Transcript of Is Erling Haaland Attractive? | Hour 2

You are listening to the Dan Levitan Show in partnership with the DraftKings Sports App, now live in all 50 states. This segment is presented by DraftKings. DraftKings, the crown is yours. Now, the last time I made picks on a segment for the World Cup, we cashed 2 out of the 3. So I went over to the DraftKings Sports App, which is now available in all 50 states, and the market price I'm getting in our Sunshine State of Florida is Pedro Neto for Portugal. When that dude is dialed in, when he, when he is fully committed to playing really hard for Portugal, he gets on the scoresheet. He's a big game player, I think. Pedro Neto is +567 to score. What a match we have at 3 PM between Portugal and Spain. And in the nightcap, another immense match. I like the market price on Pulisic to score or assist. -104. Those are the picks. Again, DraftKings. La corona es tuya.

Biggest game in 20 years. Jeremy, give me some information please on things that Belgium is famous for, because what Zaslav did while derisively yelling at Belgium for complaining about the suspension of a suspension, he said, go to the locker room and make some waffles. And so I want some other famous things. I think French fries are eaten in Belgium in a way that's unusual. Don't they do mayonnaise with French fries there?

Yeah, they do. This is similar to, like, in Amsterdam you can get a cone of waffles and they'll put mayo on top of that. So they fry them once and then they fry them again. That's the big thing, is they fry them twice. You gotta make sure they're fried twice. If not, they're not Belgian French fries.

It's called the Belgian dip.

You know about that Muscles from Brussels? Jean-Claude Van Damme.

A couple of things I want to talk to you guys about here because it is the biggest game in more than 20 years. Biggest game in 20 years. The United States is favored to win tonight, and I find myself disappointed with the following before I get to the United States game, okay? The game that we're gonna get is England-Norway. In terms of cultural feel, little different than Mexico-Brazil. Just the fan bases are wildly different. Uh, Erling Haaland is a delight to watch. Uh, he has— he scored like 9 goals in a game as a teenager. He's absurd. He's so good. But he's just ridiculous in terms of how fast he is at that size. Now, Mike Ryan was saying before the show, and this is nonsense, he's like, This guy's been timed as having Tyreek Hill speed. I do not believe that it's 6'5". This guy with blonde hair who Chris can't decide whether he's impossibly good-looking or impossibly odd-looking.

Just interesting. I can't stop looking at him. That's all I know. I think I'm attracted to him.

Yeah, a little different because he doesn't have to wear some pads on him that might slow him down, but his top-end speed, I think, from this World Cup would have registered the 4th highest top-end speed in the NFL.

He's amazing to watch. He is 6'5". He is so damn Nordic.

He's defending his ass off.

It's where his eyebrows should be that I just can't stop looking at.

So, uh, I put it on the poll at Le Batard Show: Erling Haaland, uh, great looking or odd looking, uh, or both. You're, you're allowed to choose both because he, he is basically leaking testosterone.

Every—

I'm surprised people aren't slipping in the fumes behind him because he is giving off a whole lot of speed and masculinity.

He is such a curiosity because of how he— like, let's be real, looks a little strange, plays unbelievably appealing football because his, his speed, his aerial ability, the fact that he's gigantic. You just don't see all of those physical traits all put together, especially with that kind of skill where he can score with either foot, score aerially, where he can just outmasculine you, and he can— he's got the technical ability to out-finesse you or just pull away. He is just such an unbelievable player. And again, I am not used to seeing him track back as far as he is. He has had clearances off the goal line. He is defending and playing with such pride right now for Norway.

Jawline, the hair, he makes me want to be a better man.

Where are you on the differences between the fan bases? We could have had Brazil-Mexico sopping all of South Florida and England-Norway. It's just, it's a great, it is a great soccer matchup.

Brazil stinks.

Yeah, we had Brazil down here. They don't stink. A lot of, a lot of their fan base. We have a Mexican presence down here. I just don't think we'd feel the— certainly as a small business owner, I am very happy with this matchup because culturally I know the Mexicans can get after it with their gigantic cups. They love huge cups. It's crazy. But I am very excited for the English and the Norwegian to come here locally and drink our bars dry.

I will say the thing that does bum me, like, I like this matchup, Norway-England, but Brazil-Mexico, Dan, they have great fans. They have great fans.

