We're sunsetting PodQuest on 2025-07-28. Thank you for your support!
Export Podcast Subscriptions
cover of episode Hour 1: Red or White?
People
C
Charlie
C
Chris Whittingham
D
Dan Levitard
D
Dominique
J
Juju
P
Pablo Torre
Topics
Chris Whittingham: 克里斯蒂亚诺·罗纳尔多在欧洲杯上的表现令人失望,他已过巅峰,应该退役。他的表现影响了整个葡萄牙队的发挥,球队似乎过度依赖他。尽管他为葡萄牙足球做出了巨大贡献,但现在是时候让他离开了。 Dan Levitard: 罗纳尔多拥有大量的Instagram粉丝,这让他拥有了决定何时退役的权利。他的受欢迎程度超过了体育竞技本身,因此他应该有权决定自己的职业生涯。然而,竞技体育的本质是竞争,而不是社交媒体的影响力。罗纳尔多继续踢球,并非出于竞技水平的考虑,而是为了维护其社交媒体影响力。 Dan Levitard: 足球网络上存在着梅西和罗纳尔多的粉丝群体之争,所有观点都围绕着这场争论展开。罗纳尔多和梅西代表着两种不同的价值观,罗纳尔多代表个人主义,梅西代表团队合作。

Deep Dive

Chapters
Chris Whittingham discusses Cristiano Ronaldo's performance in the Euros, criticizing his zero goals scored and the team's focus on him rather than the collective talent.

Shownotes Transcript

Translations:
中文

You're listening to DraftKings Network. A musician with technical knowledge can play all the right notes, but one who cares enough to play from the heart gives music souls.

At Truist, we believe the same is true for banking. Because when you work with someone who knows a lot and cares even more, you're unstoppable. Truist. Leaders in banking. Unwavering in care. Start feeling unstoppable. Visit truist.com slash care. Truist Bank. Member FDIC. Leading based on top 10 U.S. commercial bank.

Now's a good time to remember where the story of tequila started. In 1795, the first tequila distillery was opened by the Cuervo family. And 229 years later, Cuervo is still going strong. Family owned from the start, same family, same land. Now's a good time to enjoy Cuervo.

The tequila that invented tequila. Go to Cuervo.com to shop tequila or visit a store near you. Cuervo, now's a good time. Trademarks owned by Bekle. SAB, the CV. Copyright 2024. Proximo. Jersey City, New Jersey. Please drink responsibly. This is the Dan Levitar Show with the Stukas Podcast. ♪

Welcome back. We are joined by the great Chris Whittingham, who was once executive producer of this show. He also wears glasses, so I would like you to be able to confirm or deny that he's wearing glasses.

Dan Levitard's glasses are fake, and they don't actually magnify anything or improve vision at all. Just fog. It's just because he wants them to fog up. It makes them look cute and intense. Cute? You think that's a cute look? I don't think it's a cute look. I've also seen Dan's glasses up close. A lot of thumbprints on them. And so I don't feel like you'd go through the trouble of looking through thumbprints that much if you didn't need them. I've also, like, I'll hand him a stack of papers, and then he'll put...

the glasses on. So unless it's a full performance, which I don't think Dan capable of in that respect, I think that they are real glasses. - Witty, there's not one prescription on it. - Yeah, it's tough. They do have food on them though, so maybe they're just for protection. - How can you tell that they have prescriptions on them? - Well, when we put them on, we can't see. - Oh, okay.

More importantly, we wanted to have you on to talk about footy. All right. So you got some beef with Cristiano Ronaldo's performance in the Euros so far. What do you got to say about that? Yeah, I got the Ronaldo fanboys upset at me, didn't I? So basically, after watching their performance in the Euros, he scored zero goals. He's 39 years old. And I was really frustrated watching Portugal because they're an amazing team. If you look at their group of players, they might be right up there.

with the very best teams in the tournament france england spain they just did not look like it at all and it seemed like the entire time they were in service of christiano ronaldo and i think it should be the other way around when you look at the company comparable talent between the other players and ronaldo they should he should be servicing them he should be trying to fit his game around them and instead they're pumping crosses he's crying

halftime of extra time in the Slovenia game in the round of sixteen. He's taking penalties and missing them. He served almost no function in this team, and yet somehow he was untouchable. The manager couldn't sub him off, and he was the star of the show the entire time. That makes no sense to me, given where he's at in his career. I understand everything he's contributed to Portugal and growing the profile of Portugal in the world, but at this point,

It's time for him to go. It was time for him to go two years ago. And somehow still the Portuguese national team thinks this is all about Ronaldo. Guys, it's not. It's not anymore. 633.

do you know what that number is witty does that number mean anything to anyone in this room i believe career goals that cristiano ronaldo i believe is the number of millions of instagram followers he has as the number one number one not kardashian not taylor swift ronaldo is the single most popular person in the world not in sports more than the king therefore he has earned the right

that he gets to decide when he hangs them up. By accruing Instagram followers? Yes. Popularity wins out, wins the day. He's hot. Every time. So hot. And let's not forget, he's only 39 and looks really good still. So in that Portugal uni, I believe that everyone will always service him until he steps away.

