Transcript of This IS The United States Of Tortorella | Local Hour New

I need a ruling from the king of narcissism, Greg Cody, who will be made very happy by listening to the first foray into charitable endeavors involving his catchphrase. Boog Shamby has used a phrase, but he did so imperfectly, and here's the payment structure on how it is we're supporting his charity project, MainStreet.org. Every catchphrase he does is $500. I offered him $1,000 for "Hee Haw 3: Bidet Up." because that is our favorite. And with, uh, Bonetti, the Detroit Tigers broadcaster, uh, I have offered him $100 for every phrase he uses. I suspect he'll be using a lot more, but double that for any that he sings or does with extra tone. And he's, he's also agreed to match that for every one that he does. But I need a ruling from you because the internet sent us that during a broadcast the other day, Boog did do hee haw three badeh up, kind of. This would be a $1,000 that it would be worth, but he did it imperfectly.

You know, the plate umpire will drop his signature like, "Hee haw, 3!" or whatever.

He was good on the, on the "hee haw 3," you know, the musical tone of those 3 words, exemplary.

But he didn't follow it with "badap." I hold it against him that it wasn't a pitch being thrown. He was like just using it in conversation. For me, it needs to be on a strike 3. Yeehaw, 3!

But he's not the umpire.

I know, but you just got to work it in.

Yeah, you got to work it in. I mean, that's a good point by the kid there.

Thank you.

And I'm going to— you know what? I'm going to give him on your behalf. It's not my money. I'm going to give him $500. I got to cut it in half because of the timing of it and because of the lack of ba-dap, which is a sin.

But he did do the tone, right? Let me hear it again because he did do the sing-song and those are worth double.

You know, the plate umpire will drop his signature like, "Hee-haw, 3, or whatever." Right, I'd have given him $750 if he would have said, like Greg Cody says, "Hee-haw, 3!" But I think the "or whatever" diminishes it.

You have to stand 10 toes down on the "hee-haw, 3." Yeah, that's another good point.

Well, so should we take it down yet more? Because I don't think it's worth $500 where he throws it in conversationally. He didn't embrace it. He did it. He did half of it. So it's half-assed.

It was an effort.

You, you all understand you are negotiating giving less money to people suffering from ALS.

Yeah.

Do it right. Honor the catchphrases.

Exactly.

Respect the catchphrase. I think it's on him, right? Like he is the one that is denying the kids the dollar amount. You need to fully embrace your role and try to find ways to work it in. And I think actually working it in, in new places and not the umpire places in conversation.

Yeah, my final ruling, if you're allowing me to rule, would—

as the king of narcissism, I am allowing you to rule.

The final ruling would be $350, but I'm gonna bump it up to $400. To 400.

Just lean back a little bit.

Because of the quality of the singing.

This is the Dan Levator Show with the Stugatz Podcast. We've got a handful of things to get to locally, but that was a spicy basketball game being played last night, and I just want to revisit for a second the expertise of this show. At the beginning of the season, I said that Sandy Alcantara was unhittable, and he became yesterday the first pitcher to give up 10 hits and hit 4 batters in, in a game. He's not very good for them. His ERA is close to 5. It's fairly shocking when he started the season with a shutout and then went into the 9th inning in his next start. Not the worst of my lack of expertise. I also admitted that for the first time that I was a Knicks hater, and as soon as I did that, they ran off the most impressive basketball streak seen in the history of the sport over 11 games. But not the worst crime by this particular, particular prediction outfit. Mike Ryan said flatly that the Colorado Avalanche were going to win the title, and then they lost their next 4 games to Vegas. He tried to take it back 1 game later, an act of cowardice never seen around here before.

Like, that's super rare to say with conviction, Avalanche clearly gonna win the title, and then one game later, can I take it back?

He's—

you asked in a whimper, were you ashamed of that? As a man who says everything with a great deal of confidence, you said with a great deal of confidence that the Avalanche were the best team in hockey. You guys have been talking all year about how unbelievable the Avalanche were.

They won the Presidents Trophy! It's not a crazy thing he said.

No, but I mean, that's now 12 straight teams or 13 straight teams that have won the Presidents Trophy and have failed to win the championship.

And they got swept.

