Transcript of Did U.S. Soccer's Hope Die Last Night? | Local Hour

Zazz, I sent Chris Cody with one assignment last night to his father's house to record wherever it is the debauchery headed. And what I got this morning in terms of video and pictures was somewhere on the spectrum between sad and haunting. He looked broken. Just the physical— the performance that you would want from a performer was nowhere to be found as he just sat slumped in his chair in a— in in a dark room, in a dark room that looked like it had paneling instead of walls. And it's because he hasn't refurbished some of the things in his home since the last time I was there in 1989. And so the room, the room was not well, it was not well lit. So we will get some of those photographs. But I expected to see someone who was hopped up on half a dozen beers getting started before the game. And instead it was just from the very beginning, there was no Patriot atmosphere in that room.

It looked a bit like solitary confinement.

Like you, you're— you take it that serious? The US?

Yes. Yeah, that's my home team. That's it. Levittard always says I'm a homer. I am a homer when it comes to the US teams, whether it's in the Olympic hockey final, whether it's last night's game. Yes, I cheer unabashedly and admittedly I cheer for the US team.

It is honestly embarrassing how all his journalistic integrity goes out the door every single foul. Is against— is— should be in favor of the US. Every call that's against them is a bad call. Like, I'm sitting there like, oh, that was actually a decent call. Like, I can— I'm rooting as hard as he is for the US, but I can sit there and say, okay, this or that was a good or bad call. He is just like, bullcrap call. Like, you should—

is that cheater?

No, the cheater.

He like, anytime there's like a foul against Belgium, he's just like, look at that cheater.

You yell cheater?

In that one instance I did, but I can also be crit— when Matt When goalkeeper Matt Freese made that boner of a play to have us go down 3-1, every— all hope collapsed. That was a play I might make as a backup goalkeeper on a college club team in 1979. To see that in a World Cup is absolutely embarrassing.

But why, why do you have this type of passion, unabashed passion, for the USMNT and like not for the Miami Heat, or not for the Miami Dolphins, or the Florida Panthers.

Yeah, because those are the home teams. I need to be impartial, and I am impartial. Like, I don't— when I'm covering a Dolphin game in the stadium—

You are not impartial.

I am totally impartial.

You are not totally impartial. You are totally not impartial.

Okay, I don't separate myself from my background, which is one of my strengths. I grew up down here. I was at the first Dolphin game ever.

Where would that rank as far as your strengths go?

You know, maybe low top 10. Really? Yeah, low top 10.

Now is it a real top 10 or is it a top 10 if you start thinking about it, it's gonna be 70 long and then it's not gonna be in the top 10 anymore.

Yeah, it could be a top 25. But no, I was embarrassed. And when you say there was no patriotism in that room, that's ridiculous 'cause I think even Christopher got a photo. I had flags, I had red, white, and blue all over the place.

Would you do me a favor please? Yeah. Can you write down your top 5 strengths? I'd like to do that. I'd like to go over that during the course of the show I'd like to unveil that here as we start the show. If you can just put that together during this open.

Okay. I didn't—

We're going to the open now.

Great. Fine.

You are listening to the Dan Levitan Show in partnership with the DraftKings Sports App, now live in all 50 states. Greg Cody is very busy right now and will be out of the show here for a few seconds as he hurriedly makes a list of his top 5 strengths. Uh, Chris, what do you believe to be any of your father's, uh, strengths? Like, what do you think is going to be on his list? Because he's working very diligently on that. And also, we have a Greg Cody superfan who has listened to all the episodes of The Greg Cody Show featuring Greg Cody podcast. And, uh, that person has ranked the top 6 Greg Cody episodes of all time and the bottom 6 Greg Cody episodes of all time. So I look forward to getting to that list, but not as much he looks forward to getting to it because he is the king of narcissism. If, uh, if he had a land, it would be called, uh, narcissism.

Just took— I was gonna say, that's definitely one of his strengths, narcissism. If we're being serious, I'd say he'd say cooking is something—

didn't make my top 5.

Writing, I imagine writing would be one of, uh, one of his strengths. Is your list complete? Oh wow, okay.

All right, you know, I didn't, uh, curate it. I mean, I didn't really give it much thought. It's sort of an off-the-top-of-the-head thing.

And speaking of writing, he did tell me before the show, Dan, that If a certain NBA player were to sign in Miami during the show today or tomorrow, he's gonna have to get up right away and go write a column about it.

Correct. I'm on call for a LeBron column no matter his decision, whenever it's— if it's made while I'm on this air, I need to make the column my priority for about 30 minutes or 45.

