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This is the Dan Levatore Show with the Stugats podcast.

That's right. The Oscars, live from the stained carpet. Myself, Adnan Amberg, David Samson, and Ben Lyons, my old buddy. We covered the Oscars twice together. We were working for the Academy, Ben. This time we're working for Metalark Media, how far we've come. But this is going to be awesome. The three of us just yapping away, talking about the Oscars, why we love it so much. Now, of course, all the great guests from the shipping container from Metalark Media. David, I'll start with you. Why are the Oscars still matter? For all the naysayers, the skeptics out there who laugh at people like you and me and Ben, why does it still matter?

Because movies still matter. The magic of movies, it still exists. How far we've come from reviewing a movie every week when I was President of the Marlins on Dan's Land radio show in Miami. And then to nothing personal where I review a movie every day. I haven't missed an Oscar telecast, wait for it, since 1986. Straight through, including when I've been traveling and they've started at 2:00 AM local time, I will still watch it no matter what country I'm in. The reason why it matters to me is that movies are the life that I want. They're the life that I thought it can be. When you see love on the screen or you see passion or you learn a story that you didn't know, it's what I think is real, what I want to be real. That's why I take movies and then the Oscar so seriously.

Patoon winning best picture way back in 1986. That was a great year for Oliver Stone. Ben, of course, you used to work for E-News. Of course, you've covered the Oscars many a time on the red carpet. This is going to be a unique way, though. You're going to be producing me and David and also chiming in here and there while the Oscars don't matter to a guy like you.

Well, like David, I grew up loving the Academy Awards and I've had the privilege, as you mentioned, professionally to be able to cover it from every angle. I've been backstage. I've been across the street on a rooftop. I've been with you in the depths of the Kodak Theater, where the winners would come in the backstage room, and you could see how excited and overwhelmed they are from that moment. But this will be a first time covering the Oscars in Miami, so definitely looking forward to putting on the tuxedo. I might have a linen tux in the collection. I know it gets a little balmy down there. But the Oscars matter because this is how you can get a large audience around the world to care about films that don't have, you know, Thierrys going to space. I mean, God bless the Fast and Furious franchise, but now that he's gone to space, I don't know how much more is left in the story there is in that saga. So this is how a film about a history professor at a boarding school in the 1970s and about his relationship with one of his students that will deeply move you, the holdovers.

This is how it gets people talking about it and people excited about it and want to give it a chance. And when you open yourself up to film, as David said, you open it up to a life bigger than the one you live and to hope and to parts of your heart you don't even know exist. So I think the Oscar celebrates all facets of cinema. They've done a wonderful job at the Academy the last few years making some serious changes where now you have a really nice mix of films represented from international cinema, from period pieces to modern stories. I think they've done a nice job of staying relevant while also honoring the nostalgia and the timelessness of Oscar night that we all love.

And I think we can all agree this was a massive year for movies because you have blockbusters like Barbie and obviously Oppenheimer, which is going to be an absolute juggernaut on Oscar night. We're going to give our predictions, of course, on the actual Oscars telecast, and we'll be keeping track throughout the night for bragging rights. But that could win eight Academy Awards, which would be the most in Slumdog Millionaire. It's going to be a great night for Chris Van Nolen. He's probably going to finally win his first best director award. But I think for me, fellows, it's not only celebrating films, celebrating what cinema can do for all of us, generating empathy for those types of characters that you mentioned in the holdovers. But I think it's really about the speeches. It's about the pageentry. It's about those great moments and those moments And just like the movies, those speeches can inspire us and make us think what we would do with our own Oscar speeches. So speaking up, David, the guy that, of course, we're rooting for our heart is Paul Giamatti. I know Ben loved the holdovers as well. Listen, I'm concerned whether or not he's going to win because Clea Murphy, of course, just the SAG Award, the Screen Actors Guild Award.

There is precedent, by the way, Chadwick Boseman won the SAG Award, that Anthony Hopkins won the Academy Award for the Father. So it's not like it always lines up correctly, but generally, the actor's branch is the largest part of the Academy. And generally, if you win the SAG, You do win the Academy Award. Having said that, you know Giamatti is going to better than a puncher's chance of winning. If it's not Killing Murphy, it is going to be PG. Let's talk about our boy Giamatti.

You just blew over one of the most iconic moments in Oscar history. The year that Anthony Hopkins won for the Father, they changed the order to have Best actor announced as the last award of the night when it's always best picture because Chadwick Boseman had passed away tragically. And he was expected to win a posthumous Oscar, first since Heath Ledger, I assume. So they go to the announcement of best actor. Everyone's ready. And the winner and the award, the Oscar goes to Anthony Hopkins. The room goes silent. And it was such an interesting moment because this is not about buying your way to an award. It's not about Paola. This is really when the branches of the academy are giving the greatest award that changes careers and hopefully gets people to watch movies. If one more person watched Anthony Hopkins in that movie because he won, that's a success because that was great. But you blew over that.

