Local Hour: Billboards Decide Championships
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The great Greg Cody mustache experiment has begun after learning last week that mustaches were back in. He is in baseball and elsewhere. I thought all of those mustaches in baseball were ironic. Greg Cody said, I want to grow a mustache. It's going to be hard for me. And we are one week in and it is looking pathetic. Yeah, my wife says that it's it's.

mustache like on the outside. Yes. But in the middle, right under my nose, it's like, it's not even growing. It's growing from the outside in. I know. It's weird. Why does your, why does your voice sound that way? Are you tired from the playoff run, uh, from the Panthers being on the cusp of winning the only real trophy in sports that matters? Yes. Uh, yes. On both counts, it is the only real, uh, trophy that matters. And yes, I'm a little tired. I'm, I'm under the weather. I'm battling for the show. Uh,

I have a cold. I have bronchitis. I went to a walk-in emergency clinic yesterday and got a bunch of penicillin. So I'm fighting through it. I knew that I didn't want to miss this show, but I knew that I could not miss game five tonight when they raised the Stanley Cup. So I had to take extreme measures. So I'm jacking up.

Penicillin right now. Jacking it. Put it on the poll, please, Juju, at Levitard Show. Can we all agree that the Stanley Cup trophy is the only Nobel trophy in sports to be won?

Roy, you made a face when Greg Cody said, when the Panthers win the cup. And this leads me to an argument I've been having off air with both Chris Cody and Mike Ryan, who I believe to be cowards. We have the ability to put up billboards in Edmonton. We got a,

A rare... Mike doesn't agree that it's rare, but we were given an offer by billboard salesmen saying that we could get something up last night. Mike Ryan legitimately threatened to quit the company, and Chris Cody doesn't want the burden of...

this series being decided somehow by billboards we put up in Edmonton. Like they are running so scared up three, one running so scared of being on the wrong end of this joke because they're terrified of jinxing what's happening around here. I'm not, this is devoid of tone. Please explain to me what's so funny about putting up billboards saying that the Panthers won before they actually won. No, it's saying Greg Cody was right before he's actually right when he's got the most wrong opinion I've ever heard in the history of this show. That's debatable. It's not. I,

Okay, you find it funny, and I guess it's subjective. I don't find that funny. I do. And then again, my face on a billboard is just like a dream come true. They're going to think that we bought it up 3-0 and we're just idiots. That's right. It makes us, the joke is now on us. If we win, joke on them. We lose, joke on us. Chris, Chris.

The joke's already on us because your dad has infuriated Canada with a dumb opinion. No, because if we win, he can say he's right, even though he's clearly not. It's amazing. It's not a dumb opinion, but as the star of the billboard, if the Cats win tonight,

And I don't care what score, I don't care if they win 5-4 and McOver rated scores three goals. If the Cats win in five games and once again McDavid and McJesus is 0 for career on Stanley Cups, that billboard works and I endorse it. I don't care.

I won't pay for it, but I do endorse it. We agree with you. The cell phone works in the event that they win. They have to win. I think it's a bizarre cell phone if you put them up before and you laugh and feel like you're getting one over people not getting the nuance. We look dumb. We have to win. Also, we make the organization look classless, and I don't like that either. Who cares? Oh, my God. Excuse me?

Don't worry about that. You've got to be kidding. We've been making fun of sports for 20 years, and now this is the one we're serious on? Yes. This is the one that it's very important that we be serious on. In Mike's defense and Chris's defense, I understand. They're about to win a Stanley Cup. They don't want shenanigans getting in the way. You wouldn't be doing this for the Heat because you have more respect for it.

You cannot deny that. That is not true. I did billboards. After something, and there was a beef. You don't jinx something before it happens. You don't take a shot if you don't get punched in the mouth. Early bird gets the worm on billboards. Everybody knows that. If you don't do it tonight, you're setting yourself up for McAfee doing it tomorrow before you, and then we're just copycat.

