The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Big Suey: The New York Jets Mess Continues To Grow (Feat. Dianna Russini)
Thu, 19 Dec 2024
Dianna Russini joins the show after her bombshell report this morning about the dysfunction around the New York Jets franchise, including Woody Johnson turning down a trade for Jerry Jeudy because his Madden rating was too low. Plus, Bill Belichick circled back to the New York Jets and Mike Ryan found it sad. We move on with some songs to spread the Holiday spirit including an absolute banger from Taylor about Bill Belichick going to North Carolina. Stephen A. Smith had some interesting takes about Miami and it has Meech completely freaked out. Then, we watch some video of Kanye West at a deposition which leads us into a discussion about how celebrity affects mental health. 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. Amin, I'm sorry.
We do all look the same. Oh, God damn. Oh, no. Guys, all right, relax. I slipped up.
The name started with an A. He's been cooking today. The chat has been saying I've been very good today. Yeah, you're cooking. You're cooking. Hold on.
I want us to go for you. You need some help from your black friend. Yes, Mike is co-adwind.
thank you oh god um so like i i think that was that was very well said by you but here in like the american sports lexicon you describe somebody being soft so i can go on like a three minute soliloquy describing exactly why somebody's soft or i can just label them soft which is a lot easier more efficient and it's why steven a smith is going to command 150 million dollars it's
It's not easier, though. You're right that it is easier, but it's not more accurate, and it doesn't solve any problems for you, but it does make you feel better and more superior than the people you're talking about.
No, it's just efficiency. I've got to fit it in 140 characters, and I can't fit what you said in 140 characters. And to Dan, I understand what you're doing, and this is a great discussion, but I think even you would concede, when you watch the Ravens versus the Steelers, let me take this example out to the extreme. You can see it, right? It looks different. Those teams look more physical.
The game looks more violent. Those teams look tougher.
Yes, and I would say also that if you give me a great defense, it's generally going to look like that.
And I would say in the case of Philadelphia, for example, you could tell me their offensive line is tougher, or I can tell you they're running back squats more than anyone in the league, and therefore there's going to be some problems tackling him low when they have that offensive line also that is very good and very strong.
tough yeah well i i pose this question to diana like have you considered that there's a correlation they're a good defense because they're also very tough like diana like are there good defenses usually that's the ingredient mike you're you're you are spot on like the ingredient
of a talented defense has to be toughness. There's no finesse in defense. No defense is dominating because they have a soft touch but good mechanics and they're technically sound. Okay, those could be true, but it has to be blanketed by overall toughness.
Because that's what the sport requires. All right, but if I'm looking at Miles Garrett, you know, thrashing around on the field after getting poked in the eye Sunday, I can't say, what is that? That's not tough. Now, I happen to know Miles Garrett is obviously a superior physical specimen, and I'm assuming at every turn that he is tough.
But you guys are coming after Joel Embiid, and he's somebody that I assume is tough. He's playing through all sorts of injuries all the time, and people are always questioning how much he cares.
Miles came back in that game. But also, my problem with Joel Embiid is not that he's just like this unfortunate dude that gets injuries. I think I can understand that concept. I'm a huge Chelsea fan. Rhys James, hammy's cooked. He's going to try to run out there. He's going to pull his hammy. That's just his body type. I resent Joel Embiid because of his style of play.
He's flopping around, his lack thereof when it comes to conditioning. And also, I resent him for avoiding injury when he's perfectly fine in a suit on the bench. I want to see Joel Embiid go out there and eventually get hurt.
perfectly fine.
I love that you and I have such different issues in life. Like you have this beautiful accent, obviously. And people think because of that, it sounds intellectual and perhaps in some cases softer. Whereas like, you know, I sound very New Jersey. It's the opposite. It's, it's, Gross. And it's hard. Right.
