Hour 1: I Only Have Gold Medals
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I do not know about the rest of you, but when I hear the name Michael Johnson, it is synonymous for me with Olympic excellence. And Michael Johnson is going to join us here, one of the greatest sprinters of all time.

He's going to join us in a little bit to talk about racing and racing is one of the places where track and field is one of the places where you can track the evolution of the athlete, the measurements of the athlete and see how much better the athlete is today than he used to be or she used to be because, uh,

So many things in evolution have led to today's athlete with science and everything else being the best athlete. And I thought Juju made a great point on oddball. I want to play the clip here. It's not something that I had considered, but at some point,

We're going to have to laugh at Michael Jordan's athleticism the way that we laugh at Bob Cousy's athleticism because he comes from such an ancient time that Wemba Nyama is going to end up making Michael Jordan look like someone who couldn't compete in the age of an athlete 50 years after that. So Juju brought something up on oddball and I really hadn't considered this and I want to throw it in front of the group.

I hope you're sitting down for this right here. I'm about to say, please sit down. I'm sitting South Sudan from these days right here. Of course. Yeah. They will beat the 92 Olympic squad, the dream team. Oh, that was a curve ball that I did not see coming. Total blasphemy.

Brother, I mean, have you seen the rosters? Larry Bird, old ass shorts will hit the ground once he see Katie Eurostep once. Who is he going to guard? Magic Johnson, much respect, but this ain't the magic of yesteryear. This 1992 Magic Johnson. And dare I say Clyde the Glyde with that goddamn cul-de-sac on his head. Bro, who are you going to guard? D-Book?

Please. And Michael Jordan, salute to the defense player of the year that you allegedly were. Salute to Tom Haberstroh and those numbers coming out. I don't think when you... Brother, trust me. Don't trust me. Sudan. Top. I don't know. Larry Bird was already laying on the ground with that bad back.

Exactly. He hurt his back doing a pavement, paving his grandma's driveway or whatever it was. I don't think those brothers, the mythologicalness of that, the 1992 Dream Team, I think it's been made so much bigger than it actually is. Put them boys out there. I think you made a good point with Wimby. Boy, David Robinson would fall out if he seen he had to guard Wimby tonight. You've gone too far.

David Robinson would be like the guy from the era that I would trust in that spot. Yeah. The Admiral. I wouldn't trust his ass at all. I trust Pop.

All right. You, you have blasphemed against the mythological past, but Michael Johnson, I see him here on the screen and he is smiling at this entire conversation, but he too must marvel at the evolution of athletes. And at some point guys, we really are. I don't know what year it is. I think it's a little, it's a little disrespectful to say that South Sudan would beat the 1992 dream team, but at some point 30, look at Michael. Oh,

Michael Johnson is with us. Why are you shaking your head sadly?

I mean, the whole South Sudan thing is just crazy. I mean, it's just madness, the craziness that's come out of that. And then people got some wild ass theories on that thing, man. And it's just, yeah, it's crazy. David Robinson was on the 92 team. I was on that team, that dream team. I mean, it was phenomenal. I mean, it was a phenomenal team. I think the South Sudan team could beat them.

But how many years into the future do I need to go before you'd be willing to say the athlete has evolved so much that, of course, he or she is going to dominate an athlete for 50 and 60 or 70 years earlier?

I mean, it depends on what type of sport you're talking about. So for a sport like track, it's still going to be a long time because it's still a skill to the sport. But the training, you know, the tracks are going to get faster. Shoes are going to get faster. We see athletes running faster. But like a sport like basketball, you know, man, I don't know when that's going to be where, you know, that a subpar athlete

Most athlete in a sport right now are at the bottom of the professional ranks with just run circles around a superstar of 30, 40 years ago. I don't see that happening anytime soon. I onboarded you a bit awkwardly. I should tell the people, obviously, he's one of the greatest sprinters of all time, four-time Olympic gold medalist. He's joining us from Paris as part of BBC's Olympic coverage. And he's also the CEO and commissioner of Grand Slam Track.

