Hour 1: The Big One (feat. Jeff Pearlman)
Jeff Pearlman has appeared 9 times on the New York Times Bestseller List, and he's here to share some incredible Dallas Cowboys details from his reporting, but he's not Ron Perlman, and that's left Tony WILDLY disappointed.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Listen and follow along
Transcript
Save big during Labor Day at Lowe's.
Get up to 40% off, select major appliances.
Plus, buy more to get up to an additional 20% off.
Shop even more savings with three stay-green, one-cubic-foot vegetable and flower garden soil bags for $10.
This Labor Day, take care of your home for less at Lowe's.
We help.
You save.
Valent293, Soil Offer excludes Alaska and Hawaii.
Selection varies by location.
Select locations only.
While supplies last.
See Lowe's.com for more details.
This episode is brought to you by LinkedIn.
Healthcare professionals can lead their careers with LinkedIn, discover jobs by specialty, preferred ships, and even desired salary.
From mental health therapists to radiology technicians, it's now faster and easier for healthcare professionals to find the right fit.
Learn more at linkedin.com/slash healthcare.
Side effects may include faster job placement, improved work-life balance, and increased career satisfaction.
This episode is brought to you by LifeLock.
When you visit the doctor, you probably hand over your insurance, your ID, and contact details.
It's just one of the many places that has your personal info.
And if any of them accidentally expose it, you could be at risk for identity theft.
LifeLock monitors millions of data points a second.
If you become a victim, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back.
Save up to 40% your first year at lifelock.com/slash podcast.
Terms apply.
This is the Dan Labator Show Show with the Stu Gats Podcast.
Mark your calendars.
Monday, August 25th, the Suey Awards return, presented by Miller Light.
It's the only award show where bad takes win big and the winners make no sense whatsoever.
I was howling with laughter listening to our voice.
Have we announced who the voice of this year's Suey's is?
I mean, it's the same host as last few years.
Okay, you sound really excited about that.
No, I am.
I'm just like completely total indifferent.
You made it.
You almost built it up like it's some big announcement.
It's my dad.
That's a big announcement, and you should be excited about this year's Suez.
We've had an assortment of very famous voices, and it's a nice distinction that has been given over to your father that you should honor with more respect than you presently show.
Chris, is this because he ranks last among the fame of the voices?
Well, I think Dan's thinking of the looks-like, who we've had a lot of voices do.
The Sueys have just been Poppy and my dad.
Yeah.
I also think, though, that your disrespect for your father is profound and you don't appreciate what I was appreciating yesterday.
It was funny.
Which is he kept messing things up.
He'd get mad at himself and he reminded me of a number of wonderful memories that I'd forgotten about over the last year because consistently the Sueys are among the best things that we do.
And Greg's voice, he was tired yesterday.
He was doing a lot of, that's a big lift, but he's honored to be a part of it.
There was an opening number.
Like, I don't want to give too many spoilers away, but on Monday, you want to tune in.
So he's doing like a Billy Crystal kind of thing.
There's the, I don't want to give any spoilers, but just tune in Monday at the start of the Suez.
There's going to be a...
You know, an opening number, some would say.
Just to close the loop here on a couple of things we've been talking about both locally and nationally.
Taylor Twellman says that when contacted by the athletic, a league cup spokesperson has confirmed what it is that Zaslow already reported.
The inner Miami head coach was located in a space designated according to tournament regulations.
Cell phone communications are not prohibited per league cup regulations in this instance.
It's so stupid.
I mean, think about this, all right?
The referee can throw the manager out.
But no, he's not really throwing the manager out.
The referee is telling the manager, you now have to sit in the front row.
with a cell phone.
That's literally what the red card means.
Well, the story's been confirmed.
It was broken originally here by Zaslow.
And congratulations, Zaszlo.
Taylor Twellman is chasing you on this story.
The athletic is chasing you on this story.
Show some integrity.
Mention me when you put your report in there.
As heard first by Zaslow.
Promise to Zaslow.
Please, let's go.
Let's give credit in the proper places.
Also, Mike Ryan, do we know if Cameron Ward has changed his name for commercial purposes?
Because there's also a Carolina Hurricane named Cam Ward, and he doesn't want any confusion there.
There is.
In fact, that Cam Ward, who played for our Hurricanes team, put out a funny video when Cameron Ward got drafted.
So I do think that some of that is at play.
Yeah, but it's actually very, very much so the cliché.
His mama called him Cameron.
His mama made the request.
Zaslow has vetoed his mama's request.
I'm not comfortable.
Unless he beats the Broncos week one, and then he's going to call him Cameron.
I'm no longer comfortable quoting
Eddie Murphy as one of the guys in the barbershop in coming to America.
That doesn't seem to be a
I gave you too much liberty there, and I think I need to take that back.
Sounds like you're trying to file some kind of appeal, and I'm not going to hear it.
Well, you're deciding over Cameron Ward's mama.
She's not here in this court.
Look, the Cam Ward that played for the Hurricanes, legend, Stanley Cup winner.
No one's confusing the two.
But the change is being made just because an adult has wanted to change his name or back to what it was originally, or because it's a marketing opportunity, and you need to separate these two people because the Google searches have to produce just one of them.