So it's like we both have to battle things separately, which is why in this Jets piece that that was published today that I worked on with Mike Silver and Zach Rosenblatt. I want you to do the audio version of the Jets piece for me, because I think if I read it, Jets fans are going to feel like I'm attacking them. But I feel like if Meech does it, they're going to go.
OK, maybe things aren't so bad and we can give them some hope to balance out all the stuff that we uncovered about this team.
It's a deal. I'll do that.
I'm going to get you right now the printout so that you can read some of this story. It is a banger. Again, she works for The Athletic and the news story she's talking about inside Woody Johnson's Jets. It's the most dysfunctional place imaginable. We'll get to that story in a second.
You know one of the funny things, Dan, when you talk about how people are labeled soft, when Meech was playing, I've heard this before, like, hey, he's kind of soft. What makes you say that? He's always reading books. Yes, I got that all the time. That's one of the, in earlier years in the NBA, that was a red flag.
Wait, Ron reads books too.
Just the first page. But there's always these weird kind of things. There was a player, I remember we were getting ready to acquire and there were questions, right? There's questions. Should we, I don't know, what's he going to do in the locker room, whatever. And... The big thing was that he dyed his hair or whatever, he dyed his beard or whatever.
That was the big, whoa, whoa, what's going on here? And so it's funny how we've kind of evolved from that place, but we're still kind of using the language that Meech is talking about.
Yeah, it's just that even in the arguments that I've heard from everybody, there's so many accurate pieces to it that describe to me, and I don't, you know, of all the people in this studio, I don't know anything about these teams, but the way you've described... when you got granular with it, I could completely understand the frustration.
It's simply that to me, that frustration is lost when we start using words that are bound to trigger for no other reason than it's easy and we kind of like the fact that Joel, this person who is otherwise untouchable, knows that we all think he's soft.
Juju, put it on the poll, please. Can you really be tough if you read books at Levitard Show? Diana is very busy typing with one finger on her phone, texting, getting to all of the information. And I will tell you again, inside Woody Johnson's Jets, this time I'll say it better, I hope, it's the most dysfunctional... I'm not going to say it better. It's the most dysfunctional place...
imaginable uh i think the best detail in this is that they turned down a trade for jerry judy because judy's madden rating wasn't high enough i think that's the best detail in this story we're gonna have meach read some of the story but uh diana do you think there's a better detail in this story than that one it might involve woody johnson's teenage sons
Yeah, there's a lot there. I think the Madden rating stands out the most because I do think players worry about Madden ratings, but I always looked at it as something just superficial, something that just played into their egos and just wanting to have a high rating and be among the best in the video game. But the fact that the owner of the Jets
used a rating to make a decision about whether or not he was going to trade Jerry Judy. That was stunning to me. And there are a lot of people around the league who knew about it. And this wasn't the first time that Woody had ever referenced a Madden rating in reference to Jets players that he either had on his roster or perhaps were targeting in the offseason.
So, you know, this trade was obviously with Denver and they were certainly blown away like, wait,
you're not going to trade jerry duty because of a madden rating and guys obviously woody johnson's not sitting there playing madden at 78 years old i mean if he is um that's that's cool uh but i don't think he is so the people that are are his teenage sons um he has an 18 year old and a 16 year old son who who He listens to a lot and he's been part of conversations in the building.
He's been in the draft room. He's in the locker room after games. The sons are part of it, which is normal, by the way. Most owners have their children part of the operation, part of their business. But there's definitely a lot of people that have worked for the Jets.
the currently people that work for them right now as well, who say that the teenage sons have a lot of juice in the building and affect a lot of the decision making. So I'd say the Madden nugget is certainly interesting. But to me, Dan, when I was collecting a lot of this intel The story about Mike White really bothered me.
And we dug on this, Mike Silver, Zach Rosenblatt and I, to just get a little bit more information about how Woody Johnson was treating his players. So if you recall, Mike White was a bit of a New York hero there when he took over as a starter and tried to get the Jets in the playoffs. He ultimately wasn't able to do it. And he's playing with broken ribs.
