Transcript of Clark Connors Threatens Dan Le Batard | Hour 2

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You're listening to the Dan Le Batard Show in partnership with the DraftKings Sports app.

Now live in all I am so tired of Dan Levitard. This guy, he, he, he needs to apologize to me. He doesn't know how to do it, so he like writes something and then reads an apology.

What?

You know what I'm saying? Don't go in. If you go in there and you see Levitard, I want you to punch him for me because this guy's always on a high horse. Okay? He's in the studio right now. He's on a Clydesdale.

I'm on a Cadillac.

Because that's the biggest horse, that's the highest horse you could find. I am so tired of that guy. It's un-effing-believable.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what?

What did you say?

No, what's going on? What did he do to you? Took something away from you?

Yes.

What'd he do?

He, he lied to me. He told me he was gonna write for me and then he wrote for somebody else. He betrayed me.

Well, that doesn't make it right.

I say that a lot.

Really?

Yeah.

Wow, I like you. Greg Cody? Yeah.

The Miami Herald?

Clark?

Yes, sir.

The famous wrestler Clark Connors?

Yes, sir. And Dan Le Batard keeps talking to you like that?

Yes, he does.

You know what, Greg Cody?

What?

I got something to say to Dan Le Batard.

Dan Le Batard!

If you keep treating this man like that, I swear to God, I'm gonna come in there and fuck your shit up. I'm gonna ruin your company, and I'll do whatever, because you know what? This man right here Deserves everything. He's been doing this for 50-plus years.

Damn right. I made that guy.

Yes, you did.

I made that show.

That is— hey, let's—

that's what I'm talking about.

Hey, that's what I'm talking about.

Let's go in there.

Let's fuck him up. Damn right. Let's do it right now.

We're rolling right now.

Come on, let's go. Tired of this shit.

What a delightful surprise. I do not think of Clark Connors as a peacemaker, but he has brought Greg Cody back into the studio. AEW's in town. Zazz is thrilled to be going tonight and Instead of watching Brady Tkachuk in Ottawa, instead of watching the Miami Heat, he's going to be— I don't know whether, Clark, how you involve the audience. I know that you don't mind having a villainous streak. He's going to be in the front row with his young boy tonight. He's very excited, Zaslow is, to spend some time with you in AEW. Yeah, let's make it weird right off the bat.

Yeah, him and his young boy. That's what I want to hear about. That's great. Yeah, Zaslow, I'll see you out there, big guy.

We'll see you there. We're going to be— we're front row. We're facing the stage.

You know, come at me, man.

Come on, you wanna fight somebody, you fight me!

You want it, Zazz?

You wanna fight someone, you fight me!

Okay, you know what, Zazz? Watch yourself, all right?

Start that off bad. Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh.

Hey, you don't even need to make it contentious. I think he's gonna do it for us.

Wow.

It's good to see that you and Greg Cody have repaired everything, though. I thought that that was escalating in a way that was about to get unpleasant.

No, Clark and I are buds. You know, he's like the son I never had because I never had a son who was a professional wrestler and walked around baring his chest.

Hey, what about—

Yeah, well, he's saying—

Hey, Dad.

He's like the son he never had, 'cause you're the one with the six-pack.

Well, you know, also, we've tried this before. Show me your belly button.

I'll drink one tonight. He's not, uh, he's not gonna participate in any shirtlessness.

I know.

Uh, the, uh, the grind of wrestling puts you here today, and then tomorrow you're in Los Angeles?

Yeah, it's nonstop. I've been on the road for about 21 days straight. I've been in Munich, Germany, France, Italy, all over the place. Pittsburgh, you know, just everywhere and in between, and it's been great, you know, but it takes a toll out of you. You wake up, I woke up the other day and I was looking around, I was like, before you really wake up, you open your eyes and I'm like, what city am I in? I'm like, oh, I'm in my own bed. It's real, it doesn't stop, you know.

So you're living your dream though, yes?

Oh yeah, no, this is what it's all about, you know. It's exactly what I wanted to do with my life. You go out, perform for people, and afterwards you get drunk with your friends and have a good time. So it's been great.

That's what I'm talking about. Yeah.

I don't think you said your catchphrase correctly there, Greg.

Hey, that's what I'm talking about.

That's what I'm talking about.

Take 2.

The dream, when you started thinking about it, was when? Like, when you thought, I want to be a professional wrestler?

