You're listening to DraftKings Network.

This is the Don Levator show with.

The Stu Guts podcast. I think an NBA executive was quoted as saying, the upside for Bronnie James is Gary Harris. That that is the upside. That is the highest point. And if he makes it to the NBA, Stugatt, that by itself is a monumental achievement, whether he has the bloodline or not, to get to the top 1% of the top 1% of. There are 450 people in the world that get to play this sport at the top end.

If he gets to Gary Harris, that's gravy. I mean, he's made $100 million in his career.

That's all that matters, of course, is.

I'm just saying you've made it to the NBA, the highest level of your sport, and Gary Harris will laugh at it because it's LeBron's kid and it's Gary Harris. But Gary Harris is a decent player who made $100 million.

But you're right in saying that LeBron James inflated all of the expectations when he said, I'm watching NBA players right now, and my son is better than them when he's not. And now you look at his collegiate stats, and people have to point out, well, those were Jimmy Butler's collegiate stats at the beginning. Well, yeah, but Jimmy Butler was terrible at the beginning in college. Like, you can find a player who had those stats at the beginning. But I think people underestimate, just like they did this with Cam Newton, where you sort of underestimate how big someone is physically, how they have to be physically in order to be the greatest goal line situation threat in the history of the league, how strong and big the person must be to do that. In the NFL. I think we consistently underestimate how good these human beings are. As if a holy man reaches into the crib that LeBron James has in his home, and then all you need to do is put that in the pipeline and it's going to be Gary Harris. Like, there are a lot of things that have to happen other than LeBron James's sperm in your system.

I think what's hard for the kid, for Bronnie, is people will think or suggest or ask, did he have to work as hard as every other kid? And if you're projected as a second round pick in the NBA draft, then you've put the work in. He'll have to deal with that for the remainder of his life. Is it nepotism? Why is he getting these opportunities? But, Dan, I have no doubt, first off, I agree with you, it's difficult to make it to professional sports. But as it pertains to Bronnie, I have no doubt that he has put the work in. He is not getting this because of his father. He is getting this because he put the work in and he's good enough to be maybe Gary Harris, and that's a decent career.

I mean, the counterargument would be, you said you would draft LeBron's son just to get LeBron. So you're saying both things. You're saying that he's put in the work and he gets whatever he deserves. But you're also saying, I'd take him.

Just to get his put. I would. He's put enough work in to make it to the NBA. He's put enough work in where some team's going to draft him.

But maybe he might get to the NBA just because somebody wants his dad, too.

Okay.

Which wouldn't be the same amount of work. Like, he would have a golden, gilded path to the NBA.

Not only that, too, like, every step of his basketball life has been helped and aided through LeBron. You're talking about working with the best trainers. You're talking about working with dietitians. You're talking about working with workout guys that people that are of the general population don't have access to.

Right?

Like, I've seen it playing.

How jealous are you? His regimen that he had growing up.

Oh, incredible. Where would you be if you had it?

That's a great question.

Probably Gary Harris.

Why am I going to tell you?

But when you look at guys that come from those families, it's like, I played with Timmy Hardaway Jr. And he was doing things when we were in high school that was collegiate and pro level workouts. Dietitian. He was doing things that we weren't. And then it's like you get to a point where your natural talent plus the work that you put in at an elite level takes you to another level, and it's just like, you can see it with that. So he's probably going to do something good. We're just going to let Tony say he'd be Gary Harris if he had Brody's condition.

The difference between you and Tim Hardaway Jr. Was not his trainers.

What was it?

It's all the seed oils you ate growing up. If you had a professional parents in the NBA.

Now we're talking.

You give up, Billy?

No, I didn't give up.

I gave up. Yes.

Where would I be if I had his trainers?

I think I could go d three?

Yeah.

I think you're an example of where you'd be.

Lipscomb.

I made it to d three.

Without his trainers, I'd be playing basketball at lipscomb.

Lipscomb is a really good school dude. I think lipscomb is d one.

