The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Local Hour: Blue's Clues
Episode Date: May 23, 2024Today's cast: Dan, Amin, Chris, Jeremy, Jessica, JuJu, and Lucy. Dan and the crew kick off today's show be responding to an in-office accusation that Miami is a "hell hole." Then, Charles Barkley call...ed out women for hating on Caitlin Clark, but is that narrative a reality? Jess, Lucy, and JuJu discuss the difference between online criticism and athlete-to-athlete criticism. Plus, is there anyone or anything that can be universally loved? Do you know the difference between Bluey and Blue's Clues? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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You're listening to Giraffe King's Network.
This is the Don LeBattor Show with the Stoogats Podcast.
This is quite the interesting thing that the chiefs have in their locker room that they don't totally want in their locker room and when you've got the kicker making the noise that makes
him a national figure because he says the controversial things and then the
quarterback and the coach who are famous at not saying anything because they
don't want to add to the distraction by saying forcing the headline Mahomes
colon has something terrible to say about teammate,
you get a whole bunch of people who suddenly,
very tough, strong people, don't have opinions on shit.
It's kind of amazing to watch.
Like these are very strong human beings
right up until they've got to test the team huddle
and look like they're not supporting a teammate and put sort of the unity the team huddle and look like they're not supporting a teammate
and put sort of the unity of the huddle
ahead of all other things.
This is why men belong in the kitchen.
Men belong in the huddle.
Welcome back Lucy.
Are you, when I came in,
Matt Kugler who works on South Beach Sessions
kinda spit at me upon your arrival.
You live in a hellhole, Dan,
that there's always a truck on fire on I-95
and it's 140 degrees.
And we all live here now.
How have you guys felt about the recent heat surge
that has the streets feeling like 108 degrees?
I had to bring my dog in the other day
because he didn't want to be walking on asphalt.
Aw.
I've actually been in Portland.
I landed two hours ago, but I'm here right now
and I won't be going outside.
Okay, but I was told that you at least dressed
for hot weather because you were told
there's no air conditioning in here.
Yeah, I did the full routine
in the airport bathroom this morning. By the way, what a great girlhood moment. We're all sitting there, air conditioning in here. Yeah, I did the full routine in the airport bathroom this morning.
By the way, what a great girlhood moment.
We're all sitting there, everyone's brushing their teeth,
doing their makeup, all of us on red eyes.
It was really a special moment.
I took girlhood moment completely different
from where you went.
Hell yeah.
Amin is the king of the red eye.
Amin is with us.
Stu Gatz is here working on God Bless Football things.
He will be around in just a moment. Welcome back, Juju. Youin is with us. Stu Gatz is here working on God bless football things. He will be around in just a moment.
Welcome back, Juju.
You flew in and out.
Did you do that to simply go to a WNBA game?
Exactly.
I spent hundreds of dollars just to support my Atlanta dream.
I put my money where my mouth is.
I don't just get on the microphone and spew.
You dig me?
You look to my sister, Ryan Howard,
pulling in a W the other night.
Well, I'm late in getting to this conversation.
I will get to what happened in hockey last night
and in basketball, but the end of the last game
with Caitlin Clark and Charles Barkley rushing
to her defense saying stop being petty with this woman.
What is fair and unfair about the end of that last game
where there was a technical, a turnover,
and some stuff that happened that can't happen
but is going to happen sometimes early in someone's career?
Well, she's been having, this is two games ago
because the Fever played last night in Seattle
and they lost, so they're 0-5 right now.
Two games ago at the end of the game,
Kaitlyn had a take foul and then got a technical for swearing at the ref, which
is something that she did do in college a lot. And the refs are calling it and she's
had some foul trouble. She's had a lot of turnover trouble, but she's also been pretty
good at times and shown how dominant she can be in the WNBA. So she's having ups and downs,
which is I think what a lot of people probably expected,
not controversial to say.
She's a risker.
She had her best game of the season last night,
only three turnovers, 21 points.
Like Caitlin, there was always gonna be an adjustment period
and when it comes to Charles Barkley,
like there are really only two major incidents
that I see of like, you know,
former or current WNBA players talking about Caitlin.
Diana Taurasi saying that she was gonna have
an adjustment period, that was the most overblown
controversy ever, that was so stupid,
because like, yeah, she has had an adjustment period,
she was going to, also Diana Taurasi loves to talk shit,
that's her whole thing, not a big deal.
