Transcript of The Big Suey: Sports Are Stupid (feat. Dianna Russini)

Welcome to the Big Suey, presented by DraftKings. Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan Lebitard podcast.

I'm sorry. I'm not going to 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 if they're just there. That hasn't happened to you guys? I've done it.

And now, here's the marching band to nowhere, Fatface and the Pitch you a Liar.

This episode of the Dan Lebitard Show is presented by DraftKings. Draftkings, the Crown is yours.

I actually don't think there's been a proper reckoning because everything's been moving so fast. You all should be embarrassed.

They're physically superior, and the last two games have fooled America.

Take a lesson from very recent history. You all have been saying the same thing for three weeks. It's the exact same thing I've heard about the Four Picks against Louisville and the SMU game going into College Station. I heard the exact same thing going into the Cotton Bull. They better clean it up if they want to play Indiana. Okay. All right. Anybody at all in media want to say, Hey, I'm done doubting this team. Spot the ball. Let's see what's going to happen.

Their worst game was Louisville because he threw four interceptions. He wouldn't stop throwing deep. That quarterback looked like this quarterback to you. What world am I living in where Miami at home is a countdown underdog against Indiana? What? I don't care about your N-I-L money. It's still Indiana. There is not a thing in the sport that stands up to what they have on the offensive and defensive lines.

I think they're going to maul them on the lines. I really do.

I just think maybe I'm owed an apology.

By?

Everyone. I think I'm entitled to one.

You think I owe you an apology? Yes.

I stand by all of that. It was Great season. Beat Florida, beat Florida State, beat Notre Dame, beat Ohio State, Texas A&M, proved a lot of the haters wrong, ran into one of the greatest seasons of all time and had an opportunity to win the game at the end. I know we do this thing where everyone just dunks on the team that lost, but this was a great season for Miami. I think one thing is very evident is this coach takes his lessons from his adversity, and Miami is going to be around for a long time, and that pisses everyone off.

What's the big takeaway more globally as we go forward, all the complaints over the last six, eight weeks about the structure of the 12-team tournament. I think the committee ultimately got it right, except for, and I wonder how different the tournament goes, if you replace Alabama, who had no business being there, as it turns out, with Notre Dame. I do think ultimately it's pretty interesting. How are we supposed to assess college football teams going forward? Because I traditionally said, Well, you have two losses. If you're the U, you don't control any claim to being in the tournament. You lost two games along the way. You may or may not sneak in. I wonder what that means.

There are 12 playoff teams and six that could actually win the championship. There were all sorts of teams in the playoff that can't and shouldn't be in a playoff to win a championship.

I just don't like talking about that sport with this certainty because a lot of people shared that opinion, and Miami wasn't in that group of six teams that you thought that was the team.

No, but James Madison, Tulane, Alabama, Oklahoma, those are not teams that could have won the championship.

I get it. I hope that I hope that this postseason, its legacy is this Big Ten SEC bull comes to an end because Notre Dame-Not Big Ten. I'm sorry. I took out Ohio State along the way and was right there with Indiana, and everyone said this was a team that lost SMU. I think that a lot of that stuff is bogus. We were touting it all season long, and I just hope we don't repeat the same mistakes when there's a situation like Oklahoma and Alabama reputationally just getting in. I think Notre Dame, probably, the conversation was just so driven by Notre Dame versus Miami that Notre Dame was asleep at the wheel and didn't get to propagandize their own case against those lesser teams.

Look, we have had two years of this expanded playoff. We do not have a big enough sample size for them to keep adding teams. I watched all the bowl games, and there was not a set of teams that I was like, Yeah, I really wish I got to see them in the college football playoff. I never thought we should go to 12. I thought we should go to six or eight, but 12 seems to work right.

How many more would you add?

Obviously, you can't make- I don't want to add anymore.

No, but I'm saying how many teams- He wants 16, 24.

It's my conference who's campaigning for that.

That's not what I'm saying. How many teams didn't get a shot at the playoff that you think should have been a playoff team?

