Transcript of The Topics We Saved For Dan | Hour 3 (feat. Amin Elhassan)

Wo gibt's eigentlich die weißen Rosen aus Athen? Und wo regnet's für mich nochmal rote Rosen?

Natürlich im Europa-Rosarium Sangerhausen mit der größten Rosensammlung der Welt. Viele tausend Rosenarten warten auf Sie mit prachtvollen Blüten und herrlichem Duft. www.rosarium.de.

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Guys, highlight season is back, Jack, and we want to unveil our schedule just like the NFL teams do. Let's go down on the streets and see if people know who the Cyclones are playing this season.

Uh, Lightning Banana.

A fire ping pong.

The Purple Tigers.

Spotted.

Look like an evil spirit right there. Look like the demon.

Hurricanes.

Tornadoes.

Tornadoes.

Tornadoes.

Tornado?

Yeah, it's a hockey team.

Tornadoes.

Cyclones?

Oh, that's actually right. Oh, Dan, can you feel the excitement? Oh, couple weeks from now, September 15th, is our first game. We are very excited about our season.

They haven't stripped you of your team yet. Uh, you continue to have a long run as the owner of this team that has won a championship and come close a couple of other times.

Now, the Hi-Li League was sold, I believe, while you were away.

Wow.

So someone did buy the league. We are good for this season. I think going after that, a little TBD. Mike did have a good conversation with the new owner, so there's a chance we're still around, but TBD.

Okay, very good. Meen Elhassan is with us now. We've got some weekend observations to get to, and I don't know whether he's been crying or whether or not he has a cold, but There is something in his eyes that I see that is either sadness or sickness. Which is it, Ameen?

It's sickness. I don't get sick often. When I do, it kicks my ass. And so here I am. I think I have an ear infection, to be honest with you.

All right. Well, he's playing hurt and he looks like he's playing hurt. So let's get him in and out as quickly as possible so that he can get on with his life and go to school. Go to— well, no, but he looks like he's hurting. He looks like he's in a great deal of pain. And he also looks like Zaslav inexplicably, which I would not have had before I left on this trip. I would not have had him being infected with the zaz, but he's clearly, like everyone else around here, been infected with the zaz. Let's go ahead and do Amin's Weekend Observations. He's playing hurt.

It is time for Amin to share his game notes. No one in the media will tell you what happened better than my boy Amin.

Weekend Observations is brought to you by Miller Lite. Legendary moments start with a light. Dan, welcome back.

Thank you. I've got a gift for you. I've got a gift for you. I mean, yeah, Lionel Messi's retiring from, from the national team.

That's not a gift. That's, that's a, that's a footnote. Emphasis on foot because he's short. Dan, this weekend I saw something I never thought I'd see. A guy cannot report to camp, never be around the team, train on his own, and basically prove his worth by virtue of IG videos of his training sessions, many of which look, quite frankly, ridiculous, and still say, I'm an NFL player. I'm talking, of course, about Aaron Donald. What kind of bullshit is this? It's like getting married but not showing up until the honeymoon.

Yeah, just clock in when it's time to—

way to put the work in. Show of hands, how many of you guys knew Bobby Petrino is the offensive coordinator for North Carolina? Anyone know? Anyone know that? Oh, you knew? Wow. I just learned it when I was writing this. Somewhere Taylor Vippolis better have a custom Carolina blue neck brace that he breaks out every game day. Tariq Skubal. Returned to Detroit this weekend, and judging by the crowd reaction, the city of Detroit gave slightly less fuck than I did. Also, did we ever get to the bottom of why a white guy born in Hayward, California and raised in Kingman, Arizona is named Tariq? Were his parents really big fans of Power or something? WNBA couldn't have planned the World Cup break any better. We got 8 really good teams solidified for the playoff picture. And the rest of the league is about 10 games under .500. Why even come back if you're Connecticut? Your team is shutting down and headed to Houston anyway. Just get a head start on the moving process. I was on Instagram and I saw this reel about this wide receiver that we hadn't heard from. Where in the world did this guy come from?

