Games with Names - The Scalabrine Game with Brian Scalabrine | 2004 Eastern Conf. Semifinals: Game 5 Nets vs. Pistons

Episode Date: October 22, 2024

Brian Scalabrine is in studio! The White Mamba joins us in Boston, from our Nuthouse East Studio, to go deep on one of his all-time performances: Game 5 of the 2004 Eastern Conference Semifinals between the Detroit Pistons and the New Jersey Nets. Scal joins us in studio (0:44). We go back to May of 2004 (44:17). We get into these New Jersey Nets and Detroit Pistons rosters (58:22). We dive into the game (1:15:29). We score the game (1:43:01). We wrap it up by hitting the ol' hotline (1:58:07). Support the show: http://www.gameswithnames.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

History is filled with unexpected stories and I'd like to tell you about them. I'm Aaron Manke and for the past six years I've been sharing history's most curious tales on my podcast, Cabinet of Curiosities, such as the surprising country that invented the croissant and the wrestling champ who won the White House. And now these amazing stories and many more have been compiled into my new book. Curious to know more? Pre-order Cabinet of Curiosities, available November 12th, wherever books and audio books are sold.

Learn more over at grimandmild.com slash curiosities. Do you ever wonder where your favorite foods come from? And like what's the history behind bacon wrapped hot dogs? Hi, I'm Eva Longoria. Hi, I'm Maite Gomez-Rejon. Our podcast Hungry for History is back. And this season we're taking an even bigger bite out of the most delicious food and its history.

Saying that the most popular cocktail is the Margarita, followed by the Mojito from Cuba, and the piñucolada from Puerto Rico. Listen to Hungry for History on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everyone. It's Katie Couric. Well, the election is in the home stretch, Hey everyone, it's Katie Couric.

Well the election is in the home stretch right in time for a new season of my podcast, Next Question. I'm bringing in some FOKs, friends of Katie's, to help me out like Ezra Klein, Jen Psaki, Estet Herndon. But we're also going to have some fun thanks to some of my friends like Samantha Bee and Charlamagne the God. We're going to take some viewer questions as well. I mean, isn't that what democracy is all about?

Check out our new season of Next Question with me, Katie Couric, on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Bruce Bozzi. On my podcast, Table for Two, we have unforgettable lunch after unforgettable lunch with the best guests you could possibly ask for. People like Matt Bomer, Emma Roberts, and Colin Jost. Did you say a Caesar salad with lobster? Yeah.

Whoa. Our second season is airing right now, so you can catch up on our conversations that are intimate and often hilarious. Listen to Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 1982, Atari players had one game on their minds, Sword Quest, because the company had promised 150 grand in prizes to four finalists,

but the prizes disappeared, leading to one of the biggest controversies in 80s pop culture. I'm Jamie Loftus. Join me this spring for the Legend of Sword Quest. We'll follow the quest for lost treasure across four decades. Listen to the Legend of Sword Quest on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

you get your podcasts. One thing I'll tell you, the funniest s*** was Rashid Wallace. I get checked in the game in the first half. He gets the ball in the post and I'm right behind him in the podcast. One thing I'll tell you, the funniest with Rashid Wallace, I get checked in the game in the first half. He gets the ball in the post and I'm right behind him in the post. He takes the ball and he looks and he sees me guarding him. He yells at the coach, y'all put this mother on me? Come on, you never went to the sideline, looked at the defensive coordinator and be like, this mother can't guard me. I'm going to go there. I remember when they would put Jimmy Leonard

or there was another safety, white safety. I'm like, you can't put a white guy on me. Welcome to Games with Names. I'm Julian Edelman. They're Jack and Kyler. And we are on a mission to find the greatest game of all freaking time. And on today's episode, we are covering the Scalabrine game. Game five

of the 2004 Eastern Conference semi-finals with NBA vet Boston legend the white mamba himself Brian Scalabrine. We get into talking how he became the white mamba. In Chicago I've really embraced Like, I didn't care what the score was. I was going out there to get a bucket, right? I'm getting a bucket for the people. Plane pick up with Cooper flag. First possession, he goes to the right. He pump fakes.

He throws it up off the back and he dunks it, right? The gym was silent. And a wild Larry Bird story at the very, very end. I guess Dominique told me this story one time about Larry Bird. And Bird got the ball and he really wanted Dominique to guard him. So I guess, I guess this is the story. I haven't seen it, but this is the story. And then we wrap it up by hitting the old hotline. You got to stick around to the end. Let's go.

Games with Names is a production of I Heart Radio. May 14th 2004. The Palace at Auburn Hills. Auburn Hills, Michigan. The Jersey Boys versus the Bad Boys would need a lot more than regulation to settle this one. But the red hot white mamba would show up big. This is the Scalabrini Game! That's what like the NBA is turned into right now. And I know like football has a different structure, but the NBA is basically like, you better have fuck you money, like fuck you money. And you're gonna spend it and not get it back.

And then maybe like in 10 years, the team will gain value. But in the meantime, you're gonna pay fucking tax, tax. You're not gonna make any money. Wait, so you talking about investing into an NBA team? Yeah, you make money like when you buy it and then when you sell it. Sell it. Yeah.

And then you just, there's probably a lot of overhead. Yeah, but like if you're good, yeah, I don't know how football works, but like in the NBA, if you're good, you pay the most and you might lose the most. But if you suck, you get a fat check at the end of the year. How is that fucking possible?

I don't know. I don't know the NBA rules at all. It's all based off of taxes. Like the better you are, the more salary, the more salary, the more tax. Like, and then you win and you sign everybody back, the tax was one, now it's two. Just like that.

And it's like really, they don't want like the same teams to be good for five years. That's why it's interesting, like the Patriots, how they fucking stayed on top, it's impossible because first of all, your schedule gets harder and then if you're really good, guys go other places to get paid. So how you, it's really-

Well, there's a couple reasons. There's this guy named Tom Brady. That's fucking Tom. Yeah, yeah. But that's hard to do. It is very hard to do. Hard to do. Yeah, let's get it going. Welcome to Games With Names.

We have a very special guest and we are talking over the 2004 Eastern Conference semi-finals, game five, Nets versus the Pistons with Brian Scalabrini. Welcome to the studio, man. I love the concept and the studio is nice, man. As soon as you guys reached out and I said, oh man, like when you think about pro sports,

a lot of people remember games, but there's so many backstories to every game, to how something unfolds or maybe a locker room fight that happened right before and then next you know you're going out and playing a game and now you're kind of unfolding all that. I love the concept and I appreciate the invite. We appreciate you coming, you know,

playing in Boston for 12 years. I always saw this big ass white dude at every, anything to do with something Boston, I see you there. Oh yeah. So you have a, you're such a legend here and it's an honor to have you in the studio. And we start out with our guest, the first question we always give him,

can you sum up why you picked this game in one sentence? I mean, it was a nasty game that I actually played well in. That's it. That's it. That's it. 17, triple overtime, corner three when it mattered most. Yeah, no foreshadowing. Rebound.

Big goal, a lot of other stuff. Yeah, and I just thought, like, there's so much that went into this game, and from the, you know, like the Pistons, we were the team, and we crushed them, but that year they traded for Rashid Wallace. And he's a difference maker. I don't care what anybody says.

Like, Rashid Wallace, like, when he's on the floor, you know where he's at. He's on the floor offensively, defensively, you just know where he's at at all times. So they have them now. We're matching up We're getting a little bit older like kid kid is dealing with a knee injury So it like it like really even the playing field out and the series Obviously at this point going into game five Like they whooped our ass and one and two and then we whooped their ass in three and four

So like at this point the games haven't really been like epic or close. But in, you know, everything kinda, sometimes in the NBA it's a field out series and five is that determining swing game. And that's exactly what this was. Wow, now is this the greatest game of all time? No, it's not the greatest game of all,

it's my greatest game of all time. Given the magnitude, given the magnitude and like where I was, where I grew up, where I came from, where an opportunity to play in a game like this, it's my greatest game of all time. Like I've had more points in meaningless games. You know, when we win by this,

I get in there and I get going, but nothing where like the stakes were this high and the tension and I don't know about you, but like where the stakes were this high and the tension. And I don't know about you, but I live for that shit, man. I just, it's a thing that you can't replicate. I wish I was a better player, because I can experience that more, but the heightened sense of awareness of the playoffs,

the details going into that, all that stuff, I just thrive in that environment. You watch, I know you guys prepare once a week. That's very similar to the way we prepare for the playoffs, right? But in the regular season, it's, you know, 10 clips, move on, 10 clips. Let's go watch five, let's watch five clips of what we did

and 10 clips of what we need to do. But in the playoffs, it's deep dive every day, you know, like you get your book, like you guys get your book and we go through every play every option And so it's just like that felt real and that felt like very meaningful. Hell. Yeah, I mean playoff Anything when it's do or die It's just it just brings the stakes up and in you when I get into prepare mode for those kind of

situations I always am the guy who's like, I don't wanna come up with the I wish I woulda's at the end of this game. So I always prepared more. I always caught 50 to 100 more balls than I'm supposed to. Or you go do an extra prehab lift, or you do an extra lift of the week. You eat a little better.

You just all these little things because you don't wanna be on the couch next week watching a goddamn series or a game, you know what I mean? Yeah, and then sometimes, is there, it seems like you're a do, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do more, I'm gonna do this. Was there ever a point where it became like,

man, I'm freakin' doing too much, I need to? Yeah, that's how I retired, that's my body. My body broke down. I had one speed. When you're like, man, it was 50 catches, I got to like, I go back in the ice tub. You know what? That's honestly probably one of the reasons

why my body broke down the way it did is because I never stopped training during the whole year. Yeah. Is because I had an insecurity of like, I didn't want people to catch me. Yo, yeah. You know what I mean? And so you don't let your body rest, you're gonna break down.

That's kind of what happened. We call that in the league, it's like, for me, I had like, for me to, for this to happen and for me to consistently play well, it's like living on Mount Everest. Like if you stumble on Mount Everest, you die. Like a lot of people have so much freaking talent that they can stumble in the plains

and just get up and dust themselves off and move on to the next day. But for me to be operating at that level, just whatever my gifts are and where I came from or whatever it may be, I'm living on a mountaintop right there. Every step is important. Every detail is important.

If I had two beers and I'm screwed the next day, right? Like I gotta be on point. And you know, sometimes you lose a game and you're emotional and you're just like, man, screw that. Give me the steak and give me two beers. I'm just gonna, you know, I'm gonna like take my mind off of what I just did. Well, I'm gonna pay the price later, right?

So it's really hard. Like it was really hard for me. And I played 11 years, I was really fortunate and all that. But like for me to be playing well, I'm living on Mount Everest. Hell yeah, you got to. So what are you up to these days? You do a bunch of TV, you have fun with the parade talk, I mean the championship, you're pretty much part of the team.

Yeah, you know, what was that like? Well, I love the journey, you know. The only thing is, what's crazy is I always think it's really difficult to win a championship, right? We're talking Celtics, I didn't slate the team. Yeah, so 2024 NBA champ, Boston Celtics. You know, like every championship run typically is really difficult.

Like, I don't know, like a moment here, a moment there, like a play here, whatever. Even like us in 08, like we went to game seven with Atlanta and they were an AC, we were a 1C, like everything's a grueling battle. Man, this Celtic team was so freaking good, like they almost, I mean, Prozincas played a little bit, but they almost like coasted to a championship

without one of their better players. It's amazing, right? That's how good they were. And you know, it's gonna be hard, like the league and the NBA catches up. I think like the gap that you make, when the Golden State Warriors did what they did, they jumped out to a massive lead,

but then the NBA catches up quickly. So I think a lot of teams are gunning for them this year, but before that, it's just in general, like they were so far ahead of everybody else that I don't think anybody could have touched them. Yeah, no, it was almost surreal to watch. Like it didn't even seem really competitive. No, not at all.

That's what I thought. I know they would tell you something different. Well, yeah, they're in the heat of it. Yeah. Like seeing that, I was like, man, are they that good? Yeah. Or they're just smoking fools.

Yeah. Like it wasn't even close. It's supposed to be, it's not supposed to look like that. I think this year will be more of a reflection of what true professional sports are like You know you get when you get good you get pulled different directions And you're trying to stay and you're trying to stay the course and the playoffs come and you're gonna be tested and people Are working with you like you got a bullseye on your chest all summer long

So I do think that gap will close a little bit, and you know, the glaring thing for the Cs going next year is Al Horford, Porzingis. Like those guys, Porzingis has to stay healthy, Al Horford's getting up there in age, but Al was awesome last year. He's ageless. I know, well you've been around a guy like that too. I know. It's truly amazing.

It's fucking crazy. Because when I was on my vacation, when I was suspended in 2018, I actually went to the Celtics facility because I was still rehabbing my knee. I tore my ACO. And so when I was away from the team, I would go into the Celtics facility every day.

And the guy that was like the most professional, like businessman, looked like a pro at Horford. Oh my God. You know, just as when it came to like being a professional athlete, getting there early, getting his shit in, his treatment, because you know, I was hanging around the boys and they were letting me rehab there and stuff

and it was fucking cool to see, but he was just consummate professional. He's just a pro. And that's why he's having such a lengthy career. He eliminates distraction, he does everything for his game, and it's awesome to see him get one. Yeah, and I would say, I try to tell people, obviously Al Horford's gifted, you can't get to that.

He's so good, and he's really smart. But being a pro like that, is just doing all the simple stuff every single day. It's not like they have some magical drill that they use or this trainer that they have or this, they do this workout. Like every time you go down in the hotel, he's down there stretching, working.

He does his prehab before the game. He's like, he does all the stuff every single day and he doesn't miss a day. And so I asked him, I go, what are you gonna do next year? Like you could tell it meant a lot to him. He's like, nah, I feel good. Like I'm just gonna trust my work and trust my preparation

and I'm gonna be consistent with it, right? Everybody, all these young kids, they want some special thing, but it's just being consistent with what you're doing. You know, my dad would always say life's hard, but it's simple. We don't know what we have to do. It's just hard to always do it. You know, my dad would always say, life's hard but it's simple. We don't know what we have to do. It's just hard to always do it.

Having a guy like Al Horford is not just good for his performance and how he is, but it's as an example for the younger guys to watch in the locker room. For sure. I'm pretty excited to see what they do this year because like Scow said, I mean, these leagues, everyone, when you're America's most wanted now,

that's where they're at. They're the measuring stick. You're circled every night. That's 80, what is it, 86 games? 82. 82? Gotta embrace the bullseye. Every night.