OK, but if you're on call for whether he decides Miami or not, why don't you just start writing the column?

It's—

it's—

there's background written. I mean, it's— we used to call it a matter. Sure. When you're on deadline with a column or you know what the subject is ahead of time, obviously you start writing certain things that are going to be in the column.

Greg, you're on call.

Yes. Thank you.

We will do the bit that we did last time if that happens, where we'll set you up in the green screen room and we will just bug you throughout the entire time you're writing.

Sure you will.

He just got to say that without getting kicked out of here.

No, that was excellent.

No, it's not a bit. And, you know, no, he's not allowed to say that.

And, yeah.

Minor penalty, 2 minutes for explaining the show.

Greg, help me here.

You know what? That was the line of the day. Tony saying, if LeBron makes a decision, I am on call. Um, that was excellent.

The penalty's not for you, Tony. The penalty for explaining the show is on Chris Cody for saying that there was a bit in the other room. He gets a loser game show sound for that joke. It's not a good joke, but you don't get penalized and sent to the other room. Oh, harsh. Chris was taking pictures. He was doing production work late at night, but came back with nothing. And, uh, Like, this isn't acceptable. You guys all the time as producers get sent out into the wild. I'm still mad at Amin and Sean McGill for spending a bunch of money in New York and coming back with 80 seconds of footage and could get no internet while they were there. Like, just wasted the company's money, the two of them.

Better than me when me and Amin went to Cleveland and got nothing.

Barely, barely better. But yes, yes, Amin leads the— leads Metal Ark in going and spending money and coming back with nothing. No one does that better than Amin. That's his corner.

He's got that locked down.

So let's look at a picture of Greg Cody back in happier times. This is just before, just before the game started.

You can see light radiance. You can see on his face he is ready to go. That's 6 or 7 beers in, I'm guessing.

But now, very soon thereafter, and we will talk about this at length, I suspect, because I'd like to know whether or not you guys are disappointed.

Here's Greg Cody very soon thereafter when he realizes, oh, Belgium's just going to hold the ball all game and we're not going to have any chances. And the goalkeeper who we decided on a week before the World Cup had 4 years to get one of those. A week before, we still don't know who's going to be the keeper. And oh, that's why. Okay, he's going to allow a ridiculous goal that reminds you of Greg Cody in 1979 when he was the backup goalkeeper on his intramural team, just flying out and doing the young-way coup kick of just kicking the ground in front of the ball as if you've never played soccer before, never done anything.

Why do you do that?

Even I've never done that.

To be fair, he's in goal, right? He's not usually out there.

He's like, oh, okay, what do I do here?

The guy's behind me. Where is he?

I don't know.

No, we don't need to be fair there. You can't do that on the World Cup stage. Now, before we get to you guys, because I really— I'm I'm unsurprised by the American delusional reaction of entitlement where you expect something more. And if you're going to lose, I would have preferred some drama. I would have preferred, you know, overtime, close game, penalty kick, something. Just not a waste of our time last night watching that game because you see fairly instantaneously— you had 2 minutes where you were excited.

2.

You got 2 whole minutes where you tied the game. But the problem of afflicting the United States is that they are in the college football rankings, others receiving votes in the world. That's— they— what they just did is what they are. And their problem is they don't have a star. They don't have one of those. And you keep selling me Pulisic, but he turned the ball over 11 times, lost possession in 45 minutes, more than anybody on the field. They do not have a star. American soccer has been trying to tell us for 4 or 5 decades that we are going to get on the world stage with the elite, and they don't have anyone who represents stardom. These numbers are startling, but it's what the United States is. I will get to your disappointment in a second, but we're now 1-6 in the round of 16. All 6 of the losses, 0 goals or 1 goal. They can't score. Like, when it gets deeper and deeper into this and you're playing against the teams that are as good or as you or better, you're just another a team running around out there wasting everybody's time.

And so where are you guys? Because they made the mistake of inflating hope, and now people are extra disappointed today. The criticism is coming hard, and it's coming hard for only two players as far as I can tell. It's the keeper and it's Pulisic.

Yeah, I feel like you're overreacting. I, I feel like you overreacted last week when you said it was already a monumental success just for the U.S. to reach the, uh, round of 16.

I didn't say a monumental success. I just said it's a successful World Cup run to get to the round of 16.

