Crime in Sports - #260 - Michael Jordan's Idol - The Unrealizedness of David "Skywalker" Thompson

Episode Date: June 15, 2021

This week, we look at a man who could have been one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Number 1 overall draft pick & every accolade that exists. He was even Michael Jordan's idol. So, how did this sure thing turn so wrong? Cocaine. Cocaine. Oh, and cocaine. His career was even ended at Studio 54, of all places. A tragic story, that everyone should know about. A wild, unexpected tale! Win a national championship, float through the air like you're weightless, and throw it all in the garbage because of sweet, sweet cocaine with David "Skywalker" Thompson!! Check us out, every Tuesday! We will continue to bring you the biggest idiots in sports history!! Hosted by James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman Donate at... patreon.com/crimeinsports or with paypal.com using our email: [e-mail] Get all the CIS & STM merch at crimeinsports.threadless.com Go to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things CIS & STM!! Contact us on... twitter.com/[e-mail]/Crimeinsportsinstagram.com/smalltownmurder  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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I am Jimmy Wissman. Thank you folks so much for joining us, one and all, again back this week for more craziness. We're a roll of crazy. There's been a lot of crazy, just complete lives that are all drugs and nuts and crazy know the crazy stuff and that's kind of crime and sports sweet spot you know yeah like a murder's good or someone that does stuff like that that's interesting and it's a nice change of pace but what we really want to see is someone's someone's rather promising life turn into just a series of disasters really because that's that's where the comedy is and that's where we are today as a matter of fact and uh it's one of the most promising people we've this is michael jordan's idol as a matter

of fact this guy oh put it that way he's the guy who michael jordan idolized and fashioned himself after so it tells you what kind of player he is and we'll we'll get into all that but first want to thank everybody for your reviews very helpful apple podcast that purple icon give us five stars and i don't know why whatever just do it please what do you want from us what kind of explanations do you want for me over here head over to shut up and give me murder.com for everything all your merch and everything like that uh everything that has to do with crime and sports and small town murder and if you're not listening to small town murder, I don't know how else to convince you. It's a hilarious, crazy show about insane murders.

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So check the website before anything. Shut up and give me murder.com for all of that. Patreon.com slash crime and sports is where you want to be for all of the very, very good stuff. The ones we just put up saturday or sunday were amazing we did the uh atlanta gold club is the crime sports bonus and that is a strip club in atlanta where you know you can find out what bill gates patrick ewing and madonna have in common nothing you think absolutely not a lot in common are you looking for the michael jordan of sex Jordan of sex? She's in there.

She's in there. Go there. That's the other thing. There's a lady in there who referred to as the Michael Jordan of sex. So that's an interesting episode. Incredible. And then the other episode, the small town murder bonus, was even crazier. And you get access to everything, obviously, if you're a patron.

All the different episodes for both with that is was the big sons of sam conspiracy where i read a 25 hour book of a guy who was just packed full of conspiracy theory and it is insanity of why why david berkowitz didn't act alone and all this and there's a couple good points and then a lot of really crazy stuff where uh word association from the letters and you have to hear it. It's absolutely insane. So watching that Netflix talk, I was like, yeah, that makes sense. And then by the third one, I was like, the fuck am I talking about? What is he talking about? Yeah.

Take two things. You know, that makes sense. Then when you try to make it 10 things, it just doesn't stretch that far. It just doesn't go. And we have all of that in there. It's a lot of literally a 25 hour book i read for a bonus episode so you might want to check that out uh do that patreon.com slash crime and sports plus you'll be a producer jimmy will mispronounce your name at the end of the show oh yeah and uh because

we love you and if you just want to be a producer and have great karma and our undying affection you could head over to paypal and use our email address crime in sports at gmail.com that said let's do this we have a lot of show here so let's get into this right away with david o'neill thompson oh yeah you know david thompson yeah they're not the nascar driver yes exactly michael jordan's idol the nascar driver michael j was like, I want to dunk, but I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it fast like that NASCAR driver. Felt so familiar. Like that guy who sits for

four hours. I'm going to jump and soar. So, David Thompson, his nickname and he is one of the first guys kind of in basketball to get this like he flies. His nickname is the Skywalker.

That's what they called him. They called him that pre-Star Wars. Yeah, pre-Luke. He's the original Skywalker. Fascinating. Yeah. Maybe Luke was named after him. I'm not sure.

But he's only, he's 6'4". He's exactly my size. He's 6'4", 195. Hilarious. We could trade clothes and it'd be perfect. This is great. Oh, look at you. We'd be so excited.

Except he has a 44-inch vertical jump, which I lack, unfortunately. My God. Yeah, that's insanity. So he just flies through the air, can do anything aerial, and he has great hang time. And he's a guy like i said michael jordan fashioned himself after him so that tells you a lot about him uh he is born july 13th 1954 and uh he grows up in shelby north carolina and it's about 40 miles west of charlotte so it's that's out there in the country.

And poor doesn't begin to describe his beginnings. He is as poor as anybody we've talked about. Sure. We've talked about people, whether they had- Sharecroppers. Share, yeah. We've had a couple of times sharecroppers. Eddie Johnson. Eddie Johnson, yeah.

He's a sharecropping family. And then oil can Boyd came from a very poor environment. Tone Ash was not rich. sharecroppers eddie um eddie johnson yeah sharecropping family and then uh you know oil can boyd came from a very poor environment and tone ash was not rich tone ash had no floor right you know tommy morrison i want to say had dirt floors and this guy very similar here um he's the youngest of 11 children so if you're the youngest of 11 kids i mean you're in rural north carolina in rural north remember on the wire when wallace would when wallace was trying to take care of his brothers and sisters and shit and he was like ushering them out the door and giving them like a juice box and a bag of chips and then when they got to the last two little ones and there was only one juice box

and one bag of chips left he was like y'all have to share. And he gave it to him and pushed him out the door because it's like you just get shit on when you're the littlest one. That's what it is, yeah. So 11 kids and he's the youngest. Grows up in a house that lacked indoor plumbing. So that's what we're talking about. And he's born in 54, so this isn't like the 20s. In the 60s, in the 50s and 60s, most people had plumbing. Right. It's very rare that you see the 20s in the 60s in the 50s and 60s most people had plumbing right very rare that

you see the episode of i love lucy where ricky's in the middle of an argument with lucy and he says you can't come to the club and perform hold on lucy i gotta go outside and take a dump and he grabs his newspaper and walks out i don't remember that episode very rare you know i never watched the andy griffith show but i you know i i know it's in a rural area but i i don't think they had an outhouse maybe i think they probably shit inside still i don't think it was called my three sons fighting over the shitter fighting over the outdoor the outdoor shitter in the outdoor shit house dick van dyke shits in a hole show that would have been a different kind of show yeah i would have loved to see that i'd watch it mary tyler moore heading out there with

a good housekeeping magazine under her arm that would be something yeah yeah he grows up there very very tough going we're talking about here um no indoor plumbing. His house was along a path that's on a dead-end road, and it's just in the woods out there with no indoor plumbing and not much infrastructure, we'll say. The infrastructure in this home is lacking, for the third time to say lacking, but it's lacking hard. Behind his house, though, they made a basketball court. His older brothers and one of his brothers or sisters put it together here.

Didn't go to Sears back in the day and pick up the backboard rim package and put it together. You had to string the little net on the things. No, no, no. The rims were bicycle wheels with the spokes taken out. That's genius. That's genius. It's absolutely genius, right?

That's terrific. I would have never thought about that. Shit, no. I'd have been like, my bike's broken and I can't play basketball. That's what I would have said. We had one of those metal crates that had a plastic bottom and we just kicked the plastic bottom out of it and then stapled the metal frame to the house. So we had a basketball square

that's that's hot shit i was lucky growing up in new york there's a lot every park has basketball hoops and even in like the village of wappenders where i grew up there's like three parks four parks with basketball hoops you could always walk to a park and get a they were shit basketball hoops with you know no nets on them or worse the chain nets so you can slice the shit out of your hands those are fun those are really fun i love that you need to reach up and grab that and you're like ha ha ha or when it gets tangled and then the ball gets stuck in there who's jumping to hit it somebody go sacrifice a finger let's go someone's gonna bleed here let's get it on you know the rims already the the net's already fucked and

there's something sharp in there because it's stuck it's stuck together twisted and there's a sharp piece of metal somewhere and scary stuff here so they put oh and the floor of it and this sounds like i swear to god i'm not kidding this is not a i hate this now because two times i've made a made up a childhood on somebody. But this sounds like a Bernard Below horse shit, wooden clogs, and a tulip racket going on. But this was literally a court with the rims made out of bicycle rims. And the floor of it is red clay. Oh, my.

So a little bit slippery is what we're getting at. Yeah. They said running and sliding on that stuff is how he got such strong legs, one of his friends said. Either that or torn hammies, yeah. One or the other. You're going to blow everything out or you're going to get the strongest legs ever if it can last. So that's what happened. His cousin, Alvin, said, quote, no nets or anything.

We'd go out and play all day after church. That's all they would do, apparently, is play all day. By the time he's in the eighth grade, he could dunk a basketball for the first time. He was only 5'8". Wow. That's the thing. He didn't hit his growth spurt yet, but he could jump. Oh, my.

He could jump so high that he could dunk when he was 5'8". 5'8". Unbelievable. I mean, Spud Webb was 5'8", but he could jump. He could jump so high that he could dunk when he was 5'8". Unbelievable. I mean, Spud Webb was 5'8", and he could dunk. Was he 5'8", or 5'6"? 5'7". There we go. Right in the middle of that. We'll split the difference with you. Still, that's like you soaring through the air. I'm 5'8". James Hayden.

The amount you've got to jump. Yeah. There's a lot of space between your hand and the rim if you extend your arm up. It's just a long way. That's like three and a half feet. That's crazy. It's a long way. You've got to look at it and go, oof, boy, I don't know if I can get that high.

And then to get up there is one thing. Then your knees got to deal with you coming down. Yeah. Then you've got to land on your ankles and your knees. He also wore ankle weights when he played all the time. ankles and your knees. He also wore ankle weights when he played all the time. So he would,

uh, and, and worked on, he worked on different, different jumping regimens. He would like actively work on his jumping and his leaping to try to get higher and higher and make little goals of reaching this. And he used ankle weights when he did stuff. So he felt lighter,

you know, like a donut on a bat. He, uh, by the 10th grade, he could stand, you know, flat footed in front of the basket, jump up, and touch his elbow to the rim. Get out of here.

He was doing that whenever he wanted to. He said that it was rough growing up where he was from because he was from out in the country. And it's weird. I've been to North Carolina where my dad lived. I've told you guys that before. And it's it's there's areas if you're outside of the city, there's areas that are pretty segregated, not like by law or anything. Just like, you know, if they're not the places that white people live or black people live, it's just it's, you know, the way it is. It's a you know, the way it is, it's a weird thing. So the country is strange because there's there's little areas of of different there's, you know, there'll be all white people here. Then there'll be some black people out out in the country as well, which is, you know, strange. So it's a really weird thing.

So sometimes the rural, there's problems out there sometimes because of this sort of thing. And he said, quote, it was very difficult. People would call you names and throw rocks at your house. And in an interview, they said, why would people throw rocks at your house? And he said, just because you're black living out in the country. Yeah, but sometimes there's just not enough rocks. Yeah. house and he said just because you're black living out in the country yeah basically it's just not enough rocks there's yes he was like yeah he was like how many rocks you're gonna throw what good that's gonna do for anybody so he's staying in forest too what happened you don't remember that part in forest gum no oh then they threw rocks at him no? No, Jenny threw rocks at her old house. Oh, that's right.

And then she broke down in the middle of the mud in her dress. That's right. Forrest said, sometimes there ain't enough rocks. That's okay. I had no idea what you were talking about. And I thought- I figured it was a reference to something, and I'm like, was that- Honestly, I thought it was a reference to one of our shows that I didn't remember, and I'm like, oh God god what did i forget here no it's just it's the b side of forrest gump where people usually stop

watching and i was i was hoping you weren't saying like so many black people just not enough rocks for him and i was like what the hell are you doing to me like i was like are you losing your fucking mind but you had such a no you had such a friendly look on your face and i'm like that can't be what he means. You look so happy with yourself. I was like, what are you, fucking Himmler? What's going on here? But then I realized that not that can't be what he means. Did Timmy just come out as like an unbelievable racist?

Yeah, like not even just like, I don't want one marrying my daughter. You were like, which is still ridiculous, but you were like, were like not enough rocks for all of them out there i'll tell you what one thing to write in this world enough rocks for all the goddamn black people it's really gonna be like oh god jesus that is stunning sorry stunning jimmy but it makes way more sense that it's jenny from for Gump, which couldn't be like more of an opposite thing. They were throwing rocks at a child molester. Yeah, it's totally different. Warranted rocks.

Yes. So they asked him if his school was integrated, and he said it wasn't integrated until high school. He said, I went to segregated school called Green Bethel in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. Jesus, that sounds hot. Through the eighth grade. And then I went to Crest High, which was integrated, probably 70% white, 30% black. He said, though, quote, I had grown up Christian, taught to love your neighbor as yourself and treat everyone the way you want to be treated. I was friends with all the different races on our basketball team, and I think that helped make the transition of desegregation and crest a lot easier.

It's not because the athletes all got along. So that was a, you know, if the kids all go to the games and they see all the black kids and the white kids high-fiving, then they go, oh, all right, well, that's good. If they work together, they won a game. Look at that. Otherwise, I don't know if that would help, but I think so. You know, I'm not I'm not a fucking expert, but he.

So, yeah, he's the youngest of 11 children. Like we said, his father drove a truck and also served as a deacon in the Maple Springs Baptist Church for, you know, pretty much David's whole life. And so they're very religious and he got into basketball at five and pretty much got into it like nothing else like we i said he was doing jumping exercises with ankle weights on so i mean there was this is all he cared about basically they it was unbelievable he'd go to school he'd go to church and in between that it was all basketball all the time. He worked very hard. They said he never had any kind of arrogance or anything.

He was just like head down. That's the thing. He's a real quiet, like workman-like guy. He's not at all like a flashy kind of guy. You would think if you're jumping over people's heads, even if you're not a flashy person it would turn you into one just to be like i just jumped over a motherfucker yeah that's just because how good that feels when nobody else can do that yeah that's pretty yeah you'd feel like yeah humility might go out the window pretty quick especially as a kid but for him everybody said that it wasn't like that at all uh his high school coach ed peeler said david

never opened his mouth on the court he never showed a temper or argued with the referee he was very uh he was a very coachable and unselfish player i think people like that well yeah i would why wouldn't they he's a real nice guy and he's a great player that fucking asshole weird it'd be a really weird thing to say he He's got good grades, too. He's sweet and does well. Right. Jesus Christ. And he helps all ladies down at the center. What a dick.

What a piece of shit. What a piece of shit. He also said that David, in particular, helped integration a lot in the school. He said, I think David helped soothe the transition. Because David's ninth grade year, his first year in high school, was the first year of integration in the school he said i think david helped soothe the transition because david's ninth grade year his first year in high school was the first year of integration in the school so it was you know rocky to say the least he said he in that group of athletes it was an integrated team and david was the star so everybody you know everybody took to him and it was hard to be hard to be racist while you're cheering for David as he dunks on people.

So he said that he there was times the coach was concerned about him because he said that he thought David. This is you never heard this from a coach before. He thought he might be too dedicated to basketball. He actually advised David to get outside interests, which you'll never hear. No. Everything you've ever heard of a coach is he told me to dump my girlfriend and to stop hanging out with everybody. This guy was like, have you thought of maybe model airplanes possibly?

Or like, you know, have you tried fishing? Just you need to stop. My coach told me I need to get away from my parents and church. It was very strange. Very weird. Yeah, that's what they usually do, though. And he said, though, quote, I never saw David take any other interest except basketball. He was just constantly playing.