I'm not going to be shamed for showing the emotional maturity to have my opinion evolve with new data.

If we're going to use the word choke, it has to be applied to the Avalanche. They not only won the Presidents' Trophy, they won it by like 9 points over the second-place team. And then to get swept, it's an embarrassment. They get buried by their own avalanche. If I were a Colorado Avalanche fan, I think I'd be a little embarrassed right now.

Can you guys— uh, Zazz decided to watch the hockey playoffs this year. Too good! Uh, can you guys tell me, put some context on what's happening with Tortorella there, where you have a coach—

It ain't the United States of Tortorella!

We're gonna have to edit that to "It is the United States of Tortorella." If they win the championship, you need to edit that cheaply to make it "It is the United States of Tortorella." But give me some context here for a team that won fewer games than the Panthers this season, knocking off that team, and having the potential to win the Stanley Cup when I did not have that at any point this season.

Dan, it's not even anymore about winning fewer games this year than the Panthers did. They won fewer games than the Panthers. They lost more games than they won this year. And how about this? Teams that missed the playoffs, alright, Washington, Detroit, Columbus, Islanders, New Jersey, and the Panthers, all those teams missed the playoffs. More wins than Vegas.

Detroit.

Yeah, why not Detroit? Detroit.

Yeah.

Put it on the poll at Le Batard Show. Detroit or Detroit. They're 95 points in the regular season, would not have made the playoffs in the East. We said yesterday about the Leicester City story, the Jamie Vardy story, that they were plus 5,000, 5,000 to 1. They were to win the Premier League, the biggest upset in the history of sports. You could have gotten better betting odds on finding Elvis alive. Uh, you guys want to guess what Vegas was to sweep the abs? You want to guess?

What do you want to guess? I was thinking about that this morning. I would love to know.

To sweep them? Okay, Vegas to sweep the abs, I'll go +1,800.

Wow, I, I don't think that— that, that's a little much. I would say +500.

+2,500. What? That's absurd. That's how you play the game right there. That is, that is expertly played. You go low, I say a number, You, you sound shocked. That is the correct way to play that game.

Good start to the show, Greg.

You mentioned soccer and there's a cliché in that sport. New manager bounce. It happens in hockey too.

8 games remaining.

And I got to tell you that weird thing that they did after they won their previous series where they closed the locker room and were— they were galvanized by that and they played. If you look at the analytics, this is a Kenny Atkinson thing. Analytically, this is not a sweep. This doesn't really make a lot of sense, but they, they, they have like 4 guys in front of the net. They're eating pucks. They're playing this gritty style. They have timely goalkeeping. They have timely goals. They're really efficient with their shots. Mitch Marner has been a revolution this, uh, this postseason. I am really stunned by this. John Tortorella is now responsible for 2 of the 3 biggest upsets in the history of that sport. Remember, he was a Columbus Blue Jackets— he was a Columbus Blue Jackets head coach when they, they upset a record-setting Tampa Bay Lightning team. Also a Presidents Trophy winner. And Tortorella just does this. He doesn't work over a long sustained period of time. He kind of grinds his guys down, but in a short dose, kind of like Jose Mourinho, like he can just get everybody in a room all on the same page.

Like Mourinho.

United States of Tortorella! There you go. I would give Vegas respect. In their short history, this is the third time in 9 years they've made the final. So we're accustomed to them being a pretty good team. But this year, I think of the final 8, they had the biggest odds to—

But can you guys give me some context here? I'm going to give you a little bit of history, okay? So Tortorella is 19-4-1 since getting there. That's crazy. It just— it really is. It's nuts. And I don't want to understate how good Colorado was. Not just this season, but before they got to Vegas, like in the playoffs before they got to Vegas, they had won 8 of their first 9 playoff games and then they get swept. That does not happen. Okay. This is the first time since 1980 that you lose 1 or fewer games in the first 2 rounds and then you end up swept in this round.

Dan, after, after the first period, they said a stat that that's the first time Vegas has led at the first intermission at home since March.

Yeah, like, Colorado kind of got their ass kicked last night, but the first 3 games of the series, they were hard-luck loser. Like, they, they really outplayed Vegas, and, and, you know, obviously no Cale Makar the first 2 games is a very big deal. Nathan MacKinnon was hurt in Game 3. It's a very big deal, but they had a lot of bad luck this series.

