Transcript of Wu-Tang Clan SAVED The New York Knicks (feat. Raekwon) | Hour 3 New

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This is the Dan Levator Show with the Stugatz Podcast.

Wanna wish a very hearty happy birthday, 943rd birthday to Dave Dameshek.

Happy birthday to him. I don't care. Good luck. But that's weird, right?

You guys are not going to believe what Dan did. He's buried the lead on this entire Nick Spurs story from last night. We have, we have a jinx situation, guys. I'm on a text exchange last night with Dan and Michelle Beatle where midway through the second quarter, Dan tries to book Michelle on the show for today and she saw what he was trying to do and she goes, shh, too early. And then look what happened. Just gross by Dan. He knew what he was doing.

He knew what he was doing. That's a vet move by Dan.

That's a Knicks fan if I've ever seen one.

Just care to comment?

Yeah. Yeah, just to be clear, you guys, otherwise reasonable sane adults, believe that the reason we witnessed, uh, the greatest comeback in the history of the NBA Finals is because of a text sent from Miami to Los Angeles last night in the second quarter? Just to be clear on what you're alleging, didn't hurt Miami to LA, but about New York and San Antonio.

So now it becomes a little bit more convoluted.

The, the jinx situation, because she, she believes that, fans believe that, and it—

I, you know what, I hate people that just, oh, the jinx isn't real. Who cares? If it's real to that person, respect it. I don't, I don't understand why anybody does that.

Jinx is real.

Yeah, I agree.

You think just one day someone decided, hey, this thing happened because I did this, I'm gonna, uh, let's call it jinx? No, no, jinx is a real thing.

Kind of like me in the national championship for the Hurricanes.

I'll never forgive you.

You don't think I was real?

What I believe is real is that I've done irreparable damage to my relationship with Michelle Beatle. That's what I think is real.

Yeah, I couldn't show what else she said after that because it was not pretty.

The team's won 5 championships.

Get over it.

Spanish television is unbelievable. The guys have more work done on them than the ladies.

I've seen you guys distracted the entirety of the show today because you're just watching shimmering, shaking women who aren't wearing any fabric on their shoulders.

Linoleum foreheads. That's what I'm looking at right now. This guy especially. Smoother than a ski ramp.

Pitch Clock is going to be at the end of this hour with Jeremy Taché. I regret never getting yesterday to something that I promised people, which is Jeremy's observations about the show the day before. Unfortunately, we will not have time for those ever. Not yesterday, not today, or ever.

We haven't mentioned Brendan Sorsby at all. That seems like it's getting crazier by the minute, and Texas Tech is not exactly covering themselves in glory here. And Zaz and I were talking before the show show. Now that he has this ruling on his side and seeing the behavior not just from Texas Tech but all the other schools in the nation, I think it's less likely that Brendan Sorsby plays.

I do too.

Now then, before when the ruling came down, yeah, like, I, I think that this is a real inflection point for a sport that admittedly over the last few years seems like it's had a lot of those, but This is the one rule. This is the one line. Is this worth it? Texas Tech is about to become a pariah straight up. If Brett Yormark, the commissioner of the Big 12, had his way—

what do you say?

I think— well, I don't know what he said, but he had an all-hands meeting with all the other ADs in the Big 12 who are properly pissed. I imagine if you— if you ask Brett Yormark, What would you prefer here with the Sorsby thing? This is a mess.

I, I think you're right. I started to get that sense yesterday also, that it seems as if Texas Tech is surprised at how big and nasty the reaction has been. They've already started to walk back the idea of allowing Sorsby to play themself. Kirby Hokut, the athletic director, he put out a whole statement yesterday which mentions how, okay, he'll be— we'll allow him to play as long as he goes through the process and, and is in a place where he's okay enough to play. Like, they're already starting to, to hedge a little bit the idea of allowing him to play.

Joey McGuire also didn't help matters yesterday. Here is some pretty— this is crazy. This is pretty jaw-dropping what he does here to defend the whole Brendan Sorsby situation.

Brendan Sorsby is recovering from an addiction.

He's recovering.

Like, um, I've sat down with this young man multiple times, and the things that he is going through and what he's been through is serious. As a society, we've been okay with other things that happens and allowing players to play, and this has been the one thing that has united people that they were against, you know, and it's crazy because it's not murder. It's not beating somebody.