Honestly, when I was like 12 years old, I just had SmackDown on. I was just watching it. My mom was always like, don't watch that crap, you know, it'll melt your brain. But I just started watching it, and I was religious about it, where I was like, this is what I need to do with my life. I saw The Undertaker and and throw someone off the top of the stage and there's blood everywhere, I was like, yeah, this is something I'm into. And ever since then, yeah, I've just been pushing towards it. And I had to go to college first. That was in the rule book. But after that, it was straight to wrestling school.

There's usually a moment, I find, for wrestling fans for sure, where you kind of fall in love with wrestling. Do you remember what that moment was for you?

Yeah, it was literally the first match I ever saw was Undertaker versus Mr. Kennedy, of all people, right? And they're fighting on top of the Armageddon stage. And it was probably just a recap of what happened, but like I said, he's bloodied open and Undertaker just chokeslams him off the stage and the crowd just goes nuts. And I was like, okay, this is something I can do, you know, like quite a bit. Yes. Yeah, no, it's been great though. And yeah.

Were you doubted in terms of people telling you it's not something that you can do?

No, no, like look at me, you know, I mean, this is— I got I've had this hair for years, this body. I've had a 6-pack since I was 11. But realistically, it was something that people talk about size as a problem. You know, I don't— I know I look 6'3 on the screen.

You do, and your personality makes you look even bigger than that.

Right, right. But realistically, yeah, it's something that at this point it's about athleticism, it's about psychology, and those are things that I kind of picked up on quickly. But the only person who I wouldn't say dad of me was, but didn't want me to do it, was my mom pretty much. And, uh, and once I graduated college, she said, well, do whatever the fuck you want. You know what I mean?

Wow. Did she say it just like that?

Oh yeah, my mom is— that's where I get my mouth from, is my mom.

You know what, you're rolling now, huh? But I wonder, um, when you're doing all that traveling, you're busier than a one-armed paper hanger. I mean, don't— doesn't it ever get tiring for you?

Yeah, it's exhausting, but at the same time, it's what we do. It's what you love, you know? It's like for you, like hitting the beat, working the Miami Herald, right?

You know, day in and day out.

It was, it was probably It'll be tough, right?

You know, but— I mean, you could be doing other jobs, you know, trailers for sale or rent. You could be selling trailers for a living. Not that there's anything wrong with that. You know, people who are trailer salesmen and women, some of the best people in the world. Hard workers.

No, that would be very good.

Yeah.

Very good.

Yeah, you're right. Oh man, I don't know if I could do that.

I did it a little better than you.

Give it a try.

Very good.

No, you gotta go higher. Very good.

Very good.

Whoa.

Take him for a walk.

It's falsetto.

All right.

Oh man.

What are the things that came with the job that you didn't know about, that no one told you about, that have surprised you?

Well, so I went a different route than a lot of people. A lot of people kind of, they go through the WWE system or the independent system. I went through the New Japan dojo system, which is just, they break you down. Like, they really, we compare it to like between, somewhere between the military and indentured servitude for about 3 years, where you just, you live in a dojo house with a 40-year-old Japanese guy and you cook them dinner, and it's 6 days a week of 6 hours a day. Every day you walk in there, it's 1,000 squats, and it's 500 push-ups, and then you stretch, and then you start the day, and then it's 3 hours of working out afterwards, and it's nonstop. So that, to me, I always thought I was like, okay, well, it's more, you know, we can just learn some moves, go out there and have some fun. But that really broke it down for me of like, no, this is real. This is harsh.

3 years?

Yeah, yeah. Well, it was, uh, It was usually— it's a 1.5 to 2-year program, but COVID kind of got in the way and we got stuck over there in, uh, well, in America. But, but yeah, I had to stay basically an extra year of just doing that, and that really wears on you, you know.

In it, did you doubt? Did you say, do I really want to do this? Because I don't— I mean, what you're describing there is not the normal wrestling path of 3 years doing that. It sounds like Karate Kid. It sounds like you were working for Miyagi.

No, it's— yes, I mean, it is worse than that, but Miyagi, if he just beat you up with a kendo stick every once in a while if you do something wrong, you know. And it's learning a new culture, learning how to speak Japanese just for this one person. And, uh, but it all pays off, right? Because when you get to Japan, you're— you get that respect immediately, you know, which is really cool.

I feel like you're describing Pai Mei in Kill Bill.

Yeah, yeah, that's, that's more— that's much closer to what actually was going on, man. It was, it was nonstop, dude. Yeah, cooking, cooking chanko with fish heads in it and the whole thing. Yeah.

