The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Big Suey: Caitlin Clark Is Time's Athlete Of The Year (Feat. Jemele Hill)
Fri, 13 Dec 2024
There is a tension brewing in the studio between David Samson and Andrew Hawkins because Hawk appears to have the sniffles this morning. Can our resident germaphobe last an entire hour in the same studio with Hawk sneezing and coughing? Plus, Hawk gives us his thoughts on Bill Belichick being hired as the head coach at the University of North Carolina. Then, Our Friendly Neighborhood Race Lady, Jemele Hill, joins the show to discuss Caitlin Clark being named Time's Athlete of the Year and discussing her place as a white athlete in her interview for the story. While Jemele is with us, we go to the Bucket of Death and she tells us whether the window for her San Francisco 49ers has closed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Welcome to the Big Sui, presented by DraftKings. Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan Levitard podcast. I'm sorry, I'm not going to apologize for that. In fact, the only difference seems to be this imaging.
I have been tempted in restaurants just walking past tables to grab somebody's fries if they're just there.
That hasn't happened to you guys? I've done it. And now, here's the marching man to nowhere, fat face, and the habitual liar.
All right, we got some real tension in here because David Sampton is a germaphobe and Hawkins is coughing and wheezing. And I just heard during the break the conversation, are you contagious? And then Hawk says, no, I'm not, which I don't know how possibly.
I didn't say no, I wasn't. He said, how contagious are you? Okay. And I said, I don't know.
Well, then he asked you, do you have diarrhea? And then you said, let me check. Let me check. And I'm worried in general about what's happening between you two in here.
This is our first time, and it's been an entirely negative experience based on the way you were as a player and a teammate and the way you are now as my teammate and our teammate. You walked in dripping.
I thought you wanted me to play through injury.
Not now. I'm sacrificing for the squad. When you're playing football. I'm just suggesting you could have taken some medicine. You could have come in. I thought that maybe your voice default was this phlegmy, but then the drip gave it away. And before the show started, Dan, he said, excuse me, Dave, which means he just knows me from you calling me that. Is there a cough button over on this seat?
And I said, yes, there is, my good friend. And you helped me find the cough button, which is important in entertainment. Had I known that it was not just Stugatz phlegm, I would have.
I smoked 17 packs of cigarettes a day. You haven't asked me that yet. I am Stu Gotts Jr. That's what everyone calls me on the street. Why did we go from coughing to diarrhea? Where was the link there? I think David has diarrhea, and he was trying to diagnose what he has to blame in me.
And I'm like, yeah, I don't have that, bro. I was telling you that what I'm suffering from is not contagious. So I'm going to be just fine.
You have diarrhea right now?
Not this second. I've been sick. I've been plain hurt. It's what you do. You have a tummy ache? I've had a tummy ache since two days ago. The candy. It was the candy. No, it was not the candy. It was a bad taco, I believe, but not relevant. It may have been food from the kitchen here. Not relevant. What's relevant is I'm here and I'm not contagious.
And you're playing through it. You're not quitting. I do want to get back to a portion of this Devondre Campbell story because I'm trying to find the times or places that I have seen anything that compares like this to somebody in the middle of a game having an exchange with a coach where the coach is saying, get in there, and he's saying no.
And then afterwards, Shanahan is telling you, I didn't even ask a follow up question. Once the answer was no, I just moved to next man up. I didn't even ask. I didn't even. I assume in that moment that it's sort of like they feel football players feel like they're always in a firefight. And so there's just not time to ask questions.
There's always a I don't even want to I won't I won't call a timeout. I want you're not worth that. Your wellbeing or whatever's going on with you, my worry about your feelings is not even worth one of my timeouts. I don't have the time to get your explanation for why it is you're doing what I think, to Kyle Shanahan, is probably a pretty unprecedented thing.
I don't want to play and then I'm walking to the locker room and I'm not telling you whether I'm hurt. What is going to be the explanation for this? I'm done playing football. When he speaks, what are you going to, is there anything he can say
That you hear that changes what's presently happening on my televisions, which everyone in sports television is aghast because they're just calling this dude a quitter. And they don't understand what they're watching. And is there any context or number of facts that I can give you? Because you guys played the clip earlier of a player who was calling it some sucker shit or some punk shit.
