The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Local Hour: I Am The Dream

Episode Date: April 3, 2025

The Major League Night Guy, the GM-ification of NBA fandom, and a game of "Dango." Today's cast: Domonique Foxworth, Amin 'The Dream' Elhassan, Chris, Charlie Kravitz, Jeremy, Jessica, and Roy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Proximo. Cuervo.com. Please drink responsibly. Cuervo. This is the Dan LeBattard Show with the StuGuts Podcast. All right, welcome to the Sandsdan-lebatard show once again. Game four, people, and we bring in one new member of the team, Roy Returns, but a new member of the team, Jeremy. I'm here to make sure we get to five games. No, Jeremy.

That's exactly, you know how the league is like, the conspiracy theory, like this needs to go to full five in order to get the ratings up. That's what Jeremy's here for. We did, we won. Yeah, we won. We won a hot streak. We won yesterday and we're like,

get Jeremy for tomorrow. You're welcome. It's like the ref, they send in that one ref. He's gotta call a close one. I'm Scott Foster. Way to go, Adam Silver, to try to stretch this game out. So that means you wanna start with the Dodgers.

Nah, we'll get to the Dodgers. We got Jamarant gun stuff. We're going to do some Saudi wealth fund investment in sports. Charlie and I became Jim Bros yesterday. Amin thinks he's much cooler than me. Mello going to the Hall of Fame. Where do you want to start, Amin?

I want to talk about what kind of nerd you and Dishon are. Oh, I know. Can we start with sports? No. You asked me where I wanted to start about kind of nerd you and this and that. Can we start with sports? No. You asked me where I wanted to start. I know. You could have started anywhere. You could have started whatever sports topic you want.

I was, so before the show, I was like, hey, what do you want to talk about? We could talk about the Suns, where Kevin Durant's gonna end up next year, how the Suns had a 2-0 lead in the finals, and now this feels like the most disappointing amalgamation of talent since, I guess since the Nets, which was also a Kevin Durant product. But you want to talk about how uncool I am. Knock yourself out. What happened last night, man?

Nothing happened. I hit up golf. I was like, what's up, man? I was like, hey, we're grabbing dinner and then let's grab drinks. I'm like, cool. So around 9.30, I'm like, hey was like, what's up man? I was like, hey, we're grabbing dinner and then let's grab drinks. I'm like, cool. So around 9.30, I'm like, hey man, what's up? What's going on? We didn't hear from you guys. I get a text back at 10.15.

I think we're gonna call it a night. I'm like, at 10.15, I'm asking for a drink. A drink, y'all can't do one round. Well, they sell them whether I'm there or not, so you can go ahead and get you one. However, yes, I was done. So I think, it's like, so Charlie and I went and worked out yesterday, and Charlie and I do,

I mean, we did a little different stuff because like we're different situations. I feel like you're a major league night guy. I'm not anymore. I'm out of the major league night game. I'm a minor league night guy. My nights end early. So when I heard, I gotta be honest with you,

when I heard that a mean wanted to hang out with us, I got nervous. I was like, I'm not ready for that game. I ain't ready for that game. You see, like you act like I wanna just like, you know, if I'm playing basketball with little kids, I'm not out here throwing bows and like slapping boards and like shoving them out the way.

I know how to play nice and like, oh, you stole the ball from me. I know how to do that. You just gonna let me get some steals? Yeah, man, I can get your confidence up. Like, oh, I don't know if I can do another one. I'll play that role. I know who I'm playing with, man.

I know my personnel. You could have missed one or two. Yeah, oops. I mean, to be completely honest with you, I was done, man. Like that, we had, I felt like I had a good night until you said we didn't have a good night. Like me, I had took my guys out for a nice dinner

at a fancy restaurant. We had drinks, we looked around. I mean, that's it. We laughed, we had a good time. We ate some expensive food. Then it's 10.30, and we like, hey, we did it. We had some laughs, we did it, guys. High five, let's go to bed. Be well rested for work in the morning. Perfect night. Dennis 1030 and we like hey we did we have some laughs we did it guys high five

Let's go to bed be well rested for work in the morning perfect night perfect right one more drink we respect the 9 a.m. hour You guys what time do you guys wake up when you stay here to do the show? What time do you have to be up cuz like we all get up at like the ass crack of dawn cuz we have to commute In but yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean I my commuters just walk downstairs right so you're just rolling on a bed at like 830 nah I wake up at like 630 Sam just because is this I'm not going to a second location to drink if I'm getting up at 630 I mean it's not an intention I beat the alarm up normally because I set the alarm for seven because I want

to be down here by 730 yeah I beat the alarm I beat the alarm. I don't beat the alarm at home. I beat the alarm when I'm on the road. When I'm on the road, it's easy to beat the alarm because I don't gotta worry about nothing. I can go to the room and go to bed. I famously don't use alarms. I've talked about this on the show. You're only beating it when you're on the road?

