Transcript of The Bad Optics of LeBron's Helicopter Partnership | Hour 1 New

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I don't want to say that very often in sports the critic who questions the toughness of players usually isn't nearly as tough as the players, but during the break, Zazz had to get re-wrapped for the stye on his eye because he said he had a headache and he said, uh, the wrapping was, uh, throwing off his depth perception.

Well, not the wrapping, like using just one eye, like I'm a cyclops. It's throwing off my depth perception. Yes.

So he needed some, uh, some massage during the break. He needed some, uh, some aid, some soothing, some balms. Uh, he was falling apart, uh, not unlike the Yankees last night. I Enjoyed this headline from a playoff game, and are you all ready for White Sox-Rays as your AL Championship Series? That's what it's gonna be?

I mean—

Oh yeah. Oof.

Yankees bumble through really rough night in Game 2 loss to the Rays. So you have Schlittler, you have your ace on the hill, and you make 3 first-inning errors, Zazz, where you want to come out of the box to save your season and not fall Down 2-0, and now the numbers on the Yankees that are going to get New Yorkers howling here, they're damning. They have, through 2 games, their batting average is .086. It's the worst batting average by an AL team in any 2-game span within a postseason.

It's absurd.

Wow.

It's insane.

They, they just can't hit, and yesterday they've got more errors than they get hits, so You get a catcher's interference and the Rays just peck you to death like they weren't even hitting the ball out of the infield. They just peck you to death. I made this point the other day on Pitch Clock with Jeremy. Okay. This is something that I just haven't seen happen a whole lot. Okay. They've got a shortstop, Walls, who is exceptional defensively but cannot hit. So they are a team that leads the sport in bunts. Everybody's going for home runs. They're not going for home runs. They are just trying to put the ball in play. and make you make plays, and the Yankees couldn't make any of them last night. But, uh, in the division-clinching game that they had at Yankee Stadium— and it makes no sense that the Rays with their salary would be better than the Yankees, and they were better all season, they spent 128 games atop the AL East— but you got one out, Chris, and a man on third. Walls can't hit, but he knows that Max Fried falls off to the side. Max Fried's a very good fielding pitcher, but he falls off to the side because he throws hard.

And so with a man on third, even though everyone knows that Walls is a bunter, he just bunts with one out and they score the run. So if you're watching last night, that is a game that the Yankees— what the Yankees did in the first inning will never happen to the Rays in a full game of baseball because they just play correctly. They run the bases correctly. They, they put the ball in play correctly. They strike out less than anybody in the sport. They They throw a bunch of strikes. They don't walk people at all. And so all they're doing is being more efficient than everyone in their sport with their money and with the way that they play the game. And they've just been the best team in the American League all year in a way that defies sort of understanding just because they continue to be smarter than everyone else.

The thing that's amazing about the Rays is that, like, for someone like Tony, Who is like, oh, I, I liked baseball at one point in my life enough. I like the way that they used to do it. It's gotten really kind of annoying because they strike out so much. It's strikeout or homer. The Rays are a throwback. And the irony in all of that is that they were ahead of the game on all of the shifts when it was Joe Maddon. They were ahead on all of those things that now these teams have tried to catch up on and don't do well. And now the Rays have just decided we're going to pitch, We're gonna field, we're gonna run the bases.

You mentioned the errors in that game. I do not understand what Jazz Chisholm was doing in that situation.

Oh my gosh.

2 throwing errors in that one. That throw to first on the double play attempt was a disaster.

Let's, let's talk about that first inning for just a second, okay? Because Chisholm didn't actually need to barehand that ball, but there were 3 errors in that inning, and Chisholm should have had a 4th because they had a potential double play and his throw was wide of the second base bag, and they were lucky to get just the fielder's choice. out there. Chisholm was unbelievably sloppy in that baseball game, uh, was almost fundamentally irresponsible in taking that ball and throwing it toward the dugout, trying to get a double play that he was never going to get while barehanding a toss.

