The Big Suey: Aghast and Agog (feat. Nick Wright)

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Welcome to the Big Sui,

presented by DraftKings.

Why are you listening to this show?

The podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan Lebatard podcast.

I'm sorry, I'm not going to apologize for that.

In fact, the only difference seems to be this imaging.

I have been tempted in restaurants just walking past tables to grab somebody's prize that if they're just there.

That hasn't happened to you guys.

I've done it.

And now, here's the marching man to nowhere, fat face, and the habitual liar.

This episode of the Dan Levittard show is presented by DraftKings.

DraftKings, the crown is yours.

Zaslow has just returned from South Bend.

I want to get some of his reporting.

He says he was overtaken a bit, was surprised by the number of young people who are fans of the show in South Bend.

That's so cool.

That he bust in first class,

bust in three hours.

That was wild.

Yes, first class.

I was telling people about that all afternoon yesterday.

Everyone loved that story yesterday.

I'm glad no one thought it was like a bit or it was fake.

Like people were shocked by the story and it's completely real.

Well let's let's include Nick Wright on this conversation.

The story is that Zaslow, who's gotten first-class amenities as he deserves as part of college football coverage at the highest levels of ESPN, is expecting to fly into South Bend first class.

He gets there and it's a connecting flight because Chicago is not that close to South Bend and the second half of his first class flight is a bus that is going three hours to South Bend and he did not know that.

And so he's looking around.

Where's my first class seat?

And he's on a bus.

Well,

I'd love to feel badly for him, Dan, but I'm in a bad way.

I'm in a bad way.

Well, here, I okay, so no, so Nick's feeling a bit sad.

I didn't really come, I didn't come on to hear about your stupid bus trip, to be totally honest.

I came on what happened to what happened to Nick.

No, it's well, what happened to Nick?

So, thank you, Nick, for correcting this.

Nick had a big bet he made on behalf of the shipping container, and he wasn't able to cash it.

He's an honorable gambler, and it feels so much worse than that, Dano.

Dano.

It's really a lot worse.

So here's the deal.

It's important, I think,

from a journalistic and public responsibility standpoint, that if I'm going to come on this wildly popular show, as to your point, that young, impressionable Notre Dame students are listening to, and talk about, you know, swaggering big bets with you,

all these things, that they see the other side of it too.

Because I imagine folks think right now I'm happy as a clam.

Chiefs are back where they should be.

The favorites across the board.

Mahomes is favored to win MVP.

The now iconic play known as the tackle that turned the tide flipped the entire NFL season.

So

why am I bordering on insolvency?

Just follow me on a journey, if you would, Dan.

Because I do feel badly for the shipping container.

Because I really wanted them to win that

that five thousand dollars i won some of them such a gangster such a gangster move by you and what you believe in spiritually to be able to just dump five grand cash here and there as you win big in public with big bets like i was proud of you for for for trying to give them a roll of gangster money yeah well you know what we might be we might we might have to you know drop the stakes

again i'm going to try to get through this so here's the full setting here's the the full scenario.

I am sitting on a futures ticket that the expiration of is today.

That is a stone winner that was

purchased at like 28 to 1.

That I have

cashed that money in my mind.

And it's a big enough winner.

that I am then giving myself the grace to take some bigger shots.

Like, we're going to try to run this up.

And so, one of the shots was the poker game right after I won the Lions Bet with You.

And that poker game was

bigger than I can play in.

I told you it was at a billionaire's penthouse.

That was not a lie.

I told you I thought I had an edge in the game.

That was not a lie.

But

it was bordering on irresponsible to play.

But I have this,

you know, this piece of equity in this futures ticket that even if I lose will cover almost all of that night.

And I did lose.

And because of that, I wasn't able to give the shipping container $5,000

but crushes you.

Like for people who think it crushes me.

Oh, man.

And it crushes me even more when I knew it could have been Billy's goodbye present.