So how does that happen though if, if no one, uh, not many people go along that How does it end up that you're on the path of— you would have never signed up at the very beginning, hey, you'd have to spend 3 years living in Japan with somebody and you're gonna be cooking for him and indentured servitude.

No, God no, God no. No, what it was was I kind of just toot my own horn, I got shot up real quickly in the independent scene and I was doing pretty well and I didn't even know what New Japan Pro Wrestling was. I just knew there was a tryout that a couple of the guys at my school were talking about. They said, hey, do you want to come down and check out this New Japan thing? It actually wasn't even a tryout, it was just a camp. I went there, it was a 5-day intensive, and it was hard.

Who won?

I did, I'll tell you.

Congrats.

Yeah, I was a heat—

Are you having a catchphrase stroke?

He's just sneaking them in wherever he can.

I'm not gonna take a quiz. You'll get there.

Yeah, I'll figure it out. I'll figure it out. No, but yeah, it was, it was, uh, once I got down there and I just was like, they said, you want a job? It's like, yeah, I'll take a job, like right off the bat, you know. I'm a year in and, and here I I was 3 years later going like, I shouldn't have took that job, real quickly. But in the end, it paid off.

What were the early days like? Like, take us through some of the details that you remember about after you come out of the school, the learning. That's a South Beach Sessions accent. A different college experience than most people have on what it is that you decide, and you end up going what route the first couple of years out?

Of the dojo system?

Yeah.

Well, yeah, that was— the cool thing is once you graduate from that, it's almost like The world's your oyster, you know. You get so much respect throughout the entire wrestling world. People, everyone goes, oh, I couldn't have done the New Japan Dojo. I couldn't have done this. So coming out of it, I got a lot of good work in Japan and got— I'm famous in Japan, you know, which is cool.

Nice.

It's a good thing. But it wears on you though, you know. Like, I would go over there for about 5 years back and forth. The tours were 3 weeks long. They're intense. I mean, some people, we look at it to brighten our days, all the gaijins, right?

You all right?

Yeah. Okay, thanks.

Um, don't worry about me.

Yeah, no problem.

Gotta wanna learn, gotta wanna earn. Hey, uh, let me ask you in all seriousness, have you ever worn a sumo diaper?

I haven't worn a sumo diaper, Greg. Have you?

I have not, no. Okay. Yeah, I have a couple at home, but you know, every time I want to try them on, my wife's like, don't you dare.

Oh boy. That's Depends usually, right?

That's right.

That's what they call it these days, sumo diaper.

Yeah, don't they? I thought they did. Yeah, like adult diapers. 400-pound men wearing a diaper. But it's a big sport over there or no? Sumo? Yeah.

Oh, you just said he's, he's famous over there.

I know, but no, no, I meant sumo wrestling is still big.

You're asking if sumo wrestling is a big sport in Japan? That's what you're asking?

I've seen that. It's a good question.

Great.

Catching on.

Does Ohtani sumo wrestle? I don't know. All right.

All right.

All right.

You might actually be having a stroke.

Oh, boy. There's something happening here that— it's his anger. It's got Georgia. Okay, what does that have to do with anything? Why are you throwing Georgia in here?

Yeah, why not?

Uh, what are you doing tonight? Who are you wrestling against? And what are the details that people need to know about Coral Gables? Do you— are you familiar with Coral Gables? You're entering a region in Miami that's different than almost every other region in Miami that we have.

In what way?

Uh, there is a lot of governance, a lot of, uh, people who are making— a lot of rules, a lot of people who are making sure that you don't do the wrong thing.

A lot of money.

Yeah, no, doozies there.

Yeah, no, actually, you know what, um, my parents both went to the U actually, so I'm very familiar. I'm a big Miami guy actually, so I'm really excited to get down to that campus. AEW's there tonight, Dynamite at the Wasco, and, uh, You know, personally, I'm, I'm going to kind of— my, my guys, my dogs, you know, Finlay and I, uh, we kind of take advantage of whatever situation there is. So if there's some guys out there having a match, we, we love running in and just beating them up. So don't let them know your next move. But I'll be around tonight and it's going to be an exciting show.

What's your experience been with AEW?

Phenomenal. Phenomenal. And, uh, I don't like to be a shill for no reason, but Tony Khan is the best boss I've, you know, I could imagine. You know, that guy cares about wrestling so much. He's, uh, and he's smart with it. And, uh, and he hired me, which is— I— that's really great.

He told us he was gonna do all this long before he did it. He told us, uh, that he was going to put up a chief rival to anything you've ever seen before, and he has. He's done it successfully.