And he's going to do a billboard with me. Exactly. I think it's very possible Pat McAfee puts up a billboard with Greg Cody that says, Greg Cody was right. Then at the bottom, the Pat McAfee show. And that's what we're opening ourselves up to if we don't do this right now. I want to open ourselves up to every possibility here, including being on the wrong end of the joke. Would you do this if it was the Dolphins? I would do this.

If this scenario presented itself where Greg Cody had a ridiculous opinion, I tried to do it with the Bills. Billy ran for the hills on that one, too. Well, no, that's not exactly true. They didn't want to take our money in Buffalo, which I think if we're in the billboard mood, I think, Greg, I think in Buffalo we should put up a billboard that says the Dolphins will win the Super Bowl.

Greg Cody and just put that up before week one. You know what? I will write in a column just to justify that billboard. Is that how we do columns now? Yeah. I'm for sale. Opinion for sale. I'd like to just really allow everyone to absorb this.

the sheer absurdity, okay? Because I've never been superstitious in my life. The sheer absurdity that you guys think us paying for a billboard will have a result

that will be poor for you because we put up a billboard. Okay. No, no, just take, just sideswipe superstitions in sports. Like, like, oh, everyone's stupid for having superstitions in sports. Everyone's got a lucky spot. Everyone's got a closeout jersey. This is something that is routine with sports and you thumbing your nose at God because you think it's funny to put up a billboard saying Greg was right.

when he's been wrong and he still hasn't been proven right even in the most utopian of scenarios. It's not funny and it's tempting fate. I don't understand this. You guys bought tickets to go to the game tonight because you want to watch the Panthers win the Stanley Cup. Would you not be jinxing the Panthers by buying tickets to go watch them win? No, I've been in that building for several closeout games. But you've been at a bar every other game this playoff run. No, not every other game. No, what are you talking about? It's so cute that grown people believe in jinxes. Please stop.

Just Rogan. He's just gravitating to you to be an ally, and you're an anarchist that doesn't care at all about this. Please stop. I'm actually rooting against the Panthers tonight. Of course you are. Really? I want them off tomorrow. No shock there. I think you're off regardless.

We have a company holiday tomorrow. Happy Juneteenth. Everybody has a company holiday tomorrow. Well, not every company has. No, I don't think that's correct that every company celebrates Juneteenth. Is that so? I actually would ask all of you this question. Does any other country other than ours celebrate Father's Day? Yes. Why wouldn't we?

So Father's Day is that date in other countries as well? It's not an American commercial holiday. It's everywhere. Father's Day is something that's celebrated all over the world. I never considered it. I never even thought about it. I'm looking it up right now. I would think not. My wife spoke to her dad in Cuba and they were talking about Father's Day. So, yes. It seems to be a thing in Mexico as well.

Okay, so Cuba and Mexico. Yeah, but we don't get the day off for that. No. Juneteenth is a federal holiday. That's why we're off. Father's Day is celebrated in over 110 countries around the world. Wow. Just not necessarily on the same day. But we started it. I'm with Dan. We do it best. USA.

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Don Levitard. He has been great. He's made great hires. I said all. We've said all. He said all. We've said all. First time hearing any of this, Greg. Everything you're saying, it's all been said. Okay, you got to understand one thing. Stugatz. Me maximum. That's right. Until I say it, it hasn't been said. Boom. Okay, understand that. You're the mayor. Until I say it, it hasn't been said. Me maximum. Me maximum.

This is the Dan Labatar Show with the Stugats. I do want to get to what the Celtics did, Stugats, because... Won. Yes, they won. And not only did they win, though, they did what Tom Brady did, which is they beat the respect out of everybody, whether you want to give it or not. Here are some of the stats.

They had an NBA record 10 30-point wins. They had an NBA record 3 50-point wins. They had an NBA record 17 25-point wins. They had more 30-point leads, 17, than they had 10-point deficits all season, 16.

They won or tied the season series with every team in the league except Denver. God, I would have liked to have seen them have to get past Denver. They won the Eastern Conference by 14 games. It's the largest margin in 50 years. They average 1.22 points per possession. That's the best offense in NBA history.

