Hour 1: The Fish, The Face Cards, and The Quarterback (feat. Kash)

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This is the Dan Labatar Show with the Stoogats Podcast.

All right, go ahead and pot it up, Chris.

Let's listen to what a lot of suits, a lot of suits in front of microphones next to Cash Patel, who's in an FBI jacket.

The person speaking right now is U.S.

Attorney.

Well, he's moved off for the star of the show.

Cash Patel.

Here we go.

Good morning.

Today, we are here in New York to announce a historic arrest across a widesweeping criminal enterprise that envelops both the NBA and La Casa Nostra.

The men and women up here standing with me represent a small portion of the leadership team that brought profound justice in an era that needed it more than any.

I'll just highlight some of the details in the case and the FBI work and then you'll hear from the others.

But as you now know, individuals such as Chauncey Billips, Damon Jones, and Terry Rozier were taken into custody today, former current NBA players and coaches.

What you don't know is that this is an illegal gambling operation and sports rigging operation that spanned the course of years.

The FBI led a coordinated takedown across 11 states to arrest over 30 individuals today responsible for this case, which is very much ongoing.

Not only did we crack into the fraud that these perpetrators committed on the grand stage of the NBA, but we also entered and executed a system of justice against La Casa Nostra to include the Bonano, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucesi crime families.

And you'll hear more about those details today.

The charges and the arrests that were taken down across this country range from wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, robbery, illegal gambling.

This FBI will leave no room for any perpetrator of crime across this country.

You hear a lot about our work of defending the homeland and crushing violent crime.

Well, this work is also representative of a colossal portion of the FBI's mandate to keep America safe and to keep our entertainment industry fair and secure.

The men and women that are standing up here today worked tireless hours, days, months, and years.

And the fraud is mind-boggling.

It's not hundreds of dollars.

It's not thousands of dollars.

It's not tens of thousands of dollars.

It's not even millions of dollars.

We're talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery across a multi-year investigation.

And we could not have done it without our interagency partners that are before us today.

The NYPD, HSI, and teams of law enforcement officials from around the country made this day possible.

It takes a team to bring this kind of justice, sweeping justice, into the halls of the United States courtrooms where our brave United States attorney has led this prosecution.

It takes courageous prosecutors to stand before you and say we will not allow this kind of illicit activity to happen not only at the national sporting level but also where it hides in La Casa Nostra and when these two collided together they perpetrated a fraud that is historic in terms of not just money but the scheme and the deceit that they utilize to steal and swindle people from money to include crypto fraud This is an operation that showcases to you that under President Trump's administration, there is no room for any type of criminal behavior, be it on the world's largest stage or in the back rooms of tiny parlors where guard games are being played.

They ain't got no more names.

We are proud to stand here today with the men and women

and this legal team.

Still no action.

To the United States Attorney, I just want to thank you personally for taking the time to display the work that the media is about to hear about today in detail.

As I said, it does take courageous prosecutors, but it takes a courageous United States Attorney to bring this case because we are going to take heat for it.

But we don't shy away in this administration.

We don't say no.

What we do is we bring the results across the finish line.

We bring them to the public.

We bring you accountability.

And yes, they will have their day in court and you will hear the evidence through the court system exclusively.

We will not deny anyone of due process.

And that's the brilliance of this system.

That's the brilliance of this administration.

Everyone will be held to account.

So, with that, I turn it over to United States Attorney Nocell.

Thank you.

Thank you, Director Patel.

To be clear, we're announcing today indictments in two major cases, both involving fraud.

One involves sports betting, and the other involves illegal gambling, very specifically rigged poker games.

The first indictment involves six defendants who are alleged to have participated in one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalized in the United States.

This scheme is an insider sports betting conspiracy that exploited confidential information about National Basketball Association athletes and teams.

The second indictment involves 31 defendants alleged to have participated in a nationwide scheme to rig illegal poker games.

These defendants, which include former professional athletes, used high-tech cheating technology to steal millions of dollars from victims in underground poker games that were secretly fixed.

