The Best of Stugotz and Company LIVE!

This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. Thanks for listening to Stugats & Company Live Podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 3 to 5 p.m. Eastern, noon to 2 p.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for Stugats & Company Live at FoxSportsRadio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeart Radio app by searching FSR. Now let's get this party started. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. I consider myself, you know how there's the keeper of the cup for the Stanley Cup? Of course. I consider myself the keeper of the Gats. And if you don't think it's a coincidence that the first day that I'm not by Stu Gats' side since this show started, that we can't get him on in time, it is no coincidence. Let me tell you that. It's a great point. You have been by his side. We've been doing this, what, a month already? and you've been there every single show next to him, whether it's here in South Florida, whether it was the week in San Francisco for the Super Bowl, or whether it was the last two days when he was in Chicago. I happen to have been here the whole time, well, the last few days, and saw Taylor today. I was a little surprised. Didn't expect him. And knew that that might create some question marks in terms of who we have here. Before we get started to any sports talk, a quick shout out. We lost a legend today. Varsity Blues legend James Vanderbeek died at 48. I don't want your life. I don't know how many people are going to say that today, but that came down as some shocking news there. But on that note, Taylor, were you a Varsity Blues fan? Mikey, were you a Varsity Blues fan? So I've never seen Varsity Blues. Wow. What? What? This is, see, this is an unfortunate reason to have to watch it. But it is absolute candy for just a football fan slash just whatever it is, a teen movie type of thing. Like, it's just absolute candy. And you have to watch it. And everything about that movie, I think, because it's not as serious as most of these football movies, like, I think it is probably my favorite football movie of all time. you were a walk-on at North Carolina, which means you played high school football. How did you not watch that movie? Like, that is quintessential high school football, that movie. Yeah, so I'm just not the biggest movie person, I guess. Like, if I have a free night where I'm not watching a major sporting event, I'm most likely just watching, like, a Mac college basketball game. Oh, I thought you were going to say a Mac Hollins highlight reel, which would have been very disturbing. for those who don't know Matt Collins is Taylor's good friend so I'll leave it to you guys what do we want to talk about in terms of today is it either the suspensions on the Hornets and Detroit Pistons fight which just came out today which that fight in itself is interesting but Taylor also throws out the possibility of do we want to allow fighting in basketball or did you want to go to parade talk with Sam Darnold and maybe a t-shirt with his face on. I want to hear some I want to hear some fight talk from Taylor. I want to hear NBA throwing throwing gloves down, taking off wristbands and swinging. That's what I want to hear. So the news here, NBA suspended Detroit Pistons forward Isaiah Stewart, best nickname in sports, beef stew. They suspended him seven games. The Hornets forward Miles Bridges and Moussa Diabate were suspended four games and Pistons center Jalen Duren, who started the whole mess by mushing diabate in the face well he got two games and so yes taylor your take on whether the nba should allow fighting the way the nhl does yeah well so it's it's so jarring when the bench is clear in the nba and i'm trying to think why because when you watch the nhl the nhl is normalized like two players get in a fight hey we're gonna let these two guys battle it's regulated They're going to sit out. So what if the NBA regulated NBA fights? So part of part of the issue or part of the reason why they allow the fights in hockey is, well, first, you've got this big weapon in your hands at all times. And they want you to not use that. So you get that outlet in another way. You also, for the most part, I'm not sure exactly when the refs have to break this up. Maybe Stu and his hockey knowledge can help me out here. I know once they get to the ice, once they're on the ground or on the ice, they break up the fight immediately. Is it the same when they take their helmets off in a hockey match? Do they then immediately stop the fight or is it you just continue until we can separate this? I think with the helmets off, you can still fight. But this is the problem with the NBA fighting, Taylor. It doesn't matter if you regulate it. If you break a guy's nose or knock him out on the hardwood, A, he's not going to be able to come back. And you've done some major damage or actually damage to their team. So you've done well for your team. But also, like, man, there's a lot of stuff. There's a lot of stuff that could happen to somebody besides just being like maybe knocked out prematurely or for a little bit or have a bloody nose. Like, you can't just all of a sudden be like, OK, I'm back and then start playing in the game. Like you can't just allow for fighting like that. Yeah, I didn't even think of it from a safety perspective. I just thought of it from the perspective of NBA viewership feels like it's down in terms of fan interest. How do we get the fans back excited? If LeBron James is fighting to start a quarter, that's going to get me involved. But Izzy, anytime I think about fights in the NBA, and this is really the only reason why I wanted to talk about this. I love this clip so much. It's a Miami Heat clip. where the players start to fight. It's the Miami Heat and the Atlanta Hawks. I covered this game back in the day. Iowa Sam, let's just toss to this out. Now down low, it's going to be Al Horford. He drives. He goes up and gets knocked out hard. Oh, my goodness. The Heat have resorted to thuggery. Thuggery. Hey, I know that laugh. That's his back. What's