This is the Dan Leberter Show with the Stu Gatspotcast. My grind weren't you excited when you saw Brett Erlich was joining us? Because of your fascination with his Rotten Tomatoes Show, because you've been following this guy for 15 years? Yeah, I love that show on Al Gore's former TV network, Current.
They had some good programming there on the Rotten Tomatoes Show was really, really funny. And if it were still around, I'd still be watching it. It's a damn shame it didn't have a longer run. So when I saw Brett Erlich on the guest list, I'm like, is that the dude from the Rotten Tomatoes Show thinking that nobody would understand the reference that I was making because it was on Al Gore's network?
Look at how excited he is right now. He's the director of programming of the Young Turks Network. He's a comedian. He's been doing a lot of funny political comedy for a while.
He's the host of Happy Half Hour, Wednesdays, 8.30pm Eastern. But what's the matter with you, Brett? You look like you were raising your hand like a kid in class wanting to talk. Well, you know, when I got the invite, I thought it was an April Fool's joke, because this is kind of a dream come true for me.
And it wasn't until that moment that everything became real. So I'm happy to be part of it. Thank you for watching the Rotten Tomatoes Show. We always joke that we were minor league cable sensations.
And apparently that's the truth. Thank you so much for watching in all eight. I hate to break it to you, Brett, but this isn't a elaborate April Fool's joke. You're not on the show.
We're not on air right now. Welcome to Mystery Crazy. But what's a dream come true? Because the reason I wanted to have you on is I heard you.
I've been fascinated by what's going on with the billionaires in this country. I've been fascinated watching what happened to Elon Musk and how his public persona persona has shifted. And I specifically was very interested in the way you talked about political comedy and John Stewart going after him and why it is that you love that as comedy more than any other kind of comedy. So thank you for joining us.
But why is this a dream come true for you? I've been listening to you on the way to work every day. I follow everybody involved in your, I love just this pod of people who are not only covering sports, which is a passion of mine. Like my dad played football for UCLA won the Rose Bowl in 66.
My cousin's Billy pitch for the Red Sox huge sports fans all my life in our family and then hearing people still kind of speak their mind and say what they want to say. It's it's awesome. It's fantastic. It's a dream come true.
There's tons of fans of you guys over at TYT. Well, thank you for joining us. Can you explain to the audience here what it is that you were saying before we get into the damage that Elon Musk is doing, specifically what you like about the details of John Stewart and Elon Musk going back and forth. Just about the two of them going back and forth.
It is the difference between a billionaire and a comedian. There is no better counterpoint to a billionaire than a comedian, especially a Nepo baby comedian, a billionaire like Elon Musk. This is someone whose dad could afford a emerald mine and bought it with money. He got from selling a plane, which is a mad lib of the mad state of affairs of a billionaire life.
And then so yeah, basically he did that. And everybody said yes to this guy his whole life. And if you're a comedian, you're you basically spend a lot of time in literal underground subterranean comedy clubs and people are saying no to you. And it's your job to get it right to understand something fundamental about the human condition.
And then if you do that long enough with enough different subjects, then you get to the level of John Stewart and you are essentially you've been training your whole life for this. And Elon Musk has just been getting weaker and weaker as he's become more successful and more successful surrounded by yes man. Stewart has said that Musk's x algorithm has greatly acted in the warping of our democracy and Musk responded by calling Stuart an extremely skilled propagandist disguised as a truth teller. What is the real damage done here?
Well, I mean, the best is like the response from John Stewart is like, well, you're just a really skilled propagandist imply you're not even masquerading as a truth teller. Basically, in the wake of Joe Biden's Super Bowl tweet getting more exposure and impressions than Elon Musk's, the reports were that Elon Musk like pulled together all of his engineering team to say, please make me cooler and more famous, make it so people, whether they opt in or opt out of my tweets, interact with my tweets or not fundamental things about the algorithm. They're supposed to signal to the algorithm like whether your ideas are good. He's like, could you please do away with that and make it so that I'm in everybody's inbox because I'm rich, which makes me better.