I know we talked about toughness a few minutes ago. And he was out there just battling through all of this. And the story goes, he came in the locker room, and he went into the shower. And right before he went into the locker room, he's throwing his helmet because he's upset, obviously. And Woody Johnson yells out into the locker room in front of his teammates, yeah, you should throw your helmet.
You suck. The Jets told me through a spokesperson that they later apologized. But that just tells you about the treatment of players in a building that I understand that owners want to win. I think we all get it. He's passionate. He wants results.
But to understand what was going on there and to treat your players that way, I think that obviously is something that does not reflect very well on this Jets organization. So that's just another part of this. And obviously, there's a lot more to it.
But they're still one of the best places to work in New Jersey, according to a franchise source.
Diana's got to go. She's got a hard out here. So unfortunately, she's going to miss Meech reading some of her story. That's unfortunate, Diana. We will talk to you next week, OK?
I can't wait, guys. Thanks for having me on, Meech. I'll be checking this out in a few.
Thank you. Meach, we'll have you read it in a second, but you were shaking your head when she was talking about the teenage sons and how normal that is in football workplaces.
If you really want to win, your go-to for a person who really wants to win is nepotism, for starters, and then nepotism with people who are too young to drink or vote. Yeah, those are the sources of information I'm looking for. I'm not telling you that young people don't have anything to offer. That's not my point.
But if what they're offering is, by the way, have you checked out the score that's in a video game for somebody? I've got to think there's better sources. I've got to. That's like asking me. That's like if they approached me to say, hey, what do you think of this Judy guy? And I'd be like, yeah, yeah, you know. Go for it or don't.
That's the quality of insight you're getting from a 16-year-old who's relying on a Madden score. Jerry Judy, two first names.
It's unfortunate that Diana had to go because this is a bad week for the Jets, and I still think the saddest story about all of this is we all know openly, Diana's reported on it, Bill Belichick has opened disdain for Woody Johnson, hates the New York Jets, right? Did you read the report that Bill Belichick circled around to the Jets? before he took the North Carolina job. Hey, this is your shot.
That, to me, is the saddest detail around the Bill Belichick stuff, and it's not him just lurking in the background as he signs a player from Holy Cross.
I have two songs to play for you guys. Taylor has one on Bill Belichick, and we have a listener that has produced one to compete with Taylor's terrible song, but we're going to end this segment with John Amici reading from Diana's story.
A few weeks later, Douglas and his Broncos counterpart, George Patton, were deep in negotiations for a trade that would have sent Judy to the Jets and given a future Hall of Fame quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, another potential playmaker. The Broncos felt a deal was near. Then abruptly, it all fell apart. In Denver's executive offices, they couldn't believe the reason why.
Douglas told the Broncos that Johnson didn't want to make the trade because the owner felt Judy's player rating in Madden NFL, the popular video game, wasn't high enough, according to multiple league sources. The Broncos ultimately traded the receiver to the Cleveland Browns. Last Sunday, Judy crossed the 1,000-yard receiving mark for the first time in his career.
There's something soothing about his voice. It washes over me like just soft ocean waves.
Most of my team tells me it's soporific.
I send them to sleep. You do, but... You should do the Calm app. Let's do something with John Amici and the Calm app right now. I want to put something together now, but make sure it's got enough facial hair to be properly masculine. That's right.
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Don Levitard. Mike Ryan's in there, and he's the one with the baby. He's the one who's got to, like, worry about what the future is. And Mike Ryan bet on DraftKings because Mike Ryan bet on us. This is the bet you're afraid of doubling down on? Putting up a billboard in Edmonton? Stoogatz!
I care more about Matthew Kachuk than I do my daughter.
This is the Dan Levitar Show with the Stoogatz!