Without a doubt, man. If it weren't for that, we know we'd be in a, in a monopoly system, and that's, that's the worst-case scenario for us.

Clark, it's nice seeing you. Good luck tonight. Thank you, sir. When did you start with the toothpicks? When did that become a part of the, uh— This is a match. Okay, I'm sorry, my fault. I've made that mistake before.

No, right, uh, I, I model myself after a few people. It's John Cabrera is definitely up there for me, and it's him, it's, uh, it's Dalton from Roadhouse, and, uh, the Dr. Teeth from The Electric Mayhem. That's my big 3.

You're not old enough to do Cobra, are you? You're not old enough.

Oh, what a movie.

But that was—

what a movie.

He's not— what year was Cobra?

Uh, early '80s maybe.

Well, I can— it's, it's on like streaming platforms. I can watch stuff from before.

I was bored.

What are you talking about? Driver comfort is paramount.

Am I right?

All right, Clark, good seeing you. Thank you, sir. AEW, it's, it's here. It's in Coral Gables. It's AEW Dynamite, and it's always a lot of fun. Zazzle is going to be in the front row.

Yeah, I'm—

look, I get after it. All right, Connor, if you see me— Clark, if you see me—

Kyle.

Hey, no, I said Connors, but then I, you know, said his last name. You see me?

You know what I'm saying?

Hey, that's what I'm talking about.

That's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm talking about.

That's right.

Hey, that's what I'm talking about.

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Going for 2 when you're up by 5. Switching the zone when man isn't working. Oh, and building your new stadium in the state your team actually plays in. In sports, some things just make sense. You know what else makes sense? Drinking Jägermeister shots ice cold. Drinking it any other way would be like punting on first down, or letting your worst hitter bat first, or like going for 2 when you're down 3 with a second to go. It wouldn't make any sense. So don't let the team down when it comes to Jägermeister. Drink it cold or don't drink it at all.

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Dan Levitar. 16!

Greg Cody.

Take the rest of the day off.

This is the Dan Levitar Show.

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Start of the day, start of the day, it is the start of the day. Start of the day, start of the day, it is the start of the day. Start of the day, start of the day. It is the start of the day. Start of the day. Start of the day. It is the start of the day.

I got a good one for you guys here. I hope you don't know it. Are you guys familiar with what it is that the NFC East has done the last 2 weeks? It's historic. It's never happened before.

They've won no games?

It's not just that they've won no games. That would be historic enough. In the history of divisions, it's never happened that all of the teams in a division have lost for 2 straight weeks, but it's damn near impossible for it to happen when 2 of them played each other. And the most memorable of the games in all of the losses is the one that neither one of them lost because of how it ended. Like, that is really hard to do, to be that bad as a division and to have the one game that everyone remembers, the one where the Washington Commanders do something as dumb as you have ever seen. We are a day late to the useless sound montage. It is one of the most popular segments we have done for a long time around here. Let's get to all of the useless sound that emerged from all of the press conferences and locker rooms in football this weekend.

Good humbling day. This is, this is the challenging part of sports.

Every game is different.

Every game, every situation. Calls for different things.

I don't think anybody feels good about being 2-4.

You know, there's nothing positive that I can say about today.

Proud of our guys.

I think they do, do stuff the right way.

Almost slipped there.

But at the end of the day, I thought they played hard, they played fast, they blocked when they needed to block.

At the end of the day, it's about, it's about winning. At the end of the day, I'm trying to go out there and score as many points as possible.

At the end of the day, we work on this all throughout the week of practice.

At the end of the day, um, you want to make them quit.

At the end of the day, you know, the hand's got to be cleaner.

At the end of the day, we're still Finding who we are.

Trying to make something happen time. Coach, uh, in this league, a win is a win regardless of how you get it. How does a win like this help you moving forward? I won't know until we move forward. Yeah, I mean, we're in a hole, put ourselves there. There's one way out of it.

It was cool to see, um, you know, a different guy in the huddle, man. He looks cool in the huddle.

Either in the storm, coming out of the storm, or you're going into the storm.

Sean, why do you feel like the self-inflicted wounds have shown up? I'm not really sure, Nate.

So right now we're We're in the middle of a storm. It's raining.

It's, it's, it's not shiny at all.

Listen, we are all smart people here, some smarter than others.

It's a week-to-week league. It truly is a week-to-week league.

Adversities hit us, and, and we've got to answer, and we've got to look it dead in the face. And, um, this will test this brotherhood that we brag about, that, you know, we say we're going to hang our hat on.

The ball matters more than anything in the National Football League. It's the ball.

