See, you're really throwing it down in the kitchen like you're not. This is not a shtick for air, like you're throwing it down every night. I see. It takes a long time. It does. Cooking is a little like is it worth it to ask yourself a lot?

I do find it soothing, though. I picked up a new hobby, I guess. Thank you. Hello, fresh. It's one of those things that when you're in it and you're cooking and you're like, I'm doing something and you sit down to eat it and you're just like, would this have been worth it to just pay someone to make this me?

The shitty part is cleaning up. This is right. The shitty part is an hour and a half of cooking, not with how fresh, but in general an hour and a half cooking. And it takes you five minutes.

Well, one of the things that I like about how fresh is that? The fresh ingredients. Right. So you could buy minced garlic, but they make you minced the garlic yourself, which I enjoy.

But it also I just I just I just have minced garlic. And if they want me to chop up garlic, I just take a scoop of minced garlic.

Right. Like every dish that I get has the scallions. Right. So like that takes me like 20 minutes to just prep like the veggies for separate the white in the green always.

But I have caught the bug a little bit maintenant.

Why do you need to separate them if they just get back together when you mix everything because the white is usually used that you cook it and put it with something and the green is like a garnish at the end of the dish. Oh God, get out of here.

Yeah, I enjoyed the pickling process. I had a recipe that I was pickling the white scallions and in white vinegar, white wine vinegar.

And that was quite delicious. You enjoyed the process. Yeah, I'm I'm learning a lot.

It's definitely that is one thing. It teaches you different methods of cooking. Yeah. Rosa, how was your face, Roy?

Well, it's swollen all. Let's see.

You want to you're amongst friends or do you not want to show it? I don't want to put you out. Don't in fact, I don't see it.

I want to see it. Show me. I want to see it. So it was I mean, probably OK.

Oh wow. I don't want to see on the news just cause it's just.

Oh, you're going under the guise. OK, well I can't help up and it doesn't look that bad but I'm still leaking it.

Yeah. Do you snore your snore. No.

Well that well isn't that a procedure to help with snoring.

Oh this decision was going to help me with my migraines.

So yeah, I feel like Roy would not admit to us if he was a snore like in that story about us. About it. I know. But I feel like if you were you still would say now because you don't really like to give us the satisfaction of ever. That's kind of your thing.

Christmas good without you. I mean, there's no doubt you're look, you won't even give us that.

It's so on Brand. No, that's not true.

It's also hard to know if you're a snorer, right? Unless someone tells you where they need to snore at work. Well, I figured you got a deviated septum, so I figured that you would, you know, I'm texting a need. It was a rhinoplasty. We know this is not an actual rhinoplasty.

I don't think Tony snores, though. I don't think Tony ever snored or I don't think I'll ever snore, period. Tony, I don't know why I have this weird thing with Tony where I think he's perfect.

You want to I mean, it's just that you you identify that I want to have I want to have sex with Tony, that endoscopic egg.

It's odd when I hear the F word from Billy. Billy, that was great. Yeah. That was really funny. Really means it.

And in this case, he was right. I mean, I've been rolling on the whole thing.

That's good use of is a good use.

Oh, Tony, do you snore sometimes.

Oh, right now. Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes I snore. Depends on how tired I am.

Billy there were two moments that brought America together last night. One was obviously the versus thing, and that's a larger conversation. But I'm hoping you saw Pitbull perform at the Latin Grammys with all the first responders I saw of it.

I didn't see it happen. I thought you were going to talk about the Seahawks neon green jerseys bringing America together. That's probably more likely to tear America apart.

I think it's called action green. I think that's what they call it. I've been corrected by Mina Kimes, but I was watching highlights. I'm trying to track down the entire performance. But Pit Bull performed this sort of coming together song that he released at the beginning of the pandemic, killed, I believe that we will win, which I think he's just trying to get royalties off of US men's soccer, but whatever. And he performed it at the Latin Grammys and his entire backing band was first responders, but they were also dressed as first responders.

So it was a little bit jarring to watch two firefighters and their firefighter garb just shredding on a guitar while Mr. Worldwide is just bringing the country together.

I remember when this whole thing started and when he released that song that whatever that tower is called in the middle of downtown, what is that thing called? I don't know what it's called. Tower or tower. The Freedom Tower. I know it's a new one. It's like the river.

It's a it's the new building on it.

I think it starts with a P or something. I don't know. But the whole side of the building is like a giant LCD board and like, depending on when you drive by, it's just an American flag waving. But they had something with it was like a group of radio stations where every night at ten o'clock for like a week right on the dot. And it was like all these local stations down here, like a Spanish station, the like pop, whatever, top 40 station, whatever.

