Transcript of Tony's Exclusive Interview With Larry the Cable Guy | Hour 2 New

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All right, it's time for Puck Luck. It's presented by DraftKings Sports. DraftKings, the crown is yours. Avalanche at Jets tonight, a surprising start for the Jets without Connor Hellebuyck, and part of it is thanks to Kyle O'Connor having a good start to his season, having, uh, 3 goals and 2 assists. I have him getting a point tonight, so get him at a half point. Oilers at Ducks tonight. Take a look at shots on goal for Leon Draisaitl. In the first 3 games of the season, he is averaging 5 shots a game. Take him at 3.5 shots on goal tonight. And Penguins at Capitals is the first of 4 matchups, 4 final matchups between Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin. Get them having at least 1 point tonight each. Each a half point. These picks are at +750. Good puck luck, everybody.

Yeah, I love some good puck luck.

All right, I had to kick Dan out of the studio because I don't think he did the respect that this legend deserves last week, who also went 5-0 in Celebrity Prognosticator, Larry the Cable Guy, or more so as I call him, Tow Mater. Larry, I want to bring you in here. I am a massive Cars fan. My daughter's 2 years old and she loves the Cars franchise. Can I talk to you about each and every Cars movie?

No. No.

No.

There we go!

All right, Larry, can you explain to the people that are listening I gotcha, I gotcha, Toe. Listen, I want to know why Cars 2 is the greatest movie of all time.

Oh my God.

Cars 2 is the greatest movie of all time? Well, because, uh, Mater's in it. The whole movie.

Now, people don't realize—

Go ahead.

Oh.

You got me?

Yeah, so here's the issue. Larry is right now driving in an RV across the country. He's in the middle of nowhere. So Mater, I want to tell you this. All right, Cars 2. What people don't realize is that Cars 1 is about Lightning McQueen. Cars 3 is about Lightning McQueen and Cruz Ramirez. Number 2 is all about how Tow Mater goes on a secret mission, becomes a spy, and he has no idea that he's a spy. When you heard the plot to the movie, were you like, OK, I'm into this?

Oh, absolutely. We were actually— I heard about that when we finished the premiere of the first movie at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. We all went out afterwards and I was sitting with John Lasseter and he goes, hey, I got an idea. How about if Mater, uh, they went to a race in Japan and Mater went with McQueen and all of a sudden they, they thought he was like this undercover spy. So while the race is going on, Mater's dealing with, uh, saving the world. And I'm like, yeah, uh, Cars 2 with Mater. Yeah, I'm in. Let's do it. And that's how it That's how it happened. That was pretty much it. It was kind of conceived right there after we got done filming the first one. So I'm all about it. Let's do Cars 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Let's keep doing it.

It's your most profitable thing, right? The Cars, the Cars franchise.

Time!

Larry the Cable Guy.

It is time for Celebrity Prognosticator. Let's win some money.

That's right. Larry the Cable Guy hosts the new comedy series American Mayhem. Just came out on September 19th. He is our celebrity prognosticator. Larry went 5-0 last week. Yeah, that's the best you could possibly do, 5-0. Our celebrities are a combined 15-5 on this season. We crushed Colin Cowherd, who is just 12-7-1 on the year. You ready, Larry, to pick these games?

Absolutely, let's do it. I gotta, I gotta quit winning, man. I got stuff to do.

All right, let's go. Bengals at Dolphins. The Dolphins are a 7-point home dog. What do you like, Larry?

I'm going with the Bengals this week. I went with the Dolphins last week. I'm gonna go with the Bengals this week.

All right. The Bears are at the Packers. The Packers are a 3-point home dog.

Yeah, you know what? My wife is from Wisconsin. Uh, Brett Favre was a buddy of mine. All my family on her side's from Wisconsin. Uh, so I'm gonna have to go. I'm sorry, I gotta go with the Bears.

