Transcript of This Episode Is Presented By The Letter R | Local Hour New

Amin came in hot and aggressive today. Dan, you're wrong about Shaq, you're wrong about Tyler Herro, you're wrong about LeBron. Greg Cody is right about injuries. Where do you want to start, Amin, on me being wrong about stuff?

Well, I want to save the Greg Cody one for main show, but, but I'm gonna say let's go with Doot doot.

Shaq.

Yeah!

Dan's saying Shaq isn't a great scorer.

Thank you!

Not what I'm saying. You're already misrepresenting me. I apologize if you misconstrued me.

Now I know why Shaq hates you, because you constantly do these little, like, uh, even right now you just did it. It's like this under-the-surface, like, ribbing of him. Yeah, under the service.

What about over the service?

I mean, the only criticism that I have ever filed at Shaq, the only one, is that he's too sensitive, which he reacted to by being too sensitive.

That's it.

Like, I think Shaq is great, and obviously he scored a lot of points, but when you think scorers, you're thinking of somebody who creates off the dribble.

No, yeah, you—

You don't think of Tyler Herro.

So again, yeah, yeah, there you go. The crux of the matter, you say I misrepresented. You said Tyler Herro better scorer than Shaq.

No, Mike, was I not paying attention on Tuesday? I was arguing. We were doing best Heat scorers of all time. And these guys, they were saying Tyler Herro better than Bosh, better than Shaq. Dude, I was in there taking crazy—

I understand what Dan is trying to get to, but no, you can't say that.

I am being misconstrued and misrepresented. Zaz, you were on my side with most of this. Of course, Shaq. Shaq, isn't he a top 10 scorer? of all time in terms of points. Yes, he was dunking a lot, and he eventually, when he became the MVP in his 30s, he developed low-post moves. But when I'm talking about scorers and you guys are mentioning Michael Beasley, we're talking about off the dribble.

Dan, the way you're describing it, you're making Shaq sound like he's Rudy Gobert. Like, yeah, he dunked it a lot. They threw him a lob and he did this. Like, no, the idea of scorer is this: absent any weird play or some complicated thing, I threw you the ball and said, go get me a bucket. Nobody could stop the dude! That's correct.

That's the way that I summed it up. If Shaq has the ball or Tyler Herro has the ball, which one do you think is better? I think Shaq having the ball.

Which one is gonna score? Which one is more likely to score?

That is bold.

Hand him the ball and get out of his way. Don't—

Obviously though, but obviously, but we're talking about skill sets. We're not talking about somebody just being bigger and stronger than everybody else.

That's a skill set! That's a skill set.

You know why?

Because if everyone big and strong could do it, they would, but they don't.

Tyler's better at hitting a contested J. There, I said it.

Just hold on a second. Uh, I mean, like, what if everyone who was big and strong— there's nobody in the history of the league that's been that big and that strong. Like, what are you talking about?

That's the point.

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

I honestly can't believe how spoiled we are around here because Chris Cody, just seconds as I'm hearing the countdown into this, whispers in my ear, oh yeah, I forgot Ross Tucker did one of my dad's catchphrases. And so he's just informing me now that on an NFL telecast. We've gotten so spoiled about this that Ross Tucker threw in one of Greg Cody's catchphrases. I forgot to remind him. He remembered on his own. I don't know which one he did. Uh, we've got an assortment of these that have made their way, all spreading throughout the wild. Uh, you've got Kevin Harland, you've got Kyle Brandt, you've got Jason Benetti, who's going to join us today, the Arkansas broadcaster who threw in 16 of them in a minute and 20 seconds. So let's— He just told me this now. I had a whole nother place that I was going to But Greg Cody's kid decides to tell me— listen to this— we've got Ross Tucker, so go ahead, let me hear it.

Rodgers under center, takes the snap. He'll pitch it out to Warren, running left, looking for a lane, finds one at the 50, 45, 40, down the sideline to the 35, tries to cut back, ducks under a tackle, and he's down around the 30-yard line. So the toss to Jaylen Warren, Tyson Campbell with the stop after a 24-yard gain. Big play for Jaylen Warren. Tight ends, running backs working pretty well for the Steelers.

