The Greg Cote Show (2026): Episode 342 - Goodbye, Herald

Hey guys, before we get to my dad here, it's Chris Ty. How's it going, Lebitar Show fam? Really appreciate everybody listening to this episode, specifically, my dad's gonna talk about everything that's going on with him and the Miami Herald. I just wanted to get, he made me. He demanded I get on here. Because if you're listening to this exact episode, it's on the Lebitar Show feed. And my dad said, "Hey, this doesn't help me at all." So you know what will help me is those people that are listening to us on the Lebitar Show feed, they need to go make sure they're subscribed. The Greg Cody Show, to our YouTube, to our podcast feeds, to follow us on all of our social medias, X, Instagram. Please, please, please, if you love Greg Cody, if you want to support Greg Cody and everything that we will be doing. And I promise you that YouTube channel's the main place you want to be, 'cause we are going to be, I'm talking Greg Cody mukbangs. I'm talking about social media trends. I'm talking about way more on YouTube. We're building a studio in my dad's home for our YouTube channel, it is going to be a lot of fun in the upcoming year. So please, please, please, go follow all of the Greg Cody Show, Instagram, X, YouTube, podcast feeds. Please, please, please, that is how you can show love for Greg Cody. We love you. And now here is the Greg Cody Show with Greg Cody. This is the Greg Cody Show with Greg Cody. God in it. Here's your host, Greg Cody. So let me tell you a little bit about my birthday morning, this past Thursday. I'm answering a bunch of birthday texts with floating balloons and all that good stuff. When I see a text from Jordan McPherson, who is the Miami Herald sports writer, who's the union representative for the sports department. Hours before it became public, he was sharing the news, advising us that McClatchee, the newspaper's corporate owner would be laying off 20 plus Miami Herald employees that day. It turned out to be 30, a complete gutting of the staff. And that affected, and he said that affected employees would be getting a call from a corporate executive named Anthony Berg. No names of the latest cutback victims were mentioned because none were known at that point. I felt bad for the soon to be fallen. At the same time, sadly, we've all gotten used to that in this business. The cuts come often and they're deep. So I went about answering my birthday texts. And hour or so later, I get a call from a number I didn't know. The caller ID said Tony Berg, and I found out what it meant when people say my heart sank and my stomach sank. I took the call. That's when in an appropriately somber, but perhaps rehearsed, I hate to have to tell you this tone of voice. A man I'd never met before or heard of informed me that my Miami Herald career of more than 50 years would be ending as of September 25th. If I still went to an office with a desk, I'd be cleaning it out right now. The voice I didn't know began to mention, severance pay and all kind of a red HR kind of red tape. And I started zoning out and my mind started racing as a reality hit. And then the call ended. I'm not going to pretend here that I was stunned. The newspaper industry has been a southbound Zeppelin struggling for years. It was a matter of time. Colleagues of my age have been joking for years. What would last longer our career or the newspaper industry itself. I won't even pretend I was overwhelmingly disappointed. I've been pondering retirement for a good while. My wife's probably sick of me hearing about it. And it was the how and the when. I figured I would do it certainly on my terms and my timetable after a football season maybe in a few months. I never once imagined being laid off abruptly discarded like. Well, like yesterday's news. The newspaper business has turned brutally cruel. It may be necessary, maybe out of necessity. It's still brutally cruel. My wonderful colleague, Michelle Kaufman, was also among the laid off. She covered inner Miami for us, meaning she covered the most popular athlete on the planet, Leon Messy. That wasn't enough to save her job. It isn't logical. It isn't fair. But it also isn't the herald making these layoffs. It's the corporate bean counters who care about cutting costs, cutting losses more than they do journalism. We all think we're bulletproof. I did, but in this business, none of us are. Heck, I thought I was indispensable, right? I was the main sports columnist. I had won awards. I'm too valuable. Ha! The truth is being laid off only hurts my ego and my vanity. And those things should be put in their place. I have my health, good health for my age. I have a wonderful wife and family, plenty of money, good friends. If you ever see me complaining for real, kick me in the ass and tell me to shut up. So I am not carrying a blowtorch here aimed at the Miami herald. Instead, I carry a bouquet of gratitude for a fulfilling career much, much longer than most. A career dare say successful. This career, mine has been a relentless pleasure for me from the day my very first byline appeared. And I have a plaque over here to prove it. That day was September 5th, 1972, until the day of that phone call on my birthday morning. My career made me believe in magic. It did. It made me believe in fate and what steers it. Made me believe in what if, what if my brother, the great Uncle Dick, had never seen that ad in the paper or told me about an opening for a herald sports clerk? What if Jim Martz, then the heralds-broward sports that are there had not hired me? The answer is that nobody listening or watching this right now would ever have heard of me. Instead, Jim Martz hired me. I was 17 in my first job. (laughs) It's hard to think back that long. My first job was writing a bowling column and answering phones. The first day on the job is a part-time herald clerk, the phone rings. It was a young female voice. I may have told this story before 'cause we had Jim Martz on once. Hello, may I speak to Jim? Yes, may I ask who's calling? I'm returning Jim's call. She said, "It's Chrissy Everett." Wow. Keep in mind, I'm 17. I used to have sort of a crush on Chris Everett, who was my own age. And I'm like, all of a sudden I'm talking to Chris Everett, the rising phenom in tennis, the future superstar. And I thought to myself, this might be a pretty cool job. Guess what? It was. So. So. 54 years later, almost of the day, it was a cool job, right up until the end. But I won't allow, I can't allow the imperfect way it ended to tarnish everything built and earned across those decades. I will have a farewell call. I'm a final farewell call later this month in the Herald when the actual end is at hand. Meantime. My gratitude goes first to just generations of loyal, Miami Herald readers. And more recently to all of you who've listened to us on the