You said Brett Favre was a buddy of yours. Is he no longer a buddy of yours?

No, no, he still is. I just hadn't talked to him in a while. I'm going with the Bears. I'm going with the Bears.

All right, you gotta check in. Don't let too much time go by. 49ers at Seahawks. The Seahawks are a 2.5-point favorite.

I'm going with 49ers.

The Ravens are at the Falcons. The Falcons are a 3.5-point favorite.

I'm going with the Ravens.

And finally, looking for another 5-0 week, the Raiders— Larry the Cable Guy, huge Raider fan. Raiders are at the Patriots. The Patriots are a 3.5-point favorite.

I'm not going against them. I'm going with the Raiders!

Yes, look at that, Tony. That's how you do it. Zach talks and then Larry the Cable Guy talks back.

That's how that works. Larry's in the middle of Utah on a mountain somewhere.

Larry, thank you. I hope you go 5-0 again, even though you don't want to go 5-0. You might dump those games because you don't want to talk to us anymore.

I want to talk to you, but it's like I'm always doing something. I wish I had better reception, but I'm in New Mexico.

All right, it's good talking to you. Do you— how long do you go before you spit? Because that's a lot of chaw on your lip.

Yeah.

No, those are milk duds.

Okay. Very good.

Thank you, Larry.

I'm on a health kick.

Thank you, sir. Good talking to you. Mike Ryan, you were just hugging Tony. 15-5 is pretty good. That's pretty crazy. Greg's been picking games for 36 years, and I don't know if he's ever started a season 15-5 against the spread.

I don't know that I have. No, that's tough. Anything above .500 picking every game is tough. Cowherd is not bad. I mean, his record's pretty good, but 15-5 is out of this world.

No, I want to— I want to address what needs to be addressed. Tony, how you feeling about that?

I feel fine. The reception was tough. Like, he was receptive to my question and he actually gave a great story. Charlotte Motor Speedway. They came up with the idea after a couple of beers. That's a good story. I don't think that's ever been told before.

At around 8 seconds of silence. Were you feeling it?

No.

I saw you guys starting to freak out in the back.

Yeah, when we were saying, talk!

Well, yeah, when it was completely silent, what was going through your head? Were you just like, this is good, or were you like—

It was just clear he was frozen, and so it required some filibuster from you, but you stopped talking.

No, if we replay that, there was actually a sound that I heard that I was like, oh, he's coming back, wait a second. And then I stopped, and then he stopped, and then I heard Roy from the other room say, talk. No, I think we should clip it. Let's clip it and replay it. I'm telling you, I know what I heard.

Okay, but we know what we heard, and you're outnumbered.

Silence is gold.

What else is new?

So let's move on Let's get into other subjects here and let's not try to get lost on the fact that our celebrities are 15-5 picking games. We've had 2 5-0 weeks even though there's not a great deal of elaboration, even though many of the picks are, well, my wife's got— from there, you know, it doesn't have, it doesn't have a lot of analysis in it, but it's—

Brett Favre and the Bears.

Yes, right. He likes Brett Favre and he then picked against them. Yes. So we do have—

You're still friends with him, right?

Yeah.

What's the matter?

Check in.

Really important follow-up.

Packers-Bears is this weekend, and it is funny to see some of what is happening around Ben Johnson, one of the coaches in the league who doesn't mind being a little bit arrogant here. I'm curious whether you guys are ready to start a segment that is Pitiful Performance of the Week. And when I say pitiful, I mean full of pity, okay? Because there have been a couple of times that we have played— all of these involve the Bears. for some reason, the interactions after games. 2 of them involve Caleb Williams. So let's begin with CJ Stroud. I want to start with CJ Stroud after beating Caleb Williams, the way that he pitied Caleb Williams with small talk.

Good job out there, bro. Yeah, keep going. Stop taking those hits. Yeah, I know. Hey, yeah, learn from—

learn—

look, come here. Learn from those mistakes, and everything that you got, bro, is in you already, bro. You're gonna be a hell of a player in this league.