It would have been Notre Dame. That's it, one. I know the Big Ten SEC conversation. Everyone is having it. They're talking about a lot. But I do think it's important in the sense that The SEC got so many teams in the playoff, and the SEC, all their great teams that were all these wins that made it so Alabama got in, lost in their bowl games to teams that shouldn't have been that good. Tennessee lost to Illinois. Mizzou lost to Virginia. Both Tennessee and Mizzou did not have a win over a team with a record above 500. So I do think it's important to have these conversations of like, Hey, is this conference really as good as you think it is? Because Greg Sankey is the most active hand in college football. And if he's out here trying to convince you that seven Seven teams belong in the college football playoff from the SEC, and you can look at the SEC sample size in front of you and see, You know what? Iowa outplayed Vanderbilt that entire game. Yeah, maybe this isn't the best conference in college football. And next year, we can avoid an Alabama or an Oklahoma getting in over a Notre Dame team that was much better than both of them.

I think we can all agree the best two teams in college football played last night. We have a lot of times in these playoffs where you look at a team and you're like, TCU probably shouldn't have been there. Or Washington a couple of years ago was okay, but they got run out of the building. These two teams deserve to be the two best teams in college football.

I think the only other team that you would make a case would be Ole Miss and Miami Beat 'Em. Miami Beat 'Em.

I'd make a case for Ohio State. Notre Dame can watch what happened and be like, Oh, my God, how close were we to winning the championship? We are as good as anybody.

Texas A&M, too.

My concern is replacing the James Madison's in two lanes with elites, protecting elites. I think that's where it's going to track. It's ultimately, you see that James Madison took up a slot that we should have had. We're Notre Dame. Right, Alabama? Right, Miami? That is my concern as a man of the people.

I believe James Madison played Oregon better than Texas Tech did. I believe James Madison won a national championship last night. The issue with Tulane and James Madison both being in the college football playoff doesn't really have that much to do with the college football playoff. It has more to do with the way that the ACC structured their... Because Miami played in the national championship last night, but they were not ACC champs. That was the Duke Blue Devils, which is just a little bit funny. And so that was more an ACC problem, which should get fixed. Obviously, they're doing weird. Some teams have eight conference games, some teams have nine conference games. We'll just let them figure it out on their own. Let's give them a year just to get it together, go to college football rehab, and just collectively to the side. But the group of five argument, which I know is an argument that's also been had a lot, that Indiana team was made out of so many group of five transfers. James Madison literally did play Oregon closer than Texas Tech did. That is not the issue. It is simply just the way that the ACC structured their championship game, which made everything go crazy.

Anybody else have a problem with what's in the news cycle, which is the Big Ten and SEC can't come to an agreement about how the college football playoff expansion would go? Wait, they're in charge? They go, Okay.

They literally are.

They are. They legit are. But Miami runs through a whole lot of them, and we're just waiting for those other conferences to tell us what this is going to look like going forward.

This Big Ten wants 24 teams out of such a ball.

It's crazy. All right, look, I guess you to put more teams in the tournament? I guess- No, that's when the regular season will officially be watered down. We'll see. I think that a way to mitigate that would be, get rid of these bowl games as part of the payoff. Have home field matter in the postseason And then you can start arguing that the regular season matters again. But I'm a little uneasy with the SEC and their dying reputation still calling the shots.

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Don Libtard. You owe me everything. Oh, no. You owe me everything.

You have added 10 years to my career. Yes, I have. This man has. You haven't. That man. That man.

Who the hell are you? Let me tell you. Stugatz. I am.

Who the hell are you? Who are you? Should be banking.

Bullshit.

Me. You're a rude young man.

You're a fool.

You're a fool. I already called you a fool. You're a fool right back. You can't call me a fool.

You're an idiot again.

It's a fool, Rob. You're an idiot twice.

You're an idiot for dismissing how much I've helped you.

This is the done labor Our Show with the Stugats.