The games in the New York area were backed by the Bonano, Gambino, and Genovese crime families of La Casa Nostra.

While the cases are separate, There are three overlapping defendants charged in both cases: Damon Jones, Eric Ernest, and Shane Hennen.

The indictments in these cases contain only allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until they are proven guilty in a court of law.

But my message to the defendants who've been rounded up today is this.

Your winning streak has ended.

Your luck has run out.

Violating the law

is a losing proposition, and you can bet on that.

Yeah!

Yeah, nailed the fist bound.

I would like to talk about United States practicing last night he was practicing basketball gambling case.

The defendants in this case are Eric Ernest.

All right, turn it down.

There will be no traveling.

Shane Hennen, De Niro Laster,

Damon Jones, a former NBA player and coach, and Terry Rosier, a current NBA player.

Other co-conspirators were previously charged for their roles in the scheme, including former NBA player Jante Porter.

All right, go ahead and turn this down.

That's actually pretty newsy, that Jante Porter's role

being associated with that.

My favorite part so far was him, Cash Patel, coming out and saying, we're not talking about hundreds of dollars like those crappy Chris Cody poker games.

We are talking about tens of millions of dollars.

Those are the brigades out early for purported injuries or illnesses.

Defendants used this non-public information to place hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent bets, mostly in the form of prop bets on individual player performance.

The bets were placed through online sports books and also in person at casinos.

The defendants relied on a network of straw bettors to place the maximum amount of bets to increase their potential profits.

Most of these bets succeeded, and the intended losses were in the millions of dollars.

The defendants then laundered their illegal winnings in various ways.

Peer-to-peer platforms, bank wires, and simple cash exchanges.

All right, that's enough.

Those are the big crime families.

They had some big deal.

They got all the big boys, Dano.

They got some big crime families involved.

And

Chauncey Billops is, and I guess Damon Jones are the only new information, right?

We knew that some of this was already, they didn't say anything about Malik Beasley, but we knew that some of this was already around Johnte Porter, and we knew some of this was already around Terry Rosie.

You have an Arenas too, they didn't mention it.

Yeah, we knew that some of this stuff was surrounding Jante Porter, but we didn't know that there was a direct tether to Jante Porter, which that was pretty revelatory there.

I'd like some more information about Chauncey Billips, if indeed we've just ended his coaching career and forever smeared his name.

I would like some more information.

They are giving more

aspect of this.

They're a lot of the skiing to use wireless cheating technology to run rigged poker games across the United States, including in the Hamptons, Las Vegas, Miami, and Manhattan.

The scheme targeted victims known as, quote, fish,

who were often warred to participate in these rigged games by the chance to play alongside former professional athletes.

who were known as, quote, face cards.

The so-called face cards included the defendant chauncey billips who at the time of the scheme was a former nba player and is currently the head coach of the portland trailblazers and also damon jones a former nba player and coach

what the victims the fish didn't know is that everybody else at the poker game from the dealer to the players, including the face cards, were in on the scam.

Once the game was underway, the defendants fleeced the victims out of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per game.

The defendants used a variety of very sophisticated cheating technologies, some of which were provided by other defendants in exchange for a share of the profits from the scheme.

For example, they used off-the-shelf shuffling machines that had been secretly altered in order to read the cards in the deck, predict which player at the table had the best poker hand,

and relay that information to an off-site operator.

The off-site operator

sent the information via cell phone back to a co-conspirator at the table, and that person at the table was known as the quarterback.

The quarterback then signaled secretly the information he had received from others at two others at the table, table.

And together they used that information in order to win their games.

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Don Lebatard.

Did we someone say conservative entity?

Whoa!

No!

Oh, see, this is what

Stugats.

Hers is better than mine.

The fifth Sagaki.

How is the fifth Sagaki better than the third and the fourth Sagaki already?

This is the Don Lebatar Show with the Stugats.

All right, turn this down for a second.

I've got a couple of different questions here.

Does it matter to you guys at all if Billups was doing this while he was a player, but not as a coach?