up, Stu? Were you going to me on a hockey question? Is that what you were doing? I was just going to ask you if you happen to know that when hockey players are fighting, is one of the referees' rules, hey, when the helmets come off, we have to stop it. No, right? When the helmets come off, they can continue fighting. They can continue fighting. They normally don't, but they can. In terms of the referees, I don't know when the referees, the zebras, exactly stop a fight. I know for sure when they get to the ice. If it gets to the ground, they have to stop it. Beyond that, I'm not 100% sure. Yes. Taylor, that's the sound you wanted to play because I wanted to start today's show with Mad Dog, Christopher Mad Dog. But I'm glad you guys have started the show. I'm sorry I'm late here. They have me, you know, they're dragging me around Chicago. I mean, they really are. It's just like I don't know who they is. It's just figure it out for yourself. Hey, parking garage. Yeah, there's 10 right near the right near the iHeart Studios here in Chicago. Oh, which one? Which one's the closest? I don't know. I get there. My name's not at the security desk. I mean, I am furious right now. I am. I've been in 17 time zones. I've been on six flights in five days. I mean, enough is enough. Jeez. Somebody pay attention to me. Is he hearing this excuse machine? You mentioned Isaiah Stewart beef stew. I've got beef with a stew right now. Beef with stew. Very good. And I have a beef with Taylor. Yes, good job. That is a very good line by you. Are you proud of that one? I don't think he had a question for me. I don't care about Mikey's question right now. Forget my question. Sue's angry. Let's go. Taylor's telling me I'm cranking up the excuse machine. Thank you, Mikey, for recognizing that. Taylor's telling me I'm cranking up the excuse machine. The guy who left me in Chicago by myself to go back to sunny South Florida and is not here to help me with anything. Hey, just figure it out. Public parking garage. No name at the security desk. I bet you Colin's name would have been there. i bet you i bet you dan patrick's name it would have been right there lavar arrington right there rich cavino right there me i don't know nada first of all rich cavino is two people oh what 877 99 on fox oh you had to let that sit but i did now i'm lashing out at my friends who have nothing to do with anything that's going on in chicago uh anyway back to fighting mikey your follow-up question okay so now we can go back to my question you you cover the nba you're around the nba a lot more how many of them would actually be good fighters because i mean the nhl's reputation is these are just a bunch of tough guys who knock out their front teeth you know for fun but how many NBA players are like that's a dude I don't want to fight um there's a few of them my beef stew is one of them uh he is definitely a tough guy a real tough guy Jalen Duren's another one but I still think like a lot of these guys if it were allowed would do it like if you're not gonna get fine triple figures or like I mean somebody figure out what the math is on how many games uh how much money Isaiah Stewart cost himself for seven games. But that's why Duncan Robinson was doing what he was doing the other day. Not because he cares about his face and how great it looks and that he doesn't want to get it cracked open. It's that he doesn't want to get any sort of penalty for it. And hey, NBA, look at me. I'm all the way over here. You can even see some of the younger guys when that fight started, like Asar Thompson was in the back and he started moving up with everybody. And then he just slowly backed away. Like, no, thank you. So, no, I think allowing fighting in the NBA, I think you're right. It would expose a bunch of dudes who don't want to fight at all. The only thing, Izzy, I noticed from that fight is that I have both Mikael Bridges and Jalen Durant on my fantasy team, and now they're going to mix a combined six games. Those are key contributors to my fantasy team. They're part of the reason, two-tenths of the reason, that I'm in first place right now. I mean, I need those guys. Can we overrule this? You've got to think about this when you draft these guys. Is there a potential for them to be suspended for fighting? And Isaiah Stewart, absolutely on that list. By the way, according to Mikey, he cost himself $724,000 just so he can go out and maybe get a mitt on Jalen Duren. That is 1 145th of his salary, in case you were wondering. Yes. I mean, the fact that he makes that much every five games is ridiculous. He's a terrible player. I mean, he is. I'm going to let that one sit. He's not a terrible player. He's not a great player. I mean, he's a very good player. If I were to tell you he is the Detroit Pistons' Udonis Haslam, what would you say to that? UD, it's different, okay? I mean, it's different. UD, I understand what you're saying. Same type of player, right? But UD was the linchpin, the captain. the leader of championship teams. I know those teams had Dwayne Wade on them. I know some of those teams had Dwayne Wade and LeBron James and Chris Bosch on them, but the leader of those teams was neither or any of the guys I just mentioned. It was you Don is Haslam UD and he should have a statue outside of the American airlines arena. It's a big difference. Now, if Isaiah Stewart was the linchpin captain leader of championship teams, I would tell you, okay, he's worth the money. But he's never done that, Isaiah Stewart, and Udonis Haslam has done it multiple times. Different player. You don't hear anything about Pistons culture coming from Isaiah Stewart. I think you do. I think if you subscribe to the Detroit Free Press like I do, you probably read some quotes about him saying, yeah, I'm all about the culture. I'm going to bring back the bad boy Pistons. Right. But up until this year, it was a losing culture. I mean. It was. I mean, they made the playoffs last year, and he was a big part of that. Why did this turn into defending of Isaiah Stewart What did I do Because I said he was a bad player And I am shocked to learn