Hour 1: The Old Dogs (feat. Matthew Berry and ******* *****)

Alright, Smirnoff.

Official vodka of the NFL, the world's number one vodka.

Here's the deal: game day is everything.

The noise, the rituals, the passion, the dip, the wings, the dip again.

Smirnoff belongs in that mix because if you're tailgating or hosting or just sitting there checking your fantasy lineup every 30 seconds, you need Smirnoff.

Otherwise, it's not a real game day.

They've been doing this since 1864, which is.

I don't even want to do the math.

A long time.

They're award-winning.

They make cocktails super easy and they're all about bringing fans together.

So yeah, we do game days.

That's their thing.

And if you're over 21, you should too.

Grab a bottle of Smirnoff at your local retailer and head to Smirnoff.com to find recipes of delicious cocktails perfect for game day.

Please drink responsibly.

Smirnoff, number 21 vodka.

Distilled from grain, 40% alcohol by volume.

The Smirnoff Company, New York, New York.

Please do not share with anyone under legal drinking age.

Folks, losing at fantasy football has consequences.

It really does.

I mean, a new tattoo, a bad haircut, waffle challenges.

I've seen those waffle challenges.

Those look delightful.

You're stressing me out with that soundboard.

Well, fantasy football is stressful.

So stressful that it can lead to nighttime teeth grinding.

Dentech's mouth guards help with nighttime teeth grinding.

I'm actually a grinder, and it's a problem I have.

And that's why Dentech wants to protect your teeth while raising the stakes with this fantasy season.

This is very exciting.

If you want the loser of your fantasy league to live in infamy at the 2026 Football All-Star Game, sign up for the Ultimate Fantasy Football Punishment at dentech.com slash ultimate punishment.

No purchase necessary open to legal residents of the 50 U.S.

states and D.C.

who are 21 years of age or older.

Contest ends on December 8th, 2025.

Void, where prohibited.

For details and official rules, visit dentech.com slash ultimate punishment.

Mike, you know, I have one rule to live by, right?

Don't place parlays on multiple long shots.

Don't say a game is won when it hasn't hit hit triple zero.

Always drink your Jaegermeister ice cold.

That's the rule.

Everything else is merely a suggestion.

Everything else?

Everything else.

Wearing clean underwear every day?

Well, that's just a personal decision.

Brushing your teeth.

Obviously smart, but not a rule.

Never pee-pee on an electric fence.

Okay, maybe there are two rules, but the one that is 100% that I insist on completely, Jaegermeister must be drank ice cold.

Or don't drink it at all.

Damn, that's cold.

Exactly.

You're finally starting to get it.

Drink responsibly.

Jaegermeiser Liqueur, 35% alcohol by volume, imported by Mass Jaegermeister U.S., White Plains, New York.

This is the Dan Levatar Show with the Stu Gats Podcast.

This episode of the Dan Levatard Show was presented by DraftKings.

DraftKings, the crown is yours.

Sound like that hurt.

Hell yeah.

Sports are bursting right now.

World Series tonight, basketball last night was nuts, just totally crazy, deep into the night.

There's too much sports to get to, not enough time, but we start with the cyclones because I've been wanting to get to the cyclones all week, and I keep getting knocked off the cyclones, and you will not knock me off the cycling series.

We had incredible basketball last night, Dan.

Me and Amin are doing our own show.

Steph Curry is back.

A.J.

Mitchell for the finer good.

I wish, I wish that right now we had just Tony and Amin going live 20 minutes after bananas last night.

We're not there yet.

The World Series is tonight.

I know.

We just got to Damashek He's going to do the fourth hour on a Friday.

We'll get there.

Please get me.

That's accurate.

That's happening either.

But still, check out Football America.

America.

Cyclones.

Top of the table, Cyclones.

You know, gritty team this year.

We led by the Undateka, a great draft pick, led by Mike.

No, that's how he plays.

And that photo of El Barba grabbing his lower back.

El Barba not even on our roster.

No, he's a request.

Injury replacement

got hurt and needed an injury replacement.

We have not gotten nearly enough.

Mike forfeited a game the other day at the top of the table, Mike, but to protect

his beard.

Are those dreads?

Yeah, he dreaded his beard.

You can see the heart, though.

Yeah, you could.

You could, because it's in flames.

I can see his gut.

Seconds later, he got a Theragun to the lower back and was replaced by an active Gigolo.

You're dead?

The Magic City Fronton.

We put the Magic in Magic City.

But we are top of the table.

We are coming off a tough loss.

The fixture list has been tough.

Mike, you've been with this team through thick and thin.

Chris doesn't show up to the games anymore as the owner.

Mike, you.

He wasn't there when I was fighting the wounded.

You were in the locker room fighting your star player and forfeiting a game.

Bulls, I need to play.

Chris was nowhere to be found.

Yeah, he was.

That's fair.

But that was my job that day as GM.

I was allowed to forfeit the final match because we had the game in hand.

Then I tried to do the same exact move because Manu has got a groin, and a mighty great groin that is.

And I wasn't allowed to do it that time, and Hyro had to go in there.

Hiro, great draft pick.

Look, we're going to have a say when it comes to the Battle Court Fall Championship, and that's all we wanted.

Now, I'm not thrilled losing one to the Renegades.

That's tough.

That means Udonis has a banter advantage over us.

I don't like that.

Is he showing up?

He shows up to the game.

He shows up.

He's a serious owner.

No, he loves.

He loves Peloton.

He doesn't show up up at every game.

Fuck.

No, he left a little early this time because we were that dominant.

He's the owner of a team and he's proud of it.

He's a Miami economy.

He's a Miami business, and this is one of his teams.

Yeah, but we got to talking.

I'm like, you know, I got a very difficult thing.

Bueno hasn't played a single match for us.

