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There is nothing casual about football season. You can tell yourself you're just gonna watch one game, and 6 hours later, you're emotionally invested in a 4th quarter between 2 teams you don't even care about. That's what I love about this time of year. The entire weekend becomes football. You're texting friends, tracking games, second-guessing coaches, convincing yourself you saw something before everybody else did. And then Monday comes around and you get to do the whole thing again. Those are the weekends you remember. And for me, some of the best ones have usually involved some good people, a great game, and a cold Miller Lite. No matter what triumphs are in store this season, legendary game days start with Miller Lite. Cold, crisp, refreshing, that clean finish. And it's part of plenty of memorable football weekends. Make game day legendary. Go to millerlite.com/dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Game time is Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.
You're listening to the Dan Le Batard Show in partnership with the DraftKings Sports app. Now live in all How you doing so far today, Walter?
I think I'm doing all right. I'm happy to be back. I know the fans who stopped me— legit stopped me all over the country and say, are you Walter Hawkins? And then they bust out laughing. They call me Walter on social media. So I've been waiting. It's been a long time since I've been back. Hey, Tony, good to see you. It's been a long time since I've been back, but I've been waiting for this moment to be in the same room with Greg to introduce myself As Walter.
Well, say hello to Jess. You have been gone for a while. You are back, which means you get to say hello to Jessica Smatana. Go ahead, Jess.
How are you?
I love when people say Greg like that, like with an A-I-G. Greg. Greg. Yeah.
It's my Pennsylvania accent. You know that.
You know, I love it.
There you go.
Oh, I know. I know.
You can, of course, catch Jess's podcast, College Football Happy Hour with Lucy Rodin. Let's start here. You know, we haven't brought it up yet. I wanted to save it to bring it up with you. Last night you have WNBA Finals Game 2 as the Atlanta Dream, they even up that series at a game apiece. Uh, I would say that right about now any criticism of Angel Reese is probably ill-timed, where she has 30 points and 16 rebounds last night. in the biggest win of her professional career.
Yeah, she had a ridiculous game, Zaz. I'm so happy I held on to my Angel Reese stock, even when people on this very show were making fun of me and yelling at me, telling me I was an idiot. Guess what, guys? She was drafted by the Chicago Sky. They're not serious. They are an unserious basketball organization. And the best thing that ever happened to her was being traded to a serious basketball organization, the Atlanta Dream, because now they are 3 games away from possibly winning the WNBA Finals. and in large part to her and her just being an absolute dog, especially in this game 2. If I were a Valkyries fan right now, I'd be a little nervous. Game 1, the Dream kind of gave it away. They kind of gave it away. The 4th quarter, they could not get a shot off. They were just really bad offensively, but it was still a 1-possession game at the end, and the Valkyries pulled it off and won. Game 2, completely different story, Zaz. The Dream just stomped them, and Gabby Williams had nothing on offense. The Valkyries had very few answers for the Dream, and the Dream's defense is just as good as the Valkyries' defense.
So the difference here is who are shot makers. And even with Ryan Howard having a bad series and frankly a pretty bad playoff so far, and Alicia Gray missing most of the semis because of her finger injury and still kind of coming back from that, the difference has been Angel Reese, and she's been phenomenal so far.
I want to get some of your thoughts here, Jess. We have been talking about the Eagles and the situation with Jalen Hurts. I want to read this tweet here from Tom Pelissero, who yesterday put out the original tweet, which here said, Let me read the original one. Let me back up for a second here. And this is the one that got all of our attention during the show yesterday, where he puts here, how committed is Jalen Hurts to football? After initially being diagnosed with a superficial blood clot in London, doctors told him not to sleep as a precaution. So he had been awake for roughly 36 hours when he started against the Jaguars. And that's a rather alarming tweet. And it's so alarming that I said here yesterday, I don't think I believe it. Not that they let him play in this situation, that he would even be physically able to when you're awake for 36 hours. Like, it didn't make sense. Like, Hawk, you played in the league. If you were awake for 36 hours, would you be able to play football?
No, I went to bed at 9 AM every night, and I'm not a— I am a night person. I'm a nighthawk, if you will.
You went to bed at 9 AM?
Every day. Every day I was in bed at 9 AM. Now I played for the Bengals in the Pacman Jones era, so not everybody was going to bed at 9 AM. But me, in order for me to be great at what I did, I had to go to bed early. So there is no way.
9 PM.
9 PM.
Yeah.
Geez.
That makes more sense.
I was like, this man is a monster.
I was like, does he mean international time?
