Transcript of Zaslow Has Become The Face Of The Stupid American (feat. Jessica Smetana) | Hour 3

You are listening to the Dan Levitan Show in partnership with the DraftKings Sports App, now live in all 50 states. So Dan's out today. I don't know if you guys have been able to tell because he, you know, it's been me sitting here.

Well, show.

You noticed, right?

It's the YouTube audience may know, but yeah, the listeners might have just thought he was just sitting there quietly. Yeah.

Our voices sound similar. No, it's me. It's me, everybody. It's me, Zaslo. Dan is out.

How'd you clean the mic? I'm glad you asked.

I was told—

'Cause he was sick.

He was sick, or is sick. I was informed that everything in here has been disinfected. And the first thing I said was, "What about the mic screen?" Alright? Because my lips, you can see here, are very close to the mic screen. And you don't want the lip touching like this.

See, like that?

My lip's on it.

And you get some of Dan's sickness. That's very disgusting. Alright?

Gook.

I was told that it's all been cleaned, and I came in here and I could see it's very clean. So I was very happy about that.

I mean, I— my wife gets upset at me about this, but when she or the kids get sick, I'm like, I don't care, cough on me, do whatever. My immune system is too strong for that. And she's pretty annoyed because I haven't really been sick in like a decade, and I just make fun of them. So I felt the same way about Dan.

Good for you, man.

It's like, look, you're weak, I'm not.

What do the great ones say?

Yeah, not today, not now. Let's bring aboard Jessica Smetana. She hosts the weekly Notre Dame podcast, The Echo. Michael, like, Junior. Jess, how you doing? Good to see you.

I— so you never had COVID, Dominique?

No, I got it, but I didn't get sick.

You were asymptomatic?

I tested positive for 30 seconds, then I tested again. My white blood cells took care of business. I got the strongest—

what are you, Wolverine? You're just recovering?

That's a great one.

Even when it comes to medicine.

He's got that laugh.

You appreciate it, Jess. I appreciate— I know you appreciated my joke. I also appreciate— you look incredible. I come to work trying to look— I mean, the shirt. I mean, that's— I come to work trying to look good, and then I'm normally greeted by people who don't care as much. So I'm happy to be joined.

No, you're not talking about me.

All right, thong sandals.

I'm happy to be joined.

He's saying I mogged you. I'm mogging you guys.

That's what I'm—

hit her with a mog. You mogged us all. Nice mug, Jess. Welcome.

How about that?

Can you define that, by the way? Not for me, for, um, the old guys here, like, uh, me, like, yeah, Roy, because I know what it means, but Roy, it's basically what Zoolander and Hansel do in the film Zoolander to each other.

We were discussing last night Dusty May, he was doing the thing where he was super excited and then he realized he was on camera, so he went from like, oh, I'm so free and having fun, oh no, I'm super cool because I'm on camera. And we were, we were wondering if that was some version of mogging.

Um, I think that was just being perceived.

That shirt looked like money.

He was being perceived.

That shirt looked like money, man. That looked like a shirt.

She got that love.

It's just a, it's just a regular linen shirt, but thank you, I appreciate it. I was gonna go with like a full, uh, vacation vibe shirt because we're almost in July here, but I thought it would be too much, so I took it down a step.

But that, how much did that nudge out the like heat shirt that you're gonna wear or whatever. Like, I'm sure there's like some sort of sports-related t-shirt or there was like a wrestling shirt hanging in your closet.

Yeah, that Roman Reigns shirt.

Did you—

no, I have like— I, so I, I try to dress the season, Dominique, when I come on this show. And right now we're, we're entering peak summertime, even though it's been summer in Miami now for like 3 months. And I have a, I have a yellow shirt that has like a little lime and a pepper in it. Like, it's a— like, the— like, the pocket is like a margarita. And I was gonna wear that shirt, and then I said, I'm gonna wait till we're in the real dog days of summer for that one. So I put on one that— a linen shirt that's like one step below that.

Do you guys put that much thought in in the morning?

Oh yeah, I plan my shit out.

Absolutely no way.

I mean, look at me.

There's just no chance.

Nah, Tony— Tony gives a little effort. Nobody else No effort. My man Jeremy, you're not talking about me. My man Pearl Jam.