He's out for the season.

It's no bueno, Dan.

But Robin came in as a taxi squatter.

He better get a ring if we win.

Yeah.

No, Bueno, I mean, he's still there fighting.

No, I mean, Robin should.

Oh, Robin will absolutely

if we win.

Man, if we win.

I will.

There's There's only one championship, and that's

a football hurricane.

I was embarrassed.

I was embarrassed last time I was there.

Ray Lewis and Yodanis Haslam wiped the floor with our team, with Metalark's team, in a championship finale.

That's the last time I was there.

Yeah.

I'm a frontrunner.

Well, Ray Lewis was just there for fun.

That wasn't even his team.

Wow.

He loves Spelota, that must.

Scouting.

Yeah.

When's the next game?

The next Friday game, I think, is in two Fridays.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

I think it's in two Fridays and

two two in November.

Yeah, the Fronton is electric.

You should have Damashek there to wear somebody out talking about 90s Pirates baseball.

That guy's hot breath.

That was so funny.

And Mike was like, just say the name and watch him go.

I've got to salute him.

I literally pulled a Tom Barroso photo.

And then started going.

I would have thought we planned it.

Croqueta, he says it very well.

David Sampson does not.

Correcta.

No, no, no.

correct off

yeah correct off lived here 20 25 years correcta president of the Marlins in the middle of Little Havana correcta was going to be making it a booming Hispanic economy correct off there's just a pharmacy there in a 7-Eleven now correct off the same side

correct off

I want to get to the basketball, but I think I have to punish Amin for hitting me with a Ron Borges in the last segment.

It sent me reeling and was not being a good teammate after he has worked very hard the last couple of days flying between Miami and New York to be serious journalist guy next to Pablo during a federal investigation.

I heard Colorado Avalanche and I thought about who was on that team.

I remembered Adam Foote, right?

He was on that team, right?

Yeah.

I remembered a couple of other names and then I said, oh, yeah, that's right.

Ron Borges played there, right?

After he left Boston?

No.

Ray Bork is going to sting with me for a long time.

I felt that when I called him,

no.

It'll sting.

It'll sting with you.

Oh, don't seize on him just because you're insecure.

You couldn't say 88's June 127, Doug.

Before we get to the basketball, though, please get, because I don't want to just skip past the greatest player there's ever been in soccer.

And we talk about a time of greatness, LeBron, Shohei Otane.

Messi resigning in Miami.

I don't want to just skip over it.

And they handled the optics on it beautifully because they packaged him correctly with a commercial that's moving with good marketing.

Right.

You guys haven't seen this.

So I'll give play-by-play because this is largely video.

So let's go ahead and play it right now.

But the club formally announced Leno Messi's extension.

It seems as though Messi will indeed finish his career with Inner Miami, which is just a wild statement.

This is arguably the greatest player ever.

So it starts with Messi sitting down in an office.

Dramatically.

Dramatically reading the contract, presumably for the first time i i assume this is when he's going over all the details this is how he does business this is how goats operate folks he puts pen to paper on this table and he's about to look at the camera very pleased with himself because he signed his famous signature on it he looks straight to the camera and then boom We reveal that it wasn't an office.

It was all a facade.

It was just a curtain behind him.

A drone shot pulls back the new stadium that he will unveil as an inner Miami player.

He is sitting in the middle of it.

That's where he signed the contract at Freedom Park.

Wow.

Can I ask a question?

Are you guys not in the least bit concerned that in a city where every construction project takes decades, it feels like, to complete, this will be a miracle.

This stadium is up this fast?

Every time I land, it's a little bit more, or it's a lot more completed.

And I'm like, I don't like this.

Well, that's what the owner does for a living.

And if you thought this was fast, you should have seen how fast their stadium up in Fort Lauderdale came together at Lockhart because that was crazy.

Okay, if you're not familiar with what our swampland is and how many developers have gotten away with building quickly here, you know, with varying degrees of safety, do you realize the wonderful grift that the city of Miami, which is just sort of

a way station between small Latin American countries and whatever the real America is becoming now.

America.

That stadium being built that fast in our city has to be one of the greatest miracles I've ever seen in construction in this town filled with scam and everything else.

And Messi built it, and Messi will get to building a stadium near the airport and getting soccer to Miami.

He built it here.

He built it off of whatever the Apple arrangement was.

He's going to get to a stadium built near the airport when we can't build on anything.

We've got no more room to put anything anywhere up, anywhere except up.

That right there is going to be the stadium that becomes whatever Ross's stadium is worth to the Dolphins, $10 billion,

whatever Jerry's stadium is worth to him.

They got it to the stadium in this town.

That's a miracle.

Our developers don't work that fast.

Our construction people do not show up on time.

Except for across the street.

Second question.

Is this going to make airport traffic worse?

Can't be safer.

I've been to SoFi Stadium and you look directly up and you're like, oh my God, that is an entire airplane that I see the silhouette of right over me.

It can't be safer.

Those kinds of lights around airplanes can't be argued as safer.

In a weird way, Mike, I trust LAX more.

That's saying a lot.

LAX is one of the...

SoFi is much bigger than this stadium.

Raymond James is also near an airport.

There's a lot of stadiums that are near airports.

Trust me, if you've sat in SoFi Stadium and you hear

just a gigantic buzz overhead, you are shocked at how low those planes are over SoFi.

Before we get to last night's basketball, because it really was majestic, and Eduardo Perez will be here to talk about the World Series, which also promises to be pretty great internet.

Thank God.

Jeremy, I felt for you today that baseball can't make the show with this World Series.

The greatest athlete who's ever lived is about to play in a back-to-back World Series.

He's going to start on the mound in game three or four.

It's unbelievable.

And we just, we don't care.

So Wemby's going to be in the World Series?

