After losing three consecutive matchups to the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final, the Florida Panthers hoisted the Stanley Cup following a Game 7 victory. The Panthers officially secured the first championship in the history of the organization, a means of celebration throughout South Florida and the Miami-Fort Lauderdale region. Dan Le Batard, however, understands that it may not be the case beyond the geographic locale. The program received a message from a user on X who stated that it sucked to see Le Batard and the cast of the show happy.
Le Batard has been discussing the Stanley Cup Final over the last several weeks on his program, which has included several storylines germane to the show itself. Greg Cote, show contributor and columnist for the Miami Herald, wrote a column earlier in the month classifying Oilers star forward Connor McDavid as an overrated player. Although McDavid and the Oilers were unable to defeat the Panthers, he became the second skater in NHL history to lose the Stanley Cup Final but still win the Conn Smythe Trophy, which is given to the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs as a whole.
“I believe it is something that the rest of North America feels whenever someone other than your fanbase is celebrating anything,” Le Batard said. “The internet is a wildly divided place. I don’t believe that people are happy for each other on the internet, and I believe that more people would be listening to this show by double today if the Panthers had lost; that that would attract more people in today’s North America than happiness.”
Jon “Stugotz” Weiner, the co-host of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, expressed that the only people who are happy for fans of the Panthers are those of the rival Tampa Bay Lightning. In fact, the organization shared a message of congratulations for the Panthers on social media Monday night.
“I don’t believe that the fans of Tampa Bay were actually happy for Florida,” Le Batard responded. “That is simply the organization of Tampa trying to be magnanimous. I don’t believe there is anybody in hockey today anywhere outside of a 50-mile radius of here that’s happy for the sport of hockey today because of what happened last night.”
Several members of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz shared their experiences watching the game on social media as the team claimed victory and was awarded the Stanley Cup. Meadowlark Media producer Roy Bellamy recorded a segment for The Hockey Show inside of Amerant Bank Arena as the team was celebrating on the ice. During Tuesday’s edition of the show, Cote took a victory lap in Miami, presumably for being exonerated after his opinion on McDavid gained national attention and was being considered a potential jinx.
Cote revealed that he is going to post a column on Tuesday about the last couple of weeks, including the drama surrounding his McDavid take. Weiner believed that Cote should not write another column, instead using his original writing as his final word on the topic. While Cote acknowledged that it essentially could be what he ends up writing on Tuesday, the column following a Stanley Cup victory needed to be celebratory and recognizing the achievement.
“You were wrong,” Le Batard said. “You’re the best kind of right, which is you’re wrong.”
“No, no, I disagree,” Cote replied.