And he lost a baby and was playing a couple of weeks later.
That's the thing that could happen. My family had an accident. There's no time for the explanation. I gotta leave. I'm leaving the game. We had players who had a death in the family. A parent died during the game and We didn't tell the player until after the game.
Yeah, there's no way on an NFL sideline for you to get that information. So there's nothing that could have changed at quarter one, play one, to when they got to that moment. And my question, Dan, is was he kicked off of the sideline because he refused to play? Or did he voluntarily say, hey, I'm not going in and just left the sideline? If the latter is the case...
then he probably is done in his NFL career. Because to walk off a sideline, it's one thing not to go in, which is terrible in and of itself, but maybe there is some explanation of why I cannot go perform. If you leave the sideline, that is quite literally you walking away from your NFL career.
The last time it happened was Antonio Brown, right? That's the last time we saw it, and then he never played another down, right? We never saw him again in the league. When you walk off a football field, look, Hawk is here so he can explain it to you, but I simply, I don't, I...
have not had friendships or bonds or workplace relationships that would respond this badly to a broken trust, to the idea, I've never worked in a place where the ethos of it is so much I'm going to do everything I can to get out there, and the person next to me is linked by brotherhood in the understanding that he's going to do everything he can to get out there too.
So, like, I just cannot explain to you what a fracture this is in this sport because of the codes of whatever it is honor is in this sport, which is why I was shocked to hear you say that you weren't going to get out there and try, even if it meant your career was going to end with a fumble.
Yeah, no, that wasn't something I was willing to negotiate, which is a different situation than this. And maybe it's not. Maybe that's my own bias, thinking that the situations are different. But I don't know these people. And what's most important at that point in my life is making sure I have a paycheck because I have a baby on the way.
And I can't risk going out there and putting something on film that will ruin the opportunity for what is the closest thing to financial freedom for me. In this situation, I don't believe that is the case.
Because even if he was, for whatever reason, wanted to go about it to where he did not truly want to play and it wasn't just a hissy fit because he was upset that their all-everything linebacker had come back from an Achilles tear and they chose him over him.
He maybe thought he would put enough on tape to make it seem like that was his position or they would have to earn it back because he's been the guy they've depended on. That's what that feels like. Because even in the other scenario, you go out there and play, and you grab your hamstring, or you grab your neck, or you fake it and be like, hey, I did one play, I can't play.
That's not what happened. This seemed like he was trying to retaliate for a move he didn't agree with, and when you needed me most, I'm going to try to get you back.
And the weird thing was, is he was a non-starter because of the defensive formation that they went out in. Right. Like they started with five down instead of a regular three linebacker set, which he probably would have been a part of. But then all of a sudden they go with that. He gets upset. And then I guess that's what ticked him off.
I'm going to move off the subject in a second, but I'm just genuinely puzzled by the idea of. I've heard athletes so often say, don't get in your feelings about the stuff on the field. If this is an act of petty rage because your feelings are hurt, the consequences of that rage are so damaging if he's that much up in his feelings.
And I just don't associate that with people who have climbed this particular ladder in this sport.
Yeah, and I don't think you're wrong, especially when you're getting paid that much.
Like, that's all about the business. It's happening more often, though. It just happened with the Ravens a couple weeks ago, and he's not going to get to play. Johnson's not going to get to play. He was suspended for one game.
That was an interesting situation because he was also new to that team.
He had just been traded. Trade deadline acquisition. He was like, ah, I don't feel like playing. I can't even imagine that level of player cockiness.
Is it cockiness? Is it indifference? Is it flippant? Like, I'd really like to hear from this person. Like, I'd like to hear from Campbell.
Isn't he a former Toledo Rocket as well?
I can't exactly remember, Mike. You know, my brain is fuzzy. I've taken a lot of hits. He has diarrhea. I have diarrhea, you know. I've taken so many meds this morning because David keeps slipping them in my coffee.
Can I ask you guys, based on the reaction that has happened around Bill Belichick, which was also a bit confusing to me because of the polar extremes that people were arguing with such conviction on what is the greatest coach ever. If Bill Belichick is not met by North Carolina with universal applause as a hiring, who would be?
