Transcript of ALEKSANDER BARKOV PLEASE BE OKAY | Local Hour

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All right, everybody, give it up for Friday. How about that?

Yeah!

The weekend is upon us and it's a football weekend. All right, let's say hello to Dave Damashek and then we'll get to why Roy is in a very rare awful mood today. Dave, hello. Good morning.

Hello, hello, how are you?

Well, uh, well, Dave's in a different sour mood than we are from last night's events because, as you could hear from Roy's voice, uh, what, what a total disaster last night was potentially. So I, I, like I said yesterday, it was a 10 PM Panther game, all right, and 10 o'clock Lord's time zone, Dave, and I said yesterday, I probably got 2 periods in me. Alright? Like, can we have a moment of honesty here? Chris, did you stay up for the Panther game last night?

Nope.

Okay. Juju, did you stay up for the Panther game last night?

I did, but I didn't watch.

Okay, so you were technically awake. Okay, fine. Tony, were you awake?

I was on TNF.

Okay, that's fine. You were awake. You're like, look, you have free will. You can watch what you want.

I didn't know there was a Panther game, to be fair, last night.

Roy, did you watch the whole game? Stay awake?

Absolutely. I went to bed at 2.

Okay, so I, I, I thought maybe I had 2 periods in me. I was wrong. I had half of that, all right? I had 1 period in me. I just, I, I couldn't, I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore, Dave. I'm lying on— I'm in the bed in the Zaslav mansion, master bedroom. I got the iPad—

Didn't know where that was going.

On my chest.

I, I, I got, I got briefly worried for a second there myself. Continue, Zaz.

I got the iPad on my chest, And like, I can't even keep my eyes open anymore. What am I gonna do? It wasn't a choice that I made to go to sleep. My body was telling me, you're tired. So I had to put the iPad away. And what do I do first thing this morning when I wake up? Like, if you don't see the end of a big game, the first thing you do, like me, I'm sure, you roll over, you grab your phone right when you wake up in the morning. And I checked the score of the Panther game last night. Ah, they lost 4-3 in overtime.

All right.

They got a point. Okay, very good. And I looked at the goals, who scored. Oh wow, we were down 3-0 and we got a point. All right, makes you feel a little bit better about losing. And then I was about to move on and look for other stuff that took place late last night that I may have missed. And I said to myself, all right, let's read the game recap though. Let's read the game recap. And I specifically said because I want to make sure nobody got hurt. I literally said that to it. Let's read the game recap and just make sure Everything's okay.

Was the first paragraph in there?

And then—

Gustav Forsling was in there?

And you see there, Barkov leaves the game with the knee injury in the middle of the second period. He gets kind of tangled up against the boards, but it was really a no-contact thing. Like, it looked like his, his leg, his knee kind of buckled, it looked like, and then the ankle got caught on the ice, and then he fell awkwardly and He gets up and immediately goes off the ice. Like, he exited right there at that tunnel, didn't even skate back to the bench. Threw his glove.

That's always a bad look.

For a player who never shows emotion, never shows emotion, he immediately got up and was angry and is throwing his gloves and went straight to the dressing room.

Now, is that a long walk? Because Let's think about this. The locker room's on the other side of the ice.

Well, is it? Like, how do we know they didn't enter the ice from that tunnel and that's why he went out there?

Okay, maybe, maybe that—

That'd be my guess.

Because most of the time I thought they enter from behind the bench.

Depends, Dave.

Yeah.

I just want to say thank goodness he didn't, uh, he didn't take a cart, you know, because that, that is really the—

It's been a while since you've seen the cart brought onto the ice to take the player off, you know.

Actually, you do see it either way. I'm just cracking wise, but right, I mean, of course The Caleb Williams thing now seems like your ray of hope. That's it. Like the player's reaction, like he thinks the worst and he just went through it. So he's like, not again, please. But maybe this morning, maybe fingers crossed, glass half full, maybe the news is a little bit better than he clearly anticipates it's going to be.