Every night. When you're the champ, it's hard. It's hard to stay on the top. And we go to arenas, so you have to tell me, when you hit the road, did the Patriots fans travel? Yeah, we would travel, but it's different in certain, like if we were playing a team we didn't play a lot of,

if you go to the NFC West, we go to the Niners, we go to San Diego, we would show up a bunch of fans. But when you're playing in division, like Jets, Buffalo, Miami, Miami we'd have a lot of fans, but the Jets and Buffalo, it's pretty much. Yeah, but I always think like, when we go on the road, and let's say it's 50-50,

let's just say for our argument's sake, that I think that gives juice to the other team. Like you're in their building, and these people are paying to cheer for the team that you're going against. Like athletes in our mind, we're all sicko, and we create like narratives to like, oh man, I'm going at them because you know,

this is disrespectful to me, right? So I think like when you get everyone's best shot, when we travel and the Celtic fans are let's go Celtics, like I can see like a little perk up from the other team, but no, we're not gonna let this happen. when you get everyone's best shot, when we travel and the Celtic fans are let's go Celtics, I can see a little perk up from the other team, but no, we're not gonna let this happen. In my, when we would go on the road, I would always see the crowd,

and like you said, it just brought me into that when you said we have to manifest, you have to make your own motivation sometimes. I loved being the villain. I loved going into MetLife Stadium and fucking running down that field and fucking trying to fire it. They're all booing. I embraced that. Oh yeah.

You know, you got you up. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. So it's crazy what the little things you have to do in your head to get it going. If you're on the other team and you see 50% of the crowd is not your crowd at your home stadium, you're getting pissed. So they're putting that in their head. How do you enjoy these Olympics? You know, I watched just a little bit of it. Like I wasn't, I think people really did dive in. I watched all the basketball.

You know what was crazy? I gotta admit, I've never seen, I was so shocked by, it's just gonna sound crazy, doubles Batman. What the hell? They would hit the thing like 60, 70 times. Like I was like, what? Like what is this action? How come this is not always on?

So somehow I got like sucked into doubles badminton and I was like, these people are nasty at what they do, right? And then I won't watch badminton for four more years. No, and everyone watching badminton thinks they can go out and play with these jokers. Oh, hell no. So it's in the backyard. My, uh, my offensive coordinator and my Juco. I went to junior college. He was like, he was the badminton coach or

fucking he was like a pro or something. I said, I'll fucking go play you. I went and played this guy for five hours, didn't beat him once. I was like, I'm not going until I beat you. Shuttlecock was flying. Shuttlecock was fine. Wait, Scowl, speaking of the Olympics, do you think we're going to get a fired up JB and JT this year after the snubs? Yeah, I mean, disrespect. I don't know them like that, right? I don't know them like, are they highly motivated to destroy the warriors? I don't really know them like that because I just know,

this is what I do know. When Jason Tatum does get like that, he's tough. No one could stop him. But I don't know how that works. Like is that motivating him to be like that every night? I have no idea. Is it motivating him to be, the fact that everyone's jumping on

the Anthony Edwards bandwagon when he's the one. Yeah, like Tatum deserves accolades. And you know, he made sacrifices last year to move the ball and now he didn't get the proper respect for winning a championship. And he made sacrifices last year to move the ball. And now he didn't get the proper respect for winning a championship. So I don't know, but I'm curious to watch. I'm hoping so. I'm hoping so as a full green teamer over here.

For sure. We'll see. I don't know how many more rap albums I can go through. That song with A$AP Ferg goes hard, dude. We love Jalen Brown for that one. Just do it on repeat. Hey, when you win the ship, you can do that. Yeah, you can. Now, you're you're an OG Big Three guy. I am. Yeah, I watched. And they're going to Olympics. Or they're going to the Olympics 2025 or

20. It was in this year too. This year. But yeah, or three on three. How come they didn't let the big three guys in, right? All right, so you have to, so FIBA, it's interesting in a sense, they want the three on three to be like a cohesive unit. They don't like, you know how team USA, you know that other guys qualify and then team USA comes in and goes to the Olympics, right?

And you can qualify by winning the World Cup and there's other things you can do, but in a three on three, you've gotta do a process. So you have to, in the middle of a basketball season, you have to take three guys and go and play in a tournament. Like guys can't leave their jobs in the middle. So it's not actually situated the way that the five on five is.

So what happened, like the thing that happened, which was bogus because it feels a little bit like how college used to be. Now these kids be making money and it's not the same way. But Feeba said that those guys could not come over and play the three on three. Those guys could have made $150,000. So these guys are not like high level five on five pros

that are making a million, 10 million, whatever they're making. These guys are like grinding out on the three on three grind. And so Ice Cube offers them to come and play our three on three all-stars and they could have made some money. I mean, it's four guys, 100, you know, it's like what, at 35 grand a pop.

You know, so those guys could have made some money and FIBA just shut it down. And I think that's, like, I just, first those guys could have made some money and FIBA just shut it down. Yeah, I saw that. And I think that's, like, I just, first of all, if you're a pro athlete, you should, and these guys aren't making big money, you should have the right to make as much money as you possibly can.

If people wanna watch it, then let's make some money doing it, and I thought that was low down by FIBA not allowing that group to come in and play the big three. By the way, the rules are really different. It would have been good. Like it's a way of bringing people together and it's the institution I thought, like, you know, keeping people apart.

Yeah, you're trying to bring Ice Cube down. Amen, brother. We're just trying to get the league bigger. Come on, man. Cube will get on this podcast and he'll go off on that, on the FIBA. I wouldn't hear it. You got any Cube stories?

Well, I just got the Cube stories from all the big three stuff, right? But I don't go to the parties afterwards, which I wish I would, but I don't hear it. You got any cube stories? Well, I just got the cube stories from all the big three stuff, right? But I don't go to the parties afterwards, which I wish I would, but I don't. No, but like Ice Cube, the one thing I will say, like he's the founder of the league, but it's not like he's just dropping money and doing other things.

He's designing uniforms, he's making rules, he's on every conference call, he's on me. So I do everything there, I do sideline reporting, analyst work, play by play, right? And if I mess up, he's on me, right away, text message. So he's all over it, and this is his baby, right? He still raps, he still goes on tour, still does movies, but this is like, I created this thing

and he's doing a really good job of building this thing up. I mean, I don't have that. I had a, I made a Patriots hat, a Boston Patriots hat that I always resembled off of his Oakland Raiders hat that he used to wear. Oh gee. Oh the back in the day, like, matched up with the starter jacket.

Yeah. I loved, man. I'm a Cali guy, you're a Cali guy, but you grew up in the West. Where'di guy, but you grew up in the Bay. I grew up in the Bay. Oh, that's right. I watched your doc. I watched your doc, that's right.

So that's off of Ice Cube and the boys. Shout it out. Yeah, I grew up in the Bay. You grew up in, you were born in Long Beach, then you grew up in Washington State. Yeah, I moved there when I was like 12. 12? So are you a Cali kid or are you Washington? Washington, because I grew up in Washington State. Yeah, I moved there when I was like 12. 12? Yeah.

So are you a Kelly kid or are you Washington? Nah, Washington. Cause I grew up in high school and all that stuff. Even though I went back to USC, you know? I mean, LA is not really my vibe. I like going down to LA, but it's like, it's not my vibe. I like, like when you came out here and the people were super rough, right?

It's like, it was, to me, it was like a match made in heaven. I was like, man, this is great. All these people, they just tell you how it is. Exactly, that's what it is. I always explain that, you know, when people ask me like, are East Coast people, Boston people, they really like, I'm like, they're not mean, they're just very upfront

and they're very honest. And they're not gonna sit here and walk by and say hello. Because they got shit to do. But that same person, if something were to happen to you on the street, that asshole that you think's an asshole would probably help you. And if you go to different cities, the people that are nice to you

would probably just keep on walking. So that's how I always explain the northeastern person. You know, they're just very straightforward, they're straight shooters, but they're actually nice ass people. Like when shit's hitting the fan. For sure, like I think, I can explain all this when I'm,

so I coached the Warriors one year in the Bay or Seattle's like this, LA's a little like this. I just, the best way to describe it is when you drive around, like listen, I gotta get over, you're there, I got some space, I'm gonna squeeze in, it is what it is. A guy in here might just, come on man,

like just, what are you doing? Over there, it's on the horn, they speed up, they're super aggressive to you, but then you saw them later, they'd be like, hey, how you doing, man? I mean, it's a great day outside, right? It's like, like, I like, hey, how you doing, man? I'm having just great day outside, right? It's like, I just be who you are. Don't be overly aggressive, passive aggressive in the car

or, and then when you see me into my face, you're just like super nice. People here are like, and I'm not saying, this is obviously we're blanket-statementing a lot of people, but in general, people here are just real. They're just real and upfront, and I do agree. If you meet people here, they are willing to help when you are in trouble.

Yeah, yeah. Now, what was it like growing up in Washington? It was the best place for me to grow up. I grew up in a small town about 40 miles outside of Seattle. Seattle's a really big hoop bed. Like a real, and it all starts, it all started a long time ago with Doug Christie. And then that got pushed to Michael Dickerson

and then Jason Terry and then now Jamal Crawford. It's a really inclusive community when it comes to ball. Like there's other places where everyone like mad dogs each other and they're trying to fight for the top. In Seattle, it's like, let's bring everybody along. So if you're like a young other and they're trying to fight for the top. In Seattle it's like let's bring everybody along. So if you're like a young guy and you can go to pick up and you see like pros there, you just learn differently, right?

And so that environment really helped me because I didn't think I was a pro ever. Like I thought not until I was like a junior in college did I even think about being a professional athlete. I was just like, all right. I mean, I don't know, like just small town white kid, you know, like just not that athletic. No, I didn't know the nuances of the game.

So I never saw myself like that until I started going to those pickup runs and seeing the way that those guys and getting a stop or maybe going up and finishing over a guy, right? It's like small things that could have happened. But those guys, if I'm not in that environment, like your trajectory changes when you're young. If you don't see that, you just stay at a level,

play with your friends, you are what you are. But until you get thrown in that fire and you have a little bit of success, like that changes your outcome, whatever. That could be five years from now, but it definitely changes the way you look at things. Yeah, now the pickup run is such a big thing in basketball. Like you always hear about these games.

I don't know anything about it, but like you said, in your area in Washington, you guys were all inclusive with each other and you guys wanted to help each other ball to make the area good. I heard, are you playing, you played pick up with the new Cooper kid? Cooper Flats?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I'm here. Yeah, well. How's he doing? Well now he's amazing, right? Yeah, but so at the time, so I know a guy up in Maine and he trains cooper and he was like telling me these stories about this, at the time 13 year old playing against the you Maine guys

and he would struggle for like 12 minutes and then for the last 30 minutes of the scrimmage, he would start to dominate. I'm like, man, get the fuck out of here. No way, no way a 13 yearyear-old is better than D1 players. It's just, that's not true. You can't tell me that you're building up your guy. So I go, all right, bring him down.

So I worked with this team at the time, which now I've started my own AAU program, but at the time, I worked with the Bay State Jaguars, and we had guys in there, and it's great. Let me kind of explain. At first, I was Scow, the guy on TV that played for the Celtics. Within about a month, we're nose to nose with these kids,

and we have a rule. We can push, but no punches, ever. Nobody can throw punches, you get a two-month suspension. So we like to get, what we're trying to do is take soft ass white kids and build them up and get them like, when you're in this environment you'll be able to survive. And you ain't gonna be able to survive

with us just being like, nice shot Johnny, like it's not gonna work, right? So we have this thing, we go nose to nose and I've gone with these guys for a while so I told the guy from Maine, send him down. Like if he can live here, he'll be fine, right? So sends him down, parents show up, great people. Great people.

Drove from Maine, like it's four and a half. He's 13. No, not with the parents, yeah. Four and a half, like four and a half hours, gets out of the car, I go, you need to warm up? He's like, he just like put on his two knee braces, right? I'm like, all right, man, let's go. So first possession, he goes to the right and he pump fakes.

And let me give you a little bit of a background here. Like I brought in some other kids and they were not about that. And the guys who I played against were killing me about bringing in these other kids, right? So then for me, I'm always talking shit. So I'm like, yo, I got somebody for you today, man. This guy's gonna come and whoop your ass, right?

14 years old. They're like, man, no way. And I go, it's kid Cooper Flag. And they're like, huh, I heard of him. But nah, man, no one can come in here. And on day one, surviving in this environment, when we got the music cranking, we play games where you can only have the ball in your hand

for two seconds, you have to shot clock in eight seconds. So we're doing all these things to mess people up. All right, so he comes down, he dribbles right, he pump fakes, he throws it up off the backboard, goes up with the left and he dunks it, right? The gym was silent, like you can hear a pin drop in the gym. And I'm like, ooh, I got some motherfuckers for you now. Right?

So I give him a chest bump and then we just start going. It was one of our best days, but he survived. Guys in the gym were 17, 18, 19. There's countless D1 players there. Like he held his own more than. And then when we sped the game up, he just like, the game just slowed down for him. So I told to the parents, I'm like, this kid's a pro.

Like, I don't know what type of pro, there's levels of pro. You could be a Hall of Famer, an All-Star, a starter, a bench player, guy like me, right? And you could be a guy that's like 10 day contract. There's all of them are pros, but like what level are you gonna be? And it depends on what you do.

So I call USA Basketball the next day, I call Duke the next day, I'm telling you guys, man this guy is nasty. They blew me off, kid from Maine, he's all right, we'll bring him in for you, whatever. And he just took off from there. And the key is, he's gifted, he's super gifted, he's a basketball prodigy, but he's not afraid, man.

He's nasty. Like he's not afraid to walk into places and go at people nose to nose. And you saw it when he was scrimmaging USA basketball, you saw him like with Anthony Davis, LeBron James, like all those guys, he was going at them. You know? Man, the great white hope?

I mean, that's what everyone thinks. Is he the next bird? Hey Hey just signed with New Balance, baby Man big Larry Bird fan big Larry Bird fan. That's a great guy I mean, he's nasty like that is he he's not like he's like tough Like Larry Bird was tough. Is he a quiet? Is he quiet on the court? Does he talk shit talk shit? But not shit with this ball. That's he talks shit. He talks shit with his ball? That's like, he talks shit. He talks shit like after like something? No, he's always talking.

He's always talking. Yeah, he, yeah, I mean, he's always chirping, you know? And he got that fire like, you know, when we went in there, I went up to Maine, I think it was two years ago now, and we scrimmaged and we got him the first day. You could tell he walked in, he wasn't talking to nobody. He was coming in, he tied his shoes, he's ready. He was not laughing, he was not joking,

and he murdered us, murdered us, yeah. So we'll see, he'll be one year at Duke, good chance he'll be a number one pick, if not a top three pick, and then there's that, then the league is a different animal, right? It's like, there's so many different levels of players in the NBA, and we'll see what he becomes. But he's a worker, he's tough, he's gifted,

he's got a great environment, great family. I wish, I hope that he, like, whatever he could become, I feel like he'll maximize his potential. It's gonna be so fun to watch, because I always like watching the guys that are these hype guys Like he's got hype. I mean we're talking about him. He's not even you know in college yet Yeah, so like these hype guys and it's pretty it just makes you

It brings you a little tension to that area, you know, you got caught I want to see what this guy does Kenny is gonna live up to it or is he gonna believe it? Yeah, you know, I mean main main hoops main like Like you can't name four NBA players from me you like or is he gonna believe it? You know? I mean, Maine. Maine hoops, man. Maine, like there's, like you can't name four NBA players from Maine. Like, you can't name one, really, outside of Cooper. Like, there's, they're just, it's just not an environment for that.

It's just not, it's just- That makes it more impressive. It's beyond, it's prodigy, and he's super gifted. He has a twin brother who was always like 40, 50 pounds heavier than him growing up and beat the shit out of him. Right, and then he just, he never backed down. He never cried to mom. He just kept going at him.

