Summer is pretty much my favorite time to be a sports fan. The biggest soccer tournament of the summer just wrapped up, baseball's on every night, racing never takes a weekend off, and my calendar basically revolves around first pitches, green flags, and whatever game everybody's texting about. I realized I'm the MVP of my group. I'm always the friend that says, "Hey, I've got it. I've got a place, I've got some ice cold Miller Lite, I got the TV, I got a big comfy blue leather couch, come on over." That's the behavior of a Miller Time MVP. I almost never watch the big ones alone. I'd much rather be with my friends. And if I am alone, we're texting, we're sipping on our Miller Lites, toasting the day, toasting the big games. For me, Miller Lite is just a part of a big game routine. It's brewed for taste with simple ingredients, clean, refreshing, and easy to drink, especially in the Miami heat. It's a true American pilsner and the original light beer since 1975. An all-American summer starts with an all-American beer, Miller Lite. 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.
It's Miller time! Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Denk an den 31.
Juli.
Wieso? Last call für deine Steuer.
Oh no, ich weiß gar nicht, wo ich anfangen soll.
Bei Wieso Steuer, das ist wie Steuer erklären Rückforderung nur ohne Stress.
Ist das einfach?
Klar, macht fast alles automatisch.
Dauert das lange?
Nö, einfach per App.
Na dann.
Hol dir jetzt dein Geld zurück mit Wieso Steuer. Bis zum 31. Juli abgeben.
There is no way that that was cocaine. There is just no way. There is no way. You guys are nodding yes, it was cocaine that fell out of the nose of Robbie Williams. There is just no way that he decided that that's what he was going to do there. It has to be something else.
Are you not familiar with Robbie Williams? Because you can never utter, "There's just no way cocaine was around blank," and that blank being Robbie Williams. If Robbie Williams is part of this investigation, then there's always a strong chance.
Are you not familiar with the common practice of cocaine falling out your nose and then sticking it on your forehead? Everyone knows that.
Well, we have an investigation pending. We are in the VAR room right now, and there are some that say it fell out of his mouth. And that does change things a little bit, but for those that know ball, not really.
If it fell out of his mouth, can it be anything else? Can it be some sort of spittle? Can it be an optical illusion? Can it be anything other than what you guys are saying? Because when you say to me, are you not familiar with Robbie Williams, my counter would be, are you not familiar with World Cup security efforts?
Like, I know I'm very familiar with that, and if Robbie Williams wants to do cocaine The Secret Service is not stopping Robbie Williams from doing said cocaine.
Zaz, which way are you voting here? You're voting that it's out, that, that Robbie Williams decided as part of the first ever halftime show experience that there has been at a World Cup where they try and put on a Super Bowl type of appearance and did put on a Super Bowl halftime type of show. You're voting and you have to be right. You're saying that Robbie Williams cocaine fell out of his nose and his quick thinking in that instance was to grab it and rub it through his hair or just place it in his hair for later.
Yayo fell out of his nose, Dan.
I'm team it fell out of his mouth, but I'm also team I think it was coke because Robbie Williams is at the center of this.
We should say allegedly for everything here, but isn't it understood given that I'm saying that there's no way it was cocaine and the only way it's being alleged is that you guys are saying to me as I ask you, look, this can't be real. I feel like the allegedly is baked into the conversation.
Something was baked, all right. Here's my strongest piece of evidence. Did you see Robbie Williams earlier in the day perform?
Well, I saw him dressed in a tracksuit, and so—
A shiny, glimmering tracksuit.
Yes, his hair— my dude was— well, he was on something. Might have been adrenaline.
He was also lip-syncing.
Everyone was.
Yeah, was Tom Cruise? I don't think Tom Cruise was lip-syncing.
No, what a performance from Tom Cruise.
Holding the glasses too, like if he was like, "I'm too busy. I'm not gonna put them on.
I'm not gonna give them to somebody else.
I'm just gonna hold them." You don't think that Tom Cruise was lip-syncing, you just think that all of the performers were lip-syncing. When watching a lip-syncing performance, I always think that the performer has to feel ridiculous going and trying to summon the fake energy involved with, "I'm not singing at all, I'm just mouthing words." I hate it.
They lose me immediately when I see that it's lip-syncing. It's just, it's dumb. It's a dumb performance, the lip-syncing.
Well, Jack White wouldn't do it. I guess. I'm assuming Jack White's like, "I'm not gonna go up there—" and lip sync, go send some Muppets.
What was that about, by the way? I saw him play the drums, I was like, who's this for?
