The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Big Suey: Cam Newton's Hat Travel Case (feat. Pablo Torre)
12 Sep 2025
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to the Big Suey, presented by DraftKings. Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan Lebitard podcast. I'm sorry, I'm not going to apologize for that. In fact, the only difference seems to be this imaging. I have been tempted in restaurants just walking past tables to grab somebody's fries if they're just there.
That hasn't happened to you guys? I've done it. And now, here's the marching man to nowhere, fat face, and the habitual liar. This episode of the Dan Levitard Show with Sue Gutz is presented by DraftKings. DraftKings, the crown is yours. Whose turn is it next before we bring on Pablo Torre to select from the bucket?
Because we did a very poor job of getting Jeff Conine, of staying on track, of me maintaining my point. I lost track of the show there several times. You guys pointed out that I lost last week, so I want to let the audience know that I did already select a punishment because I know that that has been a complaint amongst many people, fans, Dan, a lot of people.
Metal Ark has now hired somebody to enforce that officially. I can't tell you. No, no. No, I'm bringing in somebody to back you up, Jeremy, in the event that you don't have enough backup. We have someone hired. I'll tell you about it soon. Okay, well... In any event, I selected the Kawhi Leonard, and the punishment is I have to plant a tree.
Now, I would say in the spirit of Kawhi Leonard and the punishment, I do not plant a tree, because I will plant as many trees as Kawhi Leonard has planted. So I would say that that has been paid off already, because I've planted the same number of trees. So, I knew that you guys would protest this. So, I went out on my own and I planted a tree.
And I would like to show you here the photo of me planting the tree. And this punishment has been paid off. Not only that, that's what happened. That is me. That's lifeless. Is that AI you? Excuse me. That is me. That is my raincoat, which you guys have seen me wear many times. That is my Blue Missions hat that you guys have seen me wear many times. Let's keep it moving, shall we?
I planted a second tree as well. Pablo's going to be here soon, and we need to do the bucket, please. A one-punishment credit because I planted two trees.
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Chapter 2: How does Pablo Torre feel about his latest podcast?
I have the New Orleans Saints. Oof, you don't want that. Yeah, I don't want that. They're at home against the Niners. They're a three-point dog. Mack Jones.
That was a mistake. But Kyle Shanahan did want Mack Jones initially in that draft process. Remember? Nice little storyline, Dano. Oh, thank God. New England Patriots. Thank God.
The Dolphins aren't going to win.
He did upgrade when it comes to line. They're terrible. I mean, it's a Dentek bucket.
I love Dentek. Greg Cody has picked the Dolphins to win this week.
Shocking. All right, here we go. All right, the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl rematch against the Philadelphia Eagles.
A point-and-a-half underdog at home.
You know, I'm going to take the Kansas City Chiefs as a home dog. I know Patrick Mahomes' history as an underdog and a legendary time. I'm always going to take Patrick Mahomes as a dog, especially a home dog. Are you shitting me?
All right. Now, remember, I have a one punishment credit since I planted two trees. Pablo's now there, and we're well behind. I have selected the lions. Well, they got the bears. You are bear down Billy. I'm bear down Billy. All right. Look, this is what we're going to do. Pablo. Six point favorite. I'm going to take the bear, the lions. Listen to me. You want me to pick for Pablo?
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Chapter 3: What humorous insights are shared about Cam Newton's hat travel case?
OK, was it? that Wong has been his college roommate, Ballmer's college roommate, since 1975, or was it discovering that his daughter worked at Aspiration? From among those two facts in your reporting, which was the more delightful? And give me a more delightful one than that.
Chapter 4: What are the reactions to Cam Newton's size and presence?
My favorite one is actually that his name is Dennis. Like there's another Dennis. There's a different Dennis. There's another Dennis who, by the way, Dan, for people who are like, this is just more circumstantial evidence.
And there are those people out there as I wake up this morning, bleary eyed on my couch, having fallen asleep with my contact lenses and fearing retina detachment, which is why I wear my glasses. I was frustrated. I just don't know if people appreciate what it takes for me personally to to investigate an Asian-American Harvard graduate who works in the NBA.
