Transcript of The Big Suey: That's a Bar

You're listening to DraftKings Network.

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 Lebittard 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.

That incidentally was Detroit's 3rd game in 11 days. Like, that team has separated itself even in a sport where you understand, yeah, Philadelphia might

be able to beat them and Baltimore might be able to beat them and the Chiefs might be able to beat them or the Bills might be

able to beat them. But Detroit has everyone in the league knowing that This is the best lions team there's ever been. Like, none of us have seen a lions team that looks like this 1. None of us have believed that there's a lions team that could do anything like this. They made they made 2 of their greatest players quit, and the 3rd greatest went to win the championship immediately somewhere else in Matthew Stafford.

Like, that's that history is like, I that fan feeling a Lions fan feeling so full of themself on the field to go after the Packers coach is a Lions fan I have never known, and I have never known his father, and I have never known his grandfather. And I've never known a Lions fan that feels that kind of confident on what their team is because you can't. Because 2 of their best players quit early, not 1. Their 2 best. Is any it Calvin Johnson was better than Matthew Stafford at what he did.

Their 2 very best players quit. Say this. I can't play with these people anymore.

Jeez. You know, when you say it like that now, I think the fan deserved it. Now I'm like, you know what? I get it. He's allowed to be intoxicated on the field.

He's intoxicated with Lions football.

That's what I mean. I should have qualified that.

It's yeah. That's what that's everything that's happening there. If you want to be with us on Sunday watching football, enjoying our company, having Stuttgart sign books. Stuttgart is selling and signing books.

I believe he's just signing them. There we will not be selling Stuttgart's books there.

If you

have a Stuttgart's book, bring it. He'll sign it. We will be selling coloring books, signed coloring books at the watch party this Sunday. It's at Dolphin Mall, Vivo, 1 PM game time. The event is from 12 to 5.

God bless football. A bunch of the crew will be out there. Come on out. Was that better than yesterday, Dan?

Yes. Thank you. My

energy. Thank you.

Yes. Slightly better than yesterday. You might have a future in this business. You too might have a contract like Stephen a Smith's 1 day in the future. What I see both of you are vying for it.

Andrew Hawkins with his hot takes and So close. And you. What did you guys make of the reporting on the, Stephen a Smith is close to terms? I haven't talked sports media in a while. I've got a lot of interesting stuff here.

I've found some interesting stuff out here that, that is like, the way that he's gonna change the game from inside the machine is gonna be really fun to watch.

Dan, when I saw that, first off, I was made very happy. Right? Because when you look at somebody in the industry and then they set a new high watermark, you're like, wait a second. I'm in this industry. I have hope.

Don't tell me that we can't reach the stars when there's footprints on the moon.

For sure.

Andrew Hawkins, you know what I'm talking about. Leader of men.

Leader of men.

You look at you look at somebody and say, like, oh, wait. He got how much? Wait a second. There's money around here that we can all make money. Let's let's be happy for this.

Yes, Lord. Deliver us

from from

from From all

these pick sixes.

Yeah. From from these pick sixes.

Then there's also the crushing reality. It's like, damn. Uh-oh. Stephen A. Smith is more than a 140 times better at this than me.

Let's go ahead and play the imaging so that I can talk about it.

Do you get annoyed every time Dan Levittard pontificates about the sports media industry? Well, too bad, mother

So I am proud that we have a Miami Media company. Those are hard to come by. Not many of those ever in the history of this town. And 1 of the things

speaking for sure.

That's correct. You know what?

Yeah. We got about a 2 dozen

down here.

We've got plenty Spanish speaking, but, as we do this party on on Sunday, and I explained to the audience what it bought us beyond coloring books and parties. This is what it bought us at the middle of what Stephen a Smith is doing and has done. We were worth a certain thing at ESPN, and we jumped as the media collapses all over the place into a different thing that makes us worth a lot more. And McAfee and Stephen a Smith saw that and bring it to Disney and they're like, and where's ours? They give it to McAfee, and when you give it to McAfee, you gotta give the production deal to Stephen a Smith.

The 1 thing that I don't know, I don't know if what I'm about to say is true because this part bums me out, and I didn't totally understand it. I don't know why around the horn is actually going away. No 1 has told me, but it has the ratings first take does. So it doesn't it's not a business sense thing that makes any sense to me. I need the reckless speculation here because I don't actually know this.