Jess, so like I mentioned, Dan not in today, and I don't know if you know why he's not in. My man, he is busy. He is busy cleaning up after the Scots, or so he says. He is cleaning up after the Tartan Army, who he, he has been complaining has been making a mess of his neighborhood. And the video audience can see here, there, there he is. There's Dan. He has a broom and he has the dustpan. He looks like he is using a broom and a dustpan for the first time in 45 years.

Really high up, really high up on that.

Yeah, the form is not terrific.

Kind of like how an alien would.

Yeah, I mean, this looks like someone who has not used a broom and dustpan for 45 years here, but give him credit, he's, he's out on the streets there, Jess. Uh, just, you know, just keeping things cleanly.

Here's a broom and dustpan question for you guys. Do you sweep debris directly with the broom into the dustpan, or do you make a little pile and then sweep the pile into the dustpan?

Oh, I make like 3 little piles around my like kitchen and living room area.

Really?

I love it.

I sweep it right in, Jess.

So every sweep is going into the dustpan?

Yeah.

That's the worst way to do that.

Yeah, I'm a pile guy.

Yeah, you gotta make a pile.

Jess, you're a pile girl?

I prefer vacuuming to sweeping. I only sweep if I have broken glass or large things, in which case, if it's glass, I'll sweep it directly in the dustpan.

I was just the most impressed with— hey, me and Dan have the same broom. I thought there were— there's no rich people brooms, huh? We all just have the same brooms.

Oh, Cedar Red broom.

A rich person broom is a whole nother person.

Can I be honest though? Like, you see there, you, you see Dan sweeping, but He gave us the impression that filthy out there, the streets were covered in cigarette butts. Is that that dirty?

Clean. It looks, it looks totally fine.

In Dan's defense, like the clean part, this was my criticism of elitist Dan yesterday, was like his big complaint was like there's more dirt on the streets. Like that's really bad. Like it's not really dangerous or anything like that. It's a lot of dirt on the streets, but there are a lot of people. I'm staying on South Beach also, or Miami Beach also. There are a lot of people. They're singing late at night. It could get a little bit loud. I could get why it would be annoying, but the trash, that's not the problem. Well, I could go into—

would you lose a bet staying on South Beach?

I mean, Miami Beach, it's kind of the trade-off of staying in Miami Beach is like, yeah, it might get a little rowdy here.

Well, so you mentioned there it might get a little rowdy. We have actual video footage of that as well.

Video footage.

Yeah. Now we got video footage. We got some video footage.

We got some video footage.

Throw it to the video.

We have video footage of, of the partying, which apparently Dan has been saying has been for like the entire evening, for 7, 8 straight hours, that he and his wife Valerie have not been able to sleep because it's been too wild, right? Let's see here.

He's been complaining nonstop. Yeah, that's just everywhere he looks. I mean, that does look like a lot of people.

Well, yeah, well, that right there, those are, those are the Scots. Those are the Tartan Army. That are making their way, like, into the Marlins game a couple of days ago. I mean, it's just a mass sea of people. But these people have taken over South Beach as well. They're keeping Dan up late at night, and he has, you know, decided to take it upon himself as the one who's gonna clean up after them. Okay, fine. There you have it.

So he's skipping the show just to take a nap? That's kinda what I'm getting at.

Hey, there's Dan Le Batard!

Yeah, cleaning.

Was that your Scottish accent?

No.

Oh, okay.

I am just enthralled by Spanish television right now. They're playing soccer, like, attached to foos— as if they're— it's like a real life foosball game where they're all attached to pole. Foosball is like—

I've seen that before—

where you do a little sideways, like, you're all on the side, you're playing soccer, trying to spin the things. They're doing a human life version of that, and I just can't stop looking at it.

Human life. But does someone move them? Like, is someone moving them with a stick, or they just have to—

they just have to keep their, their hands attached to the pole, but they can move.

Uh-oh.

Yeah, that was a tough— that was a tough, uh, last, like, couple seconds there.

I had to give a yellow. That was a crazy—

what, did I say something?

You didn't say shit.

Which is the problem.

My man, I was following.

Yeah, we're talking foosball.

