This always makes us and the listeners and the viewers happy.

How do you eat, Tim?

What do you prefer, bowl or plate?

I'll take a bowl, just so it stays in the bowl. I made dinner last night and I put it in a bowl when most people would put it on a plate. Either way is good with me. I eat for fuel, not much more than that.

I'm the opposite. I. I eat soup out of a plate. I don't get much soup. Thanks, Tim. Hi, Greg. How you doing? Good.

Yeah.

Good talking to you. Can I start off with a question for Tim? The hall of Fame vote happens, right? What a bad ballot. Two guys, Beltran and Andrew Jones, get in. All of the first ballot guys got like 0.5% except Cole Hamills. What were your overall thoughts about the. The election?

Yeah, well, it wasn't a bad ballot, but it was. I usually vote for 10 guys for the hall of Fame, and there were a couple years there that if I had had 15, 16, 17 votes, which I don't because 10 is the maximum, I would have voted for 17 guys.

Yeah, well, Tim.

And this year. This year I voted for three. I'm not proud of that, but I voted for Carlos Beltran, Andrew Jones and Chase Utley and the rest. You know, I had trouble leaving Dustin Pedro off and Felix Hernandez and people like that because I think those guys have a Hall of Fame case. But for I guess I'm a big hall guy. To only vote for three guys maybe speaks to what the ballot looked like this year. And you're right, the first timers, it was not a strong group of first timers. I was surprised. Cole Hamels, I came close to voting for him, but he got 25% of the vote, which is pretty darn good for a first time on the ballot. But you're right, Greg. I've seen way, way, way stronger ballots than this one.

Yeah. And when I say it was a weak ballot, I agree with you. Normally you vote for 10. I think I voted for five or six. But Cole Hamels, I get criticized as a voter for holding sacrosanct. The first ballot guy. I'm never going to vote for a guy his first year on the ballot unless I really think he does.

I have another criticism for you today. You want to tell people how you voted because you mentioned Andrew Jones.

Yeah.

You're really inconsistent voter. I don't think you remember how you voted previously.

Yeah, I didn't vote for Andrew Jones for years, and I was in the majority for that.

Well, what the hell changed?

What, what changed is that some guys, he's an eighth year guy, some guys are elite hall of Famers, and some guys are borderline.

Why not last year, why this year and why not next year? Like, what are you doing, Andrew?

Let's create tears for the hall of Fame then if we're, if we're going to allow people in, if we're going to reconsider them 15 years later.

Okay. All I can tell you is I'm in the majority here because the majority went eight years without voting for Andrew Jones. And then gradually, over time, the appreciation for him increased. The appreciating for, for his defense, for what have you. But he's a borderline hall of Famer. That doesn't.

I will tell you why you're not in the majority. None of those voters did what you did socially when you said why you weren't voting for Andrew Jones five years ago.

So, short question. Well, I mean, I'll just, I'll just make a statement. I feel like either a guy's a Hall of Famer or he's not a Hall of Famer. Okay, there's that, but. But there is someone called, I'll give him the credit. Someone called Reed Stewart, great follower of yours on Twitter. Okay. Loves you, apparently, Reed Stewart, but he dug up an old tweet of yours. All right. And it's with an old ballot of yours from five years Ago. And on your ballots, you explained. Appreciate all of your comments on my whole ballots, but one thing jumps out. You Andrew Jones folks are delusional. Seriously, good player. Hall not close. Zero shot at Cooperstown. No, don't shoot the messenger, okay?

Oh, no.

I agree that that tweet does not age well. But I also quote the famous Zaslow, who just recently on this air said, my opinion changed.

Okay, but my opinion changed with more body of work.

You didn't have any more body of work, Tim. Is that offensive what you just saw? I think Greg Cody should have his vote revoked like they did to me.

No. Now let me attempt to explain one reason why some guys just get on. You start. They start getting votes because some years there are, as I've said, 15 guys on the ballot, and five of them, I believe are hall of Famers, but you can't vote for them. So because there's not enough room in a year like this, when there is plenty of room in my mind for a player to move up on, that's. That's how you get left off one year and put on the next. Because there is room or there is not room with Andrew Jones, again, 400 homers and 10 Gold Gloves, you know, that's Mays, Griffey, Mike Schmidt, Andrew Jones. That's it. That's. It's a pretty short list. And again, I'm almost 70, and I saw Willie Mays play. And Andrew Jones, other than Willie Mays, is the best defensive center fielder that I've ever seen. When I was at si, I wrote a story on the most difficult play at each position. Like when you charge a bunch and have to bare hand it at third base. Who's the best at that? Well, I took center field and I said, the hardest play for a center fielder is the ball hit directly over his head.