Hold on a second.

Time to throw

away all journalistic credibility and get reckless. Here is something we like to

call Time to throw

away all journalistic credibility and get reckless. Here is something we like

to call reckless speculation. You're good.

Thank you. Yep. I I'm guessing that they're gonna put whatever Stephen a Smith wants wherever it is that he wants it, and there'll be something for him at 5 PM there because Stephen a Smith wants it because he has just changed the game on if you guys give McAfee a deal for 20,000,000 and a production deal, and he doesn't have the ratings I have and he doesn't, then what are you giving me? You give me everything Disney has. You give me everything that's here because Disney needs me more than I need Disney right now because I've been building my on your dime in front of everybody on the side.

And if I take it somewhere else, I'm gonna be able to sell it for more than all of these other people sell it for.

Yeah. But I will say that McAfee does a lot for that network and the college game day ratings have totally turned around. They're averaging more than 2,000,000 viewers. McAfee is a big reason for that. He also does things in digital video that Stephen a Smith doesn't quite do.

Not yet.

He does things in the pot well, he does. Stephen a does do digital audio and video, but he has that siloed to his own. He has those carved out. He's not doing it for ESPN. Now McAfee to a degree does it for ESPN and also does it for himself.

It's a it's a kooky deal. But McAfee I would not say McAfee doesn't bring the ratings that Stephen a does because McAfee can point to that Cadillac on Saturdays and be like, I'm a big reason for that turnaround.

They're gonna try and kill Stephen a more than they already are. Right? If that deal goes through and everything is it, like, he's gonna be just on 247.

Well, the problem is him there. He's a workaholic, so he wants all the things inside and outside of the machine, but he's going to get them is the thing. Like, this is this is going to be a groundbreaking deal that no 1 in the history of the media has seen before. He's always wanted to be Howard Cosell, and he's going to be the modern day version of Howard Cosell.

But you

know how, like, in the NBA and the NFL, we've seen this with quarterbacks before. Like, wait. You're giving them what? That's gonna ruin contracts for everybody else. ESPN, along the time that they got rid of us, had a different, approach when it came to talent.

And don't worry, Hawk. I'm gonna be very careful around

I was

gonna say if he's I'm looking how to jump into this.

This is a

very weird situation I'm in. Yeah. I Currently, in this conversation.

I mean,

we all understand.

Hold on.

Do I need to let him go for a second? Hold on. Let me

see if

I can help him.

No. No. Let's see. A penalty for this.

Alright. Let's open.

Brothel thing.

Hold on a second.

The brothel hostel thing. Yeah. It had Delayed penalty. We had 6 on the ice. Let's go.

I've got the other 1 on now. I've got multiple things going on. Hold on a second. I'm gonna let me find the 1. Delayed penalty.

I've got the right 1 now. Hold on.

We've got a penalty. 5 minutes. Major asshole.

Wow. It's a very Porsche.

He doesn't wanna sit here and talk with

us about this thing. We're giving him cover.

Are you the person? You gotta understand his situation here. But, I what I would say is they pivoted and they realized that we have a bunch of talent that's in a in an upper tier.

Forgive me for a second. Forgive me.

Major Penoli on the ice. 5 minutes for spreading propaganda.

It might be worse. You

didn't say anything.

I said you're good. Not helping, man. I was prompted to. Don't worry.

We're all gonna come around and and make the point here, which is thank you, Dan. I'm pretty sure that's how this 1 ends. So the word Dan says you're welcome. But they have a different approach to talent instead of, like, spending it on a bunch of, people that would be, like, are they, like, an a level star? Are they a minus b level?

They decided we're going a plus across the board. We're going superstar game changers. But if that reported number that's attached to that deal is is accurate, it's going to have a trickle down effect, and it's gonna be difficult for them to navigate, on their contracts going forward because you're gonna say things like, are you to tell me that Stephen a Smith is 75 times more valuable to this company than I am?

To which, yes, would be that.

That number keeps getting small.

If it

was me.

No. No. No. I was, no. I know he's a 140 times more, important to that network certainly than I am.

But I'm saying for, you know, the other talents without naming names. If if McAfee or Greenberg comes up, they're gonna be, like, they're gonna be pointing to that deal because that's gonna set a new standard, and they're gonna be doing the math. Like, is he really that much more valuable to this company than I am? That's just that's just the nature of, of talent contracts.