It wasn't just that. It was also he was out of position on a ground ball that came over to him with runners on 2nd and 3rd and less than 2 outs. He was playing halfway while the rest of the infield was playing in on the grass, and so he couldn't get the runner at home, has to throw it over to 1st base. Like, that's another run that comes in that didn't have to. The ball was hit right at him, and because he was just out of position, I— it was pretty shocking to see that many mental and physical mistakes. The Yankees are the first team to make 5 errors in a postseason game since the Yankees in 1976.

They also had that World Series game that embarrassed them, uh, at the end of last year where they made 3 errors in an inning.

And they have like 5-nothing in that game, right?

The, the things that are happening to the Yankees, they have not won the World Series in 17 years. It's a pretty staggering drought for a team that had a financial advantage throughout. And Zaslav came in here today complaining about Derek Jeter. Can you guys get me the sound? I have not heard the sound of Derek Jeter's analysis of, of this series. But Zaslav, I don't think, is fair to Jeter. I think Zaslav Uh, Zaslav is somebody who is unkind to Jeter. Let's hear him interviewing Michael Harris of the Braves.

So we're talking about mindset coming into this series. It seems like the whole world, all they're talking about is the Los Angeles Dodgers going for a 3-peat. And you guys have sort of seemed to just fly under the radar. Your mindset, your mentality, is it you guys want to play the spoiler or you're just not necessarily thinking about the Dodgers? You're just out there trying to prove to the rest of the world that you have the best team in baseball.

Want to play the spoiler? Does Jeter know it's the playoffs? What? Like, this isn't game 160 and the Braves are a 70-win team trying to keep the Dodgers out of the playoffs. They're trying to win the World Series. Is he an idiot?

Yeah.

Trying to be the spoiler?

It's a dumb thing to say.

No, everyone is talking about the Dodgers.

What are we—

like, this is a perfectly reasonable question.

They're not trying to be a spoiler. They're trying to win the World Series.

Against one of the biggest juggernauts in all of sports.

But spoiler— the word spoiler is a red flag, and the athletes hear it like that. If you call my team a spoiler, you mean that we're the little underdog that's looking to surprise somebody.

You got nothing to play for.

Right. I don't think that's the case this far in the postseason.

But he put the context on the question. I think we're taking sounds, and we did this to Cam Ward. I think we're being unfair today. We're an hour and 10 minutes into the show, and I believe we're being unfair to the people who are playing sports. They got 3 minutes, folks.

Oh, actually, we're 50 minutes into the show.

It felt like an hour and 10 minutes because we keep doing unfair things to athletes. Jeremy, can you look up something? Because when I saw Michael Harris, I love watching him hit because he doesn't want to walk. He doesn't care to walk. Can you look up for me whether Michael Harris has more than 100 walks in the last 5 seasons? Just look up for me because he, he'll just— he loves to hit the ball hard and he's not someone who, who wants to be taking a whole lot of walks. I don't think I have this wrong statistically, but I may, may be off a little bit because I just, I really do love watching him play baseball. The Dodgers are weakened. The Dodgers are hurt. The Dodgers can be taken out by any of the remaining teams in the playoffs. They are not the same team that they have been the last couple of years. They wheezed down the stretch. Ohtani is not the force of nature that he's been. He is not healthy enough. And I'd honestly, I would be surprised if the Dodgers got past the Brewers. I do not expect them to get past the Brewers.

But just look— and I don't know if they'll get past the Braves. We'll find out together. But I really felt like the Padres could have beaten the Dodgers either of the last 2 years. And the Braves beating Snell makes me feel like the Braves have a chance to win that series.

108 walks over the last 5 years. Last year he had 16 walks in 160 games. That's not how baseball works anymore. That's crazy.

Wow.

That a lot or a little?

What is it?

Well, it's not little.

20 walks a season in 120 walks.

Nothing.

What's the average when you're playing 160 games? Usually on-base percentage is something that people are valuing. You've heard from Little League dugouts across America, a walk's as good as a hit because when it's your on-base percentage, it's— put it on the poll at Levittard Show. Is a walk indeed as good as a hit? Yes or no?

His career on-base percentage is .311.

.311 from a batting average that's .278. Like, that's the part that's crazy.