All right, we've got Diana Rusini here waiting patiently for us. She's the Senior NFL Insider for the Athletic. She's the host of the Scoop City podcast. I don't believe that ever in my lifetime I have seen a Miami Dolphin head coaching hired, dwarfed by a football game. You've got the Dolphins getting Jeff Hathly. I cannot confidently comment on this beyond being bored by it. Last eight coaches the Dolphins have hired don't have any head coaching experience. If I was going defensive coach, I would have gone Chris Shula. Diana, welcome. What are your thoughts here? This is just the Green Bay guy hiring the Green Bay guy, correct?

No, it's not, because I thought the same thing as well when this started and I got word that Miami was really all in on on Jeff Hathaway pretty early after that first interview with him. And that wasn't because the GM is doing a hard sell job behind the scenes. He apparently really blew away everyone that's been part of this head coach search. So with that in mind, Hathley interviewed at other jobs as well. And it was pretty overwhelming how much feedback I received on how good he was in a room, how good he was even on Zoom, which is really hard to do, I think. And it's almost every opening had interest in him. And when you talk to people in Green Bay about him, you talk to players, it's all this ability to lead, ability to connect. He's good at calling defenses. And all right, let's put that to the side. That's part of this. And then there's this other thing going on right now with all these head coaching openings. And there's a lot of openings and really not a lot of superstars in terms of these coaches. So I think what you're seeing now is coaches that are at least showing that potential to live up to some of those big name guys that we're seeing right now.

Because you know, owners are sitting back and they're watching the playoffs, right? And they're seeing Ben Johnson do what he does. He saw Liam Cohen do a fantastic first year job. Kyle Shanaan, I don't know what that was, but he was able to figure it out and get them this far. And of course, Mike Vrabel in New England. And I think they think that maybe one of these guys has it. And I think that's how we got here. But I actually think it's a good thing, Dan, that the GM has an understanding of who this head coach is, because with that ability to understand what he can bring, at least you have some confidence, because sometimes you just don't know. I've had owners tell me it's one of the hardest things to do is find the right head coach based on just what he says in a meeting. Because some of these guys are exceptional at presenting and selling and showing their leaders. But what happens when things go wrong? What happens when the bears are picking apart your defense in the second quarter and the self-inflicted wounds are mounting? What was What's Jeff Hathaway doing on the sideline?

And obviously, this GM thinks what he was doing was enough for him to be the new head coach of the Miami Dolphins.

Cody, what are your thoughts here? Because being good on Zoom has, to me, next to nothing to do with winning football. And also, all these guys are salesmen in disguise. Right.

Diana, I am curious. The Dolphins last hire with previous NFL head coaching experience was Dave Wonstead in 2000, who also was the last Dolphins head coach to win a postseason game. Now they're hiring a guy whose Green Bay team didn't have a particularly good season on defense and epically caved in the fourth quarter against the bears to be eliminated. What about Jeff Hathley is so good? What about him makes you optimistic that the Dolphins maybe have hit a home run this time.

Yeah. So I think for Miami, during the search process, which Troy Akeman, as we know, has had a very big hand in all of this, they've really been looking for a personality that's going to instantly set a culture and hold players accountable. I think that was some of the problems that were rubbing people the wrong way in the previous regime. You obviously see Mike McDaniel now doing the tour, and he is getting a lot of opportunities. I can tell you that. Every team wants Mike right now. But putting that aside for Miami, some of those things were not working for Steve Ross. And he believes that Hathly here is going to be the guy that the players are going to respect act immediately. He's a first-time head coach. We obviously saw him at Boston College. He's been in the NFL before. But I will say, all I can go by myself as a reporter is just what everyone around him is telling me. And it's really hard to find anyone take shots at him, especially now at a time where it's so competitive, everyone's so nasty. Everyone's gossiping about everybody because everyone wants the edge.

But all the feedback I got on him is just he's going to be able to start this thing from day one, no questions asked.

Hey there, Diana. Curious about how confident, what percentage you would put on the chances that the Steelers actually would trade Mike Tomlin. They control him, obviously, through the next year. But if you're Buffalo or Cleveland, even, wouldn't you at least kick the tires and check the likelihood of that happening? The possibility?