Nick Wright is one of those fans, evidently. He is looking very leprechaun.

That's not real.

Very leprechaun.

There's no way.

He put that out himself.

No, he did not.

He did, and I've already made it a meme. I put him in Mexican garb once they lost. This is my new Crying Jordan, folks.

He looks like a leprechaun there, right? This looks like somebody— you could say that it's this time of year and it's Brazil, but if I told you he was at a Notre Dame game, if I told you this was Nick Wright attending a Notre Dame game, would you say that, that, uh, that he looks Irish? He does not look Brazilian. He does not look like he's speaking Portuguese. He looks like a front-running Irish guy. And as soon as he jumps aboard the Brazil bandwagon, it makes a mean cry because Brazil ends up losing to Haaland. And he's, he's just exceptionally Nordic. It is ridiculous what it is that that guy is physically. He scores. I'd like to know what percentage of his goals are headers because he's just taller than everybody else. And he keeps— he's very good at scoring on corners because his head is higher than all the other little soccer players. Yeah.

If you like to make a pick on the DraftKings Sports app, Haaland to score with his head is usually available on the sportsbook side. Yeah, certainly. And that's been, that's been a fun one.

A lot of surface area on that forehead. There's a lot of cranium there.

A lot of forehead. I feel like if we're talking fan bases, these Norway fans get a little bit of overhype. This like boat thing that they do afterwards, like it's just not as fun and cool. Like, I'm way more into the fans that go into the city and like, like Australian fans. We have a video here of Australian fans just bombarding a Walmart.

So sick of that song. They've made me hate, uh, Jack White.

You're not the only one that hated him. The Walmart employees hated them. They were soon quick kicked out.

We're getting deported! We're getting deported! We're getting deported! So the initial chant was, we're going to Walmart. And the last chant when they were kicked out, we're getting deported. Texas, baby, is what they were singing about. That song has been going on nonstop outside of my apartment. We're going to Walmart for a month. No, that Da da da da da. They all sing in that tone, right?

Find a new tone.

Oh my God. It's the only thing about this thing that I want out of my city. Everything else is great. We have spent a ton of money to make these people feel welcome from all over the world. They are everywhere. Like, there is no escaping how much you hear even more different languages than you usually do around South Florida. You never hear this much song in the streets of South Florida because culturally the world has come to the United States and it really has been, uh, it's been a magical buildup, Zazz, to what I believe, no matter how easy you tell me that the host country had it or one of the host countries had it because this was lined up and the United States has now tonight will play in its 5th straight game where it's a favorite. Okay, just saying that sentence to me is something that I couldn't have imagined at any point following U.S. soccer my entire life. Biggest game in 20 years. So they are favored to advance tonight to the round of 8. They are favored to beat Belgium, a traditional power, and I guess we can say, right, Paraguay Paraguay, as Mike likes to say, had more impressive games later after losing 4-1.

But this is their toughest opponent. This is the toughest— tonight is the toughest game that they've had, even though they're favored.

I think it's interesting to point out, and you mentioned Paraguay, who France— a terrible game. France won 1-0. A penalty was the only score in the game.

140 degrees on the pitch.

Terrible.

Mbappé is furious at how they played with—

like, that was fun to see.

Mbappé, he just thought they were dirty.

The crap talk that went from both teams live. I don't know if the TV cameras caught it going both ways, but Mbappé, you know, he was about that life.

But all of these powerhouses— France, Spain, Germany's out, Argentina, Italy didn't even make the World Cup— all of these traditional powers, and I'm not even including like Brazil, they've all either lost games or they are in tight games, they're being tested, they're facing adversity. The US is kicking the shit out of teams. Like, the US— and I'm not trying to say that they're better than those teams I just mentioned, but I do think it's interesting that the US has not played a tight game. And okay, you can look at the opponents. I just gave you Paraguay, who the US crushed, and France did not look good against.

And we have a common opponent recently that we can draw some data from. I know was a warm-up friendly and both teams made sweeping changes at halftime, but the US handled Senegal where Belgium escaped with their lives against Senegal, took a 2-goal comeback very late in that match. Belgium did drill the United States fairly recently in a friendly, but that's when Pochettino was just trying to figure stuff out. This is a totally different situation from the last time these two teams played in a knockout round stage. The, the golden generation of Belgium that got as far as a semifinal and beat Brazil and was led by Eden Hazard, one of my favorite players of all time. Not many holdovers. Lukaku is still on there. He is so different now. He barely plays at the club level. KDB still got it cooking, but they're at the tail end of their golden generation. Whereas the United States now in the teeth of theirs. Tony, you know that moment at a party or a tailgate where everything just sort of 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! 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 Lites. 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.