Right.

But tonight's matchup, when you get Chris Sale going against the Dodgers after he threw what might have been the greatest regular season start of this season earlier in the year against the Dodgers, it was a 5-hit shutout in a game that the Braves kind of needed at that time momentum-wise. They were struggling and needed to be able to surpass the Phillies and feel like they could actually win that division. It's a team that's top 10 in payroll as well. They've got the best pitcher in the playoffs left outside of maybe Jacob Mizorowski, who, by the way, we just didn't even mention.

And Drew Rasmussen, don't forget about Drew Rasmussen. Don't sleep on Drew Rasmussen.

He's tremendous. I can't wait to see Drew Rasmussen against Jacob Mizorowski raise Brewers, Game 1 of the World Series. Give it to me. It's perfect baseball.

Nobody wants that.

I want it. You should want it too.

I'm— nobody nationally wants that. Uh, I want to give you a stat though from OptaStats. Are you ready? The Yankees are the first Major League team to have more players commit an error than they had get a hit 4 errors to 3 hits in a postseason game since the Reds did it when they were no-hit in 2010 by Roy Halladay. RIP Doc. Dan Levitar.

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. Yeah, but you're trying. Okay, I think that was what he was adding. Yeah, I'm telling you, the response I got from this guy, what What he said was amazing. Cheaters never prosper. This guy yelled as angry as he could.

I ain't cheating. This is the Dan Le Batard Show. Chris, have you assembled your list of Miami Heat scorers better than Tyler Herro? How many are you claiming are better than Tyler Herro?

All right.

I may have— I got Tyler Herro as the 13th best scorer in Heat history.

That sounds about right.

So I was a little off, but here's my—

here's—

Well, you were a little off when you threw Voshon Leonard in there ahead of—

I do not have him here. I have him in OLI on this list. But all right, number— no, no particular order, but roughly what I think. Wade number 1, LeBron 2, Jimmy Butler 3, Glen Rice 4, Chris Bosh 5, Shaq, 6.

I mean, wait a minute. Does Shaq count as a scorer?

Oh, you better stop it. I mean, by the way, I got a text from Amin that I'm right on Chris Bosh as a scorer only. Over—

not with the Heat.

Okay. But I think he'd say you're wrong on—

No, he texted me. He's like, he's like, you are so right here.

No, you didn't let me finish.

As I won't.

I think that he would tell you that no one calls Shaq a scorer.

Did I mention?

Yeah, you did mention.

So now I've got you there.

He got your ass.

He did get me with the left-handed limp wrist jumper. He did. Shaq is a scorer. is silly.

Okay, Shaq, you're silly.

No, but you don't understand what we're doing. You don't know what we're doing with scorer.

30,000 points.

No, but that I understand. I think most people, uh, who know ball know that when we're talking about scorer, we're talking about somebody who can make baskets that aren't dunks, that could just create their own shot. Tony, what are you saying? Are you saying that Shaq is indeed considered a scorer?

Unstoppable moves.

Tyler Herro, what's his unstoppable move?

Oh, that little float A little floater in the lane, please. Imagine, imagine this move. You give it to Shaq, he's £300, he turns around and goes up.

He's right about this. I'd pick Shaq over Bosh.

Wait, Shaq scores a lot, but you're, you're breaking, you're breaking the construct when you call Shaq a scorer when we're talking about simply scores, and you're doing the comparisons of, well, Bosh is a scorer, Herro is a scorer. Shaq's in another category. It's why Shaq says— look, it's one of the reasons Shaq says, I am not the best big man of all time, but I am the most dominant big man of all time. And he makes the distinction between the two things.

I'm just picturing me and you picking teams like a pickup game, and Shaq standing there and Tyler Herro standing there, and we're gonna play a lot of offense today. And you go ahead, you take Tyler Herro.

No, I'm not.

You can take Tyler Herro.

I am not. Chris says, help me.

I, I'm a Shaq guy. All right. And I think if Shaq has the ball or Tyler Herro has the ball— That's not what we're doing. I mean, just text me that he agrees with the Shaq point too. Can I continue? I want Shaq to have the ball.

