The Big Suey: The Billy Hamilton of Hockey
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Welcome to the Big Suey, presented by DraftKings. Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan Lebitard podcast. I'm sorry, I'm not going to apologize for that. In fact, the only difference seems to be this imaging. I have been tempted in restaurants just walking past tables to grab somebody's fries if they're just there. That hasn't happened to you guys? I've done it. And now, here's the marching band to nowhere, Fat Face and the Habitual Liars.

This episode is presented by Smirnoff. We do game days. Please drink responsibly. The Smirnoff Company, New York, New York. You can be very afraid and properly respectful of Connor McDavid and also have what I'm about to say be true as to why it is the defending champions might not win.

what cometh this way, even though I would fear what cometh this way, not just with home ice, but because the growth of this kind of transcendent talent sort of demands that he step up and win this to be the talent that I believe everyone hockey thinks he already is.

just better than everybody. And what he's facing, though, is the following. It is a franchise that not only took out and beheaded Tampa and all that it was, but made Boston and New York go about doing a different kind of business.

And now has Toronto's GM saying, we need to change our DNA because what we are isn't what they are. And so now you're slicing through the top of the toughest conference with the deepest team Paul Maurice has ever had. If Connor McDavid is to be the champion, I believe him to be that his greatness demands, he will slay this giant, but it will be a giant. He slays like they're every bit. They're every bit as good as each other.

Except they have the better player, but Florida's plenty happy with the best player they've got and the soldiers behind him because this thing is deeper than what beat him last year, but he's stronger than what he was last year. No, I think Edmonton has the two better players. They have the two best players in the world. However, the Panthers have the better team. Now, the Achilles heel in this situation is Florida giving up stretch passes. So if Conor...

McDavid or Leon Drysdale gets behind the Panthers defenseman. I mean, that's going to be a breakaway one-on-one situation against Bob, and that's not going to go over to us. It's not like it's the Maple Leafs or anything. This is kind of McDavid here. But how about the quote, though, from Toronto's GM, we have to change our DNA? It's obvious. But what you're leaving in your wake in Carolina and Toronto. How did Carolina get some message ever? Like, what are we leaving? Like, let's just run it back. Rod Brindamore always is like,

we're this close. And I'm like, thank you. Thank you, Ryan. I love how Carolina approaches everything. God bless the Carolina Hurricanes. Keep running it back. You guys are close. Amin had the proper tone with the Knicks when he says, they were very good. Why do we have to immediately change the architecture? Well, the why is Carolina and Toronto had some of the best teams they've ever had.

and it wasn't good enough. They had teams good enough to hope that this was the year, and it was taken out by the defending champion in a way that's so overt that you have to change the way you're doing the entirety of business because they've passed you. We know how competitive these things are. So when it's these two teams...

They just buzzsawed through the playoffs. I know that Toronto took them seven games, but the playoffs are generally pretty hard. This all intents and purposes, two pretty easy paths for somehow. I'm not saying the teams weren't good. I'm just saying to go to...

to go 12-2 through one conference and to go through, you know, tested once by Toronto, you ran through the conferences to get to... These are clearly the two best teams. You ran through the toughest division, certainly in hockey, and I think the division's

I really hope the NHL goes back to 1-8 best records in the conference because you have a situation with Carolina where they've just tricked themselves into thinking they're the second best team in the conference when they're not. I don't even know if they probably get a wild card if they're stuck in the Atlantic. And by the way, if you ranked the teams in the Eastern Conference 1-8, first round matchup would be Carolina and Florida.

I bet you that five-game series loss would hit a hell of a lot different if it just so happened to be in the first round. I mean, the regular season really didn't matter. I mean, both the Panthers and Oilers kind of rested up for this playoff. And...

The Panthers really needed that rest because we saw Magic Kachuk in the Tampa series come out and did what he did. During this four-year run, it's a pretty amazing way that the Panthers have gotten to the playoffs and then three consecutive finals because they've done it all. They won a President's Trophy and they realized second-round exit,

at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning. We're not good enough. Let's trade the face of the franchise. Then they squeak in as an eighth seed, do it all on the road, get to a final broken, and then they are the best team in the sport. Well, not President's Trophy, but have homecoming.

have home ice throughout the Eastern Conference. And this one, they decided, you know what, we're just going to be road warriors the entire postseason. They can beat you any type of way, and they can get to the final any type of way. When Paul Murray says it's the best team he's had, and the last one he had was a champion, and when what I will keep saying cometh this way throughout hockey history, when something that looks like this. Why do you talketh that way? Ha ha ha!