No, wait a minute, wait a minute. What are you saying? I know who it was for. Americana all over the place. What do you mean, Madonna, Tom Cruise, the Muppets? Like, Muppets, I put Muppets pretty high on the list of you don't need to know any language. You know that those things are American. Yeah, sure, okay.
But somebody in like Bosnia is like, what is this? Who are these? What are these things?
You don't think they pop for Ted Lasso?
You think, you think that— put it on the poll @LeBattardShow— was Bosnia wondering who the Muppets were? You are listening to the Dan LeBattard Show in partnership with the DraftKings Sports App, now live in all 50 states. Lamine Yamal's father is Tony's age. I could have a progeny out there, Dan. Put it on the poll. I think it's Prodigy. No, Prodigy, isn't it? Prodigy. It's not Prodigy.
We're off to a rip-roaring start.
Prodigy, put it on the poll at Le Batard Show. Would you be okay with Cape Verde being made the second-place finisher right now? Mike Ryan might have been right in preferring to go to Atlanta to watch Cape Verde instead of Messi. I think I would have preferred to watch England try to do something because for the people who do not like soccer, that's not quite the punctuation you want in terms of fun where you're watching the best player in the world and you have no proof that the best player in the world is anywhere on the field the entire game.
That third-place game, though, was bananas.
Yeah, that didn't appear to be a whole lot of people trying. And defense is hard, and Spain seems to be historically good at it. I want to ask the question of the group here as we're on LeBron watch today, because DraftKings Sportsbook, now available everywhere, all 50 states, has the Miami Heat as the prominent betting favorite on landing LeBron James. Pat Riley will be here. We will be talking to him in the postgame show later on in the show. But I wanted to ask the group here, just across sports, because you've heard me say before that I think that defense is generally criminally under-regarded when we do all our analysis on who should be stars, who should be great, who should be excellent in sport. It's supposed to be half the game. We do not treat it like it is half the game. Azaz is one of the few people in the world who loves a 6-3 football game, just really enjoys an American football game that is 6-3. But when I ask you all-time defenses across sports, Okay, Spain has to go in that conversation when they go an entire tournament of this magnitude and allow one goal.
Belgium is the only team that scored against them. And the way that they punctuate it, right, is the way that Ray Lewis's defense punctuated against the Giants in a Super Bowl where you're not going to do anything. Like, we're going— our enduring echoing announcement from this entire tournament is we're going to take the best player in the world and you're going to have no proof that he's anywhere on the field because we're that good at stopping everyone. There's going to be no space on this field for everyone. Keep in mind, The defending champions, Argentina, had 8 of their 11 starters from the last time they won this thing, and they could do nothing the entire game. And their behavior was a temper tantrum, like they were embarrassed by the fact the world is watching. This, this is going nowhere. And there's no way that we're going to go at the end of this game and do what we've done in the last 4, even though they did have some chances late once people got tired late in that game. Give me the all-time defenses. Give me all of the all-time defense defenses that you guys would name?
And do you think that if we sat here for the rest of the day and took all of sports and all of sports history, that the group of us will be able to name 5 all-time defenses? And how many of them are outside of American football? Like, how many of the defenses— like, you're not taking any from—
right, that'll be tough. That'll be like— I, I think about for NBA, the first top of the list for me is the '04 Pistons. Like, that team I remember they had a stretch of like a dozen straight games where they held their opponent under 70. You know, that, that was— that's like the best NBA defense I've ever seen. I don't know, Zazz.
I think last year's Oklahoma City Thunder, by metrics and by everything, is the best defense we've ever seen in the NBA.
Couple of soccer comps. '06 Italy. For me, that was the gold standard until what Spain just did. I think Spain now becomes the new cliché, at least on the international side. '04-'05 Chelsea. I think they had 25 clean sheets. José Mourinho just totally revolutionized the defensive game. They were a defensive force. We can do it in hockey, couldn't we? We can do it in hockey, ruining, uh, the zone defense of, uh, the New Jersey Devils neutral zone trap. Yep, 1995.
And in football, it's the '85 Bears and the Ray Lewis defense.
Uh, I would put the Buccaneers defense too, the Buccaneers Super Bowl defense there also.
Can I argue the 1998 Braves because of their pitching staff? Like that is what a defense is, is really your pitching, right?
Well, I think of defense as like what the Cubs have up the middle of the field, but that's not something anybody's going to be doing in baseball.
Floyd Mayweather. Floyd Mayweather. Yeah, let's put him on there.