No, it's just a funny name.

I can't believe that I'm talking here about how hard it is to get to the NBA. And Tony just said that if he had Tim Hardaway Jr's trainers, he would have made $100 million.

Timmy's Beden. Timmy's made like $200 million in his career.

Tony, I was right there.

Gary Harris one year averaged 17 and a half points per game. You're saying you would have done that?

If I had the grow up that Bronnie did, I mean, I'd be closer than I would now.

Okay, so I just want to be clear on something.

I love you guys.

Tyler Johnson made $75 million in the NBA. Tyler Johnson was way better at basketball than you. Okay, Jeremy, thank you, buddy. Wow. I mean, just incredible.

But I'm the one who's wrong here.

Welcome.

Okay, everybody.

Every conversation with him.

Everybody breathe. I need everybody to breathe here because for all the delusions that we've had around here of. Stugatt says he would make six threes in an NBA game if he.

I actually mean, sorry, not an NBA game, was a high school game.

He did return a serve from a professional tennis player with a cigarette in his mouth.

Yep, try that.

From Stugatt saying he would make six NBA threes to Greg Cody saying he would hit 180 in the major leagues.

And that field goal. He would have done it if he wouldn't have gotten hurt that day.

He pulled a hammy.

Yeah. Unfortunate.

Don't forget, I can throw an orange 100 yards.

I did not think that the audience could underestimate how hard it is to be these people who play professional sports in a way that was dumber. But to find in our own setting. Tony say that if he had the trainers, because he was working out near Tim Hardaway Jr. He too would have 100 million dollar contract. In the NBA is a level of offensive that I cannot abide in how spectacular it is in its ignorance, because I cannot have these people around me. Stugats already thinks that if he did anything in the world, he would be exceptional at it. We have diagnosed him with an affliction, a disease, dunning Kruger effect. We have diagnosed this because he has this. He's a wadling five foot six. Anything in professional sports would result in him immediately being injured. And hospitalized.

But I could meet on me, Jay meat on me. Six four. Imagine with that kind of diet, that kind of workout, I'd be in Adonis. Dan, come on, give me a break.

I mean, I did get a hit off Matt Leto.

I mean, Spud Webb was five six. Put me around Spud Webb's trainers growing up. And I mean, $100 million. Boom.

Tony, I'm going to ask you to go sit in.

The penalty for being overconfident.

This isn't Tony's fault.

This is like having confidence in myself. I'm a dog, Dan. That's what you don't factor into your equation when you're doing the math. Oh, it's funny. He's doing this. I'm a dog, Dan. I make that shit happen. Dude, I don't think you get that.

I'll leave.

I'll leave. But I'm a dog, Dan.

Dan, this is exactly what LeBron did to brawny. Like, what you've done with Tony is you've enabled him to think that he's.

A second round bad parenting.

I don't want to put the blame on you, but apologize.

That's why he's here.

You said, look at the people around me like, tony's here. You just encouraged him this whole time. I was getting a lecture before the show started about how I wasn't supportive enough of Tony's 800 game hitting streak situation.

Oh, that was actually a pretty good topic, though.

What is that dog barking? I was a little slow on that.

Tony's a dog. Apparently the saber metrics community on Reddit.

Is real excited about it.

Tony was sure to tell us.

All right, well, I'm going to go ahead and set this up while he's away, and I'm going to explain what's happening in the audience. And we have reached official problem status in the relationship with Billy and Tony because Tony is.

I think I'm fine. He's threatened to strangle you twice today.

That's right.

Fine. I mean, go ahead.

Well, this is where we've escalated to Tony has threatened to strangle Billy twice today and once in Vegas. And I'm going to explain to the audience why once in Vegas, Billy threatened to strangle Tony. I'm sorry? Tony threatened to strangle Billy. Tony had flew to Vegas with a file of carefully prepared material that he had worked ten days workshopping all around the offices here. And every time he presented the topic to anyone, roaring laughter, engaging debate started. And he has now taken great pride in the saber metrics community, has grabbed his hypothetical question, which is the following. A baseball player in the major leagues goes one for four in every single game for many years. Is he a Hall of Fame?