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Dan Levitar.

My algorithm on Instagram is dance all boobs.

Jonathan Sassolo.

It's a good algorithm.

This is the Dan Levitar Show. You have a situation here, Zez, where if you win tonight, what is about to happen is the American obnoxiousness of we can beat anybody, we can win the whole thing. I don't think they can win the whole thing. I think that the obstacles, uh, that are ahead of them going forward will continue to get more formidable and are appreciably more formidable than any of the 5 teams they will have passed in order to get to the next round. So I'm with Tim Howard on his, his thoughts that it is impossible. One of the most famous US soccer players we have had this century says it is flatly impossible to imagine the United States winning the World Cup. But if they win tonight, you're gonna get American bandwagoners who are going to think immediately, wait a minute, they're gonna win the whole thing. And you can dismiss that hope if you'd like, but there's no fun in dismissing that hope because in this particular sport, the margins can be so thin that if you get a bounce or the other guys hit a post, all of a sudden you've changed all of the talent disparities.

They cease to matter because the goals are worth so much. And to Zazz's point, they lost the game that they weren't trying to win. They didn't have any incentive to win it. The game did not matter. The other 3 games they've won in various fashion because the last one they won was ugly. Like, that wasn't what the first two were against Australia and Paraguay. Those were, those were the hope creators because you saw offense, you saw attacking, you saw a team that wasn't trying to protect a one-goal lead or a two-goal lead by playing scared. It was showing you over the course of a match, there's no reason to worry here. I don't believe tonight is that. Belgium, to me, what Belgium did in coming back against Senegal is the most impressive thing I've seen in this tournament. That's not Cape Verde. Where they score 3 goals in the last— what is it— 7 minutes of regulation and extra time. They end up scoring 3 goals to come back down 2-0. Every game you've been watching in this tournament, when someone's down 2-0 in the 80th minute, they're all over. Except Brazil scored 1 there at the end, but you know they're over.

Like, there's not a chance. At 2-0, you're done. 2-0, you're finished. But not Belgium. Belgium ends up advancing to this round. But what, what are reasonable expectations here, Mike? Because I think it's reasonable to expect them to win tonight, although you can only be so disappointed if they lose, because traditionally throughout our country's history, this is a game the United States loses.

It is. This is only going to be the third time if they win today that they've made it that far into the World Cup. Tournament. I think it would be at this point disappointing, especially with the Balogun ruling and the fact that they're favored here in a knockout stage round, that, that doesn't happen with the United States. But on the whole, that would be meeting expectations. Give me one more match though. Give me one more match against either Spain or Portugal. It immense for the sport in this country. Give the nation that moment. Give the nation talking crazy, saying, hey, we're just a double away from potentially playing France in the semifinal in Jerry World. Give us that. Don't let us get this one.

So I want to talk about the Balogun thing in a second. But before we do that, let's talk about Spain-Portugal for a second. Okay. Because you guys benched Ronaldo early in the tournament. He scored 2 goals in the second game and has largely been in the way for Portugal as they continue to play him. Who is favored in that game? Because before the tournament started, I think Portugal was one of the favorites. But the way that they have played, I think, would undermine that status.

Spain is— Spain's -110. It's very slight.

So yeah, it's a very—

it's a very small favorite market price on DraftKings Sportsbook right now to advance that. Oh, that's final whistle. Many people are learning that most of these picks that you can make are just 90 minutes and then extra time. You have to go into prop land, but to advance at the end of the game, Portugal +163.

How about this, Zaslow? I learned the other day, because I am not someone who wagers on soccer, I learned the other day in the Cape Verde-Argentina game, I had over 2.5 goals and I thought that that won and it didn't win because it was 1-1 at the end of regulation. And I'm like, wait a minute, in all the other sports where I bet, if I bet the over, I get the overtime and the extra innings. And this, I learned it. What I learned it by being confused when I saw that my bets had lost because it was 1-1 at the end of regulation. I had over 2.5, the game ended 3-2, so I'm like that, I win that bet. And then I'm like, why did I lose this bet? This is some sort of mistake, is it not? It's only the first 90 minutes.