I'm talking, of course, of OBJ. Once a Giant, always a Giant.

He made it. He made— he made the team. He made the Giants.

He looks so different now.

I mean, he's going to be their 5th receiver.

Ryan Preece won the Coke Zero Sugar 400. I have 2 questions. One, do they call him Mr. Preece? 2, how did the Cigar Man do in his debut? Know about that Cigar Man, Dan?

Uh, you did a good Mr. Freeze there. You did a good Arnold. You always do a good Arnold.

Yeah.

A little, a little, a little behind the 8-ball today. I'm struggling over here. Move over, 50 Cent. We have a new clubhouse leader for worst first pitch ever. Greg Maddux. Not only was it horrible, but your whole shit is about mastering the strike zone, Greg. He pitched it like Greg Cody trying to rattle off his top catchphrases. Feebly. I spent entirely too much time negging ChatGPT. And I'm sad to say it's pretty entertaining. I just keep changing my mind. Oh, what do you think is the biggest news story? And it's like, it says something. I'm like, that's not a big news story. It's like, you're right. I got excited. I shouldn't have done that. Like, no, what are you talking about? This is the biggest news story. You're right again. And then I just went back and forth with it like that for like 20 minutes. It just agrees with me.

That's lonely. That's a lonely way for you to spend 20 minutes.

It was fun though. US Open returns. I thought about hitting it up, then I saw the prices, decided taking out a third mortgage was the right move for me right now. Today marks the 1-year anniversary of Here's the Science, a Bar Rescue podcast hosted by Chelsea Reynolds, a real-life bar and restaurant consultant, Colin Cassard, a real veteran of the commercial kitchen and food truck scene in Portland, And 2 guys who would love to grab a drink with this guy, man. Me and Zach Harper. To commemorate this momentous event— there, Cynthia, I know how to say it without a pronunciation guide. To commemorate this momentous event, we are reviewing the episode that goes to the Fogline Bar in Oakland. Spoiler alert, this is the one that ends in a coke smuggling scandal. Here's The Science, wherever you get podcasts.

Tottenham.

Woof. Buffalo Bills announced they're going to be replacing the turf in their brand new stadium because, as one player told The Athletic, it is, quote, ass. Let me get this straight. For $2.2 billion, I got obstructed view seats, a canopy that doesn't cover shit, and turf that is, quote, ass, unquote. That same $2.2 billion I could have bought a couple of Louis Armstrong Reserve game day tickets. I'm still upset at the picture of the Cabo Verde fans they used last week on Weekend Observations. Just embarrassing. We still haven't named living celebrities who are universally loved like Dolly Parton, Tim Curry, and Michael Wright were. So I've taken upon myself, top 5 universally beloved celebrities.

Nice.

OLI. Patrick Stewart. Everyone loves him.

OLI.

Morgan Freeman.

OLI.

Conan O'Brien.

Doesn't Morgan Freeman have some sort of, uh—

Yeah. Yes, Dan.

Yes.

Yeah, so not everybody— not everyone loves Morgan Freeman.

We love him. You watch that— you watching that lioness? Oh, everyone loves it.

What a show.

Number 5, Keanu Reeves.

It's a good one.

Number 4, Anne Hathaway. Number 3, Halle Berry.

She in my algo.

Number 2, Tom Hanks. And the number 1 universally beloved celebrity, Denzel Washington.

Wilson does not love Tom Hanks. Like, if that was without— if that was without consent.

Also me.

Why you guys got to make it filthy?

What?

It was consensual.

It was Damashek. Damashek. It was not consensual.

Also, Ed O'Neill should be on that list.

Yes.

Yo, make your own list.

You make your own list.

Yeah.

Henry Winkler.

