Transcript of Is An MLB Lockout Inevitable In 2027? | Hour 2 New

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You are listening to the Dan Lebertag Show.

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I know everybody was so bummed that I was on vacation watching soccer because they wanted a recap of the first ever street race in San Diego. That's right, they raced at a naval base. How America is that? But the real fireworks came after the race. Guys, are you familiar with Kevin Magnussen?

Yep.

Yes.

He sounds like a weightlifter, but he's a Formula One driver. That's his core discipline. And he raced in this race. A lot of big names were— Jimmie Johnson was racing, believe it or not, the former coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Yeah, he was there. Didn't do well, but Kevin Magnussen was there. And this was a great moment between American NASCAR fans like, all right, let's see what you can do, F1 guy. He actually pulled off a pretty fast lap. But Noah Gragson is a NASCAR driver and Shades of Talladega Nights, the fight between Sacha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell's character. Noah Gragson took issue with the European Formula 1 driver because of how he was driving on the track, and they had this testy exchange.

Noah, I'm done with this.

Let's go. I'm done with this. I'm done with it.

Noah backed down there a little bit once, uh, once Kev was like, wait, are we really doing this?

Yeah, the guy on the left, you know, it seemed like a dick in that spot. Like, he's all up in his face and all he's doing is repeating himself. Like, you know, either, you know, step up or, uh, or get out of here.

I like Noah. He, he's been very good about Cameo. Always get him to tell people to pay off their chugs. Big Noah guy. But yeah, I think he kind of backed down there.

And, uh, do something, player.

This race was eventful, everyone. Like, SVG was a huge favorite in this race. Van Gundy, Jimmy Johnson, former Cowboys coach, all in this race. Shane Van Gensbergen is one of the greatest road course drivers ever, if not the greatest already. And I— listen, I assumed he was going to win But Austin Hill, who's now taking over for the recently tragically passed Kyle Busch, made a kind of a rookie mistake on the track and took out Connor Zilich and SVG, two great— the two favorites in that race. So it was a wide open race and we get one of the most unlikely NASCAR winners of all time, Corey Haim, a name that many of you— he's an actor, not Corey Haim, but it's spelled in a similar fashion. And Corey Haim won this race. You know where they filmed Top Gun, Zazz? They filmed it in San Diego. Do you know where Corey Haim went to celebrate in his full tracksuit after winning this race? Where? To the famous bar from Top Gun.

From—

yeah, yeah. Show the image on the screen. This had to be a moment.

Nice.

Yeah. So, and by the way, SVG, you got another road course here coming up. So I imagine— I think it's Sonoma. I imagine he's going to be all right and win another road course race. Provided that there aren't any other idiots on the track. And for every lap, keep it fun, keep it Cuervo. Thank you for presenting Gearhead.

Thank you, Cuervo. Guys, I gotta show you something. I don't— Dave, I don't know if you saw this yet, all right, but there's a video that has gone viral on Twitter. You know, sometimes videos go viral on Twitter, and there was a video that went viral. It's going viral on Twitter right now of this woman She went hiking, and she's hiking with her dog, looks like a German Shepherd, I think. I'm gonna play the video for you here, and we can kind of all experience it together if you haven't seen it yet. And on this hike, she runs into a brown grizzly bear. Now, from what I understand, before we hit play on the video, uh, the, the black grizzly bears are a lot less dangerous, I believe, than the brown grizzly bear, right? The—

the—

Go on.

Like, correct me if I'm wrong here, the black one, you're supposed—

Not even sure there is such a thing, but I keep cooking.

The black, you play dead. Yeah, you're supposed to like, like, make yourself small and just kind of freeze.

Yeah, but there isn't a black grizzly bear. You just mean black bears in general.

Oh, alright, whatever, man.

Yeah, black bear.

The grizzly bear is famously brown.

Okay, fine. And the brown grizzly bear—

Alright, man, you know. There has to be some facts, all right? You just can't go unchecked.

Thank you!

I mean, it just seems also like unnecessary distinctions—like we're going into this: that's a woman, it's a bear, it's a dog.

Well no, no, let's get through. No, there's a major distinction. What?!

Unnecessary distinction for this conversation—and you were just really nailing—I let it slide a bunch of times—you're really nailing this Black/brown thing a lot unnecessarily. A bear's a bear.

I don't think that's true.

Ask Romigil, they have different temperaments.

I don't think that's true. The white ones? No, but Zaslo's wrong.

The white ones are actually sweet. Like, Ryan is right, and a black— if you say a brown grizzly bear, it's like saying a striped zebra, right?

All right, fine, fine. The brown bear though, you're definitely not supposed to run, and you're supposed to try and scare it, right? But it'll mess you up, the grizzly bear. So anyway, let's go to the video here. It's rather terrifying, this encounter. This woman and her dog, I think it's a German Shepherd, as a grizzly, a brown one, a grizzly bear comes up on them. Go ahead, let's see.

No, go away. Hey.