Mike, you turned it to David Samson during the each euro conversation. Like, the $100,000,000 contract is supposed to end the sport. And now 15 years later, we've got a $1,000,000,000 contract.

Well, it's been redefined though because, this kind of thing as they cut costs all over media, and I tell you that media is collapsing, it's hard to make the argument that media is collapsing when you can afford to pay Stephen a Smith the kind of money that allows him not only these things, but also, Disney property access that is kind of huge, more valuable perhaps than than even the money we're talking about, and I'm also guessing, freedom. I'm guessing that he also gets to do outside of those things, all the politics that he wants and everything that he wants everywhere else, but there is not enough time in the day for him to do all of the things that he wants to do in terms of conquering money making and then spreading that money around to help build whatever it is he wants to build to leave a legacy for others behind him in the business because he's interested in that too. This isn't just a money game for all the people who are competing at the top of it. It's the power game of how do we rescue the parts of media that are gonna remain 3 years from now.

Let me be abundantly clear though because I was just talking about the possible ramifications. I think the ramifications are good because if it's always good, and you got this when when we had our deal with our wonderful partners over at DraftKings, which is even McAfee said, thank you because that's great. That's a number that's out there in the public space, and you're growing the industry for others. If there's a talent that should be the highest paid in the game, it's steep well, no. It's Stephen a Smith.

I like that. It's Stephen

a Smith.

Damn it.

But then we get to do the math. Like, well, is he a 150 times more important than us? And it's all great stuff for the industry. So I say you're the greatest of all time. Set that number to an absurd place Yeah.

And keep reaching for the side. Exactly right.

I also wanna make just 1 clarification because I'm forever being aggregated here in spaces that can, cause me problems with people. There have been times that McAfee feels like for whatever the reasons that I have not been supportive of what it is that he's doing. So the math that I was simply giving you before was to show you the basic humanity as we talk about crazy insane numbers of if we'd leave ESPN and that opens up the door for McAfee to turn everything that he did, he had the deal at FanDuel that he got that was like the 1 that we've got with, DraftKings, and then he says, nope. Rip it up. I'm going there because I can do the things that Steven a wants to do.

When Steven a sees that happen, and it's a deal for x with production expenses that also have 1,000,000 of dollars in it that that allow McAfee to go on game day and do all the I'm gonna pay a $100,000 for a kick. I'm gonna pay $1,000,000 to Aaron Rogers to do this over here. Stephen a Smith sees the new person get that at a company that once wouldn't allow the precedent between Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann to be, no, Dan. We can't put a TV in your office because then Keith will want 1. The precedent that they've set Could've

talked about this on Monday without Hawkins or

Yeah. I'm just just a long time.

So what

is this all you have to do with it? Why does this make it all does this sound bad for Eos what am I doing that it puts him in the bad position of talking around and about?

Ask him that directly objection, your honor.

Yeah. Do the thing again.

Yeah. To be your dirty jerk, Jack. On.

Yeah. Open again.

So Yeah. That means yeah.

What the Yeah.

The union is beat him back. Do the what? Andrew Hawkins.

Yes. I'm pro union. You talk about contracts at my other employer.

Yeah. Do that

yourself again. Goodness gracious. I've been thinking about this. The reason why my brain I figured it out. The the word association of brothel and hostel.

The movie hostel.

Right? Into a brothel.

When he they're going he goes to stage with somebody and turns into a brothel, that's where my brain just subconsciously l

at the end for both of them too. Right? Hostel, brothel.

There's e's and there's o's also.

PR. PR

is good for the office.

Let me just be clear. I've never say that either.

Yeah. Me either.

I've never

seen that on the podcast. I've never seen them in movies.

It's just like, you know, there's bunk beds and you share a communal bath of the

whole fight.

Yeah. That sounds dangerous because I watched the movie, and I I just now associate Oh, okay. When there's a hostel, there's a brothel not too far away from it.

There's hostels in Miami Beach.

Are there?

Brothels in Miami Beach.

I'm sure there are.

