Hour 2: Smoking On The Plane
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That's right. It's time for Against the Spread. Where was everybody else? And it is sponsored by DraftKings. Stay tuned because you're going to hear about what DraftKings has to offer all throughout the show. DraftKings, the crown is yours. Also, DraftKings is sponsoring the Tonight Show. The Tony Show presented by DraftKings. Tonight at 7 p.m. on YouTube. So Tony Tonight or the Tonight Show or...

Yeah, I'm hosting The Tonight Show on CBS. Is Lewis your co-host? NBC, whatever. Who cares? Who watches that stuff? Is Lewis co-hosting with you? What's going on? Lewis is part of the ensemble. Chris is going to be here. We've got a lot of the guys outside are going to be here. So it's going to be a fun show. Mike Ryan going to be here? Mike Ryan's going to be in the building. Billy going to be here? No.

You know what? Let's start with Tony. With against the Scrooge! Guys, NBA Summer League is in full effect. Your Miami Heat minus four and a half point favorites against the Dallas Mavericks.

I like what I'm seeing from the Heat guys, Jeremy. Kashad Johnson in them, boys. Looking very, very strong. I'm going to take the Heat. Minus four and a half. Against the spread! Put it on the poll, please, Juju. Are you a total degenerate if you're betting Summer League at Levitard Show? Or let's not put that up there. Jeremy, up to you. Well, we were just talking about the WNBA earlier. Kaitlin Clark's Indiana Fever at the Dallas Wings. Fever are four-point favorites.

We're picking the Fever. Minus four. Against the Spread! Lucy, we're always pro-Caitlyn Clark around here. Have you watched her? She's been so good. She's been so good. And the Fever have been really, really good. They've won eight out of their last 12. I mean, playoff team. Yeah, they're in the playoffs right now. Someone picked the Washington Mystics last edition of Against the Spread against Caitlin Clark.

And won. Well, she dropped one of the craziest stat lines in WNBA history that game. It's not my fault that Christy Sides doesn't know what to do. Here's a stat line to count. W's. That's what the Mystics delivered that game. It's Christy's fault.

And so now, here I am, not planned, not prepared, but don't worry. Even though Jeremy's a thief, I have another game. Well, we'll come back to you. No, I have it right now. I'm ready. Don't count me out. All right, let's go. I think more order. I would think that somebody would talk with somebody else, plan it a little bit. No.

We just want to live our lives. I'm wearing a Kalen Clark hat, so I feel like that game technically belonged to me. We're in a contract year. It's got to be better than this. I actually think this is really good. I acted on my feet there. You went rogue and talked about the Tony show, and I go, you know what? I'm thinking on my feet. Tony, you go first. Wow. That was like an expert. Improv. Expert. Contract year, Tony show. We went.

I just have to be genuine and feel real, you know? This isn't manufactured stuff, Dan. This is from my heart. Yeah. And from my heart, I do have a game. I'm pulling it up right now. From my heart, I am taking the Lynx tonight. They're hosting the Dream. It's an eight-point spread. The Lynx are favorite. The Dream, I am very, very sorry to Juju. This is his favorite team, but they've been pretty bad this year. Wow.

They just have not been good. And the Lynx, they're coming off a loss to guess who? The Fever. Against the spread. Oh yeah, against the spread. But I did so good on the part before that it's okay that I forgot that last part. Billy boy, bring us home. Well, here's the issue, gang. I had a game. A baseball game. I had the Cubs and the D-backs. However, it's the all-star break.

Yeah, that's not a game that's... No, the game's on Friday. I was going to tell you who to take because I know half of the pitching matchup. You can do that. I can do that. Yeah, Justin Steele. Chicago Cubs starting pitcher. He has been hot lately. Yeah, no, against the spread, you can pick games ahead of the weekend. Billy's been on fire. NFL games. What? What'd you say? It's the All-Star break. I missed you. What'd you say? They're dead.

