Transcript of NFL Week 4 Fantasy Football Picks with Matthew Berry | Hour 2

You are listening to the Dan Levitan Show in partnership with the DraftKings Sports app, now live in all 50 states.

So the NFL week gets started last night with the Browns knocking off the Steelers. It means that we got a lot of fantasy football. To make sure we're aware of what's happening, let's allow Matthew Berry to make us smarter. Matthew Berry.

Matthew Berry.

Matthew Berry. Matthew Berry! Matthew Berry!

Matthew's fantasy picks are delivered by Little Caesars, the official pizza sponsor of the NFL. Right now, score 2 faves just for you with Detroit-style slices and sticks for just $4.99. Only at Little Caesars. Officially delicious, Matthew.

I believe you. I believe you. I don't think you're telling any lies. Uh, any lies. Let's dive right in right there. Through 3 weeks, there's only 2 quarterbacks in the NFL that are top 5 positionally in both rushing yards per game and top 10 in passing yards per game. They're Josh Allen and Brock Purdy. By the way, Purdy has scored at least 21 fantasy points in every game he's played this season. He's my MVP through 3 games. Just saying, through 3 games. By the way, no quarterback has been intercepted more than— has more interceptions than Drake Maye. He's been pressured on over 42% of his dropbacks through 3 weeks. Drake Maye is currently quarterback 33 on a points-per-game basis. Point of fact, there are only 32 NFL teams. Among quarterbacks that have played at least 8 games since the start of last season, Marcus Mariota ranks 12th in fantasy points per dropback this week. This week he's going to face a Colts team that's allowing almost 22 fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks, and they are bottom 3 in pass defense. Gimme Mariota as a streamer this week. Average— after Travis Achane left the game last week, Alvin Kamara, believe it or not, led the Saints backfield with with a 50% snap rate.

Kendre Miller just at 30%. CJ Donaldson was at 23%. This is going to be a committee with Etienne out. It's been a committee all year long. So far this season, no running back, literally no running back has rushed for more than 47 yards against the Vikings. In Week 4, Minnesota faces the Dolphins. Ollie Gordon has 90 career rush attempts. He's averaging 2.7 yards per carry. That running back that you spent all your fab money or used your number 1 waiver pick on, he's going to struggle this week. As the Dolphins are currently, uh, double-digit underdogs to the Vikings. In Week 3, Zay Flowers had a 29% snap rate. He ran just 14 routes, and yet he was targeted on 43% of those 14 routes. He finished with a 30% target share. So far this season, Zay Flowers has scored 41 fantasy points on just 37 offensive snaps. He's averaging over 19 yards per target. Zay Flowers is the truth. Hey, by the way, in his first game back last week, Brock Bowers saw a 43% target share for his game in which, for his career in games in which Bowers sees at least a 25% target share, he's averaged basically 20 fantasy points per game.

Bowers is a first-round pick if we were redrafting today. And in 13 career games, speaking of tight ends, in 13 career games with Michael Penix, Kyle Pitts is averaging just a 16% target share. He's averaging just 34 receiving yards with Penix under center. He scored double-digit fantasy points only 4 times. in those 13 career games. For some reason, Penix and cowpits just do not mesh.

Matthew, the Jaguars play the Bengals this weekend. Who's going to be a better fantasy quarterback the rest of the season, Lawrence or Burrow?

I still prefer Burrow, but it's really close. And the fact that this is even a question just tells you how far Trevor Lawrence has come. Like, he's using his legs a little bit more. Parker Wash— speaking of the truth, Parker Washington is all sorts of legit. Jacoby Myers, like, no one ever gives Jacoby Myers any respect whatsoever, But all he's ever done, whether it's New England, Las Vegas, or now Jacksonville, is earn targets as well. Brian Thomas Jr. has struggled 'cause he's just been facing elite corner after elite corner after elite corner, and he's got DJ Turner this week. But yeah, I think it's super close. I think both guys are, you know, top 6 fantasy quarterbacks the rest of the way easily.

What do, what do we do about Drake Maye? Is, is he a disaster for fantasy owners?

Yeah, I mean, like you just heard me talk about it, right? I mean, the, the fact is, is that he's being pressured a ton. They miss AJ Brown. They're not—

he's—

they're calling a bunch of designed runs and still he's not getting there. Feels like, just candidly, feels like he's got the yips. So what I'm doing with Drake Maye is I am not dropping him, but I am benching him. I don't like him this week against Buffalo. What you're hoping for, if you have to start him, and what you're hoping for is that, you know, that they get down and that it's a positive game script that they're just throwing a ton at Drake Maye. But it just feels like he— the offensive line isn't helping him. Romeo Doubs and the receiving corps isn't helping him. And he's, he hasn't played well. I mean, just be honest. So again, I think there's upside there, but I'm, so I'm not dropping him, but I am looking for someone else. Tyler Schuch, you heard me mention Marcus Mariota as a streamer this week. Yeah, I think we need to see it before we're willing to put him back in our fantasy lineups in a, in a normal 10 or 12 team, one quarterback league.