Because there are like four guys historically who can be feared the way this one is. He's the fastest skater ever. I mean, he's one of the greatest players ever. I got to say, hats off to you guys, because a lot of Panthers fans were worried about what you guys would do with your Stanley Cup preview. Just run it back, call the best player in the world who's already plenty pissed off, overrated. I'll give my dad time.

Yeah, I mean, we get it. He's got to win the cup for you to crown him one of the greatest of all times. But I think it's very clear who the best player in the world is right now. If you want to rank him against Ghost, that is your prerogative. And if you want to frame the discussion that way, I guess go right ahead. I don't know how it serves it because that guy, I don't like to

look in his eye, and I don't like the way that he plays hockey. That guy's a demigod. All right, can you help me here, Billy? Because Mike's trying to cut us off at the knees before we even get started. Greg Cody, it wasn't just Vegas that made it all go to his head. Greg Cody made himself the center

of the Stanley Cup Final. He made himself the center, the star media personality calling Connor McDavid overrated last year, infuriating Mike Ryan. You guys got so serious that you thought my billboards were gonna jinx your team that you weren't.

ran diarrhea shitting themselves not allowing me to do some things because Mike didn't want us blamed for ruining the Stanley Cup final championship run because we had to get Greg Cody more attention. Yeah, silly superstition. They blew a 3-0 lead. We were all panicking. Well, not me. That would be the situation. We'll hand Luke over here. It was fine.

My ass was inside my chest. Okay, Connor McDavid is the fastest skater in this series. Yeah, but Billy Hamilton was the fastest player in baseball, and would that get him? There you go. That's a very good point by Billy. Thank you, Greg. As always, Billy. No one ever said he's the greatest of all time because he's the fastest. We've been hearing for 10 years now, not 14.

Not five years, not three years. For ten years, we've been hearing how great Connor McDavid is. He's not a two-way player. And he is. The best two-way player in this series is named Alexander Barkov. Thank you. Okay? McDavid has to win a championship or he can't...

You can't keep calling him Jesus and the chosen one and this and that. You can call him McJesus. That's all right. But, I mean, he won the Conn Smythe last year, best player of the postseason. While you were calling him overrated, it's fine. I get it. To be an all-timer, to be on the Mount Rushmore, he's got to win a Stanley Cup. That's great. We don't need to make it a narrative. I think he's crystal clear.

clear that he's chasing ghosts, but he's the best player in this series. He was the best player in the series last time. It's ridiculous to give the con smith to a player from a losing team. It's just a mockery. It's happened before. He was that good. Nah, it's a mockery. No, it's a mockery. Right now, he's in the class of Apollo Anton Ono. That's about it. Exactly. Also, he's not chasing ghosts. He's chasing panthers. Hello. You got that right. I'm already here. I already said hello to you this morning. Oh, and he gave you the left hand, a little Elvis. You got a little... Oh, he... Look at it. He did a little wiggle

Hey, Norton. I don't like what's happening to my left. I don't like what's happening over here. Billy, I'm going to need you to corral some of this. I'm trying to help here. Okay. Hard carny. It doesn't feel like you're trying to help. Let me get a palate cleanser here. Give me the testy Siakam. The show's been a little scattered today. Give me the testy Siakam I asked for 40 minutes ago. Hi, Scott. Can you...

Can you make sense of it for those of us who don't play this game at this level? You know what was at stake. You're saying they played harder than you guys. You didn't fight them hard enough. How is that possible? What do you mean? How is it possible to not fight hard enough in games? What are you talking about? They played harder than us. It's okay. We played hard, but they played harder. What's your point? I don't get it. My point is you're saying you guys got out fought. That happens in the game, though. That's basketball. In game five, we didn't play hard enough.

You're good? You're good, bro? You're looking for something I know, but damn. No, no, but I'm telling you, though. I told you. What else do you want me to tell you? Well, what about you tell me? So go ahead. Who's this guy? Who's this guy? What's your name, bro? Oh.

