Local Hour: Greg's Birthday Party Dilemma
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Chris, I don't think your father's in any way really ready for what we're presently doing. I don't think he knows the mics are on. I don't think he knows that his microphone isn't anywhere near his face right now. He is a little out of, yeah, there it is. He's a little out of his element because he's been on vacation two weeks. And he's in a different chair. It's hard to get back on the bicycle here quickly once you've...

Done this for a long time, and he's approaching his 70th birthday now. It's trendier now to run off old people. Trendier to be ageist. What? Is it? It's in right now. Is it? By who? Democratic Party. You sound sad. Are you sad or are you sick? A little of both. Oh. When Greg Cody turns 70, it kind of hits us all, and we're like, where are we?

Zygacki. Well, one of the things that I'm having some trouble with today is that I think I've come to the conclusion, and it's hard to come to this conclusion right now after we're almost doing this 20 years. 20 years in September. We've got a whole bunch of big celebration stuff planned for 20 official years. Wow. Congrats. Well, but I don't feel very much through the sad sickness of feeling like this is too lax of an environment.

Like, we're, I'm learning some things now a little bit late in the game about how lax our environment is because they're playing some sound for me from Stugatz in New York that feels somewhere between irresponsible and profoundly disrespectful. And Greg Cody is now back, Chris. I'd like all of you to weigh in on this.

What could possibly be the excuse coming off a vacation now that the Panthers are done playing for why Greg Cody inevitably doesn't have a back in my day-to-day as he's supposed to because they're sponsored and he's paid for them and he hasn't had one in probably six months? Well, I mean, I don't know what his excuse is. I know you didn't ask me, but in Greg's defense, I think...

The situation here is Greg is asked to be performing a different role today. Greg is in the Stugatz chair, so he has more responsibilities. Therefore, he wouldn't have the time to just do a back in my day because he's preparing to do so much more today, I would say. That's a great excuse I hadn't thought of. So thank you, Billy. You should have heard my dad scoff yesterday when I was like, Dad, so tomorrow you're in the two chairs. So, you know, bring in come in with a little more to say, like come in with some topics. And he's just like, right.

Well, I mean, I always bring what I bring. You know, I mean, I am what I am. I just meant, you know, come ready to talk. I'm ready to talk. I'm talking into a microphone right now. Well, you're actually below it if you could lift it up a little bit. And by the way, there's a very good reason why I happen not to have a back of my day today. And the reason is this.

I slayed a deadline dragon for the back of my day book that's coming out later this year. Oh me oh my. I had to write three original book exclusive back in my days and it was weighing heavy on

on me. So you just wrote three new ones. Wait, you have a second book coming out? Yeah, there's a back in my, they're serializing the best of it. It's a highly... Who's they? Mango Publishing, my favorite publishing house. When is this supposed to come out? Late in the year. I'm curious which is going to come out first, this second book from Greg, so two in one year, or Stu Gatz's personal record book? Because it seems like now there's a race to the bookshelves. It could be.

I mean, Stu Gatz's book is going to be a monster. I can't wait to buy that. You're going to have to wait because it's never going to come out. You're going to have to perpetually wait. Well, I wasted my time writing that chapter for him. Gratis. This is the Dan Levitar Show with the Stu Gatz Podcast.

Today's episode is sponsored by DraftKings. Stay tuned because you'll hear more about DraftKings and all it has to offer throughout the show. DraftKings, the crown is yours.

I'm pretty sure we're going to make it successfully to our 20th anniversary in September. I'm making no promises after that. You laugh, Chris Cody, but I'm worried about the general corrosive malaise of Greg Cody is being paid to do his job here, but he's too busy with side projects, doing fresh material to make side money.

Stu Gatz is being paid this week to be here, but he's too busy. He's advertising himself. He's gone full prostitute. He's gone, I'm in a contract year. I'm available to anyone who will take me who wants to pay me, not noticing that it's a terrible shrinking media market.