Well, the ray of hope is that he got up on his own. Walked off on like, not even, not even really with a limp, like, but, but he bolted immediately to the dressing room. And the part I think that is most, uh, concerning is he throws both of his gloves on the ground in frustration. Again, when I could tell you, if you're not a huge Panther fan, you're watching or listening to us, when I tell you that this is a player who shows zero emotion, this is a player who shows Zero motion. And so for him to be upset like that immediately— look, it's a— it's not the same leg or knee that last year's injury was. So I guess you could say that's a good thing. Like Paul Maurice after the game said, it is absolutely not the same injury, not— has nothing to do with it. Although I suppose you could say it has nothing to do with it, but if you hurt the other leg because you're compensating from rehab or whatever from the previous injury. Like, I mean, that, that kind of is related to the previous injury, right?

Exactly. Yeah. And by the way, um, I do have to say, you know, grim stuff if, if the season basically starts with that. But the, but the season did literally start with the Canes thing. And I do have to say very quickly, as an outsider—

Go on.

I am fascinated by, and I love The intensity of the rivalry. I don't think that people who love sports across this country know how much you guys have it in for the Carolina Hurricanes and vice versa. But I think it's fantastic stuff. But I know we're talking about something that impacts where the Florida Panthers are going. I just wanted to get that in before we get too far away from that. I think your guys' reaction to the opening night victory and how it dampens—

It's great.

The Stanley Cup. The celebration was, was just fantastic.

Great. Yeah, it's, it's funny that you bring that up, Dave, because, you know, the Panther fan has been on Twitter over the last, you know, 4 years probably in a way that they've never ever been. All right, because the Panthers have never been involved in big games before the last 4 or 5 years. And I think what the Panther fan has realized, and I, and I knew this to an extent, But I think what the Panther fan has realized is the, the hockey fan, when it comes to the discourse, you know, rivalry and the fans trash talking each other, is the hockey fan and the nastiness when it comes to that, is that, is that the tops? Because I think the only thing that rivals it is college football. Like, I, my guess is that college football still has the nastiest, most intense, passionate fans in that regard. But the hockey fan wants your players to die. Like, the hockey fan wants your players to get hurt. They hope for injury. Like, it's the nastiest language that is used between fans. I think college football is only— right? Is college football only barely above the venom, Dave?

that hockey fan has for each other?

No, no, no. I think college football is softened ultimately by the, the bizarre rooting for the entire conference when push comes to shove. You hate your neighbor, but it also, as you pull up to 30,000 feet, you're like, yeah, but the SEC is better than the Big Ten. And it's a weird effect. And I don't know what kind of weirdo roots for the neighborhood bully the way SEC people do. Like, yeah, but we're Missouri, but But we're in the SEC. So you root for the SEC? What's wrong with you? What kind of self-esteem issues do you have? The NHL is raw hate.

There is no— It's so nasty.

Like, I hope our division does well in the playoffs. Nobody gives a crap about that sort of thing. And what you do get is, part of it is the nature of the sport. They're out there with swords on their feet and they have giant sticks in their hands and that leads to some unpleasantness. As does— congratulations, you guys. Now you have Boko Imama. I didn't even know he was a Florida Panther, dropping the gloves in his debut. You're going to enjoy Boko Imama and not just saying the name, it's watching him play. But yeah, you're allowed to fight and that engenders some intense feelings and all of that. But really, it's how often you play the teams in your division and shame the devil if you ever catch a 7-game war about that. The familiarity and all of that. I mean, if you get one of those in springtime, the hate that builds up over that fortnight will last you a decade at minimum.

I'd like to remind you guys of Jason Williams' attendance at those softball games. That softball get pretty rough too, so I don't know, especially in the SEC.

Don't people in international soccer get killed at matches?

That's what I was thinking of when you brought it up. I thought of international soccer.

Don't you light flares in the stadium and they set fire fire to the stadium, and then they throw, you know, condoms full of piss at people and call people bad names on the field.