You've got to do something else to make your life more meaningful. Sure. Yeah. If your coach tells you that, that is like, wow, you're really in another. You have like that thing that was a body dysmorphia when people look in the mirror and see something completely different than actually exists in front of them you're way like 140 pounds you're like you fat motherfucker i hate you and then you go run 12 miles or something yeah until you until you vomit up nothing yeah that's scary that's a

real thing that people go through that sucks so he uh he said though that the in late in his senior year he had been he's being heavily recruited by every college in the country i mean it's he's the he's a huge star and he ends up committing to north carolina state and eventually because he wants to stay around his home and which is a big get for NC State obviously they get the hometown guy and he said though even after he committed the coach said he still continued to talk to other schools which he thought was weird and he said his coach said quote that's the biggest part of his problem David just wanted to please everybody that's a big problem it's a big problem he felt bad telling them he already committed to somebody so he'd be like okay i'll

you know i'll talk to you and it was you know pointless i've got a little bit of that too i feel bad sometimes yeah i've seen it in action where i'm like jimmy we have to go now but look there's another person yeah i'm like i get it i like everybody but you can't you at some point yeah there's a plane to catch we have to leave we have to leave it's uh this isn't a question of want to or need to but i try so hard to give everybody what they want i know i do too i feel you see i'm the same way i feel yeah you know i want to talk to everybody especially like if we're at a live show we're talking about people have come to see us. We don't want anybody to be like, I went all the way there to fucking see them.

And then they didn't even. That's that's shitty. I don't want to. I wouldn't want people doing that to me. I go, I like a thing and I go all the way there and I have a thing that says I'm going to talk to them. And then what? They're just going to walk away. No, it's not how we are.

And, you know, and we end up wanting to talk to everybody. We go outside and we talk to a hundred more fucking people know and we end up wanting to talk to everybody we go outside and we talk to a hundred more fucking people outside and we smoke weed with them and we right you know drink booze with them and we hang out with them and because we like people and we want to hang out but you really at some point you have to go okay i'm seriously gonna have to reschedule a plane ticket if i don't leave now and to this point too i if we were booked let's say a city has a place called go bananas another place called helium just i'm sure there is one but whatever the point is whichever one we're booked at if the management of the other place

wanted to talk to me i'd want to go talk to him i'm so sorry we weren't here this weekend yeah yeah exactly where it's terrible in business i don't care i'm like i fuck business, I don't care. I'm like, I fuck those people. I don't care. Call our agent. Yeah, because I'm one of those where I'm like, they're talking to us because we're selling tickets. If we stop selling tickets, they won't want to talk to us. If we keep selling tickets, we could piss in their face and they'll still talk to us. So it doesn't fucking matter. That's all there is to it. It's all what we do.

Concentrate on the listeners and what they like and fuck all these people. You can put a flaming bag of dog shit on their property that says with love james and jimmy they'd be like that was so sweet that's hilarious thoughtful i'm just thankful i'm just thankful to get it hilarious isn't that funny but if we didn't sell tickets they'd be like calling the cops that's the thing if you sell tickets flaming bag of dog shit turns into hilarious from anybody it's it's interesting yeah that's why we always you sell tickets flaming bag of dog shit turns into hilarious from anybody it's it's interesting yeah that's why we always say thank you and we act like we appreciate all the listeners a lot because we do appreciate the listeners because you in this business you the listeners are they can you're the reason they look at you like currency like oh they have this

many you know gold coins and it's that many listeners like that's how they, they have this many, you know, gold coins and it's that many listeners. Like, that's how they look. We have this many credits every week because of you guys. So thank you. So thank you very much. That way we don't have to talk to people we don't want to. Not you guys. That's why we talk to you guys, but we don't have to talk to some club who also wants to book us. We're like, yeah, go fuck yourself.

We don't have to romance them. Exactly. We'll rather romance you. Right. Okay. Anyway. So this is going off romance you. Right. Okay. Anyway. This is going off the rails. A little bit.

So a friend of his remembers a pickup game they played. He said that was the day where he became a legend. He said, quote, I was there the day his reputation was made. He said Thompson was 14 and he had been to a basketball camp and uh his friend said he used one of his patented head and shoulder fakes which he must have learned in camp he got by me but i didn't worry because my brother larry jumped out larry was six foot eight and david went over him like he was james worthy i mean he carried him that's he just called the beast he just jumped over him yeah he said he said David was about 6'2 at that point.

And he said people jumped up and went, wow, nobody who was there will ever forget it. So that was the first and one mixtape moment where everybody jumped out of their seats and went, oh, shit! Fucking walked home and came back. That's the first time that ever happened in history. Someone slapped their mom. Yeah, it was pretty awesome you see that shit mark oh shit that was first time i mean it

happens this is awesome 1968 though it's a very you'd see it on like sped up 16 millimeter film if you if you had it with white rabbit playing over it both of them so uh he said quote because they asked him about like his jumping ability in this interview and he said if you put a quarter on the top of the backboard i could get up there high enough to tip it off back top of the backboard but the part people say about me also leaving two dimes and a nickel up there and making change for the quarter that's not true because that's what people would say he put it up yeah he said that's not that's not true he doesn't make change knock the quarter down but i can tip the quarter uh he said he had a lot of friendship with a lot of the guys on his teams that on his teammates he said both both black and

white he said that was important to him he said said, I was just being myself. I was taught not to be prejudiced, which I guess that worked out well for him, too. He also, the press was just eating him alive in a good way, eating him up with a spoon, loving him, fluff pieces everywhere because he's a hometown. Oh, he's a home kid, North Carolina kid going to NC State. So they're pumping him up, making him this messiah. One article said, this is Charlotte Observer columnist Kays Gary, said, quote, a quick intelligence, a certain princely manner fleshed with fellowed warmth.

So, I mean, this is like they're writing biblical prose about him, like of his, you know, speak of his hair like a lamb's. You know, it's pretty soon it's getting so he got in the sun and all that shit, all that type of shit on a red clay court. So he said, quote, his friend said, I think it's something he had trouble dealing with all of the attention. He said, I'm not so sure it didn't contribute to his problems. And his problems start in high school. He starts drinking a little bit. Yeah. He went on a recruiting trip to Columbia, South Carolina.

And there were some players and, more importantly, some girls there. Yeah. And they were all at a lake house drinking wine. All right. So if you're 17 and you're on a recruiting trip and they're all going, you're great. We want you so bad. And there's a bunch of girls there, older girls to 19 year old girls, 20 year old girls. And they're all drinking wine and being like, hey, let's hang out and get loose and drink wine in a lake house.

You're like, I'm going to fuck all these girls. That's what you think when you're 17. I wonder if I can fuck all of them. Not right now, but not the same time, maybe. But like over the course of this is a couple of days. I think I might be able to do this. They all seem to like me. You're so crazy at 17.

That's the type of shit you would think. Oh, yeah. And he started drinking wine like crazy. And he said, quote, I got really sick. I told my parents I had the flu and it was a while before I wanted to drink again after that. If you're 17, a bad wine hangover is really going to put you out of the game for a while. That's a pro's hangover there. A wine hangover is a different hangover, too, because it makes you so sleepy.

It's a pro hangover. You need to know how to deal with a hangover to a different hangover too because it makes you so sleepy yeah it's it's a pro hangover you need to know how to deal with a hangover to deal with booze and beer it's like uh it's just a i gotta sit i can't do anything but wine is like yeah i need to shut my eyes beer you're like ah my head hurts i've been shitting my brains out i don't know what's going on here because i i had so much liquid pumping through my body but wine is it yeah wine's a different story wine you're like i need to sleep i'm just gonna sleep for a while the other ones are like actual like rotted rotted food whereas wine's just like rotted rotted grapes you know what i mean at least it just makes you sleepy and groggy the others are like it's gross it's a gross gross feeling

yeah so uh anyway like i said six foot four 195 at this point when he goes to college. He goes to NC State. NC State, in 71-72, he's on the freshman team, not the regular team. Instead of redshirting and just sitting, they play him on the freshman team. He's only 17 when he goes to college. Awesome. So they're thinking, oh, he needs some seasoning. And I think they rethink that

after they see his stats because in 16 games here he's he scores this is real jimmy 35.6 points a game per game per game and 13.6 rebounds per game rebounds at six foot". 35 and 13 he's putting up. He's putting up a double-double in college. A double-double and 35 points. A double-double is not giving that enough credence. And 35.6, round up, it's 36 points and 14 rebounds a game, essentially. So that's silly. That's a Wilt Chamberlain type of numbers. That's crazy as a 6'4 guy.

So 72-73, he's on the actual team here. But there's a problem. We'll get to that in a second. He basically names an alley-oop the alley-oop. What? Yeah. In college, there's no dunking rule back then. You weren't allowed to dunk.

It was the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It's the Lou Alcindor at the time. The Lou Alc lu al cinder rule it's called because when kareem was in college he just dunking on people left and right and they couldn't keep up with him and you was cla wins every single year so they made a rule in like 67 saying no dunking allowed so that's how yeah i think that's where the sky hook came from by the the way, because there was no dunking. But they ended up, you know, you'd go up and have to, you couldn't like go in the cylinder basically with your hands. That was the rule. So he said, well, just throw me the ball up there and I'll just put it in there. Just toss it to me way over everybody.

I'll just jump up and get it and throw it in the hoop. So it's an alley-oop. So he would just tap it in? Is that what it would? An alley-oop. Because you couldn't dunk still, right? Yeah. He said it took a lot of body control to catch it up there

and not just use your momentum coming down and dunk, but actually to hang up there for a second and put it in, basically. So that takes a lot of hang time and body control to do that. And he could do it, so that's what they were doing. And nobody else really had athletes that were doing that at the time. People who were jumping and hanging in the air that long to be able to do it. So the dunking was for seven-foot-two guys, generally. I mean, other guys did it, but the rule was to stop really tall guys from just dunking over everybody.

Whereas, you know, I think if you're 6'4 and you can jump over people, you should be allowed to do whatever the fuck you want. If you had to get that high in the air, 44-inch vertical jump, that's pretty impressive. Also, if you have to be over 7 feet for the rest of your life, you didn't do that. You should be able to dunk because you're probably going to die younger than all of us. That's another thing. Well, the rim's 10 feet no matter what. It's not my fault I'm taller. You know, what are you supposed to do?

Raise it up a foot when I touch the ball? The rim goes up a foot? No, it's not fair. The wait is over. So far, you're not losing. The only thing you're losing is my patience. Quickly, I see that. Ding!

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Follow WikiHole on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to WikiHole ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. So they get in trouble because of David and a couple other things at NC State here. And the infractions are really, really, really silly. They're extra stupid uh thompson had planned to attend freshman orientation at nc state or on this trip however the orientation for his school engineering was not scheduled at the time he was lodged in a campus dormitory for up

to four nights playing in a pickup game during his stay, which involved coaches and shit like that. So they called that basically a violation because they flew him in. It was for freshman orientation, quote unquote, but there was no freshman orientation for engineering, which is what his major is, going on. So instead, they flew him there, and basically he played in some pickup games for some assistant coaches. So they're calling that a recruiting violation. Ridiculous.

Yeah. Another incident. They flew in. Another player was flown to Raleigh by a state alumnus, but the airplane's engine developed trouble. And so there's a 48-hour limit on how long a prospect may be on campus. And they phoned the commissioner and asked if he could be given a commercial plane ticket to fly home. They gave permission.

So that's their thing. And they're saying you bought him a commercial plane ticket. You're not allowed to do that. It's ridiculous. So it's very, very silly. But an official with the NC State here said that, quote, things don't look too good for us with an NCAA commission looking this over. And that year they go 27 and 0 undefeated in basketball.

Must be great. With David on the team, 27 and 0, and they're not allowed to go to the tournament. Suspended from the tournament because of a couple of fucking airline tickets and shit like that and exhibition games games that don't matter right yeah sure when he didn't even play he was in pickup just pickup games they were basically just evaluating him i think when he came there just silly shit so they don't get to go to the tourney 27 and 0 uh they go for for nothing essentially which that really sucks i think david that year he plays in 27 games averages as a you know basically a freshman essentially on the in varsity here 27.4 points a game or i'm sorry 24.7

points a game still and uh 8.1 rebounds ridiculous for a six foot four sophomore ridiculous for a six foot four sophomore silly silly numbers um he's the 7273 acc player of the year 7273 all acc first team 7273 consensus all-american and also uh first team all acc tournament this year best player in the country yeah 18 years old, by the way. 18. He's ridiculous. Now you can see why Michael Jordan idolized him. And in North Carolina. That's what I mean, where he was growing up. So he was watching this stuff. And he even said, this guy created the alley-oop, man.

I mean, he's the guy. Wait till he sees my shoes. Wait till he sees. By the way, David's got some shoes. Really? Yeah, I'll show them to you. I found an ad for him. I'm like, oh my God. Wait till he sees. By the way, David's got some shoes. Really? Yeah, I'll show them to you. I found an ad for them. I'm like, oh, my God, look at these things.

From like 82. Things changed a lot from there to 85 when the Jordans came out. So another thing he got into was parties. He is beloved. I mean, he's a star. He is beloved. I mean, he's a star. And he is a good-looking dude with a big ear-to-ear smile and just a happy guy who is friendly to everybody.

He's an amazing player. There's nothing to not like about him. So, I mean, everybody wants to hang out with him. He's a beloved guy. He goes to frat houses and drinks beer every night. He's 18. That's not going to really hurt you at drinks beer every night. Yeah. He's 18. That's not going to really hurt you at that age. Everybody makes mistakes.

Yeah. He said he never thought it was really that much of a problem until one night in his sophomore year here. He is driving home from a party and driving down a – he said he's driving too fast down a winding back road that leads to his dorm yeah and he said his tape deck oh nice he's got the isley brothers and stevie wonder playing fuck yeah good for him hell yeah he's got the fucking tunes going he's got a good taste he's feeling good man going you don't drive drunk but if you were on like a closed track that was all padded if you could drive shit-faced super fast with that on the radio you'd feel so fucking good you'd feel so you'd feel like you were floating like yeah problem is yeah feel that good and he said he felt so relaxed from all that drinking and everything else that when he saw an oncoming car that he thought was crossing the center line he swerved to avoid collision and caught his wheels on some

loose pavement on the side slid off and slammed his car into a tree oh no that's why you don't drive drunk because that happens it's a goddamn tree so he hit a tree yeah physically he's fine because he's you know 18 years old and feeling great he said quote i don't really remember it too clearly after that but somehow i walked back to my dorm and reported a stolen car i knew if i didn't i'd be charged with a dui yeah so he stumbled back and was like hello please somebody totally stole my car it's it's gone no i don't know where it is that's the problem i have no idea check all oak trees it's i would trees and poles i don't know just check around uh we'll see so the guy driving it's shit face oh he's that man so he said yeah

that's that's what was going on with him so that's a it's a little little dent in his armor you know what i mean but i mean that's a that's a dumb shit kid thing to do you know especially yeah it's not you know excusing it but it's it's also he didn't kill anybody luckily he you know barely barely seemed like there's another drunk on the road swerving into him he swerved away it's not great so uh but that's that's on the horizon he's doing that as well he's not just going home and reading the bible at night so 73 74 wolf pack they go 30 and 1 this team 30 and 1 that is obscene it's a stunning win percentage that's 57 and one in the two years he's been there

he is literally known to defeat one time in his life 57 and one if you count the tree you know what i mean yeah i think i'd give the tree the win on that one he's gonna take the l on the tree yeah credit the tree that's a big one pontiac grand prix zero tree one that's what he was driving Pontiac Grand Prix 0-1. That's what he was driving. So he's got two losses. It's amazing. That's crazy.

So this year, they beat Providence 92-78. This is in the tourney. Then they pound the shit out of Pittsburgh, 100-72. Holy. They beat UCLA, who's won, I think they won seven years in a row up to that point. They're the dynasty. This is the game they're supposed to lose. They actually beat UCLA 80-77.

Barely, but they get it done. It's a big upset. It's a huge deal. They pretty much hand NC State the tournament at that point, but they actually go to the final, and they beat Marquette 76-64 in the final and uh they win the national championship wow which is pretty goddamn exciting they're 57 and one while he's there he won a national he's a he's a yeah june he's 19 right now and how would that not go to your head i mean how not be how do you not just be on top of the world truly dude, how do you not answer everybody with like a wink and a finger gun?

Right. Yeah, that's right. That's anybody. I'm talking a judge that wants to put you in jail. What's up, chief? Your head would be swollen. I would have been a nightmare if I had any success at 19 years old. I know I would have.