Five years. Five years.

Exactly, yes.

So he has a five year hitting streak.

800 games.

800 games. But never has any extra base hits.

No home runs.

No home runs. So it's just 250 average. 250 on single every game.

Singles.

It was a single that was added to this. That's even worse.

What he said is not only that, it was a single. There were no home runs. I think all it ever was is he one for four with a single in every single game. Would that player with an 800 game hitting streak make the hall of Fame?

Yes.

I'm on r sabermetrics right now. The subreddit for Saber metrics. The commenters don't seem to think this person is a Hall of Famer.

They're right.

Well, he can come and he can.

I guess he'll be back in a second. But let's explain to the audience how you undermined him, because again, I saw it happening. Every room he left was roaring with laughter and argument. It was the best that Tony brought to Vegas.

That's absolutely right.

But he did it too often. But it never comedian telling the same joke every single day in every single conversation. So when you hear for the 70th time, you're like, guy, Billy. God, never. And I just like to also, if I can, I'd also like to say, you guys just got a glimpse into what every conversation with Tony is. I'd be Tim Hardaway Jr. If I had this trainer. And like he said, gary, billy.

But we never talked about it on air, so the audience was hearing it for the first time, and Billy on air, on stage in Vegas. I don't remember. You must have set it up with, this is a break glass, an emergency topic. And Billy hit a very cutting. Do you have any more glass to break, Dan?

Yeah.

Well, if I may ask, where was all the support for Tony to keep the conversation going? Because there was dead air, so I had to say something.

I don't remember.

Tony, you've returned. How are you feeling in general about the support you got from Billy in this?

What's support, Dan? What support? Because I was. Was in there. You sent me to the penalty box. Okay. And then we bring up one of my topics.

I brought that up for you. I teed you up for it that.

I was not here for. And then you talked about it for three minutes, and I came back, and then I immediately hear you shitting on it. It's crazy.

The top comment on Reddit says a DH with a 500 OPS would be a negative war player. On base percentage of 250 with literally no extra base hits would be one of the worst DHS in base.

The ball that breaks the record would.

Go to the hall of Fame.

Their jersey would go to the hall of Fame.

Player doesn't go to the hall of Fame.

That's 57 hits. And then he has another 600 and some ods hit.

To me, I'm with Jeremy. It's acknowledged in the hall of Fame. But this player, that's where I think it ends. That's what happens. You have a whole corner in a room where it's like craziest hitting streak you've ever imagined by a below average player. His name, I don't know what is.

His, whatever his name is. But the point is, okay, we had this great thought exercise of all these different things and it was just something to ponder, Tony. That's why we have the file, of course. Things. No, we didn't.

We pondered it. No, we tried to make it a franchise.

If I could have laser beamed you across the entire hemisphere box for charity.

It happened on stage in front of everybody where Tony, not only that, Tony's. He's got his best material and he's wearing some sort of fur. And Billy took his knees out immediately, as soon as it started.

I'm going to do nothing but support Tony and his bad ideas henceforth and we'll see where that.

What bad ideas, Billy? What bad ideas? None. Explain them.

They're all good.

Thank you, Billy.

I don't like that. Billy. I understand why Tony is hurt that you would only support so relentlessly the bad ideas of Greg Cody and Stu Gotts. And then the moment one of his bad ideas makes an appearance, you can't get anywhere near it. You're allergic to it.

Do you guys know how this works? Do any of you know how this works?