Is the twin just as big? No, his brother now is smaller. Oh, I was about to say, geez. His brother played for me on my team white mamba. He was good. He's a good player. Like I think he'll go to you main. You know, it's just like, but his, you know, like you grow up,

you grew up getting your ass whooped like by your older, by your twin brother. Like you just never think that you're good or not. Even if you're gifted, you're just always going at your brother who's big. And it's like hard to beat those guys. You can't. No. No, we got to talk about, you said White Mamba,

the one-on-ones know when you Rage, baby. Well, it's kind of like the movie We were talking about you know that he had to get some some fucking mojo So he went on and started beating the shit out of people. How was that? So I was are you familiar touch enriched? Yeah, okay. Yeah sports hub. So I was on the sports hub and they were asking me like listen when I got done playing basketball Like I'm a hoop head. I still play now even though like I know like football players So I was on the sports hub and they were asking me like, listen, when I got done playing basketball, like I'm a hoop head, I still play now, even though like, I know like football players, you guys see it differently,

like you guys are fucking done when you're done, right? Like there ain't no, there ain't no, yeah. So I still play, like I play against these high school kids, like I go and I just play all the time. And, but at the time when I just got out, I was playing like, you can't believe, like I was going, I would do the Celtic games. And I think like a sneaky side of me did the Celtic job

just so I can go to different cities and find pickup to play in. Like that's how I was like a pickup savage, right? But I was 33 at the time. So I'm playing all these pickup games and I had this rec league and the night before I just had, I had it going. I had 65 points.

So someone gets on the chat and was just, they just started frying me in the chat. So I'm like, y'all really think? Like I don't think that, like I don't think I could tackle you, I don't think I can hit a fucking baseball, like I don't think I can hit a golf ball, like I don't think I could do, I don't think I could play badminton, you know?

I don't think like that. I think I could hoop, right? And I don't think like that. I think I could hoop, right? And I don't even think I'm that good of a one-on-one player, but I'm better than like average joes. So I was just, you know what? I'll play anybody anytime, just like sending your videos, we'll pick the best players and we'll just, we'll go. I'll play five of you guys in a row,

wouldn't matter to me. And so I just went in there and once, like the way it works, once I see something, once or twice, I'm like, all right, I know what you are. You're a right-handed pull-up, you're a left-handed to the cup, you like to step back. You know, like I can, if I see someone live,

like two possessions, I know exactly what you are, right? I've seen it, I've seen it on the highest level, and by the way, besides like Kobe Bryant, most guys in the NBA do like two to seven things max to get open and get a shot off. So I've seen that same move, but it was Paul Pierce doing it and now it's you. So I can stop you.

I might not be able to stop Paul Pierce, but I can stop you. So I challenged five guys. I played them, you know, I won like 55 to eight combined, you know, but that gap is closing at 46. I played this dude called the Hesygod, like he's a YouTuber and he whooped my ass. Like he whooped my ass.

He's built like you, like small, right? And strong and he just, he was doing shit that I've never even seen before, right? So. These fucking, you know what, isn't it crazy? It is crazy. How sport in general, in all sports, it's getting to a,

like you watch some of these football kids, I watch them on YouTube, whatever, and you see the skill level that they have. It's incredible. It's incredible. I'll get into like a wormhole of watching Hoopers. Oh yeah. These like little kids, you know,

like how they got their handles. And it's just the information age has helped athlete world so much. Totally agree. Because we used to, I used to like hear folklore of how Jerry Rice trained. I didn't know how it did. Yeah, you didn't see it.

I didn't see it. But you would hear and you would go do it now. You can go onto Instagram and see what your fucking favorite athletes do and see everything. Correct. And just be a little gym rat and go do it and become great at it. Yeah, like my son loves Steph Curry,

but my son is not Steph Curry. But I think the best, like this is crazy, right? I think the best offensive player in the NBA, like a guy that every kid should watch and every kid should emulate, I don't care if you're fucking 6'10 or you're 5'10, is Trey Young. Trey Young, his footwork is perfect,

his handle is perfect, his efficiency is perfect. Like, I get it, he's not a, he doesn't make shots, but everything he does is perfect. So if, when I go to my son, I'm like, listen, you shouldn't watch Steph Curry. Like that's otherworldly. Like that's what he does is like, you can't even teach that.

But what you really should do is watch this guy. So like he's just glued to it. Trey Young, Trey Young, Trey Young, Trey Young. And so it's like, that's amazing how on Apple TV and YouTube he can watch hours of Trey Young, just all day long Trey Young. Like we used to have the video tape put in the thing and watch highlights and it wasn't like learning highlights,

it was just dunks and threes and whatever, right? So no, the information age in sports, and let's not even, I was on Instagram this morning and I saw a guy, you know how like you have a feed of people you follow but sometimes they throw somebody in there? I saw this dude in Minnesota training people. I'm like, I can't do that, but I need a guy

that could do that to work with my team, right? And I need that right there and I'll send him that and I'll say, take this guy, study the hell out of him and I want you to do this with my kids. Yeah, I see there's one guy up in New York. I see trains all these guys. I think Brady even went to him. Brickley, Chris Brickley, yeah.

I am like, I watch some of the guys, these drills are so fascinating and they're so awesome to watch the things they come up with and then see it translate, oh, they actually do that in the game. You know what I mean? You go from, we always used to say, you go from the classroom to the drill,

to the seven on seven, to the team period. No one sees those drills, the things that you do in order to execute at, in the, in the team periods, you know? So it's kind of similar watching these guys, they'll cut up like one little thing and they'll do it a million times. And then they perfect it and then it just, it- Has that changed in football?

Like, so like here's the big thing. So in basketball, it's the dribble to the gather. Like you can spin that ball or hold that ball out as long as you possibly can. As long as you don't put your hand underneath the ball or put two hands on the ball and you can take a thousand steps if you want, right? So the whole gather series,

like the float and gather is like kind of like James Harden. He puts the ball, he floats it and he goes, and then he shoots it, right? So he's like, it's okay if their hand's on top of the ball. So that's been a big change. Like, not many players, there were some, but not many back in the day did it. So now, like, when you talk about little kids,

like kids that can't even play, float the ball, high gather, low gather, power gather, right? Has there been a thing in football where you watch and say, man, there was nobody doing that and now everybody's doing it? For me, I think football, it's just, it's for the receiver position. I think it's their release game.

You know, the release is at the line of scrimmage. Got it. These guys, they have such a big tool belt now and they can practice, like, my release is, I would release and instinctively just go. They use it as like a weapon now, where they have a counter, they have a double,

they have a speed, they have a, you know what I mean? It's just, I think they're just, everyone's a technician now. Everyone's a technician now, and these big ass receivers, everyone get in and out of breaks. Like, you watch a guy like Jamar Chase or Justin Jefferson, those guys used to be guys that just went down the sideline.

Jamar Chase is 210, 15 pounds, 6'1", a tall 6'1", and he can get in and out of breaks like a little guy. That's the stuff you're starting to see here in the league. And then also the rule changes have allowed guys to play across the middle. It kind of happened in the middle of my career where you couldn't hit the guys like they used to. In the head, right? In the head, or just in general. Guys, we started farming this in the young kid sports. You start seeing in Pop Warner, where these guys are starting to see

your favorite guy that used to be a headhunter or a big hitter, he ain't even playing because he's suspended. And then the guy who's making the picks is getting paid hella money. So now DBs, they don't even go for the big hit as much. They go for an interception, because you get paid if you get interception.

So the whole game has changed, has become a space game, very similar to basketball. You know how the game is- More space is better, yeah. It's spaced now. Can I, I've always wanted to ask you this, and this is for all guys going over the middle. When you're going over the middle,

is that a feel that you know that there's a guy there or not there? So you know pre-snap what's gonna be the middle. When you're going over the middle, is that a field that you know that there's a guy there or not there? So you know pre-snap what's gonna be, the coverage. So I kinda know where guys are supposed to be from the look before the snap. Now there's a lot of variables when that happens, but if the quarterback comes late to you across the middle and you're on a 20 yard end,

and you're starting to get past those numbers, that's usually when you hit that middle field safety. So I can anticipate if I'm gonna get my clock cleaned. So it's a gut or you actually, when the ball's in the air, cause it's so slow for you, you can say, damn, I'm about to get hit. Well, I can know by the time, when the quarterback threw me the ball,

where the quarterback threw me the ball, that if the defense is where they're supposed to be, I could be getting hit. So you're preparing for that. You're not, yeah, you're prepared for it, but you know going into it, if you're gonna take one or not. Yeah, and you know when you're not.

Yeah, you know when you're not. You know when you're not. You know when you're going, you're gonna take one or not. Yeah, and you know when you're not. Yeah, you know when you're not. You know when you're not. You know when you're going, you're like, I'm gonna have a little bit of room here. Yeah, so a lot of it, when you see a lot of those big hits, sometimes it's receivers running through zones. You know what I mean? Because man coverage, you're not really gonna get a hit

unless there's a rat, a guy in the middle of the field who has no responsibility that's reading the quarterback's eyes or you're deep and you hit that middle field safety. So if man coverage, you beat your guy, you're good. But you always see these big hits because it's a young receiver running that like a bat out of hell through the zone waiting for and a guy's waiting for you. So you can kind of anticipate when you get older, you know where the soft spots of the zones are. And if you have a good report, the quarterback, he knows that as well. So you know, you're his eyes out on the field. Like I was a lot of times

I'd be Tom's eyes, he'd trust where I was going. And then, you know, he would throw me to where he wanted me to run. You know, So if he put it on this shoulder, he's saying, hey, there's a guy over here, let's go this way. I see, I see. So that's where the nuances come. Yeah, and when you watch that, you pick it up right away.

Like you're watching, ooh, young receiver. Oh, 100%. Or ooh, quarterback, didn't do him any favors there. Gotcha. You can see when a guy gets blown up, why he got blown up. So think about what I play with the players there, gotcha. You can see when a guy gets blown up, why he got blown up. So think about what I do with the Celtics, right? I love basketball, but it's really hard to explain

the nuances of what the game is and then try to make it so people can understand it. And it's funny how, it's a misconception about, every time I meet a football player, the misconception is like dumb football player. You guys are like the smartest people. Every single one of you guys. And the layers of what you know, I'm like,

you know when you were on layer three, four, five, like you know in the NBA we stop at two. It's like. Well it's just because, you know, when you play, when you play 16, 17 games, and you have a whole week to prepare for one game, just imagine, like what you said when you're going into playoffs,

you guys got that book. That's like that every week, because you can't slip up and have a three game skid in the NFL, your season's over. So you have to prepare for everything to put yourself in the position to go out and perform three hours on a Sunday the best of your possibility and then you have to dump it and go to the next week you know that's that's football how when you go to the playoffs is it oh it's even

more I mean it's the speeds are always like this you know you come in and in March and you got to organize team activities and you start working out for like six weeks with the team you work out you come in and then march and you got organized team activities and you start working out for like six weeks with the team. You work out, you're working on your speed, and then you guys start doing a little, you know, OTA where you're installing the offense and it's like a little faster because you now you have a guy across from you but you're still there's no pads that's like faster. Then you get to training camp and it's like a lot faster. Hit? Well not hitting but just the speed. And when you're feeling another guy on you,

you know what I mean? And when the ball's coming and all of a sudden, you're not getting hit, but the ball, you know if you would have got hit. So there's things flying around. Then you get to regular season when, you're not going against a guy who's not gonna make the team,

and it gets that much faster. And then you get to the playoffs every week that, you know, there's no business decisions anymore. Guys are going like bad out of hell trying to kill you. So it's, it's crazy, but it's, you know, that's why we like playing the game. For sure. For sure. We'll be right back after this quick break.

Hey, hey, hey, it's Rob Gronkowski here and I'm with my bro or my dude, Jules. And we are super excited to tell you about our new show, Dudes on Dudes. We're just regular dudes as well. Sometimes we can't read, sometimes we can't speak properly, but that's what dudes do. But Dudes on Dudes, seriously, who named this?

Anyways, we're spilling all the behind-the-scenes stories, crazy details, and honestly, just having a blast talking football. Every week, we're discussing our favorite players of all times, from legends to our buddies to current stars. And the best part, we're finally answering the age-old question, What kind of dudes are these dudes? Is Travis Kelce a stud or a freak? Is Tom Brady a dog or a dudes dude? We're

gonna find out. Every episode drops every Thursday during the NFL season. Those are some good questions right there Julian. We're gonna find out soon and watch us on YouTube. Listen wherever you listen to podcasts and of course follow us all over social media. So hit that subscribe button, follow us everywhere and join the dude party. You don't want to miss this dudes on dudes. Let's go. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. History is filled with strange, unusual, and unexpected stories.

Stories about people who have accomplished extraordinary things. Pets that have gone above and beyond. Events that have defied explanation. And I'd like to tell you about them. I'm Aaron Manke, and for the past six years, I've been sharing the most curious tales in history with millions of listeners around the world on my hit podcast, Cabinet of Curiosities. With well over 120 million downloads to date, listeners have been fascinated by such tales as the surprising country that invented the croissant, the stowaway turned hero who helped

capture a Nazi spy, and the wrestling champ who went on to win the White House. And now, finally, nearly 200 of these amazing stories from the podcast have been gathered into one book. Curious to know more? Pre-order Cabinet of Curiosities, available November 12th, wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Learn more over at GrimAndMild.com slash Curiosities. Hey, it's Mike and Ian.

We're the hosts of How to Do Everything from NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Each week we take your questions and find someone much smarter than us to answer them. Questions like, how do you survive the Bermuda Triangle? How do you find a date inside the Bermuda Triangle? We can't help you, but we will find someone who can. Listen to the How to Do Everything podcast on iHeartRadio. I'm Dr. Lorie Santos, host of the Happiness Lab podcast. As the US elections approach, it can feel like we're angrier and more divided than

ever. But in a new hopeful season of my podcast, I'll share what the science really shows, that we're surprisingly more united than most people think. We all know something is wrong in our culture, in our politics, and that we need to do better and that we can do better. With the help of Stanford psychologist Jamil Zaki, It's really tragic. If cynicism were a pill, it'd be a poison.

we'll see that our fellow humans, even those we disagree with, are more generous than we assume. My assumption, my feeling, my hunch is that a lot of us are actually looking for a way to disagree and still be in a relationship with each other. All that on the Happiness Lab. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Now this is a segment where we go back in time around the game. This was around May 14th, 2004.

Good year. And we go over pop culture. The number one movie was Troy. Brad Pitt. You see that? Yeah. Good movie. A little bit about the Trojan horse, I went to USC.

Hey, fight on. Fight on, fight on. AC, we're in the big 10 now. That's so weird to say. That's so weird to say. It's crazy. Yeah, and the quarterback makes eight million bucks. Yeah, whatever.

That's what, in 30 years, they're gonna go back, you know this quarterback was making eight million dollars in college. What a loser, he's making 40 now. Bum. Oh my God. Jesus. Oh my God.

There was a song was Yeah by Usher. I think we all. Classic. This was my high school. Oh my gosh. I was in high school here. I think that was like our prom song. No, you got, Usher got you a few assists in high school.