Thanks for asking a really great question. Appreciate that.

I'm a quarterback. I, I, um, I'm excited to execute the play that is called. I love to sling the ball around. You guys watch the game.

You guys are writers.

Write about it. You know, describe it in a really cool way. Oh, 4-2. I think you are what your record is. I believe that.

I live that.

Do what you do.

Be great writers and describe it in some awesome way or some whatever-you-think way.

So yeah, I would say just shooting ourselves in the foot. Mike, what made you guys lean on Corey Conner at the end of the game over Rhamondre?

He runs hard.

He runs hard. And, you know, we got 3 capable backs and you ride the hot hand, so. Should we have not rode them, or—

No.

Okay, good.

I just was curious.

These guys are fighting hard. They're fighting their butts off.

Gotta finish them.

Yeah, you gotta finish them. You can't finish them unless you do it. We can uplift not only the offense, but the defense and the special teams, and just being able to have that camaraderie.

Our goal is to come out and be 1-0 each week.

We have to be able to not beat ourselves.

Tell my wife, I've, you know, since I got married, I've never kind of sat on the couch and watched much TV. I've always wanted to be on the move and kind of just be doing something. Not just hanging around. So it's kind of the same thing in the pocket.

I feel like we always have a chance to win every game that we play.

I mean, I have to look at the tape and see.

We'll look at the tape, figure out what we need to fix.

Get back in tomorrow, watch the tape, flush it, go on to the next. Yeah, we have to look at the tape. We'll get a chance to get on this tape.

Watch film, do everything we can to make sure that we get guys back. Watch whatever we have to watch to make sure that, you know, we're learning from what we're doing wrong.

There's no such thing as ugly wins.

Obviously, Owen said Uh, going into the bye, I did not think I'd be up here addressing that question. These are the nights that you don't ever want to end because you know tomorrow it's on to the next game. Feel bad for our players, our team, our coaches, our, uh, our fans. I know it sounds really goofy, but you sit there in bed and you don't want the night to end. It's 10:30 and you're tired as hell and you want to be up another 15, 20, 30 minutes to enjoy it because you know, shit, tomorrow I gotta look at the Yeah, we won, but it wasn't like a, you know, how we want to accomplish.

Um, let me find out what I'm trying to say. Uh, you guys don't understand what I'm saying.

So—

When word came down that Lane Johnson was retiring for personal reasons, Mike Ryan was making fun of me because he's like, what, you really want to play the game about what the personal reasons are? And I did want to play the game. And furthermore, when it Uh, broke yesterday that Jordan Elliott, the Titans defensive tackle, was let go for reasons that nobody was talking about at the beginning. I'm like, well, what were the reasons? Like, what, what happened at the facility that would make them just get rid of him? And then I start seeing the subsequent reporting, and that would have been a fun game too to play. What happened at the facility that made the Titans release Jordan Elliott?

I'm going to go to the trunk. And it's like, oh, okay.

He was going to get a gun. I don't know who he was fighting with. I've told you the story before. This did not get O.J. McDuffie released when Darrell Gardner upset him and he went to the parking lot to go get a gun. That was not something that cost him his job.

That's Mr. Third Down.

It's not a Titan. It's not a Titan. The lesser-known defensive tackle. The lesser-known defensive tackle. Because I'm assuming that Jeffrey Simmons isn't going to be there much longer. Adam Schefter saying there are going to be 12 trades. He's predicting 12 trades here. before the trade deadline. I'm going to assume, right, if you're the Titans, Jeffrey Simmons is going to command something. He's a menace as a defensive tackle. He's their best player. There is no Titan who is better than that one. Would you expect him to be moved? Why would the Titans keep him? What's the point of that?

Yeah, I mean, well, same thing for the Dolphins. Dolphins have a couple veteran players too where you got to move them, and I'm sure the Chargers are in the same spot. The really terrible teams are going to get rid of veteran players. Yeah.

I mean, but the Dolphins are in a situation where they think they're going to be really good in 2 years. So you have to keep Jordan Brooks. Like, you have to keep certain guys who are in their prime who you think are going to be a part of the team.

Doesn't every team rebuilding think they're going to be good in 2 or 3 years?

Yeah, that's precisely right, Chris. Many of them are wrong.

Many, many, many are wrong.

You're expecting, though, a great many transactions. Does that excite you when Adam Schefter says there are going to be a dozen trades in the sport? There have already been a couple.

Where does he come up with that number? 12?