And we can just force feed my ideas as we masquerade saying that this is a free exchange of ideas, the great marketplace of thought would really it's he's warping everybody's perception of reality because, you know, as soon as you go on Twitter or on Twitter or X or whatever he calls it now, you're just surrounded by like the worst ideas you don't particularly like or agree with. And the only people who rise the top of that are people who agree with Elon. You guys have seen that report, right? That 18 engineers were called in in the middle of the night because Biden had a Super Bowl tweet that had more engagement than Musk's Super Bowl tweet.
For people who don't understand, Brett, how is it that this has actually had an impact on democracy? How is it that this platform has this power and how is it that this person knew that this platform would have the power to actually bleep with democracy? Because I wouldn't have guessed at any time in my lifetime that there would be such a platform in America. So I just remember one time I got invited to lunch when I was working at Al Gore's current TV by a guy who wrote it The New York Times and he was telling me all the secrets we just kind of had a few beers and he was like, listen, when I read when not him personally, but when people write articles, there's this phenomenon called one to trend.
And basically, if you can find two things that say the same thing, that's not an article, but if you get three things that say the same narrative, well, then you're good to go. Go ahead and print it. And Twitter is just always the fastest thing at helping you look what's happening now and then see what people are saying about it. And if you are the laziest, least common denominator type of journalist, well, you can just find those things super fast and throw them up there.
And that is the kind of like self reinforcing dynamic of Twitter that helps not only get people who go to Twitter to see what's trending right now. So something's at the top, that's the narrative as soon as it happens. I don't know anywhere else where that happens because like either you're live, if you're live, you're like looking at Twitter to see and you're broadcasting just stuff on Twitter, it was like the fastest place to find out what's happening and what people are saying about it. And if you can get in charge of that, you're not only controlling Twitter, but you're controlling all of the reporting on the subject that's breaking now, let alone like the source video from people who are there.
Mike Ryan theorized something I had not heard before today. Have we killed April Fool's day because of the amount of disinformation out there at this point? People are too careful and you cannot do April Fool's Day correctly anymore. Yeah, I think you can.
You just have to, and I know this is harder to do now, like know the person personally and you have to like have small little micro interactions where you like totally ruin it for someone. But like on a macro level, the thing I've been saying for years is like we've never had so much access to so much information with so little idea as to what the hell is happening. That's a hell of a sentiment. Put on our on our tombstone and Brett, it's coordinated up, right?
Like you had things like Photoshop and things in the twenty teens start making their way in there. Dan was constantly fooled by a shark that was swimming in a mall or on a street corner. But but once like the blue checks were free for all and you had no idea of the person was I mean, Elon, as you mentioned, he tried to tell this as a news source. And then he did away with the the guardrail that ensured that you knew that it was coming from an authentic source.
This all seems by design, so you can't actually hold those who are lying accountable. Yeah, and then I had to sprinkle in that, like him just wanting to be cool. And like that's it. Like he just wants to be cool.
So he's he puts all that stuff together and you don't know what's happening. But you know that the people I see like I never I use a like Russell Brand. Like he came on the rod tomato show is awesome. I've blocked him muted him so many times.
He's still in my Twitter feed. But like, yeah, I it's it's rough man. It's rough to find out what the heck's happening. Hey, boy, buddy, you know that energy shift when the game gets good and everybody altogether in unison knows to stand up on their feet.
Oh, absolutely. Yeah, you've been at many big time sporting events. You know that moment quite well. That's what it's like when you take your first sip of queer.
Oh, delicious. It's the signal that says we're not checking the time anymore, pal. It's when small talk turns into stories. Queervo, man.
It's at high five a random stranger effect. That's right. The game is popping. You're hugging people you never met before.
That's the kind of energy that Queervo brings. It's so smooth. So delicious. That's the Queervo effect.
Keep it Queervo. Hey, it's Mike Ryan. And I want to talk to you about the random Midweek hang that you have with your friends. Maybe it's an NBA game.
You get a text. Hey, come over. You want to watch the game and maybe you're like, I don't know. I kind of just wanted to stay home and then you think about it.
After your buddy hits you up and you know just the thing that'll make that regular hang that regular Midweek hang around the basketball game into a special time, into a Miller time. That's right. This happened to me just last week. I grabbed a six pack of Miller Lite, said I was on my way.