Oh, a bunch of assists. Bunches. And also a couple heartbreaks. You know what, you got usher got you a few assists in high school And also a couple heartbreaks, you got a bad bro, you got a bad oh you got it bad No way you were crying no way Shedding a real tear no way. Hey, no way. No way you turn into this shedding a tear You know We're not just dumb football players are sensitive guys No, you're probably like all right like like it's like are you dead? Well, you know what it's covered to now It's a cover three. I go to the nickel package. You had a backup plan. I know it. Let's find the soft spot in the zone I know it. Let's find the soft spot in the zone.

Oh my God. Oh, that's good. Oh, Kyler. What was the 2004 Scow like right now? Down this time. Oh my gosh. 2004. So like, I was year, so I went to school five years.

So let's see, I'm 20, oh my gosh. 24, 23, no, 23, 24, 25? So the game is just starting to slow down for me, right? Like there's a point, when you talk about the speed of the game, like when I first got into the NBA and some bullshit pre-season game, I felt like I was in the middle of a highway and it was going a million miles an hour.

I finally like kind of like started to carve out like who I am, what I am, this is what I do, trust my work and all that stuff. So just at that point, started to slow down. And I also recognize that I'm never gonna be at this, I'm really happy doing this, let me master my role and just, and like, let me see how far I can go with this particular role.

And I thought that was good. That gets a lot of guys right there. Lot of guys. You know, guys don't manage their expectations and it takes them out of the overall big picture of why you just want to be on a team. Yeah. You know so some guys, I mean I've seen it,

you know a guy thinks he should be here and he's worrying about you know what the coach is doing, he's worrying about this when you know if you just sit back and worry about what you have to do, that's when the great things happen. For sure, for sure. You know what I mean? It's so true.

I can fully... We had Jason Kidd on our team, right? And- Hey boy. That's right, baby. Alameda. Just think about this, like I had a really fast, I played in junior college as well.

I had a really fast team in junior college. I got really good at taking the ball out of bounds, right? Some simple thing like, ball goes through the net, like whether it be like a quarterback in there drops, you know, I could one, two and step on the line. As I step, I can release the ball, right? So some meaningless nothing, right? That I got a lot of practice on, it'll be played fast.

Well, all of a sudden I get drafted, Jason Kidd's on my team, that shit matters. And if I take the ball out and it goes to Kenya Martin for an alley-oop, like my coaches are gonna realize that it's a way of putting it like this. Let's say I was gonna play four and a half minutes. Let's say I take the ball out, I get it to Kidd and Kidd throws it to Martin.

That might buy me 30 seconds. Let's say in that 30 seconds, I grab a rebound and I knocked down a three. I just bought myself three more minutes, right? So I lived under, that was a year when I realized that I'm buying my time. Like I'm bidding on my minutes by my play. And if I didn't play well,

then I probably wouldn't go back in the second half. But the point is play well enough back in a second half. But the point is, play well enough to get a second half opportunity. You see, that's the difference between basketball and football. Like I was in that same situation, but that was during practice. Really?

Yeah, you know where, that's how you earned your opportunity. Because on game day, you're only dressing 46 out of 53. And if you don't do it in practice, if you don't take advantage of those opportunities, those in bounds or whatever in practice, and they didn't see you do it, they weren't putting you out on that fucking field. Wow.

You know what I mean? So wait a minute. How many possessions offensively in a football game, typically? There's usually about 60 plays. Okay, going into that, do they know? There's probably like 11, on a high, what is it, like seven to 11 possessions.

Per? Per side. So do you know how many you're getting? Like going in, you're like, I'm gonna get 40? You can anticipate, no, 40 what, plays? 40 plays. You could have a package. So if you're not a first, if you're not a guy,

like how I started, there was a four wide package where on third downs, you'd have Randy, Wes, Joey Galloway, they'd take the tight end out and they'd put me in, call four wide. So there may be five plays with that package that they could only use on third down. That was it. That was that was it. So you're on the sideline all game rooting for third down. I'm rooting for it. I hope Tom throws this shit in the ground so I can get in there for that

five white package. Say it, admit it. 100%. You're like yo I could really use a third down right now. You know how many times I saw Walker got, he'd get light, this is how tough he was. I saw him, like his helmet came off. I'm over here strapping him. I'm going in, hell yeah. The motherfucker can get back up. I'm like, fuck that.

No! How tough is he? Yo, we are certifiably tapped. We are tapped. Like that's just, I'm telling you. When Kenya Martin would punch somebody, Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, as the season goes each and every game. Oh yeah, it changes. You know what I mean? It's changing. So like, you know, we have to learn our team a lot through the practice. Okay.

And then in the games as well, but you know, you have to go out and do everything you can to win those. Which is, I heard you talking about that, it was crazy. Yeah, there's dirt he needs to hurt and law. Yeah, fucking floor wide. Let's get behind the chains, baby. Yeah. You can see, yeah, I bet you can watch you on the sideline.

Like you get a first down, a second, second and eight, you get a first down, you probably, fuck. Or, you know, punt return. Whatever, whatever. So there's, in football, there's a whole different, you know, if they, we punt, I could be out there. So you're sitting there cheerleading. The more you can do. The more you can do.

The more you can do. You got, it's a weird mindset. You gotta be like, you gotta wanna win. You gotta want the best for your team and all that, but you gotta be hungry to get that in there or else when you go in there, you won't do well. Yeah. And you gotta take advantage of that opportunity.

Cause I remember, early on I would struggle because I was used to being in the game as a quarterback in college, every fucking play touching the ball. You know, so your focus is, you're in the game, you can feel the momentum and the swings of the game. When I first got in the league, I'm playing like eight offensive plays. Like you fuck up one, you're like, oh,

you know what I mean? It's fucking life or death. And then you may not have been on the field for like 25 minutes. So then you got to go, you know, that's like a bench player. No, I know. It's tough. In 2003, 2004, in the sports world, the Pistons. They won that championship. We'll get into this right here.

Shadowing. KG was the MVP of the NBA. Stanley Cup winners were the Tampa Bay Lightning. Wow. They've done it a few times now. Yeah, they're great. They just went back to back. Do they like hockey in Florida? When they win, they do.

It's gotta be about free agents going down there and not paying no taxes. State taxes. Yeah, got it. Particularly with Canada has extra taxes too, so there's another advantage. LeBron James. I was like, he was drafted. I was at Kent when he was over there. Yeah, and was it six. I was in because I went to Kent State in Ohio. And he grew up in Akron, which is like right there. So like I felt that whole like aura of LeBron in that whole thing.

It was crazy, I went and bought his shoes. He's awesome, I mean, longevity. It's incredible. He exceeded expectations, he's a great guy, great businessman, I don't know. It's very rare to exceed hype because hype is hype. Hype is hype. But he exceeded it, and he still does. He's still hype is hype. Hype is hype. Yeah, it's like, but he exceeded it. And he still does.

He's still exceeding hype. Yeah. And not even just on the court, but like in life too. Everything. He elevates everything. Yeah. It's amazing. Barry Bond set the record for being intentionally walked four times in one game.

Did you watch baseball? I think I watched back in the day. That was when he was cranking home run. Cranking. And had a massive head. Yeah. New new era making that custom size 8.5 I'm the big Lance Armstrong fan too. Still am. After what he did he won man. I'm desperately trying to do a Tour de France stage as an episode here but it's not getting buy-in from the team what What do you mean? I love Lance. I like the tour de French.

Shout out, Tudy for Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah, and then Bethany, surfer Bethany Hamilton lost her arm to a shark attack. Soul surfer. You talked about her? A little bit. We just interviewed Larratt Hamilton.

You know that? Yeah, like the fitness guy. No, the fucking big wave surf guy. Yeah, he's a fitness guy too. He's been all that, he got his coffee and all that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, his the fitness guy. No, the fucking big wave surf Yeah, his coffee's great. Yeah surfer mentality man. Yeah, it's just those guys are they're crazy I know they were competitive but not against anyone else. Yeah, they're not they're very hyper competitive like Against the climate. Yeah, I know he invited Jules up to his spot in Malibu to do some Jalen Brown underwater weightlifting Yeah, he worked for Jalen Brown. I don't know. I just saw JB. Yeah, I know he invited Jules up to his spot in Malibu to do some Jalen Brown underwater weightlifting

Yeah, he works with Jalen Brown. I don't know. I just saw JB. Yeah, you know that stuff. I saw that stuff like Handstands. Yeah jumps. He does that he wants to come do it with him that I Was looking at all this stuff like I wish I would have done that cuz it's not there's no impact No on your legs and you can still work on explosion and keep that nervous system popping. I don't know if it's plays in football, but basketball, a lot of guys don't know how to breathe. And I think that one part of that

is learning how to control. Like you're in, so if you're doing handstands into this and that, obviously you can't breathe when you're underwater. So controlling your breath over the course of 82, 103 offensive possessions in a game, you have to be able to like learn how to breathe. All those moments and stuff like that.

I work with so many kids, you'd be surprised how many hold their breath when they do things. It's like guys, guys, like you have to learn, teach yourself how to breathe because it's a long game. It's a really long game here. And if you're not, when the ball goes out of bounds, you're not taking two or three deep breaths,

when there's a free throw, you're not catching your breath, you're not doing any of that, eventually your body just wears out. Wears out and then fourth quarter, you're gonna get tucked. You're toast, yeah. I'm a big Jaylen Brown fan. Like his, I loved his approach. He always believed that he was gonna be great.

And he always, he wouldn't just talk, he worked. And so, that's all I care about when it comes to my athletes that I like and look up to. Are you a worker? Are you doing, you might have a good game, a bad game. You might do this and that on the court, off the court, but like, if you have a consistency with your work, I like, I look at that and say like, that's something that you should follow.

That, this is a job. Yeah, for sure. You know, we were getting paid a lot of money to do something we love. Yeah. Why not do the most you can? For sure. And out here, I do feel like it's different.

Sports are different. Like there is a sense that you have to, it's okay, there's two things. There's the fans that go in the current climate of the sports in the New England area. And there's also like the people of the past who have done it before, and you have to live up to that legacy.

So there's two things going on. So it takes yourself like a little bit out of the equation. I really felt this year, and I think Coach Joe Mazzullo did a really good job of it, is he made it about the Celtic legacy, the Celtic fans, and the New England area. And when you start playing for things more than yourself and you work for things more than yourself,

then I think you get further than just working for yourself. Yeah, that's very well said. That's very well said. I mean, when I got here, I just hated fucking hearing Belichick talk about the other three Super Bowls they won before we won. So I was like, fuck that.

How often? Like daily? On the daily? It wouldn't be daily, but he'd always show an example, you know, of like, if there's a tackle, a TG pool play, and we didn't, you know, blow it up the right way. He'd bring it, you'd think Bruce Kee did it like that, he'd throw it, you know what I mean?

And you know, so, but there is is that standard and there's that legacy, especially in this city, for sure. You know, in this area that you have to live up to. For sure. You know. All right, Jackie, let's set the stage. All right. We're going to get into these pistons. It's game time, baby. All right. This was a Pistons team that went 54 and 28.

First year of the Larry Brown era up there in Detroit. Got swept by the Nets in the previous playoffs the year before and they had the second overall pick this year Darko baby it was the Wallace trade yeah she was a difference maker yeah turn the turned him around started the year 33 and 16 struggled a little bit in February but then got new life when Rashid came on over, won 16 and 19 after that trade. Tough defense, like those bad boys teams always got, this is an all time tough guy team too, I feel like. Yeah, when they hit their stride,

it was the best defensive team I've ever played against. Man. But it was like, they were just, they had everything you could want in a defensive team and they were smart, they were physical, like they had guys coming off the bench. So going, like at time when they got Rasheed Wallace, it took a little bit of time,

but once they hit their stride, I think they had a stretch of games where they didn't give up more than 80 points. It was like 17 games in a row or some crazy number. And we were two of those games. So these guys were so good and the thing that they did were really difficult to go against. No, I mean, this is a team of like,

we were watching the tape back, Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Tayshon Prince, Ben Wallace, Rashid Wallace. Like this is a classic Pistons era team. I mean, this classic, they won a championship. Yes. This was a crazy era. And then, could you see Larry Brown evolve this team

in the year that you saw that as well? Yeah, Larry Brown's like a teacher and he loves defense and it was like perfect. And you could tell the players love Larry Brown. And so when you have a hard ass coach and the players run through a wall for him, that's a dangerous thing to go against. Because there's a lot of hard asses where the coaches,

the players can check that shit out, right? But these guys, for whatever reason, they love Larry Brown. And so it was, and he's a good coach, he's a tough coach, and he loves to teach. I did all the pre-draft workouts, I went to 27 pre-draft workouts, I did some twice. I learned more about basketball

and that Larry Brown pre-draft work. It wasn't like he was working us out to evaluate our talent, he just can't help himself. Like he wants to teach the game. And that was when it was in 01 and he was with Philly at the time. Yeah, with Iverson. Yeah.

I mean, it's crazy, I think Larry Brown been coaching since 1960 something, like 65 and was coaching Memphis with Penny up until a couple of years ago. Lifer, man. Lifer. That's one of those coaches for life. And speaking of coaches,

this team had two future head coaches, Darwin Ham with the Lakers and Hubert Davis with UNC. So more names on this team. Yeah. Wow. Smart dudes. So we were talking, you said Rashid Wallace was like there. He was the final piece that made it go.

It's like, don't, I could be wrong. Tell me if I am, but middle linebacker of you guys, right? Like in the middle linebacker kind of sets a tone, like he tells, he has to recall the plays and he says formation, he says this is what's going on, like Richie Wallace has got a great mouth, he's like, if he's back in the back line, he knows everything that's going on

and he's talking about it. He ain't just quiet or anything like that. He's cerebral, he's smart, he stays ahead of the game. And so if you were gonna run a sideline pick and roll, he'll be like, sideline pick and roll, watch pin down weak side. So you're, think about you're a guard, you're facing that way, I'm Rashid Wallace,

I'm telling you, like, hey, sideline pick and roll, Jules is gonna be a pin down, just stay on his hip. And the play would happen and he would do it like that. And that would be every single play. And then when a play did break down, he's gifted enough to get up there, block a shot, get a rebound. So it's just him defensively, it's a difference maker.

Ben Wallace is really good. But Ben Wallace is more like he's raw and he's good. He can block a shot and a rebound, he's tough. Shee Wallace is like, and Garnett's a little bit like this. He's like, they're spitting out the coverages and they're spitting out what's happening before it happens. And when you're going against guys like that, you just gotta be good.

Like you're just, you're not gonna get open, you're not gonna get tricked, you're not gonna, you just gotta be nasty. You gotta be able to make a play when things like, you know, go to shit. Yeah. I mean, playing in a locker room, Scowl, like I know it's years later,

but with KG and Rashid Wallace, how the heck was that? So Rashid Wallace that year was phenomenal offensively, and he could carry a team early on, he was coming off the bench, but you got the true sense of it in the playoffs. When the playoffs rolled around, I was like, whoa, this guy,

these two guys are on a different level, right? And that was a year that we kind of sucked from Christmas day to the end of the season. And then those two guys just owned the defense. And Kendrick Perkins was back there too, was really good defensively. So they're the reasons why we kind of coached it all the way to the finals.