Is he in London or? Oh, what in hell?
He was out all night long and then would go, it's like 9 AM now, I'll get my—
A quick hour nap before I hit the practice field and crush.
He slept through practice.
Goodness gracious. Yes, 9 PM.
So 36 hours, like there's just no—
No way. It's impossible, especially for your best player.
Yeah, so I didn't believe— like, I'm not gonna call Tom Pelissero a liar, but like, it didn't make sense to me. I don't think that it's possible. And then a couple hours later, Pelissero tweeted out here, Jess, just spoke to Jalen Hurts' agent Nicole Lynn, who clarified that while Hurts was up until early Sunday morning getting evaluated at a hospital, he was able to sleep upon rejoining the team, and the Eagles set aside a room for him at the stadium Videos from the stadium show Hurts coming onto the field just before kickoff, and he felt rested enough to play. Jess, that to me sounds more reasonable. There's no way he's awake for 36 straight hours and then playing football.
It also makes it sound like everyone had to get together and get their stories straight, because why did this first report come out? Also, I don't— guys, you probably don't know this about me, but I'm not a doctor. Why would you not be able to sleep if you have a blood clot? Like, I, I don't really understand that, and that feels like something that Pelissero should have questioned when he put out his initial report, if that was indeed a thing that's commonly medically recommended for a player in this situation. Even that being said, the Eagles statement that they put out afterwards and Nick Sirianni's press conference afterwards didn't really make any— I certainly didn't feel better about the situation. And it just sounds like a case of the Eagles organization caring more about winning a game than their franchise quarterback. And You know, maybe that's not the case. Maybe they do really care about that. But that's what it seems like. And it's hard to argue about that right now.
It's a real mess. It's a real mess from, from everyone involved except for Jalen Hurts.
I mean, why would you even chance that? Like, for all the teams that have a franchise quarterback, to Jess's point, do you think if even the worst case was remotely possible that they would trot their quarterback out there and say, hey, you're going to play or we're going to fly you? And like, that doesn't make any sense.
No, no, it doesn't. But, but in this case, to me, the broader context here is that The Eagles are having a bad season, and Nick Sirianni all of a sudden is showing up on all these next coach fired odds. Yeah, he's rising up the chart there. So this is a desperate team that maybe was predisposed to say, you know what, if it's a close call, we're playing our ace quarterback.
No guaranteed money left on his deal.
Jess, do you see who Amin is dressed up as today? Do you recognize him? Recognize him from, from The Odyssey? He's— oh, he's Antinous.
Somebody get these beggars out of here.
Yeah.
God, I love Robert Pattinson so much. He's the best. I still haven't seen Primetime, though. I did see the— you can see everything.
Oh, it's not in, but—
oh, is that a good one?
It's amazing.
Hawk, leave the show now.
Did we lose each other? We were on the same page.
I'm telling you, you'll love this.
Okay.
As someone who knows you as well as I do.
Yeah.
And he knows you really well.
I know you really well.
Yes.
You're gonna love this.
Do you know what the movie is, Hawk?
Um, explain it to me.
Oh, Jess, do you want to— like, Jess, have you— did you— you saw it, right?
Yeah, and I read Bad Blood back in the day. Like, I was all over this Theranos story when it happened. It was one of my— one of my favorite. Yeah, that's a good one. Thank you. Do you know the— you know the whole Elizabeth Holmes Theranos fraud story?
Yes, absolutely.
Yeah, so essentially, like, her and her now partner wanted a documentary film crew to follow them as she was getting ready to report to federal prison for her crimes. She's serving an 11-year sentence, but I think she is going to be out next year, or go to a halfway house next year or something like that. Anyways, so they went to A24 apparently, and Nathan Fielder was already in the works with some Lance Oppenheim connection at A24. And so then they started working on documentary, which feels like a really weird fit, and it is. And that's why it's awesome, because then he films this documentary embedded in her home for a month. And then from there, things just kind of get weird. And I don't want to spoil anything, but it ends up being a 3-hour-long, I would say, character study on one of the most famous scammers of our time. And I think it gives you a lot of insight into how Theranos, and also I think broadly The, you know, Silicon Valley investor, um, or I should say inventor class, uh, gets investments from people. Yeah, um, but done in a way where it's like Nathan Fielder kind of flexes all his muscles, does all the stuff that he's kind of known for, uh, and it's very, very funny.
Wow, that was an incredible description.
Was that a good— I mean, yeah, Jeremy, was that a good summary?