And it's so there's a lot of things that we're working through. Being somebody, he was thinking about saying, but then had the presence of mind to not say that, right? I think his whole attitude there is like, well, you know, Deshaun plays, right? So what's so bad about here? Yeah, no, this is the one thing that united everybody. Because as horrible as murder and sexual assault is, the integrity of the game is not called into question. Your integrity as moral human people, absolutely called into question. We can feel icky about that, no doubt. But the games are played for people to believe that they are— they are tried and true competitions and there's no funny business going on. Yeah, that's the one line. It seems pretty easy.

Chris, can you find for me, please, the origins of funny business and why people think the business is funny when it's decidedly not funny? Usually public pressure does not work very often. The last time I remember this kind of consensus on something in sports that actually turned the tide on something was the Super League in Europe, where the pressure was such that they just bailed on an idea that would have been just commerce first, commerce first, commerce first.

And Michael Jormark.

This is the closest thing I've seen since to public pressure possibly working, but I still don't know what you guys think has changed. We'll get back to this and Pitch Clock in a second and talk about what's changed over the last couple of days that make you think differently about this. But the reason that we'll get back to this is because Raekwon is on with us, and Wu-Tang was in the middle, uh, still in the middle of everything. One of the most authentic things in the history of music. Even at a liar's game, competitive liar's game, Wu-Tang is generally regarded as one of the most authentic things. And Raekwon, you're here to tell us that you brought Knicks basketball its greatest moment last night by simply performing in a way that changed everything, correct?

I guess so, man. I guess so. We just came in and just was just a part of the excitement, man. I mean, you know, it was, it was fun. Definitely fun.

What were the highlights for you? And were you like Meth, you fled the arena at halftime because you didn't want to be around the crowd, or did you want to absorb everything that was happening in that crowd?

Oh nah, we was still in the building. I mean, we didn't go anywhere. I mean, you know, it was just so much happening at the time and, you know, just it's so many of us. So, you know, we was kind of shifting, letting some of the guys go back and touch the floor, some of us in the back chilling. But, um, we was there, man. I mean, you know, when you think about the, the, um, the combative sport— sportsmanship that we was dealing with, you know, as far as New York, it was, it was tense in there, you know. Um, at first it was, you know, a little getting a little stressful. And then, you know, we just had to have that faith, and that's what we kept.

What were the highlights for you in terms of interactions with people and moments from the night last night that'll stay with you?

Oh, nah, I guess when we, when we came out and performed, you know, you know, the Garden, you know, the, um, the officials in there, they told us like, you know, you know, it don't really be so crowded, and, you know, when the halftimes happen. So, you know, it seemed like the crowd didn't go anywhere, you know, everybody stayed there and watched us perform. And, you know, that was definitely one of my highlights, is just to see that it was still so packed in there. And just, you know, just really just watching everything, just taking it in and really hoping that we get that win, you know. And, and it just happened, you know. Um, the team, the team, they, you know, they, they kind of remind me of us. Like, you know, we, when it, when, when we under pressure, we get busy, Dan, you know. And I think that that's what they really realized they had to do. And defense was definitely something that was important, but we did it, man.

So those are the highlights to me, just the resilience and coming back and spanking, you know, folks, Chime is changing the way people bank and it matters because a lot of people are still dealing with these fees that do not need to be there. Overdraft fees, monthly fees, even paying to access your own money. Well, guess what? Chime is fee-free banking built for everyday people, not the old system. With Chime, you are upgrading to a smarter way to manage your money. With direct deposit, you unlock access to up to $1,150 in annual rewards. They are rated 5 stars by USA Today for customer service, with real people available 24/7. The benefits stack up. You can get up to $500 of your paycheck when you need it with MyPay. SpotMe lets you overdraft up to $200 fee-free. You can earn 5% cash back on your Chime card, and savings grow with 3.75% APY. Somebody I know would benefit from this. Chime is not just smarter banking, it's the most rewarding way to bank. Join the millions who are already banking fee-free today. Head to chime.com/dan. That's chime.com/dan. It only takes a few minutes to sign up.

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Summer always hits different once the big games start stacking up. Now you've got finals games on every other night. Baseball's rolling all week, racing on the weekends, and suddenly everybody's looking for an excuse to get together. The other night, a buddy texted me, "We've got the game on, come through." I figured I'd stop by for maybe an hour. That was optimistic. Next thing you know, everybody's locked into the game and we're all part of the coaching staff. Somebody's yelling at the ref, somebody else is suddenly an expert on pitch strategy, and nobody's even pretending they're leaving early anymore. It's one of those nights where you take a sip of Miller Lite, look around, and realize, yeah, This is exactly what summer is supposed to be. That's why Miller Lite is always part of these nights for me. It's clean, refreshing, easy to drink when it's hot outside, and perfect for long nights hanging with friends watching games. An all-American summer starts with an all-American beer, Miller Lite. Go to MillerLite.com/Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly.