Matthew, I generally balk at MVP talk 3 weeks in, but in fantasy terms, you said Brock Purdy keeping up with Josh Allen. Would you rather have Brock Purdy at this point for the rest of the season than Josh Allen?

No, I mean, that's silly. Um, I mean, because, I mean, listen, Brock Purdy's amazing and he's been a, he's been a huge value. Brock Purdy, since he became the starter on a points-per-game basis, is a top 6 quarterback in fantasy football on a points-per-game basis. I just, he's an elite fantasy quarterback, Dave, and no one thinks about him like that. You know, Josh Allen's a no-brainer. No, I mean, Josh Allen's the number 1 quarterback in fantasy, rightfully so, should be always. If I was re-ranking today for the rest of the season, Josh Allen's still my number 1 fantasy quarterback. So I'd still rather have Josh. But I just, I brought up the Brock Purdy thing just because he's an elite fantasy quarterback and just no one thinks of him in that way. He's, they don't think of him in the same way that they think of Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson or, you know, even Joe Burrow. And I think he's in that, he's in that category.

Tony, let's get one more in for Matthew. What do you got?

Matthew, the trends that we look at in fantasy, obviously that is your job. That's what you guys do so great at Fantasy Life. We're looking at The possibility of tight ends outscoring lower-end wide receivers. Is it sharp to go double tight end, almost triple tight end setup in your lineups if you got multiple flex positions?

Yeah, I mean, I think it depends. It's, it, it's, it's not out of the question. It's one of those, it's like, who do you have, right? I mean, it just depends on which— if, if one of those tight ends is Kyle Pitts, no. If one of those tight ends is like Juwan Johnson, yeah, maybe, right? I mean, like, you know, is one of those tight ends Isaiah Likely? Like, Did you, you know, do you have George Kittle and Isaiah Likely, which you easily could have based on the way drafts went, right? You could have gotten those 2 guys late, then absolutely. Just sort of depends on who you have there. But it's, it's to your— the point of your question though is like, I think previously people were like, what are you doing? You can't start multiple tight ends. You know, you can't start a tight end in a flex position. And I would agree with you this year. I think depending if you have the right people, you can.

Matthew, excellent job as always. You You made us smarter. We'll talk to you next week.

Appreciate you guys, as always. Thanks. Come check out the show on Roku.

Matthew Barry. Matthew Barry. Matthew Barry! What a feeling it is when you, you wake up Monday morning, or maybe Tuesday morning, depending on if you had anybody play Monday night, and you won your fantasy football for the week. It just gets you.

It just gets the wheels turning.

Look over at your phone, you're like, ah, yes. You open up the app, you're like, oh yeah.

You then look at the standings. You want to see how it looks when you're in this place now. Like, it's— that's— it's a great feeling.

Hell yeah, man.

So we're gonna— I guess I hope we're gonna find out sometime this afternoon about Sasha Barkov. He's getting an MRI today, and that's— that's gonna determine my mood for the next 8 months, right? That's— that's what we're learning today. Why do we do this to ourselves with sports, right? Like, why— why is some guy who I don't know— I mean, I know him, but I don't know him—

why is—

why is some guy who I don't know whether or not he's got a boo-boo knee That's gonna affect the way that I live my life for the next 8 months.

Because you're a sicko.

It's so stupid.

You were catatonic in the backyard of your place the other day.

It's so stupid. Like, why do I do that to myself?

Exactly. I hate those New Year's resolutions.

What about it though? Roy, what's the answer to this? Are the Panthers' Cup hopes doomed if Barkoff is out for the season?

Well, it's significantly diminished. Yes.

Yes.

I get it. But I mean, do you think that that closes the book on their chance of making a long playoff run?

Yes, yes.

Well, maybe they'll get to the second round, but, uh—

I'm not here for second round! Look at me!

They didn't even make the playoffs last season!

You think I'm here for winning a playoff series? You think that's what I'm about? You think second round and done? You think I need that shit in my life? That's not what I'm here for!

You didn't move your family to Philadelphia to get out in the second round.

I didn't end my family vacation in North Carolina Drive on home to make it back in time to lose in the second round? What are we talking about here? Alright, everybody calm down.

Alright.

Speaking of hockey, oh my God, last night, Roy, last night, who were the Devils playing, Roy?

Philadelphia.

Okay, so this is, I guess, after the first intermission, and so you must have saw this, right, Dave? And so ESPN, they have the game, and they're gonna talk to Jack Hughes. All right, star player for the Devils who, who you may remember last year missed some time because he like cut off his hand, right? Am I remembering it right?

Yeah, during a team dinner.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, like he like cut off his hand.

Damn boo-boo.

But he's back. He's okay now.

I'm sure he has a sense of humor about it.

