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This is the Dan Leviton.

Show with the.

Stugatz.

Podcast.

I.

Fancy myself a journalist, unbiased. I'm the urinator. When things get too exciting in town, in sports, your local neighborhood columnist comes over and says, pump the brakes. Everybody's slow down. We've been here before. But I can't remember this century, and I think I got two generations of Cody's around here this century of the dolphins being able to say in December, in December, top seed by, Oh, Baltimore, Kansas City might have to come here. I'm not scared of anybody in December. I can't be biased anymore. I'm in two and on. Wow. Welcome. I can't be unbiased anymore. I've been trying… For 20 years, I've established the character of the urinator. Right. Everybody's all excited I come around. I'm like, Hold on. Hold on, everybody.

So it took 45 to 15 over the commanders for you to stop urinating?

This is problematic for the future of our show, but I would say that what you saw yesterday in a game nobody but Miami cares about because San Francisco ended everything Miami was when we all backed off with like, Oh, holy shit. When they're healthy, they're better than everybody. Look at what nobody drags Philadelphia and Philadelphia.

Like that. Do it in the postseason.

That's fine. But they would have last year if they had a quarterback, if McCaffrey wasn't playing quarterback. Right.

They've done quite a bit in the postseason.

You know what? They make it to the NFC Championship Game. They make it to a Super Bowl. They never finish it off. Finish it off.

Okay, so do it in the Super Bowl and finish.

It off. And finish it off. Correct. Okay, win a Super Bowl.

I think I talked you off a.

Little bit. A little bit.

Impressive team, nonetheless. We saw it yesterday. They're healthy. Holy shit. They're going to be hard to beat by anybody. But to me, the most encouraging thing about what the Dolphins have that is meant to echo that, because San Francisco has been a step away with Garapolo, he can't play. As a sustainable business model, when you've got the schema who can produce 45 points, and he's got some cheat code because a Chan now, I think, now this is cheating because they scored 70 against Denver. But when he's out there, they're 500 yards a game and 40 points a game on average. Because what they have is sustainable because San Francisco has Debo Samuel, who changes the entire game. They have Tyreke Hill, who's clearly a game-breaker and shifted the power in the conference from Kansas City to Miami all of a sudden. Because that's what's happens to Gottson and Holmes. Now we know seeing Tyreke Hill in Miami, you see that, Oh, look, it cheapens by degrees in Kansas City. Yeah, Barry Switzer won a championship after Jimmy Johnson left him players, but it gets cheapened a little bit. And when you have to pay Tyrae Keel over here or let him go, he needs that receiver.

The thing that's hard to figure out with the Chiefs, I'm not saying you're wrong, Dan, but they won a Super Bowl since letting Tyrae Keel go.

But my point was that Barry Switzer won one with what was left of Jimmy Johnson before the entire game changed. The point of what I'm saying is now you see, because this is crazy, this part is crazy. So while the game was entirely changing and the running back became disposable, the San Francisco 49ers said, No, we got a bunch of scheme advantages, and let's go get McAfrey. Now he leads the League in touchdowns. But who's second? Mostart. He's not the special one on this offense. No. That part is crazy. You're built like San Francisco. You got San Francisco East now and what the Dolphins are, and now you're competing at the top of the brain power of the sport.

Well, I've got good news for Dolphins fans because I think what you're presently seeing is you are turning into Kansas City, where you had the young, cheap quarterback put up big numbers because he had skill set. As you mentioned, Kansas City has won two Super Bulls that way. What you're seeing with Kansas City today in the last two weeks, which has really been the story of the season with Kansas City, is those receivers are not making plays. While Patrick Mohom still remains the best quarterback in the League from a talent perspective, he needs some skill help. Hopefully for the Miami Dolphins, you get to the point where you're going to have to overpay Toa. You may also have to say goodbye to Tyree Kill down the line the way that the Kansas City Chiefs were. But that's a good model to find, especially for this franchise that's dying at a shot at a Super Bowl.

It is. But I do feel like for the Dolphins to make it to the Super Bowl, they need to have the 1-0, they need to have home field advantage. I'm more confident that my homes can go on the road and win a couple of playoff games.

Dead to them. You don't get to be tap the brakes today. I'm saying that right now, as of today, the top seed in December is the Miami Dolphins. And that they've won all the games against Easy Teams and that you doubt them doesn't much matter to me because I imagine that what would happen to Miami against San Francisco being healthy is what just happened to Philadelphia. That's okay. But I also think the Dolphins can beat anybody. I certainly think they can win two playoff games and then take their chances against hoping that San Francisco.