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. At home, terrible home record. Only beat it on the road. Never use an alarm. Yeah, we've done this show before, right? Like the whole idea is that. I've never heard it. Me either, that's shocking.

Like I feel, the guilt wakes me up. Yeah, which is why you have to. I've done it before where I had forgotten to put on alarm and then the guilt wakes me up. The problem is I don't get good sleep. The guilt wakes me up an hour before and I'm like, do I grab my phone to set the alarm now? But that'll wake me all the way up.

Or do I go back to sleep? And then it's like, it's just nervous sleep. It's not good sleep. The only time guilt gets me is when I have like an early flight. If I have to catch an early flight, I'm like worried about missing it. That's not guilt, that's anxiety.

Well that's when I will wake up before my alarm. Like a normal work day. Do you feel guilty about making it to flights in the morning? Well no, he was just saying saying he was using the phrase, the guilt alarm. How dare you be asleep? Like, oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm up, I'm up. So to answer your question, 5.30 today, I was up.

Because I'm like, ah! Because I always wake up like, oh, shit, it's 10.30. And no, it's 5.30. And I'm like, well, I'm up now. It kind of sounds like you're using a typewriter even though the word processor was invented. You know that you can have, because it sounds like the sleep is not restful

if you're concerned the whole time about when, if I'm up in time. So why don't you just set an alarm and sleep till the alarm goes off. Well, first of all, I love that the peak of technology and advancement is the word processor for you. It's not even the best. Put on the phone, Juju, do you know what the word processor for you. Put on the phone, do you know what a word processor is?

It was just the best analogy I could think of as a. Well said. Yeah, a word processor. It was just the best analogy I could come up with. So I guess I don't understand the reason for not setting alarm when we have. Don't need it. You're one of these guys.

The guilt wakes me up. Like you're like, oh, it's time to get up, start my day. I'm like, okay, the day has started. Like that's how I am. I wake up like that. Oh, it's like a shock. So you're like how Dion Sanders said, like a lion don't need to stretch.

You just, like, I don't need no assistance. You want me to warm up? I was made for this. I hop up ready to work because of guilt. I wish I didn't have to stretch, but yes, pretty much. Like I don't sleep a lot, I sleep like maybe like four to five hours a night. Do you take pride in this though?

Because there are, and I don't wanna make it seem like I'm being judgmental because I'm sure there are some like weird, unnecessary things just as a man that I take pride in that's ridiculous, but this seems like a ridiculous thing where it's like I could set an alarm and sleep more comfortably and restfully and get up, but you just like to be able to walk around and say,

hey, you know what I don't do? I don't use no alarms, that's the type of mother-fucker I am. Well, first of all, we're on air. Second of all, you're making the assumption. You muffled it. You muffled it. You sound so well rested right now. I'm not gonna lie.

Like this is the most, you've had great energy all week, but right now you just sound rested. Sounds like you made the right choice. I mean, don't need that. I mean, it sounds great too. Yeah, cause I'm not, you're making the assumption that I'm tired as a result or it makes an impact on my day, but my day, my energy level's fine, I don't drink coffee.

I don't do any of these like, I need my morning matcha, or I don't do any of that stuff. So this is, you keep doing these voices which suggest to me, that suggest to me, You're a nerd. No, no, not even that, I'm a nerd. Cause I drink matcha. That you think that somehow this makes you like,

better or cooler or something? Ironman, dude, think about it. Someone who doesn't get hangovers, who doesn't sleep a lot, who doesn't need coffee. I am the dream, who has never caught COVID. No, you're impressive. Like his ability to do the show after, his ability to do the show after a red eye is wild.

He does it almost every week. On the rag, bro. Yeah, I mean. They should take like, honestly. He lives in Phoenix. That man got, he got the bug. You never got it? Never got it.