I What a moment that was. As you know, Hopkins wasn't there. He was fast asleep, and Wales woke up the next morning, Hey, thanks for my second Oscar. That was great.

So one of the things that I would tell you that I'm excited about for best actor is there have been years recently where there have not been really tight races, where it would be hard in your Oscar pool to get any of the big categories wrong. This year, I believe that best supporting actress is a done deal. Whether or not it's going to happen, we'll wait to see, but I do believe it is. But best actress, best actor, are both completely up in the air. You've got Kylian Jacobs going against Paul Giamatti. Kylian, do you know who that is?

We can't edit this. No. Middle reliever from the '90s.

Somebody had drafted way back in the '90s.

No, it's the actress from She Was In Love, one of my favorite TV shows with Judd Apatow.Thank you.Oh, I love Apatau. Kylian Murphy going against Paul Giamatti. Then you've got Emma against Lily Gladstone. And the question is, which way will the Academy go? I can't wait to hear which way you guys are going because I do not think that we will be in agreement on these categories.

Yeah, and it's a good point.

Don't count out a net bending, too. Don't count out a net bending sports cinema and really a culmination of a great Hollywood career. Oftentimes, the Oscars do feel like they're on back order, and sometimes people win for, historically, what might be deemed the wrong role or the wrong performance. The revenant. Although, come on, the first 10 minutes of that movie when Leo swallowing bullets, it just lets you know. A guy got inside of a bear. I mean, you fight a bear, you win an Oscar.

That's the way the academy works.

It used to be, you have to play a special... If you play a special needs person like Dustin Hoff, remember, they made fun of that in Tropic Thunder. I don't think that Annette Benning has a chance. And I love Annette Benning. I've loved her since Bugsy. I've loved her in everything. I do not believe that she has absolutely any chance of winning the Oscar.

But back to Giamatti, I was with you, Adnan, at the Critics. We thought, okay, maybe he's got some momentum here. And then when you win at the SAG Awards, you often go on to winning at Oscar. But when you win playing a real-life person, you think Forrest Whitaker, Isidi Amin, Charlize, and Monster, Jamie Fox and Ray. I mean, the list goes on. You go on to win at the Academy Awards. That's a tried and true formula for me. So I think that one might be all but done.

Yeah, it's checking all the boxes. He won the BAFTA, of course, as well, the British Academy Awards. And because the film everyone has seen Oppenheimer, and as I said, it's going to be this tidal wave of momentum, potentially winning eight Oscars. That's obviously going to help Kelly Murphy. He was so immersive in the movie. I did want to touch on supporting actress, Ben, because I'm with David. It feels like it's a juggernaut, Dave, I enjoy Randolph. But you can tell the story When your dad, Jeffrey Lynes, the famed film critic, he was the one guy that got it right. Marissa Tomei, my cousin Vinnie.

The one guy. The one guy. Years later, I would interview her for the rest of her. She's always like, Please tell your father, thank you. He was the only person who was crazy enough to think I would win. And she did. And the supporting categories have long had a history of upsets or surprising winners. You think of Jack Palance doing pushups on that Oscar stage. You think of Show Me The Money, Cuba Gooding Jr, Rod Tidwell. You think about the year that, obviously, Jennifer Hudson was the first time. That was a coordination, but everybody thought Eddie Murphy was going to win. And he famously walked out of the theater. Alan Arken won that year for Little Miss Sunshine. Mark Rylance was a surprise. So you have curveballs in the supporting categories. I don't think Jody Foster will upset Devine Joy Randolph. I don't think that America Ferrera will win for Barbie, although I'm happy she's nominated. It's definitely a year where it feels like the supporting categories are more of a lock than, as David mentioned, the leads.

I think that's an important point that you can't have all four categories up in the air. And I think this year, the supporting actor, and I actually don't think that Robert Downey Jr. Deserves the Oscar in the supporting category at all. Too many strong performances. I would take De Niro, and I can't believe I'm saying this, Adman. Yes. I would take De Niro.

You're always Adman.

You know how to play the hits.

This is why it's a problem, though. The true winner for me would be Mark Ruffalo for Poor Things. Who is absolutely outstanding. But I think you will have locked and Loaded and Support, and then actor and actress is where you could get the surprise.

