Jessica Smetana Held Her Angel Reese Stock | Hour 2
39m 12s
The episode of The Down Laboratory features a mix of sports analysis, media commentary, and personal reflections. It highlights Angel Reese’s pivotal performance in the WNBA finals, praising her impact as a key reason for the Atlanta Dream’s comeback. A major discussion arises over Jalen Hertz’s medical situation, where initial reports of him playing after 36 hours awake are dismissed as implausible, with the corrected narrative of him sleeping and being rested seen as more credible. The show also explores the ethical and emotional implications of playing injured players, especially for a franchise quarterback, raising concerns about team priorities. A segment on the Nathan Fielder documentary reveals its unique blend of satire and character study, focusing not just on Elizabeth Holmes but on the broader culture of Silicon Valley entrepreneurship. The Rays’ historic World Series win is celebrated, particularly Junior Caminero’s record-setting home run trot, though some question the celebratory behavior as disrespectful. The episode also touches on the significance of small-market teams breaking through, challenging traditional power dynamics in baseball and offering a win for players’ arguments regarding fair pay structures. Throughout, the hosts balance sharp critiques with humor and personal anecdotes, including the “Queer Vote” effect and reflections on media portrayal, creating a dynamic and engaging narrative that blends sports, culture, and human behavior.
You are listening to The Down Laboratory show in partnership with the Draft King Sports Act, now live in all 50 states. (upbeat music) - How you doing so far today, Walter? - I think I'm doing all right, I'm happy to be back. I know the fans who stopped me legit, stopped me all over the country and say, are you Walter Hawkins? And then they bust out laughing. They call me Walter on social media. So I've been waiting, it's been a long time, 'cause I've been back eight times, I'm good to see. It's been a long time since I've been back, but I've been waiting for this moment to be in the same room with Greg to introduce myself as Walter. - Well say hello to Jess, you have been gone for a while, you are back, which means you get to say hello to Jessica's Montana, go ahead. - Jess, how are you? - I love when people say Greg like that, like with the AIG. - Greg? - Greg? - Yeah. - It's my Pennsylvania accent, like, you know that. - I love it, I know, I know. - You could of course catch Jess's podcast, college football, happy hour with Lucy Rodin. Let's start here, you know, we haven't brought it up yet, I wanted to save it to bring it up with you. Last night, you have WMBA finals, game two, as the Atlanta Dream. They even up that series at a game of peace. I would say that right about now, any criticism of Angel Reese is probably ill-timed, where she has 30 points and 16 rebounds last night and the biggest win of her professional career. - Yeah, she had a ridiculous games as, I'm so happy I held on to my Angel Reese stock, even when people on this very show were making fun of me and yelling at me, telling me I was an idiot. Guess what guys? She was drafted by the Chicago sky. They're not serious. They are an unserious basketball organization. And the best thing that ever happened to her was being traded to a serious basketball organization. They at Atlanta Dream because now they are three games away from possibly winning the WMBA finals. And in large part to her and her just being an absolute dog, especially in this game two, if I were Valgris fan right now, I'd be a little nervous. Game one, the Dream kind of gave it away. They kind of gave it away the fourth quarter. They could not get a shot off. They were just really bad offensively, but it was still one possession game at the end and the Valgris pulled it off in one. Game two, completely different stories as the dream just stomped them and Gabby Williams had nothing on offense. The Valgris had very few answers for the dream. And the Dream's defense is just as good as the Valgris defense. So the difference here is who are your shot makers? And even with Ryan Howard having a bad series and frankly a pretty bad playoff so far in Alicia Gray, missing most of the semis because of her finger injury and still kind of coming back from that, the difference has been Angel Reese and she's been phenomenal so far. - I want to get some of your thoughts here, Jess. We have been talking about the Eagles and the situation with Jalen Hertz. I want to read this tweet here from Tom Pellicero who yesterday put out the original tweet, which here, let me read the original one. We back up for a second here and this is the one that got all of our attention during the show yesterday where he puts here how committed is Jalen Hertz to football after initially being diagnosed with a superficial blood clot in London. Doctors told him not to sleep as a precaution so he had been awake for roughly 36 hours when he started against the Jaguars and that's a rather alarming tweet and it's so alarming that, I said here yesterday, I don't think I believe it. It's not that they let him play in this situation that he would even be physically able to when you're awake for 36 hours. It didn't make sense to like, "Huck, you played in the league. If you were awake for 36 hours, would you be able to play football?" No, I went to bed at 9 a.m. every night and I'm not a, I am a night person. I'm a nighthawk, if you will. - You went to bed at 9 a.m.? - Every day. Every day I was in bed at 9 a.m. Now I played for the Bengals in the Pacman Jones era so not everybody was going to bed at 9 a.m. But me, in order for me to be great at what I did, I had to go to bed early. So there's no way. - 9 p.m. 9 p.m. 9 p.m. - Yeah, that makes sense. - That makes more sense. - This man, it's a monster. - It's like, is he mean international time? - Oh, I wonder. - What did he do? - He was out all night long and then he was like, "9 a.m. now I'll get my quick hour of nap before I hit the practice field in front." - He slept through practice. - Good gracious. - Yes, 9 p.m. - So 36 