Levitard show. And since 2020 on my own, Greg Cody show podcasts. And to all of you, I say two things. Number one, don't spend even a second feeling bad for me. I've had a long, wonderful career at the Herald. And I could not be more grateful. Two, I'm not retiring. I'm not going anywhere. The Herald may be retiring me, but I'm not going anywhere. We will continue to do this podcast. And it's about to get bigger and better. We'll continue to be a regular on the Dan Levitard show. Maybe more often than before. And my writing will continue. Just not in the Herald. I'll continue to have fun and print and write about the dolphins and canes and heat and whenever I care to write about local and national just as always, just in a different place. That's all. Even my NFL picks and the upset bird will still be around. So to put a bow on all this, thank you, Miami Herald. Thank you to the colleagues past and present. Thank you to the readers across the decades into my podcast family now for allowing a little boy from Hollywood, Florida, a kid who was the first in his family ever to go to college to grow up and look into a career beyond all his dreams. Goodbye, Herald. Farewell. Now stay with us as the ride continues. - On your birthday, huh? (laughing) - Yeah. - On my birthday. - Stay for me is a layup for you. - Thank you. - No, I mean, dad, that was honestly, I'm glad that you didn't have us on camera there, because-- that was, I was ballin the jack like a little baby. Like that was really cool. I'm very proud of you, honestly, like of being your son and who you were as your sports columnists. Just and the way you handle this, like, I am so proud of you just in general. I know you don't need that for me, but like, you're just, you're the best. You're legend in this market. I'm just, I'm really proud to be your son right now, like, the way you handle that was really cool. Thank you, Christopher. And maybe I don't need to hear that, but it sure feels good. What does it say that your name wasn't big enough for them to leak it with, like, Michelle Kaufman? Funny. I don't, I can't explain that the last time I, because I'm curious who the 30 were. I know who they were from sports. There were three of us. Andre Fernandez, one of the great editors and Michelle, who's Michelle Kaufman is the hardest working, most conscientious sports writer. Among those I've ever worked with, she is so good at her job. She does it so well. And it's just, it's plain, plainly unfair. Like, I don't know why they pick who they do. And it isn't just the older, I got an idea of how they pick who they do. Okay. Money. Okay, but here's the thing. And here's the thing. And this is important to know. Yeah, when it comes to writers like Michelle and myself, the older, more tenured, better paid writers are going to be some of the targets, obviously, but companies like McClatchee and their lawyers, they don't want any age discrimination suits. So I can tell you that a lot of the 30 employees at the Harold who were laid off were the 23 year old on the job six months. You know, when they're firing you, if they're going to balance out the age thing, they got to go young. I'm imagining some like 12 year old kid who applied for like a paper boy job was like, Hey, buddy, get out of here. We fired a 72 year old. That's true. That's true. That's fair comment. And by the way, and I saw what you were trying to do there, getting emotional in there, trying to make this like a thing with like, you're laid off episode, isn't going to come close to my laid off episode. Like, remember, you brag to this day, if we don't have a more listened to episode, then the episode when I got laid off for me, it's so you trying to come for my stuff here? Is that what this is all about? You know what? Until the numbers come in, I'm going to acknowledge you as still leading the Cody family in being laid off. It happened to Yeti a few months ago, and that didn't do shit for us. I think there's ever a gauge of how unpopular someone is. You're looking at it. I don't think we made a big deal of you being laid off. He did mention it. We mentioned it in passing, but no, because it's, it's not my show. It's the Greg Kodyshow. That's fair, but by the way, the joke there, yeah, he's sorry. I do like this as a barometer, Greg, though. Like, like, who's laid off episode will, you know, will reign supreme. And really, I was fired. So. And I think we are taking, and we're going to call it laid off yet. Do what me and my dad did, regardless of what the actual thing is, we're calling it laid off, because it just sounds better. Whereas 90% of the time you've actually said you were fired. So me? Yes. Oh, yeah. Oh, the jokes has always been Chris Cody was fired, even though you're actually laid off. The joke is me getting defensive over it. I'm always like, hey, it's laid off. Stop saying fired. Well, here's the thing. I, without even thinking, I just referred to myself to your mother last night over dinner as having been fired. And she immediately corrected me. Like, there is a difference between laid off and fired. And, and there's also a difference between a big difference between my being laid off and my retiring on my own. And that difference is a lot of money. They, they owe me a severance package now that I would not have gotten if I had voluntarily. And your mother of the attorney also managed to point that out to me. And here's something that that made me laugh in the wake of all of this. Your mom was the first one I called to tell her that I had just been laid off. And hurry, you know what, her reaction was good. Her reaction was good. And I had her explain that. And, and only one of the reasons was the money. And it wasn't the big reason. The big reason was that there's a weight off my shoulders now. Like, because like I said in my, in my little soliloquy there, I've been pondering this for a long time and going back and forth on when to do it and how to do it. And, and the Harold made it easy for me. They, they made the decision for me. Right. I feel like you're even remembering it a little differently. Like I've heard you say in that speech you just did and when I was talking to you on the phone earlier about how I was probably going to do it after this football season. You've only said that in the last two days since this happened. Like you, it wasn't like you were saying. Like, come on, Harold, I'm done after this year. Anyways, like that you are just, I feel like you're just now saying that you were going to be done. I'm proving the point of you were so undecided. Like, I don't even know for sure if this doesn't happen, if you stop after this football season. It could be. And there's no way of knowing because I don't even know. And that was one of the issues is the going back and forth, the waffling back and forth. When do I retire? How do I retire? Do I officially