I'm also a huge Ruffalo fan. I like the fact that Ben mentioned Mark Rylance because that year Rufflo was up for Spotlight. I remember when they said, Mark And I go, Oh, my God, Rufflo. Mark Rylance. What? Bridget Spies out of nowhere. And it definitely was a memorable moment. And Rylance is great in Bridget Spies. He's the best part of that movie. But I did wish Rufflo had one before. And Poor Things is obviously fantastic. Best actress, like David said, Ben, I'm with him. Lily Gladstone, I thought, had some momentum. They both win the Golden Globes. Will be a historic winner, obviously. First ever native actress nominated for an Academy Award. But Emma Stone wins a Cribs choice where we were. She wins the BAFTA. Lily wasn't even nominated for a BAFTA. Then Lily wins the SAI. So I'm with David, but I think this is a real toss-up with Lily Gladstone and Emma Stone.

And then early in the run, early in the season, everybody was like, Yeah, Bradley Cooper is amazing and master, but Cary Mulligan is going to win the Oscar. So I feel like there was some early momentum for her. She seems to have fallen out of the race. I would love to see Emma Stone win for Poor Things. You know how much I love her in that film and that performance and where she's at in her career, really just making amazing choices. She's year in and year out. I think it's her eighth nomination, seventh nomination or something ridiculous for an actress, and I think she's wonderful in Poor Things. But I'm with you. I think Lily Gladstone wins the Academy Awards, the recognition that Killers of the Flower Moon deserves because I think it's going to get overlooked in some of the other categories in which it was nominated. Leo was overlooked, of course, for lead actor. I don't know if this comes in. This is your world, David, where if the platform and the distribution behind the movie maybe impacted its Oscar chances. I know it's nominated a bunch for for a couple of technical categories and creative categories.

But coming out as an Apple release, you think it plays any role in how people view Killers of the Firemove?

So it used to, and some people will argue maybe that's what happened with the Irishman when it was a Netflix release. But I don't believe that's the case anymore. I think that you're seeing absolute equivalency where now, whether it's released to Apple, whether it's a big studio release, I don't think people actually discern anymore. It used to be, do you remember when something would go straight to video? That's because it couldn't get a distributor, they couldn't find a screen. It was the worst thing you could ever say is this one straight to video. But now that is the best thing you can say. So we'll wait to see. It's going to be a hell of a time live from the stained carpet, and I'm so happy to be doing it with both of you.

It's going to be a blast, man. Honestly, make sure you check out me, David and Ben, and it's going to be an awesome time. And honestly, you mentioned Nia and that betting. Maybe we'll get Dan Leventhal to be the Diane Nia of our production. Maybe we'll put him in the pool and see if he can swim to Cuba. We'll give it a shot. Live at the stained carpet, I'll see you then.

Hey, folks, it's Mike Ryan. Now, you've had the distinct privilege of knowing me for close to 18 years, and you know that I've changed. A lot of my personal life has changed. I've changed as a professional. I am a parent now. My level of involvement in my favorite college football program has also changed. But one thing that hasn't changed for me is my favorite beer. You know when it's real with me. I think you do anyways. And you know how much I love Miller Light. I've loved it forever. Really. It's my favorite beer of all time, and it made all the great moments in my life all that much better. And when Miller Light came aboard on our show, I was super stoked about it because I believed in the product. Because every time I take a sip of Miller Light, I look around and I think, yeah, this was the right call. Times change. People like me can change, but you can always enjoy the great taste of Miller Light. Taste like Miller time. To get Miller Light delivered right to your door, visit millerlight. Com/dan, where you can try to find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer.

Celebrate responsibly, Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories per 12 ounces.

Don Levatard.

David Samson, weirdo. Because he was not the fun substitute teacher who'd wheel out a TV and play a VHS tape of Armageddon in science class.

He was the weird one who would eat an egg salad sandwich while clipping his toenails into the trash can and ranting about Ronald Reagan. Stugatz. The guy kept talking about how his ass was smooth, smoother than a newborn's cheek. He wouldn't stop bragging about his bare to me.

This is the Dan Levatard Show with the Stugats. What's up, everybody? Welcome in to the MMA hangout. That right there is MMA junkie Danny Segura, who is boots on the ground in Mexico, in Mexico City. Danny, What's up? First of all, what's up, bro? Second of all, how are the fights? How's Mexico City? How's life treating? You're going to be there for another five weeks, I heard.

Yeah, almost. No, just a week. I can't get enough of the city. The city is dope. It's awesome. There's so much to do. I'm already probably like 100 tacos in, a fair bit of mezcal, and a good amount of fights as well, a good amount of chingazos. So life is great, man. Can't complain. The card was pretty good, and got one more week in this beautiful city, so everything is good.

How is the vibe in the arena? Because obviously, this is a very big place that just opened the UFC PI in Mexico City. This is a very big hotbed for fighting, and it feels like the MMA is overrun now with Hispanic fighters, with Mexican fighters. This is a big deal for Mexico. So how was the energy inside the arena?