Not noticing that there are no jobs. Maybe he is noticing, and that's why he's trying to get ahead of it. Well, there aren't any jobs in New York for him. He already tried that. Wow. They call them sex workers now, by the way, not prostitutes. Yeah, you're slut-shaming. No, I'm calling that a prostitute. I'm not calling anyone else a prostitute. I'm calling Stugatz a prostitute. What is the sound...

that you have of Stugat on Boomer and Geo. I feel for anybody during these months that is used to a familiar thing and now gets stuck with the guest hosts whenever Colin Cowherd goes on vacation and then it's just lonely Jason McIntyre scared as a deer in headlights. I have a couple options for you. He does have that kind of face. I see him on mute and he's like... It's all too much for me. It's all too much.

I have a couple choices for you. I have Stugatz being gross and fishing for a new contract, and I have a montage of his fake laugh. Which of those two do you guys want first? Both good. Seems like Jessica was most titillated by the fake laugh. How much fake laugh do you have there? This is just from one segment. I have 17 seconds of just a montage of him fake laughing. Okay, do we know what the subject matter is? I don't think it matters. I hate this.

Well, this is a special nightmare for you because how much of this do you edit out of God bless football? Well, I have to do a lot. I mean, not to point fingers, but you guys tanked stupidity after you played this because then everyone was just paying attention to the fake laughter and no one could listen to anything else. Like it was sabotage is what happened once we aired this. And every time we do it, it's just sabotaging our own shows again and again. If you guys want to do a show of Stugatz's laziest crutches. That's the opposite of what I want.

The fake laugh is up there, but him just using the bridge of I understand when he's not retaining anything that would require understanding, just saying I understand to get to whatever his next point is on not having understood the previous thing that was said. Go ahead, play the fake laugh to the tank stupidity. I'm every time. You're like, he does the warm-up where I don't like Stu Gotts from 10 years ago. Thunder.

Okay. In that way. No problem. Going to go out of his way. One segment. That's a week's worth of fake laughing right there. One segment. He's out of his element. He's got to ease in. He needs like the pacifier to comfort himself and the host around him. The thing that works universally, if you're going to be a chummy liar at a time that shamelessness is in is.

try to make people think they're funnier than they actually are. It's worked with me for 20 years as his cohort. He's made me feel funnier than I actually am and emboldened me to great heights. I don't understand, though, why Greg Cody doesn't have his back in my day. I don't. Like, you've had vacation. You've had the

Panther playoff run is now plenty over. You're paid for it. You think I'm working? I'm writing a back of my day on vacation? You did just say that you wrote three fresh ones for the book. I had a deadline. I slayed the deadline. Why can't you read one of those? I mean, it's your book. Shouldn't you have control over what is...

secret and what is exclusive to the book? I signed a contract to write three book exclusive back in my days. You signed a contract here to have a Tuesday back in my day that was sponsored. That was also a contract that you signed. Who's sponsoring them?

Chris is on to something. If Rex is sitting in the Stugas chair, he should have to do weekend observations, not back in my day. So I'm excited for that segment later. Give them to me. I'll read them. Text Taylor. Give them to me. I'll read them. That's a Stugas. Yeah, you got to do them first. There. That's half the battle. I thought he was doing and you know it. That's what I thought he was doing. And you know it. Did you guys recognize that as a Dan? Because I thought that was the beginning of a creaky.

I was like, whoa, where'd this come from? You all heard that, correct? You thought that that was him trying. And you know it. I was about to, I was about to make fun of how creaky one of his signature phrases was. And then I realized, oh, it's not one of his signature phrases. It was like una puerta. When you throw a puerta, it's like. That's exactly what it is. Wait, Greg, can you do a limited fake Stu Gotts laugh next?

That's pretty good. Not bad. Just a fake laugh. I know. You got to be careful. He's going to be so winded at the end of this. He's going to start coughing. Oh, this is a bad thing that we've done here. Another clip I have of Stugatz is just so you think, all right, maybe this stuff with WFAN, it's a bit, right? I want to play a clip here and then we're going to ask ourselves the question, is this a bit? What I'm saying is I'm in a contract here. All right.

All right. Oh, you are right now. And I have one contract left in which I want to be on air. And so I am telling the people here that run WFAN, this will be your last opportunity to get me. OK, that contract's up in about seven, eight months. Could be longer. I have no idea.