retire? But then semi retire by still right. All of these things were going through my mind. And it was starting to drive your mom crazy. And Thursday's phone call from Harold executives who I've never met. McClatchy executives, I should say, it lifted a weight off my shoulders in a way. It made things easy for me. And now I can still write exactly what I want. But I know long I have to do token stuff. I don't want to do. I don't have to go to the Miami Marlins open or just because. Oh, jeez. Just Marlins catching a stray there. I don't have to do it. I don't want. He doesn't have to do it. Right. I don't have to go to a dolphins practice. Why is as my boss, John Devine would say, why? Just to be seen. When is the last time you went to a dolphins practice? I went to a dolphins training camp practice, not a month ago, but last year, 2020. Okay. Okay. But that's too much to me. I wonder if that's right. You know, maybe that got up the, maybe that went up the ladder to McClatchy. Yeah. Right. McClatchy. McClatchy. McClatchy. What? I don't know. I did nothing wrong with McClatchy, except letting people off. Anyway. So the theme I want all of you to take away from this, though, is that the only thing different is that I'm not going to be writing in the Harold anymore. I'm still going to be writing. This podcast is still going to be going on. Levitage show appearances are still going to be going on. Nothing changes except that you read me in a different place from now on after September 25th. So I'm really going to thank all of you in advance for sticking with me through this and continuing to support what we do. I really appreciate it now more than ever. So thank you. You're welcome. Okay. I'm talking to the audience at large, but should we take a break or should we continue? Because I got a lot of stuff else to cover here. Oh, bells and whistles. I got bells. I got whistles. I got questions. I got plugs to put in. I got videos to request. I have news to break on Christopher. And also you may think I'm retiring. I am retiring. Oh yeah, here we go. But not from journalism, not from writing. So I want to get to all that stuff. What do you want to hear first? Let's go to the break. Okay. All right, we're back. And in other Greg Cody retirement news, the whole listen to this. All right, we're going to have a little more set up than that. This is we we had bowling on Wednesday. Okay. And my dad here, like he said, my dad does this often where if he's having like a bad three or four frames in a row, he needs the attention on himself. So he looks around and like no one's paying attention. He's just like, I'm retiring. And then and then everyone has to get into Greg cuddling mode of like, no, Greg, we really want you to bowl every way like he needs that cuddling. He needs that a lot. So it's he's like the boy that cried wolf with retiring. But the other night, he went into the third game, not having a single strike, which even for him, he's a bad bowler. Yeah. Like you're going to get at least one strike in the first couple games at least one of game to a game. Right. My problem is I'm crazy. He's fairs to a game is I don't know. Don't get crazy. But at least one of game, but he's in the third game now. We're into the Miller lights. And this is what happened. My bowling career is on the press of us. I am near the edge of the cliff. My entire bowling crab and bowling since before you were born. My entire career depends on the next two frames. If I don't get a strike tonight, I am retiring from bowling. And you know it. Yeah, he's doing it, you pull out the camera when you know he's driving. Oh, you put it up, piece of shit up. Greg, I thought this was the one. I'm done. I'm over tired. I'm done. I don't know what to say. I gave myself a chance. I left it on the ground. You're full of shit. No, I'm not. I'll see you next week. No, I know. I'll say your hand, but I am retired from bowling. I've been bowling since before you were born and I am now retired from the sport. That Greg Cody repeat was brought to you by Miller Light's plural. That is a dead giveaway when he is into the the beverages, the repeat start. I mean, I had a slur in there. You know, they were flowing. Okay. You know, I can't be bad. I can't be so bad that I can't pull a strike in three games. I just cannot tolerate that. I can't be that bad. I can't go on like that. Do you feel there was a little bit like in that video, this is what, what, less than 12 hours before you get the call from a clatchy. Yeah. And you're and you're making jokes about retiring. I feel like this is the universe trying to talk to you a little bit. You know what? I never thought of that Kawinke Denk, but now that you mention it, there is some some weird serendipity going on there. Brad. That is just love. I love a Brad in the wild. Um, so I have a question about bullying. I've never been in a league. The last few times that I've bold, which is very infrequent. Um, I've got terrible form. When I'm on, I do okay. But most of the time I'm off because I try to I just try to do too much. Throw the ball too hard. I follow to the right. And so the yeah. Yeah. So I'd get frustrated and I just walk up granny style and I roll it turkey. I did that. Yeah. Is that permitted in league play? Yeah. I mean, I don't think there's any rules to how to throw it. Right. Um, no, you're not talking about like you're talking about under your life because like there is, yeah, I just walked up to the line. You're not a frustration thing where you just throw it. Yeah. No, I walked up to the line out of frustration and just rolled it straight three times in a row, turkey time, gobble, gobble. I find it hard to believe you gained enough speed with the ball to get three straight strikes, but it's all about placement. I mean, that is insanely tough to do. I know. I never be able to do it again. Yeah. I don't think there's any rules about that guy. Guys, guys bold. Oh, different ways. We do have someone on our team that bowls away that nobody else bowls. My brother, like a child, just bowls a straight ball like every bowler in the league. Maybe there's like a couple other like him, but I don't see many others that are just old school straight ball straight ball. I can't curve. That's, which is like it's not that when you go like on a Friday, like if you're there and like with people that are just like, but in league bowling, it's rare. Like I'm with you. When you go to bowling, just like with friends, you see people bowling straight balls all the time. But in a league, it stands out like a sore thumb. Yeah. It really does. It stands out like a sore thumb. Like I've had a sore thumb before and it's not ever read or it stands out. If your thumb is red and swollen, they ain't no hiding that. Like you walk around and people go, what's the matter with your thumb? How Greg, how are you