hours, like there's just no, - There's no way. - It's impossible, if that's your best player. - Yeah, so I didn't believe, like, I'm not gonna call Tom Pellacero a liar, but like it, it didn't make sense to me. I don't think that it's possible. - And then a couple hours later, Pellacero tweeted out here, Jess, just spoke to Jalen Hertz agent, Nicole Lynn, who clarified that while Hertz was up until early Sunday morning getting evaluated at a hospital, he was able to sleep upon rejoining the team and the eagles set aside a room for him at the stadium, videos from the stadium showherts coming onto the field just before kickoff and he felt rested enough to play. Jess, that to me sounds more reasonable. There's no way he's awake for 36 straight hours and then playing football. - It also makes it sound like everyone had to get together and get their story straight. - Yeah. - Because why did this first report come out? - Also, I don't, you guys, you probably don't know this about me, but I'm not a doctor. Why would you not be able to sleep if you have a blood clot? Like I don't really understand that and that feels like something that Pellacero should have questioned when he put out his initial report. If that was indeed a thing that's commonly medically recommended for a player in this situation. Even that being said, the eagles statement that they put out afterwards and Nick Sireani's press conference afterwards didn't really make any, I certainly didn't feel better about the situation. And it just sounds like a case of the eagle's organization caring more about winning a game than their franchise quarterback. And maybe that's not the case. Maybe they do really care about that, but that's what it seems like and it's hard to argue about that right now. - It's a real mess. It's a real mess from everyone involved, except for jailhurt, some news. - Why would you even chance that? Like for all the teams that have a franchise quarterback to Jess's point, do you think if even the worst case is remotely possible that they would trot their quarterback out there and say, hey, you're gonna play or we're gonna fly you? That doesn't make any sense. - No, no. - But in this case, to me, the broader context here is that the eagles are having a bad season and Nick Sireani, all of a sudden, is showing up on all of these next coach fired odds. He's rising up the chart there. So this is a desperate team that maybe was predisposed to say, you know what, if it's a close call, we're playing our race quarterback. - No guaranteed money left on his deal. - Jess, do you see who Ameen is dressed up as today? Do you recognize him? Recognize him from the Odyssey? He's, and he's Antonis. - Somebody get these beggars out of here. - Oh god, I love Robert Patton's and so much. He's the best. I still haven't seen Primetime though. I did see that you can see everything. - Robert Patton is not in, but he's so good. - Is that a good one? - That's amazing. - Hawk is sitting there. - Leave the show now and that's it. - Do you want to move each other? 'Cause we were on this thing. - No, I know you don't say that. I'm telling you, you'll love this. As someone who knows you as well as I do. - Yeah, and you do as you really well. - I know you really well. You're gonna love this. Do you know what the movie is, Hawk? - Explain it to me. - Jess, do you want to, like, Jess did you, you saw it, right? - Yeah, and I read Bad Blood back in the day. Like I was all over this Theranos story when it happened. It was one of my favorite. - Yeah. - That's a good one. - Thank you. - You know the whole is with Holmes Theranos. - Yes, that's a good story. - Yeah, so essentially like her and her now partner wanted a documentary film crew to follow them as she was getting ready to report to federal prison for her crimes. She's serving as, you know, 11 year sentence. But I think she is going to be out next year or like go to a halfway house next year or something like that. Anyways, so they went to A24 apparently Nathan Fielder was already in the works with some like Lance Oppenheim connection at A24. And so then they started working on the documentary which feels like a really weird fit and it is. And that's why it's awesome because then he films this documentary, embedded in her home for a month. And then from there things just kind of get weird. And I don't want to spoil anything. But it ends up being a three hour long, I would say character study on one of the most famous scammers of our time and I think it gives you a lot of insight into how Theranos and also I think broadly the Silicon Valley investor or I should say inventor class gets investments from people. But done in a way where it's like Nathan Fielder kind of flexes all his muscles, does all this stuff that he's kind of known for and it's very, very funny. - Wow, that was an incredible description. - Was that a good, what I mean? - Yeah, the documentary is half as good as a description. You just gave me Jamie, you're right. I should leave Tony, you don't, Tony, you don't sound like you're in on this. - I think I'm good. - Three hours of course. - It's a subject I don't really care about that much. I don't know. - You don't have to care about subject. - Tony, it's not for you. It's not for you. - It's not for Tony. - It's not for you. - It is for me. - It is for you. - Tony, would you watch it? - It's definitely around Dijon Love. - Oh yes. - Would you watch that scammers? - Absolutely. - Then by a 24. - A hundred percent. - I think the thing to keep in mind is a lot of people think documentary and it's always about Elizabeth Holmes. And I would say it's actually about Nathan Fielder because he's such a-- - He's about him. - That's my point. - That's why I don't like the stuff he does. Everything's about him. I don't care about you, dude. - But he's hilarious. - Yeah, okay. - It's funny though. It's not self-indulgent. It's just funny because-- - But it is, right? It's not self-indulgent, but it is. - It is in a funny way. - I don't know. - It's never about the other person. It's about him and how much they can make that person look stupid. - Is that the deal? - I don't think so.