Well, he's hearing, he's hearing 12. You shook your head no. Trades and transactions are great during the deadline. Like, what are the Rams gonna do? Are they gonna go try and—

Oh yeah, it's fine, but I can understand saying, hey, there's gonna be a bunch of trades. Schefter comes out and says it's gonna be 12.

Yeah, but it's— most years he probably talks to all the teams and he's like, oh, there's only 3 or 4 guys that teams are looking at moving. This year he's probably talking to teams and he's like, holy shit, there's 12 to 15 guys that could move.

Normally, normally it's a round number though. Normally you say 10, you don't say 11.

It's just, it's a strange thing to do. It's like putting peanut butter in a jelly donut. I don't understand.

That'd be good. Yeah, someone should do that.

Wow, I would love that.

Delicious. Did you just invent something?

Better patent that.

Yeah, maybe.

So the NFLPA is saying, and this is going to add to the storm around Jalen Hurts, and I want to go back to the conversation that we were having with Nick Wright because I'm curious what you guys think about, uh, the macro here. When I talk about great American institutions that give off America, brands that give off America. Is the NFL in your top 5? Would the NFL be a top 5 brand for you with McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Disney? Are you putting it— does, does the NFL climb into your top 5?

Maybe. Yeah, it's debatable.

Maybe I would say so. A generation or two ago, obviously it would've been baseball instead of football. But I think football is such king sport in this country now that it would be that.

So the conversation I want to have with you though, extending off of what it is that we were talking about with Nick Wright, is generally speaking, Disney has many people who have their problems with Disney, but generally speaking, the brands that are most associated with Americana, they're not distrusted In a way that it felt to me that as soon as the Jalen Hurts information started coming out, everyone seemed to assume that the Eagles were absolutely doing the wrong thing. Everybody jumped to the conclusion this product that they love, they know enough about to assume, well, yeah, Sirianni would have a lot of pressure on him to keep Jalen Hurts on the field. A team that was a champion a couple of years ago? is falling apart. Everyone's under pressure. And so everything about what surrounds the Eagles huddle pressures the quarterback to get back on the field, including something that is fairly unusual in any other workplace, which is you don't play if you're injured, but you absolutely play if you're hurt. If you're mere— like, there is a distinction that football players make all the time. Injured means you can't play. Hurt means you must.

Like, that's the way that sport works. And so you got Sirianni pressure. You got a team that was a champion. You got a quarterback who's perpetually being pressured. And there are no incentives anywhere, which is why Andrew Hawkins tells you guys yesterday that a football player must have his own doctor, must have an independent doctor that is not in any way compromised.

But doesn't every team have an independent doctor? It's like we don't trust that independent doctor?

But you said it, the team has an independent doctor.

But it's mandated by the league.

But I need to have my own independent doctor who's caring for me and not for caring for the team because they hired him.

Wait a minute, guys. The team does not have an independent doctor. The team has a team doctor.

Right.

Yeah, the independent does not belong in there. And, and that team doctor also has pressures to push the boundaries on how do I get the hurt player to stay on the field and not be the injured player.

So it's any given Sunday is what you're saying.

Jase Woods?

There's an eyeball on the field.

You guys know what this is, correct? Like, we know what this beast is and we don't We don't trust that it will behave humanely. That is why the prevailing opinion— I know Nick is saying it's the reporting, and the reporting does put some suspicion on it. The reporting does create a skepticism, but we are predisposed to already believe that they're doing the worst things.

And, and I think that's magnified when it's the quarterback position. You know, if we're having this conversation about the left guard even if the left guard's really good, it doesn't feel as big as it is with the quarterback where he's the most important player on our team. We're going down the toilet this season. Our head coach is about to be fired. We need Jalen to play no matter what.

I would watch a spin-off movie about James Woods' character from Any Given Sunday.

Just an all-time—

All-time dirtbag.

Just a jerk.

Dirty doctor.

Womanizer.

Womanizer. Just like, there's a pretty girl, he's like, what's What's up?

You need him to play this week?

All right, he's cleared.

There's like a conversation in the owner's box like, we need that guy on the field, and he's there with like a syringe.

I got him.

I mean, dirtbag. I mean, that's just James Woods.

Okay.

Yeah, okay. He's not acting.

Wow.

He's a tremendous actor. Tremendous American patriot.

Thespian.

He does have in that movie, uh, no, uh, ethics whatsoever of any kind.

Yeah, just no line he won't cross.

Feels good about it too. Loves it.

He's like the Attorney General.

Prowls.

Yeah, I'll just be there.

Does he have like the team parties too, or am I misremembering?