So, Jess, I want to see Chris Cody. I want to, I want to bring this up here. I've been waiting the whole show because this, this is the coverage of this over the last week since the New York Knicks won the NBA Finals has really bothered me. All right. And yesterday, and yesterday there's been a little bit more that has been added to it because Becky Hammond. All right. Becky Hammond, the head coach of the Las Vegas Aces. We all know, well, you know, very famously, because no one will let anyone forget about it, that like 3 years ago when— before she was the— I don't know if she was the coach of the Aces or maybe it was the offseason when she was being paid to be an analyst on ESPN. She's an analyst on ESPN here. It's not like postgame after her team played, she decided to give thoughts on the Knicks and Jalen Brunson. She's literally on television being paid to give her thoughts on the NBA. And she's, you know, did the famous Jalen Brunson. He— they got to get a dude. You know, he's, he's not a 1A guy. Those were her thoughts.

And he said he's too— he's too short. That was specifically he's too short. Steph Curry is an outlier as like a 1A guy who is shorter that, you know, led a team to a championship, but that Brunson was too short. And history has because she was— she's 5'6". She was a small guard when she played in the W. She was a 6-time All-Star. Like, speaking from experience, like, you know, it's a league of bigs. That was kind of her point. Yeah.

Well, historically, she is still correct. But in regards to Brunson, she was wrong. Okay, fine. So yesterday, yesterday, she opened up her postgame press conference after the Aces game to give a whole Mea culpa. Here she was.

All right.

We'll start with some questions in the room and then we'll head to Zoom if we have some time.

Wait, I have to—

I have a comment.

Oh, to start. I was wrong. I was wrong. My opinion was wrong. Okay, let's go.

All right. So good on her. But can we like— can we— you know what? Not even good on her. This is such bull— it really is, it's such bullshit. It's such bullshit. Why is— because Becky Hammond was wrong about a sports opinion, which historically she's actually still right, but she was wrong about Jalen Brunson in particular, why does she have to apologize? I don't understand this obsession with how Becky Hammond has to get up in front of people and say she was wrong about a sports opinion, as if All of us are not wrong about stuff every single day.

My favorite things, as was yesterday, her first comments to the media were that she's not gonna, she's never gonna apologize for having an opinion because that's what ESPN pays me for. And then she got cyberbullied so much after that that she was like, all right, I am gonna apologize. I'm sorry, I was wrong. Moving on. I think that like Knicks fans just, and you know, Jalen Brunson, said this in his parade speech, that these were things that rubbed Knicks fans the wrong way for years, that he was underestimated, that people didn't think he was good enough and didn't think he was a superstar. And now that they've won, they want everyone to bend the knee, kiss the ring, and admit they were wrong. And I get that. I just think it's funny seeing like the two, you know, and she's also, we should mention, like famously a Spurs assistant for a really long time. So like the fact that the Knicks beat the Spurs, I do think is an element in this too. But I think that it's funny because she's like one of the— she's such a character in the WNBA as a head coach.

She's like one of the one of the main characters of the WNBA, I would say, and is a very— I don't know, I don't know if stubborn is the right word, but like her doubling and tripling down on something and being like, I don't care what you think about me is kind of her personality. And so like that meeting the Knicks fans who are just like on a, like a revenge tour against anyone who doubted them is, you know, unstoppable force, immovable object a little bit. So they wanted her to apologize much earlier than she did. And it wasn't good enough that she waited a week and then finally got bullied into doing it.

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Dan Levitar.

I don't like smelly either.

Jessica Esmeralda.

Women stay home in the kitchen where they belong.

This is the Dan Levitar Show.

That is an NBA aphorism that kind of everyone has said throughout the history of time. It's something that we all know to be something that is kind of a rare occasion when it works out. It's a weird thing that they piled on. And also, like, if you remember the Jalen Brunson signing, I think a lot of these Knicks fans are also ones who are like, yeah, this ain't quite good enough either.

And now, which is fine.

That's what fans do.

The weird part is that's what sports are, is proving if you could, if you're good enough, right? That's sports.

But I don't remember the Knicks fans reacting the same way the Heat fan or Heat fan— Heat fans are currently reacting to signing Giannis when they got Jalen Brunson. The Knicks fans were not like, oh my gosh, now we're in it.

No, totally. No, you're right. And rightfully so. The Knicks fan, like, why would the Knicks fan have said, oh nice, now we got a superstar, he's going to lead us to a championship? That would have been— it would have been a ridiculous thing to say at the time. It's just, I don't know, I guess good for her that she finally got up there, but it's— she doesn't need to apologize to anyone. It's just stupid to me. Jess?