And so after the period, he's doing the on-ice interview with ESPN's AJ Malesko, and she tried to, you know, let's lighten up the situation a little bit. Here it is.

We have 40 minutes to go, so we gotta keep working at it.

Well, it's great to see you healthy. Let's wrap you in bubble wrap and use plastic cutlery this year.

Does that sound good? I mean, I think that's a weird joke, big game, but—

And he awkwardly skates away.

Skates off.

Uh, odd joke, big game.

Bit of an airball there from AJ. Uh, I, I— it's poor judgment, right? David, is there any other way to describe it?

Little plastic utensils, huh? Because you cut— because you cut your hand off last season.

Yeah, you cut off your hand and you missed a little bit of time.

So when you say cut off his hand, What do you mean by that?

Exactly that.

Like, like, like at the wrist, you know, your hand—

no, your hand grow— hands grow back.

No, like a lizard's tail. I know, but like, it's like I cut my hand with the barbecue, uh, thing, and that one time in the Keys, you could see the cut right there still.

Damn.

But it wasn't like— was it from the, from the middle of the hand off? Was it fingers off?

I wasn't with him. I don't know.

But you know about the sport. You know about the story.

Yeah, I do. You don't know anything?

No, I don't know. All right, let's get a real hockey—

I believe it was a finger. A finger off?

Come on.

Glue that back on. Put it in milk. That's a weird joke mid-game.

It seems to be a pinky injury.

No, he's fine.

I'm seeing here like his hand wrapped last season.

Out for the rest of the season that year.

Ronnie Lott cut off his finger mid-game, Dave Damaschek.

Tell these guys. That's true, but that's only 3rd at best in football history among cutting-related stories. I think it's a dead heat for number 1 spot. 1, When Jack Del Rio put the stump of wood in the Jags locker room to keep chopping wood, and then the punter, as a joke, tried to swing the ax to keep chopping wood and instead just about cut off his leg. That's a very funny story. Or is it when Jackie Sherrill went down to Mississippi State and to inspire his team in advance of a game against mighty Texas and the Longhorns, he had a bull presented at the practice field for Mississippi State players, and they cut off the balls of the bull somehow to inspire them. Which is the greater cut story?

I got a Paul Pierce story that you might be interested in. Oh, wait a minute.

Oh, fuck me.

And if you know, you know. Just look it up online. He got cut a couple times.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, in the cheek. Yeah. Down, Le Batard!

I think when he goes on tour—

I shoot you! He gets like Michael Jackson-level reactions. Really?

He gets Michael Jackson-level reactions?

Yes.

Michael Jackson!

Yes.

The King of Pop! Yes, he does. Michael Jackson!

Yeah, Michael Jackson.

There's Michael Jackson and there's I Show Speed. Similar response!

Similar response.

Similar crowd reactions! You don't know both.

You don't know both.

Michael Jackson, I Show Speed. Okay.

Jonathan Sassolo. You sound— you sound like an embarrassing person.

Okay, you sound old.

You sound old as shit. This is the Dan Levitan Show.

So there was big NBA news last night, and it's, it's funny because the timing-wise, because we talked about this yesterday here, where Jalen Durnan has been a holdout. You don't normally get that in the NBA. He's been a holdout. He didn't report to camp, but he's reporting now because last night the Pistons big man agreed to a 5-year, $200 million contract. And there was a deadline, of course, whether you know, he wasn't happy about the offer. He could sign the qualifying offer, which would have been $9 million, and then become an unrestricted free agent next year. And that would have been insane, to sign for $9 million when you could also just sign for $200 million. And he's been insulted with the process apparently and wanted the max, which I think would have been like something like $280 million, you know. But here's the thing, players bet on themselves all the time, right? I'm not gonna sign that deal because I'm gonna bet on myself. I think I could I can do better. I'm gonna have a really great season. And oh, nice, bet on himself and he won. So now he gets the huge deal.

Well, it also works the opposite way. And Jalen Duren was awful in the postseason last year. Like Wendell Carter taking his lunch money on a nightly basis in that first-round series. He was terrible. And so if you want to look at it that way, he lost that bet. And the punishment for losing that bet was being offered $200 million. So it was always insane for him to have a problem with that contract. But here's the thing. So he agreed to the deal yesterday, and seemingly that saga's over. I'm not so sure about that. Like, I'm— I don't feel good about— like, the Pistons will tell you they feel good about it. I don't feel great about it if I'm the Pistons, because in a contract year, He was horrendous in the playoffs, and you would think, okay, like, I'm gonna be awesome. And it's not just that, oh, he wasn't making shots or whatever it was. He looked like a different player. He looked like a guy who does not perform under the lights. He looked like he wasn't ready for any of this.

And against your ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend, right, at the current moment, right?

And she's posting on Instagram and then the whole deal. All right, you would think in that spot you're gonna get the best possible performance out of a player who wants the bag.

Right?

That's what the kids say, right? Juju wants the bag.