That got real explicit. He's not good. He's not good anymore. Or at least he's not good at this level anymore. And he demonstrated over and over again. And at a certain point, this is a sporting competition, not an Instagram competition. And it seems like he is dead set on playing all the way through to the 2026 World Cup. He's going to be 41 years old running around out there because he's got Instagram followers?

He's going to try and Tom Brady this thing without winning anything like Tom Brady did? It's over for him at top level. Also Diana Taurasi in this thing. But Salute, back to you. Woody, Pablo Torre here, a guy whose swagger you jacked. I have a question about what...

the Cristiano Ronaldo fanboy is like, how would you characterize his army of fans? What distinguishes them? Because I'm not native to this part of the internet, apparently, and there are 633 million of them or whatever. Did you confirm? Is that the number, Chris? Confirmed. Thank you.

So to answer your question, I think the Ronaldo... So basically, the soccer internet has divided itself amongst Messi people and Ronaldo people. And everything is viewed through the prism of that one singular sports debate. There is a whole other segment of people that just don't engage to that. But amongst the fanboys, there is certainly a section of Messi supporters too. But the Ronaldo fans, they're armed...

with a full amount of talking points like this is politics where they go he scored this number of goals in the Champions League knockout round he's won this he's won that what is Messi done and then the next people go well he's actually scored goals in the World Cup knockout round that's actually my favorite stats Cristiano Ronaldo in four World Cups has never scored in the knockout round of the World Cup it's really remarkable but I but when you look at

That debate, I think that's everything. And so it's been it was about Real Madrid and Barcelona. And now it's about these two people, how they are aging and everything is viewed through the prism of how does this suit my argument in the debate? How does this suit the way that my worldview? Because they also represent two different things. Ronaldo has more Instagram followers than Messi, despite, in my opinion, Messi being better player because Ronaldo represents something. He represents the right.

He represents that look. He represents that you pop your chest out and you stick it out before a free kick. Before you take a big free kick in a big game and it's about aura. It's about all these nonsense things. And so there is a kind of person that likes an individualist in the world. Whereas Messi is this demure, team first,

helping others, creating for others, and helping to lead his team. I get the sense that Witte's a Messi guy. What makes you say that? Messi's a team first guy. It's all about Miami. Since Witte's a Messi guy and Ronaldo is no longer participating, we can go ahead and talk about Argentina and the Copa because they are still playing. What should we be excited about for 8 o'clock tonight where they take on our continent mates?

I guess South America versus North America. Who are you rooting for in this one? So I'm probably going to root for Canada in this one. And despite this scurrilous accusation that you think that I can only be a messy guy, he has not been good at this. That's a pretty messy guy bed behind you.

He has not been good at this Copa America. He has been injured in this Copa America. And there's some legitimate conversations about whether or not his level has fallen off. Now, he does have the ultimate argument winner, which is that he won the last World Cup. And he can round himself into form because the thing about Argentina is we don't really know much about this Argentina team because they haven't played anybody. They're group

was a joke their knockout round thus far has been a joke they haven't played anybody all the good teams were on the other side of the bracket so realistically they had their ticket for the final in miami basically already punched before the tournament even started they just got to be at this point one of either uruguay or colombia in the final in miami and they could potentially win another major tournament but really we don't really know what this team looks like messi has not been great but

against canada tonight they probably played their best game of tournament against canada that second half of the opening game of the tournament so uh... i think that argentina will probably win tonight just because they have a lot more talent but i don't think we know what's on about them at this moment

Lads, while we're talking about the beautiful game, let me remind you that with not one, but two massive soccer tournaments happening right now, our partners at DraftKings Sportsbook have an offer for all customers. That's right, David, all customers. When you place a pre-match three-way Moneyline bet on a team to win only, you're going to win a lot of money.

If that game ends in a draw, you'll get your original bet back as a bonus bet. Euro 2024 or Copa America only. Pre-match Moneyline bets to win only. Max reward varies. Opt-in required only on DraftKings. The crown is yours.