Their longest losing streak this season was two games. They clinched a playoff spot 17 days before any other team. They never trailed in a playoff series. They allowed the fewest free throws in NBA history. And now Jason Tatum has won a title at an earlier age than Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Shaq, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant.

It's a little bit hard to argue. You can hate if you want. You could say injuries and they never had to beat anything better than a four seed. And you can complain about, well, they won all their games easily and the three they lost in the playoffs, they got blown out in all of them. But it's all nitpicks.

This is statistically, empirically, whether you want to believe it or not, one of the best NBA teams we've ever seen. And one of the reasons it's confusing or hard to make them that, Stugatz, is just because they perfected the modern game. That is not the best offense I've ever seen. It's just the best offense when you've got three pointers involved in a league that's taking 40 of them per team a game.

It's a well-built roster. They've done a great job. Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum are fantastic. Jalen Brown winning the MVP is an absolute joke. He had no business winning the Finals MVP. That should have went to Al Horford. Everyone knows that. It was a great night. I mean, the Celtics, historically, Dan, are an overwhelming team, a great team, and because of who they played to get to the NBA Finals and win in the NBA Finals,

I feel like they're not going to get the credit that they deserve. But they have been great all year. This one I never know about, right? The credit they deserve. It says forever that they're champions, and we all think right now that this is starting. They're still young. Tatum has had an amazing career for someone who is 26 years old. But to Stugatz's point, I really do believe that they gave the finals MVP last night only because it's sponsored.

They had to give it to somebody. You cannot give it to somebody who in the last game goes seven for 23 and two for nine from three, but they couldn't give it to Tata because he was 11 for 24 and one for seven from three. It was a shit game to watch.

But they strangle you. That team doesn't allow free throws and they defend threes very well. And what you saw last night is they had to give somebody the finals MVP. And so I say we should put an asterisk this year on the finals MVP and we should sponsor the asterisk.

Because we can't take it away, right? They have to give it out because it's a sponsored award. You have to. I mean, in my personal record books, doogodsbook.com, I could take it away, but we can't take it away. You're right. Nobody can take it away. So the best that we can do is get an asterisk and sponsor that, right? So let's make sure to do that, please, over the course of...

of the show because I don't think that Jalen Brown did anything in that series other than wear a uniform for the team that happened to win it. Like we could, I could have easily given that to drew holiday last night included. Yes. You have to give it to Al Horford. I mean, the man was drafted before a day before the iPhone was released.

I mean, that can't be true. And there's old Tito Horford cheering for his son. It was great. What a great moment. If you're going on sentimentality, Al Horford is certifiably the Finals MVP. There's no question about it. They don't go on sentimentality. They tend to go by play on the court. But in the absence of play on the court worthy of a Finals MVP...

Maybe we should go on sentimentality. I'd have voted for Tatum. And by the way, one stat you didn't mention. Last night, Jason Tatum surpassed Kobe Bryant for the most career playoff points at age 26 or younger.

This is a young man. It's one more reason for Heat fans down here to be a little bit dejected because this is a team that is built to be really, really good. And you can argue certifiably that they did have an easy path, but they're also a great team. They were great all season. What a richly deserved championship. Congratulations, Boston. They are going weird that you would do that.

that way that you would... We don't do enough of that, Dan. We try to tear a team down, tell them to do it again, you know. Yeah, and we're from... In Miami, people hate Celtics. Mostly they hate Boston fans, okay? I've never rooted for or against fans. I don't care. This is a likable team from Al Horford...

To me, all the players are likable. Drew Holiday is a great guy. Porzingis was a great signing. They've done everything right, the Celtics, to build what they have. Your Lawrence Mass roots are showing. I am a native Massachusettsan, Ian. What do you call it? Massachusettsite. I don't even know what they're called. No idea. You'd think a native would know that. Well, I'm from Lawrence, which nobody admits.