No distinction there whatsoever.

I mean, my biggest takeaway from it is Billups goes off as a total dirtbag.

Like he's in on a poker scheme to rip off civilians.

Oh, no, you're stealing money from the fish.

Ripping off fish.

Total dirtbag.

You're stealing money from the fish,

for sure.

That's just theft.

all like you're scamming in order to steal the money of others.

But the reason I'm making the distinction is

the position that Chauncey Billips is presently in, if he's doing that as a coach, to me, it does feel different than if he was doing it as a player.

Why?

Because of how long ago he was doing it, because he's not in the position of authority when he is taking advantage of his leadership position.

It's still wrong.

I'm not saying it's not wrong.

I'm just saying that when Chauncey billips' name was associated with this the reason to me it's a bigger story than damon jones is because he's the head coach of something like

he's it's not he's not an assistant coach and he's not a former player he's actively in the league and this sounds like they are coming after him for actual crimes but crimes from years ago not crimes committed while as a coach to me there is a distinction there i'm not getting that i didn't grab that from that it seems like he's the draw right in the poker game oh we got chauncey Chauncey Billips in this game, and then whoever's the fish is, is like, oh, I'm going to go over there.

I want to play with Chauncey Bills.

I don't know how you had that takeaway when they said that Jante Porter is involved in this, and that's a recent thing.

But Mike, that was on the sports gambling side of it, not the poker game.

Yeah, but there was a tether to it.

I think they made the distinction that Damon Jones is the tether to it.

Yeah, but I don't think we're talking about something that happened during Chauncey Billips' playing days.

I don't.

Like, I didn't get that.

Just because he said it's a criminal enterprise that goes back years.

Like, I don't know where all of this.

Lafayette goes back years.

Where all of this started.

I don't know how.

La Casa Notra.

Yeah, they were.

Yeah, why does he keep calling it La Casa?

It's not a house.

Well, he was nervous.

You could hear the nerves.

You know that's what it means, right?

La Casa means house, Dan.

That's right about that.

Do you know what the Nostra means?

La Cosa Nostra means this thing of ours.

You're a real godfather expert.

Don't question my gangster knowledge.

So do you guys want to know anything else from?

He seems to be wrapping up.

He's like thanking the people who worked on the invention.

So I win the bet, no bigger names, right?

I get all your money.

I get

everything here.

The biggest we're doing here is Terry Rosier.

He nailed though, he really nailed the dismount, and you can bet on that.

Like that, that was that was a

winning streak has ended.

Your luck has run out, and you can bet on that.

But what we did not hear, because we put the audio down, he called the Toronto Raptors the Toronto Rangers.

No!

I was like, what team is he talking about?

So that's obviously Jante Porter.

My favorite part, though, is not hundreds, not thousands, not millions,

but billions, gazillion, trillions of dollars.

I really did think he was going to go to billions and trillions, but he did tens of millions.

Wait a minute, tens of millions are millions.

You should know that.

Your name is Cash.

Not one, not two, not three.

So not qualified for that position.

Shouldn't be speaking in front of microphones.

You know who he started his career here?

Public defender, Miami.

I thought you were going to be a good person.

Because, me.

Hey.

Hey, man.

Can we put the story to the side now and

realize that the biggest news happened before they came and gave us the details that was going to be the biggest news, that we had the biggest news, and the biggest news is just names.

It's just names, and they were doing something, but we don't have the information.

They gave us some details.

I thought the poker scheme was interesting.

Yeah, the poker stuff, that was pretty detailed.

And they gave a little insight as to how they actually use their insight, the people that are alleged of doing these crimes.

I mean, Dan, did you hear what?

Gamblers.

Did you hear what they call the guy who relays the information?

Quarterback.

Quarterback.

Yeah.

Because they get the play in the headset.

Why wouldn't they call him the point guard?

I understand

that this is obviously a big story, and I'm not going to dispute that it's a big story, but it's being made bigger by the big show that they're making of Chauncey Billips was cheating at cards.