So, the initial request that came from the family for award season was because it was important to the family, but I think you have to be naive to not highlight the Cam Newton and Cam Ward stuff.
Enough of the changing names.
When I was mentioning the Rich Eisen thing to you guys before and nostalgia in general, that is being partaken in this Cowboys documentary that we're going to talk about with Jeff Perlman here in a little bit,
because the Cowboys documentary on Netflix has a whole lot.
Oh, we're talking to Jeff Pearlman.
Gotcha.
I thought it was Ron Pearlman.
I was like, dude, I want to talk to you about the UFC voiceover.
Dick.
Come on.
I thought it was Ron Perlman.
I got a picture with that guy at a radio row.
Hell yeah.
That's the guy with the face, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's not a face.
It's a square head, right?
It's not.
No, it's a face.
It's chiseled.
The face is chiseled.
Beauty and the beast, right?
There's two guys you say that about.
It's that guy and the guy from Sum 41.
Jeff's cool, too.
So, not Ron.
Okay, gotcha.
God, that would be awesome if you just asked him a specialty.
But Bill Henry, that was back on February 25th, 2015.
If you're remembering back the Henry Walker game, it was two threes in the final 22 seconds and it's fifth day of a 10-day contract.
Tie the game at 84 to go to overtime.
Make me call him Bill.
With Alfred Payton's magic.
Make me call him Bill.
Can you, Tony?
Can you just do the same prep that you did for Jeff?
Yeah.
you just ask Jeff the questions you're going to ask Ron?
Yeah, for sure.
Okay.
Dan, is that cool?
Yes.
Okay.
I know you like the journalism, and he writes a lot of books here.
He's actually a funny game.
I'm looking at his game.
I appreciate you articulating my legacy.
He's written 17 books.
Okay, great, cool.
Jeez.
Does he do UFC voiceovers, though?
I don't know.
17 books.
What do you have to say?
Tony,
I will say that Jeff Perlman is exciting to me.
Ron Perlman would be much much more exciting to the audience.
His face is
unlike any face in the history of Hollywood, I would say.
There's a square footage
in the face.
It's not the chest.
It's not the forehead, though.
But look, the distinct look of Hellboy.
I think that people think that Hellboy's face, I don't know how much time he spent in makeup.
It must have been a great deal.
But when you see Hellboy, you see that man's face.
And it's because you see his character in his face because he's got an unusual head and face.
It's an unbelievable amount of surface area, and there's no one else like it in Hollywood, right?
I think Batista's head has a little bit of this, but Batista is bald though, so he doesn't have the hair, right?
I think Ron Perlman's hair also makes it square.
Yeah, Batista's head's pretty round these days.
I know, but just yes, but such so distinctive, I'm saying that it's unlike any other person's.
It's not even a movie star face anymore.
You're talking about it's a movie star head.
How much makeup do you think that requires very little?
You can
I only see him.
Like, I don't see Hellboy.
Looks like it's just a little sunburn.
If you're him, you do the Randy Scott, right?
Like, you just go to bed like that.
And then you wake up the next day.
You're like, just do some touch-ups.
Like, we're not doing 14 hours of makeup again.
Full shower.
I saw Colin Farrell did 14 hours a day for the Penguin.
You're a movie star.
Who wants to do that for 14 hours a day to totally distort the way that you look?
I'm going to nap like this.
Like, I'll come back tomorrow.
We just touch up what we can and we'll start from there.
We're not doing this every day, eight hours of makeup.
That's insane.
The Dan Libertar show with Stu Gotts is sponsored by Liquid IV.
All right, so I'm trying to soak up the last little bits of summer while raising a six-month-old baby.
Let me tell you, being a dad to a baby that loves waking up around three o'clock in the morning every single day is exhausting.
And I find myself in the middle of the night parched, like
but I found the trick.
It's liquid IV.
Oh, guys, this is a pros pro move right here.
Are you ready?
What I do is I take liquid IV stick, 16 ounces of water, mix it together.
More on that in a second.
Put that by my bedside.
Little cube of ice inside.
Then three in the morning diaper change.
Guess what daddy's got?
An ice cold liquid IV.
And I'm very excited about this new flavor.
Liquid IV's orange vanilla dream.
One stick, 16 ounces of water gives you three times the electrolytes of the leading sports drinks, plus eight essential vitamins, all including the bees, which I'm pretty sure helped me keep going through late nights.
It's powered by hydroscience, which sounds fancy, but it basically means better hydration when you need it most.
Tear poor, live more, go to liquidiv.com and get 20% off your first order with code Dan at checkout.
That's 20% off your first order with code Dan at liquidiv.com.
Hey, it's Jeremy here.
I don't know if you've noticed this about me, but I'm not quite someone who loves confrontation or fighting.
I don't really want to end up in a situation where I need to do do so.
For me, SimplySafe becomes the way I want to protect my home.
Because not only is there like the personal peace of mind of knowing that my security is preventative, it's not just an alarm after an event, I want to make sure that my wife is okay, that my cats are okay, that everything I have in my home is okay.
And knowing that I have to deal with like the stress or the violation of someone potentially breaking into my home and reacting to it versus having the control and safety of proactive prevention is huge for me.
Most security systems only react after a break.
SimplySafe helps stop it before that happens.