If I were from Boston, you know, that'd be different. But Lawrence is about... Bostonian. Yeah. Lawrence is about 30 miles west of Boston, and it's not a place you brag about being from. No offense, Lawrence. If you're from Lawrence, believe me, I grew up on Lawton's Hot Dogs.

My mother worked at Merrim Ditting Mill right across from the Merrimack River. I know Lawrence, and I'm from there. And believe me, my roots are in Massachusetts. Thank God my dad moved the family down here looking for work. But still, I love me some Massachusetts. Didn't you and Uncle Dick try to buy Lawton's dogs? We looked into it. Yeah, and it literally fell into the Merrimack River before we could buy it. But it's a sad story. Lucky for you guys. Yeah. The worst of it fell in after you bought it. Correct. That's true. Yeah.

You okay? I was going to say blessing in disguise, but it sounds like it's a blessing in the river. Yeah. People listening to my voice from the area know all about Lawton's hot dogs, believe me. I believe they boil them in oil. I think that's how they cook them. Oil? Yeah, with a top-slit bun that's really popular in New England. My mouth's watering.

Anyway. That is the first time Greg Cody has ever addressed the correct camera when talking to a group of people from Lawrence as if they're gathered around their television today to see if they could drink the Miami tears after the Celtics have won. The Celtics are coming down here to party. They have a team flight at noon coming down here to get drunk.

drunk for three days. I think if the Panthers do indeed win the title, I don't know if I jinxed them by saying they might win it tonight, that they should go and go to Boston after the game and celebrate with white people.

Celebrate. Go to the— Get a team flight for Kachuk and Barkoff. You want to go spend some time with Bostonians or Massachusetts? First, they have to go to quarterdeck. Yeah.

Yes, 1929. I like the idea of the winning team celebrating in the opposing team city, actually. Go to Dallas. Or if you're the Panthers, go to Edmonton. I legitimately don't know if Boston is coming here because the party's better here or because of how funny it is to do this on the Heat's turf.

After the last five years. After the last five years, those two teams have been fighting at the top of the conference, and now only one of them forever gets to win. Massachusetts is a weird state. I think the bars and the clubs close at like 1 o'clock.

So if you want to party there, you can't do it too late. You come to Miami. It's a smart play by them. It is. And you do it right in front of the fan base that hates you the most. Put it on the poll, Juju, at Levitard Show. Are the Celtics coming to Miami because one option is the party is better there or because the Miami Heat play there?

It is funny. It should start a trend. I think the Florida Panthers should go to Edmonton to have their parade. That's a good idea. Isn't that what Stugac just said? Yeah, Steve Martin. Were you not listening? Did he? He's sitting right across from me. I didn't hear that. It's okay. Yeah. And then you grab your drink. Yeah.

He was sitting right across from you. Yeah, and what did he say exactly? Let me roll tape. Let me hear what he said. If I missed it, I'm sorry. You just said it. Okay. Yeah, well, it's worth reiterating. Yeah, me maximum, I think. It's worth reiterating. Yes, thank you. I said it. Now it is. I appreciate it. Thank you. With...

With last night's performance, though, Jason Tatum, who Greg Cody would have voted for MVP, and I saw at least three or four people that voted Jason Tatum for MVP. With last night's performance, he finally pulled ahead of Patrick Ewing for the second worst field goal percentage in NBA Finals history, minimum 150 attempts. On a scale of 1 to 10, how happy was Jason Tatum for Jalen Brown winning the MVP? Oh, wow.

Four. That's a good question. I agree. Four. Michael Pena on Twitter writes, Jason Tatum officially becomes the sixth champion in history to lead his team in playoff points, rebounds, and assists. He joins LeBron, Bird, Jokic, Hakeem, and Bolling.

MVP. All with a sub 40% from the field and under 40% from three-point land. I think he was 10 for, what, 37 this finals. I think it's right to have questions about Jason Tatum still, but to me it's not even a debate considering the last two most valuable players in

in the series that they've played in have gone to Jalen Brown. Jalen Brown's very clearly, I think, their number one now. I think with Tatum, what's interesting is...