A lot of sportsbooks have turned to having a prompt when you first open the platform, hey, just so you know, these are 90 minutes, having to explain this sport because there are so many people, not even extra time, there are so many people that don't understand that, that are new to making picks on, on soccer that have the rules explained to them.

Yeah, who makes that rule?

Because like, it's how you can place a pick on a draw.

Okay, but like, like in hockey you get the goal if it's scored in overtime, you know? So who makes the rule where— okay, but it's soccer, we're not doing that, it only counts for—

this is the only place that that rule is so correct. All the, all the other overs that you bet in hockey and baseball and basketball and football, all of them include the extra time. Soccer is the only one that does this, correct?

But Hockey can also make a pick on the game going over.

No, but if you pick an over in goals in hockey, at the end of the game, what the total is is what the total is.

Right, but that's because this sport can famously end in draws where the other ones can't.

Well, but not in Knockout Round.

Right, but it's still 90 minutes. They're not gonna change everything just because of your newbie ass not understanding the rules. Alright, I'm trying to be as welcoming as I possibly can.

Just because you're frustrated doesn't mean that I'm wrong.

Let's up— we're coming to this sport. Let's learn their rules.

Yeah, calm down over there, man. Trying to win some money.

Uh, in baseball over the weekend, I don't know if you guys saw this or if you care, but Aroldis Chapman set the record for most strikeouts by a reliever. That wasn't the funny part. The funny part was whose record he broke. Uh, he broke Hoyt Wilhelm's, who, uh, set the record at the age of 50! I am not so used to how it is that science has changed the aging, the Diana Taurasi and Tom Brady and LeBron James, that I can imagine in 1972 Hoyt Wilhelm getting out there 5 days before his 50th birthday and setting the record for strikeouts by a reliever. I'm sure none of you know what that number is, but it makes me, uh, ask you guys the question.

I guess You want to guess?

We do have an update on the Balogun situation. Belgium had till 8 a.m. Eastern time this morning to file a formal appeal. They sent out a very strong statement, as did UEFA. They were very displeased with this development. The deadline has come and gone and Belgium did not file a formal appeal, which, you know, what—

missed it.

What are they going to do? They know. They know that this wouldn't go their way.

USA! USA! USA! Corruption for good!

Corruption for good!

Let's go! Corruption for good!

Corruption for good!

This game in 20 years.

Important player.

Big or miss deadline, Belgium or Anthony Carter's agent?

That is a deep cut right there. Anthony Carter's agent allegedly didn't re-up a contract clause that would have paid him $10 million. Not him, but Anthony Carter.

No, it was like $3 or $4 million.

No, I think— look that up for me, Jeremy. I think it was a lot more than that. I don't think it was $3 or $4 million. I think Anthony Carter— it was Bill Duffy. Was that the agent? I think, I think it was $10. I think it was at least $10 million. We'll have Jeremy look it up and see who's right there. But getting back to what it is that I was saying about Eraldis Chapman, The number of strikeouts is 1,364, but steroids and an assortment of other things have made it so that baseball, which cherishes its numbers more than the other sports— baseball does a very good job of protecting its cherished numbers, but there are very few that still matter even in baseball. Can you tell me what they are, like, off the top of your head? What are the numbers that still matter in baseball?

Joe DiMaggio hit streak.

What's the number?

56.

That is one of them. I would put that very high on the list, maybe at the very top of the list.

.426 batting average, Sid Williams.

That's what I was going to say.

There aren't very many, though, right? You can't do this in the other sports. None of this. None of— do any of the numbers matter in basketball or football? Like, never mind putting them in that class. Yeah, 100 points.

2,632 matters.

That's a great one.

The Iron Man streak by Cal Ripken Jr. Also $4.1 million for Anthony Carter.

Good calls. That's— is that it though? Like how many? How many more stuff? How many?

The home run record still matters, does it?

I mean, what is it? 70? Yeah, there you go.

Yeah.

762.

We're talking all time, right?

I was thinking I was doing—

he was doing single season and didn't know.

Thus 72.

No. Thus nullifying his point. You nullified your point when you can't remember what the number is.

But if someone was pacing— I'm doing the thing of if somebody was pacing, would we be getting excited about it?