If the documentary is half as good as the description you just gave me, Jeremy, you're right, I should leave the description to you.
Tony, you don't sound like you're in on this.
I think I'm good. 3 hours. Like, it's a subject I don't really care about that much.
Like, I don't know.
You don't have to care about the subject.
Tony, it's not for you. It's not for Tony.
It's not for Tony?
Thank you.
It's not for Tony.
But it is for me.
It is for you.
Tony, would you watch it if it was around Dijon Love?
Oh yes.
Would you watch that scammer story done by A24?
Absolutely.
100%.
I think the thing to keep in mind is a lot of people think documentary and it's like, oh, it's about Elizabeth Holmes. And I would say it's actually about Nathan Fielder because he's such a weak—
Everything's about him.
That's my point.
That's why I don't like the stuff he does. Everything's about him.
Like, I don't care about you, dude.
But it's hilarious.
It's funny though, like, it's, it's not like, it's not self-indulgent, it's just funny because—
But it is, right? It's not self-indulgent, but it is.
It is in a funny way.
I don't know. It's not about— it's never about the other person, it's about him and how much they can make that person look stupid, right? Is that the deal?
I don't think that that's what this one's about at all.
And I wouldn't say that's what Nathan for You is about, although I've seen that critique of it. I feel like he lets people be themselves and then they sort of hang themselves. Like, there's a lot of— like, for example, I mean, you remember the lawyer in Nathan for You who signs the contract saying that he's liable?
What am I? Yes.
Okay. Like, Nathan is not intentionally— like, he, like, he knows what he's doing, right? But like, this guy ultimately is the one who then makes the scene funny because he tries to crumple up the contract.
Let me set it up, because it's so brilliant. So his idea— he's trying to save this coffee shop. So his idea is that we're going to rebrand as Dumb Starbucks, right? And because under parody law, they can't sue us, right? And so he sits down with a lawyer to make sure, and he says, they can't sue us, right? And he's like, well, they could. And he's like, well, they— but they could sue you too. He's like, me? Why, why would they sue me? It's like, well, because you're part of this. He's like, no, I'm not. It's like, no, I have you in writing. It's like, what? You signed the contract.
What contract?
The release for them to shoot the scene with him. He signed it. And so He said, I don't remember that. And he starts reading through it and it's like, yeah. He's like, well, you don't have any video of me signing it. And they literally cut to a video of him signing it and saying, what kind of lawyer am I? I'm not even reading this and I'm signing it. It's amazing because it's— it is like Jess said, he hung himself out to dry by himself. But obviously Nathan is playing kind of— he's playing it a little dumb and naive, but also— But you have— we have you in writing here. And that's the kind of guy he is. I don't know, I find that stuff Hilarious.
Right. Another one, another one is like the gas station attendant. One of my— one of the all-time scenes of Nathan for You. Nathan doesn't go in there and he's like, I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna grill this guy and find out something really weird about him. He just asks people why and what, and the people just keep giving him more and more information. And this guy ends up talking about drinking his grandson's urine, and Nathan kind of almost breaks character and he's like, oh, he breaks.
What?
It's the only time I've ever seen him break.
It's just him finding these really interesting people. And I think that's why this subject is so like, you know, there's a ton of people out there that are probably gonna say there's nothing that I don't already know about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. Like, she's— she was all over the media for years, right, before she was convicted. And then she kind of went dark for a while. And it's like, what do we really need to know about this lady? She lied to a ton of people. She's obviously guilty. Like, she, you know, whatever. But she doesn't believe—
she doesn't believe she's guilty, right? No, she—
She— well, she does not claim to believe that she's guilty. She's very adamant, like, to this day, I didn't do anything wrong. And not only that, but also it works. I've already said too much.
Yeah, you know what it's— yeah, it's hard to—
I feel like I've seen most of the movie at this point.
No, not at all.
Save you 3 hours.
Here's what I'll say.
Description to now, I feel like—
Here's what I'll say about it.
Gotta get the summary going?
You have Nathan Fielder, who his entire thing as he's gone from Nathan to you to the rehearsal Now to this, and there are other projects in between, is like what he does amazingly well is blend within his show what's real and what might be scripted or not real or playing on that line.
Mm-hmm.
And what he does there is unbelievable always. He's always trying to figure out how do humans behave. And now you have that guy dealing with the most notorious liar who still, as she went to prison, was insisting that her crimes were not of the real world.