But if they win the title, I know it can be random. I know you usually need a hot goaltender. That's not what this team has needed. Like, You guys explain to me, as people who know hockey better than I do, what's the context for a team that wouldn't be in the playoffs in the other conference, fires their coach a few games before the playoffs, and then knocks off the team that everyone was saying, "Well, they're clearly better than everybody." The post-lockout LA Kings.

That, uh, I think it was their first Cup when they were an 8th seed.

It was like 2011-ish, something like that?

They won fewer than half their games. And that's probably the closest comp to what we're seeing.

I was asking Mike this morning, has a team ever finished under.500 in the regular season like Vegas and won the Stanley Cup? And I mean, I'll check right now, but that's the only example that Mike thought of.

I would, I would think that the answer is no.

This is—

I would think they would be the first.

In this instance, I think the, the astonishing thing here is because you look at the roster, it's— they've kept their core. That's a pretty loaded roster. It's a lot a lot of talent. They added Mitch Marner in the offseason. I think the shocking thing is that they were so bad this season. They were very clearly underachieving. They couldn't beat good teams, and they had all this talent. And it wasn't like seasons before where they were just stashing guys on the, the long-term injury list. I don't know, they just found this extra gear, and credit to Tortorella for, for finding it. They're, they're an absolute wagon right now. Third time in the Stanley Cup Final. Carolina has been in the conversation for basically 2 decades. They are looking to tie the Vegas Golden Knights franchise for all-time Stanley Cup Final appearances.

It makes no sense to me though, okay? It makes no sense to me that you would say that a hockey team that is otherwise very talented fires its coach a few games before the playoffs. Tortorella comes in as a hardass, gets fined $100,000 personally for freezing out the media. They get fined a draft pick. The galvanizing of all that, given what hockey players do for a living, you're giving emotion, energy, chemistry some kind of value before the hockey playoffs that I do not give it because a coach walks into the room in a suit. Mark Malone got fired by the Denver Nuggets right before the playoffs. They didn't go on to the finals. Michael, they didn't go on. Thank you. I made him the mustachioed ex-quarterback of the Steelers, Mark Malone. They didn't go on to the finals though. You don't fire your coach a couple of— you don't fire your coach a few games before the playoffs and have it work.

When does that work? Well, the new coach bump, as Mike alluded to.

But when does that work? That doesn't work.

In that sport quite a bit. I'll find you some historical references, but in that sport, it's— there's a reason why Vegas did that, because historically it has had results.

And the other— sorry, the other factor here is that teams down 3-nothing just don't win. We saw it with the Cavaliers, and we saw it with Colorado. If you're down 3-nothing, mentally you have given up. You know you have no chance.

Uh, Mike's right. The 2012 Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings only won 40 games that year.

But like, we're rooting for Vegas, right? Like, for NBA fans for fans of owners that make the right decisions, not these broke bitch owners. We cannot have the Carolina Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup. It would be an atrocity given what we're talking about with Tom Dundon running around talking to Max Kellerman, talking to Rich Paul, running his mouth saying like, "I'm smarter than you." Dan, you know about those broke bitch owners?

I do know about those broke bitch owners. This is the rare cheap one. You don't get that very often from billionaires, but I enjoy Trista's pantomiming of the sock puppet hand. Who was that? Who were you impersonating? Like, the hand was the owner?

I think it was Kellerman. Oh, it was the owner?

It was Kellerman and A.S.

Looked like Kellerman to me.

Yeah. Which, by the way, did you guys see Kellerman? It was, at the risk of being dumped, like, it was a full-throated fellating of an owner. At the point where it was like, oh my, oh my, you turn the lights off when you leave the room? I never see owners do that. Like, to be so rich and so strategic, like, I thought you were just cheap. Oh my God, you're just efficient. Max, it was disgusting.

So it wasn't merely fellating. It was also full-throated.

Correct.

Wow.

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Limited time offer. Don Lebatard. Lightning.

Panthers.

What do you think?

Stugatz.

Look at this face while I tell this to you. Okay, because I don't want there to be any kind of confusion. You look me right in the eye. Panthers are going to take that ass, man. This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stugatz.