The guy never had one of those moments late in the game where he had to do something, hit a big shot. He was never, the team wasn't pressed like that really throughout the entire postseason. But he did check off some boxes. Like, they got it done in a closeout game. It was impressive. They blew that team out. And he drove to the rim a lot. He did. And dished the ball a lot. He was not just chucking threes, although he shot a lot of threes. But he was going to the rim a lot, and he was distributing the ball a lot.

That was impressive to see. All while shooting worse than J.R. Smith. I get it. The lament that his percentages are low will obviously be something that just drifts out to sea. Nobody cares. Except Mike. I think that there's a discussion in that you can still have the questions about Jason Tatum because he wasn't their most valuable player. And people can parse that because he wasn't particularly...

awesome. I think we all wanted to see Jason Tatum be the guy, not just in the NBA finals, but throughout the postseason. And he wasn't if you want to nitpick, but yeah, he checked the biggest box and that franchise checked the biggest box and it was a war of attrition for them. They made a gutsy move in the off season credit to them and they were

pretty healthy, but they had to deal with a big injury in Kristaps Porzingis. They ran through the entire postseason like a hot knife through butter. They ran through the entire league all season. Clearly the best team all season.

I wonder if this is the start of something close to a dynasty or a dynasty. I don't know how, like, the last six seasons, which was shocking to me, the NBA has had a different champion every single year. That's not the norm in the NBA, but it feels like this team is just getting started. Okay, no, well, A, I don't want to do that with you because, A, we do that too quickly.

Right. That's a two A's. I just did two A's. I did, because this is going to be, this is going to have, before we get back to the asterisk, I'm going to have like a bunch of A's and B's here, okay? Boston billboard, is this a dynasty? Then maybe you jinx them and then it's not a dynasty.

dynasty. I just love the idea that billboards decide championships. I'm going to start putting them up all over the place because this is a superstition that's clearly infallible. No, I'm the silly one for saying hey, it's not a good idea to put up we are the champions before we are actually champions. I don't

Yeah, no, sue me. I get it. We're just all having fun here, and I'm the guy standing in the way because of my superstition that's so stupid because I don't want to be taking a victory lap before there's actually a victory. That's my bad, guys. I stand with you, Mike. You're just afraid of being the joke. That's all. I understand. We are a joke. It's a cell phone. I know. Here's a joke that someone from our fan base has to explain to you. See why it's funny? Even though we're not champions, I don't like it. It's a cell phone. I know. And it's thumbing your nose at God. You do not thumb your nose at God.

No, Greg says he's overrated. Greg says the guy that plays in Edmonton is overrated. The guy that is overrated is leading the series in points. And if you're looking to hedge, which I am because I'm in long game with this future for the Florida Panthers, I'm going to place an emotional hedge on...

on Connor McDavid to win Conn Smythe because he might actually win it without winning the cup. Outrage. That's a jinx. That's a jinx. That's a worse jinx than, that's a worse jinx. I'm the cell phone. No, because I'm the cell phone. How is it? I'm the cell phone. You just said a guy's going to win the Conn Smythe. I mean, he said if the Panthers win, he very clearly does not know how the jinx works. Oh, because he said if. He doesn't know how the jinx works, clearly, because he keeps wanting to tempt it. If you put the, the,

bet on Conor McGregor, if you put that bet in... That would be something. That would be long. What are the odds? If you put the bet on Conor McDavid to win the Conn Smythe...

You're not jinxing the Panthers? No, you're hedging on your bet. And also, he can win even if they lose the series. We've seen most recently. But he will win if they win the series. Yeah, 100%. So right now, you can get the Oilers at plus 700 to come back in the series and win it. Or you can get Connor McDavid at plus 700 to win the Conn Smythe. If you want to hedge your Panthers' future, what you do is, well, if the Oilers come back, it's going to be McDavid that does it.

So let me bet McDavid to win Conn Smythe. That way, there is even a scenario in which they lose Lord Stanley and I can still hedge. I said when so I can jinx them so the Panthers win. Shut up!