Yeah, it was crazy. I took a video. You can check it out on my Twitter, @DaniCegueraTV. Literally second fight in the prelims, and you've been to these events, bro. The prelims, people are just starting to get there. You get the hardcores, and then by the time the main card starts, that's when the arena is really full. This wasn't the case. You were two fights in, and the arena was pretty much packed. It was 20,000 people there, and it was crazy. It was crazy. From the very beginning, People were super hype. We're yelling. We're going crazy because there was so much young Mexican talent from the very start that is popular here in Mexico that everybody got there early to witness it. So, man, one of the best crowd energies that I've seen in a while.

That's crazy because you've been to a lot of great fights, as I have, too. And it's like, you think of how big some of these fights are. And when you look across the card, it was a fight night, not a number of pay-per-view card. There was a couple of good fights on it, a couple of fights that were Okay. One that we thought could have been decent between the fight that got canceled. Man, I'm blanking on the fight.

Raul Rosas and-Rosas and, yes, that one.

That was going to be an exciting fight. Rosas is an up and comer, somebody that you want to see fight. And, dude, just the energy was insane. So we're going to let you know everything you need to know from the important things that happened at this fight night. We start in a place that makes me a little sad, and I'm going to tell you why. Okay. We started the main event, Brandon Moreno versus Brandon Royvall. And it feels to me, Danny, and I know this is your boy.

I got that one, too.

It feels to me like the windows closing on Brandon Moreno. Tell me why that's not the case.

I'm not ready to say that. I will acknowledge to you and to the listeners that Brandon Moreno did look different. Brando Moreno did not look the same Brando Moreno that we are used to. This was a fighter that usually moves forward, that puts on the pressure, puts on the pain, the damage, tons of volume. I mean, just typical Mexican fighter. This time around, backing up a ton. Almost every round, he was backing up very low output, and just seemed like he lacked a little bit of life in there. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt because I think there were so many factors in play. Remember, he was originally supposed to fight Amir Albasi for this card, which is a completely different opponent than Brandon Royval. Also, he was the His biggest name in this card, he was carrying the promotion, lots of media, lots of interviews. Historically, he hasn't done well in Mexico. He's never won in Mexico in the UFC, in Mexico City. He's got one tie and one loss. Now, one tie, two defeats. What else? Yeah, I guess I can just make a million excuses for Moreno. I acknowledge he did look different, but I would like to believe that this was a flash in the pan, that this was the exception.

So we'll see in his next fight. That's going to be the big one, the big telling.

When you talk about him always pushing on the gas and being the guy that goes out and attacks and is aggressive, when you look down at the stats, if you didn't watch the fight, you know who won by just looking at the stats. I mean, Roy Valle, 556 total strikes. Moreno had 219. How can you win? And it wasn't like he had a ton of ground control. He had, what, three takedowns, I think, but he had 12 seconds of total ground control, like something crazy. It was nothing.

Royval is super hard to hold down. But I will say also this, and it sounds like I'm making excuses in behalf of Moreno, but credit to Royval, I judge the fight for Royvall, and I watch it twice, both live and then after the fact on replay. And I scored it 48, 47, Royvall, him picking up the last three rounds, and Moreno, the first two. But there's something weird happened in the fifth. I don't know if you saw Herb Dean, literally, Moreno would clinch him. Two seconds later, he would split them up. That doesn't work. It doesn't happen. It's not the way it's supposed to happen. Moreno was kneeing him to the leg, stomping him on the foot, trying to take the back. He was working. He wasn't stalling. I do wonder if those two, three clinch, I think it was three or four, actually, those clinches that Moreno had on Royval, if they would have let them continue, I wonder if that fifth round would have been scored differently. But again, at the end of the day, the right person won in terms of Brandon Royval. He had the better performance. But I did think Moreno got a little bit screwed by the ref there at the end.

Sure. But I think it was just a body of work thing, right? The first two rounds, I agree with you. We saw a little bit, okay, here it is. Brandon's starting to press it. And then those last three rounds, it was like, Where is he? Where did he go? You know what I mean? It's tough because obviously the Pantosia fight went the way that it did. Now this fight, you're back to back where you're trying to find that Moreno of old. And it's like, what's going to be? Who's the opponent needs to be for him to get back to that goal that we usually see from him? I'm worried. That's why I said, I don't know if the window is closing, but it feels like things are happening and there's other fighters in that Flyway division that now have his number and are now moving forward.

Yeah, he's just 30 years old, so technically, he is in his athletic prime. But the thing about Brandon Moreno, for those that don't know and haven't followed his career, the dude just has been in so many wars for the last two or three years. Literally, he had the fight of the year in 2023. Solid candidate for 2022. I mean, you just go down the list. The last few years, all his Championship fights have been held. So you just wonder if the damage is starting to catch up to him. I don't know. I guess we'll find out in the next one.

Did you see this last... So obviously, the fight went to split decision. We're going to pull up here and watch Brandon Royval. He doesn't realize that his name is also Brandon, and he thinks he's losing the fight by split decision. Watch this.