Is hurt. See, the Dolphins and their fans have gotten too comfortable already with their success that we're going into the conversation of, can we compete against these good teams? I don't want to do that yet. We can have that conversation when we get to the playoffs. Let's just celebrate the teams that were better than now. We are now in a space. I am watching football games and I'm like, This Colt's, Titan's game is so sad. I was them for 20 years. It is so fun now to just look around the league and be like, Falcons.

They're going to.

Host a home game. The Saints, their car.

Yeah, trip down. It is just trip down.

Third and 12, no problem. That is where I am right now.

How good does it look inside the division?

I just want to live here forever.

I'll give you what you want, Chris. I think the Dolphins are making the Super Bowl. I genuinely think they're making the Super Bowl.

So do I. If they get home field.

But I do think they're going to get.

Home field. We're all late to this party. Cody was way ahead.

No, that's the thing. Everyone's doing the thing today of who said Tyree Kill for MVP first? Me. My dad wrote the column yesterday. Stugat said he said it four weeks ago. Tony says he said it.

Week two. That part's gross.

What part?

All of it.

I just want to be clear on your strategy with the Dolphins. You think they can win two and then pray that the Niners.

Are hurt in the Super Bowl? That is correct. I believe that everyone in the sport is hoping the Niners are hurt the.

Rest of the season.

They always are. I just need to know who in our world said Tyree Kill MVP first. Who is he?

I mean, why have a sports show if you can't take credit for saying that thing first. Exactly.

That's the rule. But that's not even the grossest part of this. The grossest part is just all things, Tyree, kill. All of the moral conundrums that bring the football fun from Kansas City to Miami as Hard Knock celebrates his love and marriage. He's changed. And we throw him.

Give him a chance. He's a different man. Think about who you were when you were 21.

Yeah, Tyreeke Hill is putting together the best receiving season any of us have ever seen.

He wasn't even the MVP yesterday, though.

Van Ginkgo. Did he have a game?

Look, I know the discussion with Jaylen Phillips is depth. You want to have Van Ginkgo and Jaylen Phillips. But over the last season, and I'm in the for Phillips, he's a cane. But anytime Van Ginkgo gets in there, he is making impact plays. I think it's low key.

And upgrade. Mike Ryan is scouring. Look, Mike Ryan's a lunatic, and he is scouring all gambling advantages wherever he could find them. I just got a text in the middle of the afternoon that just was, I would bet right now that Van Ginkgo will have the first sack. I would bet money on that. If I could find anywhere where I could find that, and then Van Ginkgo comes in. Mike is studying film, trying to find betting advantages in the crevices in the corners.

He didn't get that sack?

They didn't credit him. What? What?

Not according to my-I thought he had a sack of PIC 6, and he came an inch away from blocking a pun in the.

First half.

Yes. Finally, a formal appeal.

To Cowboy Carl. Van Ginkgo wrecked them. But let's talk about Tyrae Kill for a second, Stugats, because Wes Wilker, now this is the patron saying, keep in mind, one of the things that I'm just flabbergasted right now is that I live in a time where Jibril Peppers is apologizing publicly for being on the field and saying to say, Kwan-Barkley, you're lucky we're ass. After a 10-7 game, he had to apologize for that. Look at what the Patriots are, Belichick without braided. When the.

Sport- They're Iowa.

Yeah, when the sport changes real fast. I mean, Mike Evans is a receiver that's a Hall of Famer. Ten straight seasons, thousand-yard seasons, 10 straight of them. Tyrake Hill is going to double that. If he stays healthy, and that's a game-changing code that when McDaniel tells you at the beginning of the season, when they brought me, Tyreeke Hill is a possibility, I said, give them everything, because he knew he could then build this.

49er thing from there. I know what you mean by saying, Stayes healthy, but most people just hearing that are assuming, if they're not paying attention, that Tyreeke Hill has been healthy this season. He hasn't been. He has been battling through injuries, real bad ones for speed guys, ankle injuries and whatnot, soft tissue injuries. He goes out at least once a game. It's not because he's dramatic. Guy has been banged up. He is doing this while he has been hurt. There's a difference between hurt and injured.

You say, banged up, but Stugat. I mean, Armstead, yesterday in the game, I heard it. They're like, And he came into the game with a quad and a hamstring, but now he leaves for an ankle. Higby in the Rams game, they're like, He just got tested for a concussion. They're also checking his neck. By the way, his hand, he left the field, writhing in the hand. When you say banged up.

Like do we really know? Everyone's banged up, dude.

No, but it's not. It's just unbelievable what these people are doing. It's crazy. But for Tyrake Hill to get behind the defense twice, for two long ball conversations to be totally gone, no one's having those anymore because that guy did that for my homes, and now he.