You got it. Never got it. You just ain't tested. No, no, I never, I never, I never, let me persuade. Obviously, if you're asymptomatic, you don't know whether you got it or not, but I never had symptoms. Yeah, I was like you, I never had the symptoms,

but I had to get tested for something. It was like, oh, damn, got the bug. No, I got tested a bunch of times. I had a vacation in the basement, too. It was marvelous. I got the bug. No, I got tested a bunch of times. I had a vacation in the basement too, it was marvelous. I got like, it wasn't a regular test, it wasn't like every week I gotta go in for my COVID test. But the times I tested, I always tested negative. So I guess the thing that I wanted to circle in on

is like this is one of those like stupidly masculine things where you take pride in something that's irrelevant. Is it irrelevant? It's 100% irrelevant. I don't know. Like the idea that I don't. You put it on the poll, would you like to never get hangovers,

not need sleep and not need coffee? Yes or no? If it's irrelevant, it'll come back, name 90% no, right? Maybe 80% no? If it's irrelevant. I feel like these are traits that are not irrelevant. I feel like these are traits.

You know what these are traits of? What? Cocaine is a hell of a drug. Well, you know what? Dominique. Dominique, I think you deserve some credit here. Why? Because you're bringing out the best of Amin

by not getting the drink with him last night. Yeah. Yeah, take that. The best of me? What are you talking, the best of me? The best of me. You're at 100% this morning. You came in firing.

Nah. I think that you're, I think you are talented enough that you at 65, 70% are like, all right, we're cool. But I got you at 100 today and this is a different amine. This is a fired up amine. This is a prepared amine. I got to overcome Jeremy. We started 10 deep in the hole, right?

I got to mount this comeback. You don't want to talk about the hottest team in the Eastern, right? And I gotta mount this comeback. You don't wanna talk about the hottest team in the Eastern Conference, your Miami Heat? It is. Honestly, I'd rather talk about Shohei and the Dodgers, ain't no start. That ain't a local topic. Than I'd rather talk about the...

We're in the local hour, bro. It's the local hour. It's the local hour. We do local things around here, like go out drinking with our boys. That's a local topic. I did. It just ended at 10.

I was out drinking till 10. Don't get me started on this character, Jason Goff. What about him? He's not even here to defend himself. Exactly. You actually had to be here. He got nothing going on. You don't know what he got going on? He's still in the church's tithing to take a trip to Miami and going out to Carbone wherever y'all went. We went to Maple and Ash and Golf is probably doing community service this morning.

He wanted to rest up to help the people. He's not even here to defend himself. I do think it's funny though that you believe that this junior high ass shit is gonna make me feel embarrassed. What junior high? Where you text us last night, he's like, y'all some nerds, you thought I was gonna be like,

oh my gosh, Amin called me a nerd. Watch me, I will show you, Amin. So first of all, that's exactly the voice I hear when I think of you. Number two, no, that was, it's resigned. Like, I get it, like the night's over, and so this is me lashing out. This isn't like, maybe I can change their mind

by appealing to their whatever. Their general high self. Yeah, it was just like I lost, so I'm gonna go ahead and dunk on all of them. I mean, I don't know. I think if you're putting things on the pole, actually I don't need a pole for this. I don't need valid, external validation.

Coward. Coward. Oh no, it's not a coward. Because I felt like what I was gonna do was not fair. The truth is, if I lay out the situation, you're a 42 year old father of three with a wife and you gotta work at seven o'clock in the morning, should you take your ass to bed at 10 o'clock?

All respondents are yes. That's who I am, that's who I am. That's cool. And all of them are nerds. Yeah. I'm 46, that means I am. That's cool. And all of them are nerds. Yeah. I'm 46. That means I put you in your place. And what you talking about?

I got three kids in my honor. I got twins in there. That's double the work. That's not like the single, and when they add them up, that's more. I feel like they cancel each other out. No. It's a multiplier effect.

I'm telling you, brother. I think they keep each other busy. Cause they age. Yeah, busy with like problems. Yeah With Tom Fulary with shenanigans with chicanery Folks listen up. They're here and they're hot get ready because Jimmy John's is turning up the heat after years of perfecting the cold sandwich Toasted sandwiches are finally here try one of their three all-new toasted creations. The toasted chicken bacon ranch, all-natural chicken, creamy homestyle ranch, applewood smoked bacon, melted provolone, fresh veggies, all on a perfectly toasted French bread.