Well, yeah, I think that like the whole sports media complex revolves around people making takes. And there's a lot of people who do this for a living, myself included at times, who are afraid to make takes because you're afraid to be wrong and to get yelled at by hordes of people and for it to become like the main topic of conversation after something happens where you feel like, why are people talking about that thing I got wrong instead of talking about like, you know, the Knicks championship or whatever? You know, I'm just using that as an example because I've been right about this, the Knicks a lot.

Okay, make it clear.

I was early on the OG Anunoby bandwagon like 2 years ago. Okay. Josh Hart. I was talking about Josh Hart before it was cool to talk about Josh Hart. I mean, not really, but you get my point.

They're playing soccer, like, attached to foosball as if they're— it's like a real-life foosball game.

Woof.

Well said. But anyway, hold on, run that back.

Let me run that back.

I, I mean, they actually helped you out there a little bit.

Go ahead. They're playing soccer, like, attached to foosball as if they're— it's like a real-life foosball game. I feel like I Kind of nailed that for how ridiculous the thing is I was looking at. Described it perfectly.

Okay, but now imagine someone listening as opposed to watching the monitor like I have in front of me, and I could see the thing that you're talking about. There's no way anyone understands those words.

They're playing soccer, like, attached to foos— as if they're— it's like a real-life foosball game.

I know exactly what I meant.

Thank you, Jess.

I think he got there. It took a minute.

There was context on the back end there that also—

Oh, look at this guy.

The thing fell through the, you know, fell through the floorboard.

But anyways, Zazz, do you think there's any reason in particular why, like, there were a lot of people that were wrong about Jalen Brunson. Do you think there's a reason why people are hung up on Becky in particular?

Of course, because she's a woman. Of course that's why. It's so stupid. It's offensive. I mean, we get on television. I certainly do. But let's take ESPN, for example, because it's where Becky Hammond said it. People are getting things wrong, or, you know, opinions, they end up being wrong all the time. And I'm not talking about someone like Stephen A. Smith, because obviously he's so polarizing that everyone will say, hey, you were wrong about that, you were wrong about that. But take all the analysts and pundits below him, people like Becky Hammond. They're not being forced to apologize for things that they were wrong. She's the only one. And yeah, it's because she's a woman, obviously. That's all stupid.

Women are wrong about everything. Very predictable.

Speaking of which, you should apologize, by the way, of, of you being afraid of becoming like the face, Jess, of saying something wrong. I now have become the face, apparently. Oh, you've noticed. You know what I'm going to say? You know what I'm saying?

I, I love that this is where we got— I was hoping this is how we would segue into this topic.

I have become the face because it's nonstop notifications I'm getting on my Instagram.

Me too.

Oh, I have become the face.

It could be so many things.

Yes, I have become the face. This face, this punim right here, look at it, has become the face of, of, of the, of the ugly American who, who, who is okay with the beautiful game being ruined by the United States, right, Jess? I'm, I am now the face of soccer being ruined.

Yeah, Zazz, every time I log into Instagram, I have 70 comments and like 50 notifications that people are commenting on this video from last week on this show where you are arguing with me about hydration breaks.

Yeah.

And the— at some point like late last week, this clip must have crossed the pond because there are so many— I, I think British people coming.

They are mad.

This is why we hate Americans. This guy is an idiot, he's ignorant, all this stuff. Like, the top comment on this post has over 2,000 likes and it just says, Jessica is correct, which obviously I like that too. And at first, like, the comments started out, they were kind of funny. They were like, Jess is right, like, you know, right?

At first it was fun, it's like our listeners, right?

I was like liking them, I was like, yeah, I'm right, oh haha, I got, got his ass. And then they started getting really, really personal and now they are— yeah, you've just become the face of ignorant Soccer-hating advert— my favorite comments, Zaz, are the ones that are like, Americans like advertising.

They love advertisements.

Like, we watch sports for the ads.

Yeah.

And like, the game is like the advertisement to us. It's like the side part, which I— kind of fair. I enjoyed all of those. I'm still kind of like secretly liking some of them now because now there's so many comments. I'm like, Zaz won't notice if I like some of the mean ones.

I would not notice. There's too many to keep track of.

I mean, this is funny, by the way, considering that Zaslav is Canadian.