Does it for two of us. Was that second one a good throw?

I don't think anyone did. It was a great adjustment by Tyrake.

You can see him adjust midway where he's looking.

Over his shoulder one way, and he's.

Like, Wait, let me just full speed.

Let me go the other way and catch it. But then it falls right there. Tyrake ran to Tatoa after that play. I was trying to ask the same question. I was like, Wait, was that a great play by Tyrake? A great throw? That was one of those plays. No one knows what really happened there.

Because of the holiday, we didn't really get the opportunity to talk how Tatoa is doing all of this with a sharkbite on his arm. He quite literally gave you a pound of flesh.

That was disgusting. You didn't see this, Jessica? Jessica, he has a car.

Wait, hold on. There was a Dolphins game yesterday.

You're wearing the colors. Why are you wearing aqua and orange today?

I don't think I'm wearing a Piggly-wiggly shirt, Dan. I didn't know this was going to be.

Interpreted.

As a Dolphins.

That's celebrating the big matchup between Washington, historically known as the Hogs, and an aqua shirt. You are all Dolphins.

I don't think so. I was watching the ESPN College Football Selection Show, which I know we will talk about- That happened? -later in the show. But I honestly missed all of the highlights from the... Did they even show it on Red Zone? I think this game was over so quickly that I must have just.

Missed all of it. I think the main talking point is a fan got a religious exemption for his Flanagan's Cup. I saw that.

What? We need to talk about it. I did see that. The fan was able to bring in a Flanagan's Cup, and apparently it was because he was given a religious exemption according to the tweet. What does that mean?

I mean, you know if you're from here.

It's the.

Chalice, the.

Holy Grail. Yeah.

The Cup and chalice.

That is the most golden cup we have. We should absolutely have some Flanagan Cup trophy for some great prize won around here because it is the greatest. Put her on the pole, JuJu. Better cup for South Florida. Cup that South Florida values more, Stanley or Flanagan?

Oh, Flanagan. I was watching College Game Day the other day. I was watching the open of College Game Day, and the Flanagan's flag that made an appearance last year is in the open. So it always brings a smile on my face. Also, I saw a Flanagan's commercial for the first time I hadn't seen them do TV. On TV? Yeah. Really? Yeah. Where?

I've seen them. I've seen them. Wow.

Flanagan's? Was it a Big Daddy's liquor commercial? No. I think I've seen one of.

Those before. No, it was straight out of the 90s, where a very attractive woman is eating ribs and they're sauce dripping. It was, Nice to see. We used to be a proper country. I've been quietly amassing a lot of Flanagan's cups for one specific thing. We got my Christmas tree yesterday, and I'm trying to persuade my wife to do a Christmas tree Flanagan.

Cup decoration. I don't think she's going to go.

For it, but I do have the.

Ammunition of about 600 Flanagan's cups. I thought you were using it to fill the.

Water up. I thought an entire Christmas tree just made entirely of Flanagan's cups. That would have been a good idea, but no, put a little hook inside of them and hang them from the Christmas tree. So they're ornament. They're ornament the whole way down. I like that.

Because I think of Flanagan's Cup as the star on top of the tree.

Just one cup. I could do.

That, too. That would be nice. Okay, so before we bring in David Samson here, I would like our team of independent creative thinkers who are now living in the commerce market, I want for us to team with so that by the end of the month, David Samson and Angel Resto are selling Flanagan's Christmas trees because we celebrate the holidays with Flanagan because we don't believe in any cup. Look, Mike Ryan has been so reluctant recently to do anything in the way of free advertisingfor anybody, for anybody. For anybody. But Flanagan. He's always in here. Don't talk about that. Don't talk about this. Our sponsors are sponsors. You're costing our sponsors. Mike Ryan is so proud of that cup, which he has drunk from liberally for 20 years. That's an iconic cup. Now, this is how you do a live spot. Flanagan, come help us build Christmas trees with you for the holidays.

If my wife will let me.

We're going to have to cut them in, though.

No, I'm talking about selling them to our customers. That would be a big seller all around Florida right there. We got to capitalize on this damn Dolphins Run. Turn it into money.

With the.

Title, This Cup is going to be in Las Vegas come February. Because the Dolphins are making the Super Bowl, and we need to turn up in Las Vegas. We need to make it a Miami affair.

Don.

Libertard.

David.

Samson, weirdo.

Because.

He was.

Not.

The fun.

Substitute teacher who'd wheel out a TV and play a VHS tape or Armageddon in science class. He was.

The weird one.