And next thing you know, we're arguing about rotations like we're on the coaching staff, yelling about a missed call and the game's coming down to the final possession. This is one of those nights that you look around, you take a sip and you think, yeah, this was the right call and my friendship's stronger for it. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Lite. Great takes 96 calories, go to Miller Lite.com slash day and find delivery options near you.
Or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller brewing company Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. 35% alcohol by volume. Import by mass. The end of my three U.S.
White lanes to New York. Don Libertard. Baker Mayfield, chairing up Tampa Bay. 38 for 45.
Stu Gats. Stratum. VCC Don Libertard show with the Stu Gats. One of the things that is happening is a number of different comedians like Theo Vaughn have gotten popular during this time.
And Vince Vaughn appeared on Theo Vaughn's podcast. We got a Vaughn off here and they're talking about late night television. Here's here is Vince Vaughn. What are your thoughts here?
But yeah, because people want authenticity. Yeah. And I think that I think that the talk shows to a large part became really agenda-based. Yeah.
They were going to evangelical people to what they thought. You know what I mean? And so people just rejected it because it didn't feel authentic. It felt like they had an agenda.
It's not being funny and it started feeling like I was in a class I didn't want to take. But if you look at what happened to the talk shows and why their ratings are low, it's got only to do with the fact of what you just said, which is they all became the same show. Yeah. And they all became so about their politics and who's good and who's bad.
And it's like, imagine sitting next to someone like that on a complain. Oh. Bro, you'd be like, how do I get out of this? I can see.
Far right next to me. Holy cow. You fought your way out of it. There it is.
This is what I don't like about those guys. I mean, I love it's fun. He's super funny. I love Theo Vaughn.
He is the best at saying ridiculous things well. But like all this is just the criticism or the hypocrisy is so obvious. Like, so what's your counter argument from people who say that? It's a lot of people who are like, I'm going to tell you my political opinions.
I just don't like yours because they conflict with mine. And I understand man, like it's super cringe when you're watching like a late night TV show. And someone like you just turned it on to find out like who's the star in the latest movie and you get some kind of like political message that isn't well crafted. Like if that happens, that's bad.
But if the joke is good and the criticism is undeniable, then you're just complaining because you don't like the truth. He's saying this on Theo Vaughn's podcast about, you know, talk shows becoming an echo chamber and propaganda scenes. Theo Vaughn. So like we had, yeah, and exactly.
Well, he's just like a Patsy, right? Like it's funny. Like right before Charlie Kirk was killed, like we had him on the show on our show on TYT a bunch. Like just to find out like what are your what are your thoughts?
How do they overlap if like a generally like people first movement? Like what do you agree with that we say? Um, and like, yeah, I don't know, man. Like all of those, I made a video afterwards or like right before he was killed where I was just showing all the manosphere appearances with all these right wing people who were trying to, you know, obviously being like my skill is I don't sound like a politician.
I'm still full of crap when I talk. I just am full of crap differently. I'm JD Vayance. I wrote a movie.
I'm a chill guy, right? Even though he's a robot. I saw him at a Walgreens at the RNC and he instead of walking like this, he walks with his hands forward like this. Like hold on, it's not a person.
He's just good. He's better at masquerading as one than everybody else. And I said in this video, it's funny because Joe Rogan just said this out loud on his show. I want those guys to keep talking because when they're not there doing snow jobs on Theo Von's show, they go back to their like turning point USA conferences and their arguments are so dorky.
Like it's Ben Shapiro going like, oh, look at this. You're covering this album with Taylor Swift. What's she doing? Her butt's out.
It's like, yeah, so you're telling Theo Von like, you don't like girl butts? What happens when they recognize that, right? And all their arguments are like, listen, like they're oddly obsessed with and they're wrong about sports stuff like their main arguments. That's the most offensive part.
That's the most offensive part. They're like, oh my God, Travis Kelsey can now afford a ring because he's with Taylor Swift. It's like, his podcast is worth $100 million. You guys just don't know that stuff.