This is, this is a good point. Should I keep going? This is a good point, but I, I am not indoctrinated into—

They have all the goons that walk through the, the neighborhood.

Hooligans.

Hooligans, whatever. And if you're walking through the neighborhood, you got the wrong shirt on like Dave Damage, like they give you a wedgie, throw you in the back.

Yeah, I, I have not been indoctrinated into soccer Twitter. You know, like, I haven't seen that fan warfare before, but it would make sense that what you're saying is probably worse, right? But Dave's right. The college football fan who roots for their conference— and it really seems like it's only an SEC thing because—

Mike Ryan's been doing a little of that.

Where he'll root for the ACC in the playoffs.

Oh yeah, very pro-ACC.

In the playoffs.

In everything. I just think to get to make your schedule look better, right?

No, well, that's completely normal. That's a means to an end. You want the other teams to be propped up so that your team looks good. But I have friends, I have good friends who root for the SEC in the playoff if the Florida Gators are out. If the Gators are out, she'll root for an SEC team Because somehow that makes Amber good.

Say it with your chest.

Yeah, yeah, she'll root— well, I don't know if everybody knows who she is, but yes, she's— I don't know a bigger Florida Gator fan. And if the Gators are not in the playoffs, which they never are, if the Gators are not in the playoffs, she will root for the SEC team because somehow that makes the Gators look good.

So she roots for Alabama, she roots for Texas.

If they're in the SEC. semifinal or if they're in the championship game. Even if they took Florida's ass? Yeah. Oh, that makes you look even better. Oh, we lost to the, the champion.

Yeah, yeah.

And that doesn't make any sense. Like, can you imagine? I'm a Dolphin fan, all right? Is what it is. Oh, I'm rooting for the AFC East in the playoffs this year. AFC East, let's go.

You know?

I will say, as a Dolphins fan, I do find Josh Allen likable. So I do find it hard to like get those negative feelings when I watch the Bills play. I know it's like, as I'm, I'm so broken as a Dolphins fan that I don't, I I feel like if the Dolphins were better, I'd probably hate the Bills more, but I actually kind of like the Bills.

No, no, no, I, I, I, I— no, no, no, no, no, no, you're off base. You're way off base.

Josh Allen is just so awesome.

Uh, he is awesome.

Oh, right? It's just like you can't help it, man.

No, he is awesome, and he is likable, but I just—

But not the Bills.

Yeah, like, I'm not rooting for the Bills. There's, there's no scenario where that's gonna— Drake Maye may be a nice kid for all I care. I'm not rooting for the Patriots. Eff 'em, you know? No, no, no. And I'm definitely not rooting for the AFC East, okay, to win the Super Bowl.

Dan Le Batard.

I used to say when I turn 80, all bets are off. That's when the heroin starts. But then I moved it up to 75 a few years ago.

Dave Demachick.

I'm thinking now 65 years of age.

Jonathan Sasslow.

I have a pact with a friend that if we both live until 90, we're gonna do heroin.

This is the Dan Le Batard Show.

I feel like gambling has made it more like I—

I bet on the Bills a lot, so a lot of times I'm rooting for them.

Well, yeah, you're rooting for your money.

But I just think that gambling has affected, like, especially for teams, like, I get it if you're fighting for a division, then you obviously are gonna be like rooting against your other, but if your team stinks, if I'm betting, I'll bet on the— I'll root for the Jets. I don't care.

Yeah, I was about to say that.

Many of my friends, I'm sorry, Juju, many of my friends advocate for doing the, the emotional hedge. That's a— that's what they, they call it. It's a giant rash.

Have you ever done an emotional hedge?

Never.

Neither have I. Never ever.

Neither have I. I don't understand why you would do that, why you would put yourself— what kind of— those people are trying to live with a safety net, not Zaslav and Kamenshchek.