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The Boost Mobile network, together with our roaming partners, covers 99% of the US population. 5G speeds not available in all areas. Don LeBretard! Again, started on the Breakfast Flawn? Oh man, I've been singing the song to myself all morning while I'm... Breakfast Flawn... Stugats! Have you never heard the Breakfast Flawn song flan, dun dun dun dun. Stugats!

Have you never heard the breakfast flan song? No, hit me with it. Okay. I wish I had some breakfast flan. Dun dun dun dun dun. Breakfast flan. Dun dun dun dun dun. Where can I find a breakfast like that?

Dun dun dun dun dun. Dun dun dun dun dun. Dun dun dun dun dun. This is the Dun Lebatar Show with the StuGards. All right, so this is the local hour. I will give, I feel like we got off to a good start. We're gonna go to the bench and bring in Jeremy to see if he can hit us with some heat topics. I just, I want the on-off numbers to not be embarrassing, okay?

So we are sending some of our starters to the bench. We're bringing Jeremy in to give us some heat stuff in the local hour. Don't blow the lead, Jeremy. A win in Boston is always a good thing. They broke the Celtics nine-game win streak, which was the longest in the Eastern Conference. Now the Heat have won six in a row, coming off losing 10 in a row. And they've won all of these by double digits.

First team ever to be as bad as they were, lose 10 in a row and then win six straight games by double digits. But it's the way that they're playing that is exciting. If you wanna believe in a team, getting to the first round and having at least a competitive series with the Cavaliers or the Celtics, which is not something you would have expected.

Is it the power of friendship? I mean, look, I mentioned Pella Larsen and the power of friendship in the preseason, and look who's entered the starting lineup and become one of their most important role players. That's Heat, rookie second round pick, Pella Larsen and the power of friendship in the preseason and look who's entered the starting lineup and become one of their most important Role players that's heat rookie second round pick Pella Larsen our heat fans Bothered by the fact that we had this argument yesterday that I won against a mean about tanking and the NBA Are the heat fans at all concerned about? They're moving out of an opportunity to get a franchise changing player in CooperFlag.

I think an overwhelming amount of the fan base is still in that space of wishing they would just lose as much as possible and get a top draft prospect because they're sick of what they've sort of conceived as running it back over and over again. Even though there's only three players left on the roster that were here more than a couple of years ago. There's two rookies in the starting lineup. And I think you could want to

add to a young core, which is totally understandable. The Heat, you guys mentioned protections on draft picks yesterday as a problem. The Heat are actually in an interesting space where if they get their draft pick this year, their picks for next year and 2028 become unprotected. If they make the playoffs, those picks remain protected if things go poorly. So you can look at that as a silver lining if you're one of the fans that wanted to tank and now you make the postseason. But the inspiring part, if you're a Heat fan, is Bam Adabayo and Tyler Hero are both playing some of the best basketball in the offensive end of their careers and Hero finally overcame the adjustment from other teams

and is playing like the all-star level player that he was in the first half of the season. So it's good things to be able to take away whether this leads to anything or not, but am I starting to feel a little delusional? Yeah, I am. It's the spin, the washing machine's going to spin. Oh, gosh, oh, the spin, I didn't know I heard.

Sounded like something dripping, I was like, it's raining in here. There's a couple of things in there that I thought was interesting. It's interesting that there are these competing interests that while I thought that it's only one drive is to not be good, that in this situation, the Heat have the drive to protect their picks going forward,

which would be another, could be a potential future solution too, where it's like you can't have so many losing seasons in a row or you'd lose your draft pick. But the other thing that pops out to me is there's some things that are simple about sports and entertainment of any variety is that you should, that your incentives should be very clear to you.

The idea that there are situations where fans want their team to lose, that sucks, man. Like, I never want to be in that situation. And that, like, you have to admit, at least, like, if you don't want to agree with me about tanking or about how that impacts the quality of the product or the TV product or even the in-game experience, you have to admit that it sucks

when you are wanting your own team to lose. So what sucks is it's widespread, right? Once upon a time, people watched their team play and they won and they lost and they were happy and they were sad or whatever. And then there was a small group of people like me who was like, no, I'm interested in how all this works. And the numbers and the money and da-da-da-da.

And so that's my origin story. I got a copy of the CBA and I was like, I'm gonna read this and understand why these trades can and can't work, right? I feel like you should do your voiceover again because somebody who picks up a CBA. Oh, I'm interested in, oh, what are the cap mechanics on how these trades get consummated?