No. Not not well, they can't just they can't be the advertising. Here here's what

I'll say about the Stephen a Smith contract now that I acted like I wasn't gonna say anything is now it's like football in the sense you've pushed the veteran money up and you've pushed the rookie money up. Right? Pat McAfee being the rookies where, like, Sam Bradford was coming in and they were, like, they're making too much, but then also the veterans were making money. Then they put the rookie wage scale on, and it ruined everything. Because now you're capping the guys coming in early, and now nobody can make money.

You're cutting veterans. So the fact that now everybody's getting paid, both the rookies and the extreme vets like Stephen a Smith, I feel like that's a a great situation to be in for talent, to your point, Mike.

This is a fantastic thing for talent all across and creators, content creators, because you wanna keep pushing where the ceiling is.

Yes.

Always. Anybody that's in this game wants the the water level to rise and establish a new high point because that's gonna be used for better or for worse. Another piece of confetti just fell. This is amazing. Congratulations.

It's just a still dating back. That's how big that peacock announcement was. Yeah. That's just the way that all these talent contracts go is you you're gonna say, well, that guy's worth that to you, so I must be worth blank.

Yeah. And it also prevents you from like, when I think about McAfee, who obviously is incredible, I have a ton of respect for McAfee. I've looked up to what he's built on his own and then leveraged it literally anywhere and everywhere because he's like, I am the entity. Well, now for someone like Stephen a Smith, again, to your point who sees that, this gives you an incentive to say, okay. Well, it's still not too bad to stay in house at ESPN in this world of creators and YouTube and social media where everybody is trying to build their own thing much like this company here who has the ability to do so.

Yeah. And Stephen a is certainly charting his own course in that. McAfee built that outside of of ESPN. He he built something that was attractive that ESPN wanted in on. Stephen a, while he's been at ESPN, has gotten carve outs for his own digital enterprises, and he is growing those while being their most known talent, but certainly their most important talent over there.

No one's really been afforded that over there. So he's charting a new course for himself, but also a happy byproduct of that is he's charting a new course for everybody else because that's what leadership is. He may not have gotten into this thinking that he was a good leader. Although, I I I'm pretty sure he thinks he's an amazing leader. I I I've seen him say that he should be an amazing leader.

He's also following Dan's lead. I mean, let's be honest to you.

Well, thank you, Dan, is how this all ends.

There you go. Thank

you, Dan.

What confetti is

for you. You guys got that. Well done. Yes. Excellent work by you.

But when it comes to, you know, evolving sports media types, I wanna ask you guys this question because, this is it's 1 of the most amazing stories I've ever seen in the history of sports media. He was let go by ESPN, and now he returns to conquer it. Al Michaels, a lot of people were complaining about him last night, complaining that that game, he wasn't meeting the moment with his enthusiasm as an old person. Al Michaels, 1 of the greats there's ever been and is getting more and more criticized every time he does a broadcast. Tricky thing, aging with grace in this space.

ESPN has done a great job with Lee Corso and Dick Vitale. How do you do this?

Yeah. Well, Al Michaels is awesome. His his voice across something makes it feel big. I'm not gonna give I'm not gonna pay attention to rabble rousers on the Internet. I like here in Kirk Herbstreit, and Al Michaels on a game.

And by the way, I don't know how many of you actually carve out parts of your day to watch the pregame from Amazon, but I think it's spectacular. I love that team that they have there. They're they have actually built a really compelling, good product. Now we saw what happened on Thursday when teams have full rest. There are certain inherent things at Thursday night football.

Hawk, maybe you can attest to someone that's played in those Thursday night games on

Yeah.

On short weeks and it's Mhmm. Part of, the the players' union that I

was in the wave of games on Thursday that sucked.

Yeah.

That was, like, my hair, like

Were you in that game where

playing the Jags and Were

you in that game where they're, like, f it. Josh cribs is quarterback now. Were you in that 1? I wasn't.

That 1.

That 1 was a great 1.

That was a good 1.

But I I think they do a great job with it, and now they also have this flex scheduling. You see, when they actually have a good game, conceptually, Thursday night football is an amazing idea. And I think that the

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The Libertad.

Sub 500 seasons, it's been lonely. Now the best players on our side been losing and losing for much too long. But now we're back

with New York pride. StuGats. Jaylen.

You've got us on our feet, Jaylen. We're gonna win the east, Jaylen. Without Randall, we're still doing fine.

This is the Don Levittar show with the StuGods.