And when I started looking around and talking to players about who's the best at this, I brought up Ken Griffey Jr. To several of the San Diego Padres, and they. They literally laughed at me and said, tim, there is nobody who's been better at going back on a ball over his head in center field than Andrew Jones. Now, I maintain Willie Mays was better, but Andrew Jones is that good. And when he's the second best defensive center fielder I've ever seen, and he had 435 homers, that's why I voted for him.

I would, I would add that there are gradations of hall of Famers, and it's not a mystery or a crime when a guy Takes eight years to get in. It took Beltran four years to get in. King Felix took a big spike in voting this year, which suggests he's going to get in. But again, if you make it your first year, you're an elite hall of Famer. If you make it your eighth year, you're a borderline hall of Famer. They're all in Cooperstown, but there are different grades and levels of hall of Famers.

Are you done tweeting that? A guy's 0%, though you're probably going to learn that lesson.

Okay, Based on the electorate, then he seemed to have.

You're not going to say, all right.

You'Re going to double down.

I said based on the electorate, then he had zero chance, which he did. I did not expect him.

You're going to defend what you did?

Okay, Some and Tim will agree with me on this. In the. In the 8th, 9th, 10th year, sometimes you get a bump. You get a sentimental bump because voters realize this is your last chance. Or you're coming up to your left.

No, you're either a Hall of Famer, you're not great.

Well, you know that Maybe sentimental, maybe that's why they stripped your vote from you.

They should strip yours. Like, I can't believe what he just did. Like what? He just read zero chance on Andrew Jones and five years later, when he's played no baseball games, now he's a Hall of Famer.

Okay, so, like, I'm the first voter who has changed his mind about a player. Get in the real world and grow up on that. Okay, Andrew Jones did not make the hall of Fame for seven years. Gradually, the support for him increased. I was part of that gradual support.

You're sheep, you're lemming.

We're not electing a pope. It's whether or not you're in the hall of Fame. Are you worthy of it when your name comes up or not? Me and Zaz park in the same garage.

Tim put it on the poll at Lebatard show. Do Jamesek and Zaz park their cars in the same garage? And does Tim. Ed Malloy, NBA referee Ed Malloy looked like the guy who brushes his teeth in the company bathroom. He absolutely does. Like, that is unbelievable how much he looks like that. Does Adam Silver. Tim, look like a knitting needle? Does Adam Silver look like a magician's wand? Does Adam Silver, when he's standing next to Larry Bird, do they look like the couple in the famous painting American Gothic? The zoom kills us on the looks like segment because his laugh. We'll Do a phone hit next time. It doesn't make a sound when he's laughing.

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Don LeBatard, you don't remember the idea?

I was probably like that kind of thing.

Something.

Okay, no, the home run call was that kind of swing, that kind of thing.

Stugats.

Oh, it's a good call.

Thank you. And plus, it doesn't matter who's hitting it. Like you're not tailoring it to a particular name. You know all that jazz. You know you don't got to do that. Oh, that would be a great call. Swing, that kind of thing.

This is the Dan Levitar show with the St.

Tim.

There are a lot of people pissed off about Kyle Tucker to the Dodgers. And now the the Athletic is reporting that there's 100% gonna be a work stoppage because of what has happened with the Dodgers and payroll. They're gonna have a payroll over 400 million in 2026. Only three other teams are going to be over 300 million. The Marlins and the Rays project under 100 million. What are your thoughts there?

I think there's going to be a work stoppage also, although I pray all the time that that doesn't happen. I'm not blaming all of this on the Dodgers because the Dodgers do an exceptional job of drafting and developing. And when they get a player from another team, he routinely gets better when he comes to the Dodgers. But there's no doubt there are major issues in disparity among the small market teams and the big market teams. And it's not going to be solved by a salary cap because there's just no way the players are going to allow that to happen. So are the Dodgers a part of the problem? Of course they are. But so are the Mets and the Yankees and a bunch of other teams. And baseball needs to fix this, and it is not going to be an easy fix.

Does Dave Damoshek look like a realtor that would buy a billboard that reads License to Sell while posing like James Bond?

Now, I'm sorry, fellas.

Who is.

Who is Dave Damachek? Am I supposed to know?

He doesn't know.

Who the hell is Dave Danishek?

I'm over the moon.