I don't know. I would have probably transferred it like, you should feel so special right now. You have my attention. Mine. Jimmy Wissman's attention. You have it right now. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing?

Aren't you? I know. I know what you're feeling, and you should feel it. It's understandable. It's understandable. You feel pretty overwhelmed. I get it. Yeah.

But you know what? Listen, I put my pants on one leg at a time. They're nicer pants than yours, but I put them on one leg at a time still. You know? Sure, I put them on and I cover up my much better dick than yours that's been in a higher class of pussy lately than you've ever been in as well. But still. Let me ask you something.

You ever been in a lake house full of chicks? Never. But look. Quote, recruiting you. Yeah. Ever have chicks with booze recruiting you to do anything? Didn't think so. Didn't think so, sir.

And you have my attention. How about that? You have my, you, you have my attention. Remarkable, isn't it? Wow, you're so lucky. You're going to remember this. Okay, what did you want to tell me next? You're going gonna remember this okay what did you want to tell me you're gonna remember you can't give a 19 year old this kind of no choose your next word more carefully because you're gonna remember this forever the the the

you know limited people that like us at this point we've had we've gone through enough to where we had to hate ourselves before we could get that to where we're like oh don't worry you'll hate us soon enough we we're not like oh you're lucky you're lucky we're like oh jesus it's coming you're gonna hate us soon don't worry yeah give us time but uh anyway this year in this national championship year he plays in 31 games which is uh all the games he uh he wow 26 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. So domination. People just didn't score like that in college. No.

It's just hard. Today, even still, it's hard. Oh, it's really hard. He's the 73-74 ACC Player of the Year on the ACC First Team. He's the 73-74 Associated Press Player of the Year, the 7374 Helms Foundation Player of the Year. He's a consensus First Team All-American, All-ACC First Team Tournament,

NCAA All-Tournament Team, the NCAA All-Tournament Regional, and the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player. And he will be on the draft now, correct? And no, no, correct? No, no. He's got to stay. Back then, you could remember you had to play out your eligibility, but back then you had the, there was that hardship clause you could apply for.

Remember like Tom Payne applied for it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, right. But he stays in. He could have been, you know, whatever, but he stays. I'd say 11 other kids let me go to the nba holy shit look at my family is starving jesus right yeah we don't even we had basketball rim hoops right for the love of fuck you ever shot baskets through a schwinn wheel no no i need the

nba he was the youngest so by this point i don't know how many of the kids the parents were supporting anymore so they might have been doing better i don't know uh he's got a brother on aarp at this point yeah that's the thing he's got a brother like i'm about to retire from uh from the factory it's been there 27 years so this year they go 22 and six so not not quite as good uh now this year also on basically he decides to break the no dunking rule in his last home game yeah ever okay it's march 1st 1975 it's senior day and uh they're saying obviously goodbye to all the seniors and all this type of shit. And he's a big hero there. And prior to the game, they retire his jersey.

It's the only jersey in the history of the school retired of their basketball. I think it still is the only jersey retired in their basketball program, if I'm not mistaken. But they retire his jersey. Huge ceremony. Oh, I think it's still the only one to have it ever retired from official use they have a couple other that are honored ones but his no one can wear 44 at nc state playing basketball actually retired um so they ended up uh they're playing unc charlotte that year but they build up a 20-point lead in the second half. So with 3.39 remaining,

he says, fuck it. Who cares? We're up. We're going to win. So he gets a length of the court pass, and he ends up and dunks the shit out of the ball. And it was a big deal. The crowd went batshit for it. Of course. He said, quote, I got a technical foul and a

standing ovation at the same time. Coach Sloan took me out of the game right after that. It was a great way to end my career at NC State. Yes. That was his exclamation point. Dunk it. Fuck you, people. That year, he played in 28 games, 29.9 points per game.

So 30 points a game, this guy is averaging. Sick. And 8.2 rebounds at 6'4". Right. So, you obviously want him. He's the ACC Player of the Year, First Team AP Player of the Year. Every Player of the Year. The Naismith Award, the Rupp Trophy, the UPI Player of the Year, Sporting News Player of the Year,

USBWA Player of the Year. I think that's the Women's Association. Even they're honoring this Player of the Year. Like, you the i think that's the women's association even they're honoring this player of the year like you know what giving them their award you're so good we don't even care i think he won pga golfer of the year somehow they gave him a green jacket top sellers award i think he did he did he did he he won the steak knives from uh from glenn glenn gary glenn r. He won those somehow. We don't know how that happened. One of the Tupperware sales awards and everything.

It's wild, yeah. Mary Kay is the champion national Mary Kay salesman. You got the pink Cadillac. You got the pink Cadillac. He doesn't even know how it happened. Got the Pulitzer Prize. He's doing great this year. So he wins every fucking award there is um fluff pieces abound about this guy every paper in the country uh they said quote one one writer said quote there's always been a

sensitivity about him a mark of infinite gentlemanly grace that has produced a genuine hero for us at a time a hero thirsting time literally he's the grace not yet but wait there's an article about him i swear to god just say grace they said he has grace infinite gentlemanly grace so it's not grace yet because he still is full of it at this point he has gentlemanly grace he's yeah they're building his grace this is the paper did this for me on this one because there's another newspaper later on they're saying it's the mid-70s there's no heroes anymore he's a hero in a time without heroes is what they're saying that's what they're making him like he's he-man which is hard for a 20 year old to live up to. So the 75 NBA draft.

Jimmy, number one pick overall. 75 NBA draft. Yeah. That was definitely Lew Alcindor. No, that was like two years before. Three, four years before. But it is David Thompson. Number one.

Is that right? Overall draft. I think he's our first number one overall draft pick on the show. Second? Yeah, Ryan Leaf. He was second overall. Ryan Leaf was second? Peyton Manning got picked first.

Yeah, you're right. He was a number two overall. This is number one, then. I think this might be our first number one overall. Yeah, Darryl Dawkins goes number five to Philly. Holy shit. It's a pretty cool draft here. Yeah, not too shabby.

Also, he's happy he's thrilled to shit number one overall he said quote it's a great thrill to be the first player picked as to where my future lies i have to wait to see i have to wait until after the aba draft as we remember the aba is still going on you get bidding wars you get a lot more money and then way all way all matters as to what team or league i'll be playing in so he's really sounds like he's he sounds like his own attorney yeah it's impressive he said i'm happy that atlanta drafted me but i just enjoy basketball and will be happy playing anywhere oh he's way he's playing real aloof good for him hard to get so uh that year 75 aba draft comes around and uh the number one pick is the denver nuggets

they pick marvin webster who is the number three pick in the nba draft and uh the squires are number second the virginia squires which would be because the aba had a regional thing where you had to pick from your region. Really? Yeah. His rights belong to the Squires, and David Thompson is picked by the Squires. But he won't sign with the Squires, so they end up failing to sign him. They don't have the money to sign him or something. So at that point, the Nuggets end up coming in and basically courting him. Because he can pick which league to sign with and do whatever he wants.

end up coming in and basically courting him because he can pick which league to sign with and do whatever he wants. So, yeah, they end up wanting to sign him. So they end up signing him to a $400,000 a year contract for two years. What a deal. Out of there, the Denver Nuggets do, and he decides he will play in the ABA.

And they said when they brought him in to do a like a they brought him in to do like a uh recruiting visit basically i don't know if they gave him a lake house and some wine and some girls or not but not a lot of lakes in colorado no they said but they said he went batshit when they brought him in the crowd gave him a standing ovation because they wanted him there and uh the guy says, this is David. What the hell is his name? David. No, no.

Carl Shearer. Carl Shearer. He's the guy who signs him to this. Later on, he'll be an executive with the Hornets, and that'll come in handy for David. So he said, looking back, we recruited him pretty much the way you would be a college player. We made sure he felt comfortable, that he saw what young and vibrant community Denver was. In other words, we gave him pretty much the way you would be a college player we made sure he felt comfortable that he saw what young and vibrant community denver was in other words we gave him women i think that means they were all young and vibrant everybody young vibrant tits are very vibrant aren't they um it was yuppie before yuppie was a word and david liked that obviously he liked

it a lot as things turned out denver was into the drug culture partying we really didn't know the extent of it at the time i was ignorant about drugs as anybody could be but we exposed david to all of that so uh you guys never heard of the rocky mountain high i guess not i guess he thought that was i think he thought that was weed yeah different kind of high so denver in the aba this year the way, look at their goddamn logo. Here, let me turn the monitor to you. Look at that. That was the Nuggets logo?

That was a logo. What is? It's like the lottery guy. Yeah, he's got a pickaxe. Is that a red beard? A red prospector beard. Yeah. But he's also got basketball shorts and socks on, and he's holding a basketball, which is

Is that a jersey or overalls? I don't know what his top is, but either way, they're short. He's also got basketball shorts and socks on, and he's holding a basketball, which is a very strange. Is that a jersey or overalls? I don't know what his top is, but either way, they're short. I think there's a ball hanging out here. I'm not sure. So 75-76 Denver. They're coached by Larry Brown, by the way, who is still around. When he was 19?

He was young. He was a good coach. They go 60-24 that year. They go to the playoffs. They beat the Kentucky Colonels 4-3 in a seven-game series and then lose to the Dr. J-led Nets after that in the ABA finals, which there's no shame in that. But during his first year, he starts to find something that – sometimes he gets tired, Jimmy.

That's the thing. There's a lot of times, you know, all the playing, all the flying, the things you have to do because promotional things. Basketball takes a lot out of you. It's a lot of running. So he said during the ABA playoffs in his first season, they were playing

against the Nets and he and a couple of other players went back to their hotel back in Long Island there. And he said, long season, you know, a whole time like that. It's longer than any college season. It's almost three times as long as the college season. So it makes sense.

He said, quote, I said to another player, I'm mentally and physically tired. He said to me, I've got just the thing. You want to not feel like that? i want to feel a lot which i will say this for cocaine it you won't feel mentally or physically tired after you do it that's one thing you won't feel so if that's all you're going for then i guess it works uh that's why people do drugs because they work yeah yeah and then after a long time they don't work anymore that's the problem they don't do the same thing for you they do work it just takes a lot more to do it and sometimes your body can't handle that much that's the problem that's the problem people that can do

drugs in moderation are the luckiest people in the world i mean that's a great skill to have yeah it's like people can say like people are like i only smoke when i drink and you're like you i will punch you only smoke when i drink that's not a real person right asshole yeah you're an asshole that person doesn't exist that's just what they tell their spouse yeah and why do you always smell like cigarettes i know people like that they could just pick up some cigarettes and smoke half a pack one night and then not smoke for months and months. Yeah, it's ridiculous. I know people that'll buy a pack of cigarettes for a night and then they'll go out and hang out and party and smoke cigarettes. And then they'll throw them out at the end of the night or give them to somebody or something, not smoke again for months.

And I'm like, how do you do that? I would buy a pack of cigarettes to go out partying and then by 10 p.m. I need another pack of cigarettes. Yeah, the more you're drinking, the more you're smoking. So, anyway, I've got just the thing. Quote, he poured out a couple of lines of white powder. I tried it, and I liked it. Yeah. Yeah, I sniffed a line, and I liked it, was his song. I didn't feel tired anymore.

No, you didn't. That powder was cocaine. Yes, it was, sir. We knew. We had a hunch. I had a sneaking suspicion that that powder was cocaine. White powder? You were up all night? That's cocaine.

Yeah, I think it was cocaine. You weren't tired anymore. By 78, he was using every day, he said, but he didn't think it was dangerous. A teammate of his says quote i remember the first time he admitted to me that he was doing cocaine it was probably 1978 he said it's no big deal he said he would not get hooked i said don't let it just don't let it get out of hand which in the 70s they were still the the the line on coke was to no pun intended the line on coke was that it wasn't addictive.

In 1975, everyone was like, oh, this stuff's not addictive. Everybody said that. I think they said it because it was so expensive that it didn't matter. You couldn't do enough of it to get addicted. Even if you got your tax return and did enough to get addicted, you don't have a tax return tomorrow, so it's going to be fine. Exactly. That's the point. It's impossible.

You can only sell your house once, and then that's a weekend of partying. But before they really got a good flow of coke into the country, it was outlandishly expensive if you weren't a celebrity. You can't probably sell your house. I mean, to buy a weekend's worth of this shit. Right. i need to buy a weekend's worth of this shit right so it was really expensive and that's why i think that's why it was like you can't get hooked on it because shit no one no one's gonna buy that much who the fuck can afford that much yeah afford that habit and then the people who could afford it were just probably so they thought they were above everything they're like you can't get hooked on

this as they do it every day so uh he ends up having a great year, though. He is his rookie year. He's an all-star, which is fucking great. He's an all-star, plays in 83 games, 26 points a game. Holy shit. Rookie year. Rookie. Wow.

I mean, comes right in, does exactly what he did in college. No problem whatsoever. Just does fantastic. 6.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists a game 1.6 steals he's crushing it he participates in the in the uh the inaugural slam dunk contest this is this is the one yeah this is the aba doing this this is their idea that the nba took later on because it's very entertaining and uh so this is car Shearer, the guy that signed him. It's his idea.

He did a two-handed 360-degree dunk in 1975. People lost their fucking minds. They lost their shit. But he said that Dr. J came up after him, though. And this was the Dr. J jump dunking from from the foul line that you've seen back in the day yeah and he said quote dr j marked off his steps and took off running he had the short shorts and the big old afro he took off running and his afro was blowing in the wind he dunked from the free throw line and everybody went crazy i came in second that year so i mean he did from the

free throw line but his afro went from the three-point line it was pretty amazing yeah it was three-pointer from the fro so you when you lose to an iconic moment like that like a moment that people are going to see over and over again for 100 years that's like fuck i couldn't have beat that yeah but he's also rookie of the Year that year. He gives a shit then. Yep, he's an all-star. He said, quote, I started using, I'm talking about Coke, at the end of my ABA rookie year. And then in the NBA in 76, 77, I was a little skeptical and didn't know much about it. At that point, there was a lot of social usage at parties and things like that. That's how people used to do it.

They'd be drinking, oh, yeah, do some of this. You can drink more. Cool. Coke was out in the open in the 70s. Nobody was going into rooms and hiding and doing it. That's when they're addicted to it. You do that. When it's party, that's how you can tell if you're addicted to.

I'm not even fucking around about this, by the way. That's how you can tell if you're addicted to a drug is if you party with it like with other people out in the open you're not addicted to it if you go into a smaller room with just you if you feel shame when you do it you're addicted to it yeah no it's that's the truth though they said i remember my friends when they started smoking crack in high school the first time i saw them smoking crack it was they were doing it out in the open in the basement going you guys want some like it was like hey this is fun and then three days later they had put sheets up in a fucking four by four box in the corner of the basement that they were smoking crack in and they were like i will be out in a minute and we're like what the fuck happened that's partying and hooked on it and you know

that's the difference that's the difference between a party and a problem. There you go. How can you tell between a party and a problem? Are you inside of a 4x4 sheeted off box in the basement? Right. That's a problem. It's not a party. No one goes in there to party. No.

Not cool. So he says, quote, I never used it when I played. Most of it was after games and social settings. A lot of girls involved. Different types of people who have things not conductive to your career. Or not conducive, I'm sorry. I think he means conducive. I literally have my mouse pointer next to that.

Oh, it's over it? It makes a little T. I thought the I was a T based on the mouse thing because I'm glad to know about it and it's an old newspaper. But being young, you have a lot of money,

you're easily influenced. When you have the opportunity to spend the night with one of the most beautiful girls in the world and indulge in something that at the time you didn't feel was a major risk,

then no one looked upon cocaine as being a serious addicting type drug it was just looking on it as an elite drug one that was socially acceptable yeah yeah if you were they thought you were cool back then like that meant you were like oh shit he's got money because it's very expensive right the best people have it yeah if the only people that are doing it are super rich people then it must be great they know what to do it's joe camel with a mouth a cigarette in his mouth and a female camel sitting next to him yeah it's the coolest guy on earth a large titted female camel next to her humps are on the front no shit he did say that's great he did say later on though that he looks back on it and realizes

what a fucking mark he looked like to everybody basically. He said people who sell contact guys who are able to buy and we the players were young guys with a pocket full of money. Yeah clearly. Then he also says quote I had a chance to be one of the

greatest players in the history of the game and I blew it. That's where this is going. Some foreshadowing here. 76-77, Denver moves to the NBA. That's the merger there. The whole in perpetuity thing with the Pacers and all that kind of shit. Beautiful.