Let me put in front of you a couple of college football stories, 1 of them involving Bill Belichick. Okay? Because I was surprised, perhaps I shouldn't have been. I hadn't heard a lot of people talking about him to college. Interviewing for the North Carolina job just sort of disoriented me.

Wasn't it? Because of the

youth movement in Chapel Hill?

I wasn't expecting you guys were unsurprised by this?

Well, Taylor actually told me a couple of days ago that this was happening. Taylor's super plugged in over there. Anything Chapel Hill, you just run that by Taylor.

You want Just revealing your sources.

No. No.

No. Taylor's I mean, it's out there now.

No. No. No. Why Stephen a makes the big bucks. Wow.

You wanna ask Taylor about it?

Told me. Want 1?

No. Taylor told me 3 days ago.

Apparently, his dad used to coach at, at North Carolina. I think this is him just kinda kicking the tires, and it does appear that the NCAA is going to follow more of an NFL model. The the NCAA is going to get all the things that it's looking for. And

we know he can relate to 20 year olds.

Let's not forget that Taylor once texted Mac Brown that Mac Brown should be fired from UNC.

That is not a real story.

No. No.

No. To protect him he didn't he didn't tell me he was fired.

Yes. It was on accident. Somebody had said, like, he should he he he meant to text his buddy Mac should be out of here, and he sent it to Mac Brown.

That is worse. I don't there's no version of that that sounds better.

It was Roy Williams. So that it's much better.

Oh, UNC. I got my I got my old UNC coaches mixed up. That's my bad. The one's on me.

And you were so eager to do it that you didn't even hear anybody correcting you. Like, you were just a puppy dog So excited to tell him that story that you didn't even hear the people who were correcting you. Man.

You sure you don't want Taylor on this? He's really good.

I have him here

at all times.

I I do want Taylor. Thank you for putting him there because, look. So Don't

ask what he's doing down there.

Andrew, I am going to explain to you something Taylor related. At the last watch party we did, the only bit of stay there, Taylor, please.

I

would love for you to explain to me how to

do this. Coming, so he wants to leave before you say it.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, yes. So there's more to it, though, because I I I need to explain this to Hawk and the audience. Taylor's a bit of a meathead.

Okay? Taylor, loves our show and, is very helpful and wants to, help everybody as a producer, but every once in a while, a game will break out and he'll get distracted and become a fan.

A volunteer? Because that's how you're describing him.

No. He's not well, he's not a volunteer. He he gets paid, but

Okay.

But things like what I'm about to tell you happen often.

Tario, not a volunteer.

So I'm I this so this person who, evidently is more plugged into North Carolina than anybody and should be breaking North Carolina stories left and right because he knows all of them because he played for the North Carolina football team. I am in near, you know, near Wynwood, getting out of my car, yesterday, and I'm I'm getting out of my car. And I'm like, man, Belichick to North Carolina. That like, interviewing. That's surprising.

And as I'm doing it, Taylor, through the sunshine, loves Miami. I'm surprised he wasn't shirtless. Just waves. It's like, hey, Dan, and keeps moving. And I'm like, is there any reason you didn't break this story?

And, like, Jess says, yeah. I had it 3 days ago, but it doesn't tell anybody. Just doesn't just wanders around in a media company, doesn't know to impress by breaking a Belichick story that, like, I think that would have been a nationally important story. And

It might have been able to get him paid here instead of the internship he's clearly doing.

He's being paid. Oh. But yeah. No. You don't know.

But no insurance. No insurance?

By the way, we're pushing back that he actually is a meathead. There's no doubt his voice sounds like a meathead, but he's not a meathead.

I'm a meathead. Okay.

Okay. But anyways, at the last watch party, somebody's I I said you got any constructive criticism for our show, and his only thing was Les Taylor.

Wow. Okay. I mean, that would explain why he's under the desk of

Les Taylor.

Mike.

I don't even I don't even talk on the show. We're just giving voices to the vocal minorities. Alright.

Get out of here. Thank you for all your good work in turning on the show, and you should have broken the Belichick story because I think that 1 is super interesting. I wanna play some audio of Lane Kiffin and Mike Elko here because there are 2 different kinds of stories that I wanna get to. But let's begin with the Lane Kiffin sound because the Ole Miss coach, I love him. I love that he's a part of this program.