We'll talk to that, talk to him about that in a second. But Juju, did you have something here for Michael Johnson? Yes, sir. I just want Michael, brother Michael, legend. I just want you to consider the competition the Dream Team went up against versus what's actually happened on Earth these days. You feel me? The world has caught up to that team.

Oh, for sure. There's no doubt about that. I mean, we remember, I mean, what Barkley was doing to them boys back in 92 in Barcelona. It was pretty ridiculous. I mean, this is different. I mean, it's so much more of a global league. I was at an event last night and Adam Silver was talking about just the evolution of the global nature of the NBA. And it's amazing now. And he rattled out some stats of just, you know, how many guys from around the world now are playing in the league. And it's night and day from what it was back in 92. That's for sure.

You mentioned being around the 92 Olympic dream team where if we were to go through memory lane with you on your snapshot Olympic memories, if we were to go through a physical scrapbook that extends outside of you competing, because I know your focus was such that you had to be competing. What are the things, the landmarks that you look back on and smile because of the nostalgia, because you wish you had appreciated it more while it was happening, because it was such a glorious time to be you.

Yeah, I mean, I think, yeah, I think, you know, going to, I went to some of those games in Barcelona, the first time the Dream Team actually played. I went to some of those games. It was phenomenal to see, you know,

You know, watching Usain Bolt in 100 meters, this is after I retired and he's there breaking my world record. It was still amazing to see. Yeah, I mean, there's some some iconic moments around the Olympics. One of the first things I remember seeing was the 1984 Olympics when I was still a high school kid.

in L.A. and watching Carl Lewis duplicate Jesse Owens' feat of four Olympic gold medals and just phenomenal to see. So, yeah, there's some amazing memories I have of the Olympics all the way back from even before I was competing and what inspired me until today, you know, and we'll see some amazing performances here at these Olympics. Especially for a sport like track and for all sports, you know, with the history of the Olympic Games,

It pulls out some great performances, great drama. You'll see people, you know, who are expected to win gold fall short of it. And it's dramatic. And then you'll see people who never expected they were going to be a gold medalist actually win. And it changes their lives. Who do you enjoy watching run more? Noah Lyles or Sha'Carri Richardson? Uh...

You know, both are very, very interesting characters to watch. And not just because, I mean, they're both phenomenal athletes, but they're both characters as well. Great personalities, you know, very, you know, unapologetically who they are, both Sha'Carri and Noah. People both love them and hate them. And,

and they divide opinion. And yeah, and that's what you want to see. That's what makes it interesting. It's the storytelling that, you know, makes sport interesting. It makes people want to root for someone or against them. And so I, you know, I love to see both of them. I love to see Noah go out there and say, hey, I'm going to do something

audacious that nobody's ever done before and then want to draw all of the attention on himself as well knowing full well if he loses the backlash on social media and everywhere else is going to be swift and it is going to be harsh but the fact that he's unafraid of that makes him a very dangerous athlete because

A lot of the athletes are out there, you know, sort of under that pressure. They don't even, they want to sort of hide from the pressure. They don't tell you what they want to do. They just say, oh, you know, as long as I do my best, I'll be happy. Noah tells you right away, I'm not going to be happy with anything but winning.

What is it about the fastest of fast people that has that particular swagger that makes you smirk? You had a lot of it, but you were not that kind of polarizing. People loved you. You were not somebody whose brashness was so brash that it was bothering people because it made them uncomfortable, even though the confidence for you was probably similarly real inside.

Yeah, I mean, you know, there were people who said, yeah, I can't believe this guy's, you know, wearing gold shoes. But that was my confidence and, you know, my ability to go...

go out there and win. And yeah, some people took that as a bit of arrogance. It was confidence for me. But yeah, I think to be a sprinter, I mean, sprinting is a combat sport pretty much. I mean, you got to go out there and beat other people. Everybody wants to win. Only one person's going to win. It's in front of the world. And yeah, it's tough. And you've got to have that sort of confidence

to go in there and win. You have to have confidence, not only in your own ability, but you have to have confidence that you can beat the other people. And the best have that. Yeah, and so I had that. Noah certainly has that. Sha'Carri has that. And now you have to go out there and do it. Who has that the most?