If you want to reminisce about Dolly, fire up Cinephobe episode 118, Rhinestone, starring Dolly Parton and Sylvester Stallone. You have to make New York cabbie Stallone be passable as a country music performer, or else he had to sleep with the club owner. Settle down, Jeremy. It was a different time. 20 CB. If you're pining for some Tim Curry memories, Go to Cinephobe, episode 190, Congo, starring Tim Curry. All right, Tim Curry, Lorne Lenny, Ernie Hudson, Delroy Lindo, and Bruce Campbell. Tim Curry plays a character of dubious morals and a penchant for sesame cake on the pursuit for King Solomon's mines. Also, shocker, he has a fun accent. You got a jonesing for Michael Wright? Head over to Cinephobe episode 121, The Five Heartbeats, starring Michael with Robert Townsend, Leon, and Harry Lennox. There they are. Michael plays a substance abuse-riddled member of a Motown-era R&B group. Just because he has one, two, maybe two drinks, that make him an alcoholic?

Cinephobe, wherever you get podcasts.

What? What's happening?

Dying.

De'Jon Love. I made you guys wait long enough. What could I say about De'Jon Love that hasn't already been said?

I called him—

If you missed it—

I called him DeJuan. So that— I don't think anyone said that. I made him Hispanic.

Yeah. DeJuan Amour. If you missed it, this is the guy who pretended to be a Niners player to scam 26 women out of roughly $1.5 million. That's a good route. That's what Jamel Hill said. This is a story about media illiteracy as much as everything, because somehow, some way, people are still believing whatever Google Gemini tells them when they Google something. And Google Gemini confirmed that Buddy was a player. Apparently he also has hit on underage girls in the process, saying in effect her 18th birthday is right around the corner. Gross. There's a special place in hell for you, Day One.

Dejan.

Speaking of hell, Argentina. Those are the weekend observations.

Your nose looks to be sniffling and running. Do I have it right when I tell you guys that Amin looks like someone who is in his second day at rehab after quitting cold turkey a 12-year heroin addiction? He is sweating. He is just like that. All right. I got to let you go. Thank you for toughing it out on behalf of the show. Please feel better. Go see an ear doctor. Take care of yourself. Okay.

Thanks, guys.

That was tough.

Like a couple of doozies in there, Dan.

He was—

he comes here, man.

Yeah, he was struggling, though. He— that Greg Maddux first pitch has to be him fooling around.

Right.

It's what I thought.

No, I know. I believe it's real, but I believe Greg Maddux did that on purpose. Greg Maddux, notoriously foul prankster in the clubhouse. It's something that's not that well known about him. He was somebody who had a mischievous side. But this is one of the most accurate pitchers there has ever been.

You're right, it can't be that.

There's no way that he's not doing that just to be funny because, because he's one of the most accurate pitchers who have ever lived. That guy survived on 91 and 92 mile an hour fastballs.

Yeah, look, it's possible to get the yips after not throwing for a while, but, uh, this was to celebrate the 150th anniversary team for the Cubs, and he threw out the first pitch, but then afterward after everyone was losing their minds over this, he went up to the booth and talked with Boog, and he said that there were a couple of reasons why this happened. One, he said, Sutcliffe was gonna give me $100 if I hit one of the camera guys.

Oh!

He said, then I decided the way the game's going today, I was going for spin rate as opposed to location. So seems like it was a gag, but ultimately it was so alarming to see This guy threw that pitch and he didn't hit one of the camera guys.

You need $100? Is it that bad?

Eh, why not get $100?

Eh...

Get for a couple beers.

Wo gibt's eigentlich die weißen Rosen aus Athen? Und wo regnet's für mich nochmal rote Rosen?

Natürlich im Europa-Rosarium Sangerhausen mit der größten Rosensammlung der Welt. Viele tausend Rosenarten warten auf Sie mit prachtvollen Blüten und herrlichem Duft.

www.rosarium.de Dan Le Batard.

Jessica thinks you're pathetic. I saw the look on her face. It can never be the lane to victory, Matt.

No, I think Jeremy's pathetic.

Jeremy just— You should hear him back here.

He's so sad.

Delivered the most absurd theater kid basketball analysis line that I've ever heard from him.

Jeremy Tatché.

