Transcript of The Worst Take Nick Wright Has Ever Heard | Hour 1 New

This is the Dan Levitart Show with the Stugatz Podcast.

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It is pretty funny, I think, how fickle some of this stuff is because what was an all-time choke job, if Merrill's shot goes in, isn't. And it's crazy, uh, to think that— that is Nick Wright's laughter you hear there. I've never heard this happen to Mike Breen on that shot.

Merrill, 3-pointer, back in and out!

That one halfway down! I've never heard that happen to Mike Breen, consummate professional, before. Merrill's shot goes down, right? Merrill, 3-pointer, back in and out!

That one halfway down!

That's the difference between today's news stream, uh, Nick Wright feeding on the negativity of the day, uh, calling the Cleveland Cavs chokers and coming after Kenny Atkinson.

Yeah, it's correct.

Good point.

If things that didn't happen happened, the analysis would be different. Yes, I agree, the margins are thin in sports. And shout out, by the way, to Mike Breen here. My take on that is I think he is so Oh, I think he is such a pro that he has somewhere in his subconscious, I'm the Knicks announcer, and if the Cavs hit this shot, I have to give it the full throat and the full enthusiasm. And almost to offset any perceived biases, he preloaded the bang, which is one of the reasons he's just great. I love that crew as a whole. I think they're outstanding. But sidebar on that, I, I— and Dan, you know how much I adore you— I hate that, that type of sports analysis. Well, you know, if this thing had— if this shot went in and this shot missed, we'd be saying different things. Yeah, of course. The way to avoid having it come down to one lucky bounce one way or the other is to not blow a 22-point lead with 7 left.

Yeah, Nick, but the problem is we don't talk about Harden and Mitchell gagging if Merrill makes the shot that they had nothing to do with. They're sitting there, they're sitting there at the top of the key looking at each other. They're both there to take the final shot. Someone else takes the final shot and misses it.

God, you're gonna—

I'm—

you're gonna drive me crazy. That maybe we're not talking about it in, in this context, like, wow, they avoided total catastrophe. But it is not as if Harden and Mitchell were passive observers, mostly Harden, to this utter collapse. Yes, Merrill could have bailed them and Kenny Atkinson out, but that doesn't change the fact that somehow they allowed this to happen with the Knicks scoring no fast break points in the fourth quarter. It was a comeback unlike one I've ever seen, where it wasn't that the Knicks all of a sudden got red hot from three, it wasn't that the Knicks all of a sudden got out in transition, It was that every single possession down the court, they found where James Harden was, they hunted him, and the Cavs and Kenny Atkinson had a panic attack. Like, that, that is what happened. And I'm not killing Donovan Mitchell today. I haven't even— I haven't talked— I'm not killing anybody today. This is the first time I'm talking about this game. But James Harden deserves all of the scrutiny that he is going to get. And everybody loves my stat now that it's now over 1 out of 4 of his career playoff games where he has more turnovers than made field goals.

He's nearing 50 on that counter, which leaves us for the Cleveland Cavaliers once again in a very familiar place this summer where their entire plan is, um, LeBron, can you come save us? Because this ain't— James Harden's one good game of playoff series ain't gonna cut it.

Nick, do the Cavaliers have a coach?

Yeah, Kenny Atkinson. He did a very, very poor job yesterday.

I mean, I just don't understand, like, what— why is the Why do the Knicks get to dictate what the Cavs defense is going to do every single possession? It's like, they— we want to switch, we want Harden guarding Brunson. Okay, sure, let's do it then.

Well, I mean, I think— listen, I don't think the Cavs have the perimeter defensive personnel to really off— it's not like Donovan Mitchell is a great stopper. Dan's guy Sam Merrill is not a stopper. Schroeder's not a stopper. That was one of the reasons that the Knicks, in my opinion, were at such a decided advantage going into this series. I have less of an issue with Kenny Atkinson not making a tactical adjustment because I don't know how many tactical adjustments there were to make. And him not— I really think he froze. Him, you, after the 2— after, is it the 2-minute mark or 3-minute mark when your use or lose it timeouts go away? Whatever it was. He had 4 and it goes down to 2 and he just let them fritter away. He used— he— it went from a 22-point lead to a 5-point lead before Atkinson used a single timeout. And it is worth noting that right after he used his one timeout, they had a design play and banged a 3. That— listen, that was as bad of a playoff loss as you will simply ever see, and it is it is catastrophic in a way that whatever good feelings you had, if you're a Cavs fan, after round 2 and after Harden's Game 5, you are now staring at, in my opinion, a quick Eastern Conference Finals loss where you ask yourself, how can we possibly run this thing back and believe next year will be better?

