Transcript of Will Dolphins Fans Root For Mike McDaniel? | Local Hour New

This is the Dan Levator Show with the Stugatz Podcast.

Oh, we did it everyone, we made it to Friday. Give it up for Friday.

Yeah, Friday.

Give it up for Friday. Yeah, Friday. Look at this crew we have here today. We have Roy and Jeremy and Tony and Trista and Juju. I don't know if this crew's worked together before. And out west, of course, we have Dave Damashek. Hello Dave, how are you this morning?

What's happening, Miami? What's happening, America? I'm ready to roll. We only have at most, I think, 16 total games left between the NBA playoffs and the Stanley Cup. Then we enter the abyss of just baseball season. But I, in the pre-show little discussion there, I'm picking up that you guys are not getting bogged down with those playoffs so much as you are the eternal chase for Miami and the Heat. To get a little bit better. Can they add Giannis? Can they add LeBron? Can they add both?

Look at you!

That's been the discussion this morning.

Look at you!

Well, listen, I'm tuned in to what you guys are talking about.

That's right! Before we get to all that good stuff, and of course last night you had the San Antonio Spurs force a Game 7. We're getting a Game 7. Has this even been a good series? I don't even know for sure. But I do want to start asking you here, so tonight, tonight here locally, All right, in Palm Beach is the first of two nights that Dave Matthews Band is playing tonight here in West Palm. And I know— I think we talked about this like a week ago, right? My wife— they're my wife's favorite band, and we used to go every year to go see Dave Matthews Band. We haven't gone in, I don't know, maybe like 2 or 3 years at this point. And while they're still her favorite, it's not like a must-see for her every year anymore. But I, I'm wondering, I'm considering Do I surprise her? Do I surprise her where I buy tickets and, and she gets home from work today and I'm like, get in the car, we're— what, because it takes an hour to get there, all right, so get in the car, I'm taking you to Dave Matthews Band tonight.

And there's part of me that's like, oh my God, she'll be so excited, that's an amazing surprise, you know. But then there's another part of me, it's like, I've never done anything like that before where I already got your bags packed. We're— surprise! We're going to New York this weekend. Like, I've never done anything like that, like a surprise trip. Dave, have you ever done anything like that where you're surprising your wife? We're going away for the next 2 nights or something. She has no idea. I've never done anything like that before.

Yeah, maybe nothing so grand as pack your bags, or I packed them for you, we're headed to paradise. But yes, you're on to something philosophically. I call it amateur hour, like people do New Year's Eve. That's what I consider Valentine's Valentine's Day. Listen, the man has prescribed for you when it's time to be romantic. Feh and double feh is what I say. I say buy the flowers when they aren't expected. Buy them when all the amateurs out there ain't doing it because, uh, because it's required by the man. Do it because it's in your heart, because it, uh, it makes your lady feel special. That's how you stand out. I like where your head's at here, Zaslo.

My mic was not working or I would have just slapped you down.

Oh, we would have heard from you earlier.

Yeah, I would have slapped you down earlier. Uh, the abyss of the summer, uh, Dave, is actually not just Major League Baseball. It's the WNBA. It's the WNBA as well.

How dare you, Dave?

Paige Beckers, Azzi Fudd. Juju, can you get him? Get him! Tell him more.

Exactly. So fast, Brother Dave. The WNBA is as interesting as it's ever been. Kaitlyn Clark is flopping her ass all up and down the court. It's time to tune in this, this summer, Dave.

Tell everyone where they could tune in. Of course, Alley Oop. Go ahead, go ahead, do it.

Alleyoopshow.com. We're also on the Levitar Network on YouTube on Fridays, Tuesdays and Fridays. We also have Good Follow every Thursday. We're talking about all the basketball, women's and men's. Dave, can you just clue in for a second? Okay, just clue in a little bit.

Listen, I love it. It's, uh, like we say, we have a lot of real estate in front of us as soon as these, uh, two—

you There was no real estate. You said it was—

you missed. I know, but you know what, like the late great Jerry Orbach says at the end of Dirty Dancing, when I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong, and I am amending my previous remarks.