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Dan Lebatard. John Zaslo.

How you love that catchphrase. Bad news for opposing teams in the triple Stoogatz.

This is the Dan Levatar Show with the Stoogatz. Wu-Tang's got so many big hits, but you guys only had a certain amount of time out there. Like, how do you How do you guys decide which songs to play?

Yo, that's always a big thing for us. You know, we go straight for the hits, the ones that we know that at the end of the day, the fans are familiar with. So, you know, when you hear the Wu-Tang Clan, "Ain't Nothing to F with," you hear "Cream," you know, those records right there, you know, get the crowd going and gets them up. So we definitely just went with the knockout punches right away.

I don't know if you're ever surprised about who's a fan of your music, but was there anyone last night from a star-studded affair that came up to you that you were like, Wouldn't have guessed that that person's a Wu-Tang fan.

It was a couple of cats. I see, you know, I seen hanging out with Adam Sandler. Um, couple of guys though. But, you know, everybody loved the Wu, man. You know, um, it doesn't, it doesn't despise me who may not know us though. But once they feel the energy, it's on, you know. But, um, it was so many people, man. You know, I didn't get a chance to go check out my man John McEnroe. You know, I'm a big tennis fan. I didn't get a chance to see him, but it was a few people in there. So many guys. So many.

Are you in any way surprised as I present to you Jonathan Zadslow, the look of Jonathan Zadslow, are you in any way surprised that the first concert that this person ever went to was a Wu-Tang— I love Wu-Tang. —concert?

Get outta here, Jon. Word. That's what's up.

I was 16 years old, 1997. You guys were Torn With Rage. First ever concert.

Yeah. Oh man. Yeah, definitely. Those were the days, man. Those was when we was, we was Young Bucks though, man. So you happened to be there when it was, when it was, you know, when we was getting big. Put it like that.

You was there.

What do you regard as the most memorable of the folks that you did tour with where you, you guys went on the road with somebody and it was the thing you still talk about today when you get together?

Definitely. Definitely. Rage Against the Machine was definitely one of those. One of those highlights in our careers. You know, we were all coming up together at the same time. So I would definitely say them. Of course, you know, some of my peers, Nas, De La Soul, you know, guys that we, you know, De La Soul, we pretty much, you know, we they little brothers and all of that in the business. And a couple of cats, man, you know, a couple of them, man, but I would definitely say them right there. You know, how does this work when you're performing?

Because Hank Azaria was just telling us something that we were surprised by, which is there was a whole suite of celebrities from Aaron Judge to Jeremy Strong, Rainn Wilson, Hank, that they're in the worst seats in the house. What kind of seats do you get when you're performing?

I mean, you know, they had us on the dance floor. We was on the dance floor, Dan. And, you know, I think all those great players, you know, just being in the stadium to them was the best thing. So seats, you know, like you said, it had to be literally probably like over 100 celebrities there. You know, I seen everybody, you know, and nobody seemed to worry about where they were at. You know, it's like if you was in the back, you had the best seat though, you know. But they had us on the dance floor, you know. And it's so crazy because they had us literally right near the Spurs, the Spurs, um, section. So, you know, I literally could go over and probably just, you know, get in one of their ears and say, yo, y'all losing tonight. That's how close we were. But, um, it was, it was, it was emotional game though, man.

Emotional. Who, who is the Wu-Tang member most likely to actually say that to one of the Spurs?

Me, me, I'm that guy that'll go and say it though. But you know, like I said, you know, Spurs is a great team, you know, nothing against them, you know, a bunch of young guys, you know, really, really aggressive out there. But, um, Knicks, man, Knicks, man. And tell the Knicks, man, say, yo, man, Ray need a brand new black Rolls-Royce Spectra at his house tomorrow, you know. The energy we brought is like I think they got it, man.

All right, so he's taking credit for the victory today. One of the great comebacks in the history of all of sports, not just basketball. Absolutely. Uh, Raekwon, nice seeing you. Thank you for stopping by. Uh, enjoy the work and always enjoy talking to you, sir. You got it, Dan. Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah, I'm looking at here, you know, we— the, the guest list, the celebrity guest list is open, the seating chart, and Raekwon, Ghostface, RZA, and Method Man and they were first row on the floor.

I love soccer. Chris Cote's just been doing Chris Berman noises that entire interview. Chris Berman doing highlights is how I would describe the person to my left.