I am telling you, I'm doing one more go here. I got like three more years left on air, and then I'm going to go somewhere, and I'm going to disappear. Bit or no bit? He's not disappearing. That's a lie. Why are you shaking your head, Billy? He's not disappearing after three years. Get out of here. I mean, he may, not by choice, though. Respectfully.

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.

summertime, go outside. I record a lot for 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. Don Libertard. I heard that as a woman faking pain. I didn't think that sounded real. I really didn't.

You know? It was not fake. It was in no way fake. You can spot a woman faking it. Stugatz. Yes, I can, Jess. Expert. I've been married 40 years. This is the Dan Levitas Show with the Stugatz.

Greg Cody has a bit of an issue on his hands, and I'm not sure how many of you have something like this, because Greg does not want this turned into content. Chris Cody can't wait to turn it into content because there's some awkwardness in the Greg Cody household. I am just learning for the first time because Greg Cody is very careful and has been all his life about revealing his age.

I am just learning for the first time that shortly Greg Cody will turn 70 years old.

That's obviously a big birthday. If you've heard him coughing around here for years, it's a reason for celebration that he has gotten to 70 years old. But he's having some real problems. And I don't know the length of them. I don't know how awkward this goes, how deep it is deciding who to invite from here because he feels like people are going to get hurt because not everyone's being invited. He just threw his hands up.

in the room before we got in here and said, this is not my party when it's literally his party. But I'm not organizing it. It's debatable. I'm behind the scenes. Dad, you've called me multiple times to discuss guest lists. Discuss?

And discuss. It's true. I seek your counsel on certain things, such as this show, quite frankly. But in other aspects of my life, there are also close calls and decisions. And do I invite him? Am I obligated to invite her? Should I invite him? I just want to say that I got a list of who my dad from this world was like, this is who I would think we would invite. And I got a list. I'm not going to say names.

Oh, come on. And then I just, and my response was, this list will offend people because there are people on here that you've chosen that you've known less than some other people. Like you just. All right. How many names, how many names are on the list without revealing the name? How many people? I've got a lot of questions. I've got, this is some, this is some quality awkwardness we have to play with here.

How many people are invited? This is a party on a yacht? Yeah, I think we're going to round it at about 100 invites. Open bar? Yeah.

And is that what you're scared of? Are you scared of where the cost is going to end up if you invite 150 people as opposed to 100 for what is a fairly spectacular celebration? Yeah, it's going to be a banger. No, I'm not worried about the cost. I'm spending my kids' inheritance, literally. I just flew to Ireland, first class, stayed at some of the richest hotels on the island.

What a place, by the way, Ireland. We'll get to your vacation. I know you want to do the routine of I'm a guest on a talk show host. I got some material here from my vacation. We'll get to that. Let me just do the birthday stuff first. I'm trying to veer you away from that. I know, but I'm going to stay here for a while. I know you want to get into let me tell you about all the things I did in Ireland. We'll get to that in a second. I want to understand a little bit better.

what the reservation would be about in terms of who's getting invited from here and who isn't. Would half of our crew make it? Would half of the crew here make it? Are you going to offend half of the people who work here because you don't feel the need to invite everybody from here? Um,

As a microcosm, this show is a good example because if there were no ceiling on number of people to invite, I'd invite everybody here. Everybody and plus one. So nice. But I have to accept Mike Ryan.

You know, I'm not going to invite him. Really? Yeah. Because of the age discrimination suit and because of the really. It's a body of work thing. Giant infant. He is a giant infant. Yeah. Okay. So he does say no kids. So you're not. Outside of my daughter. You're not inviting. You're not inviting Mike Ryan because of because you've got that litigation against him for elderly abuse. Yeah. Elderly abuse and other stuff.

other stuff. It is. I thought it was age discrimination and elderly abuse. I didn't think there was other stuff. I thought it was $1.2 million in damage. Well, no, that's the suit. The reason he's not inviting him is for other stuff. Right. There's a lot of reasons that go into it. But up to me, I invite everybody I've ever met. Greg, it's your party. But there's a limit. If it's on a boat, there's a limit. There's nothing Greg can do. Coast Guard will come. This is the reason that there is something Greg can do.