Notorious liars who started a, you know, a company in Silicon Valley that actually got in trouble for it, because there's a lot of other people like that out there. That's why I think it's like the, the examination of the archetype of like her and her partner is what's kind of fascinating about all of it. And there's a ton of stuff that happens along the way that you're not really expecting. And it, yeah, it's, it's funny, but it's also like, what? Like, I feel like sometimes I don't live on the same planet as some of these people. And those are 2 people where I'm like, I cannot believe we are all human because they're so weird.
I'm gonna say everything you guys have said today and act like I've seen the movie from here on out.
Nah, you, you won't be able to do that. Just imagine, you know, the Shaggy song, It Wasn't Me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But she caught me in the shower.
It wasn't me though.
Yeah.
Right?
Like, Now imagine that with a billion dollars.
Okay.
That's what this woman is.
Getting caught in the shower with a billion dollars. All right. I think I got it.
I've seen it 3 times.
I think I just had seen it 3 times.
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Going for 2 when you're up by 5. Switching the zone when man isn't working. Oh, and building your new stadium in the state your team actually plays in. In sports, some things just make sense. You know what else makes sense? Drinking Jägermeister shots ice cold. Drinking it any other way would be like punting on first down, or letting your worst hitter bat first, or like going for 2 when you're down 3 with a second to go. It wouldn't make any sense. So don't let the team down. When it comes to Jägermeister, drink it cold or don't drink it at all. I'm not drinking it cold. Jägermeister.
Damn, that's cold.
Drink responsibly. Jägermeister liqueur, 35% alcohol by volume, imported by Mast-Jägermeister U.S., White Plains, New York.
Dan Levitar.
I don't like smelly either. Jessica S. Matana.
Women stay home in the kitchen where they belong.
This is the Dan Levitar Show. Jess, we're not gonna let you go before we ask your reaction to the Notre Dame loss. this weekend. Were you, were you angry about the non-call late in the game?
I follow her.
This is—
you guys do this every single year. I have a hard out in 2 minutes and now I'm going to only get like 60 seconds to talk about this and everyone's going to yell at me on social media and be like, I can't believe they had Jess on and they asked her about Angel Reese and Nathan Fielder and they didn't ask her about Notre Dame-BYU. And let me just say, guys, it's not my fault. Yeah, it's Zaza's fault.
This is a filibuster.
Minute and a half.
I'm not mad about the no-call because I think the refs They swallow their whistle at the end of games in those type of situations all the time. The 1 second on the clock thing is genuinely— they messed up. And what I'm surprised by is that the Big 12 came out and admitted they messed up. There was a second left on the clock, and there's still people arguing with me on Twitter about like tenths of seconds, like we didn't already go over this after the Michigan game. That's not how the game clock works. Like, go back, read all the reporting from the Michigan game. The Big 12 already admitted they made a mistake. They made a mistake. That being said, Notre Dame, their defense was incredibly disappointing in this game. And I think that's my big takeaway. I'm really, really unhappy with the defensive coordinator, very unhappy with the game plan. And that was ultimately why they lost.
Is the game against Miami an eliminator game, Jess? Is it an elimination game?
Okay, Jeff, you're going to hate this answer and Dan would yell at me for this, but it depends, guys. This year's playoff field, not last year's playoff field. Notre Dame plays SMU the weekend after or 2 weekends after Miami. They're, they're ranked right now. They could end up being in the ACC Championship game against Miami. They have a game against Wake Forest coming up. That'll be a big one for them. It depends. There's been so many upsets this year, Zaz. Like, can you tell me confidently who's going to play in the SEC Championship game?
No.
And could the team that loses it be a 4-loss team potentially?
I don't know. I mean, it's, it's a completely bananas season. The only undefeated Big Ten or SEC team left is UCLA right now. I would not have expected that coming into the season.
You don't get to say depends! Ah, get out of here, Jess! Her weekly Notre Dame podcast, The Echoes, is with Mike Golick Jr. Good job, Jess.
Bye.
See ya. There you go.
Limited fake Dan.
Wasn't terrible.
That's pretty good. It's tough to do loud though. It like— when it's at a low voice, you're really good at it, but it just gets so screechy.
Yeah.
How does he do it?
I don't understand.
How does he get that octave? Because Dan doesn't have a high-pitched voice.
He would call it an octave, which is also wrong.
Greg, was he like that younger as well?
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah.
Yeah.
How you feeling about tomorrow so far, Greg? You still standing on business that you're, you're not coming in because you're protesting Dan?
Yeah, we're, we're certain about that.
Why is he protesting Dan?
Oh, way to keep up with the show, buddy.