If I do this, that's how you know it's real, I feel like, is the credibility I've earned ethnically. And so all of it, all of it being that, all of it being a story with so many stupid on-the-nose aspects that feel incredibly predictable and for that reason shocking. Was, was Ballmer roommates with Bill Gates before he was roommates with Wong? Is that?
You want to, you want to, you want to, you want to recreate the common room of that dorm in which it's Bill Gates, potentially. I have to do the fact check again, whether Gates was in like the same, was in the same room as them, but they were there. Yeah, this was Harvard, man. This was Harvard in the 70s. Think about it.
Titans of industry, allegedly smoking weed for the first time and wondering to themselves, when will we ever own a basketball team that we will use, allegedly, to circumvent the NBA salary cap regulations? Be honest here. When you heard Adam Silver speaking and going pretty immediately into let's see if we can protect the owners here with the way that I speak about this.
Did you think to yourself, he doesn't know what I know right now? yes yes um look i i the standard for why i publish things to be very clear i'm not like the joker i'm i'm not like you know plotting this in a way that's gonna get people to you know step into the trap i've laid um i'm not a super villain but
I am somebody who only will publish things if I have the fact checking that meets the highest standards of publishing. Like, Dan, the crazy part about this, and for people who don't understand the power dynamic here, on the one side of this story is not merely the commissioner of the NBA, but one of the 10 richest people in the world. On the other side of the story is me and you and our lawyer.
So the whole question of like, when am I comfortable publishing something? It's not that I'm like holding back everything I got. I'm like actively trying to confirm this stuff so that in the event of litigation or factual correction, neither of which has ever happened with my show, which is shocking. It's because we did it the right way.
And so that's that's the smile I have is that I had the smile of knowing that I think I could get this. I think this is a bad look for them because they're not taking the first report seriously. And I don't think they did, frankly. And so then you get to prove and hold them to account using whatever they want to communicate to the public.
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Chapter 5: How does the crew discuss the impact of journalism on sports reporting?
It was crazy. I said, dude, Pablo's got this on lock. Everybody lock in here. Jeff Conine, pay attention. Stop questioning things. It was in Bristol. I'm with you. Why he was there. Don't do this anymore. Billy, you ruined his last answer.
But you did take that victory lap. You took the victory lap on the episode.
And we made him fly across the country. Whoever said this made the point, well, if the flying across country part isn't true, then it might undo the entirety of the report.
He's got to get out of here. Listen to me. Okay, so I regret falling into the pothole. They got you. It wasn't the only one that you fell into. Balmer's off. How tired of this story is your wife? She is so mad at me. Allow me to continue the thought. Does your wife ever tell you, why didn't you just extort them? I know. So you've got you've got a hard out, Pablo. I know. I have I have a hard out.
The market rate for me suppressing this is probably higher than my all in career earnings. So horrible decision by me to just allegedly maybe offer this and say, hey, please make this go away for a low, low price of one zillion dollars. The last thought I have is just. It was stupid what Steve Ballmer did on one level, and he was pained as a victim, truly, genuinely.
But the story here is that he was victimized by a company that he partnered with to try and deceive the NBA. That's why this story is so fun to me and so ridiculous. It's that he was using, in a non-illegal way, a company that was completely comfortable, according to all of my reporting, with doing whatever he needed to get around the salary cap. And in that way, he was not breaking the law.
He was breaking the NBA's rules. And this is the guy who ran Microsoft during the largest antitrust investigation in years. My memory, at least. And so, of course, he doesn't necessarily care about that if you'd infer that based on his previous fact patterns of behavior. And so the question for him is, where did it go wrong?
It went wrong when he realized, which was sooner than anybody wants to admit, that this was going bad. And at that point, the question is, what did you do? When did you know it? And all of that is absolutely relevant to a larger examination of what this story is.
ends up being in the end yes it is capture convention per my reporting yes there are questions that there is more at stake here than that when it comes to so you were partners with the scammers to some extent what does that mean for the questions you might have asked if you weren't and that is an interesting question for the federal government and he would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for me
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