This is the Dan Levator Show with the Stugatz Podcast.
There are any number of things as that I can shake my fist at and be an old man shouting at clouds on, and I've been that here as it regards the combat sports being sort of eaten up by a need for fame instead of merit. Okay, the headliner on that Netflix fight, I don't get to decide this. Netflix fight. All of that is a huge success, and what Jake Paul has created over my objections leaves me behind because it's about fame right now, not about talent. That is not what should have headlined your Netflix fight, but the reason it's headlining your Netflix fight is just because of the novelty of two past-their-prime fighters who happen to be pioneers in women's fighting, which Jake Paul has done a great deal for, more than most. Jake Paul has been a monster success as a promoter. I'm assuming that his fighting career is done. He's not going to do any better than getting a bunch of people watch Anthony Joshua break his jaw.
He, he said on the post-show, or maybe it was late in the show, he said that he's been cleared. Like, he, he's planning on fighting again.
Oh, I just assume though that there's nothing that he can do that will top that, that there's no gate attraction, however creative creative he is. Carano versus Rousey is creative. It's just not a good fight. It's a ridiculous fight to have, but what matters now is fame. It's why McGregor's coming back. McGregor's about to be back and he's fighting an old person fight.
No, he's not. He's not fighting an old person fight, Dan. Showing your ass right now. He's fighting Max Holloway, one of the greatest to ever do it.
What are you talking about?
Old guy? What are you talking about, old guy?
Did you see how Dana White announced—
that was the best part—
McGregor's return on Saturday night? Dana White dropped the official Conor McGregor announcement during Francis Ngannou's walkout.
Prime pettiness from Dana.
Come on, man. That's bullshit.
Ngannou really showed Dana White the value of the individual.
He's awesome.
Yeah, it's an interesting tension. I mean, that guy's awesome. His story's awesome, and what he did as a fighter in terms of showing everybody the unfairness of how it is that Dana White locks up his fighters and doesn't actually pay them what they're worth.
You see, he gave his fight bonus to his opponent? $100,000. Almost killed the man. That's no joke. For someone who stopped UFC because they don't pay enough, he just gave his opponent $100,000.
So I want— both things can be true, right? I cannot like much of what Jake Paul represents and also salute him for having done what Oscar De La Hoya has done in terms of turning a fighting career into a promotions career because he absolutely knows how to, uh, tailor content for young people in a way that I find bothersome as someone who wants to appreciate, uh, the merit of two people get into a cage and it's just them and the bravery of that, of being embarrassed. What— you don't have teammates, You don't have help. You're just there with your stamina, your courage, your exhaustion, your fear, and you risk being embarrassed the way that Gina Carano was embarrassed after she's lost 100 pounds to get to that point. She revealed that, uh, before the fight. I was not aware that she was pre-diabetic and that she lost 100 pounds in order to just even get into that fight. But where are you guys on these fights that are basically just get them in the circus tent, we're going to change boxing? It can't be about just merit anymore. It has to be about fame, entertainment, and other things.
So I had an interesting experience watching the fights on Saturday night, and, and I'd be interested for Tony to confirm my suspicion here. So I, I watched the whole fights Saturday night, and, and I, and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the card. I watched all 5, 6.
So you can't do 5 hours standing next to the cage, but you can do 5 hours sitting watching on television?
Totally. Well, I also had on the small TV in the Zaslo Mansion family room I had Canadiens and Sabers, which was a real disappointment that Montreal couldn't wrap that thing up. Hopefully they do tonight on the road, Buffalo, Game 7. That's neither here nor there.
Roy, why are you waving a hand at him?
No, because the Sabers are gonna win Game 7 tonight.
Okay, that's fine, but like, I could still root for the team I want to root for. Why are you objecting to that?
Because you're wrong.
Again.
But why does he think he's wrong?
It hasn't happened yet.
How am I wrong? But how is he wrong? He's not wrong yet.
He's not wrong yet, but I believe the Sabers are going to end up winning this game.
Okay, so there you go, completely. It's a belief, but everyone's rooting for Buffalo. You don't.
You're wrong.