For historical context, 2022. The last time an interim coach made it to the final. You just have to look to the other side of the bracket. Martin Saint-Louis with the Montreal Canadiens, that weird COVID year.

That fake season.

Weird COVID year where the Canadiens somehow won the Western Conference and played Tampa Bay.

I guess, yes, you are correct. The thing I would say to you, what doesn't work is Tortorella was what, 6 games before the end of the season?

8.

8 games. I mean, that's pretty— that's not interim coach, like fired first half of the season.

No, no, no, it wasn't.

St. Louis came in pretty late like that. February 9th is pretty late into the season. I mean, Tortorella was late.

It's a really weird hockey thing.

New manager bounces happen all the time. Guy Sporka runs into the postseason again, a lot like soccer. Guys come in to avoid relegation. Teams get hot, they save for the next year, then they flame out.

How many games do you think it takes for Tortorella to actually know the guys on his team's names by face? Like he's standing on the bench. He could see the back of their jersey, could see their names. But if he's standing in front of them, does he know who's who? How many games has he had?

This is a great question. Do you think in 8 games that a coach would actually know the names of the members of the staff? The players he's going to probably know. He's going to probably know the players. But there's a pretty good chance that Tortorella is still walking around calling people Chief, right? Like people that he doesn't know, or Handsome, calling them something other than their name because he doesn't know.

In his defense, I'm pretty sure he's always done that.

Yeah, probably. And to answer your question, Tristan, no, I can't root for— I can't root for Vegas because I can't be out here rooting for Tortorella. I can't. I've been against that kind of coach the entirety of my life, that kind of coach who's arrogant and thinks he's better than everybody and says, I'm going to come in and make my guys tougher while standing on the sidelines in a suit.

I just don't think we can allow for Vegas Golden Knights fan to continue having this luck. This is just BS.

It's bullshit. They've only been in the league for like 10 years.

Oh, good for them though, right?

I mean, they put on a good show. Have you seen it live? Oh my God, it's like Game of Thrones on ice.

Can I just, uh, comment on Greg Cody? It takes him a minute, uh, to get started up. Longtime columnist of the Miami Herald. Uh, he just— his analysis on the Vegas Golden Knights was just Good for them.

Well, I lean back. I respect a franchise that makes an immediate impact. They've been around 9 years. This is their third final. You got to respect that.

I have no respect for that.

That's fine. I do. But in terms of the rooting interest, all of America should be rooting for the Montreal Canadiens. That's right. That's all of America should be.

No, we don't root for Canada. We root for America.

You root for the best story. You root for the underdog.

That's right.

You root for the Canadian team.

Oh my.

I'm good now, Joker!

You root for the Canadian team to win their first Stanley Cup since 1993. That's what you root for.

VGK's first season was in 2017. They made it to the Stanley Cup Final.

Chris, can you please just cut up for me the sound of him?

Yes, I will!

I'd pay you not to. Your inheritance goes up 10% if you don't.

There's no amount of money that you can pay me that will get us to not play that sound. Don't make it right.

Put it in the club.

I don't think that as Americans we can root for Canada that invented hockey to win the Cup when we own it. America owns the Cup. And while I can't root for Tortorella, I can continue to somehow root for Carolina, and that puts me in a tough spot. Spot between the cheap owner and the jerk coach.

Yeah, I mean, he's like, oh, I gave them towels because I thought in hockey, like, they, you know, we— they shake the towels, and then I come into the Moda Center and they're not doing anything with the towels. Do you not have any respect for coming in and doing a little evaluation before you make changes? They want the t-shirts, Tom.

I'd like to go back to— without quite going as graphic as Ray J— I'd like to go back for a second to the Max the Chairman Rich Paul interview. What were you expecting there? What do you want when you get access to an owner? Did you find yourself getting disgusted as you were watching it that the whole thing was too soft? I haven't seen it. I just saw some of the, uh, some of the quotes that, uh, seem to humanize the owner a little more.

I think it was the editorializing. That was the part that I really was disgusted by. Rich Paul, fine, I don't care. Like, you're an agent, you have to have relationships. And by the way, a lot of people don't know The Portland Trail Blazers are kind of an extension of Clutch Sports. There are Tiago Splitter's a clutch guy, Chauncey Billups is a clutch guy, Shaedon Sharpe, clutch guy, Scoot Henderson, clutch guy, Jeremy Grant.