That's okay. If you didn't know that one, you might not know this one either. Does Jonathan Zaslow look like your big toe after hitting it on the corner of the be?

Why is that the one he laughs the hardest?

That does Jonathan.

He knows, but he doesn't know. Damn machete.

I'm sorry. That is so insulting. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't know that. By the way, none of this matters. But I. I wear shoes. 24. Except for when I go to bed and get in the shower. I wear shoes and socks in the house, period. Because my father, who was a very smart man, used to tell us, you have a game tonight. Don't break your big toe SM it up against the couch. Put your shoes on. So I on. They're on all the time. And now when I go into my daughter's house, I have to take off my shoes and put on house shoes that they bought me for Christmas because those house shoes have not been outside bringing dirt into the house. So now I can still keep my shoes on at my daughter's house, but They're a special kind of shoe that I have to wear. Shoes that have never been worn outside. Am I. Am I being wrong about this? That I really enjoy having shoes on my feet for protection and for warmth.

I just want to know how many times your father banged his toe and couldn't play in a game that night.

Seriously, that's.

My dad was a good player and my two older brothers were great college baseball players. And my dad was just not going to allow one of his three boys to get hurt doing something stupid and miss a game that night. I don't think my dad ever missed a game. That wasn't the point. He didn't want it to happen. And I used to tell my daughter, who was a great high school basketball player, put your shoes on, you have a game tonight. I used to tell her that all the time. I told her that the other day. She's 34 years old. She hasn't played basketball in 15 years and never heard of her. My daughter made 54 out of 56 free throws her senior year in high school. 54.

Damn.

56.

That's 96 point. And get this. I'm so terrible technology. But I went to a video editor the other day who took the four minute tape of my daughter's senior year in high school, her basketball tape. And he put it on my phone. So now in my photos, I have a four minute video that all I have to do is press a button and I can watch a video of my daughter's senior year in high school. Is that ridiculous? Am I being stupid about that, too?

Does it bring you to tears? And I'm not being facetious. Yeah, it does.

Greg just voted her into the hall of Fame.

Yes, I did. Thank you.

And my grandson is now 5, and he went to basketball the other day for the first time. Five years old. He was four when he went the first time. He just turned five. And he was clearly the best player there. And his dad said, boy, you have the best shooting form car of anybody there. And he said, well, I learned it from mommy. And that's because he watched the tape that I made of mommy senior year with the perfect follow through and the perfect finish. Talk about holding the finish. It was great. And my daughter's like 3ft tall and she made 54 out of 56. So please don't tell me NBA players can't shoot free throws. If you work at it, you can.

How about that?

Does Jonathan Zaslow look like? He says, oh, SpaghettiO, when he sees someone pulled over. He loves mine well, this one's a good one. Does Jonathan Zaslow look like an off duty mime? That one's exceptional. I've got some. I've got a handful of Kurt Signetti's for you. Are you. Are you ready for some Kurt Signetti's? Does he look like the dad who never says, I love you? Does he look like your accountant who, unbeknownst to you, is in the middle of a crippling divorce?

Yesterday, no one ever tweets at me, ever. Which is fine. And then yesterday I looked on there the like, 50 tweets sent to me because of you put it out there that so and so looks like so and so. It was hilarious.

Does Kurt Signetti look like the uncle who comes to your house for Thanksgiving and before even saying hello, says your doorknobs loose?

I have one of my own, which I think I've told you before that some guy tweeted at me several years ago. Tim Kirchen looks like what Steve Carell is going to look like when he gets really, really old.

That's not bad.

Steve Carell is only six years younger than me. I look like he's gonna look like when he gets not really old. Really, really old.

Does Fernando Mendoza look like he makes his animal crackers fight each other before he eats them? This is a good one. Does Fernando Mendoza look like the cashier in a 1960s McDonald's poster? One is exceptional. I saw. I saw that. Dave Dombrowski said it was a gut punch, Tim, to see Bichette go to the Mets and then started talking a lot about not feeling like they had a deal done, because the deal is never done until it's done. But I was surprised to hear Dombrowski feel, I guess, a little bit betrayed. What did you make of those comments and that transaction?

Yeah, very unlike Dave Dombrowski to say something like that, because he usually gets whoever he wants because he's really good at this and. But I happen to think Boba Shet is a really, really good hitter still. I mean, he came back last year. He didn't play from September 6th until the world Series and then was a tough out in the World Series. He's going to have a great year for the Mets. He's going to play third base. He's not going to play shortstop. Obviously, he can play third base. He's going to be a really good player for them. And yes, the Phillies could have really used him to play, you know, the outfield or somewhere in the infield when. Third base. When they need some help. So, yes, I think it. I thought he was going to the Phillies, but he's really going to help the Mets. And I'm still surprised that Dave Dombrowski would basically acknowledge I didn't get somebody because he usually gets his man from the bottom up.