Well, the co-host's chair is vacant. And Dan is losing patience. Stugatz is a big no show. PTO, PTO, PTO. Oh, the calendar has no indication. Of a December long vacation He claims he let someone know PTO, PTO, PTO When we finally hear from him After weeks of being MIA Dead & Company reunion I'm gonna be out until May While Skipper should have seen this coming
The audacity's mind-numbing But I guess we'll just go with the flow PTO, PTO, PTO
Can you guys do me the favor of putting on the screen what's going on right now at our toy drive when I was watching Rose sort of hula dance, Hawaii dance on her back, not wearing her Santa beard. No, Rose, this is not how we do a toy drive. Santa does not lay down on the job. I need you to get your beard on and I need people to get to Dolphin Mall, get to Vivo and conclude our toy drive today.
Rose, how are you doing out there? Why are you not wearing your beard? This is not, you're very skinny for a Santa. How are you the skinniest Santa that we've had?
Well, I was surprised to see Roy and Tony there because they told me we were on their staff and they were like, oh, you have to be Santa. And when I heard that we're there, I'm like, what? What am I doing here? So my beard, actually, I have hair, but it's not a beard. So I can pretend that it's a beard because I cannot find my beard.
Okay, that's very good work for you. We'll come back to you in a second to see how the toy drive is going. What's going on? Airplane over there? It's on the track.
No, it's on the track of the Miami International Airport. It's right there.
No, but yeah, there's an airplane, but we had a fan come and bring us toys, so we're happy.
We don't need to get too specific. Just keep a running count for me.
All right. Hopefully it'll pick up. It's good, though, that we got a fan bringing a toy. That's a good start to the day. Let's see if we can make it hundreds of fans bringing hundreds of toys. We'll come out to Rose again at Dolphin Mall in a second. But I want to play a couple of other songs here. Taylor's Long Past Annoying Me.
Taylor likes singing awful songs, and we've given him wide, wide berth on liberty to sing these songs. Mike, what are you doing? He's there? Oh, no. All right, so a listener thinks that they can do a song better than Taylor does a song. Yeah, well, I don't like Taylor's songs.
He's a mega star. Internet chat agrees.
They're all saying. All right, let's see what Amici's thoughts are on Taylor's song about Bill Belichick.
He sees you when you're practicing. He knows your favorite plays. Your script won't work on the first try. Cause he's got it all on tape. Oh, you better watch out. He's getting his guys. You better find out that Ball's PSI. Belichick is coming to town.
I tell you, your voice is so wonderfully restrained. It's amazing. It's like you treat the song with such reverence despite the fact it's about bollocks.
It's amazing. I couldn't hear what you said, but just thank you for the compliment.
You're most welcome. All right, let's pop his clogs. Get him out of here. Get him out of here. Thank you.
Balance.
Let's see what we have here from a listener. I don't know what this is about. Chris, do you believe this is better or worse than what Taylor made for us?
I'm going to go with worse.
24 was rough, the dolphins are done McDaniel tried his best, just wasn't enough Bright spots they had a few and Johnny was one
Alrighty.
Yeah, that was bad. A little over-modulated. I think he needs like an engineer or something to mix it down.
Needs more Taylor.
Chris, you got to use better judgment. If you can't, like, first of all, those songs have to be called Taylor made. And every song we play needs to be better than whatever's Taylor's made. Like every single song. It's impossible. It's impossible.
Sometimes around here, good is bad, bad is good. Are you a VIP?
I'm a VIP. You a VIP? Always.
May I continue, please? I want to play more Stephen A. Smith sound for you because he's talking about Miami. And I do want to get to this Tyreek Hill story because he set the Internet ablaze with something yesterday that I was genuinely confused about its punctuation and whether or not he meant something else. But here is Stephen A. Smith's point of view about women in Miami.
At eGirlsXO, Stephen A., which city in the U.S. has the best looking women? And why is it Miami? Well, first of all, you answered the question. It's Miami. Miami is special. It's special. And I'm not just talking about the city of Miami. I'm talking about the outskirts. I'm talking about going towards Coral Gables. I'm talking about South Beach. I'm talking about, you know, near Fort Lauderdale.