Yeah.

All right, boy.

Appreciate it.

And sitting there, you could see Caleb Williams like, okay, buddy.

Yeah, please stop talking at the side of my face.

He told that man to come here.

That's right. And then Caleb Williams, though, did this to Canales, the head coach of the Carolina Panthers, after scoring 59 points on him. After scoring 59 points, this is what he has to say.

All right, brother. Oh, man.

Great job. Yeah. Good job.

Great defense, man.

Yeah.

Yeah. Appreciate it. Yeah, we'll do.

Good luck to y'all.

Oof.

Still has the wherewithal though.

Great defense.

Absolutely.

Great defense.

Canales should have punched him out. Hey, great defense. Are you mocking me?

And now, Dan, now this one is from this week that we're about to play. This is the best one yet. This is Ben Johnson, who used to coach with Aaron Glenn in Detroit. So they are— there is a relationship here. But the way he— like, there's a pat in the back of the head or back here. Just listen to what he says here.

I love you.

You guys are close.

You guys are close. You're right there.

All right.

I appreciate you, bro.

Ben Johnson.

You guys are close.

What has Ben Johnson ever won?

Well, wait a minute.

Nothing yet.

Nothing yet, exactly.

But neither has Aaron Glenn.

Right, that's for sure. But that's a little superior though for somebody who hasn't won anything.

I would say that Ben Johnson is in the same spot that CJ Stroud was, where it's like, okay, you're having a little success here, but you're not at the point where we're patting people on the back and saying you're close. Hey, Aaron Glenn, you're close. Ah, rough look.

The Bears, 3-point favorites on the road in Green Bay without their starting quarterback, is a really large indictment of how the Packers are playing football. Now, I told you before the season started they were going to have a lot of trouble their first 4 games because of the people that they had out and some of the issues that they have without Micah Parsons. Uh, but when we talk about Ben Johnson, I believe that his arrogance is earned, and I always like that in sports. I like Uh, when someone who has an earned arrogance doesn't conceal it in the name of false humility. And I especially like it from coaches who don't give it to you very often. So in that particular game, the context that's required of the back and forth with Aaron Glenn, when he says Aaron Glenn is close, they had almost 400 more yards than the Jets in that game. I don't believe they punted. I believe they had more first downs than the Jets had plays. Like— Close to what? Because that game was one of the only games in the last 2 weeks in the NFL that wasn't any kind of close.

The, the Jets were entirely incompetent on offense, and Geno Smith is not a futuristic answer. Like, Geno Smith might be a Band-Aid for now that's better than the quarterbacks that you had last year, but he doesn't promise you any kind of future. The Jets don't have any better of a future than the Steelers have with Aaron Rodgers at 40. 7 years old or whatever age Aaron Rodgers is. Like, they're close in what world? Close to what?

The Jets are not bad. They've been better than what we thought they were going to be at the beginning of the season. The offense looks decent. The defense is a little bit better. Like, they're close to being a team that could be close.

I think if you're a losing coach at any level in any sport, the last thing you want to hear is, is a condescending flattery.

You can't gloss over that.

Close to being close. Close to being close.

Close to being close.

They're close to being close.

Greg was just waiting for his time to talk.

You talked and just skipped right over the great analysis of the Jets close to being close. I think they're close to that.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

No, but I don't think they're close to being close. I think they're close to being close to being close.

They're around the corner from being down the street.

That's funny you say that because in Useless Sound this week, Aaron Glenn had the sound, we need to be opportunistic when we get the opportunity.

He didn't say they're close to being close. He said they're close to being a team that could be close. So that's close to what you were saying. Exactly. We're in the same kind of street. I'm just one block back.

Dan Levitar.

I want to address, uh, Tony and all men who would wear that shirt in public.

Greg Cody.

Don't do it.