El Barba?

He had three home or like at Pato?

He had six innings.

He's seven, seven days.

And lying about it.

He is amazing.

We are watching, I mean, because Wemby, everyone is now saying after one game, oh, yes, MVP, watch out.

He's going to take over the league.

That's not fair.

You didn't see my

favorite thing.

But I did not see this come in.

I got hit like a ton of bricks.

Going on Twitter after game one of Wemby being amazing and seeing all the highlights and everyone like, oh my God, he's incredible.

This is a goat in the making, da-da-da.

And seeing LeBron fans say, oh, look at them going crazy after one game.

He wouldn't last a second in this era.

And it was a highlight of LeBron like getting fouled by Danny Granger.

And I was like, oh my God, it's finally happened.

Like the LeBron fans have now gone through the other side of the looking glass and have become the guys who are old and saying this young guy wouldn't survive an actual game.

Can you and Tony give me the best of what you got on basketball last night?

Five minutes, is it enough time?

So last night we had two great games.

Obviously, the rematch of the finals yesterday between the Thunder and the Pacers.

Sans Halliburton, but a lot of the Pacer guys stepped up.

You want to start there really quick about that?

Yeah, you know what, man?

Like, a lot of people wrote off the Pacers like, oh, their season's done.

They've just got to wait until next year.

They're competitive, man.

That's scrappy as hell, man.

But OKC playing two double overtime games, and it wasn't even the most fun from last night.

And Tony fears Houston because everyone they have is

very intriguing of Houston Rockets.

But before we move off of this game, I also want to shout out Tony we're talking about in the secret show, right?

A.J.

Mitchell.

Wow.

Never played last year as a rookie this year.

Two games?

The guy's balling.

And that's what they needed, right?

They needed another guy that can control the ball, control the pace of the game.

Like, you can't just put everything on SGA's shoulders, even though.

Especially without J-Dubb out there.

Right, exactly.

Not with the wrist injury.

Exactly.

But looking at the pacer side of it, Benedict Matherin.

Benedict Matherin.

Good.

Really?

Just making up names?

No.

Oh, Mike.

Are you guys testing us to see if we've really been paying attention?

Well, that guy played in the finals, right?

He had a game.

You guys are going to dork out on basketball.

This is unfortunate.

Hold on.

TJ McCall didn't even play either.

I want to give Mike a name.

Mike, you may not know this name, but I'm guaranteeing it.

Johnny Furfe.

Oh, that's fake.

Johnny Fury.

Oh, no, that was fake.

They're going to get us, Mike, eventually.

He's white.

And he's white.

Well, it sounds white, but.

And you know what Johnny Furfe does better than anything, Mike?

He's a fake player?

He dunks on people.

Yeah.

Hard.

What does Benedict Matherin sound like to you?

Well, I know he's black.

Happen to know.

I saw one game.

But Harry?

Where did Furfe go to school?

Sounds like a Harry Potter character.

Where did Furfe go to school?

I'm going to check it out.

He's a second-year player.

I'll tell you what.

In Summer League, he dunked on this Bulls rookie, Noah Senye, and that was like the highlight of Summer League because he dunked on him so hard.

The face that poor Noah made was just like, played a Kansas.

Oh, there there you go.

Johnny Furfey from King.

Oh, man, it's real.

Johnny Furfe, man.

Take a look at him.

But, but.

Put on the poll at Lebatard Show.

Does Benedict Matherin sound like a Harry Potter character?

But, Tony, I wanted to talk about the second game.

The second game is crazy.

First of all, Aaron Gordon.

10 for 11 from three.

From three?

Yes.

He had 50.

He's the guy that dunks.

50.

Aaron Gordon, I described him as the guy who dunks, just takes Alley Oops.

10 of 11 from three, and yes, he had 50, and he wasn't the story last night.

Oh, the story was old.

The story was old.

Wardell, Stephen Curry, II.

The old dog still got it.

I remember Dan was like, the old guys are just going to move on, and we got new guys.

I'm like, man, let me tell you something about these old dogs.

Because Steph Curry last night turned in the type of performance, Dan, that, like...

If it weren't on late East Coast time, everybody would be talking about it.

I mean, so this is Mastery of the Highest Order.

When we talk about the greats we're watching, LeBron's giving his league over, Otani's amazing.

I don't know who's better, McDavid or Mahomes.

Like, we're talking about the greatest mastery.

In shooting, there's never been this.

He's an unprecedented player.

In a sport where everyone argues everything, who's the best player ever?

Who's the best power forward ever?

The one consonant is like everyone knows.

Okay, but also Olympic hero and how does he make it from there?

And also last night puts them to sleep when he's here still to remind you don't forget about us because we can be better than even Aaron Gordon on his best night down three

with seconds to go in regulation he hits what me and Tony talked about like that's a bad shot for anybody else like anybody else that's a bad attempt what are you doing with Steph Curry it's not even a no no no yes it's a oh yeah that this one's good he hits the shot and everyone's focused on the gyrating hip thrusting celebration that he did at the baseline that's what kept getting rerun on all the shows this morning.

My part of celebration I love the most is he hits the three-pointer.

He looks at the nuggets bent and says, call that timeout.

Call that timeout.

He demanded them to call timeout.

That's ballsy, man.

And he's, what, 37?

Dog.

He's getting better.

He's getting better.

He's aging like fine wine, but he looks like he's running out there like he's

getting better.

He's getting better.

He's got gray hair.

It can't be.

He's got gray hair now.

I talked to his trainer.

It can't be getting better.

And his trainer says he's better now.

There's no such thing as better.

Yeah,

busy.

Did you talk to his trainer?

You didn't touch his trainer.

Happen to know.

Happen to know.

You happen to know.

He happens to know.

Great Scott, he happens to know.

He happens.

