Transcript of The Top 10 Players Who've Impressed Mike The Most | Hour 2

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 Steuererklärung, 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. You are listening to the Dan Levitan Show in partnership with the DraftKings Sports App. Now live in all 50 states.

Vegas, don't miss UFC 329 this Saturday night. Join Tony and Lewis live from Stadium Swim at Circa as MMA Hangout covers Conor McGregor versus Max Holloway. Catch them at 8 Fremont Street or watch live on The Lebatard Show YouTube channel starting at 9 PM Eastern, 6 PM Vegas time, for every round. Keep it fun and keep it cuervo.

One of the reasons that I do therapy, and one of the most elusive things that I have found, uh, unable to quite conquer in therapy, is being more forgiving of of myself. So I thought that I'd evolved into an adulthood that at 57 I could drive home and shake off calling Max Holloway Max Holiday. But Thierry Henry, I can't forgive. And I'm just going to say the construction business. Like, I'm just tired. I'm just tired and I'm crawling around. And my apologies. The World Cup has ransacked me and the people outside of my window have been singing until 3 o'clock in the morning every day. Backstreet Boys. And so So I'm going to make some mistakes that are embarrassing to me. And I want to apologize eternally and also just make an excuse. I am not an athlete. I'm not going to tell you I need to tough it out. I don't know. I'm just tired and that's why I'm bad.

Have you given any more thought to that no-show job I'm looking for?

You mentioned Thierry Henry and a bit of polarizing dude. He had a— I thought he was really good after the Belgium match.. And for those that follow his post-playing career on Paramount Studios show for the Champions League, Thierry is a part of a really good ensemble, really relaxed, really fun, really recommended for anybody that's trying to get into club football, understanding that it's a different thing entirely from international football, which seems to be up the alley of the American. But Thierry on Fox has to play more of a straight man because you got Alexi doing his thing and Zlatan is this huge personality. So Thierry is a little bit more of a straight—

that's a tricky one too with Zlatan because he's a giant person. Personality, but he's doing the show in his second language, and that one can be tricky. They make it work, but they make it work at least because clearly it seems like those two guys don't totally respect Lalas.

He's a huge personality, Zlatan, but I find them to be very tame on this broadcast.

Yeah, he has really good comedic timing and good one-liners. You say, you mentioned it's his second language. I don't think so. I think, you know, several languages, and, and that just to be— that, that's one of them. Thierry is also doing it in his second language, but Thierry was really good here in this back and forth with Alexi Lalas. Let's go ahead and play it.

That should have been a decision that was done on the field, not after 3 days, 4 days. I didn't agree with that at all. So please do not get it right because it's not right. Article 27 doesn't say that. No. And he fired up Belgium. Look at how they were, the celebration, the dancing at the end and everything that was there. It wasn't right. So Ronaldo shouldn't have played in the World Cup either? I said, I said, I said, no, don't you, you say whatever you want to say, whatever you want to say. I'm talking about the Balogun situation.

Hold on, hold on, hold on.

What is not right about it?

That's my opinion. I don't think it was right.

I understand your opinion. I completely understand.

That's about it. That's what, that's where I stand. But it's, but nobody broke any rules or regulations or— That's what I believe. The red wasn't a red for Balogun. I said it, right? I would say it again. The way it happened after, I didn't agree with it. That's about it.

So the right decision was come to the wrong way also when it comes to Cristiano Ronaldo.

That's on you to talk if you want to talk. I'm talking about Balogun. This is the World Cup.

I would have had to turn it off. Like, that's where I get the secondhand embarrassment. I wouldn't have been able to sit through it. I would have had to turn it off or run out the room.

Alexi's trying to make compelling television there. It's weird. He says, I understand where you're coming from, but why the issue with it? He's saying both things there. That is world-class stuff from Thierry to not get sucked into a straw man. And a false equivalency that Alexi is trying to build up when comparing, rightly so, Ronaldo and Otamendi. They had some reds wiped away because they, they wanted a fair level playing field for the tournament. They also wanted the biggest stars there. This is different. This is something that happened within the World Cup finals. There was no precedent for something quite like this. To invoke Cristiano Ronaldo, even though it can be a guide, is a false equivalency. And Thierry handled that so well. I think because he's French and because he's not this electric personality on that show, and because he's being critical of something that went the US's way. Because look, the corruption was working out for us. We were all happy with Balogun there, but it very clearly— and Thierry's been a part of that Belgian staff before, I should say— clearly fired them up. Knowing the result now and seeing the Trump dance twice, The second time because they thought we missed it.

