The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 1: The Dopeness of the Intricacies

Episode Date: April 3, 2025

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This is The Dan Leventor Show with the Stoogats Podcast. -♪ All right, so Jerry Jones at it again, man. This guy is the most impressive reality TV producer in history. I used to get frustrated, and I still sometimes, one of the things that I enjoy doing is pointing out when owners and management in general drop the ball on one of the very few things

that only they are responsible for, and that is like the external communication. So between the Cowboys and the Bengals right now, who are both in contract negotiation situations with top of the league talents at PassRusher, at marquee positions, they both seem to be bungling the external communication part about this. The last time that someone messed this up so bad,

or not even the negotiations part, but the communications part was when the owner of the Giants kind of put all his coaches and general managers on the hot seat by making a joke suggesting that like, they better show me something fast. And I'm like, you're putting them in a bad spot. But fast forward to now, Jerry Jones is supposedly

in negotiations with Michael Parsons. He had one-on-one conversations with Michael Parsons, which Jerry Jones believes is some sort of level of binding negotiations, I guess, but Michael Parsons has an agent. And rather than, be quiet, there's one thing you could do. Rather than do that that Jerry Jones says the agent is not a factor here or something to worry about

and I don't know his name. Like his name is David Mulligetta who everyone knows his name because he might be the agent but that aside, what are you doing other than trying to get on get up in the morning or trying to get people to talk about like? he has to be unless he is careening towards some sort of I don't know mental age situation He has to know that that's not gonna sit well with Michael Parsons

And it's not gonna look right for him unless we're just accepting that he's like man How can I get them to talk about me? Well I think it's a guy who the only wins that Jerry Jones seemingly is going to get is in these art of the deal moments now where you look at how he's done things in these face-to-face give me your handshake and that should be binding conversations you know I was long put in the position long long long ago and told by people who dealt with contracts if anybody makes you feel funny About the money that you have earned see it for what it is and keep it moving Michael Parsons can't keep it moving, you know, you got it. You got to take what's on the table

But saying that David Muligeta is not a person that you should have to even have any speaks with any that you should have to even have any speaks with, any conversation with, nor acknowledging his presence. One, that is setting a precedent for all these contracts going forward. Like, oh yeah, if I'm the Rams, and I'm talking to somebody who I've drafted, I don't need to talk to their agent. I don't need to bring in one of the power brokers of the game.

He's not winning on the field. Any attention is good attention. I think he still operates under that premise. But the whole art of the deal and the whole negotiation and the whole oil tycoon and businessman kind of vibe that he is trying to give off, he's still having those wins in his mind. And also, please believe when these owners get together and talk like they need to talk without the cameras around, Jerry Jones is walking around with the big stick in his head. So he continues to, you know, go about things this way.

Within the owner's room, he still has this type of leverage. He went on to say that, uh, I'm not trying to demean him, but it isn't about an agent. I'm not demeaning the agent, which you only say if you know that what you just said was demeaning. It's the no disrespect preface. No disrespect, but your baby's ugly. You know what I mean? With all due respect. Oh, that's one of my favorites. I love it with all due respect. If you say with all due respect, shade is coming. Oh, I can't wait. I am hanging on to the very next phrase that you let out. But I don't know.

And he hasn't won these negotiations. He waits he waits to the last moment he loses negotiations I guess I just don't understand the point of this the only way that I think he's one of them some of them though he thought he won the Tony Romo one and by the way these are all the face-to-face Tony Romo we don't need long ago Tony Romo DeMarcus Lawrence the recent ones he's like Martin yeah but this that's the thing though as long as you can go back and harken back to a day that you won one of these, the next one is the one you think you're going to win.

And with Michael Parsons, if you were gonna give him the highest non-quarterback contract in the league anyway, you saying, I don't wanna talk to your agent, is just you drawing a line that's not necessary. I mean, you see it in relationships all the time where it's like, I'm gonna do do this but I'm gonna do it my way and on my time and his way and his time has a little bit you know there's

constrictions and confinements to it that you got to get this thing going and the more that we talk about this and the more is public I mean the two sides gonna come to an agreement it's just how much angst do you want to put upon your organization and your fan base, and especially a player now who, signing a deal that you don't feel good about, and then going to have to perform the three games in a row that you don't get pressures, you're going to think, damn, did I make a mistake?

Was this the right thing to do? Do these people still revere and care about me? It's nasty. Signing Michael Parsons, the thing that I don't get about these Jerry Jones negotiations is signing Micah Parsons and signing Dak Prescott, signing C.D. Lame. Signing these guys is easy. Especially Micah Parsons right now, it's like, you know what? Add $1 onto whoever had the less deal and let's keep it moving.