I believe they got 94 clients, 94 in the NBA players.

I think they're all on the Blazers. And so you've got Rich, who very easily could have some vested interest in connecting with Tom Dundon. Max Kellerman You're a damn journalist. I don't care that you're near Rich Paul. So it was like, not just the softball questions, but it's like a, oh my God, you know, I never really considered this about an owner like you. It was just this, this dripping with compliments and editorializing. We have to probably find some of the bites because it will disgust you all.

Do you guys believe that that's how all the employees are with the owners? Do you believe that the owner has any sort of connection to reality when he walks through a room that has employees in it?

I think you tend to give a little bit of respect, not always earned, to an owner when you're, when you're in his company. You know, I rip Bruce Sherman all the time for not spending any money on the Marlins. If I were sitting face to face with him, I would probably be more polite than I want to be simply because it's the owner. You have access to them.

Fear.

You gotta respect that as well.

Fear. You've got fear.

I don't know about that. I don't know if it's fear. I think it's respecting the access and not wanting to cut that off.

Fear of losing the access.

Well, okay, that's fair. Fear is a little bit of a strong word, but I'm not gonna lead that interview by saying, why the hell are you so cheap? Why are you consistently the 29th owner in paying players? I mean, why? You know, you have to softball it a little bit when you're doing an interview like that.

But you gotta get to it at some point.

Yes, you have to get to it, but you have to softball it in a way that doesn't put him on his guard and all defensive right from the get-go.

Yeah, the rope-a-dope makes sense to me, but the interview just ended without any of those questions.

Okay.

I would love for Greg just to look Bruce Sherman in the face and say, "Why you so cheap?" I would say that without saying it.

Trust me.

I think that you would get into an interview with Bruce Sherman and this is how it would go.

Do you root for the Canadian team?

Oh my. I'm getting all choked up.

You root for the Canadian team.

What was that word?

I speak Greg.

I'm getting all choked up.

You can translate.

You guys didn't hear that? I heard that as clear as possible.

I think you're right.

It's him saying, I'm getting all choked up.

I think you're fluent about your dad's, uh, just general illness.

You root for the Canadian team?

Oh my! I'm good now, Joker!

You root for the Canadian team? Okay, so you have me discussing the Montreal Canadiens with Bruce Sherman. Okay, it makes sense.

In this century, there have been 3 interim coaches in the NHL to take their teams. I was actually off by a year on Martin St-Louis, so I want to clean that up, but Craig Berube with the St. Louis Blues, an even more improbable Stanley Cup Final appearance than what we're seeing right now with Vegas because they were a huge long shot. I think in this century the longest odds to win the Stanley Cup.

They were like last at the All-Star break.

Yeah, it was a crazy turnaround. Dan Bylsma from Pittsburgh and Larry Robinson with the New Jersey Devils at the start of the century as well.

I just want to rewind for a second here, Greg, and I'd like to ask all of you because I know we run a bit of a sloppy outfit around here, but have you guys ever heard heard anywhere else on broadcast television during anything live that you've been watching during programming that sounded anything like this?

You root for the Canadian team?

Oh my.

I'm good, no joker.

You root for the Canadian team? It sounds like the Penguin saying, "Get me the Joker." I'm good, no joker.

Why has this never happened in the history of broadcasting that any of us can remember? Like, while you guys are watching, is it because no one's got a cough? Like, is it because everyone will gather themselves, hit a cough button, and not do that?

Yes.

Can I tell you, I thought about exactly what you're saying for years when I was on the Miami Heat broadcast, all right? Not, you know, why didn't Mike Inglis get choked up or anything like that mid-sentence. How did it never happen to Mike Biamonte? He's in the middle of, you know, saying who scored or—

Dwyane!

That didn't happen once?

Shaquille O'Neal!

Help me!

I'm getting choked up here!

In the meantime—

That was really something I thought about.

Well, I want you guys to just have wash over you. Of all the broadcasts in all of history where all the people are talking into microphones, why have you never heard anywhere but here something like this?

I'm getting a choke up!

Because typically this is a meritocracy.