What a read. That was breathy. What an EP. Couldn't catch my breath through the whole thing. You had it almost right. I read it correctly, but the breath was way off. You have to figure out when you're going to pause on those reads. Thank you, David. He did that. He confirmed the number of total Instagram followers. And he got music for Juju. Actually, while we were talking, I refreshed. It's actually 634 million now. On top because of this show. That's up a million during this interview. Wow.

witty is it definitely what happened instead of chris just totally not checking is it uh are you really broken up about the u.s team not making out of the group stage because you strike me as a bed maker and the idea that your bed is right now camera down a bit because i don't know if uh the people on youtube the draftings network can necessarily see just the mound there it is yeah that's yeah you seems like you're stressed are you stressed is this a burn no i'm not

No, I'm not stressed. I got into Atlanta at around 1:30 in the morning last night. So it was definitely a late rise for me and I had to grab a shower. So unfortunately, I was not able to make the bed to the satisfaction of the Levitard audience. There are a lot. Nice hotel. What hotel is that? But also, none of them are good. I wish hotel pillows were better. Magic City tonight, bro. Magic City. Wings? Nothing.

I will not be visiting Magic City after my game in Kennesaw tonight. I will be staying in the lovely surrounds of Kennesaw, Georgia. Would it shock you to know that I do not unmake a hotel bed, that I slip into it?

Bruh, me too, bruh. Okay, I'm glad we're here. I keep an extra suitcase. I got a carry-on suitcase with just comforters and this trophy in it for here. As soon as I get here, I go into the secret closet, go to the room, put that on top of the cover because spring break here at the Elster seems wild, according to my sheets a couple of times ago. And so I never touch these sheets. Bruh, David Sampson, you are a mensch. Wait, you like slide in?

Like, what's the visual of this? You guys don't un-kick. I got to get those tight covers out of here. What witty is... Right, because they're pinned underneath the bottom of the bed. Exactly. And so you can't fully elongate your legs. You got to get it swept out so you can have some room to operate. I'm 65 inches. Hell yeah. I don't have any issue with elongating my legs. Who describes their height in that fashion?

Somebody for whom the inches are more impressive than the feet. What was on your sheet when you got here? Oh, it was, okay, this was a couple of times ago. And it was while I was putting my sheet on top of, I got a sheet and then I got a comforter. I was putting it on, I was like, wait, what is that red dot on the white cover? And so I took that cover off and threw it under the damn bed, well, under the closet.

thing you feel me and I just it's so disgusting would you rather would you rather a red dot or a white dot on your sheets put it on the pole Chris Whittingham something soccer Spain and France I just I I am I so I can't believe Whitty's room I'm happy for you Whitty wait do you ever go to the Stanford studio for Galazzo

What are we doing? I don't know. So we're letting Witty go. He's got stuff to do. We're letting go. Let him go. We have to let him go. He's got stuff he wants to do. I like Spain today. Spain. They're a good team. Oh, good pick. Also, red dot or white dot on your sheets? What would you prefer? Probably red. Really? Love you, Witty. Really? I think I go white. Love you too, lads. You can catch Witty on CBS Sports, Galazo, and Apple TV. Thank you, sir. Well done, Witty. Thank you, Witty. Bye.

Listen up, folks. The college football landscape has changed a lot. NIL deals, social media, the transfer portal. There's never been more distractions for an athlete. But Powerade knows what's important. The commitment to the game. The game is what matters. With 50% more electrolytes than Gatorade Thirst Quencher, Powerade hydrates athletes and

as they block out the noise and put in the work. Hydrate your grind with Powerade. Grab a pack today on Amazon or at a store near you. See product label for additional details. It takes more. I cannot bear the thought of that.

I've only switched hotels one time in my life. Because of Dot? The carpets were damp.

That could be condensation. It was in Orlando. I went cheap on the hotel. It was years ago when I was, yeah, and I was at some, like, I don't remember where the hotel was, but the floors were damp. What movie did you watch last night? Yesterday, I watched Dancer in the Dark. All right, loved it. It's an intense movie. It's with Bjork. I haven't reviewed it yet. I'm nothing personal, but we could do a movie review segment. We have a WNBA segment. I mean, we got two Jews cutting up. Wait a minute, hold on, wait a minute. Is that, what's that sound?

that musical sound I hear. What is that very catchy musical sound that an executive producer may or may not recognize? We still got to do your top five at some point.

We inside. Look. And this is what I'm going to do. WNBA Minute. No notes. I'm not even going to look at the notes. I'm just going top of the dome. If I need help remembering some teams, that's all I might need. Bottom of the league right now. Salute to the Dallas Wings. They're getting it together. With the addition of Odyssey Sims, that has changed the complexion of the team. Natasha Howard being back, too.

Don't over or underrate that. That is properly rated because Enrique always is going to be Enrique. I need to pause. I didn't breathe. I didn't do the thing that David said, catch your breath first. I came in hot. I'm with you. So, yeah, let me take a deep breath. All right. The LA Sparks right behind them or ahead of them.

They just got Azare Stephens back. That right there will prove, I promise to God, Azare Stephens coming back will cancel out the loss of Cameron Brink because I feel like they are about the same type of player, same position. But with Talbot getting hurt the other night, that really hurt as well. So keep faith in the LA Sparks. If you're a LA Sparks fan, I see you guys. Ari McDonald, welcome back to the league. Welcome back to prominence because she is in the mix.