Yeah. No, for sure. There's definitely some back channeling going on right now in terms of those conversations. But the word in the league right now is Mike. Mike needs a break. It was never even about Pittsburgh. It was needing to just step aside and just be away from it. I always tell a story that every time I see Mike Tomlin, the first thing he says to me every time, I'm like, Hey, what's up? So I'm tired. I'm tired. If that's how you're leading conversations with people you haven't seen in six months, you're probably tired. Mike doesn't need a break. But wait, we're talking about these Zooms. What is up with... What is with your shots today? Why do I look weird? What's going on there?

You don't look weird. You look lovely. No.

I don't think I look... You know what it is? I was up until 2: 30 last night Because the Tennessee Titans made a hire at 11: 30 because everyone loves to hire a weird hour, just collecting information. So this is probably me just being tired. So, yeah, Tennessee, by the way, that's an interesting one. You hire Robert Salah in hopes of what Miami just did, right? That you're bringing in the culture guy, you're bringing the man of the people, the leader. And they did it without an offensive coordinator in place. Yet you've got the number one overall pick at quarterback here who obviously needs coaching, and he needs the right offensive mind around him. And they hired Salah without that. That's something. I don't know where he'll land, right? Because you've got a bunch of OCs out there right now. You've got Brian Dable Who's meeting with the Philadelphia Eagles at this moment. You've got Arthur Smith, who was just in Pittsburgh, who's available. Perhaps maybe some 49ers guy. You got Clay Kubiak. Mike McDaniel. You got Mike McDaniel, but Mike's getting some other opportunities. He could get a head coaching job in all this.

You got Tampa all over Mike McDaniel right now. So there's no- I'd hire him if I were Buffalo. Okay, Buffalo is a whole other thing, which we're working on now. Because they were in meetings all day yesterday. While I can tell you ownership, and even some of those decision-makers in the front office had a sense that if they weren't going to win this game against the Broncos, that they were going to make moves, that wasn't the biggest surprise. I didn't really get a sense that they had a plan in terms of who was going to replace Sean, because they're obviously late, right? Because here we are, what is it? January 20th, Tuesday. Most are deep in these second visits with these head coaches. So they've got a lot of work to do. Yet that is the most covered a job right now. If you're Kevin Stefansky, aren't you sitting there like, Why didn't I just wait? Why didn't someone tell me this? Because I would have loved to coach Josh Allen.

Well, Diana, how does McDermott get fired, but Brandon Bean gets promoted?

It's the best narrative in football right now. You should hear head coaches talking about this. Just from a... It's like, for whatever reason, I don't know if it's relationships that are built. I don't know if there's just trust from what a general manager brings in terms of knowledge that supersedes a head coach. But there's something about general managers that just lasts longer. Look at Chris Greer in Miami, right? Every head coach will point this out. There's something about general that position, where you're just given more wiggle room. And sometimes it's as simple as just you spend more time with the owner. I don't know a lot of head coaches that hang out with the owner, that are on the phone with him or her a lot. Most are just grinding, coaching, dealing with the players, dealing with all that. So I think that's a benefit. You get a personal relationship, and some real personal, where they become almost family. Look at New York, right? The Giants seemed like they were related to Joe Shane at some point, and they're not. And now Joe Shane appears safe as he's going to become the general, as he remains the general manager with John Harboggan, formerly introduced today as the head coach.

Dan, are you okay? Dan, you have not interrupted me once, and I just want to say thank you. This is lovely.

Robert Salah and Liam Cohen, twice a year.

Now we're talking, Dan. I didn't even think about that.

It's a good one. Rob Salah, find defensive coordinator. If there was a front office that you trusted a little bit more, maybe you can make sense of this. I think everyone's a little puzzled by the higher given what they need on offense, and they have the number one overall pick.

How does Chad Brinker look at himself in the mirror?

This guy is so bad at his job. All you need to do is look at the New England Patriots. This is a For those that don't know, Rand Carthon was a former GM of Tennessee. He brought in Chad Brinker. They fired Rand Carthon. They promoted Chad Brinker. They've been a disaster. I don't know what fairy dust this guy has over the organization, but Mike Vrabel was fired by these front office people. Mike Vrabel in one year has shown you he was never the issue. What is this reputation that they have over there in Tennessee around the league? This is a puzzling higher to me.