Is there such a thing as somebody who's just, like if Nick Saban, Nick Saban would be, right? I've got the age thing with him, too. But if Nick Saban came back, it would largely be consensus applause, right?
You don't have the unknown of can he get it done in this sport.
Is there a second? Is there somebody? Kirby.
Yeah, Kirby. People that have had recent success. More than Belichick. Sark. Kyle Shanahan, if he were to come to the college game, I think it would be. That's a good one. I like that one. McVay, too.
Pat Riley in his prime going out of the front office. I wouldn't want him to coach football. We're all talking football?
That's a tough one.
Although maybe he'd be good at it. You said any coach, Dan.
Well, I'm saying North Carolina football. I'm saying that the reaction to Belichick, because I can sit here and say honestly as we talk about this, well, I don't know what's going to happen. But if I had to bet, I'm going to bet on expertise and some things that he has shown and proven to be good at. But I don't actually know. And I'm interested by the extremes.
But if this person is not a perfect candidate with his credentials, then I was asking you who is. And it's hard for me to get my head around. Wait, so you guys think Sark, a guy who was drinking like on he had alcohol on his breath and was let go at USC. You guys think Sark is somebody who would be met with more universal applause or even Shanahan?
I don't know what you're doing with the alcohol thing. I'm saying it. What do you mean? He was let go because he was drinking on the job. What I'm saying is that that can be hard to trust, even if I can have all the compassion for it being an illness.
He wasn't met with universal fanfare, though. Stark wasn't met with universal fanfare, too. Yeah, I'm curious. I find the reaction to it puzzling because you can have your questions about it, but when you apply the context of this is North Carolina, it's a basketball school. Football is an afterthought. They have trouble engaging their biggest boosters. They don't make it to Charlotte routinely.
This is a home run hire. And yeah, okay, there's a succession plan. And yeah, OK, there's this weird buyout that goes from $10 million to $1 million on June 1st. How does that line up with the NFL calendar? Also, I would say it's just $10 million. That's not going to stop an NFL owner from hiring him in this cycle. And I'm sure he probably has a plan for that, too. It's probably involving his son.
I don't know what you're upset about. He said at the press conference, I'm not leaving. He was asked straight up, are you using this as a stepping stone to get back to the NFL? Nope, I'm not leaving.
Nick Saban's last words here were, I'm not going to be the Alabama coach. That's the last thing he said. Your idea, the other day I was leaving with you and we were talking about leadership and you didn't say leadership was overrated. But when I said, I'm not a good leader, I don't know how to lead, you said nobody does. Bill Belichick is famously known as a leader.
Do you not believe that he has an assortment of skills that should be met with a North Carolina audience and basically everybody who's watched him work for 25 years legitimately applauding the idea that a program that isn't one of the major programs just got the most major coach there is?
I don't think that being a leader guarantees your success, right? And there are certain mediums where that leadership – if they even are natural abilities, bode better than in other places. And I think that's what people are talking about with UNC. Like when you look at the New England Patriots, how he built that program, what that program stood for,
it is in stark contrast to the state of college football today, right? Like, yeah, he's going to get guys to give him the most. We understand he knows the X's and O's of football. We understand he knows how to find diamonds in the rough to get better output than maybe what is on the surface of a player and their ability.
But also, what he wasn't dealing with was essentially a roster full of one-year contracts. And that is how they built the program at New England. Yes, winning is all that matters. And when you get your opportunity, your time will come. But we're going to get over-the-heel football players. We're going to get undrafted guys. We're going to get more out of them than any other program can.
And we're going to take advantage of that for the lifetime of their contract. What happens when a guy comes in, he balls out, and then they all want to go into the portal because now... They have a higher appetite to make more money with other programs that you have to match. And that dollar amount just continues to go up.
Would there have been this many questions about this six years ago? And I'm not talking about where Belichick was six years ago. I'm talking about where the sport was, college football was six years ago. Nobody would be asking any questions. If Belichick were going back before NIL and before player freedom, everybody would be applauding here, correct? know how well he's going to recruit.