Okay, I believe you've been infected almost entirely by being the center of the content machine. Why does it have to be as bad a playoff loss as you will ever see in instead of as good a playoff win as you will ever see? Why does it— why can't it be that the Knicks took that from them and did that to them?

Because Zazz asked me about the Cavs coach. We can talk about the Knicks all you want. That's a great playoff win by the Knicks, Dan. Jalen Brunson is throwing his hat in the ring if anybody cares about this designation of, hey, I might be the best American basketball player. Anthony Edwards, Cade Cunningham, Jason Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, step aside. It might be me. You guys all wanted that. All the Knicks fans wanted Donovan Mitchell. I was the consolation prize. And Jalen Brunson might say, I'm just flatly, by any way you want to look at it, the better player. And I think the Knicks have a real shot of winning the entire thing because I think OKC-San Antonio is going to be an absolute 7-game war. And you could see a bit of what we saw in 2016 where the 2016 Western Conference Finals were such a slugfest and a war of attrition that the Cavs are able to slide in the back door in the Finals and win a title when they, you know, probably all things considered were not the better overall roster. So I think the Knicks should be over the moon. I think Jalen Brunson is a living New York City legend and it was a great comeback.

However, We— and you can say this is the content machine, I'm not quite certain. Normally for it to— the great comebacks or individual— the team that had a huge lead that gets walked down, normally we think of the winner in that context if there was a singular all-time performance on the winning side as opposed to a collective meltdown on the losing side.

Okay, except though, what you got from Brunson in the fourth quarter was an annihilation. No, but it was an annihilation of a Hall of Famer that made me feel like they were being cruel to him, which is not a feeling I usually have for Hall of Famers. What they did to Harden, what swept over me there, I felt very strongly like what the Knicks did was unprecedented. That, that the—

it was.

And, and so yes, someone has to contribute to that, but when you make it about Atkinson and timeouts, it assumes that there are a lot of people in in the history of Earth who could have withstood what it is that the Knicks just did, and I don't think there are.

Oh, I think the vast majority would have, actually. I think you're wrong there. I think what the Knicks just did gets stymied if every time they put together 5 straight points, you could— that there is a stop to the bleeding. It's why timeouts exist. Then why do they have them, Dan? Why would every other coach use them? And again, you— I mean, and you're doing a very fancy wordplay, which I appreciate, which is what Jalen Brunson and the Knicks did to a Hall of Famer. When James Harden makes the Hall of Fame, how far down the resume are we talking about his defense? Yes, they did it to a Hall of Famer, but not a Hall of Famer who's going to be in the Hall of Fame because of his perimeter defensive prowess. It's because of his scoring and passing. But go ahead.

No, I just hate the idea that you would make that game about timeouts like that. You would—

I didn't. Zazz asked me a goddamn question. I told him Deflect. No, I, I, my, my number one takeaway was not about timeouts. That is a sub, that is a subheader of why the collapse happened. There's multi-layered reasons as to why the collapse happened. Uh, primarily I would think is because yes, the Knicks were excellent, the Cavs got a little loose, the Garden crowd got insane, Jalen Brunson was unconscious. All of that led to what is an unprecedented collapse. Like, that's comeback. I, I— it felt more collapsed than comeback. Sometimes things feel like a sick— 28-3 in the Super Bowl felt more comeback, where it was— there are a couple minor moments you can pick out where the Falcons didn't do great things, but that was mostly Patriots brilliance. The multiple of the Chiefs' double-digit playoff comebacks felt more comeback. This felt collapse. This felt like if they had simply just played competent basketball for 60 seconds in the final 7 minutes, or if Merrill had made a shot with a win, or if Merrill had made a shot. Yes, yes.