Well, first of all, you missed probably the most important piece of the timeline, which it was good. But remember when John Robinson, the general manager who was with Mike Vrabel, was fired, they went through a general manager search, and Vrabel was asked his opinion about these candidates. And when he met Ran, he liked him a lot. He just didn't think he was ready for the GM job. He recommended assistant general manager, and the owner said, No, I like him. And the reason why she said that is because she didn't want Mike to have ultimate power. And that is always a worry for some owners. They want to make sure they've got a balance. And Ran was not ready. I think that's pretty obvious. And Chad Brinker was then brought in to fix the fact that he showed in a very few, in In a very short period of time, he was not ready. And then they completely went the other way and fired Mike Vrabel because in their mind, the ego of him, and that's them, not the reality, I believe, was going to hurt the franchise. And now here they are, and they're back in the business of trying to find identity, find culture.

And I get the Robert Salah draw. But I don't even know if you could call it a diet, Mike Vrabel. I don't even know if it's Mike Vrabel light. It's got some good characteristics. Salah is a leader. He's energetic. He loves this game. But if they were trying to look for something like Mike without the ego, they didn't get that either. So, yeah, look, I think this is an organization that is really trying to lean into Mike Berganzi and hope that he brings something here. And there seems to be a lot of belief and confidence. Because Mike, remember, too, Matt Naguih had the inside track on this. Yesterday, I wrote a piece already that Naguih had the job. This thing was moving. And then Salah walked in, and he blew the doors off in the interview. And he's got great presence. And I get why Robert Salah probably won that room over.

I hate it so much.

I know.

Jason Taylor vibe. It's a good-looking guy. Everybody relax. It's Chad Brinker's doors that he's blowing down.

Okay. No, no. Dan, I want to ask you this because I did have a head coach ask me this the other day. I swear. He's like, How important do you think it is that I look really good in the interview? Do you think I do the suit? Obviously, you get the haircut, whatever. He's like, Do you think that matters? I said, Yes, this is business. Of course, if you are looking polished walking into a room with a female owner, for this example, let's say, absolutely look your best. It's like, who's going to hire a slob? I know we joke, but- The Kansas City Chiefs and Bob Kraft.

It was crazy that Tom Moore asked you your opinion on the matter.

Andy Reid and Bill Belichick slob up the interview. Neither one of them is great on Zoom. I really do think this stuff of killing the interview is just a grand stupidity from people who don't know what leadership actually requires.

Dan, hold on a second. There was that one time where Cliff Kingsbury was in that Modern House on draft day, and we were like, That guy It was what he's doing. I don't know what it is, but he gets it.

Salah is pretty handsome. Exactly. I think that's part of this. And look, Salah, Salah is a big dude. And he has a plan. He does. He wanted this job badly. And while I'm sure Jed York and Kyle Shanahan probably hated the fact that Salah was, I'm sure, prepping a lot for this interview while they were in the playoffs, I think that for him, look, a year A year ago, he got fired. We were writing pieces about how he lost the team and all the cultural issues they had in New York. So now he's got a second shot here. But we could probably have another conversation, too. Did he pick the right place for him to have this rebirth, to get back in the game? I don't know. Is this good ownership? He just went from Woody Johnson. So we'll see how this plays. But right now, we still got the Pittsburgh Stealers looking for a head coach, the Cleveland Browns, the Buffalo Bills, the Las Vegas Raiders. You guys obviously saw Tom braided there last night and that whole force, and the Arizona Cardinals.

Don Levatard.

Are you on the fan right now? Did Mike Greenberg call you yet? Are you ever going to go back to ESPN? People think it's so weird you're a writer now. All those years on TV, all those years, and now you write.

Who reads that? Stugatz.

Why did you take a job at the Atlantic? Mom, I work at the Athletic. Why?

You're on YouTube? This is the Dan Levatard show.

With the Stugats.

Greg Cody on two and a half hours sleep just stifled a burp in order to get you this question.