Stugats here. Did you know that according to FBI property crime data, most home break ins happen in broad daylight? As the days get longer this spring, protect your home with simplisafe. It's the award winning home security I use and recommend. I've had it in my home for many, many years now. The peace of mind it gives me when I'm not home is the best thing about it. I can see everything happening in and around my house. Both experts and customers love simplisafe for its comprehensive protection. It was just named best home security system of 2024 by US News and World Report and recognized for the best customer service at home security by Newsweek. The whole system is backed by 24/7 professional monitoring for less than a dollar a day. There is no long term contract ever, so you always get the emergency response you need. And at half the cost of traditional home security, protect your home. Today, our listeners get a special 20% off any new simplisafe system. When you sign up for fast protect monitoring, just visit slash DLB. Don't wait. That's simplisafe.com dlb.

Don Lebotard, he's like, he needs a wheelbarrow.

Like Mike McDaniel. This dog got a pair.

Man, does he get a pair.

My granddaughter sees his schlong.

What's that?

She doesn't.

My granddaughter saw his schlong in the kitchen.

She said, what is that?

What is this, a game of clue?

I said, that's what he means. How else am I going to explain? Still got. It was a little extended.

I don't know why he was so excited.

All right, very baby, no.

Can I take this out?

It is a baby.

Anyway. He ate my couch.

This is the Don Levitar show with the stugat.

Yes, sure, there will always be more flashy players, but if you have an impact on every game for five years, yes, you'd get my vote. Now, if it were just on base, meaning walk or one base, I would start to get a bit more shaky.

The point is that there was in the Saber metrics Reddit file right on the site. I don't know if we can screen share it so we can see people like, there's like five comments, eight comments, ten upvotes. That's how Reddit works. This one in the Saber metrics file on Reddit has like 300 votes, a bunch of comments.

57 comments.

The nerds arguing about, okay, look at the other.

It has 284 upvotes.

Look at the other ones, please. Just explain the other one so people can have a reference because it sounds like shit.

Tony. It's a good conversation starter.

In fairness to Tony, 57 comments would be one comment more than the longest hit streak at Kim baseball right now. True, though.

Imagine 800 comments.

An 800 game hitting streak is hard to ignore.

He's right. This is impossible engagement than almost every other single post on the saber metrics.

Saber metrics. Reddit. He started a conversation, we pondered.

Everyone's pondering in a place, okay, where.

The smartest minds in baseball go to analyze and look at and research. We made things happen.

I don't know why I haven't thought of this earlier. I'm going to text Tim Kirkchin.

Okay, let's do that.

Also, you text him. But I feel like his answer has to be definitive, and that's the final answer.

Okay.

Also text boog shambi, please.

Good calves.

Now we need three. Now we need three.

Mike.

Sure.

Passing.

Passing.

Now we have four.

Aberstro.

Mike. Sure.

No, Mike sure is too close to the situation.

Text David, because if not, he's going to get mad that we're talking about baseball topics.

David would be a good one, though.

Why?

Because you feel like he'd agree with you?

No, I don't know what he'd say, but he'd have something to say, at least.

So who are we texting and who's texting who?

Boog shambi. We'll get to that in a second. Boog shambi. The other day, stugats got embroiled in a conversation that we were having around here, and I'm curious what your take is on this, because me and Mina Kimes were disagreeing about something and the Internet. Mina Kimes was laughing at me and what it is that I was saying. And the Internet swelled behind Mina kimes to also laugh at me. But I heard from a number of broadcasters, including Boog Shambi, who agreed with me on this subject because Mina's retort, and it was a good one to me, wondering if Tom Brady will be exceptional at that broadcasting job at $375,000,000 guaranteed. Because the skill set, I believe, is difficult to explain complicated things in tight windows. I believe it's not as easy as people think it is to have chemistry with your partner. And it's why Brady has sat out a year and is practicing and is being very meticulous about how to do this. But Mina Kimes undercut the point I was making by saying, yeah, Tom Brady has a lot of difficulty in football, deciding things in two and 3 seconds quickly when faced with complicated subject matter.

And everyone roared and applauded what an idiot Dan is.

It's a good no no.