He was right though.

I'm with you. Also, on Football America, if we're talking about this sort of thing, here's what my focus is going to be on. Sure, WNBA and World Cup and all the rest of it, but also—

Baseball.

Bert Breer. Yeah, I mentioned baseball at the very top there, Tashay. But right. Listen, Football America, we're talking with Bert Breer from Sports Illustrated, and we go back and forth on— and he leads me to believe that Myles Garrett is not going to be a Cleveland Brown. That's all I'm going to say.

Okay, that's a good tease.

America coming up today.

Tony, have you ever done anything like that before for the wife? Hey, let's—

I'm sure I've done a lot of great things, incredible things. Just ask her.

So many.

I can't remember right off the top. Oh, you know what? No, no, I would know. I just remembered.

Give us the old neck scratch.

Our second Valentine's Day, we're—

me and my wife are high school sweethearts, so we've been together for 17 years.

So it's been a long time of things that I've done, incredible things.

So what sets it? You're like 14, 15?

Uh, we started, we started dating, I think she was 16, I was 17.

Be careful.

Wow, good for you.

Yeah, we were both juniors in high school.

It was nice.

Good for you.

Birthday that had happened already, whatever. Long story short, second, uh, second Valentine's Day, my parents had this like little flat roof, like a little terrace outside of the house, and I put a table up there, right? And I think I've told the story on the show before. I put a table up there, And then I blindfolded her and I drove around town. We picked up food. We went back to my parents' house. She doesn't know— Dave, listen, it's gonna get better. She doesn't know where she is, right? She's blindfolded. She's like, oh my God, I don't know what's happening, whatever. We get off my parents' house. I have her climb a ladder blindfolded, and then I have her climb the pitch of the roof, an A pitch of the roof, up and down. Obviously me holding her. We did— we had recently done the roof, so the grip was good, Dave. I don't know if you're, you know— okay, okay, just making sure because I get— so You gave me a face there. So I brought her back up, brought her back down. We sit on the thing overlooking like the neighborhood and everything, the stars and the moon and everything.

You know, undid the blindfold and she started crying and I was like, aren't I the greatest person ever?

Wow, how about that?

I think she was crying because she thought she was gonna be in Paris or something. She was like, damn, what's this all about?

Or she's petrified. What did you bring me to the edge of death for? Yeah.

Well, she didn't know it was the edge of death. She had no idea. She just knew that we were going up and down on a ladder, so she had no idea.

So I don't know, like, should I do this?

Of course.

Because it could also backfire where— what if I do and I explain— like, it's Friday. It's the end of the week. Normally on a Friday, end of the week, you come home from the long work week. She works hard. You come home from the long work week, it's like, I can't wait to just crawl into bed and watch my shows and relax. And I say to her, No, no, we're getting in the car and we're driving to West Palm Beach and we're going to a concert. Like, the worst-case scenario is I do that and she's just like, she's tired and she doesn't want to do it, you know? Like, so that, that part worries me a little bit, Tony.

That, that's why you got to go and kind of like plant the seeds a little bit ahead, right? Have you planted the seeds yet? Like, hey babe, Dave Matthews Band.

A little bit, a little bit.

This could backfire. And we worked—

it could—

we were workshopping behind and Jeremy didn't think so And he's like, in what scenario for you, Jessica?

Jeremy's like— Jeremy comes off as like he loves romance. He does. He doesn't believe that it could backfire in any way.

And I said, when he— and I said, it could absolutely backfire. He goes, when could it backfire to you? And I go, I'm on my period.

Yep.

I'm—

I've got cramps, right?

I've got a headache. I don't want to leave. I want a heat pack on my—

like, here's also the thing, I don't want to leave anywhere. Here's also the thing, at our age, okay, I'm 45 years old, my wife is several years older than me. I would never give out her exact Backstage. Good for you.

Good for you.

And here's the thing, like, at our age, and Dave, you can understand this, right? If you're going to a concert, you have to mentally prepare that.

Definitely.

Like, at the start of your day, when you wake up, you have to mentally prepare for what this day is about, right?