Yeah. So those are the sounds you're making every time a bare shoulder ends up shimmying on the screen because Spanish television is the best. You give sort of a guttural mutter that comes somewhere from in your nether region and then meets your lips.

Occasional Tim Allen from Home Improvement.

I've— I have not seen that kind of look from you guys since Shakira was performing during one of the— there was— so there was—

you guys, 2020 halftime show, Dan, with J.Lo and Bad Bunny. This is truly a game that brings us all together. It's just amazing.

I, I am not, after one of the great comebacks in the history of sports, getting the full undivided attention of people who work for Metal Ark and are paid for Metal to give us their undivided attention these 3 hours because you guys are just staring at World Cups.

Part of my duties here at Metal Ark is to deliver morally abhorrent. I have to be locked in on all the soccer as well. Even if it's morally abhorrent. Even if it makes me feel morally abhorrent.

No te pido flores is shaking right now in una celebración mundial.

Her name is literally Fanny. What the best, the best sporting event on the planet, and it all kicks off in just a couple hours. Hey, if you, you want to hear some, uh, some breakdown of the U.S., uh, men's national team match against Paraguay that is happening on Friday night, kickoff 9 PM, that's late. We're not going to do a watch-along, but we are going to be with you breakfast Saturday, 10 AM Eastern, live on our YouTube. I will have a live live reaction show, Morally Abhorrent, youtube.com/LevitarShow. If you can't catch it live, we'll chuck that in on the YouTube page and the podcast feed so you get an immediate reaction to the U.S. men's national team performance, a match that they need to take all 3 points on. Dan, it's a World Cup. You're going to be watching. Everybody is. But there is one little subplot here that goes beyond the game and goes beyond everything that's going on politically. That I am most excited about. Zlatan is on the coverage. Zlatan Ibrahimović will be making his US media debut for Fox's coverage here. And I have a bold prediction. I think he's going to be a media superstar.

Oh, I have a bolder prediction.

I believe he's going to replace Draymond Green on Inside the NBA. Oh, wow. And should.

Has there ever— and this is a media space that includes Shaq, who gives himself a new nickname every 10 minutes— has there ever been a media personality that refers to himself in the third person as much as Zlatan will?

What's the over-under set for, like, his first broadcast? How many times he says his own name?

Oh, it's going to be hard to get in those spots, but I'm going to— I'm a 2.5. I'm putting the line at 2.5. That's a good line. It's a good line.

It's a good line. Yeah. Yeah. Look at that, right? I can't stop. Oh, wow.

We are going to catch up with Juju here in a little bit. And we've also got Pitch Clock coming on later. But I want to show you guys something that I did last night as I talk about the single greatest comeback from yesterday. It was not the Knicks. Put that up on the screen so people can see what I texted Jeremy Teche and Mike Schurz. So you see this situation here where the The bases are loaded, 0 outs, 9th inning, and the Giants are down 10-7. But another circle on there. You also see this situation as well. You see 5 runs here in the bottom of the 8th inning, uh, and you see here 1 run. So you see the score, what the difference is. And so I sent to Jeremy Tasche and Mike Scher this, uh, I'm the only one watching baseball this way. I'm like, look out, watch what's coming here. And then 4 seconds later, I get to send this screenshot 4 seconds later, which comes complete with enormous confetti because there has been a grand slam. And there it is, the single greatest upset in the history of sports. I'm trying to draw a penis, but it keeps giving me nuts.

It keeps giving me testicles as I try to draw a penis. I cannot use it correctly.

Oh wow. Don Lebatard, can I tell you something? I don't know, maybe like a month ago, and I decided to watch Pitch Clock, and I told Jeremy, Stugatz, this is a good show you're doing. This is the Dan Lebatard Show with the Stugatz.

Can we keep your emotions together this week? I mean, that was not a good look for you, that BTS last week. Let's just try to keep our emotions in check. How about you relax? Remember, I care about you. No, you don't. This is all to help. Mm-hmm. Let's start the show.

Welcome to the Pitch Clock. Here's the pitch. A 2- part baseball segment combining a nostalgic baseball trivia game and an interview with an expert. This is The Pitch Clock. We're both wearing Florida Marlins stuff.

It's The Pitch Clock. Hi everybody, we're back. Uh, we have another trivia game to play.

We don't even have— we don't have anything in front of us, which means it's something—

you don't need anything in front of you. Exciting. I've got everything I need right here. By the way, also wearing technically kind of Florida Marlins gear, my Lou Gehrig that as well. Yeah, and ALS in support of, uh, Project Main Street and Boog, uh, Shombie's charitable efforts. You're doing great on that. I really— yeah, charitable.