They're so dorky. And then everybody's going to catch on. And that's what's happening now. Happy half hour with Brett Ehrlich is where it is that you find him.
We have a number of absurd headlines from the pop culture trough of headlines and debates. What else other than this one has got your attention, which has gotten the most of your attention? I mean, the one thing that's happening right now is like the Kristi Noem situation with her husband, basically, she's cheating on him with Corey Lewandowski, Corey to all the reporting. And now it's come out.
Someone has leaked it, not Kristi Noem, that he likes to dress up with like movies and, you know, interact with adult stars online or whatever, which I'm fine with. I just think it's, I don't know why they're breaking up. They both like to play dress up in front of people. That's weird.
I was trying to read into what you were saying because my first thought was, who benefits from this? Kristi Noem, actually. They're going to be a huge, there's a huge portion of people that won't feel any empathy towards her at all, right? But this does kind of help rationalize the affair that became so public during the congressional hearing.
This is kind of like making her a sympathetic figure for the eventual book tour, I think, to a degree. So it wouldn't surprise me if she were behind this, this orchestrated leak. Well, 100%. And also the quotes from her are like, I am devastated to learn this.
You're not even doing that narrative, right? If you're learning this now, why did you sleep with Corey Lewandowski? If you knew it before, I could motivate that. But it seems like you're just post-hop justifying your dalliance.
Brett, thank you for your maiden voyage on the show. We're talking to you. We appreciate your time. You don't follow me on Instagram or Twitter.
You know what I'm talking about, you said all of us, but he follows me. Listen, I don't, I don't like painstakingly check to see who's following me on the Instagram, but you guys do. And so that takes you down, I'm not sure. Yeah, you're pathetic.
I'll go back to that. Look, you embarrassed me in front of Brett. He's the director for the Young Turks Network. Thank you, Brett.
I appreciate your pathetic. All of you looking at whether he's following you or not. I'm disgusted by all of you right now. Thank you, Brett.
Good talking. Paul follows me. That's not so fast. Don Libertard.
He called me on my own podcast. He called me full of shit, claiming that I'm faking interest in the solar eclipse. Well, you do this. You love to just get excited about everything.
Okay, Junior. Stugats. I had to school you and explain to you. He was going to take you to Augusta.
When I was 17 years old, Alan Sherry and I used to haunt the Bueller Planetarium. This is the Don Libertard show with the Stugats. I want to get to something here because our looks like tournament is about to conclude and it has been resuscitated. The listeners by writing funny, it's the hardest kind of writing that anyone does.
By writing funny, the listeners resuscitated the looks like competition this year. It was a great tournament. And so what I have done to celebrate the listeners doing that is I have gathered all of our previous champions together in a room for a big, I want to have some pageantry around where it is that we're headed right now. So we've invited all our luminaries in the history of the looks like contest.
These are the greatest champions in the history of look like. The goats. The goats. All fame.
All time. Goat of our tournament. Yes. That's what's what's been invited into the room to present our champions.
And before I get to that, let's do a goat conversation, shall we? Let's do a goat conversation. And it is presented by Frank's Red Hot. Make every dish the greatest eat the goat.
You guys are not going to remember the first champion in the history of the looks like tournament. And he is no longer with us, but it was Lou Holtz. And it was represented by. Lou Holtz looks like a train conductor.
Another game to play here is who voiced that. That one's pretty clear, but there'll be a few tricky ones. Bob Lee the goat was Bob Lee. Is that the goat discussion where I haven't?
Bob Lee also, he would be a goat voice over. Lou Holtz looks like a train conductor. I don't know how we got him to say yes to that. Dude, I worked it for months.
I'm very proud of that. Villanova, who was the voice in the champion on Villanova? Jay Cutler looks like the guy trying to break into a house on an alarm company commercial. I was 2016 champion right there.
With the hat. The voice? Cutler looks like the guy trying to break into a house on an alarm company commercial. Was that Kevin Winter?
I don't believe that's going to be an anchor. That is a broadcast voice at ESPN that we were using, but I don't know. Was that Dan? Dan?
Banjino. Yes, a Duke Davis. I'll text Billy. I don't remember that voice.