And it wasn't because That's the average. That's where they're stuck in a rut. Getting beyond the round of 16 would have made it a success. And when you say they don't have a great scorer, if you're, if you're saying they don't have an Mbappé or a Messi, they don't have a Kane. Of course you're right.

They don't have a star. They were about to play— when you guys are sitting here telling me they can win the World Cup and I'm like, what the hell are you talking about? They don't have a star. All the remaining teams have stars. The teams expected to win, the favored teams, have people who score goals.

Okay, you just said that they're one of the other teams also receiving votes, to use the college football analogy. They were ranked 15th in the world going into this game out of more than 200 nations playing football.

Yeah, but that's like your top 15. It moves up and down and you can fall under the top 25 when we change the list.

Okay, they were in the top— they were 13 a couple of weeks before the World Cup. They've been as low as 17 in the last couple of years. They're a top 20 team. Obviously they're not where they need to be, but neither are they an also receiving votes team.

They're the bottom of the top 16 and they just got knocked out in the round of 16.

Right, right. Which means it is not a successful World Cup like you said it was last week. It isn't. It was an average— it was a typical World Cup performance for the U.S. team with a fairly easy run to the, to the 16 and with home field advantage. It was an ordinary World Cup for the U.S. men. It was not a success by any measure whatsoever.

I think it's a mass— I don't think it's just disappointment. I think it's a massive disappointment. What happened. Not only do the way that they lost last night, but Greg makes a good point about it being an easy run. Why was it an easy run? Well, because they're the host country, and so you get to be slotted into the top tier, which of course means that your group matches are going to be much easier than you actually deserve. So in a year where they got the great draw being in the top tier as a host nation, they didn't even advance past where they routinely get to. I mean, miss me with the whole "they won the knockout round" game. Round of 32 only exists this year. It's the first time it's ever existed. Like, they literally got to the exact point that they always get to, and this time they got their shit kicked in, okay? They don't always get their shit kicked in in the round of 16. Last night they did.

What is that phrase? Someone help me with that phrase. I've been hearing it for a long time. And what happens? I go to the bathroom, I shit, and then someone kicks it and it goes back in? Like, what is that phrase?

Well, they're kicking your ass so hard that the shit is going back.

Oh, okay.

Oh, take me right in the ass.

I thought you had the shit kicked out of you. That's what I thought.

That's what I thought, but evidently it was kicked out of us and then it was kicked back in because Belgium held the ball all game. And the part that was disappointing about last night, beyond the fact that they, you know, injected a bit of hope into our country, that was not interesting, fun. There was nothing to watch there that indicated to you at any point after the first 30 minutes that the United States was going to do much of anything.

Like, like, Dan, you mentioned that Belgium just held the ball the whole game. I don't think that was the case at all in the second— like, the first half, US was awful. Holy shit, were we—

we were the—

we were the worst team in the World Cup in the first half. They were so bad. In that first half. At least in the second half, the U.S. had the ball pretty much the entire half, but they get no chances. They get no shots. They had 2 shots. Not shots on goal. Well, they were also shots on goal, but 2 total shots. Only 1 in the second half all game.

I misspoke if you heard— if what I said is that Belgium possessed the ball. There were no reasonable threats for the United States that gave you any reason to think, like the, the thing that caused all the hope, the first game against Paraguay, where they, they are controlling the ball and they're attacking and they're aggressive and you see that they're threatening. There was nothing in the way of threat during that game.

But Garcia changed up the lineup too. They took out De Bruyne, they took out a bunch of people, and they're like, okay, that's what you're gonna do to this team? Like, the US may have a chance. And then Pulisic just got bullied the entire game that he was out there, completely bullied. Did not look like he played soccer whatsoever.

Pulisic had 17 touches the entire game. A minuscule total.

He lost the ball 11 times. He lost possession 11 times in 45 minutes.

He had an abysmal game. And the whole attacking of the U.S. last night, they couldn't get to the end line for crosses. They couldn't earn corner kicks.

No chances.

Everything was stuck in. They were constipated in midfield. They couldn't move it in and take shots on goal. The worst part, it wasn't just that they lost because Belgium is a better side. I don't care what the betting odds said. The Homer betting odds, I think, had the US as a slight favorite. Belgium is a better squad. It would have been a nice win, but they, they picked the worst time to have their worst game of the World Cup.

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Dan Levitar.

Can't wait for 39.

Yeah, I can't either. 40 comes first.

Do you know what 40 is yet?

Not yet.

See, what are we doing?

Greg, did you just laugh? Did you just laugh out loud at something Lewis said in your ear?