I totally disagree. We've been arguing about this for as long as I've been alive, there's been can college coaches coach in the NFL? Can NFL coaches coach in college? There's outliers for a reason. The way you talk about Pete Carroll is because he's one of the few guys that's been able to do it in both, right?
And I guess my question for you, Dan, is if you think Bill will be successful at UNC, what are you defining that as? Is that he makes the playoff, he wins the conference, he wins a playoff game, he wins a national championship? Because those are all super... You don't have to
guess because it's in his contract. So you can guess if you so desire.
He's getting like a million bucks for winning a playoff game.
It's defined in his contract.
Success is right now, right now, this minute, it's already successful because you're buying what he brings in terms of prestige. No one has ever talked about North Carolina football this way. So that's a measure of success. We've seen what Deion has done with that particular success.
Dan, Dan, Dan, in North Carolina's defense, we usually do talk about North Carolina football for approximately three days and then they lose to Virginia.
After they beat a top 10 team, though.
Yeah, once they get into the top 10, then they play Virginia, then they lose and we stop talking about it.
we got here, I want to tell you a story. I'm serious here. My wife and my two daughters, they begged me to buy a Peloton. So I bought a Peloton. And then I watched that Peloton sit in my office and stare at me. So you know what I did one day? I looked at it. And so I decided to get off my ass and I jumped on the Peloton because no one else was using it and I paid for it. I mean, so why not?
Then I realized eventually that they bought it for me. And I got to tell you, way more challenging than I could have ever imagined. Peloton coaches are walking the walk. I love the coaches. I do the Grateful Dead one. It's fantastic. They have a sub three-hour marathon runner, military-trained athlete, a former college basketball player, and so many other well-rounded coaches on their team.
All the
experience really shows in their classes which are never short of challenging especially for me so i jumped on it that first time it was challenging more challenging than i thought then i wanted to beat the bike and so i kept jumping on it and i absolutely love it i i mean i'm the only one who uses it but again they got it for me i mean i had no idea that's a little passive aggressive don't you think find your push find your power with peloton at one peloton.com
Don Levitard. Are the stakes that high that if Angel Reese loses to Kaitlyn Clark, you need to start over again as a race? Stugatz.
I don't know that we have to necessarily start over, but it might have to be, it will be a black people's meeting, an important one that will be called the next day. We might have to put some things on the agenda and get it on the table.
This is the Don Levitard Show with the Stugatz.
Jamel Hill is with us now, so perhaps she can add some light to this subject that we're talking about. I will remind you that she's got two new shows. We've got Spolitics is the podcast, and Above the Fold is the TV show on TruTV. Thank you, Jamel, for joining us. What can you tell us about what you've found most interesting about everything swirling around Bill Belichick?
Well, it struck me that so many people, especially in the media, have such unwavering confidence that this is going to work. And I'm not saying that it's without merit. I understand it from a purely football perspective. I understand this. Bill Belichick is arguably the greatest NFL coach in the modern day. And his accomplishments speak for themselves.
But I just think that maybe I've been exposed to too many young people. And especially talking to other coaches about what it's like in today's day to deal with modern young athletes. And I just I just wonder how this is going to how this is going to turn out. Certainly a lot of athletes want to be professionals. They want to make it to the NFL.
And I easily see many scenarios in which Bill Belichick is able to. as he was good at in the NFL, able to turn someone who maybe has some borderline potential into a real viable prospect. But at the same time, it's just such a different landscape. If coaches that are around his age are getting out and he's jumping in, that to me says a lot. And his last few years in New England weren't good.
And so I just wonder if this is going to be a fit from a personality standpoint and just looking at how differently college athletics are compared to maybe 10 or 15 or 20 years ago, where if you had said Bill Belichick was going back to college, I would have said this is no brainer. A slam dunk. You know, he's going to win there in this climate. I'm not so sure.
David, are you sitting that way because your stomach is gurgling? I'm good. Okay, but it seems like you're protecting your stomach from whatever it is that ails you. It seems like you're in a position of a bit of discomfort, it looks like.
I appreciate that. It makes for a very good workplace that you're that concerned about how I'm sitting when we're talking about an important subject. It's distracting. It's distracting how I'm sitting?