They would play this song right at ten o'clock. And that tower would have the lyrics like on this side of the building like and it's like a fifty something sixty something storey massive building and you just have people's lyrics and the song like blaring in unison. It was the best guy that got us through this huh. Got God we recovered. Yes I did.

As the vaccine I think because Pfizer is pushing the vaccine out today, they're filing for emergency approval today. And I think they were spurred on by by people's performance at the Latin Grammys.

I was going to say, isn't the real vaccine, though, song and new pitbull music?

If we really get down to the bottom, I think the vaccine is Jeezy and Gucci Mane coming together and performing. So I see the clothes there.

I want to I want to talk about that. Manny Diaz tested positive for you. Just. Yeah, yeah. This is the local our.

No, but I want to talk about our pursuit of pit bull because I thought we were going to get closer to Armondo here when we talked to his brother, Uley Diaz earlier this week, the bare knuckle fighter who knocked someone out in three seconds. What what happened with our pursuit, our pursuit after that? Well, I think Bailey has the answer. We spoke to Ueli and that afternoon he was going on Pit Bulls podcast and he was supposed to ask Pit Bull to come back on the show with us.

So I don't know where Bailey left.

That got the sense that you it was just being polite with that. I will say this. There has been conversation between Billy and Ugly since.

So, you know, it's not just personal conversation or, you know, oh, yeah, we're two peas in a pod.

Me and you. You want to come.

But the thing that I think the last time he was on, it sounded like you wanted to. Actually, I did. The way that you talked about his glistening brown body. But is this belly like a marlin scenario where you just now want to be friends with Julie, but we're not going to get anything out of it. Like it's like yesterday's Marland scenario where you're getting a good relationship with the Marlins that feeds your fandom. But our show doesn't get anything out of that relationship.

It's the slow play or the slow play. You don't want to come off too desperate right away and say, oh, my God, you give me this for hour. You become friends with them and then they become friends with us. And then instead of like, Hey. It's a one off type thing. They're like regulars, you and I mean Mr. Worldwide is there with France is there? He was friends with Shaq. Shaq saluted this show for some time.

Maybe Shaq will come on the slow play, guys, the slow play. I appreciate that.

Next thing you know, Jason Sudeikis is on South Beach Session's Dan. Izzy, you have been a little nervous to do it, I'm like, I'm still waiting for David Beckham because you took Cobi Jones years ago.

Like, how many how many working on that?

How many U.S. soccer players did we have on the show with the idea that we would get Beckham and we've never gotten back?

I mean, very you're very high maintenance when you're dismissing the legend, Cobi Jones, but you have to work in a Beckham angle. He's over in the U.K. Are you trying to set up talk for Inter Miami's first ever playoff game tonight?

Then we tell. I'm excited. Then we take a mascot. I mean, I don't think we took a mascot suit, but we didn't take a mascot.

But we do we take Michael Bradley, which is sort of the equivalent of what we do not take, Michael. But I feel like we took a few people that we didn't want to take in the idea that we would eventually get David Beckham this solo play.

So, OK, the slow play, you know what?

That was thrown in my face a lot. You got Jozy Altidore the day that he assisted the game winning goal against Algeria from South Africa because who could forget it? Ships I built. All right. He was next to Bill Clinton when he was talking to us on the phone. I mean, I got to Jozy Altidore agreed.

But we agreed to take all of those soccer players in exchange for David Beckham, who has not appeared. Correct. I'm just trying to understand the rules of the slow play, as you guys have.

This is over a decade long play and I'm getting there. See, it's different. I got to strike while the iron is hot like we had usually on. I think you go right after Pitbull, you go for a week or two. We were it's a blaze right through the sky. We're friends and then they never talk to us again. That's it. That's the way I go. I mean, you guys go with you're so slow play. But I would have thought already I mean, be on today.

Well, feel free to handle it if you want to get him out. He's no, I mean this is all an angle for me to get Ulis not just do you have an Instagram. Daniëlle. Yeah, just follow me. I mean it'll work out ok. I'm going after you.

I don't feel like we talked at all about precious Ottawa yesterday, like we didn't talk at all about what the heat did. We are grown accustomed in, in many, many years before the last couple that whatever the heat are doing in the middle round, the middle of the first round isn't going to net them anything. But all of a sudden, the last couple of years have have struck gold. So now are people assuming that one of the most athletic people in the draft can be shaped and molded by the heat into something that's special or precious?

I had no idea how awesome this guy was in college. He was a really good player and he's a cultural fit by all accounts. And he's a he fits in need from the Miami Heat. And they got look you see what they do, a second round picks and G League people like Duncan Robinson and turning big contract players over and over again, like Tyler Johnson has a contract that everybody wants to get rid of. By the way, I saw James Johnson opted in the sixty million dollars and was promptly traded Oklahoma City.