The 70th birthday party is your wishes. It's not anybody else's wishes. The party's for you. The party is to make you happy. I understand you're putting this veneer of defense in so that you can have plausible deniability on anyone who doesn't get invited, but it's your guest list. All right, let's be clear about this. Five or six weeks ago, my wife comes to me and says, I've rented a yacht.

Your 70th birthday party, it's not going to be a surprise party. Okay, so... Surprise. So I'm not in charge of all this. Way too soon. Huge relief for you to not have it be a surprise party. Yeah, I don't like a surprise party. Come on. It's your old. We don't want to scare you. Then you get a fake surprise. Hey! You got to look around with big tall eyebrows, faking surprise. You could also just be surprised. I know, but come on. The second my wife...

I'm already picturing how it would work. We think we're driving to dinner, right? We're going east to dinner, which we sometimes do. Let's go get a drink on this boat real fast. Yeah, and all of a sudden she's veering into a, what do they call it? A marina. A marina. A boatyard. An eye place. Yeah, a marina. We don't go to marinas. A boatyard. It is ridiculous.

So, I would not have been surprised. I would have had the fake surprise. Now I don't have the fake surprise. It has been an interesting journey with this guest list just about the people here because it started really small with my dad handpicking a few where I was like, this is going to make some people feel awkward. And then my dad's like, all right, screw it. Every on-air person's coming.

And then my mom was like, whoa, who's Tony? I'm just kidding. No, I'm making a joke. But like my mom was just like, whoa, we can't have everybody go. Okay. It was silent back here. What day is that? I mean, to be fair, like. She did not say who's Tony for the record. There's certain people that if you invite one, you have to invite the other. Like if you invite Tony, then you have to invite, you know, Chris and, well, Chris obviously is going, but Roy has to go. And then if you invite Roy, then like this person has to go. If you invite Jeremy, he's part of the Hee Haw Three. Now does Yeti have to go? I mean, Yeti.

Yeti should be there. Yeti will be there, invited or not. In a working capacity. Dad, can I just unveil who was on your original list? Please. No. Please. Dad, it's not going to offend any... Okay, how about this? Let's play a game. Is anyone that is here in this room today not on that original list? Yes. Okay. Is any of those people speaking right now wearing a white hat?

I'm going to say it very small. I started with Dan and Stugatz if we're being truthful, because I had no idea. Like my wife's inviting half of her law firm. Okay. That was another thing. I see my mom's list and I'm like, what is this? My mom's party. It's my party, but you know, there's going to be a bunch of lawyers there. She is paying for the, probably litigating everything. You know, everybody takes a slip and fall at my party and I'm screwed. Exactly right. You know, somebody falls overboard. All of a sudden I'm being sued. Mom's a defense attorney.

Yeah, that's a good point. She would defend the boat. That's true. She's encouraging people to slip and fall. She's spilling water. I'm just making stereotypes about lawyers. Don't worry me. Wait a minute. I'm fine not being invited, Greg, if that puts you in a better spot. I'm okay with that. No, but I'm being truthful when I say my starting pro is Dan and Stugas. And Roy and Juju.

That's not true. He's really mad at you. Check me in there. I don't want to get into any details about who is and isn't invited. The new me says everybody's welcome, and not just on-air people. I love the off-air people. Sounds like old you only said four people were allowed to come. Two, actually. But no kids except Gracelyn, my beloved granddaughter. But if you invite Roy, then you have to invite Billy, obviously. I'm fine not going. No, no, no. I knew that no one would be offended, but I was just like...

If Mike and Bill, like if we're going just on time. I'm fine not going. Okay, the point is I don't want to offend anybody. I want people who want to come to my party to come to my party. If I invite you and you can't make it or you're making some lame excuse why you can't make it, perfectly fine as well. But this is the stress of throwing a fairly major...

party is all these decisions and it's not just this show it's like herald people who do i invite people from my distant past will dave hyde get an invite you know you know relative distant relatives i mean he's you know do i invite one nephew but not the other no do that invite both nephews yeah you have to do that so your wife is being gluttonous about inviting people from her work to your thing

Just because she's paying for it. I don't know how she's getting like 20% of the gift on what is your birthday, whether she's paying for it or not. You know, you're not lying.