I'm watching you cry, talk about Billy Gill.

I'm getting emotional.

And

I almost, and thank God I didn't, I almost texted you after I saw that just give the whole thing to Billy won't be fine anyway.

He's fine.

He got paid.

He can go to hell.

Okay.

All right, but wait guys and I'm gonna try to get there, but I want to do this story justice.

But again, I'm I'm okay

and then this weekend I do as I do often not always but often because I'm a reverse hedger.

I don't emotional hedge.

I don't hedge bets.

I actually just go max pleasure, max pain.

So I made a perfect Chiefs weekend parlay, which that is the Chargers losing, check.

The Chiefs winning, check.

And what's the last piece of that to put them in first place in the AFC round?

The Broncos losing.

The Broncos losing.

Oh, my God.

Had I mentally spent that money?

Maybe.

Was I aghast and agog?

At so many things down the stretch of that game.

You've got to be shitting me, Nick.

guy.

I'm not shitting you.

And here's the other piece of it that you need to understand.

I take screenshots of the cash out options and send them to my gambling consortium because I'll never cash out.

Never.

I ever under any circumstances because it's just, it's not EV and I'm not going to do it.

But I'm texting my buddies.

I'm texting your friend Adam Lefko, my friend Danny Parkins.

Look at these guys thinking I'm going to let them off the hook.

I'm going to, but I lose.

But again, it's okay.

That was more what I could win than what I lost.

Because

I have this

ticket that, again, is supposed to pay out.

Tony wants more information.

Tony wants more information on this ticket that you can catch up.

Well, that's what I'm about to explain.

That's what I'm about to explain, Dan.

Because listen, I know this is a DraftKings show, and I love DraftKings.

I've done great stuff with them.

I do stuff with Hard Rock.

This is,

but there are certain types of wagers you can make that DraftKings and the traditional gambling outfits don't offer, which places like Calci and Polymarket have started to do, which is futures contracts.

You can basically be like, hey, will Joe Buck say safety on Monday night football?

And, you know, whatever it is.

So I dabbled in that about nine months ago.

And I hit

a nice, nice win on on a few things to where that was a real amount of money.

And there's like a sports media piece of it that there's not, it's not a very vibrant market, but like for instance, the you know, I smashed the over

on Pablo Torre Peabody award mentions post him losing it because the marketplace thought, well, well, he won't keep mentioning this.

He didn't win the award.

So that was like over under five and a half in 2025.

That cashed by August.

So I've got a real amount of money in that account.

And I bet

no

on a bet that I will tell you what it is in just a moment.

And no was trading it when I bet it at 7 cents a share.

If you guys don't know how it works, a winning bet pays 100 cents, a losing bet pays zero.

So it trades like a stock market.

So they were saying basically at a 7% chance of happening.

And as of two days ago,

that was at around 91%.

And this was how I was going to pay off the poker debt.

And that bet was

prior to the start of the 2025-2026 NBA season, will Stephen A.

Smith do another media tour about how LeBron bullied him?

And he couldn't wait a day.

Another, and tour means more than one appearance.

Can't just be set in passing.

And the day before the start of the season, I gotta watch this guy go on and say they didn't have the right camera angle.

I gotta watch, I gotta see the pivot and then all of a sudden 7 p.m.

in Brooklyn and realize

my empire is crumbling because of one man's inability to take an L.

And I just, I, Dano, I'm in a bad way.

That's all.

So he suffers these things Chris for you think that if you think that Nick Wright is fooling around he is looking for market inefficiencies unemotionally throughout sports.

This is a clinical made a Chiefs parlay.

This is no, but it's a clinical business to him.

It's not because he believes just that the Chiefs are that great.

He thinks that he's exploiting an easy advantage.

The Chiefs bet is an emotional one.

That's not analytical.

I'll be honest.

Most of the other bets are pretty analytical.

The Chiefs parlay wasn't.

Again, guys.