The only moment, like outside of that was Cheryl Swoops,
who just said a lot of like factual inaccuracies,
and then she apologized.
So I don't really see where this hate is coming from
because it's not real, it's manufactured.
Well, Angel Reese said, it ain't just one team.
She's not talking about the Aces when she says that.
Yeah, but she's right.
Well, but I'm just saying, here's the problem.
There's 12 teams, it's a fact.
The problem is, here's the problem.
The problem is there is a nuance to what Angel Reese is saying.
It's right, you guys can't keep focusing on the one team that hasn't won a game just because
of the one player.
On the other hand, there is the expected rebuttal to the great new phenomenon.
Ah, she sucks.
It's kind of like Mike saying that Victor Wemba Nyama
is like gonna ruin the NBA and he's terrible
and all that stuff, right?
And so when you have the people having a nuanced take
about that, it combines with the vitriol people
who are just here for the shit show.
But Chuck was talking about players.
He wasn't talking about fans and he wasn't talking about, but to me, it sounded like he was just reading
comments on Twitter, and I know this is rich coming from me.
I know, I know how hypocritical this sounds,
but we all need to get offline.
Because the fever have been selling out games,
she's been signing autographs nonstop,
Caitlin Clark is getting tons of support,
and tons of, I mean, she's on national TV like every game.
Like people are watching her
and she's doing a pretty good job as a rookie.
But the online hate and then saying it's coming
from players that aren't there to support her or whatever
is like, those are two completely different things
and it's all getting jumbled into like one hot take
that I don't think is right.
And I think what we gotta realize is
she got a heat's effect going on.
She get every team best shot every game. She's selling out all these tickets.
Everybody want to bring, be the one to bring Caitlin Clark head to the game.
So she getting all these folks best shots and still performing at this level as a rookie.
Come on man. Salute.
I was also thinking last night, the Storm. So so the storms team has had a lot of
Changes coming into the season and they're a pretty
New team that's had to learn how to play with one another very quickly similar to the fever and they've only won one game up Until last night and I was thinking that now that the fever are like oh and five
No one wants to be the first team to lose to the fever. So it's not even like a Caitlin Clark thing anymore
It's like oh god, we can't we can't be the first team to lose to the fever. So it's not even like a Caitlin Clark thing anymore. It's like, oh God, we can't be the first team
to lose to them.
They're 0 and 5 right now.
The internet is trying to find things though.
I saw some TikTok of them doing a pregame dance
and Caitlin not being into it and like,
look, she's not with her.
And it was just harmless.
She wasn't even not doing anything.
It's just the internet is looking for reasons to attack her.
Let me ask you guys something about the internet, okay?
Okay.
Because I do find.
Al Gore made it.
I do find interesting that division sells,
that celebrating Caitlin Clark is something
that we can do watching television, but
on the internet it is a place that creates a great deal of division that
feeds off of the division and things that are divisive are chum to be thrown
in the water that allows people to fight about things and so if lonely man who's
angry and repressed and doesn't like
women after a lifetime of being rejected by women can have his anonymous
viewpoint and attach it to the symbol that Caitlin Clark is by getting into
that discussion whether he cares about the WNBA sports or
basketball or not I believe the internet is filled with just an assortment
of things that feed the metastasis of that division.
Like it is a place, it's a place for jokes.
I'm not saying it's just for division,
but I'm saying that when the division catches,
it's easier for it to crackle than anything
that resembles success, light or positivity.
Yeah, and I don't know, like if that's what Charles Barkley's seeing,
then that is a separate conversation than, like, the one that I think he was trying to start,
which was that players aren't supporting Caitlin Clark,
and they should be uplifting her, and that whole conversation,
that's a completely different thing.
Like, yes, there's tons of toxicity online and tons of evil and hate no one is disputing that
But I've also seen lately a lot of people
The divisiveness of did was that Caitlin's was that turnover Caitlin's fault was that foul a foul or not?
What like there's been a lot of that too which like that's that's the type of sports shit that like is great like people arguing last
Night over the inbounds pass that went to Caitlin
that she turned over at the end of the game
when the fever had a chance to take the lead late.
I think there was like 11 seconds left on the clock.
People arguing whether or not it was a good pass to her.