Can I continue?

Shaq's the scorer.

All right. 6. So Shaq is 6. Number 7. You ready? Giannis.

That's fair.

That's good.

That's right.

That's good.

That's right. Yeah, that's correct.

I don't think that can be right.

Slip that one by you.

No, it can't be right.

Hasn't played a regular season game. Doesn't matter.

I saw enough in the first 8 minutes of that first preseason game.

Chris is right about this.

He hasn't scored a basket In a Heat game.

I forgot about Klay Thompson. He just became 14.

Okay, no, no, that's bullshit.

If the world ended today, there would be no record of Giannis having scored a basket for the Heat in all of the places they do the record keeping. You cannot make Giannis—

I'm taking Giannis in our pickup.

Nah, you guys had that little, that little Dirk move at the elbow, Dan. I don't care, preseason game. He's, he's right about this.

All right, so Giannis is 7. Number 8, Eddie Jones.

Eddie Jones is not a better scorer than Tyler Herro.

I don't believe that.

Number 9, Ray Allen.

Not only he—

Biggest shot of your life!

That is true.

Biggest shot of your life. He said take out the ropes.

He said take out the ropes.

You're silly.

Do you know how many of those type of shots I've seen Tyler Herro miss?

Embarrassing.

The biggest shot of your life, Ray Allen.

You think that you've seen Tyler Herro miss a lot of game season-ending winning shots in Game 6 of the Finals?

No, much less, less stakes. I've seen him miss. You're silly. Number 10, Klay Thompson. Just added.

I hate you.

That's a bad list.

Number 11, bam, 83 points. Say something.

Hello.

Say something.

12, Tim Hardaway, the father. 13, Mario Chalmers.

All right, now you're messing around.

Balls.

You've got—

La cojone.

He's concerned about that too.

That's not what the list is. It's not who's the bigger baller.

I would take Mario Chalmers with a big shot hand.

You've got 2 people on your list who have not made a shot for the Miami Heat.

Dapinga.

You're silly. Legit list.

Thank you, Dad.

You can't have 2 people on your list.

And then Tyler. Please back me up here.

Who have never made a shot for the Miami Heat in a regular season game.

You take Tyler Herro. I'm take— I probably take Tyler Herro if a Clay Thompson is back right now.

But peak?

Yeah.

You just made Tyler Herro a top 10 scorer with your list is what you just did. A top 10 scorer in Miami Heat history.

Borderline. I think that's borderline. I think that's fair. But if you ask me to name the Heat's top 5 all-time players, put Giannis in there. No question about it. One of the top 5. You know what that list needs based on one game? Willie Burton.

And he just gave me a thumbs up.

Good list. Good list by Chris.

Bam can't be on that list.

83 points.

Hold on.

Yeah.

No, he has the Trump card now.

The what card?

Mr. 83.

The Trump card, used appropriately, not like the other one.

I thought you said trunk card, my bad, I misheard you. Can I interest you guys in the LeBron helicopter story?

Hell no!

This is a funny and interesting thing that is happening with LeBron. LeBron lives outside of Philadelphia.

He hates Philadelphia. Hates the city.

It can be that he likes New York. That's also possible. He is taking a 40-minute helicopter ride every day, and it's being reported now that that is being provided by Fanatics, correct? That the Fanatics helicopter— and we told you about some of this—

The logo on the helicopter is a dead giveaway.

We've told you that Michael Rubin owns Fanatics. He's a giant player in sports. He is ascending to a place where he is becoming if not the most powerful person in sports, very close to it. And LeBron's got an assortment of side deals that pay him a great deal more than he's being paid to play basketball by the Philadelphia 76ers. And while it doesn't break any rules and it is not against the salary cap, there are an assortment of prizes and perks that the biggest athlete in America is getting that— how would I say this? It's not suspicious. It's— I told you when he first signed with Philadelphia that the Miami Heat were curious about some of the things that happened. And it was reported that the Miami Heat were furious. And the Miami Heat were not furious. The Miami Heat were legitimately curious on how things with LeBron fell apart. And they wondered, while asking questions, they suspected that it may have had something to do with what it is was happening with Fanatics. And And now you hear that a helicopter's being provided that LeBron's evidently taking every day, twice a day, which incidentally, I don't know how the rest of you feel about this.