Their new active guard outdoor protection uses AI cameras and live agents to spot suspicious activity, speak to intruders, turn on lights, and call the cops before anything goes down.
SimplySafe is offering Lebatard show listeners 50% off a new system with professional monitoring.
Plus, your first month is free.
Visit simplysafe.com slash DLB to claim the offer.
That's simplysafe.com slash DLB.
There's no safe like SimplySafe.
Hey, it's Mike Ryan.
Those sprinklers are starting to slowly come up on the football field.
Time that we have with summer is dwindling.
I'm sure you're already doing that thing where you're going through your photo album, flipping through the photos that you've taken this summer, already reminiscing about the good times that you have.
I know I did.
And in many of the pictures that I went back to reminisce over, I had a beautiful white can of Miller light in my hand because I love making good times during the summer.
A Miller time.
And it's a good reminder.
We're losing time on this summer.
So why don't you share the moments that you have with a white can of Miller light like I have?
whether it's a long weekend or a full-on vacation.
It is the perfect time to get the crew back together.
And since 1975, Miller Light has been the go-to way to stock the cooler and celebrate those moments.
This year marks 50 years of Miller Time.
50 years of great taste, great friends, and unforgettable memories.
Brewed for flavor with simple ingredients like malted barley, it delivers rich, balanced hoffey note flavor and that golden color that just hits different.
Miller Light, great taste, 96 calories.
Go to millerlight.com slash stand to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Light 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.
Don Lebatard.
Go ahead, Billy.
Ask him your question.
Is
gymnastics
possibly corrupt?
Oh, wow.
Wow.
Stugats.
I got some phlegm in my mouth.
Yeah.
It's okay.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Is gymnastics possibly corrupt?
This is the Don Lebatar show with the Stugats.
She mentioned Colin Farrell.
Damn.
I'm doing a rewatch of 2006's Miami Vice.
Wow.
Now, articles have been written about how
this set was plagued by Michael Mann just being Michael Mann.
It was plagued by its director.
Jamie Foxx at one point.
I have to remind myself constantly while watching the movie, Jamie Foxx is in this, right?
That's because the headliner is Colin Farrell.
Sub-headliner is Colin Farrell's hair.
His hair is so good in this movie, and this is peak-cooked out, Colin Farrell.
It just oozes off.
Oh, the best.
Well, wait, cool.
But hold on a second.
You can't do that.
You're not allocating.
Yo, you can't do that.
Seems reckless.
Time to throw away all journalistic credibility and get reckless.
Here is something we like to call reckless speculation.
You guys think it's a reckless accusation to accuse Colin Farrell of cocaine in the mid-2000s?
Yeah.
All right.
Sure.
Whatever you say, pal.
He's copped to it.
This hair is unbelievable.
It makes up for a movie that makes no sense.
Why would Michael Mann want to make Miami Vice look like crap and not have any Cubans in it?
In fact, the only time that there are Cubans in it is when Sonny says, I'm a fiend for mojitos.
And the Chinese lady's like, I know where we can get one.
And it's Havana, Cuba.
Wow.
He didn't bring a change of clothes.
He's just in his suit.
They go, they bang.
Weird sex scenes in the director's cut.
It's not even passionate.
Music, it's early 2000s, alt-rock, you know, that dip after New Metal, where do we go?
Let's just bring on non-point.
It doesn't make any sense.
It's not even a Miami Vice movie.
They just slapped on Miami Vice because this is a movie that Michael Mann wanted to make.
All right, Mike, the hair.
I don't know if you ever got to Eddington, and I don't know if you have Mike's movie reviews.
Like, you wanted to do heat.
I don't know why it is that all of a sudden we're doing 2006 Michael Mann Miami Vice movie review.
Have you watched Eddington yet?
It's available for digital renting now.
Nah, I gotta wait till it's free streaming.
I pay too much, man.
I saw Eddington for the second time.
We all covered.
I don't know if you were here, Dan.
I thought someone was going to shoot me in my movie theater when I saw Eddington the first time.
Mike had a very scary movie theater experience.
Yeah.
A dude walked in with a suitcase.
No, you're not there.
And he was making noises the entire time.
He walked in in the middle of the screen.
And you stayed?
Got up.
No, the entire theater was just paralyzed by fear.
There's not a lot of exits, right?
I mean, no, no, he was blocking the exit.
And then when he left, he also left in the middle of it.
He did like a full circle around his seat, which was a standalone seat, and he grabbed his suitcase and the wheels were squeaking.
I missed the entire Austin Butler monologue, which I caught second viewing.
Eddington, great film, film of the year so far.
Did it end up just being someone, though, who came straight from the airport to the movie theater and they just had a suitcase?
How did people do that?
He had overalls
and a fisherman cap.
It looked like, is this a marketing stunt?
What is happening?
And you were able to tell everyone in the theater was worried.
He was coughing the entire time, and it's a movie about COVID.
So I thought this was a marketing stunt to terrify me.
Anyways, second viewing, though, how Joaquin Phoenix can act.
He is pretty good, and he's also terrible in every appearance being interviewed that I've ever seen of him.
He's one of the strangest actors we've ever had, and that's keeping company with Daniel Day-Lewis.
You're not going to believe this.