And there was another play like a few games ago
people were arguing whether or not,
I can't remember what it was
but it was like a whole thing with Caitlin
and like those are separate things.
X's and O's.
And it like that I really appreciate that you can post
these clips online, people can argue about like
the very nitty gritty, oh it was the Brianna Stewart,
it was the screen.
She set a really hard screen and Caitlin like,
and was like what, this is so mean, this screen,
this mean, and it's like no, one of Caitlin's teammates
should have told her she had a screen coming
because it was like totally in her blind side, right?
I mean like someone's supposed to call it out.
It's basketball. That's basketball.
It's basketball.
These are different things that are happening.
Like, Jess, you're right,
because then you took it to like lonely misogynists,
say, I hate women and I hate Caitlin Clark as a result.
She's a woman, ipso facto.
Is that the old movie voice from the 90s?
That's the guy.
That's the guy who sits angry in his house, right?
Behind the times. In a in his house, right?
Behind the times.
In a world.
Exactly, that same guy.
In a world behind the times.
At the same time, I'm thinking about it as, no,
I'm thinking about it as this is what popularity breeds.
It's the reason why people say, what's better?
The NBA now with a different champion every year,
or do you want a dynasty?
I said, do you want money?
You want a dynasty? Well, that's you want money? You want a dynasty?
That's not fair.
I'm like, exactly.
So half the people are like, this is awesome.
This is the greatest thing.
I'm alive to see it.
And then you have the other half of people like,
to hell with these guys.
Why do they have to win?
I hope someone brings them to justice or whatever.
And that's kind of the dynamic.
I think what Caitlin Clark is,
she is someone who brings
a lot of attention, right?
Positive attention.
It's undeniable, right?
Ratings and ticket sales, whatever.
But because she is that thing that everyone's like, this is awesome, this is the next best
thing, there is automatically and always going to be an equal and opposite reaction of people
like, why, what's so special about her?
She couldn't even navigate a screen.
Right, and we gotta also remember,
bro, when Wimpy came in the league,
what we wanna see Wimpy do?
Get dunked on.
When Michael Jordan was in the league,
it was an arena full of Utah Jazz fans
rooting for Carl Damn Malone.
So it's like, bro, we gotta be able to stomach
some of this stuff.
It ain't all misogyny.
Some of it's his exes and old.
Some of it's like, folks, this is like,
delivery. Some of it's just fandom.
Some of it's just fandom, right?
You did me.
Some people wanna see Jewel Lloyd and Skyler Diggins-Smith
play really well together
because they're their favorite WNBA players.
But yes, I think the other aspect of it is like,
even if there are current or former players
who are like, who don't like Caitlin Clark,
for whatever reason, they're entitled to that,
like that's fine, and I don't think that you need to be like,
have like a moral judgment on something
that's very natural in sports.
Jess, let me ask you, because you said you think Charles
might be just reacting to social media commentary.
Is it possible that Charles is also talking about people
he talks to behind the scenes?
That is possible.
I think if that's the case, then he should probably say that because yeah, I mean, otherwise
it's like, all right, cite your sources.
Like if that's the case, you don't have to say who it is, but you can say like, I've
talked to people in the league, I've talked to players and I would like to know that that's
where that's coming from because I think publicly a lot of the players that have been asked
about Caitlin Clark and have been asked about all these things have been very very
generally supportive and pretty normal about it.
Yeah John-Quel Jones from the Liberty came out and was like take it easy on
Caitlin you know she's carrying an incredibly heavy load like I don't know
if we've seen in our lifetime outside of LeBron James a player come into a league
and have this much pressure on them to perform so I don't
like when it's Charles Barkley saying it's it's all these WNBA players saying
these things that's that's just not accurate I haven't heard anything it's
stupid go wait a minute though Lucy Charles just got on Twitter for the
first time he has not ever been social media active so it's not just someone
who's new to Twitter it's somebody who's 60 and new to Twitter.
And don't understand algorithms.
You surfed it one time, but that's all you're getting now.
But again, I think we also have to allow for,
he might have talked to, even if it's a player.
Cause I know this about players,
I'm just talking about players in general.