Yeah, you do, and I wonder if you then have to figure out what, uh, what stuff you're gonna bring along with it to enhance the potential experience, like, do you have to bring, um— White mushrooms? Well, I mean, yes, it is Dave Matthews Band. I was thinking, yeah, I mean, you do want to take some to get her in the mood a little bit. But listen, the big picture is it wasn't even last year, but the year before, I went to both of my sons— and this is just, this isn't meant to be sexist, it's just about what their interests are— my two sons like baseball and the girls do not. And so I went to their respective schools, I picked them up, I said, I gotta talk to you. Oh, your dad's here. They come out. Yeah, what's going on? Like, we're going to Chavez Ravine. I mean, they flip for it. Yeah, greatest to pull them out of school.

Yeah, I get you.

It's a little bit different, different station in life. And there is a chance that she is exhausted, right, by toiling for the man all week. I hear you. I like the spirit of it. I think she'll appreciate it. I think it's worth it to take the shot.

How much are the tickets?

Okay, uh, concert tickets are super expensive.

But like, what are the cheapest tickets?

Well, that's not what we would be doing.

I understand that.

Is this David Bowie? Cheap tickets, what are we talking about? You know, if we go, we're gonna sit right up front. Like, we're gonna sit close. So if I wanna do that, we're talking probably something like $400 or $500.

Yeah, that is expensive, 'cause I was gonna say, you get the cheapest ticket, you enjoy— hold on, you get a cheaper ticket, you enjoy a little night out on the lawn, and at an amphitheater. And, and if the answer is, ah, I don't know, I don't— you know what, honey, it's okay. Let me curate a night for us at home. You got a backup plan. And now the romantic gesture of, I wanted to treat you to something that was yours, but I've also—

right.

So the backup plan is I watch Canadiens and Hurricanes. That's, that's the backup plan tonight.

Cool.

Good.

Or a powerful lovemaking. What about that?

Powerful?

Don't think of Cody though.

That sounds like pound town.

A vigor— A vigorous lovemaking session.

Uh, Jeremy, you were not here yesterday. Yeah, it's probably a no day not to be here. Jeremy, you weren't here yesterday, so you know what, uh, you have some observations from yesterday?

I do. I was listening to the show and thinking of some stuff. So, um, just from the top, cool to find out how Dan feels about Stu.

That was fun, right?

Yeah, that was fun.

Did the audience appreciate that?

I think sure seemed like it.

I think from what I saw, because I, I see I see some stuff. I think from what I saw that a lot of the audience appreciated a little bit of what's going on there.

Yeah, I think it was nice to have a little bit of information. Nice for me personally.

Yeah, by the way, like— I haven't heard any of that. Yeah, by the way, like when we say something like that, it's not that, hey, you know, nice that you're now tuned in a little bit to the things that we know.

Nope.

I don't think that's the case at all.

Didn't know any of it.

Right.

Really liked Greg's follow-ups, by the way. Cool that he's a journalist.

Oh, well, I mean, he's— well done. Peppering him with questions.

Also, you know, Dan's tone might have sucked, but it was, you know, his His overall point on the Jackson Dark stuff was interesting. I think everyone that I know that watches our show considers Greg the star. Yeah, I was very surprised by your wife's opinion there.

Really?

We need an update on that, by the way.

We said— we said the word cuck 14 times.

A lot.

A lot.

By the way, for everyone out there, yes, I— who keeps tweeting me the picture. Yes, I have seen the picture of the bat, the shower cuck.

I was going to—

why did they send that?

I was going to send you that.

Well, why do you, Zazz?

The cockwaryum, apparently.

I was going to send it to you and then saw your tweet saying that you'd seen it before I could even send it to you.

I've seen it, everyone. I've seen the cockwaryum. Alright.

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Dan Levitar.

My algorithm on Instagram is, Dan, it's all boobs.

Stugatz.

It's a good algorithm.

This is the Dan Levitar Show with the Stugatz.

Dave, why are they sending it to me?

I mean, yeah, why are Are you a cuck though?

Yeah, he's a cuck.

No, everybody— listen, everybody knows I'm not a cuck.