Or Mobley, or Mobley, or Mobley for that matter, or anybody on the team, or anybody. Take a free throw, or anybody.

Call a timeout.

Yeah, but I mean, I don't, I don't view sports that way at all. And, and if you're, if your season is coming down to—

how do you view sports though? What are you, what are you doing there? Because all I'm going to get, I'm going to take the new lane now here late in life of I'm just going to be super positive sports guy. I'm going to, I'm going to try and take—

hey, that's Mike Emeke.

I'm going to try and see how it is I do amid argument culture, just being guy who comes in and tries to spread sunshine.

No, and that— listen, and that's— I appreciate that, and I think there is a lane for everything now. There's a— you can't fill up the lane of, you know, veiled threats to superstar athletes. That lane's taken. So being super positive guy, I like. But I think it is a flaw in— if your game comes— you've mentioned James Harden, future Hall of Famer. Donovan Mitchell, future Hall of Famer. And yet you're talking about missed threes by Evan Mobley, who's a nice player but not a great shooter, and Sam Merrill, who is the 9th best player on the team, or 8th best player on the team. That is— that's a flaw by the Cavs. It's a good job by the Knicks making sure those are the guys getting the shots. But I'm not— I just don't— like, I'm just curious, Dan. Yesterday I apologize, I didn't hear the show yesterday. How much time did you spend while we were all understandably bowing at the altar of Wemby saying, you know, if he just misses the 32-footer, he finishes with 29 points and they lose?

Oh, I said that's a bad shot by Wemby.

Yeah, he spent like the whole show. That's the worst take I've ever heard.

It's a terrible shot by Wemby. He made it, but it was a 2-for-1, Dan.

He's a crazy person.

I don't really buy that it was a 2-for-1. However, it wasn't a 2-for-1.

It wasn't— no, the ball bounces off the rim. There's going to be 20 seconds left.

Like, where are you taking the shot, Dan? No, I agree with you. I don't really buy that it was a 2-for-1. That part, this idea that Wimby saw that it was the time score situation, that part I don't buy. And a 2-for-1 also is like— never mind, doesn't matter.

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Limited time offer. Dan Lebatard!

Baker Mayfield tearing up Tampa Bay, 38 for 45!

Stugatz!

Shrek!

This is the Dan Lebatard Show with the Stugatz.

However, there is a subset of certainly sports fans and sports front offices, and now it seems via Dan Lebatard, maybe even some sports media that really feel like, you know, that we shouldn't— baseball standings should not be wins and losses, it should be overall season run differential. Yeah, and NBA, and honestly, let's take it to a further— forget run differential because there is some randomness in that. And in the NBA, instead of actually counting makes and misses, it should just be shot quality. Like, you guys play for 48 minutes, they— whether it makes or misses is random. Like, that Mikael Bridges, or I don't know, was it Bridges or Shamet, the 3 that bounced 3 times? That, that shot was worth less— Shamet. That was worth less than Sam Merrill's shot. So at the end of the game, let's get the Ernst Young together and do some accounting and see who really spiritually deserved to win. I mean, I—

I'm not joking, Nick, when I tell you I would have been good with all the rules being changed. And as soon as the Shammett shot dropped, we end the game and say the Knicks have won Game 1. Thank you for coming. We're going to change the rules on how all of this was done. This is not meant to be Cleveland's night. Let's just finish this up. Let's play for Nick the sound from yesterday of the OKC Thunder call that I believe to be better.

I heard you guys do this.

I believe it to be better than "Do you believe in miracles?" And I want to play this sound for you. This is the OKC Thunder radio team. It's the biggest shot of the season, one of the most memorable shots ever taken, even though it was a low-efficiency shot he shouldn't have taken. And it was not celebrated in any way by the OKC Thunder radio team. Wembenyama has the left wing castle, trailing Wemby, lean in, 30-foot 3 to tie is in there. 26.3 to play.

It's in there.