Yes. Well, you look like you're in pain. You look like you're in physical pain. Time magazine named Caitlin Clark. It's athlete of the year. And in the article. And I'm curious what else you found interesting about the article, because she also said that college coaching women, college coaching is pretty terrible. I want to say I've.
earned every single thing but as a white person there is privilege a lot of those players in the league that have been really good have been black players this league has been kind of built on them the more we can elevate black women that's going to be a beautiful thing not surprisingly megan kelly then responds on twitter she's on the knee all but apologizing for being white and getting attention the self-flagellation condescending fake transparent sad uh
Not surprising that she's on the cover of Time as the Athlete of the Year and always weaponized and polarizing in this day and age, even though she is just incredibly benign. Like she has not done much of anything to actually stir real controversy.
No, and I guess the only way she would have made Megyn Kelly matter is if she came out in support of Black Santas, because we know that Megyn Kelly only believes Santa Claus can be white. I mean, that's the person whose opinion is chiming in on this.
So it's not surprising she would have a problem with Caitlyn Clark actually acknowledging the contributions, the sweat equity that Black women have put into this game. And you can tell a lot.
Let me just big picture this real quick, though, Dan, is that as Caitlin Clark's popularity was rising and particularly after it exploded when her and Angel Reese met in that national championship game, she did the infamous Angel Reese John Cena motion. And we saw a certain section of people galvanizing around Caitlin Clark. We saw it then and it only continued to grow. And there was a
Nice amount of disingenuous people who were not basketball fans, certainly not women's or they were not women's basketball fans. To be clear, they were not fans of women's basketball. But Caitlin Clark became their avatar.
She became their vessel to express a lot of the hateful and racist opinions that they had about black women, about queer women and about the WNBA overall to some degree about all women.
so she became their sort of bat signal for that and now that we're learning more about caitlyn clark and this by the way this was not the first time she said this it may be the first time she really said it at length and because she didn't do that many one-on-ones uh this year in 2024 but she certainly have been have been she's been asked questions sort of along these same lines before and uh you know while she didn't specifically mention white privilege see she has certainly
always had a level of respect and reverence for the pioneers that came before i mean one of the viral moments involving caitlyn clark was when she finally met maya moore maya moore is her favorite player ever and that by the way shows the growth of the wmba you know a lot of the players that when the wmba first started they had no professional model to look at in america to say oh i grew up watching this you know professional women's player because that
possibility didn't exist. Caitlin Clark represents the generation that actually grew up watching the WNBA, familiarizing herself with this league, understanding the legacy and the history of this league. And all she was doing is giving a nod to that.
And she knows, like a lot of white players in the WNBA know, and they've said it, Kelsey Plum, Breanna Stewart, is that they get elevated, they get marketed, they get pushed in a way that black women in that league who have accomplished similar things do not
Get the same endorsement opportunities, the same marketing, the marketing riddle of the WNBA prior to this moment has been how do you market a league that is 70 percent black where a third of the players identify as queer? How do you do that? And that it has been a lot of marketing challenges. mistakes the WNBA has made in trying to sort of minimize that part of their identity.
Or, you know, a lot of people have certainly for years speculated that they push certain players because they're trying to kind of galvanize and interest white America with players they believe that they will get behind. So this has been a long standing conversation in the WNBA. And Caitlin Clark, in her sense of leadership, I mean, she just stated the obvious.
And now she has some very predictable people angry at her because they never were fans of hers. They just like the idea of weaponizing her success against other black women who they can't stand.
It's time for your friendly neighborhood race lady.
I want to get Roy Bellamy and Andrew Hawkins to give me all the history they have with Black Santas in their home. Tony, did you have a Hispanic Santa? Of course I did. You had a Hispanic Santa. Roy, what was in your house? What is in your house in terms of Black Santa?
Not in the house, but it depends on what mall you go to if you want to find a Black Santa.
I wasn't a Santa Claus kid. My parents didn't teach me about Santa Claus.
Probably. That's the other thing.
Because they were like, hey, you know, we're not going to make it seem like some white guy is buying you these gifts when we're working double time and over shift. Exactly. So, yeah, no white Santa, no black Santa.