So, yeah, if they're getting a pick in the number twenty overall pick, of course, I'm going to trust that because look what they do with people that are undrafted.

Well, you guys saw. Right, because this is always interesting to me when you sort of escape a problematic situation. You guys saw that Gordon Hayward, once the coveted prize of the Miami Heat, he opted out of thirty four million dollars in Boston, opted out, which means I got to assume. Right. It's one of two things. And I guess the nefarious one, he was unhappy there or he thinks he could get a lot more than that.

He knows free agent.

He's got to know he's got a deal that he ends up winning. You don't opt out of thirty one million dollars, especially with that injury history, that injury history might scare him into wanting a longer term deal. But, yeah, he obviously has something cued up.

Mike, you think there's someone out there that's going to offer him it's Atlanta, isn't it?

Atlanta and has talked about it. And you be careful there. Wow. OK, you're right.

Well, you have to you have to be careful for a number of different reasons. One of them being we scoffed at the idea once upon a time that Tyler Johnson was going to get fifty million dollars and not a point.

Not I did not. The NBA is crazy, man. And there's always your value is what one team will pay for you. And you don't make a decision like that. He's got a good agent and bartletti like they know exactly what they're doing.

But 34 million dollars is just for one year, correct? He was opting in. Yeah, he was opting into thirty four million dollars.

I'm sure Danny Ainge is actually pretty happy, but someone's going to pay him north of thirty four million dollars, maybe not that it won't be a year, but what he's going to do is maybe get three years and whatever. Sixty million or however it is that the math works and he's coming off of injury. So he might be worried if he goes in one more year, 34 million dollars and doesn't show anything. Right. That he's not going to be able to actually recoup the 34 million dollars as opposed to now because the money's guaranteed in basketball.

My guess. Is that he probably has some sort of idea that he's going to get 50 or 60 million dollars over a few years, get three years 50 to 60 as opposed to one year. I don't know the math on this.

It might even be more than that.

For all I know, it's going to be interesting. The Celtics always seem to do a good job of rebuilding after they lose these guys. But, you know, they're in the room with Kevin Durant. Everyone's thinking they have the best shot outside of Golden State to get them. They have this core of Horford, Kyrie and Gordon Hayward that everyone's excited about now. None of them are there and they're looking at the downward trajectory of Kemba Walker Walker's career.

So it's a little scary for them.

What Philadelphia did I thought was interesting to watch because they basically just jettisoned what the previous administration had done in terms of mismatch part the Al Horford the Al Horford thing really didn't work.

And it's what I mean I was telling you yesterday there's a difference between a guy who's decent or OK from three, which Al Horford has become and a reputation three shooter that you have to guard out there opening things up for Simmons and it'd be the best version of the team was the one that had a bunch of shooters on it that had JJ Redick that had Ilyasova right Saric like a bunch of shooters around those guys and Jimmy Butler was there too which obviously.

Well yeah that search was in that Jimmy Butler trade. But I'm with you. I still don't know how much better they got. They, they solved some answers but I don't think the shooting is good enough to compensate for the lack of shooting from there to usage.

Guys, I wonder if you're so Homer and so filled with what has happened over the last few seasons that if I said to you, who would you rather have Joel Embiid or and Ben Simmons or Bam and Jimmy Butler, that you would tell me that whoever I put in the heat uniforms is going to end up being the better combination of players that if I gave Jimmy Butler and Bam. Yeah.

Do you know what culture is or the six. Yeah, that's what culture is really. No need to wonder. Yeah.

I put Joel Embiid So you believe in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons is a combination if they were here.

Yeah absolutely. That's you wouldn't. It's not that I wouldn't have the same sort of questions about how do those pieces fit if I took them right now out of Philadelphia, what they're saying is the organization is a tire fire. Look, I know it's been a tire fire, but the part that I find interesting about what Daryl Morey selected is he tried to be so creative for so many years in Houston, so many different ways. He tried to hire Meana to do an Etch A Sketch, trying to recruit some freeagent.

I don't know whether it was Dwight Howard or somebody else. And now what he's done is he's upgraded for the situation that any executive would want, which is. Wait a minute, what do you mean? I could get two young superstars, two young superstars and start there, like he just went from Houston and something that felt like it was all falling apart and everyone fleeing the premises to a perfect situation for him, because every GM is going to want to start with those two pieces.

But like magic culture, you get out of the culture works like Karl Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins with a title here. I mean, they do OK.

I don't do I? Look, you know, I believe in the Heat organization and I believe in the people who run it and that they do a special things in terms of molding and shaping people into their best selves.

But get at with that. I get out of here with a team. You can't make the playoffs in the West.