that he makes that much money for every five games that he plays Or doesn play for that matter Didn't the Heat retire Udonis Haslam's jersey? Yes. In fact, I mean, look, with Udonis Haslam, it should be beyond a statue. He should own part of the team. Do you have Stewart's jersey going up in the rafters anytime soon? Anywhere. Just anywhere. Anywhere? Yes. In any arena in America. They would probably have to be in Detroit. But, hey, I mean, I'm picking them to make the finals this year, so they're one round away from winning it all. So, yeah, he might be the next Udonis Haslam in your book. Okay. If they do win a title and you ask me that same question a year from now, I will then say, yes, Isaiah Stewart reminds me of Udonis Haslam. That's all I ask. Just keep an open mind, Stu. That's it. Non-beats, Stu. I'm trying to. I mean, I am being dragged around the Windy City. It is cold out here. Taylor has left me. I don't know where I'm going. My name's not at security, and we're talking about Isaiah Stewart. The Brian Windhorst City? That was so bad. Be sure to catch live editions of Stu Gotson Company live weekdays at 3 p.m. Eastern, 12 p.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. All right, hour number two, Stu Gotson Company live. Fox Sports Radio. Covino and Rich coming up after us here. Izzy in South Florida. Taylor, he has fled Chicago because it's cold and he's tired and I don't blame him and I wish I was with him. Mikey A in Hartford. Frank Isole in New York are going to join us right now on the guest live. How are you, Frank? Good. You guys stopped talking about the Super Bowl immediately after the game ended, huh? Yeah, before it ended. Yeah, before it ended, actually. Yeah, it was that bad. How was Radio Row? The great heaven. Frank, have you ever been to Radio Row? Have you covered a Super Bowl? I'm certain you have, right? I've been to two Olympics. I've never covered the Super Bowl. I've never really had any interest in doing it. I wouldn't mind seeing Radio Row because, you know, it was invented by Mike Francesa and Chris Russo. You do realize that, right? I do realize that, yes. and I'm glad you brought up Christopher Mad Dog Russo because you love that show and you love that man the way I love that man. And I have some sound for you. I think you probably have heard it. But listen, Frank and I did a show as Mike and Chris. He was impersonating Francesa and I was doing Christopher Mad Dog Russo. That's how much we love that duo. But here is Mad Dog yesterday trying to make a point about Jaron Jackson. And I'm supposed to sit there now And I'm supposed to take this league seriously When I see this nonsense And I know you got the innings pitch situation With pitchers and that drives me crazy too But we all know how fragile these pitchers are And so why should Skeens pitch 300 innings I understand that And the Pirates are trying to get better for a better day And you can't have them with Tommy John I don't like it But there's at least an injury threat This is a 21 year old kid with the Wizards And Jackson decided to sit out God damn it. Hit it, bro. Not the Wizards. I'll keep it going. Keep it going. Frank, there's a whole second half. Yeah, hold on. Hold on. And here it is. I sat here and I gave it a date. November before Thanksgiving in 2017. And I walked in there in the off season and did an hour show with the freaking high heat, sick as a freaking dog. And then walked in here and did a monologue. And I said, I can't take it. I'm so sick. I got to leave. And I took the train home. And three days later, I was in the freaking Stanford Hospital. and the doctor said, how the hell did you survive this? And then I sat there on a Tuesday night. He sat there and operated on me for three hours to get an infestation. A left turn one. Chris Russo. And Jared Jackson can't play in the fourth quarter in a game in February making 50 million a year. Okay, Frank gets the point. How great is that, Frank? Well, then he said, shame on you, NBA. Yes. I love when he says, because we played that same clip today on my show in the morning on Sirius X NBA Rio. Thanks for the plug. It was Kevin. It was Kevin. I love when he tells you. I love when he says, I can give you the date. November before Thanksgiving. What's that? He loves dates. He's very organized. November before Thanksgiving. Let me tell you a quick Chris Russo story. So I go to the Marty Supreme movie premiere. I bring my wife. First of all, I've been in London for like four or five days, so I got invited to this premiere. So I tell the person, I can't go unless I can bring a plus one. My wife, I can't do it. They let me bring my wife. We're sitting, we're there. Who's sitting behind us? Chris and his son. So Chris's son is into movies. He wants to be, I think, a screenwriter. He goes to school out in L.A. We then go to the after party, which is now a big deal. Hey, I've got to get up early in the morning to do my radio show because we're on from 7 to 10. Thanks for the plug once again. And here's such an end-day radio. So we go to the party, and my wife is talking to Chris's son. The two kind of hit it off their toilet. Chris is, like, wandering around like he's hoping to run into Timothy Chalamet. Chris finally looks up to me at one point. He looks up. He sees my wife and his son huddled up. And classic Chris just goes, that's a good job by your wife there talking to my son. I go, yes, Chris, she's an adult and a nice person, so she's going to talk to your son. But why does he have to do everything that he's doing a sports radio show? That's exactly how he does it. So that's a nice job by your wife there talking to my son. But here's the other thing, too. So the movie, at the end of the movie, Chris leans over. He goes, that was kind of a weird movie. So I said, yeah, I guess there's really no one to, like, root for in the movie. Like, nobody's really that likable. So the next day, now, I know the guy, Safdie, the director. You know, he's a big NBA fan, so I'd spoken to him before. And Chris does his show the next day, and Chris is murdering the movie, killing it. And I'm like, oh, God, here