I love that he has resurrected himself after a couple of stumbles and that he continues to be wildly interesting and doesn't care either if anything he says makes sense.

I think that this is probably what you're gonna have to get used to as fans. You know, teams having multiple losses in this conference, and they kinda tricked me into it. It's why it's why it's just different. It's just totally different. And these comparisons of other conferences in ACC and big 12 I mean, it's just like it's you might as well be in different leagues, not conferences, different leagues.

You know, like, here's the NFL, Here's the SEC. Here's those few big 10 teams, and then here's everybody else. So you're gonna see it in the draft. You know, it'll be different, like it always is with the SEC. The amount of kids drafted out of here and there.

And and so it's really a bad system. Here you go. You got me going. It's just a bad system. It's a bad system, and you got people in there in place of it.

And I don't know. They gave me the list of the coaches today. You know? Any of those coaches ever been down here in the deep south into these stadiums and played in these games that are on this. So how do they even know?

How how do they even know what it's like to have to go win in these stadiums, in these places, and on the road of teams that they say, well, these teams are 500 teams and and we have, you know, the week where the 3 favorites all lose on, you know, the senior senior day and night in 3 of the hardest stadiums in America to play. It's much different than where these other conferences go and play. They're, you know, 66 teams that they gotta go play or 5 5 teams at the time. It's totally different. And you gotta get up for it every week.

It's a lot easier when you gotta get up for 2 games a year, you know, to get your team up.

I do not agree with him. I think the nation does, though. I think the committee does. I think the prevailing feeling is the SEC is the, next professional league. There's professional football.

There's the SEC, and then there's everything else. I think it's outdated information. It's wrong information, but I think most people, it's the information they have.

I think most people disagree with Lane just because of the nature of their losses down the stretch too, but he says it's difficult to go into those SEC, places. And I think he made a lot of good points in terms of, like, where players are drafted. But just know Louisville and Miami played 2 of the SEC teams he lost to on the road and won by a combined 50 points.

You really feel like you Well, that's

a 1. That's a that's a Yeah. Bar. Yeah. It's a bar.

Miami blew them out by 40, and you lost on senior day,

get out of

here. Patch you over his left shoulder.

You lost to Kentucky, brother. You lost to Kentucky, brother. Louisville went over there. It wasn't hard for them.

I think most people do disagree with Lane Dan. I feel like he's, the wrong messenger for this given the season that they've had and where where they had it and the talent on the team. I really just think most people are like, yeah. We're not buying it this year. I'm sorry.

It's just not true.

But, Jessica, okay. So I would say to you, though, that, that you and Mike are in the weeds on caring about college football in a way that fuels college football to its rabid heights. But if people who really like sports and are watching on Saturday, but not consuming college football the way Mike is investing in it and Jessica is snorting all of it. Mhmm. I believe that most people still believe

and gobbling.

That s SEC Football that if I just go around the country hey. Do you think it's harder to play in an SEC stadium than all the other state in Louisville. Then in Louisville, do you think it's harder? Yes or no?

Yeah. They would say yes. But that Do

you think that the SEC is better than the other con do you think the SEC is better than the conference that Duke is in and that Louisville are in? Yes or no?

They all say yes.

I think it would be outdated information.

I don't know. It depends on the stadium. Vanderbilt Stadium's half under construction, and they still upset Alabama in front of mostly Alabama fans.

Sound like fans. Nobody Oh, but if you're damn about what the plan in the state they're better because they have better players.

But link

They have more money. They have better recruits. If you take the whole team of Alabama and you put them on Toledo, guess who's going in the playoff?

Well, Toledo did win at an SEC team.

We beat missus state this week, and it wasn't that crazy player. You know why, Jess? Their players sucked. Okay? It wasn't rocket science.

But it just means more over there. I will say that while Lane is making a losing argument for Ole Miss, he doesn't realize that, no, for that very logic, you won. There was an ACC 2 loss team that was borderline and an s e c 3 loss team, and they used your logic, Lane. They just had 3 teams to to pick from, and you finished 3rd in that regard. But your overall point, that's what got Bama into the playoff.

Do you say rocket science on purpose?

It was

a good pun.

No. As as you can tell from the brothel hostel situation, my word association is is a little odd that but thank you. It should I should get the makeup from earlier.