No, the Chiefs chiefs will slaughter a team and then be kneeling victory formation with four minutes left in the game and they'll pull my homes out in the third quarter because everyone agrees even pete carroll yep yep let's wrap this all up they're a great deal better than we are yeah you had all that coming and i was loud wrong for three weeks in doubting that it would be back at all yeah but on the bright side of that dan you're not broke so you know i get to i just listen you we have to rebuild okay so this is you're going to chase it all right so you're going to chase You're going to chase it now because you're in.

Well, you can't not.

I mean, you can't not, man.

I mean, the, I mean, was,

was, here's a, here's a question.

I'm going to text this to Chris Cody.

And he won't even understand.

And, Cody, don't put this on screen because, but I just want you to see it.

And I don't, let me see if the phone is, if the time is even on there.

Because what I'm texting Chris Cody is a picture from 1.30 in the the morning of me playing a game called Deuce to Seven Drama Hall in a crypto poker casino.

Okay, I'm looking.

Yeah.

I mean, by the way, I mean,

are you sending him an amount of money?

A screenshot?

No, I'm sending him a screenshot of a winning hand.

Listen,

this is the life we have chosen.

And I just felt it was important for me to apologize to the shipping container for not coming through for them.

And then, also important

to let the audience know: don't ever consider a ticket a winning ticket until it is won.

Even if all you need for it to be a winning ticket is the biggest name in sports media to hide his utter shame and embarrassment that he got, in his mind, I guess, punked on national TV nine months ago for one more day nick just one more day put it in perspective uh did you lose out on more or less than the cost of a human heart on the black market well i don't know what that costs that seems well tony told us it's 500 000 500k oh oh under under

did i though under yeah definitely under i mean we're it's not but

you live in a dirtier world than tony the the heart the human heart is more expensive to Tony.

Look, I think, Tony, you might think you're more gangster than Nick Wright.

Nick Wright is traveling.

Nick Wright is traveling through some regions where he could find out what a human heart costs because that's how desperate the people who are gambling against him.

No, Dan, Dan, I lay my sword at the feet of Nick Wright.

I lay my sword at the feet of Nick Wright in dirtier places than I've ever been, or I can even think of it.

It's not just dirtier places.

It's not just dirtier places.

It's that Nick Wright, in order to bet an amount of money that hurts, like these stakes, he is caring deeply.

He wants to be able to win so he says, so he can say, like Helmuth, I can roll off five grand and just give it to my buddies because I took these suckers over here.

Like, it's the whole spirit of who Nick is.

Yeah, that's, it's all true.

Again, I can't tell this story on

publicly.

I can kind of tell it, but this...

This watch,

I won in a card game.

Really?

That's a presidential day date, by the the way.

For those watching, day date, which means it's even more money.

Yeah, with the Onix face and the baguettes.

Yeah.

I won the card.

Are those factory or are those not factory?

They are the aftermarket.

No, no, no, no.

This is this factory.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm someone that's constantly adding stuff to different carts on random websites.

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Don Levatard.

I've never stepped foot on that campus.

If you told me right now your life depends on it, go to Santa Fe University and just

take a picture.

Stugats.

I would die.

I don't know where it is.

This is the Don Lebatar show with the Stugats.

I'd love a top five list of Nick's top five likes.

Things he's won in a Pokemon.

No, most valuable jewels, baubles, symbolic jewels.

This is number one.

This is number one um by by a lot uh

and i'm glad i got to show it and tell that story because i'm about another 10 day down swing away from having to you know one of the you know what they say about fancy watches what do they say they only you're kind of costing yourself you're costing yourself money by not getting one because they only go up in value and i'm about 10 days away from having to test that theory dan find out find out toady i don't know I mean, you clocked it right there.

I mean, you can on or offline make me an offer.

We can see it.

It's more than I can offer you.

I know what it's going for right now.

It's somebody who would buy it for, not the money I you saw him clock it.