Ladies and gentlemen, after five rounds, we go to the judge to score cards for a decision.

Mike Bell scores it. 48, 47. Roy Powell.

Giudiciero Camillo scores the contest. 49, 46, Moreno. Chris Lee scores it, 48, 47 for the winner by split decision, Brandon Rocci.

Roy Powell.

But then it gets three seconds to realize that he had one with his hand raise, too.

So for those of you listening on audio, Bruce Buffer calls Brandon, right? They're both named Brandon. One's Brandon Royval, one's Brandon Moreno. And Brandon Royval gets his hand raise. He's throwing his hand up like, I can't believe I lost this by split decision. It takes him two seconds to realize, oh, shit. No, they called my name. I'm the winner. What a crazy split. You can't make this like this.

That's basically my reaction time in the mornings before my coffee seat. It's literally like two or three seconds before I realized things had happened. I won.

Let's go.

Yeah, it's so funny.

So that was the main event, the co-main event of the fight night in Mexico City was the return of T-City, Brian Ortega against Yair Rodriguez, who we last saw against Volkanovski, right? At UFC 290. That's the last time we saw Jair Rodriguez fight. And before that, he was looking excellent. Obviously, ran into Volkanovski. We know the deal there, but it's been a while since he's fought. So we were very anticipatory on, how is Jair going to look with this much layoff? We know he's a dynamic fighter. How's this going to go? And we You don't even get to the starting bell before something like this happens. And we're going to have Brian Ortega talk about it. I looked up on my coach and he's like, Don't you dare let it get you.

He goes, It doesn't matter. And I was like, Yes, coach. Yes, coach. We're good.

And then But I'm not going to-Oh, he's watching a video.

The whole world saw. The whole world saw him.

The whole world saw him.

Has this regularly happened to them. I can't watch that video. It's just tough to watch.

The whole world... Can you put it back up and then put it on mute so we can just talk through it? The whole world saw him twist his ankle while Bruce Buffer is calling him out, pointing into his blue corner. Ortega jumps, lands on his ankle, twists it 35 seconds before the fight. That is his comeback fight after 19 months out of the octagon with a torn shoulder. He comes back, and that's the first thing that happened. Did you see it live, Danny?

So I didn't, but then I saw the tweets because in the media room, I'm editing, I'm doing a bunch So I'm zoning in and out. But then I saw it on Twitter, and I'm like, oh, shit. And then it obviously explained a lot of the first round where he was just really scared to move around, and clearly his ankle was compromised. I mean, Ortega has some of the worst luck. And even then, he was able to survive a tornado that Jair Rodriguez is the first round. And then on the second and third, he won the second, submitted in the third. So props to Ortega for overcoming adversity. Truly remarkable.

He's a warrior, dude. And obviously, for those of you that don't know, he fought Jair Rodriguez, what, '21? Towards the end of '21? '22.

July '22.

Yeah. So he goes up for what I think was a clinch, or he was trying to get out of a clinch or something.

He put in an arm bar and his shoulder just completely gave out. And then he already had a shoulder surgery on that same shoulder. So he had to do a shoulder surgery on that one. And then throughout the process of getting ready, getting good again, he injured the other shoulder and had to get another surgery. So he had two surgeries and was out for 19 months. And then this happens.

And then 30 seconds into the announcement, he gets the ankle. But in that first round, he got popped and it was like, oh, wait a second. This is not good. He regains his composure, goes after him, holds him down, gets out of that first round, gets a pretty nasty bruise on his eye. And you're like, It's been almost two years since he's fought. You know what I mean? This is what we expect from somebody who's had that long of a layoff. And then all of a sudden, that second round, he has ground control. He's throwing those elbows. All of a sudden, Rodriguez gets that cut underneath his eye. And you're like, That thing is deep. That's going to start gushing, and it's gushing blood. And then all of a sudden, I want to play the video for you. I think it's Henr Gracy, who's in his corner, right? Put up this video of Brian Ortega practicing that triangle arm choke in the back room. Listen to this.

You guys are not going to believe what happened. This is the final minute of preparation for Brian's fight. We're in the locker room. He takes down his training partner, sparks.

Look at this.

Lands in full mount, climbs the tree, hugs the neck, redirects the arm, and sets up the exact same arm triangle finish that he uses in the fight just minutes later.

Look at that.

Same dismount, tease off to the side, puts on his snake squeeze, And that's a wrap, you guys.

Literally, the only thing we did after this is remind Brian about the lion and the gazelle before Paul led a short prayer, and we walked out.

I mean, how cool is that when you get to see somebody practicing mere minutes before they go out to the octagon, And then use what they did in practice. And obviously, there's a reason they call him T-City, right? Use what he did in practice and actually do it in the octagon for a massive win in his division. It gives me goosebumps just watching stuff like that.