Did he know who he was? He doesn't know who he is. He doesn't know who he is because Greg Dole's a columnist, and columnists sometimes don't come to games. That's all I hear. Swoop in for the playoffs.

That's really true. There's so many. It used to be that if you were Pascal Siakam in your town, you would know who the local newspaper columnist is. You would know who that is. I would have no reason to think that Pascal Siakam is going behind the paywall at the Indianapolis Star to see what Greg Doyle wrote about his 30-point performance. He can afford it. I don't imagine that these guys are going... All right, put it on the poll at Levitard Show. Are the Pacers...

All paying for Indianapolis Star subscriptions. Yes. Vote yes. Maybe the team pays for all of them to have it. Support local journalism, number one. Number two, Clay Thompson used to famously read actual newspapers. There you go. In the locker room. We love that. By the way, Siakam, I thought, gave a very good answer. A very legitimate answer. I like an athlete who's willing to admit...

man, we busted our ass. We played hard. They played a little harder. It's not a crime to admit that. So I was there. But how? It's not a criminal. It's true. There's nothing criminal about it. But now twice Amin has done this where I was there. Because I want to give you behind the scenes things about what happened there. He was there. And you guys just keep wanting to talk about other things.

So the funniest thing is Greg Doyle has his laptop in his lap, right? And as soon as he's done asking the question, the moment Siakam starts answering, this is the thing that doesn't come up on the broadcast. He is typing feverishly. You know that Kermit the Frog meme of him at the time? That's exactly what it looked and sounded like. I'm like, how are you even hearing what he's saying? So he's like, how's that possible? Well, I mean, it's a...

And I'm sitting there trying not to bust out laughing. It's a loud laptop. Because it's so... Dude, I'm going to try a recreate. I'm going to point my microphone like this.

Man, wow, jeez. Poor laptop. That's exactly what it sounded like. It's also an older laptop. That's Ira Winderman's move with the heat. You always hear him clacking away during the questions. Clacking like a typewriter. Yeah, you have to. Number two, the rest of the press conference, he kept making passive-aggressive comments, like Siakam did, about playing harder. Sometimes that happens in NBA games, and he stares at it. I love that move. Number three—

Do you guys hear what the dismount was? Read about it tomorrow. He said this, and he didn't make eye contact. He just kind of kept typing. And he was like, whoa, you read about it tomorrow. And I said, woo-hoo. The whole time, I was like, this Greg Doyle guy, what's his big deal? Then he hit the dismount. I was like, you know what? It kind of won me back. What was his body energy? What was I looking for there? What was I looking for there? Okay, well done. I'm glad you called it. Hold on. His body. Just having fun, making music.

Hold on. It's vibes. Why don't you say vibes? What are his vibes? His body language. Thank you, Lewis, in my head. What was his body language like after the question? I'll be honest with you. He took it like a G. But then again, he was typing like Kermit the Frog, so I don't know what his vibes were. Look at him. That's exactly what it looked like.

Chris, you called for the ball. Little Sunday sativa. You called for the ball and you said body and then you did this. Well, because it's such an obvious one. Body language. That's why I was like, yeah. The Kermit the Frog. That was his body language. Number three. And this is the part. You already gave us number three. No, number four. Number four. And this is the part where I get to be full self-indulgence.

My head, the back of my head is in the shot. Oh, I want to see that. Yeah, if you play it back, that's the back of my head in the shot. All right, great. Go ahead and play it back. All right, so let's see if we can see the back of Amin's head in the shot if we play it back because I don't see anybody's head. Up, up, up, up, up, up, up. There you go. Let's see what we've got here. Go ahead and play the sound again because there was something else I thought was funny about this. The best of us don't play this game at this level. You know what was at stake. You're saying they played harder than you guys. You didn't fight them hard enough.

How is that possible? What do you mean? How is it possible to not fight hard enough in games? What are you talking about? They played harder than us. It's okay. We played hard, but they played harder. What's your point? I don't get it. My point is you're saying you guys got out fought. That happens in the game, though. That's basketball. Is that? You're good? You're good, bro? You're looking for something, I know. But damn. No, no, but I'm telling you, though.