it comes. And Shervey goes, Frank, I saw him. He said the same thing. I'm like, no, I didn't. I just said there was nobody really to root for in the movie. Yes, yes. But, no, Frank Isola. No, but Chris needed company, and you were the company. So that's it. Exactly. Frank Isola, the guy who co-hosts the starting lineup with Brian Scalabrini every morning from 7 to 10 a.m. on NBA. Thanks for the plug. I appreciate that. You're welcome. It's really Brian's show. That's why we were confused. Exactly. What do you make of the overall point that Christopher Mad Dog Russo was trying to make about Jaron Jackson taking a fourth quarter off, making $51 million a year? I think it's a big problem for the NBA. What do you think? Well, it's interesting. And as you would know, this covering the NBA for a million years, like, banking has always gone on. It just doesn't feel like it's ever happened before the All-Star break. Which is good because now Adam, I hope Adam gets asked about it. Usually at the All-Star game, there'll be like a reporter from Kazakhstan will ask, is the NBA ever considering playing there? Like, hopefully we'll get to, like, the questions about this, the tanking stuff. The answer is always yes, Frank. Exactly. What I love about it, it's funny, though, right? So, I think it's the only sports league in the world. I'm talking any sport. Like, they're not doing this in baseball in Japan. They're not doing it in hockey in the United States. Like, no one is intentionally losing and is being incentivized to lose the way that they are in the NBA. It's a system that's set up. One player in the NBA could change the fortunes of your franchise. And Danny Green was on ESPN the other day, and he's killing the Utah Jazz for what they're doing. I'm thinking, well, hang on a second. You played for the San Antonio Spurs. The grandfather of tanking and of load management is Greg Popovich. The way that the Spurs got Tim Duncan was because they tanked. So now because the Utah Jazz are doing it, I don't think it's right, 100%. But it's kind of a system that is set up. And it's amazing that they went back-to-back games of benching both Larry Markkinen and Jaron Jackson in the fourth quarter in an attempt to damage their chances of winning. That's why the loss for Miami the other night was terrible, because Utah's essentially saying, all right, we're going to give you a chance to win here because we're going to take out our best players. And Utah actually ended about scoring Miami in the fourth quarter. But I don't remember a year, and everyone keeps talking about how great this draft is, You know, but I did the Washington Nets game on Saturday. I know all you guys were locked into that game. And Washington didn't play Trey Young and Anthony Davis. And then their next five best players, if you could name their next five best players, you should get an award. All of them sat. So Washington was tanking that game. Tonight, Indiana plays at Brooklyn. They've already basically ruled out all their guys. So this is going on a lot. I just don't ever remember it happening this early in the season. It's not just this early, Frank. We're talking to Frank Isola, co-host of the starting lineup on Sirius XM Radio 7 to 10 every morning. That's four plugs now. It's the way they're doing it, Frank, with Utah, where not only do they have players that if you actually play them, could make a run right now, they're that good, one through five. But sitting them in the fourth quarter, your four best players, the four of your starters, watching them twiddle their thumbs, looking around like, I know I could help here. It's just a different form of tanking where it's just so blatant. They're just doing everything right in your face. They're like, hey, we're going to get Jaron Jackson Jr. acclimated to our system, but we're not going to try to win with him. And it's just got to be super frustrating if you're a fan of Utah, excited about their potential, but you have to wait all the way until October. Yeah, I think you're right. And I also think, you know, part of kind of the death of newspapers is you don't have that many beat writers traveling anymore. And I know that he was asked, did you think about putting both those players back in the game? And I think it was a Miami reporter. It might have been Ethan Skolnick. I asked him the question. It should have been a Utah reporter. They said, did you think about putting both of them back in? And he said, no, I wasn't. The next question should be, well, why not? Exactly. How come you're not putting two guys in the game to help yourself? You know what's going to happen eventually with this? And tonight the Utah Jazz play Sacramento. And Utah yesterday had ruled Lowry Markin out of the game for rest. and now he's going to play tonight. Sacramento, which is the worst record in the league, they're sitting all their big-name players. Even though when they play them, they lose, but they're going to sit all the guys tonight. Eventually, there's going to be a group of fans that are going to hire an attorney, and they're going to have a class-action lawsuit and claim consumer fraud. It just sucks a bad look all the way around. Led by Christopher Mad Dog Russo, by the way. Yes, yes. That's a bad job by the Jazz there, Mikey. Go ahead, Taylor. Frank, I'm a Knicks fan, and I feel like the quickest way to a Knicks fan's heart is getting one of us on the team, and that's what the Knicks did with Jose Alvarado. How much better does Jose Alvarado make the Knicks and kind of raise their ceiling? A couple of things. Number one, when they acquired him, and my boy, Stefan Bondi, covers the Knicks for the New York Post. He was basically one of my understudies at the Daily News. He wrote about Jose Alvarado and the Post put on the back page like they had just acquired Bob Cousy. I mean, come on, guys. So slow down for a minute. The guy's a good, you know, he's a good player. It's not like how is he doing with the New Orleans Pelicans? They weren't that good of a team. But what I like about him is that he's got a lot of fight to him. He played really well up in Boston, did not play well last night against Indiana. But I think I think the fans would like him. They needed a second ball handle because Deuce McBride is going to be out for a while. It takes Jalen Brunson off the ball a bit. But remember for a guy like Alvarado if you going to play him together with Brunson your backcourt is pretty small And that that be one of the issues But I think he brings a lot of fight He brings a lot of fire and I also think there was a need there Because of McBride's injury, they needed to bring in an experienced guy, and Alvarado fills that bill. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Taylor. Taylor just bailed on his question. He just bailed on his question. I want to go back to Utah there for a second because, Frank, the thing that annoys me is, like, first of all, it's top four protected their pick that they're trying to tank for, right? So it's a good chance they might not even be top five protected or top four if they actually lose all those games. They could still drop, let's say, as many as three spots and get out of there. And I feel like karma, like, has a play in this when if you tank horribly because you think you're going to get one of those top four picks that everybody loves, one of them's not going to be great. Maybe even two of them aren't going to be great. And so I feel like karma is going to come back and bite you. I feel like if they were just to play normally, maybe have a couple of injuries here or there, and then just settle in where they settle in, they'll be better off than if they take this chance and just ruin their relationship with their fans for a while. I think there's something to be said for that. I think the fact that Danny Ainge has a big part of the Utah Jazz, and you think about how he was able to rebuild the Boston Celtics through the draft with getting Jalen Brown, and they're making that great trade with Philadelphia, where Philadelphia took Markel Fulton. He was able to get Jason Tatum. So I think that's part of it. But they do have a good enough team, like Keontae George, a player that nobody knows about, but he's really good. But I think they're just so committed where they're thinking, there's less than 30 games left. Let's just go all in on tanking. But I do agree with what you said about the players. Because I keep hearing about the kid on Kansas, and I've seen him play a little bit, Darren Peterson. He's also hurt all the time. To me, there's a lot of red flags. You know how it works with a lot of players. Guys that are hurt kind of always get hurt and stay hurt. And that's what worries me about him. And if you look historically at the draft, now the one where it really worked out for all the top picks was the one where LeBron was taken and Detroit made the mistake with Darko. But then it went Carmelo, Bosh, and Dwayne Wade. And, of course, they all had a plan in Miami anyway. But that's one where, yes, it worked out. But a lot of times I always feel like it's a little overhyped, the draft. And when you start trading for players to get draft picks, your hope is that some of the guys that you traded away will one day become as good as the players that you just traded. It's not always a guarantee that's going to happen. And let me just say this. The last game of the regular season before the Miami Heat drafted Dwayne Wade, they were playing against the Toronto Raptors. And if they would have purposely lost, They could have gotten the fourth pick instead of the fifth pick, and look what happened. Karma thanked them and gave them Dwayne Wade. I also don't think – I think Darren Peterson, I think you're 100% on with this, Frank. Like, there's something there with him. I always thought he was a little overrated already, but there's something there with him not playing and just sort of using Kansas as a stage for a short period of time and not trying very hard. I'm not a huge fan of the kid. I agree with you, and there's a game that you guys got to look out for, and I'm sure Stu Gatz will probably try to get tickets. After the All-Star break, Washington and Indiana play on consecutive days in Washington. Those are two teams that both want to lose and both have protections on that first-round pick, so they want to do as poor as they can. I mean, isn't that something that the league is going to have to monitor? Because, once again, they're trying to put themselves in position to get a top-four pick. Are we going to play a little game here, I believe? Yeah, we are. I want to explain to the audience what happened there. Taylor thought Izzy had a follow-up Taylor's question was about the Charlotte Hornets he then ducked away from the mic which is a terrible thing to do to your teammate Israel Gutierrez when he throws it back to you and defers to you considering he has the most NBA credibility and just credibility in general amongst everyone here who is doing this show with the exception of Frank Isola he was nice enough to allow you to go first and you ducked but anyway We have a game here for Frank Isola. Taylor really wanted to ask me, Frank, why do you think there was only one coach in the Eastern Conference that got fired last year? It was the guy that led his team to the first conference files in 25 years. And I would still be going on for about 15 minutes about that, so I'm kind of glad maybe you didn't ask the question. He thinks the Hornets are going for it. That's what he thinks. That's what he was going to ask you, just so you know. All right, so Frank, Frank, we play this game with you all the time on the podcast. We have to clean it up a little bit for live radio here on Fox Sports Radio. So Taylor will take it away with a new name to an old game. Go ahead, Taylor. The game is called Isola or Bleepola. We're not podcasting. Obviously, we're not podcasting anymore. All right, go ahead. No, we still are. We're doing too much is what we're doing. Yes. Seahawks fans with the 12 fan jersey Isola or Bleep Hola? I give fans a lot of credit for spending their money But that's weak Enough with that Thinking that you're the 12th man So it's hokey You're like a big