I think Montreal wins too, Zazzle.
Thanks, Mike.
They've been very resilient after losses.
I mean, they were up 3-1, they lost 8-3. Damn, my god, at home, 8-3?
Sheesh.
So anyway, I could watch the game at home and I enjoyed it. And you know what, the thing that drew me, of course, was Rousey and Carano, which you knew it was always gonna end like that. I said on Friday, it's gonna be quick. It's gonna be a shit show, and yeah, Ronda Rousey looked great because she fought an actress, alright? Like, she fought an actress who had not fought in 17 years, who was in her mid-40s, alright?
Who had to lose 100 pounds to get in.
She fought an actress.
Good for her, by the way.
She's great in Deadpool, alright? She fought an actress. Love her. So of course she looked good. But I enjoyed all of the fights because they all were finishes, and 4 of the 5 were finishes, or 5 of the 6 were finishes in the first round. And, and then I was reading, like, they ended in spectacular fashion, all of them. And then I was reading, like, oh, they probably booked the card that way so that there can be, like, you're not gonna have this technical, you know, show that real hardcore MMA fans are gonna like, but for casuals who are watching on Netflix, maybe someone like me You're gonna get finished. Oh, this is gonna be exciting.
Sazhlo, I can make a convincing argument, uh, that ranges from the casuals to the diehards that wrestling has ruined UFC. Like, I can— even the diehards will concede that esthetically it used to be— tell me, Tony, you're the expert here, so walk me through this, because I think this is part of what it is that happened to Rousey and the overestimation of her as a fighter. The early days of UFC mixed martial arts, a striker could get in there and actually win because the other, the other sciences made it so that the sport wasn't evolved enough and a striker could win. What happened to Rousey is at the primitive stages of women's mixed martial arts, she got dusted by largely a striker. Holly Holm can do other things, and now the sport has evolved to a place there as well with the women where you can't be just a striker. You have to be more than that, and I think wrestling has largely ruined the esthetic pleasures that Zazz is looking for, where he wants somebody just knocked out.
100%. And early on, you could have strikers, and obviously they had many different disciplines. As you can remember from the old UFC days, people would walk in with shoes and a gi, and like, everything's like, what's happening here?
He's like wearing knee pads and shoes.
You know, Royce Gracie's out there in a gi choking people with his gi. It's completely crazy.
It's awesome.
But in those early stages of the early— ah, the Chuck Liddell days, the BJ Penn days, the Forrest Griffin days— a striker could go in and could not only work through a wrestler but win in confusion.
Not anymore. I don't feel like a striker right now can do that.
And that's the issue, Rogan. A lot of people that obviously know the science inside and out have said if your base is wrestling, you have the— you have the hand over any other fighter because of the fact that Wrestling and jiu-jitsu and ground game, excuse me, has gotten so elite that if you're a striker and you can't get up, you're done. Because all they'll do is they'll sit on you and work you through different things, try to get you in a submission for 5 minutes, and it's over. So the meritocracy also of the MVP card is a thing that was in question for me, because what gave it away that they booked it when they—
when—
am I right about that?
Francis Ngannou fighting Felipe Lins, is that when you realize like, oh wait a second, they want knockouts here?
That's what made that Strickland win so impressive.
Correct. Absolutely nullified the wrestling of Khamzat, and it was like, oh, Strickland's just going to outbox him.
Where are you guys though on— so, so Tony's disputing me on McGregor's return. I'm not interested in McGregor's return.
I know, it's really—
well, but come on guys, how long has it been since he won a fight? Like, what are you guys doing? It's annoying to me that you take these famous guys who have a loud mouth. How old is he? And when's the last time McGregor won a fight?
Like, you guys, against Nate Diaz, right?
I mean, come on, like, what are we doing? That's, that's not merit. You just like the loudmouth who's famous because he's a star. Alien!
He's 37.
He beat Cowboy Cerrone in UFC 246, and that was in 2020, so right before the pandemic kicked off. What are you guys doing?
You guys want to see this? Like, you guys want to see McGregor fight just because he's a loudmouth?