Yeah, I think those two have it the most. But I'm saying throughout the history of your sport. Throughout the history of the sport, I would say it would be me, Maurice Green, who I competed against for a while. And we both, you know, sort of, you know, we didn't back down from one another. I'm actually going to see him tonight. We're much more friendly now than we were then. Friends.

Fred Curley, who's going to be in this 100 meters tonight, he is extraordinarily confident and has the swagger. Yeah, I mean, there's most of Dennis Mitchell, who coaches Sha'Carri Richardson. He was competing back when I was competing. He was on the 88, 92, and 96 teams. And a great sprinter as well. Never won, but he definitely brought the confidence. Speaking of the confidence in sprinters...

How much does sprinting translate into actual just fastest? Like, do you think you could beat a power walker, for example, in power walking? Is that the same? Okay.

I think the walk, actually, the 50K walk, I think, was this morning. It's different. We have different sports in track and field, and it makes it a little bit complicated. So as a sprinter, I probably couldn't beat most people in the world, let alone the Olympians.

As a walker, it's just not what I'm equipped to do. Same thing. I was a world-class track and field athlete, and when I was a world-class sprinter winning gold medals in sprinting, if you took me over to the pole vault, I probably couldn't do it. So we have a lot of different sports in one, and it gets a little bit complicated. And that's why with Grand Slam Track, which I'm launching next year, we're only doing racing, only the track events. We're not doing any of the field events because –

We want to focus on just the fast people, only the fastest. Go to GrandSlamTrack.com to gear up for the league starting in the spring of 2025. We'll talk to him about that in a second. Forgive me because there was some talk in my ear as you were saying a sentence. Did I hear you call sprinting a combat sport?

It's it's it's the mentality is definitely like a combat sport. I mean, it is when you see this, right? Like if you watched if you haven't watched Sprint on Netflix, which follows the greatest sprinters, Noah carries in there, watch it and you will see the sort of mentality that's required to go out there.

This isn't a team sport. There's no, hey, you know what? I had a great day. We should have won, but the defense let us down. There is none of that. It's just you out there by yourself competing against the others. It is it's head to head and it's it's it's high stakes and it's high pressure. Do you have a favorite gold medal? Do you have one that has a more prominent placement in your home than the others? Um.

No, not a favorite of the others. Each one was its own story, its own journey, its own challenges to win. I think the thing that I'm most proud of is the fact that I only have gold medals. I've won eight world championship gold medals, four Olympic gold medals. That's such a great sentence. That's such a great sentence. I don't have, I don't have, if you had a silver medal, where would it be in your home? Yeah.

- Yeah, I don't know because fortunately I don't have any, so I don't have to think about that. - Are you still fast?

- No, no. I mean, sprinting again, I think people sort of lump sprinting in with all running and sprinting is like being a linebacker. And it's like asking a linebacker, like when people say, "Hey, do you still run?" It's kind of like, 'cause nobody sprints recreationally. It's just not something you do as a recreational sport.

It's very, it's a ballistic sport. It's really fast. It's really aggressive and it's short periods and you do it. So it's like asking somebody, you know, who's a retired 57 year old linebacker, are you still a linebacker? You know, no, of course, you know, nobody is.

You just don't, you don't do it, you know? And most sprinters like me don't sort of then transition into being a runner. I mean, I used to, for a while I did, you know, go out just, you know, for exercise, go out and do jogging, you know, jog for, you know, a few miles or something, but I don't even do that anymore. I'm in the gym a lot and I hike a lot, but I don't run.

I don't know if people know how dominant you were. You didn't lose a 400-meter race for eight years, nine years? Didn't you win close to 60 straight races?

Yeah, that streak lasted a very long time. Yeah. And it was it was and I ended up in my career. I lost two 400 meter races. And out of that 10 years and probably hundreds of my races. But the crazy thing is, and while I'm very proud of my streak, the longest streak, I still wasn't even halfway to Edwin Moses's streak, which was just crazy. One hundred and thirty something races, I think.