going to handle? How's your ADHD and your constant need to tie up loosens going to be able to handle this this newfound freedom? Yeah. Oh, I'm worried for you. I'll answer that. We're going to get in shape. We're going to we're going to start walking. He's going to go like he's going to get a bike. So he can do bike rides on his own. He's going to walk Charlie once a day. Okay. We're going to get we're going to we're going to flip this around. We're going to we're going to turn this into like you're going to see Greg a year from now. He's going to be that healthy. He's going to be like back to playing tennis. He's going to get back into tennis. Okay. We're this is like a whole I want to live to see I want to see I want to see Graceland inner 30s. Let's really focus the next year on like how do we how do we get our mind and body in the right spot so that we can really enjoy these next 15 years. You know what? I take that to heart. I don't think that that's far fetched at all. I would like to take up and this is something that might involve you, Christopher. I'd like to take up pickle ball. I'd like to do some disc golf. Yeah, which I think it would be a lot of fun. I'd like to play for me because I just told you yesterday that I took up disc golf. Well, you did. But and then what did I say when when you told me that that you and Chris may have been went out once or something like that. We never went out. We were gifted. The my mom got us the equipment for it like two years ago. And we have one of the guys my friend Anthony on our bowling team. He plays every Sunday morning. So like we have like a standing invitation any Sunday morning to get up and go. I've gone out the last two weeks. I've embraced my inner whiteness and I've done disc golf the last two weeks and wrote really enjoy it. How's your drive? I mean, I don't know. I haven't measured. It's the course we have is a really short course, but it's in the top 100 in the world ranked. Oh, wow. It's just it's all woods. I thought you were saying your drive is already top 100 in the world. No, no, no. But you get a great release. It's going great bang right into a tree. There's so many trees on this course and it's ridiculous. But it's fun. I have a I have a background. A precursor to my future disc golf career is the fact that when I was in college back then like what would that have been like mid 70s or something. Frisbee was a big thing like everybody through Frisbee's when like literally you'd you'd be walking to your next class and there'd be three guys over there tossing of Frisbee. You're smoking a joint throwing a frisbee. Yeah, smoking a joint. That's right. Exactly. That's funny because when I was in college, that was when remember this. I don't even know if it's a thing anymore. Ultimate Frisbee was a thing. I remember my first year living at FAU. I played with my friends because everyone's like, yo, we're out. So we're ultimate Frisbee. That's like it's like basically football, but you can like run around and you just like pass it to your team. You have to like work your way up a field passing to your teammates. Once you catch it, you can only take two steps. I'm actually going to start playing. I just joined a group where I can play every Saturday and there's other teams and there's team like people defending you so you have to like get open and catch it. Yeah, it's like rugby almost. It's like rugby Frisbee some. Okay. All right. Anyway, but to your larger question, I will have a lot more free time. I will have weekends free and I looked at the schedule. It's weird. My last day of the Harold is the 25th, right? Between now and the 25th, neither the dolphins nor the hurricanes have any home game. And so I have covered my last. That's that you know, that's not true though. Why? Like that, I could get a credential to a dolphin. Like you're with the Dan Lebitar show. I'm pretty sure they're still credentialing Dave Hyde. Oh, no, I have seasoned credentials for both teams. Well, I mean, I'm pretty sure that's through the Harold. That was your last time on assignment. We're right. I mean, on a sign for the Harold. I mean, I don't have to go to any more dolphin or hurricanes home games if I want. That's what I mean. And then you're saying that with a smile on your face. It's you know, when you're assigned to go to a game and it's called work, even if you're sitting in the press box looking at a game for free, it still work. Well, not even sitting in the press box sucks. It does suck. And the other thing people don't realize is that I get to a game purely or mostly to beat the traffic. I get to a game at least an hour and a half, two hours early. And then by the time I'm done writing, I'm one of the last ones to leave. So covering a dolphin game for me at home is probably a six hour day, a six seven hour day. It's not like I'm just there for a three hour game and gone. And let's not forget how famously unfriendly he was with all his co-workers or all and I mean co-workers, which is like colleagues. I wouldn't say unfriendly. I think that's harsh. I mean, I actually think there is a funny bit to be done about like us, like let's like me go into a dolphin's game and like talk into a bunch of people and they're just like, yeah, I never I haven't talked to him in years, honestly. A montage instead of instead of I am going to miss Greg. It's like Mike Cunio being like, I think he hates me. Oh, yeah. Yeah. No, there's a lot of guys in the press box who, you know, I don't really have much of a relationship. I'm imagining them being like, man, this guy is like he is so popular on the Levitard show. He's probably so fun and friendly. But if I walk by him in the hallway at a dolphin's game, I am scared that he's going to look at me. Yeah, go ahead and do those interviews if you want. It might be fun, actually, as long as I don't have to do them because that would mean me talking to other people, which I hate to do ironically enough. I have an announcement to make involving Christopher. Are you ready for this, Yeti? This is exciting. This is exciting news. And when this news broke in the family, the entire family was flabbergasted. Are you ready for this? I was like, I was so confused and now I know where he's going. I'm going to say, I'm going to say it in five words. Yeti's going to be excited. Chris is an ordained minister. What? Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Hello, everyone. Who's wedding are you doing? My best friend, Joey. Okay. Yeah. I've been doing it in, uh, five days. Okay. What is going on? Okay, so is there a specific name to the denomination that you are an ordained minister to? Yep. What is it? Let me find it. The one that was 30 bucks. No, I'm kidding. It was actually just call it 30 dollar ministries. It was actually free, but I had to pay for the certificate. That's where they get you. Yeah. If you want, this is free, but if you want any proof of it, I want to see them. I want to see the certificate. Look at that. Look at that. Uh, we should probably blot out the ID number. Well, I don't know if anyone's put this up. He wants to see it. Let's also look at this. The Providence Center for ordination. So is this a crock of, uh, is this like it's all legal? You're good to go. Look at this. We find out 20 years later that that you weren't actually ordained and that the marriage has been void. They'll, or is now void. That's where like once I sent them this, they're actually going to have me like, but I think before the plan was to just have like it done before. And then like this would be just like a walk through, but we're doing it the real thing. I'm signing and everything. Look at this. They're speaking on like, they're, they're like basically like, Hey, this guy's good. Yeah. Wow. I couldn't have done less for this. I really just like. Wow. And this, uh, and that certificate is dated on my birthday and the day of my laid off. Wow. So how about that? Yeah. Good for you. I'm so well. You got laid off. You know, you know, nepotism here. I was like, Hey, we got to start spreading our web here. Yeah. So I just. So I became more damed minister. I was like, I panic. I panicked and I was like, what can I do today? That can be a good resume builder to say you're your financial future. Right? Are you going to wear any one out there? Anyone out there? If you need, you know, I'm a very if you need marrying. Then call Chris. Where are people hat? Will you? I am planning my, like what I'm going to say. And it's going well. I'm basically just, I'm basically just turning it into a stand up routine. No, I'm kidding. I'm going to steal the wedding. That's what you're planning. Hey, I have like reworked many paragraphs where I'm like too much. I like, I'm not like I'm not everything is them other than a couple one joke I'm making about Joey. That's it. But, uh, I will say, what was I going to say? Where was I going? One joke minimum. I was going somewhere and I just lost my train thought. Anyways. Okay. I think that's a good sign that it's time for the catchphrase countdown. Yes. Yeah. And then, uh, there's a couple more. Christopher and I are going to convene Sunday and then talk to you about the dolphin result. Right. We're going to do that. And we're going to put it at the end of the episode, even though the football updates will probably come early in the episode. Most weeks during football season, but this was a special episode. The thing I wanted to squeeze in that I almost forgot there was that in writing this, the one thing that I'm like throwing in there that is like toll nonsense and like an old school thing, but I just want to do it. If anyone has is anti this wedding, please speak now or forever holder piece of anyone has objections. Remember, Rowan not carny when he was on our show, he said that's a lifelong dream of his is to object at a wedding. That's what I am kind of opening it up for the crowd to like jokingly object, but I just feel like every kind of like script that I'm looking at it like ways to like do this. That's not really in there anymore like that's I must be like an outdated thing because I'm not seeing in any of the script, but I added it. I want this in there, even if even if I have to say under my breath as a joke, like if I was one to do that. It's probably going to fall flat. Yeah, you show your mouth. I'll read the room. I'll read the room. Yeah, read the room. Okay. Yeah, let's do catch phrase countdown. How about it? The Greg Cody show with Greg Cody in partnership with Greg Cody presents Greg Cody's top 50 catchphrase countdown brought to you by Greg Cody. Yeah, now it's the 36th edition of the Greg Cody show with Greg Cody in partnership with Greg Cody presents Greg Cody's top 70 catchphrase countdown brought to you by Greg Cody. It's been two per week, two by two like Noah's Ark, but now in the final four, we're shining a full spotlight on only one each. Yeah, continuing last week with number three and now it's number two. That is insane. It is insane. But first, here's the countdown thus far. I'm so tired of hearing these number 70. I'm forward and burn fuller 69. Where's my click click 68. Hey, but a ring up 67 point 66 screen 65. I'm busy in one arm paper hanger 64 Georgia Georgia. 63. I'm the guy that 62 ball on the jack 61. Hey, hey, with a monkey's baby 60. Thank you, Billy. 59, Ellen. Like a pet 58 who made it to say that 57. We're rolling now 56. Your brainbeat may 55. Let's go states 54 driver comfort is paramount 53 dummy up, say about 52 catches catch can 51 doesn't make it right 50. So on and so forth 49. 48, the little league theory 47 nice hat asshole 46 the others. They all learn from me 45. Don't go shower and to try to please me 44. Look at that jerk 43. It's like a packing house in here. There should be ham hanging from hooks 42. What you learn 41 he all three but they up 40. I'm not going to take a quiz 39. That's a price 38. Well, we break a window 37. Hello 36. Who won 35 trailers for sailor rent 34. You got to pack a dirt before you die 33 three words. We are the lobo's 32. You're going to go to buffalo with Bernie. Only 31 wrapping pack 30 another crisis solve 29 nice chat with you 28. He ain't have a he's my blank 27. Hey, that's what I'm talking about 26 who let a pet 25 good on you 24 dancing swords 23 QK quick crap 22. 21 blank in it 20. That's a fact Jack 19 got to learn got to earn 18 put a lobo's mint on your pillow and dream 17 quite a bit 16 take the rest of the off 15 do what now 14 right on 13 who shot John 12. If I had a hammer 11 rap rap rap thick on the rapper 10 do it to your satisfied 9. Me maximum 8. The burp sweet bread as wipe sack yike 7. 6. Zagaki 5. Baby 4 who needs me 3 and you know it and now wow number 2. You never know okay and that's correct you never know how do we handle this rumor that spreading about expanding to the top 75. I have mixed feelings about this where's that rumor where that rumor star I mean I've been hearing it I've heard it all around town. You know and and here's the thing. If we expand it's going to be on the top end in other words. The rumor is that we're not going to mess with number one the rumor is we're going to expand to include 71 through 75 and other words it would be the five. First left out the five that almost made number 70 but didn't quite I mean I will say 75 like when this is all said and done does feel like a better. Ending number to me than 70 I have to admit it does so we'll see so next week so we'll see it sounds like you just said exactly what's happening. Will that be after number one that feels anti climatic yeah no no here's what here's what might happen here's what might happen and you'll have to tune in next week to find out in next week's episode. You will