They say all the right things, oh no so and so, yeah that's great. And then off camera,
man so and so. The example I always bring up is Paul Pierce saying if I played with
LeBron and Shaq I'd have as many rings as Dwayne Wade. And when he said that I said,
you guys are all flipping out. Like how dare he say he's as good as Dwayne Wade? But I'm like like I'm telling you there are a lot of players who don't have the Hall of Fame resume of Paul Pierce who feel the exact same way
It's the man if I had so and so and so I was just he ain't that good
Yeah, I but I'm just as good my coach was hating on me man
There's a lot of that sentiment as a player because you kind of need that if you're one of a bit just 12 teams
There's what's that?
144 players.
144 players in the world who get to play in this league.
Absolutely you have to have a little bit of like,
to hell with her, man, I'm better than her.
Y'all flipping out over her.
What gets to be popular and just popular?
Like, not even Taylor Swift gets to be that.
Who gets to be, like who gets,
I don't know that it's possible.
Dan, nothing.
Do you remember the discourse about the Barbie movie?
Right. It was like the most highest grossing movie of the year. And people were like,
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That's a nice ice cold can of Miller Lite. Oh, and by the way, here's a pro tip.
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Don Lebatard. I don't like smutty either. Stugats. Women stay home in the kitchen where they belong.
This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stugats.
in the kitchen where they belong. This is the Don LeBattar Show with the StuGards.
That's why I'm telling y'all, man.
It's like, it's not, there's no part of this
that's like foreign territory.
It's quite the opposite.
Like this is it.
This is, this is it.
Like we are finally post gender politics,
at least when it comes to the WNBA.
And I think it's just like crazy fandom, just people.
And-
Oh, but wait a minute.
Let's examine this for a second.
I'm an optimist.
Because pre-internet, I was blissfully unaware
of the pervasive toxicity that has since spread and I will say that overall the feeling that the
internet gives me is while addictive and bringing me over to jokes it brings more toxicity into my
life than used to be there pre-internet so I ask ask you guys, whether it's Game of Thrones
or anything that by, Hamilton, anything that by consensus
is popular at the time, I know that Amin doesn't
like Hamilton.
Juju's got a good one.
Juju doesn't like Hamilton either?
Do you have any?
No, no, Blues Clues.
I ain't never met nobody in the world
that's done hate on Blues Clues, bro.
Great nomination.
Like who don't like blues clues, bruh?
If you don't like blues clues, you're a loser.
I don't know, I know some people who don't like blues clues.
Not me.
What?
Come on, Ameem.
I know some people.
I know I'm not going to name the names because like Charles Barkley, I care about my friends.
Well I don't know.
First of all, you're giving Charles Barkley cover again and again that I'm not sure is accurate we're gonna play the sound in a
second but put on the poll please at LeBataard show if you don't like
Blue's Clues are you a loser and I will tell you that I think it was the tipping
point that I read that stunned me about Blue's Clues because children's
television I thought was not something that was meant strategically
to formulaically and with adults being manipulative,
ensnared children, ensnared children.
Dan, you're about to be ensnared in a bad take here.
You have confused two different social media conversations
about two different programs that feature the word blue.
You might as well be saying NYPD blue is getting a weird touch back on you.
What have I confused?
Blue's Clues is not the same as Bluey.
Oh, I thought he said Blue's Clues.
I thought that's what he said.
I'm sorry.
Yeah, I said Blue's Clues.
You're describing Bluey.
No, I'm describing from the tipping point.
Blue's Clues is a children's television show is it not yet
a boat. Blue's those emblee are and blues clues is the one in
the tipping point that was very strategically organized to
manipulate children into becoming addicted to morning
television and making children by consensus love something
that I didn't know was manipulative I thought sesame
Street was simple.
Look, you get one paw print, that's the first clue.
You put it in a notebook, now what do you do?
Blues Clues, Blues Clues.
Sit on the chair and think about it.
Forgive me, I mean, I still don't know the mistake
that I'm making because I'm pretty sure
the show I'm talking about is indeed something
that was meant to manipulate children
into becoming addicted strategically because adults,
it was sort of what the YouTube algorithm is
or what the FaceTime and what all the algorithms are
that ensnare you but for children.
And regardless, the popular television thing,
something like Game of Thrones before season eight,
Sopranos, Breaking Bad.
What gets to be just popular today or mostly popular?
Because you mentioned Mike Ryan and Wemba Nyama.
Mike Ryan is one of the few, very few,
a loud minority saying Wemba Nyama
is not gonna be special.