We would.

The home run record.

I mean, Schwarber has had 30 home runs at every All-Star break and nobody, nobody talks about it very much because of how they've distorted everything. I think it's, I think it's fairly amazing that as we sit here and talk about all of the numbers that have polluted sports— and you can't talk about Jaylen Brown now without the numbers in his contract being the numbers you associate with Jaylen Brown more than any other numbers— the fact that if we sat here as roundtable and I said, find me 10 numbers in sports, all of sports that still matter, I think you'd have a hard time finding 10. Because you just did Cal Ripken. And I don't think most people know that one. Like, I, I know that they— that he's got the longest streak, but I don't think that if I ask people what, what is that number, Jeremy and I both had to look it up. Yeah, I don't, I don't think— 56, you know, 56. I know what you're talking about immediately. I know what you're talking about. Less, less so 402, but fine. Ted Williams also, I think he did that on— didn't he go like 5 for 7 in the last game?

He could have sat in the last game. I think he could have sat in the last game and still had a .400 average. And he decided to play and he went 5 for 7.

Balls move.

Played like a doubleheader. Well, yeah, Balls moved. Also missed part of his prime to be a fighter pilot. Like, that's— we don't quite make them. We don't make them like that anymore. I want you to imagine— I want you to imagine LeBron James in a fighter jet. Like, try to— try to imagine one of today's athletes just fighting in a war because he's fighting up— he's flying a warplane.

I got the story here. So he could have sat out and had a .399 average rounded up to .400. Instead, he played both games of a doubleheader in which he went 6 for 8 and finished the season hitting .406.

It's weird that the 6 rings of Jordan matter more, I think, than Tom Brady's 7. We always mention the 6 rings. I guess once LeBron retires, maybe, maybe Tom Brady's 7 rings can get a little bit more shine, because in the modern era, that, that seems impossible to recreate.

Do you think like the other fighter jets, you know, who are fighting against the US, like they could see that it's LeBron in that jet, like, yo, just shot down LeBron!

Uh, Jeremy, look up for me where Ted Williams's head presently is, because his—

it's a great question—

his body was frozen, uh, rather famously, and I think his head was separated from his body at some point. So it's in a cryogenic chamber of some sort. But that's quite the, uh, history that Ted Williams has, where you got .402, fighter pilot, and, uh, and, uh, severed head apart from your body after you've died. I, I do want to talk for a moment about the idea of— let's consider the idea of an athlete at the height of his American fame stopping playing for a couple of years to fly fighter jets. I was just impressed by Jaylen Brown feeling like he's the smartest guy in every room. How about, how about as a side trick, Ted Williams is just— he's flying, he's flying in a war.

Is that more difficult or playing baseball if you're Michael Jordan?

Easy, Lib. Honor our troops.

In Scottsdale, Arizona, that's where the head is.

Uh, any football numbers matter? Any of them?

7 rings, I think, for Tom Brady. The more we get separated from it, the more bonkers that'll feel.

I mean, I used to know Marino's 420, but it's been passed a few times now, so it doesn't really mean anything.

17-0.

You gave me—

that's good.

17-0 is good. So let's see, if we were putting a top 10 list together, let's see if we can do this. Let's see if we can get to 10 as a group, because 100 is on there for basketball. 100 points in a game. Yeah, by Wilt Chamberlain would be on there. But what else from basketball would be on there? Because LeBron has recently broken all of the career points stuff and 6 rings in basketball, so because that's been always the tiebreaker there. So why are you doing 6 instead of all of Bill Russell's?

Like, you're just— because no one counts that, because, uh, I mean, the players were wearing belts on their socks.

Bill Russell had 11 championships, right? So yeah, twice as many as—

as there were 17 Jordan. Okay, out of here.

You see a competition?

Uh, the baseball numbers, I don't think the home run record is still one of the numbers. So like, I, I do think the 56 is one of them. Do you have anything from hockey that is worth putting on this list? A number that means anything in sports?

Uh, all-time points, that's unbreakable.

What is it?

Wayne Gretzky. I don't know what it is.

That's the point.

Yeah, there's a couple of numbers that you think are like— in NFL, I'd be like, oh, Shula's win record, that was such a big deal. And then I was like, what is that number?

No, that one's 325 though, isn't it?

No, I don't, I don't think so. Grusky's getting something different. Grusky's 2,857.