That's what this one's about at all and I wouldn't say that's what Nathan for you is about although I've seen that critique of it. I feel like he lets people be themselves and then they sort of hang themselves like there's a lot of like for example meet you remember the lawyer in Nathan for you who signs the contract saying that he's liable yes like Nathan is not intentionally like he knows what he's doing right but like this guy ultimately is the one who then makes the scene funny because he tries to crumble let me set it up. Let me just don't let me because it's so brilliant so his idea he's trying to save this coffee shop so his ideas that we're going to rebrand as dumb Starbucks right and under parody law they can't sue us right and so he sits down with a lawyer to make sure and he says they can't sue us right and he's like well they could it's like well they could sue you too it's like me why why would they sue me it's like well because you're part of this he's like no I'm not so you know I have you in writing it's like what you sign the contract what contract the release for them to shoot the scene with him he signed it and so he's a I don't remember that and he's such reading through it and it's like yeah he's like well you don't have any video of me signing it and they literally cut to a video of him signing it's it what kind of lawyer am I I'm not even reading this and I'm signing it it's amazing because it's it is like Jess said he hung himself out to drive by himself but obviously Nathan is playing kind of he's playing it little dummy naive but also but but you have you in writing here and that's the kind of guy he is I don't know I find that's a hilarious right another one another one is like the the gas station attendant what of my what of the all-time scenes of Nathan for you Nathan doesn't go in there he's like I'm gonna you know I'm gonna grill this guy and find out something really weird about him he just asks people why and what and the people just keep giving him more and more information and this guy ends up talking about drinking his grandson's urine and Nathan kind of almost breaks character and he's like oh he breaks what the only time I've ever seen him break it's it's just him finding these really interesting people and I think that's why the subject is so like you know there's a ton of people out there that are probably gonna say there's nothing that I don't already know about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos like she's she was all over the media for years right before she was convicted and then she kind of went dark for a while and it's like what do we really need to know about this lady she lied to a ton of people she's obviously guilty like she you know whatever but she doesn't believe she's guilty right no she she well she does not claim to believe that she's guilty she's very adamant like to this day I didn't know anything wrong and not only that but also it works I've already said yeah you know what I feel like I feel like I said most of the movie at this point no not at all saving three hours the description to now I feel like here's what I'll say about it is that you have Nathan fielder who his entire thing as he's gone from Nathan to you to the rehearsal now to this and there are other projects in between is like what he does amazingly well is blend within his show what's real and what might be scripted or not real or playing on that line and what he does there is unbelievable always he's always trying to figure out how do humans behave and now you have that guy dealing with the most notorious liar who still as she went to prison was insisting that her crimes were not of the most the real world notorious liars who started a you know a company in Silicon Valley that actually got in trouble for it because a lot of other people like that out there that's why I think it's like the examination of the archetype of like her and her partner is what's kind of fascinating about all of it and there's a ton of stuff that happens along the way that you're not really expecting and it yeah it's it's funny but it's also like what like I feel like sometimes I don't live on the same planet as some of these people and those are two people or I'm like I cannot believe we are all human because they're so weird I'm gonna say everything you guys have said today and act like I've seen the movie from here on out I imagine you know the shaggy song it wasn't me yeah yeah but you caught me in the shower yeah what do I write like now imagine that with a billion dollars okay that's what this woman is getting caught in the shower with a billion dollars all right I think I got it I've seen it three times I think I just had seen it three times look between getting up early for the show watching hockey late at night and everything else going on I'm trying to do a better job of taking care of myself but I'm not trying to take a whole bunch of different supplements every morning that's why I started using I am eight I am made daily ultimate essentials combine 16 supplements and 90 ingredients supporting nine major organ systems into one drink it was co-founded by David Beckham and developed by leading doctors and researchers I just got my package and started working it into my morning routine and that lemon orange flavor is my favorite that is delicious it's so far like how simple it is one drink and I'm not dealing with a cabinet full of bottles and I'm looking forward to sticking with it go to I am eight health calm slash Dan right now and use code D.A.N. for a free welcome kit that's five free travel sachets plus 10% off your order let's code D.A.N. at I am eight H-E-A-L-T-H dot com slash D.A.N. code D.A.N. at I am eight health dot com slash Dan these statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration this product is not intended to diagnose treat cure or prevent any disease going for two when you're up by five switching the zone when man isn't working oh and building your new stadium in the state your team actually plays in it sports