I'm talking about Coral Gables, like I said before. You know it's bad in Miami when one of the finest women you ever saw in your life is at a gas station pumping gas in Miami. That's when you know this place is different. Like different. I'm talking about the kind of beauty that stops traffic. Cats getting in car crashes because they screeching on their brakes.
Causing three car accidents and stuff like that. And then the accidents happen and then people are like, what the hell is wrong with you? And they all look over at the gas station and go like this. Oh, I understand. Miami's like that.
Okay, super creepy. Incredibly creepy. That is incredibly, I mean, talk about giving Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang vibes right there.
I get the reference. I don't know what that's supposed to mean. I know what he's talking, I know what Stephen A. Smith's talking about. I don't know what you're talking about.
The way he moved his fingers when he was talking at the beginning, as if he's just about finished licking them after eating chicken. That is gross. If I wasn't already gay, I'd be gay after watching that.
I want to talk some more about Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I mean, when you came in here today, did anyone comment on your face? Because it felt like everyone noticed only when I said something. Because I'm looking at you, you look like you're in pain, and the left side of your face looks like it's swelling more as the show goes on.
Well, as you can tell, Dan, I've done a great job of kind of angling my body away from the camera so that all they see is the good side. Now I have a good side.
I'll flip around the other way for a second.
But you've got some of your teeth look like they still have blood on them. Your mouth looks like it's bloody. Does it? Yes. That's a bloody mess. Yeah, you mentioned that. Back to the well. So on the way in, I mean, I'm sorry, Meech. Jesus.
Wow. What is happening around here? It's the AMI thing. Like that ami sound. It's a tricky one. That is the lamest of excuses.
No, with me it is. With me it is. I think they look exactly alike.
This is what I thought.
And look, let's stop hiding. Okay? When I see Amin, I often see Meech. When I see Meech, I often see Amin. I don't know why that's happening. Sometimes I see Roy. But all three of them... Yeah, with Meech, it's pure racism.
That's all that's happening. I'm just an out-and-out racist. Out in the open, that's what we need.
So we've... You've always said that. You've always said that. Don't hide behind the hood.
My card is on the table, and it's a race card.
But we were driving in on the beach because of what Stephen A. Smith says and because there are a lot of beautiful people. There was a man running shirtless with six-pack abs, and I'm like, there it is, Meech, all over South Beach.
And who noticed him first, by the way? I did. Oh. Are you saying Miami is special? It's so special. It's not special. The man looked like a sociopath. Miami is special. He had a dogger or Stephen A? You know, what is the Christian Bale in the film with the obsession over business cards, right?
Yeah, American Psycho.
He looked like he was running, listening to Huey Lewis in the news, waiting for the next person to approach him, who he felt threatened by, to murder them. That's what he looked like. There's nothing attractive about that.
God, he looked so hot in that movie, too. This person also looked hot, oily, oily, and... Yeah, it wasn't sweat.
He clearly had baby-oiled himself before he left the house. That's correct. Gross. Who doesn't? Special.
And the other thing that it led to a conversation on... Can you trust anybody who has six-pack abs? and doesn't have a six-pack for their job. Right, so not a professional athlete that's taking care of their body in order to make money. Yes, that's a good qualifier.
It's a good asterisk because I'd maintain if you care that much about that, there are other things that you're not caring about that I need you to care about. Like climate change.
There's genetics. There's genetics. Some people don't have to work out. I have my friend College Mike. That guy drinks a lot of beer.
No way that anyone has a six-pack without exercising.
That can't be. He also doesn't eat for joy. He just eats for fuel.
I don't believe that you can have a six-pack without exercising.
I'm going to have my friend College Mike send me a pic.
Put it on the poll at Levitard Show. Can you have six-pack abs if you don't exercise? And can you ever truly trust somebody who has six-pack abs?