I one time, the only time I ever— emotional hedge, for those who don't know, your team is playing in a monster game And you know if they lose you're gonna be crushed, so let's put money, a lot of money, on the other team because that'll— that will soften the blow. But for me, it's like, no, no, no, I'm gonna go down with the ship. This is part of being a sports fan. If they're gonna lose big, I'm gonna be crushed. I gotta eat it. That's the way it is.

You know Mike Schur.

Oh my God, this one. Did you hear this, Dave Dameshek? Mike Schur, okay, so the Red Sox they got swept in the 3-game series by the Yankees. He knew— he had a crystal ball. He knew that the Red Sox were going to lose, that they were going to get swept by the Yankees in 2 games. So, huge Red Sox fan, Dwight Schrute—

Dwight Schrute?

I'm thinking of Moe's. I'm thinking of Moe's.

Oh yeah.

Huge Red Sox fan, Mike Schrute. I was. You know why I'm thinking of Mose? My older son just finished. He ran through the entire series of The Office. He loved it. Okay. He just finished recently. And I told him like, hey, Mose, he's a friend of our show. And my son thinks it's the great Mose. So anyway, Mose.

The cutaway when they stay at Dwight's place and Mose is making those noises. That might be top 3 laugh for me in the entire watching of The Office.

So, Moe's knew that the Red Sox were going to lose, so he didn't watch either game. He didn't watch the game! And he was right, they did lose, but he doesn't want to put himself through the torment, so he doesn't watch. That's— Dave, that's bullshit. You gotta go down with the ship!

I've heard tale of guys at the height— dads, when I was growing up, they would talk about their fathers who were Steelers diehards. who would say, oh yeah, my dad couldn't watch Super Bowl XIII. He was too nervous.

What?

What do you mean? What did he do? He went in his car and he drove around for the 4 hours until the game was over, and then he came back to find out the score. Like, what the hell? Talk about— I mean, that is as snowflakey as it gets. And this—

Dave, I'm gonna stop you there. I think he had a secret family and told them he was gonna go watch the Steelers game with them, and then he's like, I'm too nervous, I gotta get outta here, even though He was in Poughkeepsie or whatever.

Maybe it's like Superman. Maybe, maybe he was in fact— the dad was in fact Terry Bradshaw and he couldn't tell his family for some unknown reason. And he went off and played in Super Bowl XIII and beat Roger Staubach and company and brought home a Lombardi Trophy, but he couldn't show it because that's his alias. It's funny, small world. Mike Schuer is on the same Red Sox Boston sports fan text chain as my guy Kevin Hench is and other unnamed people, but there is a high-end fancy-pants Boston sports fan text chain that Kevin Hench, my pal, was talking about on another show I do. And I can't believe that this is what they do because you understand, now they can die in peace, right? I mean, they got what they want.

Right.

They got their win. Why are they still upset?

They've done so much winning.

I thought the pact that they made with, with, with the sports guys was just give me one, and they got one, and then they got another one, then they got another one, and apparently not good enough!

Chris, what would you give to watch the Dolphins lose the Super Bowl by 40?

More than I'm willing to admit.

Wouldn't you love to sit through—

Super Bowl week?

A 40-point Dolphins Super Bowl loss?

That means we've won how many? At least 2 playoff games?

Yeah, at least 2.

That's assuming we had a bye.

Yeah.

Wow.

What you wouldn't give to watch the Dolphins get their shit kicked in in the Super Bowl.

I don't think y'all are seeing this from the correct angle. I love sports more, I feel like, than what I'm hearing, I guess. There was times when I watched my team play, my girl can attest, I said, I'm not watching the rest of this game. It was like second quarter, and it was big playoff games because My heart, I can't take it. Like, I literally can't take it, bro.

There's a huge difference. There's a difference. You're telling us this now because it just fits in the conversation.

Yeah.

Sure had to tell everyone he knew that he was like, Danzy's on tap. Everybody text me, hey, I didn't watch. I care so much. Like, that's the part that bothers me. It's look at me, Louie, to tell people that I care so much that I'm not watching. Like, if she— you not watching earnestly and not saying it until it just comes up in a conversation You're cool with me. Sure, get out of here. Look at me, Louie. Oh, you care more? Oh, I care so much. I care the most. Get out of here.