This is the Dan Levitar Show.

I believe you're in a capsized boat in the lake, uh, near the street to where— Who wants to be here with me?

Me and Halfway?

It was a dolphin's boat.

Are you bored? Are you— are you speaking into the thermos instead of a microphone?

No, I murmured.

Oh, bored.

It was an intentional murmur. I wanted it to be an aside rather than a real statement.

catchphrases.gregcodyshow.com/geocity/angelfire.

All right, I know how to get him back involved. Uh, Me Maximum, let's get, uh, the sound from, uh, The Greg Cody Show featuring Greg Cody. with Uncle Dick, who gave his Dirty Dozen phrases that were stolen by Greg Cody and had only 10 of them. There was a burp suite in the wild. We've been trying to paraphrase and explain to you what happens, and this happens all the time on the Greg Cody Show featuring Greg Cody podcast, where there are burps caught in the wild while they're, you know, Greg's not paying attention or not thinking that he's taping, but they like catching these burps in the wild. So you can now hear for yourself the way that Greg finishes some of his burps with a word. Which word from the burp suite in the top 10 of his catchphrases are we going to?

I don't remember.

Let's play it.

That's a nice way of saying stolen.

Yeah, I mean, I figured by the context clues I gathered, but—

Right. Sack.

Can you—

I don't care if you have them ready. Okay, was that from the burp suite?

Yeah, we just got a sack in the wild.

I'm sorry.

On the screen, there were 4 different references to the Greg Cody Show.

There's so many. How many times?

And you have his microphone too.

Oh, there's 5. No, there's 6. The Substack. I forgot. There's 6 different Greg Cody references on the screen at this one time.

And really nice of Zaz to join the show in the lower right-hand corner there.

I thought Uncle Dick had hair.

Let me— let me play for the people here, uh, the Lane Johnson stats I promised earlier in the show. And we will get to this Bram Stoker recreation here at some point that will be inopportune and inappropriate. Stat of the day.

Star of the day, star of the day, it is the star of the day. Star of the day, star of the day, it is the star of the day. Star of the day, star of the day, it is the star of the day.

Some of these stats are similar, but I'm going to give you 4 different Lane Johnson stats that would illustrate to you why he is the best right tackle to ever play the game when those things can be hard to measure. When he plays, the Eagles were 122-63-1. So they won 3/4 of their games when he played. When he didn't play, they were 18-30. When he played, they had the 3rd-best EPA, expected points added. When he didn't play, they had the 28th EPA. He went 558 pass blocks without a quick pressure. It's 210 better than any other player who's blocking people. I don't know whether this is my favorite or not, but it's pretty damn good, okay? Because in 5 of the last 7 years, he didn't allow a sack at all. But the idea that he only allowed 4 sacks in 2,485 pass-blocking snaps is nuts. The idea that he had 558 pass blocks without a quick pressure, like Think about what we're talking about there. It was 210 better than any other offensive tackle. And yesterday he retires abruptly, surprisingly, and says flatly, it's to concentrate on my mental health. Says he wants to spend time with his kids.

His kids are growing up too fast. And I really do wonder how much physical pain he has to be in and how much emotional turmoil he has to be in to push against all of the pressures that make you want to be out there for your teammates, gutting out one final season and just saying in the middle of the season when they're falling apart and their offense is at its very worst in the last 25 years, I do wonder how hard it had to be to make the decision. You know what? I really need to get away from this. It's making me crazy.

That's what it is, because you can't— like, I don't think you could say that he felt this way or wasn't thinking this way at all 4 games ago, like before the season started. He must have had thoughts about this. And it shows you how difficult it is for him where 3 games into the season, like, I can't— I tried, I can't do it. I have to quit.

It was a couple of years ago where he missed several games because he was going through withdrawal from antidepressants. So this has been a known thing around Lane Johnson. He's been in physical pain, he's been in mental anguish, and he even in his statement touches on that. So, yes, it's certainly worth wondering about. But also, we know that it is a thing with Lane.