Did you have a lot of hate in your heart? You say you get along better with the people today when you see them out, but did you have like, what did, what did the height of competition look like for you when you didn't like somebody?

It was just, you know, it was always, you know, for me, and this is kind of the way that it is, or at least it was then with sprinting. It's changed a little bit now, but where, yeah, it's kind of, you know, again, it's kind of like boxers, you know, where it's aggressive and everybody wants to win. Only one person can be the winner and

These are the guys that you got to beat in order to get to the top. So we didn't like each other a lot. You know, it wasn't really personal. There were a few that it became personal with. And then that was the sort of person where there was some hate where you're like, you know, if I do lose, I don't want to lose to that person, you know, and but yeah.

you know, it changed over the years where a lot of that sort of rivalry was taken out of the sport where the athletes were kind of much more, you know, sort of friendly, even on camera to each other and kind of like, you know, like, oh, you know, it

We're all just out here having fun. And I don't think that that's what fans really enjoy. And I think that's why the sport, a few years ago, kind of started to suffer quite a bit. It's starting to come back a bit now because of people like Noah and people like Sha'Carri who are out there being...

unapologetically who they are and saying, hey, yeah, I want to win. And I know in order to win, I've got to beat the other people and I'm going to beat them. And fans then are invested because if you're following and you're supporting Sha'Carri, you don't want to invest your time all to hear her say, you know, if I win, I win. If I don't, I don't. Yeah. You're like, no, I'm here supporting you. I want you to win and I want to know that you're here to win.

Can you explain to us in the loneliness of training to the layman in 30 seconds, in something that is bite-sized, what is the most extreme example or wording that you can use to explain to us just how hard it was for you to train to be this good?

Yeah, you know, it's hard, but it's not, to be honest, it's not that much harder than any other sport. It's the whole dedication to the craft. It's trying to, it's, you know, the key is not just training hard and just, you know, grafting, you know, it's training smart. The best athletes in track and the best athletes in sport

typically have three things in common. They are extraordinarily talented, more so than everybody else. That's number one. Two, they do work really, really hard, but they work really smart. And they've figured out how to train or their coach. They've worked with their coach and they figured out how to get the best from themselves physically and mentally as well. How you compete and go in there and compete under the pressure of an Olympic moment like

the gun's gonna go off in 19 seconds from now, I'm either gonna be Olympic champion or I'm not. That's a lot of pressure. How do you go in and manage that pressure well so you're still able to deliver your best performance? And the third thing is most of the athletes who are the greatest, they understand their sport or their position better than most. They're like students and professors of their game or their position.

Tell us why it is that you started Grand Slam track. Was it something that was missing from track that you felt you needed to put your power on? Absolutely. What's missing with track and has been for some time is that, you know, you're going to have this great Olympic Games here. Track is at the forefront. It's the center of these games. Everybody's watching. They love it. It's compelling competition, high stakes, drama.

the best athletes in the world competing head to head, and then you'll have to wait another four years. In that four years in between, there is very little head to head competition. The athletes aren't compensated enough to make it worth their while to go out and compete. They want to. They want to compete against one another. They want to continue doing what they're going to do here. There hasn't been a platform for them to do that.

Fans want to see that. They absolutely want to see it. There are fans around the world, 2.5 billion people around the world have an interest in track and field and running, but they can't find the sport because the athletes aren't centrally contracted. They're not organized at scale. And that's what we're doing with Grand Slam Track. So we've built this on the same model of the four golf majors every year and the four tennis Grand Slams every year. So there will be four athletes

Grand Slam track meets next year in 2025 where you will have the same high stakes, great athletes, storytelling, head-to-head competition that you're having here in Paris at this Olympic Games. Michael, it's nice seeing you. I do still think you're fast. I think you'd beat everyone here in a foot race. I think, I still think, I don't know when the last time was you sprinted, but I'm guessing you're still very fast.

I appreciate that, Dan. I appreciate that. Thank you, sir. Nice seeing you. All right. Thanks, guys.