Go back to what Zazz said though. I, I'm fascinated by this slow-moving disaster, car crash or whatever, that the Dolphins have brought on themselves. Let's always keep in mind that this is what the Dolphins want to have happen. You want to— I, I get the complicated Um, formula you're laying out there, Zaz, which is if the Dolphins lose by 40 in the Super Bowl, then January must have been pretty fun because we won some games and got to the Super Bowl. You do not want to lose on the big stage like that. And it brings me to this: what are you guys rooting for right now? I mean, I— it's one thing to lay down for a season. Zazlow, would you rather— because if they go 0-17, I will say it again, They're not the Detroit Lions. They are not the Cleveland Browns. If you go 0 for the entire season, that's a stink that you never wash off for eternity. And I don't care if you self-impose it or not, that would be a disgrace for the Miami Dolphins, the franchise of 17-0 and Shula and, and Marino and all the rest of it, that they would go 0-17.

Would you rather go— because that would be achieving what they desired going into the season, 0-17 or 6-11, which would likely cost you a top 3 pick.

So my first question there would be, all right, the Detroit Lions are one of— what are we talking, 3 teams who went winless in an NFL season? They had an 0-16 season. Obviously no team is going 0-17, but the Detroit Lions, who— 0-16, that's forever. Do you feel like you think about that at all? Like, is that something when— really? So when people talk about the Detroit Lions, that is one of the things that you always remember, even though they've been good the last few years. They're, they're a fun team, they're a respectable team. Dave Dameshek, when you think about the Detroit Lions, you always think about 0-16.

Let me tell you something. I'll get into the, uh, into the DeLorean. In 1982, The Georgetown Hoyas improbably advance all the way to the national title game with their star freshman center, Patrick Ewing. They also have a guy, Freddie Brown, who is a guard on that team. And in the critical moment, right after Michael Jordan— Mike Jordan at the time— makes that shot, iconic, as you know. Jordan went on, he won a number of titles at the next level, if you haven't heard, but that launched his greatness. Right after that bucket, with about 15 seconds to go, Georgetown brings it up the floor with their crack at things. And Wrong Way Freddie Brown turns, he gets— the moment is too big, and he throws the ball to James Worthy, who's on UNC. And that's the end of the game. Georgetown then wins a national championship. 2 years later, I think, Wrong Way Freddie Brown goes over. He and John Thompson have a big bear hug, and they say, see, everything worked out in the end. And all I could think about and continue to think about is like, doesn't erase the bad past. You cannot erase history because it's convenient for you.

I don't care what the Browns do. If they win 2 Super Bowls in a row, they still went over. And that's a disgrace that you just— it's a stink, like I say, that you never wash off, in my opinion.

Like locally here, the worst moment in Miami Heat history was—

shout it out.

If you want, worst moment in Miami Heat history?

LeBron leaving.

No, in an in-game thing.

Oh, injuries?

Uh, the Allan Houston shot. Who am I talking to, myself?

Oh, oh yeah, yeah, sorry, I'm thinking injuries.

The worst moment is the Allan Houston shot.

Yes.

And for me, the sting of that went away in '06 when they won. It all worked out. Like, I, I don't hold on to it the way that seemingly you're holding on to it, Dave. Like, if the Detroit Lions won the Super Bowl this year, who gives a shit that they went 0-16, whatever it was, 15 years ago?

If I'm 13, I wouldn't care. If I were, if I were a man of 50 and have lived and died with all these things, obviously it doesn't erase those, those feelings. But I also think there's a sliding scale of expectation and what you've already been through. And, you know, there is the, you know, Red Sox fans alleged we just need to see one, and they have proven that not to be the case.

That they're lying.