Who would eat an egg.

Salad.

Sandwich.

While slipping his toenails into the trash can and rambling.

About Ronald Reagan. Stugats. And the guy.

Kept talking about.

How his ass was smooth, smoother than a newborn's cheek. He wouldn't stop bragging about his bare buttocks to me.

This.

Is the Don Lebertar Show.

With the Stugats.

We'll.

Get to David Samson here in just a minute. But, Dan, I am told by the video team, my Tarik Hilltake was made on October 30th, a full month before Greg Cody. I'm not certain they're right, by the way. I feel like I made it earlier.

We have to check the tape because on Sunday Night Live, I might have said it week two.

I'm not going to become the show. This is what Kornheiser and Wilbon still do. I will not have that be the way that we do this. But I said it. Where who was first to the take gets the most right of the take. But Greg Cody was Maximum Homer. He was.

Saying-he was also last, it seems.

He was saying 2,000-yard seasons as soon as he got here, the moment they signed him. Right.

He was first to the take. He said it before Tyreke? 2,000 yards?

Before everybody. But we are going to get to college football because it is so wonderfully bananas. Just the greatest thing. Total absolute chaos.

We also need to get to college basketball because I saw Joe Zagaki in person for the first time ever this weekend. And I don't know what I was picturing. You're lucky. You should have said hi.

I like two Zagaki's here. I like... Tony, I can't. Yours is getting good enough that I want the gacky making an appearance every once in a while.

From-just a little worried about the judgment. Multiple angles. It's not necessarily being able to sound like the man. I know.

I know. It's easy enough. What to say? What not to say.

I know. Being known how to walk a razor's edge. We got this. I know, but-You were just saying, Oh, yeah, no, that's great. Chris Cody, you do it. You see my concern. Yes. Maybe chill. I'm more the merrier, right? Not gimmick infringement. Everyone finds it funny. It's not difficult to do the voice. It's great. Yeah, everyone do your voice. It's really don't get us fired. You don't mind-Don't get us in trouble.

I'm.

Fine. Don't harass anyone. We got it. Don't incite a riot in the nation's capital.

I am fine. If you wish to do that, but he's not their job as program director from-Sif.

Through his thoughts, that's tough. Perhaps we should have talked about this in a meeting. But my concern isn't that he doesn't do it well enough. He probably does it better.

Than me. I want Chris Cody in the mix, and we will see if we can govern Tony a little better. But I do want to get to the bananas of college football because it's the most perfect thing, the most wonderful, wonderful thing that what happened in college football. I am legitimately excited to talk about it because chaos. Chris Cody, you rooted for chaos, and you got chaos. We've got plenty to talk about there. But first, Dugat, I want to stop on a serious note for just a moment here before we bring in Dave Samson and explain to you what the merch store means to me and the story behind the merch store and why David Samson is being called here because I needed his help with some business things. I don't know how to do business. And so he's running the merch store now. And the merch store debute. And keep in mind the merch store, what it means to me, so that I can explain it to the audience. And it's the place... I'm not for sale, right? I don't do commercial reads for anything ever for 20 years. Stugatz does them and makes all the money from being our.

Sales branch.

For sale, yeah. Our sales branch. The merch store is where my brother's art resides. Angelresto has been trying to run it for many years. But I'm going to explain to people what it means to me before we bring in David Samson here because I got really pissed off this weekend, hurt and mad because it's just such a small thing.

Dan's emotion is brought to you by our Miller Light event at Dolphins Mall on December 11th. It is confirmed, Titans Dolphins come out all ages at the Miller Lights stage at Dolphins Mall, Vivo Miami, December 11th. It's all brought to you by Miller Light and Dolphins Shave Club.

Thank you, Mike. The merch store was never meant to be anything other than at Disney. They had their brackets for where producers could get and whatnot, and they wouldn't allow me to keep paying people with my own money. Eye on the ball. We had to invent a different way to monetize what the producers were making around here because they'd been pushed down into files.

Into brackets. You needed to create a revenue stream to get more money to the producers. It's that simple.

I made no money off of this ever. Never wanted to be in the business, wrote a bunch of checks for a bunch of employees, never wanted to be doing any of those kinds of things. Like don't like math business makes me mad, and I know poison when I see it, and money is poison and the way people get around it is poison. We tried to split it up as best we could among everybody, and now it resides here, the company. We owned it. That was the beginning of the end for us at Disney. Once we'd negotiated my brother's own ability to make art and merch, that's the first conflict we had that ruined one mosque down here because I was trying to throw parties with my brother that celebrated art and music and sports being fun. My brother had a merch store. His best friend, my best friend, bedside for the last year with my brother and what he wants from me with something he birthed because he never thought I trafficked in this lane enough. Dan, no, go make money. Who cares if you're a sell out? Who cares? Put your art on boat.