It fired them up, and I do think that calling out the way that it went about is good television and is probably the right take. Really well done. I'm— for a studio team that was just thrown together that had never worked together before, they've had their growing pains, but there are some times where it's on, and I like how they dunk all over Alexi.

They— there's clearly tension there. It's been documented throughout this entire tournament. But I think at this point, this has been a good— like, everyone wants to, like you say, dunk on Alexi Lalas. Alexi Lalas has clearly done an excellent job here because otherwise, like, if it wasn't him, we wouldn't be talking about this broadcast at all. Like, we're talking about this broadcast on a daily basis. Rare.

Look, guys, this is unbelievably rare, okay? These are all monster egos that are on that set. These are These are divas of the highest order who get formed by whatever sports fame does to people.

Zlatan?

They're all stars.

Zlatan has an ego? I mean—

No, no, but hold on. The next step on this though. Do you know how rare it is for stars to share a stage and two of them don't respect the other guy? And for it to be obvious as you're watching television that two guys are up there saying, "Hey, you're not in our class. Why do you talk like you're—

as if you're in our class?" Everyone's been super critical of Alexi this World Cup, and I'm like, man, they finally got Alexi right. I think in so many previous incarnations of the World Cup, people were always so deferential to Alexi. Alexi's been doing television media for a very long time, and we know what we get with Alexi. He is a huge homer and wears it proudly. He has never been so far outclassed in terms of playing career. And with, with a personality like Zlatan that is comfortable in saying, when they're talking about Vini taking the penalty kick, Thierry liked taking it. I like taking it. Alexi was never asked.

No, well, that's funny.

I mean, like, I mean, but that's crazy. It's a crazy amount of disrespect to hit on punctuation at the end of a joke. Alexi Lalas is there to sort of be court jester Ronald McDonald Skip Bayless. Like, he's there to be there, the ingredient that sort of makes Zlatan and, uh, Thierry Henry.

It's a construction business. No, I don't even know if that was the design, Chris, but like, this was This is the best use of Alexi where you treat him. Yeah, kind of like a joke. And Alexi is going with it, by the way, playing up to it. Alexi is doing a great job, as you mentioned. He's like basically The Miz. He's making other guys look good in the ring.

Zlatan has his top 10 players of the tournament and he's always at number 1.

That's awesome.

The king of the jungle and he's number 1 and then it's the bot, the rest.

I just, I don't— the part that I don't like though is like they can crack jokes on him. Heck, It's one of our favorite things about Inside the NBA where they crack jokes like that. "You never took a penalty." They'll dunk on Barkley like that all the time. It's good. It makes for good television. It's playful. But it's not tired to you? The whole "you don't get to talk like that, we were so much better than you are." Like, that argument's tired.

It's not tired on American World Cup coverage. This is a refreshingly new spin on what was a tired act for many in Alexi Lalas. He gets crushed. And for the first time ever on the set, the people on the set are doing the crushing. Usually that's just farmed out to the internet. I find it refreshing. And Alexi actually seems pretty down for this new role.

But that doesn't mean just because Thierry Henry and Zlatan are obviously much better players than Alexi Lalas was, that doesn't mean they know more about the game than he does.

But Zads, let's just do it this way, okay? Because this is why it works and it's why it's great, okay? Because you have two legends there even though I keep getting one of their names wrong. You have two legends on the set there. It's a bit of a stunner that it's not Zlatan's name that I'm getting wrong. Uh, the idea that two of the people are on television on a big studio show being watched by that many people at a time when the broadcasts are making the voices really resonate and get paid— when are all the other times in American broadcast history that you can tell that the people don't respect another one of their colleagues on the set while they're doing that. However, inside the NBA does it. You never think those guys don't like each other, even when Shaq and Barkley are going back and forth at each other. You know, oh, those people actually love each other. These don't. And the two guys don't actually respect everything Lalas is. They don't respect American soccer. I don't know if they respect the United States if we allow that clown to be one of our hood ornaments.

Like, they—

the whole America thing might elude them, except Zlatan likes LA a lot. Like, he likes the idea of, I'll take that little corner of America, they understand my confidence and beauty there.