A lot has changed over the years, audience. As you've been so kind in pointing out, my shirt size has changed over the years. Look, I started this show as a 19-year-old boy. Now I'm a 38-year-old dad. But along the way, one staple of my life has been Miller Lite. And those of you that have been listening to us know this. I've been a Miller Lite guy since day one. I have been pretty honest about that. So let's get down to the nitty-gritty. What is the best thing about the original Lightbeer Miller Lite?

It sparked this debate way back in 1975, and we still haven't settled it. For me, it's the undebatable quality.

It's great taste and it's less filling. Whether you're out with your friends, at a game, at a bar, in the shower, Miller Lite delivers Miller time every time. You don't have to choose what's best about Miller Lite. It has great taste and is less filling. Tastes like Miller time. To get Miller Lite delivered right to your door, visit MillerLite.com slash Dan. Or you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories per 12 ounces. Fewer cows and carbs than premium regular beer.

Don Levitard. I went in the margins. I'm like, I'm like your money ball of sex. I'm basically Scott Hatterberg. A lot of walks. Stugatz. A lot of walks, but I'm on base. When it comes to sex, I'm Scott Hatterberg. Other dudes, they can be Giambi. You know your role you play well? I know my role. This is the Don Levitard Show with the Stugatz.

Benjamin Rose writes in, filled with fury, Levitard show was so much better when they just did show. Trying to get aggregated every day is bleeping up the show.

Benjamin, the only time I try to get aggregated is when I am wearing a costume. It is the only time. And I have some regrets recently that I have not been wearing a costume during certain moments, but it is legitimately the only time. Forgive me, I'm being right now distracted because Tony, looking extra Latin,

Extra Hispanic. That shirt has him looking very Miami. He is joining us right now from Jesus Perez Patio here at the Arbetters Wall of Fame. Arbetters, world's greatest chili dog since 1959. Arbetters.

Ron McGill is a Hall of Famer at Arbetters. Why did you go there in order to try and find a person who can name a single Marlin, and how are you going to be doing this?

Dan, I'm glad that you asked. We're here on the corner of La 87 and Bird. And when you tell me Sauesere, you tell me Westchester, I think of baseball. Columbus is right down the road. We're obviously here at our betters. Tammy Park is right down the road, too, where you have baseball being grown up.

in Miami, the grassroots of baseball. Tamiami Park, not too far away. And when you leave Tamiami Park after a little league baseball game, you come over here to Arbetter's and you get some chili dogs. So I am here. What I feel like is the grassroots of baseball. We've got some patrons inside. We're doing a couple things here to see who knows anything about the Marlins. I've got a crispy $20 bill for the first person that can name me a Marlin. Ma'am, can you name me a Miami Marlin? I can't. One.

Juan. No, no. Juan is my one. Do we have a Juan? It's a good guess. Do we have a Juan? It is a good guess. Such a Westchester answer. It's such a good guess, though. Do you know anything about the Marlins? Not really. Not one? You can't name your Marlin? No.

Too long. Okay, no. I'll answer that one for you. All right. All right, Dan, I'm going to go inside in a second and see if 20 bucks can jog somebody's memory from Miami Marlin. But I do want you to come over here really quick.

Ron McGill, class of 2024, right there on top of Richard Blanco. All right. Hold on a second there, Tone. We've got some questions here. And before you get going on this, before you wander through, you're going to offer somebody. Is that guy there wearing a Marlins shirt? No, it's an Arbetta shirt. Brother, anything about the Marlins? Can you name me a Marlin for $20? $20.

Marlon's the dolphin. The dolphins. No, sorry. Oh, boy. It's tough when you have a microphone. Sabotage people. Tony, you look phenomenal, by the way. You do. You look so great. Did you check the linen pants, too? Did you guys get the linen pants? You look great. That is a very bold choice for a shirt because if you looked any more like a couch, J.D. Vance would try to **** you.

I want area rug. What couches do you know that look like this? Yeah, I was going to say, no couches look like this. So, Dan, you were saying, do you want me to go in and start, or did you have questions for me? I do want you to go in and start in just a second, but I want to know just how many people are there, and I do think instead of asking them if they know anything about the Marlins, the aggressive putting of pressure on them. You saw what happened. That guy just choked of saying, name a Marlin for $20. Yeah.