Yes, sir.

Yeah, you're gonna get the best performance from a player who wants that bag. You got the worst performance. Well, now he just got $200 million. Do you feel like you're gonna continue to get the best performance? Because to me, that could be— could be, you don't know— it could be the type of scenario where the player treats it like a destination as opposed to the start of the journey. Like, I I don't love this deal with the way that everything has gone down over the last few months.

Yeah, it's not gonna be a Tuesday night in Milwaukee where you can hide behind League Pass and nobody's watching your games. When the moment steps up and it's like, all right, Pistons-Knicks in the playoffs, you ready to play against all the big boys that the Knicks got? And it's like, nah, not really. Like, you pay guys $200 million to perform in those spots. The fact that he hasn't shown that track record, only doing it in January and February when nobody cares and nobody's watching, Like, that's an issue for me.

Yeah, yeah, I don't, I don't love the deal. So I wanted to bring this story up yesterday, we didn't get to it. When you're flying with someone, maybe it's a friend, if you could afford first class, how does that conversation go with the friend? Because maybe the friend can't afford it. Like, should you maybe then just get a pair of coach tickets and, you know, you sit together, or Like, what do you do? Do you guilt them into spending, splurging a little bit and sitting up there with you in first class? And I bring this up because there was a clip that went viral a couple of days ago. Savannah James, the lovely wife of LeBron James, she has a friend, a close friend/business partner, and they were doing some type of interview, some type of promotion, what have you. And it came up in the conversation, Dave Damashek, that when they fly, Savannah, of course, sits first class, of course, but the friend/business partner sits coach because, as she explained, that's out of her budget. Like, that's not in her price range, which of course is very understandable, all right? But it's also understandable, it's very much in Savannah James's budget.

to only sit first class. Very, very understanding of that. What I don't understand is, and this is just me, maybe, I don't know, if I had real money, I want to— I want to share with my friends. I don't wanna give my friends money. That's, that's, that's not gonna end well. But I want to share experiences with my friend. And so if we're doing fun stuff, Part of the fun for me is that they're with me and we're doing these things together. Like, I want to share the fun with my friend, and that would include getting my friend the first-class tickets so they can sit with me. Now, I'm not saying, Juju, that Savannah should be paying for the round-trip ticket for this friend, but maybe pay the upcharge there to get her next to you in first class, right?

Zagaki, at least bare minimum. Hey sis, you sitting in coach?

Yeah.

How much to upgrade? $150? $200?

Yeah.

I'm playing with a B, which is a billion dollars. That's a lot of damn money.

Yeah.

Yeah.

She can cover that.

Like, Dave, am I— I would feel weird, Dave, if I'm sitting in first class and my friend is in coach.

I agree with you. And you just mentioned Jalen Duren's holdout. And I feel like that's what the friend is kind of sort of doing here. Like, I'm gonna sit in first class, Savannah says. The friend says like, okay, great. I mean, that's terrific. I mean, I can't really afford that, so I'll be in coach. She is baiting Savannah to say, oh, I'll upgrade you.

Oh, you think she wants her to?

That's my read on the situation. And she knows, like you just said, it's easy for us to spend other people's money, but clearly Savannah James is not very rich. She's grotesquely wealthy. And so obviously she can throw an extra $500 or $1,000 or whatever it is to upgrade her pal. And that the other side, the devil's damoshek of it is though, like, I don't really like talking to anybody on the airplane, including my significant other or anyone else. It just feels like the wrong situation to try to conduct an enduring conversation.

What do you do with this caveat, Dave? Because The thing that people are taking a little bit more problem with is the fact that during the flight, she goes up to first class with Savannah and gets in her cubbies— first class, first class cubby space— and watches movies with her.

Oh, come on! Hey, get the girl a seat!

Right, bruh?

Come on.

Zazz, if you were in first class and one of your boys wanted to cuddle and watch a movie with you, would you let them?

No!

Why not?

Because I'm, I'm not the cuddling type.

You wanna sit and watch Peanut Butter Falcon together?

That's a great movie. I love Peanut Butter Falcon.

Tell your boy to come on.

Jake the Snake was so mean in that movie. I did not like that boy.

Come sit next to me here and share a blanket.

I could see you being a cuddler.

No, no, no, I'm not a cuddler. No, no, you get done with your business. You got your side of the bed, I got mine.

Wow.

Yeah, that's right. You know what I'm talking about.

Is it right or wrong that if Savannah takes snacks back, like the first-class food, takes it back to coach to her friend, like, I wanted you to have some of the experience. I think you could do that. Or is that sort of thumbing her nose on some level at the friend?

No, no, no, I think you could do that. I think that's okay.

We were discussing this situation yesterday in our pre-show meeting as a possible topic. Do you remember when Dan did the thing where he acted like he didn't know? He's like, Mike, didn't I do that? Something with me and you, first class? And Mike was like, yes, Dan, one time you gave me your first— like, Dan was like, Ooh, I gave my first class ticket to Mike once. We should bring that up.