Plus, I don't want to brag, but I'm at the forefront of that. You know, I invented that. You know, it's not purposeful, but when it happens, the problem is on my own podcast. Every couple of episodes I cough like that because I have conditions that cause that. And it's an edited podcast. And I always immediately say, Yeti, edit that out. And he never does.

No, you never do. And it's happened to me. I was choking on a peanut one time.

On a what?

Uh, uh, uh, hey yo.

Full-throated. I was choking on a peanut one time. It's also happened famously to Bomani Jones.

Welcome back to The Right Time. My name is Bomani Jones. Thanks for listening on ESPN Radio and the ESPN app.

Excuse me.

Help me. You say help me? Welcome back to The Right Time with Bomani Jones here. We're going to be joined by Brian Windhorst, our insider at ESPN here very shortly. I'm good. Something got caught down my throat. Sorry about that, Brian. In the meantime, how do the Cavs not have a general manager right now? Well, someone—

Don Lebatard!

Ahoy, it's Captain Slappy!

Stugatz!

Is this Chum Bucket?

This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stugatz!

John Hollinger, uh, said to Colin Cowherd about Giannis Antetokounmpo, quote, I think Miami is still the most likely destination. They have the best combinations of assets and desperation. I'd— it'd be Giannis and Bam. They'd be a pretty good fit together. It just seems to make more sense to me. If I had to put a dollar on one team I would say Miami. And I just ask you guys—

gambler—

I ask you guys this sincerely. John Hollinger, while he was one of the original analytics guys, while he also worked for an NBA team, what is— and I'm asking this question sincerely, it's not to smear him— what is his credibility here on actually having information? Is this just an opinion, or do you believe that he has information? Because a lot of people are talking about this, and everyone keeps saying Miami's got the assets. And I'm like, not really, I don't think so. I think Boston's got more assets. I think OKC has more assets. What am I missing?

I, I don't think you're missing anything. I think there's a caveat, maybe an understood caveat, that these other teams are, are not going to be as aggressive as Miami, right? That the market may not be as big as we thought it was going to be. I think when someone like Hollinger, who again, I have no idea what information he has, but I think we're I think we're reading the tea leaves as well.

What was, what was that?

I'm good, some just got down my throat. Because Boston's got more assets, especially if they throw Jaylen Brown in. And I, I dare say maybe not if they don't throw Jaylen Brown in, but if Jaylen Brown is thrown into the deal, they're obviously offering more than the Miami Heat would be offering.

But I don't—

more value.

I don't think Milwaukee would want Jaylen Brown. It would be a situation where they would then flip Jaylen Brown somewhere else, because if you're a team that's rebuilding, like Milwaukee's going to rebuild, that's why you're going to trade Giannis you use him for the rebuild. You don't rebuild, rebuild while acquiring a guy who's owed $300 million. Like, that's, that's not how you rebuild.

Yeah, I think it's analytics and cap analyzation really for John. I don't think he's gonna be the insider to deliver some sort of news that you would get from, I don't know, like Barry Jackson or something. Um, no shade to Barry Jackson, but I think truly that would be a three-way trade, uh, Zazz. There's now a lot of news that Portland's trying to get in the mix— not to make it about Portland— to try to get Jaylen Brown. And then Milwaukee would want their two first-round picks in the future back, which is exactly what a rebuilding team would want.

Yeah.

And then, you know, Miami or Boston.

Well, but I don't— I don't— when you guys keep doing this with desperation and Miami, I don't believe you guys have noticed the desperation that has just fallen on Boston. They've fallen behind a New York team that was built to beat them. They have to fix that. Like, that's not— that is not an Executive of the Year. And Brad Brad Stevens, who says that what I have is good enough when it loses in the first round to Embiid. Like, they've got a decent amount of desperation.

I don't even think it's just about Brad Stevens. The thing that I think makes Boston a major player when it comes to Giannis is this is new ownership. This ownership hasn't won a championship. Like, the other ownership won a championship with Tatum and Brown, and they just saw what the last couple years have looked like, including this one where they flame out in the first round. and they may say, yeah, I don't think this is good enough. Let's go get Giannis because we haven't won anything yet.