Yeah, charitable.

It's talking things, not that easy. No, it's not, it's not the easiest. We do it all day. Are you guys ready for a really fun game today? We are. You see what's in front of me here? This is— I recently ordered a complete set of Topps baseball cards. Cards from our favorite year of baseball ever, 2005.

Winner gets Jeremy's jacket.

You missed your opportunity. Yeah, this was one of the giveaways at a Marlins game if you got the right ticket package. Plenty more awesome giveaways coming up at the ballpark where you can see your boy. Wow, I know.

So today, guys, we are going to be playing an edition of Who He Play For. So based on this— Rockies cards— I have picked a stack of 40 cards. White Sox. All right, it's gonna be first to 15. I really want to go rapid fire here. Okay, okay, first to 15. You can steal, so if I ask Jeremy a question, Jeremy gets it wrong, Chris can take the point from him.

We're gonna put 5 seconds on the pitch clock.

5 seconds on the pitch clock, we're gonna go really fast. Here's the pitch. There are 40 here, so nice. It's gonna be very simple. I'm gonna read you a card, it will be based off of the team that he is—

that that player plays for.

Correct, on this card. All right, yeah, okay, Jeremy. Your first player, Tony Clark. Padres. No, incorrect. Chris Cody, would you like to steal? D-backs. Both incorrect. Great. Chris Cody, the next card goes to you. Who was he? He was a New York Yankee. Nick Johnson.

Nick Johnson, at that point in '03, he was— '05. I know, I know, I'm doing the math in my head. In '03, he was the Yankees. Nationals. That's correct.

Yeah. 1 point for Chris Cody. Thank you.

Remember when we took him for a walk?

Remember Remember, 5 seconds on the clock.

Oh, now the pitch clock is a real thing all of a sudden.

Current Cubs manager, Craig Counsell. Brewers. Incorrect. Chris Cody, would you like to steal? D-backs.

Yes, that's correct.

2 points for Chris Cody. What a D-back I am for getting that, huh? Chris Cody. Hey. Austin Kearns. Red? That is correct. 3 points for Chris Cody.

I like your thumbs up in the air.

Man, there's a couple here. Jeremy. Yeah. Chris Carpenter. Cardinals.

There it is. I like it. You better not give us—

it's just a little too easy. Chris Cody. Ben Sheets. Brewer? That is correct. 4 points for Chris Cody. The face he made. All right, Jeremy. Shannon Stewart. Twins. That's correct. Thank God you knew that, because I didn't. Casey Kochman. Casey?

Not Corey Klosky?

No, Casey Kochman. Casey?

Can you spell out the last name?

K-O-T-C-H-M-A-N. Casey Kochman.

Can you use it in a sentence?

Yeah, use it in a sentence.

Who did Casey Kotschman play for in 2005? 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Now you're starting the clock.

I am going to say the team that Casey Kotschman played for was—

Yeah, the Brewers. That is incorrect.

Jeremy, would you like to steal? The White Sox?

That is also incorrect. He played for the Angels.

Okay.

And now he is back. You've missed him. He's been gone for too long. Adnan Virk is back with us. You can see him on MLB Network. You can read his book. And I want to dive with him right into the American League West because, Adnan, I don't think we have mentioned maybe one of these teams all year long. I feel like we have accidentally avoided the AL West. And it's, it's an interesting division because you got the Mariners just a couple of games over at the top of that division. You got Texas just after that, the Athletics, who have certainly been outperforming initial expectations. The Astros sitting at 6-under, and the Angels, of course, rounding things out. They're dreadful. But I want to highlight the Astros in particular, Adnan, because they missed the playoffs last year. They have all of these really strong players, and yet they're not performing well overall as a team as we're here, you know, a couple weeks into June. Is this the year it finally ends for the Astros and they decide to be sellers at the deadline and kickstart a new rebuild? Field.

I wish, but I don't think so. I mean, Astros and Dana Brown, they're like, no, we're gonna hang around, we'll get to 500, we'll make some moves. Like, but I'm with you, they should be concerned. Here's the thing, Spencer Arighetti has been fabulous for them going into yesterday's action, won 8 of his 9 starts. The rest of the rotation, 22-36. He's got a sub-2 ERA, which is top 10 in baseball. The rest of the Astros starters, 5.39. Only the Rockies have a worse starters ERA this year than the Houston Astros. Think about that. Now. This is the reason why they're not going to sell though. They'll say, well, Hunter Brown's coming back soon. He's projected to be in next week's series against the Tigers. Jordan Alvarez is an MVP front runner right now. He's got a triple crown category. He's leading the American League 22 home runs, 48 RBIs, and his .316 average trails only Yandy Diaz. So they're going to look around and go, hey, Hunter Brown's coming back. Him and Eric Gatty, formidable 1-2. Jordan, Jordan. Payne is coming back. José Altuve will be back soon. Um, he went 2 for 7 over the week after being out with an IL injury.