Yeah, like he's just— yeah, he's there like, you know, players-wise.

Needles falling out of his pocket. Women on both arms as he runs onto the field with the guys with the stretcher.

All-time creep.

Dan Levitar. Boy, he's not—

Who needs me?

Greg Cody.

Who needs me?

This is the Dan Levitar Show. You guys do understand what I'm saying? thing though about what Andrew Hawkins said yesterday, which is— and think about having this kind of distrust for your employer, this kind of distrust for the ethics that surround you. Nah, don't trust the guy that the company is paying the way that they're paying me to protect my interests. I believe he's going or she's going to protect the interests of the team first. This person is compromised even though they've made a medical oath Yeah. To not be compromised. Many doctors in all of the sports cities that exist want the regional ego pride of being associated with, I'm the one who keeps this team healthy. Even when Sirianni was being quoted, he's saying this medical staff got us 21 of our 22 starters to be able to play in the Super Bowl.

I—

Sirianni is saying, I trust this medical staff to players on the field. Is the doctor's job in the NFL to keep the players healthy, or is it to keep them on the field?

I would think healthy.

I know what it is on any given Sunday. You would think.

Well, but what about the distrust on the front end of this though when it comes to great American products? Because I have found the reaction interesting. How frustrating must this be for the Eagles if in some world that none of us can imagine They actually did everything right here trying to protect the player and somehow knew information that we didn't know about it being safe for him to fly, or safer for him to fly than we think it is. Everyone is assuming and jumping to the conclusion that something is off here, not merely suspicious, but that a team is behaving in a way that is fundamentally indecent, that a team is behaving in a way that is inhumane, that does not care about the humanity of its most important player. Like, to me, it's crazy that everyone jumps to that conclusion about something that we love this much.

Well, the part that I find strange about this with— yeah, all of us are disagreeing with the way that this situation has been handled. Doctors apparently told the team that he's able to fly home, and he was able to fly home. Like, he's okay. So, but we're still all here saying you shouldn't have done that when doctors said he can, and doctors were right.

Well, we don't know enough yet, and that's why I credit the NFLPA for demanding an investigation, a full probe of this situation. And the NFL should be behind that, and so should the Eagles.

Well, but that part's interesting, okay, because the NFLPA has been substantively Uh, the sports unions in general have been substantively weakened. You have a lot of young players, uh, with new management in all of these sports unions, and they have been behaving in a way that is less strong than they have been. This NFLPA report comes after the NFL very quickly said, hey, no need for an investigation here.

Yes, very quickly.

We're clearing the Eagles, and the NFLPA is saying, no, you're not allowed to. You're not— No, you will not just simply clear the Eagles here. And it speaks to a distrust that sides with the audience on distrust when the NFL is telling you a little early— I think we can all agree—

It was immediate, almost.

A little early, the NFL is telling you we don't need to investigate this fully. We'll do a little bit of a half-assed little bit of an investigation that's not really an investigation and then clear everybody because we'd really like people to move along In fact, if I could put Sunday's games right now, I would, so you guys stop talking about what happened here.

I know what happened to the gravy boat. Follow the money. Follow the money.

The gravy boat.

Follow the money.

Why is it— why is it a gravy train? Was there an actual gravy train? Was there a train that was delivering gravy?

A gravy boat? I've never heard of a gravy boat.

I think that's the name for the thing that actually pours the gravy.

I've never heard of it.

The gravy boat.

Dr. Harvey Mantray.

Follow the money.

New phrase coined.

Uh, Chris, instead of being pleased with yourself, can you look up gravy train for me? Because we don't have Jeremy here to look up anything.

He's hungry.

You like that, Dan?

Also, just Google image Dr. Harvey Mantray.

He was shaking his chest at me, pleased with himself, as if he had Clark Connors' six-pack. Like, he was just so happy with himself on gravy boat and thinking about gravy in general that he didn't look up for me, uh, anything about where it is the origins of Gravy Train come from. And we don't have Jeremy today because he's been shamed out of the room by the fact—

He's been shaved?

That DraftKings was pointing out, using him for clicks in the middle of a segment on Monday. He just sort of said, and we all ignored him, trade Matthew Stafford. And DraftKings grabbed it and threw it out into the sports world. And then everyone eviscerated Jeremy. We didn't even consider what it is that he said, as if we hadn't heard it when he mentioned Trade Matthew Stafford.