You to make a living this way.

I knew this segment would get away from us.

No, no. But this is why a mantle, Mike. This strikes an emotional chord for me. It's not just merch. It's not just merch. And so we debute last week and Samson's handling this for us. He's handling the merch store for us. And I've avoided social media because it's been poison for a while now. And I've just been trying to get Angelrestor the ability to immediately make things live off of the show so people can enjoy remembering that moment. We opened and angel calls me hurt. He's hurt because this thing, he's caretaking my brother's spirit. He's caretaking my brother's art. That's what I've entrusted Samson with. That's the merch store. The merch store is not just another merch store. When I hear our customers are complaining to me that we're priced like everybody else, I'm like, Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? We're following everybody else's model now? Now that we got to freedom. We're going to do it the way everyone else does it. And so, Samson comes in, and I haven't talked about this part with him because he's doing his best. He cares about me. He's doing his best. This person.

Loves me. He does, yes.

And he's doing his best to do this. And we debut, and all I'm hearing is complaints because we're in business now and we're selling art. So, David, what happened?

Well, what happened is that you ruined my weekend by communicating with me non-stop at all hours of the day and night because you were upset that your fans were upset about prices, your fans were upset about the selection, your fans were upset. Angel was upset because there weren't enough of his designs on. People in the shipping container were upset because of the split and how it was going to happen both financially and from an art standpoint. And you downloaded on me all of the problems, and you didn't take into account of what I had to deal with to just get the merch store up because you built a company that is full of nothing but people who stop things from getting done, and most things don't get done at all. So you basically ruined my weekend, and I really... And then you asked me to be on the show this morning when I had a different appointment, and I promised you I would cancel my appointment, so I'm here, what is it that is bothering you other than the emotion of me not taking care of everybody properly?

No, it's because I want to figure out a way to make it so that everyone can be happy around the money, because our audience is always giving money to the causes around us. Anytime we ask them for money, it's meaningful. It's not like just, Hey, give us $7 for something. The chief complaint that bothered me was how expensive things were.

You just did a deal with Max where you could end up behind a paywall for the same hour that is free on YouTube and you're talking to me about you don't care about money when I know exactly how much money Metalark and you are making. But no, a $40 shirt is now too much.

It's not me. I've put other people in charge of the business side of this. That's why I need you to clean this shit up.

But I did clean it up.

Yeah, you put David Samson in charge of the business. Right. Now you're upset with what David Samson did with the power. Well, this is what he does.

$10 shirts.

Great. I know the prices are exactly where they should be. Should your stuff be more expensive than my stuff? Yes, you've got more fans. You've got a bigger audience. It's time to take advantage of that audience and monetize it.

Supply and demand.

Instead of writing checks out of your pocket, why not let the customer write the checks so you can make more money?

Dan, listen to David Samson. It is time to take advantage of our audience.

What we're talking about here is the $40 T-shirts, right? They're $40. Is that what the-.

Well, shit. I'm asking.

I'm not- I'm just- I'm just- I'm just-.

-complaining on Twitter. I wasn't looking on Twitter, and I actually thought that David Samson being in charge of the merch store was a bit until I just asked Mike Ryan and he was like, No, this is actually real. A bit.

He is. He is.

No, he's.

Really doing it. One thing that confused me is I know that we prioritize... I was involved with the last merch store that had plenty of options, but the customer service wasn't up to snuff. The quality of the shirts wasn't up to snuff. I think from Still Images, people have made a snap judgment on the quality of the shirts when I know that that was a priority, which is probably helping explain the price point. But I'm not going to speak for David. David spoke for David Plenty here. Are there any upcoming pivots for the merch, or is this what it is? No, we're.

Not doing it that way. What do you mean, are there upcoming pivots? We're not doing.

It that way. I know, but you're surprised in getting mad at a man who sold Roy Halliday's No Hitball.

Yes. Okay, well, okay, because I'm not good at this part, and neither are you, Stugat. I know. -because you want all of the money. Well, duh. So, Samson, help me bridge this divide because it's why they say don't work with your friends. Don't do business with your friends. Are you an idiot, Levitard? Doing business with your friends. Again, I will tell you, I can't have our customer base that supports us most loyally, David, than any customer base. It's how we build the way we do. It's because they listen for more hours than anybody. No matter what Spotify does to junk up the numbers, and they deserve it to be cheaper than everybody else. Don't tell me, Barstol does this and Regan does this. I haven't talked to you about the specifics of how much this bothers me spiritually because I keep getting told you don't mix these two things. Creatives can't do these things. And this is why, because you guys all it up.