Have you ever— have you ever done that? Like, has anyone ever done that, that they were with someone—

Sat in first class and wanted to bring someone in?

I've only sat first—

Or wife?

I've sat first class only one time.

Okay.

This is not a conversation I—

Uh-oh, Juju's about to say something.

I'm gonna admit something, and I love you, girl. I know you're watching. When I first got with my girlfriend, my ticket was upgraded and hers wasn't. So who am I to turn down Delta's first class—

Yeah, I know he's right.

When my baby's in the back and her knees aren't as long as mine. So I can't sit in that corner seat next to bruh. I kinda gotta sit in 2A.

What the hell?

I've never had that before where I had first class or I was upgraded and, and my wife wasn't. But, but, and, and you know what? I'm not even embarrassed to say this, all right? I'm not. And I have no, I have no regrets. So I get on the plane with my wife. And she's in front of me, we're walking down, we're in like row 15 or something. And, you know, it's always a thing. The way that we buy our tickets, okay, we don't buy— I really only want to sit in the aisle, and I fly a lot, of course. I always try and sit in the aisle. We don't buy like, I'm in the aisle and my wife's the middle. We don't do that. I buy the aisle, she buys the aisle.

Me and my wife do the same.

That's how we sit, okay? And so that is our seat setup for this flight. And, and, you know, we always have the conversation. One of us will mention to the other, I hope I don't have someone who's like, you know, really big next to me, you know, because it could be an uncomfortable flight. I think we were flying back from Park City. Long flight, right? And so she's down the aisle, I'm right behind her. She turns, she goes, oh, look at your seat. And it was a heavy guy.

Okay.

She goes, oh, look, you're sunk. Oh man. She goes, do you want me to take your seat?

Because she's smaller than you.

Now what am I supposed to say in that spot?

That just becomes awkward for the guy if you guys just get up and the 2 people switch and the clearly smaller—

Oh no, no, but, but like, should I— right, that— no, that's very— that's very—

The optics of that are clearly like, oh, they wouldn't text, they were just texting privately.

No, that's very rude, but we're still walking down the aisle. We're still walking down the aisle.

Oh my God, I thought you guys were already at the seat.

We have a span of like 5 seconds to decide who's gonna sit in that seat before it looks awkward. What am I supposed to say to her?

You say, Mommy, thank you. Yeah, switch with me.

Do I— do I let the situation breathe for a second where I'm thinking about, oh, you don't have to do that for me? Like, like, what is the protocol? Because what happened was she said, do you want me to sit in your seat? And I, without missing a beat, said yes.

Hmm.

And she sat in that seat.

See, you guys actually, like, going down the aisle, you've already thought, I'm on this side, you're on this side.

Oh yeah.

For me, it's like, I'm gonna walk through.

Well, you know how I knew that?

And I'm gonna assess. I know we have these 3 seats, so I will just pick which I want.

Well, you know how I knew which one was my seat? Because it says it on my ticket. That's how I knew. It says a number and a letter.

Yeah, but Chris says he's got all 3 and he chooses.

When I'm traveling, like, my daughter and my wife, I know which 3 seats are ours. And it's just like, yeah, like whatever has the most room.

Whatever daddy wants.

Daddy's gonna—

I mean, it's just—

there are other instances where she gets the, you know, in a tight plane, like, yeah, daddy gets what he wants.

Dave?

Why didn't Juju just say to his lady friend, please, you take the first-class seat? Just because it was—

He has long knees.

Juju doesn't mean he could say—

long knees?

What are we talking about? And that— this is why, you know—

I think he has long legs. Nobody has long knees.

Oh, my bad.

You know what I meant. His knees— Shut up. You knew what I meant.

Barkov, long knees.

Barkov, long knees.

Yes, yes.

And I wasn't a finished product. Juju is tall.

Yeah, yeah.

God was not through with me yet, you feel me? So I may have, could have done a better job at that scenario. You're right.

No, you're, you're right. No, but you know what, Juju, I do forget, and, and the viewer/listener may not be aware, but in person, Juju is a, is a big dude. Like, he's— what are you, 6'3?

Long knees.

Yep, 6'2. Yes, sir. 240. 6'2.

I was once on a flight I was once boarding a flight in O'Hare to get back to LAX, and on this one flight, there was in the waiting area, there was Tom Green, Rob Zombie.

Wow.

Sinbad. As I made my way back to the back of the plane, I walked by one of those 3 guys. The first 2 I passed when they were in their first-class seats. The 3rd guy was in 33E.

Dirty 33E.

The middle seat, mind you.

Oh, it's embarrassing.

Who was it?

Tom Green.

It was Tom Green. It was Rob Zombie. It was Sinbad.

Who had the middle seat? Tom Green.

Sinbad had the middle seat for sure.

Tom Green was in the back.

It was Rob Zombie.

What?