In all seriousness, Dan, because of the power of this radio show— radio show, YouTube show, streaming show, all of it— and your wonderful social media team, and that your guys' discussion of that got amplified, you know that silly meme of the guy with the escalating size of dominoes, and it's like this is the first domino and the giant domino Do you think you— your guys' segment on that OKC announcer was the first domino, and the final big domino was Mike Breen's premature bang? Where it was like, I'm not— oh, I am not going to be underwhelmed with excitement if the great Sam Merrill, who hasn't been talked about this much since his high school graduation, uh, it makes this shot. I do think, because I would imagine Breen's probably— yeah, that meme, that thing. I would imagine Breen has— I don't know Mike really at all, but I assume you do, and I assume he's a fan of the show because I assume everybody is— that he's like, I'm not gonna be the OKC media team. If Cleveland hits this shot, I'm gonna be impartial, fair announcer, and I'm gonna give it the full bang treatment.

Merrill, 3-pointer, in and out! What happened to him? I wonder if he's embarrassed.

Let me—

let's call Mike Breen and just ask him if he's embarrassed. I wanna— I do want to find out.

Hold on, don't do that. Can you do that when I'm not on the air? Because I don't have a good enough— he— if he's not listening right now, I don't want him to think I was poking fun. There's only a handful of broadcasters in the world that, like, I really want that if my name ever comes up, the person to be like, I don't know him, but he seems like a good guy. And I don't want to blow that with Mike.

Okay, that's fine. We'll wait. We'll wait for you to leave. I'm gonna tell people that, uh, Nick Wright is the host of FS1's First Things First, and it is a really great show, and he's really great on it. Uh, What's Right with Nick Wright, it's something that I, uh, prefer only because it most represents what Nick Wright was as a radio person with a lot of room. Television can be confining and stuff, and so he has a lot of room to do what he did yesterday. And I urge you to check it out when he was talking about Stephen A. Smith. He is respectful of the people in this business who are great and before him, and it feels like it costs you at least a little bit to be this kind of critical of Stephen A. Smith. But I have been embarrassed on behalf of journalism when he comes after the Jaylen Browns of the world with these kinds of threats. And I thought while your analysis was good, you missed one thing, which is—

tell me—

uh, you're very competitive, and Stephen A. Smith I think is more competitive. And all he wants to be is bigger than everyone in sports and journalism. He wants to be bigger than Cosell. And so because he makes more money actually and owns his own shit than Jaylen Brown does, he believes that the second-best player on the Celtics isn't worthy of Cosell. Like, he doesn't—

hold on, he doesn't make more money than Jalen.

Yeah, he does. Oh no, yeah, he does. With both contracts and the ownership of all his stuff. Yes, he does. Yet with both contracts and the ownership of all his stuff, Stephen A. Smith is absolutely someone who views himself as above Jalen Brown sports and journalism.

Now listen, I've— listen, I can't— the— I— it feels, even though I referenced it yesterday, maybe a little tawdry to get into what the actual you know, line item finances are. So set aside what the actual, you know, your W-2 at the end of the year looks like. That last point you made is exactly correct, and that is the point that I was trying to push against.

You are—

it is without a doubt that the view is, you know, I am— that Jalen Brown needs to be careful when talking about me because of our places in the sports ecosystem. And the point that I was trying to make is I think that is absolutely, utterly ridiculous. And I think that it is a mistake by any of us in this, in this industry to not recognize that we are accouterments to the big event and the the, the reason we can have as good of lives and make as much money as we do is somewhat of a testament of our own ability, or, you know, the work ethic, all that. But the bigger gravitational pull is it is a sign of how overwhelmingly popular the actual games, the actual athletes, the actual again, Teddy Roosevelt, the men in the arena actually are, that we as the carnival barkers on the outside can gain our own level of fame, celebrity, or wealth where our only utility is discussing them. So I think it is a— I, first of all, I just think he's wrong in that if that's how he feels. Second of all, even if he's right, I think there is a level of of embarrassment to.