Yeah, it's not that he's a loudmouth, Dan. He's, he's the biggest star of the sport. He's bigger than the sport itself.
We had the shocking take last week. I like watching people fight for money. And if they're famous, that's cool too. Just go in there and duke it out.
I want to see how little he blinks at the press conference.
Yeah, and Dan, if you like the arts and the science of combat sports, fire up some Pro Fight League. There's plenty of places for you where you can watch someone strip down to their courage, but I like someone being stripped down to their courage that makes me feel something too. And I get the appeal. It's a new form of celebrity boxing, and as we mentioned on Friday, Jake Paul has done good things with the platform, with these cards and combat sports, particularly for women's combat sports. He's done a lot.
The issue is in the MMA side, boxing-wise, like, he's doing a lot of great stuff because he's— he has access to get the fighters. In MMA, you don't have access to get the fighters. You got to get has-beens, you got to get guys that are outcasts, you got to get girls that are outcasts, because the best fighters are in the UFC. Like, that's the issue. They have a monopoly on the sport. So you're gonna go get guys from PFL? Why do I care to watch that? I'll go watch the PFL if that's the case.
What do you make of, uh, I never seen this before, you see Jake Paul's douche suite right outside the, uh, the cage to watch the fights. They built him like a little suite right in front of the cage.
Like, we had our laughs on that Saturday.
It was the only one. He had a douche suite.
I can, um, celebrate the good things that he's doing and object to the contamination at once. And I'm not lecturing the rest of you on what it is that you like. I'm not. But if you're good with Conor McGregor not winning a fight and it being the last one fight against Nate Diaz, who was also spent 6 years ago? Like, if you guys are good with making that the biggest star in the sport just because you're gonna fuel him on nothing but memories, um, then you can watch that. I'm not interested in that.
I didn't make him the biggest star in the sport, he did. And people are gonna watch. And if I want to watch a good fight, look, if for boxing, I could fire up the ESPN app on a Friday night and see a great card if I want. It's not it's not doing anything to the business that's bad. Yeah, you can lament that this is what gets the most attention, and that says more about us, but it's not like the other, like, more gritty and real combat sports aren't still doing the thing.
Oh no, but what I'm just— all I'm saying to you is, if you tell me that Conor McGregor is still the biggest star in the sport, it's not because of Conor McGregor or celebration of Conor McGregor. It's an indictment of the sport.
Yes.
When the biggest star in the sport hasn't won a fight in 6 years.
Ah, Jon Jones, biggest star in the sport. Also, he was at the—
he wins, he wins when he fights.
100%.
I'll tell you what, speaking of Jon Jones, you saw what took place. Like, it was such a weird interaction with Jon Jones on that Netflix broadcast on Saturday night where Tyron Woodley is openly on air giving Jon Jones ideas on how to break and get out of his UFC contract. That was, that was strange.
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Dan Lebatard! I've never stepped foot on that campus!
I—
if you told me right now your life depends on it, Go to Santa Fe University and just, just, just take a picture. Stugatz.
I would die.
I don't know where it is. This is the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugatz.
One of my favorite things going on in combat sports right now is the budding friendship between Cormier and Bones Jones. Have you been watching some of these things? They're still trying to pretend like they hate one another, But yeah, they broke it because they realized they can make a lot of money doing this. It's this new like buddy content play that they're doing. And DC is just steaming at a dinner table, breaking bread with Jon Jones. But like, these are two big time rivals. The hate between them. Yeah, that translated. It's for its era, the biggest, hottest rivalry in combat sports. And they decided together, despite our feelings about one another, we can make a lot of money doing this if we play it the right way.
And the issue with Jon Jones is why you saw him and Francis Ngannou Everybody's like, why don't you guys fight? It's like, well, if, if Jon were to walk into an octagon, he's got to fight for the UFC. So they've got to get through whatever.
But what if he walks into a hexagon?
That's the question. It was a hexagon. I still think they only—
I like the hexagon, Dan. With only a hexagon instead of an octagon, I thought it was easier to see through the cage. I'm a fan of the hexagon.