Unless you're trying to revolutionize this thing or you're trying to take advantage of him, I don't know what we're talking about. He's that type of player that when he's up, you pay him whatever the guy is ahead of him. I think they all accepted that he's going to be the highest paid non-quarterback, at least on defense, out there. Or maybe tie him with Myles Garrett. Either way, this is not a heavy conversation. I understand why the sentiment is maybe we don't need an agent, but why ever say that?

That's what I don't understand. It's like this is not making the negotiations any better. When it's Jerry Jones, sometimes I'm willing to think that the purpose for doing this is just to create a story because he knows how to create a story. But I'm not quite sure why Katie Blackburn, who runs the Bengals, would say what she said because everything that she said seems like it makes Trey Hendrickson not want to sign with that team and he has one more year on his deal and Michael Parsons not up tomorrow either, so both of these guys will likely play for their team going forward.

But it's as if they believe that we're in a fantasy football world where it doesn't matter how you interact with your star players world where it doesn't matter how you interact with your star players, where it doesn't matter what you say about them or whether you embarrass them. Just so you know, this is what she said. She said, I think he should be happy at a certain rates that maybe he doesn't think he'd be happy at. I think some of it is on him to be happy at some point.

And if he's not, you know, that's what holds it up sometimes. What are you talking about? A lot of nothing. But why say it? I don't understand why no one's- Their situation is different though. Cincinnati's situation is different.

I think Jerry resetting the market for three different positions in the span of what, three or four years. I think he has to go back to the owners and go, hey man, I fought. You saw how much I fought. go back to the owners and go, hey man, I fought. You saw how much I fought. I know we gotta sign these jerks, but I fought. With the Bengals,

and she has to cover the Bengals Rams Super Bowl, the stories that I heard about how that team still travels, how that team still eats, how that team still goes about their business, like this is ingrained. Hey, listen, we don't do this. Your name is Trey Hendrickson and we might lose with you. Take what you can get and this is what you can get.

I think it's a different lens that the Bengals and Katie, like you mentioned just now, who's name, just like Jackie, I can't remember, Katie Blackburn, exactly. I think they're looking at this through different lenses. I would think that Trey Hendrickson actually has more leverage than we would think he does because of the way that this team is constructed. This team is constructed in a way where they believe that they can make a run, but they don't got nobody on defense except for him.

We're looking at an Emmet Smith situation, if he actually decides not to show up. Couple games. But they gonna lose. But there's a thing, their defense was trash and lost with him. Yeah, that's when Katie Blackburn's like, hey man, you lost and got our heads beating with you.

But I guess, and this may be an impossible question to answer. I always love those. Just because someone put a microphone in front of you or just because a reporter asks you a question does not mean that you have to answer it or doesn't mean that you have to answer it honestly. I also think that these aren't

curveball surprise questions. You should be ready to deliver a nothing answer that won't get talked about on the Dan LeBattard show or Pat McAfee show when Trey Hendrickson went on there to respond to it or on any of the other ESPN shows. You should be able to do that or make a comment that helps you in negotiations because what she did there, I don't think helped. Telling him, you gotta be happy. At some point, you just gotta be happy.

Maybe that's how you feel. Maybe that's right. But can't you just be like, yeah, we're working on it. We really believe he's important to us. We're gonna figure it out. I don't care what it takes. It kinda tells you what the environment is though of the people that you are bouncing things off of

and conferring with, right? The ecosphere is different for you now. You know, like now that you're removed from the situation bouncing things off of and conferring with, right? The ecosphere is different for you now. Now that you're removed from the situation and you take a look from a zoomed out perspective and you're part of the media now, we have different environments that we talk about these things.

If I'm in a boardroom and I'm sitting here like, hey, we were terrible on defense last year with this guy. And then, oh yeah, we were. And then there's another, oh yeah, we were, yeah, he should be happy about what he's getting. And then you're surrounded by, hey, you know what? Good talk, let's go to lunch. Oh, by the way, on the way to lunch,

the microphone gets stuck in your face. Hey, what the hell's going on with Trey? You know what, damn it, Rob in the meeting said that you should be happy about this money. And I don't care how it comes out, this is what it is. Like we act as if like rich people and people who cut checks for rich people aren't different in their thinking.

And when they become different in their thinking and verbalize, they were like, wait a minute, did the ultra rich person or the person who has the ultra rich person's checkbook in their hand gonna be different? No, no. We see like a lot of these organizations have zombies walking around them just whatever you say is fine, whatever you say is good. This is what they spit out though. It would be interesting it'd be really nice if we had someone to give us an NBA perspective

because so rarely do we get the NBA owners and general managers talking bad about their players. Jeremy what do you think? Speaking of NBA perspectives. I was kidding. There was perspective if you look at the game from last night. Yo Jason Tatum 4 of 17 from the field guarded by Pelham Larson a shutdown defenders. If you look at the heat game from last night, you know, Jason Tatum, 4-17 from the field, guarded by Pelham Larson, a shutdown defenders.