It's also about to be the all-star break for WNBA. We can't pick WNBA games also. What are we supposed to do? Pimples performing the halftime show? I'm just telling you this, okay? Right now, Friday's game, Diamondbacks-Cubs. Justin Steele is set to start against TBD. Now, here's what I'll tell you. Doesn't matter. Take the Cubs. Take Justin Steele. He has been hot lately. Seven innings pitches last time out.

A complete game the time before. One earned run. The complete game. Steel is hot right now, Dan. You mentioned that. So you want to take Steel. Now, again, because it's coming up and it's a TBD, we don't have a – here's how baseball works. It'd be great if you took TBD. It's always one and a half. I don't know if it's plus or minus the one and a half. Leave right now. I don't know because of TBD. Take the Steel. That's fine. Against the Sprite.

I thought he was going to break it down. TBD's got a nasty curve. No, go in there. Go into the penalty box and go ahead and show off your guns. TBD, D, and M. Does not matter. Take steel against the spread. Hang 10 in the penalty box. Ha! Shotgun. Yeah, get out of here. Thank you. Good talking to you. I'm glad you provided that expert, efficient analysis that you always do. Steel's hot. Yes, that's what you mentioned. Hot steel. He's so funny.

Is he? He's a really funny guy. I'm glad you find him amusing. Really funny guy. Yeah. Yeah.

He's not that funny. Sit in Dan's chair. Yeah. Thank you. He's not that funny. Yeah, not that funny. Not that funny when you're always hitting the joke around here for 20 years that's our most winning joke, which is just annoy Dan. It's the easiest joke. You should do a show where you just try to annoy Billy. And he's the greatest we have at it. He is the best we've ever had. It's got to be him, right? Greg Cody and me? You would say so, but I would say that one who did it a little too much is the producer before Mike Ryan. Hey!

What about me, man? You're coming strong. Do you know what that was, Dan? That was his limited fake Trump. That was the limited fake Biden that sounds like Trump. That was not Trump. It was clearly Biden. I heard it the whole way. That's your Biden one, right? He telegraphed it. Bruce Springsteen. I want you to keep working on it, okay? Look, this is what's happening, okay? I want to explain to you what's happening in this industry. People get tired of our industry talk.

There are a few things happening in the podcast business, which is a shitty business. OK, we're good, but it's a shitty business. Like 98 percent of the podcasts out there. It's not a good deal for them. Top 10 today. Check it out. A lot of professional assholes who have just drifted over to the grift on the right and been like, yeah, cash and money like crazy. Next, comedians, Joe Rogan and everything that he spawned there.

Shane Gillis in that world is going to do a lot with Trump impersonations to carry his career. We need to keep up. And Chris Cody, you're the man in charge. No one else here is willing to do a Trump or a Biden. That's not true, Dan. Okay, Tony, you can catch up. I have a thousand impersonations. That's not bad, man. Not terrible. Pretty good.

Yours is terrible. You just got to get a little redder, a little pinker. You're right there, man. Yours is not. You're biting me. What do you mean? Oh, his is good, Dan. That's actually not bad. His is good. Not terrible. That's not terrible. We got to come together. A little Southern twang there. A little George Bush in that one. A little Southern twang. I am willing to wait you out and work it out until you get confidence in it because I believe that impersonations, after...

Before maybe singing on air, impersonations are the most vulnerable thing to try before you have confidence in them out here. So I'm going to keep giving you the space to do Biden versus Trump when you're terrible at both of them. Thanks, man. I'm going to keep working at it. I'll get there. All right. Because we're going to need it. More and more like W. Let's do it together. Walker.

What are you doing? I want him to keep working on it. Encourage him. Do not rip it. Support him, unlike the Tonight Show with Tony and Pitch Clock. It's the Tony Show. The Pitch Clock, the great show that Jeremy... The biggest audience, that show, such a big audience. Thank you. I made it Pitch Clock, but I made it The Pitch Clock. It is The Pitch Clock. It's David Sampson's show. It's his show. It's only David Sampson, no Jeremy. You stumbled into it. I mean, look at you.