Salute to the team. Moving on. The Atlanta Dream. The Atlanta Dream got a lot of work to do. You feel me? In my opinion right now, they might... I'm not going to say that. I love my Dream owners. I got faith with you guys, but...

We've had a lot of injuries this year. Like, we got Ryan hurt. We got Neighborhood Canada hurt, Jordan Canada. We got a lot of people just on the team just not ready for the championship this year. And I see Paige around the corner. I'm not saying we should tank for Paige, but I'm just saying I'm not not saying that either. Salute to the dream. We're going to get it together. Above them, I see I done talked the bed out.

We back. You dig me? Above those, the Washington Mystics. The Washington Mystics are not their record. I repeat, the Washington Mystics are not their record. Big Mama Steph is in the building. Salute to her. They got key injuries as well. Shakira Austin, B Sykes. Oh, my God. If B Sykes come back, the Washington Mystics are a top five team. Right now, ready to go. Also, moving on. Congratulations. I'm going to go a little higher in the standings.

Congratulations to the Minnesota Lynx for winning the Commissioner Cup. Holy moly. Salute to Lil Feezy, aka Nafeeza Carter. I mean, Collier. She won the MVP, the Commissioner's Cup MVP.

Even though Bridget Carlton might have should have won that MVP that night because she put in 23 points and I know it's really the reason. But get well soon, Lil Feazy. She had a leg or ankle. I'm not sure, right? But she's sitting out right now. So it's going to take Bridget to step up again. It's going to take Courtney Williams. It's going to take a team collaborative effort. And salute to my big, big dork of U-Haul. Salute. Dom.

I don't know. That might have been like three minutes. W got a lot of minutes. I got one question for you to close it out. Sorry. Oh, no, no need to apologize. That was plenty of W. Can anybody knock off the Aces? Is there any realistic chance? Let's close it out.

Is there any team that can beat the Aces or is it a foregone conclusion? Aces are the field. We got you, Gio. The New York Liberty are doing good and the Connecticut Sun are doing good. And I want to congratulate Angel Reese also for goddamn breaking the record. She broke Candace Parker's record. 13 double-doubles in a row. Also, Kaitlyn Clark, she did her first triple-double in history by a rookie. So I want to get to them sisters first. But,

The Connecticut Sun, they also got something to say about the Aces championship title run as well as the New York Liberty. I think the New York Liberty is going to go and win this year. Ooh, we're calling upset alert. I love you. That's the field. Yeah, that is the field. Aces versus the fields. He took the field.

Well done, Chris. Nice job with the music. Sorry. Chris was so self-satisfied that entire time. What? I didn't do anything there. No, no, no. It was just like, look at the music that I queued up.

I feel like that's the least of the important things he's done so far today, trying to keep this house in order. I think he did a great job with it, but it's the WNBA minute that mattered more. The content of what Juju said was better than the music. And I got to sharpen that up. I feel like I was rambling too much. I did too much low and I should have went straight in. Is Jessica's F1 minute actually 60 seconds? Because the two-minute intro to the show, as an example, is not two minutes.

It's the fastest two minutes in all of sports, actually. So is Jessica's F1 minute one minute?

Yeah, the bet is about a minute. Give or take, David. So the WNBA minute needs to tighten up. WNBA minute has a lot of work to do. And I'm sorry. Look, I'm going to do better, guys. I got your back next time. I love the end, though, because what struck me about the WNBA recently, did you see the vote counts for the All-Star game? Yes. The vote counts. Multiple's larger than it was last year. 6X. 6X.

700,000, 600,000 for Reese and Caitlyn. And last year, the top vote getters were in the 60,000 range. Right, right. That is a major, major thing. You're vibrating. Everything okay? Yeah, just phone. It's been a couple times.

And the All-Star game being in Phoenix this year is a big deal because Diana Trotsky gets to go out on top. Juju Gotti is trying to explain to everybody what should appear as extreme and deep WNBA knowledge. He's trying to squeeze in a million things and prove that he actually watches this league. And David Sampson is going at Dominique over his vibrating foot. I'm incredibly distracted by the fact that it's happened not once but now twice. And it's been vibrating the whole table.

Do people not know you're working now? Have a little focus, man. You can fight through a little phone vibration. You know what vibrates the whole table? Khalia Copper coming down the lane when BG's right there. Salute to Scott and Deegan Smith as well and Seattle Storm. They are looking good.

Do you have full credibility when there's no one you don't like? What does that mean? Is there a team that you don't like in the WNBA or a player you don't like? Yes, absolutely. But I'm not sure that the – this is a great topic because you know how we sit here and say, Darvin Ham should be fired. And we get into the microphone and say, James Harden, you're fat.