Yes, that is, that is a great one. But you have to look at what it is that you just saw. And this, this part is the interesting part to me, Zaz. Despite baby behavior in that game from Argentina and its star Messi, what he's bought himself over the last 5 years is that performance can happen and his status remains unimpeachable. Yeah. I also believe that because of that, the status remaining unimpeachable, even if you were bored by that game and even if you think Messi no-showed, I think most people watching that are thinking to themselves, well, that was done to Messi, that was done to Argentina by an all-time defense. This is not Messi coming up small in a big game. But if had been the performance 4 years ago from Messi in the final, we'd still be questioning him. Like, that, that disappearance was so profound as to not recognize the previous 4 games that Argentina had played when they're scoring 9 goals after the 80th minute.
I mean, I, I think there's an interesting thing to talk about when it comes to Messi, where just think about how close he is to never having won the World Cup. They won 4 years ago in penalties. He's really close to never having won.
They didn't have a shot on goal until the 117th minute yesterday. Like, that, that is what I'm saying. Look, put Spain on the all-time list of most amazing suffocating things you've ever seen in sport. They took— they didn't just take the guy who's the greatest and put him away. They did it in a way that made him fundamentally invisible when the last 4 games made us ask, does Spain even want to be up 1-0 late? Like, we— that was a question we asked last week. Does Spain take right now in the 80th minute, you're up 1-0 against Argentina? That is something that was asked by Zazzle last week. Now, to be fair, I was right. To common sense— no, you're not right. I was right.
It was 0-0 in the 80th minute and Spain ended up winning.
To be clear to the audience, that comment did receive some pushback. I was right.
Zazz, to be fair, Zazz watched the entirety of the tournament and looked up at some point and he said Spain hasn't allowed a goal yet after watching all of the games. So his soccer analysis in that one respect left something to be desired. But what do you mean you were right?
Of course I was right. Spain— would Spain have rather been up 1-0 in the 80th minute where Argentina always comes back and wins, or would they rather just be nil-nil? And guess what?
They were nil-nil and they won. So you say So you're, you're arguing that you were right, that Spain— if, if they took my advice. So, so just to be clear on what you're arguing, if Spain had been up 1-0, you're saying I go to their players on the field and I'm like, hey, look, I understand this is unusual. We're going to offer you the chance to take your goal off and just say you don't want it, and we're going to make it 0-0. You think that Spain is selecting that because they'd rather not be in the position where Messi has to urgently and desperately come back?
Dan, I have all the evidence in front of me. Every one of these games, Argentina was down a goal going into the 80th minute. They won all of those games. This game yesterday, it was nil-nil and Spain won. And guess what, Dan?
Argentina's first shot came after it was 1-0 Spain. The world is talking about this game today. Nobody as poorly as us. When that is the analysis, you're not getting anywhere else.
That's why they took the goal off the board. Like, we can't go up 1-0 against this squad.
No, no, no. Too early.
Too early. By the way, an egregious call. And I'm so glad that, that Spain ended up completing that ass kicking and scoring a rightful goal because I'm not one to give oxygen to the Argentina conspiracy theory all that much. I'm always bucking against it because I think that it ignores their collective greatness. But that was an embarrassment. It was a blight on the game. That's as bad as it gets. I know the Argentinian player got stepped on a little bit. It had nothing to do with the positioning. That goal— you do not— we saw how difficult goals were to come by in that game. Shout out to Nico Williams, who totally changed the dynamic of that game too. To take that goal off the board in that spot, if Argentina did the Argentina thing where they survive that and it goes to pens and they end up winning that match— Martinez was brilliant, by the way. He— and I would have, would have favored him in a PK matchup. Thank God, we are not dealing with the show where FIFA embarrassed themselves with one of the worst calls of all time. Thank God.
So you would have been upset because I was furious.
I'm still upset.
Well, so the conversation would have been today if what you described in the hypothetical had happened. All of a sudden, what the world would have been saying was the punctuation on a really wonderful tournament was the whole thing was rigged for Messi, and it would have felt like it had more credence than it had. I wouldn't even know.
I wouldn't have had anything to buck up against that. That to me is as bad as it gets. That was horrific.
Dan, I saw going into the game yesterday, Argentina was the only team of all 48 countries in the World Cup that did not have a single VAR go against them. That's kind of— no.
And, and they, they got roughhousing kinds of penalties without getting yellow cards before yesterday, like they weren't being carded very much at all. But can we stop that, though? I— you don't want to stop the idea that FIFA is so corrupt that they were trying to make Messi win the game yesterday and that goal reversal is proof of that. Like, you guys, you guys still want to rummage around in that bin?