That too.

But you're right. I'm American. I have dual citizenship, thank you very much. But you're 100% right. I am now the face of advertising in soccer games, and apparently I like advertisements during my sporting events.

Matter of fact, you do.

I prefer the ad— I prefer commercials over actual game time. That's That's apparently what I said.

In your defense, hasn't— like, haven't soccer teams in the Premier League and other European leagues, haven't they had ads plastered across their jerseys as if it were the team logo for much longer than professional sports teams have started to put these small logos in the corner?

We're talking specifically about cutting to commercial during a running clock, like during a half of a game. And now—

and also every now and then I get the notification, I'm getting this tutorial on how the hydration break, it ruins the momentum of the game. I got to get that. I have to have soccer mansplain to me what the water breaks are.

I think that you should apologize. I think that you should do what Becky Hammond did and just say you were wrong and you apologize and it's time to move on.

No, I'm not apologizing. It's ridiculous. I will wear this hat if I need to. I will wear this hat.

So what is the take exactly, that you believe that the hydration break is good or that it doesn't bother you?

That's what it was. It doesn't bother me. There's a million other things going on that bother me. I'm not annoyed by 90 seconds where I can get up and go take a leak during the soccer game when I couldn't before because they're, they're doing a hydration break. It's so not worth me getting angry about. And now this is going to get clipped and it's going to happen again, Dom. So I'm going to add more fuel to this.

Is it possible?

Absolutely should do that.

That if there was something that you liked as much as maybe they like, maybe the point, maybe they're right. If there was something that you liked as much as or you loved as much as they love.

Let's be clear about this. Let's be clear about this.

That if there were a change to it, as irrelevant as the change feels to you, it's possible that you could be a little upset. Like, I've seen you lose your mind over wrestling.

Let's— well, I mean, you know, Roman Reigns loses, I'm going to get upset. Let's be clear about this. If I had a choice to watch sports with no commercials, that would be my preference.

My man.

But that's not the real world. And as a result, since that's not the real world, a commercial break in the first half and a commercial break in the second half of a soccer match during the World Cup is not something I'm willing to get angry about. That's all it is.

Isn't it like they have now a halftime. So it's like triple, right? Triple the commercial breaks. It's a lot of commercial breaks. Like, were you— when you saw like football games adding like those fake commercials where they just keep the camera on, did that bother you?

No, it just— it is like I don't have control. I guess I don't get angry, Jess, at things I can't control.

Yes, you do.

I—

that's—

that is totally false of a thing that I just said, because if my team loses in a game, I can't control that. I get angry about that all the time.

So what I just said, you guys would be livid right now if Giannis didn't come to Miami. You would be livid about it all week, even though that's 100% not a total lie.

What I just said, Jess, I think we're getting close to it.

This is where we come back to the I'm not going to apologize for an opinion. I'm paid to have them, you know.

But you also like— I agree with that stance. If you still believe that opinion, I feel like the more we talk this ass, the more we realize that today's ass thinks yesterday's ass was wrong.

I think, like, I'm just gonna have to live with this. I'm the ugly American who loves commercials.

You're not ugly.

That's what it is.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dominique. I appreciate that.

Yeah, I didn't know you had Canadians in it. I think you should just start replying to all these people and be like, look, this is a North America problem, okay? Let's not just blame America for this.

There are too many replies. It's every time I open up my Instagram, I have 100 comments and 100 likes. It's too much. And I didn't know I know that you're contributing to that, Jess. That's a little bit disappointing.

Dulce.

Well, sometimes Instagram will say if you like this comment within the first 24 hours, it keeps the engagement going and it'll reach more people. And so I'm like, like, I'm just gonna like this comment, reply to this comment.

I gotta dig through this. This is news to me. I gotta find some of these funny ones so we can, we can, or the meanest ones so we can amplify 'em.

My face isn't even in the video cuz we were having some sort of like technical camera issue last week. So Chris Cody is just in the video. Acting like a buffoon while Jazz is talking. So I enjoy it. It's good stuff.

Was he doing that shoulder dance that he does? That's the— that's the Chris move.

I love that move. There he is. He's doing that thing.

I like that move.

I do too. It's a great Chris— oh, heartbeat.

Uh-oh.

Jazz got some emotion. Dan Levitar.

I don't think I ever got that many roses in my whole life.