Pre-Kobe, I'm not sure that this would've given me something that upset my stomach, even though the helicopter is obviously unsafe. And if something goes wrong in a helicopter, it's catastrophic. Like I remember the Titan submersible people were arguing that the submarine is actually a safer vehicle than all of the other vehicles because of how few injuries and deaths there are on submarines. But if something catastrophic happens in a submarine, your life is going to end. When people make the argument that cars are more dangerous than planes, people are more afraid of planes because if something goes wrong, it is going to be a fatality.

Yeah.

There's something about remembering the specifics of exactly where I was on a highway when I learned that Kobe's life had been extinguished that makes me feel Like what LeBron is doing is more reckless and dangerous by taking a helicopter than it actually probably is.

I mean, I feel the same way about athletes who happen to be licensed pilots like Thurman Munson and Roy Holiday. It is a dangerous thing to do.

Just feels unnecessary. I, I've never been in a helicopter before. I will never go in a helicopter unless I absolutely for some reason must go in the helicopter. I just it doesn't feel safe to me. I avoid stuff like that.

You know, beyond the danger, I think the optics are bad for LeBron. And, you know, we all know Philadelphia fans. I don't think Philadelphia fans appreciate that their new star player isn't embracing the city, isn't living in the city. Instead, he's the billionaire taking a helicopter in every— it's just, it doesn't look good to me.

Can I discuss this as a criticism point? Bad optics, bad look, feels like a totally empty criticism. It has no real consequences. It's just somebody doesn't like the way something looks, and it's just an empty criticism. Okay, you don't like how it looks, it's a bad look, and— and what?

And LeBron doesn't care.

And doesn't care at all. He's flying in a helicopter, he's avoiding all of the traffic, he's getting from New York to Philadelphia in 40 minutes because it would take 2 hours or more if he bothered with traffic, and he Like, the criticism of— and it's criticism I see all the time in media now, all the time— something's a bad look. What do you mean Kyle Kuzma's a bad look? The way that he leaves his closet?

Bad look?

Nobody cares what you think is a bad look on optics.

What do you mean nobody cares? What if Philadelphia fans care? What if the city is not embracing him as it otherwise would because he's living somewhere else?

What are the real consequences of saying something's a bad look? Look, it's just a bunch of people who aren't in the arena complaining about how something looks. Like, it's just optics. It's nothing. It's totally empty criticism. Totally.

I disagree. I think optics matter. Okay?

How?

Give me the—

give me—

what are the consequences to LeBron on this?

The fans don't receive him as warmly as they otherwise would. He's not one of them. He's the only player on the team not living in the city he's playing in.

So do optics never matter?

For public relations, they matter. But at the point you are in LeBron's career, with the power that he's had over 22 years, do you know how many things have been assessed to be a bad look and there are no actual consequences to it? It's just people clucking and gossiping and complaining and talking about America's most famous athlete. It doesn't mean anything real. It's just something the media likes to swing around so they can complain about somebody and so that they can criticize somebody.

Is this about the helicopter? Is this about not staying in New York? Like, what if Giannis was gonna live in West Palm Beach but drive here every day, not a helicopter. Like, Dad, are they not— are Miami fans not gonna accept him as much because he's living—

I don't— but I think this is silly. What are you talking about? If Philadelphia wins, they'll accept LeBron, and if they don't win, they won't accept LeBron. Like, it's not— it's not about a helicopter. It's not about where he lives.

Well, so you don't think— and you don't think it matters— you don't think that there's a fairly big slice of fans in that city who are kind of looking at each other like, he's flying in on a helicopter? Why didn't he just live here? What's he doing? What's wrong with our city? He's playing for our team now. How about you live where you play?

I think, I think you're right, Greg. I'm on your side, but it also doesn't matter. Like, if the Sixers win, that's all they're gonna care about. I do think the optics matter sometimes in cases like this because you know what? It takes away any benefit of the doubt. If the team's not playing well, It's not just the team not playing well, it's now also the team's not playing well and he doesn't even want to be here.