Should be noted, as you mentioned LA, huge stars in MLS. That's their tether to the United States. Thierry Henry famously loved New York. It's why he wanted to play there. He's got a street named after him in New York. He had an illustrious career with the New York Red Bulls. So these guys love America. They're not fish out of water. They have their tethers to this. They're well familiar with Alexi Lalas's game. They just haven't had the opportunity to work with him in this fashion. And I do think it's the jobber in the wrestling ring that's helping put the other guy over. This is a new take, a new spin on using Alexi the right way. I've actually enjoyed Alexi's takes more because I'm like, yeah, get him! Yeah, go! Like, that's ridiculous! How dare he speak this way! You're Zlatan! You had one of the greatest goals of all time! You're a prolific goal scorer! This is nuts! You're having to lay out for Alexi Lawless? Get his ass! I love it.

A 40 yards from the goal bicycle kick. Those are hard to do.

Pretty hard to do. Dan Levatar! I hate that Carolina's gonna get this moment just because they waited us out. Jonathan Sasselow! But I love that Buffalo is gonna replace the Panthers in this situation because those fans absolutely deserve it. Not going to the playoffs, what, 14 straight years?

They deserve it! We deserve it! I don't care.

We won twice already!

I deserve a third one before they deserve anything!

I just started paying attention to hockey. I live in a swamp. Give me 3 in a row.

Sabers.

Buffalo deserves! Eat shit, Buffalo! Why you care about Buffalo?

This is the Dan Levatar Show! You mentioned a top 10 list, Chris. I got a top 5 list. I got a top 5 list. Players at this World Cup that have impressed me the most. All right, guys, that's not the best players. It's the players that have impressed me the most.

Impressed you personally the most?

Yes. Oli, the goalkeeper for Paraguay, Orlando Gil. He's been tremendous. Was tremendous. Being at Philadelphia and seeing his back and forth, I'm not sure all the cameras caught it with Mbappé. That got really feisty. He was incredible in the penalty shootout. He was great against Germany.

They—

he had such a disastrous start to this World Cup. His ability to rebound and keep Paraguay in these matches in which they were outmatched. He's made himself a lot of money.

You remember when we scored 4 goals on him?

Yeah, he made us forget it with one of the all-time upsets in the history of the World Cup. Another goalkeeper here. You know, I fancy the keepers. Gregor Kobel. I was a big Yann Sommer guy for Switzerland. Undersized. I thought if Yann Sommer was taller, he'd be recognized as the best in the world. This guy's made me forget about one of my favorite keepers over for Switzerland. He's been spectacular lately. And another team that came out of the gates looking lackluster against Qatar, and he's been amazing since.

Who was that?

Stop doing that.

Gregor Kobel. For Switzerland. All right, my second favorite player. A lot of conversation about a soon-to-be 19-year-old on Spain.

Wait a minute, second favorite player? That's different than impressed me personally.

Well, my second, uh, my— this is Ollai, but I love this player in this tournament. I, I haven't watched a lot of La Liga this past year, and I wasn't really familiar with this dude's game. If you want some long shot odds on, on the DraftKings Sports App, young player of the tournament. While all the attention on Spain goes to another soon-to-be 19-year-old in Lamine Yamal. He's not the best 19-year-old on that roster so far this tournament. You mentioned how Spain hasn't conceded a goal. That's because Pau Cubarsi, the center back for España, has been a titan on that back line. And I think he can be young player of the tournament while everyone was looking for the spectacular attackers. All right, here we go. Number 5, Harry Kane. Whoa, Mike, he's a superstar. What could possibly impress you about what Harry Kane is doing? The work he is doing defensively, the space he is creating as an older player. I keep waiting for the bottom to fall out when it comes to Harry Kane, but he is taking the mantle of captain of England seriously. He is playing his ass off defensively. Very curious to see how he tracks back against Norway.

So he is my 5th Most people like him because it sounds like hurricane.

Yeah.

Rocky like a hurricane. Sir Harold of Kane. Number 4, Kylian Mbappé. He is going to blow away Messi's World Cup goal record wherever it lands.

Pretty good.

Zaz, good player. Mbappé now doing a little bit more pressing, but famously doesn't like to defend. All right. If you're not going to defend, you better be dynamite in the attack. And he absolutely is. What I like so much, what is impressing me so much is not just the blazing speed and the finishing ability, the edge he's playing with. There was a big racist controversy with a senator from Paraguay. He is playing with an edge. And I kind of like this attitude that Mbappé is playing with and curious to see how it goes today.