She's taking advantage of the situation. Like, ooh, a party? You can invite all my friends. But should she have to cut someone off her list for Mike Fuentes? I mean... In fairness, most of the people from her law firm that she's inviting, I know. Most. Because we've socialized with them. And Mike Fuentes did save your life once, so point in his favor. And you know if you invite Rory, you do have to invite David Dwork. It's just kind of part of the deal. That's so true. And Rose. And Rose, yeah. To play what the puck.

I've got a rule on if you're somebody who's going to be at my party who I don't know, you have to be a plus one. It can't be anybody else because someone else is sneaking in someone I don't know. The idea that they're mostly people from your wife's work that you know, but there will be somebody from your 70th birthday party who works for your wife who is only there because your wife's paying for that party.

That doesn't feel like it's a part of your gift anymore. I will know, I will have met or know or be friends with everybody who's there. You can see how afraid my dad is of this. There will be no strangers at my party other than, you know, the waitstaff, the yacht driver. Danny GQ. What do you call a guy driving a yacht? A captain. A captain, right? Yeah.

The yacht driver. The yacht driver. Whatever it's called. You could not, between marina and yacht driver, your inability to summon a single nautical word. For a guy that's worn deck shoes every day for 30 years. Lived in South Florida all of his life. Right. I've never owned a boat.

That kind of thing. Love people who own boats, been on boats, but never owned a boat. I'm not a nautical man. No. You know, I rarely go in my own swimming pool. I live eight miles from the Atlantic Ocean. I go to the beach about once a year, and then I'm terrified of the sand. Aren't you a cruiser?

A what? Cruiser? Did you want cruises? Cruise. Yeah, we love cruises. Yeah, that's a big boat. We love cruises. Or a ship. When he said cruiser, what do you think he meant when he's asking you, are you a cruiser? You know, back in the day, that had a little bit of a double entendre. I was thinking what Greg was thinking. Thank you. Pineapples and whatnot. Hey!

And you know it. We were talking about ships and boats. Yeah. And you conjured what image in your mind of a cruiser? Well, it's a family show. You know, it's a cruiser. You know, somebody who gets around, does this, does that, and does the other. You know, I had my cruise in time like everybody in their 20s. No questions asked. I settled down, started to have kids, get into the rut of a beautiful life.

And the rest is history. You played Stratomatic through your 20s? No, through my teens. Into my early mid-20s I did, that's for sure. That's why I never dated in high school. I was alone in the corner bedroom at 1440 playing Stratomatic. I got so proficient at that game, I could play an entire nine-inning game in about 20 minutes. Those dice would be smoking across that cardboard. You fixed baseball before anyone.

like whatever that means it was a quick because it was a quick game oh quick game yeah speed speedball did you just say i'd play a nine minute game in a quick 20 minutes no i'd buy a nine inning game in in 20 minutes

Unless it was a lot of runs and everything. But in Stratomatic, it's a pitcher's game. You tend to have three to two games. I'm actually curious about a sports opinion of yours. I'm sorry to sound so surprised by my own interest in your sports opinion. I don't know what you've been writing about the Tua situation, but I don't think in my lifetime in sports in this market...

I have seen someone whose value is so polarizing as a measurement that people are trying to assess and there can't be agreement on who a player is based on his statistics because we cannot separate him from the system and the system that has turned him into someone who has to at least be worth as much as Jared Goff.

It seems to me that over the last two months, whatever I thought Tua's value was has gone up because Trevor Lawrence signing for that much, an amount of money that I thought would be a lot to give Tua, is now underpaying Tua.

and I don't know what you do if you're the Miami Dolphins because I don't know that the price is going to go down from here. No, they've gotten into a real bind because they've dragged their feet so long and nickel and dimed them for so long that they've seen these other contracts, Jared Goff, Trevor Lawrence,

And now the speculation is that Jordan Love is going to join the 50 million a year club, which would be the ninth member of that club. And two is going, I just played a full season. I just led the league in passing yards. I'm coming into my prime now.