The thing that I read, Stugatz, I really miss. I don't know. Put it on the poll, please, Jujur. At Levitard Show, do you miss how thick magazines used to be? Because I got to do a lot of reading in the incredible amount of flying that is required to get to Africa and back. So it was...

40 hour trips and I just miss reading Esquire and GQ and the magazines are just thin semblances of what they used to be. But there were a couple of interesting things that I read that I wanted to put before you guys that I did not know.

One of them was what seems like a painful, painful disaster for Kevin Costner that you might sort of laugh at and say he's got a lot of money. But Kevin Costner made Yellowstone, which was and might still be the most popular television show in America. It broke apart because of differences with between him and and the showrunner.

And he then decided to make a movie. And they tell you all the time, do not do this. Even though I've recently done it with Metal Ark, do not put your own money in Metal

Kevin Costner spent $38 million on trying to get Horizon made. Now, I know Francis Ford Coppola for a long time has been trying to make his own movie, but it's really hard to do all of these things independently, which is part of why it is I've had panic attacks the last three and a half years.

Kevin Costner putting in $38 million only means that he's going to have to sell one of his amazing homes. But it's still $38 million that he spent years on a project with left the number one television show in America, and it's bombed.

It hasn't bombed like Waterworld, but it's gotten taken out of theaters. And I'm just like, oh, my God, no matter how successful you are, no matter how much in your life you've accrued to spend that much time and caring on something and have it flop.

Have it just, like, fall out of the gate when you invested in it. You believed in it so much that no one else would give you the money for it. He hadn't found the funding. He's been working on it for years, the idea of it. Perhaps you should have taken the hint. I mean, no one was giving him money for the project because perhaps they thought it was going to bomb. But Stugatz, these are people who have had a great deal of success betting on themselves. Sure. And, yeah, Stugatz.

You can say no one's gonna give the project any money because it bombs, or you can say, man, corporate media has really gone to shit where all of these avenues don't actually make good and creative choices. Everyone's in business together getting eaten up, harvested by private equity, and so a lot of bad decisions are being made at the top of corporate structure that has our friend Mike Schur building a $9 million ballpark in the middle of Iowa to create Field of Dreams,

And then the project just goes away because all of these people are just interested in saving money. I think the other issue, too, is that Horizon was too much like Yellowstone. It's like he was all in on the American West saga. And we're like, wait, is this Yellowstone or is this something else? Yellowstone's already good. Taylor Sharon, who's the writer of Yellowstone, has already come off with spinoffs, obviously, before Yellowstone the show. So it's like, was this another spinoff that he's just a part of? Is this another movie? It just looked like the same thing to me. Classic movie line. If they build it.

Shit. If you build it, they'll cancel it. That's actually a pretty decent approach. He nailed it, Dan. No, no, no. He had the line. I told him to do it in Biden's voice. That's what screwed me up. I was just going to say it normal. He's like, do it as Biden. And then I did. If you build it, they'll cancel it. I would have crushed if I did it right the first time. Man, just throw a man in at the end. Go sit in the penalty box. Oh, come on. That's on me. You go sit with him. Oh, Jesus. Rare accountability from Stu Gatz. It was totally on me.

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official sleep and wellness partner of the NFL. See store for details. Don Libetard. Punctuate this segment with what is your strike three call? Strike one would be strike, and then you stand up and you give a good point to the right. Stugatz. That's same for strike two. But strike three, you get down low, you got your hands behind the catcher. All right, the right arm goes up into the air. Ha! And then you finish it with a punch. The right arm flings way up into the air. Ha! Ha! Ha!

I wish I could see that. It's terrible. This is the Don Levitas show with the Stugats.