some things just make sense you know what else makes sense drinking Yeagermeister shot ice cold drinking it any other way would be like punting on first down or letting you worse hit her that first or like going for two when you're down three with a second ago it wouldn't make any sense so don't let the team down when it comes to Yeagermeister drink it cold or drink it at all Yeagermeister damn that's cold pretty responsibly Yeagermeister liqueur 35% alcohol by volume imported by mass Yeagermeister US white planes New York down lebertar I don't look smelly either Jessica is mattana women stay home in the kitchen where they belong this is the down lebertar show chest we're not going to let you go before we ask your reaction to the Notre Dame loss this weekend where you where you angry about the non-call late in the game I follow her this is you guys do this every single year yes I have a heart out in two minutes and now I'm going to only get like 60 seconds to talk about this and everyone's going to yell at me on social media be like I can't believe they had just on and they asked her about angel Reese and Nathan Fielder and they didn't ask her about Notre Dame B. why you and let me just say guys it's not my fault yeah is that his fault this is a filiboss minute it has I'm not mad about the no-call because I think the refs they swallow their whistle at the end of games in those type of situations all the time the one second on the clock thing is genuinely they messed up and what I'm surprised by is that the big 12 came out and admitted they messed up there was a second left on the clock and there's still people arguing me on Twitter about like 10th of seconds like we didn't already go over this after the Michigan game that's not how the game clock works like go back read all the reporting from the mission game the big 12 already admitted they made a mistake they made a mistake that being said Notre Dame their defense was incredibly disappointing in this game and I think that's my big takeaway. I'm really really unhappy with the defensive coordinator very unhappy with the game plan and that was ultimately why they lost is the game against Miami and eliminator game Jess is it an elimination game good Jeff you're going to hate this answer and Dan would yell at me for this but it depends guys this year's playoff field not last year's playoff field Notre Dame plays SMU the weekend after or two weekends after Miami they're they're ranked right now they could end up being in the ACC championship game against Miami they have a game against Wake Forest coming up that'll be a big one for them it depends there's been so many upsets this year's as like can you tell me confidently who's going to play in the ACC championship game and the team that loses it be a four lost team potentially I don't know I mean it's it's completely banana season the only undefeated big tenor SEC team left is UCLA right now I would not have expected that coming into the season you don't get to see depends I get out of here just her week away Notre Dame podcast the echoes is with Mike Goliath Jr a good job Jess was down bye see ya there you go limited fake Dan one terrible that's pretty good bad it's tough to do loud though it like when at a low voice you're really good at it but it just gets so screechy yeah how does he do it how does he get that oct because Dan doesn't have a high pitch he would call it an octave which is also wrong Greg was he like that younger as well yeah I think so yeah yeah how you feeling about tomorrow so far Greg you still standing on business that you're you're not coming in because you're protesting Dan we're we're certain about that why is he protesting Dan oh wait a keep up with the show buddy yeah especially go Greg I know a sub stack that you can read yeah if you read I there's an article published two hours ago here from Miami Florida on Jeremy's Levitard sub sub entitled breaking Greg Cody returns Dan exit with the subheading Greg Cody returns to the Dan Levitard show under protest if you guys would like I could read it's just a three paragraph article or or if you don't want to read that whole thing because Jeremy can't get long winded I don't you can't go to a means Jeremy's Levitard sub sub sub and I give you a little summary of what Jeremy said yeah there's also a third one that I think has an exclusive article and I believe it's Walter's a means Jeremy's Levitard sub sub sub and the article sub sub sub sub
Yeah, you forgot the word for some and it's actually it's actually written by Greg Cody That's right, and there's also my new Subsec which is called what's up? Yeah, it's the one Greg how can we negotiate a peace treaty because while I stand in your corner firmly that Dan violated your trust and you're Your loyalty. Yeah, and stab you in the back. However, as I understand it There's a lot of stuff happening here in studio tomorrow that would really really be elevated by your presence And so for the sake of the show and for the sake of content for the sake of the listeners and the viewers who all of whom I'm sure are Subscribed to your sub stack for sure. How can we negotiate this peace treaty? Is Dan on the show tomorrow? Yes. Oh, yes There's my answer. Okay, but at some point you have to work with Dan again. Maybe okay, you're saying maybe but you're punishing yourself That's a case. Yeah, you're not gonna get paid to not work. Right. That's true. Yeah. We'll think about that all right Trying to help you will be considered. I mean it could be it could be a short boycott. Okay, you know tomorrow Or is it possible to break the boycott for a day and then go back to boycotting that wouldn't be a boycott My dreamer did it each and each bagels Right Roy It's your time to shine. Let's get to Roy's lock of the week The lock of the week is presented by track Kings drive Kings the crown is yours Yeah, the lock was opened as we can fortunately watch out there Jeremy The mess over there, but this lock this time this week. I got one for you Hurricanes at conucks go kill a lot