Thank you. Wait, before we get the basketball perspective, can we relive, you mentioned a few minutes ago, saying no disrespect or no offense. No shame. We had a pretty famous incident between Dan and Jay Billis on this show, where there was a no offense involved.

If someone with Tyler Hansbrough's resume were black Do you think people might say he's unathletic or he's not athletic enough and they have no offense, but this is stupid I mean, I you know all due respect to me if you guys want to talk about this I'm here to talk about whatever you want outside of this We don't have to talk about anything, but it's not stupid and you can't start sense it Jay you can't start a sentence with no offense and then say this is stupid. Okay, then take offense. It's stupid I don't want to talk about it anymore. You want to talk about something else? No, thank you good talking Now to the other

Direction of a we bring up some other North Carolinian basketball player you shouldn't care about. And by the way, for the listeners, the younger listeners, that sound at the end was the sound of a phone hanging up. See, back in the day, it wasn't like a touch screen and you just said end call. You had to physically pick the receiver and clang it down on this cradle

and it would create this sound that everyone understood as that's the sound of getting hung up on. You know what we call that? J. Bill, it's a VSPN. We call that a landline. A landline. I miss banging the phone. Oh my God.

You angrily ending a call? VSPN. The ultimate form of disrespect. VSPN. Communication-wise. VSPN. Ooh, it's a subtle one too. It's like a drop on the line.

Yeah, it wasn't a bang. It was like, you know what? I'm done drop on the line. BSPN. Yeah, it wasn't a bang, it was like, you know what, I'm done with this pity conversation. BSPN. That's nasty. Jay Billis, man. Cowboy. Don't play around with Jay.

Play no games on here. Hey, all them Jeezy lyrics he recites. I gotta go to work. All right, let's get the basketball perspective. Nice voice, nice voice. Let's get it, let's get it. So we were talking about contract negotiations and how it blows my mind every time.

And it happens fairly regularly in the NFL where the contract negotiations are happening and the team and the team representatives say something that I believe to be unnecessary and counterproductive and somewhat disrespectful. Right now, Jerry Jones is doing it to David Mulligetta and Katie Blackburn is doing it to Trey Hendrickson and I just don't like I can't remember a time where it's happened recently in the NBA where they just are straight up like yeah he gonna be happy with this deal but I guess in part a part because those contracts are already kind of predetermined where it's

like either you gonna get a max deal or you're not., the negotiation in the NBA happens for the middle class people. If you are a certain caliber player, we don't have to guess what you're worth. We know what you're worth immediately by the number of years you've played in the league basically. It's a fixed number. It is a percentage of what the salary cap is. And so that takes a lot of the guesswork of two, which would be really interesting conversation, which is in an uncapped, not unsalary cap,

but unmaximum cap society. What is Steph Curry worth? 70 million? 80 million? 90 million? Like there's a legitimate conversation about Steph, LeBron, Janis, Jokic, like these guys, whatever you're paying them is probably still

not gonna be enough and at some point, then it comes into, which I imagine in the NFL is a lot of the conversations, like I wanna pay you this, but also, I wanna also be able to feel the team. And that's what the team salary cap does, is it makes it harder for that distribution of money. Now in the NFL, I think they do a better job

of giving the money to the people who impact winning the most. For us, we are limited and we take that extra money and we make multi-millionaires out of guys who are fairly replaceable on that level. What would, I've always wondered this is, I think you could make up a couple different scenarios, but maybe you have a better projection than me.

What would it look like if you removed the max salary? What would happen? Because I think look like if you removed the max salary? What would happen? Because I think my desire is to remove the max salary because it generally feels like an unnecessary restriction, but I also am willing to accept that there's a possibility that you could end up in a world where there are a lot of teams, or a number of the very best players don't find themselves

in the most consequential games at the end of the year because they're on teams that have given so much of their salary to them. And then there are these other teams that are made up of a lot of really good players that end up finding their way to the championship, which would be a result that we wouldn't want. But ultimately, if it happens, what's gonna happen

to that team is someone's gonna be like, I deserve more money, man. And once that happens, it throws everything off. It's funny, as a player, as a player advocate, you should want the max salary, because it helps more players than not having a max salary, which helps a handful of players. But what would happen is, take the Lakers, for example.

LeBron is, I think, like it's whatever LeBron agrees to. But if he was like, I don't wanna leave a dollar on the table, he could easily say 90 to 100 million dollars a year. And Luca could probably say 70 to 80. So now with two players, you're over both aprons. Basically, everybody else. Austin Reeves, he's making minimum.