1st and 10 at the Cleveland 30. Yeah. Yeah, we're rolling now, huh? Troy Fautanu with an incredible block on the toss crack out in space. Their left tackle is an athlete.

Oh, I love the extra syllable on athlete.

Seamless.

Oh, we're rolling now, huh?

This is quite the delight to see his catchphrases take off. Bonetti, that coward, refused to do it during Yankees games because he's too respectful of the sport. So I'm gonna make fun of him on that front today.

But—

Make sure you use the word Uh, well, I mean, it's just annoying. It really is. Bonetti's one of the court jesters. Uh, Bonetti's one of the fun guys. Uh, but you gotta have respect around the Yankees.

Yeah, yeah.

Even though the Yankees, uh, have been to the World Series twice in 23 years, uh, you gotta have respect around the Yankees. Uh, I do want to get to, uh, later in the show, uh, the fun of watching 3 straight seasons eliminated, uh, last night, ended last night, where you just sort of go Braves, Yankees, Padres, bang, bang, bang.

You know, the Rays, when they win and they celebrate in their clubhouse, they blast Sinatra, start spreading the news.

It's funny.

What did you just call Sinatra?

What'd you call New York, New York?

What did you just do?

Wait, cut that up.

Well, that is what the Yankees are doing. They are. They got an early start on spreading the snooze last night.

Oh my God. You can see him headed down that road and losing confidence.

You can't cut that up fast enough. You can't have Jeremy turn that into a Sinatra song faster. The Yankees being eliminated, I do believe, is one of the great hater joys anywhere in sports. The Yankees bumbling their way through the playoffs. That's the worst postseason series the Yankees have ever had. The numbers are just unbelievable. A .130 batting average, .192 slugging. Like, You'll never, you'll never see it again, and we haven't seen it in all the years of baseball. And it is hard to watch those statue gods like Stanton and Judge not have the body be able to hold up playing that sport. Stanton was put out there as a pinch hitter to just strike out because they're just begging him, please get a hold of one, you're the only guy around here who can get a hold of one.

With that result last night, we're guaranteed a bottom 5 payroll in the World Series, right?

Uh, the Brewers are real low, although I don't think they're bottom 5.

No, I think in the AL, like, All the teams remaining are like bottom 5— Guards, White Sox, Rays.

Well, the Rays are 23rd. We'll talk about baseball a little bit later on in the show. I did want to get to some of the local stuff. And I can't believe, honestly, still being in Miami and having been told all of these years that Miami sports wasn't big enough to be national, that both LeBron James and Lionel Messi are local topics for us because we didn't talk very much about the ending of Lionel Messi. And now that we have Amin here to be one of America's great haters of Lionel Messi, Messi when not a whole lot of people are doing that. In Canada, it's Sid Suchero, and here it's you.

Hey, hey, Mike, uh, let me do my Messi impression. Just trying to like friendly— no, don't touch me, don't touch me, don't touch me, don't touch me, dude. The way everyone's like, what a class act. The way they treated the Benin players was god-awful. I was so offended. Look, you booked this patsy of a game to have your farewell. How do you tell the people who are on the other side of this field who, by the way, were not compensated, right? Hey, don't take pictures, don't talk to the guy, don't touch him, don't even— you're not even supposed to be here. You're just set dressing. I was so appalled and offended. Not as much by that, by as much as everyone said, what a class act, and all that. I was so disgusted.

This is where we're starting the messy punctuation?

Absolutely.

No, what are you doing? Like, what are you doing? It's one of the great stories in the history of Miami sports. Uh, it's one of the great contrasts.

Wait, what?

One of the great contracts, maybe one of the great stories in Miami sports.

I mean, a person that is in the conversation as greatest of all time playing in an MLS stadium and not playing like a season. Been here for a few years, playing at a very high level, winning trophies for the club. It is the highest-selling jersey in the world, I believe, the Messi pink Inter Miami shirt. And it's right here. And you can get tickets on game time. It's crazy.