Dan Levitar.

Can't trade Marino.

Nice hat.

Nice hat, asshole.

It's what he's most known for. It's not like I'm holding on to it.

Greg Cody.

Nice hat.

They were 9-2. But it's Marino.

Nice hat.

And then the next time we saw Marino after Greg Cody traded him, he threw for 5 touchdowns.

Nice hat.

And he was Dan the Man on the COVID of Sports Illustrated. You can't trade Marino.

Nice hat, asshole.

This is the Dan Le Batard Show. When you guys say optics matter, I'm begging you to tell me how once you've reached the rarefied air that LeBron is in, where he doesn't actually have to care what anyone is saying about anything. Like, you're saying benefit of the doubt. If the Sixers collapse, there's gonna be no benefit of the doubt, and you will have earned nothing by living in Philadelphia and not helicoptering. If he stopped helicoptering right now and that team doesn't meet expectations, there's no one who's gonna say, but at least he lives in Philadelphia, who will literally be buying himself nothing.

You're right, it doesn't actually mean anything, but fans like the idea of the player who is playing for their team to also like being there.

It's undeniable.

It doesn't mean anything.

Only Le Batard is denying it.

No, but this is what you guys do though. Fans can like all of the— all they want, and a player is gonna have agency over his own career, none more than this one. Like, he has not at very many points done what fans have wanted except in going back to Cleveland one time. He told you he wanted to be in New York and he's going to be in New York. He wanted to be there with the Knicks. He wanted to be there with the Knicks team James Dolan isn't going to be able to keep together. Like Karl-Anthony Towns is already saying, and Brunson and Anunoby are going to have their contracts come up in a year and require extensions. And James Dolan has told you he's not going into the second apron. And so LeBron wanted to play for a New York basketball team that has been mismanaged the entire time Dolan has had it and will be mismanaged again, even if they won the champion. And so he wants to live in New York. He wants to live in Miami, Los Angeles, and New York. Uh, the idea that fans would feel entitled to telling somebody where it is they should live is the height of fan entitlement.

Like, it really is.

I disagree.

Okay, you can disagree, but it's entitlement, and you're entitled. Like, you think you should have some sort of say over where LeBron lives when he's the first one at the facility. Like, if you told me he was being there late and everything else, but he's arriving first, he's landing right on Philadelphia's business office. offices with his helipad.

I think the worst look isn't necessarily living in the other place. It's the opulence of flying in on the helicopter. I'm better than you. I'm better than my teammates. I'm better than everybody. I'm richer than you. I'm taking these new deals with these, these other sponsors that are clearly just, you know, funneling me money in an interesting way that seems different. And there are genuine sponsorships here, unlike the Kawhi stuff where people are trying to make it the same thing. But what it does when everybody goes, oh, that's curious, that's weird, is it makes people bring back up what was reported by, I believe it was Forbes, or it could have been Bloomberg, that reported that when LeBron was going to the Los Angeles Lakers, all of a sudden a limited liability company that he controlled borrowed almost $300 million from Life Insurers of Guggenheim, which is all questionable right now, right before he goes to the Lakers. So now it has people asking questions about all of the behind-the-scenes money more so than anything else, and everybody gets upset to see an NBA star who played for the Lakers in a helicopter.

Okay, and anyone who gets upset with an athlete having more power and more freedom than they'd like doesn't understand what this person has earned over the entirety of an unprecedented career.

That's right.

The New York Post talked to a helicopter company and estimated the total cost for the next 2 years, playoffs not included, of about 67 round trips via helicopter. You guys want to guess roughly what that costs? What it is, the value that Fanatics, owned by Michael Rubin— and I meant to say, he used to be a minority owner of the 76ers, but he didn't like the amount of power that gave him. He thought he could parlay his relationship with Joel Embiid into better things off the court, away from the Sixers, than as a minority owner. And so he the owner of Fanatics. He evidently has a deal with LeBron worth—

Oh, I mean, he's making at least 4 times, I think, what his salary is.