But for it to happen during the season, a quarter into the season, it, it piled up on him, obviously. I mean, it was just a weight he could no longer carry. And I give him all the credit in the world for not going through the motions for the rest of the season just for the team. I mean, you got to look for your mental health first and your family first.

Well, you say that.

Physical health too. Like, they're connected.

Like, your mental health can be affected by not being there for your teammates, not being right, by being I want to, though, sort of explore with you guys the idea of this because of the difficulties in making the decision. Among the things that he said is you can't do this if your heart's not in it. He's been thinking for a while that this would be his last season. And when you start stacking the physical and emotional pain on top of each other, you have a very tough man. Okay. And I say this is not any kind of indictment. I just say it as the difficulties involved with making this kind of decision.

You have Yeah.

You have a very tough man, by definition, quitting in a sport that doesn't really allow that. Like, you get dragged out on your shield. You get the uniform torn off of you. If this man, by any definition, the toughest among us, does not have the physical and mental wherewithal To not quit because things hurt so much that he just has to take care of himself. I cannot imagine the amount of suffering that he's actually in in order to make the choice. Never mind about the money. In that locker room, in that huddle where he's needed and admired, where he's important to those guys who can't play offense well without him, the choice to quit And to end— you could call it retirement, you can call it taking care of your family, taking care of your mental health— he has to quit because it hurts so much. I don't offer an indictment there. I just can't imagine how much pain he is in in order to make that decision.

That's what I'm saying. He, he must have considered this before the season started, and it must have been so bad the first few weeks that he's actually quitting.

Yeah, and some of it might be guilt feelings attached to all this too, because He knows that from a team standpoint, it would have been much better for the Eagles had he made this decision over the summer or even, even 5 weeks ago. But he had to make it when it was in his heart to do it.

Or he became a ghost.

Greg, when you say that Ben Johnson has not earned much of his arrogance, the Bears are favored at Lambeau Field with their backup quarterback, and it's the first time the Bears have been favored at Lambeau in 20 years. And it's with their backup quarterback because he's changed everything. And because whether it's Case Keenum or—

Also, the Packers suck. Let's take it easy.

Well, no, but yeah.

This Ben Johnson guy, I don't like him. Take his shirt off. Look at me. Do something, right? Do something.

The one handshake we need to be watching for this weekend is Ben Johnson versus Mike LaFleur— Matt LaFleur, because of the fact that they've never met. But Ben Johnson secretly hates him. And that's why he took the Chicago job to stick it to Matt LaFleur. over in Green Bay even though they've never met. So if the Bears go up and win, that's gonna be an icy one.

Stupid name, Ben.

The Packers win or the Bears lose.

What kind of name is Ben?

Put it on the poll, is Ben a stupid name? Tony, you said secretly hates Matt LaFleur. I don't think it's secret. If you know about it—

Oh no, now it's not secret.

No, but it's not— there's nothing—

there's no secret. It was secret at one point.

You know what secret means?

Relax, Strickland, okay? I feel like you're gonna call me a slacker in a second.

Strickland! Wow, man.

How do you feel about all that silence with your boy?

I felt fine. I see. I'm okay with silence. You guys freaking out about silence.

You got your whole life to talk to him. You got nothing to say.

First off, relax.

Relax.

Greg, what's your problem with Ben Johnson? He's interesting. He's arrogant. He's fun.

He's got a great offense.

He's got the best quarterback that the Bears have ever had.

And he hasn't done jack shit.

The best offense that the Bears have ever had. And he wants to have the best offense in the history of the league.

Right. My only problem is, when I'm looking at the macro, when I say he hasn't done anything, you have to like win in the playoffs. You have to like be a consistent playoff team that consistently wins that division.

Uh-huh. And do so inside of 2 years.

Well, he hasn't yet.