You know what?

I, I almost— that, that respect. Respect.

You almost what?

I As opposed to it being an embarrassment, that I respect, because he's the most famous out of those 3. Is he?

Absolutely. Yeah, but really?

Sinbad's like 6'5.

I feel like people know the name Rob Zombie, but like, he's—

he could kind of walk by you. Dude, I could walk by that guy 1,000 times and be like, uh, all right.

Sinbad, Sinbad, that's recognizable.

Yeah, Sinbad.

You see Sinbad, you're like, that is just clearly Sinbad.

Yeah, you know by one name.

My, my wife doesn't let me live it down. And the reality of it is she asked me if I wanted to be comfortable on the flight, and my answer was yes. I, I don't know what I did wrong in that spot.

Nothing.

It's a play on—

Yeah, I did nothing wrong.

That's instigating though, man. Your wife instigating you. Your wife baited you into that one.

When she asked the question, saying yes is instigating? No.

Yes.

Entrapment.

I think you guys are missing the plot. The wives are always right.

So exactly. But you got trapped.

I can't believe she doesn't pay for her friend to sit first class with her.

But there are things like whenever it's raining out, who's going out to get the car?

I am.

Always.

It's a test.

So it's like there are things that—

You fail. I—

she gets to get—

she gets the good spot there where I have to go out into the rain and get the car. And then I, on the plane, I get the seat with more room.

That's just—

there's give and take.

Down, Levitar!

Too much with the chef honorific.

Behind!

You know, I'll go— I'll go doctor. I'll go senator. I'll, I'll, I'll probably go even coach.

Dave Dimashchek.

But chef is where I draw the line. I'm not calling you chef. I'm calling you Gary.

This is the Dan Levatar Show.

So I don't know if you guys saw this story last night. The Portland Trail Blazers. All right, they hired a new television play-by-play man because their longtime play-by-play man Kevin Calabro, who— one of the all-time greats.

Legend.

You may remember we brought this story up, it was like 6 months ago or whatever, where, you know, the Blazers' new owner is Dundon, right? The guy who puts all of his entire family tree on the Stanley Cup. He also owns the Carolina Hurricanes.

6-year-old on the Stanley Cup.

And he's super cheap. And Kevin Collabro was insulted with their contract offer, his extension, and he even said— this is how insulted he was with the offer, you never hear this— he said returning wasn't worth his time. You never hear someone speak like that, alright? And now he got a job, he's doing play-by-play with the Minnesota Timberwolves, which by the way, I don't know if we've mentioned this yet on the show, Kevin Calabro is splitting time as the Minnesota Timberwolves television play-by-play man. Do you know who he is splitting time with?

Boog Sciambi?

Boog Sciambi, that's right.

Boog's going to call basketball games?

Yeah, well, he's been doing college basketball, Big 12, for ESPN for years. I know, but it's like— But he's not— I don't think he's ever done NBA.

Interesting.

And yeah, he's doing play-by-play for the Timberwolves, which is awesome. So anyway, the Blazers hired a new television play-by-play man. He is called Braden Bell. He's 20 29 years old, young guy. They hired him last night. Hours after the hire, not days, not weeks, hours after the hire, they fired him.

Why?

Maybe saying, whoa, hold on a second, they just hired him, hours later they fired him? What's going on there? Local reporters dug up old tweets that he made from back in 2012 when he's, you know, do the math, 15 years old.

And 2013.

Yeah, and, you know, it's stuff like, you know, his first tweet atop there, I'm not racist at all, but not gonna lie, Asian people piss me off, hahaha. And, you know, like, there's another, and he responds with a quip about Black people also in response to that. There's another tweet about women, which is kind of unseemly. Uh, yeah, and, and that— gotta give a shout out to the big girls out there in those closet, uh, rhymes with pores, you know? So like, yeah, it's crass. He was fired.

15 years old when he did this?

15 years old.

That's tough.

And his career's over.

It's clearly terrible things to say, but what is the age that you start taking someone serious? I guess is the question here.

I don't know.

You would think that, uh, whatever background check that this guy went through would include his social media. Like all of it.

Uh, it must not have.

I guess not.

And his career, at least in, in this field, is seemingly over. You can't recover from that.

Uh, man, maybe you can.

Tom Brennaman's still calling games.

Yeah, you could come out and be like, look, man, when I was 15 years old, I was a douche nozzle and everything I said was wrong, and I apologize. Moving forward, this is not me. I apologize once more to the lady in the back who didn't just hear me, and then walk away. And then here we are, Phillies game next year.