She's trying to like scare it, you know, making weird voices. Bear's getting closer and closer now. It's kind of deciding what do they want to do. She's kind of doing what Ron said. Yeah. And now the bear's kind of creeping pretty close. And now the bear's really close. Hey!

Hey, stop it!

And now it's on its hind legs, which is really scary. Stop it! Not— no! Hey, hey, stop! That bear's really— it's, it's scary watching this, right? Go! Anna, wait! She's very brave. Dad!

Dad! Hey, stop!

Enough!

Get, get, go, go!

And now the bear kind of retreats behind like a fence, and she's got enough room now between her and the bear where now she makes like a run for it with the dog. And apparently she made it out safe. And I like— I don't know if all of you guys have seen that video yet, but like, my toes curl watching it. That video is intense.

It's pretty scary. This is why women choose the bear.

Toes curled, your thing?

I— wouldn't this be why the woman— women don't choose the bear?

You like bears, huh? Okay.

Toes curled.

I don't even want to admit what I was just thinking I would have done in that spot.

You were—

you, you were doing— you were thinking the right thing, I hope. Like, if it— if shit hits the fan there, you just gotta let the dog go. No, not if it's the fan. That's the dog's job. That's why you're here. That's why you're here. It's showtime. What? Backup quarterback, the starter just went down. Get in there, take a snap. You're just sacrificing your dog? No. I'm not sacrificing my dog. I'm allowing my dog to do what dogs are here to do. Die? Protect me. And save me? You think that— I don't need a dog to be my friend. I love you. We can be friends. I will tell your story. However, it's like—

I will make sure they remember you.

It's like you are the superstar athlete. You have a crew of friends. I will put a picture of you in my— in the living room. I will tell everyone that walks in about your tail. When the shit hits the fan, the police show up. It's his.

That's why you here, dawg. How will you tell that story?

I feed you. That's why you're here. I give you shelter. You're here because when shit get a little sticky, you handle it. You step out of here. Like, what?

I shouldn't even ask you.

You should be ready to go. Saying that there's even a conversation. What are you like? Oh, Jeremy, you're putting the dog behind you.

Like, I'm fighting this fight.

I'm trying to do—

I'm trying, I'm trying to at least for a little while do what this woman did and scare the bear.

That's what you're supposed to do anyway, right? So I'm not— my, my immediate reaction is not to sacrifice my dog.

My first reaction—

wrong word. But as soon as the bear is circling me, I'm like, at least like, all right, maybe if I let it go, it'll run that way.

What if it was a cat? Oh, definitely not.

The dog part— same thing. The dog part is the part that makes me the most uncomfortable because I'm— I don't want— I don't want to have to watch this bear mutilate my dog. Close your eyes. And it's before or after you come? That's the scariest part for me. And, and this dog is a German So it's not like you could pick up the dog and kind of protect it. The dog's too big, you know, and you can't protect it.

What are you talking about? Pick up the dog, try to protect it? What are you even saying?

No, I got to protect my dog, man, in that spot.

You're going to pick up the dog? I'm going down for the dog.

That's my dog. You don't stand there and watch the bear eat the dog though, right? No, I run. I'm running.

Yeah, but then you turn and look and you see it just ripping it to shreds. I don't know, that's what you—

live for myself. No, no, no, I wouldn't be able to live myself. You wouldn't be able to live.

You or the dog? You're choosing the dog?

I'm choosing to do whatever it takes to protect both of us.

So do you give the dog the keys and you say, "Go Fido, be free, drive away.

I'll handle this." I'm not sacrificing the dog.

Don't, just pick a different word. You're allowing the dog to do the dog's job. The ultimate duty. In my mind, the dog could be fast enough to get away from the bear. No, it's not! You're denying this. You're denying the dog its instinct to do the thing. You're saying, hey dog, don't be a dog.

But I gotta know, like, sometimes the dog doesn't know any better. You gotta know better. The dog's gonna— the dog's gonna die. Dog stands no chance against—

we're in the wild. Which one of you, you or the dog, thinks that, that they know better in this situation? The dog knows better. Gotta protect it. Go do your thing, dog. Yeah, go dog. Nah, I gotta protect it, and I'm gonna do what we do. We We drive. I'm driving, you're dogging.

Perfect. I'm so uncomfortable with the whole situation there. Tell your story.

No one's happy about sacrificing the dog. I wouldn't be able to live my life— We're literally in a life or death situation.

I appreciate that Chris at least admits it now.

It's a sacrifice. The word sacrifice is not a sacrifice. It's a sacrifice. It's not a sacrifice.

I don't know, man. I don't like it. I don't like the way you're talking either. The dog gets in the line of fire.

That's what he's born to do. Y'all and your dogs, man. I don't get it.

You know, people eat bear. I heard it's a great— I heard it's great. A few years ago, why are we not eating? Why are we wasting this beast, the flesh of this beast? And then I was corrected. No, no, people in certain parts of the world do eat bear.

That's what the woman should have said. If you don't leave now, I'm going to eat you.