The pressure of that does make people choke. I feel like I would fail that game if I wasn't expecting it. Sure. Okay, I can come in with a little more subtlety. A guy in a Dodge Charger thinking he's being cool. That's Bird Road for you. Westchester. Yeah, Westchester. The Flannies is right down the road. By the way, Mike, we can meet thereafter. There's a father-son duo here that looks promising. He's wearing a baseball hat.

you know, whatever. I don't think I actually, I don't want you to succeed until the end. I want to get some of the funny failures first, before you go in there real quick, Chris, because you grew up playing in South Florida, but you grew up playing in, uh, Broward County, uh, baseball. When Tony says to Miami, uh,

I was terrified of all their Little League players. They were so much better at baseball than us from Broward. So much better. I played travel against them, and those teams are like, you know, that was like, what's the movie where I am 12, where he just holds up a sign and he's like 38 years old, but it's like a sign that says I am 12. All right, Tony, go ahead and get in there and let's see where it is that your travels take us.

All right. Let's see. We got Dolphins guy here. He tried hard. Let me tell you. You know, it's not easy getting a mic put in your face. He choked. Yes, it's true. Yeah. Yeah, he did. He did. He did. Let's see. Yeah. It would be funny if you just ran into Billy Gill on his off time. It would be. Guys, really quick. Can you name me a Miami Marlin for 20 bucks? No.

She's giving me this kid can I want to say so no no on the my more than not one Mike's Mike Ryan says he knows you you know Mike Ryan. Oh, I know. Oh, yeah. I was waiting Hey, what's up, dude? Hey, good to see you, man

I like the mullet. Colton can't name for $20. He says he likes the mullet. Oh, he likes the mullet. It's good. Finally. Good seeing you, Colton. Good seeing you, Colton. Colton's buddy, can you name me a Miami Marlin for $20? Not a chance. Not a chance. Okay. Not a chance here. Not a chance. All right. The promising father-son duo.

Dad, can you name me for 20 bucks? I'm going to give it to you right here. For 20 bucks, can you name me a Miami Marlin? I'm more of a Yankee fan. All right. Kid said he's got one. Here we go. All right. Name me a current Miami Marlin. Jorge Soler.

No, that was last year. He was traded last year. He's a brave now, I believe. He got traded. Say it again? Jazz Chisholm. No. Your dad's pretty happy about him, though. Two strikes. You know how baseball. Two strikes. He got one more strike.

Who's the second one you said? Abisal Garcia. Abisal Garcia. Judges? No. Strike three. Strike out. Rip that $20 bill away from that table. One of the worst contracts in baseball. Guys, I am so sorry. Abisal Garcia. So we've got nobody, nobody inside the world famous Arbetters that can name me a Miami Marlin. We also don't have a Miami Marlin on the wall here.

All right, Tony, regroup. We'll come back to you. We'll see if the lunch crowd changes in 20 minutes over there. Mike saw his friend. Good to see Colton. It's his barber. Thanks, Colton. See you later, Tony. Thank you for checking in. We appreciate it. We're going to check in with you again because we're going to give away that $20 to somebody.

I'm watching the summer games and I can tell you that with all the blood, sweat, and tears that these athletes lose during competition, they need all the hydration that they can get. I also know that the weekend warriors like myself need to have the electrolytes that Liquid IV can provide. Where there is a day at the ballpark of barbecuing, staying hydrated is crucial, especially in this heat.

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I have a topic here that I believe to be the most in the wheelhouse for Jessica in her entire tenure with our show. Because Mike and I were talking...

And he was wondering if tiramisu is a Hall of Fame dessert. And I don't know who we would put in as first ballot Hall of Fame desserts. But I did want to just ask the group in honor of the tiramisu story that Mike Ryan is going to update us on in a second. If you had only one dessert that you can have, there's only one that you can have. Because Mike, which one would you choose?

as, for you, the most first ballot Hall of Famer as a dessert? Because mine are, what are you shaking your head about? This is, there couldn't be a more obvious answer to this. I'll go last. Well, my personal favorites, here's the thing. You say there couldn't be a more obvious answer, but,

For me, the things that I consider the greatest weaknesses are ice cream cake and cheesecake. But I don't know if those would be Hall of Fame desserts for everybody. First ballot Hall of Famers for everybody. They would be my favorites. But I'm not sure that I would have consensus on that. Is tiramisu a Hall of Fame dessert? Like how is this the college dessert?