I don't know the— like, Dave, I don't know the answer to this here because there's one part of me where it's like, yeah, you're the Blazers and you don't want the face of your broadcasts to have, you know, for there to be proof, for there to be evidence that they said this at any point in their life. And then there's the other part of me where it's like Chris said, What's the tipping point? What's the cutoff line? He's 15 years— like, literally, he's a stupid kid. And this is where I always— like, even if he said things that were worse than what he put there, because certainly, like, I mean, it's obviously crass, you know, but even if he said things that were worse, I always like to give people the opportunity to be better. Because if we don't give people the opportunity, to be better, what's the point in wanting them to be better? You know, like, you've changed your ways, you've realized that that's a terrible way of thinking, but it's like, nah, nah, we're still not gonna let you do this because you did it at one point. Well, then what's the point in being better ever if it's going to be held against you, you know?

So there's that side as well. But it's like, I'm lucky, I guess, with my boys. My older son, who's almost 18, has Twitter but doesn't use it for tweeting, doesn't tweet, doesn't post. My younger son, who's 15 this month, does not do any social media. He doesn't like it. He deleted them all from his phone. He does not like them.

Good for him.

Yeah, he like really, right?

He'll be back.

Does not like social media. But I, yeah, I just, you know, if you're a kid, I guess you can never post this kind of stuff because it may come back to you.

Yeah, and the Tom Brenneman Comparison doesn't exactly work because, relatively speaking, Brenneman has some allure to some percentage of fans. He's at least recognizable to some. And that's the entire game at this point in sports media and beyond. As we always talk about, you know, it's a shrinking number of people that must be attached in sports media or in entertainment to a project or else it has no value. to the people producing it. And so you see, you know, the effect of Deshaun Watson with the Cleveland Browns. That's basically what they're getting at. That entire Amazon broadcast last night is like, well, he's winning. You can't argue with that. As long as he's winning, it's okay. Tom Brenneman brings in audience in it that they otherwise might not tap into, is the thought process of putting him on the broadcast. This guy doesn't do that, ergo he has no value. all he does is bring a stink on Portland by keeping him there. They kinda have to remove him because there's no pushback from them internally like, yeah, but he's gonna have value for us. He's not bringing anything to the table. All we know about him is now those tweets.

It's kind of a shame. I hear what you're saying, Zazz.

I would like to separate though between the two, and like with the Watson conversation last night, I do want to separate the difference between someone who commits crimes and then giving them another chance and someone who thinks a certain way or has a certain type of ideology and, you know, allowing them to change. Like, I, I'm okay with someone who committed crimes and, you know what, kind of don't forgive you. I'm gonna remember that one, you know what I'm saying?

No, uh, great distinction, but you, you're picking up what I'm laying down though. You must bring some value, and if you do bring value, which is more attention to us, that is the game now. That's all the networks and otherwise are looking for. They don't care what kind of attention, apparently, just attention. That's what we want, attention. That's what is stirring the drink at this point. Not good person, not entertaining. Who has the biggest following? That's how they hire people these days.

Like, at what age are we supposed to have this conversation with our kids, right? Where I don't know what you're going to wind up being when you get older.

Do you show your kids this?

Uh, you know, it's interesting.

I feel like your kids' age is the perfect of like, hey, look, look what can happen.

Yeah, I think we have had the conversation with my older son where you can't, you know, just like, don't post things, like nothing. And he doesn't. He's got Instagram, doesn't post. Uh, you know, he's got Twitter, doesn't post. And like I said, my younger one deleted all of it because he thinks it's poison and he's not into it. Um, but yeah, like, I, I think we have to have these conversations, you know. I don't want to get into a whole thing about it, but when it comes to stuff like this, I'm actually waiting for the right time to sit down with both my boys, especially my older one though, because he's a year away from going to college. I need to sit down and have a conversation with especially him about what is going on at Cornell right now.

Yeah, I had that same conversation last night in this very house.

Oh, you did? Like, I'm Yeah, it's about to happen in my house. I'm waiting for the right moment. Okay, so you did have this conversation?

No, with my wife that we need to have.

Oh yeah, okay.

We need to do that, right? I mean, it's very easy to say that don't participate in that. Like, obviously it's morally insane on face and you shouldn't participate in that. There is that weird group thing that you have to overcome as an individual when, when everybody is going in one direction, to have the, the strength, or I'm gonna call it guts, to, to say, this is wrong, cut this crap out, fellas, is harder to do as, you know, probably an 18-year-old kid is gonna— you know, it's easy to get swept up in, at least not saying, cut that out, fellas.

Right, right, because it's almost as bad participating as it is doing nothing about it.

Yeah.

And that's obviously what happened to, you know, what are we talking, 50 other students outside of the 7 who are being accused of participating in what took place at Cornell. Yeah, like, this conversation's about to happen in my house, and my older son's gonna say, like, it's gonna be unpleasant for him, because who the hell wants their parent to sit down and tell them you're not allowed to rape women? You know, like no one wants to sit there and have— and be lectured about that. But that conversation is about to take place in my house. And that's interesting, Dave, that you had that conversation with your wife also.