76-77, they go 50-32. They lose in the playoffs to the Portland Trailblazers that year, which is I think Bill Walton was on that team. And they're just loving him, though. He's crushing it. He's a guard now. He was playing like a small forward in college and shit. They move him to guard, though.

He plays in 82 games. He is averaging 25.9 points a game. Unbelievable. 26 even last year, so that's no production drop off uh it's four rebounds four assists so down a little bit in rebounds but up and assist because he's a guard so he's not in the that makes sense he's not down there as much and still though 1.4 steals also so crushing it he's an all-star he's the one of the he's the biggest one of the biggest stars in the league i mean there's dr j there's a couple guys that are whatever but i mean it doesn't get any greater than him uh so they decide they're going to sign him to an extension because at the end of the year his contract's up they don't want him to be a free agent so they sign him to what

is announced at the time as a five-year 5.5 million dollar contract he's gonna make a million dollars a year which is at the time the biggest contract in all of basketball he is the highest paid player in all of all of basketball awesome so which is crazy with inflation that's 22 million dollars to show To show you how still low the scale was. Because now that would be $100 million, $120 million. Oh, on five years? $5.5 million is worth $22 million today. So there's that.

But still, for the time, though, athletes, the money wasn't the same as it is now. There wasn't giant TV deals and all that kind of shit. So it didn't exist the same. So it turns out though it was a little less than that uh four million dollars over five years which was still the highest contract of any basketball player that ever received in the history of basketball so dr j wasn't even getting that nope not even dr j he was the highest paid player going so So 77-78 shiny new contract. They go 48-34 the Nuggets. They go to the playoffs and beat

the Bucks in a seven game series and then lose to Seattle in a six game in six. So he though doesn't matter because April 9th 1978 he has one of the best nights in the history of basketball. They're playing the Pistons and he scores 73 points in a game what 73 points in a game uh the only people to score more than

that still to this day are kobe bryant once and will chamberlain that's it michael jordan never scored that never scored 73 in a game he got 70 right never i think uh 60 i remember 63 i remember that but not he never got in the 70s you can't you can't in the triangle offense you're not going to score 70 something points even you had to really hog it to get 50 in the triangle you know what i mean it was a different game but but jordan got 50 so many times oh a shitload i'm not saying he couldn't jordan if he was playing a more free-flowing game, I'm sure he could have scored as many as he wanted to. Only people score more. Kobe Bryant and Will Chamberlain. Yes. Huge game. It's basically, he was going for the scoring title with George Girvin that year. Iceman George Girvin. It was awesome.

And it was the final game of the season, and his coach told him, basically, try to win it. Try to win the scoring title. Go out and fire it the fuck up. It doesn't matter. We're setting our spot in the playoffs anyway. Just do whatever. And the team was like, yeah, fuck that.

So he threw up 38 shots, which that's a normal amount for some guys. You know what I mean? He just buried them all. Kobe used to have 38 shots a lot. In the first half. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, all kobe used to have 38 shots a lot in the first half i mean yeah yeah all the time but he happened to hit 28 of them oh which is shit he went 28 to 38 and went to the line uh he was 17 of 20 from the free throw line wow and 28 to 38 from the floor so he is by the way this is uh pre three pointers-pointers. No shit. This is all twos and free throws.

Yep. He ended up matching Girvin's average, but then in the end, they ended up both having 27.2 points per game. But Girvin had more total points, so he won. That's how it worked. That was the tiebreaker. But in the history of basketball, Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 in 1962. Kobe scored 81 in 2006. Wilt scored 78 in 1961.

And then David Thompson, 73 in this game. That's the top four games in the history of basketball. Unbelievable. I mean, this guy is a bad motherfucker. I mean, he's just awesome. There's no other way to say it how many of those shots would have been threes you know what i mean who knows he could have put up 90 that night yeah i don't know if he was just dunking on people or what but i mean he and people will say some people listen to crime and sports will say like oh man that one was kind

of heavy on sports one like this you have to tell, we couldn't just say he was pretty good. We have to tell you exactly how the point of status that this man was before it all fell apart. Otherwise, the story, who cares? Yeah, the promise that he possessed and the hope and really everything on the horizon. At this point, he's the second best player really to ever play in the nba it's insane it's wild and you can't in terms of scoring yeah

the reason why oj killing nicole simpson's so interesting is because of all of who oj was that's why it's interesting yeah people kill their wives all the time you know what i mean it's that that's fine it sucks but it happens but oj doing it's like fucking People kill their wives all the time. You know what I mean? That's fine. It sucks, but it happens. But OJ doing it's like fucking Nordberg for real. You have to tell the story to me. Hall of Fame running back. That guy. The fall from grace.

Yeah. Hall of Fame running back. Nordberg. Okay. Hurts commercial. Jumping over shit. Sure. So 27.2 points a game like we said that year.

He's an all star. Fantastic. He's just awesome. 78,79. They go 47-35. They lose in the first round of the playoffs to the Lakers that year. And they're talking about him and his whole thing. By the way, the scoring title, he said, quote, this is what Thompson said about George Girvin,

quote, he should have let me have that one because he has three others. I thought that was pretty funny. Give me some charity, George. Come on, George. So 78, 79, 24 points a game, which is fine. That's terrific. He's never had less than 24 points a game in four years. Pretty goddamn exciting, I would say.

He's crushing it. He is in the All-Star team this year again, and he's MVP of the All-Star game in the NBA as well. Can't beat that. 79 comes along, early 79. He and his wife, Kathy, who've gotten married recently, they have a daughter named Erica now, so 79. He's got a shitload of money.

He's MVP of the All-Star game. Back in North Carolina, he's doing 79. He's got a shitload of money. He's MVP of the All-Star Game. Back in North Carolina, he's doing charity. He's giving money. He donated money from his contract to build a new church in Boiling Springs where his father is the deacon at. He rebuilt his father's church or built a church for his father to be there. He also gave some money to his high school, and they named a street in his honor. They renamed a church for his father to be there. He also gave some money to his high school, and they named a street in his honor. They renamed a street for him.

At this point, James, if you do any amount of coke, it's fine. Everything's fine. Everything's good. You know why? Grace. That's why. He's standing on a mountaintop, hands on his hips with a cape flowing in the breeze behind him going, I'm the king. And that mountain, James, is cocaine.

Yeah, it's made of cocaine. It's not snow on that mountaintop. They're naming streets after me and I use coke. Imagine if I was sober. Imagine. And not drinking. Right. Think about that though if you have all that going for you

and it's the 70s so you haven't seen you haven't seen dozens and dozens of like celebrities lives destroyed by drugs yet like that you know you saw jim morrison died or something but you know elvis who the fuck knows what elvis was taken i mean that guy was on everything so yeah it's not like you could look at that and go i mean elvis you go i'm not taking handfuls of pills every day you know i don't have a barbiturate and alcohol problem right so you could never think that a tiny little bag with this little dusty stuff in it could how could that little tiny thing take this all down how How? How is that? Look, this and then me. It's just dust. In my glory.

It's nothing. It's nothing. But he said that he was, drugs were starting to dominate his life at this point. He said, quote, I lived to use and used to live, which is similar to the Harley thing, but it's a little bit different. Ride to live, live to ride, yeah. Work to live, live to work. There are a lot of different ones.

I don't like use to live and live to use. I don't like that at all. Not good. No. This is the year, though, in 79 on a road trip to Portland where he upped the ante a little bit. He goes from sniffing it to, let's try some free base now. Oh, boy. This is bad also. This is another point

that is a, it's a milestone of addiction of when you start doing a hard drug in another manner of which it was intended. The vehicle with which you get it inside your body matters tremendously to your addiction. That's the thing.

If you're popping pills, not great at all. If you're breaking them up and snorting them addiction that's the thing if you're popping pills not great at all if you're breaking them up and snorting them that's a bigger problem you've taken it to the next level popping them it's not fast enough for me i can't take it you're breaking up and snorting them on the back seat of a toilet bowl that's in a fucking bar way worse way worse yep it's coke heroin meth all of it goes powder smoking injecting and those are the three levels of oh shit oh shit oh fuck it's oh shit oh fuck and then you're the best al those are the three stages you're the best al while a while a creepy bald man sucks your cock for money. Those are your three stages of addiction. You got to watch out for those.

And the appearance that goes with each one. You can look at somebody and they say, I'm an addict. I can tell you which stage you're in. Fuck yes. From where you're sitting right now. You could just slide the pictures in front of you like tinder and you'll swipe right for yeah swipe left for under that i'm telling you man it's fucking terrible it's bad scary shit it's fucking that's amazing and there's not a there's

not a billboard in this country uh that says meth and has like a a mug shot on it not a billboard in this country that has snorters on it. No, that's the thing. This is what we should be telling kids. You know what I mean? Those are either smokers or injectors. Every one of them. Or injectors.

Big time. Yeah, because you go past it. That becomes less and less. So he starts freebasing now at this point. That's bad stuff. And he said, you know, at that point it was like oh shit he started to like it but then he would get so fucking high because crack is a much more intense high than coke so he would get a free base or whatever if you're cooking it he would

get such an intense high that it caused him to drink even more so he could balance out what he was doing so he gets super fucked up he's like, I got to drink a half a bottle of whiskey to come down from this. And then he would be leveled off and then smoke more crack and drink more booze. And you have to, that self-balance is a bad coke and booze balance. All the mobsters would do that too.

And it was a bad, bad thing to stay up for days. Taylor Swift is soaring high. Her every move captured in the news cycle and devoured by her devoted fans. She's broken billboard records and made Grammys history, not to mention becoming a billionaire in the process. But along the way, Taylor has had to wage war, first by taking on a very powerful, very famous manager, Scooter Braun, and then by going up against the biggest live events company, Ticketmaster. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wondery's show, Business Wars.

We go deep into some of the biggest corporate rivalries of all time. And in our latest season, Taylor Swift will shake up not only the music business, but Hollywood and the NFL. Follow Business Wars wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the amazon music or wondery app is now the team carl sheer said he began to hear reports that he might have had a problem david he's like you know he's got a problem he remembers that he refused to believe it at first couldn't believe it no not david he's a nice guy what are you talking about he said quote but all the characteristics of drug use were there. Classic

stuff. Erratic behavior. He became very injury prone, very paranoid, thinking everyone was against him. There were chronic absences from practice. Yeah, you should have probably noticed this. Right. I confront him. He would look me square in the eye and deny it. There was never a time when he admitted doing

drugs ever. During that time, David hurt me probably as much as any single person. Oh, no, this is his wife here. I'm sorry. That was that guy. This is his wife. Toughen up, coach. Yeah, no, that's not good.

During this time, David hurt me probably as much as any single person. He lied, cheated, all the things that drug abusers do. And yet, through it all, there was something good about him, a sense of character, of goodness and kindness that made him different. So, yeah, there you go. People still liked him. He's a hard guy to dislike. A friend of his said, quote, I watched him go from a lovely young guy to an erratic type.

This is the same guy that guarded him on the clay court. He said his brother Larry was 6 was six eight and he jumped over his head he said i went to denver in 78 and we played hoops rode mopeds swam played more basketball and went to the bars in 79 when i went out there he was he was different uh somebody would say come on david and he'd say i'll be gone for two hours and then he'd be gone for five coke shit i think he got in with the wrong people and never got away from them. Maybe jail would help him.

I'd like to help him. I'd throw a rope around him if I could. Oh. So, I'm sorry. I'd throw him a rope for him to grab around if I could. Wowza. It's an old newspaper. I apologize.

I'm like, that sounds bad. I know it's his friend. I think he means to reel him in is what he was getting at not to like sound good that sounds good maybe if he had some of those rocks from your earlier comment he could have just done the job with that not to worry about it i don't know i hope that wasn't a white guy from north carolina talking about no he needs some help i'll throw a rope around him i'll throw a rope right around his head no that wasn't what it was have my kids throw rocks rocks at him you know it goes 78 980 he is in denver and it's under coach donnie walsh now who's still you know doing shit uh he's in he's still there in denver this

year he doesn't make the all-star team he only plays in 39 games he's injured and he's got coke have problems and all that kind of shit. He still scores 21.5 points and 4.5 rebounds a game. So, I mean, not terrible still. That's still great numbers. 80-81, the team goes 37-45.

He scores 25.5 a game. Somehow not an All-Star here. 77 games, 25.5 points a game. Makes no sense. 3 assists, 3.7 a game. Somehow not an all-star here. 77 games, 25.5 points a game. Makes no sense. Three assists, 3.7 rebounds. I don't know why he's not an all-star. Somebody in the front office hears some rumors?

It's very well. That'll come up in a second. 81-82, Doug Moe is the new coach now of the team. Doug Moe. He's around a long time. 46-36. They actually lose in the first round of the playoffs to the Suns that year, who are doing great in real time at this moment in time.

Oh, boy, Arthur. Thank fuck. They going to hurt us again? I'm sure they are. Have we ever seen them win a championship? Nope. So do I have any faith it'll happen? Absolutely not.

I'll tell you what. As soon as they got CP3, I was like, that's a dangerous front court. I'm stunned. And they got that number one draft pick. They're doing great. And that team is so talented. That's terrific. How are they going to hurt us, though?

That's the thing. Don't look at it like that. You have to look at it. How's it? Where is it? It's like this story. Yeah. He sounded bulletproof, didn't he?

You got to go, where is it going to go wrong? Because you know it is because it's this show. The Suns are this show. You know it's all going to go wrong. It's the Suns. Because they're the Suns. It's all going to go wrong because it always fucking does, no matter how great it looks. Even if a referee has to step in and change it on himself, it'll happen like it happened in 2006 or whatever.

So I can't deal with it anymore the suns and the knicks anytime they're good i'm like yeah okay i want to fucking hear it i've had my heart broken many times are you saying the astromare and carmelo huh we'll see how this goes yeah be a suns and knicks fans that is a heartbreak eiffel Tower every fucking year. They just get on either side of you and plow you from mouth to ass. Both teams. Fucking bastards. I'm really impressed with this team, though. I know.

They're great. And they're scoring. Booker looks terrific. Dude, they're crushing it. I love it. They're doing fantastic. I'm hoping. Fingers crossed.

I'm not rooting against them. I just want to know when they're going to hurt me. That's all. That's just a fast front court, James. CB3 and Booker is disgusting how fast that is. Yeah, they're a badass back court. They're nasty. They're fucking still.

Never mind. So 81-82. He plays in 61 games for Denver, and he scores 14.9 a game. He's got some injury problems this year even though he plays in 61 games so uh not quite the same player this this year at all now may of 82 i found an ad jimmy for let me turn the monitor toward you oh look at those the pony is the brand pony kids david thompson leather basketball shoes supportive up ponies check them out look at they're just low top ponies you you can see in the back though it says david thompson

you can see the da and cursive i we need these for the studio i'm gonna try my hardest for these feet and look james they come in kid sizes i can fit I'm going to try to hunt down a pair of these fucking things if I can find them. I wonder if they still make them. No? No. God, no. They definitely don't still make them. No?

No. They stopped probably in 83, as we'll get into it. They probably stopped by then. I'm going to say about 83. But they're on sale for $19.99 right here, which is horrific. So June 15, 1982. June's a messed up month for him okay not a good he has a couple of bad months in his life uh one here june of 82 denver police say that his wife kathy asked them to arrest a drug dealer who was allegedly supplying cocaine to her husband

okay she called the cops ruining my life yeah and said could you arrest this guy uh the denver post uh post reports the next day that he's been using cocaine because it gets out and then the 17th so the 15th she calls the cops the 16th it becomes public the 17th denver trades him to seattle i mean yeah boom boom he has uh he has a uh a tearful press conference where he's crying saying that it's not true and he doesn't don't know why they're kicking him out and he loves it here and he says he's not on cocaine he says the police the newspapers and several denver nugget officials are all lying about him and the story about his wife. None of it's true.