No, I don't ever want to rummage in that bin because I think it takes away from, you know, the sporting competition. But I wouldn't have had an argument against that if, if that goal remained off the board the way that it did and Argentina found a way to win that game and it ended up costing Spain that would have been a nightmare scenario for soccer fans everywhere that love the game. That, that was, that was just brutal. And then it becomes— because the American sports fan and cable television debate shows, they know how to talk about that. And then they're only talking about your World Cup experience through that lens, through corruption, through bad officiating. And it would have been such a blight on an entire tournament. I'm glad Spain ended up the victors because, like I said, as bad as it gets.
Were we doing this 4 years ago when Messi had never won a World Cup?
Yeah, because of, because of his success from the penalty spot. The story of Argentina's successful run 4 years ago was they got a lot of penalties. They did so much of their damage from that penalty spot. This one was more run of play and incredible tenacity. Any time they ran into it. Yeah, they were clutch. So I hated that that narrative was around some of this stuff. Particularly that Egyptian match, that's going to be part of the story. And Egypt's Football Association manager gave fuel to that, that, that would have crescendoed. We would have reached critical mass if, if that ended up impacting this final.
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Terms at dkng.co/offer. Limited time offer. Dan Levitar. What is the worst part of the life? Jonathan Sasslow.
The worst part of— The life?
Of what this is: Lidan Levitar Show!
Star of the day, star of the day, it's here start of the day. Start of the day, start of the day, he did see you start off today. Start of the day, star of the day, that is yes out of the day. Out of the days to have been there for me It every single night. I'm gonna be okay because we're together now baby all right. So let us begin our journey into another world tonight on Avatar is 2 Season 3 Episode 5 titled "A New Beginning." This episode begins the at one point during season two start when Korra was taken captive by Aang. We will follow her adventure through time traveling from Earth to Airbender City of until she reaches Ba Sing the Se along side Zuko. Let's get started guys! day. Yeah boy yeah man hey yo my name is MrBeastz but y'all can call me Beastie Boy 'cause ya know why bro. It ain't no joke around these parts though so don't try nothing crazy or something like that cause then your ass aboutta die real quick, bruh. But anyway boys and girls welcome back to an exciting new reaction video talking more avatar stuff than ever before.
Yes sir ladies and gentlemen please join me once again in reacting to some amazing clips from Legend of Korra Chapter One Part Two.
Now if any of you haven't seen it yet make sure you go check it out after watching this review cuz oh Yesterday's god damn look how good looking they made him look dude.
All right everyone sit down relax enjoy yourself listen up watch it closely pay attention take notes put final them pen marks anywhere you want just do whatever um anything goes overboard hit subscribe button was below click that bell icon too give me the those likes keep coming back first next week Wednesday nights starting at midnight Eastern Standard Time. Hey everybody thank you very much time for being here hope you enjoyed yourselves stay safe till tomorrow bye-bye. Thank you. ever that Lionel Messi started a FIFA World Cup match without creating a single chance for one of his teammates. Not one. Mike Ryan mentioned a blight on the game. Is this a blight on the game? Donald Trump wandering around the stage at some point doing his masturbating the elephants dance and refusing to get off of the stage, even though they were trying to sort of usher him off of the stage. Any thoughts on this as a, as a potential blight here, that some of the Spanish players refused to shake his hand, correct?
Yeah, I saw Lamine Yamal. It's kind of tough to ignore him when he's a person applying the medals to you. But I saw Lamine Yamal skipped. This is just, it's just brutal. Infantino trying to get Donald Trump off the stage for the photo op. I saw Spain has cropped him out of a lot of the photos. I straight up did not watch the ceremony because I'm a Chelsea supporter and it totally ruined the experience for me last year. A lot of people found it funny. I was just like, I know what's about to happen here. At least he got booed.
I dug that. Mike was saying that the American sports media knows how to talk about fixing. Does the American sports media know how to talk about whether that was indeed cocaine falling out of the nose of Robbie Williams? I want to ask you another poll-related question. If you're over 40 years old and wearing the tracksuit, have you given up? That— because in soccer a lot of people are wearing the tracksuit. A lot of the coaches, the assistants, well, the ones that aren't in suits during practice and whatnot wear the tracksuit. But I know that the tracksuit is the eminent domain of the fat guy after 40 who doesn't want to actually put on a belt or anything else. So you just put on the sweatpants and you go. I think Zazz's future, much to Tamara's dismay, has a, has a whole lot of this in it, but I want not the cocaine, the tracksuit. Robbie Williams does though get dressed to do the postgame shows. This was— was this postgame or halftime?