So let me address two things that, Dan, you need to change about yourself. Number one, the fact that you let business bleed into our relationship this weekend is extremely problematic because this Price Points in the merch store is the tip of the iceberg with what needs to change at MetalArk that I want to be a part of and do that you've charged me to do. We've only just begun, Karen Carpenter. So if you don't have the stomach for a $40.

Shirt, then.

You may have a problem with everything else.

Knock the price down, David. Seriously, knock the price down. No? Mike.

You put him in charge, Dave.

Thirty-seven bucks.

Can we revisit the cut that the shipping container is unhappy about? Because this is the first I'm hearing about this.

Listen to this part. No, this one's lovely. This one's lovely. If you want the innards of the business spilled in front of everybody like this one. Show it to me. This one's gross. This one's the formula that had to be created so that all of these people could get their other extra money so that Disney wasn't paying them became the salary structure here so that they could make more money here, all in. All in. Everything they were making, all of the money so that we could pay them better than Disney was with what that merch store was, which was just a contrived.

You're saying a lot of F words, pal.

You really are. Calm down.

Dan, I would like to point out that one of the biggest mistakes you made in forming MetalArk is you paid people for things for revenue that did not exist. The merch store revenue wasn't there, but you were paying everyone as though they were getting a piece of something that was Fagazie. Now what we've done is that nobody gets a piece of anything but you. By the way, for you and how high and mighty you are about, Oh, it's all about the audience, you demanded it that way. You wanted to make sure that nobody got paid anything, except you wanted me to take the blame for it. What do you mean me? I'm happy to do it. What do you mean me? My decision. I'm happy to do it, Dan. I'm happy to say to you, Jessica, and everyone in the shipping container that none of you are getting one dollar from the merch. It's all going to Dan. But what he does in return pays all of you to work for him. So the money does flow to you, just not shirt by shirt. And in terms of-.

That sounds great. We're happy.

About that. Dan said he's.

Bad at business. I can speak for the shipping containers. We don't have conversations nor really conviction when it comes to the merch store. We just want Dan to be happy because Dan's fired up about this and we want our fans to be happy. Thirty-six bucks. I'm really genuinely confused that us being confused at David Samson and his approach to business, given how well chronicled it's been.

Down here. I'm demanding it, is what I'm telling you. I'm demanding that we're lowering those prices. We're going to do it in the next segment. In the next segment, we're doing it. Don't live a tard. Greg Cody of the Miami Herald is writing an article, and I'm reading in it. Mass Miami, Sold Out. Miami Artists, Miami Culture. I'm reading Mass Miami is sold out. I'm reading about digital podcast network, and I'm reading about us. I'm like, This is our dreams coming true. Still got a thousand people come out, and we see the shipping container, and they're on stage, and they're like rock stars. You and me both had tears in our eyes. We're like mom and dad of sentiment, and it's hard to get you to sentiment, man.

That was a very emotional moment for us to see those guys. I'm telling you guys, you were on stage. Dan and I were both crying. Are you guys aware of this? Crying.

We were. Like crocodiles or tears. We believe Dan was fake. No, crocodile tears are fakes.

Crocodile tears are fakes. I thought.

They meant big. This is the Dan Levator Show with.

The.

Stugats.

I am so happy to see this man.

He makes me smile.

I mean, for a number of reasons. I mean, it's legitimately one of the great entertainers of our times, not just sports, for 30 years. And outside of Floyd Mayweather, maybe the best marketer in the history of sports, talker, seller of himself and confidence, and now aiming to be one of the big money coaches at the top of his sport that has more than four wins right now. Dion, more than four wins right now.

Also a top five smile of.

All times. Yes. So, Dion, hold on just a second, because I'm going to tell the audience, without waiting another second, the promo code for the merch store, Samson sucks 20, the number 20. Samson sucks the number 20, 20 % off everything in the damn stores.

It has nothing to do with Coach, Prime. We're just doing house.

That's correct. That's right. No, but he knows how to promote. So forgive me, Coach.

You should let him.

Promote it. Forgive me? Yeah, you're right about that. Coach, thank you for being on with us. And the first thing I want to ask you is how mad are you on behalf of your beloved alma mater? How mad are you today on behalf of FSU?