I am good and fine, and it's not true, and I'm not on cocaine, I swear to God. So that's fucking amazing. Do you believe him, James? Don't think I believe him. He protests a lot. him um he protests a lot now um he this is uh uh during shit this is later on but we'll do it we'll just say now and then remember it i'll bring it up and tell you when it happened in 86 because i put this out of order but his house is dropped robbed by a drug dealer when he's in rehab later oh shit okay a guy uh by the name of i have his name

somewhere here what the hell is his name god oh henry leroy hud or herman leroy hudson here burglarizes his house he's an admitted cocaine dealer and uh he needed money for more cocaine this guy did for another re-up so he stole fifty thousand dollars worth of personal belongings from his house from david thompson's house this is later on when he doesn't have that to really spare. His wife said he doesn't understand it. He says, why would they steal money from them? Because, quote, Mrs. Thompson says her husband has paid a lot of money to the dealer for drugs and can't understand why he would possibly come to the house and take property.

We pay the guy so much. We're current on our bills. bills i mean we're up to date so uh he says that an old teammate of his monty tau for toe from uh nc state he says maybe maybe david was just too nice for his own good sometimes he just has trouble telling people no he thinks maybe david let the guy have it So he ends up being traded to the Sonics for Bill Hanslick and a first round draft pick later on. And he says, David

says, quote, I'm real pleased. It's a great move for me in my career. I'll be with a team that has a real chance to win the title. He says that being traded has been a relief. He says the last few years have been hell for him. He's hated it. He said the first few years in Denver hell for him he's hated it he said the first few years in denver were great but when we started to lose that's when the finger pointing and

backstabbing began it's been hell since then i believe it they blamed it all on him even though when larry brown left that's when it fell apart so probably blame front office for that so uh he said that he's glad to be leaving denver and he's very upset about the Denver Post putting his alleged cocaine use out there. He said, quote, that was pretty poor, especially the timing. I'm just not going to let that bother me. It's just ridiculous. The Sonics management said they hired investigators and looked into all the possible reports of cocaine and said not a speckle of truth to any of it. Okay.

Nothing. Good investigators they have. The guy's freebasing everywhere he goes. Not a gram of truth. Not a gram. Not an IO. Not a bump of truth in any of this. Not a bump of truth.

They also said the NBA investigation has not found any evidence of drug problems it's just been hearsay and reports of things two or more years ago we feel he's free and clear of any problems at all uh he had a year left on his pro on his uh contract the nuggets agreed to pay a portion of it and whatever they still have to pay 500 grand this is the uh sonics and the coach says sure it's a gamble, but you take a chance every time you walk out of the house, right? You take a chance every time you make a draft choice. It's no different from that.

I've always been a big David Thompson fan. He will give a big dimension to our ball club. He will be another quality guard to go with Gus Williams, and I think he will enhance Bill Hanslick's play as well. So take a risk every time. Is he using that old you might get hit by a bus? I mean, you could get hit by a bus anytime you leave the house. What is he talking about?

So he says that this will give him a chance to start over. He says he has a renewed confidence. This gives me a little more incentive to go out and play well. I think this will be an ideal situation. I should be able to go out and play well. I think this will be an ideal situation. I should be able to fit into this ball club. Every platitude you could give of just it's going to be great and it's going to be wonderful. He did keep his house in Denver, but he said that's an economic decision.

He said, quote, the way the economy is going right now, it's really hard to unload big properties and get the true value out of them. So I think I'm just going to hold on to it this year and see what happens, and I'll go from there. So he's still being able to hold on to big properties and get the true value out of them so i think i'm just going to hold on to it this year and see what happens and i'll go from there so he's still being able to hold on to big properties things are going well still for him uh he says i want to have a good season it may not be one of my best seasons as far as stats are concerned but i'm putting more emphasis into winning basketball games now than individual stats i've been among the league leaders in scoring i've been an all-league player for most of my career so i've had those things what i want now is to be part of a championship this is what you want a ring so what the fuck was wrong then with all why is he not scoring as much then right well he said quote cocaine that's all the drug quote it slipped up on me i've never heard that terminology before slipped up on me

just like it does on a lot of other guys he said when it really started going bad for me was when i started freebasing well yeah that's like i said that's the next level from that point it affected my relationship with my wife with my family and also my performance on the court i wasn't taking care of my body i was staying up late then going going against Magic Johnson or George Girvin on two hours of sleep. And they're hard enough to guard when you're fully rested. But when you're on drugs, you don't really take care of your body. You develop vitamin deficiency.

You lose weight. You become injury prone. You get sick. That's all fair. You're not sleeping at all. He said, nobody's forcing this on you david what are you talking about yeah like he's like i have to just do they make me do coke right super weird he said that the trade made him feel cut off from his friends uh even in basketball and then he said

though uh quote i'm not that outgoing as anyway so it'll be fine but this is when his drug use really went through the roof because he was lonely now too yeah he says that he remembers frequently he'd go to a hotel room alone quote and i would use drugs until i got enough he says he was spending 2 000 a week on his habit holy shit 2 000 a week and 82 money so that's really some hot shit there that's a lot so um anyway they said that uh he said that uh he's trying to uh it's trying to square away his contract i guess denver like deferred money from him because they didn't have money denver ends up being sold to somebody that that ends up paying all their debts but they're like in debt to like a bunch of players and they're deferring money left and right

so it's not good at the time 82 83 seattle coach lenny wilkins who i believe is the all-time winning uh all-time wins leader if he's not now he was at one point lenny wilkins yeah lenny wilkins coached atlanta forever yeah from the hawks yeah forever yeah he coached seattle he was the all-time winningest yeah but less when he retired he was i know wow all the jackson's got more by now maybe i don't know though he's been in some playoffs so many times james that's like 20 extra games a year but in those in between those championships he wasn't coaching for years and years whereas lenny's just had a job for 40 years and he's always coaching and stacking wins

you still i mean if you win 30 games in a season for five years, that's 150 games that he didn't fucking win. Exactly. It just adds up. 48-34, they go under Lenny Wilkins. They lose in the first round of the playoffs to the Trailblazers. But it doesn't matter. David feels like he's back a little bit anyway.

He feels better. He scores 15.9 a game that year, but he makes the All-Star team again. Even though he's benched right before the All-Star game, they make him a second-string player. All-Star game that year, if you want to hear some players. Eastern Conference, Isaiah Thomas, Maurice Cheeks, Larry Bird, Julius Irving, Moses Malone. That's the starting five

Jesus, holy shit on the bench, Bill Lambeer, Sidney Moncrief Robert Parrish, Reggie Theus Andrew Toney, Buck Williams the West is Magic Johnson David Thompson, Alex English, who's a nasty fucking scorer Maurice Lucas of the

Suns, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at center, with the bench here this is a nasty bench george gervin artist gilmore jim paxton jack sigma kiki vanderwee has like six white guys on this bench gus williams jamal wilkes um may of 1983 he uh he's got two daughters now he has another daughter named brooke that's born he's uh in 82 he says he's neglect two daughters now. He has another daughter named Brooke that's born. He's in 82. He says he's neglecting his wife and kids and, you know, all of this type of shit. Finally, in 83, he gave in to his wife's pleading and decided to go to rehab. Yeah.

He said. But even though he stopped using Coke, he continued to drink for a while. So that didn't work for him, though. He was just drinking. He says a drug is a drug, and he just kept doing everything. So one night here, he enters a drug rehab center, and he'll admit drugs made him tired and hampered his performance and all this type of shit. And he makes his first public appearance when he leaves the rehab center saying quote i feel great ready to go he said that quote uh seattle now wants to put a drug clause in his contract you know like you know shit like that and he says i don't have any problem

with drug clauses as a matter of fact that would be a lot healthier for me that would give me some real reinforcement to stop you know i'm not going to get paid anymore and then I can't buy more Coke. So he said that drug use has made him like a haunted, a secretive, paranoid person. That's all. He said, quote, well, you know what? Let's give it in their own words to him here. What do you say? Yeah, let's do it in their own words.

Let's hear what he has to say in their own words. Quote, my problem was primarily cocaine i wasn't a daily user or anything like that i was more of or less a splurge user i'd go for long periods of time without using any then maybe one night or weekend i'd use a lot i would try to stop completely but i just didn't have the willpower i knew i needed outside help i'd go for long periods of time and be okay but a crisis would come i get hurt or something and it would lead back to drug use no shit yeah so there you go he said that uh they say you tend to strike back at the ones you are closest to i took a lot

of things out on kathy not physically but verbally she was the easiest target i know she's been through some real bad times but she hung in, and I really respect her for that. She thanks. He said, I feel bad about Lenny Wilkins believing in me, then letting him down. I think I've told him that indirectly, but I guess I'll do it formally when I get the chance. He went out on a limb for me, and I'd like to rectify that. He says that he took action here, and he said, quote, I decided that I'd had it with the type of life living in fear a lot of the time. I wasn't having to I wasn't having to hide for fear that someone would find out about my problem.

I was even hiding from my teammates. He said that he he got released from the center and he had one slip up since then. And it's been three months. He said he was drinking. Quote, I was drinking, drinking beer. I didn't think beer was a problem. But what I know now is to be free of anything. As I was taught, one drug can lead to another.

If you have an addictive personality, eventually it can become a problem. So why take the chance? Yeah, no shit. He also says, everybody thinks the drug use started when I got the contract. But I didn't start doing a lot of drugs. It didn't become a problem until about 1980. He said that's when he had a foot injury and he was forced to miss some time. That made him do drugs because he was bored, which is that's a fucking funny thing to do because you're bored.

He said, quote, I had a lot of free time with nothing to do. It wasn't a good feeling to not be able to play and contribute. Most of my friends were team members and it's always been that way. The team was out traveling and even when I went to practice I didn't feel like I was part of the team. You feel a lot of isolation and loneliness. When I went to Seattle, I had in mind I was

going to stop drugs completely. Most of that last summer in the first part of the season, I had stopped using it. When I started back doing it, I wasn't able to stop. That's what happens with uh free base and coke a lot of the times it's not stop yeah it's not a drug that you can just dabble in man you can't pick it up and put it down right he said another injury in our arthritic knee caused him to miss seven games and that led to more drugs and then he cut down

mid-season and played well for a little while. And then in April, he went back into drugs again. He said, I was trying to stop completely. But after a game, I used it again. The next morning, I said, that's enough of this. Why can't I live a normal life like the rest of the guys, like the rest of the guys, like most of the world? So that's when he said he needed rehab. So he said rehab helped him.

He said, they make you list out all of your fears, and fear of failure was my biggest one. From my background, I had low self-esteem. I judged myself by how well I performed on the basketball court or how people looked at me as a basketball player. You just can't do that. That's why his high school coach said he wanted him to have another interest to keep him occupied.

Keep him occupied keep him occupied uh he said at one point i was real close to god he said i've been kind of getting reacquainted with him again oh boy he's gonna find jesus jimmy we're in deep shit here if he finds religion i've learned to put things in his hands and let him work them out for you oh no jimmy this is not good let somebody else take responsibility for this shit. Yep. We just know. Normally it's fine, but we just know in crime and sports how this goes when this happens here.

It's not a good thing at all. Never. No. No. So 83-84. They go 42-40. They lose in the first round of the playoffs again. March 10th, 84, though, in the middle of the season, he has a bit of an issue.

An issue that would end his career, essentially, here. March 10th, 84, Studio 54 is the place, Jimmy. Oh, boy. How do you think that goes? You needn't say much more. The Sonics played in Jersey, had a couple days off before another game in Philly, which is right there. So they were just hanging out in New York. And they headed over to Studio 54 to hang out.

And he said that this is what the Seattle players say. This is Tom Chambers and a couple other guys he goes with. They say about an hour and a half after they got there, David Thompson asked Tom Chambers for directions to the men's room because Tom had just gone. And he said that's up at the top of a flight of stairs. He said David left the group and he heads up the stairs. And they said in basically no time he was tumbling back down the stairs again.

There's some like flying down the stairs. They said that he must basically a bouncer then jumped on top of him while he was on the ground in a heap on the bottom of the stairs and put him in a full Nelson. And then the entire group gets involved. And then the bouncers and the players are all arguing and yelling and they're all told to leave. They said that one of the players said, quote, it was almost like a plan type of deal. The more I think about it, the more I think it was a setup. Tom Cham chambers said like like a pratfall like no no like they set him up to attack him like he was being like watched and

somebody wanted to attack him they keep saying thompson says that he was talking to a woman at about 4 30 in the morning at studio 54 oh that's that's he remembers that he said when a man he that he didn't doesn't know never before, came up behind him and shoved him. And then they got in a scuffle and then he fell down a flight of stairs and the man jumped on him and landed on his left knee when he landed on him at the bottom of the stairs. It's not good. And he says, quote, it was a career ending injury. I went into a deep depression and back into a lot of drugs. Oh, I'll bet.

Yeah, he it was a big giant deal they basically everybody's calling it a sucker punch that the guy sucker punched him um studio 54 is a different version they said quote that thompson tried to make a pass at the hat check girl resulting in some physical contact contact then they said he tried to follow the woman until a club employee martin santiago intervened and then he said thompson grabbed santiago ripped his shirt off and teared a chain tore a chain off his neck like andre the giant tolk hogan in 87 before wrestlemania 3 he said that only then did santiago shove thompson and he went down the stairs you know after thompson was out of control, grabbing women, throwing, you know, throwing bouncers around.

You know how it goes. Tearing shirts and chains. And this is like at 430 in the morning and you're in Studio 54. The only conversation that a grown man is having with a grown woman is are we fucking or doing drugs together? That's exactly. We fucking or doing drugs. So Thompson here, he says he wasn't fighting, and he says he was just sucker punched.

And Jack Sikma, Seattle center, he says, quote, I didn't see the actual punch, but I guess he was sucker punched. He was on the stairs talking to some people about halfway up the stairs. Someone came up from from behind him hauled off and cracked him one david fell to the bottom of the stairs and by the time we got there a bouncer was already there grabbing him now the manager says that he made a pass at the hat check girl and all that shit but then they find out later on that the girl he was talking to they no one saw him do anything or touch her or anything like that

but the guy who punched him and jumped on him it was his girlfriend one of the club employees so there's something he's a big hot shot nba player who went up and talked to his girlfriend and he got pissed off and basically fucking jacked him one so uh yeah in the statement the manager said uh that uh that they had asked them to leave and and he said that Thompson said, I don't have to take this, and was throwing punches at Studio 54 security and customers. He was just going nuts, throwing punches at everybody, and he said that one customer was hit in the face by Thompson, and all the Sonics were thrown out.

That was the story. But whatever the case may be be he said that the teammates said quote david was yelling the whole time that he'd been attacked he was hot and kept yelling i didn't do anything i didn't do anything uh he said he wasn't fighting he was just going to the restroom he didn't understand what the fuck was going on now tom chambers said that he was complaining and the club told the players that the guy who pushed Thompson was an employee and they had to just go on his word. They're like, listen, we believe our employee because that's he's our employee. Tom Chambers says, quote, it's just not right. David was not

out of control. We've been there about an hour and David was being a perfect gentleman. They said he tried to pinch some girl. I didn't see him do anything. They said it's very unfair to make all kinds of suppositions until we have answers so there you go that's a fun word yeah suppositions he's really getting into it now david thompson when asked about it he said quote uh he said what happened to me in studio 54 was not my fault that's what he said he just got fucking jumped for no reason uh what ends up happening though is he tears a fuckload of knee ligaments yeah which is not great if you're an aerial basketball player right very bad and your whole game requires it yep uh has to have a big giant surgery that fucks his knee up and um he

files though august 27th of that year files a 20 million dollar lawsuit against studio 54 really we're fucking up his basketball career uh ends his season obviously and pretty much ends his career that's pretty much it for him all you got to do in in in claims court is show a loss man and if he can show that loss it's that's he's entitled i was the highest paid player in basketball now the salaries are going up like this as they go up i would be banking that as well he says after i was first out of the cast it was real difficult i thought as soon as they took the cast off i'd at least be able to walk but i had to use my crutches or leg my legs were like they had polio so jesus it's not a good injury when you compare it to polio he says when i come when i

come back there's they'll still be room for me to get back to where i was he says still uh if i'm at 75 efficiency that's better than a lot of the players in the league i don't mean that to sound cocky but that's how i feel yeah well you better get a jump shot game going on that's uh it's got to be all your whole game at this point he said i'm still happy just to be in the league. He said that I feel as good as I have the last three years. This is after he's, you know, I've been surprised at myself to a certain extent. So he said he's keeping his spirits up. And, you know, there's that.