Doesn't it show incredible discipline, Dan? Like on the opposite side of the coin, it's like, look how much I can lock in on something and do it.
Look how much I can lock in on something completely immaterial and unimportant. This segment is going to descend into your listeners just sending in thirst traps. I can see what's going to happen now. And I'm here for it.
I would say to you that if you care about that, that obsessively, there are probably other things in your life that you're not caring about. It's obviously a blanket generalization. But if that's something that's that important to you, If you're a bodybuilder, I'm going to think the same thing.
Like, if you're a bodybuilder who's doing that obsessively, I think of bodybuilding almost as a body dysmorphia, really.
Yeah. No, I often look at people that take care of their bodies, and I'm like, they're the problem.
Agreed.
I got it right. That person is clearly a psycho.
You can do too much, you know. Plus, half the time you look at these people, they don't look... like human beings anymore. It's odd to me. It's odd to me. I don't want your skin to be like paper. That's odd. It's an odd sensation to be with somebody who has no fat whatsoever.
Yeah. You mean like leathery skin. Cushion for the pushing you're talking about.
Yeah, plenty of that. That's one of those things, yes.
He was not talking about Cushion for the Pushing. I don't know why Cushion for the Pushing made an appearance other than Cushion rhymes with pushing.
He basically said Zagaki afterwards, though.
I don't know what that means. I don't know what I want. Can you guys get for me, please, the sound from the Kanye West deposition? Because I do want to get to that in a second.
Mine were so good. Why'd you do this?
And I also want to get to this Tyreek Hill tweet that was out yesterday that I keep promising to get to that I have not gotten to. But let's just this deposition was amazing. And I can't I don't know how much else here was as amazing as this. But let's hear this.
I see that you're looking down at probably a device. Are you on your phone? Yes. Okay. So I'm going to ask as a ground rule that you not be on your phone during the exam. Can we agree to that?
Well, is that legally what it should be?
I'm not going to advise you as to the law. That's why your lawyers are here. But that is my ground rule for the deposition consistent with California law that you need to be present, focused on the examination and not on a device.
Due to my mental geniusness, in order to focus on this bullshit, I need to be on a phone.
You guys cut that short. He then put a mask on and it was a wrestling mask and he started doing it that way. And you guys said, I ruined things and you're smiling happier than I've seen anybody smile at metal art media.
Mental geniusness is great. It says rooted in ignorance.
It's so sad though. I feel so, I mean, he's a man, he has his own agency. I get that. But I feel so sad that you can be so unloved or so exploitable that no one around you is willing to forcefully be there to help you not embarrass yourself publicly, not humiliate yourself, not make you more liable for the things that are going to happen to you.
It just seems incredible to me that no one loves you. This is the same as that scene in President Trump's first term when he had toilet paper on his shoe. To me, it's that again. I saw that, and regardless of the fact that I don't like him, I felt sad for him because he's surrounded by people paid to be around him, none of whom felt enough about him to stop him from embarrassing himself.
And here it is, again, my geniusness-ness. And one of whom is his lawyer. You would think that he would have said something. Right? Especially if I'm paying you. You have one job. How about you prevent me from being more of a liability to myself and maybe even not humiliate myself? Wow.
I've read some stuff recently about because one of the things that he said, I'm the richest black man in the history of the world. As he continued to talk on some things that can almost easily be clinically diagnosed from afar as something in the realm of manic or bipolar, the way that he cratered.
Adidas as a sneaker business because of the crazed anti-Semitism and other things that he was doing. And he was so valuable to Adidas. I saw that they gave a lifetime contract to Damian Lillard.
But go read, I'm forgetting where it is that I saw it, a story about the way that Kanye, the way Adidas had to backpedal from the size of his brand and name and everything else in a way it never wanted to because he was responsible for... their entire ability to do business in the sneaker realm because of how giant his brand is. And he's been that.