time franchise now Yeah, that's Bleep Hola to me It's like heat culture There you go, exactly Alright, Frank Isola or Bleep Hola? Teacup rides Ooh, that's a good one. What kind of rides? The teacup. The teacup ride. Yeah, Sam Donald and Kenneth Walker. Those things make me throw up. Now they're terrible. Yeah, they're evil. I took my kids on that. And, like, you know, you get exercise trying to spin it around. No, no, I'm good with that. I'm good with that ride. That's a good ride. Yeah, I hate that ride. Kansas is better without Darren Peterson. Isola or Bleepola? Y'all please say Isola. Before you answer that, Frank, it starts to sound like when you say his last name is actually the curse name, the curse word. Sorry about that. I know. I'm going with Isola on that one. I'm not going to buy that. I'm not saying, I don't know if he's going to become the next LeBron James, but if they want to win a national championship, they need him. They beat Arizona without him. Yeah, right? That's one game. It happens. Hang on The Jazz beat the Miami Heat Without Jaron Jackson Jr. and Larry Markman Playing in the fourth quarter That was the Miami Heat doing the league a favor They will not allow the Jazz to tank Go ahead Mikey Last one for me Isola or Bleepola Parades I gotta go Isola on that one A lot of teams don't get to get a parade very often. Look at Miami Dolphins fans. You think they'd want a parade? The Jets are on the longest without even winning being in the playoffs. So I'm okay with the parade. Yeah, I guess. Last one. Nick Wright's suggestion to fix the All-Star game by separating the teams by race, Isola or Bleepola. It's going to be Bleepola because he's not the first person to say that. Right. Never think that you had an original idea on something like that. A lot of people have said that. You know. You know what's going to happen, though? If they played that game? Luka Doncic, unavailable. You know, left Achilles tendonitis. That's good. It's not going to matter. It doesn't matter what you call the team. They're still not going to play. Anthony Davis is getting hurt, right? Exactly. Who does Isaiah Hartenstein play for? God, good call. A half of each team. A half of each team. Wait, hold on. This is interesting, Frank. How long ago did you trot that idea out on national radio or any radio or just anywhere in general? Because you're right. Nick Wright is not the first one to say it, just the latest. Yeah, I think we probably presented it as a joke. I'm sure you guys have done it before. You know, it's fine that he did that. I guess, you know, he's getting attention. I like when he's fighting with Pablo Torre. I think that's pretty funny, too. Stu, I don't know if you knew this, but Frank hosts a show on Sirius XM Radio every morning from 7 to 10 a.m. with Brian Scalabrini called The Starting Line. That's beautiful. So you guys still do the podcast? Because whenever anybody says to me, so what time is your podcast on? I go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I do a radio show. That's for real people. Anybody could do a podcast. Not everyone could do three hours of radio. Not easy, right? Yeah, we can't do two. Right. I get the podcast. Yeah, we're still doing the podcast. We don't have a set time with the podcast. Yeah, but radio is like, you know, it's like you've got to bring your A-game for radio. Podcast, you can edit it out. Yes, yes. Curse up a storm. Well, listen, we brought our A-game today, I am telling you. I mean, we really have. That's a good job by you there, Stugat. Hey, Frank. Frank, thank you very much. By the way, if you want to hear – Taylor, can I go to sound here? Because I want to play Mad Dog trying to pronounce Bad Bunny. and I want Frank to hear it. Here is Christopher Mad Dog Russo on his A game. This is his A game. He has never been better than he was right here trying to pronounce Bad Bunny. You did not belong in a game. And that game was, again, unless you bet all sorts of props, read Chris Russo. I don't know how you stuck with it. And I am not talking about Bugs Bunny at the half either. Because I can care less. You got to do yourself a favor. Yes. There was a tennis player years ago, and it was FAM. Go try to find Chris trying to pronounce Paul Harhus. He was like, I'm not going to say, I'm not even going to try to say this one. Harhus, which you know what it sounds like. Oh, I guess I do. We're on it, Frank. Okay. Thank you, buddy. We appreciate it. We will talk to you again soon, my friend. All right, boys. Good luck. Take care. Be sure to catch live editions of Stu Gotson Company live weekdays at 3 p.m. Eastern, 12 p.m. Pacific. on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Dan, I'm guessing you could play Parade Sound the entire afternoon, right? Never get tired of it. Yeah, absolutely. It's one of the – that perk and your ESPN team favorites, the Seahawks score over the Patriots just stays up there because it's the end of the season for a long time. Perks, victors get the spoils, right? Yeah, I'm surprised you didn't want to go to the parade. What happened to you? Well, nine days in San Francisco. You know, I had to be home. Yeah. Yeah. It's a tough one, but watching it from afar is fine. Try tacking on five days in Chicago after San Francisco. How about that? I mean, in the winter. You know what helps me? You like to listen to Mad Dog Russo. I like Wayne Gretzky pronouncing countries in the World Cup like Curacao. Curaco. Like that's. Or Shaq. Korea Republic. I don't know why. It's just fun for me. Do you have more of those? I've got one more. Tom Brady. But I see you. There was another. Thank you, Dad. I don't like hearing that from Tom. It doesn't sound right. Oh, my God. That is funny. Dad, stick around because I have sound that's going to make you smile, okay? Also, happy Hammett Bone Day. Yeah. To all who celebrate. Ouch. So I think I started on the first show. I said that whenever Christopher Mad Dog Russo mispronounces something or goes on a crazy rant, we're going to stop everything that we have planned and we're going to play that sound. And so Mad Dog was at it again