3, 2, 1. Give me the off season's biggest transactions. I will tell the people. I'll give you a minute to think about this. Three to one. But the host, he's the host of Is this a great game or what? He does the podcast with his son Jeff. It's a passion project. It's a project of great love. I urge you not just for baseball, but for family. I urge you to subscribe to Is this a great game or what that he does with his. So, Jeff, Tim Kirkjin. If not for Ron McGill, he'd be by consensus the most popular guest who's ever been on this show. The biggest three transactions, starting with number three this off season. Go ahead, Tim.

Well, I think Dylan Cease going to the Blue jays is number three because it's just another. And they spent $210 million for him. It's just another reminder of this is where the Blue Jays are. They're the best team in the American League. They have fifth highest payroll. When they went to the World Series, they recognize that things are really changing here in Toronto. So they've added a bunch of people. And to add another star player, a pitcher with a great arm, I think is a sign that the Blue Jays are here for the long term. They got a taste of what it's like to be in the World Series and what it did to their ballpark, their fan base. So that would be. That would be number three for me. Number two would be, well, let's see. Kyle Tucker has to be number one. But let me see, number two. The Dodgers had a chance. Dodgers had a terrible bullpen last year and they won the World Series. And then they went out and got Edwin Diaz, the closer for the Mets, who was a free agent. They only had to pay him only $69 million.

So they won the World Series in 2024 without a starting rotation. They won the World Series 25 without a bullpen. Now they've added a dominant closer. So now their pitching is just ridiculously good and now their lineup is ridiculously good because Kyle Tucker, who was the best player on the market, signed with the Dodgers. He'll play right field every day and that lineup is loaded just as much as their pitching is loaded.

Tim, we thank you for your time. We Love seeing you. I will tell the people again to listen and subscribe to Tim and Jeff Kirkjin's podcast. Is this a game or what? What is the strangest thing you've eaten in your car? We had the bowl of cereal. What would you identify as the strangest thing? I'm my, my. I go chicken wings. I've eaten chicken wings in the car and that's my greatest shame. And I had worry while I was eating them. Someone's going to take a picture of this and I'm not going to be able to explain it that I couldn't wait to get the chicken wings.

Yeah, I am always in a hurry, so sometimes I eat while I'm driving because I don't have time to stop and sit and eat. So I've eaten oatmeal many, many times in. In a car many times now. It's pretty thick, so it's not like it's going to be poor falling out of the bowl. It's. It's a thick oatmeal, but I've eaten oatmeal in the car many times.

Does Kurt Warner look like the villain in a Christmas movie who wants to take over the North Pole and make the elves pawns in his capitalist scheme?

Jeff Van Gundy looks like he works in an ice cream parlor.

Soda jerk from the 60s. Also the queen of hearts. Tim, good seeing you. Thank you. Nice. Always nice seeing you. Always a pleasure. Do you guys believe that Ron McGill looks like your recently divorced mom's first date? Who, when you answer the door, is vigorously chewing his gum and combing his hair with his palm comb as he leans ever so slightly back to gander at the size of the home while never once acknowledging you with his eyes. And he's coming to bleep like he's, he's. He's there. He's there to. To make love to your mom. What is the strangest thing you guys have eaten in the car? Shameful admissions only. Do we not have any strange car eaters.

Rotisserie chicken.

What?

And I'll dip it into the side of mashed potatoes with my free mate.

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I feel like we need to normalize saying the scientific terms for organs on the air. Like someone. Yes.

You know what?

If someone takes a foul ball to the penis, we should just say he took a foul ball to the penis.

Stugats.

That free kick hit him right in the cock.

A doodle doo.

This is the Dan Levatar show with the stugats.

William Shatner, I should say. You guys say he shouldn't be driving. He still not only tours, but drives across the country while touring does so at 2am 9 94. I mean he might be 95 now because the last time I spoke to him we did a South beach session. Yeah, he does look amazing. His hair too. Yeah, he. He's hat store was 94. Is he now 94?

Birthday is March 22, 1931.

Wow, Zaslow, do you have any shameful eating strange eating things? Chris, are you careful about this? Because us, us heavy guys have to be careful about doing this in public.