So anyway, that year he scored 12.6 points a game. He only played 19 games before that happened. And that's it for his career. He never plays another NBA game. Studio 54 legitimately ruined him. Ruined his career, yeah. Went from 25.5 down to 12. His career average is 22.7 points per game, which is pretty fucking good still,

even with those last few shitty years. even with those last few shitty years. So during the summer, he said that he went to a financial guy, a guy that he knows that owns a shitload of stuff and he does like $60 to $70 million a year in investment management. So he went to this guy to sort out his finances and he said that he was put on a strict budget,

him and his wife, and he said, this is the that that did the financial planner said that he has to have a financial system in the first five years he wasn't a wild spender but he did go through he had a rolls royce and all this sort of shit and a bunch of investments that didn't return anything basically gave money to people to piss away. He also would give money to family and friends who needed extra money and all that sort of shit. And his investments didn't protect him from losing almost the 50% tax salary that he had, too. So he owes a shitload of money there.

He said, quote, you would not believe the look on David's face when I told him that I would handle his affair. I would not handle his affairs unless he participated. He had never done that before. It was almost like force feeding. He was kind of shocked. We called Shea for the past records on David and David and Shea said he had none. I tell David that I don't want him to become another

Joe Lewis. Joe Lewis owed shit loads of money in taxes and had to fight till he had brain damage very badly just to make ends meet. There's no easy way to not be like him. He said, I told him there's nothing wrong with trust, but there has to be a system of checks and balances. David has only a 50-50 chance of confronting and agonizing rather than dodging a question. We have him on a commitment to Denver University in the summer to take some business

courses. As a person, he's a quiet, fine man. He just needed to know that there's no unending horizon of money. So yeah, October of 84, he goes back here to Seattle. I'm sorry, he's at home in Seattle. His wife, I guess, still lives in the house in Denver because he's'm sorry. He's at home in Seattle. His wife, I guess, still lives in the house in Denver because he's up there. He's got a 3,800 square foot condo up in Seattle. Awesome.

Condo. Pretty nice here. They said he's just sipping a Michelob and watching TV. That's all he's doing. He said it's very frustrating. This is his wife. I'm sorry.

It's frustrating because this is David's life, what he loves to do. It's so sad to see him not doing it now. But as far as this being the end of his wife, I'm sorry. It's frustrating because this is David's life, what he loves to do. It's so sad to see him not doing it now. But as far as this being the end of his career, I don't believe it and neither does he. That's right. He said, I missed the game too much to want to sit out a whole other year. He said, getting hurt on the court and off the court are different.

I owe this to myself and to the team. It's easily justifiable for a guy to get hurt on the court. But when it happens like it happened to me, that's different in a lot of people's eyes. Even though it was totally innocent, the connotations are not good. So Seattle re-signs him in February of 85. Okay, he's got an injury, so he's not playing,

but they re-signed and put him on the injured reserve list for the end of the year. Right. It's basically so they have him for next year. That's how it works here. So problem is he is released August 5th, like in the beginning of camp they release him. I guess he's still not there. So he goes to Indianapolis to try to make the Pacers instead.

And Donnie Walsh, who's his old coach, is an executive there now. So one of the guys who played with him in high school said he was here before he tried out with Indianapolis. He went home for a while to work out and shit. He said that that was the last time I saw him. We played ball. He was about 80% of what he used to be, and he didn't have the lateral quickness, but he could still jump. He said to prepare for the upcoming Indianapolis camp. He played one-on-one with Hunt, the guy from back in the day whose brother's six foot eight.

And yeah, they'd ride around in his blue Rolls Royce. Thompson's obviously not Hunt's. September 19th, 85, he is cut by the Pacers. Fuck. So they release him. Now, it gets worse. The day gets worse for him him as if that's possible when you get cut from your job but it does because later that night he's arrested for public

intoxication oh he got hammered yep he's arrested at 3 a.m at the red garter lounge not bad not good for a guy who's going around saying oh he's not on anything and he's clean they said that he became loud and boisterous when employees refused to accept his credit card. I guess they didn't take credit cards. And he was like, what the fuck? At the time, he was trying out for the Pacers. After the arrest, the Pacers told him that they were no longer interested. Yeah.

Because, yeah, that's when they cut him because of this. He got cut because of that. He's busted there. Donnie Walshalsh the general manager he said that quote he could have made it but he got in an argument in some bar and ended up in jail and we had to go bail him out it got in the papers and that was that i don't know where he is now i worry about him all the time so he got cut after that so he if you go on a job interview yeah they tell you we'll give you a call Monday. And then you go out that night and you have to call them for bail money. You're not getting that job.

Right. That's just not happening. From a place called the Red Garter. Yeah. Like a sleazy sounding place. And you got in a fight there? Because he wouldn't take it. Wow, that's fucking bad shit.

So then he's got an issue he's got a warrant to appear in court and he fails to appear in indianapolis court as well so now he's got a warrant for his arrest for indianapolis there he also files for chapter 11 bankruptcy here uh citing 2.2 million dollars in debts not having a good month um Former teammate says, quote, Dan Issel, this is, who's coaching still. He says, quote, it's a damn shame. David certainly has had his share of problems, but David is basically a very good

person. He says there should have been a retirement press conference, one where they retired his jersey. Instead, they wave him with a bum knee. So bad stuff. You feel bad for him, obviously. There is one thing that can cheer me up from this there is one thing that can cheer me up from this, and only one thing that can cheer me up from this, Jimmy. And that's the sales that are going on in 1985.

And Indian has so many sales, Jimmy. Number one, you go down to the electronics store here, only $29 for an AM FM Walkman, not even a tape player. Same price today. Yeah, same price. $1,499 for a VHS camcorder that weighs more than your car. $1,500. $1,500. Jesus Christ.

$318 for a VCR. These are not good deals, man. The only thing that is a good deal is a Technics record player is only $99, and those are very expensive now. So there you go. Or, and if you just want to, let's say you don't want to stay home with your new electronic equipment. You want to go out for dinner and a movie,

stop by the MCL Cafeteria, which has many locations throughout the greater Indianapolis area, for fried nordic soul only a dollar 99 deal for fish a little bit of fish tonight dollar 99 then afterwards obviously you're gonna have to go to a movie lots of things playing we have peewee's big adventure oh yes back to the future yes at this time as well teen wolf is out at this time as well. Teen Wolf is out at the same time as Back to the Future.

You could do a Michael J. Fox double feature. What do we have here? Certain Fury, which I don't know what the hell that is. I haven't heard of it. But it sounds like an action movie. Volunteers, which is Tom Hanks and John Candy. Good shit there. Gremlins is playing.

Summer Rental is playing. Another John Candy. Good shit there. Gremlins is playing. Summer Rental is playing. Another John Candy. Lots of good shit here. Year of the Dragon, Emerald Forest. I don't know what those are. But let's say you're up for something a little more randy than that. You know what I mean? You can head on down to the Rivoli Theater on 3155 East 10th Street

for three different adult x-rated films here what theater the rivoli sounds like the revolting way too close to the revolting theater revolting theater 9 a.m till 11 p.m you can go at 9 a.m and watch watch big screen porn. Here's the thing, though. Yeah. Escorted ladies admitted free. What? I guess unescorted ladies are mostly probably prostitutes. Yeah. You know, that's a good place to pick up business if you've got a guy who's all horned up from a movie

and you're like, you could jerk off in here, I could blow you, you're going to make a couple of bucks. So if you bring your wife free of charge, because that class is up the joint rather than you handy in yourself that's why de niro took sybil shepherd to the porn probably he's like it's i scored ladies are free then all after that you can head on down to the art theater the art it's called uh on washington and all knew the hottest in adult entertainment. And they have this picture of this chick and it says Shauna, every man's fantasy.

Plus, let's talk sex. Another one. X-rated videotapes on sale or rental. Lowest prices. So gross. Anyway. If it's not free, it's not the lowest prices. It's not the lowest prices at all.

So back to David. He says he's learned a lot in support groups. He said they say in support groups, you live to use, you use to live. That's where he got that from. It means when you're using drugs, you have no concern for anything other than obtaining drugs. Thank you, David. Thanks for the clarification on the very obvious statement yeah what that means is i mean you know just a thought it's not that deep dave calm down yeah relax we get it he talks about the nba policy i guess anyone who comes forward gets like two freebies where you can

go to rehab twice if you go to your team and say i need your help for drugs yeah they'll give you that before you're banned from the league for a minimum of two years on the third one okay so he said they're talking about the nfl is a lot different the nfl is an immediate suspension but it's a 30-day suspension where he's like, that's not enough time anyway. So if you're going to suspend a guy, you should do it and give them enough time to come back. But 30 days is whatever. So his life is a fucking disaster. Can we just say that?

It is bad shit at this point. He's in this fucking condo that I'm sure he's worrying about paying for, sitting up there by himself. 4,000 square feet? That's got to be lonely. Sparsely decorated. They said he has some big TVs and a couple of couches and that's pretty much it. He knows... The other thing, too, all he knows is basketball. Things are breaking.

He can't fix them. You know what I mean? He knows how to change a light bulb and that's about it. He doesn't know what he's doing. It's especially bad when his plumbing backs up on him. He has no idea what to do so he calls for help. And who comes to help but Paul Calhoun, shit pipe enthusiast. And he says.

How is it you come to arrive here, guy? What the fuck? What the fuck are you doing? Look at your shit pipes. Oh, my. Look at the shit. They, guy? What the fuck? What the fuck are you doing? Look at your shit pipes. Oh, my. Look at the shit. They're all the way the fuck back here.

They're backed up so far. I can't even. I can't even. It's in your neighbor's yard. I'm not even. I don't even have access. Your bathroom's flooded, sir. Your bathroom's flooded.

It's leaking down. You got three floors. It's leaking down. But I'm concerned about your neighbors. It's all dumping into there. The whole neighborhood's flooded. Your shit pipes are so clogged, they're flooding everything. That's the thing.

Everything. Your wife's house in Denver, she's got shit pipe juice on her floor. That's how bad it is. And that's miles away. You're from Seattle to Denver. That's how backed up your shit pipes are, pal. I don't know what the... I looked in there. There's bags of cocaine.

You got a basketball wedged in there. I don't know how you got that in there. You got a pair of ponies in there. I don't know what the... I looked in there. There's bags of cocaine. You got a basketball wedged in there. I don't know how you got that in there. You got a pair of ponies in there. I don't know what the fuck's going on with that. The whole thing's a fucking disaster, pal. I found Sybil Shepard and Robert De Niro in here. They're in there. I found it. Tickets to a porn theater. This is fucking disgusting.

I gotta get out of here. This is beyond my area of expertise. I'll clean your shit pipes. I'll slap your wife, but this is pushing it. I'm sorry. I gotta go. Poof. In a poof of shit and pvc is gone so um anyway the studio 54 uh lawsuit is progressing he says i was pretty unlucky at studio 54 i was pushed down a flight of steps hurt my knee a guy pushed me for no apparent reason and i haven't played since he said uh at this point though the owners of studio 54 filed for bankruptcy the club filed for bankruptcy and then quote the insurance company filed for bankruptcy too what uh some money has been set aside for anyone who

had a claim but it wouldn't be wise for me to accept that money right now because i'm under chapter 11 bankruptcy law also this is when he's robbed and while he's in rehab he goes to rehab again and he's robbed while in rehab in early 1986 so fifty thousand dollars worth of shit talk about kicking a guy when he's down what a shit storm of unfortunate events this is real lemony snicket wow i mean this is like grace and then the other side was just a vertical fucking yeah it's just a rock shelf just when you're down like the coyote splat the bottom just poof and a puff of dust comes up so at this point he's uh back to freebasing he's out of rehab back to freebasing and uh well i'll just take it from the mercer island police report here

they said quote the above subject david thompson was arrested for simple assault domestic violence after he struck a babysitter in the face and pulled his wife around by her hair holy lost his fucking mind uh he was freebasing a lot lost his his shit, punched the fucking babysitter, dude. Not just his wife, another chick that was in the house. He's like, I'll hit any women within my arm's reach at this point in time. Don't give a fuck. And then he hit his wife and dragged her around the house by her hair, yelling and screaming and threatening her. And you know how the situation goes.

So not good good obviously he said they began to argue and he said you know the babysitter tried to ease the tension and that's how she got whacked in the face and then wife got it too he said quote when you're on drugs you lose your ability to control your emotions it's something I have to live with. It happened. Is that how it goes? I think it is. He's charged with assault. It's a simple assault. And the judge in court says, you, sir, may fuck off four months in jail, but suspended sentence. They suspend his sentence, provided that he attend a series of drug counseling sessions. That's what he has to do.

So obviously there's that uh clearly though he doesn't go to these any of these drug counseling sessions why nope and a couple months later he um he is uh sent to jail for four months to do his sentence he also he's broke at this point he has 41 creditors after him and he owes the irs more than eight hundred thousand dollars oh no which are not good people to owe eight hundred thousand dollars to nope you you wish they'd come break your leg yeah you wish they'd come break your leg right they'll make your life hell for the rest of it it's not good yeah so he yeah after you die even they'll fucking look for it whereas at least the mob once you die they figure he's dead the irs wants you to live forever so they can just keep taxing the fuck out of everything no shit so uh his friends they say a lot of it is because he's pampered

that's a lot of the problem that's what his friends say look a lot of the problem is pamperedness one friend said that he was pampered and he probably just didn't realize what life was about he says a lot of athletes are like that but then when they get to be 25 or 30 they suddenly realize One friend said that he was pampered and he probably just didn't realize what life was about. He says a lot of athletes are like that. But then when they get to be 25 or 30, they suddenly realize that it won't last forever. They figure it out. And I don't think David ever has figured that out yet. Because, by the way, he's not even 30 yet at this point.

I'm sorry. He's like 30. He's 32 at this point. Oh, my God. He should still be an all-star at 32. And instead, he's so far out of the league, it's not even fucking funny. He said that Thompson has a hard time figuring out his place in life or just how to get by in life. And he said part of the problem is maybe that too many people have worried about him for too long. One of his friends, Ken Hutchinson, who's a Seattle player who he used to play with, he said, quote,

The pressure of success got to him, not Coke. He never learned how to handle life. We baby athletes so much. You have the parents babying them. I don't know, youngest of 11. I don't think anybody was babying him. You have the coach. Maybe, though, he might have been the baby to his mom.

That's a possibility. You have the coaches babying them. You have the media babying them. We help them stay babies, and as soon as they make a mistake, we put them down, which that's true. Also, he said that David Thompson's going to have to take responsibility for his own life. At some point, he says drugs and alcohol got a stranglehold of him that he he couldn't get out of. This is sheer. That guy who signed him in Denver.

Who knows why? He was a kid from a rural community and a stable family his father was a lay minister he was from a marvelous home didn't have plumbing but just a marvelous home beautiful place parents were salt of the earth people that's great and all but i mean you do have a certain chip on your shoulder when you shit in a hole i imagine he uh he said his personality was very easy and he was anything but manipulative. He had a great confidence on the court. He thought he was Superman, but he had no self-worth or self-esteem off the court. It's a great study for a psychologist.

It really is. Yeah, this guy. The worst thing to happen to him was that he was talented and athletic. That's the worst thing to happen to him. Yeah, because that's what he built everything on. During the summer, one of his four pet golden retrievers died, and he cried. And a friend of his, who's also a psychologist at the University of Northern Colorado, said, quote, David is hypersensitive. He suffers inside, and it's a drawback.

In this society, you're supposed to bite the bullet, and David did it, rather than share his problems with someone else. Yet I remember one time I was sitting around uh all day feeling kind of blue david came over to me and asked hey are you okay a lot of people gave up on him on him then and even those who didn't were discouraged so he's like you know it's been bad uh he said ed peeler his high school coach remembers he wrote uh dav David all sorts of letters that never got answered. Friends would never get calls back. He was just, you know, dipping into his own thing here.