My dad was talking about the adjustments that Spo made and criticizing him last night. And Jeremy just back here, his adjustments were spectacular.

It's just like they lost.

They're down 0-2.

This is the Dan Le Batard Show.

Put on behind me, please, just a montage of notoriously bad, uh, first pitches, uh, because there's no way that that happened, uh, any way other than he did that exactly on, uh, purpose. But I wanted to ask you guys, because nobody pitches quite that way anymore, I saw yesterday the over-under on Jansen junk strikeouts in the game was 2.5.

2.5.

2.5 was the over-under, and he went under on, on 2.5. And I'm curious, Jeremy, before you update me on a number of things I need updating on in baseball that I didn't get to talk about over the last couple of weeks, if you had to take a guess, how many pitchers are there in baseball pitching to contact that way anymore, given that all of the pitchers are trying to go for strikeouts? I don't know how common or rare it is to see an over-under on strikeouts for a starter at 2.5, but it struck me as rare, uh, that, that he pitches that way.

Oh, and hit the under. Yeah, 2 strikeouts in 4 and 2/3 innings. Um, those over-unders are gonna shift more when you have teams like the Marlins where they're yanking guys after a couple times through the order. Ironically, one of the guys who does it is Sandy Alcantara. He doesn't strike out nearly as many guys as you would expect for that level of velocity, but Dan, Did you not hear about Matt Tugboat Wilkinson?

Oh yeah.

Oh, the big hefty lefty that's like £260 that got called up by the Giants and he only throws 89 miles an hour? He's gonna be your new favorite player. You need to see this guy pitch. His debut, he threw 2 innings, he allowed 1 hit, no runs, no strikeouts. He's my hero.

I miss the fat Major League Baseball player. @Le Batard Show put it on the poll. Do you miss the fat Major League Baseball player? Can you give me an update, a top 5 list that updates updates me on the last 2 weeks of baseball on things that I missed.

Absolutely. OLI, so Yordan Alvarez is just going to win the Triple Crown.

He's so good.

Unless your boy Chandler Simpson ends up surpassing him for batting average, which would just be perfect because he's hit 0 home runs. Chandler Simpson has just hit the ball into the ground and run, and he could be the one that prevents Yordan Alvarez from winning the Triple Crown.

I think— do I have this right on Simpson? The only home run he's ever hit was in a spring training game, that he's hit no other home runs at any point, and I'm not even sure that that was over the fence. It might have been inside the park.

It's amazing. Uh, Tony just said he doesn't know what team he plays for. If you know I'm referring to him as the M guy, it's the Rays. It's the Rays. Uh, and Jordan Alvarez, I described last week on the Pitch Clock as a combination of David Ortiz and Juan Soto, like David Ortiz's menacing power and Juan Soto's plate discipline. And Adnan Virk said, yep, you're right. That's how good this guy is.

Crazy good. Everything.

He hits everything. Number, number 5, Um, oh wait, let's show Matt Wilkinson. Tugboat. He's, he's available for us. That's Matt Tugboat Wilkinson, Dan. You could see him right here. This is the big hefty lefty. He earned the nickname Tugboat while he was pitching for Canada in the Little League World Series, and he has remained a hefty lefty. I love him very much. Um, speaking of hefty, um, number 5.

Too loud.

Vlad Guerrero Jr. almost killed Randy Arozarena. That Because he hit a 116-mile-an-hour line drive. Look at Randy Arozarena. He fell down from how hard the line drive was hit.

For the audio audience, it's like a line drive that doesn't go above the head level. It's one of the wildest line drives I've ever seen. And the craziest part— From the batter's box to almost deep left field, never going higher than the shortstop's head.

Not making this up. Jose Canseco once hit a home run that the shortstop jumped on.

Haha, no way!

Not making it up.

I don't believe you.