I'm fine. I'm out of here with Jimmy Butler. Made that, like, what, a three seed? I mean, and those guys are trash now. I mean, for reputation guys in league.

Anyway, Golden State Warriors are all of a sudden they've got three bad contracts. They've got Wiggins, they've got Draymond and they've got Klay. Those are three. Those are three. Now bad contracts for the team that was light years ahead of everybody.

A couple of you man that was so disappointing about Klay. Yeah, I'm really bummed about that because I wanted to see Steph Klay and Draymond Green. I was reading an article about that Dynasty deserved the opportunity to give it up on the court and even in that finals they were all super hurt in that finals. You never really got to see the champion go down at the hands of someone else. Truly, even if you hated that team, you wanted to see that.

I was bummed as well. It's good to be there, say, two and a half years between games or Klay Thompson. Like, we're never going to see the same Klay Thompson again. And defensively, probably not.

He's still one of the best spot of shooters ever, so I'm not sure that's going to go away. People have gotten better at coming back mildly, better coming back from the Achilles injury, Charles Barkley thought that he was the best two way player in the sport. One would imagine that his defense can't be as good. One would also imagine that he'll be able to shoot until he's 50.

Yeah, Wesley Matthews had that injury and he played pretty well defensively for Milwaukee this season. I think he's available now. I think he opted out. So maybe that gives some hope. He was a death sentence in the NBA up until the mid 2000s. And even now, you still see players not be themselves and wing players. They rely more on that fast twitch muscle fiber. So we'll see what happens with Clay.

I'm surprised you weren't gloating more yesterday about Josh Richardson being traded to the Dallas Mavericks. You have been the nation's preeminent Josh Richardson hater since he was here making dumb decisions late in games. You wanted him traded? My reputation, I believe it is. Would you guys agree with that, that Mike Ryan has been the nation's preeminent Josh Richardson hater?

I mean, he's not a bad player, but I would agree. Yeah, yeah. I mean, he's the only dad beat the crap that I'm on that end. Antonio Callaway. Oh, wait a minute.

We got to get to that because Antonio Calloway has been called up. He has there been covid strikes and Antonio Calloway is now off the practice squad for the Dolphins. This means that Chris and Mike Ryan are going to have added. Mike Ryan believes Antonio Callaway is the worst football player in the history of football. Chris is excited to see what you can do with Anthony, OK.

I just kind of knew that that name would poke Mike Ryan. So when I found out he was on our practice squad, I just wanted to poke my grind with them, needling me right now.

It single handedly brought down two things. I love the Browns in the NFL. I'm writing. What I'm dreading is the two catches for twenty four yards. But one of them is a short slant for a touchdown and engines. It's going to be terrible. And then when he gets cut like five games later, I don't get to take a victory lap.

But what are you doing with your recent label as the world's preeminent?

Josh Richardson? Really? I mean, he's he's a nice guy. That's what I'll say about Josh Richardson. Their defense is going to suffer from trading him. And he while he should he should have shot the ball a little bit better, especially remember his rookie year. He had no problem with that.

But it didn't make any sense. And that speaks to your culture stuff. Josh Richardson came here and all of a sudden became a good shooter from three, and it didn't have any warning. There was no reason for him to suddenly be a good three point shooter.

A million other things speak to the culture. So it's it's laughable. I understand what you're doing.

Wait a minute. So you believe that if I simply put Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons in heat uniforms last year, they would have been playing in the finals.

Of course, Jimmy Butler went to the NBA Finals with Bam Adebayo who we thought he was going to continue to grow and develop and nobody expected that.

And Tyler Hero, a twenty year old Tyler hero.

If you fear that the Miami Heat could do something like that with Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, why wouldn't you fear that Daryl Morey could do something like that with those? I look, I like you.

I like Daryl a lot. I love Daryl. OK, overrated. Overrated.

I was like I knew that was coming. I like him. I love him. Overrated. No, get out of here with Terence Moore and Doc Rivers like these guys are pretty much they've been failures for the most part. And I say that knowing Doc Rivers has won a title doc, should that three title doc is a failure. Oh my. Three more than overrated. More failure.

A failure. I like him. I love him. He's overrated. He's a failure. Don't worry.

I mean, he hasn't done anything.

You're coming at me with an established culture that, may I remind you, went to game six against the Los Angeles Lakers without their Bush went to game seven and if Chris Paul had been healthy, would have the game seven of the Western Conference kind of hard.

But Chris Paul got hurt and they had they had the Warriors before forgetting Chris Paul. He won't get hurt with the heat. He would have been in shape. I mean, culture.

Yeah, I mean, he has been he has been in a musical from all the dumb arguments the guy has made over the years.

Hear him digging in. I remember this so clearly because he was so proud of himself. You know what I'm going to say right now? What am I going to say?