Is this the basketball Hall of Fame? Is it easy to get into or is it hard to get into? Well, certainly if it were the basketball Hall of Fame, Tiramisu would get in based on international accomplishments. The creator passed away recently and I was stunned to learn that the inventor of Tiramisu was...

was just 81 years old at the time of his passing. That means that this was a relatively new invention. Your dad probably remembers when Tiramisu got introduced to the culinary world. Wow. To be there in that moment when someone decides coffee, pastries, together for dessert.

It's not just coffee and pastry, Mike. I've made tiramisu three times. I've made classic tiramisu twice. And you have to make ladyfingers. Some people buy ladyfingers. I make them from scratch. You have to make very soft...

nice cylindrical lady fingers and then you soak them in coffee mixed with alcohol. So for me, the two greatest things and also the two things that cause the greatest amount of heartburn in most people are part of this dessert. So it's,

It's the ladyfinger, it's the soaking, and then it's the layer of cream and mascarpone. Third greatest thing for me behind alcohol and coffee, cheese. And tiramisu has it all. That's why baking is her core culinary discipline, Dan.

Put it on the poll, please. Is cheese a dessert at Levitard Show? And put on the poll, Juju, is tiramisu a dessert Hall of Famer? I'm not sure it would be. Not if it's the Baseball Hall of Fame. You really sounded like you had some judgment in your voice when you viewed others buying ladyfingers at the store versus making them from scratch. I've

For me, if you're going to go out of your way to make tiramisu, just make the ladyfingers yourself because it does take a while. You do have to chill it for a while for it to come together and set. So I always make my own. I think once you've made something like a ladyfinger from scratch, you can never go back to store-bought. It just is so much better and fresher. Oh, you can really taste the flavors. It is a lot of work, Roy, and you have to put it in a piping bag and pipe it out to get the shape right.

And that can be a real pain in the ass. You also can't overwhip it. You have to have the air holes in it. So you have to have a really light batter, and then you have to put it in your piping bag and pipe it out into these nice rows to make your even layer of tiramisu. But that is also the great thing about doing it from scratch. You can make different shapes. So if you want to do a round tiramisu, you could do round ladyfinger cookies. And then I guess they're not really ladyfingers. They're more like ladystumps, I guess. But it's still delicious. Ladyfinger.

There you go. Lady sausage fingers. You soak it in the rum or cognac, whatever, and the coffee. The second variation of tiramisu that I made last year, I made it for my birthday, was a lemon-flavored tiramisu. And instead of rum and coffee, I used lemon and limoncello. So it was soaked in limoncello. And then there was a layer of the mascarpone cream. Oh, my God, it was so good. TFTI. TFTI.

I just learned something valuable. Like, you just taught me something today. You said put it on a pole. Tierra Masu is one word. Oh, you didn't know that? I was thinking it was like Tierra and then Masu. The name. Franco Harris. It's Tierra Masu. Thank you, Dan. I'm going Creme Brulee's up there. Creme Brulee's great. When we're talking first ballot, though, like, yeah, I like Tierra Masu. Like, there are fancy desserts. But we're just talking word association. Dessert.

First Ballot Hall of Fame, ice cream. That's it. Dan mentioned it. We can do ice cream cake if you want, but ice cream. All flavors? Just ice cream. Is the first round pick, first draft pick of a dessert draft. Ice cream. I have a question for Jess as we answer that, though. Tiramisu being a relatively new dessert kind of surprised me. Are there any new desserts that are changing the game? Things that aren't...

haven't really been conventionally used as a dessert but have now like just shocked the system the way that tiramisu did that's a great question i have seen a lot of recent desserts in miami that have quinoa in them and i know that that sounds disgusting but it's actually quite good because what these restaurants are doing is they're baking quinoa with sugar and creating candy quinoa and it's actually pretty good it's got like a nice little crunch to it and then you

serve that with like heavy whipped cream and some sort of other like fruit component. It's very, very good. I would like you to close your eyes for you to just close your eyes. You just had a great dinner and now the waiter brings over a saucer and on that saucer lies an unwrapped Snickers ice cream bar and a fork. Mmm.