The other thing that I read about, and it's unfortunate that I just kicked Stugatz out. What happened, Billy? Can you find the sounder there for the penalty box, what we're sending people away for? All-time Big East team? We'll get back to that in a second. What are the hockey sounders that we have back there that we could play that would indicate that Stugatz and Chris Cody have been sent to the penalty box for something? I'll wait. It's fine. The other thing that I was reading...

in, I believe it was Esquire, something I did not know. It was also in this Kevin Costner article, I think. Did you guys know that there's still places in America, restaurants and bars, where you can smoke cigarettes inside? Yeah. I didn't know that. Yeah. How many? I'm assuming a lot. Great. My hometown is home of R.J. Reynolds tobacco, so you can smoke anywhere. You can smoke in schools. I don't think you actually can, but maybe. We've got a major penalty. Five minutes. Derailing.

five minutes derailing

Were you guys aware that you could smoke indoors? I thought Oklahoma City might be rare in being a place where you can smoke indoors. Is the Midwest filled with restaurants and bars that you can smoke in? It definitely surprises me that they're consistent. I remember as a kid going to a restaurant in North Carolina, and it was like the first time that I was old enough to realize people were smoking cigarettes and understand what the smell was and be frustrated by that. And

I was like, I can't believe this still happens anywhere. And I haven't experienced that since I was like 14 years old. I feel like it has to do with the amount of either food being processed at the restaurant or if it's like a bar solely that you can get away with smoking inside a bar if there's no food, stuff like that. But we've talked about it on the show. Like it was until the other day that you could smoke on an airplane, smoke in restaurants. Like I remember going to restaurants like the Ale House, right? And it was like smoking or not smoking. It was like 2004 or whatever. And I was like, this is crazy. Yeah.

I just, I thought we had eradicated all of that. I hadn't been, I learned that while smoking a cigar in a bar as that rule was changing. It was in Washington and I was like, they were like, no, you can't do that in here. You're like, what? Since when? I could do it in Miami. What do you mean? That's right. That's exactly what I was like, what are you talking about? Since when was exactly my reaction. I had the same reaction when they wouldn't take my cash at that same bar. I'm like, what are you doing? What?

Like, what is changing? Take away my smoking. Take away my cash. What are we doing here? I'm going to have to get a gun. I'm going to have to because— You're going to have to produce an Old West movie like Kevin Costner. They're changing all the rules on me in a way that makes me uncomfortable and feels threatened. I like the way that America was back then. I think we need to make America great again. They're letting women be competitive. There used to be a non-smoking section on an airplane. Hell yeah.

How does that work? No, that can't be. There used to be a non-smoker. In March 1995, no, that's the ban internationally. In 1994, Delta was the first U.S. airline to ban smoking worldwide. Hold on, I saw it here somewhere.

That's all right. We'll wait for it. We'll get to it. Don't you worry. That's fine. We'll also get Stugatz's thoughts on this. I don't know if he's been listening to what it is that we've been doing. Do you think that he knows that there are places in America? When is he listening? Well, that's another good point. Even when he's sitting in that chair. That's right. God, he's gotten so good at faking it. So good at faking it.

He's got expert nods, expert chuckles, expert laughs. He is, I will say, someone who has perfected not listening well.

Better than anyone in the history of media, I would say. Do you argue he has to be good at listening to be able to be that good at faking listening? No, I would not. No? He is not good at listening. You're giving him far too much credit. Like he's capable of it, but he chooses not to? Maybe? No, he's got ADD. United Airlines created a non-smoking section in 1971, the first airline to do so.

And how does it work? You can't smoke in that section. Thank you. I appreciate the elaboration that isn't helpful in any way. Was it in the back of the plane? Were people in first class? Like, imagine that in one seat in first class. You got one non-smoking seat of the six in first class. It's like the other guy next to you just blows his finger right in your face. The middle seats. The problem is, is that on an airplane, it's closed. Yeah.

So if they're smoking anywhere, you're still going to get it. That is the problem. Yes, you've revealed. It's a giant tube in the sky, and everyone's going to get it if you're smoking anywhere, even if you're smoking in the bathroom. And on most airplanes, you can't roll down the window, so it has no place to go.