And agreed with her. But I kept hearing from broadcasters like vog Shambi saying, people are really underestimating how difficult it is to be good and interesting in this job in a way that stands out. You don't get to just sit there because your name is Tom Brady, but you all expect Tom Brady to be great at this. In tight windows. You're expecting him to be exceptional.

I'm expecting him to be great at it because he's been great at everything he's done his entire life. But I'm with booga on like, I think it's trickier than most people either realize or they know. Because Tom Brady wanted to play football his entire life. He never wanted to be a broadcaster. And now he's walking in and he's filling big shoes in Greg Olson, who became exceptional at doing things and making points in very small windows. There's no guarantee Brady's going to be great at it. I think he'll be great, but I think broadcasting is really, really.

I'm just surprised at the number of people who think the skill sets are the same. To be able to break down a defense in 3 seconds with your eyes and your arm and to be able to do it with your mouth are two different skill sets.

Right?

There is a difference between what Tom Brady is going to be doing and what Boog does, though. Like, Tom Brady's just commenting on the plays in the game. He doesn't have to keep things moving. He's explaining to the layman what it is that he sees as someone who's an expert.

Boog wasn't defending how hard it is to be a play by play guy. Boog was surprised that the Internet took up Mina's side so convincingly on a color analyst just sits there and it's easy right up until people start complaining about all the color analysts they complain about. Because those are some of the most unpopular people anywhere in sport.

Just because he was good at. Great at playing football doesn't mean he'll be great at this. I think he might be, but I have no idea. It doesn't guarantee that he's going to be great at broadcasting because he made split second decisions as a quarterback in the NFL.

Mark Schlereth, does this stink? Is Boog one of our five or right now?

Right now the five is Kirchen passing Boog. Sure. And then between Adnan and Samson, we'll go, Adnan.

Okay, good.

That's a good sample size, I think.

Okay.

I feel good about. If we can get a definitive answer out of those five people, I trust it and we can put this matter to rest.

I have an idea as it relates to Brady in the booth. Belichick has nothing to do now. I'd like to have him weekly on God bless football. We should make a call, but we're not going to do that. I think Belichick and Brady in the same booth would be fantastic. You like that?

Aren't they like not getting along great at the moment or some kind of.

You need some tension in the booth. That's okay. Little tension.

Much like murmur. It needs to be clear. I feel like Belichick mumbling.

I watched the Belichick and Saban like documentary. I like them both.

Sam Belichick and Saban. That great chemistry. Make that a booth.

Not Belichick and Brady.

I want Belichick and Saban.

Yeah.

I'd watch them because they're friends. They like to get.

I feel like they'd get like they get silly together.

Exactly. That's it. The silliness. That's what we need out of them.

Sugats. Brady and Belichick spent 20 years at microphones. Never saying anything interesting means they have.

A lot to say on purpose. Though they chose to not say anything. That's when they had something to gain, Dan. Now all bets are off. They're just getting silly together. Some silly willys.

I would say that it'd be great. The degree of difficulty on spending 20 years in front of microphones and never saying anything interesting is harder than being interesting always at a microphone. So you guys now want in a booth two people who are famously guarded, famously careful, famously uninteresting in their speech.

That was different versions. This is going to be Nikki Saban and silly Billy Belichick.

Tell me if it's Belichick and Brady in the booth. Watch first week. Week one. Dan, you would watch the Cardinals take on the Tennessee Titans, first of any.

Television show that's ever started nationally, when George Clooney is the opening guest. And then they get into week three and it's a cooking chef from around the corner.

But what if it's mean?

What I watched the first time is not an enduring standard for whether it will be good. Also, if I lit somebody on fire the first time, they would also watch.

But it's a Cardinals Titans game.

You wouldn't watch a Belichick and Saban Manning cast with a host that they find like the jerky boys hosting.

I don't know what you guys are doing with the rasmataz effervescence of Brady and Belichick speaking and being entertaining at things other than being football people who are doing the football, not talking about the football because neither one of them has ever said anything when talking about the football that you remember.

Well, hold on a second. Tom Brady was trying to study to be a stand up comic, was he not? So like, he clearly has the personality, do we not think so?