I did? Did I? Excuse you. Wow. Yeah, seriously. Diana, I'm on a detour from coaching for a second. So Bo Nix is suddenly erased. It's your team, Jared Stedham. Can Denver, with that defense, still beat the Patriots and have a chance to win the Super Bowl?

Yes. No, let me answer AFC first. Yes. I think there is no human being on this planet more insane than Sean Payton in these situations. Look, he wants Bo Nix out there, but it's not like this building fell apart once Bo Nicks went down, and they don't think they can win. I remember the summer, they were telling me about Stidham, and I remembered his days, obviously, in New England, and I'm like, What? I'm glad that you like him, but whatever Whatever. And New England, I don't know if you recall, but during free agency, New England was trying to get Jared Stidham back to New England. So there was a little bit of a war going back and forth in negotiations to try to get him, and Stittem picked Denver. So I do think a little bit of... I love this matchup from even just starting at the top here. You've got two head coaches who are lunatics when it comes to tapping into what their team needs and what motivates them. So I think, if anything, this works in the favor of Denver. They're looking at this as, We're going to have to overcome this, and that's how they like it.

And look at Sean Payton's history. Look at the times when Drew Brees wasn't in, when he was in New Orleans. Teddy Bersky, right? I think Sean won almost every single game with backup quarterbacks. Taysam Hill, another one. He knows how to prepare them. And I do believe he does a good job of making sure that everyone steps up, knowing that Jared Stidham doesn't have a lot of experience as a starter. And in an AFC Championship game against a hungry Patriots team that has a vibe about them. I was with them on Sunday night. That's like, holy crap, we're here. Why not? Let's just go for it all.

You're underestimating that when you say he doesn't have a lot of experience. It's four starts, none of them in the last 748 days. She's the senior NFL insider for the Athletic. She's the host of the Scoop City podcast. Always a delight. Thank you, Diana. Thank you for being on with us. Thanks, guys. So getting back to the topic du jour, I will try to soothe some Hurricane fans here and Malakai Tony as well.

Malaki?

By putting up a photo of Malakai Tony being consoled by Ed Reid in a giant baseball cap. Who popularized this? This was several years ago. Brian Robinson, B-Rob. Yeah, several years ago, this was popularized, and I haven't seen them since. They sold for a while these giant hats, and Ed Reid is trying to bring it back, but I literally haven't seen one of these hats in about three years.

They're still popular, but the best part about traveling to these things is a lot of people will go to the game and wear them, but they're too big to fit in their luggage. So you will see people in the airport with those hats on, sitting on their plane with those hats on.

I legitimately haven't seen one in several years. I laughed out loud when I saw that Ed Reid was wearing one during the ESPN interview with Clinton Portis, where I'm like, God, there was somebody who was selling them, who was making a lot of money with the copyright them. I don't remember who it was because you just mentioned, is that the origin? Is that ground zero on it?

I remember seeing him be like, This is a really, really huge hat. Why does Brian Robinson have this?

It's so stupid looking.

It's a baseball cap that's what? What would we say? 10 times the size, five times the size of a normal baseball cap?

No more.

It's 25 times the size.

It's probably like 600 times.

It's enormous. No, it's not. We should get Zaz one. 600 times is a hot air balloon. You're wearing a hot air balloon on your head.

I love how... He probably had it on forward at one point, but for this big speech, he's like, You know what?

This is a serious moment. Because he's got to get closer to him. The problem is the brim is so big that he can't get closer to him with the brim.

This is the serious moment. I'm going to flip the ridiculous hat around and have a real talk with you.

Let me see again. Let me see Malakai Tony walking He's still sitting down the tunnel here. Malakai Tony was great in that second half, and he did have to flip it backwards, and it looks all ridiculous.

The brim is like 6 feet long.

I still got a sticker across the way from the hall.

He came and talked to him.

You can't have a serious conversation with anybody wearing that hat. I'm sorry.

All right. I can't get Mike to laugh today. There will be getting no Mike laughter today. Mike, how did you sleep? Greg Cody comes in complaining, two and a half hours of sleep. That night, I'm assuming you turn off all your televisions. You're not consuming any of the coverage, right?