I'm a macro man!

That's all I'm saying.

He made it to the playoffs last year and lost by 3 points to the Rangers.

That's right.

That's right.

I'm a macro man!

Win in the playoffs. I mean, that's all it's been.

That's right.

Okay, but he's been there one time and he got a home game as a Bears team that had a Caleb Williams that a lot of people were doubting.

Okay.

All right.

All right.

If you think he's earned the right to be arrogant with another coach and condescending after a game, that's your opinion.

How weird of a feud is this? Did any of us know how much I hated Ben Johnson? It's a weird thing.

Greg, is there any disputing that he made the Lions more relevant than they've ever been in your entire life? Like, he made the Lions— Ben Johnson made Dan Campbell into something that he's not.

Into a genius.

Because—

I don't like Dan Campbell either.

Yeah, he was a good offensive coordinator, and now he's a promising head coach, but he's not a proven head coach.

The entire NFC North.

Let him win. Let him win something appreciable. He's not proven?

You don't think Ben Johnson is proven yet?

Not as a head coach.

Is he?

Is he?

They won a playoff game last year against the Packers and then lost to the Rams, who was probably the best team.

Packers coach is a dipshit.

If you think Ben Johnson is a proven NFL head coach, we'll respectfully disagree.

Dan Le Batard!

And you do eat butt all the time, correct?

Greg Cody!

Oh yeah, I just had some, uh, a couple of weeks ago.

This is the Dan Le Batard Show!

All right, let's do this another way. If I were to offer everyone in the league Ben Johnson, how many teams are saying, no, thank you? I don't want Ben Johnson. I don't wanna replace my head coach with Ben Johnson. Is it 4?

I'm not here to take a quiz.

Hell no.

It's at least half of the teams.

That's crazy.

Wait, half the teams?

Greg? No, no, no, let me cook. I'm gonna make sense of all of this.

Greg, what are you talking about? And speak into the microphone, please!

I am speaking into the microphone. You might be cornered.

Dolphins take him tomorrow, Greg.

Oh, really? They're giving up on Halfley?

You're crazy.

1,000%.

They hired Halfley in January and in October he's gone because Ben Johnson— they're giving up on him.

1,000%. They make that trade.

I'm the idiot. You guys are stupid.

I mean, I am going to lose if he doesn't give me Halfley. Like, if he—

I went to the bottom of the barrel. There was nobody lower I could have gone to.

He's a first-year Put some respect on Todd Monken.

In the history of football, a first-year coach has not been fired after 4 games, to my knowledge.

Uh, this is from Ben Solak. There is nobody from the moment he picked up the headset who has consistently stayed at the level of Sean and Kyle, the true upper echelon, than Ben Johnson. Like, it's 5 guys.

I'd sneak KOC in there and I'd also sneak Liam Cohen.

Sean won a Super Bowl. Kyle Shanahan's been to Super Bowls.

You're not allowed to put Liam Cohen in there.

I am.

You're not allowed.

I absolutely am.

There's something there.

There can be something there. There's not some Ben Johnson there.

There could be something there.

There's a bit—

there's a tinge of it. There's a tinge of it because he helped Baker to his career high. He's like, all of a sudden now he's changing Trevor Lawrence. Dan, don't, don't be late on this.

Ian Cohen is one playoff win away from being Ben Johnson.

Yeah, he's close to being a coach that could be close. He's closer than the Jets are close to being close.

A tinge.

Thank you, Roy. I appreciate that accent of offering a tinge for me. I want to get into another story here, and I want to ask you guys, who you're believing on something because LeBron is denying something that Mike Breen is reporting. And I want to get to this story because Mike Breen doesn't do a whole lot of breaking news, but I think of Mike Breen, and I'm guessing you guys think of Mike Breen, as the height of credible.

Sure.