We've had some toxic reaction to stuff we've said on the show. Hell, Jeremy's had toxic reaction from Swifties. I've never seen someone get ratioed quite like Jeremy did for tossing out there, which Dan is correct in pointing out, we all ignored. Matthew Stafford should be traded by the Rams.

What's that mean, get ratioed? What's that mean?

It's when there's more comments, more replies than people actually sharing and agreeing with you.

You knew that, Dan?

I did, yes.

Early 20th century American railroad slang. Railroad work was known as gravy. No, gravy was slang for extra profit.

What?

Extra profit. You guys got it.

Well, that doesn't make it right.

Just yelled the F-word off, off mic. One more time. So what, what is the great—

so the gravy is slang?

How is it possible?

Where's the train involved? He's in the fetal position now, Dan.

I mean, it's—

Taylor's down here.

My boy.

Prayers up to Dalton Connect.

Greg Cody has an ally in having great disdain for Junior Caminero's home run trot of 37 seconds upon finishing. It's a record.

Yeah, 38.6, but who's counting?

It wasn't a record. It was second place to Junior Caminero's first place home run trot, which was, uh, second place to his International Dominican League home run trot, which lasted a minute when he finished in, in the Dominican Winter League.

Oh, the Dominican Winter League!

Danny's playing for the Leones. What a league. How do we not cover that?

It's a minute long. Uh, home run trot celebration in the Dominican League, but that's not the one that counts. He had one earlier this year, and a walk-off home run earlier this year where the trot was longer than the 38 seconds in the postseason. But Greg Cody has an ally in hating it, and that ally is Colin Cowherd, who says— Who's joined us in watching baseball long enough Just this postseason. That's the 38 seconds of baseball he's watched this season to call it— that was obnoxious. It felt obnoxious to me. He's with you, Greg Cody. You have an ally. Do you like, uh, do you like your ally here?

I, I'm fine with anybody who agrees with me, generally speaking. And I am— look, I understand you're, you're like, yeah, have fun. And you know, the Hispanic guys, they, they, they— that's the way they play and they should and more fun and this. And you got to respect the opponent. I know it makes— it's the old fuddy-duddy, what you'd expect me to say, but in this case, I think it's absolutely ridiculous.

How pathetic.

If I was the pitcher, I would be chasing him between— as he's pausing 5 feet from home plate to take one last bow before touching the plate, I would be chasing him. I would be John Roseboro with a bat.

Greg, you wouldn't be respecting the game, though.

then? He's not respecting—

But you're not respecting the game if you're chasing him. You got to stand there and take it. Respect the game.

Well, I don't think so. I think if you're—

Do the right—

do the right normal thing and just hit him in the head the next time he comes up to bat.

Obviously, when I say he should be John Roseboro with a bat, I'm kidding. That's like a 1965 reference nobody knows.

He was the one that got hit with the bat.

Let's just stop making those references.

Yeah, I really shouldn't. Uh, but in this case, Caminaro did wrong. And, and nobody but me has the balls to say it.

He's a nincompoop. Colin Cowherd also has the balls to say it. That gives us an ability to play the balls imaging here. Go ahead and play the ball— play all of the balls imaging so that Greg Cody can be the owner of the balls.

Bumbo jumbo. Balls.

The ballsiest of balls.

Ballsy.

Oh, the balls that took. Cojones.

Balls. Ballin' it.

It's time for the ballsiest move of the weekend.

Balls.

Bambi, Bambi.

I don't mind being the only guy to think that that home run—

You're not the only guy.

Other than Colin. I don't mind being the only guy in this room to think that was ridiculous. Damnable. Damnable.

What?

It's damnable. It deserves being damned.

Really?

Yes.

Damned? You'll be damned. For eternity?

You'll be damned.

Wait, no, no, no, wait a minute. This is what just happened. No, you're saying that because—

I'm damned.

Because Junior Caminero had a 38-second home run trot, you believe he should be damned to hell for eternity. You believe that's a reasonable punishment?

You said hell, I didn't.

Second longest of his career.

What do you think that means?

That's what damned means!

No, I think if you— here's what I mean in this case.

No one says damn you to heaven.

He should be damned in this way: when you get back to the dugout, instead of complete adulation and you get 1 or 2 guys on the bench saying, that was a bad look. That was a really, really bad look.

Or just a disapproving head shake from teammates, maybe?

No, but wait a minute. Just— I want you guys to just review the last couple of minutes here. Greg Cody at first said, no, no, I've taken it too far. No, no, no, that's too far. Swinging, chasing the guy around the bases with a bat, that's too far. I was clearly joking. Damn him to hell for eternity.

Oh, the balls.

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