And so I learned and then I got a career in this and then I got out of the career doing this and I said doing media And I'm doing media from like my perspective of like this is the stuff that we're thinking about when running teams and like at first It was like a niche thing for a lot of the nerds out there But now it's turned into like everybody like you talk about anything. They're like well actually in the cap room I'm like guys like it's okay to be happy about getting a player and excited for the season all i hate this now they're not going to win or we're not going to find out whether the so-and-so is going to be a thing and all now we're going to have a gate pickers of the third i'm like

guys it's okay to be happy for your team to do well as opposed to everything being a big picture conversation i realize i'm part of the problem though because i taught these people how to have a big picture conversation. I feel the same way, like I understand, I call it like the GMification of sports fans. Like I understand fans being like interested in that and like I'm kind of speaking for myself too,

like obviously I'm interested in all of the big picture ramifications. But I don't. I'm interested in the big picture ramifications. Am I?'t. I'm interested in the big picture ramifications. Am I doing the voice of myself? I'm super interested. There it is. God, man.

Chris, you might be the MVP. I wanna know what kind of draft pick we're gonna get if we lose, but I also wanna be a fan and I wanna see my team win. And then. Yeah, if you're a fan, you're like this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Also, it's like so into the nitty gritty sometimes where I'm like, oh, now we're talking about like comp picks

and like all, I'm like, this is, it's too much. It's, I don't, I'm not the GM. I don't need to know the dollars and cents decimal points of the, how much cap space is left. Yeah. It's true, aprons. It's why I'm crushed to see some fans on Twitter or blue sky upset about the fact that the heat

of one six in a row here. What are they doing? It's like, what are they doing? Why aren't they losing on purpose? Just lose the play-in game. And it's like, there's not only is there pride, but there's an entertainment value. You're not excited to go into Boston

and punk the Celtics to where they're pulling their starters with six minutes left. That's an awesome feeling that you can get in the regular season. Like that's right there for you, even in a season that's been disappointing. Also like- LeBron's on the team.

There aren't heat fans watching. Oh, there's Jeremy and his friends again. I'm on the broadcast, that's devastating. It's as mean of a thing as you could have said to me. Truth hurts. There's also, by the way, we should point out, no poor Zingas, no Drew Holl drew holiday and also no fuck to your elbow No, Andrew Wiggins. No Duncan Robinson. Oh wow

There's there's contract incentives to write like spell probably gets paid like 50 grand to make the play I don't know how much it is like players make money to be on an all-star team. I made a Chris I don't know how much he gets paid I feel like if I said $500,000 is way too high, but 50 grand is probably too low It's somewhere in the middle. I'm just ballparking here 50 grand against bow out of the bed He's he over sleeping that alarm that I'm how much do you think is playoff incentive? Bonus structure is I don't know but I know exactly you don't know I just throw out a number, okay I don't know, but I know 50 grand. Exactly, you don't know. I just threw out a number, okay?

You're done. Pineapple butter. Ah. Thank you, Chris. I wasn't trying to make fun of you. I just was pointing out that 50 grand ain't gonna motivate him. Yeah, to get back a little bit to the tanking of it all, I think that the NBA's in a situation

where they have a league that is doing incredibly well right now financially, and it's only kind of a result of the product that they're putting on the floor. And I think they have this unique opportunity to address these problems while the TV money is skyrocketing. And we all acknowledge that the TV money is not skyrocketing because the product is so much better than it was before. It's skyrocketing because the ecosystem has prioritized, because TiVo existed, and then everything's on demand, everything's a streamer.

And sports, as we all know, sports is hugely valuable, and I think that it's possible that the league and its players believe that they're in better position than they actually are. And I think that's, you have an opportunity and rather than accepting that right now oil prices are high, so you're raking in the cash, you need to acknowledge that like, hey, we're headed in a bad direction, let's address these issues and get ready

for being out there in a world where possibly sports won't be overvalued. I've talked about this a lot about, I don't think we're headed in the right direction for several reasons. Tanking isn't one of them though, but like of the way our game is perceived and the way we let our game be perceived by people,

propagated by the ones that we entrust to sell our game. The biggest, noisiest, most incorrect oftentimes people are the ones who seem to be working for broadcast partners of the league. And I'm like, the NFL doesn't allow this. They don't let like what happened with LeBron and Stephen A just go out of control and do what it does. There's a conversation that happens at a high level there