Don't wave those fingers at me.

Gather, everyone.

Get the children.

He happens to know.

So wise.

Hey, it's Tony from the Dan Levittard show, and I got to tell you something that makes me feel a lot safer with my wife and kid at home.

It's simply safe.

Most security systems only react after a break-in.

And that's too late, if you want to be honest.

Real security stops crime before it even starts.

I just watched a video that was absolutely terrifying.

An arson is trying to light a family home on fire.

And you know what?

SimplySafe stopped it before anybody got hurt.

Their AI-powered camera spotted the threat, alerted the monitoring agent, and the intruder got confronted while still outside the house.

That's what I call real security, pre-security, not post-security.

I trust SimplySafe with my home, my family, and everything I care about.

No hidden fees, no long-term contracts.

And they've been named one of the best home security systems by U.S.

News for five years running.

Right now, Levitard Show listeners can get 50% off a SimplySafe system at simplysafe.com slash DLB.

That's simplysafe.com slash DLB.

Try it risk-free with their 60-day money-back guarantee and see why I trust them so much.

There's no safe like SimplySafe.

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.

Folks, fuel your game day with the unbeatable crunch of Hampton Farms, the official peanut of bowl season.

Perfect for sharing with friends, tailgating outside the stadium, or cheering from the couch.

Grab a bag from the produce aisle of your local grocery store and savor the game one peanut at a time.

Let's get nutty:

Russ Springer,

Paul Sorrento,

Alvaro Espinosa,

Jeremy Bernitz,

Bud Black,

Chad OJ,

Julian Tavares,

Paul Assenmacher,

Alan Embry.

Jeremy, thinking he's whispering sweet nothings to me, is whispering right before we start, do you know that the Dodgers have the top three K per nine inning guys in the history of big league baseball games?

Not even including Yamamoto, who's actually their ace.

That's right.

It is.

It's a very good staff.

I'm going to be locked in tonight, Dan.

You know, I'm a big Dodgers guy.

Big Dodgers guy.

Will you open your MMA Hangout on Saturday by talking about the World Series?

Maybe you should do some sports show that is not just MMA.

Maybe you should invite Jeremy to yammer about baseball over there to

pollute your MMA audience.

What are you doing tomorrow?

Why are you?

What do you mean?

He said he might.

I don't believe him.

I might.

I might.

Depending on what Jeremy's doing.

He might.

He's a busy guy.

He might.

But UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi.

It's an early start time for the MMA hangout.

2 p.m.

start time Eastern, 2 to 5.

We'll be hanging out.

You're going to be right here.

You're going to be in that seat there.

You're going to be in the studio.

Right there, literally sitting where you're sitting, the exact seat.

Live programming opposite MMA.

MMA and college football.

This This is a card that you're going to want to watch.

And if you don't watch it, you're going to want to watch Tony watch it.

Exactly.

Because we got big, meaty men slapping some meat in this main event.

It's the heavyweight championship of the world title on the line, Tom Aspinall versus Cyril Gawn.

And Mike found out Cyril Gon.

Dog, I saw the video from this.

This photo does not do it justice.

Wow.

Cyril Gon is, his name should be Cyril Gaines because this dude is in impeccable shape.

He's plus 300 in a fight.

He looks like Miles Garrett, basically.

He looks incredible.

I can't wait to watch these big meatie men.

It's going to be a massive fight.

So we've got that going on for the main event.

UFC 321 MMA Hangout presented by Boost Mobile start time, 2 p.m.

in the Lord's time zone.

Aspinall's that good?

Aspinall.

Aspinall is minus 400

over the guy on the right.

I'm telling you, Tom Aspinall is the best heavyweight of all time in a couple of years.

But did you see the body?

Yes.

Mike, I appreciate you doing that on behalf of Selling a Fight.

The idea of we've been watching fights throughout time where one guy is all jacked up and the other guy is just simply better.

And it doesn't matter.

Stronger, faster.

Yeah.

I mean, look at this guy.

This guy is plus 300.

The picture didn't give him justice.

No.

This guy's massive.

Holy shit.

Wow.

Big underdog.

Yeah, but the chin, though.

That's the issue.

You know, just chiseled everywhere.

Just in?

Yeah.

Okay, so everything you're doing here is just leering at men is all that we're doing.

Thank you.

Welcome to the map and some meat.

All right, let's bring in Matthew Berry.

Give him as much fantasy information as you can.

There's also a whole lot of good betting advice in here, I realized last time he was talking.

Yeah, me too.

Matthew Berry.

Stevenson.

Matthew Berry.

Matthew Berry.

Matthew Berry.

So let me get my pen.

I got to write some of this down because there's some good betting information.

Oh, Stevenson to score.

That cash.

All right.

There we go.

Hey, Dan.

Of the seven quarterbacks that faced the Dallas Cowboys this year, five of them have scored at least 24 fantasy points.

They not only allowed the most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks, that's three more points than any other team in the NFL.

So far, this year, by the way, Bo Nix, their opponent this week, is fifth in pass attempts per game.

In four games as a starter this year, Jackson Dart has 35% of the Giants' rushing attempts in the red zone.

When they get in close, they use Jackson Dart more than you think.

He has at least one rushing touchdown in three of those four games.

Anytime touchdown bet might work for Jackson Dart this week.

He's averaging over 21 points in his four starts this year, including a 23.6 game against the Philly Adelphi Eagles the last time they played a couple of weeks ago.

In every single game this year, the Cincinnati Bengals have allowed 16.9 fantasy points to a running back.

Brees Hall is, in fact, a running back.

By the way, so is Isaiah Davis in case

that's the most, that's the nicest thing I can say about Brees Hall.

But hey, so is Isaiah Davis in case Brees Hall can't go?