Jessica Esmael.

Certainly not from your lovely grandfather. God may his soul rest in peace.

This is the Dan Levitar Show. Jess, give me some thoughts on there being no supplemental draft. The NFL has ruled there will not be, because it's not like, you know, a player like Brendan Sorsby, he was ineligible for the NFL draft for whatever reason there is, and you can request a supplemental draft. It's not like there has to be a supplemental draft. He requested a supplemental draft, and the NFL had a pretty strongly worded response, uh, essentially telling him to, uh, uh, fuck off.

Yeah, I, I really wanted to talk to Dominique about this because now the, the NFLPA is going to be involved in some fashion. Um, did you read the letters, Az, that the— yeah, uh, okay, so the letter was like so mean. If someone wrote that mean of a letter to me, I would probably cry. And the letter also— and this is where we, we talked about like the PR angle of this for a few weeks. This is where I think the PR angle did kind of have some small effect, where I don't know if anyone's viewing him as a sympathetic character. And maybe— and don't get me wrong, I understand like the, the thick line that has to be crossed for you to make exemptions or special accommodations for someone accused of gambling on their own team— but like maybe if he had had a little bit more sympathy on his side and had really gotten people to understand the mental health angle of it, this letter is not so harsh and the NFL isn't shutting it down before we even get to the supplemental draft. Because the last few weeks we've been saying like, well, do we think he's going to get drafted?

Do we think he'll get taken? Do we think— and the question should have been, do we think the NFL is even going to have a supplemental draft this year?

Right. No one was saying that.

Yeah, that option very much because we kind of thought it was a given that they would do it. But Dominique, I'm curious what your thoughts are on all of this.

Yeah.

And I mean, I think we all thought it was going to be a foregone conclusion. And I do think that the issue that pops up in— from a union perspective, you always want to, like, defend the process and not the person, which is— it's inevitable as humans. We fall into this case where whether we like a guy or whether we think what he did or didn't do was good or bad or whatever, that kind of shades the way that we feel about it. And the NFL uses they haven't had enough time to do a full investigation as the shield to get behind. Because my position on this would be— and he's not technically— he's not a part of the union until after he's on a team. So the union does not have the obligation to defend them. But I think that the union should take on cases like this because any time you allow a precedent to be set that someone's rights could be infringed upon without the proper process, I think that you're setting a bad precedent. So whether he's actually in the union or not, and I get this comes down to, as a lot of the conversations I have about sports and business come down to, it's about like the cost-benefit analysis and the leverage, the lev, as we discussed earlier.

And right now there's no huge benefit for the NFL to add him into the league. I promise you, if he was like a super popular, famous player, there would be more calculation. They would have had time to do the investigation because my assumption is what they want to find out is did he bet against his team? Is this a worry of him betting on his team going forward? Like, this process is not a super hard process for them to get to the bottom of. And I think that that's what's— that's the evaluation is, all right, so we could let him in the league. How does that help us? It doesn't in any way. It opens us up to some sort of risk where we look like we're a league that likes gamblers or whatever. So we're not going to do that. And that's why he needs someone. And I'm sure he'll file a lawsuit. I think Jeffrey Kessler, who's one of the best sports lawyers ever, is on his side. And this process will get drawn out. So I'm sure that's going to happen. But the union, I think, should always be involved in situations like this.

The letter said, among other things, the sole reasons identified in your petition for seeking entry into the supplemental draft are that you have been, quote, declared ineligible by the NCAA and have, quote, exhausted all of your avenues to continue in the NCAA and, quote, want to now play in the NFL, unquote. The petition provides no information regarding the basis for or timing of the NCAA's decision. Public sources, however, indicate that in May 2026, the NCAA issued a determination declaring you permanently ineligible from participation in college athletics, etc., etc. Uh, it says the league does not have the complete record of the NCAA's investigation, and you did not provide any such materials with your petition. So basically, the NFL is saying, like, in your own petition to us, you are just saying, like, you can't play college football anymore, so you think you should be—

but we heard what you may have done—

the league, right? And, and like, I guess also didn't really provide a defense of him that they found compelling enough to alter their plans. That was sort of the gist of what they were saying, is like, in the CBA it says that we may hold a supplemental draft. It doesn't say that they have to hold one if there's an ineligible player. It doesn't say that, you know, they're beholden to any other sort of, um, circumstances. It just is a very kind of simple thing in the CBA, Dominique. So I guess Yeah. Do you think, you know, in knowing how the NFLPA itself has gone through a lot of leadership changes over the past few years, do you think that if they just ignore this and don't really do anything, it doesn't necessarily set a precedent because they're not picking a side? Or like, what do you think?