I asked the question wrong. Is Santa black?
Is Jesus black? I mean, it's basically the same question, right? He's Jewish. I mean, I don't know how. Yeah, the original. I think there's multiple standards.
It's not the same question because Jewish was, I mean, Jesus was an actual person. I think Santa's like spoiler alert kids.
I think he's from Germany originally.
I have a black Santa and a black Mrs. Claus in my house. I think that doesn't surprise many people.
I'm shocked by that, actually. That is crazy. Breaking news.
Jamel has black Santa.
I think Santa is like a UPS, the UPS guy. It's like he's different for every community. I don't think black Santa would get off in the white community. I have original recipe. Without somebody calling the cops.
You have original recipe, Santa?
Yeah. No, I have crispy toast.
You had- Well, I got spicy Santa.
I got bad Santa. I got black Jesus in my house.
Did you celebrate- My Santa thinks ketchup is spicy.
Christmas? Did you celebrate Christmas at all? Yeah. Okay. All right.
Absolutely celebrated Christmas. So you're just saying that your parents- Christmas in my household was Jesus, not Santa. So that's heavy on the Christmas, not so much on the Santa Claus. And so Jesus would buy you the presents. Jesus would provide the opportunity for the parents. He always does. My kids, they see black Jesus. There's black Jesuses at my house.
So they grew up, they went to stores, they were like, wait a minute, why is Jesus white in this store? It was like, they didn't even know that that was a thing. So black Santa, black Jesus, yeah, you got a representation. Jamil gets it.
Yeah, the black Jesus photo hung right next to Dr. King, right? There it is, exactly.
And Robert F. Kennedy, right?
Yes, of course. That's got to be the three.
The black president, of course.
But so the babies in your homes, Roy and Andrew, they think, if I ask them, Santa and Jesus, they are both black?
Yeah, I'll say so.
You're teaching them.
I'm so confused right now. Not teaching so much as it's up to you, right? It's important for your kids to see themselves as the superheroes. Because you'll see yourself. That's what Jesus represents. You see yourself in that. When you see Santa, you see yourself. Your kids see themselves in those things. So not so much teaching them that Santa is black. More as... He could be black. Why not?
Why can't Santa be black?
It's like a question, though, right? It's like a question. Exactly. It's possibly black. Yes. I'm sorry. Can you help me, please? I thought Santa was not real, but Jesus was. Did I miss that?
You better be careful. You're going down the line right now.
Am I going down a rabbit hole of religion and color here?
You better be careful. We bleep out curse words so it can be a family show.
That's it. I'm going to go then.
I'm sorry. You know what? I'm going to go ahead and...
Major penalty. Five minutes. Screaming comedy.
Oh, major. I'm just trying to protect you from yourself if you have to go to the bathroom. I was going to say, maybe a bathroom break wouldn't be a bad idea.
You already said the thing. Fix that diarrhea.
I'm giving you five minutes to just get out the verbal diarrhea, the other kinds of diarrhea. Get it all out of the room. I want to play something here for Jamel based on something we were talking about earlier this week with Juan Soto.
Can you guys get me the sound of both Juan Soto thanking New York Yankee fans and also then famed Yankee fan Nick Turturro complaining with a great deal of rabid passion that I would imagine doesn't want Juan Soto's thank you for Yankee fans. Let's hear from Juan Soto here.
Any message for the Yankee fans?
I want to say thank you. I actually just want to say thank you to them. They really showed me all the love and everything that they have last year. They were right there day in, day out. They really have a spot in my heart at the end of the day, you know. It's tough that we couldn't get it together and try to be back and stuff like that.
But definitely, I always going to appreciate what they did for me in 2024.
Second language is tough. You know, you got to think about what you want to say in Spanish and then translate it to English. And then you're kind of...
handcuffed with the words you can say a lot of love there a lot of thank yous you know it's tough he rehearsed that did you hear that side i made before he actually started talking it was like well i did feel for him trying to answer the question why you chose the mets in his second language because he had to go to some of the things other than money and then and yeah it's like they're building an unbelievable thing here he went to unbelievable a couple of times when the mets haven't been unbelievable since 1986 and we're trying the contract was unbelievable david picked a bad time to ruin christmas
I mean, but would it have been so bad if he said, you see the money, right? I mean, would that have been?