That's what the story is on Chauncey Billops.

It's not Chauncey Billips was affecting the integrity of the game.

Chauncey Billips is a thief who was cheating at cards, but not Chauncey Billops is over here doing what Terry Rozier and what John Tay Porter were doing.

It's an important distinction.

Yes, CNN straight up put on the screen, Terry Rozier allegedly rigged NBA games.

ESPN has not covered this at all.

They're talking about Aaron Rodgers.

There's no coverage anywhere on ESPN of what is presently happening.

ESPN is slightly less nimble than it used to be about going to live programming off of news events.

So I don't know what's happening here, and I can't make an accusation on what's happening here.

But it is suspicious that the FBI just had a 10 a.m.

press conference and ESPN was talking about Aaron Rodgers during it.

They cannot or have not broken into coverage of

what this scandal is.

Yeah, but what are they saying saying about aaron rodgers yeah the steelers are playing well right obviously they had a hiccup last week but they're back on track aaron rodgers could be dark horse for maybe an mvp if they keep winning the uh the steelers what happened to them last week against the bengals was legitimately confusing to me to watch offense like that happen against the uh the steelers but i don't uh steelers defense sucks this year they haven't been very good it's weird uh there is one thing that i said with certainty before the season started which is that the jets and steelers defenses are good.

It's not looking great.

You can't win them all right now.

Yeah, well, I don't win many of them.

So, Chauncey Billops, if you're just joining us, cheated at cards and stole the money of Fish as the quarterback who should have been named the point guard.

That just makes sense.

Why wouldn't you just make it the point guard?

I mean, it would be so simple.

Call him the point guard.

It's Chauncey Bill.

It would have been so simple.

It's Chauncey Billops, right?

The way they were doing that, though,

that sucks to sort of realize.

Like,

you have to understand that there is some fish out there turning on his television.

He's like, wait a minute, Chauncey was using a rigged shuffling deck?

That's why I kept losing.

There's somebody who woke up this morning, tuned into this press conference, and it's like, I knew it.

I was so happy to be with Damon Jones and Chauncey Phillips, and they had a rigged deck.

Three full houses in a row.

And the dealer, Emily, was in on it.

She was in on it as well.

It was so nice.

How were they always folding their cards when I had Ace King?

How did they know?

I thought they were such good poker players, but they happened to know.

They were using, they were using a.

Jose Al Tube.

Is that a bold trash can?

That's banging on a trash can.

No, wait a minute.

It's not buzzing.

Nobody was being sent a text.

One guy's checking his phone like, yeah, I'm going to fold it here and go.

All of a sudden the phone

on the table just vibrating.

Why did it vibrate?

Why didn't you catch on to every time the phone was vibrating?

Fish.

Did that attorney practice how he was going to say, known as the fish?

He learned that term.

He learned that he hasn't watched rounders.

He doesn't know anything about poker.

If you don't know who the sucker is at the table, then the sucker is you.

This guy got an indoctrination to

what gambling is with this story and was thrilled to do that press conference.

First take actually just took the press conference live.

They have it now.

It's just a bunch of people in suits applauding.

They've already given out the news.

They just some guy, 30 years he's been here.

They're just now giving like platitudes to people.

To those wrongdoers, you have gone up against a full house and you

just have twos.

And we've got the nuts.

You have busted out.

I suggest you fold now.

It felt like a movie poster.

Can you guys get for me just him saying your luck has run out?

He was practicing that with his wife.

We have an ace up our sleeve.

Babe, what do you think of this one?

What if I use a betting pun at the end?

Even I didn't like that.

Yeah,

it wasn't great, but they were really enjoying

giving a lot of big adjectives to the great work that they are doing.

And again, Chauncey Billops has been caught cheating at

cards.

Get him!

Let's get him!

It is a sensational name,

and it takes my attention away from other stuff.

What even's going on out there?

What other stuff is that guy talking about?

Exactly right.