Pedro Pascal's in it.
A real stunner.
Pedro Pascal is having the giant summer of, I guess it's longer than a summer now, right?
In terms of a star turn, he's got what he's gotten over the last 18 months where I'm seeing him on the movie poster for Gladiator with Denzel.
I'm like, who's in that?
This is a climb.
This is a climb to a place that I was not expecting movie stars to be able to do this.
I thought we'd stop doing that with movie stars.
Audiences love Zaddies, and he is a bona fide Zaddy.
You guys mentioned Andrew Luck earlier, and I wanted to ask you guys a question to see if it's one of the things that's happening with Arch Manning.
A reminder that Jeff Perlman, not Ron Perlman, will be on with us a little bit.
Stephen A.
Smith will be on with us as well later in the show.
You guys are delighted.
You're going to be listening to this.
No, but tell me what happened because the delight that you guys had in Tony discovering two hours into our show that he thought we were going to be talking to Ron Perlman and
it was just an honest, like, what?
Oh, man.
Were you preparing questions for?
Yeah, yeah.
I was like,
when the UFC reaches out to you, like, do you read the script?
Do you have any notes for the script?
Like, you voice them so well.
Do you have any input?
It's a better interview.
Thank you.
You wait till we do it.
Jeff could be fine.
Yeah, we're going to crush him.
No, for sure.
I just thought it was wrong.
Jeff could be fine because
we'll go after Ron.
You guys all want to talk about Ron, though.
His makeup.
Does he take it off?
Does he not?
That'll be my first question to Jeff.
I wanted to take you back to the conversation that we were having about sports media members who have a relationship with their audiences and what I was saying about Rich Eisen.
And you saw what CBS is doing in week three.
We're always making fun around here about how CBS does not know how to keep up with the young people.
It's always Murder She Wrote and it's always some sort of program for 60 and 70 year olds.
CSI, number one show in America.
I've never met a person who said, hey, did you see this week's CSI?
No, Stan Van Gundy and my dad love it.
My parents give me updates every Saturday and Sunday.
They're watching Colombo.
Like, this is absolutely a demo that works.
But as CBS tries to get younger, because they've always had the oldest of the pregame shows, have you seen their week three idea, which is a good one?
Has anyone heard what their week three idea is on how CBS is going to compete with the other morning shows?
I don't know how Fox is going to be impacted by Jimmy Johnson no longer being there, but these television entities have been together for a long time bringing you football they're the same people that are bringing you football largely every week with a few rotating cast members but CBS has tried they've gone through Shannon Sharp they've gone through Dan Marino they've gone through Tony Gonzalez they're trying to get younger over there so how are they doing it in week three
Brent Mustberger They are bringing back the original show that they did a million years ago.
And the way to do it is add Jimmy the Greek.
Now you got me.
If you add Jimmy the Greek,
now I really want to watch.
I don't know if Jimmy the Greek is still with us, though.
Died on April 21st, 1996.
I was going to say there's no way, right?
Are you guys interested in a recreation?
Tony, do you even know what we're talking about?
Just ignore it.
We got three minutes to go.
Yeah,
I remember seeing some sort of 30 for 30, and Jimmy the Greek was like one of their, you know, one of the main things.
I don't remember exactly which one it was.
So what do you know about Jimmy the Greek?
He was, was he Greek?
I don't know if he he was even Greek, right?
Was he the Greek?
Thank you for asking Tony this.
No, but he was like a basically like a handicapper.
The reason that I bring it up...
That's the first one on TV ever, right?
Yes, that is correct.
But do you know anything else about Jimmy the Greek?
That kind of thing.
Okay, good.
So
the history eludes you.
Jimmy the Greek got fired because he
made some sort of comments
that mentioned why it is the black athlete was better than the white athlete, and he brought up the points of slavery and some other things.
And then again, I just disgraced.
I don't know.
Yeah, I don't know.
He also changed his name.
He was born Demetrios Georgios Sinodinos and changed it to James George Snyder Sr.
You're gonna call him James?
This is how we roll around here, baby.
Jeremy Tashay's pitch clock toward the end of the show.
Stephen A.
Smith is gonna be with us before.
Ron Perlman.
Ron Perlman is not gonna be on with us.
We're efforting.
Tony, is there someone else you wish Stephen A.
Smith were?
No, Stephen A.
Smith.
No, absolutely not.
The GOAT.
Mike, I want you to sit back there and I want you to control everything that's happening here.
I want you to just get us as quickly as you can to Jeff Perlman, who is not Ron Perlman.
Can you get us there as we crawl on our knees toward the end of this segment?
This is hard.
You know what?
Let's go now.
Jeff's ready.
Billy, do you have anything?
You seem to be delighted.
Did you trip a wire?
Well, no, because what's going on here is they're investigating this, and we didn't get this as a false this might be the big one guys okay so this is the big one might be it they said we're investigating this one you know what let's go to break there is okay they're they're talking in english and spanish
we have not heard that before no this is new what are they investigating let's find out offline
let's find out off air shall we
what does Zin give you?
Not just smoke-free nicotine satisfaction, but real freedom.
Freedom to do what you love and choose your rewards.
With Zin Rewards, you can redeem points for premium tech, outdoor gear, and gift cards to your favorite retailers.