Yeah, especially—
go, Greg.
Well, oh, I know a Substack that you can read.
Yeah, if you read, I— there's an article published 2 hours ago here from Miami, Florida on, uh, Jeremy's Le Batard sub-sub, uh, entitled Breaking: Greg Cody Returns, Dan Exit, With the subheading, uh, Greg Cody returns to the Dan Le Batard Show under protest. If you guys would like, I could read it, it's just a 3-paragraph article if you'd like to hear it.
Or if you don't want to read that whole thing, because Jeremy can get long-winded, you can go to Amin's Jeremy's Le Batard sub-sub-sub, and I can give you a little summary of what Jeremy said.
Yeah, there's also a third one that I think has an exclusive article, and I believe it's Walter's Amin's Jeremy's Le Batard Sub Sub Sub, and the article—
Sub.
Sub.
Yeah, you forgot the 4th sub.
And it's, it's actually, it's actually written by Greg Cody.
So that's right. And there's also my new, um, Substack, which is called Wassup.
That's the one.
Greg, how can we negotiate a peace treaty? Because while I stand in your corner firmly that Dan violated your trust and your, your, uh, your loyalty, yeah, and stabbed you in the back, However, as I understand it, there's a lot of stuff happening here in studio tomorrow that would really, really be elevated by your presence. And so for the sake of the show, for the sake of content, for the sake of the listeners and the viewers, all of whom I'm sure are subscribed to your Substack, how can we negotiate this peace treaty?
Is Dan on the show tomorrow?
Yes.
Oh, yes, there's my answer.
Okay, but at some point you have to work with Dan again.
Maybe.
Well, okay, you're saying maybe, but you're punishing yourself then if that's the case.
Yeah, true.
You're not gonna get paid to not work.
Right, that's true. Yeah, we'll think about that.
All right, trying to help you.
Will be considered.
I mean, it could be, it could be a short boycott.
Okay.
You know, tomorrow.
Or is it possible to break the boycott for a day and then go back to boycotting?
That wouldn't be a boycott.
Like Kramer did at H&H Bagels.
That's right.
Roy? It's your time to shine. Let's get to Roy's Lock of the Week.
Lock, lock, lock, lock, lock, lock, lock.
Uh, the Lock of the Week is presented by DraftKings. DraftKings, the crown is yours. The, uh, the lock was opened last week, unfortunately.
Watch out there, Jeremy.
Lock, lock, lock.
Make a mess over there. But this lock, this time, this week, I got one for you. Hurricanes at Canucks. Go Carolina Hurricanes moneyline. It's at -298.
So you're just taking heavy favorites. That's what you're doing, huh?
Yeah, I call it a lock.
Guaranteed to win.
Guaranteed.
Hurricanes -298. That is this week's Lock of the Week presented by DraftKings. DraftKings Sports. The crown's yours.
Canucks are terrible. All right, there you go. He's going with the Fugazi defending Stanley Cup champs.
Locked.
Greg, the World Series has its participants. The Rays win last night. They win in 6 games. We have the Rays and the Brewers. I love the idea that we're gonna get a new World Series champion. We got 2 teams that— I think it's a total of like It's like 5 or 6 teams in Major League Baseball that have never won a World Series, and these are 2 of those teams. So we are going to get a first-time World Series winner.
It's, it's interesting. It's fascinating. I think it's great for baseball. I don't think it's going to translate to terrific TV ratings. I could be wrong. I hope I'm wrong. But I think it's great for baseball. Last time this happened, 1980. 1980. when there were 2 teams in the World Series that had never won before. The time before that? 1920. I wasn't even born yet. That's prehistoric. So this is the rarest of rare occurrences that baseball fans get to enjoy.
I gotta tell you, you bring up something that everyone likes to say, you know, ah, Rays-Brewers, there are going to be terrible ratings, no one's gonna watch. Why do I give a shit about the TV ratings?
Couldn't agree with you more.
Why do I give a shit if the networks make money? Why do I care about that? Why do I care?
I'm almost positive the networks pay you.
Yeah, you work for one.
Yeah, but it doesn't affect— but like, I'm not affected by them not getting huge TV ratings. Like, why does that— it's not my show. I'm not on that show.
No, I think it's also fine if—
It's trickle-down.
It might be, but it's also like, it's fine for us within this room as people who work in media to care, but Zazzle is representing the fan, which is why should the fan care? Why should the fan care about TV ratings when ultimately they're not going to impact the actual dollars that are made Yeah, I'm speaking as a fan.
Why do I care?