I've seen him be some form of that since getting punked by Ashton Kutcher on MTV, like where his arrogance as an early producer before he was even any of this was something to marvel at in his early 20s.
i mean there's video of his documentary where he's there like making beats in the lab and like you see the the pure ability that he has to create music and then you see throughout that documentary where he turns the character into his reality right and that's the part that's sad is you kind of lose yourself in that in that creation
But yet the ability is so amazing that it gets lost in translation.
It's funny that you should mention that because one of the things that I couldn't believe where it is that people get lost in their character. I'd like to have this conversation with Stephen A. Smith because I think it's happened to him some. But one of the places that on South Beach Sessions, I noticed it just this week with Louis Black.
When Louis Black performs, he doesn't know that his fingers are moving like that because he's putting on a costume. He's been doing it for so long that he's putting on a piece of his identity and then getting out of that identity so that he doesn't actually become that.
And so one of the things I enjoyed about talking to Louis Black was just seeing the other side of him because it is he was talking about it like if you would put on a robot costume.
and that when he's done with his performance if he sees video of it he does not know that he was moving his fingers like that that he doesn't have any any awareness of it the thing that sports television i've told you guys this with max kellerman and all the places where people talk too much including here where it distorts me too if you talk this much for a living you become Colin Cowherd.
Colin Cowherd becomes some form of what it is that he's trying to do, or he has to consciously take that off and leave it at work in a locker and go home because the character will envelop you if everywhere you go, that's all that people are seeing. Like what Stephen A. Smith's life has become over the last 15 years is an insanity.
It's a true insanity where he is just delighted at how he ends up in all of these amazing power brokering places with those people desperately wanting to be around him because he's a cartoon character on television.
It's almost like severance, right? Where you have to go to work and leave your work self there and then go back home and be able to be a normal human.
Listen, nothing good happens when your occupation becomes your definition. When what you do becomes who you are, nothing good comes from that. You guys have talked about this with athletes that finish their career and then spectacularly go off the rails, whether it's drugs or other substances, whether it's gambling, whether it's sex, whatever it is, they lose themselves.
Because what happens if you've defined yourself for a period of time by the fact that you are beloved on television or you're a cartoon character on television or whatever else, or you're a genius with music? And then all of a sudden you find yourself in front of a lawyer who doesn't give a shit about your creative skills. They just want you to answer some questions. It creates this schism.
It doesn't have to be a pathology. I'm not suggesting it's some kind of psychological disorder. I think that's often, we often pathologize this stuff. I still think it's sad that you can be that successful and have managed to reject everyone who might love you a little bit enough to challenge you out of your sphere.
You think it's irresponsible of me to diagnose Kanye after the last three years as some sort of, on a spectrum, he's behaving in a way that suggests this isn't just fame and arrogance.
You're not
diagnosing him like he'll reveal that yeah he's but even even if he didn't reveal that though you don't feel comfortable with that assessment based just on the behavior like when you're saying to everybody some form look i saw this happen to my brother a lot of weird stuff happened with my brother at the end and one of them was this like where the mania gets to such a point that you feel like you're the biggest and most important person in the world and
But much as I said with Ricky Williams, who was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, and that disorder is, you go to the grocery store and you think everyone's looking at you. But when he went to the grocery store, everybody was indeed looking at him. If you're predisposed to a certain arrogance here and then you spike because of your brain chemistry and stuff to a place where, is that genius?
Because he's been rewarded at every turn. When you can crater Adidas with your thoughts?
Listen, I'm not suggesting that he doesn't have traits of people who've got real psychopathy, real problems. I'm simply, nor even that you can recognize it when you see it in your family members, these behaviors. What I'm saying is it does a real disservice to the millions and millions of people out there who have similar disorders but don't behave in such aberrant ways.
That's something to consider, right? We try and say this is because of your diagnosis. When there are millions of people out there suffering similarly or sometimes even more acutely, who don't behave in these aberrant ways.
That's what Mike Ryan used to say when I was talking about all the Antonio Brown malfeasance. And I'm like, how is that not something that's happening that seems to be brain issues?