No, but that's, that's polymarket. I'm talking about the helicopter stuff.

I would say a million bucks.

It's $800,000, a little over $800,000 according to the New York Post. But do you guys do understand what you're doing here, right? You guys are trying to limit the power and freedom of a player. You just don't like how it feels.

No, I don't think anyone's trying to limit it. Like, for instance, I like that Giannis seems to be enjoying living in Miami. I like that he's, he's, he's one of our guys now.

You seen his place in Pinecrest?

Yeah, he's enjoying being here.

That implies that you would hold it against him if he was in Palm Beach, which if he's winning, you wouldn't.

That's a difference.

LeBron's living in a different state.

It's—

I know, but it's like, what, how far would the drive be if he's not doing a helicopter? A couple hours?

You're right, it would be the same amount of drive. I get the proximity you're talking about, but At least Palm Beach is still South Florida.

It's a bad drive, okay? If there's traffic, that's usually a 90-minute drive, Philadelphia to New York. If the traffic's perfect, it can be a lot longer. I, I will ask you this though, because we only do it to the athletes. You guys do realize, right, Wayne Huizenga hated Miami, so he made Fort Lauderdale what it is so he didn't have to come into Miami. He was not proud to be of Miami, and he owned the teams, and nobody cared. Nobody cared. Nobody talked about it. Nobody thought— he built Fort Lauderdale.

I know that, on the water, on the Intracoastal in Fort Lauderdale. He's got like— I don't know if he still owns it, but it was like, it's like 3— it's like the largest place in Florida.

It's a beautiful home. He hated how brown Miami was, and so he—

Is that, is that a quote?

What? He built a— Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what? He built allegedly a white enclave. He built an entire city in Fort Lauderdale.

You're adding colors to it.

RIP Wayne. Jesus.

Fort Lauderdale is white. Miami is not. Miami is brown. And Wayne Huizenga did not like how brown it was.

But that's apples and oranges. I mean, Miami and Fort Lauderdale are neighbors.

Well, and no one roots for the owner. Like, I don't care what Wayne Huizenga likes. Nobody roots for the owner of Miami.

Can we at least hit the reckless speculation for that? He didn't like the brown people in Miami.

No, no, that's a happen to know. That is not a reckless speculation. Don't do it, Roy! That is a happen to know.

Oh, no.

He happens to know.

Like, Steve Ross doesn't live here. I don't give a shit. He's the owner.

All right, so it's just the players that you guys do this to?

Yeah, the people I root for, yes.

So, okay.

I mean, Phil, imagine a Philadelphia fan watching him fly in on his helicopter from New York. He can't live where he plays.

I'm jealous. I'm sitting in traffic.

What's wrong with ours?

I can't believe that.

Instead, he's living in the city where we hate the team?

I just want to be clear.

I don't like how rich LeBron is, but it's fine that he stays in Cleveland.

And that he doesn't like brown people. Don't care. I don't care. It's not important to me. Bad optics on LeBron. Show me how rich he is. But Isenga's bad optics? Don't care. Brown optics? Don't care.

For what it's worth, Fort Lauderdale is pretty black.

Not the parts Isenga was building.

Oh, certainly not.

No, no, not, not on Cis Trump.

Oh no.

Also, have you seen Philly?

I love Philly.

Great town.

You seen it?

You think LeBron's gonna live in Philly? Is he gonna live in Kensington?

Come on.

I love Philadelphia. I love— I love—

Philly's a great town. I love Philly.

Some great eats. I love Philly.

I've been there multiple times.

It's a great place. I would never live there.

I love the character and history of Philadelphia. You guys are doing something though that is really funny where I, I just want you guys to notice, okay? I wasn't listening to the game last night, so I asked you guys, has Troy Aikman gotten out of his vocabulary as good as anyone in the game over the last couple?

I haven't heard it.

I was very, very plugged in last night, did not hear it. Pay attention to how often a media critic has nothing to say in terms of criticism other than bad optics. Just pay—

bad look.