Right? Rui Ajamora, he's making minimum. All these other, Dorian Finis- If you did that, wouldn't you have to get rid of the salary cap period? No, because the whole point would be like, y'all wanna be paid what you're worth for real? Okay, it's gonna be one of y'all per team though.

Like that whole, I'm gonna team up with him and him, it gets debted, either it gets debted or someone says, I'm willing to leave money on the table. And that's a big, like everyone loves to be teammates and homies until like, I gotta leave money on the table and that's a big like everyone loves to be Teammates and homies until like I leave money on table and it's not necessarily that oh these championships Yeah, it's not even about like oh, I'm making 60 versus 80 million Oh, what can I do with 80 that I couldn't do it 60 right? It's not about that It's about I'm making 60 or 30 or whatever and that guy makes and then the moment he messes up my and y'all gave the money to him

Yeah, and that's where I would enjoy it more to be honest with you because I like as much scrutiny as we give players on Across every platform in every sport like to me the architects of these teams Don't get called into question as much as they should let's find out who the real talent evaluators are Let's find out who the guys who evaluators are. Let's find out who the guys who are paying 12 million to a guy who's probably worth 35, 40 million because they found a diamond in the rough or they found a good fit. I'd be fine with that across the board.

That's the more American way to do this. Well, that's the other part of this, right? The other part. The salary cap altogether. No, I don't mind it. I think it's good. If you are- Would you say it's ruined baseball?

Not having a salary cap? I think, yeah, there are teams that know instantly on April 1st, they were not, they ain't us. Every year. Baseball ruined baseball, but I think that the- David Sampson. Pitch clock, coming up soon. Although I am very excited about Shohei Atani

and the ANO Dodgers right now. But not pitch clock. And I'm even more excited about Shohei Atani and the ANO Dodgers right now. But not Pitchcock. And I'm even more excited about Pitchcock with my man Jackie with the mid. Jackie with the mid. I'm sorry, Jackie. No, it's great. You know what's funny about baseball

is that Shohei is finally someone that, like, I think is a star that transcends. I've told this story before. I went to a White Sox game, right? And they were playing, yeah. It rained that day, it was a bad day in Chicago, as all my days in Chicago are. But they played the Blue Jays,

and this is when the Blue Jays had like, I don't know if it's still the case, but they had all these guys who were like the sons of like famous baseball players. Black Rail Junior. So work hard. Yeah, Dante Bichette. Black Rail Junior, man, oh my God, I'm like, oh black girl, Jr.. Man. Oh my god. He's I'm like

Oh, that's cool. I remember Cool, I'm excited and I went to the game and like he got walked twice and like he fouled out or whatever a good eye and then And then like defensively he didn't do shit because the ball never came in his way And I said how do you have a sport where you have a player, like if I go to an NBA game and I say, I'm going to a LeBron game, I'm gonna see some LeBron ass shit, like oh my God, if I go to a Chiefs game, I'm gonna see Mahomes do some crazy shit.

Baseball's the only sport, even soccer, I'm gonna go to an Inder Miami, I'm gonna see Messi do some shit if he's playing. But when it comes to baseball, it's the only sport where I can legitimately go and watch a three game series and the best player perhaps of all time, in Mike Trout, doesn't do shit.

Not because it's his fault. I just had this experience. The Angels were in town, I took my son to his second baseball game for all time. I sat pretty much in the batter's box for $115. Ron Washington is like six feet away from me. Mike Trout, always gonna be my man, Ron Washington. like six feet away from me. My man. Mike Trout, always gonna be my man, Ron Washington, denied, denied, denied.

It's the first time I tried it. Hey, come on, man. Who among us hasn't been curious? Exactly, how does this smell? So I'm sitting there and Mike Trout comes up and I tell him, like, yo, this is like the Mickey mantle of our generation. So I was like, OK.

And they're like, four pitches, walk him. Yeah. He gets walked. And then the rain starts. And then we go back into the concourse. And I'm like, damn, this experience really wasn't what I thought it would be. I think baseball has an issue with accentuating

the dopeness in the intricacies. Like, the turning of a double play and how athletic it is, we've become like, it's kind of what the dunk used to be for us, and then sports center everybody was like, oh, everybody dunks too much, and now we don't get any body bodies, we don't accentuate certain things that should be marketed.

I think that's what happens in baseball, it's far too often, and we get these issues. I always talk about the dopeness of the intricacies. And basically, in anything in my life, I want that. Dope-ness? Dope- of the intricacies. In basically anything in my life, I want that. Dope-ness? Dope-ness? Or any intricacies. Two of the things that jumped out to me.