I always think about like, I always think about like the Kansas City Royals as a, for instance, if you're a fan of theirs in the 21st century, you kind of make a deal with the devil, like, just give us one. And then I don't care what happens for the next quarter century. That's at least what your mindset should be. They get that one in 2015. you have no right to say boo until about like 2050 now. Like, you can't say anything. You got one improbably, and that's it. You know, I don't know, like, as a Steelers fan, enduring success and all of that, if they ever went 0 for a season, like, I just, it would be a disgrace. I think it's sort of like if you're a Yankees fan, you just can never erase, we've dominated our arch rival, the Boston Red Sox, for 100 years, we own them! Yet you blew the 3-0 lead. That is the great equalizer, even though on the ledger the Yankees have beaten the Red Sox a million times over. Yeah, but we rallied from down 0-3 on you. What an embarrassment. You're the only team ever to do that disgrace.

See, I think the difference there is because that embarrassing feat is tied to forever Your rival, your rival, and that fan base is going to have that over you forever. Like, that's how I felt when in '23, when the Heat blew the 3-0 lead to Boston, and now we're going to Game 7 and we're going to be the first team ever to blow a 3-0 lead, and it's going to be against the Celtics. That was the horrifying part to me. was they're gonna have that over me and my team forever, as opposed to it being this cumulative feat that my team did on their own.

Dan Le Batard.

Yo, I'm not gonna lie.

Jonathan Sassolo.

I look good in red.

This is the Dan Le Batard Show.

Oh, the Panthers came back on the Bruins that one year, and then that Actually started a rivalry.

So, so that's, that, that's a good, a good full circle moment here where that's the only time I almost made an emotional hedge. It's the only time, because I would never do an emotional hedge otherwise. I'll, I'll eat it, all right, if my team loses. I'm okay. I'll eat it. The only time I ever considered an emotional hedge was going into that Game 7 against Boston. That was the only time. And because I knew I was gonna be devastated if the Panthers lost that Game 7 in Boston, I wanted to put a lot of money on the Bruins so it could soften the blow a little bit. But ultimately, I was like, nah, let's ride it out. And I rode it out and here we are, you know.

Thank you, Gustav, for—

Wondering if Barkov's ever gonna play again.

Yeah, yeah.

Zazz, as we move on here, we're actually gonna have Gail Nelson, the new Heat PA announcer, join us soon. But I thought before we do that, we give one final toast to Michael Biamonte.

Yeah.

Oh, okay. Like, you know, we're all gonna miss him. We're excited. Gail Nelson sounds like a great new PA announcer.

We'll see.

But Mike Biamonte, the voice, the legend of 2 Minutes. Dos Minutos. Now I know they're gonna keep it going. They're gonna keep some of the— we're gonna find out which of the traditions he'll keep going.

Yeah, I'm curious.

But I just wanted to one more time— he did our sui voice. We're probably gonna have him as our sui voice, Mike Biamonte. So he'll still be around. So I just want to give a toast, worth a toast. Presented by Cuervo. Keep it fun, keep it Cuervo. Here's to Mike Biamonte.

Excellent, excellent. Yeah, so Gail Nelson is gonna join us, I guess, in a few minutes. He was announced earlier this week as the new— oh, alright, he was announced as the new PA announcer for the Miami Heat. 35 years, Michael Biamonte, the legendary PA announcer for the Miami Heat. And it's funny, Tony, because people will say things like Eric Reid, the voice of the Heat. Mike Biamonte was kind of the, like, Mike Biemonte. That, that's, that's the voice everybody hears when you're in the arena. You don't, you don't get to hear the television guy when you're in the arena.

I've seen Mike more outside of— now that he's retired— outside of the arena and outside of stuff in everyday life than I did before. Saw him at Whole Foods the other day.

Oh, he's getting after it, huh?

It's like, Mike, it's good to see you out in person.

Living his life. How about that? So yeah, I got— I think we have a lot of questions here for Gail as I think a top of mind from Heat fans is how many, if any, of the, you know, the sayings, the traditions.

Should we run through them? What are they?