Dan, if in 20 years I am looking down barrel at a camera and saying, "Deuce Tatum, watch your back when talking about me," I'll commit seppuku. Like, I don't know what to tell you. Like, I— there is a level of— these are much, much younger famous athletes and the, the— it's been a decade of veiled threats dating back to the KD thing, and I just don't understand it. Like, I don't—

Nick, it pays. He's rewarded for it. Anytime he engages any of these guys, it's better for him. But it distorts— like, this machine absolutely distorts the self-importance of the people who have the microphones. And he wants to be president of the United States. Like, sports is now beneath him. The journalism is now beneath him. He fancies himself as someone who's above these people. He has the platform at Disney that makes it okay for him to threaten them with the threat of doing journalism to them.

Well, that's the other piece of it. The other piece of it that I found a little curious, and again, you're right, at the front end I said, and I will say again, and I have for years defended Stephen A. Path to where he is because he did all the jobs, he did real journalism, and he back then and now works as far as hours a day as much as anyone in the business. He wasn't handed any of this shit, and I really genuinely respect that. I don't so much love the idea that he has all this seemingly useful and noteworthy and reportable information that he is just sitting on as kompromat rather than sharing it with the audience. Like, he implied he knows things about Tatum and Brown's relationship that he's just sitting on. Well, if that's the case, the audience would love to know that. But to just have it in your back pocket as leverage over Jaylen Brown's Twitch stream strikes me as patently absurd.

Well, it's embarrassing. It is. It's embarrassing. He shouldn't be doing that. He shouldn't be allowed to do that. It has no resemblance to journalism to threaten people with journalism, like to extort them with journalism.

I'll do it. I'll report.

It just— I don't know why he's doing that beyond it pays. Like, it absolutely pays to get all of these guys feuding with you.

Yeah. The other reason might be he saw your Pulitzer winner Do It to Me about supposed gambling stories he had about me, and he was like, maybe that's the way you do journalism. Speaking of your Pulitzer winner, shout out. I haven't been on here since then. That is sincerely awesome, not just for Pablo, also for you guys as a whole and the whole company. Thank you. And I think he just also won something else yesterday, and then Tuesday at the Emmys he's probably gonna win a few more things. And that's before we even get to the awards he's gonna win for yesterday's episode where he broke the story that it turns out Oz the Mentalist isn't actually magic. Ooh, thanks for stepping on my joke to correct the pronunciation.

My bad.

You would have killed the shipping container for that.

You're right.

Oh, goodness gracious.

You're right.

But I really— no, I really enjoyed— I really did it. I do enjoy. And I— the, the congrats were sincere, this a little less so, of Pablo's intrepid journalism yesterday of, hey, this other guy's done a 5-hour YouTube video about this. Let me interview him. And it turns out magic's not real. I appreciated it. I did enjoy it. I was captivated.

Uh, he won a national—

you mean he can't read minds? You mean Joe Rogan is easily duped? You mean on The View they have a pre-show meeting? Holy shit. Where's Woodward and Bernstein?

Dan Levitard.

It's all about me, Stugatz.

This is the Dan Levitard Show with the Stugatz.

Pablo won a National Magazine Award yesterday. He's so proud of himself. Yeah, but Nick, but he's also lashing out and he's got me vulnerable because I did step on his punchline, but he's lashing out because Mina and Pablo have been kicking his ass lately.

No, no, listen.

Look at this guy.

Hold on, I have to, I have to read you. Wilds is gonna get so mad at me. But I don't care. I have to read you a— I'm, I'm breaking a confidence. I'm reading you a text from Wilds right after Mina won Jeopardy.

A million dollars for charity, by the way. Tell us when you've done that.

She's a legend. She's a legend. And well, when I've done it, I'm going to give the same answer I gave in the argument with Pablo the first time I tried, probably. But It's not the point. So Mina's TV show NFL Live is nominated in the same category, uh, Sports Show of the Year, Daily Sports Show of the Year, as First Things First at the Emmys on Tuesday. Text from Wilds to me Saturday morning, unprompted, out of nowhere: If NFL Live wins the Emmy on top of Mina winning Jeopardy and $1 million for charity, On Wednesday's show, we are leading with, did Nick Wright's championship window close? God, it's a good joke.

It's pretty good.