Listen, I'm going to tell you this right now. I know for sure that any man who is as obsessed about not being a cuck as you has a secret cuck kink that may be inside very deep.

Horrible.

Pause. But it's there if you're dreaming about it.

Dave, it— okay, so that, that was where it originated from a few months ago. I had a dream that, uh, mine was different from, you know, the, the, the really big important "I had a dream." I had a dream that, uh, my wife was, uh, in bed with another man. I was in the room, okay? I was in the room, I didn't like it, and, uh, that man, I revealed, uh, was Billy Crystal.

I'm sorry, who's that? Now, you know, I'm— I thought I was up to speed and I was just trying to refresh it for maybe new listeners, I did not know that Billy Crystal was the lover.

Yeah.

In your dream. Yeah.

A city slicker.

It's so stupid.

That's humiliating.

Yes. Yes. It's so stupid.

Slick that city.

Is it better if it's Billy Crystal or what's his name, Aquaman or Joe Manganiello or somebody like that?

Like someone manly, you're saying?

Some strapping Dreamboat guy.

Right. No, I think it's—

Is it better to be like, I could probably beat that guy up if it came to it?

No, I think it's worse. I think it's worse that it's Billy Crystal. Yeah, because it's like Jason Momoa. I mean, that's a very attractive man. Billy Crystal. I never understood that. Like, all, you know, in all these movies, it could be, you know, in Forget Paris, or it's When Harry Met Sally. Like, Billy Crystal is— he's pulling in some really good-looking women. And like, Billy Crystal, because he's funny.

Being funny.

Yeah.

All right. From the train.

Nice, I guess.

Yeah. Oh, Throw Mama from the Train. What a movie.

Speaking of all of this, Chris, when I come home drunk, the last thing I'm thinking about is imaging. Hey, happy belated birthday, Trista.

Thanks.

I didn't know about that. Scheduled texts, they kind of rock, but the way David does that is—

I didn't even know that that's a thing.

It's crazy behavior to schedule an entire conversation out because you think you can predict what the other person is going to say because you can't take the time to read their text messages is the behavior of a psychopath.

And that's his girlfriend that he's doing that to.

It's crazy. I can't believe he admitted that out loud. And Tony, your observation that that would be a George Costanza plotline—

it's good—

is one of the, like, most observant things we've ever said on this show. I thought that was amazing.

That was good.

And speaking of Juju, flopperation.

Oh my God.

Flopperation was right there. And a tremendous observation there. You really loved Operation Zazz, and that's because Operation was aspirational for young Jewish kids.

Is that right? Oh, that makes sense. You were learning how to be doctors. You're right.

It was put right in front of us.

What happened to both of you guys?

Well, wasn't smart enough. We were talking about—

Zazz, more upsetting, Zazz, more upsetting, Billy Crystal or Taché? What would be, in fact, what about the entire, everybody there right now, what would be more upsetting to you? No, it'd be Crystal or you pick, or a random selection of somebody you're looking at right now, Zazz.

Far more upsetting if it was Tashay.

Why?

Because I have to see you every day.

Okay. Just making sure for the reasoning. So a no-hitter versus a no-hit game. I think that's how we can create the distinction here. Someone throws a no-hitter. That's the individual accomplishment. But as a team, you can complete a no-hit game.

I think you could just say—

maybe that's the way to do it.

You just say the team, the Astros, pitched a no-hitter.

Yeah.

Like, what's wrong with that?

But I get, I get why Greg Cody has a gripe with that. And I'm just trying to help create a distinction for him. So if it's a no-hit game, maybe that's the team effort. Trista at one point said the Barackification of something and just careful. I love that Zazz identified Robert Pattinson as the Twilight guy. Yeah, just considering all the different things he's done since, it just made me very happy.

I mentioned Batman.

I also am really a huge fan of the fact that Pablo and Amin and Samson and that entire crew won a Pulitzer and has done really amazing work. And they are still 3 Emmys short of me.

Wow. Out of bounds.

I mean, but I mean, thank you for saying that pitch clock is not something that we needed to go to reluctantly.

Oh, yes.