The one I flew to Bimini, you can roll down the window. See? The Boeings, they just come right off. Whenever Tony's around, you have to leave a little wiggle room for, I have a story that's going to contradict whatever you say. So I left that little wiggle room set. In most airplanes, you can't roll down the window. Sure enough, he's been on one that he can. The puddle jumper that you take from Fort Lauderdale to Bimini, the windows go down. Yeah.

A hundred percent. Cause I saw the pilot open up both windows and then open up our windows during the flight. Yeah. Yeah. It was like one of those little ones. It doesn't have AC probably. It doesn't have AC, but that's why I'm the copilot because I'm right behind him. If he goes down, I step up and we do it. Can you, uh, Billy in any way, uh, find elaborations that are helpful on how it is the non-smoking section would work on an airplane? Was it the last row? Was it this? You

You've heard me say, fairly shocked recently, they used to serve prime rib. They used to be a glorious thing to fly across the country in an airplane. People used to wear suits on planes. And at baseball games. In the 1950s, if you wanted to go to a baseball game, you had to wear a top hat and a suit. Right.

Did people own shorts back then? Are you saying it was mandatory? I mean, judging from the crowd shots, judging from looking at the people who were bothering Jackie Robinson in their suits and hats, yes, it seemed like it was mandatory to dress up for a 1950s baseball game. It's like going to one of those restaurants where you need to have a sport coat so they've got a few in the back just in case you don't show up dressed right. Get over yourself, restaurant, you need a sports coat. Come on, give me a break.

Have any of you ever had that happen? Because I've had it happen once where they gave me one of the rented jackets that you just grab and it was too short on the sleeves. And I'm like, really? We have to do it this way? Not a problem, though. I mean, you're the one who screwed up. You wore gym shorts. I mean...

Again, though, I shouldn't have to wear just ridiculously your too tight toddler's jacket that goes up to my elbows because you've got a dress code. This place is so expensive, you need to wear a sport coat. So expensive. So expensive, but not to me, maybe to you. Maybe it might be a little expensive for you. It's the dress code, right? Yeah, but I'm going to pay $1,000 to eat here. I can dress however I want. No, because there's a dress code. They could tell you just go home. They're giving you an option to stay. And I will go home. Okay. Okay.

Why'd you go there in the first place? I don't know. I do feel like Tony's grown up in a Miami that pretty much you're allowed in everywhere the way that you're dressed. Absolutely. Like almost without reservation, you're allowed to go into a place where

because Miami dress is down a little bit. Well, you're famous, though. You can get places. I have to have reservations, and I have to follow the rules. If I wear sneakers, I can't go to certain places. I wear sneakers everywhere. I'm not Tony. Thank you. Tony tonight. 7 p.m. presented by DraftKings. That's not the name of it. It is Tony's show.

There's not an apostrophe S on it? 2.0. It's Tony's show, not 2.0. Part 2. Part 2. Is it a continuation of Part 1? Do we need to watch something in Part 1 to get Part 2? No. It's a sequel. It's a sequel, but it's nonlinear. A standalone.

Got it. Would you guys please, I'm going to need some assistance here because I feel like we're generally disorganized. We don't do a lot of great planning. We don't execute things with finality. I've been told that we are planning something that resembles a show Olympics in honor of the Olympics. Lucy, have you not heard of this? Why are you making a face? I haven't heard of it. Yeah.

Again, planning communication. Okay, so I get back from vacation and they tell me we're doing a show Olympics. Can anyone give me more information? We are efforting to have, you know, you got to find locations and stuff. Right. So like nothing is set in stone yet, but we are looking to find a pool

to put you two in a pool, maybe with the other members of the show, but mainly you two, to settle the debate of who would win in a swimming race. Is this because I brought it up when Dan was on vacation? I said I could beat Dan in a swim meet? Is that why we're doing it? Yep. I regret saying that. I need time. I need a lot of lead time on this, okay? Because you're asking me to wear a bathing suit. I don't know how to dive. I can swim, and I can swim pretty fast, but I need some lead time on this. I need to get in shape. It's all a negotiation. You could say to Dan, hey, we both wear shirts, something like that.