either have the long awaited number one catch phrase or you will get 75 71 through 75 as a five pack and then the following I need it one per week like no for 71 through 75. That'll be a five pack are two two by two like Noah's arc yeah okay all right then we'd have an uneven number and then we have one animal walking up the plank. How about six packs starting Kenny Rogers to one week three the next week and then one the following week right that's to be determined but at any rate that's what any rate at any rate might be on there. You know what you never know hey dead jokes anyone wow yeah wait I'm just trying to do the math on what could be number one. Don't say it alone now I know it but I'm just trying to tease the audience a little bit okay don't say it though I feel like most the audience has to know it. And we could have we could have had so much fun with the fact that he he would have forgotten to include it, and now he's not. - You never know. We'll find out 'til next week or the week after, or two weeks after. Anyway, dad jokes. (upbeat music) ♪ He's always kind of thinking that his puns are any folk ♪ ♪ He cracks himself up like an egg with the oak ♪ ♪ And now Chris is more Alice broke, dad jokes ♪ - Number three, what did wasn't tectonic plate say when it bumped into the other tectonic plate? - Oh, that was my fault. - I got it. - Correct. - Have I done that before? - No, no, I don't think so. - Okay, the answer-- - I was thinking of fault lines. - The actual answer was whoops, my fault. - My fault. - But you were close enough. - I thought I had a decent guess, ready? - What was it? - What's quaking? - What does that mean? - It's not bad. - It's not bad. - It's not right. - But I like it. - Number two, what do you get when you cross an airplane and a magician? A flying sorcerer? - Not bad. - Not good. - Number one. - Not good, but not bad. - Number one, what's the most popular type of music on St. Patrick's Day? - Green Day. - Not a terrible guess, but not right. The correct answer? Shamrock and roll. - Terrible. - That's terrible. - Honestly, bottom 10 of one of the first ones you've ever done. I'm just adding one generic thing over top of rock and roll. I don't know. - I'm glad they fired you. - It's not even a pun like you. - I don't know. - Yeah, see, it hurts, telling you. - I don't feel good. - I know. See, if you were given seminars on how to be laid off properly, I might have taken your seminar. - If we're getting super technical, I wasn't technically fired. I voluntarily resigned. - That's not sad. - I wasn't given a choice. - Okay. - All right. - Resign and take a big package or let us say goodbye with nothing. - There you go. - Everybody loves a big package. Three facts, Jack. ♪ There are three things that interest him ♪ ♪ So sit right back for three facts, Jack ♪ - Number three. Across all of human history, there have been an estimated how many people alive, how many people in all of human history have lived, and you get one guess each, one number each. - Jesus. - Don't look it up. - I'm too afraid to sound stupid, so I don't even want to guess. - Yeah, I don't. - I'm going to just. I'm going to go with. - Two billion. - Twenty-seven billion. - The answer, 117 billion people. - God, I'm an idiot. - There are about eight and a half million people alive now. - 'Cause I remember that thing of like. That thing of like, if you have one bit, the idea of getting two billion is so high, I thought it was like that thing where it was just. - Okay. Number two. With a production budget of $533 million, the most expensive movie of all time was the 2015 film. Take a guess. Anybody got a guess? - What is it most expensive to make? - The 2015 film, "Blank." - It's too tough to guess. - I don't know what it would have been in 2015. - Hold on, hold on. Who directed it? - I'm not telling you, 'cause I don't know. - All right, I'm about to tell you. - Yeah, 'cause I can't think. - Dead air is bad for a podcast. What? - Avatar. - No, that was earlier than the second episode. - The answer is Star Wars, The Force Awakens. Number one, President John F. Kennedy, while in the White House had a pet rabbit named Jaja. - I thought number one was just gonna be. Number one, the Miami Herald fired me. - Leave me off. That's correct. - That is a fact, Jack. - Yeah, that's a three-fact Jack. - Was the rabbit, I mean, just a direct reference to Jaja Gabor? Was it spelled the same way? - Yes, and that's from the time when Jaja Gabor would have been the thing, like early '60s. - Did they ever have a thing? - I've never heard of him in Jaja. - I don't think so, no. I mean, obviously, Marilyn Monroe was. - Right, rumored with J of K. Hey, before we cut out, I wanna mention that our new website, P-F-P-I-M-E is up and running and rolling like a big wheel. Because why the P-F-P-I Family Pick 'em League has begun. - Another saying that could end up on the top 75 through 71. - Roll like a big wheel. - Yeah, big wheel. We'll see. We'll see. - Okay, so that's, I think that's all we've got right now until Christopher and I come on in about nine seconds and talk about the Dolphin game and maybe UM-Beating Family 188 to nothing and so forth and so on. So we'll see you in a second. - Bye-bye. - Well, dad, football. - Yeah. - It's back. - Jack. - Yeah, I got it. - I'm just watching Red Zone today. I can't remember the last time. I just was so happy staring in an empty box, staring at eight games at one time. - Somebody scored 59 points. I mean, this is crazy. - I'm really feeling your energy about today's football slate. - Oh, players. - Oh, we haven't had Sunday Greg in so long. - I know. - Okay, all right. - First of all. - Oh, I've had a rough day. Oh, I got laid off. - Oh, yeah. - I mean, you didn't get a rough day, but that's okay. - First chance for football analysis, since getting laid off, and you come in with the energy of a snail. - The dolphins are getting their ass kicked in the fourth quarter, 27 to 13, and I picked the dolphins to win. How happy do you want me to be right now? - I think, dad, you're the homer, that today's dolphin game went perfectly. - You understand? - For who? - Just for who they want to be. You saw some things from draft picks. They're going to end up losing, so we can get that topic. Like nobody wants to win this year. - Okay, so all you want to see is flashes from the yellow eyes. Like Jacob Rodriguez, number 10. Looking like he's going to be our middle line backer, call and plays. - He looked great. Caleb Douglas, the wide receiver. I thought made some nice plays. I'm looking at his stats right now. 94 yards receiving. I thought he looked really good. Malik Willis. - His stats aren't super good, but he had a touchdown run that to a tongue of a low would never have made. - That's about all he had though. I would say he has not impressed overall. That one play was, yes, he