Fueled by racism. Fueled by racism.

If you're familiar with the global game now, today's a— today's an absolute cracker of a game between France and Morocco.

Cracker of a game.

Yeah, it's a— yeah, it's a— it's a great game. Morocco made it to the semis last—

I'm with you, Zazz, on that. That's not the word he should have been using.

Number 3, this may surprise you, Leo Messi. You got 2 more impressive than he's been impressive.

Yeah, well, yeah, yeah, to me.

Now you're not going to get much defensively, and he has scored in 6 straight knockout matches. That's unbelievable. He's carrying his team in the attack. The whole thing is built around him. Never going to give you something defensively, which is why he's only a number 3 for me. But what's most impressive is he's 39 years old. All right. His goal-scoring output and his goal contributions on the club side are as good as they've ever been. I know you may want to point to when he was playing with Xavi and Iniesta in Barcelona and say— I did.

I did want to point that out.

But that was a better version of Leo Messi. Guys, can we just call it out like we see it? Like, he's never been better for the national team.

That's crazy to say.

Never been better, more effective for the national team.

Say How do we know he's not going to play in 4 years again?

I don't think we can because he doesn't— he's playing, right? He's mastered the game.

It's not just a mastery of the game. And I know you've got 2 more here, but the part that— the part that is the craziest about all of this to me, it's not that it's just happening that he's this old. It really wasn't that long ago you guys were questioning whether he could win one of these things. Like, it was 5 years ago that you were telling me he was Ronaldo and he's distanced himself from Ronaldo in the last 5 years in a way that, uh, is, it's just insane.

There's no other way to describe what he's doing. It's pure insanity.

At the late stages of what should be his career being done because you get too old, 34 to 39, he has separated himself as the best in the world and proven to us that it's laughable to think that he couldn't win a big game.

Mike wanted to see Cape Verde, the other day, not Messi.

I maintain that Cape Verde would have been an unbelievable story, but you can't tell me that watching that upset play out That's a movie. So while I'm happy I saw Egypt, Argentina, and that performance from Messi, if I'm watching Cape Verde, that means that Cape Verde beat Argentina and that would have been crazy.

That is what it means.

Whoa.

From The Athletic, Christian Pulisic suffered a bone bruise and a microfracture in his leg during the World Cup loss to Belgium. He will be sidelined for several weeks, but not months. Multiple people briefed on the diagnosis told The Athletic.

And of course, you think this discourse was going to take place over the last 48 hours and we weren't coming out with an injury?

Come on. Here's a— this is a statement. Let's go ahead and throw it up that, you know, still looking for the media training. Christian Pulisic said, tough to find the words. I want to start by saying thank you to everyone who believed, the support carried us all the way through. It simply wasn't good enough for us in the end, and I want to deliver so much more. I still feel blessed to be a part of this team. The memories of the summer will last a lifetime. You know what? I don't care what you have to say. And I didn't doubt that you were hurt. That's kind of your deal.

Just the start for us. Yeah, nice little line.

It may not be the start for him, honestly. He's got to earn his keep now. Uh, I didn't doubt that he got hurt. Christian gets hurt. I never once did I say he was faking asking out of the game. Yeah, micro fracture, that hurts. Some people could probably power through that. My main issue was the tone-deaf response from Christian Pulisic. Number 2 on my list, most impressive, Erling Haaland. Erling Haaland has been Unbelievable. Obviously, we all know his attacking prowess. He's his top-end speed. The fact that he might be a Nordic alien.

Yes, he should play with the actual Viking horns like he should. The soccer ball should get lodged on one. He's the only guy in the history of the sport I'd allow it with.

It's— you could just be impressed with him and he'd be worthy of a number 2 ranking just because of what he's doing with Norway, who actually have quite a few nice players around him that I think have earned themselves a lot of money here. But Erling Haaland also playing a way that's a little foreign to us, doing so much defensive work. I think he's cleared like 2 balls off the line in his own end. He has been unbelievable. And I cannot wait for this match that we have down here in Miami between Norway and my number 1 most impressive player of the World Cup tournament, Jude Bellingham. No, Jude Bellingham has been unbelievable. Yeah, he's not scoring at the same clip that some of the other guys that I've mentioned are, but in terms of distribution and defensive work. This dude is working his tail off, defending like N'Golo Kanté when no one expected that of him. Jude Bellingham, Jude Bellingham has totally bounced back in this tournament. He is on a yellow. And if you're one of those people that subscribe to the big great controversy surrounding Argentina and does FIFA do them favors, the one thing that you should be watching is does Jude get a yellow against Norway?