Well, I can't be upset. We're recruiting against those guys. You got to understand that this is business now. I can't be mad. But you got to look at it. A lot of people don't look at it as business. I look at it as this is entertainment, but this is business. There's no way you're going to leave Coach, Saban, in Alabama out of a playoffs. Who should be really upset? Not only Florida State, but Kerby Smart. He's been with number one for the last two years or three years, and they're out. What about them? This is unbelievable. I want those problems. Get me those problems.

I would think that you would appreciate this. The whole thing, though- I want those problems. Coach, the whole thing is a made-for-TV-spectacle, so Alabama has to get in.

Alabama has to- No, Alabama is deserving of.

Getting in. Okay, we can argue about that, but Dionne's okay with the whole thing being a TV commercial. That's what we're all doing. We're all selling sports.

It is what it is. You know who really messed it up, and they're really good. But you know who messed it up? It was Washington. They messed it up. Because that's not a huge market in their hand. You got during Michigan, Texas, Alabama, Washington, and they can play. God, they're good. I mean, they can flat out play. They got a quarterback that's out of this world. The defense is coming. I can't wait to see how it plays out. But leaving out of Florida State as well as Georgia. My God. That's why I'm thankful. It's increased next year, and guess who's going to be in?

I couldn't guess.

I have no idea. Oh, man.

I love that Washington screwed it up, Deion, by winning and going undefeated. Oh, my God. Yeah, I know.

They're really good.

I know.

They can play.

God, they can play. But I think the real team that messed it up is Auburn a couple of weeks ago. They really messed it up.

Yeah, Auburn are good. Yeah, but you can't have a playoff without nick Saban in Alabama. You can forget that. You can forget that. That's not going to happen.

Season two of Coach Prime premieres Thursday on Amazon Prime Video. I really do love Prime, how you've evolved everything you've done with your career to be where it is you are now because nobody knows how hard you had it to try. You were saying years ago, I should start as a head coach in the NFL. And everyone said, No, he's got to do a bunch of learning. They made you do it. Someone with your credentials never has to go the route that you had to go. Then you got paid at Colorado and you got four victories. Everybody was excited at the beginning of the season. What was the rest of it like for you? Because that seemed like it wouldn't be a lot of fun.

No, it was tough. The reason it was tough because I'm a darn winner. I'm a winner. That's tough with losing games, not only losing games, we got our butts kicked twice. Now, the rest of the games, we were in it within 6-7-8 points of victory that we were right there. You're talking about a team that won one game prior that was in it for 10 games that could have possibly won, but we didn't know how to win. We didn't have those 8-10 players that we need to get us over the hump. But guess what the day is? It's portal day.

He loves it.

It's portal-day. And guess what? I am in the portal. I am in the portal day. That's why I am in the portal. I am in the portal. I'm not hard to find it. You know how to find it. Guess what I'm finding? I ain't money. I ain't man. They're important. You guys watched this play. What did you say? Man, they had some fun. Those guys would be right there. Guess what? Today is portal day, and I'm going to get those things you said I need.

But I don't... You make it so naked and bare as business right now. And you've always been someone who likes to play Get Dirty there. Portal Day, you've been losing a lot of the recruits too. What's happening now?

No, we've been losing a lot of 25 guys. You want a high school kid to stay loyal to me, and he's not loyal to his girlfriend? Who else? No, these are 2025. We lost one guy in '24. You see, I can't say what I want to say because I'm a coach now, and I can't say what I want to say because it's offensive. But if you do your homework on what we lost, did we really need that?

He's losing who he wants.

To lose. Well, you weren't good enough.

Now, you got to understand. You guys target us because you said we lost this and lost that. Nothing substantial. You got teams out there that are losing quarterbacks. They're losing tremendous pieces of their puzzle. We hadn't. As far as coaches, man, I want all my coaches to elevate and get opportunity and get to the next level. I love that. That's what I want in life. I want everybody to go to the next level. One of my mentors, one of my guys that I get to shoot a commercial with every year is Coach Saban. When I'm shooting the commercial, I'm throwing questions at him 100 miles an hour, and he's hitting them right back to me. I mean, like Barry Barnes, and I love it. It's not a season that he does not lose coaches. He's given me the wisdom on that. I love it. These guys are elevating, man. That's what you want. You want Impact to be an institution where people want to glean from you. I love that. But as far as the kids, man, that's part of the game.

Do you like the business of it or is it too dirty?

It's not too dirty. I just want to play with what you play with. If you got a big marble, I want a big marble. If you got a swing set, I want to be pushed to in the swing set. I don't want you to have the competitive advantage of finances, and I don't. I don't like that part. I don't want it to be NASCAR. I want it to be college football. I love all the attributes of it. I love college football, man. I do what I love, and I love what I do. It's not the day that I wake up in Boulder, Colorado, that I don't want to get in there and go get it. I'm getting to father my kids at the same during time. I'm the happiest man alive, man.