Most people understand that he is.
I got one.
Everybody loves Dolly Parton.
Oh, yeah.
That's true.
Nine to five
You're gonna say Raymond. Oh, Jolene
universally unpopular
Jolene that's a great one. Do you guys know that she wrote Jolene and my
I will always love you on the same day. Ah on the same day. I have this really cool coffee table book
I'll bring it in.
It's just Dolly Parton's life in outfits.
Oh, cute.
It's so cool.
Is Rhinestone in it?
Yes.
Oh, great, Rhinestone's a great movie.
You should listen to the Cinephobe episode.
Will Ferrell.
No.
No, there's a lot of people who hate Will.
People hate Will Ferrell?
Yeah.
Some people, I think,
people will be critical of his movies,
but you don't dislike him.
Tony Medley, a Cinephobe staple,
hates on Will Ferrell every single time.
It's Tony Medley.
There must be the consensus.
Tony Medley, we're not gonna disrespect Tony Medley
on this show, brother.
I know who Tony Medley is.
I don't think my sister Jessica knows who Tony Medley is.
Who is Tony Medley?
Tony Medley is a movie critic
whose website we discovered
early on in the cinephobe process.
And he hates, hates a lot of different things.
Wait, was this the really long review
that Zach Harper read during the episode I came on?
Yes, absolutely.
I was wondering what he was reading.
I mean, my brother, I love you.
Black History Month was a couple of months ago,
but you need to take your ass to the penalty box
for that Tony manly clear out.
No sir.
I can't promote my show, brother.
Get outta here.
Minor penalty, two minutes for boring.
Oh, that wasn't boring.
Oh, we don't have that.
That was actually a good one.
A lot of things.
It was self-serving, it wasn't boring. What was that? I don't know if you guys saw this, but Denzel Paramon said that Jim Harbaugh reminds him of Will Ferrell.
And I don't know which, which Will Ferrell character Denzel Paramon is thinking he's
seeing when Jim Harbaugh comes into the room in character.
Can you just finally play please the Charles Barkley sound that for some reason, he's
playing the same character that he's playing in the movie.
And I don't know if you guys saw that, but I don't know if you guys saw that. denzel paramon is thinking he's seeing when jim harbaugh comes into the room in character can you just finally played plays
the charles barkley sound that for some reason ameen insists on saying
that charles barkley is doing a bunch of journalistic reporting and protecting
his sources here
this isn't just charles barkley being charles barkley
you women out there
no pity man You women out there, y'all petty man.
Hey LeBron, you 100% right on these girls hating on Caitlin Clark.
Y'all petty girls.
I expect men to be petty because we're the most insecure group in the world.
Y'all should be thanking that girl for getting y'all ass private charters.
All the money and business she brings into the WNBA don't be petty like dudes listen what she's accomplished give her her flowers stop being petty
all you women out there she got y'all ass charters she bringing all y'all this
money to the table but y'all being petty like dudes LeBron you 100% right
y'all, stop being petty.
Katelyn Clark, thank you for bringing all that money
and shine to the deaf NBA.
Do you think the people in the TNT room scatter
when they hear him start a thought, you women out there?
Zagaki, what the hell was that?
I was like woof right away, I'm just like oof.
And LeBron was at the house like, what am I watching? What the hell? What was wrong was that? I was like woof right away, I'm just like oof. And LeBron was at the house like, what am I watching?
What the hell?
What was wrong with that?
Appadora.
LeBron, you're right.
Yeah, LeBron at his house like, oh no, Chug.
Don't say you women out there
and then just bring me into it.
LeBron, you are right.
LeBron's right.
The girls repeatedly might have been.
That's another one.
Yes, that's going to happen
as the powerful men on television age out.
I know I have made a number of mistakes
and there is a lot of learning out there to be done,
but I think the definition of girls is under 18, correct?
Like the formal definition of when you refer to a woman
as a girl or when you refer to her as a woman,
the cutoff age is 18 years old, right?
It's not the GNBA.
That's right.
That's not even college basketball, isn't even the GNBA.
I did wanna talk about the game last night
between Minnesota and Dallas because it was a little bit stunning to me. Not that
Dallas could win because of course Dallas could win a game or the series.