Find your Zin and keep finding rewards that fit your lifestyle at Zin.com slash rewards.
Warning, this product contains nicotine.
Nicotine is an addictive chemical.
Hey friends, it's Jerabear here, and I'm here to tell you all about Boost Mobile, which is now a legit nationwide 5G network.
So I must take a break from the jokes here for a second and put on my serious voice because I would never ever joke about a 5G network that has invested billions building 5G towers across the country.
Not even once.
Not even if Mr.
Boost Mobile himself asked me to.
There is nothing funny about it.
Boost Mobile is now a legit nationwide 5G network and also provides coverage across 99% of America.
Seriously.
Visit boostmobile.com or your nearest boost mobile store location to learn more.
The Boost Mobile network, together with our roaming partners, covers 99% of the U.S.
population.
5G speeds, not available in all areas.
The rivalries, the bans, the upsets, college football is back.
Think you know the game?
Put it to the test with DraftKings Sportsbook and turn picks into big payouts.
New customers bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets instantly.
With live betting, Rivalry Week boosts, and more, DraftKings Sportsbook has everything you need to own your Saturday.
Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use code DAN.
That's code DAN for new customers to get $200 in bonus bets instantly when you bet just five bucks.
In partnership with DraftKings Sportsbook, the crown is yours.
Gambling problem?
Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
In New York, call 877-8 Hope and Y or text Hopenwyn 467-369.
In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling.
Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org.
Please play responsibly.
On behalf of Boot Hill Casino in Resorting, Kansas.
21 and over.
Agent eligibility varies by jurisdiction.
Void in Ontario.
Bonus bets expire seven days after issuance.
For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.co slash audio.
Don Lebatard.
I always trip out when guys tell me, man, you know, officer tackle, man.
Hardest play offensive title.
I say, please, man, your job, you fat 300-pounder.
All you have to do is stay in front of another fat 300-pounder for three seconds.
For three seconds.
One fat 300, other fat 300 stay in front of him for three seconds.
Mean, me.
Stoogs.
I got to go out here.
I got to fight a dude to come off the line of scrimmage just to get into my route.
Go run a route, fake another dude out, go turn, catch a ball that's being projected down the field fast.
flying somewhere between heaven and earth snatched it out the air mid-air come down, put my foot on the ground, all while somebody trying to take my head off.
And I don't get a chill till I get in the end zone.
I'm like, please, come on, man.
Let's be real.
This is the Don Levatar Show with the Stukats.
So Pablo Torrey is the 50 Cent of Journalism.
Pablo,
anything you need from me, baby.
We're all here for you.
We got your back.
You reach out.
So here's the thing.
Now,
as Pablo Torrey finds out, no doubt.
You can't hide the truth from me.
Is Giannis missing free throws for free chicken?
Is our next president an alien and Russell Wilson?
Why does the FBI director play so much hockey?
Was Malik Beasley gambling before Milwaukee?
Uh, wanna hear about the NFL PA?
What salaries in the WNBA?
The Knicks failed, LeBron recruitment tape.
Did you know that TRL was fake?
Girl,
you might as well tell me now.
As Pavlo Torrey finds out, no doubt.
You can't hide hide the truth from me, girl.
You might as well tell me now.
Jeff Perlman is not Ron Perlman, much to Tony's chagrin and disappointment.
But Jeff Perlman is a 17-time author.
All his books are great, exhaustively reported.
And Tony, I may be able to get you interested here.
His next one's on Tupac.
So when he writes about stuff, he digs in really deep, talks to a whole bunch of people.
And I wanted to get him on because I saw episode two last night of the Cowboys doc, and I felt some of the NFL video influence on this a little bit.
And it was a little softer than I thought we were headed.
I'm sure the bad stuff is up ahead, but I have not seen the entirety of the documentary.
I have read the entirety of Jeff Perlman's book on the Cowboys, which I assume is the starting point on how it is that they're doing this documentary.
So, Jeff, thank you for joining us.
Always enjoy your work.
Also, enjoy his YouTube stuff where he's a master storyteller.
So, he's doing some good and fun and creative stuff on YouTube as well.
But what was your take here, Jeff?
Have you seen the entire documentary?
Does it ring authentic on some of the stuff you were reporting about?
I mean, it definitely rings authentic if you believe Jerry Jones is the greatest thing to ever happen to football and nothing better has ever happened to football than Jerry Jones, who's the greatest thing to ever happen to football.
So if that is your stance, 100% yes.
All right.
So what's flawed about what's being seems like universally celebrated, but I would have guessed probably pales in comparison to to your book.
You know, I guess it's a couple of things.
I'm not saying it's not entertaining or good TV.
I think early on they way undersell Jimmy Johnson's impact.
In particular, the Herschel Walker trade, which is skimmed over, but which is the trade that completely and totally remade the franchise.
And number one, you would think it was Jerry Jones's idea and you would think it was Jerry Jones's implementation when 99.9% of everything that happened with that trade was Jimmy Johnson and then Mike Lynn, the Vikings, general managers screwing up.
And also number two, and a small thing that they over, they skipped over completely that I was surprised is they talk about Trey Aikman's arrival in Dallas.