The, the reason why they do it, it's also smaller, right? So if you have the, the octagon or the canvas being bigger there's more room to escape, there's more room to kind of work through. If you're in a smaller place, it's like, all right, me and you got to stand, we got to bang. Like, that's what it is. Dan, we also had the Cuban Missile Crisis leading off, almost killed Junior Dos Santos. Poor guy.
Oh my God, Junior Dos Santos, he alive?
I hope so, because he gave him a 1-2-3 combo that like slept him on the second punch, and then he got him again with the hardest punch being at the end.
You can't come out to Rocky and then lose like that.
You can't lose like that. But the Cuban Missile Crisis, Robeli de Pañe Dan, I have an interpreter's conversation between him and the Ariel Hawane thing and the whole thing. I translated for you. Would you like to watch it?
I would, but I'd like you to explain better than the Ariel Hawane whole thing.
Yeah, so Ariel was the guy who was doing the, you know, Joe Rogan part of the commentary with the fighters in the cage. So while he was doing that, I was giving Rovellis his actual answers to Ariel's questions via the translator.
This is exasperating to me. This has been exasperating to me my entire adult life. The way things get translated in sports by the translators is always shitty in Spanish. I don't know if it's more accurate when it's Japanese or another language, but when it's Spanish, it's always weirdly inaccurate.
And we have a situation like that where my translator, while I'm doing Cuban Spanish, my translator is not really translating the things that I want him to say. So I need to make sure that he gets what I'm trying to tell him to make sure that gets through the airwaves. So I wasn't able to hear it. Because we had the music on at Def Flamingo, plus we couldn't air the actual sound of the fight on our stream, which did very well, by the way. Thank you for everybody that supported, and to Netflix. But this is, uh, this is the breakdown of a Cuban fighter winning against an old Brazilian guy and what he said. Yeah, yeah, he did. Look at this.
A couple of times.
But, you know, I was able to persevere and, you know, I found an opening. You know, once I caught my window, once I caught my window, I knew to go ahead. The bald fuck went ahead and knocked his ass out.
It's a good lane for you guys. I don't think anybody else is doing quite that. I told Sedano last week that he needs to pick up the lane of a smoking pipe and a robe everywhere that he goes to give hot takes because the journalists are being run out. And so you might as well develop new forms. The entertainers. Entertainment. Yeah, you got to figure out other ways to entertain people. Um, something that, uh, happened during the Timberwolves, uh, Spurs series that I wanted to talk to you guys about, because I think that most people listening to this think that the championship is going to be played tonight. It's going— the next 7 games between the Spurs, I think outside of New York, that most people listening to this believe that the Thunder and the Spurs are about to play for the championship. I I also think that most people listening to this think that the Spurs are the only thing that exists in the world that can bother OKC. When I was talking about Shea Gildress-Alexander earlier, and it may have sounded like I was trying to dilute his greatness, I should point out he's got a 140-game streak of 20-plus-point games.
He's won 2 MVPs. He's an NBA champion. He's got a Finals MVP. He's got a scoring title. But 140 straight games of over 20 points a game, that streak is crazy. That's, that is the kind of scoring that is nuts. When you look up yesterday and you see what Tobias Harris did in a Game 7, or you look at what James Harden did in Game 7, or you look at what Cade Cunningham did in a Game 7, and you've got a 2-time MVP who just keeps scoring— he's a metronome, he scores 20 points in every single game— and their defense is so good that if they get something from him, they're going to win most of their games. But, uh, the, the talking point evidently after Spurs-Timberwolves was about the fact that Anthony Edwards, when the game was over, in what has been a bad NBA playoffs— 4 close games, like, that's not up for dispute. We don't have memorable moments. We've got an overtime game here and there between, you know, Toronto and Cleveland, but go ahead and give me all the moments you remember from this NBA postseason that are larger than Wemby throwing an elbow in one of the dirtiest plays you've you'll ever see.