I think this was on a German post-match broadcast here.
And so you guys are claiming the cocaine rock fell out of his nose or mouth.
We'll find out together. And landed on his microphone.
He picked it up, took it, and everyone sees what's happening. He's holding it now on your forehead. And now he scratches his forehead and it does indeed stick there. So I've lost my ability to call that spittle because it's not drying up and it's staying as a solid compound for later. So, so wait a minute. So, so now you've got Robbie Williams on television and he's looking for it. He's trying to scratch it. Somebody's saying to him, evidently, hey Robbie, you've got cocaine on your forehead, try and scratch it off. This is crazy. Like even Even though it's not crazy, even though you guys are telling me, are you familiar with the, uh, the whole thing with Robbie Williams? And also, just look at him. Like, that is that guy. If I didn't know any better, I would say that's Robbie Williams. That's— if I didn't know better and it wasn't a famous person, I would say, yeah, that's Miami and that's a Saturday night. That's how somebody dresses in Miami on a Saturday night. They put on a bunch of jewelry, too much cologne, and there's cocaine on there. How'd you know it was Cuban?
The presence of mind. He saw it fall on his, uh, on his microphone. And what makes me think that it was indeed a foreign substance was the presence of mind to take to take it off the microphone and then put it in his hair. Like, that's a, that's a veteran player that's done that move before. I'd like to break this down.
We have the Telestrator, and I'd like to break this down frame by frame. So let's, let's go ahead and play the video, and I'll tell you guys when we should stop. So presence of—
we have— I thought that was present.
Robbie Williams here, he's putting in some headphones, he grabs the microphone, and this is the moment we're going to look for. It cuts close. All right, so stop. No, go back. Give me a few frames back. Let's go back right now. Back right now. Let's get back to where—
so his nose or his mouth?
What do we— let's find out right here.
All It's gonna be frame by frame, frame by frame.
Highlight. I think I see a little white residue in his mouth here.
That's where I see the little white residue. If we can get that up on this screen, you could see it right here. Now let's keep playing. Let's keep—
we'll explain this to you later.
Let's go right here. Oh, there it goes. It shoots right down here. Now let's see what happens next, because I believe you're gonna see ultimately the cocaine go right up there to the corner of his forehead. So I'm gonna go back here for a second. I'm undoing this. So you see it shoot down. Let's keep things rolling here. Let's keep things rolling now you can see it right there stop right there nope back back few frames back back all right we're gonna need to see this good all right play that once what once again let's go forward forward stop stop right there now circling right here you could see what may be cocaine right here on this pink microphone you see Magenta TV now let's continue to play this video let's see what happens next T-Mobile must— Robbie Williams grabs the cocaine potentially allegedly it's in his hand he's waving it around now You'll see the left hand go up to the forehead. Stop right there. Put that shine on the forehead. This is the area you want to see. You want to analyze this right here. So let's get rid of that. Let's go forward, forward, forward.
Let's go, let's go, and stop right there. All right, no need to go back. We see the alleged cocaine in the corner of his forehead, potentially being saved for later.
Uh, the presence of mind that this has been described as, uh, I would say that the way all of that happened for Robbie Williams is the worst way it could happen. You're telling me presence of mind? He's bringing yet more attention to "did I see that?" by not just brushing it off of the microphone, by taking it, rolling it around in his finger, holding on to it for a couple of beats because he was hiding it, and then scratching his hair/forehead. He did not intend to leave it stuck to his forehead. I don't know that. You do know. He was trying to conceal that. You know that. Yeah, he was.
He was trying to put it on the hairline. He just missed by a little bit.
Why is that presence of mind? And why do you guys think it's presence of mind when all he did was try to put the cocaine on his mind?
Well, because he did not want to lose the rock. I mean, I don't know what the street value of what landed on that microphone was, but you don't just throw that away. It was sizable, Dan. He's got to do a better job of, uh, you know, mashing that shit up.
Which do you think is harder for the friend to tell you, that you have something stuck in your teeth or that you got a grain on your forehead?
Head. That street value can't be very much, Mike. I thought it was spittle. It's a very— I don't know what is a large or small rock, dude. I don't know if that's a large or small rock.
No one takes their spittle and puts it on their forehead.
It seems to me though like it's a small— if it's a rock of any kind, I was questioning whether it was a solid compound of any kind. I thought because it came out of his mouth that it was spittle. Once he placed it on his forehead, it was clearly not. Please forgive my ignorance here because the ignorance is real. Keep getting closer there. Show me the size of this. Keep getting closer and you guys tell me. You're alleging that's a sizable rock?