So I'm with you, man. Eventually you go, hey, seriously, enough with the Astros. Can you just accept the fact you're not a good team? But no, I think that they'll try to hang around and realize that in a poor division, as you mentioned, maybe they can sneak in with a wildcard because the American League in general, as we know, is very diluted.

Love a little Jordan, Jordan, and Jordan Alvarez. I mean, for those who are not paying attention to him, he has been maybe the best hitter in all of baseball this year. The guy has been lights out since the day he came up in Houston, and he has only continued to produce. But let's talk about some other struggling teams in the American League. And if you look at the bottom 7, right, so there's the top 8, then there's the bottom 7 of that league. You see the Orioles, you see the Astros, who we just talked about. You see the Twins, you see the Red Sox, who we've talked about a little bit here, the Tigers, the Royals, and the Angels, respectively. Which of those teams, Adnan, and their, we'll say, struggles thus far this season stands out the most to you?

Yeah, I mean, all those teams, you're right. KC, I'm not surprised they're bad. The Angels, by the way, they're the only Major League Baseball team to never lose 100 games in a season. Season. As bad as they've been, as irrelevant as they've been, they've never lost 100. They're always like, you know, really hit 90 last season. Yeah, they're on pace to lose 102 games. So if you want history, maybe we'll see the Angels lose 100 games first time ever in their history. Only baseball team ever to do that. But I think for me it's your Tigers. I, I'm stunned it's been this bad. I know Tarik Skubal is otherworldly. I know he's the best pitcher in baseball, but he's one guy. Like, you have other players, but they've completely fallen apart. Like, it's shocking how bad they've been. You would have thought in that division Even without Skubal, you can be a .500 team. But no, they're a legit bad team. They're going to trade Skubal once he comes back. You've got 9 or 10 starts before you can flip him. There's no reason to keep him. If you were going to keep him, you would have done so.

He's going to get $350-400 million in the open market. So I, I'm genuinely shocked because all along I thought, well, the only way they'll trade Skubal is if they're so bad. And they're not gonna be that bad because they were a good team a year ago, playoff team, and they'll be that good again. They've been a massive disappointment even you take into account Skubal's 100.

Even with Jason Benetti sneaking in those Greg Cody catchphrases onto the broadcast, things have been a bit disappointing for the Tigers.

Jeremy, who did Jeff Kent play for in 2005?

Oh, remember, he played for a few teams.

Giants. That is incorrect.

Chris Cody, would you like to steal?

Now I know because you guessed the Dodgers. That is also incorrect. He was an Astros. Damn. Astros? Yes.

Astro. Astro. I was such I was such a condescending jerk there.

Yeah, you were. Pedro Martinez. In '05?

Yes. It's got to be towards the end.

Yep. For Pedro? Yep. 5, 4. That is correct.

Chris Cody has 5. Let's go! Everyone that's watching right now is like, oh, I thought it was Red Sox.

Jeremy. Mike Lieberthal. Brewers. Great name. That is incorrect. Chris Cody.

I know where he is now. Philly.

That is correct. 6 points for Chris Cody.

Chris Cody. Yeah, it sucks. I love you going first though, it helps.

Chris Cody. Yeah. Brad Ausmus. Astros. That is correct. You get—

I just wanna, I just wanna point out.

That's not true, you had a couple easy ones.

I, right, and I got both of the easy ones. Yeah, and then you got all the hard ones right. I wanna put, right, I wanna, but, but I've eliminated one of the however many teams.

Chris Cody is doing fantastic at this game, let's be very clear. All right, I just wanna make it abundantly clear.

I also know where Brad Ausmus plays baseball.

He's the kind of guy that makes excuses.

Excuses. Yeah. Chris— Jeremy. Chris Cappuano.

This is easy. Chris Cappuano was a Brewer.

That is correct. Yeah. Now I'm in my head. Chris Cody.

Jason Bay.

Um, Jason Bay would have left the Pirates for the Mets at this point.

That is incorrect.

Damn it, I just gave you the other answer.

That is correct. Really, really stupid on your part. That was crazy.

I mean, I knew I was going Pirates.