Or James Harden, you're doing this. We haven't reached that level, in my opinion, that we can actually say certain things to these women, these powerful women. I want to get to that level. Right. And that's why I'm teetering that line because there's a lot of changes I could see being made, but I don't want to harp on...

You know what I mean? You want to get to a world where we can tell the women they're fat? No, not fat. No. All right. I want to talk about, since we're coming off the Aces, one of the best teams, constructed teams in basketball, at some point I want to talk about Pablo's boy,

Daryl Morey, who is either the most overrated or underrated GM in all of basketball because he manages to put together really impressive teams time and time again, but not really make it or never make it to. We had another segue there. Speaking of

James Harden, let's talk about the guy in Daryl Morey who has seen the future of the game, I think, as clearly as anybody has. And said it's not James Harden. And said in the end, I'm going to need to move on from this James Harden guy. It's remarkable what the Sixers have done. So for people who aren't familiar, the 76ers were...

And this is a great graphic we've just put on screen. But the 76ers entering this offseason had one move to make. And if they did not make that move, they would have been totally fucked. And that move was signing Paul George. And so for people who aren't familiar with what happened, Darryl basically went all in on I can acquire this guy by trade in this new version of the collective bargaining agreement that has changed the economics of the NBA.

And if I can do it, then I'm back in the game. And if I can't, I am in fact deeply, deeply overrated. And so I think the question is like, did Daryl Borey...

Or rather, did Daryl Morey have on the line his entire reputation this offseason? And I think he salvaged it by getting Paul George. While also getting, by the way, an Ocean's 11 roster of guys that he keeps on assembling for one more job. Yeah, I mean, it's got to be Ocean's 12 or 13 by now. He's been doing it far too many times. But I do think that... Ocean's 8. He hasn't won anything. They are a... Yeah, he hasn't won anything. Which is why I said he's overrated and underrated. Because the moves that he makes...

The initial James Harden move is incredible. And then managing to put together a team around him that was competitive despite the fact that no one thought it would be. Impressive. And then moving to the 76ers and really putting together a team that seems like a real Eastern Conference contender right now. Despite the fact that Joel Embiid can't stay healthy. And he did it after putting together a team that we thought was the Eastern Conference contender at a time before with limited assets. So the strategies of

Daryl Morey have seemed pretty sound and impressive and sometimes even innovative but the results which is interesting to me that you say that I like Daryl Morey I do but what I'm just curious and I may have it wrong because I wasn't I didn't know where we were going does he have a ring on his finger no I have the Sixers why you're so up on the Sixers has that process been trusted he's been to one conference finals do you think this team gets out of the second round

Yes, I do not. You think they're better than the Knicks or Celtics? I think they're better than the Knicks. And I think that the big and look, so we're in this era where there's no real big three as a trend anymore. And the Sixers have the greatest big three in the NBA.

Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George is the greatest big three in the NBA. I'm going to give an over-under and a wait to see. So we're going to mix nothing personal with the Levitard Show. What is the total number of games that Embiid, George, and Maxey will be in the starting lineup together out of 82? I'm going to set the market and then you go over-under and we're going to remember this clip when the NBA season is over. Okay. 45. Over. Over.

Okay. I definitely think they go over 45. I think this Olympics don't help, though. Like, with Joel Embiid, salute to wanting to play. But, brother, last time we saw you, you had one eye and one leg. So, like, brother, like, take a summer off if I'm a Sixers fan. It's outrageous that he's playing the Olympics. I would not have. If I'm the Sixers owners, I'm not allowed. I don't want him to get one minute of playing time. He'll sit out versus Serbia. Yeah. I mean, there won't be a ton of pressure on him like that. Sorry, Serbia. Yeah.

I thought you did that. That's why you said it. You know that it won't be a ton of pressure on him. I think that it's partially the experience for Joel Embiid. I'm not sure. I get the point that you're making. He's injured every year. I get it. But I don't think that this particular thing is going to be a deciding factor. He's injured every year. He's going to be injured again. That's the deciding factor in their season every year. Whether we're going to say Daryl Morey is a genius or is a failure is going to be based on whether the player who can never stay healthy in the postseason can

Actually took the over of 45. So you assume he's going to be not out for half the season. I don't think that was a hard call to take the over on 45. What would have made the hard call? 65? Yeah. That, I mean, that's the easiest under of all time? No. Look, here's my thing with Daryl. I want to be clear about this. It's not that I think he is like a super genius. I just think he is super savvy about the rules of the game. And he is the classic example of somebody who the league office has to worry about when it comes to somebody exploiting overtime.

all of the ways that a team can be innovative around contracts, around how to pay guys, around how to build teams. And all of that is also existing alongside a very basic observation around how Daryl has operated, which is he fetishizes stars.