She deserves the MVP though. Let's honor her. She knew to make those noises and stuff. Zaslo, you wouldn't know it. I wouldn't know to go, that that would have some impact. It's sort of like Tom— I, I— Cast Away. I don't like Cast Away for a number of reasons, the movie. We can dig, uh, we can deep dive it at a later date. But specifically here, I don't like the, the idea that he knows how to start a fire and everything. I think it's a much more intriguing film if it's Zaslo in that spot. How do you— or Damashek. How do you make your way on a deserted island? You don't. I think that's a more entertaining—

can I just say, can I just jump in for a second and say that Whenever you throw a topic to someone, it's like you're flipping a coin. And in your mind, you're like, all right, they can go this way or that way. When you throw something to Damashek, it is like it's rolling 7 die. Like, it could go anywhere. And it's so exciting. It adds a thrill to the show where it's like, I'll say anything to him. Who? Castaway?

Yeah, you can eat bear. You go to Castaway. Purdue, you can go to the—

Hank's, Hank's is, you know, he's deserted on this island and then he has what he has to get by how he does, like people do in prison. He has to get by with the volleyball and he does what he does and that's that. But he survives. He somehow impossibly escapes this island and he makes his way back to civilization. And then he goes to visit the woman to whom he was engaged. And within 90 seconds she's like, you missed the Titans. They almost won the Super Bowl. Hey, lady, I almost died on an island. What are you talking? I don't care about the Titans. That movie sucks.

What version of Castaway did you see? What did he do with the volleyball in that movie?

Well, I think it's implied. Oh, got a face and everything.

Look, I'm gonna tell you something. I think we can agree on one thing here.

He cared more about that volleyball than Zazzle does his dog.

That's not true. I think we could agree on one thing here. They're both coming. This woman deserves a toast. Yes, she does. Absolutely.

What a great effort by you, lady.

How about that? A toast from Cuervo. That's right. Keep it fun.

Keep it Cuervo. This lady, like, as I may— I would have sacrificed the dog.

She's so brave.

She did not. She was brave and she's worth a toast.

Many toasts, I'd say. For 22 years on this show, we've debated the greatest athletes of all time. Who's the GOAT in football? Who's the GOAT in soccer? Who's the GOAT in hoops? One thing that we all know is Dan's the GOAT of finding the worst possible take. But there's another kind of MVP/GOAT that doesn't get enough credit. The friend who knows to show up with enough Miller Lights. Plus extra ice. Because they just know. The one who already has seats at the bar when you walk up. That is a Miller Time MVP. I've been on this show long enough to know that Dan is gonna make everything about his feelings and Jeremy is gonna push back on whatever I just said. But here's something nobody on this show will argue with. Miller Lite is the summer beer. The original light beer since 1975. This summer, recognize your MVPs. We all have that one friend who makes every game better. Now it's time to give them their moment. Head over to Miller Lite's social media pages to learn more about being a Miller Time MVP. You can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer.

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Hello, listeners.

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The Packers win or the Bears lose. Jonathan Sasslow. Shitty, you wanna know how that— what were the kids doing? This is the Dan Levitar Show. Breaking news here real quick in the world of Major League Baseball. How about this? The New York Mets have fired manager Carlos Mendoza. They are 34-47. Go ahead, Jeremy, I know this is your lane, your time to shine.

Go. That means that Marlins manager Clayton McCullough, who was in year 2 of managing the Miami Marlins, is the longest-tenured manager in the National League East.

Wow, how about that?

Crazy, the amount of turnover that division has had.

Because how many managers have been fired mid-season from that division now? The—

it's the Phillies who fired Rob Thompson. Don Mattingly's their manager now. And now the Mets just did that. Um, Walt Weiss took over this year for the Braves. They're having a great— you know, Marlin shortstop. And I believe it's Butera is the manager now of the Nationals, who's like younger than half of Major League Baseball, and he's their manager. So Clayton McCullough is the longest-tenured manager in that division as the Marlins, of course, are off to their third-best start in club history at the halfway point.

There you go. All right, so Mets fire manager Carlos Mendoza. Dave, I know you were all fired up earlier today. Jazz Chisholm with the lollipop the other day at second base, and then he was kind of shoving it in the camera with all the lollipops. What do you got for me there? Are you fired up over Jazz Chisholm and lollipops?

Well, I just felt, yeah, he got a lot of attention for it, and as a man of justice, I wanted to honor U.L. Washington, who used to play shortstop in Major Major League Baseball, he would stand out there the whole game with a toothpick in his mouth. That seems extra dangerous and unnecessarily so, but I admire it nevertheless. The thing that gets me down though is the— remember Jay Johnstone, the Clown Prince of Baseball, and how hilarious he was and everybody pointed at him and you were expected to laugh along with it because he used to do stuff like he would blow a bubble. He'd be in the dugout and he would have bubble gum and he would blow a bubble and he would leave the bubble, then he would take the bubble, he'd put it on top of his head. That's hilarious. Wait, get this though. Sometimes he would take a lighter and then he would set his teammate's foot on fire. That's a felony! Well, that's not hilarious, it's a crime!