Well, Marcellus, his ability to keep things healthy, Bill Parcells was keeping the Miami Dolphins healthy, Bill Parcells shape up ourselves, and they played in this violent sport. And the guy's like, nope, he's got a secret ability to make sure people don't turn knee ligaments, billboards, all his hair color of urine. He's pear shaped. He's got a secret mystical ability, like a like an oracle.

Meanwhile, Bam was hurt. Dragic missed the finals. That's right. That's right, the Lakers didn't go to the lake, LeBron never hurt, no matter what the culture is, is playing it. Do I think Milwaukee and the Sixers have gotten marginally better? Yes, absolutely. The Miami Heat pretty much ran through that conference and they took on the toughest matchup. And while it was a six game series, there seemed to be a pretty sizable gulf between Miami and Boston as well.

So I'm not really worried right now.

Danny Green, and what's going to scare. Hold on. What are you doing now? What I'm doing is I have the winning hand. We made the finals. You made the finals.

But what I don't understand about what you're doing is the heat going six with the Lakers is an indication of how close the Heat are to the Lakers. But the Celtics going six with the Heat are not is not an indication in any way of how close the Celtics are being hypocritical out of here learned so well.

I want to know where you draw the line, like what combination of players would win a championship with the heat you agree with me on?

This is not the time to come at me with anti culture shit. Like if I give you a Beal and wall with the heat, they're healthy, man.

I'm feeling what we're good team. Oh man, I'm terrible coach. C'mon, they were a good team.

A good team is overstated by the Wizards where they scary they were amidst a middle of the first round seed, a middle seed in a conference that we all said was very easy.

Like a dog with a bone with this one. Let's be realistic for a second, OK? Mike Yokich and Murray play for the heat. How long does it take them to win a title? I don't think, guys, I'm going to take the heat culture if you give me the two best players on other teams, I'm going to say they're going to be automatically better with the Miami Heat title title, probably.

OK, Joakim Noah and Austin Rivers, does that win a title? Oh, my God.

There he is. Percocet. Ladies and gentlemen, my boy is in the house. He is in the chat. He has got a deviated septum sort of situation. I don't know whether it's been revealed what the procedure has been, but he is still wearing a mask over now. Just his nose and his face sounds constipated. The entire am I wrong as it is?

You guys are putting me in a pretty losing position right now. And I don't really understand it because they made it to the finals. They had a damn good showing in the finals despite all the injuries they had to overcome. And it's just like, wow, you're being unreasonable. No, not they made it to the NBA finals, like well ahead of schedule.

But if we do it a different way, what if we switch the coaches? Like, what if instead of switching players, what if we put SPO on the Sixers last season? Is it is it spo we're talking about here just the overall culture, the culture.

You got to move the culture from Miami to Philadelphia, which I don't know if you could do that or not, not in a year.

Are you guys actively trying to bother the audience because I don't know, on the list of things here that bothered the audience, let's figure out what they are, because Mike's got a handful of them in terms of Browns, Homer, Hurricaine, Homer and culture, culture, culture.

And don't forget soccer guy. Oh, that's right. Soccer and music snob is right.

It's a real bizarre thing where I have you know, I'm on the grand scale of the globe. I have winning hands. But over here it's just I'm walking in ls left and right.

What do you say is the one that annoys the audience the most. Is it Brownes Olmer. Is it Kayne's talk. Is it culture.

Chanes probably because that the Keen's I'll admit the can tap into the worst. I think of me, I think it's however I feel like I've made really positive strides.

After you killed me, after you were humbled like LaVar Ball, after you ripped my heart out and soul and it was just like, man, I got to change my life.

Billy, doesn't that feel good to you? Doesn't it feel good to you to know that Butch Davis and your mighty, mighty Panthers rip the slaughtered?

I'm Butch Davis this year. Dan, sorry, what happened? What is your doing exactly?

What is it exactly that the program transforming victory. We all assumed it might have been a great year.

Is covid affected? A lot of things. We play like four games on Sunday. And, you know, talk about that right now.

What we're talking about, we were talking about whether you felt good about you tearing the soul out of Miami, Mike saying he has been changed, that Mike Holmer has been humbled by your Panthers, by.

Oh, man, what a game that was. I remember that Marlins Park that was fun.

And then they lost the next week and the season letdown game. I mean I mean, we're in a in a position right now. Are they beating Marshall, who is ranked right now, would be like the biggest win in school history if they're able to find a way to do that this season. But they play like three games.

So I don't know that we're going to get to that game, which leads us to many ideas, actually, because they've been battling covid policy things and the University of Miami. Now, Manny Diaz has revealed that he is positive for covid-19, which really is a weight off my shoulder. So I don't have to talk around it.