Well, Vlad Guerrero Jr., speaking of statistically, the best part about all of this is at home this year, Alejandro Kirk has more stolen bases than Vladdy Jr. has home runs. 1-0. He has yet to hit a home run at home all season long. Number 4, Max Scherzer went in the Wayback Machine, Dan. 42 years and 34 days old, he's the oldest pitcher with 10+ strikeouts and 1 or 0 hits allowed in a game since Nolan Ryan's no-hitter at 44 years old in 1991. Those 2 guys are the only pitchers with such an outing at 42 years or older. Of course, Nolan Ryan did it 6 times.

Nolan Ryan was good.

That guy was real good. Uh, number 3, your Rays again hit a home run against the San Diego Padres. That's one of the most amazing home runs I've ever seen. Look at this moment where it's in left field. This ball hits the glove of the left fielder And should be caught. It's in his glove until he hits the wall and the ball falls over the fence because of this short porch in left field. You could see the image right here. The ball just dribbles over. Ultimately, the Rays come back and win this game. The Padres are the, the final wildcard team. They're now a half game out. This is going to be that play, that moment.

Shouldn't that be a ground rule double?

If that moment—

If he catches the ball at the warning track. And then never hit the ground.

I've been making that case, dog.

That was a 2-step, like NFL rule. That was like 2 steps he took after never hitting the ground.

That's a pop-up. That's 315 feet he hit that ball.

It said of the 43 balls in the Statcast era with a 90-mile-an-hour exit velo and a 40-degree launch angle, not a single one had fallen for a hit. Instead, it's a game-tying home run and they win it in extras. Number 2 was going to be Greg Maddux. So number 1, we'll stick with the Cubs. Pete Crow-Armstrong, Dan. 5 homers in his last 2 games. The guy's gonna win the NL MVP over, over Shohei Ohtani. He said Sammy Sosa told him he'd hit 3 home runs in a game, and then he hit 3 home runs in a game.

And how about this?

His 14 homers in August are the most by a player 24 years or younger in a calendar month since Ken Griffey Jr.

Pretty good player.

Back in 1994.

We talk about good names in sports like Usain Bolt. Pete Crow-Armstrong as a center fielder. Great name.

Tremendous.

So good that—

Crow-Hop Armstrong.

People call him PCA. It's not that good of a name. If people call you by the acronym, it's not that good of a name.

But if you think about it, Crow, Crow Hop, Armstrong, he's throwing the ball, Pete Crow Armstrong.

The guy steals bases, he hits home runs, and in fact, in MLB history, the only guys to have 12 homers, 6 stolen bases, and 16 walks in a single calendar month are Pete Crow Armstrong, Willie Mays, and Babe Ruth.

I'm surprised that there was no Joshua Baez on there for you. 3 home runs in his debut.

He then went 0 for his next 19.

I'm surprised that Jacob Wilson, the A's shortstop— are you amazed, Zaslav? Is that streak still ongoing? Because he broke the record at shortstop for errorless games with 111. I'm assuming that streak is still going.

So Greg Cody was obsessed with this, unsurprisingly, the idea that a shortstop would, would break the record for the most errorless games in a row. And then we figured out that his defensive run saves was like 8th among shortstops in baseball because it's essentially he'll make all of the routine plays, right? And he won't even get near the plays that would be the spectacular plays. So he He can't make the error, which is actually like really smart. It's basically the way Miguel Rojas plays shortstop.

I've never stepped foot on that campus.

I—

if you told me right now, your life depends on it, go to Santa Fe University and just, just, just take a picture.

Jonathan Saslow.

I would die. I don't know where it is.

This is the Dan Le Batard Show.

I'm assuming that you guys didn't talk at all over the last couple of weeks about the Padres minor league catching coordinator being detained by ICE, right?

That might have been on the topics we saved for Dan.

I didn't get to it.

I don't think that's on there, but we did have some topics that we're like, I'll save these for Dan.

Oh, here they are. Okay. Topics we saved for Dan. Enos Kanter.

Yep.

Enos Kanter actually reminds me of the professional wrestler who's like, looks at the crowd and the ref. What did I do? I didn't do anything. I'm here to just support women.

What do I want?

You know, he has the key to the city in Milford, Connecticut.

