The sports media landscape is often dehumanizing for both players and the media personalities as discussions are dictated by player statistics and the opinions of the reactors.
But Dan Le Batard opened up about personal matters during an episode of "The Dan Le Batard Show" to his producer Mike Ryan Ruiz on Oct. 26, discussing the struggles he's had to manage in his personal life while attempting to build up his new company Meadowlark Media.
Le Batard announced the death of his brother, David, in early August during one of his shows. "LEBO," as he was known, had been battling with brain cancer for over a year. Le Batard said that the cancer made LEBO's behavior "erratic" and it forced Le Batard to need to take extra measures to ensure he wasn't a "danger."
"I'm doing things like chasing him at 2 o'clock in the morning through the streets of Miami Beach trying to keep an eye on him to make sure that he's not a danger to himself or to others," Le Batard said.
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He also admitted that he needed to invoke the Baker Act on his brother a few different times.
According to the University of Florida Health website, the Baker Act is a law that "enables families and loved ones to provide emergency mental health services and temporary detention for people who are impaired because of their mental illness, and who are unable to determine their needs for treatment."
Le Batard admitted that this strained his relationship with his brother, but it was necessary because he thought his brother was a "threat" and might "end up in a situation that wasn't him."
Le Batard then spoke about another family incident that he had to deal with — this time about his father. He said that his father was taking medicine that was changing his behaviors. On a day that Le Batard was supposed to bring him to a psychiatrist, he received a call.
"I get a call from my mother that they are at the hospital, that the paramedics, the firefighters found a 78-year-old man hanging from a balcony, and eighth floor balcony. If they hadn't helped him then, I would've been pulling up to go help my father, and he would've been on the pavement," Le Batard said in tears.
Le Batard and his team made the transition from Miami to Los Angeles earlier this month, and Le Batard explained that he's opening up to the audience because he wants his audience to understand in part the decision.
"I wanted to explain to the audience why I'm doing this, why we're coming to Hollywood and meeting with these creative people so that we can build something that is different and that satisfies us creatively and that honors all the things that my parents were trying to build of a life for me here," Le Batard said.
He also said that amid what is a tumultuous time for him and his company, he is buoyed by the loyalty of his audience.
"The amount of times we get from the people listening to this right now who say 'Thank you for dragging me through that bad time in a way that brought me something that felt less bad.' I will say that the job has done that for me even at times when I've been thinking I need to step away from this for a while I need to go take care of myself," Le Batard said.
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