Well, can you guys help me with something? Because you remember, I would argue. Got you. Tell me if you think I'm wrong about this, that the toughest stretch that this show has endured from like the first four months that we were doing this was the beginning of this pandemic. It feels like it's encroaching on us, on all sides. If someone gets it in here, we are going to have to nuke the show again for a while.

We're we're doing it from separate locations. And it's going to be quite the the misery here. What level of concern? You've been a hypochondriac throughout all of this, even though your behavior has been more reckless than you would assume from a hypochondriac.

I have a flight right after the show. OK, where are you going this time? I'm going to Delaware. Is that a hotspot or you have no idea? I'm assuming everywhere. It's a hot spot.

You know, it's suffered like New Hampshire.

Mike, we have been so careful as they show. We really have been. We have been like the closest to anything. When we walk in the hallways around here, no one's getting near each other. Everyone is always six feet apart. The only place that this could really happen in here is basically this studio between me and Stewardson in a confined space with us talking a lot, sending things into the air, whether you know and the science of this are sometimes we five and a half feet apart sometimes.

Does this thing travel seven feet like we don't know. This is not something that we have any earthly idea about.

And covid gotten well from the outside looks who got just scared when because I was talking about it, he went and opened the door a little bit. So whatever viruses are in here could get out of the of the room and.

And I'm worried about the fact that Stewart keeps flying in and out of the of the of the city in the state.

I have two negative tests the last seven days, I believe. And I will tell you this, you asked the toughest stretch for this show. It's either the first four months of the pandemic or the first four months of the show.

That's it. First four months of fusion. Oh, yeah. It's a good one. I want to ask you about the big in the TV studio. Yeah, yeah. That was that was a brutal year and was so uncomfortable.

Oh. But I think rightfully so. But I thought the show was so much better than what we're talking about in terms of what we were ending up producing. I'm not talking about our unhappiness. I'm talking about what was going on in the air to the audience. I don't think four months of newsroom were nearly as bad as the first few months of the pandemic by the first few months of the show period to be expected, by the way.

I mean, Dan will tell stories where he was riding around this neighborhood on a bicycle trying to figure it out. I wasn't doing that. I was driving in a car. But I had the same kind of feeling like I knew what we were doing was not very good. And I knew he wasn't very happy.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. You're talking about like when you guys first started with the first story, the first different know there's a different show.

Yeah. It was Stewart's interviewing me. It was three hours. It was really bad.

I mean, I think you guys are a little hard on yourself because you guys still got like big name guests. Dan had access to these names. Are you saying Golberg like talking to who is that guy? That's Greenberg.

Well, Notre Dame, you know, could you know, is that when Dan realized that it takes a show a little bit to find its voice because that is something he goes to a lot now with shows, is that did you learn that with our radio show?

I can't say it for Chappelle, having seen the first few episodes, again, he came out of the box that way. But usually it wasn't this show that taught me that. I would say it was highly questionable that that left that mark on me, because when we started that and the Daley machine is unforgiving, like, you got to hurry up and figure it out because people will give up on you in a hurry.

But you always say, and you're right in saying that we were afforded something that many radio shows are not afforded. We were afforded the amount of time to get this thing to a to a much better place than where we started because that first year was brutal.

Well, me and two guys were talking about this the other day because I do believe that if we go and comb through the history of some of this show, we will find some funny things. We were talking about the specifics of Stewart had this character forced upon him. It was not me. It was not me that did it. It was Murph. And I don't know who else was it. It didn't wasn't there are 790 sort of like board of directors that suggested to you the idea you guys came to me with the idea that fagots would be Danz pool boy.

Yeah, well, the idea was you're such an overwhelming talent and presence in the market and it did make sense, like you and Boog at the time, as equals. Doing a fifty fifty show would have made sense, but was not available at that time. And so for me to come in and try to do 50/50 with you to me did not make sense. So it was like, all right, let's have Dan, Big Dan and then lesser me.

And yeah, it was like I don't know if the board of directors thing. I think it was just really my idea. Like this is the way we should do the show. But I started driving it because you didn't have any radio, but you say it was your idea. Forgive me for this because I remember standing by my pool and getting a call from you one time telling me that we were going in a different direction that you didn't like or it was not like that.

We had harmed your credibility so much by making you the pool boy. And I thought years later that that was you just making a call on your behalf and going, oh, apart from the board of directors that you didn't like it. It took me. I didn't like it. It took me a while to grow into it and be comfortable with it. At the beginning, I rejected it. I mean, to be clear, I don't know how many people would like it.

Like to be clear. I don't think anybody would would choose that role in terms of just getting beat up and being the person that I questioned it. And now look at the winning position it is. I know the question. Yeah, I'm always the bleep hole.