I don't want to swim in a shirt. It does make you less aerodynamic, but if you both have it... Listen, once I get into the pool, diving is a problem for me. Greg Louganis, I am not. But once I get in there, I'm like Rowdy Gaines. I mean, I could swim.

I'm a swimmer. I can't dive. My concern is Dan's going to beat me on the dive because anyone who knows swimming knows it's all about the dive and the turn. That's it. The dive and the turn. I am not a fast swimmer. I am willing to do this. I am not so pathetic that I would say to you, I want to do it in a shirt. Wetsuit maybe?

I'm just looking out for my man here in the handles. Well, I just don't need this to be something that feels so much not like the Olympics that I'm in there in a t-shirt. I'm also looking out for the viewers because it's not going to be pretty. No, they want the more embarrassing it is for me and Stugantz.

the better that it is. All right, Speedos. I just, Stugatz having the idea that if we give him three months, he's going to get into shape is amazing. It's hilarious. I don't know how to dive. He's going to look like Lenny Kravitz and swim like Michael Phelps if I just give him a couple of months. He'll have the V. He'll have the V. One of the great swimmers of all time. The D'Angelo, he's going to have, that's right. We're going to be, we're all going to be amazed that Stugatz rockets through the pool in a way that makes us believe he could have won a bronze medal.

at the Olympics. He just needs a couple of months of training. You arguing on behalf of I would kill Dan in a swim meet as someone who has said for I don't know.

15 years that you could score five times in penalty kicks against a goalie and we've never executed it. Just give me some time. Yeah, just get me a goalie. We've done it a number of times. We've got you a goalie and you don't execute anything.

Just give me some time is Stugatz's universal move for kicking the can down the road so it never gets done. And I don't know how it keeps working around here. That move should no longer work. We should be forced during the Olympics to have a swim meet no matter what shape Stugatz and I are in. I don't think I will win that. I think you will beat me. I have never swum quickly.

Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Swam. Sw

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Don Levitard. While I was gone, a third Zagaki was born, and I think I heard, correct me if I'm wrong here, Jeremy trying to partake in a fourth Zagaki, and I am here for a future where I am surrounded by a chorus of clucking Zagakis. Stugatz. You know what it means when you have four Zagakis, Dan? I don't. You don't have one. This is the Don Levitard Show with the Stugatz. Stugatz.

Do you get annoyed every time Dan Levitard pontificates about the sports media industry? Well, too bad, mother******. He knows he don't give a damn about what he's gonna say. It's time for Sports Media Talk 2.

Earlier in the show, I didn't even bring it up. Billy brought it up. I didn't bring up Skip Bayless or any of that stuff. But I have learned over the last few months that a lot of people do not like when I talk about this stuff. And I thought Juju was very correct when he said the reason people don't talk or want me to talk about this stuff is because there are dollar amounts that don't affect our daily lives. All of us have problems. We don't need to hear how much Stephen A. Smith wants.

thinks he is worth. But the reason, Stugatz, and I'm curious why it's not more interesting in here.

The reason I talk about it so much is that everything we've done over the last three and a half years, all of the tumult that has pulled me away from family during an important time, it's all because we are trying to change and alter the way that these things are valued so that the corporations can't keep all the money so that we can feed our thing to

with a new value that makes Stephen A look at what we're making and say, wait a minute. They're not worth more than I am. Why do they have a deal that's better than mine? And it is better than his. He's saying, not anymore. Not anymore. I want a better deal than the one they have and the one McAfee has. And so because that's so, it's been a singular obsession of mine, even though you know I've never cared at all about money.

You know this. It feeds everyone here the fact that we're trying to change the way all of this is done so that we insist to everybody who wants to work with us, no, we're worth this. Not that because we know what our inventory is, we know what our value is, and we want to show everyone else in the industry what it is.