Yeah, that's high level MMA right there for you. A lot of people think that this sport involves a good amount of luck, and to a certain degree it does. But a lot of people just think it's just a bunch of chaos, and then whatever happens, happens. But clearly, as shown in that video, the You thought that that was a possibility, and he hit it.

And what's next for Jair?

Man, this was such a bad night for Mexico because you had two of the biggest stars losing in the main co-main. And then that co-main was huge because there was a ton of battle between Jair Rodriguez and Hilia Topuria, who is the new champion at 145. That would have been Spain versus Mexico. It was getting heated. The styles are perfect. And then Brian Ortega goes in there and spoils the party. I think Rodriguez can still get back there in terms of title contention, but certainly the path got a lot longer. I think he's going to win at least two more before we start talking about him fighting for a title again. So I don't know, maybe take on a Calvin Cater or really anybody in the top 10. Edson Barvosa, I think any of those fights would be great.

A lot of good stuff coming up. Ufc 299 in Miami. We'll both be in the building for that one. That's what? March ninth, Saturday, March ninth, a couple of weeks away. Next week, we'll have a preview, previewing some of the cool stuff, a massive stacked card. We may have to go long on that one, by the way, Danny, for our MMA people.

A hundred %.

That card is stacked. And I'm super excited to see Rovely d'Espagne, Cuban guy, the monster, the beast. That guy, Jack, is like 6'8.

Taekwondo guy, can kick, can head kick you at 6'8.

He's incredible.

Just the most ridiculous Cuban you'll ever see in your life.

Think about Joe Romero like 5 feet taller. He's awesome. So we're going to have a 299 breakdown and preview and all that good stuff coming up next week. But keep a lock right here on the MMA hangout. We love you guys. We appreciate you guys. We'll talk to you guys next week. Peace.

Don Levatard.

Pablo leads all of podcasting in reading while smiling. If you listen to ESPN Daily, he sounds like he's having the time of his life. Stugatz. Coming up next. I'm going to tell you the Savannah bananas are changing faces.

How do you know I'm Savannah Bananas.

How do you know I'm smiling?

That's how I find my vocal range. Sometimes I just say, Savannah bananas.

Savannah bananas. This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugats.

Do you want to explain how we came up with the subject of today's show?

Well, we didn't come up with the subject of today's show. Every conversation that you have in your life, and I've complained about this before, you're just mining your friends and people of your life for content.

I don't go into it necessarily with the full clarity that every conversation we have must be a show.

Every conversation that you and I have becomes a show. If I can't be on it, you just get somebody else to talk about it. You milk me, and I am nervous when I'm talking to you. Oh, my gosh. Whenever I talk to Pablo, whatever I say is going to... Is he actually listening to me or is he taking notes?

I am definitely editing in my while we're talking like, Oh, that could be a seasag for today's show.

We hung out a couple of weeks ago and we were eating. I feel like you're the one who sparked the thought in my mind. I don't know how we got to the story I remember exactly how we got to the beginning of this, which is I asked if you remembered who Orlando Cabrera is. Baseball guy. Shortstop.

Yes. Really good defensive shortstop. Orlando Cabrera, won a World Series, won two goal gloves.

Smashed up the middle. Orlando Cabrera, great diving stop from his knee. Throws him out. A sensational play by Orlando Cabrera.

Boy, it certainly was. He realized he had to get rid of it in a hurry, so he gets rid of it from the seat of his pants.

Played for nine teams across 15 years in the Major Leagues. And beyond being a really good defensive goal glove shortstop, was also known for reading books, by the way.

What are you reading now?

I used to 100 Years of Solitude from Gabriel Garcia-Marcus.

He's a guy from Colombia.

Okay.

I like to be reading stuff all the time.

Keeps your mind sharp. Yeah.

Keeping the mind sharp, baby. I mean, it's your show. I'll let you grab this there.

No, no, no, no. We're both driving this together, Dominique. You're not leaving me alone in potential shame because I am fascinated by how Orlando Cabrera keeps his mind sharp and his hands soft.

Only one person can leave, Pablo. See, that might have been part of your problem.

I keep on looking for a partner in crime. Dominique, to his credit, was very interested in the revelation that I had found out about this shortstop, which is that first team Orlando Cabrera ever plays for is the Montreal Expos. What I've learned is—this is multiple people now, this is journalism—is that before every game Orlando Cabrera played, Orlando Cabrera used to walk into this modest storage room off the clubhouse, the Expos Clubhouse, inside Olympic Stadium in solitude, actually, Gabriel Garcia Marquez style. You would make some moves from the seat of his pants.

Have you gotten Orlando Cabrera to verify this?

We are actively pursuing Orlando Cabrera.