I don't think stream strange. Strange for me, but like, oh boy.

What's your excuse this week?

I just have every fast food place.

You can think of.

Like nothing that would be odd. I'm trying to think of odd items. Yeah, I just more fast food than you would think. Like, however much you're thinking more. I did the other day get one of those ice cream, like an ice cream from somewhere. And it was like one of those ones with a small bowl and it goes really tall. And I'm like, I should eat this before.

But I soft serve serve.

It was soft serve. But I was like, you know what?

I'm gonna eat it in the car.

And that was A mistake.

Zaslow, you did not finish your thought. I don't eat in the car, you know. Wait a minute. You didn't finish the thought because you just. You bailed. You were leaking so much confidence.

Nothing at that.

You bailed.

Minor penalty.

Two minutes for leaking confidence. Chris.

I needed that laugh.

Dude. He's had a bad week. He's had a bad week. Go ahead. Go ahead and find for me his most shameful butchering of the broadcasting language that we have from the last week. Which is better here? Damage Sheik. As someone who doesn't mind a stammer with his yammer, which is the worst of these crimes as Low has committed as a broadcast.

The packers win or the Bear lose? Bears lose.

And again, reminder that it was the reverse of that. It was. Did the Bears win or the packers lose?

Packers win or the Bear lose? Bears lose.

He got it. This delights. So which one's better, though? That one or this one?

You want to know how that. What were the kids doing?

Well, that would be your world champion, except that Mike Ryan's. Oh, boy.

At the end of.

I mean, I think we stop him distract. We've got a recent nominee.

You want to know how that.

Oh, boy.

What are the kids doing?

Let's cut up. What just happened to Zaslow? Because he's wearing it on his face today. Like he's. He didn't shave.

Like a good off duty mime.

That's a great one. Like, there are a number of great ones there, but he absolutely looks like a mime.

He does.

Out of work, hard times. Like, he's not a mime who's presently working. He's a failed mime. It's not just off duty. It's. It's not a successful mime. It's a mind who. It's a mime who's gotten 17 cents his last last four outings.

Why isn't he in there practicing his craft and being in a glass cage.

Yeah, go ahead, Zaz. Practice.

So good. Look how happy Greg Cody is.

I had to. I had to prevent myself from snorting just then. I'm so happy.

Does Jonathan Zaslow look like the guy at an arcade who puts a stack of quarters on the Pac man game to send a message to any kids that he's gonna be there for a while. Look how miserable.

Sad.

Says honestly turn my mood around.

My face hurts from smiling so much.

I mean, he's seething and he's hurt and he's miming and. And Chris Cody is desperately surging as fast as he can to try and find the latest mistake, which he just bailed after the question. He didn't. He just slumped in his chair, stopped talking and just failed. Admitted the failure and just sank into his own sewage.

I don't have strange for me.

Easy for him to say.

He's a rising star at ESPN Radio, getting more and more opportunities to broadcast well.

And I don't like strange for me.

He is seething right now and hurting. Speaking of seething, I saw that Baker Mayfield has gotten into the news stream here by going after Kevin Stefanski for dumping him like a, quote, piece of garbage and saying, can't wait to see you twice a year, coach. That division, man, shouldn't be threatening anybody like that. It can only threaten other teams in the division because that's the minor leagues. That division is the minor leagues. And Baker Mayfield being the best and the outspoken. The most outspoken of the quarterbacks in that division isn't much of a tribute. But I do understand why Baker Mayfield feels the way that he does. Does remember talking about this back when Mike still cared about the Browns? He physically tried so hard to lift up the Odell Beckham Browns, the only Browns team in the last 30 years to have any expectations, that he damn near wrecked his career trying to physically play through shit for that coach. And so I understand why he is hurt by Stefanski. But do you guys remember where this started? Because this is just a tweet from somebody named Orlando Ledbetter, a reporter for the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Are they still printing? See Atlanta Journal Constitution still printing. I thought they went out of business. Falcons. Kevin Stefanski had a dumpster fire at quarterback in Cleveland. Baker Mayfield and Deshaun Watson failed, which started a chain reaction to 11 other starters. Shador Sanders closed out last season with seven starts. And Baker says failed is quite the reach, pal. Still waiting on a text or call from Stefanski after I got shipped off like a piece of garbage. Can't wait to see you twice a year, coach.

That's amazing. If that's true. And why wouldn't it be? Because it can be vetted. If that's true, that. That they fired him. They. They traded or released Baker Mayfield without the head coach saying goodbye or explaining it or telling him first. That's. That's pretty outrageous.