I think you're right. It doesn't set a precedent. And I think it's hard to predict what this PA is going to do because the leadership changes and it's been through a lot of tumult. Like, I was frustrated with them signing on with that the legislation because that seemed like that hurt the players in college sports. So like, it's impossible to predict what this version of the players union will do. And I think you're right, it doesn't necessarily set a precedent that, this will never happen again. But I think in these cases it does. Like, the momentum matters because what's going to happen is next time there's a player in a situation like this, we're going to point back to this situation, which is what we did here, was like, remember Terrell, like, that's what we—

we—

Terrell Pryor, we were like, hey, he got a supplemental draft, and then we used that as the reason, or the way that we're going to talk about this, the reason why we thought this was a foregone conclusion, whether he was going to be suspended or not. Which again, I would say suspending a player for something that he did not, or something that he committed, uh, infraction that he committed at a previous place, I think is also unfair. So that's my point, is like, once you do things like that, maybe it's not like a legally binding precedent, But rather than starting from the middle or starting from your side, you're starting from a deficit where you're arguing, all right, the thing you did last time that we didn't disagree with, it's okay. It's not okay now. Now we want to fight it. Which is why I always remind people that when the union is defending a player who's accused of some heinous crime, you're not defending the player. You're defending the process. Just because no one likes this guy doesn't mean you're allowed to treat him any old kind of way and like set in motion the concept that the league's allowed to do whatever it wants because they did it last time.

Right. So I guess where we're at now is he's going to be eligible for the '27 draft. So he can't play college football. He can't be in the NFL right now because he's not going to be eligible to be part of the supplemental draft this summer, which is not going to happen. So is the best scenario here that he just Trains for next year's draft and kind of keeps his head down and keeps a low profile.

I mean, I think the best scenario is he can do both things. He can train and get ready for next year's draft and try to push against the idea that they're divided, that they're defying— they are not allowing him the right to work right now, which I'm sure the NFL would say we are not obligated to hold a supplemental draft. But you could say that this is an antitrust violation. This person is being denied the opportunity to work. And like, I'm getting a little bit too close to giving legal analysis when I'm certainly not a lawyer. I've been through these— I'm a lawyer enough. That's right. You're judge too, right?

Yes.

Okay.

So I'm Canadian, apparently.

Yeah.

You got to pick a side.

My man.

So, Jess, do you have an Internet Minute for us today?

Unfortunately.

Thanks.

Time to get in it. It's Jessica's Internet Minute.

Do you guys know who Club Chalamet is?

No, that's a person.

Timothy?

Kind of, yes. It's Timothy adjacent. Okay, uh, well, do you know who Timothy Chalamet is?

So aggravated already.

I do know who he is. Knicks fan.

Okay, Timothy Chalamet is a famous actor who had for a while a stan page run by a woman who called the page Club Chalamet. She was accused by a lot of people— she's— it's fairly divisive. She's accused from— by a lot of other people as like being too close to Timothée Chalamet and harassing and stalking and all these sorts of stan behaviors that are unfortunately all too common online.

You know about that stan behavior, Dominique?

No.

Well, very common with sports figures now, I should add. So I do keep my eye on these things because they are definitely bleeding into the sports world. But anyways, She decided a few months ago she was done with Timmy and apparently turned her attention to Connor Story, who is— did you ever watch Heated Rivalry? Anyone?

Oh, he's one of those guys.

Yeah, he's like the breakout star of Heated Rivalry.

Okay.

No?

Okay.

Well, allegedly, and I will say allegedly here, I, I— it was— some of this was confirmed in a Complex article, so hopefully they went through some sort of editorial process. But allegedly She was at a hotel in Paris that Connor Story was at this past weekend, or this past week, and another Connor Story stan was there, and they got into some sort of altercation. And so now the Connor Story fans are fighting amongst each other. But this really famous, formerly Timothée Chalamet stan is involved.

So don't stan.

That's what's happening on the internet.

Don't stans get along?

