Steven Cole

@pkhr @mcuban @DrDiGiorgio @grok I think I agree with @grok here. I'm far from a health expert, but it seems like the only thing in the way is politics (taxes) If all of Europe can have a single-payer universal system, to argue that American cannot possibly transition to something similar sounds like crazy talk.

@mcuban @StevenMCole2 @DrDiGiorgio @grok Look up how and when Canada got there and how they budget and pay for it. Then ask how you would transition our system to their approach

Mark, you are getting close to understanding why single payer cannot work. But I fundamentally disagree with the idea that we could ever just "know" costs well enough to make it work. Hayek was right about this. The relevant knowledge is too dispersed, too local, and too dynamic to ever be gathered and priced correctly by central planners. Take basketball. Imagine single payer basketball. The government is the only purchaser of basketball entertainment in all its forms. Fans are not allowed to just buy a ticket to the Mavs game. Instead, a central office decides who gets to attend and hands out tickets based on "need." The central planners also handle the TV deals, merchandising, concessions, and every other revenue stream. Everything goes through the government, with no out of pocket cost to any consumer. Now teams no longer compete for fans on price, experience, convenience, or innovation. They submit cost reports to Washington explaining what it allegedly costs to run a game. But here is the problem. If there is no market price for tickets, media rights, parking, merchandise, or concessions, how exactly do you decide what the game is worth? How do you decide what players should be paid? How do you know whether a courtside seat is underpriced, overpriced, or priced just right? You do not. You are guessing. So bureaucrats step in and decide the approved reimbursement for a regular season game, a playoff game, courtside access, halftime entertainment, parking, and concessions. What happens next? If the approved rates are too low, teams do not magically become leaner and more innovative. They cut where fans can feel it. Fewer games. Worse arenas. Less staff. Delayed upgrades. Lower quality. Longer waits. Less access. Maybe smaller market teams shut down altogether. If the approved rates are too high, you do not get efficiency either. You get lobbying. Every team hires consultants to prove that its fan base is poorer, sicker, more rural, more complex, or otherwise deserving of special payment adjustments. Soon the league is no longer about basketball. It is about coding, compliance, modifiers, subsidies, carveouts, and political influence. Teams make money not by pleasing fans, but by persuading Washington that their costs are uniquely deserving of reimbursement. And once government is the only buyer, there is no real price discovery left. There is only political bargaining disguised as pricing. The Knicks get one deal. Rural teams get another. Old arenas get subsidies. Favored constituencies get carveouts. Every interest group insists that without one more special adjustment the whole sport will collapse. Fans are told this is fair because nobody has to pay at the gate. But of course they still pay. They pay through taxes. They pay through rationing. They pay through fewer choices. They pay in lower quality. They pay by being told which arena they can use, which game they qualify for, and how long they have to wait. That is the key point. Knowing the accounting cost of hosting a basketball game does not tell you the right price of a ticket. Price is not cost. Price emerges from supply, demand, scarcity, quality, preference, and competition. A central planner can know what it "costs" to turn on the lights, pay security, and clean the arena. That still tells him nothing about what a seat is worth to fans, what kind of experience teams should offer, which franchises are efficient, or where new arenas should be built. Healthcare is even less suited to central planning than basketball. It is more heterogeneous, more personal, more local, and far more dependent on dispersed knowledge. The fantasy is always the same: if only the people at the top had better data, they could set the right prices. No, they could not. They would still be guessing, just with nicer spreadsheets.

@mcuban @DrDiGiorgio It really is a shame we don't have hundreds of examples of how Single-Payer, Universal healthcare works in countless first world countries on Earth. Canada is literally our neighbor.

Bad example. Pro sports are as socialist as they come. We have salary caps. Max salaries. Min salaries. Min team salaries. Roster limits. Stadium requirements. We share revenue. We provide revenue sharing to underperforming teams Fans typically only have one initial source for tickets and they are priced by the team. The leagues protect owners from themselves. And valuations go up. At least for now.