And I'm gonna say again that he has no idea, and the Spurs have no idea how lucky they got there. Because when I talk to you guys, uh, about what athletes are presently doing with body mechanics, where Josh Allen is changing his throwing motion so that he can get more from his legs and hips into his arms, there are very few human beings on Earth who the size and flexibility to have the amount of force in the elbow that Wemby would have from his feet when he elbows somebody in the face. The Spurs were really lucky that that wasn't an all-time horrific moment on television where Nas Reed is just lying on the floor, and then the NBA has to react more forcefully than they would have had to react for what was the action. It's the same action, but they're fortunate that Nas Reed evidently doesn't have a glass chin because The amount of force that— and, and Tony can speak to this with the flying elbows and what is knockout power in the MMA— the amount of force that arrives in Wemby's elbow that starts in his feet from the torque that happens there would knock out most human beings.
Anthony Edwards going over with 8 minutes left in a spent game, uh, he explains here, you don't— as Haslam and others were mad at him for doing this, but here's Anthony Edwards explaining what it is that he did at the end of his season.
I think you went down to the Spurs bench with 8 minutes to go in the game. Like, what was kind of the thought process to do it in the middle of the game there rather than kind of waiting for the end?
I mean, at that point, you know, you ain't going back in, so you're just trying to get them respect they deserve. Uh, Udonis Haslem and others had trouble with this. I don't know about the rest of you, but hearing athletes I have covered since high school sound like grandparents on television is something that I'm gonna have to take some time to get used to because Hearing Udonis Haslem scold Anthony Edwards on this was not surprising to me, but it did make me feel old.
And what I will say is, as great as Ant is as a basketball player, there's still some growth for him as well. Because as a leader, I would not have walked down there and shook their hand. I would not have walked down there and shook their hand with 8 minutes left in the game. As a leader of my troops and my guys, I will not show that weakness. The game is not over. I got 8 minutes left. I still got smoke coming out of my ear, so I'm so damn mad we losing. Let me calm down for those 8 minutes since I'm not in, and then after those 8 minutes, I'll go down there and I'll congratulate them and their coaching staff. But in the middle of the game, when I got guys that have sat the bench and cheered me on, no, I'm gonna sit there and cheer those guys on. I'm gonna put that energy back into those guys, and then when the game's over, I'll go over there and shake their hand.
Yeah, I mean, I, I obviously agree with pretty much all of that from Udonis Haslem. The place that I would disagree is I don't think it's him showing weakness by going over there. I mean, he's showing tremendous sportsmanship. I don't think it's showing weakness, but the part that I disagree with is My, like, if I'm the leader of the team like Anthony Edwards is, my number one priority always is my team. And so I'd rather support my team until the game is over and then show the sportsmanship. I, I'm not even down on Anthony Edwards doing it because like what he did was classy and respectful. I just don't understand what was the race. Like, it's not, it's not a race to be the first to congratulate. You could have done it immediately after the game is over. I don't understand what the purpose there was. Look at me, Louie!
Yeah. Wasn't that what he was doing? Just to show everybody how much grace he has with 8 minutes left? He was being taken out of the game. That's— that you take Anthony Edwards out of the game. Is that not an act of surrender? I mean, Haslam is talking about troops.
Is it not?
He might as well have gone over there with a white flag. Like that, it is an act of surrender. He knew his season was over. He was going over there to congratulate them on ending his season.
I mean, he said it like, I wasn't going back in the game, but he makes it seem like he's leaving to go into the locker room.
Literally, the game ends to, to go say, you know, congratulations everybody. 25 seconds.
He should have done that though. I think he should have congratulated them and then kept going into his offseason. Just left, just left for postgame interview.
That's what he made it seem like.
I gotta get out of here.
Here.
Like, I'm leaving, right? I don't want people to say I didn't shake hands, I'll just go do it now.
And you know what, how is it not a little bit odd from San Antonio's perspective? They were literally in their timeout huddle sitting on the bench going over what they're going to do next. Now, what the hell is Anthony Edwards doing here?
I mean, maybe his thought process was like, I'm pissed this is happening, I'm just gonna congratulate him now and I'm gonna walk out of here the moment this is done because I don't want to deal with it. But I didn't see the very end. Did he dap anybody up after the game? I'm unsure.
I hope not.
But that was like redundant.
Yeah.