You asked.

If you're the stan.

No, God, no. Oh, no, no. I mean, they can, but they don't necessarily.

You want to be the top stan?

Am I the only one who thought of Connor Stallions when she said Connor Story?

Oh, yeah.

I was like, how are these two connected?

Yes. Excellent point, Chris.

No, I think you might be actually.

Yeah.

I think that you think that you— they just have the same first name and the same letter in their last. I guess their last names are both nouns. Yeah, technically.

Nice. You do speak— you do speak Chris Cody.

I do speak Chris Cody. I get where you're coming from now that I think about it.

You can check. Apparently— go ahead.

Sorry, Zazz, just something for you. I haven't looked into that. It's okay, Dan's not here, we can talk over each other. Um, apparently Club Chalamet was a Pearl Jam stan before—

what?

Something to look into. Yeah, all right, research.

Yeah, I'll All right, I'll get on that.

I don't know any Pearl Jam.

Allegedly, you know, you do know Pearl Jam songs. You've never heard Jeremy?

Oh, okay. That's Pearl Jam.

You never heard Alive?

So I assume that I've heard these songs, but Better Man, if you ask me to name a song, I'm like, I don't know.

I—

Pearl Jam's the one with the, the baby swimming, right?

No, that's Nirvana, man.

Pro James, one that goes, yeah, yeah.

Oh, Even Flow.

Oh, that thing, that thing slapped a little bit.

A little better. John says, oh, it does slap.

Oh, that— I like that one.

Cubs fans.

Yeah, see, there you go. Uh, Jess, you could check out her weekly Notre Dame podcast, The Echoes, of course, with Mike Golick Jr. Echoes, Echoes, Echoes. Great job, Jess.

Bye guys.

See you, Gojo. I said hi. I love him.

Oh, I will.

So Tony, uh, I— this reminded me because I just got a message. I get messages from, uh, you know, whenever my pool guy is coming over to the house, I get a message, hey, I'm gonna be over in a few minutes. You're having a problem with your pool guy, right?

I've gone— I've got a big issue, gentlemen. I've got a huge issue. Obviously the issue with the pool guy earlier, um, was that I scared him every time that he would—

oh yeah, that's right—

cleaning. I'd be like, hey, and then he'd be like, oh, and he'd almost fall into the pool.

Miami.

Is it just a Miami thing that every— because having a pool guy seems like a fancy dude thing, and I don't—

it's like, it's like 100%.

You think I'm going to measure like the chlorine levels myself? What are you talking about?

It's a lot of stuff to know. A lot of science.

Miami.

Got to head to the Pinch-a-Penny pool store. It's like sulfuric acid to put in the pool, but don't put too much because then you get—

that pool's green as hell if you leave it in charge.

I do love getting—

I do like getting the leaves out of the pool sometimes. That long neck.

Yeah, yeah, it's fine until you gotta take 1,000 of them out, and that's why you pay a guy $120 to do it.

I'll do that sometimes. My wife will be, oh, you're such a cute little pool boy, I love you.

Oh, my issue, my issue is this. My wife has asked, hey, what was the last time the pool guy was over? Because she obviously sees at home with the baby all day, and she's like, I haven't seen him in 3 weeks. And I'm like, really? She's like, yeah, I have not seen him in 3 weeks. The pool looks dirty. Like, have we paid him already? And I'm like, yeah, I got him like on just an auto pay on Zelle every month. It's like, yeah, he hasn't been here in a month, basically. So you're going to have to break the news to him. Look, look how she positions it. You're going to have to break the news to him that you got to fire him. And I'm like, why don't I just tell him to come over and like, do it? And he's like, nah, like, he's got to go. So now I got to fire my pool guy. I don't want to. He's a nice guy. Problem is I got to fire him because my wife said it's done.

It's an easy text.

Nah, you got to— that's a call, not a text.

Oh, I think it's a text.

That's a text.

I did it for— I've done it before.

He knows where I live.

I have fired— what's he gonna do? I have fired my pool guy before and it was via text.

Maybe just take your shirt off and start sweeping his leaves.

I'm telling you, she tells my wife, maybe it's a hit.

The problem is the chemicals.

I go out there, I take the shirt off, I'm doing— she says I'm her little pool boy.

They're playing soccer like attached to foos as if they're— it's like a real life foosball game.