You really are wounded. Are you unforgiving of yourself on mistakes? Like, you're really hurt by the public mistake of confusing a brothel in a hostel.

No. I'm not hurt at all by that, actually.

He does seem insulted that we, like, offered makeup to him though.

No. No. No. No. No.

I'm just like,

I don't need makeup. Look at me. I don't I'm like, you look good. You know? I I well,

I I felt like when people say, like, hey, do you need makeup? And I've, like, never requested makeup. I'm, like, well, I would rather you just tell me, hey, bro. You got blemishes.

I I have never seen powder you up real quick. I have never seen our makeup staff

so insistent. Exactly. And I me either. And I'm, like, well, yes. If you're telling me I need makeup, then please

That's why I do

don't have me in here not looking

I mean, she does

like a heartthrob Get paid

to per person. Yeah.

I'm sorry.

Which is why I do it. I wouldn't do it if I didn't know about it.

Like a launcher.

Next time just say a little powder on the nose, it's fine.

It's called leadership. It's called teamwork.

Do you understand how I

get it.

Do you understand how I

get it

now. How weird it was for me to see him say, no. I'm good. Look at him, and I'm like, no. He's beautiful.

He's probably been beautiful all his life. He's fine. And then they leave unless, he says, unless you're telling me I need it. And they're saying, no. You don't need it.

Then the next commercial break, they come in and you're knee you need it.

Yeah. Well, then you start getting a little shinier because you're talking. That's actually good work there.

Yeah.

Cracks out.

I'm actually sweating right now because it is I'm I'm hot as is.

You can use a little

Well, you know, I'm I'm used to a little a colder weather, like, when you play in the atmosphere of somewhere like Toledo and you got 28,000 screaming fans. Right? That's a tough environment for anybody, SEC

or not. The thing that just happened with Mike Ryan and Jessica, I'd like to put a final bow on all of this because I would say I was startled this week and delighted that our little show just got grabbed by college football argument talk where Jessica wants to talk on day she's not here, and Jeremy wants to talk on days he's not here, and Mike wants to talk on the day he missed even though he monopolized the d the 3 days before that that he was here. And then he gets back here and he says something, and then he says it to me, and then by 50. And he looks at me and then he says, that's a bar because he wanted to end the note on a bar and

I Left you speechless. I left you all speechless. Run the tape. I was like, I guess we're going to break now because I killed it so bad. 9:30.

Maybe maybe Steven Hagen is only 50 times better

than me.

That was a damn good delivery. I cannot

Not 40.

Done on that. 50.

The I can I get though 1 final not I don't want a a closing argument? I just wanna send I want I want Jessica and Mike to go bar for unsaid bar on.

You want more?

Oh, okay.

No. Just I wanna finish the subject for the week.

Rest my case after I left you speechless.

Okay.

Gavel.

Jessica, any further thoughts on this? That was his closing argument. Any further thoughts on college football argument? I know I'm getting you after the martinis and and the hangover.

Yes. There's SEC bias. Some of it is deserved, some of it is not, and Miami still should have beaten Syracuse. That's all I got. That's all I got.

That's it.

Also, we have a a guy that is presently employed by the University of Michigan making these arguments. They're all gonna protect themselves. Because let me tell you something, if Indiana had the same record as Miami, Indiana was getting in. Because those 2 look, it's the fact of the matter is

I don't think that's true.

Well, this is an ESPN property.

How dare you talk about immaculate ward manual like that? Oh, wait. Sorry. Incarnate ward. Damn it.

I screwed up your screw up.

I will. But you made you made you made a face at him on Indiana, and he needs rebutting here on the island.

If you had lost to Michigan, they would have been out.

I don't think so.

Yes. They would have.

What's what's weird to me is, like, do

you think I'm opening up.

Can I ask

you a question? I like them.

Can I

can I

ask everybody?

Nebraska, they wouldn't have been out there. There's no way they would have made it in the field as 1 of those games.

Can I ask everybody a question?

Sounded like to people.

I'm gonna ask everybody a question now, and it's not I don't have my own take on this. I'm just curious.

You think there's Hoosier bias? You think there's Indiana Hoosier bias in football? That's crazy.

No. If, so

I don't

like them.

Everybody was telling me the timing of Miami's loss was bad. They they lost to Syracuse again.