Or segregated or annoyingly.

Yes.

Or calling it cock. I appreciate that. And also, Munetaka Murakami, we brought him up on the pitch clock as someone who was one home run shy of tying the rookie record. He now has the rookie record from home runs before June. He broke Mark McGuire's record. He has 20 home runs before June. Guy's amazing.

Anything else?

That's it.

Very good, Jeremy, with some observations from yesterday. So did you guys see this? And of course, Pablo Torre Finds Out has been all over this. It's Terry Rozier. Who knew he was such a bad apple? Terry Rozier yesterday. So federal prosecutors filed new charges against Terry Rozier. Prosecutors say Rozier took a roughly $100,000 bribe to exit early from a March 2023 Hornets game. It wasn't with the Heat, but a March 2023 Hornets game so that a group of sports gamblers could win bets on his props. It's in The Athletic, New York Times, all the details there. And I think the biggest takeaway from this new information is We still have a month until the NBA draft, which is more than enough time for Adam Silver to give the Miami Heat their first-round pick back. It's more than enough time. You know, you heard Pat Riley last month at his State of the Union address where he made it very clear the Heat did not agree to that second-round pick that Adam Silver has given them. That is not what the Heat would have done. The Heat are not okay with the whole situation, but also they're not putting up a stink, at least publicly, because there's nothing they could do.

That was—

a lot of words were jumbled together there, but I hope you understood what I meant.

You fought through it, I liked it.

Yeah, thank you. And there is still a month to go until the draft, where Adam Silver, who we all know is a nothing, ya classic nothing, Adam Silver has a month to decide to do the right thing. The Hornets knew there was an FBI investigation. The league knew there was an FBI investigation and they still allowed the Heat to not know any of this info and give up a first-round pick. You got a month, you got a month until you could do the right thing.

Do you think that the Heat should actually get the Hornets' first-round pick for taking somebody off their hands in the middle of an investigation?

So the Heat should get their own pick back?

Yes.

And then also get the Hornets pick because you did us a favor, correct, by taking this You're a negative asset. That's an interesting way to look at it. I'm not gonna be— I'm not gonna be a greedy pig. Okay? I'm not saying that you're wrong, but I'm not gonna be a greedy pig here. And I'm just gonna say, you know what? Give the Heat back their first-round pick. I'm still keeping that second-round pick. Alright? Still gonna keep that that you gave us a few weeks ago. But, uh, the Heat, you get your first-round pick back. We wipe our hands clean. We call it a day. Do the right thing. Do the right thing. That's it.

You now have the ability from the Board of Governors to intervene and take away picks from people.

Oh, that's right. He gave himself all this power.

Yeah, he has all this extra power. Now exercise it at the right time.

That's right.

Is the public silence from the Heat an indication that maybe quietly that they're trying to—

No, it's—

Make Silver— No.

The public silence is they're a classy organization, and that's not how they do business. They don't fight these things in public.

That's what I'm asking. Do you think that they're backchanneling right now to Silver and saying, "Come on"?

I think that—

right, right.

My guess would be that they probably tried that, you know, like over a year ago, you know? I think they probably tried— or it was the beginning of this season that he got taken away, right? I think they probably tried that, you know, months ago, and they realize it's going nowhere, and I guess you're asking with this new information, you know, do they try again? My guess is no.

The question is going to be—

you're a man—

yeah, yeah, you're coming at it as a man of justice and also a Heat fan, but as a man of justice primarily, there's not— this isn't plausible in the real world though over the next 4 weeks, right?

They're not going to do it just because it would be the right thing to do. No, just like the Canadiens are not going to beat the Hurricanes tonight They could. They're not going to. It's the same thing here. Like, the commissioner is not going to give the Heat their pick.

He could.

It's allowed, but he's not going to.

You're just trying to talk it into existence. That's all. Yeah, I got you.

I just want to remind everyone how much bullshit it is that the Hornets knew and they still decided it's okay for us to take a first-round pick for a player who is under federal investigation and not tell anyone, and that the league knew and they saw it happening and was okay with all of it. I just want to remind everyone that that's bull— if you want to know what the bullshit is, that's the bullshit. That's all. I just want to let everybody know that.