You're getting something different because some places count playoff wins also.

I have 6 on the list right now. In the NFL, it's 17-0 and getting to 7 rings. NBA, it's 100 points and 6 rings. MLB 56-game hitting streak, NHL all-time points. That's 6 things we have so far.

I don't think NHL classifies.

What?

All-time? No, because you, you didn't know what the number was. You're our hockey expert.

You don't have to know the number to know no one's ever reaching it. It just seems impossible.

But when I say 56, you know what I'm talking about. Still, baseball doesn't matter the way it does. The numbers don't matter. When I say 56, you know what I'm talking about.

I think the Cal Ripken streak falls into the same all-time points. Like, I don't need to know the exact number to know that's never going to be broken.

I think you do.

Will we know LeBron's points record when the dust settles and then treat it like it matters?

No.

Because I don't really know Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's number off the top of my head.

Chris, just so that you know, I'm not doing unbreakable records here. I'm saying to you and I'm asking the audience, give me the numbers that matter, that all of a sudden I give you a number and it's an easy identifier for you. I don't think we're going to come up with 10 between the entire group of us.

I did know Klose's World Cup. Record. And now we're in this wonky place where Messi and Mbappé are both kind of chasing it. Mbappé, wherever that lands when he assumes a record, could very well be this tournament. That'll be viewed as one of the impossible records.

18 majors. Golf.

Yeah, that's a good one, actually. That is a good one.

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Dan Levitar.

The Packers win or the Bears lose? Bears lose.

Jonathan Sasslow.

Shitty, you want to know how that— what were the kids doing?

This is the Dan Levitar Show. Anything from tennis that you guys would go to? Like, would you go there with anything that Djokovic has done or Federer? Like, would you— let me, let me ask you a different question as it regards what the United States is embarking on this evening. Where are your rooting interests outside of the United States? Like you were saying last week, says that you wanted the road to get easier. You wanted some of these stars to get knocked out so that you could have more hope for the United States team. But the stars aren't getting knocked out. The stars outside of Brazil, most of the stars, you know, I guess Germany, but outside of there, most of the stars are still around. And the United States doesn't have stars of that caliber. Mike, do you have a rooting interest in Portugal versus Spain?

Yes, I do. I do. And if the United States doesn't get to the final, it's because they lose to the winner of this match in high probability along the way. I know exactly what I want for the final, and it's easy. It's Portugal-Argentina. Give me that. We finally found a way that Stephen A can talk about this. Give me that. And while Ronaldo has been all over the board, yes, he scored in the last match. In the last match, Vosinha, the goalkeeper for Cabo Verde, completed more dribbles. Goals than Ronaldo. He, he has not been playing well, certainly by his standards, outside of the, the great match against Uzbekistan. But I know what I want. I want Ronaldo's legacy depending on going through Messi's.

Who is Spain's star right now? I mean, it's not Jamal. I know.

Yes, it's—

no, he's their best guy, dude.

He was their best player in the Euro that they won, and he was like, what, 16 years old? It's Lamine Jamal.

Okay, because, you know, just looking look at the US's road here, I mean, if Morocco were to knock off France, you know, it's not like you're gonna face all the heavy hitters. On the other side of the bracket is where Argentina and England and Norway is. Like, you would only have to face one of those teams if you get to the final.

But you just did Morocco beating France. Most likely it would be France.

Why? Because I just watched France struggle.

Apparently the US has benefited from a very good path, a very easy path. That path stops being easy in the very next round if they get past Belgium. Winner of Spain-Portugal will be impossibly difficult, potentially France. And look, Morocco, nothing to sneeze at. Morocco went to the semis last World Cup.

They kicked the shit out of Canada this week, you know.

Portugal has been pretty unimpressive though for what it is I was told Portugal was going to look like.

Which is why I like them in this match. There's a reason why they are underdogs entering this match because they have not played their best game. I take the other side of it, I'm like, individually, Bruno Fernandes gone missing. Vitinho, who's one of my favorite players in the world, terrible. Ronaldo playing very poor. The fact that they have gotten this far and have not shown us remotely close to their ceiling. Remember, Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia last World Cup. Spain, before they won their first World Cup, had a disappointing effort against Switzerland. This is part of the story that goes with a lot of championships. It's not always just Germany. Just lighting a fire throughout the entire tournament. Sometimes it looks like this, and I think that they're going to be better for— much like England is better for these tighter games that are testing them. I like the way that Portugal is just getting by and not being talked about and everybody's doubting them.