Setting people on fire is funny?

Setting people on fire is definitely a crime. What in the hell? But if you do it in a baseball dugout, it's hilarious. What happened to that guy? I set him on fire!

Who are you guys talking about?

We're talking about old baseball players who used to have— The Crown Prince? —hijinks in the dugout.

Oh, but it was a universally accepted law that Jay Johnstone was hilarious. Can't you see how funny it is? He puts gum on people's hats.

What was his batting average? He was a lefty.

Bat at 1,000 in the comedy department.

I like— that was my favorite, one of my favorite parts about Mr. Baseball. What a movie, Mr. Baseball. Tom Selleck, Mr. Baseball. That's a great movie. And, and, and they used to, they used to light their, their cleats on fire when the guy wasn't paying attention, and then it was hilarious when he noticed because his foot was burning off.

Hanks is on that island and he's engaged to Helen Hunt, and he, you know, focuses on her picture and all of that. It's 4 years he's gone, he's, he's lost to the world. Helen Hunt during that time finds a new man and makes a baby with her. And the baby with him, it's Chris Noth. It's Mr. Big from, uh, what's it called?

You know, I think it's whatever it is.

I'm not watching. He— she— what, what's going on with Helen Hunt there? She's a grieving woman, but she also has time to, to make time with the dentist and make a baby with him and start a whole new life while Hanks is off. But, but convinces Chris Noth to keep— no, the Jeep of Tom Hanks, who died at sea, died in a plane crash. Why is Chris Noth signing off on keeping the dead fiancée's car in his garage? What the hell? People breathe differently, man.

People breathe differently.

They quite literally are parking their car in the same garage.

I mean, that's pretty creepy stuff.

It does seem like she's moving on.

Why do you want to keep the car?

Hey, I want to say, why you draw the line there? Like, it's the same house, bedroom, bed.

It's like a serial killer token.

There you go. There's lots of other things about Dexter, but the car— Helen, it's—

I, I appreciate that you've gone through a tough time, but do we, do we have to keep his car? Wait, in our home? You know, forever? Like we're just gonna keep it? Look, Jeeps—

nobody's gonna drive it. Jeeps age gracefully and they become collector's items.

Was it a Wrangler? Practical choice.

Yeah, was it a Wrangler? If it was a— if it's a Wrangler, you got to keep it. Um, also like Cherokee. It sounded like you took issue with the 4 years thing. Yeah, right.

It feels like you thought that she didn't grieve long enough.

No, she clearly— biological clock, Helen Hunt, up there. She wanted to have a family, clearly.

Do the math on this. Okay, he— his plane crashes, right? So he's gone. Now we assume that he, he, uh, he died with the rest of the crew there. So what, 6 months? Because now She— again, they lived together. They had a funeral. And they have— right. And the baby, if I remember correctly, maybe a year old. It's not a brand new baby. It's not like a month-old baby. It's at least 6 months old. So you can back into that. Like, she was with— she was with Chris Noth within a year. Within a year.

Well, I mean, my guess— outrageous. My guess is that a traumatic experience like that makes you value your time and things that maybe you have put off In the past, you would say, I'm not putting this off anymore. I'm not going to waste time thinking about what's going to be, when it's going to be. I'm going to do the things that I've always wanted, to have a family right now. Let her grieve the way she wants to grieve.

Be— just the judgment.

You don't have more judgment. Tom Hanks, it didn't take him long to find that volleyball, did it? I, I'm judging him with that volleyball.

This isn't about— this isn't about Helen Hunt. It's about Tom Hanks and what he went through. And she should be able to relate to that. Instead, like I say, she opens her front door, which, by the way, she's standing at the front door in the middle of the night when Hank shows up there. Her, her husband and her new child are sleeping upstairs, and she's down there waiting on him to crack the door open. And like I say, instead of here, oh my God, what did you do? How did you survive all that? I can't imagine. Well, yeah, how did you— what did you eat day to day to sustain life? No, she's launching into a story about, you missed the Super Bowl. We have a team here now in Nashville. Did you hear? It's good. We are Memphis. We have, we have a football team. We hope we came up just one yard short. Do you know who Kevin Dyson? Oh, I guess you don't know who Kevin Dyson is because you were on that island. But he almost scored. Like, what the hell's wrong with you, lady? I was, I was trying to cling to life so I could get back to you and you're telling me about the football game.

Some people love ball, some people don't. I thought you loved ball. It's pretty clear to me that you don't appreciate that the most important thing is ball. Like, he got home and you know what he wanted to do? One yard short! Exactly. Well, not one yard short. You said they got a baby.

All fair points. Sehr gut, sehr gut, sehr gut.

Sehr gut? Wieso? Steuer ist sehr gut. Das sagen ganz viele. Cool!