One of the things, though, I mean, that I would explain to people, because Miami Miami is a weird place within the context of America. The people who go see Messi, that is culturally diverse. It is super ethnic, and it has an ethnic energy around it. So yes, I will say again, one of the great stories in the history of South Florida sports is that he has brought his greatest ever talents to this city, and our stadium is filled with vibrant ethnicity that isn't customary for all of our stadiums.

Let me call Spoh and Pat. Let's get Magic down here. Put him in a jersey and say, oh my God, what a big deal. This washed up guy is playing here.

He's not washed up, dude.

Really? You're going to do washed up on Messi?

He won Player of the Year whilst wearing an Inter Miami shirt.

Player of the Year where?

FIFA.

So you're just—

Yeah, he won the Ballon while he was a freaking Miami player.

I mean, I mean, I mean, your hatred is going to be so rabid and irrational that you're just going to keep saying stuff to just be hateful as opposed to care at all About whether you're accurate?

Here's my expert analysis: good riddance!

Okay, I'm glad we celebrated Lionel Messi's punctuation, emotional as it was, with Argentina.

Racist as it was.

You think he would have done that to a white dude?

Stop, start spreading the renews.

Stop— it started with stop spreading the news.

Stop, start spreading the schmooze.

Uh, Sinatra, stop, start spreading the renews.

Put it on the poll, @LebatardShow. Have you ever heard news start with the letter R?

Uh, Sinatra stop— start spreading the R-news.

You sound like Madea.

Uh, Sinatra stop— start spreading the R-news.

I am enjoying, honestly, and tell me if you guys have enjoyed this.

Look at the shame on his face. He wants to go back in time, like Huey Lewis and the News.

Uh, Sinatra stop— start spreading the R-news.

Wasn't the Huey Lewis album named Sports?

It's a great album.

Oh, you like Huey Lewis and the News?

Sinatra starts spreading the renews.

Greg Cody, our newspaper legend.

Sinatra starts spreading the renews.

I'm enjoying, after David Ortiz did it, Yankee seasons ending with Dominican players singing in accent English. The Yankees lose! Let's hear Junior Caminero do it all over the field yesterday.

The Yankees lose! The Yankees lose! The Yankees lose!

These numbers, Zazz, for the Yankees, because I didn't even give you all of them, and I think I confused on-base percentage with slugging, but batting average, .330 on-base percentage, .192 slugging, .239. So OPS as a team of .431 without Judge and Stanton.

It's a little low.

I mean, literally the worst postseason series the Yankees have ever had. And it's now 2 World Series in 23 years for the Yankees. That's the worst stretch in franchise history. That's the most incompetent stretch in franchise history over 23 years to only have 2 World Series appearances. But I mean, you objected to a number of things that I have said over the course of the last week. So tell me what it is that your objections are and were to our Tyler Herro conversation yesterday.

Not so much an objection as a clarification. You guys presented it as Tyler Herro kind of lashing out or kind of striking back that Heat culture is kind of a made-up construct and all that. What you guys don't understand And because I work with these guys, I know this. Scal and Frank Isola, one of their bedrock principles of their show is that Heat culture is completely made up and fabricated. And so whenever they have anybody Miami-related, either a former Miami person or a current Miami person, one of the main questions they ask is, come on, that's not real. And so obviously Tyler's emerging. There's a sensitivity of like, I got traded. I was the one that they gave up on or whatever. But he is being prodded and poked by Scal and Frank Isolan. Where's my camera? I know what you guys are doing. You're not slick. They did that on purpose. Yeah, that stuff's all fake, right? It's all made up. Everyone plays hard. And Tyler, of course, he's probably in another situation, maybe with some time removed, he'd be like, no, that thing is real. But because he's still— it's still fresh, he fell for the bait.

I was listening to the interview live when it happened a couple days ago. And the part that did stand out to me— yes, you are right, they will poke and prod guys like that. I don't even think you characterized them properly, saying that it's—

That story, excuse me, Zad, made— it made our news.

I don't even think that—

Sinatra starts spreading the news.