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I just don't understand how us putting McOverrated t-shirts in LevitardAF.com wasn't a jinx when we did it and the Panthers then just won the next three games. You very clearly don't understand because it was. He's the leading scorer in the series. And I tried to stop that and you guys just went ahead with it. And hopefully we can survive it.

Mike, for all the leading scorer in the series stuff you're doing, you're thrilled with the way the Panthers are playing against McDavid, and you're thrilled with what his output is. If I'd given you this before the series started and said he's not going to score goals, you're going to keep him from scoring goals, you would take the stat line from him even though he has more points than anyone in a postseason. I would say that if McDavid had the most points in the series, which he is presently,

I would say there's no way that the Panthers are leading 3-1 in this series with an opportunity to close it out at home. No, I don't. I think he's been really good. I think he's been pretty dynamite. You wouldn't have taken this, all the assists, but no goals. I think he's had two subpar games. I think...

Maybe you didn't catch it or whatever, but he actually really set up what should have been a game-tying goal beautifully behind Bobrovsky, through Bobrovsky's legs, to Ryan McLeod, and Bobrovsky makes the save of the series. Maybe I didn't catch it? I don't think you did, because if we're still going to be one note about the McDavid-Morris

overrated stuff. I'm not one note on the McDavid overrated stuff. Like stop doing that to me. I wasn't even here the week Greg Cody said it. I wasn't, I wasn't on this side of the country. You're right. You're totally free from any blame on this whole Mc overrated thing. I haven't put up the billboards yet, but you put up the t-shirts and you're trying actively to put up the billboards right now. So I don't, I,

It's funny to me that you're trying to disassociate yourself from the blame here. Greg's whole point was he's not an all-time great without a Stanley Cup. It doesn't matter how many points or goals or assists or whatever he gets. If he doesn't win the Stanley Cup, it's still the point Greg made was he's not as good without a Stanley Cup. He took a pot shot. It's a pot shot. No, it's not. That's a pot shot. You call him McOverrated, that's a pot shot. If there's blame here, I'll take it all on. It doesn't need to go to any place else because this is me.

I have never said Connor McDavid is not a great player. He is. What I mean by overrated is... He's telling you to talk into the microphone like a broadcast professional. That he needs a Stanley Cup. And he still might be able to get it. You're right. To be considered an all-time great.

you have to lift that cup over your head. Thank you. He's got to do it. But he's still pretty early in his career. He's just entering his prime. He's got plenty of time to do it. And he can totally change this series tonight with another brilliant performance. Yeah, and then another one, and then another one. Dan Marino thought the same thing. So, I mean, I don't know. 1984, then when did it happen again? He showed up with the tuxedo he was going to party in and never got to take it out of the dry cleaning bag. Hmm.

That's a jinx. Yeah. I hate magnifying the jinx thing. And it's not a dumb thing. People have their superstitions. I don't like to minimize those. Okay. I do think superstitions are silly, but we can argue about that at another time. If you see a ladder and it's up against a wall. Don't care. Just opened an umbrella up in here last week. I just did that. Hopefully we survive. Really? Yeah. I don't care about that stuff. Crazy, man.

The things that I wanted to address from earlier in the show, okay, because we keep talking about McDavid, and to me, the reason it's funny is because it's one of the stupidest sports arguments I've ever heard. The idea that somebody, if they don't hold up the cup, he can't be considered an all-time great when I'm clearly watching an all-time great. Mm-hmm.