of hurricanes money line that minus 28 So you're just taking heavy favorites. That's what you're doing, huh? Yeah, I call it a lot guaranteed the win Hurricanes minus 298 that is this week's lock of the week was in about drag King strapped King sports Ground you what's not terrible? All right, there you go It's going with the Fugaisy defending Stanley Cup champs look Greg the world series has its participants The rays win last night. They win in six games. We have the rays and the brewers. I Love the idea that we're gonna get a new world series champion. We got two teams that I think it's total of like It's like five or six teams in Major League Baseball that have never won a world series And these are two of those teams. So we are going to get a first-time world series It's it's interesting. It's fascinating. I think it's great for baseball I don't think it's gonna translate to Terrific TV ratings. I could be wrong. I hope I'm wrong But I think it's great for baseball last time this happened 1980 1980 when there were two teams in the world series that had never won before the time before that 1920 I wasn't even born yet. That's prehistoric So this is the rarest of rare occurrences that baseball fans get to enjoy I gotta tell you you bring up something that everyone likes to say and ah raise brewers It would be terrible ratings. No one's gonna watch. Why do I give a shit about the TV rating? But like why do I give a shit if the networks make money? Why do I care about that? Why do I care? I'm almost positive the networks pay you. Yeah, you work for one. Yeah, but but it doesn't affect Well, like it's I'm not affected by them not getting huge TV ratings like why does that it's on my show No, I'm not on that show. No, I think it's also fine if if it might be but it it's also like It's fine for us within this room as people who work in media to care But Zazzle is representing the fan Which why should the fan why should why should the fan care about TV ratings when ultimately They're not gonna impact the actual dollars that are made this world. Yeah, let's begin as a fan. Why do I care? Well, because the TV ratings reflect how many fans are interested But if I'm interested and I like baseball why do I care if they're gonna get teams that everyone's gonna watch? I got it because bad ratings as a fan who likes baseball equals less baseball How because if there's not an interest for it you Can't justify putting more of the thing that you like so if you're not a raise or a brewers fan I would actually tell you make sure you're still watching or because if you don't care if there's big games or not If you're a person's gonna watch no matter what still yeah, they'll put less baseball on which is not what you want So that's why you should care All right, so that makes it yeah Good know and point and this is like the best part about this series is that these are two teams that reflect each other I thought David Samson actually made a good point. We were talking earlier. This is basically like the Oklahoma City Thunder These teams are that excellent and they're just small market so people maybe haven't been paying attention and because it's not a salary-capped Sport and we talk so much about payroll and payroll disparity Everybody views them as these underdog little engine that could teams. No, they're the two best teams They're both one-seats in in the last like 45 years It's only eight or nine times where both one-seats actually made it to face each other in the world series These have been the two best teams all year long. They play a brand of baseball that sort of harkens back to the version of baseball Greg that you really enjoy where these teams play defense. They have great starting pitching their bullpen's come in Strategically and get out they run the bases they lay down months and their stars can hit for power when it's necessary You see last night junior Kemenero and Yandhi Diaz going deep you've seen Jackson, Turio and Wilson William Contreras over with Milwaukee These teams are loaded top to bottom and the bottom of their order is really gonna Ultimately be the thing that makes the difference because the the heart of the order for both of these teams is so good So with these two small market teams now making it to the world series is that not the the Trump card come over and it's like all right Well the Dodgers aren't there no big market teams are there no huge salaries are there What do they do now from a PR perspective? This is great for what the players argument has been because before the season started the owners were using the Dodgers as Their infomercial for why a salary cap was necessary look at our big bad Dodgers hurting your team they even had Dodgers fans in those infomercials saying like well I even I think a salary cap would be more fair and Ultimately, it's just because they want fixed prices on their salary not really because they want their to be More equity within the league because look at how smart teams can do it and it's taken the raise and it's taken the brewers It's taken these teams a long time to build teams that can get back to the world series You saw the raise there and oh wait and and you see them back there now But this is a win for the players in terms of what their argument has been which is just adding a strong Luxury tax on each end on the floor and on the ceiling so that that way You ultimately are getting money to come back to the league, but it doesn't change the amount that an individual player can make So having these two small market teams and for that matter of the guardians be the ones that are there and seeing the Dodgers break down It should be a win for them from the PR perspective if you ask David Samson the owners don't care Because they say oh, it's a small sample size normally the powerhouse is make it the funny part of that or the irony and it is Well, they were just using the small sample size of the last two years with the Dodgers as their argument before the season began Tony you know that moment at a party or a tailgate