I'm not really watching anything. I wanted to hang out with my friends, my hurricanes friends. We went out a little bit afterwards. You watched the heat? Honestly, The last thing that I saw before I went to sleep was a news item that Jimmy Butler tore his ACL. So not a lost night.

Oh, no. What?

What are you doing? What am I doing? I'm super pumped about it.

What about the Bob fight? You had to have seen that.

Oh, I saw. That was I saw a video of the Bob fight. That sucks about Jimmy Butler. Who could have thought that his body would wear down? Yeah, I'm not really consuming it. I was trying to put on a brave face and be the energy guy, and that's usually not not my forte when I have a devastating loss, but it was very evident that I was faking it because when I came home, it all came out. And yeah, dude, I spend all my free time, all my free money, all my free effort on trying to get to where Indiana got last night, and it was devastating. And I cried, and I'm really sad about it, and I hope to never feel that pain again.

You cried when? Upon the interception?

No, I did I did sit in my chair. I was rocked. I couldn't get up. Next thing I know, there was confetti everywhere, and it was brutal. I shook it off. There were some Canes fans on the way out doing Canes Chance, and this was a great season. You got to keep in mind, this was a three and a half month thing of trying to prove that we were worthy. You proved it? Yeah, and that's what I was trying to tell myself. And we went through some that I properly hate. But yeah, you were that close. We allowed a punt block when Indiana is in punt safe coverage. What the man? Austin was kicker, that's why. God damn it. We were right there. I care about the Miami Hurricanes Athletic program more than I care about anything that isn't related to me. Yeah, it really sucked. I cannot really articulate how painful was. And it sucks when you finish second, you feel like a big time loser because the eyes of the world are on you and everyone's teeing off on you, making fun of you, and you're trying to have the right perspective and that you had a good season.

The vision is working. All your time and effort is working. I had a lot of people while I was crestfallen in my seat, not really knowing where I was at the time, thanking me for, Hey, thanks for fighting for us. Thanks for what you're doing for the program. And that did soften the blow. But yeah, man, I am wrecked inside. I want to die.

Do you think this will make it feel any better seeing your father do this? Five yards. They just went down the field, and here is Mike Ryan's dad to celebrate the countdown that he celebrated prematurely before with the Bancos. One more time.

Mike Ryan is going to be mad. Mike Ryan might murder him, and you for letting it happen.

Can't wait to call him Junior.

Mike, what is second place for you on most devastating loss of your life? Because what you're describing, I imagine there's a gulf between getting home and crying and whatever finishes second place here, because to be that close is the part that's crushing, right? You lose to Ole Miss, and it doesn't feel quite the way this does. You lose to Ohio State. There's very little that can feel quite this way. Maybe you're at the one-yard line and you fumble or something, but it's about as close as you can be.

Yeah, I guess the only thing that's close is battle court spring final 2024, lose another Rabote renegades.

Yeah, memorable.

What about your favorite pro football team signing Deshaun Watson on purpose.

Honestly, Dave, great shout. In terms of my soul left my body, who am I? What is my personality? You're absolutely right. The The acquisition of Deshaun Watson did end a chapter in my life. That is absolutely the second most painful loss in my life, and also the fiesta bowl because we got cheated out of number six.

I've gotten to the point in my life where as a sports fan, yes, the winning is obviously the most important thing, but I want the moments. Really everything about my life moving forward is I just want moments. I want individual moments that make me feel good. And that's the part for me that is the toughest to swallow last night. It's not that they lost, but you're envisioning it that, oh, my God, they have a real chance to score here at the end of the game, and it will be a forever moment. That's the part for me that's the toughest as well. Not just that they lost, but we would have had that moment, that feeling for the rest of our life.

It was so close. I don't know. I didn't think the universe would afford me that happiness and joy.

I thought they were going to do it.

The dude that actually pulled down the interception is Glenn Sharp's nephew. Glenn Sharp was a corner that was on Chris Gamble in the Fiesta Bowl when Terry Porter threw that flag.