And Barkley didn't win one. Ted Williams didn't win one. Barry Bonds didn't win one. Like, those are all-time greats. So you guys doing this is, it feels to me like it's a little bit empty. But something else that's happening here is P.K. Subban came in here last week and said...

the best player in the world is Barkov. And the reason he's saying that is because he felt that McDavid has been minimized when Barkov is on the ice. Nobody before, never mind this season, no one before this series was saying Barkov's the best player in the world. But PK was saying that because it was a

Tuesday. PK is called three different players the best players in this series. He tends to swing wildly. That's how you do it. But I do agree. If Barkov does indeed win a Stanley Cup, he all of a sudden gets lifted up into another tier. And it's kind of like how Andre Iguodala won a finals MVP in that he just kind of neutralized

the best player in the world. Didn't really, just made him a little more inefficient. He still was scoring 40 points a game. And Connor McDavid has still got the most points in this series by a solid amount. And yeah, the story with Barkov is the tremendous defense that he's playing out there and making a lot of casual hockey fans pay attention to that end of the ice when they never really do. And to PK's point,

And to what you just said, he's a two-time Selke winner. He's a 200-foot player, as they like to say in hockey. And he's a better all-round player than McDavid. I don't know if you would agree with that, Mike Ryan. Well, that's why Jalen Brown just won Finals MVP, because Dallas scored 88 points last night. Jalen Brown's a better two-way player than Jason Tatum. I will say, you cited a lot of great baseball examples, and those are some of the greatest players. Barry Bonds, probably the greatest player to ever play the game. But in hockey, there is everything.

a huge gulf in all-time greats and the list of best players to never win a Stanley Cup. The list is like Luongo and Pierre Turgeon. These aren't Ovechkins of the world. These aren't Yagers of the world. These aren't Mario Lemieux or Bobby Ors. The great ones win in that sport. The great ones do win in that sport, and that does serve your larger point, even though he's got plenty of time. It took Ovechkin...

long enough what i was just going to say about ovechkin is he was an all-time great before he won it it's the first time i was having this conversation around this thing if mcdavid loses in game seven it if if mcdavid loses a close series i'm not going to hold it against him but let me go let me go back to what it is that stugatz was saying when he was talking about dynasty because i i it

It does. It really does make my head hurt how often after a championship, any championship in any sport, people end up there when we just saw that the best team that Boston had to beat was a four-seeded Cleveland. That was the highest-seeded team that they had to beat. Well, in part, that's why I'm asking you if you think it's the start of something because the East is so weak. No, it's not because the East is weak. The East was hurt.

hurt this year, Stugat, and it was a rash of injuries that was a bit startling, and I don't know if it has a lot of precedent, but the thing that I wanted to ask you as it relates to what Mike was saying about Tatum and percentages, because this is the part that I find interesting about this.

I gave you the stat earlier that Tatum has now won a title before LeBron at that age, Michael at that age, Shaq at that age, Steph at that age, Durant at that age. Do you know how hard it was for them to win those titles? Tatum was just given one and didn't even have to be good enough.

to do it. Now it's going to be made all the easier. I still want to hit him. I want to watch him hit game winning shots too, but the first one was for free. Like he got this one and he didn't have to do the things that all those names I just gave you had to do. He didn't have to suffer it that way with, let me see you LeBron, throw the ball with five minutes left at home in game six, afraid to post up JJ Barea, whip

Loaded.

That starting lineup is what won that for them. That starting lineup is what makes it hard to give a Finals MVP to them. But let's not act like that hasn't happened before. The Celtics with Larry Bird had a great starting five. The San Antonio Spurs with Tim Duncan had David Robinson for a year. I mean, they had great players. They had Hall of Fame players in Parker and Ginobili. All these guys had some help.

I must admit, Tatum did amplify aspects of his game that made me really take notice. Like, okay, your shot, for whatever reason, isn't going the way that you'd like it, but you're doing all the other things necessary to help your team win. It's not like Tatum was bad. It's just not what we'd hoped to see. And I think it's safe to say, and this is a loser's lament, that you still want to see that. They can laugh directly in our faces as they party in our town. I think it's really...

really rare to finish an NBA finals and talk about the championship team and be undecided about who the MVP should have been and think that really nobody stood out and deserved it. But to me, that's the ultimate compliment about how good the Celtics are is that, and forget the competition for a minute, they can be champions despite not having the one, uh,

otherworldly, historically memorable series by anybody. That's how good a team they are. From the haters' perspective, I see a team that really put together a starting lineup that had five of the 50 best players because of how aggressive they were in the offseason. And I see that the gulf between them and everybody else was those moves and health. And the most aggressive team

Did win the NBA championship, and I hope it sends a message to the rest of the East that they got to match the aggressiveness. The Ringer Stugatz has top 100 rankings, okay? So the Celtics have five of the top 50 players. No other team has three, has more than three of those players ranked.