On some level, like the very basic math of the NBA is the story of the most advanced math guy in the same sport, which is that in an era in which it's harder to get stars than ever because of the changing business of the CBA, the reason they got Paul George is because the Clippers said in a press release, David, that was stunning.

The CBA prevented us from re-signing. That's not what they said. That's not what they said. I led nothing personal with this this morning. What did they say? They said that having all three guys, bringing all three guys back was a priority they wanted to do, but the constraints of the CBA, the

the constraints of the CBA, not the rules of the CBA. They could have done it. They could have gone into an apron with Ballmer. They absolutely could have. They didn't feel it was necessary or appropriate to pay George what he wanted because he took the four years to 12 with no trade. That's what I'm saying. I'm saying that the math of the CBA has incentivized a cheapness among even the richest, literally the richest of the NBA owners. He loves his stars.

And also the same seven guys that he signs at every team, everywhere he goes, every time. Can we have that graphic again? It's only on for like five seconds each time it's on, or two seconds. Pablo, it's not just stars, though. He fetishizes foul grifters. And that's the thing that's why Daryl gets so much shit from NBA fans. Because it's not just that they're great players. They're guys that are trying to cheat the rules. And then don't play well in the playoffs. Okay, so the playoffs thing, I...

Look, when the Rockets missed 27 three-pointers in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals against the Warriors, that is a choke job that I cannot spin. That should have been Daryl Morey's best chance at a title, and they missed 27 three-pointers. When it comes to Joel Embiid and James Harden, I have been an enormous critic of how much they have soiled

have made their own beds quite messy when it comes to how they perform. It's been an enormous problem. So the question for me is, how do you improve the hand you've been dealt with Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid? You get the guy that you have not had since Jimmy Butler, which is in Paul George, a two-way wing who can defend...

defend the opposing star that is typically that position. They haven't had that since Jimmy. Well, he's going to have to get to the finals and win or else he's going to be general managing and Zerbia.

Howdy, listeners. It's Mike Ryan, and I've told you for quite a while about GameTime, my number one destination for the secondary ticket marketplace. No one does it like GameTime. There are often times where I'm using GameTime, and I'm like, man, this experience cannot get any better. And then, boom, GameTime now has a new feature called GameTime Picks that makes getting tickets to see your favorite teams play even easier. GameTime filters out the fluff to only show you the incredible deals on great seats for your team so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets. Go

Go ahead and try it out for yourself. Pick an upcoming game on the app, browse through it on GameTime Picks, and you want to talk about great deals. GameTime always brings it, whether it's their all-in pricing, seat views, the lowest price guarantee, or their ticket coverage. They make this experience special.

so easy. And for my money, it's the best ticket marketplace app out there. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code DAN for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account. Redeem code DAN for $20 off. Download GameTime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest price. Guaranteed.

Don Libetard. You don't remember the idea for a home run call? I was probably like, that kind of thing. Something. Okay, no. The home run call was that kind of swing, that kind of thing. Stugatz. Oh, that's a good call. Thank you.

And plus, it doesn't matter who's hitting it. Like, you're not tailoring it to a particular name. You know, all that jazz. You know, you don't got to do that. Oh, that would be a great call. That kind of swing, that kind of thing. This is the Dan Levatard Show with the Stugats.

Alright, yesterday, your man Novak Djokovic knocked off Hoga. Right? Did I get it right? Bruna. Bruna. But, before we get into our Joker talk, I would like my man Chris Cody hit me with...

That's Start of the Day music. Start of the day, start of the day, it is the start of the day. Start of the day, start of the day, it is the start of the day. Start of the day, start of the day, it is the start of the day. Start of the day, start of the day, it is the start of the day.

Stata de Day is brought to you by Miller Lite. All right, this is Stata De Day. Novak Djokovic has made it to 60 Grand Slam quarterfinals out of 75. Nuts.

So I assume that most of you guys are aware that Novak is not a fan favorite. He's been a dominant player in how many years, Charlie? About 18 years, over 20 on tour. He became completely dominant in 2011. So 14 years of dominance. That stat is insane. That's an 80% success rate to make it to the quarter's

of a grand slam? And are you counting of the 15 that he didn't, the ones that he wasn't allowed to during COVID where he didn't play at all? Not counting those. So that's not counting those. 60 of the 75 grand slams he's played. But that brings us back to Dominique's question of like,

This guy isn't really well-liked. At some point, even the guys in all of sports who get on our nerves, if they're good enough, eventually we construct a story around them and we start to love them. He's still getting booed. When LeBron comes to your town, you may boo him, but you're showing up to see LeBron. It feels like Novak has never quite got to the point where— But he's not getting booed. He's getting rude. I thought it was rude.

Like, that's the thing here. There's a whole thing. We can play the clip. So this guy's last name that he played yesterday is Rune. And after any time that guy would do anything good...