Greg Cody. Yes, I couldn't help it. It was funny. Yeah, but thanks, Lewis. Yeah, gagging the goose.

Of course.

Choking the frog. I mean, there's a million. Of course, half of them would sound dirty if we keep doing it.

This is the Dan Levitan Show. Let's not sugarcoat it. Pulisic, he was, he was terrible yesterday. He was a no-show this entire World Cup.

He didn't—

like, I understand he got hurt in the first game, so they kept him out of the second half and then he missed the second game. He was a no-show the entire—

I know you guys are making fun of me, Greg specifically, when I say they don't have an Mbappé.

Okay.

Okay, that seems fairly obvious, but when you're watching Haaland, where you're watching Harry Kane, where you're watching Messi, that's the United States' star. That's the name on the jerseys. That's the guy that people know because they've been telling us since he's 19 years old that he is the hope of American soccer, and it went and died on the field last night in a way that got bullied. Now he's injured, okay?

He's—

he is not 100% healthy. He's not. But the idea that the United States didn't have anything in the way of a threat for— you can say now that Belgium is better, but not as betting.

No, no.

The money was on the United States last night. And before that game, it was not clear to the money that Belgium is the better side. We watched the game and now it's clear to everybody that Belgium coming off a game where they were almost eliminated, they were down 2-0 against Senegal in the 82nd minute in their last game and they won the game 3-2. They should have been tired. They should. That's an old team. They should have been beaten up. The United States is more athletic. And what? The end result is that the United States fan is now bothered because they did inflate hope in a way that made the expectations, I think, unreasonable. I don't think that they were— I don't think when Fox is begging the United States to not turn off its television after that game and to please keep watching the game, I don't believe they did anything last night to earn earn fans. They did stuff before that to earn fans. Last night, last night was gonna be the most watched— I imagine when the numbers come in— the most watched United States men's soccer game there has ever been, and they did nothing last night to earn a fan.

Have we not been having this exact same conversation for years now? Is this the World Cup that takes soccer to the next level here in the United States? We have that conversation every 4 years.

Every 4 years.

And this year, like, it was no different from any other year.

I think we've reached the top of our current level. To your point, we have not reached the next level yet. But I will admit, in this World Cup, just the feel-good, the good performances early on, they're at the top of their current level. But to your point, have not reached the next one yet.

For me, the difference is that in this World Cup, there was a little bit of a reason to actually be hopeful. They played 4 games before last night. They won 3 of the 4. The offense was not an issue leading into last night's game. They were scoring fine in this World Cup. But last night was different. You can say Belgium's not any good. They're a 10th-ranked team. They're a top 10 team.

I didn't say they weren't any good.

They have pedigree. They're— and old means experience. They're a pedigreed franchise, so to speak, a pedigreed country in World Cup lore. 4, although they've never reached the final. Quality team. I can't— the only reason the U.S. was favored last night was because of Homer.

No, no, no, they were favored last night because how they looked in the first 4 games.

That's fair.

And Chris, when you say they're not at the next level, how many levels are there? What level do you have them on?

There's 5 levels total.

And so which one are they climbing? Like, how many are ahead of them? Because in terms of having a star, They're not on any kind of level. They do not have a star soccer player. America does not have a star soccer player.

Why are there 5 levels though?

I don't know, it feels right.

So where are they though?

When you say there's 5, I would say they're at the top of the second level. No, they were thinking they could get into that third.

No, second from the bottom or second from the top?

16th ranked team out of hundreds of teams. How are they not—

do you think they're right below the elite countries?

Well, no, I see like—

yes, you said the top.

To me, the elite teams are in the 5. The, the next best are in the 4. Like, what are you guys talking about?

How many elite teams are you making? How many elite teams are you putting in the 5?

Oh my bad, I was going up to 5.

Okay, I got it.

I got him in 2 or 4.

Wouldn't 1 be the best?

Well, he's, he's got him at 2 and 4, but I was like a totem pole depending on which way you're going here.

I like to be on the 5th level.

But I think they're right in the middle though. I don't think— I think they're at the top of the 3rd.

So that 3, top 3, either way you slice it, they're Right. There's only 5 teams.

Per Shams Charania.

Yeah.

Oh boy.

The Cleveland Cavaliers.

Greg Cody, you got to go.

Have signed Donovan Mitchell to a 4-year, $273 million max contract extension.

Thank you.

Something I was thinking about as it regards the Cavaliers. Do you guys think that for sure James Harden is going back there? Is it possible that LeBron goes there to replace James Harden? Because why the hell does he want to be there with James Harden?