Well, because the TV ratings reflect how many fans are interested.
But if I'm interested and I like baseball, why do I care if they're gonna get teams that everyone's gonna watch?
I got it. Because bad ratings, as a fan who likes baseball, equals less baseball.
How?
Because if there's not an interest for it, you can't justify putting more of the thing that you like. So if you're not a Rays or a Brewers fan, I would actually tell you make sure you're still watching. Or because if you don't care if there's big games or not, now if you're a person who's gonna watch no matter what still, yeah, they'll put less baseball on, which is not what you want. So that's why you should care.
All right, does that make sense?
Yeah. And this is like the, the best part about this series is that these are 2 teams that reflect each other. I thought David Sampson actually made a good point. We were talking earlier. This is basically like the Oklahoma City Thunder. These teams are that excellent and they're just small market. So people maybe haven't been paying attention. And because it's not a salary-capped sport and we talk so much about payroll and payroll disparity, everybody views them as these underdog little engine that could teams. No, they're the 2 best teams. They're both 1 seeds. In the last like 45 years, it's only 8 or 9 times where both 1-seeds actually made it to face each other in the World Series. These have been the 2 best teams all year long. They play a brand of baseball that sort of harkens back to the version of baseball, Greg, that you really enjoy, where these teams play defense. They have great starting pitching. Their bullpens come in strategically and get outs. They run the bases, they lay down bunts, and their stars can hit for power when it's necessary. You see last night Junior Caminero and Yandy Diaz going deep.
You've seen Jackson Churio and William Contreras Harris over with Milwaukee. These teams are loaded top to bottom, and the bottom of their order is really going to ultimately be the thing that makes the difference because the, the heart of the order for both of these teams is so good.
So with these 2 small market teams now making it to the World Series, is that not the, uh, the, the trump card come over and it's like, all right, well, the Dodgers aren't there, no big market teams are there, no huge salaries are there, what do they do now?
From a PR perspective, this is great for what the players' argument has been. Because before the season started, the owners were using the Dodgers as their infomercial for why a salary cap was necessary. Look at our big bad Dodgers hurting your team. They even had Dodgers fans in those infomercials saying like, well, I even— I think a salary cap would be more fair. And ultimately it's just because they want fixed prices on their salary, not really because they want there to be more equity within the league because look at how smart teams can do it. And it's taken the Rays and it's taken the Brewers, it's taken these teams a long time to build teams that can get back to the World Series. You saw the Rays there in '08 and you see them back there now. But this is a win for the players in terms of what their argument has been, which is just adding a strong luxury tax on each end, on the floor and on the ceiling, so that that way You ultimately are getting money to come back to the league, but it doesn't change the amount that an individual player can make.
So having these 2 small market teams, and for that matter the Guardians, be the ones that are there and seeing the Dodgers break down, it should be a win for them from the PR perspective. If you ask David Sampson, the owners don't care because they say, oh, it's a small sample size. Normally the powerhouses make it. The funny part of that, or the irony in it, is, well, they were just using the small sample size of the last 2 years with the Dodgers as their argument before the season began.
Dan Le Batard. Jessica thinks you're pathetic.
I saw the look on her face.
It can never be the lane to victory, Matt.
No, I think Jeremy's pathetic. Jeremy just delivered the most absurd theater kid basketball analysis line that I've ever heard from him.
Jeremy Tatché.
My dad was talking about the adjustments that Spo made and criticizing him last night, and Jeremy just back here, his adjustments were spectacular.
It's just like they lost.
They're down 0-2.
This is the Dan Le Batard Show. So Greg, history is going to be made. The Brewers, the Rays, we are going to have a brand new World Series champion for the first time in that franchise's history. But history was also made last night, all right, during this game, because Junior Caminero homers And it opens up the game. It was a 2-run homer. They go up 5-1. History was made last night. Give this a watch where Junior Caminaro set the all-time record for longest home run trot to get around the bases in postseason history. 38.7 seconds.
Watch this.
All right, so he's jumping in.
So there's the blast, all right? The crowd, the crowd goes nuts. He's doing a whole lot of peacocking and pre— look, I've never seen that before! He's beating his chest to the beat. He didn't reach first yet. He didn't get to first yet. This is awesome. All right, now he's finally at second. I mean, that's— I started this video 4 minutes ago.
Hand up to the ear.
You got a drone flying around there. It is funny how they let the cameraman— hey, run onto the field! You know, the cameraman in the middle of field of play. And Caminaro is doing more shit. He still has not scored yet. He has not scored yet. And now— He still hasn't scored yet! He stops in front of the plate. And now he touches home plate.