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Dan Levitar. Can I tell you something? I don't know, maybe like a month ago, and I decided to watch Pitch Clock, and I told Jeremy, Jonathan Sasslow, this is a good show you're doing. This is the Dan Levitar Show. Jeremy, I know you're fired up about this potential new MLB CBA and these proposals that the, that the league is going to come up with ahead of what looks like a potential labor work stoppage here. What is— what are some of the things that we need to know about that are being proposed here?

Yeah, I'm, I'm really concerned about where this is headed because it doesn't seem like the MLB and the MLBPA could be further apart right now within a salary cap sport, which is what they want in baseball right now. That is Major League Baseball, not the Players Association. That's the owners, right? Of course. MLB.

And for context, the players have said for years that a salary cap is a nonstarter. It will never happen. That's right.

And it continues to be the case. And so within this next CBA, MLB proposed 5 years to free agency for players 30 or older instead of 6 years, um, so allowing players to reach free agency earlier, which would be a good thing. No qualifying offers, no deferred contracts, a max contract of 5 years for free agents switching teams that can only be 15% of the salary. So this upcoming year, that would be a 5-year, $202 million contract. So not just a salary cap they're proposing, they're proposing actual max contracts, including a, a 6-year deal to stay with your own team. So 6 for $265, I believe, would be the look for the upcoming season. Obviously, you juxtapose that with where contracts are right now. Like, Juan Soto was on a 15-year, $760-something million contract. So you could say it's ridiculous, but it's what a free market allows for Juan Soto to demand. And Dominique, I'm fascinated by what your perspective would be here, obviously, with your union work.

I mean, they're always going to be really far apart at the beginning. That's the way. And we're still in the early stages. But this CBA negotiation is like just about every other one, is it comes down to the owners having issues with each other. And rather than sorting out their own issues, they decide that they can agree upon taking it from the players. Because what I think they're trying to argue is that certain teams— not argue— certain teams have a distinct advantage in baseball because they do. They're able to generate more revenue. And so like, this is— there's a bunch of franchises. So if you think about a bunch of different McDonald's, like their franchises around the country. There are certain McDonald's that are in neighborhoods that are going to make a lot more money than others. In this scenario, I would say that, you know what you do? McDonald's should pool all their money and then split it equally and then do whatever you want. That's how you solve it. But rather than that, they say like, nah, we're going to find another way to suppress the wages of the employees in order to create more revenue.

It's not as much about parity as they will have you believe, obviously. And I think most like modern sports fans recognize that. And the max salary thing, it's another tool that they use to kind of turn the middle and lower class to try to create a divide where it's like, all right, if we cap their salaries, that means that the rest of you are going to get more money. If we raise the floor, the rest are going to get more money. It's looking to create division there. So this is like traditional labor stuff. And I think the most interesting thing, or the reason why I think that's pretty important, is because the percentage of revenue that goes to baseball players is lower. Last time I checked, than it, than it is for football and basketball. So it's not necessarily about them spending too much money. That's not the problem. It's their goal is to find a way to suppress the salaries further, not necessarily to create parity. If they would split their revenue amongst all the teams the way they wanted to and then make it fair that way, then we'd be fine.

And to your point, they've also proposed and they put it out on MLB social media, like the MLB account, which is the account that goes out to the common fan where they're finding highlights and graphics. Like, you don't really see that often. Normally these things are done through like MLB Communications, but on the MLB account, they have this whole long post, and within the graphic they included the fact where they say they've accepted MLBPA's free agency proposal, which would get them out in 5 years. They've accepted MLBPA's proposal to eliminate the qualifying offer system. But what they said is they proposed a historic increase to the minimum salary, a $1 million minimum for all players with at least 2 years of service, and for 0- and 1-year players who accrue a full year of service. And so what they're trying to do is show you— and it's true, the minimum would go up, but with that cap, you put them in a really different space. There is a quote from Bruce Meyer, who's the interim head of the MLBPA, and he said, I'll tell you with all honesty, I have never seen this degree of unity at this point among agents and players.

I think honestly, the league has done us a favor because their proposals are in fact so obviously and extremely bad for players at all levels that it's actually been a benefit for our unity. Anybody who's banking on Major League Baseball players cracking, it's never happened. It's not going to happen. And that's why we're the only ones who don't have a salary cap.

Yeah, I mean, is there, is there any reason to believe that this is going to be the negotiation where the players finally agree to a salary cap? I mean, they're, they are, they have been adamant for literally ever, that they are not going to agree to a salary cap.

Yeah, I mean, I think there's reason to believe it because the leverage continues to shift in the favor of big business and in this country and in sports in particular. And also, I do think that the players, the unity and the strength of the players hasn't been tested in modern Major League Baseball. So it'll be interesting to see if they've managed to maintain that solidarity and commitment. Please cut me off if I get boring, because this is something I get really passionate about and All the CBAs that I've been a part of and all the CBA negotiations that I've watched and all the things that I've read about labor unions, we always end up in the same place. And I think all union leaders and people involved in unions will sell to you that we're going to be able to beat them by using this special tactic. We'll beat them in court, or we'll beat them by turning the public against them, or I have this trick maneuver, I'll out-negotiate them in the room. Ultimately, what it comes down to is are you willing to say no? Are you willing to take the pain and the sacrifice of not working to get what it is that you want?