I don't even think that you characterized it properly, because they do the whole thing where it's It's not limited to the Miami Heat. Like, everyone plays hard. There's, there's good culture in other places outside of Miami too. Not that it's fake and made up. But anyway, I was taken aback when Tyler— when they're prodding him and they're joking and he says, yeah, yeah, like I was told before. That comment to me was kind of like he was being brainwashed here.

I'm gonna tell you this, if this interview had happened a year from now, 2 years from now, I don't think he would have said that.

Oh, I think you're probably right.

Because by the way, if it's brainwashing, then why did Giannis walk in here and be like, oh my God, this is light-years away from where I came from, which by the way is where Tyler is right now?

Right, so then, so then it wouldn't be brainwashing, it'll be a real thing.

It's a real thing. Yeah, but Frank and Scal, scoundrels.

Nope, both things can be true.

You know that Frank Sinatra song and, and And so I face the final curtain.

Uh, Sinatra starts spreading the news.

Dan Levitar!

The Packers win or the Bears lose?

Jonathan Sasslow!

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

This is the Dan Levitar Show!

Both things can be true.

They can have a hard-working culture And they also brainwash everyone who walks into the facility across the street.

That's part of the culture. That's part of it.

Because, uh, the— I've told you guys this before, when I call that place a military school for millionaires. I don't know if you guys have done much walking around there. I know Zazz has, uh, in what would be seen as off hours, not around game time. Uh, but everything that those guys are doing is, uh, scientific. It is, uh, surrounded by people who are partaking in strategy, and it feels like a military complex the way that they are playing basketball over there.

That's good.

By design.

That's good. That's a good thing.

It's the reason why I would never work there.

I don't think that I could. It would be—

And that's why.

It would be too difficult, too hard.

I love it.

Yeah, but you don't have to do it though.

That's true.

He's a 2-time champion broadcaster.

Yeah.

Yeah, but he was sort of— yes, but not in the battle—

Let's hear the sort of.

Let me hear this. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Let's hear you diminish his achievements.

Come on now.

It's bad. Like, let's lay off on Zazz.

I got you, Dan.

I mean, look at him.

Sinatra starts spreading the news.

Pat Riley wasn't breathing on his neck criticizing his broadcasts. His work wasn't being dissected in a way that made him feel under pressure all the time that was higher than his own standard.

I mean, Mickey Arison doesn't even know who he is.

You're right.

Man, that's bullshit.

That was such a tough look.

Tough look.

I just like Steve Buscemi in the meme.

Jeremy is going to be here in moments. He's doing some pitch clock related stuff, but I wanted to make fun of him in his absence because I was legitimately embarrassed the other day. We are on NBC Sports now. We are on Peacock. To me, that emblem for NBC Sports still means something. And so when Jeremy is under that emblem for NBC Sports representing our show and the headline and the news coming from our show is Vibes are high at Heat Media Day. It felt like cheerleader stuff. Vibes are high. Jeremy, vibes are high. This show at Heat Media Day didn't feel like our news. It just felt like something that was, you know, pom-pom shaking and vibes are high. What kind of report is that? I'm serious.

An accurate one. I mean, Dan, the vibes are just undoubtedly high right now.

Like I said the other day, they've gone like a decade of not having— like having to fight for everything, having to go out and hunt like cavemen, and now all of a sudden it's like, hey, here's a supermarket. Giannis, how are your vibes not high, Dan? How's that question? Let me flip it on you instead of this being on Jeremy. Why is it— why your vibes not high?

It's not that my vibes aren't high or that the vibes aren't high over there. It's that that's an empty cotton candy report.

I would assume that this is the The most jovial camp that they've had in a very long time. Even when they were uber successful, they had people like Jimmy Butler at the heart of it, or, you know, all the pressure that came along with the Big 3. And Giannis has a different type of personality. So I, I would expect the vibes around this camp to be way higher.

In a different world, in a different universe, we would have, yes, we did too.

Wow.

Yes, we did too.