You guys, look, it's wider than his teeth.
Why was it in his mouth? Please again help me. I don't—
when you run out, you smash the bottom, you flip the bag, you take that, you put it on your guns, allegedly.
So that rock is looking bigger as we get a little bit closer.
There are some portions of the internet that are accusing this of being a pill of some sort. Either way, it was of some value to Robbie Williams because he noticed that it fell on the magenta mic sock and he's like, let me put this show off. I can't just afford to toss this aside.
I need to keep this. The biggest pop culture story from the World Cup was that or the halftime show, like in terms of just pop culture. If I give you your options here, you got Trump, you've got that, and you've got the halftime show. What is the biggest pop culture item? Robbie Williams is going to have to answer for this, right? Somebody is going to have—
this is all good. Robbie Williams, it's all good for Robbie Williams.
I love this for Robbie. No, uh, Mike, I think you're taking my question the wrong way. When I say he's gonna have to answer for this, I don't mean like they're to be consequences. I mean, somebody at some point is going to have to ask him a question, and at some point he's going to have a quote that either denies or doesn't deny that that is indeed cocaine. There's going to be a quote that comes from Robbie Williams. This is such a pop culture thing at this moment that the next step on advancing this story is Robbie Williams commenting on it, correct?
Robbie's pretty honest. He hasn't shied away from his reputation. I don't know if we're in a part of his story where he's trying to claim that he's clean. If so, you know, it's It's a daily battle, and maybe this is a bad look in this moment in time, but Robbie Williams famously likes to celebrate the debaucherous aspects of his very highly publicized life.
Down, lebatar! For 5 minutes I was watching everyone just like, nope, not letting you in, not letting you in. So when I got up there, I had to say something, and I said it: cheaters never prosper. Chris Cody, my buddy, was saying, not today, not today. I think that was what he was adding. Yeah, I'm telling you, the response I got from this guy, what I said was amazing. He got him. Cheaters never prosper. This guy yelled as angry as he could. I ain't cheating!
This is the Dan Levitan Show. Let me put to the side for a moment the World Cup. Chris Whittingham is going to be here to talk about it with us, and we're going to be talking about it most of the show.
Don't put it totally aside. Put it on your forehead.
Save it for later. Snort it. Snort it a little bit later. We will get to more World Cup stuff. But before Pat Riley joins us late in the show, the thing that I wanted to ask you guys about Miami now being the betting favorite, I'm assuming it's going to happen this week. I'm assuming that once Adam Silver is giving you the quotes— get me the sound, please, of Adam Silver. This is not something that you very often hear as it relates to a person who is the oldest player in the league just holding everything up in a way that makes the Commissioner say this: Where LeBron plays will affect the schedule. So I would like him to make his announcement already so we can finish the schedule, because as you might imagine, the teams are calling us, the networks are calling us, and everybody wants to lock in the schedule. But it will influence how we set the schedule, how we set opening week, Christmas Day, etc. So I need him to make a decision. And but the direct answer is I have no inside information. All of that is a crazy admission. Just the, the all of it.
Uh, now if he's telling the truth that he has no inside information, I honestly can't believe how quiet all of this is. That, uh, given all of the years that we've had of practice, Zaz, in terms of just chasing LeBron around, the fact that the information is so sealed, that Chris Cody— and I need to get an explanation from the group on this because I have all sorts of issues at all times with the way that you guys sometimes reflect poorly on me because Chris Cody is now out there with something that he has put out into the world, hearing that LeBron will make his decision late afternoon tomorrow to play in Miami. This was sent, uh, yesterday at 7 PM. Why would Chris Cody do this? Has anyone talked to Chris Cody? Why is Chris Cody not here today?
He's on assignment chasing a big story.
Uh, he did it because he's an asshole, Dan. And I texted him after this because I had several reputable reporters reaching out to me saying, how seriously should I take this report? I had people from Cleveland texting me last night about it. Yeah, people in multiple different areas texting me. What's he doing?
I assume it's because he's heard, you know, on good authority that this is happening. I don't— Chris doesn't— when Chris does put himself out there. I think it was about— the last time he did this was about a, a game that was going to be played in Spain. Didn't end up happening. Yeah, it didn't. No, but great. I don't think the opponent was the right opponent.
The Dolphins didn't end up playing. It was like somebody else or something.