One of his friends from North Carolina said, quote, David will be all right if he just comes home to North Carolina. We love him here. He needs to come back to where people care. That's what they said. So in 86, what does he do? Christmas time, 86, moves back home. Goes back home, moves back in with his parents in Shelby.

So he's right back where he started. No money, no nothing. He took a room. It's a nicer house. It's not the old house. He had a house built for them. Of course. Yeah.

So he gets to live in a room there now. Hope he made a room for him uh he said that he started to feel better um he said that his father uh he was pointing out bible verses that helped him and they were urging him to look for a job in basketball so uh yeah february of 87 he's uh talking about his life and he said he's still fighting and he's learning about life and he's been humbled a bit and all this sort of shit. He said, quote, I'm a Christian.

I told him, oh, this is his friend. I'm a Christian. I told him he needed to make an effort to get involved in the church. I told him that quite often if he prayed for anything, it would be answered. He went to church with me three or four times

and then nothing happened and he said, fuck this. I'm not going there anymore. I just wanted more Coke. That would have been great. He said that one of his friends said, I used to see him all the time. And then he just drops out of sight for a while. April of 87, he has to file bankruptcy again here.

He owes the IRS $810,461, which is a shitload of money that's that's a lot here uh he owes 10 he has a he also has a 10 million dollar suit against uh that's the he's got a 10 million against the studio and another 10 million against the insurance or whatever and then uh so he ends up serving his time in jail. He's got to go back to jail. We told you for his wife. He was sentenced to the maximum 180 days in jail. He began serving it in a rehab facility and then he ended up getting it reduced based on the number of days for good time and all that kind of shit.

So he's out pretty soon here. He said that his problems cost him his family and his two children. He says, quote, I was on a self-destruction course. It was down, down, downhill for a long time. Wow, that's crazy. I was mentally and spiritually at the bottom.

The low point was when I went to jail. It was pretty humiliating. Sometimes you think you're above jail. You think it will never happen to you. But I'm lucky I ended up in jail instead of six feet under. Okay. He is lucky. I mean, he doesn't want you to.

It's almost like he starts out with like, you should feel bad for me. But then he goes around to it is my fault. And nobody else did this to me. So it's, you know, but you still you feel bad for his wife. Feel bad for his kids. I mean, I feel bad for a lot of people, Jimmy. I mean, I even feel bad for him, feel bad for his kids i mean we feel bad for a lot of people jimmy i i mean i even feel bad for him but not nearly jimmy as bad as i feel for david thompson product product manager at american express in mesa arizona a lot of arizona ones in here david

thompson senior strategic account manager at zip recruruiter in Scottsdale, Arizona. David Thompson, book author with multiple publishers in Leonardtown, Maryland. David Thompson, CFO at Applied Biologics, LLC. That doesn't sound, that sounds complicated. David Thompson, Chief Technology Officer at American Express Global Business Travel. Jesus. And finally, David Thompson, senior guard at the, what is this, Whitefish Bay in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He's a six-foot senior guard.

Stay out of the Coke, David. Stay out of it on the 20 2020 2021 roster there so uh poor guy june 1988 once he gets out of jail and everything uh jim valvano the nc state coach who won another national title and then had cancer and died as we know um he said that he would love th to work in some regard with the team at NC State. He said that he brings him in to do a camp with him, basically, in June, and see how it goes. And Thompson said he was real excited, and everything's going well, and he loves it. 1988, he is hired by the newly minted Charlotte Hornets. Really?

As a community relations guy, because in North Carolina, he's a god. Yeah. So the guy who hired him is the sheer guy who signed him in Denver, who now works for the Charlotte Hornets. So it's pretty cool. Yeah. The guy, the owner of the team said, i told him i wouldn't create a job for him but i wanted somebody to speak to young people to encourage them to stay in school and away from drugs i said david if i knew you would never use drugs again ever even though i i've never heard

you speak i would hire you today he told me it could be the last it could be a last chance for him and he knew that and he said mr shin I won't let you down. Mr. Shin? The owner, Mr. Shin. It's the guy that owned it here. He said that the owner, the paper says, is a staunch, community-minded man. He believes in his employees wearing white shirts and coats and ties and no nonsense. Yeah. He said, quote, I was in Raleigh for four years, and that was the same time david led north carolina state to the national

championship after that it broke my heart to see him go the way they did he did he had like a hold on these people down there he was a hero yeah and this guy was no exception even he's a you know very wealthy man but he's still huge um he said when he came to me i asked him some pretty hard questions about drugs his family and his arrest he said he wanted a chance and he promised he wouldn't let us down. David can use his bad example stories to help kids in the community. This is not a welfare thing. It will be a situation where David will be very active. So and the Carl Shear guy, who's now the Hornets vice president and general manager, he said that he feels bad.

I think this is like he feels guilty. He says, quote, I was so naive back then. One of the great problems I had with the league then was I had no idea about drugs. David denied what he was doing, and I didn't believe he was on drugs. He was erratic. He was late. He had all the symptoms. He would score 41 night and mispractice the next night.

We didn't know about drugs back then, but we know about them so yeah they said they know there's no guarantees that he won't relapse and be all fucked up and all that sort of thing um but anyway he ended up uh he ended up uh doing this he said uh um he they were talking about his uh career and they said at one point with his vertical leap he could be placed in michael jordan's class they were talking about his career, and they said at one point with his vertical leap, he could be placed in Michael Jordan's class. They're talking about that. They said when he played, basketball wasn't as popular as it is in the late 80s, so the contracts weren't as big.

And, yeah, so he said, quote, I think the biggest turn of events was when I scored 73 points in the final game of the season that year. After that, I could never do anything good enough. Everybody expected me to go out and average 30 a game, something in that area. That's kind of true, though. They expected that from him all the time. Yeah, if you can score 73 in a night, why aren't you scoring at least 60 every night?

Yeah, you should be 56. That should be no problem. He said, though, that he's just happy to be off drugs and to have a job. He said there are only three ends to drug abuse jail institutions and death i hit two or two of the three and i was happy to be spared the third i'm used to being uh able to do what i want in jail you have no rights no control they tell you what to do it what to do and when to do it and how i'm kind of claustrophobic and those small rooms kind of got to me. It's a jail. That sucks.

Jail sucks, man. There's nothing like being in jail. It's like being a caged animal. So now he says he goes to the Hornets offices and, uh, it's a different experience for him. It's not,

obviously it's not a cage there. No, they keep, they keep him still in a tiny cage. It's a very odd thing. You have to stay in the cell. It's a cell office. We made,

they tell me how to eat, when to eat and tell me what to do, how to do it. You know, I do it. He said, I feel really good about where I am now. I'm fortunate after going through the negatives of the past five, six years or so. I'm looking forward to going into the community and helping people who may be suffering from the same problem I have, which is drug addiction. Right now, the problem is widespread, and it's only getting worse and worse. problem I have, which is drug addiction. Right now, the problem is widespread and it's only getting worse and worse. It's pretty evident by the number of professional athletes who've been suspended by the large number of people within society dying from drug addiction. So he said

that what's different from him now is these guys are getting thrown back into the same situations, whereas he he needs it. He needed a totally different group of people and he needed all that. He said now it's different. He said, when I tell my story, I hope it helps them and it helps me at the same time. So, yeah, there you go. He's doing well. He said, I was overwhelmed. They said that the team said they were overwhelmed by the response David received from the community, people coming up trying to get his autograph and all sorts of shit like that.

Sure. They remembered him, a lot of the older people. And the owner said, one thing I do know is the guy's honest. I feel good about it. A lot of things I've done in my career have been based on feel and feeling good about something. And I really feel good about this. So they think he's going to be okay. He said he has a lot of pride. I think that'll help him. And then he can do well. So that's going on. But then in May of 88, there's a charity game in North Carolina that he's supposed to play in. And he just doesn't show up. I wonder where he is.

Doesn't show up at all. No call, no show. Yeah. It's fucked up. He said that they even called him before that and made sure he would play. And they called him that morning and said he would play. And he said, absolutely. And then he never showed up.

Never gave an explanation. Nothing. said he would play and he said absolutely and then he never showed up never gave an explanation nothing um his friend who who was organizing it and booked him to be there yeah said i was surprised he didn't show up i mean this is his hometown he lives close by and people wanted to see him jesus christ uh one fan said we're disappointed that david didn't show up uh we followed him for a long time. And another one, they talked to a kid there. They were talking to a bunch of kids. Oh, no, this is a, I'm sorry, this is one guy said, quote, I vaguely remember him at NC State. I guess he was a great player.

That's one of the college players. That's a college player from Maryland who was playing in this game. So I don't even know who the fuck he is. I guess he was a great player. I don't fucking know. I'm told he's good. I'm told he was good. I'm told his name was the Skywalker at one point.

They talked to some kids, five junior high kids that were there. Four of them had never heard of him, uh they didn't know much about him the one that had heard of him said quote i think he isn't he i think he's that guy in a rehab center right so yep jesus christ can you imagine doing something so well and so great for i don't know three four years everybody knows who you are and then within five years not a soul knows who you are not a fucking soul it's like that's brutal isn't that the guy from rehab dude that's brutal you see that all the time too with like like in wrestling it's like that guy's a big star. And then you're like, wow, five years later, he was in bad shape. And like, what the fuck, man? Holy shit.

Save your money, everybody. He said, quote, this is his high school coach. He said, quote, not many people remember him now. Heroes come and go real quick. They do. Jesus, that's brutal. October 88, though, he's good now. He's good now.

Yeah. He said, I'm fine. He said, I'm good. He said, I'm good. He said, back in the day, quote, that's when I hit bottom. I've had a lot of hours to reflect on where I've been and where I was, and I have nowhere else to go but up. Yeah. That's what he says.

I couldn't go any lower than I have. He said that his kids are fucked up about it at this point. He's not with his wife anymore. His wife broke up with him after he dragged her around by the hair and punched the babysitter. Surprise. Surprise. He said about the kids, though, quote, they understand their dad was a sick person. It's surprising how much a young mind can understand if it's educated properly.

He says that he still talks to his wife, and he said, quote, a lot of things take time to heal. The wounds are really deep. He says that he still talks to his wife and he said, quote, a lot of things take time to heal. The wounds are really deep. And he said, quote, the younger kids talking about everybody, not his kids. The younger kids don't know me. So I show some clips of me playing. This is in Charlotte when he talks to the kids. He said, I get a kick out of them.

I didn't like to watch when I was active because I was very critical of my game. But some of the things I did were pretty special. One game in Portland, I went over Bill Walton, hook dunked and shattered the backboard. Everybody was kind of shocked. The kids grabbed pieces of glass as souvenirs. They rushed onto the court. That's awesome. They broke a backboard.

He was a bad motherfucker, man. He really was. And then he says, oh, but also there was a shitload of coke. Right. So everything is great there's fluff pieces abound he works for the hornets everything's good october 1st of this year though he's involved in an early morning incident as it's called in the paper in shelby north carolina right he tells these cleveland county sheriff's officers that he'd been hanging out with friends where he became

involved in an argument and someone, he said he didn't know who, approached him from behind and hit him with a stick in the left side of the eye. So he's in an argument where sticks are being used as weapons, first of all. You need to be above this shit at this point. They said there was no indication that drugs were involved, but the Hornets officials were concerned, considering the police report lists the time of incident at 315 a.m. Right.

The guy with the bed. And the manner of assault is a stick. That is a very druggy kind of weapon. Yeah. Well, he's arguing with people at 315 in the morning. That sounds like there's some drugs happening. I'm not sure. At minimum, alcohol.

And isn't he not supposed to be doing that either nothing nothing the owner shin said quote it scared me to death but thompson said he wasn't doing anything and there's no evidence he was and he's committed to recovery he said i'm committed to recovery i don't know what you're talking about 3 30 in the morning i'm out 3 30 i'm stronger today he said i know what i have to do this This is a start, a foot in the door. It's helping me. Still, I'd like to get more into the basketball end. I'd love to get out there and play.

Play? What are you talking about? It's over. At least I do a little scouting, maybe some assistant coaching down the road. Let's concentrate on that. Let's not concentrate on playing at this point. Finally, on November 88, he wins a court battle with his two former attorneys. There was a $112,142,000 default judgment against him. And the court ruled that the notice of the illegal action was served improperly and it was his lawyer's fault.

So they vacate the judgment against him. So out of his $2.2 million dollars he owes he can take 112 142 off of that so it's 2 million now now it's 2.1 million and 2.1 and change now in 89 there's an article that is comparing him to michael jordan in terms of his jumping ability and it's a really funny article it's this article about jumping and all these people's different theories it's a really funny article it's this article about jumping and all these people's different theories it's fucking hilarious uh all these white people different different people okay uh wilt chamberlain said you'll notice there's a stereotype i'm sorry you know you'll notice there's a prototype body for leapers strong hauncheses. Thin toward the ankles. They're racehorse thin, like whippets.

Jumping wasn't something I taught myself. It wasn't something I was born with. You're either blessed with a certain amount of jumping ability or you're not. That's Wilt Chamberlain, who's a freak of nature in every way, shape, and form. He said that a lot of people did work. David Thompson worked with his weights and all that sort of shit here. He said that David Thompson saw one of his

older brothers could dunk and that made him kind of want to dunk. They get one guy who says, Jesus Christ, this guy says that he says that I'm 6'4 and I could touch 11'6 in high school and I'm Jewish. I did that at an all-star camp.

I had never done 11 feet before, but I did 11'6", out of pride. Competition is of great importance. They say that there's a psychological component to jumping as well. I don't know about that. He said then that this is a good one here. Quote, the calf Achilles tendon heel structure is paramount in jumping. The belly of the calf muscle in the better jumpers is way up by the knee, and they have stick legs and a long Achilles tendon, a heel bone that sticks way out. The Achilles has to come down and around the

heel. That makes for a lever arm effect. The most ignored thing in jumping is upper body strength. You need to lead with the upper body. It carries itself and takes the load off the legs. Michael Jordan has high calves, good quads, great glutes, just a great ass, good shoulders and chest. Quote, quote. All the way Mike's legs go all the way up and make an ass out of themselves. Quote, he's real pretty. Yeah, he is.

He's real pretty. Put your cock's real pretty put your cock away sir that's an article in the los angeles times by scott ostler so i don't know what the fuck he was thinking anyway 1991 he chuckled every fucking keystroke of that quote he had to either that he was dead serious about it like why are these fucking people jumping so high all of them anybody i don't care i can't do it why can they i want to know why people jump you bob black guy will chamberlain how high do you jump you jewish guy how do you jump high i'm gonna figure this out so 1991 david reconciles with Kathy. So they've been separated for four years, and she and Brooke and Erica, the two daughters, move from Seattle to Charlotte and reunite the family.

All right. So there's that. Thompson and his wife will remain happily married as well here. So do very well. Well, I'll just say it now. She ends up dying in 2016 after a battle with diabetes and kidney complications.

Damn it. And they were happily married till then. He says, quote, she was really the true love of my life. Me and my wife got married out in Colorado, had our kids out in Colorado. When we first got out there, we were really just kids.

We grew up a lot over the years. We were able to make a good life back in North Carolinaolina and um yeah he says he has a golden retriever and a black lab and that's what they have he says she's getting old too but she's active and barks a lot so he's got that 1996 uh david and george gervin are both selected for the basketball hall of fame really yep because it counts they count college to end pros. So it's a different thing. As far as college, you take his college run and his first five years in the pros. This guy doesn't get much better than that.

So the Iceman and the Skywalker, what a fucking cool. Those are some cool nicknames to get inducted there. Oh, man, that's beautiful. George Girvin said, the only way to deal with the problem is to confront inducted there. Oh, man, that's beautiful. George Gervin said, the only way to deal with the problem is to confront it head on. You've got to take the negative and turn it around to a positive. I think, oh, I'm sorry, this is David talking. I think George and I have both done that. You would hope that someday you would get past it. So he does. Thompson says, quote, I don't regret the past. I've learned from the past. You can't do anything about it. I'm happy

with my career. I did something that very few people ever did. I had a good career and it could have been better, but it wasn't. That's a good way to look at it. True. But the difference between him and Girvin is that he's going to go back to a leased apartment and Girvin is going to go back to a place he doesn't even have a mortgage on. He's got a deed. Probably has a, yeah, he just owns it. He said, I'm still considered one of the top 100 players in the history of basketball. Some people consider me the best player to ever play in the ACC. Well, Jordan played in the ACC, so that's probably not true anymore. In college, he was better than Jordan was in college.