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start time everywhere that you watch I imagine the story will continue to develop this was just a press conference we're not privy to every detail but Jeremy did catch something pretty interesting in terms of teams that were named yeah it wasn't just the Toronto Rangers that that were mentioned it was the Toronto Rangers along with the Lakers the Hornets and the Blazers which is obviously interesting in regard to anything that could be going on with Chauncey Bills.

The Lakers, of course, I believe, and I'll go back and check now, Damon Jones might have been an assistant on their staff when LeBron first got there because obviously their connection from having played together in Cleveland, and I can go search for that.

And then the Hornets, that's where this was going on with Terry Rozier, obviously the Miami Heat, not named.

Very quick to point that out.

Of course.

Well, I think the news here is that was indeed Terry Rozier trying in a Miami Heat uniform.

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Don Lebatard.

Always good to see everybody, despite the fact that everyone appears to hate me.

Stugats.

Yeah, I love you, Eddie.

But that's on you.

I don't know you that well, man.

Yeah, they said that you both suck ass and were bitten in the ass.

So those are both things that you were accused of during this time.

You must pay for my ass of a situation.

Yes.

This is the Don Lebatar Show with the Stugats.

Let's go to the Dentech bucket.

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Which one are you going to go with, Dano?

Yeah.

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I know you know that, Zars.

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Jeremy, you are first.

I got the Carolina Panthers.

They are a seven and a half-point dog at home against Buffalo.

Keep it, full.

Keep it.

Revenge game against the Bills.

I like that.

I like the

cover, not to win.

I got the Detroit Lions.

Who are on a bye?

Congratulations.

No one's happy for you.

Woo!

Not me.

Mike Ryan is going now.

I got the Chicago Bears.

I like them.

Live dog against the Ravens.

My Lamar this week.

I like that.

Baltimore minus

plus six and a half.

They removed the ping-pong tables from the Ravens locker room.

Oh, shit.

But is Lamar still there?

I think he's coming back.

I don't know if I'm not.

Think about what you guys just did there.

He's coming back because Chicago is a six and a half point dog, even though they're four and two against one and five Bolton.

A one and five team.

That's a six and a half point favorite.

I like that.

The San Francisco 49ers, they're at CJ Stroud and the Houston Texans.

The Texans are a one and a half point favorite.

You hate the Texans.

You're happy to be on the other side of the Texans.

Yeah, I think this is an upgrade.

McCorkle.

Let's see, I got the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

They are

a four and a half point favorite at New Orleans.

Yeah, I'm going to keep them.

This is my last week of the Golden Helmet.

Geez, I thought you were leaving, too.

Oh, wow.

Holy shit.

Hearts.

Thanks.

Sounds like you're making your announcement.

That's how you're going to do it.

Literally, go where?

Good fake out, Roy.

Good fake out.

I wonder how you would do it.

Where the hell am I going?

This is my last week.

Oh, shit, Roy.

Hockey news.

Going to the hockey noose.

I got the bears now.

I'm putting that that back.

Hey, where's your mouthpiece?

Put your mouthpiece.

I'm fire in, man.

Your Dentech mouthpiece.

I got the Steelers.

Green or Hopporn Underdog at home.

Against Green Bay.

I'll keep her.

That game is going to be really hard to look at.

Both teams wearing gold, garish uniforms from the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Hey, I like that, man.

Was that your Nixon?

Who was that?

What was that in person?

Oh, brood in you, man.

Garish uniforms.

I got the Saints.

Let's go back.

Me and you.

Me and you.

You want to switch with me?

No, I'm saying I got the Bucks.

There's no switching.

The Saints are not.

No, no, no.

I got the Bucks.

He's got the Saints.

We have a little friendly wager, me and you.

Nope, I'm putting that back.

Wow.

Scared crack.

I got the Washington Commanders.

You got Marcus Mariota, pal, against the Kansas City Chiefs.

You should have gone with me, buddy.

Woof.

Woof.

That would have made it worth your while.

I got the Dallas Cowboys.

Do I want the Dallas Cowboys?

They are on the road at Denver.

I do not want the Dallas Cowboys.

Plus three nights.