The only other spot— he eventually was a Red Sox man. He was a Blue Jay, he was a Red Sox. He played for a few teams, but he got paid after. But it was the Pirates. That was— okay. Jeremy. Nomar García Parra.

Nomar played for the Cubs.

That is correct. Chris. Ethan. El Duque. Can you say his full name, please? Orlando Hernández. Yankee. That is correct. Jeremy. Me. Preston Wilson. Don't go crazy here.

Hold on, just relax. Think about it. Preston Wilson was a Met. That is incorrect.

Chris Cody, would you like to steal? Yes, I would. Yeah. Rocky. That is correct. Wow, I didn't know if you would get that one. I just knew, I knew. That's really good.

That's really, really good. You're getting it wrong, actually.

That's what keeps happening. Really strong, really strong. Chris Cody, Ryan Klusko.

You see, I don't do— I'm not doing the same thing that he's doing to me where I get wrong and give him the help. But, um, clearly wasn't a Brave at that point anymore. Was he a Padre before? See, I just— I'm so confident I'm going to win this, I'm just going to say a bunch of team names. Um, I think Braves were first.

Padres. That is correct.

Thank you.

You have given him so much time to filibuster.

I've given you a lot of time too. I have not filibustered one time. When does— I let him start filibustering right before we start. I let him start filibustering and then I start the pitch clock.

The pitch clock would match You see this?

You see what I deal with?

Let's stick with the conversation we were just having there, though, Adnan. I want to talk about Tarik Skubal because this is such a strange situation around him as he comes back to a team that's struggling. We know headed into this offseason what he anticipates. You also have the CBA stuff coming up. He was lights out in his first rehab performance and was kind of rumbling, bumbling, stumbling around the mound a little bit there. What do you make of Skubal and sort of everything it sets up here? I know, you know, you mentioned that, that he maybe could be on the move.

Yeah, I think in the past the trade market's been diluted because the good news is with more wildcard teams, there's more excitement around teams and their fan base later into the season. The bad news is in the past you only had, let's say, with one wildcard, 8 teams making the playoffs. So a lot more sellers and a lot more buyers. Now the last couple years you've seen teams around .500 going, you know what, 5-game win streak, right back in this this thing. And then foolishly, the Angels were buyers the one year because it was Ohtani's last season. It didn't work out, quickly fell apart. So all along, to me, I said, oh man, it's too bad the Tigers are going to be good because there's gonna be no juicer on the trade deadline. Not to be the case now. Now that they realize the Tigers are a bad team and they're not going to re-sign Schubel, this means this trade deadline is going to be unbelievable. And I would think, Jeremy, if I'm a team out there that wants Derek Schubel, just make the offer now. Like, don't wait till July 31st. For God's sakes.

You'll get an extra month of Tarik Skubal. They got to trade him now, June 9th. Let him pitch one or two times and then he's on the market. You'll get 9 starts of Tarik Skubal wherever it could be. So, um, he's definitely being traded. I mean, 100% with certainty I would say that. If they're going to resign, they would have resigned him. And look at the usual suspects, right? Is it Dodgers? Is it Yankees? Is it Cubs? Is it whomever it's going to be? Skubal is going to go somewhere and make a massive impact in the playoff race.

You know what, and this is talking to my producers in the other room as Well, Marlins should just trade for Scooble because then if it doesn't work over the next month and a half, they can just flip him again at the deadline. That'd be really fun. Just revamp everything. This isn't going to happen. It's a fluky thing that I'm talking about. All right. So now I want to get to our Star of the Week because as we get toward the All-Star Game, I think I'm going to start doing a little bit of this pitting positions against each other in the guys worth highlighting. I want to talk about a couple of National League outfielders here and have you specifically highlight one of them, Adnan. James Wood of the Nationals, Jordan Walker of the Cardinals. These guys have been spectacular thus far all season. Who are you highlighting as our Golden Era Star of the Week?

Yeah, both those guys have been good stories, Jeremy. I mean, St. Louis in general, their starting pitching still doesn't impress me, which is why I think eventually they'll fade. But Jordan Walker, just a quick thought on him. This guy feels like he's been in the league for 5 years, but 2023 was his rookie season. So much was expected of him and he struggled for a few years, but like, he's still a young kid. He's only 24. 4, but he said an awesome year, particularly the average of the home runs. I'm thrilled, he should be an All-Star. But I want to talk about James Wood. Like, it's not long before this guy's gonna be one of the best players in baseball. Going into yesterday's action, 4 homers, 12 runs scored, a .1058 OPS for his last 12 games. And who would have thought the number 1 offense in baseball is the Washington Nationals? It's like, that is absolutely staggering to me that James Wood and CJ Abrams, the rest of this offense, they've scored more runs than anybody else in baseball. Braves, Dodgers, Phillies, Yankees, all those teams are expecting. So James Wood to me is a future superstar.