Why aren't you guys more interested in it, given that it feeds everyone here? And I ask the question, pardon my tone, because I really don't understand why you wouldn't be interested. I've never been interested in the intricacies of this. Never, never thought about it. But now I've had to. It kind of makes me miserable. I don't want to think about it. It's the enemy of fun. Like, it really is. To have creativity contaminated by having to think about this garbage that pollutes it?

But I do genuinely wonder, I ask all of you, why aren't you guys more interested in, oh my God, Skip Bayless' seat just opened and Fox built a whole thing around, let's just get two ESPN's old white guys, Colin and Skip, we'll put them here and we'll build a whole industry. Holy shit, now Nick Wright is worth more than everybody because Fox just lost Bayless and God.

I don't even know how much cowherd's gonna get. 'Cause he's really smart and really calculates. You and I spent time in Jacksonville with him and he put us, he fell asleep at 8:00 p.m. - Yep, at the dinner table. - And he knows so much about focus groups and how you get, you know, the West Coast. We didn't know any of that shit.

He knew all of it. And he wants to be, at the end of his career, the mogul that Simmons is, the mogul that Peyton Manning is, the mogul that McAfee is. And I just genuinely ask you guys the question because it's been a life consumption of mine, an obsession that has made me really unhappy. Not this thing. This thing I love. But the

thing has to maintain its value. So everything that you have to deal with everywhere else is just a giant pain in the ass. I think I go with Juju on this in terms of why I'm not interested on the air and discussing it. I don't think our audience is interested. And so I try to always do it through that prism. If you and I were sitting outside, you know, on a patio rocking chairs, I can talk to you about it till the end of time.

But talking about it on the air, I'm kind of with Juju. Like, hey, don't want to hear about what Skip Bayless wants to be. Not feeling bad for Skip Bayless. He made hundreds of millions of dollars giving sports opinions for his entire life. Okay, so yes, all of it understood. But I just got done telling you that Greg Cody, overgrown toddler...

Hasn't grown up. Good at one thing. Tim Kirkson, overgrown toddler. Hasn't grown up. Good at one thing. Dan Levitart, overgrown toddler. Good at one thing. This has been a singular obsession of mine for 30 years now.

To be good at this, at what it is we're doing. And by accident, we are good at this, though. But by accident, it has resulted in a value that as soon as the corporation started cutting, next thing you know, Chris Cody is out. And we're like, wait a minute. That's not the way it's supposed to work in a business that cares about people, is it? Is that the way it's supposed to work? So everybody who rides with this show, the backstory of it goes back forever to God's.

Do you think that at any point in my sports writing career, the DraftKings deal is worth so much more than people think it is? Stephen A. knows this. McAfee knows this. If you're in business with us,

If you're in loyalty with us, I just walked into another studio and I saw Pablo Torre and Skipper and Samson doing a podcast that I know to be smarter about sports business than anything. And I know how you're consuming it. So there is a lot. There are a whole lot of people who want to learn about this. They don't just happen to be our audience, which wants us to do normal hijinks. But I'm explaining to you and the audience, hey, the normal hijinks pay for everything. And also, hey, Stephen A.,

You don't have to be a company man. You're a company man. Like you can come out and keep us company. But I think Stephen A. loves, I think he thinks he could pull it off, both of them. He could stay at ESPN and still be... He can. He can. All of these walls. But why doesn't anybody care when...