Worth noting that as of this writing, the Falcons are a seven, or this broadcast, I should say, Falcons are over a touchdown favorite against the Miami Dolphins.

Dan, in games that the Falcons win this year,

the reason I bring up that the Falcons are such heavy favorites, in games that the Falcons win this year, Tyler Algier, averaging over 14 touches per game.

And over the last four weeks, no team allows more rushing yards per game to opposing running backs than your Miami Dolphins.

They give up 143 yards a game.

Five of the last six games, Jakore Bill Krosky-Merritt has been held to under 11 fantasy points.

That includes both starts by Marcus Mariota, who's going to make the start on Monday night.

He has a 5% target share.

So when you think about the fact that the Commanders are double-digit underdogs on the road to Kansas City, I don't think Jakore Krosky-Merritt has a nice game this weekend.

Love the kid, but I bet it's a Jerry Mitch McNichols game.

Very quietly, Zay Flowers has at least eight targets this year in every game but two.

Why do I bring up that number?

Because this year, wide receivers that have seen at least seven targets against the Bears are averaging almost 19 fantasy points per game.

Of course, all this assumes Lamar Jackson is back.

Only two teams this year allow more yards per game to the slot than the New York Football Giants for the year.

Devontae Smith has over 60% of his targets from the slot.

I don't think people realize that.

Smith is due for a very good game.

In all the games that Mike Evans has missed over the last two years for the Buccaneers, Kate Otten, their tight end, has a 22% target share and averages over 14 fantasy points per game.

There's going to be no Mike Evans on Sunday for the Buccaneers, and they play the Saints, who have allowed a touchdown to an opposing tight end in three of the past four games.

The thing that I just realized, and it's a bit of an epiphany for me, and I apologize that I hadn't seen it before today, the illumination of, oh, Matthew Berry's just giving away money here.

He comes in here for three minutes and he just

figured this out now.

I didn't realize that this man is just giving away money when he's like, oh, Kate Otten, you got to go Kate Otten.

I'm an idiot.

This guy's good.

Fantasy football happy hour with Matthew Berry, weekdays live on YouTube at noon Eastern.

I just realized why he's popular.

It just happened.

Just now.

You just realized it.

It just happened.

No, because in plain sight, this man's been giving away money for 10 years.

Yeah, it's not my boyish good looks, Dan.

It's definitely not that.

Okay, but I didn't know it before now.

So I'm sorry.

This is why you play fantasy football, Dan.

Yeah, I'm sorry.

I'm an idiot.

There is a lot of overlap between fantasy football, DFS, sports.

Yeah, but I saw you sneak in there at an ending time touchdown bet, and I'm like, that's not a fantasy thing.

I heard that.

That's not a fantasy thing.

What an ending time touchdown bet.

Wait a minute.

He's speaking code in front of me, and I've been not paying attention as he's giving away money.

For how many years?

It's been a number of years, long time.

Been doing this a long time.

And it's what I do for NBC on Football Night in America as well.

You and I are both,

you know, the crown is ours.

And

we're both of these rascals family.

See you later, Matthew Berry.

Hampton Farms, nuttiest fan.

I needed to get to that.

I haven't had enough show.

There's more basketball to talk about.

Eduardo's coming on next.

He doesn't want to talk.

Can we talk basketball with him?

Before Eduardo, let's do Hampton Farms.

Congrats to the BYU fans for making their president uh shane rees crowd surf this week uh just look at that i mean just

he i would watch his wallet i'm watching his wallet if i'm him but that is our hampton farms winner check out get nutty with hampton farms the official peanut of bowl season keep an eye out for lucy at lsu if you think you are your team's nuttiest fan Mike, you know I have one rule to live by, right?

Don't place parlays on multiple long shots.

Don't say a game is one when it hasn't hit triple zero.

Always drink your Jaegermeister ice cold.

That's the rule.

Everything else is merely a suggestion.

Everything else?

Everything else.

Wearing clean underwear every day?

Well, that's just a personal decision.

Brushing your teeth.

Obviously smart, but not a rule.

Never pee-pee on an electric fence.

Okay, maybe there are two rules, but the one that is 100% that I insist on completely, Jaegermeister must be drank ice cold.

Or don't drink it at all.

Damn, that's cold.

Exactly.

You're finally starting to get it.

Drink responsibly.

Jaegermeister liqueur 35 alcohol by volume imported by mass jaegermeiser us white plains new york

boost mobile has unlimited talk text and data plan that's only 25 bucks a month forever forever

meaning you only pay 25 a month for the rest of your life who wouldn't want unlimited wireless when it costs 25 bucks a month forever if you don't you must be one of those people who enjoy overpaying for their phone plans for their internet for everything in their life but it's not too late to change your ways by the way 25 bucks a month forever is truly as good as it gets go online and switch now at boostmobile.com after 30 gigabytes customers may experience slower speeds customers will pay 25 a month as long as they remain active on the boost mobile unlimited plan

introducing oakley meta vanguard the new performance ai glasses designed for athletes with hands-free capture on an action-ready ultra-wide camera powerful open-ear speakers and built-in meta ai that syncs with your garment devices for real-time insights while you train.

Take your performance to the next level with Oakley Meta Vanguard.

Athletic intelligence is here.

Learn more on meta.com.

Don Lebatard.

I mean, they used to call me Chris Karaoke.

Stugats.

Karaoke.

That back row is bringing it today.

This is the Don Lebatar Show with the Stugats.

I really don't feel like there's been enough room in the show today because I wanted to hear Tony and Amin talking about the Steph Curry shirt that

Chris Cody is wearing because Steph Curry is here to still tell hockey and the young people, hey, still my league.

I'm not just going to give it up to LeBron at the end or Aaron Gordon for that matter or Jokic.

And we didn't even talk about the Nuggets.