Roy's got no nominee here. No, I was definitely a radio listener anchor. That's ringing a bell. Dan the Duke Davis.
Sure, that sounds right. Yeah, I think I was last name wrong, though. I think he might have been Dan the Duke someone else. The 2018 champion was Villanova.
That means this was the champ. Jackie McMullen looks like your mom's friend Carol. The Tank Azaria. The 2009 champion was Virginia.
Virginia was represented by Tony Saragusa. Looks like the guy about to take a bite of a hot dog. Only to have it stolen by Spider-Man swinging overhead. This one's Daniel Baldwin, Daniel Baldwin, Daniel Baldwin.
I thought that was actually Saragusa voicing his own. Tony Saragusa looks like the guy about to take a bite of a hot dog. Only to have it stolen by Spider-Man swinging overhead. It sounds so much like Alec.
Let's just say it's Alec. The 2020 champion was the following. Andy Reid looks like the small town sheriff that falls asleep while watching the prisoners wakes up briefly to yell out, who's there to know one in particular, and immediately falls back to sleep while the prisoners continue to carefully reach for the jail cell keys dangling from his belt. Unreal.
Amazing. Now that was fan voted because in 2020, there was no March Madness tournament, so that was voted by fans. I definitely wouldn't want it. I mean, not thank God for COVID.
Let me take that one back. Stop down. Reeback, play on for me. Wipes back you.
Carl Ravitch was the voice on that one. That one was decided about that. That was the voice on that one. That's a fine.
Right? Get him in. If it were Carl Ravitch, I would have flipped my lid. That's a play on for me.
Play on. Hey, how the hell is it a play on? I was in a play on that one. If it were Ravie, I would have been wigging out.
That's a bold fish, Lloyd. Did somebody say, Lloyd? That was trying to do. I was trying to do Fibulan.
I did it poorly. No, we know. We know. 2020.
Like, yeah, we know. 2021 champion Baylor was represented by. Doug Peterson looks like he specifically asked for full custody of the basement air hockey table in his divorce. Honestly, we should bring Go Piss Mike down.
I honestly tried. Put that all about that guy. That was a great voice. What was I more than?
Doug Peterson looks like he specifically asked for full custody of the basement air hockey table in his divorce. That was an inspired choice. I worked on that one for months. Put it on the pole.
Do you remember Go Piss Mike? It's a tough get for you. Go Piss. Yeah.
Tougher than Bob Lee. We're not talking enough about Dan Hurley. Dan Hurley won the looks like tournament in 2023 with his Yukon team. Power Georgia like your brother's friend, Devin, who everyone just calls D.
That's a great one. I forgot that champion. Power Georgia like your brother's friend, Devin, who everyone just calls D. That's a good group of champions.
That was a done. I never wanted it to end. That was it. That was a shot for a couple of years.
All our champions gathered here today in order to welcome in the Final Four. You can also on Greg Cody's podcast, the Greg Cody show featuring Greg Cody's going to perk up here because there's a recent Mount Greg for or what's it called? The Mount Greg for bracket challenge. Greg for Greg for Greg for one word.
Kevin left and we're down to the Final Four, which is Hoops against. Nobody knows what this is. You can feel free to explain to anybody what it is. Do you know what it is?
I you have to see. Look, Greg, look, it can't be this. Okay, Greg, it can't be. I'm only sitting here so that you promote my podcast and then we promote your podcast and you don't know anything about your podcast.
You're flipping through papers and you're like, I think it's you want to know. I mean, it can't be. I need you to promote my podcast and then it's that kind of indifference. Do you want to know?
Do you want to know the final in nets versus hoops or pools versus 64s? Give us the winners in all four. Like give us the four minutes. Why have you checked out on the show?
What happened? Are you tired after two days? You faded out? You haven't been listening for the last 20 minutes?
No, I have. Well, what happened? You sit around here waiting for me to give you the opportunity to promote your podcast. It's the moment that you're waiting for.
I ask you about the Mount Greg for and you just ruffle through some papers and you're like, what is this you're asking me about? Is it because you're tired at the end of two days? No, full of energy. Are you bored by your own podcast?
What is it? No, I'm not. You can vote on these final four in the two semi-finals. It's hair nets versus hoop.