He clearly has the personality.

He was going to be a stand up comedian.

And everyone who played for Belichick says there's a wacky side to Bill Belichick. Don't you want to see it?

Nick Saban used to drive and throw all of his players off the boats at the lake. Like these nuts jokes. Little Belichick liked the jerky boys and the prank calls. These are some wacky dudes. They just got to find the right place to do it.

Give them a chance.

Why don't we give them a chance? What are we doing?

Well, you shook your head when Stugat said we're trying to get Belichick every week.

Well, that's because I've endured so many lacrosse coaches with the promise of he's going to join to talk lacrosse and never has he joined, obviously. And I'm just stuck in a lacrosse zoom for the 60th.

Do you have the biggest cringe you've ever had when it comes to stugats getting people on and asking them for stuff? Do you have one that stands out to you?

It's all like, yes, like a victim of this crime multiple times. They all blend together.

Don Lebotard, all of us who were watching college football elevated everything. The weekend was because we missed football in general so very much.

You didn't watch the ending of UTEP, Jacksonville State.

It was awesome.

Adizzy boom.

Stugats. It's such a lane for you. Just everything in college football is awesome. Any single thing that happens, she gets deliriously happy about.

Don't you miss viewing sports through that prism though? Like I'm envious of, like I wish that I could still be happy.

This is the Don Levatar show with Stugat. Tony is still fighting with the shipping container over the Gary Harris thing. Everyone's yelling at him. He's never felt more alone than he does.

This is normal, Dan.

I'm alone.

This is what I usually go through. What I was explaining to Jess because she was talking about rich families that have access to these trainers and dietitians and workout plans and all that stuff. That's not what I'm saying.

We were saying that we all know a bunch of kids that have had money and tried to train.

What I'm talking about is here to be athletes kids. So when you have a dad or mom who's been a professional athlete and knows what it takes to get to a certain level, they can help you in a way that if you have a dork billionaire dad who doesn't know sports, how is he going to help you? No, it doesn't work that way.

That's fine.

All of that you saw me very animated about.

My argument is that there's a lot of rich people whose kids don't make it in professional sports. Because to an extent, you either have it or you don't.

But Tony agrees with that.

My argument.

Thank you, Billy, for agreeing with Tony.

Today solely that it's harder than you guys think to get to the top of being paid to play ask Bronie.

Regardless, it's hard to get to d three and play sports less hard.

Vastly I did.

Also, Dan, another update. I have sent the five texts out to our baseball experts. I have heard back from a few. I'm not going to give it. Yeah, I want to hear. Even though Boog's never going to respond to me, he doesn't really respond to me. So I have four responses of the five. And would you.

No, no, wait. Dan, text boog right now. Tell him respond to Chris Cody. We need all five in case there's a tiebreaker situation.

What was if there's a tiebreaker?

I could tell you if there is. Is there that matter?

Do we need Booge's answer?

We don't need Boob's answer.

Okay, so then we could just do it now. Wait, what do you think, Tony?

I could be a hung jury.

I'm guessing it's going to be consensus that that is not a hall of famer.

Agreed.

We should save it for the last segment.

Yes, we're going to wait. We're going to tease it out in the meantime, what we're going to in the meantime to do you guys need to interrupt me just a little more today? Just a little more today.

Yeah.

Well, Stu Gotz is right, by the way. I got a bunch of d three offers.

So that shows you how difficult that is.

Make sure to do it with time spent listening jokes, Csl. That's the best way to do it. Jamel Hill is joining us now because I am desperate to go viral in this costume with serious subject matter. And I want to ask her some serious questions. But I also want to ask her a handful of silly questions. And I've got a shameful admission to make. Shameful admission for a 55 year old to make, which is I did not know that the Clippers were a boat until I saw the new uniform design the other day.

Wow.