Somebody's saying something's a bad look. It's an empty criticism. It has no real consequences. It's just the discomfort of the critic not liking something and filing it under the umbrella of bad look.

It's only an empty criticism in this case if you think a large number of Philadelphia basketball fans aren't sort of put off by the situation there.

They're thrilled to have him anywhere near their city.

Okay, so nobody's thinking, why is he living in—

why can't he live where he plays? They don't care where he lives, they care where he plays!

All right, you're speaking for everybody.

Maybe you're right.

You're speaking for everybody!

I know I am!

You're speaking negatively for everybody! You know you are!

I think I've got more of a pulse on On Philly fans in this case than you do.

That's true. Put it on the poll.

I think you're ridiculous to think that Philly fans, some of them, a great number of them, are not upset that LeBron's living in New York.

Which do you think they care about more, that LeBron's playing in Philly or that he's not living in Philly?

I think they care about both.

Which do you think they care about more?

Obviously that he's playing.

Preseason game last night, he didn't even play, so right now he's not even doing that.

What did you just say? What was that last sentence? You sound like you just ate a bunch of words.

Everyone heard me.

What? What? No, I don't think any— Chris, can you tell me what Zaz's last sentence just was? Because it sounded like—

well said.

That's not me. I don't know who that is.

You said it well. You.

Yesterday I was accused on the show, and I, I went home laughing at how you guys had to have distorted my sound so quickly. There's simply no way—

Distorted?

There's just simply no way I was accused yesterday of— We lowered it. Greg, that came out of Dan yesterday.

What?

And it was louder. We've lowered that by a lot.

Wild animal. What was that?

It sounds like—

Close your eyes. You're in a swamp right now, and there's frogs. Dad, you're afraid of frogs. Just imagine frogs everywhere.

They got 3 minutes, folks.

If I told you guys that this was the sound— Roy, get in your seat and do your job. Don't stomp off running laughing at something. Like, just don't stomp off running laughing at your own joke.

Because there's 3 minutes left in the segment.

That's so great. A joke for no one. For no one. That was a joke for Roy, and then he was so amused by it. himself that he stomps off running and laughing at how funny he is when I want to ask the question of what kind of clearly distorted sound— does this sound like a wild boar searching for truffles?

Yes. Did you find any?

Delicious.

Not the first time I've been accused of being a boar, but that's not how we spell it. Uh, what else does that sound like? Because I can't believe how quickly you guys betrayed me and altered the sound in order to make this a really bad look for me.

We helped you. We helped you.

The optics were not great. So I was mad yesterday though, Greg, because they then accused me, and I need your help here because— and I don't know how much help you're going to give me— when you talk about dancing swords, when you talk about not having breakfast, when you talk about having only coffee for 16 hours with the occasional slice of bacon, you very often have stomach issues that I can hear. Zaz, you can also hear them in here.

Yeah.

Yesterday I was accused of being unfair to an old man because sounds like this that come out of me that are distorted, that are not fair and not accurate and are clearly exaggerated. They're saying I accuse you of that even though I've heard the sound and Zaz has heard the sound multiple times. You often have stomach problems in the morning here.

I wouldn't call them stomach problems. I have a natural sound that I make. My digestive tract is my own.

It's because you don't eat.

No, you know what? Drinking an excessive amount of coffee is good for you. If you don't believe me—

That's not true.

With extra milk?

No, he's right about that though. It curtails the appetite and keeps you streamlined.

With extra milk?

Polymarket reported that recently. I don't know what Polymarket is, but they reported—

You can just whatever, stop saying it, please.

Thank you.

Okay.

What?

Just go, go up. We've got a giant sponsor that is our best sponsor ever, and you don't pay any attention to these things. And so you're dumbfounded when we tell you to stop doing something and you just continue to lean in on something. Let's hear from Zaslow earlier in the show. Somebody translate this for me, please.

Right now it's not even doing that.

What the hell is Zaslow saying here?

Right now it's not even doing that. Right now, it's not even doing that. That's bullshit. Uh, nobody knows what I'm doing. No, right now it's not even doing that. Right now it's not even doing that. Right now it's not even doing that.