This world has an obsession with the Oon sound so if your name is Rune when you do good things We're gonna yell Rune. We don't do it with Matt's for some reason Matt It's just it doesn't it doesn't for some reason we do with Oons My question is- Hold on hold on hold on Before we play the sound I just want to point out the reason why people are obsessed with Rune is because it does sound like Ooooo It sounds like a nut- I- play this play the clip you can judge for yourself Hit it guys

And to all those people that have chosen to disrespect the player, in this case me, have a good night. Good night, good night. Very good night.

I'm hoping that they were just commenting on Rune and that they weren't disrespecting you. They were, they were, they were. I don't accept it. No, no, no. I know they were cheering for Rune, but that's an excuse to also boo. Listen, I...

I've been on the tour for more than 20 years, so trust me, I know all the tricks, I know how it works. It's fine, it's fine, it's okay. I focus on the respectful people that have respect, that pay the ticket to come and watch tonight, and love tennis, and love tennis, and appreciate the players and the effort that the players put in here. I played in much more hostile environment, trust me. You guys can't touch me.

There is no one who is more unlike LeBron James' description of Bronny James than Novak Djokovic, who is in a sport, Dominique, where booing is not allowed. And so he is objecting to the idea that they're getting away with taunting me under the...

rude people. Is he aware of that? Does he know of our world's obsession with that sound? I disagree with you. It has nothing to do with him. They weren't booing him. I don't agree with Novak Djokovic on many things, but I do know that he's not well-liked and that they don't like him. And maybe they're booing, maybe they're rooing, but I think more than rooing is the support of Rue. More than that is like...

them wanting Novak to know they don't mess with him and he's fine with that which I love which I love what's wrong with having villains in sports that are comfortable with it he like played that role perfectly he like talked trash back to him and hit him with a snappy comeback at what point in that match do you think he was like you know what I'm gonna hit him with after this one I'm gonna hit him with that goo

- Good night. - But he crushed him. - That's great. - He took out his racket and played it like a violin after winning a point towards the crowd. - Outstanding. - I want it to be the world's smallest violin that he played, but he played it on his racket.

On his racket, across his shoulder. Like a true maestro. Yeah, that's perfect. It's kind of shaped like a violin. But at what point in the match do you think he started, I guess around the violin time, when he started thinking, I'm going to cook these losers. You can't touch me. That was awesome. I loved it. I love that he's acknowledging it. I do wonder, though, whether he is also just caught in a perpetual hamster wheel of his own... Creation. Of his own insecurity.

So the thing about this, a lot of the Djokovic personality dislike was from when he wanted to be loved.

When he tried to be funny and disingenuous and had this sort of A-Rod-like persona. I'm coming to crash the party. I don't care about beating Federer and Nadal, but I really want you to like me. The last couple of years of like, f*** it, Novak has been far more interesting and authentic because he is never more dangerous as a tennis player, as this tennis mercenary coming to vanquish everyone than when the crowd is against him.

That said, I don't think they were booing him at Wimbledon. So, okay. I hear what you're all saying. I would have booed his ass. As long as he was like, y'all, I would have been like, ooh, get out of here. They're going to boo him now. Right. I would have booed him. For sure. So now when he plays his quarterfinal match or his semifinal, is he in the quarters? Because right now, Alcarez, your guy, is playing the quarters. Up a brick.

So Djokovic plays tomorrow in the quarters. He's going to get booed. I think so. I guess my point is it doesn't matter whether they're saying Roo or Boo. I think the sound that they're making is meant more for Novak than it is for Roo. Are you saying I need to hear the Roos in the previous round? That's what we need to do here.

If only there was an EP who could summon such video evidence. Look, the Joker, you throw rocks at the crown or at the throne, not from it. So just let it slide, Joker. You're the Joker. I mean, let him rule. I got to admit, I appreciate it. I now care about his next match.

I mean, that's the story of Djokovic to me is the story of a guy who started off wanting to be liked and realized I'm never going to be liked. And now I'm going to be somebody who engages with the public in a way that, look, I have rooted for trolls. Joel Embiid is a troll.

But to be this good and also somebody who is taunting the crowd, it's a truly dangerous move that you can't really do unless you're one of the greatest players of all time. It's also the way he wins these matches against these people, too. He makes it...

death by a thousand paper cuts of torturing his opponents. Like Andy Roddick described Novak Djokovic as first he takes your legs, then he takes your soul, where he extends these matches over and over again. So you get to, tennis fandom's interesting because it's for an individual person. There are like, each of these top players has like a Kobe stand type of fan base. And he gets to suck the life out of all of those fan bases point by point for five hours when he's playing like this. Are they combined as big as Ronaldo? No.