Enos Kanter?

Enos Kanter was, was given the key to the city in August of 2019. So things have changed.

You made it sound like it was this week.

Well, things have changed.

I mean, I've gotten surprised. I'm an idiot, okay? Because Enes Kanter and Russell Brand at the beginning, they both fooled me. Both of them. Landmark study finds that 1 in 4 NFL players developed brain trauma. You guys didn't get to that?

We did.

Yeah, but we're really saving it.

Saved it for you.

Wait a minute, you did get to it?

We did a little bit on that.

Yeah.

You did get to it?

Yeah, a little bit.

Did anyone talk about O.J. Brigance dying? 19 years with ALS, no football questions asked?

No?

Okay, good. Packers running back Josh Jacobs placed on the NFL Commissioner's Exempt List after misdemeanor battery and criminal damage charges.

That one's brand new.

All you, Dano.

That happened yesterday, Dan, the Exempt List.

So you have to break it.

You saved it for me?

Yeah, yeah, we were gonna do a show yesterday, but we decided to wait till today.

Do you have any opinions on Josh Jacobs here?

I do have opinions on Josh Jacobs there. I mean, apparently, you know, there is video, which I'm surprised we've not seen yet, because if there is video, like, we're going to see that, right? Because there is video, there is surveillance video.

Are you sure you aren't seeing like— because I saw the Ray Rice video going viral.

No, I did not get fooled by that.

I'm just saying that there were people out there sending it in group chats. Look what happened. It's like, that's the Ray Rice video.

Well, but, but hold on just a second with the Ray Rice video, because that happened. I remember that breaking while we were on the air, and it sort of changed almost everything about how some of this stuff is viewed in sports, because you were always reading about domestic abuse charges but never forced to see them. And so as soon as that happened, I remember The show having the reaction of, oh, this is going to be one of the biggest scandals you've ever seen in sports, where we have the video to how grotesque this can sometimes be. You're saying— because right, right now the Packers are faced with— and this is less important than the actual news here, but they're going to be without Jacobs for a while and they're going to be out without Micah Parsons for the first 4 games of the season. You're saying that there is video here that runs the risk of making this a lot worse than it presently is? Because people hear misdemeanor and they're like, what's the, what's the big deal on misdemeanor?

Right?

You hear misdemeanor and those things get minimized. What are you hearing is going to be available in terms of video? Because, um, this is less about the crime than it is about the optics of the crime, the way that the league can handle this. I've got to give credit, incidentally, to Roger Goodell on this because I don't know if a lot of people even remember the problem that this league had with Chris Henry and Pac-Man Jones and the feeling then the NFL was getting totally out of control with the amount of times that the violence was spilling over the sidelines. And Roger Goodell decided— and this, uh, when you say Adam Silver is a nothing, uh, Zaslav— Roger Goodell decided, no, I'm going to be tougher on this than the American justice system. The American justice system handles this stuff in a really way, and we're going to be better than others on this. The NFL is also going to have more information than the rest of us on this as well.

Yeah, apparently there is surveillance video, and I'm, I'm surprised that this has not gotten out yet. I would assume that it will get out. Now, maybe the surveillance video isn't as terrible as the Ray Rice video out there because the charges have been dropped down to a couple of misdemeanors, but nonetheless, I would expect this video to come out But just the place where I go on this is, you know, you remember it was a couple months ago, right, where you had the whole thing with the New York Giants and Jaxon Dart, and it was Abdul-Carter, right, who spoke up, and it's like, you know, right's right and wrong's wrong, and I got to stand up sometimes, you know. And Abdul-Carter said what he believed in because he believed that what he was saying was right and didn't like the support of, you know, that man, that man being the president. And I always go back to stuff like this, like Like, if right's right and wrong's wrong, no one wants to step up and say, yo, you beat up women? Like, everyone's just cool with it. Nobody says anything. And that part to me, like, I just, I don't know, it always rubs me the wrong way.