Let me ask the group of you this though, because what do you think the corrosive effects of what I'm about to say are? Uh, by the end with Jimmy Butler, you had a player who was disliked and disliked others around him, but that team did appear in 2 Finals with Jimmy Butler despite some of that. Giannis is more likable in every way, although I don't know what his teammates' experience was with him last year when he was feuding with the organization and maybe there was something corrosive there. But if the top player in your organization, organization is someone who's unhappy, or one of your top players like AJ Brown in Philadelphia, what do you guys believe is the real corrosive effect of that that ends up on a scoreboard? Because everyone likes Giannis, and Giannis with a fresh spark, a fresh start, uh, newly motivated and inspired, I could see how it is that that would be contagious. what's the value of that in real, in real terms, having someone at the top of your employment who's either happy or unhappy?

The results we're gonna see, I'm sure, have some root in, hey, a general positive attitude around this— the team. I was gonna say the show.

Yeah, I mean, well, that, that's my experience with it. I mean, I— different attitudes, different energies. And yeah, I, I do feel like when there are people that are unhappy it does permeate throughout a building.

But having said that, that's not going to be the major driver of the success we're going to see. The major driver is this is the best basketball-playing human being who's donned a Heat jersey since LeBron James.

It also depends on the personnel. Like, Jimmy Butler very clearly thrived through misery. Like, he used that. That was his fuel. He, he would— the Miami Hurricanes football team last year, they were like Godzilla monsters. They fed of poisonous, toxic nuclear energy, whereas some other people are put in a better position when there's a lighter atmosphere because they feel in a creative space more able to create, more able to have fun. It's a subconscious thing.

But the impact on success is what I'm asking you guys about. The impact on results.

It all depends on the personnel.

Because there are all sorts of people who can have fun winning. That's the easiest thing, right? It's the easiest thing in the world to have fun when you're winning, even if you're surrounded by some unhappy people.

Let's take the Miami Hurricanes as an example. They had plenty of talent in Mario's first couple of years, but they didn't, they didn't have the type of players that fit into the culture that he was trying to build. While they still had more talent than a lot of teams that they were playing against, like Middle Tennessee State, culturally it wasn't an ideological fit. So not only do you need to have the talent, you need to have people that fit in top-down, an omni approach.

I don't think of Mario Cristobal as happy And I'm not trying to diminish him. His just general demeanor and temperament, even when they're winning, the top of the Miami Hurricanes seems very hard to please. Seems very, very— not incapable of pleasure, but doesn't show it very often. And they've only gotten better every year.

My point is, you could probably be a happy team. You could be a Pete Carroll type of team and still achieve at the highest level. But what you can have is an ideological culture at the top and personnel that doesn't match that. You need to have whatever vibe you're going for, you need to be fully bought in to be successful, whether that's misery or a more players-first approach. As long as everyone's on the same page, I think that's what breeds success. But I don't think if you're miserable you're more successful than if you're joyous.

I think a lot of people are gonna listen to this segment, walk away, say, oh, Well, big surprise, they think Heat Culture is the best. It's not that it's the best, it's they're doing it their way. But their way— there's a lot of different ways. I would not say what Steve Kerr has built in Golden State is the same as Heat Culture. It's very kind of different. At the same time, it's still successful, right, in terms of bringing people together on the same page the way that Mike just said. And that's a big thing. But I think we talk about Jimmy Butler. There are players that thrive on F you all day long, every day. Michael Jordan was like that. Michael Jordan was a guy who, who lives in that misery and demands it of everyone else around them.

But isn't that more of an individual thing?

I mean, it's a sport that plays 5 guys.

No, I know, but like, if the one guy thrives on it, it doesn't mean that the other 4 guys on the floor with him are gonna thrive on that kind of attitude.

But they have to follow because he's the best player, right? So Steve Kerr, who I just mentioned, played with Michael Jordan. Steve Kerr, while he appreciates Michael Jordan and respects him and all that stuff, he's like, I don't want to have a— I don't want to run a business like that, right, basically. But when he was playing with Michael Jordan, that's the business. So either you're here and you agree with it, or you get out of here.

Do you think everyone listening to this knows that Michael Jordan punched Steve Kerr in the face when they were teammates?

I think it's a pretty known thing.