where everything just sort of clicks I know it well. It's usually when I show up everybody goes crazy Yeah, you usually take all the credit for it But it's because Tony usually walks in with queer walking like this. Yeah, yeah, yeah Queer vote is a thing that turns hanging out into this is the night. It has that effect on people It does you usually take the credit for it, but again, it's the Queer vote effect It's like that moment in a big game where everyone in the crowd just starts standing up hooting and hollering. Keep it, Queer vote Queer vote, baby Down levitar Jessica thinks you're pathetic. I saw the look on her face. It can never be the lane to victory man I know I think Jeremy's pathetic Jeremy just you should hear him back. It's so sad The most absurd theater kid basketball analysis line that I've ever heard from him Jeremy touch it My dad was talking about the adjustments that Spowe made and criticizing him last night and Jeremy Just back here his adjustments were spectacular. It's like they lost their down 0-2. This is the down levitar show So Greg history is going to be made the Brewers the Rays We are going to have a brand new World Series champion for the first time in that franchise history, but History was also made last night all right during this game because junior Caminero homers and It opens up the game is to run Homer. They go up five to one history was made last night Give this a watch where junior Caminero set the all-time record for Longest home run trot to get around the bases in post-season history 38.7 seconds watch this All right, so he's so there's the blast all right the crowd the crowd goes nuts He's doing a whole lot of peacock and in pre look. I've never seen that before. He's beating his chest to the Right now he's finally at second. I mean I started this video four minutes ago. I hand up to the ear You got a drone flying around there
It is funny how they let the camera man today run out of the field, you know, the cameraman in the middle of field of play and Kevin arrows doing more. He is not scored yet. And now, and now he touches home play stop and crossing the arms. By the way, it's because Randy Arosa Reina, who played for the raise, who was their superstar in their run to the world series in 2020 in the shortened season, who had one of the best post seasons we've ever seen. He was sitting right behind home plate. He's always Tyler Glass now, the other former Ray. And so Arosa Reina's celebration has always been the crossed arms. So he looks, he points at Arosa Reina, who's sitting behind home plate and they both cross arms and stare at each other before he touches home. It's like one of the coolest home run celebrations you could possibly see. And it was, it was to go up five, one, it was a home run off the foul pole. The first time that that reliever, their closer had ever given a, given up a home run on his splitter. But first time ever, that's how great that pitches for Cade Smith, never had given up a home run on a splitter. And he sees it first pitch. He was there just to get Caminaro out in the seventh inning. They brought him in early. And he gives up the home run off the foul pole. Thiago splitter. It was a record, Greg. That was historic 38.7 seconds to get around the base. Okay. I'm going to be, I'm going to play the bad guy here. I'm going to, I'm going to be the old, funny, dirty boy boy. I'm going to be that guy. I'm sorry. I'm going to be the bad sportsmanship. If I were the opposing pitcher, if I'm Smith who just gave up that home run, man, I feel like throwing the ball, I feel like throwing pitches at Caminaro as these, as he's taking you to the right yard. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He might hit another home run. But why if a guy hit a big shot in basketball, he'd have done the exact same thing and we'd be okay with it. Okay. This is a difference between hitting a game winning shot. The game is over then. This game wasn't over. Like you don't find that, am I the only one who finds that disrespectful? That home run trot? No, I think there's plenty of people just like you who find it disrespectful. It was the whole run crawl as what it was. It took a time. You know, you're not even the first base shed and you're high-fiving the cameraman. You're five feet from the plate. You did not find the camera. You're stopping and going like this is ridiculous. It's just ridiculous. Okay. Congratulations, Junior. Great hit. You're a hero. In Tampa, I get all that. But have a little respect for the opposing team. That's all. I forgot his name was Junior for a thing like what? I thought he was dismissive, right? Experiencing joy. Like this guy has back to back 40 home run seasons. He's 23 years old. He's the future of this franchise. They haven't gone to the World Series since 2020. They've never won one before. He's been knighted as the hero. He didn't have a home run yet in the postseason. So after a year where he just hit 40 plus home runs and is going to finish second in MVP voting behind Yordan Alvarez, he's got all of these sort of demons weighing on him. He's only got, you know, eight hits to that point in the postseason. He comes up in this moment. He's facing the best closer in baseball and hits a pitch out that no one has ever hit out. No one has ever hit that splitter out of the ballpark. It hits the foul pole and they go up five one knowing that their bullpen is so good that they're likely going to win this baseball game now. Oh my God, we're going to the World Series. So the game and it's just what you just want them to just feel like I did jog around the basics. I want them to have a little respect for the other team. Yeah, I didn't see the game. That description was even better than the name of the year and you can see everything description. I'm with Jeremy here and I agree that you shouldn't disrespect the other team. But the context of this being such a big moment and I never scored a playoff NFL playoff touchdown. Probably because I was going to bed at 9 a.m. But how I don't so I