I'm sorry I stepped on yours. A fine admonishment from you. See you later. What's Right with Nick Wright is the name of the podcast. Host of FS1's First Things First is the— First Things First is the television show. You should check that out as well. So if you did not see what he did though on Stephen A. Smith on What's Right with Nick Wright, I urge you to see it because, uh, it's an interesting deconstruction on the cotton candy contaminants that end up making it so that Stephen A. Smith's entire worldview gets distorted by the competition of I want to be the modern-day Kosell. How do I for legacy purposes and forevermore. How do I get remembered beyond where and how Jaylen Brown will be remembered? Like, that's what the fight is for somebody who is supremely competitive. And I saw the Shipping Container, uh, react when I said that Stephen A. Smith is making more than Jaylen Brown. And while that is not the only way to keep score, it does seem to be the way that a lot of capitalists are keeping score when they align their politics with their pocketbook. Stephen A.

Smith is making $20 million from First Take a year. He's making about that from SiriusXM, and he also owns his own stuff, owns all of his own things, and has total freedom. So if he doesn't make exactly what Jaylen Brown is making, he is in a stratosphere where the greatest of the people paid for speaking about sports are paid as well as the people who play sports. Tom Brady is presently being rewarded more for talking about sports than he was for playing sports. The economy The economy of what we do around here is such that our show, much smaller than everything Stephen A. Smith is paid, our show is just simply worth more than a great many athletes that you consider great. Think about what we do every day. Think about what we're doing in here and what it's worth, because we've made it so that the content about sports is as valuable as the athletes who play sports. We've made it so the streaming services need all of this stuff. And so Stephen A., when he squares up with Jalen Brown doesn't even feel like he's squaring up with an equal. He feels like he's squaring up with someone who's beneath him.

And the thing that Nick Wright is complaining about is that's wrong. Like, we are the court jesters and the, the carnival barkers and the people who feed at this trough because those guys are so popular, because those guys are doing the hard things that fans celebrate and want to pay for. And we get get the leftover money.

Yeah. Stephen A. Smith is his own unicorn, though. He wants to be controversial. He wants to be the guy with the big ego. He wants to be the guy looking at an athlete saying, I'm bigger than you and I'm better than you. And that's part of why people love him and hate him at the same time.

But if these players, and in this case it's Jaylen Brown, they say something back at Stephen A. Smith, like a guy like Stephen A. Smith on television is talking about Jaylen Brown and his play or commenting on something he said, which is Stephen A.'s job. And then if someone like Jaylen Brown comes back and says things that he did, should Stephen A. not respond?

Content is king, and he has to respond. He just doesn't have to respond by elevating things to threats, right? Like, there are any number of ways that you can respond that take exit ramps before the one that will garner the most attention because you're escalating things. Look, man, Cosell playfully fought with Ali. Stephen A just fought with LeBron in a way that was just asinine. Like, the whole thing was asinine. But you can only do that if you think you're his equal.

I'm just learning that Stephen A accused Jaylen Brown of this, but I think Jaylen Brown's using Stephen A here, and he's using that platform, and he's using what he is lamenting because Jaylen Brown seems to be going through something this offseason, whether the, the whole evil plot at the end of the day is to force his way out of Boston in, in a kinder way than we're used to. But I think he knows exactly what he's doing.

You think making a mess publicly with Stephen A. is a way out of Boston, or just the other stuff where it's weird Twitch stream? No, the first stuff.

I, I think Jaylen Brown has gone into this offseason after enjoying a season which he's already said was his favorite season, where he was undeniably be the man because he wants to keep doing it. And I think he likes being the main character. Yeah. And I think a way to keep his name— because his name has been in the news stream in ways that we're not used to, even well after his team is eliminated. I think this is a conscious, smart effort by Jaylen Brown.

The place that, you know, that makes sense. But I think when Jaylen Brown then started going after Stephen A., I feel like he was deflecting there where instead of looking back at the things you said and taking responsibility for that being why people were coming after you, instead he made it about Stephen A. Smith. So I get it where the first part can be, alright, he's trying to get his way out of Boston, but if that were actually the case, would he then actually be upset at people getting mad at what he said?

There are plenty of people that go at Stephen A., and Stephen A. will tell you that he goes out of his way to avoid them because he doesn't want them to get the attention. Maybe the be the endgame here, Spence, for Jaylen Brown is he just likes being talked about. Oh, but in ways that he, he grew accustomed to for the first time this season.