Yeah.

Failed is so close. What the Browns did was bailed on Baker Mayfield. They had no. You know, this is a guy who beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Pittsburgh in a playoff game and then had a bum shoulder. And everyone knew it in the organization and out and they decided they added it all up. Not good enough. We have to go and pay DeSean Watson $230 million on purpose. And by the way, it's not just that they traded away Baker Mayfield, as I always will point out with this. They also gave away a lot of drafts, picks that would have turned into people who play football, presumably at a high end. And that Browns roster would be mighty right now if they could just undo the desean Watson thing and just retain Baker Mayfield.

Baker was not a failure when you consider where the Browns were before Baker arrived. You mentioned the win at Pittsburgh, a win that goes under Kevin Stefanski's record, even though he had Covid and was not actually able to be there.

In his literal bakery basement.

In his literal basement, Baker kind of occupies this Jimmy Butler zone where everyone just kind of understands this is the fuel that that undersized guy needs to get his game to the level that it is. So none of this stuff really sticks to him. It's kind of crazy and I'm here for it. That's awesome that sports has this.

So Baker saying, can't wait to see you twice a year, Coach. I can wait to watch all of the games being played in that division. I don't want to watch anything being done in that div by anyone.

Agree. It's kind of like consuming professional wrestling for me. I don't need to see the match. What I want is the pregame chat that this heat is great for football. This is what sports needs more of actual hatred and rivalry and all the rest of it.

Is Atlanta supposed to be any good? Like I keep expecting, Kyle Pitts was better this year, but I thought Kyle Pitts was going to be a dominant player and I don't know if Michael Penix is going to be healthy. I don't know what Atlanta has. I don't know why Stefanski would be rehearsal hired. Honestly, I don't know really why he.

Would be a coach of the year.

He's one coach of the year twice. I, I, I rate Kevin Stefanski. I really like him from my time being a Cleveland Browns fan. I think he showed you in that season, that big one.

He didn't do any kind of winning in Cleveland and then he made the.

Playoffs with Joe Flacco at quarterback. The Browns were a disaster before Kevin Stefanski arrived. He won two Coach of the Years with Cleveland. He runs a really good offense. I think he's going to be successful. I genuinely would wish him the best too. I'm excited to see him actually coaching with a new organization to prove that he still has the goods. And I'm super pumped to watch Baker play him twice.

I'm sorry, Dave. I think Dan's right about Atlanta. I feel like every year we talk about how talented Atlanta is.

Yeah. Well, Panics, though, hadn't been around long.

Oh, golly.

Penix hasn't been around long enough to write him off yet. Right. Like, we're still thinking he might be.

Pull a little further back the mic if you can. Yeah.

So you. You were close to the mic when clearing your throat.

But then as he made the good.

Point, he's like, you know, Zaz, as.

I really make this, it's really strange.

You know, I'm trying to be a natural man here. When I'm making a point, I lean back to for emphasis. It just doesn't happen to work when you're involved with a microphone.

I think that you have to regard Kevin Stefanski's time in Cleveland like you do Robert De Niro and Rocky and Bullwinkle. You can't hold it against him for the larger production being a garbage.

I mean, the last 10 years of de Niro, you had any number of selections you could have gone to. Of the last 10 years of de Niro's work, you went, Rocky and Bullwinkle.

That's the only one I had access to.

Greg, you are delighting in Zaslow's failures here, and just Josh and. And Zaslow, I do believe, is a bit mortified by your difficulties with just speaking into the mic microphone. Right between the two of you. You guys delighting in each other's miseries. Look, let's tickle Greg Cody with a little more zed, shall we?

I don't think straight strange for me, but, like, oh, boy, you doctored that. That's not. That's definitely not how I said it. I don't think straight strange for me, but like, oh, boy.

Yeah, that's what I heard.

I don't. I don't believe.

Yeah, no, that was it.

That's edited.

Yeah, that's not edited.

And packers winner, the bear lose. Bears lose, lose.

I believe that that is also a little a tinge. An undercurrent of pity from Mike Ryan with the oh, boy, I don't think.

Straight strange for me, but like, oh, boy, it is definitely not pity. He is so.

He.

He loves that I did that. He loves calling me out in the post show meeting because that he says, wrote it down. Dan comes and praises all of us, says, we did a great show.

Joe.

And then Mike says I got one more thing to add. Zazlow be better tomorrow.

That was a really bad sequence.

I don't think. Strange for me, but like, oh, boy.