Yes.

Like, James Harden though opted out thinking he's gonna go back there.

No, well, it's the same thing that happened with him in Philadelphia, which led to him saying Daryl Morey's a liar and I will never play for an organization that employs Daryl Morey. Like, he's— it seems like he's kind of caught in the same thing right now with Cleveland.

But does everyone think that if LeBron wants to go there, the money for James Harden is gone? Isn't that what's going to happen? Is James Harden going to be hurt and bothered is, is it being reported that James Harden might not be with the Cavs? Because every way I've seen it framed is that if LeBron goes to Cleveland, it's with that as the core, but it's a redundant skill set. They wouldn't need James Harden if they had LeBron.

Yeah, I think it's about if they— you're right, and I think if they sign LeBron, you then use Harden in a sign-and-trade to get get a couple of other pieces to round out your roster.

I feel like Harden is done. I, I just don't— with, with his defensive liability and his age, I, I just— I mean, done in the sense of commanding a, a big contract and being anything close to a centerpiece. He's just—

he's going to get a lot of money. What do you mean he's not? He's going to get a big contract.

How much?

What are you doing? You said done and then not done in some sort of definition for done that only you have. What is done mean?

Okay, he's done at a large contract. He's not done if the price—

what's a large contract?

Over $30 million a year.

That's— he's gonna— he's gonna get a lot of money. James Harden is gonna get $30. He's gonna get a lot of money. James Harden's gonna— we'll see.

I mean, you know, you said last week Philadelphia was not a real team in play for LeBron.

I don't think it is. I don't think it is. Okay, what do you disagree based on? What?

Based on everything I've read and heard. I mean, why wouldn't LeBron? LeBron listed like 12 teams he was considering, including Philadelphia. They make a pretty good case when Embiid's healthy. They make a pretty good case.

I think most people listening to this are expecting LeBron to go to either Cleveland, Miami, or the Warriors in some— in that order, probably.

I want you to look at me when I say this, all right, Greg? There is a 0% chance LeBron goes to Philadelphia.

Okay, I agree with that top 3. Cleveland, Miami, Golden State. Yeah, solid top 3. And I wouldn't blame, you know, he's on a retirement tour now. What's wrong with going back to your hometown? Like, that's perfect for him. Miami would be— I could make a case for any of the 3 teams in descending order, but Cleveland makes sense. You know, he doesn't go to Cleveland and people are going, why the hell did he go to Cleveland? Because he's a 40, almost 42-year-old guy. Looking to retire in his hometown. It's a sweet story.

I think you would get some of that, not from a storybook perspective, but from a winning basketball perspective. If he did go to Cleveland, I, I do think you would get some of that. Why is he going there if he's trying to win? I do think you get a little bit of it.

Is he going to get a 1-year deal, a 2-year deal? Like, how is he going to, uh, sign up for this next season? If he signs be a 1-year deal, then he's announcing his retirement, isn't he? If it's just a 1-year deal, you don't— you wouldn't expect him to be there for a year and then move again, right?

My guess would be he does what he did every other one of those 4 years he was last with Cleveland, was he signed a 1+1 every time with him having the option.

Yeah.

So that it's not officially sort of a retirement tour. I can't believe we're talking about this person at this age this way. I just— I Go look in the history of basketball. We were talking about Hoyt Wilhelm setting the career strikeout record for relievers at the age of 5 days short of his 50th birthday. Find for me just the best previous 40-year-old of any kind. The best. And it might be Diana Taurasi.

Like Tom Brady.

I don't think—

no, no.

I'm talking about basketball. I'm talking about in basketball. We have to run around. Go ahead and ask Tom Brady to run around and see how that works for him. I mean, he was running around at 40. He was running around. Wasn't running around.

He can, he could barely run around. No, that's not it. I don't know if you've seen Larry David's new show, but there's a scene where he's reenacting a war thing and he's trying to run, and he shouldn't. Larry David should not try to run because it looks ridiculous when an old person runs. That's what Tom Brady was running around like in the pocket, uh, by the end when he was releasing the ball in 0.3 nanoseconds every time.

I mean, just for some perspective, you know, a lot of people feel Kareem— ask Pat Riley who he thinks is the greatest player of all time. Pat Riley you, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, right? And of course LeBron, you know, a couple years ago passed Kareem for the all-time scoring record. Kareem's second-to-last year was when he was 40, okay? He retired after 41. I mean, just a shell of himself. Of course, a shell. And by the way, in that year 40, played 80 games.