You saw him say 70 grand, 75 grand?

How did he say?

Did he read it on your face or did you stop him?

Oh, well, no, just the way he, the way he's, I mean, the way he snapped knew exactly what watch it was.

A man that can do that knows about what the going market rate is for it.

Yeah, that's about 70, about 70, 75.

If you go to a deal, they'll probably low cut you, tell you 50, but you don't want to do that.

Clock that well.

No.

Yeah.

I didn't even turn off phrase.

How was your bus trip, Pizazz?

I mean, Zaslow, just be quiet for a second.

The story that Nick Wright brings us.

Just ask Zaslow a question.

Just be quiet.

No, I'd rather do what Dan's doing.

Dan's right because he might have,

he might have, you know,

Dan's a genius for a lot of reasons.

He might have, he might figure out the only way to make, you know, for me to feel a little bit better in this whole situation.

Well, let's do that.

That's what I wish to do.

And I thank you for revealing your vulnerability.

And also, because this, I don't think, I think that they think that you casually lost five grand the other day when I'm guessing, I don't know if I have this right, but the stakes where Nick gambles with his heart, like where he actually cares about stuff, I'm guessing the fact that he couldn't

call and make a video in the middle of the night that says, here's the five grand I won, that was a great shame to him, a bit of a disgrace, because he thought he was going to lose.

It was a great shame and disgrace.

And it also was only because I had lost a mini multiple of that.

Like if, yeah, of course it was, especially because I'm supposed to be this great card player.

I believe I actually am.

And I'm losing to a bunch of finance dorks.

Like, come on, man.

Like, the, I, and so, and so, yeah, that was, it was, it was covered in shame.

There is no question about it.

And then the real question is,

did I,

as the game ended, say,

hey,

same time next month, right?

And the answer to that is, of course, yes.

Well, so this is where we have to

spin this back.

But this is where we have to figure out what the stakes need to be.

Because before we were going to do white Corvette, I don't know what happened with that.

But now we've got to start putting some.

If you're going to chase it and we're going to.

So basically.

All right.

So

of course.

Nick, what if this show, and by that I mean Dan, puts you in the game and we do a little 50-50.

We stake you.

Yeah, we stake you.

So I don't do.

So here's the deal.

That's actually a.

So I got,

and then I'll, and then, again, I hope the audience likes this.

I don't know.

I got invited.

There's a, there's a stream, a poker stream out in LA called Hustler that they play varying size games.

And anywhere from like a $5,000 buy-in game to they have a game where everyone at the table sits with over a million dollars, like insane wealth, right?

I got invited

to

a game that

basically you would have to have a quarter of a million dollars to play and to feel comfortable.

And I had folks, once they saw who the lineup was, offer that exact thing to buy pieces of my action, you know, to stake me.

So I put up 50, they put up 200, and then the split goes 80-20 their way.

I don't like doing that because I don't feel like I play cards.

If I feel accountable to someone else, I don't think I play my best.

I feel like I don't make a move that I think is a smart move because if I'm wrong and it looks bad, will the person think I dusted off their money?

So I try not, I really only play with my own money.

And I really wish that wasn't the case last week.

I wish it was all Dan's money.

That would have been sick.

Not my problem anymore.

This guy's trying to bet white Corvettes for a lark.

I don't know.

I mean,

he's been rich for a long time.

Yeah, he's serious about this.

Let's figure out how to do this i want to continue to raise the stakes i will no longer bet against kansas city though that would seem to be foolhardy at this point well i mean there is there is that and that is and and listen i mean that i

there is some solace there's double solace one is it for my my you know child's heart of my hometown team, the only sports team I've ever truly lived and died with, being back to greatness.

That makes me feel good and pure and awesome.

There is also the spiteful piece of me that wants

there to be some form of accountability.

And I'm not talking about you, Dan, per se, but you might be lumped in with this.