They've got two of the best players in the world. But what Dallas was able to do in the paint against
Minnesota was confusing to me. And I'm going to say it's because Luke and Kyrie are other
worldly talents that can just break even the number one defense in the league. Because
what Kyrie did in that first half, I mean, I didn't understand. Now I've been watching this
guy for a long time and I don't understand what he does around the rim
How he does it at that size
But to do it against that team and that size in the paint was something that I was not expecting
It's not that I didn't expect Dallas to win but the way that they won was surprising to me
So we'll get into that with a mean next. Don LeBretard. He seems like a not nice guy and he's always been a not nice guy.
I don't care for him.
And I hope he has the day he deserves.
Oh.
Wow.
Let's see.
Stugatz.
I hope he has the day he deserves.
That's how I get people when they're really mean to me.
I'm not like, go F yourself.
I'm like, I hope you have the day you deserve.
It's a great kind.
It's a great kind. Yes. It's beautiful. It's leaving it to
the cosmos to sort it out. That's a less southern bless
your heart. This is the Don LeVatar show with the Stugats. So Dan, Bluey is a dog family and Blue's Clues is a dog detective. See, Bluey has a nice family,
a nice dad, a nice mom. They're both girl dogs though, right?
They are, which a lot of people are surprised.
Bluey is a girl.
And it's just a damn good family.
And it has nothing to do with Blue's Clues,
which is a detective show.
So I just want to clear that up for the audience.
After the third part, Brent,
you sit down in your thinking chair and think,
and you think some more.
And then you think with the lack of his tone
on it you know I appreciate the clarification I either miscommunicated or
simply got it wrong what I was trying to articulate to the group is when I read
for the first time how adults had created blues clues with a lot of
formulaic strategic things that are meant to keep your child in
front of the television in a way that you the parent doesn't understand how to make
your child that interested in anything.
I was startled because I thought children's television was less sophisticated than that.
We should do that with this show.
You know what I mean?
Get the kids locked in, numbers go up.
And you know what?
We gotta get that demo.
We gotta get them hooked early to the addictive stuff.
Start them young.
I mean, answer my question, I mean,
on how it is that the Mavericks were able to do that
in the paint to the Timberwolves,
where I haven't even looked at the number.
It's just the way the game went,
I saw that Dallas was doing a lot of scoring inside
that Minnesota was not doing.
And Minnesota had a great shooting night from three.
Like, Minnesota losing that game at home
because Dallas was able to do whatever it wanted
on high percentage shots near the rim
is not how I had that game going.
Yeah, Dan, full disclosure,
I don't know what happened after halftime
because I was at my kid's graduation,
so all my analysis comes from the first half of that game,
which is good because-
Why about we just defer to the experts who did watch it?
I would tell you, brother, it's a-
Oh, my bad, man, I'm sorry for being a dad.
It's a testament to Rudy Gobert and Carl Anthony Towns
not playing like their size. They play like
finesse. They play like paper soldiers, you feel me? So when you attack that
painting, you got enforcers in there. They know what to do. They're more so
finesse players who play a little defense, but defensive player of the year,
ironically. He's just not dominating the paint defensively like we saw him have
to take up that challenge
with the joker.
Well, and what was interesting with this group in particular
is Minnesota played a lot of drop coverage last night.
And Mike Conley talked after the game
about how that wasn't initially the game plan,
but ultimately that's kind of where it went
and that that was a mistake.
And I don't know if that's communication
from the coach to the players
or the players not necessarily executing,
but you saw it all game long. That was all game long. Go bear playing and drop coverage and Kyrie took
advantage in the first half and then ultimately Luka took advantage all in
pick-and-roll actions in the second half. In the fourth quarter, Luka, that was
interesting to watch. Kyrie carried them in the first half. Minnesota shoots the
hell out of the ball but Kyrie can't miss and is somehow making all these
floaters over their Giants.
And then fourth quarter time comes and Doncich just takes
the entire game over.
I mean, you didn't see it though.
I didn't see the second half.
I saw the part that Kyrie killed.
I can speak to that.
And to Dan's point, Kyrie can do this.
That's why he turns it on in the last round
in the second half because he wants to get his team involved.
Last night, the lights were bright,
so you need to be able to follow someone into the darkness.
And he took the mantle and he can play like this
all the time, but he wants to get his teammates involved.
And once he sees Luke will wake up,
that's when, okay, cool, my job is to facilitate now.