By rest of the East, you mean Pat Riley, right? Yeah, specifically. Specifically, and I mentioned this casually on Friday, but I do think they're obviously going to be taking their victory lap. And I mean they. I mean Boston Celtics media. They are legion. They are powerful. They are influential. But I do think them kicking their feet around, angry at the Damian Lillard rumors, and making sure that the flames got high enough to which –

Portland fans were fully indoctrinated. No deals with Miami. The front office was aligned. We're not dealing with Miami. As a result, they end up getting Drew Holiday and all that stuff. I do think, to a degree, they deserve some credit for what they did this offseason. You think Derek White goes to the dentist this morning before the flight to Miami, or he's just going to ride out the jacked-up grill for all week? You're going to self-medicate.

You're going to get drunk on liquor and triumph and what Mike just said, where he's crediting the Boston media. They're going to come down here just to listen to sports radio. As a team, they're flying down at noon. All saying it to the ulcer.

Yeah. If you're Derek White, you got to keep the grill the way it is for the marketing opportunities that come with it. He's already been immortalized by a T-shirt there. Like, it's a heroic look for a basketball player. So ride that out as long as you can. Wait until they get a load of Defo. I mean...

Can we please sponsor the asterisk on Jalen Brown's finals MVP? I'd like to figure out how it is that we do this. Can we put up on the screen something that properly celebrates Jalen Brown because we must have a finals MVP sponsored? Yeah, I just found out. It's behind you if you want to see. The asterisk is sponsored by DraftKings.

hear more about DraftKings and all it has to offer throughout the show, DraftKings, the crown is yours. It's sponsored by Miller Lite. 96 calories, the best tasting light beer there is out there. This is all the sponsor for the asterisk. Yeah, the asterisk. And it's also sponsored by Cuervo, of course. Brought to you, you know, it's a good time to enjoy the tequila that invented tequila. And then, of course, game time. 20% off your first purchase. We love an asterisk.

Summer's the best time to run the way you want. Dial it up with new challenges and programs and bring your workouts with you to make the most of outside sunny days. Stugatz, guess what? What? You know what you can do with Peloton? What? Get the app, go outside, ride a bike. Well, I thought you ride Peloton inside. Well, you do. You can ride Peloton inside if it's a rainy day or if it's cloudy or you just don't want to get outside. Maybe it's too hot.

summertime, go outside. I record a lot from my office with you and you've noticed it's sitting there yet. It hasn't been used. Well, now's the time. Summer's the best time to start that push. Right. Can we do it together? Not on the same bike, but we could join a class together. I used to do that. We used to have Guillermo Tan. I'd invite people. We'd all take a class together. Okay. So I think you're starting to get concerned about my health and my age, Billy. I,

I sense that with you. We're beyond starting. Okay. Whatever road lies ahead, your training starts here with Peloton Tread and Tread Plus. It's not just a bike, a treadmill too. I'm going to go outside. I'm going to get in shape. I'm going to do it with Billy Gill. I want to be in your class. I want you to be my instructor. You know what? I won't be your instructor. You don't want to spend more time with me. No, I can schedule a class and we can ride together. I won't be the instructor of the class. We can have Camila could be our instructor. I like the Grateful Dead class. My daughter, she uses the Peloton. Mm-hmm.

She was on it once and an instructor who was playing Grateful Dead tunes. Let's do that. Okay. Why don't we go for a run outside? Guided run. Peloton. Me and you. That's something we can do together. Okay. Turn on the app. Me and you go outside. Enjoy the summer. Call yourself a runner with Peloton at onepeloton.com slash running. All right.

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