Well, obviously Dos Minutos is the first one, but I think he confirmed that they are going to continue doing it.

I'm curious about the, like, when it's time to get the crowd going of stand up and make some noise.

Yeah.

And make some noise.

How about too many baskets or too many steps?

Yeah. Oh, V. Martin.

Terrible job.

Too many baskets.

Damn.

Don't use that one, Gail. I don't know if you're out there listening. Don't use that one.

Dave?

There's, uh, uh, There, you know, stand up and make some noise, big one. Too many steps. You got, um, uh, you know, and, and the Knicks call time.

Or how about the low, the low voice for the, uh, for the opposing team?

These are great questions.

Luol Deng.

We're gonna grill Gale.

Well, I don't know if he's ready.

I don't know if he's ready.

It sounds like we're gonna grill him. We got a lot of questions for him here.

Well, Zaslow just said— they said, wow, Gale's gonna be great, and Zaslow said We'll see.

Yeah, we'll see.

I mean, you're tough.

All right.

Yeah, I appreciate it. You're not just gonna— you're not just, uh, you're giving them the whip, not the carrot, right?

We gotta find— we gotta find out. We're gonna learn.

You know, teasing us.

He's not quite here yet. So what does Gale need to prep himself on for? What, what's the, the big award? Like, you know, the one I always think of is when the Penguins used to score 7 goals in a game like they did against Philadelphia. Flyers on opening night. When they would score 7 goals in a game, you would get chilly. So at 6 goals, when the, when the Penguins almost never scored even 2 goals, let alone 7, when they would get to 6, people would go, chilly, chilly! And the whole place would chant that. What's the Heat equivalent of that?

I, I don't know.

I think at one point the Heat did something where if the opponent misses 2 free throws—

In the second half, I think.

You get free something.

I think it's Chick-fil-A.

That kind of stuff changes.

I thought I might be a PA guy.

Now, you know, you know what else we gotta ask Gail? something that he may have been worried about because the Philadelphia 76ers PA announcer, he retired at the— longtime PA announcer retired at the end of last season. When they signed LeBron, he unretired.

Oh, smart move.

He's coming back for an— he couldn't miss it. He's unretired and he's coming back for one more year.

Hey, how do you play?

Do you think Gayle was worried at all? It's like, oh, he was traded for young Is Biamonte gonna stab me in the back here? You know, is he gonna come back? Because I think if he wanted to come back for another year, I think they'd let him. You know, that had to have been a little bit of a concern. I mean, it just happened in Philadelphia. A lot of questions. I'm gonna grill him. Gonna get to the bottom of this.

Also, the glass breaks.

What I want to know is too, is he gonna commit? It's sort of like when you're in Vegas, it's like, I feel like at the outset of the weekend You always gotta establish, like, are you gonna hit on 16 or not? Like, you know, like, but you, but, but stay true to that the whole way. Don't, don't go back and forth. Is he going to go Heat as a singular or as a plural for the rest of his days on that microphone? It's an important question 'cause I hate the grammatical conundrum that singular team mascot names. Juju knows what I'm talking about. And you know, Thunder—

Juju, you know what he's talking about?

All this crap.

Brother, I, you lost me at the third word you said. I forgot what you were talking about, baby.

I ain't gonna lie. I don't know what you're talking about, brother. Slow down.

I be having something to say. I be like, ooh, I got something right there. And then Dave still going 7 minutes later. Forgot what I was about to say. Salute me, brother. I don't know what you're talking about.

Dave means like the Heats or the Heat.

Kraken.

It's only one of them. Are you gonna say the Heat?

Oh, no S.

No S. No S. Yeah.

The Heat are here next Tuesday night. We'll be here when the Heat play or plays.

That's what I'm getting at. That's the confusing one, and I don't have an answer to it.

Grammar.

The one that actually is proper doesn't sound right.

So what's proper? Is it the Heat play or the Heat plays?

I don't know, but I just know the one that sounds worse is the one that's correct.

He's right about that. It's Heat plays.