I—

you know what? We do this all the time. Yeah, everyone knows. And then I find out there's some 25-year-olds like, what?! Michael Jordan played with Steve Kerr?! Steve Kerr played basketball?!

Wha?! Jeremy, you thundered in here when I was making fun of you for being vibes-are-high guy.

Oh, great.

What is it that you're bringing into the room?

Well, the vibes are high. No, I mean, look, the reason, like what you guys are talking about, the reason that this works is because the Heat, like, are priding themselves off of being, in their words, a bunch of dogs, like guys who are going to get after it, But they don't have to be miserable to do it, right? Like, so Davion Mitchell— Giannis was saying how impressed he was by the fact that when you ask a guy like, oh, what do you do? What do you do? It's, oh, I'm a hooper. Oh, I'm a bucket getter. Oh, I, I can hit 3s. And the thing that Davion said to him is, I'm a defender. And that's not something he had ever heard from any teammate ever. They're gonna pride themselves on doing a lot of the same things, the things that Giannis likes to do on the floor, the things that Bam likes to do on the floor. But Bam and Giannis aren't miserable guys. They like to be happy.

Let me just say, we say this— Giannis is not as cuddly as everyone makes him out to be. He is— no, I know, I know. I just want to be clear to everybody because Giannis presents very cuddly and fun-loving. He is insane. He is an insane-level competitor, and a lot of— sometimes to a fault, right? Like where they have to lock the gym so that he can't come in and stuff like that. So So be prepared for Giannis went crazy, especially by the way, I'm very surprised that the Heat did not do this. They did not bring in Thanasis. That's gonna be something to watch because Thanasis has historically been the angel on Giannis' shoulder. When he's acting up and nobody can talk to him, Thanasis is the guy. And he doesn't even do it like in a nice way. Come on, Giannis, you're not being fair. He MFs him. Hey, like, wait, what are you doing, man? He's always been that guy. people wonder, oh, why does this guy get a job? Why? Because he's Giannis's brother? Yes, but not as a favor, because he has served a role and a purpose. But Thanasis this year, folks, is playing overseas.

The distinction I'm making though, because I, I do think it matters wherever it is that people talk about chemistry, it's about the results, right? Of course, if the people at the top of your organization are happy, it's more fun to go into work. Everyone has a better time. But not everyone wins because they have a good time around each other. There are plenty of sloppy organizations. I don't know how much fun the Wizards had last year with each other as a young team, but there are plenty of people who enjoy each other's company and it doesn't show up in the results in any way. It just makes things easier, makes things more fun to go into work.

Well, I mean, like I said, Steve Kerr and Golden State is an example of a fun environment, quote-unquote, and Steve Kerr credits a lot of that from what he experienced in San Antonio. you know, another fun environment, right? Even though Gregg Popovich has this stern kind of demeanor and everyone's like, oh, Pop is scary. But the reality is Pop loves wine and Pop's like, hey, we're people. We're not like basketball machines. So let's all understand each other as humans, which is, I think, very contrary to what people think. It's like a winning environment is built on stern, strict, we're here for work and don't talk to me about anything.

I don't know anything.

I don't— now I turned into Mike Greenberg. I don't know anything. I haven't talked to anybody. All I know is basketball.

Dan Levitar.

I don't think it's strange for me, but like—

Mike Ryan.

Oh boy.

This is the Dan Levitar Show.

Well, speaking about not knowing anything, there is something that I don't know anything about. I have no factual reporting here, but from a distance I'm watching it and I have some theories. Mike, you are informed on this subject. You know the inner workings of the University of Miami. I'm sitting here watching the University of Miami football team's leadership around Mario Cristobal not hire an athletic director and take an unusual amount of time in not putting in place leadership. And I'm surmising— and again, I've done no reporting on this, it's just watching and being like, what's happening here? I've assumed that what's happening is that the power brokers are so full of themselves and enjoying the power that they're all a little bit of Joe Bailey, former CEO of the Dolphins. I love that analogy. being in charge? What do we need an AD for? And I'm assuming that without any reporting whatsoever, but it's just weird that they've gone this long without any sort of movement on the athletic director. What's happening there?