was mobile, but his passing has not been impressive. - Yeah. - He's been exactly what you want him to be if you are looking for the dolphins to get the first overall pick. - Yeah, that's true. And that's what they're playing for, right? I mean, but here's the thing about this season. - A lot of penalties. You know, that's the one thing, like Jeff Haffley. I know it's the first game. I know you got a lot of rookies playing. There was definitely some penalties. Proctor had a penalty or two. I'm basically tracking this entire season. Caden Proctor versus Ruben Bain. - Oh, boy. - Now Ruben Bain's defense gave up 50 points or whatever, 30-something points to the Bengals. So I would call that a, if it's a boxing round, that's a draw. Round one is a draw in the Ruben Bain versus Caden Proctor. - Right. - No, that's true. That's true. Here's what this dolphins game is. Look, we just saw the University of Miami win 77-7 and named their score against an atrocious Florida A&M team. That's college football. Up here in Kingsport, up here in the NFL, the dolphins game today is what a bad team looks like. Where you play another bad team and you lose 27-13. - Right. - Not an embarrassing loss, not a complete route, but a game where a dolphin fan watching this game never really thought the dolphins were going to win. There was never really a moment when, okay, here we go. You know, because they blew so many chances. You know, they get an interception and it leads to a punt. They get a 79 yard kickoff return and it doesn't go anywhere. I mean, it's just, you know, they played like a bad team. So you look for those little moments of hope. - So you kind of question people that picked them. - Like me. - Yeah. - You're stinking Homer. And remember what I said, I stand by what I said. This could get bad now. Like if they had a little momentum after this win, we could be looking at a five or six win team. This could get brutal. - Yeah. - Like they could, which is okay. Like let's embrace this. - Yeah. - Because, well, because some of the other teams in the league that are supposed to be really bad, like Arizona is supposed to be really bad. That's how I looked. They were beating the chargers. Like that's a pretty impressive win. - The NFC South is going to be so interesting. - Yeah. - The Saints are down, what is it? 21 nothing, like in the middle of the third and they come back, get to overtime. Give up a touchdown in overtime. Get a touchdown back and then go for two. And they lose on that two point conversion. - Right. - The panthers, like putting up a good fight. against the Bears, like the Carolina Panthers. That game was fun. There was a ton of good games in the one o'clock slate. Oh my God, me and my buddies were just like high-fiving, like not even after touchdowns, just like generally about the football, like, and did daddy, and when I say daddy, I mean, me, did daddy hit a big parlay today to get the, like, you wanna talk about a vibe setter? A week one, we're talking multiple stacks. We're talking $2,000 plus share. There I said it. - What? - Wow. - I hit a big parlay today. Now that just sets the tone over a season. Like, hey. - No wonder you're so happy. - I'm on cloud nine right now. - Okay, no wonder you're so happy. - Okay. - Homer, Homer Cody, you need a little dolphins. - You need a little dolphins? - You good? - Yeah, I'm good, I'm fine. - Do you wanna know who else picked the dolphins, Chris, can you just guess in your family? Who else picked the dolphins? It's pretty obvious. - Graceland. - Yes, and? - I know the answer. - Tati. - No. - No, the other Homer, your mom. - Yeah. - With the two biggest homers in the league. - That's right. - Go to pfpi.me, pfpi.me - But I think of my mom and Uncle Dick as the two that are just like always going to take the favorite. - Yeah, she took the fins. Now, I'd like to make an upset. - When it comes to pfpi, have you ever been tempted or maybe you have slightly sabotaged Graceland and tried to push her toward a team that would lose? - No. - No. - All right, I'm honestly genuinely trying to teach her like about spreads and stuff. 'Cause she's in her math at third grade level math is right in the, what? - She's gonna be like Kevin from the office and only good at gambling math? - No, I'm just saying, third grade level math is like perfect for like a 10's, like minus 10, minus eight. - Yeah. - So it's just like the perfect thing of like this team needs to win by this amount of points. - By the way, the Arizona Cardinals, who some people thought were gonna be the only team worse than the dolphins are beating Justin Herbert and the charger. - I know. - It's ridiculous. So what does that mean? Does that mean the dolphins, like the Cardinals who are supposed to be bad, might actually be good? - No, I mean, it's one game, but I do think it does say something because I think people were expecting the McDaniel offense, the book might be just out on the McDaniel offense. You know what I mean? Like it came into the league a few years ago. Like it hasn't, I know, too, it was a big factor, but it hasn't been the same the last couple of years. - Is it time to have a conversation about Justin Herbert? - If this season gets going and they're not good, yes. I mean, I'm not gonna do it after one game, but we can have a pre-conversation if you want. - Yeah, I have had that conversation. - You wanna have the pre- Justin Herbert conversation? - Yes, I have had it. I have, it's not pre-with me because I have had the conversation that Justin Herbert right now is getting way too much positive press for somebody who really has not done anything. He doesn't win, he doesn't win in the postseason. - Why are you getting, why is he thought of it so great? - It's not pre-with me. - Okay. - That's a pretty shirt. That's what I tell my wife. - Wee, wee, mee. - That's one of the great Muhammad Ali poems of all time. It's the only, it's the world's only two syllable poem, which is wee, meee. - Dad, I'm watching, we're doing something this year. Like if dolphin games are close on Sundays, we're gonna be live watching them. - We are. - And right now, we're recording late in the fourth quarter, they almost got Malik Willis back into. Like I want you to be doing what I'm doing, dad. If this was a close game, we need to be, I wanna be watching the game. - Right. - And like you can't see the game right now. - I can't, there's 220 left, right? - Yeah, but I want you in a normal setting, if this was a close game, you bring your setup, like I did, - Okay, from now on. - We give the TV in the studio. - Yeah, from now on, we're gonna do that. 