If that was the criminal law, they would definitely be indicted on the RICO because either theft by receiving or you coordinated this, you pulled up to the house, that he—

you were in the car, you feel me?

So yeah, I agree with you, Zazz.

It's like going on a date and someone doesn't disclose their STD.

Just like that. That's exactly what I was thinking, Trista.

Spot on.

Now, if we could laugh about something real quick.

I just did.

On a less serious note, you guys know Mario Chalmers. I mean, champion guard for the Miami Heat. Uh, believes, believes he was the best player on that team. All right. He really does believes he was the best player on those champion Miami Heat teams. And here's, here's Rio on the OG's show. You know, that's, that's Mike Miller. And Udonis Haslem. And Mario Chalmers actually speaking fact here, he believes that he— that the Big Three was actually built around him. Give us a listen.

I was the only person signed on the Heat. Like, there was nobody else on there. Yeah, so they built the team around me. This motherfucker crazy, ain't he? I told you. That's crazy. He don't heard that shit, right? He don't heard that shit, right?

He deadass said that.

Hey, Rios said he had a conversation with Riles and he said, we're building this team around you. That what you said?

Yeah, I told Pat like, yeah, I need Bron, I need UD, I need— he's dead ass serious, dog. He is not fucking lying.

He believes he was the best player on the floor anytime he was out there. But to Rios' credit, he is factually correct. He was the only player under contract in that 2010 offseason. He was the only player who was on the Heat going into that offseason So if he wants to say that he believes that the team was built around him, alright, you know, who am I to disagree, right?

You kind of need that delusional confidence if you're a guy who's 6'3", a little bit slow, did have a massive shot in the NCAA tournament, but—

one of the all-time great tournament, you know, game winners.

But you're not a super athletic guy, you're not all these super, you know, high-tier athlete kind of guys, and then all of a sudden you have the confidence, you hit a couple big shots, you got it.

I want to play something for you guys.

It would leave you with a weird chip on the shoulder though. Right? If you're— I mean, think back when the Ravens won that Super Bowl 47 against the Niners, and it was very quickly, despite Joe Flacco having the, you know, that, uh, 6-week stretch and everything, it was all about Ray Lewis. It was all— that was the whole thing. And then Tom Brady wins that Super Bowl in Tampa Bay, and it really is almost hard to summon anyone else who was relevant on that team besides Tom Brady. I— it would put it— it would, it would establish a weird chip on your shoulder, right? You're a multi-millionaire, a high-end athlete, but Nobody ever discusses you. It's all about the Big Three. It's as though no one else was even on that team outside of Miami.

That's how we perceive it. And they were always yelling at him. They were always yelling at him in front of everyone. It wasn't like when you yell at one of your teammates in practice, you know. No, they were always yelling at him on the court during the game for everyone to see.

It would kind of suck. Yes, I'm sure every question that Mario Chalmers, or 90% of them, had to do with, uh, what's it like playing with the Big Three? You know, what's LeBron? Well, yeah, everything is about other people, and it's a weird thing if you have spent the preceding decade and a half as a high-end athlete being recruited and drafted and all that. Everything's about you. Suddenly you are— like I say, you would have a weird sense of self-esteem at some point when only— when the only questions you're getting are about your teammates.

Don Lebatard.

I ain't never met nobody in the world that's done hate on Blue's Clues.

Great nomination.

Like, who don't like Blue's Clues, bro? If you don't like Blue's Clues, you're a loser.

Stewgatz.

Look, you get one paw print, that's the first clue. You put it in a notebook. Now what do you do? Blue's Clues, Blue's Clues.

Sit on the chair and think about it.

This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stewgatz.

Dave, are you paying attention at all? Of course, Football America, uh, new episode today. Uh, are you paying attention much to OTAs, minicamp, all that going on? New, new, uh, old faces in new places. Are you paying attention to all that?

Hey, that's Mikey Mick.