And they leave out completely that that same year, there was a supplemental draft where the Dallas Cowboys took Steve Walsh, Jimmy Johnson's quarterback out of Miami.
And they had this challenge, this head-to-head challenge that Walsh was winning and that Jimmy Johnson really wanted Trey Aikman to feel uncomfortable and feel challenged by Steve Walsh.
And then they turned, they flipped Steve Walsh to the Saints for all these more picks.
Another thing that Jimmy Johnson did, completely and totally left out of the whole thing.
And since I'm on a little rant, I will say lastly, I didn't need a dollar for this.
I didn't need attention.
I didn't need to be in it.
But I do feel like we live in an age where intellectual property is being completely ignored and nobody really seems to care that there's a source material for stuff.
And it's never
AI is doing this all the time with books now, where it just gobbles up books, spits out the information, you don't even know where it came from.
And I do feel like there is a lot of stuff in this series that originated with my reporting.
All right, so that I may offer some of this to the audience because all of his books are excellent.
But one of the things that he did in his Cowboys book that floored me, because when I was reading it, I'm like, wait a minute, what happened here with the Cowboys?
And how does no one know about this?
Michael Irvin basically should have been charged with attempted murder on a teammate because he went after an offensive line with a pair of scissors and just got him near the jugular, like arguing over seniority and haircuts, should have been charged with murder from the reporting of Jeff Perlman.
How do they attack this story on Netflix?
Because like I said, I have not gotten to the other six parts of this story, but the content dilution of Hollywood makes this stuff so in exchange for access, you get diluted versions of the story.
This story, I only read in your book.
I didn't know how you got anybody to talk about this.
Yeah, I mean, it was, it would have been attempted murder, not murder, because Everett McIver, the lineman he stabbed in this, in the neck with the scissors, did not die.
And originally in the local Dallas newspapers, it was reported as there was this mishap and there was this exchange and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, but everyone's okay.
And I had, I think it was Kevin Smith, the Cowboy defensive back, who said to me first, he's like, you know about the scissors, right?
And I'm like, not really.
He's like, oh, you need to know about the scissors.
And then I kept talking to people and basically Michael Irvin, Everett McIver, an offensive lineman on the team is sitting sitting in a barber chair in training camp.
And they bring in Vinny the barber to cut hair.
And Michael Irvin walks in and McIver's in the seat and Michael Irvin says, seniority.
And MacIver's like, I'm in the seat.
He's like, yo, seniority.
And Everett McIver is not a rookie at this point.
And all the other guys in the room are like, yo, Everett, don't leave the chair.
Don't leave the chair.
And Irvin's like, get the F out of the chair.
And Everett McIver stands up, shoves Michael Irvin.
Michael Irvin shoves him back, grabs Vinny's barber scissors, stabs Everett McIver in the neck.
Everett McIver falls to the floor, bleeding out of his neck.
They rush in paramedics.
And part of the deal, ultimately, because Mike Orbin was already on probation, is if he gets caught for this, he is going to prison.
This is a clear violation of probation once you're charged with it.
Probably.
And I'm just being honest.
Just being honest, I'm not, you'll never hear me.
Like the, I wrote a book about the 86 match.
ESPN did a 30 for 30.
They interviewed me at length.
It was a beautiful project.
I was really happy with it.
I didn't make a dime.
I don't care about making a dime, but I reported the hell out of that.
Like I reported the hell out of that.
I spent weeks of my life reporting on that.
And when a documentary comes along and doesn't add all credit source material, just as an author and speaking for other authors, it does bother you a little bit, just be honest.
It's okay.
I was laughing more at the idea that Michael Irvin would have violated his probation by trying to stab a teammate in the neck with scissors in the jugular.
It was a moment.
It was a moment.
Well, does the...
Does the documentary feel sanitized to you?
Or when you say you're on a rant, do you feel like you're getting an honest version or you're just simply getting what Jerry Jones wants us to eat as part of his marketing and propaganda arm?
I feel there's a lot.
They did a lot of amazing work with the footage.
They did an amazing work with a lot of the guys they had come and sit down.
Steve Berline is interviewed.
I mean, that was a random and interesting poll.
Charles Haley sat down.
You don't see him do that many interviews.
Like they did, they definitely did the work.
Like to give them credit, they gave the work.
They did the work.
They put in an entertaining documentary.
I just think Jerry Jones, like the Cowboys have not won in 30 years.
They haven't sniffed a Super Bowl in 30 years.
And this idea, here's a success story of the NFL because this franchise is worth a ton of money and Jerry Jones is worth a ton of money and he got his family involved.
When the number one problem with the Cowboys for the last decade at least is that Jerry Jones is making all the decisions and he's never been good at making football decisions.
And that feels very, very sanitized, just be honest.
Jeff, is there anyone that you weren't able to get on the record when you wrote Boys Will Be Boys that maybe this series is going to have?
Have you seen?
I didn't get Aikman.
Trey Aikman wouldn't talk to me.
So I didn't get Trey Aikman.
So that was, and he's a big part of it.
And he's great in the series.
Again, they got a lot of really good people.
They got Emmett, they got Aikman, they got Irvin, they got Haley, they got Jerry, they got Switzerland and they got Jimmy.
Like they did their work.
I give them much credit for that.