What about me? I want mine. And he's right. He has the leverage here, in my opinion. And I've written on this a couple of times, and I strongly believe the Dolphins have bungled this whole thing. And now training camp, when everybody should be optimistic, training camp begins this week with the enormous buzzkill of...

of this shadow over the whole club because it is contractual impasse with Tua. It was unnecessary. All they had to do was pay him fair market value. Instead they're trying to crowd the contract with all these incentives. Well, plainly they don't trust the health factor yet. They don't trust that he had one full season. They're still worried about that. Should they? Well, look, everything is a risk, right? Everybody is susceptible to injuries.

So should they? Him more than most. I don't know if I would agree. I don't know if I would agree. I would say that he has more of a health concern around him than the average player because of what happened with the concussion stuff. And now he's lost weight again and can get thrown around again. You don't agree that he's...

more than the average injury risk? No, no. Aaron Rodgers played four snaps and then his Achilles snapped. Okay, not 40 years old. Non-40-year-old division. I think a concussion...

is a more avoidable injury than most other injuries because you can always throw the ball away. If you have to take an intentional grounding, you take an intentional grounding. You learn to scramble a little bit more. I think they've underutilized his mobility.

You think the concussion is avoidable in football? I think for a quarterback. I don't think so for a running back or a linebacker. I think for a quarterback, don't take the hard sack. And I know that's easy for me to say. I was going to say. It's so much easier said than done. That's easy for me to say, but at the same time, you can dump the ball. You can get rid of the ball. Isn't the counterpoint to all this that, yes, Tua has some sort of leverage, but the

the way that they run their offense with Mike McDaniel, two is more valuable in that offense than he would be somewhere else. So a team is not going to pay him $50 million a year. So they kind of have to play ball on both sides. I mean, you could make that argument. I think in one of the Dolphin arguments, I'm sure if we're in these private negotiations, I'm sure they're going, you've got Jalen Waddell. You've got Tyreek Hill. You have what was a great running game for the first time in eons.

You should be good. You should lead the league in this and that and the other. But, you know, franchise quarterbacks are so rare in the NFL, if you think you have one, pay them like one. And the Dolphins aren't doing that.

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Don Levitard. Imagine if someone told you you couldn't have a Corvette. Stugatz. I'm a grown-ass man who's not filthy rich. I can't afford a Lamborghini. Well, I probably can, but that's... Whoa! Hey! Wow! This is the Don Levitard Show with the Stugatz.

The reason that I want to discuss this with you, Greg, as someone who is the longest standing Miami Herald, Miami Dolphins journalist, covering everything around the Dolphins for 50 years. You've written the book on the Dolphins.

is because I think I'm correct when I say there has never been a player in a Dolphin uniform received the way this one is, correct? I don't even know who you'd put second place, whether it would be Ricky Williams, who else you would choose as a figure that the people who will defend him will defend him most ardently against.

so that the people who are critical of him because they have trouble measuring what his value really is outside of what the Dolphins provide for him. I don't think I've ever seen a player

play for the Dolphins, who has this kind of swirl around him. I agree. I think he's been disrespected his entire professional career. He gets drafted fifth overall, and the immediate reaction of so many is, ah, they should have taken Justin Herbert, who went sixth.

His rookie year is barely over, and there's all this more than speculation. They're going after Deshaun Watson. They have a sitting rookie first-round quarterback. They're going after Deshaun Watson. That doesn't work out. Then they're going after Tom Brady.

Okay, to the degree that they get fined a first round draft pick for the skullduggery of trying to meet with Brady on a yacht and replace Tua again. Okay, and then there's all the justifiable concussion issues and people wondering, is he healthy enough? Yeah, he's good when healthy, but is he ever going to be healthy?

He's had to prove stuff his entire career. Finally, last year, he proves it all. He plays all 17 games. He has a great season. He leads the league in passing yards. And now he's got to fight.

for his pay. Now he's got a fight to be thought of as an elite quarterback, as a quarterback that you pay $50 million a year because that has become fair market value. So Tua has never been respected like he should be

as a Miami Dolphin and they're still disrespecting him by making him twist in the wind and fight for his money as training camp is starting. Juju, put it on the poll please at Levitard Show. Do you know anyone who has used the word skullduggery in casual conversation? I want to get back to what it is that Tony said about this because I do believe we'd also get agreement on this no matter how much of a Tua Homer you are.