I mean, he loves Wemby. Like at the All-Star Game, he was praising Wemby for making it the competitive game that it was. Like, I think he has an admiration. He kept saying like, I'm not the face of the league. Let that guy be the face of the league. That's the face of the league.
It was also weird to me because if you, if you ask me, who are some of the most competitive guys in that league? Anthony Edwards would be very close to the top. Don Lebatard.
Cheaters never prosper.
Stugatz.
I ain't cheating. This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stugatz.
Well, the thing though that I'm generally amused by when we turn all of these these, uh, tiny, tiny things into talking points that have drama in them. Nobody questions how much Anthony Edwards cares, right? That's— he's not one of the guys that we have questions about how much he actually cares about winning. That's not the thing. The, the next thing on this is that you have to be temper tantrum guy who's smoldering and is so mad about losing that he can't bear to shake hands with somebody else because he cares so much about losing. But Anthony Edwards, I don't believe anyone's going to say, oh, I don't think that guy wants to win, or he cares, uh, cares less than the average person.
I feel like UD did kind of imply that. He's like, I, if I'd be sitting over there with smoke coming out of my ears, I'm too angry to go.
I know, but so, so this is, this is not surprising, but Udonis learned obviously at the knee of Pat Riley, who once upon a time, because these are are things that grandparents do generationally when it comes to sports. Pat Riley once used to fine his players if they would help an opponent up.
I like it.
I know you like it, but it's from a different time. That's not the time we live in anymore. That's— and, and we don't live in Udonis Haslem's time for this stuff anymore either. Uh, these guys are, whether you like it or friendlier than you'd like them to be. And so when— I mean, we just, we just glanced over what Jeremy said. Think about that. Do you think Magic Johnson would say, no, I'm fine with Larry Bird being the face of the league, I don't want to be the face of the league, it's fine that Wemby's the face of the league? You tell me all the guys in history that you think— Michael Jordan would have said that about anybody? Like, we're just in a different age for what— these guys are all their own business and They all know how they care. And also Anthony Edwards knows something else too. Holy shit, that guy's a foot taller than me. Like that, that guy blocked 5 shots a game at the beginning of this series before he elbowed Nas Reid and hit him. And do you see the size of Nas Reid? Like, you know how hard it is to hit that guy with an elbow that knocks him down?
There aren't many human beings roaming Earth in the history of Earth who can do that. Anthony Edwards kind of knows, ah, his league now. Why? Because he's bigger than everybody.
It's like, I do a lot of great things, but that guy— that guy's great.
He's got them a foot taller than me.
Dan, can I just tell you, we have an incredible Roy's Video of the Day today. Have you seen this yet? It's a video of 1 million Vin Diesels versus 5 King Kongs.
Who you got?
Unbelievable.
I think I gotta go with the 5 King Kongs. Like, I don't— I don't— I don't— it could be— put it on the poll at Le Batard Show. 5 King Kongs versus a million Vin Diesels. Who you got?
I will tell you, at one point here, the million Vin Diesels, they take out 4 of the Kongs.
Spoiler alert.
But there is a Kong standing at the end of it.
There is. Incredible.
Mike, why, why is Richard Gere staring me in the face? Why is there the construction helmet that is battered and is the gearhead? Why has that been taken out here during this video that we're watching of a million Vin Diesels fighting 5 King Kongs?
Because it's the greatest week week in motorsports. You have so much going on now. No Monaco this year for Formula 1. They're going to be doing, I believe, the, uh, the Canadian Grand Prix, trying to eat into American motorsports, North American motorsports. And I don't like it because it's Indy 500 week and NASCAR's longest race of the season happens in Charlotte. And Dan, while yesterday was the All-Star Race, kind of a gimmick, Denny Hamlin won it. We transition now from Fox to Prime's coverage of the NASCAR season. I thought Prime did an incredible job last year with their first year with NASCAR. But as a surprise, we now have a huge storyline going into Charlotte because Katherine Legge is attempting out of nowhere to be the 6th driver ever to pull the double, do the Indianapolis 500 and the Coke Zero 600 in Charlotte. Race all 1,100 in one single day. A big deal was made about this when Kyle Larson attempted to do this the last 2 years and he failed. In fact, I think there's a new documentary on Prime about it. Katherine Legge, who only has like 8 NASCAR Cup starts, core discipline more geared towards Indy, announced last week out of nowhere, I'm going for the double.