would have celebrated my celebration would have been double this time, which inevitably probably would have gotten me cut. But still, is there a difference between disrespecting the opponent and celebrating yourself? Yeah, absolutely. And I don't think he was disrespecting the opponent in that I think it was such a big moment for himself that he wasn't going to turn down his excitement for anybody in that moment. And I'm not mad at it. Jeremy, can you look up for me the origins of the term Fuddy Duddy? Ooh, another sui nominee for limited fake Dan. Historic. Historic home run shot. I'm with you, Greg. Well, how many seconds would have been accepted? You're with him there? Yeah, because I thought, look, I too didn't watch the game. So I thought that was the walkoff. I was like, oh, yeah, like, of course, have added like there was more game to play. I was like, how much more game was there? It was the seventh inning. There were two more innings, now, man. What did they have lost? What did they lost that game? What is really crazy is that in the eighth, in the eighth inning, the Guardians ended up scoring two runs and had the bases loaded with two outs. And so they could have blown it and he could have looked like a jerk. But guess what? He didn't. History will never remember that that they had bases. That's right. There's never going to remember. You know what I care about? Hiping up the boys and the guys. That's right. As I sit there before I hit first base. And I'm like, yeah, uh-huh. It's all that. It's amazing. That's what I do. I do it every time. It's way in both style. It's also incredible because it was at home. I think if it had been in Cleveland-- Well, we all know how deserving those raise fans have been. You know, they always show up and show out. Yeah, they did. Great crowd. They were sold out. Like, I think that in a ballpark that two years ago had the roof ripped off and they had to play in a minor league ballpark last year. They return this season and they now get to experience this moment. And I think if it had been a different situation where they're doing that on the road, maybe that celebration goes ever so slightly differently. I think he still probably celebrates himself quite a bit because that's Junior Caminaro. But when you've got the crowd going crazy the way that they are at home, like, I can understand why that moment is, oh my god, we're probably going to the World Series right now and I just did it. May I take you guys back all the way to June, Madison Square Garden, where the San Antonio Spurs are up 29 and Victor and Miyama sitting on the ground because Mitchell Robinson just offensively fouled. I mean his head, I mean his head. Now we could say had they won the game, no one would remember a Nick comeback, whatever, but they didn't win the game. And that's the idea. The idea is he started the victory lap far too prematurely and I'm with you Greg. This guy right here. You know what? Rays won't win. They won't win the World Series. Rays are going to win. Put it down. Rays are going to win and guess what? Milwaukee. I'm coming back. Me and Tony, we're going to come back. And we're going to do a dunk tank. We're just going to go back to McGillic Cuddy's, by the way, with the name of the bar. Yeah. Yeah. Who else wants to go? Put your name down now. You have until the end of the segment. We have two minutes. Who thinks the Brews are going to win? Brew crew. One, two, three, four. Hawk? No. And they probably are. What? I'm going with the Rays. Rays up. Rays up. Rays up. I can't make it to Milwaukee. That's pretty much the only reason. World Series game one is Friday night in Milwaukee. I'll tell you, the injury situation, the NFL, absolutely brutal. I mean, every single week, you got Jalen Hertz this week out for the season. Now you got Mike Evans done for the season, ruptured Achilles. And we also find out. I just saw this this morning. I mean, maybe it came out last night where Devonte Adams now is six to 10 weeks. Every single week. It's, it's, it's pretty good that Mike Evans, not torn Achilles Achilles, 10 to 90's, will be out some time. But did not rupture. Oh, all right. What? The ruptured hamstring was Devonte Adams. He's out for six to 10 like you said. So Achilles, 10 to 90's, what kind of, what kind of deal is that as far as the strain? A strain almost more so than than a tear rupture. A strain to tear, right? Yeah. It's what happens right before. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of like how I saw tonight for the spurs to buy his Harris is not going to make his debut for the spurs because you got a calf strain. And it's like, oh, we're already there. We're it's right before Achilles tear, right? Definitely. You guys have to stop doing this. Just because they're next to each other doesn't mean the cavity Achilles. Yeah. Why are they keep saying it's a precursor? It's not a precursor. Oh, all right. I thought that's what I keep being told, though, now. I need to get my doctor outfit, man. I really want to do this. I mean, it has to not a doctor doctor. I'd rather have you as a lip reader. Dog. Well, okay. It's a family show, guys. I'm telling you, 500 bucks is someone who'll come in and lip read for you the entire game. No problem, right? Just 500, huh? That's easy money. Where's this weight and gold? Come on, son. Hold this profession. Lip reading. I get out of here. Tony, you know that moment at a party or a tailgate where everything just sort of clicks? I know it well. It's usually when I show up. Everybody goes crazy. Yeah, you usually take all the credit for it, but it's because Tony usually walks in with queer walking like this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Queervo is a thing that turns hanging out into this is the night. It has that effect on people. It does. You usually take the credit for it, but again, it's the Queervo effect. It's like that moment in a big game where everyone in the crowd just starts standing - Keep it up, hootin' in hollarin'. Keep it, Quarvel. - Keep it, Quarvel, baby.