And then Perk got hurt and we ended up not winning in 2010, but those guys and Garnett's an everyday guy, but Rasheed Wallace and the levels that he went to is a big reason why. And the levels that that group went to is a reason why we got back to the finals. I still think if Perk didn't get hurt, we're winning that thing.

Yeah, I mean, Lakers deserved it. Like they came out, they rebounded the ball, they did what they needed to do, but no, that was a great series. That was- All-timer. I went to that series. That was when I first got here.

Damn. It was interesting to see, I think one guy in particular, Palgasol, in 2008, he just wasn't ready for it. You could tell, I don't know if he was intimidated by Garnett, he just wasn't ready. But the Palgas And you could tell, like, I don't know if he was intimidated by Garnett, he just wasn't ready. But DePauw Gasol, he won a championship next year

and then he's coming back to play us, that was a completely different guy. And like, at the time, I could be pissed about it, but you gotta show respect. When a guy gets destroyed and comes back and avenges his demons, I got nothing but love for that, man. Even though it cost us a championship

and whatever it was, but like, respect to him, man. That's not an easy thing to do. When you get your ass whooped by a guy, like it's not easy to come back and like eventually avenge what happened. It's not, it's not easy. No, a lot of people just, most people just walk away. Or they just can.

Or they just like, you always gonna have their number. I'll tell you what, in this game, before Mr. Big Shot, Chauncey Billups and all that stuff, Jason Kidd owned him. And when they got Rasheed Wallace, the tide shifted a lot. You can look at, we swept them, you can just watch that matchup. Kidd owned that matchup.

But from this point on, and I wanna say like in particular, it felt like this year and this game, like from that point on, like Phillips like did his thing against Kid. But before that, it was like a drastic difference between the two. Kid was getting up in age too.

Yeah, he had the knee. Yeah, he wasn't a young kid. We were playing him 10 years earlier and fucking hoop it up and shit. Or what was it, NBA Jam or shit when he was with the Phoenix. I played hoop it up one year in Oakland. You like it? Yeah, we went to the finals and got to it.

What's your hoop game like? Football player playing hoop. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. Aggressive. Gotcha. All right, gotcha. Aggressive. Gotcha. All right, Jackie, break down these nets. Yeah, these nets, another awesome defensive team, 47 and 35.

Jay Kidd, of course, signed the extension before the season. Also had Alonzo morning, but had to hang it up shortly into the season with the kidney condition. But he stayed on the bench all year, right? Ooh, I'm not sure if he was there at the end. Okay, because I feel like he was in street clothes on the bench for this one, but. Maybe he was. I had a triple chin.

Maybe he was. But more resilient in this team with changing head coaches after 42 games. Byron Scott got fired and they were running Lawrence Frank. I like Byron, I like Lawrence, but I was like, it was our third year together, two finals, and now there was starting to see some cracks in the armor, right, whatever it was.

We were just a 500 team and whatever the reason, you could see 22 and 20, and they decided to make a coaching change. I've never been around a coaching change, let alone in the NBA. When a coach comes in, in the middle of a fucking season. He was the assistant coach. So is he just running the same shit you guys are running?

Yeah, just a little bit more counters. Lawrence is really prepared. He was really prepared. He kind of took over and like, if just our scouts were longer, everything was like that, right? And I think, you know, like I liked the simplicity in which Byron Scott coached that.

Like he really wanted to get the ball to the kid and run. Really wanted to run the offense simply and just like make plays, you know? Like I liked that, I liked that a lot. We started 14 and 0, right? But after that we were just 500, you know? So we just had a really good, like we really perked up. 14 and 0 is hard to do. Especially if you had a really good, we really perked up. 14 and 0 is hard to do.

Especially get a new coach, it's hard to do. But we were battle tested, Richard Jefferson was coming to his own, Kenyon Martin was awesome. I think really what this came down to and the reason why we lost, I think a lot of it had to do with this game and we went to triple overtime

and Kid's knee, he just couldn't recover after game five. Like he just wasn't the same guy in six and he really wasn't the same guy in seven. Dude, you got knee problems on that hard court? Yeah. That's a lot. Yeah, cause you gotta play both ends.

Not even, but just the impact. Yeah. You know what I mean? You can't like, like you can't go to the sideline when the defense is on the field and like get it right. Yeah. You know what I mean? You can't like, you can't go to the sideline when the defense is on the field and like get it right. You know, or activate some muscles. Like you're just in the game. You're in.

Now, can you, for our Gen Z listeners, can you sum up how this net team was? What was their like comp now? Who's their team comp now? Cause I mean, you guys went to the finals last year. Well, like early on we were a fast breaking team. Like, so you could say we were like the Phoenix Suns back in the day, right?

But we were a good defensive team. That kind of like stuck, like we were really versatile and switchable. So that's good in the league. So you don't have to be in rotation. And then offensively, we just get the ball to the kid. So it'd be rebound kid and go. So we'd get a lot of easy baskets in transition.

Kittles was a flyer, Jefferson was a flyer, Kenyon Martin was a flyer. We just had guys like that. So that kind of summed up the team. Not a great half court team, not a great executing team. Just didn't shoot it well enough, didn't execute well enough, whatever the reason, but really good in transition and really good defensively.

Create steals, create havoc, create turnovers and go. Yeah, what are these New Jersey fans like? How is that prudential? That's funny, it started out nothing, and as it became a thing, like they would show up for the playoffs. But when they showed up for the playoffs, it was loud. You know, they were great, but it wasn't,

like I remember playing in the games, and I first got there, it'd be like 5,000 people there. And like, you never see 5,000 people in an NBA game. I mean, I don't care how bad you are. We have the best record in the league, and it just starts to pick up. So it's just a different, we were at the Continental Airlines Arena,

like right by MetLife, some shopping mall now or something like that, and so, but yeah, you just don't see half full arenas anymore, so I think that's kind of started, but Kid was great to watch, and I think people liked watching us play because we were fast, that's what they liked about it. Richard Jefferson, man.

This is young Richard Jefferson too. He was a flyer like you said. Pac-10 guy, Arizona, right? He went to Arizona? He did. Pac-12 now. How sad is that? Pac-12 gone?

Pac-2 now. Pac-on? Once you go to college and start, and it's not just the institutions, the money, the players, it's like, it's not college anymore. It's pro, it's pro, it's pro. Kids are staying in high school for like six years

and then going to prep school just so they can get some NIL money when they get there because like some 18 year old kid is not getting NIL money. So it's way different now. But no Pac-12, RIP, I'm a West Coast kid, loved it, loved watching. When I got out here, I'd put on12, RIP, I'm a West Coast kid, loved it. Loved watching, when I got out here, I'd put on fucking, you know, a Pac-12 game that started at 10, 11 o'clock at night.

Bill Walton's over here talking about fucking mushroom. We love Bill, baby. We love Bill. I love Bill Walton. I mean, that's the reason I watch. He's great. RIP, you got any Bill Walton stories? Yeah, because Bill was a friend

because he would come and do all the games, right? So we'd get to know him and then, funny thing, one time I was at All-Star and we interviewed Bill Walton, right? So like this interview has been great. We're going back and forth. You say something, I say something. But Bill would say, so Bill, how is,

man, my life is so great. It's the greatest life I've ever had. At this point in time, I couldn't live a greater life than this. And I think back to the days of John Wooden and his life, it was great and he made my life great. And he just went off for like 27 minutes. Yeah, your Bill Walton impression is amazing.

That is amazing. That is amazing. It was just. That is fucking Bill Walton. And you're like, what was it like playing in Boston? Boston is the greatest city to ever have a basketball team. And I never, ever thought I would ever finish a season. I finished a season two times. In both those times, I was blessed enough

to win a championship, and one of them was right here in Boston. It's easy. The easiest interview ever is, and you have to interrupt him, you have to be like, wait till he stops, and be like, Bill, tell me about this guy. He'll just go on to the next question.

He was great. He's like, you know what you do? You interview him, and you go away and be like, man, I gotta be happier. Like I just gotta be a happier dude. 100%. That's why I love to listen to him. I'm getting bitched at work all day,

throwing Pac-12 games, listening to Bill Walton. Miss him, bro. When did this white mamba nickname come along? Oh my gosh. So I was in Chicago, right? And the guy who does my job for the Celtics is Stacey King. And so what I did, Koby had this commercial where he's just like, there's this car going down the street

and he jumps over a car. I don't know if he did or didn't, but that's what it looked like, right? So, and I loved his shoes. Like I just, all I hooked in is Koby's, right? I loved them. I trained in them. Yeah, they're great.

Phenomenal, right? So I came and made a pair and they're like, they got like a snake skin on them. Right now everyone's wearing, I think they're the Kobe sixes. And so I made them, they're white, white snake skin, couple of laces, red. I was playing for the Bulls.

I slapped them down on the card table in the plane. I don't know what kind of planes you guys fly in, but we have card tables, right? People face each other, slap them down. Like, man, he has a white Mamba 1.0s, right? That's all I said. Then I take them and I go to the back. So that game, we fly to DC.

I have a good game. And Stacy King just goes off like, oh, the white Mamba, the man, the myth, the legend. Like, this is the white Mamba. And by the time I got back to Chicago, like white mamba was hysteria. Like there were t-shirts, there were giant heads with like a snake body, like, you know,

cause it was like a thing, like put me in a game at the end of the game, right? And the only thing I really regret, I don't regret a lot, but I do regret this. Like when I was here in Boston and the crowd would cheer for me to go in, I didn't like embrace it. I was always like, you know,

like you guys should be cheering for Garnett and all this stuff, right? But I knew I was getting up there in age, so in Chicago, man, I really embraced it. Like I didn't care what the score was. I was going out there to get a bucket, right? I'm getting a bucket for the people. I'm shooting a bad shot.

I'm telling the best player, yo, clear out, yo, set me a screen right here. Like I'm going all bucket for the people. I'm shooting a bad shot. I'm telling the best player, yo, clear out, yo, set me a screen right here. I'm going all in on this. And I'm like, you gotta give the people what they want. So then Thibodeau will be walking up and down. He's always gruffy. And he would look back and I'm like, we up 20. Let's go.

Come on, man. These people, they're gonna keep booing you until you put me in. I'm all in on it, right? That is something I would never do, never do before, right? But now I'm like, man, you got it. This is, like you have to understand the people wanna see me at the end of game.

They don't care about Derrick Rose at that point. This is what it's about. Victory formation, scowl in. Exactly. Victory formation. Exactly, exactly. And then like he'd look at the score. I'm like 22 if you didn't know how to do the math. It's easy. Now put me in. It's such an epic. It's an epic nickname. I love using it too. Yeah, that's good. So good. Jackie, let's get the game. Leading up to this game. We touched on it a little bit bit earlier But the Nets swept the Stefan Marbury Knicks in the first round the Pistons got by the Bucks 4 to 1 Starberry shout out Starberry and then they they each they held court at home Pistons won the first two in Detroit 80 82 to 60 at halftime that's a halftime score

That is gnarly. Oh my gosh. So you see how, like we, a lot of people going into the games are like, man, we can't beat this team, right? Cause we had 56 points and 80 points, but then we bounced back, right? So that's where we're at right now. I know it's a different era

and it's pre the proliferation of threes, but holding a team to 56 points in an NBA game is just like, I know I's a different era and it's pre the proliferation of threes but holding a team to 56 points in an NBA game is just like, I know I'm thinking nowadays. But if you watch the playoffs and you watch when the refs allow physical play, everyone, it's fine. I know that the players now are better. I'm not stupid. Everybody knows they're better.

And talk about escapes or whatever it is, right? But when you watch, if the refs call a physical game, the score's not gonna be like this. But they're gonna be under 100 points. Because physical play leads to like a grimy game. You don't sprint up the floor, it's harder to get open. Like there's a lot that goes into it. And so back then, game was physical, so it's hard to score.

And I think I like it. I'd rather watch 78, 80 than watch 140, 135. That's just me though. Like I'm going up and down, jacking up shots. It's fine, but I like watching physical play and everything being hard and tough and difficult Just like when when you guys want to play and you get five yards, that's a big play It's like man. We had to work hard for that five yards

We have to work hard for buckets when we score 56 points and lose 78 56. Yeah, they're both getting paid. Yeah You're gonna get pros Buckets here no possession off. No easy button here. No possessions off. No easy buckets. Should we get into the game a little bit here? Let's go. All right. So we start off, this thing was back and forth, pretty much all game, especially in the first

half. Again, another one of these, these halves we were talking about, 44 to 43 at the half. The nets are behind. Then we fast forward to the fourth quarter when the action really gets going. The 80s nets are up 87 85 with 13 seconds left. Miss three out of four free throws. I know you got the big Richard Jefferson block right before that that kind of looks like it got iced it. And then Chauncey comes down and nails a 43 footer at the buzzer. Yeah. So going into up to this

point, right, I played in the first half. Right, you had five, right. And I got four points. Yeah, and by the way, that's my role. I'm good with that. And I played really well against the Knicks, and now, I made two buckets, so I'm like,

I did my job, right, and if everyone is good and healthy, I'm not playing in the second half. That's just how it goes, right? And then you keep going and the Chauncey Billups, we're about to ice the deal. All we gotta do is make one free throw and Chauncey Billups is a half court shot. Now we're going to overtime.

And I'm well aware of the fouls. Just like you're well aware of the third downs, right? So I'm well aware of the fouls and I'm like, all right. So I gotta stay locked in and I'm ready. But I'm not scared. I'm like, I'm not scared of the moment and it's game five and I'm not scared of the magnitude of it. And I'm not scared of the Pistons or a Beast,

like it's hard to score on them. I'm like, if this does, now I'm not rooting for Kenya Martin or Rodney Rogers or Aaron Williams to get in foul trouble. At this point, I'm not rooting for them, but I'm ready if it does happen. Yeah, you got it. That's why you have to have that mindset.

For sure. Eight guys fouled out in this game. Yeah. Physical. Physical. Physical. That's a scrappy match. Yeah.

Oh, big time. And this is just the end of regulation. We got three overtimes left. Get to the third overtime. The big three. We got three over times left. Get to the third over time. The big three at the corner, 41 seconds left. Scow nails it to put the nail in the coffin, baby. So let me rewind a little bit. Let me tell you.

So I think it was Rodney Rodger. This is the funniest shit, right? This is the funniest shit. Rodney Rodgers fouls out, right? And Lawrence Frank, who I love Lawrence, right? He's on my ass, but I'm back, like, he was my assistant coach. When I got drafted by the Nets,

he was the one working with me and watching film together and riding me every day, right? Now he's the head coach, right? So Lawrence Frank looks down the bench, right? And I'm like, Kenyon's out, Aaron, like, Rodney Rogers just fouled out. There's no one left, right? And I'm like, Kenyon's out, Aaron, like Rodney Rogers just fouled out. There's no one left, right? And I'm playing like really good ball.

Like I played well against the Knicks. I played, I'm two for two in this game. Like there's no one else. He looks down at me and he goes, fuck. He was pissed. I was like, that's all I got is Scalabrini. So I was like, I was like, that's all I got is Scalabrine. So I was like, I was heated. I got fucking heated at that point.