Well, I think to a degree that's what's happening now. I think that you have power players that have kind of been running things even independent of having an athletic director in place because Dan Radakovich approached the job a certain way, and they would often just bypass him and make certain calls without him. So they feel like they can do this. That wasn't the plan, though. The plan was to name a replacement quickly, and that replacement was going to be Michael Yormark. That plan got blown up, and I think what you're seeing right now is a byproduct of that plan being blown up and an administration that realizes, hey, we've been doing this for years already, so we can keep doing this. I do think the pitfalls of that is you don't know what you don't know, and there While there's super fun aspects of the job like negotiating deals with Nike and extending Mario Cristobal and, and being in back rooms and trying to politic your way around the Protect College Sports Act, there's also fundraising. There's also maximizing certain revenues that you're not aware of. And I, I don't think they're fully aware of that because it's fun and it's good being— it's good playing AD, dude.

Like, this is a good time to pretend or, or act or actually be the athletic director at the University of Miami.

Don't you wonder, though, how the other programs at the school feel? Like the football program? Okay, fine. Mario Cristobal, he's in charge and like everything's running great. but there's probably lesser sports who are like, can we get someone who's in charge and cares about us?

I think at the University of Miami, even including football, there is frustration at how long this has taken.

It has to be.

It has to be. Well, the thing though that is amusing me from where I'm standing, because I've known having grown up in this city what the Columbus Cuban is, and so whatever Tony's dad is as a person, if I give him all the power of, hey, look, you've got Mario Cristobal on a little bit of a leash here and you're allowed to send him in the world and get all the best players players. I don't trust my people with that. I don't trust my people. Cubans from Miami with the power who are deciding, you know what, do we really need an AD?

And I think that they can point to— it's a pretty damn sweet Nike deal, huh? Like, no one has that deal, right? We did that. You know what Dan Radakovich wanted to do? Dan Radakovich was like, we should take the Adidas deal. And those Cubans that you're mentioning were like, no, let's keep pushing. We can probably do better.

And they did.

So that's a point for.

Let's find out a little bit here before we get out of the local hour what the vibes are. What are the reported vibes around the Panthers right now as Barkov— apparently the numbers have gone from the initial one report of 10 to 12 weeks that everyone denied now becomes 6 to 8 weeks. And that seems like something more acceptable. But on the road trip, which they did a lot of winning, their defense was good, their goaltending was good. Uh, they had a lot of injuries though, and Marshon goes down as well. What are the vibes? They come home not healthy but winning.

I, I feel really good about the Panthers right now. You start with the Barkov news, which is the best possible news in a really bad situation. So okay, fine, he, he could be back even before December, knowing what this guy is like physically. All right, so that's good news right there. They were 2-0-2 on this trip, which by the way, undefeated.

All 4—

nope, factually incorrect. All 4 games were home openers.

Fake or news?

All 4 games.

That's an important tidbit there.

Yeah, there's that. And, and there was a banner raising for one of them.

And if you don't think like a home opener matters, look at the way that San Jose tried to establish a whole new culture with Trouba like headhunting the entire game.

Don't worry, well, that's his game. There's something coming for, for that team when they play here in South I'll remind you when that time comes down. But the Panthers, they got points in all 4 games, and you could look at it and say their, their power play is horrific right now. It's gonna turn around. Brady Tkachuk has done nothing in the way of earning points. That's obviously gonna get going. So I'm very pleased with the Panthers right now.

Well, it's 1 for 20 on the power play.

Unbelievable.

They only led for like 9 minutes the entire time they're going on the road, and all they're going to is home openers. Like, it's just, it's all home openers.

It's pretty amazing.

The final 9 minutes, by the way, By the way, of the road trip was their only lead so far this season.

Pretty amazing that they got 6 of 8 points. And Matthew Tkachuk had a quote saying like, I'd sign on the dotted line right now if you told me that ahead of time.

Look at Roy smile. Roy, I can see behind the steely silence of your gaze—

Get excited, Roy.