I think all of us would be like, yes, you're right. Or better would have just been, dinero, papi. But he was trying to do it in his second language. But I'm sure Nick Turturro, famed Yankee fan, received his thank you with sincere gratitude, right?
Hey, Soto. I saw your press conference. You want to say thank you? Want to say thank you to the Yankee fans? No, thank you. No, thank you. Thank you would have been coming back to us.
F***ing fraud. Okay, there it is. That's vastly more reasonable than he was in recent days when he was swinging a bat and throwing a bat and yelling FUs all over the place.
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Dan Levatard. Florida claws back from down 2-0 because they were getting their asses handed to them by Toronto to then get lit afire underneath them by their head coach, Paul Maurice, who did the thing. Remember how the run was sparked last year? Stugatz. He called them a bunch of P's and B's. He did the thing again. Called them a bunch of P's and B's, and then, boom, five unanswered.
You win the division.
This is the Dan Levatard Show with the Stugatz.
Can we get the Grim Reaper ready here and participate with the bucket of death and get Jamel involved also in the bucket of death? I'm going to pick for her. I'm going to pick for Jamel so she can play in our contest here.
Jamel, no opinions on the Niner season ending last night? Was this a window closing?
I think it is. But it's not a gotta blow it all up and completely restart from scratch. We're not the Cowboys for crying out loud. You know what I'm saying? But I think it does signal that for this iteration of this team, this feels like the end. They got some major decisions to make. How much to pay Brock Purdy. Can't take advantage of getting him on the cheap. Decisions to make about Deebo.
I mean... About the defense. So I think there's going to be some serious retooling in the offseason. They can't afford to play Brock Purdy what quarterbacks are worth that have accomplished what he's accomplished.
That's a minor tweak that you're talking about here, Janelle. These are major, major pieces.
All of it depends on how much is Brock Purdy going to cost. That's really, truly the million-dollar question.
And you don't think he deserves the top dollar?
Well, I think he deserves a competitive, really good quarterback salary. Does he deserve Dak Prescott money? Hell, it's questions about whether Dak Prescott deserves that kind of money.
But he's going to get Trevor Lawrence kind of money. That's $50 million a year, isn't he? You've got to pay Brock Purdy the way you pay Trevor Lawrence, right?
I will say this. If we can keep, it would be great if we could keep that price tag between, and I know this sounds ridiculous, but between 40 and 45, that'd be great if we could keep it.
That's Daniel Jones money. You're talking Daniel Jones money, Jamel.
I mean, it would be great if we could. I'm not saying, he's clearly better than Daniel Jones. He's better than Trevor Lawrence. I get it. But like, for the entire engine of this team to work... Once we start talking in the 50s and certainly anywhere near 60 million, okay, we in trouble. You can't pay him that.
If you give me 40 to 45 million and I'm Brock Purdy, I'm going to turn into Devondre Campbell real quick on that sideline. All right. I'm going to need that top dollar or, you know, I ain't playing, David. Welcome back.
I want to ask her about Devondre Campbell in a second, but let's just roll through while she's talking. Let's roll through the bucket of death here.
The Browns putting it back.
Okay. The Browns. What are they? They are favorite. They are dog at home against the Chiefs. They're plus four.
I actually don't hate it. They're going to win.
Golden Helmet of Life.
They're going to win. Oh, nice. Congratulations.
No one is happy for you. It takes you to the end of the regular season, too.
I haven't lost this year yet, either.
Wow, that. Dan, I feel like I'm joining a cult right now. I have no idea what's going on.
Yes, we're just, I'll explain it to you off air. Congratulations on the Golden Helmet of Life. You get three free weeks without punishment. What did you make as a 49er fan and as a journalist of Devondre Campbell just straight up quitting during the game last night?
I thought it was a weak move. First of all, he already knew the reason that he was in that position was because of, you know, Dre Greenlaw being out. So he knew he was he was in a unique situation. So if this issue was about, you know, him, the playing time, it's like that was your reality when. You knew that was your reality from the start.