Like the Nuggets look like a really good team, too.

Zaszlo has texted me.

He says Aaron Gordon has officially entered the MVP conversation.

He's going to keep us up to date here.

Three different candidates after three different days.

It was Wemby's, but...

It was Luca, then Wemby, and now Aaron Gordon.

Now Aaron Gordon.

On Steph Curry's not, but on Steph Curry's night.

Am I wrong?

Can you be an MVP leader if you're winless?

I don't think you can.

Good point.

Two of his three names are winless.

Zaz doesn't care what your opinion is.

He has said Aaron Gordon has entered the MVP conversation.

What do you mean?

Where would they be without him?

Point differential.

Yeah, that's a good point.

But also, who'd they lose to?

The guy who should be MVP, Steph Curry.

On Chris Cody's shirt, don't forget his Olympic moments.

He's got one of the, like, he will continue to give us moments till the very end.

Like, you're saying he can't get better, and he's getting better.

Getting better, get out of here.

Is this a transitive property thing, like the MacGuffin?

Like, if someone outperforms Steph Curry tonight in Portland, then they're the MVP.

Like Highlander?

Yeah.

It's a kind of madness.

Chris Cody is now giving him the highest form of love, a love once only given to Tua, to look at him longingly and worship Steph Curry because it was Steph Curry's night last night.

What was the worst part of losing Louisville?

Losing the MacGuffin.

It now resides in Kentucky.

My father has arrived in the other room.

He was told Eduardo Perez was going to be here.

He is a friend with the Perezes, Tony Perez, Eduardo's father, who I once asked, do you ever pee in a shower?

Because

on behalf of this show,

Tony said he did not.

His wife said he was lying.

Foiled.

I've just embarrassed an elderly Cuban Hall of Famer.

My father didn't believe Tony Perez either.

Should DeAndre Jordan still be getting 3.6 million?

He just signed with the Pelicans.

He's a great guy.

He's a good locker room guy.

He's a great guy, man.

$3.6 million.

He keeps at home.

Where it's like, oh, you should be nice.

No, it's not because of karma or whatever.

It's because you might get paid $3.6 million just for being a great guy.

Be a great guy.

He was mocked as a laughingstock two days ago.

He's being mocked on television as being bad at basketball.

Who's mocked?

He's bad at basketball.

He's a great guy.

He's a great at best.

Exactly right.

What do the Pelicans need, by the way?

You guys are great guys.

They need a great guy in there.

You guys cannot be talking about last night's basketball and end up on DeAndre Ayton for some reason.

No, no, no, DeAndre Attorney.

Jordan.

DeAndre Jordan.

DeAndre Ayton.

Now that one.

They need to work on that.

Oh, my gosh.

Luca, I feel bad for him, man.

Luca's not going to be happy.

A lot of heartburn.

Six games.

Six games.

You got it, six games.

It's funny.

A buddy of mine who's in the league sends me a text and he says, this Aiton thing's not going to work.

I said, yeah, I said, I got Luca killing him by Christmas.

He said, Christmas?

He said, Halloween hasn't gotten here yet.

Put it on the poll at Lebatard Show.

Is Luca going to kill DeAndre Aiten before Halloween?

Yeah.

At Lebatard Show.

It's, I mean,

frustrating, beyond frustrating.

But he has all the tools, but but like, then doesn't at the same time.

It's one of my great joys in sports and basketball, I should say, because that's my thing, right?

Is when you know something about a guy, not because it's insider information or whatever, but because you've watched a guy a lot, and then he gets to a new team, and you realize that fan base knows nothing.

They really don't know anything.

And so the Lakers are like, oh my God, we got our center.

He's the number one overall pick.

He can donkey.

He can shoot jumpers.

He's da-da-da.

And I'm like, you guys don't know what you're getting.

You don't know what you're getting into.

And I said, I guarantee

mid-season, Luca's going to want to kill him.

And then I saw that first game, and I was like, mid-season might be too far.

Let's go, Christmas.

And like I said, my buddy said, Christmas?

Halloween isn't here yet.

Really quick on the defending champs.

They're playing a lot of basketball.

Are they young enough to just continue to put the pedal to the medal and play hard every single day?

Double overtime.

First two games of the season.

Taken to the end.

A lot of young legs, which is good, but this seems like a team that needs to get a little bit more of a pace going.

This is what I'm going to say.

What concerns me?

It concerns me that it took you double overtime to beat either of those teams.

A Houston Rockets team where they're just getting to know each other.

And a Pacers team that's missing its best player and obviously lost its starting.

So wait a minute.

You're going to concern me that the defending champion has won two straight games

and it took double overtime against a finalist from a year ago that's without its best player and the Rockets that are supposed to be the best contender that people are learning somehow.

What, Sagun is good?

Yeah, he's the best player on the number two seed last year and Houston got Kevin Durant.

Oh, one of my favorite things, by the way, from opening night, we didn't get to talk about is the way Reggie Miller pronounces Shangoon.

He calls him Shane Goon.

S-H-A-N-E Space.

The Gooner.

G-O-O-N.

The Gooner is what I like to call them.

But Shane Goon sounds like, right?

What does Shangun sound like to you?

Shane Goon to me sounds like a mid-major college football coach who is like doing a great job with this program and is going to get poached by one of the Power Five schools.

Former D-lineman.

Aren't you making that?

First name, Shane, last name Goon, G-O-O-N.

Yes.

Not Sangun.

He's not Hispanic either, though.

I even know I'd like that.

Yeah, Sengun.

Sengun?

That's how you guys say it?

He was the best player on the number two.

Apentiko Sengun.

It sounds like a dish.

I mean, some of that Mofongo and Sangun.

That isn't even the game we're talking about from last night.

You can have your choose.

Like, I do think it's funny that OKC is going to be an afterthought and still some of the storyline things that are going to captivate us.