I told you. What else do you want me to tell you? I want you to tell me how. That's all I'm asking. What about you tell me? So go ahead. Who is this guy? Who is this guy? What's your name, bro? Oh.

That's me turning my head back and forth because I'm like, is this really happening right now? On the scene. Check out his body. Yes. Unmistakable. This is the reason that I found it funny, though. For how long do you imagine that Pascal Siakam has been interviewed after games? 15 years? 15 years.

just or 10 years about 10 years 10 years going back for 10 years he's been trotting out they just played harder than us never expecting a follow-up never expecting any damage to be done just they played harder than us I've been saying this for 10 years and you know what I've done I've ridden for 10 years as Pascal Siakam nobody cares what I have to say about anything because I just say they played harder than us and it's okay and he wasn't expecting a follow-up and it's a good follow-up well how is that possible

He doesn't know or they wouldn't have gotten their asses kicked in that game. How long has Greg Doyle been a columnist? 20 years? A long time. He got in trouble with the Caitlin Clark thing. How long has he been where it took him to figure out, I'm going to ask the follow-up about playing hard. Like an old dog knows new tricks. No one ever does, though. Why would they? We have accepted they played harder than us since it was invented. And we go on our merry way. No one's ever been brave enough to ask how.

How is that possible? Why would they play harder than you? See how it's done, Dad? You swoop in for the playoffs. You ask a tough question. You make some news. Greg Doyle is very good at what he does. I support him entirely. Is it 1G or 2Gs? Entirely. 2Gs. We don't like that. We don't like that. We don't like the 2Gs. Entirely? You support him on the Caitlin Clark thing? No, no, no. And he did defend him there. No, I... He...

went overboard with the Caitlin Clark Leary kind of comment and he admitted later that he was very wrong. So it's not 100% you don't write. In this case, I do. I thought his follow-up question was very legit. I love the question because then the real answer after that is, well, they care more than we do about their jobs. But he said not though, Siakam, to his credit. Well, he didn't want to follow it up with, he didn't want to follow it up with,

The real answer would be what? Yeah, we were playing in New York. We knew we were coming back home and the game didn't matter that much to us. So all of a sudden, all of our players played poorly. Every last one of them. Now, the funny thing about that press conference, I don't think it reveals, but I told Juju the other night, because I was there, him and Halliburton, they were incredibly relaxed.

For a team that got its ass kicked and now we've got to go back and win the game six, usually in that situation you've got a player saying, hey, we've got to win back at home because we're not going to come back here. Now these guys are like, ah, we got it. They seemed so confident. I was thrown off by it. And so I know that exchange, he got a little irritated. I think it was because Greg kept going after him over and over again. But overall, his demeanor in that press conference was super relaxed and relaxed.

What we saw on Saturday, I was like, oh yeah, it makes sense. They knew they had this.

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Don Levitard. You have some hot takes today. Joe Chestnut's a fraud. Oh, he's on fire. He called Connor McDavid overrated before the show. What the hell was that, Greg? Yeah, no. I love it. Stugatz. Roy, let me explain it to you. You know more about hockey than I do. And this is coming from a guy that's watched Connor play six times. Right. If that. This is the Don Levitard Show with the Stugatz.

I don't believe that Indiana has any chance in this series, but if they do, we're going to have to rethink how we thought about Pascal Siakam. Because... So the Miami Heat. Yeah, Kawhi Leonard is going to get credit for winning a championship without any help, even though this man was at his side, and he was a problem in this series. Like his...

His physicality, even in a game when the Knicks were coming through and it was just knees to the junk. Knees to the junk. We're going to come in knees to the junk. Pascal Siakam was a handful for everybody. He was a franchise changer to a degree. I mean, I know Halliburton came online, but you acquire a Siakam to further aid in the development of a superstar. That was one of those moves that went kind of... It was an understated move because everyone was...

whale chasing and he was one of the guys that Miami kind of poked around and decided not worth our draft capital and now he's totally changed the fortunes of the Indiana Pacers. I mean I think for the Pacers when they did that deal it was absolutely a chips to the middle of the table thing because they realized man Halliburton is special and we need to get him the supporting cast. You remember the guy that they traded away was Bruce Brown who had just won a championship with Denver

great role player, but a role player. And Siakam is an all-star caliber player, obviously a former champion, former G League champion. And so he brings that kind of gravitas that they needed to take their program to the next level. Why did you just do former G League champion? I didn't know that about him. I didn't know that he was in that grind. Him and Fred Van Vliet, they won a championship for the Raptors G League team. And a lot of people point to that as like these were the seeds of Championship Toronto. And Kawhi.