I got up and I was like, when I talk about heated, I was, because in my mind, I'm thinking, so I played well against the Knicks, I'm two for two in this game, there's nobody else. And if you don't believe in me now, you ain't never gonna believe in me, because I don't know if I could play any better than this. I'm two for two in this game, there's nobody else. And if you don't believe in me now, you ain't never gonna believe in me because I don't know if I can play any better than this. I'm being honest.

Like I was cut from the ninth grade in high school. Like I'm not sure that I can play any better than what I'm doing right now. So if you don't like me now, then you just don't like me, right? So I got up, I was heated. So I go into the game. And this whole overtime performance, my sole focus was fuck Lawrence Frank

for not believing in me. So I am killing the Pistons with corner threes and everything, and I gotta be honest with you. I went and watched, I didn't see none of them guys out there. I didn't see none of the defense out there. I'm knocking down threes and every time I'm flexing, I'm looking and I'm thinking in my mind, like this motherfucker didn't believe in me.

How are you not gonna believe in me? So this performance was because? My coach didn't believe in me. Freaking Lawrence Frank, bro. When I was playing, when I was playing. And it was your guy. No, it would be like. Or are you making this?

No, no, no, no, he knows about it. And that's my boy, he's my boy now. And I told him the story, he cracks up, right? But like, it'll be like, you got your break. You caught like, I don't know, eight passes in a game. And then third and long came and they just like, nah, you ain't going in the game. You're like, what the fuck?

This is what I do. Dude, the sign at Amandola? That was my career. My rookie year, I ball out in the playoff game, Walker Towers ACL. Yeah, that's right. And so I balled out. I had two touchdowns at like eight catches.

We got our fucking teeth kicked in by the Ravens that year in the first round. All off season, I'm sitting there like, like you're saying, oh, I'm playing the best. I'm sitting there like, like you're saying, oh, I'm playing the best. I'm gonna be a fucking baller. I'm gonna have so many more opportunities. I had seven catches for the next two years.

I was so fucking pissed. Someone had to murder someone, a back injury, and some broken groins for me to get my goddamn opportunity. But I never let it go. No, no, but that was like like that you had to be thinking like, dude, you had to think in your mind. I don't know if I can play any better

than what I'm doing right now. I know that coach hate fire. Oh yeah, it's real. It's real. It's real. You look like I know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So this whole, like everyone thinks it's the Pistons.

And by the way, if it was the Pistons, maybe I would have bricked all those shots, right? But it wasn't. It was like the fact that, like I didn't think, like really in my mind said like, I don't know if I can fucking play any better than what I'm doing. Like I am shooting the shit out of the ball right now, right?

My release is fast. I don't know if I could play any better. And when he did that, it was like this crazy fire, goose bumps, like, you motherfucker right now. I'm gonna, I am, this, I'm gonna go off right now. What if he, what if he Jedi mind tricked you and did that on purpose? No, I asked him, he said, I didn't even know I did it.

Yeah. He didn't even know that he was like, I got to put you in the head. See, he should have owned it. See, come on coach. You should have said, I did that on purpose because I know I've been working with you. You play better fucking angry.

Yeah, there's no doubt about that. There's no doubt about that. So when I knew, let me tell you, when like this was the, in there, there was this fun moment, right? So and you know like when you play when things are fucking slow It's you feel like your flash Gordon's own Superman or something like that so so kid drove to the basket and it's weird because your mind It thinks in normal speed. You don't actually think slow your mind thinks but like the seconds take like five seconds

So kid threw the ball at it like and I had the ball I was like ready to catch it while the ball was in the air. I could see the seams, right and I looked up at the clock and I could see the clock switch from two and almost like it like you could see it switch to one like that. And I go, damn, I gotta shoot this quickly. Like I'm not gonna have time to catch it, drop it and shoot it. So I'm just gonna catch it high and shoot it.

So I caught the ball in the air and I shot it. So I caught it and I shot it and the ball rattled out brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrr rrr r r r r r r r r r r r r r r and then that happened. So like whatever happened to my mind, like and I think like the studs, the Jordans, the studs, like I think that's how they live. And that's why they do the things that are impossible. And it makes it look easy to them because I think like everything they do is in slow motion. Yeah, so I experienced that too,

the highest level one time. Other times I've done some things, but that was like, I could not believe the way that that transpired. And that was when I just shut it off and just went off. Scott, I remember having that zone in basketball in high school once. Did ya? I swear to God.

Just one of those days where anything you were shooting, everything was, and I was on like the Frosch Soft team, like shitty team, JV team. But I remember just shooting and like you said, I saw the seams of the ball when it rotated. I remember doing that a couple times. That was the- What about in football, same?

Oh yeah, well I've been in the zone a few. Do you, does the spin, like for me it looks like it's spinning. It's fast. But for you it's hit. Yeah, you try to look at the star. You know, the very tip of the point of the ball. Really? You try to look at that.

I felt that zone in Super Bowl 53 where like I just felt everything. Any route I moved, I was bopping everyone. They were changing matchups on me. So I was, you know, routing up different guys. Ball, like when you pluck the ball and you're, it just, I've felt that a few times. That's like the most euphoria you could ever have.

I totally agree. You know, when you're in that and you're just, it's like a superhero. For sure. You feel like you're in a superhero. Yeah, yeah. That's the best. It's the best.

Now, Jack, let's get back in. Heck yeah. So to wrap this thing up, final score 127, 120. Scow drop nine in OT. RJ finished with 31. Scow finished with 17. And we go back to Jersey up three to two. Trying to close this thing out. Yeah, and then it all went away. I'm sorry, Scow. I would tell you right now. Like what happened is I made the scouting report and I didn't see the hoop for the next

Two games like like every time I caught the ball. It was like they were right there. So that's that was it No, I was like I couldn't even see the hoop. I couldn't see the hoop I was an afterthought and then I became like a featured guy and it was literally like I caught it and I became like a featured guy and it was literally like, I caught it and all I saw was people in my face. And by four minutes of that, I was back to being on the bench. Man. And we had a decent lead.

We had a decent lead in that game, but they just chipped away. This game in game six, for like five minutes, no one scored. No one scored. It was just back and forth, miss, in game six, for like five minutes, no one scored. No one scored. It was just back and forth, miss, miss, miss, miss. No one could score. And then Richard Hamilton drives left,

pump fake, pump fake, pivot, pump fake, pump fake, pivot, pump fake, shoots it over Jason Kidd up by six. That was it. And then game seven, we got smoked. Remember that was Rip? Rip. That's your boy.

I know, I saw Rip at a concert recently. Yeah. Well, he went to UConn. Yeah. So he's like a big Pats fan, I guess. Oh! Yeah, he would always say that him and Brady used to hang out here and there

when they won the ship this year. Got it! What was that concert? It was me, it was some rap con, what was it? I forget, but he was cool as fuck. Yeah, Rip is, I he was cool as fuck. Yeah, RIP, I played with him in Chicago. Yeah, real laid back, real laid back.

Man, RIP. And then, oh, go ahead, Scott, sorry about that. I was just saying, like, later on, we ended up with Boston and played him, and you know, Ray Allen, RIP Hamilton, both from UConn Battles, and both guys come off screens, and I mean, Ray Allen was just fried, like his whole arms

were just like ripped, like just nails and scratches and like those guys were just, not only, it's different like, those guys gotta run around screens, they gotta chase each other around screens but then when you do get an open shot, you gotta knock that thing down. You gotta knock it down.

Yeah, that's a hard thing to do. It's kind of like the field goal. It reminds me of a Last shot situation we call it in football Okay It's it's where you have the ball before half and you're trying to suck down as much time as you can off the clock So you can get that ten point swing you kick the field goal, you know We'd always say, you know great job of executing taking off the time But it all doesn't mean anything unless you make the kick.

Gotcha. You know what I mean? Got it, got it, got it. It's like that, like the shot. You do all the work for the shot, gotta make the shot. Yeah. Gotta hit it, maybe you gotta get around all those screens, gotta get to your spot, gotta knock it down.

But the pistons would go on. What's up? Jason Kidd and his knee heads. I know, man. I remember that man. He had the micro fracture. Yeah. You put the holes in, the marrow bleeds through

and you create a new cartilage. It's like, he ended up having a long career. I played 20 some years, right? But you should see, he'll tell you like, he does his preparation, the Al Horford thing that we were talking about earlier, just about I gotta get in every day and do my preparation to play.

And it does, as you get older, you spend a lot more time just preparing yourself just to play 20 minutes. You gotta work so much harder when you get older. Yeah, but you're smarter. Yeah. I mean, that's what I, they tried to give me a microfacture surgery. That why I retired because I was 34 years old you had no I

Saw my the whole medial side of my knee wore out Yeah, and so I tore the root of my meniscus and that's what holds the meniscus down. Uh-huh. They were like This was before that my last season. They're like we can go in and we can give you microfracture surgery. It's a 12 month recovery, or you can try to play with pain. I tried to play with pain. And then after that I had to hang it up. It was bad.

Yeah. Was it hard for you at first? Yeah, I mean, yeah. It was definitely hard because you're so accustomed to the routine, the life. I mean, we've had the same life since we were eight years old, where you go to school, you come home,

you go to practice, you eat dinner, you do it again. Now the school's replaced with football school where you're installing and it's that kind of, but I've had that same life. So, of course you get, I was hurt, but I was also emotionally and physically exhausted after that year where I couldn't even walk until Friday the next week.

And then I had to get up to play Sunday and then the anxiety of having the standard that you've put out on the field for five, seven years at that point when I was in my prime to like, you don't even look like the same guy on the film. I mean, so I was like so beat up mentally and my ego was hurt and there was actual pain. Where like, as soon as I retired, I was like, it was like something got lifted off of me.

You know, I was content. We won three Super Bowls, I had a Super Bowl MVP. I exceeded everything I ever thought I could do, you know? So I was cool with that and content with that. But I like hated the game for like the first year out, you know, just because I felt like shit. Like it eats you up and it spits you out, like you know what I mean?

You felt worse than you felt playing? Yeah. Holy shit. And then it wasn't until I started feeling good, my body started, and that's when I started missing the game. So it was like a year and a half, two years later, then you're like, you go up on the field and I'm kicking the ball around my daughter.

I'm like, oh, I still got, I still fucking run. You know, I mean, I do miss that shit. You know what I mean? But it was crazy. Do you miss it? No, I had like, mine was different. Like, so I wasn't good enough, right? Like I wasn't probably good enough the last four years

I played, but somehow I got a job, right? But then I had some opportunities to go play overseas, and then, you know, I'm very opportunistic in life, right? So, and I just do things. You guys, Aidan sets this up, I'm gonna do it. Like, I don't know, this could turn into something, and it's gonna be great. Or if I can, this night, I could just chop it up with you.

Like, I don't know, it's just how life is for me, right? So Tommy Heinschen was getting up there in age when he was doing the Celtic games, and I know he wasn't traveling, so I'm talking like the day I lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, Derek Rose tears his ACL. We were set to play the Celtics in the second round of the playoffs.

Like we were a one seed, they were a four, five. They won, we won, we were supposed to play. I had all my boys lined up, like, yo, we're gonna hang out, this is what we're gonna do, I'm gonna come into town, I got the game, but it is what it is, right? And so we lost. So I was like, man, I still wanna hang out with my boys.

So I called NBC and said, no, I wanna work the series. I know your team and I know the 76ers. So I had the TV gig that was available and so I started doing that and I liked it. I was pretty good at it. You know, just, I kept it real. It's basketball, whatever, right? And so I had that opportunity.

I could have went overseas and then my wife was pregnant with, at that time would be my son, third kid. And she just basically told me I'm not going overseas. So I'm like, well, I got this job that I like, but I'd rather keep playing because of my ego. It was all ego. It wasn't logical. It was just all like, nah man, I'm a hooper.

This is what I do. But the smartest decision I've ever made, like this thing could last for 40 years, right? And I'm glad, I like it. And I went around just playing hoop everywhere. So I was hurt at first that I had to stop and I was like angry that I had to stop. But then I know the hoop was good.

And then I'll tell you what happened, second year I take a job with the Golden State Warriors and I started playing pickup with them. And on Monday, those guys play four days, Monday through Thursday, and they take the weekends off and they come back. Monday, I was nice, like I held my own. I was hanging with Steph Curry and David Lee

and Draymond Green, I was holding my own. But then Thursday rolls around, I can't move. You know? And those guys are getting better, and I'm like, whoa man, like I can't, I literally cannot move my feet at all. And so that was when I was like, whoa, man, I literally cannot move my feet at all. And so that was when I was really content, content with the whole thing.

I'm not even good enough to play. Before that, I thought I was, but playing against those guys, I was really knowing I'm not good enough. I can't do it. It's just, even if I wanted to, it would be too hard. And then you got that There's that place that you were just talking about the amount of work

It takes just to be fucking average by horse just to know just to fucking suck It was like I'd have to dedicate eight hours a day just to be a 12th man on a team Like it's not worth it like do something else. That's exactly how it was for me. Jackie, wrap it up. Yeah, so the Pistons go on to beat the Lakers in the NBA Finals. Scow spends his next season with the Nets then comes over to the Celtics.

Celtics. Yeah, that's right and wins an NBA title. Fuck yeah. Yeah, I went on a stretch there. In college, I lost to Duke. Then we went to the Finals, lost to the Lakers. Then we went went to the finals, lost to the Lakers. Then we went to finals again, lost to the Spurs. Then we played the Pistons, they won the championship.

Then I think the following year, who won it? I guess it would be the Spurs at that point. So I lost to like four straight champions, right? But that team was a really good team, a really underrated group and they deserved it. I don't care what anybody says about anything, that team was really good. Rashid Wallace made a big difference.

I was happy I got a chance to even be in something like that. That's, it's crazy they only won one. The Spurs were good though, that's like the Duncan era. They just went back and forth, right? And then, I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I felt like they were better than LeBron's team and somehow like I felt like LeBron got every call in that in a series against them and then LeBron ended up going to the finals and they got smoked by the Spurs

But I thought I thought a piston Spurs It's like one of those things where, for whatever reason, Piston Spurs had no ratings, but I thought it was the greatest finals ever. It was like, everything was hard, everything. Inbounding the ball was hard. So I just loved that series, but it just didn't look like, people just weren't, for whatever reason,

it just didn't like it. Yeah, the freaking, the Spurs, kind of like the Patriots, just come out on top. Pop, baby. They figure it out. They figure it out. What was, how many, they've been to 11 Super Bowls, like the Tom Brady era, since that era to now?

They went to, he went to 10. He's been to 10, but that's one with Tampa Bay or 10 with the Patriots? So, 0-3, 0 went to, he went to 10. He'd been to 10, but that's one with Tampa Bay or 10 with the Patriots? So, 0-3, 0-4, or one. One-six, lost three. 11, yeah. Yeah. 11 all time for the Patriots.

That is hard to do, man. It was like one every, it was like one every, it was like he was going into a Super Bowl like every third year. Second, two and a half years. There's some crazy stat that his winning percentage in AFC Championship games is higher than, or was higher than his completion.