For all the alleged experts across every form of media that stared at a team that had been to seven straight conference championship games, five of the last six Super Bowls, three straight and one,

two of the last three Super Bowls.

And because they started 0-2, they were like, well, that's over.

Clearly, they're broken.

It's people I really respect.

Stephen Ruiz of the Ringer writes an article, the slow, boring demise of the decay of the Chiefs dynasty.

Bill Barnwell, three weeks ago, who I think is the single smartest person covering football, did a, hey, let's look at these trades from years ago and re-grade them and graded the Tyreek Hill Chiefs trade, a win for Miami and a loss for the Chiefs.

The Chiefs have been to every Super Bowl since then.

The Dolphins are imploding.

And then the Pies de Resistance,

the king of the we actually get football mountain, pro football focus

at Sunday, Dan.

I don't know if you know this.

I swear this is true.

Sunday gave Geno Smith a higher passing grade for that game than Patrick Mahomes.

And we're supposed to act like

that's credible.

That can't be.

That happened.

That can't be.

That happened.

You're lying to me.

That did not happen.

I swear to God,

go to Pro Football Focus

on Sunday.

You are lying to me.

They gave Geno Smith a 67.2 passing grade, and they gave Patrick Mahomes a 62.2 passing grade.

That is a fact.

Look it up.

To which I would say a logical company would say, boys, we have to shut it all down down and pause.

Click on passing grade, scroll down.

Just for week seven.

Just for two quarters.

For week seven, is that on week seven?

You're lying.

You're a liar.

I swear to God, it's

a video.

Just said, give me a second.

They took Mahomes out in the third quarter.

They were in victory formation with Minshew with four minutes left in the game.

And the smartest people covering football allegedly said, well,

when you actually look at the tape, Geno Smith played played slightly better.

That's true.

So I at the I at some point all of football commentary is that stupid

IQ meme where the the total you know like morons and the geniuses and by geniuses I mean me agree have the exact same take which is I don't know the team with Mahomes and Reed that always wins will probably win and then the very middle is the people who think they're smart they're like well when you look at the DVOA the ravens have actually been better and it's the lions Lions era.

And Dan, I'm sorry.

In this instance, you're the guy in the middle.

I got to go.

I love you guys.

All right.

See you later.

Thank you, Nick.

I feel a little better after that.

I feel a little better.

Chiefs, Colts, in a month.

You guys are like, wow, that's a big one.

I don't know if he's back tomorrow or not, but we'll figure out what the stake is.

He's not.

Can I ask him one question before he goes, real quick?

You gave us the vine at the start.

I think he's gone.

Oh, damn it.

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Don Lebatard.

World RAR 3.

Stugats.

We're going to get that off the World RAR 3.

Colin.

Our group chat has a pretty good feeling about this one.

This is the Don Lebatar Show with the Stugats.

I mean, he was going to share Stephen A.

Smith opinions because Stephen A.

had a day yesterday.

Yeah, well, I suppose that we should have this because, man, oh man, there are a lot of people mad at him, and the black community is like feeling he's running off toward where Whitlock is without realizing it.

And so, some shit is happening.

Wait, Roy, can you speak for the black community and not Dan?

Yeah.

Oh, Dan's right.

You're good, Dan.

There you go.

You're good.

I mean, well,

I just, for the last, look, Stephen A.

Smith has parlayed an amazing, a really amazing career from being fired at ESPN to getting all the power at ESPN and then.

negotiating a really groundbreaking deal where at ESPN they only pay him millions and millions to do first take and now he's going to do the same thing in politics with his own radio show and his own empire.

And the political depths, and we're in a divisive time right now.

And obviously, we're in a divisive time right now.

If you have the depth and stomach for politics, it can't just be fame as the currency, and you're going to be seen as well.

You're going to get to the other parts of his day, but in betraying the black community in some spaces where you're kowtowing to Donald Trump because he's in power in a way that can't be abided in the modern age, age, no matter how central you are.