Dion, what is the most challenging thing about coaching your son?

Nothing, really, because they're pretty good.

Yeah, they are pretty good.

Both my kids are pretty darn good. Then my son that does all of the video work and YouTube stuff, you guys, he's phenomenal. He is one of the best in the game.

He's protecting the business as well. He is really, honestly, one of the best businessmen of my time. Season 2 of Coach Prime premieres Thursday on Amazon Prime Video. I am happy to see you in the game, sir. Let's talk more often because you carried the football season for a month, Deion. That's crazy.

That's crazy. It got pretty heavy. It got pretty heavy, I got to admit. It got heavy. I had to let it go. It got heavy. But this season, you're going to see everything, man. Exciting, zillifying, electrifying, and now coming from hope, which we instilled in everybody in BOLD to Colorado that can touch the program, now there's expectation. That's why I got to get off this phone and get in that portal so I can meet Matt.

All right. See you later. See you later.

I love you guys. Hey, I can see you. Can we do this.

More often? Let's go. Let's go. Whenever you want to. Pornhol-day. Whenever you want. Hey, whenever you want to sell stuff here.

Anytime you want.

We got a merch store.

Yeah. It's all to.

You tomorrow.

You know, like I said. Porn all day. Porn all day. Porn all day. Porn all day. Porn all day. Porn all day.

Porn all day.

Tomorrow, Deon, okay?

All right. I'm sorry. I have put so much into the show that hasn't allowed us to talk about college football because the chaos has arrived. No, we're dying to talk about everything that happened yesterday, Stugart, because it was just the perfect spectacle. I really do think that in the future, if they could have kept it together, but just have all six of the teams pick one representative that argues in front of America why their team should be in and turn that into the pregame show.

Perhaps Hershaw Walker.

That would be a... Where is he? Game show. So everyone's mad in a scenario where it's inevitable, Stugat, because it's not about measuring the best. It's a concoction. It's the last four, but it's not about measuring the best. It is about make a television show and make the argument around why the television show measures who and who isn't best, but let's just get the ratings. Let's just make sure that we get everybody. It's a made-for-television-spectacle. It is not pure.

I would actually like to applaud the committee. I don't care what it is. It was entertaining, and I think we got the final four that we wanted. We got the best four teams or the most entertaining teams in the country, Dan. The best for television. I want to applaud the committee because for years we have been railing against, Oh, the last two undefeated teams. They play each other in a national championship. You know what the committee said? Not this year. That team, while undefeated, while in a power five, while winning two or three road games and conference championship games with their backup quarterback and their third street quarterback, they're not good enough. These teams are better. I applaud them because I do believe the four teams they put in are better.

Than Florida State. Also best for television and can be both.

I don't know if that's true, Stugats, if they are. It depends how you rate these things. And I think their argument was that Florida State without Jordan Travis is a different team than Florida State with Jordan Travis. And that was their excuse for letting them go. I don't really think it came down to ACC being a second tier league or whatever, although I think that they're never going to leave out an SEC team. There is never going to be a playoff without at least one SEC team. I could even have seen them putting in Georgia and Alabama.

I was stunned. But is it because of the strength of the conference or is it because those are obviously if it's Alabama Georgia, you know you've got Georgia getting ceremoniously dropped after the run they just had. That's offensive what just.

Happened to Georgia. Yeah, it should be noted for Georgia, 29 game win streak, back to back, reigning, defending national champions. Lost by three. They lose by three.

But those seasons don't carry over, Mike.

I mean, I understand, but there's something to be said for-.

But then how does Alabama get in then?

That's the whole- Hold on. I'm going to just totally take you apart right now because you say they have the best four teams in there. Do you think, really, that if we're putting the four best teams in there, Georgia is not one of the four best teams?

No, I don't.

That's convenient. I don't. But I think anybody would say Georgia is one of the best four teams in the nation.

Except a committee of people whose job it is to decide this.

They said no. It's just awfully convenient to apply the logic towards Alabama. They're one of the four best teams in the nation. That's what this College of Football playoff is about.

It's one of the worst Bama teams in a decade.

I mean, if you're going to apply that logic, then Georgia should be there, too. It was a hard decision. One school, multiple schools were going to be pissed off by it. There's really no great answer to it. But generally, I think most people are like, Sugats, happy that they get to see Alabama instead of a.

Third-string quarterback. I want to stay here a little bit, so we're going to do more of this next, because I know Chris Cody wants to get in here. I can't wait to hear what Chris Cody has to say. He rooted for this.