Of course I am. I'm fascinated. One of the more interesting new arrangements is Mike McDaniel ditching out, or I think he was shown the door, um, from, uh, from your neck of the woods and moving across football America and landing in Los Angeles to coach up the Los Angeles Chargers offense helmed by Justin Herbert. Yes, fascinating.

How is the Dolphin fan— like, if the Chargers offense takes this massive leap this year, which I think Mike McDaniel is going to be a really successful offensive coordinator. I, I think there— I don't think he was a head coach. I think that there are some coaches who aren't head coaches but can be great coordinators. You've seen guys like Norv Turner, guys like Wade Phillips. You've seen this, uh, Steve Spagnuolo. Like, these guys are out there. All right, I think Mike McDaniel is going to wind up being one of those guys. He's not a head coach, but even though he had some modicum of success, but he's going to be a great coordinator. Are Dolphin fans going to be angry if— because I want to have the Tua conversation as well, but because that's a little bit easier to answer, I think. But are Dolphin fans going to care if the Chargers offense takes this huge step forward and, oh, that, that was your coach and you fired him? Like, are Dolphin fans going to care? Because my guess is I, I don't think it's going to matter. I, I think the part that's going to be frustrating about that is not only is it the Dolphins' former coach, but more importantly, he's doing it with the quarterback they passed on for Tua.

That's the combination there, right, Juju? That's the part that— not the McDaniel part, but it's that McDaniel, oh, look at what he's doing with Herbert. That's the guy the Dolphins should have drafted.

1,000%, because that was the big debate. Should Tua, Herbert? And that first year, everything they was doing was side by side in comparison. So if Mike McDaniel goes to the West Coast and has success, it's gonna sting.

Because otherwise, like, I don't know, I'm not upset at Mike McDaniel. I'm not mad at Mike. It didn't work out. Okay, time to move on.

Maybe it's because of the guy in the helmet versus the guy on the sideline in the headset, and Mike McDaniel is idiosyncratic. And so, you know, how much you're going to care if the Chargers go to the Super Bowl— by the way, Super Bowl 61, Dave's initial pick for Super Bowl 61, Chargers v Rams. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Um, I think that's gonna actually happen. It's in SoFi. Two home teams playing in—

that would be wild.

That would be awesome. Yes, that's what I, I'm trying to talk it into, uh, into being. In the meantime, yeah, I mean, you know, Roy knows what's going on with, uh, with the Vegas Knights and Mitch Marner, who was, you know, a, a critical figure to the Toronto Maple Leafs in their pursuit of the Cup. And he was—

you—

he circled more than anyone else on that Leafs team during the era for being the, the cause of their failures in the playoffs. Now he goes to Vegas and is, uh, and is playing lights out. Now they're in the final. Leafs fans are very upset right now, and I think it's not angry at Marner so much as it is what's going on in, in our house that this was such a colossal failure and now he goes to Vegas and is a superstar once again. I think you are gonna have some feelings about that and what it says about your favorite pro football team.

I'm totally good. I won't be upset at all if McDaniel has success. I won't be upset that Stephen Ross fired him and he's having success there. I won't be upset that McDaniel personally is having success as if I, you know, don't like him. You know, I Look at Tua, and that one I feel differently about.

Well, that's what I was going to ask about Mike McDaniel, is it feels like the idiosyncratic nature of him was like cool and cute when he was a coordinator. You've got like the jewelry—

Well, we liked it the first couple years when he was head coach too.

And the capris and all of these like different things that he has to say, and then like, is he on drugs? Is he recovered from drugs? Cause he sounds kinda nuts, but once you're the man on the tippy tippy top, we don't really want weirdos that much. I feel like coordinators can be weirdos, head coaches— like Harbaugh's the only weirdo head coach that I think is acceptable right now.

But he wins. When you win, you can do whatever you want. Like, you can almost do literally whatever you want if you win.

We really liked McDaniel those first couple years.

That's the thing. When he's got the best offense in football, when Tua's throwing for 5,000 yards and Tyreek Hill's running up and down the field and everybody's great, A-Chance, oh my God, he's amazing. Yeah, it's really cool when he's quirky and weird, but Chris Cody said it, it's gonna start getting weird when you start losing, and that's what happened.