He was more likely to have a pass be incomplete than he was to miss an AFC Championship game. Geez. Unreal. That's crazy. Unreal. Then you go to the cells, you get a ship though. Yeah.

The boys, man. That was sick. That was a... Especially with the big three, that was such a... Garnett, man. I don't know how it is, but he walks in the room, it's different, man. Like everywhere, the locker room, the weight room, the practice, he doesn't... He don't fuck around, man.

He's a great... He's a dog. Off the great, off the court great guy, great guy. Cared about everything, cared about the 12th man, he cared about my daughter who was four. Like he cared about everybody's family, it was real. Not like, hey what's up, how's your family? Like it was legit, right? But he was all business, all business

when he was playing basketball at the facility. And that stuff is just like, margins in the professional sports are so small. Garnett walks in and everyone's 1% better that month. And they improve 1% every month for a season because of Garnett, we're a whole lot better at the end of the season, you know? Or a drill is 1% better.

It's just, it's consistency and how much you change is everything. But I've been around good players, teammates, Pierce was great, Kit is amazing, Derek Rose, nothing was like Kevin Garnett. KG. Yeah.

Like the big brother. More than, it's bigger than that. Yeah. Like a big brother, father, uncle, than that yeah like a big brother father uncle all that in one yeah I'm very impressive being around him for the three years very impressive human being I have I've never got to kick it with him I mean Paul got we've hung out a few I mean I got stars document yeah it's well documented again arrested but side hood slide hood slide came to a fucking

starskin hood slide anymore for Paul Pierce citizens being poor we we go to this bar we go to this place and There's cops everywhere and when we start talking I did like a hood slide some guy gets out of his car We thought we got away Dude in the car. Yeah Nice car Ben's oh my gosh What would you do if someone slide? Yeah. Nice car. There was a Benz. Oh my gosh.

What would you do if someone hood slided you? It depends on the hood slide. If they pulled it off, you would have been cool. Yeah, I didn't pull it off. You're a little human in the air, that had a gene, it stuck. You had your moment. Denim and hood slides don't go together.

You had your moment, you didn't capitalize. Didn't capitalize. Oh my gosh. This is so- Oh my goodness. Jack we got any leftovers? No I just uh that was amazing uh the only one I think, Scal better celebration 08 or 2024. 2024. Better celebration wow. Everything is bigger now. I feel that. You know everything is the only thing I would say is in 08 I don't remember one cell phone all you see is cell phones. Everybody's just like, everyone lives life

like peeking through their cell phone. It's crazy. How about live in the moment, buddy? I know, but so, besides that, but no. And by the way, you've celebrated multiple Super Bowls. It takes experience, you gotta know. You know what I mean? I regretted the way I celebrated in a way.

I wish I would have partied all night with the fans. You know, that's just me. So no, 24 was, and they did a great job. And like I said, everything is bigger now. I think it was two million people that showed up. That's insane. That's crazy. That's crazy.

That's all that, baby. And younger, I don't remember that many young people out when I was, but maybe because I'm older. Yeah. they're out. They are out. They're out, baby. Let's name the game. We'll be right back after this quick break. History is filled with strange, unusual, and unexpected stories. Stories about people who have accomplished extraordinary things. Pets that have gone above and beyond. Events that have defied explanation. And I'd like to tell you about them.

I'm Aaron Manke, and for the past six years, I've been sharing the most curious tales in history with millions of listeners around the world on my hit podcast, Cabinet of Curiosities. With well over 120 million downloads to date, listeners have been fascinated by such tales as the surprising country that invented the croissant, the stowaway turned hero who helped capture a Nazi spy, and the wrestling champ who went on to win the White House. And now, finally, nearly 200 of these amazing stories from the podcast have been gathered into one book. Curious to know more? Pre-order Cabinet of Curiosities, available November 12th, wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Learn more over at GrimAndMile.com slash curiosities. Hey, it's Mike and Ian. We're the hosts of How to Do Everything from NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Each week we take your questions and find someone much smarter

than us to answer them. Questions like, how do you survive the Bermuda Triangle? How do you find a date inside the Bermuda Triangle? We can't help you, but we will find someone who can. Listen to the How to Do Everything podcast on iHeartRadio. I'm Dr. Laurie Santos, host of the Happy to Slap podcast. As the US elections approach, it can feel like we're angrier and more divided than ever. But in a new hopeful season of my podcast, I'll share with the science really shows

that we're surprisingly more united than most people think. We all know something is wrong in our culture, in our politics, and that we need to do better and that we can do better. With the help of Stanford psychologist Jamil Zaki, It's really tragic. If cynicism were a pill, it'd be a poison. we'll see that our fellow humans, even those we disagree with, are more generous than we

assume. My assumption, my feeling, my hunch is that a lot of us are actually looking for a way to disagree and still be in a relationship with each other. All that on the Happiness Lab. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. So it's a Scalabrini game. This is Scalabrini. Everyone reference it as a Scal white mamba game. I'm gonna go with the white mamba game. I'm gonna go with the white mamba game. I'm gonna go with the white mamba game. I'm gonna go with the white mamba game. I'm gonna go with the white mamba game.

I'm gonna go with the white mamba game. I'm gonna go with the white mamba game. I'm gonna go with the white mamba game. I'm gonna go with the white mamba game. I'm gonna go with the white mamba game. I'm gonna go with the white mamba game. I'm gonna go with the white mamba game. I'm gonna go with the white mamba game. is this the greatest game of all time? Let's score it. The stakes of this game, game five, in a? Seven game series.

Seven game series, but it was this first round? Second round. Second semi. So stakes one to 10? One to 10, decimals okay. Given the fact that both teams were the best teams in the East, right? Even though Indiana had the best record in the East, I would say it's like an eight.

I'd say it's like an eight. I'd say it's an eight. That's a good score. Yep. I'll go with the 7.8. Game five, there's nothing on the line line yet. I was in that same territory, 7.1. But he's a ball, he's a ball guy, so what?

We matched 7.8. Oh, we go 7? I did 7.8 too. But you know, this is such a swing game for those seven game series, so there's a little more importance there. Oh, we go 7? I did 7.8 too. But you know, this is such a swing game for those seven games series, so there's a little more important. Yeah, a little bit more, but it is a semi. But it's just the magnitude of those two teams,

the fact that they spanked us and we spanked them, and that game on the road. Oh man, you should have seen Kid Rock was there talking shit to me as I run up and down. I think Eminem was there. You know, Detroit, Detroit got some real like grimy dogs. You know, with the fans. So it wasn't like what you see in the NBA now.

It was like, there was dudes in, you know, I think they had to be pimps and fur coats and glasses, pinky rings on. What you doing? You know, like there were some real characters in Detroit. Detroit's real, too. Detroit is real. Detroit is some real dogs, man. We had Robert Ory on the show.

He said Eminem was talking shit in the silence. Oh, man. They go at you. But what they don't understand is like, that makes me, like when I was a rookie rookie like I told you that game I was in was I was spinning right? It was my first game. Not my preseason. No, it was a preseason game. I Was spinning it was going so fast and Latrell Spreewell started talking shit to me and I was like cool I'm good. Now if you're gonna take the time to talk shit to me, I belong, you know

Before that and he would have been like nice shot I would think the fact that he was gonna take the time out of his day to talk shit to me I mean it's like all right I've been here before I've been the white boy in the gym before the only white boy before I'm good with that role I'm not good with the role I was just in when I don't believe I belonged out there but I'm good now that role. I'm not good with the role I was just in when I don't believe I belonged out there, but I'm good now. You got it, you gotta have, hey, it's a white guy in sport. Amen, bro.

Oh yeah, you gotta be, you gotta be messed up. You gotta be able to handle it. Yeah, you gotta be messed up. Star power, we just talked about M&M. This could be from team to ambiance, who was at the game, stars, zero to 10. Six? Six.

Yeah, I mean, but it's a... Star power. It's like, you get like, even like just the basketball players, I think probably kid is top 30. So yeah, it's not loaded with, not loaded with Mount Rushmore's, you know what I mean? That's a great, that's a very honorable score. I'm gonna go with, I was gonna go 7'4".

Who's the stars? I mean, I grew, I love that Detroit Pistons team. But they were a group. They were, but like, that's still, that team was just tough. Oh yeah, oh yeah. And then they're a group, I like, man, I went way high. I usually rag it. What were you guys, who are the stars?

Jason Kidd, Corliss Williams. Rashid Obreyne. I got a funny-ass Corliss Williams story. So like year one, like, man, he destroyed me, destroyed me. That was my matchup, right? I get in the game and he was destroying me. I was these different words. He was destroying me. And I was like, man, I can't even stop this guy.

And I fouled him and he scored on me. I fouled him again, he scored on me. I'm like, I just subbed out. Coach was like, what the fuck was that? Your job is to stop the backup and they would just go at me. That whole year, my strength coach was like, Corliss Williams is in the weight room working.

I had a picture of Corliss Williamson. Every day I worked, it was Corliss Williamson. He was like, I don't know how to, I started studying film. I learned how to work. I learned how to prepare. So I started watching everything he did and people who did well against him.

It was all setting the tone to be like, this is what a pro does. Not just for him, but for everybody. Next year, we're at the Meadowlands, which no one at the game. We're playing the Pistons, it's a pre-season game. There's like, it's quiet as hell. He gets the ball, I'm in the post.

He bumps me, I hit the ball out of bounds. And I stop him, I'm like, yeah, motherfucker, yeah! And everyone looks at me, like, what's wrong with this guy? But that was my demon right there, man. But I've gone against dudes before, and maybe they get me, but this was embarrassing the way he got me, and I was in my mind, people don't understand how much that meaningless possession

meant to me when I just like stopped them, you know? It was like the biggest moment. And I was like 30 pounds heavier and stronger and everything like that. And I was like, this is like the biggest moment of my life. So preseason game. You put your mind to it, you got it.

Conquer those demons, baby. So I don't know about you guys in the star power, but that's fine. Yeah, I was wilding on this one. I had an 8.3, Jack had 8.7. What's the gameplay zero to 10? Gameplay of the flow of the game, about you guys in the star power, but that's fine. Yeah, I was whiling on this one. I had an 8.3, Jack had 8.7. All right. What's the gameplay zero to 10? Gameplay of the flow of the game, back and forth.

You guys went through three overtime. I'm not gonna lie, it's like, because this was two defensive teams that don't score and we go 127, 120, I thought the flow of this game was amazing, so I'm gonna say like eight and a half. Eight and a half. Back and forth all night. Yeah, it was shot making, tough defense,

everything you would want. I'm going eight. You night. Yeah. It was shot making, tough defense, everything you would want. I'm going eight. You guys? Nine, two. Nine, two, triple, O, T? Buzzer beater? Jack to the nine, two, eight, eight.

Incredible. It was incredible because it wasn't that bullshit defense. It was legit, you know. Now you gotta score the name of the game. The Scalabrine game. That's a 10. 10, I gave it a 10. I gave it a 10. Yeah, that's a 10 10. I gave it 10. I need a 10

Yeah, that's a 10. I'm gonna go with a 9 1 9 1 i'll take a 9 1 I think I was while in here before I knew what we were calling You guys are some fucking haters What is it? To be a guy like me from where I came from to have a fucking game named after I know I know I know something wrong with you guys. I scored this before we did the oh Jack out of four. I had a 5.5 I stand by my 5.5. I didn't even know this game existed Unlikely it is to have a game named after you when you're coming when you're me It'd be like a street named after one of you motherfuckers man. You're gonna

get that. I'm gonna be like yo you know what I'm gonna give that shit a three. I'm sorry. Fuck Kyler Street. I'm just saying like oh LeBron game fucking 10. Come on man. And I'm usually a glazer. I'm sorry, I should be. Yeah, everyone else. Can I change my score? Come on, Jack. 97, 97. I mean, you understand the unlikeness of something like that fucking happening. I do.

Like you got a better chance being struck by lightning. I didn't think of the nickname. I'm sorry. I screwed up. Okay. But this is cultural impact. This is games with names. That's right though. You're up against the imagine reception. When you guys fucking watch you actually thought you can do it because you saw me do it. You don't think that when you watch Lebron. You don't think that. You see me and I give hope to fucking millions of kids. Show them where it stands. So you're at 8.12 now that on the 8.12 another jack 8.1 to where does that stack up and all the games? We've done it is right be right above could be versus McGregor McGregor

You have C229 Dana white right below the 2007 Western Conference playoffs game six math versus warriors and just below 2011 NBA finals game six maverick versus heat so it's a good company You're right here. Okay one eight point one two finals Mavs. He that was a good company. Wait, wait, wait, where am I? You're right here. OK, one eight point one to find those Mavs. He was a nasty ass game. That was really good. Why was real star power to then you have Super Bowl. You have could the Khabib fight and Greg McGregor could be McGregor that where he broke his leg.

No, that's when McGregor lost to him. You got to be out. Tap, tap, tap. Demoucha. Remember that was with like the crazy like pre-fight shit where they broke the bus and stuff. Throwing dollies through the window. Okay. We had Dana White on that one. Final Spurs Pistons, SEC Championship.

All right, that's good. That's a good score. Very good score. Yeah. That's good. Very good score. And what do they call these? Does anyone have a name? They, a lot of these.

Malcolm Butler. Oh, that's the. The Super Bowl. Yup, okay. Yeah, a lot of these? Does anyone have a name? They allow them Butler. Oh, that's the the Superbowl. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. A lot of these don't really have names, which is tough. These are, we have, we do two different types of names. This is the government names,

which is like the 2004 ALCS game for you. Gotcha. Gotcha. But in the quotes is some of the names. What does the millennial Millennium wave. So there's the heaviest wave of all time in 2002.

So he's some crazy storm, he's riding like a 70 foot wave that's just like thick and glassy. That's just crazy. Crazy. You run from people, but can you imagine fucking up and dying? No. I can't either. That wave, like the coral is like five feet under you. So if you get hit by the wave, you're dead.

Yeah, I just can't imagine, like when you watch all that stuff and you just put it in perspective, like dude, if I mess up, I just get benched. Yeah. Like maybe I lose my job, maybe, but these are, we're talking death? Death.

That's crazy. They're missing something part of their brain. Wild. Scott, we miss anything about this game's crazy. They're missing something. Part of their brain. Scott, we miss anything about this game? One thing I'll tell you, the funniest shit with Rasheed Wallace. So I get checked in the game in the first half, and this is like, to give you an example of Rasheed Wallace and how good he is.

He gets the ball in the post and I'm right behind him in the post. He takes the ball, he looks and he sees me guarding him. He looks at the bench, yells at the coach, y'all put this motherfucker on me? And then he, and I'm thinking to myself, like, man, fuck this dude, right? And he goes, pow, pow, and he goes into the fadeaway.