There it is. So the winner of nets was hair nets. There were five and the nets moved on. The winner of hoops was hoop.
There it is, which I always mistook on radio. So the winner of nets was hair nets. The other two finalists. In 64 versus pools, we have Nintendo 64 versus, unfortunately, swimming pools.
Swimming pools won. Yeah, I didn't want it to. What did you like to call it? The second place was a pool of blood, which I campaigned for.
No, showering. But they in that pool voted in swimming pools. What is the pool's category? Well, swimming pools won.
Yeah, sorry. The category, all right. Office pools. I can clean this up.
The category was in general pools and he had top five pools, which were. Here we go. It's gonna lay it on the back to back. Pool of resources.
Pooling resources. I was one option. Number two with a great category three. It's a small pool of blood, though.
Right. It was like a trickling down the blood. Yes. Which I would have voted for.
Great, I got a good point. Point. When Ehrlich was on, I had to really refrain from doing a Joe Biden impression when Biden came up. Club, you did?
Yeah. So I just... Craig, let me get you back in your comfort zone. Go ahead.
Usually you can count on talking about you being the comfort zone, but we can count on that today. I don't know if you watched a soccer yesterday. It was the final round of World Cup qualifying. Yeah.
A lot of newsworthy stuff there in the US who doesn't have to go through this qualification process as a host, played Portugal, and once again, embarrassed itself. Yeah. And like it wasn't about a few months ago in the fall of 2025 where you kind of had reason for hope. They had this five match stretch where they beat Japan, they drew against Ecuador, they beat Australia, they're giving up already, they beat Potawai, they beat Uruguay, and you had faith that, okay, maybe Pochettino's approach of not playing the stars and getting depth, maybe that's working.
Yeah. And now the last few months of play from this team as we're just two and a half months away from the World Cup is listless. Right. This is pissing me off so much because we were looking forward to this World Cup for so long.
We thought this generation of players would give the United States a true chance to go deep in a tournament that they were hosting and they look jaded by the overall experience, like what is wrong with this generation of players? They don't have an identity, they don't have a mentality, they don't seem happy to be there, they don't seem to want to be there. Yeah, and arguably their best player, player, Pulusic hasn't scored a goal since December of 25. He's playing like shit.
He's playing like shit. And I can't recall the last time they beat a team from Europe. I think they've lost six, seven games in a row against European clubs, which you sort of have to beat. And now all of a sudden to your point, you wonder if they're going to get out of the group stage.
They could be a colossal fizzle in the World Cup they're hosting. You're right. They're favored to get out of the group stage. Because it's an easy group.
It's an easy group. They got major problems here. From team selection to inspiration to creativity, they're playing the wrong guys. They should probably be doing a back three.
They're not going through the right guy in attacking. Look, I don't want to sound like a broken record here, but the US mentality was always that of an organized back line and a counter-attacking team to make use of our athletes. And this whole approach where we're going to try to play with Germany, the way that Germany plays, you get played right off the pitch, and you're not even that when you're going up against the likes of Panama, right? Panama drags you into the mud, and you don't have answers to it because you're too busy trying to play Jogo Benito.
This is stupid. This is stupid. Now, the only hope, because I don't have hope for this manager, I was trying to couch my initial opinions on it, but he's a career. Pochettino's a career loser.
Would you lie on him when they... No, I was highly aspiration that they went out and got a name, and I was hopeful that it would work, but I followed soccer for several decades at this point. Pochettino's a loser. Well, wait, did something...
This recent loss is the one that broke you? No, the performance against Belgium, like the team just... This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. There were generations that came and went that didn't have the opportunity.
It still is. It still is. They're in an easy group. It still is.
And the only hope that I have is that there are adults in the room that realize that they have an easy path and knock around. Then when it's a knock around, it's a whole new ballgame. And that the hopes of a nation actually connect with them because this generation of players has been so difficult for any manager to connect to. You know, I don't want to...
I sound like such a boomer, spoiled, entitled brats, all that, but they play like it. They act like it. They run from accountability. What has this team ever accomplished?