Baseball's been willing to do that many times. They'll be tested again and we'll find out. And the worst part about it is maybe the players win, maybe the owners win. But if the fight goes all the way to the end, obviously it's us who loses. And ultimately baseball as a product, because it just felt like it got fun again. That's the thing.

Like last week, like everybody, everybody these last couple of years, because of some of the changes that they they've made to pace the play and strategy.

No, no, I'm disgusted by the two of them back there. I'm disgusted with the two of you. Everybody's so bored. Yeah, you Tony, and you Mike Ryan. I'm disgusted with the two of you, okay?

This is me and Jeremy talking about nerd stuff. I'm bored the hell out of them.

No, Dominique is talking about important stuff, serious stuff, and you guys, you're children, okay? And there are very— there are images behind you. Phallic images behind you that you, you are laughing about, Tony. What— why are you guys behaving in such a manner?

Also, there was a wet sneeze. Chris had a real— and Tony was like, that was— it was a wet sneeze.

It broke through the barrier of his hands and went like, boom.

No, it went into my hands.

1 to 5 on the, on the wet sneeze meter, where are we at?

At a 10. I put it at a 3 because there was zero phlegm, mucus. You know, I was sick last week, like, that It was just natural mist. Can't be a sneeze mist. Natural. You realize this is still like going everywhere. No, no, not if you do it properly.

It's going down.

Like, if you sneeze into your elbow properly, that's better than spitting all over all your hands and then you're touching all the controls. You're shaking. No, I wiped it off with a tissue. Yeah, that's disinfected. Just Beautiful. Why does—

what's so important about what Tom Hanks is doing as an American that he has to go off because of his important job of overnighting stuff? He has to go like, sorry, I gotta leave the Christmas party right now, work calls. Like, what's the emergency about delivering packages for Federal Express? It's crazy that that's the premise of why he has to get on that plane that night. It's Christmas night, we understand, right? But Dominique, um, I feel like you're right about the owners trying to pit the players against other players, but isn't something that's— and Tashay as well— aren't all the other owners kind of raw with the Dodgers and the deferred payment thing? Yeah. Isn't that really a loophole in the operation that they're resentful of on the same level of like all the NHL hated the Devils for figuring out the loophole of left-wing lock, neutral zone. It's— you've found a crack in the system that you can exploit, right?

The owners in all the major sports do a pretty good job of keeping their own issues internal. But as I said at the start of this, is like the beef is always between them, but they can't sort out what their issues are. And they normally agree upon, you know what, I can make my life better by making another owner's life a little bit more difficult, or I can make all of the owners' lives a little bit better by trying to make the players' lives a little bit difficult, a little bit more difficult. So like, they agree upon that. You're right. Like, almost every issue that comes up in the CBA is a result of some beef that two owners had with each other, not necessarily an issue that they have with the players. It's just they agree that they can gang up on the weaker party, which I know players don't get the sympathy, and not that they need the sympathy, but they are the weaker party in this.

Gotta eat a peck of dirt before you die.

That's what I'm talking about. Tony, it's your time to shine. I'm gonna bring us back. We are a few days away from NBA free agency officially starting. The draft concluded a couple of nights ago with the second round, also known as the Bronny James Memorial second round of the NBA draft. Tony, lots, lots of rumors, lots of stories. What are some things we need to know?

Yeah, we're going to crank up the rumor mill here. I got a couple of stories that I want you guys to, to comment on. First one is the more of the fallout from the LaMelo Ball trade over to Minnesota. LaVar Ball came out and had a couple of words for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Minnesota Timberwolves, y'all did the coldest move in the game. You went and got that. No. Yes. But here's the thing. Let me give you the recipe. You got to get the other two ball boys. You get the other two ball boys, it will be the most watched team ever in the NBA. Trust me when I tell you, you don't think I'm just talking. No, I'm not. Mellow can't win it by itself, but I tell you, with his brothers, I guarantee y'all a championship. The chemistry and the goddamn speed of the game. I never taught my boys to play by themselves, but together you can't beat them. And with Ant, Avon, You already a superstar, so you know what to do. You would take a chance. So go get them boys. You can get Lonzo damn near for nothing. You can get Jello damn near for nothing. Guess what? Coming off the bench, starting, team chemistry, morale in the locker room, whatever you want. Wherever them ball boys together, can't lose. You want the championship? Get them other two, and I guarantee a championship. Trust me when I tell you.

Hey, I might swerve in that corner.

Was the zoom camera following his gut? I loved that part.

You know, LaVar Ball's got that peg leg now.

I, I thought we talked about this.

Zazz, what do you think about LaVar Ball?

I love him. I do. I love him. I feel a little bit bad for him these days because he also revealed that his wife left him, you know, and that's obviously not funny.