But I think it's just, unfortunately, it's just a window into this season. You know, the 49ers have had an incredible amount of luck to go along with their skill and obviously the winning. But you got to stay healthy in this league. You got to keep drama out the locker room. And this was not the year Unfortunately for that, everybody got hurt.
There's now, you know, even before this week, you had drama with Brandon Ayuk's contract situation, drama with Deebo Samuel last week complaining about not getting the ball enough. And unfortunately, he had the performance that he had against the Rams. So this was the season that all those things that can derail other teams came bubbling to life for them.
But what was clear in hearing Kyle Shanahan and other players talk about it afterwards is that You know, he has lost, Campbell lost a lot of people's respect in that locker room. I mean, you have a lot of guys who have a lot of things on the line.
And it's difficult to get these opportunities in the NFL for somebody to willingly tap out and to do that to your teammates in a nationally televised game. It's embarrassing. I'm embarrassed for him.
I got the Jets. I'm keeping it. They're playing the Jags.
Okay, what kind of favorite are they against the Jags?
I've got the Wizard of Oz helmet, so I get to pick a lion, a tiger, or a bear. I'll be back with that.
We should make a Wicked helmet. You have to pick a green or a pink team.
There's no pink teams.
Enter Miami.
I got the Chiefs. I'm keeping it.
Okay, the Chiefs are at the Browns. I don't like that one either. I don't trust the Chiefs to win a road game.
Jameis is just crazy enough to win that game.
He also will throw just enough pick sixes to make sure they don't.
That's true. Bengals are at the Titans.
I think he's been delivered by Black Jesus from those pick sixes.
He threw a couple bad picks last weekend, but they weren't pick sixes, so maybe you're right.
Well, he did ask Black Jesus to deliver him from pick sixes. That's what I'm saying.
There's that. So David's got the Saints. The Saints are a seven and a half point dog at home, and they're starting a new quarterback.
Flynn.
You want to keep that?
Yes. The commanders are fading fast. Jake Hainer and them boys.
You're going to name the Saints quarterback. You're going to keep it. Don't I get the points? No. No, you don't get the points. It's straight up.
Oh, no, you can't do that.
What just happened?
You can't do that.
I don't even know the rules, and that seemed illegal.
He's got to pick a replacement.
I was like, I don't know him either. That seemed wrong.
Yeah.
All right, I got the swap helmet, so give me that golden helmet of life. Now you've got to pick one to swap with, Dan.
Well, actually, you kind of broke the order because David's son picked his second helmet.
Jaguars, so they're three-point dogs.
First L coming there. Wait, what's David's team? David, what's your team?
He's got the Saints. He's got the Saints.
I have the Saints?
Colts play.
Andrew Hawkins has the Colts. They are at the Broncos. They're a four and a half point dog.
Tough team.
Pick a new one. So I'm sorry, Jamel. Yes, you get to pick another one, but this one's final. And Jamel, I'm going to select for you and then you can select whether you want to keep it or not. And if you lose, you have to wear a costume of some sort or suffer a punishment. The Texans are playing against the Dolphins at home. The Texans are a three point favorite.
I'll take it. I like it.
Ooh, I'll kick that one. No, I'm sorry. That's not yours.
That's Andrew Hawkins. Yours is the Falcons. Yours is the Falcons. The Falcons are at the Raiders, and they're a four-point favorite at the Raiders.
Kirk Cousins is playing.
Primetime.
I'm aware, but you know... Y'all will never make me hate Kirk Cousins because he went undefeated against Michigan when he played for Michigan State, my alma mater. I'm going to keep this, I believe. Come on, Falcons.
All right, there you go. And the Dolphins, by the way, in that Texans game, that's a show-me-something game. That's another show-me-something game for the Dolphins, beating the Texans on the road for your season after a bye, the Texans on a bye.
I happen to know the Saints are going to win. That's a terrible pick by you.
It's a terrible pick by you. It's the second biggest dog on the entire board. Jamel, thank you. Appreciate the time, as always.
Okay. A part of me hopes I lose because I'd love to be in costume. That'd be pretty hilarious. I got some ideas already. All right, great. I know Kirk Cousins is going to pull it off. So thank you all. Good to see you.
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