That wouldn't allow him to play Argentina in the very next round. Everybody's worried about that. You can take action on whether or not he gets a yellow card and that impacts the next round. It also impacts your mentality when you're affecting the game defensively, as he is already being on a yellow to play that type of defense on a yellow where you have to be more careful. I am just blown away by Jude. He is what was promised. I cannot wait for this matchup against Erling Haaland. They were teammates at Borussia Dortmund. And they were really fun together. I cannot wait.

Zazz, I need a ruling from a judge here. Does any World Cup list of people that you're impressed by stink if it doesn't have Cape Verde's goalie?

All rise. The honorable Jonathan Zaslow now presiding.

Like, if your list has 7 nominees of who impressed you and you decide to go off the board, you can't, I don't think, omit the story of the tournament, that he preferred to be in Atlanta than Lionel Messi.

I've got— I understand the case that is presented to me. Mike Ryan makes a list, not just top 5 but OLI as well, and no Vazinha on the list when Vazinha went from 40-something thousand followers on Instagram to over 20 Million now, but not impressive to Mike.

Not impressive enough to Mike to crack his top 7.

I saw one of his eyeballs. I think he has cataracts and he's not on Mike's list.

He's 40.

Mike Ryan, you are guilty.

Thank you.

With prejudice.

Not even my most egregious mistake there. Regrettably, I should have made Zlatan number 1.

Hercules Gomez says on First Take, I think what Christian Pulisic is going through right now, he's being used as the scapegoat for this failed World Cup. Yeah, pretty much. And the funny thing about it is people are so frustrated that you come out and you're going to be injured. And if it had been weeks, if it had been months, if the report had been he suffered a career-ending injury, the reaction today— people are angry enough— would still be, yeah, you're always getting hurt. You should have played. You should have swung your leg around, broken it off, and just swung it and made them change the rules about whether or not you'd used your hands or not. Because you were swinging your broken leg around to try and score a goal or get a shot on goal instead of getting the ball stolen from you. There is literally no— there is no explanation that will be met with anything other than shut up, shut up. You failed us. You're the reason that America lost.

I don't think anyone has said that he's the reason, but this is the life that he is the reason they lost.

No, I think it's just we expected more from him. Everyone was bad against Belgium.

I got First Take on mute in here. Stephen A is on vacation. So they've talked a lot about U.S. soccer in the lower third has often said Christian Pulisic in particular. I knew we'd see a statement that he got hurt again. No one doubted that he got hurt. He gets hurt. But he's one of the few people that doesn't really stand to gain much by that release because everyone's reaction is, of course he got hurt.

Yeah, but that's crazy.

This is—

look, this is something we talk about all the time around here. And I believe that your standard is a little bit inhumane in general when it comes to talking about bodies being broken because your standard is hockey. It's not even footballs. It's everyone has to play no matter if you're just nothing but a torso. It doesn't matter what kind of condition your body is in or what the future injury is. But if any of us were enduring right now what Pulisic's last 36 hours have been and we actually had a microfracture, all of us would want the compassion from the American people that would come with 'Oh, it wasn't that you're mentally frail or weak or bad at soccer, it's that you had a fracture in the leg.' We'd all crave the compassion in that.

Oh, I appreciate the complete 180 that you've done on Christian Pulisic and having empathy for him. I know you guys are new to this Christian Pulisic game. I've been making excuses for him for a decade. I have shown plenty of compassion for his injuries and his plight for a decade. It was all about this World Cup. It was all about him being better when he was healthy. Really unfortunate he got hurt. He was trash before he got hurt in that match. We didn't do anything. And yeah, are other people skating?

Yeah.

Pochettino in particular.

Really?

Pochettino especially. That guy's a career loser. How do you, how do you take all that momentum, become the winningest manager in U.S. World Cup history and have a team come out that flat, play that uninspired? Belgium's manager was a joke until like 5 minutes left against Senegal. He found a way to rally his troops. They played above and beyond. They found the motivation. What did Pochettino's guys do? Give you one of the more listless performances in U.S. soccer history? I think you have to track back to a Copa America against Argentina where you felt like you didn't have that much of a shot. Dan Levatar.