yesterday. Let's play the sound and get Izzy, Dan, Mikey, and Taylor's reaction to Christopher Mad Dog Russo being the greatest to ever do this. And I'm supposed to sit there now And I'm supposed to take this league seriously When I see this nonsense And I know you got the innings pitch situation With pitchers and that drives me crazy too But we all know how fragile these pitchers are And so why should Skeens pitch 300 innings I understand that And the Pirates are trying to get better for a better day And you can't have them with Tommy John I don't like it, but there's at least an injury threat This is a 21 year old kid with the Wizards and Jackson decided to sit out, god damn it! Hit it Bruce It goes But I believe in the love that you gave me I believe in the faith that can save me I believe in the hope that I pray that someday it may raise me What? And here it is. I sat here and I gave it a date. November before Thanksgiving. in 2017. And I walked in there in the off season and did an hour show with the freaking high heat. Sick as a freaking dog. And then walked in here and did a monologue. And I said, I can't take it. I'm so sick I gotta leave. And I took the train home. And three days later, I was in the freaking Stanford Hospital and the doctor said, how the hell did you survive this? And then I sat there on a Tuesday night sat there and operated on me for three hours to get an offense out. A ruptured one. Chris Russo. And Jared Jackson can't play in the fourth quarter in a game in February making $50 million a year. I mean, this is my, this is absurd. And Springsteen at 80 years of age playing three and a half hours every freaking night. My goodness, what does the world come to this garbage? Garbage! You should be ashamed, NBA. Ashamed. You got that? Cousy. Dolph Shays. Will Ashamed. Are we sure that's it? Dolph Shays. Did he say Dolph Shays? He did. Yes, he did. I did. I hear you laughing back there. Oh, magnificent. By the way, Bruce Springsteen's laughing to the bank. We just have to now pay him for Badlands. I was just about to say, I didn't know we could have a soundtrack for our takes, Dan. When was this allowed? Because I could murder a take if I had, I don't know, Beyonce playing behind me. I was saying, take notes. Take notes. Because that bored off. Wow. Just rising up the level just when Mad Dog needed it. Take notes. That's how you do it. He let the music sit underneath Christopher Mad Dog Russo. He knew he was going to have to pot it back up, and he potted it back up at the exact perfect time. Taylor, go ahead before I play it again. Hit it, Bruce! Yes! Hit it, Iowa Sam! Hit it, Iowa Sam! And I'm supposed to sit there now, and I'm supposed to take this league seriously when I see this nonsense? And I know you got the innings pitch situation with pitchers, and that drives me crazy. But we all know how fragile these pitchers are, and so why should Skeens pitch 300 innings? I understand that. And the Pirates are trying to get better for a better day, and it can't happen with Tommy John. I don't like it, but there's at least an injury threat. This is a 21-year-old kid with the Wizards, and Jackson decided to sit out, goddammit! Hit it, Bruce! He's about to tell a lie about a doctor coming up here. Oh, we're going to cut it short? I wanted the whole thing. Because you heard the music and we're back. Yes, there it is. That's the point where they say 30 seconds left. And I'm like, what? He's still going? Not yet. Not yet. No, Izzy and I. Take it down now, Iowa Sam. Take it down. Take it down. Take it down. Izzy and I had the same reaction when Iowa Sam, into our headsets, said 30 seconds to go. What? There's more? He was telling us a lie about his doctor saying, how did you survive that train ride from Washington? I was like, there's no way that happened. I had to take the freaking train. The doctor said my appendix was about to burst. Your throat's about to burst if you keep working on that impression, Taylor. Oh, that is so good. They should put a plaque outside the hospital room that he had to go in. Like, this was the Mad Dog Russo appendicitis room. than on November of 2017. Yeah. He's got a good point, though. Yeah, it was his flu game. It was. It really was. Forget about his larger point for a second. I also had my flu game, and I hope we have this sound. It is me. So Mad Dog's talking about appendicitis and surgery, and, you know, I still did the show, and how dare Jaron Jackson take the fourth quarter off when he's making $50 million a year. And he's right. I agree with everything that he said. and that was his flu game. Jordan has his. Mad Dog has his. And I have mine. And mine was right after getting some work done on my mouth. Okay? I got some work done on my mouth. We don't have that? Oh, are you telling me we don't have that? I can tell already. You asked for the wrong sound. Really? I wanted the punished sounds. We have punished the listeners. Punished the listeners and the Vicodin are two different sounds. So we don't have the Vicodin sounds? No, we have punished the listeners. Okay. The sound you asked for. Anyway, I think I was on Viking when I did this. Anyway, just play. I was. I was taking Vikes because my mouth hurt, my tooth hurt, and because you don't take a day off because you're making $51 million a year. So play that sound. Go ahead, Sam. Taylor, be careful lashing out at Stu, please. Okay? I hear you. I hear you. But be careful. Just play it. Punish, punish, punish. Punish, punish, punish. What is that? What is that? Punish, punish, punish. What is that? That's me punishing the listeners and us not having the correct sound for me to set that up correctly. So your tooth is not hurting when you say punish, punish, punish. I don't know. Listen, all the days are blending together. I have no idea what happened that day. I thought it was the same day. But listen, it's not Taylor's fault. and it's certainly not your fault, Israel Gutierrez, and it is not Iowa Sam's fault, and it is not Mikey A's fault, okay? It is not your fault I'm being dragged around the city of Chicago with no place to park, no name at security. It