Like, this has to be fought, what is presently happening, and you can't turn on your own people publicly

while feeding your political ambitions.

I was talking about his LeBron takes.

And

the Kyrie one, too.

He was right about that one.

So this article.

I don't know why we're towing cows.

This article that you've handed me here that writes about a Hollywood ending, the dreams and drama of the LeBron Lakers.

There's some good stuff in there.

I had forgotten Russell Westbrook was a Laker with LeBron James.

I had put that out of my mind.

Makes sense now.

You saw that video the other day where Russell Westbrook wouldn't sign the autograph for the kid holding a Westbrook Laker jersey.

All right.

So I think, look, people can call Russell Westbrook a lot of things.

I don't think fake is one of them.

Russell Westbrook gives off, he's real.

I think Westbrook looks good in this whole situation.

He does.

And he's playing to a long-standing theory, which is as real as Russell Westbrook appears, LeBron, be it his revisionist history,

his constant capping, as Jalen Ramsey called it.

Westbrook is saying all the things I think that a lot of players are thinking.

LeBron is perceived as a phony.

You ain't reading these books.

Well, that's part of it.

You can't give me a single line from The Godfather, your favorite movie?

The Ringer.

You can't give me Fredo.

I knew it was you.

If you like the juicy NBA locker room gossip stuff, and if you like stories about LeBron being a phony, The Ringer just gave you a catnip with this incredible story that apparently all came to a head revolving around this speaker series that the Lakers had put together.

They had Kendrick Lamar show up and they had Dwayne The Rock Johnson show up.

And six months after the Academy Awards controversial slap between Will Smith and Chris Rock, they brought in Will Smith.

to speak to the team.

And Dan, I've done you the

service to highlight some of these incredible exchanges.

The writer did such a great job with this article in the ringer that I think we should let him him paint the picture here.

So, can you please turn to the part where they get to this genius series that Rob Polenka had organized for the Lakers' leadership, their players,

as sort of like a galvanizing moment for the team as it got off to a slow start that season?

Okay, you're going to have to help me, Mike, because you guys handed this to me.

I did help you.

I highlighted it.

Okay, but I'll turn to that page, Dan.

Yeah,

but I mean, I was helping you by giving you a bridge.

We We started.

Well, the impetus, I don't know where we are in the reading materials, but the impetus appeared to be recent rumors involving Kyrie Irving.

LeBron's former co-star was entering the final season of his contract with the Nets, a $36.9 million player option.

You're hitting the right spot.

Keep turning the pages and reading only the highlighted words.

Multiple outlets reporting that the Lakers were one of Irving's preferred destinations

and that LeBron wanted a reunion.

Negotiations between the Lakers and the Nets went nowhere, and the Nets had no desire to take Westbrook back.

For the Lakers to acquire Irving would have been by dealing Westbrook.

Westbrook knew this, and he knew that LeBron did as well, meaning that no matter what LeBron said in public, the reality was clear.

He was pushing for the Lakers to ship Westbrook out.

That's right.

I remember that now.

Now, all of a sudden, our minds are back at this point in time.

Please keep reading.

Westbrook knew LeBron's reputation.

He'd seen all the examples of LeBron seemingly misrepresenting himself.

There was the time LeBron claimed that The Godfather was his favorite movie, but then he failed to recall a single line when asked during a press conference to name one.

There was the time he carried the autobiography of Malcolm X into a media session, but stumbled when asked to name his biggest takeaway.

Look what they did to my boy.

They massacred my boy.

Polinka informed the players a special guest would be coming through.

He'd created a program called the Genius Series, as you mentioned.

And Will Smith arrived right after months removed from the Chris Rock slap.

When Palinka and Ham left to fetch him, LeBron, seated in a middle row, row, stood up.

Y'all got this, he said.

He stormed out a back door.

Shit, man, Davis said.

He stood and followed LeBron out.

Stunned, the rest of the players sat there looking at each other, unsure what to do.