If he went out right now into the free agent market, he doesn't get that contract he's looking for, does he? Does the league believe that he can do what he did with the Dolphins without Waddle and Tyreek Hill and McDaniel? The answer to my question is no, correct? He doesn't get $55 million a year from somebody who just needs a quarterback.

If you take him to Pittsburgh, let's say, let's say Justin Fields and Russell Wilson aren't there, with an offensive coordinator like Arthur Smith, who's not going to maximize his value in the way that they do with the quick passing game, what are you going to do with Tua just handing the ball off to somebody? That is what the Dolphins are doing, right? When you say they've botched it, they obviously, okay, are in, undisputably, win-now mode with the way their contracts are structured. Mm-hmm.

the window closed on when it is you have to maximize these things is when you have the quarterback at value. So we're at maximum win now with the quarterback. They've decided not to pay him. Why? Well, they have him at value this year. They have him this year at like $23 million, which is a bargain for what he's just done last season. And their risk is that

The risk is that you're right, is that he's going to become a free agent a year from now, and all of a sudden it's going to be a splash of water on his face. Look to a, you're not as valuable elsewhere as you are here. Well, let's compare it to the Stugat situation, shall we? Good analogy. Well, I mean, he's not as valuable anywhere as he is here, which is why we pay him more than anybody else, I would assume, would pay him.

Okay. Maybe he thinks differently. Splash. Maybe he thinks differently. Of course. And then we'll all find out together. Right. Yeah, as Tua will, if they don't extend him right now, which I still think there's a chance they will, although supposedly the Packers are closer with Jordan Love than the Dolphins are with Tua. So...

You know, we don't know. He should hold out. He should pull a Jordan Love and hold out. Let me just... The reason I'm asking the question is the way that I'm asking them. Have the Dolphins... You believe the Dolphins have a good football team this year, correct? You believe this, even though...

They haven't won a playoff game in 23 years. That's the irony, is that the Dolphins have been pretty good for four years in a row. They've had four winning seasons in a row. The last two have been in the playoffs. But inexcusably, they haven't won a playoff game since the 2000 season. But you believe that they're good this year. I think they're good. I don't know that they're Chiefs good, Super Bowl good, but I think they're good. They're not Chiefs good, but that's okay. Nobody's Chiefs good.

You believe that they're good this year, so you therefore believe that their management team has done a good job. You trust how it is that this management team has built this team for now, correct? You trust the leadership of this team more than you have since when, Mike?

I think Chris Greer has established himself. I think he's a good general manager. I love the deal they gave to Jalen Waddell because they know that they're going to have Jalen Waddell a lot longer than they're going to have Tyreek Hill, and they need a number one receiver, which Waddell is. But, you know, they let a starting guard go to the Raiders. They didn't spend for him.

but if you're going to overspend... Defense alignment went to the Raiders. If you're going to overspend for anybody, overspend on your most valuable player, on your most essential player, yes, I think the Dolphins are really good, playoff good, not without Tua, they're not, and maybe not with an upset Tua who feels like he's been disrespected and undervalued. Greg, the reason I ask you all of the questions that I'm asking you is because obviously all of this is subjective, obviously we all love to

play fantasy general manager, obviously on something that's subjective, it's great fun. None of us will be wrong now on whatever our opinion is on this. But the person who is most invested in making these decisions correctly, the people who are most invested in that, they are telling you that's not what he's worth. And

Fans, what they're doing is paying those people for that judgment. That's what the area of expertise is. Properly assign the value to these people on something that's subjective. And they're telling us he's not worth that.

That's what they're telling us. You're taking it as insult. Why can't it just be that that's their assessment? It's not that the market says he's worth that. They don't think that he's worth that. And yes, they risk insulting a popular player. They risk bothering a fan base that just wants a quarterback no matter what. But they're not

doing it because they're cheap. Right. Yeah, you're right. And they have a right to do that, but they're also not infallible. You know, you judge a general manager on every decision he makes. In this case, they're nickel and diming their most important player. And in the long run...

Whether you give him $51 million a season or whether you're holding out for $44 million plus extra incentives, very little difference. Very little difference in the long run. You've also seen what the team looks like without Tua playing quarterback. And Tua, I mean, you guys could correct me on this. When's the last time the Dolphins made it to back-to-back playoffs? It's been a long time.