where it's like, hey man, we're doing a thing here. We protect the shield above all. And so, but to that point, I often get into this mental kind of exercise of, I know it's wrong, I know it's bad for the game, I know this isn't ultimately in best service of the game, but if the economics of live programming trumps everything else,

and the numbers keep going up as a result, how can I, like, where do I have a leg to stand to make an argument that people are gonna hear and understand? I mean, I think this is the problem in like just about every business is that the problem starts small. The issue is something small,

and you don't address it until it metastasizes into something that'll hurt you because you have some level of Protection like that's what leadership is being able to make this decision now or being able to address this now And I think part of the problem when you talk about your game is The unwillingness to accept is it you and it's not just you but people in basketball Seem to be so defensive of the game and want to protect the game and not acknowledge the fact that there are issues and the issues need to be addressed.

So when I bring up tanking, maybe the way that I characterize it isn't perfect, but rather than you acknowledge like, yeah, there is some things wrong with it, you say your response and people like you response is, no, everyone's wrong, you just don't understand it, which is not true. It's just a don't understand it, which is not true. It's just a perception thing.

No, it's not true. That's my point. First of all, it's perfection. Perfection? Perfection. You'll listen to it later. Oh, I didn't hear you. I didn't hear you. You misspoke, sorry.

No, that was you. Not me, sir. You said perfect, and he brought it back. Oh, okay, gotcha. Typically, that's what I'm doing. If you're like, why is he pronouncing like that? It's like, yeah, it's because you did it, right? But it's not about perfection, right?

It's not about it being 100% accurate in every case. Of course there are times when it's like, yeah, they're tanking, that's not cool, right? But what I'm saying is, in the grand scheme of the problems that face our league, this is a small one. This is a very small one that does not deserve the attention that we give it because ultimately what are we talking about? Do we really give a shit that Charlotte versus Washington was a lightly

watched game? And by the way, if they played all their guys, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference, you know what? Because they're bad either way and so the reality is real things that we have an issue with or people who are again i'd say it the people entrusted to sell our game are doing the opposite whether it's there's a two-way three is whether it's our generation is so much better than your generation whether it's uh... like hey he's a dumbass who's talking about

my son and i got a man your son's garbage like all of that stuff that's the stuff that does not help our sport i think it's really telling the biggest thing in football is a football game and the biggest thing in basketball who got traded who signed where when is who all day we found out who got drafted six minutes before the pick was announced why is that so important Where is, who, oh, we found out who got drafted six minutes before the pick was announced. Why is that so important? Why do we give a shit about shit

that we would have discovered anyway? Well, a huge part of it is exactly what you're talking about when you are disincentivizing the games being important, the games become less important. I mean, I mean, this is, the organizations right now, this is the problem that the NBA has to face is that if teams can't sell success, they're selling hope, which is incentivizing for fans to want the worst draft tick,

to want tanking. And Silver is in a really interesting position. They have the $76.5 billion TV deal. He has to find solutions that don't feel like gimmicks. Period, full stop. It's the thing that Gadel has done the best of, which is being a steward of the game as a product without making it feel ultra gimmicky.

And it's not an easy solution. If we all came up with it, they would just put it in. Bayam Etabayo is shooting 41% from three over his last 30 games. Guys, care about the product on the court. It's cool to see guys who had slow starts to the season, even in a season that could have been a season where they gave up, actually try to get better and improve and try to win games down the stretch, even when their team lost 10 in a season that could have been a season where they gave up, actually try to get better and improve

and try to win games down the stretch, even when their team lost 10 in a row. That's a good thing for the sport. MammothBio, good thing for the sport. We are sending mixed signals because on one hand, we're like, we should be talking about the product. And then he talked about the product, like, shut up, Jeremy.

So I don't know what I want. Well, that's just because it's Jeremy. Yep. And it's, yeah. Chris, tell us about the heat game last night. I wanna hear your take on it. It was so good. Yeah, it's Jeremy. Yep. And it's, yeah. Chris, tell us about the heat game last night. I wanna hear your take on it. It was so good. Yeah, nice job.

That's brilliant insight. I mean, I got a question. Do you think there was a shiver sent down Dan's spine when Amin mentioned Stephen A. Smith in this studio, on this show, with these co-hosts talking about that topic with that guy? In that league. It's 6.30 in the morning on the West Coast where Dan is.