What do you average, 10 points a game?

In his— when he was 40, he averaged 14.5. In his final year at 41, he averaged 10 points and, uh, 4.5 rebounds.

Appeared in 74 Did Steve Nash play at 40? I feel like he did.

He did not.

Okay.

No one's played well at 40. Like, this is— LeBron is the only human being who has ever played basketball well beyond the age of 40. Can you guys tell me what's going on with Giannis and the Heat and uniform numbers? So they are now— we played that sound last week of Tim Hardaway Sr. saying, my son will not wear that jersey, that jersey is retired. Now that jersey is not retired. He is going to wear that jersey. And I think I'll allow it because it's the same name on the back of the jersey.

Get out of here. First of all, the Heat— I love the Heat, they're the team of my childhood, I'm always gonna love them. They need to get their act together when it comes to these jerseys. I mean, what the hell are we doing here? They put in the store for sale 34 Heat jerseys. Antetokounmpo, 34. You could take it off the rack, you bring it to the register, you give them your hard-earned money, you get home, "Hey, we need a do-over. He's number 7." How does that happen? And then Tim Hardaway gets in front of everybody and says, "No way is my son allowed to have my number. No one can have my number. That jersey is retired. That number's retired." And then several days later, hey, guess what? Tim Hardaway Jr., he's number 10. What are we doing here?

Tony, you know that moment at a party or at a tailgate where everything just sorta clicks?

I know it well. It's usually when I show up. Everybody goes crazy.

Yeah, you usually take all the credit for it, But it's because Tony usually walks in with Cuervo.

I walk in like this.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cuervo is a thing that turns hanging out into this is the night.

It has that effect on people.

It does. You usually take the credit for it. But again, it's the Cuervo effect. It's like that moment in a big game where everyone in the crowd just starts standing up, hooting and hollering.

Keep it Cuervo.

Keep it Cuervo, baby.

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Down levitar!

Can't trade Marino!

Nice hat!

Nice hat, Zach!

It's what he's most known for! It's not like I'm holding on to it! Great Cody!

Nice hat!

They were 9-2! But it's Marino!

Nice hat!

And then the next time we saw Marino after Greg Cody traded him, he threw for 5 touchdowns.

Nice hat.

And he was Dan the Man on the COVID of Sports Illustrated. You can't trade Marino.

Nice hat, asshole.

This is the Dan Lebatard Show.

A couple of things. First of all, I would allow it if I were Tim Senior, but I would tell my son, get the Junior off of there. It's gonna say Hardaway on the back of your jersey, and that's the number we're wearing, that's my number, that's the family name. Get the Junior off of the jersey. It's just going to say Hardaway because either it's retired or it just says Hardaway. Don't want the Junior on there. As it relates to Antetokounmpo though, are you guys purists about this stuff? Because I would think that the number 34 Heat jersey is the one I'd prefer to have now because it's the rarer thing and it's not actually real and it's a funny joke. I'd prefer for value purposes to get the rarer of the jerseys. It's that one printed mistake that they made as a franchise, I would rather have the 34 than the 7 because it's funny.

Do you want me to run across the street and see if they have the 34 and get one?

Yes.

Okay.

Yes. Go over there.

Had to have—

is the store open right now?

They had it as of last night. Like, I walked in there for a concert last night and there was still 34 everywhere.

Go over there and get it. A Heat jersey that will never be worn for a single played minute is the jersey that I want. If I'm somebody who, who would wear jerseys, and I'm not because I'm not showing off my arms that way.

10 AM, by the way, it opens. 10 AM.

Okay, we'll have him waiting outside the door just as soon as they open to see if he can get a 34 Antetokounmpo jersey.

Third option, you take a permanent marker with the 34th or a little addition sign right there.

Boom. 3 4 7.

Got you.

I'm not with you, by the way. Wearing the 34 jersey, that's dopey to me.

Nah, that's fun.

No, it's intentional collectors. Item. The whole thing is intentional.

Where are you guys as purists, right? The people who got 34s are now going to ask for refunds and be hurt and offended and bothered and feel ripped off.

They said they would exchange it, but I'm with you, Dan. If I had one of the 34s, I'm keeping it.

Me too.

You would wear— you have the 34 because you bought it yesterday and you're gonna rock that at Heat games.

That's a good conversation.

The Antetokounmpo jersey— how's it a conversation? So everybody knows how you got it. Oh, you don't get it.

That's what it is. You want the 34.

Everybody has the 7.

I'm one of the 11 people that have 34.