And Mike was saying, well, no, there are plenty of people, nevermind brain issues, there are plenty of people who have any assortment of depressive tendencies or otherwise who aren't behaving in sports or anywhere else like Antonio Brown.
And it is different if you're in the spotlight, if you're in sports, they're exacerbating factors. So I'm not suggesting it's not a contributor. I suppose my thing here is I don't want people to think that they do that thing where they think because of it's because of the diagnosis that this person behaves in these reprehensible ways. That is a contributing factor.
But there are other factors and some of them are totally within the control of the individual. It isn't just that. Oh, how unfortunate your brain chemistry was was effed up when you were born. And now you're in this tough position. It's you also made some terrible choices and you're now doing things purposefully.
and relying on the fact that we're going to let things slide because of your diagnosis. We work in companies sometimes where people say things like, well, the reason that we've got so many bullies in our environment is because these really clever people are on the spectrum, they'll say.
And what an incredible disservice to people who might have ASD, autism spectrum disorder, to imagine that because you have this, you're a terrible person who's awful to other people. No, these people are assholes who have ASD. That is not the same thing.
Dan, this is like the old, and bear with me, I know the messenger isn't the best, but it's like the old Bill Cosby stand-up where he says... What are you laughing at?
Bill, it's just my face was showing and your name was showing underneath it.
That's a preview. It's a preview.
So the old Bill Cosby stand-up, he says... the guy tells him, hey, have cocaine. And he's like, what does cocaine do? He says, well, it intensifies your personality. And Cosby says, well, what if you're an asshole? Right? And it's the same thing. It's like... Your personality is your personality. And then what you're afflicted with influences some of that.
But at the end of the day, it brings it out. The other thing is, and John, I wonder if you see this a lot, where people, because they're either on the spectrum or just self-diagnosing, they take it as license. to be an asshole. It's not just, you're an asshole. It's like, oh, no, it's because of this, I can act any way I want.
Yeah, I've spoken to some teachers, actually, in schools, universities, and high schools in the States and in Europe, and they are dealing with kids who have either self-diagnosed or been told by their parents they have a certain disorder, and therefore, them being rude in class or speaking out when they shouldn't be or not participating is somehow... like they have license to do it now.
I think it's really problematic. It's why the advice for psychologists is that we don't diagnose from a distance. It's really tempting because you see these constellations of behaviors and you think, I've recognized this. I've seen this before.
But I just think agency, you're going to give people a chance to say, what part are you playing in this before we kind of throw away everything else and say, yeah, it's not your fault.
I love this show because this is a great segment on mental health. This is a photo of my friend College Mike's abs. He doesn't work out really at all. He drinks a lot of beer. He's a great hang. But look, you see that? Let's get rid of that lower third right there. Let's see these abs pop there. This guy's just gifted. He has an ab. No, no, no. That's six.
He has a pair of abs.
I counted six. Maybe it's the lighting in there. But Dan, you can see this guy has abs and he doesn't really care about taking care of his body.
This is where you can tell the straight guy standards are entirely different.
Really? Yeah. I mean, there's the definition. Dan, your thoughts?
Put it on the poll, please, Juju, at Levitard Show. Can you be someone who has an eight-pack with no exercise whatsoever drinking beer like Mike's friend?
I thought you were going to ask to put on the poll, does college Mike have abs? Because he does not. And also that. Well, we all do.
We all have abs. Well, yes, mine are covered, but he has a pair of abs that are exposed.
No, I counted six. Yeah. I also counted, too. Chris, were you laughing? I saw you laughing during that segment. I think you and I were laughing at the same thing. I'm not totally sure. But you can hear that Amin's lip is fat.
Yes, it sounds ridiculous.
All of his analysis. I want him to give the most serious analysis, but also I want him to go viral with that sound on audio that makes it seem like his heavy tongue is slathered on every word he's speaking.
Ridiculous.
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