He's been up since 3. He's been texting for two hours. I think he went back to bed and he was in a deep slumber, probably the best slumber he's had the entire trip. From HT? Valerie's next to him, everyone's feeling great, and then I said those words and he just shot up in the middle of the bed and Valerie's like,

what's wrong honey? He's like, what's wrong honey? He's like, they're talking about Stephen A Smith and LeBron coming to steal all the economies. Like the rain wait in a Gatorade commercial. Cold sweat. At some point, Charlie, I don't know if I'm putting you out there or something you don't want out there or not, but you'll forgive me. But Charlie has a game that he plays when listening to the Dan Lebatard show.

It's called Dango. And I think that he has to, at some point, you gotta let everybody in on Dango. So I'll be making boards. Ooh. You guys can keep them. Also pass them out tomorrow. Like bingo?

Yeah, and you can keep them in once. It'll be our little impact on the show for the next couple weeks. Nice. There'll be all of the Danisms, the Dan sayings, the slam Dan. We've been playing that for years back here. For years back here. At some point over the next couple weeks you'll get a Dango.

It could be Economies, it could be Butch Stu Gott, so I don't know if that one will be happening. Infrastructure. And once you get a Dango, yell it out, explain what it was. That's Gangster. That was one of my favorite ones. That's some gangster shit. That one doesn't come as often as it used to.

There was a time when everything was gangster shit. Anytime Dominique is on. Anytime Dominique is on because it's always Dominique thought these guys are types of industry and then he walks in and he realizes these guys are just morons and that's some gangster shit! They aren't morons. I just think they average. Can I ask one question, what's HT?

That is a, Dan, often after a segment, will just lay on the floor. Which we, for years, have been like, maybe he's sleepy, I don't know, and then we had, do we have his trainer on? We learned. No, he said the name of the person who like is doing the whole diet thing,

and I went on their website, and there's's a whole section called horizontal time and it's trademarked. So we just deduced, I don't think we've actually talked to Dan about this. No we have not. No we're revealing this on air for the first time. But we just know now that when he's doing that,

that's him being like I need some HT. It's a horizontal time. I don't think he calls it HT, I call it HT. I would think of horizontal time as something completely different. Yeah, if somebody told me, he tried to have a little HT, a little horizontal time,

and say, I'm married, right? Is that the right voice? Well, I would think that it would be your wife. That was something your wife would say with the kids around, don't want to be too crude, but like, hey guys, like, Dominique, can we get some HT tonight?

No, it's apparently like a digestion thing. Yeah, well. The kids know. I mean, we ain't hiding it. They know how they got here digestion thing. Yeah, well. The kids know. I mean, we ain't hiding it. They know how they got here. Like, hey, yeah. Yeah, are you like, is it the, with the house, how's the house layout?

Massive bedroom versus children's bedrooms. Oh, so it's, it's on one side. My bedroom is on one side. There's a hallway. All the kids are on the other side. Long hallway. Yeah, there you go. Oh yeah, the hallway. Is there a red light? I mean, it's not hallway, all the kids on the other side. Long hallway. Yeah, there you go. Oh yeah, the hallway.

Is there a red light? It's not that long, but it gets the job done. Get a red light bulb on, like put on in the hallway. That light's on, you know. TLC over here? I'm just saying, don't come wandering around. Actually, it was from a Seagal movie. Right.

The light in the hallway was red. I'm like, why? Foam. Well, we're not gonna do that here. I would like to find out though what you would do because, and maybe I'm beating this dead horse, but if you are saying that the problem is the way that the game is presented, how do you address that as an issue

other than make changes to the game? If it's about, not the way the game's being presented, the way the game is being discussed and how do you Disentangle the fact that what I believe the reason why these transactions are so much more important in your game As you call it then my game and football like football There are only 17 games. Maybe they're going to 18 games the games matter so damn much and That's why we care about the games. I think that the games in basketball have been devalued

by the league and its players, because there's so many games. There's the load management thing. There's the tanking thing. That all these off-season things become, or these transaction things become greatly important. Right? I think, I mean, it's not like we added games.

It's not like we, like all of a sudden people are like, hey, you know what? I think I'm gonna be bad for Tim Duncan or bad for LeBron James or bad for, like, this has all existed. Right. Like, so what's happening isn't the game has changed and it's what's happening is the way we talk about the game and that circles back again like what's my responsibility in all of this

in me being someone who worked at ESPN supposedly supposed to be someone selling the game and I'm talking about yeah that's a bad move by the front office they should have done Chicago should have traded Palgasol and traded all these guys and gotten picks because the season's going nowhere and I know from an analysis standpoint I was, especially when I look at what happened to the Bulls afterwards. But the reality is, man, like if I converted however many minds into thinking like that, I've actively hurt the game.