is not your fault. It is not. It's somebody's fault, and that somebody has already sent me a text saying, I hear you loud and clear. I'm not certain you do. I need transportation when I ask for it. I need my name on lists. It doesn't matter which. Just put my name on lists. I need food before I know that I'm hungry. Yes. Thank you. What else do you need to do? You get me, Izzy. I mean, you get me. No, just when I'm on Radio Row, I just need a sandwich. At noon, I need a sandwich, and I need someone other than Mikey A going to get me an $80 sandwich on Radio Row. Noon Pacific. Jeez. to be specific hey look at you one of my highlights of Radio Row speaking of sandwiches was you guys deciding who ate what sandwich by how it was eaten I mean they were trying to figure out which sandwich was left behind yes yes you remember this conversation it was by the white chairs at the corner of the stage yes and Stu Gatz's looked like a two year old had gone after it and we're like that's Stu's sandwich for sure Yes. It was confirmed. Jesus. Anyway, what do you think of Chris Russo's overall point there, which was buried because, you know, he was playing Bruce and just being Christopher Mad Dog Russo about Jackson making $51 million a year. And this is really a problem with the NBA as far as I'm concerned, Izzy. No one wants to hear how tired you are. No one wants to hear about load management. No one wants you taking a quarter off. No one wants you taking... These are 20-something-year-old men who are in peak physical condition who are being asked to play 82 basketball games a year, and they get paid $50 million per season. Russo was right. Play as many games as you can play. Enough with the load management. Enough with taking quarters off. It's an embarrassment, and everyone should be ashamed of themselves. except for Dolph Schaes. Nobody wants to hear that they're getting dragged around the city of Chicago, that their name wasn't on a list. Nobody wants to hear that. They just want to hear Stu Gatz on the radio. Am I right? No, I'm kidding. The funniest thing about, I believe he said Jackson, which means Jaron Jackson Jr., but he said Washington. And I don't know if he doesn't know where Jaron Jackson Jr. got traded to, but it wasn't Washington. It was Utah. And, you know, I mentioned yesterday how the Heat were doing the Lord's work by not allowing the Jazz to tank properly. But it is what will get me off of not just the NBA, but sports in general, is if you just take out the competitiveness. And it drives me up a wall because I immediately go to like the 16, 17 year old fans, sports fans in that town. and they're just like, why am I wasting my time cheering for you? Why do I have to wait till next year? I'm just going to go find some other team to cheer for if you're going to frustrate me, have all this talent out there, and not use it because you want another draft pick, which, even if it is top four, not a guarantee that it's going to be a bang-on type of pick. And so you're talking about, you know, rolling the dice for a chance that you may not even get because they might not. They can tank their behinds off and still get the number five overall pick and not get that pick. So it really is a shame for those fans. And it's the type of stuff that would, again, get me off of sports forever if it was just my team constantly doing that, which is why I appreciate growing up in South Florida since 95 anyway with Pat Riley there. People complain about him not getting whales and all that stuff. This team's at least relevant and trying all the time. All the time. And sometimes they don't benefit from it. Sometimes they need to stop trying so hard. But as a fan, I appreciate it. Yeah, but the worst spot to be in the NBA is between 6 and 10. And that's what I think the Jazz are trying to avoid. Nobody cares that the Pacers are throwing away the season without Halliburton. And they're completely tanking. This is Utah's way of being like, listen, if we can get our hands on Jaron Jackson Jr., we're going to do it. And it's all in a play for next year. I just don't know why Utah's catching all these strays. It's probably because of betting and gambling. Well, it's because of how they're doing it. So, first of all, you get yourself a Jaron Jackson Jr., who is a defensive player of the year and a two-time All-Star. That's a big get. And if the rest of your team is healthy, you've got players that are very good and can possibly go on some sort of win streak if you find it, right? And so, if you were to do, like, the Indiana Pacers are missing their best player for the season. So they can pretty much do whatever they want. If you want to do it this way, I mean, go ahead and lie to the league. Have a couple of injuries so you don't have your guy sitting there in the fourth quarter and everybody watching. But Utah's best chance to not be 6 or 10 is to get a top pick in the draft. And by winning games, they do that. And it's not guaranteed. It's not guaranteed. Instead, you're getting poor favor with all of these fans that are watching you try to lose. It just sticks to you longer than you realize. I think that there are cases in sports that we've seen this. I just don't think that it's fair to take it out on the Utah Jazz when you don't want to be in no man's land in the NBA. Go ahead, Taylor. As much as I love the tanking conversation, Stugatz, we have tracked down the Vicodin sound and we're going to play it after the break. We are. Wow. Thank you. I'm getting happier. All right, so let's get there. If you missed any of today's show, you'll want to catch the podcast. Just search Stugatz & Company live wherever you get your podcasts. right after the show. Today's full show will be posted and also a best of version. Be sure to follow the podcast, rate it five stars, leave a review. Again, just search Stu Gatzin Company live and be sure to also check out our original podcast, Stu Gatzin Company and God Bless Football. Be sure to catch live editions of Stu Gatzin Company live weekdays at 3 p.m. Eastern, 12 p.m. Pacific. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.