I can say that word. Two of the things that jumped out to me as you were talking, Jason, was, one, you tried to sell Mike Trout to your eight-year-old son by saying he's like Mickey Mantle. Yeah. Your eight-year-old son is a big Mickey Mantle Mantle. Yeah. Your son, your eight-year-old son is a big Mickey Mantle guy.

I was trying to give him a frame of reference. You drop these names on him so that when they're 15, 20 years old. No, you gotta compare him to a basketball player. Yeah, you gotta compare him to him. He's like Lamar Jackson. The Bob Cousy of baseball. So my little guy's a gymnast.

So I know, hey, Frederick Richard from the University of Michigan, that's what he's like. Oh, I love that guy. Yeah, you don't even know I love that guy. You don't even know love that guy You don't know Dancing with the stars no That was the pommel horse guy. Oh, you actually know I thought you were being funny We don't even know if you don't say like that's good. Thank you. No, I actually know stuff

There was no time reference. There was no frame of reference do There was no frame of reference. Do it, I dare you. By the way, another Chicago shot. We're going to have to arm wrestle. He only goes to Chicago in like February, and he's like, this stinks. I've been every season possible. The weather is always the same. It's the greatest summer city in the world.

What are you talking about? Absolutely not. What are you talking about? I went there in the summer. It was raining. It rained the whole time. Because your sadness brought the rain That's why you're bringing dark clouds over there

No pun intended And we got Roy, I think we set a new record the blackest show ever Later when juju comes on Critical mass this is the last time I went to Chicago I got invited to an after party that's a bad start it's a bad start way to the finish and it's like oh it's at the studio I'm like who's studio well Rob's gonna be there Rob's gonna be there my Rob Rob Rob and I realized it's an R Kelly I got invited to an R. Kelly after party in the studio in Chicago,

and I was like, I'm gonna go home. A lot of girls there. I have no idea, Roy. I didn't want to find out. I was like, there was a what? There was a- He just sent a pallet of Capri Suns over to the location and was like, hey guys, this is my-

There was a molecule of curiosity. I was like, I mean, this is gonna be the greatest story you'll ever be able to tell. And then I was like, absolutely not. When that raid happens, and then it's like. And then you're a witness in court. Witness in court, like I'm gonna be like, that picture like.

So the third market in the country. Defendant. You, the only thing that you had happen that was interesting is being invited to an R Kelly after party Pretty much that's the most all the people that you know in the NBA all the people that you might know in that city Yeah, that's what brought its way. I have your agenda I have this argument with a lot of people in my life a lot of people either from Chicago or Love Chicago, and I'm like I don't like it. I would

We started having this argument, and I'm like, I don't like it. You tell me right now. We started having this argument and I was like, you know what? We don't like you either. Don't go back. I know this. All these years that I've been conversing with you. It's why you never see me up there. I would tell you right now, if someone said,

I mean you gotta spend a month, doesn't matter what season it is. Well okay, let's say summertime. Yeah summertime. Say month in Chicago or month in Milwaukee, send me to Milwaukee. Are you kidding me? I love Milwaukee.

I love Milwaukee. Milwaukee? All right. This sounds crazy. Milwaukee's fun. This is ridiculous. Milwaukee's fun. I'm gonna tell you why.

You go to the Pfister Hotel and you eat cheese curds and then you're done for the entire, what are you gonna do the next 29 days? Go to Summerfest? Yeah, what are you talking about? I'm gonna tell you why Milwaukee is cool. Because you're a contrarian. You're the Summerfest? Yeah, I'm gonna tell you. What are you talking about? I'm gonna tell you why Milwaukee is cool. Cause you're a contrarian. You're the guy who's like,

hey everybody likes this and I think it's dumb. I cannot believe this. I'm legit shocked by you. I'm gonna tell you why. Cause Milwaukee, the people in Milwaukee are like, ah it's Milwaukee man. Like, and I'm like, you know what? Like I came in trying not to like it

and they're like, ah man, it's what we got. They set your expectations low? No, they were just cool about it. They understood their place in life. And once I was like, trying not to like it, and they're like, eh man, it's what we got. And I'm like, you know. They set your expectations low? No, they were just cool about it. They understood their place in life. And once, I was like, okay, Chicago people? We're getting where we need to get now. Chicago people? This is it.

I'm like, oh, this is the greatest, like what did he just say? I'm like, man, please. The greatest summer city in the world. Give me LA or New York, anytime. What is the? No, New York in the summers. Oh, I love it.

What is the ideal summer day in Chicago? Like when you say best summer city, like what are you doing? Oh my god. You can go to the art museums. You can go to pubs games. Ride your bike on the lake shore. Right. You can go on a magnificent mine.