So it's not about that, to be honest.
And I don't want to discredit them there, Jeff, but when Jerry Jones signs up for the story of his life while he feels like he's overcoming cancer and says, hey, one last time, let's tell this story.
Of course, everyone's going to participate, just like Apple and Kraft got everyone to participate there.
What did you make of the way the story is told?
Because what I was saying yesterday is it seemed like Jerry Jones in his own documentary with a good amount of control over what he was doing decided to give Jimmy Johnson more credit than Bob Kraft was giving Bill Belichick in the 10-part series they did.
Yeah, no,
he gave Jimmy Johnson credit.
I just think, honestly, honestly, God, if we're all being honest here, Jerry Jones is very wise to buy the Cowboys.
It's a great investment.
Interestingly, Donald Trump, when Jerry Jones bought the Cowboys, Donald Trump said he overpaid and the franchise is never going to be worth what he thought, which I always thought was funny.
He deserves a lot of credit for buying the franchise.
None of Jimmy Johnson, everything Jimmy Johnson did was masterful.
Like everything.
To be honest, if you want to write, if you want to do a documentary about this era, it should be called How Jimmy Johnson Changed the Franchise and everything he did from the Herschel trade to the Steve Walsh trade, everything he did, the pressure on players.
And Jerry Jones was a really savvy owner who put a lot of money into the franchise and has made himself an Uber, Uber billionaire.
But the football story itself is Jimmy Johnson, wise drafts, savvy trades.
Jeff, do people understand how crazy Charles Haley was?
No, no.
I mean, in a way I feel bad, I have actually said it in the past that I feel like in a lot of ways, that's one part of my book that I have some regret over because he was battling severe mental illness.
And I just wasn't mature enough or smart enough when I was writing that book to really delve into it.
But he was a guy who during meetings was, I mean, he was pleasuring himself during meetings.
He shows up and he's under a blanket listening to whoever's giving a talk, pleasuring himself.
And also they touched on this a little bit, which I thought was good.
His ruthlessness toward teammates.
the cruelty he used to bring toward teammates.
Chad Hennings, an old defensive lineman, was a really good example.
Like he could just be ruthlessly mean and also as wildly unpredictable as you can find.
Did you feel or see any sanitizing, Jeff?
Did they talk about the mental illness involving pleasuring himself in meetings?
Because I saw a little bit of what they did with Charles Haley and they went around the fringes of it and they did say he urinated on an assistant coach's desk.
He tried to fight a head coach, but the Charles Haley stories were legendary well beyond that.
Yeah, no, actually, it's funny.
I just saw this.
My favorite Haley story, and it's kind of light humor, is when the Dallas Mavericks drafted Jamal Mashburn, and Jamal Mashburn comes to town, and they give him a tour of of the Cowboy facility to meet the Cowboys, just a PR thing.
And if you remember, Jamal Mashburn used to have a gap between his teeth, like kind of a pronounced gap.
And Jamal Mashburn is walking through the Cowboys locker room, and all of a sudden he hears someone, and it's Charles Haley, scream out in front of everyone.
Jamal Mashburn is probably 21 years old, hey, Jamal, now that you're making that NBA money, how about getting your teeth fixed?
And like Jamal Mashburn just feels like vanishing into the carpet.
They definitely went a little, they definitely went light on Haley with the Cowboys because Haley was, you know, crazy.
One of the great all-time lunatics of all time in that sport, correct?
And I say that, and no, we did not cover with great grace his mental illness, but
he was his talent.
What he made people endure was far beyond the pale on sports was not equipped to deal with his kind of crazy.
No, no, he was a very, very, very...
very difficult teammate.
And when you were adding him to your franchise, and he would probably acknowledge this now, when you added Charles Haley to your your franchise, you were making a concession that our locker room is either mature enough or insulated enough that we can deal with this.
Jeff, what were some of the best examples of Switzer just not having control of that team?
Oh my God.
I mean, I like when he showed up to the, he showed up before when they played the Steelers in the Super Bowl, I think it was Super Bowl 30.
And he's out getting wasted at these parties.
You know, it was the very thing Jerry
Jimmy Johnson was like, look, we're not going to do this.
He was out there dancing with the players, dancing with women, fooling around.
Like the whole week leading up to the game, he was on this wild,
I'm just going to live my life.
I love how he, I, I actually think Barry Switcher is one of the best characters in sports.
And I'm not saying he was a good NFL coach, but I just think he put it all out there and lived that way.
And he was just, he was 58 years old, drinking like his players, partying like his players, fooling around like his players, just living the life leading up to the Super Bowl with this real mentality.
I'm probably never going to get here again.
So I'm, I'm damn well going to enjoy it.
I really kind of remind you.
Is there anything new to
uncover from this period of time in this documentary, Jeff?
Like you, you've already told the story.
So are you saying you've seen the whole thing?
You're saying it's a, it's a pale reflection of the real story as you described it exhaustively in your book.
Yeah.
I mean, it's a, I don't want to dog it.
It's a very entertaining documentary because that story is entertaining and they got amazing footage and they did the interviews.
I don't want to, I don't want to suggest it's not worth watching.
It's a, it's a very good and enjoyable documentary, but is there new revealing?
Holy cow, I didn't know that.