Well, because I feel like we should be... We don't have to talk about it because the conversation doesn't have to be about Orlando Cabrera, but that is how we into it. But I would feel bad spreading this if it's not something that is actually something that he's okay with owning up to or has...

I have a similar inclination, a pang of potential guilt. But what I am told is that this is not a question. I want to ask you, though, just as a former athlete, if you knew that one of your teammates was was just repeatedly calling for an ISO, was perpetually celebrating Palm Sunday, was just taking a self-guided tour. Okay. You empty? I was having a onesum to get empty. What would you think? Did this ever happen in your experience playing in the NFL?

I don't know. I mean, nothing that I knew of. I wouldn't have any... So the locker room is a very intimate place. So guys would be very comfortable talking about all types of things and doing all types of things that you wouldn't be comfortable with in other situations. When you go on road trips, particularly, locker rooms are very small. Sometimes the stalls don't have doors on them and stuff. And people are comfortable doing the things that they have to do. No one's ever been that damn comfortable. I don't know that anyone does it or doesn't. Guys had sex the night before games and stuff like for sure, and no one cared. But it never really came up. It's natural. It's the thing that everyone likes to do. I mentioned to Pablo that I had a running joke with one of my friends is that before you make any major decision, visions, you should go ahead and get yourself to that state of mind where you are the clearest. And now for the men who are listening to this show, they know exactly what I'm talking about. I don't know if women feel the same way, but there's this feeling where you to just see the world more clearly.

Historically, in sports, we've always heard that you should not have sex close to a game or close to any competition. It's like an old boxing thing. Yes.

It's an ancient tradition. It's in movies. Yeah. I mean, you only have to go as far as Rocky to find the exact opposite of Cabrera-ism, let's call it. Women, weak and legs.

Yeah, but I really like this girl. My I'm not going to train you.

Okay, no more fooling around.

Okay. I hit it.

Women, weak legs, huh?

I believe that in boxing, an interesting thing has been happening for centuries, where even like... I remember talking to the best boxing trainer in the world, who is Freddie Roach. He's coached more world champions than anybody, I believe. It was ahead of Mayweather-Pacquiao, that fight. And abstinence, it's a genuine coaching philosophy that he has for his fighters. And he talked about just how much he asks of them when it regards their discipline. I asked my fighters for 10 days. When I was a fighter, it was six weeks.

But the thing is, I said, no sex for 10 days. It'll be just for discipline, all right?

The new-age guys, the influencers, what's crazy about the influencer boxers like Jake Paul is that they, you'd think, they're not obeying these folkways. They've done the same thing. Like, Jake Paul's coach, I was doing my research for this, and I have been. It's extensive. I pulled Google Doc. They say how much worse Jake Paul is after he has sex before sparring.

My coach, B. J, will be like, Did you have sex last night? You can tell without me even saying anything. He's just slower. He's not as good.

He's not as quick.

He's not as fierce.

He's not as aggressive.

It's obvious to a guy who's been around boxing for... I'm 42. I've been around boxing for 33 years, so I see it very quickly. And ancient warriors, they deprive themselves and they sacrifice certain things before they go to battle.

I don't know the exact demographics of the Pablo Torre finds out audience. I do know that it's not all dudes. I do want to acknowledge how unbelievably dude-ish my curiosity was at the start. And so I do feel like it's worth noting that in your purification of this ancient tradition of warriors in battle is someone like Ronda Rousey. Mma fighter was a huge deal at one point. I want to point out that she believes this.

Traditionally in sports, there is a theory that you don't have sex leading up to a contest.

Football, basketball, baseball, save your energy. You buy into that? Well, my godfather was a doctor, and he told me that with men, it does temporarily where your testosterone, but for women, it raises it. And so it's actually good for you before a competition. I was like, Good to know. And plus, you're so stressed out. It's a lot of anxiety leaning up to a fight. So it helps. I find it helps.

The fact that there's this active debate about, is this a competitive advantage, Dominique, is where this becomes a sports story to me. All of this, to me, is about performance and performance enhancement.

Yeah, it makes sense to me for us to try to figure out best ways. There's nothing, I think, that we feel that controls us more than how you behave in those times and how it impacts the way that you think and operate.

Right. I mean, we can ostensibly control ourselves. We began-Is there another bodily function is the wrong word. Are you looking for another masturbation euphemism?

No, I'm definitely... I've had more than enough of that. I hate that about this episode, but I do think that I am looking for another human experience that feels more all-encompassing. Even eating doesn't feel like that, and that seems very core. There's nothing else, I think, that you feel like your whole body is short of like drugs. It's nothing else that feels like your whole body is involved. So, yeah, it's going to affect the way that you do anything.