I mean.
Was this like a real graduation
or was this one of those little kid graduations
where like it's the end of the school year
and they just do a whole thing even though
the kid didn't actually graduate from something?
It was eighth to ninth grade, so.
That's kind of a biggie.
We're going to a different school next year,
high school next year.
You couldn't skip that one for game one.
Can't skip it, no.
Well, not for the game, no.
Especially because I was flying out afterward.
That was the other thing as well.
My daughter has a kindergarten graduation next week.
Kindergarten graduation's happening.
No, it's ridiculous.
No, no, no, it happens because they don't know,
ooh, I can't wait till I get to the eighth grade
for a graduation.
So you have to kind of set them up.
Now the hard part is when they get to the first grade,
they get done and they're like,
where's my graduation?
Like, nah, buddy, that doesn't happen until later.
The crazy thing about happening until later as well is
Jaden Daniels, you can't waste these games.
Jaden McDaniels? Jaden McDaniels, excuse me, pardon me, Jaden as well is Jaden Daniels. You can't waste these games Jaden McDaniels?
Jaden McDaniels, excuse me, pardon me Jaden. He is playing phenomenal, bro
He woke up during that Denver series and if he can play like this and Ant-Man can find his win
And the team can get their legs under them. They're gonna pose that as a problem
Dan if I told you that a team was gonna shoot 6 of 25 from three and the other one was gonna shoot 18 of 49.
In today's NBA, even in today's, in these years' playoffs,
you would've said, wow, the team that hit 18-30s
demolished the other one.
It would've looked like Celtics versus Heat game three
or something like that.
And instead, what we got was something in the mud
because I think the other thing that we're not talking about that we need to talk about is that this Dallas team has been a tremendous defensive team since the trade deadline
Defensively they've been better and it's not just because PJ Washington and Gafford and moving lively to the bench and all those yes
Absolutely, but Kyrie Irving is playing defense at a level that he hasn't played before.
Luca Doncic, I would say, is playing defense at a level
he hasn't played before.
And now you've got a system and you've got everybody
bought in, it makes life a lot more difficult
for the opponent and makes it easier for the Mavericks
offense, they don't have to be the greatest offense
of all time, they can just be great in pockets.
12th grade is the only acceptable year
for there to be a graduation.
What do you even do at kindergarten graduation?
Nothing, you sit there.
Every graduation by the way, there's nothing to do.
My daughter was selected.
There was a bunch of speeches,
look, I like it when they honor kids,
hey this kid was great in the community, whatever,
okay give them their thing and they take a little picture.
But when we have the speeches of like,
the times we had, I'm like, it's eighth grade, relax.
Relax.
My daughter's been practicing a kindergarten song
that's to one of the Grease songs,
like kindergarten had me a blast.
Yes, yeah, they do that everywhere.
Kindergarten went by so fast.
Wait, that's kinda cute.
No, I know, it is cute.
Oh, god damn.
I can pull up the lyrics,
I've been singing it with her for two days straight.
My oldest graduation from kindergarten, they had to do like a Taylor's.
It was Taylor's to shake it off, but instead of shaking it off, they said first grade.
First grade, first grade, kindergarten is day, day, day.
I can't remember the song.
This is 10 years ago or whatever.
All right, let's send them out again.
Two minutes for boring.
Let's send them out again.
Get them out of here.
It's not boring.
You got to remember. We're talking about graduation. Two minutes for boring. Let's send him out again. Get him out of here. It's not boring. You got to remember. We're talking about graduation.
Two minutes for boring.
If you're going to go down the path of,
I have this song that I want to sing to you,
you've got to remember it.
I didn't say I have this song that I want to sing.
I said, I was just trying to help him out.
You know who also had a song that they didn't?
Shh.
Just for a second, Chris Cody's.
There it is. Wow, your daughter has a great voice yes Chris
Cody is getting our video blocked from YouTube this can't be when Chris Cody
picks up his phone and has an idea we all have to why are you still here we
all have to get out of the way. And even the monetization be damned.
That's the idea happen.
But like I said, bro, the idea that the bench from Dallas
could step up the way they did versus you got
the cuz, Gil Alexander, the cuz, Alexander Walker,
he put up two points.
I feel like it's players like him.
Nas read had a good game,
but it's gonna take their bench stepping up because Dallas'
bench is ready.