Drink outside. It's warm, but it's not humid. Chris, you wouldn't even believe what that feels like. I'm asking. I'm just saying it. And also right now, we can't fathom warmth without humidity. And as far as fruit cities are concerned. Your broward brain could not comprehend.

Broward brain is outstanding. I'm sweating just thinking about heat. It's also just the happiest summer city. Everyone's so happy to be outside drinking and. Oh, this is so much better than us. Shut up. All y'all do is compare yourselves to real cities. People are skipping.

To real cities. Real cities. It's a ju- OK, that's crazy. And you got an airport that closes. It's the second city. It's the third airport that closes. It's the second city. It's the third, at best. It's the second city because the first one burned down

when we were strong enough to build ourselves back. Exactly. That's why it's the second city. It should have burned it down a second time. My grandma grew up on the street where the Great Chicago Fire started. Right? Oh, white privilege.

But she was, it was like 40 years later. For her or for her grandma? We had to put it back together. No seriously though, I did not know you felt this strongly about this. Can we do a field trip? Can you come through? It's a big city, you can do a lot of things, but it doesn't cost you $26 to get a cocktail.

Unless you go to the tourist places that your friends took you to. Best food city. Best food city. Can't be better than New York. Absolutely not. The Cubby Bear. Absolutely not.

You know what you guys can't do though? Go to a playing game, cause the Heat are gonna end up hosting that 910 matchup. Hey, you naked, tell him Jackie. All right, there it is. Jackie with the man. I'm so disappointed. Don't do it, yo. I'm so disappointed. Dumped on y'all.

I'm so disappointed that you feel this way. Look, we gotta do a field trip. We gotta change this for you. I have to do a Detroit field trip too. And I'm gonna take you to some actual Chicago places too. Not just the places where tourists go. Not Federales. Yeah, no, never that.

No, no. That's where he went. Really? You went to Federales to throw shots at any of you? Do we have any of you trying to throw the shot at me? Is this when it comes back? Did you really do the throw the shot thing? The eye shot?

That was like the pinnacle of Chicago. How bad was the throw? No, I hit it. Don't believe it. The Bell ran into me. Did you have some deep dish pizza too? Did you have the thing that no one eats there besides tourists? While we're going over on time, let me just address something.

Charlie the Black. You see our deep dish pizza, by the way? Look at the production Pete over here. It's a pie. You think, hold on, you think that my Uber rating is low because you have me talking to Uber drivers? That's what you think? No. I had you drunk in Ubers. I had you drunk in Ubers. Hahahaha ever joke about a 5G network that has invested billions building 5G towers across the country.

Not even once. Not even if Mr. Boost Mobile himself asked me to. There is nothing funny about it. Boost Mobile is now a legit nationwide 5G network and also provides coverage across 99% of America. Seriously. Visit BoostMobile.com or your nearest Boost Mobile store location to learn more. The Boost Mobile network, together with our roaming partners, covers 99% of the US population. 5G speeds not available in all areas.

Weather is starting to warm up. Regular season starting to wind down. Games of consequence in sports starting to ramp up. I know what you're going to need by your side. It's by my side already. Miller Lite. Yeah that's right. I'm making my springtime a Miller time. I'm making my sports time Miller time. Going to a car race. Miller time. Gonna see some tennis. Miller time. Gonna chill in the backyard with some friends and make some memories? Miller Time! I love Miller Lite because it's got taste that I know I can depend on. No games, no gimmicks. It's that simple folks, it's just a great beer for people who like beer.

Miller Lite is brewed for taste. It hits different than the other light beers. It's got simple ingredients, and at just 96 calories, 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces, Miller Time is always a good time. The original light beer since 1975, and still the very best one. Miller Light, great taste, 96 calories. Go to MillerLight.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you,

or you can pick up some Miller Light pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Tastes like Miller time! Celebrate responsibly, Miller Brewing Company Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories, 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Hey audience, you know it's that time of year where everyone is debating who the number one pick is going to be. Well let me tell you something that is undebatable. Who the world's number one vodka is. That is Smirnoff and as fun as it is to debate whether or not the team with the number one pick goes pass rusher, wide receiver, quarterback. One thing that we all know is we're going with Smirnoff as our number one vodka pick. Isn't that right Dano? Smirnoff rules! Smirnoff rules! So while

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I like Smearnoff, I don't like Dano! And thanks to Smearnoff, God Bless Football is doing their first ever watch-along livestream in front of a live audience in Nashville, Tennessee. Join God Bless Football during Round 1 of the draft on the Levitard Show YouTube channel on April 24th. More details to come. Please drink responsibly. Smirnoff, number 21 vodka, distilled from grain, 40% alcohol by volume, the Smirnoff

Company, New York, New York. Please do not share with anyone under legal drinking age. Woohoo! Don LeBattard. It's a three, the crowd goes into a delusion. Winning in the playoffs, not an illusion. It's a heat check, he's on fire. Stugats.