It felt like someone doing a LaVar Ball impersonation. He lost his mojo. It was like, I can still do this. And it was like he went to his closet and pulled out a wrinkly Big Baller Brand shirt and put it on. It was like, I'm gonna do it again, guys. And then there was no heart. It's like a washed-up rapper going on tour.

Like, you think I'm just talking?

Yeah, he's like, yes, he's a washed-up stripper. Like, I got one more dance for you, baby. Like, no, I'm good. Stop it. I don't want this dance, Lavar.

I'm just here to have a couple drinks. I just got here.

My buddy's invited me. Yeah, good.

Went on, got that mellow coldness moving I don't have any cash.

That's all right, you can be a moment.

What else you got, Tony?

Another storyline, Jalen Duren plans to explore a sign-and-trade with negotiations stalling with the Pistons.

Yeah, so I saw this, Jalen Duren is, he's like insulted that the Pistons aren't offering him the max contract. And this one's always funny to me, Dominique, and I know you're pro player and you should be, and I'm always going to be pro team because I'm a fan. And, you know, a team wants the best for the team, and the player in most cases is going to want what's best for him and his family, which is certainly understandable. But just because there is a maximum allowable contract doesn't mean when you're a good player, your team has to give you the maximum allowable contract. And this is where it's funny because, you know, there's— hey, it's not— the player will always tell you, or a lot of times tell you, it's not personal, it's business. But then when the team does the thing where It's not personal, it's business. The player then gets insulted, and we all saw the postseason that Jalen Duren just had. He stunk. He stunk. And so instead of $58 million a year, they're offering him $44 million a year, and it's like super insulting.

Yeah, I mean, this is a, uh, live, um, demonstration of exactly what I was just talking about. Like, the NBA instituted the max salary because the owners were not able to be able to negotiate against the star players. And the result of the max salary is, of course, you suppress some of the salaries, but the result is also there's this signpost that's going to draw people up. And so, like, they created this problem. And if you want to put your foot down, it's the same thing. Put your foot down and don't pay him then. That's fine. Someone will pay him the money. And I understand that he can make more with, um, the Pistons than he can elsewhere. That's a challenge, but I don't think that the point that you made about the players saying it's a business, that's how it worked. I think it went the other way, where the owners and the teams are like, this is a business, and the players reacted to it. It's not that the players are like, don't have hard feelings, this is a business, I'm forcing my way out. It was the other way around. So of course, I saw the playoffs, I get why you wouldn't want to pay Jay— or Jayden Duren, um, that amount of money.

However, I recognize that they created this structure that's going to happen this way. And so like, you're gonna have to at some point stop trying to make rules to avoid yourself having to be the bad guy or make the tough decision. Sooner or later, you're gonna have to make the tough decision. So make the tough decision and don't blame— don't blame him. What else you got, Tony?

Zazz, sorry, I'm just upsetting to report, Mike Honore, longtime grinder and bench coach for a lot of different teams, has signed a 3-year contract. Obviously We've talked about it. Not really. Plus one, plus one. And I'm looking through, and I've looked at 4 or 5 different articles, a bunch of different reports. I can't get a dollar figure attached to what it is that he's making.

Oh, I think I heard it was like $1.5 million.

Really? All I see is that it's underneath the below-market, you know, base value. Yeah, it definitely is.

I think it's $1.5 million, which is less than some big-time assistant coaches in the NBA. I've never seen anything like this. I know the Coaches Association president, which is JB Bickerstaff, he was not happy, uh, nor should be. This is very unconventional where he gets a guaranteed 1 year and then the team can force you for another year and the team can force you for another year. Like, that's, that's kind of nuts. But at the same time, no one forced Mike Norrie to sign it.

No. And that's the part. It's like you talk about the lev. Like, he's looking at him being like, all right, I may not get another chance to be a head coach somewhere. And like, this is a disaster, but at least if I play well, I'll get the 1+1+1. And then I can go get something else maybe later in a couple years.

Yeah, but it's like, man, if you're getting such a small salary for a coach, the team can make you wait 3 years until you get that good payday, you know?

Yeah. Hopefully with another team. Yeah, it sucks, but I mean, they obviously have the ability to do it. I think sometimes these things kind of backfire when you feel like you're taking advantage of somebody or mistreating them. If he works out to be pretty good, I'm not sure how how happy he's going to be to show up at work. And of course you'll say, shut up, show up to work, do your job, it's your job. But like, these things matter. I think how you treat people, it ultimately comes back and other people make decisions based on—

and this is combined with the new owner is apparently a huge cheapskate.

Yeah. And what they did to Tiago Splitter also when Chauncey Billups got roped up second game of the season, Tiago Splitter comes in and does an amazing job, leads them to the, to the, to the playoffs. And it's like, all right, We're talking to other coaches. We'll get a guy who's going to take 1,000% less than you will.

You got anything else for us?

I did. Really quick. Mike Inouye. People probably don't know who he is. He dropped some gems during halftime and postgame press conferences. Nothing.

Fast break points.