@jimrome Jokic

Who is the NBA MVP?

@FadeAwayMedia The very interesting thing about this Promo and this time period in wrestling was that the match itself was not promoted very well leading up to the event. I watched every single show and until they did the Jim Ross sit down interview and that promo, the match didn't feel epic.

25 years ago WWE dropped the iconic “My Way” video package for The Rock vs Stone Cold Steve Austin at Wrestlemania THE GREATEST VIDEO PACKAGE IN HISTORY NO QUESTIONS ASKED (2001) 🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐

@jpooch21 @davemeltzerWON The only way that I can see this working is that a current champion, down the road, wants to wrestle Hangman really badly and he creates a stipulation that allows Hangman to do a Career v Title match? It's still going back on their stipulation, but at least it's a Heel's fault.

@davemeltzerWON agreement and not contractual in kayfabe. If they play their cards right they could make a genuinely shocking and moving moment just from the beloved baby face betraying the promise he made to the fans.

No. If this was the first time they did this story, it would get a different reaction and let it play out. It was the second time, and we let it all play out. And it was completely stupid in hindsight and benfitted exactly nobody. People are somehow forgetting how it already played out.

@stephendshelton @davemeltzerWON Why on earth would Tony Khan, from a multi-billionaire family, need money from Dave Meltzer to help AEW? Think about it.

@davemeltzerWON but you haven’t ever denied having a financial stake in AEW.

Man, you just threw in the towel a second time. The paycheck line is the one the losers who go to as a last resort. Next you'll be doing the senile line, that's the next one. Then you'll say nobody would ever hire me in wrestling and I'm bitter. Yet I explained the rights fees and values literally one month after AEW got television and it all went exactly as I said COULD happen and why. Always made a point there are no guarantees. And even today, no guarantees either way. A lot happens in two years.

@realdanmitchell Categorically insane to give up that much for Crosby. If Beane does it he should be fired immediately. I’m sure he won’t though.

The Bills are reportedly interested in Maxx Crosby. Here's my proposed compensation: Bills Receive: Maxx Crosby Raidres Receive: 2026 1st Round, 2027 1st Round, Ed Oliver. Who says no?

@BronWorld This entire meme is wrong. Jordan lead his team in PRA in every single finals he was in and it wasn't close.

People don’t realize how insane this is

@ZachSeikel @ringer @BillSimmons Slim Reaper was an egregious omission on the pod. I was practically yelling at my phone, 'SLIM REAPER!' it's easily the best modern nickname in the NBA.

@ringer @BillSimmons Slim Reaper, that’s the most badass

@BillSimmons's favorite NBA nicknames of all time

@beatingthebook @ShrekMcPhee Where can we find your Tennis picks, just out of curiousity?

@ShrekMcPhee thank u sir

Holy fuck. What a call on Arango @beatingthebook

@BasedCLC @davemeltzerWON @bryanalvarez Everyone always says, "So and So has more 5 star matches than Kurt Angle." But no one ever actually names a Kurt Angle match that deserved 5 stars. The only one anyone ever points to is Versus Shawn Michaels. Name any other match.

It’s like, Dave, @davemeltzerWON how in the FLYING FUCK does Tomohiro Ishii, a man that moves like the old people riding the motorized carts at Walmart, have more five star matches than Kurt Angle, arguably the greatest male performer ever? Perhaps @bryanalvarez can answer.

@gailkimITSME Eric Bischoff has an unhealthy vendetta against Dave. I've followed Meltzer for 25 years and his stories are accurate the vast, vast, vast majority of the time. When he is wrong on something, he usually issues a retraction, because that's journalism. Eric isn't credible.

How in the blue hell did he get any credibility in the first place? Honest question. Mind boggling.