It's like the Western Conference has 19 different storylines the way that the East does not.

But we didn't even talk about Wemby, right?

Like,

I asked, I mean, privately, is the Wemby thing for real?

Because I keep having this.

I just keep having this resistance of like, no, no, not yet.

It can't be for real.

So, I mean, help me with the context of this because you and I agreed that Shaq underachieved for what he did.

Wemby is an unprecedented player.

And when

someone comes, who was it?

Was Michelle Beadle or somebody?

It was yesterday.

Somebody said, no, Wemby's going to be a top 10 player in the league ever if he just stays healthy.

Because clearly, that's a level of mastery.

That I never do this in sports.

It's Rachel Nichols.

I don't even do this to Shohei Otani.

I don't say that what Shohei Otani is doing is unfair.

That it feels like

it feels unfair.

No, I know, but I don't, I get it, but I don't have the same feeling that I do with Wemby.

Well, wait a minute.

You're going to be so much better than that every game is possibly going to feel like Shohei Otani hitting three home runs and striking out 10 because you can break all the statistics in this sport.

When you go 40, 15 and zero turnovers, you're spinning the game on your finger.

So I was asked this yesterday.

It's like put into context how great that performance was.

And I said, he was guarded by the guy that we generally consider to be the best big man man defensive player in the league, right?

If you had to pick out of everyone in the league, who's going to guard Wembanyama?

I want something, someone tall and long and agile and laterally agile, can move around with Anthony Davis.

And he made him look like a fool.

He's a perennial defensive player of the year candidate who is the first of these seven-foot unicorns who can almost guard anybody on the perimeter.

I have a prediction.

He's going to force the league to change something about its game drastically.

I think the athletes have long outgrown the dimensions of the court.

He may be the one that makes the court larger because it's an unfair advantage.

To give him more space, I think actually.

No, I mean, he gets up the court in three strides.

But, Mike, so now you just made it harder for everyone else.

No.

What about TJ McConnell, Mike?

This is about T.J.

McConnell.

This is the thing that I've been...

Yes, think about him.

He doesn't stand a snowball's chance at all.

Yeah, but if you make the court bigger, you've actually helped Wemby and hurt TJ McConnell even more.

Something needs to be done.

This is what I warned you about.

You're going to make the court smaller.

Okay, can I just have the

can I can I have the conversation with you guys though?

Because baseball can't be the thing about Otani that is so amazing is that he's making it seem routine and yet he very often fails.

Like Ratani Otani spends a lot of time failing because it's a failure-rate sport.

What he pitches on.

Yeah, and he pitches, but I don't look at Otani and say that's unfair because because baseball can't be made unfair, but it's just about the most unfair thing I've ever seen in baseball outside of maybe Barry Bonds when they had to walk him 134 times.

Dan, one of the most unfair things in baseball, my memory, was the 1995

AL Wildcard series, Mariners, Yankees, me as a Yankees fan, watching Randy Johnson.

Feel like he pitched like 700 times that series.

I'm like, how is this possible?

How does he do it?

So there are certain things in sports that when you see them.

Now make him hit home runs.

Correct.

No, that's right.

Randy Johnson's also up there 6'10 and hitting three home runs, one out of the stadium.

I'm not saying that what Otani is doing is anyway sane or it has any human reference.

Do you think it's there?

But I also saw him go one for 17 with eight strikeouts because the game is different.

When I'm watching Wemby, it's like watching Shaq, where I'm like, the dimensions of that are the human body not making it fair.

That's too good.

You can't have someone out there who's making the world's greatest athletes all look like they're sixth graders.

There's a distortion of the physical body that makes it so that person is going to be someone who feels unfair.

Yeah, I never saw that.

I was coming at you like a hurricane.

And you were all just like, look how fun.

He's a monk.

This is great.

No, he is.

He's destroying the game you love.

To be fair, Dan, he shot 35% from three last year.

He had a lot of games where it was not so incredible not so impressive so it's not

I think it's the same to me it's the same it's just like what am I supposed to do with this that's the unfairness that like I like a like a teenage of me watching Randy Johnson pitch nine games in a five-game series how is this possible what am I supposed to do with this and and everything has zero like fatigue or anything he's he's hitting 99 every single time

the same thing with Wembinyama it's like it's not perfect all the time, but enough of the time, it's perfect enough to make you feel helpless.

And that's what Shoe Otani does.

He can go one for 17 and have eight strikeouts.

And I guarantee you, there's not a single pitcher who faced him like, this dude is whack.

There's always that fear of, oh my God, in the same way that watching Steph Curry last night, we talked about it, bad shot, but it's like, when it's Steph Curry, it's like, oh, no, this is how we're going to lose.

To the Otani point, though, where the pitchers respect him so much, he's in the midst of a one for 17 slump and they walk him.

Yeah, to get to Mookie Betts.

To get to Mookie Betts.

Right.

It's like, oh, you're going to walk me to get to another guy who's probably a Hall of Famer in a couple of years, too.

Like, think about how crazy that is.

I am saying that the level of mastery is the same, but I view

baseball.

Tell me if I've got this wrong, because I understand what you guys are saying.

Otani's previous game before that playoff game that was the best playoff game ever played was against the Marlins when he broke all sorts of records and had some 10 RBI game with three or four home runs.

one of them hit off an infielder.

But it's like the greatest offensive game you have ever seen.

That is correct.

That is not what Wemby is doing, but I can see it from here.

What does that look like?

If it's 40 and 15 and 3 with no turnovers, what does it look like?

But he's still physically growing.

He is still young.

And what cometh this way, if it's not already here, is the storyline of, can Steph

ward off this spider person who Anta Tacopa was supposed to be when he was going to dominate and win all the championships.