Who cares about anything? Sports is stupid. Why are we even doing this? Sports are dumb. Why are we... But also they're the best. You said it yesterday. They're the No, but sports are stupid. You said it yesterday, the universe died a trillion years ago. We're living in its echo. Who cares? Who cares about anything? We're all going to die, and I'm going to be in my deathbed, MF and Roy.

I care big. I love big. When it happens, and it will happen, it will happen, it's going to be the greatest day of my sports fandom. I know we're going to figure this out, and we're going to get there. How can you not feel great about this head coach and the trajectory of the program? I feel like this is the start of something. I'm not going to put all the business out there. Mark Fletcher, who made news because he swung on-Yeah, what happened there?

That kid must have said something, right?

Anybody that knows Jeremy, you know Mark Fletcher from his time in high school. Mark Fletcher is his high character and individual as you will meet in college athletics. And moments before that, he was being super classy with Fernando Mendoza. They had a nice moment on the field.

I was wondering which of those came first.

Because I was imagining him having an altercation and then a minute later, the most genuine nice. Good game, man. If Mark Fletcher is swinging on you, you're the problem, because that is not who Mark Fletcher is. If you did something, you did something super disrespectful.

Tell me, if you had hit, you know about that damn down?

No.

Talk to him.

Would the You down warranted. But maybe someone will put it out there, maybe some of those teammates. But Mark Fletcher, I got word of the speech that he delivered to the team after that loss. Mark Fletcher is coming back next season. I told you the story after Middle Tennessee State, Mario Cristobal took a couple of boosters, and for whatever reason I was there. I had no business being there. And he said a couple of names, and Ruben Bane and Mark Fletcher were guys that would turn this program around. And he's going to finish that story. And I hope it's in Las Vegas next year. Mark Fletcher is a great guy. I know a lot of people are decontextualizing what happened. It's an ugly moment, obviously, swinging on somebody. But that guy is his high character and individual, and he's a reason this season turned around.

That video, that moment, and that uniform will camouflage for the country how high character and individual he is, and we will be accused of all manner of bias for just simply knowing a little more about him than you do. When Mike says it's the start of something at Miami, he's not wrong, but it's the start of something more at Indiana because they have a momentum now in the portal that's even better than Miami's, and they have a stability now. That night wins a thousand recruiting wars. Obviously, you have to get money as well, but Indiana is no longer a dormat. This is the hard part, getting to here and the momentum of here. They will do nothing but build on this.

Agree with that. But like I said to you last night, Dan, and I think that listening to Zaz and to Mike and pretty much everybody in here, it would have, sorry to paraphrase, SEC, it would have meant more, I feel like, for Miami fans than as much as it has meant, obviously, to I. U lovers.

You're 100% right.

As I kept saying, there was no downside. If you lose, there was no precedent either way. Okay, so we had the Heisman winner. We went into this thing undefeated. We beat Oregon twice. We beat Alabama. Indiana fans don't spend like that. Being Ohio State. For real, the vibes would have been very similar if you remove this reality. If they would have gone nine and three and won the Rose Bowl, you would have thought, I mean, a once in a lifetime thing for the Hoosiers fans. But you guys have the downside, and I really do. As much as nationally, I kept saying, and I stand by it, Dan touches on the fact that the U has maybe a negative rep, but largely, I think that football America looked at I as having just beaten the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics and now just had to finish it by beating the Finns, and the U was the Finns. That was not supposed to be the challenge that it ended up being. But for you guys, clearly, for how you perceive yourselves as now a blue blood, it is striking to me. I don't think the nation senses it as much as you guys are feeling it.

Well, Cristobal volunteered after the game, and rightly so, that there's absolutely no guarantee that just because they were great this year and reached the final, that that's a given next year. And reflecting that, the immediate Championship odds for next season are out already. And I was a little surprised to see Miami as low as tied for 10th in the betting odds. And that all depends on how they score in the portal with a new quarterback. So I think the U is back, but there's no guarantee that they're going to maintain this level just because they got there this year.

Dave, would you give your Championship to Mike Ryan right now?

I give him well wishes for 2026.

Wow.

Has to den gesehen? Ey, das ist ja der absolute Wahnsin.

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