@TheRewatchables Connery - Kareem Moore - Tim Duncan Lazenby - Rasheed Wallace Dalton - Ewing Brosnan - Hakeem Craig - Shaq

Sean's James Bond–NBA center comps

@xXPhillyCXx Always good to get the worst take of 2026 out there early. Everyone else will be playing catch up. Bravo!

“Nirvana is the only good grunge band.” My dude they’re the weakest of the big four.

@mcuban I've been to only a few professional sporting events in my life and I remember most things about them, including the score. Dodgers/Giants 6-5 Will Smith walk off home run. Cubs/Padres 1-0 11th inning walkoff in April, it was freezing. Fans remember a lot. Bills-Rams 31-7, etc...

Why the NBA should embrace tanking - The NBA has kate been misguided thinking that fans want to see their teams compete every night with a chance to win. It’s never been that way that way. When I got into the nba, they thought they were in the basketball business. They aren’t. They are in the business of creating experiences for fans. Few can remember the score from the last game they saw or went to. They can’t remember the dunks or shots. What they remember is who they were with. Their family, friends, a date. That’s what makes the experience special. Fans know their team can’t win every game. They know only one team can win a ring. What fan that care about their team’s record want is hope. Hope they will get better and have a chance to compete for the playoffs and then maybe a ring. The one way to get closer to that is via the draft. And trades. And cap room. You have a better chance of improving via all 3 , when you tank. We didn’t tank often. Only a few times over 23 years, but when we did, our fans appreciated it. And it got us to where we could improve, trade up to get Luka and improve our team. The nba should worry more about fan experience than tanking. It should worry more about pricing fans out of games than tanking. You know who cares the least about tanking , a parent who cant afford to bring their 3 kids to a game and buy their kids a jersey of their fave player Tanking isn’t the issue. Affordability and quality of game presentation are

@ringer @ChrisRyan77 @BillSimmons @VanLathan @RobMahoney @MichelobULTRA In the modern era, very few people would care if Steph played somewhere besides Golden State. Everyone switches teams now. Dwyane Wade played for the Bulls and no one cared.

Nobody wants to see Steph play on a team that isn’t the Warriors. @ChrisRyan77, @BillSimmons, @VanLathan, and @RobMahoney on the possibility that Steph would ever leave the Bay. Presented by @MichelobULTRA #ULTRACourtside LDA 21 and over. Drink responsibly.

@JimmyChonga454 @John117Jackson @The_MJF @TheRajGiri He's being held hostage by the far superior wrestling promotion? Weird.

@John117Jackson @The_MJF @TheRajGiri He just has stock holm syndrome. He's subconsciously being held hostage by AEW & he doesn't even know it

@potatokmish @Jason1232925235 @refuse2lose2010 @CandlestickJas Barry Bonds is the second greatest baseball player ever, behind Babe Ruth. Also, that original picture is a picture of Steve Young, not Joe Montana, which is strange.

@Jason1232925235 @refuse2lose2010 @CandlestickJas How old are you? Roberto Clemente was light years better player for the Pirates. Honus Wagner and Willie Stargell too. wtf did Barry Bonds ever do in Pittsburgh? Bonilla and Van Slyke were just as good for the Bucs when Bonds was there.

Montana, Rice, Bonds, Curry is the best 4-man combo of any sports city ever.

@CedricAPhillips I only choose Flagg because I think there's a better chance he stays healthier for 15 years than Wemby. Wemby is the better player.

Who would you prefer to start an NBA franchise with right now

@BlackMetalJesus @JoshSpicer3 @davemeltzerWON I thought HBK v Undertaker 1 at WM was 5 Stars, but why quibble if someone thought it was 4.75 or 4.5?

@JoshSpicer3 @davemeltzerWON 4.75 stars a great rating for that match. If you thought it was 5, that’s awesome too. I’d probably give it 5 as well, but it no way that does mean that Dave was wrong for his rating. At the end of the day, he thought it was amazing too.

* bad ** average *** good **** excellent ****1/2 super special, go out of your way to see ***** Match of the year level Glad I can help you understand this.