But who who was that call coming from? Who, where? When you call me and I'm by a pool and I'm picking up the phone and I feel your hurt feelings like Snooki doesn't want to do it this particular way anymore. And like, where was that call coming from? Do you remember where we were in the show's history?

I feel like we were maybe a year to 18 months in. It came for me. That's where it came from. I mean, I was getting bludgeoned on the air, but did they know?

But did the board of directors that had decided this, did they know you were making that phone call? They didn't give a shit. No, they didn't care how it was done. They wanted you to pound on me harder.

I mean, the board of directors, it was. Yeah, I mean, it was impossible to get all the people that were supposedly board of directors in the same room. I barely said I thought there were five. When we had a press call, there was an ownership group. We had a press conference at the Orange Bowl, we had a press conference to announce that we were doing this. And I thought there were five partners there, not a board of directors.

They were just five. I didn't think they all had equal ownership either. I thought it was the owner and then four people who were just a board that you just nailed it.

It was Joe Feinberg who was the owner and then myself, Allan Brown, Scott Becker and Kurt Murphy with the other diversity, diversity.

We came out of the box with boy, and that was Joe Rose in the morning on diversity.

Oh, my God, Don.

Different time. It was a prime time.

We're the most diverse show in the history of ESPN. How did it start from there?

I don't think we can call ourselves that anymore. What? Because the morning show is now that Jay-Z more diverse, I think the rest of the lineup toast was in there.

Do they have a fourth voice on K.J.? I haven't watched Jay-Z.

I had a big day, many in the midday. Yeah, that's right. Minervini it was early. I had Slotkin so I could just like, wait a minute. Was I the only minority in the entire lineup. You're just hiring Minervini since I didn't.

I think OJ McDuffee, was he a part of that.

I don't think he was part of the original said Rozenberg said was there eventually. Sedano came over eventually. Wait a minute. Was the original lineup you got a bunch of old white guys trying to think, oh no, they weren't part of the launch.

But I think even back then, they knew like, wait a second, there's a lot of white guys we should have a contest to put to Latin guys together. Those amigos. That was a good show. It was a good show. It was fun.

Sports brothers, I got a little offended at how much they started using our sounds.

And then there was a call made the amount of shows I tried to put together Clayton and Dupere.

I mean, by the way, you should like hit up one of the notes, amigos, if you really want Armando on their friends with Pitbull Lah's. Oh yeah. Larssen people are like like peas in a pod.

Well, Billy is making inroads with Uley, like the slow play. I don't know what we're going to do with that. I really thought we were going to have pit bull by the end of the week. Given our bromance with Uley, one of my most crowning achievements.

It was like the last thing I did before the pandemic, in retrospect, was the Super Bowl in Miami. I had a lot of fun and when people took the stage at Shaq's fun house, people thanked me for playing it. I was like, wow, he thanked me by name. No one else did that. He did. Armondo He's got a good touch.

Armondo does he did you get close enough to smell him? Because he would seem to smell like cologne at all times and that backstage was a bit of a mess.

You want to you want to give people and this is the delicious version of you just see this one. Yeah. The music. Well, but wait a minute. Just backstage with Pitbull is the dodgiest version of.

Hey, you know what? I was just curious.

I don't know why guys did that. I was just a music snob.

But that music snob thing, in fact, since I was a music artist, just the kid in that statement didn't help. Well, the music artist. Yeah, I was.

I was on the mall. Thank you. He wait an extended set that would seems like a million years.

Does that mean to you, Ric Flair introduced you?

I have this hilarious video of my dad. That was this year. That was that I. No, no, that was this year. No, we had the Super Bowl in town. No, that was no Super Bowl pressure.

No, I wouldn't do that. I wore that battery costume like six years ago, Chris. This is what I was going to tell you. I was going to say that moment on first take that we had that we still haven't gotten to. Mike Ryan is showing us his dad dancing erotically that they don't. Nolan's Instagram, obviously, she's horrified by the dancing of Mike's dad. I want to get back to that, Kris, though, because I've been promising the audience for a while to tell the story of what happened.

I think my dad got it in that night, not with Katy, with that girl. That was answer. I want to tell the story, Chris, for those who do not know, because we were separated that day and it really does seem like so long ago, we are me and Mike were here at this studio. Stuart and Billy were on radio row and Chris was here in a battery costume as we began our sponsorship with Advance Auto Parts, which is a show.

Advanced Auto Parts really gets what we do. They don't mind they don't mind that we're sort of, you know, blaspheming their mascot or making things ridiculous with their mascot.

I think more so than any sponsor we've ever had. They understand they're in on the hijinx and they get that.