Hercules, we presently have a stream happening with Miami Heat member Giannis Antetokounmpo with his brother Alex and a streamer named Neon. In Greece, let's see the latest on the LeBron hunt.

All right, we're not talking about all that stuff. They want you to be his teammate.

Miami?

Yeah. LeBron.

Cheeky little shrug there from Giannis.

That was cheeky as fuck.

It was cheeky.

It was cheeky.

Just a little—

a shrug? You broke into programming here during the World Cup to—

Show it again. Show me that shrug again. Show me that shrug, because that's a cheeky shrug.

Look at that face.

You tell me.

Just good stuff, team. That's actually very helpful. That, that lets me believe that he's still having discussions behind the scenes.

That's right.

Brother giving him a look of like, don't reveal too much. Look at his eyes looking across at Giannis.

You think it's a great point? Second, that's my roster spot.

That is what he's looking at right there. The Heat have a roster spot that's open for Giannis.

What about me?

Giannis has a podcast that he does with Giannis, and that's Alex.

Oh, we got to—

we got all the Antetokounmpo brothers. Giannis already has one. He's wondering where his spot is.

Can you guys tell me, based on what it is that we were talking about, Portugal and Spain there, Mike Ryan is headed out when to Atlanta? You headed out tonight?

Same day, in and out. No, tonight I have other plans. We got a big match. Big match or not a big match?

U.S. Belgium. Seattle? That's in United States. You know about that 12th man? You know about that 12th man? That's a big game.

Big game.

I'm flying out tomorrow to watch Argentina-Egypt. Mo Salah versus Lionel Messi. That's a big one. Um, one that I'm a little disappointed in. I wanted to see Cabo Verde. I was, I was like, man, I can't believe I'm disappointed to see Messi in Atlanta, but I'm going same day, in and out.

How is it possible, Mike, that you find yourself— and this, this happens. I don't know how often this happens to you guys, but it's one of my favorite things in terms of watching sports to happen. I'm watching and I don't know who I'm rooting for. And then I know, like, I go into the game and I'm like, okay, let me just watch this. And that's what happened where I'm suddenly rooting against Messi. And I'm like, what world am I living in? How did that just happen to me? I was not expecting that. Expecting any of that to happen to me. And it's because the greatest thing in sports outside of patriotism is the upset. It's the surprise. Like, and you're talking about— I don't know if you guys have been betting any soccer, but if you have, you haven't seen a whole lot of games in this tournament where someone is a 2.5-goal underdog. Like, that's the reputation that Argentina has and the reputation Messi has is not undone by very often by a 40-year-old goaltender.

Yeah, to briefly touch on that match again, it was a literal movie. Just think about the things that happened within that game. The saves, the clearances by the defenders that narrowly avoid going in their own net. The Worldy's second goal, how close Cabo Verde got to equalizing yet again. The fact that Argentina kept going ahead and you kept telling yourself, all right, well, that's game. Their only shot was to keep this level, right? And they battle back. All right, Argentina, another knockout blow. No, go away. No, here you go. Equalizer. It looked very clear that Argentina was trying to save their legs. That was a complete no-show by pretty much everyone that wasn't Messi in that game. And Cabo Verde, the second goal where the player who had his own like checkered story with Benfica after what happened with Vinícius earlier this season, running to the stands to find his girlfriend in the stands, the entire team celebrating in the stands after that equalizer. Guys, goosebumps right now. That is a movie that plays out on the pitch. That will 100% be a scripted thing.

I have some Trump quotes for you. Would you like some Trump quotes on the reversing of the red card ruling? Meh.

Absolutely. You're welcome.

Quote: I saw the play and I'm a person that loves sports. That wasn't a foul. That wasn't even an infraction. This referee, who is a little bit suspect if you check his past, he made a call that nobody could believe. He's our best player or one of our best players and he gave him a red card. I didn't know what that meant. Yes, I asked for a review by FIFA, and he has also claimed credit. He says, I asked for a review by FIFA. I spoke to a man who's highly respected, Gianni Infantino. I'm the one who got them to do it. It was not Biden. Biden was asleep.

Come on.

No, you're lying.