I learned that the other day. I'm learning it now and I'm ashamed of it. Surely on the west coast. Jamel, this is not any kind of news to you. You're judging me as a fellow journalist for my ignorance. This is the height of privilege that I don't know this already. Correct. And I'm allowed to not know basic things that people are supposed to know in sports.

Dan, I'm judging you for a lot of things right now, the least of which is the Clippers, which I didn't know either. I found out as soon as you just said it. Right now, I had no idea. I've only been living out in LA. It'll be six years this year. So I'm not deeply embedded enough, clearly to know what the Clippers with their nickname, actually stood for.

I am stunned by that. Put it on the poll, please. At Lebatard show, did you know the Clippers were a boat before their recent uniform? Unveil, yes or no?

I knew because of the Fort Lauderdale hotel, the Yankee Clipper.

All right, so we will find out whether the audience knew that or not. But there is a lot of stuff that I want to talk about with Jamel Hill, and I will tell you. Jamel Hill is unbothered is a podcast and a YouTube celebration that you should enjoy. It's Jamel Hill on YouTube at it's Jamel Hill on YouTube. And she's got Mary J. Blige and Method man on Jamel Hill is unbothered. Did you uncover any of the good stuff with them? You have gotten a lot of guests here that are top end on Jamel Hill is unbothered. You're really enjoying this project, I would imagine. What did those two. I mean, these are two people you've wanted to talk to your entire.

Yeah, I mean, Mary J. Blige is know for my mean, she's probably the number one female, you know, for a lot of us. I literally feel like I grew up with this woman because when her first album dropped, I was a senior in high school. And so when her second album, my life, dropped, I was in college. So all the heartache she discussed in this album, I could sort of relate to at that point in stage in my life. But the beauty of these two, Mary J and Method man, is that I was able to sort of get linked into the power universe. So I actually spent many hours on set with Mary J and Method man because I had a scene with them where I was, of course, playing my favorite character, which is myself. That's always a great character to play. Whatever they need a reporter, they may need me to do a cameo. Somehow that became my role in the power universe. But that was really special for me, because had you told me as a youngster growing up in Detroit that the literal poster on my wall and Mary J. Blige, someday I would not only share a set with her, but get a chance to interview her, I just never would have believed it.

Power is a guilty pleasure for me. Is it still strong after all of these years?

The books are kind of.

Now, the spin offs have been great, I think. I mean, especially hers.

The original five or six seasons of power were excellent. Then once they started doing the spinoffs, I was just like, you kind of lost me.

Yeah, well, I need ghosts. See, at first I felt that way. And then with raising Canning, which I think is really well done, that one power force, featuring the Joseph Seguru plays Tommy and even this ghost, too. I think they've done as good of a job as you could building an entire universe without sort of the main character that created all of this. So I love it. But, Dan, I got an even deeper guilty pleasure, and I got a chance to record something about it for yesterday. So I'm all in on me. I'm fighting for my life with this fashion. I don't know how it came to be, but it has such eloquent cinema on there that is all rooted. A lot of it is rooted in Detroit, and a lot of it is real hood. I'm not going to hold you up. It's very hood. And it has me right now. It has a lock on me. Dan, I need to get out of this to be hive, because before I look up and know it, I watch like seven or eight to be movies. And I don't know what happened to all of my day because I'm so invested in this network now.

It is getting harder and harder to not get addicted to some of these candy sugar things that end up with you getting lost in some of these places. Billy was arguing earlier. He was saying, also because we can't figure out what's real or not real on the Internet, he's saying, this is the single best time in the history of America to be a skeptic.

He's not wrong.

Put it on the poll, please. Is this the best time in the history of America to be a skeptic? But I wanted to talk to you about something serious here, Jamel, because these things happen pretty slowly to the tearing down when we find out that people that we loved once upon a time, R. Kelly, Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, these things don't happen quickly. And it would appear that Diddy right now is in the middle of this happening. And it feels like he's about to have a whole lot of people come forward with the freedom to not be afraid of his money and his power. So what do you think is happening here and is going to happen with Diddy?