Boom goes the dynamite. There goes our lead. We got to treat Maine like you do the Elf on the Shelf on Christmas morning. You got to find him. He makes everybody comfortable. He's like popcorn during Saturday night movies. Our paint defense was like 7-Eleven open 24 hours. Realize they had— it's on like Donkey Kong the way they started out. First time all year that we've kind of almost like a hot mess express.

So he's just doing material at halftime, doing bits. I like it. I'm fully in.

I like what coaching is, you just do a bunch of bits. I feel like that by right there is worth more money. Yeah, I agree.

No hot foot. He's fun now. I dig it. Those are the things for us to look out for, I guess, over the next few days there, Tony.

And Jaylen Brown, where is he gonna end up? Also LeBron James.

Yes, to the Miami Heat. All right, we're still doing the— yep, and there is, uh, there's the picture. Supergirl. Mike Tony can't stop laughing at.

You got that DC? Good lord. Real mature.

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Dann lebe tar!

There's sunglasses in boxes today, but in my bed in the hospital, ending our lives all the same.

Jeremy Tatché!

It's the final nightgown.

This is the Dan Levatar Show. Ah yes, it is almost the weekend. Very excited. First, first time in a long time for me, Dominique, I am not working this weekend. I have no work this weekend. Get to, get to chill. We have our our World Cup watch party tomorrow night, right, at Lost Boys on Flagler.

All right, Lost Boy Clubhouse, which is right in front of Lost Boy, right here in downtown Miami. I don't know if you've seen this setup, it is unreal. Really?

I'm coming, I'm gonna be there.

Yeah, the atmosphere is going to be incredible. It's all presented by our partners over at DraftKings Sports.

Good.

And now that is all available in all 50 states, live in all 50, including the Sunshine Dave, they got garlic rolls.

You gonna come? Garlic rolls?

Count me in. Ship some over to me. Can you Uber them across the country?

Yeah, I guess so. Whatever, man. So tomorrow night, 7:30 PM on Flagler, Lost Boy Clubhouse. Uh, Jeremy, so we sent you into the lab earlier in the show. You got very excited about the potential of the Florida Panthers possibly acquiring Connor Hellebuck, right? What— can you wanna— you wanna set up what you came up for us here?

Well, Dominique said Don't look at me like that, Mike.

Let's just roll through it, all right? It's a play on dog.

He said, "Hella buck girl." So that's what I did. The rest is history.

I am a hell of a girl! Ooh la statia, la statia. Let me hear you say The Floor Rhythm Panthers. P-A-N-T-H-E-R-S: The Floor Rhythm Panthers. P-A-N-T-H-E-R-S: The Floor Rhythm Panthers. P-A-N-T-H-E-R-S: The Floor Rhythm Panthers. A-N-T-H-R-S. Every time that you shoot that puck, my man Gunnar, he don't give a fuck. So I am a Hellebuck girl, I am a Hellebuck girl. Every time that you shoot that puck, my man Gunnar, he don't give a fuck. Cause I am a Hellebuck girl, I am a Hellebuck girl.

He's gonna love when we play that for him.

Oh yeah, for sure. When he gets traded here, it's the first thing we do, right?

Yes, Jeremy made a bop.

It's good. That's a really good job there, Jeremy. How about that? I ain't no hella buck girl. Love.

Really surprised. Love. Yeah, that one was good.

Yeah, yeah, that one was good. Normally terrible. I mean, it's just a vibe, man. It's a vibe. Yeah, creativity. It's fine. Panthers.

P-A-N-T-H-E-R-S. It's fine. It's okay. You— how would you read that? Panthers.

Uh, yeah, that's why I said it. That's— I didn't say it's not okay.

No, no, I know. Okay, I was looking at you, but I meant it sort of generally with the vibe for the people who inevitably— oh, you didn't spell Panthers right. No, it's alright. I spelled Panthers right. Good job.

Excellent. Alright, so hopefully, I don't know, I mean, can we arrive here on Monday morning and the Florida Panthers have a new starting goalie?

That'd be really fun. Can you imagine? Starting forward for the Heat?

Yeah, Brady could just have Kawhi. Connor Hellebuck.

Insane. Which would have been a bigger acquisition? Giannis to the Heat or Connor Hellebuck?

Connor Hellebuck. Oh God. Connor Hellebuck. What? He's best at his position. He's an American hero. Not the best at his position anymore.

And not an American hero either, that's for sure.

He's not an American hero, that much I can give you.

What's his position? Big guy in the middle? Not the best at it. Power forward? Clearly not the best at that anymore. Clearly not the best at that anymore.

Power forward's kind of down across the league. You think about all the big guys are centers.

He's, he's a big He plays the middle, but he's a— but he's a like guard, huh? He—

because he can play like a guard.

Yeah, he— I'm not— offense. Let me, let me, let me be abundantly clear.

Go on. You are so fucking wrong.

He's a point guard. Giannis is better than Connor Hellebuyck.

He's a point guard. I don't know.

You are, you are— I don't want to call you a name, but you're fucking stupid.

Whoa.