How did I get them again?

Because you're terrible.

You hit that with the Browns last rummage.

This is the second time this season.

Just as long as you rummage.

Truly awful rummage.

You go to Rummage.

You want to switch?

I don't think that that's the way that that's supposed to go.

It's a possibility.

That's why we say put it back in.

It's always possible.

I want to get to some sound here.

Please turn that off.

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Tony hasn't lost this year.

I don't think I lost this year.

He thought it was very important to interrupt.

I think he thought his mic was off.

It was so

he turned this mic back on.

He was so interested in that, and it was

in any way interesting.

Dan was telling about his grinding, and all of a sudden, I haven't lost this week.

I'm really happy for this.

Just a

stray, interesting fact-only

Tony, yes.

The thing that I wanted to play for the audience, though, Joe Flacco, and I don't know, I feel like I've got a group of people here who are self-conscious about eating alone.

Put it on the poll at Lebitard show.

Are you self-conscious about eating in a restaurant alone?

I never have been, but just what happened to me the other day because I was eating in a restaurant alone and then someone recognized me and I realized that without the buffer of having somebody with me, people can take inappropriate amounts of your time because you're alone.

And I don't really have an excuse.

If my food is in front of me and I'm eating alone and there's nobody else around I have no buffers from somebody just sitting down comfortably if they're willing to do the thing of the day which is if you have no shame you'll get whatever you want and so the person just sat down across from me because I was eating alone yes did it say like hey can I sit here no

And when they sat down, what did you say?

I mean,

I'm never going to be anything other than polite to anybody who's a fan of the nonsense that we do because it's our customers.

So I sat there and I ate with him.

How long did they stay?

About 20 minutes.

What did you guys talk about?

The show.

Yeah, the show.

And you know what?

One of the things, and this one happens to me all the time.

This conversation is one that I have all the time with strangers.

And it happens just like this.

Cody really doesn't understand the show, huh?

And I'm like, no, he still doesn't understand it after 20 years.

I'm getting it.

Like,

that's a real thing with Greg Cody.

What did they think of me?

That, yeah, you didn't come up.

So Joe Flacco was eating alone, and he's got a take on eating alone that is the wisdom accrued by the aged, the wisdom accrued by kids who buy the Jameer Gives jersey instead of rooting for you, their father, who's in a game.

He's got wisdom accrued of, I like eating alone.

You know why?

Because my family's not there.

I think there's always a challenge of sitting in a room by yourself and being lonely.

So for me, it's trying to find ways to maybe stay over here a little bit longer and then,

you know, just kind of take myself out of that mindset, call home,

go sit at a restaurant by myself and realize that, man, that's pretty enjoyable to do.

You know, after

there's not too many situations.

I tell people all the time, I mean, I used to see guys sitting at a bar by themselves or, you know, just sitting by themselves eating and grabbing a little meal.

And I'm like, man, I feel so bad for that guy.

You almost want to go join him.

And now I realize, like, that dude was in heaven.

It's so true.

I love eating by myself.

You just love eating.

I do love eating.

I've never seen a guy eating by themselves and just wanted to join them.

You never thought it's sad, though?

Not wanting, I'm with you on not wanting to join them, but it does convey like, oh, they're alone.

I was at an Italian restaurant in Chicago a few months back, and there was a dude that dressed up, was wearing a collared shirt, took off a blazer, sat down, treated himself to a nice Sunday, red sauce Sunday.

Took himself on a date.

Date yourself.

And I was like, man, this guy is a king.

This is a place I believe where people listening will separate on

what they believe about this.

Because I do remember being in a restaurant with Moises Alou, and Craig Counsel had just been traded over to the Marlins and Moises Alou was looking at Craig Counsel eating in the restaurant by himself and he just said under his breath, that poor guy.

Everyone listening to this has an opinion on this.

There is an opinion on how you feel about the person eating alone at the restaurant.

And I do believe it matters whether you have kids or not because as we've learned around here, many of you go to the bathroom to hide from your kids.