As you wait a minute and 50 seconds to play your Cam Ward sound of 3 minutes remaining in the segment, I can see behind your steely gaze that the muscles around, around what used to be a smile, muscles that have largely atrophied, they're trying to come together to be pleased by the vibes are high Panthers.

Well, the Panthers lead the division, so there's that. I mean, aside from Marchand going down, I mean, he'll be back this season, I believe.

And Markstrom has been great.

I'm very happy with Markstrom.

He was very good a couple nights ago. Very good.

How can you make that assessment based on how he was writhing on the ice on Marchand and given his age? Like, how can you know in any way whether Marchand is gonna be okay?

I'm just going off of an expert doctor's analysis on the internet.

You know about those Twitter doctors?

Yeah.

No, it's an actual doctor.

I mean, hearing you guys, all these things considered, that's a very good merch. Start spreading it.

Uh, Sinatra, stop, start spreading the news.

Stop, start, stop spreading.

I can't believe, okay, cannot believe that we have had somehow topped what was our previous best moment involving Frank Sinatra and that song, which is when we sold out a theater in New York to do a live show. Greg Cody opened it by— we rehearsed it several times. He had to run to the microphone.

Too many times.

And just simply start singing, stop, start, Spreading the News. And he ran right past the microphone with his arms spread.

Soaking up the applause.

And just forgot, just totally forgot to sing it all. just came out and somehow—

You got 3 minutes, bro.

And then he's like, what? What'd I do wrong?

We had to start over. We had— we sent him back and started over. Uh, somehow we now have a better moment because of the great shame that Zazz has unearthed.

Uh, Sinatra starts spreading the news.

That's the name of the song?

Those were his first words of the show, yes.

The name of the song is actually— I looked this up because most people confuse it by saying New York, New York. I just that earlier in the segment. It's the theme from New York, New York.

Jeremy, can you put together some sort of song before the end of the show?

I'm already working on it.

That makes fun of Zazz here.

Good for you.

Just not a Frank Sinatra parody song.

No, it's got to be an original crooner song that then ends with start, stop, start, spreading the news.

Thank you.

Nerves?

Don't worry, I'm on it.

Thank you.

You're very theatrical. I appreciate you.

Hey, overactor.

Get me the sound, please, of Jazz Chisholm at the end of the Yankee season, because I do believe we're going to enjoy this today, the suffering of Yankee fans. Also, there are reports coming out now that Cashman's coming back and he's bringing Aaron Boone back with him. I'm sure Yankee fans will be thrilled about that.

It's an annual ritual that we do this.

And here's Chas Chisholm. Look at Chas Chisholm, how many people surround him here.

That sucks, right? Like, that has to suck.

The guy on the left was like eyes just poking through.

Yes. Well, this Ethan, this, this whole scene. Yeah, get the telestrator and circle— circle that guy in the back because he's absolutely lurking and he's got an eye on you. And there's something just haunting. If I put that— look, if you were in a house late at night by yourself and you looked through your door and the peephole and that was looking back at you— Chris, go ahead and circle this guy who's in the back there lurking as we play this sound of Jazz Chisholm confused by the Did it hurt?

What?

When you hear that, does it, does it hurt to get booed? I mean, it doesn't hurt. It's just confusing because it's the playoffs and we're trying to win games. So you're booing a guy that's playing currently trying to help the team win, and you're hearing boos instead of trying to hype guys up, you know what I mean? But at the end of the day, like I said, it didn't hurt me because like I said, I've seen Aaron Judge get booed here too. So who am I? That's a 3-time MVP.

I mean, knowing what you know about About the oldest New Yorkers who most care about the Yankees. Are they offended more by what Jazz Chisholm is saying there, or the fact that he's wearing Yankee gear that's red?

Yeah, the, the color of the jacket and the hat, although we back here think it's fire.

That jacket's cool.

But yes, the guy right here in the blue suit who's interviewing him is definitely offended by the fact that he's wearing a red— that guy right there, he's like, look at him, he's not even listening. He's like, I don't care what you have to say. You're wearing a red Yankee hat. You should be ashamed of yourself. Who is this guy? Where did we get this Jamoke?

Giannis with a fresh spark, a fresh start.