We're just sort of fooling around with everything. And it doesn't have to be the common structure of how sports radio is. And so we were doing their mascot things as a joke, and I got into some trouble because first take was here and this is just, you know, just a delight for us whenever we happened upon sort of the anarchy of let's show you what the serious Sportstalk looks like, because we have to be very serious around Derrick Henry, because we're sitting by a pool with people in bathing suits drinking from giant tubs of Marguerita with upside down beers in.

And it's very important that we talk to Derrick Henry with a great deal of seriousness while wearing jackets, because we put the sports jacket, we put the sports and sports jacket, we give you credible opinions about sports that are important while talking to country.

And so in the middle of that, because I don't even know what didn't happen, were we mad because first take was sort of infringing on all our Clevelander space with their seriousness? Like, I don't remember the specifics of what happened that led to dragging Chris in the battery costume into the first take shot to get some advertising for advanced auto parts they were infringing. You wanted to bring the battery into the crowd. And really at its core, what happened was you were told, no, I think there was more to do.

Maybe everything was working for first take and they had a spread downstairs and we couldn't get all that spread, all that spread.

We saw exactly how low on the totem pole we were. And so I think that was part of what happened.

Well, Tony, you weren't here when any of this was happening. Were you on your honeymoon? Do you not know any of this story? Do you know any of this?

I have no idea. Dan, I was on a beach in Thailand while everything was happening, so I wasn't really that worried about the battery cost.

All right. So let me explain to you what is happening here, because it was funny, because now you now you reminded me what happened was I had sent Chris down there in the costume to just dance in the background of first take by himself with his hands moving. He couldn't really move. The costume is a giant square. It's hot. He's sweating, he's greasy. You know, his hair is called. A sack of hair is stringy.

We get it. We get it. Enough detail. And so he right. This is what happened. So Chris gets sent back and is told by somebody that he can't do that.

And I'm like, what do you mean you can't do that? Like, we're we're the ones who live at the Clevelander. You can't go to the bar is a better to get a drink. Come on, I'll go with you. And then we go down there and Chris is next to me in the costume. And Chris, you can take it from there because I don't know, we've never told the story. So I want you to imagine, Tony, that it's Chris by the pool shaking his hands like a happy jazz hands mascot.

It's the only emotion he can convey because he's hiding inside the costume. And I'm right next to him mad at somebody. I don't know who the person is, but they're telling us to leave the shot. And you take it from here, Chris, because he's behind a black screen. And I can see that he's scared like Chris Christie. Chris. So while while I'm telling this person, Chris, who was the person who was telling us to get out of there, it was just a low end producer for first take, like somebody underneath the EP that was just like, hey, go get that battery out of there.

Like, I kind of felt bad for that guy because he was just kind of conveying the message. We both were kind of just like I'm here because my boss told me to be here. He's like, I took my boss, told you to get out of here. So we were just but the best part, one of my the best memories of that was after I had gone up down by myself, I got kicked out, come back up and dance like, you know what, we're going down.

I'm going with you. And we're like waiting to go down the elevator. And Dan, just kind of sense my fear and just kind of give me, like, you're cool with this. Right. And I had a moment. I've always wanted to say to somebody, I was like that and we ride together. We die together. Yeah, we did.

I was like, let's go. Yeah, I'm down. You bad boys, too. Before I did, I was jealous.

I was thinking of that moment when you got fired, Chris. We do. We knew we knew going in somebody might get in trouble here. Like there's the possibility that somebody gets in trouble.

Did. And then so then we get down there and I'm down there in the same spot and that same producer comes up to me. He doesn't see Dannette. He's kind of like, Dude, I just told you, you can't do why are you back again? And then dance steps in and just kind of and there's a still shot that I still see on Twitter some time of day and kind of just leaning into the guy with his finger extended, kind of essentially saying, I'm Dan Levitan, I'm not going anywhere.

The nerve to tell Dan what I tried to get out of his own house. Dan didn't use his own name, but that's that was the gist of what he said. So it was exactly what I said.

He was told, no, it is a bit of a fire starter for me, Chris. The level of fear, though, like one to ten doing this job. Have you been more afraid? Because what I saw, I can barely see him. It was like seeing the priest in a confession, like you were this screen. And I couldn't saw it. I couldn't tell out, but I could smell the fear on you. I could sort of your hands were not.

Moving in jazz indie ways is relaxing. They should have stiffened from the fear.

I knew that it was good content because literally Stephenie is talking to Derrick Henry and I know we're right behind it. So I'm in my mind, I'm like, this is hilarious. But also I'm like, I might get fired. So, yes, I was terrified.

And look where we are on the play. And you did get fired. That probably was part of their thought.

They had a list of for Chris. No, he did this.

Slow play.