Dig in, guys. Wake up. You're awake. I would like to nominate a couple first ballot dessert Hall of Famers. One, I made this weekend, Black Forest Cake. Spent my whole Sunday making it before I realized the U.S. was actually playing Germany in soccer. And then I was like, hmm, I hope we win. And we did. Yeah.

delicious. Cherries, also Kirsch involved, so it has the alcohol and the chocolate component. And then, of course, you have to have your classic key lime pie with a little dollop of whipped cream on it, a little bit of citrus zest from your key lime, or use regular limes. If you don't have key limes, it's fine. But the nice salty graham cracker crust, the custardy lime center in the whipped cream, that is a

First ballader. I think you need to do a baking segment. You and Cody need to team up to see if you can figure out how to do that for us. I want to get back to ice cream here. Do you separate the ice cream out? Do you go regular ice cream? Gelato? Sherbert? Custard? I think we have to pick. We can't do just ice cream as a Hall of Famer. I think you have to go flavors. I think...

Look, Black Forest Cake, I don't know that people are going to vote for that. I was going to say, I'll do respect, Jess. First ballot. Did anyone voice for cookies? Because I don't want to ignore cookies. That's a first round pick. Especially now. Which cookies? Well, we're in the golden age of these really decadent cookies. A double chunk chocolate cookie.

Put it on the poll, please, Juju, at Levitard Show. Does candy quinoa sound delicious? Boom! I had a gelato this past weekend that was wine flavored. Oh, my God. Put that on the first ballot. Jessica, a lot of your desserts have a lot of liquor in them. Like, this seems to be a recurring theme here. My type of dessert.

Put bottles of port there, too. That's a great dessert. Just a glass of port. Yeah. Do you think the vote's going to come back strong on Black Forest Cake being an immediate first ballot Hall of Famer? That was an unusual choice to go that aggressive there. Well, I think...

I think people like cherries a lot and when you make the black forest cake cherries you like melt the cherries down with sugar and so they become really soft and sweet and you have to use like these really dark sweet cherries and I spent probably three hours on Sunday pitting the cherries so it's not like this is something you can just whip up like this was a labor of love I had to use a chopstick I don't have a cherry pitter I had to use a chopstick and I had to stab the

pit out and then my friend Rohan actually came over and helped me with it that was fun it's an activity for the whole family really when you say black forest I go ham so I just she had me thinking about like a ham cake yeah by the way it's kind of good actually you go ham as in like you like go crazy yeah

From the makers of change your Yahoo passwords because there was a data breach, big recall on Boar's Head deli meat. So keep an eye out on that. Oh, Mike, I'm glad you mentioned this. Speaking of ham, people are going ham about this Listeria outbreak because I read there's over like $28 billion or something like that of recalled deli meats. And it's mostly around the Northeast. Florida, I don't think was on the list. So if you have been to Publix lately for a sub...

Double check, but I think you're okay. A brutal blow for Joe Rose and the people at the local people. The caller, who is it? The local people at Richie from Boar's Head locally. I was trying to look for the name of who from Boar's Head. Also put this on the poll, Juju, please. Black Forest, ham, or cake? And also put on the poll, what is the better cake? Black Forest cake or red velvet cake?

What are the best- The funny thing is, it was Indian for us just up until recently. Too soon. Turned black.

Because I don't think of Black Forest Cake as something that I would necessarily put in my top 10 cakes. I'm not totally sure. I agreed with you until Sunday because that was the first time I've really tried it. And I was blown away, blown away by Black Forest Cake. It is phenomenal. You were happy at what you made, too. You created something new. It was three hours. It was a labor of love. Your friend comes over. It becomes an emotional endeavor.

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