So now we have a huge storyline. She'd obviously be the first woman to accomplish such a feat, and with this, the achievement is completing it. Many drivers have tried and failed to complete both races.
I was going to ask you, what's the most successfully the doubles ever been done?
Tony Stewart. Tony Stewart. Uh, Kurt Busch tried it a few years ago. Kyle Larson tried it twice, uh, in the last 2 years, and after he flamed out, uh, in Indy, he decided, I'm not going to do this anymore. It was very difficult because you have to keep in Training for the Indianapolis 500, there's practice. It's an all-month deal. It is a month-long—
and racing one of these races is exhausting.
Yes. You hop on a bird immediately after Indy and you get to Charlotte. One of the things, one of the times Kyle Larson tried it, he was left in his car because the race was delayed and they didn't give him an opportunity to switch into the car with the driver because Indy also got delayed. So he wasn't able to race all the, the miles available to him. And last year, He crashed in Indy. He's a very aggressive driver. I think Katherine Legge is actually well-positioned to do this because in NASCAR she's usually in the back of the pack. Now, she's had her difficulty in NASCAR, but she's not this super aggressive driver. Part of Kyle's— what did Kyle Larson's attempt at it in was that he's so aggressive. He was legitimately trying to win both races and he doesn't change his style of racing.
You're saying, though, that success is simply completing the two races.
Races.
That's, that's what success is. Yes, yes, yeah, winning is another conversation. That's what made Kyle's pursuit so interesting, because he's actually surprisingly, shockingly good at driving the IndyCar because he's one of the best drivers on the planet. But also, last year he was a Cup Series champion. He, he had a legit shot at winning one of those, and that's next level. But he failed to complete it two times in a row, failed to complete it. It's really hard to do. So just completing it would be a massive of Mount Rushmore type of achievement for women's motorsports, no doubt, for Katherine Legge. And by the way, you can tune into the NASCAR Cup Series to see if she pulls off this double in Charlotte Sunday, May 24th, 6:00 PM Eastern on Prime.
I'm smiling thinking about the NASCAR All-Star Game because I'm envisioning the NBA All-Star Game where they don't play any defense and stuff. Like, what does that look like in NASCAR? It's like you just let everyone pass. It's like, go on by.
It was weird.
They're all going like 30 miles an hour.
There's like 3 segments. And so they have like these stages, right? And if you finish near the top in the first stage, they send you to the back of the pack in the second stage. They take your like average position for like a third all-in. It was an interesting race. A lot of big-time wrecks for an all-star race at the Monster Mile. I like it being there.
Uh, in the legendary 2001 double attempt, Tony Stewart finished 6th at the Indy and 3rd in the Coca-Cola 600.
Yeah, that, that remains the gold standard in double attempts. Only 6 drivers ever trying this. So this, this is a huge deal, obviously, for motorsports. It's a great surprise turn of events, but you also have the added element of this is a woman that is attempting to do this. She'd obviously become the first ever to do that as a woman. It's a big deal.
Dan, I got some breaking news for you here. For those—
is it better than the breaking news from before? Because the breaking news you gave us before was not breaking news. Is this real?
That was a report though.
Yeah, that was a report. I reported reported earlier that contrary to what Jaylen Brown would like, Stephen A. Smith is not retiring. That's a report. You don't have to like my reports, but that's a report. This is breaking news, all right? And for those who are concerned about former Orlando Magic head coach Jamal Mosley remaining unemployed for long, you don't have to be concerned any longer. Sure, because he is the new head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans. Fly, Pelican, fly.
Good spot for him.
Is it? Yeah.
You know what's better than— you know what's worse than coaching the Pelicans? Not having a job.
Is it?
It's a good spot.
Not sure, because I believe that that will end Mosley's career, like, as a coach. Whatever happens there is going to finish his career. That Zion Williamson and whatever happens there is going to end his career as a head coach.