'Cause right now, I'm in my future studio, which is still in office. - No, but we will have a TV set up in there so we can watch like the end of games. - Yeah, please, let's do that. Okay. - It's almost like your body was preparing you to be laid off. You cleaned out your office at home. Converting, of course, you were converting it to a studio. You retired, you were bowling. And then they decided to retire you. - That's true. So dad, you got scooped. It's relentless. Nothing is sacred with the Levitard show. I'm trying to announce my own layoff and they don't even let me do that. - So if we're talking about things in life that are sacred, let's start throwing things into a bucket. - Okay. - Getting laid off, that's a bit of that, right? You throw that in there. Maybe a child, anything to do with a child. - Me having a potentially dangerous large tumor in my chest. - What about like a marriage? - Not really. - No. I think Yeti pointed it out to us. I don't know if he's the one who noticed it. Eight years to the day is crazy. - Yeah. - The fact that we didn't even do that, like obviously we didn't do this on purpose, but just the idea that your announcement of Dan's engagement and Valerie breaking the news of the revenge she got on you by breaking your, that eight years to the day. - What a coinky dick. It really is. - Yeah, it was Jeanette, our friend Jeanette, who sent that to me. - And A1 listener. - Yeah. Thank you, Jeanette. It didn't seem like eight years. Time flies incorporated. Does that soften the blow of the revenge that it was a unique anniversary? - It's fine. You know, it's fine. I mean, there was a great response to mine off the day. - Oh, wait a minute. 'Cause I know I saw you were, whatever, say what you want. My dad was not happy with, you know, I was in a group text with Dan Valerie after when my dad saw that what they did. And he was not, I think now that he's seeing the numbies, he's changing his tune a little bit. - Okay. - You're such a whore, I've had a great, I've had a very heartwarming reaction today, I'll say that. - Oh, like do you like, I need really cool texts. Like who's the most random people you heard from? - I mean, I just got a call from Dave Lawrence, the former Miami Herald publisher. One of the legends of the newspaper. And he called me directly, you know, I've heard from, I was hoping for somebody people that would have heard of, but that's a good start. - Well, I've heard, you know, our friend Chuck Todd, you know, has reached out to me. And just, people I had forgotten about, whose name I'm not gonna mention, 'cause that would be weird. People have completely forgotten about, have come back and contacted me about how, sorry they are and would have great career. And it really is like, it's like I'm living, but hearing my obituary, you know, my people talking about me in reverent tones and how great I am and how great I was. And it's just weird hearing that when I'm saying, hey, I'm alive. You don't have to like do all this stuff, but you're not warming. - You love it. - I do love it. Why wouldn't I? - No, I'm just saying. I'm like, don't like, yeah, like, you don't like, I'm just saying it's, it feels. - No, it's heartwarming, heartwarming means I love it. - Yeah. - You know, but it's a little over the top, too. You know, because I'm still here, you know, I'm not anywhere. - It's almost like you get a second retirement now. Like you get this reaction now when you retire or retire and say, you know, like, I'm off the air, I'm not going to write anymore, you'll get another one. - Yeah, that's true. - You know, he's not going to stop this podcast. So it's just like, you know, it's going to be many years from now, but it's just going to all end one day. - Well, - Would you let us broadcast a live feed from your deathbed? - Of course he will. We've already talked about this. We've already talked about how like the week after he goes, like he won't let us not do an episode like he-- - Well, that's different. That's it. Literally, do we get to record your last words for the show? (laughing) - Don't do that. - We're making me laugh. (laughing) - God. - We need to make a montage yeti that proves that every time he coughs like that, it's from a genuine laughter, so that if he goes that way ever, we can be like, guys, he went laughing genuinely. Like that's literally how he went out. - That's right. It could be. - Not a terrible way to go. - It's not it could be. It's most likely gonna be. It's just about how long. I think we got a long time before it happens, but-- - Yeah, we hope so. - Yeah. - Okay, this just in the dolphins have lost 27 to 13. Welcome to the world's longest season. - Yes, and now Greg needs to go do work. Look at us doing the pot usually for a little behind the scenes. In years past, Greg Cody would do all his post show writing And now, and then we would record the-- pockets. We are now prioritizing the podcast. Yes, ironically. Yes. But I'm about to put the bow on one of my last five or six. If, if that many, one of my last few remaining Miami Herald columns before I hit the unemployment line, what perspective have you had writing these columns you've written since the news? Is it different? Are you like appreciating it? Are you are you already missing? I know you're going to continue writing on some sort of form. We're not sure yet, but no. I'm trying to treat it no differently. Like in what I'm writing on this Dolphins Raiders season opener, there's going to be no reference about me being laid off or anything like that. I'm saving that. I'm going to write one farewell column that's going to be online September 25th and in print Sunday, September 27th. That's going to be when I talk about all this other than what I said earlier in this podcast. That's the only time I'm going to reference it. So, you know, when I'm about to write, it's just going to be a normal game column and it's going to have no reference to me being laid off. So that can everything. Let's go, baby. We'll get us out of here, Greg. Plus five and a half Washington. You gotta love it when they miss that two-point conversion. That's right. That's right, Benny. That's right. I love you. Pod family. It has been an unusual day to say the least. Thank you for being with me. Thank you for supporting all of us. Really appreciate you more than ever now. And that is the truth. I no longer have the anchor of the Miami Herald to support me. And so I'm going to rely more than ever on our listeners, our fans, our readers, our watchers, whatever you are, wherever you are. Really appreciate you. Love you all. Thank you very much. Bye-bye. Love you, Dad. Love you all. Bye-bye. All right, geez. That was cold. Bye-bye. What did we-- I gave you a very-- I gave you a very personal love you, Dad, and you're like, "Love you all." I love you. I hugged you like a crazy man last night when he was a beautiful birthday dinner other than the fact that we argued for the first part of it. Okay, let's not get into that. I get to get out of here. Let's wrap this up. Bye. Wrap, wrap, calm the wrapper. Is that ganky? Benny, stop licking me. [Music]