Some things aren't meant to be told, I guess. Right. And I think that the issue I would say exists is the environment around, so you're right, a lot of these things are not new, but the environment around it has changed. And like with the 24 hour sports networks and now with all the YouTube, there's so much to fill. If the games are not as consequential as we want them to be,

like if one basketball game is only equivalent to a fraction of a football game, obviously we're not gonna spend a whole day talking about a fraction of a football game, but we're not gonna spend a whole day talking about a fraction of a football game, but we have to fill that space with some sort of conversation. And if we go back to the 90s, only so many teams were interesting,

and that's all you needed, because there's only so many networks, only so much to talk about. Now we gotta fill up all these networks, all these fan bases, all these YouTube podcasts, and all that, that's for every little market, and the game has not evolved in a way that allows 82 games for 30 teams to matter.

And so rather than do that, you know what, it's on my list of topics today, where might Kevin Durant go next year? Because that's interesting to me, because you know what's not interesting right now? The Suns. They don't care about the 11th place Suns. You know what is interesting,

and speaking of transactions, since joining the Miami Heat in 24 games, Davion Mitchell is shooting 47% from three. And I think this also to speak to the media stuff of it is like the ringification of it all, is like, and this is, I'm guilty of this also, I have a hard time appreciating a team that's just good, or a team that's just, I like to watch.

Like, when you tell me about the Heat doing this, like, they don't got a damn chance. I don't care. This is a great blind spot that I'm glad you realize, because this is like the Donovan Mitchell conversation we talked about, which is like, the very good players, the all NBA players, that it's either. Are you good enough to be a 1A on a championship team or you're not interested?

You got to explain this. You're doing callbacks to our show that no one knows. Our show, we've argued about whether or not Donovan Mitchell is good for now, like three years. It's because when the Knicks didn't trade for Donovan Mitchell, there was the ESPN news cycle being like, New York dodged a bullet. They have more space now. They didn't want to give him all their picks. And it's like, now it's still like a 65-win team and he's done this on multiple organizations.

But because there's a perception that he can't be the one on the championship team, he's not interesting to a lot of fans. As a casual basketball fan, I still think the Celtics are better. Just something to say, I look at the Cavs and I'm just like, meh, Celtics. Right, but even if the Celtics are better, I think that say, I look at the calves and I'm just like, meh, Celtics. Right, but even if the Celtics are better,

I think that Charlie's calling me out in this point and saying, but the calves are good and fun to watch, and I, every time the calves come up in our conversations, me and Charlie, I'm like, yeah. Meh. Exactly, I hit him with that 1920s mobster sound that you just hit. Meh.

The line can't just be, are you as good as LeBron or Curry or Vonis. Exactly, I hit him with that 1920s mobster sound that you just hit. Meh. Meh. The line can't just be are you as good as LeBron or Curry or Leonis. And that's my thing. So let me ask you this question. Why do you think if football, you guys don't have this phenomenon which is, man if Joe Montana played today,

he would have had 17 million touchdowns and 800 receiving yards or whatever, or vice versa. Man, if Patrick Mahomes played back in the 70s, man he would have had like 17 million yards or whatever, or vice versa. Man, if Patrick Mahomes played back in the 70s, man, he would have had like 17 million yards or whatever. Why don't y'all ever have those stupid ass conversations that seem to have our sport by chokehold? Because CTE ensures that they don't even remember

that they played. That's a good point. I feel like football has plenty of stupid debates. Yeah, we do have plenty of stupid debates. I'm just joking. What is the stupid debate that y'all have? I mean all of have I mean all of them yeah no like because Josh Allen versus Lamar Jackson but for years he's talking about the the cross generation yeah what there it is dango across generations but no but that's that's my point is like you

could have a Josh Allen versus Lamar Jackson. You know how you settle it? When Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson play against each other. That's how they settle it. Settling it by ****. 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 going to need by your side.

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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 rush, or wide receiver, quarterback, one thing that we all know is we're going with Smirnoff and as fun as it is to debate whether or not the team with the number one pick goes pass rush or 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!

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