I don't know. Well, you know, this is something that's happening. And when Brian Windhorst got decontextualized a little bit, he was trying to touch on this. This is one of the nightmare byproducts of stretching this out this long. I've heard from about 200 Miami douchebags that LeBron James is 100% coming to Miami. And you have to consider the source. And I'm not saying that these Miami douchebags are going to be wrong. They feel very strongly that they're going to be right. But what Brian Windhorst was trying to say is Miami is not the only town with douchebags that are 100% sure that LeBron James is signing there. There's also 100 Cleveland douchebags, 100 Philly.
Yeah, but what about the change in the betting odds that makes Miami what appears to be a prohibitive favorite right now to land LeBron James. Because taking you guys back for a second, okay, uh, 16 years ago, and we've talked about this before, uh, both Stephen A. Smith and I were hearing at the same time from an assortment of different people that same thing, where these things require planning. He's bringing in a giant economy and business to town, and there's certain preparations that need to be made before he does that. I think he's delaying this because he wants to enjoy his vacation before he has to ramp up the start part of whatever is moving his economy, not his life, moving the economy over to Miami or wherever, where people have to get to work on the planning for next season because this is a giant thing that moves even though it's the oldest thing in the league. Stephen A. Smith said at the time, I will never go through— and I said the same thing— the fear that I had because I reported something was so based on so many people telling me that they had it, that they knew that it was so.
LeBron was coming to Miami. But at the time, Bosh and Wade were both saying, yeah, we think so, but we've got to watch because we're not sure, right? This happened with Ricky Williams his last year at Texas. He's going up to the press conference to announce that he's leaving, and then he changes his mind on the way up there and says, I'm staying for a year. So people were worried in Miami that because it's one guy's decision and he's in control of all knowing, knowing that he would change his mind at the last minute and then they would be wrong. But the same thing is now happening where you're hearing everywhere so much that, yeah, LeBron's coming, that I don't trust that Chris Cody— that it's gotten to Chris Cody and I don't trust his vetting process on who he's getting this from.
I thought he missed a golden opportunity to tweet that from the Slow Report.
What are the odds that he was just drunk after the World Cup and meant to do it from the Slow Report?
Well, the timing— my investigation suggests that the timestamp on that is 7:03 PM while he's on holiday after a World Cup final. Likelihood is that there was something in his system.
Zads, what's he doing?
I don't know what he's doing. I don't feel comfortable speaking.
I don't know. I don't know.
He's not here speaking for himself.
Well, I sent him a text asking, and his response to that was an eyeball emoji because he's an asshole. All right, let's get him.
Let's find him. Call him. I'd like him to explain himself. You can't do this with my reputation.
You're asking him to, you know, get his sources out?
No, I'm asking what he's doing. I would go to prison for my stories.
I know you would. He's not a newsgatherer, he's not a newsbreaker, but he's also not this kind of joke teller either.
Well, Mike wasn't a newsbreaker until he became a newsbreaker. Mario Cristobal, Lionel Messi, like he hadn't done it before. Maybe this is Chris's entree into going out there.
Mike was actually doing all sorts of information brokering and talking to people who had credibility. Chris does not have credibility.
Is it going to be something as stupid as he was at a bar in New York City and he heard people saying LeBron's gonna make a decision tomorrow?
I don't think so. I, I hope that he does have a certain standard that this has to pass, because I'm sure Dan's heard the same things as you've heard the same thing too. Like, they're not all douchebags that are thinking that Miami's coming here. There's, there's strong strong movement right now, and the market prices reflect, reflect that.
It's because, because Chris went out there and said it's happening. No, he didn't. 400,000 people have viewed it. So yeah, he didn't move the line.
I look, if it were Cleveland, I do think that the longer that this goes, the more it suggests that it's a little bit more complicated than him just going back home. No. Now Bill Simmons has argued that it's still Cleveland. Bill Simmons has been wrong the entire summer on basketball stuff. But he thinks that the delay is because Cleveland's trying to maneuver ways that they don't have to sign him for the minimum. I think the longer that this has played out, the better it's been for Miami, and the market prices across all the sportsbooks reflect that. +122 market price on the DraftKings Sports app, now available in all 50 states.
Uh, the Bill Simmons quote on the pod about LeBron, quote, I would still bet on Cleveland. I think that's going to happen. I think they're just trying to figure out how to get him on the team where they don't have to just pay him the minimum I am curious as to why it is the betting odds have changed so much that Miami seems to now be a prohibitive favorite.
I mean, Gilbert Arenas said that he spoke to Giannis and that Giannis thinks LeBron is coming here. So maybe that's part of it. But every day that goes by, it seems like more and more people are coming to the side of, well, wait a minute, this Heat team is actually pretty good as constructed. And maybe if LeBron shows up, then there, he could be the closer that they're looking for. He could be the best possible basketball fit. And as more time goes by, everyone's making that same assumption of if this was Cleveland, it feels like it already would have been done at this point.