So as we follow the storylines of a season, right, because I do believe that basketball will suffer in this next round from just tropes like I don't want the new thing. I small markets, whatever, whatever, whatever. Even though these are two, I believe, interesting stories and not just that.

Interesting stories at a time that we spent the entire season talking about Luca, talking about LeBron, talking about Steph, talking about Jason Tatum, talking about Edwards, talking about John Morant. Who was going to be next? Who was going to be next? Who was going to be next? Oh! Oh! Okay.

It's going to be Shea Gilgis-Alexander, and it's going to be a Pacer team that we have to tell the stories about somebody. And the third story in this series is Siakam, is it not? Like, this is how names get made this time of year. I was telling you about where are Tatum's moments, where are Tatum's moments.

Halliburton got the moment in a series that Neesmith and Siakam won. Halliburton got the moment, the moment? And so I ask you, I ask this as a serious question. Siakam's already more highly regarded than he was four or five games ago, correct?

Siakam has just made some sort of leap in terms of reputation outside of basketball because we have to fill these storylines with somebody and Chet Holmgren will be here soon enough, but the Pacers were the surprise. Yeah, the Pacers were the surprise and he was the one

that was their most consistent player in the conference finals. And that's the other thing about Halliburton, Dan. He had the moment. You could say that. He also had a lot of disappearing acts within that conference finals. And that's really the reason, I think, the spread between him and Siakam in terms of winning MVP was that. I think the voters were saying Siakam was the guy that showed up pretty much almost every night, and Halliburton kind of came and went. But in a series that demanded his and Naismith and everything else,

Neesmith, everything they were doing there physically, I mean, to bother Brunson. I haven't seen Brunson that bothered all season. This was the wear down of seven games. This was him being worn down on defense. There is not, I don't think Knicks fans recognized Brunson.

Brunson being ground to dust by the sheer physicality of their wing players, of Indiana's wings. I guess it's a form of physicality. What it was was Indiana understood that we play fast and they don't. And so if you listen to the way they talk, whether it was

Halliburton where there was Rick Carlisle. They kept saying it's day one of 13. It's day two. They kept emphasizing that this thing is a marathon, a marathon in which we sprint every mile and they can't. They're gonna try it but they can't and what we saw was in game six in particular but really this is a cumulative effect. The Knicks just got tired. They could not keep up with the Pacers running, running after makes, running after misses, didn't matter and then

As they got tired. The minutes of the season, the minutes of the year catching up to them. The depth of their rotation versus the Knicks rotation, although Tom Thibodeau did relent and start playing more of his bench. And what ended up happening in Game 6 is when you're tired, you start making mistakes. The Knicks defense started to suffer greatly because they were tired of making tired mistakes. And then for Brunson, when you see what Nembhard did to him in Game 6,

Six steals for Nembhard, right? Hounding and harassing Brunson. That again is the cumulative effect of, "Boss, I'm tired, man. I don't have anything more." And the Pacers do. And that's why I kept saying,

First of all, the talent level wasn't that disparate, but more importantly, the Pacers had a more effective game plan and they executed. I'm curious whether or not you guys are going to get swept up in the sheer athleticism of what we're talking about, where Chet Holmgren, best rim protector in the league by percentage, identifies as athlete.

Doesn't say he plays a position. Says athlete is what he plays. He's got that team is youthful, has uncommon swagger, and both styles are fun. And we can say youthful, right? Siakam is an elder. He's the wise elder. Miles Turner's also been around for a bit. Yeah, Miles Turner. How about Miles Turner? Imagine every day hearing your house is going to get foreclosed.