Okay, is it better to get one last paycheck there or like wait it out, maybe even go become an assistant somewhere else and hope you can ride the coattails of somebody to a better job opportunity 5 years from now? Take that risk.
You know what's better? Getting all the money I can now and then being able to get an assistant job somewhere else for the rest of my life.
He's being paid by the Magic this year, correct?
Well, not anymore.
Not, not anymore.
No, you don't get double dip.
So, so what— so I'm gonna reframe the question. What is better? Tony, not working and getting paid the full coaching amount or having to work for the money and coaching the Pelicans?
Mm. The, the former. The former for sure.
That's why I'm not sure that this is great. And I don't think it deserved breaking news. I don't think that Mosley himself would think that that deserves to be broken into our broadcast. I think he'd say it'd be fine if you ignored that the same way you ignored my firing after 5 seasons with the Magic. Magic. I think he— I think he'd be fine with us just continuing to move along.
He will still be paid through the '27-'28 season.
Talk about the double.
Oh, he's got an extension.
Oh, so he's getting the double. He's got it.
What could be better than that? You're gonna pay me here, I'm gonna pay me there, but I don't have to work there, but I have to work here.
I don't have to win in Orlando or New Orleans.
I just get paid.
I just travel with the team and go all over the place.
I don't know if there's one of those stipulations, sort of like college football, where it's like, I don't think whatever he's paid by the Pelicans maybe counteracts what he would have been paid by the Magic. Yeah, I don't think he's getting—
he was still supposed to paid once he was fired.
So it's like, would you have just sat there and waited for that to run out before, or do you try to go get this head coach?
Well, that's the question.
The Pelicans—
I mean, Derek Queen, it's a bad job. Hard stop.
Pretty bad job.
Uh, I think working for Portland at the moment might be a bad job, but for some reason Chris Cody was telling me that he has had his mind changed on Tom Dundon, the Portland owner, who the only thing I know about him, and the only thing most people listening to this know about him is that he's cheap. It's a terrible thing for a rich man to endure, that, uh, the only thing we know about you is that you are famously cheap. But Chris, why have you had your mind changed? What did, what did Rich Paul and Max Kellerman do with the owner of the Trail Blazers that changed your mind on his, uh, his way of behaving in business?
It's just things I've been reading and seeing on social media the last few weeks. My perception was just, holy crap, this is like a Jeffrey Loria. This is like the Blazers have what we had with the Marlins.
And maybe they do.
But I heard him do an interview with them and I came away seeing his side of it a little bit. This is him responding to just the allegation that he's cheap.
I just don't want to waste money. I want to invest it. I'll have as many masseuses. I'll have the best food. We're going to take care of the players because it helps you win. It's part of the deal. Some of this stuff about how we're going to run the business. You know, Portland, Portland spends $100 million more a year on their business than the Hurricanes do, not including players. The Hurricanes, since I bought the team, have the first or second best record in the league. So I, I'm just not going to waste $100 million just because somebody wants to write our article calling me cheap. It's not— I'm just not going to do Okay, but basketball is more expensive than hockey.
Like, what do you—
but that's—
he's just saying for staff, $100 million extra that he's spending, like, not have nothing to do with players or coaches.
There's no way that number's accurate. $100 million.
What he says. That is what he says. And why would a billionaire lie? I trust them implicitly.
Certainly about money.
They're never going to lie about money. I think they're ethical and transparent. And there's no reason that he's doing that interview other than to tell us the truth that doesn't favor him in any way.
In fact, he's got to save money. We need him to save more money instead of spending more money. We need to save it.
I want you guys to absorb how rare it is. Go ahead, think about it for a second. Outside of Donald Sterling, give me all the owners in the history of basketball that you associate with cheapness. Like, this guy's got a rough thing to overcome right at the start.
"I like watching people fight for money."
Dan has a problem with the people leading cards in the fight game these days, Udonis Haslem has a problem with the way Anthony Edwards handled the end of his series against the San Antonio Spurs, and Vin Diesel has a problem with King Kong.
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