Well, I think once the floodgates were sort of open with his ex, Cassie, coming out with the allegations that she did, which were very serious, they were damning, to be totally honest. I think as we see the pattern with all of these cases, it takes one person, that person has the bravery and the courage to come forward, and then suddenly you hear many stories or you have many allegations that surface. And I think with Diddy, usually, a lot of times with these people, I can say this was the case with Harvey Weinstein, because I'm not embedded enough in that world to know. But I know that in general, when it comes to these accusations finally coming to light, they have been the subject of whispers for many years. So you may now be finding out the gory, awful, tragic, horrible details. But there's always been a lot of whispers around some of these people that when we finally sort of understand the depth of what the allegations are against them, it can be jarring to a lot of people because a lot of people have put people like him. And the people you mentioned, Bill Cosby, they put them on pedestals.

These are people who have been entertaining us for decades, not just one or two years. And so at this point, I don't know why we continue to put these people on pedestals or why we continue to act surprised and stunned when more often than not, the combination of power, money, of being completely unchecked and having enablers, it typically does not lead to the greatest of behaviors. And they don't all have to be as serious as the allegations against Diddy, but they typically don't lead to the best behaviors in people. I'm not saying that we should not allow ourselves the luxury of entertainment. What I am saying, and to some degree, we actually see this with Cam Newton, and trust me, I can lick it. There is that every time we elevate people who are in celebrity positions beyond the station of just being people who entertain us, we find out every single time that your faves are problematic.

You don't expect him to keep his, I mean, we can all do innocent until proven guilty, but there's so much here, and it's been talked about for so long. You expect Diddy to be able to survive this with his freedom?

I actually do. But I think his reputation is, the damage is irreversible. When you think about how he was moving in the business world, I don't think anybody in their right mind wants to do business with Diddy. And it's only unfortunate in this way. And I'm not saying that this should be a reason that people feel any sympathy whatsoever for him, but usually these people have built an entire economy around what they do. And so it's not just about Diddy. It's about the people that have become sort of part of the empire is built. Like, I think, about revolt. I know a lot of people who work over at revolt. These are really good, talented people, and I'm wondering what's going to happen to them because of all of this, because anything right now with Diddy's name on it is toxic. So it's not just about him. He's thinking everything that he's been attached to. And so I expect him to maybe survive with his freedom, but his reputation is gone. And if he had any higher aspirations in business, I just don't see how that's even remotely possible.

Now, as a veteran of journalism who's not often surprised by things, and for those who do not know, what are the worst of the details when you're reading through this and you're like, oh, my God, this surprises even me, even though I've seen just about everything.

So I think people are sort of having the wrong conversation, is that they have made this about Diddy's sexuality, whatever that may be. It is not about Diddy's sexuality. It's about whether or not he abused his power, whether or not he committed a crime, and whether or not he was assaulting and has this awful track record of abusing young women. That's what this is about. That's where our outrage and shock should be directed toward, is that not toward who it was? Who it was doesn't matter. The method and how he operated is what matters. And so I think the violence of it, because while there's been certain incidents that Diddy has been alleged to have done or whatever, I don't think that people necessarily looked at him as having this violent Persona. And so hearing about some of these details, that part of it, and I just think the depravity of all of it, if there's any possibility that he could have really hurt some people, not just emotionally, but physically, I mean, all of that is just very sickening to me. And unfortunately, as a result, then you see why we need to have more conversations around educating people about sexual assault.

So that sort of the ignorance factor of all of this and how we're processing it, that part I'm always disappointed.

In spring, try something new in Northern Ireland, like ax throwing at Belfast's urban ax yard or moonlight kayaking in Derry Cave, snorkeling on the Causeway coast or climbing Coca mountain stairway to heaven Dundrumbe oysters at the Buckshead Inn or a detox wrap in Armaz Khaleevi castle estate. And it's all so close to home. Book your short break now@discovernothertherland.com. Northern Ireland embraced a giant spirit.