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
Angel Reese delivered a standout performance in Game 2 of the WNBA finals, scoring 30 points and grabbing 16 rebounds, leading the Atlanta Dream to a decisive victory and positioning them as strong contenders for the championship.
The show challenges the initial report about Jalen Hertz playing after 36 hours awake, citing medical and logistical impossibility, and finds the revised account—where he slept and was rested—more credible and reasonable.
The Eagles’ decision to play Hertz despite the reported medical concerns raises questions about team priorities and player safety, with critics suggesting it reflects desperation rather than care for the quarterback’s well-being.
The documentary on Elizabeth Holmes and Nathan Fielder, described as a three-hour character study, blends humor and insight into Silicon Valley’s culture of innovation and deception, with Nathan Fielder’s style emphasizing absurdity and human behavior.
The Rays’ historic World Series win, including a record-setting 38.7-second home run trot by Junior Caminero, is celebrated as a significant moment in baseball history, though some criticize the celebratory behavior as disrespectful to the opposing team.
The show highlights the contrast between small-market teams like the Rays and Brewers making deep postseason runs, which challenges traditional narratives about team success and salary disparities.
There is a broader discussion about the value of fan engagement, with the argument that low TV ratings don’t diminish the importance of baseball for fans who care about the game’s authenticity and competitiveness.
The hosts reflect on the role of media and storytelling, with moments of shared humor and personal connection, such as the “Queer Vote” effect, underscoring the emotional impact of sports moments.
Summary:
The episode of The Down Laboratory features a mix of sports analysis, media commentary, and personal reflections. It highlights Angel Reese’s pivotal performance in the WNBA finals, praising her impact as a key reason for the Atlanta Dream’s comeback. A major discussion arises over Jalen Hertz’s medical situation, where initial reports of him playing after 36 hours awake are dismissed as implausible, with the corrected narrative of him sleeping and being rested seen as more credible.
The show also explores the ethical and emotional implications of playing injured players, especially for a franchise quarterback, raising concerns about team priorities. A segment on the Nathan Fielder documentary reveals its unique blend of satire and character study, focusing not just on Elizabeth Holmes but on the broader culture of Silicon Valley entrepreneurship. The Rays’ historic World Series win is celebrated, particularly Junior Caminero’s record-setting home run trot, though some question the celebratory behavior as disrespectful.
The episode also touches on the significance of small-market teams breaking through, challenging traditional power dynamics in baseball and offering a win for players’ arguments regarding fair pay structures. Throughout, the hosts balance sharp critiques with humor and personal anecdotes, including the “Queer Vote” effect and reflections on media portrayal, creating a dynamic and engaging narrative that blends sports, culture, and human behavior.
FAQs
Angel Reese had a standout game with 30 points and 16 rebounds, marking her best performance in her professional career and a key factor in the Atlanta Dream's victory over the Valgris. Her performance helped shift the series momentum and highlighted her impact as a dominant force on the court.
No, the initial report suggesting Jalen Hertz was awake for 36 hours was deemed unrealistic and medically implausible. A follow-up from his agent confirmed he slept after hospital evaluation and was rested enough to play, making the original claim appear to be an exaggeration or misinformation.
The documentary is a three-hour film by Nathan Fielder that follows Elizabeth Holmes and her partner as they prepare for federal prison, focusing on their lives and the scandal surrounding Theranos. It's described as a humorous and insightful character study that exposes Silicon Valley's culture of deception.
The Rays won a decisive game with a home run by junior Caminero, which set a record for the longest home run trot in postseason history (38.7 seconds). The game marked a historic milestone as it was the first time in franchise history that a Rays team reached the World Series.
While some found the celebration disrespectful, especially given the opponent's pitcher had just given up a home run, others viewed it as a natural expression of joy in a pivotal moment. The context of the game and the player's personal journey were seen as valid reasons for the celebration.
The Eagles faced a difficult season and had a shortage of key players, leading to the controversial decision to play Jalen Hertz despite his injury. Critics questioned the decision, suggesting it reflected a desperate attempt to win rather than prioritize player safety.
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