There is some grain of salt news on the Miami Heat's pursuit of Giannis, according to a longtime NBA writer. And the grain of salt is because his name is Jerry, but he spells it with a G. I don't like that. Jerry Wolffel, he alleges— well, he is reporting that the Miami Heat have made their final offer when it comes to their pursuit of Giannis, which would be Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez, Khalel Ware, and 3 draft picks.

Call him bullshit.

3 first rounds.

You're calling bullshit?

Yeah, I'm calling bullshit.

I mean, that's a haul. It is a haul. I, I'm not sure that Milwaukee, uh, wouldn't want Jaylen Brown's contract but would want Tyler Herro's. I'm not sure about that.

Well, 1 year left on the deal, hometown kid, right? Like, but the 1 year left is more important. Like, it helps you either then trade him at some point or just get the money off your books in a year from now.

Big salary.

Yeah, yeah. But I don't know, like, the reason I say I'm calling bullshit is because, like, I'm like, how do you know it's Heat's final offer? It's their final offer.

You don't know that.

Like, the season isn't even over yet technically. A league year hasn't even started. Final offer.

A helpful note though, it seemed as though from Jimmy Haslam's most recent quotes that are public record, it seemed like they wanted to have this in place well before the draft.

I understand, but like, okay, so we get to the day that the Bucks are going to make their final decision and they call Miami like, hey, we're thinking this now. The Heat are just— let the Heat hang up the phone right after they say, no, we already gave you our final You gotta umpire it. I'm sorry.

Bam Adebayo just won the NBA Social Justice Award. Do you guys know who that's named after? Because in the NFL, the Walter Payton Award is something that is a known thing. Everyone is fighting to get it. I'm not sure that people have much context for what Bam just won as somebody who is a pillar of professionalism in Miami and the face of the franchise.

Right. For sure. I think It's named after, and if it isn't, it should be, Bill Russell.

Malcolm X. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Wow.

Is the correct answer.

Russell got screwed.

But nation! Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, that's, that's a, like, that's nation, right?

I mean, Bill does have another award named after him. It'd be weird to have multiple awards named after you.

You got to.

Get confusing, even.

He deserves it.

Again, Boston fans shitting his bed.

Can I hear Dan choking on a peanut, by the way?

The discussion that we have that makes this complicated is that Shaq makes the sidekick so much better. Shaq makes the sidekick so much better as Dan is choking on a peanut right now. That is my memorable moment ever. I had a peanut shell morsel stuck in my throat. That's the only way to shut me up right there.

Didn't even sound like you. Your voice was high.

I sound so much younger and thinner there.

Well, younger.

Does weight add baritone to the voice?

Put it on the poll at @LebatardShow. Does weight add baritone to the voice? Yes or no? Because I do think I sound younger and thinner there. I don't think that there's any sort of question about that.

I mean, who among us, right? That was 20 years ago. We've all been through so much.

I want to get to this story involving Jason Williams. Jason Williams, a part of a champion down here in Miami. I think Miami fans have really fond memories of White Chocolate and that season, the 2006 season, where they just put together a hodgepodge of people— Antoine Walker, Jason Williams— and they just said, Shaq, Dwyane, you guys figure it out.

Doesn't the story go that after the Heat won that championship and they're in the locker room celebrating with all the champagne, that Jason Williams is just running around yelling, I'm not a cancer.

I was in that locker room and did not hear that. I remember— what I remember about that locker room is Udonis Haslem weeping. It's not something that I had seen before, having covered him since high school. But Jason Williams is, uh, pretty much always honest, and you're not going to find a lot of examples of publicly when speaking to the press, and you're not going to find a lot of examples of what's presently happening with him. Greg, are you familiar with this story at all where you've got— I think I could say that Jason Williams is a University of Florida legend.

He is.

Can I not say that?

Is he like—

he's got a relationship with the school, or had a relationship with the school, and what is—

he goes to games still.

What is presently happening with his daughter, a softball player, uh, has him at odds with his school in a way that has him saying he's simply not going back to campus anymore. How many times was his daughter hit with a pitch in softball?