The Packers win or the Bears lose?

Jonathan Sasselow.

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

This is the Dan Levatar Show.

Trying to think what hacky wordplay First Take would do for a Pulisic segment.

Like, "Pulisic of the excuses." Anti-Christian.

Okay.

I think Disney would avoid that one. Probably go with Chris Cody.

"Pulisic of the excuses." Would they?

The excuses. This one, look, I don't know what to do with this. I really don't. When are excuses explanations and when are explanations excuses? Zaslo, if I just did it just a second ago, Thierry Henry, construction business, an excuse. I'm making an excuse for— it's not that I'm bad, it's not that I stink, it's not that I'm bad at my job, the very opposite of what Jeremy is at his job. It's that I've got an excuse at the ready because I don't want it to be just I suck. If you had a micro fracture of the leg, I'm not actually trying to get compassion or empathy here for— I'm just asking you guys to literally put yourself in his cleats. He is the scapegoat for American soccer, people. People in soccer are talking about the strategy and the building of the team, but everyone who's Johnny-come-lately is looking at, oh, our big star, the one name that I knew, that guy didn't do anything, and he got the ball stolen from him, and he checked out of the game, and all the other US stars, men and women, are crushing him from every angle. And the news stream is 36 hours of, you suck, it's your fault, this is the reason that this happened, we're mad, America's mad at you, mad at sports, this is what we care about, you're the worst, and you had a microfracture.

Wouldn't you You want to explain yourself and not have it dismissed as an excuse?

It was 3-1 when he got subbed out. Okay, that, that explains why he was subbed out. It doesn't explain why it was 3-1. It doesn't explain why he was dispossessed 11 times. It doesn't explain why he was terrible prior to that injury. All it does is explain why ass out of the game.

P-O-O-Lisic.

Wow, that's pretty good. That's if you want to elevate the ratings, get even a little bit dirtier. The story I brought up before is as— and I'm sorry it took me so long to get to it because we've got one of the rarest things that you ever find in sports. You've got a notoriously cheap skate owner who wins. I mean, it took Dolan forever to win, but Tom Dundon just won the Stanley Cup because the Panthers didn't play in it.

That's right.

It should have an asterisk on everything— the franchise. He should wear an asterisk on his forehead. He— because, because that championship doesn't count because the Panthers were injured. But he's notoriously cheap in a way that billionaires usually don't get. It's crazy, actually, to think he's also purchased the Portland Trail Blazers now. And the Stanley Cup trophy, you can see there his name and his family's name is all over that trophy. The very top top row is just Dundon family. Well, who are those people?

Top 2 rows, Dan.

The top 2 rows ahead of everyone else, all the other champions on that trophy. The first names on there, it's not even hidden. You can't even throw it in the middle somewhere. So I— do you guys think people wouldn't have noticed if it was just sprinkled around, if there were Dundons all over the place? Put them in.

But yeah, I don't think they can. No, I think it goes like ownership, front office, players. I don't think you can change the order.

Those aren't all—

that's not all ownership. How many Dundons is that? They don't all work for the team. How many Who are those people?

There looks like there's 7 Dundons that are on the Stanley Cup.

I think I see 8. Is it 8?

I think it's 7.

No, you got it right. 7. I'm sorry, Veronica, that's a long name there. There's some long names on the top line.

That's Veroshka.

Jeff Daniels plays for the Hurricanes?

It's 7 members of the Dundon family taking up the top 2 lines of the Cup. And let me also add for some context here, you don't get to put everyone that you want on the Cup. There is a certain number of names that you are allowed to include, and not everyone in the organization who feels like they played a role in winning the Stanley Cup is— there is— there enough room for their name to be on the cup. And so for the Dundon family to have 7 names taking up the top 2 lines when apparently, Dan, one of the names is a kid who is currently in kindergarten—

I was gonna say, that has to be Dax. Gotta be Dax.

Like, Get the hell out of here. That trophy, it's a disgrace what you're doing to that trophy. It's the greatest trophy in all of sports. There is so much prestige and respect around this trophy, and you're filling the top 2 lines with family members, including children. That is a disgrace.

Dak's works hard.

I think Dak should be made to earn that trophy. You want— kid, you want your name on the trophy? Here's what it takes. Then hit him in the mouth.