The stop and crossing the arms, by the way, it's because Randy Arozarena, who played for the Rays, who was their superstar in their run to the World Series in 2020 in the shortened season, who had one of the best postseasons we've ever seen, he was sitting right behind home plate. So was Tyler Glassnow, the other former Ray. And so Arozarena's celebration has always been the crossed arms. So he looks, he points at Arozarena who's sitting behind home plate, and they both cross arms and stare at each other before he touches home. It's like one of the coolest home run celebrations you could possibly see. And it was, it was to go up 5-1. It was a home run off the foul pole. The first time that that reliever, their closer, had ever given a— given up a home run on his splitter. The first time ever. That's how great that pitch is for Cade Smith. Never had given up a home run on a splitter, and he sees it first pitch. He was there just to get Caminero out in the 7th inning. They brought him in early, and he gives up the home run off the foul pole.
Thiago splitter.
It was a record, Greg. That was historic. 38.7 seconds. Yeah, to get around the bases.
Okay, I'm gonna be— I'm gonna play the bad guy here. I'm gonna, I'm gonna be the old fuddy-duddy. Oh boy. I'm gonna be that guy. I'm sorry, that's bad sportsmanship. If I were the opposing pitcher, if I'm Smith who just gave up that home run, man, I feel like throwing the ball. I feel like throwing pitches at Caminaro as he's, as he's taking—
You did, and he went yard.
Yeah, he might hit another home run. But why?
If a guy hit a big shot in basketball, he'd have done the exact same thing and we'd be okay with it.
Okay, there's a difference between hitting a game-winning shot The game is over then. This game wasn't over. Like, you don't find that— am I the only one who finds that disrespectful, that home run trot?
No, I think there's plenty of people just like you who find it disrespectful.
It was a home run crawl is what it was.
It took his time.
You know, you're, you're not even to first base yet and you're high-fiving the cameraman. You're, you're 5 feet from the plate.
He did not high-five the camera.
And you're stopping and going like this. It was ridiculous. It's just ridiculous. Okay, congratulations, Junior. Great hit. You're a hero in Tampa. I get all that, but have a little respect for the opposing team. That's all.
I forgot his last—
I forgot his name was Jr. for a second.
Like, I thought you were dismissive, right?
Experiencing joy. Like, this guy has back-to-back 40-home-run seasons. He's 23 years old. He's the future of this franchise. They haven't gone to the World Series since 2020. They've never won one before. He's been knighted as the hero. He didn't have a home run yet. In the postseason. So after a year where he just hit 40-plus home runs and is going to finish 2nd in MVP voting behind Yordan Alvarez, he's got all of these sort of demons weighing on him. He's only got, you know, 8 hits to that point in, in the postseason. He comes up in this moment, he's facing the best closer in baseball, and hits a pitch out that no one has ever hit out. No one has ever hit that splitter out of the ballpark. It hits the foul pole, and they go up 5-1 knowing that their bullpen is so good that they're likely going to win this baseball game now. Oh my God, we're going to the World Series!
Yeah, saw the game.
And it's just—
what?
You just want him to just feel like, oh boy, quickly jog around the bases?
I want him to have a little respect for the other team.
Yeah, I didn't, I didn't see the game. That description was even better than the—
You can see everything?
Yeah, then you can see everything description. I'm with Jeremy here, and I agree that you shouldn't disrespect the other team, but the context of this being such a big moment— and I never scored a playoff, NFL playoff touchdown, probably because I was going to bed at 9 AM. But had I done so, I would have celebrated. My celebration would have been double this time, which inevitably probably would have got me cut.
But still, I mean, isn't there a difference between disrespecting the opponent and celebrating yourself?
Yeah, there absolutely is. And I don't think he was disrespecting the opponent in that. I think it was such a big moment for himself that he wasn't going to turn down his excitement for anybody in that moment. And I'm not mad at it.
Jeremy, uh, can you, uh, look up for me, uh, the origins of the term fuddy-duddy?
Ooh, another Sui nominee for Limited Fake Dan.
Historic, historic home run trot.
I'm with you, Greg.
How many seconds would have been acceptable?
You're with him there?
Yeah, because I thought— look, I too didn't watch the game, so I thought that was the walk-off. I was like, oh yeah, like, of course, have at it. But like, there was more game to play after that. How much more game was there?
It was the 7th inning.
There were 2 more innings? Nah, man. What if they had lost? What if they lost that game?