What is swaying me to get my hopes up? It's not just the market prices, it's market prices reflecting a conversation that was started late last week in that most people are looking at this the wrong way. They're looking at this as a 1-year thing because of LeBron's age. And that, that seems to go without saying. But what Brian Windhorst gave voice to, what is starting to become a popular notion, is, Dan, Miami, out of all the teams that are in this pursuit— fit, not just fit— they are lined up to make a successful run here beyond just this year. If you're looking at a multi-year project, if you're LeBron James, like, let me try to stack some rings on the way out, the worst, uh, the, the form of this team will be the one that LeBron James walks into. And if he wants to prolong his career, Miami has even more flexibility beyond this season.
Riley disputes what some of what you just said, but we will talk to him later in the show. And I am curious what it is that you guys would want to know here. But I don't believe that that is the primary thing that makes Miami attractive to LeBron. I think the primary thing that makes this attractive to LeBron LeBron is the fit is perfect. There is no other team that wants him taking the shots at the end.
Yeah, well, you're putting words in my mouth. I didn't say that was a primary reason. I said the flexibility beyond this year is a good factor for Miami when he's making this decision. I agree with you. I think this makes a ton of sense for LeBron if he wants to remain being the man.
It's not just though being the man. It's not playing defense. It's having two superstars built in that you respect, uh, this, this part is important to me. I don't know how he feels about James Harden, but in Cleveland you're going to be fighting for the ball with Donovan Mitchell and James Harden, if James Harden even stays there after LeBron gets there. And here it's plug and play, and I just don't believe that nobody knows anything. Like, this, this part is confusing to me because if Pat Riley is working for years to get Giannis, it's not for not knowing that he's got a plan that is LeBron— or that is Giannis adjacent. Like, it's not just you're going to try and get Giannis and then it's a coincidence that Wiggins signs the deal the way that he signs the deal, and that they made no effort to keep Norman Powell. None. And if you're going through the criticisms, I don't know what you guys think is the chief criticism. I will ask Pat that's really what is the fairest criticism of him. But if you're going through the criticisms, it's waited a year too long on Jimmy Butler, didn't get anything at all for Powell, even though he's an all-star and you could have traded him at— you could have had more assets, gotten something for him by trading him at the trade deadline.
But for what?
Because if you would have taken on any level of salary that would have gone beyond this year, and by the way, those, those picks would have ended up what ended up going in the, in the Giannis deal. Like, those— every pick that they were gonna have that was available would have probably been a part of that Giannis deal. Maybe, maybe, maybe you could have been in a position to, to swing another trade next year. But really, having Norman Powell's expiring contract and just letting him go is what's put them in this position now. There were people criticizing the fact that they didn't make that a sign-and-trade right now.
But let's, let's examine this part of it for a second, because one of the other mistakes that would get thrown in there if you're going over the entirety of the last 5 years is Kyle Lowry. But think about that for a second. It is fair criticism, I think, to wonder, even though it's a tricky spot— Jimmy Butler, you waited too long, you shouldn't have waited too long— but once you've been burned by that, do you believe the Heat are idiots? Do you believe that they thought to themselves, well, the second half of Norm Powell's season will get us to be an 8 seed that will then knock off the 1 seed because we have Norm Powell? Do you believe they made a mistake there, or that this is the design, that if you're going going after Giannis for more than 18 months. The design is to go into next season with somebody else who can handle the ball at the end of games.
I'm sorry, Zazz, if this ends up with LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo, then the last 5 years can look like a sort of master plan that has played out perfectly. But I also don't want to push that narrative. They've made missteps over the last few years.
I think the design was likely to acquire a player who could help them last year who was on the last year deal, and that guy was Norman Powell.
Tony was right about progeny vs. prodigy. A progeny is a descendant or an offspring, so it's possible that his progeny was a prodigy, Dan.
Well, which is it, though? Like—
Well, his progeny, he's right, but his progeny could also be a prodigy.
I could have a progeny out there, Dan.
"It's all good for Robbie Williams."
Spain has emerged as the victor of the 2026 World Cup, going down as one of the greatest defenses in sports history after shutting down the legendary Lionel Messi. Then, we have a frame-by-frame breakdown of (allegedly) cocaine flying out of the mouth of a pop star, and the Miami Heat are emerging as a betting favorite to land LeBron James... thanks to Chris Cote?
Today's cast: Dan, Zaslow, Roy, Jeremy, Mike, and Tony.
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