PJ Washington can activate at any quarter, and that corner three is going to be there,
especially with the ball penetration from Kyrie and Luca.
Those wings wide open.
So I think that if Minnesota can stiffen up the defense, it can pose a problem.
But man, with Cat like out there on the wing
and all that, that's gonna leave that paint wide open. Both teams have something to take away from
last night's game that can make them feel positive moving forward because if you're Dallas, you were
able to do that with just your stars going off and your role players not doing anything offensively,
6 for 25 from three, but their defense in stifling the stars of Minnesota
in Carl Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards
has to make you feel great.
But if you are Minnesota,
your stars didn't do anything offensively
and you were still right in that game.
You lost by three.
You lost by three points.
Jay McDaniel's playing well.
But you shot the hell out of the ball though.
You did, you shot the ball from three
and you allowed too many easy shots. There are a couple of things that I would say that are
interesting here this is the first time in the conference finals that two
teammates playing together in the conference finals for the first time
have both gone for 30 since Steph and Durant that's obviously good company to
be keeping when you talk about mcdaniel's awakening all year
that person has been a problem on the perimeter guarding people he seems very
difficult to get around he bothered jamal murray uh... a great deal uh...
but i want to put on the pole at lebatard show are go bear and cat paper
soldiers because
that juju is accused them of being paper soldiers because Cat likes to roam
around the perimeter. It's easier out there. It's nicer out there. You don't have to be bothered.
Look, man, I don't know about you guys. I really don't know how you feel about this, but me,
whenever I see an NBA player grab a rebound and swing his elbows, I'm like, I would not want to
be near any of what's happening out there I'd like to float around the perimeter
and not be anywhere near a 610 person who's decided to grab a rebound and
swing his elbows around the reputation that cat has is he is a player for the
modern age that at grande pod gusto is what they call like brooke lopez big for no reason
because uh... because he floats around the perimeter in the modern game but
cats coming off
a game in which they'd be yoke itch at least in part because those paper
soldiers
were a problem for yoke itch and so i'm not i'm not willing to go from soldier
to paper soldier just because they lost a game at And so I'm not willing to go from soldier to paper soldier
just because they lost a game at home.
No, I'm not, you're right about that for sure.
I'm not saying that they are,
it's just the fact that they have these disappearing acts,
like the Celtics, for example.
You can't be a championship determined team
and take games like this where you have the matchup,
you have PJ Washington guarding you, big cat.
Let's get that in the post,
like we don't need to be shooting all these threes if you can master your craft just like Rudy if Rudy could learn
one post move and just do it all the time he would average 25 points a game because he got people on
his back he just get the ball and tip it somewhere and bat it out brother it's it's the skill setting
of these people who I think that could improve game to game, but he can't do that, right? I mean because I remember Shaq did not go from what he was to perpetual MVP
Until he learned how to do some things in the post. He did learn that later in his career
That was not something that was in Shaq's games in in the 20s
He would just bowl over people and be physically stronger than them
in the 20s, he would just bowl over people and be physically stronger than them.
Go Bear's not going to learn that.
That ship is sailed.
There will be no learning of the Go Bear post game.
That's not going to happen.
Well, I would say Shaq wasn't just bowling over people.
He had incredible footwork and timing and touch
on things that weren't dunks as well that made him hard.
But more importantly, the song goes,
in first grade saying it's gonna be all right, but I did grow up, up more importantly, the song goes, in first grade sing is gonna be alright,
but I did grow up, up, up, up, up,
I'm ready to move on, on, on, on, on,
ready for first grade, first grade, first grade,
that's how it went.
Maybe sing it the way the song goes
so we can know what time it is.
I don't know how the song goes.
I could be a Hasty.
I vaguely know the song I know.
The Grease one's a lot better.
Yeah, well look man, I'm not a Taylor Swift fan,
so I know that song a lot better than I know the Taylor Swift song, but. We had to sing The Climb by a lot better. Yeah, well look man, I'm not a Taylor Swift fan, so I know that song a lot better
than I know the Taylor Swift song, but.
We had to sing The Climb by Miley Cyrus.
So we would get on the stage,
sing The Climb by Miley Cyrus,
and then we walked off,
and the teachers would stand there,
and they would play My Wish by Rascal Flatts.
My wish for you.
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