You know, if you're ownership, everybody a part of that organization gets a day with the cup. Where's the cup going on Dax's day? Chuck E. Cheese?

He's going in the cup. He's going in the cup. He's the only person on there who— he fits in the cup. This trophy is said to be the hardest to earn. We just got done telling you that the standard, Mike's standard for lack of humanity with his athletes is if they're willing to give up their own body the way the Kachucks have it written into the family manifestos where you give up up everything. So even if it's just your nose playing, it better score twice and get 3 penalties. Even if it's just your nose. These people— that standard is not my standard. I don't think it's the standard for pain that anyone in our audience has. But if I tell you Pulisic's been bad for long before this World Cup, he hasn't scored a goal. Mike, how long has it been since the guy scored a goal of any kind against reasonable, reasonable competition in a competitive game?

Yeah, since December. In a non-friendly— since Shaboozie.

Entertain, entertain the hypothetical for me, Zazz, here. Just entertain the hypothetical. You're physically hurt in a way that makes you not be able to perform to the level expected of you because you're playing against people who appear to be healthier and also better. Would you or would you not use it as a quote explanation slash excuse? Would you?

If I'm only going to miss a few weeks like that statement said about Pulisic, I don't need to release that statement. If I'm going to be out 6 months, okay.

You're doing exactly what he's hoping for with this statement. Yes, garner sympathy and erase the fact that he was healthy. He himself said he was healthy. He looked good when he checked in against Turkey. Like, Türkiye, I'm sorry. Like, he looked good. He said he was fully fit and ready to go. We were down 3-1. He got hurt.

What?

What? I don't understand what we're doing. Yes, I feel bad that the narrative surrounding you asking out of the game was fixated on— I myself never doubted that you were hurt, but you weren't hurt to start that game. You allowed 3-1 to happen perfectly fit.

You guys aren't answering my question though. Juju, please put it on the poll. Turkey A, I'm sorry, sincere or insincere? Because that didn't sound sincere to me. Turkey A, I'm sorry, just all one word, sincere or insincere? The question I asked you was— it's almost textbook definition empathy. If it were you, I'm asking you to make it you. You're the person who has undergone this. Would you think that it was an excuse or an explanation if it were you?

I think it's an excuse.

It's only an explanation for why he was subbed out. Yeah, but I'm not criticizing his performance after he got hurt. Yeah, I'm not criticizing that. I'm performance— I'm criticizing the performance that led up to his injury, where he was dispossessed 11 times, where he couldn't create anything really, where whenever the ball was at his feet, it went the other direction. That doesn't explain that what happened there. That's just to garner sympathy, sympathy that he's actively getting right now.

Thomas and Veruschka have 5 kids: Dax, Caden, Drew, Blake, and Tegan. They're all on the trophy.

That's a disgrace to the Stanley Cup.

Those are some white names.

Dan, that's a disgrace to that cup. I don't like that. That's terrible.

Also, I pitched on a hairline fracture in high school. All right. I got hit with a line drive in my last game during senior night, ended up rolling my ankle, walking around in a walking boot for a week. Okay. All I could take was Advil. I didn't have Percocet. I didn't have anything. Okay. That was necessary. To feel good. I went out, I pitched at West Broward High School against West Broward. Guess what I did? Two-hit shutout. I'm good at everything. Sazlo, I feel like if you were owner of a hockey team and won the Stanley Cup, you'd put your kids on the cup.

No, I would not, because I have more respect for the Stanley Cup than Tom Dundon.

Is there any other time in the American language that the verb is used as dispossessed? Is it— is soccer the only place where dispossessed makes an appearance? Because Pulisic, the number that was most damning on him is they got the— he got the ball taken away from him 11 times in 45 minutes. It was more than anyone else on the field. And, and, and dispossessed as a verb is a funny way to just cut him across the stomach with a scalpel and you don't even mean it.

Tony, you know that moment at a party or at a tailgate where everything just sort of clicks?

I know it well.

It's usually when I show up, everybody goes crazy. Yeah, you usually take all the credit for it, but it's because Tony usually walks in with Cuervo. I walk in like this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cuervo is a thing that turns hanging out into "this is the night." It has that effect on people. It does. You usually take the credit for it, but again, it's the Cuervo effect. It's like that moment in a big game where everyone in the crowd just starts standing up, hooting and hollering, "Keep it Cuervo!" Keep it Cuervo, baby.