What I'm pointing out to you is Fox got into this business in the laziest way possible. They just said, hey, Bayless, hey, Cowherd, can you come over here and hot take? And they built everything they built. And then in that time, first take contaminated everything. All of it went to garbage debate television. And in the doing of that, Stephen A. Smith died.

kills the end of the guy's career who gave him the entire opportunity to work at ESPN. That is the top of our game. And I, I still don't understand. I I'll have to put down my sword because it's clear that nobody wants to hear about it, but you understand why it has been a singular obsession of mine for three and a half years. I'll tell you why. Cause Stu gots always wants more money. I don't,

I don't even know if you're right that the audience doesn't want it. Like, Stu, are you even right that the audience doesn't want it? Because that's like, we don't get better numbers on videos than when Dan, like, it's about Stephen A. Smith and stuff. So there's something going on there. Maybe they're hate watching it. No, it's not our normal audiences. People want it. It's just our audiences.

audience doesn't want it. Like, it's other people that... I'm not judging this by social media clicks and hits and all that stuff. I just, I feel like I know our audience after 20 years of doing this and maybe I'm wrong. I could be wrong and maybe there's been a change. I just don't feel like that's what they want to hear from us all the time, you know? So, not that Dan does it all the time, but he does it enough where... No, I do it. I do it too much, but I'm telling you why I do it too much. Stugatz, look, it... So...

One of the things I'm trying to do, embarrassing myself on South Beach Sessions, Pablo's encouraging me to do this. Just be more publicly vulnerable. Try to link up with your audience in a way that's not concealed where your insecurities are. Try not to try not to hide.

I am trying and have been trying since we did this to show people what it is that we're trying to do so they can be proud of it with us because I'm proud of it and it's a hard thing to do. When I tell you...

panic attacks, Dugatz. We've talked about this before, but I've never talked about this part of it publicly because when I tell you I've been passing out in places, it's the scariest thing that I could possibly do to my wife. Like the last thing I see every time is her fear.

So if you want me to care like that and if you will follow my curiosities to the places where you care about our show enough so that we can do all this stuff because we know you're with us and that loyalty is at least in part because this is an authentic thing that you kind of feel like, you know, I don't expect you to have to care about me talking about this, but I will kind of ask you to tolerate it.

Because I do think that the innards of this business are interesting. And when I talk about the player empowerment all the time, if the punter arrives at the game and changes everything, what do you think LeBron and Peyton Manning and Tom Brady are going to want when the athletes have all recognized that this is a business that if you do it correctly, you can be the Kelseys and you're so much better.

bigger than football players like you can have a career for 30 years after the one that made you famous, Shannon Sharp. There are people watching him now who don't understand the degree of difficulties on what he just created and have forgotten that he's a Hall of Famer and one of the best to ever play his position. And furthermore, as a lifetime single man who is crazed by competitive, Shannon Sharp wants to beat everybody at this game. He's a lifelong single person who's like,

I am going to crush everybody because of my competitiveness because, and this is no slight on McAfee, but if you're Shannon Sharp, you're saying, if he can do that, why can't I do that? I think.

I think a lot of players, current players, are having similar thoughts, like towards the end of their career. But they all are now, Stugatz. I mean, Patrick Beverly, Draymond Green, they've all seen now the planning of the end of their careers. But all show I've been getting inundated, and I understand this part too. People are plenty tired of talking about LeBron and empowerment.

But all show long I've been getting Dan doesn't realize what Michael Jordan has done. And I'm like, you don't realize what LeBron is intent on doing. Like, I'm well aware of how much money LeBron, I'm sorry, Michael Jordan made in and for Nike. All those people are right. That's fine. And you can think that. But when one of your businesses, again, Peyton Manning,

Nine years, $700 million just from ESPN. That's not the Netflix stuff. That's just from ESPN. And also LeBron can do a lot with the sneaker companies as well. And LeBron is already buying teams and will probably buy an NBA team. And on top of that, what's the percentage he's getting on all of these other basketball players that now work for him as he plays against them because they are clients of his friend?

You're just not paying attention to how interested this person in the end of his career is to beating Michael Jordan there, even though Stugatz thinks he never will. And beating Tom Brady there, even though Tom Brady is going to get $375 million for 20 weekends. I don't—I've lost everybody. All Big East team? I've lost everybody. I was waiting for that all hour.

The top five Big East team. We never got to it. Postgame show.

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