And then like, ah, the bank put it off a little bit more. And then one day you're like, you know what? Not only is it not getting foreclosed, here's some cash, man. Can I ask you this question? I've always liked Miles Turner as a player and always Miles Turner is available and nobody seems to want him and I don't totally understand. I think he is the perfect whatever, there's an intersection of lines of like value versus desire and stuff and he is the exact level of value

Good enough for everyone to want, but not good enough to demand the price that they're asking for. And so that equilibrium point is where he lives. Almost getting traded, but not quite. Hold on a second. How does he fit in the series, too? Okay, so I'm glad you asked this question because I came up with this remarkable theory that the Indiana Pacers are really good. It's just that Oklahoma City is literally the same thing, but worse.

Way better, right? That was like the Panthers with Carolina Hurricanes not to go hockey. But that's also a recipe for Indiana to steal a couple games. Sure, sure. So it's like Indiana says, we've got a center who blocks shots at the rim and also he shoots threes. And Oklahoma City says, ours does too. He also leads the league in rim percentage defense and also he can bring the ball up and make plays. Oh, okay. Well, guess what? We have a defensive coordinator

Pesk of a perimeter player who can guard guys bigger than him in Andrew Nembhard. And the Thunder said, yeah, we got one too. His name's Lou Dorton. He's all defensive team. Oh, okay. We got a point guard from the future. He controls everything. He's brilliant. He's dynamic. He's got all these moments. And the Thunder said, cool. Yeah, ours was MVP of the league.

Oh, okay, well, let's talk about benches. We got a guy, a white guy who comes off the bench who's scrappy, who gets into defensively and hits big shots in TJ McConnell. And the Thunder say, cool, we've got NBA champion Alex Caruso. Every level that the Indiana Pacers bring, the Thunder have the same thing. It's just a little bit better than what they have.

I'm actually getting more excited for this series. Hearing you describe that, it makes me think it's going to be better than people realize. It's absolutely, from a basketball perspective. Look, let's all make an agreement. If you don't work for Disney or if you don't work for the NBA, get the f***.

Get the f*** out of my face with ratings talk. Why do you care? Why do people, the layperson, care about what the ratings are? It's going to be very fun basketball. It's amazing basketball. It's going to be fun, up-tempo. You've got personalities. You've got someone who's very willing to be America's villain in Tyrese Halliburton. You've got two excellent coaches. You've got guys on one side who've won a championship and guys on the other side who've won a championship. All of this is culminating over the next...

8 to 14 days, depending on how long the series goes. But it's not going to be boring, I promise you that. When he says, though, pesk, okay? Because I don't know how I'm going to sell this part to America, because I'm with Amin on everything. It's delightful to watch the young people take over. I just...

You've heard me say, I think Jokic is the best thing I've ever seen offensively for efficiencies. And I saw OKC hunt him down like hunting dogs. Like it felt like if this is all survival of the fittest, the physically fittest, seeing that team chase down Westbrook and Jokic, that team, because it now wants to be the champion. And Indiana is the same kind of young and hungry as well. But when he says Pesk,

It's a good deal better than that for Nembhard, because what I'm telling you is I've not seen Brunson look like that all season, ground down to dust, when it's like, oh, it's not even going to be Neesmith fighting through every screen. Now it's going to be this guy, Nembhard. So he holds Brunson to 38% and 30% shooting, but he also held Donovan Mitchell to 23% and 16% shooting. Like, it's a little more than Pesk.

there what I saw at the end of that game I saw somebody being discussed as the most beloved Nick ever drown and die at the end because his coach had run the entire team into the ground they didn't have anything from their bench and now they're turning the ball over when in that sport that's the greatest advantage OKC has they protect the basketball and they steal it they do it better than anybody they

have a better combination of doing that than historically great teams. Right, like what the Pacers did to the Knicks, pressure, full court pressure, turning them over, turning steals into live ball turnovers, layups, points. Oklahoma City does it better than anyone, right? And so you're right about Andrew Nembhard. Maybe I am selling him short. What I'm not selling short is that Lou Dort is better. Like, that's the part. It's not that the Pacers aren't good. It's that every version they have, like...

To go back to car analogies, you've got a Toyota Highlander. I've got a Lexus Land Cruiser. And there can be only one. So let me ask you if there can only be one, the great one. Because when he mentions Lou Dort, I'm thinking physically, just physically, Lou Dort,

is a different thing than Nembhard, just size-wise. When you look at the great one, Wayne Gretzky, what's the size difference between him and Conor McDavid? Wayne's small. I know, but when Billy makes fun of McDavid being the fastest player on the ice, and when... Yeah, but this is also Billy Hamilton hits like Barry Bonds. Yeah.