The Heat plays on Tuesday.

No, no, no. No, the Heat play. There are 12 of them. What are you talking about? There's not one Heat. There are 12 cats out there.

No, Chris is right.

No, the one that sounds wrong is right.

He's right about that.

He's He's right.

Chris is not right.

The Heat are a collective unit.

All right, so is, is the question we're gonna ask Gail if he cares about grammar? Is that what we're getting at here?

Are the Dolphins is playing on Sunday or are they playing?

No, but there's an S at the end, so it's different.

Yeah, the Heat are playing. But it's the same thing.

It's a team.

It's a collective.

What are you talking about? The Kraken. It's even worse with Seattle Kraken.

No, Juju's right.

Literally only one Kraken.

No, Chris is right.

But you imposed it on 20 people.

Juju's right. The question is, is it not the Heat plays or play, it's the Heat is or the Heat are.

Again, I'm just telling you, my dad—

you don't—

I know I'm not trustworthy on this. You guys trust my dad with grammar? I've heard my— me and my dad have had this conversation on the Greg Cody Show where I'm like, why do you say it that way? That doesn't sound right. And he's like, it's the way it's supposed to be said.

Again, the Heat are a collective unit. That makes them are instead of is.

This is right.

The heat is on, but they play—

Oh, what do you do about that, Roy? He's right. The heat is on. What do you do now?

The heat are on.

The heat are not on. It's not the heat are on. That'd be a terrible song. The heat are on.

No, the heat are on.

No, it's the heat is on.

The worst one is, for the record, the Heat, I think, might be the OG along with the Orlando Magic for imposing this, this, this horrible conundrum on society. The worst one in all of sports is the Minnesota Wild. The Wild indicates the outdoors. That's what their name is. We're the Minnesota Outsides, everybody. That's what they're talking about. What kind of name is that? It's the worst name I've ever heard in my entire life, and there's some terrible ones out there. The Minnesota Wild are a pretty good hockey team. They're not is a good hockey team. It's a whole bunch of guys on it.

So 0-17 or 6-11? What are we doing?

I would root for 6-11. If you're a fan of the team, you do not want— you want some dignity. Yeah, I mean, this attempting to throw an entire season, tanking a fight, taking a dive is what the Dolphins are trying to do. They should be better than that. They're the franchise of Cinka and Bonaccone and all the rest of it. And this is what you've been reduced to?

Fair.

You can keep that mid-round offensive lineman and I'll take Jeremiah Smith with 0-17.

Thank you. Okay.

God, 0-17. Like, I remember—

Says you would want that though.

Okay, we could have had that as well back—

Why isn't 1-16 an option?

Well, because that makes it easy. That's why. This is supposed— it's a mind bender.

And you win the last game and celebration.

Shout out Greg Camarillo.

Yeah, right. Like, what year was that again? Was that '07? Yeah, '07 sounds right. And I think they start 0-13, 0-12 or 0-13, and—

They had Mike Tomlin.

And, and that shit sucked, all right? And we were really happy when they essentially ended Brian Billick's career beating the Ravens. Like, that game did end his career, by the way. Where they ended Brian Billick's career and they beat the Ravens in overtime that day. Like, we were— Wayne Huizenga was crying in his suite and 0-17 is so bad, Dave. I can't get behind that.

I can't.

I know. I feel like, Zaz, you're gonna have to tutor me. I'm trying to adjust to having a mediocre to lousy pro football team. I'm gonna have to learn the, you know, the dos and don'ts of watching football when that's the case. I'm not accustomed to this position.

Weird thing is happening to me and Chris. We have a weird Mandela effect where we both remember the Baltimore Ravens, Greg Camarillo running into the end zone and winning as the last game of the season.

No.

But it wasn't. It was Week 15.

Yeah, the Dolphins were 0-13.

Yeah, they still played the Patriots and the Bengals after that.

Yeah, but we were getting close. Like, it was really close to 0-16. 0-13's really close. Do you understand how math works?

I'm getting there.