You know, I miss going into games against Belgium and games against Portugal, thinking I had a chance. I'm doing it to see how bad it's going to be. Greg, I have zero hope in these matches. Greg, I hate, okay.
Always as analysis. I hate. I don't think those people care or want to be there. How can he make that accusation before we have...
We're less than 100 days from the World Cup. How can he credibly make the accusation as someone who cares about that sport? And it's not about our players are bad. We've been mad at American men's soccer for almost the entire time we've had.
America's men's soccer, except for one land in Donovan goal that represents the excitement about United States soccer. How can he make that accusation and you don't flinch on our players don't want to be there? I don't feel as vehemently as Mike does, but their recent results beg that opinion. And at a time when you're looking for a tailwind, you're looking for some momentum to take into June, they've done the opposite.
They've slumped, they've been a very bad team for a few months now. And it's just the timing is so bad. We're not going to do this with World Cup Soccer, where we cycle analyze and say, this guy's wrong for saying they don't care enough. That is recognized as analysis the world over for legit health lessons.
But how can I be? I think landed Donovan has said this before. Like the people are real. This isn't Mike being a guy on his couch with a beard.
He's got his own care as he eats Cheetos out of his belly button. This is like something that's being said by people who have played for the US men's national team, we're now analysts. It's something that's being talked about very openly in the soccer world. The way they play the game is such an insult to anybody that has invested anything in this program hoping for this World Cup.
I was looking forward to this World Cup the second that it was whispered as a possibility. Maybe, maybe. In 2002 we went to the quarters. In 2002 in Korea we went to the quarters and we were supposed to be building on that.
The generation missed the World Cup. And finally we don't even have to go through the qualification process. Thank God because we're hosting. And this is just insulting.
Does that not think you have a chance? They missed that. Maybe they needed to go through a qualification. You know they got a free ticket into the World Cup and I don't think that's helped their preparation in the least.
I desperately want someone in that room to show me they care. I want to see a sense of urgency. I want to see a sense of acknowledgement of the history and how hard it's been for this program to get to the point that where it is right now. It's sucky right now.
I don't have faith in the manager. I don't have faith in the players. I don't even like that. There it is.
It's wrong as his terms can be. It's sucky and he doesn't like them. And it's about to get worse. You know what the rarest of things is?
Mike has been very careful about where it is that he places his expectations because to get excited about things is to get disappointed about them more profoundly. This feels like a giant customer betrayal that you can't count on your team even around the patriotism to act like it's caring. When you've been caring about the sport for 20 years, trying to build it up to this country to get to these games. Dan and Greg, they could have these results and have in previous ramps up to the World Cup.
And I would still hold out hope and believe that the American underdog spirit when it comes to international soccer would prevail. This team has to show us that they are capable of doing that. So far, the signs are not there. You're out already.
I'm not. I sound hopeless. You're a host nation. Funny things happen.
But someone needs to wake up. Someone needs to smack these guys across the face and say, what are you doing? You're wasting this opportunity. This is so huge for the sport in this country.
We're all hoping that this could be a launch pad for everyone. We're all going to make so much money. If you just take this seriously and understand the situation, the gravity of it. And it doesn't seem like they do.
What are you smiling about? And they play like they don't even understand it. I mean, I appreciate his passion. I don't feel as strongly as he does.
But I think the underlying thing that he's saying is absolutely true. He's out. He's out. Oh, you're trying to do that to me.
I'll be room for them. But I don't believe right now when I want to believe. Hey, it's Mike Ryan. And I want to talk to you about the random Midweek King that you have with your friends.
Maybe it's an NBA game. You get a text, hey, come over. You want to watch the game. And maybe you're like, I don't know.
I kind of just wanted to stay home. And then you think about it. After your buddy hits you up. And you know just the thing that'll make that regular hang that regular Midweek hang around the basketball game into a special time, into a Miller time.
That's right. This happened to me just last week. I grabbed a six pack of Miller light. One of those nights that you look around, you take a sip, and you think, yeah, this was the right call.
And my friendship's stronger for it. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller light. Great takes 96 calories, go to Miller light.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you. Or you can pick up some Miller light pretty much anywhere they sell beer.
It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.