You're minimizing his accomplishments. He's Barry Bonds, but with Billy Hamilton. So Connor McDavid's using steroids? He's faster than everyone, and he's bigger than most. What are the dimensions of McDavid versus McDavid?

versus Gretzky. McDavid versus Goliath. He's only 6'2", McDavid. People think he's like 6'6". Only? Only? Who thinks he's 6'6"? That's not extraordinarily tall. Fastest, though, at 6'2". He is fast. No, he's not just fast. He's the fastest. He's the fastest person on the planet playing that sport. He's arguably the fastest to ever play. Right, and yet he's never won a championship. It's not just speed. Skill with the puck. Handles on the puck. Elite.

It's a team sport, dude. So is basketball. There's five guys on the ice. There's five guys on the wood. If you're an extraordinary basketball player, you lead your team to a championship. Crystal clear. Crystal clear. I think he'll get it. Hopefully not this time, but I know where you stand on the all-time rankings. But he's the best player in the world. It's clear.

All right. Well, one, Wayne Gretzky, six feet tall, 185 pounds. Conor McDavid is six foot one, 194 pounds. There is no way. No, you say that. Wayne Gretzky is that height. I mean, I stood next to him on an elevator. He's a tiny. Well, I had to bring that out contextually. It's not a look at me, Louie. Come on, it is a look at me, Louie. No, it's a catch me on context.

Is he a get in and go to the corner kind of guy? Was he sitting in the middle? What was his demeanor in the elevator? Does he touch multiple floors to be a rascal? Oh, what a rascal. I don't get starstruck, but he has a presence about him. He seems like a back corner guy. Like, I'm going in there. I don't want to be recognized. I'm just going to go back right corner. It sounds like he was too small, though, too. It sounds like you expected him to be larger. Well, I'm 6'3".

And I was, by comparison, these guys are larger-than-life personas. The aura, though. But if he was wearing skates, he'd be closer to my height. So I think maybe that's it. Yeah, he'd be taller on skates, wouldn't he? Yeah. That's how that works. Sometimes you're shorter. I urinated next to Clint Black, the country star. Whoa! How'd that go? He's very short. He was wearing his cowboy hat at the time, and I was still taller than him. When you first said it, I thought you meant Bud Black.

the manager. No, no, Clint Black. Clint Black, only 5'9". Yeah, exactly. You say that Conor McDavid was the fastest skater in the league. You know who's the slowest skater in the league? Clint Black. Maddy Kachuk. Ah, champion, though. He's very slow. All right, so that's Amin throwing in a Clint Black for no good reason, and he's going to just leave now because... I thought it was a valid reference by him. If Clint Black was in the league, he'd probably be the slowest skater.

Especially if he's skated in a cowboy hat. Mike Ryan, how do you feel about McOverrated t-shirts selling like crazy as Panther fans taunt Connor McDavid bringing back Greg Cody's finest moment last year? Thank you. Buy him up. You mentioned Panthers fans. I'm really worried about how Panthers fans are going to behave this postseason.

Part of me is happy that the series opens up in Edmonton for the first two games because you can frame something that maybe Panthers fans were going to do either way as a retaliatory measure because this is a very heightened geopolitical time between these countries.

I remember last year, there were folks that were idiots in that crowd booing the anthem, and this was before a reality TV show host told them to start hating them. So I'm very worried about how we're gonna do this down here in South Florida, and the McOverrated thing is just one ridiculous part about it, but I think we're gonna see something. The deeper you get into what is widely expected to be a tightly contested series, one that many people are saying is gonna go the entire distance,

I think with everything going on between the two nations right now, there's going to be some pretty ugly scenes. And I'm really worried and I'm hopeful, really hopeful that cooler heads prevail down here in South Florida and we don't up the ante on something that we hear maybe in games one and two. That is the correct perspective, of course. And I would just say, so ratchet it up to the funniest possible, most dangerous place that doesn't make us lament and regret saying. So just ratchet it up.