And yeah, when you lose, you Adam Gase. You the goofball.

That's exactly right, and I don't remember, but obviously I wasn't in Miami at the time, did anybody raise an eyebrow when Mike McDaniel was acting like Mike McDaniel at the height of that Dolphins when you thought they were hanging 60 on the Bills and otherwise? Did anybody say, "He's a little bit of a weirdo though, everybody"?

Oh no.

Everybody was in love with him.

Yeah, right.

Everyone felt that way across football America. Like, look at this guy. All these Type A personalities, hardos, Mike Vrabel types, and look at this nerd doing it.

Everyone was saying that, but we liked it. Everyone was good with it. And then it wasn't so cute when they weren't winning games after that, you know? Then And I'm— I felt guilty of that as well. I didn't like it anymore. I like him.

No, I still really like Mike McDaniel, and I, I'm rooting for him to have success because I felt like Tua was the primary reason that that didn't work out.

It was a different story.

Like, Mike McDaniel masked the issues that Tua had as a quarterback, built something around a guy and his specific skill set, um, that he was able to tap into for a year there. But we talked about it, like Tua's sort of show me the money, I'm the guy. I think he walked around with—

after— I don't know if Tua changed.

Yeah.

Or if he had us fooled.

Either way.

But either one, that he is not the guy that I thought he was.

Yeah, that's right. And so to watch Mike McDaniel have a level of success elsewhere, like, I never— yeah, we got tired of the shtick toward the end.

It would not bother me.

It wouldn't bother me at all.

I was— I, I wished that they would have kept him and just changed the quarterback out. Like, I wish he was still there. And they had Malik Willis.

How much of Tua's inability or ineffectiveness though can we actually just attribute to what we saw on live television? Him getting concussed, him throwing up Westside, like, totally. I feel like that made—

but personality-wise, you're laughing at him throwing up Westside, obviously.

Uh, I've never heard—

salute to the Westside, by the way.

But personality, personality-wise, if you want to attribute the play to the concussions, okay, but personality-wise bothered a lot of us as well the last couple of years.

But that could be CTE also.

Could be.

Could be.

But you know what? I can't— I can't attribute everything we don't like about someone to maybe he has the thing that we cannot prove until if we study his brain after he dies.

His personality changed. It was like a complete 180, and maybe that's money, but he was a gentle, kind— even people who had worked with him on the agency side went from loving Tua to being like, he's a real pain in the ass.

And the stuff that I heard behind the scenes as well with him and McDaniel, like, I feel like Tua should be like eternally grateful to Mike McDaniel, like, have nothing but But incredibly positive things, Dave, to say about Mike McDaniel. I agree.

And especially because the reason Mike McDaniel primarily— there are many things that are faulty about the Dolphins operation, but number one is Mike McDaniel decided to marry himself to Tua. And that's why Mike McDaniel got fired ultimately. But if Tua goes up to Atlanta and for all these concerns that you have, if the situation proves better in Atlanta, you guys are going to be sick about it. I can assure you of that. Yeah, if Tua— oh, that's the Falcons— has the Falcons at 7-3, and that's the discussion we're having in November, and boy, they're going to win the division, and boy, renewed, uh, a resurrected, uh, an all-new Tua now, he got out of that bad situation, you guys are going to be red in the face and angry about Tua even more than you are now, which I think is absolutely justified. And I do wonder, maybe it is the concussions, but otherwise he does now play to me as just an ingrate. That's my number one feeling about Tua from a distance is, man, you really— they gave you all that money. Mike McDaniel, you know, basically gave up his head coaching gig, um, in support of you and your sort of glib, yeah, I don't know, it'd be cool to go somewhere else.

It'd be dope. It'd be dope.

Weird. Yes, dope. That's what it was. I'm sorry.

Yes.

Isn't it going to be super Dolphins fan and super Falcons fan when the Falcons do start like 6-2 and Tua is having an season, and Dolphins fans are like, oh my God, I can't believe this is happening. But then he gets hurt and completely nukes the Falcons season as well. So you've got both of the fan bases eating it.

Pause.