When Mike Breen says something, I'm going— on basketball, I'm going to believe that he's got it right. So listen to this sound. But I had somebody tell me before the game that they were out ready to practice— and an offensive foul there—

they were out ready to practice, and Joel Embiid walked out on the court a couple of minutes late, and LeBron let him hear it.

Oh yeah?

Yep.

I think it's super interesting. For one, I thought the biggest deterrent for LeBron to go to Philadelphia would have been Embiid, because this was something that was known to have taken place a couple summers ago at the Olympics, where LeBron got to see for the very first time firsthand Embiid's work ethic and apparently regularly dressed him down based on his lack of work ethic. And now they're teammates. He's essentially hitched his wagon to that guy for an entire season and Already we're starting with that, where apparently, according to Mike Breen, Joel Embiid is walking in late to practice. And it gets even more interesting when— I get it that it's LeBron, all right? He is the top guy in the NBA, okay? But there is still somewhat of a strange dynamic to me where you have Joel Embiid, who's been with the Sixers— what are we talking, a dozen years? Like a dozen years he's been the face of that franchise. And LeBron's able to just dress you down in front of your team. And LeBron's never played a game for the Sixers. Embiid has been the face of the franchise for a dozen years, no matter what his work ethic is, no matter how much or how little he has actually won in Philadelphia.

And LeBron is able to just do that to him in front of the whole team. That's interesting.

Just so we know, LeBron denies it. And Kellerman on Rich Paul's podcast, or their podcast, he told Rich Paul that he's heard Joel Embiid has a poor work ethic, and he questions if that can become a problem with the Sixers, but LeBron denying it. Who do you believe, Greg?

Oh, I believe Mike Breen. I believe LeBron did that. Yeah, I got interrupted there.

How do you like that silence, boys?

I don't know what just happened. I'm in the middle of a comment and I'm getting—

Blame it on Greg.

LeBron is LeBron. He's his own individual franchise. I mean, he's a one-man franchise. If any player in the league league can go into a brand new city and dress down the superstar on that team, it's LeBron James. It doesn't surprise me that he did it, and I think it's justified that he did it based on everything we've, we've known about Embiid for his whole career, including that he's injured for half of his games.

Uh, Shams from 2024, by the way, pointed out that Tyrese Maxey challenged Joel Embiid to be on time to team activities. He called him out for being late Wow.

Wow.

So it's, it's, it's not new that people know about it. It would be new that LeBron James is at the facility first every time and is, is bothered by it. But if you're LeBron James and you're denying it, is it because it's not true, or is it because it looks better to not start that problem?

The latter.

Yeah, of course the latter. Like, they, they haven't even played a regular game yet. And we're going to do the thing where Embiid is a scapegoat and LeBron is trying to calm that down. But hey, this is the ecosystem that LeBron brings to your team. Like, this is the kind of stuff where I'm reminded, you know what, not so disappointed they didn't sign with the Bulls.

But why would Mike Green lie like that?

Not, not the kind of guy who's going to put his name on that kind of report if he doesn't know it to be true. And I just gave you some of the background on how it is that it could be true. Before I get to setting up this conversation with Cory Booker that I think people are going to want to hear because it's going to be one of the few places where you're going to hear, I think, I don't know exactly what Cory Booker is going to say, but I think he's going to call BS on the Preserve or Protect College Sports Act. And so I wanted to get another voice on this that you're not hearing somehow in the mainstream media that has a dissenting opinion as you continue to get propaganda everywhere on how protected these But before I do that, why is there an apple in front of you, Stanley Tucci? And why did I hear you say to Mike when he brought in that apple, I'm not biting into an apple?

Well, number one, it's a prop. When, when you're doing a scene like I've been known to do, you want to be as authentic as possible. So there's an apple in this scene. We already watched that. And as far as me not wanting to bite into the apple, uh, I have—

this is—

this is a fake tooth in front here, and so I'm afraid that I'll bite it and the tooth will get all jacked up.