What is really crazy is that in, in the 8th, in the 8th inning, the Guardians ended up scoring 2 runs and had the bases loaded with 2 outs. And so they could have blown it and he could have looked like a jerk. But guess what? He didn't.
History will never remember that, that they had bases loaded with 2 outs. That's right.
They're never gonna remember.
You know what I care about?
Hyping up the boys in the dugout.
That's right.
As I sit there before I hit first base and I'm like, yeah, uh-huh, you saw that?
It's amazing. That's me.
That's what I do. I do it every time.
Dwayne Bowe style. It's also incredible because it was at home. I think if it had been in Cleveland—
Well, we all know how deserving those Rays fans have been. You know, they always show up and show out.
Hey, they did.
Great crowd.
They were sold out. Like, I think that that in a, in a ballpark that 2 years ago had the roof ripped off and they, they had to play in a minor league ballpark last year. They return this season and they now get to experience this moment. And I think—
3 minutes ago.
If it had been a different situation where they're doing that on the road, maybe that celebration goes ever so slightly differently. I think he still probably celebrates himself quite a bit because that's Junior Caminero. But when you've got the crowd going crazy the way that they are at home, like, I can understand why that moment is, oh my God, we're, we're probably going to the World Series right now, and I just did it.
May I take you guys back all the way to June, Madison Square Garden, where the San Antonio Spurs are up 29 and Victor Wembanyama sitting on the ground because Mitchell Robinson just offensively fouled him. He said, I'm in his head, I'm in his head. Now we could say had they won the game, no one would remember a Nick comeback or whatever, but they didn't win the game. And that's the idea. The idea is he started the victory lap far too prematurely. And I'm with you, Greg. This guy right here, you know what? Rays won't win. They won't win the World Series.
Oh, the Brewers are gonna win?
Brewers are gonna win. Put it down. Brewers are gonna win. And guess what, Milwaukee? I'm coming back. Me and Tony, we're gonna come back and we're gonna do a dunk tank. Well, maybe not a dunk tank. We're just gonna go back to McGillicuddy's, by the way, was the name of the bar. Yeah, yeah. Who else wants to go? Oh, put it, put it, put your name down now. You have until the end of the segment. We have 2 minutes. Who thinks the Brewers are gonna win? Brew Crew, 1, 2, 3, 4. Hawk?
Nah.
I mean, they probably are.
What?
I'm going with the Rays.
Raise up?
Raise up, raise up. I can't make it to Milwaukee. That's pretty much the only reason.
World Series Game 1 is Friday night in Milwaukee. I'll tell you, uh, the injury situation in the NFL, absolutely brutal. I mean, every single week you got Jalen Hurts this week out for the season. Now you got Mike Evans done for the season, ruptured Achilles. And we also find out— I just saw this this morning, I mean, maybe it came out last night— where Davante Adams now is 6 to 10 weeks. Every single week it's, it's major injuries.
Mike Evans, not torn Achilles, Achilles tendonitis, will be out some time but did not rupture.
Oh, all right. What, what the ruptured—
the ruptured hamstring was Davante Adams. He's out for 6 to 10, like you said. So Achilles tendonitis, like what, what kind of, what kind of deal is that as far as like a strain almost more so than, than a tear or rupture?
Strain to tear, right? Yeah, it's what happens right before Yeah, yeah, it's kind of like how I saw tonight for the Spurs, Tobias Harris is not going to make his debut for the Spurs because he's got a calf strain. And it's like, all right, we're already there where it's right before Achilles tear, right?
Different injury.
You guys have to stop doing this. Just because they're next to each other doesn't mean—
The calf and the Achilles?
Yeah.
Why do they keep saying it's a precursor?
It's not a precursor.
Oh, all right.
Well, that's what I keep being told though, no?
I need to get my doctor outfit, man. I really want to do this Amin El-Hassan, not a doctor doctor.
I'd rather have you as a lip reader.
Dog.
Well, okay, it's a family show, guys.
I'm telling you, $500, someone will come in and lip read for you the entire game, no problem, right?
Just $500, huh?
That's easy money.
Worth its weight in gold.
Come on, son.
Oldest profession, lip reading.
Ah, get out of here!
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"I'm gonna be the old fuddy-duddy."
Jessica loves the WNBA Finals, LOVES Nathan Fielder, and hates that we forced her to answer for Notre Dame in 90 seconds or less. Plus, guess who on the show didn't love Junior Caminero's record-long HR trot? Have you finished guessing? Yeah? Okay, you're right.
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