Like many of you around here, this is a trick in these circles and I'm not a very good one.

I'm going to read for 45 minutes and my family might think I have stomach problems, but I just have, I don't want to be around my family problems.

Is there a difference in sadness in eating alone at like a booth by myself and at the bar?

Because bars in the booth by yourself.

Bar 100% never sad.

Bar's awesome.

So if I'm at a booth alone, that's sad?

Yeah, yeah.

Like

if you're not sitting at the bar, you got to sit at a table.

That's like a table for two, but you're by yourself, that's okay.

You can't sit at the booth by yourself.

I like a booth.

What if, like, it's an empty restaurant, so I had my choice, and I'm like, I'll take a booth.

Yeah, I don't want to sticky elbows.

I don't want to go at the bar.

Really?

You prefer the booth?

Are you not familiar with my brand?

Don't talk to me.

You mentioned that was just a character earlier in the show.

You got penalized for that.

Blur the lines.

Work, shoot.

You never know.

This is from Chris

Vanini on Twitter.

Within a week, we've had a major jewel heist, a mafia-involved poker ring, and sports gambling corruption.

We're all living in the 1920s.

I fully fully expect prohibition to fall upon us here.

That feels more like the late 30s, early 40s.

Can you get me the sound, please?

And forgive me for not knowing who this suit was who got in front of us and gave this press conference that he practiced in a mirror last night.

But I just want you to imagine this sort of on a Schwarzenegger movie poster as he comes out as the local DA to tell some athletes that all of a sudden their gambling in sports terms is going to end up with them holding a losing hand.

Your winning streak has ended.

Your luck has run out.

There was another sentence though to that dismount.

I want the third sentence because he absolutely hit three notes there.

And you can bet on that.

He nailed it.

And you can bet on that.

When he practiced it the night before, he definitely thought this would be like a round of applause, right?

Did he practice it wearing the dress shirt, the tie, but no pants?

Like, did he practice it?

Classic look with the boxers only.

Then again, in the morning, doing the necktie.

And you can bet on that.

Does he have, he's got beige dress socks on and the dress shoes.

Only thing missing is the pants, correct?

Stirrups to hold up the socks.

Your winning streak has ended.

Thank you.

That's about the only stuff from that press conference that I I want to hang on to.

I also, though, want to go back to what it is that's happening at this point in the career of Joe Flacco, where I've always thought that he has the personality of a dry cleaning bag, like just sort of starched.

But now I love him because he's a human robot.

It says a lot about aging.

No,

he has found his personality.

Every time he's had like a great clip a week in front of the press when he's he's made available.

He speaks

It's referred to

He's not necessarily worried about what he's gonna say because he knows he's not gonna say anything that like Tua that'll hurt his team.

He's just been a fountain of knowledge.

And I'm like I never in a million years would have thought, man, I want to see Joe Flacco in the media.

Yeah.

And now I'm like, put him in the Monday night booth.

Well, one of the things that I'm enjoying about Joe Flacco, and he seems to realize just how precious this is, because I've talked to so many athletes who don't realize this until after they're done.

He is absolutely carrying himself with the gratitude of, oh, I can't believe I get to throw to T.

Higgins and Jamar Chase at the end, like I get to throw a couple more footballs to good receivers.

And he's carrying himself as if he knows he's got the fountain of youth in his locker where he's just super grateful to be able to play when so often these guys leave the game and they're like, ah, I didn't, why didn't I enjoy it more?

I didn't, I didn't know what I had in my hand.

he's articulated that that it's a I know T Higgins and Jamar Chase help matters but he's always been grateful to still be playing at a level where he feels he belongs in the league because he loves playing these games he just he feels blessed to be doing it and he articulates it in ways that you don't often hear it's a it's a funny thing though to hear him be grateful just because at that age, it must really hurt when the 300-pounder lands on you and

you've had all 200 of those hits.

Not just that.

It must hurt when you're a former Super Bowl champion and you're being churned out through the league.

The Jets didn't want you.

They wanted Tim Boyle over you.

You're doing a pit stop in Philadelphia.