There is video here that confirmed the woman's account. She told police that Jacobs grabbed her as she tried to leave, threw her to the ground, she struck her head. The video specifically shows her on the garage floor, Jacobs taking her phone and then returning about 40 seconds later and appearing to damage it. And if convicted, he faces up to 18 months in prison. The video— Diddy, all the allegations around Diddy became something that America turned on him after seeing the surveillance video. And everything that Diddy was evaporated as soon as that video was seen. And what I'm telling you as it relates to your question, when you say, Is everyone okay with it? No one's ever okay with it once they see the video. When it's just in print as an accusation, sometimes you don't understand the severity of what it is that you're looking at, even as I describe it, right? In the Ray Rice video, his fiancée was unconscious. Like, you saw her just hit the ground, and he just dragged her out of the elevator by her feet. And, and so the horror of that was something that left a feeling in your stomach that no one's okay with it.

Once they see it, but until you've seen it, you don't totally understand how brutal some of this stuff can be.

And just Matt LaFleur, you know, he gets up in front of the microphones and the cameras like fully expecting him to be on the team. It's like, all right, man, like, does anybody want to say if what's alleged is true, I've got a big problem with it and I don't want him here?

Don't you think though that the first place that people go, and I was just guilty of it seconds ago, is when's he available? What's it do to the Packers' chances? Like, what—

When should I take Marshawn Lloyd in my fantasy league?

Well, that's the other thing, right? That, that's the other thing. The, the fantasy dehumanization of everything that has a whole series of kids following sports where they're just following numbers like Wall Street brokers. Like, they're, they're treating— there are so many— you tell me if your kids are doing this, Aslow, because you have teenagers. Because fantasy is such a monster moneymaker, and I'm going to say addiction for so many people. I just told you that the people talking about sports earlier in the show, uh, you, you've got, um, the, the fairly ridiculous numerical thing of Jonathan Taylor is making 2 years, $44 million for being the best player the Colts have, an MVP candidate. And And the Colts' former punter, for talking about Jonathan Taylor, Pat McAfee, is being paid $60 million a year because the talking about sports is more valuable than the playing of sports. Tom Brady talking about sports makes more money than he does playing about— playing sports. When the fantasy stuff makes an appearance, I think a whole generation of kids, never mind just treating players as numbers and laundry, Like uniform numbers and laundry. It's stats. A human being exists to just be stats.

And so they become less and less human, and their behavior, foul like this against another human being, only matters in the context of how are you affecting my numbers? How are you affecting my money? How are you affecting my team? And of course, in that transaction, women and others are going to be trampled.

Well, yeah, but this is the transaction. Like, so like Like, are you proposing that people who play fantasy football or fans, like, should, you know, not draft Josh Jacobs? Like, this is the transaction. Yeah, like, they're there. They are literally there for my entertainment. That is what football players are there for.

They are there.

That is the— their entire career is for my entertainment. Their, their job, their livelihood, and they get paid handsomely for it. And I know sometimes they get upset about everything that you say, but like, no, you are literally here for my entertainment. This is the gig. And I like— I don't feel bad about that.

Yeah, but there are places, though, where I've in my career run across a number of different things that end up being, I'm going to say, morally inconsistent there. When I say, for example, I'm totally good with the idea that athletes would try to use human growth hormone or whatever they're using Even if it might, with its dangers, shorten their lifespans, people tend to not be quite okay with that, even though they're all just there for your entertainment. And no one objects to Sylvester Stallone being in Australia and throwing all his steroids out the window of a hotel room where somebody washed their underwear in the coffee maker because Because he's an actor and he's there for your entertainment, and nobody cares that Sylvester Stallone or all of these people in Hollywood who are doing God knows how many pharmaceutical things to get in shape for their movies— nobody cares about that in entertainment, even though it's just entertainment. But they do all sorts of moralizing here, even though it's just entertainment.

Right. So why? Like, why are we doing that? Why is that the case? Is it because it's an unplain uneven playing field, that's, that's why, right?