So you want a jersey that's not real?

It shows I'm such a diehard that I was one of the very first people to show up at the Heat store in person at the arena and get that 34. I'm one of the 20 people in the world that showed up day one to support Giannis.

And it's a mistake.

So I could put the little plus signs.

So it's a mistake. So you're wearing a mistake jersey?

Yes, probably. It's a collector's item. It's the, it's the basketball equivalent of having a Mike Piazza card in a Marlins uniform, even though he played a minute and a half for the Marlins.

But he played.

Okay, but still, it's a collector's item. It's a rarity.

How many games did he play? 9 games. Did Piazza play 9 games for the Marlins? I'm going to tell you something here that I don't think that Giannis has thought of, that he should think about. Aesthetically, aesthetically, optically, because he's so skinny, a single-digit uniform number with that long a name is going to look ridiculous. It doesn't— it's not going to look right. It's going to— that— it's the longest name in Heat history to ever be on the back of a jersey. You're going to have to make a parabola that goes from his left hip to his right hip to get his whole name on there. It doesn't look right to have a single digit there. It looks imbalanced. It looks like it's off-kilter. But more so because of how skinny he is.

I like it because it's— the 7 sits right in the middle, right? If you have the 34, then you gotta like push it down so that the Attentacoupole sits on the top of it like a rainbow.

It's gorgeous looking. I love how you have Giannis worried about the aesthetics of what the back of his shirt looks like.

You think athletes don't care how they look?

No, not when you have a name like that. You're used to your name being that long, and it's that long whether or not it's one digit or two underneath it.

You think athletes don't care how they look in the uniform?

Yeah, of course they do, but they're not— like, he's not picking the Heat because he loves their uniform, and he's not not picking the Heat because he doesn't enjoy the colors.

Okay, did you know that?

That's where you—

okay, thank you, Greg. That's good analysis. Well, that's excellent analysis.

You said he's worried about what he looks like in a uniform.

Okay, I did, but I didn't say that he would choose his team based on how the uniform looked. I did not imply that. That's not what I said.

It's not what I implied.

It's not what I thought.

It's not what I articulated.

Implicated.

It's not what I implicated.

Okay. All right. Try to live that one down.

Why did he change his number to 7? What is the explanation in going from 34 to 7?

Why did the Heat not know?

He wanted to look skinny.

Slimming?

Yeah. I'd do it. Too thin. I'd have 3 numbers on the back if I could. I'd be 104. Why don't they have 3 numbers instead of— why is it always just 2 digits? Right?

What would, what would be your uniform number?

1440.

So it'd be 4 digits. Yeah, your uniform number would be 4 digits.

That's right.

One of the most amazing things, incidentally, to ever happen on this show is me breaking into Greg Cody's phone by guessing what his password is because it's, because it was his childhood address. And I just knew that he has an allegiance to his childhood address because I remember the story sitting across from embittered Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist Tom Powers as Greg Cody spent 3 minutes explaining to him, yes, I'm writing a book, it's called 1440, it's my initial address.

And Tom looks up from his bacon and just says, that sounds duller than dog shit.

Well, to flesh out that story, the title of the book was 1440, subhead, The Legend of an American Home.

Go ahead, keep going. Tell people what it was. You were going to talk to everyone who had lived there, right? You were going to talk to anyone who had ever lived there. You were going to go through the past and interview them. And Tom Powers looked up from his bacon and said, that sounds duller than dog shit.

Okay, I hesitate to even flesh it out because it's not a patented idea. Somebody's liable to run with it. But this is a home—

You think authors are going to be gathering on your lawn right now to find out?

What was that, 1441?

They're going to go through all of the records in Miami's data history to see who lived there. Hollywood.

1440, in the history of 1440, it was a, it was a home in West Hollywood. The, the name of the city was West Hollywood until, until it became just Hollywood. And my dad bought the home in 1961, I believe, for $11,990. Now since that time, there have probably been, I'm just taking a wild guess, 40 different families that have lived in that home.

That's Tom Powers up on the screen right now, and that is exactly the look on his face as he looked up from his bacon and he just gave Greg a withering stare. Greg was so excited to just sort of tell, for some reason, Tom Powers, who, by the way, is the single worst audience for this in the history of sports writing. Like, all this guy wrote, just all this guy wrote was embittered columns. I think it's the late Tom Powers. Look that up. It might cost me $50. I believe it's the late Tom Powers.

I don't think I'm killing him accidentally.