You're in Cleveland twice.

You don't have to be doing that.

A lot of the stuff, when guys reach this age, and yeah, they may be able to play at a level like Flacco.

They don't want to swallow their pride.

I'm a Super Bowl champion.

What do I got to be third string on the depth chart?

Joe Flacco is just blessed to be still in camps.

It is a bit crazy, though, when you think about he's still got the hose.

Like he's still that game against Pittsburgh, I'm not kidding you when I tell you that was as confusing a game as I've seen this season.

It's not just because Pittsburgh's not good at defense and I expected them to be good at defense.

It's I didn't expect the Cincinnati offense to look like it was led by Joe Burrow if it wasn't Joe Burrow leading the offense.

Like I did not expect it to look that easy when I'm watching every quarterback in the league throw for 150 yards.

Does Jake Browning stink or does the Cleveland offense stink?

Jake Browning kind of stinks, but you talk about Flacco.

He got there in a week and was like, yeah, I got the offense.

Throw it to these two guys.

Well, but he targeted.

What was the target rate

on Jamar Chase?

It was he threw to him.

But it's not just 23, it's 23, and he's always open on the shallow route.

Like his open bikes,

like everything was super easy, weirdly easy.

Offense is no longer easy in that league.

Who's making, look, man, for 18 weeks, I don't care what you say, the Chiefs' offense wasn't making it look easy.

Like

they made it look very easy before that.

They're making it look very easy the last couple of weeks.

But for 18 weeks, Patrick Mahomes was not making it look easy.

It was 18 weeks, they made it a Super Bowl.

But it looked constipated on offense.

You're not going to dispute me on that, right?

No, no.

In fact, I was not disputing that.

I was just saying they need guys back.

But Joe Flacco looking all of a sudden like

better than the Detroit offense,

you guys give me maybe Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold in a shootout.

Give me all the

offensive days you've seen this season that looked as easy as what Cincinnati made it look like against Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh and Jets week number one.

Like, that was it, right?

Justin Fields looked incredible against Pittsburgh.

Crap defense.

Buffalo and the Ravens.

I see those uniforms, though, and I'm like, that has to be cold stars.

I understand you see those uniforms.

But trust me, Joe

Flacco's got stinkers up his sleeve.

He's going to look pretty bad.

Oh, he'll throw three and four interception games.

That's what's been the case the last couple of years, why you're not going anywhere if he's your number one starter, except he can get you to Burrow.

He can do that.

He can give you two or three games.

Like, if you're going to get the three interceptions from Browning anyway, go top end and see if you can get them from Flacco.

That's the one last job.

That's like, do you still have it, Joe?

Get me to Joe Burrow with a chance to make the playoffs.

That is all you have to do.

You don't have to run a table.

You don't have to set passing records.

You just got to basically go 500 the rest of the way.

Can you do that?

You mentioned that Flacco is press conference you want to see.

Zadzlow was saying that now that two of press conferencers are must-see, but for all the wrong reasons.

He was asked why he didn't target Jalen Waddell more.

I think with that, some of it has to do with being able to see guys

with their guys also up front and our guys.

And I'm not the the tallest guy in the back there either so being able to see and then you know sometimes when that happens you don't want to just throw it blindly so i i want to throw to them but there's these they're tall in front of me and i i don't see him i don't want to throw it blindly but then i threw three picks blindly but i really want you to think that i know what i'm doing here so i'm going to talk like

i i really think that they're just tall so i just i i don't see them is that your tua that's my two i just want to work on that it's not he needs an it's more of the tone of like, I'm saying something really important.

You have the cadence.

You have the cadence sound because I'm really just trying to sound smart.

It's the same thing a sixth grader would say if I threw him on an NFL football field and said, why didn't you throw to Waddle?

I couldn't see him.

Those guys are really big.

Look, I know over the last few weeks, you guys have been worried about my brains and my approach to the game.

I just want to remind you, I also have physical limitations.

I am a fan of the family.

I can't do half, Josh.

Folks, listen up.

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