This guy could be Juan Soto-esque, and, uh, people best be paying attention because he's an All-Star for years to come for the Nats.

You say future superstar, I think that superstardom's already arrived. This guy is a stud, and I remember the day he came up watching him at the plate going, oh my goodness, they've got another one, because he is that good. You know who else is that Adnan Virk. And the next time you're here, Adnan, we will be talking with you about whether or not Schuble's out the door, whether or not the Astros have turned things around, and whether or not both players we just talked about are going to be All-Star starters in the National League. Adnan Virk, go buy his book, go watch him on MLB Network. Thank you very much for being here, Adnan.

Jeremy, always fun. And just so you know, I'm stumping as hard as I can for Liam Hicks for the All-Star Game. Yes. If not, Otto Lopez, top 5 in batting average. Xavier Edwards.

Come on, give me 3.

But, you know, I care more about the Canadiens than the Marlins, so we'll do what we can to get those guys in. Let's see. That's fair.

Enjoy that Paul Skeens-Max Meyer matchup on Sunday. That's going to be a fun one in Pittsburgh.

I'm glad you mentioned— I was looking at the Peacock schedule. I said, who do we got? They got Marlins-Pirates. I go, uh, I go, what's the pitching matchup? Hopefully get Skeens. They go, dude, it's Meyer versus Skeens. Oh my God, I cannot wait to do obviously Sunday stretch after that game on Peacock. Thank you for mentioning it.

Thank you for mentioning Peacock.

And then, Verk, you're the man. One-time Home Run Derby participant Brandon Inge. I mean, Tigers. That's great. I mean, you're so easy, these ones he's giving. Um, Chris Cody, 8-6, right? 9-6? 10-6. Chris Cody, you're up. Yeah, Juan Uribe. White Sox. That is correct. Oh man, 4 points away now.

You're like, oh, you would do Giants, but no, I'm smart.

Jeremy, this man famously lied to Congress. Rafael Palmeira, Baltimore Orioles.

That is correct. I thought you wanted to say Rangers.

No, I'm smart. Chris Cody.

Hey, this name is gonna fire Lewis up. I can hear him already.

Chad Tracy. Chad Tracy.

Wow, he played for a bunch of teams. 5. Diamondbacks. That is correct. Dude, you are on fire.

Your 5 keeps starting 5s.

Unbelievable. Oh, stop it. I'm in my bag right now. Cristian Orfio. Oh, Jesus. Cristian Orfio. Yeah, because Cristian Orfio. Yeah, guess. 5, 4, 3, 2. Rangers. That is incorrect. Chris Cody. Out of pity, I just won't guess here.

Okay. Out of pity.

Who do you, who do you think? I'm not going to count it, but who do you think? Orioles. That is incorrect. He was a random guess too.

Yeah, I had no idea where he played.

Chris Cody. Marco Scudero. Ah, Oakland A's. Yes, nice job, dude.

Picturing him with like in the movie Moneyball, like, wasn't he on that team around?

Do you think saying Oakland A's is as bad as saying the other Cleveland team since that also doesn't exist? Yeah.

No, you've been canceled, Jeremy. You, you said it. Kevin Millwood. Brewers. That is incorrect. Chris Cody, would you like to steal?

I'm trying to help the guy, but Rangers.

Nope, also incorrect. Correct. He was a Cleveland baseball player at this time. Yep. You won't say it? No, I won't. Yeah, good for you. Chris Cody. Chris Cody. Yeah. JT Snow. I mean, I hate you. Giant. That is correct. Chris Cody is one away. The amount of awesomeness I'm exuding. Jeremy Taché. Marquise Grissom.

Come on, that's easy.

Giant. That is also correct. Chris Cody. What's up? This is for the win. Jeff Suppan. Oh. 5, 4. What was that noise? It's either Giant or Cardinal.

I'll go with Cardinal.

Chris Cody, you were this week's winner on the Pitch Clock.

I'm so upset because when you said it's either Giant or Cardinal, I was like, all right, I know the— I know it's the other one.

Whoever he gets. 15 to 8, it's the final score.

Chris Cody.

Chris, great game.

You want to shake my hand?

Yeah, I'm shaking your hand. Hey, good job.

So I get the Jacket?

No.