Well, it's beyond you can't do that. You should, you know, do you throw yourself in front of that? You know, do you get in the way of friends or whatever, people who you know in the frat house or whatever? Are you gonna get in the way of that bad behavior? That's hard to do. It's easy to say, obviously I would do it. It is tough when it's 50 guys who are your friends, who you know you're going to be living with tomorrow and the day after that. It's hard in the real world on some level to get in that path. Sorry, Juju, go ahead.

No, all good. That's why what Zazz said is important. It's like once you get that amount of peer pressure, you can crumble and you can fold. But if you have those values instilled in you from your pops, who sat you down and had that uncomfortable conversation. Now you know what to go to whenever this happens, and you rely on your skills that you got from Big Dog. You did.

Yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

So, all right. Uh, Tony, I'm gonna have you take us out of this here. I know that you have a top 5 for us.

Disney related.

From the beginning of your week.

I do. I'm actually gonna go to the green screen room to take—

oh, go to the time— All right, get outta here.

The vaporizer that's gonna take me over to Disney right now. You ready?

All right.

Yeah.

Of course I'm ready. Go ahead. I just said, you know, you're gonna give us a top 5. It's very, very exciting. Do we have any news on Sasha Barkov yet?

No, not in here. No.

Forsling got hurt too?

Yeah.

He didn't play.

He'll be back on Sunday most likely. That's what Mo said. Yeah, but he's day-to-day.

He didn't play last night. Matthew Tkachuk scored last night though. Yeah. Loisterinen, pair of goals.

Brady, first fight. Yeah, because him and Barkov went after— not went after, they laid a hit on Celebrini and then what's his name?

Who's that?

Truby? Truba?

Truba. Jacob Truba.

You know who else scored last night real quick? A'ja Wilson.

Oh, that's right, Juju. The, uh, the, the Aces, they survived last night. No more Indiana Fever, right?

Right.

And after Sophie Cunningham, why would you poke the bear? Like, she put out the video early. Oh, great year for the Point. Like, yeah, it's a great year to sit your ass down and go home. Salute. Uh, Caitlin Yeah, she had a great first quarter, but then as the game wore on and then Miss Becky Hammond got involved, that plot and that scheme worked out.

And what, 38 points for A'ja Wilson? Like, just like so much better than everyone else in that league. Uh, so who do they face now?

They're waiting on the winner of the Valkyrie and the Wings.

Oh, okay. All right. Do we, do we have a rooting favorite between Dallas and Golden State?

You can't—

I want to see Paige Bueckers continue to play.

I love Paige, but my favorite player is Tiffany Hayes, and she played for the Valkyries. So, ah, no. What's— what they, uh, Jaylen Brown says? Next question.

All right, uh, all right, let's send it out to Tony. Tony, top 5, let's do it, man.

See where he is.

Oh, hey guys, I'm here. I'm in Disney.

Oh, you're on Main Street?

Yeah, the transport. You can see the, uh, the castle right in the background.

You're almost as tall as the castle.

I know, it's, it's a, it's an angle thing, you know what I mean? I'm standing a little bit closer, the, the camera's a little bit weird. All right, we did 4 parks over the last couple days. Kind of a same thing Amin was doing in Universal, we were doing over in Orlando with Disney. So went to 4 parks: Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Disney Magic Kingdom, and, uh, Hollywood Studios. So we went to all of them, and through all of them, I keep an observant eye. I look around, I see what's going on.

90 seconds, Tony.

I see who's here, who's there. This is the top 5 for people that need to be stopped at Disney. We need to stop these people. All right, you need to stop doing what you're doing. Number 5, guys in thong sandals.

Internet!

Stop it.

It's a great shout.

Stop it.

Absolutely. Good job, Tony.

That should be number 1. It should be number 1.

No, I got something for number 1.

Oh shit.

Number 4, my foreign brothers and sisters in long heavy-ass tracksuits.

Internet!

Stop that. It's too hot for that. You— I know you're from a different country. We don't do that here. It's way too hot.

Fresh though.

Number 3, people in jeans.

Internet! Crazy!

What are you guys doing? Hey, hey, man.

What are you guys doing?

People in jeans.

That is so true. Roy would wear jeans.

It's the most insane thing of all time. Please stop. That's only number 3. Number 2, goths.

Internet!

We don't— this is a happy place. I don't know why you're down.

Oh, people dress goth?

Yeah.

Emo.

No reason for it.

You're at Disney. Like, don't, don't do that. Yeah, it's all black and the hair, all the makeup.

Really?

Yeah, you don't need to do that. It's 8,000 degrees. The humidity is 75,000%.

What do you—

we don't do that here. Just take a break.

Yeah.

And the number one people that need to be stopped, the non-cast member that was wearing a suit at Hollywood Studios. The guy came in to Disney World in a full suit, in a full suit. It's 1,000 degrees. It's an oven. He's wearing a full suit. That guy needs to be stopped.

All right, there you go.

It's spot on, all that.

Thank you.

Live from Main Street, that was Tony.

All right, I'm gonna go back to the studio. Too many baskets or too many steps.