So you could question his health, you could question is he your guy, but at a certain point you need to commit to him or not commit to him. And there are a dozen teams in the league right now who would want Tua. They might not want him at $50 million, but they would want Tua over their guy without hesitation. And unfortunately for the Dolphins, that's just what the market is right now. So if you're not going to commit to him, you need to come up with another plan. Because you could say Tua may only work in this system,

But you could very soon find out what happens if Tua leaves and then you don't have him in your system and you have to start from scratch again. I have spent an inordinate amount of the Tua time sitting out extreme Tua opinions because of how weary I got over seven years of trying to convince myself that Ryan Tannehill here was a starting quarterback that...

was made available to the entire league as a starter, and then the league told you he was a backup, and then he gets with the right pieces in Tennessee, and all of a sudden, he's signing a next contract. So, you have not heard over the time that there's been these wild fluctuations, because Cody misremembers.

Not everybody wanted Herbert. That's a manufactured thing you did at the beginning. Herbert was clearly the one who was behind Tua, and Tua came in as a top five pick, and then Tannenbaum was the only one saying that Herbert was the guy he'd take. And then that first year of Herbert, we were all like,

Oh, when it's with Flores and you don't have the right system around a guy, it looks like Tua looks like Goff looked at the beginning, which is he couldn't play until you put him in the right system. Then the whole sport changes, where all of a sudden I'm in a place where, is Jalen Hurts that good?

Or is Philadelphia kind of some place where Nick Foles can be a Super Bowl MVP? Because if I put him behind that offensive line, I've changed how we're doing all these measurements. So now we have trouble, all of us, in the measuring of what is Jared Goff really? You've also got Lamar Jackson over here playing the position differently than anyone else is playing it and then having the same problem that Tua has. You get to the playoffs and the whole thing falls apart.

So you guys tell me when's the last time they made the playoffs twice. I'm like, they could have just as easily not won a playoff game with Tua as they did with having Tua. They don't win playoff games. For 23 years, they get to the playoffs and then don't win the games or they don't get to the playoffs. Well, yeah, but Tua, they don't get to the playoffs, though. Understood, but both circumstances, you're not actually close. If you can't win a playoff game, you're not close. You can try and talk yourself into it. I'm a Bradley Chubb away. If you can't win...

a playoff game, you're not close. The Steelers weren't close last year. Well, last year the Dolphins did what every team did to the Chiefs in the playoffs. They lost to them because the Chiefs won the Super Bowl. That's correct. They lost. Yeah, that's fine. So did everybody else. Only one team wins at the end. Yeah, but not all of them lose as soon as they get there. Like, the

The Miami Dolphins... So what should they do? Release Tua? Then what's the plan? No, I think they do what they're doing. That's not working. You're just saying it's not working. So what should they do? I'm talking about the signing of him. I'm talking about you get him in for your value, not what everyone else says is market value. What your value is. They're being stubborn about it. Could there be an option where he signs a bit of a... I love a third option. Could be...

A bit of a Kirk Cousins thing where he gets four for $180,000, $100,000 guaranteed. He's obviously annual around $45 million a year. But there's some value there. There's some faith there of giving you more guaranteed money than you would have if you'd signed the $50 million deal but be able to be cut after a couple of years. What has happened most recently is that because the Dolphins have been stubborn, the price is going up.

I am certain that whatever Tua would have taken two months ago is not what he'd take anymore. It's bad leadership. Well, two months ago, he was talking about the market value. He was thinking $50 million and still should be. And the Dolphins' apparent strategy right now is at great risk, okay? Because here's what could happen.

Okay, an unhappy Tua plays for $23 million this year, becomes a free agent next year, and can't wait to get the hell out of Miami because they've just screwed him over and not paid him what it was worth.

And he will be a very lucrative free agent a year from now. There will be plenty of teams bidding for him. And then what for Miami? And then what? You don't have a high enough draft pick to draft your answer. You have a couple of second stringers who you don't trust. All of a sudden, the team that let its franchise quarterback go is, I almost said the F word, they're screwed.

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