I jumped as high as I could to contest it. I thought I was gonna block it. He just, ha, puts right over me, man. Then it, whoosh, yeah. I felt tiny at that point, like insignificant, but I got a bucket in the first half, which I think helped me carry over to the second half. But like, when he said that to the bench,

oh my gosh, it was so bad. Come on, you never went to the sideline, looked at the defensive coordinator and be like, this motherfucker can't guard me. I have. No way. Before I run this route, y'all gotta change your matchup. No, or I just look, I would just say to this,

you got no shot. He's just like, nah, you're just not equipped. Especially, I'm gonna go there. I remember when they would put Jimmy Leonard or there was another safety, white safety, I'm like, you can't put a white guy on me, dude. That's fucking racist. No, but like, when I got out

and people wanted to challenge me one on one, I'm like, yo man, if you're white, you ain't beating me, dude. But if you're not a pro, if you're not a pro and you're white, you 100% ain't beating me. If you're a brother, you might beat me. I doubt you'll beat me, but you have a chance. Oh my gosh, the truth. It's true, man.

Listen, it is what it is. I know it sounds weird coming from two white guys, but that's how we think. That's how we think. That's how we think. I guess Dominique told me this story one time about Larry Bird and there's this guy named John Konkak. So Larry Bird got the ball and he really wanted Dominique to guard him.

So I guess, this is the story. I haven't seen it, but this is the story. So Larry got the ball against John Konkak and he's like, looked at the coach, he's like, you went with him on this matchup? And I guess Larry Bird just dropped the ball and said, man, I don't even want this shit. I've never seen it, but the rumor is he just dropped it.

Like, that's a waste of my time. And he just ran back, and all of a sudden, I guess John Konkak was shook by it, man. Basketball, man, they guys are. Larry, bro, Larry Legend. Fucking Larry the Legend. I get in wormholes watching him. He's a beast.

Just his shit talking or the stories about him where he just played one whole half left-handed shit. Yeah, it's like the injury thing. And by the way, a lot of times, like reason why the white guys aren't that good is their bodies just can't keep up. You know, that's really it. But he was nasty, but like,

talking about, it's just living that life, man, it's hard, man, every day. But you can, I'll put his three seasons, I don't care who you you wanna put it against Jordan, you wanna bring LeBron in, I'll take Larry Bird's triple MVPs against any three seasons out there. Any three seasons because the dude was 30, 10, and eight

back in the day when it was hard to get 30, 10, and eight. I don't know the game that well to throw that out there. He has three MVP, one guy that's coming close is Nikola Jokic. Like Jokic, you know, like low key, he's kind of like just keeps dominating the NBA, but. He doesn't even, he doesn't even look like he likes basketball. He just goes out here just to play it.

I like it though. Yeah. You know what I mean? Workman like. Scott, you wanna plug anything? Plug anything? You got anything? What are you working on? Yeah, you guys just follow me Plug anything? You got anything? What are you working on?

Yeah, you guys just follow me on Instagram, at white mamba. You see a lot of me coaching little kids and like just kind of helping kids and paying it forward. That's my thing now. Like I was super blessed to be, have great coaches growing up. And I know I don't make it

if it's not for those great people. And now I'm just trying to help other kids out. So if you guys follow the kids, you see them, or just come out and if you ever see us out and about, come say what's up. That's what's up, man. We appreciate you coming on. This was fun, man.

It was fun, man. It was fucking awesome. Started for going two hours, man. Yeah, we were. Hey. But I really appreciate you having me on. I just always like to chop it up with other people and find different walks of life.

You know, we shared this cool town together. For sure. And that's such a cool, get to hear your perspective of your stories and to have that common ground where we played for this city, which is such a magical, cool city. This really cool city every time I come back, you know, like I live in la right now But when you come back, it feels like home. Oh, yeah, you know what I mean? That was our best scoring section ever that was our best scoring segment ever

People just like 10 10 10 or like low low low be like you had you had a real integrity type score Matthew slater type score. Yeah, that's a slater style score. I needed to be called out and I'm glad Skal was the guy to do it. Man, old Skal. Who's the assignment? From the second he walked in, Skal brought the energy. He brought the heat. That was incredible. Yeah, I'm interested to see.

I want to go check out his AAU basketball team. Oh my God, me too. I want to see Skal the coach. I want to see Skal the broadcaster. Skal can do God. Me too. I want to see Scal the coach. I want to see Scal the broadcaster. Scal can do it all, man. He really is just a lovable guy. I just want to see you one on one on him. He's 6'10".

I think I can take him. I think so too, brother. You got that quickness, brother? Oh, yeah. He'd be able to cut me off. Yeah, that was fun. That was a really good episode. It was cool to go over.

And so much crossover. cut me off. Yeah, that was fun. That was a really good episode. It was cool to go over and so much crossover. And I haven't really got to sit down with Scowling talk. That was like our first time really talking like we we see each. I've seen him at a Celtics game. We'll dap each other up and everything.

But I've never got to like really sit and talk to him. He's a he's an engaging guy. Really good storyteller, too. Awesome storyteller. And finally, we get a guest that like jumps in with. Good storyteller too. Awesome storyteller. And finally we get a guest that like jumps in with scoring. That was a man after your hearth. Good scoring.

He really was. Amen. You know what time it is boys? Hotline bling. Time to hit the old hotline. Let's see it. Again guys, that number is 424-291-2290. Bang our line.

Julian Edelman. This is John down here in Oklahoma. High school teacher and soccer coach. Soccer coach. Mowen the Greens for the summertime because wait till time. The truest Ironman of the NFL. Just got done listening to a podcast

where you're talking about the PBR and who do who do interview. You need to interview. You need to interview JB Mooney. It's M-A-U-N-E-Y, the truest Iron Man of the PBR. His story is amazing. I love you guys. Thank you so much.

That's bull riding, right? Bull riding. Yeah, the people love calling in and they want us to be some bull riding guys. I would love to go see these jokers. And I wanna to talk you got Yeah, that'd be fun to interview one of those fucking crazy dudes. I'm down bro. There was like competing against water these guys compete against Bulls Wow, let me get down there. Let me be the rodeo clown for the day. Come on now. Let's do it mutton busting

dude, but busted Scott Eastwood once Asked I don't know if he invited me or told me he was going to the PBR in LA. But I was like, what the fuck's PBR? He's like, dude, pro-riding bull or? Pro bull riding. Yeah, pro bull riding. Dude, they go nationwide. It's a big thing.

See, I want to go to Texas. I want to steal some Texas valor. I want to wear the hat. I want the belt buckle. You, Kai Guy, Dola, show us the ropes. I wanna do it up, I wanna do it right. I want the whole shebanga bang. Let's do it.

Hell yes, let's do it. J.B. Mooney, all right. J.B. Mooney. We gotta start fishing for him online. I'm down. We'll follow him on social. All right, fans, help us out. All right.

Hey, Jules, Stan from Rhode Island. Now that you've gotten Burge, Ernie, and some of the support staff on, time to break into the training room and get Jimbo Whalen and Joe Van Allen. Ooh! Good work. Jim Whalen or Joe Van Allen?

Bro, deep cut. Wow. They have I mean, they got some stories. I don't think they would open up. They'd be scared. Dude, if this is a real deal, that's man. This is called this sounds like an inside job. It's an inside job by someone in there. But that makes sense. Dan from Rhode Island.

I think Jim lives in Rhode Island. And I'm pretty sure I think Joe does too interesting interesting because I used to go to one of I used to go to Joe Joe's little son's hockey games what a guy Woonsocket support your program no clue But hockey rink what can I lot of it really a lot of rinks what kind of guy were you in the training room? What kind of guy were you in the training room? What kind of guy was I in the training room?

Now what year are we talking? We're talking prime. We're talking prime. Like you already got one Super Bowl under your belt. Like hey day baby. Probably pretty needy. Probably pretty needy. Hey.

Those guys are the best. They put up with me and they a lot of times they the trainers act like psychologists. I can see that. I mean, you're on the table and you're you're beat up. You know, the medical staff and the training staff that we had, you know, like you're bitching to them. They're just taking it.

They're listening to everything I mean, they're they're great dudes. I was probably very needed though. I feel that Sorry guys takes a village, baby. All right last one here Hey, this is Carrie from Virginia You guys hands down have the best sports podcast You're the ones that deserve a nine figure deal. Somebody ought to give that to you. Thank you. A name, a game that I'd love for you to do is the onto Cincinnati game where the

chiefs woked up on the Patriots on September 29th, 2014, because I believe the backlash from that game spurred on the second Dynasty I would love to have maybe Alex Smith cover that game I think that'd be a really interesting game to cover. Thanks that What's her name Carrie Carrie from Virginia? That's a good I'd be a fun game to go over really what ripple effects of that game seriously And it would be cool to have Alex Smith to come on here. And I got I got a couple bones to pick with him. I heard a couple of his takes on NFL Prime. Come on here and plug his UFO sandals.

He said they're life changing. UFO. UFO. You know, those joints he's promoting, those big, thick sandals. I haven't seen them. Oh, maybe I do have a recovery. He said he said they changed his life. That's interesting. He's a stud, man. I will give it to Alex Smith. You know, not just his injury thing that he went through, but the second career he had after I grew up in the Niners when they drafted

him number one overall, we thought he was a bust. I thought he was a joke, you know, and then turn it around and started playing pretty good. And then he, you know, and then turned it around and started playing pretty good. And then he got paid and did well in Kansas City. He was a good quarterback. You know, from what he started, I mean, they also had nothing in San Francisco. They just, it was bad.

I forgot about that era. That era was bad. It was post-Jeff Garcia, I think. Oh yeah. And we were still kinda of we weren't like good then the Niners But we were like competitive enough to get to like the wild card. Maybe We'd lose to Green Bay all the time in the fucking divisional round. That was like Earl Was that like Brandon Lloyd was there be Lloyd was probably with Alex Smith, right? I thought I thought I was the only guy.

I went to the game where B Lloyd had that crazy catch. I think it was a preseason game. I think of that catch probably like once a month. We went backhand on there. It's insane. It pops up on my Instagram. I share it with you every time. I still I still remember a story about B Lloyd. He got this sick Porsche delivered to the stadium. Nice.

Like insane is like one of those specialty Porsches. It had a big wing on the back like it's like a race Porsche. And I go, man, things sick. He goes, no, this shit sucks. I go, what are you talking about? He goes, that fin looks terrible. Like I'm like, what are you going to do? He's like, I sent it back there and take the goddamn fin off.

Sounds like me after an episode. Oh my God. Brandon Lloyd, high standard. High standard. Top gear Brandon Lloyd. I don't understand why you ordered that one then. Like I gotta get the story on it. I loved B Lloyd, he was fun. I liked the idea of like,

it's like you order something from Amazon. It's like, it doesn't really fit. I hate this. Like, I'll take it by UPS- No, it's like 400,000 Porsche. It sucks. I don't know if it was that, but yeah. I remember he's like, I hate this like, I'll take it by UPS. It's a Porsche. It sucks. I don't know if it was that, but yeah. I remember he's like, I hate the Finn. Like what?

It's a Porsche, race Porsche. Ray, what a beast, bro. He was, I learned a lot from him. Love to ask Alex Smith about Urban Meyer in Utah. Ooh. I knew what that would be. Yeah, Deep cut. Urban.

Old Urban before he got those headaches. Old Urban before he was hanging out with the coeds up in Ohio, stayed at the bar. Old Urban. Is that Columbus I hear? I believe so. Ooh. Old Urban said, you guys go home back to Jacksonville. I'll hang around for a day or two.

Oh. Remember that? I do. He had home back to Jacksonville. I hang around for a day or two. Oh, remember that? I had some business to attend to. Man, I'm just never heard a quarter. I've never heard a coach not go back with the team. Insane, except Bill Parcells after the Super Bowl, but he was already out the door. Yeah, but he was he took the Patriots job. Right. Wild, though. Was the Patriots?

I know he took the Jets just because he lost the Super Bowl with the Pets. And one more thing on Kerry here. Nine-figure deal sounds pretty sweet. Pretty sweet. Sounds alright. You know Jeff Bezos? Give him a text. I don't know Jeff.

I did go to a party once and I saw him there. He looked really rich. He just looks rich. I was going to say, now he's buff too. Super villain swag. He hangs with all the Amazon football, that whole crew. Huh? Does he really?

I think so. Yeah. See that picture? Krista said he... Straight hands too. CT? CT says he's really cool. Hangs out with freaking...

It's Patrick. Man, damn. We usually go fishing for like stars to be on the show. We go fishing for billionaires to be. That'd be tight, dude. Sponsors. We already had one. We had cubes. Cubes.

We had a couple and then we have another one Ernie's probably a billionaire. We just see He probably is Bro, he's got the stock tips man. He cracked it. He definitely did we know trap though trap Let us hold a couple of that bro. You got us in for a couple You got the Edelman bump after Jules came on and told the hot tub story, bro. Man, that was awesome. That was a fun experience. You know, and to top it off with a Boston legend like Scalabrini.

Scal. And that's been another episode of Games with Names. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify. Wherever you listen to your podcast, comment a game you want us to do. And remember, rate and review. Remember to follow Games with Names on YouTube, Instagram, X, Tik Tok and Snapchat. Leave a message on the hotline at 424-291-2290. See you next week.

Games with names of production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. History is filled with unexpected stories, and I'd like to tell you about them. I'm Aaron Manke, and for the past past six years I've been sharing history's most curious tales on my podcast, Cabinet of Curiosities, such as the surprising country that invented the croissant and the wrestling champ who won the White House. And now these amazing stories and many more have been compiled into my new book.

Curious to know more? Pre-order Cabinet of Curiosities, available November 12th, wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Learn more over at GrimAndMild.com slash Curiosities. Do you ever wonder where your favorite foods come from? And like what's the history behind bacon wrapped hot dogs? Hi, I'm Eva Longoria. Hi, I'm Maite Gomez-Rejon. Our podcast, Hungry for History, is back. And this season, we're taking an even bigger bite out of the most delicious food and its history. Seeing that the most popular cocktail is the Margarita,

followed by the Mojito from Cuba and the Piñuco Lada from Puerto Rico. Listen to Hungry for History on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everyone, it's Katie Couric. Well, the election is in the home stretch, right in time for a new season of my podcast,

Next Question. I'm bringing in some FOKs, friends of Katie's, to help me out, like Ezra Klein, Jen Psaki, Estet Herndon. But we're also gonna have some fun, thanks to some of my friends like Samantha Bee and Charlemagne the God. We're gonna take some viewer questions as well.

I mean, isn't that what democracy is all about? Check out our new season of Next Question with me, Katie Couric on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, everybody? It's Peter Schrager. We're back for the season with Peter Schrager. In each episode of this season, I'm going to empty my proverbial notebook and take you

inside and behind the scenes on the conversations that happen at the highest levels of NFL franchises. You see, you'll be in the front office of an NFL team one week, but the next week you're going to be at a bar elbow to elbow with some of your favorite celebrities laughing about football like Kansas City Chiefs fan Paul Rudd. By the way, can I just point out how much I like the music of this podcast. The music is awesome. It's very good. It's very kind of like a funky beat.

Listen to the season with Peter Schreger on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Bruce Bozzi. On my podcast, Table for Two, we have unforgettable lunch after unforgettable lunch with the best guests you could possibly ask for. People like Matt Bomer, Emma Roberts, and Colin Jost.

Did you say a Caesar salad with lobster? Yeah. Whoa. Our second season is airing right now, so you can catch up on our conversations that are intimate and often hilarious. Listen to Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.