I didn't really get much of that.
But others might.
I want to talk to you about your Tupac book in a second, but I was wondering, you are a very good ombudsman on bad behavior in the media and where it is media can be compromised.
You're old school in a number of different ways.
I've been trying to find somebody who can discuss with me intelligently the idea that ESPN has just sold 10% stake to the NFL and the NFL network.
You received that news and thought what?
I thought it checks with everything that's going on with modern media right now.
I mean, it's the same, if you think about it, it's the same thing with the documentaries we're getting now, even The Last Dance and this new one, where there's always someone with control of the message.
And it used to be, I mean, you know, Dan, you and I have been in the business a long time.
Like it used to be, you were the final word, right?
ESPN, we're going to cover you, but we're going to write honestly about you.
And it really, perception is just as strong as reality, if not stronger.
So if ESPN is now not writing, not doing much about CTE, as an example, is that because of this cross ties with the NFL?
Has the NFL put pressure on them?
Is the NFL saying, look, we'll give you this, but we want you to lay off of head injuries in sports?
The look of it is terrible, just absolutely terrible.
And it just suggests that there's very little, if any, independent media anymore.
Okay, so what do you imagine is the truth around Spike Lee's documentary on Colin Kaepernick getting spiked and the timing of all of that when it it comes to simply
what's happening here ends up getting truth diluted by powerful entities.
And Jeff, I don't think people care.
That's the worst part of it.
I actually, it's interesting.
I used to work for a bleacher report.
This is where, to me, my birth, for me personally, I used to work for bleacher report and you would write these 8,000, 9,000, it was keep card BR Mag.
And you would write these long, long pieces.
And it was great.
And it was awesome.
And it felt like old SI, old ESPN.
it was only like five years ago and then I think at some point they realized wait why are we spending money on quality journalists doing quality journalism when we could just put up a an interview with an NBA player where we ask them softball questions and I just think that's where we are Colin Kaepernick it's not worth the heat it's not worth the heat they're going to probably get from someone with the White House it's not worth the heat they're probably going to get from the NFL it's just not worth it for them the bang for the buck as they view it it's just not there and the thing is I remember when I was a young writer at Sports Illustrated and SI would do stuff just because it was the right story to do.
Like, this is an important story.
We're going to throw everything at it.
We're going to put Ken Caminetti on the cover of the magazine talking about steroids in baseball.
Even though Major League Baseball is going to be pissed off about this, we're going to do it because it is a right decision to make.
And now there's so much overlapping between corporate and editorial that stuff like that almost never happens.
Only God can judge me.
The many lives of Tupac Shakur is available for pre-order now.
I don't know why you would tackle this degree of difficulty on your reporting on something.
This is a trough that so many people have been at.
How did you do it better and differently than the other?
First, I want to say the song you played at the beginning of this segment, it was very Tupac.
I think Tupac would have 100% approved and probably jumped in for a verse on that.
So that was really good.
If Pablo Torrey finds out, yeah, I suspect not, probably.
Unless it were
probably not near the crossword puzzles of Pablo Torrey finds out.
I just always thought thought there was a definitive, definitive book of the, I love Tupac as an artist.
And what I did differently, I interviewed 650 people.
I traveled to everywhere he lived.
I knocked on doors of everyone he knew.
I sat down with his sister.
I sat down with his godmother.
I just lived it for three years because I really, really wanted to tell him, not an estate sanitized story, not a story that's been regurgitated.
I just really wanted to get into his life and understand him.
And that was my, for three years, that was my obsession.
Dan, I think that was Fitty.
It was Fitty.
Just saying.
Very nice.
Wasn't Lil Yachty from your school.
Lol Yachty.
Jeff, thank you for being on with us.
We appreciate the time.
I am sure that book is going to be good.
650 has to be a record for you.
Come on, 650 is absurd.
That's 200 more than are necessary.
No?
That's a record for you, is it not?
No, I did.
I always keep track.
I did 720 for Bo Jackson, I think.
Okay.
There's there's something wrong with you I have no life Thank you Good seeing you I will tell the audience one more time his YouTube storytelling is magnificent if you want to If you want just some old-timey truths I appreciate the work you do sir.
Always have all right.
Thanks Dan
Hey, it's Mike Ryan.
Those sprinklers are starting to slowly come up on the football field.
Time that we have with summer is dwindling.
I'm sure you're already doing that thing where you're going through your photo album, flipping through the photos that you've taken this summer, already reminiscing about the good times that you have.
I know I did.
And in many of the pictures that I went back to reminisce over, I had a beautiful white can of Miller Light in my hand because I love making good times during the summer a Miller time.
And it's a good reminder, we're losing time on this summer.
So why don't you share the moments that you have with a white can of Miller Light like I have?
Whether it's a long weekend or a full-on vacation.
It is the perfect time to get the crew back together.
And since 1975, Miller Light has been the go-to way to stock the cooler and celebrate those moments.
This year marks 50 years of Miller time.
50 years of great taste, great friends, and unforgettable memories.
Brewed for flavor with simple ingredients like malted barley, it delivers rich, balanced hoffey note flavor and that golden color that just hits different.
Miller Light, great taste, 96 calories.
Go to MillerLite.com/slash stand to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Light 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.