I don't think he's with us anymore. Otherwise, I'd ask the guest bookers to go find him right now to see if he remembers that story, but he looked up from his plate and it was such a terrible thing as to say to somebody who was delivering an idea that was both personal and excited. He just took a hatchet to it in a way that I don't think I've ever seen Greg Cody talk to that way. And he deflated as much as he did in that chair last night when the American keeper behaved the way that Greg Cody did when playing intramurals on his 1979 soccer club.

Club level football. We had uniforms. We took road trips.

The next step up from intramural.

Thank you. Thank you, Tony.

Is it the next step up?

I feel like you play intramurals and clubs.

So when, when, when Chris Cody is doing his, his next levels is 5 intramurals, 4 is club level, 3 is where the United States is, and then 2 other elite levels above that. Right. OK, those are the, those, those are the levels of soccer is based on the expertise of our show. Mike Ryan has fled the premises to go to Atlanta to watch to watch Argentina and Egypt this afternoon.

That game's gonna start at like 11, right?

Yeah, it's an early game, noon.

He is going there to see Egypt though. He is not interested in seeing Messi.

He was disappointed that Messi advanced. He was disappointed that Messi advanced. He wanted Cape Verde to advance.

He should be disappointed. He could see Messi whenever he wants, but he's right here.

Only, you know who wanted Cape Verde to beat Argentina? Everybody who lives in Argentina and Mike That's the only people on Earth.

I was conflicted watching that. Like, it had an NCAA tournament feel to it where it's like, do I want to root for the Syndra or do I want to keep watching Messi play in the tournament?

What are your guys' thoughts on what RG3 did here last night where he, uh, tweeted? And RG3 likes to be polarizing, likes to be the center of lightning rod situations. If you are a U.S. citizen and you aren't rooting for the USA against Belgium, you are a traitor. No other way to put it. You can't be trusted if you are rooting against your own country in the World Cup.

I despise being on the same side as Robert Griffin III, but I agree. I agree here.

So if you're from Spain, uh, or if, for example, my mother is rooting for Spain— she's rooting for Spain because her late father, who she lost, uh, in her early childhood, loved soccer more than anything else. And some of her favorite memories are the way that late father feels about the Spanish football team. She's a traitor?

No, I don't think— that's not how I read that. I read that as people who were rooting for Belgium last night because Balogun was allowed to play. So if you're— because I saw a lot of that yesterday. I'm rooting for Belgium. This isn't right. The United States doesn't deserve— I hope Belgium wins and gives those cheaters what they deserve. That's how I read that.

He has no— it doesn't say any other team. It says if you're rooting against the US team against Belgium—

Yeah, that's how I read it.

Like that— this game, if you're rooting against the United States, you're a traitor. Play on.

Like, they changed their allegiance, Greg, based on what happened with Balogun. You were rooting for US, but now you want to root for what's right.

Right. I heard that. The whole— it blew up in Trump's face, which is the only good thing to happen last night. Everything about forcing Balogun to play, it was a stain on the whole World Cup. It was a stain on soccer. It has everyone laughing now. The US becomes the bully that failed. Failed because of the Balogun thing. It's a whole subtext of that loss last night that's— that just makes the whole thing catastrophic and ridiculous. But what RG3 said is ridiculous, and anybody who agrees with him— sorry, Zazz— is also ridiculous. I demote him to RG1 because of his comments.

Hold on, Greg, you're— you, notorious homer for the United States, was rooting for Belgium?

No, I was rooting for the United States because you Why? I live in America and I get to decide. Okay. I happen to have a— one of my housekeepers is a Honduran woman. Okay. She's a citizen of the United States, but from Honduras. She barely speaks English. If Honduras had made the World Cup, I'm going to criticize her for cheering for the World Cup.

No, you just fire her.

Okay.

All right.

So everything Trump touches turns to feces.

The Knicks, the only time they lost in 7 months was when he went to the game and fell asleep, and now he gets involved with the United States soccer and they immediately embarrass themselves. And you just called it both catastrophic and ridiculous, which last night was neither of those things. They lost as a small favorite. Like, it was neither catastrophic nor ridiculous.

I disagree. Catastrophic may be an exaggeration. It was ridiculous because it was subject to ridicule. The way they lost in the context of strong-arming Balogun into the game and then having him do nothing.

I'll allow it, actually. The root form of ridiculous is subject to ridicule.

And you're right.

Thank you.

The United States is being ridiculed, and RG3, who has been demoted to RG1, he thinks you're a traitor if you were rooting for Belgium last night.