Westbrook rose next.

So are we all leaving?

He asked.

Nah, Russ, said Patrick Beverly, a brash veteran point guard the Lakers had acquired.

We got to stay.

Leave the gun, grab the cannoli.

Them two guys can do whatever the f ⁇ they want, Beverly said.

They want a championship.

Westbrook was thinking, as a nine-time all-star and former MVP and future Hall of Famer, why would there be a difference between him and them?

Palenka came back in.

Are we ready?

He asked.

We're not ready, Beverly said.

We need five minutes.

He sleeps with the fishes.

Palenka left.

Minutes later, I'm sorry, he's as I wasn't quite ready to have you do Godfather while Mike Ryan ordered me to read my own show.

Yeah, good stuff coming.

Good stuff coming.

Ham re-entered and sat silently at the front of the room as Westbrook and Beverly continued arguing.

That's good leadership right there.

He then stood up and exited through the same door LeBron and Davis had used.

Soon after, he returned with both stars.

Next, Ham went to get Palenka and Smith.

When they all returned, Smith was greeted with smiles and daps.

He opened the floor for questions.

LeBron was first.

He had a question, he said.

Smith answered.

Then LeBron had another question, and another after that, and another after that, and another after that.

On and on he went, stretching what was supposed to be a 30-minute session into nearly an hour.

The same guy who was trying to leave is now quoting back movie lines and going through the guy's whole life story, one attendee recalled thinking, seating it in the third row, picking at a bowl of fruit.

Westbrook watched in disbelief, shaking his head and rolling his eyes every time LeBron spoke.

I hate that fake shit, Westbrook said to a teammate afterward as the Lakers gathered for a team photo.

I just can't do it.

The next

afternoon, the Lakers posted the picture on social media.

There,

standing a few feet feet to Smith's right was Westbrook, his face twisted in a team picture into a scowl.

Quoting movie lines of Will Smith after leaving the meeting.

Incredible, all while Will Smith just hanging out in the offices as the Lakers clear this thing up.

Come to me on the day of my daughter.

Video team, can you put that picture back up for me really quick?

Because there's somebody really important standing to LeBron's right.

Asking me for a favor.

That's Cole Swider.

Swider, what?

I thought that was Rob Lowe, honestly.

Every time I see Polenka, I think the same thing.

I can't help but see that it's a great Hollywood actor that's leading the bogus Lakers.

Everyone's so happy except Westbrook.

It's the most human thing in the world, though, for Russell Westbrook to not feel like LeBron's much of a bigger star than him.

And then that Russell Westbrook, at the end of his career, wouldn't like being powerless in a room where LeBron can trade him.

I think it's also like Anthony Davis getting up and following him.

Right, Anthony Davis.

I mean, what a follower i mean lebron gets all right i gotta get up too now dork

roy did the same thing the first time we had tim kirchin in studio roy was just so o overly eager to talk to tim kirkshan i'm like you're this is fake roy wow you turned a 30-minute meeting into a 60 minute yeah like

of course jace is all-star weekend roy you remember that I think Roy was genuinely excited to meet and talk to Tim Kirchin.

No, he stole all the questions.

He did a Q ⁇ A.

Roy got all the questions.

Roy hogged the Tim Kirk.

I'm still thinking about this.

I had gotten up early and said, y'all got this?

What's your favorite ballpark?

Seven questions in.

Let me get a question next time, Roy.

Roy, what do you remember?

How would you defend yourself on this front?

Did you hog all the Tim Kirchin questions?

I can't.

I can't defend myself.

Wow.

Indefensible.

There's a picture out there of me, Roy, Billy, and Kirchin together.

That was the day.

I got up, Tony followed me.

So y'all got this, right?

Bimmel was like, I'll get him how uh how human is all of that lebron didn't want to stay an extra hour at the facility to to be with will smith and then i mean the the intimacy of that is cutting on both counts because i think most people

LeBron has spent eight years with the Lakers.