But this person can come and take all the championships in a way that I think is going to feel unfair.

If not already,

it's like a couple of games down the line.

The thing I keep going back to, it's funny that Chris is wearing that shirt because that's such a cool moment from the gold medal game.

That's not the coolest moment, though.

The coolest moment is still three that he hit over Wembanyama and that shot.

that we have.

It's one of the great

photos of all the great photographs.

They should find it.

It really is.

It's a photoshop.

It doesn't look real.

Well, but this is, but God Almighty, when you talk, I mean, about like symbolically where it is that survival of the fittest happens in sports,

Steph Curry will forever be loved because what he does physically makes no sense in that sport.

It requires a precision that he has not been gifted the way Wembanyama has been gifted a body that is wholly unfair.

But at the same time, you know what that picture also

represents?

Mike, it goes back to a name I said earlier in the show: Dr.

Ian Malcolm, which is that life

finds a way, right?

You can see Wemanyama.

Look at that.

That ball is gone.

And look at Wemen Yama.

Look at the size of his hand.

It's just crazy.

But here's the thing: Wemanyama can have all that height and that agility and that offense and that IQ and that great personality and great teammate and

everything.

And he still,

he still can be bested by a dude who looks like a regular guy when we're watching on TV.

Can we all just, I want the majesty of this photograph, just look at Steph's eyes, and that is not the trajectory of a jump shot.

No.

He's looking into the cosmos.

You can see the hoop from there.

He's not looking at the hoop.

There's not, he has to look straight up to an angle in the sky to throw it through seven stars.

If you look, the amazing part of that photo is, if this were the evolutionary chart, it'd be like, holy shit, you got to be kidding me.

I've got to conquer the sport by getting over the greatest form of human evolution there has ever been in athleticism.

Draw a line straight from his navel to Steph Curry's eyes.

That's where he's at.

It's not often that recently you see a photo and you're like, that's an all-time great photo.

And everybody's reaction was that that photo was taken by Gerard Angelo,

Samolano, and Ezra Shaw.

Two photographers on one photo credit.

That's crazy.

The fan reactions behind are awesome.

Because it's in France.

That's the other part of this equation that we have to remember.

It's in France.

Behind enemy lines.

Photographers.

On treacherous ground.

Oh, easy there.

I make you choice.

Otani had a game where he got to 50-50 for a season.

He was six for six, scored four runs, had 10 RBIs, and three homers.

And it's not the greatest game he's ever played because to go to the World Series, he threw six innings, allowed two hits, struck out 10, and went three for three with three home runs.

That's the part where it's not going to make sense.

That's the other thing, Dan, is when you tell the story years later, decades later, when all these guys are gone, when, like I said, we have Shohei Jenkins Jackson playing in the

wide receiver for the Chiefs one day, it's that you're going to say that stat line of the 50 home run game, and it's like, that doesn't make sense.

It's like a Wilts stat line.

And then you say, and that's not even his best game.

It's like me when I say Wilts, Wilt once averaged 50 points a game for a season.

I say that's not his most impressive stat.

Do you know what the most impressive Wilts stat?

Not that one, not that one, it's a family show, family show.

I was about to say it was that one.

Do you know what the most impressive basketball stat that Wilt Chamberlain has?

The one that'll never be broken, because I can see 50 points again getting broken.

I can see 100 points getting broken, the one that'll never get broken, ever.

He averaged 48 and a half minutes a game one year.

48 and a half minutes a game for a season.

Ladies and gentlemen, they're only 48 minutes in an NBA game.

So that means he played every single minute and also every single minute of overtime.

48 and a half minutes.

That is the one stat that will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever be broken.

If you just put on this photo one more time on the screen, because I want to reference what Mike is saying when you know you're having a historic sports photograph taken.

It's not just the physical parts of it, and it's not just the physics of it.

The look on Steph Curry's face and his wrist, if you know anything about basketball, that is a photograph of human ingenuity.

That's a photograph.

That's human ingenuity on how does man survive when things around him get bigger, stronger, and faster in a way that's physically impossible.

Life

finds a way.

It's a perfect encapsulation for the U.S.

having it back then, but it's coming.

Okay.

All right.

What?

That's this.

That's decontextualization.

Excuse me.

I wrote decontextualism.

I'm sorry.

Yes.

I'm a provocateur.

You're not sorry.

You know, it's funny.

I, uh, for a video that I did.

Oh, actually not.

For the Louvre Heist video, I decided to add some elements and I threw in.

I said it's like that was, it was almost as fast as me on Ninja Warrior.

Going back and looking, I had to pull it up, the screenshot.

When I did Ninja Warrior the first time, you know, every single NB,

every single ESPN show other than First Take and Sports, no, Sports Anatomy, every single ESPN show had me on.

Every single one.

Get up.

Highly questionable.

You guys, Mike and Mike.

Every single show had that clip.

That's what made it one of the most watched clips ever because NBC typically never gets clips onto ESPN because the whole rivalry thing.

I did that.

What was the context of that in what we were talking about?

Viral decontextuality.

Do you know anything about this?

Treya Savage?

I know nothing.

Blake Snell's about to shove tonight.

Treya Savage starting game one for Toronto.

Don't even know who he is.

Don't care.

He made his professional debut earlier this season.

He started the year in single A in April.

Then he got to high A in May, double A in June, triple A in August, made his first major league start in September.

First playoff start at the beginning of October.

He's starting game one of the World Series.

It's a real boy meets World Series situation, huh?

Where's Eduardo?

El Juadito.

You know, because Ben Savage started in this show called Boy Meets World, and so he was like a guy who was a single A in the World Series.

Topanga, yeah.

Boy Meets World.

Oh, Topanga, yeah.

And Corey and all of that.

Papita Esperando.

Eduardo.

El Wadito.