Djokovic plus Federer plus Nadal. They're better at their sport. In heart, they are. I would imagine, though, that there is no more sport that is underrated when it comes to how hard it is to be good at it.

than tennis? I think all professional sports are hard. Being around athletes, how could you agree with what he just said as a professional athlete? So I think there are levels to the challenges in how difficult professional sports are. I think tennis is difficult in a way that some sports are not because I think tennis doesn't appear to require as much hand-eye coordination as it actually does. I think when you think about the spin of the ball and understanding how to...

Charlie's a really good tennis player. I think your brother was also a really great tennis player. So I've learned a lot about tennis since I've started to work with Charlie, and I can't do it. Like, I can get to every ball. Do you play ping pong? Oh, yeah. I will whoop you. I whooped his ass. I will whoop Oveal. Let's do it. Get a table. I'm not sure that any of you will beat me at all, but the spin that you do in ping pong is...

the slice, the topspin. So in theory, you'd be able to do that in tennis. It's different with a bigger racket. I think David is encapsulating my point about why this is an underrated sport. I don't think we need to get into the details of how difficult particular sports are, but I think because our American perspective, tennis is not something that we care about nearly as much. And I don't think the way that their athleticism is demonstrated is not as loud, I would say, as like a 360 dunk.

or Randy Moss taking a ball off someone's back. But I do think, and Carlos Alcaraz is the reason why he's my favorite to watch, is when I watch his highlights, they don't look like tennis highlights to me. They look like NFL Combine highlights. I'm like, damn, who is that? That is crazy. And to that point, whenever TFO faced Alcaraz the other day, bro, TFO's up. I'm like, man.

And when he was up a set or two, I'm like, ah, he asked Alcaraz, though. And like you said, it's that mental game of it. It's like you mano y mano against that monster over there. Well, David and I might have been wrong here because I'm looking at a highlight reel from Rune playing the previous match. And I listened to a 30-second clip of him winning points, and you just heard cheering after. You didn't hear a lot of...

I could play it. I don't know if it's going to be great audio, but you just hear a montage here where you hear afterwards a lot of cheering. Nope, not a lot of ruining. No ruining there. Zero. Zero ruining. And then they're doing another one real fast here. They're hitting it back and forth. I think they just sort of started to boo Djokovic now. You hear ruin? Nope. Not a lot of ruining. The reason they're doing it is because they have an excuse to boo Djokovic. It seems like the only thing that's been ruined today actually has been your argument.

Nice. I could have used like a nice sound. I wanted to sit there, you know, like. Summer's the best time to run the way you want. Dial it up with new challenges and programs and bring your workouts with you to make the most of outside sunny days. Stugatz, guess what? What? You know what you can do with Peloton? What? Get the app, go outside, ride a bike. Well, I thought you ride Peloton inside. Well, you do. You can ride Peloton inside if it's a rainy day or if it's cloudy or you just don't want to get outside. Maybe it's too hot. It's

summertime, go outside. I record a lot from my office with you and you've noticed it's sitting there yet. It hasn't been used. Well, now's the time. Summer's the best time to start that push. Right. Can we do it together? Not on the same bike, but we could join a class together. I used to do that. We used to have Guillermo Tan. I'd invite people. We'd all take a class together. Okay. So I think you're starting to get concerned about my health and my age, Billy. I,

I sense that with you. We're beyond starting. Okay. Whatever road lies ahead, your training starts here with Peloton Tread and Tread Plus. It's not just a bike, a treadmill too. I'm going to go outside. I'm going to get in shape. I'm going to do it with Billy Gill. I want to be in your class. I want you to be my instructor. You know what? I won't be your instructor. You don't want to spend more time with me. No, I can schedule a class and we can ride together. I won't be the instructor of the class. We can have Camila could be our instructor. I like the Grateful Dead class. My daughter, she uses the Peloton. Mm-hmm.

She was on it once and an instructor who was playing Grateful Dead tunes. Let's do that. Okay. Why don't we go for a run outside? Guided run. Peloton. Me and you. That's something we can do together. Okay. Turn on the app. Me and you go outside. Enjoy the summer. Call yourself a runner with Peloton at onepeloton.com slash running. All right.

Howdy listeners, it's Mike Ryan and I've told you for quite a while about GameTime, my number one destination for the secondary ticket marketplace. No one does it like GameTime. There are often times where I'm using GameTime and I'm like, man, this experience cannot get any better. And then boom, GameTime now has a new feature called GameTime Picks that makes getting tickets to see your favorite teams play even easier. GameTime filters out the fluff to only show you the incredible deals on great seats for your team so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets.

Go ahead and try it out for yourself. Pick an upcoming game on the app, browse through it on GameTime Picks, and you want to talk about great deals. GameTime always brings it, whether it's their all-in pricing, seat views, the lowest price guarantee, or their ticket coverage. They make this experience so easy. And for my money, it's the best ticket marketplace app out there.

Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code DAN for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account. Redeem code DAN for $20 off. Download GameTime today. Last-minute tickets. Lowest price. Guaranteed.