The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz hasn’t ever been short on drama. The most recent on-air instance of this took place this week. During Monday’s episode, Le Batard blasted prominent NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski. He referred to the ESPN reporter as an “agenda-based, shilling” reporter who was “bought and paid for” by the Portland Trail Blazers.
Stugotz, a man without any shame who recently confused Aaron Rodgers for country superstar Jake Owen, sounded off on the drama on Tuesday. Le Batard’s co-host didn’t shy away from getting bristly on the broadcast. Because of how journalism is in 2023 and how the game is played, Stugotz said, he shrugged off any concerns about biases.
https://twitter.com/LeBatardShow/status/1681330680091869185
“I’ve been thinking about this during the break, and we discussed this for a while now on the show. But journalism as we know it, as you know it–what you wanted when you were a little kid, okay? It is changed. It has. It’s changed, okay? You’re not wrong, Stephen A. Smith is not wrong. You have to adapt sometimes, okay? Because the game has changed, your priorities have shifted.
“No one cares how someone goes and gets the news that they get as long as the news is accurate. As long as it’s coming from a credible place. If it’s Woj, if it’s Adam Schefter, if it’s you, if it’s Dianna Russini, if it’s Shams. Nobody cares. You might care, Greg Cote might care, Stephen A. Smith might care. But you know what? Y’all sold out. Every single one of you, okay?
“Stephen A. Smith jumped inside the circus tent. I don’t blame him. Why’d he do it? Because he had to do it. Because the game has changed. You jumped inside the circus tent. You did. You did so with me. Think about that. With me and with Greg Cote every Tuesday, okay? And so you have ditched journalism a long, long time ago because why? Survival of the fittest, Dan. You have to change with the times. You have to roll with the changing environment, roll with the changing industry, and that’s what you decided to do. That’s what Stephen A. decided to do. For Woj, for guys like him, the game has changed slightly. Where he went out and he seeked reports and he wanted to be the reporter. And you know what? And now if he has morphed into a mouthpiece for the Blazers? I’m okay with it! I am good with it. I don’t care.
“Everyone is selling out to make a buck! Just give it up, y’all want to be journalists! You’re not journalists anymore! None of you! Not a one of you! Sorry!”
On the rant scale, Stugotz was pretty mild-mannered. He didn’t erupt until the very end of it.
He isn’t wrong to necessarily have this approach to the situation. Stugotz probably speaks for some, although from Le Batard’s position, it’s not wrong to want better, either. In some cases, it can be pretty obvious when someone is talking for another entity, whether it’s a player or a team.
So, really, it’s hard to call the situation. There are elements of truth to it on both sides, although conditionally, siding with Le Batard wouldn’t make you wrong. Stugotz certainly got plenty of attention for his take, though.