Between Canada, look, this has always been fun. Come on. Florida stealing Canada's sport. The modern-day Gretzky. I know how it can get between these two nations. We went to the four nations. I mean, I said some things. And that's when all the things went down. Yes. And Chris Cody said some very regrettable things. And Florida is very red and red hot, and people are going to be crazy. Yes, you guys all said crazy things. You guys won the game.

Kachuk to sever his own head for a title. Worth it. Yes. Worth it. Because we were on that front line in Montreal as everything was happening around us. Billy brought up steroids for some reason. I don't know. I didn't. Mike brought it up. Okay. I wanted to ask you guys this because on Friday night, it

really was funny to watch in Dodgers Yankees Otani and judge just be so much better at baseball than everyone else that they're just meeting and then both hitting home runs and I just wanted to ask you guys in general on on the damage that steroids did to baseball can it

would it all feel a lot different in baseball right now if Otani and Judge were chasing their own home run records or baseball's home run records? I'm asking you seriously. Two guys who are physically bigger than all of the steroid monsters that were hitting the home runs when baseball was played differently a million years ago. Would it make any difference if Otani was now just chasing, you know, if Aaron Judge and Otani were just chasing each other's single season home run records? Like,

post-steroids, where I don't think anyone's assuming either one of these guys are cheating. Are you suggesting, like, if they had a Maguire-Sosa thing amongst them, as Otani and Judge, right now for those two franchises? Man, I don't know if anything can ever match that Sosa-Maguire home run chase, but it would...

it would probably be the best thing for baseball that you could possibly ask for. What I'm saying to you is baseball simply will not have a way to break through to these places where basketball and football or soccer grab people's hearts if this isn't the story that does it for you. Two clean superstars and clean in every way. Like, nobody says anything bad. I mean, even the gambling thing went away. Yeah.

What? Who gets bad stuff said about him? Nah, clean in every way. I mean, we don't know that. We thought everyone was clean until they were found to be dirty. Okay, but what they're giving off... I mean, I wouldn't be shocked. Look at Aaron Judge. The optics of... I heard that Ipe hasn't even reported to prison yet. Like, is that true? How is that possible? He'll get pardoned. Some think that he didn't really have anything to do with it.

You know what I'm saying, though, Billy? If this story doesn't make baseball pop, because I know how baseball heads are looking at it, they can't believe that Judge is hitting 400 and Otani's the better player. Like, that Otani does both things. It's just, it's weird to see at the same time. It's not just home runs. It's mastery of the sport in a way we haven't seen. And you're not even talking about the biggest star in the sport. The big dumper. Yeah, the big dumper.

doing it from the catcher position with the best slugging percentage in the league. Why aren't you mentioning Cal Raleigh? Big Dumper and PCA should have been easy keepers for me, and I didn't keep them in fantasy. You guys don't care about that. Damn. I mean, Dan, it's June 2nd. No one's going to talk about Otani and Judge today. It's June 2nd. We're talking about Big Dumper.

The biggest story in baseball is the Colorado Rockies chasing the 1899 most losses in a season record. They're 9-50. Chasing Scheffler for most wins since we have a graphic where Scotty Scheffler and the Rockies have the same amount of wins. Since May, since the beginning of May. The betting lines I'm seeing, the Rockies are playing against the Cubs, and the Cubs are like minus 380.

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Howdy folks, it's Mike Ryan. Now, if you've been listening to the show a lot lately, you've heard so much playoff talk. Playoff hoops down here in South Florida were especially enamored with playoff hockey. It's not just limited to the playoffs. Motorsports, tennis, golf. It's truly one of the best times ever.

in the sporting calendar. And with the weather outside warming up, it's just perfect to hop in a pool, maybe grill up some food, but most certainly crack open some Miller Lights. I just described a pretty perfect day, didn't I? And it culminates with Miller time. There is something about a perfect grilling day. The sun's out, friends show up, and that first sip of Miller Light just hits different. I've been stocking up the cooler with it for years. This year, Miller Light turns 50.

That is five decades of cookouts, laughs, and ice-cold moments that never miss. And if you've listened to the show for its 20-year existence, you know this to be true. Miller Lite. Great taste. 96 calories. Go to MillerLite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you. Or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Cheers to 50 years of Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.