Uh, but can it also be that he's just pissed off about the way that he's covered because he doesn't like it because he's a smart adult and that's not how we've usually covered people? Like, it'd be both. Well, but I think he speaks on behalf of the athlete army when he gets pissed off at the idea, why is the media allowed to talk about us this way. Like, I see it when Stephen Jackson goes after Mad Dog, even though if I were to say to you, in their respective fields, who was better at what they did, champion Stephen Jackson or Mad Dog? Mad Dog would be better at what he did in his respective field. You have this tension happening between both groups, and Jaylen Brown, on behalf of his group, is saying, hey, journalists, stop behaving this way because Stephen A's the avatar for us, right?

But Stephen A doesn't need Jaylen Brown's help to go viral. Jaylen Brown just went viral and continues to be a part of the discourse because he is now publicly sparring with Stephen A. I think he kind of likes it then.

Isn't this also just a lack of understanding from the player in this spot where they say, why are you allowed to cover us and talk about us this way? Part of them covering you and talking about you this way leads to the massive TV deals that pays now. Again, we talked about this a couple days ago, that the fans are not paying your salaries anymore. It's the TV deals that are paying your salaries. And like, him doing this, this is a major reason why you make the money you make.

I think another factor in all this is that the adversarial relationship between media and athletes has grown exponentially because now all of the top athletes have a podcast. They have a voice to say to everybody that they don't agree with what— but that's just been written.

But that's part of what happens with the division, guys. You have seen, okay, sports radio had a lower standard than anything else in newspapers and television, and it ate everything else up with its acid. Athletes do not like being covered the way sports radio covers them. But it used to be that First Take was the worst and most embarrassing show on ESPN. Now it's the only show on ESPN. And so when that happens, with the corrosive result of sports radio has eaten all this up, the 29-year-old who's an adult, who's smart, who's proud, who's excellent at what he does, says, don't cover me like that. Like, the way you're covering me, I believe, would be objectionable to a proud adult who had accomplished what Jaylen Brown has accomplished to get to where he is.

Doesn't it come with the territory? As, as I mean, sports media is as old as sports being televised. And I think that there's a general understanding. Jaylen Brown kind of highlighted that, that speaking to the media is a part of his contract. All of this helps them. Fighting helps. It helps ESPN. It helps Stephen A. It helps Jaylen Brown. It helps the NBA.

Yes. The answer to your question is yes. Does it come with the territory? The answer is yes. The answer to this question is also yes. Is it worse than it's ever been with the media as athletes are more sensitive than they've ever been about it? Yes. And so that's the evolution. That's— this is the front lines and the top of the food chain on what the war looks like when it— when it's this— when Stephen A. Smith could look down from a mountain and say, Jalen, you're using me for clickbait. You're— you need me here. That's everything that's happening in, in this war, and it keeps getting uglier and uglier. And you tell me how it serves Stephen A. Smith or Jaylen Brown to be two Black people fighting in public at this time about this stuff as the divisions in this country make it so that it foments. Go ahead and have the powerful Black people, brown people, women, have them all fighting each other.

Don't you think it's funny that the athlete lament as old as time has always been like, you don't know what it's like to play this game. And so now they go to content creation and still say that to content creators. Totally. Who never hit them back with, "You don't know what you're doing, and the only reason you're getting anywhere is because you're invoking the name of a content creator." The playing between the white lines only seems to apply to the sports. Totally. And they can come over and have a billion failed podcasts and just keep toeing the company line.

It's just funny. And plus, Stephen A. Smith is saying to himself, and sometimes out loud, I am playing the game. I'm playing my game better than you play your game.

Uh, that's one of the things that I find so interesting about the athletes flooding this particular space. When you come to fight with Stephen A. Smith, what you're doing is playing his game his way on his turf, and he's better at it than almost anybody is. It's a losing proposition for the athlete to go on his court, just like it would be a losing proposition for him to wear that jacket and dress shoes and try to play Jaylen Brown on his court.

If you Nothing's lamer and more predictable than an athlete going on a podcast to tell a podcaster he doesn't know how to play sports.