We like to pick and choose about everything and everywhere. Like, people do terrible, you know, horrible things in Hollywood, but I like the movie, so like, I don't really care. And it's vice versa.

Like, I'm certainly not gonna get offended when WWE wrestlers are using performance-enhancing drugs. They're literally there for my entertainment, you know? I, I don't get upset about that kind of stuff.

Let's go to some sound here. This is the first bad public moment off a football field that Cam Ward has had. Last year had to be Brutal for Cam Ward. I don't know how many of you guys were watching Titans football. We told you earlier in the show that Will Levis has been waived by the Titans, wasn't good enough there, and the future was given over to Cam Ward. But if you were watching Cam Ward, there were a number of plays that he made last year, but God Almighty, was that offensive line bad. Their skill position players were super limited.

I just heard you, the way you set it up, like this is a negative. I actually thought that this was a contentious question by the reporter. You can see Cam in this clip start to get a little annoyed, but then I think he like kind of catches himself and gives like a classic quarterback answer.

Oh, that he did, he did. But look, when I say bad public moment, uh, it's benign. It's, it's testy, but it is a second-year quarterback who, when in front of microphones, the entire time he's been in front of microphones, has never done anything quite like like this after being questioned about his preseason. Cam Ward has played so far this preseason.

How would you assess it?

Not well.

You don't think so? I don't think so. I'm glad you don't think so. That's good.

Cam, how would you— how would you assess it?

You know, I assess it as, you know, did we win the game or did we lose the game? I assess it as what I can get better at. I don't assess it as, um, someone who can get up there and You know, operate when, when everything's on. It's a different process level. So it's more of, you know, slowing down the game to everybody. And I believe we made a huge jump from week 1 to week 2 because we're getting more condensed in the playbook. We're not really opening everything up. And, you know, when we come to week 1, I think it will be a different story.

I thought he saved himself there, but I do wonder what the context was right before that question because I don't understand why he's turning the question back on the reporter there. Like, I, I did not think it was a good look at the start. He, he ended up saving it. He ended up saving it because— and there's no reason for him to put the question back on the reporter there. And by the way, there's no reason the reporter should be answering that question either. All right. So it was, it was a weird exchange there. I think he saved himself.

You don't think the reporter should be answering the question on how do you think that you played?

The reporter's not there to answer questions.

No, he's like, how do you think I played? He's like, poorly.

Like, the reporter's opinion doesn't matter in this case. Like, they're asking him the questions. He— the reporter should not— I don't think the reporter should have answered.

So how would you have handled that?

If I was the reporter?

Yeah, because you're not expecting— if you're the reporter in that instance, it requires you to be thinking on your feet. You're not expecting Cam Ward, who has never done anything like this, to turn the question back on you. But you're going to answer that question how once he turns the light back on you?

I would have said my opinion is not important. important here. Like, I'm interested in how you feel.

That was a good way. That would have been a good— a better way for the reporter to handle that. However, it wouldn't have produced that soundbite. You would have produced, while behaving more professionally and more objectively and while being better in an impromptu moment, you would have produced a less good soundbite. So is the reporter's question meant to get a good soundbite, or is the reporter's question meant to be neutral?

I guess you're right in that spot. Like that, like, if we look at it that way, which we're all in the content game now, right? Then the reporter did do a good job. But as far as being a professional journalist, I, I don't think—

I agree with you, incidentally. I agree with you that your way of handling it is the more professional way of handling it.

I like at the start of it, you hear that they have their little back and forth, and then another reporter tries to get in, and then the other reporter gets back like, no, no, I'm still— this is still my time.

I'm gonna get in here with poorly. I think you played poorly. That's— well, see, that'll show them. Well, but that— I That reporter is going to have a problem with Cam Ward the rest of the season.

Speaking of having problems with people, Dan, did you say this name this way on purpose?

Pat McAfee. Yeah, of course I did. You're supposed to just let it sit there so it can't get aggregated. Like, what are you doing?

The Diary of a Person Who Fell Off.

Subtlety coming on Friday. Pat McAfee.

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