Yeah, I think that's the point. So underneath all of this, and yes, I'm going to very awkwardly navigate, grope through the fog of this conversation. No more puns. I want to make a case for this concept. We're walking around and we're thinking about Orlando Cabrera. We both have that instinct, I think, to try and understand as opposed to humiliate someone. The case for him led us to this concept. The concept is one that both of us knew immediately. It's something we've talked about previously, if we're being frank with our audience. But do you remember where you first heard the term? Because I actually don't remember where I first saw it originate.

You want me to say post-nut clarity?

I just wanted to get us both on the record. Okay. Like, post-nut clarity is a It feels like a phenomenon because there is nothing else quite like it.

It's like reverse Hulk. It's different for a different man, I think, probably. But you walk around much of your life feeling like the Hulk. But you know what? Sometimes you need Bruce Banner. You need the mild-mannered scientist to come out and help guide you through some tough decisions and situations. I think some men can relate that the worst decisions that you have made have been because you were acting like the Hulk. Not every situation requires Hulk Smash. Some situations require Bruce Think.

I want to get to the origins of this Because post-nut clarity is one of those terms that's just been hanging out in the back of our heads, so to speak. Conventionally, it got attributed to, I don't listen to this podcast. I wonder if you've ever heard of it, Call Her Daddy.

Yeah, I've heard of it. The post-nut clarity.

The post-nut clarity.

We've talked about this. The post-nut clarity is a real fucking thing.

It's after a guy comes and his entire life flashes before his eyes.

Everything becomes crystal clear, 20/20 vision, and he's just like, wow.

And Drake.

Drake, the rapper?

When Drake is rapping, Post-nut Clarity, I came to my senses. This is him, I believe, coming to grips with the man that he just was. Lil Wayne is in that category, too. He basically says the same thing.

I like the philosophers that you are consulting on this. That's right. Drake and Weezy, the whole Cash Money crew. What does Baby got to say? A slim? What does slim say about this? I don't know. Juvie? Unfortunately, what I have here is a different rapper named Uno Deuce One, who wrote an entire song dedicated to this concept. I got nut on my chest embarrassing. I said, What?

Please don't stare at me. That's that post-nut clarity. Think about world hunger and organized religion. Also good parenting.

Wow.

There's more of that, for the record.

I mean, I'm disappointed that you didn't prep me, and I couldn't listen to that beforehand because he went so many different places.

Yes, and landed at good parenting. Right. Which is where increasingly, I am regretfully reporting that I also land. You stop and you are hit with not just the tasks that you have to do on your to-do list, but also the things that really mattered to you in the clarity. Yeah. You're like, Oh, I need to... I should probably make some changes in my life. This stew of self-consciousness. If not shame, but just self-immediate, sudden onset, what feels like self-awareness. Because for me, it's not Drake. It's not Lil Wayne. It's not Uno Deuce One. It feels like Les Misérables.

What?

Are you familiar with Les Mis? Oh, my gosh. What are you doing? I'm just saying lots of people think- Les Mis? Lots of people think that in Les Misérables, Jean Valjean is singing about the Paris uprising of 1832. I believe he's singing about what it feels like to look at your browser window right after you've finished.

How can I ever face myself again?

How can I ever face myself again? Is a feeling that I have felt post-nut.

Oh, gosh. I think I got to the bottom of this whole thing, where we started with the playlist. This might be an off-camera conversation. I don't know because...

What? You don't think musicals made their way to most people's sexmusik. Tumbler. Com rotation?

Maybe people wasn't looking for Les Misérables. Maybe people was looking-I don't follow. Okay. It's possible that people you know wanted somebody who was listening to stuff about guns and drugs.

So you clearly haven't seen Les Misérables then? Because there are a lot of guns.

Stop it, Pablo. Stop it. You know what I mean. Yes. In everything that I do, I hope it's clear that I've never seen Les Misérables, particularly that I would like it to be known. I want to leave having that being… I don't want it to come up. The whole date, whatever we're doing, I don't want Le Misérables to come up. But immediately after, while I'm in clarity, I want her to be like, Oh, I bet this mother ain't never seen Le Misérables.

Hey, folks, it's Mike Ryan. Now, you've had the distinct privilege of knowing me for close to 18 years, and you know that I've changed. A lot of my personal life has changed. I've changed as a professional. I am a parent now. My level of involvement in my favorite college football program has also changed. But one thing that hasn't changed for me is my favorite beer. You know when it's real with me. I think you do anyways. And you know how much I love Miller Light. I've loved it forever, really. It's my favorite beer of all time, and it made all the great moments in my life all that much better. And when Miller Light came aboard on our show, I was super stoked about it because I believed in the product. Because every time I take a sip of Miller Light, I look around and I think, yeah, this was the right call. Times change. People like me can change, but you can always enjoy the great taste of Miller Light. Taste like Miller time. To get Miller Light delivered right to your door, visit millerlight. Com/dan, where you can try to find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer.

Celebrate responsibly, Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories per 12 ounces.

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