It was in a 3-game series, 5 3 times. His daughter, who played at Florida for a couple seasons, transferred to Texas Tech. They end up in a regional 3-game series to get to the College Softball World Series. And it was just like I said, 3 times throughout this— 5 times throughout the series she's hit. So there's a lot of John going back and forth. You see the B-roll here. At one point, Jason Williams and other people were kicked out. Jason, I think because of who he was, was allowed back in. So what you're looking at here is late in the game when they're up in the 3rd game, he starts doing a Gator's chomp. He's taunting the other dugout. Florida—

and this game is in Gainesville.

In Gainesville. Florida ends up losing to Texas Tech. Texas Tech makes it to the World Series. He— and then they— the Florida Gators don't shake hands after the game. It was just a very tense series.

Yeah, it was really ugly, and the fans were throwing things at Jason Williams' family during the games, on top of what, what seems to be a lot of bad from her, from Mia Williams transferring last year.

He also did a selfie video right after what you're looking at.

The next day he did this.

Oh, I don't know, whatever. But it was after the game. It seems like it's at the ballpark right after. In here, he gives a little bit of an apology at the end. So I think since then he has said he's not going back. But this is what he said after.

Especially proud of my daughter going back to Florida and doing what she did, going through the shit that she went through this past weekend. Um, if you guys watch the game, you guys see how them Florida Gators acted at the end of the game. They didn't really want to shake hands, they didn't want to do none of that. Um, the crowd tried to get me, uh, ejected, this, that, and the third. Some fans hit my youngest daughter with, with, with some objects. We were asked if we wanted to press charges. Nah, we ain't about that. Let that little old lady live, man. She ain't got much longer to go. She was just mad that the Gators was losing. Look, we moving on to the World Series. We want to do what's right, you know what I'm saying? We were cheering for our team, they were cheering for their teams. Things got out of hand. They said some stuff we— that they weren't supposed to say. We said some stuff we probably wasn't supposed to say. And that's just sports. That's what time it is. God knows what time it is in between the lines. So with that all being said, man, I just want everybody to know I'm happy we won.

You know, I'm a Florida Gator in my blood. But without Florida, I wouldn't be where I'm at today. So we're sorry from our side. That's all I can say. And rep him.

So an apology there, but I think he has since said that he's not going to go back.

Yeah, it doesn't seem like this is ending anytime soon. It's kind of a shame because he said yesterday he, he, he's never going to go back on campus again unless it's to watch his daughter play softball. And the whole thing's a bad look for, for multiple parties involved.

Put it on the poll, please, @LebatardShow. Does God know what time it is? Between the lines, uh, Greg Cody, uh, you are our Dolphin expert, and I don't want to leave the local hour without, uh, honoring, uh, Manny Fernandez. Uh, I don't, I don't know if I could say the 1972 Dolphins are the greatest team in South Florida history. I think, uh, locally I would do what NFL Films does every time they rank the greatest teams of all time. They put the undefeated Dolphins like 4th or 5th, even though they're the only team to ever go unbeaten, but I think we would choose the LeBron, Wade, Bosh teams if we had to choose from all of sports in the pro ranks. Uh, maybe the University of Miami, but in terms of what the history is in this market, Manny Fernandez, as somebody who had the Fernandez name in Miami in 1972 as part of an undefeated legacy— I'd just like to give the floor to Greg Cody as somebody who wrote the— literally wrote the book on 50 years of Dolphins football.

Yeah, he was a guy that— he was of Mexican descent. His teammates used to lovingly refer to him as Taco, and he was one of these players, he didn't make that— he only played 8 seasons because of injuries. He didn't— he wasn't an All-Pro every year or anything like that, but in 2 Super Bowls in a row, he really rose up. I was just speaking to Larry Zonka about it yesterday, and he was a beloved player and, and too many of those guys are dying. He died at 79 in a small town in Georgia, and, and he is one of the all-time great Dolphin players. I don't think he gets enough attention for that, but he is. And sometimes posthumously, you know, you appreciate more than you do beforehand.

Cyclone's probably in that class, it seems, of all time.

Zazz would be the kind of guy— he's the kind of guy but lovingly named someone with the last name Fernandez as Taco.

Yeah, it is. It is racist. You throwing the lovingly in front of it doesn't make it less racist.

I think it does. I think it does.

Georgia. Georgia. That's what you were going to say. You weren't going to say cyclones. You were afraid of the somber tone. You were afraid of the somber tone.

You brainbeat me.