Harry Osh, Jalen Bronson, thumbs up clutch that's why we won. New York knows you are the best, not the joke no more. This is the Dan LeBathardt Show with the Stugats! Welcome back to God Bless March Madness presented by Priceline. Dreaming about that trip? Book it and go to your happy price with Priceline. Taylor and I are going to talk about a little final four action coming up this weekend. On the men's side, Taylor, who do we got? It is Florida versus Auburn in a battle of two of the best teams from the SEC. And then we have Duke versus Houston. Jess, I hate to say this with this Duke team.

Don't say it. It's their tournament to lose. Oh no. It's their tournament to lose. I mean that's going to make it even better if they do lose a game and then everyone posts the white lotus meme of Jason Isaacs holding the gun that Duke was like we hate this meme. This Duke team they just have like such unbelievable size everybody in their their rotation, including their point guards, they're all bigger than, than six foot five. And with this Duke team, Duke's always had the NBA talent, the lottery picks, but the way this team has kind of been playing together has been unbelievable to watch.

And you know, to, to steal a line from Andrew Hawkins, I like, I like this Houston team. I like them. I like every team that's about to play Duke until they play Duke. And that's where I'm kind of running into with this Houston team. Houston, Tennessee was a tough watch, right? Like one of the one of the toughest watches of the tournament. Yeah. 30 points through like 30 minutes of play.

And Houston, Houston kind of has that strategy where out of the 364 teams in college basketball, they're like 360th and adjusted tempo. So they're trying to drag you down into the mud. But this Duke team is unbelievably efficient. It's Ken Poms, number one offense, Duke versus the number one defense in Ken Palm Houston. Oh Taylor what does that mean? You know you know what that means. Should we say it on the count of three? One two three something's gotta give. We totally didn't

plan that. Okay we're gonna talk about the other game too in the men's tournament and then I'm gonna talk a little bit about our final four matchup in the women's tournament. So what can you tell me about this, uh, Florida, Auburn, SEC showdown this weekend? Yeah, this is a rematch from a game where Florida won at Auburn and this Florida team feels like they've been playing with fire this whole tournament where you can, they have the crazy comeback against you con. They have a crazy comeback against Texas tech where it looked like they were

dead. A lot of people are comparing Walter Clayton jr. To Steph Curry in the words of Stu gots. Don't do it Don't do it. Stop, please But yeah, Walter Clayton It has been unbelievable and this is just a win-win for the SEC because somebody has to get in Auburn comes in with some injury concerns. Jani Broom is Expected to play but if he's not 100%, it's tough to see how Auburn can beat this loaded Florida team without their SEC player of the year at 100%. So you think this is Auburn and Duke in

the in the final? That's your prediction? I think no, Duke Florida. Duke Florida. Okay, okay. Yeah. Got it. Interesting. I am really happy that everyone who picked one Cs this year in their final four was rewarded in the men's tournament. That's always fun when when like the least knowledgeable person in your group of friends is like winning, winning because they just picked all the ones to go through. That's my sister. That's a good strategy. That's my sister. She also she just she does the silliest thing. She'll pick like she picked Green Bay to beat Alabama in the women's tournament bracket that we made and I'm

like how are you so chalky in the men's one and then in the women's one you were like yeah let me just pick this crazy upset real quick God bless her she does not watch sports but we're gonna talk a little bit about another SEC Final Four matchup which is South Carolina the Gamecocks Don Staley's Gamecocks the defending National champions against Texas a team that they've already played several times this year Because when they made the women's tournament bracket they were like what if we just put UCLA and USC on one side the Big Ten championship teams and South Carolina and Texas on the

other side, the SEC championship teams, and then hope that maybe they won't just play against each other again in the final four round. Well, that's almost what happened, except for the fact that UConn upset, well, not really an upset because Juju Watkins obviously went out with the ACL injury in the second round of the tournament. But UConn's very, very good, but they're only two seeds. So they're going to be playing against UCLA on one side, and then the other side, South Carolina, Texas,

like I mentioned. So, it's been an interesting tournament for South Carolina. Obviously, last year they were undefeated. They were a team that was just blowing people out. They were just so dominant. And this year that has not been the case. They've been grinding out wins against really good teams, but they haven't been winning by, you know, multiple

possessions like big margins. It hasn't really been that easy for them. That that doesn't mean, though, that they can't win the national championship. I think they are fully capable of playing in the national championship game. And I think that's probably what's going to happen. If I if I had to guess these teams played against each other, like three weeks ago in the SEC Tournament Championship, like I said, and man, Texas had no gas in that game. It was 64 to 45, complete blow up.