It sounds like a gobble with

this. A turkey? And

turkey gobble. Throw some of the Hawkins I like him from last week in the mix.

I like him.

There it is.

So everyone says that Take it in. The timing of Miami's loss to Syracuse was bad.

I like him.

And that overlooks the timing of Alabama's loss to Oklahoma is bad, but I guess because it happened a week earlier, it's less bad.

Georgia. I like them.

That's all the argument is.

They beat they beat them in September. So if Miami had a loss in September, I guess it was it would have been fine. So if that

a good win, it would have been fine.

Here's my point. Here's my question for you guys. Switch the weeks. Say Miami's loss to Syracuse happens the week that Alabama lost at Oklahoma, and this past week, Alabama loses to Oklahoma the way that they they did, which is 24 to 3.

Who has the better window?

Do you think Alabama gets in if the most recent thing that you saw not the thing that you saw 2 weeks ago. The most recent thing that you saw from them was 24 3 losing to Oklahoma, and you just swap the order of Miami's loss to Syracuse to the win against Wake.

I like them. If you lost to Syracuse and Georgia Tech earlier in the season, you would have already been out of the ACC race. You would have been ranked at the top 15 going the last week of the season.

Do you think Alabama gets in if the last thing that you saw this was a

good question? About Miami a month ago. It's gone

up 4 days ago.

Is this my answer?

That's a good question.

I'm asking if the last thing that you saw from Alabama was the only other game that they played before then against a FBS team. If they lost 24 3 and that was your last impression on the season of Alabama, do you think that they get in?

Miami would have been out the

second that their ACC championship game hopes were dashed, but they lost their second game of the conference of the season.

I I am done with this spin.

Well,

but it is the ending argument is don't lose to, Syracuse and Georgia Tech.

Right. But don't lose to Oklahoma doesn't exist, which is the benefit of the doubt that Lane Kiffin seems to think he's not getting. Brother, you got it. You just weren't good enough to be the 1 to get it.

So let me get to this Mike Alco sound because, I I was saying most of the season, that Texas A&M had a team that had 3 defensive linemen who might be taken in the top 100, and they could wreck something like an SCC with that kind of defensive line. But let's let's just hear from Mike Elko, who has been a good quote, this season, which is not what I was expecting, talking about where he finds himself in the middle of the mediocrity of the SEC.

There's reports that some states have been able to already go into rev share deals with their student athletes. I know that law here prohibits that still. Was that at all any challenges with that, and how do you see that shaping things up moving forward?

No. That not that. That wasn't a challenge for us at all. I think we're in a really good spot, and and I don't think NIL played any role. NIL didn't play any role in our inability to land anyone.

Maybe our NIL plan didn't allow us to get involved with certain kids or to continue to recruit certain kids, or to match a number that might have allowed us to land certain kids. But that was more of an internal plan than it was a lack of resources. I think you have to be really intelligent when you manage this thing, how you manage it for the culture of your program. You know, you see some of these insane freshman deals. I would just like to know how the upperclassmen in their program feel when these freshmen come in making 5 times more than the returning starter.

And so I think that will be a really interesting dynamic for a lot of these programs when these freshmen show up on camp. I

see Hawkins and Chris Cody and Mike Ryan nodding vigorously. And I gotta be honest with you, to hear a coach talk that way about the finances of college football is so brazen that I still can't get used to it.

Crazy.

I still I'm still not used to a coach talking about the business that cleanly, but he ain't wrong.

No. I mean, you could probably play that clip and then make a callback to the Stephen a Smith situation. Right? Because that is economics of anything.

I like him.

Not that callback. What are we doing here?

I forgot who that was, but then Chris reminded me of who it was that you said you liked.

People tend to forget what happened with Jaden Rashada. It it'll be curious to see. I'm not here to rain on the parade. We'll all figure it out. Maybe Underwood's an an incredible investment.

It certainly got vibes going good, and they had a good recruiting class thereafter because they had a lot of positive momentum.

Mhmm.

At that position, I'd rather keep my powder dry for something a little bit more proven because we know that the portal's gonna be popping this year. Mhmm. I and as coach Elko spoke to, it does have a residual effect to the rest of your roster. It's gonna be hard to manage. And how long

do you go all in on a

quarterback, but you still lose to Syracuse and you don't make the playoffs?

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