That's a fact. I did some good things. It could have been better. It doesn't really bother me. I'm okay with it. I'm okay with it now. He's okay with it. I'm okay with it now. So he's okay with it. He's also inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame as well that year. So he says into 2007, his kids are doing well, just so everybody knows, because I feel like they felt bad for him, for her, for the kids both kids yeah yeah they said his daughter was a teacher in a preschool and um all that sort of thing and her youngest daughter was a psychology professor in college so doing very well everybody's very smart they're all educators 2009 uh michael jordan is inducted to the hall of fame if we remember and he made that crazy fucking speech. If we all remember. That speech, though, was a crazy speech that he made.

And you forget who actually did the inducting of him into it. Who brought him up there to introduce him. Everybody gets to pick who they want to introduce them. And you do that. Well, Jordan asked David Thompson to induct him into the Hall of Fame. How about that? His fucking idol. He got to do it.

I hope he broke him off a little something for doing that. Right, something. Threw him a couple hundred or something. I don't know what's going on. At least a pair of shoes. Right, you can sell these if you want. He says, Jordan, during the speech, said, quote, I was in love with David Thompson,

not just for the game of basketball, but in terms of what he represented. We all go through our trials and tribulations, and he did, and I was inspired by him. So he got a huge chunk of that. Can't get enough of David Thompson? No. Can't get enough?

Well, you can fucking rent him. Rent David Thompson. SportsSpeakers360.com. You can book David Thompson for appearances and speaking engagements. He flies out of North carolina i believe his fee range is five thousand to ten thousand dollars wow for david thompson and i bet it went up after he got that hall of fame induction good for him that well that's now so that's you know it is what it is now or you could buy his book as well uh skywalker the remarkable and inspiring story of legendary

basketball player david thompson by david thompson so is this a guy that we're going to be rooting for now you know what i mean like yeah oh yeah no i'm certainly like crazy a willie mays akins kind of guy i mean granted he doesn't have a championship ring or anything to sell but true no but if i gave if if if his wife forgave him and then they were together and happy for 15 years and you know he's not free base and all that yeah we should root for the guy you know what i mean he was doing well for himself and he's he turned it around yeah this is what we want out of people if he didn't have that that moment at studio 54 his grace moment may have been much later you know what i I mean? Oh, God.

He could have had a better career and more money and more Coke money. They could have talked about him crossing over Michael Jordan in a finals game or something. I mean, it's that. And then Celebrity Net Worth says that his net worth is $1 million. But? But we know how reliable that is. Yeah. one million dollars but but we know how reliable that is yeah because recently i was pointed to uh they say my net worth is 14 million dollars which gave me quite the laugh i fucking i went

14 million dollars holy shit what the fuck am i doing that would be incredible wow i'd be so happy with that i was like 14 million dollars jesus christ that's not that's that's comically out of range like that's not even close that's funny as fuck i was like whoa 14 million dollars holy shit wow no you're very wrong so who knows what the hell how they calculate that shit but either way that is david thompson and one hell of a harrowing tale of crazy shit man that was just craziness and uh truly a guy that you wanted to root for you wanted him to do well he was like a humble guy and uh just got caught up in the coke man that happened back then it was a fucking rough time seems like now if you get like a if you get a guy that's got a major coke problem it's almost

like you blame him a lot more for it now because he's seen what coke you know what i mean like yeah that's an doing coke now is an educated decision whereas it really is in 19 in 1975 i don't think it was that educated of a decision people still didn't think it was addictive yet you know so who knows but i know one thing if you did like that story there is a way to tell us and the entire world apple podcast get on that purple icon and give us five stars because it helps drive us up the charts and for some reason that means a lot so please do that does help us out a lot you can follow us on social media as well, at Crime and Sports on Twitter and Facebook, and at Small Town Murder on Instagram.

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because the Small Town Murder ones will be of interest to you as well. This week's that we just put up are amazing. Crime and Sports, it's the Atlanta Gold Club story, which is the quote high-class strip club in Atlanta where lots of famous people had their, they were worked over, we'll just say in an illegal way. Want to know what Bill Gates, Patrick Ewing, and Madonna have in common? Well, you can find out on that show

right there. Do it and find out why people in glass houses should not drill glory holes into them. That's another thing. Find out why that is. And then for the small town murder one, which you'll have access to, of course, is the Sons of

Sam theory. The Netflix documentary Sons of Sam theory. The Netflix documentary Sons of Sam that has the four parts. The whole theory is based on a man named Maury Terry who wrote a book called The Ultimate Evil, which is 25 hours long on Audible. And I read the whole fucking thing and then regurgitated to you the most ridiculous parts of this conspiracy possible. And we'll just break down how ridiculous parts of this conspiracy possible and we'll just we'll just break down how possible all of this is and uh wow when you want the the moral of the story is when you want something to be true man will you fucking work your ass off to make it true

you know it's just the way the brain works so you can check all of that out and get your shout out all with the donation there at patreon.com slash crime in sports or if you just want to be a wonderful person that has our undying affection and also get a shout out at the end of the show where jimmy will mispronounce your name brutally you can do that as well over at paypal using our email address crime in sports at gmail.com that said jimmy i need it it's been a long week it's a very long week i need good news i need good things hit me with the names of the most fantastic goddamn people on the face of this this earth hit me with them jimmy this week's executive producers are melissa turner uh joe melissa turner is her name, actually. Joanne Ahern, Brandon Kibler. First name.

Brandon Kibler got full-time work. Congrats, Brandon. Good for you. And shared the wealth with us. What a darling. Why, thank you. That was sweet. Other executives are Marion Arcon, Matthew Reed.

He's an Italian chef in Boston, and he lost his job, or he quit his job. I can't tell. He just said former Italian chef. Hey, oh he lost his job, or he quit his job. I can't tell. He just said former Italian chef. Hey, oh, I just went very Italian on him. Jordan Bennett, Alexandra Little, Daniel Shriner, Jill Locan, Luella Bryan, Agape, okay, look, I'm going to do my best. Agape, Tiamapolo, Latterichoni, nope, Latteriochi. Fuck yeah. Jenna Bressanatola Mar. Nope. Lotta Riochi. Fuck yeah.

Jenna Bressanatola Marasolo. That's not right. Wow. But it's a real name, I guess. Bunch of sounds. Also, Kirstie Stevens, Amy Bryant, Aaron Basinski, and Leo Fair. Thank you guys for giving as much. It's incredible.

I can't thank you enough for what you do honestly truly other producers this week are corporal carl kirschner thomas smith and esther and her lover grady like i don't know what that show is a reference to but that's a goddamn are you kidding me it's fucking sanford and son oh is it it's sanford and son i don't know no i don't know great he was his best friend okay yes yeah no i don't know also thomas hammer alexandria parks peyton meadows fawn lebowitz she perished in a kiln fire that's a reference that's what happened yes thank what happened. Yes. Thank you. I knew it was a reference to something. Louis De Palma and Jim Ignatowski.

I think that's also Animal House. Those are taxi characters. Are they? Those are taxi characters. Oh! Louis De Palma is Danny DeVito, and Jim Ignatowski is Christopher Lloyd in Taxi. That's who they are. Son of a bitch.

And Rabbi Shmuelalovich. Still have to dig that one up. It's from a movie, too. This guy, Gary's the best. There's also Carla Broman, Jennifer Stevens, Dana Stewart, James Marder. Happy birthday, Totsie, whoever Totsie is. Didn't give a last name. James Marder.

Where did I go? I already said that. Margaret Cowan. Chelsea at Fresh Baked Goods. That's PH Fresh in Denver. I imagine that is Weed Shop, right? Probably. Hey, hey. I imagine.

There's also Ron Jeremy's Pet Snake, Chris Chirico, and happy birthday from Skeeter. Jessica Masseri wants to be on Biggs. Good for you, Biggs. Felicia Reed, Larry Butterfast. That guy is fucking fantastic, P.S. commissary wants to be on biggs good for you biggs uh felicia reed larry butterfast is that guy is fucking fantastic ps i really like that guy uh stephanie rogers ron rico i don't know who ron rico is who the hell is that that's a reference to something also jess campanello uh janice hill shelly roberts in pew pew texas over there in Gun Barrel. Thomas DeMello, Stacey Nielsen, and everyone over on Discord. Courtney Fligler.

Fligler? Fligler. And Tyler Flores, because he's the best husband and dad, James, in case you thought you were in the running. You're wrong. Damn it. Jude Kendall. I said that, I think.

No, I didn't. Caleb and Delilah Destin. They got a new puppy named Otis. Adam Dugdale. Sweet. Cameroon Mitchell. Cameroon Mitchell Hall. I think it's Cameron.

There's no way that's Cameroon, right? It's Cameron, right? Cameron Mitchell is an actor that was in a bunch of shitty B movies, and it's a joke for the best of the worst. I hope. No? Okay. I doubt it's this guy, but maybe.

Or Mrs. I don't think that's who this is. I doubt it's this guy. Or Mrs. I don't know. The guys at Glendale Customs for all your Cerakote needs. Ashley Veo, Lori Olson, Cynthia Maddox, I think that's Jean, Mary Kate Cantrell, Mitchell Foley, Noah Fox,

Jordan, Ryan Me no last name, Ryan Mezzazia, Ashley Dorian-Medwig, Andrew Lamar, Samantha Schlieffenbaum, Zoot Steeples, Megan Fiera. What? Why does it say ask? No way that's her last name. Ask? Is it Monica? I don't know. Robert Rigel, Woolly with no last name, Matt Karuch, Debbie Jones, Lisa Aris, Nat Freestone, Della Mead, Eric Langdon, Andrea Stanley, Amy Morrison, Debbie Gorsh, Paige Hardy, Zoe Littleberry, Jonah DeJuna, Benjamin DeJuna, Sarah Hyatt, Francois Lagrange, Cassandra Angle, Amanda with no last name, Lindsay, what is it? You're a mess. I'm a dummy. Lindsay Delrimple, Matthew Johnson, Rudy Marshall, Nick Creech, Tyler Correct. That's not right.

I'm sure that's not correct. It's something else. I imagine my phone or my computer did that. Catherine Purves, Ingrid Moe. Spell corrected it. It's trying to fix my bullshit. Tim Emmel, Draca Publishing, Jenna, Jenna Wiley, Helen Avalos, Josh Bovee, Virginia Martin, Lorna Bai, Anna Rodriguez, Anna Lee Mosier, Sean Slayton, Leah Cook, Troy Watt,

Amy Hoffman, Justin Witt, Dustin Kisling, Catherine with no last name, and also Sean with no last name, Tammy Madrigal, Matthew Baker, Small Beef, Catherine with no last name, and also Sean with no last name, Tammy Madrigal, Matthew Baker, Small Beef, Gray with no last name, Caitlin Butler, Yuki Rocks, LOL, so maybe not, Peter Mulholland, Katie Davis, Seth Nadeau, Sean P, Adeline

Shine, Jill Wink, Alice Kosravi, Eric with no last name, Chelsea Berman, Royal B, Alana, Skullbeard, Jennifer Drum, Janie B, Jamie, Janie B, Jamie Ellefson, Colt Dupree, Susan Childers, no relation to the lady in Sling Blade, CW Glassworks, Courtney Arredondo, Paul Pesavento, Ashley Lang, Jenna and Kaylin, no last name for either, Tony Centeno, what is this, Matt Dennett, Keith and Cassie Pearson, Spider Matt, Dale Artis,

Hunter Hogue, Randy with no last name, Shailene Falkenberry, Catherine Chase, Jessica Freed, Christian Bewley, Phillip Messick, Misty Reynolds, Alex Stowe, Emily Southworth, Rachel Schneider, Alex Kelso, Dave would know last name, Renee Snelling, Amber Young, Scubalicious, Robert Cherry, Richard Shorter, Justin A., Rachel Moore, Joe would know last name, Benjamin Harry, Sharon Durr, the Monster Girls guy, whatever that means. Ronnie Moe, 10-15. Rachel Jacobs, Whitney Holt, Kevin Powell, Beth Padgett, Ali Pryor, and also Alex Pryor. Elise Batchert, Renee Snook, Matt Glazer. Nope, that's John Rayfield. Sarah, oh, Sazinski? Sex-inski?

Oh, boy. I don't know. Sexy-inski? Sexy-? Oh, boy. I don't know. Sexyinski? Sexyinski? Sexyinski. Robert Carroll. Sexy Sexy? I don't know what it is.

That's a problem. Crystal with no last name. Robert Carroll. I said that. Denise McIntyre. Jess Campanello. I said that. She donated both ways.

Thank you. Jennifer. Oh, thank you. Jennifer Nigro. Marshall. Well, I have to say it slow like that and not sound like an asshole. So it doesn't. Yeah.

Right. Marshall Williams. Katie Parrish. Mandy Randolph. Chris Musgrove. Melissa DeSantiago. John Doe. Julie Gallagher.

Jasmina Kaminska. Andrew Kierse. William Christian. Alejandro Medina, Armand Smits, like Ritz, Rick, Sarah Neuchterlein, David Holtz, Sarah Jean-Marie, Kim Purpura, Holden Fart, are you happy about yourself? Are you proud? God damn it.

Tony with no last name, Kimberly Krupo, Edward Montoto, Luke with no last name, Caleb Kenny, Arjun had no last name, Brittany Leone, Brian Karbowski, Elena Robledo, Blair McDonald, Sammy Hall, Chelsea Smith, Dean with no last name, Emmanuel Cunt. I don't know what that is. Okay. Alexandra Little, Connor Johnson, Sarah LaFleur, Matthew Thurlow, Cara Vaughn, Jennifer Fassler, Kelly Ferraro, Mr. Sprinkle, Sparkle, sorry, Kira LaParty, Amity Kamizziak, Jen Hobson, Russ Paxson, Nick Garcia-Skaffer, Cassie Powers, Casey Powers, Clark B., Canyon Drake, Chris Roda, A Weird Life, Dom Ferrari, Melissa Grimm, Bryson Anderson, Mason Hyde, Collie Stevens, Will Kranitz, Ariel Chilcote, Ryan Freed, Desiree Ray, Aaron Phillips, Nick Ligon, Lisa Lee, Caroline Barr, Nate Neuschwander.

I think that's a reference to black sheep. Chad and Alia, Shane Evans, Hunter with no last name, Jason Sibley, Tia Churchill, Ash Martel, Mothman with no last name, because it's the prophecies, obviously. Jason Alford, Bears Wild, Wayne Kerr, Jeremy Visser, Kevin Shook, Sarang Zahave, Chernobyl, Marine Lacey, Raina with no last name, Ryan burgess lie uh h kier kerr uh william woods dave oh dave van hoff dave can't hoff sarah kersey susan uh carlton and brandy rolls and obviously all of our patrons you guys are amazing thank you so much thank you so much everybody honestly for every goddamn cent dollar thing, thing, whatever you've done. Jesus. Effort.

You're incredible. Tell people, review everything you guys do, everything that everybody does. Thank you so much. We really do appreciate any effort that you go to. Yeah. Even just listening is effort, but to go to anything beyond that, we're blown away by it. So thank you so much for that. And what if people wanted to talk to you and tell you thank you or really anything?

How could they find you, Jimmy? Yeah, they've been finding me. They've been doing it. And they've been telling me. And I appreciate it. Thank you all so much. Where do they find you? We do.

Yeah. You can Google us. You know how to find people. You look for the show. If you can navigate the internet enough to find our show, you can probably find us. You'll find us if you want to find us. We don't want to force you to probably find us you'll find us if you want to find us we don't want to we don't want to force you to find us you'll find us so that said honestly thank you everybody for everything this week hope you enjoyed a crazy ass show like as much as we

did because we really had a good time as always and uh we will keep coming back uh for a while here we're going to keep coming back live from the Crime and Sports studios. We will see you next week. Bye. Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Crime and Sports early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.