Madison Booker, who is Texas's best player, she was SEC player of the year. She's sort of been a non-factor in these South Carolina games, and so that's going to be a huge key for Texas. They're a great defensive team, and if they can hold South Carolina's scoring to as low as possible, there's a real chance, but they don't shoot the three ball really well at all, Texas. So that's a really tough,

it's really tough when you're playing against South Carolina who has a deep bench. They have like a player like Malaysia Full Wiley who can come off the bench and just completely take over offensively. It's gonna be, I think, a South Carolina win, but I'm hoping it's a better game than the last time these two teams played each other.

If you tell me a team's not a good three-point shooting team, I almost automatically cross them off. I mean, they're still, they were still a one seed in this tournament. Like Texas is still, I want to give them some credit. Like they're still a very, very good team and their defense is excellent. The TCU Texas game in the Elite 8 round was an extremely low scoring affair it was not pretty and I think that yeah it's eventually like that's gonna it's gonna hurt you when you don't have that and they I think they were one for eight the last time they played against South Carolina from

three. So like I said I think South Carolina wins that game according to ESPN Texas is 23 and 0 when opponents shoot less than 40%. So that's the, I guess, the magic number for Texas is like, shut them down as much as you can defensively and try to get Madison Booker to cook on offense and have a better field goal percentage than the last couple of times she's played against South Carolina. The last time they met, she was held to 14 of 13 shootings. So I predict Don Snealy's team will be playing in the National Championship game. Who she's playing against?

Well, we will find out on the other side of the the old Final Four bracket because UCLA and UConn, I kind of like UConn more just because their offense has more, they can spread the ball out to more players and have more players just have, go like go off and have crazy nights. Paige Becker is obviously the best women's basketball player left in this tournament. She's going to be a number one overall pick in the WMA draft coming up and she's had a legendary career at UConn and her 105 points in the last three games is the most prolific three game stretch in UConn history.

And that is saying a lot because UConn history is littered with some of the best women's basketball players ever in the whole world. So I think this game, I think it's gonna be a good game. Lauren Betts, who is UCLA star big, she's 6'7", and UConn really doesn't have a lot of height that they can match up with her, but they're big, I guess, Sarah Strong,

she's sort of playing like a more versatile position she's not quite as big as Lauren Betts but she's been playing really really well and she can sort of shoot from anywhere on the floor so that's gonna be a really interesting matchup to watch I think that I give Yukon the edge because Gino Ariema is just he's a legendary head coach he knows what he's doing he knows how to win these games and to win these sorts of matchups and I think that they have more guards that can have 20, 30 point games. And if you shut down one of them, you still have to deal with like two or three more.

And that's Azey Fudd and Sarah Strong and Paige Becker's and Kaitlyn Chan even had a huge game in the elite eight round. So I'm really looking forward to this game. I give the edge to UConn. But if UCLA did win, they were the number one overall seed in this tournament. They are a really good team and when they do have the support from the rest of the team to help play through the post and also shoot on the perimeter, they're obviously really, really good too.

So I'm excited for these two games Taylor, but if I had to pick right now, I'd say UConn, South Carolina. And after the injury that Paige Becker's had, this feels like this would be kind of like the storybook ending to her UConn career. Absolutely. She's had so many injuries, but she's had this long prolific UConn career and is about to have hopefully a long prolific WNBA career. She's a great player to watch and a super fun player to watch play. So Friday night, Final Four Women's NCAA Tournament, Taylor, winner our men's game Saturday. Got Saturday and then Monday championship.

Exciting stuff. Wow. I'm sad it's coming to an end. I know, me too. It's been so fun. God bless March Badness. Weather is starting to warm up. Regular season's starting to wind down.

Games of consequence in sports starting to ramp up. I know what you're gonna need by your side. It's by my side already. Miller Lite. Yeah, that's right I'm making my springtime a Miller time. I'm making my sports time Miller time going to a car race Miller time Gonna see some tennis Miller time gonna chill in the backyard with some friends and make some memories Miller time I love Miller Lite because it's got taste that I know I can depend on. No games, no gimmicks. It's that simple folks, it's just a great beer for people who like beer. Miller Lite is brewed for

taste. It hits different than the other light beers. It's got simple ingredients, and at just 96 calories, 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces, Miller Time is always a good time. The original light beer since 1975, and still the very best one. Miller Light Great taste, 96 calories. Go to MillerLight.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you or you can pick up some Miller Light pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Tastes like Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company Milwaukee, Wisconsin 96 calories 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.