Couldn't you do it on the side? You can't bite the apple a little bit on the side?

Is he a horse?

Uh, I mean, I don't know.

I guess I'll— I guess I'll try.

It's crazy.

But I haven't bitten into an apple in years.

You don't trust the tooth?

No, because it gets stuck. I've heard that. You can't bite into an apple because the tooth, it'll, it'll stay into the skin.

Yeah, shoddy work done.

Funny visual.

All right, well, why do I want to risk that? All right.

I mean, for the art, it would be a funny visual.

No, it would not be funny.

He had a lot of opinions about audiobooks.

It would not be funny.

He doesn't want to look ridiculous.

During the NBA Finals in Dallas, I walked around Dallas, Texas for a week missing an entire front tooth.

That was in 2006.

No, 2011.

Oh, okay.

Or 5 years later.

I had no front tooth the whole week, Dan. You were there. I don't know if you remember.

Are you alleging, as we talk about this, that it would not be funny after recreating a sensual scene with Greg Cody in which Greg Cody is seducing you as a vampire if you lost your tooth biting an apple? Are you alleging that that would not be something that would be funny for our show?

It'd be funny for all of you, but then I gotta go to the dentist. That's a pain in the ass.

You should go to the dentist if you don't trust me.

I hate going to dentist. Take one for the team.

That's right.

I want that tooth on that apple. I'm putting a bounty on it. Yeah, I want that tooth.

You take one for the team.

I'll never give you that tooth.

I want that tooth. If it comes out, I want it.

You be horny with Greg Cody and take one for the team.

That's right. By the way, congrats on that miracle recovery from your eye stye.

He did have a stye yesterday. He did. No, he didn't get him. It was a miracle recovery. I want to though, before Cory Booker joins us and before—

Nice stye, asshole.

He recreates this.

So proud of himself, look at him. It's such a stupid thing to say, so proud of himself.

You were wearing a bandage.

Yeah.

Okay.

We got him again. Roasted.

Before Cory Booker comes on with us here, I do want to point something out that I just, I don't believe that people are noticing enough, okay?

Could you ask Cory Booker to say one of my catchphrases on the Senate floor? Do you mind?

Now that—

Please.

Me maximum.

He's spoken into a thermos today. He got distracted by a stray sound, and all he's here for is to see how it is that we can place him in front of the masses.

Grappy catch.

Cory Booker, it's now your time.

Very good. Me?

You guys aren't gonna let me get to something that I think should be heard because I— A, I don't think you're hearing it anywhere else, and I think it's important that you do hear it.

Are you talking about this scene from Dracula?

No. I can make the argument that what is presently happening between college athletes and the pay structure that is about to be finagled by a whole bunch of people in power who would like it to feel a little more like it did 10 years ago, I could make the argument that this is the most important sports labor issue in the history of sports. I can assemble the argument that it affects 500 500,000 workers, okay? Like, it's 500,000 college athletes trying to divide this money. And you could make the argument that it's bigger than Curt Flood or any of that stuff. I could also make the argument that at present, what you have in the NFL is a bit of a yellow union, that you have in Mahomes somebody who's not as strong as Brees and Brady and Jeff Saturday and Dominique Foxworth and Mike Vrabel when they were players. Brady and Brees were writing op-eds. They were writing op-eds about workers' comp. They were supporting the Affordable Care Act. The players today aren't doing anything. Like, the NFL players today don't know what good union leadership looks like or how they're supposed to behave here.

The fact that you have not heard from any of the NFL players on what might be the most important sports labor issue of our time, and that it's been muted in ways that you don't hear from the Cory Bookers of the world. Like, this stuff can't happen quietly. It shouldn't happen quietly. And it can only happen quietly when the major network involved with all of this is in bed with protecting football and the television revenue streams. It's the only way it can happen. So we will discuss it with Cory Booker next, and we will also make Zazz lose a tooth by an apple.