It's longer than any other team he's been with.

Westbrook toiled in his shadows while winning an MVP and being a great player.

And at the end, LeBron got eight years in L.A.

and Westbrook bounces around on the the fringes of the league when that was an MVP.

And I get how the human dynamics of all of that would make Westbrook feel like LeBron had gone full Hollywood.

A scowling, angry, as if there's any other kind, Russell Westbrook picking at a bowl of fruit because he is now in a meeting that has gone into 60 minutes when it was supposed to be a short thing, while LeBron is rose in front of him after threatening to leave, saying, Welcome to Earth.

I'm Bo Green.

I made my bones when you were

going out with cheerleaders.

That's a great point in the movie.

How will this stick to LeBron on just adds to the lore?

Hollywood phoniness at the end.

He needs to lean in.

He needs to lean in.

I think LeBron's biggest issue,

even dating back to wanting to wear the black hat because everybody hated him, was he obviously cares a lot what people think.

You're at the age now.

You're north of 40.

Aren't we supposed to let some of that stuff go?

I'm not saying stop being phony.

I'm saying embrace your phoniness.

Make it part of your character.

Like, work with it.

Be someone that laughs at the joke, too.

There's this photo.

Roy, I think

this is advice for you that Mike is giving.

Wisdoms from the back row.

Be the one who laughs at the joke as well.

I am told that you hogged all of the Tim Kirchhin time.

Desperate Billy still resents it to this day.

Might have cited as one of the reasons that he left.

Look at Chris Cody right in the middle there.

Tony and Mike not pictured.

And Lorenzo can talk, boy.

Lorenzo, I didn't let talk.

Tony and Mike went out

of the side door like LeBron and we worked at the Clevelander.

I went for a happy hour.

Got one of those umbrella drinks.

I just wanted to ask one question.

When did you switch from the backwards hat to the forwards hat?

Good question.

When you became EP.

Yeah, that day.

That is really what you did.

That is what's.

Hat goes this way.

We need that hat to go this direction.

I guess it's time to grow up.

Colin Cowher would be proud.

Yeah.

That's the last time I remember the Dolphins feeling this way.

Was Cam Cameron or yeah, we need the thumbs to go in this direction.

Well, that'll fix it, Coach.

This is your version of corporate Chris?

It is.

That is how Chris rose into the position.

He took his backwards cap and put it forward.

Zazlo's on the climb.

Zazlo's vying for the same position.

He is a rising star.

He just came back from South Bend, and all he came back with, you will not believe how many people listen listen to your show in South Bend.

It's true.

A lot of people passing by the Airstream studio just yelling Thai food.

It's your signature phrase.

Be careful what you say.

There's Corporate Chris.

That's how he rose up the ranks here when he followed corporate Mike into the abyss.

And for six straight months, he decided he was going to be someone who wore his cap in this direction.

Best I ever looked right there.

I use that photo often.

I miss Christmas.

What do you mean, often?

Anyone needs like a headshot or something?

Hey, we need a photo for something.

I'm like,

there it is.

The LeBron thing soap opera welcomes in the NBA tonight with a double header where the same stars are the stars that they have always been.

And they've got the stage themselves at a crowded time because I really am ashamed.

Again, for the second straight day, I am publicly ashamed that I am taking this long to talk about the baseball because

it is flat amazing.

And Mike Ryan Bayton switched me by text last night.

He's like, best two words in sports sports tonight.

And I'm like, they better not pitch to Vlad.

They better not pitch to Vlad.

And he's like, Baker Mayfield.

The best two words in sports.

Walked right over that one.

I did.

I felt ashamed of myself.

I responded, yes, I tricked you.

Best two words in sports.

And I immediately want to talk to Ronnie.

My analysis is they better not pitch.

He's supposed to be a Mariners fan.

I was devastated.

Baker kept missing high all night.

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